Three nice, long syllables are all I have to say here.
YA. O. I.
I ain't repeating that. Happy reading!
I love you.
Those three words.
So hard to give.
So hard to receive.
It can mark a breakthrough in a relationship.
It can end everything.
"I don't think of you that way."
"You're nice, but..."
"I just want to be friends."
When will you say it?
Where will you be?
Who will say it?
And...
...most of all...
...how will it be received?
"Hey, Ranma!"
Ranma sat up with a jolt. He was sleeping in the tree outside of the Tendo household. Sun caught his eyes as he glanced to the source of the voice, on the ground. It was Ryoga. "What do you want?" He said with a snide tone.
"It's almost White Day, you idiot! Aren't you going to go make or buy some chocolates for Akane?" Ryoga responded, annoyed by Ranma's tone.
"Eh, what do I care? That tomboy can make some chocolate for herself!" Ranma muttered as he relaxed back into the branch, and green leaves tickled his skin.
"Oh, come on! After she made that cake for you? She spent all day on that! Don't you know she loves you?" Ryoga argued, as he relaxed against the rough trunk of the tree.
"Well, yeah. Of course she loves me. But what do I care? It's not like I've ever liked her..." Ranma trailed off. There was a long, uncomfortable silence in the air, broken by soft breaths. Ranma had fallen asleep.
Ryoga observed him, relaxing in the tree, and thought, "He's so dense sometimes."
Ryoga walked through the tall green grass and into the old-style house. Walking through the kitchen and sliding the door closed, he walked into the middle of the room, and slid under the table, and onto one of the cotton cushions. "Huh. How nice. Old style tatami mats, TV, soft cushions, could life get any better?" Ryoga muttered to himself, relaxing back.
A door slid back on the other side of the small room, and Akane was standing there. She was holding a tray with two cups of tea and wearing her normal blue dress. "Oh, Ryoga." She said, almost a whisper. "Where's Ranma?"
"Sleeping in the tree outside. You better not bother him. He's in a foul mood." Ryoga said, smiling.
"Oh..." Akane trailed off. She was more in love with him than she knew. "Well, would you like some apple tea? I just made some, but I guess no one else is here."
She sat down on the other side of the table and placed down the tray. They each grabbed a cup, and began sipping.
"It's delicious." Ryoga said.
Akane suddenly piped up, "Ryoga, I have to tell you something." She was too serious for her own good. "I'm... I'm in love with-"
Ryoga cut her off, "Ranma?"
She continued, "Yeah... how did you know?"
"How did I know? It's kind of obvious!" Ryoga continued, assuming a coy look and a falsetto voice. "Ranma! I made some chocolates for you! I spent all day... I hope you like it! Hee hee hee!"
"Hey!" She yelled. "I did not act like that! I'm not a little junior high school student!"
"See? That's how you're supposed to act! I can't stand all of your sighs and every other thing you do when Ranma's not around." Ryoga stated.
Ryoga finished his tea, and stood up, "I have to go." As he opened the door, the phone rang in the kitchen, and Akane went to answer it. Ryoga stopped cold.
After a few moments, Akane's voice rang from behind him, "Ryoga! It's for you!"
Ryoga suddenly had shivers go up his spine. A bad omen. He hesitantly turned and walked through the room, avoiding the table, and into the kitchen. It was a basic kitchen with normal appliances and linoleum, and Ryoga walked by the back door, to Akane, who was holding the phone. She passed it to him as she walked away, and Ryoga slowly put it up to his ear.
"Hello? Ryoga? Is that you, Ryoga dear?" It was Ryoga's mother.
"Mom... please God, tell me it's not you..." Horror spread over Ryoga's face, as...
"Oh! Ryoga! It IS you! I haven't seen you in years, it seems! Well, I'm just calling you to tell you that honey and I just plum forgot about you and we just up and moved! Oh ho ho ho! I'm sorry dear! Anyways, I have to tell you... honey bought the most inappropriate place to move! It's an old hotel up in the mountains! Don't get me started, but, really, who's honestly going to come to a hotel in the mountains? Maybe hikers, but there are never any hikers that go hiking in the spring! Our mountain is so nice, but it seems like nobody's ever going to... well, hike it! But we had the NICEST family ever stop by yesterday! They came over to see if this hotel was in business, because they're competitor business on the mountain just over from ours! Oh, it's so silly! Who's ever heard of competing mountain businesses? Oh, really, it is quite silly, really... oh, Ryoga dear, are you still there?"
"I'm here." Ryoga mumbled. Conversations with his mom hardly went anywhere.
"Oh, good, you're still there! I thought you went and fell asleep on me! Oh ho ho, really... but I shouldn't dawdle. I did have something to tell you. There's a thing about hotels, and that is that to work there, you have to be there all of the time! Really, who can expect such a thing from busy lives nowadays? And so I thought, you really aren't busy, are you, Ryoga dear? You could come and look after the hotel for us! And being single and all, we even have this lovely girl here from our competition, ripe for the picking! You can come marry her, live in the hotel, and work here! Isn't it just a great idea? Oh, you agree, don't you, dear? Don't you?" Before Ryoga could speak a word, she continued, "Oh, I knew you'd love it! I'll be sending you some plane tickets in the mail. Now, please don't get lost or be late. These tickets do cost a lot of money! Oh, so much money! TOO much, if you ask me! Prices these days are just absurd from inflation. Inflation? What idiot invented such a concept? And another thing..."
Ryoga hung up the phone. One word escaped his lips:
"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP."
He gathered everyone into the living room to deliver the news. Ryoga sat on a cushion, and everyone sat around the table.
"My mom just called me. Not surprisingly, they forgot I existed and moved out of the city and into a mountain hotel. They want me... no... they're making me go up there on White Day by plane to look after the hotel and marry some idiot girl." Ryoga explained, laying out every detail. Everyone moaned in consolation and sadness.
"Been nice knowin' ya." Ranma said gruffly from the corner of the room, obviously not caring at all about the turn of events.
"Ranma, how could you be so rude?" Kasumi scolded him as she stood up, and whispered as she walked into the kitchen. "He cares about you, you know. Woman's intuition." She closed the door hastily, and pattering footsteps could be heard walking away.
A shiver went down his spine. The thought of another guy caring about him disgusted him to no end. Clearly, nobody else had heard Kasumi's comment as she left the room.
Ranma walked out of the room, through the kitchen, outside and through the gentle green grass. With one quick movement, Ranma hopped up into the tree and relaxed.
"Gross." He whispered to himself, and he soon fell asleep.
"Hey, honey! I'm home!"
"Oh, Ranma-dear! What took you so long?"
"Sorry, Ryoga! I had to pick up something special for you!"
"Oh! You don't mean...?"
"Yep! Chocolates!"
"Oh, Ranma! You shouldn't have!"
"Oh, but today's White Day! I had to return the favour!"
"Thanks, honey! Dinner's ready, if you want some. I'm going to bed!"
"Okay!" (munch) (munch) "Yum! I'm so glad to have such a loving man-wife! Honey!"
"Oh, dear, Ranma! What do you want?"
"I've come to sleep with you!"
"Now really, dear. Are you really going to?"
"Of course! But, Ryoga, it's too hot tonight! You should take off your pants!"
"Oh, really Ranma! You're so bold!"
"Of course, my dear!"
"Hee hee!"
Ranma sat up quickly, and jumped behind the large tree trunk. He threw up and stood there panting.
"That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen." Ranma whispered, aghast.
As Ranma's eyes wandered around in his idleness, he looked up, and saw stars in the black sky.
"Wow. Black." He mumbled, "Just like Ryoga's eyes."
Suddenly, Ranma covered his mouth, in amazement and horror of what his mouth had fabricated.
"I must be tired." Ranma whispered, "Yeah. That must be it. Just... tired."
He walked into the house in a daze. Entering the kitchen, he saw a lone light come from the corner. He glanced over, and saw Ryoga standing in front of the fridge. He was drinking milk out of a 2 litre carton. Ranma stared for several moments, and continued on, mumbling, "Yeah. Tired."
Walking to the flimsy brown door to the left of the living room door, he continued down the hallway, entering into one of the many rooms. He flopped down on the bed. This... was just too much. He lied down. The bed was warm, fluffy, and comfortable...
But he couldn't sleep.
Ranma agonized through the whole night.
Ryoga, after a great sleep, hopped out of his guest bed that had been prepared for him. Two days until he had to return home. He clothed himself, tied on his favorite yellow and black bandanna, and walked out of his room.
Ranma, having no sleep at all, deducted that it was too hot, and tried to sleep bare naked. The morning came, and he assumed that, in his sleepy daze, he was lying with his clothes on. He walked out of his room, which happened to be next to Ryoga's guest room.
Ryoga heard a click. He turned his eyes to the sound, as Ranma walked out of his room. Ryoga stared at him. His glance lowered, and stayed there. Ryoga's face reddened. Ranma, being half-asleep for the entire time, woke up. He glanced down.
"Oh."
Ryoga had never known that a guy could scream so loud.
Not to mention so girlish.
Ranma bolted into his room. He turned bright red, and threw his clothes on in a hurry, holding back the rough, solid door.
"What the hell was I thinking?" He whispered to himself, "And Ryoga... HIM of all people! He... he saw my...!" Ranma gasped, as he came to a disgusting conclusion. He felt the need to throw up again, but held it back. "He saw my abs! NOO!"
While Ranma's stupidity kept him from creating a correct answer, Ryoga stood out in the hall, as all of the occupants came to see what the commotion was. Ryoga himself rushed back into his room, noticing that an extremely dirty thought had entered his mind.
"Oh my god!" Ryoga just about shrieked, "Why the hell did that happen?" He desperately tried to replace the image with thoughts of busty women."Might as well just take a big stamp to my face that says 'homo'!"
Ryoga paused, and suddenly dived for his closet, at the back of which he had hidden a dirty magazine. He quickly flipped through, looking at the all the nude women, and he glanced in horror. He had no desires for any of these women.
Ryoga spoke to himself, coming to the conclusion, "Maybe it's that I'm..." He continued in barely a whisper, "...in love with him?" He continued again, burying his face in a pillow, "But we're both guys! I can't... you know, I just can't!"
In Ranma's room, he was having a similar conflict, but came to the conclusion that it was just normal at his age. NOTHING to be worried about!
The rest of the day was mayhem. Ranma and Ryoga avoided each other as best they could, and they couldn't have been more obvious.
But the day came...
...And went.
Ranma slipped out of bed. Tomorrow was White Day. That means Ryoga has to leave soon.
Ranma walked out of his room and into the living room. Everyone but Ryoga was situated there, around a table, watching the TV. He ignored them, and turned around back into the kitchen, and outside. He hopped up the rough tree, and sat there.
Ranma tried to sleep, as always, but it wasn't going to work this early. He looked down on the house, and saw that he could see right into Ryoga's room. He looked at Ryoga, who was lying in bed naked, and stared at him for several seconds.
"Wow, he's... hot." Ranma whispered. Whether he liked it or not, he had already fallen in love with him. Ranma had begun to accept it.
Hours passed, and Ranma was unable to take his gaze off of the sleeping boy. Suddenly, Ryoga's eyelids fluttered open, and with the sunlight shining on him in almost shoujo manga style, he sat up and ruffled his hair. Ranma pretended to be asleep, and Ryoga saw him. He gazed at him for fleeting moments, and walked out of bed.
After the passing of those moments, both had turned bright red.
The back door swung open, and Ryoga was standing behind it. He walked towards the tree, and hopped up to a branch next to Ranma's. He sat there, unable to say a word. Both of the were speechless. Afraid to be the first to move, they sat in their branches for several hours yet, until dusk.
"Hey, Ranma... you awake?" Ryoga whispered, finally trying to break the tension.
"Yeah." Ranma replied, whispering back.
"I have to go back home tomorrow, you know. At 1:00 in the afternoon."
"I know." Ranma began to sound bitter.
"I don't know if I want to leave just yet... I mean, this IS my home. I love this place... with Akane... Nabiki... Kasumi... Soun... Genma... and most of all... you, Ranma."
"Uh-huh?"
"I mean, this might sound a bit weird, but... I mean, I don't want to leave just yet. I want to stay here..."
"Yeah."
"What I mean is... I want to stay here... by your side. I mean... I love you... Ranma."
Ranma stayed silent. Ryoga instantly regretted saying anything.
"I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't have expected you to feel the same way." Ryoga whispered, sadly. He jumped down from the tree, and Ranma watched as Ryoga walked back into the house.
"I'm sorry, Ryoga." Ranma whispered to himself.
The sun rose the next morning, and Ryoga was packing away in his room.
"Hey, Ryoga!" Ranma yelled at him. Ryoga ignored him, continuing his packing.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday. You know, I never knew that you felt that way. It's just that..." Ranma babbled on to himself, as Ryoga clearly wasn't listening. Ranma gave up, and walked away, into the kitchen.
He remembered walking into the kitchen that night, and seeing Ryoga there, drinking milk out of the carton. Ranma thought hard. Was he wearing clothes, even? Ranma remembered. Ryoga was wearing boxers that night, of course. And he was shirtless. Did he always have such nice muscles? Ranma had an explicit image cross his mind, but he shook it out instantly.
Ranma now thought about all the times before now that he had spent with Ryoga. All the fights they had been in, all of the times he had gotten lost, Ryoga's hopeless chasing after Akane...
Ranma sighed. It was hopeless. He walked outside and stood wearily against the tree. "But... But I CAN'T be in love with him!" He moaned, waging a horrific war of conscience. Suddenly, the kitchen door swung open, and Akane was standing behind it. Her eyes were red from crying, and she walked towards him, calm.
She stood beside him, and whispered quietly, "Is it true that you don't love me, Ranma?"
Ranma looked at her, seeing how much she truly loved him, but he nodded slightly.
Akane looked as if she could burst into tears, but her body lacked tears to cry. "Do you love Ryoga?"
Ranma looked at her as if to ask where this was going, but he again nodded slightly.
"He's leaving. Doesn't that mean anything to you? If you can't love me, I mean, give your love to him. He gave you his heart. He deserves your love."
Ranma stayed silent. Akane gave up, leaving a box of chocolates by his leg. "Give this to him. He'll appreciate it." Akane walked back into the house, the only sound coming from the grass as it ruffled.
Ranma's legs stayed planted in his position for several minutes.
His war raged farther.
"But he's a GUY!" Spake one side.
"It doesn't matter! Love is love! He needs you, and you need him!" Spake the other.
"We're both men! It's wrong!"
"This body is half girl! What does it matter?"
"What does it matter? What do you think? Why not just take a sharpie to this face and write GAY in nice, fat letters?"
Ranma yelled out in pain. He had had enough. He bolted into the kitchen and into the living room. "Where is he?"
"Ryoga, you mean?" Kasumi said innocently, "He just caught a taxi to the airport. He's on his way to Osaka."
"Damn it!" Ranma yelled, and he ran from the room and into the street.
Ranma ran, seeing a taxi in front of him. He sprinted after it for what seemed like hours.
The taxi slowed to a stop at the airport. It was a grand airport, sleek in design, and beautifully decorated. Ranma collapsed onto the rough, black pavement, and gasped for air. He felt the box of chocolates, that he had kept in his shirt, flatten, but there were more important things. Was he going to die? No. He couldn't. He had to finish what he had started.
Ranma stood up against strong protest from his legs. He threw away the box of chocolates as he looked at the cornstalk yellow taxi. Someone opened the back door and walked out. It was a handsome young man in a suit, probably preparing for a business trip.
Ranma swore under his breath and ran into the building. It was sprawling plaza. There was countless stores scattered throughout, and a large screen displayed the departure and arrival times of all the flights.
One caught his eye: Gate 7 - Tokyo to Osaka – Departure: 1:30 PM
1:30? CRAP! He was already late! He bolted through the plaza, and raced up the escalator at the end. He turned, and... Gate 7 was before him. Ryoga was boarding through a solid door, and Ranma saw through the glass wall the plane. He raced for Ryoga. Ryoga looked towards the plane, bitterly.
Ranma bolted for the door, but it began closing, and a female worker held him back.
"I'm sorry sir. The flight is leaving now. You can't board at the moment!" She said, closing the door to the plane.
"RYOGA!" Ranma screamed almost insanely, "RYOGAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Ranma collapsed looking through the glass wall. "D-damn it." He choked out through sobs.
Ryoga...
...had left his life.
Ranma sat there for several moments.
He sobbed.
As far as he was concerned, there was no more point to life.
"AH! What is that man doing?" A woman exclaimed from behind him, and Ranma looked outside. As the plane was taking off, a man hung out from one of the doors on the plane. He looked a lot like...
"Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed, as Ryoga dropped from the plane, and sprinted towards the main terminal.
Ranma sat in bliss for several moments, until a man grabbed him on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Ranma."
"Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed, standing up and turning to face him.
"I almost lost you, Ranma. I couldn't leave you." Ryoga whispered to him, pulling him into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry, Ryoga. I was an idiot. I love you, Ryoga Hibiki! I love you so much!" Ranma whispered back.
Ryoga pulled him in tighter:
"I love you, Ranma."
"And I'm never gonna let you go."
That evening, the two returned home.
Everyone had already fallen asleep.
Ranma and Ryoga entered into the back yard.
They kissed, and relieved themselves of clothes.
Illuminated by the moonlight, their bodies touched, and their bond was sealed.
Nothing could pull them apart.
And quietly...
Almost silently...
They spoke those three small words.
"I love you."
Kansou no Satsuka
No ranting today.
Sorry...
-Shojo