Ryoga
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of its characters. It all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and I am merely borrowing her invention – and I am not trying to make any money out of it.
Thanks to: Flames Chaos and Wolf, Hitman25ad, krizue, XxkanaxX, Wrin, jd, a-chan, Shikumo12, James Birdsong, sara, Shadowalker666, chibi-prince! Thanks for your encouragement!
At nightfall the world changed from a bright, lively, crowded market to a dark and gloomy oasis of calm. The hectic pace slowly faded as the never sleeping, life-giving sun, having lit and guarded the way of the humans, made room for the pale face of the moon, allowing it to cast a cloud over the life on earth. Imprisoned by the shadowy curtain of the night, the world then unjustly – due to its misdeeds – slept the sleep of the just.
At sunrise, however, the world awoke from its peaceful slumber again and its inhabitants watched as the sun chased the night away. The first sunbeams broke through the veil of darkness like the smallest spark of hope through the heaviest cloud in front of a despairing man's heart and warmed the planet up.
At this time of the day two teenagers walked towards their school, one of them on a fence next to a small, but nevertheless swiftly flowing river, the other one beneath him on the pavement. But neither the dark-haired young woman nor the martial artist with the raven hair had an eye for the dawning. Both of them looked expectantly and nervously at a place in front of them. Suddenly the young man stopped dead in his tracks.
"That's the place," he said and waited for a moment before he continued. "She should have appeared by now."
"Maybe she overslept?", Akane suggested.
"Nah, can't be," he replied with a big smile on his face. "Shampoo ain't like that. She's been glomping me at the same time every day for the last year or so."
"Then she's really gone?", she asked carefully and then shook her head. "I still can't believe it worked."
"Well," he answered slowly, jumped off the fence and put his arms behind his head, hands clasped, elbows out. "I think I'll miss her."
Akane's big grin vanished within seconds. Her eyes grew wide in surprise and then narrowed rapidly as she grasped the whole extend of his words. Beside herself with rage she opened her mouth in order to shout at him, but, given that it would only warn him, she closed it again. The young woman stepped closer to him, her aura blazing dangerously, while he talked to her.
"I think I'll miss her because of all the attention you were giving me when she was around", he said casually, turned around and, seeing that she looked at him with utter astonishment and surprise, nudged her forehead with his forefinger. "Gotcha!"
"H-hey! That's, that's not fair!", she exclaimed as he jogged away from her.
The young man turned around to his fiancée again, poking his tongue out at her, but did not understand why she was smirking. Only seconds later, though, he knew it, because he was splashed with cold water by an old lady. The now red-haired woman scowled at Akane.
"Serves you right!", she laughed at her companion and rummaged around in her school bag.
"Shaddup!", the female and wet Ranma muttered. "Do we have time to go back to get some hot water?"
"Nope," Akane answered cheerfully and took a Thermos flask out of her bag. "But since that's happened 'at the same time every day for the last year or so' as you've just phrased it, I took along some hot water this morning."
"Thanks, Akane," the martial artist thanked his fiancée after she had poured the water over his head and he had transformed into a man again.
Only a few minutes later they arrived at their school, for once not being greeted by Tatewaki Kuno's challenge. Together they stood at the gate and waited for the wannabe samurai to arrive – but he did not come. Instead, other pupils walked past them and friends bade them good-morning. Ranma and Akane just stood there and looked at each other, not noticing the crowd that slowly but surely collected around them.
"I could get used to this, you know," said the young woman.
"Yeah, I certainly won't miss the Blue Blunder of Furinkan High," he answered with a smile.
"We won't miss him, but I think I may know someone who will, someone who's had a crush on him for a long time now," she whispered to Ranma.
"Do you mean this cheerleader? What was her name again? Mariko?"
"No." Akane shook her head slightly. "It's Nabiki!"
"No way!", the young man exclaimed incredulously. "That can't be true! No way!"
"You'll see for yourself soon enough," Akane answered meaningfully. "But anyway, imagine what it would be like to get rid of all of them. You see, it's quite peaceful now, but with Ukyo gone, it'll be beyond words."
"What about Ryoga?", he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I don't know. It was kinda nice having him around," she replied, turning her back on him and grinning broadly.
"What do you mean?" The young man drew his eyebrows together and looked closely at his fiancée. He had always been a little jealous when Akane had talked about other man in his presence, although he would never admit it to anyone.
"It was kinda nice having him around because of all the attention you were giving me when he was there," she said, nudging his forehead with her forefinger and smiling at him. "Gotcha!"
"Well, well, if it isn't our two lovebirds," they heard a female voice teasing them, before Ranma could answer to Akane's payback. "I know that the early bird catches the worm, but I just can't see what worm you two lovebirds want to catch by giving the whole school quite a show of your affection."
Only now did the two teenagers notice that they were surrounded by a rather large crowd. Hastily they moved as far away from each other as possible, a blush starting to creep over their features as they heard their classmates and friends whispering and saw them pointing at themselves. Ranma cursed under his breath, but the young woman spoke loudly to her sister.
"Well, Nabiki, can it be that you are teasing us just because the one you have a crush on is not here today? You don't have to look at me like that, Sis. I'm talking about Kuno."
Most of the students, who had been whispering before, fell silent at once. A few, however, quickly went away to tell their friends about the news. The remaining pupils watched Nabiki Tendo curiously, waiting for her answer. As the Ice Queen hesitated, the crowd saw the bold statement confirmed.
"I don't have a crush on him," the Ice Queen, whose masquerade seemed to melt away due to the heated discussions by the crowd, contested the assertion coolly. The crowd did not listen to her, though, and dispersed itself to inform others about the events.
"Ranma!", Akane suddenly called for the young man. "I have an idea, but I need to talk to Nabiki. Just go ahead and I'll catch up with you later."
The martial artist shrugged his shoulders, turned around and went to his classroom, while the young woman walked to her sister, who was surrounded by some classmates.
"No, I'm not in love with Kuno," she said irritatedly, looking mirthfully at her sister. "Would you excuse me just a minute? There's someone I need to talk to."
Nabiki then beckoned her sister to follow her and walked out of the school gate. After a few moments she turned around, leaned against the wall and, seeing that noone but her sister could hear her, started to laugh.
"Well done, my little sister," she told her. "Now, instead of gossiping viciously about you two, they are going to spread gossips about me and Kuno. I just want you to know that I will get my payback for this."
"I thought as much!", sighed Akane, but continued nonetheless. "But, Nabiki, I have a favour to ask you and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
"Well, come out with it!", she exclaimed, looking carefully at her sister. "I have other business to attend to."
"All right, Nabiki. We, that is Ranma and I, need the house for ourselves."
"Why?", she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I-I can't tell you that yet," she answered earnestly. And don't tell anyone about it for that matter."
"Well, if you want to be cagey about it, that's fine by me. In the end I'll find out anyway," Nabiki said and looked at the sky. "When do you want to have the house for yourselves? How long do you want to be alone? And what do I get for luring father, Mr. Saotome and Kasumi away from the house?"
"Let's see, today's Friday. It would be great if we could be alone the whole weekend, you know." Akane scratched her head regretfully. "And you can ask for anything in return."
"Anything I want?", she asked. "Well, that definitely sounds most interesting. It'll be hard to come up with something not too far-fetched though, but it's a deal! You'll have the house to yourselves by tonight, my little sister, and can do whatever you need to do."
Akane nodded in agreement without really thinking about it. Then she turned around and ran towards her classroom, ignoring her two best friends, Sayuri and Yuka, who exchanged knowing glances and smirked. In front of her fiancé, who was standing next to his friend Daisuke, she jerked to a halt, grabbed hold of his arm and panted heavily.
"Need to talk to you," she whispered. "Now!"
"All right," he answered. "Dai, I'll be back in a minute."
The young man nodded approvingly, turned around to his best friend and talked to him, while Akane dragged Ranma out of the classroom, down the corridor and shoved him, after she had assured herself that noone could see her, into a broom closet, closing the door behind herself. Little did she know that her trip to the closet passed not as unnoticed as she had thought.
"No way!", Hiroshi said. "Yuka and Sayuri are cuter than Akane and besides, she's already taken."
"Yeah, that's true, but I still think Akane's cuter. Wait a second, wasn't that her dragging Ranma out of the classroom!?"
"Kinda uncomfortable in here," Ranma stated, because the two martial artists could hardly move inside the broom closet.
"The end justifies the means," she replied, moving a little away from a dirty rag and pressing her body against his. Their faces were only inches apart and Akane was sure that he could see the bright blush upon her cheeks, even though it was pitch dark. "I've got a plan to get rid of Ryoga, but we have to act again."
"All right, then, let's do it," he answered cheerfully.
"Okay, thanks to Nabiki, we've got the house to ourselves the whole weekend", she told him and then accidentally stepped onto his toes.
In the meantime almost every student of Furinkan High had gathered in front of a certain broom closet. Hiroshi and Yuka were kneeling in front of the door, eavesdropping on their best friends and repeating every word they could understand. These words were then repeated by numerous other pupils, so that even the teachers, who were standing at the corridor's end, could hear them.
"All right, let's do it!"
"We've got the house to ourselves the whole weekend," Yuka said. Suddenly she moved hastily away from the door, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "W-w-we've g-got to s-switch po-positions."
"Why do we have to do it in here anyway?" Hiroshi did not have to repeat the words, because they could clearly hear Ranma's voice now. "We've got the house to ourselves!"
The martial artist jerked the door open. Instead of an empty corridor, though, he met his friends and almost the whole school there. All of them were staring at him in utter surprise. Most of the girls were blushing and most of the guys smirking. Slowly he turned around to his fiancée.
Akane was sitting at the table in the living-room of the Tendo residence, waiting for lunch to be served. Hesitantly she looked up at her fiancé, who was sitting next to her, blushed again at the thought of her friends' teasing words and wondered whether he had had the same rough treatment to endure – after her friends had caught them coming out of the broom closet together, Ranma and Akane did not have the slightest chance to talk to each other in school for the rest of the day.
"Ranma and Akane." Nabiki walked around the corner and sat down at the table, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Are the rumours true?"
"What rumours?", asked Kasumi as she entered the room, carrying a food tray and thus not noticing the pleading glance her little sister shot at Nabiki. "By the way, do you know where father and Mr. Saotome are?"
"I bought them a trip to Osaka," the brown-haired woman answered. "And you should pack your bags, too, because I'm asking you out to a spa for the weekend."
"Oh my, that is nice of you, Nabiki, but I'm afraid I cannot come along with you, because there is so much yet to be done here," the eldest female Tendo said apologetically.
"That's no problem!", Akane told her sister enthusiastically. "Ranma and I can do it! And you deserve a weekend for yourself after all you've done for us."
"I don't know, Akane. Why don't you go with her?"
"Sis, Akane is right. You need to take a few days off." Kasumi thought about it for a few moments and then nodded, while she laid the table.
"All right, I'll go. And now enjoy your meal!", she said with her usual gleeful smile. "Nabiki, you said something about rumours."
"Ah, well," she replied. Instantly Akane blushed right up to her ears and the martial artist chocked on his food. "I heard that Ranma and our dear little sister were making out in a broom closet in school today. I don't know if it's true, though."
After many stammered, heated denials and promises that they had done nothing improper, Kasumi finally, albeit grudgingly and against better judgement, allowed Ranma to stay in the house with her little sister and went upstairs to pack her bags. Then, having returned downstairs, remarked what they had to do and said what they should refrain from doing, she left with her sister.
"Puh!", the dark-haired girl exclaimed as she closed the door. "So far this day's been the worst day of my life."
"Then let's turn it into the best day of our life. What's the plan?"
Three hours later Akane returned home again, wearing a light blue shirt and a knee-length skirt, and was welcomed by her fiancé at the door. Slowly she walked up to him and handed him the grocery bag.
"Well, what do you think?", she asked somewhat sceptically, pointing at the slight bulge at her stomach. "Sayuri's done her best, but I don't think it's absolutely convincing."
"I don't know," he answered truthfully and went into the living-room. "Looks like you've gotten fatter. What should we do now?"
"Well, I'm going to cook dinner now and you are going to sit here and wait for Ryoga. And I hope you can act your part."
"What? You and cooking? Ah, I don't feel like eating your poisoned food to-pff", he answered, but was cut short by his fiancée, who had hit him mercilessly.
"That was a test and you failed miserably," she snarled at him. "You better get into your role while I'm cooking dinner, honey."
"Y-yes, dear," he panted.
The young man quickly sat down and watched the sky, wondering whether Ryoga or Akane's cooking would kill him. Then he closed his eyes, yawned heartily and enjoyed the quietness of his familiar surroundings. Suddenly he heard a distant blast, though, and opened his eyes again.
"Where am I now?!", a man yelled. "This is all your fault, Ranma Saotome!"
"Ryoga?", the martial artist asked as he saw a dark-haired boy, wearing a yellow bandanna and holding a large rucksack and an umbrella in his hand, appearing amidst a cloud of dust.
"Ranma," he answered, walking towards the young man. "Prepare to die!"
"Woah, calm down, pal, or Akane's going to kill us!", Ranma exclaimed, smiling brightly at his rival. "It's good to see you! It's been years since you last dropped in. Where have you been?"
"What do you mean it's been years?", he asked. "And where is everybody?"
"What do you mean?" Ranma looked at him in surprise.
"Where's everybody?", the part-time pig asked again. "Akane, Kasumi, Nabiki, your father, Mr. Tendo?"
"Nabiki is in America," he said, eyeing Ryoga carefully. "Studying, I think. Kasumi moved in with Tofu, father and Mr. Tendo with my mum and Akane's in the kitchen. Did you get my letter, Ryoga?"
"Why are they all gone? And what letter?"
"Ah, that explains a few things!", Ranma exclaimed. "Akane and I, well, we married three months ago."
"You're lying," the other young man instantly said. "Why would she marry you?"
"Who's there, honey?", a female voice asked before the young man could answer.
"It's Ryoga."
Immediately Akane went to the living-room, welcoming their visitor with a warm smile.
"It's good to see you, Ryoga! How are you? It's been years! Where have you been?"
"I-I've been training in the mountains and and..."
Without thinking about it, the young woman laid her head onto her fiancé's shoulder, who put his arm around her waist. Akane snuggled even closer into him now, wondering why it was so easy for her to pretend to be in love with her stubborn, arrogant, rude Ranma. She closed her eyes for a second, enjoying this warm embrace. As she opened them again, however, she saw that Ryoga had paled visibly.
"Your belly?", he numbly asked, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"Yeah, I'm pregnant!", she exclaimed, beaming with joy. "Isn't that wonderful? Ryoga?", she suddenly asked considerately as she saw him grimacing. "Are you all right?"
"W-wonder-wonderful, y-yeah," he stammered. "I-I'm f-fine, j-just a little h-hungry."
"Why don't you join us for dinner, then?"
"N-no, I'm, eh, I'm not hungry at all, I-I'm just tired."
"Why don't you stay for the night, then?"
"N-no, I've got to, eh, leave, find Akari!"
Hastily he turned around and ran away...
I haven't slept in 48 hours, but, damn it, that was worth it! I appreciate every kind of criticism – auch auf deutsch!