Ranma 1/2: A Wedding.
Chapter 9
"Maybe I'm just blind."
-3 doors down, When I'm gone.
Shampoo kicked Mousse through the dojo's entry causing Akane's smile to fade as she stood facing Ranma at the alter. "Akane," the girl said, her eyes were bloodshot and black from the lack of sleep, "you I kill."
"For the record, Ranma this is all your fault." the short haired girl said as her hand clamped down on the minister's sleeve.
"Maybe we should try this some other time," the minister said, trying to free himself from the girl's vice like grip, "when things are a bit less violent."
"Like that will ever happen," Nabiki said, drawing a hostile glare from Nadoka.
Mousse stood to his feet and shifted into a ready stance. The blind boy motioned for the Amazon maiden to attack. "Your kicks are not as strong as they used to be. You've gotten weaker, no wonder Ranma chose another."
Shampoo seethed in anger. Her lips foaming as she surged forward, swords whirling around her seeking Mousse's neck.
The strikes never landed. Shampoo found them caught in the prongs of a main-gauche, snapping as a firm twist of the males wrists snapped the blades in two. "Step away, Shampoo, please don't make me hurt you."
The warrior let the now useless hilts drop to the floor as she flowed underneath the boys reach, a back kick connecting with his chin knocking him back to the floor. "Obstacle."
Akane's aura flickered red as she pulled the minister closer. "Look I don't care how dangerous things are, or whether you get killed in the process. No one is leaving this alter till I get married."
"But we don't have enough time," the priest pleaded.
"Then do the short version," Ryoga said, positioning himself between the bride and the maddened Amazon.
"The short version," the minister gaped, "but we only do that in instances of certain death!"
"Whet do you think this is?" Ukyo asked, as she stepped into position next to Ryoga.
"Fine," the minister huffed, "how do you even know about the short version?"
"Just get on with it!" Genma shouted.
"Please," Akane said, "please."
"Alright ," the minister said opening his bible. "Do you have the rings?"
"They're right here." Cologne said, handing the rings to the bride.
"You realize that when she finishes with him we're next." Ukyo said as she readied herself for the assault. Ryoga nodded and clinched his fists.
Mousse staggered to his feet. His knees wobbled as he fought to regain his senses. One more solid blow and Shampoo could move on to her intended target. Whirling to her right the Amazon lashed out in a spinning back kick. There was no need to hunt the duck boy more than was necessary, this fight would end just like even, other fight between them.
"Grab your rings and put them on your fingers." the minister said. His foot tapped with impatience as he waited for the couple to comply.
"Ok," Ranma said when the rings were on he right fingers. "Now what?"
"Do you?" the minister asked the groom.
The pig-tailed boy looked at the minister not understanding what he meant. It was not until he felt the bite of Akane's heel in his foot that he understood what his answer was supposed to be. "Yes."
"Do you?" the minister asked the short haired girl.
"Yes."
"You are. Now kiss her."
For once Ranma did not have to wait for further clarification.
Mousse staggered backwards moving himself just out of Shampoo's reach. Of all the times for dumb luck, Shampoo thought as her foot brushed past the tip of the duck boys nose. It wasn't until she saw the gleam in the male's eyes, and felt the thud of an iron staff against her temple that she realized her mistake. Slipping from consciousness the girl felt her legs give out under her as she fell to the floor.
It took a second for everyone to realize that it had happened. That after all of this time, it had finally happened. Ranma and Akane were marred. The universe stopped, and did a gestalt flip. It was time for a fundamental change.
The pig tailed boy broke off the kiss and looked down at his bride in wonder, "I love you." It was amazing how easy those three words were to say. They rolled off the tongue, and tasted like honey in his mouth. He wanted to savor the words again, "I love you."
"I love you too," Akane said, leaning into her husband's chest, "but what about Shampoo?"
Ranma sighed. Letting go of his wife he stepped past Ryoga and Ukyo, and walked to the middle of the isle, where Shampoo had fallen to a heap on the floor. "Mousse, are you ok?"
"No," Mousse said as he walked past the prone girl and to the dojo's door.
"So, what now?" Akane asked.
"I don't know," the blind boy said, as he stepped into the sunlight. "I don't know."
Bellow them the amazon began to stir, prompting her great-grandmother to check on her well being. The matriarch tapped the girl lightly waking her from her stupor. Come girl, she said, you have fulfilled your duty today. You can return home with your honor intact.
She's dead?
No, the elder said with a smile.
Then how? the pink haired girl asked as she used a chair to pull herself up.
No two amazon's can be married to the same man, the elder said quoting the law.
But Akane isn't an Amazon. Outsiders can only join through adopt… Shampoo turned white.
Technically she would be your great-aunt. I'm sorry. I tried to warn you.
Bullshit.
The elder sighed, I deserved that. But you have a new problem. What are you going to do about your latest defeat?
My… Shampoo paused, "Mousse?"
All color left the blind boy's face as Cologne nodded. "Mousse."
The amazon let out a soft sigh as she stood to her feet. Letting her hips sway hypnotically she walked over to the paralyzed boy and gently wrapped her arms around him. "Wo ai..."
Mousse threw the girl to the floor, a look of horror on his face. "Not like this," he said, fighting the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "I never wanted to win you like this."
Shampoo sat and watched mutely as her new husband ran to the pond, taking flight as the water triggered his curse.
"Well," the minister said, breaking the spell of silence that had descended on the room, "Who else needs a drink?"
Nabiki stood at the gate and waited as the Kuno siblings exited the dojo. While Kodachi had writhed against the ropes that restrained her in anger and angst, Kuno remained stoic. It was amazing how effective blackmail could be.
"That was an interesting ceremony." the samurai said as he stepped past the mercenary and out of the Tendou home. "Almost worth the price of admission."
"Thank you, Kuno-baby." Nabiki said with a mock bow. "I do my best to entertain."
"You do your best to bleed me dry."
"Tachi, I'm hurt you think that. Now you remember the second part of our agreement?"
"Don't worry Mistress," Satsuki said as he rolled Kodachi out the door in the Tendou's wheelbarrow. "I recorded every moment of the wedding."
"Just make sure the girl watches the video until she understands that my sister and her Ranma-darling are husband and wife."
"And when we're finished you will destroy your records?" Kuno asked.
Nabiki smiled, "I'll think about it."
Akane was carefully making her way from the house to the dojo when she noticed the maid-of-honor creeping towards the side gate. "Ukyo, wait!" the short haired girl yelled as she kicked off her heels and ran across the grass, the long train of her wedding gown trailing behind her. "You are leaving already?"
"Yeah," Ukyo said, looking down at her restless feet. "I have to get the cafe reopened in time for dinner."
"Are you sure you cannot stay?" Akane asked, concern heavy in her voice, "He is going to notice, you know."
"I know, but I just can't," the chef said, "you understand, right?"
"What should I tell him then?"
"Could you make something up?"
Akane nodded, prompting Ukyo to turn away. "Hey, Ukyo?"
"Yes Akane?"
"I just wanted you to know I really enjoyed this past week."
"Me too," the chef said.
"Do you think we can still be friends?"
Ukyo smiled, as she walked out the gate, "I think I'd like that."
Ryoga shouldered his backpack and adjusted the straps as walked down the stairs. With any luck it would be a few months before he made it back to the Nerima area.
"Leaving by yourself?" Ranma asked.
Ryoga sighed, Ranma was one of the last people that Ryoga wanted to see right now. "Yes, I am."
"Do you want to get lost?"
The pig-boy looked at the floor.
"You're trying to get lost," Ranma said with a shake of his head. "Aren't you?"
"So what if I am?"
"Is it because of the wedding, or the girls?"
"Both, and neither. I think I need to just go walkabout for a while, just to clear my head."
"Walkabout?"
"Australian term, its north of Kyoto."
Ranma smiled, "If you say so. What should I tell the Ukyo?"
"Don't," Ryoga said as he disappeared out the front door.
Ranma and Akane stood at the gate of the Tendou compound patiently thanking the last of the guests as they left the wedding reception. It had been a long day, it was going to be a longer night, and neither the bride nor the groom could wait for very much longer. Things were quiet for a change. Happosi sat in the corner of the yard admiring the new prize of his collection. The minister lay sprawled out under a tree, curled up in a ball,shivering like a wet rabbit. He suffered from the type of drunk that came from a full bottle of saki. The only potential problems still present were a petite amazon elder and her pink haired charge. "Congratulations, son-in-law," Cologne said with a half smile.
"You can't call re that anymore, old-ghoul," the pig-tailed boy said with a feral smile, his arm around hisI wife protectively "I'm already taken."
"Son-in-law, do you remember how I told you you would make a great addition to the tribe?"
Akane bit her tongue as Ranma nodded mutely.
"And you know how I want to get you, whether by crook or hook?"
"So what's you're point, granny?"
"My point is Son-in- Law is this," the elder said through narrowed eyes, "Welcome to the tribe." Shampoo turned green as Ranma looked at the elder in confusion. Cologne laughed, "I think you and you're wife have something to discuss. Come child let's leave these two alone."
Shampoo followed the elder out of the dojo, her eyes never rising to meet those of the newlyweds. "Shampoo, I'm sorry." Akane said as the girl walked away. The amazon walked out of the gate without saying a word.
"So what was that all about?" Ranma asked his wife after the pink-haired girl disappeared from sight. "It's almost as though she thought you were an amazon or something."
"Well," Akane said, "she promised that it would fix our problems with Shampoo."
"You didn't."
"Wo ai ni, Airen," the short-haired girl said with a sheepish grin.
Ryoga had been lost more times then he could count, but the problem was not that he did not know where he was going, he just did not know how to get there. For the first time in his life, Ryoga did not know where he was going, and that was liberating. The lost boy opened the door infront of him, not really caring where it went, instead loosing himself in the Zen of the journey.
"Ryoga?" Ukyo asked, one foot in the bathtub, one foot out.
The pig boy paused, words caught in his throat as he drank in the vision of the woman before him. "Yes, Ukyo?"
"Jackass!" Ukyo screamed as she hurled the empty wash bucket at the lost boy. "Why can't you just get lost?"
"I keep telling you," Ryoga said as he ducked back into the hallway, before the half-cocked girl found anything sharp to throw at him. "That's what I'm trying to do."
"Shampoo still no understand why Shampoo must stay at reception when Airen fly away before Shampoo kiss," the girl said following Cologne into the restaurant. "Shampoo no chase two husbands. Moose get down here now."
"Go to hell," the boy said from his room up stairs.
"Wonderful," Cologne muttered under her breath as she shuffled into the kitchen to find her cooking saki.
Don't make me go upstairs and drag your ass down here, the pink haired girl said in Chinese, her ears red with rage.
"You can't, remember, or do I have to knock you out again?"
"Shampoo no joke. Shampoo want…Damn this mongrel language. Mouse get down here so that we can talk about our wedding.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm packing."
"Good," Shampoo said, marching towards the stairs. "Mouse get ready for honeymoon. Shampoo join Airen."
The blind boy met the pink-haired girl halfway down the stairs. "Who said anything about a honeymoon?"
"Fine, we go strait to village," the girl said pushing past the boy as she walked up the stairs. "Shampoo worried for minute. Shampoo think Mousse not want to be Airen. Good to see Shampoo wrong."
"Who said I wanted to get married?" Mousse said with a swallow, his back to the girl.
"Mousse, don't be silly," Shampoo said, "Mousse always want Shampoo, now law say he win. Shampoo has to marry Mousse now. Shampoo have no other choice. What Mousse want."
"No, Shampoo, it's 'not what Mousse want.' I never wanted this."
"Mousse lie. Mousse do anything to trap Shampoo in marriage."
"Really," the boy said, the stairs thundering with each step he took, "then why did I show you your own reflection when you hatched out of the egg?"
"Mousse just being silly duck boy. Mousse thought it make Shampoo lone him. Shampoo not know why."
"Maybe I'm just blind." the boy said, pausing at the last step.
"No matter now," Shampoo sighed. "Law say Shampoo must marry."
"We are not getting married."
"Mousse silly. Shampoo follow law. Mousse follow law. Mousse Amazon."
Mousse laughed, "Maybe so, but I can fix that."
Shampoo laughed, "Please, Mousse no dare. Now Mousse go upstairs and prepare for trip like good husband. Yes?"
"No." Mousse said as he walked across the dining room towards the kitchen.
"Mousse, get back here."
The Amazon male opened the kitchen door and called out, "Hey old mummy, you there?"
Cologne stood at the cooktop, drinking her rice wine strait out of the bottle, "What now Mr. Part-timer?"
"I renounce my claim to the Tribe."
Cologne sighed, "Are You sure? Once you do this it cannot be undone."
"I want out," the boy said. "I will not be bound by your rules any longer."
Shampoo stormed into the kitchen, "Mousse no do this. Great- grandmother no let Mousse do this."
"Sorry, child," the elder said, as she set the bottle on the table, "the law is clear on this matter. As elder I must honor his request. As a male warrior, he has he right to independence."
"But law say Mousse Airen."
"Have you given the kiss of marriage?" the elder asked.
"No, but…"
"Then he has no ties to you," the elder said, taking a draw from the bottle. "But Mousse, you can only do this if you have your family's marker on you. Do you have it?"
"It's right here," the blind boy said reaching into his sleeves and pulling out a gold torc.
"Mousse, stop," Shampoo said, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and forcing him to look at her. "What Mousse doing? Why Mousse not just accept Shampoo is wife?"
"Because I will not live my life in a loveless marriage," Mousse said as he broke her grip. "Nor will I force you into one."
Dumbstruck Shampoo sank to the floor and watched helplessly as Mousse presented his torc to her grandmother.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Cologne asked.
"Yes," Mousse said.
"Our heritage is a circle of knowledge passed down from Mother to daughter, Father to son. The loss of one member breaks the circle and ends the fellowship," the elder said. "Do you break the fellowship?"
Mousse set Fe tore down on the butcher block and drew a hatchet from his robes. The blade fell cleanly upon the torc, cutting the circle in two. "I break the fellowship."
Shampoo whimpered. "You are a stranger to us. Your name will be as chaff on the wind," the elder said.
"Thank you, old ghoul," Mousse said leaving the torc on the table. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more valuable in your eyes."
"You were always an interesting one child," Cologne said with a dismissive wave. "So where will you go?"
"I don't know," the boy said.
"Custom says that you have one week until your banishment. You should go home, and spend it with your family."
"Is that an order?" the boy asked as he turned towards the backdoor.
Cologne laughed, "No just the request of an old mother. Mousse, your life has always held a great value to the tribe."
"But not to the one who mattered most," the blind boy said as he walked out the door.
Shampoo cupped her head in her hands and cried, "No, it Shampoo who blind."
