Next! Expect the 8th chapter soon!
Cupid Inc.
CHAPTER 7 Somebody Else's Love life
Mayami was bored. Really bored. Ever since the 'incident' last night, there had been little interaction between her two subjects. Because of that, she was now left with very little to do, seeing as how they were her only case. She was a little mad though. I give her the perfect opportunity to kiss him, and she still backs out!
She was, once again, going over her files, trying to figure out a way to get them to admit, when someone knocked on the thin walls that divided the cubicles.
"May I come in?"
Mayami looked up and saw Soujiro, a fellow Cupid and good friend, standing in the opening. "Sure," she smiled, "Come in. Can I get you something? I was about to make myself a milkshake."
"Yeah, great, some cherry coke."
Mayami laughed. "You and your cherry coke."
"What?" he raised his hands innocently, "I just like it!"
"Not really manly though," Mayami said smiling and snapped her fingers. A thick chocolate milkshake and an purple can appeared. "Here."
She gave the can to Soujiro and grabbed the milkshake herself. "So," she said, after a sip, "What job are you working on?"
Soujiro brought the can to his mouth, drained it half and winched. "The Hibiki-case."
Mayami made a face. "Is it that bad?"
Soujiro nodded sadly. "The guy has no sense of direction, I've been al over the world looking after him and when I do get him in the right place, he overreacts to my guidance."
Mayami looked confused. "Overreacts? How is that?"
Soujiro laughed. "I wanted him to be nice to the girl and ask her out. And what does he do? He jumps on her counter and starts shouting that he loves her."
Mayami choked in her sip of milkshake and it sprayed out of mouth. "You're kidding?"
Soujiro shook his head. "I'm afraid not. This is going take forever."
Mayami decided it was best not to tell him that she was the one who brought in that case.What he doesn't know can't hurt me!
Mayami looked down at her robes that were once white but now sprinkled with chocolate milkshake.
Soujiro saw what she was looking at. "You'd better get that cleaned. If Madam sees you this way..." He imitated Madam's voice. "You should know, Mayami, that Cupid should always look their best. We are pure beings so we have a pure appearance."
Mayami laughed. Then froze as she heard the same voice, now only with it's original owner attached. "Well, Soujiro, that was an interesting impression. Please follow me."
With that Madam left. Soujiro gave Mayami a small smile and a wave and followed her.
She felt sorry for him. He always got in trouble with Madam. That's probably why he got the Ryoga-case; he always got the lousy jobs. Mayami had met Soujiro when she'd applied for the job of Cupid. His whole family had been Cupids, so it was obvious he would be too.After the first few cases though, it became clear that they both stunk at it. Even Soujiro, with all his Cupid heritage, seemed to bring most of his cases to an end in a most terrible way. Shared misery is half the misery, as they say, and the two had been best friends ever since. Mayami focused on the files in front of her. Back to work.
She would have so, if a big bunch of hair hadn't suddenly blocked her view. Looking up, Mayami saw Akina, the girl that occupied the next cubicle, trying to get her attention. She sighed. "What do you want, Akina?"
Mayami didn't like her very much. There wasn't a guy left in the office that Akina hadn't played tonsil-hockey with, with exception of Soujiro, but he was too dense to notice Akina's flirtations. In Mayami's opinion, she was the office-slut.
Akina looked at her with question written all over her face. "I was just wondering what the deal is between you and Soujiro? I mean, you guys spend so much time together, are you an item or something?"
Mayami sighed again. "No, Akina, we're not. I've told you a hundred times."
Akina shrugged. "Well, do you mind if I have a go at him then? He's drop-dead gorgeous."
She ended that statement with a big sigh. Mayami pushed the hair out of her face and went back to work. "Whatever..." she mumbled.
Akina, thrilled with that answer, disappeared behind the wall. Mayami leaned back in her chair and brushed her auburn hair behind her ears. She wanted to focus on work, and now Akina's ruined that for her.
A thought bounded into her mind. Is Soujiro really that much of a looker? Because she was his friend, she didn't look at him like a romantic prospect. Every once in a while though, Akina or one of the other girls at the office asked about him and her, and she couldn't help but glance at him the next time she saw him.
She
shook her head to clear her mind. Sure, he was goodlooking, but that's nothing to be distracted about.
Shaking her head one more time, Mayami grabbed her papers again, determined to get some word done.
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That afternoon Ranma and Akane walked home from school, he on the fence, and she on the sidewalk next to him. Neither of them said a single word. Ranma had had enough.
This is crazy. Nothing happened, and something weird is going on.
Suddenly, he jumped of the fence and landed right in front of Akane. She stopped but didn't look up.
"Akane, we need to talk." She didn't answer. "Akane?"
When she still didn't replied, Ranma gently grabbed her chin and lifted her face up. Her big, brown eyes found his and Ranma was shocked to discover that there were tears in her eyes.
"It's..." she whispered with a thick throat, "It's just... too embarrassing.. what I did... what I almost did..."
She suddenly looked frightened. "I didn't do it! I... there was... someone... making me... you have to believe me..."
"I believe you..." Ranma interrupted her.
"I would never... what?" Akane couldn't believe her ears. "You believe me?"
Ranma nodded. "Yup. Now what happened to you?"
Akane began to explain, about the mysterious voice in her head, how it took over her body and made her say things, do things that she didn't want to do. After she was done, Ranma frowned."She was in my head too."
Akane nodded. "I figured that too."
"Sounds like the same person. Now, you said she something about doing the job for us?"
Akane nodded again. "Yeah, because it should be happening or something."
"So it could happen again." Ranma stated.
A look of anger and fright crossed Akane's face. "Happen again? I don't want her in my head again!"
Ranma stopped her worrying by placing his hand on her shoulder. "I don't want that either, but if it happens, I will know. You act all... girly... when she's in you."
Akane's confused look changed into a glare. Ranma retracted his hand and waved both of them in front of him.
"Hey, it's true! Anyway, it isn't like I like it or anything." He lowered his hands. 'Next time, we'll pretend we don't know she's there and, well, take it from there.'
Akane suddenly got a thought. "What if she's... well, invisible? What if she's been with us all the time? That would explain how she got to us unnoticed."
Both teens looked around tentatively, like they expected to see someone peering at them from an alleyway next to them. Akane shook her head and looked back at Ranma. "Forget it. Now, how do we lure her?"
Ranma thought for a moment, then it struck him. "Well, we've only met her when we were all alone. So that's it!" He threw his arms out. "We just have to stay together, alone at all times! She's bound to show up then!"
Till next time,
Ameko
