Chapter 3: Little Date?

   (Now, son-in-law, remember. She will not be quick to accept you. 
You must woo her, bring her around. If you do not ease into it, you 
will repel her.)

   "Delivery!"
   Kasumi slid open the entrance to the Tendou-ke and smiled warmly 
at the deliveryman, causing him to blush mildy. "Konnichi wa! You 
have a delivery for us?"
   The young man nodded. "Yes ma'am," he said. "Package for Saotome 
Ranma, care of the Tendou dojo."
   "Yes, Ranma lives here," Kasumi nodded. The deliveryman handed her 
the clipboard, which she signed elegantly, and returned to him. He 
handed over the package, and bowed to her. She returned his bow, and 
bade him farewell. 
   "Ranma-kun! There's a package for you!" she called, examining the 
small, plainly wrapped square box, and the simple folded sheet of 
card stock on top. 
   "Who's it from, Kasumi?" Ranma asked as he bounded down the stairs,
 followed by Akane. Kasumi peered at the card, and frowned. "Ara..."
   "What's wrong, oneechan?" Akane asked.
   "This card," Kasumi said, tapping the front. "Whoever sent it 
didn't sign their name to it, but look." Ranma and Akane leaned in to 
have a look. "'S m'name. So?" Ranma said.
   "But Ranma-kun...it's written in hiragana, not in kanji, see?"
   Akane frowned. Ranma shrugged. "So?"
   "I get it," Akane said after a moment. "Ranma...don't you usually 
only use the hiragana for your name in your girl form?"
   Ranma snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah..." He frowned. "Still don't 
mean nothin'."
   "Well, if that doesn't, this does," Kasumi said, opening the card, 
and reading it. "Dear Ranma: please meet me in the park overlooking 
the canal from the east, right before sunset. I'll try not to be late.
 PS: I hope you enjoy this small offering." Kasumi closed the card. 
"No signature." 
   Ranma sighed. "Aww sheesh. What jerk did it *this* time?" He 
clenched his fist. "I bet it's that idiot Kunou."
   Akane shook her head. "Baka. This isn't Kunou-sempai's style."
   "She's right, you know," Nabiki said. "Kunou-chan's a lot more 
transparent than this." Slyly, she added, "I don't think it's anyone 
from Fuurinkan either."
   "Oh? What makes you so sure of that, Nabiki?" Ranma asked. Nabiki 
simply raised an eyebrow and smiled at him.
   "Oh for crying out loud, Nabiki. Can't you let up on him just this 
once?" Akane asked.
   Smirking, Nabiki blew upwards at her bangs, and then said, "Well, 
if you must know, the 500 yen information packet on you explicitly 
states that you hate secret admirers."
   Everyone except Kasumi stared at Nabiki incredulously. "You're 
sellin' information packets now?" Ranma asked.
   Kasumi smiled. "That's so thoughtful," she said. Ranma barely 
restrained the urge to glare at her.
   "So how many people have bought these packets, Nabiki?" Akane 
asked.
   Nabiki did a quick count in her head. "Every male student at 
Fuurinkan except Kunou-chan, and those two friends of Ranma's."
   Ranma groaned. "I don't even wanna know what's in those packets."
   Nabiki grinned. "I'll cut you a deal...you can have the 500 yen 
packet for 300 yen."
   Ranma didn't resist the urge to glare at Nabiki, as she snickered 
and walked towards the stairs.
   "Well," Akane said, "Are you going to go, or ignore it?"
   Ranma shrugged. "Might as well go. I hafta admit I'm curious as to 
who's stupid enough to pull this off..." He reached for the package. 
Kasumi pulled it from his grasp.
   "Now, Ranma-kun...this is for your other half. You have to change 
first," Kasumi chided. Ranma just stared at her, while Akane giggled.

   Grumbling, Ranma went to find some cold water.

   A half-hour before sunset, the Tendou family minus Ranma sat 
around the dinner table, having snowcones. Soun and Genma were both 
wailing about Ranma's "date" and trying to encourage Akane to go 
along.
   "Ranma can take care of himself. He doesn't need me to babysit him,
" Akane grumbled. 
   There was a muffled thump outside the house. "Ara! What was that?" 
Kasumi asked. She rose, and went to the door.
   Ryouga leaned against his umbrella, huffing for breath, outside 
the entrance. As the door slid open, he panted, "Which...way...canal..
.?"
   "Ara! Konban wa, Ryouga-kun! You look very tired. Won't you come 
in?"
   "Kasumi?" Ryouga looked confused, then came into focus. "Is Ranma 
in?"
   Kasumi shook her head. "Ranma's out right now. Would you like to 
wait--?"
   Ryouga shook his head, looking at the sky. "Almost sunset. Gotta 
get to the..." He trailed off as he made his way out through the 
gates of the Tendou residence. 
   "Goodness," Kasumi said, blinking. Then, forgetting the incident, 
she returned to the table to finish her snowcone.

   Ranma sat on one of the benches in the small park overlooking the 
canal which ran through the center of the Nerima district. For all 
the time she spent near this canal, she didn't linger at this park 
much, and had never really paid attention to it before. Now, as she 
sat on the bench, she took in every detail of the place as she 
nibbled the chocolates she'd received.
   The park itself was divided in two, one half of it on either side 
of the canal. The west side of the park was completely empty, Ranma 
noted, while older folk, tired-looking young mothers, and families 
gathered sporadically on the eastern half. The benches and swingsets 
all faced to the west here; on the other side of the canal, they all 
faced east. Ranma quickly realized the purpose for this design: the 
west half of the park was for watching the sunrise, and this part was 
for watching the sunset. <How romantic,> she mused. 
   She continued to nibble her chocolates as she waited. While Ranma 
had never been much of a gourmet, only caring whether the food was 
edible in most instances, ever since being cursed, she'd become a 
connoisseur of chocolate candies. <Which is about the only good thing 
about being chased around by guys all the time,> she thought to 
herself. She'd had many different kinds of chocolate as her various 
suitors attempted to impress the unattainable wild redhead. After a 
few bites, she'd determined that these were French chocolates, and 
definitely the best she'd tasted. <They never export the really good 
stuff to Japan,> she thought. <Whoever sent these, went to a hell of 
a lot of trouble.> That almost made her feel a bit guilty, but she 
dismissed that thought and continued to enjoy the fine treats. Oddly, 
she fancied that she detected a hint of hazelnut in these candies. 
Not that it mattered, she finally decided.
   The sun began to set, and she watched it captively. Every now and 
then she'd cast a glance around, trying to spot whoever had called 
her here.
   When twilight had descended fully, Ranma stood from the bench. 
"Well, whoever it is, ain't comin'," she remarked to nobody in 
particular, and headed home.
   She didn't bother to try to figure out why she felt slightly 
disappointed.

   A handful of stars had speckled the dusky sky by the time Ryouga 
staggered into the park. He looked around for a moment, then sighed. 
"Damn." Shifting the weight of his backpack, he trudged wearily back 
towards the restaurant district. At least, he hoped that's where he 
was going.

   Ranma walked through the door, to be met by a worried Akane. 
"Ranma? Are you alright?"
   "Yeah," Ranma shrugged.
   "So what happened? Who was it?" she pressed.
   "I don't know," Ranma said quietly. "I got stood up."
   Akane blinked. Ranma continued, "Sure was a nice sunset though. 
Shame I had to watch it alone." With that, the redhead trudged 
upstairs. Akane watched her, wide-eyed, wondering what had gotten 
into her half-and-half iinazuke. 

 

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Ryodachi Kouma
"The Eternal Lost Lurker"
squn29a@prodigy.com
My Web Page is UPDATED! Check it out!
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no da.