The Evil Within
By James Moore
The characters in this story are not mine, so there :-p
Chapter 4
3 months later
"Ranma. Hey, Ranma. It's here!" Ranma slid down the banister, ending right in front of Akane. "What's here?" "Look! See for yourself!" She handed him a small package. It was from the guide. Upon seeing that, Ranma open it quickly and looked at the object. It looked almost identical to the other piece, except it had the other half of the horse on it. Joy flew through his body. "I can be a full man, now. Yes!" The "plan" that his and Akane's fathers ran through his head. They had decided that, should anything go wrong, he should be a fair distance from Nerima, alone. Before he left, he filled up a thermos with hot water and went to his room. Going to the dresser, he opened the bottom shelf and moved some clothes to reveal a small felt-covered box. He opened it to make sure the ring was still inside. It was.
About a month after Akane had given him the first half of the medallion, he had made up his mind that he was going to propose to her. There was no doubt anymore that the two loved each other, and they weren't shy about showing it by the way they'd passionately kiss, even in public. Ranma had saved his money for a good 6 weeks, before he had enough to buy the ring he now held. It wasn't very expensive, but he hoped Akane would like it. The band was simple, with a blue sapphire on it. He remembered her commenting on a couple of occasions, Akane commenting on how she loved looking into his blue eyes. He would have proposed to her as soon as he got the ring, but he wanted to do that as a full man. He quickly moved some more clothes to reveal the first half of the medallion he had gotten.
Sticking a half of the medallion in each of his pockets, he put the box into his right pocket and left the room. Hopping from the top step to the bottom in one jump, he walked back to where Akane was waiting. By this time, the Tendos and the Saotomes had assembled in the room to wish him luck. In Mr. Tendo's case, he was crying. "WAAAAHHHH. My daughter's finally going to get married." Nabiki rolled her eyes at this, and turned to look at sex-changing boy. "You sure you want to do this? I mean, you're getting rid of MY biggest cash cow!" Ranma looked thoughtful. "Weeeellllllll, when ya put it like that, YEAH. I'm tired of ya selling pictures of my girl side, even after I asked ya to stop!" Nabiki didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed.
Genma was the next to address him. Standing up and walking right up to Ranma, Genma put his hands on Ranma's shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. "Son, I realized I haven't really been a good father to you and you'll probably hate me for that forever, but I want you to know," he pulled him into a hug, "I'm glad you're going to get cured." He released to hug. Ranma, to put it in a word, was shocked at what his pop had just done. HIS POP, the greedy, honor less, selfish martial artist had just hugged him and wished him well in getting his cure removed. "Awww, thanks, pop. I could never hate ya. I may not like what ya do most of the time, but I don't hate you. I mean, you're my pop." Genma nodded and walked quietly back to his seat next to his wife, Nodoka.
Nodoka sighed and shook her head when Genma sat down. She had seen what he had done when he hugged her son. Closing her eyes, Nodoka grabbed the handle to her katana and unsheathed it. Quickly placing it up against Genma's neck, she calmly said, "Husband, please return them." Nervous from the sword touching his neck, Genma quickly reached into his gi and pulled out the two pieces of the medallion and placed them on the table. All the Tendos and Ranma face-faulted at this. Picking himself up, Ranma quickly snatched the pieces up and pocketed them again. He looked to where his father sat. "POP! Do ya ever stop thinkin' 'bout yourself?" Instead of yelling at a man, he was yelling at a panda playing with a beach ball, holding a sign saying 'Nope. No Genma here'. This just increased Ranma's anger. He punted the panda clear out of the house and into low earth orbit. "STUPID PANDA. I HOPE YA GET SENT TA THE ZOO."
Kasumi, being her usual self, said, "Oh my." Nodoka sheathed the katana. "Ranma?" "Yeah, mum?" "Can I see you when you return? I have something very important to give you." "Sure, mum." Ranma then turned and walked up to Akane and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. After a good 10 seconds, he broke the kiss and hugged her. He whispered into her ear, "Akane, be in the dojo when I get back. I have somethin' I wanna ask ya." "Ok, Ranma. Don't take too long," she whispered back. "Don't worry. I won't." Letting go of her, he addressed everyone there. "Well, see ya all later. I'm off ta be cured." And with that, he launched himself into the air and headed for the mountains in the distance.
Akane was in the dojo, practicing. She wasn't sure when Ranma was going to return, so she decided to practice until he did. She had just finished with a kata, when she heard a loud boom, followed by an even louder "Nihao!" Knowing who it was, Akane walked to the living room to find Shampoo and a large hole in the wall. "What do you want, Shampoo?" "Kitchen destroyer, where Ranma?" "He went to get himself cured." Shampoo chuckled. "What fake cure he use this time?" "It's a medallion with a horse on it that is broken into 2 pieces. If a Jusenkyo cursed person puts the two together, it will remove the curse. And, it's not a fake, Shampoo. It WILL cure him." Shampoo's eyes narrowed. "How you know?" "It was given to me by the Jusenkyo guide. If anything, I think he'd know what he was talking about." Shampoo frowned. "Shampoo talk to great-grandmother. Find out if cure real." And with that, she headed back to the Cat Café.
Landing at the entrance of the Cat Café, Shampoo entered quickly. Ignoring the huge crowd in the restaurant, she went straight to the kitchen. "Ah, Shampoo. There you are. As you can see, we have a lot of people today, so I need you to help with all this cooking." Shampoo didn't even move to help. "Great-grandmother, Ranma getting cured." The old ghoul cackled. "What ridiculous kind of cure is he using this time." "Kitchen destroyer say it medallion given by Jusenkyo guide." Cologne's eyes widened in surprise. No. It can't be. "Did she happen to tell you what was on the medallion?" Shampoo shrugged her shoulders and said, "It horse." Cologne blanched. She then left the kitchen and began shooing everybody out. Shampoo didn't understand what that was for. "Great-Grandmother, what's wrong?" "We must get ready!" "Ready? For what?" "For Ranma," she paused, and looked at her great-granddaughter, "And most likely, Death." Now, Shampoo was scared