[Ranma][Fanfic][Revision 2.0draft] Ranma-ototo Series (parts 3-4)
In preparation for a new story set in my Ranma-ototo universe, I'm
revising the original six part mini-series. Mostly because I kept
cringing when referring back to it for the follow up story (tentatively
titled: Please Save My Family or PSMF). I also wanted to fix some
problems with using ototo as an suffix and other bonehead mistakes.
Being my first fanfic and having no pre-readers/FFML input it was very
rough.
So, I'd appreciate it if I could get some C&C and grammar/spelling
corrections on the revised version. I'll put the revisions out in 3
segments.
Thank you.
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Ranma-ototo (Little brother Ranma) Series (Parts 3-4) Revision 2.0Draft
Ranma 1/2 characters and situations created by Rumiko Takahashi
Ranma 1/2 Copyright by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., Kitty, Fuji,
Viz Communications
Ranma-ototo series created and written by Jim Lazar
Ranma-ototo series Copyright 1998 by Jim Lazar
Story starts shortly after 'Back to the Happosai' Anime episode.
Continuity based on Anime up until 'Back to the Happosai' episode.
======================================================================
Ranma-ototo (Little brother Ranma)
Part 3 - Timber! The Tendo Family Tree is Cut Down
The waves crashed against the beach as the sun slowly set in the
distance. Ryoga and Little-Ryoga walked down the beach. Ryoga was
trying to keep his distance from the water. "Well...this can't be
right. There's no beach near our house," Ryoga said, examining the map.
Suddenly, a huge wave crashed into the shore and soaked Ryoga,
mostly since he was looking at the map instead of the water.
Little-Ryoga turned around and noticed that his 'brother' was
missing. A little pig squealed nearby. "Brother? Where did you go?"
Little-Ryoga called out. He noticed the pig. "Oh...cute!" he exclaimed
and then ran after the pig.
P-Chan avoided being caught for a few seconds, but ended up being
hugged hard between Little-Ryoga's arms. "What a cute little piggy!
I'll keep you. Now where did my brother go?"
P-Chan just snorted in disgust.
* * *
A while later, things had calmed down a bit at the Tendo
household. Soun and Genma were now back at the table, many bandages
covering their heads and arms. Nabiki was making notes in a notebook.
Kasumi had put out some new tea on the spare table. The old table lay
in pieces in the corner.
Across from them all Akane was still fuming, but didn't look to be
capable of looking up at the moment. Ranma, still in his girl form, sat
behind Akane with her arms protectively wrapped around her 'sister'.
"Okay, we're only going to ask once more for the whole truth,"
Ranma explained in an even tone. "If we don't get it, me and Akane are
leaving, forever." A small nod was seen from Akane. "You've hidden
something from us for most of our lives and we can't go on like we
are," Ranma said.
"Right. 'Mr. Tendo' and 'Mr. Saotome' please tell us what we need
to know," Akane asked, not looking up. This had the desired affect on
Soun and Genma, who both recoiled and began to cry.
"I'll ask again: Mr. Tendo, am I your son?" Ranma questioned and
then added angrily, "And the first one to make a snide comment on my
current sex gets a one way trip to the moon!" That stopped everyone in
the room from mentioning it, including Akane who had started to open
her mouth.
Soun looked up at Ranma and Akane, tears streaming out of his
eyes. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Only a squeak was heard.
Kasumi looked straight at her father, what appeared to be a battle
aura formed around Kasumi body, yes Kasumi. Closer inspection would
reveal that the aura was made up of tiny flowers, bunnies, and kitties.
Fortunately, Ranma could not see this much detail or he'd have run away
screaming in terror. "Father, it's time to tell them or I go with
them," Kasumi said in her usual calm manner. No trace of a threat was
heard in her voice, but everyone felt the implied threat in her words.
"Please remember, Akane and Ranma, that they did it out of love
and that everyone was extremely sad and upset at the time," Kasumi said
calmly, looking at Akane and Ranma. Then she looked at Soun and Genma,
who were the only ones who could see her face at that moment.
Soun and Genma's faces went white with fright. They briefly looked
at each other and then nodded an unspoken agreement to each other.
Soun clearly said, "Ranma... you are my son, by my dearly departed
wife."
Ranma and Akane took this news with something bordering on relief,
since they had suspected as much.
"Continue, Father, all of it," Kasumi prodded.
"Son, after my wife died after her long battle with cancer..."
Soun began, then paused as darkness fell over the faces of everyone in
the room. "Things were very confusing and a lot of us couldn't handle
the news. She... seemed to be getting better before the end came. I was
a mess; I barely made it through the funeral without collapsing. You,
Akane, and Nabiki all took it very badly. You all seemed to react
differently to the loss. Only Kasumi was able to keep herself above the
chaos and hold the family together, despite her young age." Soun looked
at Kasumi with a look of pride and love in his eyes.
"Akane, you kept calling me 'Mommy' because in your sadness you
latched onto the closest thing to a mother you had left," Kasumi
interjected. "I was glad to comfort you, but I couldn't handle you and
everyone else myself. Akane, you used to keep Ranma 'occupied', but..."
Akane interrupted. "Umm, occupied?"
"Well, besides using your mallet whenever Ranma did something
stupid, which was quite often if I remember correctly, you also used to
play in the park with him," Kasumi said. "Me and Mother even caught you
two playing 'Doctor' a couple times," she added, a slight grin forming
on her lips.
Both Akane and Ranma blushed. Nabiki grinned and teased, "Naughty,
naughty. With your own sister, too!"
"Nabiki, please don't tease them," Kasumi scolded Nabiki. Nabiki
looked significantly chastised. "After Mother passed on you went into a
deep depression and actually started hurting him for real, along with
some property damage."
"Well, that sounds like Akane all right," Ranma mentioned, earning
a jab in the stomach.
"I spent a lot of time at the Tendo house to be with Akane after
the funeral and to help out. Me and my wife had always been close to
the Tendo's and you kids," Genma said, trying to explain his part of
the story. "Ranma, to give you something constructive to do, and
because Soun didn't have the will at that point to continue training
you, I started training you in Anything Goes Martial Arts, you took to
it quite rapidly. Akane even spared with us from time to time, but she
didn't have the same beautiful sparkle she had while she was growing
up. Ranma, she missed your mother as much, or even more, than anyone
else."
"If we could do everything over again, we may have handled
everything better, but I still think..." Soun said, but was interrupted
by Akane.
"You...said that...I missed Ranma's mother, Mr. Saotome?" Akane
stuttered a question.
"Yes, you probably took the news worse of all," Genma answered.
"Not *MY* Mother?" Akane asked. She started shaking and stared at
the floor.
Still holding Akane in her arms, Ranma's eyes went wide.
"Akane dear. I'm sorry you had to find out like this...but I am
your father, your mother is my wife, Nodoka," Genma explained. He
looked at the floor, not being capable of looking anyone in the eyes at
that moment.
Silence.
Nabiki blinked twice.
Silence.
Kasumi and Soun just looked at Akane with extremely sad eyes,
tears forming and falling from their eyes.
Silence.
Ranma hugged Akane tighter, not knowing what to say.
Silence.
Akane looked up from the floor. She blinked twice. She slowly
looked at each person in the room one by one, except Ranma who still
held her tightly.
Ranma was still staring at his father. <No...Akane's father.
No....he didn't deserve that name, just 'Saotome' is the most he can
expect at this moment,> Ranma thought and his anger raged inside.
Suddenly, a vivid flash of light erupted and blinded everyone in
the room. When their eyes readjusted, Akane was standing with her
battle aura radiating in all directions.
Ranma was knocked backwards and stared at Akane. His eyes were
filled with compassion and sadness.
"I see," Akane began. Her tone of voice seemed to be far too calm
for her current level of anger. "I have no father at all, then. Never
had, never will. My life is a lie." With a scream of pure despair Akane
turned and ran out into the night. Instead of leaping over the back
wall, Akane just crashed through it, pushing the large tree in the
corner of the yard over in the process. The tree was up rooted and fell
against the back wall.
Ranma jumped to his feet and started out the doors, she turned
around to see the others start to follow. "NO! I'll handle this myself!
You've all done enough harm for one lifetime!" Ranma yelled. He
unconsciously sent a wave of chi energy pulsing through the room. Not
enough to hurt, but it knocked everyone backwards. <What the heck was
that?> he thought, as he made his way after Akane.
Kasumi simply said, "Tell her we love her, Ranma. We ALL love both
of you."
"We know," Ranma replied. He then ran after Akane.
As the dust settled everyone looked crestfallen, but at the same
time relieved to be free of the lies that had held the Tendo family
together for so long. They all hoped it would still hold together
without the lies.
Finally after several minutes, Nabiki broke the silence. Looking
at Soun and Genma, Nabiki said, "So, between the two of you, you gave
my...little brother to this... morally corrupt, scheming, poor excuse
for a father, to raise?" Nabiki just registered the look of shame in
their eyes before she continued, "And then kept Akane from her real
parents?"
"It was the only way Akane was happy and Ranma needed to work off
his sadness. We never planned on it being permanent," Kasumi explained,
guiltily.
"I'll give you credit for keeping it from me, even with my
background check of Ranma and Mr. Saotome," Nabiki mentioned.
"You didn't..." Genma and Soun said together, shocked.
"Yes, you covered your tracks pretty well, Daddy. I guess I must
be your daughter, the cover up was worthy of me," Nabiki said.
"Thank you," Kasumi said. This earned a surprised and then proud
look from Nabiki.
Soun and Genma just looked downcast and pitiful, as well they
should have.
* * *
In the dark streets of Nerima, Ranma was following Akane's trail.
Which was fairly easy this particular evening, since normally only
Ryoga left trails as destructive as this one. The streetlights come to
life, the ones that were still vertical.
"Akane!" Ranma called out, desperately looking for her. She
rounded a corner, then ran into a bicycle tire. Or to be more exact, a
bicycle tire ran into and then over her.
"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo greeted Ranma and poured hot water over
her head.
"Urk," Ranma replied from under the tire. Shampoo backed her
bicycle slowly off his face. "Shampoo! Have you seen Akane?" the now
male Ranma asked quickly, getting back to his feet.
"No. You have some nice hot ramen, Ranma? Very good tonight!"
Shampoo offered a bowl to Ranma.
"I don't have time for this, Shampoo. I have to find Akane!" Ranma
replied, his voice growing angry.
"What you need that stupid tomboy for when you have me, Ranma?"
Shampoo asked.
"Shut up Shampoo, I don't want you to say anything bad about
Akane," Ranma said, then added angrily, "EVER AGAIN!"
"Ranma, come with me, you forget about stupid un-cute fiancee."
"Shampoo, I've tried to be nice to you because you're a good
person under your 'Chinese Amazon' mask and you're probably too far
under the old hags influence, but... I'm NEVER..." Ranma said, then
knocked the bowl of ramen out of her hands. "GOING..." he pulled her
off her bike. "TO..." he pulled her close to his face. "MARRY
YOU...EVER!!!" Then he gently pushed her down into the grass.
"Ran...ma..." Shampoo sputtered.
"Once more, Akane is my one and only fiancee!" Ranma declared. He
looked amazed when he heard himself say it. <Guess that's still
possible, we aren't related after all.>
"What she do to you, you not my Ranma!" Shampoo asked, getting to
her feet. She pulled out her bon-bori and tears started to well up in
her beautiful eyes.
"I've never been YOUR Ranma!" Ranma screamed and then continued
softly, "I've just woken up from my own stupid fantasy world and
realized that I can't live without her." Ranma heard a distant crash
and looked behind him.
"No! You stay with me," Shampoo cried. Then she swung her bon-bori
at the distracted Ranma, who went flying into some bushes from the
impact of the bon-bori.
"THAT'S IT! I have no more time for this!" Ranma screamed. His
battle aura blazed to life. "Don't make me kill you!" Ranma shouted.
Shampoo took another couple of swings at Ranma each of them
missed. Ranma threw several punches, which Shampoo parried with her
bon-bori.
Ranma remembered the small blast that his anger generated at the
Tendo house earlier; he concentrated and sent a ring of intense chi
energy at Shampoo. Shampoo was hit full on by the blast and sent flying
backwards. She slammed hard against a brick wall, which became a
smoking pile of bricks. Shampoo lay under the bricks, apparently
unconscious.
Ranma started to walk away in the direction of the earlier crashes
he had heard, then stopped and looked back at Shampoo. He turned around
and checked her for a pulse. Feeling her wrist, he sighed. "Good,
you'll live. But not with me," he said, relieved. He looked down sadly
at her for a moment, noticing something on her hands. He jumped up and
ran off with a determined look on his face.
* * *
A very sad and troubled child of around five years of age was
cowering in the corner of a dark alley, a small black pig resting his
hands. Both seemed to be crying.
Walking back to her restaurant, Ukyo passed near by with a bundle
of food. <I'll make Ranma an extra special okonomiyaki with these,> she
thought, a big grin appearing on her face. Then she heard the child's
sobs and looked over to him. "What's the matter, little boy?" Ukyo
asked, leaning over him.
The pig looked up and saw Ukyo. P-Chan squirmed trying to escape,
but Little-Ryoga held the pig tightly. "I'm lost and my big brother has
left me alone," he said.
"Oh, what is your name?" Ukyo asked. <Where have I've seen that
pig before?>
"Ryo Hibiki."
Ukyo looked stunned. "Any relation to Ryoga?" she asked.
Little-Ryoga nodded. "Well, knowing Ryoga he just got lost, I'm sure he
didn't leave you on purpose. Tell you what, I'm Ukyo, a friend of your
brother," she said, then paused. <I guess I am.> "Why don't you come to
my restaurant with me and wait for him to get un-lost?" <Hopefully
it'll be less than a month.> Ukyo sighed and held out her hand for
Little-Ryoga.
"Okay, miss," Little-Ryoga said, wiping his tears away. He got up
and grabbed Ukyo's offered hand.
* * *
In the same playground that they met their younger selves in,
Akane swung slowly on the swings. Broken fences and dented trashcans
were evident all over the playground. Akane just rocked back and forth
softly humming a little tune. A nearby clock struck midnight.
Ranma walked up behind her, pausing briefly. He sat down on the
swing next to Akane. Akane barely noticed his arrival. "Done acting
like Ryoga?" Ranma asked.
A brief smile appeared on Akane's ashen face. "I think I outdid
myself," she replied softly. "So where do I go from here?" she asked.
"I don't have any instant solutions to the mess our lives seem to
be right now, Akane. I can only say that they all love you, no matter
whose daughter you are," Ranma said. "I do too," he added softly.
"Maybe, but I've always felt secure in who I was and who my family
was. Even if my mother wasn't there, I felt her with me," Akane said,
staring at the ground.
"She was. When we went back to the past your... err... my mother
seemed to love you as her own. I had no doubt about that. In a way she
will always be your mother no matter who gave birth to you."
Tears started dripping from Akane's eyes. "OUR mother, we can't
avoid the fact that she's the only mother either of us have ever really
known."
"When it comes down to it, we owe them for doing what they did. We
both were apparently unable to fully accept what happened. They did
what they thought they had to do to keep the family from falling apart.
It must have been hard on everyone to loose her, and then be forced to
spit up the family to keep us happy. That's the love of a family."
This finally made Akane look up into Ranma's eyes. "Like the love
of a brother and sister?" Akane asked.
"Yes, I think I do love Kasumi and Nabiki as sisters," Ranma said.
"And not me?" Akane asked, her voice wavering.
"No. Not as a sister," Ranma answered, then paused. "As a man
loves a woman," he said, flinching internally at the stupid song that
popped into his head.
Akane just looked him in the eyes, without blinking. Then she
stood up and walked away from the swings a few steps. Looking away into
the dark sky, she said, "I don't need your pity."
Ranma got to his feet. "It's hardly pity," he snapped, but then
softened. "I could never pity you, you had a wonderful family growing
up. I think you got the better part of the deal. Unless you'd want to
end up going to China and becoming half man and half woman?" Ranma
asked, trying to break the tension.
"I AM half a woman. I'm incomplete," Akane said, then added,
"without you."
"Then you are complete, I will always be here for you."
"Promise?" Akane asked, looking back over her shoulder.
"Yes, the only thing that kept me going through this madness over
the past few days..." <Has it really only been three days?> "Is my love
for you."
"I love you too," Akane said, jumping into Ranma's arms and
hugging him closely. They held each other for what seemed like an
eternity.
"Akane, I want you to be a Tendo forever. I want...No, I need you
to marry me." Ranma proposed, holding her against his chest. Behind his
back, Akane's eyes went wide.
"About time you finally ask me, baka."
"Is that a yes, my beautiful tomboy?"
"Yes."
They pulled apart then Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled
out a small box. "Here."
Trembling, Akane took thee box and opened it. "What...when..."
Akane gasped, when she saw the ring inside.
"Well, why do you think it took me so long to find you tonight,
it's hard to find a jeweler open at this time of night that will accept
a Tendo I.O.U. I finally found one that seemed to be in mortal fear of
Nabiki for some reason," Ranma explained, grinning. He picked up the
ring and held it out.
"I...you..." Akane stammered, as she held a shaking hand up. <He
didn't just ask me on the spur of a moment or because he felt sorry for
me. He decided about this before even finding me tonight.> A beautiful
smile appeared on her face as Ranma slipped the ring on her ring
finger. Tears flowed down her cheeks, but for the first time tonight
they were tears of joy.
They embraced each other again and held each other for the rest of
their lives.
[End - Part 3]
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Author's notes and ramblings for part 3:
This part was the hardest to write, while parts 1 and 2 had enough
laughs to keep the story going with a high note, the nature of this
part was darker, the emotions more intense.
If you think Akane is too over the top with her anger in this part,
remember how angry she gets sometimes at a small perceived slight by
Ranma and you may see why she was so angry over the actions of Soun and
Genma.
Also, I did borrow the idea behind the "I'm incomplete without you."
Akane line from the Jerry McGuire movie.
The chi blast Ranma used in this story may or may not be related to
other chi attacks he's learns later in the Ranma 1/2 series, but
basically just came out of his anger. If you have to give it a name,
try 'For the love of Akane, I smite thee!'
=======================================================================
Ranma-ototo (Little brother Ranma)
Part 4 - Breakfast at Ucchan's
In a dark playground, two figures were holding each other tightly.
Some might call it a cheap feel, some might call it warm embrace, some
might call it a hug, some might call it two people shattered by recent
events desperately trying to maintain one part of their shattered
lives.
The two figures called it love.
Akane would have hit Ranma with a mallet a week ago for his
forwardness. But no longer, she needed this now and she wasn't going to
run away from her feelings anymore.
* * *
Ukyo tucked the little boy into her bed; she'd just have to use
the spare futon. The little pig the boy was holding earlier was lying
in a small crate by the side of the bed. The pig had fallen asleep
after desperately trying to get out of the crate.
"Okay, little Ryo, go to sleep," Ukyo said, quietly.
"Okay, Miss!" Little-Ryoga said, smiling.
Ukyo turned off the light and left the room, closing the door
behind her. She sighed and headed to the back room. <So, Ryoga has a
little brother, huh? Guess we've usually only tried to split up Ranma
and Akane before, never really talked.> Ukyo thought to herself, as
made her way to the back room.
* * *
A dazed and bruised Shampoo stumbled into the Cat Cafe, knocking
over a bucket of water near the door. The white and purple cat that
appeared in her place collapsed to the floor and passed out.
* * *
Ranma sat staring up at the night sky leaning against a tree.
Akane was curled up asleep by his side. Ranma pulled Akane closer to
him to keep her warm, then slowly drifted off to sleep as well.
* * *
Kasumi sat on the edge of the Tendo porch looking at the hole in
the back wall that Akane had made during her angry exit from the Tendo
yard. The uprooted tree leaned against the back wall.
"Come back soon, Akane," Kasumi said, quietly.
Nabiki walked up behind her and sat down next to Kasumi. "Don't
worry, sis. They'll be back. They just need some time to think things
through. I'm even overwhelmed by all the news," Nabiki said, holding
Kasumi's hand.
"I hope so, I feel so worthless. I fooled myself in to thinking I
was as good as our mother," Kasumi said, tears trickling down her
cheeks. "I'm just a pretender. I've destroyed our family." She
collapsed into her hands and sobbed loudly.
"Oh, this is rich, my always calm and peaceful sister is now
turning into my father before my eyes," Nabiki remarked.
"Surely, I'm not that bad yet?"
"No, but keep it up and you will be." Nabiki put her arm around
her big sister. "Kasumi, snap out of it. Granted, swapping our real
brother Ranma for Akane SAOTOME and then engaging them to ensure Ranma
comes back into our family sounds like a lame-brain idea now, but I'm
sure when our mother died it probably was the only way to keep both of
our families from self-destructing."
"Putting it like that does make it sound lame," Kasumi said, a
slight smile crossing her face. "What were our father and Mr. Saotome
thinking back then?"
"I thought you said this was your idea?" Nabiki asked.
"Heavens no...I had just turned ten years old when everything
happened, I only covered up the birth certificates and other documents
a few years latter," Kasumi said.
"Just remember that the chances of Akane and Ranma handling this
now without going crazy is much better than when they were only six
years old. In that respect it was a brilliant plan, it just didn't end
that well," Nabiki explained.
"So what do we do now, Onesan?"
"Something else you're hiding? I'm your younger sister...not
older," Nabiki asked, grinning.
"No, just marveling at your sudden maturity," Kasumi said.
"Hey, looks like you raised me okay then, Akane turned out pretty
good too, looks like you're batting one hundred," Nabiki commented.
"Thank you, Nabiki, although I worry sometimes about Akane's
temper," Kasumi mentioned, as she started to cheer up.
"I'm pretty sure she got that from HER father not you. You're
hardly to fault for that," Nabiki insisted. "Mr. Saotome can get quite
angry and agitated at Ranma sometimes."
"You're probably right. I just hope they're okay out there,"
Kasumi hoped.
* * *
The sun rose over the city and cast long shadows across the
playground. A ray of light hit Akane in her eyes and she awoke. A
little groggy, she tried to figure out where she was. Then she noticed
that she was resting on Ranma's lap and that his arm was wrapped around
her body.
Her first thought was to send him into orbit.
Her second thought was to wonder why she's hadn't done it yet.
Her third thought was to wonder where the ring, that was on her
finger, came from.
Her fourth thought was why it was on her 'ring' finger.
Her fifth thought was that it's an engagement ring.
Her sixth thought was that she must be dreaming.
Her seventh thought was that she wasn't.
Her eighth thought was that she wasn't dreaming, but that the last
three days have felt like a nightmare, until now.
Her final thought was that she loved the big stupid perverted jerk
that had his arm around her. Go figure.
Looking into his face, she leaned over and gave him a loving kiss
on his lips. She placed Ranma's arm over his lap and stood up. She
smiled down at him and then stretched her arms and legs.
Then she stopped suddenly and placed her hand over her mouth. <Oh
no! That was our first kiss. Well, our first real kiss. And I stole it
from him while he was sleeping! How could I...> Akane thought to
herself, growing very troubled. If she could have used her mallet on
herself, she would have.
"I'll make it up to him by getting him breakfast from a nearby
restaurant," Akane said. <Or should I cook him something myself?>
Something told her it might not be the best time to test his love by
doing that, so she walked off to find an open restaurant.
* * *
In Ucchan's, Ukyo was making a little breakfast okonomiyaki for
Little-Ryoga who was playing with P-Chan in the corner. Little-Ryoga's
idea of 'playing' seemed to be repeatedly pulling P-Chan's tail,
tackling the pig, and otherwise just keeping P-Chan from escaping.
"Ryo, come on... your okonomiyaki is ready. Best when it's hot!"
Ukyo said, cheerfully.
Little-Ryoga came over and climbed up to the counter, dragging
P-Chan by the tail behind him. "Thank you, Ukyo-chan!" he exclaimed,
beaming a cute little smile.
"My pleasure, little one," Ukyo said, and then thought, <He is
such a cutie-pie. I bet me and Ran-chan would have beautiful children.>
Her dreams were interrupted, and some may say shattered, by a
knock on the door. Akane stuck her head in the doorway. "Hi, Ukyo!
Didn't think you were open this early, but I smelled the cooking,"
Akane said, cheerfully.
"Oh... Akane!" Ukyo replied, seeing Akane. "I'm not really, just
making a little breakfast for little Ryo here," she explains,
indicating Little-Ryoga.
"Oh...he's so cute, is he your brother?" Akane asked.
"No. He says he is Ryoga's little brother. Look at the bandana,"
Ukyo replied, indicating the yellow bandana on the kid's head.
"Oh really? I didn't know he had a brother," Akane remarked. <Of
course three days ago I thought I was a Tendo and thought I knew who my
parents were,> she thought, frowning.
"Seems like Ryoga got lost while trying to get Ryo home," Ukyo
said, smirking.
"That's certainly sounds like Ryoga," Akane agreed. She then
noticed P-Chan who was on the stool next to Little-Ryoga. "P-Chan! What
are you doing here!?!?"
"You know the pig?" Ukyo asked. <Come to think about it, I have
seen that pig with Akane before.>
"Yes, I kind of adopted him a few months ago. He has a tendency to
wander though," Akane explained. She knelt down in front of
Little-Ryoga. "Hey Ryo, is P-Chan your pet pig?"
"Yup, but his name is Stinky-Piggy!" Little-Ryoga cheerfully said.
P-Chan squealed angrily.
<Stinky-Piggy?> Akane thought. "Oh...he's been coming around my
house for a few months, I guess he must have wandered away from you."
Not wanting to give up his new pet, Little-Ryoga said, "He does
that a lot. So does my whole family!"
"Great even the Hibiki pets have a bad sense of direction," Ukyo
remarked.
Akane smiled. "Guess so. Say...I guess I never noticed before that
P-Chan's collar is just like Ryoga's bandana...and Ryo's," Akane
mentioned, noticing the collar and bandana. P-Chan looked horrified and
scared. "I guess he is yours. Can I say good by to him?"
"Sure lady!" Little-Ryoga exclaimed and handed P-Chan to Akane.
Akane held P-Chan in her arms and petted him. "Say...Ukyo, as long
as I'm here...I was looking for breakfast for two. I'm afraid I left
the house without any cash though," Akane explained, as P-Chan snuggled
into her bosom.
"Don't worry about it, Akane. Your credit is good. Two breakfast
specials?" Ukyo asked. She started to prepare two okonomiyaki.
"Thanks, you have any bottles of juice?" Akane asked.
"Orange?" Ukyo asked.
"Um...one orange and one apple."
<Apple? My Ran-chan likes apple juice,> Ukyo thought as a dark
look falls over her face. "Sure thing, umm, why didn't you eat at
home?"
A little hesitantly, Akane said, "Oh...just out for a early
morning walk..."
<Right, she's up to something with my Ran-chan, she has some nerve
making me make breakfast for them both. Ah well...a customer is a
customer,> Ukyo thought to herself. She finished making the okonomiyaki
and put them into a couple boxes. A she put the boxes in a big bag
along with the juice bottles.
"Thanks Ukyo, you're a pal!" Akane said, smiling. She looked down
at P-Chan, said goodbye, and kissed him on the snout softly. Finally,
she handed him back to Little-Ryoga, not noticing the nosebleed.
"Um... you can come visit him if you like, Miss," Little-Ryoga
offered, shyly.
"That's nice of you, next time I see Ryoga I'll ask him where you
both live," Akane replied. "Thank you."
"Gee, I wish I could marry a pretty girl like you someday!"
Little-Ryoga remarked.
"I'm sure you will, but I'm afraid I'm already engaged," Akane
informed Little-Ryoga.
Little-Ryoga looked crestfallen and then looked at Ukyo, "What
about you, Ukyo! Will you marry me?"
"Well, I'm sorry but I'm also engaged already too, Ryo," Ukyo
replied, amused. "But, you can marry which ever of us Ran-chan doesn't
marry." Ukyo smiled, confident that she'll be the one Ranma marries.
A troubled look appeared on Akane's face. <Oh, no I forgot that
Ukyo also thinks of herself as Ranma's fiancee. Well, I doubt she's
serious.> "Um, Ukyo... I would have preferred Ranma told you, but..."
Akane started to explained, while wringing her hands.
"What is it, Ak..." Ukyo asked, but stopped suddenly. Her eyes
went wide. Her hands trembled. <What's that ring doing on her finger!>
A sneer appeared on her face. <On THAT finger.>
"Ukyo, I know you love Ranma. I know the feeling. But I really
don't think that he feels the same way towards you," Akane explained,
hoping to calm Ukyo down.
"Why are you wearing an engagement ring?!" Ukyo screamed. <And why
isn't it mine!> her mind screamed back.
"It's a long story, but Ranma proposed to me for real last night.
I'm sorry. Ukyo, I didn't want to hurt you like this," Akane explained.
She hoped her words would calm the troubled okonomiyaki chef in front
of her.
Little-Ryoga was watching this exchange with puzzlement, not quite
comprehending it. P-Chan was staring in disbelief at the conversation,
tears pooling in his eyes. If pigs had larger jaws, P-Chan would have
been doing the largest face-fault ever seen in history. As it was, his
mouth was only open two inches, a pathetic face-fault if ever there was
one.
"You dare come into my restaurant and ask for breakfast for both
of you... after he... he... and you..." Ukyo sputtered.
"Ukyo, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about that when I came in. I
never meant to hurt you," Akane said, backing up.
At this point, it must be said that Ukyo was not wearing her
bandoleer, her throwing spatulas, or a bra under her robe (but that's
not really important right now). These facts made what happened next
very surprising, even to Ukyo when she thought about it afterwards.
What happened, you ask? Well...it may have happened like this:
Ukyo pulled off her robe and launched herself at Akane. "But I love
YOU, Akane!" Ukyo cried. Both Little-Ryoga and P-Chan bled to death
from nosebleeds when Ukyo and Akane made out in front of them. Nabiki
sold the videos for 3,995 yen each.
Alternatively, and a little more likely, it happened like this:
Ukyo jumped over the counter, ran upstairs, grabbed her bandoleer, and
ran back downstairs. Akane was gone with the bag of juice and
okonomiyaki by the time she returned. "Knew I should keep some throwing
spatulas down here," Ukyo cursed.
But, truth be told, those two outcomes were not possible, for Ukyo
was not a lesbian (to the best of my knowledge) and she was much too
mad right to be thinking coherently enough to go upstairs for her
bandoleer and throwing spatulas. Therefore, this leaves us with the
actual way this little confrontation ended, which went something like
this:
Ukyo's anger rose as her heart shattered. Tears poured out of her
eyes. Many small glowing spheres of red chi energy formed in front of
Ukyo. Each one pulsed in time with Ukyo's fast beating heart. The sight
transfixed Akane briefly, since Ukyo had never shown any tendency
towards chi attacks.
Closer examination of the pulsing spheres would have shown that
the 'pulsing' was actually caused by the spheres cycling through
various different shapes. Ranma's smiling face was one, Ukyo's broken
heart was another, a chi spatula, and finally a teardrop. However, to
see this you would have to have one of the spheres hit you in the face,
something that would not be a good thing. It would be a very bad thing.
"You can't have my Ranma!" Ukyo cried out.
The glowing spheres shot towards Akane, who had backed against the
wall in shock. Horrified, Akane dodged the spheres, managing to avoid
most of them. Unfortunately, the sheer quantity of them plus the fact
that Akane was against a wall, meant that she couldn't avoid them all.
She felt intense heat and pain as each one hit her. The ones that
didn't hit her made remarkably large holes in the wall.
"Please stop, Ukyo!" Akane screamed in pain.
Little-Ryoga had backed away from the battle, relaxing his grip on
P-Chan. P-Chan squirmed out of Little-Ryoga's hands and leapt into the
air, crashing into Ukyo. In a feat of strength that no normal pig could
have, P-Chan succeeded in knocking Ukyo through the window behind the
grill and into the street.
Akane took this time to run out the door and run down the street.
Akane stopped in her tracks as she heard P-Chan's painful and sad
squeal. She looked back to the side street where Ukyo was lying
unconscious. P-Chan was trying to stop a rather nasty cut on her right
arm from bleeding.
Unable to leave Ukyo to bleed to death, Akane walked quickly back
to Ukyo's side and looked around. She pulled P-Chan's yellow bandana
off his neck and used it to staunch the flow of blood. Akane then tied
the bandana over the wound. Remarkably, P-Chan had another bandana on
under the first. <Odd that,> Akane thought. She looked around and
yelled out, "Ryo! Please come out now...it's all over!"
A little scared, Little-Ryoga walks out of Ucchan's and looked
around. "What happened?" he asked.
"Ukyo and I had a... little disagreement over my fiancee," Akane
explained, trying not to frighten the child with the truth. <Actually I
guess that is the truth.>
"Can you pickup P-Chan and follow me? I have to take Ukyo to Dr.
Tofu's to get her wounds treated," Akane explained, picking up Ukyo in
her arms.
"Sure." Little-Ryoga grabbed P-Chan, who was too tired to protest.
Akane walked off towards Dr. Tofu's clinic. Little-Ryoga followed her.
Of course, being a Hibiki he headed in a different direction than
Akane.
<Oops, forgot who he was!> "Ryo! Um...this way! You'd better hold
onto my skirt to make sure you don't get lost," Akane said.
Little-Ryoga turned around and walked back over to Akane.
* * *
In the playground, Ranma awoke with a start. "Huh," he muttered,
still half asleep. Looking around, he tried to find Akane. He called
out, "Akane! Where are you!"
He spotted a purple hair glinting in the sunlight. <Shampoo? What
has that Amazon bitch done with Akane! If she's hurt Akane, I'll kill
her this time!> Not realizing that the hair fell off his own clothing
after getting stuck there during his fight with Shampoo, Ranma ran
towards the Cat Cafe, his battle aura forming around him.
* * *
Shampoo, in her human form again, was lying on a couch near the
door of the cafe. Mousse was replacing a warm compress (cursed people
have a little trouble using COLD compresses) on her forehead. A deep
look of concern covered his face.
"Shampoo, what happened to you last night? I've never seen chi
burns this bad. What kind of monster could do that?" Mouse said,
brushing the hair out of her eyes.
Ranma jumped through the door. 'Through' is correct, since it had
been closed and locked at the time. Splinters of the door flew
everywhere.
"Ranma?!" Mousse exclaimed.
"What have you done with Akane!" Ranma yelled, not noticing
Shampoo's condition.
"Akane is not here, Ranma. Please leave, Shampoo got hurt last
night and she needs to rest."
"I know, who do you think hurt her," Ranma snapped, not
understanding the situation he crashed into yet. "Now tell me where
Akane is or Shampoo won't be waking up, ever!"
Mousse was shocked. "What? You monster! Why would you hurt my dear
Shampoo!" he screamed.
"She didn't take my proposal to Akane well! Tell me where is she!"
Ranma yelled again. <I'm going to have to pound him to death if he
doesn't shut up and tell me where she is.>
Mousse was shocked, confused, angry (due to the injuries Ranma
inflicted on Shampoo), thoughtful, and then happy <Shampoo is all mine
now!>, in that order. "I am joyful at your good news Ranma, may you and
Akane live long lives together." <Yippee.> "But, Akane is not here, and
Shampoo is in no condition to hurt Akane right now."
Calming down a bit, Ranma finally realized that Mousse was right,
Shampoo looked unable to have done anything recently. <And the hag is
in China on Amazon business right now, something about a lynching party
for Happosai after the magic mirror trip to China.> "I'm sorry Mousse,
I woke up and she was gone and... Anyway please forgive me, send Nabiki
the bill for the door, as usual."
"Of course we will. Now about you hurting Shampoo..." Mousse said
with a menacing tone.
"Oh...oh..." Ranma stuttered, backing away from Mousse.
Mouse flung his arms out and several chains shot from his sleeves.
They wrapped themselves around Ranma, pinning his arms to his side.
This was followed by a rather large (it being about ten feet round)
bowl of hot ramen.
The bowl of ramen hit Ranma square in his chest and sent him
flying out of the already shattered door. Ranma hit a large stone wall
across the street. The chains fell off Ranma's bruised body and the hot
ramen flowed over him.
Mousse came out of the doors, or hole depending on your frame of
mind, and examined Ranma. "Consider that your payback for hurting
Shampoo, the fact that Shampoo probably deserved it is the only reason
I was so easy on you," Mousse declared and went back inside.
"Easy?" Ranma muttered, getting up. He grabbed his side as he felt
a stabbing pain in his side. <Well, I guess he's right. Where could
Akane be if Shampoo doesn't have her?>
Ranma ran down the street in search of Akane. "Akane!"
[End - Part 4]
=======================================================================
Author's notes and ramblings for part 4:
Well, hope you liked this installment. After the very emotional part 3,
this one was much lighter in tone and I may have gone a little further
that I was intending with some of the jokes (maybe I just had to cheer
myself up after the trials and tribulations of part 3).
This part was mostly to show Akane has calmed down after her
destruction rampage of part 3, and to let Ukyo and Ryoga (the 16 year
old one, AKA P-Chan) react to the official engagement of Ranma and
Akane.
Now things are heading into the home stretch. Two more parts left (so
far this mini-series went from a one shot story, to four parts, and now
is going to be 6 parts).
--
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
"You made Akane whose daughter?!?!"
"Genma's."
"Has she hit you with her mallet yet?"
"Several times, actually."