Ranma, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, and Oh My Goddess are owned by their 
respective creators.  


With This Ring...
---------------------
By: Anand Rao

Mamoru sighed as he entered the jewelry store.  (Hopefully I can find 
one here,) he thought.  He had already visited over a half-dozen jewelry 
stores that day and was starting to lose hope.  

He was going to marry Usagi.  

He had proposed, and she had accepted; several times, in fact.  It was 
like a beautiful and simple dream, and he could almost see the majestic 
future that would unfold before them.  Yet, that was years, perhaps even 
centuries away, and before then, he wanted to give Usagi something 
symbolic.  He wanted to give her something simple and pure that showed 
his love for Usagi; not Endymion's seemingly inevitable destiny with 
Serenity. 

So, here he was, traveling all over Tokyo, looking for the perfect 
engagement ring.  A bell jingled over the front door as he entered the 
store.  As he quickly glanced around at the room's display cases, a 
saleswoman approached him.

"May I be of assistance?" she asked, cheerfully smiling at Mamoru. 

"Yes, I'd be interested in browsing through your assortment of 
engagement rings," he replied.

"You too?" she asked, glancing at another young man in the store. "All 
our engagement rings are in those cases over there," she said, gesturing 
towards the other man.  (Why are all the handsome ones taken?) she 
thought to herself. 

"Thanks.  I'll take a look at them and get back to you," Mamoru replied.  
He walked towards the appropriate display cases and stood next to the 
other man.  He spent a few moments looking at the rings, and sighed when 
not even one of them caught his interest.  He glanced at the man 
standing next to him.  He was at least a full head shorter than Mamoru, 
had short black hair, and was staring intently at the display case.  
"Any luck?" Mamoru asked softly.

"Huh?" the other man asked, turning slightly towards Mamoru.

"Any luck finding a ring," Mamoru clarified.

"No, not really."

"Me either, and this is the eighth store I've been to," Mamoru replied.  
"Hi, my name is Mamoru Chiba."

"Keiichi Morisato," the other man replied.

"Morisato. . . Hey, didn't you win the Pacific Rim Motor Cross race last 
week?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah, I did," Keiichi replied, smiling shyly.

"I'm not really into racing," Mamoru confessed, "but I caught the tell 
end of the race on television while I was waiting for Usagi to get ready 
for dinner."

"Usagi?"

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Usagi is my fiancee," Mamoru explained.

"Fiancee?  So, you already asked her," Keiichi observed.

"Yes, just recently."

"Well, I guess, for you, the hard part is over," Keiichi replied, 
sighing tiredly.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?  I didn't realize how difficult it would 
be to find a ring!" Mamoru exclaimed.

"I know.  Nothing here seems. . . right.  Nothing really expresses how I 
feel for Belldandy.  I - I guess I was hoping to find a ring that could 
say what I can't," Keiichi said.

"Belldandy's your girlfriend?  How long have you two been together?"

"It's been about five years now."

"That's a long time.  I'd think you'd a feel for it, if she was ready.  
Women are notorious at dropping hints about that sort of thing," Mamoru 
said dryly.

"My relationship with Bell is a bit complex," Keiichi said 
uncomfortably.  "Her, um, Father might not let her get married."

The jingling of front door's bell caught both of their attentions.  A 
young man, a teenager, walked into the store.  He had short black hair 
that ended in a thin ponytail in the back.  Smiling shyly at the 
saleswoman, he walked directly to the display case of engagement rings.  

"Hi," he said, nodding towards Mamoru and Keiichi.

(Looks like -everyone- wants to get married today,) Mamoru thought.  
"You looking for a ring too?" he asked.

 "Yeah.  I was in here before, but, er, got interrupted."

"Well, I hope you have better luck than we've had," Keiichi said 
ruefully.

"Not much of a selection, huh?"

"Not really."

"Damn!  And I need four rings, too!" the man exclaimed.

"Four?" Keiichi and Mamoru exclaimed incredulously.

"Um, better make that five, no need to wait," the man observed.

"Why would anyone need five engagement rings?" Keiichi asked.

"It's kind of a long story."  The young man started laughing nervously  
"Oh, by the way, my name is Tenchi."

Keiichi and Mamoru introduced themselves, and Tenchi started began 
studying the rings. "You know, Tenchi, polygamy is illegal in Japan," 
Keiichi pointed out.

"That won't really matter in my case," Tenchi said, almost bitterly.

For a moment, Mamoru imagined being married to all the Inner Senshi; and 
he shuddered.  "You're a brave man," he said, sympathetically patting 
Tenchi's shoulder.  (Either that, or really stupid,) he thought.

"Well, I'm not going to find anything here.  I'm going to try to find a 
new store," Keiichi said.

"It was nice meeting you, Keiichi.  And cheer up, I'm sure things will 
work out," Mamoru replied.

"Yeah.  Thanks, Mamoru, I-"

The front door of the jewelry store slammed open and a teenage girl with 
bright red hair, tied in a pig tail, wearing a Chinese-style red shirt 
ran into the store.  She quickly closed the door and leaned back against 
it.  The three men tensed immediately; the girl looked very frightened.  

"Is something wrong, Miss?"  the saleswoman asked, moving closer to the 
red headed girl.  

"C-c-cat," she stuttered.

 "Cat?"  Tenchi repeated in confusion.

The girl nodded her head vigorously, spraying droplets of water in all 
directions.  

"Hey, you're all wet," Keiichi observed.

"Is there anything we can do for you?  What's wrong?" Mamoru asked.  The 
girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay.  It's just Shampoo," she murmured to 
herself.  Opening her eyes, she glanced around the store. "Um, sorry 
about this; better be going," she said quickly.    She turned around and 
was about to open the door when a loud female scream could be heard from 
outside.

"Raaaaanmaaaa!  Where are you?" 

"Uh, on second thought, maybe I'll look around or something," the girl 
said nervously.

The three men exchanged puzzled glances.  "Miss, are you sure you're all 
right?  There's nothing to be scared of," Mamoru said soothingly.

"Hey!  I ain't scared of nothing!" the girl replied indignantly.  "I'm 
just here looking, um, looking. . . for a, uh, ring!  Yeah, that's it; 
I'm looking for a ring."

"An engagement ring?" Keiichi asked, smiling at his own joke.  Mamoru 
and Tenchi grinned widely as well. 

"Wh-what the h-hell would I want an en-engagement ring for?" the girl 
sputtered.  

"S-sorry!  It was just a joke!  Honest!" Keiichi exclaimed, a little 
unnerved by the girl's anger. 

"Hey, what are a bunch of guys doin' in a jewelry store?  Isn't this the 
sorta place for girls to hang out?" she asked suspiciously.

"Usually," Mamoru frowned, "Unless, of course, a guy wants to buy an 
engagement ring."

"All three of you?  Getting married?"

The three men nodded, and suddenly, a look of inspiration grew on 
Tenchi's face.  "Say, maybe what we need is a different point of view.  
Miss, do you think you can you help us pick out our rings?"

"Uh, I'm not really good at that sorta thing.  Besides, I really should 
be go-"

"Ranma!  You coward!  Come out here and prepare to die!"  a male voice 
challenged from outside.

"Oh man," the girl whined, her left eye twitching slightly.  "Yeah, I 
guess I can help ya for a few minutes."

"Great!  My name's Tenchi."

"Keiichi."

"Mamoru."

"Yeah, yeah.  Nice ta meet ya, my name's Ranma," she said tiredly.

(I wouldn't have guessed!) Mamoru thought dryly.

"Thanks, Ranma.  We're all having trouble trying to find just the right 
ring.  See anything here that you'd suggest?"  Tenchi asked.

"Any reason you guys didn't just ask the Saleslady?  I mean, that's why 
she's here," Ranma pointed out.

"Well, I think an unbiased opinion would be better," Keiichi replied.

"Salespeople tend to point you towards the most expensive item 
available," Mamoru whispered.

"Uh, right.  Let's see what we got here."  Ranma stepped closer to the 
display case and took a look at assortment of rings.  "They all look 
kinda nice, what's the problem?" she asked.

"We don't want 'kinda nice'.  We want something special," Mamoru 
explained.

"What's the big deal?  I mean, do girls really care about this sorta 
stuff?" Ranma asked.

"You tell us," Mamoru retorted dryly.

"Yeah, you're a girl," Tenchi chimed in.

"I'm NOT a- um, that is, I'm not really good at this sorta stuff.  Look, 
if ya love someone, what does it matter?  Get a ring, any ring, and 
just. . . tell her how you feel.  If you love her, that's. . . all. . 
.that. . . matters," Ranma said, a look of surprise growing on her face.

"Is something wrong, Ranma?" Keiichi asked?  

"Huh?  Oh, uh, I just sorta figured out something that's been bothering 
for a while, that's all," the red head replied.

"I see.  Well, I'm not going to find what I'm looking for here, but 
thanks for the advice, Ranma.  I think I'll follow it," Keiichi replied.

"Good.  Great.  Look guys, I gotta go.  There's. . . someone I need to 
talk to for a bit," Ranma said stepping back towards the front door.    
"Good luck, and. . . thanks."  Ranma turned away and ran out of the 
store, the door slamming behind her.

"Strange girl," Mamoru observed.

"Yeah.  I liked her attitude though.  I wonder if she's right, that 
girls don't really care about the ring," Tenchi mused.

"I don't know about that, but I do know this.  I'm going home and tell 
Belldandy that I love her, and then, we'll pick out a ring together," 
Keiichi replied.

"Now -there's- an idea I like!" Mamoru agreed.

"I. . . don't think that's going to work in my situation," Tenchi said 
uncomfortably.  (Those girls would destroy every jewelry store we went 
to!)

"Some how, even you will find a way through this, Tenchi.  I have a 
feeling we all will," Mamoru said, smiling lightly.  "How about some 
lunch?  There's this Chinese place called the Cat Caf� near by.  I've 
heard it's really popular.  We can sit down and talk about our future 
wives."

"Thanks Mamoru, I can go for that.  Besides, I'd -really- like to hear 
Tenchi's story," Keiichi replied, grinning expectantly at Tenchi.

Mamoru laughed as Tenchi blushed sheepishly.  The three young men left 
the jewelry store, each feeling a bit better then when he had entered.  
As the door closed behind them, Tenchi started his tale.

"It all started with this Demon's cave near my grandfather's shrine. . 
."

------------------------------------------------
Fini

Next time, (if there is a next time,) meet the brides-to-be!

Hey there, I'm still writing, albeit a bit slowly.  The strangest thing 
happened after I moved out of my parent's house.  I developed a social 
life!  ^_^  Anyway, LoaM 4 and FtSotC 9 are going smoothly if slowly, 
and are each about half way done.   I'm also working on an alternate 
reality Eva story that promises to be rather... dark.  Which is a new 
concept for me, but I'm having fun.

See ya!

-Anand


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