The Pocky War

The Pocky War
By: Ranmano1fan
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"Do what now?"

Sayuri and Yuka looked at their friend, Akane, with confused faces. Likewise she also had a perplexed look on her face, for she had just heard what she thought was something absurd.

"What is it?" asked Yuka.

"You expect me to believe that?" wondered Akane, "There is no way that's true."

"It's an urban legend, Akane," added Sayuri, "Nobody knows if it is or isn't really true, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it was?"

The girl with blue-black hair turned her head a little, "I guess so."

The girls were talking about random things during their lunch break and the discussion found itself on Pocky and the myth that if a girl and a boy shared a stick, a loving bond would form between them. Akane knew the chocolate covered bread sticks were very popular, but found it very hard to believe they could actually bring a boy and a girl closer together.

Sayuri looked at Akane and gave a smile, "I bet you want to try that with Ranma, don't you?"

The girl whipped her head around, "No, of course not, why would I want to do something like that with a jerk like him?" a slight shade of red appeared on her cheeks as she added, "I doubt he'd even go along with something like that."

"Why don't you ask him?" asked Yuka.

"You both know he's not really good at that mushy stuff," countered the Tendo girl, "Even when he tries it, it never works out right."

"Then you take the lead," replied Sayuri.

Akane scoffed, "Like that would work."

"Wouldn't hurt to try," said Yuka in a matter-of-fact tone.

The girl didn't answer her friend at first, she just looked down at the table instead.

A few tables away a certain okonomiyaki chef overheard the conversation the girls were having. She also had never heard of the Pocky legend. Ukyo had been traveling for most of her life, training to be the best cook she could be, so she never stayed in one place long enough to settle down, be a regular girl and hear gossip from others. But seeing her rival's reaction made her a bit unsettled.

'If anyone gets to do that with my Ranma-honey, it should be me,' she said to herself, 'Either way, I can't give Akane that chance.'

Akane quietly thanked the bell when it rang, she didn't really want to be goaded into anything by her friends, but that didn't stop Sayuri from trying one last time.

As they walked to class she asked, "So are you gonna do it or not?"

Akane turned her head with a "Hmph" and added with red in her cheeks, "I wouldn't do it with him even if the stick was 10 feet long."

Sayrui gave her other friend a cat-like grin and Yuka giggled. They both knew what was going to happen.

After school had ended Akane had to walk home alone. Ranma had found himself on the bad side of Miss Hinako and was forced to stay for detention. The entire way home the girl fought with herself over the whole myth thing, whether to believe it or not and whether she should give it a try. It was an absurd notion, she thought, but she also felt if it might help their relationship it wouldn't hurt to do it just once. Of course the bigger dilemma would be how to approach Ranma with it. She knew he'd think she had a fever or something if she came right out and asked, and trying to be subtle wouldn't work either with the boy being as thick in the head as he is.

The girl let out a long aggravated breath when she walked into the Tendo home and took off her shoes. She hadn't been in the house for ten seconds before a voice called from the kitchen.

"Akane?" asked the voice.

"Yes, Kasumi?" replied the girl.

"Could you take this list to the store and pick up a few things?" wondered her older sister as she came into the hallway carrying a small list of items.

Akane smiled and said, "Sure thing."

The eldest Tendo handed her sister the list and some money and the youngest Tendo went right back out the door. It took Akane half an hour to wander around the store and pick out what her sister had sent her there to buy. The girl had gone up and down each aisle and placed the items in her basket before she headed for the counter. But the girl stopped in front of the candy aisle and looked down it. She thought against it, but curiosity got the better of her and she knew her sister wouldn't mind if she bought one box. She made her way to the Pocky display and saw there was only a few boxes of the chocolate flavor left. Looking around as if she was picking out contraband, the young woman placed the box among her other items and quickly went to the register.

Akane paid and walked out of the store with her hands full. As she walked down the street she felt embarrassed for letting her friends get the better of her judgment. She hadn't gone far before she heard Ranma's voice call from behind her.

"Hey, Akane, were you waiting on me?" he asked as he caught up to her.

The girl explained, "Kasumi sent me to get a few things."

"Oh," he said, "You want me to carry some of it?"

Akane blushed slightly before telling him, "I think I got it."

"You sure?" he wondered, "I know a tomboy like you can do it, but that doesn't mean I can't be helpful, right?"

The girl began to get angry at his comment, "Why you jerk!"

The boy's ears twitched, but not from her words. He had heard something else. Some kind of projectile was flying through the air at them at a high speed.

"Look out!" he shouted as he shielded her with his body.

Ranma felt 3 things hit his back, but they didn't hurt like he thought they would. Akane's cheeks were bright red, she hadn't expected him to be that close that quickly. When he pulled himself away they both looked down and they saw what they had been attacked with. What it looked like were broken pieces of Pocky.

"What in the world?" asked the boy.

"Oh, darn. I had hoped to hit Akane with them," answered a voice.

Both teens looked up and saw Ukyo standing on the roof of the building across from them, dressed in her chef's gear from head to toe and at her sides were 2 red Pocky boxes.

"Why did you attack me with candy?" asked Akane.

"I overheard you talking to your friends today, so I figured I'd try and stop you before you tried anything funny with my Ranma-honey. And it's a good thing I'm here now, you almost had it too easy," explained the other girl.

Ranma looked back between the 2 girls feeling very confused, "I'm not sure I understand what's going on here."

Ukyo drew 3 more sticks from one of the boxes at her side and held them like needles between her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Akane, but I'm not going to let you try and steal him from me," threatened the chef as she flung the Pocky at her rival.

Ranma grabbed Akane's arm and pulled her along, saying, "C'mon!"

They turned the corner onto another street and the boy asked, "What was she talking about?"

"She heard me and my friends talking at lunch today, she must have taken what was said seriously," replied Akane.

Ranma looked back as they kept going, but didn't see Ukyo following them.

He asked another question, "What were you talking about?"

Akane didn't answer right away, afraid he'd think it dumb. The pair turned another corner and made their way down the street.

"Well, Akane?" insisted the boy.

Before she could answer him a bicycle bell rang out and Ranma had a split second to move before the bike the sound came from landed right on his head.

"Nihao, Ranma!" said Shampoo, happily greeting the teen.

"Not now, Shampoo, we're kinda busy at the moment," replied the boy.

The amazon saw he was holding Akane's arm and their were bags in her hands.

"What Ranma and Akane doing holding hands?" she asked in her broken Japanese.

The other girl answered, "We're not holding hands, we're being chased by Ukyo."

"Why?" wondered the purple-haired girl.

"Because those two were about to seal the deal," called the chef from behind them.

Shampoo looked very confused by the other girl's statement, "What you mean 'seal deal'?"

Ukyo held up one of the boxes of Pocky she had, "With this."

The amazon's eyes lit up, "Oh," she said before her eyes flared with a fire, "Can't have that now."

Sensing danger Ranma pulled on Akane's arm again and quickly got away.

"Hey!" shouted the other two girls.

Shampoo grabbed the box Ukyo had shown her and ran after the couple. And the okonomiyaki chef wasn't too far behind her. Akane's rivals chased the pair down streets and through crowds of people. Ranma tried ducking into an alley and when the girls passed he and Akane tried to catch their breath, but Ukyo and Shampoo found them and the chase was on again.

"Ranma," cried Akane, "I need to get this stuff home to Kasumi."

The boy nodded and quickly changed the direction they were running. With his eyes straight ahead as they ran, Akane used her free hand and pocketed the Pocky box she had bought, she had a feeling she wouldn't have another chance. The girl glanced back and though the other girls were a distance away they were still chasing.

Shampoo threw a stick just as the pair rounded a corner and it shattered into pieces against the brick wall. The couple crossed into another alley and soon found themselves at the Tendo fence. Ranma scooped Akane into his arms and jumped over the fence into the yard. They stood there for a few seconds as he placed her feet back on the ground. The two of them looked into each others eyes and smiled, but their moment was broken by the voices of Ukyo and Shampoo.

"Where they go?" asked the amazon.

"They went over the fence," answered the chef.

The two teens knew they had to start running again and opened the back door as the two girls made it over the fence. Ranma and Akane ran through the kitchen and the girl placed the bags on the counter next to Kasumi. She thanked them as they passed and they ran into the living room where their fathers were watching tv.

"Anything exciting happen with you two today?" asked Soun as Akane and Ranma went by him, with Ukyo and Shampoo in hot pursuit.

"Hmm," said the man, "Must be nice to be young."

"Yep," agreed Genma.

The couple ran right out the front door and thru the fence again, not feeling like they were gaining any distance. Ranma glanced back and Ukyo and Shampoo were right there.

"How are we gonna lose them?" wondered Akane.

The boy noticed someone had left a bucket on the street and he got an idea. Just as they ran by the young man grabbed the bucket and was going to throw it, but saw it was empty.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked his fiancèe.

"Just watch," he told her.

In an instant they had stopped in their tracks and began to run in the opposite direction. Ukyo and Shampoo had no time to react as Ranma and Akane ran past them back to the Tendo home. The two teens ran thru the front gate and made their way to the koi pond. There he quickly filled the bucket and waited for the other girls to go thru the gate. Just as they did the boy dumped the water on them and standing there was a soaking wet okonomiyaki chef and a pile of damp Chinese clothes. Then just like that the boy ran back over to Akane, grabbed her arm and they were off again with an angry Ukyo close behind them.

"I'll make you pay for that, Ranma!" she shouted, and she threw her entire soggy box of Pocky at them.

The box hit Ranma's back with a squish and fell to the ground. The boy looked at Akane, saw the concerned look on her face and he knew he had to find a way to lose Ukyo for good. That was when he saw a crosswalk that had a red light and cars driving by. Once again he scooped the girl up into his arms and jumped, landing on the hood of a car for a split second and then jumped again to the other side. Only it didn't work because the other girl was following his every move.

"Crap," said the boy as he put Akane on the ground and they started running again.

The girl said in a worried tone, "We've got to find a way to lose her."

Ranma replied, "I'm trying, but I'm running out of ideas."

"I think I have one," answered Akane, "Do you think we can catch a train?"

The boy looked at his fiancèe for a second with a confused face.

She looked back and added, "Trust me."

That was all he needed to believe whatever she was thinking would work. The two teenagers picked up the pace and started widening the distance between them and Ukyo as they made their way to the train station, but she was still behind them. When they reached the turnstiles both teens jumped them and kept going, riling up the anger of a security guard. But his anger only lasted a few seconds because the okonomiyaki chef jumped as well, ran right over the guard and knocked him out cold.

Ranma and Akane weaved their way thru the people in the station, both of them looking around for the perfect trap. Sure enough they saw people climbing aboard a high speed train and a conductor standing at the door. The two of them quickly made their way over and climbed into the car. The boy glanced back and saw his friend getting closer. Just as the couple reached the end of the car they saw Ukyo climb the stairs.

Ranma and Akane stepped off the train and stood there on the platform as the door shut behind them. Ukyo reached the door and tried to push it open, but it had been shut tight. The okonomiyaki chef pushed her body against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Soon enough the train started to pull away from the station. The girl gave her friends an angry look as the distance grew between them.

The boy looked over at Akane and saw she was worried, he told her, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. We can only hope she can forgive us for doing that."

The girl gave a nod before taking his hand and heading out of the station. They both knew they had to explain everything to the guard and were ready to face the music.

-----

On their way home after spending ten minutes explaining the situation to a security guard and being let go with a warning, the two teenagers walked home side by side. Ranma was glad that their little adventure was finally over. Akane on the other hand was looking down at the street, wondering whether or not she should go through with what got them into the predicament they just had to escape from minutes ago. It wasn't long before the boy's curiosity got the better of him.

He asked, "Now that those two seem to be gone, can you please tell me what in the world that was all about?"

The girl hadn't been paying much attention to how long they had walked, but when her fiancè spoke her attention was brought back to the moment and she saw they hadn't walked far at all.

Akane replied, "I was talking to my friends at lunch, it wasn't really meant to be anything serious, but they had brought up a rumor about Pocky."

"And what rumor is that?" he wondered.

"That if a boy and girl share a stick a bond would form between them," she told him.

"Did you believe it?" the boy asked.

"I believed it enough to buy a box," she answered as she pulled the box out of her pocket and showed it to him, "Ukyo must have believed it enough too."

Ranma gave a little laugh, "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

That was when he noticed his fiancèe was staring at the ground again with a solemn look to her.

"Here," he said, taking the box from her and opening it.

Akane watched as Ranma pulled out a stick and placed the chocolate end in his mouth, holding it out for her to take the other. The girl hesitated for a second or two before taking hold of the other end with her mouth as he had done. The seconds ticked by slowly while both teens stood there, neither of them willing to move closer to the other. Akane obscured her face with her hair the best she could, her cheeks blushing red. Ranma himself started to feel sweat forming on his brow, unsure how much longer this was going to take. Then he saw the girl start to shudder a little bit, obviously looking as though she was more embarrassed than he was.

Thru his teeth the boy said, "You do know I'm not all that fond of chocolate, right?"

The girl's attention and anger snapped back to reality, she clenched her jaw and caused the stick to break in half. Akane spit out the stick she had and shoved her fiancè, pushing the Pocky box against his chest.

She yelled, "Jerk, if you don't like chocolate then why did you do that?"

Without waiting for an answer the girl stormed off in a huff, stomping her feet as she walked home.

The boy watched Akane leave before eating the remaining piece he had left. He said to himself, 'Hmm... that wasn't the reaction I was looking for. I thought if I said that she would kiss me just to take the stick from me.'

Ranma looked at the box of Pocky in his hands and added, "Oh well, just means more for me now."

The teenager pulled out another stick and munched on it absentmindedly as he casually made his way back to the Tendo home. He wasn't so sure if a new bond had formed between him and Akane or not, but if one had whether it really was because of the Pocky and not from the time they spent together.

The End