How Ryoga Met Your Mother
Chapter 4
Ryoga Hibiki, walks up to his home, an old two-story Japanese home facing Mount Fuji. The home is in good repair, and he can hear his kids playing inside. He opens the front door, and is greeted by the sounds of family, "I'm home!"
"I told you to stop trying to sell photos of me in the shower to your perverted friends!" Ryoga's daughter yelled as she slammed her fist into her brother's face.
"Ah good, you're both home, then get your brother into the living room, I have more to tell you," Ryoga smiled, as his son lay on the floor, his right leg twitching every once in a while.
***
Knock, knock, knock. Ryoga quickly followed up by holding up a stuffed black pig to the peephole. After a moment the door opened and Azusa was looking right at Ryoga. "Go Away!" She screamed at him, while trying to take the pig from him at the same time.
"I just want to say I'm sorry," Ryoga tried to explain, as she was now hitting him with the fire extinguisher from the hallway, and shouting something about Charlotte. "Look, I know you're mad, but here, happy birthday... three years ago."
Ryoga let her have the pig. Azusa squeezed her new prize tightly, then gave Ryoga the coldest cruelest gaze his twenty-seven year old self had ever experienced. "Screw you, three years ago," she spit the words at him, and then went back into her apartment.
Ryoga followed her, letting the door close behind him. "I know leaving a message was stupid. I know how much it sucked."
"No you don't," she answered him, sadness gripping her eyes, "my friend Mikado was throwing a surprise birthday party for me. You left that message, and everyone there heard it. I came home right after you had called... I had heard the phone out in the hallway, and I was even rushing so that I wouldn't miss your call."
Ryoga looked shocked, "There was a surprise party that night, and no one told me? Oh, never mind, not the point. Look Azusa, I was a stupid kid back then. I'm different now."
Azusa stared at Ryoga, "Oh so now you're ready to get married and settle down?" Ryoga sheepishly nodded in response. Azusa continued to look at him as if he was crazy, "You must think I have no self respect."
"Come on, just... one cup of coffee," Ryoga smiled, picked up a teddy bear that Azusa had in her living room, and pretended to make the teddy talk, "Please Azusa, give him a chance. Self respect is over-rated!"
Azusa laughed.
***
"We started dating again. It was just like before, it seemed that happily ever after wasn't far off. A couple of weeks later your Aunt Akane invited us all to go ice skating."
***
The Nekohanten was somewhat active, as Ryoga, Azusa, Ranma, Marshal, and Lily sat together talking. Just then Akane came in with a big smile, "Say I'm awesome."
"You're awesome," Ryoga said looking confused, "why are you awesome this time?"
Akane pulled up a seat next to Ranma's chair, and said, "Because I just got us invited to an exclusive Ice Skating Party, tonight! The organizer goes to my gym and is a big fan of my reporting for Metro News One, so I'm on the list and I can bring 4 guests!"
"Well count us out sorry," Lily smiled, "we're having friends over for wine and cheese tasting."
Marshal looked slightly put out but smiled and held Lily's hand, "Yeah, we trying to grow up, classy."
"Well, Ranma? Ryoga?" Akane looked over at them.
"Sure," Ranma said, "we'll be there."
Ryoga looked over at Azusa, then at Akane. Akane nodded, and then said, "Great! And Ryoga, don't forget to bring your date."
Ryoga morosely smiled at Azusa, who got up to leave, "Thanks for the invite, I'll meet you all there, I gotta go back to work, bye sweetie." She kissed Ryoga and left.
After Azusa left, Ryoga sighed and put his face in his hands, leaning on the table. By the time he looked back up Akane had left, and Ranma was now sitting on the bench next to him, Ryoga said, "I have to break up with her."
Marshal looked over at Ryoga, "I don't get it. Azusa is awesome."
Ryoga nodded, "I know, she's great, but I have to break up with her."
Suddenly Lily was on top of Ryoga's head, smacking him with a beer mug with each word she said, "Why - couldn't - you - leave - that - poor - girl - alone?"
"I know," Ryoga lamented, "These past two weeks have been great, and I should be in love with her, but I'm not. I can't explain it."
"So when are you going to break up with her?" Marshal asked, getting his fiancee off of Ryoga.
Ranma smiled and said, "She's probably on the subway now. You could call her voice mail. Beep, dumped, click, done!"
"No, not this time, I have to do it face to face, I just don't know what to say," Ryoga looked down at his drink, "I already told her I'm ready for a commitment, so saying, 'I'm not ready' won't work."
"Even if it would have, I think Azusa deserves better," Lily said after having calmed down.
"There's no better in breaking up," Marshal put in, "There's only less awful."
"There's no way out.... by Kami - I'm going to have to marry her," Ryoga grabbed his head and screamed to the heavens.
"No, don't worry, we'll figure something out," Marshal tried to calm Ryoga down, "How about - 'It's not you, it's me?"
"Or," Ranma broke in, "six words, 'You look fat in those jeans'."
"Ryoga, why don't you tell her the truth?" Lily asked, "What is the truth? Why do you want to break up with her?"
"The truth," Ryoga paused and thought about it, "The truth is .... she's not the one."
"So tell her that," Lily said.
***
"So it was decided, I was going to tell Azusa, the truth. We all met up at the Ice Rink, me, your Uncle Ranma, your Aunt Akane, and Azusa."
***
Ryoga got out of the Taxi, with Ranma coming around the other side. Ranma put his hand on Ryoga's shoulder and smiled at him, "I'm glad you finally put a suit on."
"Yeah, gotta break her heart in style right?" Ryoga said looking a little depressed.
"Well, you can do it on the ice, just tell her and then let her go, that way you can make your getaway," Ranma said, as he guided Ryoga into the building.
They met up with Akane and Azusa who were waiting by the door, Azusa ran up and kissed Ryoga, and they walked in hand in hand. Ranma snorted, and Akane gave Ryoga a quick smile. Inside the party was beautiful, several tables with different foods on them, there was a bar, and a patio, where just outside, Lady Liberty could be seen.
"Very nice party Tendo," Ranma smiled, "Thanks for inviting us."
"Yes, thank you Akane," Azusa beamed, "but you said there was ice skating?"
"Yeah, over there, they have skate rentals and everything," Akane pointed the way, "I'll be there soon, I have to go thank the guy who gave me the invitations."
Ryoga, Ranma, and Azusa, said, "See you soon," and went over to go skating. After paying for both of their rentals, Ryoga and Azusa were soon skating through the ice. The rink looked like it was multi-use, with some faint markings left from when they have hockey games. Though Ryoga had no problems on the ice, Azusa was skating as if she were a pro.
"Wow, you're really good," Ryoga praised Azusa, as Ranma passed nearby and slammed into a wall after having trouble stopping.
"You're not to bad yourself," Azusa smiled, "and definately better than Ranma over there." They both danced around each other, back and forth as the skated around the rink.
Ryoga pulled over to one of the walls to stop for a bit, and soon was joined by Azusa. She smiled at him radiantly, clearly in her element. He smiled at her, then said, "Look Azusa, I need to say something to you."
"Let me say something first," she smiled at him, "Today, I had not one, not two, but three birthday cakes. So do you think that tonight, we can just skip the cake?"
Ryoga stared at her, color draining from his face, "Today is your birthday? I didn't get you anything..."
"It's okay, you gave me the greatest gift of all," Azusa hugged Ryoga, then pulled back and beamed at him, "I can trust again."
"Oh Kami, .... Azusa, I have to tell you something, and there's no good way of telling you. I really like you, but we have to break up. I don't think you're the one for me. I don't want to waste your time, and I think you deserve to know now, instead of later. I thought it would be best to be honest," Ryoga said. Azusa covered her face with her hands, and Ryoga patted her shoulder, "It's okay, they're only tears."
Suddenly, Azusa grabbed Ryoga's hand and twisted it around his back. She turned them so she could use the wall as a brace, and launched him into the ice. She screamed at him, "What do you mean, 'I'm not the one'?"
Ryoga spun around and caught himself, he timidly skated back to her, "I'm sorry, I thought it would be the mature thing to do-"
Azusa cut him off, "It's my Birthday!"
"I know, I didn't realize today was your birthday-"
"Okay, so what's the problem?" Azusa skated up to Ryoga, and stood in-front of him, looking up into his eyes.
"I can't explain it," Ryoga smiled weakly.
"Try!" Azusa spoke forcibly, causing Ryoga to cringe a little.
"It's, it's, oh I don't know!" Ryoga sighed.
"I'll tell you what it is! You broke my heart, over my machine, on my birthday, then you waited three years, tracked me down, begged me to go out with you, just so you could dump me on my birthday!"
"It's not that, it's, it's .... it's - I'm really lost right now," Ryoga backed away from Azusa.
Then Akane came over, "Hey! I want you guys to meet the one who invited me here. Ryoga, Azusa, this is Mikado."
Azusa skated over to Mikado and cried into his chest, "Mikado! Ryoga dumped me on my birthday again!"
Akane stared at Ryoga in shock, and Mikado put his arm around Azusa's shoulders to comfort her. He stared Ryoga down, and said, "You will not leave her heart broken and escape unscathed this time! We'll show you why we were once called the Golden Pair of Anything Goes Martial Arts Skating!"
***
"Honestly, after their first attack I was knocked out, and by the time I came to, I was in the hospital, with Uncle Ranma and Aunt Akane standing over me," Ryoga looked over at his two teenage children as they listened to his story, and regardless of how much they voiced their opinions of being bored, at least they were paying attention. He continued, "But it's the bad times that helps prepare you for the good times. And after seeing me have such a bad time at it, your Aunt Akane made a suggestion. So as I lay there, and they filled me in on what happened after the fight, Akane told me about a dating service that she had recently done a piece on for Metro News One. They had a 100% success rate. I told her I wasn't going to go, but somehow, your Uncle Ranma tricked me into going..."
***
Ryoga finished the application at Love Solutions, then looked at Ranma, and said, "Your boat is sinking... that was a good one."
"This is a great opportunity Ryoga! We'll meet our soul-mates, nail-em, and never call them again," Ranma chuckled.
***
Author's note: Well, gonna end this here for now, sorry about the delay, got really sick this past week. Feeling a bit better now. See you in Chapter 5, guest starring Ko Lon (Cologne)!