Ranma turned to smile goofily at Kassy, his steps with a happy bounce. “Not that far. I went with my Pops when we were on the road.” He nodded to himself and turned to the horizon. “Only a couple of weeks and we should be there.”
Kassy stopped in mid-step. “What!?”
Ranma continued walking, a smile illuminating his face. “I was so hungry that time. It was the best food I’ve ever had!”
Looking at Ranma, Kassy chuckled nervously. “Uh, Ranma,” She said as she placed his hand on his shoulder to stop his pace. “A week is a wee bit too long a wait to just have lunch,” She smiled at him. “How about we just stop at a noodle cart or something? I’ve been meaning to try one of those.”
The pigtailed martial artist stopped walking and turned to regard Kassy. He looked at her intently and nodded. “Sure thing! There’s this great noodle stand in Juuban, and it’s only a couple of hours away.”
Her eye twitching, Kassy chuckled nervously. “Uh, Ranma?”
“Yes?” Ranma asked, still oblivious.
“How about we try the one over there?” Kassy asked as she pointed right across the street from them.
Ranma turned to see the noodle stand and chuckled nervously. “Sure thing!”
Frowning a little bit, Kassy asked, “Ranma? Are you all right?” Her voice was curious, with a hint of worry. “You’re acting strangely.”
“I’m fine, really!” Ranma scratched the back of his head. Unfortunately for him he used the hand carrying the bags, giving himself a good blow on the face with them and hardly noticed.
Kassy stared wide-eyed at that. “Ranma, I think you may need to sit down...”
The tanned-blonde girl couldn’t understand it. What was wrong with Ranma? He went form being super-shy to uber-ditzy.
“No. I’m fine! Really!” Ranma laughed again, this time almost hysterically, and looked down at Kassy. “So what do you want to eat again?”
Lowering her head in defeat, Kassy groaned.
(------)
Nabiki was laid flat on her stomach while working on the numbers of the week’s earnings. The fact that she was on the roof of Furinkan High, wearing a bikini and getting a tan was pure coincidence, of course. She was looking through her numbers, a great enjoyment, while feeling the sun’s rays on her skin. Truth-be-told, she was feeling really well right now, sure that nothing could ruin her good mood.
And then the door, which lead from the stairway onto the roof slowly opened. A woman stuck her head out slightly from the shaded area, revealing herself to be Kikuko. “Uh, Nabiki? Is this a bad time?”
The middle Tendo sister turned to regard one of her subordinates with her usual calculating mask. “What is it, Kikuko?”
“Well, I was doing my rounds as usual, hanging around the shopping district, and you wouldn’t believe the situation I saw play out,” Kikuko said. “Hell, even I barely believe it, and I saw it from start to finish.”
Nabiki looked at Kikuko flatly. “Stop ranting and tell me already.”
Kikuko stiffened, that look setting her on edge. “Nabiki, it started off as any other confrontation between Ranma and Tatewaki, but there was some major differences to this. A lot of information was to be had.” She looked at Nabiki seriously. “Like Kuno admitting he was behind Akane being sent to America as part of the foreign exchange program.”
“We already suspected that. What else happened?” Nabiki returned her eyes to her numbers.
“Well, for one thing, they didn’t fight,” Kikuko said. “And in fact, Ranma was even egging Kuno on into heading to America.”
That got Nabiki's attention, as evidenced by her raised eyebrow and return of attention towards the other girl. “Really?”
“Yes,” Kikuko said. “He actually talked Kuno down from his irritated state, and was making the kendoist realize that maybe instead of just ranting, he should do something about going to America to find Akane.” She smiled a little. “So that means he might try to seek you out soon.”
Nabiki smirked, inwardly thanking Ranma because she’d never do it out in the public. “That’s good to know. What else happened?”
“This is where it got surprising,” Kikuko told Nabiki. “A woman we can assume was Kassiopeia stepped out, wondering what was going on, and Kuno started mouthing off at her because she’s foreign.”
“That’s nothing new,” Nabiki stated flatly. She was used to Kuno being a pompous idiot at times.
To that statement, Kikuko nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but when he started calling her a peasant, she got really pissed and started poking him, and actually setting him off balance while yelling at him.”
“... Still nothing new,” Nabiki said pointedly as she went back to counting her yen. “A lot of girls do that do Kuno-chan.”
Kikuko smirked. “But she did it in a way that really hurt Kuno’s pride and credibility. She made Kuno’s family’s past samurai heritage seem like nothing in comparison to herself.”
That DEFINITELY got Nabiki’s attention. “What did she say?” This could mean a lot of money.
Looking at her employer, Kikuko had to suppress her smile. When Nabiki got interested like this, it could mean a serious bonus. “She all but declared that she was a princess. A real-live princess!”
Nabiki’s smile became feral at that point. She wasn’t surprised about having a princess here. After all, her little sister was very good at attracting all kinds of royalty, but the potential the situation had was astounding. “Tell me more.”
“Well, if I heard her correctly, she said she was the princess of Cylutia,” Kikuko told Nabiki. “I did some researching, and Cylutia is a little-known country in central Europe, with it’s very own embassy in America. Trade and economy within the kingdom has been stable, since it had been able to flourish without outside influence since before the first World War.”
Still smiling, Nabiki nodded her head. “I see. This makes our interest on the girl to skyrocket.” The girl became serious. “Have someone constantly tailing her, I want to know everything she does around here.”
Saluting her superior, Kikuko told Nabiki, “Undertsood!” She then smiled more. “By the way, she also pushed Kuno into the canal while she was at it.”
Nabiki smirked and returned to going over her work. She was starting to really like Kassy.
(------)
Sitting down on a bench, Kassy slurped some of the noodles into her mouth from her bowl. She was pretty good at using chopsticks, having gotten lots of practice form dinners at her grandmother’s.
Ranma, by her side, smiled at the full cup of noodles and downed it in a single gulp, unminding of just how hot it was.
Seeing Ranma down his food so quickly, Kassy blinked her eyes in surprise. “Wow. And I thought dad had an appetite. Do you want another bowl?” She asked.
The pigtailed martial artist laughed and nodded. “Please!”
Smiling, Kassy finished up her noodles quickly and walked back up to the man running the cart. “Hello sir, may I get another bowlful, please?” She asked him nicely.
The man smiled. “Sure thing! Here you go.” There was something very satisfying about working when people were nice to him.
“Thank you,” Kassy said as she placed down the money for the meal on the counter. Walking back to the bench, she held out the bowl to Ranma. "Here you go.”
“Thanks!” Ranma took the bowl and downed it in the same manner he did the first.
Kassy blinked. “Wow. You must be hungry,” She said curiously. “How much do you think you can eat?”
The pigtailed boy scratched the back of his head, still chuckling. “I could probably eat the entire cart.”
At hearing Ranma say that, Kassy nodded her head slowly. “Wow... You’re either starved, or just have a huge appetite.”
“I train a lot. Need a lot of energy,” Ranma explained, seemingly recovering some of his wits.
Kassy nodded her head. It made sense to her. “Still...” Sitting back down, she asked him, “You're a martial artist, right? Then how come you didn’t beat up that guy who was trying to speak down to me earlier.”
Ranma frowned. “Was about to when you got involved. You messed up big time.”
Hearing Ranma say that, Kassy frowned a little. “How did I screw up?”
“You confronted him and told him you were a princess.” Ranma was definitely becoming serious, maybe due to what he knew would happen next. “Kuno will twist your words around to fit his little fantasy world, where you’ll be a princess pinning for his affections.”
“What?” Kassy asked in shock, what kind of idiot would do such a...
Then it hit her. When she was talking to Ranma last night... “THAT was Kuno!?”
The pigtailed martial artist nodded seriously, then turned to regard an empty bowl of noodles and wondered when he ate it.
Sitting back on the bench, Kassy sighed. “Damn. Last thing I need is for some idiotic jerkoff to think that he has every right at me.”
“That’s what’s going to happen now,” Ranma said seriously as he placed down his bowl. “And the idiot will probably blame me when you turn him down.”
Kassy frowned a little. “We’ll have to do something about that dick-cheese before he tries anything stupid!”
Shaking his head, Ranma sighed. “Won’t work. Kuno will just twist anything you do to fit his fantasy world.”
Her skunk ears drooping, Kassy sighed. “Basically, once he views you in his own way, his sick fantasies won’t let you go because he becomes obsessive about it?” She asked. That was the feeling she got from what Ranma told her last night.
Ranma nodded and threw the empty bowl towards a trash can. Perfect aim. An amazing feat considering the trash can was thirty feet away.
Sighing, Kassy continued to sit on the bench. Still, she couldn't help but smirk a little. “Well, looks like I’ll just have to torment the jerk with a few nasty tricks then...” She began to chuckle a bit evilly as thoughts of vengeance for things not done to her yet swarmed her brain.
Ranma shrugged, certain that no matter what Kassy did Kuno would still be after her. Nothing could destroy a Kuno’s delusions.
“Guess I’ll just have to deal with it as it comes.” Shrugging her shoulders, Kassy turned to look at Ranma. “Want to go for an ice-cream?”
“Sure!” Ranma smiled, but this time instead of a goofy smile he gave her the smile that made all the girls crazy about him.
Kassy smiled back at Ranma, blushing a little. Now THAT was a nice smile.
“I know just the place.” Ranma said and made a note to pass by a nearby park to change.
“Really?” Kassy asked in surprise. “Can’t wait to try it.”
Ranma stood up and guided Kassy to a park just in front of the ice-cream shop. He walked over to the fountain and took some water in his hand to splash himself, now herself. The small redheaded girl smiled at Kassy. “Let’s go.”
If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, the half-Salusian wouldn’t have believed it. So, instead, Kassy opted to GAWK at the redhead before her. “What the hell!?”
Looking at the surprised half-Salusian, Ranma-chan blinked her eyes a couple of times. “Something wrong?”
“How?” Was all Kassy could ask.
“How what?” Ranma-chan asked back.
“You changed genders!” Kassy shouted. “How the hell did that happen!?”
“Oh, that,” Ranma-chan looked down at herself and gave Kassy a sheepish smile. “Long story short, I have a curse. Cold waters changes me into a girl, hot water turns me back to normal.”
Kassy nodded her head slowly. “Wow... And I thought the family curse I used to have was bad,” She thought in surprise. Shaking off her shock, Kassy looked at Ranma. “Shall we go get ice-cream now?”
Ranma-chan smiled happily and nodded.
(Or Something Else!)
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(Posted Wed, 30 Jun 2004 16:07)
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