PART 2A
Inside the Tendo Dining Room, Ranma was eating a lot less.
. . enthusiastic than usual. What his father had said in the
dojo was forcing repressed memories back into his mind. {He was
right about that, it is fortunate to be here.} Nabiki switched
on the TV, on which a blond gaijin woman was singing agonizingly
on a stage with a grand cathedral setting.
*I have a tale to tell.
Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well.
I wasn't ready for the fall,
Too blind to read the writings on the wall.
A man can tell a thousand lies,
I've learned my lesson well.
If I live to tell the secrets I have learned too well,
You will burn inside of me!
Truth is never far behind,
You've kept it hidden well.
If I live to tell the secrets I knew then that night,
It will have the chance again!*
At the end of that sentence, the woman collapsed onto a
confession stand, curly locks obscuring her face.
Ranma sighed. After an entire morning of flashbacks, he
really didn't need to hear a song like that right now. The idea
of confession, of exposing weakness and inner secrets, however
artistically displayed it was, unnerved him. But being that this
was the Tendo residence, there wasn't much he could do about it.
"Ranma! I challenge you!!"
Ranma's train of thought was immediately broken as a
projectile bandanna whizzed toward the side of his head. He
dodged it, and stood up to confront the stocky, bandanna clad boy
standing on top of the garden wall.
"Long time no see, Ryoga. What do you want with me this
time?" Ranma said with his standard mask of annoyance.
Ryoga glared down at Ranma with hate filled eyes, as he had
always done since he had tracked him down at Nerima. "What I've
always wanted. . . REVENGE!" the boy that was doomed to travel
for eternity leaped up into the air, yielding his umbrella.
For a split second Ranma looked weary . . . and sad, then he
quickly hardened his eyes as he launched himself upward toward
his opponent.
CLANG!!
In one fluid motion, Ukyou had pushed Ranma aside and
cleanly sliced Ryoga's umbrella in half with her giant spatula.
Ranma somersaulted in midair and landed on the front of the
semi-open dinning room as Ryoga fell head first onto the
glass-paved yard.
"Ucchan, that's my fight!" Ranma protested.
Ukyou ignored him and approached Ryoga, picking him up by
the front of his shirt. "Couldn't you just leave Ran-chan alone
for once?!"
Ryoga slapped her hand away and bared his fangs. "Shut up!
You don't know what he has put me through!"
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time
now, what has he put you through?" Akane approached them with a
questioning look.
"He. . . that is. . . I. . ." Ryoga fumed helplessly,
unable to expose the real reason in front of Akane.
"Akane-chan, one of your friends is on the phone." Kasumi
called out to her from the dinning room.
"I'm coming, sis." Akane walked back into the house as
Ryoga gave a sigh of relief.
"You can't hide the truth forever, you know." Ranma said.
"Shut up! It's all your fault anyway!"
"Well, excuse me! But I'm not the one who dragged you all
the way to Juse-"
Ryoga clamped his hands over Ranma's mouth as he peeked at
the Tendos. "Not here, you idiot!"
"Just be mature and stop blaming everything on other people,
Ryoga." Ukyou said indignantly as the boy glared at her.
Ranma sighed and said. "Look, Ryoga, let's go somewhere
else so we can settle this once and for all. You're becoming a
pain."
"That's my line!" Ryoga scowled.
"Ran-chan, are you sure? You got quite a hit from your
father at the dojo. . ." Ukyou asked with concern.
"I'm FINE, Ucchan. I'm a martial artist, for Christ's
sake!" Ranma said in an exasperated tone, and turned to Ryoga.
"Now come with me!" The boys both leaped over the fence and
disappeared.
Ukyou sighed as she stared after them. Ran-chan can be so
damn macho sometimes! But that, along with all his other traits,
made him even more attractive in her eyes. Her mind became
troubled at that.
{I hope you would choose me, Ran-chan. I'm not a saint, and
it will be almost impossible for me to give up fighting for you
shall you choose otherwise. Please, don't abandon me and left me
being the bad guy that I would probably be shall you choose her .
. .}
Just then Akane came back into the dinning room. "Where are
Ranma and Ryoga?" she asked, looking out to the yard.
"My boy is merely going to teach that Hibiki boy a lesson in
humility." Genma said absently as he picked up the bits and
pieces from Ukyou's okonomiyaki and dropped them in his mouth.
"That. . . jerk!!" Akane's anger got the better of her.
"Why couldn't he just leave Ryoga-kun alone!" With that she
angrily exited the front door.
"Oh! My poor little girl is trying to stop a life and death
fight between the best martial artists in town. . . and all by
herself! She is going to get hurt for sure! Waaaaahhh!!!!"
Soun sobbed like a baby.
"Well, I can always go help her. . ." Ukyou said.
"Will you really?! Oh thank you so much!!" Soun brightened
up.
". . . only if you agree to nullify her engagement with
Ran-chan." she finished with a smirk.
"Waaaaaahhhh!!!" Soun's cry renewed with a vigour. "Now I
have to look for a new heir!"
"Hey, hey! I was only joking!" Ukyou tried unsuccessfully
to block the gushing tears with her giant spatula. She sighed in
disgust as she left the flooding house in search of her rival.
{How such a man survive in the real world, I'll never know.}
* * * * * * *
Meanwhile Ranma and Ryoga had settled down at the athletic
field of Furinkan High. The holidays had started, and the place
was completely deserted.
"So, ready to take the beatings that you deserve?" Ryoga
gave him a nasty smile.
Ranma stared at him with no hint of anger on his face. He
didn't know if he was making the right choice by doing this, but
this feud between them had to stop. It was driving Ryoga mad . .
. it was driving him mad. "Why do you hate me, Ryoga?"
Ryoga didn't notice the lack of hostility. "You got me
cursed, Baka!"
Ranma took a deep breath. "I've said it before and I'll say
it again. . . I DIDN'T DRAG YOUR SORRY HIDE TO CHINA! IT WAS
YOUR OWN FAULT THAT YOU FELL INTO THAT CURSED SPRING!!"
"YOU RAN OUT THAT DAY, IF ONLY YOU HAD BEEN THERE-"
"I'VE WAITED THREE DAYS FOR YOU ON THAT EMPTY LOT RIGHT
BEHIND YOUR HOUSE!!"
"BUT. . . but. . ." Ryoga couldn't find an appropriate
comeback for that one.
Ranma's eyes darted around, as if making sure that no one
was spying on them, and walked toward Ryoga. "What had happened
to you? You didn't used to be like this in junior high. . ."
Ryoga froze as Ranma's words hit him. "Don't you remember the
time when you ran after me after I took that bread. . . and what
happened afterwards?" Ranma grilled his eyes into Ryoga's,
trapping him. "Don't you remember that?"
Ryoga panicked. Ranma was talking about a time in his life
when everything suddenly appeared to be hopeful, the only time
when he wasn't lonely. Their relationship were once so innocent.
. . well, maybe not entirely that innocent. But still they were
so close and trusting toward each other that the even word
friendship' failed to describe it. And then, Ranma didn't show
up on that fateful day, and Ryoga immediately went to look for
him. More and more misfortune befell upon him in his search for
Ranma, until finally, the world clashed down upon him in a place
called Jusenkyo. That had driven him to his unending quest for
revenge from his ex-best friend. For a drifter with nothing else
to do, this quest had become the goal of his life.
"Ryoga. . ." Ranma's eyes glistered ever so slightly as he
hesitantly said what he didn't dare before. "You are not the
only one getting the blues from this crazy world. We might not
be able to go back to be like we were in junior high. . . but"
he struggled with his words. "But at least stop hating me,
dammit!"
And now, his perceived enemy had actually managed to lower
his pride, and asked to dissolve their grudge. Should he gave
in? Gave in to those dark eyes and let everything be forgiven?
But if he did, then everything might repeat themselves. He
knew he would be tempted to gave in to his past.
And he won't allow that.
He could never allow himself to be that close, that sincere,
to Ranma ever again. Not after all that had happened. Not after
all that misfortune that he had suffered that was related to him.
Not after how he denied his part in his suffering.
Especially not after how he left without a trace, leaving
him to deal with this cruel world on his own.
{Maybe it really wasn't his fault that he left. . .}
It doesn't matter whose fault it is, somebody HAS to pay.
Everyone who had caused his immense suffering, in anyway, HAS to
pay. . .
Besides, he couldn't possibly allow himself to fall back.
He had to be firm now. There should never, never have been
anything between them. Not now. Not EVER.
With that in mind, he struck Ranma in the stomach, hard.
* * * * * * *
POW!!
For the first time in many years, Kodachi was regretting her
actions.
CLING! CLANG! CRACK! CRASH!
Her opponent was skilfully disarming her the sets of
gymnastic weapons that she was hiding under her cape, breaking
down her defences so quickly that she could hardly have time to
leap away.
PONG!!!
People always tell her that it is dangerous to cross people
for amusement, for sooner or later she is going to cross the
wrong person. Somehow, all those that she had drugged, ambushed,
and schemed against before had either failed to get back at her
or didn't even try. "For the Black Rose, who isn't the right
person to cross?" Kodachi had once questioned with amusement.
This time, she found the answer.
"Hiya!" a swift centre kick caught her in the stomach,
sending her crashing into a concrete wall.
"This for putting poison in Nekohanten's food, dishonourable
psycho." Shampoo elegantly put down her foot as she stared
arrogantly at the crumbled girl in front of her. Really, her
super-strong Airen tended to attract the most annoying weaklings
for some reason.
Then a series of flashbacks regarding her past fights with a
certain martial arts okonomiyaki chef came into her mind. Before
fighting her, Shampoo didn't think too highly of her skills,
since training in fighting with kitchen tools and food couldn't
possibly be more effective than training in standard armed and
unarmed kung-fu. However, Shampoo had forgotten something VERY
crucial regarding the practical skills of a martial artist:
his/her training environment.
Shampoo was trained in her own village ever since she was a
child, in which all her opponents were top warriors. However,
they were also her family, friends, acquaintances, neighbours . .
. people that wouldn't cause her any real damage. Also, their
tournaments were all bound by a strict set of rules that would
ensure them to be fair. As such, Shampoo was skilful . . . but
somewhat less than experienced in all-out fights.
Kuonji Ukyou, the heir to the Kuonji Combat Okonomiyaki
Techniques, was trained in the actual mean streets, with
combat-skilled business rivals (martial artist cooks like Crepe
Joe), gangs (groups of thugs, some armed with guns, who would
demand *protection fee* from a lone girl running her own tiny
business), and all kinds of villainy types who would not hesitate
in causing her permanent harm or worse in satisfying their own
personal gains. Being in such a harsh environment since she was
six, the girl was skilful as well as experienced in any kind of
combat situation.
After several fights, it was apparent to Shampoo that Ukyou
was most certainly, if not more than a match for her. Not that
she was scared of her, of course. After all, an Amazon always
faces whatever challenges that came her way. It's the origin of
their proud heritage. She smiled with pride once more as she
turned back to the defeated girl.
"You not Shampoo's class. . . actually, you not even AKANE'S
class." Shampoo smirked. "At least tomboy have kempo skills,
while you just cheating weakling. Ranma not yours, will never
be."
"Grrr. . ." Kodachi painfully stood up and glared at her
rival. How dare this bimbo say that?!
The Black Rose had blossoming beauty, devious schemes, and
immeasurable wealth. As long as she was willing to put some
effort in getting what she wanted, the unknown ribbon of fate
would spontaneously twirl around her in a vortex, snapping
whatever that she wanted right into to her hand. It was this
kind of dark security that sustained this thorny flower,
glamourizing her face and fuelling her laughter.
Ranma-sama, the only thing that she truly desired, the
symbol of the word "boyfriend" to a withdrawn girl, the only one
willing to get her out of jams that she deserved to be stuck in,
happened to be an exception.
She almost smiled as she remembered that day when she had
challenged the Tendo girl at Furinkan. Her Ranma-sama had denied
his feelings for her with a flushed face. But once she started
crying, he immediately consoled her, more tender than any other
lover in the world. It was then that he told her the real
barrier between them: his fiancee.
It was so discouraging. If truth be told, she could barely
hold her own against Akane, the first fiancee: that was when
fighting fair. As if that tomboy kempoist wasn't tough enough,
OTHER even better martial artist girls had showed up one after
another throughout the year that the Black Rose had claimed
Ranma-sama for herself, each wanting this strangely enticing man
for herself. What started out as a lighthearted quest of love
had turned into a nightmare of unending battles with less devious
but more powerful opponents.
But the Black Rose never backed down from challenges. If
she can't inflict pain with her skill, then she might as well do
so with her tongue. "You win this time. But know that I shall
fight to my last breath to have my Ranma-sama! The last thing he
could ever want is a barbaric, illegally immigrated, uneducated
Chinese slut like you!" Kodachi spat out with venom, stinging
the Chinese girl with her thorns as she prepared herself to leapt
over a chosen rooftop and away.
#################################################################
PART 2B
Shampoo's amusement was immediately gone, replaced by pure,
white hot pain that had been piling up ever since she settled
down in Nerima. . . a place where a frightfully large number of
locals treated her and many other Chinese immigrants like some
kind of unwanted disease that had invaded the body of their
nation. There were case after case of primal fear and
unreasonable hatred that was directed against her kind.
Against her.
Many a morning she would find hate-filled messages sprayed
onto the exterior wall of the restaurant, telling her family to
go home in the rubiest way possible. Once her great-grandmother
had even caught one of those racist pigs and delivered him to the
police station.
The offender only got fined for a thousand yens.
In her everyday waitressing, boys had made advances towards
her, and girls had scorned her for making their boyfriends turn
their eyes. They always kept their contempt under sunny, close
eyed smiles though, not that Shampoo couldn't see through them
with her feline instincts. Had it not been for a skilled,
handsome, unique pigtailed boy that was entirely free of all
prejudice, Shampoo would have left this hostile place long ago.
She could clearly heard those words once as she left the
Tendo dojo after paying a visit to her Airen.
"My boy will not marry that Amazonian hussy!'
"Crazy girl. . . don't even know how to use the door without
breaking it."
"Hmph! Chinese bimbo. . ."
"I'll bet every yen that I have that her 'bimboness' has
something to do with her backward upbringing in mainland China .
. ."
"Oh, my . . ."
This cruel conversation went on and on as she stepped
further and further away, unable to do anything without upsetting
her Airen, until -
"Stop talking about Shampoo like that!" the boyish voice cut
off the conversation in a frustrated tone. "She's not a bimbo!
She just . . . does things differently than us, that's all."
Outside, Shampoo stopped.
"What?!"
"Ranma-kun . . ."
"My, how absolutely protective of your cute little Airen . .
."
"You jerk!! I knew you had something going on with that
slutty airhead!"
The boyish voice protested. "I was only saying . . ."
"SHUT UP!!!!" a shrewd shout cut him off. CLING!! CLANG!!
CRASH!!! Various sounds ranging from bones being cracked to the
skull being smashed could be heard.
"Oh, my!"
Tears sprang down Shampoo's face as she leapt up onto a roof
and ran into the night. Whatever guilt that she might have felt
for trying to get Ranma for herself through Chinese love potions
vanished at that instant, replaced by the necessity to have him
as her own AT ALL COST. Otherwise, not only that all her and her
grandmother's past sacrifices would have turned into ashes, but
also that the only one willing to defend her in this foreign land
would have to endure this hell for eternity.
Right now, she fiercely locked Kodachi's eyes with her own.
"You insult mean nothing to Shampoo. Shampoo proud be
Chinese and Amazon. Shampoo stay for Airen no matter what, and
psycho girl or any other no can change that!!"
Kodachi was slightly taken by how Shampoo could successfully
deflect her insult with her level of Japanese. It was then that
she caught sight of the pillar of light shooting dramatically
toward the sky. After several seconds, the light seemed to be
caught by gravity, and slammed down to the ground in a blast.
"Aiya! That Furinkan High direction!" Shampoo said, her
anger forgotten for the moment.
Kodachi gasped. "The Shishi Houkoudan. . . it's that beast
Hibiki! That incompetent fool! He's probably trying to hurt
dear Ranma-sama again! Why I ought to. . ."
By then, the Chinese girl was already leaping towards
Furinkan High in full speed. Not wanting Shampoo to take the
glory of saving HER love, Kodachi stopped her babbling and
followed.
* * * * * * *
{How dare he? HOW DARE HE?!?!?!?!}
POW!!!
{How dare he attack me like this. . .when. . . WHEN I WAS
ACTUALLY LOWERING MY PRIDE LIKE THAT?!}
Ryoga's fist missed his head by inches.
{All those times that I've tolerated his crazy challenges. .
.}
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!!!" the pigboy caused an explosion on the
ground, attempting to blast him with rocks. He really was going
all out against him in his attempt to drown out their past.
{. . . WASTED!!!!!!!}
Ranma, in his blind rage, didn't even attempt to dodge the
falling rocks. Instead, he simply let the rocks hit him as he
darted forward to close in on Ryoga.
"Kechuu Tenshin Amaguriken!!!!!!" hundreds of strikes landed
on Ryoga's face, making the bigger boy stagger backwards. Ryoga
struck out blindly at him with his iron fist, which he dodged.
Narrowing his eyes and cooling down his body, Ranma began to lead
the now hysterical Ryoga into a circular path of hot fighting
aura. It doesn't matter that Ryoga will probably be crippled for
life after this, it will probably serve him right! In a circular
path, he lead the chi-emitting maniac closer and closer to a
certain centre. . .
"RANMA NO BAKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a furious battled cry
reached Ranma's ear. Out of a corner of his eyes, he saw Akane
racing toward him with promise of physical pain written all over
her aura-covered features. His already cold body froze even more
as a maniacal laughter also reached his ears. "HOHOHOHOHO!!!!!
I'll save you from the tomboy, Ranma-sama!" yet another voice
cried out to him in alarm. "Ran-chan! Don't do it! You'll
kill him!!" finally, a loud cry of "Pig-boy no hurt Airen!" could
be heard through the chaos.
Normally, Ranma would have stopped his attempt at throwing
the mother of all Hiryu Shoten Ha(s) with all these new additions
to the danger zone. But right now, his glacial rage is telling
him to crush Ryoga at all cost. His cold body continued to drag
everybody closer and closer to the centre of the circular path.
Everything was in a frenzy in the path of motion: with Akane
releasing a hail of vicious punches at Kodachi, with Kodachi
countering with twenty or more clubs, with Ukyou rushing forward
to stop Ranma, and finally, with Shampoo aiming a bonbori at
Ryoga. Ranma, his mind beginning to detach from his body,
finally reached the centre point of the circular movement of hot
chi. {I always knew. . . all this. . . would end. . . with a
bang instead of a whimper. . .} Ranma thought distantly as his
fist shot up at the sky.
And the world went black around him.
* * * * * * *
In the realm of twilight.
Twisting like a wounded serpent, the boy began moaning in a
strangled voice. The clawed hands digging into his face, the
maniacal eyes boring into his soul, the evil voice tearing at his
ears with gross, debasing words like. . .
"Son-in-law! Son-in-law!"
Huh?
His eyes came into focus as he saw the aged face looming
over him.
"Yaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! Old Ghoul!!!!!!!" Ranma yelped.
PONG!!!!!
"Thank heavens that he has come out of it!" Cologne said
with relief . . . after flattening Ranma's face with her staff.
The girls in the backroom of Nekohanten all gave a sigh of
relief. Ryoga, being laid on a chair, was still unconscious. A
bespectacled duck was lurking behind Shampoo.
Supporting his forehead with a hand, he slowly sat up.
Looking around, everyone but the ancient Amazon and Mousse-duck
was more or less wounded. "What happened?"
"You almost killed us all with a super-charged Hiryu Shoten
Ha!" Akane scowled at him.
"If Hiba-chan no came and interfered at last minute to
cancel whirlwind's power, we all goners." Shampoo said a little
sternly, then smiled and leapt toward Ranma. "But no worry,
Shampoo forgive you!"
She ended up slamming face first into a giant spatula. "At
least have the common sense to wait until he has recovered before
you give him your bear hug!" Ukyou scolded as Kodachi giggled at
the Chinese girl's minor "defeat".
Ranma fell back down on the low cupboard supporting him as
his weary eyes stared past the four girls in his life. None of
them had came to him by his choice. All of them had been shoved
into his face either by his father, or by fate. The worst was
that all of them held him responsible for their feelings toward
him. Just his luck.
"Mind if I stay alone in here for a bit?" He asked. "I
think I would like a nap. . ."
Cologne frowned. Her son-in-law, admitted to feeling
vulnerable? Definitely unusual . . .
"Aiya! How about Shampoo stay with Airen here. . . alone. .
." Shampoo purred temptingly, leaning close to Ranma. Mind
you, she didn't consider herself as being cheap or anything.
After all, with regards to romance, she believed that there's
nothing like the direct approach. Besides, Ranma is the ONLY one
that she could seduce with such vigour.
And Ranma knew it. Shampoo's wooing, despite how it looked,
was a sincere offer. That's why he could never bring himself to
refuse her. Growing up on the harsh roads, he could never quite
push away anyone who took the effort to please him, much least a
girl. So he simply didn't react.
Cologne's eyes widened. Maybe Ranma actually liked Shampoo
more than he would let on, if he was really staying with that
lame excuse just to have some private time with her. A smile
formed on her face.
"The pervert said he wanted to be ALONE!" Akane growled
shrewdly from behind the Chinese girl, angered by Ranma's
passiveness in these situations. "Or is your Japanese so bad
that you didn't understand him?"
Shampoo looked sideways over her shoulder at the Japanese
girl. "Shampoo no see tomboy any good in Chinese either.
Beside, is duty of wife care for husband instead of babble
insult."
Akane gritted her teeth. Damn it! Nekohanten was a place
in which each passing minute might allow either Shampoo or
Cologne or BOTH to somehow mind-control Ranma with potions or
pressure-point strikes or cursed jewelry or whatever Amazonian
techniques that they knew about. And the baka was PURPOSELY
staying here! Was he just stupid or did he really want to be
enchanted by that over-endowed bimbo?
"Hmph! What do I care? You two deserve each other anyhow!"
with that, Akane stormed off, reminding herself to beat up Ranma
once he got back to the dojo. But before that, she needed to go
pay a visit to Doctor Tofu to borrow some ancient scrolls
regarding the counter to EVERY Chinese bewitchment there was,
especially the Amazonian ones.
Kodachi narrowed her eyes dangerously at Shampoo. How dare
that lowly waitress fawn over HER property like that? Yet the
high and mighty gymnast knew that she couldn't possibly take the
direct approach with the better martial artist, especially with
the injuries she got from earlier.
"Guess the Black Rose should depart as well. . ." Kodachi
looked sultrily at Ranma as she took out a black rose and tossed
it to the object of her desire . . . who backed away, fearing the
potential of paralysis powder in the flower. Kodachi's sultry
smile immediately dimmed into a sad look as she bit down on her
lower lip. In protecting herself from the heartless world, she
had grown so many layers of deadly thorns that even her love
wouldn't touch her anymore.
Ranma saw the sadness in her eyes and looked uneasy, for it
was in rare moments like this that he would once again saw the
vulnerable, love-sick girl that had so openly proclaimed her love
to him on the Tendo roof. That was before the paralysis drugs,
before he knew of the ruthlessness that she possessed. Gingerly,
he picked up the rose, and looked back at her.
Kodachi's smile returned, slightly bitter-sweet, as she saw
how Ranma had struggled to overcome his distrust with her. "One
day, Ranma-sama, I shall save you from all these lowly peasants,
and you shall know where you heart lies." her smile turned icy
as she shot an arrogant look at Shampoo and left with a toss of
her high ponytail.
Shampoo hmphed at the direction of the retreating Black
Rose, then turned to stare at the remaining girl as if expecting
her to make a challenge of some kind. Ukyou was visibly tensed,
but she forced herself to relax as she remembered the wedding
incident. "In the past I would have fought over him with you and
made another mess, but not today. I've learned my lesson
already. . ." she thought back to her involvement in the wedding
bombing that had almost trashed her reputation and angered
Ran-chan. "I just hope you will eventually learn yours. Beside,
Cologne HAD just saved all of us. . ." With that she strode into
the restaurant area.
{Hmm. . . after all those times that I've saved those
children, finally ONE of them had the decency to be thankful.}
Cologne thought to herself. Then she grabbed the now fuming
bespectacled duck by its neck and went out to leave her
great-granddaughter with her chosen husband. "C'mon, boy. You
have some serious cleaning to do around here!"
Shampoo turned back to Ranma, happy in her easy victory.
"Now we two alone!" she hugged her Airen tight with a look of
pure satisfaction on her face.
Ranma sighed. He really hate to do this, but he had to.
"Shampoo, I . . . err . . . I really DO need to be alone."
Shampoo pouted in the cutest way that she thought was
possible. "You no want Shampoo?"
"I REALLY need a nap right now, and you are distracting. .
."
"Shampoo be good girl, stay quiet-"
"Shampoo. . ." Ranma repeated, more firmly this time. And
Shampoo looked downcast. How could he possibly resist her like
this? It's just not rational! "Shampoo wait outside." She
dejectedly went for the door.
"Wait!"
Shampoo turned back hopefully. "Yes, Airen?"
"It's nothing personal, really." Ranma stressed every word
that he said with sincerity.
"Shampoo know." the Chinese girl smiled at seeing that.
"She be patient."
With that she left the room as well.
Ranma patiently waited until the door was closed. Finally,
he was alone. He turned to the unconscious Ryoga, who was
groaning on the chair. Looking at his comatose form, a thousand
feelings were roaming in his mind. Ranma was once so sure about
his hold on the lost boy that he could never even dreamed that
Ryoga would seriously turn against him. He had even believed
that all their fights through the year were merely heated
sparring sessions.
But today he proved him wrong, didn't he?
After gathering his inner strength for a LONG time, Ranma
walked over to Ryoga, yanked him up by his collar, and stared at
his face with his dark eyes. Feeling the tugging at his shirt,
Ryoga slowly opened his eyes, and found Ranma's directly in front
of his.
He looked at the bits of light, fresh scars on Ranma's face:
the results of his Bakusai Tenketsu attack. He had expected this
face to be full of fury and anger. Instead, it was perfectly
neutral. They stared at each other like this in complete silence
for what seemed like an impossibly long time.
Ranma finally spoke up in an even voice. "Thanks, Ryoga, for
showing me how wrong I was about you. . . about us." with that,
he loosened his hold on Ryoga and strode out, back into the new
life that he had fought so hard to keep.
Ryoga stared at the door closing behind Ranma. He had
finally managed to wipe out his past, along with their shaky
friendship. Collapsing back onto the chair, he cried like he
would never dare to do in front of anyone.
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