Chapter 38: The usual
After getting her mother dinner, she went back downstairs to join the others. When everyone was done with dinner, Thrista brought out the upside down pineapple cake she had baked, with the boys really enjoying it the most. Ranka and Ukyou complimented her on it as well. While Ryouga enjoyed it, he still stood firm about whose he preferred as he blurted out. " It's good but not as good as Ranka's cake!" Ranma gave him an irked look. " Suck up.." Thrista giggled with a smile. " Of course not, since you want Ranka to be your girlfriend." Ranma started choking on his piece of cake. Ryouga was bright red in the face as he twiddled his fingers about nervously. Ranka looked frustrated. Ukyou had an "I can't believe, he just said that", look on her face.
Once she saw that Thrista was done with dessert, she thanked her for her help and cited she had family matters to handle, and let her have some of the flowers as thanks. Thrista took the hint and took her leave. Ranka sighed a breath of relief after she had left, as she rolled her eyes. " Sometimes I think "she" has a bigger mouth than Akane.." That made Ranma laugh. Ryouga looked distraught, as he didn't want to upset Ranka but also wanted to defend Akane. " Well I mean, how do you know that?" Ukyou snickered at his feeble attempt. Ranka quirked an eyebrow at him. " I see how it is." She grabbed a plate of the cake, going off upstairs with it.
Ryouga sweat dropped looking all nervous. " What did I say wrong?" Ranma had a smug look on his face. " Gee I dunno man." Ukyou sipped her tea. " I'd say just about everything." Ranma had a cheesy grin on his face. " I'll say." Ryouga looked all panicked. " Ah.. I didn't mean to, is she really mad?" Ukyou gave him a dull look, as she shook her head at him.
Ryouga blurted out " I need to use the bathroom!" As he ran off upstairs, shutting the bathroom door, letting them think he had, his real intention was to talk to Ranka. He looked all nervous as she came out from her mothers room, shutting the door behind her, giving him a bit of a glare, before she went off to her own room, slightly shutting the door behind her. Ryouga gulped as he got the nerve up to let himself in, as he closed it lightly like it had been and was about to say something, until he saw the window was open.
Ranka sat with her knee's to her chest out on the rooftop, needing some time to herself. She looked over annoyed as she sensed she had been followed, looking more annoyed at seeing him. "Go away." Ryouga winched some at the annoyance in her voice, but pressed on as he ignored her, sitting down near her. " I won't, because I.. I'm sorry about what I said." Ranka glowered at him with an angry smirk. " You like big mouth's, I get it, boy you're really lucky because Akane can be like the biggest one at times." Ryouga sweat dropped as he can sense she was angry and lashing out, making him wave his hands about in a panic. " I can't help it.. liking Akane, but it's true I like you more! And well.. um, you like Akane too, don't you?" Ranka wrinkled up her nose at him. " So you do know then. Annoyingly I can't help but like her to a degree and you know why, but she's not your fiancee, now is she?"
Ryouga looked upset for a second as he sucked it up. " No, she's not.." He then focused his attention on her. " But you're.." Ranka cut him off there. " I told you, you and me won't work." Ryouga looked determined from where he was sitting. " I know, you say that, but I'm.." She cut him off again. "It won't, so just stop and get it through your stupid thick skull.." She muttered under her breath. " Now, leave me the hell alone.." Ryouga could clearly tell she was angry as he heeded her warning and backed off, as he went back inside through the window, taking his leave from the room.
Ukyou had tried to keep Ranma from chasing after Ryouga for awhile, but he had grown more annoyed, seeing that Ryouga never came back downstairs, so he went up to check things out. The timing couldn't be worse as he caught him coming out from Ranka's room, making him bristle. " What the hell Ryouga! Why were you in Ranka's room? Spill it or I'll beat it out of you!" Ryouga had a stupid look on his face as he held up his hands. " We we're just talking, that's all I swear!" Ranma glared at him. " I thought, you had to use the bath room." Ryouga sweated as he stammered with words, as what to say, making him look worse. Ukyou at hearing arguing, yelled up. " You two knock it off!" Ranma and Ryouga sweat dropped and went back downstairs at being caught out. Nodoka was about to get up and do similar but smiled to herself at hearing Ukyou put them in their place.
She looked up towards the stairs, seeing that Ranka hadn't said anything or shown herself, thinking to herself how she must be really upset. She then turned her attention back to the rivals. " You two boys behave, while I handle things." Both of them were sitting on the couch and looked away from each other with hmpfs. Ranma then put on a video game as he tossed the other controller to Ryouga with an annoyed look on his face. Ukyou went off upstairs to go find Ranka, which she did as went off outside onto the roof top, at seeing the window was open. "Hey you okay? That block head really upset you huh." She sat down next to her.
Ranka looked over at her for a second, before re focusing her gaze forward at the neighborhood and the starry night sky. " I'm okay, just trying to calm down." She sighed as she admired the sky. " He doesn't listen.. just so stuck on me being his girlfriend…" Ukyou tilted her head at her some. " And you don't want that? I thought you had said you would? Or that you'd consider it, but maybe I'm wrong." Ranka sighed heavily. " I changed my mind, or maybe I just said it, but didn't mean it, hoping he'd give up. I mean, I've told him it won't work. I'll most likely, always side with Ranma, as Akane has gotten on me about as well.. it's just how it is." She played with one of her gems on her bracelet absent minded. "It wouldn't be fair to him in the long run, unless he likes being tormented."
Ukyou gave her a gentle pat on the back, as she could see how much turmoil she was going through. "It'll work out." Ranka kept her focus on her surroundings. "Thanks Ukyou for helping Ranma and our mother, while I was gone." Ukyou smiled some. " Don't mention it, I'm just so happy that Ranma huney asked me before he did Akane." Ranka had a nervous smile on her face as she laughed a tad. " Well.. wouldn't want her poisoning our mom further than she was, not to mention for word to spread. I know it's not something she'd want anyone to know, and I know that's how Ranma felt as well. Or to at least hold off on letting everyone at the Tendo's know. I'm.. just lucky one of the flowers worked."
Ukyou nodded in agreement, looking off to the window. " We should go back inside." Ranka took notice of her facial expression, seeing the concern on her face, making her agree to, seeing that she was worried about her, as she let Ukyou go back inside first, before she did herself. She kept quiet on how she had wanted to stay out longer, as she shut the window up for the night. Ukyou started to head out of the room to go downstairs, but not at seeing Ranka behind her stopped. "Hey, aren't you coming? Because I don't think it's wise to leave those two alone too long." Ranka shook her head. " I'll be down in a bit, you go ahead, I need to talk to my mom." Ukyou nodded and did so.
—
The door to Nodoka's room opened as she spotted her daughter come in again, prompting her to question things. " Is everything alright dear? I thought I heard your brother accusing Ryouga of being in your room." Ranka looked nervous as she waved her hands about. " Oh well you know that dope, he got lost." Nodoka smiled some. " I see." Ranka nodded as she rubbed at the back of her head. " We didn't tell the Tendo's about, well.. you know, but we probably should.." Nodoka nodded i agreement. "I understand, that being said, we'll probably go over there tomorrow to let them celebrate." She then changed the subject. "Is Ryouga and Ukyou staying the night then?" Ranka went about to checking her temperature, putting her hand to her head smiling some, showing her relief. " Seems your fever is just about gone. Yeah they probably will as it's late." Nodoka smiled at hearing that. " How nice, though I do hope the boys don't fight too much." Ranka smiled a tad with a sweat drop. " Yeah, well I should go help Ukyou, I'll check back with you in a bit." Nodoka smiled back and nodded as she watched her daughter leave the room.
Before Ukyou knew it, Ranka had come back downstairs and off to the kitchen to help her with doing the dishes. Ukyou fussed about it some. " Really it's fine, I mean you've been doing a lot." Ranka ignored her as she helped. "Yeah well, so have you and you're the guest. So, you're staying over right?" Ukyou after she finished up with the last of the dishes being washed, set to help Ranka with drying them as she blushed some at hearing that. " Yeah but only because it's pretty late." Ranka shrugged her shoulders at that. " So I guess we're probably going to end up going to the Tendo's tomorrow as they'll want to celebrate the good news, so if you wanna come you can." Ukyou bit her lip at that. " It's tempting but I really need to try to make up for a lost business day." Ranka rubbed at her head some, feeling a bit responsible for that fact. " If you want, I could try to come and help out tomorrow at some point." Ukyou beamed at hearing that. " That would really help me out." Ranka sweat dropped with a small smile. "As long as it's okay with my mom, I'll stop by some time tomorrow then."
When they finished up in the kitchen, they said good night to the boys. Ukyou couldn't help but tease Ranma. " Will you be joining us Ranma huney?" Ranma got all flustered as he scratched at his head. " Uh no." Ukyou looked a little disappointed, to which she looked to Ranka for support, which un like like the last time she had pleaded to her about getting Ranma to join in on the sleep over, this time she didn't side with her. Ranka instead went off upstairs first before her, making her follow suit. She went and checked on her mother before she started to get ready for bed.
Once her and Ukyou were all done getting ready for bed and settled in bed for the night, that's when she spoke up about it. " I thought you would've tried to get Ranma huney to sleep over with "us", like before." Ranka looked off the other way frustrated, from where she was sitting up in bed, reading one of her magazines. " Yeah well.. you made it hard to say "no" before and I got too excited, without thinking of how Ranma felt about it…" Ukyou leaned over some towards her direction. " Oh so you're saying you can't say "no" to me?" Ranka sighed as she looked through her magazine. " I didn't say that." Ukyou kept going. " So are you saying Ranma huney didn't like the sleep over?" Ranka kept her attention mainly on the magazine. "I didn't realize at the time how uncomfortable that kind of thing was for him. So, it's better to not push it, if Ranma wanted to join "us" tonight, then he would've. You heard him, he said no."
Ukyou pouted for a minute, before smiling. " Well then since it's just "us" girls, we should sleep together." Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " We" are" Ukyou smiled a bit more at her. " I mean in the same bed." Ranka hahed as she turned the page. " Been there, done that and you have a horrible habit of grabbing up things in your sleep." Ukyou blushed some as she settled down. "Hey toss me one of those magazines of yours." Ranka set hers down, as she grabbed a random one and tossed it over to Ukyou's bed. " Enjoy."
Shortly after the girls had finished getting ready for bed, then the boys did. Ryouga was looking about confused down the hallway at all the doors, until Ranma grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him off with him to his room, before shutting the door behind them. Ryouga looked weirded out for a second before he shook his head about. " What? This isn't the guest room, is it?" Ranma gave him an annoyed look. " Yeah right, like I trust you to stay put, this way I can make sure you don't go sneaking off, P-chan." He grabbed one of his manga's from the book shelf, before getting into his bed. Ryouga got all frustrated in response to Ranma's demands. " Who says I want to sleep with YOU!" He blurted out." Ranma hmpfed as he threw down his manga, taking the glass of cold water he had on his night stand near by and dumped most of the contents on his head, changing himself into a girl to mess with Ryouga for being so annoying, as she set the glass with some left over water down on the night stand, before jumping down off the bed.
Ranma-chan then latched onto Ryouga. " How about now?" Ryouga got all flustered for a second, before he got angry, as he tightened his fist. " Ranma… how dare YOU!" Ranma-chan jumped away from him as he threw a punch at her. "Hey, calm your butt down pork butt, you know we can't fight in the house." She grabbed the glass that still had enough water in it, as she splashed Ryouga with it, turning him into his cursed form the little black piglet P-chan. "I told YOU, to calm down." P-chan snarled at her as he shook himself off. Ranma continued to tease him. " Aww you mad, P-chan?" P-chan was about to launch an attack at her, but stopped in his tracks as the door swung open and an angry Nodoka stormed in and whacked Ranma-chan on the head. P-chan snickered at her. Ranma-chan owwed as she rubbed at her head and then eeped at seeing her mother. " Ah.. mom.. I can explain.." Nodoka had an un amused look on her face as she grabbed Ranma-chan by her hand and pulled her off with her. " Since you're a girl, then you should have a nice sleep over." She said as she knocked on Ranka's door and shoved Ranma-chan off inside. " Ranma would like to join you two, I don't want to hear anymore horsing around, understand?"
Ranka sweat dropped at answering the door and having Ranma-chan shoved in, who looked all frazzled as Nodoka shut the door behind her. Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " You were messing with Ryouga weren't you?" Ranma-chan grumbled and sighed. " Dammit Ryouga.. I'll get you for this.." Ukyou sat up in bed all excited. "Oooh Ranma huney!" Ranma-chan hung her head. " I would've gotten away with it if he hadn't yelled.." Ukyou patted the bed. " You can sleep with me Ranma huney." Ranma-chan got red in the face. Ranka sighed as she patted her bed. " I changed my mind Ukyou, you can.. sleep with me." Ukyou took her up on the offer, which spared Ranma, as she snuggled up in the same bed as Ranka. Ranma-chan sighed a deep sigh of relief as she got in her own bed, still a bit flustered but way less than if she had, had to share the same bed with Ukyou and was grateful for Ranka's sacrifice.
Ukyou quickly fell asleep and just as Ranka knew she would, she took up the place of being her stuffed animal, as she snuggled up with her, pulling her face into her chest, as Ranka tried to pull herself away some.
Nodoka in mean time had grabbed up P-chan and his clothes, taking him off to the bathroom, setting him down on the floor,before shutting the door behind him. P-chan then jumped off into the hot tub, changing back into Ryouga. A few minutes later he came out from the bathroom dressed. Nodoka made sure he got to the guest room, before going off to her own room for the night.
—
As the birds and the sun came to life, so did Nodoka as she got up feeling herself fully again as she got herself up out of bed and ready to start the day. Not much later she was downstairs in the kitchen, cooking up breakfast for everyone. Ranma woke up before the others at smelling food, going off to get ready, sweat dropping at seeing that Ukyou still had a tight hold on Ranka, before she left the room.
A few minutes later Ukyou woke up from talking in her sleep as she still a tight hold on Ranka. "mmh Ranma huney." She giggled in her sleep, before she woke up, seeing what she had been doing as her face grew red. She suddenly let go of the other girl, as she sat up in bed. Her moving around letting go of her hold on Ranka, had her half awake as she yawned some and rolled over, at being free again. It had been a constant struggle all night long, if she had moved away, she would just get pulled back in. Ukyou got up and went about to getting ready, before she left the room, while Ranka went back to sleep.
Off in the guest room, Ryouga had gotten up to use the bathroom half awake, before he headed back to the room and back under the covers. Only he wasn't aware he went into the wrong room and into a bed, not a futon. Ranka was less awake then she was before, only taking note at figuring it was Ukyou as she rolled back over in her sleep, so she was facing him. Ryouga felt something something warm and soft, rub against his arm, also how much softer the futon had seemed to become. With neither making sense his eyes snapped opened, only to bulge at what he was seeing. Ranka was fast asleep, wearing a tank top, that was currently showing a lot of cleavage. Ryouga's mind was racing with his thoughts, as well as his heart, he covered his mouth and nose, to keep from making noise as he realized his very awkward and dangerous mistake, that he had made.
He'd be done for in all ways if he was caught, by either Ranma or Mrs. Saotome. He'd also be in a hell of a lot of trouble with Ranka if she caught him, but between the other two, he'd rather she catch him instead. He shook his head about, as he slowly got himself up and out from the bed, trying to be extra quiet as he tip toed about, until he made it out from the room.
Nodoka looked up as she heard someone come downstairs, at seeing it was Ryouga, she started to fuss, after she greeted him. "Honestly.. that girl.." Ukyou tensed up some in her seat. " Um.. Mrs. Saotome, don't be too harsh on Ranka, it's my fault she's not up.." Nodoka quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is it now? While they were going on, Ranma's attention was locked on Ryouga who looked more nervous than usual, as he almost fell from not sitting in his chair properly at first. He couldn't help but think that moron was hiding something, which likely had to do with Ranka.
Nodoka inquired about what went on between them last night. Ukyou blushed some as she fidgeted in her chair. " Well I insisted on sleeping in the same bed and well I.. I guess I was too rough.." Nodoka looked shocked as she had her hand to her mouth. " Oh my.." Ryouga gulped at what he was hearing. Ranma sweat dropped as he finished eating. Nodoka sighed with her hand to her face. " I suppose under the circumstances I'll let it go."
After cleaning up with Nodoka, Ukyou and her exchanged pleasantries and thanks, before she said her good byes and took her leave. While Ryouga wanted to wait to leave until he could see Ranka, he thought better of it, after the awkward situation that had happened as he left at the same time as Ukyou had. When everyone was gone, Nodoka hustled Ranma off to call Akane and explain things to her, while she had set a time limit for Ranka to get herself up and at, before she had to intervene.
To her relief she spotted her daughter come downstairs dressed this time and looking presentable, save for her yawning. She figured she'd get her side of the story first, before she jumped to conclusions. She did let her know she had gotten up late, as she got her saved plate of breakfast out for her, which was still warm. Ranka yawned again as she sat down at the table, which Nodoka gave her a look for. "What exactly went on last night between you and Ukyou?"
Ranka addressed her mother after she had something to drink. "She squeezed me to the death.. so I didn't get a lot of restful sleep.." Nodoka shook her head. " She made it sound like you two may have been fooling around.. so I wasn't sure.." Ranka was drinking some of her water, almost spitting it out at hearing that.
—
Not too far off Ryouga and Ukyou were walking together a ways. Ryouga couldn't help but question her about what had been said, as he looked flustered. " Did you.. really sleep with Ranka?" Ukyou quirked an eyebrow at him. " Sure did, it was her idea." Ryouga looked dismayed at hearing that. Ukyou caught up as she giggled and jabbed her elbow at him. " We slept together in the same bed you jack ass, except I.. went too far and treated her like my stuffed animal.." She muttered the last part, as she looked away flustered, but he had heard the jest of it. She waved to him, as her road to turn down came up. " See ya Ryouga, I really gotta get back home and make up for the days of business I missed." He waved back as he stood there in his thoughts.
That is until he heard a familiar voice from behind him, as he jumped and turned around to see Ranka, which got him all nervous, his face turning red. " Ahaha.. Ranka, what are you doing here?" The red head had an annoyed look on her face, with her arms crossed. " You ran out without saying a word to me.. that's why I came after your ass!" Ryouga fwailed his hands about more nervous. " I'm sorry it was an honest mistake!" He also blurted out the rest as his nerves hit more. " I didn't mean to touch your boobs!" Ranma-chan glared daggers at him. " Ahh so that's WHY you looked guilty you pig headed moron!" Ryouga blinked all dumb founded for a minute before it hit him and he glared back at the red head. "RANMA! How dare you pretend to be your sister again!" He tightened his fist as he launched an attack at her. Ranma-chan had fixed her hair back into her signature pigtail in a blur, before she hit back at him. " Shut up and fight Ryouga!"
Ryouga and her kept clashing off each other as he yelled at her. " You CAN'T fool me Ranma!" Ranma-chan glared back at him as they kept at it. " You say that, but you almost fell for it." She decided to mess with him more. " Whose to say that I've been Ranka more times then you thought, since we are twins." Ryouga and her battled back and forth with their hands together, as they each pushed at each other. He hahed at her taunt. " That doesn't give YOU the right to pretend to be "her!" He then smirked with a fanged smirk. " Perhaps in looks your identical, but that can only go so far." He tried to throw another attack at the red head.
Ranma-chan gave him a smug look. " You know if we fight too much, you'll ruin Ranka's outfit and that'll upset her." Ryouga then stopped in mid attack, getting all nervous. " Ahh!" Ranma-chan smirked and got a good hit in, as she kicked him in his gut roughly. " Hah, got you. "That" was for perving on my damn sister!" At getting a telepathic warning from her sister she cut the fight short. "This" isn't over Ryouga! I owe you a battle royal beat down!" She said as she ran back towards the house.
Nodoka hummed as she went off to her room to get dressed from her warm bath she had just had, coming down the stairs dressed a few minutes later. She poked her head outside to check on her son's progress of watering the garden, to see Ranma in his girl form, before she went back inside at hearing the phone ring.
Ranma-chan came back inside as she flopped down on the couch, looking tired from running back so fast to get back before she got caught by her mother. Thanks to Ranka who relaying by mind chat, what was going on. Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " You were teasing him again, weren't you?" Ranma-chan had her hand to her face, looking annoyed. " That's because he was hiding something.." Ranka yawned some as she was still waking up, having just had some breakfast. " And what was that?" Ranma-chan grumbled. " That he was being a pervert and perving on YOU.." Ranka hahed at hearing that. " When isn't he?" Ranma-chan looked more annoyed. " No, he really did, that moron, he said he touched your boobs.." Ranka sweat dropped. " I think that I'd remember that. The only one who came and went was Ukyou and then she came back."
Ranma-chan shook her head. " Ah nope, she was downstairs with me and mom and then a little later "the pig" came down, looking guilty as hell.." Ranka got all flustered at what she was hearing as she realized who she had thought was Ukyou getting back into bed with her, was actually the lost boy as she ughed.
Once she had gotten off the phone with Kasumi, she told her children to get themselves ready, as they had been invited over to celebrate Nodoka's recovery. Upon getting themselves together, they all headed out together towards the Tendo's. As they walked, Ranka brought up her plans to her mother. "Hey mom, is it okay if I leave in a bit? I told Ukyou I'd try to help her get more business, since she's behind from helping us out." Nodoka looked dismayed to a point, but understood. " It is, we'll come and pick you up after then." Ranka nodded back in reply.
—
At arriving at the Tendo's, they were greeted by Kasumi, Akane and Soun fussed over Nodoka. Ranma at spotting P-chan in Akane's arms, glared at him, while Ranka shot him a look, before looking off elsewhere. Genma tried to suck up to Nodoka. Luckily it seemed like Nabiki was out somewhere else, which put the Saotome siblings more at ease as they enjoyed the celebration.
After awhile Ranka excused herself and said good bye to everyone, before taking her leave from the Tendo's, going off to Ukyou's, while everyone kept celebrating, though Akane looked annoyed at the fact that Ranka had left. It wasn't explained, exactly why, since they didn't want to give off the fact that Ukyou had helped Nodoka.
Ukyou beamed at seeing Ranka come in. " Hey Ranka, you made it." Ranka smiled back at her some. " Yep, I'm here." Ukyou instructed her to go get changed into a work outfit, which she did, before she came back out. Then she was given further instruction as she went off outside with some sample's to promote the restaurant, coming back in a few minutes later, having drawn a crowd. Ukyou blinked at how fast she was back and the up tick in customers. " You're out already?" Ranka rubbed at the back of her head sheepishly. " Ah yeah, it went fast." Ukyou smiled at hearing that. " Well, it's like I said before about you out do Ranma huney. You have your hair up differently, not completely bound, if you get my drift." Ranka played with the tip of her pony tail for a second, before going off to take orders.
Hiroshi smiled and waved at seeing her come over. " Hey Ranka, I didn't know you worked here?" Ranka smiled a tad at him. " Here and there I suppose, it's to help out Ukyou, ya know. So, what can I get you?" Hiroshi hmmed as he eyed the menu for a minute before smiling back. " Surprise me." Ranka shrugged her shoulders at him. " Will do."
As time went by the afternoon rush went on for quite awhile, before Ukyou closed the shop up. Ranka came back from changing back into her casual outfit as she took a seat. Ukyou was thrilled she had more than made up for the day or so missed. " Hey Ranka, I bet your hungry huh, I'll cook you up an okonomiyaki on the house." Ranka looked thoughtful for a minute before responding. " Since you're insisting but a small one please, or I won't hear the end of it.. from my mother.." Ukyou smiled as she went through the motions. "She's really strict huh." Ranka finished sipping some of her water from the glass. " Very." Ukyou finished as she slid the plate with the food over to her, before she worked on making herself one was well. " So.. that nasty ex friend of yours and the devil, were why your mom was so ill huh." Ranka looked annoyed as she stabbed her chopsticks into the pancake like food item. "Yeah.." She then smiled really quickly. " Just one of the perks of being associated with me.. you could end up targeted or dead.." Ukyou changed the subject, seeing that Ranka was getting a bit too upset. "So, you and Ryouga were all alone in the wilderness huh?" Ranka gagged some on the piece of food she had in her mouth, prompting her to drink some more water. "More a less.. I wish he'd just give up.."
Ukyou turned off the grill, as she went and sat down at the counter with Ranka as she sweat dropped. "I hate to tell you but that guy is pretty relentless. Oh cmon you don't hate him, do you?" Ranka tensed up some at hearing that. "I don't really know.. it's complicated.." Ukyou munched on some of her food. " That's how feelings are. I always loved Ranma huney, I just didn't know, or well.. realize." Ranka groaned at hearing that as she finished eating, setting her chopsticks down. " I don't know and I don't want to know.. The only reason I went on a date in the first place was my mom basically made me, all how you gotta thank people for helping you, and make good on promises, which is why now I'm engaged to Shampoo.. and probably you too, I don't even know anymore.."
Ukyou finished chewing on her piece of food, before responding. " Well you are Ranma's other side." She said as she blushed some. Ranka sighed with her head down on the counter, which prompted Ukyou to devulge further. "Do you.. hate me then?" Ranka sat up quickly with wide eyes as she shook her head back and forth. " What? No, of course not!" Ukyou smiled in reply as she finished eating. " So, what's the problem then?" Ranka rubbed at one of her arms. " It's just a lot, if I had always been aware of things from the start, it probably wouldn't be.. but I was allowed to act like I was someone else.." Ukyou put her hand on her shoulder with a stern look. " Hey, you're still you. I kind of get what you're saying, I played off that I was a boy for quite some time, never really embracing my girl ness, but I'm still me, whether I am dressed like a boy or a girl. Say for example, how you're thinking sug. Whether you dress like Ranma or not, you're still "you".
Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her with her hand to her face. " So, you're saying if I dressed like him, you'd be able to tell us apart?" Ukyou had a determined look on her face, feeling pretty confident. " I'm pretty sure that I could, for example, Ranma's not going to wear a bra and girls underwear." Ranka got a bit red in the face. Ukyou went on. "And you have your bad habit of always wearing your red gem necklace. Not to mention your demenour is different from Ranma huneys." Ranka hung her head as she put her hand up. " Okay, I give up, you win, no more.."
—
The door opened to the restaurant as Nodoka and Ranma came in. Ukyou may have closed the shop but the door was still un locked as she smiled and greeted them, getting up and going off behind the counter to the grill as she persuaded Nodoka to have some food. While she cooked up two small okonomiyaki's for her and Ranma, who was all excited to have some. Ranma finished his and tried to ask for another, only to be met with a displeased mother. Ukyou giggled some, while she cleaned up the grill for the night. " So the Tendo's threw you a nice "get well" celebration huh Mrs. Saotome. Consider "this" mine."
Nodoka put a hand to her face as she finished hers, dabbing her mouth with a napkin with her other hand. " They did.. it wasn't necessary but, they did anyways.. Thank you Ukyou dear, I'm afraid we can't stay too long as it is a school night for all of you." Ukyou nodded in agreement as they finished and all said their farewell's for the night as they took their leave.
As they walked back Nodoka beamed proudly at her daughter. " I see you were able to keep your promise with Ukyou and helped her out, that makes me very proud." Ranka smiled some in response. Ranma had a happy tummy, so he was in his own happy little world. Nodoka's keen eye could see that Ranka's gem was lit up under her shirt, making her give her daughter a look. " Ranka dear, what are you up to?" Ranka looked nervous at being caught by her mother, as she had a defense barrier up around them as they walked, un sure if she should fib or just say it as she sighed. " I'm just making sure we're safe from any attacks, is that so wrong?" She said with a puppy dog look to her mother, before looking off. "and.. I just have a bad feeling." She sweat dropped as a bunch of arrows hit into her defense barrier, which had Nodoka all wide eyed. Ranka gave her a blank look. " Like.. I was saying.."
Once they got back to the house, Ranma went off to go take a bath, while his mother and sister dealt with making dinner. Nodoka fussed while they kept it simple with a tempura dinner, which they took turns battering up and frying. " I wonder who on earth would do such a thing." She said regarding to how they had just been attacked. Ranka gave her a dull look as she finished with her side of the tempura items. " You hunt demons.. and I told you, I had a bad feeling.. I told you.." Nodoka caught sight of the red gem glowing out of the corner of her eye, giving her a daughter a look. " Ranka.. what are you up to now, young lady?" Ranka looked frustrated, seeing that her mother had learned how she could use magic with the gem and it usually lit up when she was, as she blew air out of her cheeks with a huff. "Protecting the house." Nodoka put her hands on her hips. " Ranka.." Before she could finish, Ranka cut in with a determined look. " I can handle it, so don't worry and don't say it's not necessary, because it is. Can you still say that, after what happened to you.."
Nodoka tried to collect herself as she went about to preparing the rice cooker, about to try to talk some sense into her daughter, after thinking a minute she changed her direction. " If it is too much and results in danger to you, I will not allow you to use it again." Ranka gulped seeing how dead serious her mother was on the matter of her using magic, just nodded back in reply for a minute until she thought for a minute. " You say that, but without it, you could've killed me and there's been too many times that Ivory.. could've." Nodoka hung her head at behind reminded of her nearly fatal mistake as she dropped the matter.
Down in the depths of hell in the mean while, Satan had been waiting most of the day, his patience had worn as he grabbed a near by guard, chucking him off into the pool of lava. " Rwarrgh, she's NOT coming!" He roared in anger. Alley tried her best to calm him down as she rubbed his arm with her hand. " I guess that woman wasn't that important to her after all, since she didn't show up." She kept telling him what he would like to hear, which put him into a better mood, for the time being.
A bunch of the servant guards sighed a breath of relief as the devil walked off with one of his she-devil servants. Alley steered him away from the current and had him thinking of going forward as they worked on a new plot. Satan sat at his throne, within his castle as he stroked his goatee in thought, until a wicked idea hit him, as she sneered sinisterly. " I'd like to think that woman perished, but just in case you are right, it is best to move forward with the next plan and what better way then to use those close to her." Alley snuck her way into his lap. " To use all that you have." Satan agreed with her. " Yes, and I know the perfect demon for the job." He pulled her closer, as he enjoyed the extra attention that night.
—
Morning came and soon it was time for school once again as everyone hurried off to their classrooms. In Ranka's and Ranma's, the girls in their classroom were particularly excited. Ranma rubbed at his head as he and his friends were chatting, but also taking notice of the girls all gathered together. The ring leader and cause for the excitement, one girl was going on about her new lipstick, being a fancy and sought after brand and about how important it was, with a bunch of other girls all antsy about it. The ring leader girl was showing it off to the others, as well as her painted lips. Most of the girls seemed interested. The ring leader girl not seeing Ranka interested, raised attention to that fact. " Oh come on Ranka, you can't tell me you aren't interested." All the other girls looked over at her, making her nervous. " Over lip stick, why is that such a big deal?" Akane scratched at the back of her head some. " Well.." Thrista cut in. " It is, because it makes the boys in particular " look" more." The ring leader girl smiled. " That's right, don't you want to look good for the boys, Ranka?" Ranka sweat dropped. " Not particularly.." A bunch of the girls were trying it, as they put some on, passing it around. Ukyou just shook her head at the whole thing.
The door to the classroom started to open, making the ring leader girl panic. " Oh no the teacher's coming, I can't afford to get in trouble..I'm an A+ student.." A bunch of the other girls were murmuring amongst themselves as they ran off to their desks, bailing on the ring leader. She looked up pleadingly at Ranka. " Your cool, so you won't mind taking the fall, right? Us girls need to stick together." Ranka sighed and held her hand out, to which the girl gladly forked over her lipstick to her, just as the teacher came in, seeing a lot of the girls with the lipstick on. " What is the meaning of "this? You girls should know better, no make up at school. Whose responsible for this?" The ring leader girl pointed at Ranka. " It was Ranka."
The teacher gave her a stern look. " Mrs. Saotome, why am I not surprised.." He held out his hand. " Hand it over.." Ranka sweat dropped and did so, getting an upset look from the other girl. The teacher put it away at his desk, locking the drawer up, before returning his attention to the class. " I don't want to see anymore make up in my class, understood Mrs. Saotome, this is my only warning, the next time I won't be so nice." Ranka took her seat, getting an upset look from the ring leader girl, who in turn was getting glares from mainly Ranma and his two friends, though most of the boys were giving her looks, as well as some of the girls. The teacher then told all the girls who had lipstick on to go to the bathroom and take it off, as he let everyone else in the class room know, he'd be back as he went off with the girls to make sure they removed the make up.
As soon at the door shut the ring leader girl started up with Ranka. " How could you just hand my lipstick over to the teacher?! I thought you were cool.. You'd better get it back, since you lost it, it's really expensive too." Ranka had an annoyed look on her face. Before anyone could react, Ranma was the first one to, he was close to loosing it on this uptight girl that was harassing his sister and let her know, as he got up in her face. " Lay off my sister, I'll get your stupid make up back." He went up to the front of the room, giving the teacher's desk a kick with his foot, to the drawer he had locked it in, jarring it open, before he found the dumb lipstick, which he held up so the girl could see it. " Is 'this" it?"
The ring leader girl smiled. " Yes that's it, now give it here." Ranma had an annoyed look on his face as he went over to window, opened it up and chucked the lipstick sky high, leaving the ring leader girl with a look of shock on her face. All the other's were snickering and talking amongst themselves. Ranma shut the window, before going back to his seat with his arms crossed. Hiroshi whistled. " Wow, well you told her huh." Daisuke nodded in agreement. " Well, she definitely asked for it." Ukyou chided in as well. " I couldn't agree more, if Ranma huney hadn't, I would've told her off."
The teacher came back with the group of girls all cleaned up, as he proceeded to start class. Everyone knew better than to say anything about what had occurred. The ring leader girl included as she sulked about her lost lipstick.
Soon it was lunch time as they opted to eat outside on the roof top. The girls were crowding Ranka about what had happened. Ranma still looked annoyed as he ate his lunch. Akane interupted him as she gave him a smack to his arm at being ignored. " Hey! I'm talking to you, Ranma! That wasn't necessary you know!" Ranma looked more annoyed at having been interrupted. " Whose side are you on, huh Akane? Oh, I get it, you're upset because you wanted the dumb lipstick huh. Well, you'd still be un cute." Akane bristled in anger as she grabbed her lunch and stormed off elsewhere, with Sayuri having to follow after her. Ukyou just shook her head at the whole thing. "All this over lipstick.." Thrista giggled at her. " Oh like you don't want some?" Ukyou sweat dropped at the pink haired girl. " There's a time and a place for it." Thrista then turned her attention to Ranka who had been very quiet. " Didn't you want to try it?"
Ranka gave her a un amused look as she finished her drink. " No.. "
Hiroshi piped in. " That's right, you look great with or with out that stuff." Daisuke nodded in agreement. Ranka smiled a tad. " Ah yeah, thanks." Thrista finished her lunch and went off to join a different group, as she made the rounds. A few minutes later Ukyou and Ranka headed off first as they went to the girls room, before heading back to the classroom. The girls were all huddled around Yuka's desk and murmuring about something. Ukyou and Ranka ended up getting pulled into the hustle and bustle. One girl was gushing over a hot celebrity guy photo in Yuka's magazine she had dedicated to popular boys. " Oh my gosh Ranka, you have to see this." She pointed the picture out to her. " Tell me he isn't a hottie." Ranka rubbed at the back of her neck sheepishly. " He's, not a hottie." That made a lot of the girls gasp in shock. Ukyou sweat dropped. " Well, that is what you asked." Some of the girls gave Ranka weird looks as they went back to oggling the heart throbs in the magazine. Ukyou pulled her away from the mob as they went back to their desks.
Ukyou tried to cheer her up. " Hey, don't listen to them, besides she got what she asked for." Ranka blinked, not quite sure of what to make of what had just happened. " Yeah, I guess so."
Ranma came back into the classroom with his two friends and took notice of the group of girls that had gathered again, making him frown as he thought about what they could be going on about and hoped his sister hadn't gotten dragged into it again. Soon the teacher came back and class was back in session. The day went by until the last bell went off for the day and everyone said their goodbyes.
—
The walk back home was quiet until Ranma blurted something out, still annoyed from dealing with Akane. " Don't tell me your mad too?" Ranka snapped out of her thoughts at hearing that, making her blink. " I'm not." Rama looked a little confused as his annoyance died down. " Your not mad I chucked the stupid thing out the window? Because Akane sure was.." Ranka shook her head. " No, thanks for what you did." Ranma shrugged some. " Well, why'd you let that girl, push you around?" She kicked a small rock about as they walked and talked. " Well, I thought about punching her, but I don't know, I guess I felt obligated.." He was thinking about what to say next, but they both were interrupted as they heard the tires on a bike screech to a stop.
Shampoo jumped off her bike as she screeched to a halt with the brakes at seeing her loves. First she glomped onto Ranma out of no where. " Niaho, Ranma, Ranka!" She then hopped over to Ranka as she paid her attention, before taking a metal food container box off the front of her bike cart. " I make new dumpling for you two to try, is too too good." That earned her suspicious looks from them both. Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " I hope there's no tricks involved, because if there is.." Shampoo smiled as she pulled them over to the near by park to sit at a bench together. " Is no tricks, promise. Just delicious new dumplings." Ranka gave her a blank look as she passed her red gem necklace over the plate of them, seeing no response she could see they were safe. "I guess you're telling the truth." Shampoo nodded. Ranma at seeing they were safe, didn't hold back on having some.
Shampoo noticed Ranka wasn't having any and was keen to pick up on her mood. " Is you okay airen?" Ranka looked flustered at having been caught on to by the amazon. " Just a girl thing, I guess." Shampoo got all close to her face. " You tell Shampoo, now." Ranka sweat dropped and took a dumpling and munched on it, to try to throw her off. " Oh wow these are good." Ranma nodded in agreement and responded to what he had heard. " This dumb girl at school with her lipstick." He then went back to eating.
Shampoo gave Ranka a stern look. " I go give dumb girl " kiss of death." Ranka waved her hands about frantically. " You don't have to do that, please don't do that.. " Shampoof huffed as she crossed her arms, wanting answers. Ranka sighed as she told her what had happened. After awhile she kicked at the ground with her more proper shoes on. " I just wasn't interested in her lipstick, or painting my lips." Shampoo nodded in agreement. " Lipstick is okay, painting lips with enemies blood is much better." Ranka huhed. " Yeah huh, it's still red anyways and free." Shampoo giggled and snuggled up to her on the bench for a few minutes before taking her leave as they parted ways, as they needed to get back home and she needed to get back to work.
—
Elsewhere in a vacant lot not too far from the Tendo's, Ryouga had set up camp as he woke up from his nap, crawling out from his tent as he stood up. He looked around the area, taking in his surroundings until he noticed a different kind of tent set up in the same vacant lot he was in. His curiosity set in as he walked towards it.
Alley watched from inside her make shift tent as her prey was walking towards her. She had been entrusted this mission by "him" and would not fail in using the boy known as Ryouga in their new plan. Luckily for her, he didn't know who she was, un like Ivory, though she still had a good disguise, being a fortune teller.
As he got closer to the draped tent, he noticed the sign that read " Fortune teller." Alley at seeing his attention was on her, walked over to the entrance and signaled for him to come closer. " You there, I can tell you are having a problem with love." Ryouga got all flustered at being figured out so easily, then also impressed at seeing how good she was, making him feel at ease that she really was a fortune teller. "Aah.. you could say that.." Alley smiled at him. " If you want to know more, come in and I'll give you a free reading, today only." Ryouga got all excited. " Really?" Alley nodded and waved him in to take a seat at the table she had set up with a crystal ball.
She moved her hands about around and over the crystal ball, acting the part. "The girl she has red hair?" Ryouga nodded. Alley kept up the act as she revealed just enough to keep him hooked. " She's unsure it looks like." Ryouga nodded again all wide eyed. " Wow, you're really good." Alley took the small wooden box with the all too familiar, trouble making oni demon hidden within it, as she set it down on the table. " For today only, I'll give you a free item to help you achieve your love, but it will only work, if you open it tomorrow, as soon as you wake up. Any sooner and it won't work."
Ryouga gasped as he took it from the nice older woman with big eyes. " I won't! I'll wait till tomorrow." Alley smiled at him and pretended to look at her hand, like she had a watch on. " My look at the time, it's time I moved on. I wish you the best of luck good sir." Within a few minutes she had packed up everything and taken her leave from the vacant lot, leaving Ryouga looking confused.
Ryouga took the wooden box into his tent and fussed over it, babbling out loud to himself as he stared at it intently. "It must be my lucky day." He put the box out of his sight so he wouldn't be so tempted to open it too early and ruin things.
—
As the evening went by at the Saotome house hold, it was obvious that Ranka wasn't in the greatest of the moods, as she was more reserved. Nodoka took notice that she wasn't eating as much, but couldn't complain as she did eat. There just wasn't much reaction from her, which was more noticeable when something that was on tv, usually had both her and Ranma excited. She worried her daughter was spiraling again, though not as badly or worrying as she had before. It was clear something had happened at school she figured.
Nodoka decided not to press about it, not wanting to be responsible for upsetting her further. She had also taken notice that when her daughter was down, she would excuse herself and go off to bed early, which she had done not too long ago. She didn't bother Ranma about it either as she could see he was already bothered. No she would step back and wait for one of them to come to her about what was going on. How long she would wait for that, was a different story.
Once it was time for bed, Ranma tried to talk with his sister after he had gotten all ready for bed and settled in for the night, but there was no answer. Which meant she had blocked herself off or she was sleeping. Either way it annoyed him, he hated when that sort of thing happened. He blamed the dumb girl at school and her lipstick, for being the reason why, which made him more annoyed, thinking about it. He couldn't help but think, it was too bad the snobby girl wasn't a demon, so he could beat her up. That wasn't the case though, so he took it out on her stupid lip stuff. Then it annoyed him more at how Akane harped on him about it. He groaned as he knew if she was still pissy tomorrow at school, he'd have to try to fix that. Eventually sleep found him.
—
With morning having arrived, Nodoka finally ended up getting her answer, as Ranka had told her the jest of what had happened at school the other day and said she didn't feel well enough to go today. Because she had come to her and given her, her answer and if it helped her to feel better, she would allow it.
Ranma got up and got ready as he went off downstairs not much later, to be met by his mother as his eyes wandered, to be stopped by hearing that his sister wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be going to school today. He thought about trying to go talk some sense into her, but dropped it as he concentrated on eating his breakfast. Of course that didn't stop his angry thoughts towards that girl in his class, though he wouldn't be the only angry one about it. After he was done eating his breakfast, he was seen off by his mother as he left for school.
Not too much later Ranka had gotten up and had something to eat, though it wasn't much, just enough to satisfy her mother, before she went back to sulking in bed. Nodoka let her daughter know, that she was going shopping and would be back in a bit. At being woken up again, Ranka decided to go take a bath to try to relax.
Elsewhere not too faraway Ryouga had gotten up and had himself something to eat before he excitedly opened up the little wooden box, then looking disappointed for a second, before he was possessed by the oni demon as his attitude changed. With the objective at hand he made sure to take a walk, where he knew he'd get splashed with cold water. For the evil deed he had in mind, he could get around easier to sneak inside, as he made his way to the Saotome house hold.
As oni P-chan got close enough to his destination, he hid in some near by bushes outside the house, as he listened. Nodoka let Ranka know she was leaving, as she stepped out the front door, shutting and locking up behind her as she walked off. P-chan's ears twitched as he had heard Ranka was there, smirking evilly as he hopped out from the bushes, leaping up into the air, to propel himself up on top of the roof top, trotting over to where her room was, as he peered through the window. At not seeing her, he trotted off to the next spot to check.
Ranka was finishing up with showering off, as she flipped her wet hair back, before going off to where the full tub of hot water was as she got in, slumping down into the tub as she lay back with her eyes closed. She hadn't taken notice that the window was open a tad as she relaxed. Oni P-chan sneered as he peeked through the opening, spotting his prey, wasting no time as he pushed the sliding window with his snout enough that he could get in, before he hopped in and down into the hot water.
Oni Ryouga surfaced from the hot water, startling Ranka as she sprung back, before getting annoyed. " Jeez Ryouga.. you can't just.." She didn't get to finish as he moved in a blur, taking her by her arms as he pinned her against the wall of the tub, making her had a devious fanged smirk on his face. "Oh, but I can." She glared daggers at him, while trying to advert her eyes, about to tell him off, but before she could he closed in as he locked lips with hers, making out with her for a few seconds, before he earned a sharp kick to his crotch, making him reel back in pain. Ranka was wide eyed as well as furiously humiliated, with her face red as she grabbed the shower head and blasted him with cold water to trigger his change, before shutting it off and jumping out from the tub, running off to her room really fast as she slammed the door shut behind her.
The reel back from being kicked in his man parts was enough to knock the oni demon out from him, as P-chan managed to jump out from the tub as he shook himself off and wandered off all dazed and confused.
Satan had been able to watch through the oni demon, that is until the surveillence was knocked out. He cursed at having it broke off, as well his possession on the lost boy. The oni demon had been strengthend enough so the usual whack to the head, wasn't enough to remove him from his host, but getting kicked in the crotch was a whole different matter. He had wanted to go further with the oni demon but it was enough for now, he had caused enough trouble for the boy known as Ryouga.
—
Back at school during lunch break, the ring leader girl was getting an earful from her fellow classmates, most of them angry as they lay the blame on her as for the reason as to why Ranka wasn't at school today. Ranma enjoyed watching the girl squirm and made it worse for her by stating the obvious. " Yeah that's exactly what happened." That got the others going more. The girl was definitely regretting things, with all the angry looks she kept on getting. Akane was among them, as she turned her attention to Ranma. " That's why Ranka's not at school today, then." Ranma finished eating one of his food items. " Yep. I'm not sorry I tossed her stupid lipstick out the window either." Ukyou looked angry as well as she tightened her fist. " I want to toss "her" out the window too." Sayuri sighed. " Now now Ukyou, I understand you're upset but.." Akane nodded in agreement. " You can't do that." Thrista sighed as she munched on her lunch. " Well I know, I wouldn't want to be in "her" shoes right now." She said as she referred to the ring leader girl.
Akane struggled as she had to admit she had been wrong the other day, how she got mad at Ranma for what he had done to the other girl, by throwing her lipstick out the window. Though now she could see it was justified, with how the girl's actions had directly affected Ranka. Had she known this was the result, she wouldn't have gotten so upset with Ranma for what he had done. It was harder for her to admit to him as she fidgeted about sheepishly. " Ranma, I'm.. sorry, about you know.." Ranma hmpfed as he kept eating his lunch, but he knew without her saying more that she meant it. He couldn't wait for school to be over, so he could get back home as he was a little worried about his sister.
In the mean time back at the house Ranka was trying to process what had happened, as she was a flurry of mixed emotions. She was annoyed with herself for how she had left herself wide open, by not keeping her red gem necklace with her, but then if she had she would've put it at risk of being stolen again. She couldn't win, because if she had kept it on her, she could've put up a defense barrier. She lay curled up in her bed, under her covers having changed into a tank top and pj pants as she tried to push back the things that had happened. She was a mess from it, and upset by Ryouga's change in attitude towards things. She had told him how "he" and her wouldn't work and to just give up, then he goes and shoves his way in, stealing her first kiss and even more than that. Well actually, Shampoo stole her first kiss but from a guy kissing her, and more, it was Ryouga.
Not too much later Nodoka came back from her shopping trip as she announced she was back, as she worked on putting away the groceries. Ranka was too embarrassed to deal with anyone for right now as she stayed curled up under her blankets. Once Nodoka was done putting everything away, she went off upstairs to check on Ranka, since she hadn't gotten a response from her before.
School had gotten out and Ranma had rushed back home as fast as he could, as he shut the door behind him, taking his shoes off and setting his book bag down on the couch. To his annoyance he spotted P-chan come out from under the couch, to which he grabbed him up by his bandana as he went off upstairs to the bathroom to deal with his rival. Once inside the bathroom with the door shut, he tossed the pig off into the tub of water, turning the facquet for the hot water on for a few seconds, before Ryouga surfaced from the now hot water. Ranma turned the water off as he gave his rival an annoyed look. " What the hell are you doing here, Ryouga?" He gave him a sterner look as his annoyance grew. " You better not have done anything to Ranka.."
The effects of having been possessed by the oni demon had worn off as he suddenly was able to remember what had happened between him and Ranka as he fwailed about aah ing nervously. " I didn't.. I did!" He had both his hands to his face looking sheepish as his face reddened as it came back to him. Ranma tightened his fist as his anger grew from watching Ryouga's reactions. "What the hell did you do, Ryouga…" He had a dead serious look on his face as aura flared up around him showing his anger. Ryouga panicked as he grabbed the shower head, turning the water onto cold water to escape the situation as he blasted Ranma with it first, before turning it on himself, triggering both of their curses. P-chan then jumped out from the tub and zoomed out from the bathroom, tearing down the stairs in a tizzy. Ranma-chan shook her head about as she growled. " RYOUGA!" She tore out from the bathroom as she ran down the stairs in hot pursuit of him, startling both Nodoka and Ranka at hearing the yelling.
P-chan ran off into the kitchen and off into the lower kitchen cabinets to hide. Ranma-chan caught sight of where he went out of the corner of her eye as followed pursuit of him, her anger blinding her as she chucked things out of her way in the cabinets as she tried to get to P-chan. " Get out here Ryouga! So, I can kill YOU!" P-chan shook a bit from the spot he had lodged himself, at hearing how angry Ranma was, having a feeling he had figured out what had happened as well.
Nodoka at hearing the clattering of pots and pans and other things, ran off downstairs to the kitchen where she yelled at her son/daughter. " RANMA! What on earth.. are you doing to my kitchen.." Ranma-chan was stopped in her tracks at hearing her mother yell her name, looking sheepish, yet still angry. " It's Ryouga's damn fault! And now he's hiding.." She glared at the cabinets. Nodoka shook her head. "That's no reason for tearing my kitchen apart.." Ranma-chan grumbled as she pushed her wet bangs out of her face. Nodoka told her to go outside and water the plants, while she dealt with things. Ranma-chan curled her lip as she stormed off outside to the yard, only doing so because her mother had said so. Nodoka sighed as she fished P-chan out from under the cabinets, taking him off upstairs to the bathroom, where she first made sure the water was hot enough, before leaving him by himself to change back.
A few minutes later she was sitting at the table and had made sure Ranma was too, making sure she sat, so the two were separated. " Now I would like an explanation as to what is going on. We are ALL going to talk about it "calmly." She gave Ranma-chan a stern look before going over to the stair case and yelling up. " Ranka dear, I want you to come down and eat something, right now." The last part her tone changed to a stern one. Within a few minutes she smiled at seeing her daughter come downstairs pretty fast. "Oh Ranka, Ryouga's going to stay for dinner, since we need to discuss things."
Ranka at seeing Ryouga, turned bright red in the face, also looking frustrated as she put her hand to her mouth, then taking off in a blur as she ran back upstairs to her room, shutting the door.
—
While everything had been going on, after the oni demon was booted from his host so forcefully, he had been floating about after he had regained consciousness. Nodoka ran off upstairs after Ranka, with concern at how she had ran off so fast. Her worry clouded her thinking as she left Ranma and Ryouga alone. The oni demon floated near by as it spotted it's target, making it's move while the two were arguing, as it jumped back into Ryouga.
Ryouga had suddenly gotten quiet as he hung his head as Ranma went on, having grabbed him by his shirt collar. " Spit it the hell out, what did you do to my sister!?" Oni Ryouga smirked at the red head as he raised his head. " Why don't I show you?" He smacked his rivals hands off from his shirt, as he got up and went off to the front door with a heh before leaving. Ranma-chan bolted up out of her chair as she ran off after him, to stop whatever he was up to, as she ran off after him outside. " Don't you dare, Ryouga!" She launched a sharp kick at him, which made him jump back and away from it. Oni Ryouga hahed at the red head. " Didn't I tell you I'd show you." He smirked deviously as he disappeared in a blur as he moved like lightning, as he blind sided her, kicking her off into the near by stone wall. He made his next move as he slammed her up against the wall, by pinning her down, then closing in as he had with Ranka, as he did the same with Ranma-chan, making out with her for a second. A very wide eyed and shocked Ranma-chan, kicked him into his gut really hard once that wore off.
While she was disgusted she was more pissed, but still grossed out as she spluttered with her tongue all ugh for a second, before bristling. " I'm gonna kill YOU, RYOUGA!" She gritted her teeth as she launched a bunch of attacks at him, before she took notice out of the corner of her eye that he was sputtering for a minute. She kept glaring at him, all the while ten shades of red. " Why'd you do it, if you didn't like it, huh!?" She shouted at him in anger. The oni had lost it's hold on Ryouga for a second as he regained it as he sneered at Ranma. " You asked for it, but obviously I prefer Ranka."
Nodoka was in the middle of trying to talk to Ranka as she heard yelling that sounded like it was coming from outside, which prompted her to go check what all the noise was as she went off downstairs, where she saw they weren't at the table anymore. She gasped as she realized they could be fighting, as she ran off outside and sure enough saw them fighting like crazy in the middle of the street. She yelled at her son/daughter but wasn't able to get through as they kept fighting. She huffed as she decided she had to use extreme measures as she picked up the hose, making sure it was on as she rushed over until she ran out of length for the hose, distance wise. She blasted both of them with the cold water from the hose. " THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ranma-chan looked all wide eyed as she was a bit wet, and the the blast was more focused on Ryouga as he changed into his little black piglet form.
Nodoka turned the hose off, before trudging back over and grabbing Ranma-chan by one of her hands, as she picked up P-chan by his bandana with her other hand, before taking them both back inside the house, with a stern look on her face. She let go of Ranma's hand once inside. "Ranma, go take a bath." Ranma-chan looked frustrated, as she couldn't hold back her contempt as she pointed at P-chan. " Why'd ya let that pervert back in!?" Her face was bright red. Nodoka sweat dropped. " Pervert? Did he do something to you?" Ranma-chan shook her head about really fast, not wanting to talk about it. " No, nope, nothing!" She grabbed him away from her mother. " I'll let Ryouga take a bath first.." She went off upstairs to the bathroom, holding him by his bananda, before dropping him out the window, which she shut and locked up behind him, before going off to try to talk to Ranka, once she toweled herself off enough.
—
First she gave a knock before waiting a few minutes, then letting herself in, while she changed into a tank top for the time being, seeing that Ranka was under her blankets. " So, what did that bastard do?" Then she got all frustrated at remembering what he had done to her, which made her start sputtering again. Ranka poked her head out from the blankets as she had a distressed and concerned look on her face. " Don't tell me, he got you too?" Ranma-chan shook her head about trying to push away things. " Don't tell me, he did "that" to you!" She tightened her fist in anger. " Ooh he's so dead.." Ranka hid her face some with the blanket as she looked off the other way, blushing. " Ah, so where is he? He's supposed to be staying for dinner, right?"
Ranma-chan hmpfed with her arms crossed. " You could say he's in time out." Ranka sighed as she leaned back against her pillow, sitting up, bundled up in her blankets. " Don't keep him in it too long, or you'll upset mom." Ranma-chan grumbled about that. " Why does it sound like you're defending that pervert?" Ranka looked off the other way more as she tensed up. " It just doesn't seem like him.." Ranma-chan quirked an eyebrow at her. Ranka wrinkled up her nose in response. " I.. don't want to talk about.. so go ahead and see for yourself." Ranma-chan did begrudgingly and once she saw exactly what happened, her response was she almost fell off her bed, that she was sitting on the side of, also looking more frustrated.
Ranka laid her head back against her bed's headboard. " It's possible it wasn't completely his fault.. like with evil P-chan.." Ranma-chan huffed as she ruffled up her hair annoyed. " It still does't excuse him for what he pulled! Or are you telling me you liked what he did?!" Ranka grew more red in the face, as well as annoyed. " No! Just.. never mind and leave me alone.." She disappeared back under her blankets as she curled back up.
Ranma-chan at seeing her actions had upset her sister more, panicked as she fwailed her hands about. " Scratch that, I'm just really pissed off, ya know.. Come on, you don't see me hiding over some dumb kiss." Ranka grumbled from under her blankets, before poking her head out some. " It" was way more than a kiss.." Ranma-chan ughed as she wrinkled up her nose. " Don't remind me.." She shook her head about as she tried to keep on the subject at hand. " You can't just hide forever, mom's gonna want you to come down for dinner, with him here.." Ranka tensed up at hearing that. "Not forever, just till he leaves.." Ranma-chan sighed as she scratched at her head, as she understood to a point, as she likely would do the same but instead just wanted to take her anger out on Ryouga, for what he did. "Yeah well you can't." She got up and went off to the door. " I'll keep in mind what you said, if you do, for what I said." She said before she took her leave as she went off to the bathroom to take her bath.
Once Ranma was done taking his bath and had changed back into a guy and gotten dressed, he opened the window, that Oni P-chan had been smacking his hoofs on, letting him leap down into the tub of hot water. Since he wasn't blinded by rage, he was able to focus as he spotted the oni horns on Ryouga's head as he surfaced from the hot water. Ranma glared at him. "So you let your dumb ass get possessed by that oni demon again, huh. Well that still doesn't excuse what you did!" He moved to whack him on his head, with the intent to knock the oni demon out from inside of him, only for Ryouga to move away fast enough, making Ranma fall flat on his face, making him curl his lip as he shot back up angry. " Hey you stupid jerk, why'd ya do that?!" He tried to hit him over the head again, only for him to evade him again, which angered him. " Hold still and let me hit you dammit! "
The door to the bathroom flung open, making Ranma jump back at seeing his mother, but more so as he froze up at seeing she also had her katana out. Nodoka whisked it to Ryouga's neck, where she held it, with a dead serious look. "I do not take kindly to demons.." She pressed her blade against his skin, just enough. She had come upstairs fast as she heard fighting, upon hearing mention of a demon, she had taken swift action. Her holy blade pushed the oni demon out from it's host forcefully, as it floated about in the air. Ryouga's eyes were spinning as he sunk down into the water of the tub. Nodoka took a swipe at the oni demon with her blade, which made it leave through the open window in a rush. She shut the window shut, then sheathing her blade as she bowed her head some. " Pardon my intrusion and my brashness against you Ryouga." She then took her leave from the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Ranma sweat dropped as he was able to un freeze from his shock, going over to the tub and yanking Ryouga up so his head was out of the water, giving him a jab to his shoulder. " Hey, wake up man." Ryouga snapped out it as he shook her head about, still a bit out of it. Ranma told him the jest of what had happened and to come downstairs after he was done, before he left the bathroom himself, to go off to his own room to finish getting dressed, being in just his tank top and boxers.
—
Soon they started their discussion at the table, while Nodoka was waiting on just the rice in the cooker to be done. "Please tell me what happened Ryouga." Ranma look annoyed as he looked off the other way. " His dumb ass got possessed, is what.." Nodoka ahemed at her son's interruption. "Aside from the obvious, tell me who you were in contact with and what you did, anything that wasn't what you normally do." Ryouga rubbed at his head, still very confused. " Contact? I was.. possessed? Hmm ooh well I met this nice fortune teller and she gave me a box." Nodoka sighed heavily as she had heard enough. "I'm sorry Ryouga dear, but that fortune teller was likely a demon and she deceived you, giving an item with a demon within it, it sounds like." Ryouga aahed nervously at what he was hearing, then the realization hit him as it had before after his possession, making him fall back in his chair, that fell back with a bang to the floor as his nose was also bleeding.
Nodoka jumped up from her seat and ran over to assist him. " Are you alright?" She helped him get his seat back up, so he was sitting properly again. Ryouga then remembered what the oni demon had made him do to Ranma as well, as he looked disgusted and started spluttering, which made Ranma do the same. Ranma then glared daggers at him. " Maybe you should change your name to Mikado.." Ryouga looked frazzled before turning to anger. " I'm not.." Ranma kept glaring at him as he looked off the other way. " Nah you're worse than him.." Ryouga tensed up in anger as he tightened his fist. " I would never do such a thing, it was the oni demon.." Nodoka shook her head at the whole affair. " Enough fighting you two. Ranma dear, try to be understanding, he wasn't himself."
Nodoka had a stern look on her face. " What exactly did you do?" Ryouga looked extremely frazzled at hearing that. Ranma got all defensive. " Nothing!" Nodoka furrowed her eyebrows. " Well obviously " something" did happen, with how you and your sister are both acting." Before she could talk more on the subject the phone rang, making her give up for the time being, as she got up and went off to the kitchen to take the call.
After awhile the table was set, as was the food, now she had to get her daughter to come downstairs. Nodoka let the boys know they could help themselves, while she went upstairs personally to make sure Ranka would come down, as she knocked on her door to let her know she was coming in.
Nodoka took a seat at the desk chair. "Ranka dear, it's dinner time, come downstairs and eat." Ranka poked her head out from the blankets, putting on a poutie face. " I'm not feeling too well, can't I eat later.." Nodoka tried to pull the blankets off her, but Ranka pulled back as they played tug a war. " No excuses Ranka, come down stairs and eat dinner." Ranka shook her head about getting red in the face. " Why can't I just eat something later.." Nodoka sighed as she let go of her hold on the blankets. " Does this have to do with Ryouga being possessed?" Ranka tensed up some as she eered, before looking distraught. " He" was possessed?" Nodoka nodded." He "was" but I was able to chase the oni demon away. Obviously things did happen to you and your brother, but neither one of you wants to say "what".." She put her hand to her face as she gave it some thought. " Did he perhaps kiss you?" Ranka fell half out of her bed, as she was able to stop herself from fully falling off it, as she tried to recover from the embarrassment blow, her mother had dealt her. Nodoka shook her head at her daughter. " It's not a big deal, so enough of this behavior and come down stairs and eat dinner." She said as she grabbed Ranka by her arm and pulled her off with her downstairs.
Ryouga froze up at the same time Ranka did, as they saw each other. Ranma was too busy eating, but had a very annoyed look on his face. Nodoka didn't take her grip off from her daughters arm, till they were at the table. Ranka groaned as she made sure to take a seat furtherst away from Ryouga. She tried to take her leave after eating enough to satisfy her mother, only to be shut down on the matter by her mother, much to her dismay.
Nodoka at seeing that everyone had finished eating, cleared her throat. "Now Ryouga, I believe you were going to tell me what had happened." She furrowed her eyebrows. Ryouga started sweating under her gaze. " I..uh, it wasn't me, it was the oni demon, so um.." Nodoka tightened her fist as her gaze stayed strong and stern. " Alright then, since no one wants to fess up, I already figured it out. Maybe it wasn't your doing directly Ryouga, but the fact remains you took my daughters lips. You WILL take respsonsibilty for such actions. Thus you are eligible in my eyes as a suitor." Ranma lost his balance as he smacked his face into the table. Ranka grew red in the face, looking very frazzled as she tried to protest, but couldn't think of what was best to say and reacted in protest without words, as she got up from the table and ran off upstairs to her room.
Ranma recovered as he tried to protest. "No way! " Nodoka gave him a stern look that sent shivers up his spine, before she returned her attention to Ryouga. " That being said, I expect you to do the right thing, unless a more suitable suitor candidate is found." Ranma decided to try his hand again. " How suitable is a perverted pig, who sleeps in Akane's bed.." Ryouga snapped out of his happy daze as he growled at Ranma. " Ranma.. how dare you.." Nodoka furrowed her brows at hearing such. " I think it'd be best if Akane was told about your curse, it's not right to keep lying to her, as well as the fact that she is is my Ranma's fiancee. Not to mention if you want to be with my daughter, you would have to stop your naughty habits.." She said with a perplexed look on her face.
She looked deep in thought for a moment, before she responded. " I also expect you to take responsibility, should the need a rise." It didn't need to be said further, the message was clear. Ryouga looked frazzled at hearing that. Ranma looked very angry. " He definitely should, by me beating him to a bloody pulp!" Nodoka gave her a son a stern look. " No one wants to tell me exactly what happened, so I am to guess and my guess is that he took your girl sides lips. You are both my son and my daughter and I am doing my motherly duties."
Ranma huffed with his arms crossed as he fumed silently to himself for a few minutes, before he tried to protest again, but before he could Ryouga decided to remove himself. Ryouga thanked Nodoka for dinner and apologized for what had happened and how he had to go. Ranma took the opportunity, as to his mother he appeared to be walking out with him, to see him off. In reality it was so he could confront Ryouga about what his mother had said to him.
Once they were outside, Ranma hehed at Ryouga. " I said it before and I'll say it again, Ranka doesn't like you like that and you and her, definitely wouldn't work, since you can't get along with me." Ryouga bristled up at that as he pointed at him. " Me? Don't act like your not guilty of the same thing, Ranma!" He hahed at his rival. " Sure, like you aren't making her say that." Ranma and Ryouga got up in each others faces. " Excuse me?" Ryouga growled back, before they jumped away from each other getting too frustrated. He tightened his fist. " I need to talk to Ranka." Ranma furrowed his brows at him with his arms crossed. " Like hell ya do, I can tell you, she doesn't want to talk to you." Ryouga hehed. " Or more like YOU don't want me to." Ranma gave him a glare. " Your right, I don't and I think I told ya before Ryouga, to stay the hell away from my sister.." They both growled at each other before Ranma walked back towards the front door.
Ryouga tightened his fists more as he decided to try to go see Ranka, as he went to try to get up on the roof, only to be blocked as he made contact with something, bouncing back as he slid back aways on his legs. Ranma had a smug look on his face as he was standing in the doorway, before he stuck his tongue out at his rival, then shutting the door behind him, knowingly. He had communicated to Ranka via their link telepathically how Ryouga was intent on trying to talk to her, and her response was putting up a defense barrier around the house.