From last time…
Left alone, Snow White picked up an apple from the basket. She looked at it, staring at it. Then, she lift it up to and…
And put it back in the basket. She was just curious of how this apple can be good and healthy for the body, like the old woman had stated. But after carefully examining it, she didn't see anything special about it.
'It just very ordinary apple,' Snow White thought. 'I should go back now.' And she continued her way back to the house of the dwarfs.
Backstage
'Thank you kami-sama, for listening to our prayer!' Gakuto, Yuuta, Kikumaru, Momoshiro and Kaido thought.
"Tadaimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" dwarfs Kirihara, Marui, Niou and Ootori shouted as soon as they entered the house.
Snow White removed her ear plugs. She had asked them from dwarf Yagyuu to avoid herself getting into another bad luck accident, like the one she had in the first day, each time the dwarfs returned back home, singing.
"Okaeri," she greeted them. "The supper is ready," Snow White said as she put in the middle of the already set table a bowl of mushroom cream soup. The smell of the soup titillated the dwarfs' nostril.
Sniff sniff!
"Hummm…!"
"Smell delicious…"
"Uma sou…"
Guru guru guru guru! Their stomach immediately reacted to the wonderful smell.
"Go and wash your hands and we can start," Snow White said.
Dwarf Sanada, Yagyuu and Shishido did as she told them, but not our young (tune-deaf) singers. The smell of the soup was so good that they immediately charged at the table, not hearing Snow White's command. The princess grew a red vein. She grabbed the ladle in the soup pot and smacked them, sending them out through the small window of the house.
"Go and wash your hands, I told you!" Snow White repeated.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Splash!
The four dwarfs landed in the water tub under the window, where the other dwarfs finished washing their hands.
"We have a princess at our table. Keep your manners," dwarf Sanada said to the soaking wet dwarfs in the tub.
"Hai…" the four miserable youngsters trailed out.
Thus, one princess, three dwarfs with clean hands and four other cleaned from the head to the toe dwarfs (they had a bath) ate the supper together. Though they were only eight people, Snow White had learn to always make food for twenty people and more. Otherwise, there will be a battle for the foods, especially from four troublemakers. And because there was (more than) enough food, all the dwarfs ate in a peaceful atmosphere to the last crumble of bread. Alas, the peace didn't last for a very long time…
"Hey! What's that basket?" dwarf Kirihara spot it on the counter of the kitchen. He drew the attention of the other dwarfs to the said basket. Except dwarf Yagyuu and Sanada, all the others gathered around the basket.
"It's apple!" dwarf Marui said. Dwarf Shishido picked one and hold it up so everybody could look at it.
"They all look so crunchy and juicy," dwarf Niou said, drool appearing in the corner of his mouth. "Snow White, did you pick them?"
"Oh! That! It was a creepy old woman in a black cloak who gave them to me while I went picking mushroom," Snow White answered.
"A creepy old woman?" dwarf Sanada repeated.
"Hmn," Snow White nodded. "She said something like the apples are good and very healthy for young body."
"Good and healthy for the body!" Kirihara exclaimed, excited. "Then we should eat them for our health because we are still young!"
"Hmn! Hmn!" dwarfs Marui, Niou and Ootori vividly nodded, agreeing with him.
And that was the last second of a peaceful meal. The four youngest dwarfs jumped on the basket, trying to get apples as much as possible for themselves. However, only one or two apples weren't enough for them. Soon, they decided that they wanted the whole basket for them alone.
"This is mine!" Kirihara said, the basket in his hands.
"No! Mine!" dwarf Marui grabbed the handle of the basket and pull.
"No! Mine!" dwarf Niou and Ootori jumped in too.
The four dwarfs pull all their strength on the basket and the handle broke, spilling all the apples on the floor. They jumped on the apples.
"Ahhhh!" Poor dwarf Shishido, who got caught in the battle too.
Bing bing!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bonk!
"You shouldn't eat foods coming from a total and suspicious stranger," dwarf Yagyuu said. But no one listened.
Boom boom! Thwack!
"Would stop fighting already?" dwarf Sanada snapped.
Bink bink! Bonk! Bang! Bang! Pouffff!
"Grrrrrrrrrrrr!" Angry to see that the youngsters didn't listen to him, old dwarf Sanada decided to teach them a lesson. He jumped in the mass.
Bang! Bang! Bink! Bonk! Bonk! Bang!
Snow White and dwarf Yagyuu sweat dropped. An apple was thrown out from the chaotic mass straight to Snow White's direction. She dodged it.
"Hey! Watch out!" she snapped. Two others apples followed next, but she couldn't avoid them. One knocked her on the forehead and the other… straight in her mouth. Accidentally, she bit into it. Immediately, she lost all her colors.
'This apple is not… normal…'
And she fainted.
"Ryoma/Ochibi-chan/Echizen!" Yuuta, Kikumaru, Gakotu, Momoshiro cringed.
"Fsssssshhhhhh!"
"Oh my!" Dwarf Yagyuu went to check the fainted princess, examining her. 'Did she faint because she got knocked by the apple or because of the apple she bit in?'
Dwarf Yagyuu turned his attention to the others dwarfs… and sweat dropped at the sigh in front of him. They were all laid on the floor with a horrible purple-blue face color. Many bitten apples were scattered around them.
"Ahhhhh… There is something wrong with these apples…" dwarf Kirihara whimpered.
"Haaa…" the others agreed. And they all fainted too.
'Hum… Guess it's a food poisoning…' dwarf Yagyuu concluded. He looked at the seven bodies in chibi form on the floor, his right eye ticking. 'And now, I'm stuck to take care of seven sick people alone.'
"This is troublesome. Haaa…" he sighed hopelessly.
The next day, the prince of a neighborhood by kingdom traveled into the forest of the dwarfs. He was on his way back home from a journey. He took the road across the forest because it was a shortcut. But because his coachman Jirou fell asleep while conducting the carriage, they got lost. So before they got lost further more, the prince moved the coachman inside the carriage to let him sleep, and he took the command of the horses. And now, he was wandering around, in hope to find a way to get out of the forest.
"Hmm… Now, which way should I go?"
After many hours of turning around, around and around, he spotted a little house.
"Ah! Maybe someone can tell me the way out of the forest."
The prince stopped the carriage in front of the house and knocked on the door. Someone answered. It was a man as tall as himself, wearing spectacles and dressed in green clothe. He had an apron on him and a white scarf was covering his purple blue hair.
"Yes?" dwarf Yagyuu asked.
"Hello mister," the prince said. "We are lost. Can you show us the way out of the forest, please?"
"Hm? We?" Dwarf Yagyuu saw the carriage. So this young man wasn't alone. Dwarf Yagyuu reflected a moment. Then he spoke again. "Fine, I will show you the way out of the forest, but on one condition."
"What is it?" the prince asked.
"I want to use your carriage to carry some sick people in town to see a doctor."
"Very well," the prince agreed. "If it can help you, I can introduce to you a very good doctor I know."
"Then I shall be grateful to you. Please wait here so I can get the said sick people. Can you open the trap on the top of your carriage please?"
"Euh, sure…" the prince answered and went to open the trap. "But why-…!"
The prince didn't have time to finish his question to the strange request that he got his answer. A body fell down from the sky.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" dwarf Kirihara yelled as he landed head first inside the carriage through the trap. "Ouch!"
The prince sweat dropped. From the window of the second floor, dwarf Yagyuu's head appeared.
"Did he fall in?" he asked.
"Euh… yes…" the prince hesitantly answered.
"Good."
Dwarf Yagyuu disappeared inside again. And three other bodies flew out from the same window.
"Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhh! OUCH!" dwarf Marui, Niou and Ootori followed the same path as dwarf Kirihara. Three more sweat drops appeared on the prince's head. He look up to see dwarf Yagyuu threw another body.
"If you like, I can help you carrying them down," the prince proposed.
"Ow!" Dwarf Shishido also landed in the carriage. A fifth sweat drop on the prince's head.
"That will help a lot. Thank you. Come inside," dwarf Yagyuu answered to the prince.
The prince went inside the house and climbed up stair. On the second floor were the bedrooms of the dwarfs. The prince found dwarf Yagyuu in a room. He was passing dwarf Sanada's left arm over his shoulders to support him up.
"There is only one last person in the next room," dwarf Yagyuu said as he carried down his charge.
The prince went to the next room. There was someone in the bed. He head to the bed to see a young woman with skin as white as the snow, hair as black as ebony and inviting red lips.
'Oh my! What a pretty discovery!' the prince thought, smiling a Cheshire cat smile. The prince slid his arms under her, lifted her in bridal style and carried her down. 'It's not such a bad thing that I get lost in the forest. Huhuhuhuhu!' He silently chuckled.
After having delicately lay Snow White on the cushion in front of Jirou - and pretended ignoring the piled up bodies -, the prince returned to the conductor seat, where dwarf Yagyuu was waiting for him. Under dwarf Yagyuu's directory, the prince headed the horses out of the forest.
"By the way, what happen to them?" the prince asked.
"Haa…!" dwarf Yagyuu sighed. "They ate some strange foods," dwarf Yagyuu simply answered.
"Oh! Sou ka!"
They arrived to the kingdom of the prince. The prince conducted the carriage to the palace and called for the doctor. Doctor Yanagi was a brown hair man with permanently closed eyes, like the prince's ones. While the doctor examined the seven patients, checking their temperature, their pulse and their tongue, dwarf Yagyuu explained to him what happen.
"You said they ate some strange foods?" Doctor Yanagi asked.
"Yes." Dwarf Yagyuu gave to the doctor an apple that he brought with him. "They ate this. Apparently, this apple is not normal."
The doctor took the apple and brought it away to make some tests on it. After a moment, he returned back to the room where the dwarfs and Snow White were.
"Indeed, it wasn't a normal apple," the doctor explained. "After extracting the juice of the apple and have doing some tests on it, I discover that many things had been added in. Most of those things are nutrients from vegetables, fish and a lot of sardine oil. Very good and healthy for the body. However, the proportions of these nutriment are very big. Combined, the taste must be horribly dreadful. I think that these people simply got knocked out because of the high degree of bitterness and the sour taste of the vegetables mixed with the strong taste of the fish."
"So, it's not food poisoning?" dwarf Yagyuu asked.
"Well, in this case, I will consider it as a food poisoning. Anyone who eats this apple would be in the same situation as these people. I think that our prince is the only living person in the whole universe who can endure this taste - not to mention that he would certainly enjoy it too."
"Your prince?" dwarf Yagyuu asked.
"Yes, the young man who brought you in."
"Oh! So he's a prince," dwarf Yagyuu said.
"Anyway, in the current situation, your friends and the young lady will likely be knocked out for at least a week more. Probably two too. I'm not very sure about the time when they will wake up. It depends on their capacity to recover from that err… poisonous (!) apple, if I might say."
"Ha…!" dwarf Yagyuu sighed. "And to think that there are still a lot of work to be done in the forest before the end of the month. I cannot allow too much delays."
"If you'd like, I can prepare something which can help them recovering faster," the doctor said.
"Then please, do it."
After drinking the err… antidote (!) prepared by the nice doctor, Snow White and the dwarfs felt better. They slowly regained consciousness. Yet, they still haven't forgotten about the taste of the apple they ate.
"Urgh… I don't want to eat another apple in my life ever again… Ugggggh!" dwarf Kirihara said.
"Don't remind me of that anymore…" dwarf Marui said.
"I never knew that such an horrible taste can exist on this world," dwarf Niou added.
"In the whole universe you mean," dwarf Ootori said.
"Just the memory of the taste makes me want to puke…" dwarf Shishido added while trying to refrain himself from puking.
"Then stop talking about it!" dwarf Sanada said, his face blue.
"It's incredible that I'm still alive after eating that apple," Snow White said.
In the next room, dwarf Yagyuu discussed with the doctor and the prince.
"Thank you very much, doctor. Now, we will be able to finish our job in time," dwarf Yagyuu said.
"It's a pleasure," the doctor said.
"Thank you to you too, prince, for bringing us to him," dwarf Yagyuu said.
"It's also a pleasure," the prince said. "What is my reward? After all, it's thanks to me that they are still alive, right?"
"Your Highness, stop joking around," the doctor reprimanded the prince.
"Hmhmhmhmhm!" the prince chuckled. "It was only for fun."
"For fun or not, we still have to pay you back for your help. It's a rule for us, dwarfs of the forest," dwarf Yagyuu said. He reflected for a moment.
"Prince, you are still single right? Would you like to marry Snow White? She's a princess, you know," dwarf Yagyuu said. "The price of a princess is high enough to cover our debt toward you, right?"
"Oh!" the prince happily exclaimed. "So she's a princess! What a delightful news!"
"Then, it's settle," dwarf Yagyuu concluded.
The next second, Snow White found herself in a royal wedding dress. The prince, in a ceremonial costume, stood next to her, obviously very very happy.
"Snow White, you will marry the prince," dwarf Yagyuu stated. He changed his green usual clothes into a blue formal costume.
"Heh? What! Why?" Snow White asked, more like protesting.
"He saves your live. So now, you belong to him," dwarf Yagyuu explained. "Beside, I don't have enough money to pay him for saving my companions' life. But he accepted to marry you in exchange for his help. So…" He put a hand on her shoulder. "…live happily with him."
"Gag!" was Snow White's only reaction, her mouth gasped. She was sold out on a conclusion of a business exchange.
"Hmhmhmhm!" the prince chuckled. 'Jirou, I must thank you for getting us lost in the forest! Huhuhuhu!'
The next second again, Snow White was sat next to the prince on the honor seats of a wedding banquet. It was a joyful and merry celebration. People were talking, laughing and dancing together. Only Snow White wasn't enjoying the party because her spirit was floating on her head. The prince, sat next to her, was rested on his elbow. He was enjoying himself very much as he watched his pretty bride's state of mind, chuckling.
"In honor of the marriage of the prince and Snow White, we shall sing a song for you," dwarf Kirihara announced.
"Yoooooo!" dwarfs Marui, Niou and Ootori cheered.
Snow White immediately snapped out from her reverie, horrified by that perspective. She didn't have ear plugs on her. But dwarf Sanada took care of the matter for her.
"No, you won't!" dwarf Sanada roared and jumped on the young dwarfs.
In a blink of the eye, the four enthusiastic dwarfs were tightly tied with ropes and gagged by a handkerchief. They struggled over and over to be released, but dwarf Sanada ignored them. Dwarf Shishido pretended that he didn't see dwarf Yagyuu threw behind him the leftover ropes. Dwarf Yagyuu too didn't carry his ear plugs with him.
"Your Highness, kiss your bride!" a guest said.
"A kiss! A kiss! A kiss!" other guests cheered.
"What?" Snow White yelped.
"Then I shall," the prince responded to his subject, smiling.
"Hourayyyyyyyyyyy!"
"Ah! Wait!" Snow White tried to protest, but the prince took her chin between his finger and brought her face closer to his, chuckling.
"My pretty bribe, this is a happy day," the prince said, his eyes looking at her tenderly. "We should comply to the wish of our people to make them happy."
Then, he slowly ascended his lips onto hers.
'Hiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!'
Like in all classical tales, it finished as "they have many children and they happily lived together forever".
But since this particular and twisted version of Snow White was an unconventional on, it finished in an unconventional way too.
"Fuji-senpai! The shooting is over! Would you get off of me now, PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!" Ryoma yelled.
"Why? I like it, being like this," Fuji said, smiling. And he tigthened his arms around her. Ryoma tensed, her face became red and her head fumed.
"Ah! But Echizen-chan, I didn't catch the right angle of the kissing scene. Can you replay it again please?" Yukimura said, smiling.
Yuuta, Gakuto, Kikumaru and Momoshiro looked at Yukimura, sweat dropping. The shoot of the kissing scene was perfect. Why did Yukimura ask it to be retaken? But since it was Yukimura who ask it - and the worse, he did it while smiling -, it was better not to question him.
"WADDA HE-!"
"Of course, Yukimura! No problem!" Fuji enthusiastically and happily answered, cutting Ryoma.
"But I have a problem with that!" Ryoma protested.
"Oh! And can you kiss for real this time, instead of just pretending? It will be better!" Yukimura added, clapping his hands.
"Yadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Fuji and Yukimura chuckled.
'Poor Ryoma/Ochibi-chan/Echizen… She's being toyed by Yukimura and aniki/Fuji,' Yuuta, Gakuto, Kikumaru and Momoshiro thought.
'I'm sorry Echizen, but I won't interfere,' Tezuka and Sanada thought. 'Please, bear it at our place for this time. Thank you.'
"Hiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
'Haa…!' The other regulars sighed, feeling pity for the poor female regular, who was dying behind their back.
A/N: By the way, Ryoma didn't get kissed yet. It will be for another time. Yukimura and Fuji were only teasing her ^^.