Well here we go again, now Ranma and Ryoga were getting ready to fight 
and Ukyo was again explaining what the last exchange was about and Akane 
was trying to break up the two morons- I mean combatants.  So while we 
wait for this storm to dissipate I guess we can go look at . . . well I 
guess that no one else is in the auditorium.  How about . . . no, no one 
important is in the school.  Well there is Kuno, so let me rephrase the 
last statement, no one important or intelligent is outside the school.  
The Neko Hanten, just Cologne cooking for her customers and Shampoo 
serving them.  Ucchan's, no just Konatsu filling out orders.  The Dojo, 
the usual, Nabiki was out with friends, Kasumi was cooking dinner and 
Soun and Genma were playing a game of go.  Back at the school . . . no 
everyone is still busy there.  We go down the street and wait, no back 
up a bit . . . there we go.  It looks like Hiroshi?  What is he doing, 
who is he talking too.  It appears to be a girl and oops . . . maybe we 
should start looking elsewhere.

	What!?  Oh! I see, well folks the fight is over so I guess that we can 
return to the auditorium where we see Dougal talking to his four actors 
(well to be really specific two actors and two actresses).  Those 
actors/actresses were holding on to Dougal scripts that were given to 
them.

	"Okay people," Dougal started pacing up and down a slightly battered 
looking Ryoga, an angry looking Akane, a smug looking Ranma and a 
worried looking Ukyo, "now I want you to put any petty differences 
behind you when you do this play.  That means no fighting while you are 
rehearsing for it, and I'm serious.  I can't afford to have any of you 
injured while we are putting on this play or not to be speaking to each 
other.  Another thing, while you are doing this play you are mine, when 
I ask you to rehearse you rehearse, when I ask you to jump you jump.  
JUMP!!!" His sudden yell made the four now somewhat nervous teenagers 
jump involuntarily, "Good just making sure.  Remember that this is going 
to be long and very arduous and that I will not tolerate anyone quitting 
halfway into the show.  Do I make myself perfectly clear."  The group 
acknowledged him with nodding of heads,  "Good now all of you go home 
except Ryoga, I heard about your little problem so you are going to stay 
at all time with me."

	"But I have sleeping arrangements!"  Ryoga protested, much to Ranma's 
anger (now if you don't know why Ranma is mad maybe you shouldn't 
continue to read this and maybe start actually watching the anime and 
reading the manga.  It might do you some good. . . then again maybe it 
won't).

	"Don't worry P-chan," Ranma teased, "I'm sure that who ever's bed your 
planning on sleeping in won't mind you missing a few nights there."  

	"Who are you calling P-chan," Ryoga yelled back his temper starting to 
get the best of him, "why you --" and he was cut off by Akane.

	"Oh! Ryoga," Akane squealed, "don't tell me that you . . . you."

	"She knows!" was Ryoga's only thought, "My deep dark secret, she has 
finally found out!"  He addressed Akane, the pain apparent in his eyes, 
"Akane, I . . I m-m-meant to t-t-tell you someday . . ."  he was again 
cut off by Akane.

	"You had a girlfriend and you didn't even tell me,"  Akane smiled at 
him, "I want to meet her, if you think she's nice enough I really want 
to meet this girl."  Ranma used to Akane not catching all the hints he 
surreptitiously dropped just shook his head and sighed.

	"Well cancel Ryoga," Dougal said, "and come with me, I can't afford to 
lose Claudio at all."  Ryoga calmly got up and went to a pay phone and 
faked a conversation, returned and left with the director.

	"Good night all and remember see you tomorrow." 

***

	The night passed smoothly, well as smoothly as can be with a group of 
women (I won't go into that again) chasing this weezened old man who had 
stolen most of their underwear.  However the residents of Nerima were 
used to this so they just rolled over and went back to sleep.  However 
with sleep there is dreams and with dreams comes things that we don't 
even want to admit to anyone, least of all ourselves.

***
<insert noises that start any predicatble dream sequences; i.e. Wayne's 
World dililue,dililue,dililue,dililue>

	Akane found herself in the middle of a room surrounded by other women 
that for some reason she didn't know and yet somehow did.  A strange 
paradox indeed.  She looked down at her body and found herself in an 
outfit that suited Italy in the fifteenth century, a white ankle long 
gown with a drooping neck line.  She reached up in an attempt to cover 
this, she had never worn something this . . . provocative before.  The 
people surrounding her were talking but for some reason she could only 
see their mouths moving, not a sound was in that room save the beating 
of her heart.

	Suddenly a group of men entered the room . . . she remembered now, 
there was supposed to play some grand trick that was to bring her cousin 
happiness.  That didn't make sense she didn't have a cousin in Nerima . 
. . then again she wasn't exactly in Nerima.  She looked at the men, one 
of them looked like Ryoga and the other her looked like . . . Ranma?  
What was he doing here?

	She was wondering what Ranma was doing here when she heard the first 
sound since she arrived,  Ranma was saying something to her . . .  

Ranma/Benedick:  Soft and fair, friar.  Which is Beatrice?

	Why was he talking like that, Akane wondered, and why is he calling me 
Beatrice.  However before she could ponder on the subject any longer she 
felt herself saying.

Akane/Beatrice:[unmasking] I answer to that name.  What is your will?

Ranma/Benedick:  Do not you love me?

Akane/Beatrice:  Why, no; no more than reason.

Ranma/Benedick:  Why, then your uncle and the prince and Claudio  	have 
been deveived; they swore you did.

Akane/Beatrice:  Do not you love me?

Ranma/Benedick:  Troth, no; no more than reason.

Akane/Beatrice:  Why, then my cousin Margaret and Ursula are much 	
deceived; for they did swear you did.

Ranma/Benedick:  They swore that you were almost sick for me.

Akane/Beatrice:  They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me.

Ranma/Benedick:  'Tis no such matter.  Then you do not love me?

Akane/Beatrice:  No, truly, but in friendly recompense.

Hero:  Come, cousin, I am sure you love the gentleman.

Claudio:  And I'll be sworn upon 't that he loves her; for here 's a 
paper written in his hand, a halting sonnet of his own pure brain, 
fashion'd to Beatrice.

Hero:  And here 's another writ in my cousin's hand, stolen from her 
pocket, containing her affections unto Benedick.

Ranma/Benedick:  A miracle!  here 's our own hands against our hearts.  
Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take thee for pity.

Akane/Beatrice:  I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield 
upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you 
were in consumption.

Ranma/Benedick:  Peace!  I will stop your mouth.              [kissing 			
her]

	For some reason Akane felt some strange heat emminating from herself 
when they were about to kiss.  Ranma and her were kissing, this was a 
completely foreign idea and for some reason Akane didn't mind it all 
that much.  She couldn't believe that this was turning out to be like 
this.  Enjoying the feel of his hard muscular frame, the light playing 
of lip upon lip, the feel of his arms around her.  This was too much 
enjoyment for the mind to hold in a dream.  So, much to her 
subconsiouses dismay, she woke up.  Slowly but surely erasing all memory 
of the dream but the tingling sensation on her lips, the fading moment 
of the kiss.

***

	The next day dawned bright and chipper, the birds were signing in the 
air and the cherry blossoms were either still attached to their trees or 
blowing about in the light breeze that kept passing through the town.  
The people of Nerima were waking up to these sounds, and a sound that 
had become familiar over the past little while, the sound of martial 
artists training coming from the Tendo Dojo.
	
	The people who were forced up turned and cursed the Dojo for waking 
them up at an ungodly hour, other people turned over and thanked 
whatever power for making them move next to such a convienient alarm 
clock.  However Akane Tendo was not of either of these two groups, she 
had grown accustomed to the noise and therefor had gotten up quite late, 
and when she realized this the whole house was aware of it.

***

	"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm 
late!!"  Akane screamed as she ran downstairs towards breakfast doing up 
the last few buttons on her school uniform.  Most of the girls 
complained about the uniform being dull and drab but Akane didn't mind, 
she liked to think that the uniformed looked good on her.  Apparently 
the majority of the boys at school tended to agree with her.

	Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a large object falling 
into the carp pond.  Considering it was quite a large splash Akane would 
have to guess that it was mister Saotome who had been dumped into the 
pond, either way it wasn't important to her getting to school on time so 
she focused entirely on finishing her food as quickly as you can.

	Ranma walked into the house and saw Akane eating as fast as she could.  
He could see that she wouldn't particularly want to start the insult war 
this morning so he quietly sat down next to Akane and started his 
breakfast.  

	"Come on Ranma," Akane said, "were going to be late."

	An insulting remark came to Ranma's lips but unfortunetly (or 
fortunetly as the rest of his body would say) he remembered something 
from yesterday.  *"now I want you to put any petty differences behind 
you when you do this play.  That means no fighting while you are 
rehearsing for it, and I'm serious.  I can't afford to have any of you 
injured while we are putting on this play or not to be speaking to each 
other."* Dougal had said and from the look he had given all four of them 
it wouldn't be wise to cross him.  So Ranma swallowed his remark and 
followed Akane to school.

	Kasumi paused for a small second and then said, "Oh my! Did Akane just 
leave for school with most of the buttons on her dress done up wrong?"  
The rest of the family (except Nabiki who had already left for school) 
merely looked up, stared silently at Kasumi and then returned to eating 
their breakfast. 

***

	It was an unusual period leading up to lunch that day at Fuurinkan 
highschool.  No one had either threatened Ranma or Akane tried to grab 
Ranma or Akane and even Ranma and Akane were being at least civil for a 
change.  Well upon relflection now I must amend that last statement Kuno 
did attack them denouncing the vile sorcerer Saotome who had apparently 
already had his evil way with the beautiful Akane Tendo.  He had 
apparently come to this conclusion after seeing Akane's dress all akimbo 
while she was running into school.  A quick kick from Ranma and some 
hurried buttoning by Akane solved this problem with relative ease.  
Seing this display passing without any argument or insult made some 
people wondered if they had finally made up and admitted to each other 
the feeling that was obvious to anyone, others wondered if they had 
recieved a nasty hit to the head.  Either way the morning had gone 
smoothly and there was peace at last then it happened, lunch time came 
around.

***

	Ranma and Akane sat next to each other at lunch with the same lunch, 
expression and script in their hands.  Ranma didn't want to study his 
lines but Akane had firmly told him that he was not going to repeat the 
Romeo and Juliet performance where he didn't realize that he had lines.  
Ranma had thought he had done well despite not knowing about any lines 
that were involved in the play, well except that part with Kuno that 
still made him shudder, however after hearing what the director did to 
Kuno he seemed like a good idea not to do this one adlib.

	The minutes were passed in silence as the two of them read side by side 
both of them engrossed in the script.  Well to be honest Akane was 
engrossed in the script as Ranma was just trying to figure it out.  The 
fiancees slience was enjoyed by the rest of the class who wanted simple 
peace and quiet in which to eat their lunch, a peace and quiet that they 
were usually denied.  Seeing now that Hiroshi was moving over to Ranma 
and Akane it seemed that the silence wasn't going to last much longer.

	"Hey ya! Ranma," Hiroshi called out, "whatcha reading?"

	"Well to tell you that truth Hiroshi," Ranma answered a bit sheepishly, 
"it's a play that me and Akane are acting in."

	There was some good natured laughter eminating from Hiroshi which Ranma 
could have taken but however for Hiroshi he took it one step further.  
"Hey guys!" Hiroshi called out to the rest of the class, "Ranma and 
Akane are acting in another play."

	That got the class' attention.

	Ranma and Akane looked up when Hiroshi made his little announcment, 
their eyes as wide as saucers.  They were bombarded by their classmates' 
questions.  "So what's the play."  "Are you sure the school can handle 
another one."  "What part are you playing."  "Can you get me tickets."  
"Man I hope there is another kissing scene."  "Acting is for wimps."  
"Who was the poor smuck that casted those two."  "I hope the director 
has insurance."  Finally, luckily which ever way you want to put it 
Ranma and Akane were litteraly saved by the bell as the school chime 
went off signalling the end of the lunch period.  The students all 
returned to their seats leaving Ranma and Akane still sitting there, 
unmoving after all that excitement.
	
***

	Ukyo was not at school and thus had missed the questions that were 
delivered to Ranma and Akane.  She was busy at her restaurant, after the 
morning crowd she bathed, took her time and before she Dougal it she was 
serving the lunch crowd.  She hadn't gone to school because she had 
given Konatsu the time off he wanted so she was too busy with the 
restaurant for school right now.  However after her last customer she 
was walking up to her room wondering why she had given Konastu the time 
off again.

	Quietly she turned on her light on flopped down her bed.  Giving her 
room a once over she spied her script on her desk along with a few 
highlighters she kept there for studying purposes.  Well I guess this is 
studying, she thought.  I have a few hours before the dinner rush so I 
can do this now.   Ukyo walked over to her desk and started highlighting 
all of her lines in the play, not really paying much attention to them.  
This took her about thirty minutes and since she was not doing anything 
in particular she started highlighting Ranma's lines.  Halfway through 
this little chore she heard the phone ringing so with a disgusted sigh 
she put down her script and picked up the phone.

	"Hello . . .

***

	Well school was finally out and Ranma and Akane were beginning the long 
trek to the school auditorium where their first day of practice should 
begin.  Both of them were extremely nervous but both were determinded 
not to show that emotion to the world or each other.  However there was 
something that was bothering one of them.

	"Akane," Ranma started to ask, "how far have you gotten through the 
play?"

	"Well I went and skimed through it and read about half of it."  Akane 
answered Ranma.  Perplexed by this questions she asked him one, "Ranma, 
why do you want to know?"

	"Well I was remembering what one person in our class said.  He said 
that he hoped that there was a kissing scene in the play like the last 
one and I was wondering if . . . well you know . . .  there was."  Ranma 
for some reason was blushing a bit now, not that Akane noticed it but I 
thought you would like to know.

	"Well not that I can remember but when I'm finished with it I'll tell 
you."  Akane paused a bit in reflection, "Tell me Ranma, why don't you 
read the play in advance and find out for yourself."

	"Are you calling me stupid?"  Ranma asked quite defensively.  "Just 
because I'm into martial arts doesn't mean that I can't think, you 
uncute tomboy."

	"Well . . . all I said was . . . "Akane stuttered shocked by this 
completely unexpected outburst of insults coming from Ranma.  Her first 
instinct was to pound him into the ground but remembering what the 
director had said he didn't want anyone to be hurt so she did the next 
best thing.  Akane turned quietly slapped Ranma and walked away quicky 
so he couldn't see the tears in her eyes.

	By the time they made it to the auditorium the two fiancees were 
sullen, moody and quiet.  They didn't want to speak to each other 
knowing that if they did an argument would be started.  However upon the 
door to the auditorium was a letter, a letter bearing both their names 
and so seeing that their name was on the envelope they both extended 
their hands to acquire it.  Simultaneously, as their hands reached for 
the envelope, Akane and Ranma looked at each other, their hands, and 
quietly pulled their hand away in embarrassment.

	Finally after a few minutes of even more uncomfortable silence Akane 
finally reached out, grabbed the envelope and ripped it open.  Inside 
was a letter that Akane read out loud, "Ranma and Akane, we are not 
having rehersal here in the auditorium we are going to Ucchan's 
Okonimiyaki to start I'll explain later.  Signed Dougal."  Akane looked 
up at Ranma and said, "Well I guess were off to Ukyo's."  Ranma could do 
nothing but shake his head in agreement.

***
	
	Usually Ucchan's Okonomiyaki is a place known for great food, good 
entertainment (well that's what some people say), and a chance to get a 
good look at both the very attractive owner and her assistant (what ever 
they don't know wont hurt them).
	
	Tonight however the place has been taken over, taken over by a group of 
martial artists who were trying to pass as amateur actors and actresses.  
Now some of you may think that this first rehersal for a play that it 
would make the place a somber area were the people inside were hard at 
work and on any normal occasion you may have been right but as I said 
before Nerima is usually far from normal.

	The inside of the restaurant was awashed in bright lights, good food 
and a group of people who were obviously nervous at being there.  These 
actors/actresses were trying their best at getting to know each other 
without: a. being insulting; b. being beaten up; and c. without eating 
too much from the owner of the restaurant who was cooking happily on her 
grill.

	Ukyo was happy, this is why she had started her restaurant in the first 
place.  She has always wanted to play the hostess to a party and while 
this wasn't the biggest gala event in Nerima it made Ukyo happy.  She 
was in her element, okonomiyaki, and she had good friends (well at least 
she hoped) around her talking enjoying themselves and having a good 
time.  What more could one ask for?  Looking towards Ranma, Akane and 
Ryoga talking in front of her with Dougal Ukyo could think of quite a 
lot more however that was for another time and another place.

	"So Ukyo what do you think of the play?"  Dougal asked to daydreaming 
chef.

	Ukyo shook herself out of fantasy and faced the director, "I like it 
very much," she commented, "I didn't know that it would have so many 
little intricacies as it does."

	Dougal nodded in agreement, "I seem to be sensing a but here." he 
added.

	Ukyo looked up and suddenly became flustered, "But, I d-didn't kn-know 
that - ithadakissingscenebetweenHeroandClaudio."  The last was said in 
rapid fire succession and only two people heard in Dougal and Ryoga.  
This statement galvanized Ryoga into action, which is to say he promptly 
passed out.  The only one who looked down at Ryoga was Akane who was 
worried about her friend.  Ranma was trying hard not to laugh and Ukyo 
was still blushing furiously and trying not to look at anyone.  Dougal 
turned at Ukyo and continued the conversation.
	"I thought you would have been more distressed by the kissing scene 
between Benedick and Beatrice." This caused three things to happend 
simultaneously.  Ranma choked on a piece of okonomiyaki that he had just 
place in his mouth, Akane jumped up from the crouching position she had 
trying to restore Ryoga and finally Ryoga started to wake up.

	"There is no way that I'm kissing that tomboy/that pervert!"  screamed 
Ranma and Akane in unison each using their favorite insult at the end of 
their sentence.  Ryoga who had just awakened groggily nodded his 
agreement looking at Akane with a longing in his eyes, a look that was 
not lost on Dougal.  

	Anyway the night wore on and the people became more and more scarce 
until finally it was just five people left: Akane, Dougal, Ranma, Ryoga 
and Ukyo.  The words from before forgotten and they were talking about 
old times and filling Dougal in on all that had happened in their lives 
since Ranma came to the Tendo dojo.  The stories were filled with little 
embellishments and added humour but they didn't deter from the truth 
they only added to the sense of fun that pervaded the room.	

	Looking around the restaurant Ranma reached a very obvious conclusion . 
. . it was very messy.  However being the good friend that Ranma is he 
quickly suggested that they help Ukyo clean up before they left for 
their respective homes.  So quickly if not a bit sleepily they each 
assigned themselves a task:  Ranma was going to sweep the floors, Ukyo 
was going to wash the tables, Dougal was going to take down the 
decorations, Ryoga was stacking the chairs and Akane was going to clean 
off the grill and wash the dishes.

	Ranma was staring at the floor that he was sweeping, he had done this 
sort of thing many times before but now it seemed fun to him.  He 
wondered if he was coming down with something, work isn't supposed to be 
fun, however surrounded by his friends it was no longer work but just an 
end to a wonderful evening.  He looked up at the different people who 
were working.  There was Ukyo, his long time friend who wanted to be 
more than that.  Ranma really wished that she didn't, in his life 
dominated by fiancees and violent friends he really needed someone who 
wasn't there to kill or marry him.  Scanning the room he found Ryoga, 
some people might have called him Ranma's worst enemy but they had 
formed a strange bond since he had arrived.  They still fought quite 
often and the fact the he remained as P-chan really made him burn but 
beyond that they were friends.  He looked over at the newest person to 
him in the room, he was the oldest there but for some reason it didn't 
seem to matter.  He wasn't trying to force Ranma together with anyone 
and seemed to be just a man doing his job.  However it seemed that he 
saw more with those eyes of his then he really did.  This man was a 
mystery that Ranma inteded to solve by the time they ended this.  
Finally there was only one person left . . . Akane.  She was busy 
cleaning the grill, not that Ucchan kept a messy grill, but it needed 
it's final cleaning of the day.  For some reason Ranma couldn't keep his 
eyes off her, the way she moved, the way she looked, she looked . . . 
cute . . . very cute.  Ranma, realizing who he was looking at and what 
he was thinking, quickly returned to sweeping the floor with a passion 
hoping that no one noticed where his attention had wandered.

	Ukyo's mind was fallowing the same path as Ranma's except that she was 
only looking at two people, Ranma and Akane.  To her Akane was an 
occasional rival and sometime friend depending on the circumstances that 
they found themselves in.  Ukyo sighed, she really wished that it didn't 
have to be that way but fate made strange bedfellows and sometimes 
enemies.  

	Her attentioned wandered until she saw Ranma and her heart skipped a 
beat or mabye it had stopped beating Ukyo neither knew  nor cared at 
this point.  This was her man, all of her dreams came true in this man, 
a man that she had spent a large portion of her life chasing after and 
an even longer portion loving him.  She might have seemed angry at him 
when she first arrived but she had never stopped loving him and in her 
mind she never would.  Looking down at the table she chuckled lightly to 
herself, she wasn't going to get this place clean by daydreaming now was 
she so quickly she continued to clean.

	Ryoga was trying his best not to look at Akane while he was stacking 
chairs.  He knew that if he did he would slip into a fantasy and would 
draw unwanted attention to himself.  He kept to this idea for a long 
time . . . about a minute . . . well it was a long time for him.  So 
quickly he turned his head and say the only girl who had been nice to 
him, the girl who had stolen his heart.  It didn't matter to him if she 
only loved him like that as a pig but he knew that if he only got a 
chance to pledge his love to her she would be his.  Now this statement 
may be true . . . or maybe not, it all depends on what you belive in and 
Ryoga believed in this wholeheartedly.  

	Ryoga sneeked another look at Akane and felt his heart starting to race 
so he picked up the pace with which he was stacking the chairs.

	Akane cleaned up the few spots on the grill that Ukyo had left while 
she was making the food for the party.  It was cleaned between every 
okonomiyaki but it was still a bit messy and was screaming to be 
cleaned.  Akane was trying hard not to look at her friends surrounding 
the room, it would only make her think and not pay attention to what she 
was doing.  It was a good vow and a smart idea, and idea that like Ryoga 
she kept for all of five seconds after she made it.

	She found herself starying at Ryoga, good hearted Ryoga, a friend that 
seemed to show up in the most unusual places.  There was the fact that 
he hated Ranma and that Ranma hated him but she felt as if she could 
talk to him about quite a lot of things just like P-chan.  Of course I 
can talk to P-chan about a lot more things, Akane though, he's a pig and 
can't tell anyone anything.  She smiled, for some reason Ranma is just 
as jealous of P-chan as he is of Ryoga she thought.  But how could that 
be, jealousy is a symptom of love, a primitive and dark one for sure but 
a symptom none the less.  Akane quietly shook her head clearing that 
though for a later time when things could be straightened out.  
	
	Scanning the room a second time she saw Ukyo and her face darkened a 
bit.  She knew that this girl was only doing what Akane would have done 
in her place but then Akane was only doing what Ukyo would have done in 
her place.  However the scowl on Akane's face lasted for about as long 
as her last though and then disappeared for she could never really hold 
a grudge.  Ukyo was just a very lonely girl living in a very lonely 
situation in fact Akane and Ranma might be the only real friends that 
she had and then Akane was only a friend on occasion.  This made Akane 
feel like a very horrible person but she pushed this though out of her 
head as well, it was too nice an evening to spoil with dark thoughts.

	Her body sensing that she wished to stop thinking dark thoughts prompty 
made her look at something that made her blush.  She looked at Ranma 
sweeping the floor looking as if he didn't have (two fiancees, two 
psycopaths after him for marrige, a pathetic father, debt upon debt upon 
debt, many people wanting to kill him and a mother that he couldn't go 
home to) a care in the world except for the moment.  What made her blush 
however was when she thought about what Ukyo had said, they had a 
kissing scene in the next play.  Akane had to use quite a bit of her 
will power not to bring her hands to her face to hide her blush.  
However she was still looking at Ranma with the kiss firmly in her mind, 
I guess that's why she didn't notice what she was doing and while wiping 
down the grill near it's end she gave herself a very nasty cut.

	The gasp that Akane gave out was notice by two people in the room.  
Ukyo was at the far end of the restaurant and the sound wasn't loud 
enough to reach that far into the restaurant.  Ryoga didn't move towards 
Akane because he was too busy trying to keep his blood inside his blood 
stream.  I will give him this much his thoughts were still about Akane 
however they had taken a lewder turn.  So I guess that leave only two 
people left, Ranma and Dougal.  Ranma looked up and walked over to were 
Akane was and Dougal just looked up, saw what was going on and smiled 
his quiet smile.

	***

	On the way out of the restaurant Ukyo apologize again profusely for the 
knife cutting Akane.  Ukyo was embarassed that it had happened by her 
own carelessness and returning into her restaurant promised to be more 
careful with her cutting utensils in the future.

	The two parties, one consisting of Dougal and Ryoga and the other 
consisting of Ranma and Akane, left and went their seperate ways towards 
their current domiciles.  Ranma annoyed Akane with all the fussing he 
did of her cut and Ryoga annoyed Dougal with all the questions if the 
kissing scenes could be ommited.

	It was late and most people were going home to bed.

	However some people have a strange compulsion to avoid sleep like the 
plague.  I am one of them, you might be too, but someone in this story 
who is one is Dougal and now by implication Ryoga.
	
***

	Dougal quietly, as to not disturb his neighbours, unlocked his door and 
led his Dougal roomate inside his apartment.  The apartment was 
furnished in a true artist style which was to say that empty pizza boxes 
covered the table, dishes were stacked in the sink and clothes were 
strewn all over the place.  Dougal liked his place looking like a 
tornado stormed through it, that image seemed to fit his personality.  
Amazed however was Ryoga, never in his life had he seen so much junk 
piled in such a haphazardly fashion.

	

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com