"So what's your plan, exactly?" Nabiki finally spoke up.
Ranma looked confused. "Plan for what?"
"It's going to be suspicious if we all just go down to the courthouse as a group. Plus, you know how often we're followed when we leave town." She explained. "How are you going to get there without being stopped?"
"Honestly, we don't all need to go down there," Akane said. "We're just submitting an application. It just needs to be Ranma, Dad, Mr. Saotome, and me."
"Oh, Akane," Kasumi giddily said. "Of course we're all going to go! Like we're going to miss our baby sister's wedding for anything." She clasped her hands together and stared off into the garden. "If I had the time I would have made you a new dress. And maybe fix up that tuxedo of yours, Ranma. Oh maybe we could throw a reception in a few days!" She then got lost in her world, pondering on ideas for dresses and celebrations.
"They can't exactly go walking down the street in a gown and tux." Nabiki remarked, bursting Kasumi's bubble of joy.
"Oh, right..."
"Well, how about I take you girls shopping for a new dress, nothing too fancy, of course," Nodoka said. "Then, you boys can go get ready on your own and we'll meet up at the courthouse."
Akane looked startled. "Really, Auntie, you don't have-"
"Oh, I'd love to come with you, but I really should get the shopping for dinner done." Kasumi interrupted as she stood and dusted off her dress. "What time should I meet you all?"
"Wait a minute-" Akane tried to get out.
"Let's say we'll meet up at the courthouse at noon." Nodoka said.
"I'll meet you all there," Kasumi said as she left the room.
"She left rather quickly," Nabiki noted.
Genma nodded. "It's settled then. We'll take care of Ranma, while you girls get Akane ready and we'll see each other at noon."
Ranma and Akane glanced at each other helplessly. "What do they mean by 'take care?'" Ranma asked. Akane shrugged.
"Wonderful, let's go, Akane, Nabiki." Nodoka stood, followed by Nabiki dragging Akane up.
"Wait, could you hold on?" Nabiki ignored Akane's protests. The younger sister looked to Ranma, her eyes begging him to help her. Ranma was at a loss to what just happened.
Ranma was not the only one feeling lost, however. Ryoga Hibiki sat in a tent in the middle of who-knows-where, eating his ramen and pondering, as he usually does. He thought about Akari, his beautiful girlfriend and how much he missed her love. He hoped that she was doing well and that she didn't miss him too much. Maybe he'd write her a letter today. Hopefully, he could find her again soon.
Then he thought about Akane, his once-loved. Even though he didn't exactly harbour feelings for her anymore and was now with Akari, he still thought of her often. She was the first bright light in the long darkness that overcame his life since he had met Ranma. After being so long in love with her it was hard not to think of her from time to time. Whenever he came back to Tokyo he'd tried to visit her but could never find her or her home, as was the usual. Ryoga put down his instant noodle cup and leaned back on his hands. He wondered what she was up to right now. Did she miss him? He hasn't been around as P-Chan for a while now, did she miss P-Chan.
Ryoga stood up and walked outside into what he thought was an open field, but turned out to be a vacant lot in some town. He looked around the lot, recognizing it to be Nerima. Ryoga cheered. Perhaps he could actually visit Akane! Ryoga rejoiced as he packed up camp, thinking the gods were smiling at him. He marched his way out of the lot ready to begin his trek to find Akane.
...Only to then be splashed by cold water from an old lady cleaning the street, 5 steps later. Seriously, who was that woman?
Ryoga, now a tiny, black piglet, struggled his way out from under his clothes and his pack. How could he find Akane now? Sure, he's done it before as P-Chan but not without struggle. He pulled his clothes and pack into a nearby alley by his teeth and once again began his hike to find Akane.
As his strange luck would have it, though, there was Akane coming just around the corner. Ryoga ran as fast as his little piggy legs could go until he ran straight into her ankles. Akane turned around and looked down at him and suddenly her eyes lit up and the biggest smile was plastered on her face.
"P-Chan!" She reached down to grab him from the ground and kissed his snout. "How did you get over here?"
"Well, who's this little guy?" An older woman peered over Akane's shoulders.
"This is P-Chan, he's my pet pig," Akane said cheerily.
"Isn't he cute?" the woman said.
"You wanna come shopping with us, baby?" Akane cooed at him.
"Is it alright for him to come into the stops with us?" Ryoga wiggled around in Akane's arms to see who just spoke and saw Nabiki, staring at him skeptically.
"It should be, as long as I carry him. You know he's pretty well behaved." Akane replied as she started walking towards the shops.
The 3 women began walking again and continued on with idle chatter. The older woman, who Ryoga now knew as Ranma's mom according to Akane and Nabiki calling her 'Auntie Saotome,' took them to a small boutique filled with nothing but formal dresses.
"Really, Auntie, this is too much," Akane protested. "It's really not that big of a deal."
"Be quiet, Akane." Nabiki covered Akane's mouth with her hand. "Rule of thumb: always accept the offer for new clothes if someone else is paying for them." Akane slapped Nabiki's hand off of her face.
"While I don't exactly agree with Nabiki's sentiment," started Mrs. Saotome. "I do agree that you are being ridiculous." She look exasperated as she and Nabiki began to thumb through the racks of dresses. "'Not a big deal.' This is the biggest deal of your life, Akane!"
That peaked Ryoga's interest. What on earth were they talking about?
Suddenly Nabiki got extremely excited. "Ooh, Akane what do you think of this dress?" Nabiki pulled out a sleek and short strapless wine-red dress that looked as if the bodice wrapped around the wearer's chest. "It's even on sale!"
"Not in a million years," Akane deadpanned. "You know what kinda dresses I like to wear, Nabiki."
"Well, obviously it's not for you." Nabiki sassed. "It's for me, I think it brings out my eyes."
"Aren't I the one we're supposed to be shopping for? I'm the one getting married after all." Ryoga froze in Akane's arms at her words. The word 'married' ringing in his ears over and over again. He thought he must have misheard her, that he was just being paranoid. Married? Yeah, right. To who? Ranma? No way.
"Well, of course it's your wedding," Damn it, no, no, no! This could not be happening. "Which is why I need a dress, too, as your maid of honor," Nabiki declared.
"Kasumi already has dibs."
"What?! since when?"
Before Akane could answer, Ryoga started to squeal and tried to wiggle his way out of Akane's arms. He couldn't take it anymore, the truth right in front of his face. Akane was marrying Ranma. He wouldn't stand for this! He jumped out of Akane's arms and ran for the boutique door. He could hear Akane call out for him but, he wouldn't stop running. He didn't know where he was running to but he refused to stop. He ran and ran until he couldn't run anymore, which happened fairly quickly due to him running into a door. Too tired and hurt, physically and emotionally, to run anymore he sat in front of wherever he was and began to cry with the most obnoxious of squeals until the door in front of him was finally opened by an angry Ukyo Kuonji.
"Would you keep it down out here?! You're disturbing my customers!" She yelled. The cook looked around confused at finding no one there. Ryoga squealed again to get her attention. Ukyo looked down and saw Ryoga, still squealing at her.
"What the- Ryoga, what're you doing here?" Ukyo asked as she picked him up by the bandana. "Hang on, let me get you some hot water." She called for Konatsu to watch the restaurant and took him up to the residential part of her building. She set a kettle on her small stove top and went searching for some clothes for Ryoga to borrow. In the meantime, Ryoga studied the room he was in. It was just a small living space with an attached kitchenette. There wasn't a lot of sign that it was lived in besides a sink full of dirty dishes. Ryoga supposed Ukyo kept all her personal possessions to herself and Konatsu didn't have many at all.
When Ukyo came back the kettle began to boil. She took it off the stove top and poured the water on to the little piglet.
"Alright, so what's wrong with you?" She asked.
"Akane is getting married to Ranma!" He immediately screamed.
Ukyo gasped. "What? When? Where did you hear this?" She interrogated.
"I was with Akane! She was dress shopping with her sister and Ranma's mom. She said they were gonna get married! They were shopping for dresses for their wedding!"
"Would you stop screaming?!"
Ryoga shut his mouth.
"Thank you."
"Why don't you care more? You're engaged to Ranma."
"Who says I don't care?" Ukyo put her hands on her hips in abnegation. "I just don't want you screaming your head off with the shop open. I'm trying to run a good business here."
"You could at least act like it…" Ryoga muttered.
Ukyo shook her head. "Forget about me, why do you care? Don't you have a girlfriend somewhere?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "I do and she's absolutely wonderful and everyday I'm thankful to have her in my life."
"Don't you pout at me."
"Who's pouting?" He glared at her.
"Nevermind, just answer the question. Why do you care that Ranma and Akane get married? You don't have anything to lose."
"I'm not trying to gain anything from it. At least not anymore." Ryoga stared down at his lap and clenched his fists. "Akane is one of my first friends. She was the light in a dark tunnel for the longest time and I just want what's best for her and I'm not sure if Ranma is that." Ukyo was shocked. She didn't expect such a… noble answer from him of all things. Though if Ryoga could be described as one word, it would be noble, at least most of the time. But still, she couldn't help but be bothered by those words on behalf of Akane.
"You know, I'm pretty sure Akane can decide what's best for herself," she told him.
"I thought you didn't like Akane."
"Of course I like her! Even if she's engaged to Ranma, we're still friends! Most of the time…"
"Well, what are we gonna do about this?" Ryoga wondered out loud.
"When are they getting married?"
"I don't know."
Ukyo blinked. "I thought Akane told you?"
"Akane didn't tell me anything."
"Then how'd you find out about the wedding?"
"She was talking with Nabiki and she said she was getting married. And then I ran." Then Ukyo hit his head with her battle spatula.
"You were eavesdropping? You jackass!"
"Why are you upset at that!?" Ryoga yelled clutching the top of his head.
Ukyo straightened up. "Well, we should probably stop them as soon as possible. Who knows when they'll be getting married?"
"Right," Ryoga said as he stood up. "I'll take Ranma, you take Akane."
"Oh no you don't," Ukyo glared at him. "I'm not having you hurt my Ran-chan. I'll take Ranma, you take Akane. We'll try to talk them out of it."
Ryoga huffed in frustration and glared back at her. "Fine. But if it doesn't work, I will take him down."
"Fine. One more thing."
"What?"
"For the love of God, please put your clothes on."
