Disclaimer: Yeah. I own Yuka. I own Muu Tsu. I own Xian Pu. I own Akane. I own Ukyou. I own Ryouga. I own Nabiki. I own Sayuri. I own Hiroshi. I own Daisuke. I own Kasumi. I own Happosai. I own Kuno. I own Kho Lon. I own Ranma.

Sure, and while I'm at it, I'm the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, and the Tooth Fairy.

You believe all that, and I've got a map of Ryouga's travels to sell you.

Hi, all! (listens to voice echo against the empty fanfic walls) Wow. I've been going over what's been written so far, and decided that I either need to re-write the early chapters or seriously clean up major plot holes. My poor laptop just can't take the stress like it used to!

Elder Kho Lon picked up a scroll from the floor just outside Muu Tsu's room.

'Careless of Muu Tsu to leave something like this lying around,' she mused, reading the inscription on the outside. "Hmm…"

'Xian Pu never mentioned any rules. This dance might be more trouble for her than we had expected.'

Xian Pu was not having a good day. Ranma refused her invitation to the dance. That bothered her, but she knew that there were other ways of getting him to go with her. Just in case he wouldn't, she asked Muu Tsu. And his refusal was a slap in the face.

Honor. Xian Pu sneered at the memory. Honor has no meaning in Japan, not concerning the women here, even less if she is no warrior.

Amazon honor is based on strength, not precedence of speech.

The bike rolled over pavement as she balanced a box of ramen on her shoulder. She was getting so much better about not spilling the ramen in the last few years that she could leap roofs with her bicycle if she wanted to. Not that she would. Well, not right now.

She had felt such rage towards him- hurt, dismissal, and anger. It was his chance, danmit! He had to go with her. If she wasn't good enough for. . .

Her Amazon pride swelled within her.

She'd make him pay.

She'd make them both pay.

A shiver tickled the nape of Yuka's neck and traveled down her spine. Something electric paused her movements mid step, and at that second a fear crept into her mind without rhyme or reason.

"Yuka?" Sayuri waved a hand in front of her friend's face.

"Wha-? Oh, um. Heh. . . heh. . . "

"Are you all right? Ever since Ranma left, you've been acting strange. It's less than a kilometer to your house, but you're welcome to come inside until my dad can give you a ride home if you aren't feeling well."

"It's nothing, honest. Just a chill, that's all." Sayuri noted that the day was unusually warm and muggy. Luckily, she kept it to herself and looked sympathetically at her friend.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to be able to pick a dress for the dance?"

'If I go at all.' "Of course."

"All right. We're almost two meters from my house, so I suggest we dump our stuff in my room and make tracks for the mall. Sound good?"

"Good enough." Shopping did sound like fun, even if she couldn't use the dress until the following year.

They shared a grin. Sayuri glowed as she saw Yuka's eyes light up for the first time in quite a while.

To say Ukyou was mad at Ranma would be an understatement. In fact, it would be the understatement of the year. Possibly the millennia.

As Ukyou's body was cooking okonomiyaki, her mind traveled back to the moment when the bomb fell.

She was about to ask him to the dance -her first Girl's Day Dance- when Akane and Ryouga crossed their path.

Looking over at Her RanChan, Akane began arguing with Ukyou over something that seemed so important at the time. It was about RanChan, that was obvious. It was almost like Akane was not so much upset about her date, but upset that Akane hadn't had the chance to ask Ranma herself.

But Ranma. . .

Ranma said she had.

And the shock on her face- on both of their faces- would have frozen the kami plane.

If she could have moved, she would have grabbed for her spatula and knocked some sense into him, her, any of them.

Instead, she felt the waves of emotion wash over her body like standing on the ocean's rising tide. With every wave, she felt a new anguish.

"Ran. . . Chan?"

"You kicked me out of your room!"

"Only after you snuck in!" Ryouga unhitched his umbrella as Akane threw those words to her fiancée.

"I didn't sneak in! I knocked, and you mumbled 'Come in'."

"How DARE you sneak into Akane's room!" Ryouga lept at Ranma, and Ukyou was instantly tossed aside as Ranma dodged the attack, releasing her.

"I told you, I didn't! And who are you to speak anyway, P-Chan?"

And the fight began-

Her consciousness blurred back to the present.

Akane had asked him first.

Her spatula shook involuntarily. The smile on her face dropped completely the very second that the last person was seated and served. A tear rolled down her cheek. She turned away from the griddle to take a break in the back.

She really needed a break from all of this.

'Oh, RanChan. . .'

"That dress is really pretty on you, Sayuri!"

In front of three mirrors, the dark-haired schoolgirl twirled, enjoying the feel of netting on her legs.

"Do you really think so? It's sort of low in the back."

Yuka felt herself grin. "That's the way some men like it." Her eyes played over the blue-purple dress on Sayuri, and couldn't help but think about how it might have looked on her.

Sayuri looked over her shoulder and smiled, but also felt a bit worried for her friend. 'She hasn't tried on a dress all afternoon.' Picking up the skirt, she realized that she was severely in need of a few inches off the bottom. Nothing the right pair of heels couldn't fix.

"Well, now all we need to do is find one for you."

Looking away, Yuka felt her icy resolve dripping away. The sheets of chiffon and silk and satin on hangars all called to her, but she couldn't possibly-

"After all, you said that your mom isn't going to let you come home that evening. You're staying the night at my house and you're going to the dance."

'She's right. I'm not allowed go home. And I'm staying the night at her house.' "But-"

"Ah-ah. No way are you backing out of this. Now, do you want to pick out a dress here or go elsewhere?"

Autopilot took over, and Yuka tentatively wandered over to the sale rack where she had seen the one she almost tried on. It was simple, elegant, and blue. Very blue. The blue of twilight, sparkled with diamond-like chips on the brocade.

And absolutely perfect.

"You should try it on." Yuka jumped a mile. 'Nabiki.' She slowly turned to face the middle Tendo.

"And I would, if I had a reason." Her hand left the dress and instinctively clutched her purse. "I heard you wanted to speak with me." She watched as the very demeanor in Nabiki's flippant-yet-business voice took over the ice queen's entire body.

"You owe me one favor. Recently, Genma Saotome acquired some bottles of liquor from your father's inventory under false pretenses. I need that debt forgiven." Nabiki's eyes drilled holes into her already shaky defenses from earlier that morning. "And I believe you can do it. You settled on the final price, and it was brought to my attention."

Yuka grappled at a few select shreds of sane ideas, but could only come up with one. "My father, he- he finalizes all the deals. I told him as soon as he came home that night, but the number I had given Ranma was an estimate. And as much as I'd like to just forget the whole thing, we sold some solid products for the promise of Yen and a stolen duck. The duck has been returned to his real owner. The sake is still unpaid for." She looked into Nabiki's eyes. "You know how hard it is to pay the bills when you give away things for free."

Nabiki smirked. The sixteen year old in front of her didn't realize- Nabiki Tendo never does anything for free. But she did have a point, it was out of Yuka's hands. The hand on her hip slipped to her side as she considered the options. She could make up a task on the spot. Or. . .

"Well, I suppose you could-"

"Nabiki Tendo, I despise standing in the women's department." Nabiki visibly sighed and called to Kuno, standing less than three meters away on the tile portion of the floor near the exit. Yuka hadn't even noticed him

"One minute, Kuno-baby. If you're so bored, go wait outside." He grumbled and went. "Now, where were we. . . Oh, yes. You could be stay on my 'favors owed' list, but most people like them taken care of right away."

"I told you, it's out of my hands."

"In that case, be prepared at any time." Nabiki was almost upset that she would have to tell Ranma that she couldn't clear his father's debt. He was prepared to do a photo shoot for it. A real photo shoot! Not just compromising pictures taken with her Nikon 35mm.

"Fine." It came out of Yuka's mouth sounding a heck of a lot braver than she felt.

Under the early stars, Muu Tsu was leaping rooftops for the sake of running. It was driving him insane, the way that he knew the rules, and, for once, could not ignore them. He asked for them. He wanted them.

And he knew all of them by the end of the evening.

End of one roof. 'shoom, thud' Beginning of the next. 'thum, thum, thum, thum'

Leap, Land.

Two girls walked on the street next to him, not noticing the Amazon entity above them. But he saw them, and halted. If Muu Tsu was not as good at leaping on shale as he was, some of the roof tiles would have skittered down the sides. Luckily, they didn't.

And his keen ears picked up their conversation as it got closer.

"Yuka, I think I forgot one of the rules for the Girl's Day Dance. I mean, I know the one about asking and annulment of answers. I remember the section where it said you had to be awake when asking, under that. It said that guys couldn't be manipulated through things like potions and hypnosis."

"That would really mess with any plans you had about dancing with your date."

"Yeah. And I remember that fights were allowed to break out over guys, but were not- what's the word?"

"Encouraged."

"That's it. They weren't encouraged. The dress for the dance is formal, and the festival can be attended in either clothes. It also said something about outsiders and first years."

"First-year girls can ask people to the dance, but they can't ask another first year student. I think there might be special stipulations, but I can't remember."

"Right, something about fiancées and honor of the matron's wishes." Sayuri growled in frustration. "I oughta know thi-" Her eyes widened. "YUKA! BEHIND YOU!"

Uh, oh. We all know that Nerima's not safe to walk around at twilight, just how unsafe is it? Will Yuka make it to the dance in one piece to pay her favor to Nabiki? Send reviews in my general direction, and you may find out.

If not, I fear that I must use the tired old threat of an updatedless fic. Besides, I want to know how I'm doing for Ukyo. I don't want to base her on fanfics, but I don't have very many mangas with her in my personal library yet. And I really, really gotta see the anime!