A Ranma Nibunnoichi FanFic by Captain Exposition

Akane, dressed in a light sundress and baseball cap stepped out of the taxi into the bright summer sun to look in awe at the hotel before her. She had never stayed anywhere so nice! It was a practically a skyscraper, all white walls, tinted windows and empty balconies. Rei, in shorts, tee shirt and a light windbreaker, came up beside her, having paid the driver. Eyes unreadable behind mirrored glasses, she peered up at the tall building before her. "Pretty impressive, isn’t it?" Akane nodded somberly. Glancing at her traveling companion and friend, she asked, "Can we afford this?"

Rei’s lips turned up in a small wry smile. "When you live the wandering life I lead, your living expenses are fairly low. I’ve saved up so much money from working as a chef wherever I stop, we can stay here as long as we want." Akane nodded slowly. Rei peered curiously at the shorthaired girl. "What’s up with you?" She asked.

Akane shrugged, paused, then sighed quietly. "I don’t know…" She said quietly. "I…I feel…worried." Rei pursed her lips thoughtfully. After a moment spent silently studying the girl she felt she loved, she said, "Let’s get our room, and then we can talk, okay?" Akane nodded.

Inside the spacious lobby, Akane trailed after her companion as they walked to the counter, where an urbane middle-aged man greeted them politely. Rei removed her sunglasses and replaced them with her normal glasses, smiling perfunctorily as she said, "Reservation for Tendo." The clerk eyed their rumpled clothes with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged and typed a few commands on his computer. His other eyebrow rose to join it’s mate when he saw that there was in fact a reservation for two under the name Tendo, in the Honeymoon suite, no less. For a moment, he wondered if there had been some mistake, but then he looked again at the two girls before him and coughed slightly, flushing a slight pink. Now slightly nervous in manner, he quickly handed Rei a plastic key-card with directions to the room. The two girls bowed quickly and headed for the elevators, the clerk looking after them.

Akane whispered to Rei as they walked away, "That man certainly acted funny. I wonder why?" Rei coughed slightly, adjusting her glasses, and said, "It must be unusual for two girls our age to be taking rooms in such a hotel with nobody accompanying them." Akane nodded thoughtfully and said to herself, "I suppose that must be it…"

As they approached the door, Rei slid the key-card into the metal slot, opening the door. She motioned Akane through the door, who flipped on the light as she entered. Despite her awe at the luxury of the hotel so far, the huge silent halls and seemingly endless stretches of carpeting, she was stopped short by the room presented to her. The main room was wide and circular, with bright red carpeting. One entire side of the room was a huge window, which looked out on an awesome view of the cityscape. But the odder aspects were the metal bucket with two unopened bottles sticking out of it, as well as the large heart-shaped bed covered with pink sheets.

Wrinkling her brow, Akane turned to Rei, who was setting her and Akane’s bags by the door, and asked, "What’s with this room? It looks like there should be newlyweds in here or something…"

Rei straightened, glanced around as if surprised, then turned bright red. Putting one hand behind her head in a decidedly Ryouga-ish fashion, she chuckled nervously and said, "Oops…they must have given us the honeymoon suite by mistake…Hehehehehe…"