Title: Ranma's… Husband? 26: Little Steps in the Right Direction.
Rating: Teenishish
Disclaimer: I get sick of trying to work out new ones of these. You know what this is for, you know what goes here, just pretend I've done it.
Official Pairings: Akane/Mousse, Kiyoshi/Ranma, Ryu/Kasumi, Nabiki/OFC.
Author's notes:
I meant to have this done late last week, but instead I got sick. Unpleasant. I'm better now, though, so it's finally done.
Yay.
I'm thinking about putting up a new summary, tell me if you think that's a good idea, I know some people are scared off by the original characters and I would to try and work out some way of reassuring them. I don't think I'm doing too badly OC wise. I may be wrong, of course.
Onto a good note, or not depending how you see it. I've got a fair amount of the remaining plot worked out, finally, so I now know where I'm going. There's this very good spot to end this fic, which I'll probably do, and then I think I'll write a sequel to deal with some of my other ideas for this universe.
Final Note:
I would like to say thank you to everyone who has read and especially everyone who has reviewed this story, be the review good or bad.
I think it is too easy for a writer to take their readers for granted.
You have been fantastic.
I mean it.
Your feedback has encouraged me so much. I like writing; I really, really do, but the fact that there are people out there that want to read what I've written makes it easier in a way.
Furthermore sometimes things that some of you have said in your reviews have sparked off ideas, or helped me to work out how to do things in a different, and hopefully better way. Even the critical reviews, though some of them have been a bit groundless (in my opinion at least), have made me think about what I'm doing, what I'm writing and how I'm writing it.
I really appreciate every bit of feedback I've been given.
So…
Thank You All.
000
(Ranma's POV – female)
He looked up into Kiyoshi's face, trapped in his gaze. He felt himself flush, unable to work out why. His hands had grasped onto Kiyoshi's top in order to stop himself from falling over when he'd run into the larger boy and he found himself strangely unable to release the grip. He stood there, frozen, for what felt like an eternity; Kiyoshi staring back into his eyes.
Eventually the outside world filtered back and he abruptly released Kiyoshi's shirt.
He stepped away, blushing harder, all too aware of Akane, Mousse and Nabiki watching him. He opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say, some way of explaining what had just happened; he couldn't think of anything.
He could see Nabiki smirking at him but thankfully she didn't say anything. Akane looked a little uncomfortable but she gave him a kind smile when he looked over to her. He suddenly realised that he had no idea why they were here. The last time he'd seen them had been back at the Dojou, and even then Kiyoshi hadn't been with them.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, wincing when it came out a little bit ruder than he'd intended.
Akane gave him a slightly bemused smile and nodded over towards Mousse, "Shopping for clothes for Mousse."
Ok… he could understand why Akane and Mousse would be doing that, but Nabiki and Kiyoshi…? Maybe Kiyoshi was there to hold the bags, as that seemed to be what he was doing.
Akane suddenly frowned and looked around, "Ran…ko, where's Auntie Saotome?"
Er… he felt himself flush harder, remembering what had happened with Ukyou. He mumbled something, not entirely sure what he was saying and completely sure that Akane wouldn't be able to decipher it either.
Akane blinked at him, "What?..." was all she managed to say before the sound of footsteps pounding into the pavement and the sensation of his hackles rising alerted him to Ukyou, who was running to catch up with him.
He squeaked, which was highly embarrassing, and unconsciously ducked behind Kiyoshi to use the larger boy as a human shield. Ukyou stopped and stared for a moment when she noticed them, before striding over purposefully.
She headed straight for him, trying to confront him face to face. He inched further behind Kiyoshi, he felt like… like she had violated some unspoken rule between them when she had kissed him.
She started to circle around Kiyoshi, trying to get his undivided attention. He found himself manoeuvring around Kiyoshi, always keeping his fiancé between them. It was sort of embarrassing, but a quick glance up at Kiyoshi's face seemed to indicate that the larger boy didn't mind too much.
Eventually she seemed to loose her temper and spat out "Dammit Ranchan! Stop running away, I just want to talk to you."
He weighed his options. He could listen to what she had to say, but even looking at her was making him cringe in shame. However, he was starting to learn that sometimes you had to face down a problem immediately, before it had the chance to grow into something bigger.
He stepped out of Kiyoshi's shadow and forced himself to make eye contact with her, "Alright, so talk."
She looked down, biting her lip, before meeting his eyes, "Please Ranchan, not in front of everyone."
"Ok, but we're going to have a witness," he really didn't want to talk to her alone.
"If you do anything I'm not having you blame it on me."
She flinched, looking stricken. "Alright" she said quietly, "but not him," she snarled pointing at Kiyoshi.
Well… there went his first choice, that meant…
"Or her," Ukyou snarled when he turned to Akane.
That left him with a choice of Nabiki (no way in hell, she'd use anything she learnt to her advantage) or Mousse (er… was Mousse his ally?). Giving it some long and careful thought he made his decision. "Fine, we're taking Mousse."
Of course that depended whether or not Mousse actually wanted to come with them. He looked over to the other boy, who was looking somewhat uncomfortable, and asked "Is that ok?"
Mousse took a moment to decide before hesitantly nodding.
He nodded and briskly began to walk away from Akane and Nabiki, not waiting for Ukyou to catch up. When they were a decent distance from the others and off the main street he stopped and rounded on Ukyou, "Ok, what do you want?"
She flinched and looked away, "I'm sorry Ranchan, I shouldn't have done that."
"No, no you shouldn't have," he said, hoping that she wouldn't hear the sorrow in his voice.
He studied her, properly for once. He had always liked Ukyou, not like liked of course, but he had enjoyed the time they spent together as children and more recently, when she wasn't trying to force him to be attracted to her.
Could he see himself married to her? Could he see them having children together? Being happy together?
He let himself imagine it, what it would be like.
…
His mind flinched away after a few brief seconds. No. It wouldn't do. She'd quickly get sick of him and he… he couldn't see himself there with her. He wasn't… she didn't make his heart beat faster, she didn't make him feel… special (as ridiculous as the thought was), she… he suspected that she wasn't really his type.
So… what to do. He didn't want her to be unhappy.
He looked her square in the eye, "Ukyou… what do you really want from life?"
She blinked at him; obviously she hadn't expected him to ask that question.
"I… I want us to get married, to be together," she declared; but he noticed that she didn't look all that confident.
He frowned at her, "Why? I mean, aside from what my father did to you…" he wasn't sure of exactly how to word what he wanted to ask, but he would try "If it had never happened would you still want to be with me?"
She frowned, opened her mouth to say something, seemed to think better of it and looked away, appearing deep in thought. He watched her for a couple of minutes, even as she seemed to forget he was there, eventually she looked back at him, her face full of despair.
"I don't know Ranchan… I just…" she began, a bitter twist to her mouth "but it happened, didn't it?"
Yes. It happened. Another thing he could thank his father for. Another mess… another mess that his father wouldn't clean up. Maybe it was time to grow up, take responsibility, even if this wasn't his fault. He gave her a level look, "Ukyou… what do you need me for?"
She looked shocked, "But Ranchan… I need you, after what happened no other man could ever want to marry me."
Something seemed a little wrong with her logic. The more he thought about it, properly thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. "Ukyou… You have a successful business; you're kind, smart, beautiful… any man… well maybe not any man… but most men would be happy to have a wife like you… so, you don't really need me."
"I… you think I'm beautiful?" she asked in a little girl's voice.
As much as it would probably lead to more misunderstandings he might as well be honest. "Yes Ukyou, you are beautiful, you're my 'cute-fiancée' remember? You're one of the prettiest girls I know…" he could see that she was about to say something stupid so he interrupted her "But just 'cause you're pretty, doesn't mean you're my type."
For a minute she looked startled before sighing and shaking her head. "I forgot for a minute. You're gay," she declared.
No. NO. He was sick of this particular misunderstanding. He took a deep breath, "Ukyou I just want to say once and for all, I AM NOT GAY! I don't care what you think, what you believe, what you've seen. I am not gay. I don't want to be a woman either. Kiyoshi is… Kiyoshi is just a friend, a friend that has gotten caught up in a tangled, sticky mess caused by our parents…and… I… I don't want to get married out of obligation," and oh, wasn't that true.
She looked at him, gobsmacked. "You're… you're not gay?" she asked, in a tiny voice; he was relieved, maybe she was finally getting the message, though he did wonder why it was only happening now.
Feeling tired of it all he gave her a level look, "No, No I am not gay."
"Oh…" she whispered, looking ashamed, "Then why won't you marry me?"
He looked at her; he just wanted it to be over, he just wanted to be her friend. "I don't want to marry you Ukyou; we won't make each other happy."
H
She gave him a sour, pinched look. "So you're going to marry Akane? Just fantastic," she spat, with venom.
Should he be honest with her? Tell her the truth, no matter the consequences
? "No, no… Me and Akane, we've decided that we're not gonna get married." He saw her perk up, so quickly resumed speaking before she got the wrong impression, "But! The thing is… I don't want to marry you either, or Shampoo… or Kodachi, or anyone," he winced, imagining a future with the slightly less than sane Kuno girl. "I want to make up my own mind, decide for myself, who I marry. I don't want to… as soppy and as girly as this sounds, I don't want to marry someone I don't love," and it really did sound terribly girly.
She looked away, hurt, before meeting his eyes with a determined expression, "You still owe me. You and your father. For the… I won't let you get away with... with not paying me back."
He looked away, what could he do? It was his pop's fault. He felt helpless for a moment, really, truly helpless. He had to try though "I don't have any money currently, so I can't pay you back, but maybe one day… it was never a fair trade anyway, because you're worth more than any okonomiyaki cart." Wait… had he just said that… he felt himself blush; it had been way too sentimental.
The fight seemed to go out of her, she looked away before looking back to him, "Why Ranma?... Just… why can't you just do what our parents wanted? Wouldn't it just be easier, now that you're not going to marry Akane?"
That conversation that he'd had with her, with Akane, when she'd told him that she didn't want to marry him, came to mind. "Don't you want something better?" he asked Ukyou, "Something more than what our parents planned for us?"
She looked away with a frown. "I don't know Ranma… I've never really… It's been so long… I need to think about this," she began to walk away from him, "I need to think… I'll see you around."
He watched her walk away; a strange parallel to his conversation with Akane, only then he was the one who'd left. He wondered if he should call out to her, beg her to still be his friend, but his mouth remained shut.
His shoulders slumped; well that was that. Time to get back to the others.
He began to walk, barely getting a dozen steps before a voice called out "Saotome?"
Oh!...He'd almost forgotten about Mousse. He turned to face the other boy, finding him looking pensive.
"Saotome… I think I might have underestimated you" Mousse said, looking thoughtful.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Mousse shook his head, "Oh, nothing," he said, before falling silent.
Huh… ok… he began to walk again, strangely looking forward to seeing Akane and Kiyoshi again. As he walked a strange thought flashed across his mind, he realised that at the end of the day it wouldn't even matter if he was gay, he'd never act on it; liking other boys was hardly manly. He shook the thought away, that was the last thing he needed to dwell on, obviously what everyone was saying was starting to get to him.
When got back to where they'd left the others he found them still there, with the addition of his mother who was… she was talking to Kiyoshi… at Kiyoshi (Kiyoshi looked like his mind had wandered off some time before)… but there was something about her body language that was radiating hostility at Akane. It was then that he realised that Nabiki was gone; he only vaguely wondered where she was, because Nabiki wasn't exactly his favourite person.
When she saw him his mother perked up, smiling widely and calling out "Ranko! Where have you been?"
He gave her a slightly stilted smile, "Auntie Saotome, sorry about that."
"That's ok Ranko, where has… Ucchan? (Was that his name?)... gone?" she said.
Thinking quickly he said "Sh… He said he was meeting someone else, so he had to go," that sounded reasonably plausible didn't it?
"Oh…" she said, "Well ok then. Let's get going, there's a couple other shops I wanted to go to."
Er… ok, shopping was possibly the most boring activity ever, but he had said that he'd spend the day with her. She smiled and said goodbye to Kiyoshi, said a stilted goodbye to Akane, ignored Mousse and began to walk off down the street. He turned to face Akane and Kiyoshi, waved awkwardly and trotted off after her.
They walked along in silence for a while before she suddenly stopped and spun to face one of the shop windows. "Oh Ranko! How beautiful…" she sighed.
He turned to look at what she was gushing over and felt his face twitch. A western style wedding dress… he hoped she wasn't thinking anything too weird.
000
(Ukyou's POV)
Oh…
She didn't know whether or not she believed him, when he said he wasn't gay, but she was so sick of arguing about it.
She needed to think. What he'd said about deserving something better…
Maybe he was right, she didn't know; she'd just always assumed that they'd…
But she wasn't… when she'd kissed him… and she didn't know if that was because he'd been female at the time, or if she wasn't actually attracted to him.
Had she just been forcing the issue, with herself and him, when she hadn't really known how she felt?
Was she even attracted to him?
She knew that she liked him; he was nice, kind, a little silly at times. He always seemed to do his best for her… and he called her cute… but…
If they got married, then they'd have to… at least if they wanted any children…
Her mind flinched away from the thought, he was like a brother to her… but that was something she could get over, the only question was whether or not she wanted to.
Maybe it would be better just being his friend…
Maybe.
000
(Happosai's POV)
The exquisite silken bustier kept disappearing. He had first seen it trapped on the roof of Furinkan High School, its laces hanging down in forlorn tangles.
He had, of course, gone to rescue it but it had moved in the seconds it had taken for him to reach the roof; looking around he had spotted it perched on a tree branch not that far away.
Thus had started the great chase.
Every time he almost caught it, it would disappear. He was beginning to get frustrated; it was a gorgeous, sexy thing that he would love to add to his collection.
He caught a flash of magenta out of the corner of his eye and when he turned to look he found the bustier hanging off one of the street lights, its white fabric shimmering in the sun.
000
(Genma's POV)
Sweeping was boring. Tedious, dull, mind numbing.
It was also giving him far too much time to think. Every stupid decision, every act of unthinking cruelty… Kiyoshi Kurosawa had really got to him.
He sighed and put some more effort into moving the broom; after he was done here Mrs. Abe needed him to repair her roof.
Menial labour; not something he had ever enjoyed. But he needed the money to buy the boy some new clothes and he was just a little too comfortable here in Nerima to do what he had traditionally done when he needed money.
He didn't need to be forced to move on like he would be if he went and stole something.
Sometimes he really wished he had put some effort in when he was younger; he could be a doctor now, or a lawyer, or own his own business… instead he was here, sweeping someone's front step because he had no real job skills.
Oh well, you reap what you sow. Maybe it was time to take a closer look at his life; where it was going and where it had been.
000
(Kiyoshi's POV)
Nabiki had returned the minute that Nodoka had left; it was a little strange, but she was probably avoiding the older woman, which was something he could almost understand. There was something… he wasn't sure he liked Nodoka that much.
He sighed. He wished he'd followed Ranma, even if Nodoka probably wouldn't have liked that, at least that way he wouldn't have ended up Akane's pack mule. Why had he agreed to this again? Oh yes, nothing better to do.
At least they were almost done now; soon they would be heading back to the Tendou Dojou where he could… do nothing and wait for Ranma to return.
Maybe he needed a life. A life outside of Ranma…
Or not. He didn't really like most people.
Ranma… he liked Ranma. Liked Ranma so much that he probably needed to do something about it; his mind (or his body, or whatever part of him was leading him around these days) didn't seem to care that Ranma wasn't interested or that he'd promised both himself and Ranma not to push the issue.
It was… foolish, probably.
Ranma had been using him as a human shield earlier, and he'd found it… if it had been anyone else, he would have found it unbearably irritating, but when Ranma did it…
He'd become distracted by the warmth he could feel radiating off Ranma's body, his (her?) smell, the sun glinting off the red hair if his female form…
He was pathetic. A pathetic, besotted fool.
Oh well, he knew that he didn't have forever; that Ranma would eventually find someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and when that happened he would have to step back…
So he might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
000
(Ryu's POV)
He could smell her; she was wearing some light, summery perfume. It was nice. Very nice.
He could feel the heat of her body as she walked next to him.
If he looked over he could see her attractive profile, her straight nose and full bottom lip.
They weren't speaking, but he didn't feel awkward, didn't feel pressured to impress her. It was comfortable.
The weight of her basket hung off his arm, already full of tasty looking produce. He'd offered to carry it for her; something that she hadn't accepted immediately, but had come round soon enough.
They were almost finished and then it was back to the Tendou Dojou… the funny thing was he didn't really want to go back; when they did reality would return and they were both expected to act in certain ways.
For the first time in a long time he almost regretted his playboy ways. Almost.
It was probably a fleeting thing though. He'd get over it and then it would be back to chasing the girls… he was never at peace for long.
She stopped outside a bakery, looking into the shop at the loaves of bread on display. He could see her deliberating. She started towards the shop, stopped, turned to him and pulled him down into a brief, exceedingly sweet kiss, before walking into the shop with a small smile on her face.
Oh…
000
(Akane's POV)
She was happy with what she'd bought… with Nabiki's money (her brain was still having trouble with that idea).
Now no one could accuse her of being a bad… whatever it was that she was to Mousse… well, at least around his clothes.
She was a little sorry that she'd ended up using Kiyoshi as a pack mule, but he was very good at it. Big and strong. Just what you needed when you were doing some serious shopping.
Also, it seemed, for when you needed to hide from one of your fiancées. That had been a strange interlude with Ranma earlier, she'd have to ask him what had happened next time they saw each other.
She could see the Dojou up ahead… she could also see Cologne waiting for her. Oops. Well, they had been gone a bit longer than she'd expected.
She walked over to the old woman, who was chatting amicably to a small girl holding the leash of a tiny, white dog. When the Cologne saw her she said a quick goodbye to the girl, turned to her and arched her brow with a mildly displeased look on her face.
"Sorry, I was buying Mousse some new clothes," she explained, hoping that Cologne wasn't too angry.
The old woman nodded and gave her an unexpected smile, she turned and began to walk down the street calling over her shoulder, "Follow me, its time to start your training."
Akane felt a thrill of apprehension that she hoped didn't show on her face; she wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen.
She turned to Mousse "Whilst I'm with Cologne, why don't you go put away your new clothes."
He nodded and gave her a small, stilted smile.
She smiled back and began to follow Cologne to the empty lot not that far from her house.
When they arrived they found a gaggle of young children playing in the dirt. Akane watched as Cologne gently shooed them away, amazed that they had actually listened to her.
Cologne rounded on her, studying her intently; she wondered what was going to happen next…
"Before we start… I must ask a favour from you," Cologne said, her face serious.
She nodded, "Alright."
Speaking in a rush, as if to prevent Akane from interrupting her, Cologne blurted out "It seems that I cannot trust my great-granddaughter to do her job at the Café. I need Mousse back… only on weekdays and only during the hours that you are at school. I know that it is a bit of an imposition, but you still live with your family and still attend school so I know that you do not necessarily need him full time. I promise that he will earn a fair wage that will, of course, go straight to you, and if you need him at any time I will let him go to you."
Er… what was she supposed to say? She couldn't see any problem with that, it would give Mousse something to do, but… "I… I'll ask Mousse, if he wants to then its ok with me."
Cologne looked at her as if she'd said something incredibly moving, nodding quickly and clearing her throat.
Cologne looked her straight in the eye "Now, time for training. Today I'm going to assess your existing training and what I'll have to do to fix it."
She was about to ask what Cologne meant, but the old woman launched herself at her; striking out with her stick.
Akane just managed to dodge out of the way, but wasn't fast enough to block a blow to her abdomen…
Oh… so that's what she meant. Trial by combat. She prepared herself.
000
(Nodoka's POV)
Oh… how adorable.
They were looking into the window of one of the jewellery shops lining the street and there were the cutest little earrings, little enamelled tiger lilies that would look so lovely on Ranko… only Ranko's ears weren't pierced.
It had occurred to her that Ranko didn't have any jewellery… all girls should have jewellery… and so she'd been looking in the windows hoping to see a few small things that Ranko liked and that weren't too expensive…
She'd already spotted a nice little bracelet, a fine filigree link made out of stainless steel, as well as a couple of pretty rings on sale… but it was the earrings that she really wanted to buy for the girl.
Maybe, just maybe, she could convince Ranko to have her ears pierced.
000