This is a story that Steel and I wrote a long time ago.
It's five years old now, but I still think it held up pretty good.
I hope you all like.
Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
"Without Ranma"
Part One
By Shikoku and Steel
"Ooooh! I don't BELIEVE him" Akane half screamed, half
growled to the sky. Ranma had really gone TOO FAR this time!
Not only had he insulted her cooking AGAIN (and he hadn't
even tried it yet! After she'd gone to all the trouble to
make it taste GOOD too! She'd even sampled it before hand to
make sure!) but he'd insulted her martial artists skills too
when she'd gone out to the dojo to blow off some steam.
He'd called her uncute (AGAIN!), called her slow, said she
couldn't kick, that her thighs were too thick, that her hair was
a cowlick, that she talked like a hick, was built like a
stick, was dumb as a brick, that she was as stubborn as a
mule, twice as ugly and just as strong!
Pausing as she stormed down the street, Akane took her fury
out on a poor, helpless telephone pole. The fragile concrete
spider-webbed from her punch and as she walked away, it
broke in half and fell over, crashing to the sidewalk.
"Woah Akane.. what's the matter, sugar?"
Akane looked up from her dark cloud to see Ukyo standing
there. She was apparently just getting back from the market,
cause she had a bag of okonomiyaki ingredients slung
casually on her back. She was also dressed up a bit nicer
than usual with her hair pulled back in a low ponytail.
She growled an answer that Ukyo didn't quite catch. The one
word the brunette DID get, explained everything. RANMA.
"Ah.." Ukyo nodded, lowering her bag. "What did Ran-chan do
to you this time?" Most of the time she'd have been happy to
see Akane mad at Ranma, if only because it would raise her
own chances with him, but this time Ukyo was a bit worried
about the short haired girl. She'd seen Akane mad, but never
this much.
Akane hesitated before speaking. Ukyo was one of the rivals
for Ranma and therefore a natural enemy, but out of all the
others she fought with over the baka, she hated Ukyo the
least. Looking at the brunette now, she seemed genuinely
concerned. And Akane DID feel that she needed to talk to
somebody.
The short haired girl sighed the kind of sigh reserved for
those who'd been pushed just too far and now needed to blow
off some serious steam. She nodded and motioned to Ukyo's
restaurant that was across the street. "Let's go inside..
I'll.. I'll tell you there." she said.
Ukyo gave Akane a warm smile and nodded. "Alright, sugar."
Together they entered the restaurant and after Ukyo put away
her groceries, she started cooking up an okonomiyaki for
Akane, as the youngest Tendo daughter sat across from her at
the counter.
"So tell me, what's troubling you"
It took a little time, but once Akane started talking about
her woes, everything just tumbled out like a raging flood
that couldn't be stopped. She told Ukyo all about her
cooking, how it was actually decent, even Kasumi thought so,
and how Ranma had insulted it, saying it was probably worse
than toxic waste, without even trying it first.
She then talked about the whole episode in the dojo where
he'd mercilessly taunted and teased her.. By the time she
finished telling her tale, she was nearly in tears from the
memories.
Ukyo listened and even admitted to herself that her precious
Ranchan WAS acting more like a jerk today than usual. She
didn't think Akane was exaggerating or lying, either. The
girl's tears were too real for that. Ukyo's compassionate
side took over.
"Hush, girl" she said softly, hopping over the grill and
counter. She gave Akane a big hug. "Everything's going to be
alright.. You'll see."
Large tears tracked down Akane's cheeks. "Why Ukyo? Tell me,
WHY does he say those things about me? I TRY to be a good
fiancée, but nothing I do is ever good enough" The tears
started coming harder now as all Akane's pent up
frustrations came pouring out in an unstoppable torrent.
Ukyo blinked. It had never occurred to her that Akane was
TRYING to be a good fiancée to Ranchan. She had always
thought that Akane was completely against the whole
situation and was trying to scare Ranma away.. or that she
was just naturally short tempered and violent. But maybe..
maybe.. it wasn't really Akane's fault at all..
She racked her brain for something to say, but even she was
surprised when she responded"It's not your fault
Akane-chan, some people are just plain insensitive and
NOTHING you can do can change that. You shouldn't try so
hard to please him sugar. Instead why don't you try to make
YOURSELF happy.. and quit worrying what the baka or anyone
else for that matter thinks of you." Ukyo tightened her hug.
"It's not worth it."
"You should talk." Akane sniveled, but there wasn't any
anger or hate in her words. Right now she was too
emotionally drained to summon up any negative feelings
toward Ukyo. Reaching for a napkin, Akane blew her nose and
dried her eyes. She sighed and leaned into the brunette's
embrace slightly, grateful for the support from a
semi-friend.
Even though Akane didn't mean it as an insult, that
statement was still a slap in the face for Ukyo. It released
a flood of memories about what she had done to try to get
Ranma to like her. Cooking for him to try to impress him,
listening to his problems even though he rarely gave a damn
about hers. Fighting over him with Kodachi, Shampoo and even
Akane sometimes. Ganging up with Ryoga so they could break
Akane and Ranma up.. and even all out attacking Akane on her
wedding day, ruining the whole thing.
All these thoughts caused Ukyo to feel VERY ashamed of
herself. "You're right.. Akane.." she said dully. "I am a
hypocrite.. I care too much about what he thinks of me
too.."
"So what should we do about it?" Akane asked, turning to
look at Ukyo. "We need to stop falling all over ourselves
for that.. that.. INGRATE. We're all acting like a bunch of
pathetic lovesick ninnies and it needs to stop before
somebody really gets hurt."
Ukyo nodded.. "That's true.. but I don't think Kodachi or
even Shampoo could ever give up on him.. They still think
he's quite a prize.. Heck, I don't even know if I could ever
get completely over him.."
Akane sighed and sort of deflated, sagging into a slouch.
"You're right, we're already in too deep, there's no point
in trying to get out. Probably be stuck fighting over that
idiot for the rest of our lives. Even if he DOES pick
somebody, saying 'I do' certainly isn't going to solve
anything cuz the others would just try to break them up.."
She leaned her elbows on the counter and put her face in her
hands. "Feels like I'm trapped in a hamster wheel with no
way to get off..."
Ukyo shook her head, but what Akane said WAS true. They were
all caught in some vicious cycle, which didn't seem to have
an end to it in sight. Ukyo sighed as she sat down on a
stool to think about this one..
After a few minutes with neither of them saying anything,
Ukyo finally came up with a tentative suggestion.. "Maybe
what we need to do, is to sit down and really talk about
this with Shampoo and Kodachi.. Maybe the four of us could
work this all out. Maybe they're just as tired of this as we
are." Or at least find out that they ARE tired. Ukyo
herself, had only just now seen how futile the whole Duel of
the Fiancées was.
Akane turned her head to look at Ukyo. "You think they'd
actually DO that?" she asked. She shook her head, turning it
to stare back at the counter top. "Somehow I doubt they'd be
willing to just sit down and TALK. They'd think it was some
kinda trick or something.."
"I know" Ukyo nodded. "but at least it's SOMETHING.. Should
we at least give it a try?"
Akane sighed deeply, still staring at the counter. Might as
well give it a try, she mused. "Got nothing to lose." she
said, shrugging.
"Unless they decide to kill us." Ukyo quipped, giving Akane
a wry grin.
Akane rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Oh ha ha."
she said, but couldn't keep the little grin from her lips.
Ukyo was glad to see Akane smile again. She honestly didn't
like seeing the short-haired girl feel down. "I'll tell you
what, we'll even make a little party outta it. How's that?
You guys can all spend the night at my place.. less chances
for ..distractions."
Akane thought about it for a moment, then she nodded.
"Probably be the best idea." she said. "Certainly can't have
it at the Dojo; too many eavesdroppers. And the Cat Cafe and
Kuno Mansion are out for the same reasons.. Yeah, I guess
here's the best place." She paused. "But what about
Konatsu?"
"He won't bug us if I ask him not to." Ukyo answered.
"Honestly, that kid would give me the moon if he possibly
could. I'm just sorry that I can't seem to love him back the
same way."
The dark haired girl nodded. Seemed all that was left was to
convince the others to go along with it and that she and
Ukyo DIDN'T have ulterior motives to get Ranma for
themselves. But how to do that...?
"Don't worry, we'll worry about that later." Ukyo reassured
her, seemingly hearing her thoughts. "Right now, I need to
get them here. Is tonight good for you" she asked, picking
up the phone.
Akane blinked. "Uh, yeah. Tonight's fine. How 'bout.. eight
o'clock?" It would be a simple task to sneak out of the
house.. that is, if Ranma didn't catch her first..
Ukyo nodded. "Eight it is then.." She started calling up the
other fiancees, telling the both of them that she and Akane
had something very important to talk to them about. Kodachi
and Shampoo, both assuming that Ukyo was calling to tell
them she was giving up Ranma, swore to be there. It was as
simple as that. The hard part would be dealing with them
once they got there..
Sighing again, Akane rubbed her hands over her face in a
tired way. "I'd better be getting back home now." she said
to Ukyo who was just turning from the phone. "Dad's probably
going crazy wondering what's happened to me.." She stood and
stretched, hearing her back pop in a couple places. Crying
all of her pent up frustrations had really taken it out of
her and right now, all she wanted was a nice, long nap.
She'd need to be at full strength if she was going to keep
Shampoo AND Kodachi in line that night.
Ukyo gave her another smile and a quick hug. "I understand
sugar. See you later, kay"
Akane smiled and hugged back. "Yeah, tonight." she nodded,
then headed out the door and back to the Dojo.
To Be Continued...