--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Somewhere in Nerima, a light bulb lit up. The room was austere, spartan. It showed a mind that needed no connections to the physical world, a mind that was in a level beyond the seen, furnishing the temple of the resting soul with guiding ideas and transcendent concepts. The mind in question was, in fact, troubled, and the owner of room, apartment and mind ambled inward, depositing her cargo on the low table. She thought about what she had just heard, chewing on it, tasting the texture of the mental gristle, before swallowing it whole and digesting it further. It was... new. She was still getting used to the idea of being more forward, being carefree, being willing to explore someone without worrying about being explored in return. Was she willing to jump that far when all she expected was to leap to the next step? She efficiently was coursing through the room while she was considering this, and thus Mariko's thoughts were cut short as she almost shouted to no one else, "I have nothing to wear tomorrow!" --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Ranma 1/2: Lack of Common Sensei - Part 22: Double Dinner Date Dipstick --- --- -- find Improfanfiction @ http://www.improfanfic.com -- --- --- created by Winston Smith - installment by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- "Ready to go home yet?" The conspirators stopped in mid-huddle, apparently caught in the thick of the details of a plot. Shiro, who had his on and off moments regarding the outside world, was still a little shook up with the fantasies of the little double dinner date Mariko and he had just cooked up. So he wasn't thinking much about his cousin Kira trying to distract him while Sakura was frantically swiping an eraser across a very detailed diagram of stick figures and strategy. Kira nearly hollered, "So!" She shook her head and pulled her volume down a little. "You take long! What you doing, flirting?" A quick vision of having both teachers in his arms surfaced, giving Shiro a damning blush, and a confused air, that made him look slightly drunk, if not guilty as hell. "N-no! O-of course not! I, I wouldn't try to pick up my STUDENTS!" His voice nearly cracked when he said that, but he thought he pushed the point across. "Tha-that would be unethical!" Kira nodded sagely, because even if she couldn't quite follow what his cousin was saying exactly, his expression was enough of a guide, and she at least understood the word student in his tirade. She peripherally noted that Sakura needed a few more seconds to erase every mention of her cousin's name on the board, a moment taken to wish that she hadn't been so insistent on the "see only your goal" tack for their plan. She slipped into English. He was acutely aware that Sakura had tilted severely. Both answers were clearly bad, and he gave them both - and he meant them, too. said Kira. "What?" she said again. "I'll go to dinner with you... and Mariko... tomorrow," Sakura intoned, still not turning. Shiro felt a great weight lifted off of his shoulders, and the weight carrying him with it into slightly giddy heights. "Great!" He turned to Kira, who looked a little confused, turning to Sakura, then to Shiro. "Let's go, Kira - " "Kira," Sakura suddenly said, "would you mind if you stay over at my place tonight?" "Sakura...?" Kira asked, then she smiled. "No, I am not mind staying over at your place tonight." She turned to Shiro and waved. "You go now. Goodbye." Shiro stared at his cousin, then turned to Sakura, but she had now turned to him, and she seemed chipper enough, so he was thinking, wow, they sure became friends fast. He flashed Sakura a quick smile, nodded to his cousin, and left. When Shiro was beyond earshot, Sakura nodded to Kira as well. "Time for Plan B." --- The next morning - a Saturday: She woke up, the scheme still fresh in her mind. It was strange, that she was going through all this trouble. When it wasn't Ranma or any of his enemies, she figured, they actually took some more time to think things through. She couldn't afford to be as obvious. After all, these were teachers, not stupid martial-artists-on- rampages. It was even stranger that everything seemed to revolve around Smith-sensei. It started around the time he became adviser of the English club, and he went to their first meeting holding hands with both Takahashi-sensei and Kanzaki from 2-F. Then there was that incident in the hall with Kawai-sensei, then the one with Kawai-sensei and Nurse Karou, then the daring rescue of Kanzaki and Takahashi-sensei from Kodachi. All she really needed to put it all in place was Akane's sympathetic ear. She would tell Kawai-sensei, then maybe Kanzaki would hear it eventually. She didn't need to tell Takahashi-sensei, who probably knew it already, and didn't mind. That was the problem, wasn't it? Takahashi-sensei didn't mind sharing. Nabiki smiled, and considered her next plan of attack. --- Shiro woke up relatively early. He really wasn't sure if he was settled with having his cousin stay at Sakura's place. Kira's strange sense of humor and fascination with Japanese culture coupled with Sakura's naivete and voracious intellect were a very volatile combination, and he couldn't risk venturing on what exactly happened the night before. He didn't know, for example, if his cousin liked women instead of men... "Aggghh! Not now!" Shiro ruffled his hair as he got out of bed, annoyed with himself for having even insinuated something about Kira's sexual preferences. For all he knew, maybe she was turned on by boys that turned into pigs - stop that! How did he suddenly turn so... imaginative, anyway? It probably started when Mariko asked him out on a date, err, to dinner. Sure, she was had the deepest brown eyes, an austere, narrow nose, and a simple affair of a mouth, framed by tempestuous chocolate hair, and she would be probably look fabulous in a torso-hugging coffee vest on a chic moss- brown blouse, her lower curves guarded by a similarly jealous knee-length skirt that topped the most unbelievable set of legs... "AAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!" He shook his head and lay down parts of his itinerary like concrete slabs on his mind, quashing all references to the color brown or the taste of cocoa products. He was going to take a short bath, then get ready for today's classes, and pick up Kira from Sakura's place, and have a relatively normal day of school, which probably meant that he would be teaching the gymnastics team, which probably shared time with the dance team, where Tomomi would be dancing in a leotard... "AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH~!" --- A dull ringing woke the young genius. "Whazzzat?" One eye poked out about the pillow that the face had ensconced itself upon. "I phot I drew dee alarm clock... ALARM CLOCK!" Sakura jumped up to attention, rocking the bed somewhat. "Mwat?" "Kira!" Sakura seemed more alarmed than anything. Aside from the fact that they were sharing her double-sized bed, Kira seemed almost completely covered by her plethora of multiply shaped pillows. She herself was just wearing what she usually wore to sleep: when most people slept in pyjamas, she wore a large shirt that ended to just under his knees. She'd convinced Kira to try it herself, and apparently she found them comfortable enough - if it only came to so low on Kira, especially since she was half-a-foot taller and rather languidly meshed into the pillow layer of the bed. "Up already?" Kira mumbled as she stretched and yawned, before getting up. Sakura scrambled around to see what method of muffling she had used on her timer. "What's your rush?" This time, Kira sat up, compact cotton cases falling along her sides. "I've got classes today!" "Whaaaat?" The American girl screwed up her eyes to as wide as she could get them. "Sakura, it's a Saturday." "I KNOW THAT!" Sakura said, frantically. Kira watched her hostess continue about frantically. Shaking her head, she pulled the Hello Kitty clock from behind her. "AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH! It's 8:10! How am I going to get prepared to get to school on time now?" *ring* The two girls stared at the feline icon in Kira's hands. If she could, Hello Kitty would have purred innocently. "The intercom!" Sakura rushed over close to the foyer. There was a sigh on the other end. "Takahashi-san, there is a Smith waiting for you here in the lobby." "Oh my~!" Sakura covered her mouth before she carried over to all the floors from two directions. She caught Kira's glance from the bedroom and mouthed, "Shiro's downstairs." "What?" Kira didn't understand Japanese that well, but she sure as hell could not follow noiseless lip flaps like that. She edged closer. Luckily, Sakura recovered in enough time to make everyone happy. "Um... can you send him over?" "Send who over in where?" Kira edged next to the foyer and was scratching at a place no one will mention politely. "Send who over to where?" Sakura corrected the participle. "Shiro, to the intercom." She heard a noise on the other end. "Shiro?" "Um," the voice was the same one that called the summons. "Your guest is on his way up, Takahashi-san." "WHAT?!" Sakura was unable to feel sympathy for the receptionist, and the receptionist was unable to answer for a few moments. "Why did you let him go UP?" "Takahashi-san," the receptionist was all calm, "you told me to send him over." "But!" Sakura stopped to replay the last few seconds. "So I did. But I MEANT to say, 'send him over to the intercom, so I can tell him to wait until we're decent'." "Yes, ma'am," the receptionist acceded. "I will remember to tell your next caller that, Takahashi-san." She didn't even acknowledge the connection being cut. "Kira! Shiro's coming up, and I still haven't gotten everything ready! We've still got SCHOOL! What do I do?" She looked her guest up and down. "Aren't you going to dress up?" Kira turned languidly to the bedroom, where she had neatly piled up her clothes. "Nothing he hasn't seen before." "WHAT?" By the time Sakura ran to try and tackle her, Kira was already sprinting. "Hello?" Shiro stepped out into the foyer of Sakura's apartment. The painting was still there, and the rash colors simply did not go well at any time of day. He tiptoed past it, and gratefully didn't bump into anything until he opened his eyes again. If Sakura's apartment looked big during the party, it looked huge now, with no one inside it during the morning. He noticed a few new things - a few new paintings, mostly. Kira plopped out of the doorway to the far right and stood in the doorway, as though trying to contrast the width of the door with the width of her silhouette. She was in the clothes she wore yesterday. "Kira! Where's Sakura?" Kira turned to something within the room that apparently bit. <- your day of classes.> "I know." He glanced at his clock. It said 7:50. "Can we go now?" "Sakura say she be late today, but okay since she... invent time machine!" Kira squinted a little, but seemed not to say more. Shino scratched his head. That didn't sound like Kira. But they were running out of time. He did not want to start today of all days with a Hinako Float. Hopefully, Sakura won't be victimized either... Why was Sakura acting so weird, then? It couldn't be because of the date tonight, right? "Well... tell her I'll see her later... or earlier... whatever..." Shiro stepped back into the foyer, then the lift, so that when he screamed in panic... "So you little late. Problem?" Kira could easily recall several high school teachers she had who had a frequency of missing their first classes. "You haven't met our truant officer yet," Sakura said, as she walked out. "So what do you - ah?!" Kira turned to see Sakura... but instead - "So I do this," the being Sakura had turned into spoke. Then she marveled at the cowering Kira. "Evil! Evil!" Kira chanted. --- It took a cab ride of substantial amount, but Shiro was still able to get in before the bell rang. Of course, he was vitally concerned with the condition his wallet was in - after all, he was going to dinner with two women (was it one woman and one gi- genius?), and he wouldn't not want them to think that he expected them to actually pay, even for their part. As he was walking down the hallway to his first class (freshman English), he heard: "Shiro!" Shiro turned to the voice he knew was Mariko's... and was disappointed. It was Mariko... but she was bundled up. A dark green long-sleeved turtleneck sweater, and a demure black skirt that billowed to as high as her mid-shin. Underneath that, she wore fairly functional (by their thick soles) leather boots. It was a nice number... but it was just that, nice. Also, she had her hair up in a bun, which had two pencils stuck in it. The whole get-up, add to the fact that she was rushing, no doubt to beat the gate, as well, just made her look haggard. "Shiro!" she repeated. "Mariko!" He tried to hide that unusual pitch of disappointment in the punctuation. "Good morning to you!" "Oh, Shiro," Mariko breathed, and when everyone who was watching thought that she would trip, she stopped about one-and-a-half paces from her co-teacher. "Good morning to you, too!" "About tonight," Shiro started, then he noticed that he was right in front of 1-F again. He wanted to warn Mariko about saying anything about the dinner, but it seemed it was what she wanted to talk about, as well. "I'm so excited!" Bubbling couldn't cover her exclamation, and neither could the hallway windows. "I can't wait to find out what you're planning to teach me tonight!" The windows were now all open, expectant faces aglow with innuendo. Shiro couldn't stop them, especially when Mariko cast off as her final line, "I bought something to wear just for the situation!" before continuing onward and quickly turning a corner. "Don't," Shiro told the assembled masses, "even ask." He ambled off before they could barrage him with more ideas he could do without for the morning hours of the day. "Gee," Hiroshi muttered to Daisuke, "and here I just wanted to ask for some pictures." --- Nabiki stared at the pictures she was hiding in her filofax, and decided on three that looked particularly damning. She peeked from the doorway to locate her target, and he was just a few doorways away. Shiro was glad that it was just past the first tests, and all he really did today was return test papers and field questions and clarifications. It was easy, and comforting. Mariko was entirely correct, he thought. It seemed that they were really interested in English, knowing how to say this properly, and how to construct this phrase so that it would sound correct. It seemed that they had a lot to say, more than, "How much is that pencil?" or, "What subway should I take to get to lower Manhattan?" They would rather be able to say, "Let's go to the arcade to play that new Marvel versus Capcom game!" and, "That English translation to 'Illusion' really bites! I mean, 'maybe someday I could lose it, but not yet'? Puh-lease!" It hit him, suddenly. He could get them to talk to Kira! She could pick up Japanese from them, and they could learn some English from her. And she would probably want to play Shuma-Gorath, if only to instill tentacle-fear in men and maiden alike. Unfortunately for Nabiki, Shiro had stopped a step before the doorway to the room Nabiki was hiding in, so when she grasped at where his shoulder should have been, she ended up jumping out like a crone. "YAH-!" Shiro remarked, lucky to be on the way to the teacher's lounge to get more test papers, not on the way out. "Errr...," Nabiki said, jumping back in through the doorway. It was so fast, Shiro had blinked, and the crone was gone. "Huh?" He turned his head so and so, and saw no one. He did note the restroom to his right. He walked up to them and said, "Hello?" This time she didn't miss. No one was there to miss Shiro, too. --- Hinako stared at the gates of Furinkan High from the front lobby of the main building/pineapple and sighed. She wasn't expecting to be here this time of day. She was expecting to be walking the beat (ie the hallways of freshmen classes), not waiting for a delinquent teacher at the gate. It would have been okay, but Takahashi-sensei took on the load of half the science department - not to mention that Akane Tendo's home economics class was today... The Prinicipal was adamant about punishment, as he was adamant about maintaining unnatural laws, and by the rule of thumb that students liked variety, and that a fixed scholastic schedule was a thing of the past. She was able to convince him that he could afford to be lenient, and that she was taking good care of the pineapple, and most of all they couldn't risk anything like that incident when Akane donated one of those pickle vats, and she built a disastrous fifteen-meal pickle course. Luckily, this was overshadowed by that kidnapping incident at the dance recital. (And everything was, quite safely, brushed under the rug.) So, here she was, waiting for Sakura to arrive so that she could have a woman-to-woman talk about responsibility and rules. If only her young charge were to arrive... *honk!* "What?" She stood up and turned around, trying to locate the sound like a crumpling duck. *honk!* There it was again... and this time, it seemed to come from the side of the main building. She rounded the corner to find... *honk!* "..." Hinako seemed speechless at first, but then, "... WAI!" *honk!* the clown pinched its nose once more. It turned for one moment to surreptitiously nudge the volume of the CD player, pipe music getting louder. "WAI! WAI! WAI!" Hinako's arms were already hummingbird wings for the little girl curiously prodding and poking the clown. The clown, on the other hand, stood impassively, no expression creasing the made up cartoon smile and star-covered eyes, stolid under baggy, oversized clothes. Noting that Hinako had given all of her attention to the outfit, the clown honked its nose once more. Hinako stopped hopping in front of it and bent forward, looking into the clown's eyes with absolute interest. "Uh-huh? Uh-huh? What do you want to say, Misster Clown?" *honk!* The clown pulled out an elongated balloon. *honk!* *honk!* The clown pointed at the balloon. "Oh! Oh!" Hinako clapped her hands, licked her lips and rolled her eyes around. "Make me, make me... make me a puppy!" *honk!* The clown went to work, rubbing the balloon, twisting, turning, adding something, rolling, a bit of licking... finally. "A puppy!" Hinako squealed like a happy cherub, and rubbed her cheek against the helium-filled pseudocanine. "Yes... enjoy," the clown murmured. She flipped a switch. "What?" The dog floated to about Hinako's eye-level a few paces away. She watched, fascinated, as the pup scampered a few more paces, then turned and barked. "woof!" "Wow!" Hinako immediately chased the dog as it went past the corner in quite a hurry. "Tee-hee!" As the delighted squeals ran out of earshot, Sakura removed the clown mask. "Whew!" She indicated to Kira, who was three trees down, that the coast was clear. Kira nervously came over, still reconciling the spectre before her. "First operation, success!" Sakura winked at her accomplice. "Can you please take that off?" Kira whimpered. "Sure," Sakura said, and revealed her combat attire. "You sure you wanna wear that to school?" Kira was unable to hold on to the clown costume, as Sakura had her hold it. She threw it into the nearest trash can. "What if Shiro sees it?" "That's your job." The teacher gave her friend a list. "Here's my schedule for today. Keep him away. I'll be in the lab during my breaks." "Wait." That stopped Sakura as she was rushing to the second class on the schedule. "Don't you have a walkie-talkie or anything? What if things go wrong?" "They won't," Sakura insisted, "and I'm not into that cordless communication thing. Nothing like the human touch." She rushed off. "Good luck! And don't run! Poise! Poise!" --- "What is this about, Miss...?" "Tendo. Nabiki Tendo." Her hooded eyes stared at him like the headlights of a Mack truck. "What do you intend to do about her?" In a flash, five photographs spread themselves out before him. Although all five pictures had the same subject, they had different treatments. The first had her in her element, surveying the students of a class, eyes focussed on a question. The second followed up the first with a shot in the lounge, where she gave the same amount of intensity to her lunch. Number three caught her trying to look modest as the neighborhood's kids hail her with flowers as the Queen of the Park, complete with a crown of flowers. The fourth saw her on a Sunday, waiting under the arch of the shopping center, as casual as you could find her in a tanktop and denim shorts, a pair of sunglasses perched on her head, having a soothing ice cream treat. The last showed her goofing off, making a face at the camera, apparently while at school. Nonetheless, all the photos showed Mariko's best attributes: beauty, grace, humor, intensity, modesty. Nabiki took a look of Shiro's expression, and smiled. The photos returned to their hiding place. "And what about them?" A new set of photographs revealed themselves. Varied faces appeared in varied moods. Sakura sipping some green tea at a window table. Tomomi in mid-pirouette. Nurse Karou sleeping in the clinic. Hinako flipping her hair, revealing her devastating curves. At the center of these, though, it was very evident that the subject was Shiro himself: drinking an OJ in his PJs, watching from the sidelines, pulling on his coat, spasming on the floor. Nabiki gauged his reactions, then hid those pictures as well. "I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at, Smith-sensei." "No," Shiro shook his head, "no, I don't, Miss Tendo." Nabiki gave an annoyed sigh. "Frankly, I don't understand how a guy could ever understand how a girl thinks, how a girl feels." She fixed him with her piercing brown eyes. "I know you and Kawai-sensei have a dinner date today." Why am I not surprised? Shiro thought. "I also know that Takahashi-sensei is coming, too." Here Shiro let his surprise set in his jaw, weighing it to a little more than he was accustomed. "And, rumors aside, I know that this double date is more well-intentioned than everyone would like to think." At least someone thinks it is, Shiro nodded, closing his mouth. "Take my advice, sir." Nabiki put something in his hands, and covered his hands in hers. "Tonight, make your decision. Kawai-sensei, Takahashi-sensei, or none of the above. But you have to decide." She let go of his hands. At the door, she concluded, "and if you don't, mark my words, I will be watching, and someone will get hurt." --- Yamada-sensei watched Nabiki enter the classroom. "What are you up to, Smith?" He continued onto his own class. --- Lunch finally came around, and Shiro was tired. Aside from Nabiki's cryptic message, he also came into two of his algebra classes. Whereas he could easily answer the questions of his English students, he was hard-pressed to field the clarifications of his Algebra classes. He had only come in to teach them a few weeks back, and he couldn't really do anything but continue with what he knew, and stuck to the curriculum. He would explain how this answer was achieved. Then a student would show the method their previous teacher showed as a short cut for one of the intermediate steps. It all seemed logical, and there weren't any arithmetic flaws, so Shiro was stymied. He promised to check up on their answers, and asked them to return their papers. He deposited the papers on his desk, but brought a few with his toward the tables. In another hand, he had a clean sheet of paper and a ball-point pen. He sat down, and went to work. Kira peeked into the lounge. Shiro turned up from the papers. "Kira!" He beckoned her over. Kira sat across from her cousin. "Hey, hey, Shiro. Lunchtime. Work later." Shiro afforded her a glance, then put the pen down. "You're right, you're right." Kira produced a bento box from behind her. "Here." "Hey!" Shiro said, truly surprised. "Thanks! How about you?" "Here mine!" Kira produced her own bento box, and opened it. He followed suit. "Shiro!" Mariko came into view at the doorway. "Mariko!" he called her over. "Mariko Kawai, this is my cousin, Kira Langoleer. Kira, my fellow teacher, Mariko." She had Mariko sit down on a chair to their side. "She arrived from America." Kira was shaking her head at Shiro. "Wait, wait." She stood up, which made both teachers stand up, as well. "My name is Kira Langoleer. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She bowed from the waist at Mariko. Mariko smiled. "My name is Mariko Kawai. I am pleased to make your acquaintace." She bowed at Kira, as well. When they sat back down, Mariko noticed the prepared lunches they had open. "Hey, that looks great! Can I have a piece?" Shiro looked at Kira, who had shrugged. "Sure." As Mariko took a piece of the tonkatsu, she nudged Shiro. "Have you seen Sakura? I haven't told you guys where we're having dinner tonight." "That's right, I haven't seen her for the whole day," Shiro realized, nudging his cousin. "Where is Sakura? She usually has lunch here this period." Kira cleared her throat after gulping down a largish ball of sticky rice. "She said she'd be busy in the lab the whole day today." Shiro frowned. He hoped that she'd at least have lunch, if she was going on one of her learning binges again. Kira noticed the frown and patted his arm. "Don't worry, I'll tell her when I pass by after lunch." "Huh? Oh, okay." Shiro turned to Mariko and tried to explain. "Kira slept over at Sakura's last night." Mariko nodded, not fully comprehending, balancing the piece of meat between her chopsticks. "I think I'd like to try that new Mexican place, Tia Maria's." "I've heard of it. It's right across from the WcDonald's in the shopping arcade," Shiro said. "Uh-huh," Mariko confirmed, and swallowed the piece. "Hey! This tonkatsu's pretty good!" "Really?" Now he was suspicious. "Kira -" "Here," Mariko said, placing another piece of tonkatsu in Shiro's mouth with her chopsticks, "taste!" Shiro was suddenly aware of all the eyes on him. He closed his mouth, and chewed. "Hey! It is pretty good!" He tossed a sidelong glance at his cousin. Kira was staring back at him. she muttered under her breath. --- " - and he bit it!" "He bit it?!" Sakura couldn't believe it. "What did he say?" "He said, 'Pretty good!'" Kira was hard pressed to continue the narration, much as she had already learned from Sakura. "'Pretty good'?!" Sakura was quite getting the grump on. "'Pretty good'?!" She suddenly registered what she'd been screaming about. "He did?" "Yes," Kira affirmed. "He knows I didn't cook." Sakura was still beside herself, trying to shake off the blush she wore well. "Well... that's okay..." Kira stared at the teenager some more, and wondered how comfortable she could be, knowing what she couldn't see under the lab-coat. At least she was wearing sneakers. The lack of cloth lower than the hem of the lab coat was getting the rounds, Kira had noticed on the way to and from the faculty lounge. "Thank you, Kira," Sakura intoned, and Kira shook herself out of her reverie. "What for?" "I... I wouldn't have known what to do... I...," she clasped her friend's hands, "... I couldn't do this... before... but now..." "Shhh... it's okay," Kira said. "Do what's in your heart." --- Tomomi went out of the gates of the high school deep in thought. She hadn't really gone over the events that had started yesterday. First, Akane Tendo confronted Kawai-sensei. Accusing Smith-sensei of being a two-timer, nonetheless! How dare she! But it would seem that he was, to an outsider. And why did she approach Kawai-sensei, anyway? So she ignored that. But, secondly, this morning, Kawai-sensei announced to the freshmen classes that she and Smith-sensei were going on a date! That he was going to teach her something! What was that? She thought they had an agreement! He was going to wait for her to graduate! Well, it wasn't an agreement, but as long as he was going to be stubborn about not dating students, he could at least wait until she wasn't his student anymore. Now, thirdly, this. Nabiki Tendo approached her at the end of classes, and pulled her to a corner near the shoe lockers. "Kanzaki," she began, "I know how you feel about Smith-sensei." "Doesn't everyone," Tomomi muttered, a little more than bitter. "And you know that he's on a date today with Kawai-sensei and Takahashi-sensei," Nabiki continued. "I know he's - what?" "That's right," Nabiki smiled. "With both of them." Tomomi was riddled by conflicting emotions. "That... that can't be right... they must be arranging something for school or... something..." Nabiki flatly said, "he's going to decide on which one he wants to be dating." "No...," her eyes flashed madness, "he c-can't..." "He might say no to them both," conceded Nabiki, "but Kawai-sensei has her means," she said, not having to mention the 1-F Art class spectacle, "and you must have heard about Takahashi-sensei's outfit, if you haven't seen it." She had heard. She gulped. "What," Tomomi's throat felt scratchy, parched, "what can I do about it." Nabiki outlined her plan in three concise statements. Then she gave her the camera. Then she told Tomomi to wait at the WcDonald's across from the new Mexican place, at around 6:30. Tomomi stopped. She knew she was going to be spying, but it was for the sake of their future, darnit! Then she realized, "how did she know where they'd be going?" --- Kira and Shiro were at his apartment. He was already getting to leave for Tia Maria's. He wondered why Kira was so insistent on having him wear the suit he had lying around. Truth to tell, he couldn't stand wearing a tie to work, but the suit had a coat, a vest, and a tie. So, they had a compromise, where he wore a long-sleeved black mock-turtleneck shirt, and kept the coat. At least he didn't need to wear the tie. Kira patted him on the back. She gave him a couple of soothing pats, then one more to drive the point home. he mumbled. Shiro sighed. Kira made a show of closing the door, but kept her eye on her cousin's back. Once he rounded the corner, she got out, and locked the door. --- Tomomi got her order of fish fillet sandwich, and an iced tea. She sat herself at a window seat, and used a pair of binoculars she had brought to scan the opposite restaurant. No sign of the three teachers. She put down the binos to take a bite of the sandwich - this could be pretty long night. As she bit into her order, Takahashi-sensei stepped into the WcDonald's. The fast food patrons held their collective breaths. She seemed to be looking for someone. A Caucasian girl with strange light brown hair waved her over. Tomomi recovered quickly enough, and moved her tray onto a close- enough table. "Where is he?" Sakura asked. "Don't know," Kira admitted, and Tomomi noticed that she was still having problems with the language. "He leave before me." "'He left before me'," Sakura corrected, "then...?" "There he is," Kira pointed. To avoid their looking in her direction, Tomomi turned to the Tia Maria's, where Shiro was indeed at. He looked debonair, a declared bachelor. "He's so cute," Tomomi muttered. --- Shiro was still fifteen minutes early, and he decided that he would stay at one of the outside stalls. The place was still new, and there was a mini-mariachi band all dressed up, playing Mexican-type music. He patted his left pocket, and wondered if he was going to need what Nabiki gave him. He patted his right pocket, and his newly- purchased acquisition showed its shape. He pulled it out, and weighed it in his hands. He was tempted to open it - "Shiro," Mariko said. - scrambled to conceal it once more, as he turned to stand and to look at Mariko - He felt his jaw drop. She was a vision, exactly the vision he had of her this morning. The browns matched her loosely strewn hair, lusciously curled around the back of her head down to her shoulders. The skirt actually shone with the lights inside Tia Maria's, glistening with silken sheen. Her smile was still the infectious, carefree smile she usually wore, though tonight it was wider at the lips than at the edges, and her eyes were tinged with a sweet sharpness that asked how he thought of her at this moment. For a moment, Shiro was completely speechless. --- "Wow!" Tomomi declared. "That's Kawai-sensei!" "Quick," Kira insisted, "go now!" "Okay." Sakura got up, and went out. The stares of the patrons followed her. If Tomomi didn't have personal stake here, she'd be impressed. Instead, she went back to the window, and finished her sandwich, then left. --- "Will seņor and seņorita be seated?" Shiro returned to his shoes. "Oh... yes, yes. Thank you." He pulled a seat for Mariko, after which sat himself down. "Well..." he started. "Well," Mariko said. My gosh, Shiro gushed inside. She... she's like a dream. He felt his throat catch, and he tried to politely cough. He felt the weight on his right leg. He fished for it, and was going to bring it out - The mariachi band stopped playing. They were already starting a heavily laden beat that was meant to intoxicate the ears when they had stopped playing altogether. Mariko had turned her head, and so Shiro turned to see - "Sakura," he breathed. She stopped where she was, and looked up into his eyes. "Shiro." --- "Okay," Nabiki said, listening in on the scene, "all the players are there. Now, what happens next?" --- No one would have believed that the woman before him was indeed Sakura Takahashi, the seventeen-year-old genius teacher, though anyone would have believed that the woman was a model, or a mannequin. Her rosy white skin shown luminescently, her long dark hair hung down like black curtains hiding the pearly stars. Her small, delicate ears were punctuated by ruby-stud earrings. The dark red stones matched her dress, a bodice made of two large lacy ribbons twining in three knots at the front, going over her shoulders, whose ends met at the small of her back, with a short wraparound skirt, bound at the same place on the small of her back. Mariko sniffed. "You're so pretty, Sakura." She turned to nod at her, curving her bottom lip. Then she returned her hopeful gaze to Shiro. Shiro looked like he needed a tie. He looked shifty for a moment, then dug into his right pocket, and held it up. Sprrtz. "Ah..." Shiro cleared his throat and returned the breath spray. "Nice dress, Sakura." He beckoned her toward the chair, and Sakura graciously took her seat. Great, Shiro thought, now what? --- Author's notes: I now know where Mariko Kawai comes from, but she isn't bubbleheaded there, I think. After all, I had to play it in Japanese. I entitled this one "Double Dinner Date Dipstick" because I wanted to set the gauge for the date, but I guess I ran out of time and steam for actually writing the rest, so I hope that Trebane can finish this one up for me. Ain't I a stinker? Thanks go out to Twoflower's extension, and help by Jeremy F and Nathan Housley for giving me free rein on interpreting Nabiki's actions. She did say that she hated two-timers, right? Aaron Bolner rode high on why I might consider writing in the next incarnation of H!, and Nathan Housley again deserves credit. LoCS rides again! Later.