See You at the Show

II

By Kalio

A/n: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Nice to know someone cares! I would answer all of them, but I'm on the wrong computer to help me remember what they all say. I'll do better next time.

***

'Well?!' Shelly and Kris chorused. Akane raised an eyebrow.

'Well, what?' Shelly glared.

'You know! What'd he say? Did he ask you out? You lucky dog!'

'I'm jealous, 'Kane!' Akane laughed.

'You guys are impossible! Of course he didn't ask me out. I got an invite to a private show, though.' Kris grinned.

'Yeah, I BET you did.' Akane scowled.

'It's not like that, you two get to come, too.' They exchanged looks and giggled.

'No thanks, girl, you know we're not into orgies.' Akane smacked Kris.

'Perv! I mean a show. See? One of the guys from Anything Goes is hosting. Its a cd release party. Limited edition, I believe.'

'Whoa,' Shelly stared at the flyer. 'You mean we could get one of their cds? That would kick ass! I don't care if you don't want to go, Akane, you're our ticket in!' Akane shook her head.

'You guys are too much. Okay, I'll go, but you gotta promise not to use me beyond that, okay?'

They grinned at each other. 'Of course not!'

***

Akane took a deep breath. She was only going to a party. That's all, nothing more. What was there to worry about? Kris, frowned and knocked impatiently. It took only a few moments for the door to creak open, and Ranma looked at the three girls with a smile.

'Hey, girls, come on in. It won't be long until we get started.' Akane gave him a short smile, and followed her friends anxiously inside. She had expected the house to be jammed full of people, but to her surprise, there were only a handful of people lounging around the small stage set up, mostly looking in the direction of the strangers that had come in. Ranma closed the door, and grinned at them. 'Lemme introduce you to everyone, okay?' He looked at Kris and Shelly, question obvious in his eyes.

'This is Kris, Shelly, and I'm-' Ranma cut her off.

'Yeah, you're Akane, I got it. I never caught you last name last Friday?'

'Tendou.'

'Right. Hey guys! Everybody say hi to Kris, Shelly, and Akane!' Most everyone waved, save a set of girls in the corner, frowning. Ranma turned back. 'Hey, I'll introduce the rest of the band in a minute. Jared's busy with set up, but he'd tell you to make yourselves at home, so do. There's food and punch in the kitchen. J's dad is serving, so I wouldn't worry about it being spiked, but if you want to be safe, go for the tap water. Have fun!' The girls blinked after him as he disappeared up the steps of the in the corner of the room.

'Well? You heard what he said, kitchen!' Kris, ever impatient, started motioning in the direction he had indicated. Shelly clung onto Akane's shirt as they walked past the unfamiliar faces.

'Would you quit that?' Shelly pouted.

'But I don't know anyone!'

'Neither do we!'

'But-but!' A man in the kitchen smiled.

'Hello girls, I don't believe I know you, I'm Jared's father, Mr. Stenson. Pleased to meet you.' Akane smiled at him.

'Hi Mr. Stenson. This is Shelly, and Kris. I'm Akane.' She shook his hand.

'So you girls been fans for a while?' Akane looked her friends.

'Shel? Kris?' Kris laughed.

'Me and Shel have seen them a few times and really liked them, but Akane, here, got us an invite from Ranma, and she's only seen them once.' Mr. Stenson chucked.

'A charmer, eh? Well, consider yourselves lucky, my boy's band will be big one day!'

'Dad!' They turned to see a young man frowning, a few extension chords hung over his shoulder. 'What are you telling them?' His father feigned innocence.

'Nothing, nothing... what do you need?' Jared shrugged.

'Well, other than a couple extra hands, nothing much. Hey, you're that girl that Ranma's been ranting about all week, aren't you?' Akane raised an eyebrow.

'Who me?' Jared laughed.

'Yeah, you. He's been such a goober. I'm Jared, by the way. I play drums.' Akane smiled and introduced again.

'I can help you out. You just gotta tell me what to do.' Jared smiled.

'Okay, cool. I just need one other person, so you guys can stay here, and chill if you want. Com'on, Akane.'

***

'Now, just plug it in-the second one down, the first one will blow the fuse. Thanks.' Akane crawled back out.

'No prob. I might as well help, since I'm probably the only person here that doesn't know all of your songs by heart.' Jared grinned.

'Yeah. Your friends look ecstatic to be here. By the way, what's up with Kris? Is she seein' anyone?' Akane laughed.

'No, she isn't, but don't hit on her unless you're serious, she doesn't like players, and I'm with her.' He smiled.

'I wouldn't worry about it. Drummers don't get any girls... ever. Ranma, on the other hand...' Akane frowned.

'Yeah, I figured he got around. But Kris and Shel really wanted to come and get an exclusive cd, and you guys were really great on Friday, so I thought it would be kinda fun.'

'Oh, I didn't mean Ranma dates a lot, he doesn't. He just has a lot of girls after him. You should feel kinda lucky, he's always turning girls down. Don't write him off, he's a great guy.'

'Sure, whatever.'

'Nah, seriously. Give the dude a chance.'

'Give who a chance?' Jared looked over his shoulder.

'Oh, hey, Shampoo. What's up? This is Akane.' She looked Akane up and down.

'Oh, so you're her.' Akane scowled.

'Excuse me?' Jared sighed. Here it goes.

'Nothing. You must be the flavor of the week.'

'Shampoo, that's not fair. Ranma doesn't want to go out with you. Get over it.' She rounded on him.

'Of course he does! He's just waiting for the right moment.' He shook his head.

'Hun, if he were going to ask you out, he would have done it by now. Or said yes the last ten million times you asked him...' She narrowed her eyes.

'-he's just...shy!' She stomped off. Akane burst out laughing.

'Does this happen often?!' Jared rolled his eyes.

'All the time. That one is horrible about it. I feel sorry for Ukyou, though, she's just as diluted, the only difference is, she generally listens more. Nice girl. Sad, though.'

'Is she the one that Shampoo was talking to earlier?'

'Yeah, that's the one. She used to be Ranma's best friend when they were little, and they went out for a few weeks a year ago. As it ended up, Ranma just wanted to be friends because he couldn't get into it- the relationship, I mean, too weird for him. Anyhow, she thinks she's "entitled". Therefore, if she glares at you, its okay, its nothing personal, she just hates it when anyone gets close to him. In other words, she really hates the band and all the girls that see us play. Hey, can you hand me that screwdriver... yeah that one.' Akane shrugged and handed it to him

'I don't really care what people think about me. Never really have. I guess its cool that he thinks I'm cool or whatever, but I don't really know him, why would anyone be jealous of that?' He stood up and dusted off his hands.

'Well, he obviously wants to get to know you. All this week it was "did you see that necklace Akane had?" and "do you think she liked me- I mean us?"' he laughed. 'He's such a dork when he finds someone he likes.' Akane grinned.

'Wonder what he would have done if I hadn't shown.'

'He would have been looking out the window every five seconds asking whether we thought you got lost- oh wait, he did that anyway! He's such a weirdo.' Jared spotted something over shoulder. 'Hey, looks like we're about to start, you might want to go get your friends while I find out where Bryan is. Thanks for helping out.'

'No problem. Good luck on the show.'

***

'Ahh! I can't believe we're at a private release party for Anything Goes!' Akane rolled her eyes.

'Shel, its not like they're huge, or anything. Its a self produced cd for their friends... and a handful of strangers.' Shelly jumped up and down.

'Yeah! And WE'RE the strangers!' Akane sighed.

Just then, the mic squealed on. 'Okay, guys! How ya feeling?' Everyone cheered, despite the size of the crowd. 'Glad you all could make it. See this?' A boy that Akane could only assume was Bryan or Mark, held up a cd. 'As this is our new cd, we'll be playing straight through it tonight. When we're done, everybody gets one, but on one condition, we ask that you do not make any copies. We wouldn't ask you that if we didn't have a reason, so without further ado, I'm handing the mic over to my boy, Ranma, for a huge announcement.' Ranma grinned.

'Right! As you all know, we've been sending demos to a bunch of labels, hoping one of them would pick us up. Well, we finally got a positive answer. Jusenkyo Records is picking up Anything Goes and putting out an E.P. in a few weeks. We would have told you guys sooner, but we didn't want you to have to wait too long for it.' Beside Akane, Kris and Shelly, were jumping up and down. 'Something else, guys, Jusenkyo is having us start touring the East coast this summer. We won't be traveling too far, but we'll be in a different city almost every night, promoting it. Therefore, we just wanted this little cd to say thank you to the people that mean the most to us. Thanks, guys!' With that, he nodded to Jared, and they started playing. Everyone in the room going nuts- especially the parents.

***

Akane clapped and whooped when the current song finished, really getting into it. She decided that they really were good, not just a lot of hype. Kris elbowed her.

'Did you see the way he was looking at you? You little vixen!' Akane laughed.

'Yeah, whatever!'

'You guys ready for another new song? Yeah? Okay, here goes. This is called Never Sometimes.' (A/n: ANFG song off of Nothing Gold Can Stay- good cd, everyone go out and buy it if you don't have it. Seriously. Go. Now. All I have to say about that is Nacho Abalaffa Barnacle Loofties!)

'Well, I never wanted it to be this way with you. So broken-hearted. Look at all the things we've been through. Sometimes I, sometimes I can't catch up with your words. You're hard to follow, so hard to follow. Tragic! to realize that you talk too much. So tragic to realize that you're far too gone to say you're wrong. Sometimes I, sometimes I can't catch up with your words. You're hard to follow, so hard to follow.' Akane almost thought the song was going to end, but then it picked up again. 'Tie the rope around me, once more and I might bend, but I won't break. No, I won't break. Tie the rope around me, once more and I might bend, but I won't break. No, I won't break! Take this time out to find yourself. Take this time out to learn. Take this time out to find yourself. Take this time out to learn, learn!' Akane watched as the guy who spoke earlier played this awesome bass solo. Everyone applauded wildly. Except, one, Akane noticed. The girl that had to be Ukyou stormed out of the room. She, wasn't sure, but Akane thought she was crying, but Ranma didn't seem to see from the stage. Akane shrugged and kept clapping, it really wasn't any of her business. (a/n: yes, I realize these are not the same words as in the cd jacket... yes, these are the right words... no, you can't disagree with me on this one.)

***

'Thanks, guys! You have been awesome! Everybody will have to actually buy our cds in the future!'

Kris grinned. 'That was so cool! Can you believe it? They got signed! And they're touring this summer!' Shelly giggled.

'Yeah, we better appreciate being able to see them for free!' Akane laughed.

'Or you could be a roadie and see them for free every night.' Shelly squeeked.

'Oh, that would be soooo awesome!' Akane rolled her eyes, for the hundredth time.

'I was just kidding, you sound like a teeny! Stop it, you're scaring me.' Shelly giggled.

'I can't help it, I'm so happy for these guys!' Kris smiled.

'Yeah, Akane, come on! You have to be excited!'

'Hey, Akane, can I talk to you for a minute?' Akane turned around to see Ranma anxiously awaiting her answer. She looked back to see Shelly and Kris nodding avidly, and winking.

'Yeah, sure.' Ranma smiled, and lead her to the corner of the room.

'So, uh, how did you like the show?' He looked at his feet.

'It was awesome. I'm happy that you guys got a break, your songs rock. I'm glad I came.'

'Really? Because I don't like it when people lie to me.' Akane chuckled.

'No, seriously. I would buy this cd if I weren't getting it for free, I love your sound.'

'Thanks. Um...'

'...yes?'

'Well, I was wondering,.. wondering... I was thinking- Um, do you want to go out sometime. I mean, I just met you and all, but...' Akane laughed.

'Yeah, sure. You seem nice enough. Jared said I should give you a chance.' Ranma looked up surprised.

'You know Jared?'

'Just met him, actually. He needed help setting up. He gave you a glowing review.'

'He did? I mean, of course he did.' Akane smiled.

'So... do you need my number or something?'

'Yeah, actually. That would be great.' Akane looked around.

'Pen? Paper?' Ranma started.

'Oh yeah, sorry, lemme go get some.' He walked off and she shook her head. Silly boy.

A/n: Okay! Finally updated! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Legacy, I've just been really busy, and I like this one better. Easier to get into. Anyway, please take a moment to review and tell me what you think.