Minggu, 01 Agustus 2010

Noting that Hotaru was looking tired, Ranma suggested that they rest at an open park bench.

"But I'm fine, really I am," Hotaru half protested in a small voice.

"Well, I'm tired," Ranma said as she plunked herself onto the bench. She really wasn't, but it was the best excuse that Ranma could come up with to get her young charge to rest. "Man, Setsuna wasn't kidding when she said that Hotaru wasn't strong," Ranma thought as she watched the young girl sag on the bench next to her. "We haven't even walked five miles and I can tell she's exhausted - but... I gotta hand it to her, she is determined to get stronger."

"We'll rest here a bit and head home, okay?" Ranma said as she leaned against the back of the bench.

"Miss Saotome?" Hotaru asked lowly. "Can we stop for some ice cream on the way home?"

Still leaning back against the bench, Ranma tilted her head toward Hotaru. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," Ranma said in 'Ranko mode'. "And please stop calling me Miss Saotome, just call me Ranma. Okay?"

Hotaru smiled at her nanny before she too leaned back against the bench, "Okay, Ranma."

Ranma raised her head to better view the resting twelve year old. She realized that there was only about a four and a half year difference in age between them, but Ranma hadn't really met anyone who was in such poor physical condition as Hotaru. "She's as frail as a seven year old," mused Ranma. "No wonder Setsuna worries about her."

Popping her neck, Ranma felt her hair catch on something and pull. Absently, she reached back behind her to free her pigtail and felt something squishy between her fingers. Probing around a bit, Ranma drew her hand in front of her face to see what was the matter. With a confused look, Ranma noted sticky, thin, spider web-like filaments dance in the sunlight.

"What the hell is this?" she wondered as she reached back again to explore what was caught up in her hair. She continued to pull and prod and it only seemed to make matters worse. Something was definitely sticking to her hair near the base of her pigtail and it wasn't coming out.

"Miss Saotome!" Hotaru exclaimed. "Stop! You're making it worse!"

"What?" Ranma asked worriedly. "What's in my hair?"

"You somehow got gum in your hair," Hotaru explained. "Stop touching it, you're only working it into your hair more."

"Gum? Gah! How'd I get gum in my hair?" Ranma exclaimed as she continued to mess with her hair, heedless of Hotaru's advice.

"It looks like it came from the back of the bench," Hotaru softly said. "Someone was pretty careless with their gum."

"Great, just great," Ranma said irritably as she examined her sticky hand. "Now what I'm I gonna do?"

Thinking only for a half second, Hotaru piped up, "We can go over to Kikuko's Salon. They would know what to do."

Ranma was about to object about going to a hairdresser - it was so girly. But she did see the reasoning behind it. If anyone knew how to get gum out of hair, it would be a master of hair. Sighing, Ranma agreed. "Lead the way."

Soon the Ranma and a much reenergized Hotaru entered a small salon that was wedged in between a small grocery and a manga store. The salon was definitely geared toward the younger set with posters of idol singers on the walls and other 'teenage girly' stuff decorating the shelves and, as luck would have it, there were not many customers in the shop. Ranma's senses were assaulted by the smell of hair gel, spray, and perfume.

"Hotaru! What a pleasant surprise," a woman of twenty something called out as she swept up hair clippings from the floor. "You're a few days early for your trim - and who's this you have with you?"

"Mrs. Ayanami, this is Miss- er, I mean Ranma; she's my new nanny," Hotaru explained quickly in one breath. "Can you help her? She got gum in her hair."

"Oh no," Kikuko Ayanami said dramatically as she waved Ranma over to a chair. "We'll have a look and see what... we..." there was a long, pause. "Oh dear."

"What? What?" Ranma asked.

"I'm afraid that it is worked in rather deep," Kikuko said as she addressed Ranma's reflection. "I hate to say this... but we'll have to cut it."

"Oh," Ranma said. "So, you have to cut it. What's the big deal?"

"Ranma, that's your name, right?" she received a positive nod. "I'll have to take as much as this," she held up the pigtail for Ranma to see in the mirror, "to get the gum out."

Ranma's eyes widened when she saw how much would have to be trimmed off and scowled. It had taken a long time for him - well - her, to grow her pigtail and it had become her trademark; a trademark she kept despite the other changes she made recently. Her eyes then narrowed when she realized that she was probably thinking like a girl and hair length shouldn't matter to a guy. "Do it," she said evenly.

On that the hairdresser went into action, unbraiding Ranma's pigtail and trying to minimize the damage that the gum had done. "Good lord, how many sticks of gum are in here?" she muttered as she worked.

As Kikuko continued to untangle the gummy knots that Ranma's hair had become, Hotaru started flipping through several books that had pictures of various hairstyles in them. After digging through a few, she paused on a page and cocked her head. "Ranma? What do you think about this style?" she asked as she held the book open for Ranma to see.

It took all of Ranma's control that she had learned on her training trip not to openly retch at what Hotaru showed her. True, it was a simple cut, not too girly, and would work with the amount of hair that Ranma would have left. The big problem was that it was the same hairstyle as someone who had made her life hell and she'd rather not think about.

"Ooo... That would be prefect," Kikuko commented as she snipped a few gummy strands of Ranma's hair. "It would frame your face so nicely. The boys would definitely notice you."

"You don't like it?" Hotaru asked plainly, having caught Ranma's reaction. She could not have known that the reaction was from the hairdresser's words and not anything that Hotaru did. Though Hotaru did want her nanny to have hair that the boys would notice.

"I don't want to look like Nabiki," Ranma replied evenly at the photo of a model sporting a pageboy cut.

"Who's Nabiki?" Hotaru asked.

"Someone who made my life hel-, er... she made my life difficult," Ranma explained. "She has that kinda hair; I don't want to look anything like her."

"I'm afraid that with as much as I had to cut, we can't do much more than that," Kikuko as she studied the photo and Ranma's hair. "But we can put some mousse in it to give it more body. It would change how it looks so it wouldn't be the same."

"I don't want no Chinese Amazon stuff in my hair either," Ranma said while staring at her reflection and fingering her shortened locks. "I had enough problems with them as it is."

Hotaru and Kikuko stared at the seated girl in incomprehension.

"Miss Saot- I mean, Ranma, mousse is stuff that adds body," Hotaru said, standing next to Ranma's chair. "I think it'll make you look good."

"What's wrong with my body?" Ranma asked. "I've been told I have a great body."

"It adds body to your hair," Kikuko explained as she looked at Ranma dubiously.

"Oh."

Cocking her head to one side, Kikuko ran her fingers through Ranma's hair, making Ranma shudder as it tickled the back of her head. "You know," Kikuko said as she continued to comb Ranma's hair with her fingers, "I could give you a permanent. That would definitely be different. How long ago did you dye your hair?" she asked, having noticed the red roots in the nanny's auburn locks.

"A what?"

"A perm, dear," Kikuko said patiently. "But I need to know when you dyed your hair. If it is too soon, it'll mess up the perm."

"Oh, about a couple weeks ago, I guess. It was just some dye I put in to darken it." Ranma said.

"Oh! A perm! That would look really good on you, Ranma!" Hotaru excitedly interjected. "You'd look so pretty!"

Ranma tried not to wince at Hotaru's choice of words. He was - that is, she was a guy. Pretty is not something she wanted to be! "Um, that's a thought," Ranma stumbled out. "But I don't want anything done that would be permanent to my hair."

Hotaru and Kikuko looked at the former redhead, at each other, then back at the seated girl. "Ranma," Hotaru said, "You can get a perm undone if you don't like it. But I know you'll like it! You'll look so cute!"

"Well...," Ranma began, only to be undone be Hotaru's puppy-dog eyes of persuasion. "Umm... er... that is..."

"She is right, Ranma," Kikuko chimed in. "It would look softer and nice. It would be very feminine."

"I'm a guy-, er, I mean," Ranma sighed - and caved in. "Oh, go ahead."

"Yah!" Hotaru cheered. Ranma had the feeling that she was doomed.

Gripping the armrests of the salon chair like a condemned man awaiting execution, Ranma tried not to lose her nerve and bolt from the small establishment right then. She watched with forced detachment as Kikuko opened counters and pulled out bottles of evil smelling liquids that remind her of the smell of a certain tomboy's cooking. Once she made that connection, Ranma found herself feeling unexpectedly homesick and cursed Nabiki for making a bigger mess of her life.

With some flare, Kikuko started to work.

It was a process Ranma would not fully recall later. She remembered the odd chemical smells and the painful ways her hair was contorted, but for some reason the manipulation of her hair was also relaxing. The sensation was unlike getting your head scratched and Ranma found herself in a cozy, half sleep state. It wasn't until Kikuko announced that she was finished that Ranma came around and saw the results.

There in the mirror, a complete stranger stared back at her. Behind the stranger in the mirror, Hotaru and Kikuko both cooed in delight.

"That... that's not me..." Ranma asked in thinly controlled panic.

"You look great Miss Saotome!" Hotaru said.

"Now don't wash it for three days or the curls will come out." Kikuko advised as she put the finishing touches here and there.

"Right," Ranma dumbly said as she put a hand to her hair... the one consolation was that the style was nothing like Nabiki's. Nabiki would never have something this... girly.

"You look so pretty, Ranma! I bet all the boys will think so too," Hotaru exclaimed. She somehow hoped that this new style would help her nanny get over her apparent boy-shyness.

Ranma tried not to gag as her hand pulled away from her hair as if it were on fire.

"I may have gone a bit overboard on the curl and body, but a Nanny should have a nice style," Kikuko said.

"It's all puffy! What did you do to my bangs?" Ranma asked as she reached up again and flicked the curled ends to her hair. Ranma looked at her reflection and couldn't believe that the little springs attached to her head was her hair... or what was left of it.

Kikuko removed the cape covering Ranma and helped the nanny to her feet. Hotaru handed Ranma her glasses and as she donned them caught a glimpse of her full self in the large mirror. A young woman with adorably feminine hair and a black dress with a white collar and matching white stockings. Ranma was not wearing her apron but she could easily envision it on her feminine frame.

Being too stunned by her appearance was all that kept Ranma from looking ill.

"Oh man," Ranma thought. "As if the curse isn't bad enough, now I really look like a girly-girl. Man, I'm glad pop ain't here to see this."

"You look wonderful Nanny Ranma!" Hotaru repeated.

"Just... Ranma," Ranma said, half dazed at the fix she found herself in. How in the hell did her life come to this?

"Okay!" Hotaru happily chirped. She was thoroughly enjoying helping her nanny like this - a girl's hair was important, after all. "Ranma it is!"

"I can set you up for a monthly appointment," Kikuko said as she touched up Ranma's hair with a brush. "Same day as Hotaru comes in? That way you only need one trip?"

Still dazed and not quite all there, Ranma simply nodded her head.

"Great. Should I add your bill to Miss Meioh's tab? Or will you pay yourself?"

"Just put it on the tab," Hotaru chimed. "C'mon Ranma, let go home and show Aunty!"

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