The okonomiyaki took off like
a rocket, launching from the portable grill into the clear blue
expanse of the Tokyo summer sky.
_Thank_ you for not writing 'LEO'.
She felt him tense up, and immediately regretted what she'd
said. He turned away from her, his head down.
Ukyou leaned against his back. "I'm sorry, sugar. That was
supposed to be a joke."
Y'know, there's _probably_ a fic where...
"Don't worry, sugar," she told him. "We'll get those hair-
trigger reflexes under control. After all, you don't want to
accidentally break Akari in half on your honeymoon."
Looks like someone has a case of the "suppose to's".
"Well, Ranma can be a moron," Ryouga pointed out sagely.
The fanged boy is wise for his years.
"In fact, Ranma thought I was a boy for years..."
Case in point.
"You could be a bridesmaid now!" she said brightly. "Why don't
you?"
"MOM!" Ryouga burst out, his face reddening. "K...knock it off!"
Poor Ryoga. Just like Ukyo, he's always a bridesmaid.
And I think it should be "*Kn...knock it off!"?*
Apologies if I'm mistaken.
"Anyway," Akari continued, "I think it's wonderful that Ranma
and Akane are going to get married. It's perfect - they're both
completely mad, after all."
Akari rules. ^_^
His head
snapped back under the impact, and he lashed out reflexively in
retaliation, pounding his mother with a thunderous uppercut.
Hibiki Yomiko tumbled through the air, slammed hard by the force
of the blow, and smacked into the stone wall.
HOLY...! Finally, we discover where Ryoga learned to fight.
I showed up a little late to the match, and he was gone.
And I caught a fish *thiiiiiis* big, too!
Then again, being a Hibiki, 'a little late' probably equates
to about a day in Yumiko's mind.
"I... I know it's not your fault," he whispered, sniffling. "I'm
not blaming you, Mom. It's just... I don't understand."
"Rumiko Takahashi! This is all your fault!"
The dark-haired man smiled. "Yes, I know. But it's true... they
called him 'Human Map Hibiki,' due to his intimate knowledge of
the countryside.
Not 'Topographical Hibiki'?
Ukyou trembled, thinking about what it must've been like. In her
mind's eye, General Hibiki looked like an older Ryouga... and
his murdered wife looked like her.
Quoth Ukyo's eldest sister:
"Ukyo's a very sweet girl. She just a little... terminally morbid."
"The gift grows as the Hibiki ages," he said. "As the child
grows into adulthood and passes through trials of fire, the
Hibiki nature strengthens. But surely you have seen it in
Ryouga. How often has he appeared at critical times, seemingly
out of nowhere, to aid his friends?"
"Constantly," she admitted.
"More than he should, if he were truly lost," Ryouga's father
asserted.
'Each Hibiki hopes that the next Leap... will be the Leap home.'
"But..." Akari's voice rose a little bit. "But wait. Why didn't
she take your name? Could she have? Would that have meant..."
It means if I'm either of the girls' shoes, you can say hello to
Unryuu Ryoga or Kuonji Ryoga very soon, thank you very bloody much.
"Your life as you know it would end," he told her gently.
"You will find yourself on the road for long stretches, weeks
and months at a time, with no way to predict when you will
return.
Its 2005, Hibiki-san. Cellphones could ease that burden a tad...
"Those girls from Ireland taught us how to do that dance," Akari
reminisced, her smile so heartbreaking that Ukyou could barely
stand it. "We were so good... they let us up on stage. They played
the fiddles and we danced... the three of us arm in arm together.
People clapped and gave us flowers... Ryouga was so red! Like the
roses!
I'd give an arm to see that animated!
I TRULY hope that Ryoga was a girl when he Riverdanced. I still have
Michael Flatley-inspired nightmares...
"I know. It's not going to be easy."
"You love him?"
"Yes," she answered without hesitation.
Akari nodded. "Don't... please don't forget about me."
Cellphones, people! Cellphones!
Ukyou and Ryouga lay together in the darkness, each lost in the
other's eyes, each found in each other's heart, bathed as one in
the silver light of the moon and stars.
Very good epilogue to sign off a wonderful story. If they were any
arguments before that this wasn't one of the 'Great' fics, they're
moot, now.
---------------------------------
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