** I do not own Ranma 1/2. That masterpiece is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. **
** Thank you for the reviews. I read all of them and take everything to heart. Thank you for the compliments and any criticisms. They definitely help me and inspire the direction of the story. **
Ranma walked into Ucchan's, pushing a sleeping Megami in her stroller.
"Ranma! Let me help you," Ukyo called as she ran over to hold the door for Ranma to push the stroller through, pausing a second to gush at the baby.
"Thanks, Ukyo," Ranma smiled at his friend. Ranma pushed the stroller over to the counter, then took his usual seat right near the grill.
Ukyo returned to her usual position behind the counter. "What will it be, sugar?" Ukyo asked as she readied herself.
Ranma chuckled. "I'll have whatever your special is today," Ranma told her.
"One special coming up!" Ukyo exclaimed as she turned to her grill and started to prepare the order.
"Hey Ranma," Ryoga said as he entered the front of the restaurant from the back.
"Hey Ryoga. What's up man?" Ranma smiled at Ryoga.
"Just living my best life with the best girl," Ryoga smirked at Ukyo.
"Wow, man. You got soft on me fast," Ranma laughed.
Ryoga shrugged. "When you're as happy as we are, you'll understand," he told Ranma. "How's Megami today?"
"She's good. Her fever is completely gone and she's definitely feeling better," Ranma said, quite happy with the report.
"That's amazing, dude," Ryoga said genuinely with a smile.
"Yeah, it really is. I was really scared me there for a moment," Ranma replied, then paused for a brief second. "I have to confess, I came here with a bit of an agenda. I really need to talk to you guys. I may have done something that's either completely brilliant or incredibly stupid," Ranma started.
"Oh, no. What did you do?" Ukyo asked as Ryoga shook his head at Ranma.
"I.." Ranma tried to find the words, "told Akane I loved her and then I kissed her."
Ukyo and Ryoga's eyes widened. "Is she not still dating Kaze?" Ryoga asked.
"Yeah, I know. That wasn't very respectful of me. I couldn't help it. It's just been hitting me lately that.." Ranma looked at his friends, "we are supposed to be together. Kaze is great and has become like a brother to me, since he's Megami's uncle, but I can't just ignore what I'm feeling for his sake."
Ukyo smiled with pity in her expression. "Oh, Ranma honey. How does Akane feel?" she asked as she plated Ranma's order and placed it in front of him.
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Well.." Ranma started, "When I kissed her, she pushed me away and left. I have seen her since and she's been congenial, but we haven't really been able to talk about what happened. Rather, it's been difficult to get her to talk to me about it. I think she's avoiding me."
"Oh, man. That's rough," Ryoga sympathized.
"What are you going to do about it, sugar?" Ukyo asked as she leaned on the counter.
"I'm going to prove my feelings for her are real, like I told her I would. I am going to show her that she can trust me again and that I won't let her down the way I did before. I'm going to show her that I'm the man that she should be with," Ranma said with determination.
Ukyo smiled at Ranma. "You have spent a long time healing from a lot of trauma. It's good to see you are ready to get back out there, but what if she doesn't return these feelings, Ranma? I mean you did put her through a lot and she's been dating someone else for quite a while now."
Ranma looked to the floor. "Then I will have to accept it, but I have to at least try," he told them.
"What are you going to do about it, Ranma? How do you plan on proving yourself to Akane after all this time?" Ryoga asked.
Ranma chuckled. "I have no idea. It was a lot easier with Miyuki. We just clicked and both wanted the same thing. I didn't have to go out of my way to prove my feelings with her. I have no idea what I'm doing here. This is all new to me. Any ideas?" he asked.
Ryoga and Ukyo looked at each other and chuckled lightly as they shrugged their shoulders.
"Hey, Akane?" Nabiki appeared in her sister's bedroom doorway.
"Yes, Nabiki?" Akane asked, looking up from her homework at her desk.
"You have a moment?" Nabiki asked.
Akane turned her seat to face her sister. "What's up?" she asked, almost annoyed.
"Just checking in on my baby sister. What's new?" Nabiki said nonchalantly.
Akane raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't check in, Nabiki. What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously.
Nabiki acted surprised. "Oh, how you hurt me so, Akane. Don't you think that I care about what's going on in my sister's life and her wellbeing?" Nabiki asked dramatically as Akane's eyebrow remained raised. "Okay, okay. I saw Kaze when I was on my way home from the ice cream parlour and he's concerned about you," Nabiki admitted.
"Why is he concerned?" Akane asked.
"He said you didn't seem yourself since you came back from Ranma's the other day. He said you were more intense. Did something happen?" Nabiki asked.
Akane sighed. "I don't want to talk about it," Akane told her sister, as she looked away.
"So, something did happen. This seems juicy. Come on, Akane. Tell me!" Nabiki pleaded.
"Nabiki, I'm not going to tell you something you can use to exploit me," Akane said sternly.
"Wow! It's that good? I promise," Nabiki said as she raised her right hand, "that I will not use whatever secret you tell me here today for financial gain."
Akane chuckled. "If I tell you, then it's real and I risk someone else finding out," Akane told Nabiki.
"Akane. You have to tell me. It's very clear something happened and I'm obviously not going to let it go until I know what it is," Nabiki paused as she pondered for a moment. "Did you and Ranma kiss?" Nabiki asked. Akane flinched and looked away. "You did! I knew it! Wow, that's crazy! How did it happen? Did you like it? Are you going to get engaged to Ranma again?"
Akane furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Nabiki with a commanding expression, "You will not breathe a word of this, Nabiki. I didn't kiss Ranma, he kissed me, but I pushed him away. He says he loves me and wants to be with me, but I'm dating Kaze. We didn't talk about it. I left and have avoided talking to Ranma about it since."
Nabiki smiled widely. "Wow. What do you want, little sister?" she asked.
"My head is telling me that I should absolutely not even entertain the idea of being with Ranma, but my heart did somersaults when he kissed me and even more acrobatics when he told me he wanted to be with me. I know the smart choice is to distance myself from him and stay with Kaze. Kaze has treated me so respectfully and he's incredibly kind." Akane paused for a moment. "Maybe it's just because we haven't kissed yet, but I've never felt that with Kaze. I don't know. I have a date with Kaze tonight and we are supposed to have our first kiss. Maybe that will clear things up for me."
Nabiki put her hand on Akane's shoulder. "You'll figure it out. What should I tell Kaze when he asks?" Nabiki asked.
"Nothing! Just tell him I wouldn't tell you anything," Akane demanded.
Nabiki nodded. "Sure, Akane. I'll keep your secret," Nabiki confirmed.
"I mean it, Nabiki!" Akane warned her sister.
Ranma sat in his daughter's room while she napped. He often found himself sitting there in the quiet while she was sleeping. It was soothing to hear her very light snoring and being near her sleeping form brought him peace. It was a great spot to think and regroup. He picked up Miyuki's picture a little less these days, but today he needed her.
"It's not fair. Why did you have to leave me?" Ranma paused. "Why did I have to wait to find out about Megami until after you had already died? I could have been there for you. At least I could have had more time with you if you told me and stayed where I could help you. I could have prepared myself for fatherhood. I love that kid more than I ever knew possible, but she needs more than just her idiot teenaged father; she needs her mother. She looks just like you, too." Ranma took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and felt a tear fall down his face. He slowly opened his eyes again and looked back at the picture. "I miss you so much. No one else understood me and what I was going through the way you did. Absolutely no one understood how I could fall in love with you so easily and so fast. They didn't see the way you looked at me or feel that deep connection that seemed to just appear the moment we met. I never felt what I felt with you with anyone else." Ranma placed the picture back down on the nightstand and looked away. "I told Akane I love her. I do. I do love her. I always have. I'm not sure if it's as intense as what I felt with you, but I do know that I love her and that I need her. She's the one I should be with. I've wasted so much time just sitting here with a void in my heart where you used to be. That sounds so selfish, but I'm not trying to replace you with her. I just know that if I lose her to another man now, that I'm going to regret it forever. I don't know if she'll ever fully trust me again, and that's completely fair after everything, but I have committed myself to proving myself to her." Ranma looked away to the floor. "You always helped me sort things out when I could talk to you. I wish you could help me with this. I need to live again and stop grieving." Ranma lifted his head to look at his daughter.
"Oh, Ranma.." Nodoka said from the doorway.
Ranma looked sheepishly toward his mother. "You heard that?" he asked as his cheeks began to turn red.
Nodoka walked into the room and kneeled next to Ranma. "Ranma, you're right. You deserve love and Megami deserves to see you happy. It's very sad what happened to her mother, but life keeps moving forward. There isn't any rush, though. You have a lot on your plate right now." Nodoka told her son in her most soothing voice.
Ranma nodded and smiled at his mother. "Thanks, Mom."
Nodoka smiled back. "So, you love Akane?" she asked.
Ranma's cheeks turned a much darker shade of red. "Umm.. you heard that too?" Ranma looked at the floor.
Nodoka beamed. "I think it's wonderful, son. I hope you can win her over, but I don't think it's going to be easy. She has spent months moving on after the hurt you caused her," Nodoka said to her son.
Ranma half smiled. "I know. I'm going to do everything I can. I can't lose her, too," He said, his eyes watering. Nodoka noticed, despite Ranma's attempts to avoid letting her see, and pulled her son into a hug.
"Son, you are a kind, generous, wonderful young man. You've made some pretty big mistakes and it will take work to overcome those, but I have all the faith in the world that you can do it. You have worked very hard with Dr. Sato and have already made significant progress," Nodoka reassured her son as she pulled back from the hug and looked him in the eye. "Any woman would be lucky to be with you, Son."
Ranma smiled at his mother. "You're biased," he chuckled.
Nodoka shrugged. "Maybe I am a little. Before you start getting back out into the dating world, though, Ranma, we have to have a talk about something else," Nodoka looked at her son sternly.
"What is it?" Ranma asked, confused.
"As much as I love my beautiful granddaughter, you're still young and still very much not married. We need to talk about protection," Nodoka told him.
Ranma's face instantly turned as red as a tomato. "Mom, we really don't need to talk about that," he told her, almost pleading while his eyes were wide with fear.
"Well, there's an entire nursery here that tells me we probably should," Nodoka smiled at her clearly embarrassed son.
"They teach us all about it in school," Ranma protested.
"Then why didn't you use any?" Nodoka asked with authority.
Ranma sighed, defeated. "I'm sorry, Mom. I don't have any real excuses except that it just never dawned on me that a celestial being of any kind could become pregnant by a human. I didn't ask, but I also didn't realize it was going to happen. It wasn't planned or anything. It happened so fast," Ranma looked away.
Nodoka nodded, accepting the explanation. "Now you know better," she said to him as she reached into her pocket and handed him a small box of condoms.
Ranma's face couldn't get any more red at this point. "Mom, please. This is so embarrassing," Ranma said as he looked down at his feet, not reaching for the box of condoms.
"Remember how embarrassing this was the next time you have to make a decision about protection, Son," Nodoka nodded at her son as she put the box on his lap and stood up. "Now, you should probably be working on your homework. You'll be graduating soon. You mustn't fall behind in your studies."
Ranma nodded as Nodoka left Megami's room. Ranma stood up, placing the box of condoms on the nightstand with a shudder. He looked over at his daughter one more time and leaned over her crib. "Sleep tight, sweet pea. Daddy loves you." Ranma went to leave the room, then remembered the box of condoms. His blush returned as he grabbed the box so that he didn't leave it in an infant's bedroom. I can't believe she gave these to me. That was so humiliating.
"Hey, Ryoga?" Ukyo called from behind the counter at Ucchan's. Ukyo had just finished cleaning and Ryoga was locking the front door.
He turned to look at Ukyo. "Yes, my dear?" Ryoga smiled wide at her as he spoke.
"It's been an entire year since we made this relationship official. What are we going to do about that?" Ukyo smiled, as she knew Ryoga had planned something just based on his anxious behaviour all day long.
Ryoga walked to the side of the counter and lifted a stereo. He pressed play and a romantic song started to fill the room. He walked over to Ukyo, extended his hand and asked, "Would you like to dance with me?"
Ukyo beamed with happiness. "You're darn right I would like to dance with you," she told him with a giggle.
Ryoga led her into a clear space, put his left arm around her waist and lifted her left hand with his right. They started to sway with the music.
Ukyo put her head down on his shoulder. "This is nice, Ryoga," she said with a sigh. Ryoga lifted her hand and spun her around. When her spin was complete and she was again facing Ryoga, Ryoga let go of her hand and stopped moving. "What's wrong?" Ukyo asked him.
Ryoga gave Ukyo a sly smile as he lowered himself on to one knee. Ukyo gasped. Ryoga looked up at Ukyo. "Ukyo Kuonji, I spent most of my days lost in this world and I don't just mean geographically. I don't know how I ever got by without you, because I didn't realize just how lost I was until we fell in love. You have lifted me up and made my life one not only worth living but something I can be proud of. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. Ukyo Kuonji, will you make me the happiest man alive and become my bride? Will you marry me?" Ryoga removed a small ring box from his pocket and presented it to Ukyo.
Ukyo gasped as Ryoga opened the box. The ring was simple, elegant and perfect. It was exactly the kind of ring Ukyo always imagined her future husband presenting to her. Ukyo's eyes started to fill with tears as she nodded her head. "Yes! I absolutely will marry you!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Ryoga's neck while he began to stand and remove the ring from the box. Ukyo and Ryoga embraced and kissed with a newfound intensity. They broke apart as Ukyo presented her hand to him and he slipped the ring onto her finger, fitting perfectly. "It's beautiful."
"Not as beautiful as you," Ryoga smiled at his future bride as she wrapped her arms around him once again. She leaned back to look at him, then planted another quick kiss on his lips. "'til death do us part," Ryoga said as he smiled bigger than he had ever smiled before, so much so that his cheeks started to hurt. "Forever." Ukyo responded. Ryoga and Ukyo spent the remainder of the night in pure bliss, forgetting the outside world for the moment.
Kaze reached his arm behind Akane and around her shoulders as they sat at the park bench. He smiled down at her as the sun began to set in front of them. "I couldn't think of a more romantic setting, could you?" Kaze asked Akane.
Akane stiffened. This is it. He's going to expect to kiss me soon. I mean.. this is what I wanted, isn't it?
"Akane?" Kaze sought her attention. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Akane nodded and smiled at Kaze. "I am. It's a lovely evening," she reassured him as she placed her hand on his. Kaze leaned in closer to her. Ok, Akane, this is it. You've been dating this man for months and you haven't even kissed him. It's now or never. Akane closed her eyes as Kaze's face came closer to hers. Kaze paused, causing Akane's eyes to shoot open quickly. "What's wrong?" she asked, worried he had changed his mind.
"I want to make sure you're okay. You still seem a little off. Are you still okay if I kiss you? Do you want to kiss me?" Kaze asked.
Akane smiled. He's so sweet. How can I be questioning my feelings for him? "Yes, Kaze. I would like to kiss you very much," Akane said with a hint of sweetness in her voice and a slight chuckle at how cute the sentiment was. Kaze returned her smile and leaned in close. Akane could feel his breath on her lips for a few moments, as they lightly quivered in the anticipation of what she knew to expect. Finally, the gap was closed and Kaze's lips were on hers but ever so gently. It wasn't full of passion, like when Ranma kissed her. It was sweet and soft and not in any way what Akane was expecting. Oh, no. My heart. It's fluttering with Kaze, too. What does this mean? Do I.. do I have feelings for both of them? Kaze pulled away from the kiss and looked down at Akane with the most charming look she'd ever seen.
"Well, Akane, did you like it enough for me to do it again?" Kaze asked with a smirk.
Akane returned his gaze and nodded almost sheepishly as she leaned back in to kiss Kaze. What am I getting myself into? Their lips met again. Akane wrapped her arms around Kaze's neck and leaned deeper into the kiss. Wow.