Chapter 23: Memories and Broken Hearts

Author's Note: This chapter gets kind of realistically depressing with covering some of Hibari's treatment by her family. So... fair warning for anyone who's had to struggle with similar issues themselves. It hits that point just after the Rie scene.

The room was dark, the sun having set long ago leaving the only glow of a nearby street light to illuminate the room. Shampoo's figure curled up in the corner was easy to miss. As were the gentle sobs coming from her form.

Ranma had just kissed her and should be happy... yet he hadn't kissed her. He'd kissed 'Shui' and so it felt wrong, like everything did when she took on cursed form. Living that lie she'd built up. Because that was what both the boys she loved wanted. They couldn't want a girl like her.

Or at least that was what great grandmother had told her. That she had to become what she was now to win them. There had been no honourable path left. She could fail to gain her husbands and be left an outcast or subject herself to a curse that would probably make even Mousse reject her... to lower herself effectively to male status when she returned home.

Rising from her hidden corner Shampoo moved towards a more dignified seat upon her bed, feeling a need to physically pull herself out of her sobbing in order to think.

Hibari had asked about Shampoo falling for the feminine charms of the boys she was meant to marry. Ranma certainly had the physical side in spades and Hibari was remarkably pretty in either form. Yet Hibari wasn't just pretty. Hibari lived as a girl. Maybe great grandmother was wr- no, it was no use to doubt her clan elder. Cologne knew so much better than Shampoo. 300 years of experience was not to be questioned.

But maybe 'Shui' could be a little more genuine. If that face wasn't such a lie then... then maybe she could accept being loved that way.

First though, Ukyo was right. She was angry at 'Shui' for stealing a kiss from Ranma. Reaching over she grabbed a glass of water and poured it on her head. Looking at this face, it had so much of her in it still and that only made her more uncomfortable. Steeling her resolve she balled her hand in a fist.

Shui punched herself in the face.

Ukyo was switching over to her school shoes when she caught sight of Shui walking over. She was about to give him a friendly hello when she noticed his rather nasty black eye.

"Oof, nasty shiner there, Shui."

The taller Chinese teen just glared at her while switching shoes.

"Listen," Ukyo said in the least aggressive tone she could manage, "Shui, I'm sorry for last night. I didn't mean to lose my temper on you, but... well, you managed to get a kiss from Ranma... and I still haven't. I was more than a little jealous."

"Understand," Shui replied sharply before marching off to class.

Ukyo punched her shoe locker, bending the thin metal door slightly. 'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Honestly Ukyo, You always get angry and try to paper over it later.'

She continued to mentally berate herself as she walked up to class. Entering the classroom proper she was greeted by the sight of Hibari and Ranma both fussing over Shui. The latter was also apologising furiously about something. No doubt the kiss.

Reluctantly walking forward she could make out that Ranma was blaming the move on female hormones. Not the most dignified route in Ukyo's opinion. (And it wasn't like female hormones had ever caused Ukyo to kiss a boy...)

"Is okay Ranma. I can only imagine how confusing for you this is," Shui replied with a gentle smile.

And a batting of eyelashes? Ukyo was pretty sure that was new.

Ranma blushing was also new. Ukyo saw Hibari notice that as well and scowl briefly.

"I have a bit of good news while we figure out the terms of our peace treaty," Hibari announced, nudging herself unsubtly between Ranma and Shui. "The Boxing club are off training this week, so at least we don't have to worry about Shiina trying to get involved."

"For the hundredth time... Akane and I aren't an item," Kousaku groaned as Hiroshi and Daisuke bugged him once more over lunch.

"Come on, you've lived at the Tendos' for over a month and she hasn't killed you yet," Hiroshi said.

"For Akane that's tantamount to a declaration of undying love," Daisuke added.

Kousaku glanced nervously across the room at Akane. She was beautiful, but scared him a bit. She could break his arm without trying if he did anything to upset her. "It'll never happen..."

"Maybe you should try an easier target then, Romeo... I heard a rumour Sayuri's looking for a boyfriend," Daisuke offered.

Kousaku felt a strange shiver at the idea of dating Sayuri he didn't quite understand. It was probably because Akane was so close to Sayuri and so the move was nearly as risky as trying to date Akane herself.

"What about you two?" Kousaku asked. "You keep bugging me about my love life, but neither of you seem to be much better with girls."

Daisuke and Hiroshi exchanged awkward glances before Hiroshi gave a shrug to Kousaku. "We're proud bachelors. You're clearly the romantic type."

Ranma and Shui came to a halt as they finished the warm up jog around the school for gym class. Ukyo was well ahead of the rest of the class, but with her bindings she couldn't exert herself to her full potential, leaving her still far behind the pair. This left Shui and Ranma with a few moments alone. Usually they just made small talk about martial arts, but Ranma could sense things were going to go a bit differently today.

Shui slid in and grabbed Ranma's hand before the pigtailed boy realised what was happening.

"It was very nice kiss," Shui said, red eyes managing to look warm as they gazed at Ranma. "If tongzhi ever want do that again I would be most happy."

Ranma found himself at a loss for words as his heart started to race. There was genuine love in Shui's eyes and Ranma had no idea what to do. Eyes racing about as if he could find an answer sitting on the school grounds somewhere, Ranma realised the girl's gym class wasn't too far away. And Hibari was glaring daggers at him.

"I-I've got Hibari," Ranma replied, having found resolve in the fear of upsetting his cute blonde fiancée.

"Well yes. I want kiss tongzhi Hibari too," Shui answered softly. "Both Hibari and Ranma are wonderful."

Ranma found himself confused and once more Shui caught him by surprise by grabbing his gym t-shirt just below the collar and pulling Ranma into kissing range.

"Oy!" Ukyo shouted as she finally caught up to them. "I doubt the teacher will be too happy with two boys kissing during class."

Ranma and Shui both blushed. On some level both of them had managed to forget their current sex: Ranma due to his memory of having kissed while female; Shui meanwhile so focused on Ranma as to forget everything else for the moment.

Hibari hurried along the fence after Ranma as well as she could. She'd always thought her sense of balance was pretty good, yet she still needed to concentrate to get anywhere close to the speed the handsome boy in front of her was moving. Yet Ranma found time to run backwards periodically in order to check her form.

The blonde was starting to feel out of breath when Ranma came to a stop.

"Not bad. Still got a bit ta catch up ta my sense of balance, but I'd say you've got pops beat," Ranma said as she caught up to him.

"Is that really an impressive feat?" Hibari asked. She'd honestly never seen Genma do much in the way of balancing.

Ranma looked offended for a moment before answering. "He's kinda lazy, yeah... but that's 'cause he's good enough ta be lazy. Trained me after all, that's gotta prove he's pretty good."

Hibari shrugged. "Fair."

Ranma hopped down to the street below and turned around to watch Hibari. A mischievous smile grew on her face and she lept towards him with no effort made to land on her feet so he'd have to catch her. She landed into his arms and wrapped her own around his neck.

"My noble prince," Hibari whispered before reaching up to quickly kiss him.

The peck was so brief Ranma was still getting his own lips into a proper kiss by the time Hibari had pulled away. She couldn't help but smirk at the look of longing on his face.

"I do think you owe me a little explanation," Hibari said as she hopped out of Ranma's arms, but placed a hand on his shoulder so as not to break contact too much.

"What about?" Ranma asked, shivering slightly as Hibari ran a finger down his cheek.

"You were blushing when Shui was flirting today. You also weren't resisting much."

"I was too surprised ta respond!" Ranma replied.

Hibari began walking away in the direction of the Oozora home, shaking her head slightly. "Ranma, you kissed him. In female form... though I'm actually not totally certain if that matters to him. But either way, you knew he had a crush on you before. Now he's convinced he's got a real shot."

Hibari reached a crosswalk and stopped to turn around and look at the boy following after her. "H-he doesn't though... right?"

Ranma hurried forward and grabbed Hibari's hand. "I'm not going ta leave you."

Hibari held onto Ranma's hand as the pair walked through quiet residential streets in silence. Ranma knew he didn't have the best skills when it came to reassuring someone, so he hoped that Hibari would bring up a different topic.

"Shui doesn't need you to though, does he?" Hibari asked suddenly.

"Need me ta what?" Ranma said, thoroughly confused.

"Leave me. There's something in the water over at the Neko Hanten, I swear... I've seen how he looks at me too. I'm rather better at detecting these things than you," Hibari said with a bit of a laugh.

"So, what do we do? He's our friend so I don't wanna be mean... I don't really know how to handle this," Ranma replied nervously.

Hibari was about to reply that they'd let Shui down gently somehow, but then a thought occurred to her. She had picked up a lot of signs that Ranma might not be staying a guy and, while she knew she'd continue to love Ranma either way, she would miss having a handsome hunk around. Shui was definitely a hunk. They also both got along well with Shui.

And surely adding a third person to their already half forbidden love would render it even more defiant of society's demands?

"They say you never know unless you try... who knows maybe Shui can manage to win us both over?" Hibari said.

"R-really? Ya think it's worth tryin'?" Ranma replied, absolutely stunned.

"Having two handsome boys at my beck and call sounds pretty good," Hibari said and stuck her tongue out with a wink.

The day had been rather hot, summer starting to reach its peak. Ukyo had been sweating the whole day and was not looking forward to having to work over her grill today. Especially not with how sweaty her sarashi got. But she had to be open if she wanted to afford her rent.

"Hey, Shui," Hibari said happily. There was also a brief 'yo' from Ranma.

Ukyo decided to peek around the shoe lockers to see what her friends and fiancé were up to.

"Oh! Tongzhi! What can Sh-I do for you?" Shui asked, displaying more of that almost bubbly demeanor Shui had been showing ever since the kiss with Ranma. It had struck Ukyo as almost feminine.

"When ya asked us both on a date before you really meant a romantic date, didn't ya?" Ranma asked.

Shui paled slightly, red eyes flitting back and forth between Hibari and Ranma trying to read their expressions. Where they hostile? Shui still wasn't totally certain about the average Japanese views on polyamory. (And even less certain what Hibari and Ranma's opinions might be.)

"Y-yes?" Shui offered weakly, all bubbliness having firmly vanished.

"And then Mousse went and interrupted," Hibari replied, shaking her head a bit. "How about we try again this Sunday? Just as a trial, but we'll give it a shot since you're not trying to break us apart... unlike some people."

Hibari's head turned slightly, clearly indicating she knew Ukyo was there. The chef slipped back to her side of the lockers to avoid being seen.

"I would love that," Shui replied, jumping right back into maximum bubbliness.

Ukyou couldn't see it, but she could still tell Shui was hugging both of them. Her mood had just nosedived... and there was no way she could produce meals up to her standards when she was this upset. Luckily she knew where she could find a free punching bag right now and stormed off towards the boxing club's training room.

It was almost erie to find the place so dead, but it suited her purposes. Storming over to the heavier punching bag a little further from the door she began a barrage of angry blows.

Why did Ranchan like two feminine boys better than her? *Wham-wham* How was she supposed to fix this? *Wham-wham* Acting more feminine? *Wham-wham* Or more masculine? *Wham-wham* Ranchan hadn't even come to the restaurant yet. *Wham-wham* Th-that jerk! *WHAM!*

The last punch sent the bag swinging wildly and Ukyo had to dodge its return. Panting a bit she knew she was still angry, but was starting to feel a bit better. She prepared to open another barrage when the sounds of a girl sobbing in the hallway reached her ears. Ukyo felt a moment of internal conflict as she wonder if she should go to help. The decision was made for her when the door to the training hall opened and a girl with long dark blue hair stomped in, tears running down her face.

Rie marched over to the ring and slammed her keys down onto the canvas. She then turned around and started to march back out, when she stopped halfway to the door. Pausing only a moment she turned and headed over to the second, lighter, punching bag.

Ukyo was impressed and surprised by Rie's form as she unleashed a flurry of jabs. The tears began flowing once more and after a moment Rie stopped punching to collapse on her knees.

"Shiina... th-that jerk. Why does h-he have to love her?" she muttered between the sobs.

Ukyo felt a sudden bond and walked over to the bluenette, kneeling beside her. "H-hey, it's going to be okay," she said softly.

Rie's legs tried to jump, but with her kneeling position she only managed to tumble away from Ukyo slightly. Ukyo was confused as the other girl seemed to take a moment to find her. There was also no spark of recognition on her face, which surprised Ukyo as she'd figured the grudge match she'd had with Ranma would have been pretty memorable.

"It's Kuonji," Ukyo said. "Kuonji Ukyo. We've met once or twice."

"Oh! Oh yes. I thought I recognised you voice. It was very memorable for some reason... I'm sorry... I don't have my contacts in right now so I can't really see mu-well, at all to be honest."

"You have contacts?" Ukyo asked as she offered the other girl a hand up. (It took Rie a moment to notice Ukyo's hand.)

"Yeah, I've got about the heaviest prescription you can get. Heh, I had to wear total cokebottle glasses as a kid... I-I'm not actually sure why I shared that," Rie said, clearly growing a bit flustered.

"Girls tend to find me comfortable to be around," Ukyo replied with a cocky boyish grin she quickly realised Rie had no idea she was making. "Do you have your contacts around?"

"Oh yes. They're in my locker. It just... it isn't good to wear them when having a major sob session like I was having," Rie said. "Why do you ask?"

"I know a good cure for a broken heart, sugar, but I don't want you to get lost on the way."

Rie dug away at the delicious okonomiyaki before her while Ukyo happily served some other customers. Somehow the chef found time to return and chat with her, the happy mask she wore dropping only slightly.

"So tell me, luv, who was it that broke your heart? I'll give him a good piece of my mind," Ukyo said quietly, so that the other customers wouldn't hear.

Rie sighed. "Shiina... I don't understand it. She's rejected him so many times, but... for whatever reason he's still in love with Hibari."

Ukyo's eye twitched. "H-Hibari... quite the vixen that... girl."

"Oh! That's right... you're after Ranma. I-I still don't quite follow how you two are engaged when you're both boys," Rie said, seeming to grow a bit lost in thought as she tried to work out specifics in her head.

"Heh, it's complicated. But he's a girl half the time now, s-so that makes it easier," Ukyo replied awkwardly.

"Ah. You call him he still... you like him as a boy don't you?" Rie asked, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"I-I... uh," Ukyo muttered, having no good defense.

"I won't judge. I can understand what there is to see in boys more easily than girls after all," Rie replied softly.

Ukyo was still trying to find a better defense when the room began to shake. She knew in an instant it was an earthquake and rushed to turn the gas off on her grill.

When the shaking stopped Ranma let out a sigh of relief at how little damage there'd been. A few closets had popped open and a vase or two had fallen over, but it didn't seem like anywhere near bad enough of an earthquake to cause real property damage.

Glancing around the room he saw: Suzume taking shelter as Seiji's feet, Tsugumi having produced a wok from somewhere to shield herself, Tsubame half under the chabudai table, his pops sitting in the middle of the nearby koi pond as a panda, and Ibari clinging to a pillar in the exterior hallway.

Then of course there was Hibari grasping hold tightly onto his own torso as they sat splayed on the floor. Ranma braced himself for chiding from either of the fathers, but had no interest in breaking her grip on him.

"Oof, quite the mess," Tsugumi said as she looked over the various odds and ends that had fallen out of storage. "Time to get cleaning."

Pouting slightly Hibari let go of Ranma and both teens went to help Tsugumi with cleaning. Suzume also hurried over to lend a hand, though she spent more time being distracted by various odds and ends she found than actually cleaning. Still, she helped more than she hindered (and she was cute enough no one had the heart the shoo her away).

"Who's that?" Suzume asked, pointing to a picture in the photo album she was currently flipping through.

As the two sisters looked down to see who Suzume was pointing at both girl's faces suddenly darkened a bit. Ranma had only a moment to wonder why a photo of a lovely women who looked quite a bit like Tsugumi would sadden them so.

"That's mother Suzume," Tsugumi said softly.

"Oohh. I've only ever seen her dressed up fancy in her picture on the butsudan," Suzume said.

"Ahh, I haven't seen that album in years," Ibari said as he walked back into the room with a panda following behind him. Ibari sat himself down at the chabudai. "I'd worried we'd lost it. Would be good to look through it again."

"Yay!" Suzume cheered, running over with the album to sit in her father's lap.

Ranma, Tsubame, and Hibari also gathered around to see. Tsugumi continued to clean, though by now there wasn't much left. She remembered the album well enough.

"Who's that guy?" Suzume asked when they turned to a photo which showed her mother and a handsome man in his mid twenties.

"Hoho, that's me," Ibari replied happily.

"You looked better without the mustache," Hibari said.

Ibari grumbled, but continued to flip through the album. There were a couple pages of wedding photos. Then soon photos covering Tsugumi's birth. A family holiday followed. Tsubame's birth was next. A toddler Tsugumi sat holding a nearly new born Tsubame in one photo. A couple pages later revealed Hibari's birth. Once more there was a picture of Tsugumi holding the newborn, the eldest Oozora daughter was now four or five by Ranma's reckoning. She looked thrilled to have another sibling, though little Tsubame seemed a bit less joyful.

What really got Ranma's attention though was all the pictures with signs reading 'it's a boy' and Hibari wrapped in blue constantly. The next few pages were clearly dedicated to baby pictures of Hibari, far more than either of her sisters had received (though Tsugumi found her way into many of these photos having apparently already decided she wanted to look after her younger sibling). Glancing around the table Ranma was sure Tsubame looked bitter that Hibari was the subject of so many photos while the blonde herself was making faces at the boyish clothes she'd been made to wear.

As the photos and years went by Hibari continued to be dressed as a young boy, until they reached one photo from a summer festival. The three sisters were dressed in yukata, but from the patterns it was clear Tsubame's was a boy's yukata while Hibari wore a girl's design. A second photo from the same night showed Hibari with her parents. Ibari was clearly uncomfortable with Hibari's outfit, while her mother seemed perfectly happy.

"I should never have given in," Tsubame muttered.

"I don't blame you dear," her father said. "You were still just a child and Hibari... was putting on quite the tantrum."

The blonde just rolled her eyes.

Ranma was surprised to see that a couple pages later Hibari and Tsugumi were in a picture having what he could only guess was a tea party with various dolls around them. Hibari wore a dress much too large for her which had to have been Tsugumi's. Ibari's face scrunched up once more and he quickly turned the page.

Then they reached Suzume's birth. Tsugumi once more made sure to pose holding her new youngest sibling and this time there were photos of the other two holding the newest Oozora too. They went through a few baby photos of Suzume when Ibari paused, apparently afraid to turn the page. Suddenly Hibari stood up.

"I've seen enough for today," she said before storming off.

Tsubame's eyes fell as well. "I have some homework to do."

As Tsubame left as well the mustachioed father of the Oozora family took a deep breath and flipped the page. The whole family were clad in black. Except for one missing member. Ranma saw a lone tear running down Ibari's face as he continued through the album. Suzume, who was barely a toddler in the photos, showed only a slight bit of sadness (more out of empathy than memory). Ranma understood that she must not have remembered her mother enough to mourn her.

What struck Ranma next was a few pages where young Hibari (who was now nearly the spitting image of present day Suzume) wore boy's clothes, a broken smile, and dead eyes. Then a couple pages later the blond stopped appearing in the album. Ranma wondered why, until one page had a photo of the other three Oozora girls dressed in kimonos having a picnic under the cherry blossoms. Except there was a fourth child mostly cut out of the frame.

Ranma felt a bit sick at how the album continued with Hibari never photographed, but for a few times where what was almost certainly her elbow or leg. The best photo of her was one where she was barely visible as a reflection in the mirror.

Ranma stood up. "I should work on my own studies."

He headed up to the second floor area, not with school on his mind but rather Hibari. Reaching her room he was surprised and confused to find it empty. Worrying where she could have gone he felt relieved when the sound of music drifted down from the Oozoras' rooftop patio.

Hurrying over to the outside staircase here heard Hibari's emotional voice begin to sing while a guitar sound played.

«I tried to laugh about it, cover it all up with lies,» she sang out in English.

Ranma rushed up the stairs, not quite following the lyrics as he did so. English still wasn't his strongest subject after all. Hibari stood on the patio with a guitar strapped over her shoulder as she was belting out the lyrics in the direction of the family room where her father no doubt was still sitting.

«Now I would do most anything; to get you back by my side, But I just kept on laughing, hiding the tears in my eyes. Because boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. Boys don't cry,» she sang as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Having reached the end of the song Hibari lifted one hand to her face and began to sob some more. Ranma hurred over and brought her into a soft hug (not certain how fragile her guitar might be).

"I-I tried you know. When mom died... dad said I had to be strong for my sisters and I did everything I could to be a perfect son... I never cried. I did everything I was told... and it was horrible," she said between the sobs.

Ranma moved one of his hands up to her head and brushed her warm red hair with his fingers. He froze for a split second as he processed that and suddenly it made sense why it she had only just started to play despite having left so much sooner than he did. It must have taken a couple minutes to get the instant nyannichuan ready. He supposed she must have needed to get as far away as possible from whatever masculinity she had right now.

Hibari lifted her face so that her big blue eyes stared into his own. "Why can't dad love me for who I am? A-and... why do I keep thinking he'll come around someday?"

"I don't know what else ya can do... everybody wants their parents to love 'em," Ranma said softly. He then leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead.

They stood there quietly for a few moments until Hibari pulled back a bit. The position with the bass guitar between wasn't the most comfortable after all. Ranma's eyes flitted down to the instrument as the moved apart.

"I didn't know ya knew how ta play guitar too," Ranma said.

"Bass, technically," Hibari replied with a slight chuckle. "It was actually dad's idea. He thought it was a manly instrument that it would be good for me to learn. Pfft... like that did anything."

"Well it's cool either way. I don't know much a anythin' about music. Playin' an instrument always seemed like fun."

Hibari looked down at her bass and smiled. She removed the strap from her shoulder and placed it over Ranma's.

"Hey, what are ya doin'?"

"I'm going to give you a lesson. You've picked up my tutoring for school pretty quickly. I bet you could learn how to play an instrument easily too," Hibari replied with a smile.

Seeing her face genuinely light up at the idea of having something else to teach him, even through her eyes were still red from tears, Ranma knew he wanted to cooperate. (Plus he did honestly think it seemed like fun to know how to play an instrument.)