What happened to Shampoo and Mousse? When do we get a fight scene? All these
questions answered and more!! For your reading pleasure:


A Lesson In Love
By Marisa Price
Copyright to Marisa Price, 1996
All Rights Reserved

Chapter XII: Betrayal (PART A ONLY!!!)

        Ranma woke up with his fiancee in his arms and felt that he had to
be the happiest guy on Earth at the moment. He wondered how anything could
possibly go wrong that day.
        Unfortunately, in Nerima, things that seemed perfect usually weren't.
        He kissed her forehead as he climbed out of the bed and let her
sleep for a bit longer. She mumbled in her sleep and turned over to cuddle
up to a stuffed pig near the wall. He smiled at her and walked out of the
room and went into the bathroom to quickly wash up. He just did a cold water
rinse and then she dried off and brushed her teeth. She shrugged at her
image in the mirror and decided just to stay in this form for awhile, after
all, she was about to go talk to Ryouga (and she always ended up this way
after talking to him anyway).
        She unlocked the door and found Ryouga sitting on the futon, having
heated water with the convenient hot water pot in the corner to transform
back. He looked a bit healthier this morning, and at least somewhat aware of
himself. He looked up at Ranma and said, "Hey. Thought you were never gonna
come to let me out."
        Ranma looked at the clock. It WAS almost 10:00 am. Ranma shrugged
and said, "Sorry, man, I overslept." Ranma sat down next to Ryouga and
asked, "So, you gonna tell me what happened exactly?"
        Ryouga shook his head, and then sighed and said, "Dammit. I might as
well."
        Ryouga told Ranma the whole situation and desperately tried to
explain to Ranma the jumble of feelings that he had mixed up in his head.
        Ranma looked at Ryouga for a minute, sadly, and then said, "You once
told me, Ryouga, that I had to choose because I was hurting too many people,
including myself. You should take that advice yourself, man. I know how you
feel... God do I. But... There -IS- one of them that you love more... you
just have to figure out which one it is."
        Ryouga nodded sadly and then said, "Well, if it is Ukyou, then I am
screwed. She hates me at this point."
        Ranma said sharply, "She doesn't. She is just hurt and angry. I
think she actually likes you. Not that she's tellin me much anymore since I
ended up with Akane."
        The pig-boy sighed and said, "I don't even know what I would do if
she DID care."
        Ranma stood up and opened the window and looked out for a second
before saying, "Ryouga, do you still want to go to China?"
        Ryouga clenched his fists and said, "I don't know." He paused and
then added, "Yeah, actually I DO know. I WANT to go. But Akari didn't want
me to... she wanted me to stay with her. But... knowing Akari, she would
probably end up letting me go anyway."
        Ranma turned around and said fiercely, "Well, if you want to go,
then you are gonna go. But if you are gonna do that then you need to go back
to work to get some money. We are both about the same right now anyway,
because I spent a lot of my money a couple of days ago."
        Ryouga looked up in surprise and said, "On what?"
        "An engagement ring for Akane..." Ranma said quietly.
        Ryouga looked stunned and gave a low whistle before saying, "Ahhh...
I see. Well."
        They left that at that.
        Ranma began again, "For you to get money, you need to get Ucchan to
let you back. So, I think we should work first on making her forgive you..."
        Ryouga nodded and said, "But how?"
        "You were always writing those stupid letters to Akane that you
never gave her. I looked at your stuff before tossing 'em, it's pretty deep
and all that. And I figure you probably spell stuff right, unlike me. Akane
never liked that mush much, but Ucchan is sorta the hopeless romantic type..."
        Ryouga looked shocked, "UKYOU?? You're kidding, right?"
        Ranma looked directly at Ryouga and said, "I've known Ucchan since I
was a kid. Trust me, I know her better than you."
        "Where is some paper?" Ryouga asked.
        "I'll go get some," Ranma smiled.

******

        Akane yawned and stretched and looked up at her ceiling. She
wondered where Ranma had gone. She knew he had slept there, but, other than
a Ranma-sized dent in the mattress, there was no sign of him.
        The sweetheart had probably let her sleep in while he went to go
practice.
        She stood up and grabbed her bathing stuff and went off to the
bathroom. On the way she paused, hearing a familiar voice coming from
Ranma's room. 
        "Why isn't he out practicing?" she wondered, and reached up to rap
her knuckles a few times on Ranma's door and called out, "Ranma? Are you in
there?"
        There was silence for a moment, and then the door slowly opened a
crack and female-Ranma darted out, closing the door quickly behind her and
saying, shakily, "A...A...Akane!"
        Akane looked at Ranma in surprise and asked, "Ranma? What's wrong?"
        Ranma laughed nervously and said, "Err... nothing is wrong!"
        Akane stared at Ranma speculatively, and then asked quietly, "I
thought I heard voices. Is there someone in your room?"
        Ranma shook her head furiously and then said quickly, "Uh.... I
mean, NO! I am working on a project... um, yeah!! A project! And I was
talking to myself."
        Akane looked at her as if she had grown horns and then said,
shocked, "A PROJECT? What, for school?"
        Ranma stuttered out, "Uh, yeah! For school!"
        Akane reached her hand out to the door and asked, "Oh. Well, then
can I look at it?"
        Ranma grabbed her hand to prevent it from opening the door and said,
"NO!!"
        Akane looked shocked and asked, "NO??"
        Ranma looked at her with pleading eyes and said, softly, "Akane...
Please don't ask yet, ok? I will tell you about it later. It is... Sort of a
surprise. Yeah... A surprise!"
        Akane looked as if she was going to pound on Ranma for about twenty
seconds before she sighed and backed away from the door. She looked at the
glittering ring on her hand, and realized that if THIS surprise was anything
like the ring she had received the night before, she would probably like it.
        Akane leaned forward and kissed Ranma on the cheek and said,
"Alright. I'm sorry to pry. I'm sure you have your reasons to keep whatever
this is a secret. I trust you."
        Ranma smiled in relief.
        Akane sighed and turned to go off to the bathroom, resisting the
urge to turn around to look as Ranma re-entered her room and shut (and
locked) the door.

*****

        Ranma re-entered her room and shut (and locked) the door. She
whispered cautiously, "OK, Ryouga, you can come out now..."
        Ryouga rolled out of the closet door and gasped at the fresh air. He
said, sweating profusely, "What was THAT all about?"
        Ranma looked at Ryouga in disgust and said, "I don't want her to
know, of course, that you are here. At least not yet. I want to solve your
problem if we can so you DON'T have to stay here."
        Ryouga sighed and rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Gee
thanks, you are a real PAL, Ranma..."
        Ranma whacked Ryouga on the head and said, "Hey, I'm helping ya,
ain't I? Gimme a break.."
        Ryouga growled at her and said, "Hmmph," and then went back to
writing his letter.
        Ranma looked at Ryouga and tried to be patient. She started to get
bored after a few minutes and started to practice her kata, and did some
handstands.
        Ryouga looked at Ranma in disgust and said, "Ranma! Cool it! You are
distracting me!"
        "Well, what is TAKING so long?" Ranma asked.
        "I am writing a serious letter! Give me a break!" Ryouga grumbled.
        "There has GOT to be an easier way to do this," Ranma thought to
herself.
        Suddenly, a light bulb went on in Ranma's head and she ran over in
excitement to pull Ryouga to his feet.
        Ryouga, now standing, asked sharply, "WHAT NOW? Let me write!"
        "I gotta idea!" Ranma enthused, and then added, "We should go see
Shampoo! I betcha she's got some kinda forgiveness potion! That would be
SOOO much faster and plus I haven't seen Shampoo for weeks!"
        Ryouga protested, "Ranma! Don't you think that a potion is the WRONG..."
        A splash of water turned Ryouga's words into a squeal.
        Ranma grabbed the angry pig and said, "C'mon! Don't be such an
idiot! This had gotta be the best way!"
        Ranma opened her door and bounded out and down the stairs, over the
rooftops, and headed toward the Nekkohantan, a furious black piglet chewing
on her arm.

******

        Akane emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in her fuzzy yellow robe,
and stopped in surprise when she saw that Ranma's door was partially open.
        "Ten minutes ago he is being totally secretive, and now the door is
open??" Akane said to herself in wonder.
        Against her better judgment, she walked toward the door and rapped
slightly, calling out, "Ranma? Are you in there? Ranma...?"
        There was no answer.
        She slid the door open the rest of the way, and cautiously stepped
into the empty room. The only thing unusual was a puddle of water on the
floor, and, at least with so many Jusenkyo-afflicted in the area, that
wasn't TOO unusual.
        Everything else sat where it usually did.
        "Hmmm," Akane mused and then commented, "How strange."
        She turned to leave the room, and, suddenly, she caught the flash of
paper in the corner of her eye.
        The piece of notepaper was sticking out, partially covered by the
futon, and Akane sighed as she went to go pick it up, wondering when Ranma
had become such a slob. She was prepared to just sit what she thought to be
a school assignment down Ranma's dresser when she caught sight of one word
on the top of the page: UKYOU.
        Akane sat down on the futon in shock. The ink smudged a bit on her
fingers, obviously freshly written; this must have been the "project." She
read the letter, her hands beginning to shake.

        Dear Ukyou,
                I want so much for you to forgive me.
        What I did, by leaving you, was really wrong.
        I know you needed me, and I let you down. I am
        so sorry that I worried about my own feelings
        instead of considering the others that I might
        hurt. Please, please, don't be angry with me.
        I know you think that I am in love with Akane,
        but, after last night, I realized that she and
        I are only meant to be friends. You, though, I
        NEED you, Ukyou. Please let me

        -The letter ended there, obviously interrupted-

        Akane sat on the futon, frozen. Her heart felt as if it was about to
explode. 
        NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! This CAN'T be!!!! Her mind screamed.
        Akane fought for self control and read the letter again.
        No. God no. Ranma didn't love her anymore.
        But how could that be? What about last night?! The ring, the
proposal, the announcement. Were those all just LIES??
        NO!! RANMA LOVED HER!!! This HAD to be some sort of trick.
        Tears started to roll down Akane's cheeks and she suddenly heard
Ranma's voice saying the night before, as he held her in his arms:

        "What kind of advice would you give to a guy who is equally in love
with two women?" Ranma had asked.

        And, never imagining that he was talking about himself, she had replied:

        "I would tell him to pick one or the other. It may not be easy, but
it is necessary..."

        Oh NO. Oh NO NO NO. She crushed the letter in her hand and wiped the
tears away. She had thought Ranma had made up his mind, but now she knew the
battle for him was still on.
        "Ranma," she thought, "You may be a selfish bastard, but I still
love you. And I am your -fiancee-. She CAN'T have you. She just CAN'T."
        Akane dropped the crushed letter to the floor and stood, striding
off to her room to prepare for the approaching fight and thinking, "Ukyou,
prepare to lose Ranma. He is MINE and I am NOT giving him up!"


***** End part A... part B coming soon!





        


         
         
                
       
        
        
Marisa Price
marisa@value.net
http://value.net/~marisa/