Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Ranma ½ , apart from the DVDs, but that's all, unfortunately!
Chapter Five: Getting To Know Them.
"How long did you say he's been like this?" asked Kasumi gently.
"I don't know, maybe since he woke up." said Akane, giving a rather wet looking male Ranma a concerned glance.
"What did you two do last night?" asked Nabiki, with a smirk.
"Well, we - NABIKI!!" shouted Akane, after a brief pause.
"Tendo-kun, it seems the children are finally respecting their elder's wishes and holding up their honour, aside from other things."
"The schools will be joined!" shouted Soun Tendo, tears of joy suddenly flooding the bed, turning Ranma into a girl, but with still no effect. "OH HAPPY DAY!!!"
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"... let's see, Sakura cakes?-"
"No, not for what I have in mind."
"- Er, Love Potion amulet, two pills left -"
"Nah, I had one of them, it only causes trouble. No, I meant something that I could use so I could get to know them a little."
"Oooo, that's a toughy," said Harry, rummaging through the chest that the 'Three' had with them, "er, Confidence Apple? - on second thought better not, half-eaten and mouldy!"
"Bleugh!"
"Ah-hah! - Ah, no perhaps for the rivals - "
"What is it?" said Ranma, as he learned over Harry's shoulder, to get a better look.
"Chinese Purple Apple," said Harry, smiling slightly, "gives anyone who eats it piles for a while, gave one of these to Gary, a few years back, couldn't sit down for a week!"
Harry laughed, but Gary look over and Harry choked, "Anyway, I think we might have something, but most Chinese tribal stuff is about enhancing emotions, like the passion spice, which I also used on -"
"Ahem!" said Gary, sharply, "excuse him for a minute. Anything else we can do, I do feel we owe you, when I nearly fell down those steps."
"Well, is there anything that I can use that'll get them to listen to me, before they drug, glomp, hit or try to kiss me?"
"Blimey, you have got problems, haven't you."
"Yep."
Harry smiled broadly, "Well, we may have something..."
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Kodachi Kuno could not believe her luck.
It had to be fate, how else could Ranma-sama have found her?
She smiled to herself in the dessert spoon as she adjusted her hair, so that the ponytail that left the side of her head, swept over the shoulder of her midnight black dress.
"Hello, Kodachi."
Kodachi looked up meekly, checking that the spiked wine was in the ice filled bucket beside the table, which was laid outside on the balcony of her and her brother's apartment in the centre of the city. Luckily her brother was out chasing his redheaded 'floozy'.
"Ranma-sama." She breathed, in what she thought was a seductively husky voice, it although to most it was a just audible whisper.
"That's a different look for you, isn't it?" Ranma smiled, Kodachi melted.
"Yes, Ranma-sama," she gestured to the bottle in the bucket, "would you like a glass?"
"Er - Actually, I brought my own," he smiled again, a little wider, "hope you don't mind."
"No, I don't mind," she said, thinking, maybe I don't have to drug him too quickly. She put a hand to her mouth demurely, to stifle an upcoming laughing fit.
Ranma popped the cork on the wine and poured in the contents into two crystal wineglasses.
"So, what should we drink to?" he asked, raising his glass.
"How about 'Future Passion'?" Kodachi grinned hungrily at a blanching Ranma.
"Er - what about, er, 'No More Challenges'?"
Kodachi smiled widely, "I would gladly toast that!"
"No More Challenges!" they echoed and drank.
Kodachi drank a little more than she intended, being in the presence of her Ranma-sama, while she was she looked beautiful, she could not help being a little nervous.
"Kodachi, you OK?" asked Ranma.
Kodachi's nervousness seemed to slip away, her rather rapid heartbeat had calmed, and one or two of the competitive voices in her head had seemed to have shut up.
"I'm fine, Ranma," she was shocked at hearing her calm so calm. "Just lost in thought."
"What do you like to do, Kodachi," asked Ranma, "you know, when you aren't doing gymnastics, you must have other hobbies."
"Well, I like science, I've always used it to create my potions."
Ranma raised an eyebrow and then them held out a hand, "Give me any potions you have on you."
Kodachi extracted various potions from her dress, to a very stunned Ranma.
Kodachi's rather bulky looking dress, now showed her slim figure, while the dinner table was now stocked with various bottles, vials and sealed test tubes of different colour liquids.
Ranma boggled at them, before putting them away into his jacket, which he wore over his Chinese shirt.
"I know you like flowers, and such," said Ranma, conversationally, "how did you get your roses to go so black?"
"Oh, just a few personal mixtures I had created," Kodachi laughed, it was her usual laugh, but it was not as loud or annoying. "It took me years to figure it all out. But I got there in the end, I am the best, flower arranging is my next port of call aside from gymnastics, which I am also the best in."
"I see," said Ranma smiling slightly.
Over the course of the meal, Kodachi discovered one or two things about Ranma, some of those things she found she could not completely cope with. Ranma also learned about Kodachi, although he still found her to be eccentric, he found she could be a friend, not a great friend, but a friend that would be there to help out, if she was not so hyped on her 'Ranma-sama'.
The date went OK, not spectacular by any means, and the date was officially ended when -
SPLASH!
"DIE VILE WITCH!"
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Shampoo looked up the street, as her Airen strolled up to her, two blocks away from the quickly set-up Cat Café.
"RANMA!" Shampoo jumped forward in a hug.
Ranma smiled and brought up the spray, straight into her face.
She stepped back spluttering, then just as she felt her anger boiling, it faded away and she calmed down, so calm that she just smiled at Ranma, instead of glomping on to him.
"So," said Ranma, with a smile, Shampoo merely smiled back, "you ready to go?"
"Stupid Mousse talking to mirror."
Ranma face-faulted.
"Let's go then."
Ranma took Shampoo to the second-best ramen bar (A/N: café? restaurant?), since the Cat Café was now in residence.
Masses of hot water surrounded them, so neither of them were changed easily.
Ranma discovered Shampoo was very into weapons, whether it was making them or cleaning them. He knew she was a good cook, but she also had a cousin who had a best-selling ramen cook book in Japan.
An hour or so later, Ranma checked his watch, and realised that the pleasant conversion was over as -
"RANMA!" the drug wore off, and the table was knocked over and a water jug fell over the two of them.
"GAH! Get back, get back." Ranma-chan jumped out of the way, as Shampoo-neko as she jumped forward, but did not run off.
"Meow?"
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"Hey, Ranchan, over here!"
"Hello, Ucchan," Ranma spun around, a bundle of flowers in hand, "Wow you look great!"
Ukyou blushed and swung her giant spatula in embarrassment.
CLANG!
"A simple 'Thank you' would have done, Ucchan." Said Ranma, rubbing the back of his head.
"Gomen." Said Ukyou, bowing her head slightly.
"That's OK," Ranma grinned, "Come on, or we'll be late."
"Right!"
Ranma and Ukyou set off for the cinema. "By the way, how did you get past your uncute fiancée?"
"Oh, I have my ways, Ucchan." Ranma laughed.
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"Akane? Akane?" said Kasumi, waving a hand in ront of her baby sisters face. "whatever could be wrong?"
"Mmmmm." Murmured Akane, dumbly.
"Dunno," said Nabiki, with a sudden smirk, "maybe she saw Ranma in the furo again."
"Nabiki!"
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Ukyou stifled a laugh, "She's gonna kill ya tomorrow."
Ranma smiled a little wider, "Can't wait for tomorrow."
They went in and the movie, a martial arts film, Ukyou hated all that lovey-dovey stuff (at least in films), which Ranma had discovered on their previous talks, that only he would remember.
He felt a little guilty about it, but it was all in the process of getting to know his fiancées better, to truly see if he lo - liked any of them more than just friends.
Two years ago, or rather to everyone else, yesterday, he would have of complained about how fake the moves were and that half the time it was stunt doubles doing the work, not the actors.
But after seeing this movie a hundred times or so, he sat back and enjoyed its rather bad jokes.
"Well, that was a great movie," said Ukyou, idly swinging her giant spatula, unconsciously emulating the moves in the film. "What did you think, Ranchan?"
"Yeah, it was good, a little fake, but at least the jokes were great."
"Their pizzas didn't look very appealing though," said Ukyou, frowning slightly, "they really did look sloppily made, they didn't have a smooth edge either-"
Ukyou went on to describe how she could of done it better, spicing it up a bit with more appealing colours and favours.
Ranma tried to interject several times, but Ukyou's eyes, by this time, had now completely glazed over, as she entered her dream world of Japanese pizza making.
He rolled his eyes and considered smacking her over the head with her own spatula.
Then didn't consider it.
CLANG!
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Akane looked at Ranma as though he had gone mad, but considering what he just said, he probably had.
"Well," said Ranma, when he did not get a response, "where do you want to go?"
He's making fun of me, she thought, her anger rising, How dare that - that sex-changing baka do that!
"RANMA NO BAKA!" SMACK!
"WHAT Did I sssaaaayyy!!" said Ranma, sailing over the rooftops.
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"Look, just hear me out OK, 'Kane," said Ranma, putting his hands up, "this is not some sort of date, we're friends aren't we?" he did not wait for an answer, "so lets just go out as friends, and besides we're in the city centre, so there should be no problems."
Akane looked at him for a moment, then went over to P-Chan and tucked him tightly under the covers of her bed, so he could not move from his position.
Then she turned back to Ranma.
"Alright then, let's go."
"So, you do know where we're going right?" asked Akane, uncertainly, as they walked down the street.
"Left, as a matter of fact," said Ranma, with a smile, "and yes, I do."
"OK, then."
They arrived at the restaurant that Ranma had chosen, and took their seats at a table he had discovered had the best lighting. They were brought menus and after a few moments of looking over them, Ranma poked his head over his menu to look at Akane.
"Ready to order?" he asked.
"No, not yet." Said Akane, testily.
"Calm down, it's just ordering."
"I can't understand any of this!" she groused, finally.
"Well, we can just order the 'dish of the day', if you like, yeah?" said Ranma.
"OK, I wonder what it is?" she said, looking at the unfamiliar language on the menu.
"That's the surprise," said Ranma, "isn't it?"
"What?" said Akane, dangerously.
"Let's just order, shall we?" sweated Ranma.
"Alright." Said Akane, calming down.
"Waiter!"
They order the 'dish of the day' to discover it was some sort of lobster and rice dish (A/N: is there such a thing? Well there is NOW!), Ranma already knew this of course, having been here a few times, even bringing the family with him to enjoy it, where he noted that Akane had also liked it a lot.
They talked while they ate, Akane being amazed that Ranma was eating at a normal person's rate, rather than his usual gobbling, they chattered about the different types of martial arts and how they were badly portrayed in some films.
The two martial artists got on better than they had done in two years, or four years in Ranma's case.
"I had fun tonight, amazing really." Said Akane, smiling.
"Oh, you sound surprised." Ranma, smiling back.
"Well, no fiancées, no 'RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!' or well," she looked embarrassed, "no you being a jerk."
"I try my best." Ranma grinned.
"So," she said, moving closer to him, "should we go back up?"
"Er, sure OK," Ranma smiled, looking into her eyes, "But what about, well you know."
Akane sighed, it was a happy sigh, "Tonight, I could not care less."
"Yeah, I guess your right." He turned to the hotel, then crooked his arm, "may I escort you in?"
She put a hand on his arm, sending a slight tingle through him, "Yes, you may."
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Akane managed to get rid of P-Chan, who had snuggled deeply into her pillow, by placing him outside the room that Ranma's dad and her father shared.
Ranma and Akane talked for a little bit, which would have lead to something, if only -
"You know something, Akane," said Ranma, with a slight nervous smile, "I've had doubts about this working out, I mean, I know we're engaged and all, but I'd rather have met you in a better way."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, 'he's a couple all by himself'? That really went well with 'want to be friends', didn't it?"
Akane glared, but did nothing.
"You know, I'm sorry about that," she said, after a pause, "but what else was I to do, I mean I was being forced to be with someone I didn't know, so I lashed out."
"You could have 'lashed out' at Pop, or even you own father," said Ranma, seriously, "I was not the one forcing you into anything."
"So what do we do about it, then?"
"I dunno."
"You could get married." Said a voice behind them.
Both Akane and Ranma leapt apart, turning toward Soun Tendo, a barrier up between them.
"I can't believe this," said Ranma, with a resigned sigh, "after all I've done to get Akane to this point."
"What did you say, you Pervert?" growled Akane, cracking her knuckles.
Ranma sighed again, "Does it really matt -"
BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!
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"... no 'RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!, or, well, you being a jerk."
Ranma frowned, "What the hell is that meant to mean?"
Akane glared, "This is what it means, YOU JERK!"
BAM!BAM!BAM!
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"That's the surprise, isn't it?"
"What?" said Akane, annoyed.
"Oh, come!" said Ranma, panicking, "it's not like I called you uncute, (pause) Oops!"
BAM!BAM!BAM!
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"... ready to order?" said Ranma, over his menu.
"No, not yet." Said Akane, testily.
"Ok, no need to be like that!" Exclaimed Ranma, putting his menu down.
"You mean, LIKE THIS!"
BAM!BAM!BAM!
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"So, you do know where we're going right?" asked Akane, uncertainly.
"Left, actually," said Ranma, with a slight smile, "and yes I do, don't worry so much."
Akane stopped suddenly, "What did you say?"
Oh, hell, thought Ranma, the whistle of Akane's mallet in his ears.
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Akane awoke to hear a bucket being smashed over a large panda's head.
"Feh! Stupid Panda!"
"Ranma what -"
"Go back to sleep, Akane," said a female Ranma, tiredly, "it's gonna be a very long day. Believe me, I know it will be."
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Next Chapter: Can't Wait For Tomorrow.
Author's Note (6/9/03): Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, Gomen, sorry for the late update, been having various problems in writing this, so there maybe a few problems within it, which I will go back and re-edit at a later date, however I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are still eager for more. So review and tell me what you think, and I will try and update as soon as I possibly can, time and other things permitting,
Ja!
PS, I will update as soon as I can, the statement in the previous chapter is to be ignored, coz I just could not live up to that, but I will try to have another update within the month, but do not hold you're breath. (you may die!!) \shock!!!/
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