Subj:	[ffml][r1/2][fanfic]PromNite ch.1 (repost)
Date:	7/14/99 4:38:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From:	Chihokodan
To:	ffml@fanfic.com

Prom Night
A Ranma Story (With Guest Stars)
by Shiaw Chi

Chapter 1: Why Is It So Hard?

	"Only 1 more day until the Junior Prom everybody," blared from the
speaker as the tune of "Vision of Love" played in the background.  "Bids
are being sold at the school bank at $80 a couple, well worth the price of
a dream evening at the Sheraton Grande with the one you love.  If you
haven't asked your dream guy/girl to go yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!  GO
ASK THEM ALREADY!  They can't wait forever you know!" the voice screamed.
"Remember, only 1 more day, so get a leg up!"
	"Easy for her to say," muttered Ranma.
	It was a beautiful sunny day outside.  Under the tree shade, there
would be no better time to ask her.
	"Okay Akane, I'm only going to say this once, so you'd better
listen hard." Ranma paused and cleared his throat.  "Will you... do you
want... how about we... not that I can't find someone else... but we
should...," stuttered Ranma.  He took a big gulp and finally spurtted out
"...weshouldgotothepromtogether."
	"My dear Ranma, you don't expect to sweep her off her feet by
babbling that nonsense do you," ribbed Nabiki.
	"Well, it's not like I really want to go with her!" Ranma shouted
back.
	"Then why are you asking me to help you?" Nabiki shot back.  "And
paying me a, albiet modest, fee?"
	"Its... errr... I just... ah, I don't have to explain myself to
you.  Just hurry up and help me already or you're fired," Ranma replied
with irritation.
	"I'm only trying to help Ranma.  When you can admit it to yourself
that you want to go with Akane, it'll just come naturauly.  Now, try
again."
	"There's nothing to admit," rebutted Ranma.  He let out a deep
breath.  "Akane, let's go to... I would like to go with you to the Junior
Prom..."
	"Not bad Ran...," began Nabiki, but Ranma wasn't quite done yet.
	"... but try to dress a little more feminime so I won't be
embararessed to be with you in public."
	Nabiki slammed her palm onto her forehead.  Then she decided to
slap that palm against Ranma's face.  "You nitwit!  I'm beginning to think
I should raise my rates for this!  What do you think Akane will do if you
say that!"
	"Um, she'll probably try to rip my head off," Ranma timidly
replied.  A picture of doctors surronding him began to form in his mind.
	"I'm sorry son, but we can't remove that mallet from your head.
You'll have to live as a freak for the rest of your life as mallethead,"
the doctor said.
	"So you're not a complete fool," Nabiki said as she began punching
the hourly charges on her calculator.  "Ranma, not that I want to turn
money away, but I don't think you'll be able to afford my services for
much longer.  Besides, lunch is almost over and we'll need to get back
inside."
	"Akane, I want to go with you to the Junior Prom," Ranma calmly
said.  His eyes opened wide when he realized what he'd just done.  "I did
it Nabiki, I did it!" he happily shouted as he almost hugged her.
	Nabiki was all too quick to shove her hand into his face before he
could.  "Not bad casanova, but now comes the hard part."
	"The hard part?"
	"Now you have to say that to Akane.  In real life," chided Nabiki.
	I cold chill shot up Ranma's spine.  He couldn't even remember
what he had just said anymore.
	"Nabiki, you've got to help me!  What was I supposed to say?  I
forgot already!  Nabiki, just ask her for me.  I'll even pay you extra!"
Ranma rambled.
	"Sorry Ranma, you couldn't afford to pay me for that service.
Besides, you've fought off monsters, saved the universe, and live as a
girl half your life.  Why is it so hard to ask Akane to a simple dance,"
she asked as she walked back to class.
	"Why is it so hard?" wondered Ranma.

	"So did Ranma ask you yet," Akane's friend asked her excitedly.
	"Yeah, did Ranma ask you yet," all her friends suddenly asked her
as the whole cafetaria surronded her.
	"Whu?  Me and Ranma?  No way!  I wouldn't go with him even if he
did ask me," defended Akane.  "I'd rather count the cracks in the ceiling
than go with him to the Junior Prom!"
	"Oh, come on now Akane, Ranma isn't all that bad," one of her
friends said.
	"I think he's dreamy."
	"Besides, he's there for you everytime you need him.  We all know
he really loves you but is just too shy to say it!"
	"And he's got all these other girls pineing for him all the time,
and yet he keeps holding out for you Akane!"
	"Hey, maybe Ranma is.. you know.  Another word for 'happy,'"
someone whispered in the background.
	"Yeah, it is kind of weird..."
	"I hear he crossdressess..."
	"Will you please be quiet!" Akane yelled.  "Whatever is between
Ranma and me, which is nothing, is between Ranma and me!"
	All of her friends suddenly cowered back.
	"Geez, you don't have to yell," and "somebody needs to get some,"
and "Ranma's better off...," could be heard murmuring from the crowd as
they all backed away.
	Akane plopped herself back down onto the bench and began nibbling
on her bread.  "And here I am, waiting for him after I turned down a dozen
other requests.  Damnit Ranma, do you even plan on asking me," wondered
Akane.

	Ukyou had been dressing more like a girl than she usually did.
Actually, she had been downright trying to hoochify herself for the last
month since they first started selling the junior prom bids.  Tight black
flares and a baby t had replaced both her male and female school uniform
(hey, if Ranma and Kuno didn't have to wear a uniform...).   Her ankle
twisted slightly as she took a misstep.  She'd almost gotten the hang of
walking around on a pair of black boots with 3 inch heals the past
month... almost.  She brushed her long brown hair out of her face as she
stumbled a bit again on the heels.  How someone with long hair could
operate on a day to day basis without tying it back was beyond her.  But
it was a small price to pay for Ranma of course.  Nonetheless, her spatula
was still mounted on her back as ever.
	She quickly sprayed herself on the neck with a small bottle.  On
top of all that, she had actually wasted her money on buying some silly
body lotion and spray; rasberry flavored.  She didn't really know why they
were flavored after fruit.  Not like you were supposed to eat it (she had
learned the hard way).  And yet, Ranma hadn't even noticed any of this
least of all ask her to the junior prom. 
	With only one day left to go, Ukyou finally decided that if Ranma
was too shy to ask her, then she'd have to take the initiative.  "Ranma
honey, we're going to the prom together if I have to drag your dead body
with me," she told herself as she walked to class.  "As soon as that bell
rings Ranma, your ass is mine."
	From out of nowhere, a vending machine jumped in her path.  A
head, arms, and legs sprout out from the side.
	"Ukyou!  Dressed up just for me!  Don't look as good as I do in
the dress, but what does that matter in the face of love!  We're still
going to the junior prom together right?" exclaimed Tsubasa.
	"You're wrong on both accounts!" Ukyou shouted as she smacked
Tsubasa with the spatula, throwing him out a window.

	The old man shook his head in disbelief.  He kept shaking his head
as he returned to work on his lettuce fields.  "How many times has that
boy come by here looking for Furinkan High," he wondered.  "At least once
a week he comes by here."
	The funny thing was, he never knew if the boy had ever made it to
Tokyo.  These past two years, and the boy could have been wandering around
looking for it with no sucess.  It wouldn't surprise the old man if he
never found it.  Just a minute ago, the boy had come around with the same
map in hand, lord knows why he even bothers to carry it around, and asked
for directions.
	The old man thought he might actually point the boy in the
opposite direction, in the hopes he would finally go the right way.
Instead, the boy went the adjacent direction right off the face of a
cliff.  Lord knows where he was now.

	"Ranma, do you want a reduction in your expenses?" asked Nabiki as
she ran back to Ranma, who had just gotten up to go back to class.
	"Reduction?  That doesn't sound like you Nabiki.  What's the
catch?"
	"Well, it does require a small favor," panted Nabiki.
	"I don't know about your 'favors' Nabiki.  Besides, class is going
to start any minute, both of us should get going."
	"It will only take a second.  Do you or don't you want a
reduction?"
	"I guess, but tell me what it is first..."  Before Ranma could
finish his sentence, Nabiki had splashed a cup of cold water onto Ranma's
face.
	"Kuno, I found the pig-tailed girl.  Just make the check out to
the usual party."
	"At last!  I have found you my pig-tailed beauty," raved Kuno as
he dashed around the corner.  "Whilst there is only a sun set and rise
before the shining evening of our youthful lives shall dawn upon us, I
must quickly ask you to attend the junior prom with me my pig tailed
girl!" he ranted as he tried to hug her.
	A foot in his face was enough to halt his advance.  Without much
emotion, Ranma replied, "Kuno, you're not a junior."
	"Alas, that is true, but I cannot wait for the Senior Ball to
experience an apogee of romance with you my love!" he shouted as he pushed
past Ranma's leg and grabbed Ranma into his arms.  "And we shall forge our
passions that night.  Off we go to buy your resplendent gown!" he shouted
as he prepareed to carry Ranma off with him.
	"There ain't no chance in hell I'm going to the junior prom,
senior ball, or even be seen in public with you at anytime!" yelled Ranma.
With more than enough animosity, Ranma grabbed Kuno's head, and shifted
his weight so that he heaved Kuno against a nearby tree.  Ranma landed and
turned to Nabiki angrily.
	"Nabiki!  What'd you do that for!"
	"I'm just trying to save up some money for the senior ball, can't
blame a girl for that can you?  Besides, I'll throw in this hot water for
free for your troubles."

	"Aaaaahahahahahahaaaaahahahaha!" Kodachi laughed as she flung off
her school uniform.  She continued to laugh maniacally as she leapt out of
the window of her classroom.  "Ranma dear, your prom night date is coming
my love!"
	"Okay everybody, its nothing we haven't seen before.  Back to
chapter three of the text book," the teacher calmly told the class as if a
girl hadn't jumped out a second story window.  He was new here, but one
got used to Kodachi's irratic actions quickly.  He had been told to just
accept the excentric behavior of Kodachi Kuno.  At least, you'd better
accept it and give her good grades least you find yourself waking up one
morning with chalkboard erasers stuffed up each nostril like the previous
teacher.

	"Shampoo, lunch time isn't over yet.  Where are you going?" asked
Cologne from behind the counter of the Nekohauten.
	"Shampoo deliver home cooked meal to Ranma before class start.
Ranma eat while bored in class," she said as she leapt outside onto her
bike with a ramen delivery box in one hand.
	"Shampoo, wait for me!" shouted Mousse as he chased after her.  He
didn't get too far since he ran into a parked bus outside the restaurant
face first.  "Cologne, did you move the doors again," a dazed Mousse
whimpered.

	Thoughts of how to ask Akane to the prom raced through Ranma's
head as he pushed his way to class.  He was destracted enough to bump head
first into another girl.
	"Hey, watch where you're going," the girl complained.
	"And why don't you get out of my way," replied Ranma.  He looked
down and saw Akane standing right in front of him.
	Before they said another word, the entire hall way cleared an area
to make room for Ranma and Akane.  It seemed the whole school, staff
included, was around them waiting for something to happen.
	That cold chill creeped up Ranma's back again.  He noticed
breathing wasn't as easy as it usually was.  He thought it was funny how
sweat was dripping off his forehead when he was standing perfectly still.
To top it all off, his brain suddenly decided to stop working as well.
	"Ranma...," Akane gently said.  "Is there something you want to
say?"
	She looked at him, and for some reason, she noticed he seemed to
be acting alot like Ryoga.  Not the "you're going to die Ranma," Ryoga,
but the whenever she was near him Ryoga.
	"Uhhh, something to say to you... Um, now that you mention it... I
guess there is this little thing...," Ranma babbled.
	"Well, what is it?" she asked with a louder tone in her voice.
"We're going to be late for class."
	"It's perfectly alright, class will wait for you two," their
teacher said.
	"Great, there's no way out now.  It's time to bite the bullet.  Do
it or lose it," Ranma thought.  "Akane, will you...," he began.

*Author's Notes: I'm going to be saying this often, but please send all
and I mean ALL comments to schi@uci.edu.  Trust me, the more attention I
get, the faster I write.  As some can atest, I do have a tendency to take
extended breaks from writing.  Well, it certainly has been awhile this
time hasn't it.  This was originally put out WAY back when, nearly three
years ago now I think, and I've never had it formally archived before to
my knowledge (never posted this at RAAC),  so I guess this is as good as
any other fanfic I have to put my name back out into fanfic circles.  Why
now?  Well, I'm actually going to be posting some new work before too long
hopefully.  I've been working off and on (mostly off) over the two years
of my retirement on a MASSIVE final story, involving both Ranma and Sailor
Moon.  Despite the profuse amount of such cross overs, I always felt
Skimpy Skirts was really different in approach to any other, and this one
will be as well.  More on this in a moment.  Well, I'm going to assume
that most of the people reading this fanfic are new readers, so let me
give what little background information is necessary for this fanfic.
This would be my second fanfic after my Ranma/Sailor Moon xover "Skimpy
Skirts and Cross Dressers," and takes place after this.  The only real
significant carry over from that fanfic would be the fact that Kuno and
Sailor Mercury had met with what I felt were interesting results.  The
rewrite of that story is actually archived on a few sites, the one's
immediatly coming to mind being the RAAC archive and a Sailor Romance.
Speaking of the rewrite, it's not exactly complete (the original story was
finished, but never archived, and after my last original fic, I decided to
change my first significantly but kind of stopped 4 chapters from the end
as everything else took priority over writing.  But I've actually nearly
wrapped up the rewrite of the story and could've actually posted another
part in this LONG delayed rewrite that has given me more proddings over a
two year period than I could have imagined for a rewrite that no one
seemed to care much for when I first put it out, but decided against it
because I thought I should completely finish it first and honestly, Prom
Nite is a better story to reaquint myself to new readers.  It's more along
the lines of my upcoming story than the more shallow Skimpy Skirts.  Okay,
back to my upcoming project if anyone's still reading this way too long
author's note but it's my first one in 2+ years, cut me some fricking
slack.  I know some people would probably groan from hearing that another
Ranma/Sm story is being pumped out, but I hope people give it chance.
Believe it or not, it somehow springs off from Four Fiancee's and a
Funeral (probably my most well known work where I decided to take
Takahashi's final Ranma story and expand it significantly, push Ryoga to
the edge, and give Ranma what I felt was a more definitive ending as
someone makes the ultimate sacrifice.  This is archived for those
interested in RAAC and the FFML archive, and I'll be reposting this when I
feel I'm about to launch my last fanfic).  You'll have to see it to get
it, but the story shifts focus to what Shampoo and Ukyou were doing during
Ranma and Ryoga's duel and how something changes everything.  It's a
MASSIVE story, with the completed prolugue running 34 pages and the
completed first chapter running another 29 (chapters will run alot shorter
after the first two set up chapters).  I don't know when I'll finish this,
but I intend to finish it eventually, it's a story I've given too much
thought too not to complete.  My one and only reader currently has given
it props.  I hope anyone reading this will check it out although I haven't
decided what the title is yet (Passing Time?  Extended Family?  Not sure
yet).  Speaking of this, expect the next part, well, tomorrow actually and
after that two parts a week is what I'm shooting for but for anyone's
who's read this already, one chapter a week might seem tough once I get
into the major rewrites of this story during the restaurant scene.  I had
major writers block when I first got to that part and could only force
that chapter out of me after a month so I could get to the part I wanted
to right, the dance, and expect more changes with the post dance scenes.
I thought the fic drifted pretty OOC during the two chapters before the
last one.  Okay, I hope I haven't bored anyone to death with my long
tirade here, but this is the last lenghty author's note before Ranma/SM 2
comes out, so until then, jya ne and maybe I'll run into some people at
the AX fanfic panel.  I'll be there with long bangs and spiked hair with a
demented little brother.  Here's to expedient writing.
Shiaw Chi
chihokodan@aol.com
schi@uci.edu