Ultimate Blind Date!
Chapter One: The Idea
A/N: The things that occur to you in the shower…enjoy! Also, please review for suggestions for more "blind dates" between any anime / manga / rpg couples, yaoi or otherwise. If it's intriguing enough I'll definitely pull it out.
P.S. : Due to the crossover heavy nature of this fic, be prepared to guess at which character from which show. I guarantee not knowing the anime from which the character belongs isn't going to affect reading this one bit. They're all in a nice neutral (albeit slight crazy) environment.
Disclaimer: No, no, I do not own any of the characters I use below. They all belong to their respective authors; but that doesn't mean I can't air them out a bit? Right?
"All right guys, it looks like everyone's here, but you know the drill. Roll call, since voting might be in order." The university's student board president sat down at the head of a long table in the conference room. He glanced the board secretary. "Well, get a move on."
"Right." She coughed. "Starting with Student Board President, Minami Namba."
"Here." Namba nodded vigilantly.
"Vice-president, Yuki Sohma."
"Present." Yuki replied politely.
"Comptroller, Sango Taijiya."
"Here." Sango didn't look up from the accounts register.
"Secretary, Relena Peacecraft, here." Relena muttered quickly.
"Senior Representative and Faculty liaison, Anko Mitarashi."
"Hungry." Anko smirked.
"Senior Representative and Interfaith liaison, Genjo Sanzo."
"Alive." Sanzo voice came in a sleepy mutter. "Damn roll-calls."
"Junior Representative and Intramural liaison, Squall Leonhart."
"Just Leon, God..." Leon shook his head. "Present."
"Junior Representative and Performing Arts liaison, Mawata Awayuki."
"Here." Mawata looked up briefly before opening a notebook.
"Sophomore Representative and Gay/Lesbian/Transgender liaison, Shuichi Shindou."
"Present!" Shuichi's cheerful response lit up the room momentarily.
Relena smiled before moving on. "Sophomore Representative and Transfer Students liaison, Ayeka Jurai."
"Present." Ayeka's response was crisp and precise.
"Freshman Representative and International Students liaison, 'Amiboshi' Wu Gang-De."
"Here." Amiboshi made a little wave with his hand.
"Finally, Freshman Representative and Honors board liaison, Ami Mizuno-Anderson."
"Present." Ami quickly shut down her tiny laptop.
"All accounted for, President Namba." Relena affirmed.
"Good, good. So now that roll-call's taken care of, let's get down to business. So what's new?"
"Well, it's getting near Valentine's Day, and everyone's finally worn down from Christmas."
"Not to mention our funds are pretty worn as well."
"It was for a good cause!"
"Well we need another good cause if we want any money to run some more student activities."
It was a regular meeting of the university's student activities board, an elite group of upper-classmen students from all walks of campus life. Twelve members comprised the board, which managed everything from welcome weeks for freshmen and transfers, to the occasional formals the school held; however, after a series of winter festivals and dances, they were running sadly low on cash, and it was doubtful their benefactors would contribute so soon after the holiday season.
Sango sighed, examining the figures in the board's accounts book once again, hoping that she had read wrong the first dozen times. "Look, we only have about five dollars left on the bank." She grimaced. Somehow saying the figure aloud made it all the worse.
"What a coincidence!" Shuichi exclaimed. "That's how much I have left on my account!"
"No wonder you don't get what kind of shit we're in." A grumble from the far side of the long table could only come from Sanzo.
"It's not that bad guys." Relena protested. "All we need is a good idea for a fundraiser."
The group looked at each other in silence. "Um…any takers?" Relena asked hopefully.
"Bake sale?" Mawata suggested in a bored tone.
"Done it before. People find that they can go on their meal card to the dining rooms and get cookies free, basically. So no go." Anko shrugged.
"Just a thought." Mawata rolled her eyes and continued taking notes; whatever she was doing however, didn't seem like board work.
"A car wash would be almost pointless, considering how many people use public transportation here. Raffles might work, but we don't have the money to even buy prizes. Same goes for dances, or anything dance-related." Amiboshi seemed to be dismissing most of the high-school type fundraisers.
Minami Namba, the president of the board, nodded. "All true. What we need is something fresh, original."
"How about that idea your brother suggested at breakfast, Yuki?" Shuichi said excitedly.
"Which one?" The handsome Sohma seemed to have a look of dread on his face just in anticipation of the question.
"A strip show!"
There was an interestingly mixed reaction from among the listeners.
"An intriguing idea, Shuichi, but I don't believe the teachers would approve…right Anko?" Anko Mitarashi served double duty both as a senior representative and as the voice of the faculty on the board.
"You don't have to check with me to know that won't fly." Anko smirked. "Although, if it's a male strip show we might get a lot of revenue from the community."
"No kidding, considering that the number of single straight women on campus is nearly triple that of the number of single straight males." Relena muttered.
"Think quadruple." Ayeka agreed gloomily.
"It's not that bad." Sango and Amy protested weakly. The females on the board just looked at them while the guys grinned on.
"If you feel that way, I think I have an idea." A new voice spoke up. Even Mawata stared in surprise at the usually silent Leon.
"Ideas are good. Share, please." Sango prodded. Namba nodded.
After a moment's hesitation, he spoke. "Since it's almost Valentine's Day, and also because you brought up that little problem about the lack of available men…"
"Sure, I bet it's not a problem for you." Anko grumbled. Sango privately agreed.
"You know, it's not that easy for gay men either." Shuichi countered, for once serious.
"Don't even talk about the amount of hot gay men that are totally unavailable to us!" Relena joined the battle.
"There's not as many as you think." Shuichi pointed out.
"Don't even joke; this school is known all over for being one of the most sexual-orientation open campuses. We've got at least six times the usual amount of gay/lesbian/transgender students going here." Ayeka reported.
"Try ten times." Relena agreed.
"This sounds a bit familiar." Yuki shook his head.
"We're getting nowhere with this bullshit." Sanzo slouched further in his executive chair, if such a thing were possible. "Hurry up, I've got to get to work."
"For once I agree with Sanzo." Mawata yawned.
"Ladies, ladies, let's hear what Leon has to say." Namba turned up the smile that had won him the presidential seat. Not surprisingly, everyone subsided.
"Are you done yet?" Leon growled.
The board nodded.
"Damn. This is why I don't speak up at these meetings." Leon sat back in his chair.
"Beats me why I ever agreed to do this." Sanzo nodded.
"Beats me how you ever got elected." Anko added.
"In the words of an acquaintance, it was a 'sweet revenge'." Sanzo's eyes fairly shone with a dark anger. "So what of your plan, Leon?"
"As I said, since it's getting near to Valentine's Day, and since there's so many available women who would jump at the chance to date a 'single straight male'…"
"Hell, I don't even care if he's single." Anko muttered. Ayeka and Relena nodded in agreement, while Amy blushed and Sango frowned. Mawata just kept writing.
"…how about a dating service?" Leon finally finished.
The other eleven members stared.
"You mean, like a blind-date business?" Amiboshi just wanted to clarify.
"Exactly like a blind-date service." Leon nodded.
"Sounds good, but there's a lot of little kinks that would have to be worked out." Sango warned.
"How would we go about the whole idea?" Ami wondered.
"How about a consultation service? The person comes to us, tells us what they're interested in a potential date, and we go out and find a good fit for the person?" Namba suggested.
"We could charge per match." This came from Yuki.
"Would they have to pay for the date, or would we set up the date location?" Sango asked, worried as always about the practically non-existent budget.
"They would pay, of course. Paying for the meal is simply another test of the date's genteel attitude." Mawata replied without looking up.
"Of course." Sango rolled her eyes. Only Mawata would assume that the guy would always pay for her.
"So it sounds good, but do we know enough people to make good matches?" Amiboshi questioned.
"Between the twelve of us, I'm sure we have the whole campus plus the local clubs covered." Namba answered confidently.
"I think he means himself personally." Relena muttered in an aside to Ayeka, who giggled.
"So we'll set it up. How much per match?" Sango began writing down the figures.
"How about a free consultation with $20 for the match-up?" Ami suggested.
"What if the match is bad and they want their money back?" Yuki asked.
"Tell them: too bad sucker; maybe if you weren't such a shithead you would actually get some."
"Um…Sanzo, I don't think we should tell them quite that." Ayeka looked incredulous.
"And why not?" An eyebrow arched.
"How about a free second match-up if it's bad?" Leon cut through the potential verbal fight.
"Sounds good to me." Relena scribbled down the details.
"If the idea gets popular, perhaps we can raise the prices." Sango said hopefully.
"Maybe, but I don't want to lose business because of greed." Leon replied.
"So what do you say, el presidente?" Shuichi looked over at the quietly pondering Namba.
President Namba raised his head after a moment's silence and smiled. "I say, let's get this show on the road."