I don't own Rnama 1/2. WAHHH!
Ryoga's world was completely black. his head was throbbing and his ears were ringing. Soon he felt a comforting warmth from the soft strokes of a hand. Then soft echoes of a sweet song filled his head. Ryoga asked himself, (Am I dead? No, I'm not dead. My head, my body hurts. I wouldn't be feeling any pain if I were.) Still he thought the voice was angelic, soothing, yet sad and familiar.
Akane and Ranma walked over to them and Akane asked, "What happened? Is he all right?"
Kayley said, "Ryoga was trying to save me. He got hurt, but I think he'll be okay."
Ranma knew there was something about Kayley that kept rubbing him the wrong way and he was about to find out why. Kayley continued to stroke Ryoga's hair as she mumbled out loud, "This is all because of me. You would have never gotten hurt if I hadn't ran away from Saffron."
It totally clicked. Ranma grabbed the collar of Kayley's nightgown and threatened, "What do you know about Saffron! For your sake, you better have heard of him through the guide!"
Kayley wasn't in any mood to be interrogated in that manner. She gave Ranma "The look". Yes, you know what I'm talking about. It's the same look that can tick off your dad faster than anything else. It's also known as the EVIL EYE. After that, she reared back and slapped him across the face, actually knocking him backwards.
She then proceeded to let him have it verbally, "Listen, you Hentai! Since you know a little about Saffron, then try to imagine being enslaved by him and your only purpose is to be fuel for his powers."
Ranma was almost afraid to ask, "You mean you turn into a doll?"
Kayley looked at him like he was an idiot, "No, Baka! he doesn't drain the water from my body, However the method he uses is worse. It's not only painful, but it's embarrassing. Not only that, but Saffron takes more and more of my energy. Last time he drained me, he didn't leave me hardly any energy to survive on. He's completely power hungry. And what I'm afraid of is that I might not survive it the next time it happens.
She wanted to say more but she heard Ryoga moan, which meant that he would be waking up soon. Kayley quickly warned Ranma, "Don't you dare tell Ryoga how serious my situation is. I don't want him to get any more involved."
They turned back to Ryoga, who was finally coming too. Ryoga opened his eyes and was suprised to see Akane and Ranma and was glad to see that Kayley was safe. Even though he was courious about Ranma and Akane, his concern was for Kayley. He asked, "Are you alright?"
Kayley smiled and reasured, "I'm just fine. What about you? Does it still hurt?"
Ryoga tried to sit up, but his chest still hurt him so he layed back down. Kayley told Ranma and Akane, "Get Ryoga out of here. Take him to your house to recooperate."
When he heard this, Ryoga grabbed Kayley's hand and asked, "You're not coming with us?"
Kayley remembered that strong, yet gentle touch of Ryoga's hands. And even though she didn't want to let go, she had to.
She explained, "Ryoga, I can't go with you right now. My legs still aren't working right. Besides, Ning Shao could still be a problem. I've got to stay behind and take care of this problem."
Ryoga tightened his grip a little and he had a sad look on his face. Kayley smiled at him and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure I don't get hurt, at least by him anyway."
Ranma and Akane each took one of Ryoga's arms and proceeded to take him back to the Dojo. And at the same time, Ryoga was trying to look back at Kayley, but he couldn't twist his neck around enough.
Meanwhile, Kayley dragged herself over to Ning Shao and cracked her knuckles. I'm not going to say exactly what she did, but let me put it this way. Ranma, Akane and Ryoga heard a loud crackc, then Ning Shao screaming. So come up with your own conclusions.
On their way back, Akane had been thinking about the way Ryoga and Kayley were acting aroud each other. She decided to talk to Ranma about it after Ryoga left.
Ranma goes into the living room, where Akane was sitting, alone. Or so they thought. As it so happens, Soun, Genma-panda, Kasumi and Nabiki were watching the conversation via a window. Soun was quietly rooting, "You can do it, Akane!"
Nabiki had a bet going with Genma, "Okay, Panda. $20 says they don't kiss."
Genma growled and held up a sign that said, 'You're on.'
Meanwhile, it seemed that the only one being sensible was Kasumi. She put her hands on her hips and asked, "Really! Must you always invade their privacy?"
Ranma plopped down next to Akane and asked in a bored tone, "Well, what did you want to see me about?"
Akane started, "It's about Ryoga and Kayley." ."Yeah, what about them?"
"Well...I know you don't like either of them, but..."
Ranma interrupted, "Hey, Ryoga wouldn't be so bad if he would calm down and forget about that stupid challenge."
"Okay, then. You don't like Kayley." She stopped and inquired, "Why are you so scared of her anyway?"
Ranma's pride was hurt and he defended it, "Hey! I'm not scared of her!"
"sure you're not. Anyway, did you notice the way they were looking at each other?"
"No. Why?"
"I think they're in love, but I don't think they know how the other feels."
"So? What does that have to do with me?"
"Listen, it's probably too late too ask you to be nice to Ryoga, but I do want you to be nice to Kayley."
Ranma didn't want to have to listen to this conversation, so he agreed, "Ok, ok, whatever you want."
Ranma then left the room. As he walked, he thought to himself, (I can't believe she wants me to be nice to that deathtrap. And what's her deal with Ryoga and Kayley? So what if they do like each other. Even if they do get together and become a couple, they'll still get lost every five seconds. I can just imagine it.)
He imagined a slightly older Ryoga with a slightly older Kayley walking into some unknown island village. A confused look is on Ryoga's face as he said, "Wait a second. This isn't our house. I'm sorry,honey, we seem to be lost."
Then Kayley replied in a sickenly sweet manner, "That's ok, Sweety, as long as we're together."
(Honey, Sweety?) Ranam thought discustingly as he walked toward his room. Nothing has made him THAT sick to his stomach since the last time Akane made him eat her cooking.
He looked out a window and saw Soun in one of his crying fits. Nabiki looked like she was yelling and Genma-panda. You see, you can't hear anything through a closed window. Genma had a nervous look on his face as he held up a sign that said, 'Uh, will you take an IOU?' And Kasumi had her arms crossed and looked at the pitiful group that stood before her.
About one week later, Pincipal Kuno, a man who is obsessed with the Hawaiian culture, calls the entire student body to the auditorium. Of course, no one was excited about the announcement, because it was never good news. Anyway's the pricipal says, "Hello my children. I give you jus' one week to come up wit' da wonder song, or you be cleaning da' toilets for a whole week."
"Well, that's just great! How are we supposed to come up with a song! None of us are songwriters!"
That's just the one acceptable thing that was said. Meanwhile, Ranma commented to a slightly annoyed Tatewaki Kuno, "Your dad had a wierd sense of humor."
Kuno noted, "You have no idea, Saotome."Kayley came up from behind Ranma and tapped him on the shoulder. Which scared him out of his wits. Kuno saw her and he was either completely braindead or has a terrible memory about the last time he hit on her. I' putting my money on being braindead. How about you? He said, "Ahh, my golden-haired goddess has returned to my arms with the intent on dating thee."
Kuno was next to a wall so Kayley pushed him against the wall with her left hand, and tippytoed to reach him. She pressed her right thumb against his adams apple. Now, she didn't press hard enough to hurt him, just get him to shut up. And even Kuno knew not to keep egging her on at this point.
Kayley told him, "I don't know about you, but I don't intend on cleaning the toilets. Now, considering that he was in Hawaii for three years, I know of a song that will be right up his alley. I'll even help you put it together, but I'm warning you, keep aggrevating me and I'll conveniently get myself lost for a whole week. Got it."
Kuno still didn't quite catch the drift, but at least he had enough sense to say, "You must concentrate on helping us, for I know that my offer is distracting."
Kayley let go of him and instructed to everybody, "ok, before we can do anything else, we need to get the school band together."
In abotu ten minutes, the band was found and Kayley started asking, "How many trumpet players do we have?" Three boys and two girls raised their hands."
"Does anyone play the Xylophone?" One girl raised her hand. "And I need drum and clarinet players."
One boy spoke up, "I play the drums."
And a couple of girls said that they played the clarinet. Kayley said that she would get them the sheet music tomorrow. Kayley said that she would hold an audition for singers this afternoon in the auditorium.
The same afternoon, and two agonizing hours of listening to 17 tone-deaf teenagers and only six sounded halfway good. After a lot of consideration, Kayley came back with her decision, "As wierd as it may sound, Ranma is going to sing the lead vocals." There were a lot of moans and groans, but she continued, "That's my decision. Oh, by the way, I've added a piano player to the band. Anyone who wants to help in any way is greatly appreciated. Backup singers will be announced by tomorrow at lunch and practice will be everyday, after school."
Okay, I'm not going to put you through the torture of describing in detail how practice wen, but let me say this. Between Kuno chasing some girl in the rafters and having to help Ranma everytime he sang off key, Kayley was about to scream. So let's just skip to the program.
The curtain rose with Ranma in front of the principal and everyone else. Needless to say, Ranma was nervous. But then, he saw Akane and there was no way he was going to let her know he was scared. So after taking a in a long, deep breath, he cued the band. The music started playing Carribian style. Oh, by the way. Anyone who has been on the internet or heard the Ranma 1/2 Fighting Songs CD might have heard the song, Chikyuu Ookestora A.K.A. Earth Orchestra. And the lyrics have been rewritten so you can sing along to it. I'm serious, you really can!
If you listen for it
Though it could be hard to hear
You might still hear those singing voices out there
In this one big city
That thing making that noise
Somehow I can't see it at all, anymore
Those voices that could never reach because their almost gone
And even if you try hard you could never
Find that clear beautiful song
Oh, wait just a second now
I hear a faint little sound
It'll continue as long as no one obstructs it
Hey, you! Did you know that you are
Also a single sound that is born on this world so
Let's go back, into that one beautiful sound
I still remember...
If you mark the rythm
With the rumbling mountains
You might can still see some of that beauty
It is the reounding
It is the vast and beautiful
The Earth Orchestra!
That song made Ranma feel like a complete jackass, but at least Principal Kuno seemed to like it. Once they were off the hook, Ranma got ahold of a couple of his friends while Akane got Kayley and they decided to eat a celebration meal at the Cat Cafe. Akane whispered to Ranma, "Are you sure you want to go there? You know your precious Shampoo will be there."
Ranma knew that tone and to his credit, he said, "Now wait a minute! I don't even like her!"
Shampoo gave her usual greeting, "Ranma! You come date Shampoo?"
Ranma wave his arms as if trying to say no, but within seconds, Shampoo ran to him and hugged him enthusiastically. Meanwhile, growling sounds could be faintly heard by Kayley. She turned in the direction it came from and saw Akane preparing to slowly pull out an over sized mallet. I have no idea where she puts those things. Do you?
Shampoo finally noticed Akane and gave her a dark look before she asked, "Why she must be here?"
Kayley knew exactly where this was headed for so she changed the subject, "So I hear that the food's really good here. Let's find a seat."
Well that calmed things down a bit as Shampoo started to take their orders, "What you have?"
After everybody's orders were taken, Kayley said, "I've got to go to the bathroom."
Akane announced, "I'll go with you."
Ranma commented, "Why do girls have to go running off everywhere with another girl. It's embarrassing. I mean, you won't find a guy doing somthing like that, would you?"
His friends agreed, "you got THAT right Ranma."
From the kitchen, they heard a man yelling. Ryoga pops out of the kitchen with Mousse yelling at him, "How did you get in here! You're worse than a tourist!"
Ranma watched with amusement while Ryoga scratches his head and, in an attempt to find the front door, he walks right into a closet. Kayley and Akane came back. Akane eyes Ranma suspiciously Before asking, "What's so funny?"
Ranma continues to snicker as he lied, "Oh, nothing."
Kayley was skating on the local ice rink as she saw a familiar face. Ryoga was asking directions. No doubt he was trying to find the Tendo Dojo. Kayley skated up to him and greeted him quite warmly, "Hi, Ryoga. I haven't seen you in quite a while."
Ryoga noticed that Kayley was wearing a pretty lavender skating leotard with delicate ruffles of it. Ryoga was taken aback, "Wow! You're beautiful, Kayley."
She blushed at the compliment, then asked, "C'mon, why don't you skate with me?"
Ryoga stuttered with embarrassment, "Oh, n...no. You d...don't want to skate with me. I don't really know how "
Kayley frowned a little but still insisted, "I don't care if you can skate or square dance. I missed you."
She blushed after she said that because she didn't want him to know that, but it was too late. What's said was said. Ryoga finally agreed and Kayley went slowly and helped him when she could. Pretty soon, Ryoga was actually skating on his own.
When she felt sure that Ryoga was comfortable enough on the ice, Kayley took his hands and urged him to skate closer to her. After a little while, Kayley smiled at him and said, "Watch this."
She began to skate backwards. Obviously being a show off. Before she knew it, she had hit a small crack in the ice and started to fall. Swift arms caught her by the waist and lifted her completely off the ice. She turned to see who had help her. She knew it wasn't Ryoga, because he was right in front of her. She saw a young man with brown hair. This strange man asked in a calm lulling voice, "And where was your undeserving partner, he who would let such a delicate flower fall to the ground?"
Kayley quickly pulled away and said sternly, "Excuse me, but I don't know you."
Ryoga skated up and asked, "Are you alright, Kayley?"
She nodded. Ryoga recognized the man and heard a child-like cry, "Charlotte!"
It was the Golden Pair: Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori. Ryoga really hoped he would never see those two again. But at least he was more prepared and Akane wasn't there if he did get splashed, so there was that less to worry about.
Mikad gave out the introductions and then proceeded to glorify himself, while at the same time insulting poor Ryoga, "My flower. Why don't you leave this lout for a real skater? You too have a wonderful talent."
THis time, Kayley was more blunt, "No thank you! I'm happy skating with Ryoga!"
Mikado tried to take herhand but Ryoga slapped his away from her saying, "Didn't you hear what she said! Leave her alone!"
Mikado grinned and announced, "I challenge you to another skating match. The prize is the flower, Kayley "
Azusa cried happily, "Ooo, this sounds like fun!"
Ryoga yelled, "Kayley is not something to be wagered! But I'm not going to give you the opportunity to kiss her! Tomorrow night! Right here! Kayley and I, against you two!"
With that said and done, Kayley told him, "Well, if you're serious, you'd better sleep on my couch so we won't have to go looking for each other."
That night, they got home by taxi. Kayley looked at it and sighed, "Home sweet home." Yeah, I know it's an old joke, but I couldn't come up with anything better.
once inside the house, Kayley proceeded to fix Ryoga's bed. Meanwhile, Ryoga was starting to feel ashamed because he had gotten her into a competition without so much as asking. He apologized, "I'm sorry I got you into this mess."
She finished fixing his bed then told him, "Don't let it bother you. I couldn't take him coming on to me like that and something had to be done." Then she added absently, "I'm kinda glad it happened."
Ryoga didn't seem to hear her last comment, but he looked around. He asked, "Where did you get the money to buy this house?"
Kayley told him, "Well, I have a job that I work three or four nights a week and I'm a translator that charges by the word. It's actually helped me get a pretty big bank account. Now go to sleep. We'll take care of our costumes tomorrow."
The next morning, Kayley woke Ryoga and led him to her kitchen. He some good food and saw bacon, eggs, and biscuits. Ryoga looked at her and asked, "What? Why did you cook me breakfast?"
She knew he wasn't trying to insult her, so she smiled and said, "We've got a big day ahead of us. I just wanted you to eat good."
Ryoga ate well, except he never did touch the bacon. Gee, I wonder why? After breakfast, Ryoga and Kayley took a cab to the costume shop, where they were shown all the different types of outfits they could wear. More than an hour later, they came out with two bagged outfits that they haven't shown each other. They had four ways to go: North, South, East, and West. You can see where there would be a problem for those two. Kayley started to go to the right. Ryoga grabbed her wrist and pointed out that the ice rink was in the other direction. Then he himself started to walkback into the clothing store. Kayley rolled her eyes, grabbed Ryoga's sleave and yelled, "TAXI!"
In the woman's dressing room, Azusa was aggrevating Kayley. She said, "Wittle Azusa will soon get her wittle Charlotte back."
Kayley looked at her strangely and asked, "Who the heck is Charlotte?"
Azusa explained, "That man with the bandana is my pet piggy, Charlotte."
Kayley thought a moment, (I know that Ryoga uses his curse to become Akane's pet P-Chan.) She knew that was the only way he could be close to Akane. Kayley also had a good idea that this wierdo was someone he did NOT want to get close to. Kayley laughed at her and said, "Boy an\re you living in a dreamworld. Do you honestly think that Ryoga would stay with you? Man, you and your partner are definately two of a kind."
Azusa took it as a challenge, "Are you getting jealous? Well then, whoever wins gets to keep Charlotte."
Somehow just hearing one of Ryoga's nicknames infuriated Kayley. She shouted out, "Are you stupid! His name is Ryoga! Not Charlotte or P-Chan, Ryoga!"
Azusa must've had rocks for brains, because she asked, "Are you mad?"
In the men's dressing room, Mikado was doing everything he could to enrage Ryoga before the fight. He started out with the comment, "I hope you were,'t very close to my flower? Because I intend to steal a kiss from her."
Ryoga glared at him a minute before he spoke, "Don't you think that she has the right to kiss whoever she wants?"
Mikado smirked and said, "How could she resist me. Especially with the competition being the likes of you?"
Ryoga's eyes darkened as the comment went right through him. He growled out a threat, "I swear I will NOT let you kiss her."
Mikado's continued smile only served to enrage him further, and he said, "We shall see."
The ice rink filled up quickly and Hiroshi and Daisuke were seen homemade GO KAYLEY banners that they were waving around. How in the world do they find out about this stuff anyways? The lights go off and a single spotlight flashed on. An announcer said, "Welcome to what promises to be an exciting match as the Golden Pair take on Ryoga Hibiki and Kayley Ryne."
Mikado and Azusa came out opposite ends and wowed the crowd with a sycrinized triple spin. They ended their entrance with Mikado lifting Azusa over her head.
Now it was Ryoga and Kayley's turn. They too appeared from opposite sides, but they did something different. Kayley skated towards Ryoga, then jumped into the air right to him. With one arm, he caught her knee and balanced her over his head. That really drove the crowd wild.
When Ryoga set her down, he had enough time to notice what she was wearing. She had a white, satin, evening gown that was slit up the side for easier movement. He just stood there for a long moment until she gave his hand a squeeze, bringing him back to reality.
She, too had to admit that he was very handsome wearing a white, button down, silk, shirt and somewhat loose pants. She asked, "Are you ready for this?" Ryoga simply nodded.
The Golden Pair didn't give them any time to get comfortable before they attacked. Mikado threw Azusa at them, but Kayley purposely slipped under her and slid towards Mikado. Ryoga wasn't as fortunate. Azusa managed to knee him in the stomach. Luckily, thanks to his breaking point training, it didn't cause as much damage as it could have. Ryoga huffed a few times before he caught his breath and said confidently, "Is that all you got?"
Azusa said, "Ooh, you're cuter and stronger now, Charrlote."
Meanwhile, Kayley continued to slide until she was two feet away frowm Mikado. She attempted to kick him, but he caught her foot. Agily, he flipped her up in the air and caught her on the way down.
Kayley seened very disoriented, so Mikado found his opportunity to move in. As his face closed in on her's, she let out a small screech and kicked her way out of his arms.
When Ryoga saw him holding her, he started to get very angry. Of course, Ryoga's angry was a normal persons fury. So, while Kayley was putting some distance between her and Mikado. Ryoga was attempting to beat the crap out of Miakdo.
Azusa decided to join the fight. She kicked Ryoga at the bend of the knee and he fell forward. She got on the ground next to him, hugging and saying, "Charrlote."
Kayley saw this and her blood boiled. Going at ramming speed, she yelled, "Get away from him, ya hussy!"
This scared Azusa off, but Kayley wasn't paying attention to the ice and fell. She was next to Ryoga now, and she felt Ryoga's hand grab hers. But Azusa grabbed Ryoga's leg and mikado grabbed Azusa's, and lifted all three into the air and started spinning them around.
Ryoga had delt with this before, it was the Great Couple Cleaver. But Kayley had not. She squirmed hysterically and Ryoga was starting to lose his grip. He yelled, "Stop struggling! I won't be able to hold on!"
Kayley's eyes were full of terror as she screamed, "I'm scared of hieghts!"
She closed her eyes tightly and Ryoga knew that he had to do something. He squeezed his legs together just enough for Azusa to have trouble breathing. Her face started to turn blue as she cried out, "Ooh, I can't hold on anymore." And she let go.
Ryoga saw that they were going to hit the wall and Kayley was about to taks the most of the impact. Without thinking, he pulled her close to himself and whirled around to where his back faced the wall. When they crashed, Ryoga let out a grunt of pain. Kayley saw that his protective grip was still as tight, so she knew he was still conscious. He seemed to be able to move around and talk. The first thing he said was, "Are you okay?"
Mikado came to them and said, "What kind of man are you?"
His pride was hurt by that remark, so Ryoga slowly rose to his feet and growled, "Don't you ever say that in front of her! Do you hear me!"
This is quite a mess. Don't you think? Ryoga was chasing Mikado up and down the rink, while Kayley and Azusa started getting into a catfight.
Ryoga finally cought Mikado, lofted him over his head, and threw him into the rafters. Mikado easily grabbed one of them and stood on it. Meanwhile, Azusa somehow tripped Kayley and started swinging her around by her feet.
Azusa finally let go and sent Kayley flying towards Mikado. He caught her and kept her up there with him. Once again, Kayley's acraphobia kicked in and she started to panic. No matter how hard she kicked, he wouldn't let go. She saw how high she was and passed out.
Ryoga saw her up with Mikado and demanded, "Let her go NOW!"
Mikado asked, "You fought once before for Akane Tendo, now you fight for her? Decide on which one you love. Do nothing and Kayley is mine, but continue and give up on Akane."
This was the hardest thing he's ever had to do. In the past, he didn't htink about whether or not he was trying in vain to win Akane's heart or not. But at this moment, he realized that more than his feelings for Akane, he wanted Kayley safe and near him. He started skating towards Azusa and jumped at her.
Out of reflex, she caught him and catapulted him to Mikado. He kneed Mikado in the face, which forced him to drop Kayley. Ryoga jumped down after her, caught her and landed safely. She came out of her passing out spell and said, "Thank you, Ryoga." And like a bolt of lightning, she kissed him on the lips.
By now they were both on their feet. Ryoga instinctively put his arms around her. Mikado saw this and raged, "NO! HOW COULD YOU!" He aimed his blades right at Ryoga. But a fold-up chair whacked him on the head and he fell unconcious.
Azusa was screaming at the unmoving body, "I won't let you hurt my wittle Charlotte!"
That ended the fight. Ryoga and Kayley were named the winners and then they kissed again. I was going to add something to that, but it was WAY too sappy. How sappy was it? Well, there's not enough trees in Montana that could hold that much sap.
Almost two weeks go by without any word from Ryoga and everythings been pretty peaceful. Ranma-chan was outside practicing, when she heard, "Ranma."
She turned around and got into her fighting stance. She saw Ryoga standing twenty feet from her. She rolled her eyes and asked, "What is it now, Ryoga?"
Without losing any seriousness, he said, "Akane's yours."
Completely shocked, she asked, "W...what? You mean you're giving up on her?" Ranma-chan joked, "I guessyou finally figured out what a mule she is?"
Ryoga told her angrily, "You better be good to her, Ranma!"
She responed, "Uh-huh, right. So why the change of heart? I thought you loved her?"
His expression grew a bit softer as he said, "I...I found someone else. Listen, tell Akane, if she starts to worry about her pet pig, that...tell her not to worry about P-Chan."
Ranma-cahan wasn't really paying attention to what Ryoga was saying. She was still trying to get over the "I found someone else" part. Then she got an idea of who this someone else was and she cried out, "Ryoga, wait!"
By that time, Ryoga had
already walked off and couldn't hear. Ranma-chan watched Ryoga's
diminishing figure in silence. At the same time she thought, (Oh,
Ryoga. What have you gotten yourself into?)
Oh my god Ranma sang. The worlds ending! Just kidding. Haha! I'm adding a bunch of chapters at once so you don't have to wait. Enjoy and Review.
