The next day started well. Akane managed to
surprise Ranma in a sparring session, thanks to the
move Sansha taught her the day before. Ranma taught
his three students every evening after school,
except weekends where they spent most of the day in
the dojo.
It was your typical Saturday afternoon at
Ranma's humongous house. Kasumi was preparing
dinner in the kitchen, Nabiki was holed up in the
study with Ranma's computer, Soun was reading the
paper, Marco and Sansha were showering after the
workout they'd all had with Ranma, and Akane was
heading out on her jog.
She liked to jog around the house a couple times
for a quick cool down. She reached for the front
door's knob just as somebody knocked on the other
side. She wiped her sweaty hand on the shorts and
tank top she was wearing, and opened the door. The
only visitors they ever had were for Nabiki, or Chad
for Ranma every few weeks.
A pretty, older woman stood there in a long,
tight black skirt and a yellow silk blouse; a
designer suitcase sat by her foot. Her hair wasn't
quite chin length and a really pale purple. The
stranger blinked at Akane.
"Hello! I didn't know Ranma had anyone living
here with him."
"Uh, yeah, well my father was an old friend of—"
"Saya!"
Akane whipped around as Ranma came barreling
past her. He picked the woman up by the waist and
spun her around, smiling up at her with a real
smile, not his usual half-smile. She laid her
delicate hands gently on his shoulders as he lowered
her slowly.
He gave Saya a hug and Akane blinked. This was
Ranma?
"It's so good to see you Ranma! You haven't
called since after that tournament."
"I know, I went immediately on that training
journey and just recently got back. Then—uh, I got
some bad news. Why don't you come in."
He turned back toward the house and started at
the sight of Akane. "Oh, uh, yeah Akane?"
She held her anger in, how dare he just forget
her for this older woman? "Nothing, just going for
a jog."
She flicked her hair over her shoulder and
strolled past them.
Ranma took Saya straight to the parlor and sat
her down on the couch he sat next to her and took
her hand.
"Saya, Jaxom came back. He broke out of prison
and started trailing me. He found out I was staying
with some old friends of the family and kidnapped
Akane. I went after them, of course, and, well, you
won't have to worry about him again."
Her eyes shone with fearful tears that she
wouldn't let fall. "They caught him then? Oh,
good."
He didn't like the shaking of her voice, and
reached out to give her hand a squeaze.
After a moment, he pulled his hand from hers and
studied it.
"No, I killed him."
He feared her rejection, but she leaned over and
hugged him. He looked up at her and smiled. "We're
free, Saya."
She nodded, saying nothing.
Akane pounded the sidewalk, occasionally
throwing punches. Though she usually just ran
around the house, she'd decided to take a long run
like she used to do every morning. It'd give her
time to think, and think she did.
He ran up and hugged that woman, who's obviously
too old for him. And he genuinely smiled at her,
spinning her around like some besotted fool,
forgetting all about me! I'm his fiancée, even if
it is a stupid arrangement.
She was lost in her angry, jealous thoughts, and
lost track of time.
Ranma looked up at the clock. Saya'd been here
for nearly an hour. Dinner would be ready soon.
There was a knock, and Kasumi came in.
"Ranma, did you send Akane out on an errand?"
He frowned, "No, why?"
She began to look as worried as Ranma'd ever
seen Kasumi get. "Well, she usually runs for a few
moments after you four workout, but she's not back
yet."
Ranma looked out the window, "Have you called
for her?"
"Yes, nothing."
"Saya, Kasumi, I'll be back soon. I'll drive
around and look for her."
Akane finally glanced up and noticed that
nothing looked familiar. A clock hanging in a bar
window showed that she was late for dinner, but she
had no idea where she was. She was starting to
panic when a horn beeped beside her. She jumped and
spun to see who had honked.
A shiny sportscar with a dark-haired martial
artist pulled up to the curb next to her. He rolled
the window down and smiled at her. "Are you
planning on coming home soon? Kasumi's worried."
She stared into the eyes that had seen who knows
what and taken it in stride. She took in the
strangeness that had happened in her own life since
Ranma had come to town and suddenly felt so
inadequate that tears just poured down her face.
She put her hands up to cover her face and turned
from him.
She heard him, barely, through her tears as he
got out of the car and locked the doors. He came up
behind her and put his arms loosely around her. She
stepped slightly away and turned to face him.
He was wearing the usual Chinese shirt, but with
jeans this time. His hair was braided down his back
and he was smiling. She shook her head and sighed.
"How can you stand it? I probably don't want to
know half the things you've done in your life. In
the past few weeks, I've been kidnapped, nearly
starved for days, tortured mentally, carted around
China, put under your effective but strange
training, met crazy but nice people, and the list
will only keep growing."
He blinked in startlement, "Is that all that's
bothering you? That I can handle crazy situations a
little better than you?"
She gave a tiny growl and flung her hands into
the air. "No! We're engaged, for heaven's sake! I
understand you not wanting to go through with this,
so why drag it out? You treat me like a little kid
you have to baby-sit, not the key to whether you die
with or without your honor."
She turned and started walking in the direction
she'd been going when he'd driven up. "How is that
supposed to make me feel? I don't want to marry
you, I'm not worthy of the great Ryo Tome, but I
don't like being treated as so insignificant."
"Akane, that's not true. I really enjoy your
company. I don't know what I would do if I didn't
have such a dangerous job; but I can't afford to
marry anyone. I hadn't even thought about whether I
wanted to marry you or not. I just knew I
couldn't."
She glared at him as he walked along beside her.
"So you tolerate the presence of my family and me in
your home because your boss ordered you to. Then
you train me just to make me feel better."
He sighed, "No. You're a great student. You
really want to learn, and I have never had a
student. I could die at any time, and the Soatome
School would die out with me."
She opened her mouth again to yell an insult at
him when she felt something whiz past her head. She
blinked, thinking she'd imagined it, but a lock of
hair fell down around her face. Something had gone
past her head and chopped off a piece of her hair.
By the time she'd realized this, Ranma had
grabbed her and was dragging her into a more crowded
portion of the street. She kept up only because he
couldn't go full speed in the crowded sidewalks.
Then, without warning, he tugged on her arm to send
her flying into his arms. He picked her completely
off her feet and jumped a six-foot wall.
They landed on the other side in someone's
garden. Still being carried, Akane looked over
Ranma's shoulder. A man in a gray suit was climbing
the wall. She watched him reach into a coat pocket
as he hung from the top of the wall.
The sun glinted orange off the dark gray metal
and she gasped. "Ranma, he's got a gun!
In the next instant, the man disappeared as they
jumped the opposite wall of the garden. She heard a
loud cursing from their attacker as they left his
line of sight. She relaxed, but Ranma didn't. He
kept his harrowing pace and turned down another
street.
"I've got a friend that lives around here.
We'll go there."
She didn't say anything as he carried her
through a more residential area. She watched over
his shoulder. They were in a less crowded area now,
and would be easy pickings if their attacker caught
up to them. Ranma suddenly turned sharply and Akane
saw that they were at an apartment complex. It
looked like a fairly nice one, too.
Ranma put her down once they were inside,
pulling Akane to the elevator by her wrist. Inside,
he punched the 'door close' button, then one marked
'P'. Akane stared at the lit button, thinking to
herself, penthouse? Well, from the looks of his
mansion, it makes since he'd have rich friends.
The door opened and they stepped from the
elevator to a small room with a marbled floor and
bare white walls. There was a white, paneled door
directly in front of them, and Ranma rang the bell.
"Just a moment!" The feminine voice was muffled
through the door. There was a long series of clicks
and bangs as several door bolts slid free and
deadbolts were loosened.
A young woman with blonde hair wearing a terry
bath robe opened the door with a small change purse
in her hand. She blinked in surprise. "Ranma?
What are you doing here?"
Ranma pushed past her, still holding Akane's
wrist. "No time, Lilly, shut the door." He ran to
the window, finally releasing the bewildered Akane.
He peeked past the curtain and through the blinds.
Akane watched him until she heard the soft click of
the door closing.
Akane turned and studied this friend of Ranma's.
Lilly had dark blonde hair that fell just to her
shoulders. Her eyes were green, and sparkling with
amused confusion as she crossed her arms over her
chest and smiled at Ranma.
"Let me guess, you're on assignment. This
girl's some dignitaries daughter that you had to
rescue or something, right?"
Ranma kept his eyes on the window, glancing up
and down the street, as he answered in a distracted
tone, "No, she's my fiancée."
Lilly blinked then turned expressionless eyes on
the dark haired girl in running shorts and a tank
top. "Really. Interesting. Well, I'm Lilly
Graham. I'm an old friend and business partner of
Ranma's."
Akane blinked, still a little stunned. "Uh, I'm
Akane Tendo."
At 'Tendo', Lilly jerked her head to Ranma.
After a moment, she burst into laughter. "The
dreaded Tendo? Ranma, I do worry about you
sometimes."
Ranma finally stepped away from the window. "I
know. I'll explain later. I think he gave up
Akane."
There was a loud knock on the door, and Akane
shrieked. Ranma stepped in front of Akane and fell
into a defensive stance. She copied it, if a little
shakily, and nearly fainted when Lilly calmly opened
the door. Expecting the man in the gray suit, Akane
was understandably shocked to see a delivery boy.
He raised an eyebrow at the two martial artists, but
calmly exchanged his packages for some money with
Lilly.
Lilly closed the door and set the change purse
on the table next to the door. She held up the
delivery, (Chinese from the looks of it) and tipped
her head towards a kitchen to Akane's right. "Why
don't you explain what's going on over a little take
out?"
Lilly slurped up some noodles and stared at
Ranma. She'd changed into a tight black tank top
with black jeans that had a white and red dragon
climbing up the right leg in embroidery. Ranma
calmly sipped a cup of tee and finished explaining
who Akane was and why she and her family were in
danger.
"I was getting too comfortable. I should have
known there would still be people out to get us
still."
Lilly waved his statement off, "Of course not!
How were you to know? Anyway, I'm sure you know who
it is now, so you can hunt them down and take care
of everything."
He shook his head, his face tense with the anger
he felt toward himself. "I didn't get a chance to
see him. I was too busy running."
Akane looked up meekly, "Um, I saw him.
Remember? When he came over the wall, I told you
about the gun."
Ranma sat up a little, "That's right. But did
you get a good enough look at him to identify him?"
Akane bit her lip and closed her eyes in
concentration. After a moment, she nodded slowly.
"I think so. He was bald with a black mustache. He
wasn't very tall, maybe an inch or two over five
feet. But he was older, maybe late twenties, and
had some kind of tattoo on his left hand. I don't
know about his right though."
Ranma blinked. "That's not bad for someone who
isn't trained, Akane."
She grinned up at him, but he turned back to
Lilly. "Watch Akane for me, will ya? I want to go
looking for this guy."
Seeming to remember something, he grabbed a
glass of water from the table, glancing at Akane he
said, "Could you explain this to Lilly for me?" At
her nod, he dumped the water over his head and left
the apartment.
The blonde turned a dazed expression to Akane,
who sighed. "While rescuing me from Jaxom in China,
Ranma kinda picked up this curse. Now, everytime
he's hit with cold water, he turns into a girl. Hot
water changes him back.
Lilly nodded, but didn't look happy with the
idea. After several long and silent minutes, Lilly
glanced back up.
Lilly looked up and cocked her head, "Want to play a
game of cards?" She stuck a bite of noodles into
her mouth, the long ends trailing sauce down her
chin as they fell even with her shoulders. She
slurped the long noodles into her mouth and gave
Akane a questioning look.
Akane shrugged. "I suppose. Aren't you worried
about Ranma?"
Lilly scoffed as she opened a drawer. Akane
peeked and saw that the entire thing was filled with
decks of cards. She selected one blindly as she
looked at Akane. "Are you kidding? That boy
wouldn't get hurt if Tokyo Tower fell right on his
head. Wait, his head is so hard of course it
wouldn't hurt him. Okay, if it fell on him in
general, it wouldn't hurt him."
Lilly sat down and began elaborate motions that
Akane assumed were meant to shuffle the cards.
"Five card pick up? Maybe seven card no peek?"
Akane blinked, "Uh, excuse me?"
Lilly looked stunned and dropped a few cards.
"Don't you play poker?"
At Akane's negative, Lilly began a long and
intensive tutoring session that completely took her
mind off of the missing martial artist.
It was nearly midnight when there was a knock on
the door, followed by Ranma calling out, "Lilly,
it's me."
He was still a she.
Lilly turned over her seventh card. It was a
three of spades. "No! It isn't fair! I felt for
sure that would be a king!" There weren't two
identical cards in the seven in front of her. Akane
looked down. She had only turned over one card, a
king of hearts. She turned over the next one; a
jack of hearts. Lilly leaned forward slightly as
Akane turned the next one; an ace of hearts. Lilly
groaned as the ten and queen came into view,
followed by the ace of spades.
Lilly sat back in a huff and crossed her arms
over her chest. Akane gleefully pulled the stack of
yen toward her and began counting. "It's a pity
this is all yours to begin with. If I'd had money
on me, I would be able to keep all of this."
Lilly glared at the younger girl for a moment,
then broke into a wide grin. "You're a sharp
cookie, Akane. You picked that up really quick."
Akane shrugged, "My sister's really good with
numbers and stuff, I guess it rubbed off on me."
Ranma poked his head into the kitchen doorway
with a confused expression. He blinked down at the
cards and money strewn across the table. He sighed
and walked into the room, glancing reproachfully at
Lilly.
"Now Lilly, teaching her poker while I was out
risking my neck?"
She shrugged and flipped her hair out of her
face, "It kept her mind off of it, didn't it?"
Akane jumped up and scanned Ranma from head to
toe. "You don't look hurt."
He waved her worries away and smiled. Akane
stared at him; a real smile, not one of his half
hearted attempts at one. "I'm fine. He was easy to
subdue, then I just questioned him. When he found
out I'd killed the guy that had hired him (I don't
know how he hadn't heard, but he is foreign so I
suppose he couldn't read the newspaper) he
apologized, handed me his weapons, and walked away."
Akane blinked in confusion and shot a glance to
Lilly to make sure she wasn't the only one. Lilly
nodded in understanding and played with the end of
her ponytail. She negligently shuffled the deck and
sighed after a moment as Ranma sat between the two
girls.
"You know Ranma, it's almost a shame how easy
it's gotten over the years. I remember when a
hitman took a job and felt honor-bound to see it
through no matter what. It's like they've lost all
sense of honor."
Ranma shook his head and smiled slightly, his
expression sort of pained. "I disagree. I think
they've just gotten a new type of honor."
Lilly shrugged. "Did he know anything about any
other hired guns after you?"
"Nah. He says that he believes he is the only
one because he's the best there is in the business
now that his old buddy bit the bullet a few weeks
before he was hired. I let him go because he says
this is his last job anyway before he retires to the
Caribbean. He was paid in advance so he's taking
his girl to a private little place he bought a few
months ago."
Akane frowned down at the folded bills in her
hand. "If you've got such a good reputation, why
would Jaxom agree to pay someone in advance for your
death?"
Ranma smiled in a knowing way and leaned back in
the chair. "It's an old trick of his father's. If
you act willing to pay them in advance, it makes the
hardest target look like child's play."
Lilly chuckled and looked down at the cards.
She started as if she'd forgotten they were there,
even though she'd stacked an elaborate house of
cards without thinking about them. She looked up at
Ranma with a grin.
"Hey Ranma, how about a hand of cards? Maybe I
can actually beat you!"
Ranma blinked at her in surprise before his
expression immediately changed to his usual mask of
calm indifference. "What do you mean? You always
win; no matter who you're playing you win."
Lilly huffed and crossed her arms over her
chest. "Tell that to little Miss. Beginner's Luck
over there. I thought I'd be nice and teach her a
little poker, maybe have a small friendly wager."
Tears formed in her eyes as she turned to Ranma. "I
only won the first hand! She's won the last dozen."
Her voice held more than a hint of a pout before
Ranma gave her shoulder a pat. He shot a glance to
the small wad of bills in her hand. "Don't worry,
it's only beginner's luck, like you said. You'll
get her next time."
Lilly perked up a little. "Yeah, that's right.
Stop by any time, Akane! I'm almost always here."
Akane nodded with a smile as she threw down the
money, and Ranma took the hint. He gave his old
friend a wave and ushered Akane out the door. He'd
brought the car back with him and they climbed in.
He shot her a bland look.
"Beginner's luck, Akane?"
She smiled and gave a slight shake of her head.
"Do you think anyone with Nabiki for a sister could
survive without knowing at least a little poker, let
alone mastering it?"
For the first time ever in Akane's presence,
Ranma gave a jovial bark of laughter before biting
his lip to contain it as he steered back into the
appropriate lane. That simple action helped ease
Akane's mood tremendously.
Of course, that mood was ruined minutes later as
they pulled up to the house when a certain lavender-
haired woman opened the front door. She ran past
Akane without a glance and started glancing up and
down Ranma's body for signs of injury or harm.
"Oh good, you're alright. The way you acted, I
thought there was something wrong."
He smiled that little half-hearted smirk of his
and Akane was partially heartened that this woman
was not immune to his lack of emotion.
He cocked his head, "Oh no, nothing's wrong. I
just had to go pick up Akane and we stopped by an
old friend of mine's place for a brief visit."
Akane frowned angrily. They'd been shot at and
chased through the streets and he calmly informed
this strange woman that nothing was wrong. With a
huff she turned and went into the house. She
stormed up to her room and changed into her gi.
After tightly pulling her hair back, she tapped on
Sansha's door.
Ranma looked up from his old friend Saya as
Akane stormed off. He frowned for a moment, but
finally shrugged. "So Saya, where are you off to?"
"Well, I told you about the old student I have
to visit. After that, I'll be back here to live off
your hospitality for awhile." She smiled and gave
him a playful punch in the shoulder. "I appreciate
this Ranma. I really do."
He gave her a hug and smiled down at her. "It
isn't your fault private tutors aren't in high
demand right now."
She smiled sadly and shrugged. "Well, I'm sure
your young guests will benefit from a little special
attention."
"Hold on." Sansha's hair was wrapped in a towel
monogrammed with her initials. She smiles when she
notices her friend. She's wearing a t-shirt with
baggy sweatpants. "Hello Akane! I am glad to see
that you are alright."
Akane smiled softly in embarrassment. "I just
got a little lost on my jog. You know how it is, I
just wasn't paying much attention.
Sansha smiled and nodded, "Yes, I know how eet
iz well. Would you please come in?"
Akane walked in and sat on the bed as her friend
closed the door. Sansha dug through the trunk she'd
put at the foot of her bed and pulled out an outfit
identical to the one she'd arrived in. She changed
quickly and sat on the bed next to Akane. She
grabbed a brush off of her bedside table and began
combing the knots out of her wet hair.
Akane was laying on her stomach, ankles crossed
over her back as she swung her legs slowly as she
traced the pattern on the bedspread. "How long do
you think you and your brother will be here Sansha?"
The redhead paused and cocked her head. After a
moment she sighed and lost the usual cheerful
expression she wore. "I do not know, but I 'ope we
will be staying for a very long time. I am so tired
of travel!"
Akane smiled and rolled over to lie on her back
next to her friend. "I hope you stay for a long
time too. It's nice to have someone to talk to. To
tell you the truth, I was a little hurt when Ranma
told me he'd be taking on new students."
Sansha nodded, "But of course you should be! E
is your fiancée, after all."
Akane frowned and Sansha raised an eyebrow at
the troubled expression her friend wore.
"Oh, Sansha, I'm so confused."
"Ow so, my friend, and I shall try and 'elp
you."
Akane sat up and cast a shy glance at her
friend. "I don't want to trouble you. Ranma
obviously doesn't see a problem with the
arrangement."
Sansha held up her hands, "Now, do not get
angry, my friend. Perhaps he just sees things
differently zan you. I do not know ze situation;
perhaps you could explain things to me?"
Akane sighed and squared herself off with her
friend. She began the long explanation, beginning
with Ranma's peculiar arrival at her home. She
didn't leave too many things out, only a few really
personal things. When she finished, she was nearly
in tears.
"I mean, if he doesn't want to marry me, fine!
He's famous, and rich, and a much better fighter
than me; why should I deserve him? But for heaven's
sake, can't he just tell me? Why does he have to
draw it out like this?"
Sansha thought for a moment; the serious
expression nearly comical to anyone who really new
the fun and lively girl.
"Perhaps 'e is trying to find an honorable way
out of ze engagement, no? Eet seems difficult, so
perhaps eet iz taking a long time." She raised an
eyebrow and wiggled it suggestively. "Or maybe 'e
does want to marry you and 'e won't admit it to
imself."
Akane bit her lip and tried to fathom that.
"Maybe."
Sansha sighed and leaned back. "You must tell
me, my friend, ow you truly feel about Ranma."
Akane leaned back against the headboard and
outlined the carved design with her finger. "I
really like Ranma. I don't know about marrying him;
I'm too young for that. How else would I feel?
He's so smart and funny and charming and talented!"
Sansha held up a helpful finger, "And 'andsome!"
Akane giggled and hugged a pillow. "OH,
definitely! What did you expect me to say?"
Sansha shrugged and took her brush to Akane's
hair this time. "Oh, I don't know. You two have an
arranged marriage. I would not be surprised if
someone with as strong a will as you would not buck
at such restraints."
Akane blushed, "Well, I'm not happy with it, but
Ryo Tome was my hero before I found out how
wonderful Ranma Soatome was! If it weren't for the
engagement, I would never have met him!" She sighed
and fingered a lock of her long hair. "I just wish
he would give it a try. Maybe it would work out,
you know?"
Ranma let his hand fall from where he'd held it,
poised to knock on Sansha's door. He hadn't thought
that Akane would take the engagement seriously at
all. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. Maybe he should
humor her. With a thoughtful expression, he
wandered back to his room.
He picked up his address book and the phone,
dialing a number he knew well. He just hoped he could
stay male the whole time.
After a couple of minutes on the phone, he went
back to Sansha's door and knocked.
"Please come in."
Ranma poked his head in and smiled. "Hey girls,
dinner is ready."
"OH, thanks." They stood and he held the door
open for them. He closed it and put a hand on
Akane's shoulder to stop her. Sansha stopped and he
smiled at her. "Go ahead, I just have to talk to
Akane for a moment."
Sansha blinked at him, then turned and grinned
at Akane before running down the hallway. Ranma
turned and smiled down at her.
"Akane, I thought that we should give the whole
engagement thing a try. Why don't we go out
tomorrow night?"
Akane froze and then began to fidget a little.
"Just the two of us? Well, if you want to."
He smiled and grabbed her hand. "Great! I'll
pick you up at six!" He kissed her hand before
putting her arm through his. Together, they walked
down to dinner.
Nabiki had known something was up the night
before when Akane and Ranma walked into dinner arm
in arm. When Akane had asked Kasumi and Nabiki for
help getting ready for her date, she'd known what
had happened just before dinner the night before.
Nabiki picked up a yellow dress and held it
against Akane. "No, that just won't do."
There was a knock on the door and the three
girls looked up. "Come in."
Sansha poked a smiling head in. "Do we need
help, girls?" She giggled and ran in with her arms
full of clothes and a caboodle full of make-up.
Within an hour, Akane was ready to go. They'd
chosen an interesting version of 'the little black
dress' with a low-cut front, no back, and spaghetti
straps. It fell to her knees, wasn't really tight
or really loose.
They'd curled her long hair and given her some
dramatic yet subtle make-up. She wasn't brave
enough for the strappy stiletto heels; so she chose
the simple black pumps with a wider, slightly lower
heel. Her sisters and Sansha stepped back to study
her.
Nabiki nodded after a moment. "She'll do."
When Akane sent her a nervous glance, she smiled.
"Kidding, sis, you look fabulous."
There was a knock and they all glanced at the
clock. "Akane?" Ranma called from the hallway.
"Coming!" She shot her friends a nervous glance
as they moved to be out of sight when she opened the
door. Ranma grinned and held out his arm.
Akane took his arm with a weak and nervous
smile. He grinned and looked her up and down.
"You look wonderful, Akane."
She tugged self-consciously at the hem of her
dress with the hand that wasn't clutching her purse.
She smiled and scanned his appearance. He was
wearing an expertly tailored tuxedo; the kind that
without a tie, just a fancy button at his throat.
The hand not occupied with her arm was casually
tucked into his pants pocket. What really surprised
her was that he'd left his hair loose. He had an
ebony curtain of shiny black hair hanging to his
waist.
"You look very elegant, Ranma."
He smiled and started down the stairs, Akane
still on his arm, "You sound surprised that I can
pull that off."
She smiled up at him, "Surprisingly, I'm not.
I've learned to not be surprised by you, Ranma."
He chuckled and they walked out the front door.
Akane looked up expecting to see his little sports
car. Instead, a uniformed man was holding open the
back door to a sleek, stretched white limo. Akane
paused and looked questioningly up at him.
"Where's your little car?"
He smiled down at her with a raised eyebrow, "I
thought this would be a little more appropriate for
the evening I have planned. Of course, if you
prefer sports cars—"
"Oh, no, this is fine. I'd hate to mess up your
plans." She blushed a little as he chuckled. He
helped her in and followed as soon as she was
settled. The driver closed the door and trotted
around to his own seat.
Ranma stretched with a smile. "There's nothing
like the privacy of tinted windows. Do you want
anything to drink?" He was leaning over and opened
a small door that Akane hadn't even noticed.
"Uh, sure."
He nodded and rummaged around, his back to Akane
so she couldn't tell what he was doing. A moment
later, he turned and handed her a fluted glass of
champagne. It was beautiful cut crystal with a gold
rim. She thanked him and took a sip. She'd had a
little champagne at a couple of weddings, and she
was pretty sure that she pulled off the calm
appearance of someone that drank alcohol in limos
all of the time.
Ranma leaned back and took a sip. He closed his
eyes and sighed in bliss. "Now that, is pure
heaven."
She giggled, partly from the bubbles, but mostly
because she hadn't seen Ranma this relaxed since
they'd left China. He opened one eye and turned his
head enough to smile at her. After a moment where
they simply smiled at each other, they both burst
into cheerful laughter.
When they'd calmed down, he sighed and caught
his breath. "We've got a short drive before we get
to the restaurant."
"Oh, where are we going?"
He glanced out the window, "Oh, a friend of mine
has a nice little club downtown. I helped him out
with it, a little, when he was first getting
started."
Akane smiled and handed him her empty glass,
which he put away. "That's nice of you Ranma."
He shrugged it off, "I just hope you can dance
in those shoes. That's another part of why we're
going there. It's the best place to go in Japan if
you want excellent food and dancing all in one
place."
They made small talk and continued to smile and
laugh and generally have fun. When the car rolled
to a stop, Ranma looked up in surprise.
"I hadn't realized we were here already."
Ranma stepped out of the car and turned to extend
a hand. Akane blinked as she stepped out in the bright
light outside the club. They were too close for her
to be able to tell much about the building itself, since
they were right on the sidewalk just outside it.
Akane blinked once at the long line of people
waiting to get past the bouncer. The bouncer looked up
with a frown, but smiled as he saw Ranma. He clipped the
rope across the line of waiting people dressed in elegant
evening wear and trotted over to the door.
"Mr. Soatome. You haven't been around lately.
Enjoy your evening."
"Thanks."
They strolled into a lobby of some type; a hat
check girl scanned them up and down with a smile,
but didn't move toward them since neither of them
had either a hat or a coat. Ranma strolled past the
girl without a glance and approached the double
doors directly before them. They were wide open; a
maitre 'de standing behind an elegant podium while music
was playing loudly in the next room.
The man behind the podium was completely bald
and wore a much simpler tuxedo than Ranma. He
smiled and gave a slight bow.
"Ah, Mr. Soatome, you're right on time as usual.
I believe you know the way upstairs?"
Ranma nodded and waved a negligent hand as he
went through the doors and turned right. There was
a beautiful wooden spiral staircase in front of
them; another bouncer positioned at the bottom.
Ranma stepped aside and gestured for Akane to
precede him. She nodded with a smile and started
up. She felt her cheeks heat up a little when Ranma
followed directly behind her; a steadying hand
placed on the small of her back as they made their
way up the narrow, steep stairs.
There was an entire room above the nightclub
downstairs. Where the first floor was a
stereotypical club, the second floor was entirely
new. The people downstairs were partying loudly
with the occasional screech or a particularly loud
laugh. The people upstairs were obviously having
fun, as evident in their laughter and smiling faces,
but were behaving much more subdued and elegantly.
Another thing that Akane noticed that differed
between the two rooms was the appearance and attires
of the people. Everyone downstairs was dressed up
in the way Akane or her friends would for a fairly
formal school dance, but not in flowing ballgowns.
The people upstairs wore sleek designer suits and
dresses with sparkling gold and jewels. Akane
seriously suspected that all of those jewels were
real, and fingered the simple gold chain she wore
self-consciously.
"Ranma, we're over here!"
Ranma and Akane turned to see a man standing up
from his seat at a corner booth. Ranma smiled
softly, putting his arm around Akane's waist and
started leading her in that direction. Akane just
tried to imitate the calm, carefree manor of all the
other women in the room. There were three couples
sitting at the nearly circular booth. The man that
had called out to Ranma had dark blonde hair and
smiling eyes.
"Hey, Ranma, I forgot you were stopping by
tonight. And who's this charming vision?"
Akane blinked and had to think for a moment
before she realized he was talking about her. Her
cheeks grew a little pinker and a woman sitting next
to the standing man chuckled.
Ranma smiled calmly down at her for a second
before turning back to the man. "Well, Michael,
this is Akane Tendo. And she happens to be the
daughter and heir of the master of the Tendo school
of Anything Goes." He paused and his smile grew to
be a little more sarcastic. "Oh, and she's my
fiancée."
Everyone stared blankly at Ranma's bland
expression. After a moment, their gazes turned as
one to look at Akane. She couldn't help it, she had
to laugh at how easily these cool sophisticates had
been blown away by Ranma's casual banter.
The girl directly to Akane's left smiled and
nodded. "Well, she has a nice laugh, so I'd say you
made a good choice, Soatome." Akane looked
cautiously down at the girl. She was around Akane's
age with long chocolate brown hair. She wore a deep
purple pantsuit and smiled up at Akane. "I'm an old
friend of Ranma's. My name's Ukyo Kuonji."
Akane was about to exchange some sort of
pleasantries when Ranma snorted. "Since when have I
been 'Soatome,' Ucchan?"
The girl laughed, "Since you changed so
drastically and we both grew up. You're an entirely
different person now."
Ranma smiled back and Ukyo scooted over so that
Akane and Ranma would have room to sit down. Ranma
helped Akane down next to his old friend, then sat
next to Akane. Akane smiled and remained silent as
the people around the table laughed and joked.
The man beside Ukyo was wearing khakis and a
satin dress shirt embroidered with white tigers. He
had long, bleached hair and wore sunglasses. He had
an arm around Ukyo's shoulders, but neither of them
seemed overly romantic toward each other. His name
was Jayce or Jason or something like that.
The man next to him was wearing a black suit and
had short black hair. He looked like a typical, if
handsome, late middle-aged Chinese man. He kept
talking about the stock market and business matters
that either confused or amused the other people at
the table. His name was Chong.
The woman seated beside him had an American
appearance and accent. Her name was Susie, and she
wore a strapless red mini-dress. She was much
younger than her husband Chong, and getting quite
drunk. Most of the people at the table ignored her
loud comments.
Next to her was the man who'd greeted Ranma when
they'd arrived. He was introduced to Akane as
'Maxwell, but we call him Maxie when he's bad' right
after they'd sat down. He had a woman sitting next
to him that looked exactly like him except that she
had a stern expression. She wore a high-necked,
ankle length dress.
The stern woman had smirked at that point. "I'm
his twin, Maxine. They call me Maxie when I am
good."
Everyone had burst out laughing. After the very
rapid introductions, they'd all immediately picked
their conversations up exactly where they'd been
interrupted by Ranma's arrival. Ranma would make
the occasional comment, but stayed mostly silent.
After a few moments, Akane was getting a little
upset. This was supposed to be their date, not a
party. Of course, just as her feelings were really
starting to get bruised, Ranma glanced at his watch.
"Well, Akane and I are gonna head off to our
table. I'll see you guys around." The two of them
stood and there were polite farewells from all, and
a couple of not so polite ones as well. A few
seconds later, they were seated at a table for two
in a secluded little niche with a screen of ferns
making it cozy and a little more private. They also
had a cheerful view of the dance floor down on the
first floor.
They were settling into their seats when a
waiter appeared. He put down glasses of water and
two menus. "What would you like to drink this
evening, Mr. Soatome?"
Ranma ordered something, but Akane wasn't sure
what is was since it was in a different language.
The waiter nodded and disappeared. Ranma picked up
his menu.
"What do you like, Akane? They've got a pretty
varied menu, but I know a few house specialties if
you'd like."
Akane had opened the menu without thought. Now
she was glad he'd made that offer. There were only
a few dishes she recognized; most of the items on
the menu were foreign.
She arranged her face in a calm smile as she
lowered the menu. "That would be nice. I'm sure
you have a better idea of what's good here than I
do."
He chuckled and she glanced down at the front of
the menu. She froze and blinked; but no, she wasn't
mistaken. "Ranma, this is 'The Dragon's Den'!"
"Uh, yeah."
She looked up at his confused expression. She
leaned forward and lowered her voice a little.
"But, 'The Dragon's Den' is the most elite club in
Japan!"
He nodded slowly in confusion. "Yeah, didn't I
mention that in the car?"
She blinked. Her friends would never believe
her. Ranma put his menu down and it wasn't a full
minute before their waiter returned. Seconds later
she was sipping wine and Ranma was ordering food
that she probably wouldn't be able to pronounce.
When the waiter left, she cocked her head in a
questioning pose.
"Ranma, who were those people back at that
table?"
He blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. Ucchan and I lived
in the same neighborhood for awhile when we were
younger. The others all work for Chad or, of
course, are married to someone who does. I
introduced Ucchan to them, and she ended up getting
a job for Chad too."
"OH, business associates." She smiled at the
irony, and he chuckled.
"You could say that. Max owns this place, you
know."
Akane blinked, "Really? Wow, he must be pretty
well off then."
Ranma's face went blank as he raised one
eyebrow. "Uh, Akane, Ucchan and you are probably
the only ones up here who aren't millionaires."
Akane stopped moving entirely; not even
breathing for a moment as she pondered that.
"Ranma, I'm sorry."
He started and leaned forward a little. "What
are you sorry about?"
She sighed and sat back in her chair, staring at
her clasped hands in her lap. "You don't have to do
this. I'm not good enough for you. I—"
Ranma held up a hand and she stopped. She
looked up at his face, surprised to see a little
anger on it. "Akane, don't even start with that. I
lived on the streets for years. Do you think I'm
going to frown upon your family?" he reached over
and clasped her hands in his. "We're going to give
this marriage a chance. If it doesn't look like
it's going to work out, we'll find some honorable
way of dissolving it."
She winced and he sighed. "Akane, I'm a
dangerous man to be around for a long period of
time. I've got a few enemies, and I'm hesitant to
put people at risk. But, I'm willing to try this if
you are. I'm not royalty or some third generation
oil giant; I'm just a martial artist who got a
couple of decent breaks."
She nodded and he smiled. "You want to go dance
until dinner's ready?"
Akane was surrounded by a cluster of her school
friends. Sansha was directly to her right,
occasionally asking for particular details.
"And he was such an incredible dancer! We even
waltzed once! And dinner was amazing. I think mine
was French, but I was too embarrassed to ask him."
Sansha sighed in indirect bliss. "What did you
do after dinner?"
Akane grinned, "Believe it or not, we went to a
movie at the same cinema we always go to! There was
a martial arts movie playing that I'd mentioned
wanting to see once to Nabiki. Then we went and got
ice cream and drove around town for awhile." She
grinned, "And then we went home."
Sansha leaned in very close, a skeptical look on
her face. "Did he kiss you?"
Akane blushed and smiled down at her hands.
"Yes."
The group of girls shrieked and rolled in the
grass. Other students looked up from their lunches,
but soon returned to their food. They quickly
looked back up, though, as an outraged scream filled
the schoolyard.
"He What?!"
Akane's head whipped around to see Kuno leap
from the bushes behind her. He had a leaf from said
bush sticking out of his hair as he seethed in
anger.
Akane glared at the upperclassmen. "Go away
Kuno."
One of her friends stood and fisted her hands on
her hips. "Yeah, it's not like you could compete
with Ranma Soatome!"
Kuno scoffed. "Alas, he may have won the battle
for the first kiss, but Tatewaki Kuno shall be
victorious in the war for my fair maiden's heart."
Akane turned her back to him again and pulled
her bento over. "Yeah, Kuno, whatever you say."
Kuno opened his mouth but stopped when he
noticed that none of the girls were paying attention
to him anymore. Suddenly he froze and cocked his
head, a gleeful and thoughtful expression dawning
slowly. He spun on his heel and marched
purposefully through the gates and off school
grounds.
Ranma stretched his arms over his head and
arched his back, a blissful grin on his face. He'd
thought long and hard about how he should spend the
day when he'd first awoken that morning. Of course,
he could have trained like he had every day of his
life since he could walk. However, after a relaxing
night out, he was in too good of a mood to spend
these hours in violence.
Thus, he'd secreted himself away in the library
as soon as Akane and Nabiki had gone to school, and
Kasumi had gone shopping and visiting old friends
and neighbors. Soun was home, but he could spend
weeks reading the same newspaper over and over. Now
Ranma was sitting with crossed legs on a wing backed
chair before an artificial fire in the antique
fireplace; an equally antique tome of poetry and
philosophy open in his lap.
He sighed in contentment. He hadn't taken the
time to relax with one of his beloved books in
months. With a smile he leaned his head back and
rested it on the plush red velvet. He was so
relaxed, that he actually dozed off; only to awake
when he felt a sudden presence nearby.
His eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet,
landing in a defensive stance.
Nabiki got home from school with a bag loaded
with homework and regular work. She poked her head
into the kitchen to find Kasumi, but it was empty.
There was, however, a note on the table. Nabiki
scanned it before glancing at the clock. The eldest
Tendo would apparently be home in a couple of hours.
With a shrug, Nabiki dropped the note and started
down the hallway to the library.
Nabiki had taken to retreating into the library
after school every day to work. It seemed to be the
most comfortable and yet ill-used room in the house.
Most of the house was decorated straight out of a
magazine. Carved wooden antique pieces of furniture
too fragile looking to be used perched on ancient
oriental rugs and beneath oil paintings by famous
artists.
But the library was different. It had a certain
feel to it; like someone had carefully chosen each
object in the room and placed them exactly where
they belonged. The chairs and tables weren't placed
in social clusters as was the case with most
libraries. Here, they were solitary little islands
promising privacy and a warm comfort that came with
the good company of a good book. There were three
tables, each with an elegant chair with ample
padding. The shelves themselves were only filled
with books to a height that could be easily read and
reached without a stool or ladder. Above that
point, the shelves were filled with trinkets.
Nabiki opened the door just wide enough to slip
in, as if trying to keep the comfort and peace from
escaping. She quickly snapped the wooden door
closed and leaned against it with her eyes closed in
bliss. She didn't sigh, though she wanted to,
because the soft sound would break a peace that
should only be broken by turned pages and pens
scratching on paper.
After a pause, she strode happily and
purposefully to the desk to the far right that she
had claimed as her own. Each of the desks was
different, as were the chairs. The one that she
preferred had a business-like manner with elegant,
feminine curves as well. Nabiki privately thought
that it was very like her. She walked past it
however to the shelves holding reference materials
that she would be using.
She paused thoughtfully before the shelves when
she thought she saw movement to her left. She
turned her head and jumped with a shriek. She
noticed the familiar sight of a martial arts stance
first, then she noticed the black clothing. She
ducked slightly, turning her head away and covering
it with her hands. Eyes closed as she prepared for
a blow, she was a little startled at a familiar
voice.
"Nabiki, what are you doing here?"
She slowly lowered her hands and blinked at
Ranma. He was frowning slightly, now simply
standing with his arms at his sides as opposed to
the tense stance he'd held a moment ago. He was
wearing a black velvet robe over dark silver satin
Chinese clothes like the ones he always wore.
She pressed a hand to her chest and glared at
him. "Thanks for the scare, Ranma. If you must
know, I'm using your library to do homework."
He lost his frown and shrugged. "Oh, okay.
I'll just keep reading if you don't mind." With
that he turned and leaned over to scoop up the book
he'd dropped on the overly-plush carpet when he'd
jumped from his seat. He sat down in the wing
backed chair and opened it flawlessly to an
apparently random page, immediately beginning to
read.
Nabiki shrugged and turned back to select a book
from the shelf. She sat at 'her' desk and opened
several books and a notebook. Within moments, she
was absorbed in her homework.
Ranma finished a particularly stirring
philosophical passage when he decided to choose a
new book. He stood fluidly and nearly started at
the sight of another person in the room. He froze
in shock at letting that presence go unnoticed for
so long to his senses. Slowly he started moving
toward the small shelf above the fireplace where he
kept his particular favorites.
He looked up as someone knocked on the door.
Nabiki did as well, and Kasumi poked her smiling
face into the door. "Hello, Ranma. Nabiki, you
have a visitor."
Nabiki blinked once then stood. "Thanks, sis,
I'm coming." She put her pencil down at the top of
the slanted desk and walked quickly and gracefully
to the door.
The girls left and Ranma turned back to his
shelf. He was reaching up to shelve his book when
he heard a soft sound. He turned to the desk that
Nabiki had been working so diligently at. His eyes
dropped to the floor, where her pencil had fallen.
He shelved his book with a single glance over his
shoulder at the shelf. Then he walked over and bent
to pick up the pencil. The point was perfect, the
eraser unused, and he balanced it carefully just
where Nabiki'd left it.
He froze as his hand left the pencil. She'd
left sheets of figures and neat stacks of bills and
receipts out. He glanced down and nearly gasped.
Ranma had known that finances were tight with the
Tendos, but they were positively poor. He ran a
finger down the pristine columns of numbers, noting
all the negatives that nearly overpowered the few
positives.
He placed his hands on the sides of the desk and
leaned over the papers as he studied them further.
His lips were pursed and his eyebrows drawn down and
together when Nabiki walked back into the room ten
or fifteen minutes later. She froze, hand still on
the knob, and swallowed.
"Did you find something interesting, Soatome?"
She glided over to the desk and he stepped back
as she began gathering papers. He wouldn't have
been surprised if she'd stomped over angrily, burst
into shamed tears, or ran from the room. Instead,
she proudly and carefully arranged the documents in
their appropriate folders and pockets.
When she had finished and picked up the bulging
schoolbag, she turned to stare coldly up at the
perplexed martial artist.
"Well?"
His face lost the tight lines of insulted anger,
and softened into concern. "Nabiki, why didn't you
tell me you were so short on cash? Kasumi has been
insisting on buying all of the groceries and won't
take anything for all of the cooking and cleaning
she's done. I could at least help out with that
much."
Nabiki turned her head away, "That's hardly
necessary. We'll manage, as we have been for
years."
"Nabiki, how does your family get by? None of
you have jobs—"
"If you must know, I run a rather elaborate
betting pool centered at school that extends all the
way through Nerima. I also have a few other,
smaller business ventures as well."
She glanced stiffly up at him as if expecting
shock or disapproval. Instead, he was nodding
thoughtfully.
"I can't complain about a little betting after
working for a mobster, but I worry about you getting
in trouble for some of your business venture. Where
would your family be then?"
She snorted angrily, "Well, we wouldn't be so
tight financially if it weren't for you, ya know
Soatome." She glanced away and back quickly, biting
her lip as if she'd said more than she wanted.
He frowned for a moment, "How have I hurt your
financial status? I'd think that I was helping
since I'm paying the utilities."
She sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, Akane's
always been very profitable. The students at school
make bets on her romantic status, the length and
content of her fights, and even her grades. Her
suitors pay huge sums for photos or, er, vital
statistics of her. When you showed up as her fiancé
and stopped the morning fights, you caused several
problems."
She sat down in her chair and cupped her face,
leaning sadly against the desk. "The loss of the
fights took most of the betting, and therefore, the
money. Then, knowing that Akane was taken by the
greatest fighter in Japan, she was very out of their
reach. It became obvious that she was infatuated
with you, so that placed her on an even higher and
more unreachable pedestal. They now worship her
from afar, and have no need of such talismans as
photos or locks of hair. Furinken High now has no
fighting on most days, and definitely none worth
betting on, as well as a distinct lack of a heart
throb for the hormonal boys to drool over."
Ranma crossed one arm over his chest and placed
a thoughtful finger to his lips. "How can we go
about correcting this problem?"
Nabiki narrowed her eyes, but otherwise kept her
face blank. "We will do nothing. This is a Tendo
problem, Soatome. We Tendos shall overcome on our
own."
He sighed. "I think it only fair that
compensate you for the losses I've caused you."
Nabiki turned instantly from quietly seething
anger, to openly thoughtful. "Well, if you insist .
. . Ranma, are you aware that you have a fan club
at our school?"
surprise Ranma in a sparring session, thanks to the
move Sansha taught her the day before. Ranma taught
his three students every evening after school,
except weekends where they spent most of the day in
the dojo.
It was your typical Saturday afternoon at
Ranma's humongous house. Kasumi was preparing
dinner in the kitchen, Nabiki was holed up in the
study with Ranma's computer, Soun was reading the
paper, Marco and Sansha were showering after the
workout they'd all had with Ranma, and Akane was
heading out on her jog.
She liked to jog around the house a couple times
for a quick cool down. She reached for the front
door's knob just as somebody knocked on the other
side. She wiped her sweaty hand on the shorts and
tank top she was wearing, and opened the door. The
only visitors they ever had were for Nabiki, or Chad
for Ranma every few weeks.
A pretty, older woman stood there in a long,
tight black skirt and a yellow silk blouse; a
designer suitcase sat by her foot. Her hair wasn't
quite chin length and a really pale purple. The
stranger blinked at Akane.
"Hello! I didn't know Ranma had anyone living
here with him."
"Uh, yeah, well my father was an old friend of—"
"Saya!"
Akane whipped around as Ranma came barreling
past her. He picked the woman up by the waist and
spun her around, smiling up at her with a real
smile, not his usual half-smile. She laid her
delicate hands gently on his shoulders as he lowered
her slowly.
He gave Saya a hug and Akane blinked. This was
Ranma?
"It's so good to see you Ranma! You haven't
called since after that tournament."
"I know, I went immediately on that training
journey and just recently got back. Then—uh, I got
some bad news. Why don't you come in."
He turned back toward the house and started at
the sight of Akane. "Oh, uh, yeah Akane?"
She held her anger in, how dare he just forget
her for this older woman? "Nothing, just going for
a jog."
She flicked her hair over her shoulder and
strolled past them.
Ranma took Saya straight to the parlor and sat
her down on the couch he sat next to her and took
her hand.
"Saya, Jaxom came back. He broke out of prison
and started trailing me. He found out I was staying
with some old friends of the family and kidnapped
Akane. I went after them, of course, and, well, you
won't have to worry about him again."
Her eyes shone with fearful tears that she
wouldn't let fall. "They caught him then? Oh,
good."
He didn't like the shaking of her voice, and
reached out to give her hand a squeaze.
After a moment, he pulled his hand from hers and
studied it.
"No, I killed him."
He feared her rejection, but she leaned over and
hugged him. He looked up at her and smiled. "We're
free, Saya."
She nodded, saying nothing.
Akane pounded the sidewalk, occasionally
throwing punches. Though she usually just ran
around the house, she'd decided to take a long run
like she used to do every morning. It'd give her
time to think, and think she did.
He ran up and hugged that woman, who's obviously
too old for him. And he genuinely smiled at her,
spinning her around like some besotted fool,
forgetting all about me! I'm his fiancée, even if
it is a stupid arrangement.
She was lost in her angry, jealous thoughts, and
lost track of time.
Ranma looked up at the clock. Saya'd been here
for nearly an hour. Dinner would be ready soon.
There was a knock, and Kasumi came in.
"Ranma, did you send Akane out on an errand?"
He frowned, "No, why?"
She began to look as worried as Ranma'd ever
seen Kasumi get. "Well, she usually runs for a few
moments after you four workout, but she's not back
yet."
Ranma looked out the window, "Have you called
for her?"
"Yes, nothing."
"Saya, Kasumi, I'll be back soon. I'll drive
around and look for her."
Akane finally glanced up and noticed that
nothing looked familiar. A clock hanging in a bar
window showed that she was late for dinner, but she
had no idea where she was. She was starting to
panic when a horn beeped beside her. She jumped and
spun to see who had honked.
A shiny sportscar with a dark-haired martial
artist pulled up to the curb next to her. He rolled
the window down and smiled at her. "Are you
planning on coming home soon? Kasumi's worried."
She stared into the eyes that had seen who knows
what and taken it in stride. She took in the
strangeness that had happened in her own life since
Ranma had come to town and suddenly felt so
inadequate that tears just poured down her face.
She put her hands up to cover her face and turned
from him.
She heard him, barely, through her tears as he
got out of the car and locked the doors. He came up
behind her and put his arms loosely around her. She
stepped slightly away and turned to face him.
He was wearing the usual Chinese shirt, but with
jeans this time. His hair was braided down his back
and he was smiling. She shook her head and sighed.
"How can you stand it? I probably don't want to
know half the things you've done in your life. In
the past few weeks, I've been kidnapped, nearly
starved for days, tortured mentally, carted around
China, put under your effective but strange
training, met crazy but nice people, and the list
will only keep growing."
He blinked in startlement, "Is that all that's
bothering you? That I can handle crazy situations a
little better than you?"
She gave a tiny growl and flung her hands into
the air. "No! We're engaged, for heaven's sake! I
understand you not wanting to go through with this,
so why drag it out? You treat me like a little kid
you have to baby-sit, not the key to whether you die
with or without your honor."
She turned and started walking in the direction
she'd been going when he'd driven up. "How is that
supposed to make me feel? I don't want to marry
you, I'm not worthy of the great Ryo Tome, but I
don't like being treated as so insignificant."
"Akane, that's not true. I really enjoy your
company. I don't know what I would do if I didn't
have such a dangerous job; but I can't afford to
marry anyone. I hadn't even thought about whether I
wanted to marry you or not. I just knew I
couldn't."
She glared at him as he walked along beside her.
"So you tolerate the presence of my family and me in
your home because your boss ordered you to. Then
you train me just to make me feel better."
He sighed, "No. You're a great student. You
really want to learn, and I have never had a
student. I could die at any time, and the Soatome
School would die out with me."
She opened her mouth again to yell an insult at
him when she felt something whiz past her head. She
blinked, thinking she'd imagined it, but a lock of
hair fell down around her face. Something had gone
past her head and chopped off a piece of her hair.
By the time she'd realized this, Ranma had
grabbed her and was dragging her into a more crowded
portion of the street. She kept up only because he
couldn't go full speed in the crowded sidewalks.
Then, without warning, he tugged on her arm to send
her flying into his arms. He picked her completely
off her feet and jumped a six-foot wall.
They landed on the other side in someone's
garden. Still being carried, Akane looked over
Ranma's shoulder. A man in a gray suit was climbing
the wall. She watched him reach into a coat pocket
as he hung from the top of the wall.
The sun glinted orange off the dark gray metal
and she gasped. "Ranma, he's got a gun!
In the next instant, the man disappeared as they
jumped the opposite wall of the garden. She heard a
loud cursing from their attacker as they left his
line of sight. She relaxed, but Ranma didn't. He
kept his harrowing pace and turned down another
street.
"I've got a friend that lives around here.
We'll go there."
She didn't say anything as he carried her
through a more residential area. She watched over
his shoulder. They were in a less crowded area now,
and would be easy pickings if their attacker caught
up to them. Ranma suddenly turned sharply and Akane
saw that they were at an apartment complex. It
looked like a fairly nice one, too.
Ranma put her down once they were inside,
pulling Akane to the elevator by her wrist. Inside,
he punched the 'door close' button, then one marked
'P'. Akane stared at the lit button, thinking to
herself, penthouse? Well, from the looks of his
mansion, it makes since he'd have rich friends.
The door opened and they stepped from the
elevator to a small room with a marbled floor and
bare white walls. There was a white, paneled door
directly in front of them, and Ranma rang the bell.
"Just a moment!" The feminine voice was muffled
through the door. There was a long series of clicks
and bangs as several door bolts slid free and
deadbolts were loosened.
A young woman with blonde hair wearing a terry
bath robe opened the door with a small change purse
in her hand. She blinked in surprise. "Ranma?
What are you doing here?"
Ranma pushed past her, still holding Akane's
wrist. "No time, Lilly, shut the door." He ran to
the window, finally releasing the bewildered Akane.
He peeked past the curtain and through the blinds.
Akane watched him until she heard the soft click of
the door closing.
Akane turned and studied this friend of Ranma's.
Lilly had dark blonde hair that fell just to her
shoulders. Her eyes were green, and sparkling with
amused confusion as she crossed her arms over her
chest and smiled at Ranma.
"Let me guess, you're on assignment. This
girl's some dignitaries daughter that you had to
rescue or something, right?"
Ranma kept his eyes on the window, glancing up
and down the street, as he answered in a distracted
tone, "No, she's my fiancée."
Lilly blinked then turned expressionless eyes on
the dark haired girl in running shorts and a tank
top. "Really. Interesting. Well, I'm Lilly
Graham. I'm an old friend and business partner of
Ranma's."
Akane blinked, still a little stunned. "Uh, I'm
Akane Tendo."
At 'Tendo', Lilly jerked her head to Ranma.
After a moment, she burst into laughter. "The
dreaded Tendo? Ranma, I do worry about you
sometimes."
Ranma finally stepped away from the window. "I
know. I'll explain later. I think he gave up
Akane."
There was a loud knock on the door, and Akane
shrieked. Ranma stepped in front of Akane and fell
into a defensive stance. She copied it, if a little
shakily, and nearly fainted when Lilly calmly opened
the door. Expecting the man in the gray suit, Akane
was understandably shocked to see a delivery boy.
He raised an eyebrow at the two martial artists, but
calmly exchanged his packages for some money with
Lilly.
Lilly closed the door and set the change purse
on the table next to the door. She held up the
delivery, (Chinese from the looks of it) and tipped
her head towards a kitchen to Akane's right. "Why
don't you explain what's going on over a little take
out?"
Lilly slurped up some noodles and stared at
Ranma. She'd changed into a tight black tank top
with black jeans that had a white and red dragon
climbing up the right leg in embroidery. Ranma
calmly sipped a cup of tee and finished explaining
who Akane was and why she and her family were in
danger.
"I was getting too comfortable. I should have
known there would still be people out to get us
still."
Lilly waved his statement off, "Of course not!
How were you to know? Anyway, I'm sure you know who
it is now, so you can hunt them down and take care
of everything."
He shook his head, his face tense with the anger
he felt toward himself. "I didn't get a chance to
see him. I was too busy running."
Akane looked up meekly, "Um, I saw him.
Remember? When he came over the wall, I told you
about the gun."
Ranma sat up a little, "That's right. But did
you get a good enough look at him to identify him?"
Akane bit her lip and closed her eyes in
concentration. After a moment, she nodded slowly.
"I think so. He was bald with a black mustache. He
wasn't very tall, maybe an inch or two over five
feet. But he was older, maybe late twenties, and
had some kind of tattoo on his left hand. I don't
know about his right though."
Ranma blinked. "That's not bad for someone who
isn't trained, Akane."
She grinned up at him, but he turned back to
Lilly. "Watch Akane for me, will ya? I want to go
looking for this guy."
Seeming to remember something, he grabbed a
glass of water from the table, glancing at Akane he
said, "Could you explain this to Lilly for me?" At
her nod, he dumped the water over his head and left
the apartment.
The blonde turned a dazed expression to Akane,
who sighed. "While rescuing me from Jaxom in China,
Ranma kinda picked up this curse. Now, everytime
he's hit with cold water, he turns into a girl. Hot
water changes him back.
Lilly nodded, but didn't look happy with the
idea. After several long and silent minutes, Lilly
glanced back up.
Lilly looked up and cocked her head, "Want to play a
game of cards?" She stuck a bite of noodles into
her mouth, the long ends trailing sauce down her
chin as they fell even with her shoulders. She
slurped the long noodles into her mouth and gave
Akane a questioning look.
Akane shrugged. "I suppose. Aren't you worried
about Ranma?"
Lilly scoffed as she opened a drawer. Akane
peeked and saw that the entire thing was filled with
decks of cards. She selected one blindly as she
looked at Akane. "Are you kidding? That boy
wouldn't get hurt if Tokyo Tower fell right on his
head. Wait, his head is so hard of course it
wouldn't hurt him. Okay, if it fell on him in
general, it wouldn't hurt him."
Lilly sat down and began elaborate motions that
Akane assumed were meant to shuffle the cards.
"Five card pick up? Maybe seven card no peek?"
Akane blinked, "Uh, excuse me?"
Lilly looked stunned and dropped a few cards.
"Don't you play poker?"
At Akane's negative, Lilly began a long and
intensive tutoring session that completely took her
mind off of the missing martial artist.
It was nearly midnight when there was a knock on
the door, followed by Ranma calling out, "Lilly,
it's me."
He was still a she.
Lilly turned over her seventh card. It was a
three of spades. "No! It isn't fair! I felt for
sure that would be a king!" There weren't two
identical cards in the seven in front of her. Akane
looked down. She had only turned over one card, a
king of hearts. She turned over the next one; a
jack of hearts. Lilly leaned forward slightly as
Akane turned the next one; an ace of hearts. Lilly
groaned as the ten and queen came into view,
followed by the ace of spades.
Lilly sat back in a huff and crossed her arms
over her chest. Akane gleefully pulled the stack of
yen toward her and began counting. "It's a pity
this is all yours to begin with. If I'd had money
on me, I would be able to keep all of this."
Lilly glared at the younger girl for a moment,
then broke into a wide grin. "You're a sharp
cookie, Akane. You picked that up really quick."
Akane shrugged, "My sister's really good with
numbers and stuff, I guess it rubbed off on me."
Ranma poked his head into the kitchen doorway
with a confused expression. He blinked down at the
cards and money strewn across the table. He sighed
and walked into the room, glancing reproachfully at
Lilly.
"Now Lilly, teaching her poker while I was out
risking my neck?"
She shrugged and flipped her hair out of her
face, "It kept her mind off of it, didn't it?"
Akane jumped up and scanned Ranma from head to
toe. "You don't look hurt."
He waved her worries away and smiled. Akane
stared at him; a real smile, not one of his half
hearted attempts at one. "I'm fine. He was easy to
subdue, then I just questioned him. When he found
out I'd killed the guy that had hired him (I don't
know how he hadn't heard, but he is foreign so I
suppose he couldn't read the newspaper) he
apologized, handed me his weapons, and walked away."
Akane blinked in confusion and shot a glance to
Lilly to make sure she wasn't the only one. Lilly
nodded in understanding and played with the end of
her ponytail. She negligently shuffled the deck and
sighed after a moment as Ranma sat between the two
girls.
"You know Ranma, it's almost a shame how easy
it's gotten over the years. I remember when a
hitman took a job and felt honor-bound to see it
through no matter what. It's like they've lost all
sense of honor."
Ranma shook his head and smiled slightly, his
expression sort of pained. "I disagree. I think
they've just gotten a new type of honor."
Lilly shrugged. "Did he know anything about any
other hired guns after you?"
"Nah. He says that he believes he is the only
one because he's the best there is in the business
now that his old buddy bit the bullet a few weeks
before he was hired. I let him go because he says
this is his last job anyway before he retires to the
Caribbean. He was paid in advance so he's taking
his girl to a private little place he bought a few
months ago."
Akane frowned down at the folded bills in her
hand. "If you've got such a good reputation, why
would Jaxom agree to pay someone in advance for your
death?"
Ranma smiled in a knowing way and leaned back in
the chair. "It's an old trick of his father's. If
you act willing to pay them in advance, it makes the
hardest target look like child's play."
Lilly chuckled and looked down at the cards.
She started as if she'd forgotten they were there,
even though she'd stacked an elaborate house of
cards without thinking about them. She looked up at
Ranma with a grin.
"Hey Ranma, how about a hand of cards? Maybe I
can actually beat you!"
Ranma blinked at her in surprise before his
expression immediately changed to his usual mask of
calm indifference. "What do you mean? You always
win; no matter who you're playing you win."
Lilly huffed and crossed her arms over her
chest. "Tell that to little Miss. Beginner's Luck
over there. I thought I'd be nice and teach her a
little poker, maybe have a small friendly wager."
Tears formed in her eyes as she turned to Ranma. "I
only won the first hand! She's won the last dozen."
Her voice held more than a hint of a pout before
Ranma gave her shoulder a pat. He shot a glance to
the small wad of bills in her hand. "Don't worry,
it's only beginner's luck, like you said. You'll
get her next time."
Lilly perked up a little. "Yeah, that's right.
Stop by any time, Akane! I'm almost always here."
Akane nodded with a smile as she threw down the
money, and Ranma took the hint. He gave his old
friend a wave and ushered Akane out the door. He'd
brought the car back with him and they climbed in.
He shot her a bland look.
"Beginner's luck, Akane?"
She smiled and gave a slight shake of her head.
"Do you think anyone with Nabiki for a sister could
survive without knowing at least a little poker, let
alone mastering it?"
For the first time ever in Akane's presence,
Ranma gave a jovial bark of laughter before biting
his lip to contain it as he steered back into the
appropriate lane. That simple action helped ease
Akane's mood tremendously.
Of course, that mood was ruined minutes later as
they pulled up to the house when a certain lavender-
haired woman opened the front door. She ran past
Akane without a glance and started glancing up and
down Ranma's body for signs of injury or harm.
"Oh good, you're alright. The way you acted, I
thought there was something wrong."
He smiled that little half-hearted smirk of his
and Akane was partially heartened that this woman
was not immune to his lack of emotion.
He cocked his head, "Oh no, nothing's wrong. I
just had to go pick up Akane and we stopped by an
old friend of mine's place for a brief visit."
Akane frowned angrily. They'd been shot at and
chased through the streets and he calmly informed
this strange woman that nothing was wrong. With a
huff she turned and went into the house. She
stormed up to her room and changed into her gi.
After tightly pulling her hair back, she tapped on
Sansha's door.
Ranma looked up from his old friend Saya as
Akane stormed off. He frowned for a moment, but
finally shrugged. "So Saya, where are you off to?"
"Well, I told you about the old student I have
to visit. After that, I'll be back here to live off
your hospitality for awhile." She smiled and gave
him a playful punch in the shoulder. "I appreciate
this Ranma. I really do."
He gave her a hug and smiled down at her. "It
isn't your fault private tutors aren't in high
demand right now."
She smiled sadly and shrugged. "Well, I'm sure
your young guests will benefit from a little special
attention."
"Hold on." Sansha's hair was wrapped in a towel
monogrammed with her initials. She smiles when she
notices her friend. She's wearing a t-shirt with
baggy sweatpants. "Hello Akane! I am glad to see
that you are alright."
Akane smiled softly in embarrassment. "I just
got a little lost on my jog. You know how it is, I
just wasn't paying much attention.
Sansha smiled and nodded, "Yes, I know how eet
iz well. Would you please come in?"
Akane walked in and sat on the bed as her friend
closed the door. Sansha dug through the trunk she'd
put at the foot of her bed and pulled out an outfit
identical to the one she'd arrived in. She changed
quickly and sat on the bed next to Akane. She
grabbed a brush off of her bedside table and began
combing the knots out of her wet hair.
Akane was laying on her stomach, ankles crossed
over her back as she swung her legs slowly as she
traced the pattern on the bedspread. "How long do
you think you and your brother will be here Sansha?"
The redhead paused and cocked her head. After a
moment she sighed and lost the usual cheerful
expression she wore. "I do not know, but I 'ope we
will be staying for a very long time. I am so tired
of travel!"
Akane smiled and rolled over to lie on her back
next to her friend. "I hope you stay for a long
time too. It's nice to have someone to talk to. To
tell you the truth, I was a little hurt when Ranma
told me he'd be taking on new students."
Sansha nodded, "But of course you should be! E
is your fiancée, after all."
Akane frowned and Sansha raised an eyebrow at
the troubled expression her friend wore.
"Oh, Sansha, I'm so confused."
"Ow so, my friend, and I shall try and 'elp
you."
Akane sat up and cast a shy glance at her
friend. "I don't want to trouble you. Ranma
obviously doesn't see a problem with the
arrangement."
Sansha held up her hands, "Now, do not get
angry, my friend. Perhaps he just sees things
differently zan you. I do not know ze situation;
perhaps you could explain things to me?"
Akane sighed and squared herself off with her
friend. She began the long explanation, beginning
with Ranma's peculiar arrival at her home. She
didn't leave too many things out, only a few really
personal things. When she finished, she was nearly
in tears.
"I mean, if he doesn't want to marry me, fine!
He's famous, and rich, and a much better fighter
than me; why should I deserve him? But for heaven's
sake, can't he just tell me? Why does he have to
draw it out like this?"
Sansha thought for a moment; the serious
expression nearly comical to anyone who really new
the fun and lively girl.
"Perhaps 'e is trying to find an honorable way
out of ze engagement, no? Eet seems difficult, so
perhaps eet iz taking a long time." She raised an
eyebrow and wiggled it suggestively. "Or maybe 'e
does want to marry you and 'e won't admit it to
imself."
Akane bit her lip and tried to fathom that.
"Maybe."
Sansha sighed and leaned back. "You must tell
me, my friend, ow you truly feel about Ranma."
Akane leaned back against the headboard and
outlined the carved design with her finger. "I
really like Ranma. I don't know about marrying him;
I'm too young for that. How else would I feel?
He's so smart and funny and charming and talented!"
Sansha held up a helpful finger, "And 'andsome!"
Akane giggled and hugged a pillow. "OH,
definitely! What did you expect me to say?"
Sansha shrugged and took her brush to Akane's
hair this time. "Oh, I don't know. You two have an
arranged marriage. I would not be surprised if
someone with as strong a will as you would not buck
at such restraints."
Akane blushed, "Well, I'm not happy with it, but
Ryo Tome was my hero before I found out how
wonderful Ranma Soatome was! If it weren't for the
engagement, I would never have met him!" She sighed
and fingered a lock of her long hair. "I just wish
he would give it a try. Maybe it would work out,
you know?"
Ranma let his hand fall from where he'd held it,
poised to knock on Sansha's door. He hadn't thought
that Akane would take the engagement seriously at
all. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. Maybe he should
humor her. With a thoughtful expression, he
wandered back to his room.
He picked up his address book and the phone,
dialing a number he knew well. He just hoped he could
stay male the whole time.
After a couple of minutes on the phone, he went
back to Sansha's door and knocked.
"Please come in."
Ranma poked his head in and smiled. "Hey girls,
dinner is ready."
"OH, thanks." They stood and he held the door
open for them. He closed it and put a hand on
Akane's shoulder to stop her. Sansha stopped and he
smiled at her. "Go ahead, I just have to talk to
Akane for a moment."
Sansha blinked at him, then turned and grinned
at Akane before running down the hallway. Ranma
turned and smiled down at her.
"Akane, I thought that we should give the whole
engagement thing a try. Why don't we go out
tomorrow night?"
Akane froze and then began to fidget a little.
"Just the two of us? Well, if you want to."
He smiled and grabbed her hand. "Great! I'll
pick you up at six!" He kissed her hand before
putting her arm through his. Together, they walked
down to dinner.
Nabiki had known something was up the night
before when Akane and Ranma walked into dinner arm
in arm. When Akane had asked Kasumi and Nabiki for
help getting ready for her date, she'd known what
had happened just before dinner the night before.
Nabiki picked up a yellow dress and held it
against Akane. "No, that just won't do."
There was a knock on the door and the three
girls looked up. "Come in."
Sansha poked a smiling head in. "Do we need
help, girls?" She giggled and ran in with her arms
full of clothes and a caboodle full of make-up.
Within an hour, Akane was ready to go. They'd
chosen an interesting version of 'the little black
dress' with a low-cut front, no back, and spaghetti
straps. It fell to her knees, wasn't really tight
or really loose.
They'd curled her long hair and given her some
dramatic yet subtle make-up. She wasn't brave
enough for the strappy stiletto heels; so she chose
the simple black pumps with a wider, slightly lower
heel. Her sisters and Sansha stepped back to study
her.
Nabiki nodded after a moment. "She'll do."
When Akane sent her a nervous glance, she smiled.
"Kidding, sis, you look fabulous."
There was a knock and they all glanced at the
clock. "Akane?" Ranma called from the hallway.
"Coming!" She shot her friends a nervous glance
as they moved to be out of sight when she opened the
door. Ranma grinned and held out his arm.
Akane took his arm with a weak and nervous
smile. He grinned and looked her up and down.
"You look wonderful, Akane."
She tugged self-consciously at the hem of her
dress with the hand that wasn't clutching her purse.
She smiled and scanned his appearance. He was
wearing an expertly tailored tuxedo; the kind that
without a tie, just a fancy button at his throat.
The hand not occupied with her arm was casually
tucked into his pants pocket. What really surprised
her was that he'd left his hair loose. He had an
ebony curtain of shiny black hair hanging to his
waist.
"You look very elegant, Ranma."
He smiled and started down the stairs, Akane
still on his arm, "You sound surprised that I can
pull that off."
She smiled up at him, "Surprisingly, I'm not.
I've learned to not be surprised by you, Ranma."
He chuckled and they walked out the front door.
Akane looked up expecting to see his little sports
car. Instead, a uniformed man was holding open the
back door to a sleek, stretched white limo. Akane
paused and looked questioningly up at him.
"Where's your little car?"
He smiled down at her with a raised eyebrow, "I
thought this would be a little more appropriate for
the evening I have planned. Of course, if you
prefer sports cars—"
"Oh, no, this is fine. I'd hate to mess up your
plans." She blushed a little as he chuckled. He
helped her in and followed as soon as she was
settled. The driver closed the door and trotted
around to his own seat.
Ranma stretched with a smile. "There's nothing
like the privacy of tinted windows. Do you want
anything to drink?" He was leaning over and opened
a small door that Akane hadn't even noticed.
"Uh, sure."
He nodded and rummaged around, his back to Akane
so she couldn't tell what he was doing. A moment
later, he turned and handed her a fluted glass of
champagne. It was beautiful cut crystal with a gold
rim. She thanked him and took a sip. She'd had a
little champagne at a couple of weddings, and she
was pretty sure that she pulled off the calm
appearance of someone that drank alcohol in limos
all of the time.
Ranma leaned back and took a sip. He closed his
eyes and sighed in bliss. "Now that, is pure
heaven."
She giggled, partly from the bubbles, but mostly
because she hadn't seen Ranma this relaxed since
they'd left China. He opened one eye and turned his
head enough to smile at her. After a moment where
they simply smiled at each other, they both burst
into cheerful laughter.
When they'd calmed down, he sighed and caught
his breath. "We've got a short drive before we get
to the restaurant."
"Oh, where are we going?"
He glanced out the window, "Oh, a friend of mine
has a nice little club downtown. I helped him out
with it, a little, when he was first getting
started."
Akane smiled and handed him her empty glass,
which he put away. "That's nice of you Ranma."
He shrugged it off, "I just hope you can dance
in those shoes. That's another part of why we're
going there. It's the best place to go in Japan if
you want excellent food and dancing all in one
place."
They made small talk and continued to smile and
laugh and generally have fun. When the car rolled
to a stop, Ranma looked up in surprise.
"I hadn't realized we were here already."
Ranma stepped out of the car and turned to extend
a hand. Akane blinked as she stepped out in the bright
light outside the club. They were too close for her
to be able to tell much about the building itself, since
they were right on the sidewalk just outside it.
Akane blinked once at the long line of people
waiting to get past the bouncer. The bouncer looked up
with a frown, but smiled as he saw Ranma. He clipped the
rope across the line of waiting people dressed in elegant
evening wear and trotted over to the door.
"Mr. Soatome. You haven't been around lately.
Enjoy your evening."
"Thanks."
They strolled into a lobby of some type; a hat
check girl scanned them up and down with a smile,
but didn't move toward them since neither of them
had either a hat or a coat. Ranma strolled past the
girl without a glance and approached the double
doors directly before them. They were wide open; a
maitre 'de standing behind an elegant podium while music
was playing loudly in the next room.
The man behind the podium was completely bald
and wore a much simpler tuxedo than Ranma. He
smiled and gave a slight bow.
"Ah, Mr. Soatome, you're right on time as usual.
I believe you know the way upstairs?"
Ranma nodded and waved a negligent hand as he
went through the doors and turned right. There was
a beautiful wooden spiral staircase in front of
them; another bouncer positioned at the bottom.
Ranma stepped aside and gestured for Akane to
precede him. She nodded with a smile and started
up. She felt her cheeks heat up a little when Ranma
followed directly behind her; a steadying hand
placed on the small of her back as they made their
way up the narrow, steep stairs.
There was an entire room above the nightclub
downstairs. Where the first floor was a
stereotypical club, the second floor was entirely
new. The people downstairs were partying loudly
with the occasional screech or a particularly loud
laugh. The people upstairs were obviously having
fun, as evident in their laughter and smiling faces,
but were behaving much more subdued and elegantly.
Another thing that Akane noticed that differed
between the two rooms was the appearance and attires
of the people. Everyone downstairs was dressed up
in the way Akane or her friends would for a fairly
formal school dance, but not in flowing ballgowns.
The people upstairs wore sleek designer suits and
dresses with sparkling gold and jewels. Akane
seriously suspected that all of those jewels were
real, and fingered the simple gold chain she wore
self-consciously.
"Ranma, we're over here!"
Ranma and Akane turned to see a man standing up
from his seat at a corner booth. Ranma smiled
softly, putting his arm around Akane's waist and
started leading her in that direction. Akane just
tried to imitate the calm, carefree manor of all the
other women in the room. There were three couples
sitting at the nearly circular booth. The man that
had called out to Ranma had dark blonde hair and
smiling eyes.
"Hey, Ranma, I forgot you were stopping by
tonight. And who's this charming vision?"
Akane blinked and had to think for a moment
before she realized he was talking about her. Her
cheeks grew a little pinker and a woman sitting next
to the standing man chuckled.
Ranma smiled calmly down at her for a second
before turning back to the man. "Well, Michael,
this is Akane Tendo. And she happens to be the
daughter and heir of the master of the Tendo school
of Anything Goes." He paused and his smile grew to
be a little more sarcastic. "Oh, and she's my
fiancée."
Everyone stared blankly at Ranma's bland
expression. After a moment, their gazes turned as
one to look at Akane. She couldn't help it, she had
to laugh at how easily these cool sophisticates had
been blown away by Ranma's casual banter.
The girl directly to Akane's left smiled and
nodded. "Well, she has a nice laugh, so I'd say you
made a good choice, Soatome." Akane looked
cautiously down at the girl. She was around Akane's
age with long chocolate brown hair. She wore a deep
purple pantsuit and smiled up at Akane. "I'm an old
friend of Ranma's. My name's Ukyo Kuonji."
Akane was about to exchange some sort of
pleasantries when Ranma snorted. "Since when have I
been 'Soatome,' Ucchan?"
The girl laughed, "Since you changed so
drastically and we both grew up. You're an entirely
different person now."
Ranma smiled back and Ukyo scooted over so that
Akane and Ranma would have room to sit down. Ranma
helped Akane down next to his old friend, then sat
next to Akane. Akane smiled and remained silent as
the people around the table laughed and joked.
The man beside Ukyo was wearing khakis and a
satin dress shirt embroidered with white tigers. He
had long, bleached hair and wore sunglasses. He had
an arm around Ukyo's shoulders, but neither of them
seemed overly romantic toward each other. His name
was Jayce or Jason or something like that.
The man next to him was wearing a black suit and
had short black hair. He looked like a typical, if
handsome, late middle-aged Chinese man. He kept
talking about the stock market and business matters
that either confused or amused the other people at
the table. His name was Chong.
The woman seated beside him had an American
appearance and accent. Her name was Susie, and she
wore a strapless red mini-dress. She was much
younger than her husband Chong, and getting quite
drunk. Most of the people at the table ignored her
loud comments.
Next to her was the man who'd greeted Ranma when
they'd arrived. He was introduced to Akane as
'Maxwell, but we call him Maxie when he's bad' right
after they'd sat down. He had a woman sitting next
to him that looked exactly like him except that she
had a stern expression. She wore a high-necked,
ankle length dress.
The stern woman had smirked at that point. "I'm
his twin, Maxine. They call me Maxie when I am
good."
Everyone had burst out laughing. After the very
rapid introductions, they'd all immediately picked
their conversations up exactly where they'd been
interrupted by Ranma's arrival. Ranma would make
the occasional comment, but stayed mostly silent.
After a few moments, Akane was getting a little
upset. This was supposed to be their date, not a
party. Of course, just as her feelings were really
starting to get bruised, Ranma glanced at his watch.
"Well, Akane and I are gonna head off to our
table. I'll see you guys around." The two of them
stood and there were polite farewells from all, and
a couple of not so polite ones as well. A few
seconds later, they were seated at a table for two
in a secluded little niche with a screen of ferns
making it cozy and a little more private. They also
had a cheerful view of the dance floor down on the
first floor.
They were settling into their seats when a
waiter appeared. He put down glasses of water and
two menus. "What would you like to drink this
evening, Mr. Soatome?"
Ranma ordered something, but Akane wasn't sure
what is was since it was in a different language.
The waiter nodded and disappeared. Ranma picked up
his menu.
"What do you like, Akane? They've got a pretty
varied menu, but I know a few house specialties if
you'd like."
Akane had opened the menu without thought. Now
she was glad he'd made that offer. There were only
a few dishes she recognized; most of the items on
the menu were foreign.
She arranged her face in a calm smile as she
lowered the menu. "That would be nice. I'm sure
you have a better idea of what's good here than I
do."
He chuckled and she glanced down at the front of
the menu. She froze and blinked; but no, she wasn't
mistaken. "Ranma, this is 'The Dragon's Den'!"
"Uh, yeah."
She looked up at his confused expression. She
leaned forward and lowered her voice a little.
"But, 'The Dragon's Den' is the most elite club in
Japan!"
He nodded slowly in confusion. "Yeah, didn't I
mention that in the car?"
She blinked. Her friends would never believe
her. Ranma put his menu down and it wasn't a full
minute before their waiter returned. Seconds later
she was sipping wine and Ranma was ordering food
that she probably wouldn't be able to pronounce.
When the waiter left, she cocked her head in a
questioning pose.
"Ranma, who were those people back at that
table?"
He blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. Ucchan and I lived
in the same neighborhood for awhile when we were
younger. The others all work for Chad or, of
course, are married to someone who does. I
introduced Ucchan to them, and she ended up getting
a job for Chad too."
"OH, business associates." She smiled at the
irony, and he chuckled.
"You could say that. Max owns this place, you
know."
Akane blinked, "Really? Wow, he must be pretty
well off then."
Ranma's face went blank as he raised one
eyebrow. "Uh, Akane, Ucchan and you are probably
the only ones up here who aren't millionaires."
Akane stopped moving entirely; not even
breathing for a moment as she pondered that.
"Ranma, I'm sorry."
He started and leaned forward a little. "What
are you sorry about?"
She sighed and sat back in her chair, staring at
her clasped hands in her lap. "You don't have to do
this. I'm not good enough for you. I—"
Ranma held up a hand and she stopped. She
looked up at his face, surprised to see a little
anger on it. "Akane, don't even start with that. I
lived on the streets for years. Do you think I'm
going to frown upon your family?" he reached over
and clasped her hands in his. "We're going to give
this marriage a chance. If it doesn't look like
it's going to work out, we'll find some honorable
way of dissolving it."
She winced and he sighed. "Akane, I'm a
dangerous man to be around for a long period of
time. I've got a few enemies, and I'm hesitant to
put people at risk. But, I'm willing to try this if
you are. I'm not royalty or some third generation
oil giant; I'm just a martial artist who got a
couple of decent breaks."
She nodded and he smiled. "You want to go dance
until dinner's ready?"
Akane was surrounded by a cluster of her school
friends. Sansha was directly to her right,
occasionally asking for particular details.
"And he was such an incredible dancer! We even
waltzed once! And dinner was amazing. I think mine
was French, but I was too embarrassed to ask him."
Sansha sighed in indirect bliss. "What did you
do after dinner?"
Akane grinned, "Believe it or not, we went to a
movie at the same cinema we always go to! There was
a martial arts movie playing that I'd mentioned
wanting to see once to Nabiki. Then we went and got
ice cream and drove around town for awhile." She
grinned, "And then we went home."
Sansha leaned in very close, a skeptical look on
her face. "Did he kiss you?"
Akane blushed and smiled down at her hands.
"Yes."
The group of girls shrieked and rolled in the
grass. Other students looked up from their lunches,
but soon returned to their food. They quickly
looked back up, though, as an outraged scream filled
the schoolyard.
"He What?!"
Akane's head whipped around to see Kuno leap
from the bushes behind her. He had a leaf from said
bush sticking out of his hair as he seethed in
anger.
Akane glared at the upperclassmen. "Go away
Kuno."
One of her friends stood and fisted her hands on
her hips. "Yeah, it's not like you could compete
with Ranma Soatome!"
Kuno scoffed. "Alas, he may have won the battle
for the first kiss, but Tatewaki Kuno shall be
victorious in the war for my fair maiden's heart."
Akane turned her back to him again and pulled
her bento over. "Yeah, Kuno, whatever you say."
Kuno opened his mouth but stopped when he
noticed that none of the girls were paying attention
to him anymore. Suddenly he froze and cocked his
head, a gleeful and thoughtful expression dawning
slowly. He spun on his heel and marched
purposefully through the gates and off school
grounds.
Ranma stretched his arms over his head and
arched his back, a blissful grin on his face. He'd
thought long and hard about how he should spend the
day when he'd first awoken that morning. Of course,
he could have trained like he had every day of his
life since he could walk. However, after a relaxing
night out, he was in too good of a mood to spend
these hours in violence.
Thus, he'd secreted himself away in the library
as soon as Akane and Nabiki had gone to school, and
Kasumi had gone shopping and visiting old friends
and neighbors. Soun was home, but he could spend
weeks reading the same newspaper over and over. Now
Ranma was sitting with crossed legs on a wing backed
chair before an artificial fire in the antique
fireplace; an equally antique tome of poetry and
philosophy open in his lap.
He sighed in contentment. He hadn't taken the
time to relax with one of his beloved books in
months. With a smile he leaned his head back and
rested it on the plush red velvet. He was so
relaxed, that he actually dozed off; only to awake
when he felt a sudden presence nearby.
His eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet,
landing in a defensive stance.
Nabiki got home from school with a bag loaded
with homework and regular work. She poked her head
into the kitchen to find Kasumi, but it was empty.
There was, however, a note on the table. Nabiki
scanned it before glancing at the clock. The eldest
Tendo would apparently be home in a couple of hours.
With a shrug, Nabiki dropped the note and started
down the hallway to the library.
Nabiki had taken to retreating into the library
after school every day to work. It seemed to be the
most comfortable and yet ill-used room in the house.
Most of the house was decorated straight out of a
magazine. Carved wooden antique pieces of furniture
too fragile looking to be used perched on ancient
oriental rugs and beneath oil paintings by famous
artists.
But the library was different. It had a certain
feel to it; like someone had carefully chosen each
object in the room and placed them exactly where
they belonged. The chairs and tables weren't placed
in social clusters as was the case with most
libraries. Here, they were solitary little islands
promising privacy and a warm comfort that came with
the good company of a good book. There were three
tables, each with an elegant chair with ample
padding. The shelves themselves were only filled
with books to a height that could be easily read and
reached without a stool or ladder. Above that
point, the shelves were filled with trinkets.
Nabiki opened the door just wide enough to slip
in, as if trying to keep the comfort and peace from
escaping. She quickly snapped the wooden door
closed and leaned against it with her eyes closed in
bliss. She didn't sigh, though she wanted to,
because the soft sound would break a peace that
should only be broken by turned pages and pens
scratching on paper.
After a pause, she strode happily and
purposefully to the desk to the far right that she
had claimed as her own. Each of the desks was
different, as were the chairs. The one that she
preferred had a business-like manner with elegant,
feminine curves as well. Nabiki privately thought
that it was very like her. She walked past it
however to the shelves holding reference materials
that she would be using.
She paused thoughtfully before the shelves when
she thought she saw movement to her left. She
turned her head and jumped with a shriek. She
noticed the familiar sight of a martial arts stance
first, then she noticed the black clothing. She
ducked slightly, turning her head away and covering
it with her hands. Eyes closed as she prepared for
a blow, she was a little startled at a familiar
voice.
"Nabiki, what are you doing here?"
She slowly lowered her hands and blinked at
Ranma. He was frowning slightly, now simply
standing with his arms at his sides as opposed to
the tense stance he'd held a moment ago. He was
wearing a black velvet robe over dark silver satin
Chinese clothes like the ones he always wore.
She pressed a hand to her chest and glared at
him. "Thanks for the scare, Ranma. If you must
know, I'm using your library to do homework."
He lost his frown and shrugged. "Oh, okay.
I'll just keep reading if you don't mind." With
that he turned and leaned over to scoop up the book
he'd dropped on the overly-plush carpet when he'd
jumped from his seat. He sat down in the wing
backed chair and opened it flawlessly to an
apparently random page, immediately beginning to
read.
Nabiki shrugged and turned back to select a book
from the shelf. She sat at 'her' desk and opened
several books and a notebook. Within moments, she
was absorbed in her homework.
Ranma finished a particularly stirring
philosophical passage when he decided to choose a
new book. He stood fluidly and nearly started at
the sight of another person in the room. He froze
in shock at letting that presence go unnoticed for
so long to his senses. Slowly he started moving
toward the small shelf above the fireplace where he
kept his particular favorites.
He looked up as someone knocked on the door.
Nabiki did as well, and Kasumi poked her smiling
face into the door. "Hello, Ranma. Nabiki, you
have a visitor."
Nabiki blinked once then stood. "Thanks, sis,
I'm coming." She put her pencil down at the top of
the slanted desk and walked quickly and gracefully
to the door.
The girls left and Ranma turned back to his
shelf. He was reaching up to shelve his book when
he heard a soft sound. He turned to the desk that
Nabiki had been working so diligently at. His eyes
dropped to the floor, where her pencil had fallen.
He shelved his book with a single glance over his
shoulder at the shelf. Then he walked over and bent
to pick up the pencil. The point was perfect, the
eraser unused, and he balanced it carefully just
where Nabiki'd left it.
He froze as his hand left the pencil. She'd
left sheets of figures and neat stacks of bills and
receipts out. He glanced down and nearly gasped.
Ranma had known that finances were tight with the
Tendos, but they were positively poor. He ran a
finger down the pristine columns of numbers, noting
all the negatives that nearly overpowered the few
positives.
He placed his hands on the sides of the desk and
leaned over the papers as he studied them further.
His lips were pursed and his eyebrows drawn down and
together when Nabiki walked back into the room ten
or fifteen minutes later. She froze, hand still on
the knob, and swallowed.
"Did you find something interesting, Soatome?"
She glided over to the desk and he stepped back
as she began gathering papers. He wouldn't have
been surprised if she'd stomped over angrily, burst
into shamed tears, or ran from the room. Instead,
she proudly and carefully arranged the documents in
their appropriate folders and pockets.
When she had finished and picked up the bulging
schoolbag, she turned to stare coldly up at the
perplexed martial artist.
"Well?"
His face lost the tight lines of insulted anger,
and softened into concern. "Nabiki, why didn't you
tell me you were so short on cash? Kasumi has been
insisting on buying all of the groceries and won't
take anything for all of the cooking and cleaning
she's done. I could at least help out with that
much."
Nabiki turned her head away, "That's hardly
necessary. We'll manage, as we have been for
years."
"Nabiki, how does your family get by? None of
you have jobs—"
"If you must know, I run a rather elaborate
betting pool centered at school that extends all the
way through Nerima. I also have a few other,
smaller business ventures as well."
She glanced stiffly up at him as if expecting
shock or disapproval. Instead, he was nodding
thoughtfully.
"I can't complain about a little betting after
working for a mobster, but I worry about you getting
in trouble for some of your business venture. Where
would your family be then?"
She snorted angrily, "Well, we wouldn't be so
tight financially if it weren't for you, ya know
Soatome." She glanced away and back quickly, biting
her lip as if she'd said more than she wanted.
He frowned for a moment, "How have I hurt your
financial status? I'd think that I was helping
since I'm paying the utilities."
She sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, Akane's
always been very profitable. The students at school
make bets on her romantic status, the length and
content of her fights, and even her grades. Her
suitors pay huge sums for photos or, er, vital
statistics of her. When you showed up as her fiancé
and stopped the morning fights, you caused several
problems."
She sat down in her chair and cupped her face,
leaning sadly against the desk. "The loss of the
fights took most of the betting, and therefore, the
money. Then, knowing that Akane was taken by the
greatest fighter in Japan, she was very out of their
reach. It became obvious that she was infatuated
with you, so that placed her on an even higher and
more unreachable pedestal. They now worship her
from afar, and have no need of such talismans as
photos or locks of hair. Furinken High now has no
fighting on most days, and definitely none worth
betting on, as well as a distinct lack of a heart
throb for the hormonal boys to drool over."
Ranma crossed one arm over his chest and placed
a thoughtful finger to his lips. "How can we go
about correcting this problem?"
Nabiki narrowed her eyes, but otherwise kept her
face blank. "We will do nothing. This is a Tendo
problem, Soatome. We Tendos shall overcome on our
own."
He sighed. "I think it only fair that
compensate you for the losses I've caused you."
Nabiki turned instantly from quietly seething
anger, to openly thoughtful. "Well, if you insist .
. . Ranma, are you aware that you have a fan club
at our school?"