PLEASE e-mail me I need your comments! Characters are own by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other companies. They are used without consent. I'm really poor don't sue me please? Chapter 9 A special day? Ranma, Ranko, Ukyo and the rest of the both the Saotome and Tendo family had decided to take a break by going to the beach for the day. All had been going well until Happosai had turned up and begun to glomp onto all the females present on the beach. "YOU OLD LEECH" Ranma shouted as he intercepted Happosai in mid-air before he could land on Akane's chest. It had been easy to spot where the old man had been coming from due to the large crowd of girls running in the opposite direction. The old man promptly got back up, "Now Ranma is that anyway to treat your master?" The ancient man asked in an innocent tone. "Well if you weren't trying to grope every girl here I wouldn't have to stop you" Ranma replied as he ignored his father and mister Tendo sing about how Ranma had been defending his fiancée. "Me I was doing no such thing it just so happens I've lost something and was looking everywhere to find it" he replied wide eyed and innocently. "Yeah whatever" Ranma said as he punted the old man away, he had decided not to argue any more wanting to enjoy the day. "I'll getttttt youuuuuuuuuuuuu" could be heard from Happosai as he flew away from the beach. "Ranma are you sure you should have done that?" Ranko asked "Don't worry he'll be back, it'll take more than that to stop him" he replied. Later on Happosai did indeed return, he held something closed within his hand, "Say girlie there seems to be something stuck between your teeth..." the old man asked to a random but beautiful girl who was sunbathing. Ranma recognised the familiar bracelet that Happosai had and realised the old pervert was probably trying to feed some poor girl a love pill from that bracelet of Cologne's. Before the pill could enter the girl's mouth he tackled Happosai from behind with a kick grabbing the ancient jewellery. "Whacht you got there old man?" he asked although he already knew the answer. "What Ranma.? No... my pill.." was all he said before he turned to Ranma. "Aw ain't that a shame no more pills to give anyone" Ranma said while chuckling. "You..." was all Happosai said before he let a evil grin form on his face, then threw a pill he had in his hand right into Ranma's open mouth which he swallowed out of natural instinct. "What..?" was all Ranma could mutter before he promptly closed his eyes remembering he had just swallowed a love pill. "Ha....Ha..... Ranma what's wrong afraid to look at all the pretty girlies?" Happosai said with glee. "You old man I'll get you for this....now give me that bracelet" Ranma grabbed at where Happosai was but was not fast enough instead ended face down in the sand. "Haha....offf" was all that came from Happosai's mouth as he was flattened and punted into orbit. "You all right Ranma?" the familiar voice asked "Yeah thanks Ranko, did you get that bracelet of the old man by any chance?" "You mean this" she said as she held up a gold bracelet which had two pearls and a third empty space where the third was supposed to be. "Say this looks familiar....." Ranma immediately grabbed the bracelet, momentarily forgetting he had swallowed a love pill. "Ranma you ok.....offf" Ranko managed to say before she was hugged fiercely by Ranma. "Oh My red haired goddess I love you let's get married" Ranma cried out. "Gezzz....R..anma ain't thi...s a bi....t soon...." Ranko said struggling to breath from within Ranma's iron grasp which would have given Kuno a run for his money. "It can never be too soon I lov......." Was all Ranma managed to say before he was flattened into the ground by a giant mallet. "Than...ks Akane...." Ranko said regaining her breath as they both stared at Ranma's twitching form on the sand. "What's wrong with Ranma?" Akane asked still angry at seeing Ranma giving Ranko a Kuno type hug. "Ah so that's what this is" Ranko said in apprehension as after closely studying the bracelet. "What...is it?" Akane questioned. "Oh this is a bracelet and each pearl on it is suppose to be a love pill" "Well whoever swallows a pill will fall in love with the first person of the opposite sex they see!" Ranko continued noticing the look of confusion on Akane's face. "And Ranma's swallowed one!" Akane said in shock "Yeah but according to this he swallowed the instant love pill" the redhead said indicating to some writing on the inside of the bracelet. "Well how long does the instant pill last for?" Akane asked. "I don't know but I guess we'll find out soon!" Ranko said as she noted that Ranma was beginning to wake up. "Urrgghhh.. what happened?" he said as he stared up at the two girls standing over hi with concerned looks on their faces, he noted that Akane had her mallet out. "Ranma ho..w do you feel?" Ranko asked nervously. "Hey I'm fine why'd you ask?" "Looks like he's fine to me!" Akane said to Ranko who nodded in reply. "Hey what happened?" Ranma asked he remembered arguing with Happosai, than waking up to see Ranko and Akane standing over him. "Umm nothing...." Ranko said but was beginning to blush as she remembered what happened moments ago. Akane likewise wanted to forget what had happened. "C'mom let's get back to the others" Akane said as she dragged Ranma back to where the rest of the family were. All the while during which Ranma was being taken back to the family he continuous bombarded questions to the pair about what had happened, although both looked at each other and refused to answer him. *Man I know I swallowed a love pill but what happened after that!* random images popped up in his head about what he might have done all of which made him blush. "Hey Ranchan where've you been I've made you a nice juicy okonomiyaki" Ukyo said as she tossed a Japanese pizza towards Ranma with her traditional greeting written on it in sauce. "Thanks Ucchan" Ranma replied heartily as he grabbed the food out in mid-air and started to eat it, all the while trying to not notice the fuming faces of both Akane and Ranko. "Ranma I've made some lunch for you as well" Akane said. "Urrrr......sure I'll try it later... right now I gotta go for a swim, you know gotta keep in shape!" Ranma quickly said before he disappeared into the sea, leaving a surprised and slightly saddened Akane behind. *Man any other time I would have been flying by now* He thought as he remembered back to his first life when whenever Akane cooked and he made an excuse not to poison himself he would always end up being punted away. After swimming along the beach for a while Ranma decided to take a break, getting up the beach he noticed that this part of the beach was mostly deserted. After looking around more closely he saw a group of girls huddled together, after a moment he noticed another group of boys approach the girls. Strangely he saw the group of girl back off away from the boys. As soon as Ranma saw the group of boys surround the girls he knew something was wrong, as he was sprinting to the girls he saw one the boys, the largest one grab a girl's arm and push her to the ground. "Now you and me are gonna have some fun for what you did to me!" the big man said as he approached the girl who was slowly backing away from him on the ground. The rest of the gang had surrounded the remaining girls and were cheering the big man on. The girls had wanted to scream but most of the boys had displayed weapons which were enough to silence them. Just as the girl who Ranma could not see was about to be touched by the big man. "I don't think you will want to do that" Ranma said in her most serious tone, he knew practically all the boys here probably had weapons of one sort or another. "Looks like we got ourselves a hero here boys" the big man said as he ignored the girl on the floor and turned to face Ranma. "Why don't you guys just leave these girls alone..." "Or what.... you gonna make us?" the gang laughed as they noted that Ranma was merely wearing shorts and could see no weapons on him. "I've had enough of this fool, get him guys while I have some fun" The big man grinned evilly which made many of the girls in the group shiver. Ranma was angry, he hated people like these, he had had to deal with such people in the past. They never listened to reason. *Looks like there's no way out of this* One part of his mind wanted to not fight but the other wanted to kill these boys who were about to assault this group of girls. "Come here yo...." was all one of the guys could say before Ranma punched him lightly in the face, although it was far from full strength punch the boy was sent flying backwards 10feet landing face down in the sand unmoving. One of his friends went to check him, "Man guys, he's pretty hurt" he said referring to their unconscious comrade. "That's it get him now" the big man ordered angrily The rest of the gang began pulling out knives, chains and knuckle dusters none of which actually impressed Ranma for he knew that it would all be over in the next few seconds. Thirty seconds later the rest of the gang besides the leader were lying on the floor covered in cuts and bruises, some were moaning but most were unconscious. "You bastard!" the big man said as he pulled out a gun. Ranma acted immediately snatching the gun away in a flash and punching the man several times in the face, the man was unconscious before he hit the ground. Ranma looked back at the group of girls who were all staring at him with love starved eyes, he remembered that since he was on the beach he was in nothing but his shorts, so understood why some of the girls were continuous staring at him "Are you ok?" he asked in general. Almost at the same time several girls shouted out yes, while others were flirting. Ranma turned his attention to the girl who was sitting on the ground obviously still in shock from the event. What surprised Ranma was that the person sitting there was Nabiki. "Hey Nabiki are you alright?" Ranma asked quietly as he gently nudged Nabiki. She slowly looked up, her cheeks were red obviously from crying. "R..anm.a?" she said in a shaky voice Ranma helped Nabiki to her feet, who was immediately swamped by the crowd of girls. After several moments of convincing Ranma managed to convince the girls to be on their way while he took care of Nabiki. He could tell that Nabiki was still scared, which was what surprised him he was so used to seeing that mask of hers which was almost always in place. It was getting late and Nabiki seemed reluctant to move, so Ranma picked her up in his arms. At first she had seemed tensed but as they walked back to the rest of the family he noticed her arms seemed to tightened around him. Before coming in view of the rest of the family, Ranma stopped and placed Nabiki on the ground. "I figured it wouldn't look too good if everyone saw me carrying you after we went missing for a few hours" he said in a calm yet caring tone. "Ranma thank you....." Nabiki managed to say after regaining some of her composure. "It's all right Nabiki just don't worry" he said trying to reassure Nabiki who was obviously still shaken up by the experience. "Let's get back to the others" Ranma said as he offered a hand to Nabiki who accepted. "Ranma where have you been?" Nodoka asked in concern. "I just kinda got carried away that's all" he said as he remembered he was thinking of a reason to avoid Akane's cooking. "Well it's good that you came back when you did, everyone was about to go out and search for you" Ranma nodded to his mother and went to join the rest of the group, he noticed that Nabiki had decided to go to where her things were and pack, her emotionless mask once more in place. "Ranma your back, where you been you missed the dinner I made" Akane said. She had not noticed the brief flash of relief that crossed Ranma's face at those words. After meeting up with the rest of the family, all of whom were relieved that Ranma had returned. The group decided that they had had enough fun for the day and headed home. Ranma felt difficult every time he had to say good bye to his mother, even though she was just an hour or so away from the Tendo dojo. Later that evening Ranma hung upside down from the roof and tapped lightly on Nabiki's window, he figured that she probably needed to talk and since he was the only one who knew of the incident he was probably the only person she could talk to. "Hey Nabiki I figured you might want to talk" He said in a warm tone. "What about Ranma" she said back in a tone that betrayed no emotions. "Well would it be alright if I came in I mean I don't want someone to over hear" Nabiki nodded at this and gestured for him to enter as she stepped away from the window. "All right Saotome what is it?" "I just thought you might want to talk about what happened today that's all" Nabiki sighed and pulled out her wallet counted up several thousand yen and handed it to Ranma, who stared strangely and the money. "no no you got me all wrong..." He said quickly catching on to what Nabiki was doing. "Okay what is it you want" she asked in a tired yet cautious tone. "Aww c'mom Nabiki don't be like that, I helped you out because I wanted to and it was the right thing to do, I just came here to see how you were" Ranma said in an honest voice. "Look it's all right, I mean if I marry Akane I'm practically your brother anyway!" he said as he noted the conflicting look on Nabiki's face. Finally he saw her mask crack and shatter and she began to cry. Ranma pulled her into a protective hug as that was the only thing he could think of doing to stop a girl any girl from crying. After a while Nabiki looked up at Ranma with red cheeks. "Ran...ma thank..s" "Sure no problem, but any time in the future you need help just call and I'll give you a hand" He said in a confident tone. "Anyway it's getting late so I guess I better be going" with that he slipped out the window, leaving a now more relaxed Nabiki behind. The following evening after returning home from school, Ranma had been forced into going on a date with Akane by their fathers. It was not that he did not want to go on the date it was just that because it was a forced date made him feel uneasy. "So Akane where would you like to eat?" Ranma asked as the pair walked with each other. "Hmm I don't know Ranma why don't you decide" "Okay...... how about that new restaurant that opened up just a few days ago, it's quite far but I hear the foods great!" he said after a while. "that sounds okay" she said warmly. *Man I'm on a date with Akane, I can't believe that nothings gone wrong yet* he thought remembering back to all times his suitors had crashed his dates. The pair arrived at the restaurant with no trouble, which was what bothered Ranma he had been on edge since the start of the date always expecting Ryouga; Moose; Kuno or somebody else to show up and disturb them. "Ranma what's the matter?" Akane asked finally having had enough of Ranma's edginess. "Wh...oh nothing" he replied sheepishly. "Look Ranma if you di..dn't want to come on a date with me we can go home now" Akane mumbled sadly. He noted the hurt look on her face so quickly replied. "NO....NO it's not that Akane I just keep expecting something to happen that's all" "Well you should just relax nothings going to happen" Akane said in a now more relieved tone. "I....guess your right" he said after a while. "Well than shall we go?" he asked extending his hand and indicating to the restaurant. "of course" She said playing along and taking his hand. *Why don't I feel nervous, I mean before I could never have done what I've just done?* he continued to ask himself as the pair entered the restaurant. During dinner the two ate happily talking mainly talking about what their lives were like before Ranma came to Nerima. *for once everything seems normal* he thought. After dinner Akane suggested that they go to a movie, Ranma reluctantly agreed as to not spoil the evening even though he disliked romance films. The pair were walking back home after what they both considered to have been the perfect evening, perfect for the fact that no one had interfered which came as a surprise to Ranma. Akane turned to Ranma stopping him in his tracks. "Ranma I...had a good time tonight" "Y..eah me too... we should do this more often" *why did I say that* he thought to himself. There was silence between them, as the pair stared at each other. Ranma began to lower his head towards Akane's. Preparing to kiss her on the lips, but at the last moment he moved his head and kissed her on the cheek instead. Akane was slightly disappointed but did not want to rush. Ranma on the other hand was thoroughly confused as to why he did that, at the last moment he felt a certain something which seemed to prevent him from kissing Akane, something which he could not put his finger on. With that the pair entered the Tendo household, Ranma holding the gate open for Akane still being the perfect gentleman. Surprisingly there was no one up to greet them, both had expected either of their fathers to be downstairs drinking merrily about marriages and pacts, but the house was silent. Deducing that everyone was probably asleep the pair parted in the corridor and went to their respective rooms. Ranma flopped down on his futon, the evenings events having mentally exhausted him. *Man I can't believe that things went so well* Ranko had been in her room since before the start of Ranma and Akane's date, she had been annoyed when she found out that the two had been forced on a date. What really annoyed her was that she had used a seeing spell and had observed the whole date, much to her displeasure the two had gotten on well. *Wh...y do I feel so angry.....* she kept thinking to herself as a sphere of red flame engulfed her hand for a moment then disappeared again only to reappear again. Eventually she fell asleep, upon closer inspection one could see a tear rolling down her cheek. The following morning, Ranko was awaken to the cheery face of Ranma, "Hey wake up Ranko or we're gonna be late again" "Wh...what time is it?" "Nearly eight thirty" he replied. "Oh..... okay" she replied sleepily, getting up and walking past him to the bathroom. On their way to school the three met up with Ukyo who offered her usual greeting to Ranma by glomping onto him much to the displeasure of the two other girls present. Seeing Kuno at the school gate Ranma saw his chance to escape from the now angrier girls, so he sprinted up ahead to meet the deranged kendoist. "Fiend today I shall free the beauteous Akane Tendo and the red haired goddess Ranko" the kendoist said as he charged Ranma. Ranma merely side-stepped and tripped the other boy up. Kuno fell on his face and was dazed for several moments by the time he came to, looking around there was no sign of Ranma nearby, resigning he got up and went to his class. During the whole school day Ranma noticed that Ranko seemed pretty preoccupied, deciding to find out what was the matter he walked up to her at lunch and asked her. "Hey Ranko what's the matter? you've been like this all day" Ranko decided that now was as good a time as any. "Um...Ranma I was wondering if you'd like to go out some time?" she said quietly so no one else besides Ranma heard. "Sure when do you want to go and train again" Ranma replied slightly confused at Ranko's shyness. *He can be do dense sometimes!* the redhead thought. "No I mean go out, go out as in a date" she mumbled the last part. "Umm ur.." was all Ranma was able to stutter as he was completely surprised. Ranko hearing no answer took it as a no and began to walk away head low and eyes watery. "No.....wait I um... sure!" Ranma said quickly as he noted Ranko started to walk away depressed. "Really?" she turned and asked "Um..yeah!" Ranma replied. At that moment while their gazes were locked the afternoon bell rang. "I'll talk to you after school!" Ranko said in a more lightened tone as she went off to class. "Sure..." Ranma said quietly as he contemplated what had just happened, a part of him was overjoyed yet another part of him was anger at himself. Pushing down these feelings as best he could Ranma left for his afternoon classes as well. Neither had noticed the figure in the nearby bushes leave only moments after they had left. Later that evening, Ranma went to talk with Ranko about their upcoming date, at first a part of him wanted to get out of the date yet another part didn't. "So um.. where do you want to go?" he asked nervously. "I'm not sure why don't you decide?" "Well...." Before he could finish his sentence there was a knocking on the door. Automatically Ranma jumped out the window, there was a crashing sound soon followed by a loud splash. Ranko signed turning away from the window and answered the door. She was mildly surprised to see Nabiki standing there. "Hi Nabiki what can I do for you?" "Just a few questions" the second Tendo sister said as she walked in. "sure go right ahead" Ranko replied slightly nervous as to the situation, in all her time staying here she had not been approached by the girl before today. "I just want to know what's the story between you and Ranma" "Umm...we're just good friends that's all" Ranko replied in a nervous and confused tone. "Really so why'd you ask him out?" she asked. "I....hey it's none of your business" the redhead replied. "Oh yes it is, that's my sister's fiancée" "They're not married yet!" "Maybe but they will be!" Nabiki stated neutrally. "Fine what ever, I'm hungry" The redhead said as she too leapt out the window. Nabiki left the girl's room satisfied with her results, she tried to convince herself that she was doing it for Akane but deep down knew that she was just inspecting and removing the competition. *I'm sorry Akane but..." she thought as she begun to plan out how to ensnare Ranma, she could just have father adjust the engagement plan but knew that would be too obvious and would not necessarily get Ranma to like her. Ranko was both angry and frustrated by the truth behind Nabiki's words, she spent the next hour or so wondering around aimlessly contemplating what she was going to do. *I have to at least try!...* she thought as she knew that Akane and Ranma were becoming closer. Walking back into the dojo she was startled when she bumped into Ranma, "Hey Ranko what's the matter?" he asked noticing that her cheeks were slightly puffy and that her clothes were drenched. "Noth...ing" she said quickly as she brushed past him to go to her room. Ranma was shocked at what had just happened, *Oh man what did I do this time?* he thought. At dinner Ranma noted that during the whole meal Ranko had not spoken once except to thank Kasumi, he decided that he would talk to her about their up coming date and at the same time find out what was bothering her. He knocked lightly on her door, "Hey...Ranko you still awake?" "Ummmm....I'm kinda tired right now can we talk about this tomorrow" she replied quickly, as she was busy thinking about ways in which to show Ranma she was liked him. "Oh...okay..." Ranma said in a slightly disappointed tone. "....." "Goodnight..." he said quietly as he walked away back to his room. *Man let me think what did I do today? that could have gotten her angry at me* he thought as he lay on his futon. He tried to think of every single thing that he had done today that could have been the cause but came up empty. *Guess I'll have to find out tomorrow..* he thought as he slowly drifted off into a restless sleep. During their trip to school the next morning Ranma noticed that Ranko was nowhere to be seen, he had begun to worry until some of her friends had told him that she had gone shopping. *Strange* he thought as Ranko practically never went shopping. Ranko sneaked quietly back into her room with the bag she had brought from the mall half an hour earlier. Wanting to have one more look at what she had brought, Ranko opened the bag and spread the contents on the bed. She stared giddily at the stunning long blue dress before her, it was of Chinese design with various patterns all over the dress, with a simple zip along the back. *If this doesn't attract his attention nothing will!* she thought merrily as she placed the dress back into the bag and hid it deep in the cupboard. Although she did have some doubts as at times Ranma could be so dense when it came to the opposite sex. She hurried back to school not wanting to be late for the afternoon classes. "Hey Ranko where've you been, I couldn't find you during lunch time!" Ranma asked as Ranko took the desk next to his. "Oh um.. I just needed to get some things from the mall for an upcoming project!" She quickly said. "Oh..." The rest of the afternoon went smoothly without interruptions, although Ranma was slightly confused, he had believed that Ranko was angry with him for some reason, but now it seemed as if nothing had happened. *Man I'm getting a headache!* he complained to himself as he tried to think of the reason behind her actions. "Psstt.....Ranma??" "Huh...!" Ranma was so caught up in his thoughts that Ranko had actually managed to sneak up on him and surprise him. Ranma quickly vaulted down to the pavement not wanting to take a dip in the canal! "What is it??" he asked stopping. Ranko gave him a look meaning 'it's only for you to know'. He nodded than turned to face the Tendo sisters who had stopped and were looking at them. "Umm we'll meet you back at the dojo!" he said thinking that was the quickest and easiest explanation to get some privacy, as he headed off in another direction with Ranko following. Nabiki was tempted to follow due to her curiosity but decided against it as it would be violating Ranma's trust. Akane just nodded to the pair and began to head back to the dojo. A few blocks away Ranma stopped to wait for Ranko who appeared only moments later. "So what'd you want to talk about?" he asked seriously as Ranko had seemed pretty determined to only talk to him. "Oh....well... it's about our date..." Ranma felt a sigh of relief wash through him, *Is that what's been bothering her* he thought "I u...nderstand Ranko if...you don't want to you don't have to..." he mumbled the last part as for some reason he felt disappointed. "No..NO...it's not that..." She replied quickly seeing that Ranma had already jumped ahead. "Huh...???" "Well I was wondering when it was going to be set?" "Oh...um....urr.... when would you like to go..." Ranma said quickly as his mind again began to blow a few fuses. "Wellllllll how about tonight?" "Tonight...!!!???" "Well when than??" she pressed seeing the shock present in Ranma's face. "How about tomorrow evening..." he said remembering that school finished early due to the principle wanting to have a conference meeting with the rest of the teachers. "Sure that's fine!" Ranko replied with a smile which seemed to cause Ranma's heart to beat faster. "But you still haven't told me where we're going" Ranko continued. "Um....how about that new amusement park that opened up the other day.." he said while scratching his head. "....sure....." she replied still smiling although in her mind she had thought about something more romantic, but the fair would have to do. "Well than it's settled!" he said quickly. "Yeah.....anyway we'd better get back to the dojo pretty quickly before they start getting suspicious" Ranko replied honestly. "Um....yeah....." Ranma replied as he jumped up onto a rooftop and started to run back to the Tendo estate, soon followed by Ranko. ( to be continued....) darkvortex.geo@yahoo.com http://www.geocities.com/darkvortex.geo/