Resolution: The Craziness Continues?!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. It all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Bla blubb!
Ich möchte mich noch einmal bei all jenen bedanken, die mich so lieb unterstützt und ermutigt haben!
Thank you all very much for your support and encouragement. I really appreciated it!
Thank you: SuperLardBucket, epain, jd, Shadowalker666, James Birdsong, Hitman25ad, vleroy728, TL, XxkanaxX, ca-chan, Angela Jewell, Mystical-Dreamer57, uzukun7, Shidoin and all the others I forgot to mention. Thank you all so much!
Instantly Akane's bright blue aura vanished. Her shoulders slumped and she averted her eyes as some lonely tears won their fight against the woman's stubbornness and pride and ran down her cheeks. Staring blankly at the ground, because she could not stand the sight of him holding Ukyo, the blue-haired martial artist walked slowly towards her fiancé.
Suddenly she saw his shoes and looked up at him. For a split second a pair of hazel eyes met a pair of blue ones. And for once she had caught him off-guard. She could read all the emotions he usually hid so carefully: he was surprised, confused and above all worried. As he saw her tears, his expression changed rapidly. Helplessly but warmly he looked into her eyes and Akane could feel his perfect sincerity. A pleasant feeling of warmth spread throughout her body. Realizing that he still held his other fiancée in his arms, though, it swiftly vanished into thin air. The young woman smiled bitterly and slapped his face with all her strength, before turning around and storming away.
"Ucchan, leggo of me," Ranma growled, struggled with her for a moment and then shoved her roughly away, not seeing, not caring that his best friend fell to the ground. "Akane, you tomboy!"
"You dare?", she croaked, immediately stopping dead in her tracks, her aura blazing anew. "You dare to insult me?!"
"Yeah, I dare," he bellowed at her. "It's not what it looks like and it's definitely not my fault!"
"Yeah, right," Akane sneered her reply, impersonating her fiancé. "Wow, Akane, it's not what it looks like. I was the kissee here, not the kisser."
"We didn't even k-k-kiss!"
"Oh, but you would have if I hadn't interrupted," she cried, looking at the ceiling. "Well, don't mind me, you jerk. Oh, by the way, are you trying to get off with every girl you meet or was it just me?"
"I-I, what?", he seethed, his cheeks reddening with anger. "I ain't that old lecher! I don't hit on girls and I definitely wasn't hitting on you, tomboy!"
"Yeah?", she asked calmly, her aura nonetheless blazing dangerously. "And what about telling me that my cooking was edible? And what about sleeping on the couch with me?"
The martial artist did not answer. He stared nervously at the floor while he scratched the back of his head. Then, having mustered up the courage to tell her, he looked shyly at her and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, though, they heard the clapping of hands. Perplexedly the two youths turned around to Ukyo.
"That was grand!", she exclaimed, applauded them, stood up and raised an eyebrow. "You two make such good actors, you know. Oh, don't tell me the first act is not over yet. I'm so sorry! Just go on."
"What? You know? How?", the young woman stammered, her aura vanishing.
"Honey, you would have killed him if you had caught us in a position like this," she explained and smiled cheerfully at her rival. "Besides, I met Ryoga two hours ago and he babbled something about you two being married, so I thought that you two may be up to something. Oh, and then your fiancé confessed to me how you got rid of Shampoo and Kuno just before you came in."
"He told you?"
"He told me."
"I had to!"
"You had to?
"He had to."
"Stop that!", Akane said and, after having darted an angry glance at her fiancée, closed her eyes, massaging her temples. "Great, Ranma, just great! Ukyo, what are you going to do now that you know about our scheme?"
"Nothing," the cook answered calmly. "We've fought with no holds barred for the last two years and I've lost to you. Honey, don't look at me like that. I know when a battle is lost and a martial artist has to accept defeat, even though it may hurt."
"I don't believe a word of it," the blue-haired woman replied, eyeing the other woman suspiciously. "You're just like Shampoo. You'll never give up on him! Why else would you be here?"
"I'm not like Shampoo at all," she answered with a sigh. "I've always been his friend, you know, and I just want him to make the right decision, but up to the failed wedding I've thought that I would be the best choice for him. Guess I was wrong, though, because you don't love me, do you, Ranma-honey?"
"Ucchan...", the martial artist answered feebly and grimaced, not knowing what to say without hurting his best friend. So he simply stared at the floor, his heart torn between telling her how he felt to clear things up and saying nothing in order to prevent himself from offending her feelings.
"It's okay, honey," she said quietly with a quavering voice. "You don't have to say it. I should have seen it coming a long time ago, but I think the eyes of love are almost as blind as Mousse. I just want you to be in good hands for once, because, whatever all the others may say, you deserve it, although you can be a jerk sometimes. Just promise me that we'll always be friends."
"I, of course, Ucchan," Ranma promised, smiling at her. "You're the best friend I have!"
"I know," she answered on the verge of tears and turned around to her former rival, who looked at her utterly bewildered. "May I show you how I know that he doesn't love me?"
"G-go a-ahead," Akane stuttered, shaking her head as if to convince herself that this was not a dream.
Ukyo gave her a friendly nod, turned around to her fiancé again, gulped back her tears and then wrapped her arms gently around his neck and kissed him. Softly she pressed her lips against his, deepening the kiss, while Ranma was too stunned to do anything. Akane, however, hissed furiously, her jealousy pumping through her veins like the deadliest poison. Suddenly the young man, who blushed furiously, withdrew from the kiss, though, and hastily stepped away from his best friend, whose tears wept freely now.
"D-don't b-be cross w-with me, honey," Ukyo sobbed, trying to smile away her tears, and then whispered to her rival: "If he loved me, he would have kissed me back. Just, just do me a favour and take good care of him. You won't find someone like him ever again."
Without another word the young cook turned around and ran away. Ranma hesitated for a moment and then tried to follow her only to find his way blocked by his fiancée. Her aura still blazed dangerously, but she gave him a charming smile.
"Just give her some time," the young woman suggested and, seeing his reluctant nod, asked casually: "So, how did you like the kiss?"
"I-what?", he stammered, his cheeks reddening again. "I, I d-didn't k-k-k-kiss her!"
"Oh, so what did you two do then?", she yelled, jealousy welling up in her again.
"She pressed her lips against mine!", he exclaimed. "That's not a k-kiss! That's worlds apart, because it takes two to do that, okay?!"
"Com'on, m'boy!", the two young adults heard a voice say, before Akane could answer. Hastily they turned around and saw Happossai, who held an enormous bottle in his left hand, entering the training hall. "Schee wantsch you to to to kisssss 'er."
Suddenly the old master hiccuped, weaved a few steps forward, propped against the wall of the training hall and closed his eyes for a moment. Having opened them again, he gulped down the content of the bottle, threw it away and sat down.
"Easch sip, a pleaschure trip!", he slurred, looking at them. "Want schome, too?"
"I think Nabiki forgot about him," the young woman spoke in his ear.
"Yeah, I think so, too," he answered. "No, you old lecher, I don't want none of your stuff. Where have you been anyway?"
"Out, drinking," he said and suddenly began to laugh, while getting a bra from his pocket. "My sschweet, sschweet Akane.... why don't you wear thisch bra for me?"
"No, I won't!", she shrieked in response and added under her breath: "And I thought he couldn't be any more perverted."
"Too bad, too, too bad," Happossai told her, clicking his tongue disapprovingly and standing up again. "Didn't want to, but think I have to tell that Schampoo about your scheme. Heard it all, 'cause I wasch lyin' in the busches outside."
Happossai grinned from ear to ear as he looked at their shocked expressions. Akane turned around and looked at her fiancé apologetically and painfully. Ranma's heart skipped a beat as he saw that she was ready to take this embarrassment upon herself to keep their secret. A familiar warm feeling of affection towards the young girl rushed through his body and he gave her a quick smile.
"No, she won't," he then answered firmly.
"Then how 'bout you, m'boy?", the old man asked hopefully, holding the bra out to his favourite student. "Would look great on you!"
"He won't wear a bra, because he's not a woman!" Before either the grandmaster or his student could react, the young woman had rushed forward, kicked the old martial artist and sent him flying through the ceiling.
"You'll pay for that!", the man yelled.
"Eh, well, thank you," the young man said, looking nervously at his fiancée.
"Eh, you-you're welcome," she answered with a smile. "Well, that's it, huh? No fiancée's, no suitors, no lunatics?"
"I guess so," he said, walking back into the house with his fiancée.
Only hours later, however, they had to find out that it was far from over. Sitting snugly on the couch and watching television, the two martial artist suddenly heard voices in the hall. Before they could stand up, though, their families and an old grandmaster entered the living-room, chatting cheerfully and smiling broadly at the young adults.
"Nabiki? Kasumi? Dad? Mr. Saotome?", Akane asked in surprise as she saw her two sisters. "What are you doing here?"
"What a warm welcome," Nabiki answered, smirking at her little sister. "You really missed us, didn't you?"
"No, I mean yes," she stammered, trying to explain what she meant. "I just thought you would be away a little longer."
"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean, young lady?", her dad asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I-I-I, Ranma, help me!"
"Isn't that cute?", Kasumi said, seeing that her little sister's fiancé was just as surprised as Akane. "We are here, because Happossai told us to. He said he wanted us to hear something very important. Why don't we sit down and listen to what he has to say?"
"Yeah, you kicked him directly into our hotel, Akane, " continued Nabiki, grinning and taking a seat next to them. "And then we talked about you and Ranma and that you owe me a favour. Well, to cut a long story short, he paid me a good deal to get that favour. I wanted to ask whether you fantasized about you having sex with your fiancé, but Happossai wants to know whether you're in love with him."
"I-I, w-what? Nabiki?", the young woman stuttered, blushing as red as a beet and looking anywhere but at Ranma. Her heart beat furiously as she tried to buy herself some time, ignoring the 'That's not fair, Nabiki Tendo! I want to ask that, too!' screams.
"H-how did you pay her anyway, Happossai?"
"I, that's not important right now," he answered, beginning to sweat.
"How did you do it, master Happossai?", his two students asked simultaneously as they saw his reaction and stood up.
"I-I-I..."
"Yes, master?"
"I sold the training hall."
"Nihao, airen!", they heard a familiar voice, before they could do or say anything at all. Then a purple-haired Amazon, clad in a skimpy dress, entered the room, followed by a duck and an old witch. "Shampoo buy training hall, so airen no marry violent kitchen wrecker."
"Who are you calling a kitchen wrecker?", Akane asked furiously, but her voice was drowned by the noise their fathers caused by swooping down on the old grandmaster.
"How could you sell the training hall?!"
"Shampoo," Cologne suddenly shrieked loudly. "How did you buy the training hall?"
"Sold Cat Café to spatula girl, who employ boy with no sense of direction to work."
"Shampoo!!"
Ranma and Akane looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, turned around, smiled and took a bow.
"Thank you for reading this story. And, eh, don't mind them," she said, pointing at her father and Mr. Saotome, who tried to beat their grandmaster up, Cologne, who shouted at her great-granddaughter, Shampoo, who batted her eyelashes at her fiancé, Nabiki, who took pictures, and Kasumi, who shook her head disapprovingly. "It's your turn, Ranma!"
"Oh yeah," he said. "Thank you! And now get outta here!"
"Ranma!", she scolded him. "I'm sorry, my dear reader. There might be another chapter in store for you, but that depends on your reviews. Anyway, thank you very much! See you!"