WARNING!! SERIOUS OOC-NESS!!! ^_^ This is a story delving into the...farming side of Ranma and Akane? WHAT?! Ranma and Akane...farmers? To find out what this is all about, read on! Disclaimer: All characters mentioned below except for Konaku, Kiri, Hanako, and "Kira", are the property of Rumiko Takahashi-sama (who have done the wonderful Mermaid's Saga and Inu-Yasha), Viz Video (people who released the Ranma 1/2 TV and OVA series), and some other people whom I don't know about. Ranma 1/2: Harvest Moon Chapter One: The Megami Realm By: Silver Star Bailuli@hotmail.com In the darkness of the night... "He will too!" the first girl said stubbornly, frowning at her companion. "He will not!" shot back the other girl. "Will too!" "Will not!" "WILL TOO!!" "WILL NOT!!" "WILL TOO!!" "STOP!!" a third girl screamed at the top of her lunges, stopping the first two girls in the middle of their childish argument. "I have ENOUGH of this! I want you two to settle this right now." She glared at the other two. "And I do mean right NOW." "Alright. I think we should make a bet. I," the first girl said, pointing to herself, "will bet that he'll do it. And you," she turned and pointed to the second girl, "bet that he will not. Looser have to give 2000 yen to the winner. Deal?" She extended out her right hand and smiled at the second girl innocently. The other girl smirked and shook her hands. "Deal." R N * * * H M "Akane?" a girl yelled over the voices of the other people in the mall. "Akane! Wait up!" Tendo Akane, daughter of Soun Tendo, fiancée of the infamous Saotome Ranma, and the heir to the Tendo Dojo, turned at the voice and waved over the crowd. "Kona-chan!" She waited until the other girl caught up before talking to her again. Honshuu Konaku transferred to Furinken High just a few weeks ago, and Akane decided to take the new girl under her wings, just so she wouldn't be alone for her first year in an unfamiliar place, if nothing else. Besides, Konaku seems to be a nice girl. "Hey, Konaku." "Akane, what are you doing here?" Konaku asked curiously. Akane rarely go to the mall, mostly because her time was taken up by Ranma's little adventures. In other words, getting kidnapped. "Ranma," Akane said, and with just that one word, Konaku understood. True, she hadn't been in Nerima as long as Yuka or Sayuri, but she had caught on pretty quickly in the three weeks that she had been in Nerima. In the first week, she had almost gone crazy. "And bored. Decided to get away from the house and this is the first place I thought of." "Come with me," Konaku said immediately. "I want to check out this new game place and it'll be a lot more fun going with someone than alone." Konaku's family is VERY rich, richer than even the Kuno family, in fact. But Konaku never ACTED like she's rich. The first time Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri went to Konaku's house, they were gaping like fishes. They never even DREAMED that Konaku was that rich. Konaku never told anyone that she's that rich, though. In fact, she's almost treating her family's wealth like a curse or something. The only time Akane ever saw Konaku spending more than 100 yen was when Konaku was buying a game. The girl, for some odd reason, is absolutely ADDICTED to RPG games. Akane looked thoughtful. "I don't know," she finally said. "I mean, I don't have any gaming system or anything like that, so it'll be a waste of time to go there." "Come on, Akane," Konaku begged. "You said yourself that you're bored. Just this once, please?" Akane stilled looked uncertain. "Please please please with cherry on top?" Suddenly, a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. "Please please please with a whip cream covered _Ranma_ on top?" Akane start coughing immediately, and a blush raised to her cheeks. Then she started laughing at the image of a disgruntled looking Ranma covered from head to toe in snowy white whip cream. Konaku grinned. "So are you coming or not?" "Okay, okay, I'll come, alright?" Akane replied, finally relenting. The shorter girl immediately began to drag Akane toward the direction where the new gaming store is supposed to be. The store was not big. In fact, it's really small compare to the other stores in mall. It was wedged between a large bookstore, and a quite a big sized comic store; both had flashy posters of books or comics they have. Between those two stores, the game store looked very...plain, to say the least. But once you step into the game store, it felt like you've stepped into a portal and transported yourself to somewhere else. Although it doesn't look like it from the outside, the inside was fairly large. And everywhere you look, there are games; from PC games, to console games, to arcade games, to handheld games, the store seemed to have it all. In the very back, above a large rack of games, is the flashing sign "Megami Realm". Akane stared in awe at what she was seeing. She never knew that there were so many games made. Beside her, Konaku was gaping like a fish. "Hello girls!" a cheery voice said, and a girl, older than Akane and Konaku by about only two or three years walked out of a door that was hidden behind another rack of games. She was about Akane's height, maybe a bit taller, with long golden-brown hair and brown eyes. When she talk, she had an accent. "I'm Megami Kiri, how may I help ya?" Konaku was the first one to snap out of it. "Uh, I'm looking for a game for SNES." "For SNES, eh?" Kiri said. "Not many people go for that anymore. Most people now go for Playstation or N64, or Playstation 2 when it comes out." "Yeah, I know," Konaku said, nodding her head. "I usually play Playstation games, too, but I heard from one of my friends online that this one SNES game is really good." "What's it called?" Kiri asked, curiously. "And by any chance, do you know that type of game it is? You know, RPG, Adventure, Racing, etc., etc." "It's RPG," Konaku replied immediately. "But, uh, I sorta forgot the name she gave me..." Her face colored slightly in embarrassment. "All I know is that it's called "Chrono" something or-" "CHRONO TRIGGER!!" A female voice screamed from out of no where. A girl, with long black hair and brown eyes, maybe half an inch shorter than Kiri, burst out of the back room, face slightly flushed with what appeared to be excitement. "It's called Chrono Trigger, and believe your friend, it's one of the BEST RPG on SNES!" Akane noticed from the corner of her eyes that Kiri's right eye twitched slightly. "Ahem," Kiri said and glared at the other girl. The black haired girl sweatdropped. "Er...gomen." She bowed formally. "My name is Megami- er...ano...Ogata Hanako! Yeah, that's it, Ogata Hanako. Nice to meet you." Kiri raised an eyebrow and Hanako ignored her, paying her attention instead to Konaku and Akane. "I'm Honshuu Konaku, nice to meet you, too," Konaku replied, smiling brightly, obviously didn't notice the slip of the name. "And this is my friend, Tendo Akane." "Hi," Akane said, and smiled. She noticed the name slip, but decided not to mention it. After all, it's not her business if the girl doesn't want to give her real name. But she is curious, though. Why in the world would Hanako want to hide her real name? "Ne, HANAKO-chan," Kiri said, emphasizing on the name "Hanako" and the said girl twitched. "Where did we shelf Chrono Trigger?" "How would I know?" Hanako retorted. She seemed to be angry at something. Or maybe someone, judging by her glares at Kiri. "We had a deal. You take care of the store, I take care of our webpage and online orders, and Kira-chan takes care of the shipping and also buy knew games for the store. You shelved every game, you should know where it is." Kiri looked slightly annoyed. "Well, you DO know we got at least several hundred games in here. I can't remember where EVERY game is you know. And besides, you liked the game, loved it in fact, and I KNOW you always remember where we put your favorite games, just so you can recommend it to other people, if not to get it for a replay." Hanako huffed, obviously couldn't find a good retort. After a few seconds, she relented. "Fine. SNES, RPG, third row, forth rack, top shelf, second to the left." Kiri grinned in triumph. "Arigatou, Hanako-chan. Come on, Konaku-san, let's get that game for ya." Hanako sticked out her tongue at Kiri as she and Konaku couldn't help but giggle. Hanako turned to Akane and smile apologetically. "Gomen," she said, embarrassed. "Kiri-chan and I often do something like that, so please excuse us." Akane smiled. "Don't worry, Hanako-san." She winced slightly, thinking back to her fights with Ranma. "I'm used to it." "So, what game are you looking for, Akane-san?" Hanako asked curiously. The younger girl barely said anything during the time she was in here. "Nothing really," Akane replied, shrugging. Hanako raised an eyebrow. "Nothing?" "Nothing." "Oh, come on. You're in a game store, get something fun. May I recommend something for you? Chrono Trigger, the one your friend is buying, is an extremely fun game. Graphics, is awesome, so are the music and the story. And like I said, it's probably one of the best RPG in the SNES world." Akane shook her head and laughed at the older girl's enthusiasm in recommending a game for her. "You don't understand. I don't have any gaming system." Hanako's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Not even a gameboy?" Akane once again shook her head, and she tried to contain her laughter in witnessing the comical shocked look on Hanako's face. "No." "Well, we'll have to change that, don't we?" Hanako walked over behind the counter and came up with a Gameboy Color. "Here. I'm giving you a special discount, this Gameboy Color, new and unused, is now only 900 yen." Akane shook her head. Again. "I'm sorry, but I didn't bring any money with me." She cringed inside. she thought to herself, Hanako had a understanding look on her face. "I see." She ducked under the counter again, and when she came up, she was holding a gameboy color, different one and seemed to be used because there were several stickers on it, and a game in her hand. She grabbed a bag from behind the counter and put the gameboy color and the game inside. "Here. These two are free." She extended her hands and indicated for Akane to take the bag. Akane looked at Hanako with shocked eyes and saw the older girl grin. "I-I can't take that, Hanako-san." "Sure you can!" Hanako said cheerfully. "You just extend your hands, and use your fingers to grab them. See, it's not hard." "No. That's not what I meant, Hanako-san. I can't take it without paying you. It's not right." Hanako sighed, exasperated. "Look, Akane, I WANT you to take this for free. I'm not pitying you or anything like that. This is called business. I give you something for free, and if you like it, you come here more and buy more stuff from us. This way, we get more customers. You get what I'm saying?" Akane nodded mutely. Hanako smiled. "Good. Now be a good girl and take that bag from me, alright, Akane?" Akane once again nodded and took the bag mutely. She was too shocked to say anything. At that moment, Konaku and Kiri came back. Konaku had a distressed look on her face, and her arms were filled with games. "Ano, Hanako-san, could you help me with something?" Konaku asked. She looked embarrassed. Possibly something about the large stack of games in her arms. "Of course! I live to serve!" Hanako leaned against the counter and watched as Konaku placed six games on the flat surface. "Ano...Kiri-san recommended all those games to me, and all of them looks really good. But I didn't know you guys have so many good games, so I didn't bring enough money. Kiri- san told me you played all of them. Could you tell me which one I should get the most?" Hanako looked at the six games placed on the counter and her grin broadened. The six games are Chrono Trigger (SNES), Pokemon Gold (Gameboy Color), Final Fantasy 7 (Playstation), Final Fantasy 6 (SNES), Harvest Moon 64 (N64), and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation). She shook her head and laughed. "Oh my, you're too much like me. You picked all my favorite games!" Konaku blushed and Akane noticed Kiri muttering something about all RPG games are Hanako's favorite. "Let's see...I personally recommend Chrono Trigger. Pokemon Gold is really good, too, since it's twice as big as the original. FF7 and FF6 are just plain awesome. Harvest Moon 64, well, I personally love it, but I don't know your taste, since it's not your normal RPG. As for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, well, it's one of the Playstation games you just HAVE to get." "Basically meaning you're not much of a help, either," Kiri commented dryly from the back. Hanako once again sticked out her tongue at the other girl. Hanako turned back to Konaku and noticed the younger girl started to look distressed again. "Well, Konaku-san, today is your lucky day!" Hanako announced. "I'm giving you a 50% off on all these six games!" "F-fifty PERCENT OFF?!?!" Konaku gasped out in shock. "That's 250 yen for each game!! How do you expect to earn any money if you're practically GIVING AWAY GAMES FOR FREE?!?!" Konaku flushed at her outburst, but she was still too shocked to care much. Akane noticed absently that Kiri doesn't look upset at the outrageous discount at all. In fact, she was grinning as much as Hanako right now. "Well, from now on, I expect you to be one of our frequent customers, Konaku-san," Hanako said. Then she turned all serious and looked at Konaku. "You WILL come back often, right?" "Of course!!" Konaku answered. She pulled out the correct change as Hanako ringed up the items. "Come back soon, Konaku-chan!" Kiri said as Konaku and Akane turned to exit the store. "And bring Akane, too!" Hanako added and winked at Akane. "Hai! I will!" Konaku said and waved goodbye to the two older girls. Konaku sighed happily as they walked toward the mall exit. Akane noticed and smiled slightly at the other girl's obvious bliss. She never really understood why Konaku loved games so much. She then shifted the weight in the plastic bag by her side and her smile widened. Perhaps now she will. R N * * * H M To Be Continued... R N * * * H M Author's note: Just a few little things that some of you might be asking. First of all, yes, I know Pokemon Gold isn't out yet, but remember, we are in JAPAN right now, not in US, meaning Pokemon Gold already came out, so Konaku COULD buy it. Also, you might be asking why I used Pokemon Gold (for those people who thinks Pokemon is just kiddie show). The reason is although Pokemon is indeed mostly a kid show IN UNITED STATES, the original Japanese manga is definitely NOT for kids (Definitely not alright. *rolls eyes and holds up a manga pic of Misty in...ribbons?!* O.O). You have to admit, though, the game version of Pokemon is quite good, possibly one of the best RPG games ever made on Gameboy/Gameboy Color. And Pokemon Gold/Silver is suppose to be a lot better than Red/Blue/Yellow. There's also the thing with Final Fantasy 6. For those who doesn't know, FF6 is the Japanese version of FF3, and since the setting is in Japan, it makes sense that Konaku is buying the Japanese version instead of the US version, ne? ^.^ You might be noticing that Akane was too...too docile during the whole chapter. Well, guess what? If you're wondering about that, then you obviously did not read my warning at the beginning of the story. ^_^ Most of the time the characters SHOULD be in their usual...er...personality, I guess you could say. But occasionally they get OOC, just so I can adapt them into my story and get the whole thing going, if nothing else. ^-^ Let's see...what else? Uh...I can't think of anything else right now. Don't forget, comments, suggestions, and stuff like that are welcomed at bailuli@hotmail.com All flames will be pounded out by Akane and her Trusty Mallet. Ryuuzaki no Arashi: http://www.angelfire.com/anime/kei/ Crystal Star Kingdom: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/4709/