Hey! How are you?
Today are exact 3.000 words on the menu!
Sorry again for the late update but my timezone is probably very different to most of you so that complicates everything.
Thanks to Finwee Lord of Long Wings and VanguardLuard for the reviews that showed me that you're interested enough to write something. And a really big thank you too BornOnTheBreakOfDawn for the long reviews that make me smile a lot when i read them! Also another big thanks for Fanofyourwork who encouraged me to update today.
I excuse myself if I won't update in the next few weeks because of my goddamn school and shitty homeworks.
Hope ya like the chapter!
Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media. I don't own any of it in any shape, form or way!
Ranma didn't knew what to do first. Kill Ryoga and then ask or to be polite enough to ask him first and then kill him.
I think option one is suited best.
Just when Nodoka revealed their 'engagement', Ranma and Akane stopped dead on their tracks and Ryoga turned towards outside, who was ready to run away and get lost. When he moved his foot to pick up speed and run into freedom, Ranma stood up as fast as a lightning and threw herself at Ryoga. "RYOGAAA!" He stumbled because of the small missile's momentum and fell to the ground.
Right now, Ranma only wanted to land several punches in his face to satisfy that great urge she felt to do so but Akane had stood up as well and managed to bring herself between her fiancée and the lost boy. She gave him a look of 'don't you dare to even dare to try to escape from this one' and Ryoga seemed more lost than ever.
"What are you doing, Akane?! Let me handle this!" The redheaded girl shouted and tried to reach for Ryoga who was still lying on the ground, looking at Ranma dumbfounded. Nodoka watched the scene in shock until she stood up and went over to Ranma to place a calm hand on her shoulder.
Ranma tensed up at first but when she looked over her shoulder and saw her mother looking at her calmly, she relaxed slightly and only looked at Ryoga with a deep frown and anger. Akane still seemed to be in alert and didn't move an inch from the place she was standing on. Ranma groaned and crossed her arms beneath her chest.
"It's not his fault, Ranko-chan," Nodoka said and Ranma looked up to her. "I had assumed you were his girlfriend because he was carrying you with such gentleness. He told me you weren't but got nervous because of my questioning. I believe he somehow recognised me and he ended up telling me about your engagement. He wouldn't have said a word if it hadn't been because of me pressuring him. Don't be mad at him." Nodoka finished and looked at Ranma who felt kind of bad now but didn't wanted to show it. She told herself there still were enough reasons to be mad at him, first one being why he had come up with such crap.
"Ugh, fine. You're right, mo- I mean, Auntie." She said scowling and hid her face from her mother. Akane relaxed a bit but still didn't move away. Ryoga had managed to stand up and looked at Ranma with worried wide eyes. "But first I have to talk with my dear Ryoga," she said and gave Akane a look. She somehow understood and moved to the side frowning, but allowed Ranma to grab Ryoga's arm and pull him upstairs.
"You can talk with him in my room, Ranko. I'd have no problem with that." Akane said but meant actually that she'd want to hear the story herself when she'd get there. Ranma understood for once in her life the meaning of one of Akane's looks and dragged Ryoga upstairs. He didn't even refuse in any way and tagged along.
Akane stayed behind and when she heard her bedroom door close she also heard how her soon-to-be mother in law made a sound of "aww" about her fiancée and his rival. She shuddered at the thought. It was simple unbelievable. She really asked herself what could have been the reason for Ryoga to say something like that. She had a suspicion but she hoped it wasn't true. She looked at her smiling mother in law and sighed. She could find out later. Right now she had to give Ranma and Ryoga a possibility to sort things out and they couldn't need a nosy woman with a katana. Also, Akane needed to relax and think about some stuff herself.
"Auntie Nodoka, would you perhaps like to see some new katas I learned?"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Ranma had managed to close the door before standing before Ryoga and shouting at him. He only stood there and accepted the controlled anger of the shorter girl. He had it coming.
"Even if I could even understand why ya came up with such a stupid declaration, I'd still be angry! And telling that to my mother! Of all people!" She shouted in anger and balled her little fists, "But please! Explain! Perhaps I can understand your stupidity! Something I really doubt!"
Ryoga looked down at her and bit his lip. He did understand her anger. That's why he was worried. Worried about his health situation after this discussion with… his fiancée.
"Uh... Well... You see-" Ryoga said and pressed the tips of his index fingers together.
"Get straight to the point!" Ranma shouted in annoyance, because his stuttering didn't help right now at all. He stood up straight and started to talk without breathing.
"W-when you fell and hit your head, I tried to get you here but I got lost as always and then I saw a woman and I asked her which way to go and she showed me but I was going the wrong way so she accepted to show me the way directly and we walked then we started to talk and I never got to know her name and she saw you and she asked me what you were to me and I panicked because I didn't wanted to look like some pervert carrying an unconscious girl and- and I panicked even more and ended up saying we were engaged- I don't even know why!- and-"
"Whoa! Wait a second! Slow down! You said that to a strange woman? Just like that? About your rival? Why didn't you just say we're friends?! Or that I'm your sister?!" Ranma interrupted him incredulously. He couldn't have been that stupid, he simply couldn't.
Ranma noticed how Ryoga was avoiding her eye contact and instead looked at the ground. "I-I don't know. Sorry! I'd never even thought about it but it just came out of my mouth..." He mumbled and sounded remorsefully. To her surprise, she saw a little tinge of pink on his cheek. She shook her head and placed a hand over her face and rubbed it. Surely it was her imagination.
"You have no idea how much more difficult you've already made my life with my mother. You have no idea what this implies," she said and pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked up and saw Ryoga looking at her questioningly, waiting for an answer.
"I guess it's my fault too that I never told you about my mother," she sighed and sat down on Akane's bed. Ryoga did the same but on the desk chair. "I didn't knew you even had any contact with your mother. I thought she was divorced from your father, which wouldn't have surprised me or that she'd died eventually, 'cause I never heard a single word about her," he replied.
Ranma held her hands in her lap and looked through the window at the sky. "Well, it's a little more difficult than that. You see, when I was a very little boy, around four I guess, my father wanted to begin my training and go travelling around Asia. My mother didn't wanted me to go that young and begged for us to stay. But my father really wanted to start my training and gave my mother the promise I'd become a man amongst men in the future. My mother accepted. Actually, my mother was a bit worried and told my father to put it on paper, so it'll be by law and honour correct."
Taking her eyes away from outside she looked at Ryoga who had been listening carefully. "Okay... But what's the problem? A simple promise, nothing else, right?" He asked but felt that it wasn't as simple as it seemed.
"It wasn't exactly a... Promise," she added muttering. Ryoga frowned and looked at her questioningly. She sighed and hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"She put a condition. A condition that allowed my father to train me and travel. She said," she paused and bit her lip before talking again, "that if I didn't turn into a man amongst men, both my father and I, would have to commit... Seppuku," Ranma concluded and frowned.
Ryoga didn't say anything for a moment, his mind processing the new information. After a while, something in his mind clicked and Ranma could have sworn she heard a clicking sound of wheels working.
"SEPPU-" Ryoga almost shouted but Ranma rushed just in time forward to muffle it with her small hand over his lips.
"Are you crazy? She might hear!" She hissed and let go of him after she was sure he wasn't going to scream again. She sat back down on the bed.
Ryoga stared at her with wide eyes, his jaw dropped. "S-Seppuku?" He asked incredulously. Ranma nodded and looked at her hands in her lap.
The boy couldn't believe a mother would put such insane conditions. She seemed like a nice woman. A bit mischievous and somehow strange but nice nonetheless. "...and she really would go through with that?" Searching for the blue orbits, he asked again.
"You saw that long package she carries on her shoulder, right?" Ryoga nodded and remembered the object from their first encounter and now again.
"Well, that thing's the katana which will decapitate me if she finds out about this," her hands gestured her very curvy body and stayed longer in front of her large chest.
"Did she... Did she already met the real you?"
"Not really but there have been plenty of times she almost met my male self."
"So she just knows you as... Ranko?"
"Yup. Ranko, Akane's cousin. Nice to meet you." She sighed and frowned. "I got mad about this situation we're in now because I thought I might show myself to my mother one day... Now it won't be that easy. Since my male half is engaged to Akane and apparently my female side is now engaged to you," she grumbled and gave him an accusing look, "everything will get more complicated if I tell her the truth. Then surely she will make me commit seppuku because I got engaged to a guy! And no matter how ya look at it, that as hell isn't manly!"
Ryoga bit the inside of his mouth and sighed. He couldn't believe he'd been such an idiot. Now he was apparently engaged to his rival and his mother in law could kill his fiancé- uh, rival.
"... So what do we do now?"
"I don't know," Ranma shrugged her thin shoulders in defeat.
Ryoga stayed silent for a second until he decided they'd have to get out of the situation somehow. "Can't we like, I don't know, end the engagement?" He really wanted to stop being engaged to his very attractive rival.
"Don't you say!" She faked impression and Ryoga noticed clearly the sarcasm and frowned at her. "...I've already thought about it, genius. It's pointless," she breathed and supported her chin on her hands.
"Why? We could simply say we... We never were engaged or that we aren't... uh, in love anymore." Ryoga thought out loud.
"We can't do that. It isn't that easy. I know my mother and if we say we were never engaged or that we broke up... she'd try this or that way to get Ranko-chan and Ryoga-kun back together," she frowned deeply and looked at Ryoga, "unless you want us to go together on a date or get drugged so we marry on the spot." She said, laughing coldly.
Her sarcasm didn't quite reach Ryoga and he instantly panicked. "What?! No! I-"
She face palmed and snipped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention. "For kami's sake, Ryoga! I was just joking! What I meant is that it's impossible to get out of it!" The bed creaked when she stood up and she crossed her arms as she pouted.
She really looks cute that way, Ryoga thought before getting aware of his thought and blushing.
Suddenly the bedroom door was opened and both martial artists jumped at it.
"Don't worry, you two chickens. It's me." Akane said as she closed the door behind her and they relaxed again. She rested against her door and looked at the floor.
"For a moment I thought it might be mom eavesdropping." Ranma said and let herself fall on the bed. Ryoga breathed out as well and sat on the chair again.
"I left Auntie Nodoka with Kasumi. They're making lunch."
There was an awkward silence and neither of them said anything until Akane talked. "So... What's the plan?" She asked and looked at her fiancée.
"I don't know, 'Kane. I think there is no plan." The pigtailed girl admitted and pinched the bridge of her nose. Why can't be my life easy? Just for once?
Akane sighed and shook her head. "Listen, I'm not really sure what happened and right now I understand it's not the right moment to ask about this but we must find a solution."
Ranma didn't say anything but was grateful and surprised at the same time that Akane wouldn't go berserk out of curiosity. She still was looking at the ceiling but she could feel how the other two teens stole glances at her. It was starting to annoy her.
She was about to break the uncomfortable silence, until Akane decided to do so again. "Well, seems like you've got yourself a fiancé more, Ranma..."
Ranma shot up into a sitting position and Ryoga made such a funny face, Akane almost laughed but decided to remain serious.
"What?!" Both shouted simultaneously. They couldn't believe Akane just suggested to keep up their 'engagement'. They were two guys! Plus, Akane was Ranma's principal fiancée!
The blue haired Tendo rolled her eyes and walked over to her desk to lean on it. She looked the teens in the eyes and sighed. "I know it sounds crazy but what other choice do we have? You know your mother better than I, Ranma, and you know how... traditional and... Obsessive she can be." She looked specifically at her fiancée. Ranma snorted but didn't say something against it.
"So you suggest, we keep pretending to be engaged? Why?" Ryoga asked, feeling a bit dizzy and sick.
"Ryoga, I know you are perhaps the last one who wants to be... Together with Ranma," at this, Ranma pouted slightly and muttered something like 'as if It'd be that bad', "but you got this situation on yourself. I just heard Ranma's mother marvel and sigh over you two. Heck, I bet she's thinking about which colour my maid of honour dress for your wedding will be!" Both martial artists cringed at the thought. "You and I know, Ranma, how your mother is," She remarked and looked at her fiancé who nodded reluctantly.
"Damn, 'Kane. What happened? For once you're reasonable and logical! I thought you'd be hitting us with your mallet before talking!" Completely surprised, Ranma exclaimed, earning a forceful punch on the arm from Akane.
"Ouch!"
"Hey! I can be reasonable when I have to! Besides, you get punches because you earned them, Baka!" She tried to explain herself and crossed her arms for emphasis.
"Yeah sure..." Ranma turned towards Ryoga who clearly seemed troubled by all this situation. They had to concentrate on the real problem right now.
"Well, for once in my life, Akane's surprisingly right, Ryoga," Akane only frowned at her fiancé shortly, "my mom won't stop digging, searching the truth unless we keep on letting her believe what she wants until she leaves-"
Suddenly, Akane gasped and Put her fist on her flat hand. "I have an idea!"
"Since when do you have ideas?" Ranma asked innocently.
Ouch! How come that her hits always hurt?
"Okay, it might sound stupid but what other Chance do we have? I'll have to think about a plan B Too If plan A doesn't-"
"Just say it, Akane!"
"We have to make her feel very uncomfortable around both of you together. Like really uncomfortable."
"...And how are we supposed to do that? Spill tea over her kimono?" Ryoga wondered out loud.
"How about you serve her your cooking? That'd make everyone in this house leave!" Ranma got a slap on the back of her head from Akane.
"No, Baka! My cooking is great and you know that!" She scolded while the redheaded girl rubbed her head. "Back to the plan... Spilling tea on her kimono wouldn't make her leave at all and would make only a lot of mess. No. What I mean is to make her uncomfortable because of you two."
The two teens looked at Akane puzzled. And Ranma called her slow. She rubbed her face and sighed annoyed. "You know, like very uncomfortable moments between two fiancés...?" She added and hoped they'd get it.
Suddenly, both understood at the same moment. "What? No!" Both shouted simultaneously and their cheeks were a bit flushed.
"I know. It might be a lot to ask and there isn't a guarantee that it'll work for sure but what's the worst that could happen?" Akane explained to them, trying to get them on her side. She was surprised herself that she seemed to be quite calm about the while situation. She'd never admit it out loud but she often jumped the gun. Strangely, it didn't happen this time.
Ranma fidgeted in her seat and finally sighed.
"Fine, you're right. It's not like if any of this is real."
Akane smiled and sat on her desk. Ranma still frowned and Ryoga felt slightly nervous. It's because Akane's this near, yeah that's gotta be it.
"Exactly. Just pretend, stay calm and don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. This might be something funny we'll look back in the future and laugh about."
Or so she hoped.
Well, the chaos ensures. Ranma is actually Murphy's Law...
Let's hope Akane's right... (of course she isn't right. If she'd be I wouldn't be writing this RanmaxRyoga fanfiction! MUAHHAHAHAHHAHA!)
Ranma's engaged!
...well... To a guy. That's something new.
Also the somehow reasonable Akane is nice too. I always thought of her as temperamental but intelligent, so I figured she might understand once when she should shut it and help.
We'll see what happens next chapter!