Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, secondly to Viz Communications, Fuji, Kitty, and Shogakukan. I'm just borrowing the characters for this fic, which is certainly not making any sort of profit.
You came in with the breezeOn Sunday morning
You sure have changed since yesterday
Without any warning
I thought I knew you
I thought I knew you
I thought I knew you well…so well…
~No Doubt, "Sunday Morning"
The following afternoon was bright and sunny, with a deep blue sky dotted with the occasional puffy white cloud. A nearly perfect day; with the birds singing cheerfully as a pleasant breeze ruffled through the tree leaves, making them rustle in harmony.
Ranma sat cross-legged on one of the rocks lining the koi pond in the backyard as the later hours began to set in, a petulant scowl settled firmly on his features.
"Stupid Nabiki," he muttered under his breath, acutely aware of how thin his wallet felt in his pocket. The middle Tendo sister had insisted upon a larger sum than Ranma felt was fair, but he wasn't really in much of a position to argue. Though by paying her off, he could at least rest assured that there were no other threats to Ryoga's amnesia except for natural recovery. Akane had rendered herself pretty much unable—after being exposed to her temper those few times, the Lost Boy had made it a point to avoid being alone with her. Shampoo or Mousse might try something, but Ranma figured they would both find Ryoga's lack of memory more advantageous than not. And besides that, Ranma could easily avoid any of them having any effect whatsoever—all he had to do was keep them away.
Or maybe you should just stop this whole thing and tell him the truth before something goes completely wrong, suggested a little voice in the back of Ranma's head.
The pigtailed boy's scowl deepened. He was beginning to worry over how long he could keep this up. Every moment he prolonged this was a growing risk in and of itself, Ryoga could get his memory back any time now…
But if Ranma told everything now, things would go back to normal and Ryoga would hate him again, more than he had before even, maybe. If only he could find some way to do it without ruining it all, maybe if he explained to Ryoga first why he hadn't told him the complete truth…
But he needed some time to figure out how.
One more day, Ranma decided. Just one more day. He'd figure something out by then, and then he'd deal with this. Though in the meantime, he'd try to keep the others away, just in case.
Which should really be no problem at all, since the Lost Boy had been sticking pretty close to him lately anyway. After all, he thought that…
Then Ranma noticed something rather important.
Ryoga wasn't out here with him now.
With a start, Ranma quickly glanced around the yard. The bandana'd boy had been over by the porch just a moment ago, hadn't he?
Don't tell me the idiot managed to wander off, Ranma thought as he jumped off his rock. I was just startin' to think he'd forgotten his crazy sense of direction with everything else-
Ranma's thoughts were cut off by the sound of someone talking coming from around the corner of the house. And it sounded like Akane…
Ranma started across the yard.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Hello, Ryoga," piped a bright, feminine voice.
Ryoga turned around warily to look up at the youngest Tendo daughter from his spot on the porch. "Uh, hi, Akane," he replied nervously. He still wasn't quite sure what to make of the girl. She'd seemed so nice at first, but then she'd gotten so short-tempered and violent. All in all, she'd come across as someone Ryoga thought he should probably avoid until he had her figured out better.
Akane smiled at him cheerfully. "Would you come with me? I want to talk to you about something."
Ryoga swallowed hard. "O-oh," he replied, casting an anxious glance over his shoulder. Ranma was sitting by the pond, seemingly oblivious as to what was going on. No help there. He turned back to Akane. At least she looked like she was in a good mood this time.
"Ok," he said, a little reluctantly. He followed her as she led him around the corner of the house. A place that seemed as though it would be safely out of anyone's earshot, Ryoga noticed as he watched a small bird take flight from the wooden feeder standing there. He put a hand behind his head to tug at the knot on his bandana. "So, uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, actually, I wanted to apologize," Akane told him.
Ryoga blinked. "Apologize?"
Akane nodded. "I was thinking, and I realized that I haven't been very friendly towards you lately." She tipped her head to one side. "I know you still don't remember, but we were friends too, Ryoga."
The Lost Boy's expression was sliding rapidly towards confusion. "R-really? I mean, Ranma told me that-"
"Ranma's not always…completely honest," Akane interrupted him. "Don't get me wrong," she continued quickly. "You've, uh, been…friends with him for a long time and all, but he does have this tendency to stretch the truth sometimes."
Ryoga frowned. "Are you saying he's a liar?"
"No, no," Akane said, becoming somewhat flustered. "He's usually honest…well, sort of, anyway. Not that he hasn't lied before, because he has. But it's not like he lies all the time. It's just that he's kind of…self-serving."
"Self-serving?" Ryoga echoed. He looked at her uncertainly. "What exactly do you mean?"
Akane's expression became serious. "Well…if Ranma can find a way to turn a situation to his advantage, he does it. But sometimes he forgets that there are other people involved, you know?"
Ryoga glanced at the ground, feeling unsettled. He didn't like what he was hearing much, but Akane didn't have any reason to lie to him, did she? But then again, if what she said was true, what reason would Ranma have to lie to him?
"Turn a situation to his advantage. That's not really farfetched though, is it?" Ryoga asked carefully. "I mean, he is a martial artist and all. And he doesn't exactly have it easy…"
"Huh?" Akane said, her voice high with surprise. She still wasn't used to hearing Ryoga defend him.
The bandana'd boy shrugged. "You know…I mean, no offense or anything, but it's hard being engaged at our age, right?"
Akane blinked. "Um, sure, I guess, but I don't think you're getting my point. He doesn't always have to do things the way he does them, especially when people might get hurt."
"But there's all those other girls he's supposed to marry, too," Ryoga said. "Doesn't that make it kind of hard for someone not to end up hurt? Maybe he doesn't feel like he really has a choice. And he's trying to deal with his curse at the same time."
No choice? Akane thought to herself. If you only knew… She looked at the Lost Boy again, musing. Poor Ryoga, he didn't have a clue.
"But Ryoga, Ranma manages to even use his curse to his advantage sometimes," she explained. "He can be really shameless about it."
"Huh. Even so, you can hardly blame him there," Ryoga said. "It's not like having a curse that turns you into a girl every time you get wet can be easy or anything. I know it sure isn't easy having one that turns you into a little pig."
Akane started to reply, but stopped suddenly, her eyes growing wide. "Wh-what did you say?"
Ryoga glanced at her innocently. "Oh…you didn't know about that?"
"Know about what?" Akane said slowly.
"The curse. I guess I was in China…"
* * * * * * * * * *
Ukyo Kuonji slid the restaurant door shut behind her with a decisive snap.
Another night spent tossing and turning over the situation with Ryoga's amnesia. Another night debating whether to let Ranma have his way or do what seemed right. Another night spent practically without sleep.
At least she'd come to a decision.
Whatever was going on, Ukyo didn't like it. She didn't like it that Ranma had been lying. She didn't like it that poor Ryoga was being left in the dark while no one did anything about it.
And she didn't like losing her damn sleep.
So unless Ranma had some really good explanations up his sleeve, she was going to set things straight with Ryoga.
Right now.
* * * * * * * * * *
Shampoo ran along the top of the chain link fence lining the sidewalk, an excited smile painted on her face. In her hand, she clutched the vial that would, one way or another, get her a date with Ranma.
Or more. That would be fine, too.
Shampoo increased her pace. She could hardly wait…
* * * * * * * * * *
From the roof of the Cat Café, Mousse watched Shampoo take off down the street, headed towards the Tendo Dojo.
Even though he didn't have to worry about Saotome anymore, he still wanted to see what would happen. Besides, it would look strange if he didn't tag along after her. He leapt down from the roof, nearly fell when his foot landed on an abandoned soda can he hadn't seen, then started to follow.
"Hold it!" shouted a grating voice from behind him. Before he could even turn around, he was smacked over the head with something hard.
From his new seat on the ground, Mousse glared up at Cologne, rubbing the bump made by her staff.
"What'd you do that for, you Old Ghoul?"
Cologne shot him a withering look from her perch. "Don't get mouthy with me, Mr. Part-time. And don't even think about chasing after Shampoo when she's going to see Son-in-Law."
Mousse scowled at her. "What's it to you?"
"You are not going to interfere," Cologne said firmly.
Mousse stood up with as much dignity as he could muster. "Well," he said smugly. "It's too late."
The old Amazon frowned at him. "And just what do you mean by that?"
Mousse tucked his hands in the sleeves of his robe. "Hmm. It will be awfully hard to convince Ranma of anything, considering the powder Shampoo took is useless."
Cologne's eyes narrowed. "Mousse, what have you been up to?"
"I switched the vial with one I found in the kitchen. So the one Shampoo has is full of harmless spice. Guess that ruins your little plan, doesn't it?"
"You fool!" Cologne shouted. "Do you realize what you've done? The vial Shampoo had was full of flour, nothing more! By switching the vials, you've made her take the potion instead!"
Mousse felt himself go slack. "Wh-what?"
"You bumbling idiot," Cologne groaned. "If any of that powder gets on Ryoga, he'll regain his memory! And if Son-in-Law has not yet…oooh, go after her, you fool! There's more than a date at stake here!"
"Uh…right!" Mousse managed, breaking into a run as Cologne followed after on her staff. If Ryoga regained his memory, and Ranma got mad at Shampoo for it, and Shampoo knew that he'd switched the vials …
Mousse ran faster.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ranma bounded over to where Ryoga and Akane were standing, hoping that disaster hadn't struck yet. The moment he'd overheard the word "curse", he'd known there was about to be trouble. Ranma prepared himself to…interrupt, cover Akane's ears, clap his hand over Ryoga's mouth, something, anything…
Even from a couple yards away, he felt the anger in Akane's aura skyrocket.
Too late.
Ranma winced at the resounding slap. Chances were his sympathy would be turning to empathy right quick; he figured Akane had one saved for him.
"What was that for?" Ryoga asked bewilderedly. The blow had knocked him to the ground. He stared up at Akane, his eyes somehow filled with confusion, anger, and hurt all at the same time.
"You…" she sputtered, her fists clenching reflexively as she stepped forward.
"Akane, don't," Ranma warned, leaping between her and the boy on the ground and spreading his arms defensively. "He doesn't remember."
Akane's expression darkened further. "You knew, didn't you," she said. "You knew all along, you jerk!" She raised her hand.
"Wait! It's not what you think," Ranma said hurriedly. He ducked as she swung at him. "Quit it! Akane, you can beat me up later all you want, and you can beat Ryoga up too, but you can't go hitting him when he don't even understand why!"
"Why should I listen to you?" Akane shrieked. She aimed a vicious kick at his head.
Ranma ducked again. "Because, he don't even know why you're doing it, and in case you forgot, he landed headfirst on a bunch of rocks just a week ago!"
Akane faltered slightly. Ranma was right. If she really let it loose on Ryoga now, it could, in a worst-case scenario, kill him. She was angry, but she certainly wasn't that angry.
The brief halt in her fury allowed the second pressing emotion to surface.
Ryoga had deceived her. And Ranma had deceived her.
It hurt.
Akane dropped out of her stance. "F-fine," she said.
Ranma relaxed a little, more out of surprise than anything. Akane was listening to reason. It was almost amazing…
"I'll just settle for hitting you!" she shouted. Her fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying into a newly-standing Ryoga, who immediately found himself back on the ground.
"Ow," Ranma muttered. He lifted his head and watched Akane run off, obviously in tears, then shifted himself off of the other young man.
"Are you alright?" Ranma asked, clambering to his feet. Ryoga nodded mutely, looking completely lost as he knelt in the grass. He appeared almost exactly as he had so many days before after he'd woken up—unhappy and confused, his eyes no longer trusting but nervous and uncertain.
"What's going on?" he asked, his voice small.
Ranma sighed. Apparently, he'd have to do this right now instead of tomorrow. So much for the best-laid plans.
"I can explain," the blue-eyed martial-artist said, unable to keep all despondence from his voice. He'd have to wing it as best as he could…
But of course, he didn't get the chance.
"Airen!"