The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 14 - Back Where We Started?

Time counts and keeps counting.

It was a quote from an old movie that kept running through her head. Ukyou kept her 
eyes on the road ahead and watched for the exit to Earnest. It bugged her. She knew that 
it was from a movie she liked, but she couldn't remember which one.

Or why it seemed really important.

Ukyou chanced a glance at her recalcitrant passenger. Ryouga hadn't spoken a word other 
than a muttering of thanks when he first got in. Ranma had said that Ryouga still blamed 
himself for the problems with Toma and Arlington High. Ukyou preferred to think that it 
was because Toma was just a dick.

"Are you sure you don't need something for the pain? We're still about half an hour from 
Earnest," Ukyou asked.

"Hmph, I'm fine," Ryouga barked back.

He glanced at her and his expression softened. He smiled shyly.

"Sorry, I'm okay."

Ukyou kept driving, but didn't answer as he looked back out the side window. She turned 
her thoughts inward, but when she saw the nauseating image of Toma, she quickly 
brought herself back around. She wasn't done with him yet. Not by a damned sight. She'd 
have her own revenge.

The rest of the ride in the car was short, mercifully. Ukyou turned into the parking lot and 
brought it to rest near the back of the gym area, so that they could get to the Coach's 
office with ease. There was already a doctor and specialist waiting for Ryouga. She 
turned the car off and hurried after him as he lurched into the building, his bag weighing 
heavily on his other shoulder.

Ukyou tried to take the bag, but he shrugged her off and continued on without a word. He 
turned sharply to her as she tried again.

"Look Ukyou, thanks for driving me," he said angrily, "But I don't need a nursemaid, 
okay?"

He raised an eyebrow at the Ukyou, wondering what seemed to be honking her off now? 
Already off tilt from the heavy bag, it was a simple matter for Ukyou, red-faced with 
anger, to throw him to the ground.

"You asshole!" she screamed at him, "If you wanna be that way? Then fine, you be that 
way!"

Ukyou turned and stomped off towards the doors to the school, leaving Ryouga dazed, 
but then not really confused. Ukyou bowled her way through a set of students before 
bumping into one that squeaked slightly, which brought her back around. It was the 
purple-haired cheerleader, Shampoo. Ukyou sighed at her own luck and helped Shampoo 
gather her books back together.

She gave Ukyou a very suggestive smile and winked as Shampoo made her way toward 
the gym area. Ukyou sighed again and hung her head in resignation as she continued into 
the school.

***

The metal began to bend under the punishment. Possibly at the swearing too, but no one 
stopped the longhaired boy from abusing his locker. The boy punched again and swore 
loudly. No one around him could quite make out about what he was swearing, but the 
emotion and vehemence seemed to be there, so they left it alone.

Ukyou stopped pounding and leaned forward. She rested her forehead against the cool 
metal of the locker and closed her eyes. No one knew. Well, Ranma knew, but she didn't 
want to tell anyone else, as they wouldn't understand. No one understood, she doubted if 
Ranma really understood what she really felt and went through. Thoughts raced through 
her mind at the thought that perhaps Ranma might say something, but she sighed again. 
Ranma was callous and even mean at times, but he kept a secret. He always kept his 
secrets.

She jerked her head away from the locker as a hand rested against her shoulder. A pair of 
bright eyes greeted her, but seemed worried from beneath the straight brown locks on her 
forehead. Sayuri began to say something, but stopped as Ukyou straightened. Ukyou had 
dozed off leaning against the locker and that was something she just DID not do. Ukyou 
shook her head and looked at her watch. It had just been a second or two, but it told her 
that she had gotten more worked up over the whole thing with Ryouga than she wanted to 
admit. And then there was Sayuri.

Ukyou looked back from Sayuri and saw that the front of her locker was pretty badly 
beaten. Ukyou closed her eyes and sighed, that damage would cost her money. She 
glanced back to Sayuri as Yuka came bouncing up.

"Wow, are you okay?" Yuka asked, noticing the locker.

Ukyou nodded sheepishly and opened her locker. It was normally not until after fourth 
period that she was able to get back to her locker, so she removed the books for the 
classes in between. One of the covers slipped and the books tumbled out of her hands. 
Ukyou sighed tiredly and just stared at them.

Sayuri was worried. Ukyou seemed to have something on his mind, something that 
seemed to be bothering him, but also something that she thought he probably wouldn't 
talk about. Yuka tapped her on the shoulder and she leaned to her best friend. Yuka 
whispered a couple suggestions in her ear and Sayuri smiled to herself. Well, aside from 
the one about taking him in the bathroom between classes, the other two were pretty 
useful. Sayuri shook her head at her friend and waved her off. Yuka waved bye and 
skipped off to her homeroom.

Sayuri bent to Ukyou's locker and began to help him pick up his books. He looked to 
Sayuri, a question on his face. She just smiled at his books and gathered them together. 
She handed them to Ukyou and stood the object of her affection to his feet.

"Do you have everything?" she smiled sweetly.

Ukyou just nodded, still confused. Sayuri closed and locked his locker and put her arm 
through Ukyou's as she led him towards his homeroom. There was still time to get to her 
books, so she didn't worry.

"Yuka told me that you looked really stressed," she said as they walked on, "I happen to 
agree with her. I think you need a break from whatever it is that's stressing you."

"Sayuri, that's really nice, but-"

"Ah! We're here," she said, pointing to Ukyou's homeroom, "Hey Ranma! Anyway, I 
think you shouldn't have any problem with going out with me on a date...Say, this 
weekend?"

Ranma snickered oddly as he walked past them into class. Ukyou shot him a seething 
glance, but said nothing. Ukyou closed her eyes and sighed again. She was surprised that 
Sayuri would be so open about it, but she kind of expected this. She opened her eyes and 
looked back at the expectant brunette, who had unconsciously brought her hands together 
in front of her. She just looked too cute.

"Look, you're a nice girl and everything..." Ukyou began, "I won't say no, but let me 
think about it, okay?"

Sayuri let out a chirp of happiness and threw her arms around Ukyou, who had not 
expected something like this. Sayuri chirped thank-yous in Ukyou's ear and hugged him 
strongly. She let go and bounced off, down the hall to her own homeroom, leaving a 
stunned Ukyou standing in the hallway as Akane walked up.

Akane looked to her new friend. She wasn't moving. Akane had just seen Sayuri hugging 
her, so maybe that was it, Akane didn't know.

"Uh, Ukyou?"

Ukyou shook her head to clear it and looked to Akane.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, shaking her head as she went into the classroom.

Ranma couldn't help but burst with laughter as his friend sat down next to him. Ukyou 
growled slightly and rummaged in her backpack for a minute. His face met with the flat 
of Ukyou's algebra book as her aim was unaffected by her feelings, however confused 
they were. Miss Haruna huffed once as the bell rang. It was going to be another one of 
those days.

***

The bell had rung for the last time and Ryouga let out his breath. This had been a long 
day because of the pain in his arm. The break hadn't been serious, and the coach and the 
doctor had just put an air cast on his arm. Underneath the cast was an experimental gel of 
some kind that bonded to the place on his skin directly over the break. The doctor told 
Ryouga that it would be absorbed into the skin and help the bone heal about four times as 
fast. Which meant that the break would be healed in about two weeks, if nothing else 
happened that is.

Perhaps the guy in front of him, who he just recently found out was a woman, would 
make the healing process a little more complex. Probably by breaking other things that he 
couldn't heal as quickly. Ukyou had crossed her arms and was just looking at him as he 
stood in front of her car.

"Tell me again why you don't want a ride?" she asked, visibly hurt, "Tell me again how 
much of a dick you still are?"

"C'mon Ukyou, let's just get going," Ranma said from the other side of the car.

Ukyou shot him a look and he got in the car.

"I'm sorry Ukyou, I just want to be alone, okay?" he said, "I'll be able to ride my hog by 
tomorrow, but thanks anyway."

He turned and began to walk away. Ukyou huffed and shook her head as she got in the 
car.

"So he's still stubborn?"

Ukyou turned to her friend and softened. She was glad that he really cared about Ryouga.

"Yeah, it's what I thought," Ranma continued as he turned to put his seatbelt on, "He 
needs to think, I can't say that I blame him."

"You mean you agree with him?!" Ukyou blustered.

Ranma nodded.

"I can't believe you two," she sputtered, starting the car, "You're as much of a dick as he 
is!"

"Damn Ukyou, don't worry about him, I'm not," Ranma said, "He'll come back around. 
Just give him time. He's used to being alone and doing things on his own. He can't just 
change overnight, even if we are trying to help him."

"Yeah, I guess," Ukyou said as they passed Ryouga on the way out.

***

Step one. Step two. Step three. Count off again.

Ryouga sighed as he counted off his steps once again. He'd get to about a thousand and 
stop counting. Then, when he got bored again, he'd take up counting his steps. He didn't 
have to work tonight, so it was okay that he refused the ride from Ukyou. Besides, he 
wasn't about to owe anybody anything. He would do something special for Ukyou later 
though, she deserved that much. Something for putting up with his shit, at least.

Ryouga looked at his watch. It was a half an hour since he left school, he figured then he 
had about an hour to go to make it home. He'd work out a little, but then he'd make some 
dinner for himself and Tofu and relax for the rest of the evening. He smiled to himself. 
That was the great thing about having the last two periods of school as study hall. Getting 
all your homework done before you even left school. He chuckled to himself and looked 
out across the fields. The farmers were busy as they finished getting their fields ready for 
the coming winter. Cars passed him by every now and then, but he paid them no 
attention.

That was, until one of them purred up behind him. He turned and looked at the little 
white Miata. He stopped and the car swung up and parked just ahead of him. It was the 
purple-haired cheerleader. The hot one. Shampoo. She rolled down her window and 
waited for Ryouga to catch up. He reached her car and stopped at her window.

"Hey hun, why you walkin'?" she asked in that accent of hers.

A mysterious something ran up his spine. She did have a wonderful voice. He smiled.

"Just walking," he said, "Nothing special to it."

"I have somethin' ta' ask ya'...Why don't you hop on in and I'll get ya to wherever you're 
going," she said, indicating the other door.

"Well, what do you want to know?" he asked, coming closer to the car, "I just kind of 
want to walk, if it's all the same to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk out in the open like this...It's so common, ya know?" she said.

Ryouga shrugged his shoulders.

"So I'm common," he said as he turned back down the road.

The Miata sputtered to life and cruised in beside him.

"Come on sugah. Don't be a square, let me give ya' a ride, will ya'?" she shouted from her 
car.

He stopped and leaned his head into the passenger side of the car.

"You aren't going to stop bugging me unless I say yes?" he asked.

Shampoo shook her head happily. Ryouga sighed and opened the door, settling himself 
into the tiny car. His backpack fit neatly in the back seat, what little of it there was and 
Ryouga squeezed into the passenger seat. He wondered idly if the car were made for 
monkeys or something. He felt squished with his knees smooshed up against the 
dashboard, but he managed to close the door. He looked at her as she giggled lightly at 
him. Her giggle sent a thrill through other parts of him, but he kept his composure.

"Let me help ya' with that."

Shampoo reached down and slid her hand between his legs. Ryouga felt the hairs on the 
back of his head stand at attention, along with other parts of his body. He was going to 
say something, but the seat suddenly slid back. She smiled at him, giggling again 
at his obvious thoughts. She ignored them and straightened in her seat, putting the car 
into gear again. Ryouga coughed slightly and adjusted himself in his seat as much as he 
could without drawing attention. He had to hand it to her; she certainly knew how to get a 
guy's attention.

"Okay hun," she purred again, "Where we goin'?"

"Uh, up here, there's a place called Jackson's Hole," he said, squirming in his seat again, 
"It's my job and you can just drop me off there. It's only about half an hour up here."

"Do you walk that everyday?" she asked, surprised.

"Nah," he said, "I normally have my hog, but with this-"

He held up his cast.

"-I can't really ride until tomorrow."

"Okay, well first off, I want to know," she began, "That whole thing with the football 
game the other night. I just have to say that was the most amazing thing I have ever 
seen!"

"Uh, thanks?"

"Whose idea was it that Ranma play the whole game?" she asked.

"What?" what was she getting at? How did she know? She couldn't know...

"I saw on the sidelines that you were wanderin' round out there instead of bein' in the 
game," she turned to him, a predatory smile on her lips, "Even when you're supposed ta 
be. So what's the deal?"

Ryouga curled up under the cat-like glare from the purple-haired vixen. She was just too 
good at looking through Ryouga, and that bothered him. But she was right, he wondered 
if they should have been more careful, but no sense in hiding it further. He sighed and 
straightened in his seat, still under her watchful glare.

"Well, as you can see, things conspired against me being in that game," he began, "But, 
Coach thought that I needed to be in there because of the psychological effect. Coach 
enjoyed the mind games that being in there played on the Arlington team. The only one 
on the team who was good enough to take my place was Ranma."

"That was very smart of you," she said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, to come up with a plan like that."

"I didn't come up with that."

The car swerved and she quickly regained control. Shampoo looked over to him in 
wonder.

"Who came up with that plan then? The coach?" she chirped, her heart racing in 
anticipation.

"Nope," he said, hanging on to the 'oh-shit' bar, "The whole thing was Ranma's daft idea."

"Was that the bandanas thing?"

"Yeah, that was my idea," Ryouga continued, "He wanted to be me? Well, he didn't look 
like me."

"So he was the whole, big mastermind behind that?" she whispered, a far off look in her 
eyes.

Ryouga looked to her and frowned.

"I helped too, ya know," he said, "Uh, you mind taking the wheel again?"

"Huh?" she asked, coming a little of the way back to reality.

Ryouga had reached over when they served and grabbed the wheel as she had completely 
let go. He may have suicidal tendencies sometimes, but he didn't want to die like that! 
She blushed fetchingly and took control of the car again. She kept cooing and saying 
something about big brains leading to other things that are oversized, which confused 
Ryouga to no end. The painkillers were wearing off and this chick was making his head 
hurt. He didn't understand it...Big head? He had a bigger head than Ranma; he proved 
that on the football field. So he had no idea what she was talking about. The rest of the 
ride was nice however. She wrinkled up her nose as they stopped outside Jackson's Hole.

"Is this where you work?" she said, "No wonder you got problems, sugah. I'll see ya 
tomorrow."

He smiled weakly and thanked her for the ride as he got out.

"Ryouga? Who was that?" a voice said, as he watched Shampoo speed off into the 
distance.

"Huh? Oh, Cassia. Just someone I got a ride from."

Cassia did a double take, her long brown hair bobbing lightly behind her.

"Not THAT kind of ride..." he shook his head and began to walk the rest of the way 
home.

***

The car skidded to a halt in front of the modest little home. It even still had the sign out 
front, proudly proclaiming that the house had been sold. Shampoo thought that it was 
time enough to take it out, but her Granny liked the rustic feel of it, thought it felt like 
home or something. Shampoo bounced up the steps and fumbled with her keys, her whole 
body vibrating with excitement. She couldn't believe that she finally found out who it was 
that masterminded that whole game. And he was a cutie too! Shampoo opened the door 
and slammed it behind her, making the large cross on the front wiggle slightly.

She had to find Granny to tell her the good news, but Shampoo couldn't find her. Not in 
the kitchen. Not in the computer room...Ah! Out back taking care of her flowers, of 
course. She burst out the back door and hopped down into the side garden next to her 
diminutive Granny. She knelt down so that Granny could be almost eye to eye, but then 
that was kind of difficult for Shampoo to do. Granny looked up from her pruning, past the 
brim of her straw hat and smiled at her Granddaughters smiling face. She obviously had 
some good news. She only really smiled like that for one reason.

"Oh Grandmutha," Shampoo purred, "You simply won't believe it!"

"You met a goodly caller, did you?"

Shampoo's mouth hung open in disbelief. Her Granny could always read her, but she 
didn't think she was THAT obvious. She shook her head.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"Which of the football team is it this time?" Granny clucked.

"Grandmutha!" Shampoo cried.

Granny chuckled heartily, which was an odd sound coming out of someone who is only 
two feet tall.

"I'm Joshin' you granddaughta," she smiled a wrinkly smile to Shampoo, "Who is the fine 
lad?"

Shampoo smiled at the jest.

"He's the one I told you about," she reminded her aging Granny, "The one that was so 
magnificent at the game Friday..."

"The boy with the bandana?"

"Yes-I just found out what his name is...It's Ranma," Shampoo got a far away look, "Isn't 
it just dreamy?"

Granny chuckled again and turned back to her pruning.

"Ah. Not a year in this house and my Shampoo already has a gentleman caller," Granny 
clucked, "I'll have to meet him, of course."

Shampoo rocked back on her heels and lowered her head at this. She remembered the last 
time she had a guy over and Granny got to him...

"Oh no you don't," she said quietly, "Not until I get at least one date with him. I think you 
owe me that."

"Now child, I'm just-"

"You sent poor Touji to the hospital!"

"He had it comin'" Granny snapped.

Shampoo stood up. She crossed her arms as she towered over her elder.

"I'll not waiva on this, Grandmutha."

Granny looked up at her and sighed. She took off her straw hat and fanned herself, even 
though the sun was setting on a crisp October day.

"I suppose I can't weed out all the bad ones, can I?" she said, replacing her hat, "Okay, I 
suppose you're old enough to make up your own mind."

A squeal of bright delight erupted from Shampoo as she picked up her granny and gave 
her a fierce hug.

"Thank you Grandmutha," she chirped, "I've got to fix supper before I study."

Granny chuckled as she adjusted her hat again. Shampoo set her down and bounded into 
the house.

"Fix somethin' healthy this time, you hear me? None o' that instant ramen stuff you like 
so much," she called after Shampoo, she then turned to her pruning again, "Laud knows 
she doesn't get her taste in foods from me."

***

He couldn't believe it. He hadn't even been away from school for a week. He expected 
people to pat him on the back and say 'good job' and stuff like that when he got back, but 
Ranma never expected what he saw. Maybe it was the timing that he didn't understand. 
He'd been back to school for almost half a week now. Why didn't they do this BEFORE 
he got back? Ranma sighed to himself. He couldn't really understand stuff like this either. 
He got something similar in his old schools, but this even went WAY beyond that. It was 
his locker. It had been covered...No, covered wasn't the right word. FESTOONED was 
the right word. His locker was festooned with Get Well wishes and Great Game congrats 
and all kinds of streamers. There were a few letters poked in between the well wishes. He 
picked them out and read them. Ranma blushed furiously at the girls' suggestions at how 
he could get better. Ranma looked around, but didn't see anyone. He slid the letters into 
his backpack and tried to open his locker. Ranma hung his head again as the streamers 
only allowed it to open a little. He turned to his left as he heard a familiar snicker erupt.

"I tried to tell them you wouldn't want something like this," Ukyou said, trying to keep 
her laughter down.

Ranma whimpered once and began to bang his head into the front of his locker slowly. 
He stopped as two more people bounced up. Yuka and Sayuri looked at him as if they 
expected him to be happy about all this. A tight, sick feeling got in his stomach that he 
pushed back down as he tried to smile at them.

"So Ranma," Yuka chimed in, "What do you think?"

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Sayuri said as she twined her way to Ukyou's side, "It was Ukyou's 
idea to use this many streamers. He said it was a tradition from your other schools?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow and Ukyou burst out laughing again. Ranma just groaned and 
resumed denting the locker with his head. Ukyou tapped him on the shoulder as she 
walked out.

"I'll see you in homeroom," Ukyou said.

Sayuri walked off with Ukyou trying to shake the cheerleader off her arm, which at least 
made Ranma smirk.

"Could be worse you know," Ryouga said as he walked up.

Ranma turned his head and looked at him.

"When they heard what your sister did to Kuno, they put something similar on his 
locker," Ryouga smiled as he gathered his books together, "Most of them read something 
like, 'Don't come back!'"

Ranma smirked and began to pick the trimmings off of his locker.

"Ah, I can see you got the, uh, notes from some of the girls in the school," Ryouga 
clucked.

Ranma bit back a surprised reaction. Ryouga slapped him on the back.

"Hey," he said, walking off, "I told them to keep it clean."

Ranma sighed to himself. He didn't need this. It felt like a return to every other school 
he'd ever been to and he wanted this one to be different somehow. Ranma snorted at 
himself. Why should he have any reason to believe that people change? That this place 
would be any different? He shut his eyes and, after a moment, gathered his books. 
Closing his locker, he jumped back at the person that stood on the other side. It was the 
purple-haired beauty, Shampoo. Odd name, but with a body like that, who cared about 
names?

"Hey there handsome," she purred, "I was wondering if I'd catch you here or not. Will 
you do me a big favor?"

Ranma pushed the lock on his locker together and picked up his laden bag. He looked at 
the girl, hoping that his silence would send her a message that this wouldn't have been the 
best of times to come on to him. It naturally didn't work.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked wearily.

She giggled sharply.

"That's a loaded question honey," she said as she took an envelope from inside her 
blouse, "But my request is written down. I thought you might want to think it ova' before 
you told me your answer."

Ranma took the proffered letter and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Don't keep me waitin' too long sugah," she said as she passed, "A girl's gotta keep her 
priorities."

No, Ranma thought to himself, It wasn't any different...

***

"A double date?" Ranma asked, pulling his shooting hand back.

The ball sailed smoothly into the hoop, drawing jealous whispers from the guys on the 
basketball team. It had been rumored that Ranma was going to be on the squad, but 
nothing had been confirmed either. Rumors flew as fast as the bull around Earnest.

"Please Ranma?" Ukyou asked, dribbling the ball absently, "I know that cheerleader 
asked you out 'cause Yuri told me she had to tell her where your locker was. Come on 
Ranma, help me out here. Yuri's a nice girl and all, but she won't leave me alone unless I 
give her a date. Now I can pull it off if I'm not the only distraction, but if it's just us, then 
I'm sunk. Please? I'm begging, Ranma."

"Okay," Ranma said as he held up another ball, "If I agree to this, which I'm not saying I 
am, mind you. But if I agree to this, where're we gonna go?"

Ukyou smiled. She had him. Ukyou backed up to the three-point arc and, without 
skipping a beat buried it. Ranma held the bridge of his nose. He had a dead feeling in his 
gut that this was not going to be a good thing in the end.

***

"And Ukyou is going to meet you there?" Akane burst out laughing again.

"Hey stop laughing," Ranma said, straightening his tie in the mirror, "This isn't easy for 
her, you know."

"I still don't know why you don't just borrow my car for the night dear," Nodoka said 
from his chair, "I'm sure you'll take good care of it."

"Well mom, I was going to, but Shampoo wanted to pick me up with her car," Ranma 
shrugged, "I guess she likes driving."

There was a humph from the doorway. Ranma raised an eyebrow at Nabiki, who was 
standing there, arms folded across her chest. She had a pained expression on her face and 
Ranma knew that it hurt for her to know that Ranma was going out. He had tried to 
apologize earlier, but she had ignored him. In the little time he had been home, he'd found 
that it was the way she dealt with things. Ball them up and wrap them away until no one 
was around. Ranma couldn't fault her, that was the way he used to deal as well. And it 
nearly killed him.

Ranma pulled the green sweater over his head and ran a hand through his hair again. He 
turned to the mirror and threw an indistinct smirk at it. Akane burst out laughing again 
and Nodoka gathered them to go downstairs. Kasumi hadn't come home that weekend, 
but said that she'd be home for the homecoming parade in a couple of weeks. She had to 
work on that weekend too, but she said that she never missed the parade, which was 
normally on Thursdays.

Lights pulled up outside and Ranma felt his combat instincts take over. Fighting his 
adrenaline back down, he swallowed hard and opened the door. Shampoo bounced up 
and smiled a greeting and Ranma stood dumbfounded. Akane looked out the door and 
shook her head in disgust. She shoved Ranma aside and opened the screen door for the 
cheerleader, who thanked her and entered.

Shampoo had on a white dress with intricate lavender flowers arranged in a pattern that 
wrapped around her. Ranma also studied the way her dress seemed to be painted on her, 
following her every curve as any good lover should. He shook his head and blushed as he 
heard his mother giggle from across the room. Shampoo had also tied her hair up into 
some kind of bun on the top of her head, leaving little streamers coming out of it that she 
had curled. Light makeup, silver and jade accents and a rather low back all made for an 
outfit that Ranma couldn't get himself over. And it wasn't just her outfit. It was the way 
she moved in it. The way she kind of floated around him. It made all his senses dance and 
hum in ways that he'd not felt in a long while.

They both bid their goodnights to Nabiki, who just nodded and ran back upstairs, Akane, 
who smiled broadly at Shampoo and giggled at Ranma, and Nodoka, who just seemed 
proud for some odd reason. Ranma followed her back out to her Miata and adjusted the 
seat for himself, though he was sure that she would have done it for him. He smiled and 
they took off.

"So, where are we goin' tonight sugah?" she said.

"Okay, take this highway up here and head north," he said, pointing to the on ramp, 
"We're going to a little town north of here that has a culinary tech school. Sayuri says that 
the graduates normally stay in one of the towns' restaurants, which makes them pretty 
good, so Ukyou and I thought we'd give it a try. We're meeting them at Shane's Chez 
Shay."

Shampoo burst out laughing at the name.

"What kind of name is THAT?" she sputtered, "And WHAT is a shay?"

"I don't ask," Ranma chuckled himself, "But that's marketing for you."

"Ah Laud, you northerners," she said, "You're somethin' else."

Ranma hoped so.

***

It figured. It really did. Ranma was late. Not by much, maybe two or three minutes, but 
dammit still late! Ukyou shifted in her seat uncomfortably again. Sayuri smiled at Ukyou 
again, totally oblivious to the fact that both were equally equipped.

"Don't worry Ukyou, I'm sure they'll get here soon," she said sweetly, "You're nervous, 
aren't you?"

Ukyou managed a relieved smile and nodded her head.

"About what?"

"I-uh," Ukyou stammered, "I'm not really sure."

Sayuri's eyes grew big and she gasped.

"This isn't your first date, is it?"

No, it wasn't.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Ukyou said, trying to act like it, "I'm just nervous, that's all."

Ukyou looked out the window again and almost shot through her roof when she felt a 
hand on her leg. Sayuri had her head cocked to one side and she smiled a predatory smile.

"There's no reason to be shy with me, you know," she said.

Ukyou smiled, but wisely kept her mouth shut. She took Sayuri's hand and was just 
content to hold it. At least she knew where it was and it wasn't getting her into further 
trouble. A few minutes passed and Ukyou calmed some. Perhaps she was playing this out 
too much. It just reminded her of the last-

"Can I ask you a question?" Sayuri asked.

Ukyou nodded mutely.

"Are you afraid of this?"

And Sayuri leaned across the seat and kissed Ukyou lightly. Just enough to initiate 
contact between them, which was more than enough to get the sensation. Ukyou 
swallowed hard against all the surprisingly conflicting emotions that flew into her mind. 
This was just something that was NOT done. Who was this girl, anyway? To go around 
kissing...Ah, but she went around kissing guys. And that was the difference, wasn't it? 
Ukyou was the weirdo here. Ukyou recovered and smiled a shy smile back to her as a 
response. Sayuri took it that she enjoyed it and sat back happily. Ukyou let out a sigh as 
the little white Miata pulled into the parking lot.

***

The dinner progressed far easier than either Ranma or Ukyou thought it would, all things 
considered. No one came looking for a fight. No hearts were broken...yet. Ukyou and 
Ranma had gone to the men's room for a confab. Ranma really hadn't minded Ukyou 
being in there, as he was used to covering for her, but Ukyou seemed flustered for some 
reason.

"Ranma," she said at last, "She kissed me."

Ranma zipped himself up and went to the sinks as the wall toilet flushed behind him. He 
thought about it for a second. Akane would have just broken up laughing at that point. 
She had no idea the kind of pain that this put Ukyou through, though they did get on 
better than other friends of his. Ukyou was even on better terms with Akane than with 
Ryouga these days. Something that they could look to Toma and thank, though he'd never 
dare say that in the open. Something still bothered Ranma though.

"Well?"

"What do you want me to tell you Ukyou?" he asked, "I mean, she's a girl that finds you 
attractive. What do you expect, really?"

"I mean should I tell her?"

Ranma took one of the heated towels and thought for a second.

"I mean, I told you about what happened before with-"

"Yeah I know, you told me about her," Ranma waved his hand, "But I don't think this is 
the same. Sayuri genuinely likes you. I honestly don't see anything wrong with making 
her happy for a while and then getting rid of her. I mean, it'd be easy to just say that it's 
against your religion for sex before marriage, or something like that."

"But what if-"

"Come on Ukyou," he clasped her on the shoulder, "There are worse things that could 
happen, you know. You can hold her off if she want's a little from you and if she's really 
that desperate, she'll go to another guy. Then you're off scott free!"

Ukyou let out a breath.

"I guess," she said, "Okay, let's finish this."

"C'mon Ukyou, have a little fun with this. I mean, is she a good kisser?" he asked.

"As girls go, I guess so."

"Then have a little fun, but make sure not to go too far, that's all."

Ukyou just began to grumble, but Ranma sighed and shoved her out the door.

***

"That's somethin' I ain't neva heard of," Shampoo tittered to herself.

"What's that?" Sayuri asked.

"Well, two men going to the bathroom together," she said almost a whisper, "It's almost 
bizarre."

"I don't know Shampoo," Sayuri said as the waiter set down her dessert, "It IS the 
nineties, you know."

"I know," she said, "It's just...I don't know...Odd."

"Hey, did Ranma tell you why he wasn't going to be in the game Friday?" Sayuri asked.

Shampoo perked up at this and shook her head.

"I heard from Daisuke that he's got something to do with his mom, or something like 
that...I think there's something else going on because he does that about twice a month."

"Now that you mention it," Shampoo thought, "He is out of class about twice a month, 
isn't he?"

Sayuri nodded.

"I don't know, I just thought he might have told you," she said, "You being his girlfriend 
and all."

"Girlfriend?!" Shampoo asked, shocked.

"Well, yeah!" Sayuri said confused, "That's why you came with Ukyou and me on this 
date, wasn't it?"

"Well, I just asked him for a date..." Shampoo said, getting flustered, "But his girlfriend?"

"Well, that's what it normally means around Earnest," Sayuri replied, "Around here, 
Ranma is off the market."

Shampoo giggled to herself and dabbed at her forehead, which was suddenly quite red, 
with her napkin. Ukyou and Ranma sat down at the table again and Shampoo giggled 
once more, which drew looks from both of them.

"Shampoo, are you alright?" Ranma asked.

Shampoo grinned sweetly at him and continued to fan herself.

"Uh, Sayuri?" Ukyou asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

Sayuri took a sip of coffee and set the little china cup back onto the saucer.

"Yeah, I just told Shampoo about how Ranma here is off the market in Earnest," she said, 
"I mean, being Shampoo's boyfriend."

"Her what?" Ranma sputtered.

"And such a fine and handsome boyfriend he makes too," Ukyou said, pounding him on 
the arm, "You're a lucky dog for getting a girl like Shampoo."

"Oh, now wait a damned-"

"I swear, I'm so happy right now I could just BU'ST!" Shampoo said, happily grabbing 
Ranma's hand in her own.

"I don't think there's much room for THAT to happen," Sayuri muttered quietly.

"Ukyou, I-"

Ukyou grabbed his shoulder and gave him a big, brotherly grin.

"I'm sure you'll be happy."

"I'm gonna get you for this," Ranma said, nodding his head.

Ukyou just chuckled throatily and dug into her dessert. Ranma went to his own after 
extricating his arm from Shampoo's grip. It struck him as odd that she should have the 
kind of steel grip of a construction worker, but he set that line of thought aside for a 
while. No sense tackling more than one thing at a time. It's what his coach always said.

***

"...And then he said, you can stay," Ukyou laughed again, "But the Ferengi in the gorilla 
suit has to go!"

Sayuri burst out laughing. She had been an avid watcher when it was on, but now was 
more into the X-Files and things like that. More cerebral, but she always loved a good 
joke. Maybe that was the reason she liked Ukyou. He made her feel good. Sayuri wiped 
at her eye and snuggled against his arm. She failed utterly to see the look on Ukyou's 
face, however.

Ranma chuckled as he and Shampoo followed the couple out of the restaurant. Shampoo 
had been draped on his arm since they got up from the table, and somehow he couldn't 
pull away. He'd have to ask her how she did that, but later, when he had both hands free. 
Ukyou pulled up short as they got to the parking lot. Ranma stopped behind them and 
gave a questioning look to Shampoo, who shrugged and let go of his arm. Ranma went 
around to Ukyou's left and stopped cold. Shampoo came up on his left and wondered at 
the look on Ranma and Ukyou's face at the boy in front of them. Several of the boys' 
thugs were gathered around Shampoo and Ukyou's cars.

He cocked his blonde head to one side and smiled. Shampoo noticed that he had a large 
beige bandage that covered his forehead. A shiver ran down her back and Shampoo 
grabbed Ranma's hand. He gave her a concerned look as he pulled her behind him. 
Ukyou had done the same to Sayuri.

"Well damn," the kid said, "Two birds and such."

"You really WANT to get hurt, don'tcha?" Ukyou spat out at him.

"Oh, now after all that's gone on between us, how can you say that?" he said.

A large thug ran up and put a spear that was about twice his height into his hands.

"Ranma? Wasn't it?" he asked.

"Hey Toma," Ranma said, "Nice headgear. Try wearing a helmet next time-Oh, that's 
right...I blew it off your damned head!"

Toma reached up to the bandage that covered his forehead and growled angrily.

"And I hope you're not too mad at the beating Akane and I gave you?" Ukyou said, trying 
to follow Ranma's lead, "I mean, it's just what's between us, right?"

Toma snarled and suddenly closed his eyes, calming down. He opened his eyes and 
pointed the spear at Ranma and his group.

"Ready for revenge?"