Slayers Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Magic in Nerima! ❯ Interlude ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: None of the series, characters, or locations mentioned in this story are owned by the author of this story unless stated otherwise.

---Chapter Seven: Hot Date!?! The plan that backfires---

It was another dreary Sunday and both of the Saotome twins were spending it in the Tendo Dojo, fighting it out in a light sparring match. Ranko ducked under a quick set of punches and jumped back to dodge Ranma's leg as he kicked out at her. She looked up in time to see him flying at her in a high kick, but rather than dodging or making to grab his foot and use the momentum against him, she jumped up over his kick, sending a knee into his unguarded face. The boy flipped in the air and landed on his feet, bent over, as she fell to the ground.

“That was pretty good,” Ranma admitted as he stood up, rubbing his chin. His sister panted as she stood there in an offensive stance. “I didn't expect you to counter like that.”

“One of the -huff- main parts of the school is -huff- being unpredictable. You should -huff- know that, bro.” She said with a loose smirk, sweat pouring down her face. Ranma smiled at that and took up a different stance.

“Yeah,” He said as he charged her. “I know that.” He suddenly vanished from her sight in a blaze of speed, but the girl had a knowing smile and ducked in order to dodge a roundhouse from behind. She grabbed his leg and tossed him into the air over her shoulder, sending him into a series of flips. “I'm starting to catch on to your speed, and that particular blow from behind is getting old,” Ranko said without losing her smirk, as the boy turned in the air and faced her. When he landed crouched down on the ground, he stood up quickly and grinned at her.

“That's what I like you to think,” He said cheerfully. Ranko snorted and rolled her eyes.

`He moves to the left and stops behind me. If I can catch him in the middle of his movement, he'll have to admit that I'm getting better.' She narrowed her eyes as he smirked tauntingly and charged her again, before blurring to the side.

“I've got you!” she yelled as she turned to the left and raised her knee in the air.

“Are you seeing after images?” came a voice from behind her. “I didn't think I was that fast!” she smirked and kicked behind her, catching her brother as he least expected it. Without stopping, she leapt up into a chain of kicks, each one taking advantage of his surprise at first, but blocked as it winded down. They separated in the air and he smirked at her again.

“A trick where you move to the left, and keep going until you're on my right?” She said confidently. “I've seen that before. You need to stop watching so much Anime, bro.”

“Heh,” he shrugged. “Oh well. I guess you have been getting a little better.” He looked at her appreciatively and folded his arms. “I guess I'll go all out next time. I didn't land a single blow this time, heh.” The red headed girl grinned at that - it was the point to their little exercise. Ranma hadn't fought her honestly once in their sparring sessions, and so she came up with an idea: If he couldn't touch her without being serious in one of their sparring sessions, he'd fight her for real from then on. “You go ahead and take a bath.”

“Heh heh, all right! Now the real training can begin…” She looked proud of herself as she turned around and walked out of the Dojo. Akane, who had been watching the whole thing in her own gi from the sidelines, winced as she caught sight of the kick-me sign taped to Ranko's back. When Ranko shut the door behind herself, the girl looked over at her fiancÃ©, who was stifling a fit of giggles.

“When did you put that on her?”

“The last time I went around her, just now,” he said.

“Ah.” She walked over to her fiancÃ© and soon had a grin that shared in his mirth. “You ready?” She asked.

“Just a moment,” Ranma said as he tried to stop laughing, as he moved his head around in a circle, until several loud pops could be heard. “I've been waiting for a serious fight all day, you know.” Ranko had made Ranma promise to make a similar deal with Akane. It hadn't taken quite as long for the Tendo girl to win on that.

“You won't be disappointed,” the girl said as she took her own offensive stance.

“I'd better not be,” the pigtailed boy said as he took another stance. “Saa… come!”

---

In the washroom, Ranko scowled as she looked at the kick-me sign. Under the larger text, in smaller hand-writing, were two more words: Try Again.

She screamed and cursed in a rather immature fit before ripping the sign in half and using a moderately sized fireball to destroy it.

---

Akane grunted as she blocked a punch from Ranma and spun on her foot, dodging a palm strike. She jumped back to disconnect from him and looked him closely for any openings. The two rejoined the fight in under a second and as Akane threw a punch that was easily dodged, she started talking.

“So, Ranma,” Akane said as she caught a punch and used his momentary surprise to retaliate with one of her own, which he dodged by jumping away. “Remember that discussion we had about Ranko and Ryoga?”

“What, you mean getting them together?” Ranma asked without missing a beat as he jumped at her with a fist cocked back.

“Yeah, that one,” She agreed as she side stepped his attack and rushed in to take advantage of his recoil. “You made a decision?”

“Yeah,” Ranma said as he rolled forward, causing her to run by him. He quickly jumped up into the air and span as he flew towards a wall so that he was facing her. “I thought it was a good idea.” He landed on the wall and immediately pushed off towards her with incredibly speed. The girl shifted and crouched down on one knee before jumping up at him in an uppercut that caught him in the chin, sending him flying backwards again. “Ouch!”

“First blow's mine,” she smirked as he flipped in the air and landed, crouched. He rubbed his sore chin again with a frown on his face. He hadn't exactly been going easy on her, as per their promise, and she still managed to land the first blow. “Anyway, I was thinking, maybe we could arrange for them to have a date?”

“A date?” He asked as he stood up partially, still in an offensive stance. “I'm listening.”

“Eh, I was hoping you could tell me how to go about doing that,” She said. “I couldn't figure out a way. She's so resentful of him.”

“Really?” Ranma cocked his head to the side before rushing her. “I think I might have a good idea.”

“What is it?” She asked as she tightened her stance.

“How about a double date?” He asked as he leapt at her. She froze with her eyes widened as he clocked her in the same spot she'd hit him with enough force to send her rolling, head over heels. “Hey, why didn't you move?” he asked as he looked at her.

“Double date?” Akane asked as she stood up, ignoring his question. “Um, but who would they go with?”

“Well, us.” Ranma said, with a blush. “I mean, cause we could make sure nothin' bad happens on the date.” The girl's eyes widened again and she found herself nodding in agreement.

“You're right, we could practically control the date like that. How would we get them to agree to it, though?” she asked as she started circling him, to remind him of the sparring match.

“Pfft, I got that covered,” Ranma smirked as he followed her example. “You just watch.”

---

After her relaxing batch, Ranko blinked as she walked into the guest room, where she'd planned on hanging out until it was dinnertime, either reading manga or practicing some custom spell work. On her futon was a note written to her in Ranma's handwriting. As she bent down to look at it, her eye started twitching.

`Dear Ranko-san…'

---

Ryoga blinked at the note that was left on the top of his training pack. On top of it was a folded up piece of paper addressed to him, written in very sloppy handwriting. As he picked it up and opened it, his eyes widened, and then a confused frown settled on his face.

---

Later that evening, Akane and Ranma stood waiting in the living room. Akane was wearing a light, striped sundress, and Ranma was wearing a blue Chinese tunic as they waited for the two to appear. Akane looked at her betrothed with a troubled expression as they waited.

“You sure this is going to work?”

“Of course it's gonna work, it always works in the movies and on TV,” he chuckled as he pulled on his shirt to make sure it was just right.

“How did you get them to agree to this, anyway?”

“I struck a deal with Nabiki,” He said with a grin, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a credit card with the middle Tendo's name on it, and a few thousand yen. Akane's eyebrow rose slightly at that. “I figured that I'd probably be out a few thousand, but why the heck not? I haven't really spent time with Ranko doing anything other than sparring, either, so…”

“And they know you're paying?”

“Of course,” the pig-tailed teen snorted.

“Okay, I'm ready!” Ranko's voice came as she walked down the stairs wearing a tube top and some tight blue jeans. Her hair had a much smoother texture than usual and her face seemed a bit cleaner than ususal. “Hey you two, where's Ryoga?”

“He's right here,” Kasumi's voice came as she led the lost boy into the living room. He was wearing a very, very form fitting sleeveless shirt instead of his usual yellow tunic. Over that, he had an unbuttoned shirt with short sleeves. Akane blinked and looked up at Ranma. “You four have fun now, okay?” She said as she smiled sweetly at them.

“We will, thanks,” Ranko said with a smile as they all walked out of the house. Once they were on the sidewalk in front of the dojo, she spoke up again. “So, where do we go first?” she asked.

“Well, I heard they were having a festival over in the park,” Ranma said. “We could go for that.”

“Okay, sounds fun.” Akane agreed.

“I'm up for that,” Ranko said, approvingly.

“Whatever,” Ryoga shrugged.

“Let's go, then!” Ranko said cheerfully as she took the lead. The other teens easily fell into line behind her, and both Ranma and Akane kept checking periodically to make sure that Ryoga was still with them. As they walked down the street, Ranko narrowed her eyes as she was pulled into her own thoughts. `Okay, Okay. I can handle this. Just act myself and Ryoga'll never fall in love with me.' She glanced backwards by turning her head slightly and looking out of the corner of her eye in a way that was hardly noticeable and then turned back to face forwards.

`Those two are definitely trying to get us together. That much is obvious. But that they'd agree to a double date… either I did better at pushing them together than I thought, or they're both really desperate to make us a legitimate couple.' As she wracked her memories to try and remember any evidence of Ranma and Akane getting closer, a particular event came to mind.

`That's right - they're already at first base,' She thought with a grin. `That kiss they had would have lasted a bit longer, I'm sure, if I hadn't interrupted. It was like that in the Manga, although they were interrupted before they could kiss that time. Hmmm…It could also be the fact that Shampoo hasn't shown up yet to strain their relationship, but that could be happening real soon too.' As she continued with that line of thought, Ryoga, who was staying behind the three, watched her with an indifferent look on his face.

`This morning, she's telling me that she's still thinking of a way to split us apart, and then she goes and writes that note. What's the big deal? I'll never understand women.'

---

“We're-heeeere,” Ranko announced in a sing-song voice. “Waiii! Look at all of these people!” Ranma and Akane both sweat dropped at that. “Most of them are wearing Kimono, but we shouldn't look too out of place,” she told them.

“Right,” Ryoga snorted from where he was standing. “What should we do first?” There were a wide variety of stands and games all around, and there was a path that lead from the entrance to the festival with various stands on each side. The place was lit up by tall, standing torches rather than the park's lights, and there was a constant bustle of people moving in and out of the place, groups of people just like them, families, and other couples doing an assortment of activities. Ranko ran over to a slightly younger teen girl wearing a Kimono holding up some cotton candy excitedly, surprising both Ranma and Akane. Ryoga sighed as he followed after her.

“Hey, little girl! Where did you get the cotton candy?” she asked. The younger girl looked at her in wide-eyed surprise before hesitantly pointing further in. “Thanks a ton!” She bolted off again and Ryoga growled as he ran after her.

“Hey, wait up!”

“Oh great, he'll get lost! Come on!” Ranma called to Akane as he grabbed her by the arm and took off after them.

The girl with the cotton candy stared after them with confusion written on her face before she scrunched up her face in concentration. “…Miss Lina?”

“Thank you! Wai!” The cotton-candy salesman smiled as he handed Ranko a stick and she gave him a few coins in return. She took a few steps away just in time for Ryoga to stop right in front of her, with Ranma and Akane on his tail. “Oh, you guys! They have Cotton Candy!” She said as she pointed at the vendor.

“Hey, they do,” Ranma said, blinking at the man. He waved with the same smile on his face and Ranma nodded in return. “Why'd you run off like that, though?”

“This stuff is pretty good!” Ranko said with an expression of delight on her face as she took some of it in her mouth. “You guys want some?”

“Nah,” Ryoga said, sounding un-interested.

“Actually…I do,” Akane blushed as she spoke up. Ranma sighed as he reached into his pocket and approached the vendor. Moments later, he walked back to the blushing girl and handed her her own stick of the stuff, silently wishing he was a girl so that he could have some of his own. “Thanks,” Akane said softly.

“So, like I said earlier,” Ryoga said now that he was sure that Ranko wasn't going to run off again. “What now?”

“How about that game over there? You can get stuffed animals as prizes,” Akane pointed over to a particular stand that had a variety of dolls on the shelves behind the games.

“Looks like fun,” Ranko said as she started over towards it. Akane quickly moved to follow her and Ranma sighed, hanging his head.

“When are we going to do something I want to do?”

“Oh shut up, we just got started,” Ryoga snorted as they both moved to follow them.

A while later, the four were walking, with both girls taking bits of their cotton candy apart. Ranko was holding a small black piglet doll, and she had borrowed Ryoga's bandana to tie around the thing's neck. When everyone looked back up at his head, though, another one could be seen in its place. While Akane and Ranma tried to figure it out, Ranko pointed out another event.

“Hey, isn't that a strength tester or something?” She asked. The other three teens looked at where she was pointing.

“It is. Should be easy enough, don't you think?” Akane looked back at her fiancÃ©.

“You should give it a try, bro.” Ranko added. Ranma sighed and reached into his pocket, before muttering something.

“Yeah, yeah…” As he approached the operator, he spoke up. “Say, what's the grand prize for this thing?”

“Eh? Concert tickets,” the man said with a grin. “You want to try this, kid?”

“I guess,” Ranma said as he handed the man some money. He walked back over to stand in line behind a bunch of three or four other guys who were all waiting for a crack at the thing. The pig-tailed teen fidgeted as the most of the other guys, most of them over muscular, looked at him and laughed. The guy in the front of the line was a whole head taller and had fore arms as thick as Ranma's thighs. The only one that looked remotely normally proportioned was the guy in the red hakama and hitoe with incredibly long black hair. The guy glanced at him for a moment and snorted before turning back around.

Contestant after contestant failed, none of them getting up more than one fourth of the way up, until it was left to him and the guy in the old fashioned clothes. He stepped up with a frown on his face and took the little hammer in his hands.

“So you have to hit it hard to get that thing inside to hit the bell at the top, or whatever right?” he asked, looking back at Ranma. Ranma blinked at that, and tilted his head.

“Well yeah, but you don't want to break it,” Ranma pointed out. He didn't know about other guys, but it was a common problem in his experience. He'd learned the hard way that most people didn't take well to having the hammer shatter, or the stand destroyed. The black haired guy frowned even more at that.

“That doesn't make very much sense…”

“You can do it, Inuyasha!” a girl in a Kimono rooted out from the sidelines. “Just try not to break it!”

“Oi, I know already! This guy told me!” He said, thumbing back at Ranma. The proprietor merely smirked as they continued to talk of not breaking the thing. The one called Inuyasha turned back to face the thing and looked at the toy hammer again before holding his arm up and hitting the thing. It made it up three quarters of the way up, causing the owner to clutch his chest in surprise. “Huh. I guess I held back too much.” Inuyasha shrugged as he set the thing down.

“That's too bad,” the owner said with a relieved smile. “You can have a consolation prize. Take this to that stand over there and you can redeem it for one of the stuffed animals, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Inuyasha shrugged as he took the ticket and walked over to the girl in the Kimono. “I didn't get those tickets you wanted,” he said as he got close, and the two started walking away.

“That's okay, you probably wouldn't have enjoyed that concert anyway. It's J-pop,” She sighed.

“Eww…”

“It's not so bad…” The girl said as they got further away. Ranko ran over to them, and Ranma blinked as he watched them.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Ranko said as she stopped behind the couple. She looked at the girl. “Is your name Kagome?”

“Huh? Yeah,” the girl said, blinking. “How'd you know?”

“It's not important,” Ranko said. “Do you live around here?”

“Hmmm? Not really…” the girl said, looking confused. “I'm sorry, have we met?”

“Nawww, forget about it,” Ranko said as she glanced at the black-haired boy. “I didn't know it was a new moon, though.” Before either of them could react, she smiled and waved, walking away to rejoin her group. “See ya!” She left the two staring at her with bewildered looks on their faces.

“What was that about?” Akane asked her as the red-head joined them.

“Nothing important,” the red head said. There was a sudden loud ding, And the three teens looked over at Ranma to see the guy grudgingly hand him a ticket. Ranma walked over to rejoin them and they looked over at him.

“Right, so we redeem this over there,” Ranma said, pointing at the stand where the guy in the hakama, and presumably, his girlfriend, were standing. The girl squealed as she got a dog-shaped doll, and they walked off. The four walked over to the stand and Ranma handed the ticket to the person who was standing behind the counter. They took a look at it and reached under the countertop to reveal two identical tickets.

“Congratulations,” the person said with a smile as Ranma took them, handing over his voucher. The four walked away towards their next attraction.

---

“Well, that was fun,” Ranko said as she led the group out of the festival and into the unused sections of the park. As she looked around, she could see a multitude of benches along the various paths. “Let's split up here for a little while, shall we? I have something I want to talk to Ryoga about, privately.” She said as she spotted one surrounded on three sides by heavy vegetation. “C'mon, Ryoga-kun,” She said sweetly as she grabbed his arm and led him away. Ryoga shot both Ranma and Akane a confused look as she pulled him away. “Remember, this is a date for you too!” the red haired girl called back.

Ranma and Akane were both left standing there.

“Should we keep an eye on them?”

“I trust Ryoga,” Ranma shrugged.

“I don't trust Ranko, though. This whole thing has been going too smooth to let her get him alone.” Akane frowned.

“Hmm, yeah…”

Ranko sat next to Ryoga, leaning on his shoulder, with their various prizes off to the side.

“What's with the sudden change in your behavior?” Ryoga asked after a pause. He'd been on edge the entire night, waiting for Ranko to insult him or say something mean to him. She hadn't though, not once, and it had left him wondering.

“Please, don't talk,” The girl said in a dreamy voice. She glanced around without moving her head and lowered her voice. “Ranma and Akane set us up. They're trying to get us together,” the girl said in a whisper.

“Okay…” The lost boy lowered his own voice to a whisper. “What?”

“I didn't write that note, Ranma did. They're trying to make us like each other,” Ranko continued. “Don't shout out,” she reminded him. Ryoga closed his mouth, as he had been about to do just that. “Play it cool. They're watching us right now, I'll explain why I'm doing this when they leave us alone,” she said. Ryoga frowned at that.

“Fine.”

Ranma and Akane both watched from their place in the vegetation.

“You think they'll be alright?” Akane whispered to her fiancÃ©, unaware of the byplay between the two on the bench in front of them.

“Seems like it,” Ranma said, just as quiet. They both withdrew from the vegetation and started walking down a dirt path.

“Maybe all they needed was a push in the right direction,” Akane said aloud once they were far enough.

“Yeah. They're both perfect for each other,” He said as they continued walking. “Although, something did feel a bit off about that last bit.”

“Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll be fine,” Akane assured him. They soon came to a bench that was under a particularly large tree and sat down apart from each other. “So what should we do next?”

“What do you mean?” Ranma asked, looking at her, confused.

“What time is it?” the girl asked, looking at her fiancÃ©.

“Um…” Ranma glanced at his watch. “It's almost eight,”

“Still plenty early. We could go out for food or something,” Akane pointed out.

“But Akane, I'm paying for all of this,” He groaned. “All four of us.”

“Don't worry, I'm sure your wallet will last the night,” she said with a smile.

“Right…” He sighed. “I guess so.” `Good-bye, life savings…'

“Good.”

The pair continued to sit there in silence, looking at everything but each other. Ranma glanced at his clock and noticed that five minutes had passed.

“Say, Akane…” He started.

“Yes, Ranma?” She asked, looking at him. The boy glanced up at her nervously and started poking his index fingers together.

“Well, this is a double date…” He said nervously. “I mean, if you don't want to do anything, I'm fine with that, but I just wanted to remind you…” They both locked eyes and then looked away, blushing, as another silence passed between them.

“Ranma,” Akane broke the silence that time. “Remember that time…the time I came up with this idea to get them together?”

“Huh?” Ranma looked at her, with a blank expression on his face.

“Before Ranko came into the Dojo…”

“Huh? What are you- Oh.” Ranma blinked and looked back down at the ground, twiddling his thumbs. “Y-you want to try that again?” He asked, nervously.

“Umm…I think so.”

“W-well…If you're sure…” They both looked at each other nervously. They both scooted over a closer to each other hesitantly. “I mean if you don't want to, you don't have to…”

“Don't you like me?” Akane asked with a frown as she looked at him. “Am I ugly or something?”

“Heck no, you're not ugly. I'm just, well, I mean, it's your decision,” Ranma said. “I uh…I mean, when you smile…”

“Come on then, quit being a wuss.”

“I ain't no damn wuss,” Ranma said, frowning. “It's just… well… fine…”

“They're gone now,” Ryoga said as he scooted away from Ranko. The girl frowned as she sat up, having been surprised by the movement. “What the hell are you up to?” He asked, not looking at her.

“You idiot…” She grumbled as she absently rubbed her head. The girl sighed and crossed one leg over the other and leaned back, putting both arms behind the bench. “Fine. I was having fun.”

“Having fun?” Ryoga looked at her in confusion. “Why did you have to drag me into this? You can't have fun on your own or something?”

“No,” She answered curtly. “I can't.” Ryoga looked even more confused by that. “Listen, Ryoga… I don't have many friends.” The girl closed her eyes and turned her head away. “Besides Akane, no one at school tries to get to know the real me. I'm popular, but that's more annoying than anything else.” Ryoga frowned and turned away from her, to face forward. “It gets to be pretty boring.”

“…I didn't exactly have the best life either you know.”

“You have Ranma, don't you?” She asked, without turning to look at him. “He's always thought of you as a friend.”

“That's true, I guess. But like you said, you have Akane-san. I'm no better off than you.”

“Heh…” the girl's hand went back down to her side and she turned to face forward. From their bench, they could see a wide variety of plant life and the like. “I guess you're right. That's something we have in common.”

“Stop talking about it then,” Ryoga said, sounding annoyed. “You're not acting like yourself at all.”

“I guess you're right,” She said as she looked at him. “What should we talk about then?”

“They're trying to get us together, you said,” He reminded her.

“Yes, your note said something about Ranma paying for the date, right?” He looked at her and nodded. “I think we can work that to our advantage…”

Ranma's hands were on both of Akane's shoulders and he was leaning in. Akane had closed her eyes as soon as he'd taken a hold of her shoulders. As Ranma got within breathing distance of her face, the girl's face turned red and he closed his own eyes.

On their first try, he crashed into her nose with his own.

“Ow,” Akane groaned. “Maybe you should look where you're aiming.”

“Uh, y-yeah,” Ranma said as he opened his eyes. The girl still had that blush on her face and her eyes closed as she rubbed her sore nose. “I'm not so sure about this…”

“I thought you weren't a wuss?” She said, a frown forming on her face. The blush was still there, though.

“Okay, okay,” He said. He hesitantly leaned in again, this time a bit slower.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ryoga said as he shared a particularly evil grin with the girl before him. “You said he probably borrowed from Nabiki, right? That girl has a credit card, for sure.”

“He probably has that,” the girl nodded with a smirk. “What's the most expensive place you can think of?”

“Well, there's this real nice place in Kyoto…” He started.

“Local,” She reminded him with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, well there's always Kobayashi Gardens…”

“I've heard of them…” Ranko said with a thoughtful look. “That's definitely a good idea. They'll probably be familiar with Nabiki's name.”

“Okay, then it's decided. When should we go find them?”

“I dunno. Let's give it a few more minutes.”

“Fine,” He turned to look back out over the rest of the park. There was a shuffling to his side and he blinked as he felt the girl lean on his shoulder again. This time he didn't move. On an impulse, he moved his arm up and put it around her shoulders.

“Th-that wasn't so bad,” Ranma said. He was hunched over, looking at the ground with his hands wrung together. Akane was also looking at the ground, but both of her knees were folded sideways on the bench.

“Y-yeah.”

“You uh… You want to try it again?” He asked, looking up at her from the corner of his eyes.

“Um…” The girl looked hesitant. “Yeah.” He sat up and turned to face her again, and she him. “Hey…You want to… um…”

“Huh?” Ranma was looking confused by that point.

“You want to try and stick it in this time?” Akane blurted out, looking at him.

“Stick it… oh, that.” He blinked at that. “You mean make out, right?” He asked.

“Um, I guess,” She said hesitantly with another blush.

“…”

“Ranma?”

“…”

“Are you okay? Do you not want to?”

“I do,” he said simply. “Let's, uh…” He scooted closer to her again. “A-alright, I th-think I'm ready f-for this…” He said shakily.

“If you're scared, you don't have to,” she said honestly.

“I'm not scared, I've just never done this before,” He said.

“Me neither.”

“That other stuff, you know, you do with your mom and stuff… This… no. Come on, before I lose my nerve.”

“Okay…” She said as he leaned in again…

“Let's go look for them now,” Ranko said as she abruptly stood up, surprising Ryoga.

“All right, finally,” Ryoga said. “What the heck were you waiting for, anyway?”

“I just wanted to sit for a little while, that's all,” She said as she looked around for a path. “I think they went over that way,” She said as she started down one of them making sure to keep an eye on Ryoga. As they walked Ranko looked around at the many empty park benches and decided it wouldn't hurt to call out their names. “Hey! Akane! Ranma! Where are you guys?”

“Ow!” Ranko blinked at the sudden shout. That had been Ranma's voice. She and Ryoga turned in the direction of the voice and walked across some grass to find a large tree that would have provided a good cover to any serious couple. As they got closer, Ranko held up a hand, signaling Ryoga to stop, and pulled him down to the ground, where they hid behind some of the smaller foliage.

“I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to-“

“It's okay, Akane, I know, she surprised me too. I've bitten my tongue worse than that before,” Ranko's eyes widened at that. “Come on, let's go find them.”

`Bitten his tongue? Oh my god… I don't believe this.' Her face took on a wide smirk as the couple stood up, with Akane still blushing profusely, and Ranma holding his mouth with one of his hands and a grimace on his face leading the way. Ranko stood up and motioned for Ryoga to as well, and he gave her a confused look.

“What was that all about?” He asked as she led him around the path to intercept Ranma.

“Nothing, don't worry about it. Just come on.” She turned and looked over at Ranma and Akane, before holding up a hand. “Heh heh heh. Hey! You two! Over here!” The two in question instantly turned to face them and walked over to join them. Akane was still blushing heavily, while Ranma tried hard not to let his pain show. “So, how did things go on your end?” She asked, looking at the two of them. “Was it ro-man-tic?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ranma grumbled. Akane's blush intensified and Ranma continued. “Romantic. Listen, do you still feel like hangin out? I mean, we could go home, but Akane said she was hungry, so…”

“I didn't say I was hungry,” Akane reminded him. “Just that it wasn't too late to go out for something to eat.”

“Right, what she said,” Ranma said. He opened his mouth with a frown and stuck his finger in it and then pulled it out. “Is that blood? Oh great, it is.” He sighed and Akane put her face in her hands.

“What happened?” Ranko asked innocently.

“I bit my tongue,” Ranma explained. “Don't worry about it, happens all the time. It's not a big deal.” He waved it off.

“You sure? There's blood, after all…” Ryoga pointed out, with a faux worried expression.

“Yeah, I'm sure,” Ranma said with an annoyed frown. “Listen, you guys want dinner or not?”

“That sounds awesome right now, that cotton candy wasn't exactly a meal,” Ranko said as she looked at Ryoga.

“Yeah, we were thinking of going to a place called Kobayashi Gardens…”

---

Later that night, Ranma, Akane, Ranko and Ryoga all strolled back into the Tendo household, stopping only to leave their shoes at the door. The latter of the four were looking somewhat pleased with themselves, while the former pair had empty expressions set on their face.

The final bill for dinner had been in the six-figure range.

Ranma stopped and dropped down on the couch as soon as it came into view, lying face down. Akane fell down next to him, and Ranko looked down at them with concern.

“You two okay down there?”

“Yeah, just fine. I've signed my soul away, no big deal.” Ranma said, his voice partially muffled by the couch.

“Peachy.” Akane had an unblinking stare at nothing in particular.

“Well, thanks for tonight. It was a blast,” Ranko said with a carefree smile.

“Yeah, I had fun too,” Ryoga had an honest-seeming smile on his face. “I haven't done something like that before.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Ranma said, still face down in the couch.

“Come again,” Akane said in a rather dead voice.

“Uh, yeah,” Ranko said, with a sweat drop. “Come on, Ryoga. Let's get you to bed,” She said as she took him by the hand and led him into the dojo.

Akane's gaze slowly turned to Ranma. Ranma didn't move at all.

“…Somehow, I get the feeling tonight didn't go the way we planned it to.” The girl said as she looked down at her fiancÃ© unflinchingly.

“You got that right.” Ranma said. “But I have a feeling someone else was in control most of the time.”

In the dojo, Ranko was standing before Ryoga as he unpacked a futon from his bag, which had been left in the Dojo.

“You should just forget about tonight,” Ranko said as she had an uninterested look about her.

“Yeah, fine,” Ryoga said uncaringly, as he laid his futon out. “Why are you still here, again?”

“Hmph,” The girl frowned at him and then turned around, walking towards the door. Ryoga stared after her with an impassive look, and when she stopped at the door, she turned around. “What are you looking at?” She demanded.

“You're still here,” Ryoga said as he turned away.

“Yeah.” The girl tore her eyes away from him for a final time. “See you later.” She turned the lights off, walked out and shut the door behind her.

“…” Ryoga looked down at his futon in the darkness. “I'll definitely never understand women.”

---

ï¼ˆã€€Â´âˆ 364;ï½€ï¼‰ï¼œè² 80;æ§˜ã‚‰ã¯ï¼Œ 8;¿ºã®æœ€é«˜ã® ã‚ªãƒ¢ãƒãƒ£ã&n bsp;ã£ãŸãœ