beDisclaimer: I do not own Ranma. All Ranma characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Ranma ½.

Ryouga's Present

Ryouga trudged forward, his foot splashing and slipping a little in the muddy puddles in the road as he kept his bright red umbrella protecting him from the enormous downpour of rain. Not that he needed to be protected from the rain any more. He laughed as his hand strayed to the hilt of the katana at his side. In his haste to escape from the bears in the forest that had raided his camp that morning (when he had been making breakfast he had unknowingly gotten between the cub and the mother) almost all of his belongings had been left behind, including his yellow shirt. Therefore, he was left with nothing but the clothes on his back (which weren't much, just his usual pants and bandana, the shoes and a thin black undershirt) his umbrella, and the new sword at his side. There were a lot of problems that were going to arise from not having all his belongings, but what Ryouga was most worried about right now was his precious tea kettle. He was pretty sure that after walking through the freezing area with no shirt he was going to catch a cold and would need to use the kettle for its intended purpose, which was something he had been thinking about doing now that he was cured.

It had been 6 months since the wedding fiasco. Ryouga knew he had no hope of beating Ranma after seeing him defeat Saffron, and he had stopped trying. If he could not beat the pigtailed boy, there was no way he would win Akane's love. He groaned and absentmindedly placed a hand to the gunshot wound on his arm that was still bleeding a bit. He had dressed the wound with a spare bandana, which was now completely soaked in blood. He had tried to take some grapes off a vineyard and had received a shot in the arm for doing so. Ryouga, who had been on a journey back to Nerima, was now merely focused on making it to the nearest hospital; he had lost too much blood and hadn't had anything to eat or drink since last night. Unfortunately for Ryouga, he was in a city that was in the middle of a power outage (as he soon deduced from the streetlights above that were simply not working). He wondered whether he had a shot in hell of arriving at a functioning hospital. No sense in trying to find medical attention now. He would just have to continue his journey to Nerima. Shivering in pain and cold, he took a step to the right at the nearest bend in the road.

WHAM! Ryouga found himself colliding headfirst with something very solid. He turned his head from side to side to see what had happened, then instinctively pulled himself out of the way of the rain, though he looked down at himself to find he was surprisingly dry. He folded his umbrella carefully and looked upwards to discover the sky was not visible from where he was standing. He had to be under an overhang of some sort. He grinned a bit as he recalled his unconscious action of avoiding cold water. But it didn't matter any more. He peered hard and through the pitch black darkness was able to see the cause of his troubles—a door. Ryouga snorted. It had been so dark that he had not been able to see a house in front of him, and the bend in the road had been a driveway to said house. He sighed a deep sigh. It wasn't that late. Maybe he could ask for directions. He knocked on the door and stood with his hands folded behind his back, waiting. When the door opened candlelight lit up the face of someone he had not expected to see.

"Sorry, we're not open right now—Ryouga?" said a brown-haired girl with rings under her eyes.

"Ucchan?" choked Ryouga through his shivering. Ukyo raised one eyebrow at this.

"Yes, Ryouga-kun, I live here," she said. Ryouga's eyes opened wide at this, at which Ukyo sighed. "Lemme guess: you didn't know you were in Nerima." Ryouga nodded slowly, at which Ukyo rolled her eyes. "Oh honey, what am I gonna do with you? Come in," she said, opening the door all the way. Ryouga stepped inside and looked around him in amazement at all the candles that were lit. The house was almost completely lit. Ukyo smiled. "Lucky the stove runs on gas, not electricity. Now…where were you trying to go this time—oh no! Ryouga-kun! Your arm!" Ryouga blinked.

"What? Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it, it's just--" he began, but was silenced when Ukyo ran up to him, the okonomiyaki on the stove still sizzling and left unattended.

"It needs to be properly taken care of, you directionless idiot," she said, her words and the concerned tone of her voice contradicting each other. Ryouga shook his head.

"It's fine. I just need something to drink; I've lost a lot of blood," he said. Ukyo rushed back to the stove and turned down the heat. In a few seconds she returned to Ryouga with a glass of lemonade.

"Drink up," she said. "So why did you come stumbling all the way back here? You here to try to kill Ranma again?" Ryouga smiled at her, his fangs giving him somewhat of a creepy look.

"After watching him beat the stuffing out of Saffron, I'm not too inclined to try that any more. No, actually I'm here because…well…I found the cure to the Jusenkyo curse," he said. He stood up and drew the katana from its sheath. The blade glowed an eerie blue in the semi-darkness and Ukyo gasped.

"So you came back here to…" she began, but Ryouga interrupted her.

"Ukyo, in a matter of minutes Ranma will be 100 male," he said proudly, holding the sword straight up and accidentally puncturing a small hole in the roof. Ukyo twitched a little and Ryouga laughed nervously. "Eheh…that is, if you could…erm…show me the way to the Tendos' house..."

"RANMA, YOU PERVERT!" yelled Akane as she chased her unfortunate fiancé through the rain. Ranma-chan backflipped several times on the muddy ground to avoid the swings of the mallet that the angry Tendo had, again, seemed to magically procure.

"Akane, will ya just listen to me for once?" the redhead yelled, ducking under a swing that came close to taking her head off.

Nabiki Tendo watched the fight with little interest. Akane had overreacted to something that wasn't Ranma's fault. AGAIN. She sighed, almost feeling a little pity for the pigtailed martial artist. Oh well. No sense passing up the opportunity to get a few shots of a female Ranma while her T-shirt was soaking wet and completely transparent. Kuno would pay mountains for them tomorrow.

"Look, I couldn't see where I was goin', I thought it was my room I was goin' into, not yours! And even if it was your room, how I was I supposed to know you were changing?" yelled Ranma, leaping onto the roof where Akane couldn't reach her. The youngest Tendo growled.

"Get down from there so I can kill you!" she barked back. Ranma stuck her tongue out at her.

"Nyaaah!"

"Oh, for the love of…you are so immature!" she yelled back.

"Ranma Saotome! Prepare to…" came the familiar cry, the end of it drowned out by the clap of thunder. Ranma rolled her eyes. P-Chan? And at this time of night? She turned around to see pig-boy standing in the rain with no shirt, holding a gleaming blue katana, a confident grin on his face. At his side was Ukyo. What was Ukyo doing there? Ryouga and Ukyo…what an odd coupling—

It was then that Ranma's jaw dropped. Ryouga was standing in the rain with no protection and was still…well…Ryouga! Ryouga ran forward and performed a ki-infused flip up onto the roof.

"Ranma Saotome! It is time!" he said, holding up a kettle of hot water.

"You're…not…cursed!" she managed to choke out.

"Didn't you hear me? I found the cure," said Ryouga, cocking his head.

"You what?!" yelled Ranma. "You mean you found it and went and used it before I could have some?!" Ryouga backed up slowly.

"No, no, not at all, this is it right here! I've come to cure you!" he said triumphantly, holding up the katana. Ranma stared at him in amazement.

"You mean…you…came all the way back here to help me?" she said. The fanged boy gulped.

"Erm…well…I mean….uh…" he stuttered.

"RYOUGA PAL!" she yelled, enveloping him in a stifling hug. Ryouga blanched a bit as he felt Ranma's… "top resistance" against him, but quickly shook his head vigorously and pushed Ranma off of him.

"Stop it, Ranma! I'm only doing this because…I know I'll never be with Akane, and I want her to be happy with whoever she has. Since you seem the most likely candidate, I don't want your curse to cause any trouble for her!" he said, baring his fangs angrily. Ranma glared at him.

"That uncute tomboy? I'm not 'with' her!" she growled. Ryouga sheathed the katana.

"Then my journey here was wasted. Goodbye, Ranma Saotome," he said, turning around swiftly and striding off. Ranma panicked when she saw this.

"Wait! Waaaait…Ryouga, old buddy, you know I was just jokin', right?" she said, trying to make a nervous smile.

This would not have worked on ANYONE else, but Ryouga, being as gullible as he was, turned around with a hopeful look on his face.

"Really?" he said, his voice rising a bit. Ranma nodded.

"Of course! I…er…uh…" she began. Ryouga raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"You what?" he asked. Ranma panicked yet again. What she would say would be the truth, but how could she say it? It was so hard to say in front of anyone, let alone her greatest rival.

"I…erm…eheh," stuttered Ranma, scratching the back of her head nervously.

"You what, Ranma?" said Ryouga again, his tone turning dangerous this time. That was when Ranma said it, said the thing that she had been hiding for so long.

"I love Akane," she said.

It was the answer Ryouga both wanted to hear and dreaded hearing at the same time. He tried hard. He really did. But something in him snapped when he heard that.

"And what makes you think you deserve the love of Akane?!" he yelled in a sudden burst of fury, the shout echoing through the air. Ranma backed up from the seething boy. "For so long I have tried, and yet you! You, Ranma Saotome, a cruel fiend who has done nothing to merit reward, has received her love, while I sit behind! Always second, aren't I, Ranma?

"Wha-what?! Isn't that what you wanted me to say?" she said. Ryouga breathed heavily as he prepared to attack, then closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

"I'm…s-sorry, Ranma. It's hard for me to hear someone else say that they…erm…let's go inside," he said. He slid off the roof and landed perfectly on the ground.

"Ryouga…I…never knew," came a voice which caused Ryouga to nearly jump out of his skin. He turned around and saw Akane, who had turned a deep shade of red. Ryouga's skin began to match the hue of Akane's.

"You…heard that?" he said. Ranma strode up to Ryouga.

"Everyone in Japan heard that, buddy," she said, patting him on the back. As Ryouga's face turned even redder, Ukyo watched the scene. She felt sad for Ryouga. It must have been rough, trying so hard this whole time and watching everything that he could have had be taken away from him by Ranma. For the first time she felt like she understood the Lost Boy's constant attacks and why he went insane every time the pigtailed martial artist was near him. There was a long moment's silence, then Ryouga turned his head to Ranma.

"Ranma, let's get you cured," he said finally, opening the door to the Tendos' home and dragging the redhead in by the arm. Akane simply stood in the same place as if frozen, the same look on her face. Ukyo looked at Akane for a bit, then her eyes shifted to the ground in front of her.

Inside the Tendos' home Ranma and Ryouga had cut right to the chase.

"Now…what do I do?" said the now-male Ranma, tossing the kettle behind him and looking at the glowing katana in his hand as though it were some sort of piece of machinery he did not know how to operate.

"It requires the energies of a non-cursed individual to activate. I will act as that individual. Link arms with me," said Ryouga. Ranma blinked confusedly, then did so. Ryouga closed his eyes and looked as though he was concentrating hard. "HASHAN MOKORIDO!" he yelled suddenly.

The blade turned a dazzling green and it looked as though electrical sparks were going up and down the blade. Ranma let out a yell as the electrical energy from the sword surged inside him, but Ryouga, with all of his endurance training, managed to remain unfazed by the pain. Suddenly, just as quickly as it had begun, it ended. Ranma looked down at himself.

"Did it work?" he said. Ryouga nodded.

"It ought to have," he said. Ranma shrugged. Only one way to check. He stepped outside in the back yard and felt the rain fall upon him. He closed his eyes, then reopened them. He looked down at himself. Nothing had happened.

The curse was gone.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" yelled Ranma at the top of his lungs. "No more stupid girl body! No more Kuno hitting on me! No more photoshoots! No more old lech grabbing me! I'M ALL MAN! AHAHAHAHA!" he yelled out in triumph.

Ryouga watched the display from inside, sighing. Well, no sense worrying about it now. The deed was done. He sheathed the katana and calmly and briskly stepped out the front door. He strode past Akane, looking down, hoping not to be noticed.

"Ryouga…" said Akane, staring at him. Ryouga did not turn around.

"Akane…I'm sorry," he said. He continued to stride forward, passing by Ukyo as though she were nothing.

"Ryouga! Wait up!" said Ukyo, running up to the bandana-clad boy. "You walk fast…where are you headed?" At this Ryouga let out a dry laugh.

"Wherever the road takes me. Even if I were headed somewhere it wouldn't be where I would end up," he said grimly, cracking his neck and resettling the katana on his belt. Ukyo smirked at him.

"You really ought to settle down somewhere. You said you'd given up on defeating Ranma, right? If that's the case, you don't really need to go off and train any more. You're already really good," she said. Ryouga stopped in his tracks. He hadn't thought about that. Now that Ranma was way out of his reach there really wasn't any point in going off and living in mountains and forests to train. And with his horrible sense of direction (or lack thereof), it would probably be better for his health if he just stayed in one place for once.

"I don't have a place to stay, Ukyo. My tent, my supplies, my food…it's all gone. I can't settle down anywhere. I have to keep moving," he said. Ukyo rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Ryouga, you know that doesn't make any sense. Look…why don't you stay at my house? We have room for one more," she said. "If you don't want to, at least stay for tonight. You look exhausted." Ryouga turned toward Ukyo and saw the friendly, radiant smile on her face. He couldn't help but return the smile as he replied.

"Ukyo…I'd like that. Thank you," he said. The two walked down the road back to Ukyo's house, their shapes dissolving as they walked further away, two silhouettes that soon blended in with the pitch-black night until they could no longer be seen, but the sound of Ryouga's voice could still be heard.

"You know, maybe I should have cured Ranma's dad too…"

The End