Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Phoenix: Reignited Edition ❯ 2.13: Breaking a Leg ( Chapter 37 )

Ranko stiffened as she heard the knock on her apartment door. Relax, Ranko, she admonished herself. Nobody’s gonna get me in here. I’m safe. I dealt with that jerk last night. She exhaled heavily, calming herself. “Come in.” She heard the door open behind her, but did not turn from her position sitting on the bed to address the newcomer.

The songstress was wearing the green velvet dress with the white faux fur trim that Izumi had picked for her, accessorized with white lace stockings that came up to the middle of her calves. Her matching white lace gloves had tiny satin bows at the back of the wrists, and despite Izumi’s encouragement to take it off, her silver dragon bracelet remained coiled around her left arm. Her hair hung in a single braided ponytail, but Izumi had weaved a white ribbon into it, giving it the red-and-white swirled appearance of a candy cane. Her fingernails were painted in alternating red and green glitter polish, and she wore a full face of makeup - in part to hide the puffiness under her eyes that would have betrayed how much crying she had done the night before. A Santa hat in a matching green velvet sat on the bed beside her.

Ranko grumbled under her breath as she struggled to clasp a choker around her neck behind her back. “I’m almost done, honest. I’ll be down in just a few minutes.”

“So,” came a voice from the doorway. “I understand it’s tradition that the leading lady gets flowers in her dressing room before the big show.”

Ranko swiveled on the bed, her eyes brightening immediately at the familiar voice. “Akane! You came!” Her once-betrothed stood in her doorway in a white turtleneck sweater and a long, heavy red skirt, holding a lavender-tinted glass vase containing a dozen white roses. “How did you even know we were doing this tonight?!” Gods, it’s so good to see her, Ranko thought, beaming. It’s been a hell of a few days, and I could really use the pick-me-up.

Akane set the vase on Ranko’s little dinette table before reaching into the pocket of her corduroy skirt and pulling out a Polaroid photograph. She held it up so Ranko could see. “The Nabiki News Network.”

Ranko giggled a little at Akane’s statement. “Well, tell her thank you for me. I’m so glad you’re here!” She stood to join Akane at the table, reaching out for a hug.

Akane released her once-partner after a moment and looked her over from head to toe. “You look…”

The redhead sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Ridiculous, I know. Don’t blame me, Izzi picked it out.”

Akane shook her head, grinning. “I was going to say cute. Really cute, actually.”

The songstress blushed deeply, looking down at her stockinged feet and biting her lip. As strange as it was to enjoy being called cute, it also made her feel guilty for all the times she’d said the opposite to Akane. She’d never realized how much it must have hurt her. “I, umm... I’m glad you approve,” she said with a playful smicker.

Akane motioned to the bed. “Do you need some help with your necklace?” She reached out, taking Ranko’s right hand without waiting for affirmation and giving it a reassuring squeeze as she started to pull the redhead toward the bed. She looked up in surprise when Ranko let out a sharp yelp. Akane turned back to face her, worry in her eyes. “Ranko? What’s the matter?!”

Ranko exhaled through her gritted teeth. “Nothing, I’m okay.”

Akane looked the slender girl over skeptically. “You know, I’ve known you for long enough to know when you’re lying.” She reached up Ranko’s arm, hooking her finger around the wrist of the lace glove on her hand and pulling it off. She gasped at what she saw. All four of Ranko’s knuckles were swollen, and her fingers were bruised black and purple. “My gods, what happened?! Were you in a fight?”

The redhead snatched her glove back up off the bed. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I can’t go down this rabbit hole now, not right before I get on stage. I don’t need all that shit in my head.

“But… are you okay?” Akane’s hand instinctively rose to her lips.

Ranko nodded, a light tinkling sound coming from the small silver jingle bells that dangled from her earlobes. “I’m fine. You should see the other guy.” Ranko legitimately did not know if the other guy was even still alive. She wasn’t entirely sure if she even hoped so.

Akane put on a smile, taking Ranko’s lead that it wasn’t the best time to talk about whatever happened to her hand. I’ll ask her about it again after the show. “Well, at least you can’t sneak up on anybody.” She reached out with one finger, poking one of Ranko’s earrings and listening to it ring out. She giggled as the earring fell to the floor.

Ranko joined her in her laughter as she bent down to the floor for the little bell. “Izzi had to get me clip-ons. They don’t stay on too good. I’m worried they’re gonna fall off when I dance, but I’m not supposed to change the studs they pierced my ears with for a few more weeks.”

Akane bit her tongue as the bell dangling from Ranko’s other ear rang. The sound reminds me of the cat Kasumi had when we were little. Something tells me I shouldn’t talk about him in present company, though… She blushed at the thought of Ranko in her current form entering the Cat Fist state. Ever since Ranko’s father tried to teach her the deadly martial arts technique by throwing her into a pit of starving cats, the poor girl’s ailurophobia was so severe that even the mention of cats could manifest could trigger a trauma response: Ranko involuntarily acting exactly like a cat until her nerves could be soothed. It was disconcerting, but Akane couldn’t help but think it was cute, too - especially the fact that Ranko’s “cat mode” always seemed to gravitate toward Akane for safety and comfort.

“Well, come here, you.” She scooped up the necklace, a white lace choker with a little silver heart dangling from it, from the bed. “Turn around, let me see?” Ranko complied, and she felt Akane drape her arms over her shoulders. There was a brief tension on the choker as Akane pulled it back to manipulate the clasp. “There, all done!”

Ranko spun around in place, finding herself face-to-face with Akane, the shorter girl’s arms still wrapped around her neck. She blushed furiously, flashing a shying smile. “I, ah, um… thanks, Akane.”

“Ahh… well, I… I know you’re going to do great tonight.” Akane blushed as well, pulling her arms back to her sides quickly.

The performer smiled, fidgeting with her skirt. It still feels weird, wearing a dress in front of her. “I hope so. We’ve got a lot riding on this tonight. I’ll tell Izzi to save you a seat up front.”

Akane waved her off. “Yui already took care of it.” Her cheeks flushed again, and she shrank a bit with a smile. “She said it was officially the VIP table.”

“Well, that’s good. Hopefully, it’s busy enough that you need the reservation. We really need a big night tonight.” Her eyes bore a nervousness Akane wasn’t used to seeing on Ranma’s face, but, Akane reminded herself, it was no longer Ranma to whom she was speaking.

The taller girl grinned. She really doesn’t know? “Um, Ran-chan…” Akane was still struggling to get used to Ranko’s new name sometimes, especially when she was lost in her memories of the time before Ranko had left her family’s home, and Ukyo’s old nickname for her seemed a reasonable compromise. “You… haven’t looked out your window, have you?”

Checking herself over in the mirror one last time, Ranko shook her head, another little jingle punctuating her response. “Been getting ready for the last hour and a half. Man, sometimes I miss throwing on a shirt and some gi pants and being done.”

Akane waved her over to the apartment’s lone window, between the kitchenette and Ranko’s white pine nightstand. “Come here a sec.” She pulled the lavender curtain to the side, exposing the apartment to the orange glow of the setting sun, and the narrow alley running between the bar and the discount store next door.

The songstress padded over in her lace stockings to join Akane, and her eyes widened as she took in the scene. There was a line three and four people wide all the way around the building, despite the light snowfall. Many were dressed for a classy date, not a typical night out at a Western-themed dive bar. The line was moving, indicating her sisters had begun admitting the audience for Ranko’s first-ever ticketed concert.

Ranko gasped. “All those people…”

Akane smiled in proud reassurance as she finished Ranko’s sentence. “... are here to see you, superstar. So, are you about ready to give them a show?”

Ranko shook her head, her earrings jingling again. “As I’m gonna be.” She bent down and reached under the bed, picking up a red shoebox and tucking it under her arm as Akane opened the apartment door and began descending the stairs.

Ranko walked up to the slatted blue saloon door but dared not exit yet, peeking over it at the activity in the bar room proper. The tables in the center of the room had all been removed, and a crowd nearly double the bar’s usual capacity were standing shoulder-to-shoulder waiting for the show to begin. In a rare sight, Hana herself was running drinks to customers, pushing frantically through the crowd. It looks so hectic out there. I wish I could help, but Mama said no doing anything other than performing tonight, Ranko thought. Yui, meanwhile, was cranking out drinks and seeming to have a blast doing it, in part because Ayako had come in to help tend the bar as well. The two of them worked alongside each other with a fluidity that could only come from years of partnership, their synergy having not been lost in the few months since the eldest of the Phoenix sisters had moved to Yokohama with her husband.

Hana pushed past Ranko, grabbing another few pizzas for hungry revelers. “Hey, kiddo! Lookin’ good!” she called as she darted by in her trademark black leather jacket. She’d accented it with a red headband with felt reindeer antlers bobbing back and forth atop it. There is absolutely zero chance that wasn’t Izzi’s idea, Ranko thought with a smirk.

Mei came out of the kitchen to meet Ranko at the door, a sheepish look on her face. She was wearing a purple jewel tone blouse and a black knee-length skirt. Ranko turned to face her sister and Akane. “Akane, would you mind giving me and Mei a minute?”

Akane shook her head. “Of course not. I’ll see you out there, okay?” She gave Ranko a quick hug. “For luck.”

The redhead squeezed her back tightly. “I’m already lucky, just ‘cause you’re here,” Ranko whispered as the two embraced.

Smiling as Ranko released her, Akane headed out into the bar room to find her seat at the newly-designated VIP table, and Ranko followed Mei back into the kitchen.

“Ranko, I…” Mei looked down at her sneakers sheepishly. “I don’t even know what to say to you after yesterday. I was so…”

The redhead nodded, resting her hand on the shorter girl’s shoulder to cut her off. “I know. Mei, it’s okay.”

Mei frowned guiltily. “No, it’s not. I owe you so much more than an apology and a thank you, for everything. And besides, I didn’t even work with you to put together a setlist for tonight. So you’ll be winging it in front of all these people, and it’s my fault.”

Ranko placed the shoebox on the counter, offering Mei a reassuring smile. “First of all, you don’t owe me anything. You wanted to believe in somebody even when people were telling you not to, just like Mama did for all of us. If you ask me, that’s brave, even if it didn’t work out this time. I should have told you the truth about my history with Mikado. I just… I guess I couldn’t bear to admit what he did to me, either. I was ashamed, and I didn’t want you and the others to pity me. But that was my fault, not yours.” She slid the shoebox across the metal prep counter. “And the show is handled.”

Mei blinked, opening the shoebox. Inside were a series of cassette tapes in plastic cases, lined up in a row. Each was queued up to exactly the place it needed to be started from, and on top of the tapes were several hand-written pages of notebook paper on which Ranko had scripted - in multiple drafts, judging by the number of scratch-outs - the entire show, all the way down to lighting changes.

“Oh! Wait! Last minute change!” Ranko grabbed a pen from the counter, drawing an arrow into the third song slot and moving two tapes in the box. “Trust me.”

The blue-haired girl nodded her head. “I’ve got to tell you, I’m impressed! You did a great job with this!”

Ranko smiled proudly. “I hope so. They’re the ones who really need to think so.” She motioned over her shoulder to the blue slatted door leading to the front of the house.

Mei grinned, reaching down and gently taking her sister’s hand. “What say we go find out?”