Phoenix: Reignited Edition

"Silent night, holy night!"

Ranko beamed to the capacity crowd as she finished Tatsuro Yamashita's Christmas Eve with its final English line. She appreciated having at least the occasional Japanese-language song in her lineup, though the options for Christmas songs in her native tongue were quite slim. At least I understand what the heck I'm talking about with this one. It had been a popular song that holiday season, owing to its heavy use in television commercials.

The effervescent redhead had been on stage for over two hours straight, and was close to wrapping up her second performance of the evening. The first show ran from 6:30 to 9:00, with a half-hour break to clear the bar and sell tickets for the second run through the twenty-one song setlist beginning at 9:30. Still, as tired as she was, Ranko was all waves and smiles as she bounced across her new stage platform, soaking in the cheers and affection of the second crowd of three-hundred-plus patrons that had packed the Phoenix - and its coffers - that evening.

"Okay, everybody," Ranko said into her microphone. "I've got time for one more song, and then I've gotta say good night and let everybody go home! Of course, this place is home, for all of us here at the Phoenix, and that's why it means so much to us all that you came out to celebrate with us tonight! After all, it wouldn't be Christmas without you!"

As she finished speaking, a backing track of jingle bells and a tambourine began playing through the bar's sound system. Ranko swayed on the stage, letting her fur-trimmed green dress dance playfully around her knees over the white lace petticoat Izumi had insisted she wear. She clapped her lace-gloved hands around her rhinestone-studded microphone, doing so gently both to prevent an audible thump on the microphone, and to protect her injured fingers.

A few seconds into the music, the track began a feminine vocal repeating just the singular word, "Christmas", every few beats, and Ranko began singing between the repetitions.

"The snow's coming down! I'm watching it fall! Lots of people around! Baby, please, come home!"

Come on, Ranko. Closing number. Gotta have a big finish. One more big push. You can do it. The young songstress threw herself fully into the performance, adding even more vocal runs and pushing her voice into as high of a register as she dared despite her weariness. She barely had energy to dance after five hours onstage, but she tried to make up for it with her voice and her thousand-watt smile.

Akane, sensing that her once-partner was struggling, stood and clapped along with the music. Just a few more minutes, and you can rest. Feed off of us, Ranko.

"They're singing 'deck the halls', but it's nothin' like Christmas at all, 'cause I remember when you were here…" Ranko flashed a smile at Akane, popping her hip to the side. "And all the fun that we had last year…"

Yui, Ayako, and Izumi darted frantically behind the twin bar counters, filling the final few drink orders before the concert ended. Ayako had to grab one patron by the wrist, encouraging him to blow out the blue flame atop his Dragonfire cocktail before wading back into the crowd for safety reasons.

"Baby, please, come home!"

Hana slipped back through the blue swinging door to her office, a pile of credit card slips and register printouts in her hand.

"Baby, please! Please! Please!"

Mei flipped a few switches, triggering a series of white, red and green strobe lights that flickered all around her younger sister.

"Baby, ple-e-e-e-eaaaaaase, come ho-o-o-ome!"

The stage lights blinked out, and in the dark, Ranko leaned forward. To the roaring audience, it looked as if she was bowing, but Akane knew better. The poor girl was slumped over from sheer exhaustion.

"RAN-KO! RAN-KO! RAN-KO!"

As the blue-haired woman behind the audio equipment raised the house lights, Ranko put on one final stage smile, waving to the crowd as she walked across the edge of the bar's new stage platform. She wanted to make eye contact with each and every person who had given up their night and paid money for no purpose other than to see her sing. "Thanks so much for coming out, everybody! Merry Christmas, we love you, and we'll see you right back here next time, at! The! Phooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenix!"

The young songstress thrust her right fist in the air as the audience roared one final time, even as the folks standing closest to the front door began making their way to the exit. She didn't remember a single time in her life that she had ever felt so tired - or so happy.

* * *

Ranko leaned back in her chair, exhaling deeply. She was well and truly exhausted. It was one thing to alternate between singing and her waitress duties, but five hours of performance was draining and fulfilling in truly overwhelming measure. Her four adopted sisters, along with Akane and Izumi's fiancé Kaito, sat around the eight-top round table with her, sharing stories and highlights of the evening.

"Man," Yui said, chuckling as she sipped from a brown bottle of beer. "Forget tickets, we could've paid rent for a month if I'd charged a hundred yen every time somebody asked for Ranko's phone number!"

The redhead flushed, hiding her face in her lace-gloved hands. "Joke's on them! I don't even have a phone!" She didn't notice Akane cringe off to her left.

The barroom, which had been packed to bursting with people just two hours before, was empty save for the seven of them. Everyone had pitched in to put the place back to rights after the party, even Kaito and Akane. The tables and chairs that had been stacked in the corner of the bar had been restored to their proper places, and even the eight large cherry tables that had been hauled up to the rooftop had been carried down the stairs and placed back where they belonged. The floor was freshly swept and the bar counters wiped down. A mountain of glassware was stacked on the service bar close to the dishwasher, waiting for its droning to cease so another load could be run through it. It would probably take three or four loads of both the glassware dishwasher in the front and the commercial washer in the kitchen to get through all of them, but there was always the morning to finish it.

Mei looked around at her exhausted companions. Maybe it'll be the afternoon when we finish it instead, she thought with an intimidated sigh, cradling her head in her hands.

The conversations around the table ceased when the saloon doors opened and Hana emerged, a smile on her face. She wore a white tee shirt and black jeans, having left her trademark black leather jacket on the ratty old couch in her office. The old barkeep said nothing, heaving herself up onto one of the brown vinyl barstools with a grunt of effort and swiveling it to face her family.

After a few moments, Yui broke the tense silence. "Well, Mama?! How'd we do?!"

Hana held up a solar-powered digital calculator with a figure displayed on its little cerulean LCD screen. "We were hoping we'd bring in half of what we needed tonight. If my math is right, we're only about ninety thousand yen from having it all! You girls were absolutely incredible tonight, all of you! I am so proud of you all! And, Aya, Kaito, Akane, thank you so much for all your help tonight! We couldn't have done it without you."

Ayako grinned, shrugging her shoulders gently. As she did, her puffy green jacket fell off the back of her chair onto the floor. "It's what family does, Mama. All you ever had to do was ask."

Rubbing her chin, Yui turned back to the proprietress. "If we keep the themed Christmas drinks up for the rest of the week at a premium price, we might be able to make up that last few thousand, too!"

Izumi looked to her partner, who nodded with a smile, and Izumi stood up. "Actually… Mama?" She reached into the pocket of her long red skirt, pulling out a wad of bills. "Kaito and I would like to finish it off for you."

Hana blinked in shock. "Izzi, honey, no. You don't have to do that! You've got the wedding, and…"

The middle of the Phoenix' five daughters waved Hana off with her empty left hand. "I think we can live with a couple fewer floral arrangements if it means we can take the weight of this off your shoulders. It's the least we can do for you, Ma."

Kaito beamed, standing and putting his arm behind his future wife's back. "Call it a dowry, then, if it'll make you feel better."

"Might wanna rethink that, Kaito," Yui said with a chuckle, draining the rest of her beer into her mouth. "Izzi can get awfully fuckin' expensive."

"Don't I know it," Kaito replied with a loud belly laugh.

Izumi scowled in her partner's direction, giving him a playful punch in the arm. "Hey! Don't say that! It might be true, but… you don't have to admit it!"

A tear ran down Hana's cheek as she dismounted her stool and stepped forward, putting one of her arms around Izumi and the other around her future husband. "Thank you both, truly."

Izumi squeezed her back tightly, growling playfully into the hug. "No, Mama. Thank you. For everything. None of us would even be here without you."

The embrace ended after a few long moments, and Izumi counted out nine worn brown ten-thousand-yen notes, handing them to her mother. Hana slipped them into her pocket as she walked back to the bar counter, updating the total on her calculator. "Well, it looks like I've got bills to pay tomorrow!"

The table erupted in cheers and clapping.

Ayako grinned and raised her pint glass. "The Phoenix rises again!"

The rest of the bar's occupants whooped and raised their glasses and bottles as well, clinking them together over the table. Yui had to jog over to the bar counter and reach over it for a new bottle of beer in order to join in, but she was more than happy to oblige. She tapped it against Mei's pilsner glass before prying it open with a tool dangling from her belt and taking a long draught.

Ranko stood, picking up her green velvet Santa hat from the table and her black heeled boots from the floor. She stretched her arms upward with a loudly-vocalized yawn. Her speaking voice was a bit hoarse and scratchy, almost an octave lower than usual after so much time spent singing. "I don't know about you all, but I'm freakin' beat. I think it's bedtime for me."

She turned behind her, her cheeks afire as she grinned at the high schooler in the white sweater and red corduroy skirt. "Hey, Akane? Are you staying tonight?"

The black-haired girl nodded, her face flushed as well. "If you don't mind. The buses aren't running until morning, and I told Dad I'd be out all night." I wonder how his dinner with the mayor went. Shame I missed it, but I had somewhere more important to be, she thought with a soft smile.

Ranko beamed, her face warming further as Mei, Ayako and Yui made loud whistles and catcalls. "Oh, don't be gross, you girls! Of course I don't mind, Akane. C'mon, you."

As Akane stood, Izumi raised her martini glass again. "To the star of the Phoenix!" A series of cheers and whoops came from the table, and the sound of glass clinking could be heard as Ranko turned with a warm, if exhausted, smile.

"Good night, everybody." Ranko started to make for the saloon door, but she was stopped by a strong pair of hands on her shoulders. She looked up into Hana's eyes - far up, as the old barkeep had about a thirty-centimeter height advantage over her. "Hey, Mama."

Her eyes widened as Hana pulled her into the tightest hug Ranko had ever felt in her life. "Thank you, Ranko," Hana whispered as she squeezed her youngest daughter against her chest.

Ranko hugged the tall woman's waist in return. "After everything you've done for me, you honestly think you have to thank me for singing a few songs? Don't be ridiculous." She released the proprietress after a moment, glancing back at Akane with a smile before returning her eyes to the family's matriarch. "But, if you really want to do something nice for me? Let me go to bed before I fall over."

"You got it, little star," Hana said through a chuckle as she released the teenager. "Good night, Ranko."

"G'night everybody!" Ranko called again as she gave a half-effort wave, following Akane through the blue slatted door at a trudge and hanging a right to ascend the narrow staircase.

When both of them were behind the closed front door of her little apartment, Ranko dropped her shoes at the doorstep, plopping heavily onto the edge her bed. She had to catch her dress from poofing up indecently over her white lace petticoat. "Hopefully getting out of this getup doesn't take as long as getting into it did."

Akane giggled. "Usually not. I'll help you if you want."

Ranko blushed deeply. "Well, Akane… I…"

It was Akane's turn to be flustered. "I, ah… I didn't mean it like that, ya big dummy!"

Ranko gave a quiet, almost disappointed "hm." and turned to her mirror with a shrug, smiling up into the reflection of Akane's eyes from behind her.

"Hey, Ran… Ranko? Can I… ask you something?" Akane fidgeted with her hands as she took a step closer to the young singer.

Ranko started to reach behind herself to unzip her dress, but quickly stopped when she realized Akane hadn't continued, and that there was a timidity in her voice. She patted the bed next to her with a smile. "Of course." Something about hearing Akane call her by her new name always seemed to lift her spirits, as if it were a way of the old life she'd once known finally acquiescing to be replaced by the new.

Akane walked closer with a temerity usually reserved for the dentist, her hands clasped in front of her waist. She slowly sat down a half-meter or so from Ranko, smoothing the lavender duvet cover with her hands nervously. "Did you plan to bring me on stage tonight from the beginning?"

Shaking her head with a tinkling sound, having not yet taken down her braided hair or removed her clip-on jingle bell earrings in order to give Akane her undivided attention, Ranko shrugged her shoulders gently. "I added it just before I went on stage. I hope it's okay. I was really just trying to play around with you. The crowd freaking loved you. I'm sorry if it upset you."

Akane grinned impishly and looked down at her hands again, her crimson cheeks warm enough to melt butter. "Oh, no. It didn't upset me. Surprised me, for sure." She swallowed hard. She had one more question to ask, and she wasn't sure what answer she hoped for. "And what about, you know, what you said before the song? About me?"

The redhead nodded emphatically. "I meant every word. I should have said those things to you a long time ago, Akane. I've had a lot of time to think about the way I treated you when I lived with you. I was a jerk and I didn't know how mean some of the things I said really were at the time. You deserved better. You deserve better. I'm… I'm really sorry, Akane. For all of it."

Akane bobbed her head softly, scooting a little closer to the smaller girl. "Thank you, but you don't need to apologize." She swallowed hard. "Ranma was a jerk sometimes, it's true." Her hand slid across the duvet cover until it rested on Ranko's. She was gentle, careful not to put too much pressure on Ranko's injured knuckles. "But… Ranma's… not here right now, is he?"

Blushing a deeper shade of red than Akane's knee-length skirt, Ranko allowed the smallest of smiles to crack through her mien of shame and exhaustion. "I… I suppose not." She looked up from their joined hands to meet Akane's gaze. "Akane, what are y…"

Akane cut her off by leaning over their clasped hands, planting a quick, tentative kiss on her cheek.