She leaped at Artemis, doing a back-flip and planting her feet firmly on the older woman's back. She serenely watched Artemis fly forward, into the river, and sat down on the unoccupied stump. "Enjoy yourself, Artemis?"
Dripping wet, Artemis stood waist-deep in the river, glaring at Lenne from underneath the hair plastered to her forehead. "This wasn't part of the test."
"No, but using my wonderful sense of humor and lack of brains, I decided you needed to cool of after yelling at your charming twin for an hour this morning, even though this will undoubtedly end in me being miserable in some way." Lenne smiled brightly. "So, why don't we head back to the temple before you have a chance to complete my prediction. It would be terribly awful if something was to happen to me, your lovely and charming assistant."
"I only yelled at him for his pervertedness. He was spying on you changing this morning." Lenne was frozen in shock, crouched precariously on the stump. A perfect unbalanced target.
Artemis giggled as she pushed Lenne into a shallower part the river. Her assistant shrieked and started cursing vulgarly. Shocked, Artemis stood still as Lenne, snarling and mumbling, started stomping towards the temple. "Lenne, I didn't know you would take it that badly, I didn't know it would make you up--"
"I could hardly care about that! Apollo was peaking at me! I'm going to murder that peeping tom!"
"Lenne-chan, you can't kill a deity."
"I'll find a way. Oh, trust me, I'll find a way." Chuckling, Lenne continued on her darkly merry way. Artemis did not doubt that a fifteen year old girl could find a way to murder an ancient god. After a while, Lenne stopped surprising you, and only amused and mildly shocked you with her random antics.
After telling Apollo off for a couple hours, combined with some very hard blows to the face, torso, and manhood of a certain sun god, Lenne was whistling cheerfully as she finished changing clothes. She looked over at her little sister. "Bored, imouto-chan? You could always pester Apollo or Hades."
"I don't really feel like it," Ryoko said sullenly. "After a while, the novelty of a living person travelling through Hell wears off."
Smiling, Lenne tossed Ryoko her wallet. "I have some extra yen if you want to go to Tokyo for a while. I think Kisa might be happy to see you, and Hiro in his own bratty little way. I heard there's a new Mogeta movie in theaters."
Ryoko hugged her sister tightly, squealing "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Ittekimasu!", before darting off.
"Itterasshai. Ki o tsukete!" Lenne shouted before Ryoko was surrounded by the customary white light that signified travelling.
"Oh? A good deed Lenne has done?" Artemis sauntered over, smiling casually. "Do mine eyes deceive me? You, giving away your joyfully, but hard, earned cash?"
"I'm not the penny-pincher you make me out to be." Artemis snorted. "Well, only slightly. Besides, Ryoko was bored, and staying here wouldn't do her any good."
"You had a controlled amount in there, didn't you?"
"You know me and how tightly I keep the purse drawstrings."
"Of course. Scrooge."
Lenne stuck her tongue out at the older woman. "What did you call me here for anyway? It's my day off! No work, no school, I could be doing my homework!"
Artemis giggled. "You? Doing homework?"
"I said could. It's not on my 'most likely to do when I'm bored' list."
"You are here for a mission briefing, of course. Although, now that I think about it, it would be better for my health if I contacted you on the mini-computer."
"Spoj."
"Your little habit of naming things does not concern me," Artemis said, with a mock haughty look. Lenne bowed, one hand making elaborate gestures.
"Of course, your ladyship. How silly of me to ever forget my place and dare to think I, a mere peon, would concern you. Please forgive me, or I shall be forced to toss myself from Olympus in shame to remedy the situation."
"Make sure it doesn't happen again, or you shall be committing suicide in shame." Artemis sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "Mission, mission, right. I would normally let something like this go to Koenma's Tantei for this, but it needs a woman's touch. There's a class B demon parading around Japan, stealing the souls of young women."
"Oh, just what we need," Lenne muttered. "Another pervert."
"He's been accomplishing this by disguising himself as a judge in local pageants."
"I knew it! Pervert! He's a pervert!"
Artemis glared. "Lenne! Can you ignore that little self-discovered detail for a while?"
"If I'm involved in this mission, no." Lenne smiled as Artemis slapped her forehead. Looking up slowly from her hand, which she had been muttering to, Artemis smirked.
"Why yes, you'll be very, very, involved in this mission." Lenne looked at her blankly. "I'll need you to go undercover." Comprehension dawned, and Lenne had a look of horror.
"No. No way. Absolutely not. No way, never ever, there is absolutely, positively, no way--"
------
"--that I'm doing this alone!" Lenne wailed, clutching her friends waist in a tight grip. Ranma continued down the street, groceries in hand, seemingly unperturbed by the added weight on her right side.
"No way, Lenne-chan. You really expect me to go in this with you?"
"But whyyyyy! I can't do this alone! You can't expect me to win a pageaaaaaaant!" Ranma turned into the Tendo Dojo and smiled at Kasumi as she opened the door.
"Welcome back, Ranma-chan. Good afternoon, Lenne-chan."
"Hello, Kasumi-san," both responded in unison, taking off their shoes. Lenne had a mildly difficult time, clutching Ranma's waist the whole time, but succeeded before Ranma dragged her through the house to the back, both greeting the various house-mates as they went.
"Because. Even though you're my friend-- hey Nabiki-san-- I can't do it. I've been through a lot before I became a full-time girl,-- Pops, Tendo-san-- and this hits a little too close to that. I don't want to go through people ogling me like some sort of freak! Hey, Akane-chan." Lenne finally let go as Ranma dragged her outside.
"I don't wanna go through guys ogling me either, but I have to. I'm asking this small favor, from one friend to another. I probably have no chance whatsoever of getting any of the five winning spots. I would ask Momiji-chan, but I can't ask him to dress in drag." Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I can't ask him to dress in a more noticeable drag outfit. Besides, the school's auditorium is being used for the pageant, and students will most likely be there. They're already used to the fact he wears a girls uniform, but this would be too much. It would cause questions to arise. Very strange and awkward questions."
Both girls imagined a Momiji in a dress, make-up, jewelry, and high-heels strutting around and winking at guys. Both suppressed a shudder. "The scary thing is, he'd make a passable female."
"Pleeeeeeease! I really need you!" Lenne's voice had gone up in pitch and her eyes were starting to water. Ranma hated to see Lenne like this; she hated when people cried. Normally, she would try and help her friend, but entering in a pageant? Out of the question.
Sniffling, Lenne could see Ranma stiffen her resolve. Sighing, she bowed. "I, Aoyama Lenne, request a favor from you, Saotome Ranma, in the form of your assistance for the pageant. I will make sure no word of your participation reaches Nabiki-san or other residents of Nerima, destroying your honor, and no one in Tokyo will know of your past problems. My honor as an assistant of the goddess of the moon and hunt, Artemis, is on the line," Lenne recited formally, the words rolling off of her tongue. Artemis decided she needed to know formalities in case she ever offended a deity. She had cursed the goddess when she first found out, but was now thanking her.
Ranma's resolve was fast crumbling. Honor was very important to her, and Lenne had told her about Hera... No one would know she was born a guy, and they wouldn't stare at her like she was a carnival freak. She bowed. "I accept your request."
Squealing, Lenne jumped up and glomped her friend. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are my savior, the greatest, woman among people! I bow before you! Angels sing your praises!"
"Alright, enough! Laying it on a little thick, huh?"
"Well, I suppose it's to put you in a good mood when I ask you to go with me to convince another person." Lenne smiled cheerfully as Ranma fell on her face.
"You mean, you had someone else to ask, too!"
Lenne stared at her innocently. "But I have a better chance of cornering the demon if I have more people!"
Lenne was very lucky her friend was a forgiving person in some cases, or Artemis may of had to find a new assistant. Ranma, after punching her friend on the head, sighed. "Might as well, since I'm roped into this. Where to?"
"I'm not sure... Ah, don't kill me!"
Ranma did not, in fact, kill her stupid friend for her errors. She knelt down, blue eyes staring down at the shorter girl, and started giggling.
"Not the reaction I was expecting. Are you on something?"
"I'm going to get my revenge on you," Ranma stated, a chipper grin lighting her features. "Because you want me to do this with you, I want a favor in return."
"What kind of favor?" Lenne asked suspiciously.
Ranma stood up and linked her hands behind her head. She hummed a little song as she walked back to the dojo. "Ranma-chan? What favor? Come one? Please?" Lenne jumped around behind Ranma. "What is it? Huh, huh? Whatcha want me to do?"
Deciding she made Lenne wait long enough, Ranma grinned. "Sore wa himitsu desu!"
"What! You want a favor, and you're keeping it secret? Come on, Ranma, I'm not that stupid."
"Aw, c'mon, Lenne-chan! I want a favor, I just don't know what it'll be yet! Please? Just this one unknown favor that you have to do no matter what it is?"
"Okay, then!" Lenne walked off towards the train station, not noticing her friends disbelieving eyes watching her.
"Are we sure about that not stupid thing?"
After a half-hour on the train, Lenne twitching as she thought of her teachers reaction, the two teens were searching the whole neighborhood. Lenne was practically hopping on every person, screaming at them if they knew where Higurashi-san lived. Ranma tried to attract Lenne's attention to a sign, but currently the short girl was running around frantically.
"Oh no, you're gonna kill me if we don't find Higurashi-san, and then Artemis will kill me when I fail, then Hera will kill me because she doesn't like me!"
Ranma grabbed Lenne and forced her head to look at a sign attached to an apartment complex. "Look. Read. Shut up."
"Okay. It has a lot of names on it. Ranma-chan, we don't have time to question these people, we have to find Higurashi-san."
With a blank look on her face, Ranma pointed to 'Higurashi'. "She lives here."
Lenne grinned sheepishly. "That's different, then. Why didn't you say anything earlier? I could of been saved the trouble of chasing after that old woman."
"Yes, she's been complaining to me for the last half-hour," Kagome said dryly from beside them. Lenne jumped to the side in surprise and smacked into the wall.
"What are you doing here!"
"...I live here. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to ask your assistance in an important mission Artemis gave me that I already dragged my friend into," Lenne said, an oblivious smile on her face. She was still stuck to the wall, her hood on her zip-up stuck on a brick.
"Do I want to know?" Kagome asked Ranma with a small, exasperated sigh.
"No, you really don't. I would want you to suffer with me, but I say run while you have a chance."
Tired of hanging on the wall for so long, Lenne started waving her arms around insanely, trying to get off of the wall. "Higurashi-san! Please, do me this one favor! You can think of it as a favor to Artemis, if you want. Please?"
"You sound so sincere, and look so ridiculous, it's hard to refuse. But, I'm not going to accept this point blank. First, you're going to tell me what you want my help with. Although, if judging by the look on your friends face, this is going to be bad, and you might have to do something for me."
"Er, well, I was actually going to ask you to get me off of the wall." Kagome and Ranma shook there heads in exasperation, and walked inside the building. "Guys? You're going to come back, right? You're getting help? Hey, why are you going into that elevator? Ranma-chan, Higurashi-san? Come back here!"
After letting her suffer a while, Kagome and Ranma came back to rescue Lenne. After all, they couldn't leave her outside while it was getting late. People coming back from work might accidently speak to her.
Lenne looked around at Kagome's apartment. It was a small, cluttered place, with papers everywhere. "I thought you were organized."
"I am. My cat, however, is not. He gets antsy if I leave him alone for too long."
Lenne squealed as a fat grey cat waddled towards her, and hugged it tightly. "It's just the cutest little thing EVAH!"
Ranma clung to the rafters, fear on her face. "That is the creepiest little monster I've ever seen." Kagome watched Ranma inching towards the door as Lenne started talking to Buyo.
"Weren't you here for a reason?"
Clearing her throat, trying to appear professional, Lenne turned towards her teacher. "Um, yes, I am. Before I start, please don't kill me."
Kagome raised an eyebrow. "A promising start."
A horrible hour and a half later, filled with things being thrown, loud screams, and begging for one's life, Lenne now owed Higurashi Kagome a favor. "What's it going to be? Me turning my homework in? Paying more attention in class?"
Smiling serenely, like she had not just been yelling in horror and rage, Kagome said, "You're going to do a make-up project, which will boost your grade to an 'A'. I'm so nice, aren't I? A ten page essay on every god who had a part in the forming of history would be sufficient, I think." She looked up to see Lenne standing slack-jawed, a blank look in her eyes. "Oh, alright. Just Zeus and his immediate family. If you could include a family tree of those members along with that, we'd be just peachy."
Lenne looked ready to cry. "Everyone wants something. Why?"
"Because we're human, and selfish." Lenne looked thoughtful, nodding slowly.
"So you finally admit it. Amazing. Here I thought you really were the spawn of Hades."
"Such a compliment." Kagome sighed, and put a hand to her temples. Her headache was coming back again. It would come and go periodically, but it was a pain. Literally.
"You okay?" Lenne asked, watching Kagome pop an aspirin.
"Mm. Fine." She laced her fingers together. "So, what about our clothing? I doubt you have anything pageant appropriate. Your dear friend doesn't strike me as one that would have a few, if any, dresses lying around. I don't dress up, unless dressing up means wearing priestess garb."
"You need to date more, Higurashi-san. How about a certain dark-haired doctor?" A sudden glare from Kagome made Lenne whirl around. "Oh, look! A convenient spot for me to stare at."
Kagome eyed her medicine bottle. Another aspirin or five wouldn't hurt right now. "Lenne, matter at hand," Ranma said, draping an arm around her friend. "Where are we going to find nice clothes in less than a day? What kind of person is Artemis, anyway, to give you something like this on such short term?" Lenne wasn't listening. Her face was lit up in one of those 'the candle has lit up and the wheels are turning' faces.
"To Ayame-sama's!" The red-head and the teacher gave Lenne a look as said girl ran out of the apartment, cackling like an escapee from the asylum, before following reluctantly.
A move they would regret for a very long time.
-----
I'm sorry, everyone! School and some other stuff has been taking up my time. That, and my exceeding laziness to finish this chapter. Since FF has that 'no responding to the reviewer' rule, I'm not going to. I don't want my stuff deleted. So instead, thanks to all my reviewers, old and recent, and just pretend I say something retarded at this point. Better yet : The latin opera ladies speak to me. I don't understand what they're saying. I know they're latin because they told me so. "Hi." "I don't speak English." "o.o How am I understanding you?" "You're not. I don't speak English, I speak Latin." "Kaybe den." "What?"