Chapter 24 Ukyo's Fianc
Ranma woke up early Tuesday morning and snuck quietly downstairs. He knocked on Akane's door, and soon Akane came out. They walked downstairs, and entered the kitchen. He opened up one of Kasumi's cookbooks to the recipe that he wanted to prepare and quickly got the ingredients that he wanted out of the various cabinets and the refrigerator. Akane began preparing the rice in the rice cooker, while Ranma began making the miso soup. After tasting it, he added a bit of tofu for some additional flavor. Akane filled the teakettle with water and placed it on the stove to heat the water for tea.
"Oh my," Kasumi said, as she entered the kitchen, "I didn't expect breakfast to be cooking before I got down here."
Akane said, "Hey, why aren't you with your husband?"
"He's out jogging, he'll be back for breakfast," Kasumi answered. She went and tasted everything, and then said, "You two did a good job with this. It tastes pretty good."
"It should be ready soon, I think. Could you set the table, Kasumi?" Ranma asked.
Kasumi smiled, and placed the dishes out on the table. By that time, Nodoka and Gemna had come downstairs. Soun was already sitting at the table, reading the paper. Tofu came walking out from the bathroom as Nabiki slowly made her way downstairs. She sleepily said, "Good morning, Doctor Tofu. Morning, Father, Auntie, Mr. Saotome."
Ranma and Akane brought the food out and Kasumi began dishing it out. "Hey, brother-in-law, could you hand me some sauce," Akane asked, her eyes dancing, remembering the scene from the night before.
Flashback
As they ate the dinner that Kasumi had prepared, Soun cleared his throat and said, "This is a wonderful dinner, Kasumi. You outdid yourself, tonight!"
"Why thank you Father, but I didn't do it all. Akane cooked the soup, and Ranma did the rice," Kasumi said, sweetly.
Soun cried, "My youngest daughter is finally learning to cook!" The waterworks continued.
Akane just rolled her eyes at her father's overreaction. Then she asked, "Hey, brother-in-law, could you pass me the sauce?"
Tofu smiled, from where he was sitting next to Kasumi, and said, "Sure, little sister." Nabiki's eyes opened wide, Nodoka smiled and Gemna blinked.
"What do you mean by brother and sister, you two?" Nabiki asked.
Kasumi blushed prettily and said, "Tofu and I got married last week, and she's just greeting her new brother."
Nabiki squealed. "Oh my!"
Ranma said, "That doesn't sound like the Ice Queen." Akane giggled at the expression on her sister's face.
"Why did you two run off and get married so quickly?" Nodoka asked, her curiosity piqued.
Kasumi smiled mysteriously, but Nodoka seemed to understand what it meant. "After waiting for as long as I did for him to get up enough courage to ask, did you really think I wanted to give him enough time to get cold feet, Auntie? I wasn't about to run that risk," Kasumi replied, "As soon as Father gave us his blessing, we started making the arrangements. This weekend just made a good excuse to go down to the courthouse and get married. Don't worry though, I expect a formal wedding ceremony too."
End Flashback
"Hurry, you three, we're gonna be late ta school," Shampoo said. They gulped their food down, grabbed their bags, and bentos and dashed off to school. As they reached the gate to the schoolyard, they saw Kuno approach Ukyo.
Ukyo groaned as she saw Kuno. She used to think it was funny when it had been Akane and Ranma who dealt with that jerk. 'Not again,' she thought to herself, 'Must be karmic justice.'
"Ah tis the beautiful Ukyo Kuonji, the bright star of the morning. I, Tatewaki Kuno, upperclassman, the Rising Star of Furinkan High, the undefeated champion, also known as the Blue Thunder," he began. Thunder crashed in the background. " I have wonderful news for my beloved. I have located your father and informed him of your whereabouts. I hope my service in reuniting you two loved ones will be appreciated," Kuno said, "He will be coming to see you next weekend."
"YOU MORON!!" Ukyo screamed, "I can't meet my father right now." 'Damn,' she thought as she ran off. As she did, she caught sight of Nabiki, and went to talk to her.
Kuno stood there in shock, 'I thought she would be pleased with me. Why would anyone not want to meet their father,' he thought, 'I know I would want to see my father – Oh wait a minute, no I wouldn't want to see my father, he was crazy.' He paled at the thought of seeing the father who had deserted them after his mother's death.
"Hey, Nabiki, I need to talk," Ukyo said, "That idiot Kuno told my father where I am and he's coming here next weekend. I swore to him that I would either kill Ranma and Gemna or marry Ranma. I can't do either of those. If he finds out I haven't done either, he'll probably carry out his promise to disown me. What can I do?"
"Are you sure? What would happen if you told him that you had fallen in love with someone else during your search for Ranma?" Nabiki asked.
"I don't know. In, theory though, I'm supposed to kill them," Ukyo said, "I couldn't do that to Ranma. Gemna on the other hand." She grinned evilly.
"Well, why don't we get you engaged to someone else then," Nabiki asked.
Ukyo spluttered, and said, "Wait a minute, that's how I got in this mess in the first place! Why would you want me to have another fiancé?"
Nabiki smiled and said, "No, I meant a pretend fiancé, not a real one."
"That still doesn't get me out of the problem of having to kill them," Ukyo countered.
Nabiki thought for a second and then grinned wickedly. She snapped her fingers. "What about if Ranma was a girl? Surely your father would break the engagement if he discovered that he had mistakenly engaged his daughter to another girl, wouldn't he?" she asked.
"Yeah, that probably would work. If we could show that it was just a big mistake, then he should be willing to come to some other sort of resolution. Do you think Ranma would go along with it?" Ukyo asked.
"Leave Ranma to me," Nabiki said, "If he wants to get rid of the mess his bastard of a father got him into, then he'll do it. Let's talk to him at lunch."
At lunch, Ranma and Akane were sitting in their favorite spot, with their arms around each other's waist. Ranma was a little worried. Ukyo had appeared a bit pale all morning and she had been looking strangely at him. His suspicions were confirmed as he saw Ukyo headed his way with Nabiki in tow. He thought he saw a look of anger in Nabiki's face as she realized how they were sitting, but it vanished so quickly, he wasn't sure of what he had seen.
Nabiki said as she neared, "Ranma, Akane, we have a big problem. Kuno found Ukyo's father and told him where she was. He's coming here next weekend expecting to find her. She's afraid that if something isn't done about her situation, she'll be disowned. We thought of a plan, but it'll need your help. We need to find her a fiancé, and –"
"What!!" Ranma interrupted, "You want me to pretend to be her fiancé? I'm still kinda new at this whole boyfriend/girlfriend business, but I don't think that's something I'm supposed ta do."
Akane chimed in, "MY boyfriend isn't going to pretend to be anyone's fiancé!
"No, I didn't mean that. That wouldn't fix her problem anyway. We'll get someone else to do that. Maybe Kuno," Nabiki said.
"Ugh, anybody but Kuno. I'd rather be disowned," Ukyo said with a shudder.
Nabiki giggled, and then said, "Just kidding about Kuno, Ukyo. I wouldn't wish him on my worst enemy. No, we'll find someone else. What we need is for Gemna to have engaged his daughter to Mr. Kuonji's son Ukyo."
Akane started giggling as what Nabiki had suggested slowly registered in Ranma's brain. "What!! You want me to be a girl while he's here!" Ranma said in shock, "Why will that help?"
"If we can get him to think that Gemna thought he was engaging his daughter to Kuonji's son, then we have a chance to resolve the agreement between the two fathers," Nabiki said with a smirk, "He won't want his daughter engaged to another girl, after all."
"You better make sure he doesn't have a son now," Akane growled, "I don't want this plan to blow up in our faces."
Ranma put his face in his hands and groaned, "Why me? Pop, I'm gonna kill ya." Finally he looked up and said, "Alright, Nabiki, I'll do it. I figure I owe it ta Ucchan ta help her out. You're gonna have ta get the rest of the families ta go along with it though. And I ain't going ta school that week as a girl, that's for sure. I'm gonna just be sick and stay home."
"I'll take care of them. I think Tofu and Kasumi need to take Father on another trip. They just don't know it yet. That way it'll just be your parents that we'll have to convince to help," Nabiki replied.
That evening, Nabiki sought out Nodoka. "Auntie, Ukyo has a problem and has asked for our help. I think our families' honor demands that we do what we can. Her father is coming here to visit her and she's afraid that if he doesn't see that she has fulfilled her promise about Ranma that he'll disown her," Nabiki said, "I sorta came up with a plan to help her, but we'll need your help."
"What kind of assistance do you need?" Nabiki asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Well, what if your husband thought he was engaging your daughter to Mr. Kuonji's son? Wouldn't that give us a position to work from to straighten out that mess? Nabiki asked.
Nodoka stared at her in disbelief, and began to laugh a rich, deep, laugh. "You want Ranma to pretend to our daughter for this visit? Have you talked to him?" she asked.
"Yes, we talked about it at school today. He wasn't real thrilled about it, but he finally agreed. He did say that he wasn't going to school that week though," Nabiki said with a laugh.
Nodoka said, "This will make my husband look like a fool you know. Of course, he basically is one anyway. I'm not sure how honorable this pretense is though, Nabiki."
Nabiki frowned in concentration, knowing that she had to answer that concern carefully. "In a sense, Ranma is your daughter, as well as your son. You even sort of admitted that yourself. So we're basically telling the truth to Mr. Kuonji, just not the whole truth. You're husband wasn't acting particularly honorable when he agreed to an engagement with Mr. Kuonji or the parents of all of the other women. This at least allows both families to get out of an awkward arrangement without losing face, doesn't it?" Nabiki replied, "You would still need to work something out about the dowry, though."
"I'll have to think about this. If we do this, we'll have to carefully control who Mr. Kuonji sees," Nodoka replied.
"That's all I ask, Auntie Nodoka," Nabiki said, "I can't do this without your aid, but I don't want you to do anything that you would consider dishonorable. The only thing that I will add is think about how much it will irritate your husband for Ranma to be a girl for a week."
Nabiki left as Nodoka broke down in laughter. 'That does almost make it worthwhile doing, just for that reason alone,' Nodoka thought.
A couple of days later, Nabiki called a meeting at Ucchan's. Ranma, Akane and Nabiki got there first from school and Ukyo showed them upstairs. Ukyo said, "While I really don't want to give up on Ranchan, I have to admit that Akane has the better claim."
Ranma noticed Nabiki narrowing her eyes in anger as Ukyo spoke. Ukyo continued, with a sigh of regret, "The best thing for all of us is for my engagement to Ranchan to get cancelled. I don't want to come between Akane and the man she loves." She looked so sad saying that, that Akane felt sorry for her friend.
"Ukyo, while I will never regret falling in love with Ranchan, I wish it hadn't been at the cost of hurting you," Akane said. Ranma saw Nabiki clench her teeth at hearing her sister say that.
Ukyo smiled wanly, and then hugged Akane. "I'm not going to let some man get in the way of our friendship. It's not your fault I fell for this baka, too," she said.
"Hey, I'm standing right here you two! Do ya want me ta go downstairs so ya can pick on me some more," Ranma said with a laugh.
"No, it's much more fun when you're listening to us doing it!" Akane teased. They heard the sound of people walking upstairs. Shampoo led Ryoga and Nodoka into the room and shut the door.
Nabiki said, "Auntie Nodoka, thanks for agreeing to help us with this. Ryoga, we need your help, too. Ukyo's father is coming for a visit on Saturday and we need you to pretend to be her fiancé. Are you willing to help?"
"Huh, Me? Why'd you ask me?" Ryoga asked in shock, "I'm in love with Shampoo, remember."
Shampoo sighed, and said, "Ryoga, I'm not in love with you. What's it gonna take for ya ta to realize that."
"How about it, Ryoga? Please help us. You already live here in the restaurant and we're at least comfortable with each other. We've worked together long enough that we're friends," Ukyo pleaded. Her eyes begged him to help.
'You know, she really is kinda cute," Ryoga thought, looking at Ukyo. "Why can't Ranma do it? He's supposed to be her fiancé anyway," he said.
"Because my daughter will be busy doing other things," Nodoka said. Ryoga looked at Ranma in surprise and then grinned at the pained look on his face.
"Don't laugh, Ryoga. Mom, your daughter is still gonna pretty much be a tomboy, ya know," Ranma said.
Nodoka said with a sigh, "Yes, I know dear. I really, really know. Since Soun, Kasumi and Tofu are leaving in the morning, I want you to go ahead and change now like we talked about. You need to start practicing again." Ranma sighed and took the bag she handed him. He grumbled as he went into the bathroom to change.
"Ryoga, if ya help us, I'll go out on a date with ya," Shampoo said slowly.
"Shampoo, I know I'm going to regret being this noble, but you don't have to do that. I'll help Ukyo because I like her, not for any other reason," Ryoga said finally.
Ranma stomped out of the bathroom wearing the too cute dress her mother had brought. Akane gasped in surprise. Ranma was wearing the faintest amount of makeup, and there were earrings on her ears. "Mom," Ranma growled, "Didja have ta bring this dress? Ya know how much I hate cute dresses!"
"You need to get used to wearing dresses and everything that goes with them. How do the earrings feel?" Nodoka asked.
Ranma shrugged and said, "They pinch, what didja expect? My ears aren't pierced after all. I know the idea is to make it real clear that I'm a girl, but aren't we going a bit overboard?"
"Maybe a little," Nodoka admitted, "I don't expect you to dress like this all the time he's here, but I want you to make a good first impression."
"I know why I wearing this. I'm not stupid. I just want ta make it plain that I'm uncomfortable, and just a little embarrassed," Ranma said.
"But you look so-o cute like this, Ranchan," Akane said, giggling. Ranma blushed in confusion as Akane walked over and put her arm around the waist of the smaller girl.
"I guess we're all done here," Nodoka said, "Give us a call when your father shows up, Ukyo."
Nabiki added, "You and Ryoga need to spend some time together until he gets here as well. Talk to each other about your likes and dislikes. Get to know each other some. It'll make you look like you're a real couple."
Ranma and Akane waited until everyone had left except Ukyo. They went over to her and just hugged her. "Ucchan, I want ta apologize for what Pop has done ta ya. If there's something we can do ta help make it up ta ya, let us know, okay?" Ranma said.
Ukyo just nodded, and kissed them both on the cheek. "I will, Ranchan, don't worry. I'm over the worst of it anyway. After listening to Kuno for the last two weeks, I'm kind of sick of guys right now," Ukyo said.
"I think we can both relate to that, Ukyo," Akane replied. The two of them left Ukyo's apartment and headed home.
Ranma halted for a second, and then asked, "Hey, Acchan, ya wanna stop for some ice cream before we go home?"
"Sure, Ranchan. That sounds good," Akane replied. They walked down to the ice cream parlor and ordered their treats. Akane giggled at the way Ranma flirted with the counterman while he was taking their orders.
"Ranchan, you're shameless," Akane said as they sat down.
Ranma just smirked at her and replied, "Hey, I didn't see ya turning down the extra scoop, now did I?" Ranma giggled at the expression on Akane's face, and then sobered. "Acchan, we have a problem. You still have someone who thinks she's a rival. Nabiki is jealous of us. I've caught her several times with odd expressions on her face, especially when you and I are together. She's never said anything ta you about us, has she?" Ranma asked.
"She's never said anything to me, of course, not even when all of us were dating. She has always been very private about her feelings. She has seemed to be a lot cooler toward me than normal, though, so you're probably right. I'll talk to Kasumi when she gets back," Akane replied, "She's not likely to give up on you, either. Once she's set her sights on something, she generally doesn't quit."
Ranma frowned and then said, "She's gonna be disappointed this time. We may need to make it clearer to everyone that I belong ta you."
"What do you mean by that?" Akane asked.
Ranma said, "I'll tell ya later. I can't right now. Once this week's over and done with, there's something I need to ask ya, is all." Akane's eyes grew wide at that comment. They finished their ice cream and went home.