Rules of the Games- Level 2 Intermediate
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Viz Communications in North America). This work is strictly for the non-profit enjoyment of fans. No copyright infringement is intended.
'Rules of the Games' is based upon a story idea by Tom Wrensch (because my ideas are crap compared to his).
Last Updated: 20/12/05
The heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts grinned as he ran through a fairly basic practice routine in the dojo. In fact, he had been smiling for a couple hours straight, and the reasoning behind it was as distracting to his work as the thought that he had been smiling this long.
Akane Tendo, his reluctant fiancée, actually liked him.
As foreign the idea sounded in his own mind, the evidence was there, in that park, many blocks east of the dojo. And that evidence acted like one of those weird kids toy decoder wheels, applying a new point of view to all sorts of memories of them together, so many times when he thought she was angry with him, she was actually, liking him. All these accidents, or spontaneous confusing fights, were all making sense.
Jumping to the side, his footing failed on landing and he stumbled left, but the smile stayed on his face. As he restarted the kata, he marvelled at how regardless of the imperfections entering his training, there was no concern for them. His lack of focus could cost him his next fight, but part of him considered the training more of a distraction to thinking about Akane. An idle part of his mind wondered if his father would see it that way…
With a shrug he moved beside the wall and tipped himself over, with casual grace taking a stance on the tripod of his head and arms, legs folding above him as he took a mediative pose. His mind flittered over the subject of his fiancée, trying to see the patterns in Akane's behaviour, trying to structure all her 'games'.
Nodoka stepped gently into the silent dojo, her blue eyes seeking out her only child in some kind of yoga meditation. She frowned a moment at the change in his behaviour, having expected him to be only a short way into his long training sessions. As only a mother can, her mind reviewed his every action of the morning so far and the day before, looking for other changes in behaviour that might let her identify what was troubling her child so she could help him.
He had behaved fairly normally ever since returning from successfully searching out Akane's pet last night, except for some teasing of Akane over the piglet, which would not have escalated had her future daughter in law began retorting in kind. The frown deepened as she considered Ranma's dislike of the animal, and Akane's apparent need to cuddle the piglet. Had he been raised with a pet she would have never conceived it, but could her son be jealous of Akane's attention to the animal?
"Ranma-kun, may I interrupt?"
The pigtailed boy's blue eyes blinked open and he quickly righted himself. "Sure Mom, what's up?"
The elder woman smiled as she approached her son and held out the poster of the carnival Akane had brought home. "Soun found this inside the gate today and had suggested our two families attend next weekend, however Nabiki and your father has expressed little interest. I thought you might like to ask Akane to go with you this afternoon so you can tell us if it is a good time. At the very least it would give the two of you a private time out?"
"Sure,er...-ly you don't think a tomboy like Akane would want to go to some dumb carnival?" Ranma was rather proud of his covering up his initial utterance, but as his mothers frown deepened he realised that the tomboy part was a bit harsh. "I mean, with me. She's still pretty mad about… stuff."
His mother looked at her son for a long moment. "I suppose we could save a little money with a night in, and Kasumi and I could try some more exotic recipes with Akane."
The old Ranma mentality kicked in, defensively weighing the advantages of asking out Akane, and going on a date, compared with suffering her cooking. Slamming one fist into the other palm, he nodded, to his mother. "Okay, but we ain't calling it a date. Pop's and Mr Tendo would never shut up about it."
"Alright my son," she replied, "we are not going to call it a date, but if you bring her home with a smile on her face, I will have a surprise for you."
Ranma flinched as he got both stressed parts of his mother's statement, the grammar correction as well as the primary meaning.
"Psst!"
-tap, tap-
Akane didn't move her body at all, just her eyes looking up from where she was writing in a book on her desk. Her brown eyes considered Ranma hanging outside her bedroom window, glancing towards her door then back at the boy.
With a sigh she stood, one hand plucking P-chan out of her lap to hold him up as her other hand opened the window. Her eyes narrowed slightly as the boy eyed her piglet, seeming to gain in nervousness but before she could ask anything he put a finger to his lips. Below, she could hear her father speaking to Ranma's, with a nod she stood back from the window.
With the way clear, Ranma climb-crawled into the room and shut the window and grinned at his fiancée, his grin losing some of its cockiness as she looked back with impatience. "Hey, you know that carnival you found the poster for, well anyway, Mom wants to know if it's worth going to and suggested we go check it out."
"Just the two of us? Together?" Her voice was slow, deliberated, and Ranma almost wanted to look away from her eyes, her brown orbs sizing him up with a glance that held certain smugness, and a slight predatory hunger.
Ranma's eyes dipped to the eyes of the piglet held to her side, its eyes confused but darkening. "I mean, it's not a date, just checking out if it is fun or not."
"And if it is fun?"
The pigtailed boy frowned, stepping back as his shorter fiancée took a step towards him. "Huh?"
"And if we do have fun at the carnival, what happens then, Ranma?"
His back bounced lightly off Akane's door as she forced him back by approaching again. "Er, we'll see?"
Her lips pursed, accompanied by a short disappointed moan, "I suppose, we'll see about this carnival, after lunch then." Grabbing the front of his shirt, she pulled him from the door, opened it, and pushed him out into the hall, closing the door in his face, leaving him looking in confusion at the rattling duck name plate with her name on it.
The matron of the Saotome family living at the Tendo dojo smiled as she caught her son glance at his fiancée yet again over lunch. The youngest Tendo girl sat demurely in a pretty sundress with some faint touches of make up, eating a modest lunch. The girl wasn't looking directly at her son, yet ever keeping him just in her side vision as she chatted to the others.
Nodoka's eyes lowered to where the black piglet sat beside her future daughter in law, eyes little beady eyes watching her son, only occasionally looking up at its mistress. It was an odd thought, but if only it sniffed at the food on the table, it would seem more like a natural pet to her. When she had been growing up, Nodoka had had a small dog, and it was always sniffing for table scraps. This piglet's lack of interest felt very much unnatural.
The meal had past without much incident, Akane excusing herself first, taking up some leftovers to her room in the new pet dish Kasumi had gotten for her, the piglet under one arm as she went up. As the fathers went off into their little world of shogi, Nabiki excused herself, taking her coat as she left the house, Nodoka joining Kasumi in gathering the dishes. As Kasumi took the first load into the kitchen, she glanced to her son still finishing a third helping and raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Er, yeah. I'll go and get her now. Er, try and make sure Pop's doesn't follow us."
"Good luck my son," she whispered back, her eyes flickering to where Soun and Genma were engrossed in setting up their game board.
Disappearing upstairs, it took only a moment before she heard a reaction. Actually, it was rather hard to miss.
"PERVERT!" Akane's voice thundered from upstairs, her son appearing dashing back down the stairs and out the front door, followed quickly by a shinai wielding fiancée. "I'll teach you not to peep on me!"
Reaching the door after them, Nodoka saw Akane rushing after Ranma out the open gate, hopping slightly as one finger slipped her shoe on properly. The elder woman's eyes narrowed as she noted Akane's bamboo sword left beside the door, beside Kasumi's umbrella.
Going back inside, Nodoka shook her head. She knew Akane was more interested in her son than she often claimed, the wedding had taught her that much, but her manner of hiding and showing that interest certainly took some getting used to. It certainly wasn't like that in her day. Glancing outside again, she hoped they wouldn't be back too late, they had school tomorrow.
Shifting his black pigtail over his shoulder, Ranma frowned and glanced at the fencing around the grounds taken by the carnival. The Sunday afternoon queue they were in passed the sign stating the cost of entry, and he was not surprised at all in Nabiki or his father's lack of interest in attendance. He glanced at the pretty girl in line beside him, wondering how she'd take suggestion of sneak in, but decided against it. Akane liked him, and until he knew how to keep her liking him there wasn't any gain in risking that.
The girl in question idly brushed her arm against her fiancés, her eyes looking to the colourful posters and decorations, some advertising the activities inside the carnival grounds. Her eyes flittered from item to item, occasionally glancing back to her fiancé with a sly smile.
The queue moved on, the pair coming before the fare collector, an old grey haired woman who eyed them with alert eyes, her voice light if a bit worn as she addressed Ranma, "Just you and your girlfriend, son?"
Ranma's head swept around the queue to see any shocked or inquisitive faces before his blue eyes looked to Akane's face and her curious expression. Swallowing, he spoke to the woman while still looking at Akane. "Er, yeah, me and my girlfriend?"
The question was definitely there but as Akane smiled slyly and nodded. Ranma quickly gained confidence and slid his arm around her shoulder to hold her at his side, holding out some yen coins to the woman with his other hand. The woman grinned and winked at Akane as she placed a stamp on their wrists and ushered them through into the fair grounds.
The gate opened into the main path of the carnival, extending ahead with stalls on each side towards the big top tent and main arena, while branches coming off were sign posted for side show alley, the rides, the animals, and more.
"So where too?" Ranma asked simply, content for her to lead, as he pulled his arm back from her shoulder in case they encountered anyone they knew.
Her hands were faster though, latching onto his, keeping him hooked around her neck without looking at him, and leading him towards one of the branches, "This way," she said, taking him into the games and booths of Side Show Alley.
Sweeping his blue eyes over the thinned crowd, Ranma nodded, happy as it was mostly children and families, not many at all close to his and Akane's own age, his tension at being spotted and interrupted lowering, his arm relaxing around her as they walked down. Her bright eyes surveying the games, the turning clown heads, the goldfish catching, but she seemed drawn over to the coin toss.
Akane shook her head as she saw Ranma cautiously looking over the plates arrayed in the stall, pulling back from her as he started leaning out and back oddly before he saw the attendant looking at him with a frown. The coloured plates all matched up to the coloured board of prizes, plastic combs and lollies for the larger plates, the smaller and further back plates getting up to stuff toys and t-shirts, the biggest plush toy requiring multiple successful tosses on the same plate. Several coins already dotted the plates from apparent earlier winners.
As her hand retrieved several coins from her purse, Ranma's hand closed over hers and he whispered cryptically to her, "Go for the light red."
Her eyes looked at the children's watches and prize vouchers for that colour, and shook her head. "But I want a good prize," she whispered back and tossed for the gold plate up the back.
The throw was clean, the coin landing neatly on the front edge but slid that little bit too far and off the back of the plate, her momentary elation dropping with it. Rolling his eyes at the determined look on her face, Ranma imagined she would be pushing her sleaves up had the sundress she wore had sleaves. Again she tossed, this time landing on the back of the plate and bouncing away.
Her eyes glared at him as he chucked his tongue, looking back at the booth as she tossed the third coin, this time at the red plate, the coin landing with clink, stopping quickly as it hit a coin already in place off the back edge. The attendant congratulated her throw, offering her selection of prize, Akane asking for one of the gift voucher envelops on the wall, her eyes looking at Ranma when the attendant turned to get it down.
"How'd you know?" she whispered her eyes not pleased when he shrugged.
"It's a scam. It looks like the red plate is the best one which hasn't been greased up to make the coins slide off. These guys make money by taking loses on cheap crap while luring ya with the big prizes," he whispered back.
Taking the prize with a rather forced 'thank you', the pair began to slowly walk on, Akane now more interest in Ranma than the games, "How do you know all this?"
Ranma shrugged again, "Pop's and me used to practice throwing control on em and win stuff to sell later. Got run out of a few of these things in the country villages for it." He grinned and shook his head, his eyes seeing some memory.
"So you can beat their cheating?" she asked, her eyes taking a hungry tone. Her arm took his turning them both around and heading back towards the booth.
"Anything Goes Martial Arts Carnival Tricks? It ain't that hard, you could do it ya practiced some. Ya did okay with those throws. Why, what ya want me to win ya?"
The attendant was frowning again as the pair approached, but that just seemed to make the pigtailed boy smirk, Akane grinning as she pointed out a large pink plush piglet, "How about a friend for P-chan?"
Ranma withheld a chuckle, "Fine but you tell him you won it, he hates me already," he joked, seeing more humour in it than Akane did. Reaching into his pockets for more of the appropriate coins, he counted four of them into his palm before putting the rest away, looking at the silver plate up the back, barely larger than the gold near it, which the sign said he needed three coins on to win the pig.
"See the target, know the strength, breath out, toss," he said as instruction before flicking the first coin, the thin disk landing to dislodge one coin already on the plate, stopping immediately. Only the attendant seemed unimpressed. "You can't get that really fine control while breathing so you do it before you inhale."
Akane nodded as he finished, his hand already tossing the second coin at the plate, hitting the front and sliding to the back, stopping just hanging over the back, Akane's hand grabbing his other arm in nervousness, only to release him when she looked up at his cocky grin, "Something wrong Akane?"
He tossed the last coin before she could answer, this one hitting the front edge of the plate, flipping up in the air before landing on the silver plastic and previous coin, its weight holding the second coin from tipping over the edge. He smiled at her, the cocky grin getting under her skin like only he could.
"Who do you think you're fooling, you still had an extra coin in case you blew it," she accused and pointed at the coin still in his hand.
His face was badly feigned innocence, "What ya talking about, I'm just hungry." With a nonchalant toss he flipped the last coin onto an orange plate and turned to the attendant, "The pink pig for the lady and a box of biscuits for me thanks."
Not smiling, the attendant handed the plush toy to Akane and a box of pocky biscuit sticks to Ranma. "Enjoy the rest of the fair, sir."
"Will do, thanks," Ranma said with a nod, not the first time he'd been given the message of move on from such a vendor.
Before he could open the food, Akane snatched the box of biscuits from him, "Save those, you weren't the only one to win something remember," she said, showing the gift vouchers she had won were movie tickets, "You can have them later."
P-chan sat on some grass in the afternoon sun, trying to decide if he should stay again here or leave now. It was good to see Akane again, and her unconditional love for her pet, but he knew his future was with another girl, and he fearfully imagined an angry look on Akari's face if she found out about his P-chan act with Akane, even if he was only did sleep at her feet now. If he left he might be able to find Akari's farm and see her…
As he sighed and pondered, gentle feminine footsteps approached, lithe fingers reaching down to pick the black porcine body from the grass.
Nodoka looked at the black body squealing as she held it up. "Hush hush, little one. I have a present for you."
The older woman's face broke in a frown as the animal quieted and looked at her, like it understood her words. Shaking her head, she turned and walked with it back towards the house. "There you are little one, your new home."
On the veranda was a small dog kennel, more like a dolls house really, with an open end into the pink house-like structure, a pink pet bed inside it. Stencilled over the top of the entrance was the kanji of 'P-chan'.
"This is your new home, P-chan." She said absently, smiling at the cute kennel, "And now my son doesn't have to drive you off, since you won't be sleeping in Akane's bed anymore he won't be jealous."
Nodoka's smile lowered as the piglet looked at the structure, its beady eyes rolling back to look at her. It reminded her of the look in her son's eyes the time she had gotten her son a pretty dress that was just too gorgeous to pass up for when her son had to be a girl. Still, this had been very cheap, an old friend's husband owning a shop that made such dog kennels.
"You wouldn't be able to stay with Akane-chan for very much longer, little one. They are getting much closer, I'm sure we can have another wedding for them soon."
Wanting away from this woman, the imagery she was portraying, and the pink house she wanted him living in, P-chan struggled in her grip, but only managed to turn himself around in her grip.
"You want in already little one?" Nodoka asked obliviously, shifting to keep her grip on the animal and moving to put it in the pink kennel, but stopped, turning him over as she stood back up.
"When did Akane-chan last bathe you, P-chan? We can't have you going in your new home dirty. Let's ask Kasumi-chan if we can use the hand tub to wash you up."
Two red-faced teenagers climbed out of the rollercoaster cart, stepping down as more carnival goers stepped up to take their place. She was red faced from the wild ride, he was red-faced from how she had clung to him, her short hair whipping past his cheek and nose.
Covering his embarrassment, he gestured glowing metal cart, offering ice creams and more, "Hey Akane, want something?"
She nodded, her eyes bright, "Go you halves in some cotton candy?"
Nodding cheerfully, he dutifully went to purchase the confection. Paying with his dwindling supplies, he took a stick of the stringy pink fluff from the vendor, turning to return to Akane. His eyes caught her smile and laughter, but his heart dropped as it wasn't at him, but some guy before her, down on one knee, offering her something. At her blush he reacted.
His body had crossed the distance before his mind had, one hand grabbing the stranger's shoulder, pulling him up and around to face him, the flowers in the guys hand hitting Ranma's chest in the action, "Hey buddy, she don't want any."
Akane frowned then grinned at Ranma's reaction of confusion at the white painted face of the mime, "It's okay Ranma, he's just doing a show." She said coming between them, her fingers deftly taking a piece of the cotton candy from the stick, "Somehow I don't think he's in Kirin or Toma's league for you to rescue me from," she joked, popping the candy in her mouth, her pink tongue licking at sticky fingers.
Calming, slightly embarrassed, Ranma nodded, his cheeks reddening. "Sorry bout that, I mean, you know, with our luck."
Akane nodded, but the antics of the mime behind Ranma, miming out actions of doing his hair and muscle possess in imitation of her fiancé caught her eye and made her giggle. Ranma was less impressed, raising an arm to shoo the mime off.
"Ranma, don't you dare hit that mime!" Akane accused quickly.
The pigtailed boy rounded on her, "I ain't gonna hit him, he ain't a martial artist…"
The laughter of the growing crowd made Ranma turn again, angrily seeing the mime bowing and cowering behind him, as he had placated Akane.
"He's only making a joke, Ranma."
Giving the mime an angry look, he spoke at Akane, "Tell me when he does something funny."
"Don't be such a spoilsport Ranma, he is just performing."
His head swung around on her as her words reverberated in his mind.
-12. A MALE must be ready to perform at all times, a FEMALE is ready when she is ready.-
Shaking it off, he shrugged. "Ain't like its real acting, Akane."
"You think you could do better?" She grinned at him, even as his stomach tightened.
Behind him, the Mime tapped his shoulder, making him turn around before he mimed pulling his glove off, one finger at a time, and once off, slapped the imaginary glove on Ranma's face.
"Look you…"
Akane's hand covered his mouth. "Mime's don't talk. Good luck." She leaned up and kissed his cheek, before stepping back, but the surprise of the moved had him watching her when two more mimes grabbed him and dragged him aside.
Two minutes later, an angry, white painted face Ranma returned, the original mime also returning, in a blue Chinese shirt similar to Ranma's red one, with a false pigtail clipped on behind his neck.
The growing crowd clapped and the mime deeply bowed with a flourished to them, Ranma taking a formal stance and bowing sharply. He looked at his opponent mime, and the mime smiled and walked forward, hand coming out as if to shake when he suddenly stopped, as if hitting something unseen.
With a surprised expression the mime felt out the wall in front, his face growing scared as he felt on this invisible 'wall' between them, moving around the sides as if contained inside this imaginary box. Clicking his finger with an expression of delight, like he suddenly had an idea, he reached to his belt, pulling out an imaginary object. Holding it up, he gestured with his free hand showing it barely a foot in length with a wide head. Reaching again to his belt he pulled out a second item, and placed it against where the walls of his imaginary box met. With a motion, he swung the imaginary hammer on the imaginary chisel, only to cry out soundlessly, grabbing his thumb like in pain, as those in the crowd catching on laughed and clapped. Overacting the regaining of his composure, the mime bent over to pick the imaginary tools up once more, and began hammering at the wall joints, finally miming pushing the wall out, and breathing the air in relief, as the crowd clapped for his performance. Finally the mime bowed to Ranma, letting the pig tailed martial artist know it was his turn.
The boy in question looked to Akane, seeing her happy yet challenging smile, knowing he was 'performing' for her, and figured that it was with big points in this stupid rules thing. At least it better be. 'Okay, Anything Goes School of Martial Arts Mime. Can't be that hard?' he thought to himself, applying the base rules of the Saotome School to the problem. 'Watch, learn, copy, improve.'
Raising his hands, he clapped to Mime, his clapping getting longer as he opened his arms wider with each time, till he copied the Mime's own shocked expression, hands moving against the imaginary box wall, mapping it out for the audience with the flat of his palms, showing he was stuck on all four sides. Exaggerating taking a breath, his stance classical to the martial arts as he visibly found his centre. And as a hush came over the crowd, he lashed out with a fist, pulling it short at the boundary of the imaginary wall.
He pulled it back to his lips in a flash, hunching over as if in pain, stomping his feet as he kissed his knuckles. The Saotome technique of 'Crane with Broken Wing', one he hadn't used since he was about eleven, wasn't the most honourable of tactics, faking breaking your hand so out of sympathy your opponent lets down his guard, but it worked here and that was what mattered. The crowd laughed and he could hear Akane clapping.
Looking up with sudden determination, and struck again, this time going into a training routine he had picked up in his travels, a style that countered grapplers with short sharp strikes, kept close to the body so as to leave less opportunities to grab limbs. After a couple blows against the limits of the box he became a blur of motion, kicks, knees, elbows and punches, all within the box. He slowed down, finally resting one hand on invisible wall as he overacted regaining his breath.
Finally he looked at the mime and clicked his fingers, imitating the mimes inspiration face, and crouched. With a spring he shot up, nearly three meters straight, his hand coming out as if to grasp the top of the wall as he flipped over that point, completing the flip as he landed on his feet. He leant back on the imaginary wall, a smug look on his face, the mime showing surprise as the crowd clapped loudly, Akane's voice ringing out with a happy "Show off!"
Still smirking, the pigtailed boy turned to walk towards Akane, when the mime strode over, grabbing his arm. His other hand came up with pointing finger waving from side to side like a mother scolding a child, but as he did it, the false pigtail began to stand out the back of his head with a life of its own, his eyes closing into squints, and though leaning forward he stumbled backwards three steps. As the mimes hands were held up to push against some pressure against him, the mime continued to try and fight forward.
"Mommy, he's walking against the wind!"
Ignoring the little girl in the crowd, Ranma looked closely at the mime as he worked, watching the movements, his expression showing his lack of awe. Finally, the Mime took two steps more back, miming fighting the imaginary wind to close an imaginary door, and when he finally shut it, stood panting behind it from the exsertion. Standing up, he gestured back to Ranma.
'I ain't doing that crap,' he thought to himself, 'Wind, wind, wind, Dragon blast is too big, most wind is too big, and hard to control direction, can't just push myself up by pushing down…Herb!' Setting himself, Ranma took some deep breaths, focusing his power. Finally, he exhaled, tossing down a fist through the air, and suddenly rocked back two steps and a bit to the left. Deeply focused, he tried again with the other arm, this time leaning forward more and he jolted up in place. Nodding to himself, he took another breath and let fly with both arms, again and again.
How Dragon Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty had projected his chi down he had no idea, must have been part of his dragon heritage, but Ranma's arms flapped in the air, invisible chi blasts jetting down, reflecting off the ground, and up hitting his body. Prepared for them, he absorbed the impacts, the blows lifting him, first a little, then a yard off the ground, his arms like hummingbird wings as the crowd watched him float. Akane's clapping seemed to wake the crowd who clapped along, their acknowledgement making him go higher at first before lowering down to a stop and landing.
Other carnival workers were staring, some in the back talking as loudly as the crowd, but Ranma ignored them, glancing with a smirk to Akane before looking back at white painted faced mine who had got him in this dumb competition. "What's next?"
'Boo's' and 'Shushes' came from the crowd as they stopped cheering for him, Akane shaking her head at him in a disappointed way that reminded him of when she had mothered Ryoga and himself when they had been reduced in age by magical mushrooms. He exaggerated zipping his lips shut before turning against to the mime, who had already started a new routine
The mimes face showed determination as he began bringing out tools, including a gas tank on a trolley, deft moves of his hands hiding a long balloon from the crowd till it had begun to inflate, straight and thin like a yellow sausage, further deft and squeaky movements twisting the balloon till finally he placed the dog like balloon in one little girl's hand, much to the envy of the little boys and girls near her.
Ranma's eyes narrowed as he watched the manoeuvres, looking at the technique, his mind trying to think how to build on what he saw. He watched as the mime used a long red balloon, folding it over and over and over, then a second red balloon, a traditional one, to go in the middle of the length, forming a red flower. Deformed, yet obviously a flower. His blue eyes widened as he realised who it was for.
"Hey, she's…" he said as he tried to beat the mime to Akane, but the words from his mouth got more shushes from the crowd and an unimpressed look from his fiancée who purposefully turned to the smirking mime in his fake pigtail.
Standing impotently, Ranma tried to think of how to mime his way back at the mime, as Akane went along with smelling the red balloon flower like the mime did, the twinkle in her eye he knew was her having fun at his expense, but at the same time waiting for his return on the mime. The mime turned the balloon flower and girl towards him to smell, the petals open towards his face.
-bang-
A little girl shrieked in the crowd as the centre balloon burst, confetti raining over Ranma's face as he ducked back, arms at the ready to defend. Shaking the coloured flecks of paper off, he saw Akane looking concerned at him then growing amused seeing he was fine. He looked around when he realised the mime was gone, finding his opponent had moved back to his gas canister. Shoving balloons into his shirt, the mime turned back, his biceps and chest bulging in his shirt, as he strutted to and fro, coming up beside Akane and pretending to forcefully take her arm and stand beside her like he owned her.
Shaking more confetti out of his hair, ignoring the crowd clapping, Ranma tried to appraise this battle. The mime was putting him down to earn points with the crowd, but how do you put down a mime back without looking like an idiot. The Soul of Ice could suppress a person's feelings of pride and shame, but a mime felt even beyond that at the moment. Even with all the magic tricks he had learnt to counter Mousse's hidden weapon fighting style when the blind Chinese boy had first come to Nerima, he didn't have any good magic tricks to really show this jerk up. And he didn't think using pain pressure points on the mime would earn much with Akane. He took a breath, trying to think.
Looking around, he glanced over where the mime had his props, nodding slowly as he began to move, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. Picking up a top hat, he felt the inside for the false top, not wanting a rabbit dropping out on him, and then used his body to shield his actions from those that could follow his hand as he snatched a second item into the black hat.
Turning back, he held the hat in one hand as he finished taking off his shirt, holding it loosely to one side. Waving the mime out of the way, Ranma came before the crowded onlookers, tensing his muscles for best effect in the muscle shirt he wore as he saw some women in the crowd looking at his arms. With a smile, he waved to the crowd and whipped his red shirt around in a distracting flourish, and put the hat on his head.
The gasps in the crowd came as Ranma-chan posed with the top cap, her figure obvious in the muscle shirt, a trickle of water from the hat ruining the white make up from her temple down one cheek, with more she could feel running down her neck.
The mimes mouth hung open, and when he dropped a curse word more gasps came out of the crowd, many parents rushing to cover the ears of their children before moving away.
Akane rushed forward, grasping the girl and turning her fiancé to her. For a moment, Ranma though she was going to close the distance, but then her hand wiped at the white face paint on her cheek. "Let's get you out of this make up."
Nodding, feeling the moment passing, Ranma tossed the wet top hat back to the props area. "And some hot water." The loss of the moment made his victory feel hollow, but as Akane dragged her along the red head had a funny feeling that she was leading them in pursuit of it.
P-chan lessened his struggles as Nodoka filled the small tub on the edge of the veranda with cold water and knelt down to wash him. Not that struggles had worked, the woman had an iron grip that would not break.
"There now little one, it's not so bad, is it?" Nodoka said calmly, washing over the animal as it became more docile. 'Poor thing must be scared of drowning.' She thought to herself, the piglet again struggling as she turned it over, wiping its stomach and undercarriage, the animal squealing again. Kasumi approached behind the older woman as she held it up, looking for if there was a cut or injury she had just washed to make it squeal so.
"Aunty, here is the hot water," the eldest Tendo's voice said gently, however the piglet panicked even more, struggling in Mrs Saotome's grasp.
"Thank you Kasumi-chan," the older woman replied before 'cooing' to the pet, her grip not giving even as she whispered for the piglet to calm down. When she grasped the kettle to pour over the animal, it got a hoof on her hand to spring free, the older woman lunging to hold on, only to t88ake the kettle and herself over the edge of the balcony.
The public restroom on the grounds of the fair were neat and clean, Akane going to work on removing the makeup on Ranma-chan's face as the red head kept one eye on the mirror, picking bits of confetti out of her hair and ear. A plastic cup of hot water from a tea vendor enroute to the restroom sat on the sink bench.
Her blue eyes looked into Akane's brown orbs and her actions slowed, still wiping the white makeup off his face with a paper towel, but now seeming to caress her skin, amusement tweaking her lips at some private joke.
Equally slowly, the red head picked up the cup, and taking it over her head, Ranma poured the hot water down, keeping his eyes on Akane's as he grew before her, gaining several inches in height. Raking his hand through his hair to flick out some of the water, he let Akane wipe the last of the make up off with the same slow deliberate touch she had been before. "Did you like my performance?"
She smiled and giggled some, here eyes showing how much she liked it, but even as she opened her mouth he knew she'd never say it. "You are such a show off."
"Hey, ya wanted me to put on a show, I put on the best."
"Only because you used your curse, otherwise that big mouth of yours was going to cost you again."
"No chance, I was only getting warmed up. You're just jealous that I could do that and you can't."
Her eyes flashed, "Ranma, I am not jealous of your Mime skills, or your big mouth, big mouth!"
Ranma's fighting instincts rose, but the RULES joined them. Akane is fired up, but that didn't mean she wanted to fight. She might want… him… somehow… or to do something… 'Big mouth…'
He reached out his hand to grab her shoulder, "Maybe not jealous, what about..." Her eyes widened as he leant towards her, letting her eyes close as she tilted up to him…
The giggles of girls made Akane open her eyes, finding herself alone as girls near her age entered, some going to cubicles while others came to the sink near her. Grabbing her stuffed pig to clear room for them, she hid her blush and washed her hands at the end sink.
One of the girls at the sink was applying make up while chatting to her friend, Akane had just enough presence of mind to pick out 'some boys from Furinken high are here' which led to more exacting makeup application as Akane dried her hands and rushed outside, calming at seeing a red faced Ranma trying to look casual across from the restrooms.
She strode over purposefully, pulling out the tickets she had one earlier at the coin toss. "What kind of movie do you want to see, big mouth?"
Nodoka thanked Kasumi as she passed the older woman another towel. One look from the Saotome matron had kept her husband and Soun from giggling like schoolboys at her expense, though she had the funny feeling they were more relieved about something than amused by her being knocked into the dirt, the kettle of warm water making warm mud that coated her dress. "Thank you Kasumi-chan."
"The Furo should be hot."
"Oh good. Please make sure if that pig shows up he doesn't tread mud into the house." She kept her annoyance with the animal in control, recalling how it had fled under the house as she had fallen.
Kasumi nodded politely, taking the muddy towel from Nodoka, before letting the older woman past her towards the bathroom.
Humming to herself, Nodoka closed the door to the change room and began to disrobed, calming herself of the last of her embarrassment at being left in an undignified heap by that piglet, letting it flow away from her. Wrapping a towel around herself, she opened the door letting the steam wash through the doorway, her mind idly wondering how her son's date was going…
"Urk!"
Her eyes widened in shock, the young man standing naked half way out of the bath, frozen in shock, steam obscuring his face but not his stocky body.
Slowly, she stepped back, closing the door.
When the door slammed open again, the Saotome matriarch was still in the towel, her hair down, the family sword out, "Sex maniac!" she cried at the empty room.
Her eyes latched on the shadow leaving the window, a bit of black and yellow stripped cloth on the tiles below it, and she ran back out the door to get outside quickly to try and catch the peeping tom.
The pigtailed boy led his date into the theatre for the afternoon showing, looking up the rows of chairs in the dim light, ignoring the weak music playing in the background. From the murky parts of his mind, his father's words about cinemas rose to the fore and he began to lead Akane towards the front rows, stopping as she didn't follow.
"What's up? You wanna go to the bathroom?"
Akane's frown deepened and he saw her frustration growing. "Let's sit up the back seats."
He returned her frown. "Why? I mean, they're free tickets and all, but Pop's always said if you gonna pay for a movie sit front and centre to get the full affect. Sit way back there and you may as well be watching TV."
Her eyes rolled as she took a deep breath, her brown orbs returning to look directly into his blue eyes. With slow deliberate words she asked a question, "Why exactly are you here, Ranma?"
"Er, to see the movie, with you."
Akane glossed over lack of firmness in his reply, happy with the ending answer and began to lead him up the back of the theatre, her blush returning. At the top of the stairs she had to yank him along again as he went for the centre row of seats while she chose the side.
Sitting beside his fiancée, Ranma wondered at how much worse the view from the back right was to the front and centre, his hand putting the drink they would be sharing in the arm rest holder between them and offering Akane the popcorn. At least it was a free movie.
Several more movie goers arrived, filling up the chairs as the lights dimmed a little more and the screen came alive with advertisements. Twice he brushed his hair away from his face, exactly as others came close in the darkness, slow actions to obscure his face more in the darkness. With his luck someone he knew from school would show up and start blabbing to everyone that he and Akane were on a date, and that'd stir up a storm of trouble. His mind idly imagined Kuno, his loony sister Kodatchi, Ucchan, and Shampoo all crashing through the screen. Certainly make it a horror film.
As the advertisements shifted from local business to upcoming attractions, another couple came up the stairs, taking the seats in their back row, just into the centre seats. His blue eyes rolled and his mouth opened, "You sure you want these seats? They're all couples up here."
Her brown eyes looked at his with mild irritation which softened as she shook her head, "Oh ha ha. Shush and watch the movie, baka."
It actually took a moment for his mind to comprehend what she had replied, as it tried to cope with yet another advance in the changes of his relationship with Akane. He had gone from them liking each other, to a date, to a couple, in very little time. Some part deep inside suddenly started questioning when he had volunteered for this 'couple' thing, but general consensus of the mind of Ranma Saotome wanted to see where this was going.
The movie credits rolled as the cinema was sunk further into stark shadows cast by projected images over the empty seats and heads of the movie viewers. As the characters began to play out the first scenes of the film, Ranma's attention waned, his body more focused on the shoulder to shoulder contact he had with his fiancée, and the way her fingers would brush his arm to reach for a few morsels of popcorn from the box resting on his leg.
Lifting the drink from the cup holder he took a sip from one of the two straws, Akane's hand snaking out of the darkness as he began to lower it, her pretty face emerging from the shadows beside him to draw some soft drink herself, his eyes tracking her lips pursing as she sucked at the straw. Her eyes looked at him as he watched her, and embarrassed he flinched to look back at the film, hearing a breathy cluck from her as the drink was returned to its holder.
In some poorly thought out way of justifying why she had caught him looking at her, he glanced the opposite way, his eyes focusing in on the silhouettes of the near couple watching the film, the outlines in the dark nearly one as the guy held her against his side with an arm around her shoulders.
Not really different than when he walked with his arm around her in the park or at the carnival, he felt pretty sure it wouldn't anger her to try the same, but suddenly the manner in accomplishing getting his arm around her had become… treacherous. He could just put it around her, but suddenly that felt too forward. With a flash of inspiration, the keen Saotome mind had a plan.
-yawn-
The actors had no need to fear for their jobs against Ranma Saotome as he feigned stretching his arms high with his feigned yawn. His arm slowed its descent around her shoulders as he heard breathy giggling from his companion, but as she leaned against him he completed the move, laying his arm around her neck and shoulder, hand on her arm.
They sat together in silence for several minutes, watching the plot try to advance some sort of suspense, but Ranma's tenseness was actually fading as he relaxed into this couple thing.
A tiny sound followed by breathy giggling came from the couple along the row, his eyes turning from the bright screen to see neither of their faces were directed at the screen, instead at each other, and though the shadowed heads were moving, they were a bit too close to be sharing quiet conversation. When the next soft kissing sound came Ranma's eyes were firmly on the screen.
It wasn't that kissing scared him, oh no, after all, they had kissed before, even if he didn't remember and she hated it. He felt that the kiss when he had been in his Cat Personality had never really counted, cause it wasn't wanted, like the kiss that letch skater had stolen from his girl form. His own experience with kissing was generally pretty one sided, either not remembering it or consistently being tricked into it. Suddenly it was important that this first kiss of them being a 'couple', was special.
Swallowing on a dry throat, he lifted the drink again, taking a sip from a straw, and trying not to spray it back as Akane's face came forward, taking up the other straw and drawing back on it with those pursed lips, her hand closing over his on the cup. Neither one actually drank as eyes watched each other from inches away for a long moment.
'Now!' reverberated in his head.
Tentatively he released the straw, and slowly began to close in on her face. Their hands lowered the drink together as their faces turned more towards each other.
"Not here…"
The urgent feminine whisper wasn't loud but it crossed to both of them, Ranma turning his head from Akane as she leaned forward to see past him to the near couple, the slender hand of the silhouetted girl pushing the boy's away from her torso. Murmured words passed between the couple, as Ranma looked again to the screen and Akane leaned back against his arm again. With sudden conscious awareness, he made sure the hand of the arm draped over her back and cupped her shoulder and wasn't dipping down into dangerous regions. When it came to anything like that, he had little doubt Akane's rejection would have been heard all the way back at the dojo.
Minutes past as a story progressed on the screen, before Ranma felt Akane move again. With a rather sudden movement, she rummaged in her bag and found the chocolate pocky box they had won earlier at the carnival, opening the box and offering him the first biscuit. With a whispered "thank you" he took the thin chocolate covered cookie stick and began to munch down on it. Soon enough three or four sticks had vanished from the small pack and he again reached for the soft drink, raising it to his lips, one eye scanning for if Akane was going to match him again. With a certain disappointment, she didn't.
As he returned the cup to its holder, he glanced at her again, seeing her watching him, a pocky stick held like a straw in her mouth, tipping up to point at his lips as he looked. Swallowing nervousness which didn't leave, he began to lean in as she matched him, taking the length of stick extending from her mouth in his and slowly moving up it.
The crack at the biscuit braking between them made them flinch like it had been a thunder clap, but glancing around no one was watching and he relaxed back, slumping further as he realised another moment had been broken. Two near times, and both blown, and he suddenly felt sure they were running out of movie.
He leant his head down to hers, "Pst, Akane, do you thi…"
His voice trailed off as Akane grabbed his chin with strong fingers and brought her face up to his.
"No,mmh, don't!"
Akane glared around him at the boy of the other couple, Ranma turning from his fiancée at the girl's muffled word, and the sight of her pushing her partners hands off her didn't help as he muffled her voice with his lips again.
"Buddy, she said no!" he hissed warningly, cracking his knuckles.
The boy backed off the girl, who looked with red faced horror at the pigtailed martial artist. "Ranma?"
Akane stood to look over Ranma in recognition of her, "Yuka?"
Daisuki sat back in his seat and tried to hide from Ranma behind his date, "Oh crap."
To be concluded…
Special thanks to MwhaleK, Paul Henkel, Rosedreams, Jamison Whithehead, Wheedle1, tendoakane3, and Sakurabana for proof reading and plot inspiring.
Thank you for reading.
Trent O'Donoghue