Chapter 4:
Pffft. It's been so long since I last updated this. I've been working (or not working, heheh) on a web-comic, and that's getting remodeled, so I find myself with more (non-guilty) free-time to work on this. I'm sort of scrambling for ideas because I'm not sure how fast or slow I want this to go, but I guess by the fourth chapter we should've progressed the storyline at least a little bit. Ha ha! I promised Shampoo, Mousse, Kuno and (shudder) Kodachi in this chapter. Hmm, this should be interesting (not to mention long…).
Thanks for the reviews, again.
Akane stretched out, feeling the little crick in her neck pop back into place. She tapped her pencil lightly on the side of the desk, staring down at her geometry homework. She wasn't a brilliant student, especially with her habit for selective hearing, but she passed with a little above average. Considering this, she had to wonder what kind of grades Nabiki had, as she'd never taken a peek at her report-card before. She found herself giggling a little at the thought of Nabiki cheating on a test or selling the answers. Nabiki wasn't generally a cheater, just a … practical thinker.
She sat back a little more. See, I laughed. The world isn't ending. He's probably training, and then he'll be back, teasing me… Her brown eyes trailed up the bulletin board she had over her desk. There was the empty spot. Back down on her desk was a picture in a clear frame, Ranma surrounded by girls. Akane pushed it a little to the side. There were marks in the corners where thumb tacks used to hold the picture up elsewhere. Did he really become that important to us? She traced the side of the frame, it was smooth and cool, just as when she first got it as a Christmas present from Ranma.
"Hmph." She rose and pushed the chair in, stuffing the homework in her backpack. She decided to finish it later that night, today was Saturday, and one of her few precious days off from the asylum called Furinkan High. She grabbed a black purse, the ones with the old-fashioned latches on a brass clasp, and slipped on a blazer. She marched from her room, down the hallway, down the stairs, propelled by pure stubbornness. She burst into the multi-purpose dining/living room where her father and sisters sat around a plate of oranges watching T.V. Nabiki and Kasumi looked up. Sagaciously, Kasumi paused in peeling an orange as to not slice her fingers off.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to take the afternoon off, and spend the rest of the day out. I'm going to relax." She declared, as though this were a drastically important decision.
"How will we find you if we need you?" Soun asked, separating cleaves of oranges into little rows on six rectangular plates. She figured they were preparing a dessert.
"Need me for what? Kasumi's finished most of her housework... If there are any errands to run, I can get them while I'm out."
Soun looked up and smiled a little. "OK, I guess we'll live without you for a few hours. Be sure not to wander too far, and try to look out for yourself." He said in that typical fatherly voice.
"Don't worry, I always do. And I won't go any place I'm not familiar with." Akane responded, feeling his fatherly-ness was misplaced; it would have been more helpful the last time Kuno barreled into the house. She slipped into her tennis shoes. "Are you sure there's not anything you need me to get?"
"Some extra rice would be nice," Kasumi started, having returned to her peeling. "Just a medium bag, if you could please stop by the convenience store. They should have it."
"Sure, 'sis." Akane nodded. She started out, closing the door behind her. She stopped for a minute to consider what she was wearing: the dark red blazer over a white tank-top, with a paler, more pink-ish skirt down to her ankles. It was rather Valentines-y, in her own mind, but there certainly wasn't anything wrong with it, and the weather was cool and not too warm. So she continued out of the Tendou gates, the little black purse clutched in both hands.
--
Elsewhere, namely, the other side of town…
"You know, I can't pay you, but if you want to start cleaning dishes that's fine with me."
"…Huh?"
He looked up abruptly, balancing a stack of three or so plates, holding them level with his head. Staring blankly in the direction the voice came from, he managed to splutter out, "U… Ukyou?"
"Uh-huh."
"But this is… Nekohanten?"
"Nuh-uh."
"…"
She reached out and flicked down his glasses, which previously were precariously perched on his forehead. The lenses fell down before his eyes and suddenly things came back into focus. There was brunette Ukyou, her hair pulled back in a signature ponytail, today with a thin sky-blue tie. She had an insanely large spatula strapped to her back by a rather thin leather cord, which rested at an angle over the bandolier of cooking utensils. This was donned over a black sort of corset, and the trousers from the Furinkan High uniform. The boys' uniform. For some reason, the strange thought occurred to him that she vaguely resembled a dominatrix- if not for her large and clear eyes- and that the leather cord could easily be used as whip. He dismissed the thought quickly and blamed it on his days spent being tortured by the disturbing Amazons back home.
"Um… Hi."
"Heya." She responded casually. She took the dishes from his raised hand, and set them down by the counter with the other dishes collected throughout the day. He glanced around the restaurant, a few tables here and there, a couple of flyers, it was very nice. Especially with the counter in the front where one could sit and chat while watching the Okonomiyaki master prepare the dish right in front of you. Now that he had his glasses on, Mousse wondered whatever possessed him to believe this was the Cat Café.
"I'm, um, er, I'm used to just coming in and picking up work at the Nekohanten, so…"
She chuckled a little. "It's all right. You should stay and eat as long as you're here." Ukyou gestured to the frying surface, slick and black. She also held up a spatula- this one dwarfed by the one on her back.
"Ah, no, I couldn't, I have to work…"
"For why? Don't you live in the back of the Nekohanten? Does that old Ghoul make you pay a big rent?"
"No, she deducts that automatically from my paycheck… I'm just saving up for, for… something." Mousse automatically understood 'Ghoul' to mean Cologne. Everyone called her that- with good reason.
A sly smile spread across the young chef's face. "Something like… a date with Shampoo?"
He jumped, and he adjusted his glasses with hands long lost somewhere in his huge sleeves. "How did you know?
"Come on, it's so obvious."
"Well, I'm grateful just to be near her, but it's not enough, I wish I could break that damn spell Ranma has over her…" He tensed visibly. Ukyou hadn't really noticed before, or maybe she had, but Mousse really could be maudlin at times.
She sighed in exasperation at the mention of Ranma's name. He was her sweetheart, her friend, and an idiot. "Well, you won't have to worry about him for a while."
Mousse perked up at the mention of this. Lifting his cheek off of his hand, his recent position in sulking, he blinked through the thick glass before his eyes. "Why? Did something happen to him?"
Ukyou blinked back. "Are you concerned?"
"Of course not! I'm just curious." Mousse did tend to have a regal look about him, at least, when he wasn't being a lovey-dovey goofball over Shampoo. Now he tossed his hair back in defiance and gave her a little harrumph, followed by a serious glare. She opted not to tease him anymore or he might damage something. Possibly, the restaurant.
"He's on vacation. He up and left two nights ago, no one's sure when he's coming back. I overheard Akane talking about it at school- poor thing's upset, though she won't admit it."
But the last part was of no concern to Mousse. He looked a little dazed, then nonplussed as he put a single finger to his temple. He was silent for a while longer before looking up again. "But if he's gone, that means Shampoo will-"
Before he had a chance to finish this, the said Chinese Amazon came bursting through Ucchans' Okonomiyaki shop doors, succeeding in breaking them off their hinges. The crash was followed quickly by a cry of "SPATULA GIRL!"
"….do something like that." Mousse trailed off.
"What is it, Shampoo?"
The question barely left her mouth before Shampoo stormed up to the counter, stepping over it to grab onto what there was to grab onto of Ukyous' corset outfit. The amazons' sleeves were rolled up and she clutched a bon-bori(?) in one hand. Shampoo growled at Ukyous' evident disinterest.
"What you do with Ranma?" Shampoo growled, intense auburn eyes narrowed into the chefs black ones. She spoke in her usual fractured Japanese, layered with her high-pitched voice and Chinese accent.
"Nothing. As I was just explaining to your boyfriend here, Ranma went off of his own accord."
"Liar! He had- Mousse is not-" Shampoo stumbled verbally for a minute, trying to viciously reply to two things at once, "Ranma is only one Shampoo care about! He no leave without good reason, without taking Shampoo with!" Oh, yes, clever response.
Ukyou restrained herself from openly mocking the Amazon's third-person ranting, and simply shrugged, pulling Shampoo's hand off of her corset. "I wasn't even there, Shampoo. He lives at Akane's house, and he left from there, I should think."
"Then it Akane's fault!" Shampoo declared.
"No, well, maybe. I don't know. Akane seemed upset, and if it was her fault, I think she'd be denying it furiously."
"…True…" She admitted reluctantly.
In the meantime, poor Mousse stood watching back and forth, not needing his glasses to follow the discussion from purple-pink shape to black and brown-ish shape. Mentally, he chuckled at the description, then realized (for a second time) the actuality of this situation.
"Wait, wait!" He burst out suddenly, in the middle of the two girls trading off ideas of hunting down Ranma. This succeeded in grabbing their attention, both looking slightly annoyed that he had interfered. "Shampoo's not the only one after Ranma. That scary gymnastics lady will probably notice something's up."
"That's right!" Ukyou's eyes lit up. She bounced her fist against her open palm, staring straight forward as if she could see through the restaurant walls by will alone. "I wonder what Kodachi will have to say about Ranma's absence?"
--
Elsewhere again, namely some corner of the town we're not sure even exists,
" I DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT! DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU CRAZY-"
"LIES! LIES, ALL OF THEM! YOU WRETCHED WITCH!"
The poor floorboards splintered apart upon impact. Kodachi withdrew the club-like gymnastics ribbon from the wooden rubble. Currently, the fight had been moved to the walkway of the house next to the garden. Kodachi glanced at the pond where Mr. Turtle was, but he had been recently fed, and may not be that much of a help.
Akane wheezed slightly, seeing the damage of the ribbon. It was a total and complete accident- she passed the Kuno house on her way to a fair, and the enraged Kodachi just burst out, screaming bloody murder. Akane backed up a step, catching the gymnast's attention.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" She screeched, jabbing the club-ribbon forward. "You're going to pay for chasing away my darling Ranma-chan!"
"Ranma-cha..? Look, I didn't chase him away, he just left! He didn't… He didn't even …" She was about to say he didn't even say goodbye, but that was a lie. She briefly remembered his good-bye speech, before he jumped out of the window. She shook her head to disperse the memory.
"He just up and left, okay? If it had anything to do with anybody, it was probably people like YOU!" She thrust her index finger at Kodachi, struggling to keep the volume down. She was sick of the entire buzz about Ranma being gone. "He goes on training trips all the time. What's the big deal!"
"O-HO HO HO HO HO!" Kodachi erupted, succeeding in frightening the Tendo in front of her. "I'm not deaf, my dear Akane. My barely-useful brother told me that Ranma-chan was gone for good."
"Kodachi, your brother's an idiot."
"I'LL HEAR NO MORE!" Kodachi ended this with a most dramatic flourish, swinging the ribbon out in front of her. It unraveled and twisted gracefully before falling limply at her feet.
"Leave, Akane Tendo, I must prepare to go after my darling!"
"You're the one who chased me in here! G… GO AFTER?" Akane spluttered.
"Of course." Kodachi brought her arms inwards, holding herself delicately. "I can tell, because of the bond between us that my darling is in desperate need of comfort." She sighed deeply, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I am obviously the only one suited to comfort him in his time of need. I must find him, and bring my beloved Ranma-chan back to his senses!"
"You're the one who needs to come back to their senses…" Akane mumbled under her breath. Gathering her wits, Akane began her march out of the Kuno residence. Before she rounded the corner, she turned to Kodachi.
"And by the way, darling, Ranma promised me he'd come back when he left. He didn't drop in on you, did he? Oh, well. It must've slipped his mind." And feeling wonderfully devious, Akane flitted out of the Kuno home in a hurry, miraculously finding the gates without bumping into Tatewaki.
"Why, I ... She…. That little…" Kodachi's frustrations could be heard throughout Nerima.
---OWARI---
FINALLY. Sheeee… took me forever to get this one up nn; I wish they were better. But they're supposed to be humorous, so they can't be as flowery as I would like them to.