The Eye of the Beholder
"Now we're going be late! And today of all days, too!" Akane shot me a sideways glance, her
glare for once not quite overcoming the smile on her lips.
"It's your fault, you know," I couldn't help but retaliate. It's an instinct so ingrained in my nature
that I do it without thinking. And I never mean to hurt her. I think she knows that now. "If you
hadn't pushed me into the fish-pond, you wouldn't have had to wait while I changed back into a
guy."
"But why'd you have to do that, anyway? Practically everyone knows that you and your girl form
are the same person!"
"I am not going to graduate from high school as a girl!"
Akane rolled her eyes towards the heavens in a familiar fashion as she ran, silently asking for
patience. "Men!" she groaned, in exasperation.
I didn't mind the taunt very much, but pride demanded I respond. "You got a problem with it?"
Even though we were late, I was ready to argue all Akane wanted. It's almost a tradition now-- a
day doesn't go by without us arguing, even after all this time. We always made sure to go to sleep
at night on good terms, just in case. Other people might think it's weird, but being at that
mountain reminded us both that we're not invincible, and something could happen at any time.
Akane shook her head, for once determined not to rise to my bait. "Of course not. Let's hurry,
we're almost there!" Perhaps she decided that today, at least, she should try to get along with me.
For once.
"Yep, here's the schoolyard! Oh wow . . . look at all the people!" An outside stage and podium,
with seats facing it, was on the lawn in front of the clock tower, erected for the coming
graduation. I saw someone waving to us, so I tapped Akane on the shoulder and pointed and we
headed over to see Ryoga. There were two empty seats next to him, so I sat down next to Ryoga
and Akane sat down on my other side. I know it's irrational, but I still couldn't let Akane sit next
to Ryoga without feeling a spark of jealously. Ryoga will always be my rival, despite the fact that
he's one of my best friends. On the other side of Ryoga, with her hand linked loosely with the lost
boy's (so that he won't wander off and get lost, according to the both of them), sat Ukyo, who
smiled cheerfully by way of greeting.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the two of them carefully. Ryoga was living at Ukyo's
restaurant now, even though she didn't really need looking after anymore. At first he'd been
helping her out because it was hard to run a restaurant with a couple of broken ribs, and even
someone with a broken wrist could help out. And according to Ryoga, she hadn't had one of
those nightmares in almost a month now, and there wasn't any need for Ryoga to stay any longer.
But it looked as if they'd carefully avoided the subject of Ryoga leaving Ucchan's. He has a job
there now, although I doubt he ever actually earns any money. He helps Ukyo mix up the batter
and take orders, bringing out the okonomiyaki when it's done. Ryoga claims his sense of direction
is getting better too, ever since he had to find his way back to camp with Ukyo just after she met
me while I was being controlled by that scroll. It must have something to do with urgency--
when it really counts, Ryoga can find his way around just as well as anyone else.
For a while, I was sure Ukyo would kick Ryoga out at any time when she found out about his
curse, because I've seen her get pretty close to P-chan these days. Well, I think she likes him too
much and needs his help too much to kick him out for good, but I figured she do it at least until
she cooled off. But you know what? Ukyo already knew. I asked her when I went over for
okonomiyaki the other day, and she told me that it really wasn't very hard to figure out. She also
told me that they were planning on enlarging Ucchan's-- some really major renovation work.
They're going to add an entire new floor, with a few extra rooms and a den. She wouldn't say
why, except that they just felt like having more space around the house. Yesterday, while I was
shopping with Akane, I saw Ukyo with her nose plastered to a bakery window. I was about to
call out and say hello to her, when Akane elbowed me in the ribs and pointed at the window.
There was a rather large, rather heavily decorated wedding cake on display. I decided not to
disturb her. A few days before that, I ran into Ryoga at the grocery store, and he was acting really
strange. He kept muttering something like, "Sakura? That's pretty. Mariko? No, Ukyo didn't like
that one. Reika . . . I like Reika . . . but what if it's a boy?" And he didn't even notice when I
walked by. I didn't bring that up in conversation. I guess sometimes it's best to ignore certain
things.
Later that day, Shampoo accidentally ran me down on her bike. I should have been able to hear
her coming, I admit it, but Akane was talking to me and not yelling for once, so I wasn't really
paying any attention. Not to Shampoo, anyway. She's back to her usual self again, although she
still avoids Dr. Tofu. She did let him treat the cut on her cheek, and it has healed pretty well. You
can still see a thin, barely visible white scar, though, and Dr. Tofu says he isn't sure if that will
ever go away. At first she wouldn't let Mousse see her when she got home out of embarrassment
about her ruined face, but Mousse didn't even seem to notice, he was so beside himself with relief
at her return. I felt kind of sorry for him because she disappeared along with me and everyone
else, and he was stuck at home with no idea where she had gone. A few minutes after her return,
though, the crash of her knocking him down the stairs as usual could be heard a few blocks away.
But knowing what I do about violence in girls, Mousse may be in more luck than he knows. At
the graduation today, Shampoo was using her leverage over Mousse like a weapon. Already he
had cleared a space for them exactly where Shampoo wanted it, and right now he was making
sure she's comfortable. The strange thing is, though, both of them seem happy with that. If I was
in Mousse's position I'd probably beat myself over the head with one of Akane's mallets until I
lost consciousness. But then, they are both Amazons, and Amazon men are supposed to be
subserviant, while the women take the dominant role. Each to his own, I guess-- perhaps things
are best that way for them. I do hear that people are starting to move back into the neighborhood
surrounding the Nekohanten, because there aren't so many loud crashes of physical abuse in the
evening. And less property damage, too.
And yes, Dr. Tofu, of course. He still has the same little clinic, which gets more and more patients
every day. He was really overloaded at first, until he got an assistant. Kasumi has a very soothing
effect on the patients, because her calm smile and soft words would soothe an angry boar, much
less a traumatized patient. She's taking morning courses at a university in medicine, so that she
can help out some more. And in the evenings, she cooks dinner for Dr. Tofu and helps him clean
up a bit. Of course, this new schedule does mean that she can't cook and clean and all that stuff
she used to do around our household as much, but that's alright. It gives Akane something to do
besides bully me. Without Kasumi there to keep her from cooking, however, she does it all the
time. But believe it or not, I think it's actually getting better. I usually manage to avoid her when
she cooks, but a few days ago she made me eat some of her miso soup, and I didn't die. I didn't
even lose consciousness. I was probably imagining it, of course, but it might have actually tasted
alright. I will tell you something though, she can make tea pretty well now. Maybe she'll just
stick to tea and miso. Hopefully.
Nabiki's been gone a lot too, lately. Of course, she won't tell us where she's been going, but
Akane tells me that she has her suspicions. She never tells me anything beyond that, but that's
alright. As long as Nabiki's not off concocting some sort of plan to ruin things some more, it's
fine by me. She's really a decent person, under that cool exterior, you know. The other day I
caught her buying a homeless guy some lunch. Of course, then Kuno showed up and announced
his presence in the usual way. Nabiki griped at him, and he retaliated as he usually does, but with
what I could have sworn was a teasing note in his voice. And he seemed to know exactly what to
say to push her buttons. He looked up and saw me and Akane standing there, blinked once, and
then ignored us and turned back to Nabiki, who was also somehow sounding teasing instead of
actually angry. As if they did that every day. The strange thing was, Akane didn't even seem
surprised that Kuno hadn't started gushing about her beauty and all that. It surprised me, for sure.
Sometimes I'm not so sure that Kuno really is deluding himself to the point of blindness. Maybe
this whole time he actually knew what he was doing, the same way Nabiki had a warm heart
beneath all that icy armor. Maybe they're both actually growing up a little.
Trying to keep my mind on the ceremony, I had to laugh at myself a little. I keep trying to find
romance everywhere I look. After all, I could just be imagining things. How did that saying go?
That those in love always seek to find others in the same state. On a whim, I looked behind me
and saw the girl that I had seen a few days ago. She's always surrounded on every side by
underclassmen guys, flushing prettily under all the attention she's been getting. She just enrolled
in the high school, and is a late student. She's very pretty, with a delicately boned face and bright
eyes, that are just strange enough to denote her as being foreign. She's got long, dark violet
hair-- it's darker than Shampoo's, but it has rather the same sort of thickness to it. Her name,
according to the school roster, is Xia. No one else who had gone on that strange and eventful
journey a year ago had even blinked twice at her when they saw her, but I've got my suspicions
anyway. You don't spend fifteen years with access to a powerful magic scroll without learning
how to disguise your appearance enough so that even your own daughter wouldn't recognize
you. That way you wouldn't have to deal with peoples' blame, for once.
The principal is dressed up for the occasion, and is actually wearing a white shirt and not his usual
Hawaiian one. He said his little speech, and began to read off the names of the graduates and
hand them their diplomas. I wasn't paying attention at all-- it was rather boring, to tell the truth.
I only noticed when he read off the name, "Akane Tendo." Akane rose from her seat, giving me
an odd look. Had they skipped me? Am I not graduating after all? I had to restrain myself from
going and asking what was wrong, so I waited for the last of the names to get read from the list.
Once the last graduates cleared the stage, a graduating student who came to speak at the
ceremonies stood and came to the podium. I think he might have been from a home room down
the hall, but I didn't know his name.
"These past four years have been . . . well, different," he began in an amused tone of voice. A
little ripple of laughter ran through the audience. They all knew very well what he was talking
about, and so did I. Some of the people near me turned to look at me-- what was going on? I
hoped I really was graduating. Akane would never let me live it down if she graduated before me.
"We've seen a lot of good times, and had a lot of interesting experiences as a class here at
Furinken High. I'm sure you'll all remember it vividly-- I know I will. But before we draw the
ceremony to a close today, I'd like to ask one more person to come and speak. There's not a
single person in this school who hasn't heard of him, and stories about him will filter down to the
incoming students for years to come. Stories of him or, perhaps, of her. Ranma Saotome, please
come to the podium to accept your diploma."
I glanced at Akane, and saw that she was grinning at me in obvious amusement. I meant what I
said all that time ago. She really is cute when she smiles. She nodded at me, so I stood and went
up to the podium, taking the scroll from the guy and shaking his hand. I tried to leave then, but
that guy caught my arm and held me there. "Come on, Ranma-- won't you make a speech? It
doesn't have to be long, or anything. Just say a few words to the school."
Looking out over the sea of faces, wincing as a few people shouted agreement that I should
speak, I tried to think of something to say. My eyes automatically picked out Akane, and she still
looked greatly amused. I decided that I just had to get this over with. "Well," I began. "Um."
Ack, this wasn't going terribly well. I paused to fidget with the edge of my shirt and then added,
"As you can see, I'm not really very good at making speeches. I guess what I wanna to say is that
most towns wouldn't be able to deal with me and my friends, and all the trouble we always get
into." The words just sort of fell from my mouth, and although I'd thought about what I was
saying for a while, I wasn't thinking about it now. All I was thinking about now was getting off
the stage. "And most schools wouldn't be able to continue with such chaos going on around
them, but you all did. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, thanks. For everything, for all the
memories."
A pause came, which was soon filled with respectful applause. Now I hesitated, an idea coming to
me rather suddenly. "I have something else to say, and I suppose I should just say it where
everyone is all gathered to hear it. As you all know, I've been engaged to Akane for . . . well . . .
several years now, and when I first came here, I promised our fathers that once I'd graduated
from high school I would marry her." I ignored the little murmur running through the crowd, and
pressed on. "Well, if anyone wanted to know, we're going to be getting married in July next
year."
There was a shocked silence, and I had to force myself not to look at the row of people I knew.
Especially at Akane. My eyes picked out a few girls getting up hurriedly, and leaving the area
with tears in their eyes, and a few young men cracking their knuckles in anger and frustration.
Well, some things never change, I guess. There'll always be guys pining after Akane, and I guess
I'm talked enough about that the girls know who I am. The silence was getting kinda heavy,
though, and I wished someone would tell me that I could get off the stage.
I got my wish. There was a loud crash, and suddenly I couldn't see. "Ow!" Face down on the
ground, it wasn't really hard for me to tell who hit me. Looking up to see Akane standing over
me, fuming silently, I peeled the mallet off the back of my head and rubbed the sore spot angrily.
"What . . ." I asked, in confusion. "What'd I do this time?"
She's so cute when she's mad. Clenching her fists, she made a little strangled noise in the back of
her throat. "I think you may have forgotten one tiny detail, Ranma," she said between gritted
teeth. "Did you ever think about asking my opinion on all this?"
Oh. Yeah. Whoops. I knew I had to be forgetting something. It shouldn't have been that easy.
Wincing, I managed to say, "Uh . . . oops?"
Everyone in the audience sighed like one entity, as we started arguing again. I could hear
someone who sounded suspiciously like Nabiki say in a rather droll tone of voice, "Only Ranma
would actually forget to propose . . ." As usual in our fights, the scenery took an active role.
Various other bits of the stage that hadn't been destroyed by Akane's original thwack to my head
were flying through the air, presenting considerable danger to anyone remaining in the vicinity.
But they all stayed to watch, anyway. I guess our fights always were exciting, if not amusing as
well.
Eventually, the argument just lost steam. I sighed and looked down at the ground, my energy
draining. I sure screwed up this time. "I . . . I just never thought that-- well, I didn't think you'd
mind. I thought you . . . thought you wanted to marry me."
Akane sighed and shook her head. "Ranma, will you get a clue? Wake up and open your eyes,
you dolt!" And then she leaned forward and kissed me, right there in front of everyone.
A low, knowing murmur rose from the crowd, as friends nudged each other with their elbows,
grinning conspiratorially at us on the stage. But I was really too busy to care. Akane stood up
when she heard it, though, after taking a few moments to disentangle herself. "Well, excuuuse
me!" she said loudly. "I think we'll just go somewhere more private to discuss this." And with
that, I felt her grab onto my pigtail as she began to drag me off and out of sight of those near the
stage. I decided that, for once, I'd keep my mouth shut and just let her do as she wanted. It was
certainly fine by me.
* * *
