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After the Fall - Chapter 6, The Dating Game
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Kuno emerged from the bath, having soothed his tired muscles with the hot water. He had a few bruises from the training, but none were too severe. He dreaded the upcoming training schedule that Nabiki had planned for him; bakusai tenketsu in two weeks, followed by kachuu tenshin amaguriken and hiryu shoten ha sometime after that, with fully offensive ki attacks coming in a few months. To be truthful, he missed the days of relying upon his sword, but had been made painfully aware by training sessions such as that day's that his total reliance upon the bokken was a severe limit to his improvement as a martial artist.

As he dried off, Ranma entered the bath carrying a suit.

"Hey, Nabiki said to bring this in for you to wear. Something about you two having something to do tonight."

"Ah, yes, I did ask her out to a date tonight. It was somewhat in jest, as she had just defeated me in a sparring match, but if she is serious about the matter I might as well. She is quite attractive, after all."

"Whoa, Kuno, don't go getting too easy with the compliments there. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were sweet on her or something."

Kuno tossed his head and laughed, then put on the suit.

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Kuno walked down the stairs, and waited at the front door. A moment later, Akane entered, wearing a beautiful blue dress, and announced, "Kuno Tatewaki, I present to you your date for this evening. My sister, Tendo Nabiki."

Nabiki walked in, and Kuno's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She was wearing a dark red dress, elegantly cut. The slit on the right showed more than enough of her extremely well-shaped leg, while the low cut of the top was nearly giving him a nosebleed.

Kuno closed his eyes, shaking his head a little to remove impure thoughts. He had been sure that Nabiki was by far the most beautiful of the Tendo sisters, but the image before him was simply exquisite.

"So, Tendo Nabiki, since you appear to have arranged everything for this evening, where is it that we will be going?"

"Now, now, Kuno-chan, you should know that I don't give away more information than I have to. Besides, we have to wait for the other couple."

"What? You mean to say that our first date is to be a double date?"

"Of course, Kuno-chan. Besides, there's an important occasion tonight, and they'd be there anyway."

As Nabiki finished teasing Kuno, Ranma came down the stairs. He was wearing a simple white collared shirt, sleeveless, with gold buttons and a gold-threaded dragon design on the back. He wore white pants and black shoes.

"Tendo Ranma, I present to you your date for this evening. My sister, Tendo Akane." Nabiki said, giggling a little.

"Thanks, Nabiki. We've met," Ranma replied, taking his wife's arm. "So, can we go now? This is one event I don't want to miss."

Nabiki took Kuno's arm and led him out the door. As it turned out, the dinner place was not too far away. It was oddly familiar, too. Kuno's jaw nearly dropped for the second time that night as he read the sign.

"The Nekohanten?"

Ranma smiled, "Yep. Shampoo and Mousse got in a couple days ago with their kids, and have been fixing up the place. Tonight's opening night, so everyone decided to show up and welcome them back."

As the group sat down at the nearest available table, Kuno noticed that the reopening had nearly packed the restuarant. The Hibikis were there, with a travel-worn couple who were probably Ryoga's parents. Little children were being entertained in a corner by a man in flowing white robes who appeared to be conducting a magic show. The chef, woman with her purple hair tied back into a long, full ponytail, was busily preparing multiple bowls of various Ramen dishes while two rather pert teenage girls in traditional chinese garb waited tables.

Ranma recognized the magician first, and shouted "Yo Mousse, heads up!" as he tossed a chopstick directly at the magician's head. Mousse grabbed the chopstick, to everyone's delight (and a bit of applause).

"Hey, hey, my old student's slowing down a little, looks like. What say we give these little kids a show worth seeing?"

"What did you have in mind, Ranma-Sensei?"

"Hehe. Seeing as there's not much traffic right now, how about we do a little light sparring demonstration for the kids?"

"Sounds fun." Mousse turned his head, and looked directly at his wife. "Shampoo, we're taking the show outside for a bit."

"Ai ya, Ranma come already? You no get new clothes dirty, okay?"

"Just some light sparring, Shampoo, no need to worry. A little more entertainment for the kids."

Most of the young kids went outside. Kuno and Nabiki returned to their table.

One of the two teenage girls came over to the table. "Greetings and welcome to Nekohanten. I is Lin-lin, your waitress."

Nabiki smiled. "Hello Lin-lin, you appear to have grown up well. How are things in China?"

Lin-lin blinked, looking Nabiki and Kuno over very carefully. "Lin-lin know you?"

"Tendo Nabiki, sister of Akane and Ranma. You came and visited our Dojo a few years ago."

Lin-lin's face brightened as she recognized Nabiki at last. "Ai ya, you came to opening? Where Ranma?"

"Outside, sparring with Mousse, entertaining the little children."

Shampoo noticed her little sister's slacking. "Lin-lin get back to work, restuarant is too too busy to chat now!", she scolded.

Lin-lin's face fell as she realized she had been caught goofing off. "So what you have tonight?"

"We'll go with four bowls of the house special. Akane and Ranma should be in shortly."

Kuno blinked as four steaming bowls of ramen appeared on the table, followed about a second later by Ranma and Akane's arrival. Kuno attempted to join in the conversation a few times, but quickly realized that listening was a far better choice. The conversation wound its way through the events of the past years and the upcoming martial arts tournaments that the Dojo was sending representatives to. About halfway through the meal, Mousse came up to Ranma and handed him a small package. Before returning to entertaining the children, he added "We'll see you on Monday then, Sensei."

Nabiki gave Ranma an inquisitive look. "And just what was that about?"

Ranma smiled. "Well the package is gifts for the family, from China... and not only Mousse but Shampoo, Lin-lin and Lun-lun have all signed up for an advanced class. You don't think Cologne would let two violent teenage Amazons out of her sight without a proper surrogate teacher being available, do ya?"

Kuno smiled. He hoped he'd be able to join in that exercise. The Chinese Amazons were truly warriors of high skill, from whom he could learn much.

Before he had really had much time to think, the meal was over. Nabiki grabbed his hand, and dragged him towards the door. "See you guys around; Kuno-chan and I have a few more things to do."

Akane and Ranma waved. "See you later, Nabiki," yelled Akane, "don't stay out too late."

Ranma chimed in, "Yeah, tomorrow morning shouldn't be too late."

Giggling, Nabiki left the Nekohanten with Kuno in tow.

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"We're here."

"Oh, good. Then perhaps you could inform me where 'here' is exactly, Tendo Nabiki?"

"Try looking around, Kuno-chan. We're at the movie theater, and they're showing this nifty movie I've been dying to see."

Kuno sighed. "Lead on, fair maiden."

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Kuno wasn't having much fun watching the movie. Then again, he wasn't really watching the movie.

Nabiki had snuggled up against him early in the movie, making herself all too comfortable. She had a deathgrip on his arm as she cried into his shoulder during the part where the hero of the story died. "It's so sad... *SOB* all that money, burning up in the bank fire...*SOB* it's such a waste...*SOB*"

Kuno, for his part, was fighting a losing battle to keep from looking towards Nabiki and thereby getting far too good a view down her dress.

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When Kuno and Nabiki finally returned home, it was just past midnight.

"Shh, Kuno, let's not wake anyone... if you're really good, I'll tuck you in."

Kuno just drooled, as Nabiki had taken away his ability to say anything coherent about five minutes previously with a sizzling kiss.

A cheery "Welcome back," came from the dining room.

"Sis?" inquired Nabiki, "What are you doing up this late, Kasumi?"

"Well, truthfully, I'd rather be asleep... but Ranma and Akane kept me up."

"Oh."

Kuno's brain finally unfroze. "What happened?"

Nabiki went straight to the point. "Are they still at it, sis?"

"I don't think so. They seem to have quieted down."

"Fine. Let's go Kuno-chan, time to sleep. You coming too, sis?"

"I'll just finish my tea first, thank you."

Nabiki and Kuno went upstairs and each went through their nightly ritual. When Kuno got to his room, Nabiki was already there waiting. She tucked him in, then gave him another kiss. "You're so cute when you're incoherent like that, Kuno-chan..."

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About 3 AM, Kuno awoke to a loud noise. He was about to bolt from his room to find the source, when he began to make out the voice and words in the noise.

Who would have thought that Akane Tendo was a screamer?