The party continued on throughout the afternoon. The snacks on the table were eaten up as everyone chatted and reminisced about their past, and in most cases, their rivalry. Nabiki and Kuno were getting reacquainted as well.
"Hey, Mousse." Ranma brings up. "Have you seen Ryouga around? He was here just a second ago."
"No, but he told me he wanted to go get some fresh air." Mousse replied.
Ranma the noticed that Ukyou was gone as well. "Fresh air, huh? Wonder if he's getting any."
"What was that?" Mousse asked.
"Nothing. Nothing." Ranma waves off.
It was true what Ryouga said to Mousse, and he was outside the dojo in the back yard. Ukyou was there as well and everything was quiet. The fish in the pond jumped, making a subtle splash to break the silence.
"I don't see why we can't tell them." Ukyou finally says.
"I don't see why either." Ryouga replies.
"Then why did you tell me not to?" Ukyou asks.
"I don't know." Ryouga sighs. "I guess I was too afraid of what they'd say. I know I shouldn't be ashamed of anything. There's nothing to be worried about."
"Ryouga, there is something I need to tell you first." Ukyou said.
"What's that?"
"I'm late." Ukyou says flatly.
"What do you mean by that? We were the first ones to come." Ryouga laughs. "It was a first for me."
"No, Ryouga." Ukyou looks him straight in the eye. "I'm late." She says slower.
Ryouga stares at her blankly.
Ukyou sighs in frustration and gets close to Ryouga's face. "I'm pregnant."
Ryouga's eyes almost pop out of his head. "What?"
"How else do you want me to put it? I know plenty of expressions." Ukyou replies.
"No, I didn't mean it that way." Ryouga stutters. "I was just a little surprised, that's all."
"Now we got more to tell the group, don't we." Ukyou points out. "This is all sort of weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Ryouga nods. "I didn't think…you would."
Ukyou laughs at Ryouga's idiocy. "You think I didn't think that too? But…I was afraid you'd leave me or something."
"I'll never leave you, Ukyou." Ryouga says sincerely. "I may get lost a lot, but I always know where I was intentionally going and where I want to be."
"Hopefully it won't inherit your horrible sense of direction." Ukyou says.
"Hey!"
"I'm just kidding, Ryouga." Ukyou replies. "Let's go back inside."
"Let's go." Ryouga agrees and the couple head back into the dojo.
"Woohoo!" Ranma whoops as they enter the back door. "Ryouga, you sly dog!"
"Ranma, keep it down, will ya?" Ryouga yells hoarsely, but the scout from Ranma was enough to have everybody's eyes locked on them.
Ukyou steps up with her nose in the air after smacking Ranma upside the head with her spatula. "Everyone. I have an announcement." Ryouga blushes immediately. "Ryouga and I are engaged and we're expecting."
That was short and simple, Ryouga thought to himself.
Everything was quiet. The first one to make a noise was Akane, who had begun to applaud. "Congratulations." The other guests follow.
***
Later, towards evening, the children were outdoors playing. Ayumi and Takeru were kind of on their own, once Shi-Ling and Tiramisu started talking in Chinese to each other; even though it wasn't the most intelligent conversation, seeing they were only four.
"Uh, hello?" Takeru says to the two little Chinese children as we waves his hand in between their faces. "We were gonna have a match. Did you wanna join us?"
"Match?" Tiramisu asked.
"Yeah, a fighting match!" Ayumi said excited.
"You've learned a little bit of martial arts, haven't you?" Takeru asks.
"Yes, I have." Tiramisu replies and slips off his glasses, replacing them on his head. "I'll fight you then."
"Great! An opponent!" Takeru was pumped as he gets into his fighting stance. Tiramisu takes on a similar pose.
"You just wanna watch?" Ayumi asks Shi-Ling, who was sitting on the ground. Shi-Ling just nods, and Ayumi sits down next to her.
The little duel begins and Takeru throws in a few punches. Tiramisu dodges most of them, but the others hit his arm or chest. Suddenly, the little Chinese boy blurts out a few Chinese words and works his body into a special pose. He lunges at his opponent and swings around his straight leg and kicks him right in the jaw. Takeru falls backward, rubbing his face and sniffling.
Tiramisu bows his head. "Gomenasai. I just wanted to test move Father is teaching me."
"It sure works." Takeru plainly says.
Ayumi started to clap. "That was cool. Someone beat my brother."
"Shut up." Takeru snaps. "What about you, Shi-Ling? Wanna fight?"
"You ask a girl to fight you, Takeru?" Ayumi asks in outrage.
"I fight you all the time."
"That's different." Ayumi scouts. She puts on a nicer face for her friend. "But do you train, Shi-Ling?"
"Mother and Father teach me a little." Shi-Ling replies.
"Ah! Zugoy!" Ayumi gasps. "Will you fight me?"
"If you wish." Shi-Ling answers and stands up.
"This will be good practice for me!" Ayumi admits and takes her stance, Shi-Ling follows and actually looked quiet serious and strong for a little girl.
Shampoo opens the back door to see her daughter throwing punches at the Saotome's daughter. "Shi-Ling, stop now."
"Fight was requested, Mother." Shi-Ling says.
"Yeah. I wanted her to fight me. It wasn't her fault she was winning." Ayumi adds.
"That all fine." Shampoo says. "Shi-Ling, We staying in Japan for while."
"Stay?"
"Great Grandmother want Shampoo to take over Neko Hanten. She retiring. We going to stay at restaurant." Shampoo announces. She picks up her daughter and walks back into the dojo.
"Are you still going back to China?" Takeru asks Tiramisu.
"I am not sure." Tiramisu replies in his heavy accent.
Everyone was leaving the get-together, so Mei came into the backyard to pick up her son as well. Takeru and Ayumi waved good-bye to their new friend.
"I hope to see you again soon, Mousse." Akane says as he leaves.
"As well as I." Mousse replies. "We might be back within the year. Mei seems to like it here, so we might stay for a month or two and rent an apartment and see if it's the place for us. Tiramisu seemed to be having fun with your children."
Akane smiles. "Yes, they do like other kids. Well, see you around."
"Boy, that took a while." Ranma sighs as Ryouga and Ukyou finally leave. "Everyone seemed so different."
"You don't know how much you've changed too, Ranma." Akane says.
"What? I'm pretty much the same."
"Sort of." Akane replies.
"Mom! Tiramisu beat Takeru in a fight!" Ayumi comes running into the dojo.
"He did, did he?" Akane asks in a sarcastic surprise.
"Don't say it like it was cool or something!" Takeru tries to defend himself.
"It was cool. He just said some weird words and … POW! Takeru was on his back!" Ayumi replays.
"Mousse is teaching his kid the Fist of the White Swan?" Ranma asks Akane.
"I wouldn't know." Replied She.
"Anyways, it was cool!" Ayumi says. "When is he coming back, I want to see him do it again!"
Tiramisu and his parents wouldn't return to Japan for another ten years. And within that time, Ayumi and Takeru only had Shi-Ling down at the Neko Hanten, and the new baby boy Ukyou brought into the world a year later, and a girl two years later. The boy was named Taichi, and the girl was Kitsune. The whole group was somewhat back together again, though they did have their hands full with the kids.