Chasing the Rainbow

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

Author's Notes: I'm glad that folks enjoyed the previous chapter, even if I felt it was maybe cut a bit short. I know some readers may not like what we chose to do for this chapter, and I apologize and hope you'll bear with us.

On a different topic, Natsume has proven to be a surprisingly popular choice in the votes. Anyone know why that is? I mean, yes, she does seem to have a personality that can best be described as the good parts of both fanon-Kasumi and fanon-Nabiki, backed with enough martial arts prowess to seriously threaten Ranma, but how come so many people are voting for her? Or, at the very least, why am I the first person to ever write Ranma/Natsume?

Similarly, how come Ukyo's getting so few votes? I admit to bucking the trend of established fanon and general fan continuity, but I was of the impression that the general view of Ukyo vs. Shampoo is "Ukyo's the nice girl and Ranma's old friend, Shampoo's the slutty bitch". So how come Shampoo is proving more popular in the votes then Ukyo?

Just because a reviewer pointed it out; I know now that the movies happen before the OAVs (in fact, movie 1 happens in season 6, while movie 2 happens in season 7 - I even know precisely which episodes they happen between), so Gideon020 and I have decided to 'mix up' the timeline of the specials before we get around to adapting them; OAV 2 "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble" will be the very last special adapted, and will probably be used as the finale for this fic. To be honest, I don't recall ever seeing a scene where they get a photo taken in movie 2, so that's why I never noticed that the photo in OAV 2 is from that movie.

Chapter 6: A Sweet Meet

Tsubasa sighed softly and looked at his watch; his date was due almost any minute now. He still couldn't believe that Ranma had actually tried to find him a date instead of simply aiming to track him down, steal the evidence, and beat him to a pulp, which he would have thought was more Ranma's style. That he had succeeded was hardly of note compared to that minor miracle. But he had done what Tsubasa asked, so Nerima's resident master of disguise had handed over the evidence and eagerly set to preparing himself for his first date in way too long.

He was kind of offended that Ranma had told him so emphatically to make sure he was wearing guy's clothes for this; did that lunk think that being a crossdresser defined who Tsubasa was or something? He knew he'd just frighten his date off if he wasn't dressed properly - he had long, lonely weeks of experience to make him realize that. He fidgeted restlessly, wondering when she was going to get here and what sort of girl she was going to be like. Oh, he hoped she'd be a nice girl... he'd had enough of tomboys to last him a lifetime.

Meanwhile, in a distant tree, someone else was waiting for the date to start as well. "Come on, where are they? I found the right spot didn't I?"

A person might have wondered why Ukyo was there, and probably would have ended up chalking it up to curiosity about who, precisely, Ranma had managed to persuade to go on a date with her former stalker, possibly tinged with a little malice in the form of hoping it would be Tsubasa's turn to find out what it was like to have someone undesirable after him. They... wouldn't have been entirely wrong, but that wasn't Ukyo's sole motive, or even her primary motive. Mostly, she wanted to forget. Forget the utter disaster of her attempt to impress Ranma's mother, and the tongue-lashing she had received afterwards.

Yet again, her mind went back to it, and she shuddered and tried to push it away. Ranma's anger had been frightening, even though he had managed to repress it so that he did not yell and rant like he normally did, but his disappointment, and the words he had used, had cut Ukyo like knives to the heart. The only saving grave was that he hadn't spared either of them, denigrating their common rivalry and denouncing how careless they got, pointing out the times they had hurt him unintentionally when they were caught up in picking fights with each other, and asking if they would have cared if they'd somehow hurt his mother in the crossfire. That, perhaps most of all, had hurt. Ukyo hadn't seen him for several days since then, and though she knew in her head that he would forgive her eventually, her heart was deeply afraid of what his continued absence might mean for her. Her only salve was that she was convinced Shampoo was in no better state, given Ranma had been addressing her as much as he was his old friend and had made that point perfectly clear. Ukyo might not have gotten another date since then, but at least Shampoo wasn't having the opportunity to try and get her claws into Ranma!

Just then a girl in a very nice dress, though with a bit too many frills for her liking, appeared from around the corner and Ukyo recognized her, 'Huh, that's Azusa Shiratori of the Golden Pair, wonder what she's doing here?' She watched as the girl stopped and looked around, her bright smile fading to a look of disappointment after a few moments and just as Ukyo thought she was going to leave, she noticed a well-kept topiary hedge nearby and with a squeal, leapt forward and started poking and prodding it as Ukyo shook her head.

'Great, she's adopting...huh?' Ukyo did a double take when she heard a male shout of embarrassed surprise and out from the hedge came one Tsubasa Kurenai, "He actually disguised himself while on his date?" She shook her head, missing the look of surprised pleasure on Azusa's face at the sudden appearance of a handsome boy from the hedge. From where she was, Ukyo did have the ability to hear what was being said, and she listened in without the slightest shame.

"Wow, a kitsune!" Azusa commented cheerfully.

"What? No, I'm human, I just forgot to take off the disguise." Tsubasa replied, surprise giving way to sheepishness as he rubbed his head. "I'm Tsubasa Kurenai... and your name is...?"

"Well he's being polite." Ukyo mumbled to herself, strangely irritated that the boy who had been so overenthusiastic and impulsive when they were in Junior High School together was being so subdued here. What was the deal here? Why was he acting so shy?

"I'm Azusa Shiratori. Tell me, little kitsune, are you the one who wanted a date with me?" She smiled.

"I'm not a kitsune, but, yes, if you don't mind, that is..." Tsubasa answered, inwardly cursing at his nervousness. Why was it that not being the aggressor had all but robbed him of his courage? He'd asked dozens of girls on dates before! True, this was the first girl who'd ever seemed inclined to say yes... but still!

"I don't mind. So, where are we going to go?" Azusa asked happily. Internally, she was actually a bit more cynical; she knew that this would turn out just like all the other times, with the boy just being some egomaniac who wanted to brag he'd gone out with the famous Skating Queen of Kolholtz High or some lecher who thought she was just a brainless airhead he could have his way with (she liked it that people thought she was so cute, but had to admit that the attracted lechers were a nuisance). Still, he was good-looking and he seemed nice enough, and she needed to have hope that not all boys were like that, so she guessed she could at least give him a chance.

"The park alright?" Tsubasa asked, feeling a little of his usual confidence starting to come back to him. Impulsively, he made a gentlemanly gesture and offered her his hand, feeling his heart beat a little faster at the smile she gave him as she took it.

From her perch, Ukyo watched them go, then looked for the best roof to leap to so that she could follow them while staying unseen. She was rather impressed with herself as she sprang from the treetop to her chosen rooftop; she didn't normally get around this way so she had less practice at it then Ranma or that Chinese bimbo.

The pair walked through the park as Tsubasa searched for something, anything to do here before his date got bored, and then sighted his possible salvation, a skating rink. "Would you like to do some skating?" He mistook the sudden look of distaste on Azusa's face and hurriedly continued, "Don't worry, I was the best skater at my school, so I can teach you if you don't know how to skate."

Azusa felt herself blink in shock; he actually didn't know that she was a champion skater? Well now… she gave him her biggest, brightest smile and nodded, "That would be great, lets go get some skates!" With that she started tugging Tsubasa towards the skates eagerly while Ukyo shook her head, staying silent while watching as the pair rented some skates and started skating, Azusa pretending to have a difficult time so that Tsubasa would stay close to her, clever move.

Soon the pair were starting to relax, and Ukyo couldn't help but think that they looked surprisingly cute together. But then, as was seemingly the norm in Nerima, something had to come up and spoil the party, and that something was a smug looking skater who was eyeing Azusa.

"Well hello there cutie. What are you doing skating with a loser like this guy? Wouldn't you prefer to be with a real man?" Azusa and Tsubasa turned to see a handsome, nearly bishonen teen about their age skating easily alongside them, "My name is Ryu. So how about it babe? Ditch the loser and have some real fun?"

He was dressed in a school uniform, the logo not visible due to the open jacket but it was clearly expensive and combined with the open collar of his shirt, the guy had all the hallmarks of a stereotypical bishonen bad boy, if the effect wasn't ruined by the cheesy smile on his face as he drifted along on what were clearly his own personal set of skates, painted in a garish color set that was less bright and appealing and more painful on the eyes than anything else.

Finally, it was the hair that finished off any pretenses that this guy was a smooth operator from the overly gelled appearance (which was catching the sun's rays and spraying them in people's eyes) to the very noticeable smell, and the guy still had that cheesy smile plastered on his face like it was frozen in place like terrible mask.

He skated closer, the light coming off the hair blinding a passing bird and sending it into a car, "A guy like him wouldn't know how to treat a babe like you, so how about ditching the loser and having some fun with me, I'll show you a good time."

"We're having a good time already, go away." Tsubasa snapped at the intruder. Oh, why did he have to run into a jerk like this now, of all times?

"Ooh, tough guy, are we? Well, if you wanna keep this hot little chicky to yourself, then face me in martial arts skating!" The lecher leered at Tsubasa, who paled at the idea: his forte was disguise, not combat!

That was when Azusa skated forward, a very unpleased look on her face. "If it's a martial skating match you want, then fight me!"

"What? No way, you can't fight a girl, it's embarrassing!" The lout proclaimed. From her perch overlooking the scene, Ukyo's eyebrow twitched… wait, was that the faintest glimmer of a battle aura she saw forming around Azusa?

"If you win, then Azusa will date with you. Otherwise, you can leave now." Azusa declared, her back ramrod straight and steel in her tone.

The goon laughed. "Alright, baby, if that's the way you swing..." He skated backwards, Azusa close behind. One scene of indescribable violence later, his feebly kicking legs were protruding from a garbage can, Azusa dusting off her hands dramatically.

"I am Azusa Shiratori, the Martial Arts Skating Queen of Kolholtz High School! Amateurs like you should know their place." She sneered disdainfully. She blinked at a sudden strangled noise from behind her, turning to stare quizzically at a dumbstruck Tsubasa. "What's wrong?" She asked, puzzled.

"You're that Azusa Shiratori? Azusa of the Golden Pair?" Tsubasa asked incredulously.

"Ah, yes?" Azusa replied, wondering what the big deal was. So he hadn't recognized her at first, why was he making such a big deal out of it now? As she watched, his face went through several flavors of "oh, crap!", before he let out a surprisingly high-pitched scream of horrified embarrassment and ran away, leaving both Azusa and the spying Ukyo blinking in confusion. In perfect synchronicity, the two spoke the exact same two words: "What the…?" Then Azusa's eyes narrowed and she shook her head, snapping back to reality. "Come back here!" She cried, giving chase in a state of confused determination, and maybe a trace of feeling insulted -- this was the first time a boy had ever run away from her!

After a few minutes of searching, Azusa stopped and heaved an irritated sigh to herself. "Now, where could he be...? Think, Azusa; you know he uses disguises... pretty cute disguises at that... and he's pretty cute himself. So, just find the cutest thing around, and there he'll be!" She told herself, smiling at her deduction. Reaching out with her finely honed kawaii sense, she began to follow them through the park.

Ukyo, having followed her, watched in disbelief from a distance. "She can't possibly think that's really going to work." She muttered to herself. She felt a tricklet of sweat run down the back of her neck when Azusa enthusiastically glomped onto a statue of a rearing horse half-hidden in some bushes, which promptly fell apart to reveal the boy she had been dating. "Then again, maybe she is lucky enough to pull off a stunt like that..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm -- urk!" Tsubasa choked as one of Azusa's arms 'accidentally' tightened around his throat.

"Now, why did you do that? Little Azusa is not used to boys running away from her." Azusa said, slipping, as she tended to do when things got stressful or annoying, into 'kawaiiko mode'.

"Like I said, I'm sorry, I didn't know who you were!" Tsubasa pleaded.

Azusa cocked her head to the side in bafflement. "And... so?"

"You're the famous Azusa Shiratori!" Tsubasa pointed out.

"Again, so?" Azusa asked, wondering just what was wrong with her date... figures; she finally found a nice boy, and he was a lunatic.

"I never would have insulted you by asking you out if I'd known who you are! I mean, yes, I thought the name was kind of odd, and you are the cutest girl I've ever seen (Ukyo felt strangely offended by that), but I didn't think you were the legendary Queen of Martial Arts Skating!"

"Aw, thank you." Azusa said. So that was the deal; he was nicer then she had thought. Well, time to straighten him out. "But it was still very naughty of you to run away from me after we've been having such fun together, little kitsune."

"Wait... you mean you're enjoying this?" Tsubasa asked incredulously.

It should be noted that, while Tsubasa's head was twisting around to follow Azusa's movements, his body was still frozen in place, leading to some rather interesting physical contortions. 'That has to uncomfortable.' Ukyo thought to herself

"Until that big dummy showed up, yes." Azusa replied instantly.

Tsubasa blinked for a moment, then cleared his throat, "Ah, glad you're enjoying everything so far. How about we ditch the skating then, and...let see...go for some ice-cream?" Azusa nodded happily.

"Yay, ice-cream! I love ice-cream!"

'I had a feeling you would. Note to self, cute stuff works best apparently, modify as I get more information.' Tsubasa's mind carefully ran through everything he was finding out about this cute girl with the same precision to detail as planning one of his disguises on the fly as he immediately worked out the closest ice-cream place in the area and headed towards it arm in arm with Azusa, Ukyo discretely following after the pair.

Everything apparently went smoothly after that as Ukyo watched the pair order and then sit down to sundaes, "Well, everything seems to have leveled out." She suddenly saw a girl pass by, glance in the window and spot Azusa, before she frowned and stormed into the ice-cream parlor as Ukyo shook her head, "Spoke too soon." Settling down, she waited to see how the pair would handle this.

"You! Azusa Shiratori!" Azusa blinked and turned to see a fuming girl about her age glaring at her as Tsubasa spoke up, "Ah, is there a problem?"

"Yes there's a problem! This cuteness-obsessed tart stole a dress that I was looking for, for five MONTHS, and when I finally find it she swoops in and grabs it! I want that dress Shiratori!"

Azusa sweat-dropped before she looked a little embarrassed, "Um, which dress was it? I buy a lot of cute dresses after all."

The girl snarled, "Forest green, Chinese style with cherry blossoms in pink? The one that was a limited edition one of a kind designer and had two hundred other woman fighting for it?"

Azusa thought for a moment and then clapped her hands together. "Oh I remember now! Sorry, but can I just pay you the full price of the dress instead?"

Tsubasa blinked, he had seen that dress before and it was *expensive*, some had said that those particular dresses were sold for the price of a small car. It served to inform Tsubasa that Azusa's skills weren't just combat related, they brought in a lot of money as well as the argument started to heat up as the girl would accept nothing less than the dress and Azusa was clearly not going to give it up.

Finally, Tsubasa lost his patience. "Look, we're busy here; if you want a dress so bad, I'll let take some of mine if it'll make you happy! I've got them with bows, I've got them with frills, I've got them with lace; take your pick and leave us alone!"

The girl stared at him, incredulity giving way to the all-too-familiar disgust, curling her lip into a sneer. "Freak! Weirdo! Keep away from me, you pervert!" She spat, and ran off, leaving Tsubasa smirking... for a moment. Then he realised what he had just done so foolishly, so impulsively, and his spirit sank: he had just crushed his own hopes of finally finding a girlfriend.

"Um... I guess there's a story behind that?" Azusa asked, somewhat timidly.

Tsubasa sighed; here it went again. "When I was in Junior High, I had this crush on a real tomboy of a girl -- always dressed up like a boy. I was so head over heels for her that I started dressing in women's clothes to try and impress her. It never went anywhere."

Azusa was silent. "Exactly how far did you...?" She began at last.

Tsubasa groaned; how was he going to explain this without looking like a total freak? For a moment, he contemplated simply showing her, this date was good as done for now anyway, but he mentally chided himself; surely there was a better way then that! ...But, the harder he thought about it, the less he could think of a way to get out of this mess without obviously changing the subject. There really wasn't anyway you could sugarcoat "I looked so much like a girl that everyone thought I was; I even tried entering a Miss Beachside Battle to prove how good a female imitator I was". Finally, he had to admit he had no choice; might as well get this over with quickly and (relatively) painlessly as possible.

"Wait here." He asked, then stood up and headed for the men's room.

A few minutes passed and after another moment Azusa wondered if Tsubasa had run off again when she felt something incredibly kawaii blink on her finely tuned senses just as a cute girl in a beautiful dress of dark brown highlighted by white flowers and ribbons appeared and sashayed towards Azusa and easily catching the eyes of several guys present and the glares of a number of girls as she stopped in front of Azusa, twirled to show off the full extent of the dress and curtseyed before the girl said, "Well, you wanted to know how far, now you know. What do you think?"

Azusa stared at him for several uncomfortably long seconds, then spoke. "How do you feel, doing that?"

Tsubasa shrugged. "I don't hate it, I certainly don't love it, but it doesn't really bother me, you know? I'm comfortable wearing this stuff, and I'm comfortable out of it. It's all the same to me." He felt a strange sensation, a mingling of relief and cold fear, at the glint that suddenly appeared in her eyes.

"Well, this is a surprise, but it's not so bad. So, another parfait?" She offered.

"Please." Tsubasa answered, hope blossoming within his heart. She didn't mind it! The most beautiful girl he'd ever met, and she didn't think he was some sort of freak!

From her own seat, Ukyo sat and watched as Tsubasa, still in girl's clothing, took his seat again and the two continued as though nothing had happened, ignoring the stares and whispers of the other patrons. She wondered why Azusa had taken it so placidly, then figured that, given what she'd heard of the infamous klepto kawaiiko, she was probably in the habit of using her 'friends' for dressing up anyway. Ukyo couldn't keep the smirk off of her face as she began to imagine what Tsubasa might be in for now. She wondered if Azusa would insist on making him wear a fake set of fox ears and a fake fox tail whenever she could; she still wouldn't let up with the whole 'kitsune' thing. For an hour or more the two sat there making small talk and generally acting the part of the cute couple (which really made people stare). Finally, Azusa reluctantly admitted she had to go, and the two exchanged phone numbers and arranged to have another date as soon as time permitted both of them. Once they had led, Ukyo stood up, stretched stiff joints, and headed home herself. She was somewhat surprised to find Ranma waiting at the entrance to her shop.

"R-Ranma-honey?" She asked in excited disbelief, wondering if maybe he wasn't angry with her any more.

"Hey Ucchan, how's it going?"

Ukyo landed near Ranma and smiled. "Everything's going fine Ranchan, what are you doing here?" No need to get her hopes up too high, even if he's just here for food it was a step up.

Ranma shrugged, oblivious to Ukyo's thoughts. "Got kicked out because Akane thought it would be fun to try and cook unsupervised again. Decided to go somewhere where I wouldn't get poisoned. So what have you been doing?"

Ukyo decided to tell him. "I was watching Tsubasa's date with Azusa Shiratori and they had a pretty good date. They even..."

She was cut off by Ranma's sudden interruption, "Traded phone numbers and set up another date? Good, I knew they'd hit it off."

Ukyo blinked. "Wait, how did you know that? Where you watching as well?"

Ranma smiled as the chef opened the doors, staring at him suspiciously. "In a manner of speaking," he told her enigmatically, then refused to say anything more on the subject.

And thus this chapter comes to an end. I regretfully report that this will probably be the last chapter of "Chasing the Rainbow" that will be produced in this year, 2009. My folks want me to come out to the block for Christmas, so that means I won't have the capacity to write anything new. Updates will resume some time in early 2010.

When I do return from the Christmas holidays, the poll in my profile will be taken down and its scores added to the current tally. Remember, the poll allows you to vote for two girls, so if there's a girl you'd also like to see have a shot at Ranma's heart, feel free to vote for her as well. As always, when you review, you can vote for which girl(s) will become the official winner for this story, be it Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi, Natsume, or even Kurumi.

Speaking of votes and couples, an early reviewer joked that it sounded like Mousse and Nabiki, particularly as I portray them, would make a good couple. Well, I always have had a soft spot for that couple, particularly as the two-shot that introduced me to the idea was well written and also a nicely handled Ranma/Shampoo. So, here's a simple question for your readers to vote on: Mousse and Nabiki become a couple over the course of Chasing the Rainbow: Yes, or No?

Similarly, though I don't find myself able to forget about his nastier qualities, I don't hate Ryoga Hibiki, despite what others may think, and I feel that he does deserve a happy ending – just not with Akane. We have other plans for her… and no, we're not going to pair her with Tatewaki Kuno. We're not that cruel. However, I don't particularly like Akari; she's kind of boring, to be honest, and too blatantly made just to give Ryoga an excuse to stop chasing Akane – she's pretty one-dimensional. However, I'm torn between pairing Ryoga with Kasumi Tendo, who I think fits the outline of what Ryoga wants in a girl like a glove, and pairing him with Anna Brown, an anime-only character who Ryoga was honestly attracted to after getting to know her. So, readers, a third voting option; Ryoga and Kasumi, or Ryoga and Anna?