Well, here goes.
Okay, next comes... um, hey, where'd Alex go?
Alex Ultra: [Looks around for Alex] ALEX!! You here!?
Alexander: Oh, hey. Um, sis asked me to tell you she's gonna be late...
Alex Ultra: Why?
Alexander: Well, you know us... it shouldn't take too much of a stretch of your imagination.
Alex Ultra: Oh boy... just tell her to not take the head with her this time! The last one started to smell pretty quickly!
Alexander: She says okay!
Alex Ultra: Geeze... Um, have you seen Lila?
Alexander: Huh, I think she's around here somewhere... Oh! Really? Okay, I'll go get her. [Suddenly disappears]
Alex Ultra: [Left suddenly alone] I hate when they do that.
Well, I guess we can't really get this going without Lila here...
So instead let's do the Reviewer Responses:
I forget my name O_o: Yo, I don't know about tedious, but I guess some people would find it kinda long... I guess 8 is good. Not perfect, but... And hey, you can swing ANY way you want to. (Hippie voice) I don't judge, man! V^_^ And no, I'm not a hippie either.
TerraEpon: Shut up you moron. You can keep your opinion, and I'll keep mine. But trying to infringe on those of others is truly an infringement on human rights. Normally, I wouldn't give people like you the time of day, but this is a special case. -Alex Ultra 8:03AM Oh, and I think they would be good together because they're both crazy and obsessive, so there!
Well... now what?
Lila: Hey! I'm here! [Lila runs in, clothes tattered]
Alex Ultra: What happened to you?
Lila: Alex took me 'Training'. She didn't tell me it involved DEMONS!
Alex Ultra: [Sweat drop] Uh, yeah. She gets like that sometimes...
Okay, now we can get on with it.
~~~~~~*** GETTING ACQUAINTED ***~~~~~~
"Wake up sleepyhead!"
"Huh?" I opened my eyes and ended up looking straight at Akane. "AAH!!" Surprise hit me right away; I jumped out of the bed and backed myself into the corner pretty quickly. "Huh? Whoa! Where am I?"
"Uh, you're in my room?"
"WHAT!? Why am I in a gir-- Oh yeah." It took a minute for my brain to kick in and remind me of my current situation. Even though I still didn't remember going to sleep. "Um, sorry."
Akane's expression went from surprise, to an unreadable expression. "No problem. Um, you wanna take a bath now?"
I could only blink for a second or so. "Um, sorry, but my brain must not be working right yet. Do you mean TOGETHER?"
"Well, I don't have to be in with you, I just wanna talk to you."
Well, it wasn't all that much better, but I didn't really see any harm in it. "Honestly, Akane, I'm not sure I wanna be in there with myself."
"What, you don't trust yourself?" She smiled one of those teasing smiles.
"No! I just--"
"Well, you'll have to get used to it sooner or later, might as well be sooner. And besides, you have to take a bath every once in a while!"
I couldn't really find it in me to smile, but I did agree. "Well, I guess you're right. But it still seems like I shouldn't..."
"Hey, don't worry, it's not like there's anything you'll do that will be an invasion of privacy!" I could only nod stupidly.
"So, um...?"
"What?"
"Where's the bathroom?" I'm pretty sure she face faulted, though I didn't actually see it. I just know that when I turned back around, she was on the floor with one foot twitching every three seconds. "Akane?"
~~ One tour later ~~
"Okay! Let's get this started!" As I thought up a pun about a song by someone who called themselves a color [1], Akane reached over to the controls and turned on the water. I wasn't really all that interested in the water, so as I waited for that to get up to speed, I couldn't really help but look in the mirror.
Honestly, this person was someone I had never seen before. Her eyes were like a ruby red, her face looked as if she spent hours on it every morning (like most girls in anime), and her hair... well, at the moment, her hair was a sight to behold. I had bed-head.
"Whatcha looking at?"
"Huh? Oh, just trying to get used to it. But I can't get past the feeling that I'm looking at someone else..." I again looked at the mirror, this time below the face.
I can't even imagine what kind of look I had on my face at that moment, but it seemed like I looked even better than when I had looked in the door! "Oh god! I'm a pervert's dream!"
"Uh, yeah. Looks like you're right... never heard it described that way though..."
"And how would YOU describe it?"
Akane smiled. "You've got a big bust!" It was my turn to fall uncontrollably.
Rubbing the side of my head (the part that hit the floor), I stood, laughing nervously. "Well, yeah. I guess that's ONE way of putting it!"
"Well, come on! Let's go, it's almost ready!"
Sighing, I got undressed, expressing that I still wanted Akane facing the other direction.
I cautiously stuck my hand in the bathwater, testing it in case Akane had it too hot. It was fine, if not a bit colder than I would have had it.
Shrugging it off, I got in.
"So, Lila."
"Hmm?"
"What do you think of Ranma?"
"Ranma?" I wasn't really sure of what to say. "Uh... I don't know. He's cool, I guess."
"... Hmmm. What do you think of his curse?"
"Curse? You mean that girl thing?"
"Yeah. That girl thing."
"Well, I guess that would be a good way of getting over being embarrassed around them."
"Ranma!? Embarrassed!? Hah!"
"What?"
"Well, I just can't see him being embarrassed about TOUCHING a girl..." I couldn't see her, but I could tell she was fuming over something. "Besides, he seems to get along well enough with all the girls constantly chasing after him."
"Well, did you ever know him BEFORE he was cursed? Maybe he would have been different if he hadn't been?" I could tell she was thinking about it. "I mean, some guys would be embarrassed enough to... I don't know, actually. But I know some guys can't even get close to a fully clothed girl without dying of embarrassment." 'Darn soap...' I found myself searching the bottom of the tub looking for the soap that had just slipped out of my hand.
"Hn, I guess you're right. But it sure doesn't stop them from looking!"
I heard her comment. It was a generalization. "Some guys it does. I knew this one guy who always hid his face anytime a girl walked by. He couldn't bear to look at them, and when he did his nose would sometimes bleed. But, unfortunately, none of the girls ever really noticed him, so the judgment fell on all boys because he wasn't included in the evidence." I found myself again looking for the soap. "DARN SOAP!!! Uh, that's why generalizations rarely ever work... Found it!"
Akane was thinking again. "I guess... Man, now I feel bad."
"About what?" I looked around, and not finding what I was looking for, I asked Akane. "Hey, where's the shampoo?"
She handed me a little blue bottle. "About beating on all those boys at school. I guess I can't say they're all dirt, can I?"
"Well, you can blame it on, rrgh, mother nature. It's a survival instinct that boys are so strongly attracted." I rubbed a little harder, grunting when I came to a knot in my hair. "Someone has to make the first move or else the species won't go on for long... OW!" With tears coming out of one eye I rubbed that sore spot again, having just pulled on a knot that was strongly attracted to that very spot.
"Yeah... but what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What did YOU do about the girls?"
"Me? Well, I didn't really pay any attention." I let my hands rest at the side. "Honestly, I paid them about as much attention as I would the boys. And I paid them about as much attention as I did a rock..."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just wasn't really all that interested in being apart of their circles or anything. So I just stuck to myself..."
"You didn't have any friends?"
"Nah, just the people who liked Anime and stuff. Though that's about as far as those discussions ever went."
"AKANE!! Are you done in there yet!?" Ranma was knocking on the door, obviously annoyed at something or another. Her shrill voice said that she was, um, as she, uh, at the time. Yeah, you get the idea.
"Just a minute!! So... anyway."
"You know we're supposed to be meeting someone today, right?"
"I SAID JUST A MINUTE!" I heard Ranma walk away, with a bit of grumbling.
"Well, let's get you dried up and ready."
"Sure..." I had barely gotten out of the tub before a towel hit me in the side. "Hey, I said no looking!"
"Oh come on, just get dried and put your clothes on." When she didn't turn back around, I just decided to shrug it off and go about my business.
"All right, now what?"
"We're gonna meet some friends from class in town. We're gonna get ready for our little Hawaiian getaway." I wasn't sure what to think of the sarcastic tone or the smile with much the same feel to it. "Oh yeah, and Nabiki told me mister what's-his-name wants to see you. Probably to see his newest student."
I was at a loss for words as I fussed with my hair for, very likely, the first time. I was trying to get those pigtails on either side of my head to go back to the way they were. "Who's mister What's-his-name?" 'Darn things... where'd those things go?' As I looked around for those 'things' that had been holding my hair in place until recently, Akane began fussing with my hair for me.
"He's the principal, not really sure what he's like, though I'm sure Ranma would know."
"What, you've never seen him? You know, you're a lot better at this than I am..." I watched as she re-braided those lengths of hair that I had gotten to almost ignoring.
"It comes with practice, I guess. And no, I've never actually been to see him. But I guess I am new to high-school so I may end up going to see him eventually." She took out a comb and proceeded to pull my hair into roughly the same place it was when I first showed up the day before.
I looked it over with a bit of interest, going over how she did that in my head. It didn't really look all that hard, and my hair now seemed to have similar qualities to Ranma's. Except that mine was blue and I had two pigtails, one on each side, and in the back my hair flared out to the sides.
I wasn't exactly sure how, but it seemed almost like this was how my hair wanted to be. 'Eh, I guess it makes sense.' I had never seen anyone in Anime have a bad hair day, unless it was on purpose. (A/N: [Author munches on popcorn] Oh wait... um, right...)
"Okay, let's go."
"Where're we going?"
"Well, first, we're gonna see what the Principal wants."
~~ Outside the Principal's office ~~
Ranko (Ranma in female form, and I'm glad they already had a separate name) was telling me about Mr. Kuno (the Principal guy). Apparently he had an obsession with everything Hawaiian. "Oh, and whatever you do, don't eat the fruit. He's always making them explosive."
"Now that's just downright dangerous..."
Ranko shrugged. "Eh, doesn't seem to bother him. Just don't eat it and you should be fine."
I couldn't help myself but try to picture myself with a hole in my stomach. I suddenly didn't feel too good. "Hey, what's wrong? You're green!" Akane expressed concern for me.
"I think I just lost my appetite..."
"Look, he's really harmless, just hear what he has to say, and don't eat the fruit." Ranko opened the door for me and Mr. Kuno saw me.
"Ah! Miss Dilas! Good to see you!" I let out a short sigh, and resolved myself to getting this over with.
"Uh, hello Mr. Kuno."
"Oh, please. Call me Principal! Please, have a seat." As I closed the door behind me, I noted all the fruit in the room, any one of which could possibly hide a dangerous explosive. 'Oh great, look at all that fruit...!' (A/N: [Laughing] Hehe, wow, that's an interesting thought... afraid of fruit!)
"So I see that word of this meeting has reached you already! Yes, that girl's connections are rather... well, I can tink of no good word to describe it."
"Uh, huh. She seems to know stuff..."
"Yes, well I am to be understanding dat you are new, and dat you will be in Saotome's class? Yes?"
"Uh, I've been told that, yeah." I tried to feign a smile, finding it hard.
"Oh! Well then you MUST participate in the latest class project!" I didn't know what to think of any of this.
~~ Outside of the office again ~~
Ranko and Akane's attention was taken off of their staring contest for a minute as the door opened. And out stepped Lila, looking rather annoyed and covered in shredded apple.
Still looking annoyed, she turned to Ranko. "Okay, not to say there's anything wrong with this school's Principal but... WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THAT GUY!?"
Ranko shrugged. "I think everyone would like to know that..."
"So what did he want?"
Lila held up a small pile of papers, what looked like everything needed to send a number of people to a foreign country. "I don't know how he got to be Principal, but after the apple blew up on his desk, he shoved these in my hand and told me about a seven page report on Hawaii due three days after we get back... And I still want to know what's up with him..."
Akane put her hand on Lila's shoulder and smiled. "Well, hopefully you won't have to deal with him too much. But wait until you meet his son!"
"Is he anything like his father?"
Ranko, walking on the other side of the blue-haired girl, smiled in a teasing way. "In some ways yes, and other ways no. With him there's no exploding fruit or bad T-shirts."
~~ Lila again ~~
'I just took a bath, and now I'm all sticky!' I sighed as I pulled a piece of that stupid apple out of my hair. "I still wanna know what's wrong with him..." I kept clutching the papers and stuff he had given me as we exited the school, where there was actually a bunch of people. "Hmmm, you'd expect this place to be empty on a Saturday..."
"AH! My pigtailed goddess! Come with me and we shall leave this place and live together forever!" Some strange guy who was trying to look like a Samurai started running over to us with his arms open wide.
I backed away nervously just as Ranko put her foot to the weirdo's face.
He fell over sideways and started babbling something about his pigtailed goddess, which I assumed to be his nickname for Ranko.
I took a chance and looked down at him, curious as to who this guy was. "Is this that guy you were talking about?"
"Yeah, that's Tatewaki Kuno, the residential idiot." Ranko's foot had left a rather clear mark on his face.
Suddenly his eyes opened, and he saw me.
Like the idiot he had been making himself out to be, he got back up and started shouting to the sky. "Oh! Praise be the lords on this day! Two pigtailed goddesses have come to greet me!" He turned to me and I was taken by surprise rather quickly.
"Hey! Wait a--!" I couldn't say much more, as he grabbed me around the arms, and I found myself in a place I didn't want to be.
"Nngh! Aaagh!" Try as I might, I couldn't get free. "Well, this is an uncomfortable position."
He looked down on me, I'm not sure what he was thinking at the time, but I'm also sure I didn't want to know. "Are you uncomfortable my goddess? Here, let me make you more so!" He immediately picked me up so that I was hanging in the air. I'm not sure what he was doing, but he was apparently trying to carry me over the threshold.
I looked at him and smiled. "Why thank you!" I then scowled angrily. "NOW I CAN REACH YOUR HEAD!!" I immediately rammed my fist against the top of his head in an attempt to get him to put me down.
Seeing that that got no reaction from him, I thought up another way to get him off of me. I was just about to utilize it when he looked at me in THAT way. "AAHH!!!" I then rammed my elbow into his forehead, and immediately fell to the ground.
I stood up and looked angrily down at his unconscious form. "DARN YOU!!" But Akane dragged me away before I could cause him any of the bodily harm I felt he deserved.
"Akane! What are you doing!? HE TRIED TO KISS ME!!!"
Ranko walked up beside me. "Yeah, I know. That's the first thing he did to me too, but he's too brainless to get the message." I looked back at him, still fuming. He was just getting back up and immediately started looking around.
I could just pick out what it was he said. "WHERE DID MY PIGTAILED GODDESSES GO!?!? WAAAHHH!!" He then went into a fit of wailing and shouting that I didn't care to follow.
"Come on, Senuri and the others are waiting for us!" Akane then looked at me. "But I think they can wait... Come on, I think it would be a good idea to at least get you washed up."
~~ Sometime later ~~
With clean hair and a new set of clothes, I found myself in the middle of a rather large mall. But I was more concerned about how Ranma's clothes fit me better than Akane's.
~ Flashback ~
Lila was fussing with the shirt Akane had just given her. "I still say it seems cramped in here..."
Ranko smiled. "Oh, that's because Akane's 'smaller' than you are! Stay here, I'll be right back!" Before Akane could shout at her, Ranko was gone.
Seemingly in seconds, she came back with a silken blue shirt in one hand. "Here, try this on!"
Lila looked at it, and tried it on. As she did so, Akane started chasing Ranko around the house saying something about 'That comment'.
~ End flashback ~
I sighed. Who knew that bust size could be such a bitter competition between a boy and a girl? 'Well, at least these are comfortable...'
"Hi!!! Akane! Over here!" I looked in the direction the sound came from to see a small number of girls running toward us.
"Oh, hey guys! You ready?"
"Yeah!"
One of the girls looked us over. "Hey, I knew Ranma was coming, but who's this?" She now had her full attention on me.
"Hey, while I'm a girl, I'd prefer to be called Ranko, okay?" But the others just waved her off.
Akane answered their question. "This is Lila, she's staying with us, and is also in need of joining us today. Okay?"
"Hi Lila!" One of the girls, the one with brown hair (only one had brown hair), offered her hand to me. "My name's Inima!"
"Uh, hi, Inima!" I took her hand and she shook vigorously.
The other two settled for waving and smiling. Their names were Senuri and Kori, and both of them had black hair. (Just in case you really care.)
"Okay, let's get started!"
~~
The reason we were there was to get a small wardrobe of clothes for the trip to Hawaii.
I honestly had never thought I would ever be trying on swimsuits and sundresses, but Ranma didn't seem to have a problem with it and that helped.
I was able to buy these things only because of a 10000 Yen loan Nabiki had made me (on her sister's insistence), on 15% weekly interest starting when we got back of course. She made me promise to pay it back in full, even going so far as to making out a contract.
By the time we were finished we each had enough new stuff to fill a number of suitcases. I had tried to minimize what I bought, but ended up spending the whole loan anyway.
Inima looked rather happy, and rather unhappy at the same time. "That was fun! Too bad it had to end..."
"Oh come on, Inima. It's not like it's the end of the world!" Senuri patted the other girl's shoulder.
Akane interrupted. "Yeah, and maybe later you can help Ranma shop for something!"
Ranko looked shocked for a moment, then smiled despite herself. She then started hissing through her teeth. "I don't think that will be necessary Akane. I think he'll be fine!"
Kori took a bit out of her nachos and cheese and looked at Ranko with a blank expression. "Oh come off it, we all know you're Ranma!"
"I know! But it's not like I've ripped through all my clothes yet! Besides! My credit-card's maxed out as it is!"
Akane took a bit of her own dish of nachos. "What do you mean yet? Your muscles haven't grown appreciably since you were twelve! You said so yourself!"
I took in the bit of conversation she heard with little interest. It was just the ramblings of a bunch of girls blowing off time till they had to go home.
Really, there was nothing interesting about that.
"Are you okay Lila?" Akane managed to get my attention, her big brown eyes staring directly into mine.
"Huh?"
"I mean, you're being so quiet, and you keep sighing."
"Oh, I guess I'm bored, tired, and a little distracted." I managed a faint smile. "And I still can't believe I bought so many clothes all at one time!"
Akane smiled an almost teasing smile. "Well, these two will do that to ya!"
I looked at the three other girls across from me, and almost wondered where Ranm... er, Ranko had gone. I smiled a little as I recalled what seemed to be their favorite phrases: 'Oh! That looks absolutely GORGEOUS on you!' 'Wow, you look good!' and the ever popular 'Can I have it?'
"Yeah, sure seems like it. I think even Ranko is having trouble just keeping up with them!" I smiled in a way that was sincere. "But I guess I'm just tired." I then went back to fiddling with my spoon, having already finished my ice cream.
~~~ Somewhere else (Yes, again) ~~~
"Hanumiki, I think you should take a look at this!"
The shorter, older looking man somehow managed to look over the taller man's shoulder at the crystal ball before him. "Hmm? What is it?"
Bishibon sighed, he knew what he was about to say was corny and over-used, but there was simply no other way to describe it. "There seems to be a disturbance in the force..."
"You're right..." Hanumiki stared into the crystal ball for a moment. "We do need a new way of saying that." Bishibon fell on his side and nearly lost his concentration for a moment.
"Sir, what do you think should be done about this?"
Hanumiki looked around through the crystal ball for a moment. "I'm going to call an old friend. In the meantime, you keep a close eye on that anomaly for me. It may create a problem if left alone."
Bishibon nodded and went back to his task of watching the events on that Earth, while keeping a thumbnail view on that anomaly.
He sighed. 'I hope things don't get too interesting...'
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 3 ***~~~~~~
KITTY CATS!!!
Alex: Excuse me?
Alex Ultra: I love KITTY CATS!!!
Alex: So?
Alex Ultra: I love em!
Alex: You're hyper aren't you?
Alex Ultra: Yep! That's what happens when I get up too early!
Alex: X.x Okay... then I'm gonna go train.
Alex Ultra: Hehe! You do that! WHILE YOU CAN!!! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Alex: Okay what's wrong with you!?!?
Alex Ultra: Nothing! Nothing! [Holds back a snicker]
Alex: Whatever... [Disappears]
Lila: Um, can I go now?
Alex Ultra: No, you need to help me start the next chapter now!
Lila: U.U
Alex Ultra: Ja ne all!
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER
Okay, next comes... um, hey, where'd Alex go?
Alex Ultra: [Looks around for Alex] ALEX!! You here!?
Alexander: Oh, hey. Um, sis asked me to tell you she's gonna be late...
Alex Ultra: Why?
Alexander: Well, you know us... it shouldn't take too much of a stretch of your imagination.
Alex Ultra: Oh boy... just tell her to not take the head with her this time! The last one started to smell pretty quickly!
Alexander: She says okay!
Alex Ultra: Geeze... Um, have you seen Lila?
Alexander: Huh, I think she's around here somewhere... Oh! Really? Okay, I'll go get her. [Suddenly disappears]
Alex Ultra: [Left suddenly alone] I hate when they do that.
Well, I guess we can't really get this going without Lila here...
So instead let's do the Reviewer Responses:
I forget my name O_o: Yo, I don't know about tedious, but I guess some people would find it kinda long... I guess 8 is good. Not perfect, but... And hey, you can swing ANY way you want to. (Hippie voice) I don't judge, man! V^_^ And no, I'm not a hippie either.
TerraEpon: Shut up you moron. You can keep your opinion, and I'll keep mine. But trying to infringe on those of others is truly an infringement on human rights. Normally, I wouldn't give people like you the time of day, but this is a special case. -Alex Ultra 8:03AM Oh, and I think they would be good together because they're both crazy and obsessive, so there!
Well... now what?
Lila: Hey! I'm here! [Lila runs in, clothes tattered]
Alex Ultra: What happened to you?
Lila: Alex took me 'Training'. She didn't tell me it involved DEMONS!
Alex Ultra: [Sweat drop] Uh, yeah. She gets like that sometimes...
Okay, now we can get on with it.
~~~~~~*** GETTING ACQUAINTED ***~~~~~~
"Wake up sleepyhead!"
"Huh?" I opened my eyes and ended up looking straight at Akane. "AAH!!" Surprise hit me right away; I jumped out of the bed and backed myself into the corner pretty quickly. "Huh? Whoa! Where am I?"
"Uh, you're in my room?"
"WHAT!? Why am I in a gir-- Oh yeah." It took a minute for my brain to kick in and remind me of my current situation. Even though I still didn't remember going to sleep. "Um, sorry."
Akane's expression went from surprise, to an unreadable expression. "No problem. Um, you wanna take a bath now?"
I could only blink for a second or so. "Um, sorry, but my brain must not be working right yet. Do you mean TOGETHER?"
"Well, I don't have to be in with you, I just wanna talk to you."
Well, it wasn't all that much better, but I didn't really see any harm in it. "Honestly, Akane, I'm not sure I wanna be in there with myself."
"What, you don't trust yourself?" She smiled one of those teasing smiles.
"No! I just--"
"Well, you'll have to get used to it sooner or later, might as well be sooner. And besides, you have to take a bath every once in a while!"
I couldn't really find it in me to smile, but I did agree. "Well, I guess you're right. But it still seems like I shouldn't..."
"Hey, don't worry, it's not like there's anything you'll do that will be an invasion of privacy!" I could only nod stupidly.
"So, um...?"
"What?"
"Where's the bathroom?" I'm pretty sure she face faulted, though I didn't actually see it. I just know that when I turned back around, she was on the floor with one foot twitching every three seconds. "Akane?"
~~ One tour later ~~
"Okay! Let's get this started!" As I thought up a pun about a song by someone who called themselves a color [1], Akane reached over to the controls and turned on the water. I wasn't really all that interested in the water, so as I waited for that to get up to speed, I couldn't really help but look in the mirror.
Honestly, this person was someone I had never seen before. Her eyes were like a ruby red, her face looked as if she spent hours on it every morning (like most girls in anime), and her hair... well, at the moment, her hair was a sight to behold. I had bed-head.
"Whatcha looking at?"
"Huh? Oh, just trying to get used to it. But I can't get past the feeling that I'm looking at someone else..." I again looked at the mirror, this time below the face.
I can't even imagine what kind of look I had on my face at that moment, but it seemed like I looked even better than when I had looked in the door! "Oh god! I'm a pervert's dream!"
"Uh, yeah. Looks like you're right... never heard it described that way though..."
"And how would YOU describe it?"
Akane smiled. "You've got a big bust!" It was my turn to fall uncontrollably.
Rubbing the side of my head (the part that hit the floor), I stood, laughing nervously. "Well, yeah. I guess that's ONE way of putting it!"
"Well, come on! Let's go, it's almost ready!"
Sighing, I got undressed, expressing that I still wanted Akane facing the other direction.
I cautiously stuck my hand in the bathwater, testing it in case Akane had it too hot. It was fine, if not a bit colder than I would have had it.
Shrugging it off, I got in.
"So, Lila."
"Hmm?"
"What do you think of Ranma?"
"Ranma?" I wasn't really sure of what to say. "Uh... I don't know. He's cool, I guess."
"... Hmmm. What do you think of his curse?"
"Curse? You mean that girl thing?"
"Yeah. That girl thing."
"Well, I guess that would be a good way of getting over being embarrassed around them."
"Ranma!? Embarrassed!? Hah!"
"What?"
"Well, I just can't see him being embarrassed about TOUCHING a girl..." I couldn't see her, but I could tell she was fuming over something. "Besides, he seems to get along well enough with all the girls constantly chasing after him."
"Well, did you ever know him BEFORE he was cursed? Maybe he would have been different if he hadn't been?" I could tell she was thinking about it. "I mean, some guys would be embarrassed enough to... I don't know, actually. But I know some guys can't even get close to a fully clothed girl without dying of embarrassment." 'Darn soap...' I found myself searching the bottom of the tub looking for the soap that had just slipped out of my hand.
"Hn, I guess you're right. But it sure doesn't stop them from looking!"
I heard her comment. It was a generalization. "Some guys it does. I knew this one guy who always hid his face anytime a girl walked by. He couldn't bear to look at them, and when he did his nose would sometimes bleed. But, unfortunately, none of the girls ever really noticed him, so the judgment fell on all boys because he wasn't included in the evidence." I found myself again looking for the soap. "DARN SOAP!!! Uh, that's why generalizations rarely ever work... Found it!"
Akane was thinking again. "I guess... Man, now I feel bad."
"About what?" I looked around, and not finding what I was looking for, I asked Akane. "Hey, where's the shampoo?"
She handed me a little blue bottle. "About beating on all those boys at school. I guess I can't say they're all dirt, can I?"
"Well, you can blame it on, rrgh, mother nature. It's a survival instinct that boys are so strongly attracted." I rubbed a little harder, grunting when I came to a knot in my hair. "Someone has to make the first move or else the species won't go on for long... OW!" With tears coming out of one eye I rubbed that sore spot again, having just pulled on a knot that was strongly attracted to that very spot.
"Yeah... but what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What did YOU do about the girls?"
"Me? Well, I didn't really pay any attention." I let my hands rest at the side. "Honestly, I paid them about as much attention as I would the boys. And I paid them about as much attention as I did a rock..."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just wasn't really all that interested in being apart of their circles or anything. So I just stuck to myself..."
"You didn't have any friends?"
"Nah, just the people who liked Anime and stuff. Though that's about as far as those discussions ever went."
"AKANE!! Are you done in there yet!?" Ranma was knocking on the door, obviously annoyed at something or another. Her shrill voice said that she was, um, as she, uh, at the time. Yeah, you get the idea.
"Just a minute!! So... anyway."
"You know we're supposed to be meeting someone today, right?"
"I SAID JUST A MINUTE!" I heard Ranma walk away, with a bit of grumbling.
"Well, let's get you dried up and ready."
"Sure..." I had barely gotten out of the tub before a towel hit me in the side. "Hey, I said no looking!"
"Oh come on, just get dried and put your clothes on." When she didn't turn back around, I just decided to shrug it off and go about my business.
"All right, now what?"
"We're gonna meet some friends from class in town. We're gonna get ready for our little Hawaiian getaway." I wasn't sure what to think of the sarcastic tone or the smile with much the same feel to it. "Oh yeah, and Nabiki told me mister what's-his-name wants to see you. Probably to see his newest student."
I was at a loss for words as I fussed with my hair for, very likely, the first time. I was trying to get those pigtails on either side of my head to go back to the way they were. "Who's mister What's-his-name?" 'Darn things... where'd those things go?' As I looked around for those 'things' that had been holding my hair in place until recently, Akane began fussing with my hair for me.
"He's the principal, not really sure what he's like, though I'm sure Ranma would know."
"What, you've never seen him? You know, you're a lot better at this than I am..." I watched as she re-braided those lengths of hair that I had gotten to almost ignoring.
"It comes with practice, I guess. And no, I've never actually been to see him. But I guess I am new to high-school so I may end up going to see him eventually." She took out a comb and proceeded to pull my hair into roughly the same place it was when I first showed up the day before.
I looked it over with a bit of interest, going over how she did that in my head. It didn't really look all that hard, and my hair now seemed to have similar qualities to Ranma's. Except that mine was blue and I had two pigtails, one on each side, and in the back my hair flared out to the sides.
I wasn't exactly sure how, but it seemed almost like this was how my hair wanted to be. 'Eh, I guess it makes sense.' I had never seen anyone in Anime have a bad hair day, unless it was on purpose. (A/N: [Author munches on popcorn] Oh wait... um, right...)
"Okay, let's go."
"Where're we going?"
"Well, first, we're gonna see what the Principal wants."
~~ Outside the Principal's office ~~
Ranko (Ranma in female form, and I'm glad they already had a separate name) was telling me about Mr. Kuno (the Principal guy). Apparently he had an obsession with everything Hawaiian. "Oh, and whatever you do, don't eat the fruit. He's always making them explosive."
"Now that's just downright dangerous..."
Ranko shrugged. "Eh, doesn't seem to bother him. Just don't eat it and you should be fine."
I couldn't help myself but try to picture myself with a hole in my stomach. I suddenly didn't feel too good. "Hey, what's wrong? You're green!" Akane expressed concern for me.
"I think I just lost my appetite..."
"Look, he's really harmless, just hear what he has to say, and don't eat the fruit." Ranko opened the door for me and Mr. Kuno saw me.
"Ah! Miss Dilas! Good to see you!" I let out a short sigh, and resolved myself to getting this over with.
"Uh, hello Mr. Kuno."
"Oh, please. Call me Principal! Please, have a seat." As I closed the door behind me, I noted all the fruit in the room, any one of which could possibly hide a dangerous explosive. 'Oh great, look at all that fruit...!' (A/N: [Laughing] Hehe, wow, that's an interesting thought... afraid of fruit!)
"So I see that word of this meeting has reached you already! Yes, that girl's connections are rather... well, I can tink of no good word to describe it."
"Uh, huh. She seems to know stuff..."
"Yes, well I am to be understanding dat you are new, and dat you will be in Saotome's class? Yes?"
"Uh, I've been told that, yeah." I tried to feign a smile, finding it hard.
"Oh! Well then you MUST participate in the latest class project!" I didn't know what to think of any of this.
~~ Outside of the office again ~~
Ranko and Akane's attention was taken off of their staring contest for a minute as the door opened. And out stepped Lila, looking rather annoyed and covered in shredded apple.
Still looking annoyed, she turned to Ranko. "Okay, not to say there's anything wrong with this school's Principal but... WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THAT GUY!?"
Ranko shrugged. "I think everyone would like to know that..."
"So what did he want?"
Lila held up a small pile of papers, what looked like everything needed to send a number of people to a foreign country. "I don't know how he got to be Principal, but after the apple blew up on his desk, he shoved these in my hand and told me about a seven page report on Hawaii due three days after we get back... And I still want to know what's up with him..."
Akane put her hand on Lila's shoulder and smiled. "Well, hopefully you won't have to deal with him too much. But wait until you meet his son!"
"Is he anything like his father?"
Ranko, walking on the other side of the blue-haired girl, smiled in a teasing way. "In some ways yes, and other ways no. With him there's no exploding fruit or bad T-shirts."
~~ Lila again ~~
'I just took a bath, and now I'm all sticky!' I sighed as I pulled a piece of that stupid apple out of my hair. "I still wanna know what's wrong with him..." I kept clutching the papers and stuff he had given me as we exited the school, where there was actually a bunch of people. "Hmmm, you'd expect this place to be empty on a Saturday..."
"AH! My pigtailed goddess! Come with me and we shall leave this place and live together forever!" Some strange guy who was trying to look like a Samurai started running over to us with his arms open wide.
I backed away nervously just as Ranko put her foot to the weirdo's face.
He fell over sideways and started babbling something about his pigtailed goddess, which I assumed to be his nickname for Ranko.
I took a chance and looked down at him, curious as to who this guy was. "Is this that guy you were talking about?"
"Yeah, that's Tatewaki Kuno, the residential idiot." Ranko's foot had left a rather clear mark on his face.
Suddenly his eyes opened, and he saw me.
Like the idiot he had been making himself out to be, he got back up and started shouting to the sky. "Oh! Praise be the lords on this day! Two pigtailed goddesses have come to greet me!" He turned to me and I was taken by surprise rather quickly.
"Hey! Wait a--!" I couldn't say much more, as he grabbed me around the arms, and I found myself in a place I didn't want to be.
"Nngh! Aaagh!" Try as I might, I couldn't get free. "Well, this is an uncomfortable position."
He looked down on me, I'm not sure what he was thinking at the time, but I'm also sure I didn't want to know. "Are you uncomfortable my goddess? Here, let me make you more so!" He immediately picked me up so that I was hanging in the air. I'm not sure what he was doing, but he was apparently trying to carry me over the threshold.
I looked at him and smiled. "Why thank you!" I then scowled angrily. "NOW I CAN REACH YOUR HEAD!!" I immediately rammed my fist against the top of his head in an attempt to get him to put me down.
Seeing that that got no reaction from him, I thought up another way to get him off of me. I was just about to utilize it when he looked at me in THAT way. "AAHH!!!" I then rammed my elbow into his forehead, and immediately fell to the ground.
I stood up and looked angrily down at his unconscious form. "DARN YOU!!" But Akane dragged me away before I could cause him any of the bodily harm I felt he deserved.
"Akane! What are you doing!? HE TRIED TO KISS ME!!!"
Ranko walked up beside me. "Yeah, I know. That's the first thing he did to me too, but he's too brainless to get the message." I looked back at him, still fuming. He was just getting back up and immediately started looking around.
I could just pick out what it was he said. "WHERE DID MY PIGTAILED GODDESSES GO!?!? WAAAHHH!!" He then went into a fit of wailing and shouting that I didn't care to follow.
"Come on, Senuri and the others are waiting for us!" Akane then looked at me. "But I think they can wait... Come on, I think it would be a good idea to at least get you washed up."
~~ Sometime later ~~
With clean hair and a new set of clothes, I found myself in the middle of a rather large mall. But I was more concerned about how Ranma's clothes fit me better than Akane's.
~ Flashback ~
Lila was fussing with the shirt Akane had just given her. "I still say it seems cramped in here..."
Ranko smiled. "Oh, that's because Akane's 'smaller' than you are! Stay here, I'll be right back!" Before Akane could shout at her, Ranko was gone.
Seemingly in seconds, she came back with a silken blue shirt in one hand. "Here, try this on!"
Lila looked at it, and tried it on. As she did so, Akane started chasing Ranko around the house saying something about 'That comment'.
~ End flashback ~
I sighed. Who knew that bust size could be such a bitter competition between a boy and a girl? 'Well, at least these are comfortable...'
"Hi!!! Akane! Over here!" I looked in the direction the sound came from to see a small number of girls running toward us.
"Oh, hey guys! You ready?"
"Yeah!"
One of the girls looked us over. "Hey, I knew Ranma was coming, but who's this?" She now had her full attention on me.
"Hey, while I'm a girl, I'd prefer to be called Ranko, okay?" But the others just waved her off.
Akane answered their question. "This is Lila, she's staying with us, and is also in need of joining us today. Okay?"
"Hi Lila!" One of the girls, the one with brown hair (only one had brown hair), offered her hand to me. "My name's Inima!"
"Uh, hi, Inima!" I took her hand and she shook vigorously.
The other two settled for waving and smiling. Their names were Senuri and Kori, and both of them had black hair. (Just in case you really care.)
"Okay, let's get started!"
~~
The reason we were there was to get a small wardrobe of clothes for the trip to Hawaii.
I honestly had never thought I would ever be trying on swimsuits and sundresses, but Ranma didn't seem to have a problem with it and that helped.
I was able to buy these things only because of a 10000 Yen loan Nabiki had made me (on her sister's insistence), on 15% weekly interest starting when we got back of course. She made me promise to pay it back in full, even going so far as to making out a contract.
By the time we were finished we each had enough new stuff to fill a number of suitcases. I had tried to minimize what I bought, but ended up spending the whole loan anyway.
Inima looked rather happy, and rather unhappy at the same time. "That was fun! Too bad it had to end..."
"Oh come on, Inima. It's not like it's the end of the world!" Senuri patted the other girl's shoulder.
Akane interrupted. "Yeah, and maybe later you can help Ranma shop for something!"
Ranko looked shocked for a moment, then smiled despite herself. She then started hissing through her teeth. "I don't think that will be necessary Akane. I think he'll be fine!"
Kori took a bit out of her nachos and cheese and looked at Ranko with a blank expression. "Oh come off it, we all know you're Ranma!"
"I know! But it's not like I've ripped through all my clothes yet! Besides! My credit-card's maxed out as it is!"
Akane took a bit of her own dish of nachos. "What do you mean yet? Your muscles haven't grown appreciably since you were twelve! You said so yourself!"
I took in the bit of conversation she heard with little interest. It was just the ramblings of a bunch of girls blowing off time till they had to go home.
Really, there was nothing interesting about that.
"Are you okay Lila?" Akane managed to get my attention, her big brown eyes staring directly into mine.
"Huh?"
"I mean, you're being so quiet, and you keep sighing."
"Oh, I guess I'm bored, tired, and a little distracted." I managed a faint smile. "And I still can't believe I bought so many clothes all at one time!"
Akane smiled an almost teasing smile. "Well, these two will do that to ya!"
I looked at the three other girls across from me, and almost wondered where Ranm... er, Ranko had gone. I smiled a little as I recalled what seemed to be their favorite phrases: 'Oh! That looks absolutely GORGEOUS on you!' 'Wow, you look good!' and the ever popular 'Can I have it?'
"Yeah, sure seems like it. I think even Ranko is having trouble just keeping up with them!" I smiled in a way that was sincere. "But I guess I'm just tired." I then went back to fiddling with my spoon, having already finished my ice cream.
~~~ Somewhere else (Yes, again) ~~~
"Hanumiki, I think you should take a look at this!"
The shorter, older looking man somehow managed to look over the taller man's shoulder at the crystal ball before him. "Hmm? What is it?"
Bishibon sighed, he knew what he was about to say was corny and over-used, but there was simply no other way to describe it. "There seems to be a disturbance in the force..."
"You're right..." Hanumiki stared into the crystal ball for a moment. "We do need a new way of saying that." Bishibon fell on his side and nearly lost his concentration for a moment.
"Sir, what do you think should be done about this?"
Hanumiki looked around through the crystal ball for a moment. "I'm going to call an old friend. In the meantime, you keep a close eye on that anomaly for me. It may create a problem if left alone."
Bishibon nodded and went back to his task of watching the events on that Earth, while keeping a thumbnail view on that anomaly.
He sighed. 'I hope things don't get too interesting...'
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 3 ***~~~~~~
KITTY CATS!!!
Alex: Excuse me?
Alex Ultra: I love KITTY CATS!!!
Alex: So?
Alex Ultra: I love em!
Alex: You're hyper aren't you?
Alex Ultra: Yep! That's what happens when I get up too early!
Alex: X.x Okay... then I'm gonna go train.
Alex Ultra: Hehe! You do that! WHILE YOU CAN!!! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Alex: Okay what's wrong with you!?!?
Alex Ultra: Nothing! Nothing! [Holds back a snicker]
Alex: Whatever... [Disappears]
Lila: Um, can I go now?
Alex Ultra: No, you need to help me start the next chapter now!
Lila: U.U
Alex Ultra: Ja ne all!
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER