Bob Headed Girls and the Rich Boys Who Love Them

Day 5: S.S. Dreamboat

"Good morning children, wake up!"

Aime blew a horn as she marched down the hall. Resort staff were knocking on their doors. She was dressed in a sailor's uniform from head to toe.

"I said good morning, you infernal brats!" Aime stomped her feet impatiently. "What's taking so long? We have a whole day of romance ahead of you!"

Shuutaro opened the door to his and Shinobu's room. "Please Miss Aime," he said. "Why the noise?"

"Shuutaro my sweet child!" Aime reached over and pulled on one of his cheeks, mushing it about.

"Please call me by my family name..." Shuutaro mumbled, averting his gaze. Aime ignored him with that creepy close-eyed smile of hers.

"Please get dressed, it's a big day for you all!"

Shinobu appeared behind Shuutaro, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her bed hair was sticking out. "What's going on? Why do we need to get dressed?" she asked in a small voice.

Aime raised a hand to silence her questions. "Not until Tatewaki and Nabiki are awake."

Using her powers over reality, Aime extended her other arm all the way to the next door and yanked it open. "Wakey wakey!"

"What in the world..." Kuno peaked his head out to see what all the ruckus was about. His eyebrow was twitching in annoyance. Once he saw the elastic arm, he yelped out in fear and jumped into Nabiki's awaiting arms.

Aime retracted her hands, clasping them together. "Perfect! You're all up!"

Shuutaro tilted his head. "Now could you please explain what is going on?"

The four teens were quite fed up with the dream demon's antics. Each wore a face of exasperation.

"You're all going on a cruuuuuise!" Aime rubbed her face against her clasped hands, singing out her sentence. She suddenly reverted to being serious, holding a finger up. "For today only. So chop chop!"

Aime shoved them back into their rooms and slammed the doors so they could get dressed.

***

Aime had everyone gather by the docks all packed up with one suitcase. Seagulls circled above them, their cawing filled the silence.

A sea breeze picked up and blew their hair in the wind. It was a beautiful day, it was hard to believe anything could ruin it.

Anything except Aime of course.

She pulled up to the docks with the titular cruise ship. In sheer size, it could put the Titanic to shame. Why they would need a ship that size when it was just the four of them was beyond reasoning.

On the side the name was written:

S.S. Dreamboat

"This has to be some trick to get us into an even smaller area in the resort." Nabiki stated with her hands on her hips.

Shinobu shuddered. "You don't think she'd kill us...?"

"Nonsense," Shuutaro stated, placing a gentle hand on Shinobu's shoulder. "If she wanted to, she would have done it a long time ago."

"Like when we first got here," Kuno added. "Methinks the lady prefers torture."

Shinobu leaned into Shuutaro. Despite it being warm out, she couldn't help but feel cold and it wasn't the sea breeze either. "Jeez... How reassuring."

Nabiki looked up at the sky. "Well if we're all going to die, I hope none of us are first."

The other three look at her confused.

"How does that..."

"... make any sense?"

They wouldn't get an answer as Aime floats down to them, her skirt billowing out like a parachute. "Ahoy children!"

Nabiki leaned her head towards Kuno so that she could murmur to him. "Oh great, it's Captain Crazy."

Aime pointed a finger at her. "I heard that!" She turned around, her back towards the teens. "Now. If you all would be so kind as to board the ship. Single file, hands to yourself. Or don't, this is a romantic cruise after all."

She floated back up into the air as the ship let down its steps.

Nabiki tossed Kuno her suitcase. He scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Kuno-baby, hold my luggage please?" She asked, a little too late. "Or maybe you'd let me hold yours for a couple yen."

"And here I was thinking you have forgotten about money..." Kuno deadpanned.

Nabiki patted his head like a puppy. "Never, Tatchan, never."

Letting them have their little moment, Shuutaro motioned with his head towards the ship. He picked up Shinobu's luggage and they boarded together.

***

The inside of the ship was as remarkable as the resort. It had similar amenities. Which made it even stranger for them to be on a boat in the first place. It was no different than being at the resort.

After only an hour of being on the ship, Aime called for them to gather on the deck over the intercoms.

Outside the sky was no longer blue, it was purple and murky. Colors were swirling everywhere. It was like someone tie dyed the atmosphere.

Aime was standing at the bow of the ship, hands clasped together as the four teens lined up in front of her.

"Miss Aime..." Shuutaro spoke first, eyeing their surroundings. "What is the meaning of this?"

Aime spun around, her skirt flitting about. "You're going on the cruise of your dreams!" Upon punctuation, she struck a pose with her hands stretched upwards. "Literally!" she continued. "We're going to take a look at your dreams!"

The dream demon regained her composure. "So who wants to go first?"

Kuno slowly raises his hand, earning himself a slap to it from Nabiki.

"Put you hand down." she said, glaring daggers into him.

"Too late!" Aime turned her back on them, her hands pointed at the sky. She grabs the air and creates a seam in the sky with her powers over reality. She pulls her hands apart and creates a rip until there's a large hole for all to see through.

"This is Tatewaki's subconscious." she informed them. She then drops one of her hands to her side, leaving one in the air. With it she makes a swiping motion. As she swiped one of Kuno's dreams slid into view and started playing.

Upon watching the first few seconds it was clearly a provocative dream about Akane and girl Ranma. "Whoops!" Aime swiped again. "That's not appropriate... Let's find a different one. Ah, here we are..."