Momijigari
by jeff shelton
jws1@webtv.net
disclaimer
All the characters in this story belong to Takahashi
Rumiko and I have no right to use them.
My thanks to Scott 'Zoogz' Jamison, Sean Gaffney and
Gary Kleppe for prereading this story.
This takes place after vol 38 of the manga.
Momijigari: an excursion into the mountains to view
fall colors. To view the trees as the leaves change
colors. During Autumn, news programs show maps
indicating where the fall color is at its best.
Going to view the fall colors is a popular
excursion.
My research for this and where I got the word
"momijigari" from is: "Learning to Bow: Inside the
Heart of Japan" by Bruce S Feiler. Chapter 6 is
where the inspiration for some of this story comes
from. It is an autobiographic book about an
american english teacher's year in Japan. He taught
english at the Jr High level. Hopefully I'm not
making a mistake using "momijigari". If I am making
a mistake could someone please correct me. thank you
This story takes place during the height of the fall
color viewing season.
____________________________________________________
Momijigari
by jeff shelton
Unryü farmhouse
"Akari, the mail's here!" Akari's grandfather
yells.
"Coming, Grandfather!" Akari replies, from where
she tends to Katsunishiki, her sumo pig.
"Looks like you've got some more photos from Tendo
Nabiki, and a letter from Hibiki Ryouga, today." He
smiles as he hands her the mail.
"A letter from Ryouga!" she exclaims with joy. She
quickly rips open the letter and reads it. She
looks at her grandfather and says, "He'll be here
soon. The letter says he was going to be here a
week ago." She puts the letter in her blouse, for
safe keeping, until she can store it where she has
all the other letters Ryouga has ever sent her. She
slowly and carefully opens the packet from Nabiki.
It contains several large photos of Ryouga and
several more of P-chan, along with a bill.
Akari's grandfather looks at her while she gazes
worshipfully at the pictures. "You really like the
boy, don't you?"
"Grandfather, how could you think I only like
Ryouga! I love Ryouga and I know he loves me." She
glares at her grandfather.
"Well, I not going to argue with that look." Akari
goes back to looking at the photos. "Hmmm," He
mumbles as he thinks. "I'm going to get something,
I'll be right back, Akari." He leaves and goes to
his room. Akari is unaware of what her grandfather
has said or is doing.
A few minutes later he returns carrying a small
book. "Ummm, Akari, can I have your attention?" He
says. Akari looks at her grandfather. "This is
your Grandmother's diary. I think she would like
you to have it." He hands it to her. "I've marked
a special passage in it," he smiles as he walks off.
Akari opens the diary and begins to read. After a
couple of minutes a smile appears on her face. It
grows larger. She finishes the passage, closes the
book, and hugs it to her chest. "Thank you,
Grandmother," she whispers.
The next day in the woods outside the Unryü
farmhouse.
"Where I am?!" yells Hibiki Ryouga.
Akari, sitting on top of Katsunishiki, yells, "Right
in front of me!"
"A-akari! I've found you!" he says as he turns
quickly around.
"I was just going to start dinner. Do you want to
stay for dinner, Ryouga?"
"Y-yes."
"Follow me, closely."
Ten minutes later at the farmhouse.
"Now, Ryouga, stay in the living room, ok. I've got
to get something from my room and I'll be right
back. Then I'll start on dinner," Akari says.
She goes to her room. She comes back in a few
minutes with her grandmother's diary. "Ryouga, I
marked a special passage in this book. I want you
to read it and follow its directions, please," she
says. She hands him the book. She holds his hands
together in hers as she gently says, "Please, do
what it says." She looks him in the eyes as she
pleads with him. She goes into the kitchen to make
dinner.
Ryouga opens the book, takes out the bookmark and
starts to read the diary. After a couple of minutes
he stops and looks at the bookmark. It is a map of
Nikko National Park in the mountains of Japan.
'S-she w-w-ants me to-oo?? I can't. No, I can. No,
I can't,' he desperately thinks.
"Aaarrrggghhh!" he yells after a couple minutes of
indecision.
"Ryouga, are you alright?" Akari says from the
kitchen. She goes to the door and looks into the
living room.
Ryouga is gone. A Ryouga shaped hole in the wall
shows where he went through it. The diary and the
map are gone.
"I wish he could have stayed for dinner," she sighs.
She smiles, "At least I know, he wants to do it,"
she says.
'Leaving so early so he can make sure he is on time.
And he has two weeks before the date on the map,
too. Still, he is correct you have to start
planning and preparing for something like this as
early as possible,' she thinks.
"A horrible thought. What if, even with him trying
this hard, he still gets lost and doesn't get there
on time? I've got to do everything I can do to make
sure he gets there when he's supposed too," she
says, talking to herself.
She goes over the phone and dials a number.
"Hello, Tendo residence," Tendo Kasumi answers the
phone.
"This is Unryü Akari. Could I speak to Tendo Akane,
please?"
"Of course, I'll get her."
"Hi! Akari, this is Akane."
"I need to talk to you about Ryouga," Akari begins
to explain.
They talk.
****
A week later in Nerima. In a clothing store.
Akane holds up a green dress and says to Ranma, "I'm
going to try this on, I'll be right back." She goes
into a dressing room.
'Mom told me I had to come and help Akane shop but
why does it have to be dresses? I've always hated
shopping,' Ranma thinks. Bored and irritated Ranma
looks around the shop trying to find something to
occupy him.
'I'm glad Auntie convinced Ranma to help me. The
dresses he wears as a girl always looks good. His
fashion sense is better than most boys,' she thinks
putting on the dress. She blushes, 'I'm just not
going to take him lingerie shopping like she
suggested.'
'Oh man, oh man, I just thought of something. What
if I say I like the dress, but she doesn't. I'm
going to be in trouble. But if I say I hate the
dress, and she likes it... I'm in trouble,' Ranma
thinks. He really starts looking around now,
looking for something, anything to get him out of
this.
He smiles, 'I can tell her that I saw P-chan and
went after him. She might get angry at me for
leaving, but trying to be nice to P-chan will cause
her to forgive me.' He runs out of the store.
"Ranma, What do you think about this..." Akane says
as she leaves the dressing room. She stops when she
sees Ranma isn't in sight. "Ranma! Where are you?"
"He just left, ma'am," the sales clerk tells her.
"Grr, when I find him..." Akane growls. She quickly
changes clothes and goes after Ranma.
A few minutes later.
Hibiki Ryouga leaves a small shop. He gets out a
map and starts down the street.
'Ryouga's a life saver,' Ranma thinks seeing him.
'Now when Akane finds me I can tell her the truth.'
"P-chan! Where are you trying to go?
Hokkaido?" Ranma says as he appears. He stands on
Ryouga's head looking down at him.
"Get off!" Ryouga yells as he takes a swipe at
Ranma. Ranma jumps down and lands a few feet away.
"I'm not going to Hokkaido. I'm going to Nikko
National Park." Under his breath he continues, "As
soon as I can find it." Ryouga starts walking
again, in the wrong direction.
"You're going the wrong way, you idiot," Ranma says
as he takes the map. "Why do you want to go there
anyway? Special Training?" He looks at the map.
"Give that back, Ranma!" Ryouga yells as he lunges
for the map. Ranma easily dodges Ryouga's attack
and starts to tease Ryouga with the map. He uses
his superior speed to stay out of Ryouga's reach.
After a couple of swipes, Ryouga recognizes Ranma's
not going to give him the map and he stops. "I'll
find it on my own, then," he says as he walks off.
"Hey! I was just playing," Ranma says, "here," He
hands the map back to Ryouga. "What's so special?"
"I've got to get there in a couple of days so..."
Ryouga's voice trails off since he decides he does
not want to tell Ranma why he was going to Nikko
Park.
"So what?"
'I wouldn't tell him about Akari. It's just too...
I know!' Ryouga thinks.
"For... for special training, like you said, Ranma.
I found this weird old man who's going to teach me
a new technique. So I can come back here and beat
you, once and for all." Ryouga looks at the map and
starts walking. "Once I learn it, I'll be back," he
says in his best Schwarzenegger impression.
"Hmmm." Ranma runs past Ryouga and
grabs the map. "Then if I take the map and get
there first, I'll learn it before you.
Thanks!" he says as he runs away. Ryouga quickly
loses sight of Ranma.
"Curse you, Saotome Ranma! Bring me back my map!!"
Ryouga yells.
"What did Ranma do this time, Ryouga?" Tendo Akane
asks as she runs up behind Ryouga.
"A-akane, w-what are you doing here?" a surprised
Ryouga stammers.
"I've been chasing Ranma. Trying to get him to help
me shop for some new clothes," Akane sighs
disgustedly.
'I wanted him to tell me what dress he likes me in
and the idiot won't tell me. So he runs away,' she
thinks.
"Well, Ryouga, what did Ranma do this time?" Akane
asks again.
"He stole my map to Nikko National Park, that no
good, low down, dirty thief!" Ryouga yells.
"Nikko National Park? Where you and Akari are
supposed to meet next week?"
"Y-y-yes? Ho-how did you know?"
"She called and told me. She asked me if I found
you to help you get there." Akane smiles, and
continues, "Come on, I'll take you home. Then,
we'll get my camping gear and then I'll show you the
way, OK?" She grabs Ryouga's hand and starts to
drags him home.
'Akane, you can take me anywhere,' Ryouga thinks.
The Tendo residence later.
Akane with the phone in her hand talks to Akari.
She has a map she just bought in her hand. "Ok,
Akari. I've got the spot marked. I promise you
he'll be there and on time too."
While she talks on the phone, Genma listens to her.
He is reading the diary he borrowed from Ryouga's
backpack, while Ryouga is cleaning up. He smiles
and thinks, 'I'll put this back, and then talk to
Tendo. I've got a plan."
****
A few days later in the woods at the edge of Nikko
National Park.
Akane and Ryouga are camping out. It's midnight and
Ryouga throws a small log on the low fire. Akane is
sleeping. In his other hand he holds a small box.
"Tomorrow, Akari and I will, will ..." as his nose
starts to bleed, he stops speaking to himself.
'I've got to stop that!' he thinks as he wipes the
blood off his face. 'If I can't think about Akari
without bleeding, how will I do it tomorrow?'
"I promise you, Akari," he says to the box in his
hand. "That you are the only woman for me. Not
even Akane will cause me to forget that. I will not
any other woman lead me around."
'Like Ranma in his disguises does,' he thinks.
He looks at Akane. Her normal twisting and turning
in her sleep is starting. "A-akane, I, I, when I
think about you, I just don't feel the same way I
feel about Akari. I can think about having you
place me on your bosom, and my nose doesn't bleed,"
Ryouga says to the sleeping Akane. A small tendril
of blood comes from his nose.
'Ok, so, maybe I do, but it's not like I do when I
think about Akari doing the same thing,' he thinks
as he touches his nose.
"Damn it, the thought of Ranma making you unhappy
still hurts though. Why should it hurt, if I'm
going to make Akari a complete woman tomorrow? I'm
not going to be doing the same thing with you,
Akane. So why does the thought of Ranma breaking
your heart, bug me some much?" he asks her.
'I feel protective of Akane, like, like... I KNOW,
like she was my younger sister. I wouldn't want my
younger sister to be engaged to Ranma. So that's
why I don't like the idea of Ranma hurting her.' He
smiles as he finally has come up with a solution to
a problem that has been bugging him ever since
before the failed wedding.
He gets up, puts the small box in his pants pocket
and goes over to Akane. He kneels down beside her
and picks up Akane's right hand. "I promise, Akane,
to always look after you and protect you from
anybody. Just like an older brother would do for
his younger sister."
As he puts down her hand, Akane wakes up.
"Pervert!" she yells as slaps Ryouga.
"A-akane, it's not what you think!" he says
apologetically. He quickly thinks and says, "I just
saw a bug on you and was brushing it off."
"Oh, sorry, Ryouga," she blushes from embarrassment.
"Just jumped to the wrong conclusion, it won't
happen again, sorry."
"It's ok, Akane. I think I can go to sleep now," he
says as he goes to his sleeping bag.
****
The next day at Nikko National Park. Late afternoon.
Ryouga and Akane walk up a trail. Ryouga
wearing his standard clothes. Akane wears her
hiking gear with backpack. The wind blowing through
the trees above them shakes leaves from the
trees as they hike past. They reach the top of a
mountain and look down on the valley below.
The trees covering the mountainside and the valley
below are in full fall color. The reds, yellows,
greens, oranges, gold leaves sway with the wind.
The clouds, as they cover and uncover the sun, cast
their own shadows over the scene as well. A
beautiful partly cloudy fall day is almost over.
"We're here, Ryouga." She smiles at
him.
"And we're early." He smiles back at Akane.
"U-um, Akane, I-I want to..." Ryouga begins.
"Say, Ryouga, where is this weird old man you
mentioned?" Ranma says while he jumps out of a
nearby maple tree and approaches Ryouga and Akane.
"I've been here for days and all the old men I've
talked to didn't know a thing."
"Ranma! Die!" Ryouga yells as he attacks Ranma.
"You stole my map!"
"Lead me to that old man and you can have it back!"
Ranma yells back. He heads off into the woods.
Ryouga starts chasing him.
"Ryouga! Come back here! We're already where you
need to be!" Akane yells trying to stop Ryouga, but
it is too late. She goes after the two boys.
Once in the woods Ryouga quickly loses sight of
Ranma and gets lost looking for him.
Akane sees Ranma up in a tree. "Get down here!" she
yells.
Ranma jumps down and goes to her. "I was just
trying to find Ryouga. I'm going to get him to show
me where that old man is."
"What old man? Neither Ryouga or Akari ever said
that Akari's Grandfather would be here."
"The old man that was going to teach Ryouga a new
special technique. What's Akari's grandfather have
to do with it? Was that who he was going to met?
Nah, he would've just gone to see Akari then, not
come here."
"What new technique? Where did this come from?
Ryouga was coming here for a date with Akari, not to
learn a new technique," Akane says.
"A date?" Ranma begins to say then continues, "He
said that this was a map to..."
"Ranma before you stole that map you could have
asked him what it was for!"
"I did, Akane! He told me about a special
technique. But I can understand him not wanting
anybody knowing about a date. I wouldn't want
anybody to know if we were going on a date."
Akane grabs Ranma's shirt and pulls him toward her.
"Before I get angry, Ranma, explain that," Akane
says.
"Well, I mean, you know," Ranma begins. He grabs
his pig tail and looks around seeing if anybody is
watching. "Look around, Akane, is anybody watching?"
"What's that got to do with a date?" Akane asks as
she refuses to look around.
"If we were on a real date, right now, how many
people would be watching? I wouldn't want people to
follow us."
"So there wouldn't be any interference," Akane's
voice loses its angry tone and she lets go of
Ranma's shirt. "Now what are we going to do about
Ryouga? He's lost and he needs to be here when
Akari shows up."
"He's got a date with Akari, here?" Ranma muses.
"Good for him. OK, we spilt up, so we can find him
faster."
****
After searching for a while, Akane finds Ryouga's
backpack in a small stream. She pulls it out.
"Ryouga! Where are you!" She yells.
When she sets the backpack down a small rivulet of
water come out of the backpack. 'I'd better take
everything out and make sure nothing has been
damaged by the water. I wonder why Ryouga left it
in that brook?' she thinks as she opens the
backpack.
The water didn't hurt anything. This sort of thing
has happened far too often for Ryouga to be
unprepared. All his cooking utensils are rustproof
and the small gas stove is waterproof. His wet
clothing Akane unfolds so they can dry.
She also sees a waterproof pouch in the backpack.
She looks around to see if anybody is watching. She
doesn't see anyone. She opens the pouch, and a
bunch of objects fall out. A matchbook, some
letters with Akari's name on them, some other
things, plus the diary hit the ground.
Akane looks around again. Nothing. 'I shouldn't
look, but Ryouga has been very nervous lately.
Whenever I tried to talk to him about Akari, his
stuttering became so bad, he couldn't talk. Maybe
this will tell me why. I saw him take this out and
read it several times on the way here,' she thinks
as she picks up the diary.
She opens and begins to read the diary. It opens at
a heavily read passage. After a couple of minutes
Akane turns bright red from embarrassment and closes
the diary. She carefully puts everything back in
the pouch.
As she puts the pouch back in the backpack, a voice
surprises her. "Hey, Akane! You found his backpack,"
Ranma says as he approaches her.
"Argh!" Akane yells as she quickly turns around and
swings the backpack at Ranma. "Don't scare me like
that!" she says after she misses him.
"Scare you?" He wonders why.
"Never mind, Ranma." She puts the backpack down.
"Why are you here instead of looking for him?"
"I heard your yell and thought you found him. It
looks like I was wrong. Oh well, I'll start looking
again," he says as he starts to walk away.
"Oh, by the way, Ryouga might like it if you go
ahead and start his stove and put on some boiling
water," Ranma pauses then continues. "Also, I
thought I saw P-chan, so watch for him too."
"If you saw P-chan, why didn't you pick him up?"
"Because you just yelled for Ryouga and I came here
instead." He goes behind a tree.
"Next time, pick P-chan up!" Akane yells after
Ranma.
Akane starts the small stove and puts a pot of water
on it.
'Should I stay here? No, I need to go looking for
Ryouga. I brushed all the leaves away, so there
shouldn't be any real fire hazard. I'll just come
back and check here every so often,' she thinks as
she starts to look for Ryouga.
****
As soon as she leaves, Ranma comes out from behind a
tree. "What was so interesting in that book, I
wonder?" he says as he goes over and opens the
backpack up.
He starts to read the book. He turns bright red and
says, "You sly pig, Ryouga, so that's why." He
puts the book back.
'Ok, he fell in the stream, so he should be
downstream,' he thinks.
After a couple of minutes of looking, Ranma finds
Ryouga's clothes. A small box falls out of the
pants when he picks them up. He picks it
up and opens it. He closes the box instantly. "He
really means it," he says in awe. "He'll never do
it. He'll bleed to death before he finishes," he
says to himself.
He puts the box in his pocket and goes back to the
clearing where Ryouga's backpack is. 'Sooner or
later he'll show up there and he'll want these,' he
thinks.
****
"P-chan, I found you!" Akane cries joyfully as she
picks up her pet. "You're wet and cold. I wonder
what happened?" she says to him.
She takes a towel out of her backpack and dries him
off. She places P-chan under her blouse to warm him
up.
'Akane,' Ryouga thinks as his snout rests on her
breast. 'This is so...'
"You wouldn't happen to know where Ryouga is, would
you, P-chan?" she says to P-chan. P-chan picks his
snout up and looks at her with frightened eyes.
"You couldn't tell me, even if you knew," she sighs
and continues, "I just want to find Ryouga and help
him.
"You know Akari's one lucky girl, P-chan. Ryouga's
such a better gentleman than Ranma is," she says
musingly. P-chan is paying very close attention to
what she is saying.
"I don't think Ranma will ever do what Ryouga is
going to. I think, no, I know, he's afraid too,"
she smiles at P-chan. "He says he's only afraid of
cats, buts he's far more terrified of what Ryouga
has planned than any cat."
'I ought to know, I was afraid of it too. But, now,
after almost dying... I'm not, or at least I hope am
not," she thinks.
After a few seconds of silence she begins to whisper
to P-chan. "You know, P-chan, when I see Ryouga, I
think I will tell him something, do want to know
what?" she asks her pet. P-chan nods his head
vigorously.
"Ok, I'll practice it with you so I can say it
correctly with Ryouga," she pauses and thinks for a
second. "Ryouga wants to beat Ranma. He needs to
go ahead and do what Akari wants. That way, even if
by some miracle Ranma does it later, Ryouga can
always say he did it first. It would be something
Ranma could never take away. Do you think that is
any good, P-chan?" she asks.
P-chan begins to cry. 'Akari! I'm sorry! I forgot
the promise I made last night. I've cheated on you!
I've got to go and find Akari, no matter how nice
this is!' he thinks. P-chan starts to twist and
turn trying to get out of Akane's grasp.
"P-chan! What's wrong?" Akane wonders as she tries
to control her pet. After several seconds of
struggling with P-chan, she put him down. "I don't
know what's wrong, P-chan? You're never hated being
held before," she says.
'I'm sorry, Akane, but. Akari... I'm coming!'
Ryouga thinks as he runs away from Akane.
"P-chan!" Akane cries as she follows him. P-chan
runs under a large bush and she loses sight of him.
'What happened?' she thinks.
****
P-chan comes running out from behind a tree as Ranma
lays out the clothes he located earlier next to
Ryouga's backpack.
"So, there you are, Ryouga. You better change
quickly. I saw Akari earlier when I was looking for
you," he says to P-chan.
Ryouga quickly uses the hot water and dresses.
"Where is she?" Ryouga asks. He goes over to Ranma
and says, "You'd better take me to her, or I will
tell people a secret that Akane just told me." He
threateningly grabs Ranma by his shirt as he
speaks.
"Hey, I was going to lead you there anyways, no need
to get violent about it, Ryouga," Ranma says. Then
his eyes harden and he continues, "What was that
secret? P-chan?"
"Lead me to Akari and I will tell you later," Ryouga
says with a nasty smile on his face.
"Ggrrr," Ranma growls, "Only because I like Akari.
Otherwise I'd beat it out of you now. But you
showing up all beat up, just wouldn't be fair to
her." Ranma threateningly grabs Ryouga's shirt as he
speaks.
Akane sees Ranma and Ryouga standing very close to
each other, grabbing each others shirts when she
enters the clearing.
"STOP FIGHTING!" Akane yells as she runs up. "You
two should be ashamed of yourselves. Today, of all
days, fighting," she says, exacerbated at both of
them.
They let go of each other.
"Akane," Ryouga begins, but Ranma starts talking at
the same time.
"Akane, this isn't what you think!" a flustered
Ranma says.
"What I think, doesn't matter right now. What
matters is that Ryouga needs to get to where Akari
is waiting, not fighting you, Ranma," she says in a
stern voice.
"Come on, Ryouga, I'll lead you," she says to
Ryouga. She grabs his hand to starts to pull him to
where Akari is at.
'I was going to tell Ryouga what I told P-chan, but
with Ranma here, I can't. He'd interrupt and ruin
what I would be trying to tell Ryouga,' she thinks.
'Akane, I...I've been too dependant on you, and your
generosity. With this decision, I need to be
independant of you. So I need to find Akari on my
own,' he thinks.
Ryouga stops and removes his hand from Akane's
grasp. "I'll find her myself, Akane," he says to
her.
"You've sure, Ryouga?" Akane asks.
Ryouga starts to walk away, but after he gets three
or four meters away he stops. He turns around and
looks at Akane and Ranma. A question forms in his
eyes.
"Saotome Ranma, would you be kind enough to escort
me to my friend, Unryü Akari," Akane says holding
out her arm for Ranma to slip his hand around it.
"Of course, Tendo Akane, I'm always glad to help a
friend," he says putting his hand around Akane's
arm. They walk arm in arm to where Akari is
waiting. They can hear the crunch of the leaves
behind them.
"He's following," Ranma whispers.
"Good," Akane whispers.
They go back to the top of the mountain.
With the setting sun behind her Ryouga sees Akari.
The clouds behind her look like a dragon,
highlighted by the setting sun. He passes Ranma and
Akane as he runs toward Akari.
"Akari! I'm here!" Ryouga yells.
"Ryouga!" Akari yells back as she waves.
"This is so romantic, Ranma, don't you think?" Akane
looks at Ryouga running toward Akari.
"Huh? Ye... Oops, almost forgot something," Ranma
says as he takes out the small box he found in
Ryouga's pants.
As he throws it to Ryouga he yells, "Ryouga! Catch
it!"
Ryouga stops and reflexively catches the box.
"Huh?" he says. He looks at the box. "I'm going
to kill you for this!" he yells as he stops and
starts to run back to Ranma.
"Ryouga!" Akari yells from behind him.
Ryouga stops, looks at Akari. Looks at Ranma, "This
Friday at the Dojo," he growls at Ranma. "You will
pay for stealing this." He shakes the box at Ranma.
Then he turns and runs to Akari.
Ranma smiles, "You know, Akane, I thought there for
a second he was going to blow it with Akari. It's a
good thing I remembered I had that, otherwise he's
would've been real embarrassed in a few minutes."
He now turns to Akane.
Akane's fiery Battle Aura engulfs him as she yells
at him, "YOU STOLE RYOUGA'S ENGAGEMENT RING!!"
Ranma's chin intercepts Akane's fist as her
uppercut sends him flying into the woods. Akane
chases after him.
****
Akari wearing a green mini-skirt, a white silk
blouse, a blue scarf, and one of her wide-brimmed
hats runs into Ryouga's arms.
"Akari!"
"Ryouga!"
They embrace each other.
Ryouga reluctantly lets go of her. His face shines a
bright red as he clears his throat, and swallows.
"A-akari... I,I... the sunset is so beautiful, but,
... but not as beautiful as..."
"Me," Akari says helping him out.
"Y-Yes."
Ryouga's arm slowly raises the box. He manfully
ignores the trail of blood flowing from his nose.
Ryouga goes to one knee and slowly kneels before
Akari. "A-A-akari, W-wo-would y-y..."
She takes the box from him and opens it up. A ring
set with a large green diamond-like stone is in the
box. She swallows. "Is this for me?"
Ryouga, in the hardest thing he's ever done, slowly
nods his head, yes.
"YES!! RYOUGA!!" Akari cries as she goes down and
embraces Ryouga. They kiss. Unfortunately, after a
couple of seconds Ryouga collapses from blood loss.
As she holds up Ryouga, Akari quietly says, "We're
definitely going to have to work on your endurance,
lover. Luckily Grandmother's diary, in addition to
telling me how she was proposed to, also has some
very, very, nice tips for the wedding night." She
smiles and kisses the unconscious Ryouga.
'I got my wish, to be proposed to the same way my
grandmother was,' she joyfully thinks. 'Now to get
him to agree to a wedding date. Hopefully when the
cherry blossoms are in full bloom, like mother's
wedding.'
****
The end
****
Epilog 1
Akari and Ryouga
As Ryouga and Akari go down from the mountain the
next morning, Akari says, "Ryouga, what is the stone
in the ring?"
"I found it in a very, very cold cave. The bigger
stones in the cave actually stopped my Baukusai
Tenketsu special attack. I thought that was strange
and picked up a few of the smaller pieces. When I
showed a piece to Cologne she told me it was
ozmidine. She told me to go to this weird old
jeweler. He, I don't know how, shaped and set the
stone in the ring."
Ryouga also thinks, 'I was coming out of his shop
when Ranma stole my map. I've got to remember to go
back and give him some more ozmidine, next time I
can find that cave again.'
(I wonder how many people will catch the reference.
It is not anime/manga related. Think SF novel.)
****
epilog 2
Akane and Ranma
They are walking into the clearing where they left
Ryouga's backpack.
"I was just making sure Ryouga didn't lose it.
That's why I had the ring, Akane," Ranma pleads to
Akane.
"Grr, All right, I believe you," she says. "`Cause
if you did steal it, you wouldn't have thrown it to
him without a fight."
The clouds moved off as the sun set so the full
harvest moon's bright light illuminates the
clearing. It's a beautiful early evening fall
night.
"Ranma?"
"Yeah?"
"Remember what I said about this being a beautiful
setting?"
"Yeah," Ranma says as he looks around. "It's nice.
If you're into such wimpy things."
"Grrr. And here I was hoping Ryouga's proposing to
Akari might have gotten to you. I see I was right,
Ryouga will beat you and propose properly to a girl
before you will."
"Ryouga beat me? Never! Not even with that!" Ranma
says.
"Prove it," Akane challenges.
Ranma looks at Akane. Her confidence shining
through as she stands there, obviously not believing
Ranma will go through with it.
"You know, the way Ryouga stutters when he's with a
girl, I bet he hasn't done it yet," Ranma muses. He
smiles, turns around and starts to run toward where
Ryouga and Akari are at.
Akane's hand instantly reaches out and grabs Ranma's
pigtail and yanks Ranma's head back. "If you break
up those two. I'll HURT you!" she yells in Ranma's
ear. She lets go of him.
Ranma reaches back and massages the hair at the back
of his head. "Oww! That hurt, Akane."
Akane angrily crosses her arms in front of her.
"Well, what are you going to do?"
Ranma clears his throat and swallows. He then
slowly kneels and goes to one knee. Akane's face
loses it's angry look and she smiles. She looks
around, she wants to remember everything about
tonight, forever.
"A-Akane..." Ranma begins.
The leaves on a large shrub start to move. The
movement of the shifting leaves catches Akane's
eyes. She sees Genma shove a camcorder out from
behind the shrub. The bright moonlight also
reflects off the lens of the camera Soun is holding.
Akane's face turns savagely furious. She bends down
and picks up Ryouga's backpack. She throws it at
the shrub. Soun and Genma jump out.
She charges them yelling, "Damn you! SPYING ON US!"
"Phew..." Ranma whispers.
A hospital room. The next day.
Soun and Genma are in full body casts. Soun says to
Genma, "I thought you said, if we made sure the
Hibiki boy proposed your son would do the same."
"Next time we make sure they can't see us."
The end for real.
Authors notes.
URL for those who might want some more info on Nikko
National Park. It has a couple a pictures which I
used as inspiration.
http://www.japan.co.jp/~toypage/
click on Nikko
This didn't quite come out the way I had originally
planned. I like how it did come out, but the
original draft had less comedy.
The emphasis on Akane and Ranma, not Akari and
Ryouga:
I wanted to see how long I could delay saying that
this was a Ryouga proposes story. This meant I could
not use Ryouga's or Akari POV.
Lack of serious thoughts about marriage and the
problems Akari and Ryouga might have. This was
supposed to be WAFF. Hard to do that and include a
lot of hard problem solving. Or at least I think it
is.
Ryouga and the quickness of his decision to ask
Akari to marry him. This could be to fast for him.
<shrug> I'm influenced to a degree by how aggressive
Ryouga became during the date with Akane in the
Shampoo's Soap story, once he decided she did like
him. With Akari showing she wanted this to occur,
that caused Ryouga's objections to proposing to her
to vanish.
Akari and her forcefulness. If people can write
about a forceful Kasumi. Writing a forceful Akari
should be a lot easier.
I had thought about having Shampoo and Ukyo show up
and get in a fight with Akane and Ranma. They will
not like Ryouga and Akari getting together. Without
Ryouga as a good second choice, Akane might wise up
and start to like Ranma. Ranma and Akane would fight
them to prevent them from interrupting Akari and
Ryouga. I decided against it, since I wanted this to
be WAFF and funny. A serious fight would not do for
the story I was trying to write.
Ozmidine is a fictional mineral. It's hardness is 14
on the Mohs scale. (diamond is 10)
And C&C will be read and answered.
Thank you for reading this far.
thank you
jeff shelton
jws1@webtv.net
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