Haruka was obviously the driver for the second vehicle (and idly grumbling at having to handle a mini-van while Rally had her normal sports car) with Michiru in the shotgun seat. Nodoka sat behind them, travelling with the bulk of the girls.
Kodachi sat in the second of the two middle seats, interested in speaking to Michiru about the music she'd play, perhaps. Behind them sat Akane and Nabiki.
And that was another question of Haruka's. Why was Setsuna sitting with Ranma and Rally in the GTO? Did she perhaps feel...uncomfortable around them?
"Do you know your sizes?" Michiru asked. All three of the girls with them nodded.
"Very well," Nabiki said, trying not to sound grim. She didn't quite pull it off though and Michiru hesitated a moment.
"And, what kind of clothes do you like?" Michiru continued. There was a long second of uncomfortable silence for a moment. The three girls were looking between each other for a moment.
"It's been...a long time," Akane said, shuffling nervously, "since we chose our own clothes."
"Is there anybody you'd like to dress like?" Nodoka asked, rephrasing the question.
"You, mother," Kodachi said instantly, regarding the traditional woman.
"I don't think they'll be selling kimonos in many Chicago stores," Haruka noted. Kodachi seemed to deflate for a moment. "There should be something though, so don't worry about it."
Whether the qualifier was as a result of Michiru's look or if Haruka had not seen it and would have spoken anyway was unclear.
"How about the two of you?" Michiru asked, looking back toward Akane and Nabiki again.
"I...like t-shirts," Nabiki said, picking on some nearly-buried memory. "And sweaters."
"I don't know," Akane said simply.
"Well, we'll see what strikes your fancy when we start," Nodoka assured her. "You'll find your own style quickly enough."
****
"You like silks?" Rally said, surprised that her formerly male sister would say that. "Anything else?"
"I can't have sleeves," Ranma said.
"You don't want sleeves?" Rally said, surprised.
Nodoka had spoken to her and Michiru privately about each of the girl's individual problems. Akane's suicidal fantasies and Ranma's reluctant admission that she had half-wanted to be back with Kasumi.
She hoped Ranma wouldn't become a promiscuous girl letting anybody use her. It occasionally happened with rape victims, she knew, though she had never really asked why. So she turned questioningly toward Ranma.
"I can't have sleeves," Ranma corrected.
"The wings," Setsuna said, emerging from her quiet contemplation in the back-seat for a moment. "She needs room to grow her wings when she needs or wants to."
"Pardon?" Rally said, then she remembered the other thing Nodoka had mentioned. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You'll have to show me those sometime."
Rally was feeling kind of left out actually, all her blood family seemed to be oozing in magic. All but her it seemed. And she wasn't thinking about her uncanny skill with guns, and her almost supernatural accuracy and skill.
"Well, here's the mall," Rally said, pulling into the parking lot. "Now comes the fun part."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Tue, 14 Jan 2003 14:07)
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