A Ranma ½ fan fiction…

Author – Chibi / Warlordess

Disclaimer – I don't own Ranma ½; it is a product by the great Rumiko Takahashi. I'm also not creative enough to make up a better disclaimer than that. How sad…

Notes – I have no idea how this idea came to me. I went from having no inspiration or confidence for R/A fan fiction to harboring this suddenly evolved plot that just popped out of nowhere. It was just, I could see this as something in the series, I guess. Those who've read the manga might not agree with me first off thanks to the summary I gave you, but it is a bit misleading, so you'll just have to find out why. Also, let it be known… I HATE THAT TITLE! DIE, TITLE!

Dedication – To my online sister, Silverflare07, who sent me the first through third seasons of the anime and who encouraged the creation and progress of this fic. She's the one who deserves it most of all.

OoO

Title - Herbal Remedies

Chapter Seven - "Whether You Like It Or Not. . ."

Summary - It started with Akane's losing her mind and telling Ranma that she loved him, and then it was his unwillingness to tell her he didn't feel the same way. . . But how did all of this madness start, and when? R x A romance. Kind of. :P

OoO

"Oi, Ryouga, what are you planning?" Ranma murmured to himself as he turned a corner and saw his rival about twenty-five feet ahead of him. He quickened his pace and, after noticing that he was gaining stride, he leapt off of the ground, high into the air, and aimed a kick at Ryouga's heels.

Ryouga, turning to face the pigtailed boy at this, held up his finger and forced it into the earth at his feet, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

"Agh!" Ranma groaned as the large, almost smoldering pieces of concrete flew at him, tearing at his clothes and skin. He held up his arms and fell back a few feet at the impact of the technique. He looked up just in time to see Ryouga round another corner and followed, avoiding the large and shallow chasm in the middle of the small street, "Come back here, Ryouga. . . !"

The chase lasted quite awhile, as Ryouga seemed to enjoy putting Ranma off, and they'd been running for almost twenty minutes, throwing occasional punches, when Ryouga, having allowed his legs to just carry him wherever for awhile now, noticed a familiar landing up ahead. He couldn't remember what it was, but that it was familiar was enough. He slowed down and turned to face Ranma, who saw fit to tackle him furiously to the ground.

"Nani, what are you doing, Ranma? I'm not going anywhere!" Ryouga said, grabbing Ranma's wrists, as the pigtailed boy was still holding onto his collar.

"You're such a baka! You made me run all around Nerima, chasing you just so that you could lead me back to the front door of the Tendo Dojo!" Ranma shouted, obviously pissed off, "What are you, stupid?"

"Nani. . . ?" Ryouga said, turning to gaze at the sign next to the gate, which indeed read 'Tendo Dojo and Residence', "Ah. . . er. . . Hai, well. . ." He fumbled embarrassedly, "Still, Ranma, now it's just you and me. . . !" He stated confidently, propelling the pigtailed boy over his head so that he landed almost ten feet behind him.

"You want a fight? Fine, I'm game. . ." Ranma said in reply, reaching his feet and cracking his knuckles. Ryouga did the same, then, as Ranma was dashing forward, shouting, "Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" The eternally lost boy's expression changed as though he'd just remembered something.

"Matte, Ranma, matte!" He shouted suddenly, but Ranma went on, nearly sending his fist impacting into the boy's torso multiple times until Ryouga continued speaking, "It's about you and Akane!"

Ranma faltered, almost tripping over his own feet as he came to a stop, his fist barely two inches from Ryouga's face.

"Nani? Akane - me and Akane? What about us, Ryouga?" He said in a much more serious tone.

"I want to know what you meant. What you said back in the bath, about how it wasn't a love spell that Shampoo put you under. . . What were you talking about?" Ryouga responded with a sigh, relieved that the conversation he'd been hoping for was finally under way.

"Is that what you made me run after you for, all this way? Baka. . . !" Ranma wondered aggravatedly, then continued, "Well, it's simple, really. It was a powder, an herb. Shampoo placed it in my food and I ate it. But it didn't make me fall in love with Akane. The herb's supposed to encourage the emotions that are already there. I already loved her, but I didn't really know it, so the herb brought my love forward."

Ryouga looked half-horrified and half-disbelieving, "But why would you ask to be placed under a spell like that to begin with?"

"Ah, you weren't there; that's right. . . Well, Akane was placed under the spell first off. She told me how she really felt but I didn't know if I reciprocated, so I asked to be put under also. You get it now? I know that Akane loves me because she told me that she did!"

Looking one hundred percent horrified now, Ryouga gaped open-mouthed, hoping to think of a reason to doubt this plausible tale, other than the fact that he just didn't want to believe it, and then he turned his back on Ranma and stood silent and lonesome, facing the opposite direction.

Ranma had about one second to actually begin feeling sorry for the guy when Ryouga started sniggering under his breath, before it turned into a raucous laugh that could have easily carried into the Tendo residence.

"Sh! Ryouga, what are you thinking? You ran off and made me follow you because you didn't want Akane or anyone to overhear us, right? What's so funny?" Ranma asked, but Ryouga seemed too choked up to answer, "Shimatta. . . !"

"You. . . ! You - you think that I'm. . ." Ryouga held up a hand and finished his bout of laughter before taking a chance to continue his statement, "You really think I'd be foolish enough to believe such a ludicrous explanation? You are funny, Ranma! As if Akane would ever actually tell you how she feels, even if she does love you? After everything you've done to her, all the insults, complaints! A girl's feelings are precious, Ranma, but you never understood that about her! And now you feel it's realistic enough for her to come out and say it just like that?" Ryouga scoffed, "What an imagination you've got. . ."

Rather than allowing this to deter his attitude, Ranma's eyes started to sparkle, glowing with a new light of affection for his fiancé.

"You - you're right, Ryouga! I didn't think about it but. . . Akane must really care if, through all of the things I've done to her, she can still fall in love with me! Oh, I owe my kawaii Akane so much for her merciful reverence towards me. . . !" Ranma replied, eyes still glowing. Truth be told, he looked a lot like Happosai on Furinkan co-ed gym day.

"You're out of your mind, baka. Akane could never really profess her love to you. . ." And Ryouga turned to re-enter the dojo.

"I can prove it to you," Ranma said from behind the eternally lost boy, and this caused him to falter in his progress beyond the Tendo residence entrance.

"Can you?" Ryouga looked back, quirking an eyebrow almost curiously. He still looked quite disbelieving to the whole situation.

"Well, part of it, kinda, probably not the part where Akane told me how she felt about me. . ." Ranma laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in anxiety. Ryouga came up behind him and knocked him upside the head, "Hey! It could be better than nothing!"

"Yea, it could be, if you were to really be able to prove it; but then, that's doubtful."

"Hn; we'll see!" And Ranma took off down the road, leaving Ryouga to catch up a few seconds later. Of course, it was obvious that Ranma was going to the Nekohatan to find a way to tempt Ryouga towards the truth, but how would he do it? What was the chance that Shampoo was just going to come out with it, especially if she already held the upper hand? Even his sweet-talking wouldn't do it. . . After all, she knew that the spell had enhanced his love for Akane. . .

Upon approaching the Nekohatan, he circled around back rather than entering the front entrance, coming to a stop just beside the alleyway door leading to the storage area. It was blocked open with a wooden footer, and he had a perfectly narrow view of the room inside.

Shampoo was sitting there, currently alone, a small packet in the palm of her hand. He recognized that packet. . . ! It was definitely the one she had emptied into his soba the other day at his request, and that meant that it had the instruction and warning labels there as well. . . !

"Psst! Ryouga. . . !" He turned around and saw that the eternally lost boy wasn't there. Almost forgetting to keep down his voice, he ran back to the main street and fumed at the sight of Ryouga, spinning confusedly around in circles, not sure as to where he was supposed to be going, "You baka. . . ! You were just here earlier today!" Ranma groaned, running forward and pulling Ryouga in the right direction.

"Nani, what is it, Ranma?" Ryouga said after the pigtailed boy had placed his face close to the door. Shampoo was still inside, staring wistfully at the empty herb sample. Their eavesdropping continued through the sound of Cologne calling from the front of the restaurant.

"Shampoo! Come; we've got customers swimming among our waists!" The older woman entered the room from the opposite wall, where an archway lead to the main restaurant, "Hmm, what are you. . . ? Ah, you are still absorbed in that?"

"Great-grandmother, soon I feel Airen will be mine!" The Amazon warrior giggled.

"You believe so?" Cologne asked in reply, "Well, it would be in good time, now, wouldn't it? But whatever did you tell Akane to ensure this bargain?"

"I tell her to break spell, she must tell Shampoo's Airen that she no love him. Spell will be broken, but. . ." At the start of this comment, Ranma felt the anger boiling inside of him. That certainly explained Akane's attitude, in any case, ". . . She no pay attention when Ranma and I discuss what spell do so she no understand why his personality change. She think I try to make him love me and that make her angry. She too prideful to say she love him now, too, so. . . Ranma forget he ever love her and she know no difference. . . !" And Shampoo took a moment to laugh and applaud herself at the sheer brilliance of her plan.

"Hey. . . Ranma, by 'she', does that Shampoo mean Akane?" Ryouga questioned in a whisper, but Ranma was too busy trying to crush the wall he was holding onto with his bare hands, "What's going on. . . ?"

"She's meddling with something so serious and. . . and she thinks it's funny. . . !" Ranma barely managed to contain himself at the thought of what was playing out before him, but he was able to hold back long enough to listen to the end of the conversation between the two Amazons.

"As gratuitous as the situation is for you, I must tell you that the world is still spinning, and we're in need of your skills up front. Put that away and come with me. My son-in-law will come to you soon enough. Until then, let's keep you busy."

"Hai, Great-grandmother!" Shampoo said excitedly. She reached her feet and, slightly distracted by the sounds of people calling from the main part of the restaurant, she absentmindedly went to slip the envelope into her pocket, and didn't notice when it fell to the ground. And then the room was empty.

Thoroughly excited at their luck, Ranma turned once again to explain to Ryouga since he seemed not to have completely caught on earlier before, "Now, do you see that little envelope Shampoo left behind--" but Ryouga didn't seem to be paying attention.

Before Ranma had a chance to move out of the way, Ryouga shoved the door open and rushed inside. Ranma, whose face had still been exceptionally close to the door, impacted with the steel surface and collapsed backwards in response. Not allowing the pain to end his investigation, he jumped up again and followed after the other male martial artist.

"What are you doing, baka? I mean. . ." Ranma whispered furiously, rubbing his red nose, but he faltered as Ryouga swiftly moved to pick up the envelope.

"This - this is. . ." Ryouga started after inspecting the labels, "But that means. . ." He looked at Ranma, who crossed his arms and nodded affirmatively.

"Hai. You got it right; that would explain what's really going on." Afterwards, he allowed his face to widen into a blissful grin, "Ah, and with that, I can finally get Akane to believe me!" Looking thoroughly overexcited at the thought, he tore across the four or so feet to Ryouga's side and held out his hand, "Oh, gimme, gimme!"

However, at Ranma's words, Ryouga's eyes had widened disbelievingly once again, but not because Ranma's explanation wasn't plausible. To the contrary, it was very simple. And it meant that Akane would soon know the whole story. If Ranma was telling the truth about how this started, then Akane already returned his feelings, which meant that, although she obviously wanted him back to normal, she'd also meant that she'd still want him to be in love with her. . .

"No. . ." Ryouga muttered, looking distinguishably horrified.

"Nani? Why not?" Ranma said threateningly, thinking that Ryouga had declined handing the packet over.

"Ranma, no matter what you say, I know that you're taking advantage of her, somehow!" Now moved by emotion, the eternally lost boy took off through the alleyway door and into the busy and bustling streets of the main town before Ranma had even realized what was going on, "I can't believe you'd do that to her, or me!"

". . . N - nani. . . ?" The pigtailed boy questioned confusedly, turning to stare at the open door, "Shimatta! You'd think the way he was going on that I was breaking his heart!" Raising an eyebrow in thought, it took only a moment for him to realize, indeed, he probably was, which was a good thing, since he didn't have much time to dwell on the fact, "Hey! He took the herbal packet! That baka!"

And Ranma took off out the door, following in what he hoped was the general direction of where Ryouga was headed. However, he'd taken no more than five steps out into the main street when a voice called out to him from behind and, thinking it was Shampoo, he wracked up his brain to try and find an excuse for having just walked out of the one-way alley leading to the Nekohatan.

"Honestly, I leave you alone for half-an-hour and you go running into Shampoo's arms? Baka; I knew this whole love-thing was a fake. . ." Akane muttered, stomping swiftly up to take the spot beside him, "Now, what did you do to poor Ryouga-kun?"

Well, thank Kami-sama that it was only his love, Akane, the fiancé who currently thought he'd just finished having a tryst with another woman, and that he'd just killed the only true rival for her affection. . . Suddenly, the want to clear his name grew so powerful that he couldn't hold it back, and he completely forgot about regaining the herbal envelope from Ryouga for the time being.

"Oh, but Akane, I'd never run to Shampoo; as long as I have you, I'm completely happy. . . Why else do you think I snuck out the back of the Nekohatan, if not to be sure that Shampoo wouldn't see me?" Thankfully, he could tell that he'd peaked his fiancé's curiosity by this credible excuse, "I came here with Ryouga, to prove to him that you and I are really in love. . ." At this, Akane tore away from him and glared menacingly.

"Excuse me? Baka! We are not in love! And there's nothing in the world that could prove otherwise, to Ryouga-kun, me, or anyone else!" She yelled, turning away from him.

"Ano. . . Demo, Akane, I can prove it. Ryouga believes me. . . He just ran off with the evidence a few seconds before you got here." Ranma replied and pointed in the direction he was hoping the eternally lost boy had gone in.

"Baka, I can't believe you!" Akane continued shouting, "I can see where you'd believe you were really in love with me after Shampoo slipped that - that whatever it was into your food a few days ago, demo. . ." The young girl broke off, looking suddenly hurt, ". . . Demo, to trick poor Ryouga-kun into thinking that, too. . . I never thought that you'd be so. . ." She seemed so upset as she turned away from him that he could only pray that he was able to fix things immediately on his own.

"Gomen, Akane, I have to know. . ." He cleared his throat after placing a tentative hand on her shoulder, ". . . Why is it so hard for you to believe that I might really be in love with you. . . ? I mean, I know that I haven't treated you the greatest, but has our engagement truly been so horrible that you'd think Shampoo more accurate about how I feel for you than me, myself. . . ?" She faced him and tried to think of something to say but faltered when she noticed that he didn't seem to be finished speaking, "And I don't know if you remember, but our lives have become fairly maddening since we met. . . so maybe you should give me the benefit of the doubt before you instantly accuse me of fake-loving you. You never know, after all. . . My side of the story might just be more realistic than Shampoo's."

Without realizing it, the two of them had arrived back at the Tendo home. Ranma couldn't help noticing the way his fiancé was looking at him; it was more like she was trying to look through him.

They stopped just outside the door to the dojo. Akane still seemed to be contemplating his words. And just when Ranma was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable, Akane breathed a resigned sigh, turned to open the door, and in the process of holding it long enough for him to pass through, gave an unexpected reply.

"Fine, Ranma; let me finally hear what you have to say."

OoO

Ryouga sat on the roof of some anonymous building after figuring that he'd escaped far enough from Ranma that he could finally have some time to think to himself. The chilly evening wind blew around him, causing the herb packet he held tightly in his hand to whistle.

Sighing despondently, he allowed the many different faces of his personality to take over.

Ranma could still be lying, the part of him that acknowledged the rivalry the two boys shared flared up instantly, It's something he definitely wouldn't mind doing to me, breaking me by making me believe that Akane's life would be a pleasant one without me in it. . . At this, he distractedly ran a hand through his hair and implored deeply the small envelope held in his other, Iie. . . How could he have put this entire thing together on his own? It's definitely not something he could have maintained alone, and so flawlessly, for so long. . .

The Amazon Shampoo's face leapt at him from the deepest crevices of his memory.

Not on his own now, though, is he. . . ? She could excuse this whole thing as some historical element from her country. . . which is exactly what she did! Demo, iie. . . what motive would she really have against me in particular, anyway? Especially one so prominent that she wouldn't mind playing Ranma off to be in love with Akane at the same time. . . Iie, Iie, it makes no sense that way. . . Demo, then. . .

His eyes widened. He's been thinking of this whole situation as though it had been planned against him. He and Ranma had always shared a vindictive type of friendship or rivalry or whatever it was, and maybe the pigtailed boy had finally outgrown allowing him to take advantage of his position as P-chan? But, as Ryouga had figured, even if Shampoo had helped this along, what reason did she have against him? And why would she be so. . . so okay with allowing Ranma to go on with Akane like that as well without growing just a bit worried? That's why none of it made sense. That's why that couldn't be what was going on.

Ranma was a victim here, he could see that. . . And Ryouga was leaning more and more towards what explanation the pigtailed boy had given him earlier on. . . There was still a chance, though, that it was fake, that it was all a lie. If Ranma was still just another victim, well, it made sense that he would think his feelings for Akane were real. . . It made sense. . . But then, what about this herb that seemed to truly exist. . . ?

I'm holding the evidence of it right in my hand. . . I can't just pretend that it doesn't say what it does. . . And since I figure that Ranma and that Shampoo aren't in this together, that means that this thing couldn't be a fake. . . After all, Ranma noticed it immediately from outside that restaurant, and I grabbed a hold of it first, so he couldn't have replaced it with something of his own imagination. . .

Ryouga groaned. Every which way he looked at it, nothing seemed to work the way he thought it would. He could feel his heart breaking already, the way things were going.

Dejectedly, furiously, the eternally lost boy began to crumple the packet in his hand, There's one way to ensure that my life isn't ruined for good because of this. . . He thought as he did so. . . but then he stopped. That wasn't right. There was one other full-proof method for finding out for sure if things were finally coming to a close in the jumpy upstart of a romance novel he was caught up in the middle of.

"I'll just have to ask Akane for myself how she feels for Ranma. . ." Ryouga sighed again upon coming to this realization.

Standing up, he placed the slightly worn herb envelope up his sleeve for safe keeping and took a few steps towards the front of the roof he was sitting on. He could only hope he could find his way back to the Tendo dojo before Ranma and Akane were forced to wed each other.

He leapt down onto the almost empty street below him and looked up just in time to see the last remnants of sunshine disappear beyond the horizon. As he started off towards where he thought the Tendo residence was, he didn't take care to notice the young girl with long lavender hair and a frilly apron around her slim figure putting up a 'closed' sign outside the restaurant across the street from where he'd been sitting before.

Shampoo just happened to turn in the direction of the boy, one who she recognized from however many attempts she'd gone through with to try and make Ranma fall in love with her. She knew also that this young man, this Ryouga Hibiki, was supposed to be in love with Akane.

The memory of her discussion with the younger female martial artist from earlier that day came back to her. He had been there, too, hadn't he? She had barely noticed him. And now that he was back. . . The thought made the Amazon infinitely curious. Could the not-so-common reappearance of this boy complicate her plans? Could he assist or deter what she'd worked so hard to accomplish or, indeed, effect anything at all. . . ?

She wasn't willing to take any chances.

Throwing off her apron, Shampoo shouted a hurried apology and farewell to Cologne and took off, trailing after Ryouga at such a distance and with such subtlety that he would've had no luck in realizing that she was there to begin with.

It was finally time to see how all of this would end.

OoO

Notes - Wahahah! Yes! Finally, a new chapter! Sorry it took a couple weeks longer than planned to update! You see, I had this problem with the next chapter; alongside the fact that it's still not finished, part of what I did have written seemed a bit. . . OOC on Akane's part, but I think, in my head anyway, that I've finally solved the problem. I still don't know if I will be ready to post again next week, but I'm hoping it'll be ready sooner than this chapter was.

Oh, and for the record, this fic will only be another one or two chapters long. I still haven't decided. I'm also wondering about doing a sequel at some point in my hectic authoress-ing life. Lol.

Now, please review! I only got six of them last time! That's an all-time low for me!

Oh, a P.S., I'm writing a one-shot ficcie. I'm hoping that it'll be posted by Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure. Anyway, stay tuned. . .