Part 5<<<<<<<<<<<

Again there was a knock, but Ukyou and Ranma were too unwilling to turn
their heads away from
each other to find out who was disturbing them.  Finally, the fourth
time along with screaming from a
high pitched voice tore the two from their gaze.  Through the door
window, Shampoo was standing
there in tears.  It was strange for Shampoo to be using a door to get to
her beloved Ranma, not to
mention she'd be attacking Ukyou for being with her man.  Ukyou slowly
opens the door after
deciding the tears probably meant she wasn't there to fight.

Ukyou      (Suprised)  Shampoo!  What are you doing here?

Shampoo     (In a forlorn voice)  Ranma, why you choose her?
Great-grandmother say she tell you
cure.  Why Ranma marry Ukyou not Shampoo?

Ranma      Shampoo, I know you don't want to hear this, but Ukyou was
the only one who
understood why I wanted to find the cure.  Cologne used it to try and
force me to marry you.
Ukyou was different.  I could tell she wanted me to marry her if she
helped me, but she wasn't going
to make me.  She gave me the chance to decide.  I'm sorry Shampoo, but
its Ukyou that I want to
be with.

Shampoo     Ranma.  But Shampoo love you too.

Ranma      I know.  Do you know how hard it was for me to be forced to
decide?  I didn't want to
lose any of my friends.  But now you are upset and I don't know how
Akane is going to react to
seeing me around.  How was I supposed to do any of this without hurting
anyone?

Shampoo     But Shampoo all alone now...

Ranma      No you're not.  Mousse is a good guy, he'll take care of
you.

Shampoo     Mousse so stupid.  He in cage now because he no leave me
alone.

Ukyou      (Suddenly putting something in)  That's because he loves
you.  Don't you remember that's
how we were with Ranma honey?  That's the way Mousse is towards you.

Ranma      Just give the guy a chance.  Remember, I'm marrying Ukyou
now, you have to give me up
sooner or later.

Shampoo     (Suddenly turning angry)  Shampoo still must kill girl-type
Ranma.  Shampoo no have
Ranma, Ukyou no can have either.

Shampoo suddenly attacks Ranma, but is abruptly repulsed by him as he
grabs Shampoo's arms.
She then breaks down and begins to cry.

Ranma      Now Shampoo, all this chasing me around is over.  Go home.
Everyone just has to get
used to this.  Even I do.  (He then leads the saddened Amazon out the
door.)

Ranma      (to Ukyou)  Now who's going to be here all mad at me?  (a
slight pause then an
expression of dread comes over his face)  Oh no!  Kodachi is still
around and she won't nearly be as
reasonable as Shampoo.  Are you sure you don't want to leave for China
now?

Ukyou gives Ranma a slight grin, trying to calm him down.

Ukyou      Don't worry sugar, we don't have to leave right away.  But we
could leave a little earlier
just to be safe.  (Her smile breaks into a giggle.  Thinking:  "How did
this happen?  All of a sudden,
I'm going to marry Ranma when I've almost given up on it...  No more,
I'm not going to spoil this
dream by trying to analyze it.)

After a half hour, the candlelight okinomiaki dinner is set and the two
sit down facing each other
thinking about what to say.  For a short while, there is silence before
Ukyou breaks the ice.

Ukyou      Ranma, what would you think about us going to see the Tendos
tomorrow?

Ranma      ummmm.....I don't know, I'm not sure how Akane is going to
take it...

Ukyou      (in a slightly louder voice)  That's why you should go.
Afterall, you were living there for
over a year, you could at least talk to everyone and tell them you are
alright.  As for Akane, I know
you still have feelings for her,  that's ok, I don't mind.  Its only
natural right?

Ranma      Ukyou, you are probably wondering why I proposed to you when
I did, with Mr. Tendo
and pop there.

Ukyou      Well the thought did cross my mind.

Ranma      First of all, it was not just because I was mad at pop, I
guess it was because I used him
for a little motivation to finally ask you.  But it really was because I
felt you were always there for me
and I guess I want to be there for you too.  You are my first fiancé
right?  Pop even said I had to
face my obligation, he finally got more than he bargained for.

Ukyou      Thank you Ranma.  For everything.  When we finally settle
down, I want you by me all
the time.

The next morning, Ranma is woken up by Ukyou banging on his door.

Ranma, suprised he'd overslept slowly get up and gets dressed.

Ukyou      (Shouting through the door)  Are you up yet?  (At that moment
the door flies open and a
tired Ranma comes out.)

Ranma      I guess not having to train with pop in the morning is
starting to get to me...

Ukyou      (slightly grinning)  Hurry up and get ready, we need to get
back before the restaurant
opens.

In less than an hour, Kasumi opens the door to find the new couple at
their door step.  Ranma is
dressed in his usual red shirt and black pants while a new feminine
Ukyou is wearing a dark blue
dress but with the usual bow in the hair, and spatula on her back.
Apparently old habits are hard to
break.

Kasumi      Oh my!  Ranma!  How are you doing?

Hearing the name, Soun comes rushing through the living room and dives
at Ranma's feet, crying.

Soun      Ranma!  You've come back.  Oh thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ranma      Well, uh...I just need to see Akane for a sec.

Ukyou      May we come in?

Kasumi      Oh please do.  Akane is in her bedroom right now so...

Ranma      Thanks Kasumi.

Ranma and Ukyou go to Akane's room and listen for an answer acknowleging
they could come in.
When Akane opens the door to find the two, she becomes angry, but the
sight of Ranma holds her
back from slamming the door on them.  She wanted some explanation why
this had all happened and
also remembering it was her temper that had leave her in the first
place.

Akane      So you and Ukyou have come to gloat huh, well don't bother.
I don't want to hear it.

Ukyou      Akane, we're your friends.  We had to see how you were doing.

Ranma      You see, this is why we never would have worked out... (Ukyou
gives him a glare that
told him he had better keep his mouth shut.)

Ukyou      I know you are probably mad at me, but we've known each other
for quite a while.  You
know we didn't decide all of this just to make you angry.

Akane      That's easy for you to say now that you have Ranma, you just
don't understand how I feel
because you didn't lose him.

Ukyou      For a while, I was beginning to think I had lost Ranma.  When
he suddenly showed up at
my door, even I was suprised this was all happening.  But during that
time, I took it out on myself.  I
thought it was all my fault.  That I was not cute enough or something.

Ranma      Besides Akane, you still have Ryoga.  You were always
protecting him and were far
more nicer to him than you ever were to me.

Akane      Ryoga?  What does Ryoga have to do with this?

Ranma      You can't tell me you don't know...

Ukyou      Remember when I set you up with Ryoga?  Well it wasn't just
because I wanted Ranma.
I found out Ryoga was in love with you, but he was too afraid to ask you
out, so I decided to help
him out.

Akane      I never knew...but what about all my feelings for you Ranma?
You mean they don't mean
anything?

Ranma      Akane, its all right.  I still like you a little.  Ukyou
knows that and we feel we can work
through it together.  Give the guy a chance.  Even though he can be a
jerk, he's still a nice guy right?

Akane      Well...I guess...

Ranma      Don't worry.  But I don't think he will ever get around to
telling you.

Ukyou      (Checking the time)  I'm sorry to spoil things, but we have
to get back to open the
restaurant.  We also have to get ready to leave in a few days...

Ranma      But I thought we weren't leaving until...

Ukyou      Didn't I tell you?  I got tickets to leave in 3 days.  I've
been getting nervous about
Kodachi coming by and trying something. I think she'll do anything she
can to split us up...and
besides, the sooner we get back, the sooner we'll be married.

Ranma      That's great.  That means I'll never be a girl again even
sooner.  Akane, I'm sorry, but this
is so important to me.  When I get back, I can tell everyone else how to
get cured.  Then we can all
start to live normal lives again.

Akane      I understand.  And Ukyou, thanks for coming by.  It does make
me feel a lot better now
that I've talked to both of you.

After they finally got out of the house due to all the pleas for Ranma
to stay, they start toward the
restaurant for another long day of work.

Ukyou      Now that was painless.  See, she wasn't going to beat you to
a pulp like you thought she
would.

Ranma      Yeah...well it was nice to see her cheer up a little.

Ukyou      Don't worry.  After we leave, things will get a lot better.
Things will be so different when
we get back.  I hope it will be soon.

Ranma      You're telling me.  I'm going to hate leaving this place.

The next three days go by quickly.  There weren't any new disturbances
to their routine of work and
sleep except for the time taken up with planning and packing for their
trip.  When the big day came,
the Tendos, Ranma's father, and Ryoga went to wish them a safe trip as
they got onto the boat.
Unaware of what was ahead of them or even if they could find the spring
filled their mind as the boat
departed.  Not knowing how long it would take, they were prepared to
search all of China for what
Ranma wanted most, a normal life and to be able to come back and see
their friends again.

END

Afterthoughts:

I know there are a lot of things I could have gone into with more
detail, but I felt it was time for the
story to end.  Originally planned to be 4 parts, the story started to
seem like it was going to take
much more time to develop.  Besides, I started to have ideas for other
stories I could write and I
wanted to start on those.  I decided to leave this story open ended so
that maybe in the future I will
get back to it and go into things like relationships between Akane and
Ryoga.  I had lots of ideas for
Ranma and Ukyou in China, but I guess that will have to wait for a
while.  Thank you for reading my
first fanfic.  It may suffer a great deal, but hopefully, my future
fanfics should be better.

Ryan Davies

rdavies@cornell-iowa.edu