Fifty Pieces

by Jade Gillott

1. Magic

After their first kiss, Ranma was quick to announce that this simply had to be some kind of 'freaky spell', and that they were being 'brainwashed' by 'higher beings' that 'were sickos who liked seeing dudes make out'; Ryoga was quick to shut him up with another kiss.

2. Lubricant

"Asshole! If we were out you should have told me!" Ranma shouted when he noticed the block of butter on the bedside table, knowing all too well its desired purpose.

3. Lemon

"Ranma, it would be so great if you'd stop making that I-just-sucked-on-a-sour-lemon face whenever I bring up the idea of going on a date." Ryoga grumbled darkly at his so-called 'boyfriend'.

4. Dirty

Ryoga tried to stop Ranma when he started to shower his dirty face with kisses, his welcome home after three weeks lost in the bush; but Ranma ignored his protests, wrapping his arms around his neck and backing them into the living room, and whispered, "We can both get clean when we're done."

5. Fight

No relationship was perfect, and they fought just like every other couple; but each time the fight was short-lived, and making up was as easy as breathing...and neither could complain about what went on shortly after they made up, either.

6. Cute/Sweet

He'd never seen anyone get so excited about how many stars the clear night sky showed this deep in the woods; Ranma's happy eyes twinkled like the stars above their heads, the firelight from their campfire making them dance...he looked so impossibly adorable, Ryoga couldn't bring himself to look away.

7. Ink

"No, I don't think you should get my name tatooed there!" Ranma snapped, punching a laughing Ryoga in the arm.

8. Strength

Ranma wondered why he never fought Ryoga off when he came to him like this; it was as if, in that moment of uncontrollable passion, Ryoga made Ranma weak...and for once Ranma didn't care that he'd lost.

9. Now

Ryoga growled just a single word when he saw Ranma, standing in the kitchen drinking orange juice, wearing nothing but boxers and his shirt: "Now."

10. Warmth

Ryoga couldn't help but grin ear-to-ear when he heard Ranma mumble something in his sleep about how warm he was as he snuggled deeper into his chest.

11. Chocolate

"I know you like dark chocolate, so, uh...here." Ranma shoved a small box into Ryoga's unexpecting hands then promptly turned four shades of red.

12. Pictures

Two things came to mind when Ranma found Ryoga's 'stash': when the hell had Nabiki taken these pictures of him, and was he going to let Ryoga live long enough to buy more?

13. Light

It was the only house on the whole street that had its lights on at such a late hour, and Ryoga hurried through the front door and called his name, and he was there in a flash, his arms around him, and Ryoga at last felt the bliss of home.

14. Again

"Again?" A disheveled Ranma cried, exasperated. He shoved Ryoga out of the bed.

15. Hands

Whenever they went out for a walk Ryoga secretly thanked his horrible sense of direction, since his incompetance usually frustrated Ranma to the point where he grabbed his hand so he wouldn't stray from their path; it was the only time Ranma would ever hold hands with him in public.

16. Flowers

Ryoga stood outside the flower shop for ten minutes before scoffing and walking away; that idiot Ranma would just laugh in his face.

17. Time

Ranma never realized the value of time until his idiot boyfriend decided to get himself lost, and he caught himself staring at the calendar, wondering which one of those little numbers signified the day he'd finally find his way back to him.

18. Swords

Kuno had never been anything but a mild nuisance to Ryoga; but then the poem-spewing doofus got the idiotic thought in his head that he could get away with attacking Ranma with a real sword, even if all he did was cut Ranma's cheek.

19. Darkness

They sat in front of the campfire long after the flames died out, talking about everything and nothing in the darkness for hours.

20. Mouth

If he didn't speak to him, didn't smile at him, didn't kiss him with those damn-near irresistable lips of his...he was going to go quite mad.

21. Leather

Ryoga's hands were soft, yet rough, and good smelling like leather; sometimes Ranma would simply hold his hand in his own, drawing idle patterns on his palm with the tip of his finger, unaware of the racking shivers the small gesture sent down Ryoga's spine.

22. Heartless

Ranma never had anything nice to say about his father, so it should have been no surprise...but as they sat on the floor, Ryoga stroking Ranma's hair in comfort, his face crumpled in great saddness when Ranma whispered, "How can he be so heartless?"

23. Truce

Their so-called truce was fooling everyone until Kasumi walked into the dining room one day and announced she'd overheard Ranma and Ryoga noisily "wrestling" up in Ranma's room, causing Akane to choke on her tea.

24. Cocky

It never ceased to amuse Ryoga when he watched Ranma's bravado slip off of him the same moment his clothes did, and suddenly he was the meek, shy boy he constantly hid underneath; in those moments Ryoga found himself falling all over again.

25. Shorts

He watched him as he sat lazily under the shade of the beach umbrella, happily enjoying a mango parfait; Ryoga wanted to tear those damn swim trunks right off him at that moment.

26. Cold

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Ryoga cried as Ranma shoved a handful of cold, wet snow down the back of his pants.

27. Clean

Every time they showered together, it led to this; Ranma wondered idly why they even bothered getting clean as Ryoga licked drops of water off of his chest.

28. Metal

His heart had once been heavy, hard, and as cold as metal; but metal could melt...and Ranma was the fire.

29. Headache

Ranma couldn't help but smile at how the announcement of a simple headache sent Ryoga into a panic and a frantic search for aspirin; the sweet idiot really knew how to make him swoon sometimes.

30. Winner

"Damn it," Ranma fell back against the cool sheets, dog-tired, chest heaving, lips bruised, hair a mess. "You win again, Hibiki."

31. Break

"I'm really sorry, Ryo." Ranma said sincerely as he bandaged his sparring partner's broken arm. "I was careless."

32. Smooth

It baffled Ryoga to no end how even though Ranma was covered head to toe in old scars, his skin was as flawlessly smooth as the day he was born.

33. Canonize

Ryoga mentally kicked himself as Ranma shied away from his too-forward advances yet again; how frustrating it is to love someone as pure as a saint!

34. Impressive

"Honestly, I don't know what all those girls see in him. I mean, he's not that impressive. He's not smart at all; he's a total idiot! He's not charming, he's a complete jerk..." as Akane rambled on to her pet pig, Ryoga's long black ears pinned back against his head, and he realized this was the first time he disagreed.

35. Mirror

Ranma went upstairs to change into something more comfortable for his spar with Ryoga, and before he left the room he unconsciously looked in the mirror, fixing his hair-when he realized the completely unmanly thing he was doing, he gasped and rushed out of the room.

36. Beauty

"Idiot!" Ranma snapped, flushing red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment as he shoved Ryoga away. "How the hell can a guy be beautiful!"

37. Experience

Neither Ranma or Ryoga were very experienced-or, frankly, very good-at romance, and both had little confidence in their ability to make a relationship between two guys work out; yet, the strangest thing about it was what sounded like it'd be so hard turned out to be so easy.

38. Faith

Ranma was sure that Ryoga loved him, but there were times he wondered if Ryoga still retained feeling for Akane...little did he know Ryoga was always wondering the same thing.

39. Eye catch

"What are you staring at, pig boy?" Ranma muttered sheepishly when he caught Ryoga giving him that look from across the table for the millionth time.

40. Library

"Moron," Ranma sighed from behind the math textbook, when Ryoga finally released his lips. "You're supposed to be helping me study."

41. Submissive

It was suddenly irrelevant how furious he was at him for being lost for three whole months; once Ryoga gave him that apologetic smile, murmered a small 'sorry', and meekly leaned in and pressed his lips to his, Ranma let himself be swept away by him yet again.

42. Improper times

"Mom, Dad. W-welcome home." Ryoga stammered as Ranma quickly got off the kitchen counter and rebuttoned his shirt, blushing furiously.

43. Rain

Swearing colourfully, Ranma dashed down the street, drenched to the bone and clutching a very aggravated-looking black pig against her chest.

44. Essential

Like breathing, he was essential to him; he always wondered if Ranma felt the same way.

45. Reason

"You're my only reason for staying here...my only reason to stay alive." Ranma felt himself shiver at Ryoga's words, suddenly elated and terrified all at once.

46. Strategy

Ryoga made a mental note to make sure he never tried to sneak-kiss Ranma from behind again, as an irate Ranma dabbed Ryoga's bloody nose with a tissue.

47. Cave

"It's dark in here, so hold on tight to my hand. I don't need you wandering off." Ranma told him as they walked through the pitch black cave; Ryoga squeezed Ranma's palm as they walked through the darkness, and suddenly he was less upset he'd gotten them so lost.

48. Bike

Ranma decided he'd walk everywhere from now on, ever since Ryoga-when he was aimlessly wandering Nerima and happened to come across Ranma when he was on a bike ride-thought it would be okay to tackle him; it wasn't something he wanted to risk happening a second time.

49. Water

He knew it sounded corny, but one of his fantasies was to kiss Ranma in the pouring rain, like in all those sappy movies; he wasn't sure if it'd ever become reality.

50. Colour

When they were together, there were fireworks.

End

Author's Notes:

It's mighty hard to limit yourself to one sentence, let me tell you. It was certainly a challenge, but heaps of fun. I've seen a few 1sentence stories before, and I thought they were an interesting, fun thing to do. So one day, when my creative juices for my other stories were at a stand still, I decided I'd give it a shot. I know these themes aren't from any of the five theme sets, but as I was looking around I came across a Cloud/Zack story with these themes, and I thought they really fit Ranma and Ryoga, so I used them instead.

I called the story Fifty Pieces, obviously because of the 50 themes, and also, the song by Red called 'Pieces' I think really fits Ranma and Ryoga, if you look at it from Ryoga's POV. It also works since these little drabbles are just 'peices' of a bigger picture. Hence, Fifty Pieces. Yup.

This was also a kind of 'warm up' for a Ranma/Ryoga story I have in mind; it's currently called Gravity but the name is pending. I wanted to see my abilities of writing slash fiction, considering I've never done it before. I thought I did a pretty good job. I liked some of these themes so much, I might try and work them into some scenes of Gravity*. :)

Did I do well? Do you want me to do more? I crave your feedback; this is my first attempt at writing slash and I really want to know what all my fellow yaoi fangirls (and boys? :3) think of this story. So review your little hearts out!

Oh, and I'd love to hear which themes you really liked. ^^

Till next time,

Jadells

* You can keep updated on the progress of Gravity and other project ideas on my profile page.