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Ranma nibun no ichi - 9 - My love                                    [Teaser]

All characters portrayed in this fanfic are copyright of Rumiko Takahashi
and Shogakukan Inc, etc, etc, etc.
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[Fuurinkan High]

The morning air was crisp in Nerima. The cold, winter wind stung the faces
of the students as the trudged wearily to school, huddled up in their warm
coats. There was a certain colour to the dark clouds, a suggestion that 
soon small, cold flakes of powdery snow would drift to the ground.

Meeting in small groups as they headed for the school building, the students
of Fuurinkan High started chatting softly about the rumours that they had
heard. With each word, the air puffed up into small steam from their breath.
They did not stop walking as they talked, but scurried on towards the warmth
of the school.

There was a new teacher coming. The images of a demon sprang to the minds
of the shivering students - images of a demon with flames issuing from his
mouth, burning students as they ran in terror from his wrath. Images that
caused the students to walk a little faster, their actions a little more
nervous. As they walked, they wondered what they had done to deserve such
a horrible fate.

[Kunou-kouchou's Office]

High above the freezing students, a strange looking structure sat on top of
the school building, near the clock tower. It seemed to be made of coconut
wood and thatching - a small Hawaiian style house. A ladder led up to the
front door, as the house was built high up, four coconut trees serving as
stilts.

Inside the darkened room, a man danced around, playing the ukelele. His 
skin was darkly tanned, striking for this time of the year. He also wore a 
large pair of sunglasses as if it was bright in the little room. The most 
obvious thing about the man was what he was wearing. His outfit consisted 
of a rather loud Hawaiian t-shirt, long white shorts, thongs and a lei. Even 
more strange was what he had on his head - a minature coconut tree seemed to
grow in his dark hair!

A maniacle grin stuck to his face, he started to talk in a very un-Japanese
manner.

"All right, Ninomiya-sensei! This is Ranma Saotome," Kunou-kouchou pressed
a button in the darkened room, and a projection screen lit up with the
image of Ranma, pulling a face at the camera, "The worst student in
this school. You have come here because of your skill in handling these
aggressive students. Your only duty is... To control Ranma Saotome!"

With that, the lights popped on, and the principal was pointing to a
teaddy-bear.

He sighed, "That was the fourty fifth rehersal. Ninomiya-sensei is late..."

[Outside]

A pretty, young girl, obviously too young to attend the high school, walked
into the school grounds, looking a little confused and lost. This did not
detract from her prettiness, and in fact seemed to heighten her cuteness.
She was clothed in a long, dark dress, mostly obscured by a long, creme
cardigan. She carried a satchel in one hand as she gazed around the yard.
A few whispers of 'transfer student' could be heard as groups of students
stopped to look at her. Putting on a brave face, the girl walked up to two
of the students who were walking past.

"Hi, guys!"

The two boys smiled at her in a friendly manner - after all, she was rather
cute. "Yeah, what would you like?" asked one of them.

A distant, "I'm late!" was heard, but the three paid little attention to
the sound.

"Excuse me, but where is the Principal's Office...?" the girl asked, giving
the boys a smile filled with innocence, befitting her age.

With a large crash, Ranma lept down onto the girl's head and bounced on
into the school grounds, just as the school gate began to swing shut.

"I'm safe!" he cried with relief as he landed ... landing on the girl's
head with a *thump* .....

[The Fuurinkan High Library, Night]

Hinako woke with a start, her dream shattered as a pile of books thumped
down next to her head, which had been lying on the desk.

"Wha'?" She half expected Ranma to be there after leaping off of her head,
onto the ground.

All she saw was Gosunkugi, holding half a pile of books ... the other half
had been spilled onto the table next to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hinako-san!" Gosunkugi quickly placed the rest of the books
down, already moving to pick up the ones he dropped, "Sorry to keep you
waiting, too ... It has been a very hectic day."

Hinako blinked a little and gave a yawn. She didn't care too much about
propriety, because right now, she had the mind and body of a young girl.
She just nodded, yawning again, "It's okay, Gosunkugi-chan. I was dreaming
of the first time I came to this school! Ranma was such a horrid boy, don't
you think?"

The young man nodded placidly. He remembered how Ranma had come into his life
and ruined it, too. But he'd gotten used to it by the time Ranma and Akane
were actually ready to be married. By the final year of high school, he had
even started to get over Akane... though it was hard not to stare at his
photos all the time ... especially the very sexy ones of Akane doing her
gymnastics in the school leotard, doing those forms on the beam ...... he 
felt himself start to blush, just remembering what he used to do sometimes, 
late at night, while looking at those photos. 

The then remembered where he was and when. He quickly composed himself and 
looked at Hinako. She was chattering away over nothing in particular, not
even having noticed his small lapse of attention. He gave a soft sigh. She 
was often like this... But he did prefer her in her adult form, even though
she tended to treat him a little badly... He was used to his lot in life... 
At least she paid attention to him... the only woman that ever did!

Although he didn't think that Hinako had been overly impressed by the proof
that he magic worked these days, he had won some respect in the eyes of the
adult teacher. But he had also won some respect from Cologne. Maybe it was
not quite true that the only woman who paid attention to him was Hinako...
Cologne had talked to him for a little while once she had recovered enough.
She seemed to have been _very_ impressed with the magic that he had performed
to cure her.

As chibi-Hinako chattered about her day, Gosunkugi mechanically piled up all
the books, and picked them up. The two of them started wandering out of the
library, Gosunkugi managing to lock it behind him, even with his arms full.
He'd done it enough times. His mind, though, was on other matters.

The pretty young Cologne, even with the demeanor of an old woman... And on
the adult Hinako, even with the way she seemed to look down at him.

He did not know which he wanted ... or if either of them would even want
him.

The two wandered through the school grounds, the lamplight from the street
being the only thing to guide their path. Dark clouds blocked out the stars
and the moon... only small pools of light guided the two as Gosunkugi walked
chibi-Hinako home.

[Nekohanten]

Mousse brought in the little curtain from the front door, then locked the
door behind him. He gave a yawn as he headed back towards the kitchen. It
had been a rather tiring day - the place had been packed out for some
reason. Maybe it was because Ucchan's had been closed today for Ryouga and
Ukyou to take their baby for a short holiday to visit Ukyou's father. If
that was the reason, they'd be packed for the rest of the week, too.

Shampoo was already in the back room, watching some television with Cologne.
It was rather hard for Mousse to adjust to having the old woman back...
especially since she looked like a young woman! If only her style of speech
changed, as well as her domineering attitude, he would almost believe that
she was nothing more than a friend of Shampoo's, visiting for a while. But
she liked to order him around, when she could get away with it. And she
still acted like she was an elder... it was very disconcerting.

At least she'd managed to adjust and call him "muko-dono" rather than giving
Ranma that title - the title of husband. And she seemed quite stable, too.
It was quite a remarkable change!

"Mousse, you've closed up the shop properly, yes?" Cologne asked, looking at
him, as if he couldn't even do that. They all spoke in Chinese together,
when alone. After all, what was the point in speaking a foreign language
when there was no-one else around?

He grimaced but nodded his head, "Of course I have. If you don't believe me,
go check it yourself."

Shampoo gave a little frown, "Mousse, there is no need to speak so roughly
to hiibaa-chan." The rebuke was very small and mild, but it irked Mousse
that Cologne seemed to have regained at least some control over her great
granddaughter, again. He'd gotten used to life without Cologne, and to a
life with Shampoo and him living in close to pefect contentment.

Life was interesting with Cologne back, at any rate. However much she annoyed
him, Mousse didn't think about trying to make her leave... but thinking about
ways to stop Cologne's influence over Shampoo was another matter.

He gave a slight nod to Shampoo, hardly acknowledging what she had said. He
turned to the door, "I'm going to bed now, Shampoo. Are you coming?"

With a quick glance at Cologne, Shampoo stood up. "I should go, too. We must
get up early in the morning again. Goodnight, hiibaa-chan."

With her eyebrow arched at the two, Cologne nodded her head, "Goodnight,
child. Just remember to be up early for tomorrow. We will have a lot of
customers to keep us busy all day."

Cologne's eyes went back to the television screen, but Mousse had a feeling
that she was watching them as the left.

[A Small Town]

An old man, carrying a bag about the same size as himself, ran over the roof
tops, jumping along as he went, looking behind him for signs of persuit. A
kerchief was tied around his head, done up just under his nose, to hide who
he was... a theif. Pretty spry for his age, the short, old man went on...
not noticing what was ahead of him.

A rather small boy, with a cute round face and strange eyes sat on a roof,
doodling with a caligraphy brush almost as big as he was. He was writing
the word 'baka' on the roof, only managing to splash a little ink on himself
as he wrote. On his cheeks were little swirls as if he'd painted them on his
face, himself.

The boy was concentrating on his work so much that he didn't see that the
short, old man with the bag was speeding over the roof-tops, straight 
towards him.

With a crash, the old man ran straight into the boy. The brush flicked up,
and the bag burst open, scattering its contents into the air ... 

Both the unconsious boy and the old man lay still, a rain of pastel and
white panties floating down around them, and splashes of ink falling from
the sky like gentle rain, covering them.

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Well, it's a teaser. ^_^

Haven't put anything out in ages, so this is just to show you that I'm
still alive!

But C&C on it, so far, would be helpful! (Ie. spelling, grammar, etc etc etc)

Ja, mata!

Kunoichi@AnimeMUCK
Kunoichi@AnimeMUSH
Lum@RanmaMUCK
Akane@KawaiiMUCK
Ukyou@Furtoonia
Kodachi@FictionMUCK
Caroline@RealLife

http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~caseawr

Kun-chan...
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