The Liz: Hey yall and welcome back! Its chapter four already. Now let me just say that this chapter is more of a setting up the scene and that I had to cover two days in this one so forgive me will ya? Anyway, I took care of the disclaimer last chapter so let's get onto the story!
The sunlight poured into the window and shone down on Ranma's face. "Ack! So bright!" he mumbled as he threw the pillow over his face. God, it feels like someone killed half my brain with a sledgehammer! What happened last ni...Suddenly Ranma bolted out of bed. Oh my god! Last night, my skin, my hair! MY EARS!
He ran into the hall and past Akane who was about to wake him up. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she yelled after him.
Ignoring her, he ran into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. My skin, it's normal! And I still have all my hair! And ears! My ears are here! Ranma sighed in relief.
"It was just a dream," he said, laughing as he left the bathroom. "God, this place is getting to me."
"Ranma, hurry up, it's time for school!" Akane yelled from the front door.
"NANI?!"
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"Let's go Ranma!" Akane yelled up at the boy who was running along the fence.
"I know already!" he yelled back.
"You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't slept in!"
"Back off already, I didn't sleep so well!"
Akane frowned and squinted into the distance. "Ranma, what's that?"
"Huh?" Ranma said as he looked down the street. "Looks like a pretty big crowd," he said.
"I wonder what they're looking at," Akane said as they approached the crowd.
"I thought you said we were late," Ranma said to Akane.
"We are bak..." Suddenly Akane stopped in her tracks and gasped. "Oh my god."
"What's up?" Ranma asked. Akane pointed towards a lamp post that was in the middle of the crowd. Ranma looked up to see a small figure strapped to the light.
"What the hell? That's the old perv!" he said. Happosai was tied to the lamp post by a pair of pink bras.
"Ranma," Akane said softly. "Who do you think did this?"
But Ranma wasn't listening anymore. But how? It's not possible... there's no way... did I do that?
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"Okay now everybody I want you to turn to page seventy two," the teacher said in English class. "Today, we will learn about..."
Who cares? Ranma thought as he finished counting the ceiling tiles. No matter how many times I count, there are always only 105 tiles. Sighing, he looked out the window.
But what was up with that mask? he thought. There is just no way that all that really happened. I mean, it was like a cartoon or something. Ranma shuddered as he envisioned himself as a character in an anime.
But I don't get it, if it was all a dream how come the old man was strapped to the light post? He sighed and put his head on his desk. It might explain why I'm so tired.
"Mr. Saotome? Would you like to translate the next sentence?"
"Uh..."
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"Welcome home Ranma!" Kasumi said as he walked into the family room. "How was your day?"
"Distracted," Akane answered for him as she walked in behind him.
"I was not distracted!" Ranma yelled.
"Oh my, what do you mean distracted?" Kasumi asked as she put a tray of tea and cookies down on the table.
"He got in trouble three times for not paying attention," Akane said as she walked out of the room to the stairwells. "S'not my fault," Ranma said through a mouthful of cookies. "I didn't ge muh sleep," he said.
"Yes Mr. Saotome, I've wanted to talk to you about that," Nabiki said walking in the door.
"Welcome home Nabiki!" Kasumi said as she walked back into the kitchen.
"Hello Kasumi!" Nabiki said. She sat down in front of Ranma and assumed her business like face. "Where were you last night?"
"Mmm?" Ranma said, looking up at Nabiki with cookie crumbs all over his face. "Wha you mean?"
"Last night there was," Nabiki said pausing to take a sip of her tea. "A disturbance as you might say. Your father was woken up by a man spinning around the room he says."
Ranma swallowed the cookies with a gulp. "R-really?"
"Really. And when we came to check out the sound, you were gone," Nabiki said. "Would you happen to know anything about the man in your room last night?"
"Uh, n-no! Why would I know anything about that?" Ranma said nervously.
"Oh really?" Nabiki said as she sipped her tea. "Then where were you?"
"I was uh..." Think Saotome, think! "I was on the roof!"
"On the roof? Well, then did you notice anything? Anything at all?"
"Nabiki, what are you talking about?" Akane asked as she came back into the room. She had changed from her school uniform into one of her more comfortable outfits.
Nabiki shot a look at Ranma, clearly indicating that she still wanted to interrogate him. "Nothing Akane," she said as she got up from her seat.
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Ranma lay in his bed that night, staring at the ceiling. Last night was no dream. Something weird is going on and I don't wanna stick around to find out.
As quietly as he could, Ranma slipped out of his futon and looked around. Now where is that thing? Spotting the mask underneath a pile of his clothes, he walked over and picked it up carefully.
Put it on. You had so much fun last night. Put it on.
Ranma shook his head. I'm letting those voices get to me again. This is just too much trouble to deal with. Walking over to his window, he took a deep breath and tossed the mask out the window. Well that's that. Now let's get back to bed.
Only a few seconds after his head hit the pillow, an exhausted Ranma fell asleep. What he didn't notice was the large carved piece of wood flying back into his room, landing on a small pile of dirty clothes.
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"So Ranma, I hear Akane dumped you for someone else," Daisuke said taking a huge bite of his sandwich.
Ranma choked on his lunch.
"I was wondering when she would wise up," Hiroshi said.
"She didn't dump me!" Ranma yelled.
"S'not what I heard. I heard she got a date with Ryouga for some fancy pants concert." Daisuke said amazingly clear with a mouth full of food.
"Isn't Ryouga that guy that's always challenging you?" Hiroshi said.
"Yeah it is isn't it? I guess he couldn't beat you in the ring so he had to go out," Daisuke said.
"Yeah, go out with his fiancée."
Ranma sat on the ground grinding his teeth while his "friends" laughed hard. "She's not going out with me, so she can't dump me! And why would she choose that pig head over me?!"
"Then why are you so upset if you weren't going out?" Daisuke said.
"I'm not upset and we were never going out! She's just my stupid fiancée!" Ranma yelled.
"Oh and that makes it sound so much better than going out," Hiroshi said as he took a swing of his soda. "Face it man, you lost."
"I didn't lose nothing now shut up," Ranma grumbled.
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"Nabiki Tendo! I require you assistance!" Kuno yelled as he entered the room.
Nabiki sighed and put her book ("Minds Games: Advanced") down on the desk. "What is it Kuno?"
"I hear that you have tickets to an extravagant affair tonight," Kuno said as he sat down in front of Nabiki. "I need two," he said laying out a large sum of money on the desk.
Nabiki smiled. "Sorry Kuno-Baby, but I only have one left. The other one's for me," she said coyly.
"What does someone such as you need with a ticket to a concert?" Kuno asked, truly confused.
"A girl needs to have fun you know. And this is a once in a lifetime chance for all I know," Nabiki said.
"But I need a ticket for myself and the wondrous Akane," Kuno said, panic lining his voice. Nabiki Tendo was not one of those people who could be threatened into doing things for Kuno.
Nabiki's eyebrow rose. "You didn't hear? Akane already has a date."
Kuno went stiff as his brain tried to comprehend what Nabiki had just said. "Akane has a date with someone besides me?"
"Well, yeah," Nabiki said matter-of-factly.
Kuno's face went dark. "RANMA SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!" Kuno yelled at the top of his lungs as he began to run out the door.
"Hold it Kuno-baby," Nabiki said, grabbing onto Kuno's collar to keep him from going anywhere. "Ranma's not the one going out with her."
Kuno fell to the floor in shock. "H-he's not?"
"No he's not."
Kuno pondered this for a moment before jumping to his feet. "Who has the gull to take the beauteous Akane on a date?" Kuno yelled.
Nabiki smiled. "I'll tell you for fifty yen," she said.
"You got a deal!"
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"Nabiki can you help me with my hair?" Akane said as she slipped on the black dress. It was 7: 30 and Akane had fifteen minutes to get the club where they were holding the concert. Nabiki was already ready to go in her bright yellow evening dress and was now just waiting for Akane to get a move on.
"Sure thing. Just hand me that clip over there," Nabiki said as she pulled back Akane's hair. "Did try on the shoes I lent you?"
"Yes, they look great with the dress," Akane said as she put on the diamond bracelet. "This is so weird," Akane said under her breath.
"What is? The fact that you have a date or the dressing up for the date?" Nabiki asked.
"It's not a date for the last time!" Akane said forcefully.
"Whatever you say little sis. Now are we ready to go? It's starting to get dark out and the thing starts at 8:30. We want to get a good table ya know," Nabiki said grabbing her white boa and small clutch purse.
"Uh yeah, just let me get my scarf from Kasumi," Akane said as she walked carefully downstairs in her high-heels. These things feel so weird, she thought as she wobbled into the kitchen.
"Ah Akane! You look so elegant!" Kasumi exclaimed as she caught sight of her little sister.
"Thanks Kasumi. Um, I need that scarf that you wanted to iron for me," Akane said.
"Oh yes, let me go get that," Kasumi said walking onto the porch where she liked to do laundry.
"Um, Kasumi," Akane asked sheepishly. "Where's Ranma?"
"He's in his room I think. Didn't seem to be feeling so well," Kasumi said as she walked back in. "Here you go," she said, handing Akane a long black and white silk scarf. "Now let's see how it looks on you."
Akane took it and draped it around her arms and held her hands together nervously. "So how do I look?"
Kasumi smiled warmly at Akane. "You look absolutely beautiful," she said. "Mother would be so proud."
Akane smiled broadly. "You really think so?"
"I'm sure of it," Kasumi said. "Now hurry up, Ryouga's waiting for you," she said.
"Thank you Kasumi," Akane said as she left the kitchen. Before she left the house, she took one glance at the dark guest room. Why do I even care what he thinks? He's probably just in there sleeping or something, she thought bitterly as she left the house.
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Ranma sat in his room watching the clock. Stupid Akane, he thought. Probably already left. The clock on the wall read 7:40. Well I won't get anything done in here, he thought as he stood up. He slid open the door and walked into the hall on his way to the dojo when he saw Akane exit the kitchen. Quickly, he backed into the shadows, for some reason not wanting her to see him.
She's awfully dressed up, Ranma said to himself. Getting all pretty for her pig boy.
Akane was wearing the same black dress Ranma had seen the other night and black sandal strap high-heels. On her neck and wrist were white diamonds with silver lining and she wore matching dangling earrings. Her hair was pulled back and for once, Ranma noticed, she had makeup on. Just a dab of lip-gloss and a hint of blush to really bring out her color.
She's not so pretty, Ranma lied to himself. Nope, not pretty at all. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
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Somewhere in Kyoto...
"Can you tell me how to get to Nermia?" Ryouga asked a bewildered sheep.
Ryouga's having some directional problems.
The Liz: Okay, I know I promised more than this but that seemed like a good place to stop. I promise Ranma'll have some fun in the next chapter. Cross my heart and hope to loose all my manga (which would really suck) Please review!
Next Chapter: Ranma takes up thievery and Akane's first real kiss.
It's review time! I tried answering all the reviews on the review board last time but it just didn't feel right. So it's back to the insert in the story.
To Candy Ninja: Thanks for the review. If you wanna see a short story though, you should see some of my other stuff. Now that's short!
To Alex Ultra: Hehehe, thanks for the quotes. The movies one of my favorites so it's good to see that other people that like the movie like my story too.
To Magnus 17: Thanks a bunch, I'm really glad you like my idea. And thanks for telling me I'm doing a good job merging; I was a little nervous about that.
To Ariyah-Chan: Hehehehe, don't worry. I have a very special plan just for female Ranma. Very special indeed....
Later Yall!