http://clampfix.fanworks.net/x-fix/maiden03.txt </head><body><pre>Man, it's been a long time since I posted some. O_o...well I only just finished it last week. Came out with four parts in three days. Yeah! ^__^ You can find the beginnings of it on ff.net.... ~ (Author's note: This is my own version of Sleeping Beauty, a mixture of books i've read and the movie. So nyah. just kidding. ^_^) Also, due to problems, Hinoto's speech is now indicated with // Last time on the Sleeping Maiden: The other three girls sat down at the table and the rest of dinner was silent. Until... ~ There came a knocking at the door. "Huh..who could that be?" Yuzuriha wondered, getting up to answer the door. Kotori looked at Arashi from across the table. "This is strange. We never get any visitors out here.." Arashi simply shrugged. "Oh!" They heard Yuzuriha gasp from the hallway. After a pause, she said. "Come in, come in." Now, Kotori and Arashi came into the hallway to see what there was at the door. Hinoto floated behind them, just as curious. Yuzuriha was closing the door, half supporting a young man who looked like he had seen better days. His clothing was ripped and he was bleeding, though not too badly. He had unruly black hair, which was sticking to his head, a mixture of the blood and water, probably due to the fact it was raining. "Are you alright?" Kotori gasped and went to help Yuzuriha take the man to a spare bedroom down the hallway. "Thank you, miss." he said, stumbling to get to his feet. "What happened?" Arashi asked, following them after getting a first aid kit. The boy looked up at her, and blinked. He stared at her for a good while, before Arashi got impatient. "What?" She snapped, more so then she would have normally done. This boy made her nervous. Yuzuriha gave her a look that told her to be polite and took the first aid kit from her. "Arashi, could you go and get a spare robe from my bedroom? I should have one that fits him." "Why would you have a man's robe in your bedroom?" Arashi asked, raising an eyebrow. Yuzuriha turned pink. "Just go get it, please." Arashi did, and returned soon. "Here you go, Yuzuriha-san." She noticed the boy, who had been talking to Yuzuriha and Kotori had stopped when she entered the room and was now looking at her strangely. "What?" she said again. "If you have something to say to me, please say it stop staring at me." The boy grinned, cheery despite his injuries. "I was just thinking about how beautiful you are." He seemed to think about something for a moment. "I've decided." Arashi flushed, but looked angry none the same. Then, his second sentence hit her. "Decided? Decided what?" "Ow!" The boy cried as Yuzuriha applied a potion to a particular nasty wound. "I'm sorry," Yuzuriha said, wrapping gauze around it. "But it's for your own good. How did you get these injuries?" "Well, I was fighting a few Dragons. Unfortunately, I was no match for them. I was outnumbered, and well, out powered." "Why were you fighting Dragons?" "You see, it's in my job desciption. I'm a Prince, though I don't look like it." the Prince laughed, a sound that Arashi found herself smiling at, with its vibrancy. "There was a damsel in distress, and I was hoping to perhaps save her, or die trying at least." He gave a defeated sigh and flushed slightly. "In the end, the damsel defeated the Dragons herself. She's got some heavy piece of machinery she operates, and quite well...they sent me away, laughing since I couldn't defeat my opponent. My injuries are so bad, I can't make it all the way to my homeland." "Oh, you poor thing," Kotori exclaimed(Hinoto had gone to find some bedding so the boy could spend the night.) He laughed. "I'm a pretty pathetic Prince, aren't I?" he flinched again as Yuzuriha finished dressing the last of his wounds. "Thank you, miss." he beamed. "May ask your names, kind pretty ladies who helped me?" Yuzuriha smiled. "I'm Yuzuriha, and this is Kotori, my sister. That's Hinoto, our other sister," she pointed as Hinoto came floating back in, holding bedsheets. "And this is Arashi, our foster sister." Arashi bowed politely, taking the sheets from Hinoto and started to place them on the bed. "I'm Prince Sorata." He bowed to the four women. "I owe you a great deal, for saving my life." "Oh, think nothing of it." Kotori said. "Why don't you stay here for the night, to rest up. Tomorrow you'll get on your way, but you need to let those wounds heal." "Thank you very much, miss." he smiled at Kotori. "Are you sure it wouldn't be too much of a bother?" he asked the fairies. //Oh, no bother at all.// Hinoto said. Privately, she continued to Kotori and Yuzuriha. //Maybe he'll be able to break Arashi's ice. Did you see the way she blushed?// Yuzuriha giggled and Kotori smiled, earning them both an odd glance from Arashi. She finished placing the sheets on the bed, and stood back. "Thank you, Miss." Sorata gave her a bright smile. "You really are beautiful." Arashi frowned and resisted the urge to smack the man silly. "It's getting late, and I'm sure you really want to rest." she walked out of the room, nearly dragging Yuzuriha and Kotori with her. Hinoto followed. "We'll leave you be. Goodnight." she closed the door, leaving Sorata standing in the middle of the room. "I've decided, miss." he said softly to the door. "If I am to die, then you will be the woman I die for." Having said this, he prepared to rest. ~ Late that night, Arashi stirred restlessly in her room. She hadn't been able to sleep. The moment she closed her eyes, an image of the Prince's smiling face blossomed behind her eyelids. As long as she kept her eyes open, she didn't have to think about him. But what had he meant, by the words "I've decided"? He hadn't answered her when she'd asked, and didn't seem likely to if she asked again. "Augh!" She said to herself as she realized her thoughts had strayed to the boy. Why was she thinking of him? Sure, he was the only man she'd seen(besides Kusanagi, but he was taken, and was much too burly for her anyway) in her entire life. But why, why was she thinking of him the way she was. Her mind had no answer for her. She sighed and climbed out of bed, pulling a robe over her nightgown. No rest for her tonight. She padded quietly down the hall and out the door, to the small garden in the back of the cottage. A couple of inugami raised their heads to look at her as she walked past, but made no move or sound, as if they realized she didn't want to be discovered. She walked to her favorite tree, in the corner of the garden, just in sight of the cottage, yet close enough to the forest to be comfortable. Ignoring the ladylike habits the fairies had taught as she grew, Arashi climbed up into the tree and sat in the lower branches. Out here, her mind still had no answers for her, as to why she thought of this young man so much. Why his compliments to beauty made her blush, or why she felt the way she did. What was this feeling? "Is something wrong, Miss?" His voice cut through her thoughts. She nearly fell out of the tree, and would have, if a pair of strong arms caught her and steadied her. Sorata apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you... I wasn't going to say anything, but you looked distressed..." "What are you doing here?" she hissed, backing away as far she could in a tree. "Shouldn't you be resting?" "Shouldn't you be resting as well?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, smiling. "Do you mock me?" she was glad it was dark, to hide her flush. "Of course not. One must never mock beautiful ladies." He reached for her hand and she snatched it away, folding it on her lap. "Although," he continued, "I've never talked with a beautiful girl in the moonlight. Nor one as pretty as you." he laughed again, probably at the cheesiness of his lines. That reminded her, and she regarded him with a slight frown. "Earlier... you said you had decided...what did you mean?" He looked at her, eyes serious for once, and then sighed. "When I was born, it was prophesized that I would die for the woman I loved." If he heard her soft gasp, he ignored it. "I decided, that if I was to love and die for a woman, she would have to be very beautiful. I left home when I was 13, perhaps to find the woman I was to die for. And I've found her. You're the woman I love, and am going to give my life protecting." She gasped again. "But...but, I don't even know you! You don't know me! How can you say that?" she stared at him. "I love you..." he reached for her hand again, and this time she let him take it, too shaken to pay much attention as he brought her hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. This touch brought her to awareness again and she pulled her hand away. She wanted to tell him off, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to hit him, to smack him, maybe to bring him to his sense, if he had any, but remembering his earlier wounds, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She settled for jumping out of the tree and hurrying back into the cottage, holding her robe tight around her. Sorata watched her go, sadly. Then, he looked up at the moon. "I'll win your love, miss...but perhaps, it would be easier to die for a woman if she didn't love me back...that way, I wouldn't hurt her by dying." he sighed and walked back into the cottage. To be continued ~</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>