Then again, there wasn't usually music playing loud to be heard throughout the restaurant, even if there had been plenty of customers.
"Good time, right, Ranma?" Nabiki murmured, glancing over at her friend.
Ranma blinked and looked up from where he was chewing a mouthful of okonomiyaki. "Huh?"
"Got my answer with that, I guess."
"Well, what do you expect?" her younger sister asked, frowning slightly. "I mean, it's not like he's supposed to stop eating."
"Now, that is something that Ranma won't ever really stop enjoying."
"You're right about that...."
"Isn't it nice that he'll get to be able to relax and enjoy Ukyo's cooking?" Kasumi murmured, smiling at the married couple.
A deep blush crossed Ukyo's features, and ducked her head a bit. "My cooking's not that special...."
"Oh, but it is. In fact... I was wondering...."
"I have been trying out some new spices."
"How wonderful!" the eldest Tendo girl declared, clapping her hands together. "We really should get together to share some tips again soon."
"Good ta see that sorta thing goin' on," Ranma commented, clearly pleased with the idea.
"You wouldn't mind? It might eat into your time with her...."
"Don't sound so worried, Kasumi. It ain't like I'm gonna keep her ta myself, and it wouldn't seem right ta keep her from her friends."
"Pretty mature way to take it. Though I would have thought that you would have wanted to simply relax now that you are home, and don't have to go through all those 'adventures' on the road," Nabiki drawled, carefully leaning back against the edge of the counter.
"Trust me, it wasn't 'xactly always excitin'... even if things got... problematic sometimes."
"Oh?"
Looking towards her male friend, Akane's expression took on a tinge of concern. "You weren't in trouble, were you, Ranma?"
"Things did get a little hectic, but it wasn't anythin' that I couldn't handle. Though, there was that one time...."
"Hmm?"
"Out in the mountains in China, there's this village.... Pop went and caused some trouble at a tournament there, and I was glad ta get away from it," the pigtailed boy muttered, twisting his mouth sourly.
"Sounds like something that he'd do."
"Yeah, but I do have to wonder about what that one girl's been doin'...."
Shampoo knew that she could find plenty to do if she simply looked for it, but the fact was that she didn't feel like doing much of anything at all. That wasn't due to any real difficulty that she was having, but came from a simple lack of will to get involved in much at the moment. If she'd had her way, she'd have simply stayed in her room, and relaxed, taking in the simple not aiming for much of anything.
"Shampoo! I want to see.... WAH!"
To tell the truth, even as she smacked Mousse in the head during the middle of his run towards her, she didn't really pay it much mind. All that she did was to shove him so that he went flying away, which gave her the sole bit of pleasure that she got out of the activity.
Not that she was sad or anything. What she had was a mild nagging feeling that she had to continue to consider that one incident for much of the time. But then, the boy, though she found him attractive, hadn't exactly been the one to give her grief. He, at least, had been showing a bit of restraint, as he'd talked to her.
That was more than she could say for his father. Even the boy with the pigtail had clearly been put out by that buffoon's rantings. She might not have understood what the boy was saying, but she did recognize that they shared and understanding that went beyond words. Even during all the trouble that'd come up, he'd at least been capable of handling it rather decisively. If nothing else, she could admire him for that.
But, even as she walked down the road between the houses, she had to admit to herself that she knew that she was going to have to:
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(Posted Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:56)
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