and on to part 2
(cont)
"Wo ai ni...words I thought I'd never hear without cringing in fear. It's
been so long, like another lifetime, since that Shampoo was here. This
Shampoo, though, she gave instead of take, she sacrificed instead of
possess,
she even saved me out
drop 'out'
at the new Shampoo and feeling that old stirring in my heart again,
the kind that you think is only reserved for one person, but with Akane
freshly gone...I didn't want to betray her memory. So I resisted her for
a
week, until I had a dream, or maybe it was her ghost visiting me...I don't
know to this day, but she smiled at me, and told me to be happy in this
life,
and to not worry about her...kouin'yanogotoshi, time flies like an arrow,
she
said. Life is short, so spend it with loved ones as much as possible.
Then
she kissed me goodbye and faded away, whispering 'I love you'....
Again. Sounds like something Akane, even in spirit, would do.
"The next day, me and Shampoo went out on our first of many dates. A year
later, we were engaged, and then married a few months later. The rest is
history...."
And what a history it is.
Ukyou was backing against the wall, her weirdness meter spiking up at the
scene. "Um, Ranchan, when did you get so insightful like that?"
After all that happened to him, it would be difficult for him not to be
insightful.
He smiled. "Not really, but I'm learning from all my past mistakes, took
a
while, but I am. Me and Shampoo will argue from time to time, sure, but
we
learn to forgive and compromise and all of that stuff, you know?"
Just then, Shampoo stuck her head down the hall. "Akari's going to be
here
in twenty minutes."
What! You mean she's still alive?! ^_^
* * * * *
"Thanks, Kasumi-dono. I really hate to be inconveinincing
inconveniencing
Shampoo, Ranma, and Ukyou walked into the living room then. No sooner
than
he caught sight of the latter, he squawked and leapt behind the sofa he
was
sitting on. Ukyou blinked as she saw Ryouga's body taking to air.
"R...ryou...ga?"
Peeking over the top of the sofa, the bandana-wearing man looked at the
stunned woman. "U...ukyou...?"
Kiko: D...ad...dy? ^_^
him. He saw the look in her eyes and grew afraid. "You...jackass!!"
Suddenly, he yelped as a small, sharpened spatula imbedded itself a scant
inch from his crotch.
"Ryouga, please don't make too much noice;
noise
you'll wake your daughter Kiko up."
"Sorry, Kasumi-d--my what?!" His eyes expanded to the size of the plates
>from the fine china set.
Ukyou was starting to deliver another spatula, but it fell from numb
fingers.
"H....how...how did you know?"
"She has Ryouga's eyes and hair coloring, but her slightly longer canines
are
a big giveaway."
...as well as the tiger striped bandana she's wearing, and the fact I had
to actually place her in front of the doorway of the bathroom before she
could find it," Kasumi finished.
If the Kansai had been eating, she would have choked to death.
"M-m-m-married?!"
The lost man looked around the room sheepishly. "Um, yeah, I am.... Akari
and I have been married for over five years now...coming up on six soon."
Ryouga: And we've actually been together for almost a whole year of it too,
I mean, if you total up the days I was actually with her and not lost.
"But you slept with me, then you ran out on me! How could you do that
when
you were married?!" She was trembling with each word.
Ryouga: But that's the best time to run out on a woman.
Kasumi put her wheelchair into motion and disappeared into the kitchen
with
Kiko, still rubbing the sleeping girl's forehead. "We'll let your parents
work things out on their own."
That means Kiko will see her parents again in, what? Two years or so?
"Akari and I were having some problems. One night, she said that she
wasn't
sure if she wanted to go through with the wedding, so she asked for a
little
time apart. I took it way too hard, like I usually do, and got depressed
over it.
"Let loose with a perfect Shi Shi Hokoudan that went up like an N2 mine,"
he confessed.
So I got lost for a few days, and chanced upon you. Looked like
you had your own problems, but you took solace in my company, as I did in
yours. We got drunk, and the next thing I know, we were just waking up in
bed with quite a hangover. You have no idea how terrible I felt then. It
was an accident that should never have happened.
Well, Kiko might disagree with that.
She nodded mutely, padding over to Ukyou. Slipping her hands beneath the
unresisting woman's arms, Shampoo had gotten Ukyou walking down the hall
to
the wash room. He sighed as they disappeared; he hadn't seen Ukyou like
that
since he told her that he was marrying Akane a year after the first failed
wedding attempt.
But at least she wasn't going to try to kill him this time. Things were
looking up in the world.
Looking at his despairing friend, who had picked himself from the floor,
and
was now sitting on the sofa, he shook his head. "What a perfect life, ne,
old buddy?"
Ah, I wondered when you would work the title in there.
"No problem. After all, somebody's gotta talk coherently when she gets
here."
In reply, Ryouga half-heartedly whacked Ranma with a plush pillow.
"...thanks for trying to cheer me up..."
"No problem. That's what friends are really for."
Ranma: By the way, since we're in the mood for revelations. There's
something I need to tell you about Akari's first child. You know, the one
you think is yours. Well, you see, five years ago a funny thing happened on
my way to the bank...
Nice work. Very sad in a lot of spots, but things eventually work back to
something resembling a semi-normal life, despite past hardships.
D.B. Sommer