Chasing the Rainbow

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.

Author's Notes: folks took that declaration in the last end notes much better than I anticipated, and I want to thank you all for being so reasonable. This fanfic has received nothing but positive reception since it was created, and I'm pleased that you're all enjoying it.

Chapter 3: Making Arrangements

Ranma unconsciously touched his lips with the tip of his tongue yet again... it was as if he could still taste Shampoo. Today had been… well, today had been many things, but foremost among them, today had been enjoyable. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't help but think that if this was the way things were going to be from now on, he was going to enjoy this 'give the other girls a try' thing. He couldn't recall the last time he'd had so much fun without someone getting angry or hurt (the latter usually him). But he couldn't forget that he owed Ukyo and Kodachi the same chance that he was giving Shampoo. Still, he really had enjoyed today… to the point that he was already going over it in his head to determine what he could take from it in order to apply it to his first date with Ukyo…

Realizing he had reached Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, he stopped and blinked in mild confusion. He must have really been out of it to not notice how much time had passed. Staring through the window, he could see that Ukyo didn't have any customers, but he didn't step towards the door. While he knew that things would come out eventually, he wanted to be as subtle as he could for as long as he could. He didn't want people prying into his sudden dramatic change in behavior. And that meant he needed to think about what he was going to do once he stepped foot inside Ukyo's place; as he'd just seen with Shampoo, simply agreeing to go on a date with one of the girls was suspicious, but they'd be too happy to think much about it. Taking the initiative and actually being the one to ask them for a date, on the other hand, was just asking for trouble. None of them would fail to realize that something was up the instant he did that.

Ranma needed to think about how he was going to handle this; Shampoo had been easy, as she was a very direct girl- Kodachi would be the same way, when he saw her. Ukyo, on the other hand, was a rather subtle and withdrawn (comparatively speaking) girl. Ironically, it was that quiet lack of pressure (in relative terms) that had made him so at-ease around her back before he had ever thought to give her a chance… and now that his eyes had been opened, it was going to make giving her a chance harder than it should be. Finally, having determined something that could tentatively be called a plan, Ranma steeled himself and pushed open the door.

"Hello, and welcome to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, Ranma." Was the unenthusiastic –bordering on tired and forced-sounding – greeting that he received, Ukyo looking directly at him, but not looking especially happy.

"Heya, Ucchan… you're still mad about that business with the Reversal Jewel, aren't you?" Ranma replied slowly and glumly.

"Gee, what do you think? My fiancé only made a fool outta me and almost ended up getting married to another woman, after all…"

"Aw, geeze, Ucchan, I'm sorry, alright? I know I acted like an idiot… but can ya blame me? Shampoo's been chasing me like a hound outta hell for, what, almost a year now? 'Course I'm gonna get suspicious when she suddenly switches around and starts telling me she hates me. You know I'd have done exactly the same thing if you'd been in her place!"

A spatula clinked onto the floor, Ukyo's expression went glassy, and Ranma's own expression briefly flickered into 'oh crap' mode before he managed to control it again. That comment could have been taken either positively or negatively, and with his luck, he'd have bet on the negative interpretation. His crossdressing fiancée bent down and retrieved it, toying with the edge and not looking at him. "That still doesn't change the fact you made an idiot outta me." She said softly.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, Ucchan." Ranma promised, feeling a surge of relief that she wasn't going to explode over something he hadn't meant to be insulting.

"I've heard that before." She muttered.

"No, really- tell me what you want me to do, an' I'll do it. Anything you want." Ranma insisted. This was it; the perfect bit of bait to dangle. Now to see if she'd bite…

"Anything…? How about taking me to the movies tomorrow, then?" Ukyo answered sarcastically. Oh, she'd heard this before- albeit she'd heard other boys using it on other girls. She loved him, but she knew that Ranma was almost as shy as Ryoga was- though he didn't combine it with that bungling thick-headedness that made her want to just pound on him until his skull was dented.

Ranma made a show of looking horrified, then adopted a resigned expression and shrugged in defeat. "If that's what you want… when do you want me to pick you up?" Mentally, he bit back a curse- man, could he get more obvious if he tried? She had to pick up on this!

Ukyo promptly dropped the spatula again. Had he just…? Did he really…? Then she realized that he was staring at her, as if he actually did expect her to reply, and her mind raced as she tried to come up with an answer. "Uh… tomorrow morning, maybe? After the lunchtime rush?" She finally answered, stammering a little in her shock.

Suddenly there was a loud click as one of the tables suddenly folded and swirled to reveal one Tsubasa Kurenai, who held both a camera and tape recorder with a grin on his face, "Ranma's going on a date? Now what would the other girls think?" He placed a finger to his chin in mock thought, then grinned wickedly at them. "Unless you want to make a deal for these?" He smirked.

"Tsu-ba-sa!" Ukyo growled, reaching for her battle spatula, only to blink in surprise when Ranma held an arm out in front of her. "Ranma-honey?" She asked in confusion.

"It won't do anything. I know what his type are like- I live with one, after all."

"Don't be insulting." Tsubasa frowned, his usual gravelly, scratchy voice taking a new raspiness.

"Whaddya want?" Ranma asked tiredly.

Tsubasa gave him his best wicked grin... which looked kind of stupid on such a convincing crossdresser. "Simple. I want what you have."

"You can't have Ucchan." Was Ranma's immediate response, prompting Ukyo to blink in delighted wonder and whisper his name.

"...If you'd let me finish?" Was Tsubasa's deadpan reply. "I wasn't asking for 'dear' Ukyo- she's already made her feelings quite clear on the subject... or have you forgotten what happened when I first followed her here?" He asked sarcastically.

"Then why did you work for me when I made that business trip to the beach?" Ukyo asked, sounding somewhat confused... and maybe a little hurt? No, Ranma had to be imagining that.

Tsubasa shrugged. "Same reason I sell those photos of Ranma, and Ryoga, and Mousse and Kuno- I needed the money. These outfits aren't cheap, y'know."

At that, Ranma groaned. "Great, as if Nabiki wasn't bad enough... wait, whaddya take photos of those losers for? I'm the only one with a Nyanniichuan curse."

"Who said anything about the curse? I take photos of you." Tsubasa replied. "That's part of the reason I'm doing this. Look at us- I mean, look at us. I'm an ordinary guy who likes to dress up, and decided to start wearing women's clothing as a sign of my love for Ukyo. Result? Not only do I have damn guys hitting on me, no girl wants anything to do with me- they keep calling me a freak. You, on the other hand, are a sex-changing raised-by-wolves martial artist fiend. Result? Just about every girl who's seen you wants into your pants. You wouldn't believe how much I can make selling juicy photos of you at St. Hebereke's School for Girls, or even at Furinkan High." He explained.

Ranma was caught somewhere between wanting to hit Tsubasa for insulting him and disbelief at this revelation of his popularity. Ukyo, on the other hand, seemed torn between smugness, surprise and jealousy. Finally, he found his voice. "...So what's that got to do with me?"

"What are you, stupid? I want to use your rep with the girls to my advantage!" Tsubasa gloated.

"...I don't follow." Ranma admitted.

"Me neither." Ukyo added.

"Look, it's simple; most of the girls around Nerima would be quite willing to do you a favor if they thought it would get them into your good books. They don't have a chance in hell against Ukyo or Akane or Shampoo, but they like to delude themselves into thinking that they do. If you'll promise to set me up on a date with a pretty girl, you've got my word that I'll make this stuff disappear so well that even that old sleazebag won't be able to find it. So, do we have a deal?" Tsubasa asked.

What choice did he have? Refuse and Nerima would become a battleground, again. Besides, this should at least get the master of disguise out of his hair, "All right, deal. I'll find you after I see if there's any girl's willing to do me a favor."

Tsubasa nodded. "If I don't find you first. Have a nice day."

With that he waltzed out and turned the corner, Ranma knowing that if he looked outside the guy would have vanished into thin air as he whistled through his teeth.

"Well damn, this is going to be interesting. See ya Ucchan, might as well get back to the madhouse before they start hunting me down."

Ukyo waved as Ranma walked out and casually started roof hopping back to the Tendo Dojo, before the girl started dancing around the store in glee.

Meanwhile Ranma was shaking his head, "Great, a date with Ucchan but first I need to find a girl who would be willing to go on a date with a cross-dresser, just great." He landed in front of the Tendo Dojo and shook his head, "Meh, deal with it later." He walked in and grimaced as Nabiki all but materialized in front of him, Akane not far behind her.

"About time you showed up Ranma, Akane was starting to get worried about you."

Akane scowled. "I wasn't worried about the jerk!" She turned her glare to Ranma, her tone containing her usual anger, along with a faint hint of suspicion, "Where were you? You just vanished after you left at breakfast, you even missed lunch!" She narrowed her eyes, "You were on a date with one of the other girls, weren't you?"

"Now, now Akane, I'm sure Ranma wouldn't do anything like that. Right Ranma?"

Nabiki's voice slid over him like oil, causing Ranma to suppress a shiver. Still, he had to respond before Akane jumped to conclusions. Mentally he praised his foresight at having spent the time getting home figuring out a list of half-truths to tell anyone who asked him what he'd done.

"Of course not. When have I ever?" He answered. "I mean, yes, Shampoo did try to ask me on one... but when doesn't she do that?" He asked rhetorically. "And, of course, Mousse was chasing her, saw her trying to latch onto me, broke out the swords and started chasing me. I spent an hour or so beating him down before he finally quit."

Akane sniffed, "I bet that Chinese hussy was so grateful she leapt into your arms, right? Bet you enjoyed that."

"By that time, we were practically on opposite sides of the city. I didn't see her again afterwards." Ranma replied. Okay, that was lying through his teeth, compared to the relative half-truths of before. Still, one blatant lie amidst so many incomplete truths would be swallowed with the rest. "No sooner do I have Mousse out cold, then someone dumps a bucket of cold water out their window and hits me with it. Then Maomolin shows up and I take off. By the time I shake him, I'm hungry, so I grabbed a bite to eat at Yoshinoya's." He finished, then waited to see if they would buy it.

This had been the best he could come up with- the only good part was that it was simple, relatively close to the truth, and nobody would contradict him. Before he and Shampoo had left him, Shampoo had used a Xi Fa Xiang Gao to erase Mousse's memories of having heard her reveal Ranma had willingly accepted her offer of a date- Ranma had been skeptical that it would work, but Shampoo had assured him that only removing that minor detail would make it much harder for him to recall, not that he would be inclined to attempt to remember it anyway. True, that left Maomolin, but none of them would be stupid enough to talk to him.

He fought the urge to sigh in relief when Akane visibly relaxed- evidently, she'd bought it. Nabiki looked momentarily upset (annoyed at having been denied her amusement, perhaps?) and then smirked again.

"Are you sure you didn't go anywhere else…?" She purred, Akane stiffening at the insinuations.

Ranma shrugged casually. "I stopped at Ucchan's on the way here- I wanted to apologize for that mess with the Reversal Jewel." That was, while not the whole truth, true enough that he didn't see why they would suspect it.

And he was right, as Akane promptly relaxed again. "Well, as long as it was just you going to apologize, I suppose its fine."

Nabiki giggled. "My, Akane, trusting your fiancé's words so readily? Sounds like you're warming up to him."

Akane blushed while Ranma silently wondered how the counterparts that married Nabiki managed to put up with her.

"S-shut up Nabiki, it's not like that!"

"Yeah, Akane trusts me plenty." Ranma replied unthinkingly. For this he was rewarded with a faint blush and a smile that made his heart pound hard and sent a surge of guilt coursing through his veins. She was so going to be hurt by this… and even if it was saving her from greater pain in the future, that still made him hurt.

"Real smooth lover boy, but somehow I don't think you're getting a date out of that. Of course, I could arrange something if you're interested..."

"I'd sooner try to squeeze an actual lesson out of the old freak. It'd cost less." Ranma grumbled.

Nabiki shrugged, obviously unperturbed by the reply. "Suit yourself, but the way you're going, I wouldn't hold my breath about Akane leaping into your arms and saying 'I Love You' any time soon." With that she walked off.

Ranma watched her go, then, when he was sure that nobody was listening, answered her question. "Maybe she's not capable of doing that to me. Maybe if we hadn't been forced together, she might have done that already. But I think it's too late now." That said, he wiped at his face, lest there be suspicious hints of moisture in his eyes, then turned and headed in the direction of the attic; he wanted to make sure that the Eye of Zygyg was still hidden. Paranoid, maybe, but he knew his father wouldn't think twice about stealing it to pawn it, no matter how little it might turn out to be worth something. To say nothing of what sort of explosions would occur if it was discovered he was hiding magic.

What remained of the day passed without incident. After hiding the Eye again, Ranma spent an hour or so going over his meager belongings -well, meager compared to, say, Akane or Soun- aiming to pick out some suitable clothes for the next day. Hiding them so as to not arouse suspicion would not be a problem. Ranma knew more than a few basics of disguise and camouflage, which was one of the reasons why he had so easily adopted the usage of his female form as a mask (admittedly, he wasn't given much choice in the matter). Also, while Ranma wasn't as good at it as Mousse, he did know some basics of Hidden Weapons- his father had found it most useful for concealing items of questionable origin, and had passed his knowledge in it down to his son, admittedly more from example then anything.

Not for the first time, Ranma found himself pausing and reflecting, with no small amount of worry and dismay, just how much like his father he really was- that sequence in the Eye had been distressing in many ways, but Akane ruthlessly comparing him to Genma had been amongst the things that had bitten most deeply. While admittedly no saint himself, he knew well enough that his father was lazy, selfish, and hypocritical- turning out to be just like him was one of the last things he wanted. Hence why he generally stuck so firmly to his word once given; anything to be unlike Genma Saotome, whose willingness to make and break deals had become a bitter joke in Nerima.

Once he'd found something he considered suitable, he spent some time practicing his daily katas. At some point, Akane came into the dojo and began doing her exercises as well. Ranma watched her at of the corner of his eye; he recognized each and every kata and exercise that she performed. Come to think of it, they were the only ones he'd ever seen her perform. But… why? Why did she never alter her routine, Ranma wondered? She saw him improvise his own katas often enough, she had seen the training for both the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and the Bakusai Tenketsu, so why didn't she try and copy that training? Was it simply because she didn't want to make the necessary sacrifices, to undergo the difficulty that such an upgrade in training regimes required? Or was Ranma being too hard on her? After all, learning to study and imitate martial arts was something that had been hammered into him (rather literally, sometimes) since his early days, and it wasn't as though Akane had received the same (dubious) benefit.

Still, though, now that he was really thinking about it, the contradiction kind of baffled him. On the one hand, Akane hated to be treated as anything less than an equal in regards the martial arts, even though it was frequently made clear that she was on the lower tiers of capability. She may not have been lacking in skill or talent, she just wasn't up to the same level as Ranma himself, or even any of her rivals. Admittedly that was because Ranma was frequently involved in actual combat instead of merely self-training, and hostile situations were quite good for building skill levels (if you survived them). Hell, that had been the primary foundation stone of Genma's training regimes. Still, that led to the matter on the other hand; despite hating her lower ranking in the martial artists of Nerima, she took no steps to improve herself, not even challenging people herself.

It really was baffling that she didn't even think to try learning either of those special techniques- given how ecstatic she had been after eating that Super Soba, he'd have thought that having legitimate special moves and boosted speed/durability would have been most attractive to her. It wasn't as though she couldn't teach them to herself; they were simple enough (he'd managed to work out the details for the Bakusai Tenketsu through a combination of deductive reasoning and asking Genma just what he'd seen when he'd been spying on Ryoga's training) and Akane had seen exactly how to learn either technique- including his own special take on the Amaguriken training. And it wasn't as though an actual teacher was needed for either of them- even the Bakusai Tenketsu only required extra help because it made it easier to set up the ropes and boulders… and to make sure the trainee didn't injure themselves too badly while beating themselves against boulders in order to toughen up.

He actually got so caught up in puzzling over that conundrum that he barely noticed when Akane deemed her training finished and left the dojo. In fact, he only snapped out of it when Happosai wandered into the dojo, found him practicing on autopilot, and promptly splashed him with a pail of cold water so he could latch onto Ranma's breasts. The resultant chase ended about half an hour later, when Ranma finally admitted he had lost the cackling pervert's trail and went back to the Tendo household, finding everyone had already started eating dinner- he barely managed to get anything (by his standards), thanks to his gluttonous old man. Before going to bed, he naturally had a bath… which was when he remembered the disturbing insinuations that Tsubasa had made earlier that afternoon. While he didn't think that the weirdo would actually be hiding in his own bathroom, he was still more cautious that night then he normally would be.

Though he had thought about trying to get up earlier than usual to give Kasumi a hand again, fate decided to conspire against him- not only did he oversleep, Happosai promptly decided that the best way to start his day was to splash Ranma in his own bed and latch onto the resultant boobs like a deformed mussel. Around and around the household they had gone, with the 'fight' finally ending with Ranma's shirt shredded to pieces, Ranma still female, and Happosai sent flying courtesy of his distracted state and one of his own bombs.

Back to the bathroom Ranma went, to restore his masculinity, and then headed back downstairs to grab what remained of his breakfast. He spent the rest of the morning ostensibly reading some old scrolls, but in reality his mind was focused on the problem of getting Tsubasa a date in order to avoid his blackmail. Now, just how was he supposed to do that? Even beyond the fact he was skeptical that he was anywhere near as popular with the girls as Tsubasa claimed he was, how was he supposed to arrange a date for a guy whose hobbies included pretending to be a kawaiiko? And yes, he had to make sure that the girl he set Tsubasa up from was at least okay with the idea; he had little doubt Tsubasa would make him pay if the girl mocked him as a freak or something. And then, at last, inspiration struck, and Ranma grinned wickedly. What better date for a kawaiiko-wannabe then an actual kawaiiko? She'd probably annoy the hell out of Tsubasa, too, but more because of being her actual obnoxious kleptomaniac self then of actual dislike of him. Who knew? Maybe they'd actually work out…

"Ranma, time for lunch!"

He blinked in surprise; had he been here that long? It was almost time to get to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki… but first, lunch. One of the good things about having a reputation as a savage, Ranma found himself contemplating during the meal, was that nobody really noticed that you were eating faster then normal, save Kasumi's polite request to kneel on the floor instead of crouching on the table. When he was finished, he bowed his head respectfully to the eldest Tendo daughter.

"Thanks for the meal Kasumi; I'm heading out now."

Akane immediately threw him a suspicious glare. "Planning on visiting Ukyo or Shampoo?"

Ranma narrowed his eyes in a glare that wasn't entirely faked.

"What, can't I go and stretch my legs? I'll be back before dinner, see ya then." Vague excuse given, he headed out to go roof-hopping to his destination. As he left, he heard Akane asking Nabiki to keep an eye on him, and Nabiki of course asking for money, 'Typical, just typical. Well, not like she'll find me at the movies with Ucchan. Still, better hurry.' With that he went to get changed and barely a minute later, a suitably well-dressed Ranma Saotome was on his way to meet Ukyo, rapidly leaping from roof to roof fast enough that most people would only be able to catch a glimpse of him as he landed and then was off again, until he landed gently on the roof of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, ready for the second date of his life.

He waited up there on the roof, watching as the flow of customers entering ground to a halt and the customers leaving peaked. Finally judging that the lunch hour rush was over and it was time, he leapt down to the pavement in front of the store. Taking a deep breath, Ranma pushed through the door and headed inside, walking to the foot of the stairs leading to the residential area in the upper level.

"Ucchan? I'm here." He called up.

"Just a second!" She called back.

Ranma sighed and turned around, placing his arms behind his head as he reclined against the air. He'd heard about this particular phenomenon from the other guys at Furinkan, though precisely why they thought he gave a damn puzzled him… Then again, they actually considered him lucky for having so many girls after him, even if he did get caught in violent crossfires between them, so they clearly didn't have their heads screwed on straight. Ranma figured he was in for a fair wait, but when footsteps did resound from the steps barely two minutes later, he would have been pleasantly surprised... had he not turned to look at his date and found his voice deserting him.

"R-Ranchan? H-How do I look?" Ukyo asked timidly, fighting a blush of embarrassment. She wasn't a total stranger to wearing women's clothes, but the last major occasion she'd worn them hadn't turned out very well. For this outing, she had gone with a long skirt, a jacket and a neutral-colored blouse; a bit overkill for just going to the movies, but this was the closest equivalent to a date she had gotten out of Ranma so far, so she was going to squeeze everything she could out of it.

Ranma, meanwhile, was trying to kick his brain back into gear. Ukyo's appearance had really flung him for a loop- he had always thought Ukyo was pretty cute, even in her masculine outfits and when he had tried to just keep her away. But now that he was actually looking at her, seeing her for the first time, he was stunned by just how pretty she could be. For the first time, he really found himself wondering just what might have happened if Genma had actually lived up to his promise to Ukyo's father- if his young self had said he preferred Ukyo (if that had actually happened; Ranma still wasn't entirely doubtful that Genma's claims about that little "discussion" weren't Grade-A Bullshit) and Genma had accepted that and brought her along. Finally, his gears managed to slip back into alignment sufficiently that he could speak.

"Beautiful..." He breathed, then his eyes widened and he clamped his hands over his lips in shock as he realized what he had said- where in all the bloody hells had that come from!?

"R-Ranchan..." Ukyo murmured in delighted disbelief, blushing bright red.

For several minutes they stood there in mutual embarrassed silence, then Ranma coughed emphatically. "Uh... where's your spatula?" He asked.

"Upstairs. It's not appropriate for something like this." Ukyo explained. Seeing Ranma's guarded expression, she gave him a reassuring grin. "Relax, nobody's going to catch us- besides, it's not like I'm totally defenseless..." She flicked her wrists and a pair of regular spatulas slipped into them, then vanished again with another flick of her wrists. Descending the remaining steps, she smiled and couldn't resist the urge to hold her hand out like a courtly lady. "Shall we go?" She asked. She was a little disappointed, but not particularly surprised, when he didn't take it. The fact that he seemed unable to stop staring at her helped her feel better.

I've had the odd reviewer speak up about Nabiki Tendo again, so I'll just take this as an opportunity to make something clear. The reason she's being treated as something of a villain in this story is because, canonically, she is a villain, just one of very petty goals and who never gets any comeuppance. Furthermore, Ranma Saotome is the primary focus of this story, and consequently his conceptions color the depictions of various characters. And Ranma, as I've taken pains to point out in the story, does not like Nabiki very much- he doesn't try to pull her head off, but that's because he's not that sort of person. Hell, in the original Japanese, whenever Ranma has to address Nabiki, the word he uses would translate directly as "You Bitch". That's pretty telling of how little he thinks of her.

Anyway, just to let folks know, this story will not only cover original flavor chapters as Ranma starts getting to know the other girls better, but will also adapt the various "Specials"- the OAVs and Movies. The first such adaptation will be coming up real soon, and it will be tied into the general feel/flow of the story, and I hope you all enjoy it.

Oh, and does anybody have any guesses as to who Tsubasa's "date" is going to be? Also, before anybody point out that Tsubasa is fixated on Ukyo, allow me to remind you that, canonically, Tsubasa got over her and started chasing Ranma-chan (and then began to contemplate going after Akane) after Ukyo deliberately broke the tie on the contest between him and Ranma-chan in Ranma's favor. While he did show up in Ukyo's presence in "Battle for Miss Beachside" and "Big Trouble in Nekonron, China", that doesn't necessarily mean he's still chasing after her. Particularly as how Ukyo (or was it Akane?) pointed out how incredibly fickle (by Nerima standards) Tsubasa is after he started chasing Ranma-chan.