Ranma scowled, pulled at his bowtie, and adjusted his mask. He hated
social events like this. How could he have thought the station would be
helpful!? He'd asked for a potential target address that the Blue Lion
might strike at next and he'd been given this:
Christina Sims. An American, was throwing a party, a masquerade at:
22 Cottage Lane.
And of course, Ranma had to dress to blend in. That involved his completely black tuxedo, gloves, and of course the matching black mask.
"Cottage. Right." He thought to himself. The house was huge, 3 stories with tennis courts, a gym, a pool, extensive gardens, and .... a ballroom.
Ranma hated ballrooms, he hated masquerades, he hated dancing. That wasn't to say he wasn't good, there was just no-one he wanted to dance with. Suddenly the back of Ranma's neck prickled and he turned to look at the door through his mask.
* O KAMI! NO, not now!! GODDAMN! Why wont she give up? Shit somebody's going to get hurt tonight!* Ranma thought about the girl he saw. She had a beautiful body, and the tight bodice of her violet and white dress showed it off extremely. Her hair was up in an elaborate bun and her face was covered by a violet mask ringed in little white rosettes. Shampoo was obviously searching for someone in the mass of colorful dancers, and it wasn't hard to figure out who.
Ranma watched her go upstairs looking for him, and figured he was relatively safe for a while. Suddenly, he felt his stomach flood with a warm feeling. It was like the warning he'd had when Shampoo had come in, but different, like the feeling you get when you see your crush walk into the room and look at you. He turned and looked at the staircase at the door.
Three women had just walked in, and they were all beautiful, but the one in the middle seemed different. Her hair cascaded down her back in blue-black waves and contrasted with her dress, which was made of a white, shimmery, satin, with a blue sheen, and the sleeves were pulled across the sides of her arms. The dress wasn't one of these big billowy affairs, like most of the women at the party, like Shampoo's, but was long and sleek, reaching the ground and hiding her feet. The waist seam was right under her chest and then went straight down the ground.
The 2 other women wore matching dresses, but one was obviously pregnant, and the color of her dress was dark blue with silver trim at the swirling base, collar and sleeves. It sparkled like the stars and was the same as the third one's. Standing in a row they looked a piece of heaven in between a beautiful night sky.
The other thing they had in common, was that they were all wearing silvery white lion masks across their eyes and had matching lion ears* in their hair. They had long silvery-white gloves on up to a little above their elbows, and matching silver necklaces with 3 pearls on them.
Ranma stared at the one in the middle. She outclassed Shampoo exponentially, in beauty and in grace. He hadn't felt like this since...well, since Akane. Maybe.... And with the mask, and outfit....could it be, that this was....? He almost stopped breathing.
He moved up onto the staircase opposite of the one the beautiful woman was on, and watched as she and her companions walked through the crowd towards the hostess of the party, Christina Sims. Christina was tall and blond, and was talking to a man who was obviously trying to impress her, and obviously failing, which was proven when the woman in white reached her. Christina turned and immediately hugged the woman, who hugged her back and then started talking to her. It was too far away for Ranma to understand what they were saying though. The young man walked away after a few futile attempts at regaining her attention, when he finally realized he was unwanted and being ignored.
The woman in white gestured to her companions and Ranma realized she was introducing them. Suddenly the pregnant one leaned forward and rubbed her stomach. She started walking over to a chair with the support of her 2 companions and when she had sat down she started waving the other 2 women away. They left but reluctantly and Ranma saw the other one go back to talk with the hostess, and saw the one in white agree to dance with a man who had asked her.
Ranma frowned, got up, and moved towards the dancing beauty.
********************************************************
Akane winced inside, but maintained her pleasant smile on the outside. The stupid, idiot she was dancing with had stepped on her foot again. She sighed inaudibly, and when the moron she was dancing with stepped on her again, her already strained smile started to become a grimace.
Then though, the man decided that because she had agreed to dance with him she must like him, and started to move his hands lower than was appropriate.
Behind her mask Akane's eyes narrowed and she said in a cold voice:
"Sir, remove your hand NOW."
"Why though? You know you like it..." He whispered pulling her closer and breathing on her face. She started to push away, and he started to pull her closer when a deep, cold voice interrupted them.
"Sir, it is EXTREMELY obvious she DOESN'T like it. Now, let. Her. Go." He said, enforcing his order by squeezing the man's shoulder with a fist of steel. The man, of course, let go immediately, and the man in black swept Akane into his arms to dance, which of course she didn't appreciate.
"I could have handled that by myself." Akane said angrily in a controlled voice.
"I have no doubt, but he was being rude, and it didn't cost me anything to stop it. If anything I gained something, by being able to dance with a beautiful woman like you."
"Maybe I'm horribly disfigured under my mask. Maybe I'm a bad dancer. Maybe I don't want to dance with you. "She said as the mysterious man in black twirled her around.
"Well, if you are disfigured that's not a big deal, as far as I can tell you're a wonderful dancer, and if you don't want to dance, just say the word and we can go get some drinks instead." He said grinning cockily.
"I'd love to, except I'm meeting my boyfriend here, and he wouldn't like me getting drinks with another man." She said.
"O, you have a boyfriend?" He said, his arrogance gone.
"No. But you were being too cocky." She replied, a grin similar to his earlier, confident one adorning her face. The man in black chuckled and Akane's breath caught in her throat.
*Oh. My. Kami. No, no it's not possible, he can't be here. Why would he be here!?!?* She thought to herself while they did the waltz.
"Are you OK? You turned kinda pale." He asked her in that deep familiar voice.
"I'm fine! I, I have to go, to...the bathroom! It's been fun, bye now." She said hurriedly before releasing herself from his grip and walking quickly away.
* Oh my Kami. One dance and he nearly destroys 8 years of self-control. I'll just get some air and calm down and I'll be back in control. Just stay in control. Come on Akane, soul of ice, control, control, control.*
She ran/walked towards the staircase and hurried up it, trying to make her excuse valid. At the top she forced herself to slow down and walk to the bathroom calmly. When she got there she entered and then left, first through the door, and then through the window.
Akane dropped the 30 feet to the ground and landed lightly on one foot. She looked around and saw she was in the rose gardens.
*How beautiful* she thought.
* This is as good a place as any to take a little break. Nabiki and
Kasumi will be fine*
Akane strolled through the gardens and admired the beautiful flowers, stopping occasionally to smell a particularly beautiful blossom. After a half hour she felt calm and collected again, but not like going back inside.
She could feel somebody's aura, but she figured it was just a gardener of something. She reached up to take off her mask, to feel the cool night air on her face, and then she heard it.
"Don't take it off. I don't want to see your ugly face." Shampoo said....
A/N: hey everyone, I know I said that I was going to have RANMA fight Akane really soon, but it just didn't turn out that way, but don't worry theyre still gonna fight, and its still gonna be soon! Just...not quite as soon as I thought. Anyway, I would really really love reviews, but I doubt I'll update if I get a certain number. It didn't work last time, and even if I'm only writing for a select few, who like this story, that's enough ^_^ for those people: thank you so much!
Christina Sims. An American, was throwing a party, a masquerade at:
22 Cottage Lane.
And of course, Ranma had to dress to blend in. That involved his completely black tuxedo, gloves, and of course the matching black mask.
"Cottage. Right." He thought to himself. The house was huge, 3 stories with tennis courts, a gym, a pool, extensive gardens, and .... a ballroom.
Ranma hated ballrooms, he hated masquerades, he hated dancing. That wasn't to say he wasn't good, there was just no-one he wanted to dance with. Suddenly the back of Ranma's neck prickled and he turned to look at the door through his mask.
* O KAMI! NO, not now!! GODDAMN! Why wont she give up? Shit somebody's going to get hurt tonight!* Ranma thought about the girl he saw. She had a beautiful body, and the tight bodice of her violet and white dress showed it off extremely. Her hair was up in an elaborate bun and her face was covered by a violet mask ringed in little white rosettes. Shampoo was obviously searching for someone in the mass of colorful dancers, and it wasn't hard to figure out who.
Ranma watched her go upstairs looking for him, and figured he was relatively safe for a while. Suddenly, he felt his stomach flood with a warm feeling. It was like the warning he'd had when Shampoo had come in, but different, like the feeling you get when you see your crush walk into the room and look at you. He turned and looked at the staircase at the door.
Three women had just walked in, and they were all beautiful, but the one in the middle seemed different. Her hair cascaded down her back in blue-black waves and contrasted with her dress, which was made of a white, shimmery, satin, with a blue sheen, and the sleeves were pulled across the sides of her arms. The dress wasn't one of these big billowy affairs, like most of the women at the party, like Shampoo's, but was long and sleek, reaching the ground and hiding her feet. The waist seam was right under her chest and then went straight down the ground.
The 2 other women wore matching dresses, but one was obviously pregnant, and the color of her dress was dark blue with silver trim at the swirling base, collar and sleeves. It sparkled like the stars and was the same as the third one's. Standing in a row they looked a piece of heaven in between a beautiful night sky.
The other thing they had in common, was that they were all wearing silvery white lion masks across their eyes and had matching lion ears* in their hair. They had long silvery-white gloves on up to a little above their elbows, and matching silver necklaces with 3 pearls on them.
Ranma stared at the one in the middle. She outclassed Shampoo exponentially, in beauty and in grace. He hadn't felt like this since...well, since Akane. Maybe.... And with the mask, and outfit....could it be, that this was....? He almost stopped breathing.
He moved up onto the staircase opposite of the one the beautiful woman was on, and watched as she and her companions walked through the crowd towards the hostess of the party, Christina Sims. Christina was tall and blond, and was talking to a man who was obviously trying to impress her, and obviously failing, which was proven when the woman in white reached her. Christina turned and immediately hugged the woman, who hugged her back and then started talking to her. It was too far away for Ranma to understand what they were saying though. The young man walked away after a few futile attempts at regaining her attention, when he finally realized he was unwanted and being ignored.
The woman in white gestured to her companions and Ranma realized she was introducing them. Suddenly the pregnant one leaned forward and rubbed her stomach. She started walking over to a chair with the support of her 2 companions and when she had sat down she started waving the other 2 women away. They left but reluctantly and Ranma saw the other one go back to talk with the hostess, and saw the one in white agree to dance with a man who had asked her.
Ranma frowned, got up, and moved towards the dancing beauty.
********************************************************
Akane winced inside, but maintained her pleasant smile on the outside. The stupid, idiot she was dancing with had stepped on her foot again. She sighed inaudibly, and when the moron she was dancing with stepped on her again, her already strained smile started to become a grimace.
Then though, the man decided that because she had agreed to dance with him she must like him, and started to move his hands lower than was appropriate.
Behind her mask Akane's eyes narrowed and she said in a cold voice:
"Sir, remove your hand NOW."
"Why though? You know you like it..." He whispered pulling her closer and breathing on her face. She started to push away, and he started to pull her closer when a deep, cold voice interrupted them.
"Sir, it is EXTREMELY obvious she DOESN'T like it. Now, let. Her. Go." He said, enforcing his order by squeezing the man's shoulder with a fist of steel. The man, of course, let go immediately, and the man in black swept Akane into his arms to dance, which of course she didn't appreciate.
"I could have handled that by myself." Akane said angrily in a controlled voice.
"I have no doubt, but he was being rude, and it didn't cost me anything to stop it. If anything I gained something, by being able to dance with a beautiful woman like you."
"Maybe I'm horribly disfigured under my mask. Maybe I'm a bad dancer. Maybe I don't want to dance with you. "She said as the mysterious man in black twirled her around.
"Well, if you are disfigured that's not a big deal, as far as I can tell you're a wonderful dancer, and if you don't want to dance, just say the word and we can go get some drinks instead." He said grinning cockily.
"I'd love to, except I'm meeting my boyfriend here, and he wouldn't like me getting drinks with another man." She said.
"O, you have a boyfriend?" He said, his arrogance gone.
"No. But you were being too cocky." She replied, a grin similar to his earlier, confident one adorning her face. The man in black chuckled and Akane's breath caught in her throat.
*Oh. My. Kami. No, no it's not possible, he can't be here. Why would he be here!?!?* She thought to herself while they did the waltz.
"Are you OK? You turned kinda pale." He asked her in that deep familiar voice.
"I'm fine! I, I have to go, to...the bathroom! It's been fun, bye now." She said hurriedly before releasing herself from his grip and walking quickly away.
* Oh my Kami. One dance and he nearly destroys 8 years of self-control. I'll just get some air and calm down and I'll be back in control. Just stay in control. Come on Akane, soul of ice, control, control, control.*
She ran/walked towards the staircase and hurried up it, trying to make her excuse valid. At the top she forced herself to slow down and walk to the bathroom calmly. When she got there she entered and then left, first through the door, and then through the window.
Akane dropped the 30 feet to the ground and landed lightly on one foot. She looked around and saw she was in the rose gardens.
*How beautiful* she thought.
* This is as good a place as any to take a little break. Nabiki and
Kasumi will be fine*
Akane strolled through the gardens and admired the beautiful flowers, stopping occasionally to smell a particularly beautiful blossom. After a half hour she felt calm and collected again, but not like going back inside.
She could feel somebody's aura, but she figured it was just a gardener of something. She reached up to take off her mask, to feel the cool night air on her face, and then she heard it.
"Don't take it off. I don't want to see your ugly face." Shampoo said....
A/N: hey everyone, I know I said that I was going to have RANMA fight Akane really soon, but it just didn't turn out that way, but don't worry theyre still gonna fight, and its still gonna be soon! Just...not quite as soon as I thought. Anyway, I would really really love reviews, but I doubt I'll update if I get a certain number. It didn't work last time, and even if I'm only writing for a select few, who like this story, that's enough ^_^ for those people: thank you so much!