The prologue is bundled with chapter one for the sake of convenience
-- don't want to flood the list with a needlessly large volume of
posts, and by neccessity, the prologue is short.
Descent -- Prologue
One Bright Day
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Brian Randall
Disclaimers: The paints, as always, are the property of Takahashi
Rumiko; I'm merely a peasant with an easel.
------------------------------------------------
Sometimes I wonder what motivates me. It isn't really getting money
that I find fascinating, as much as being able to toy with people.
Cash is just a pretty trophy for my efforts.
But at the same time ... after Daddy's proclamation to Ranma and
Akane, I thought it would be a good time for me to back off on that
front. Those two can raise enough trouble without any of my help.
Of course, a thought and reality can be worlds apart.
***
I glance up from my magazine as Akane sits down at the table opposite
me, leveling an annoyed look. Not quite a glare, and not the fierce
pout she employs when she thinks I'm being unfair. But I can tell
she's genuinely upset about something.
Oh well.
"What's up?" I ask, already figuring I knew the answer.
"Nabiki, I want to talk to you about the wedding." Not a whit of
hesitation from that girl. Well, fine. If she thinks she's ready to
marry Ranma, I'll stay out of the way this time.
"What about it?"
"You shouldn't have done that!"
"Oh? Okay. Sorry." I'm sure that won't cut it with Akane, but it
should get her mad enough to get to the point.
Indeed, her face colors and she looks angry instead of merely
annoyed. "Nabiki! You caused a lot of problems-"
"Which would have been worse if you went through with your plans and
didn't deal with certain other problems first," I noted, cutting her
off. "Make me out to be the villain all you want, the truth of the
matter is it would have failed anyway. The only difference is that I
was able to control the damage." And turn a profit, but that was an
entirely separate point.
"Of course," Akane replies, less than fully convinced. "Nabiki,
Ranma and I both want to get married. We would have been, if it
weren't for you."
"You don't...." Of course she really believes that. And she might
have been right. "Oh. Fine. What do you want me to do about it
now?"
"I want you to help us get rid of Shampoo and Ukyou."
Is that all? At least she's actually addressing the issue instead of
ignoring it. "Okay. Let me talk to Ranma and I'll see what we can
do."
"He's in the dojo," Akane says, relaxing visibly.
Ah, my dear little sister. Shifting responsibility. Oh well, maybe
things will really work out for them. And maybe they won't -- I'm
surprised at how little I care when I stop to think about it. Still,
I don't want Akane to stay angry at me, so I get up and walk to the
dojo.
Ranma's there, practicing like he usually is, going through a kata
slowly with a look of intense concentration. "Having fun?" I ask
dryly.
He glances at me and abruptly breaks from his form, stopping to towel
himself off. "Sure," he replies. "What's up?"
"Akane tells me you want to marry her."
He flinches back, but doesn't deny it. After a minute of staring at
me, he manages a tiny nod.
"I'll deal with Ukyou. You deal with Shampoo. Then we'll call our
debts even. Sound like a plan?" Ranma didn't actually owe me
anything at the moment, but I don't expect him to remember that kind
of thing.
"W...well," he begins uncertainly. "I'm not sure if-"
"If you want to deal with your problems, they need to be dealt with,"
I warn him firmly. "Knowing you, you'll just let Ukyou push you
around until you agree that you're still engaged to her, and then
you're right back where you started. I'll deal with her. I'm
confident you can handle Shampoo at least." Actually, it was more
that I was confident that Ukyou wouldn't try and kill me no matter how
much I might make her angry. I had no such assurances regarding the
Chinese girl. Still, the sooner this was behind us, the better.
"O...okay," he says uneasily. "I guess I gotta talk to her and the old ghoul."
"You do that," I say, turning around and walking back towards the
house. This situation will require a bit of planning, and I kind of
wonder if I'm going to have to deal with Shampoo in the end, too. At
least Ranma will keep her busy until I've got Ukyou handled.
------------------------------------------------
[Descent -- Prologue -- END]
------------------------------------------------
Descent -- Chapter One
Laws of Love
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Brian Randall
Disclaimers: The paints, as always, are the property of Takahashi
Rumiko; I'm merely a peasant with an easel.
------------------------------------------------
I like the afternoons. They're the busiest part of the day, and give
me the least amount of time to myself, but they're always the worst
part of it. I suppose it's just that I like the feeling that I'm
going to be done soon, and then no matter how bad it is ... I'll be
free!
Free to be with my husband.
Sometimes, this isn't as reassuring a thought as I think it should be.
Lately he's taken to spending more time with that Japanese bitch at
the Tendo house. I can't understand why -- it's not like I'm not
better in every way. Great-Grandmother always tells me to be patient,
but I'm worried that patience won't be enough.
But what else can I do to show him that I love him? I'm at a
loss.... I tried to save him from a wedding to the bitch, but
Great-Grandmother tells me this was a mistake. How can that be? He
doesn't love her -- he loves me!
Doesn't he?
***
I catch another plate as Great-Grandmother flings it in from the
kitchen, setting it before the customer who ordered it. "Chinese
fried rice," I offer by way of explanation, giving a bright grin I
don't feel before going back into the kitchen. That's the end of the
evening rush, and now it's time to take a break.
There will be stragglers, and then cleaning ... but that's for later.
For now I go through the kitchen and into the living room behind it.
Great-Grandmother joins me after a few moments, and we both sit on the
floor in silence.
She speaks first, and says, "Shampoo, have you considered what
happened at the Tendo home?"
I wish she would let me speak in Chinese. The language of Japan is
crude and barbaric in comparison, and I hate it. "Yes,
Great-Grandmother," I answer. "Husband is upset because Shampoo
interfere with ... mistress?" Maybe that was it. I supposed that the
bitch might at least be good in bed -- that would explain some of it.
I couldn't see her offering Ranma much else.
Great-Grandmother snorts and shakes her head. "That's not it," she
says flatly. "There would have been ways we could compromise, but I
worry that you've crossed a line that Son-in-law may not be willing to
overlook."
I'm not sure how to reply to that. Great-Grandmother has confused me
since she's come to Japan, though. She's been supportive of my
husband more often than myself. She also hasn't done much to help me
get him to myself. I think it's time to find out why. "Why you not
help me marry Airen?"
She actually looks surprised at the question! At first, anyway.
Then she actually looks guilty -- I don't like this, and it starts
making me very nervous. "Well," she admits slowly, "I don't think
that Son-in-law is the kind who reacts to being goaded or forced into
things well. My plan was to simply show him how valuable we are to
him, so that he can't imagine a life without you -- married or not."
"Or not?" I ask, much more sharply than I intended to.
"Come now; you're already married to him by our laws. Making him add
his own customs to that is a mere formality."
"But it show stupid kitchen-destroyer where she really is," I point
out. That's important too. And of course.... "Real husband would
give Shampoo children; Airen will not without stupid Japanese
wedding."
"I'm afraid there's something you're not seeing here,"
Great-Grandmother warns. "Love is a strange thing, Shampoo, but one
thing it never is ... is forced. Not true love, anyway. If
Son-in-law had less worth, it would be a simple thing to compel him to
come to China with us."
I suddenly remember that it may actually be a good thing
Great-Grandmother hasn't helped more. "Shampoo not want that."
"Of course not. You want him willingly. But you've blinded yourself
to something, especially if you didn't see it at Jusendo."
Ah, yes. Jusendo. For a moment, the house around us melts away, and
I see again Ranma rising on a wave of fire, the Gekkaja's glistening
curve throwing a trail of scintillating ice behind it as he battles
Saffron. Then I remembered his impassioned cries -- both of them --
as he threw a blade of cold wind down, shattering the foundations of
Jusenkyou and rebuilding them to get to the source of the cursed
springs faster.
And Great-Grandmother is right, but it hurts to admit; I've spent so
long waiting, trying to be patient ... and it's gotten me nothing. He
cried out for her when he thought she was dead. He implored the
heavens and Jusenkyou to return her, his booming voice echoing across
the vault of the chamber that he and Saffron had exposed to the skies.
He told her that he wished he could have said....
How _dare_ that bitch steal my husband like that! "No," I groan,
rubbing at my eyes. "Airen would do same for me!" I wonder if this
is true as I say it. I think it is, but a small part of my mind warns
me that while he would ... he wouldn't feel so strongly about it. He
wouldn't weep as long if he thought I had perished. He would voice no
regrets for not admitting his love to me.
"Perhaps," Great-Grandmother replies neutrally.
"But the reversal jewel!" I protest. "Airen...." I'm not sure what
else to say, then. He did love me, didn't he? He couldn't possibly
just challenge me to string me along.... Or was it that he saw _me_
as the mistress, second to that stupid bitch?
I think that hurts worse, and the dull ache in my chest I've been
trying to ignore since that failed wedding redoubles.
"Your impudence may have cost you much." Great-Grandmother looks
pensive. "I'm loathe to let Son-in-law slip through our fingers at
this point, but I don't think either of us want him as less than he
is. If you'd been more patient, it would be a small matter to remind
him who helped save Akane at Jusendo. Convincing her to accept you
would have been harder work. But now I wonder if that's a choice."
"No," I reply reflexively. "I will not share Airen with
kitchen-destroyer." And I can't; it's hard to imagine granting her
second-place to me. But accepting that from her? Never. I want my
husband to myself -- I might share him with some other woman, maybe,
but it would need to be clear that he was mine, first and foremost.
The kitchen-destroyer wouldn't accept that either ... or if she would
have, she won't now.
"I is doomed," I realize aloud quietly.
More than simply losing my husband to her, I was going to lose my
right to go home. The shame of my failure would make me an outcast
... cursed and unwelcome.
"There are other ways," Great-Grandmother says darkly. I almost
choke when I realize what she's suggesting. If Ranma will not take
me, who will he sentence me to? Tears come to my eyes at the thought
of a marriage to Mousse, rejected by Ranma.
"No," I whimper, wishing I could be a warrior and not a little girl.
But it hurts ... it hurts so much to think that my husband would do
such a thing. Fear quickly turns to anger. I'm strong -- strong
enough to take matters into my own hands if I must.
But it's not Mousse I'm angry at. He wants to marry me, but he
wouldn't be the one making the choices. It's Great-Grandmother who I
am furious with. "Why?" I demand. "Why you let this happen?" She
understood what was going on well enough and simply never saw fit to
tell me?
"Child," she says in a warning tone, "I _tried_ to stop you. I
arrived too late."
"Before!" I protest. I curse the Japanese tongue, and almost scream
at her in our native Mandarin, but I restrain myself. Barely. "Why
wait so long?"
She sighs and looks away. "I don't know," she admits. "I thought
you understood. And.... Well. Think not of what's lost, but what
can be saved."
"What you mean?"
"While this is a failure, you're a young woman, and there's more to
life yet, isn't there? I don't think you can hope to win Son-in-law
now ... not from what I've seen. Oh, Akane's affection for him is
less than his for her, but he's really the heart of the matter, isn't
he?"
I nod, wincing. So Ranma loves Akane. And not me. I realize
blaming my great-grandmother for not warning me is futile. It is not
her I should be furious with -- it's him. He _has_ been stringing me
along.
Somehow, the admission that he does not love me hurts worse than the
fact that he chose that stupid, clumsy.... Well, fine, then. He
deserves her. I hope they suffer long together. "Revenge?" I ask,
frowning. "If no husband, no shame?"
Great-Grandmother looks surprised. "I thought you loved him."
I do. She's right. But that doesn't make me any less angry! "What
else I do?" I ask bitterly. "Wait for life to end as exile, or worse,
marry Mousse? Shampoo not just wait for end! Must do ... something."
But how could I really get revenge on Ranma? Akane's beyond my reach
-- and if I did anything to her, my life may as well be forfeit. He's
well beyond my own strength.
Great-Grandmother might be able to do something, but I can already
tell she's not willing. I stare at her for a minute longer, and then
tiredly say in the Mandarin I'm not supposed to use anymore, "I give
up. If I was going to guess it, I would have figured out your plan
before his ... wedding."
She frowns. "Fair enough," she replies in the same tongue. "Fair
enough. Well, anyway. I think it best at this point to wait for him
to make a move. You're too short-sighted, Shampoo. What if he does
marry that girl? She could get tired of him, and then-"
"I take second place," I reply with a roll of my eyes. "Oh, lovely,
Great-Grandmother. The pride of our village can be Ranma's silver
medal. What does it matter? He _doesn't love me_." It hurts less
when I make myself say it.
But it still hurts.
She sighs again. "Well. You.... Ah." For once the old woman looks
unsure. I take some small comfort in that -- at least I'm not the
only one lost, so far from home.
***
The last few days have not been happy. Mousse has become more
annoying, walking with a confident gait, like he knows something I
don't. He continually smiles at me when he thinks I'm not looking at
him -- blind fool -- and then tries to mask it.
Ranma has not come by once in that time, which may be a good thing.
I wonder what he's up to, and the old feelings rise. Love, followed
by the dull ache of rejection.
I wonder sometimes why I chased him all the way from China, and
wasted so much of my time trying to win him over. Then I remember
that it wasn't really my idea. It was the law. But despite that, I
did love him. And still do, probably.
Whether he meant to or not, the Ghost Cat proved that Ranma was my
true love. I don't know how _he_ didn't see that.
Maybe that's what hurts the worst. Being pursued by a blind fool,
and chasing one who can see even less. I find that while I still love
Ranma, these days I don't think he's as smart as I used to. Clever,
and good in a fight. Strong, of course. Willing to stand up for what
he believes in.
Some part of my mind tells me I'm trying to make myself stop loving
him, so the truth will be more bearable. If Ranma is stupid and ugly
in my mind, perhaps I can ignore him and.... And then what?
But there's no point. I look up to greet the customer who walks into
the restaurant, and the words die on my lips.
It's not a customer at all.
It's Ranma.
He's wearing the same clothes he's almost always worn since coming to
this country, Chinese shirt and pants. Yellow, today. I think that's
_her_ favorite color. I inhale shakily, unsure of what to say, and
wondering what a spectacle I'm making of myself, standing and
gawking..... But I'm drawn into his gaze, those deep gray pools,
reflecting determination and ... and....
I look away silently and close my eyes. That small part of my mind
is right, but I cannot make myself stop loving him. He's just as
beautiful as he was when I thought of him last, and I despair that I
can never let him go no matter how angry he makes me. For a
heartbeat, I wonder if he _would_ accept me as a mistress, second to
the bitch.
But no, I doubt I could be even that, now. The look he gave me was
sorrowful. I saw no love or affection there. I force myself to smile
and turn to look at him again; he has not moved, though his eyes still
follow me. "Hello," I say, glad my voice is smooth and unshaken.
"Table for one?"
He blinks at that and shifts his shoulders uncomfortably. "Not
today," he finally says, looking away, staring into the kitchen where
I'm sure Mousse is glaring daggers at whatever he thinks is Ranma. "I
... gotta talk to the ol' ghoul."
"Okay," I reply. A spark of anger bursts in my heart; he wants to
talk to my Great-Grandmother? Am I now some child who cannot be
spoken to herself?
I force myself to calm. Great-Grandmother had overestimated me.
Maybe I was doing the same to myself. "This way," I add, turning to
the kitchen. Mousse is indeed there, though he retreats when I begin
marching towards the doorway. Coward.
I do not hear Ranma moving behind me, and he's hidden himself from my
other senses for the moment. Habit, I wonder? Or have I simply let
myself slip so much I can't keep track of him? I suppose it doesn't
matter; he's not really _my_ husband, now is he?
In the kitchen, Great-Grandmother doesn't look the least bit
surprised to see Ranma enter. Mousse is gone from sight and I wonder
why. "Go take care of the restaurant," she orders before Ranma can
speak. "I think that Son-in-law and I will need to speak in private."
A surge of temper threatens to fray through my restraint ... but who
can I lash out at? I couldn't fight either of them. It wouldn't
accomplish anything anyway. I might hit Mousse, but that fool would
probably think it was a gesture of affection.
I leave.
***
When the rush ends again, I return to the living room. Ranma is
sitting there, cross-legged and deep in thought. Great-Grandmother
sits opposite him on a cushion, looking grim and expectant, though she
breaks off long enough to give me a hopeful smile.
Somehow, that helps even less. Her, of all people, only able to show
hopefulness, instead of confidence?
"So," Ranma says, his eyes opening as he glances at me for a
heartbeat, "you're sayin' that if I ... er ... go through this formal
duel, that it's all off?"
I wince. Great-Grandmother is really giving up. I've been expecting
this for almost a week, and trying to prepare for it, but there's not
really a reason. My breath shortens as the sensation of a hot knife
slashes through me; this is it. It's finally happening, and my
husband, my lover, my.... My nothing.
He's going to do away with me, and all I have left is to cling to a
merciful sentence. I have no doubt that my grandmother has a list of
potential husbands from the village. And of course, Ranma can name
anyone else he knows, as punishment.
"More or less," Cologne replies slowly. "Honestly, we can do away
with the combat. It's a formality, and I'm already confident that you
can beat her." I realize that Cologne is conceding my role in any
fight. For my own safety? Or just to spare me the pain of being
rejected _and_ beaten?
I sink to my knees and watch expectantly, remaining silent.
Ranma looks at me for a minute, then looks away. "S...so, okay.
Then, what next?"
"You choose who she shall marry instead," Cologne says simply, with
so much casual disinterest that I wince.
Ranma shifts his shoulders and grimaces, turning to stare at a vase
of bamboo shoots near the doorway while he thinks. "W...what if I
don't want to choose someone?" he asks warily.
I bite my lip at that, feeling my eyes fill with tears. The worst of
all possible fates; I've been humiliated and now cast aside. Not just
rejected, but wholly scorned. "H...have I been so terrible?" I manage
to ask, realizing that it's the first thing I've really managed to say
to him in a week.
"What are you talking about?" he asks in surprise. "I just.... I
was thinking.... I mean-"
"A Joketsuzoku warrior who is rejected by her husband has no standing
in our society," Great-Grandmother says, and now there's the slightest
hint of anger in her voice. She stands up for my role among the
Joketsuzoku, but my personal pride matters nothing to her or Ranma.
How has it been allowed to come to this?
"What's that mean?" Ranma asked, still staring at the vase.
Great-Grandmother sighs. "If she has no standing, than she would
have to marry even a Joketsuzoku male who beat her. She would be too
weak to bring in an outsider, since it would be obvious that even a
pathetic one could do her in." I feel tears trickling down my cheeks,
and am surprised at it. It takes effort, but by biting my tongue, I
keep quiet, wiping my eyes before Great-Grandmother can turn around
and see.
"Like Mousse?" Ranma asked, furrowing his brow. Great-Grandmother nods.
Then he begins muttering, so quietly I can barely hear. He probably
thinks I can't: "But he said she'd be happy...." He cuts off and
shakes his head suddenly, but his words cause a warmth in my chest; is
it possible that he does still care? Could this all be cleared away
and forgotten?
I bite my lip, realizing that if he asks for me to be his second,
even to the bitch, I will take it, just to be with him. How is it
that he can undermine me so? He made me break the laws by proving me
unable to kill him, once. I suppose my pride is not as weak as the
laws, but it breaks, too.
"I gotta think about this," is what he finally says. "I'm sorry."
"That's fine," Great-Grandmother answers. "I'd be disappointed in
you if you didn't."
"Y...yeah. Um, let's meet tomorrow to work this out at the challenge
grounds. I gotta talk to Akane about it."
I flinch, but my anger at the bitch cannot overcome my willingness to
be a second at that point, so I say nothing, still biting my tongue.
"The challenge grounds?" Cologne asks in alarm. "Why there?"
"A promise is a promise," Ranma says, shaking his head. "See you tomorrow."
Before anything else can be said, he flees. I could follow, I
suppose, though if Ranma does not want me to find him, I will not.
Great-Grandmother could do it better, but tonight she merely bows her
head and sighs. I find that I don't want to ask her why.
***
Unable to sleep, I spent the entire night trying to guess what my
one-time husband is going to do. I am not hopeful enough to continue
calling him my lover, but I am too alone to not still hope a little.
I cried, several times, to my shame. Rejection is staring me in the
face, and this will spell failure on a scale much larger than merely
receiving a Jusenkyou curse. I will not be killed, but I wonder how
close I might be to exile.
When the morning comes around, Great-Grandmother recognizes my
distraction, and leaves me alone to wonder. I practice with the
rising sun, putting more heart and effort into swinging my maces than
before. Afterwards, I drill unarmed until I can't see straight.
Then a comforting soak in the furo to try and sweat out my
depression. But exhaustion and the warm water's comforting embrace
are no match for the dread I know now. At noon, I go to the challenge
grounds with Great-Grandmother.
The challenge grounds are merely an empty lot near Ranma's school; he
has fought many other foes there, though I've only seen a handful of
those battles. Ranma is already there. The bitch is not in sight,
which I am grateful for, though Ranma's father is. The two stand at
the southern edge of the field. Great-Grandmother and I arrive at the
northern edge.
"O...okay," Ranma says uneasily, not waiting for Great-Grandmother to
explain the terms. "I've thought about this for a while. I don't
really get why I should be the one to choose, and I don't want to."
My eyes water with unshed tears; I am to be cast aside.
"S...so you reject her?" Great-Grandmother asks.
"No!" he says, shaking his head quickly. My heart skips a beat, and
I feel I may choke. What is this? "I want _her_ to choose who she
marries."
"What?" Great-Grandmother is dumbfounded, and for a moment, so am I.
"That's.... That's simply not the way that this works, Ranma," she
warns, catching herself. "You have responsibility, and you must live
up to it. Who will you choose?"
"I choose to let her figure it out herself!" Ranma protests, shaking
his head. "See, I don't know who else could make Shampoo happy. I
don't think I should just pick someone, and while I think Mousse is
pretty decent as a guy ... I know that Shampoo don't like him that
much."
I nod quickly, still stunned.
"Be that as it may," Great-Grandmother says, shaking her head, "that
is against our laws. You have defeated her, you must make a
decision."
"Then.... Okay, fine." Ranma closes his eyes and thinks for a
minute. "Shampoo.... When you find someone, send me a letter, or
just come and ask me, and I'll say that whoever you choose is the
one."
"Shampoo would choose you," I say, before I can catch myself.
He shakes his head quickly, glancing to his father for support. The
bespectacled man is quietly considerate, apparently approving Ranma's
course thus far. Ranma smiles weakly, and says-
"Saotome! You _liar_! Prepare to die!"
I can only gawk in surprise as Mousse leaps from behind one of the
walls surrounding the lot. He must have been hiding in someone's
yard, managing to sneak past Great-Grandmother! Not that it matters;
I don't think for a heartbeat that Mousse can defeat Ranma. Not after
what we've both seen at Jusendo. But Ranma is slower to react.
A swinging scythe on the end of a chain almost hits Ranma before he
rolls out of the way, launching himself at Mousse's landing site
before straightening himself out. The two collide, and Ranma's foot
strikes Mousse's collarbone, knocking them apart. The man I wanted to
marry gets back to his feet, watching Mousse warily.
Great-Grandmother and Genma both just watch, though I can't blame
them if I don't do anything myself. "Mousse!" I yell, causing the
fighters to pause and look at me. "You stop right now! Shampoo no
want you attacking Ranma, stupid!"
"But, Shampoo," Mousse protests, "I was going to marry you!" He
turns back to look at Ranma, while I shudder in revulsion. Was that
Ranma's plan, after all? "Why did you betray me, Saotome?" he growls.
So he _was_ going to give me to Mousse. But ... had something
changed his mind? I turn to look at him, pleading him to explain
himself with my eyes.
He flinches and then assumes a very steely gaze, focused on Mousse.
"You said you'd take care of her," Ranma corrects. "I said that I
wanted to be sure that after everything was done she'd be okay. I
don't think she'll be happy with you."
I nod quickly, before Great-Grandmother raps me atop the skull with
her staff. My eyes tear and start unfocusing while she hisses, "You
can't speak of that, Great-Granddaughter. You've lost that right by
our laws."
"What do you know?" Mousse spits. "I love her, which is more than
you can say. I know that I can make her happy, and all _you_ can do
is destroy her honor!" With that, the two fly at one-another, though
this exchange is swifter, and much more brutal. Ranma allows one of
Mousse's knives to sink into his upper arm, but in exchange, gets a
firm grip on the back of my pest's neck. I flinch with the force
Ranma uses to fling Mousse straight into the unyielding earth.
The semi-blind one bounces a little, then groans and lies still.
"Screw you," Ranma spits, growling. "The deal was that you were
gonna make her _happy_ Mousse." He tears the knife out of his arm and
tosses it away, wincing. Then he turns his gaze to me and says, "So,
Shampoo.... If the old ghoul don't like it, I'm gonna ask you to
choose. You want to marry Mousse, or you want to wait until you find
someone else?"
"S...Saotome," Mousse groans, before Ranma steps on one of his
shoulders, pinning him in place. "Why are you doing this?"
"I'm somewhat curious myself," Great-Grandmother says. I can only
nod numbly, afraid I'll get hit again. The laws leave me with little
room to work.
"Because I owe her," Ranma says to Mousse, not meeting my eyes.
"Because this is my fault, and I'd be lyin' if I said it weren't.
I...." He hesitates, and turns to glance down the street, presumably
towards that bitch at the Tendo dojo. But he's looking the wrong way,
I think. Then he looks back at me and our gazes meet for just a
heartbeat.
I see that I was wrong; there is affection in his eyes. And concern.
And in the same space, I can see there's no hope for being second to
that.... To Akane. I can tell that he cares ... but not enough. Not
now.
"I want to do what's best for you," he says to me earnestly, still
pinning Mousse in place. "That's.... It seems to me the least I can
do."
He is trying, I suppose. He really is trying to make me happy, and
does mean the best. He sentences me to losing face and class among my
people, more by not choosing someone else to marry me, or definitively
throwing me aside.
Then again....
I don't worry about Great-Grandmother as I step closer to Ranma,
causing Mousse's feeble struggling to subside. "Shampoo doesn't want
anyone," I whisper to him, close enough to reach out and touch him
before I stop. "I will wait."
"I'll wait, too," he says, nodding. "Like I said. When you find
someone, send me a letter or something. Then I'll say they're the
one."
I smile at him, endearingly. He means that, but I won't find someone
else. Not for a while, at least. I will be alone, but safe from some
of the laws. And suddenly, thinking of how they've treated me, and
him ... I realize that might be something I'd actually like.
My badge of shame; a parting gift from a lover I never had. Except....
"Shampoo thinks ... that maybe if there were no laws," I begin,
before my voice cracks.
He shakes his head quickly. "But there are," he says sadly.
"And.... I'm sorry, Shampoo. I.... I really messed up. Will ...
you be okay?"
"Maybe," I answer. "One thing ... before we part?" I ask.
"S...sure," he says, nodding uncomfortably. "What is it?"
"Remember that I loved you," I say, not knowing why I did it. Before
he can react I dart forward, entangling him in an embrace and kissing
him soundly, deeply. I am not so fast that he couldn't have stopped
me, so I know that even though he protests and makes as if to
struggle, he wants it. He kisses me back, before seizing my shoulders
and pushing me away.
I smile at him while he catches his breath, flustered and confused.
"Bai lao," I whisper, turning my back to him.
That will be the last I see of him, I know. Great-Grandmother has no
patience for these things, and won't have me wandering outside of the
village with my new status. But that's okay.
I need to be closer to the heart of our laws if I'm to have any hope
of changing them. And that goal, perhaps, will serve me where Ranma
did not. I don't know if I can love trying to make my world a better
place this way as much as I love him right now ... but we make our own
futures. At least, thanks to Ranma ... I do.
"Take care of yourself," Ranma says firmly.
"We should not meet again," Great-Grandmother says coldly, as I walk
past her. "Even though she accepts it, you have chosen something that
will make you very unwelcome near our lands."
"I don't see that as being a problem," Genma says, his first comment so far.
Great-Grandmother goes on about how Ranma and Genma will never be
cured of Jusenkyou, but I ignore her, already heading back to the
Neko-Hanten. If Great-Grandmother had been there at Jusendo, she'd
know how silly her arguments sounded. I can only think about going
back home, and focusing on a worthwhile quest. Great-Grandmother cuts
herself off from berating Ranma and scurries to catch up with me.
Goodbye, Ranma.... Goodbye, my love.
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