I did this during my lunch hour, and 10 hours later I'm still at work. ;.;
Anyways, here it is .......
Hello all!
Here's my entry in the "one hour challenge"
Thought: What if Ranma and Akane's arrange marriage followed current
Japanese omai arrangements.
Start time: 12:04 (lunch hour)
Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
"Arranged Marriages"
by Suds-kun (Shaun Schillinger)
============================================
Ranma 1/2 characters are created by and copyright Rumiko Takahashi.
Published by Shogakukan Inc. and VIZ Comm.
Used without permission.
Story copyright Shaun Schillinger
Intended for the sole non-profit use of fans.
============================================
SUNDAY
"You're out of your mind, pop! How could you do this!" Ranma stomped
around the hotel room waving his arms. "I've got college entrance exams
all this week, how could you arrange an omiai now?"
"You're eighteen now, son, and your mother and I thought that you
should start thinking of getting married." Genma looked over to his
wife for support.
Nodoka looked at her son and smiled slightly. "Did you read the
information I gave you about the young lady you'll be meeting? We did a
normal back ground check on her in addition to her resume."
"Of course not!" Ranma was still pacing around the room. "The exams
start tomorrow morning and I can't afford to skip studying for them.
Who cares about some macho chick that's desperate to get married right
out of high school?"
A slap to the back of Ranma's head got his attention.
"Show proper respect to your mother, boy! We are making this omiai for
your own good. The girl's father is an old friend of mine and he's
trained her in the 'anything goes' style of martial arts just like I
did with you."
"Before we go to meet her and her family, Ranma, do you remember her
name?"
"Hai, mother. Her name's Tendou Akane. Same age as me. She's been in a
bunch of athletic clubs in high school. A real tomboy." When he
finished speaking, he started to pace about the room.
"Stand still, Ranma, so we can talk."
"Hai, mother." As he stood in place, he began to twiddle his fingers.
"Did you look at her picture?"
"Yeah, she's got long black hair. No smile, though."
Nodoka noticed the slight frown on her son's face. This, in turn,
caused her to smile slightly.
"Let's go over what you are to do during the omiai."
"Hai, mother."
===
"Now calm down Akane, I'm sure he's a nice young man."
"How can you be siding with daddy on this, oneechan? I need to be studying for
my
college entrance exams and not playing marriage games like this omiai!"
Kasumi sighed as she smiled at her sister. The pacing and fidgeting reminded her
of her
first omiai. That was quiet eventful, especially after people found out about
it.
"Did you look over the resume and the private investigator's report?"
"No, daddy. I didn't have the time to look past the picture and the first page.
I had to
study! Why are you making me go through with this?"
"We're just doing this because it's time for you to start planning for the
future. We all
know that interviewing prospective husbands leads to a more stable marriage.
Remember
that article I showed you with the statistics for divorces? Arranged marriages
last longer
and have fewer divorces. It's the best way to get married. Nabiki and I are
examples of
this."
"But oneechan! I _don't_ want to get married now! I want to go to college first.
I want to
learn about teaching so I can run the dojo. I can worry about marriage later."
With a
hmmph, Akane turned around walked toward to a chair and sat down.
"Do you remember his name from the resume?"
"Hai, Ranma Saotome. He's eighteen, a martial artist and a pervert."
"What?"
Akane looked at her father and sister as they both of their mouths were agape.
"In
Nabikie's report he's been caught sneaking into the women's baths, the girls'
locker room
at school and was even seen wearing a girl's swimsuit."
Kasumi recovered and smiled again. Akane _did_ read the reports. This looked
promising. "Was their anything else?"
"Yes, he seems to have a number of girls chasing him. One is even from China.
He's just
a womanizing pervert with a pig tail, broad shoulders and smiles too much."
"We should prepare for the interview. Remember, your first omiai isn't the only
one you
will have. I found Tofu on my second and Nabiki found Tatewaki on her eighth."
"But oneechan, you both knew them before you had the omiai."
"Well..."
===
MONDAY
"Arrgh! Why does this always happen to me?"
The shout from behind her startled Akane. She turned and saw a red-headed girl
who was
soaked with water. A custodian with a mop and an empty bucket was bowing and
apologizing to her.
"Of course you didn't see me! You weren't paying attention to where you were
going!
Now I've got to take my exams looking like this!"
The girl was waving her arms and fling drops of water on everyone near her. The
embarrassed custodian was getting the brunt of her water attack. Akane looked at
the
clock on the wall of the hallway and noted that there was still one more hour
before her
first test. Helping someone should get rid of the butterflies in her stomach.
Not just hers,
but also the other girl's.
"Excuse me, can I help?" The girl jumped slightly as she approached with a
smile. "You
can dry off somewhat in the bathroom over there." After a few seconds, she
nodded her
head and returned the smile. "Come on, I'll help you."
When she saw that the girl hesitated, Akane grabbed her by the hand. "Hurry up,
or you'll
be late for the first exam." The girl seemed to snap out of her daze and
followed along.
After they entered the restroom, Akane introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Tendou Akane. What's your name?"
The red head looked up after removing her Chinese style shirt. It was obvious
that she
didn't where a bra.
"Oh, uhm, I'm, uhm, Hibiki Ranko." With what seemed to be experience, Ranko
wrung
the water out of the shirt and then wiped the excess water off her hair and
pants. "Thanks
for helping me out. Do you know how much time is left before the first exam?"
"Almost an hour. What's the subject?"
"English. Ugh. That's the hardest one that I've got to take. At least I'll be
getting it over
with first." After she put on her shirt, Ranko dried off her notebook with some
paper
towels.
"My first test is algebra. I'm not going to be using it too much in martial
arts, but I guess
it's will help me sometime."
============================================
End time 12:58
What do you think?
--
suds-kun (Shaun Schillinger)
suds1964@tir.com
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8222/
"THIS time, we didn't forget the graaavy!" Cat & Mouse to Dog