Best Friends Forever
Chapter 4
Written By: DaisukiFox
DaisukiFox: Thanks for reading! Here's another chapter. has once again fallen off the radar, so in the meantime, expect chapter 2 of The New Butterfly Lovers to be out sometime soon.
They had slept together, but not in the biblical sense. They had fallen asleep snuggled up one night and were both nervous about discovery when they'd woken up in Ryoga's room in sleep-rumpled clothes.
A quick douse from the electric kettle that he kept in his room turned a rumpled her into a rumpled him and Ryoga had snuck her into the toilet room. Kasumi asked why he was up so late, Ryoga had told her that they had been sparring in the dojo since early that morning.
Ryoga was happy with their clandestine affair seeing how it damaged neither reputation nor hurt anyone, but Ranma seemed to have other ideas. She seemed to want them to have them act as a couple and insisted on them going out on dates when he was a she. Ryoga was reluctant to go places where people might know them and took her to dive restaurants and out-of-the-way movie theatres, Ranma wasn't too happy about this but went along with it.
The Lost Man thought it a little odd but had to admit that the experience of holding her close while watching a movie felt natural as they sat in the dark with his arm around her and her head resting on his shoulder. He especially didn't mind when she pulled him in for a kiss. He loved kissing her and she was very good at it.
Ryoga walked into the coffee shop and smiled at his friends. Mousse and Kuno were already at the table, he loved all their friends and the couples that they knew, but had a special spot in his heart for the male half of Ranma's former enemies.
It had happened when Ryoga was about eighteen when the question of who was with whom was settled. It was almost like one day they had laid down their fists and ki attacks, stopped fighting, and said "Why are we still fighting?".
This left the girls to bond in a similar fashion, to discover that the other three bright women held similar values and compatible personalities that allowed them to become close friends.
Ryoga studied the men in front of him, for that was what indeed they were. They met as boys and watched each other grow to be intelligent, confident men in the four years that they had known each other. Mousse normally wore his long hair in a ponytail while he worked and took it out afterward and Kuno still wore his style short but had stopped teasing his bangs.
As for Ryoga, he wore his neatly clipped to his shoulders. He'd lost his scissors on one of his trips and couldn't find a place to get it cut, so by the time he found his way back to Nerima it was shoulder length.
Ranma had said that it looked great and that compliment had convinced him to keep it that way.
Ryoga frowned, when Mousse had called him and suggested that they drag Kuno out the day he returned from his honeymoon to have a guy's night with him, Ryoga had forgotten to tell Ranma about it. Somehow the idea of inviting him to a guy's night seemed wrong. He toyed with the idea of calling him to tell him about it and then dismissed the idea; he kind of wanted to have a relaxing night with his other friends; free of Ranma.
"Hi knuckleheads," he said affectionately.
"Hi pig breath; have you stopped working out Ryoga? Look at the gut on you," Kuno countered sweetly. This was the way that they normally greeted each other, it harkened back to their friend-enemy days. Kuno looked at his friends, "Couldn't you have waited a few days before dragging me from my wife though?" he asked.
"No way, we missed you, it's been far too sane around here without you!" Ryoga said, both he and Mousse shared a grin.
"Speaking of sane, what was it like having Kodachi and Hiro along on your honeymoon?" Mousse asked.
"Actually it was really fun, we would all do things together or we two couples would do things separately. Nabiki and Kodachi really bonded on this trip and so did we. It's good that Kodachi and I are getting along, we spent far too many years at odds with each other. I also have some news," he said mysteriously.
"Oh, what would that be?" Mousse asked.
"Hiro asked my permission to marry Kodachi," Kuno explained.
"That's wonderful!" Ryoga said. "What did you say?"
"I asked him how much I could give him to take her off my hands," Kuno said. They all laughed.
"Everyone's either hooking up or getting married these days," Mousse mused. "How about you Ryoga, are you seeing the future Mrs. Hibiki, and just not telling us about her?" he teased.
Ryoga gulped when Ranma's beautiful face came into his mind, "You guys would know if I was! It's so wonderful about Kodachi!" he said with more enthusiasm than he'd intended.
"So another sucker bound for the altar?" Mousse said and started humming 'another one bites the dust' to himself.
"You're one to talk, you were so impatient to get to the church that you almost gave us whiplash driving us there," Kuno chided. "How is Shampoo's pregnancy going? It has been a month since we had an actual conversation."
"She's revived my old nickname of 'stupid duck boy' but has added 'you did this to me' to it when she's having morning sickness!" he answered. "But I don't mind because she's having our beautiful baby."
"Aw… isn't that precious!" Ryoga said cupping his hands beneath his chin and fluttering his eyelashes while Kuno pretended to stick his fingers down his throat and made gagging sounds.
"Sounds like you fell into the wrong cursed spring, my friend. It should have been you and not Ranma who fell into the spring of the drowned young girl," Kuno teased and threw a napkin at Mousse, who just laughed good-naturedly and then turned to Ryoga. "Where is Ranma anyway, I thought Kuno told you to invite him?" He asked, looking around.
"Kasumi asked him to paint the bathroom now that her father's away," Ryoga lied after thinking for a second.
"Oh, well perhaps he can join us later," Kuno said.
"P-perhaps!" Ryoga agreed hesitantly.
"Speaking of Ranma, I have a bone to pick with you, Ryoga. Shampoo was telling me that she saw you and Ranma standing in line to see 'Revenge of the Lost Laundry Sock Part VI'!" Mousse said. "Why didn't you invite me? You know I've been dying to see that movie!" he complained, holding his arms out.
"There was a lineup to see that schlock?" Kuno asked.
"What are you talking about? I love that series. You really feel for that sock. Just think he gets lost in the lint trap and his owners, thinking him gone, throw out his mate. Then he was rescued, only to be thrown out in the next bag of garbage, so he comes back seeking his revenge and his lost mate!" Mousse said with deep emotion in his voice.
Ryoga and Kuno stared at him to see if he was serious; he was. "The first one was stupid and each sequel was worse than the next!" Kuno declared.
"What do you know about good movies?" Mousse said with a snub in his voice. "So how was it?" he asked Ryoga.
Ryoga blushed; all that he'd remembered about that movie was Ranma's velvety mouth and how the lights of the movie reflected off her wavy, red hair.
"Okay, I guess," Ryoga answered cautiously.
"I heard that Ranma was in girl form," Mousse added.
"She was, t-there was no hot water. Sorry we didn't invite you, it was a last-minute decision!" Ryoga stammered nervously while holding a finger up.
"What do you mean there was no hot water?" Kuno snarled as he set his cup down with a thump. "Didn't the contractors I hired to make repairs to that firetrap of a house replace the pipes as I insisted?"
"Y-yes they did!" Ryoga said, wishing he was drinking something stronger.
"Well, I'm going to call them tomorrow and give them a piece of my mind. I didn't spend all that money fixing up my father-in-law's house so that you're still running out of hot water!" he raged.
"But aren't you rich?" Mousse asked.
"I don't spend money needlessly, that is how you keep your money," Kuno said wisely.
"The house is fine, man I would love a beer right now," Ryoga said hastily.
The other two pondered this "I'm game; I just have to call the misses to let her know." Kuno said and pulled out his cell phone.
"I have the night free because we're having our commercial kitchen refitted," Mousse said and pulled out his own cell.
"Hi, honey I'm still with the boys and Ryoga suggested that we go grab a beer. We'll probably be heading to the pub. No, we're not going to get drunk, I'll probably be home before nine. You want me to pick you up a BLT sandwich?" Mousse cupped his hand over the phone, "Ryoga do they serve BLTs at the pub?" he asked.
"I think you can get something similar at the MackRonald's next door," Ryoga suggested.
"I can probably get you a chicken sandwich with bacon from MackRonald's. Is that okay?" he told her. "Oh if I'm going there you want a Big Mack, large fries with pickles and a milkshake. Don't you mean Big Mack with extra pickles?" he asked. "No, you want them on the fries. How about you poutine your fries instead?" he asked with his nose wrinkling at the idea. "Okay, fries with pickles and poutine. What sort of milkshake? Mix all the flavors together, got it. See you when I get home. Love you." he said and hung up. He looked at Ryoga's amused expression "Pregnant women,'' he explained.
"Hello Mrs. Kuno, no I shall never get tired of saying that. Hope you don't mind if I go get some beers with the guys. No there are no girls here, don't be so jealous. There's only one chick if you're talking about Mousse, but he's more like a duck I guess." Kuno said and flicked a glance at his friend, earning a death glare from him. "Yes. I'll bring you home a present, don't I always? Love you, see you at home," he said and hung up. "I have to stop by the jewelry store on the way there," he said to them.
"So you don't spend your money unnecessarily?" Mousse asked facetiously.
"What she does to me when I buy her presents makes it all worthwhile," the kendoist said with a snarky smile.
"Perhaps you should leave a message for Ranma so he can join us when he's done painting?" Mousse suggested.
"Good idea," Ryoga said and pulled out his cell, he felt strangely like he was telling his movement to his spouse and didn't like it. He dialed his own number.
"Hi Ranma!" he said into his own voicemail, "Mousse, Kuno and I are heading to The Fox and The Fiddle for a few pints. Are you able to join us? No, sorry about that, I'll see you at home!" he said and hung up. "He's too tired," he explained and shut his cell phone off.
"Oh well, there's always another night," Kuno said with a shrug.
Meanwhile Ranma…
Ranma was on the phone, leaning on his hand.
"It's okay Kasumi, Ryoga and I can make our own dinner, there's no need to leave your husband to look after two grown men. Ryoga's been tenting most of his life and is more than capable of cooking and Pops and I used to take turns preparing meals. Relax and go look after that baby of yours,'' he said and hung up after saying goodbye.
He looked around and felt such joy to have the place to himself all night long. The first thing he did was pour a glass of cold water over his head.
Then went into her room to change into the outfit that she'd been hiding, it was a satin Chinese women's outfit of form-fitting shirt and three-quarter length pants, such as Shampoo normally worn. It was a beautiful red color with large purple flowers, with black piping and edging.
In fact, it had been Shampoo's but her already impressive dimensions had filled out and she'd grown taller. So she'd donated her outgrown clothes to a charity drive that the whole Nerima Wrecking Crew was involved with. As they grew older, they tried to atone for their earlier destructive behavior by getting involved in charity events. Ranma had always admired the outfit, even if she hadn't wanted the girl and had secretly purchased it. She knew that the kind-hearted Chinese girl would have simply given it to her if she had asked, but there was no plausible way to.
"Still can't believe I'm doing this for Ryoga," Ranma said as she inspected herself in the mirror, 'Went and even got a dress for the guy, makes me wonder if I've always been into guys or if Akane was too much of a tomboy?' she thought but went back to how everyone eventually moved on since he couldn't set anyone straight.
"That's when Akane and I finally got hitched, no one left to string along…" Ranma voice trailed as she remembered little by little Ukyo losing interest, Shampoo getting with Mousse and even though she wasn't interested in Kuno still younger she had placed such an emphasis on how great she was too, eventually she stalled out so long that she no longer became their object of desire only a failed aspiration.
Memories of the days and years that had changed them all, the humbling Ranma had to endure to get where she was and how Akane had finally opened up to them as a couple. He even remembered when Akari and Ryoga had gone off on their own for at least a year or so.
"Come to think of it, when Ryoga left was when Akane and I had our first problems…" She remembered how they had all sat down one day to talk about how things had changed.
Ranma couldn't remember everything but from what her mind's eye played for her, she noticed that there wasn't much connection between Akari and Ryoga and that maybe it was more superficial than even she would have liked for him.
"At that time I thought I'd picked the perfect girl for him, she liked pigs, he could be a pig and she wanted someone strong and Ryoga had that in spades but I guess giving him someone like that wasn't enough, especially when Ryoga talked to me about how it went down…"
"I thought maybe we'd have more in common but the more I looked into what really made her tick, it was just simple and everything that just felt too picture perfect so I couldn't say why at first but it ate me alive and I ended up intentionally getting lost…"
"So ya figured using your lack of direction as an excuse, huh? That's rough man, I really feel ya there, the whole thing with Akane's got me all messed up too…"
The redhead's memories replayed, remembering herself as a male speaking to him with his legs crossed in a white gi with Ryoga in his trademark yellow outfit.
"That was about the time I realized how lonely I was getting and remembering how I couldn't keep me and Akane from falling apart…" She recalled her moments before passing out during Kuno's bachelor party.
"Then we had those moments and then he wanted and I…" Ranma said as panic grew in her chest as she remembered their last kiss the night before the way he touched her and kissed her while she could feel his excitement pressed up against her.
Images of Ranma's proclamations of being a man or guy repeated themselves like a subconscious mantra but mixed into those thoughts were the contrary ones she had with Ryoga and it seemed that the redhead was processing all these things and found herself at peace with all that had happened with Ryoga.
"Does he really want me? I used to be a man but now that I ain't got anyone else to be with, to-to think I used to only be into girls and now I'm-I'm seriously considering Ryoga!? The guy who I used to beat up in middle school and had a long rivalry over my ex-wife and now after 2 years of being friends and both lonely we're-we're! Maybe I shouldn't be doing this? Is this worth ruining our chances of just being friends with benefits? Do I want more with the guy and if so-so how far!?" She pondered but it seemed that her mind stalled on going any further than where they had gone.
Lost in her own thoughts she looked in the direction of the kitchen, suddenly she focused on the idea of letting herself become womanly, imagining her time as a loving wife with her hair down and staying by Ryoga's side.
"No matter how far he'd wanna go, long as it's with him and not just me alone in this big old empty dojo…" Ranma said all of a sudden as she spoke without thinking, letting her own spirit guide her so she left and found a mirror, picking up a brush and smiling softly.
Ranma examined herself as she brushed her hair loose and admired herself, the outfit was perfect for her buxom curves and petite body, and felt beautiful. She'd decided to make Ryoga dinner to celebrate their being alone together and wanted to surprise him. He'd told her not to pick him up as he had to run some errands and the GSP app on his cell would lead him home. She went into the kitchen and smiled when she pulled on Kasumi's frilly apron and noticed how cute it looked on her.
"Guess this my declaration of womanhood!" the blue-eyed beauty declared with a bright grin, she boiled the noodles and prepared the veal and ricotta filling.
Ryoga had told her about the delicious cannelloni he'd discovered in Italy one time when he was lost and Ranma had used her own money to buy ingredients to make them with. 'Won't he be surprised!' she thought as she hummed while completing her happy task and then set the table.
She finished making the garlic bread and Caesar salad, put everything on the table, and sat down to wait for him. 'Any minute now and me and Ryoga can finally figure out our whole deal, honestly, I hope I ain't just imagining things but the guy's made out and felt me up? So my chances are good, right?' she thought happily but somewhat cautiously.
"Okay remember, just one or two pints!" Mousse said.
"Hey, the wings are on special!" Ryoga pointed out. They all exchanged glances; all the boys shared a weakness for wings.
"I just had dinner, so how about we just split two pounds?" Mousse suggested.
"Hum, I guess that's alright," Kuno said.
"I haven't had dinner yet!" Ryoga said as he would come straight from work.
"Okay how about three pounds then?" Mousse suggested as a waitress approached.
"Hi, what can I get for you?" she asked with a smile.
"Five pounds of wings, four orders of your double garlic bread and keep bringing drinks until we beg you to stop!" Kuno said proudly admitting his alcoholism.
"What the hell! Shampoo's expecting me home by nine!" Mousse protested.
"I feel like celebrating with my best pals. Come on guys, it's on me, friends!" Kuno said. "Besides, my wife will forgive me when I give her her new watch."
"Great and all I'll have for Shampoo is crappy food." Mousse said mournfully but happily accepted his pint, knowing that the wrath of his Amazon warrior of a wife awaited.
Ranma looked sadly at her table full of ice-cold food and tried Ryoga's cell phone again. Each second ticked by dropping her hope as they went on by.
"Where are you Ryoga?" she said sadly when she got his voicemail again.
Ryoga staggered towards the Tendo's house and tried to put his key in the lock while squinting through drunk eyes. He fell forward when the door was yanked open.
Thud!
Ranma glared at Ryoga, who reeked of alcohol, "Where the hell have you been?" she cried, crossing her arms as she saw him sitting up to glare at her.
"Out," he replied snidely, his fang poking out from the corner of his mouth.
"Out where?" she demanded.
"I had some drinks with Kuno and Mousse if you must know," he said.
"And why wasn't I invited?" she demanded.
"It was guy's night," Ryoga said.
"I'm a guy!" she declared, looking offended.
"Are you really? Then why are you acting like a jealous wife or something?" he demanded. "I know that you're curious about your female body but stop acting like I'm your boyfriend or something. I'm sick of you using me for your sick experiment!" he yelled at her as his eyes trembled in pain.
A familiar feeling ran through them both, their eyes locked in an angry staring match. It even brought the two back to those days when they were still fighting at school. Though Ranma's inner fire faded as she dropped to her knees, gritting her teeth and breathing heavily as tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.
"That's what you think I want from you?" she screamed, shutting her eyes, and making her tears run down the sides of her face. "Dammit Ryoga! I think I'm in love with you and I'm just scared!" she sobbed as she turned from him and hugged herself.
"Ranma?" he asked with a stunned voice, softly touching her shoulder, she flinched from him.
"Course I don't mean anything to you. You've been ashamed to be seen with me, that's the reason for all those lousy restaurants and stupid movies, huh!?" she asked, the sorrow on her face morphing into anguish.
"Ranma you're a guy, you always told me that. How am I supposed to react when you suddenly want to be a girl?" he asked miserably.
"You ought to accept me and love me as I am; you always were the one who accepted me the most too!" she said her negative feelings matching Ryoga's.
"But I do care for you!" he protested, shutting his eyes with how loudly he tried to emphasize his turmoil.
"But not enough to risk your reputation and be thought of as a gay?" Ranma asked with a sad laugh. "I thought that we could remain as best friends and I could come to our bed as your wife every night. Guess that'll never happen, I was never meant to be loved…" she continued but lost her laugh as she stopped speaking.
"Ranma, I..." Ryoga stammered as he tried to make sense of all the jumbled feelings in his heart.
She turned sadly and looked at him with watery eyes, "It's okay Ryoga, you'll always be my best friend, but you should go for now…" she said.
Ryoga went to his room and pulled on his pack. He stopped in shock to see the lovingly set table; he sniffed the food and realized that it was cannelloni. He was shocked that Ranma remembered his Italy story. 'She did this for me,' he realized.
He could hear Ranma crying in her room as he pulled the front door closed and left his key under the mat.
"Goodbye Ranma," he whispered.
As he walked drunkenly lost through the dark street of Nerima, searching for a place to set up camp, he wondered why his heart was aching so badly.
Don't worry there is a light in the tunnel! We hope you stick with us and let me know what you like most about Ranma and Ryoga now that they're older! Please drink responsibly if you're of age(Ranma and Ryoga are in their country).
Foxes from the Foxxy~
DaisukiFox~