Last Time: A few months passed since the 'talk' and slowly
but surely all the girls change. Did Ranma even notice? Find
out...

"WITHOUT RANMA" Part Four
By Shikoku and Steel

Life for Ranma had been awfully quiet lately.. At least
where his fiancees were concerned. At first he had actually
enjoyed the peacefulness of not having any of the girls
fighting over him.. But then after a few weeks of this
strange quietness he started getting real bored from nothing
happening.. and extremely paranoid..

His memory went back to the night that had changed
everything in his life. His fuzzy brain started churning,
slowly at first, but soon he remembered the conversation he
had heard that night. Could they have been serious about
giving up on me? he thought to himself.. Sure none of them
had actually renounced their engagement, but they weren't
really talking to him, either.. And they had all been acting
..funny..

Ranma decided that he needed to find out what was up. His
ego needed it.. Nobody had been properly feeding it lately..

One morning, he found himself banging on Akane's door. He was
determined that today he would find out what was going on.
"Yo, Akane!" He called through the door. "Open up, we'll be
late for school!" Even if he was gonna have to stick to
Akane like glue..

Inside the room Akane glanced at her clock from where she
was sitting at her desk, going over her homework. "Ranma you
baka, we've got a half hour before we have to leave!" she
yelled back, not bothering to get up. "We haven't even eaten
breakfast yet!" One part of her mind was surprised the idiot
was even up now..

"So, come on and let's go eat then." Ranma didn't let up.
"I'm starving.. I'd even almost eat your cooking!" He
decided it would help if he was nice to his reluctant
fiancée if he was going to find out what was up with her.

"You're a big boy, Ranma, I'm sure you can walk downstairs to
the table without needing to hold my hand." Akane retorted,
irritated that he wasn't leaving her alone.

Ranma blinked. He wasn't expecting that one.. "Come on
Akane, what's the matter?"

Akane rubbed a hand over her face. That guy was REALLY
starting to get on her nerves. "There's nothing wrong, Ranma,
I'm just checking my homework. Now can you PLEASE go away so
I can finish?"

Still wearing a numb 'what's with her' expression, Ranma
finally left her in peace. He wasn't sure what else to do,
but he vowed to at least walk with her to school..

Sighing, Akane shook her head as she heard his light
footsteps finally walk away from her door. "What's his
problem? He's acting weirder than usual.."

"Forget Ranchan and come back to bed, A-chan." said Ukyo from
the tangle of sheets on Akane's bed. The short haired
martial artist grinned and stuffed her homework papers into
her text book. She hadn't lied to Ranma, she HAD been going
over her homework because of a test she had later that day,
but what she HADN'T told him was that she'd been sitting
there, buck naked after a night of passion with a certain
okonomiyaki chef.

Akane happily slid back under the sheets and spent almost a
half hour quietly giggling with Ukyo..

Needless to say, Ranma found himself walking alone to
school. He wasn't too happy that somehow Akane got out of
being kept an eye on yet again. So as he walked, the
pigtailed martial artist was grumbling to himself about
stupid tomboys and dumb windows and how could she have fit
her gorilla-like body through one..

His grumblings were cut off as he was squashed flat by a
certain Chinese amazon's bicycle. The purple haired beauty
stopped and looked back apologetically. "I so sorry.. Are
you..?" She dropped the concern when she saw who it was she
had hit. "Oh, is just you."

Ranma quickly flipped to his feet, lest he was being watched
by one of his 'enemies' and they thought he'd been downed,
which he couldn't have, since it's make him 'lose face'.
Whatever THAT meant..

Ignoring the bright red bike tread mark down the middle of
his face, Ranma turned on that famous 'Saotome Charm' which
usually led to more trouble than it was worth. "Oh, heya
Shampoo." he greeted and flashed his pearly whites at her.

Shampoo didn't notice. Actually, she wasn't even LOOKING at
him, but instead was mounting her bike to prepare to leave.
"Oh uh, hey.." she answered distractedly.

Ranma wasn't going to let her get away so easily though. "So
Shampoo, how's it going?" he asked her, leaning on her
handle bars and effectively keeping her from leaving. He
gave her a 'dashing' look.

Shampoo blinked. Boy, this was new, Ranma seemed to WANT her
attention now.. Too bad she didn't feel like giving it to
him anymore. Hey, he had his chance...

"Shampoo is too busy making deliveries to talk to you now,
Ranma," Shampoo answered, feeling like she was talking to
Mousse. She tugged on the handlebars a bit, hoping to shake
Ranma loose. Why did it feel like he was a leech stuck to
her skin?

Ranma seemed surprised at Shampoo's behavior. "Hey, you
wearin' that weird Reversal Jewel again or somethin'?" Of
course he HAD to check by shoving her chin back so he could
inspect her neck.

That movement of course made Shampoo mad. "NO TOUCH SHAMPOO
LIKE THAT!" she screamed as she punched him to kingdom
come.

As Ranma's prone body flew over the horizon, Shampoo stood
there angrily trying to catch her breath. "Men, I HATE
them," she growled in her native tongue.

Ranma, of course, sailed all the way back to the Tendo Dojo
and was subsequently late to school. Bucket duty was SO
boring..

And to make matters worse, he didn't get to catch up to
Akane until lunch. He finally found her under a tree in the
school's yard. She was sitting with Ukyo, as Ranma
remembered her doing all the time now.. "Hey, Akane. Hiya,
Ucchan." he greeted them both, trying to act more cheerful
than he felt.

Akane just glanced at him, then went back to her lunch that
Kasumi had so thoughtfully prepared. Ukyo at least, was
civil. "Heya, Ranchan." she greeted back, then lifted a piece
of okonomiyaki with her chopsticks to Akane so the other
martial artist could eat it.

Ranma looked longingly at her okonomiyaki. Sadly, during the
scuffle with Shampoo, Ranma had lost his lunch and as usual,
he was broke. "That looks good, Ucchan. Can I have some?" He
gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

Ukyo glanced at him after Akane had eaten the bite. "Sorry,
Ranchan, I don't have enough." She resisted the urge to kiss
Akane and taste that okonomiyaki.

"Oh.." Ranma looked crestfallen.

Suddenly the sound of a cheerful "Nihao!" entered his
ears. He looked up to see Shampoo bounce over, carrying
boxes of Chinese take-out.

"Hey, guys," she smiled at Akane and Ukyo. "Oh, Ranma.." Her
cheerful mood darkened a bit when she finally noticed he was
there, too.

Akane and Ukyo grinned at Shampoo as the buxom amazon in a
tight mini-dress sat beside them and opened her take-out
boxes. "Hey Shampoo." they greeted as she handed them each a
bowl of steaming ramen.

Ranma sat with and fairly drooled. "So, what're we having?"
he asked, rubbing his hands together. "Beef top ramen, or
maybe pork..?"

Shampoo blinked. "Shampoo only brought enough for Akane and
Ukyo, Ranma. So sorry." she said sweetly, before digging
into her own bowl.

Ranma looked utterly crushed at thought of not getting any
lunch at all. He put on his best
'I'm-starving-please-have-pity-on-me' look and turned it
full blast on Ukyo and Shampoo.

Neither seemed to notice. They were too busy eating and
chatting with Akane and each other. Ranma felt utterly left
out.

Ranma was about to really pour it on and start whimpering but
a cry of "Saotome prepare to die!" made him quickly jump
away from the girls before he got skewered by bladed chain
weapons.

Looking up, Ranma saw Mousse standing a little ways away
with his hands up his sleeves. The weapons were nowhere in
sight. The pig-tailed martial artist was about to complain
about being attacked in the middle of lunch, when the wall
around the school suddenly caved in and Ryoga appeared on
the scene.

"Damn you Ranma!" he snarled, showing off those cute little
fangs all the girls went ga-ga over.

"Oh no! Not YOU too!" Ranma groaned. He then fell into a
ready stance, his eyes darting between the two furious young
men.

"The vengeance of Heaven is slow but sure!" called another
voice. Ranma whipped around and saw Kuno on the other side
of him. He was effectively surrounded now. "Today is the day
that I, Tatewaki Kuno, famed Blue Thunder of Furinkan High,
(thunder crashed dramatically) shall vanquish the vile
sorcerer Saotome and free my loves so they may shower me
with their maidenly adulation on that who rightfully
deserves it!"

Ranma rolled his eyes. Good grief.

The girls, who'd been sitting peacefully in the shade of a
large tree, discreetly got up and moved FAR away.

But not TOO far away. What better opportunity for a dinner
show than watching their fiancee get beat up..? They
started cheering for the attackers.

And for once the attackers were actually doing well.. It
must have been because poor Ranma was already half starved..
So because of this fact, he was pummeled into the pavement
and spent the rest of the school day in the nurse's office
wrapped in bandages..

That was bad enough but Kuno managed to find time to visit
him often and gloat about how the 'vengeance of Heaven had
been once again victorious over Ranma's foul presence.'
Sadly enough, no one visited him other than Kuno.

Ryoga was running all over Nerima, breaking walls in frantic
search for Akane to declare his love to her. Mousse was
likewise (except for the wall breaking) looking for Shampoo
to declare HIS love for HER. And in between bouts of
gloating, Kuno searched for Akane and the 'pigtailed-girl'.

The girls had gone into hiding at Ukyo's restaurant, after
school was over.

And that was where they usually preferred to be.. Well, the
upstairs apartment anyway..

But of course, Ranma didn't know that so he had a heck
of a time finding them at first. But after looking for Akane
at home, at the park, at school again, and after checking to
make sure that no out of town martial artist had kidnapped
her, again, Ranma realized that they must be at the Ucchan.
He decided to go check, and he even borrowed money from
Nabiki to buy some okonomiyaki, since Ukyo had this strange
desire to make him pay for his free eats now..

Upon limping past the curtains of the front door (he still
couldn't walk very well) he realized two things. The girls
WERE here (well, he didn't see Akane but that was because
she was in the back washing dishes) and that Ukyo's
restaurant was unusually crammed with hordes of young, horny
guys who all seemed to be staring at Shampoo. Or, at least
at her tight dress..

He went up to Ukyo and hesitantly said, "Heya, Ucchan.."
After the hell his day has been he was almost even prepared
for the end of the world to happen here in Ukyo's
restaurant.

But it wasn't the end of the world, at least not yet. Ukyo
just looked up at him and said, cheerfully. "Hiya, Ranchan."
She then sent Shampoo to deliver another few plates to
another table of horny teenage boys.

Ranma didn't notice her eyeing the seat of Shampoo's dress
as the amazon-turned-buxom-waitress bent to set down a plate
on the far side of the table. He also didn't notice when she
frowned at the sight of all those hormone driven, adolescent
males getting eyefulls of Shampoo's cleavage.

"Hey Ucchan, you seen Akane around anywhere?" Ranma asked,
gazing at the menu that was posted behind her.

She blinked. "Uh.. yeah, she's in the back washing dishes."
Ukyo answered, jerking thumb in the direction of the
kitchen. "Why do you ask?"

Ranma shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Just haven't seen
her around that much lately."

"Yeah, she's been hanging around here." Ukyo answered,
flipping her sizzling okonomiyaki. "I've been giving her
some cooking lessons."

Ranma actually laughed. "And the place is still standing?"
he asked in disbelief.

Ukyo shrugged and flipped the food onto plates. "She's not
THAT bad, Ranma." She handed the plates to Shampoo and Ranma
completely missed the LOOK that passed between them. He was
too busy drooling over the fresh batter Ukyo had poured with
her other hand.

"She's actually improving quite nicely. She just needs to be
watched and properly.. rewarded, when she does something
right." A secretive smile crossed her face and she glanced
at Shampoo who grinned knowingly back. She blushed slightly
and went back to her cooking.

Ranma looked curiously at his friend. Very weird he mused,
but before he could ponder things further, she flipped his
order onto a plate and set it in front of him. All thoughts
that weren't food related flew out the window.

After Ranma ate his meal, Ukyo was delighted when he
actually promptly paid for it instead of whining about how
she used to let him eat for free like he usually did. She
was glad he was actually learning.. She counted up his
money, gave him the proper change and started gathering her
day's profits to put in her safe for the night..

Ranma meanwhile, not in okonomiyaki nirvana anymore, only
now noticed that he was the last customer left in the
restaurant. Around him, Shampoo was busily cleaning up
tables and collecting her LARGE tips.

"Hey Ucchan, what gives?" the pig-tailed martial artist
asked, when Ukyo returned with her 'Closed' banner.

"Oh, didn't you know? I close Ucchan's a bit earlier these
days so I can have time to go over my schoolwork with Akane
and Shampoo."

Ranma blinked. "Since when?"

Ukyo sighed and shook her head, "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma.. we've
only been doing this for months." She gave him a grin then
went to put her 'Closed' banner outside and brought the
'Open' banner inside.

Akane then walked out from the back, drying her hands on a
dish towel. "Everything's clean, dried and put away." she
announced, grinning. She then noticed Ranma and her grin
dimmed slightly. "Ranma.. What're you doing here?"

"Visiting my best friend Ucchan, what does it look like I'm
doing?" Ranma answered, getting defensive all of a sudden.

"Looks like you're going to be leaving now, sugar." Ukyo
announced returning with her banner. "The restaurant's
closed."

Ranma looked to her, then to Akane. He shrugged. "Why can't
I stay?" he asked. "You're just studyin' right?"

"Is true," Shampoo nodded, joining them. "but then we have
girl talk and paint nails and do hair. Ranma want do that
too?" The amazon smiled at him wickedly, promising him that
she'd do some VERY interesting things with his pigtail if
he'd let her.

Ranma started to sweat. A (gasp gasp) MAKEOVER was the LAST
thing he wanted. He absolutely HATED it. In EITHER form.
Hastily he made up some lame excuse to leave and then he
bolted out the door like a bat out of hell.

The girls grinned triumphantly at each other, then headed
upstairs to do something that no doubt had NOTHING to do
with school OR a makeover..

Outside Ranma made it about a block away, when a thought
struck him. Would a makeover session really cause the girls
to be THAT eager to get rid of him real fast? Ranma couldn't
help but stay suspicious.. Without another thought he turned
around and headed back to the restaurant.

When he returned, he looked through a ground floor window
into the dining area where he'd spied on them before, but he
found the place was now dark and empty. He sighed and looked
around, then went down the side alley to the back. He looked
to the second floor and saw the light in Ukyo's room was on.
(How he knew which room was hers, he would say, is no one's
business but his own.) So up the climbed.

He huffed and puffed a bit after perching on two garbage
cans and several nicely placed cardboard boxes. After
finally catching his breath, he stealthily looked through the
window.

What he saw caused his eyes to bug out, his mouth to fall
open and his brain to shutdown. But first:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

He then fell off his makeshift tower having fainted. Blood
was dripping from his nose.

To be continued.