Chapter 3: Momentary

Summary

Ranma gets a job, but life just seems to blur around her instead of getting better. It's hard to imagine something's missing but it is.

Jingle Jingle

Nabiki and Akane slowly strolled into the softly-colored bakery, breezing through the propped open door to the establishment. The bakery had warm colored wooden floors and cream walls. The furniture was a mix of peach-colored tables and dark brown chairs, with a matching front desk and display. It would have been easy to mistake the place as a chocolate shop if it were not for the fluffy bread stacked on racks and a warm, nutty scent in the air. Behind the counter was a doorway with a short, white curtain decorating it.

"Helloooo?" Nabiki said, her voice echoing slightly.

"Is that a customer?" A female voice cried from behind the curtain."

"Ranma go go, I'll handle this!"

"Ahhhhhhh! Okay! Hold tight!"

From behind the curtain a partly red blur peeked from behind before hopping a bit towards the counter. Ranma raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise before letting out a bright, wide grin. She leaned forward, resting her elbows onto the counter and propped her head up with an arm.

"Akane, Nabiki. Welcome to Lait et Brioche. What can I do ya for?"

"We're here visiting," Akane said, holding up a small basket, "I figured we'd pick up some things while we were here."

Nabiki stood in front of the counter's large glass display, her hand on her chin. "Admittedly," she said, "I was a bit surprised you suddenly took my advice the other week. Can I get two ham and cheese buns and an eclair."

"Comin' right up," Ranma said, moving towards the counter. Aside from her regular style of clothes, she also had on a white apron with anime-like bread designs and brown stitching. Her hair was held back a bit with a white kerchief. With quick movements, Ranma had two brown paper bags and was quickly already moving to fill them up with the order.

"Hold up," Nabiki said, holding up her hand in a 'Stop' motion. "Let's make that 2 pizza buns, a ginger snap, and 4 cookies."

"Comin' right up," Ranma said, her voice a little strained as she put the first bags to the side, before moving to fill up the bags with snacks.

"Hmmm, wait," Nabiki was barely suppressing the snicker on her face. "Make that 5 tuna-corn buns, 8 eclairs, and 2 slices of cake-OW!" Nabiki exclaimed as she gingerly held her head, the sudden karate shop interrupting her thoughts. Akane stood behind her, her battle aura quickly dissipating as she lowered her hand.

"Nabiki!" Akane exclaimed, "He's actually trying to do something good for once."

"Actually uh-," Ranma started.

"Jeez Akane, when were you were on his side? Here I figured you'd be wondering what's his angle."

"His angle?"

"Hey! Shhhhh keep it down," Ranma said, putting her finger to her lips. "The boss doesn't know I'm a guy so keep it quiet."

"Sorry sorry," both sisters said in unison.

"You've been here for two weeks and he doesn't have a clue? What about when you get around water?" Akane said as she moved towards the display herself.

"Nah. The boss handles all the dough and yeast things 'imself so usually I handle the front," Ranma grinned.

"Oh," Ranma quickly went back to the display and pulled out a few slices of cake and a pair of chocolate donuts. "But he's been letting me top up the cakes and dip donuts. I'm gettin' real good too, check it!"

"Wow, these look so good! I wouldn't have guessed you made them," Akane laughed, waving her hand dismissively. She then turned to her sister "It looks like she's doing well here. So what do you mean, 'what's her angle'?"

"Oh come on sis, you don't think Ranma's got some scheme, some technique to learn, or that the owner doesn't have anything over her?" Nabiki raised her eyebrow as Ranma handed over the two bags of goodies. "I don't have a yen to my name that I'm not willing to bet that she doesn't have an angle."

Akane pouted and furrowed her brows, seemingly in thought.

"So Ranma," Nabiki turned back to the redhead in the apron, "what's your angle?"

"Isn't that usually my line?" She quipped in response.

"Stuff it Saotome," Nabiki responded, holding a hand on her hip. "You got something for me, or do we have to keep up the song and dance here?"

Ranma looked a bit nervous, her eyes darting left and right. She was evidently in thought for several moments before her shoulders eventually sagged.

"I don't got nothin' really," she sighed. "I just... needed a change. Aside from the Art, I don't really have much goin' on. And part of the Art is picking up new things all the time." She leaned forward on her elbows. "So I wanted something to do. Something to-," she paused, and Nabiki noted a soft pink hue on Ranma's face, "something to talk about..."

Nabiki's eyebrows only narrowed in suspicion.

"Well Ranma," Akane said, stepping up and opening up her purse, "some of us welcome the change. Especially when it nets us a family discount." She elbowed Nabiki in the side. "Don't we, sis?"

"Yeaaah, I suppose. I'm certainly not going to complain about a discount." Nabiki turned a bit on her heel and started to walk out the way they came in.

"I'm just saying," she said, pausing at the entrance, her hand resting against the doorframe, "you don't start digging holes when there's nothing to bury."

Nabiki waved her hand lightly, as if saying 'toodles', and left the bakery. Ranma and Akane stared at each other for just a moment before laughing at the situation.

Click

Pierre Couteau let out a soft sigh as he lowered the phone receiver to the base. The blond faced man scribbled a few notes in a binder to his side and tapped his pen against the table.

"Ranma, could you please come in please?" He said rather loudly through his office doorway. Within seconds a small redhead was bouncing into his office as she wiped her hands on her apron.

"Yeah, boss? What's up?" She asked quickly. "Plannin' on letting me prep the chocolate for tomorrow?"

"Close, but a bit more than that my dear," Pierre said, not noticing the tiny twitch of Ranma's pigtail. She knew he meant nothing by it, but being called pet-names in any fashion was an uncomfortable feeling. Ukyo and Shampoo's frequent outcries of it practically trained her to always be on guard when she heard similar affections.

"That's the fifth catering request this day alone," he continued, "I'm effectively booked up for the next two weeks.

"Admittedly I'm surprised we've garnered as much attention as we have." He looked up at Ranma, "And I'm fairly certain it's due to the lovely help. I don't know if you're a blessing or a curse."

"Hah. Hah. Curse. Uh, good one boss." Ranma combed her fingers through her pigtail nervously.

"All in all, what it means is that I'll barely have the time to run the shop, let alone do all the additional work," he sighed heavily. "Eventually I'm going to need to take on more help. But until then, I need to ask if you're able to work longer hours until then. I'm suggesting evenings and the next two weekends."

The man looked up at her pleadingly. "Please, miss Ranma. I can even offer you a bonus."

"Ah geez boss," Ranma sheepishly scratched the back of her head, "you already pay me pretty well and all. If you need me that bad I don't mind."

"Ah mon cheri," he exclaimed, rising up from his chair and taking her hand, "thank you so much! You're an angel!"

"Of course," she said, grinning from ear to ear, "I'm the best around. Martial artist, baker assistant, angel, whatever!"

Pierre clapped his hands together. "Magnifique! You should think about what you want with your bonus! But for now, let's get you started on the soda bread!"

"No way!"

1 week later

Ranma trudged her way through the quiet Nerima streets, her feet practically dragging behind her. She had been through rampant fiances, nightmare training, and going to literal hell and back, but still, she had never been so exhausted in her life. Not only had she accepted extended evenings, but mornings on top of that. If Pierre could, she had no excuse not to. She pictured the growing dark circles around the man's eyes and she shuddered.

It wasn't the most physically exerting work she'd ever been through, but the lack of sleep and constant high pace, between working the orders as well as the daily operations, were running her ragged.

It wasn't even on top of the near misses she's had with her various rivals. While the rumor of her picking up work somewhere was circulating around, Ranma had convinced Nabiki to run a misinformation campaign. Despite that, there were more than a few cases where a wandering Mousse, Shampoo, Kudo, or Ukyo either passed by or nearly missed entering her work. When that happened it set operations back even further and they had to make up the time somehow.

Ranma tilted her eyes upwards, catching the moon in her gaze, and sighed. And in all this, she knew there was just one thing she was missing.

"Stupid idiot," she mumbled to herself.

The martial artist barely had the energy to skip along the rooftops so instead, she walked slowly through the streets. She didn't mind walking around this late at night. Nerima was a fairly rural ward so most of the house-lights were dark and there was barely a soul on the street. Compared to the more hectic daytime, Nerima at night almost felt like a different town. Ranma looked off to the side, staring down the nearby river canal. She opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it quickly shut.

Ranma clenched her fist.

She didn't know why life seemed to slow down lately despite it only speeding up. Ranma could think back in the last few weeks and could detail dozens of small, innocuous memories she normally didn't bother caring about. But now she did. Fights were easy to focus on just as easy they were to forget. Ranma could remember fixating on each challenge in front of her for days at a time, only for the memory of it to be shunted to the side when the next combatant of the week showed up. Every moment was hectic and exciting, just as they were forgettable.

Ranma realized, right then and there, that she was looking for things to remember. Things to talk about.

"Stupid," she said, chiding herself as she walked through the Nerima streets.

As she finally arrived at the Tendo dojo she looked up at the building only for her vision to spin.

Wake up. Work. School. Work. Home. Sleep.

Wake up. Work. School. Work. Home. Sleep.

Wake up. Work. School. Work. Home. Sleep.

Ranma pressed her hand against the sliding wooden door and slipped in quietly. She spotted a clock from the wall. 11:00PM. With the household filled with martial artists, she knew everyone was already tucked in, ready to wake at five the following day. Maybe if she slept right now she could get maybe five hours, maybe six if her father didn't have a surprise for her that morning.

As she passed by the telephone Ranma did her best not to stare down towards it. As she went into the kitchen to grab water, she did her best to glance at the receiver. Ranma moved into the living room and turned on a small lamp before collapsing onto the dinner table. She slumped her head towards the phone again yet again before burying her head between her arms. The room felt small around her.

"What am I doing," she groaned, her voice muffled. "I shouldn't care. I don't care."

It had been three weeks since her last phone call with Ryoga. The wait hadn't bothered her before. She knew it was hard to get a phone wherever he was. She knew it wasn't like she had the ability to call him herself. She also knew their phone didn't have any way to record messages. She was painfully aware of that fact.

Ranma felt tired; she felt stupid. Stupid for waiting around this late at night on the off chance he might call. Stupid for wondering how he was doing. Stupid for taking a job just so she could talk about it only for the person she wanted to talk to just up and vanish.

The exhausted martial artist simply nuzzled her head into her arms. Her warm, soft arms. It wouldn't have been the first time she had fallen asleep on the table, and life was just getting so, so stressful. Normally she preferred sleeping with her pops, wanting any sort of company as she slept. But lately, it had felt lonely even then.

"Just... just gonna rest my eyes."

Somehow, it just felt less lonely here.

1:13AM

A dark shadow slowly made its way down the stairs of the Tendo household. It paused for just a moment at the bottom, quizzically staring at the figure sleeping at the table. It slowly made its way to the soft lamp illuminating the room, before clicking it off softly, as if not to disturb its nearby guest.

The figure stared downwards at the sleeping pigtailed-girl resting on the table. It softly unwrapped a bundle around their arms, then draping the blanket around Ranma's shoulders.

"Snnrk.. Jus... jus call already dumbass..."

Kasumi paused for a moment, blinking her eyes in soft surprise. She homemaker looked towards the phone resting on the hallway table before looking back down towards Ranma. Her eyebrows furrowed in worry before leaning down to adjust the blanket over Ranma's shoulders. She quietly shuffled across the room towards the phone with grace not unknown to a former martial artist.

[1 Missed Call, 12:57AM]

"Oh I missed it again," she said, tilting her head in quizzically. Kasumi gently pressed the 'Clear' button before slowly making her way back up the stairs.

Notes

Hey folks! Hope you like this one. Somehow a lot happens despite nothing happening at the same time. This isn't some sort of drama so I'm sorry there aren't any massive twists here and there. I just want to write what I like. I wanted to write a bunch of loosely connected scenes and see how that worked.

I kind of see fluff writing like a road trip. It's the journey, not the destination I care about. I hope yall enjoy the trip. Put in that mixtape and let's see where we can go.

If you're wondering about Nabiki and my feelings towards her, I don't hate her. She's honestly one of my favorite characters. But let's be real, that nosiness of hers practically writes itself as a dramatic antagonist. I've got a love for her, and it's from that love I see her value in this role.

Twitter: ficfairy