Any kind of C&C would be very nice to receive. :)
Disclaimer time:
Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and Viz Communications own Ranma
1/2. Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Gainax and ADV Films own Neon
Genesis Evangelion.
I'd like to use this opportunity to thank all of the kind people who've
written to me with comments and suggestions for this story and, of
course, my pre-readers: David Menard, Eric Oh, James Merritt, Jourdan
Bickham and Thomas Hackwood.
Corwin (ely7@inter.net.il or corwin@virtuallyjeannie.com)
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/friday/573/ranma.html
* Previous chapters can also be found at:
http://members.xoom.com/phu_lam/index.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/rfics.html
http://ranmaxovers.tripod.com
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: acoa-ch5-ffml.txt
A Couple of Angels
Chapter 5
Rei has been waiting near the dressing rooms during the entire encounter
with the Seventh Angel. From the few bits she overheard off the public
announcement system, the First Child could gather that the battle wasn't
going the way it was supposed to.
Frowning inwardly, Rei thought about what was happening on the surface.
Pilot Soryu's record showed her extensive training by Nerv, and her easy
victory over the Sixth Angel with a single blow. If both she and Pilot
Ikari, who had defeated all the previous Angels before the Second
Child's arrival, were having so much trouble fighting an Angel together,
the situation had to be grave indeed.
Rei's suspicions were confirmed soon, when she'd been ordered to prepare
for launch, even though her EVA was still undergoing extensive repairs.
When that order had been cancelled half a minute later, Rei blinked, and
wondered what, or who, could've caused the change in the battle's tide.
Almost two full minutes afterwards, Pilots Ikari and Soryu approached
the locker rooms, apparently after being rescued from their EVAs, since
red lights and alarms were still active inside Nerv. Walking over to the
Third Child, she asked him what happened.
"The Angel... it split into two identical ones! And nothing we did
seemed to hurt it, 'cause all those Angels do was regenerate, even after
we've managed to hit their cores!" Shinji exclaimed in fright. "We were
left to their mercy after our umbilical cords had been cut and our
internal power had run off... when IT showed up."
"It?" Rei asked, looking at her fellow pilots.
"Yeah, it was some ugly robot," Asuka answered, irritated over the
results of the battle. "And, Ayanami, get this! It was glowing!"
"Glowing?" Rei repeated softly, blinking. Aside from EVAs, who could
create AT fields, which would qualify as glowing, she acknowledged,
there was only one person who could do that. Curious, Rei wasn't aware
that Ranma could make other things glow as well... if it were Ranma up
there, fighting two indestructible Angels all alone... without anyone to
help him, or watch his back...
A huge explosion rocked the GeoFront at that moment, sending the pilots
tumbling to the floor.
"What the hell was that?!" Shinji exclaimed. "It felt like an N2 bomb
going off, really close to us!"
Nerv's public announcement systems summoned Pilots Ikari and Soryu for
debriefing at that moment, also declaring the end of the current crisis.
As her fellow pilots trudged glumly to their impending doom, Rei was
left to her thoughts. Normally, she'd go to see the Commander, now that
she held no other purpose to Nerv. However, the Commander was a busy
man, and he would surely be occupied with debriefing Pilots Ikari and
Soryu on their battle. Rei's presence would be inconvenient... she'd get
in the Commander's way...
Therefore, it made perfect sense that she head home as soon as possible,
to check... whether anyone had used the battle to break into her
apartment. Security was very important in Nerv, and besides, a burglar
could've stolen the Commander's broken glasses. Yes, Rei definitely had
to go home right away, without wasting any time. And she'd take a first
aid kit with her... just in case the burglar injured himself while
breaking in. It wouldn't do for anyone to bleed on her floor.
--------------------------------------------------
Upon reaching her house, Rei walked straight towards Ranma's apartment.
After all, she didn't know whether he was home, and someone was just as
likely to break into his apartment as to her own. When she neared the
door to his apartment, Rei heard some muffled sounds coming from the
other side. Opening the door, she stepped inside Ranma's apartment, to
immediately set her eyes on her friend, who was sitting in a broken
chair, clad only in a tattered pair of pants. She made out the words
"... my best outfit... stupid self-destruct mechanism..." before Ranma
turned to his left and looked at her expectantly.
"You're... well," Rei said levelly, instinctively relaxing her vise-like
grip of the first aid kit she had in her right hand.
"Yep. Just got my _new_ favorite shirt ruined in that explosion," Ranma
commented darkly. "I'll get those bastards yet!"
'Good thing my AT field held through the blast, even though I had to
shrink it to its absolute minimum,' he added mentally.
"It is good that you are not injured. Nerv and Commander Ikari may
require your help with the Angels in the future," Rei said to him,
locking her unblinking eyes with his.
Eventually, she broke the contact, and gestured at Ranma's state of
undress.
"Does this mean we would have to go shopping again?" Rei softly asked,
slightly tilting her head to the side.
"Um, that is, I guess; I do have a spare shirt, but who knows when I'll
be in another nuclear explosion again, and I don't have any more intact
outfits; besides, maybe you'd like to get yourself somethin', I mean all
you wear is those school uniforms, not that you look bad in them,
but..."
"It's a date, then," Rei concluded, turning around and walking back to
her apartment.
--------------------------------------------------
"Ranma?"
The pigtailed boy stopped tapping his foot on the floor nervously, and
turned towards the source of the voice, asking, "Yes, Rei?"
"Do you like this dress?"
"It's... well, it's... blue," Ranma answered, scratching the back of his
head. "I think it suits you."
"Thank you," the blue-haired girl answered, going back into the dressing
room.
'Oh, man, and I thought that if I'd go as a guy, I wouldn't have to
worry about all this stuff.'
The 'date' wasn't turning out to be like any of the ones Ranma's been
on. Not that Akane ever made it easy for him to go on one, or went out
with him herself. However, this is the first date that Ranma was
spending in a women's clothing shop.
'How did I get myself into this?' Ranma mournfully asked himself, adding
dejectedly, 'I'll probably end up carrying all the parcels, too...'
before dropping his jaw, his eyes widening.
"And what about this one, Ranma?" Rei asked, turning around to show him
the new dress she picked up.
"Um, that is, I," Ranma stammered, sweating profusely, before coughing
into his hand a few times. Trying to ignore the winged angels - not the
bad kind - that suddenly appeared in the background, showering flowers
on the blue-haired girl in front of him, Ranma added, "It looks great on
you!"
"Really?" Rei asked, mildly surprised. 'I wonder what is the difference
this time.'
Deciding to find out why Ranma was reacting differently to an evening
gown than to the previous dress, she asked, "Do you like this one
better?"
"Sure!" Ranma answered, before clamping a hand over his mouth.
"Why?" Rei wondered. "It is blue as well."
"Y-Yes," Ranma tried to explain, "but in the first dress you look cute.
In this one you're absolutely stunning!"
"Oh."
Rei stood there thinking for a few moments, before blinking and
returning to the dressing room. After changing her clothes, Rei emerged
wearing the first dress, and holding the second one and the school
uniform she originally wore.
Seeing Ranma's questioning gaze, she said, "I feel cute today."
--------------------------------------------------
Having picked up a few new outfits for Ranma with blue, red and white
shirts, the pigtailed boy was walking along with Rei through the mall.
Ranma decided to wear a white shirt with an embroidered golden phoenix,
since he felt it was the nicest shirt he'd owned, and he wanted to look
nice for Rei's sake.
"Hey, Ayanami!" a voice called out from behind them. Turning around,
Ranma saw that it came from their class president.
"Hey there, Hikari," the pigtailed boy offered nonchalantly.
"Um, do I know you?" the girl asked, scrunching her brows.
"This is Ranma," Rei said, joining the conversation.
"O-kay," Hikari drawled out, wondering, 'Did Rei tell this guy about
me?' before doing a double take. 'Rei?! With a guy?! And a cute one to
boot!'
"Um, why did you just pinch yourself?" Ranma asked Hikari, looking at
her strangely. 'That had to hurt!'
"N-No reason," Hikari replied, giggling nervously. 'He's still here!'
'Weird girl,' Ranma concluded, before turning towards Rei and asking,
"So, what do you want to do now?"
"Are you guys here... on a date?" Hikari asked, still having trouble
grasping the concept.
Turning towards her with a panicked expression, Ranma waved his hands
furiously, doing a good impression of a chicken trying to lift off, as
he tried to deny it.
"No, not at all! That is, it's not a date. Well, not really... um, I
mean... You see..."
"Is there a problem?" Rei asked softly.
"No, no!" Ranma exclaimed, deciding this wasn't a battle he could win
and resorting to the never-failing Saotome Secret Technique. Grabbing
Rei, he said, "Let's go grab a bite to eat," and hurriedly started
walking away with her.
After a few steps, he turned his head towards Hikari, waving and calling
out to her, "I guess I'll see you later, class rep."
--------------------------------------------------
"Hey, Rei, do you know where Asuka is?" Ranma asked during lunch the
next day at school, turning her head towards the blue-haired girl.
Musing out loud, he continued, "I haven't seen her at school today."
Scrunching his forehead in thought, Ranma finally added, "Now that I
think about this, Shin-boy wasn't here either."
"They must be at Nerv, training to defeat the Angels," Rei replied after
a moment of thought.
"They're not gonna get the Angels without good coordination," Ranma
offered casually, laying on her back.
"Why?" Rei asked, looking at her friend.
"'Cause they'd have to hit both cores at once, and I'm not sure even I
can do it without a giant robot."
"What do you mean?" Rei wondered, putting the rest of her food aside.
"Well, I can probably shoot off two projectiles at the Angels, but for
both of them to go through their AT fields and hit the cores at the same
time... Ha! That'll be quite a feat, even for the greatest martial
artist in the world!"
"Does that mean you are not going to help?" Rei asked, leveling her
unblinking gaze on Ranma's face.
"Where did you get that idea?" Ranma asked, frowning. "Of course I'll be
there. I've never let a small detail like an invincible enemy stop me!"
"But you think two synchronized EVAs have a better chance," Rei stated.
"Well, yeah," Ranma admitted. "Look, the first time I came very close to
beating the shit out of those monsters, but the Jet Alone blew up. And
since it was an experimental model, I doubt they have another one I can
borrow."
"We should inform Nerv of your plan."
"I guess you're right, Rei. How about we go visit the GeoFront today
after school, and if those bozos haven't figured it out themselves,
we'll tell them."
Seeing Rei nod, Ranma added, "And Rei? Let's keep the Jet Alone story to
ourselves, ok? I don't feel like explaining what I did inside it, or why
I haven't blown up with it, for that matter."
"All right, Ranma," Rei agreed, standing up to return to class after
hearing the bell.
--------------------------------------------------
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Shinji," Asuka said huskily, leaning on the
door frame suggestively, the steam filtering into the room from the
bathroom only adding to her appeal.
As much as he tried, Shinji couldn't take his eyes off her towel-clad
body, noticing the water gleaming on her hands and on her long legs that
seemed to stretch forever... Unable to take this anymore, the poor boy
screamed.
Calming somewhat, he asked in a shaky voice, "Why aren't you dressed?!"
Giggling girlishly, Asuka asked him, winking, "What do you think of my
body?"
"After you told me not to peek and all?!" Shinji yelped, presenting
warding signs to his roommate.
Throwing her head back dramatically and holding her chest, Asuka
exclaimed, pouting, "It hurts my pride that you're so uninterested."
Leaning towards Shinji, she grabbed the top of the towel, pulling it
down slightly.
Her voice barely above a whisper, she said, "You know... my breasts have
come in nicely. How about it? Wanna see the real thing?"
Asuka pulled the towel off her body, unheeding of Shinji's panicked
protests, revealing clothes underneath.
She managed to say, "Just kidding!" before bursting into uncontrolled
laughter.
Shinji, upset of the way Asuka had made fun of him and his full-body
blush, chose that moment to remind the red-head that Misato had put
surveillance cameras in their room.
Before Asuka could start looking for them, laughter filled in from
hidden speakers into the room.
"Way ta go, Asuka!" Ranma shouted, whistling and clapping her hands.
"What a show! Care for a repeat performance?"
Seeing that both pilots were now flustered, Ranma stopped the applause
and addressed the other red-head, "So, this is what the mighty EVA
pilots are doing instead of going to school?"
"What is this, a verdammdt peep show?!" Asuka yelled, shaking her fists
in the air.
"Don't get your panties in knot," Ranma replied calmly. "Misato's not
here."
"Oh," Asuka replied, deflating immediately. "She's not? Where is Misato,
then?"
"In the bathroom, I think. It's probably because of something she
drank," Ranma replied off handedly. "Anyway, it's just me an' Rei up
here."
"Hello," Rei greeted, deciding this was as good a time as any to do
that.
"Well, I guess we'll be leaving now," Ranma said, seeing that the show
was in all likelihood over. "See ya later."
Getting mumbled responses, Ranma turned to go, when a mischievous grin
appeared on her face, and purred into the microphone, "Oh, and you
two... Be-haaave!" before walking away of the room, smirking.
Indignant of the vocal protests coming from the microphones in Asuka and
Shinji's room, Ranma and Rei exited the room, before Misato showed up.
Quietly, they made their way through Nerv and exited the complex. While
waiting at the train station, Ranma commented, "Someone must've figured
out the same thing I have."
"Yes," Rei agreed with her friend. "The training Asuka and Shinji appear
to be going through suggests that."
"Right, not to mention Misato's notes that we've seen next to the empty
beer cans. Maybe we should check out their progress from time to time?"
Ranma mused aloud, tugging on her pigtail unconsciously.
"I'll ask Captain Katsuragi if I can observe tomorrow after school," Rei
said as the train arrived and they boarded it.
--------------------------------------------------
Converging at Kensuke's house after school, he and Toji tried to unlock
the mysteries of the objects they've found in a crest the day before.
"Ranma Saotome.... the Pigtailed Girl... Ranma Saotome..."
"What're ya mumbling, Kensuke?" Toji asked his friend, putting aside the
bokken he was playing with.
"There's gotta be a connection here, Toji!" Kensuke exclaimed, before
continuing to chant, "Ranma Saotome... the Pigtailed Girl..."
"I guess you're right," Toji replied, getting up from the chair he was
sitting on and walking towards the table in the room. "Maybe the
answer's in this diary?"
"Yep, that's what I think," Kensuke said, before sighing.
"Unfortunately, the one who it belonged to had the worst handwriting
I've ever seen. And it didn't help that the crest wasn't as hermetically
sealed as it should've been. I wonder what's keeping that bokken
together," he added, before typing some more on his computer.
"Maybe it's magical?" Toji offered with a smile. "Anyway, is there any
way of reading that diary?"
"What do you think I'm doing? After carefully scanning the pages, I'm
trying to digitally reconstruct them and make the text legible. But it's
taking so long!"
"Don't sweat it, Kensuke," Toji said in an attempt to relax his friend.
"If you're that stressed out about this, why don't you ask that red-head
at school. She's a Saotome."
"Ranko! Of course!" Kensuke exclaimed, jumping off his chair. "Now
everything makes sense! Ranma and that pigtailed girl that loony was so
hung upon must've eloped together... And after the Second Impact, a lot
of records were lost. You wouldn't be able to find them even if you did
have the money for it!"
"Yeah, I get it!" Toji cried out, understanding dawning on him, "Ranko
must be that Ranma and pigtailed girl's kid... she even looks the part!"
Scratching the back of his head thoughtfully, he mused out loud, "I
wonder if that girl was a red-head..."
Several hours later, Kensuke woke up to the sound of beeping. Putting on
his glasses, he turned towards his computer, which was making the sound.
Unable to contain his excitement, the boy jumped out of his bed and did
a little dance of joy, yelling at the top of his lungs, "It worked! It
worked!"
"Go to bed, Kensuke!"
"Yes, Father," he answered, deflating.
Tiptoeing to his computer, Kensuke opened the scanned files and went
through the text his program extracted from them. This time, he was able
to control his excitement better, as a wide grin adorned his features.
Copying the date to a portable disk, Kensuke put it in his school bag,
before going back to bed.
--------------------------------------------------
"Wow, I don't believe it!" Toji excitedly exclaimed, barely keeping his
voice low enough, while reading the information from the disk that
Kensuke had just given him. "Just... Wow!"
"Incredible, huh?" Kensuke replied, sitting in a nearby chair.
The teacher hasn't arrived yet, and most of the students were talking
one to another, except for Hikari, who kept glancing at Rei. The blue-
haired girl, for her part, ignored the attention altogether, and was
looking outside the window.
"Shit! Kensuke, if this is true... then magic exists! It truly does!"
Toji whispered urgently to his friend, having gone over the first part
of the diary once again.
"I dunno," Kensuke replied, scrunching his forehead. "I guess it's no
weirder than fourteen year olds piloting giant robots in a war against
Angels."
Becoming excited, he continued, "What really interested me was the
historical information in the diary. The descriptions were unbelievable.
It's as if a poet has written the whole thing or something! And the
battles..."
Kensuke's glasses fogged just of the thought.
"Man, the battles this guy describes were unreal! If even a portion of
what he's written is true, Kuno-san could've taken on the Angels on his
own! Or maybe even his arch-nemesis."
"Hey, didn't you call this Kuno guy a loon before?" Toji asked suddenly.
"Um, well, hehe," Kensuke laughed nervously. "That's what I thought once
I saw that hologram. I mean, who wouldn't?" he shrugged, before adding
in awe, "But after reading this..."
"Yeah, we're lucky neither of the people described in this diary
survived, or Angels would be the last thing we have to worry about,"
Toji joked, laughing.
After laughing along with Toji for a couple of minutes, Kensuke nudged
his friend, asking, "Well, do you think I was right?"
"About what?" Toji replied, scrunching his forehead.
"About Ranko, what else?" Kensuke said, lowering his voice to a
conspiratorial whisper.
A quick glance into her direction revealed to Toji that the red-head in
question wasn't looking in their direction, and he answered, "Yep,
you're probably right on yer money."
"So, if that diary's right and all... do you think she knows any magic?"
Kensuke wondered.
"I suppose everything's possible. I've seen her glow and stuff, and then
she's really powerful and all. At first I thought that was because she's
a lesbian, but now I'm not too sure."
Kensuke nodded thoughtfully, throwing another glance at the pigtailed
girl.
"Anyway, I intend to save her!" Toji announced, standing up. "With the
help of this sacred diary I'll master the secrets of the magical bokken,
and free the Pigtailed Goddess from the evil sorcerer's weird mind
control that prevents her from seeking the love of a man!" he finished
in one breath, posing dramatically.
A chair impacted on his scull a split second later, sending him to
slumber.
"Moron," Ranma muttered, getting herself another chair to sit on after
recovering from a wicked flashback-induced headache, ignoring the
questioning and frightened glances from around the classroom all the
while. 'Maybe I should've gone to jail instead of this school after all.
At least I could've escaped from there...'
--------------------------------------------------
"I can do it, I know I can," Toji chanted to himself, standing in a
field next to the printed pages from Kuno's diary which explained how to
use the bokken.
Putting all of his confidence and battle prowess into a point at the tip
of the bokken, Toji tried to call onto the rightful vengeance of heavens
to smite all of his enemies.
Nothing happened.
"All right, time for Plan B," the boy muttered, turning over the page.
Following the directions once again, Toji flicked a hidden switch on the
bokken's handle. Twin lightning bolts clashed in the background after
five seconds.
"Cool!" Toji exclaimed, memorizing the hidden location of the switch.
While reading the diary at home after school, he had found a section
about righteous glowing blades of fury, which seemed awfully like light
sabers from their description to him. Toji wanted to try that next.
--------------------------------------------------
After Toji's proclamation, several boys have walked over the next day at
school to ask him what was that whole thing about 'Freeing the Pig-
tailed Goddess' was. Ranma couldn't hear what they had talked about, but
after leaving him, each of the boys brought several others back with
him. Seeing the crowd of boys gather around Toji, and having the
occasional boy glance at her with wonder made Ranma nervous. What
worried her most was that the glances, for once, were not lecherous in
nature.
'This isn't doin' me any good,' Ranma decided finally, and walked over
to her blue-haired friend.
"Hi, Rei," she greeted, smiling warmly.
"Hello, Ranma," Rei replied, looking at the red-head.
"Would you like to go to lunch somewhere today after school?" Ranma
asked hopefully. 'If the food won't make me forget my troubles, Rei
surely would!'
"Not today, Ranma. The Fourth Child is expected at Nerv Headquarters
today," Rei said quietly. It was really a shame they were busy today.
"Can't we stand them up this one time?" Ranma wondered out loud.
"You are supposed to get your Nerv ID card today, Ranma," Rei reminded
her.
"Oh, yeah!" Ranma cheered up instantly. "It's like your card, right? I
can buy food and stuff with it..."
Before Ranma would drool in class, Rei answered her, "Yes. Nerv ID cards
also function as credit cards in Tokyo-3."
"Great!" Ranma exclaimed excitedly. "I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow,
then, to pay you back for all the nice things you've done to me!"
"You embarrass me," Rei replied softly, turning her head away.
Wondering about her change in attitude, Ranma turned around and saw the
whole class looking at her with interest, several of the boys holding
their noses tightly.
Muttering, "Perverts!" Ranma cracked her knuckles ominously, and
suddenly everyone had found something very urgent to do elsewhere.
Only Hikari still went on looking, frozen in place. 'Rei... Rei! Our
Rei... is dating Ranko _and_ Ranma! And Ranko's a girl!' Unable to take
the abuse any longer, her brain shut down and Hikari slumped into her
chair, fanning herself.
--------------------------------------------------
With each passing day, Ranma felt progressively more uncomfortable, as
everyone's attention was on her at school. The boys gathered in groups
and spoke amongst themselves quietly, pointing at her occasionally, and
the girls did the same. Rei ignored the attention she was getting, but
Ranma's patience was being severely tested.
Ranma was especially bothered by the fact that several of the boys were
sporting various sports equipment, and goofy grins adorning their faces.
The whole thing looked too familiar for the red-head's tastes, and the
future was beginning to look gloomier than ever.
The thing that evaded Ranma's understanding the most was the delay...
the unbearable wait for the other shoe to drop. The tension between the
boys and her was so thick that it could be cut with a knife, yet she was
left alone. Could it be that the boys were... training? That they were
practicing to fight as a team, with only one purpose - taking her down?
Ranma tried asking Rei one day whether she knew a student by the name of
Kuno, but she seemed sure that no one by that family name went to their
school. While she could've been wrong - after all, Rei wasn't exactly a
'people person' - with the recent Angel attacks people kept leaving
Tokyo-3 and their school. In short, there weren't that many candidates
for the genetically challenged student Ranma was trying to find, and
she'd never known a Kuno that would keep to himself... or herself.
There were too many questions, and not nearly enough answers. Ranma had
already resolved to go to that guy, Toji, who seemed to be the idiot in
charge, and cave his head in for good measure, when one day Rei didn't
come to school. Later, at home, Ranma found out that Captain Katsuragi
had finally granted the blue-haired girl's request to observe Shinji and
Asuka's training. Since going to school without seemed even less
appealing, Ranma decided to pay the guys at Nerv a visit the next day.
--------------------------------------------------
Leaning against the wall next to Misato and Rei, Kaji noticed a new
figure enter the room. Moving towards it, he greeted the boy in the
Chinese clothes.
"So this is the mysterious boy that has managed to elude Nerv's security
for several weeks now."
Glancing at Kaji before returning his eyes to the dance floor, where
Asuka and Shinji tried to synchronize their dance steps, Ranma replied
curtly, "Yep".
Unphased, Kaji continued, "And does this boy have a name?"
"Ranma," the pigtailed martial artist shot back, never taking his eyes
off the dance floor.
Kaji leaned on the wall next to Ranma, thinking of what he could use to
get the boy talking.
A couple of minutes later, Ranma asked out of the blue, "Have you ever
considered doing your hair up in a pigtail?"
"Huh?" Kaji replied, staring dumbly at him.
Turning towards the older man, Ranma elaborated, "You know, like this,"
tugging on his pigtail for emphasis.
"Um... no," Kaji answered truthfully, still bewildered at the question.
"Good," Ranma replied, once again setting his eyes on Shinji and Asuka.
"Don't. It's my trademark."
Kaji, having somewhat recovered from the question by that time, asked
curiously, "And what about the Fourth Child?"
"Fourth Child?" Ranma repeated, blinking in confusion.
"Yes. You know, Ranko."
"Oh." Ranma smiled. "Ranko's a special case."
Kaji was about to ask the boy what he meant by that, when Misato called
a stop to the training exercise.
"Shinji, pay attention to the music! You're still being too self-
conscious," the Captain said, pointing at the pilot of Unit 01.
Hearing him mumble "Sorry" in return, Misato went on to reproach Asuka.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to leave Shinji behind?! Try
to synchronize your pace with Shinji's."
"I can't do that," Asuka replied, tilting her head to the side
theatrically. You're asking me," she said, pointing at her chest to
emphasize the word, "to lower my abilities to _Shinji's_ level!
Shouldn't _he_ be getting in synch with _me_?"
Kaji smiled at the sight of his charge, while Ranma clapped a few times
and whistled. Misato turned around and found the boy that's been the
talk of Nerv for the past month standing next to Kaji with an irritating
smirk on his face. She briefly considering calling security on him, but
decided against it. Past experience had shown that he only appeared when
he wanted other people to see him, and all attempts to catch the boy had
failed. Besides, other than irritating the hell out of a few people, he
hadn't actually done anything to hurt Nerv so far. There had even been
rumors that he was the one saving the day on several occasions.
"Do you think this is funny?" she called out to the boy. "The Angel is
going to attack tomorrow. Without synchronization between those two,"
Misato gestured at Shinji and Asuka, "the world..."
"The world's gonna end. Not that again," Ranma groaned, slapping his
forehead in disgust.
"Do you know something we don't?" Kaji asked, curious at the pigtailed
boy's behavior.
Smirking, Ranma ignored the question, and walked over to Rei, asking,
"May I have this dance?"
Seeing Rei's curt nod, Ranma walked her to an open space at the dance
floor, and called out, "Music!"
Everyone could only watch open mouthed, as Rei and Ranma danced in
perfect synchronization, going through the routines flawlessly. Near the
end, Ranma whipped a blue rose out of nowhere, and put it in his mouth
exhibitionally, embracing Rei and leading her as the music changed to
tango.
The dance ended with Ranma spinning Rei a couple of times around
herself, and leaning her over on his right arm, while plucking the rose
from his mouth and gesturing with it dramatically with his other one.
The enchantment that seemed to be on everyone in the room disappeared,
and Misato stormed up to Ranma to give him a piece of her mind. Heedless
of her approach, Ranma set Rei back on her feet, and offered her the
rose, which she took wordlessly.
"What did you think you were doing?! This wasn't the dance Shinji and
Asuka were practicing!"
"So I improvised," Ranma said nonchalantly, shrugging. "I still say my
version's better."
Turning towards Asuka, Ranma commented, "You're not bad, y'know. Too bad
you hafta work with the Spineless One."
Asuka nodded mournfully, as Shinji cringed.
Seeing this, Ranma sighed internally and said to him encouragingly,
slapping the other boy on his shoulder, "Hey, don't beat yourself too
much. Not everyone's as talented as me. Just do your best and try to
keep up. You'll get it eventually, with lotsa practice."
"Why, you!" Misato seethed, as the fourteen-year-old pigtailed boy
seemed to ignore her, all the while instructing her pilots.
"Hey, I haven't forgotten 'bout you, sweetheart," Ranma called out to
her over his shoulder. "You're the one that sleeps sprawled over her
bed, right?"
Turning around, he saw Misato's red face and chuckled.
"Hey, that's nothin' to be ashamed of. You seem to be nice enough, just
a bit too old for me." Ranma continued, oblivious to Misato's now
clenched fists. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's another great guy out
there for you. He may not be as perfect as me, but hey, no one is."
Noticing what looked like steam coming out of Misato's ears, Ranma
called out "Later" and went out the door.
Before he could leave, Kaji stopped him and asked, "How did you do all
that?"
"Anything Goes Martial Arts Ballroom Dancing," Ranma replied with a
straight face, before exiting the room and disappearing around the
corner.
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End of Chapter 5.