"Um," Nanami said, blinking. "I guess they fight a lot." She glanced up briefly to watch the other team of newscasters chase their van and equipment down the street. "Well, I think we should go in. Sagara, don't do anything pushy or break things that aren't yours."
"Humph," the man grumped, striding to the door and knocking on it firmly. A moment later a young woman with brown hair in a simple housedress answered.
"Oh, my," she said, smiling genially at everyone. "Did you come back to finish your interview, then?"
"Uh, yeah," Nanami said, nodding, just as her cell-phone began to ring. "Dang it," she groused, answering. "Sorry, one second. Hi, this is Nanami, and--"
Sousuke ignored Nanami's silence and studied the woman before him. Somehow, this woman projected a sense of raw calm that scared him. He took a step backward. "This area is secure," he said. "I am going to go to the van. I will secure it. And clean my gun. Repeatedly." With that, he spun and dashed at full speed back to his safe haven.
Nanami nodded, and said, "I got it, Boss, we're doing it live. Makoto, make Sagara run the van and the antenna." She hung up her cell-phone and turned back to the young woman who'd answered the door earlier. "Sorry, ah, that was just my boss. I'm Jinnai Nanami, nice to meet you."
The young woman bowed to Nanami. "I'm Tendo Kasumi, and it's nice to meet you, too. Would you like to come in?"
"Sure," Nanami said, as Makoto began unwinding cables from the back of the van, and Sousuke raised the antenna.
***
Urd sighed, hanging up her phone. Good thing it did impersonations so well. "Okay, so now it's live, I just need to get you to take me back to fix that little banner...." She turned to the green-haired girl. "Feeling better, Setsuna?"
"Damn you!" the girl wailed. "I wanted another three years of fast living and empty-headed boy-love before I had to remember everything!"
Urd flinched. "Um, you can just forget as soon as we're done here," she offered.
Setsuna quieted down, and then reached into the air beside herself, pulling out the Time Key. "Come on," she growled. "But don't think I'm letting this slide easily!" In no time at all, both were at the Time Gate, and Setsuna had rewound it to the point Urd required.
"Before I step out," Urd mused, looking at the Gate, "I do want you to know that I didn't mean to cause any harm. And I can put you back into your trance so you can enjoy the rest of your high-school years."
"Don't worry about it," Setsuna sighed. "After the last three times, I'm starting to get used to it."
Urd winced. "Ah, hehe.... Right."
Setsuna smirked when Urd looked away, staring intently at the image of Ranma on the goddess's datacube. "Who's that?" Setsuna asked.
"Ah," Urd said, grimacing. "My current pet-project. He's actually a hero, doing some groundwork for.... I shouldn't say too much. But he's a pet-project."
"Oh," Setsuna said quietly, before smiling. "You like him?"
"A little," Urd confessed. "I'm only telling you this because you'll forget it."
"Of course," Setsuna said, memorizing the boy's features. Wake her up, would Urd? Hah! See how she likes a fully awakened Senshi of Time horning in on her man! "Well, this is your stop." With an ungracious kick, the sixteen year-old Setsuna booted Urd out of the mists and back into the room she already occupied -- let the Goddess of the Past sort that paradox out -- and stepped into the future, looking for a way to snare Urd's man.
***
"So, there's two minutes before we're going to go live," Makoto explained, setting a tripod up for the camera, "but it's going to be live."
"Right," Nanami confirmed, looking at the girls scattered around Ranma, wondering where she could get that style of kimono and if they had any tiny microphone charms. "Ah, that is ... if you'd still like to do the interview, Ranma-sempai."
"I don't have any problems with it," he said slowly, before offering a nervous smile.
N...not at me," Nanami managed, feeling faint. "Remember, talk to the.... To the camera."
"Right," Ranma mumbled, looking at the camera.
"No mumbling, Ranchan," Ukyou admonished quietly.
"Got it," he said quietly.
"And sit up straight," Shampoo added.
Ranma grunted, but sat up straight.
Akane giggled, and said, "And smile!"
Nodding, Ranma forced a smile.
"Relax, Papa-san," Hotaru said with a quit giggle of her own.
Snorting, Ranma grinned at Hotaru. "You got it, kiddo," he said.
"Okay, um ... I'm sorry about the lack of warning for the live interview, so ... take a minute to catch your breath and ask any last minute questions," Nanami ordered, sitting on a lone pillow to one side of Ranma, where Makoto had set up a second camera pointing at her. The head office would handle cutting between the feeds.
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(Posted Sun, 31 Jul 2005 20:16)
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