Ono Clinic, Nerima, Tokyo
"This is the way I am… I know you're disappointed in me… but there is nothing I can do about it now, is there?" And with that, Ranma pushed the knife deep into his stomach, splattering the pink blossoms with blood. He could not suppress a gasp. The blade was as cold as ice, and more painful than words could describe. Tears leaked from his eyes. He might have failed his mother and everyone around him, but he would never regret it. Love was the only thing left to Ranma, and there was no way he was letting that go… As his vision began to black out, he could hear the jeers of his friends and family, all calling out for him to die. He wanted to tell them to stop, but the words wouldn't come. He felt his head hit the soft blossoms. The tears were falling harder now, as though his body was determined to rid himself of the liquid before he died. Opening his mouth, Ranma could feel blood drip from his lips as he gasped his dying word.
"Ryoga…"
The telephone rang, abruptly snapping Ranma out of his unplanned afternoon nap. Blinking a few times to get the sight of blood and tears out of his vision, he sat up to see Dr. Tofu waving slightly at him while holding the receiver to his ear. For a moment, panic flitted across his heart as it occurred to him that it might be his father or Akane calling, and then he realized that that was ridiculous. Even if they did stop by, he could be out the window in a heartbeat, as long as he didn't fall asleep again.
"Hello, Ono Clinic. How may I help you?" For a moment, he was silent as he listened into the receiver. "… I see. Yes, I do know her. I'll tell her and her family as soon as I can. What did you say the boy's name was again?" Another pause. Ranma wondered who they were talking about. "I see… He's too delirious to say more than her name. Say, what clothes was he wearing when he came in? I may know him." As the person on the other side spoke, Dr. Tofu's brow furrowed in thought. "… Yellow shirt, traveling pants, Chinese shoes and bandannas?" Ranma felt his heart speed up several notches.
"Ryoga? What's wrong with Ryoga?" Dr. Tofu glanced at him, putting a finger to his lips before turning back to the phone.
"Yes, I probably know him. Ryoga Hibiki, see if that names comes up in your medical records." Dr. Tofu paused again. Ranma tapped his foot against the floor impatiently, signaling for the conversation to end. "What happened to him, in detail?" He listened for a while more. By this point, Ranma was just about ready to snatch the phone from the doctors' hand and scream at the person to tell him what had happened. "… I see. Thank you for calling me… You're welcome. The pleasure was mine. I'll be over there shortly. Goodbye." He hung up, his eyes filled with concern.
"Who was that? What happened to Ryoga? Who were they talking about?" Ranma asked, the blood pounding in his ears.
"One question at a time!" Dr. Tofu said exasperatedly, sitting down and pouring himself a fresh cup of tea. "I suppose I should just tell you everything, then." Ranma nodded enthusiastically. "Well, that was my friend Takumi. He works at Tokai University Hospital."
"Ryoga's in a hospital?" Ranma shrieked, his eyes wild with fear and anger. Dr. Tofu made the "calm down" motion with his hand until Ranma started breathing normally again.
"Yes, Ryoga's in a hospital. He was…" Tofu gave him a look before continuing. "Well, Ryoga was walking through an alleyway when he was attacked by three teenage girls."
"Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi," murmured Ranma, "it has to be them."
"Maybe. Anyways, a local resident of the alleyway called the police and then the hospital. The only thing Ryoga would say was 'Akane Tendo'. Since that obviously wasn't his name, the hospital staff didn't know what to do with that name." Ranma felt a little pang at hearing that Ryoga hadn't mentioned him, but then he realized he was being ridiculous. Ryoga hated him.
"However, Takumi though the name sounded familiar when he remembered that I had talked about Akane before. Thinking of this, he called me and told me what had happened. I promised him that I would tell Akane about Ryoga's condition, even though they weren't technically family." Tofu paused to sip his tea. "I also promised him that I would go over there, since I said I knew him."
"Right now? Can we go right now?" Ranma yelped, forgetting all about his promise to himself to lie low, at least for today. The young doctor gave him a quizzical look, before nodding.
"Of course, it's just… Well you don't have to go if you don't want to."
"I want to. Ryoga… is my friend. Of course I want to go! Who do you think I am some uncaring person?"
"Of course not…" Tofu trailed off. He couldn't help but feel as though there was something very different about the boy. When he had first stumbled into his clinic, bleary-eyed and shoulders sagging, he had seemed so… defeated. Now, he was full of life. What could have made such a dramatic change in him?
Cat Café, Nerima, Tokyo
Even though it had only been two nights ago when Nabiki and the Chinese proprietors of the Cat Café had met and changed the course of Ranma's life, it seemed as though it had been years ago. Shampoo was uncomfortably aware of this fact as the other two females across the table stared at her.
"Why are we here, Shampoo? It's not like you to invite your rivals over for tea and Ramen." Ukyo said, sniffing her tea suspiciously before taking a sip.
"Shampoo call you here to tell you something about Ranma sudden love of Ryoga." Ukyo shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"But that's over. Since he's incapacitated, Ryoga will no longer be able to give Ranma the love potion, and then Ranma will realize that he doesn't love Ryoga after he's weaned off the drug, right? That's what you told us, unless you were lying." Ukyo spat out the last word as though it was poison. Kodachi laughed manically.
"Yes, my dear amazon, if you are lying to us, we shall make you pay." Ukyo frowned slightly at the "we" part, but otherwise seemed to agree.
"Shampoo no lying!" she protested, "Shampoo just begin to doubt that beat Ryoga is enough!"
"And why would you doubt that?" Ukyo snarled, obviously annoyed. Shampoo sighed, running her fingers through her long hair.
"Shampoo… Shampoo think that Ranma need one final push to break spell. One more thing so no love Ryoga anymore. We just try wean Ranma off love potion, Ranma no love Ryoga as much, but still love him, and when Ryoga get out of hospital, Ryoga just give Ranma new dose, and we have same problem over again."
"Why do we not just kill the foul beast and get it over with?" Kodachi asked, adding a little of her laugh after she was done with the sentence.
"Because police more concerned with murder than beat. We no can kill Ryoga." Shampoo said, grimacing slightly.
"So what's your plan?" Ukyo snapped.
"Plan already start. Shampoo think if Ranma is humiliated enough about be… gay, then Ranma deny love for Ryoga to end of earth. Shampoo no like be mean to fiancée, but Shampoo have no choice now.
"So Shampoo start mean rumor about Ranma… and Shampoo send it to few trusted people at Furinkan High School and tell to forward to friends." Shampoo had pulled out her cellphone, a pink glittery thing, flipping open the screen and showing the two other girls the pre-prepared text message.
"Hey… I got that text message! I kept thinking about how someone had spied on our conversation." Ukyo murmured, squinting at the screen. After Nabiki had talked to Shampoo and the others, the amazon had decided that, as much as she didn't like it, she couldn't defeat Ryoga on her own. Cologne was too busy making the antidote and Mousse wouldn't lay a finger on Ryoga, either because he wanted Shampoo for himself or he was secretly a yaoi fanboy. So Shampoo was forced to call her worst enemies, Ranma's other fiancées, to help her defeat him.
"Ohohoho! I too received the text, and I do not attend Furinkan High School! What a deceitfully clever girl you are, Shampoo."
"Where do we come into play with this?" Ukyo asked.
"See, many rumor fly around about Ranma, but everyone too afraid to say anything, because no want to get beat. So we disguise us and we go find Ranma and insult." For a moment, there was silence.
"You want us…" Ukyo began.
"… to insult Ranma-darling so he falls out of love with that swine?" Kodachi finished. Shampoo nodded, holding up several costumes.
"Shampoo see this way; if we is brave enough insult Ranma, soon others follow. Old resentment come out. In time, whole city against Ranma. So Ranma deny to very end that he love Ryoga. That when Great-grandmother give antidote to Ranma and even slight like of Ryoga disappear."
"Antidote? You never said anything about an antidote." Ukyo protested.
"No worry. Great-grandmother make sure Ranma no love Ryoga, as long as you is willing to work to make plan happen."
"Of course," Ukyo said, "I will do anything to save Ranma from that jackass Ryoga, even if it means working with you."
"Ohohoho! Don't forget me. I would cross the entire world for Ranma-darling."
"Swear on you love for Ranma." Shampoo said, putting her and in the middle of the table. "I swear."
Solemnly, the other two girls put their hands on top of Shampoo's and murmured their vows, promising to do anything to make Ranma not love Ryoga. Even if it meant sending both of them to hell.
Ward 5-A, Tokai University Hospital, Nerima, Tokyo
Ryoga was having a fast asleep when Ranma burst into his room, breathless and bursting with energy. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, Ryoga glared menacingly at the boy who had somehow managed to cross the room in less than two seconds.
"I was having a lovely dream when you decided to come and wake me up." Ryoga growled, apparently not at all fazed by Ranma's sudden appearance.
"Lovely? What are you a girl?" Ranma grinned, dodging the punch that Ryoga had thrown. It wouldn't have hurt, anyways. Ryoga was weak from the drugs pumping through his system at this very moment.
"Why are you here, anyways? It's not like you care that I'm in the hospital, anyways." Ranma's grin disappeared like a summer rainbow.
"I do care. I'm your friend." Ryoga snorted disbelievingly.
"Sure, Ranma. How long have I known you? Two years? When have you ever done anything nice for me?" Ranma gave him a look before sighing and pulling up one of the small plastic chairs that had been lying in a corner. Ryoga eyed him suspiciously. Ranma seemed… resigned, a very unusual feeling for him.
"Look, Ryoga… I'm really not in the mood to get into a fight, and I'm not in the mood to get into a deep discussion. I just want to say… I'm sorry." Ryoga looked around in mock surprise.
"Ranma just apologized! Did someone get that on camera?" Ranma moaned and dropped his heads into his hands, causing Ryoga to blink in surprise.
"I'm serious! Just… I know I'm not the nicest guy… actually, I'm a jerk. A really, really big jerk." Ryoga gaped internally. Hearing him apologize was one thing, but using derogative terms on himself was quite another. "I kind of regret being so mean to you… you didn't deserve all of this crap happening to you…"
"I…" Ryoga mumbled, not sure how to deal with such extreme measures, "I, uh… I accept your apology." It was weak, but it was all Ryoga could think of. Almost instantaneously, Ranma's head popped up, his eyes bright with excitement. For the second time, Ryoga blinked in surprise.
"You forgive me? For the bread, for the pig? For everything?" And before Ryoga could explain that no, he was not forgiving Ranma for everything, the boy pulled him into a tight embrace that squeezed the breath from Ryoga's lungs and almost made him black out. "I'm so glad, Ryoga." The pigtailed boy whispered, a sound that sent shivers down Ryoga's spine. And then he was sitting by Ryoga, brushing some imaginary dust from his shirt.
"Ranma-" began Ryoga, but Ranma cut him off.
"Hey, I just remembered," Ranma said, blithely ruffling Ryoga's hair and instantly regretting it; the tangled black mop was still matted with blood. "I haven't gotten you flowers or a card or anything." Ryoga raised his hands defensively.
"Ranma, you really don't have-" Ranma cut him off again, this time by removing his hand from Ryoga's hair and setting it gently on his shoulder, an act of such familiarity that it startled Ryoga into silence.
"I want to. We're friends, remember?" Ranma gave an affectionate squeeze to Ryoga's shoulder before standing. The plastic chair made an annoying scraping sound against the cold tiles.
"Wait- where are you going?" Ryoga said, beginning to panic when he saw Ranma headed towards the window. It wasn't like he was worried that Ranma was going to get hurt; he'd jumped out of windows higher than this, and they were on the fifth floor; it was the fact he usually only jumped out if he had a good reason, like someone was coming.
"To get your flowers." Ranma said, beginning to open the latch. "Oh, yeah. Ryoga, Akane and the others are coming pretty soon. If I'm right, in about 30 seconds. Say hi for me, okay?"
"Ranma, wait-" But he was already gone, jumped through the window onto the pavement below. On pure instinct, Ryoga slid out of bed and walked over, ignoring the IV tugging at his arm. Ranma was already on the ground, looking up towards Ryoga's room. He waved; apparently unaware of the strange looks he was getting from bystanders. Ryoga felt his face muscles try to smile and grimace at the same time. Ranma would always be Ranma.
Author's Notes: Hi guys! Nice to see you again! What was that? *whispers* Two days late? Well, excuse me! At least I'm not like those people who write a story, get to the good part, and then don't update for three years! Oh, well, yeah. So Shampoo started the rumors. I think I'm getting worse at writing, not better. Oh well :(
Anyways, please review and stuff. We're almost to the yaoi! So please, tell me which you prefer as the seme/uke, though I probably won't listen, since I prefer one over the other. I just want to know. Well, sorry for the lateness and the crappiness. At least I'm still fighting!
Edit: *Reads chapter over again and bangs head against laptop* Arrg! This chapter sucks! I guess the only thing to do about it is edit it over again over a longer period of time (More work for me. Fun) I want to say I hope the next chapter will be better, because this is just pure crap. XP
