Together at Last!

Chapter II

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

By wingzeropilot

www.geocities.com/wing_zero_pilot195/ (Harmless Plug of the Day)

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                Hello again.  It's me, wingzeropilot.  I hope you liked the last chapter (granted, it was WAY too short, but it was all I could come up with before writer's block really hit hard), because there's more to come.  Yeah, this is the second chapter of the story.  And don't think that I'm going to give away the storyline in the author's note at the beginning (like I have a bit of a habit of doing), because I'm not!  So there!

                Well, OK, if you're going to beg…   This part continues right where I left off in the previous chapter.  But that's as much as I'll let you know for now!

                Anywho, on with the story, ne?

                By the way, I STILL DON'T OWN RANMA ½.  If you think I do, smack your head against something hard and pointy.  There, that'll learn you, baka!

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Part II: Breaking Points and Spatulas

                Walking back to the party, Ranma and Akane discussed how exactly they were going to tell everyone.  Reaching an impasse (and not finding any ways possible to talk to everyone and tell them about what had happened without very violent responses from certain members of the partygoers), Ranma came up with the idea of simply holding hands back to the dojo.

                A crowd of people had gathered outside the Tendo residence, waiting for some sign of Ranma or Akane.  The last they had seen of either of them was Akane running off, sobbing, while Ranma ran after her.  None of the partygoers had any idea what was going on, and at least one was making hopeful speculations.

                "I'm sure they're all right, Tendo," Genma Saotome offered, patting his bawling friend on the shoulder.  "I bet Ranma and Akane have made up by now, and then some!"  A giant smile occupied the lower half of Genma's face.

                Partly reassured by Genma's take on what was going on, Soun stopped sobbing for a little while.

                A little while.

                "Saotome, you're such a good friend!" Soun cried out, taking his friend in a bear hug, still sobbing.  Regaining his composure as much as he could (but still with light streams of tears coming down his face), Soun stood up straight, and was the first to see Ranma and Akane walking back to the party.

                One can guess his reaction to seeing them holding hands.  And, of course, the reactions of Genma, who had also spied the two walking back.  Soun started bawling with happiness, while Genma let out a huge, "WAY TO GO, BOY!!!"  That was enough to get the attention of the rest of the partygoers.

                Akane, upon seeing the whole crowd watching them come back, only held Ranma's hand tighter, making sure he didn't weasel his way out of this one somehow (and also to keep the two from getting broken up by Shampoo, Ukyo, or any one of a hundred of the partygoers who opposed the two being romantically involved).

                "Hey, Akane?"

                "Yes, Ranma?"  Akane looked up over to her fiancée, whose face was contorted with pain.

                "Could you, um, loosen your grip a bit?"

                Ryoga, as directionally-challenged as ever, managed to find his way to the Tendo kitchen, rather than outside as he had hoped.

                "Dammit."  Akane had run off, crying, and Ranma had given chase.  Ryoga would have, too, but…

                But I got lost again.  Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!  Akane's probably bawling her eyes out, and Ranma's probably making it worse, the cold-hearted son of a—

                He continued wandering, making it to Genma and Ranma's room, the bathroom, and back to the kitchen again, until he finally found himself outside.  But, of course, there was already a crowd between him and seeing Akane and Ranma walking back.  Ryoga slowly made his way through the crowd, making sure not to shove anyone over too hard (but still not being very gentle about it).

                Everyone was going outside to look at the two lovebirds, while Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi were still fighting.

                "It your fault that happen, stupid spatula girl!" Shampoo accused Ukyo.  Her huge bonbories were held in a fighting stance, ready for the next attack from either girl.  She smiled wickedly.  "Since you take away cure to curse, Ranma hate you both now."

                "Fat chance, sugar," Ukyo spat back.  "Like he'd go for some unintelligible hussy like you!"

                Kodachi, of course, laughed maniacally (as she always does).  "Both of you invalid little girls will be so heartbroken when Ranma-darling confesses his undying love for me!"  More insane laughter.

                Each girl stood as a point in a triangle, making sure not to turn a back to either of their opponents.  And stood, and stood, and stood.  Not a single one made a move, but instead just continued their bickering, just like in the hot springs race (A/N: season 3, episode 44, "Fight!  The Anything-Goes Obstacle Course Race").  Until, of course, they first heard about a mutual fiancée of theirs…

                "Hey, Ranma and Akane made up!  They're walking back holding hands!" one of the partygoers shouted out to those still in the dojo.  At the end of that shout, each of the three girls stopped moving altogether.  Then, after a short pause, they all dropped their weapons and fell to their knees.

                "Ranma…"  (Shampoo)

                "…and Akane…"  (Ukyo)

                "…holding hands?"  (Kodachi)

                Each girl's repeating of the parts of that sentence was quiet, almost a whisper.  Hoping against hope, each ran outside to make sure they weren't having a nightmare.

                Shampoo, the faster of the three, was first to see the two walking back, still a block away.  She was soon joined by Ukyo, and then Kodachi.

                All of them saw, with tears in their eyes, the two walking back, hand-in-hand.

                "Ran-chan…"

                "Airen…"

                "Ranma-darling…"

                Upon seeing the three of them in the crowd, Ranma and Akane's smiles disappeared, replaced with worry and concern.  Ranma let Akane's hand go and whispered a quick, "I'll be right back.  Trust me."  The crowd seemed to sense what was going on with the three, and made sure to keep their distance (since none of the three were known for their peaceful ways of coping with things like this).

                He ran to where the three were standing, or, rather, tried to.  By the time he reached that spot, all three had run off.

                "Aw, man.  I was afraid this was gonna happen…" Ranma said, as Akane walked up to him.  He turned around to face her.  "They ran off without letting me say anything to them…"

                "I saw, Ranma.  We'll have to go talk to them sometime soon."  Understanding, something Ranma hadn't seen very often in Akane's eyes before, was present in her face.

                "Yeah, but I wouldn't do it too soon.  The last thing I need is another trip to the hospital…"

                "Yeah, you're probably right, Ranma."  Akane's face brightened again.  Well, I do hope they'll be OK, but Ranma's evening shouldn't be spoiled by something like this.  Not in a long shot.  "C'mon, you've still got candles on your cake to blow out," she said, taking his hand and starting back towards the dojo.

                Ryoga had finally made it through the crowd when Akane walked over, said something to Ranma, and took his hand in hers.  Ryoga couldn't believe what he had just seen.

                Akane…no…

                Pain tore through his glass heart, shattering it into so many fragments.  To see Akane smile like that, and then take Ranma's hand…  She might as well have stabbed him in some semi-vital organ and left him to bleed to death on the street…

                The pain, although it didn't lessen or go away in the least, was soon overridden with anger.  Ryoga's anger toward himself.  The worst enemy to a person with a broken heart is not always the person who broke that heart.  It is usually the person whose heart was broken.

                I should have been expecting this from the start.  I should have taken steps to keep from getting hurt like this.  I should have killed Ranma when I had the chance.  I should have… I should have…

                I should have told Akane how I felt… Maybe that would have been my hand she was taking if I had…

                All the self-loathing, sadness, and disappointment mounted up in Ryoga in those moments was almost more than all the despair he had felt in his life summed up together.  With tears in his eyes, he turned around and ran, not looking back.

                The party had ended fairly well, shortly after Ryoga ran off.  Some people never noticed that four members of the party were missing, especially in Ryoga's case, as he didn't make such a public show.  Ranma and Akane, however, did notice Ryoga's sudden disappearance.

                "I wonder where Ryoga ran off to," Akane wondered as the Tendos and Ranma cleaned up the aftermath of the party.

                "Probably got lost again," Ranma answered.  Either that, or he saw me and Akane holding hands.  Poor guy.  I bet he ran away after that.  He's probably in Kyoto by now.

                Ryoga ran.  And ran and ran and ran.

                No matter how fast you are, no matter if you are one of the best martial artists living, you can't outrun a broken heart.  Especially if you're unable to keep track of whether you're running in circles or not.

                After finally running outside of Nerima's city limits and into a nearby forest, Ryoga let loose a few Shi Shi Hokodans, tearing the forest to pieces.  But, no matter how much he vented his depression, it still haunted him.

                His own words even came back to mock him.  In the mists of Ryugenzawa, he'd told Ranma that, no matter who Akane would choose, he'd always be there, even if it had to be as P-Chan for the rest of his life.  After what had just happened, the idea had lost all of its luster.  He couldn't bear the thought of having to always be around Ranma and Akane as their love grew.  Seeing the hands held together was bad enough.  How much would it hurt if he had to watch them kiss, or do more than that…?

                Three forests and two mountains later, he started running again.  He ran and ran, not having any idea where his steps were taking him.

                He didn't care.  The more he exhausted himself, the sooner he could go to sleep, where broken hearts and anger towards oneself doesn't hurt so much…

                Ukyo ran straight to her restaurant.  She flung open the door, almost enough to break it, but she knew better than to let her anger vent so much she trashed her livelihood.  That would be pointless.  Just like my love for Ranma… The last thing I need now is to deal with a broken heart AND pay for a new door… I've just got to deal with this, by myself.  By myself, using my ways of coping…

                Naturally, she started up the okonomiyaki grill and started making okonomiyaki.  After retrieving her curtain from the back room, hanging it up, and serving a few customers, she felt a little bit better.  But not as much as she had hoped.

                It was getting late.  After staying open for three hours longer than usual, Ukyo shut down the restaurant and cleaned up the various messes she accidentally caused while her mind had been wandering.

                She had just thrown the dirty dishwater out the back door when she saw the little, shivering black piglet at her back door.  I know that pig…

                "C'mere, P-Chan.  You look like hell," Ukyo said to the little pig.  She wasn't surprised when it refused to come to her.  "C'mon, you jackass pig.  You look like crap!  Where have you been staying all night, a dumpster?  C'mon, you need some food and a warm place to stay tonight."

                The pig still refused to budge.

                "Guess you've been put out, too, huh?  Lemme guess, Ranma and Akane?" Ukyo asked, not caring if pigs couldn't understand what humans said.  She walked over to P-Chan and sat down next to him.  "I tell you what, I probably should have known this was coming.  I loved Ranma for so long and so hard that I never even thought that he might have feelings for her."  She slammed her fist into the ground.  "I should've never fallen so hard for him.  Dammit…"  Her tearful self-pity evaporated when P-Chan walked closer to her and sat next to her, looking up to her with those adorable eyes.

                "Guess you think I should stop whining, too, huh?   Dammit, you're so cute I can't keep being angry with myself."  Ukyo smiled.  "C'mon, I'll let you stay the night.  Tomorrow I'll take you back to Akane, OK?"

                For some reason, P-Chan didn't look as happy as he usually did when Akane's name was mentioned.  Hmm… Maybe this pig knows more about what's going on than it seems…

                Getting up, she smiled sadly at the piglet.  "C'mon, P-Chan.  Let's get some sleep."

                Little did Ryoga know that one of the things Ukyo had in store for him was a nice, hot bath.

                "All right, then, P-Chan.  Let's get you all washed off so Akane doesn't think I tried to use you as okonomiyaki toppings," Ukyo said to the cursed little piglet.

                P-Chan did not like that idea.

                After chasing him around the apartment above her restaurant for an hour and stopping him with a well-aimed series of okonomiyaki throwing-spatulas, Ukyo was plenty frustrated with P-Chan.

                "OK, you stubborn jackass.  Come to Aunt Ukyo," she said, picking him up by his bandana collar.  She carried him into the bathroom, locked the door so he couldn't escape again, and started undressing.

                It took a little while before Ukyo noticed that P-Chan was avoiding looking at her as much as possible.  He was even blushing, too, even though she still had her pants and a bra on.

                "P-Chan, you sure do have a lot of modesty for a little piece of pork," Ukyo said as she threw him into the tub.  "You go ahead and get all washed up now.  Any pig who can understand humans as well as you probably knows how to give yourself a bath."

                When Ryoga's head surfaced through the water, Ukyo couldn't stop herself from being surprised.

                "Ry—Ryoga?"

                Blushing furiously, he made sure to keep his gaze away from Ukyo.  "Sorry, Ukyo.  Guess now you know…"  He prepared himself for an all-out beating, screams, or threats to kill.

                "Well, duh, you jackass."  Ryoga face-faulted.  That was NOT the reaction he was expecting.

                "Uh, Ukyo, what do you mean, 'duh'?" Ryoga asked as soon as he was capable of doing so.

                "C'mon, you think Ranma's the only one who knew?  I saw you transform in that haunted cave we all went to.  I think Akane's the only one who doesn't know…"

                Mentioning Akane's name while Ryoga was right there probably wasn't the best of ideas.  He had been holding onto the edge of the ceramic bathtub.  Now there was powder falling from his hands and onto the floor.

                "Guess you got hurt pretty bad, too, huh," Ukyo said.  Seeing the pain in his eyes was something she could do for only so long.  Turning away from him, she continued.  "I know how you feel."

                "…"

                "Hey, Ryoga.  I've got a question for you."  Her voice was sad, but not so much that Ryoga thought she was going to break down and cry or anything.  He probably wouldn't be able to keep himself together if she started crying.

                "Yeah…?"  His voice was one of the bleakest things Ukyo had ever heard.

                "Do you have a place to stay right now?"

                "Hn.  Even if I wanted to go home, I don't think I could find it right now.  I might have had a chance of finding it before, but now…"

                "Well, why don't you stay here for a while?  I could use a little help around the restaurant."  She turned back around, a small smile on her face.  The two had proven themselves a capable pair while they fought against the demons in that haunted cave.  And I could really use a friend right now, since I don't think I can talk to my closest one for a while yet.

                Ryoga thought it over for a little while.

                "Sure, why not?" he answered, a small smile starting on his face, as well.

                Ukyo set up a spare futon in the living room of her apartment for Ryoga.  Meanwhile, he found himself in the basement of the restaurant as he looked for Ukyo.

                "Hey, Ryoga, you bed's all set up!"  No answer.  "Hey, Ryoga!  You jackass…"  Sighing heavily, she started searching the apartment for him.

                The finally met back up in the back room of the restaurant.

                "Oh, hey, Ukyo.  Sorry.  Got lost again," Ryoga said, scratching the back of his head.

                "Don't worry about it, sugar.  C'mon, I'll lead you back," she said, grabbing his hand and leading him back herself.

                That night, their thoughts tormented them, keeping them from sleeping.

                C'mon, Ryoga.  Get over it, already!  You knew she was going to do this one day or another!  Kami, you're so stupid!  Ryoga's thoughts stabbed at his heart as he thought of Akane.  Visions of her taking Ranma's hand, smiling the way she did…

                Smiling like someone who is truly happy!  Yeah, happy, you dumbass!  Guess that's a new word in your vocabulary, isn't it?

                Dear God, you're being vicious to yourself tonight!  Listen to yourself!  If you're that unhappy, just kill yourself and get it over with!

                No, that's a coward's way out.

                And what are you, Ryoga Hibiki?  Some brave, intrepid soul you are!  You never even told Akane how you felt!  You ARE a coward!

                Ryoga considered this for a while, and soon gave in.  I am a coward…

                Another memory from that night came to him.

                "Dammit, you're so cute I can't keep being angry with myself."  Ukyo's words from the alley.  Akane had named his pig form "P-Chan", and explained to everyone that it meant "Pig-Cute".  Now, Ukyo was the one calling him cute.

                Oh, right, Hibiki.  Like she could fall for you.  You're a pig, for God's sake!  For all you know, she'll mistake you for the pork she's supposed to put on her okonomiyaki!  Besides, even if she does fall for you, you're in love with Akane!

                Akane, who is in love with Ranma…

                Bad train of thought, Hibiki.  You should know better than that by now.  Just remember, Akane's the only one who ever cared for you while you were a pig, right?

                Well, Ukyo DID say that you were cute while you were P-Chan.  Maybe Akane's not the only one who could accept your curse.  Besides, Ukyo knows you turn into a pig, and couldn't care less!

                Yeah, but…

                Ryoga's internal war with himself continued until he just couldn't think anymore, he was so exhausted.

                Don't even think about it, girl.  He's RYOGA.  R-Y-O-G-A  H-I-B-I-K-I.  He isn't Ranma.  IS NOT RANMA!  Not your best friend, and certainly not your fiancée!

                Ukyo was having an internal struggle, too.  She knew that the two of them were a good team together, but the only proof of that was when they were fighting demons in a haunted cave.  The two of them didn't have much else in common, except for falling for someone who couldn't return their affections.

                It's something you have in common!  C'mon, it isn't like Ranma's going to beat the crap out of Ryoga for you falling for him, now is it?

                No, Ranma won't do that.  He'll probably just congratulate him, like he did in the cave, when he thought we were a couple.

                More despair and loneliness haunted Ukyo, until she just plain couldn't think anymore.  She sank into a blissful unconsciousness.

~The Day After (The Party) ~

                Dammit.  Ryoga, you jackass!  Ukyo thought, irritated.  Honestly.  I sent him to get a washrag from the back room, and he's gotten himself lost again!  What only frustrated her more was the fact that the back room and the main part of the restaurant were connected by one mere doorway.

                As much as that day's events had helped, Ukyo was still not feeling any better about what had happened the previous night.  A lot of things had happened so far that day that would have usually made her have a big smile, but they could only make the sides of her mouth turn up the slightest bit.

                First of all, she had a very healthy flow of customers.  Many were feeling depressed, as she was, that Ranma and Akane had gotten together.  Watching their faces brighten up as they bit into a delicious okonomiyaki would normally have gotten Ukyo out of whatever unhappiness plagued her.

                On top of all the happiness she was giving to her customers, one of her old rivals, the Crepe King, had come in and ordered some food.  Apparently, business was not nearly as good as it used to be for him.  Having a store full of happy, bustling customers while the Crepe King (who had almost left her in the dust before) sat there lamenting over his dead business would have made Ukyo jump for joy, but she just couldn't find the energy to so much as laugh.

                Maybe some other day, I'll laugh about this.  For now, I guess a picture will have to do, Ukyo thought as she snapped a few shots of the gloomy Crepe King from the back room.  Hearing a bit of rustling behind her, she quickly turned, her battle spatula at the ready.

                "Oh, hey, Ukyo.  Sorry, but I think I got lost again…" Ryoga said, leaning heavily on a walking stick.  He was a mess.  His hair was all messed up, and his clothes were all torn and dirty.

                "Where the hell were you?" Ukyo sighed, sweatdropping.

                "Well, I went to find that washrag, but ended up in downtown Tokyo, I think…  Sorry, Ukyo.  I've just got a lot on my mind right now."  His face became bleak once again.  Ukyo could only assume he meant thinking about Akane and Ranma.

                Knowing she'd have to be the strong one this time, she smiled at him.  "Don't worry about it, sugar," she said, taking his hand again.  "I'll lead you back."

                Blushing, Ryoga smiled back.  "Thanks, Ukyo."

                "Hey, Ryoga."

                "Eh?"

                "Call me Ucchan."