Fiance? Two Fiances??
Gorgeous was the first thought that came to mind. Beautiful, stunning, lovely, exquisite
all followed directly after it, and he couldn't find the right word to describe her. Despite
her court clothing, she didn't seem at all like the vapid and dull ladies that flocked the
palace grounds. From her, he sensed a strength that couldn't be broken. Her lips
moved, saying something, but he didn't hear, still entranced by the maiden who had
fallen into his arms...and his life. A hand waved in his vision and he was jerked from his
thoughts. The other woman was the one who had waved the hand.
"What?" he nearly snapped.
"If you could let go of my maid, your most royal highness?" Ukyo said haughtily,
somewhat miffed that he was staring at her maid and not her.
"Maid?" he released his arm and she stood up on her own, hurriedly scooting behind
Ukyo.
"Ah, but enough about my maid, don't you remember me Ran-chan?" Ukyo cooed,
motioning Akane to leave behind her back. Akane gave a bow to them both and was
gone faster than you could say prince.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She threw herself into the nearest room and leaned against the door, her heart rate
going a hundred miles per hour. *OH KAMI, he saw my face!!!!! Did he recognize me at
all??? What am I going to do What am I going to do What am I going to do What am I
going to do?!* She smacked her forehead several times.
"Baka baka baka!! What were you doing prancing around outside in all that finery?" she
said to herself.
*Because it made you feel good* her conscience answered back.
"That's stupid, why should I care about how I look?" she prowled back and forth before
the closed door, still scolding herself on her stupidity.
*Because you've never looked beautiful*
Akane stopped in her tracks. It was true, painfully so. Her whole life had spent as a
tomboy, never caring how bruises marred a perfect complexion, how dirt hid a unique
face, how loose clothes covered a slender body. Then there was how so many people
always saw her as a boy, never a girl.
"Am I really so ugly?" she whispered.
She wished she could feel sad, just to feel a bit of self pity. But she found herself growing
angry. She had never doubted herself and her path as a warrior, she had never been
bothered by her male appearance, not until Ranma had walked into her life. It was all
his fault that she was doubting herself! It all stemmed from him!
"Ranma, you jerk! I'll escape from you one day!"
She opened the door a little and peeked through. She couldn't hear Ukyo at all, which
meant that they must have left. With on last glance, she sprinted to Ranma's room and
threw herself into her room. She hurriedly took off all the finery, scrubbing the makeup
off with the bowl of water in her room. She was just tying the belt to her new servant
uniform when Ranma stomped in.
"Oy!! Servant!" He yelled out.
Akane almost had a heart attack, he sounded angry and annoyed. Had he figured it out
already? She bit her lip and very slowly walked to the sitting room. He was sitting down
at his table with his eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"Where's my tea?" He demanded.
She let out the breath she had been holding and scampered off to the kitchens to get
some tea. Ranma looked at her as she stepped outside, puzzled. Was it him, or was that
the first time she had obeyed an order without arguing? Something wrong. He jumped
up and followed his servant.
"Hey, wait!"
His servant turned around to look almost terrified at him. What was this? His bold and
loud servant showing fear? Was someone at the palace picking on him or something?
Ranma gave a scowl. It was bound to happen sooner or later, seeing how scrawny the
kid was.
"Is someone picking on you at all? Cuz if they are-"
"No, that's not it. Just let me get your tea."
His servant turned to leave but Ranma grabbed his shirt collar.
"Hold it, why are you listening to me?" Ranma asked accusingly.
"Uh, because I'm your servant?"
"Wrong answer, you never listened to me before, why are you starting now?"
Akane looked at him in complete shock.
"So you want me to not listen to you and argue with you all the time and pick on you
too?"
"It seems more normal than this submissive servant behavior." Ranma growled.
"First off," She pointed a finger at his face. "I AM a servant, seeing as how you bought me
like some cow. Second, I am suppose to be submissive because I am a SERVANT. Which
brings us back to number one. Are all princes as idiotic as you are?"
"Kora!! All princes are intelligent and quick, like me!" Ranma yelled as his servant began
to walk towards the kitchen again. Ranma followed right behind. "And I'm just saying
that you aren't displaying normal behavior!"
"So if all princes are like you, does that mean that they are short tempered and
irrational as well?" The cook gave her a tray of tea and two cups and waved her away.
Ranma still followed her as she walked back to their rooms. "You really do fit the role of
an arrogant male prince, you know that?" She sat the tray down and took a seat, pouring
tea for the both of them.
"How would you know? You probably haven't met any princes before me." Ranma
pointed out as he took a gulp, burning his throat in the process. Akane gave him an
amused look as he began to cough up a storm.
"Don't assume things." She said when his coughing finally died down.
"So you've met princes before?" He said, clearly not believing her.
"Who knows?" She gave a shrug. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't."
*If you call all those brainless dolts that came to visit the Emperor. Oh kami, how could
I have forgotten? I gotta train some more to beat Ranma or I'm never getting out of
here*
"Oy."
"What?" She snapped at him.
"What's your name anyway?"
*Ack, name name, what should my name be?!*
"A-Kane."
"Akane?"
"No, dummy, why would I have a girl's name? I meant Kane. Why do you want to know?"
A door slammed open and a purple blur latched itself to Ranma's waist.
"Aieee!! Ranma!!" A Chinese girl with long purple hair was hugging Ranma as hard as she
could. The prince was slowly turning purple at the face at her iron grip. "I miss you so
much in China that I come here to be with you and grandmother!! Wo Ai Ni!!" She
stopped her hugging to look at Akane from across the table. "Who that?" She pointed a
sword that came out of nowhere at the servant. Ranma took wheezing breaths and
pushed the Chinese girl's sword off to the side.
"He's my *wheeze* new servant."
"Looks too young and small."
Akane closed her eyes and counted to ten.
"I am 16 years old." She said through clenched teeth.
"Good thing you not girl, Shampoo would kill you if you were." The look on the Chinese
girl's face was no joke. She looked like she was ready to kill somebody right then. "Being
in same bedroom with my fiance is death wish."
Akane raised an eyebrow at the news.
"Oh? I didn't know you were engaged Ranma."
"I'm not." Ranma now struggled to get Shampoo's hold on his neck off. "Shampoo, I think
Cologne wants to see you."
Shampoo reluctantly released her hands. "Ranma right, Shampoo must report to
grandmother. Grandmother say that maybe if Ranma get in more trouble then I
become Ranma's bodyguard." She beamed as she waved goodbye to the two.
"Interesting fiance you got. Very cute girl though." Akane gave a sly smile.
Ranma glared at her as he rubbed his neck.
"We're not engaged, she just likes to think we are. And remind me to be on my best
behavior until Shampoo leaves."
"Why? She seems to LOOVE being around you." Akane rubbed her hands together, here
was her perfect chance. "How about an exchange? You let me go and I won't ask
Shampoo to hang around 24/7."
Ranma's jaw dropped straight open in shock. He pointed at her with a trembling hand.
"Y-you WOULDN'T!!"
"I WOULD." She threw back her head and gave a cackle. Oh yes, blackmail was sweet, oh
soooo sweet. "So how about it?" She asked again.
"You can't do this to me, I'm the prince! Besides, you can't go back on your word as a
warrior."
Ranma gloated as Akane's face fell.
"That's unfair!" She shouted. Ranma leaned over the table.
"Didn't you just try to blackmail me a minute ago?" He grinned.
"It was for a good cause!" She argued back.
It looked like another afternoon of arguing for our two friends...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane looked around, once, twice, thrice, then tiptoed out to the garden. She adjusted
her skirt one more time before slipping through the little door that led to Ukyo's rooms.
She knocked at the door once then stepped in to find Ukyo humming a tune while her
maid brushed her hair.
"Akane-chan! There you are! I said to go away, not disappear for hours. What happened
to all your nice eye makeup and hair? And did you dress in the dark? Your clothes are
all wrinkly!" Ukyo scrunched her nose at her new maid's disheveled appearance.
"Anyways, Ran-chan and I had a FABULOUS time after you left. We took a little walk
around and everybody must have seen me with the prince. Of course, I had to establish
right away that we were engaged, goodness knows what sort dumb girl might try to take
him away from me-"
"You're his fiance?" Akane gaped. Was it customary for Chinese princes to have many
fiances?
"Of course, ever since we were children! Ran-chan came to Japan quite often with his
father on diplomatic trips and he visited on some of our lands once." Ukyo's eyes glazed
over as she started to reminisce. Akane listened with attentive ears. "He and I would
play together so much that we were the best of friends (total lie). My father's land gives
the best ingredients for Okonomiyaki so he always came over for dinner because we so
close (another lie, he came for the food, not her). But then he had to leave for China so
his father and mine made a promise that Ran-chan and I would get married in exchange
for free Okonomiyaki for life." Ukyo and her combing maid's eyes sparkled as they gave
a sigh. Akane mentally rolled her eyes. *Good grief. Now how did Shampoo get engaged
to him? For some reason, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more fiances of Ranma
out there*
"Akane-chan, I heard a rumor going around that Ran-chan has a Chinese fiance, is that
true?"
"Er..I don't know, I don't listen to palace gossip."
Almost on cue, Ukyo's shoji door slammed opened to reveal a very pissed off Shampoo
holding two large circular mallets in her hands. She pointed one of them at Ukyo just as
she had done to Akane before.
"You Ukyo?" Shampoo demanded. Ukyo stood up as tall as she could, even though she
was as short as the Chinese girl herself.
"That is I, what do you want?"
"You dead for making lie about being Ranma's fiance!" Shampoo rushed at Ukyo but the
girl nimbly leaped to the right, avoiding the powerful strike of the mallet.
"My dear, I never lie about things like that. Ran-chan and I are engaged." Ukyo drawled
as she dodged another attack.
"Ranma never get engaged to ugly Japanese girl like you!"
Ukyo glared at Shampoo.
"Now you've gone too far, insulting my looks and heritage."
Ukyo ripped off her kimono to reveal....an Okonomiyaki uniform? She held a
humongous metal spatula in her hand, given to her by her maid.
"I didn't study countless years of Okonomiyaki martial arts for nothing." She said
proudly, welding her huge weapon like it was nothing.
Akane watched this all with cool eyes as the two women faced off. *Good grief Ranma,
what have you gotten yourself into?*
___________________________________________________________________
*Heeheehee, it was too perfect. I introduced Ukyo, now I had to bring Shampoo in the picture and start the brawl of the fiances that always seem to happen in the anime. It's a little shorter than usual, but ah well, I'll try to make up for it in the next chappie. PLEASE review and tell me what you think!!!
Gorgeous was the first thought that came to mind. Beautiful, stunning, lovely, exquisite
all followed directly after it, and he couldn't find the right word to describe her. Despite
her court clothing, she didn't seem at all like the vapid and dull ladies that flocked the
palace grounds. From her, he sensed a strength that couldn't be broken. Her lips
moved, saying something, but he didn't hear, still entranced by the maiden who had
fallen into his arms...and his life. A hand waved in his vision and he was jerked from his
thoughts. The other woman was the one who had waved the hand.
"What?" he nearly snapped.
"If you could let go of my maid, your most royal highness?" Ukyo said haughtily,
somewhat miffed that he was staring at her maid and not her.
"Maid?" he released his arm and she stood up on her own, hurriedly scooting behind
Ukyo.
"Ah, but enough about my maid, don't you remember me Ran-chan?" Ukyo cooed,
motioning Akane to leave behind her back. Akane gave a bow to them both and was
gone faster than you could say prince.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She threw herself into the nearest room and leaned against the door, her heart rate
going a hundred miles per hour. *OH KAMI, he saw my face!!!!! Did he recognize me at
all??? What am I going to do What am I going to do What am I going to do What am I
going to do?!* She smacked her forehead several times.
"Baka baka baka!! What were you doing prancing around outside in all that finery?" she
said to herself.
*Because it made you feel good* her conscience answered back.
"That's stupid, why should I care about how I look?" she prowled back and forth before
the closed door, still scolding herself on her stupidity.
*Because you've never looked beautiful*
Akane stopped in her tracks. It was true, painfully so. Her whole life had spent as a
tomboy, never caring how bruises marred a perfect complexion, how dirt hid a unique
face, how loose clothes covered a slender body. Then there was how so many people
always saw her as a boy, never a girl.
"Am I really so ugly?" she whispered.
She wished she could feel sad, just to feel a bit of self pity. But she found herself growing
angry. She had never doubted herself and her path as a warrior, she had never been
bothered by her male appearance, not until Ranma had walked into her life. It was all
his fault that she was doubting herself! It all stemmed from him!
"Ranma, you jerk! I'll escape from you one day!"
She opened the door a little and peeked through. She couldn't hear Ukyo at all, which
meant that they must have left. With on last glance, she sprinted to Ranma's room and
threw herself into her room. She hurriedly took off all the finery, scrubbing the makeup
off with the bowl of water in her room. She was just tying the belt to her new servant
uniform when Ranma stomped in.
"Oy!! Servant!" He yelled out.
Akane almost had a heart attack, he sounded angry and annoyed. Had he figured it out
already? She bit her lip and very slowly walked to the sitting room. He was sitting down
at his table with his eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"Where's my tea?" He demanded.
She let out the breath she had been holding and scampered off to the kitchens to get
some tea. Ranma looked at her as she stepped outside, puzzled. Was it him, or was that
the first time she had obeyed an order without arguing? Something wrong. He jumped
up and followed his servant.
"Hey, wait!"
His servant turned around to look almost terrified at him. What was this? His bold and
loud servant showing fear? Was someone at the palace picking on him or something?
Ranma gave a scowl. It was bound to happen sooner or later, seeing how scrawny the
kid was.
"Is someone picking on you at all? Cuz if they are-"
"No, that's not it. Just let me get your tea."
His servant turned to leave but Ranma grabbed his shirt collar.
"Hold it, why are you listening to me?" Ranma asked accusingly.
"Uh, because I'm your servant?"
"Wrong answer, you never listened to me before, why are you starting now?"
Akane looked at him in complete shock.
"So you want me to not listen to you and argue with you all the time and pick on you
too?"
"It seems more normal than this submissive servant behavior." Ranma growled.
"First off," She pointed a finger at his face. "I AM a servant, seeing as how you bought me
like some cow. Second, I am suppose to be submissive because I am a SERVANT. Which
brings us back to number one. Are all princes as idiotic as you are?"
"Kora!! All princes are intelligent and quick, like me!" Ranma yelled as his servant began
to walk towards the kitchen again. Ranma followed right behind. "And I'm just saying
that you aren't displaying normal behavior!"
"So if all princes are like you, does that mean that they are short tempered and
irrational as well?" The cook gave her a tray of tea and two cups and waved her away.
Ranma still followed her as she walked back to their rooms. "You really do fit the role of
an arrogant male prince, you know that?" She sat the tray down and took a seat, pouring
tea for the both of them.
"How would you know? You probably haven't met any princes before me." Ranma
pointed out as he took a gulp, burning his throat in the process. Akane gave him an
amused look as he began to cough up a storm.
"Don't assume things." She said when his coughing finally died down.
"So you've met princes before?" He said, clearly not believing her.
"Who knows?" She gave a shrug. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't."
*If you call all those brainless dolts that came to visit the Emperor. Oh kami, how could
I have forgotten? I gotta train some more to beat Ranma or I'm never getting out of
here*
"Oy."
"What?" She snapped at him.
"What's your name anyway?"
*Ack, name name, what should my name be?!*
"A-Kane."
"Akane?"
"No, dummy, why would I have a girl's name? I meant Kane. Why do you want to know?"
A door slammed open and a purple blur latched itself to Ranma's waist.
"Aieee!! Ranma!!" A Chinese girl with long purple hair was hugging Ranma as hard as she
could. The prince was slowly turning purple at the face at her iron grip. "I miss you so
much in China that I come here to be with you and grandmother!! Wo Ai Ni!!" She
stopped her hugging to look at Akane from across the table. "Who that?" She pointed a
sword that came out of nowhere at the servant. Ranma took wheezing breaths and
pushed the Chinese girl's sword off to the side.
"He's my *wheeze* new servant."
"Looks too young and small."
Akane closed her eyes and counted to ten.
"I am 16 years old." She said through clenched teeth.
"Good thing you not girl, Shampoo would kill you if you were." The look on the Chinese
girl's face was no joke. She looked like she was ready to kill somebody right then. "Being
in same bedroom with my fiance is death wish."
Akane raised an eyebrow at the news.
"Oh? I didn't know you were engaged Ranma."
"I'm not." Ranma now struggled to get Shampoo's hold on his neck off. "Shampoo, I think
Cologne wants to see you."
Shampoo reluctantly released her hands. "Ranma right, Shampoo must report to
grandmother. Grandmother say that maybe if Ranma get in more trouble then I
become Ranma's bodyguard." She beamed as she waved goodbye to the two.
"Interesting fiance you got. Very cute girl though." Akane gave a sly smile.
Ranma glared at her as he rubbed his neck.
"We're not engaged, she just likes to think we are. And remind me to be on my best
behavior until Shampoo leaves."
"Why? She seems to LOOVE being around you." Akane rubbed her hands together, here
was her perfect chance. "How about an exchange? You let me go and I won't ask
Shampoo to hang around 24/7."
Ranma's jaw dropped straight open in shock. He pointed at her with a trembling hand.
"Y-you WOULDN'T!!"
"I WOULD." She threw back her head and gave a cackle. Oh yes, blackmail was sweet, oh
soooo sweet. "So how about it?" She asked again.
"You can't do this to me, I'm the prince! Besides, you can't go back on your word as a
warrior."
Ranma gloated as Akane's face fell.
"That's unfair!" She shouted. Ranma leaned over the table.
"Didn't you just try to blackmail me a minute ago?" He grinned.
"It was for a good cause!" She argued back.
It looked like another afternoon of arguing for our two friends...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane looked around, once, twice, thrice, then tiptoed out to the garden. She adjusted
her skirt one more time before slipping through the little door that led to Ukyo's rooms.
She knocked at the door once then stepped in to find Ukyo humming a tune while her
maid brushed her hair.
"Akane-chan! There you are! I said to go away, not disappear for hours. What happened
to all your nice eye makeup and hair? And did you dress in the dark? Your clothes are
all wrinkly!" Ukyo scrunched her nose at her new maid's disheveled appearance.
"Anyways, Ran-chan and I had a FABULOUS time after you left. We took a little walk
around and everybody must have seen me with the prince. Of course, I had to establish
right away that we were engaged, goodness knows what sort dumb girl might try to take
him away from me-"
"You're his fiance?" Akane gaped. Was it customary for Chinese princes to have many
fiances?
"Of course, ever since we were children! Ran-chan came to Japan quite often with his
father on diplomatic trips and he visited on some of our lands once." Ukyo's eyes glazed
over as she started to reminisce. Akane listened with attentive ears. "He and I would
play together so much that we were the best of friends (total lie). My father's land gives
the best ingredients for Okonomiyaki so he always came over for dinner because we so
close (another lie, he came for the food, not her). But then he had to leave for China so
his father and mine made a promise that Ran-chan and I would get married in exchange
for free Okonomiyaki for life." Ukyo and her combing maid's eyes sparkled as they gave
a sigh. Akane mentally rolled her eyes. *Good grief. Now how did Shampoo get engaged
to him? For some reason, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more fiances of Ranma
out there*
"Akane-chan, I heard a rumor going around that Ran-chan has a Chinese fiance, is that
true?"
"Er..I don't know, I don't listen to palace gossip."
Almost on cue, Ukyo's shoji door slammed opened to reveal a very pissed off Shampoo
holding two large circular mallets in her hands. She pointed one of them at Ukyo just as
she had done to Akane before.
"You Ukyo?" Shampoo demanded. Ukyo stood up as tall as she could, even though she
was as short as the Chinese girl herself.
"That is I, what do you want?"
"You dead for making lie about being Ranma's fiance!" Shampoo rushed at Ukyo but the
girl nimbly leaped to the right, avoiding the powerful strike of the mallet.
"My dear, I never lie about things like that. Ran-chan and I are engaged." Ukyo drawled
as she dodged another attack.
"Ranma never get engaged to ugly Japanese girl like you!"
Ukyo glared at Shampoo.
"Now you've gone too far, insulting my looks and heritage."
Ukyo ripped off her kimono to reveal....an Okonomiyaki uniform? She held a
humongous metal spatula in her hand, given to her by her maid.
"I didn't study countless years of Okonomiyaki martial arts for nothing." She said
proudly, welding her huge weapon like it was nothing.
Akane watched this all with cool eyes as the two women faced off. *Good grief Ranma,
what have you gotten yourself into?*
___________________________________________________________________
*Heeheehee, it was too perfect. I introduced Ukyo, now I had to bring Shampoo in the picture and start the brawl of the fiances that always seem to happen in the anime. It's a little shorter than usual, but ah well, I'll try to make up for it in the next chappie. PLEASE review and tell me what you think!!!