This is something that came to me while I was stuck on some of my 
other fanfics, and I decided to play with it...call this a long 
teaser. Let me know what you think.



Ranma 1/2 owned by Takahashi Rumiko, etc etc. I'm not getting paid, 
so the legal types can kiss off.

          Faux Existence

   Yamaguchi Kotomi sighed wearily as she finished wiping down the 
last table in the now empty supper club. Leaving her rag in the 
kitchen, she headed into the locker area and began changing out of 
her work uniform.    "Kuso...I wish we didn't have to wear this tight 
thing," she complained to nobody in particular.
   One of her co-workers laughed. "Hey, at least it pays the bills, 
ne Kotomi-chan?"
   Kotomi sighed. "Yeah, pays the bills. Not what I'd prefer to be 
doing, but at least I'm not out on the streets."
   Adjusting her Chinese-cut black blouse and making sure she didn't 
miss any of the ties, she grabbed her purse and left the club.

   A block away from the club, Kotomi was stopped by three large, 
scruffy men. The largest of the three, bald and stupid-looking, 
leered at her. "Hey koneko, let's you 'n me 'n my boys go have a 
little fun, whatcha say?"
   "I say go to hell," Kotomi growled.
   The two other men laughed, while the leeder glared down at her. 
"You stupid little bitch, when I say you're gonna come with me, 
you're gonna do it or I'm gonna hurt ya!"
   "Try it," Kotomi ground out, scowling. 
   "Little WHORE!" the bald man shouted, and pulled out a wicked 
dagger. As he thrust it, intending to cut her blouse open, Kotomi 
dropped into a crouch and swept his legs out from under him, then 
sprang up and flipped backwards, landing in a ready position. 
   The other two street toughs pulled their weapons as their leader 
righted himself, snarling. "You'll pay for that, little bitch." 
   As he charged again, Kotomi dashed to the side, turned, and 
hammered his side with surprisingly powerful punches. Gasping, the 
large man dropped to one knee. With anger clear in her sapphire eyes, 
Kotomi delivered a sharp kick to his kidneys. He fell over, barely 
conscious and in a lot of pain.
   "Alright, guys, your turn," Kotomi said evenly. The other two 
hoods seemed rather uncertain about facing her, but their boss was 
down and they had to do something. They attacked, but discovered too 
late the mistake that was, as they too were downed by the slight 
young woman.
   Straightening her blouse, Kotomi spat on the leader. "Bastards," 
she snarled, and turned to continue down the street, swatting at a 
stray lock of her long green hair which had gotten in her face.

   As she neared her apartment, Kotomi was greeted by an exuberant 
shout.
   "Kotomi-chan!" cried a young woman running up to her. The girl had 
shoulder-length blond hair, and was, like Kotomi, rather pretty. 
Kotomi smiled at her, and waved.
   "Hi Megumi-chan!" Kotomi called as the other woman neared. The two 
hugged, and Megumi gave Kotomi a little peck on the cheek. "How was 
work, Kotomi-chan?"
   Kotomi shrugged. "Same as usual. How about you?"
   Megumi grinned. "I got a promotion! I'm assistant shift manager 
now."
   Kotomi beamed. "Congratulations! We should go out and celebrate."
   Megumi got a mischevious look in her eyes. "Yeah...or we could 
celebrate right here at your place." 
   Kotomi's eyes widened, and her grin became somewhat lusty as the 
two made their way upstairs.

   The next day, Kotomi and Megumi sat together in a small 
okonomiyaki-ya that that had opened a few weeks earlier. As they 
talked and ate, Megumi frowned at something. "Say, Kotomi..."
   "Yeah?" Kotomi asked around a mouthful of shrimp okonomiyaki.
   Megumi pointed a chopstick in the general direction of Kotomi's 
head. "What's up with your hair?"
   "My hair?" Kotomi asked, confused.
   Megumi nodded. "Yeah. Umm...I know that red and green go together 
for Christmas, but it just doesn't look right on a girl's head, 
y'know?"
   Kotomi's head snapped up, a look of alarm on her face. "Red?" 
Megumi nodded. Kotomi dug around in her purse for a compact, and 
checked herself in the mirror. As her friend had indicated, the roots 
of her green hair were a bright copper color. "Kuso!" she hissed. "I 
can't believe I didn't catch that last night."
   Megumi looked confused. "Catch what?" Suddenly it dawned on her. 
"Oh...Kotomi...you mean you dye your hair?"
   Kotomi sighed and nodded. "Hai."
   "But...why? I mean, you'd look pretty either way...you're really a 
redhead?"
   "Hai, it's really red." Putting away her compact, Kotomi shrugged 
and started on her okonomiyaki again. "Mm, this is really good. It 
kinda reminds me of..."
   "Of what?" Megumi asked.
   Kotomi sighed. "Nothing. Just an old memory from when I was a kid.
"
   Behind the grill of the okonomiyaki-ya, a young woman wearing 
traditional okonomiyaki-seller's clothes paused for a moment to show 
the new young cook a better cooking technique. A waitress came up to 
her and said, "Kuonji-san, there's a phone call for you. Seems pretty 
important."
   "Hmm? Who's it from, sugar?"
   "I'm not sure. They mentioned the name Saotome though..."
   Kuonji Ukyou looked up sharply. "Ranchan!" she yelped, and dashed 
into the back.
 
   At their table, Kotomi was staring at the swinging door behind the 
counter. She'd heard the waitress call the owner "Kuonji-san", and 
the entire restaurant had heard her exclamation. Kotomi wiped her 
mouth, and grabbed her purse, tossing some yen on the table. "Let's 
go Megumi."
   Megumi looked down at her half-eaten okonomiyaki. "But...I wasn't 
finished..."
   "Wrap it up and take it with you. We need to leave, now."
   Puzzled, Megumi barely had time to find something to put the dish 
in as her friend practically yanked her out the door.

   "Moshi-moshi? This is Kuonji Ukyou."
   "Hey Ukyou, it's Nabiki."
   Ukyou blinked. That was the last voice she'd ever expected to hear.
 "Nabiki? What's up?"
   "Listen, I know something important, and I figured since you set 
up a new shop in Kyoto you needed to know this."
   Ukyou was confused. "What's this about, Nabiki?"
   "Listen, I've been doing some heavy detective work and tracing, 
and I think I finally found Ranma."
   "Ranchan!? Where is he!? Tell me!!!" Ukyou hadn't seen Ranma in 
seven years, not since that day...
   "He appears to be in Kyoto. I couldn't get much on him, but it 
looks like he's set up a new life for himself as a girl. All I know 
is he took a trip to China, showed up in Japan again, and vanished. 
But it looks like he was headed for the vicinity of Kyoto."
   "Thanks Nabiki. I'll keep an eye out, see if I can spot him 
anywhere."
   Ukyou hung up the phone, and walked out into the restaurant proper.
 Her waitresses were puzzling over a wad of bills. "What's goin' on 
out here?" she asked.
   Her head waitress indicated the wad of money. "Those two women 
that come in here all the time. They just took off all of a sudden. 
Overpaid the bill too. We're just trying to figure out how to split 
up the extra cash."
   Ukyou blinked. She'd seen her new regular customers, the two women 
who looked like they were more than friends, often enough, but had 
been too busy to get a chance to greet them herself. She chuckled. 
They always ate plenty, in fact...
   She gasped. "Anou...the one with the green hair...she usually 
orders a lot of okonomiyaki, doesn't she?"
   The head waitress nodded. "At least three, every time she comes in.
"
   Ukyou slumped against the wall. "Masaka..."



____
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The Eternal Lost Lurker
http://pages.prodigy.com/RMorrison
Proud inventor of kusonomiyaki