Silly 5
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by Florencio B. de la Merced, Jr. (fmerced@pworld.net.ph)

A Fanfic inspired by Ranma 1/2, owned and copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi
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It was often called the graveyard shift, but then again, it wasn't that
unusual for someone to still be awake so late in the evening, a few hours
just before the sun would finally show up over Nerima.  This is so true at
only one place, the Tendo dojo.  When all of the neighborhood was fast
asleep, things could just be picking up inside the Tendo Anything Goes
School of Martial Arts dojo.  If fact, this was one of those nights.

Ranma slid open the door and walked out towards the hallway.  He fumbled to
recover his bearing right after bumping at the walls a few times.  He rubbed
his eyes, the darkness greeted him.   He climbed down the stairs, taking his
time lest he wanted to roll down the steps in a really painful way.  He
turned towards the kitchen, warding the cloth that served as its door.

"Oh, Ranma.  What are you doing up?"  Kasumi looked at the sleepyheaded boy
that had appeared through the kitchen drapes.   Ranma, though, was obviously
still unaware of the question as he continued his lazy stride towards the
refrigerator door.  He did have enough sense though to acknowledge Kasumi's
prescence when he motioned for Kasumi to ignore him.  "What's wrong?"

The fridge door swung open and Ranma dropped his head in, scouring for food
among the contents inside.  "Nothing, Kasumi.  I'm just hungry."

Nabiki, the other person sitting at the kitchen table tapped her older
sister.  "Ignore him, Kasumi.  Let's get back into the game."  Kasumi did as
she was asked, placing down a ten of hearts on the table in front of her
sister.  "My, my."  Nabiki reached for the catch.

"Oh, my.  I think I made a bad move."  Nabiki grinned, laying out her cards
on the table.

"All right, Full house."  Nabiki leaned back, a smile showing proudly on her
face.  "Too bad, Kasumi."

Ranma sat and joined the two.  "What do you have, Kasumi?"  He leaned on one
side to sneek a peak,  He didn't have to, though as Kasumi laid them out for
everyone to see.

"I only have these."  Ranma was shocked.  But it was Nabiki's horrified
expression that topped it all.  "I don't know if I should call it a straight
hand, or a flush."  Kasumi looked up, the look on her companion's faces
surprised her.  "Did I do something wrong?"

Nabiki lowered her head, still in disbelief at her humiliating loss.  Ranma
leaned back.  "Wow, a royal flush.  Where did you get that?"  Kasumi giggled
a bit.  She revealed a small stack of cards that she had on her lap.
"Kasumi?  I'm shocked."

Nabiki was furious.  "What the hell where you doing?  You've been cheating
on me?"  Kasumi smiled, drowning the angry stare by her sister.  "Kasumi?"

"But, Nabiki.  You also have a stack with you.  You always do."  That made
Nabiki twitch.  Ranma laughed, and was soon followed by Kasumi.

"Very funny!"  Nabiki sat back down, her arms crossed in silent protest.  "I
never..."

Ranma finished the glass of milk he got from the fridge and bade goodbye to
the two sisters.   He didn't bother to look back, knowing that the two would
again be playing.  He knew that Nabiki wasn't going to stay angry for long.
He was almost sure that Nabiki wouldn't have reacted the way she did if he
wasn't there to witness how she had lost.  Nabiki was the trickster, but
against the master, she was still the learner.  Ranma knocked at the door.

"Is that you, Ranma?"  The door slid open and he entered.  Akane was sitting
on his bed, a solitaire of cards laid out in front of his fiancee.  "Aren't
you sleepy yet?"  Akane swung her head.  "Gee."  Ranma sat at his father's
bed, rolling the panda over one side so he had enough room to sleep.

"This game is really fun!  I love it!"  Akane dealt out three cards from a
stack she had in her hand.  She looked at the cards in front of her.  Ranma
had lied down already.  He looked at Akane, she dealt three more cards.

"Why don't you deal one card at a time?"  Akane didn't bother to look at
him.

"I'm doing it, Las-Vegas style."  Ranma muttered something that Akane failed
to notice.  He turned around.

"Goodnight, Akane."  That made her look.  Ranma had his back towards her.
She looked down at her cards.  She was almost through with the hand she had
dealt.  But something was wrong, she knew it.  She gathered all the cards,
not bothering to finish the game.  She stood up, brushed off any mess she
might have left on the bed.  "Ranma?  I'm finished now.  You can sleep here
now."  He didn't respond.  She knelt over at him.  He was past asleep
already.  For her, there was one thing left to do.


-----

That morning, Ranma slowly opened his eyes.  But something was on his face,
he noticed it immediately and took the card off him.  He sat up, groggy
still.  He looked at the card.  "King of Hearts?  What's this doing here?"
He thought that his fiancee must have left her stack of cards on his bed
again.  That was when he remembered that he didn't sleep in his bed last
night.  But he was on his bed.  He stood up, hoping to clean up the rest of
the stack of cards that he was expecting.  He was surprised to see nothing,
only one card and he had it in his hand.

He walked out of his room and promptly knocked at Akane's room.  It opened
freely.  He hesitated to look inside, an instinct and from experience on his
part.  Akane was still in bed, probably exhausted from all that card playing
from last night, he thought.  A voice calling for breakfast came from
downstairs.  Ranma was about to leave when he realized what he had to do.
When he reached over at Akane to wake her, a single card on his fiancee's
hand made him hesitate.  "Don't tell me?" He reached for the card.  "Yup.
Queen of Hearts."  He looked at her, still fast asleep.  Ranma bended over
and whispered something in her ear.  "Wake up, my queen."  No sooner had he
said that, Akane started to stir.  She looked up, pleasantly surprised at
the sight of Ranma hovering over her.

"Good morning, Ranma."

"Kasumi is already calling for breakfast."  Akane sat up, stretching away
the stiffness in her body.

"Thanks."  Akane waited for her fiance to leave the room before rising off
her bed.  While in the closet, the door opened again.  She didn't see who it
was, but two cards thrown from there gave her a hint.  The pair landed
softly on her bed.  "Gee.  I wonder what he is thinking right now?"  She
giggled before returning to her closet, choosing a dress for that morning.

Before she left the room, Akane picked up the King and Queen of Hearts.  "I
should need these later."

-----

Downstairs, shouts were coming from the breakfast table.  Akane walked in
surprisingly to discover Ranma and the rest of the family in heated debate.

"I didn't do it, honest!"  Ranma pleaded to everyone. He was the focus of
the accusation being thrown all over the room.

"Oh, yeah?  How do you explain this?!"  Nabiki held out two cards.  A Queen
of Diamonds and a Joker.  "This was on my face this morning."  Ranma
protested, declaring his innocence.  Soun and Genma too held out cards.  A
King of Spade and another Joker was the two cards Soun held, while Genma
only had the Queen of Clubs with him.

"Are you trying to be funny, boy?"  Genma crushed the card in his hand.  "I
know that I have problems in dealing with your dear mother, Ranma.  But you
don't have to rub it in!"  Ranma continued to deny the accusations.

"Thanks Ranma." Kasumi held out all four aces in her hand.  She handed Ranma
a special plate, filled with food towards him.

"I see.  You wanted favors in exchange for these, eh?"  Soun crushed the
cards, cyring as well as he displayed his dissapointment.  "Ranma!  You
are...so..."

Akane heard enough.  She sat down and held out her own card.  "Look Daddy.
See what Ranma gave me."  Everyone looked.  Nabiki was the first to smile,
Soun and Genma began to cry as well.  The moment was too moving for them.
Kasumi expressed her delight at the cards Akane held.  "I hope you guys just
stop picking on Ranma."

Nabiki was the first to apologize, though Ranma was still baffled by
everyone's sudden change.  "I'm sorry Ranma.  I...guess you meant well."
Soun and Genma followed suit, even hugging their son to the point of
choking.

"Oh, Ranma.  I'm so happy!  You do love Akane!"

"Ranma my boy!  This is proof.  I'm so proud of you!  You're now a man among
men."  Ranma finally got the upperhand and threw both men off the room.
Both landed on the fish pond happily.  Ranma screamed a bit, cursing both of
them for their childish attitude.  Akane stared for a minute before standing
up.

"Thanks Ranma."  Akane grabbed his arm, laughing at the two grown ups
groping in crawling out of the fish pond.  Ranma sighed, heaving a breath
after a tremendous battle.

"Akane, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, you deserve it.  What is it?"

"Next time, play solitaire in your room.  Ok?"  Akane leaned on him, smiling
at the same time.

Kasumi and Nabiki walked up to them, joining the two as they enjoyed seeing
their parents fumble to get their feet dry.  "So, Akane.  You liked the game
I taught you last night?"  Akane nodded, gently squeezing on Ranma's arm.

"Gee.  Solitaire is no fun.  You better try poker, Akane.  It's worth it."
Nabiki didn't see Akane's reaction.  Ranma knew how Akane felt.  It was only
a game for Nabiki, but to Akane it was everything.

-----

The End.