Chapter 11: Early Evening

Akane, Sayuri, and Yuka walked up from the train station, all carrying packages. Akane had her dress box in her arms. They were laughing and giggling the entire time. "I love that dress, Akane," Sayuri was saying. "Any man who saw a woman in that dress would fall in love with her immediately."

"Ranma won't know what hit him," agreed Yuka.

"That was sort of what I planned," smirked Akane.

Suddenly, a light flashed across Akane's eyes twice. She tensed for the ambush. Sure enough Shampoo darted between Sayuri and Yuka and tossed Yuka toward Akane. Akane dropped her package to catch Yuka. Ukyo snatched up the dress box and ran away with it. Shampoo paused before she followed Ukyo. "So predictable," the Amazon sneered, and then ran off.

A moment of rage flowed up and dissipated at the sight of that sneer. "I have got to control my emotions better than that," thought Akane. Then the midnight-haired girl suffered a moment of regret and wrestled with herself.

"Don't do it, Akane. They deserve this," Yuka told her.

"Akane, come on. Even Yuka thinks they deserved to be punished," Sayuri said.

"Oh hell," Akane muttered, and then tore off after the two fleeing girls. "Shampoo! Ukyo! Don't do this! Please stop!" All she heard was laughter flowing back to her. Akane was conscious of Yuka and Sayuri chasing after her.

Shampoo glanced behind her. "Damn, when did Akane become so fast," she thought. She yelled at Ukyo: "Violent girl is gaining on us. Head to Cat Café before she catches us!"

Ukyo did not want to go to the Cat Café. If the trio thought any man would love any woman in this dress, then that woman would be her. But as she glanced behind her, she saw that Shampoo was right. Akane would be upon them quickly. She'd either have to seek refuge with Cologne or destroy the dress anyway. Maybe she could salvage something a little later.

Both of the dress snatchers flew into the Cat Café. Shampoo shouted: "Grandmother! SHIELD!" Instantly, every window and door in the restaurant slammed shut. When Akane tried to rip the door open, it felt like trying to move a mountain.

Akane hammered on the door. "Ukyo! It's a trap! Don't open that package!" Akane felt like she was banging on a rock cliff face. Sayuri and Yuka were getting closer.

Inside, Cologne was smiling as she greeted the two thieves. "Well, well. You got the dress. Let's open it up and see what it looks like."

From the outside, Akane saw the soundless flash. She was startled as Ranma scooped her up and leapt away. "We are leaving NOW!" he yelled. Mousse dropped down in front of Sayuri and Yuka and wrapped an arm about the waist on each of them with a quick apology. Then, he practically tossed both young ladies over his shoulders and bolted. Somehow, the girls managed not to let go of the fake packages they carried.

From two blocks away, the five teenagers watched as the stink bomb smoke poured from every crack and crevice of the Cat Café. Mousse looked at his home. "I wonder if the Doc will let me crash with him for a couple of days?" he commented nonchalantly. The other four looked at him stunned for a few moments, and then began laughing.

"If he doesn't, you can stay with us," Akane told him.

"It does wear off after a couple of days, correct?" came a voice from behind them as Konatsu materialized out of the shadows.

Ranma grinned at him. "C'mon Konatsu. You know us. It's not our style to do anything too permanent."

"Besides," added Mousse, "my stuff is in there."

"Well, I cannot say it wasn't deserved. I thought something was up, but they didn't listen." The ninja shrugged his shoulders. "But I have to know, is there really a dress, and is there really a date?" He then noted that Ranma hadn't set Akane down yet. "Oh, I see," he said as both of them blushed deeply (and Ranma still didn't set Akane down). "Congratulations – and it's about damn time," he said warmly, which started another round of laughter.

Down the street, they heard the door to the Cat Café slam open, so they all stepped back out of sight. Cologne, Shampoo, and Ukyo all staggered out coughing a bit. In Cologne's hands was the empty dress box. Written on the inside of the box were the vivid words:

"LEAVE US ALONE!"

The message was signed by Ranma and Akane.

Back at the Tendo's house, the five teenagers walked into the main room to see Daisuke, Hiroshi, Tofu, and Kasumi waiting for them. Kasumi had prepared some light snacks for everyone instead of dinner, given how much folks had eaten at Mr. Rin's establishment. Soun and Genma were out drinking somewhere (even though it was early). Nodoka was doing the food shopping for the family, under the belief that Kasumi and Tofu wanted some time alone.

"Did the stink bombs work as planned?" Hiroshi asked.

"Of course they did!" Daisuke answered sounding offended. "The only real question is did we get both the targets?"

"Yep," Ranma answered. "And a bonus – we got Cologne too."

"Outrageous!" the two exclaimed at once.

"Pranking the old lady is surely a small miracle," continued Daisuke. "Too bad I can't really brag about it."

"It's best that you let Cologne think that Ranma and I are the only ones involved," Akane agreed, sitting down on the couch.

"Oh, I think she'll figure out there were others involved quickly enough, but she won't know which others. She already thinks the town is turning against her. Let her believe that further," Tofu commented. "Maybe she'll finally get the hint and leave."

"I wouldn't hold my breath about that," Nabiki said as she walked in holding several garment bags.

"Where's Ms. Hinako?" Kasumi asked.

"Oh, she decided it was time to call it a day once she saw Akane's dress. Besides, her home is on the other side of town center. She also mentioned it was time to feed her fish," Nabiki responded.

"You got my dress?" Akane asked hopefully.

With a smirk, Nabiki looked at the garments bags. "Let's see here; Yuka's dress from Ginza," Nabiki said while she handed a bag to Yuka. "Sayuri's dress from Ginza," she continued handing another to Sayuri. "And Akane's dress from Takeda's," she said while dangling the last bag just out of reach.

Akane shot up and grabbed it laughing. "I'm not five any more, big sister. You cannot just hold it out of reach."

Meanwhile, Yuka's and Sayuri's eyes got really big. "Takeda's? You got that dress?" Sayuri asked.

At Akane's nod, the two girls turned to Ranma and shouted "You are so done for, Karate Kid!" Then they grabbed Akane and ran upstairs with her and the dresses. Ranma stood there looking stunned and concerned.

Nabiki moved on however. She went over to where Tofu was sitting and did a deep formal curtsey. "Hail, oh great one! Never had I imagined a con where the victim willing hanged themselves, over and over again. It's a shame I'm giving up the game. I could have learned a lot from you."

"Spare me, Nabiki," Tofu said holding out his hand. "All I did was arrange for a 10% commission on moving those clearance dresses."

"Hah!" Nabiki all but barked out. "You also told the clerks how to get the full price for those dresses by saying that a dress 'on hold' was not for sale. So Kodachi had to 'bribe' the manager by offering full price for the dress. And some of them got even higher than that. Kodachi was desperate to buy up anything Akane expressed an interest in. At one store, the dress Akane chose had ten copies on the racks. Kodachi bought the ten copies at the clearance price and then the one 'on hold' at full price. She cannot even return them because the clerks warned her even the full prices dresses were still clearance items."

"How did you know Kodachi would do that?" Kasumi asked.

"Kodachi's not as unique as she might wish. I've seen her type many times before. Besides, the old adage 'A fool and her money are soon parted' is quite true," he answered, still holding his hand out.

Nabiki rose from her curtsey and placed a stack of cash in his hand. "Here is the remainder after settling up with Mr. Rin and paying Takeda's. I also took my 10% as agreed."

Tofu leaned forward and immediately created three stacks of 10000 yen. He folded each stack and tossed one to Mousse, Hiroshi, and Daisuke.

"Hold on Doc! I was in this for friendship," Daisuke exclaimed. "Well, that and the chance to chow down." Hiroshi nodded in agreement.

"Yes," acknowledged Tofu, "Me too, but we did much better than expected. It's all right for friends to share – just don't expect the sharing to be quite this good next time around." He winked at the lads.

Mousse tossed it back. "Keep it. But I could really use a place to stay for a couple of days."

Tofu tossed it back again. "Done. But you have to keep it. Use it the next time you want a hamburger." Mousse laughed a little at that. Tofu then made three more stacks, folded them and handed to them Nabiki. "Keep one for yourself and give these two to Sayuri and Yuka when you go upstairs."

"How do you know I'm going to go upstairs?" Nabiki asked cheekily.

"Because the dress is upstairs, and it won't be down again until Saturday."

"Very true," Nabiki said with another smirk. Then she turned and ran up the stairs.

Tofu began counting out a larger pile. Kasumi said "I'll break your hands."

"No, you won't," Tofu responded. "If you want me to take my meals here, then you have to let me contribute towards the food bill. I eat almost as much as Ranma." He held out the money toward her as they stared each other in the eye.

"Fine," she said eventually. "But it's three meals a day from here on in. No arguments!"

"Deal," he agreed as she took the money.

As he put the rest of the money away, he spoke to Ranma: "I'm holding on to your share. It's going to fund some of the activities next week. Akane's share is in that dress."

"Hey, I got no complaints Doc," Ranma responded. "Akane's very happy right now. Maybe I can talk her into showing me this dress."

"Oh no, you won't," Kasumi stated. "You're not going to be here."

"Huh?"

"My little sister has obtained an evening dress for your date. You're leaving right now to get a proper suit," she said.

"But I already have a suit," Ranma argued.

The look on Kasumi face made Ranma feel about five years old. She countered: "First off, you will not romance my sister using the same suit you used on Shampoo. Second: you've grown a few centimeters since then – on the outside at least. Third: I couldn't get the garbage smell out of that suit, so I burned it. You're going out right now."

Mousse spun Ranma toward the door. Tofu, Hiroshi, and Daisuke rose from the couch grinning.

"Let's go, Grasshopper." Tofu said.

"I'm going to kill him," was Ranma's last thought as they dragged him out the door.