[April 23, 2016: Want to win a $50 Amazon gift card code? I am running a contest to receive criticism of my writing. See the end of chapter one for details, or my profile.]

[soundtrack for this one: Seven Doors, by ZAQ]

You'll just know.
Nabiki heard her mother's voice in her head as she looked up at Ranma and fought back tears. Emotions were tearing around inside of her that she didn't really know how to deal with.
The wind on the top of the roof picked up her hair and blew it around on her face. Her hands were cold and shaking a bit as she looked back down inside the jewelry box Ranma had given her. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was getting dangerously close to hyperventilating. She looked up at Ranma with searching eyes and found him smiling happily at her.
She looked back at the box in her hands, and mirrored his smile as she shakily stepped backwards to find the bench under the tree she was standing under with him. As soon as the backs of her knees felt it, she sat down slowly as she cradled the box in her lap and looked up at him again in wonder.
"Do you like it?" Ranma asked her softly as he walked forward to stand closer to her.
She nodded at him urgently and opened her mouth to say something, but no words would come. She looked down at the box, then back up at him again and tried again. "I ... I don't ... what ... Ranma ... how?" She whispered.
"I know people too." He said softly with a shy smile. "You really like it?" He asked.
"I do, but it is a very extravagant gift, I don't think I can accept it, Ranma." She said with regret as she lifted out the matched set of jade earrings gently from the box and cupped them in her hand and smiled at him. She was doing everything she could to hide her disappointment that there hadn't been a ring in the box.
"But ... I want you to have 'em." He said softly.
"Ranma ... do you know what these are?" She asked him softly as she smiled at him and held his gift close to her heart in her clasped hands. Even though they weren't a ring, the earrings were an unbelievably nice present. They're more than I deserve. She chastised herself.
"Yeah, they're the jade earrings you told me you wanted." He said proudly.
"Yes they—... wait, what?" She asked him as he managed to derail her.
"You told me you wanted them." He repeated softly.
"I did? When?" She asked, genuinely confused.
"You remember back when Shampoo wiped Akane's memory?"
"Yes..."
"And I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so I was gonna go to China to get the shampoo I needed to restore her memory, and then you caught me packin'—"
"And I asked you for presents." She completed for him as her memory came back of the event. She remembered now. Kasumi had asked for tea, Daddy had asked for cigarettes and sake, and his own dad had held up one of his stupid signs and asked for hair growth formula. And she ... she had asked for jade earrings, and a Chinese silk—"
She smiled at her foolishness and the way she had treated him, then winked at him. Now was not the time to beat herself up for her past behavior. She would do that later. "Well, where's my silk dress then?" She joked, trying to lighten the mood. He smiled at her but didn't say anything.
I swear ... if he has the dress up here waiting for me, I am never going to forgive him for upstaging me. She groused to herself as she tried to figure out what to say to him. As she did so, she could feel a huge smile growing on her face, and laughter building up inside of herself.
He looked at her quizzically as she tried to fight back the laughter, and failed. She let herself sink down to lay on the bench and laughed at herself, and her foolish pride, and her embarrassment.
OF COURSE he wasn't about to propose to me! What was I thinking? He wasn't just going to whisk me off to the city and ask me to marry him with his relationship with Akane unresolved. If I want it, I'm going to have to earn it, and figure out how to end things between them ... somehow. She thought to herself, chagrined.
She blinked her eyes and found Ranma standing over her, looking concerned. She smiled at him and stuck her tongue out, then whispered to him in a happy voice. "You bastard!"
He blinked at her. "What? Why? What did I do?" He asked in confusion. Just the expression on his face was funny enough to get her laughing again. He really had no idea of what he'd done to her. It was just so mind-numbingly sweet and also exasperating at the same time, that she had to laugh or she'd probably punch him.
She opened her eyes again and grinned up at him. He was sideways to her as she lay on the bench, and that just made everything seem even funnier to her. After a while, she felt strong enough to talk about it, and beckoned him closer to her. He leaned down until his face was just centimeters from her.
"Ranma ... it's not considered very nice to take a girl you're dating, who has already talked to you about marriage, to a jewelry store, and make a big deal about picking up a fancy jewelry box for her." She whispered to him.
"What? Why?" He asked in genuine confusion.
She reached up and put her hands gently on either side of his face and pulled him down like she was going to kiss him. He allowed her to pull him down easily, almost eagerly. At the last minute she turned his face, and brought his ear up to her lips. "Because it's teasing." She whispered to him as she released him. He straightened up slowly and slid out of her grasp with confusion etched on his face.
"What ... what didja think ... what was the tease?" He asked.
"Think about it, Ranma." She said with a wink as she sat up and patted the bench next to her. He nodded and came to sit down next to her. She turned so her back was to him, and leaned up against him with a sigh as she opened her hands and looked down at the beautiful gift he had given her.
They were stunning examples of some of the finest jade she had ever seen, let alone held. She could tell just by looking at them, that they were Chinese Imperial jadeite. She held them up in the light and examined them, and sighed as she cupped them in her hands up to her heart again. Ranma probably didn't realize it, but he had arranged for his friend to get him, literally, the most expensive type and quality of jade on the market.
Her practiced eye could tell what she had in her hands was top quality jadeite. They had been fashioned into a teardrop style and they were set in a very nice eighteen or twenty four carat gold setting. But the jade was the show-stopper. The jade was almost transparent with a deep and rich emerald green color. That color was commonly called Imperial green jade. It was the shade of green that could easily reach billions of Yen in the marketplace for a large quantity of it. The jade she held in her hands was perfect. It was pure and vivid, it had no hints of other colors, and it glowed with an alluring brilliance, and was soft and smooth to the touch. The earrings had obviously been fashioned from premium cabochons. She knew for a fact that what she held in her hands could easily command a list price of one hundred to five hundred thousand Yen.
His gift wasn't as extravagant as buying her a car, but it was on the same level as flying her to Paris for dinner. She couldn't accept it, could she? She knew he hadn't bought it for her, his friend had arranged for it for him as a favor. She decided to ask him about it and she would take it from there.
She leaned into him harder and sighed happily as she reached back and grabbed one of his arms and pulled it around herself. He got the hint and shifted his position on the bench so he was straddling the bench and facing her. She scooted back on the bench so she was essentially sitting in his lap. He draped his warm arms around her and held her, as she leaned back into him. She held the earrings up to the light again and looked at them in appreciation.
"Ranma ... they're beautiful. Thank you so much for them ... but ... they're too nice, I don't think I can—"
"Why not?" He asked.
"Ranma ... this is Imperial green jade, it's crazy-valuable. China used to have a standing order for any and all jade like this, and they would get ... cranky ... if that jade wasn't sent to them. To this day it's one of the world's most expensive gems because of that. I would have been happy with some department store artificial jade that had been chemically treated to look nice. But you just had to go out and get me the real thing, didn't you?" She whispered to him in a voice that was a mix of awe and exasperation.
She had a nice surprise planned for him as well, but it didn't even come close to the unbelievable one he had arranged for her, both in terms of scale and monetary value. And he had said he had two surprises planned for her. I swear to God, if he got the dress too, I am siccing Riko on him. She grumped to herself.
"But ... I want you to have 'em." He repeated himself.
She sighed and looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled. "You realize you're setting a dangerous precedent for yourself, right? If this is what you start out with on our very first date, I am going to expect this level of effort and extravagance from you for all future dates, and I will expect you to raise your effort even higher for special events like anniversaries too." She teased him.
He got a panicked look on his face for a moment, then hid it behind his own mask of self confidence and nodded at her seriously. She rolled her eyes at him and leaned back and bonked his chest with the back of her head. She tilted her head back and looked up at him while she rolled her eyes. "We need to work on your sense of humor, Ranma." She said crossly. She wanted him to play with her.
He smiled at her. "I'm just glad yours is comin' back." He said softly to her.
She sat up at that and looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"I ... it's just ... you've been real ... quiet, an' serious the last few days, ya know? I've been worried about ya." He said sincerely.
She leaned back away from him and tried to figure out if he was teasing her or not. The look in his eyes and his body language told her that he was serious though. She was confused by that.
Have I been losing myself lately? Does he have me that off balance? She looked back at her behavior over the last few days, and had to admit that she had been a lot more ... emotional ... and serious than she usually was. But ... did he like her when she was teasing and joking all the time?
"I ... you know ... I hadn't realized that. But I think you're right, Ranma. But ... I always thought ... you didn't like it when I was sarcastic and teased you and stuff..." She trailed off lamely and looked at him through her eyelashes as she hooded her eyes in embarrassment. They were talking about things she didn't even talk to Riko about. They were dancing perilously close to things she didn't even talk about with herself.
"I think you're fun when ya do that stuff." He said with a smile.
She looked up sharply at him and pulled in a strong breath then let it out slowly. She could feel something deep inside her straining again. He sometimes said things that made her want to figure out a way to stitch him to herself and make him a permanent part of her. Her emotions were roiling, but she fought them down and nodded shakily. "Okay, well, just remember, you asked for it." She said with a smile. He nodded back at her happily, then looked down at her hands which were still clasped tightly around the earrings, then he looked back up to her eyes with a plaintive cast to his own eyes. He wanted her to accept them.
She sucked in a shaky breath and nodded at him. He beamed at that and watched her expectantly. She grinned and decided to turn the tables on him as she reached over for his hand and pulled it towards her. He looked at her in confusion, but let her do it. She pulled his hand until it was almost to her chest, then she reached her other hand out and cupped his hand with it, and dropped the earrings into his hand.
His eyes widened in disappointment. Before he could speak though, she tilted her head to the side and brushed back her hair and exposed her left ear to him. "You want me to wear them, you put them on." She whispered to him.
She smiled happily to herself as she felt his normally very steady hands nervously fumbling around next to her ear as he tried to figure out how to put the earrings on her. She looked up to the sky through the leaves of the cherry blossom tree and watched the clouds lazily making their way through the late afternoon sky, then she closed her eyes and focused on how he was making her feel, and tried not to let it overpower her.
He eventually figured out to hold her earlobe gently with one hand while he lined up the earring post with the other, and he gently, very gently, slid the earring into place. She felt him slide the backing on to it soon after that. He didn't put it on tight enough, but that was all right, she would fix it when he was done.
She sighed and laid back against him and rested her head on his chest. Then she tilted her head to her left to angle her right ear towards him. She didn't pull back her hair though.
She waited quietly as she leaned up against him happily, and sucked on her lower lip in anticipation. As soon as his hand brushed her hair off her neck and away from her ear, she arched her back against him happily and sighed. It felt wonderful to have his warm hands do that. Most guys didn't know it, but a girl's hair could actually be quite sensual for her when played with against her skin, if she was in the mood. And, she was definitely in the mood.
She felt him flinch behind her, and knew he was confused by her reaction. She smiled happily at that. She would explain it to him later. She didn't want to ruin the moment right now by stopping to explain to him how girls worked. His hands were much more confident putting the second earring in, and he was done in moments. He had still been very gentle, though.
She tilted her head back so she could find his eyes with her own. She found them and locked eyes with him through her own hair. She smiled softly at him and willed him to understand. A moment later he did what she wanted and brushed her hair away from her eyes so she could see him clearly. She let out a little murmur of pleasure from the back of her throat as he played with her hair again.
She wanted to stay as she was with him for the rest of the day, but she had her own surprise for him, and she was curious what he had planned for the rest of the day as well. With a reluctant sigh, she sat up slowly from him and stood up from the bench. As soon as she was standing, she reached down for him and pulled him up to her. He rose quickly and stood next to her and held her hands eagerly.
She smiled at him and waited for him to take the lead. They were still on his part of the date, as they had agreed. So, it was up to him to set the pace and their destinations. He got her hint though, and walked with her back to the elevator. As they walked, she leaned into him happily. "Tell me about your friend, Tajima." She whispered.
"What do ya mean?"
"How do you know him? Why is he willing to do you such incredible favors?"
"Oh, that. Well ... I ran into him in China when Pop and I were on our way to Jusenkyo." He said simply.
When he didn't continue the story after several moments, she sighed and nudged him. "Details, Ranma, details." She prodded him.
"Um ... okay, well, there isn't much to tell. I had a bunch of souvenirs and stuff I was carryin' in some town Pop insisted we stop at, and I ran into him. Well, he ran into me actually. He knocked all my stuff down. Before I knew what was happenin', a bunch of people ran by and broke it all as they chased him."
"What did he do? Why were they chasing him?" She asked curiously.
"He said he drank from a well that the locals thought was sacred. But he didn't know that when he drank from it, the sign had fallen down."
"Oh. So ... how ..." She prompted him.
"Yeah, so anyway I ran after them. At the time, I was mostly just annoyed and kinda chasin' him too. He'd been the reason all my stuff got broke. But when they cornered him, I realized what was goin' on, and that he was in real trouble, so I helped him. It was Bushido." He said simply with a shrug.
"What did you do?" She asked carefully.
"Nothin' major, I squared off with the biggest one and parried everything he threw at me, then I tossed him back a bit to show him it wasn't worth his time. A couple of the other guys threw a couple of shots at me too, but I just ducked 'em. After that, Tajima was able to explain to them that he hadn't known it was a sacred well, and offered ta pay them to hire a priest to re-do whatever it is priests do to make a well sacred. It was a good thing he spoke Chinese. Since they couldn't get past me, they were suddenly willin' ta listen to him, and he was able to calm 'em down. And that was the end of it, nobody even got knocked out." He said calmly.
"Then why would he..." She asked.
He shrugged. "I woulda been happy enough with him just payin' to replace the stuff that got broke. It was only like a thousand Yen worth of stuff anyway." He said with confusion in his voice. She had a feeling she knew why Tajima had promised him a favor, but she wanted to hear it from him first.
Ranma pressed the call button on the elevator and while they waited for it to arrive, he finished his story. "I dunno why, but he told me he could get stuff to me from China whenever I wanted. He said that instead of replacing my stuff, I could just contact him and tell him what I wanted from China, and he would arrange for it to get sent here. He said not to worry about anything, and he'd take care of me, just like I'd taken care of him."
She blinked at him. "That must have been some impressive display you did for him when you saved him." She said with a smile as the elevator arrived with a ding. They stepped into it, alone again. Just like their ride up, she stepped in front of him and turned around so she was leaning her back against him. He wrapped his arms around her as she did it, and then she felt him lean over and press the button for the ground floor.
"It wasn't. I didn't even break a sweat, and it only took like a minute, tops." He said with some exasperation in his voice.
"So, when you contacted him for the jade..."
"Yeah, I called him, and he told me not to worry about it. Told me it was only a little thing, and he'd be happy to arrange it for me. I told him I could pay for it, if he could just get it here. He told me that money wasn't an issue, and that he needed to pay his debt to me before he'd accept my money." He said with a sigh.
"Wow Ranma, you have a CEO in your pocket." She joked as she looked back at him and grinned. "You should save your next favor for when you want to buy a house." She said happily as she turned back around to watch the view.
"I ain't acceptin' nothin' more from him. As far as I'm concerned, the debt's more 'an paid off. And I told him to just get normal earrings. I had no idea he was gonna go out and get the stuff you told me he got." He said with some frustration in his voice.
She decided to help ease his conscious as the elevator dinged. They had reached the ground floor. She turned in his arms, leaned into him, and whispered into his ear.
"Trust me, Ranma, he feels like he is in your debt. As far as he's concerned, you saved his life, after he had broken your stuff. You didn't ask for a reward, you did it because it was the right thing to do. I know people like him. He has more money than he knows what to do with. You can only buy so many houses and cars and sets of clothes, Ranma. What you can't buy is loyalty or good people. Those things are worth far more to someone like your friend, than a few million Yen here or there.
"Frankly, the fact that you only asked him for what is, in his opinion, a little trinket, and only asked for him to get it, and said you would pay for it, probably only reinforced his opinion of you. If anything, he probably feels even more strongly like he wants to do things for you now. He probably thinks you looked him up once you got back to Japan, and realized who he was, and the resources he controlled.
"When you called in your favor, and only asked for such a small thing, you probably knocked him out of his chair. If you play your cards right, you could have him as a friend for life. Trust me, I know people like him, and I know how the favors business works." She said softly to him. 
She was pretty sure she knew the answers, but she wanted to ask a few more things anyway. "You didn't look him up, did you? You had no idea who he was until we were in that store, did you?" She asked him with a smile on her face. He shook his head no, and she grinned. Only Ranma wouldn't have bothered to look the guy up, Ranma was ... very special.
"So, where to next?" She asked as he leaned over and pressed the button to open the doors and they walked back out to the sidewalk. She reached up and squeezed the backings to her earrings more firmly into place now that she was going to be walking on public wearing them. He watched her do it with some confusion on his face. She winked at him.
"Well ... there's this store in this area that sells..." He trailed off nervously.
"Sells what, Ranma?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They sell ... imported Chinese clothes." He said quietly to her.
She stopped walking and looked at him seriously. He stopped as well and eyed her nervously. The people on the street just detoured around them. Whatever strange power he had, that kept people away from him, was still working. She sighed and decided to tease him. "Why didn't you get my daddy his cigarettes and sake, or Kasumi her calligraphy stuff and tea while you were at it?"
He smiled at her. "I will ... if I am ever on a date with them." He said calmly.
She laughed. She hadn't been expecting him to joke. She nudged him to start walking again and looped her arm through his arm. He didn't know enough to raise his arm to the escort position, but that was all right with her. She was dressed formally, but she wasn't feeling formal at the moment.
"I am not letting you get me any more presents, Ranma. The stupidly expensive earrings are more than enough." She said sternly. He blinked at her, then nodded hesitantly. She could tell by his body language that shopping for a Chinese silk dress for her had been the second surprise he had been planning, and he didn't have a backup plan. "That doesn't mean we can't go look at the store, and try stuff on, and have fun though." She said happily. He looked over at her and nodded eagerly.
She glanced side to side and then back at him and had to ask him about it, because it was driving her crazy. "How are you doing that?" She asked in a voice she tried to keep from being envious, but failed.
"Doing ... what?" He asked.
She looked pointedly left and right and back at him. "Don't try to pretend that you aren't doing something to keep people away from you." She said with exasperation.
He looked around at the crowd on the sidewalk as it streamed around them to either side, but stayed away from them by a comfortable margin, and shrugged. "I think people are just bein' polite." He said.
She shook her head emphatically and pointed down the street. "See that woman tying her shoe down there?" She asked.
He looked where she was pointing. A young woman had stopped at the side of the sidewalk, and she was crouched down tying her shoe. Nobody was jostling her or knocking into her. But people were passing within centimeters of her. Compared to the almost quarter of a meter people were leaving around them, the difference was obvious.
Ranma smiled at her. "Maybe it's you people are afraid of. Maybe they don't wanna get your dress dirty."
She rolled her eyes at him. "I've been downtown before. People don't give me any more space than anyone else."
He shrugged at her again. "I ain't doin' nothin' special."
She frowned at him. She didn't really believe him, but she didn't think he would outright lie to her about something inconsequential like that, so he probably just didn't realize he was doing it. She smiled at him thinly and nudged him to start walking again.
They walked together quietly for a few blocks as she gathered her thoughts. She had to admit she was also enjoying the envious stares quite a few of the women were casting her way as they caught sight of him and her jade earrings.
Ranma was quietly steering them to another section of the Ginza that had more clothing shops. He seemed to be content to just be with her. She enjoyed that about him, but she wasn't going to waste the time she had alone with him. She wanted to get to know him better, and there was no better time than the present.
She decided to ask him if he had ever, as Doctor Tofu put it, whited-out, like Akane had. Doctor Tofu had given her the medical point of view on it, but maybe Ranma had some insight on it related to the practical aspects of the Art.
"Ranma ... you remember how Akane was like when she fought Kodachi after you stopped her?" She asked gently. He looked over at her and nodded. "Doctor Tofu told me that what happened to Akane was what he called whiting-out. He said it could happen in a life-or-death situation where strong emotions were involved. Do you know about that?" She continued.
He nodded again more firmly at her. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He did that a few times as she waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts. "It's ... it's hard ta explain. Pops calls it survival mode. He says that ancient warriors used to actually try to make themselves like that before battle, because it made them better fighters." He paused a moment and looked straight ahead quietly for a few moments before he continued. "It's also basically what I do when I'm around cats too long." He added quietly.
She looked over at him sharply. She hadn't thought of that, but it made sense. He was totally detached, and didn't even identify as human, when he was in that state. "Is it dangerous?" She asked carefully.
He nodded. "Yeah, it is. Pops thinks it helps ya fight, but I don't think Pops has ever actually been that way himself. I dunno about Doctor Tofu, but he hasn't probably had it happen either. It's ... weird. You can feel yourself slippin' into it, but there isn't anythin' you can do ta stop it. Your body just kind of takes over, and your mind shuts down. While that's happenin' you just don't care if you get hurt. I've come out of it before with cuts and bruises I didn't remember gettin'." He said in a dark tone of voice.
She nodded at that and hugged his arm more tightly. She didn't want to press him any further on the subject. She had enough information about it now to know that it was dangerous, and she knew enough about it to recognize it if she saw it happening. She just hoped she wouldn't have to again, since from what he'd told her, there was no way to stop it.
They walked together quietly for a few more blocks, then Ranma slowed to a stop in front of yet another very nice building. It had glass windows all along the ground floor, and in each of them were all sorts of mannequins wearing every type of Chinese clothing style she could think of, in a dizzying array of colors and fashions. She looked over at him with wide eyes. "How did you find this place?" She asked as they walked towards the doors.
He smiled at her as he reached to open the door for her. "Doctor Tofu actually told me about it. He said he'd shopped here before." Ranma said softly as he closed the door behind them.
She let go of his arm and looked all around her as she walked up the small flight of stairs that led up into the raised first floor shopping area. The stairs were marble, and the hand rails were polished mahogany. The detail work on the stairs and railings was gleaming brass. Ranma had found a very nice store indeed. She didn't know if she wanted to stay in it very long though. She knew that he had picked it because he thought she liked the nicer things in life, and he wasn't wrong. But she knew that the type of store they were in was going to rub him the wrong way. She knew enough to hold her own in a swanky store, but he didn't. And she didn't think he knew the CEO of the store this time. Not that I'd be surprised if he did, at this point. She thought to herself wryly.
As soon as she cleared the stairs she wandered over to the nearest display, which was a glass counter with various fragrances sitting on it. Some were labeled for men, others for women. She picked up various tester vials and eyed them playfully. She sniffed a few and set them down hurriedly. None of the fragrances were right for her. One was a pretty good match for Ranma though. It was a woody one with a trace of bright lavender running through it with a hint of something smoky. It would compliment his normal flowery cedar smell very well.
She turned around and held it up for him to see. He looked at it suspiciously. She crooked her finger towards herself and smiled mischievously. He smiled back as he shook his head and took a step away. She sighed theatrically and turned around and put the bottle back down. As she did so she spritzed her finger with the fragrance. She turned around and smiled at him again and reached her hands out for him. He nodded and stepped forward to meet her.
As soon as he was in reach, she darted her hands in and slipped them around his neck. He flinched but let her do it. When she didn't slide into the hug she was sure he had thought she was going for, he looked into her eyes quizzically. She grinned at him and pulled him in closer to her. "When a girl wants you to try something on, she is going to get you to try it on, Ranma." She whispered to him as she slid back from him and waggled her fingers at him while she beamed happily at him.
He sighed and sniffed the air around himself. She'd barely gotten any on him, just enough so that he had just a hint of it on him. It made him smell both a little bit more grown-up, and also a little more foreign and mysterious. It was fun.
She grinned at him and reached for his hand. He smiled back and let her lead him around the store. She picked out several dresses to try on, from cheongsams to Manchu dresses, and even a Tang suit that had been tailored into a dress. Since she was holding on to Ranma, he held on to the dresses for her. Once she was done picking them out, she led him over to where the signs for the dressing rooms were.
She stopped about twenty meters away and eyed the area warily then turned back to him and leaned into him. "Don't make it obvious that I am talking to you, just hug me." She instructed him. As soon as he put his arms around her she continued. "Since you've done so much for me today, it is time for me to do something for you. We're in a very nice store, Ranma. They are going to look down on you, and treat you poorly, if you don't look and act a certain way. Would you like me to tell you what to say to them so they won't look down on you?" She asked him softly.
She felt him nod, and smiled. She wasn't looking at his face because she wanted the staff to think that they were just a young couple in love, and nothing more. If they saw her coaching him, then the impact of what he said would be lost. She popped herself up on her tip-toes and whispered a few things to him, then smoothly slid to the side of him and continued walking like nothing had happened. She was sure the staff thought that she had just sneaked a quick kiss from her boyfriend, and nothing more.
When they were close enough, they stopped and the staff behind the counter bowed enough to be polite to them, but no further.
Ranma returned their bow, but inclined his head to less of a degree, as she had instructed him.
A young man stepped out from behind the counter and approached them. The other two staff members, both women, stayed behind the counter and watched them disinterestedly.
"What can I do for you two kids today?" The young man asked. It was just polite enough to be safe to say to customers, but as she had predicted, the young man was being condescending to them.
"You can hold these and show us to a changing room." Ranma said, again like she had told him. Then he tipped his chin up like she had suggested he do, and looked towards the dressing rooms with a bored expression on his face. 
The young man no longer seemed as sure of himself, and after a moment's hesitation, did what she had known he was going to do — deferred to them. She hadn't had time to explain to Ranma that a lot of how people treated you boiled down to how you projected your expectations of how they should treat you. He knew that when it came to fighting, but he didn't know how to do it for other areas of his life. At least, not yet. But if he picked her, she would gladly teach it to him.
The young man gracefully took the clothes from Ranma while the two ladies behind the counter smiled shyly at Ranma and bowed to him as he walked past following the male staff member. They ignored her. Normally she would punish them for that, but she didn't feel like doing so at the moment. It was fun just playing with Ranma instead.
They stopped in front of a changing room, and the young man hung up the clothes on the hook outside the door. "We are having a sale today, sir. If you buy two items, you get a third at fifteen percent below list price." The  young man said.
"Oh, okay, that sounds like a good deal, thanks!" Ranma replied cheerfully. The young man smiled knowingly as he bowed and walked away. She winced and sighed. She would have to work with him on being less gullible. She was sure all of the items on the floor were marked at fifteen percent or more off list price. Since list price was basically meaningless, that didn't mean anything. The staff member had been testing Ranma, and he'd failed the test. That was all right, she'd take over and make them suffer for insulting him, once she was done trying everything on, of course. I might even make that guy cry. She vowed to herself.
"I'm going to go wash my hands." She announced.
"Why?"
"I don't want to try on clothes with that fragrance on my hands." She said with a smile.
"Oh sure, get it on me but you don't want it on you." He groused.
"You saying you don't like it?"
"That's ... not the point." He said with a small smile.
"So, you want me to smell like you then?" She asked teasingly.
He sighed. "I'll wait here while you wash your hands." He said, defeated.
She winked at him and made her way down one hallway, and then another as she followed the signs for the restrooms. As soon as she found it, she walked in and headed straight for the nearest sink. She washed her hands for a few moments before she realized ... that she felt funny.
Something was wrong. The restroom was too quiet. Her danger sense was screaming at her to get out. She tried to act as calmly as possible as she finished washing her hands then hurried over to where the towels were. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and gasped.
She braced herself and spun to face whoever was in the restroom with her as she tried to tap into her Ki. Before she could complete her turn, a very strong hand lashed out and clamped down on her mouth. Another strong arm pulled her in and held her in place. It was a woman's arm. She pushed back with all her might and was able to knock them back from her a little bit. But ... somethin'... wron'. Things fun'y tast'd. Hand...h'ld mouth...fuz'y...sweet smell...spin'ing room...Ranma...need!......dark.