I'm back! O.o Bout time, right?
Well, my head hurts; so I'm just gonna get right to it.
Reviewer Responses:
Kurai: I don't think Lila's out for a kiss. [Stops Lila, who is holding a chainsaw] And as for Alex, yeah... she's a she. Her full name is Alexandra Hintuki. (No middle name, and I tease her for that sometimes. ~_^)
End Reviewer Responses.
Alex: Anything witty to say?
Alex Ultra: No.
Alex: Whatever.
Alex Ultra: -_-''
On with it.
=La la la.= Kuno's thoughts. Languages: "-English-" "Japanese" "\Chinese\" Thoughts don't count.
Now, is there anything else?
No? Okay.
~~~~~~*** KUNO'S DAY ***~~~~~~
Ranko had finally calmed down and was now playing distractedly with a rose.
"Ah, my dear goddess. I do believe our carriage shall be coming soon!" Ranko looked up to see Kuno offering her a hand, which she refused to take, but stood anyway.
Sure enough, the sound of hooves clopping along the road signified the approach of an old, English style horse-drawn carriage. 'Where the heck did he find one of those in Japan?'
"Now, allow me to carry you across the threshold and on to our night of merriment!"
Ranko narrowed her eyes threateningly. "No... WAY!!!"
=His goddess looked shocked. "But Kuno! It's so soon!"= "Alright then, allow me to open the door for you." He opened the door and pointed her in, acting like a true English Gentleman.
'He does realize he's Japanese, right?' Shrugging it off as the old Kuno psychosis, Ranko walked into the carriage and sat down.
~~
"Okay Akane, it looks like we're gonna have to follow them. Ready?"
"Yeah, let's go." The two girls followed the carriage, musing on the style. One was wondering where Kuno got a carriage like that in Japan; while the other was wondering what the heck that thing was doing in Japan, and why the heck all the Kuno's were so weird.
"Akane, do you have any idea why all the Kuno's are so weird?"
"Hehe, weird doesn't begin to describe them. Some say it's like a family curse, I just say they're all nuts!"
Lila smiled as she continued to follow the agonizingly slow movements of the carriage.
~~
"-Party of one, Akari Hintuki.-"
"-Ah, here you are. If you'll wait at that table right there, a waiter will be with you soon.-"
"-Thank you.-"
The doorman followed her with his eyes. She looked to be American, and her English accent suggested as much, but her kimono was done so well that she had to have prior knowledge.
Akari sat at a table, finding the wooden chairs to be a welcome change from all the floor-mats available around Tokyo.
~~
"So, my young goddess. I was pondering something. By what name shall I call you."
Ranko eyed him suspiciously. She was sure he had heard her name used before, but he apparently didn't believe it. "Ranko."
"So that IS your name? I must say it is a name that suits you well, but I was under the impression that that foul sorcerer had your true nature under binds such that your true name would be held in secret!"
Ranko could only mutter to herself as Kuno dragged on. "Baka..."
~~
"I wonder what Kuno's doing in there?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure it's torturing poor Ranma!"
"Yeah!" Both girls laughed as they continued down the way.
~~
"Ah, we have arrived! Take my hand and we shall move on to our dinner!" Ranko frowned (for like the umpteenth time) but decided dinner would be a good thing.
~~
"Okay, we know where they are. So let's go inside!" Akane was about to jump down from the roof, when Lila stopped her.
"We can't."
"What? Why not?"
"Look there, it says a reservation is required."
"It does? Where?"
"Right there. Um, maybe we should look for a window?"
"Okay, I guess so."
~~
As they walked in, Ranko noticed two things that surprised her. First, Kuno was speaking in some other tongue that she didn't recognize. When she asked what language he was speaking, he said it was English.
The other interesting thing was the design of the place. It had large stone-looking pillars in each corner with potted plants creating a natural, yet civilized look. The windows had curtains pulled to the side at the middle creating a bowing effect that Ranko thought looked pretty nice. In the middle of the large room the floor was left empty, while all around that were several tables. To Ranko they looked a bit tall, but they were just barely tall enough to go over the top of the armrests on the large, heavy, wooden chairs that accompanied them.
Ranko was so enthralled with the look of the place that she didn't even notice that Kuno had led her to a table and was now pulling out a chair for her. "Please, sit, my lady."
Ranko spun a short way around and looked at Kuno, who was now holding a seat away from the table, expecting her to sit. She narrowed her eyes angrily and was about to shout at him when she remembered something Nabiki had told her. 'If he starts acting too nice, just go with it. Most likely it's some kind of tradition from that place he's obsessed with.' So, without too much fuss, she sat, and Kuno pushed her into place.
~~
"Wow, Nabiki musta seen that one coming. Ranma didn't even yell at him!"
Lila looked at her companion. "Yeah, you're probably right."
~~
Akari watched the scene as Kuno began professing his love to the heavens. She smiled a bit as her food finally came. Taking a pair of chopsticks and a knife, she went into her meal of... well. It was definitely SOME kind of meat.
Picking at the potatoes, she wondered what possessed Kuno to actually PREFER this stuff to the food he could normally get in Tokyo.
Shrugging, she went into it. "-Oh well. Nothing beats a mid-western Steak.-" A small smile crossed her face before she turned her attention back to the pair sitting at table twelve.
~~
'Someone please shoot me...' Ranko currently had her hands in a begging position with her elbows on the table, and was banging her head against said table between said elbows. 'Please, just shoot me. Then I'd have an excuse to hit somebody! PLEASE!!!!'
"-AND HOW THE GODS DOTH PORTRAY THINE IMAGE ACROSS THE HEAVENS! FOR WHEN THOU DOTH WALK ACROSS THIS PLANET SO FAIR, THINE PERFECTION SHALL MAKE HER SHINE!-" A bunch of people clapped dramatically as Kuno's outburst made its way across the room.
=The goddess Ranko continued in her begging stance. Although she was but too shy to admit it, her stance shouted 'Encore! Encore! Do flatter me with more of your beautiful words!'=
Kuno smiled, and did his best to come up with another speech to pass the time until the food came.
~~
"Hey Lila? How long till you think Ranma'll snap?"
Lila looked at Ranma, currently Ranko, and the way she was trying to knock herself unconscious. "Honestly, I don't know how she's holding back now! By now, I would have tried to chop his head off!" As Akane smiled and looked back into the room, Lila went back to the room as well. Her attention, however, was on the various patrons about the room.
Scanning the room, she found about thirty people, mostly foreign, and most of which had their gazes trained on the ranting Kuno.
There was one, however, that was neither smiling, nor watching the nut-job.
As Lila watched, one girl in one corner deftly picked up a piece of some white vegetable, and swallowed it while never taking her eyes off Ranko. 'What's up with her?'
Akane noticed the silence from her partner and decided to ask about it. "What's up?"
"Do you see that girl back there? The one in the purple Kimono?"
Akane looked back at her. "Yeah... what about her?"
"She's the only one in the room not looking at Kuno. She seems trained on Ranko..."
Akane looked again. "Hmm.... you're right. Well, whatever. It's not like Ranko's not putting on an act either."
Lila went back to looking around. "What style do you think that is? English Victorian?"
"Huh? Victorian?"
"Yeah it's... oh nevermind." Akane decided to let it go as Lila went back to the window. "I wish I knew what he was saying."
"..."
~~
"Ah, our meal has arrived." Kuno finally sat as a waiter brought two separate orders.
Ranko knew she would still be rather hungry after all this, but Nabiki insisted she order rather little and eat at a slower pace. After all, Kuno probably wouldn't steal her food like her father.
For a while, no words were spoken as Kuno finally found something more interesting than shouting to all present about how perfect his goddess was.
~~
Akari found her plate empty of all potatoes, which meant that it was now or never. Taking a fork (so deftly provided, since chopsticks were not enough to hold the meat in place under such scrutiny) and a knife, she went at the unknown slab of meat.
~~
'Wow, look at her go. You'd think she was more afraid of doing damage to the table than to the... what the heck IS that anyway!?' Lila found herself stumped as to what that girl was eating.
Ranko had settled for the closest thing she could find to what she thought she could eat, vegetable stew. As for Kuno... well. It was gone too fast for anyone to know what it was.
~~
Kuno was happy to be free of his food. Despite having practiced eating such... exotic foods, his taste buds still preferred the good old rice balls he had grown up on.
Oh well, at least it was better than American food.
~~
Ranko wasn't having too much trouble downing the food. Sure, it had different spices than what she was used to, and there was no rice, but hey, at least it was better than American food.
~~
Akari was having a bit of trouble getting past the taste of this still-unnamed slab of meat.
Oh, what she wouldn't have done for a good-old hamburger! Or a rib-eye steak, smothered in bar-b-cue sauce, with just a hint of lemon and a sprig of parsley.
She only barely realized she was drooling before she caught herself. 'Darnit! I miss American food! Though I guess a rice-ball would still be good...' As she mused over this, Kuno had decided it was good to simply sit quietly.
~~
Ranko, for not the first time, was happy to hear... nothing! She felt she could almost meditate in this silence!
In fact... it was almost TOO silent. There was something missing...
What could it be?
Well, Kuno was silent, but that couldn't be it. That kind of silence was MORE than welcome.
No, rather, it was the fact that no one was talking! No one in the entire building was saying a darn thing. There was no murmur of people whispering to each other, or couples swooning over each other.
Suddenly alert, Ranko quickly scanned the room. She could tell no one was talking, and a lot of people were looking to one corner of the room. She could tell that they were calm, which meant that nothing terrible was about to happen. 'Darnit... I was hoping something was gonna happen.'
Shifting her gaze to the side of the room where everyone was staring, she noticed a stage. It had beforehand been concealed by a large rug, which was now bundled near the roof.
"Ah, so the night's entertainment has arrived."
"Huh?"
"I suggest we simply enjoy the show. I am sure it will be much more entertaining than our feast."
Ranko was in shock! For once, Kuno was acting like a human being!
As this registered in her mind, Ranko turned to the stage, prepared to watch the goings on.
~~
"What are they looking at?"
"I'm not totally sure, but I think they're waiting for something to get up on that stage over there."
"Where?"
"That side."
"Oh..."
"Hmm... looks like it's some kind of show... wonder what kind?"
Akane only watched, not bothering to ask any questions.
~~
Akari just watched. She had noticed the stage, and had decided it was more interesting than her meat, which laid there, half-eaten.
~~
As most of the room sat in suspense, a couple of men came out on stage.
Both were in fancy uniforms, and they soon started talking. As they spoke, Kuno translated. "-Ladies and Gentlemen. We are pleased to announce the arrival of tonight's show. We would like you to give your greetings to the magic mysteries!-"
"It is a magic show. There shouldn't need be much more explanation from here on."
Ranko simply shrugged it off as chauvinism. Magic shows were always all pizzazz and no magic.
To start, two other men in silken uniforms walked confidently onto the stage. "-Tonight, we have prepared a wonderful show.-" As the first man said this, the other man said the same thing in Japanese. "-So please sit back, relax, and watch the magic!-"
From there the two went into a series of cheesy magic tricks, most of which involved small white birds and rags.
"-And now, for my next series, I will require the presence of my lovely assistant, Ramona!-" They went into a showy stance showing that they didn't actually expect her to come out. "-Oh, Ramona?-"
"-Don't worry, I'll go get her.-"
"-Let me help you!-" The taller man suddenly pulled out a big, silken, red cape and swung it around. After a second or so, he dramatically waved it in front of the other man, who had his hands up in the air just as dramatically.
When the cape went away there only stood a tall woman in a long red gown.
"-How did they do that!?-"
Ranko couldn't make out what was being said around her, but she was pretty sure she got the gist of it; they were trying to figure out how the trick had been performed.
Ranko just barely noticed a rope just above the spot where there now stood a woman was waving just slightly.
They didn't waste any time getting on with their act as the woman took the other end of the red cape the man had been waving only seconds before.
They flung it into the air and allowed it to come down to the floor, when they pulled it up there stood a large metal cage.
Before anyone could wonder where the cage came from or why it was empty, the two covered it again.
Ranko watched as they pulled it away again, to reveal a fully-grown Bengal tiger.
As most of the audience was going through their 'ooh's and 'ahh's, Ranko had begun to sweat.
Her eyes bugged and she found herself short of breath. She tried to form a word, but found herself stuck on the first letter. "C-c-c..."
Within seconds the two on stage had the tiger and its cage covered again.
Ranko took a breath of relief and turned around in her seat. Why would they bring such a LARGE cat there?
Another set of applause from the crowd caused her to turn around.
And there it was. A fully-grown Bengal tiger, without its cage.
And Ranko was on her feet, slowly backing away from the creature that suddenly seemed to have cornered her.
Kuno noticed her distress, and the way she seemed to be in immense fear of the large, powerful creature not twenty feet away. It was an understandable thing.
Not one for calming, Kuno's chivalrous nature kicked in as he did the only thing he could think of. He picked his goddess off the ground and carried her away from the beast that was frightening her.
~~
CRASH!!!
"AAHH!!" Akane and Lila both jumped back in surprise as Kuno leapt out the very window they were looking in on.
~~
Ranko didn't know what to think. One second she was staring down a very LARGE cat, and the next second, something had picked her up and taken her from said cat. Unconsciously, the connection was made. Whatever it was that was carrying her was taking her away from the cat.
Still in shock, she clasped onto whatever she could get her arms around. Which happened to be Kuno.
~~
CLICK!! CLICK! CLICKCLICKCLICK!!
"Wow, this is perfect!" The one girl who hadn't expected to be getting any pictures, considering a couple of girls had taken her window, was now getting a barrage of photos off as the two raced not even ten feet by her.
~~
Akari heard a loud crash as some maniac decided it would be a good idea to jump out a window.
RROOAARR!!
The tiger was spooked by the sudden noise, and was now thrashing about on stage as his trainers attempted to calm him.
Silently cursing the idiot who decided it a good idea to jump out the window, she got up. "-Don't move! It's just scared! It won't attack if everyone calms down!-" But it was useless, the entire room was in chaos now as the tiger slowly made its way down off the stage. 'Darnit! Why me?'
Walking slowly up to the tiger, she started talking to it. "Come now. There's no need to be frightened. Calm down." Going slowly to one knee, she made sure to capture all of the beast's attention. "I'm not going to hurt you, so you can calm down now." Being careful not to look him in the eye, she did her best to direct his attention onto her.
'Darnit! I really hate it... but here goes.' With a bit more gusto than was absolutely necessary, she extended a calming aura that washed over the whole building.
Her target was literally all the people in the room, as well as the tiger itself.
"It's okay. Just calm down." With one hand, she motioned toward the floor in front of her. "Come and sit with me."
The tiger slowly walked up to her, and sat not two feet from her.
She put up one hand, and the tiger did the same, putting his paw against her palm. Her whispering became so soothing that most of the people still in the building had returned to their seats. "It's okay."
She gave a look to the men still up on the stage. Nodding her head, she turned back to the tiger, and slowly stood. "I have to go now, but don't worry. Your trainers will help you away." A number of people nodded as she stood, allowing the men to take up the slack and lead the animal back to the stage.
Cursing her luck, Akari paid her tab, and walked out, while being given strange and appreciative looks from nearly everyone in the building. She even got the flash of cameras every so often.
Intending to follow Kuno, she went back to her car.
'Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. That idiot. Why'd he have to go and spook him?'
~~
Kuno could barely think straight. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he felt neither need nor want to have this moment end. He was being embraced by his love! His goddess was holding him close.
His conquest was complete. He had accomplished the impossible.
He had defeated that fool Saotome.
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 7 ***~~~~~~
Well, that's it for this chapter. Was it good? Was it what you expected? Did you like it?
Hehe, I know I did! ^.^
Well, Kuno's conquest has come, but the night's still not quite over! What's next? Who knows? Heck, Kuno doesn't even know right now! He's off in LaLa Land right now. O.o
Well, that's it for now, bye all!
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER