On 02/02/2004 06:58 PM, DB Sommer wrote:
Dating was one of the worst things he could do. It only led to a host
of irate people, including romantic interests, parents, and even
total strangers. At least {there : it} didn't seem as though Kachiko
would be any making any demands of him, beyond him trying to make it
a good time for both of them. The upcoming {: date} could have been
much worse, as past experience had taught him.
Her lack of restraint irked Ranma. He was holding back rather than
{risking he hurt : risk hurting} the time-lost girl and incurring
the wrath of the Tendous. Though even with him holding back and her
not, the outcome still wasn't in doubt. Not this time.
It was not until the next day, after a restless night with little
sleep, that Kachiko considered ripping Ranma's lips off his mouth for
causing her such grief. It was curious, and more than a little
annoying. All it had taken was him saying a single compliment and
turning her into a downward spiral of uncertainty and confusion. It
didn't make sense. Guys had called her cute before. Lots of them, and
some of them had been cute too. Kunou complimented her continuiously
and in much more flowery language when he was in her presence, and
on a basis strictly of looks, he was more handsome than Ranma (though
not by much). So why was it when Ranma said something as simple as
calling her 'cute' it made her feel warm inside?
It might be worthwhile for her to compare notes with Ukyou.
But why did it matter? Why did his words affect her more than
Kunou's? Maybe it was because they meant more, since he never spoke
that way. One of Kunou's more distinctive traits was a glib tongue
that passed out praise freely. He made the same flattering comments
about Akane and some pig-tailed girl he had the hots for as he did
about Kachiko. While she enjoyed the flattery, it wasn't as though it
was exclusively meant for her, which made it less important. While
she felt appreciated, his words hadn't made her heart flutter or
cheeks warm the way Ranma's had.
It sounds like she doesn't realize that Kunou's pig-tailed girl is
Ranma. She knows about Ramna's curse, doesn't she realize that Kunou
still hasn't caught on?
"Stupid jerk," she grumbled to herself. They hadn't even gone out on
a date yet, and she was not fixated on him they way she had been on
Bosatsu. There was no way he should have been able to make her react
this way. She didn't care for it. Not one little bit. Guys were
supposed to jump when women said jump, not the other way around. She
wanted Ranma {to react : reacting} to her flattery, not her reacting
to his. She wanted to control the direction of the relationship, if
they were going to have one, which she had not even decided on yet
since they hadn't even gone on a date to see if there was any
chemistry between them. Now Ranma had thrown the whole plan out of
whack with his stray compliment, which might not have even been a
sincere one. It made her angry.
Kachiko wondered if there were any other girls that found Ranma as
alluring and annoying at the same time as she did.
I guess you could safely put an upper bound at the number of girls who
have seen him. You might be able limit the number of annoyed girls to
those who have actually met him.