Suki da
Chapter Four: It's the little things that make it all ok
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Disclaimer: Er...yeah. Don't own anything except Ceres who owns Eriol who owns.....err....stuff.
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"So we went to the doctor's just before we came here and found out the sex," Ranma looked at Ryouga, "Do you want to know?"
"Er..."
"It'd be easier to buy stuff for it," Ceres pointed out.
"And easier for you to chose a name."
"Nani?" Ranma smiled.
"Akane though it would be good for you to choose the name of your baby."
"How are things with Akane?" Ceres asked, veering away from the conversation a bit. Ranma grinned.
"I've been workin' full time at Uuchan's to pay for an apartment. Akane can't get her father to accept me again so we're moving in together. She's been working almost non-stop at another Dojo as a teacher."
"Ooo...I bet Tendo-san is pissed," Ryouga said. Ranma's grin widened.
"He doesn't know about the moving in part. He thinks that Akane is heartbroken about this whole thing and that's why she's working so much, he doesn't know she's working' at a dojo. I'm thinkin' that after the baby's born I might ask Akane to elope. We were gonna move in at that time anyway so..." she let the sentence hang, "We've been looking at apartments in another part of Tokyo. We both wanna get away from Nerima..." Ceres looked at Shampoo the entire time. The Amazon's eyes were sad, though at the same time...it appeared as if she understood that she had lost Ranma to Akane. Mousse put a hand on her shoulder and for once she didn't shrug it off. Ceres smiled, her friend was only partially heartbroken.
"What about all your other fiancees?" Okashi asked.
"It was Uuchan's idea to move out. And Shampoo...." Shampoo rose serene eyes to her former airen.
"Shampoo understand. Airen..." she smiled, "Ranma and Akane will be happy. Shampoo want Ranma to be happy," she stood up, "Shampoo have deliveries," she left.
"She's taking this surprisingly well Mu tzu," Ceres's comment held a silent question.
"I was the one who comforted her that night you told us that Ranma was pregnant. I just wanted to wait before she was clear on her feelings for Ranma before I progressed things."
"Then I'm very happy for you Mousse."
"Arigato," the others had watched the conversation, not understanding a word of it, now they nodded, glad that whatever it was ending ok.
"She's heartbroken huh?" Kuduo asked, "She gonna be ok?"
"Yeah," Ceres said as Mousse got up to follow Shampoo, "Mousse-kun going to take care of her."
"So back to the name," Ryouga coughed a little on the bite of Ramen he had taken, "It would be easier to pick once you know the sex. So do you wanna know?" still coughing, he nodded.
"It's a girl," Ryouga's coughs stopped abruptly, he had stopped breathing. Okashi hit his shoulder blades and he sucked in a breath.
"A girl? Just...just a girl right? No curses?" the group became silent. What if the Jusenkyo curse of Girl and Pig had passed through to their child?"
"I don't think you'd be able to tell at this point," Ceres pointed out, "But there's ro reason why it should so don't worry about it," she gave her cousin a playful shove, "Worry about what you're going to call the poor girl."
"And if you go to Happosai for help I'll kill you," Ranma warned. The group laughed, thinking of poor Pantyhose Tarou.
"Kami-sama that's be horrible. She'd wind up with a name like...Kikyo Brastrap," the group laughed again.
"Boxershorts Ayeka."
"How horrible!" a gentle touch on Ceres's shoulder made her look up into Eriol's smiling face.
"Is this a private gathering or can anyone come?"
"Sit down Eriol, we're making Ryouga choose a name for his daughter."
"A girl! Congratulations Ryouga-san! That's great! What are you going to name it?"
"I..I don't know yet," the boy was blushing and tracing patterns on the table top infront of him. I wanted Miaka to be the name of my first daughter...demo...I wanted that for Okashi's first daughter too. So I can't name her that... "What would you name your daughter Rei-chan?" Ceres pointed to herself with a questioning look, "Yes you."
"I would name her Nadeshiko after my mother. A tribute to her memory," Ryouga, Kuduo, Eriol, and Ranma bowed their heads to show respect for Ceres's dead mother.
"What happened to her?" unlike the others, Okashi did not know the story of Ceres's mom.
"She and my father died saving Kuduo from a car."
"Oh...gomen..."
"Don't be sorry. It's not something I usually tell people outright."
"I can't name my daughter after Aunt Shiko."
"Obviously."
"Miyako then. After my mother."
"I like it," Ranma said, placing her hands on her stomach, "Miyako Hibiki...." Ryouga shook his head, "Nani?"
"Miyako Saotome...in case my mother runs into her. We wouldn't want them confused would we?"
"Miyako Saotome...it's nice..." Ranma raised her glass, "To Miyako Saotome then."
"To Miyako...." the group murmured. Then Ryouga stood up.
"I have another toast to make if I may...but first...Ceres and Eriol have news," Ceres looked up at her cousin. Of all the times to put her on the spot! She was going to kill him!! Eriol chuckled helplessly as he took Ceres by the hand and stood up as well.
"About two months ago I asked Ceres the hardest question I would ever ask her. I knew that if I received the wrong answer I would die inside. My heart would just crumble into a thousand shards. That night, amidst the large crowd and loud techno music, I asked Ceres to become my bride."
"And I accepted," Ceres added. The group was silent for a moment before smothering the pair in a many armed hug. Ceres felt suddenly trapped as the entire group of people fell over with a smattering crash.
"My big cousin!!"
"Eriol and Ceres!!"
"I can't believe it!"
"You're dead when I get out of here Ryouga!"
"Suki da Ceres..."
"Don't think that will save you!" Suddenly Ceres found herself face to face with Eriol.
"Eri-kun...I changed my mind. I wanna get married in April, not May...Is that ok?"
"Anything Rei-chan. Anything," they drew together and kissed, while the others smothered them with hugs that bordered on indecent.
"To Eriol and Ceres!" came the shout, not from the pigpile, but from Mousse who had watched the entire thing with Shampoo.
"Eriol and Ceres!" came the answering shout.
"And Miyako!" Okashi cried.
"Miyako!" Meanwhile Eriol and Ceres where still locked in a passionate embrace, totally unaware of their surroundings.
~*~*~*~*~
"Hey Rei-chan?" Ryouga asked that night as he, Ceres and Kuduo were in their respective beds.
"Hai?"
"Was your wedding planned for May?"
"Hai."
"Why'd you change it?" Ceres heard Kuduo get up on his elbow to listen.
"Ranma's due in May. I don't want to take away from that."
"Oh," Ceres sighed.
"We've grown up so much from the little kids we used to be...what four, five years ago?"
"Five," Kuduo told her.
"Look at us. Ranma having a baby and getting married. Shampoo and Ukyo giving up on him. Look at how mature we've all become."
"Don't forget about you," Ryouga said, "Five years ago you wouldn't let Eriol anywhere near you, let alone kiss you that way. And that pigpile we all did on you guys? Five years ago you would've destroyed us."
"Look at you, you don't freak out at the sight of naked females anymore."
"I do a little bit. That night at the club you kept flashing your underwear at us and I kept getting nosebleeds."
"Oh...ok so you haven't changed..."
"Hey!"
"Kuduo's changed too."
"I have?"
"No longer the squirt you once were. With a serious girlfriend...bet you're gonna marry Emi-chan someday."
"I–I–I–"
"Don't be like that Little Brother. Emiko's a great girl to be putting up with a Hibiki. Not many can keep up."
"Not many are able to find them once they get lost either..." Ceres found herself on the receiving end of two thrown pillows, "Ha ha! More pillows for my head to use!" there was the rustle of blankets and suddenly she was pounced on, "Gak! Kuduo! Geoff!!"
"Ceres is squishy..."
"Get off me! I'm not a chair!"
"Iie!"
"Hai!"
"Iie!"
"HAI!"
"IIE!"
"Ryouga get your brother off of me!!"
"No way. You handle it."
"RYOUGA!!!"
"So Ceres have you and Eriol made any perforations for the wedding? Six months isn't a lot of time."
"Don't change the subject!!"
"Answer and I'll get him off of you."
"You all hate me don't you?"
"Answer please," a muffled sigh came from Ceres.
"Well...things being the way that they are, it's not going to be big... and...I wanted you to give me away...demo..."
"But nothing, you know I would."
"I know. But you're Eriol's best friend. The two of you have been friends since middle school. And he wanted you as his best man. I caved because I want Okashi as my Matron of Honor and you two would look so kawaii walking down the aisle together."
"So who's going to walk you down the aisle then?"
"Well...I have two people I'd like to ask."
"Yeah?"
"Well your father obviously. He did after all take the place of my father when he died, so it only seems right."
"Good luck finding him."
"Exactly my point. My fire reading abilities only go so far, since I'm only half Hibiki. I've been trying but I think that because I've been so worried about you that I haven't be able to concentrate on him. But since you seem to be over your depression I'll try again."
"Who was the other choice?"
"Do you promise not to shout and make a fuss?"
"Hai."
"Promise not to get mad?"
"Hai," Ceres inhaled deeply and slowly let it out.
"I wanted to ask Genma-sensei."
"Ranma's father?!"
"You promised not to shout."
"I can't believe you want him to give you away!"
"He watched over me for three years, same as Uncle Aki-sama. He took me to China to train."
"And allowed you to fall into a cursed spring."
"I told you that was Ranma and Eriol being stupid and I forgave them for it. Relax, I don't think he'll agree anyway. And he's my second choice. I'm hoping to find Uncle Aki-sama," she let out a deep sigh and was answered by an identical sigh from Kuduo, "Ryouga," she said quietly, "Look at your brother."
"Hm?" he raised himself to one elbow and looked over. Kuduo was half curled up on his cousin, "Do you want me to move him?"
"Iie. Let him sleep. He's had a hard couple of weeks. Besides I haven't been able to hold him like this since I was ten. I never realized I would miss it."
"Huh?"
"He used to have such nightmares, don't you remember?"
"Iie."
"Iie? I remember he used to have nightmares about my parents' deaths for a bout six or seven months after it happened. When they occurred it was always my bed he'd curl up on. Me, the girl who didn't want anyone touching her since that night, I was always the one he sought comfort from. I guess he didn't want you to think he was weak so he never told you."
"He wanted to be stoical like you."
"Don't forget yourself. He looked...looks up to you more than he does me."
"Only because you were gone for three years."
"You were his aniki his entire life," she pointed out. Ryouga sighed and Ceres heard him as he moved to sit by her side.
"You're so argumentative. Let's just say that he wanted to be like both of us and did pretty well ok?" there was a pause, "I'm glad it's Eriol."
"It couldn't be anyone else."
"Really? You seemed interested when you first met, but then the whole thing with the spring and you hadn't forgiven him the next time I saw you...I figures it was all over at that point."
"So did I. So did he for that matter. However..."
"Yeah?"
"We realized that it was fate when we learned that we were each other's first."
"First what?" Ceres reached up to pull his ear closer to her mouth and whispered something that made his face go red and his nose bleed. Ceres barely shoved his face away in time, "That was more than I need to know Ceres!" he protested as he tried to stop the flow.
"You asked," was the clam reply. Ryouga laughed.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, in another part of Nerima, in another room, in another restaurant, another pair of cousins where having a heart to heart.
"So why aren't you staying at Eriol-san's?"
"Eh. His mother's weird. She's nice, don't get me wrong, but very strange. I wonder how Eriol got off being so normal."
"What did she do?"
"She kept asking my why I dyed my pretty purple hair. I think she thought I was Ceres. Eriol and his father kept trying to tell her I wasn't but it apparently wasn't clicking."
"She's gonna be really confused when she sees you and Ceres at the same time."
"Seriously! But see, the other reason I'm here is that I wanted to as much time with my cousin as I can because in seven months you won't be here anymore, and I might not be able to see you much at all," she leaned against the wall, "Everything's so different now. I'm not sure I like it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, lots of things."
"Like what?"
"You having a baby is a big one. Ryouga's baby at that."
"Are you sure you're not angry?"
"Eh. You screwed up. It happens. It's a Saotome thing, but also a bit of a Hibiki bad luck thing was mixed in. But that's not the only change. I always knew you and Akane-san would get married someday but I always thought you'd have her father's blessing. He's going to kill you when he finds out."
"Not if he can't find us."
"True."
"And what about Ceres eh? I never thought that she'd be the first married. And the way things were lookin' at first I thought she would've hated Eriol and me forever."
"Well, you did shove her into the Spring of Drowned Rabbit."
"Eh. She got us back in the end."
"Eriol told me...that she was going to ask Uncle Genma-sensei to walk her...give her away if she was unable to find her uncle," Ranma's reply was bitter.
"Why?"
"Well, he did raise her a bit while you were training. She spent as much time under Uncle Genma-sensei's rule as she did Ryouga's father. Do you think he'll do it?"
"Dunno. I think on the one hand he'll be honored but on the other..." she let the sentence hang.
"Do you think he will though?"
"I don't know Oka-chan. Though, he did seem to like Ceres more than me or Eriol."
"He's your father how can you say that?"
"It's true. I don't blame him. I think deep down I've always been a bit jealous of Ceres myself. She's very dedicated to Martial Arts. She used to get up before the sun just so she could get in the extra practice time while we were all sleepin'. Pop admired her for that. I mean here was this squirt of a girl, to polite to be normal, to thin to look healthy, and she could hold her own against all three of us. It was amazing. Her only downfall was her dislike of being touched. Once one of us managed to land a pat or a poke she lost confidence and we could knock her down. She hated that. She got better though at dodging and that's when me, Pop and Eriol were in trouble."
"Will Ceres hurt you for telling me all that?"
"Only if you tell her an even then not until Miyako's born. And don't tell her 'cause she'll remember," Okashi chuckled, "What?"
"I just thought of how you're going to look in your tux."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you know? Ryouga is Eriol's Best Man, you'll be next to Ryouga and Mousse will be next to you. On Ceres's side I'm the Maid of Honor, Akane is next to me and Shampoo next to her. Then because she doesn't know any young children, Kuduo and his girlfriend Emiko are going to be the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl," Ranma began laughing, "Apparently she's been planing this for a while now."
"How long?"
"Since Eriol asked. Sooo....about three months."
"It's gonna be a messed up wedding."
"What do you mean?"
"Weeeell.....Ceres's Hibiki relatives are gonna get lost, Eriol's relatives are probably like his mother more than anything. There's friggin 19 years olds as the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl. I'm gonna have to buy a maternity tux, a maternity tux, and to top it all off it'll probably rain," Okashi nailed her with her pillow.
"Don't say things like that!!"
"What're ya gonna do? Tell my mom?"
"Iie, I'm gonna tell Ceres!"
"Iie!! Gomen nasai! GOMEN NASAI!!" they both cracked up.
"What in the world are you to doing up here?" Ukyo asked as she stuck her head in.
"Uuchan she's killin' me!"
"Am not!!"
"Are you?" Ukyo asked as she took a seat next to Okashi.
"I threatened him with Ceres's wrath."
"Did he deserve it?"
"IIE!" was Ranma's answer.
"He said bad things about Ceres's wedding."
"Ceres is having a wedding?" Okashi grinned and preceded to tell Ukyo everything.