Before the sun rose, Ryoga was dressed and out of bed. Looking over at the teenage boy who had been his roommate in the months since moving into the Tendo estate, Ryoga couldn't help but scoff at Ranma's laziness. It was true that Ryoga was, by a country mile, always the first to wake up, but his rival's sloth led to him constantly being the last. Heading out into the yard, Ryoga got started on his day. The early morning air was still nice and cool, moreso than it had been in quite some time. The seasons were changing, and summer was well on the way out by then.
When Mr. Tendo had first told Ryoga he'd need to work hard for room and board, he'd feared what tasks would be laid at his feet. When the actual scope of his duties became clear, Ryoga became convinced that he was somehow cheating Mr. Tendo, another small weight to add to his mental state, dragging it lower than usual. Every morning, Ryoga inspected the dojo and the home, taking note of anything that needed repair, any items that needed to be replaced. If something fell within his abilities to fix, he fixed it. If not, he made a note and told the dojo's owner later in the day.
All of this only took about an hour and a half, and only that long because Ryoga refused to be anything except incredibly thorough. Once that was done, he met up with Kasumi, the sun risen over the horizon, and helped her make breakfast for everyone. Having lived on his own, in the wild, for so many years, Ryoga had learned to be fairly self-sufficient, and that meant he had quite a few skills to bring to the house, even if they were things he hadn't even realized were anything out of the ordinary before.
After breakfast was served to the full family, Ryoga packed up his school things with Ranma and Akane, and the three left for their education. It had been a long time since Ryoga had been in any school, and he was still getting used to it. By then, he'd been attending Furinkan High for almost a full month, and he still needed nightly tutoring from Akane to catch him up on everything. At first, Ranma had used this as an opportunity to make snide comments, until Akane heard one and reminded him that he'd needed the same when he'd first come to their school.
The co-ed school was far more jovial then middle school had been, and aside from the difficult coursework, Ryoga was actually happy to go there every day. That particular morning, Ranma was, as usual, walking on top of a nearby fence whenever possible, rather than on the road. For weeks it had been bothering him, and Ryoga couldn't help saying something about it any more. "Ranma, can you walk down here with us and stop showing off?!" he snapped.
After first moving in with them, such an outburst would have put Akane on edge, and Ranma would have been unsure how to respond. Neither had really known how to take his temper on a day to day basis. But that kind of uncomfortability had been smoothed over with time, and without skipping a beat Akane calmly added, "He has a point, Ranma." Her approval sent a surge of pride through Ryoga, making him feel more confident in his initial annoyance.
Of course, Ranma scoffed at the idea. "I ain't showin' off, I'm training my balance. Duh." Neither of his friends believed that, of course, but he also didn't seem to actually care whether they did or not. Still, Ryoga couldn't help idly tossing a pencil from his pocket at Ranma as hard as he could. Of course, since this was Ryoga, that was very hard. Ranma barely dodged the throw, then shot a glare at Ryoga. "What the hell was that for, man?!"
All eyes were on Ryoga now, and internally his self-doubt whispered sweet despair. 'Now you've done it. They're going to hate you now. You always knew this would happen. No one could ever actually be friends with you.' But ignoring that voice had become something Ryoga was getting better and better at these last few months, so he put up a good nonchalant poker face and shrugged. "You said you were training your balance. I just thought I'd help you." That got a laugh out of Akane and a glare from Ranma, another bit of joy for Ryoga that morning..
Class went by excruciatingly slowly, and by the time lunch break came around Ryoga thought his head was going to break open from the pressure of everything he was trying to keep inside it. It must have shown on his face, because when Daisuke and Hiroshi approached Ryoga's desk, Hiroshi's eyebrow was raised. "Are planning on trying to kill Ranma again? Because if so, we should probably give him a head's up."
"No," Ryoga said through gritted teeth. The two were still Ranma's best friends at school, but they'd been warming up to Ryoga as well. Still, their sense of humor and Ranma's went together well, and they'd been making jokes about Ryoga's propensity for claiming to want to kill people, especially Ranma, ever since he'd joined the school. "It's nothing." Realizing he didn't see either Ranma or Akane in the classroom, Ryoga got up from his seat and left the two non-martial artists behind to find them.
After five minutes of looking, Ryoga was almost ready to just head back to the classroom when he heard Ranma's voice, from behind a door, to a classroom that wasn't being used right then. Ryoga almost opened the door to great them, when he heard what Ranma was saying. "...another try. I know the last date didn't go great, but I think...I know I'll do better this time around. I was thinking we could try it tomorrow, since it's a Saturday. What do you say?"
Ryoga froze. He knew they'd gone a date before, Akane had told him all about it in the middle of summer. But...for some reason Ryoga had never expected them to go on another one. Sure, they got along really well. Heck, they were even, dare he say it, cute together. But for some reason, picturing them together on a date...it made the bottom fall out of his stomach, in a way he couldn't really understand. After a small pause, Akane responded, sounding rather neutral. "We can if you'd like to, Ranma. But first I need to know, what are you trying to do? What am I to you?"
"Geeze, you're makin' me say it?" Ranma grumbled, which almost made Ryoga let out a small laugh. He could imagine the martial artist on the other side of the door, running a hand through his black hair with irritation. "Alright, Akane: I want us to be dating. I wanna be together with you." The pit in Ryoga's chest got deeper, darker, and bleaker as he heard that. It had been nice, having the three of them all as friends. But Ryoga knew this was going to change things. And Ryoga...wasn't a fan of change.
When Akane finally gave a real answer, there was real warmth in her voice. "In that case, I'd be happy to." Realizing they'd be leaving the classroom any second, Ryoga retreated as quickly and quietly as he could, heading to a nearby bathroom to settle his mind. So, they were going on another date. And they wanted to be romantic. Okay. He could handle that. In fact, he actually felt really happy for Akane. It sounded like she was really excited about this. As her friend, Ryoga could be glad she was going to (hopefully) have a good time. But despite all of that, some other part of him still was unsettled, unnerved, deeply unhappy with this news.
Of course, the only thing that could make it worse would be if someone, say Ranma Saotome, walked into the bathroom while Ryoga was having this crisis. With his luck, Ryoga couldn't necessarily be surprised when that exact guy walked in to give Ryoga a piercing stare. They looked at each other in silence, Ryoga deciding to externalize his conflict with a sullen scowl. Ranma had always hated silence though, so he broke it. "I know you were listening in. You're not exactly a ninja."
"I hope the date goes well." Ryoga's response came out clipped, which seemed so odd to him. After all, he meant it...didn't he? It wasn't like he wanted either of his friends to have a bad time. He was just worried about the damage it would do to their friend group. Yes, that was definitely it, and nothing else.
If Ranma hoped a rueful grin would make the situation seem more playful and less serious, he was wrong. It just made Ryoga feel like this whole thing was artificial, all for his benefit. "Remember who you're talking to? She's going to have a great time." The words didn't make Ryoga feel any better, and it was clear Ranma could tell. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Ranma just said, "Listen, you know I'm crap with all this emotions stuff. If you don't wanna tell me why this is bothering you, you don't have to. But I'm also hear to listen if you need me to." With that, Ranma left the bathroom, and Ryoga just stood there.
One of the hardest parts of living with the Tendo family and Ranma had been making sure they didn't see any of the things that were wrong with him. On paper, his life was better now than it ever had been before. He had friends, people who cared about him, a roof over his head, three meals a day, disposable income. Sometimes, Ryoga was happy. But other times, for no reasons at all that he could find, he just felt...empty. When those moods hit, nothing he did made him feel good, or whole, or worthwhile. He'd had them as long as he could remember, and he'd hoped all of this would help. But it hadn't. Nothing had. And if they found out how broken he was inside, he knew they'd try to help him. When they found out they couldn't, that he couldn't be fixed, he'd be doing nothing but causing them all pain.