I had hoped to get a lot more of this done by today, but a lot of 
KUSO happened over the last couple of days that limited my writing 
time. This little bit isn't much, but it's the next scene or two of 
the thing. Within a few days I'll write more of the story, and post 
the whole thing to FFML so everyone has a somewhat coherent copy of 
it.

  Kotomi slumped against the wall of her apartment and groaned. 
Megumi stared at her with concern in her eyes. "Kotomi-chan? What's 
going on?"
   The green-haired girl sighed, then forced a fake smile on her face 
and shook her head. "Nothing, Megumi-chan. Don't worry about it."
   Megumi smirked. "Don't give me that. You don't run out of a 
restaurant like that over nothing."
   Kotomi sighed, and closed her eyes. "Alright...it's just, I know 
the woman who owns that restaurant. She's...kinda someone I don't 
want to run into."
   "Oh." Megumi seemed to accept that, and Kotomi didn't feel bad 
about the lie, since it was at least partially true. "So...what do 
you want to do now?"
   "Well," Kotomi said, "I think I need to do something about my hair.
 These roots *do* look pretty ugly."
   Megumi giggled. "Okay. I'll just hang out and watch TV while 
you're busy with that."

   Megumi quickly got bored with the television, and decided to poke 
around Kotomi's apartment a little. 
   "Hmm...what's in your closet, Kotomi-chan?" she muttered to 
herself as she dug through the myriad Chinese-style blouses and pants 
in the closet. She also found a few nice dresses she'd never seen 
Kotomi wear. 
   After a few minutes, she found a medium-sized shoebox and a photo 
album shoved in the corner of the closet. "Oh? What's this?" Removing 
the objects, she took them into the living room to examine them more 
closely.

   Kotomi finished with her hair and walked out into the living room 
to find Megumi leafing through..."Ack! Where did you find that?"
   "Hmm? Oh. It was in your closet. I hope you don't mind, I was just 
having a look around."
   Kotomi sighed. "Nah, it's okay." She sat down beside Megumi. 
   Megumi turned a few pages, and frowned. "Kotomi-chan...who's the 
little boy in all these pictures?"
   "Hmm?" Kotomi looked at the album, and cursed inwardly. Damn, she 
would have to find the stupid thing... "Oh, that's, ah, my brother, 
Ranma."
   "I didn't know you had a brother!"
   Kotomi nodded. "Hai. When I was little I lived with my mom, and 
Ranma and my dad went on a training trip...they were martial artists.
"
   "Oh, cool!" Megumi frowned. "So, where is your brother now?"
   Kotomi sighed. "He died a couple years ago. An accident in China. 
This is all that I have to remember him by."
   Megumi sniffled. "That's so sad..."
   Kotomi sighed inwardly. She hated having to keep lying like this. 
Of course, it's not like she had proof of the truth anyway... 
   "Yeah, it's pretty tragic. But at least he went out the way he 
would have wanted to." Another lie. Kuso.


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The Eternal Lost Lurker
http://pages.prodigy.com/RMorrison
Proud inventor of kusonomiyaki