A/N: It has been such a long time. Sorry guys for my long temporary writer's block. But if you are still hoping for more chapter, here comes the next one.

Trouble with a Salad on Your Date

Karina hurriedly walked over to her closet and rushed through each and every article of clothing inside. She never thought that this would be the day that Ranma Saotome would ask her on a date. She smiled widely as she twirled herself around with a dress in her hands. She was so grateful of Kami. She ran to her tall mirror against her door and observed the blue dress she held in her grasp. It was more of a summer dress with its thin straps and short length.

"Karina, what are you doing, dear?"

The pink hair martial artist leaped in the air and quickly turned to see her mother. She felt her pulse racing as she presented a slight glare to Miharu.

" Mom, you scared me to death. You always seem to sneak on Dad and I," stated Karina as she looked back into the mirror.

"Why are you getting so dressy, sweetheart?" asked Miharu looking at the mirror from behind.

"Ranma asked me on a date and I decided to wear something special," replied Karina looking over the length of the dress once more.

At that moment, Miharu jumped up with a wide smile on her face that went identical with Karina's previous one. She ran over to her daughter's closet with tears in her eyes as she looked and picked out several articles of clothing. Miharu prayed to Kami that something would soon happen for the relationship of Ranma and her daughter and her prayers has been answered.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Asked Karina a little annoyed.

"Karina, you know you have a problem with wearing feminine clothes. Kami knows how much I did not want your father showing you any of those martial arts, but since you were an only child, we needed to past the techniques down. Just look at what you're holding. I'll show you what to wear on a date." With that Miharu placed a combination of clothing on the bed.

Karina rolled her eyes but knew immediately that her mother was right. Karina always knew when she was little that she was a tomboy. She had her own style of everything such as flirting, making friends, training, and even clothes. Still, clothes were not everything to her, but if it would help with Ranma and keeping his attention on her, she would do anything for it.

Meanwhile, at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma stared at Karina's friends as they laid out items around his room. Emi ironed his best red Chinese outfit while Mina looked over a group of papers and Kumiko trimmed the flowers to complete perfection. After school they planned everything carefully and came over immediately after they told Akane the news. They all didn't think Ranma would be ready in time for the date plus they wanted to inform him how to keep the date in secret.

"Okay, Ranma, when you leave this Dojo, inform the family only that you must discuss to the Yamadas about the engagement. If they ask why, you'll say," stated Mina as she looked for him to complete the statement.

"I can't handle four engagements," replied Ranma with a sigh.

"Correct. Now, the date will be in one hour, so I guess you need to go take a bath and get ready. The flowers will be placed beside the clothes so you won't forget them," stated Emi placing the iron away.

"What if they see the flowers," questioned Ranma.

"Just say it is like a farewell gift or something. Or just something nice for Karina's mother before letting the news hit," answered Kumiko as the other girls agreed with nods.

"So, you'll pick up Karina in one hour and then take her to a nice café or restaurant. Then maybe a movie or the park," chimed Emi as she smiled.

"O0o0o0o0o how about the Ferris wheel. That's so romantic," advised Kumiko with her own smile.

"Yeah, or maybe karaoke," added Mina with her own excited smile.

"Girls, girls, I think whatever we think up, we'll do it!"

"Well, whatever you do, just think about Karina, not about your other fiancées!" remarked Emi with the other girls nodding.

"I swear, Karina deserves it, and since she talks about you so highly, you better show her a good time," replied Kumiko with the girls nodding.

"Yeah, now go take your bath, don't want you to smell sweaty for your date," concluded Mina as she pulled Ranma out his room.

He hopped up from the floor and walked toward the bathroom with a frown on his face. He couldn't believe even though he wasn't engaged to the trio, they were especially demanding to him like Akane or Ukyo or Shampoo. Nevertheless as he thought about it, Karina and him never really had the chance to go anywhere other than the Tendo Dojo, her house, and school. He never even considered her for a date until her friends cornered him about it. As he thought more and more about Karina, he felt that she deserved to have fun with him and they both deserved to be acquainted again and discuss about the past before she moved to Nerima.

As the trio left the Tendo Dojo, they saw glimpses of Ranma's other fiancées.

"Oh, no, here comes the violent fiancées," stated Emi as they were walking toward them.

"Hey, Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo," greeted Mina with a fake smile.

"What you doing here?" Asked Shampoo, though the other two girls thought the same.

"We were trying to see if Ranma was really gonna dump poor Karina," stated Kumiko shielding herself biting her thumbnail.

"I still can't believe he's gonna break his engagement with Karina. He won't bulge! Poor Karina, she'll be heart broken," told Emi placing her hand on her chest.

"Come on, girls, maybe we can plan something for Karina! We probably can cheer her up somehow!" proclaimed Mina clasping her hand together as the other girls nodded.

"Wait, if you do, please invite me. I don't want Karina to think that I think badly of her," told Akane before the girls could run off.

"Yeah, me too. I feel bad for the girl, now I think about it. I mean we've been so hard on her since she came," replied Ukyo placing her hand on her hip.

"Ayaii, Shampoo think so, too. She no bad girl," replied the amazon with a frown of her own.

"Maybe, but we'll have to see. Wouldn't want the girls who are still fiancées to Ranma make Karina cry at the shindig," stated as the three girl walked away from the Tendo.

As Karina's friends walked away from the fiancées, they silently giggled and smiled widely. They were surprised that they could make the girls feel sorry for Karina, but they deserve the treachery and lies for now. Karina has only been at Nerima for a month and the girls have been walking all over her. It was time they just saw who Karina was and stop attacking at her because she is Ranma's other fiancée.

Akane look at the okonomiyaki chef and the amazon as they both carried the same face filled with pity. Now that they thought about it, was it wise to ask Ranma about such a difficult task? Usually they wouldn't care at bugging him with questions about the other two, but Karina was about to get the news of her life, and since she has been here, she hasn't really been too pushy.

"Shampoo thinks she going to go to work. I see Ranma later," stated the lavender hair girl.

"Yeah, Akane, tell Ranma honey I said hello. Can't be botherin' him about this. He might just get mad at me," added Ukyo as she followed Shampoo down the street.

Akane walked into her house as she saw her family in the dining room.

"Akane, hello, how was school today?" asked Kasumi as she placed a bowl of Japanese pickle and rice on the table for her.

"It was fine. Where's Ranma?" asked Akane looking over to Nabiki and her father who just shrugged.

"You dirty Lecher!! Come back here!"

At the sound of Ranma's voice, Happosai sprung onto the table then out of the dojo to the yard as Ran-chan followed in pursuit with nothing on but his boxers.

"Aw, come on, Ranma, it was only a joke. I just wanted to pinch your breasts, that's all," chuckled Happosai jumping away from the redhead.

"You'll get what you deserve once I catch you, pervert!" Jumping from Happosai's previous spots, Ranma didn't realize that he was even indecent since her breasts were bouncing everywhere. Akane glowed bright red as she followed outside, picked up a huge rock, and threw it at Ranma and Happosai.

"Akane, whatcha do that for?" Asked Ran-chan as he delivered a punch to the passed out old man.

"As a girl, I wish you would a little decency to us and realize that you're being SHOWN!" Ran-chan looked down at her breast and felt red in the face. She always forgets when she turns into a girl that he had breasts. Soon enough, Kasumi came calmly to his side and poured a kettle of hot water on the redhead's head.

"Thanks, Kasumi," he thanked as he picked up the old man and knocked him out again.

"Ranma, don't you have somewhere to be soon," stated Akane as she was walking back into the dojo.

"Someplace…Oh! Right, the Yamada's," murmured the martial artist as he ran into the dojo.

"The Yamada's? Why do you need to go there, Ranma? Do you have plans with that Karina girl?" asked Soun, as his head appeared huge and monstrous.

"I-I have to take care of my annulment with Karina. I-I can't handle four engagements," replied Ranma as he swiftly ran into his room.

As he slammed the door, the Tendo and the Saotome stared at one another. Was he really annulling Karina's engagement? Soun, deep down, felt a feeling of joy as he felt the Saotome and Tendo dojo was becoming a reality one step at a time. On the other hand, Nodoka and Genma looked quite puzzled since their son showed no annoyance or trouble with Karina as much as his other fiancées. Akane, in her own silence, felt a pang of guilt and pity, as she knew this would be one of the hardest things for Ranma to go through.

Time passed as Ranma walked on the fence to Karina's home. He looked over his shoulder a couple of times to make sure he was not being followed. He knew if he were caught with Karina on a date instead of annulling their engagement, he would be in a deeper mess than he already was. Still, he really thought that everyone else should mind their own business and leave them on reliving old times and getting to know how their lives were now. It has been ages since Karina and himself have talked alone.

As he reached the Yamada's house, he looked over and saw another opening, which looked like a dojo connected to their home. It resembled the Tendo Dojo, but he didn't remember the dojo there the last time he was there.

"Hello!" Ranma shouted as he jumped into the dojo.

Just as he yelled out, Gang ran toward him with great speed and shouted, "Mountain top lake jab!"

With that, the older male swiftly delivered two punches to Ranma's arms, which made the young boy fall back.

"Heh, Ranma Saotome, I'm surprised you didn't miss those two hits," spoke Gang sweeping his ponytail over his shoulder.

"Well, you surprised me, but I'm not out for the count!" With that Ranma sprinted towards the older man and swung her foot under Gang, which made him fall to the ground. Once on the ground, Gang tried to flip back up, but Ranma kicked the older man back down with Ranma sitting on the man's chest.

"My, my, you got me, Saotome. Fine, you win this time," replied Gang with a chuckle.

"Men, they never stop fighting," stated Miharu as she walked out.

"Hello, Ms. Yamada," greeted Ranma as he bowed.

"My, I never knew you to be so formal, Ranma. Please, call me Aunt Miharu for now," replied the pink haired woman with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am. Um, is Karina ready?"

"Yeah, horse boy, I am."

As Ranma, Gang, and Miharu turned to the door, Karina walked out slowly towards them. The pink hair girl wore a long sleeve baby blue shirt with a v-neck and a black skirt with matching blue legging and black sandals. Her hair was worn up in a nice neat bun with long strands of hair pouring down on each side of her head. She nervously looked down, keeping her hands in front of her.

"Karina, you look beautiful!" chirped Gang with a wide smile as Miharu just elbowed him in the gut.

"Honey, we don't need you saying anything. It is for Ranma to say since she is his fiancée," replied Miharu as she looked over to the blushing teens.

"K-Karina, h-here," was all Ranma could say as he gave the girl the beautiful flowers.

"Horse boy, they're beautiful. Thank you," replied Karina observing the delicate plants in her hand.

"Aw, they look like us when we were their ages," chuckled Gang with Miharu shaking her hand.

"Here, Karina, I'll take those from you. You two just go on your way and have a good time," stated Miharu as she took the flowers.

The two teens looked at each other once more then at Gang and Miharu with a nod in reply. As the two left the Yamada dojo, Ranma observed once more at the pink hair girl beside her. He always knew Karina was cute ever since they were younger, but Karina showed such a feminine look as a woman instead of a martial artist in training.

"What are you looking at, horse boy?" asked Karina feeling a little bit paranoid.

"Nothing! I- I mean, you look a little different since well, you look so girly," stated Ranma placing his arms behind his head.

"Well, I didn't mean to! I mean my mom picked it out, and I was just trying to look nice!"

"Hey, don't get so offensive! I mean you look really cute! But you always do look cute."

Karina looked down at the ground as she felt her face beginning to redden. Ranma finally really said she was cute. She only heard this once from him, and the last time was so long ago. Recently she felt just so plain, though she knew she was a looker, but not enough to make Ranma look at her. Now it was different.

She giggled softly, and smiled up to him. At first Ranma was caught off guard with such a reaction, but then he really looked at her glowing face and felt her hand slowly grabbed his arm. It wasn't a bad touch at all. It actually felt nice and exciting.

"So, where you wanna go first?" Asked Karina leaning a little into his arm.

"How about we go get some food. I know a great sushi place around here that you would love," stated Ranma pointing the way down the road.

With that the two began walking, but as they began to walk, a boy with a yellow and black outfit with a matching bandana in his hair slowly walked out of some bushes. He dragged a large box out of the bushes then looked at a large map closely observing each part of it.

"Okay, so if I'm correct this time, I should be right in China," stated the boy looking around until his eyes fell on Ranma.

The two martial artists locked eyes for a moment until Ryoga saw Karina clasped on Ranma's arm. With that, the lost boy began to feel his anger rise as he crumpled the paper in his hand.

"Ranma SAOTOME!!!!!!!" yelled the boy.

"He picks a wonderful time to come back," muttered Ranma as Karina let her hands fall off of the pigtail boy.

"Who's that, Ranma?" asked Karina letting her feet fall into a defending stance.

"You don't deserve to be engaged to Akane. You are nothing but a cheater, and I will not stand for it!" With that, Ryoga picks up his umbrella and sprints toward Ranma.

"Hey!" shouted Karina as she got in front of Ranma.

"Stupid, what are you doing!" asked Ranma trying to push Karina out the way.

Ryoga brought down his umbrella to the ground as Karina jumped up before he could strike and landed on top of it. Ryoga looked up at her as Ranma prepared himself in a fighting stance.

"Get off my umbrella, girl," stated Ryoga as he looked at Karina, but all she could do was smile.

"Hm? My, you don't want to make me mad, hun," stated Karina with a wide smile.

"Karina, get out the way!" shouted Ranma, but all she did was give him a warning glare.

"Now, let's see. This is my first date with my FIANCE and I will not have the likes of you messing it up!" shouted Karina as she jumped off the umbrella.

"What are you going to do then?" asked Ryoga looking toward her in question.

With that, Karina walked up to him, gently placed a loving hand on his shoulder, walked behind him, and kicked him far into the air.

"Karina…" spoke Ranma as he walked up to her.

"Now, let's get back to that date!" chirped the mountain girl as she took hold of his arm again.