A Ranma ½ Fanfic by INABN

Original Ranma ½ Characters and Settings ©Rumiko Takahashi

Used without express permission.

All characters not part of the Original Ranma ½ cast are property of INABN

1 Wasurenagusa

1.1 Chapter Four (Part 2): Dance the Night

Ranma toweled off his hair in the bathroom. He had gone there to switch back after Akane was done drying off and changing clothes from their walk in the rain. That went well, I think. Now, I just need to set things right with the others. Since Shampoo is still gone, I guess that leaves Uc- chan. He sighed, tossing the damp towel onto the drying rack. Course, there's Ryouga. Probably run into him soon to boot. Ranma's thoughts changed direction as his stomach protested the need for lunch. "Wonder who's cooking this time." With a new short term goal, he headed to the kitchen to find out.

Akane was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs. He guessed she must be hungry too from the way she was tapping her foot and glancing toward the table. "What's up Akane, food ready?" She nodded and started walking to the table. "Didn't have ta wait for me you know." Ranma said it off-hand so she wouldn't think he was teasing her. As he entered the living room he spotted the two fathers just rising from the Shogi board. Ranma rolled his eyes, those two are only good for playing that game, I swear. But then, he revised, there isn't much else to do on a really rainy day like this.

While they all ate, the usual banter was kept to a minimum, the stormy weather helped to dampen everyone's mood. Aside from himself and Akane, everyone else was glad that the foul mood Ranma seemed to have been in had dissipated. Nabiki still wasn't back from wherever it was that she had gone. This too could be considered another blessing, since it left one less person to needle Ranma. Akane definitely wasn't up for it right now, even to try and keep up appearances for their meddling fathers. Yet, neither Akane nor Ranma did anything the opposite of their norm. Overall, this had the beginnings of a quiet day.

Souun worried, then again, it seemed to him that he was doing a lot of that these days. Usually it was due to some misfortune that befell the Tendou household, specifically the actual home. Goodness knows how we are going to keep paying for the repairs here. If there was one thing he shared with this eldest daughter, it was the fact that he was willing to overlook some of the small things. In doing so, it made the larger problems not seem so bad. But, today things were off. Nothing overly disastrous had occurred, and it was nearly one in the afternoon! Souun felt that it was his duty to not alert the masses, and ignore it just this once. Maybe it could even turn out to be a quiet day.

Genma watched his old friend, he would be inclined to voice his concerns if it didn't mean an assurance of getting soaking wet. He always had a little trouble concealing his emotions, it's best not to stir the hornets nest. Genma paused to reflect on that last sentiment. Well, it's best not to unless it goes toward strengthening the Art! Why, I remember me and the boy.Ranma stared at his father when he suddenly stopped eating and spaced out for a second. Uh, oh.he's dreaming up another weird training exercise.Better nip this one in the bud. Reaching over with his chopsticks, he rapped Genma on the nose, startling the older Saotome out of his reverie. "Boy, what did I tell you about interrupting my meditations!"

When the fight died down, the place was in shambles. Souun openly wept a dirge for his poor home while Kasumi went about straitening out the majority of the debris. Akane fumed and tried her best to control her temper and not send her fiancé on a flight touring the grimier parts of Nerima. Genma 'growfed' from near the koi pond, having been unceremoniously tossed out into the rain. Ranma calmly remained seated at the table while he finished both his food and his fathers. Yes, it was going to be another quiet day in Nerima.

Forty minutes prior to the fiasco at the Tendou home Ucchan's was starting to get a little busy. Ukyou had been right in her assessment that the rain was likely to bring in the customers. Ryouga had offered to help her with the orders, but Ukyou had been forced to decline his offer on matters of principle; it just was not good business to have the waiter get lost on his way to and from the grill. Instead, she had him clean the bar as the customers left. He had little trouble following a straight path as long as he kept it in sight all the while.

"I'd like a shrimp Okonomiyaki please," a customer called out when it came to his turn at the counter. The chef heartily nodded assent and moved to fix the order.

"One shrimp special coming right up!" Ukyou's spatula flashed across the hot griddle, depositing the meal on a waiting plate. A flick of the wrist and the customer was left to catch the incoming projectile, which he did with the practiced ease of a regular patron of Ucchan's. Ryouga stumbled out of the way of a group of girls that just entered to get out of the rain. They giggled amongst themselves, while putting away their colorful umbrellas. The lost boy was forced to focus his attention on cleaning duties when he caught bits and pieces of the girls' conversation. He really hadn't realized how descriptive girls could be about things they liked; this apparently applied especially to boys they liked. The whole thing began to really make him nervous.

Ryouga nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey sugar, if they catch you acting like that, they are going to start talking about you." Ukyou had seen the girls come in, and knew something about Ryouga's track record when it came to members of the opposite sex. Truth be told, she had taken advantage of his shyness once or twice. It was pretty funny when she thought about it. But it was also dangerous for her store if something got out of hand and he was teased too much. She had always wanted to remodel the front of the store, just not like how Ryouga would go about it.

He visibly calmed down once the voice registered as belonging to Ukyou. His weak laugh betrayed his inner feelings though. "Heh, you know, I don't think I want that. Did you hear what they were saying about Mousse?" Just thinking about it made him shudder visibly.

"No hun, I didn't. What did they say?" She couldn't resist the small temptation to pester him. She had heard what they said, and it was rather embarrassing even to her. I wonder if they have something there? Better just leave that thought alone. Ukyou noticed the boy turning all shades of red again as the girls moved closer to find a table. "Never mind Ryouga, let's get you back to work, ok?" He just nodded, letting her pull him back to the counter as he was straying toward the stairs. So things went for another hour when the rain finally let up.

"Whew, I hope that is the rush for the afternoon. Three hours of steady orders is enough for me." The Okonomiyaki chef wiped her forehead more as a gesture than for any sweat built up there. Not that it wasn't hot standing over a grill for hours on end. When the rain abated, the few straggling lunchtime customers left about their business. Ryouga sat down after cleaning the remaining tables as soon as they were unoccupied. "Thanks for the help sugar, I forgot how tiring it was with Konatsu not around." Ryouga nodded, surprised that he had been able to stay in one place so long. Ukyou's constant requests for him to come back to the front had helped a bit in that department.

"So, what else are you planning to do today?" Ukyou's question put him off for a second. His 'plans' were usually pretty linear. They consisted of 'walk around until I find Ranma, then extract painful revenge once I have found him.' Damn, that is starting to sound pretty lame. I've been doing this for the past two years in a row. And that was after I found him the first time. He looked up from where he sat, "dunno, I guess I can see how long I can stay around here to help with stuff." He stood up to brush his shirt off, when done he raised his fist in the air and grimly announced his intentions, "Ukyou Kuonji, prepare to be helped!"

Both of them burst out laughing at his remark, even if it wasn't that funny. "Ok sugar, anything you say. I'd be hard pressed to stop you anyway." Ryouga gave her a fanged grin. Picking up his dishrag, he twirled it about like one of his bandanas, and set out to polish the tables and the bar spotless. This is fun, I hardly ever have fun these days. Better make the best of it pal, something always comes up here, you know that. So true, plus Ukyou seems happy. Let's keep it that way.

Ranma considered his options as carefully as he could. What to do, what to do. Running a hand across his pigtail he sat down on his futon with an audible thump. "Let's see. I need to talk to Uc-chan. She 'is' the only one still here for the summer. That at least leaves the old ghoul and Shampoo out of this for now, Mousse too I suppose." He scratched his hair in thought. Who else, oh.Ryouga. Crap, that could get ugly. Gotta be some way around a pitched fight, not that I can't whip his ass, but Akane already doesn't like us fighting as it is. Plus, she needs to know about good ol' P-chan. How to get that out into the open, and convince Akane about it.

He delved into the matter a little further, coming to the conclusion that dealing with Ryouga first might be for the best. Get the hard stuff outta the way.

Now all he had to do was 'find' Ryouga. Hey, this is a first I think. You've never really gone out and looked for P-chan before, have you? Nope, didn't really wanna start now, but oh well. He leaned over and lay on his back against the futon for a minute, lost in planning what he should do. Ranma lay there with an arm across his face, just relaxing, when there came a knock at the door.

When he gave no reply, whoever was at the door knocked a second time. "Ranma? Are you in there? It's Akane." Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he got up to open the door. "Hey," Akane gave him a worried look. "Something the matter, Ranma? You left after lunch so quickly." It took her some doing, but she felt that she had kept down her usual accusing tone this time. Either he noticed how hard she was trying, or she pulled it off well enough, because Ranma bit back his obligatory insult.

"S'ok Akane. Just thinkin' about what to tell the others." Ranma leaned against the doorjamb as he spoke.

"What do you mean, tell them the truth of course." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. The stare she got from Ranma shot her down real quick.

"Don't think that'd be the best thing to do in this case. That 'might' have worked at the start. Maybe. But, it's only gonna make a bigger mess of things right now." She just stared at him, a little thrown off.

"Well, what can we do then, huh?" Akane wanted to poke him in the chest, even if it wouldn't accomplish anything. She had been hoping that with Ranma finally making a choice, then everything else would fall into place. Is that what he is doing, really making a choice? He hasn't exactly come out and said it to me. But then, isn't this all good enough? Is this all I am going to get from now on, just little glimpses of what he truly feels inside? He still isn't being fair to me, to us. Akane shook her head, it felt strange to even think of herself and Ranma collectively.

For his part, Ranma just watched the expressions flicker across Akane's face. She seemed to be caught up in something, and he didn't know what it was. "I've already decided who to talk to first. After that, it's off to Ucchan's I guess. Ukyou is my friend, I owe it to her to tell her what's up will all of this." Akane nodded, she considered the Okonomiyaki chef a friend of sorts too. She felt theirs was a friendly rivalry, and if they were to no longer be rivals, then friendship was all there was left. Now she wasn't stupid, nothing was that clean cut. Ranma was right though, Ukyou deserved more that she was likely to get at this point.

Just then, Ranma's actual words came to her. '.after that, it's off to Ucchan's.' What did he mean, if not Ukyou, who did he want to talk to first? That bimbo Shampoo was back in China, no one else but.Kodachi? "Ranma? Are, are you going to see Kodachi?" If his words did not convince her, the sick expression on his face did.

"Uh, Kodachi?" Aww, I totally forgot about that psycho. "Er, I guess now that you mention it, we'd better get to her before she hears about it from someone else. That's the last thing we need, her runnin' around the place with that crap of hers." Man, dealin' with Ryouga was going to be bad enough. Now this too? Akane frowned unconsciously as she realized that Kodachi wasn't who he had intended to speak to first. If not her, then who? "I still gotta see someone else first thought, maybe Kodachi should be after Ukyou."

Later that day, Ranma headed off to find Ryouga. "Man that was hard, dancing around the topic with Akane was dangerous. Maybe I should' a just told her I needed to talk to Ryouga." She'd get suspicious then though. Like she wasn't curious enough to begin with. She is entitled to know, you know. Yea, I do. He kept on walking, thinking to himself about how to find the lost boy. "Where can I even start? He usually runs inta me. Man, this is gonna be a long day, I just know it." Ranma slid his hands into his pant pockets as he crossed the street to continue the search.