Chapter 10
I wasn't sure how long we slept, but when I woke up, the sky was just barely lit with the first few rays of the morning sun. There were still some stars out, though not as many as there had been. At first, I thought that I was back home and that I'd fallen asleep in the back yard on the grass again.
It wasn't until I tried to move that I realized where I was. I was still on the Island with the Prince, trying to change his fate. What made me remember? Well… I was on my back, and somehow the Prince's arm had gotten hold of me. But it wasn't like he was just gripping my arm or trying to huddle close to me like he'd had a nightmare and had grabbed me in his sleep for comfort. If it had been something like that, I would've just blown it of and woke him up.
No, instead, one arm was underneath me, his hand right under my ass. Well, not technically on my ass, but it was but between my thigh and cheek, right at that point where you would slap a guy and leave while on a first date. Hid other arm was draped over my chest and this hand had a nice firm grip on my boob. And if that wasn't enough… Dear lord, the man was drooling! Yup, the creepy meter just went from a 2 to an 8.
I didn't know if this was an accident or if he'd woken up and decided to be a pervert, but my first reaction and to jump up and start slapping the ever loving crap outta him. I didn't, but that's what I wanted to do for a split second. But his face looked pretty serious, (aside from the drool) so I assumed it must've been an accident. My second idea was that maybe, if I was careful, I could wiggle away without disturbing him, but when I reconsidered how tightly he was holding my breast, I dropped that idea. I'd just have to wake him up.
"Pst…" I hissed at his sleeping form. He didn't move. "Pssst! Prince… wake up!" He twitched, but that was about it. Then I did something that could easily be filed under the stupidest move of all times. I touched him. And believe me, that last thing you ever want to do it touch a sleeping badass warrior Prince with a shiny sword that's as big as you are.
I barely had time to react as his sword slashed through the air, nearly chopping my face off. He didn't, but he did manage to get a few hairs.
"Prince! It's me! I swear!" I cried hurriedly, then, "EEEEK!" Panicking, I laid flat on the ground, desperately trying to become one with the grass as he swung again, vertically, this time. The Prince of Persia was going to chop me in half. Great, just wonderful. What a lovely way to start off the day.
I shielded myself with my arms and waited for him to slice me in two… but it never came. When I realized this, I slowly, cautiously opened one eye and saw him sitting on his knees, staring at me like he'd just woken up from a long sleep and wasn't sure where he was.
"Naomi?" he said, confusion evident in his voice. I relaxed. "What's going on?"
"I-I think you just scared ten years off my life," I replied, my eyes still wide, my brain still trying to resister that I was alive. He seemed to put two and two together real fast and his expression quickly turned to concern.
"Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes quickly scanning me.
"I think you're gonna have to help me up… then hold me up," I answered. He gave a small smile, then picked up his sword and sheathed it again.
"I'm sorry, Naomi," he began, then turned back to me and opened his mouth to explain, but I held up a shaky hand to stop him.
"I know, Prince, you don't have to explain." With his help, I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair, making sure my head was still firmly attached. My body was still trying to get a hold of itself.
"Are you sure you're all right? I didn't harm you…?" the Prince persisted.
"Not physically, but I know now to never, ever, ever touch you while you're asleep." He smiled again, but it faded quickly.
"Why did you wake me?"
"Well, you had your hand clamped all over my breast! What was I supposed to do? Snuggle up and give you a kiss? Cuz if so, I've got news for ya." He stared at me blankly for a moment, then down at his hand, then back at me. He opened his mouth to ask another question, which I quickly answered before he could ask. "Yes, you somehow managed to grab hold of my boobs while you were sleeping. I don't know how or when it happened, but it was very uncomfortable."
"Oh… My apologies." I sighed deeply. I didn't mean to be so short with him, but I was still recovering from the adrenaline burst. I needed to calm myself down.
"Don't worry your head about it, Princy," I said quickly as I got to my feet and walked off, heading for the small stream I'd seen the previous day to clean myself up. I bet after that scare, my hair had turned itself white.
Well, I was lucky on that front. My hair was still it's beautiful shade of cerulean, my eyes were still deep blue and my face still had it's color, though the feathers on my wings were all ruffled up. When I saw that, my spirits dropped. If there was one thing I hated, it was when my wings got ruffled up like this. It takes forever to groom them back! The last time it took my three hours to get them all straightened out again! That was time I really didn't have. Well, might as well just do what I can.
I sat by the river and straightened out my feathers as best I could within ten minutes, which wasn't the best of jobs, but it would have to do until I could find the time to get it done properly. After that, I washed my face and arms and hurried back to meet the Prince, whom was strapping on his breastplate, but having a bit of a hard time.
"Need help?" I asked as I sat on the grass a little ways over. He looked at me and I could've sworn I saw a flash of 'I-certainly-don't-need-help-from-the-likes-of-a-woman-like-you-so-bug-off-because-if-I-can't-do- it-by-myself-I'm-not-a-real-man.' But after a moment, he sighed and gave up.
"All I can get," he answered, exasperated. I grinned and slunk behind him and started poking around at all the buckles and whatnot, occasionally asking him if it was too tight or too loose or too whatever. I did this for a few minutes until I noticed something… a little weird. On his lower left side, there was a nasty bruise. And I mean nasty. It was blue, purple, green, black, yellow and if I looked hard enough I could see the rest of the colors of the rainbow. It was fairly large, too. Curious, I gently touched it, which made the Prince immediately cringe dramatically and gasp in pain. I furrowed my brow and pressed a little harder, which made him jump up.
"Prince, what is that?" I asked, though I had my suspicions.
"N-nothing," he answered quickly—A little too quickly. I lifted an eyebrow.
"Nothing? Prince, bruises like that don't just appear."
"It's nothing," he insisted, returning his attention to his breastplate. But I wasn't just going to drop the subject.
"Let me see it." I also got up and tried to move behind him again to take a closer look, but he turned away. I tried again, but he did the same. This childish play went on for several minutes before I grew frustrated with him. "Prince, just let me look at it!"
"I'm fine!" he insisted, though I could tell it was hurting him. I sighed, and put my hands on my hips. He was just going to keep being stubborn no matter how much I yelled.
I cleared my throat. "Prince, either let me see it, or else."
"Or else what?" he challenged.
"Or else I'll just have to tickle you." He stared at me like I'd grown another head.
"...Excuse me?"
"You heard me. And don't think I won't do it, either. You remember Azad as well as I do."
"Naomi, this is ridiculous. Can't you just let it go? I am perfectly alright." I just gave him a look, and started to advance on him. "Naomi, please! There are far more important matters at hand!" I cracked my knuckles. "Why do you insist on this childish behavior?! My life is in danger and you... you... STOP!" He held his hands out to stop me just as I started to reach out to him. "Fine! Have it your way!"
"That's better. See, was that so hard?" He glared at me.
I knelt down to get a better look at his waist. Careful not to hurt him too much, I brushed my fingertips across the bruise and lightly pressed on it. He cringed again, but didn't leap away. It didn't take me long to figure it out.
"How long have you had this broken rib, Prince?" I asked, standing up and looking him in the eye. He stared for a moment, and then looked away shamefully, as if I were about to hit him.
"I… It… a couple days…" he dropped his voice and trailed off as he said that. I just stared.
"A couple days," I echoed, my next actions evident in my voice. He nodded guiltily. Well, he'd been right about one thing. I did hit him. I punched him in the arm as hard as my girly arms possibly could. All this time, he'd been running around with hid rib in pieces and he never said anything?! Why didn't he tell me! I would've fixed him up if he had without having to slap the crap out of him! He just didn't want anyone trying to tell him to take it easy until his bone healed and he didn't want it slowing him down. "Why didn't you say anything, you idiot!" I cried as loud as I could, probably letting the whole tower know where we were, but by my tone, they probably didn't dare get anywhere near.
"I-I just…" he blabbered, rubbing his arm and still not looking me in the eye. "I didn't want you to worry."
"You didn't want me to worry?! Prince, I'm your best friend! I'm supposed to worry about you! It's my job to worry about you! But now I'm just going to worry all the MORE because now I don't know if I can trust you to tell me that you're hurt!" I shrieked, "If you had said something to me before, rather than keeping it a secret, pretending it wasn't there and probably making it WORSE, I could've fixed it easy! But now, who knows how much damage has been done! For all I know, it could've punched a hole in your lungs!" I'd also like to know why this wound didn't just heal up like his arm did when I brought the water.
The Prince didn't do much except look pitiful. He expression much resembled the ever famous 'caught with his hands in the cookie jar and it now getting scolded by mommy' look. Honestly, when it comes right down to it, men are all the same. Finally, he looked up.
"Can you fix it now?" he asked timidly. I guess the old saying was right. Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned. Hell, even the Prince, who could probably easily take me down with one move was acting like a timid child. I sighed, my anger slowly fading.
"I'll try," I answered, "but I probably won't be able to do much." His face seemed to brighten a little bit when my voice calmed down, but not much. "Come on, I'll see what I can do for it."
Kiri: Awww... yknow, you guys always have a way of cheering me up when I'm not in the best of moods. My foots feels so much better already! So I decided to crank this one out a bit early. But a funny thing happened this morning... my closet pole thingie broke! yknow that pole thingie that hold all the clothes? It fell right off! So now I'll have to dedicate a good part of the day getting all my clothes off the floor so dad can fix it. So again, short FAQ today.
Q: ...Is the Prince a freaking pervert of something?
A: no, I just thought it would be really funny if the Prince accidentally coped a feel. It'd also be funny to see the Prince as a total horn dog, but don't count on me to write about that.
Q: The prince drools when he sleeps... that's just gross.
A: Again, another little element I added in there to make it more funny.
Voices outside: WHERE IS SHE! WHERE'S THE AUTHORESS!
A: ...uh oh... better hurry!
Q: Why did he try to cut Naomi in half?
A: Well, he was having to sleep lightly in order to stay aware of his surroundings in case the Dahaka came while he was asleep. So naturally, after doing that for seven years, of course he would do it to Naomi. Just be glad he caught himself before he did something he could regret.
Q: Why didn't the Prince tell Naomi about his rib!
A: He's a man. and as a man, he has this whole male pride thing going on. You know how guys are... if they they think that everyone else sees them as useless, his whole world falls apart. Princy is no different.
Voices: OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!
A: eh... yeah, just ignore them. Heheh.
Q: O.o uh... k... what's with the little voice thingy?
A: just another Angel ability.
Q: you're giving her too many angel powers. You suck. You're making her immortal!
A: First, she's FAR from immortal. Second, keep in mind that Naomi wasn't the best student at the Academy and has had little to no practice with her abilities. Third, how can I suck when I've got people wanting to marry my brain?
Q: ...
A: that's what I thought.
Voices: OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, KIRI! I'LL BREAK IT DOWN, I SWEAR!
Kiri: eh heheh... I think that's enough for now. I'll start work on the next chapter later on, once I get the closet issue squared away. That was almost comical in a way, to be honest...
Voice: I'M GONNA COUNT TO TEN, AND I'M BREAKING IT DOWN!
Kiri: uh oh... well, I better go find a good place to hide first. So until next chapter, Ciao!
