The Rooftop
by R. Martin
Disclaimer: I strongly doubt that anyone from Kitty or Viz or one of the other corporations is ever going to read this. Neither will Rumiko Takahashi. That would be a great honor but, hey, what are the chances? Or Bruce Springsteen, for that matter. Highly likely. So, forget about the disclaimer.
Akane sat on her bed and looked at the wall. It was a nice wall. White, spotless and plain. There were no pictures or posters on that wall, unlike in the rooms of most of the girls, or rather women, of her age. The only thing on that wall that wasn't wall was a little window and the light-switch. But that's it. It was all very Zen. Akane liked it that way. A while ago she had found out that memories can be as much of a burden as they can be a pleasure. And she had decided to travel light. So whenever she noticed that her memories began to rise from their ordered slumber, Akane sat on her bed and watched that blank wall and tried to remember not to remember. Tough luck though that she had so many of them. Memories, that is. It was like trying to control a herd of lemmings on a suicide dash. And though Akane hated to admit it, she always had that little problem with control. Or maybe she had to much of it. You see, maybe if she had lost control at the right moment, they might have... Just as Akane was about to lose her inner struggle once again, there was a knock on the door of her room and, before she even had a chance to react, it already swung open. Barging into the room came Hayashibara Noriko, age twenty-two, student of management and sociology, and self-declared party-queen. It had been quite the surprise on campus when Miss 'Let's boogie through the night' and Miss 'Nah', maybe tomorrow, but thanks anyway' had hit it of on first sight. Well, some mused, maybe it wasn't so surprising. After all those two were something like direct opposites, two sides of the same coin. Where Akane was quiet, Noriko was loud. Where Akane liked to work out almost to total exhaustion, Noriko shied away from any sportive activity whenever she could get away with it. Where Akane liked to call it a night, Noriko just got started. And further and forth. In a way it was a perfect symbiosis. Between the two of them, Akane managed at least some kind of social life and Noriko managed at least some semblance of studying. So Akane wasn't terribly surprised when Noriko burst in like a demon on the loose and called for her attention. (Not that a demon would have startled her too much, but then again, she had a lot of experience with stuff like that.)
'Hey Akane, shape up, we're going out!'
Now, Akane could have complained about the impolite entry or pointed out that she would be completely contend to watch her wall for the rest of this fine evening, but she knew from past experiences that when Noriko used those very words then, come rain or high water, they were going to go out. So, with only a small grunt, she got up from her sitting position to greet her friend.
'Hi Noriko, come in, why don't'cha.?'
'No need to get sarcastic Akane. You know that it's my duty to save you from your depressions now and then and tonight there's a concert, so bottoms up 'cause we're going to have some serious fun!' While she delivered her little speech, Noriko had stormed to the closet and was already sorting through Akane`s clothes to find a suiting ensemble for tonight's activities. Akane, long used to her friends antics didn't even try to suppress her smile.
'You don't mind if I take a shower first?'
"No, but hurry, or we're going to be late for the show!' came the absentminded answer from her self-acclaimed 'fashion-counselor'.
Minding the advice, Akane made haste in the bathroom and came back a couple of minutes later, drying her hair with a towel while giving the selection on the bed a 'once over'. It consisted of a classic 'T-shirt and tight jeans'-combo, a dark-green blouse with a rather short black skirt and, alternatively, a light, black dress that also ended clearly above her knees.
'Say,' she asked, suspicion creeping into her voice. This won't escalate into another of your manhunts, will it?'
'Manhunts? Me?' Noriko, hand over the heart, asked in mocked indignation, 'Why should I go out hunting for men when they come crawling from all directions anyway? Or do you mean..,' she turned, beaming a thousand-megawatt-smile at the girl standing in front of the bed, ' hunting a guy for you? My Akane, what a novel idea!' Then the lights got switched out and her facial expression turned into a frown. 'But wait...' she continued in a overly troubled tone of voice. 'Didn't I try that before? And correct me if I'm right, but didn't those occasion turn out as, let's phrase it carefully.. total and utterly embarrassing.. catastrophes?'
'Phew, drop the act,' Akane shot back with a smirk as she watched herself in the mirror, the black dress pressed to her front for inspection. 'It wasn't my fault that this so-called quarterback couldn't stomach a little tap.'
'A little tap?' Noriko replied while handing her the blouse and shirt combo. 'The poor guy almost crashed through the wall and only because he hinted at the fact that you might be acting a little, wittle bit macho?'
Akane sighed as she exchanged the dress for the combo. 'Well, hit a sour spot there, you know?'
'I know but it's hard for a guy not to,' Noriko remarked 'considering how many of those you've got.'
'Pwee,' Akane retorted, throwing a raspberry over her shoulder,' here I thought you've come to cheer me up and not chew me out... say' she continued after discarding the combo for the jeans and T-shirt she choose in 99% of all cases anyway, 'what was this about a concert you mentioned? What kind of band you're dragging me to this time? Not one of those dancefloor-things again?'
'Ah, the band!' Noriko exclaimed happily 'It's just one of them student bands, you know, probably never heard of them and they'll have dissolved by same time next year anyway, but that frontman of theirs is supposed to be way-too-cute..'
'Norikooo' came a low growl from inside the T-shirt, 'the important thing about bands is usually the music!'
'Rubbish,' came the unfazed reply, 'the only important thing about bands is the frontman's butt. Or maybe the bass-player's butt. Or the drummer's butt, but usually you can't see that...'
'NORIKOOO...!'
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They arrived at the concert with some time to spare, thanks to Akane's usual way of getting through crowds (head-first). It took place in a small club near campus and all in all it was pretty crowded with an audience of about 300. And of cause, two pretty girls in a Saturday-evening crowd got pushed against by boys who, with Akane being one of those girls, would limp for the rest of the evening. So, with her temper starting to flare like a firefly with hiccups, she sure hoped that the music would be worth the trouble. She didn't have to wait long because, if nothing else, the band was at least punctual. The light got dimmed and the first chords of electrical guitars started to waft through the room, soon followed by a bassline and drums. It simply played for a minute or two until someone stepped up to the microphone and addressed the crowd.
'Well, hi there folks. To tell the truth, I'm pretty surprised. We're playing at this place for the third time straight and it's still packed. Tokyo 's got to be larger than I thought.'
This caused a round of laughter and whistles, but then again, concert-crowds are predictable that way.
'Anyway, I think I recognize one or two faces here. Hey you..' the guy on stage pointed at someone in front of him, '.. yeah, the one with that red shirt, you've been here yesterday, right?' There was an answering shout and more laughter. 'Yeah, right, whatever... Hey guy's,' he turned towards the rest of the band, 'seems we've got our first fan! Say hello to your fan guys!' There was some goodhearted shouts from the stage and more cheers from the crowd. When the general ruckus calmed down the frontman grabbed the mike once again.
'Okay, so that's one down but we've still got millions to go. Let's hit it boy's!' And so the show started, although Akane hardly noticed. While the crowd boiled all around her she just stood there with a shocked expression on her face.
'Hey, Akane!' Noriko called over the din, 'Did I promise too much? Ain't he a real cutey-pie?' When no answer came forth she turned to look at her slack-jawed companion.
'Akane?' she tried again, waving a hand in front of her face only to have it brushed away absentmindedly by the distracted girl.
'Ooo,' she finally cooed with an impish grin on her face, 'finally gotcha, huh?'.
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The show went on for about an hour and a half, maybe two. The band seemed to be in rare form, with the frontman taking 'Rock and Roll' literally. He zoomed, jumped and danced across the stage, the walls and, in one case, the ceiling without breaking a sweat or loosing his breath. And this seemingly endless energy he displayed in his show carried well into his songs, and the audience too. Soon, the room was full of whistles, clapping hands and people picking up the chorus and singing, or in most cases shouting, along with vigor. All in all, there were only a couple of instances for anyone in the room to catch their breath, mainly a couple of intros and one or two slower songs. Considering this, it didn't come as a big surprise that the audience still had other ideas than calling it a night when the band proclaimed that they'd be playing the last batch of songs. So after the guys on stage played their final song, the crowd called for an encore and got it. And a second one after that. Then, under cheers and whistles, the band left the stage but still the crowd went on. They roared and shouted for a minute, then two, then three. Finally a single spotlight lit the stage and illuminated the band's frontman as he walked to the microphone once more. Instantly, the room went quiet.
'You know, the management asked me to perform a little crowd-control before the cops show up, so here I am.' He said this accompanied by a dry laugh as he sat down on a convenient bar-stool.
'If they knew me at all, they would have rather asked,' he hesitated for a moment, as if searching for a appropriate comparison, 'dunno, maybe a drunken monkey with a lighter, know what I mean? Ya see, I usually rather cause the commotion than clean up the mess. '
The crowd responded with laughter to this.
'Anyway, I ain't that good with words if I can't write them down first. Learned that the hard way a while ago.' He shrugged his shoulder after a second of slightly unfocused staring at the stage-floor. Facing the crowed again he put on a roguish smile that made half the females in the crowd get even weaker in the knees than they already were from exhaustion. The other half simply being too far from the stage to fall under it's effect.
'Don't worry, I'm not gonna bore ya with my old stories or something. Gonna sing you a song though. This one goes a while back. Ya see, when I showed up at college they bunked me with Yoshi, that's the guy playing the guitar by the way, and hey, there was hardly any room for me 'cause Yoshi's got everything stacked with his CD's. There were millions, I swear! I guess that's why they bunked me with him because, ya see, all I had was a backpack so it somehow evened out. Anyway, Yoshi had that gigantic stack of CD's, but still, day in, day out, he would only play this one album. ' Turning his head to somewhere of-stage he called out.' Hey Yoshi! Remember that one? 'Bruce Springsteen live'- something?' The head of the guitarist appeared from behind a curtain and called something unintelligible to the crowd before presenting him with a very picturesque raspberry and vanishing back into the darkness. With a laugh the frontman turned back to the audience and continued his story.
'So, like I said, he played this stupid CD up and down and up and down. Hey, I love Springsteen, but hearing his music 24/7 made me want to smash that stupid stereo and bonk Yoshi a good one. And the worst part,.. the worst part of it was,.. Ya ever had that problem that ya heard a song and, whatever ya do, ya can't get it out of ya head again? Basically, that's what happened. There was this one song, it's called 'The River', and I couldn't get it out of my stupid head. And that was pretty bad 'cause I had a couple of things bugging me an' whenever I wanted to sit down there was 'bang'' he gestured with his hands for empathysis, 'this stupid song. The funny part was that I didn't understand half of the lyrics 'cause frankly, my English really sucked! So I went and got me a translation 'cause, ya see, I wanted to know what Bruce kept singing about up there,' with that he tapped one of his temples, ' and when I finally read the lyrics I thought, man,.. , man that's too close. 'Cause what he sang there was pretty much how I was feeling at the time. So I, dunno, .. I started working with that translation and tried to turn it into something ya can sing without sounding like a complete dork. Didn't work though. So I ended up throwing the whole thing in the bin and made up my own lyrics. That was about the time when Yoshi caught me singing one of the first drafts in the shower and he said he liked it and anyway, his new band was looking for a singer so maybe I'd like to give it a try. Well, for my part, I believe that he was plain desperate, but hey, it's fun so I ain't complaining. So, in a way, it's been this song that got me started on the road to stardom but I've never performed it before, x'cept in the shower, of cause. But tonight, .. I don't know,.. tonight I feel like introducing it to a larger public than my shower-gel and my sponge. Let's see how ya like it..'
With that he put a harmonica to his lips and started to play a moaning tune that was soon picked up by a single guitar as Yoshi reemerged from his curtain and joined him on the stage.
Then he began to sing.
'I come from down in Honshu,
where still traditions rule.
Brought up a martial artist to the Musabetsu Kakutou school.
So I've spent most of my childhood
on the road training with my dad.
Some times were fun, some times were hard some times were such a drag
...
That I'd go up on a rooftop
and into the darkness I'd sigh,
up on the rooftop at night.
...
My father proved an idiot,
more times than I could count.
So I prepared to run when he started talking 'bout me settling down.
He dragged me meet some old friend,
to whom he'd once made the vow:
that I would marry one of his daughters,
an' take over his dojo.
...
That night I got up on a rooftop
and into the darkness I sighed,
up on the rooftop at night.
...
Well, that's how I've met Akane
and ever since that start.
We never stopped to argue, we almost made it something of an art.
Between my shouts of 'tomboy'
and between her cries of 'jerk',
it came as no surprise when
our fathers little plan plain failed to work.
But I remember times when we were not at war,
like when I held her hand in Ryugenzawa.
And some nights I woke up with my heart gone sore
'cause of her silly little smile the day before.
And now her face comes back to haunt me,
and it's throwing in some facts.
Like your pride can cost you big time
and there's more to fear than cats.
...
So I'll end up on my rooftop
and into the darkness I'll sigh ,
up on the rooftop all night.
Up on the roof
'bout Akane and I,
Up on the rooftop I'll cry.'
...
...
Then, slowly, the music started to fade and, after a nod to the stunned audience, so did the two musicians, retreating towards the shadows of the backstage-area..
'Woaaah, Akane.. can I keep him?' Noriko quipped as she hopped up and down excitedly, clapping her hands. 'Of course,' she added with a smirk, 'that's only if you don't insist on first dips..'
Akane didn't mind her friends teasing, mainly because she didn't notice. Instead she simply stood there, staring at the deserted stage and trying desperately to get a grip on her emotions. She felt like laughing. She felt like crying. She felt a need long thought buried, to pull a large mallet out of nowhere and chase someone across the...
Noriko could only watch in awe as Akane suddenly turned, a look of determination on her face, and plowed towards the exit like a tank through a cornfield. With rising concern she followed in the wake of her berserk friend and, though lacking Akane's brute strength, she made it to the door shortly after her, thanks to skills earned in countless sales. Following the trail of toppled people she ran along the front of the club and around a corner only to see Akane jumping up the escape-ladder in leaps and bounds.
'I don't believe this!' Noriko cursed as she watched her friend vanish into the darkness. 'Now she's gone completely bonkers!' Turning towards a couple of garbage-cans she continued her rant as she picked one up and dragged it into position. 'What does that crazy girl think she's doing? There I'm thinking that 'Hey', for once, just once, maybe I can get this stupid girl to do something funny like sneaking backstage or something. I mean she sure looked like she gonna storm the stage any minute, but what does she do?' She presented this question for public discussion as she balanced on her can and tried to grab the lower part of the escape-ladder. Not that she got an answer of course, so she continued on her own. 'There's the coolest guy I've seen in a while, and I've seen a LOT of guys lately, and she's running off! And no, she's not running left, and no, she's not running right. She's running up this bloody building like it's nothing! So anybody care to tell me why I'm still following that stupid girl?' Once again, nobody answered her question as she slowly started to climb up the ladder. 'Man, Akane, when I catch up with you then you'll better have a good explanation for this!'
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To tell the truth, Akane didn't have an explanation. The only thing she had was a very urgent need to get on the rooftop. She wasn't even sure if she really wanted to be up there, or what would wait for her, but the need was there so up she went. Arriving at her destination she took a look around. To her dismay, the roof sure looked empty. 'Stupid idea,' she thought, slumping to the ground. 'Stupid idea, stupid song... stupid Ak..'
'Hi,' came a voice from the shadows, interrupting her thoughts. Akane almost jumped at the sound, her head snapping around to make out the speaker in the darkness.
'I wasn't sure if that was you, ya know?' the voice continued from the shadows. 'It's pretty hard to make out anyone beyond third row. That's 'cause of the spotlights, they're kinda real bright.'
Akane just sat there, her hands on the ground behind her and her emotions a dangerous cocktail as a ghost from her past stepped right in front of her.
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Noriko was still cursing under her breath as she finally got to the top of the building, although she sounded pretty winded.
'Just you wait 'till I' huff get to you 'huff Akane... oh, huff are you going to pay..'
'Geez,' someone hissed at her from the roof,' keep the volume down. You're going to spoil it.'
It was a male voice and to say that Noriko was surprised at hearing it would have been an understatement. She almost fell from her ladder, producing a clattering sound as on of her shoes slipped from her feet and started it's downward-journey. Luckily for her, the source of the voice reached out of the darkness, grabbed her before she could follow, and pulled her up.
'Hey, who are you and what have you done to Aka..' she almost cried before a hand to her mouth shut her up effectively.
'Calm down, will you?' Her captor hissed at her. 'If you're looking for that girl that just came up here, she's over there..' With that he used the hand to her head to direct her gaze in the indicated direction. And there she was, as far as could be judged from the silhouette visible against a neon-sign from across the street. But that didn't really explain the identity of the other silhouette facing her.
Yanking the offending hand off of her mouth she turned to glare at the guy next to her.
'So you're go..' Noriko started and promptly got 'shh'-ed silent again. For once minding the complaint she tried once more in a lower tone. 'So you're going to explain to me what this is all about? What the hell's Akane doing up here and who are you guys?'
'Well, that's a tough one.' The guy said, sounding more relaxed now that she kept her voice low. 'First off, my name's Yoshi. Nice to meet you..' It was hard to make out but he seemed to give her a little bow.
'Noriko,' she replied warily, 'Hayashibara Noriko and we'll see about 'nice'.. Wait a minute,' she added as something clicked in her mind, ' you're the guitarist from that band..?'
'Oi, Ranma was right, our fame's spreading,' he agreed happily.
'Who's Ranma?'
'The guy out there, our singer. That's Ranma!'
'Akane knows..!' Noriko exclaimed maybe a tad bit too loud.
'Shhhh..!'
'She knows that guy? She never told me anything about him. And I'm supposed to be her best friend!'
'So what? Ranma never told me much about this girl either, and I'm his best friend. Must have left quite a mark on him that girl, but he refused to talk about it. So most of the things I know of her is from a couple of remarks and that song.'
'Which one..?' This earned her a incredulous stare, not that she could make it out in that light, but it was pretty obvious from the his reply that Yoshi had trouble believing his ears.
'Say, how dense can you be? The last one of cause! I mean, it had her name and all..!'
'Hey, just kidding,' she replied with a grin. Then, in a more thoughtful tone she continued. 'And it sure explains why she was in such a hurry to get up here. Though I'd really like to know why they broke up in the first place. I mean, she's been pining after some guy for as long as I know her ...'
'Well, you heard the song. Got engaged and hated it, I guess.'
'Figures, Akane's a mule-head.'
'Then don't get me started about Ranma... By the way, you like Nachos?' There was some rustling and then Yoshi held up a bag.
'You brought snacks?' Noriko asked in surprise.
'Sure, after all, if those two decide to catch up on the lost time this is going to be one looong night. And I'm not planning on missing it. Well, as long as they stay dressed, that is. Anyway, I've got Nachos, chocolate, a bottle of coke and..' he held up two bottles for inspection 'Murphy's, damn best beer on the planet. It's hard to get by in these parts but , hey, this is a special occasion!'
Noriko considered this for a second before leaning back against a convenient vent, determined to enjoy the show.
'Maitre, the beer.. please.'
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Ranma looked down at the hunched shadow at his feet that he knew to be his ex-fiancé, unsure as of how two continue. He had imagined this moment a million times, in a million of settings and with a million of witty or, if possible, nice things to say. But as usual, words failed him.
'I'm sorry if I scared ya there. I thought you'd know I'd be up here... after all ya came up here.. so I figured that ya figured... Man, I sound like an idiot, don't I?'
He didn't get a reply though as Akane simply continued to stare at him wide eyed.
'You're still mad at me, ain't ya? Guess I can understand that. Well,' he let out a sigh, gesturing helplessly with his arms, 'ya still came up here.. So I probably should say thanks... ' He turned his head down and to the side, averting his gaze with slumping shoulders.
'Thanks,' he continued with a shaky voice, 'for at least giving me a chance to say that I'm sorry.. for, well, everything.. all that shit I've done.. an said.. since I walked through your door.. It's okay if ya hate me, I mean, I probably would if I were you.. but.. I just.. I.. I never meant to.. be such a jerk.. that's all..' Returning his gaze to the silent form in front of him, he noticed that she still hadn't moved a muscle. He stared at her for a minute or two until he could no longer stand the silence.
'Ah, come on Akane, say something.. scream at me.. slap me, ..I don't care.. just do something...' Then, almost inaudible, he added '..please?'
His wish got granted as Akane slowly moved to get on her feet. Once standing she took a tentative step towards Ranma and for the first time he got a good look at her face. It held a weak frown, an almost helpless expression, and here eyes were large and moist with tears running down her cheeks but still, they almost seemed to sparkle. And her lips, they were drawn up in a grin even as she seemed to bite them as if to hold back a laugh.
'Akane..?' he asked in confusion, unable to read her expression. She kept her silence though, but reached up a hand to brush some hair out of his face, letting it come to rest on his cheek. Then her second hand came up and grabbed his other cheek. And finally she broke her silence with a surprisingly steady voice, considering the turmoil her own emotions were in.
'You mean it?'
'Huh?' Ranma asked intelligently, startled out of his own reverie.
'That song,.. and what you just said... You're serious about that?'
There was another pause as Ranma bowed his head, seemingly contemplating the question. When it came up again his features seemed relaxed, almost devoid of any emotion, and his hands came up to cover hers.
'Yeah..' he simply stated with a slight nod.
Akane hadn't noticed that she had held her breath, but now she let it out in a relieved sigh. Her expression changed into a glare but still she seemed to grin.
'And don't you ever forget it..' she warned him, staring straight in his confused eyes and shaking his head for empathisis, '..cause I'm damn serious too about... this!' That was the point when Ranma's head came down, pulled by two surprisingly strong arms, and Akane interrupted her own sentence with a passionate kiss, rough but sweet, just like the one presenting it.
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'Yee-Haa!' Yoshi cried while Noriko expressed her excitement by whooping and shaking a fist in the air. The couple they cheered didn't seem to mind though, for the kiss went on until arms got heavy and it continued when throats got raw. And finally, Yoshi and Noriko both began to wonder if they would have to go over and do some 'mouth-to-mouth' themselves because, obviously, one of those two had to break down from anoxia any minute. Well, maybe the next minute. Or the next.. Any second now, .. honestly.
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'Wow..' was all Ranma could say when he finally came up for air.
'Yeah,.. Wow indeed..' Akane agreed breathlessly. 'So, you still believe that I hate you?' she continued with a smirk while her hands continued to trace lines across his back.
'Well, if ya gonna hate me like that all the time..' he said with a wistful grin, pulling her a little closer, 'do go on..'
'Kay' she agreed and started to 'abuse' him all over again.
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'Say, you think they're gonna stop anytime soon?' Noriko asked after they had munched down the nachos and emptied the drinks.
'Search me,' Yoshi replied with a shrug, 'he's one of those Kung-Fu-guys when he's not singing. If this is just about stamina he can probably go on for hours.'
'Great,' Noriko sighed, 'then he's found the perfect match. Akane's running 6 miles each morning and that doesn't even get her started. She's in every bloody sports-team at the university, well, 'xcept for the swimmers.'
'So there's no point in waiting up on them.'
'Not really.'
'So what we gonna do with the rest of the night?'
'What? You mean you'n me?'
'Sure. After all, our respective companions kinda dumped us didn't they? So we're both free.'
'Well, that's true..' Noriko agreed after a moments consideration. 'So, where are you planning on taking me?'
'Taking you?' Yoshi asked in surprise, 'Hey, it's not like I asked you on a date or nothing.'
'You didn't? I would have bet on it. Anyway, how are you planning on ever getting a girlfriend if you're not ready to ask a girl out, huh?'
'Who says I ain't got a girlfriend?'
'Me! 'Cause you wouldn't spend the after-hours on this roof watching happy reunions if you had one.'
'Bah!' Yoshi replied, dismissing the notion with a wave of his hand. 'I don't need to ask girls out. I gonna be a star soon and then they'll come crashing through my door anyway. All just a matter of time.'
'Maybe, but until then you'll have to ask girls out, starting with me.'
'You? Why should I start with you?'
Noriko presented him with a grin that would have made the Cheshire-cat weep with joy.
'For one thing, where are you going to find another girl on short notice? I'm pretty certain that Akane over there would decline.'
'Point for you.' Yoshi agreed grudgingly, casting a glance at the marathon-kissers. ' But you haven't convinced me yet.'
'Hmm, wait 'till we get into better lighting, that's gonna convince you...'
'Huh?' Yoshi replied eloquently before he caught her drift. Then a grin crept across his face as he warmed to the idea and he jumped up, offering Noriko his arm. 'How about the '12 Down'? I heard the music is great there this time of day.' With a giggle, Noriko grabbed the offered limb and used it to get up herself.
'Very well,' she agreed, 'the'12 Down' it is... waah..!' With that she almost fell on her back, steadying herself at the last second with Yoshi's support.
'Damn,' she cursed, 'forgot about the shoe.'
'What shoe?' Yoshi asked confused.
'The one I lost on my way up here. Remember? When I almost fell from the roof 'cause you startled me?'
'Hey, it's not my fault that you're such a wimp. And anyway, I caught you, didn't I?'
'You wouldn't have had to if you got just a little sense in that head of yours. And take back the wimp!'
'Fine, if you prefer wuss.'
'Look who's talking, big-mouth.'
'Ain't no big-mouth,.. klutz.'
'Moron.'
'Popper.'
'Popper? What kind of insult is that?'
'Trust me, you don't wanna know.'
'Hm,.. okay.. slowpoke.'
And so they continued, happily throwing insults, down the ladder and into the night. Considering their friends, that might make you wonder if some habits are contagious.
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'Hey Ranma..'
'Hmmm?'
'Look, the sun's coming up.'
'And?'
'And what? It's pretty, that's all.'
'Doesn't compare.'
'Doesn't compare to what?'
'To you.'
'To me?'
'Hmm, you're prettier. Lots smooch and lots smoochand lotssmoochsmoochsmooch..'
'Uuuh,.. Ranma..'
Author's Note: This should have been a dark-fic. Very psychological, very angst, very clever. Then I wrote the second word. Aaaargh, it's no use! I just can't do those! But then again, I don't have to. I can write whatever I want. Such is the power of fanfiction. Hurray!
Hope you liked it.
R. Martin