(yawn) Well, after working for several nights much to hours much later than
I am accostumed, I did manage to finish Part 5 when I hoped I would (though
I feared I would finish it much later). It's a bit shorter than I hoped- I
scrapped it all and started over at one point, and I wound up rewriting it
about 4 pages shorted than I had planned (sigh). Anyway, because Part 5 is
finished (and because I said when I sent out part 3 that I would post again
in one week) here is Part 4. Part 5 will be posted in either 1 week or
when Part 6 is complete. Also, I do intend to put out a synopsis of this
thing as soon as word comes as to how we're supposed to send in synopsis
with the New Order- so, for my own personal reference, I'll say that this
has been sent out on Wed., Oct 29 at 5:10 p.m. Beyond that, remember that
authors notes and disclaimers were all in part one, and if you missed any
of the previous parts just e-mail me and I'll send you the missing part(s)
ASAP. Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------
"Looking good," B.B. said to herself, looking in a mirror after her morning
bath. Then she laughed. 'Why do I need to look good today? The Most
Virtuous Woman contest begins in an hour... hmm, better change.' She
turned the faucet on cold and splashed herself with it. "Oh, my!" she
gasped as she became Buriko.
* * * * *
Most of the day's judges had already arrived, and Desaix was talking
philosophically with some of the various priests. So far, none of the
contestants had shown up- Azusa was on her way, Akane was getting dressed
in her room, and Buriko was in the bathroom. Nabiki was on the phone, and
said something that caught Desaix's ear.
"...a cat. Yes, that's right Mousse, I said I wanted you to bring a cat
with you. You'll find the instructions taped to the light pole outside
your restaurant." Desaix was puzzled. 'Now why would she need a cat?
She's spending the whole day administering the contests. Today's contests
are the cooking, selling and most virtuous woman... why would a cat be
needed for any of them?'
He was distracted by someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned and
saw a slightly damp Buriko, in a modest dress (it looked like she borrowed
one of Nabiki's school uniforms), with a somewhat worried expression on her
face. 'Uh oh,' Desaix thought. 'What'd B.B. do now?'
"Desaix? Can I talk to you for a second?" Uh, huh. He'd seen that look
before.
"Uh, sure. Will you excuse me, Father?" Desaix asked the Catholic priest
he was talking to. The old man nodded, and Desaix quickly stepped aside
with Buriko. "Okay, what'd B.B. do now?" Desaix whispered.
Buriko sighed. "Well, she hired Nabiki to ruin Akane's matches today- 2000
yen per point Akane loses."
"How would Nabiki do that?"
Buriko shrugged. "I don't know- B.B. told Nabiki to come up with a plan on
her own... Can you try and stop her, though?" Desaix sighed and nodded.
Buriko gave him a brief hug, causing him to blush, as she said "Thanks!
I'm so sorry that I get you into these messes- first B.B. gets you in
trouble with me, then I get you in trouble with B.B., then B.B. get's you
in trouble with your friends or with your fellow priests- I don't know why
you put up with me!"
Desaix, unable to respond, merely nodded again. Then he turned away and
left- he couldn't be looking at her if he wanted to concentrate, and right
now he needed to figure out just what Nabiki could do against Akane.
* * * * *
While that brief conversation was going on, Akane had just finished
dressing in her room when she heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?" she
asked.
After a few seconds, "Its me," Ranma's voice said hesitantly. "Can I come
in?" Akane blinked. Since when did Ranma try to enter her room through
the door and not the window?
"Uh, sure, Ranma. Come on in- I didn't lock the door." After a few
seconds, the door squeeked open and Ranma walked in.
Ranma put a hand behind his head. "Hi, Akane. I... just wanted to wish
you luck in the today's contests. You can easily win this tournament, I
think... just believe in yourself..." 'God, that sound's so corny and
insincere... she probably thinks I'm treating her like a child...' Ranma
thought.
'Does this have anything to do with the kissing contest?' Akane thought.
Aloud, she said "Uh, thank you, Ranma. That... means a lot to me..."
Ranma continued to hesitate. "I also wanted to say that... well... I think
I'm not going to be able to help you today. You have that 'Most Virtuous
Woman' contest, and, well, since we can't seem to get along for very long
without fighting, I thought that it might be best if I made myself scarce-
better than just getting you angry in front of the judges, like I'd
probably do otherwise..."
Suddenly, Akane's aura flared. "Is this just some way to get out of eating
my cooking?" 'That jerk! And here I was, thinking he was trying to be
nice to me!'
"THAT'S NOT IT!" Ranma shouted. Then he sighed. "That's not it at all...
in fact, if you want, I'll come by for that part of the competition... but
I think that just proved my point." Akane blushed. "If you want me...
I'll check up on you occasionally- er, not neccesarily in person."
"I..." Akane sighed. "Again, thank you, Ranma. And... I know my cooking
stinks. You don't have to try it today..."
'Oh, god, I can't believe I'm going to say this,' Ranma thought, but
looking at the downcast Akane he had to do something. "Akane, you're
cooking doesn't always stink- you've gotten a lot better. Oh, sure, it'll
still occasionally come to life and try to take over the world or
whatever-" Akane growled. "-but you CAN make at least one good dish. If
you make that curry I... like, then you can BET I'll be there." 'Well, at
least I can survive that curry without major stomache cramps... and its
best for her not to poison the judges.'
"I... I will Ranma... thanks!" Akane smiled at Ranma, and his heart
melted. 'Damn,' he thought. 'If I don't get out of here soon, I'll never
leave...' And so, saying his goodbyes, he left. Akane blinked.
'That was RANMA, wasn't it?' she asked herself.
* * * * *
Desaix sat on the roof, still pondering the question of what Nabiki could
do against Akane. 'Well, she could kill her or arrange her death... but I
doubt she would do that to her own sister. Also, I think I can eliminate
her doing anything specific about the cooking contest. That leaves the
selling contest... gods only know the number of things she could do there-
I couldn't stop them all... and the virtuousity contest... hmm, now what
could Nabiki do to show Akane's LACK of virtue? I just wish I knew her
better... if I only knew her strengths and weaknesses...'
As he was thinking this, he saw Ranma leave the dojo and go racing off
along the fence only moments before Azusa showed up. 'Wait a minute- I
might not know all of her weaknesses, but I do know of at least one- Ranma.
Now, how could she use Ranma against Akane?' A flashback to the
conversation Nabiki was having on the phone struck him. 'Cats... what is
it about cats again?'
"Oh GODS!" he said aloud.
* * * * *
Mousse looked at the instructions that Nabiki had left him. He could
hardly believe what he was reading, so he asked Cologne to read it for him.
"It says here that Nabiki will forgive you your debts if you pick up a cat
and drive Ranma into the Cat Fist, and THEN lead him to wherever Akane is."
"Er, that's what I thought..." Mousse frowned. "I suppose its worth it...
but... where would I find a cat?"
Cologne smirked. 'Well, I can't have Nabiki holding things over my
employee's head, and Shampoo has been antsy ever since she stopped
son-in-law's wedding...' "I have an idea, if you're willing to take it,
Mousse..."
* * * * *
Desaix, dressed in his sweatsuit, burst into Ranma's room with a teapon and
a bucket. He pulled the pig of contention out of his cage and splashed
him with the hot water, a panicked expression on his face.
"Quick, Ryouga, where does Mousse work?"
"Uh, the Nekohantan, I think-" Ryouga began.
"Well, where is the Nekohantan?"
"Er," Ryouga hesitated, "Why?"
"Its important, okay? It very well could be life or death!"
"Um, uh, I THINK that its... er... you'd probably better ask someone
else..."
"Oh, never mind." Desaix splashed Ryouga with the water from the bucket
and locked him back up in his cage. He ran right out the door, still
holding the bucket.
'Now what was that all about?' Ryouga wondered.
* * * * *
Akane opened the first set of cards Nabiki had given her to sell. She had
been really kind to her, even suggesting a good place to sell them. That
had prompted Akane to ask Nabiki what was up, and she had said "Well, I do
want them all sold- I mean, I am held responsible for their sale, and I do
make money on every card sold!" Akane figured that, alone, was enough
motivation for Nabiki to try and help her.
As she looked through the set, however, Akane's opinion of her sister's
motives changed. "OOOH! NABIKI!" Akane blushed as she wondered how she
was going to sell a bunch of cards with pictures of naked men and women on
them to a Catholic Church group.
Her following judges all took a small note in their respective notepads
regarding Akane's angry outburst.
* * * * *
"GIVE AZUSA BACK HER GIUSEPPE!" Akane said, pulling the greeting card with
the panda on it away from Hinako.
"Delinque-" Azusa bashed her before she could pull out her coin, knocking
her out.
The Shinto priest turned to his Buddhist and Catholic associates. "Um, can
we agree that... this isn't quite... virtuous behavior?" They nodded
slowly.
* * * * *
Desaix ran into the kitchen, looking for Kasumi. Instead, he found Nodoka.
"Mrs. Saotome," Desaix began, "Do you know where Mousse works? Its
important."
Nodoka thought about it for a moment. "Well, I know that the name of the
restaurant is the Nekohantan, if that helps. Unfortunately, I've never
actually been there, so I'm not sure where exactly that is."
Desaix sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to find him in the air..." Pulling
some balloons out of the pocket of his jeans, he filled them with hot and
cold water, and grabbed a bucket. "Er, excuse me..." Desaix said to Nodoka
as he entered the open kitchen closet. Out of sight, he stripped off his
clothes, wrapping the black sweatsuit around his walking stick, and tied on
the two balloons as well. Then he raised the bucket over his head, and
sighed before tipping it onto himself. For the first time in several
weeks, he felt the old feeling of his guts turning inside out as he shrank
and grew the wings of a large raven. Picking the walking stick up into his
claws, Desaix lifted up off the ground and into the air, passing a
surprised Nodoka in the kitchen as he flew out the kitchen door. Maybe,
from overhead, he could find Ranma before it was too late.
* * * * *
Akane had finally succeeded in selling all of the cards with nude scenes on
them- all the female nudes she was able to sell to Hiroshi and Daisuke (it
surprised her that they had the money to sell such things, but it did not
surprise her that they were interested) but the male nudes took a bit more
doing. Not wanting to be caught in possession of such... explicit...
pictures by someone she knew, she settled on selling them at the St.
Hebereke School for Girls. It took a lot longer finding people who had
that taste in photographs, but after several hours she managed to sell off
all the nude male cards.
However, she had a whole new box to open- which meant she had one hundred
more cards to sell. Looking at the pictures, Akane raised a primal scream
so furious that her observers quaked with fear and people passing her on
the street ran for thier lives.
The next set of cards were pictures of two people only, and they rarely
showed anything quite as explicit as the first set. However, Akane quickly
decided that she needed to try to work on the other contests and hope that
selling her first hundred would be enough for second place, as she really
didn't want MORE pictures of her and Ranma circulating than there already
were.
One of the priests, recovering from the shock of her scream, wandered over
to see what it was that had set her off so. Needless to say, the
impression he got when he saw the pictures was not very favorable.
* * * * *
She knew she could have probably done it faster under different conditions,
but Buriko was happy she had finished as quickly as she did. It made
sense, to her, to sell the panda and kitten postcards to a parents group-
only parents and kids would want to buy something so
sweet-and-sappy-looking, and only parents could afford it. She knew,
however, that she probably could have sold them a lot easier as B.B.
At the moment, she was headed back to the Tendo's to turn Nabiki's money in
to her. Her observers were talking amongst themselves, all seemingly
feeling good about the demure and pleasant young woman before them.
She stopped when she heard a baby crying desperately not far away. "Oh,
my," she said. "I wonder what's wrong!"
As Buriko ran off to see what the cause was of the wailing, her three
observers smiled to themselves. Unless the other two women in this contest
were able to prove EXCEPTIONAL virtue, Buriko had just won this round.
* * * * *
"You realize she's sold, named, stolen, resold, renamed, and restolen all
of her cards three times?" The Catholic priest following Azusa asked his
companions.
"Er, I counted four..." the Shinto priest corrected. The Bhuddist priest
merely nodded.
"Uh, I don't think that any of us want her to win, do we?" The others
nodded in agreement with their Catholic equivalent. "Then- URK!"
"GIVE AZUSA BACK HER DOMINIQUE!" Azusa screamed, grabbing the cross off of
the poor priest's neck and yanking, choking him badly. The other two
merely stared in disbelief.
* * * * *
Soaring over the city, Desaix saw Akane, who was standing outside of St.
Hebereke School for Girls, screaming her lungs off about something, Azusa,
who was being pried off of one of the priests by the other two following
her, and Buriko comforting a distraught young mother of four. 'You know,
Buriko's probably won the virtue contest whether I stop Nabiki's plan or
not, but... I do need to stop the collateral damage...' Finally, he
spotted Ranma- being entangled in chains by someone. Desaix swooped down
for a better look.
"Mousse, what're you doing this for? I've stayed away from Shampoo since
she ruined the wedding, and you've never had any grudge against me over
anything other than her affection!" Ranma was shouting, as he struggled in
the chains.
"I am grateful for that, Saotome, but someone has required me to perform a
service for them in repayment for a loan. I must entice you into the
Neko-Ken, and then lead you to Akane, so as to cause her to fail some
'contest of virtue.'" He pulled a thrashing cat out of his long robes, and
started approaching Ranma slowly.
Desaix, watching this, was struggling to remember which of the water
balloons was filled with hot water and which was filled with cold.
Colorblind in his cursed form and unable to feel temperature with his beak
or claws, Desaix finally panicked and decided just to pick at random.
Picking through the string which held it on, he tossed the balloon up into
the air and hit it with his beak. The water had cooled some, but was still
warm enough to change him back into a human. Quickly pulling on his
clothing, Desaix picked up his walking stick and re-assessed the situation.
By this point, Ranma had succeeded in breaking out of the chains. Mousse,
however, was holding a purple cat up in Ranma's face, causing him to flap
his arms in panic. Desaix started to run at Mousse, holding the cold water
balloon in his non-fighting hand.
"I can't let you do this, Mousse!" Desaix cried. Mousse turned in
surprise, but it was too late. By the time Desaix was close enough for him
to feel comfortable throwing the balloon, Ranma was already changed.
"Just who are-" Mousse began, but was sent into the stratosphere, still
holding Shampoo-Neko, as Neko-Ranma struck out at his tormenter. Desaix
looked at Ranma, and the cat-like Ranma looked back at Desaix.
'Oh gods...' Desaix thought- again.
* * * * *
Buriko had just left the poor young mother after her husband had finally
shown up, and was once again on her way back to the Tendo's. She heard a
whistling sound shortly before something landed in front of her- HARD.
"Oh, my!" Buriko cried as she ran forward to find out what it was which
had fallen. Stopping just before she stepped on a STRONG pair of glasses,
she helped the poor man who had just flown into the cement sidewalk to his
feet, handing him his glasses. A few seconds later, a panicked cat came
flying down as well. Buriko just managed to catch it before it fell onto
the ground. Without even looking at the cat, Buriko helped Mousse to his
feet.
* * * * *
Ranma-neko pounced at Desaix. Desaix whipped out his walking stick,
pressing the button to strike at just the right point to deflect the
attack, knocking Ranma away. However, one claw slashed the stick right in
the middle. Desaix stared at the steel extension of his hand-made weapon,
noting the claw marks in it. He retracted the extension, and turned to
face Ranma armed with just a water balloon. 'Fighting him is useless, and
without someone who he truly loves, he cannot be controlled, but... one
splash, I only need one splash- the change should be enough to shake him
out of it, even if the water is not.'
Ranma-neko leapt again, but Desaix jumped over him his outstretched hand
and threw the water balloon. One of Ranma's fists slashed Desaix's legs at
the same time as the balloon hit Ranma's face. The fist, on the upswing,
knocked Desaix in the direction of Mousse and Shampoo, while the balloon,
on the downswing, completely soaked Ranma from head to toe, changing him
instantly into a very confused redheaded girl staring at some figure flying
off into the sky.
"What just happened?" Ranma-chan asked no-one in particular.
* * * * *
After making sure the man who fell from the sky was okay, Buriko turned her
attention to the cat she was holding. She stroked it soothingly, much to
the cat's dismay, before she said anything. What she said surprised
everyone around her.
"Oh, my. Its... its... PUR-ple!" She squeeled part of the last word. As
the priests following her looked on in shock and the two fallen objects
looked at her in confusion, a third object started to fall from the sky.
"AAAAAAAGH! <CRASH>" Desaix screamed.
"Why were you flying that way, Dez?" Buriko asked Desaix sweetly, holding
the cat closely. Before he could reply, she lifted the cat in front of her
saying "Look, its PUR-ple."
Desaix shook his head knowingly. "That it is, Buriko, that it is." He
turned to the priests. "Keep an eye on her for me, will you? She kind of
goes into a trance around purple things..." Desaix whispered. The three
priests all nodded slowly, not quite sure what was going on. Turning back
to Buriko, he continued louder "Why don't you look after that cat and not
let it escape. I want to talk to its owner here, and you'll need to give
it back to him when we get back, but you can hold onto it until I return,
okay?"
She snorted. "You don't need to patronize me, you sexist pig!" She
lightly slapped him on the shoulder.
Desaix, however, merely nodded at her words and action- that was rather
tame for her- there was no need to apologize to the judges for her.
Grabbing Mousse tightly by the shoulder, he said "Come on, Mousse, you and
I need to have a little talk..." Desaix dragged the still slightly dazed
Mousse away from the scene and into a nearby alleyway.
By the time they got there, Mousse had recovered enough to speak. "Who are
you, and how do you know my name?"
Desaix smiled- sort of. He was trying to cover up the wince of pain which
he instinctually gave when he stepped wrong on the foot Ranma had clipped,
but Mousse saw through it.
"I am the designated protector of that woman who's cradling your cat right
now," Desaix began, his smile unconsciously growing genuine as he said it.
"Her name is Buriko- or B.B, depending on... er, what she wants you to call
her. We are staying at the Tendo's while we search for... someone who
lives her, and she was the one who hired Nabiki to ruin Akane's chances in
this competition. She has changed her mind- and furthermore your part in
this is now irrelevant, as Akane has basically blown it on her own. I
can't let you continue to try to put Ranma into the cat fist- that will
cause too much collateral damage, which will in turn cause too much of a
feeling of guilt in Buriko, for me to allow it."
Mousse shrugged. "I don't see how you could stop me, whatever your name
is- I am a master of the Hidden Weapons, and you would stand no chance
against me."
Desaix smirked. "Probably. But you would have to kill me in order to do
so- and do you really want to kill me for something so pointless?"
Mousse raised an eyebrow- not that it could be seen behind his extremely
thick glasses. "You would die for this?" He had occasionally considered
fighting to the death for Shampoo, but rarely for something as...
trivial... as this seeming practical joke. But he seemed truly willing- he
had already been wounded trying to stop him once. Perhaps... "I can
respect you for that, but this is important to me- Nabiki will forgive me
all of my debts for doing this, and with all the money I have borrowed from
her for presents for my beloved Shampoo, that amounts to a lot of money.
Perhaps you would be willing to help me repay them..."
Desaix sighed. It figured that anything B.B. would get him involved with
would cost him money. "How much do you owe her?" He asked wearily.
"Uh... 56,241 yen. And yes, she won't round down- but all I want is enough
to keep her from increasing my interest rates for my, er, failure."
Desaix nodded. Knowing B.B. had found a way to get people to owe her much
more, that figure seemed insignificant. "Sure!" Desaix pulled out 60,000
yen and handed it to Mousse. "Keep the change!" As wealthy as B.B. had
made the temple, he had been able to obtain a lot of travelling money- in
fact, he had obtained more than enough to set up his own temple if he
wanted (something which had been suggested to him if Happosai failed to
calm B.B.'s ferocious carnal appetite) so the money meant nothing to him,
as he didn't really want to set up his own temple. 'Bah, if I can't return
to the temple, I think I'll return to Kyoto to live with mom, or maybe I'll
head back to America and see if I can find my father's family. I'm
beginning to get sick of being a homeless priest...'
Mousse looked at the money in surprise. In truth, he only wanted a couple
thousand yen- this would allow him to pay Nabiki back AND buy Shampoo a
present...
Wait a minute, what was it about Shampoo...
"Uh, I think maybe we should rescue my, er, cat, from your... charge."
* * * * *
Shampoo had finally been released by Buriko's clutches- for the first time
in her life, she understood why, exactly, Ranma seemed to hate it when she
glomped him. Buriko apologized for her actions ("Sorry- cute purple things
seem to drive me a bit loony") and, with Desaix walking beside explaining
in a voice too low for the three observers to hear what had happened,
resumed her journey to the Tendo Dojo. By the time they arrived, Nabiki
had left to obtain the ingredients that everyone would need for the cooking
contest. Desaix excused himself and left for his room.
When he got there, he pulled out of his baggage a first aid kit, and pulled
out a lot of gauze bandages, a towel, and some hydrogen pyroxide. He
rolled up the cuff of his pants, revealing to the world the damage Ranma's
blow had done. Four very deep cuts ran down his lower leg, and much of the
blood was soaked into his dark pants leg. He soaked a part of the towel in
a fire bucket, and used it to clear away the rest before disinfecting the
wounds with the hydrogen pyroxide. Ranma slid open the door just as Desaix
opened his eyes, which had been closed so tight as to allow a single tear
to be squeezed out.
"Hi, I stopped by the house to see if the cooking contest had started yet,
and when I heard you were here, I decided I'd check and see if you were
alri- oh my god, did I do that?!" Ranma exclaimed when he turned around
from sliding the door closed.
Desaix wiped up the excess disinfectant with the towel as he nodded.
"Don't worry about it- you weren't yourself." He started nimbly dressing
the wounds with the bandages.
"Er, do you have any idea what all that was about?"
Desaix nodded. "Yes."
Ranma raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to tell me?"
Desaix sighed as he finished bandaging his leg, and rolled the sticky pants
leg down. "B.B. hired Nabiki to ruin Akane's chances in the contests
today. Buriko, this morning, warned me and asked me to stop it. It took
me a while to figure out what Nabiki was going to do... and when I did, it
was too late to stop Mousse. She was planning to have the guy lure you to
Akane, so that you would, um, express your subconscious feelings for her."
Ranma blinked. "Huh?"
Desaix smirked, standing up and testing his leg. "Don't worry about it.
The cooking contest will start soon- you'd better get prepared. If I'm not
mistaken, you'll have to eat Akane's cooking shortly. And may the gods
have mercy on your soul."
* * * * *
The last event of the day was about to begin. Nabiki, Akane, and Azusa had
all returned. The winner of the selling contest had already been
announced- Azusa had won easily because she was not only able to sell all
of the cards she had been given, but she had been able to steal them back
and sell them 6 times more, meaning that she had sold the most cards.
Buriko came in second, with Akane a distant third. Noting the problem that
Akane had had with the contest, Desaix sighed- he had failed once again to
help Buriko. 'Oh, why does she put up with my incompetence?'
Nabiki was explaining the specifics of the contest- the only contest of the
day which she felt her intervention was unneccesary to force Akane to fail.
After all, as bad as Akane cooked, anything she did to try to ruin Akane
would only be able to help her.
"Okay, people, this is the drill. When this contest starts, I'll let you
all into the kitchen. On a long table in the kitchen are a number of
ingredients, laid out for easy access. Everyone grabs ten items, and you
all have three hours in which to turn those ingredients- and, of course,
any tap water you want to use, into a delicious-" She paused to look at
Akane with a smirk. Akane humphed angrily in defiance. "-meal for your
partners and the nine guest judges." Ranma looked mighty nervous, but when
Akane began to move to look at him he forced all his fears to leave his
face. A remarkable feat which only Desaix noticed- as he was the only one
paying attention. Kasumi came out of the kitchen and whispered something
to Nabiki, who nodded in response. "Okay, people, the contest begins...
NOW!"
Akane, Azusa, and Buriko all ran into the kitchen, and Nabiki and Kasumi
soon joined them. Azusa went wild.
"OH, HOW CUTE! Juneau, Juneau!" Azusa grabbed a watermelon. Akane
slipped in to grab the curry powder and some chicken pieces. Azusa
continued going wild, screaming "Robespierre! Robespierre! Come to Azusa,
Robespierre!" as she grabbed a package of tofu. Buriko grabbed some fresh
fish, some tempora flakes, and a package of rice. "Poirot! Poirot!" Azusa
grabbed a link of fish sausage. Akane grabbed a few tomatoes and her own
package of rice. "Lafontaine! Lafontaine!" "Marquis! Marquis!" "Jean
Claude! Jean Claude!" Azusa grabbed some celephane noodles, some bean
paste, and a bottle of syrup. Akane and Buriko both grabbed a bottle of
cooking wine and Akane grabbed some all-spice and some oregano. Akane
surveyed the ingredients she had collected with surprise. She'd wanted the
fish sausage and the tofu, but the only sets of those were already taken by
Azusa, so she decided she had everything she needed. Buriko, meanwhile,
also grabbed some diced chicken that Akane had missed and a package of
eggs.
Akane had had a very rough day, trying to sell all those cards Nabiki had
given her, and so decided she wanted to relax while cooking. Therefore,
instead of setting the temperature to high and keeping it there for the
entire 3 hours she had to cook, she would turn the temperature down to
medium\low, and relax. Oh, sure, it would take longer, but she needed the
break.
Azusa was unwilling to cook all the cute things she had collected off of
the table, and so left the house. Mikado ran after her, to hopefully
explain to her that the ingredients were needed for other things ("If you
don't cook them, then you'll never win the contest. If you don't win the
contest, you'll lose your precious Charlotte!") but Ranma noted that, with
her gone and (despite Mikado) unlikely to return, Akane had almost
certainly gained two points- provided she made something that didn't kill.
So, for the first time ever while cooking, she relaxed.
Buriko, on the other hand, decided to make a multi-course meal. First, she
made some fish tempora, then some rice cakes. Finally, she decided she'd
make a few pieces of okonamiyaki.
Then came the time for the taste test. Ranma stood before Akane's curry,
and couldn't quite keep the nervousness out of his face. As he hesitated,
Akane grew angry.
"RANMA!" She berated loudly, in front of all nine priests. "YOU PROMISED
YOU WOULD EAT MY COOKING IF-"
Ranma, snapped out of his worry and a little angry at Akane's lack of
trust, lashed back. "I WILL!" With that, he defiantly grabbed a bowl of
rice and spooned the curry over it. Grabbing a spoon, he dug into the food
and raised it up to his mouth.
His mouth open, he held it less than an inch away from his face before he
remembered what it was he was doing. He froze in shock. Akane looked even
more annoyed, and forced the spoon into Ranma's mouth.
Ranma blinked, pulling the empty spoon out of his mouth. Cautiously, he
took another bite of the food. Akane's expression changed from one of
anger to hope. Ranma's changed from one of fear to absolute confusion.
"Well?" Akane asked, unable to take anymore.
Ranma opened his mouth, not quite unable to get out the words. He tried
again. "Its..." The hope was about to change back into anger when Ranma
tried for a third time. "Words fail to describe..." He quickly shovelled
a spoonful of the curry into Akane's mouth, before she could react. She
blinked.
"I cooked THAT!?" She said, disbelieving. One right after the other, all
the priests began grabbing their own bowls of curry and eating, and they
all gave aproving nods and compliments. When Desaix took a bite of the
food, he grew concerned. 'This very well could win it,' he thought.
Then Desaix tried Buriko's meal, and he was just as uncertain. He felt
that Buriko's was better, but he was also aware of his own biases.
Whatever the vote, it would be close.
Ranma steadily defended Akane's curry. It was the first time he had ever
tasted something she had made that was better than just 'normal,' and it
was a lot better than Buriko's okonamiyaki... but then again, he was
comparing Buriko's okonamiyaki to Ukyo's, which was like comparing
Hershey's chocolate to Godiva. The other judged had never sampled Ucchan's
Okonamiyaki, and so were unaware of how good okonamiyaki could be. Ranma
did end up admitting that the rice cakes and the tempora were 'pretty
good,' but he stated with all sincerity that he felt he had never eaten
anything better than that bowl of curry.
'I've gotta remember how I did that,' Akane thought to herself. Nabiki,
having tasted both, was very worried- they were both equally good, and the
vote could go either way. In the end, however (in part because she put
some pressure on the deciding judge, showing him a photograph she had taken
of him which would definitely have ejected him from his position as a
priest) Buriko won. Ranma nearly went ballistic, but Akane just collapsed
into a heap. Except against Ranma, she had never done this poorly in a
competition before- she knew (hearing about Buriko helping the poor mother
of four) that she had essentially lost any hope of coming in first in the
contest of virtue, and her reluctance to sell Nabiki's cards cost her any
points in the 'best salesman' competition, so when she had heard this
praise of her cooking, she felt for certain that THIS would be the event
which would help her close in. She had lost all hope.
What was worse, though, was when she overheard (through a cracked doorway)
the judges comments on her virtue.
"Well, we all saw that Akane is very explosive- has no compunction
whatsoever against yelling at a man for no reason other than a slight
hesitation, or force-feeding him if he moves too slow. And Father Maurice
over there saw her holding photographs of herself in very... provocative
poses. And, if that's not enough, I could have sworn that she was
eavesdropping on the conversation several girls were having at St.
Hebereke's."
"All true," another one, rubbing a raw line along his neck, said, "But...
Azusa was pretty bad too. I mean, she stole EVERYTHING she saw- she even
tore the cross right off of me!"
"Perhaps, but she has such a pleasant personality, even if she is a bit of
a kleptomaniac. Akane was rude, obnoxious, and downright insulting to any
male she met. AND we all saw it."
The debate continued from there, but Akane couldn't bear to hear it. She
knew that, despite the man who wanted Azusa to win, she had already lost.
The vote was being taken as the speakers were making their comments, and
she saw the number of people nodding in agreement whenever the first priest
identified her as the least virtuous. She ran upstairs to her room, in
tears, passing by Nabiki as she ran (Nabiki felt a little guilty looking at
Akane's face, but she hadn't let her conscience get the better of her
before, so she wouldn't know) and collapsed into her bed, in tears.
A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door, much like the one
she had heard the previous night. When there was no response, the knock
was made louder, and louder still. Suddenly, the door burst open, and a
very worried looking Ranma burst in.
"Ah! You're okay, good. I was worried you were kidnapped again, and I
don't really feel up to a rescue today..." Ranma noticed that Akane wasn't
paying any attention to him- even though her eyes were wide open and
staring straight at him, she hadn't even noticed that he had come into the
room. He then noted further that her face was streaked with dried tears,
and she was sniffling quietly. Ranma was purplexed- he hadn't ever seen
her like this. What had set her off so? Ranma reached down and gently
shook Akane by the shoulder, saying "Akane, are you-"
Akane put him in a wrist lock and threw him against a wall. Then she
blinked, and bit her lip in shame. "Oh, I'm so sorry Ranma! I didn't know
it was you..." Then she paused to consider things for a minute. "Wait a
minute! Why are you here?!"
Crunched against the wall, Ranma smiled inwardly. 'Good, I was able to
spark the fire back into Akane. Now... maybe I should try to do something
before I anger her enough to mallet me...' He stood up slowly and reached
for the back of his neck unconsciously. "Um, uh... I came to let you know
the final results of the virtue competition, and when you didn't respond to
my knocking on the door, I decided to make sure you were... uh, were in
here. Um, are you okay? You were crying when I came in here."
Akane stood up off her bed and began stomping towards Ranma angrily. "I
WAS NOT CRYING!"
Ranma sighed, and grabbed one of Akane's hand mirrors, turning it towards
her. "You weren't?" Akane saw her reflection, sighed, and sat back down
in her bed, head in hands. "What's wrong, Akane?"
"I overheard the judges talking about me... I lost, didn't I?" Ranma
nodded slowly. "I thought so.... Am I really all that bad? I've lost- I
lost everything today. I cooked better than I ever have before- not even
the Water of Life made my food taste that good- and I still am not good
enough to win that contest. I couldn't sell enough post cards to even be
competitive. I even lost out to a kleptomaniac and a PROSTITUTE in having
virtue. I've lost the contest already... I've lost my precious P-Chan.
I've lost everything today!"
Ranma bit his lip in sympathy up until she mentioned P-Chan, when he
reflexively bit down harder. He controlled the pain enough to keep from
yelping or shouting, and then relaxed. He looked at Akane's face, in which
fresh tears were starting to form. He needed to do something now, before
she started crying again.
"Akane... stop this. You haven't lost everything. It wasn't you, anyways-
Nabiki was trying to get you to lose. B.B. hired her to get you to lose.
It might have been worse, but Buriko warned Desaix, and he stopped some of
her plans."
"But I still lost!" Akane cried some more.
"Like I said before, you still haven't lost everything." Akane looked at
him angrily.
"LIKE WHAT? What haven't I lost?"
Ranma looked at her sadly. "You haven't lost anything." Akane's
expression didn't lighten at all.
"Name one thing I haven't lost! Tell me something which matter that I
still have!" Akane shouted, not believing him.
Ranma was about to say something, but choked on his own words. Akane dared
him to say something with the anger in her eyes, and he took the challenge.
"Akane, you still haven't lost this contest- I think that if you try, you
can still win it. But you won't believe that, so I will tell you one thing
you haven't lost." For the first time in his life, Ranma had the
confidence to say what was truly on his mind to Akane. "You haven't
lost... me." With that, he turned around and left the room, closing the
door behind him.
Akane, meanwhile, was too shocked to recover from her facefault.
* * * * *
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dtatum@capaccess.org
desaix@sysnet.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872