章 84: One Fine Day
Akane groaned, her hand feeling around on the nightstand for the alarm clock in order to silence its insistent beeping. The red digital numbers declared it to be ten o'clock in the morning, way too early to get up for someone who spent the night before in a bar until closing time. She didn't remember setting an alarm, so she was confused as to why it had gone off. Beyond that, though, the bed was missing something fairly important – its other occupant.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Ran-chan?" She received no answer, standing and stretching. She decided to visit the restroom, get herself cleaned up, and then look for her downstairs. When she entered the bathroom and flicked on the light, she looked up at the mirror and smiled warmly. Written on the glass with a red dry-erase marker was a message:
Good morning, Akane! When you've had a chance to wake up, please get dressed and meet me downstairs. ~ Ranko
A colored-in heart trailed her girlfriend's name.
Akane shook her head, grinning at her reflection through the note. Gods, I don't know what happened to her, but she's gotten so damn cute.
She slipped on a yellow sundress, brushing her hair and looking herself over in the mirror before heading down the stairs. When she stepped into the kitchen, she was greeted by a variety of fantastic smells. It wasn't at all unlike a typical morning at home, but as far as she knew, Kasumi wasn't spending her mornings in dive bars in Tokyo.
Not seeing Ranko in the kitchen area, she slipped through the saloon doors into the main bar area. There she found Ranko sitting at one of the closest tables, absolutely beaming in a pastel blue dress with an empire waist, the sash and belt around it a slightly shimmery white. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail with a matching blue ribbon, the tails of which followed her hair over her left shoulder. The table was laid out with a full spread for breakfast, including all of the dishes Hana had taught her to make earlier in the week.
Ranko stood and waved when she saw Akane. "Hey, you. Good morning."
Akane blushed, looking over the scene with no small measure of surprise on her face. "Good morning, yourself. What's all this? Did you order in?"
The redhead shook her head, smiling proudly. "Nope. I did it all myself!"
"You did?!" Akane walked closer, looking everything over. It was one thing that she'd figured out a rice cooker, but a six-dish meal? Now she was just showing off for the girl who couldn't boil water without nearly poisoning half a city block.
The redhead nodded, beaming with joy. "Hana's been teaching me. I hope everything's okay."
Akane shook her head in disbelief, smiling. "Cooking training? She must have dragged you into that that kicking and screaming."
Ranko blushed. "Actually… I kinda asked for it."
The older girl looked up at her skeptically. "Why? You hated that stuff when Kasumi tried to teach you."
Akane's girlfriend put an arm around her waist, the other hand gesturing in front of her face. "Because it makes you smile."
The younger girl giggled. "You're a silly girl, you know that? But I love you."
Ranko blushed. "Call me whatever you like, as long as you don't forget to call me yours. Now, come eat before everything gets cold?" She released Akane from her embrace, pulling a chair out for her.
Akane sat, blushing. Every day, it became clearer how unlike the boy she once knew Ranko was becoming. For weeks, a part of Akane had worried about the idea that Ranko had given so much of herself over to her new living situation that there was nothing left of the person she had been before. But, she couldn't deny that she liked this new person more and more all the time, and from the looks of it, Ranko did, too. Ranma had been the most depressed and miserable boy she'd ever met most of the time, but the girl in the blue dress across the table from her was genuinely happy and it radiated from her dazzlingly every time they made eye contact. A person could have easily believed that Ranko had been a girl all along, and that Ranma himself had been the ill-fitting curse that needed to be lifted from her life.
"What's the plan for the rest of the day, love?" Akane popped a slice of tamagoyaki into her mouth, chewing as she awaited a response.
Ranko beamed. She never got tired of hearing that word come from Akane's lips. They had both waited so long for it, agonized about it for years, and now it flowed as freely as air between them.
"I thought we'd take a walk in one of the parks, just hang out a little. Maybe we could go shopping." Ranko blushed. "I'll let you pick out anything you want, and I'll wear it on stage next Friday. Or, maybe after, depending on what you pick." She bit her lip coyly, hiding it behind a sip from her bowl of miso.
Akane turned beet red. "Ranko! You're so bad!"
"Maybe," the redhead said with a grin. "But at least I'm good at it." While she knew she was unlikely to loosen Akane's reticence to be more intimate, Ranko was determined not to let her forget that she was wanted whenever she decided that she was ready.
"Oh, hey…" Ranko finished chewing a piece of fish, covering her mouth as she did. "Do you have plans for next Saturday?"
Akane shrugged. "Probably staying here with you, like usual. What's up?"
Ranko blushed again. "Well… it's Izumi's wedding, and I'm one of her… bridesmaids. And I'm supposed to have an escort. So, if you know anybody who might like to look after a pretty girl for a few hours…"
Akane stood, leaning over the table and kissing Ranko on the lips. "I'm hoping for the next few decades. I'd love to be there with you and your family."
Ranko smiled wistfully. Having Akane with her, at a wedding, with at least one of them dressed up, was so close to a dream she knew she'd never realize. A dream she'd been having more and more lately.
"Then, it's a date."
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