The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 21 - The World A Stage

"You have GOT to be kidding me," Ranma said as he looked at 
himself in the mirror.

This was almost enough for him to say, "To hell with the dance." 
Almost. But then, he remembered what Shampoo was going to 
wear to match him. He sighed at the thought. Her outfit was 
certainly eye catching, to say the least. But this outfit...

"Are you dressed in there son?" an old voice came from the other 
side of the door, "Lawd, you take more time'n Shampoo."

Maybe because we share the same gender a couple times a month? 
Ranma thought.

Ranma shook his head and opened the door. The little old woman 
squinted as she looked Ranma up and down. He shivered 
reflexively. She had that predatory look that Nabiki got sometimes. 
Cologne grabbed her cane from its resting spot against the wall and 
clambered up the tall stick.

"Mmmyeah," she cackled, "You're almost ready. Just one more 
thing for ya'."

She opened her hand.

"Aw, come on now," Ranma said, "This is bad enough, but I am 
NOT wearing that!"

"Would'ya please wear it for me?" Shampoo said as she sat down 
on the stairs next to the bathroom door, "I mean, it'd just complete 
the outfit, sugar. Please?"

Ranma thought it was unfair. She batted her eyes at him...

***

Nodoka just about choked on her Pepsi. Akane stepped out of her 
room, a shy smile on her face. Ukyou began laughing heartily as 
Akane blushed to her toes. She never thought that Akane would 
really go through with her idea. Nodoka wasn't really sure her idea 
was such a good one, but Ryouga seemed to like her. Perhaps this 
was her idea of reeling him in. Nodoka shook her head mentally. 
Too many stories of how she got Genma all those years ago.

A masquerade dance was really something different for the school 
and Nodoka had been in favor of all the Tendo daughters going, 
but Kasumi had to work the night before and Nabiki really had no 
interest. Nodoka made a mental note to make sure she at least went 
out. It wasn't good for her to mope around about Ranma. The 
awful thing was that there was really nothing she or Ranma could 
do to make Nabiki feel better either. She seemed set to depression 
for the time being. Nodoka had wanted her to go so that perhaps 
she could see somebody and maybe even make up with Ranma.

Her son was over at his girlfriend's house right now. Shampoo 
seemed like a nice southern girl. Certainly quite healthy for her age 
and not really all that modest about showing it off either, but that 
could be a good thing. Nodoka had had tea with Shampoo's 
grandmother, Cologne. A cordial kind of drilling from the wrinkly 
old-

Nodoka shook her head and mentally cleared her throat. It wasn't 
nice to think of people like that, even if they were. Cologne was 
just severely overprotective of Shampoo, and Nodoka thought she 
had a right to be. Shampoo's parents had both been killed when 
Shampoo was quite young and the task of raising the girl fell to 
Cologne and raising a girl like Shampoo could easily make 
someone overprotective. So Nodoka could understand.

She sighed and drew her hands together, appraising Akane's choice 
of outfit. Apparently, it was to match Ryouga's outfit, which kind 
of made Nodoka worry, but she chose to trust the youngest 
sibling's judgement on the matter.

"That's a killer outfit," Ukyou said, as she calmed her laughing, 
"Ryouga isn't going to know what hit him. And, most likely, it'll be 
the other guys at the dance."

"Ukyou, is it too over the top?" Akane asked, apprehensive.

"No," Ukyou said, "I don't think you have to worry about anything 
over THAT top."

Akane glared at her as Ukyou broke into more guffaws of laughter. 
Nodoka choked down her own chuckle and cleared her throat.

"Akane, don't you think that's a little...Um...Revealing?"

"Is it?" she asked, turning to look behind her, "What does it 
reveal?"

"Well..." Nodoka began.

What DID it reveal? Not a whole lot, actually...It was just. Teasing 
was the word.

"Okay," Nodoka sighed, "You just be careful, young lady."

Akane smiled back and nodded.

***

Sayuri looked at the outfit on the bed. Her mom had helped her 
pick it out and was a little too eager in getting it right. Sayuri 
sighed as she picked up the shirt. Her mother knew about Ukyou. 
She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. A female thing, she 
supposed, but just exactly when was SHE going to inherit it? This 
pairing thing that everyone wanted to do wasn't Sayuri's idea, but 
Ukyou was amenable to it and to Sayuri's idea about what to wear. 
Sayuri sighed again. After the dance, it would be known then. All 
would come out of the closet, as it were.

"Well, geez," Sayuri said, holding the shirt up to her chest as she 
looked in the mirror, "How could Ukyou hide it after tonight?"

But Ukyou wanted to do it...

***

Ryouga was sweating. He looked up at the air conditioner. It was 
on full blast. He looked at the outside thermometer on the wall, it 
said that it was about fifty degrees outside. So why was he 
sweating? Well, certainly not for the outfit he was wearing, as it 
was rather tame. Akane had picked it out to match her outfit. 
Maybe that was it. Ryouga hadn't seen her outfit yet, so no, that 
wasn't it. Maybe it was the thought of actually going on a date with 
Akane...

...In public...

...In full view of other people...

Ryouga began to sweat heavily again. Yup, that was it.

***

Ranma liked this spot on the roof. It was a west facing slope that 
he could lay down on and watch the setting sun. It was a good 
looking sun too, with oranges and reds fluted to an overhead 
purple, sinking to a deep blue behind him. Ranma liked sunsets. He 
was trying to relax for the upcoming dance. He wasn't exactly sure, 
but he thought that his costume and Shampoo's would be among 
the racier ones there. Akane wouldn't let him see her costume, but 
she promised that he'd never forget it. Ranma snorted. She was so 
naïve sometimes.

But...She was cute too. Sometimes. Sometimes she could be a real 
brute. Ranma smiled. He liked it when she smiled though. She was 
definitely cute then. Ranma couldn't explain it either. Akane wasn't 
dead sexy like Shampoo. Shampoo had it and she didn't mind 
flaunting it and Ranma sometimes wished she wasn't so good at 
flaunting it. But Akane had a kind of innocent cuteness to her. 
Maybe that was it. Reminded Ranma of a couple of past girlfriends 
too. Yeah. That was it.

Ranma sighed. They never understood about him. His girlfriends 
never really understood what he was going through. They never 
understood that with every transformation, he felt that a little bit 
more of his manhood went away. It was almost beginning to feel 
normal to change, and that worried him most of all. He didn't want 
to be a woman every month; he didn't want to be a woman at all. 
He had tried to pass it off to the sisters Tendo just as something 
that happened. He tried to play it cool. His mother knew better 
though, she had talked with him and he'd tried to hide it. He wasn't 
any better at it than he thought his father would have been.

The silent whispers of the wind were interrupted by sounds from 
the other side of the roof. Scramblings and scrapings and someone 
cursing lightly. Ranma turned as Akane reached the summit of the 
roof and pulled herself to the edge.

"What do you do up here?" she asked as she pushed her hair out of 
her face.

Ranma smirked at her.

"You climbed up here to ask me that?"

"No, you idiot," Akane huffed, "I climbed up here to tell you that 
dinner's ready and that we don't have that much time before we 
leave, so come down and eat, okay?"

Ranma stared at her blankly, then looked down at his watch. She 
was correct, it was getting late. Ranma got to his feet and quickly 
leapt to the summit of the roof near Akane. She looked up at him 
and scowled at the smirk on his face.

"You wanna help me here?" she asked as sweetly as she could, 
"I'm not used to this, you know."

Ranma chuckled and slid down beside her. He tried to get a hand 
under her arm, to lead her back to the window, which was on his 
side of the roof, but Akane wouldn't let go. 

Probably scared, he thought.

"Look," he said, "I can't help you get back to the window if you 
don't let go of the roof."

Akane shivered for a second, though whether from fear or the 
winds that were picking up slightly, Ranma couldn't tell.

"You promise?"

"Promise what?" Ranma asked, "Not to drop you? Akane-"

"I'm scared here, you asshole!"

"Okay, okay," Ranma said as he put his arm around her, "I promise 
not to drop you. Now, I've got you, just let go."

Akane let go, but tried to stand up. Her back bumped into Ranma 
and he lost his footing on the gritty roof. Ranma twisted as he went 
down and landed on his back, his arms outstretched. By God, he 
knew what was going to happen, he just KNEW it. He HATED 
when he knew it. Akane landed in his arms just as the two went 
over the edge of the roof.

***

Ukyou looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes gazed to the clock 
on the wall. Almost time. Almost time to give the whole damned 
thing up. She reached for another tissue from its box on her 
dresser. Her hand stopped shaking as she took another deep breath. 
So many years. So many years she had been another person and 
tonight-

"Ukyou honey," a gruff voice said from the door, "You sure you 
wanna do this? I mean, it's still not too late."

Ukyou shook her head.

"Thanks dad," she smiled her winnigest smile to her father, "This 
is something that finally needs to happen."

Her father coughed slightly and nodded his head.

"You just be careful tonight, okay?"

She hugged her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I will."

***

D-day. D-hour. D-minute. And his palms were STILL sweating! 
He pulled out the little hand towel that Tofu had given him. Tofu's 
girlfriend was going to be visiting while Ryouga was at the dance, 
so it worked out well for them both. Ryouga stopped and thought. 
He'd never met his brother's girlfriend. He'd have to ask Tofu about 
it when he got home.

But, right now, he was standing out front of the Tendo-Saotome 
home. A huge house, even more dominating that he was standing 
there with a flower in his hands, waiting for the one woman that he 
could never see enough of. And the door opened...

"Oh, Ryouga," Nabiki said as she walked down to her car, "Nice 
outfit. You're going to be at the dance with Akane, yes?"

Ryouga nodded.

"Take care of her, then," she said, getting in her car, "And don't 
break her heart."

Ryouga watched as the car pulled away. He was confused. Why 
the Hell would he ever want to break Akane's heart? He loved 
Akane; he just didn't have enough nerve to tell her so. Ryouga 
heard the door open behind him.

"Ryouga?"

He nearly fainted.

***

"Why you got such a sour face, sugar? We're gonna have a fun 
time tonight," Shampoo said from the drivers seat.

"I'm okay," Ranma said, giving her a reassuring smile, "Akane and 
I just had a fight before you picked me up."

"Lawd, why can't that gal jus' get along with you?" she replied, 
shaking her head, "I certainly can."

Ranma chuckled and took her hand off his leg and put it back on 
the wheel. Ranma sighed a slight relief as they pulled into the 
parking lot of the High School. Parking near the rear entrance, 
Ranma got out of the car and looked around. The night air whistled 
slightly in the trees. It certainly was a much warmer night than 
would be normal for October. Really, almost November. He would 
have guessed the temperatures to be almost seventy. Nice. Perhaps 
he'd take Shampoo out for some stargazing later, if the clouds kept 
away. Ranma heard a slight purring giggle and took his eyes off 
the sky. Shampoo took his arm and blew him a kiss. She tapped 
her forehead, over her right eye and Ranma nodded. He still didn't 
feel like wearing the damned thing.

They made their way to the doors, where tickets were exchanged. 
He was thankful that Sayuri was selling them earlier in the day. 
Another thing he didn't have to worry about in the long run.

"Excuse me, would you two like your picture taken? A momento 
of tonight?" a tall man holding a camera asked.

"Sure!" Shampoo squealed.

The next few minutes were taken by the photographer snapping 
away as Shampoo happily posed with Ranma. He tried to look the 
part, but it always felt a tad goofy.

"My thanks," the tall man said, "The proofs will be brought around 
to your class in the next two weeks."

And he was off to accost another couple. Ranma looked around the 
gym. The dance committee certainly went all out for this, but then 
Ranma had been told that they normally did four or five parties or 
dances. This year there would only be this one and the prom. 
Ranma shook his head, earning an eyebrow from Shampoo. He 
smiled, but was apprehensive. Prom. Ugh. He didn't even know if 
he wanted to go.

"Ranma?" a familiar voice said from one of the tables near the 
snack / punch / whatever-the-Hell-was-in-the-bowl table, "Is that 
you?"

Ranma almost lost it. Ukyou came up, a big smile on her face. Her 
face. Most definitely a her. Ranma looked her outfit over and just 
could NOT find the right words to say. Ukyou was wearing a 
dress. It was a rather fancy number, emerald green, which matched 
the emerald earrings that dangled lightly from her ears. Was that a 
light shade of lipstick?! Ukyou cleared her throat slightly.

"Um, Ranma?" she said softly, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't stare. 
This is hard enough, you know."

"Sorry," he said as he looked down, "Nice shoes."

Ranma shook his and smiled as Sayuri bounced up. Sayuri flashed 
a smile at Ukyou. She was wearing a black tux with a vest in 
emerald brocade that matched Ukyou's dress. Ranma followed 
them both back to the table, still shaking his head.

"You two look great," Sayuri said, "Ranma, where'd you get the 
parrot?"

***

So, this was what the imaginations of the student at Earnest High 
had cooked up. Kuno sniffed lightly and adjusted his hat. At least 
he had thought of something entirely original. He didn't see anyone 
else at in the entire gym that had a ten-gallon hat, with chaps to 
match. Of course the Smith and Wessons were real, but he'd never 
tell anyone that. No need to scare the sheep. Too bad they made 
him tie up his horse out back though.

His heart leapt in a single instant. There she was! The enticing one 
from the previous night! But, what was she doing here at a lowly 
High School dance when she should be gracing the heavens?! Or, 
at least those heavens found in the Kuno mansion.

She was wearing another enticing outfit, though this one much less 
revealing than-HE was there too. Saotome, wearing a ridiculous 
looking pirate outfit, replete with silly green bird and black eye 
patch. Perhaps there would be use for the six shooters after all...

A flash from the entrance caught his eye. Ah, the tomboy of the 
Tendo house. Akane. Kuno gulped and coughed as she removed 
her jacket and gave it to some jacket-holding-lackey. She was nigh 
almost NUDE! What was-?

She WAS wearing something to cover her chest. What were 
they...Coconuts?

***

Ryouga began to sweat more. He thought he'd overcome that little 
problem when he'd picked her up at the house. She'd been wearing 
a jacket then. Ryouga thought that it was part of her outfit, then 
they got to the dance and she took off the jacket. Underneath the 
jacket was very little in the way of clothing. In fact, no clothing, 
save for a pair of strategically placed half coconuts. Ryouga 
wondered what they were tied with, but he dared not look too 
close.

Her grass skirt covered-Oh my God! She wasn't wearing anything 
under her grass skirt! She was completely...

Ryouga blushed to his toes and looked away. He had to get her out 
of here. There were too many lechers in here for her to be like that! 
Ryouga jumped as he felt a hand on his back. Akane wore a 
concerned look, one he hadn't seen in a long time. He smiled and 
shook his head.

"That's a very," he sought for words, "Um, I mean it might be 
too...I mean...Aren't you cold?"

Akane's laughter bit through his fog and covered his ears with a 
joyous floating of song for which many argonauts' lives would be 
given. She lifted up her grass skirt. Ryouga yelped in surprise and 
jerked his hands to try and cover her up. She giggled in response 
and pulled his hands away.

"Ryouga, look," she said.

He glanced, shamefacedly and realized that she had a pair of tights 
on that matched her skin tone a little too closely. She laughed 
lightly again and waved at someone across the hall. She grabbed 
his arm and turned him around as she led him to a table. Most 
everyone was there. Ranma was dressed as a pirate. Ryouga had to 
admit, it was a pretty good costume. The boots and the sword 
completed the outfit; the stupid looking green bird on his shoulder 
did nothing for him though. But...?

"Ranma?" Ryouga asked as he poked at the little green bird, "Why 
a pirate?"

"That, sugah, would be my idea," a voice purred at Ryouga from 
behind.

He turned and couldn't help but look down into the most cleavage 
he'd ever seen. Shampoo's purple locks flowed...Bustily...Over her 
shoulders as she swished past. Her dress flared out as Shampoo 
pulled Ranma's chair out; she sat down and cuddled onto his lap, 
half-burying his face in her chest.
 
"Aye, she's me busty wench," Ranma said flatly.

Shampoo got up and tapped her toe, her hands on her waist.

"Say it right!" she demanded.

Ranma sighed and cleared his throat.

"Aye matey," Ranma cackled, getting into it, "This here be me best 
wench Shampoo. Come o'er here wench and sit on m'leg!"

Shampoo squealed with delight and floated lightly onto his lap.

"Oh Captain!" Shampoo purred loudly, "*I* didn't know your leg 
was WOODEN!"

Ranma gave a hearty harharhar while Shampoo giggled lightly. 
Ryouga shook his head and sat down next to Akane, who'd gotten 
them some punch surprise. The surprise was when you drank it. 
No, Ryouga knew that Earnest wasn't an ordinary school, where 
some fool would spike the punch with alcohol. Or spike it with salt 
peter, which left all the men hanging around, as it were. No. 
Earnest had a thriving chemistry club that loved to blend 
concoctions that wouldn't take effect for a couple days. Ryouga 
looked around for the club president, but he didn't see the creepy 
little bastard around. So the punch was safe. And other people 
WERE drinking it.

***

Ukyou looked around the room. It was pretty plain to her that there 
were just too damned many weirdoes in this school. Here she was, 
openly proclaiming her gender and the most response she got was 
from Ranma, who commented on her shoes. Most of the other 
guys, who usually had no idea, acted as though they continued to 
have no idea. Like it was a usual occurrence for one of the guys to 
suddenly switch gender. Or was it they thought that she just had a 
REALLY good costume? Ukyou fumed slightly. They would be 
dumb enough to think that.

Ukyou sat and sulked for half a second before a cup appeared in 
front of her. Sayuri smiled down at her and Ukyou took the cup of 
punch. Akane had warned her about the punch, but maybe the 
chemistry club hadn't arrived yet. Sayuri did look pretty sharp as a 
guy, she had to admit. She'd told Ukyou on the way to the dance 
that her mother somehow knew about her. Ukyou apologized, but 
Sayuri said that her mother was pretty open-minded, especially 
when it involved her daughter's happiness.

Ukyou set the punch on the table as a clamber arose from the 
opposite end of the gym. The doors had opened and a number of 
guys were pulling some equipment inside.

"The deejay's finally arrived," Sayuri said, "About time. They 
should have been here an hour ago."

"I hope they play music we can dance to," Shampoo remarked, 
having taken her own seat.

Ranma had taken off his eyepatch and had placed it over the bird's 
head like a cap. He seemed kinda bored with the whole thing. 
Silently, Ukyou wished that the music would start and she'd dance 
with him, just to make a show. Maybe she should ask first, and that 
might cause a scene, but Ranma had never been one to turn down 
an opportunity like that.

Sayuri spotted Yuka, who had dressed like Shampoo, as a pirate 
wench. Hiroshi and Daisuke had followed Ranma's lead, both 
dressing as pirates. The joke went around that they might be a 
"different" kind of pirate. Daisuke took off his eyepatch and put on 
a skull and crossbones bandana, but took no notice of the joke. 
Apparently, the guys on the football team dressed as pirates with 
the exception of Ryouga and except for Sayuri, the cheerleaders 
were wenches. Ukyou just shook her head. This school had way 
too many weirdoes.

***

The dance continued. The deejay had finally gotten around to 
playing some music, though most of it had been hiphop at first, 
which had been soundly booed out of the gym. The deejay looked 
hurt until Sayuri and Akane explained to him what kind of music 
was more popular around the school. He pulled down his 
sunglasses at Akane's costume and Ryouga had to flex a few of his 
larger muscle groups in the deejay's general direction. The deejay 
began to sweat and quickly dug through his selection to find the 
correct music.

The music began and Ranma smiled as people blended into the 
backdrop of enjoying themselves, rather than ogle at the costumes 
of others. He idly petted his bird and sipped at the strange punch. 
Someone said that the president of the chemistry club had been 
spotted coming in with his weirdo girlfriend, but that proved only a 
rumor.

Ranma watched as Kuno approached Ukyou and held out a hand to 
her, to which she refused and turned to dance with Sayuri. When 
Kuno interjected himself upon her body, which Ranma thought, 
was rather a rude gesture, he watched as she knocked his ass out. 
Ranma had to chuckle to himself as he watched people try to avoid 
stepping on anything vital as they danced.

Ranma liked the selection, though the deejay visibly didn't. 
Eighties music. The first set was something like; "And We 
Danced", "Shout", "Suicide Blonde", "Run Around", and lastly, 
"You Give Love a Bad Name". Ranma snorted. It was like the 
deejay wanted to be taken out back and beaten.

"Safety Dance" then began to play. Ranma just shook his head and 
got up for the table.

About time he found out what kind of food they catered, he 
thought, no sense in wasting it.

Ranma looked around idly as he perused the snack table. He hadn't 
seen Shampoo around for the last couple songs, but then he hadn't 
seen much of anyone with everybody out on the dance floor either, 
so he didn't worry about it. Certainly, the catering had been well 
thought out. Many kinds of fruit, some lighter snacks and lots in 
the way of high-energy foods. Ranma chuckled as he gathered up a 
handful of grapes.

"Can I have one of those, handsome?"

Ranma turned to his left. It certainly didn't sound like Shampoo...

The woman before him was stunning. Her dress was a simple red 
velvet gown that seemed to accentuate her body. From a tailored 
bodice, it flowed straight down...A long way down, from the look 
of things. She wore a simple gold bracelet above her right bicep 
and little diamond studs for earrings. Her hair was curled up and 
spiraled around itself, giving it a very Etruscan look. At the top of 
her bodice, above her chest, the velvet was gathered in several 
folds that continued the Etruscan / Roman look of the outfit. He 
couldn't, however, see her face, which was adorned with a white 
mask made of feathers that curled lightly across her cheeks, 
leaving shown her full red lips.

Suddenly, Ranma felt quite silly dressed as he was and he felt the 
blush rise in his cheeks. She sauntered to him and held up his hand. 
He picked a single grape and held it out for her. She gently bit it 
from his fingers and Ranma jumped as a familiar voice yelled.

"Ranma!" Shampoo bounded in between him and the stranger, 
"Don't talk to this hussy! I've seen her at a couple o' the games and 
she's nuthin' but trouble! I think she's from Arlington..."

The stranger laughed a silver laughter.

"Honestly," she laughed, "You stand there, dressed like that, and 
have the gall to call ME a hussy. That's just too funny. And what is 
this adorable boy to a harlot like you?"

"Harlot?" Shampoo breathed, "HARLOT?!"

Ranma wrapped his arms around her as Shampoo lunged for the 
other woman.

"Shampoo, calm down," Ranma tried to tell her.

He began to say a something else, but was caught by an errant 
elbow. He staggered; a hand to his cheek. He could already feel the 
area beginning to swell, but it wasn't that bad. Shampoo 
immediately turned and held him, whispering her apologies. He 
shook his head and smiled up at her.

"Shampoo," he said, loud enough for the woman to hear, "Please, 
don't be jealous. She may be a very beautiful woman, but you are 
the one I'm going home with."

Ranma looked at the stranger, who he could tell was scowling 
under her mask.

"Look, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but Shampoo is the one 
I came here with," Ranma said, setting himself between the 
stranger and Shampoo, "And she'll be the one I leave with."

The stranger smirked.

"We'll see," she said as she walked off.

With the little showdown over, the group circled back in and 
Shampoo began to worry over the red lump that was becoming 
more apparent on his cheek. Ryouga smirked. It was an interesting 
way to get Shampoo to concentrate on something other than the 
woman, taking a hit that way. Ryouga wondered who that woman 
was? Didn't look like anyone he knew, but something was familiar 
about her.

***

Kodachi looked around her. No one was watching her, even though 
her dress made her one of the better-looking woman at the dance. 
She opened the door and went inside; checking once more that no 
one watched her.

"You didn't tell me that he was being guarded," Kodachi hissed at 
the figure in the corner, "She could've taken my head off."

"Shampoo wouldn't have hurt you with Ranma around," the figure 
said, "She knew what she was doing. And so did Ranma. They 
were playing you. Now, go back out there and do things my way."

How DARE this impudent little-!

Kodachi calmed. Maybe she was too close again. She would do it 
the way they had planned, even though it sickened her. It was the 
only way, and it HAD to work. She opened the door to go.

***

The dance had peaked and was coming down the other side again. 
Ranma figured they had about two hours left before they kicked 
everyone out. At present, he was a little busy.

"But what if she doesn't want to talk or something?!" Ryouga 
hissed as he looked up at the stars.

"You really are that thick, aren't you?" Ranma said, "She's sweet 
on you, if you haven't noticed it. Which you apparently haven't."

Ryouga was going to say something scathing back, but he couldn't. 
Just the thought of Akane looking at him in that special way made 
him speechless. Mute with fireworks going off in his head. He had 
worked so hard to be her friend and to keep her as a friend, and it 
worried him that this would change that. And, as much as it would 
thrill him to date her, he would rather keep her as a friend.

"You brought her here," Ranma began, "She isn't normally that 
bold with what she wears, so I'd say she feels pretty safe with you. 
Ask her if she wants to get some tea. She likes tea. You can take 
her back to the house, if you'd like. I'm sure that mom would leave 
you two alone. Actually, it's late enough, you probably wouldn't 
have to worry about mom if you were quiet enough."

Ranma snickered and Ryouga shot him an evil glare.

"How dare you infer that I'd-"

"Aw, stuff it Ryouga," Ranma snuffed at him, "She'd probably be a 
screamer anyway. Invite her back to YOUR place for tea, then. I 
know Akane, a little bit at least, and I know she likes to talk and 
share feelings."

"Yeah," Ryouga shook his head and sat on the bench next to 
Ranma; "I've done it before. It's just hard for me."

"It's hard for us all, but sometimes," Ranma said, shaking Ryouga's 
shoulder, "Sometimes you just have to do it."

Ranma got back up and went inside. Ryouga looked back up to the 
stars.

***

It was almost too much to see. Ranma, on top of that bitch! They 
were making out like crazed weasels. Ukyou felt the tears well up 
in her eyes at the sight of Ranma's bandana covered head between 
that bitch's gartered legs. She moaned and stretched and it almost 
made Ukyou retch. Sayuri rubbed Ukyou's shoulder and she 
nodded silently in return.

They backed away as silently as they could. Sayuri had wanted to 
talk about their relationship and they had tried to find someplace 
quiet. What they found was that Ranma was already at it hot and 
heavy with that bitch dressed in red, the one that Shampoo almost 
took out. Ukyou wished she would have. She shook her head. 
Something had to be terribly wrong for Ranma to do something 
like that. Especially since Shampoo...

Oh God, Shampoo didn't even know...

Ukyou couldn't bite back all her tears. Sayuri pushed a hankie in 
her hand and Ukyou wiped them away before they could smear her 
make-up. She chuckled in irony. The one night that she was 
actually wearing make-up and Ranma had to go and ruin it.

"Should we tell Shampoo?" Sayuri asked quietly.

Ukyou could only shrug her shoulders.

"I don't know," she muttered, "I mean, the Ranma I know would 
never do something like that-"

"But he did, Ukyou. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it," 
Sayuri said as she wrapped an arm around Ukyou's shoulders.

"Yuri, it's just so..." Ukyou sobbed again.

"...You loved him, didn't you?"

"Yuri, he was one of my only friends," Ukyou sobbed, "I can't just 
abandon him."

Sayuri nodded and chewed on the thought for a minute before 
grabbing Ukyou's arm.

"Come on," she said as she pulled Ukyou back toward the main 
hall, "I've got an idea."

***

Shampoo looked over the top of the hedge. She could see her 
Ranma on top of that brazen hussy, screwing away like some mutt, 
his bandana capped head bobbing with his shoulders. The tears 
came freely and she shook her head. She couldn't believe it. How 
could he be so cruel to her? What did that bitch have that she 
didn't? The hurt coiled around her heart like a sharp poison, 
making her heard hurt and the tears stung her cheeks. How could 
he...?!

Shampoo noisily dashed away from the ugly sight. Ukyou tried to 
follow her, but she was too quick and Ukyou's dress kept getting 
snagged. Ukyou looked back to Sayuri, who just shook her head. 
Ukyou hadn't wanted to bring Shampoo into this, as she was 
thinking of Ranma and her friendship with him, but Sayuri was 
thinking of Shampoo and the lies that Ranma was apparently 
feeding her.

Ukyou began to lead Sayuri back to the main hall. She didn't want 
to be here anymore. They'd pick up their jackets and take off, 
maybe head out to get something to eat, maybe just head home. As 
Ukyou and Sayuri entered the main hall to the gym, Ryouga came 
around the corner with Akane close behind.

"What's wrong?" Akane asked.

"It's Ranma," Sayuri said sadly, "He..."

She couldn't finish.

"We're just gonna take off, Akane," Ukyou said as she wrapped an 
arm around Sayuri, "I'll tell ya' about it later."

They turned and walked into the gym area.

"Wait a second," Ryouga said, "What ABOUT Ranma?"

Ryouga and Akane followed the two girls back to the table that the 
group had claimed and arrived in time to see the confused looks on 
their faces.

"You asshole!" Shampoo screamed at Ranma, "You jus' had ta' go 
off with that hussy! I wasn' goodnuff, was I? Well, ta' hell withya' 
then! You can have her!"

"Shampoo, what the Hell are you-"

Her slap cut off whatever Ranma was going to say and dropped 
him to one knee. She sobbed once and turned from the gathering 
crowd. She spun away from questions, her pain blinding 
everything away. She ran out the door and into the night. Everyone 
turned back to Ranma, whose confused looks raced around the 
room, looking for answers. What had just happened? Why had she 
just gone off like that?

"Wha'?" Ranma could only ask as he sat down.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, sitting next to him, "What did you DO 
that made Shampoo so angry?"

Ranma just shook his head in confusion.

"Oh come off it, Ranma!" Sayuri broke in, angrily, "We SAW you 
screwing that woman in the red dress! We saw you and we took 
Shampoo to see you because it wasn't right of you to LIE to her!"

Sayuri broke down in tears and huddled into Ukyou, who wrapped 
her arms around the girl.

"Ranma," Ukyou said softly, "That really was a shitty thing to do."

Ranma jumped to his feet.

"What the Hell are you talking about?!" he shouted, "Has everyone 
gone nuts? I've been sitting here the whole time and suddenly 
Shampoo jumps in my face yelling and screaming and then she 
slaps me!"

"But Ranma," Ukyou said, "We SAW you with the-"

"Hey guys. What's up?" Hiroshi said, pulling a seat up.

"Yeah, you guys seen Daisuke 'round?" Yuka said as she sat next 
to her date.

The two sipped at their cups of punch and began to sweat as they 
noticed the palpable silence that extended around them.

"Um..." Hiroshi began, "Did we miss something?"

"Hiroshi," Ukyou said cautiously, "I want you to answer me 
honestly or I'll rip your head off and eat it."

"Geez, Ukyou," Yuka said, "Isn't that a bit rough?"

"Let her speak, I think she's thinking the same thing I am," Ranma 
said.

"Okay," Hiroshi shrugged his shoulders, "What d'you wanna 
know?"

"Hiroshi, does Daisuke have the same bandana as you?"

Hiroshi thought for a minute.

"Yeah."

***

They found the poor boy handcuffed to one of the handrails in the 
men's restroom. His pants were missing and it looked like he'd 
been beaten, but he still wore the same skull and crossbones 
bandana that Hiroshi wore. Ukyou shuddered. Why would that 
woman seduce poor Daisuke?

Ranma ripped the handcuffs from the bar and Hiroshi and Ryouga 
pulled Daisuke out to a clear area. There was a knock at the door. 
Ryouga opened the door slightly and Akane pushed an emergency 
blanket inside. Hiroshi wrapped his friend in the blanket and 
helped Ryouga and Ranma as they took him out to Hiroshi's car.

"We'll get him to the hospital," Hiroshi said as Yuka opened the 
back door on the passenger side.

"Yeah, we'll give you a call when we find out what happened," 
Yuka said.

The group watched the car drive carefully off and Ukyou shook 
her head. Ranma jumped as Sayuri put a hand on his shoulder.

"Um, if you want us to go with you," she said, "Ukyou and I want 
to make it up to you I mean I feel bad enough that we did that and-
"

"Sayuri," Ranma said, taking her hand, "Calm down, you're 
babbling. Look, you and Ukyou were tricked. Probably not as bad 
as Shampoo, or even I would bet, Daisuke. But that woman tricked 
us all and she's got a lot to answer for."

"But do you know who she is?" Akane asked.

Ranma shook his head.

"She was trying to get to me," he said as he thought things out, 
"So, I suppose that, eventually, she'll try to see me again. I can do 
something then."

Sayuri began to cry quietly as Ukyou put an arm around her.

"Ranma," Ukyou said, "It IS our fault that Shampoo was brought 
into this. And while that may have been that woman's plan, we 
could've still done something instead..."

"It's okay you two," Ranma smiled sadly, "It's late. You two should 
get on home. I'm going to try to talk to Shampoo in the morning. I 
don't know how much I'll be able to do, but I'm gonna try. Ukyou, 
take Sayuri on home."

Ukyou nodded.

"Good luck with Shampoo, okay?" she said as she gave Ranma a 
hug.

"Um, Ranma?" Ryouga asked, "Akane and I are gonna head back 
to my place. You want to hitch a ride with us, we'll drop you back 
off at your place?"

Ranma shook his head.

"It's okay-"

"I can give him a ride home."

All of them turned as the doors opened up. It was Nabiki, who was 
putting on her jacket. She brushed her hand through her hair and 
looked up to the night sky.

"Nabiki?" Akane said, "I didn't know you were at the dance?"

"Hm. There's a lot you don't know about me, little sister," Nabiki 
said as she walked down the steps, "Come on Ranma, let's get 
going. I need to get some sleep."

Ranma sighed and nodded. It was late. And while he felt that a 
walk would do him good for his nerves, a ride home would take 
less out of him, and he would need the energy for talking with 
Shampoo tomorrow. Ranma followed Nabiki out to her car. Ukyou 
watched as Ryouga set Akane on the back of his bike. Akane 
giggled lightly at some joke as they rode off. Ukyou looked down 
to her chest, where the brown haired girl was lightly dozing.

"Hey, I should take you home," she said softly.

Sayuri nodded. She yawned and rubbed her nose.

"I wanna talk though," Sayuri said, "A couple things I gotta know."

Ukyou nodded.

"Okay."

***