Ah, lunch. Akane was not the kind of girl who obsessed over food, but she found lunchtime to be among her favourite times of day. Maybe it was the peace. Maybe it was the quiet. Maybe it was because the boys were too busy over there by the sandwich stall struggling and fighting to get their favourite kind of sandwich like the macho idiots they were.
“Ah-ha the Melon bread is mine!” She heard Ranma declare at the head of the crowd. Yup. Macho idiots. "Mine! All mine!" And she was 'engaged' to their king (sometimes queen). "Mwahahaha! The sweet taste of melon, what a cherished treasure!"
"Ugh. Fancy those boys going for the mass produced lunch," a new voice commented, sitting beside Akane. For a moment she thought it was a boy. In the next, she wondered how she could possibly make that kind of mistake. Sure enough Ukyo was wearing the boy's uniform, but there really wasn't much question that this was a girl. "Spend a little more, you'll get something more nutritious and delicious. Don't you agree, hun?"
"Sort of like trying to set a girl up on a date with her friend," Akane said. Okay, the transition was a little bit clumsy but Akane was always kind of blunt that way. Anyway, the point of that was so that she could ask: "What was up with that, anyway?"
"Oh, that?" Ukyo shrugged. "That Ryoga boy's sweet on you, but too shy to say anything. Figured I'd give him a bit of a kick in the rear. Either it worked out or it didn't."
And if it worked, you got Ranma. If it didn't, it still might cause a rift between the two of them. Come to think that might explain her new look. Akane couldn't place it exactly, but everything about Ukyo was screaming 'cute girl!' even though so far as she could tell nothing had changed. Same clothes, same body language. It was as though the girl had taken a 'cute' injection overnight.
The oddity of the idea that Ryoga might have a crush on her didn't even sink in right away.
"Gotta say though, after seeing you and that Hibiki boy going out it's obvious you're not suited to each other. At all," Ukyo said. "It's kind of annoying, but you work better with Ran-chan."
"I got the curry bread too! I am the King of Sandwiches! Hahaha! Bow your heads low, peasants! For I am the ruler of bread, food and more bread!"
She's a better fit with him? Bury her now. She's already dead. Even Ukyo looked a little pale.
"... So what is it about Ranma that you like, Ukyo?" Akane asked, quickly changing the topic. Sort of. Ugh! She really needed practise at this! That was still far too close to what had made them both feel awkward!
"Hrmmm?" Ukyo's eyes began to gleam there in a really... oddly cute way. Not quite doll-like, but not far off it either. "It's the cuteness that really gets to me," Ukyo sighed. "You know how Ranma gets when that ego kicks up and you just want to bundle up that little package into a nice tight hug? It's like a kitten getting indignant and needy, you can't help but pet it!"
"... Uh... Please don't bring up cats around Ranma," Akane gulped.
"Eh? Why not?" Ukyo blinked. "Ranma loved playing with cats."
Akane's face turned into an excellent mimic of a wooden mask. Maybe once upon a time. No longer, Ukyo. Although she had to admit that the idea of girl form Ranma rolling around with a kitten in her arms, smiling that bright and beautiful smile did make Akane feel really good all over.
"Which of you bastards tossed that water bottle?!" Ranma's girl form yelled, shattering that illusion. "Your King is displeased!"
"Shouldn't that be Queen?" a voice called back. A voice that sounded a lot like Nabiki.
Ignoring that! Both Akane and Ukyo coughed. "A-Anyway!" Ukyo continued. "I think the thing that I like the most is the contrast in personality with looks. So rough around the edges, yet so pretty to look at. Ranma's always been full of more energy than anyone could know what to do with, and you'd better believe that pigtailed dummy doesn't have the faintest clue. It's really kind of cute when... Have you ever seen Ranma doing something weird, then claim it was for martial arts training?"
"All the time!" Akane said. Oh yes, she always caught him out doing stuff like that. Twirling balls around on the end of his feet, balancing pencils on the bridge of his nose. One time she'd even caught him setting up a domino rally on his own stomach while crab-walking around the dojo! 'Training', he'd called it! Yeah, and she was the Queen of -
"Say, if you're the King does that make Akane the Queen of sandwiches?"
"Sh-Shut up! Who'd want that tomboy as a Queen!"
Which was the point where Akane crushed the soda can she'd brought to school with her and hucked it nice and hard with the kind of precision usually found only from a sniper's rifle. The can struck Ranma's head, bounced off into a wall and then bounced right back into her head again.
"Aw, man! Don't pay any attention to him. I think you'd make a pretty cute Queen!" Ukyo said.
"...Wouldn't want to be his Queen either anyway!" Akane huffed. She turned up her nose, then stuck out her tongue in Ranma's general direction. "Always calling me an uncute tomboy!"
Then, to Akane's surprise Ukyo's hands lay gently upon her shoulders, gently squeezing and rubbing them. "Nothing wrong with being an uncute tomboy," Ukyo said. "Take it from me. I used to be a pretty uncute tomboy myself, right? Whadaya call me now, hun?"
Neither girl quite knew it yet, but the lesbian shard was working its magic on both of them already. Akane wasn't nearly ready to accept her newfound attraction to Ukyo, not yet, but Ukyo... she would have been quite content to kiss Akane right there and then if she thought she'd get the chance.
"I can't see why anyone would call you uncute," Akane blushed. "You're... very pretty."
"And so are you, hun!" Ukyo grinned, giving Akane's shoulders yet another squeeze. This sent something of an unexpected shock right down Akane's back. "But I do know why someone might call me uncute. Same reason Ranma-chan calls you uncute!"
Gulp. For some reason Akane was afraid to ask. There was something... charged in the air around them. She was starting to feel funny. Over there among the boys she could see Ranma in her cute and smaller than usual girl form roughhousing with the boys, acting more the tomboy than Akane ever had and still seeming really... really... cute. Not just cute. Sexy. Desirable. Delicious, even.
"It's 'cause she likes you and you don't got no pigtails to pull."
Akane blinked, her head feeling woozy. If not for Ukyo's hands on her shoulders, she might have toppled over already. "Bwuh?" she asked. "Wh-what are you trying to say?"
"Not important right now," Ukyo said. "So, tell me about your ideal boy. What's he like?"
Ideal boy? Akane didn't have an ideal boy. She had an ideal man. "Well... I'd want someone strong willed, confident but friendly." Like Ukyo. "Someone interested in martial arts, but not a total meathead either." Like Ukyo. "Someone I could hang out with and not have to worry about them wanting something more physical." Like Ukyo.
"And...?" Ukyo blew into Akane's ear.
"And their butt would have to look <i>amazing</i> in a pair of tight black trousers," Akane said in spite of herself.
"Mmm..." Ukyo said, rubbing her cheek up against Akane's. "I guess that makes sense. Sounds to me like you described a certain person already in your life, hun. Ranma-chan's a real lucky girl."
Lucky girl? Huh? What? Didn't she mean lucky guy?
"How 'bout you and me hang out this time," Ukyo suggested. "At my place. We can break the ice, dispel the tension, and I can get to hanging out with my best bud without making his cute fiancee all suspicious."
There was part of Akane trying to warn her about something. A kind of danger sense that was set to perversion. But... why? Ukyo was a girl. The boys were all being goofballs over there by the sandwich stand. There wasn't anything perverted that Ukyo could be up to.
"It's a date!" Akane agreed. Yes, that seemed right. A good way to scope out Ranma's old friend, and maybe get a few embarassing juicy secrets about him as a little brat. Ooh! That sounded like fun when put that way!
The bell rang, but it sounded distant and hollow, as if Akane was underwater at the time. She turned around in time to see Ukyo walking off back into the building. In spite of herself, her eyes tracked down to Ukyo's legs in those form fitting trousers, which seemed a lot more snug than the same kind were on the boys that usually wore them. Which was weird because her legs were much more slender than theirs.
Then her gaze settled on the inevitable destination that they would, of course, wind up on. And even though she hadn't yet admitted to herself that Ukyo was making her gay, Akane could at the very least <i>objectively</i> admit to herself that Ukyo's butt looked <i>amazing</i> in those tight black trousers.
- Ukyo hits on girl form Ranma ASAP.
- Akane shows up for her date at Uchan's. Ranma is oblivious.
- Akane shows up for her date at Uchan's. Ranma is keenly aware and watching from the sidelines.
- Same as three, except Ranma invited himself along openly.
- Ukyo starts working her magic on another girl.
- Something else
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