Disclaimer:
See chap 15
In her room, freshly bandaged, and utterly alone, Ukyo sat, and thought. She wondered where she had gone wrong. Hadn't she shown Ranma from the start that she was interested in him? I mean, sure, at first, I was all out for vengeance and everything, but really, everyone Ranma meets seems to be out for vengeance or something. And I was a lot nicer to him than Akane was; she hit him all the time!
Of course, she had never once offered to simply be his friend. Much like the forced engagement to the Tendo family, it had gone right from 'Hello' to 'fiancée' with no in between. Entirely Ukyo's doing. It had never occurred to her that maybe Ranma had wanted a friend before he had a fiancée.
And Shampoo! I never clung to him like Shampoo always did! She'd latch onto him so hard that super glue would be jealous! I never acted like that! I was patient with him, not always, but more than anyone else was!
Really, she didn't really show a great deal of jealousy at all if one of the girls showed any affection towards him. It only came to the surface (usually brandishing a battle spatula) when Ranma showed affection toward anyone else (or she thought he had). It might look to an outsider like she was being more protective, like a sister would be. Which was, of course, exactly how Ranma had taken it.
Not that Ranma was exactly the most perceptive person around in the first place. "It was bright," might be how he described a nuclear detonation.
I was always the one he would come to talk to! I was the one he wanted to visit for lunch! I would come to him during lunch and cook for him!
Just like a sister would behave. The one you never had, the one Ranma had never had. Always listens to you, sometimes catches you at school to share a lunch with, and is sometimes a pain in the ass. Of course, Ukyo always thought that making lunch for Ranma would show him that she was doing something special for him. Making lunch for everyone else who was willing to pay at the same time probably threw him off that kind of thinking. Not like that kind of thought had occurred to Ukyo.
Have I been wrong, all this time? He told me I was like a sister to him, a damn sister! Has he always thought of me like that?!
He had.
It's not I did anything to reinforce that kind of idea!
She had.
He knows I don't mind the curse!
He knew.
And it's not like I'm not the cutest one!
She was.
And as soon as we married, he knows I'd make sure we got to China so he could be cured so he wouldn't turn into a girl!
He knew that as well.
It's not like I didn't offer to be his friend.
But she hadn't.
I mean, come on! The curse! The rumors that would spread! I'd want to spare us both that!
And he knew that's what she would think.
So where did I go wrong in making him see I was the right choice?!
In love, it's not a matter of your choice, or proving you're the better option, even if you are or you are not. Love is love, and it comes with neither a choice nor a decision for you to make. It simply comes with it's own ideas, and your opinions be damned. Showing you'd be a better wife, friend, lover, mother, mate, confessor, or partner has nothing to do with it, if you are not the one that love has chosen.
Poor Ukyo. If only she understood.
Out on the street, Ranma was, not surprisingly, feeling upset over Ukyo. She was, after all, his friend. Most of the time. Some of the time. Really. Honest. Crud. Even he had doubts about it, now, he still didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to hurt anyone. It just seemed to work out that he did, no matter how much he tried not to. Was this some new part of the Jusenkyo curse?
At least Akane had, for once, been understanding when he said he needed to go for a walk. She hadn't even offered to come, since she seemed to know that he wanted to be alone.
Of course she knew, baka. She's got you in her head! I mean, us in her head. Me! Ahh!
And it began to rain.
Ranma groaned as he felt the slight tingle that meant he changed into a girl.
"Excuse me, miss? Are you alright?"
And that kept happening, too.
"I'm fine. Please ignore the blindfold." Ranma walked on. At least his senses were sharp enough that he could hear where others were around him, and even if he couldn't, he could still sense their presence.
And then the rain was warm, and coming from the east, not the south. With a tingle, Ranma changed back.
"Huh?" Not near any buildings, so no one poured water out the window...
The rain became cold, shifted back from the south, and he changed again.
Ooookay. And on that, let's go back home. And so Ranma turned around, and started back in the direction of the Tendo dojo.
And the rain became warm, coming from the east. Tingle. Change. Ranma started to run.
Cold. South. Tingle. Change.
Warm. East. Tingle. Change.
Ranma ran faster.
Cold. South. Tingle. Change.
Warm. East. Tingle. Change.
Cold. South. Tingle. Change.
Warm. East. Tingle. Change. Faster and faster, until Ranma slammed to a halt, and he thought he was standing in the middle of a spiral of warm-and-cold rain. That tingling was non-stop as he changed back and forth.
"What... what... what the ffffffffuck is this?!" he snapped, waving his fists at the sky.
"Warm!"
"Cold!"
"It should be warm!"
"It's supposed to be cold!"
"Warm!"
"Cold!"
And a minor Weather God continued his pointless argument with a very minor God trying to earn his commission in the department of Chaos. Really, thought the Weather God, what kind of Chaos does the little twerp think he's making with warm rain?
"Warm rain!"
"Nerima district of Tokyo, in Japan, of Earth! Cold rain!"
"Warm!"
"Cold!"
In the Nerima district of Tokyo, Japan, Earth, an avatar of Chaos started cursing at the sky.
"Warm rain, stupid!"
"Cold rain, you little spaz!"
When Ranma finally got home, to describe her as being in a foul mood would have been the same as describing Akane as being slightly temperamental, or saying Genma had a tendency to snack when hungry. Two steps inside the door, and the rain promptly stopped pouring.
"No rain! Happy now?!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Warm water flooding!"
"No flooding, you twerp! Now get out!"
One eye twitched as she stomped into the house, soaking wet, female, irritable, hungry, and in want of a bath.
"Ranma Saotome?"
Ranma's head slowly rotated towards the sound of Cologne's voice, looking less like someone turning their head and more like a blindfolded boulder being rotated around by a wrathful demon so that he can roll it down a mountain at someone.
"I just wanted you... to know that I... that I..."
"Yeeeees?"
The centuries old Elder Amazon, Master of thousands of years of Amazon techniques and lore, proven battlefield warrior, leader, and martial artist dozens of times over, feared for both her political influence and the frightful way she had with magical trinkets and subtle potions, took one look at the expression crossing her potential son-in-law's face and promptly squeaked, "It can wait until later."
"I. Am. Going. To. Take. A. Bath." Ranma stomped her way towards the stairs.
Bath? Cologne thought. Bath? Bath? No, wait!
"Saotome..."
The boulder turned to face her again. "What?" More death threats and promises of pain filled that one word than Cologne had ever heard in her lifetime.
Cologne flattened herself against a wall. "E-enjoy your bath."
"I WILL."
"G-g-g-glad to hear it."
Ranma marched up the stairs, and Cologne collapsed to the floor, where she decided that, while she would not have had nearly as much an exciting life, she would have been a lot safer if she had followed in her father's footsteps, and simply run the village restaurant.
Ranma stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her, and quickly pulled off her clothes. A quick scrub, as bucket of cold water to wash off, and then Ranma dropped herself into the hot furo, feeling the change come over her again, and reverting back to his real form. He let the tension built up in his muscles to flow out as he relaxed in the water. He reached up to remove the blindfold, then decided, with the way things usually went around here, it would be better is he left it on.
Nah, not even my luck's that bad, he thought, and pulled the strip of cloth away from his eyes. Ite... it's so bright.
He lay back against the wall of the tub, and dropped his head against the edge, staring at the ceiling, and closed his eyes against the light. What was that, anyway? Some weird new part of the curse? If it is, I'm getting cured, pronto. I know Akane says she doesn't mind... and I think I believe her. I mean, she even kissed me when I was a girl! But if I have to go through stuff like that, forget it. She can not mind until Ryoga learns to fly, but that was too much. I just know people were staring at me.
Lost in thought (for once) Ranma didn't hear the furo door open.
I mean, really, the way son-in-law looked at me, or, didn't look at me, that is, the expression on his face... well, I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to tell him the young Tendo girl was about to take her bath!
From upstairs, there was a familiar-sounding voice that screamed "HENTAI!!" followed by a surprised incoherent yell by a distinctly male voice, and a loud crash that sounded suspiciously like a large blunt mallet smashing into something, then silence.
See? They worked it out themselves, I'm sure. I think I'm going to join Mrs. Saotome for some tea.
"Sorry," Akane said. "Habit."
"S'ok. At least you pulled to the side to miss. Help me out, would you? My blindfold's around here somewhere..."
"Here you go," and the blindfold was dropped into one of his open hands.
"Thanks, Akane," Ranma said, tying the blindfold over his eyes. He slumped back in the water, since he hadn't left the bathtub the entire time. "I guess that's what she was trying to tell me."
"Who was trying to tell you what?"
"When I came in, I told the old ghoul I was going to take a bath. I think she was trying to tell me something, but then she didn't."
"I wonder why..."
"Well, uh, I think I kinda scared her."
"You scared her? What'd you do, unleash your demonic powers on her?"
"Ha, ha, no. Please stop that."
"Yeah, yeah. So, how'd you scare her?"
"Well, I was kinda having a bad day-"
"I know. I feel sorry for Ukyo, too, but..."
"It had to be done. I meant after that."
"Oh. Run into one of the Kuno's?"
"Kinda surprising, but no. It was raining."
"Oh, you changed? But I thought-"
"-that I don't mind. I don't. But then the rain went warm, you know? It was cold, and then it was warm. And then it was cold again. If I had been near a building, I'd have sworn somebody dumped water on me, but I was in the middle of crossing the street. So I decided to come home, and I started running, but the rain just kept changing back and forth. And fast. Really fast. I was changing back and forth so much that I couldn't tell what I was. And the second I got inside the door the rain stopped. It just stopped. I know you don't mind me changing into a girl and all, but if this weird weather is some new part of the curse, I'm hunting down a cure. That was just too weird, even for me."
"If you wasn't impossible for you to lie..."
"I wouldn't believe it either."
"Yeah. So what's that creepy rain got to do with scaring the old ghoul?"
"You're calling her that now? She was there when I got home. After the rain, I came home as a girl, and I was going to take a bath. Cologne intercepted me, was trying to tell me something, but I was really, really mad, and I think the look on my face must of gotten to her, cause she started not making any sense. Just kinda droned off. Maybe she thought I was gonna turn on her if she got on my nerves. Told me it could wait until later. I told her I was gonna take a bath, and then she tried to tell me something else, probably that you were about to take a bath, and when I looked in her direction again, all she said was 'enjoy your bath' and she was even stuttering."
"I did tell her I was going to take a bath."
"That was probably it, then. Poor Ranma, creepy rain messing with your curse."
Ranma sighed. "Yeah..." a pair of hands dropped on his chest, wrapping around him from behind. He jumped, then relaxed again.
"Long gloves, huh?"
"Mm-hmm."
I wonder where she got those?
"Your mom gave them to me."
Huh?! Oh, right, Menial Ranma, or something like that.
"Mental, not menial."
Stop that.
"Yes, Master."
Ranma snorted, but smiled anyway.
"See? I got you to smile."
Tomboy.
"Baka."
So... not trying to kill me for being in the bath with you?
Silence.
"Didn't get that one, huh?"
"I can't read your mind, dummy, I just know what you might think about some things, that's all."
"Oh. So, not trying to kill me for being in the bath with you?"
"Not your fault this time. And it's not like you can see me. And I guess I'm gonna have to get kinda used to it."
"Oh?"
Eek! Did I say that out loud? "Um, so anyway, Ranma, I noticed your answers were getting more normal and not so on-the-spot-instant-truth."
"Yeah, I noticed too. Maybe the potion's wearing off?"
"I don't think so. I got a look at the paper the old ghoul was writing on before I told her I was about to take a bath. It looked like she was trying to figure out exactly what the potion was doing, or something like that. The truth part's wearing off a bit. You still can't lie, but I think you get some choice in the matter. That big 'kill-guys-I-don't-like-sleep-with-girls-I-do' stuff is still gonna be there."
"Oh. Sneaky, aren't you?"
"I get all my bad habits from you."
There was silence in the bath.
Whap
"I heard that, Ranma!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"You didn't have to; I know what you were thinking!"
Ranma spun around, facing his fiancée. "No fair, you can't use my thoughts against me!"
"Y-yes I c-can, I can, um, do something to... I mean, I can do a-anything I want to- I mean, anything I want!"
"You feeling alright, Akane?"
"Fine, never better, doing y-, uh, great! I'm going to go and let you finish your bath, now, ok?"
"Ok, then. You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, fine! You just sit back down and relax. Bad day, right?"
"Yeah. Feeling better, though."
"Good, yeah, good." Akane stood up and went for the door, while Ranma slumped back into the water.
"Talk to you later, ok?"
"Sure, Akane. After your bath. How's that?"
"Yeah, after my... bath."
Ranma turned around again. "You sure you're ok?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Ranma, just... fine! You just sit down and relax, k?" Ah! What is wrong with me?!
"Alright. I'll let you know when I'm... out of the bath." Ooookay, crazy Akane, he thought, dropping fully into the water again.
"Right, right. See more- uh, see you then." Akane slid open the inner door, stepped through, and shut it behind her. She slumped against it. Ahh! What is wrong with me, staring at him like that when he turned around?! I could see... see... all of him!
"Akane?" Ranma's voice drifted through the door.
"Yes, Ranma?"
"You're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"You're thinking out loud."
"G-" Akane said. "G... g... g..."
"It's really a bad habit."
"G... g... g... g... g..."
"Hentai."
"Gomen!!" Akane raced through the outer door, shut it, and slammed her bedroom door behind her.
Ranma laughed until he finished his bath. He laughed as he left the furo, and only managed to stop just before he knocked on Akane's door.
"Um, come in?"
Ranma stuck his blindfolded face through the doorway. "Bath is yours."
"Th-thanks."
"About what you said after you left..."
"Can we just, um, forget about that for now?"
"Sure. Can I ask you something?"
"Maybe. I might not answer it, if it's something perverted."
"No, I think we figured out that you're the pervert right now."
"U-urusei!"
"Anyway, I just wanted to know, um..."
"What?"
"Does this mean you're going to start walking in on my baths now? Cause I mean..."
"U... u..."
"...if you are..."
"...u ...u ..."
"...I'd like to make sure now..."
"... u ...u..."
"...so I don't misunderstand later, when you peep at me."
"... u... urusei!!"
"So is that a yes or a no?"
"Out!!"
"That's a yes, then?"
"OUT!!"
Shutting the door, Ranma managed to hold back the laughter until he was shut in his room.
A/N
Jeez, you'd think I could have something like this out in a few days, but nooooo, writer's block had to bitch-slap me so hard my teeth rattled. Had a birthday a few days ago, I'm 23 now! Halloween was my b-day, and I got soooo wasted! I only meant to have a few drinks, but someone, I won't mention who (WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!) told the bar that it was my birthday, and suddenly, half the damn bar was trying to buy me a shot in honor of it. Bastards. Then I came home, at like, 1:30 a.m., and tried to write. When I woke up the next day, I took a look at it. Random nonsense, that's all. Involving a weird couldn't-be-anything-but-an-omake about Ranma and Inuyasha getting into an 'I-can-take-a-punch-better contest, and having Lina Inverse as both judge and dispenser of fireballs in order to prove it. They were both fragged after the first shot. Oh, my drunken stupidity.