Ukyo
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, I think. I am not trying to make money with this story.
My sincerest 'thank you' to: Hitman25ad, Carnath, Shadowalker666, XxkanaxX, vleroy728, jdcocoagirl, krizue, -siMpLe-reActiON- [I had to check that twice before I got it right! :) (by the way, if you take all the capital letters in his name and rearrange them a bit, you'll get the name of character from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time :))], a-chan, WanderingStarmaster, Mystical-Dreamer57, V EPSILON, epain! Thank you so much!
Yeah, you are right. Shampoo should have acted differently and due to that I am going to rewrite the first chapter :] - thanks for your criticism!
Gradually the brightly coloured day made way for the dark night. The pale moon, who watched the twinkling lights of the cities, which reminded him so much of his protégés', the stars', cheerful play, beneath him suspiciously, took his ancestral place high up in the firmament again. As the first stars finally lit up, he knew that his companions' brilliance surpassed the worlds' light to the point that he lost his sullen view and gazed absent-mindedly at his own reflection in a tiny pond.
At the same time a black-haired man, sitting not far away from that very pond, marvelled at the beauty of the moon. Closing his eyes, he thought of his fiancée and the scheme they had devised to get rid of all their suitors. He smiled faintly, opened his eyes again and turned around just in time to see the young woman, who was lost in her thoughts, entering the living-room. Ranma gazed at her slight figure, illuminated by the pearly-white moonlight, and could not help noticing her elegance and her bright, strong aura. His heart skipped a beat as she smiled at him.
"What are you looking at?", the blue-haired woman asked curiously, having taken a seat next to him and having noticed his look.
"N-nothing," he hastily answered, discarding his train of thought, and stared at the ceiling.
"You know," Akane said after a few moments of silence and handed him an empty plate. "I wonder why Ryoga was so shocked. He's always been so nice to me, so I thought he would be, well, happy for us, but I think he's not."
"What a surprise," the martial artist grunted contemptuously.
"What do you mean?", the young woman asked in surprise. "Is there something I should know? Wait a moment, could it be that he.... he's ill?"
"Are you kiddin' me?", Ranma asked and looked at her in disbelief. "Maybe you're coming down with something?"
The short-tempered girl grabbed the next best thing she could get hold of and threw it at him. Before the black-haired youth could react, he received a savage blow on the head by an empty vase.
"You tomboy," he growled at her and rubbed the back of his head, but Akane did not react to his insult. She sat quietly next to him, folded her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. Her cheeks reddened and she gnashed her teeth in anger, but her voice was as calm as a light summer breeze.
"We should not insult or hit each other for the time being," she mumbled. "What if Shampoo or Ryoga had decided to come back? Or what if Ukyo had walked in on us? Then our little game would have been over. So, Ranma, what's up with Ryoga?"
"You were throwing stuff at me", the martial artist cursed under his breath, but, seeing her rising an eyebrow, continued casually, eyed his supper suspiciously and then grimaced. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. Ryoga's had a crush on you for God knows how long. So what did you expect? Anyway, what's that supposed to be? Dinner?"
"Yeah, that's our dinner. And I cooked it myself, so dig... wait, what did you say?", she exclaimed and looked at him incredulously, her mouth gaping open, her eyes slightly bulging and her cheeks reddening as a furious blush began to creep upon them.
"Is this supposed to be our dinner?"
"No, before that!"
"Oh, you mean P-chan having a crush on you?", he asked, glowering at his fiancée. "Don't tell me you didn't notice."
"Ah, no way!", she said, wildly gesticulating, but nevertheless blushing. "We've been friends for months now, nothing more."
"And what about all the gifts and the way he's been acting towards you?"
"Oh my God!", she whispered, having thought about her fiancé's words for a moment, and hid her face in her hands. "I don't believe it! How could I've been so stupid? If I had known, then, then..."
"Then what?", he asked, raising his eyebrows crossly. He could barely keep himself from insulting her again, partly because he did not want to eat her cooking, partly, even though he would not admit it to anyone, because he was angry with her for liking the lost boy so much.
"Then I would have tried to break it to him more gently, you know!", she exclaimed. "Damn it!"
"Well," he told her and suddenly stood up. "Now that this is cleared up, I think I'll go training for a while. See you later!"
"Where do you think you are going, Ranma?", she asked firmly and looked at him, the colour fading from her cheeks as quickly as the other martial artist from her mind. "Dinner's ready to be served."
"Eh, you know, I'm not hungry at all. Lunch...", he began, but was cut short by the young woman.
"Sit down!", she commanded him to take a seat. "Now!"
After he had caught a glimpse of his fiancée, had seen the murderous look upon her face and had felt her most dangerous aura, he sat down again without further ado and protest. Then Akane cut a slice of her self-made Tofu and placed it on his plate.
"Eat or die!", she told him and watched him closely.
Not for a second did Ranma doubt that her words were not an idle threat. Slowly and with utmost caution he took the fork as if it was poisoned and shoved a little bit of the Tofu into his mouth. He chewed twice before he convulsively stiffened. Then he dropped his fork, which hit the plate with a loud clangour, and stared at Akane, who had watched him hopefully.
"What?", he panted, looking at his plate in surprise. "What did you do?"
"It's that bad, huh?", she stated disappointedly, sounding a little sad.
"No, how did you do it?", he repeated, not reacting to her statement.
"What do you mean?", the short-tempered woman asked angrily. "I just followed the instructions. That's all!"
"What did you, how did you do it?", Ranma asked again, looking directly at her.
"Stop making fun of me!", Akane yelled and stood up, he aura blazing dangerously. "I didn't concentrate, okay?! I was trying to get into my role at that moment!"
"That's not what I meant, you know. Did you really... do it yourself? Because it's, well, kinda edible..."
Instantly Akane's blue aura vanished and she slumped onto the ground next to him, not knowing what to say, but nonetheless slightly blushing, gratefully smiling at him, taking a bite of her own food and happily winking. The two martial artists ate their supper in complete silence, the young man totally surprised that the food was indeed edible and not poisoned, the young woman that he had complimented her cooking skills. In tacit consent Akane turned the television on.
"I, eh, I'm glad you liked it," she stammered nervously, sat down on the couch and beckoned him over.
"Hmm," he answered, sitting shyly down on the far end of the couch. "I didn't say I li..."
"P-chan!"
Akane interrupted him, pointed at a little black spot in the garden and jumped up. Then she ran past a stunned martial artist and into the garden in order to welcome her pet. The piglet, however, desperately tried to avoid its master, jumped away and hid behind a tree, but its efforts were in vain. The young woman caught Ryoga and hugged him lovingly.
"That guy really has no sense of direction," Ranma swore furiously under his breath, after he had come out into the garden. "Akane?"
"P-chan is home, Ranma," she told him, rubbing her nose cheerfully against the piglet's and smiling brightly. "Isn't that wonderful?"
"Yeah, wonderful," he growled at her, walking towards his fiancée. "Well, P-chan, it's been years! Were have you been? Lost again?"
"Don't pick on him, Ranma!", the young woman scolded him and smiled at her pet. "Don't worry, P-chan, it's only been a..."
The martial artist knew that he had to act as quickly as possible, but he did not know how to silence his fiancée. He grimaced and shook his head, but the woman in front of him only had eyes for her pet. Suddenly an idea rushed into his mind. Blushing furiously, he placed his hands on her shoulders and embraced the beautiful girl warmly. Immediately the young woman let the piglet, which ran away without once turning around, fall to the ground.
"Week," she breathed quietly, enjoying the warmth his body was radiating. Closing her eyes, Akane's chest tightened just a little, a strange, tingling sensation in her stomach made her feel just a little light-headed and her heart beat just a little faster than normal. A second later the young woman came to her senses again and pushed him away.
"W-what do-do you think you-you're doing?", she whispered and turned as red as a beet.
"It's not what it looks like," he defeated himself, blushing right up to the ears as well. Ranma desperately wanted her to know all about Ryoga, but his oath silenced him, even though he just wanted to protect her honour. He bit his lip and stared at the ground.
"W-wait a moment," she suddenly said, implying that something dawned on her. "Could it be that.... you're jealous of P-chan?"
"No, I'm not!", he exclaimed hastily and blushed even more as he saw his fiancée's grin. "Why should I be jealous? Hell, I-I don't wanna sleep in your bed!"
"Oh, Ranma, who could have thought that I, the uncute, sexless tomboy, could make you jealous?", she joked, although his words had roused the wild beast within her chest again, and then whispered softly into his ear: "Well, we'll see about that, because tonight we are going to sleep on the couch together..."
"W-w-w-w-what?!", he breathed, his whole body – even his pigtail – stiffening, while the colour of his blush turned to a fiery red.
"I-I-I'm go-going t-to s-s-sleep on-on the couch w-while you're going to sleep on the floor next to me," she stammered and laughed herself to tears, holding her sides. "You-your expression is priceless!"
"You are so uncute!", he grumbled, having recovered from the shock.
"W-well," she answered, still laughing at him. "At least I'm not a pervert. By the way, remind me of that after this is over."
"Yeah, like hell I will," he cursed angrily under his breath, trying hard to conceal his blush. "Damn it, why should I sleep on the floor?"
"It's a necessary precaution", she answered, wiped her tears away, turned around and walked into the house again. "Just imagine somebody would come over and we slept in different rooms. Wouldn't that be awkward for a married couple? Anyway, I wonder why P-chan ran away..."
"Maybe because you are so uncute," he mumbled as he trotted behind her. "I'll go get my stuff."
The female martial artist nodded and settled back on the couch while the young man slowly walked into his room, changed into his pyjama, picked his futon up and went back downstairs. Grumpily he let it drop to the floor next to the couch and lay down.
"What's on TV?", he asked, yawning.
"There's this horror film, you know?", she said, looking questioningly at him.
"Fine by me," he answered, closed his eyes for a second and fell asleep at once. Suddenly, however, he heard a shriek. Instantly he jumped up and jerked his head around, but could not see anyone but his fiancée.
"What's up?", he sleepily asked.
The young woman said nothing, but trembled with fear. Having closed her eyes, she then, slowly, very slowly, raised her shivering arm and pointed at a spot behind Ranma. Hastily he turned around and saw the television.
"Aw, don't tell me..."
"It was scary!", she whimpered. "Could you, you know, maybe sit down on the couch?"
"Do I have to? I mean, come on, this is just a film. I'm damn tired and I wanna sleep," he answered.
"Please?", she pleaded with him, looking at him with her sweet, hazel eyes.
Breathing a deep sigh, Ranma slumped on the couch next to his fiancée. He saw her somewhat relieved expression and tried hard not to fall asleep again, concentrating on the commercial, while Akane drew her knees to her chest and embraced them tightly with her arms. Soon, however, he found that he could hardly keep his eyes open anymore and seconds later he slowly drifted off to sleep again.
Just moments later the young martial artist felt a weight on his right shoulder, blinked twice, because he did not know where he was, yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Then he turned his head around and nearly jumped up in surprise. His fiancée's head lay on his shoulder and the young woman slept deeply.
The young man blushed furiously, but did not dare to move, because he feared that his fiancée could wake up and accuse him of being a pervert. He thought that his situation could not get any worse when he turned his head and saw the silhouette of a person standing in the living-room. As the person moved closer to him, his eyes bulged, because he recognized his best friend, Ukyo.
"We need to talk," she mouthed and beckoned him to follow her. "Now!"
Soundlessly and carefully he stood up, placed his fiancée's head gently on the couch, switched off the television and followed his best friend into the training hall. Just a few minutes later the blue-haired woman stirred in her sleep and finally woke up, because something was missing. She looked around and noticed that her fiancé was neither lying on the couch nor on his futon.
Slowly she sat up. Suddenly, however, she heard a woman's voice. Curiously she followed the voice until she could see that the light in the training hall had been switched on. As quietly as possible she walked to the door and took a peek at the inside.
"Ukyo," the black-haired martial artist said, kneeling in front of the young woman.
"This," she said, raised her giant spatula and smacked him with it. "Is for making me wait all this time."
Akane crouched down in front of the door, her aura blazing, because her fiancé talked with another woman in the middle of the night. She opened the door a little more and watched them through the crack of the door. For a split second she thought that they had noticed her, but then Ukyo raised her spatula again.
"This," she said, hitting him again. "Is for you stupidity."
Akane dared to open the door a little more as Ranma moaned in pain.
"And this," she finally whispered seductively, helped the barely conscious man up, embraced him tightly and rubbed her nose against his. "Is for your great plan."
"Rrrranma!"
The female martial artist rushed through the door, her flaming, blue aura surrounding her. Beside herself with rage she stepped closer to the couple, clenching her fists. Akane did not know why she was a good deal more furious than normal, why every beat of her heart pained her so much that she wanted to cry or why a volley of his words rang in her ears, all of them, whether kind or insulting, pleasant or hot, churlish or doll, goading her into becoming even more furious, but she knew that her dear fiancé was about to pay for it.
"Let go of her," she said in a dangerously calm way.
"I ain't holdin' her!", Ranma claimed, not knowing what was going on.
"Hey, honey," Ukyo suddenly interfered in their quarrel, let go of Ranma and looked defiantly at her rival. "Well, I guess we've got to tell her, Ranma-honey."
"Tell her what?"
"Ah, don't be shy," she told him, hitting him playfully. "We've got to tell her that it was all a scheme to get rid of our suitors, the last one being her. I'm sorry, Akane."