Whew.  Another one night project, thought up, pumped out, and submitted
by yours truly.  I know I should be working on my long term projects, but
I kinda got stuck in all of them and was wondering if my creative energy
had dried up.  I'll try to get back to those tommorow.
C&C, MST's, Approval, Disapproval, Bashing, etc. all welcome.  I have 
a terrible self-esteem problem where I think everyone's ignoring me.
=======================
Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
=======================

"May I Have This Dance?"
	by skeezy5

=======================

Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...

=======================

	"Argh!  I can't do this!  I just can't!"  Ranma stares at the 
mirror, his bow tie crooked again.  "Why didn't I just get a clip on or 
something?!"
	"Relax, Ranma.  One would think you were getting married or 
something."  Tofu Ono smiles at his young friend and puts a hand on his 
shoulder.  
	"Very funny."  Ranma's voice is so flat that it would've put 
Nabiki to shame.  "How can you be so calm?"  He wrinkles his nose as Dr. 
Tofu expertly retied the knot.
	"I'm a doctor, Ranma.  I'm supposed to handle pressure very well."  
Ranma gives the doctor a hard stare, remembering all the times he had 
gone ballistic when Kasumi had dropped by.  

@->-

	"Oh, my daughter is finally getting married today!"  
	Nabiki stares as her father puts Old Faithful to shame.  She 
considers burying him in the ground and making him into a tourist 
attraction but shakes her head.  Only stupid Americans would ever want 
to watch a geyser.  "Dad, quit crying.  Otherwise, you're going to get 
sis all wet when you're walking down the aisle."
	"Oh, only if your mother was here!"
	"Daddy...  You promised not to say that again."  Nabiki, makes 
another mental tick mark.  Seventeen.  She'd bet herself that her dad 
wouldn't exceed twenty, but at the rate at which he was mentioning her 
mother, she'd lose that bet.  "Come on, lets go see sis.  She must be 
done getting ready by now."

@->-

	The bride spins around, feeling very self conscious under the eyes 
of her maid of honor.  "Well, what do you think, sister?"
	Her sister gives her a reassuring smile.  "You look beautiful."
	"You do too."
	"Not as much as you."  She grimaces inwardly, knowing that the one 
person who's opinion she really cares about would never be able tell her 
that.
	"So, planning on dancing with the best man?"  The bride frowns, 
noticing her sister's downcast eyes.  "Oh, come on.  Its not that bad, 
is it?"
	"Yes it is!  He won't even ask me..."  
	"Yes, he will."
	"No he won't..."  She feels tears collecting in her eyes and 
blinks them back.
	"Dear sister, I promise you that he will."
	"Thanks..."  She sniffles a bit, but calms down, not wanting to 
ruin her sister's good mood.

@->-

	Genma pokes his head into the men's waiting room.  "They're ready 
to start."
	The groom and the best man glance at each other.  Nodding, the two 
of them step out into the hallway.  

@->-

	Nabiki smiles, watching her sisters fidget about.  "Okay, the 
cameraman's going to be filming everything, so if either of you fall, 
remember, I'm going to have it on tape."
	"Nabiki!"  They collectively yell, but then relax, laughing 
nervously.
	"Now come on.  I've got daddy calmed down, but I don't know how 
long it will last.  I hope you get down the aisle before he erupts 
again."
	The three sisters give each other a hug and then exit the women's 
waiting room.

@->-

	The crowd is surprisingly large.  Though the bride and groom don't 
have that many close friends, they know a lot of people between them, 
and everybody had wanted to share in their happiness.  Most of them 
smile, watching the groom stand confidently at the altar, knowing how 
hard it had been for him to finally propose.  Many of them remark how he 
is nothing like the man who would always bumble when it came to 
expressing his feelings to her.
	The choice in best man had been viewed as a bit strange, but there 
is a rumor that he's the one that finally helped the groom and bride 
together, so it is perfectly understandable.  The chattering finally 
stops as the music for the bridal procession begins.  All heads turn to 
the back of the room, where Soun Tendo leads in his daughter, followed 
by the maid of honor.  Everybody in the room had understood that choice 
easily, knowing who the choice for best man had been.

@->- 

	"You may now kiss the bride."  
	Steadying his shaking hand, the groom lifts the veil away from his 
bride's face.  Her demure smile grips his heart in a vise that seems to 
be trying to stifle it.  His blood is roaring in his ears, drowning out 
everything else.  He gulps hard, trying to keep his nervousness in 
check.
	"I love you Doctor Tofu."
	Though he can't hear her through the roaring, he knows what she 
whispered, having imagined those lips forming those exact words so many 
times.  A small ball of quiet confidence grows from his center and 
expands, leaving the two of them in it alone, together.  "I love you 
too, Kasumi."
	Somebody had once described that kiss as being a thousand light 
bulbs going off at once.  Tofu feels as if they are standing at the 
center of the universe, and every single star had gone supernova at the 
exact right moment, so that the light is reaching them all at once.
	The hall erupts in cheers, finally seeing the closure of the Tofu-
Kasumi romance.  Of course, the bride and groom would've said it's only 
the beginning.

@->-

	Akane sighs, watching Kasumi and Dr. Tofu dancing.  All those 
years she had spent with that crush on Dr. Tofu...  She smiles, glad 
that it is a fond memory and not a painful or regretful one.  Seeing the 
love in their eyes, she once again realizes that the two of them are 
truly meant for each other.  Anyway, none of it matters anymore since 
she has...
	"Ranma?"  Akane turns to look for her fiance and frowns, watching 
him gorge on the cake.  *Stupid idiot!*
	The first dance ends, and various couples begin to step onto the 
floor.  Nabiki leans over to Akane and whispers, "I never knew daddy 
could dance, did you?"
	"You, Nabiki?  Not know something?  I'm shocked."  Nabiki smirks 
at that, and they watch their father dancing with Kasumi, a grin 
splitting his face from ear to ear.  "So, isn't it about time that you 
surf the crowd, looking for some innocent sap?"
	"Oh please, Akane.  You make me sound almost predatory."  Nabiki 
winks at her sister and wanders off, looking for the men she had 
earmarked earlier.
	Akane wistfully looks at the dancing couples and glances at Ranma 
again.  *Maybe I should ask...*
	"Excuse me, but may I have this dance?"  Akane turns in surprise 
and sees Dr. Tofu extending a hand to her.
	"Ah..."  Akane glances again at Ranma, who seems oblivious of 
anything except for the food.  She frowns a bit again and turns back to 
Dr. Tofu.  "Why not?"
	They step onto the dance floor, and Akane feels as if she is 
almost flying, being led by Dr. Tofu's strong arms.  She blushes 
slightly, remembering all the times she had fantasized about dancing 
with him at such an occasion.  *But in those, I had been the bride.  
What a silly little girl I was...*
	"I'm sorry, Akane."
	The quiet statement comes as no surprise to her.  She had 
suspected that he had known for quite a while.  "It's okay, Dr. Tofu.  
It was a just a silly school girl's crush.  I got over it a while back."
	"..."  Dr. Tofu looks down at her weak smile and feels sorry for 
his new sister-in-law again.  "So how are you and Ranma doing?"
	Akane doesn't reply, slightly flustered, but her pout tells Dr. 
Tofu that things haven't changed much.  She finally responds, "Oh 
well... He's still... Ranma.  I guess that's the only way to describe 
him."
	"It's not that bad, Akane.  He's looking at you right now."
	"No way."  Akane cannot see, her back towards Ranma, but Dr. Tofu 
smiles reassuringly at her.
	"Really, he is."  As they turn, Akane glances at Ranma and sees 
him digging into the food again, but his eyes do seem to be on her.  
"Oh well, its not like he's ever going to ask me to dance."  
Blushing, she quickly adds,  "Not that I want to dance with him or 
anything."
	*You might be surprised.*  Dr. Tofu thinks.  They remain silent 
for the rest of the dance, and Akane once again drops in to a her 
reminiscing.  The dance ends, and the two of them bow to each other 
slightly.  Akane walks away, a bit teary eyed by all the old memories, 
but she smiles and shakes her head.  Seeing that Kasumi is dancing with 
Mr. Saotome, she walks over to her father.  "Daddy, will you dance with 
me?"
	"Of course, my dear daughter."  
	They dance, and Akane is amazed once again at how skillful her 
father is.  *Guess he danced a lot with mom...*  
	As if reading her thoughts, he says, "Oh, if only your mother was 
here today..."
	"Daddy..."  Akane whispers softly, knowing how much her father 
misses his wife.
	Instead of breaking into tears, however, her father just smiles at 
her.  "Now if only one of my other daughters would get married."
	"Daddy..."  This time Akane's voice is filled with the hint of a 
threat.  Soun decides that silence is the path of wisdom and doesn't 
pursue the topic.  Finishing their dance, Akane finally decides to walk 
over to the food table.  As she approaches, however, Ranma gets up and 
leaves for another part of the reception room.  Akane feels a slight 
tightening in her chest as she gets herself a drink.  *Is he avoiding 
me?*

@->-

	"Whew.  I knew I shouldn't have ate so much cake that quickly.  At 
least I can go back and eat more now."  Ranma looks at himself in the 
mirror as he washes his hands.  The color is different, but wearing a 
tux again makes him remember his own disastrous wedding attempt.  With a 
small sigh, he mutters, "Good thing Nabiki didn't invite all of them.  
Other wise, I'd be busy running away from the girls, and Akane would get 
mad again..."
	He frowns slightly, thinking of Akane.  She had been smiling a lot 
dancing with Dr. Tofu.  Hadn't she gotten over him a long time ago?  Not 
that he's jealous or anything... 

@->-

	"So Akane, what do you think?"  Nabiki asks.
	"Yeah, I need to agree with you, the men here are pretty bland."
	"Especially when you only have eyes for one man."  Nabiki assumes 
an innocent mask.
	"What is THAT supposed to mean?"
	"Oh, nothing."  Nabiki hums and haws a bit.  "So, aren't you going 
to go dance with Ranma?"
	"That idiot?  Why would I want to do that?"  Akane pouts again, 
remembering how he had ran away when she had approached him earlier.
	"Oh?  Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I went and danced with 
him."  With that, Nabiki leaves the table and zeroes in on Ranma, who 
had just come back.

@->-

	"Well aren't you a bag full of surprises, Ranma.  I didn't know 
you could dance."  Nabiki follows his lead, genuinely surprised that 
Ranma knew something other than martial arts.
	"Eh, I got involved in a Martial Arts Dancing Competition thing.  
I had to learn to dance to deal with that."  
	*I should've known.*  Nabiki almost face faults, but Ranma's arms 
carry her through the turn. "You should go dance with Akane, she's 
really good."
	"Yeah, I'd imagined she would be."
	"You'd imagined?"  Nabiki fills her voice with insinuation.
	"Not that I ever imagined dancing with her or nothing!"  Nabiki 
smiles at his response, once again noting how easy it is to manipulate 
the poor fool.

@->-

	Kasumi finishes dancing with her husband for the umpteenth time 
and walks over to the food table, slightly thirsty.  As she gets herself 
a glass of punch, she notices Akane sitting at a corner, looking quite 
down.  Kasumi frowns and walks over to her.  "What's wrong, Akane?"
	"Nothing!  Nothing's wrong."  Akane puts on a brave smile, not 
wanting to make her sister worry, but it looks weak to Kasumi.
	"Oh come on.  You're not going to even tell me?"  Kasumi smiles, 
and Akane once again thinks how lucky her sister's children will be.  
"Is it Ranma?"
	"No!"  Akane shakes her head vehemently but sighs again.  "I guess 
he'd rather dance with Nabiki than me."
	"I thought she was the one that asked him.  Why don't you go ask 
him?"
	"Its not the same."
	Kasumi hugs her sister, hearing the resignation.  "Akane, I 
promised you that he'd ask you to dance.  I'll promise you again, right 
now."
	"Thanks, Kasumi..."  Akane feels herself on the verge of tears and 
is forced to blink them back again.

@->-

	"So, Ranma.  Do I get a dance?"
	"Uh, sure, Kasumi."  Ranma glances over at Akane again, wondering 
why she looks so sad.  *Is she sad that the doc married Kasumi?  That 
can't be it!  She got over him, right?  Stupid girl.  Making me worry.*
	Ranma almost stumbles in his distraction but deftly recovers and 
continues dancing.  Kasumi mulls over a few thoughts in her mind, and  
seeing Ranma's attention on her sister, decides on her plan of attack.  
"So, why haven't you asked her to dance yet?"
	"Aww, Kasumi, why would I..."
	"Ranma, could you really tell a lie to me?"  Kasumi puts a sweet, 
unassuming expression on her face, almost as if her statement had 
nothing to do with their conversation.  This makes Ranma hesitate.
	Finally, with a sigh, he whispers, "Its not like she wants to 
dance with me.  She'd ask me if she wanted to."
	"Maybe she wants you to ask first, Ranma."  Kasumi watches as 
Ranma blinks a few times at this thought.  She smiles, knowing that the 
seed would grow, now that it's planted.

@->-

	"So Ranma, this is a surprise.  I thought you hated being a girl."  
Tofu raises an eyebrow at the girl he is dancing with.
	"Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you privately, and the only way 
to do that seemed to be to dance with you."  Ranma grimaces again, 
unused to being the one led in a dance.
	"Well, what's it you wanted to talk to me about?"
	"Well, its something Kasumi said.  That Akane wants to dance with 
me..."
	"And?"
	"Well, I don't think she wants to.  I mean, if she wants to, 
wouldn't she ask me?"
	"This coming from the man that finally helped me and Kasumi get 
together?"
	"Aww, that was easy.  I mean, it was obvious you two were in love 
with each other."
	"Not to us, Ranma, not to us.  I was always afraid to tell Kasumi 
how I felt because I didn't know how she'd react to it.  Maybe Akane's 
afraid to ask you because she thinks you'd say no or would only agree 
because you didn't want to reject her.  You're the one that finally 
convinced me to propose to Kasumi.  I guess its my turn to tell you to 
go ask Akane to dance.  You do want to dance with her, don't you?"
	Ranma remains silent, but his heart is full of the realization of 
how much he wanted to dance with her.

@->-

	Akane watches as Ranma leaves the room again.  *Dance with Dr. 
Tofu as a GIRL, and not want to dance with me!  What a... what a... 
JERK!  See if I ask him to dance!*
	Akane beats back the urge to run out of the room crying and buries 
her face in her hands.  Minutes pass, and she barely notices as the 
maestro makes the call for the last dance.  *Oh, Ranma, why can't 
you...*
	"Excuse me miss, but may I have this dance?"
	Akane snaps her head up in disbelief, imagining that her ears are 
playing tricks on her.  She blinks a few times as Ranma nervously holds 
his hand out to her.  As she hesitates, he almost seems to be ready to 
withdraw his hand.  Smiling radiantly, she takes his hand before it 
retracts.  "It would be my pleasure."

@->-

	Many in the crowd murmur as the maid of honor and best man glide 
across the dance floor.  They dance with a grace born of expertise and 
honed reflexes, but most of all, it is the matching smiles on their 
faces which seems to shine even brighter than that on the bride and 
groom.  The older folk smile and say something about young love...

@->-

	"I'm getting ready to throw, so if any of you girls are planning 
on staying single, you better get out of the way!"  Kasumi smiles and 
turns around, feeling the excitement in the crowd behind her.  Winding 
up, she gives it a hefty throw...

@->-

	"Hey Akane, wipe that grin off your face, will you?  Its starting 
to make me sick."
	"Oh, shut up, Ranma."  She whaps him on the back of the head, but 
smiles once again as she holds the bouquet to her chest.

=======================
[Author's Notes]

	Okay, this stemmed from a conversation on the Ranma ML.  
Someone asked if Tofu and Kasumi ever got married.  I told them what
I thought a Tofu-Kasumi wedding would be like, and Arnold Kim, the
ever Akane fanboy said he liked the idea.  Myself also being a huge
Akane fanboy, I decided to go for it.
	Once again, they end up slightly OOC, but not that much.  I'm 
firmly of the camp that Ranma and Akane know exactly how they feel
about each other, they just refuse to admit it to the rest of the 
world.  The main obsticle is that they're not sure how the other
person feels about them.  That's why they both have that terrible
jealosy streak.
	Sorry I don't have more clever lines for Nabiki, but I'm not
a very clever person myself.
	Anyway, I proof read this a few times, but if you catch any
mistakes, tell me.  I'm a bad proof reader.  I tried to keep the
cheese to a minimum, but...