Childhood's End
By M. Zephyr
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.
Ranma x Akane. Everyone has to grow up sometime.
Warning: there's a small lime scene below.
Chapter 3. Adulthood
As they walked through the gate into their yard on the sunny summer afternoon, Akane turned to ask her new husband, "What order do you want to handle everybody in?" She saw this as almost a form of battle, and decided to follow Ranma's instincts.
"Happosai first," the young man replied, surprising her. "If I fail that, then none of the rest of it's gonna be very meaningful. Also, it'll be easier to cow our fathers if they see me beat him. Which means we wait for them to return." He hesitated. "Besides, there's something I want to try first."
He paused again, and then went on. "After him, our fathers, with what happened to Happosai fresh in their minds. Then Cologne. Shampoo, too, I guess, though it's really Cologne we gotta get through to. If I can't stop them, or they kill me, or God forbid, they kill you ... Well, I have to make sure it turns out the way we want. I don't think it'll matter much what order we go in after that. Don't suppose I could talk you into staying home when I face down Cologne?"
"No," Akane stated firmly.
Ranma sighed. "Didn't think so. Well, there's something I want to try, but I'd rather not say what in case it doesn't work. If you want to watch, meet me back out here in a few minutes, after we change our clothes. Ought to interest you if it works."
"All right," she replied with a smile. Looking down at the papers in her hand, Akane added, "I also need to put the marriage license and copies and everything away. For now. Until it's time to use them."
Kasumi had already gone into the house. Akane and Ranma now followed. Several minutes later, Akane came out and sat on the engawa, noting that Ranma had finished changing before her and was standing out in the yard wearing his usual Chinese shirt and black pants. She watched her fiancé curiously. ‹No,› she corrected herself, ‹my husband now. At least in the eyes of the law.›
Ranma held himself still, blanking his mind, allowing himself to sink almost into a meditative trance. Then he called up the image of the cat he had seen at the temple. It wasn't easy, he still feared the animal and didn't want to think about it. He was, however, determined, and forced himself to hold onto the image, while trying to remember how his senses had felt that day. ‹If this doesn't work, I'll have to ask Akane to borrow one of the neighbor's pets,› he told himself.
He struggled with it for several minutes, but suddenly the world around him clicked into focus. Everything seemed to have harder edges. He was hearing sounds which had passed unnoticed before. Even from where he was standing, he could smell the scent of the perfume that Akane had worn as they signed the forms for their marriage certificate. Underneath that was the scent of the shampoo she used on her hair, and a warm musky smell that went straight to his groin. He turned and smiled at the young woman, then stepped over to the pond and casually cut a set of parallel grooves into one of the rocks surrounding it.
"Ranma?" Akane called out, with mixed curiosity and awe, standing so as to see better. "Are you in the neko-ken? But ... there aren't any cats around."
"I know," Ranma replied, sounding and feeling justifiably smug. His voice had that strange hissing quality that Akane remembered from when he went into the neko-ken at the temple. "I did it by meditating on cats, and on what it feels like to be in this state. I think I can do it anytime I want now." He paused, his confident air faltering. Slightly more subdued, he added, "I'd better see if I can reverse it without having to trigger my curse or take a nap."
He stood in silent thought, trying to reverse the process, concentrating on how his senses normally felt. It occurred to him to include the image of the young woman who was standing nearby, the person his cat self trusted above all others. It took longer this time, but eventually he felt normal again, and noticed that he could no longer smell any of Akane's scents.
"It worked!" he shouted, running over to take Akane in his arms, swinging her around and laughing. "Come on, let's go inside and wait for everyone to come home."
Their parents came back a short time later, but neither Akane nor Ranma bothered to look up from the television show they were watching. It was another hour before Nabiki returned, but when she did the couple turned and nodded to one another. Nabiki walked into the kitchen looking for a snack. The fathers were playing their eternal game of shogi, and Ranma's mother was watching the fathers' game. Just a quiet, peaceful afternoon.
Akane and Ranma stood and stepped outside, although Akane remained on the engawa. Ranma grinned at her and then turned his face toward the sky. Drawing on his chi to amplify his voice, the young man called out at monstrous volume, "Happosai!"
The fathers ran out in shock, making shushing noises. Genma was yelling, "Have you gone mad, boy? Shut up!" Nodoka and Nabiki trailed after, surprised and curious both. Kasumi wandered out as well, drying her hands on a towel.
Ranma shouted again, the sound deafening. "Happosai!"
When Genma started to run out into the yard to stop his son, Akane stuck her foot out and tripped him. He landed face down in the dirt just outside. At that moment everyone's eyes detected a small figure bouncing across the roofs in their direction. Soun let out a dismayed moan and hid his eyes in abject horror.
The dwarfish figure of the world's most perverted martial artist came to a stop on top of the wall surrounding the yard. He was carrying a sack on his back, no doubt filled with underwear stolen off the bodies of young women. The ancient man pulled out his pipe and sucked on it for a moment, before inquiring, "You wanted something, Ranma m'boy?"
Ranma had closed his eyes and gone still as soon as he had seen the figure approaching, concentrating on the cat and seeking the proper mental state. His eyes now opened, and in a slightly hissing voice the young man said, "Yeah, old man. I challenge you for the title of Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."
A chorus of in-drawn breaths from the direction of the house answered this challenge. Only Akane had possessed an inkling of what to expect. She was also the only one to realize that Ranma was in the neko-ken state. Happosai regarded the young man before him with contempt, before finally responding, "If I accept your challenge, and you lose, then you will at last acknowledge me as your master, and undertake whatever training I require of you."
"Agreed!" hissed Ranma.
Happosai nodded. "Very well. Then I accept your challenge." He dropped down into the yard and released his bag of loot. He smiled grimly and his battle aura flared up to monstrous proportions as he pulled out three Happo fire bursts and threw them in the boy's direction.
With the flare of a chi blast, the bombs detonated before they had crossed half the distance, their ashes floating toward the ground. Ranma's cat instincts were entirely unintimidated by Happosai's battle aura, and he leaped to close the distance between the two of them.
Happosai made a negligent swing with his pipe, intending to use it to throw the boy high into the air. Instead he felt a foot slam into his gut like a battering ram an instant before his back impacted with the wall, shattering the stone. Dazed he looked at the single centimeter of pipe stem left in his fingers, then saw the other pieces of his pipe lying on the ground. ‹Impossible!› he thought. ‹With my aura infusing that pipe, nothing could break it!›
The old man leapt out of the way just in time as Ranma's next kick knocked a hole through the wall. Happosai realized that he'd better recover his focus and fast. He dodged Ranma's next punch, then launched a kick that the boy couldn't possibly dodge in time.
Except that Ranma did manage to flow out of the way, with a hair's breadth to spare. Left exposed by the unexpected miss, a kick caught Happosai in the side of the leg, shattering his knee. The ancient martial artist fell to the ground, his leg no longer able to hold his weight. Barely suppressing a scream, Happosai paled both from the pain and the sudden realization of how deadly earnest Ranma was.
The younger man was forced to pull his next kick, as Happosai's block would otherwise have broken the bone. Ranma saw that the old man apparently had finally realized how serious this fight was, and where it might end. Ranma's dodge took him slightly out of position, allowing Happosai to throw him, but he landed on his feet otherwise unharmed. He rushed back in again.
Ranma's palm strike punched out like a pile driver, and Happosai met it with an open palm, only to scream as they connected. The old man stared in shock at the blood welling from the holes which had been punched through his hand. A fresh wave of realization broke over him, far too late. ‹Claws! The neko-ken! The boy's using the neko-ken! But that's impossible!›
Ranma was coming back in again, blindingly fast, and this time his hand was open, the fingers extended and slightly bent. For all his perversion, Happosai was a supremely talented martial artist, and the lightning fast battle calculator in his head told him he dared not meet that blow, nor could he avoid it. There was only one answer, and he choked out the words, as fast as he could, "I yield!"
Ranma stopped, his claws millimeters short of contact. "Then I am now grandmaster of this school," he grated out in his hissing voice. "From now on you will answer to me for how you use your martial arts, and God help you if I find you wanting."
He turned back to the shocked gathering on the engawa, and loudly declared, "By right of victory, I am now Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School!" In a quieter voice, he called, "Kasumi, would you please call an ambulance for Happosai. He's in need of medical attention."
Ranma's eyes next ran over the people standing on the engawa, before settling on his shaken father. "Pop!" he called out.
Genma jumped backward at the sound of the shout. His mind simply could not grasp what he had just seen his son do, the sheer viciousness of the boy's attack. The eyes he turned toward Ranma had a wild look to them.
His son spoke calmly but forcefully. "I want you to keep an eye on your former master until the ambulance arrives. I'm going back inside."
"N-Nonsense, boy!" his father blustered, looking around shakily. "Kasumi ... no ... Akane! You and Akane. Both of you can stay with him, boy." He turned toward Soun. "Right?"
Still in his own state of shock, Soun Tendo nodded quickly in agreement. He gestured toward his youngest child. Satisfied that they had arranged matters for their own convenience, and that the proper hierarchy of authority was reestablished, the two men turned back to the house to resume their shogi game.
"Hold it!" Ranma commanded. He took three long strides, whereupon he seized his startled sire by his gi and heaved the man into the air, tossing him easily into the koi pond. "I told you to stay with Happosai," the new grandmaster stated firmly. "Don't make me tell you again."
The sodden panda bear slowly pulled himself from the pond and settled himself on the grass some distance from his defeated elder. Genma was looking around in amazement at the normal appearance of the surrounding buildings, since it felt to him as if the world had just turned upside down.
As everyone else moved back inside, Nodoka gushed ecstatically over her wonderfully manly son, while Soun alternated between weeping and pounding Ranma on the back. Akane and Kasumi offered milder congratulations. Nabiki disappeared, practically running up her room. She was anxious to haul out her books and get in touch with her contacts to adjust the odds on any future fights that Ranma might get into.
The ambulance came and went, and Genma strolled back indoors, though he didn't bother to resume his human form immediately. Ranma lifted an eyebrow at Akane, and saw her take a deep breath, then climb to her feet. She left the room to go upstairs, where she paused to knock on Nabiki's door, telling her sister that she and Ranma wanted to speak with everyone downstairs. Akane then went into her room and pulled out the photocopies they had requested of the various documents.
Akane found everyone gathered around the low table when she got back downstairs. She went over and knelt beside Ranma, their shoulders practically touching. Nabiki cocked an ironic eyebrow in their direction at the sight, but neither one gave her any response. Akane consulted Ranma by eye and then, holding the papers face down in her lap, began the tale.
"A few days ago, Doctor Tofu noticed something strange about Ranma and myself. It seems ... well, that Nabiki was more right than ... than any of us knew. As it turns out, Ranma and I were mentally and emotionally incapable of maturing. Doctor Tofu thought that maybe something had been done to us at some point, something that caused this."
So far all of the eyes turned toward her simply looked bewildered.
"Well, Ranma thought ... and I agreed ... that as screwed up as all this was, that it sounded like a scheme of our fathers. So we went digging through Saotome-san's old journals. ..."
The panda looked up, startled and more than a little frightened.
"... We discovered that both our loving fathers had performed some sort of magical ritual on us when we were five years old. Something that they thought would allow them to control us. Though as was only to be expected from one of Saotome-san's schemes, he had gotten it completely wrong. Freezing us at a pre-adolescent mental state was merely a side effect, which he had probably conveniently ignored."
Both fathers looked frightened, just like deer staring at approaching headlights. Kasumi's eyes were turned downward, studying her knees. Nabiki was just plain stunned, her mouth open, frozen in surprise. Nodoka's face was rapidly moving toward an eruption, having understood that her fool husband had done something to her son which would prevent him from fathering children. Her hand was already starting to slide her katana from its sheath.
"No, mom," Ranma said to her, quietly but firmly. Her hand paused, though it did not retreat. "The reason Akane and I went away for a few days was to get this mess reversed. We figured out where pop found this piece of stupidity, and there was this priest there who was able to undo it. We're both fine now, or ... at least recovering quickly." He smirked widely, smug and cocky. "I even got control of the neko-ken as an unexpected bonus."
"The ... neko-ken?" Nodoka repeated, inquisitively.
"Heh, yeah," he replied. "Sorry, forgot you didn't know about that yet. I'll explain later, sometime when pop's far away." His mother looked dubious, but did not immediately pursue the matter.
Akane took up the thread once more. "So like Ranma said, we're cured. Well, healing, anyway. We've gone through some pretty rapid changes the past few days, both mental and emotional." She scowled, her face grim. "And one of those changes is that neither of us feels inclined to put up with any of the usual crap anymore. So we've decided to do some things about it."
"What ... things?" Soun asked, worried. Were they about to lose all chance of ever uniting the schools?
Akane pulled out one of the pieces of paper and tossed it onto the table, face up. "For starters, my name is now Akane Saotome."
With the exception of Kasumi, everyone sat there staring at her for several seconds, the blinking of their eyes the only thing about them which was moving. Then as one they all leaned forward to look at the paper, little indrawn hisses of breath the only sound as they identified it as a marriage certificate, and read the names on it. Suddenly the two fathers jumped to their feet, arms linked, man and panda dancing around the room, exclaiming with joy about how their children had finally seen the light.
Nabiki's eyes were calculating, figures running through her head, as she contemplated the payoffs on several bets. Nodoka turned hurt eyes on her son. "You did this, without telling me?"
"Yeah mom," he told her, without apology. "This was between Akane and me. We're planning to have the ceremony later, probably several months from now. That'll be more meaningful for everyone anyway."
His mother gazed at him coolly, but then sighed and nodded, dropping her eyes. "As you say. And I suppose I can understand your feelings in the matter, after the way I helped your father plan the last two attempts."
Ranma thanked her quietly for understanding, then looked over with displeasure at the two fathers. Genma had changed back to human, and they were breaking out the sake in order to celebrate. Ranma cleared his throat and then announced, "We're not done yet."
The two men looked over at him, startled, and Ranma pointed to their positions at the table. Reluctantly, they came back over and resumed those positions, looking at him questioningly.
Akane spoke again. "As part of the plan for our marriage to unite the schools and reopen the dojo, Ranma and I were to inherit this house and the property it is on. The two of you had conveniently already filled out the forms for us." She pulled out a couple of more sheets and tossed them onto the table.
Looking closely, Nabiki and the parents saw that Ranma and Akane were now the owners of the property, with Kasumi given as their trustee. Genma snarled his displeasure at this last fact. Soun looked up and said, a little helplessly, "Well, I don't think I would have named Kasumi as the trustee. But this is more or less what I intended."
"Perhaps you did, daddy," Akane replied sweetly, but with something in her words which sent shivers down his spine. "On the other hand, you also intended to control me, when you used that ... that thing ... that ritual on me. A piece of magic which was created for use on slaves. You never expected me to find out about that, did you?"
Her eyes were like ice cold drills, piercing through him, as she continued speaking. "So I have to wonder, was that what you wanted? Did you intend to make me - your own daughter - a slave? Did you ever consider the consequences? Did you expect how I would feel toward you right now? Did you intend for disgust to be the only thing I feel when I look at you? No, of course not. Because I was never supposed to find out."
Tears filled Soun's eyes. His mouth opened, though whether to explain or beg forgiveness was not apparent, since no words came out. Most likely, he didn't know himself what he wanted to say.
Akane's eyes narrowed further, and her voice became even colder. "So tell me, father, when you did this, did you imagine that I would be able to forgive you? I assure you that if I do, it won't be very soon. Did you think at all?" She paused, before her next words fell into the still room like lead weights. "Did you intend for a day to come when I would order you to leave my house?"
"What? What?" Soun spluttered. Genma looked ashen.
Ranma's voice was as cold as Akane's. "You heard her, Tendo-san. You too, pop. This is our house now. And you're not welcome. Maybe we'll forgive you two one day. Well, I'm pretty sure Akane will, at least. But not today. We want you to pack up, and get out."
Genma blustered. "Now stop talking foolishness, boy. You know you don't mean that."
Ranma turned a glare on his father. "We do mean it pop. I warn you, don't doubt that for a second. You can walk out of here under your own steam, or I can throw you out. Your choice. Please bear in mind what happened to Happosai a little while ago."
"But where are we supposed to go?" Soun wailed.
Ranma shrugged. "If I understand right, Mom's house is livable again. Pop's her husband. Maybe you can both live there, if she'll have you. Otherwise, it's up to you."
"Am I also ordered from your house, Ranma?" Nodoka asked, her voice hard.
Ranma sighed. "Naw. It's up to you, really. You can stay if you want. Or you can go home, with or without your husband. If you do decide to go home, you can come back and visit whenever you want. I would prefer it if you'd start leaving the sword at home though. It ... carries unpleasant associations."
Nodoka closed her eyes, breathing in and then out, releasing some of her tensions as she did so. "I will think on this further, then." Opening her eyes, she turned a deadly glare on Genma. "I also need to discuss matters with my ... husband. Concerning consequences of foolish decisions." Genma looked ready to pass out from panic, as he watched her finger the hilt of the katana at her side.
Akane turned to her middle sister, whose mouth was gaping like a fish. "Close your mouth, Nabiki, you look dumb like that." The mouth closed with a snap. "Just to be clear, sister, you're welcome to stay at our house too. Of course, any further attempts to blackmail us, or sell photos of us, or exploit us in any way, and we might have to reevaluate that decision."
Nabiki managed to refocus her glazed eyes. "Right," she managed to grind out, barely hearing herself speak, struggling to come to grips with all of the sudden changes. She was going to have to go and recalculate all of the damned odds again!
"One more thing," Ranma said, turning to Nabiki and fishing in his pocket. He held out two 1000 yen notes. "Can you tell me whether Cologne owns the Nekohanten, or just rents the building?"
Nabiki pulled herself back to the present. Her voice sounded a little hoarse. "Er, she owns it. Wait. How the hell did you know I'd know that?"
Ranma shrugged. "I didn't. But you know plenty of little tidbits, and I didn't figure it could hurt to ask."
"Now if you'll excuse us," Ranma said, rising to his feet, offering Akane a hand up, "there are some other people we need to go speak to. You two old farts are to be out of the house by noon tomorrow. Don't try anything stupid while we're gone. Kasumi will be keeping an eye on things and believe me, I'll track you down if I have to." Akane picked up the copy of the marriage certificate in passing.
Five pairs of eyes watched as the couple swept from the room. They heard them slipping shoes on, and the front door closed, followed by the gate. Silence reigned for some time in the room they had left, while the inhabitants thereof struggled to come to grips with all that had passed.
Akane and Ranma marched down the street, side by side, in the direction of the Nekohanten. They exuded an aura which caused the people ahead of them on the sidewalk to unconsciously step aside and let them pass.
"Are you planning to use the neko-ken again?" Akane asked, her voice a mixture of seriousness and curiosity.
Ranma pursed his lips. "I'm going to have it ready. I'll threaten her with it before I use it. I think the old ghoul is smarter than Happosai, and will see reason without making me put her in the hospital. Or the morgue."
"Just make sure you don't end up in either of those places yourself," Akane replied, with a slight catch in her voice.
The young man beside her smiled. "I'll do my best, 'kane. I'm fairly confident. Besides, I'm hoping Cologne ain't stupid enough to take big risks just to force me to join the Joketsuzoku. I mean, is the payoff really worth it to her?"
Akane nodded. If they had to convince Shampoo, then all bets were off. But Cologne was older and wiser, and might see reason. She glanced over at Ranma. "What was that bit about who owned the Nekohanten?"
Ranma's lips curled vindictively. "Just wondering who would suffer most if there's any, er, collateral damage, sorta."
Akane would have asked more, but at that moment both of the teenage martial artists sensed an attack, and dove to either side. Tatewaki Kuno landed on the sidewalk, wielding a katana which slashed down through the space Ranma had occupied a bare moment before. Its steel cut a long groove into the cement.
The kendoist spun around with a horizontal slash of his blade. "Vile sorcerer! The day has come at last when I shall smite thee and free the fair Akane Tendo from thy wicked enslavement!"
From behind them a ribbon snapped out, barely missing Akane as she ducked to the side to avoid it. Kodachi Kuno let loose a peal of maniacal laughter, followed by the declaration, "Peasant wench! You will stay away from my wonderful Ranma-sama!"
Akane turned to glare at her rival, slipping without conscious thought into a fighting stance. Kodachi felt herself falter slightly at the sight. The accustomed flames of hot anger were not present in Akane's eyes. Only cold calculation resided there. Recovering her poise, Kodachi lifted her ribbon to strike once more.
For Ranma, dealing with Tatewaki was frankly rather anticlimactic, after having faced down Happosai earlier that day. A few seconds later, he was sitting on the unconscious boy, tossing the sword into the air repeatedly and catching it, while watching Akane fight with Kodachi.
Not that the battle between the two girls lasted much longer. Kodachi hadn't thought to arm herself with any drugs, and only knew how to fight with her weapons. Akane labored under no such handicap, and in the absence of any restrictions against unarmed combat was by far the better martial artist. She stepped inside a club thrust, folded Kodachi over with a punch to the gut, then put her out with an elbow to the back of her head.
Akane turned and shot Ranma a sunny smile. "What do you say to a change of plans? It seems fate wants us to deal with the Kuno's before the Amazons."
Ranma returned her smile. "Oh well, if you're going to insist ..." They each lifted an unconscious opponent over a shoulder, and set off in the direction of the Kuno estate.
The Kuno siblings awoke at the same time, spluttering, shaking their heads to clear their eyes and nostrils of the water which Akane poured on them. Quickly taking stock of their situation, they found that they were tied to chairs in the kitchen of their own home. When they looked up, they saw Ranma and Akane standing near the sink, staring at them.
Kodachi found her tongue first. "Ranma-sama, please untie me! Let us dispose of this child and retire to my rooms together."
Her brother struggled against his bonds before glaring at the pigtailed boy, declaring, "It is the mark of a dishonorable cur such as yourself that you would bind your opponent, rather than facing his skill in battle!"
Ranma rolled his eyes. "We got a couple things to say to you, and show you. Then we'll let you go. Akane?"
The girl beside him pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. She then stepped up in front of Tatewaki, holding it where he could see it. A few seconds passed before his face paled, and then grew red with fury. He turned his incandescent gaze on Ranma but he had been rendered speechless, his mouth working vigorously but unable to form intelligible words. Kodachi watched this with considerable amusement, but also a touch of concern.
Akane stepped over and held the paper in front of Kodachi. It didn't take her long to realize that it was a copy of a marriage certificate, and that Akane's and Ranma's names were on it. Kodachi soon found herself in the exact same state as Tatewaki.
Ranma sighed, then picked up the pitcher Akane had used before, and splashed both of the Kuno's again. They both managed to find their voices, but were spouting little more than strings of curses. Ranma sighed again, signaled to Akane, then she stepped in front of Tatewaki, Ranma stepped in front of Kodachi, and two hands slapped across two faces simultaneously.
Before they could start up again, Akane took the floor. "Okay, we got the idea. You don't approve. You know what? Too bad. Ranma and I are married now, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's official. You can complain, yell, scream, even fight us, but it won't change anything. We'll still be married."
Kodachi turned puppy dog eyes on Ranma. "Surely you cannot wish to be married to this harridan?"
Ranma nodded. "Yes I can. I'm married to her and that's the way it's going to stay."
Tatewaki tried to reason with his love, at least as he saw it. "Akane Tendo, you must see that he holds you under a spell. Please, I will help you to break it and set you free."
Akane looked at him with disgust. "My name is Akane Saotome now. And you're a delusional fool, a coward who hides from the truth. I love Ranma, I'm married to him, and you will dishonor yourself and your name by trying to come between us."
Tatewaki turned to Ranma, and his lip curled. "So. If you have married my fierce tigress, do you intend to set my pigtailed goddess free? Or do you intend to keep your hold on both of them?"
Ranma laughed mirthlessly. "That's the next thing we're gonna show you, and maybe this time you'll finally get it through your head. You've called me a sorcerer often enough. Do you really believe in magic?"
The bound boy proclaimed haughtily, "As I know you to be a sorcerer, I necessarily must believe in magic."
Ranma nodded. "Right. Well, I'm not a sorcerer, but I do have a magical problem. A curse, that I received a short time before I arrived in Nerima." He refilled the pitcher then stepped in front of Tatewaki. Kodachi watched in confusion wondering what her Ranma was talking about.
Ranma reached out and placed a hand on Tatewaki's shoulder, gripping it. The other boy flinched, but could not get away. Ranma looked at him coldly. "Now pay attention to that hand that's on your shoulder. I'm not gonna let go. And watch me very carefully while I pour this water over my head. For once, try to believe what your eyes are telling you!"
With that he poured, and both Tatewaki and his sister watched as Ranma was replaced by the red-haired girl known to them as 'the pigtailed goddess.' Tatewaki was struggling with what he had seen, for he had inadvertently heeded Ranma's words and paid attention to the hand which had never left his shoulder, the hand which was now at the end of the arm belonging to the girl standing before him.
"Yeah, it's still me," this girl said. "Ranma Saotome. I'm cursed to turn into a girl whenever I'm splashed with cold water. Hot water returns me to my true body."
"Impossible!" the boy whispered, yet his face was milky. He wanted to disbelieve, wanted it desperately. This must be some trick. It must!
"It's me, Kuno. All the people at school know about my curse. Just ask any of 'em. You two are the only people who refused to see it, for some reason. I'm tired of you chasing after me. I'm a guy, and it just makes me sick. I want you to stop."
Tatewaki was shaking his head, moaning. Akane brought over more water, hot then cold. Ranma kept his hand on the other boy's shoulder as he changed gender, male and female again.
A keening sound came from Tatewaki's mouth. He wanted to escape, wanted it to be a dream. He closed his eyes and opened them again, but the red-haired girl was still in front of him. Tatewaki whispered, "Saotome? Ranma?"
Ranma nodded. The young man in front of him closed his eyes in pain, trying to shut out the sight, trying to hide from the memory of his proclamations of love. It was useless, yet he tried.
Kodachi was also struggling with the notion. She had unwillingly watched Ranma and the red-haired girl swap places. Her brother had called this girl Ranma, acted as if she and her Ranma-sama were one and the same person. That couldn't be possible!
Ranma stepped over to her, and put his arms on both of her shoulders. Kodachi flinched also, trying not to look into the eyes of the redhead before her. "Akane?" Ranma requested. Akane stepped over with a kettle of hot water, and poured. Tatewaki had also opened his eyes, and both of the Kuno's watched the girl transform once more into the male they knew as Ranma.
"Nooooo!" Kodachi wailed.
"Now hopefully that got through to you," Ranma said. "Akane and I are tired of your nonsense, and we're not inclined to put up with it anymore. We're married now, and you're either gonna leave us alone, or else. Now I'm gonna take a moment and show you what 'or else' might involve."
He closed his eyes and stood still for a moment. When he opened them he nodded to Akane, who walked over to the counter and picked something up. Brother and sister saw that it was a katana, the very one with which Tatewaki had attacked Ranma earlier. Akane held it out for their examination, then raised it in front of Ranma.
He swept his hand across in front of the sword. The blade fell in four pieces on the floor, leaving only a hilt in Akane's hand. The jaws of the Kuno siblings dropped.
Then Ranma stepped in front of Tatewaki and looked him straight in the eyes. Ranma's eyes held no warmth, no pity. He held a hand out, bringing the fingertips close to the other boy's chest. Remembering what he had just seen those fingers do, Tatewaki was unable to suppress a whimper. As Ranma drew his fingertips down the boy's torso, the ropes binding him to the chair parted, the ends cut cleanly. Long slices opened in the material of his shirt, beads of blood appearing along shallow scratches beneath those tears. The fingertips stopped just above the young man's groin, as Ranma looked into Tatewaki's eyes meaningfully. The young man in the chair was shivering uncontrollably, and his muscles involuntarily relaxed.
Stepping away from the humiliated boy whose wrists were still bound to the arms of the chair, Ranma turned to Kodachi. "Do you need a similar demonstration?" he hissed. His fingertips were already waving over her stomach, cutting short slices in the cloth covering it. Eyes full of fear, Kodachi shook her head.
Ranma then moved back beside Akane, and fixed both Kuno's with an icy glare. His voice when it came still had the strange, hissing quality they had heard when he spoke to Kodachi. It was a voice which sent shivers down their spines.
"I got no desire to use these claws on people. But I have had it with you two. Keep your distance. I've always held back when fighting you two before. I ain't gonna trouble myself to do that any longer. I'd just as soon not put either of you in the hospital, or worse." His eyes became even colder, and his voice dropped lower, a dangerously feral note entering it. "But I'll do it if I have to."
Akane spoke up one last time. "We told your servants to stay out of the kitchen while we talked to you. Once we leave I'm sure they'll come in here and finish untying you." She reached over to take Ranma's hand, and the two of them departed together. Both of them ignored the puddle under Tatewaki's chair.
On leaving the Kuno estate and setting out for the Nekohanten once more, Ranma thought about the fact that Ucchan's was within a block of the most direct route between the two. He gave a deep sigh as he decided that he might as well talk to Ukyo next. After telling Akane of this decision, the two of them argued for the next eight blocks until they reached Ucchan's, regarding whether Akane would accompany Ranma inside. They spent a few more minutes on the argument outside the door. Finally, Akane huffed and leaned against the exterior wall while Ranma stepped inside.
"Ranma honey!" Ukyo cried gladly. "Have a seat! I'll have one of my specials ready for you in just a moment!"
Ranma shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Can I talk to you in back?"
Ukyo looked him over, puzzled. She then turned to her helper, Konatsu. "Mind the store for a bit, would you sugar? Ranchan and I have to talk."
In the back room they sat down at a table. Ukyo inquired brightly, "What's on your mind, Ranchan?"
Ranma wasn't returning her smile. His voice was very serious. "There have been some big changes in the last few days, and I'm here to tell you about them. I don't want to drag it out, so I'm gonna tell you quick and to the point.
"A few days ago we discovered that my pop did something to me when I was five that prevented me from growing up emotionally. Tendo-san did the same thing to Akane. After we found out, we were able to get it cured. After that, we were able to stop acting so stupid around each other and say how we really felt. Then, well, ..." He pulled out the marriage certificate and pushed it across the table.
Ukyo had been looking increasingly worried with each sentence, and now her face paled as she took in what was lying on the table in front of her. He wasn't even telling her that he'd decided to marry Akane, something that she might have been able to talk him out of. He was telling her that he'd already married Akane. She stared down at the demon paper, wanting to believe that this was all some horrible nightmare.
"Nice of you to warn me what you were planning," she got out, in a voice which was brittle with pain.
Ranma closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Ukyo, but there wasn't time. Besides, there were too many other serious problems we had to deal with at the same time. We had to try to take care of everything at once, not try to stretch it out."
"So that's it, huh?" Ukyo said acidly. "It's all over now. Bad luck, Kuonji. Sorry about your dowry. Yeah, you were my fiancée, but you know how it is."
Ranma opened his eyes again, and now there was a glint of ice lying within their warmth. "Akane was my fiancée too, and she was there first. And besides, she was the one I loved. I'm sorry you thought I could love you, but there was never anything there like that. I just wanted to be friends, but you weren't satisfied with that. You wanted something more, something I just can't give you. I'm sorry about that. Sorry that things got so screwed up. But there's only so much I can do to fix things, and I'm afraid that marrying you isn't one of 'em."
"What do I do now?" She was starting to cry.
Ranma crossed his arms, speaking with conviction. "You go on living. You run your restaurant. Some day you meet some guy who'll be happy running a restaurant with you, you get married and you have a family. If you decide you want to be friends with me and Akane, let us know, and we'll give it another shot. If not, I'll understand, and accept that too."
Ukyo's face was in her hands now. She wanted to get up and grab her battle spatula, but didn't think her legs would hold her. "Please leave, Saotome. I need to think."
Ranma retrieved the certificate, then stood and left the room. Peeking between her fingers, Ukyo saw that he didn't even spare her a backward glance.
They were standing outside of the Nekohanten, looking at the diners through the window. "Ready?" Akane whispered.
"Yep," replied Ranma. "You?" Akane nodded in answer.
Ranma had slipped back into the neko-ken, just in case, although as he had told Akane, he was planning to handle things differently from what he had done with Happosai. They strolled through the door into the restaurant.
"Airen!" Shampoo cried out, catching sight of him. "You come see Shampoo! Why you bring violent girl? We go out on date now, yes?"
Ranma sighed. "I want to speak to you and Cologne. Is she in the kitchen?"
At that moment the withered old Amazon elder hopped into the dining area from the kitchen, balanced on her staff. "Hello, son-in-law! What brings you here today? And why is the Tendo girl with you?"
Akane's eyes narrowed into slits, and the corners of her mouth turned up. "Not 'Tendo' anymore, elder." She held out the copy of the marriage certificate.
Cologne took the paper warily, and her eyes scanned over it quickly. A dark frown crossed her face, and she was tempted to shred the paper. That would be a pointless gesture, however, to waste on a photocopy. She released it instead, letting it drift to the floor. "A meaningless document," the old woman stated. People sitting at the tables were beginning to watch the little drama.
"What is it, great-grandmother?" Shampoo asked, looking down at the paper.
Cologne answered drily, "A marriage certificate for these two, stating that they are married under Japanese law."
Shampoo's eyes suddenly focused angrily on Akane, as she muttered, "Husband stealer."
"I've made my choice," Ranma stated firmly. "I've married Akane. I ain't ever coming back to China with you. I ain't ever gonna marry Shampoo. Fact is, I don't ever wanna see her again. I've come here to warn you to stay away from us." Several of the diners started looking nervous upon hearing this.
Cologne's eyes narrowed. It was unexpected to hear him sound so decisive in matters of the heart. She told him, "Your opinions do not matter. Our law says that you must marry Shampoo."
Ranma bared his teeth. "As it happens, I don't give a damn about your laws. I will never marry Shampoo, and there's nothing you can do about it. If she or you bother us any further, you will regret it."
Cologne practically hissed. "I am an elder of the Joketsuzoku, boy, a hundred years older than you and vastly more experienced. Do you truly think that you can take me on?"
Ranma did hiss. "That would make you, what, about the same age as Happosai? By the way, did I mention that I'm now the Grandmaster of Anything Goes? I defeated Happosai earlier today. Put him in the hospital."
Cologne drew back, startled, eyes blinking. In a normal fight, she would feel confident of her ability to defeat Happosai, as the old lecher was easily distracted. If he had been defending his grandmastership, however ... if he were to give it his all, the old woman was unsure that she would be able to achieve more than a draw. She ground her teeth, wondering if Ranma was attempting some sort of bluff.
Ranma leaned forward. "You heard what happened at Jusendo, didn't you? Are you sure you want to risk making me angry?"
The level of tension in the room finally proved too great for the customers. They rose from their tables and fled from the restaurant. Mousse came in from the back room, wearing his glasses for once. He was wondering what all of the commotion was about, but stopped in his tracks as he saw the tableau in front of him. As bizarre as it seemed, it looked almost like Ranma was threatening Cologne.
"Yes, I heard what happened at Jusendo," Cologne replied icily. "Somewhat abbreviated accounts at first from Shampoo and Mousse, but I got fuller accounts from them once I heard from our village and knew what questions to ask. I also know that you were in an extreme and extraordinary situation at Jusendo. A situation which left you with an inescapable choice."
She gave a harsh laugh, and then went on. "That doesn't pertain here. I've watched you, young Ranma, for two years now. I know you better than you know yourself. You would not release such power here, so don't bother to try to pretend that you will."
The younger Amazon spoke, her eyes never leaving Akane's face. "Shampoo, however, is Amazon warrior. When I threaten, it real. Kitchen destroyer try to steal Shampoo's airen. So Shampoo kill now."
Ranma's voice dropped to a frozen level colder than the void. "There have been changes lately. And maybe you don't know me quite as well as you think." He held his arms in front of him, and light blossomed around his hands. Almost too fast to follow, it blazed forth like twin suns, and then Ranma raised his arms and released it skyward. Only when the light was gone did everyone realize that they had nearly been deafened by the roar.
Cologne looked upward to where the light had disappeared. There was no longer a ceiling above her head. For that matter, there was no longer a second floor, an attic, or a roof. Her eyes slowly dragged back down to gaze upon Ranma once more. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Shampoo was still staring upward, frozen in place.
Cologne noticed that Ranma was leaning one hand against a screen. He was slowly moving his fingertips up and down along it, leaving long gashes behind as he did so. The old woman felt her eye begin to twitch.
The Amazon elder was indeed about the same age as Happosai, but she wasn't quite as slow on the uptake. She had fought Ranma in the neko-ken before, when his human intellect had not been in control, and had called the battle off rather than risk defeat. She also seemed to be in error about his willingness to use the chi techniques with which he had killed Saffron. She calculated her odds if she fought the boy, and didn't like the numbers she came up with. Cologne was well over one hundred years old, and knew the value of her skin.
The elder opened her mouth, but only a rusty sound emerged. Flushing with embarrassment, she cleared her throat and tried again. "Will you swear a vow that so long as we leave you, and yours, in peace that you will leave us in peace?"
Ranma nodded. "I so swear, on my honor as a martial artist."
Shampoo finally dragged her eyes back down on hearing this. "Great-grandmother ...?"
"It is over, granddaughter," the ancient woman stated in tones which would brook no denial. "It is time to prepare for our return to China." From his position well to her rear, Mousse suddenly grinned.
Shampoo turned toward Ranma. "Airen ...?"
Ranma spoke coldly, "Never call me that again." Akane picked up the dropped photocopy, and the two of them turned and walked out through the now rather pointless door.
On the walk back to their house, Akane cheerfully remarked, "Kind of amazing how quickly we could get everything sorted out once we put our minds to it, isn't it?"
"Mmm," Ranma hummed, noncommittally. "I'll grant you the Amazons have decided to leave us be, and that's a big one. Ukyo hasn't promised yet, though. Mind you, I think she will, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high until I'm sure."
Akane sighed. "I suppose so. For that matter, I suppose we can't be certain of the Kuno's either. They certainly seemed to get the message at the end there, but as delusional as they are, I guess there's no guarantee they won't be back to cause more trouble."
"For that matter, we haven't dealt with Ryoga yet, either," Ranma added gloomily.
"Oh, come on, Ranma," Akane cajoled him. "I had hoped that now you're more grown up, you'd be able to get along with him. Why not try?"
Ranma grunted, examining his feet. He looked up again, staring off into the distance. Finally, speaking slowly and choosing his words carefully, he said, "There's more to it than you know, Akane. A lot more. There's reasons I haven't told you before, but ... with my new perspective, they're not really very good reasons. Or at least, not good enough."
He looked down again, and kicked a stone along the street. "Trouble is, I'm not sure how to tell you about it. It's a real tangled mess, like a lot of stuff in my life. I'd like a day or two to think it over first. It's not very pressing, anyway, unless Ryoga shows up again."
Akane was looking at him strangely. She puffed out a breath. "Okayyy."
Ranma gave a small, apologetic smile, and they continued on their way home.
Dinner that night was a tense affair, as was breakfast the next morning. Nodoka announced her intention to return to her own home, and granted permission to her husband and his friend to come and live with her for the time being, provided that they behaved themselves. There was considerable wailing on Soun Tendo's part as he packed his things, but before lunchtime the gate had closed behind them and only the three sisters and Ranma were left in the house.
"So, brother-in-law," Nabiki drawled, "are you and Akane going to move into daddy's bedroom now?"
"Say what?" Ranma looked rather startled.
"Well it is the master bedroom, after all," she pointed out. "You and Akane are married now, and own the house. The bedroom you've been sleeping in is the guest room. It only makes sense to move into the master bedroom, and make the guest room available for guests again."
Ranma looked over at Akane, whose response was tentative. "I ... hadn't really thought about it. I suppose it does make sense, at least for Ranma to move into it. Now that daddy has moved out, it's empty. On the other hand, I don't intend to share a bedroom with Ranma until after the wedding ceremony."
"Er, what do you think, Kasumi?" Ranma asked the oldest girl.
"I think Nabiki is right," she replied quietly. "This house belongs to you and Akane, now. Even if you decide to let daddy move back in later, it should be made clear to him that he is the guest and not you. This would be the simplest way to drive that point home."
"Sure you don't want to move into the room with him, little sis?" Nabiki asked with a wicked grin. "I mean, the two of you are married. Seems a pity not to take advantage of it."
Akane eyed her middle sister with little favor, then shocked her by saying, "I'll admit to being strongly tempted. However, we will wait until we're married for real. Meaning, after the ceremony, when we'll feel like we're married."
Nabiki shrugged, trying to hide her surprise. "Okay, now what about money? How are you planning to support your household?"
It was Ranma's turn to look surprised. "There isn't a mortgage, is there? I didn't think your father was bringing in that much money."
Nabiki smirked. "Don't you think you should have considered such things before throwing daddy out? You're lucky, though. You're right, there is no mortgage, and there's a trust fund from momma's side of the family which has been covering the taxes and will continue to do so. Still, daddy did bring in some money, some investments he inherited and money from work he did for the city. That was covering groceries, clothing, school fees, utility bills, and all of that fun stuff. I assume you don't want to do without those things?"
"What about all the money you've been bringing in?" asked Ranma.
"Moi?" she asked innocently, hand over her heart. "Sorry to disappoint you, brother-in-law, but most of that has been sunk into my college education. I have been putting away a little on the side, and now that it's your house instead of daddy's, I suppose it's only fair if I contribute a little something so long as I'm living here. But that won't come close to covering all the costs. Besides, let's be fair. You'll be responsible for half of our food bills all by yourself."
Ranma grimaced, but had to admit the annoying girl had a point.
"Ranma?" Akane got her nominal husband's attention. "What if we reopen the dojo and try to get some students? We probably couldn't make a very good living at it while we're still students ourselves, but maybe we could make enough to get by. Don't you think?"
Ranma thought about it and then agreed. "Sounds like the best idea we're likely to come up with. Minimum wage jobs aren't likely to cover the bills, and martial arts is about all I know. It means we're gonna be pretty busy for the next several months, between that and school, but I suppose that's the price we gotta pay for getting control of our lives back."
Akane nodded. "Okay, that's settled. So, we know what we're going to be doing, and Nabiki has her future mapped out." She turned to her oldest sister. "How about you, oneechan? While we'd miss you if you left, don't you want to have your own life at some point? The idea that several years from now, your life might still revolve around taking care of the house, well that bothers me."
"Oh my," Kasumi exclaimed, "I don't know. I'd never really given thought to anything beyond keeping our home together until my two little sisters grew up. But now you're both growing up. I ... I guess I should start thinking about what comes next."
Akane suggested slyly, "Perhaps it's time to put more effort into corralling a certain doctor?"
Kasumi colored prettily. "It's a nice dream," she whispered, "but he's never been able to take me seriously."
"You mean he goes completely batty in your presence," Ranma said bluntly.
"I wish there was something we could do to help," Akane offered wistfully.
Ranma also wished there was something they could do for Kasumi, some way to get Tofu to cope with being near her. Unbidden, memories came to him of his training to endure the cold. He had been forced to spend ever increasing amounts of time in an icy stream until he was able to tolerate it for long periods.
Ranma cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the girls. "How about I start inviting Tofu over from time to time, and we try to build up his resistance? You see? The first few times, he'll know that Kasumi's in the house, but she stays out of sight. Then we let him get a few glimpses. Then say hello. Keep working up to it gradually. Think it might work?"
All three sisters were looking at him with raised eyebrows. "You know, brother-in-law," Nabiki told him, "that's not a bad idea. I think we should try it." Kasumi agreed with a shy nod.
Ranma moved his meager belongings into the master bedroom the next day. Spread out, they left the room looking rather bare, although it would have been worse if it weren't for the furniture which had been left behind. As he was surveying the result, Akane stepped in and looked around.
"Huh," she said with a grin. "Maybe I ought to take Nabiki's suggestion and move in here after all. It might not look so empty."
Ranma turned and gave her a leer, though it was a little too exaggerated due to lack of practice. "If you do decide to move in with me, I won't object."
Akane laughed, then pulled out a tiny mallet and tapped him on the head with it. "You can just wait 'til we're married, buster. Though I hope you won't mind if I visit you frequently."
Ranma stepped up to her, taking her in his arms. "Like now?" he murmured, then lowered his lips to Akane's. She kissed him back, and while doing so lifted one foot and kicked out behind her, causing the door to shut, but not noticing it hadn't latched. Ranma lifted her up without breaking the kiss and took a couple of steps back until he could sit on the bed, pulling her into his lap as he did so.
Akane broke the kiss, then traced a fingertip around Ranma's chest while she put her mouth up beside his ear. She whispered, "When you confronted Cologne, I was frightened of what might happen. But once it was over with, and we were safely away, I felt so ... hot ... remembering how you looked." She nibbled at his ear lobe. "I'm starting to feel that way again, just thinking about it."
They started kissing again. After a couple of minutes Akane grabbed Ranma's shirt and pulled it off of him, so that she could run her hands across his bare chest and back. A minute later, she grabbed the hem of her own shirt and pulled it off as well. They slid back until they were both lying on the bed, and continued their caresses.
P-chan was lost yet again, wandering around some building, looking for anything recognizable. The black piglet had been caught in an alley when a rainstorm hit, and a pack of dogs had chased him through the streets for what had seemed like hours before he lost them. He stepped through a doorway and stopped, beholding a very familiar sight. ‹This is Akane's room! Yes! Wait, no! I wanted to find Akari's farm. Well, maybe I can find some hot water and something to wear.› He trotted back out, looking for the furoba.
He was prancing down a hallway past a door, when he stopped at the sound of a familiar voice. Listening more closely, he heard someone he was able to clearly identify as Akane say, "You shouldn't do that!" However, while parsing the words, he failed to detect the giggle in her voice, and began to get angry. To his ear, someone was trying to do something which Akane did not want.
He nosed open the door and peeked inside. He saw a couple of pairs of lower legs protruding over the edge of a bed. Stepping into the room, he hopped up onto a desk chair and looked over toward the bed. He nearly fainted upon seeing Ranma lying beside Akane, both of them topless, and Ranma's hands were behaving in an entirely inappropriate manner. It was no wonder that Akane was complaining! With an angry squeal, P-chan leaped onto the bed and sank his teeth into Ranma's forearm.
Ranma cried out in pain, made all the worse by its contrast with how he had been feeling a moment before. He shook the pig off, throwing him into the far wall, while shouting, "Damn it, Ryoga! What's your problem?"
Akane sat up, not bothering to cover herself, smothering a laugh at her pet's jealousy. "Oh my, poor P-chan. I guess he didn't like what mommy was doing. Is your arm okay, Ranma?"
P-chan, slightly dazed from his collision with the wall, was having a little trouble interpreting these words. They didn't quite fit with what he had thought was going on. After checking that the skin was unbroken and Ranma would suffer nothing worse than a bruise, Akane turned to cast a smile on her pet, preparing to pick him up and comfort him.
However, something stopped her. Something that was slightly off. Not so many days ago, this would have seemed like a normal occurrence. Ranma was jealous of her little pig and was constantly picking on him. This would upset her, and she'd bash him for it, to make him stop. But hadn't they started to leave such behavior behind? Ranma had called her pet 'Ryoga.' Why was he still being so childish as to tease and pick on her pet P-chan?
For some reason, this thought nagged at her, and she sat there unmoving, scratching at it like an itch. She looked at Ranma, nursing his sore arm and casting a black glare upon the pig. She looked over at P-chan, who was glaring back just as blackly, a bump rising on his forehead and a yellow neckerchief tied around his neck.
She shook her head, trying to clear it. The neckerchief. There was something important there. Something it reminded her of. Where did P-chan get it? She hadn't given it to him, he had always had it. It never needed to be retied, or straightened, or replaced, either. She was suddenly sure that she had seen that neckerchief somewhere else, and shoved her fists against her eyes as she struggled to remember. With a sense of relief, it finally came to her. It looked exactly like Ryoga's bandanna.
Akane paused, feeling the first hint of alarm in the distance. She turned and stared at Ranma again. There had been nothing teasing in his voice. There had only been anger when he called her pig 'Ryoga.' She remembered him saying that there was something complicated he needed to explain about the arguments he had with Ryoga. She turned back to her pet, chin trembling, refusing to believe. "Ryoga?" she questioned, wanting to ask what Ranma meant, fearing to hear what he would say. She watched in dismay as the pig's eyes grew wide in fright upon hearing the name.
Akane suddenly covered her chest with an arm. Disdaining her bra, she picked up her shirt with the other hand, and pulled it on quickly. "Please explain, Ranma," she requested quietly. "Why do you always call my pet Ryoga?"
"I think you already know, Akane," he told her equally quietly. "You just don't want to believe it. Not that I blame you. I told you there was something I wanted to tell you, once I figured out how. My biggest problem was I swore an oath that I wouldn't tell anyone about it, before you adopted P-chan."
Her voice was fierce, tears showing at the corners of her eyes. "Say it Ranma! I need to hear it!"
Ranma's words came wearily. "Ryoga has a Jusenkyo curse, and blames me for it. He turns into a small black pig. P-chan is Ryoga's cursed form."
P-chan's head had been swiveling back and forth, following this conversation. At these words, common sense caught up with him and presented a vision of the immediate future. He squealed in fright and bolted for the door, trying to spot an exit. He could worry about hot water later!
Akane's battle aura blazed forth, but Ranma's strong arms wrapped around her before she could give chase. "No, Akane, it ain't worth it! Besides, he's stopped doing it. Think! P-chan hasn't been in your bedroom since Jusendo! The couple of times the pig has showed up here since then have been by accident. Each time, as soon as he changed back, he asked me to help him find Akari's place." He paused, and his voice took on a considering tone. "Which ain't necessarily to say we didn't fight, Ryoga and I do tend to rub each other the wrong way."
Through clenched teeth, Akane asked, "And you expect me to simply forgive him for what he did?"
Ranma shook his head, continuing to hold her tight. "No. I don't expect you to forgive him. For that matter, I doubt that Ryoga expects you to forgive him. He treated you wrong, plain and simple. But he has stopped. If you're gonna bash him, make sure it's for what he did then, and not for what he's doing now. Besides, Akari would be unhappy if you killed him."
Akane took a deep breath, then a second, and a third. "All right. Please let go now. You and I are going to discuss this again, later!"
Ranma winced, then followed her out. They found Nabiki in the family room, staring outside over the engawa. "What's up, Nabiki?" Ranma asked her.
The other girl turned to regard them, then shrugged. "I was sitting here reading a magazine when a black blur passed me. It was going so fast the wind ruffled the pages. I think it might have been P-chan. Whatever it was, it jumped over the wall."
Kasumi stepped in from the kitchen. "Oh! Did your pet show up again, Akane?"
"Yes," hissed Akane. "It was P-chan. Otherwise known as Ryoga Hibiki. The bastard has a Jusenkyo curse." She smiled grimly at the looks of shock on her sisters' faces. "Ranma has talked me out of killing him for the moment, but the next time he shows up here, I want him served up as pork buns!"
"Oh my!" Kasumi said, feeling dizzy. Then her face hardened, as all of the implications struck her. The normally sweet tempered woman suggested, "But perhaps we should keep him in a cage for a few weeks first, while we fatten him up. And whisper in his ear about the fate in store for him."
Ranma shuddered. He started making plans to visit the Unryu farm. It might be best if he gave Akari a warning, for her to pass along to Ryoga the next time her boyfriend showed up.
Five months passed. The autumn term at school had come and gone, and today was Christmas Eve. Akane sipped from her punch, and glanced at Ranma standing beside her, looking very handsome in his tuxedo. She looked down at her white gown, a little self consciously, and her other hand which was tightly gripping Ranma's hand. A flash went off as Nabiki took another photograph.
The wedding ceremony had taken place two hours ago. It had been everything Akane could have hoped for, and she smiled happily at the memory. Ranma had looked incredibly nervous, which she had thought to be rather cute. She examined the gold ring on her finger. At last Akane felt like she was really married.
It had been a fairly small ceremony and reception, only about twenty guests. Ranma's mother had squeezed some money out of their fathers to help pay for it, but they hadn't felt right pressing for too much. They hadn't been able to cover much of the costs themselves, as their own income only slightly exceeded the normal household expenses. Their closer friends from school had all attended, but none of the old fiancées and rivals. They had invited Ukyo, but she had declined the invitation.
Akane looked over with another happy smile to where Doctor Tofu was dancing with Kasumi. It had taken until early October before Tofu had been able to ask Kasumi out on a date, but their relationship had progressed nicely since then. Akane was one of the few people who knew that the Christmas present Tofu was planning to give to Kasumi tomorrow was an engagement ring. She was feeling very impatient for that moment to arrive so that she could squeal and congratulate them.
Although she and Ranma were going away on a honeymoon, they would be present for Tofu's proposal. They wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow afternoon. Thus they would still be here in the morning to exchange presents with everyone, and to witness that one especially important gift.
As for tonight ... Akane's belongings had already been moved, earlier today, into the bedroom she would finally share with Ranma, the bedroom they would be going to in just a few hours. It had been hard, so hard, to hold themselves back from that final step the last few months. Tonight ... oh, she was looking forward to tonight!
Then sharing Christmas morning with the family, and finally boarding a train to take a trip up north. They would be staying in an inn at a hot spring for a couple of days, then would swing by Ikawa for a day to pay a short visit to Kurosawa-sensei before coming home. Her smile dimmed slightly as she remembered the source of the funds for the trip. Akari had brought it to them, saying that it was a gift from Ryoga, offered as an apology. Akane had almost refused to accept it, but Ranma, with Nabiki's support, had talked her into relenting.
She looked over to where her mother-in-law was sitting, keeping an eye on their two fathers. Akane and Ranma had first visited their fathers in the Saotome house back in mid September, and her own father had been allowed to visit his daughters in their house on Culture Day at the beginning of November. Today was the first day that Genma Saotome had been permitted to set foot in the house again since the memorable day they had forced him to leave. She was slowly reestablishing a relationship with her own father, though she had made it clear that she was unlikely to ever entirely forgive him. Ranma had so far found it impossible to speak more than a handful of words to his own father. Shaking her head, she turned away, focusing on happier thoughts.
The newly newlywed couple shared several more dances, had more refreshments, talked and laughed with their friends and relatives, and finally said good-bye to everyone as they left. Even Nabiki and Kasumi were leaving for the night, so that Akane and Ranma could have the house to themselves. They'd be back in the morning to open presents, and to tidy up from the reception. In regard to putting off the cleaning, Akane consoled herself with the thought that Nabiki had hired some students who had already cleaned and squared everything away in the kitchen. All of the food at the reception had been served on disposable plates and the like, so there wouldn't be any dirty dishes waiting to be washed.
After seeing Akane's sisters out of the gate, the last to leave, Ranma swept Akane up into his arms and kissed her soundly once more. He then lifted her and carried her back into the house and all the way into their bedroom, settling down onto the bed with her. They were kissing eagerly, feeling the flames rising up within them once more, as they had felt so many times in the last few months. This night, however, they did not fight those flames back down. This night, at long last, they gave themselves to the fire and allowed it to consume them, burning away the last of their childhood forever.