Akane was a bit taken aback when Gosunkugi asked her out on a date; he seemed like a nice enough guy, but she didn’t really know him very well. Still, it was rather obvious that he was stepping way outside his comfort zone—in all likelihood, his nervousness was due not just to the fact that he was engaging in social interaction with a member of the opposite sex, but also to the fact that when Kuno did get out of the hospital, he’d be hopping mad if it was known that his “love” was allowing other men to actively pursue a relationship with her. In fact, it had probably taken a lot of courage just to approach her—and courage was clearly not something that Gosunkugi possessed very large quantities of. For that reason alone, Akane decided that he deserved a chance. “Alright. I’m free Friday night—how about then?”
Gosunkugi could hardly believe his ears—she’d accepted! Akane Tendo, the most unapproachable (though not by her choice) girl in Furinkan, had actually accepted a date with him! Of her own free will, no less! Wow… Max really does know what he’s talking about…. He was so taken by this rapturous revelation that he forgot to respond to Akane’s question, which was why she stared shaking him a few seconds later.
“Hey, c’mon, snap out of it.”
“What? Oh, sorry… what were you saying?”
“I was asking if Friday night would be good.”
“Uh, what’s today?”
“Tuesday.”
“Oh, well, yeah. Friday night will be just fine. Uh, where and when should I, uh, meet you?”
“Oh, how about my house, say around six-thirty?”
“Uh, sure! We can, um, go eat somewhere and then maybe go to a movie.”
“Sounds good to me. See you then, Hikaru.” As Akane got back to her practicing, Gosunkugi stumbled toward his house in a daze.
She called me “Hikaru”…. Everyone else calls me “Gosunkugi” but she called me “Hikaru.”
Tissue had been ready to head towards the home of Soun Tendo immediately, but Nodoka had instead suggested that they wait a day; this would give Tissue the opportunity to get settled in, and unpack some of her things. As she put it, if she was going to be staying for a while anyway, she might as well stay at her “husband’s” home. Tissue’s good-natured reminder that it was also her wife’s home jangled the nerves of the Saotome matriarch a bit, but that passed quickly, as did the disturbingly arousing (no, wait, it wasn’t arousal, it had to be something else) thoughts that came to her mind when Tissue suggested that they share a bed that night (“Why sleep alone when no have to?”). Nodoka had flatly denied that request. Then Tissue tried again, this time employing the ancient Amazon technique known as the Sad Puppy Face. Three minutes later, Nodoka had relented.
She had been relieved to find that Tissue had been serious when she said she wouldn’t push for intimate contact. Well, she did feel relieved, but mixed in with the relief was a vague sense of disappointment… though Nodoka couldn’t figure out why that would be so. For her part, Tissue had no confusion at all about her feelings; she was disappointed. Not that she wanted to push her sister-wife beyond her comfort zone, but she had hoped that they’d at least be able to snuggle—in her mind, there wasn’t anything really sexual about that unless both partners were nude, and even then it was more sensual than sexual. When both partners were wearing pajamas, the intimacy was purely emotional rather than physical—surely outsiders couldn’t object to that. Could they? Anyway, it was a moot point. After all, Nodoka hadn’t known her very long; perhaps she felt it would be best to cultivate a relationship before intimacy, rather than use intimacy to cultivate a relationship. Why, the Amazon didn’t know. That just seemed to be the way outsiders did things.
The next morning had been spent going over plans about what they would actually do when they found Genma and Ranma. Ranma’s situation meant that his month would be a bit complicated—he had a few options, but every one of them had drawbacks. Genma, on the other hand, was not cursed—which meant his month would be relatively simple. They’d just curse him, and lock him for a month. The only question was how to do the locking.
“Have two choices. Standard lock, or Full Body Cat Tongue?”
“What’s the difference?”
“Standard lock just lock in cursed form—hot water have no effect. Full Body Cat Tongue is pressure point—make body sensitive to heat, like cat tongue. Warm water feel like scalding hot water, so it too painful to change into cursed form.”
“Why on earth would you do something like that?”
“Is used when spouse need major attitude adjustment.”
“Hmmm… perhaps we should let Genma try to explain his actions before we make any decision.”
“Sound good to me.”
When Nodoka had suggested they try contacting Genma’s old friend and training partner, Soun Tendo, Tissue had wanted to leave immediately, but her sister-wife had pointed out that for all they knew, Soun had a job that would take up his time until later in the day. Thus, it wasn’t until early in the afternoon that the pair set off for the Tendo residence, Nodoka carrying the Saotome family blade (purely for purposes of identification, of course), and Tissue with her (considerably lighter) pack.
Interestingly enough, Tissue was not the first backpacker to become an important part of Ranma’s life. No, that honor would go to one Ryoga Hibiki, a martial artist about Ranma’s age who had the uncanny ability to get lost in any situation imaginable. He was slightly taller than Ranma and had a slightly larger build, but what really set him apart were his slightly overdeveloped upper canines—his “fangs,” if you will. According to Ryoga, they were an inherited trait, much like the family curse, which resulted in every member of the Hibiki family having a sense of direction as bad as his—even his mother, who acquired the curse simply by marrying into the family (much to her annoyance).
He generally wore a yellow shirt and black pants, as well as a yellow polka-dotted bandanna. He also carried an umbrella which served two purposes—first, for protection from the elements: it kept him dry when it rained, and it have him shade when it was sunny. The second reason was for self-defense—his umbrella was one of the primary weapons in the style he practiced (and lest you think he was a pushover, it should be noted that a standard battle umbrella generally weighed over 75 kilograms).
The lad was currently walking around, trying, as usual, to figure out where the hell he was. He wasn’t actually trying to go anywhere—he’d figured out long ago that attempting to reach a specific destination resulted in him getting more thoroughly lost than he usually was; it was far more effective to wander around until you stumbled on a place where you wouldn’t mind being for one reason or another.
Rather, he was looking for someone: Ranma Saotome.
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(Posted Mon, 27 Mar 2006 05:32)
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