The dinner table that evening was awkward; Ranma was still trying to sort
his thoughts about his conversation with Akane that afternoon and Akane was
being a chatterbox after her self-imposed isolation.
When he was finished eating, Ranma knew the dinner was over when Kasumi nodded at him, so he started to clear the table and helped Kasumi with the dishes. When finished in the kitchen, he left to study with Nabiki, as he had the previous three nights.
Juggling several books with one hand, Ranma knocked at Nabiki's door.
The door opened, and Nabiki watched Ranma juggle three books and a notebook in one hand and with the other, he scratched his ear. Shaking her head, she said to dexterous aqua-transsexual, "Ranma, don't you think you should study with Akane?"
Not losing a beat, Ranma asked, "Why?"
Nabiki's jaw hardened, and blurted, "She's your fiancée, doof!"
After jerking his head back at the intensity of Nabiki's voice, Ranma then left Nabiki's door and walked to Akane's door.
Without knocking, Ranma entered, and asked, "Akane, can I come in and study with you?"
Akane didn't even turn around from her desk and gave him her permission, "Sure. But you gotta behave."
Catching each book as he sat down, Ranma replied, "I always behave!"
An almost inaudible "hurmph!" escaped Akane's lips.
The study session started with this stressful beginning, but they both settled down and worked on their homework, occasionally stopping to chat about other things going on in their lives. It was an hour and a half later when Ranma walked out of her room.
***
Just before bedtime, Kasumi knocked and entered Akane's room.
"How did it go?" Kasumi asked Akane how the study session went.
"Oh, okay. We didn't talk much," Akane said as she climbed off the bed and started stretching on the floor.
"You know Ranma is trying hard not to upset you." Kasumi had to state the obvious to make Akane appreciative of Ranma's efforts
Akane nods, and with her leg pulled past her ears, told her truth, "It's obvious. But there's been a lot of upsetting already done."
She sat up and looked at Kasumi before continuing, "I've been thinking about the engagement, and all the problems it has caused." She paused, then looks at her hands before continuing, "Ranma is, uh, Ranma. Ever since he's been here things have been crazy.
"I didn't know what to do." She started wringing her hands and her voice quivered nervousness, "I mean, it's not like I don't ll...ll...like him or anything. It's that he can be a great guy, and he's cute, and he can be so chivalric at times."
Kasumi looked upon her youngest sister in amazement.
Akane didn't miss the look on Kasumi's face, "I just wish the engagement wasn't so hard," she said.
Spreading her legs and leaning forward to stretch some more, she took a breath, and continued in a monotone, "A couple of days ago I made a list of all of his good points and his bad points. I used two pieces of paper, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to hate him."
Kasumi looked at sister, and saw tears forming in Akane's eyes for the second time that day.
Akane pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Akane sat quietly before saying anything. "He's a good person," she blurted. Taking a deep breath, Akane let Kasumi know what she thought, "He's a wonderful friend. And I don't want to hurt him." Akane sniffled.
It was with a quizzical look on her face that Kasumi asked, "Now what are you going to do?"
"Nothing," Akane said with a smile. "If that idiot thinks I'm going to change, he's got another think coming!"
The grin on Akane's face was full of determination, and Kasumi left the room knowing that her youngest sister would be fine.
***
The next morning, Ranma found both Akane and Nabiki were waiting for him at the front door. Happy that they both were going to be with him that morning, Ranma chatted incessantly about any random thought that popped in his head.
Even with the normal harassment from Kuno and the idiocy of the school, Ranma considered that day to be the best day he had in a long time; after all, Akane was talking to him and he and Nabiki were able to maintain a good-natured banter commenting about the various denizens of the high school.
Unfortunately, the peace was not to last. At dinner things started to fall apart again when Ranma made an announcement before getting up to take the dishes to the table.
"Nabiki, I gotta thank you. I missed only two questions on my quiz the other day!" Ranma stood and bowed to the middle daughter.
Without any sense of modesty, Nabiki retorted, "Geez. Of course you did a good job. I tutored you! You should be thanking me!"
"You idiot! So that's why you wouldn't let me see your paper," Akane yelled, upset again, partially because Ranma hid something from her, partially that he scored higher than she did on the quiz, but also that Nabiki implied that she's a better person to study with.
Akane continued her rant with a bitter tone, "You never did that well when you studied with me. Hurmph!"
"Hey, Nabiki went through all this last year. She knows what I gotta learn."
For Akane, the next words out of Ranma's mouth could have only one outcome, "and she never hit me when I make a mistake."
"Fine," Akane said in a clipped tone. Ranma had just chipped at her sense of self worth. She crossed her arms, sat like a stone and rumbled her anger at Ranma, "In fact, since Nabiki did such a good job, why don't you study with her all the time!" With that Akane left the room, stomping her feet.
Ranma looked at Kasumi, scratched the back of his head and asked, "What'd I do this time?"
Kasumi paused before giving her answer. "Akane is still a little upset. Please, be more careful with what you say."
Nabiki was a bit more direct with her answer, "Good going, Ranma. You shouldn't have implied that Akane hits you all the time."
Ranma tried to defend himself, "But she does!"
Nabiki wanted to say something more, but decided to not add to the fire, thinking that Ranma often deserved to be whacked, and this was one of them.
Knowing that the damage has been done, Kasumi motioned to Ranma that it was time to clear the table.
Kasumi and Ranma were well into the stack of dishes, when Kasumi finally spoke again. "Ranma, thank you for helping with the house repairs."
In a quiet and contemplative tone, Ranma responded, "You're welcome, Kasumi."
Kasumi rubbed a tiny bit of food off a plate, making sure that there was not any residue. Meekly, Kasumi asked, "Do you think you can help me after school next week? I mean, it looks like everything is done, but I could still use a little extra help."
"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma agreed. It was several seconds before Ranma finally registered what he just said. "What did I just get drafted for?" he thought.
As the two of them started to put the dishes away, Ranma started wondering just how he could make up with Akane. His shoulders shrank and he took a deep breath to try and fill an empty feeling in his gut.
"Just relax Ranma," Kasumi's voice drifted into his ears. "Akane is not all that angry. Just avoid her for a little while, and whatever you do, try to avoid anything that will make her upset."
Ranma sounded as if he were defeated by a whole set of emotions that he had no experience with. "Jeez. That'll be just about anything an' everything."
"Well," Nabiki's voice came through the door, "you can start by leaving P- Chan alone for the time being."
The thought of P-Chan in the same room with Akane incensed Ranma. His jaws clenched at the thought of Ryoga spending the night with Akane.
Ranma couldn't determine if Nabiki had a smirk or her face was completely serious when she said, "You'd better if you want Akane to talk to you again."
After weighing punting P-Chan into orbit and being the target of Akane's resulting anger versus just living with a bad situation, Ranma conceded to Nabiki, "I don't hafta like it, but okay."
After a few moments of silence when Ranma put away his apron, Nabiki started to give Ranma the terms for continued tutoring. "Obviously you blew it with Akane tonight. And I know you still have to do your homework."
Behind Ranma, Kasumi listened in to the discussion while folding her apron.
Nabiki took out a small spiral pad of paper and started leafing though it, looking for something. When she found she looked at Ranma and started her negotiation.
"I'm feeling generous, so I created a special rate for you." Nabiki looked at Ranma to gauge his reaction. She noted that he hadn't flinched, so she knew that he wasn't about to get angry, and had hopes of making a little bit of easy cash.
What Nabiki saw behind Ranma stopped her plan cold before if unfolded any further. Kasumi was giving her a look that meant she had crossed the line. Kissing off yet an opportunity, Nabiki sighed.
"Just come up when you're ready," Nabiki said, having gotten the hint from her sister not to potentially make things worse than they already are.
An hour later, Ranma itched for a break when Nabiki broke the silence, "Ranma, why don't you see if Akane wants to join us?" Nabiki wanted to get Ranma out of her room; even after three days of having him study with her, she still felt uncomfortable due to the intensity of Ranma's concentration.
Ranma sounded worried, "Uh, you sure it's safe?"
"Go ahead, she wasn't all that angry." Nabiki tried to reassure Ranma, but wasn't sure that she succeeded.
Ranma closed his books, and threw his things into his book bag, and walked to Akane's room and called through the door, "Akane? You hungry?"
"Just a second," came Akane's voice.
Ranma heard Akane shuffle around in her room, and just as he ran out of patience, she opened the door. Gently tugging his shirt, Akane prodded him, "Come on, you idiot. Let's go down stairs."
Ranma felt better, it seemed she was back to normal.
***
Late Saturday afternoon, Ranma was enraptured by the tail end of a TV variety show where an African acrobat are picking up red blocks off the ground with their feet and throwing them to a teammate on the far side of the stage, who builds a bridge with the thrown blocks, again using his feet. The tosses started slowly, and by the time the bridge is halfway done, the blocks are being thrown so fast that it looks as if there was a red bar suspended above the stage. Then, as if by magic, the two acrobats trade positions and the thrower becomes the catcher and the catcher becomes the thrower. When the bridge was built, the show concluded, with the announcer showing a map that the touring group will be in Nerima the next day just after the lunch hour for a publicity event
"Hey, I gotta go see that!" Ranma immediately saw the potential application of what the footwork that African acrobats could do for martial arts. With a bound, Ranma rushed to find Akane and ask her to join him next day.
***
Upstairs, while Ranma and Kasumi were doing the dishes, the middle daughter was going through some pictures.
"Okay, this is a keeper. So is this one. And that one too," Nabiki muttered as she was reviewing her photograph collection, trying to figure out which ones she would sell at first opportunity. Most of the pictures in front of her were of Ranma in his female form, but a few were of him as a male.
Nabiki looked at the three piles of photos in front of her. One pile has ten photos, the other was more than twice the size. The third stack had only two pictures. Looking at the stacks, Nabiki felt kind of weird. Contemplating her emotions, she wondered, "Now why is it that I can't sell these two pictures?"
She picked up the two pictures in question, and looked at them. Nabiki couldn't see what was so special about the two prints, both pictures were of Ranma in her room studying. One shot had Ranma sitting on the floor with a big grin on his face, his hand held up with a big "V". In the second shot, Ranma was lying on his back with his hands behind his head and had a silly grin on his face as a pencil was balanced on the tip of his nose.
Noticing that the both pictures were a focused little sharper than the others and the contrast was more lifelike, she remembered that she asked for and received permission to take these two pictures. Nabiki realized then that she'd been trapped. Wavering between anger and mirth, Nabiki decided that she was going to save those two pictures, and put them into her own personal journal. "As for the others, well, they can wait," she thought as she returned all but the two to her photo box.
Realizing that Ranma would be arriving soon, she grabbed her books, and started to get ready. After she opened up her literature book, Nabiki's mind drifted aimlessly until the memory of Ranma thanking her jarred her awake. "Whoa. I don't need that," she thought.
***
Late Sunday morning, Ranma and Akane left the house to go to the canal confluence, where the African acrobats were to do their demonstration.
"How much longer..." Ranma said, as he was becoming impatient. A crowd was gathering, and the few warm up acts had finished long ago.
"Just wait, Ranma. It isn't even one yet." Akane stepped a little closer to Ranma. It was a cool day, and the air was nippy. Her gloved hand reached out for Ranma's and she held it.
After a few more minutes, just as Ranma started to jump up and down to relieve boredom and inactivity, the acrobats arrived. The demonstration was similar to the previous night's television performance, except that the two acrobats switched sides several times.
"Hey Akane, look at that," Ranma pointed to the footwork the acrobats did. "I can do that!"
"Look at what, Ranma?" Akane watched the dancers, didn't see anything of note. The feet of the acrobats were a blur, moving far faster than she could discern.
"That's the point. There isn't any difference between that and the Chestnut attack."
Akane watched Ranma for the rest of the show. He intently studied the feet of the dancers, his eyes darted from one dancer to the next as they built their bridge. Occasionally she saw Ranma shift his weight from one foot to another to rhythm of some unheard drummer.
At the end of the show, and on the walk home, Ranma constantly asked Akane if she thought he was making any mistakes. Akane had no idea, but his enthusiasm was infectious.
***
"Oh! Ran-chan!" Ukyo's voice called from behind them, and Ranma and Akane stopped to wait for her. Ukyo was carrying a large box; it didn't look heavy, but it was obvious that it was hard to carry because of its size.
Ranma stepped forward to help Ukyo, but Akane stopped him. As Ukyo reached the two, Ranma called out, "Whatcha got?"
Ukyo shifted the box, and Ranma had to catch it before it fell. Ukyo let go of the box, and Ranma was holding it. "A bunch of plastic bottles for sauces."
Ranma placed the box on his head and started walking between Ukyo and Akane. When Ukyo asked what he going home from, Ranma started to describe the African dancers and what he was trying to learn.
Akane started to sulk while Ranma started to demonstrate what he saw earlier in the day. When Ukyo said she found Ranma's story hard to believe, Ranma asked Akane for support. By this time, Akane was fuming. He had ignored her for the last hour and now he needs her help. she responded with, "Fine. Go ahead and spend the rest of the after noon with your CUTE fiancée.?
By the end of the day, everyone in the Tendo household was exhausted. Ranma was was pooped because he was moving at full speed all day long, bouncing from one side of the dojo to the other in training; the three sisters were tired just because they watched Ranma do his dance.
***
The fathers still had not returned two days later when Ranma meekly entered Akane's room and caught her attention. "Akane, um, I gotta to, um, talk to you."
Akane looks up from her needlepoint, obviously upset that that he's distracted her. "What is it, Ranma," she said.
Ranma was a nervous wreck and rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants. "I, eh, heard that, that, the Flower Center is putting on 'Romeo and Juliet' and..." Ranma falters.
Ranma saw her eyes brighten; Akane knew that the Flower Center was a senior home, and they had been known to have some very good actors.
"... and, uh... " Ranma stammered, under Akane's expectant. He scratched the back of his head with his left hand, while his right fiddled with his shirt. Eventually he took a massive breath of air.
"I want you go," he finally said.
Confused, Akane asked as she put her needlepoint down, "What?"
Ranma almost blurted in frustration, "I said I'd like you to go see the play with me."
Akane had a mischievous look in her eye when she asked, "So you want to see the play?"
Ranma nodded.
"No," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I don't think that's what you want."
"Yes. I mean..." Ranma's expression looked like he was on a bus being driven by a community of crazed monkeys.
"You mean what, Ranma?"
Ranma took a deep breath and looked at Akane in the face. He thought back when he made the decision to take her to the play, and therefore committed himself fully to what he expected to be a long night of misery. He didn't expect that asking her out would be so hard, was worried that she was going to turn him down. Gathering his courage, he tried to put on a face of calmness before carefully enunciating, "I mean, I want to take you to the play."
Watching the expression on Akane's face going from mildly annoyed to very happy was the reward that Ranma sought. A genuine smile spread across her face. "Yeah," Ranma thought, "this is the way it oughta be!"
"Yes Ranma, I would love to see 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Flower Center with you. Thank you for asking." Akane gave him a short nod.
Just as they were starting to come down from their emotional high there was a knock on the door.
"Hey, lovebirds, how about a public conversation?"
"Come on in, Nabiki," Akane said giddily.
Nabiki, who couldn't miss the signs of happiness, couldn't resist teasing her sister, "So, what'd he do? Kiss you?"
"He asked me to the show at the Flower Center!"
"He what?" Nabiki asked, not believing what her sister said. "Four months of being engaged, and Ranma finally asked Akane out," she thought.
A little calmer, Akane repeated her announcement to Nabiki, "He asked me to see 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Flower Center!"
Ranma started squirming in the room, and started to stand up.
Nabiki watched Ranma try to sneak past her and walk out the door, but she wasn't going to give Ranma the opportunity to escape. "Ranma," she inquired, "did you really ask Akane out? After all this time?"
Nabiki knew she was smiling, she just hoped that Ranma didn't know that he was being lead into another trap.
Ranma's reply was the single and cautiously said word, "Yup."
"How wonderful," Nabiki said with a honey sweet voice. She thought about her next step, setting Akane up. An idea came to her. Turning to Akane, she asked, "Akane have you thought about what you are going to wear? You know it's a formal show, don't you?" Nabiki had never attended any shows at the Flower Center, but some of her classmates have been to a show earlier in the year as part of a class assignment, so she knew a few of the requirements for entrance.
"No. I didn't know I had to dress up." Akane sat and had a pensive look on her face before declaring, "This could be fun. I'll have to buy something!"
Nabiki fully well knew the answer, but asked anyway, "Ranma, do you have a nice suit?"
"Nah. Pops said that formal stuff ain't something a martial artist should wear." The expression on Akane's and Nabiki's face warned him that he'd better go along with them, so he asked, "I need one?"
Akane saved Nabiki from answering such a stupid question. "The shows at the Flower Center require a certain dress code. Nabiki just said it's a formal show. You will have to wear a suit or a tuxedo."
"Aw, do I hafta? I don't like wearing stuff that'll restrict my fighting."
"If you don't wear a suit or a tuxedo, you won't be admitted. If you aren't admitted, Akane won't be admitted. You don't want that to happen, do you?" Nabiki said, she was obviously enjoying this. "Besides, since everyone else will be dressed nice, if you wore your normal clothes, you will stand out like an ostrich in a colony of penguins."
Frowning, Ranma replied with, "Oh," and left the room, realizing that this is one of those situations that he was going to be normal.
***
The next day, Akane asked if Ranma would get fitted for a tuxedo that afternoon after school.
"You mean they gotta measure me?" Ranma sounded frightened. Being touched didn't appeal to Ranma. His tried to justify being touched by some stranger, and tried to put it in to context. "Fighting is one thing, the other guy is to hurt me. Doctors are okay too, since they were trying to heal me. G-g-g-g-girls are o-o-o-..." Ranma gave up on that line of thought and tried to put it in perspective of making Akane happy. That idea worked, and he calmed down.
"Yes, they have to measure you," Akane said. "They have to order the right size pants, shirt and jacket. Oh, and shoes too."
"Shoes? What's wrong with what I got?" This was sounding worse by the moment for Ranma.
"Everything." Akane's voice indicated that there was to be no further arguing. "Just be ready after class."
***
At the end of the school day, Akane found Nabiki waiting by the front gate.
"So, little sister, planning on taking Ranma to get sized? Mind if I come along?" Nabiki just had to go with them. This excursion promised to be interesting, and she didn't want to miss it. Having thought this through, she justified her presence to Akane with, "You'll end up paying full price without me."
Nabiki saw the disappointment on Akane's face. Obviously, Akane thought she would do this alone with Ranma. Ready to be denied, not that it mattered since she planned on following anyway, Nabiki was surprised when she heard Akane's response.
"Okay. You can come."
Ranma picked that moment to show up, dropping in from almost nowhere. "Come on let's go."
The three of them walked quickly out of the gate and down the street with Ranma leading the way. After a few blocks, Ranma looked back and then slowed down.
"What is it this time? Kuno?" Nabiki asked. Over the last few weeks she's found him to be a wonderful source of gossip. She's also discovered that Ranma's life was interesting, and she loved to hear his stories, even if she had occasionally probe for the necessary details that allowed the story to make sense.
"Nah. Gosunkugi seemed ta have another new stupid idea to make his life miserable. I just don' wanna be around when it blows up in his face." Ranma laughed.
"He was tryin' to hide under the benches by the field some bag of stuff fell off of him. So he's trying to pick up a bazillion film thingies that was spillng everywhere. So me an the guys decided to sit an' watch him do his thing, and after a couple of minutes, he starts putting this big thingie on the back of the camera."
Ranma held out his hands to give Nabiki and Akane an idea of what he was describing.
"Oh," Nabiki said, "you mean preloaded film canister." Nabiki's eyebrows arched and commented, "Wow, that's an expensive camera."
"Wuz a expensive camera."
It was Akane's turn to ask, "Was?"
"Yeah. So like I was saying, Gosunkugi had this big camera, and started taking pictures of me, and us guys started posing and stuff. For a while we were fun and all, but we started getting bored when he wouldn't stop taking pictures. So we went up and asked him why so many pictures he's taken'.
"You know what he said?"
Nabiki and Akane indicated they had no idea.
"He hands his camera to Dai and tells him keep taking pictures of me and pulls out this book. In that book were some pictures of dirty dark guys in leaves. So Gosunkugi says that these guys think that if you take too many pictures taken, your soul gets stolen.
"Me an Dai started busting up. Gosunkugi swiped the camera from Dai and said something about my 'domiz' and left."
"Demise," Nabiki corrected Ranma.
"Yah, demise. Whatever. Anyways, he tried following us and tripped over his bag, and stuff started flying all over the place.
"That's when I thought it was a good time to get outta there. People started asking for copies of his pictures and I started to get this weird feeling that it's happened before."
Nabiki found it hard to look at Ranma at that moment.
***
Before long, the three arrived at a small men's store.
A dapper young man with too much grease in his hair met the three as soon as they stepped in. "Hello! Thank you for coming in to 'Well Dressed Man'! My name is Ichiro. How may be of assistance?" His hands would not stop moving; his movements were light and feathery. Ranma started to turn pale.
"Ranma here," Nabiki indicated, "needs a tuxedo. Do you have something in a basic black with a back tie?"
"Certainly, take a look at this," Ichiro gestured to a mannequin behind him. The tuxedo was a basic short tail with straight pleats on the breast. "If you notice, it is a beautiful, simple, yet elegant and beautiful tuxedo. The lines", starts caressing the shirt, "are classic. Do you like?"
Ichiro watched Ranma look at the tuxedo and noted his expression hasn't changed. Thinking that something different was needed, he changed his tactics, "We do have something over here, far more fashionable, and makes a wonderful statement. Ranma, is it? You look like a man that needs attention brought to him, come with me." Ichiro waved his hand to bring Ranma over.
Ranma pupils dilated as he looked at Akane, and whispered to her, "This guy is sending me signals that shouldn't be coming from another guy."
Pushing Ranma towards Ichiro, "Go ahead Ranma, he won't bite" Akane said while stifling a laugh.
"At least not hard!" Nabiki whispered in Akane's ear, but loud enough that Ranma could hear her. The two girls couldn't contain their mirth any longer, and started laughing earnestly.
Ranma looked at the two laughing sisters with confusion on his face and walked to what must be fate worse than death.
"So, what do you think?" the salesman asked to a now sweating Ranma. Ichiro had not meet many customers that were as masculine as the fine specimen that stood before him. He knew that he was doomed to fail, but his own heart fluttered when he saw this Adonis walked towards him.
Ranma considered the new tuxedo. It was severely cut, had a pink ruffled shirt, long tails, a baby blue tie and a thing around the waist that looked like a colorful apron.
"This is one of our signature pieces! The cummerbund, here, is pure Chinese silk!" Ichiro starts fondling the "apron" and continues, "The jacket is two toned, and if you notice the extra pockets here, and there." Ichiro had not taken his eyes of Ranma the whole time, his hands displaying the coat pockets as he described each feature, occasionally brushing his hands on the cummerbund.
Pointing to the first tuxedo, Ranma indicated his choice. "Nah. I like the first one better."
"Oh, the classic look. I should have known." Ichiro was disappointed in the boy's taste, but given that the next step was his favorite, he wasn't disappointed for long. "Kind sir, please come over here, by the mirrors."
Ranma walked to the trio of mirrors, looking at his reflection. Ichiro started giving directions.
"Ranma, lift up you arms like this," Ichiro demonstrated by raising his arms so they were level with his shoulders. Ranma complied, and Ichiro started to measure Ranma's arm length.
"Oops! I dropped my tape!" Ichiro bent down to pick up his tape, glancing at Ranma both on the way down, and back up. Nabiki nudged Akane, and the two of them started laughing again.
"Okay, I have to measure your waist and chest, so lift up your arms again please." Ichiro reached around Ranma, and started to fumble with his tape behind Ranma. "Oh. I just can't get a hold of the tape. Ah, now I have it." A few quick measurements, and stopping to write Ranma's waist down, he sighed, "Oh, what a specimen!"
"Aw, man. Do you have to do all this? Can't you just let me try some stuff on, and be done with it?" Ranma's patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Just two more measurements. I have to do your neck and your inseam. Please be patient. Stand tall. Very good. You work out, yes?" Ichiro had the tape around Ranma's neck and caressed Ranma's rat-tail for half a second.
Ranma replied curtly, "No. I just get lots of exercise."
"Let me measure your legs. Stand tall. That's good. Feet together." Ichiro tapped Ranma's legs to let him know that he wanted the legs closer together. When satisfied, he measured from the hip to the floor, letting his hands slide slowly down the outside of Ranma's leg. He walked around Ranma, looking at his front, and measured the other side. "Spread your feet slightly apart."
Ichiro started to salivate. "Okay, I have to measure your inseams," he said. He bent over and instructed Ranma to widen his stance a little more.
"Stand still," he instructed. Ichiro ran the tape with one end at the floor and held the other end just under Ranma's crotch. Occasionally Ranma moved a little, so he took his time to ensure that he had Ranma's measurement correct to the millimeter. Finally done, Ichiro stood up with wistfulness in his eyes and wrote the last of Ranma's measurements down.
"One last question. Do you dress right or do you dress left?" Ichiro guessed that Ranma dressed right, his attempt to find out personally was foiled by Ranma's wiggling around.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma had no clue what this effeminate man was asking.
"You know, which side does 'it' rest? It makes a difference on how the pant's are cut."
Ranma looked around and saw Akane and Nabiki convulsing with laughter on the floor at the far side of the store, gulped. "Uh, right."
"I was right!" chirped the tailor. "Stay right here," he giggled as he skipped of to a back room, "I'm going to get a pair of trousers and a jacket that should fit you."
A few moments later, Akane and Nabiki were standing by Ranma when Ichiro came back with a jacket, pants, shirt, tie, socks and shoes.
Ichiro became disappointed; all hope of having fun disappeared now that the two the girls were next to Ranma. He pulled aside the door to a small closet and motioned to Ranma to enter, "Here, the changing room is here, change and come on out when you are ready."
Ranma walked into the dressing room and shut the door behind him while and Ichiro went to the cash register.
A few minutes later, a cry of frustration came from behind the door. Nabiki looked for Ichiro, then at Akane, who was also looking for the man with decidedly different sexual preferences. Nabiki shrugged her shoulders, and walked in the dressing room.
"Aaaaa! What are you doing here?" Ranma was surprised and shocked that Nabiki walked in on him.
"Hey, don't sweat it. I'm here to help. What's the problem?" Nabiki said as she looked at Ranma's chest. Ranma had the trousers on, but he needed more than a little help with the shirt.
"There aren't any buttons! What kind of shirt is this?!"
Nabiki walked up to Ranma, and pulled the shirt and Ranma closer to her. She looked at the shirt, and found the buttons hidden behind a fold. Starting at the top, she started to button Ranma's shirt. "Here Ranma, the buttons are there, you just have to know where to look. Here," having the first three buttons done, she pointed out where to find the buttons are on the shirt, and let him do the rest.
When done, Ranma looked at Nabiki, leaning against the wall of his changing room. Sheepishly, he held his arms up, neither the cuffs nor the sleeves were buttoned. Nabiki closed her eyes, and shook her head, thinking, "How he can get dressed in the morning..."
Having done the shirt, Nabiki walked out of the dressing room, leaving Ranma to deal with the socks and shoes.
As she stepped out, Akane greeted her. "What were you doing in there?"
"Oh, he was having problems with his shirt, so I helped him."
"You walked right in there?" Akane was surprised at her sister's actions.
"Yep. You should have seen his face when he saw me!" Nabiki giggled.
Right then, Ranma stepped out of the dressing room. He was dressed, but poorly. Immediately Akane and Nabiki started fixing things, straightening seams, tucking in his shirt, and re-tying a shoe. When done, the girls stepped back and looked at Ranma.
"Can't I get rid of this tie? It's choking me." Ranma's face was getting a little red.
"No, Ranma. Stand still, I'm going to loosen the tie." Nabiki, tugged and pulled the tie loser, and then tucked the tie under Ranma's collar. "There. Does it feel better?"
Grumbling, "Yes. Is there something we can do about these sleeves? They pull on my back."
"Ranma, Quit complaining. Nothing is going to go wrong. It looks good on you." Akane felt short and testy. Her anger slowly growing, she thought, "Nabiki came along to help negotiate the price of the tuxedo rental, but now she seems to be trying to monopolize all my time with Ranma! The only thing that's keeping me from knocking her one is because she seems to know a tuxedo is supposed to fit!"
Nabiki walked around Ranma, pulling down on his jacket, fixing his lapels again, and finally buttoned his jacket. She stepped back and looked at her sister. "Well, not bad. Three different suits there, but they all look like they fit nicely. The real thing should look dazzling on him, don't you think, Akane?"
Simmering, Akane looked at Ranma. He did look nice, and with a real tuxedo on and his hair carefully combed, he will be very handsome. Trying to hide her residual anger, she said, "I think so. If he behaves."
Ranma trudged to the mirror and started looking at himself.
Ichiro, having noticed the pig-tailed boy is dressed, walked to Ranma, and looked him over. "Well, that looks good. How do the shoes fit?"
"Okay, I guess."
Bending at his waist, Ichiro checked Ranma's shoes, making sure they aren't too tight. Satisfied, Ichiro then tugged Ranma's trousers down to make sure they weren't riding high, and then pulled the trousers up by the waist after finding that he tugged down just a little too hard. He then double- checked Ranma's waist measurements once more before verifying the fit of the jacket by pulling at the collar. Swallowing loudly, Ichiro asked Ranma how the jacket fit. "How does this feel in the armpits? Tight?"
"Very tight. It was okay before you pulled on it."
"Good. I had to make sure this jacket would fit." Ichiro stepped back and after one last review, Ichiro declares, "You can change back."
Akane tapped Nabiki's arm to get her attention. "No," Akane warned, "you do not go in there. If he needs help, I'll do it."
"That's fine. I'll work out the price with lover boy there." Nabiki left her sister to negotiate with Ichiro. Fortunately, the rest of the afternoon was uneventful. The three of them paid the deposit and left the shop in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
At home, Ranma went through an extra hard work out to cleanse himself of the remaining creepy feelings he gained at the clothier's, while Akane and Nabiki went upstairs to pull together the accessories for Akane's dress.
Akane couldn't hold her anger any longer and challenged her sister, "So, what's the big deal about hanging around Ranma like that?"
"I wasn't hanging around Ranma. I was helping him get dressed," replied Nabiki as she rummaged through a box containing some costume jewelry.
"Oh. So is that why you were fussing with his coat and collar so much! And of course, you had to barge in on him when he was putting on his shirt!" Akane's jealousy boiler was gaining pressure.
"So what's the big deal? No harm done. Just calm down. You are acting like you actually like him." Nabiki glanced at her younger sister and teasingly asked her, "You do like him, don't you?"
"I, I , I d..." Akane stutters, realizing she was jealous and covered herself, "I don't like perverts!"
"Ranma is not a pervert, so I guess you do like him." Nabiki knew she had the bull by the tail.
"He is so a pervert. He peeped at me!"
"Oh, come off it. That was one time, and you enjoyed it."
"Augh!" Akane attempted to change the conversation back where she wanted. "So tell me, do you like him?"
Nabiki blinked, obviously caught off guard by the question. "He's nice. He's cute. No, not cute. He's really good looking." Nabiki's eyes glassed over for a moment and then cleared as she continued, "He's not stupid, and he's fun to study with. So I guess I do like him a little." Nabiki's expression changed a little, just for a fraction of second. "I'm not interested in him. He doesn't have any money, and he's too into martial arts for me. Besides, you have him."
With a sigh, half in frustration in not finding anything, half in relief that her sister wasn't putting the moves on Ranma, Akane said, "If that's all there is, I suppose I should apologize to you."
Nabiki started to leave. "Don't worry about it. Just have a good time." As she left, Nabiki resolved to keep to herself, and to not think about Ranma.
***
The next night, Ranma was sat restlessly while the play was unfolding, his mind wandering to and fro, but most frequently back to "when will this thing be over."
Akane was absorbed by the play. She was constantly comparing her memory of the play and absorbed with the emotional depth of human drama that was unfolding. When jostled by Ranma, she turned and said, "Ranma, please. Sit still."
"How much longer is thing going to go on?"
Trying not to irritate her neighbors, Akane whispered, "At least another thirty minutes. Relax. You'll like the ending."
About an hour later, Ranma and Akane were walking home. "That wasn't so bad, was it, Ranma?"
"It was okay. I never thought that the old men could swing a sword like that. It was slow at the start, though." Ranma hated the play. The fights were only marginally interesting; they were more for drama's sake than as a resolution to a problem. The best part of the play was that Akane enjoyed herself, and that made him feel that the pain he endured was worth it.
As the couple approached the front door to the Tendo house, Akane stopped, and held Ranma's hand.
"Huh?" Ranma paused and turned to look at Akane.
"Ranma," Akane looked at Ranma's eyes, making sure she had his attention, "Thank you for taking me. I really enjoyed the show."
Ranma's attention was rapt. He looked at his fiancee, and kept looking.
"Ranma? It's okay." Akane stepped up to him, wondering what she should do. She could kiss him, but that didn't feel right. She could hug him, but that didn't feel right either. Leaning forward, she whispered, "Thank you" and walked into the house.
When he was finished eating, Ranma knew the dinner was over when Kasumi nodded at him, so he started to clear the table and helped Kasumi with the dishes. When finished in the kitchen, he left to study with Nabiki, as he had the previous three nights.
Juggling several books with one hand, Ranma knocked at Nabiki's door.
The door opened, and Nabiki watched Ranma juggle three books and a notebook in one hand and with the other, he scratched his ear. Shaking her head, she said to dexterous aqua-transsexual, "Ranma, don't you think you should study with Akane?"
Not losing a beat, Ranma asked, "Why?"
Nabiki's jaw hardened, and blurted, "She's your fiancée, doof!"
After jerking his head back at the intensity of Nabiki's voice, Ranma then left Nabiki's door and walked to Akane's door.
Without knocking, Ranma entered, and asked, "Akane, can I come in and study with you?"
Akane didn't even turn around from her desk and gave him her permission, "Sure. But you gotta behave."
Catching each book as he sat down, Ranma replied, "I always behave!"
An almost inaudible "hurmph!" escaped Akane's lips.
The study session started with this stressful beginning, but they both settled down and worked on their homework, occasionally stopping to chat about other things going on in their lives. It was an hour and a half later when Ranma walked out of her room.
***
Just before bedtime, Kasumi knocked and entered Akane's room.
"How did it go?" Kasumi asked Akane how the study session went.
"Oh, okay. We didn't talk much," Akane said as she climbed off the bed and started stretching on the floor.
"You know Ranma is trying hard not to upset you." Kasumi had to state the obvious to make Akane appreciative of Ranma's efforts
Akane nods, and with her leg pulled past her ears, told her truth, "It's obvious. But there's been a lot of upsetting already done."
She sat up and looked at Kasumi before continuing, "I've been thinking about the engagement, and all the problems it has caused." She paused, then looks at her hands before continuing, "Ranma is, uh, Ranma. Ever since he's been here things have been crazy.
"I didn't know what to do." She started wringing her hands and her voice quivered nervousness, "I mean, it's not like I don't ll...ll...like him or anything. It's that he can be a great guy, and he's cute, and he can be so chivalric at times."
Kasumi looked upon her youngest sister in amazement.
Akane didn't miss the look on Kasumi's face, "I just wish the engagement wasn't so hard," she said.
Spreading her legs and leaning forward to stretch some more, she took a breath, and continued in a monotone, "A couple of days ago I made a list of all of his good points and his bad points. I used two pieces of paper, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to hate him."
Kasumi looked at sister, and saw tears forming in Akane's eyes for the second time that day.
Akane pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Akane sat quietly before saying anything. "He's a good person," she blurted. Taking a deep breath, Akane let Kasumi know what she thought, "He's a wonderful friend. And I don't want to hurt him." Akane sniffled.
It was with a quizzical look on her face that Kasumi asked, "Now what are you going to do?"
"Nothing," Akane said with a smile. "If that idiot thinks I'm going to change, he's got another think coming!"
The grin on Akane's face was full of determination, and Kasumi left the room knowing that her youngest sister would be fine.
***
The next morning, Ranma found both Akane and Nabiki were waiting for him at the front door. Happy that they both were going to be with him that morning, Ranma chatted incessantly about any random thought that popped in his head.
Even with the normal harassment from Kuno and the idiocy of the school, Ranma considered that day to be the best day he had in a long time; after all, Akane was talking to him and he and Nabiki were able to maintain a good-natured banter commenting about the various denizens of the high school.
Unfortunately, the peace was not to last. At dinner things started to fall apart again when Ranma made an announcement before getting up to take the dishes to the table.
"Nabiki, I gotta thank you. I missed only two questions on my quiz the other day!" Ranma stood and bowed to the middle daughter.
Without any sense of modesty, Nabiki retorted, "Geez. Of course you did a good job. I tutored you! You should be thanking me!"
"You idiot! So that's why you wouldn't let me see your paper," Akane yelled, upset again, partially because Ranma hid something from her, partially that he scored higher than she did on the quiz, but also that Nabiki implied that she's a better person to study with.
Akane continued her rant with a bitter tone, "You never did that well when you studied with me. Hurmph!"
"Hey, Nabiki went through all this last year. She knows what I gotta learn."
For Akane, the next words out of Ranma's mouth could have only one outcome, "and she never hit me when I make a mistake."
"Fine," Akane said in a clipped tone. Ranma had just chipped at her sense of self worth. She crossed her arms, sat like a stone and rumbled her anger at Ranma, "In fact, since Nabiki did such a good job, why don't you study with her all the time!" With that Akane left the room, stomping her feet.
Ranma looked at Kasumi, scratched the back of his head and asked, "What'd I do this time?"
Kasumi paused before giving her answer. "Akane is still a little upset. Please, be more careful with what you say."
Nabiki was a bit more direct with her answer, "Good going, Ranma. You shouldn't have implied that Akane hits you all the time."
Ranma tried to defend himself, "But she does!"
Nabiki wanted to say something more, but decided to not add to the fire, thinking that Ranma often deserved to be whacked, and this was one of them.
Knowing that the damage has been done, Kasumi motioned to Ranma that it was time to clear the table.
Kasumi and Ranma were well into the stack of dishes, when Kasumi finally spoke again. "Ranma, thank you for helping with the house repairs."
In a quiet and contemplative tone, Ranma responded, "You're welcome, Kasumi."
Kasumi rubbed a tiny bit of food off a plate, making sure that there was not any residue. Meekly, Kasumi asked, "Do you think you can help me after school next week? I mean, it looks like everything is done, but I could still use a little extra help."
"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma agreed. It was several seconds before Ranma finally registered what he just said. "What did I just get drafted for?" he thought.
As the two of them started to put the dishes away, Ranma started wondering just how he could make up with Akane. His shoulders shrank and he took a deep breath to try and fill an empty feeling in his gut.
"Just relax Ranma," Kasumi's voice drifted into his ears. "Akane is not all that angry. Just avoid her for a little while, and whatever you do, try to avoid anything that will make her upset."
Ranma sounded as if he were defeated by a whole set of emotions that he had no experience with. "Jeez. That'll be just about anything an' everything."
"Well," Nabiki's voice came through the door, "you can start by leaving P- Chan alone for the time being."
The thought of P-Chan in the same room with Akane incensed Ranma. His jaws clenched at the thought of Ryoga spending the night with Akane.
Ranma couldn't determine if Nabiki had a smirk or her face was completely serious when she said, "You'd better if you want Akane to talk to you again."
After weighing punting P-Chan into orbit and being the target of Akane's resulting anger versus just living with a bad situation, Ranma conceded to Nabiki, "I don't hafta like it, but okay."
After a few moments of silence when Ranma put away his apron, Nabiki started to give Ranma the terms for continued tutoring. "Obviously you blew it with Akane tonight. And I know you still have to do your homework."
Behind Ranma, Kasumi listened in to the discussion while folding her apron.
Nabiki took out a small spiral pad of paper and started leafing though it, looking for something. When she found she looked at Ranma and started her negotiation.
"I'm feeling generous, so I created a special rate for you." Nabiki looked at Ranma to gauge his reaction. She noted that he hadn't flinched, so she knew that he wasn't about to get angry, and had hopes of making a little bit of easy cash.
What Nabiki saw behind Ranma stopped her plan cold before if unfolded any further. Kasumi was giving her a look that meant she had crossed the line. Kissing off yet an opportunity, Nabiki sighed.
"Just come up when you're ready," Nabiki said, having gotten the hint from her sister not to potentially make things worse than they already are.
An hour later, Ranma itched for a break when Nabiki broke the silence, "Ranma, why don't you see if Akane wants to join us?" Nabiki wanted to get Ranma out of her room; even after three days of having him study with her, she still felt uncomfortable due to the intensity of Ranma's concentration.
Ranma sounded worried, "Uh, you sure it's safe?"
"Go ahead, she wasn't all that angry." Nabiki tried to reassure Ranma, but wasn't sure that she succeeded.
Ranma closed his books, and threw his things into his book bag, and walked to Akane's room and called through the door, "Akane? You hungry?"
"Just a second," came Akane's voice.
Ranma heard Akane shuffle around in her room, and just as he ran out of patience, she opened the door. Gently tugging his shirt, Akane prodded him, "Come on, you idiot. Let's go down stairs."
Ranma felt better, it seemed she was back to normal.
***
Late Saturday afternoon, Ranma was enraptured by the tail end of a TV variety show where an African acrobat are picking up red blocks off the ground with their feet and throwing them to a teammate on the far side of the stage, who builds a bridge with the thrown blocks, again using his feet. The tosses started slowly, and by the time the bridge is halfway done, the blocks are being thrown so fast that it looks as if there was a red bar suspended above the stage. Then, as if by magic, the two acrobats trade positions and the thrower becomes the catcher and the catcher becomes the thrower. When the bridge was built, the show concluded, with the announcer showing a map that the touring group will be in Nerima the next day just after the lunch hour for a publicity event
"Hey, I gotta go see that!" Ranma immediately saw the potential application of what the footwork that African acrobats could do for martial arts. With a bound, Ranma rushed to find Akane and ask her to join him next day.
***
Upstairs, while Ranma and Kasumi were doing the dishes, the middle daughter was going through some pictures.
"Okay, this is a keeper. So is this one. And that one too," Nabiki muttered as she was reviewing her photograph collection, trying to figure out which ones she would sell at first opportunity. Most of the pictures in front of her were of Ranma in his female form, but a few were of him as a male.
Nabiki looked at the three piles of photos in front of her. One pile has ten photos, the other was more than twice the size. The third stack had only two pictures. Looking at the stacks, Nabiki felt kind of weird. Contemplating her emotions, she wondered, "Now why is it that I can't sell these two pictures?"
She picked up the two pictures in question, and looked at them. Nabiki couldn't see what was so special about the two prints, both pictures were of Ranma in her room studying. One shot had Ranma sitting on the floor with a big grin on his face, his hand held up with a big "V". In the second shot, Ranma was lying on his back with his hands behind his head and had a silly grin on his face as a pencil was balanced on the tip of his nose.
Noticing that the both pictures were a focused little sharper than the others and the contrast was more lifelike, she remembered that she asked for and received permission to take these two pictures. Nabiki realized then that she'd been trapped. Wavering between anger and mirth, Nabiki decided that she was going to save those two pictures, and put them into her own personal journal. "As for the others, well, they can wait," she thought as she returned all but the two to her photo box.
Realizing that Ranma would be arriving soon, she grabbed her books, and started to get ready. After she opened up her literature book, Nabiki's mind drifted aimlessly until the memory of Ranma thanking her jarred her awake. "Whoa. I don't need that," she thought.
***
Late Sunday morning, Ranma and Akane left the house to go to the canal confluence, where the African acrobats were to do their demonstration.
"How much longer..." Ranma said, as he was becoming impatient. A crowd was gathering, and the few warm up acts had finished long ago.
"Just wait, Ranma. It isn't even one yet." Akane stepped a little closer to Ranma. It was a cool day, and the air was nippy. Her gloved hand reached out for Ranma's and she held it.
After a few more minutes, just as Ranma started to jump up and down to relieve boredom and inactivity, the acrobats arrived. The demonstration was similar to the previous night's television performance, except that the two acrobats switched sides several times.
"Hey Akane, look at that," Ranma pointed to the footwork the acrobats did. "I can do that!"
"Look at what, Ranma?" Akane watched the dancers, didn't see anything of note. The feet of the acrobats were a blur, moving far faster than she could discern.
"That's the point. There isn't any difference between that and the Chestnut attack."
Akane watched Ranma for the rest of the show. He intently studied the feet of the dancers, his eyes darted from one dancer to the next as they built their bridge. Occasionally she saw Ranma shift his weight from one foot to another to rhythm of some unheard drummer.
At the end of the show, and on the walk home, Ranma constantly asked Akane if she thought he was making any mistakes. Akane had no idea, but his enthusiasm was infectious.
***
"Oh! Ran-chan!" Ukyo's voice called from behind them, and Ranma and Akane stopped to wait for her. Ukyo was carrying a large box; it didn't look heavy, but it was obvious that it was hard to carry because of its size.
Ranma stepped forward to help Ukyo, but Akane stopped him. As Ukyo reached the two, Ranma called out, "Whatcha got?"
Ukyo shifted the box, and Ranma had to catch it before it fell. Ukyo let go of the box, and Ranma was holding it. "A bunch of plastic bottles for sauces."
Ranma placed the box on his head and started walking between Ukyo and Akane. When Ukyo asked what he going home from, Ranma started to describe the African dancers and what he was trying to learn.
Akane started to sulk while Ranma started to demonstrate what he saw earlier in the day. When Ukyo said she found Ranma's story hard to believe, Ranma asked Akane for support. By this time, Akane was fuming. He had ignored her for the last hour and now he needs her help. she responded with, "Fine. Go ahead and spend the rest of the after noon with your CUTE fiancée.?
By the end of the day, everyone in the Tendo household was exhausted. Ranma was was pooped because he was moving at full speed all day long, bouncing from one side of the dojo to the other in training; the three sisters were tired just because they watched Ranma do his dance.
***
The fathers still had not returned two days later when Ranma meekly entered Akane's room and caught her attention. "Akane, um, I gotta to, um, talk to you."
Akane looks up from her needlepoint, obviously upset that that he's distracted her. "What is it, Ranma," she said.
Ranma was a nervous wreck and rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants. "I, eh, heard that, that, the Flower Center is putting on 'Romeo and Juliet' and..." Ranma falters.
Ranma saw her eyes brighten; Akane knew that the Flower Center was a senior home, and they had been known to have some very good actors.
"... and, uh... " Ranma stammered, under Akane's expectant. He scratched the back of his head with his left hand, while his right fiddled with his shirt. Eventually he took a massive breath of air.
"I want you go," he finally said.
Confused, Akane asked as she put her needlepoint down, "What?"
Ranma almost blurted in frustration, "I said I'd like you to go see the play with me."
Akane had a mischievous look in her eye when she asked, "So you want to see the play?"
Ranma nodded.
"No," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I don't think that's what you want."
"Yes. I mean..." Ranma's expression looked like he was on a bus being driven by a community of crazed monkeys.
"You mean what, Ranma?"
Ranma took a deep breath and looked at Akane in the face. He thought back when he made the decision to take her to the play, and therefore committed himself fully to what he expected to be a long night of misery. He didn't expect that asking her out would be so hard, was worried that she was going to turn him down. Gathering his courage, he tried to put on a face of calmness before carefully enunciating, "I mean, I want to take you to the play."
Watching the expression on Akane's face going from mildly annoyed to very happy was the reward that Ranma sought. A genuine smile spread across her face. "Yeah," Ranma thought, "this is the way it oughta be!"
"Yes Ranma, I would love to see 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Flower Center with you. Thank you for asking." Akane gave him a short nod.
Just as they were starting to come down from their emotional high there was a knock on the door.
"Hey, lovebirds, how about a public conversation?"
"Come on in, Nabiki," Akane said giddily.
Nabiki, who couldn't miss the signs of happiness, couldn't resist teasing her sister, "So, what'd he do? Kiss you?"
"He asked me to the show at the Flower Center!"
"He what?" Nabiki asked, not believing what her sister said. "Four months of being engaged, and Ranma finally asked Akane out," she thought.
A little calmer, Akane repeated her announcement to Nabiki, "He asked me to see 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Flower Center!"
Ranma started squirming in the room, and started to stand up.
Nabiki watched Ranma try to sneak past her and walk out the door, but she wasn't going to give Ranma the opportunity to escape. "Ranma," she inquired, "did you really ask Akane out? After all this time?"
Nabiki knew she was smiling, she just hoped that Ranma didn't know that he was being lead into another trap.
Ranma's reply was the single and cautiously said word, "Yup."
"How wonderful," Nabiki said with a honey sweet voice. She thought about her next step, setting Akane up. An idea came to her. Turning to Akane, she asked, "Akane have you thought about what you are going to wear? You know it's a formal show, don't you?" Nabiki had never attended any shows at the Flower Center, but some of her classmates have been to a show earlier in the year as part of a class assignment, so she knew a few of the requirements for entrance.
"No. I didn't know I had to dress up." Akane sat and had a pensive look on her face before declaring, "This could be fun. I'll have to buy something!"
Nabiki fully well knew the answer, but asked anyway, "Ranma, do you have a nice suit?"
"Nah. Pops said that formal stuff ain't something a martial artist should wear." The expression on Akane's and Nabiki's face warned him that he'd better go along with them, so he asked, "I need one?"
Akane saved Nabiki from answering such a stupid question. "The shows at the Flower Center require a certain dress code. Nabiki just said it's a formal show. You will have to wear a suit or a tuxedo."
"Aw, do I hafta? I don't like wearing stuff that'll restrict my fighting."
"If you don't wear a suit or a tuxedo, you won't be admitted. If you aren't admitted, Akane won't be admitted. You don't want that to happen, do you?" Nabiki said, she was obviously enjoying this. "Besides, since everyone else will be dressed nice, if you wore your normal clothes, you will stand out like an ostrich in a colony of penguins."
Frowning, Ranma replied with, "Oh," and left the room, realizing that this is one of those situations that he was going to be normal.
***
The next day, Akane asked if Ranma would get fitted for a tuxedo that afternoon after school.
"You mean they gotta measure me?" Ranma sounded frightened. Being touched didn't appeal to Ranma. His tried to justify being touched by some stranger, and tried to put it in to context. "Fighting is one thing, the other guy is to hurt me. Doctors are okay too, since they were trying to heal me. G-g-g-g-girls are o-o-o-..." Ranma gave up on that line of thought and tried to put it in perspective of making Akane happy. That idea worked, and he calmed down.
"Yes, they have to measure you," Akane said. "They have to order the right size pants, shirt and jacket. Oh, and shoes too."
"Shoes? What's wrong with what I got?" This was sounding worse by the moment for Ranma.
"Everything." Akane's voice indicated that there was to be no further arguing. "Just be ready after class."
***
At the end of the school day, Akane found Nabiki waiting by the front gate.
"So, little sister, planning on taking Ranma to get sized? Mind if I come along?" Nabiki just had to go with them. This excursion promised to be interesting, and she didn't want to miss it. Having thought this through, she justified her presence to Akane with, "You'll end up paying full price without me."
Nabiki saw the disappointment on Akane's face. Obviously, Akane thought she would do this alone with Ranma. Ready to be denied, not that it mattered since she planned on following anyway, Nabiki was surprised when she heard Akane's response.
"Okay. You can come."
Ranma picked that moment to show up, dropping in from almost nowhere. "Come on let's go."
The three of them walked quickly out of the gate and down the street with Ranma leading the way. After a few blocks, Ranma looked back and then slowed down.
"What is it this time? Kuno?" Nabiki asked. Over the last few weeks she's found him to be a wonderful source of gossip. She's also discovered that Ranma's life was interesting, and she loved to hear his stories, even if she had occasionally probe for the necessary details that allowed the story to make sense.
"Nah. Gosunkugi seemed ta have another new stupid idea to make his life miserable. I just don' wanna be around when it blows up in his face." Ranma laughed.
"He was tryin' to hide under the benches by the field some bag of stuff fell off of him. So he's trying to pick up a bazillion film thingies that was spillng everywhere. So me an the guys decided to sit an' watch him do his thing, and after a couple of minutes, he starts putting this big thingie on the back of the camera."
Ranma held out his hands to give Nabiki and Akane an idea of what he was describing.
"Oh," Nabiki said, "you mean preloaded film canister." Nabiki's eyebrows arched and commented, "Wow, that's an expensive camera."
"Wuz a expensive camera."
It was Akane's turn to ask, "Was?"
"Yeah. So like I was saying, Gosunkugi had this big camera, and started taking pictures of me, and us guys started posing and stuff. For a while we were fun and all, but we started getting bored when he wouldn't stop taking pictures. So we went up and asked him why so many pictures he's taken'.
"You know what he said?"
Nabiki and Akane indicated they had no idea.
"He hands his camera to Dai and tells him keep taking pictures of me and pulls out this book. In that book were some pictures of dirty dark guys in leaves. So Gosunkugi says that these guys think that if you take too many pictures taken, your soul gets stolen.
"Me an Dai started busting up. Gosunkugi swiped the camera from Dai and said something about my 'domiz' and left."
"Demise," Nabiki corrected Ranma.
"Yah, demise. Whatever. Anyways, he tried following us and tripped over his bag, and stuff started flying all over the place.
"That's when I thought it was a good time to get outta there. People started asking for copies of his pictures and I started to get this weird feeling that it's happened before."
Nabiki found it hard to look at Ranma at that moment.
***
Before long, the three arrived at a small men's store.
A dapper young man with too much grease in his hair met the three as soon as they stepped in. "Hello! Thank you for coming in to 'Well Dressed Man'! My name is Ichiro. How may be of assistance?" His hands would not stop moving; his movements were light and feathery. Ranma started to turn pale.
"Ranma here," Nabiki indicated, "needs a tuxedo. Do you have something in a basic black with a back tie?"
"Certainly, take a look at this," Ichiro gestured to a mannequin behind him. The tuxedo was a basic short tail with straight pleats on the breast. "If you notice, it is a beautiful, simple, yet elegant and beautiful tuxedo. The lines", starts caressing the shirt, "are classic. Do you like?"
Ichiro watched Ranma look at the tuxedo and noted his expression hasn't changed. Thinking that something different was needed, he changed his tactics, "We do have something over here, far more fashionable, and makes a wonderful statement. Ranma, is it? You look like a man that needs attention brought to him, come with me." Ichiro waved his hand to bring Ranma over.
Ranma pupils dilated as he looked at Akane, and whispered to her, "This guy is sending me signals that shouldn't be coming from another guy."
Pushing Ranma towards Ichiro, "Go ahead Ranma, he won't bite" Akane said while stifling a laugh.
"At least not hard!" Nabiki whispered in Akane's ear, but loud enough that Ranma could hear her. The two girls couldn't contain their mirth any longer, and started laughing earnestly.
Ranma looked at the two laughing sisters with confusion on his face and walked to what must be fate worse than death.
"So, what do you think?" the salesman asked to a now sweating Ranma. Ichiro had not meet many customers that were as masculine as the fine specimen that stood before him. He knew that he was doomed to fail, but his own heart fluttered when he saw this Adonis walked towards him.
Ranma considered the new tuxedo. It was severely cut, had a pink ruffled shirt, long tails, a baby blue tie and a thing around the waist that looked like a colorful apron.
"This is one of our signature pieces! The cummerbund, here, is pure Chinese silk!" Ichiro starts fondling the "apron" and continues, "The jacket is two toned, and if you notice the extra pockets here, and there." Ichiro had not taken his eyes of Ranma the whole time, his hands displaying the coat pockets as he described each feature, occasionally brushing his hands on the cummerbund.
Pointing to the first tuxedo, Ranma indicated his choice. "Nah. I like the first one better."
"Oh, the classic look. I should have known." Ichiro was disappointed in the boy's taste, but given that the next step was his favorite, he wasn't disappointed for long. "Kind sir, please come over here, by the mirrors."
Ranma walked to the trio of mirrors, looking at his reflection. Ichiro started giving directions.
"Ranma, lift up you arms like this," Ichiro demonstrated by raising his arms so they were level with his shoulders. Ranma complied, and Ichiro started to measure Ranma's arm length.
"Oops! I dropped my tape!" Ichiro bent down to pick up his tape, glancing at Ranma both on the way down, and back up. Nabiki nudged Akane, and the two of them started laughing again.
"Okay, I have to measure your waist and chest, so lift up your arms again please." Ichiro reached around Ranma, and started to fumble with his tape behind Ranma. "Oh. I just can't get a hold of the tape. Ah, now I have it." A few quick measurements, and stopping to write Ranma's waist down, he sighed, "Oh, what a specimen!"
"Aw, man. Do you have to do all this? Can't you just let me try some stuff on, and be done with it?" Ranma's patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Just two more measurements. I have to do your neck and your inseam. Please be patient. Stand tall. Very good. You work out, yes?" Ichiro had the tape around Ranma's neck and caressed Ranma's rat-tail for half a second.
Ranma replied curtly, "No. I just get lots of exercise."
"Let me measure your legs. Stand tall. That's good. Feet together." Ichiro tapped Ranma's legs to let him know that he wanted the legs closer together. When satisfied, he measured from the hip to the floor, letting his hands slide slowly down the outside of Ranma's leg. He walked around Ranma, looking at his front, and measured the other side. "Spread your feet slightly apart."
Ichiro started to salivate. "Okay, I have to measure your inseams," he said. He bent over and instructed Ranma to widen his stance a little more.
"Stand still," he instructed. Ichiro ran the tape with one end at the floor and held the other end just under Ranma's crotch. Occasionally Ranma moved a little, so he took his time to ensure that he had Ranma's measurement correct to the millimeter. Finally done, Ichiro stood up with wistfulness in his eyes and wrote the last of Ranma's measurements down.
"One last question. Do you dress right or do you dress left?" Ichiro guessed that Ranma dressed right, his attempt to find out personally was foiled by Ranma's wiggling around.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma had no clue what this effeminate man was asking.
"You know, which side does 'it' rest? It makes a difference on how the pant's are cut."
Ranma looked around and saw Akane and Nabiki convulsing with laughter on the floor at the far side of the store, gulped. "Uh, right."
"I was right!" chirped the tailor. "Stay right here," he giggled as he skipped of to a back room, "I'm going to get a pair of trousers and a jacket that should fit you."
A few moments later, Akane and Nabiki were standing by Ranma when Ichiro came back with a jacket, pants, shirt, tie, socks and shoes.
Ichiro became disappointed; all hope of having fun disappeared now that the two the girls were next to Ranma. He pulled aside the door to a small closet and motioned to Ranma to enter, "Here, the changing room is here, change and come on out when you are ready."
Ranma walked into the dressing room and shut the door behind him while and Ichiro went to the cash register.
A few minutes later, a cry of frustration came from behind the door. Nabiki looked for Ichiro, then at Akane, who was also looking for the man with decidedly different sexual preferences. Nabiki shrugged her shoulders, and walked in the dressing room.
"Aaaaa! What are you doing here?" Ranma was surprised and shocked that Nabiki walked in on him.
"Hey, don't sweat it. I'm here to help. What's the problem?" Nabiki said as she looked at Ranma's chest. Ranma had the trousers on, but he needed more than a little help with the shirt.
"There aren't any buttons! What kind of shirt is this?!"
Nabiki walked up to Ranma, and pulled the shirt and Ranma closer to her. She looked at the shirt, and found the buttons hidden behind a fold. Starting at the top, she started to button Ranma's shirt. "Here Ranma, the buttons are there, you just have to know where to look. Here," having the first three buttons done, she pointed out where to find the buttons are on the shirt, and let him do the rest.
When done, Ranma looked at Nabiki, leaning against the wall of his changing room. Sheepishly, he held his arms up, neither the cuffs nor the sleeves were buttoned. Nabiki closed her eyes, and shook her head, thinking, "How he can get dressed in the morning..."
Having done the shirt, Nabiki walked out of the dressing room, leaving Ranma to deal with the socks and shoes.
As she stepped out, Akane greeted her. "What were you doing in there?"
"Oh, he was having problems with his shirt, so I helped him."
"You walked right in there?" Akane was surprised at her sister's actions.
"Yep. You should have seen his face when he saw me!" Nabiki giggled.
Right then, Ranma stepped out of the dressing room. He was dressed, but poorly. Immediately Akane and Nabiki started fixing things, straightening seams, tucking in his shirt, and re-tying a shoe. When done, the girls stepped back and looked at Ranma.
"Can't I get rid of this tie? It's choking me." Ranma's face was getting a little red.
"No, Ranma. Stand still, I'm going to loosen the tie." Nabiki, tugged and pulled the tie loser, and then tucked the tie under Ranma's collar. "There. Does it feel better?"
Grumbling, "Yes. Is there something we can do about these sleeves? They pull on my back."
"Ranma, Quit complaining. Nothing is going to go wrong. It looks good on you." Akane felt short and testy. Her anger slowly growing, she thought, "Nabiki came along to help negotiate the price of the tuxedo rental, but now she seems to be trying to monopolize all my time with Ranma! The only thing that's keeping me from knocking her one is because she seems to know a tuxedo is supposed to fit!"
Nabiki walked around Ranma, pulling down on his jacket, fixing his lapels again, and finally buttoned his jacket. She stepped back and looked at her sister. "Well, not bad. Three different suits there, but they all look like they fit nicely. The real thing should look dazzling on him, don't you think, Akane?"
Simmering, Akane looked at Ranma. He did look nice, and with a real tuxedo on and his hair carefully combed, he will be very handsome. Trying to hide her residual anger, she said, "I think so. If he behaves."
Ranma trudged to the mirror and started looking at himself.
Ichiro, having noticed the pig-tailed boy is dressed, walked to Ranma, and looked him over. "Well, that looks good. How do the shoes fit?"
"Okay, I guess."
Bending at his waist, Ichiro checked Ranma's shoes, making sure they aren't too tight. Satisfied, Ichiro then tugged Ranma's trousers down to make sure they weren't riding high, and then pulled the trousers up by the waist after finding that he tugged down just a little too hard. He then double- checked Ranma's waist measurements once more before verifying the fit of the jacket by pulling at the collar. Swallowing loudly, Ichiro asked Ranma how the jacket fit. "How does this feel in the armpits? Tight?"
"Very tight. It was okay before you pulled on it."
"Good. I had to make sure this jacket would fit." Ichiro stepped back and after one last review, Ichiro declares, "You can change back."
Akane tapped Nabiki's arm to get her attention. "No," Akane warned, "you do not go in there. If he needs help, I'll do it."
"That's fine. I'll work out the price with lover boy there." Nabiki left her sister to negotiate with Ichiro. Fortunately, the rest of the afternoon was uneventful. The three of them paid the deposit and left the shop in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
At home, Ranma went through an extra hard work out to cleanse himself of the remaining creepy feelings he gained at the clothier's, while Akane and Nabiki went upstairs to pull together the accessories for Akane's dress.
Akane couldn't hold her anger any longer and challenged her sister, "So, what's the big deal about hanging around Ranma like that?"
"I wasn't hanging around Ranma. I was helping him get dressed," replied Nabiki as she rummaged through a box containing some costume jewelry.
"Oh. So is that why you were fussing with his coat and collar so much! And of course, you had to barge in on him when he was putting on his shirt!" Akane's jealousy boiler was gaining pressure.
"So what's the big deal? No harm done. Just calm down. You are acting like you actually like him." Nabiki glanced at her younger sister and teasingly asked her, "You do like him, don't you?"
"I, I , I d..." Akane stutters, realizing she was jealous and covered herself, "I don't like perverts!"
"Ranma is not a pervert, so I guess you do like him." Nabiki knew she had the bull by the tail.
"He is so a pervert. He peeped at me!"
"Oh, come off it. That was one time, and you enjoyed it."
"Augh!" Akane attempted to change the conversation back where she wanted. "So tell me, do you like him?"
Nabiki blinked, obviously caught off guard by the question. "He's nice. He's cute. No, not cute. He's really good looking." Nabiki's eyes glassed over for a moment and then cleared as she continued, "He's not stupid, and he's fun to study with. So I guess I do like him a little." Nabiki's expression changed a little, just for a fraction of second. "I'm not interested in him. He doesn't have any money, and he's too into martial arts for me. Besides, you have him."
With a sigh, half in frustration in not finding anything, half in relief that her sister wasn't putting the moves on Ranma, Akane said, "If that's all there is, I suppose I should apologize to you."
Nabiki started to leave. "Don't worry about it. Just have a good time." As she left, Nabiki resolved to keep to herself, and to not think about Ranma.
***
The next night, Ranma was sat restlessly while the play was unfolding, his mind wandering to and fro, but most frequently back to "when will this thing be over."
Akane was absorbed by the play. She was constantly comparing her memory of the play and absorbed with the emotional depth of human drama that was unfolding. When jostled by Ranma, she turned and said, "Ranma, please. Sit still."
"How much longer is thing going to go on?"
Trying not to irritate her neighbors, Akane whispered, "At least another thirty minutes. Relax. You'll like the ending."
About an hour later, Ranma and Akane were walking home. "That wasn't so bad, was it, Ranma?"
"It was okay. I never thought that the old men could swing a sword like that. It was slow at the start, though." Ranma hated the play. The fights were only marginally interesting; they were more for drama's sake than as a resolution to a problem. The best part of the play was that Akane enjoyed herself, and that made him feel that the pain he endured was worth it.
As the couple approached the front door to the Tendo house, Akane stopped, and held Ranma's hand.
"Huh?" Ranma paused and turned to look at Akane.
"Ranma," Akane looked at Ranma's eyes, making sure she had his attention, "Thank you for taking me. I really enjoyed the show."
Ranma's attention was rapt. He looked at his fiancee, and kept looking.
"Ranma? It's okay." Akane stepped up to him, wondering what she should do. She could kiss him, but that didn't feel right. She could hug him, but that didn't feel right either. Leaning forward, she whispered, "Thank you" and walked into the house.