Chapter 7 - The Ukyo Dilemma
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Ranma’s eyes snapped opened, and he found himself instantly awake. ‘What woke me?’ he wondered. His brain instantly went into defensive mode; expecting a large idiot in a white gi to suddenly attack, or at least an equally idiotic panda ready to do the same. Ranma didn’t see either. In fact, his father’s bed didn’t look like it had been slept in. ‘Strange,’ Ranma thought as he focused on his surroundings.
Ranma noticed his own covers were half kicked off, and he was lying at a weird angle on the mattress. ‘Nothing unusual there. Was it some kinda dream that woke me up?’ He focused his thoughts, but couldn’t remember having any dreams at all. ‘The only thing I remember is spending half the night worrying about what’s gonna happen with Ukyo and Shampoo today.’
Slowly sitting up, Ranma glanced around the room. ‘Nothing seems ta be missing, and the window is shut tight,’ he thought. He didn’t have a clock in his room, so he glanced at the window and guessed from the little amount of sun filtering in that it was close to six in the morning.
‘Way too early. What woke me up then?’ he wondered. ‘Usually it’s something like my combat sense, or pops throwing me out a window.’ Since his father wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary, Ranma was baffled. He was about to dismiss it and lay back down, when he heard a slight moan coming from the hallway. ‘That sounds like...’ Ranma thought, as he bolted out of bed and made his way to the door.
Sure enough, the moment he opened the door, he saw Kasumi in the hallway, leaning on the wall for support. He noticed she was dressed in her morning clothes; when unbidden, an image of Kasumi at the beach came to his mind. He remembered how all the guys kept asking her out, and how she’d won the Ms. Beachside contest without even entering. It was truly a testament to what an incredible figure she had, especially since she beat out Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi and Akane. Ranma shook his head in an effort to clear the images.
His reverie was cut short as she suddenly straightened again and began walking towards the stairs. Ranma knew what she was trying to do. ‘And there’s no way I’m going to let her.’
“Kasumi,” Ranma said softly, not wanting to frighten her, lest she fall.
“Good morning Ranma,” she said as she turned around. She was smiling at him, but he could tell it was forced.
‘She looks like hell,’ he thought. ‘Her head must still be pounding.’
“And where do you think you’re going?” Ranma asked firmly.
“To make breakfast of course,” she replied, blinking her eyes in confusion.
Ranma sighed and shook his head. “Kasumi, remember what Dr. Tofu said. You gotta stay in bed all day today. If, and that’s only if, yer feeling better, you can get up before dinner tonight. That’s what the doc said, and that’s what yer gonna do.”
“But-” Kasumi started.
“No buts!” Ranma made his way to her side and put his arm around her waist. Then he half supported, half dragged, Kasumi towards her room. “We’ll figure something out for breakfast and you, your dad, and my pops can order out for lunch today. Understood?”
“But who’s going to make breakfast?” she asked.
They entered her room and Ranma was helping her towards the bed as he spoke. “I’ll do it. For the last five years, when I was on the road with pop, I was the one who almost always made the food. It’s not gonna be anywhere near as good as yours, but at least it’ll be edible. Not like someone else’s I could mention.”
As they reached the bed, Ranma helped Kasumi lay down and helped cover her up. He noticed that she was frowning at him. “I’m telling ya, my cooking is fine,” he said.
When her reaction changed to one of confusion, Ranma figured that wasn’t what she was frowning about. Then her expression turned more neutral as she regarded him.
“It’s not that Ranma,” she said quietly. “I... would like you to stop teasing Akane. I know that you’ve mostly done it in retaliation for the way she’s treated you, but I think things might begin to change. Especially with the pressure of the engagement being lifted from her.”
Ranma gave her a guarded look. “I don’t know if that’s true.”
“You may be right,” Kasumi said. “But I’d still like you to try, for me. I just don’t like seeing you two fight.”
He shook his head. “I’ll try, since you asked me to. But I ain’t makin’ any guarantees.”
Kasumi favored him with a dazzling smile that shot a fire through him. “That’s all I ask Ranma. Now, run along and make breakfast. And make sure to bring me some before you go. I would like to taste my fiancés cooking.”
With a nervous laugh, Ranma nodded and made his way back to his room. After getting dressed into one of his normal outfits, he headed for the kitchen.
| Akane groaned as her alarm went off. She was tempted to pick it up from the nightstand and send it hurling across the room. Her hand hovered over the clock, but instead of smashing it, she merely turned it off. ‘Why is it so late?’ she wondered as she looked at the time. ‘Oh,’ Akane thought sadly, ‘last night.’ She’d been awake late into the evening, and when she’d set her alarm, she’d decided to forego her morning run because she knew she’d be too tired. Sitting up in bed, Akane sniffed the air and detected the scents of breakfast being cooked. ‘Even after last night, Kasumi is still in the kitchen making breakfast. Maybe I should go offer to help. It could be one of the many things I do in order to apologize to her.’ After standing and stretching, Akane changed her clothes quickly and headed downstairs. On the way to the kitchen, she found her father and Mr. Saotome |
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Upon entering the kitchen, Akane stopped dead in her tracks as she beheld what was happening. She was shocked to see Ranma there, moving between several stations in the kitchen as he cooked breakfast. His motions were as fluid as ever, and there was no hesitation on his part. It was as if he’d spent years in the kitchen preparing meals.
‘He looks like a natural. And nothing seems to be burning. Actually, it smells kind of good. I don’t know whether to be pissed that he can cook better than me, or admire that he’s doing so well.’ The temptation to simply get angry was very high, but remembering her resolve from the night before, she quashed those thoughts.
‘Maybe I can offer to help,’ she thought, before quickly dismissing the idea. ‘He’ll just insult my cooking and it’ll make me mad.’ She was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts when Ranma addressed her.
“Akane,” he said in a very neutral tone.
“G-Good morning Ranma,” she replied quietly. “Where’s Kasumi?” The question had barely left her mouth when she nearly throttled herself for being so stupid.
Ranma narrowed his eyes before responding. “Dr. Tofu said she has to stay in bed until tonight. So I told her I’d make breakfast.”
“Oh,” Akane said sadly. “I... I won’t ask to help with the food, because I don’t want to fight. Is there anything else I can do to help though?”
The look of genuine surprise on Ranma’s face almost made Akane smile. Almost.
“Well,” he finally responded, “I haven’t had a chance to fill the furo. And the table needs to be set. And something should be done about those two drunk idiots.”
With a slight nod of her head, Akane made her way towards the bathroom. She turned on the water to let the furo begin to fill. ‘This will take a few minutes,’ she thought. ‘I should be able to set the table in that time.’
As she entered the kitchen again, she made her way towards the cupboards that held the necessary items. As she pulled them out, she heard Ranma mutter something under his breath. Akane was unsure whether or not she wanted to know what he’d said, but curiosity got the better of her.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Huh?” Ranma replied. “Oh, I didn’t realize I said that out loud. I was just saying how amazing it is that Kasumi does all this stuff by herself every morning.”
“Yeah,” was all she could say, as she took the dishes and utensils into the dining area. ‘Kasumi is amazing. Oh please don’t fall in love with her Ranma,’ she thought, feeling despondent. ‘But how can he not? What guy in their right mind wouldn’t?’ She let out a small snort. ‘It’s ironic. Before last night I would’ve sworn that Ranma wasn’t in his right mind.’
After she finished setting the table, Akane looked over at the two men passed out on the floor. ‘Better check on the bath before I deal with them.’ As she entered the bathroom again, she saw that it would be another minute or so for the furo to finish filling, so she sat down on the edge and waited.
While waiting, she began to wonder why her father and Genma ended up the way they had. It wasn’t unusual for them to drink, but it was rare that they got so drunk that they’d pass out. ‘They’re probably just so happy that Ranma and Kasumi seem to be getting along so well.’ The thought was a sobering one. ‘If they think that it’s more likely that Ranma will marry Kasumi instead of me, then they’re going to do everything in their power to make that happen.’
Normally, Akane hated the interference both men presented in her relationship with Ranma. However, with recent developments, she found herself wishing that they were up to their same old tricks of trying to force her and Ranma together. ‘I know that Kasumi said she won’t get married until after Ranma graduates, but she also included that clause for Ranma to get out of it. That means they’re going to be pushing even harder to get them to fall in love.’
With her decision from the previous night still fresh in her mind, the prospect of anyone trying to force Ranma and Kasumi’s relationship didn’t sit well with her. At the moment though, she didn’t know what to do about it, and she found herself being angry at the two men.
Suddenly, Akane felt her butt and legs getting wet. She looked down and saw that due to her daydreaming, the furo was overflowing, and she was getting soaked. She let out a squeak as she jumped forward and shut off the water. Then she got some towels, and dried herself off, letting the water that had already spilled go down the drain on the floor.
Finally, she went to drain some of the excess water from the furo, when an idea struck her. She got a mischievous glint in her eyes as she reached for two of the buckets that were normally used for cold water bathing outside the furo.
Nabiki made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen. She had no idea who was cooking, since she’d looked in on Kasumi and found her sister sleeping. ‘Can’t be Akane,’ she thought wryly. ‘There’s no burning smell or toxic fumes.’
As she made her way through the dining area, she noticed the Tendo and Saotome patriarchs passed out on the floor, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“Idiots,” she mumbled, leaving them behind as she walked to the kitchen. As she looked in, her shock wasn’t as great as Akane’s had been, but it was still there nonetheless.
Ranma was there, putting the final touches on breakfast, with a sour look on his face. She wondered why that was, so she decided to find out.
“Morning Ranma,” she said politely.
He looked up at her and his expression changed slightly. He didn’t look as grumpy, and he even put on a little smile, though his eyes were still guarded. “Morning Nabiki,” he said.
Nabiki decided to have a little fun with him while finding out what she wanted to know. “So Ranma,” she said demurely, “you can cook in addition to being the best martial artist in Japan. Maybe I was too quick in letting you go.”
“Pfft,” Ranma snorted. “Give it a rest already.”
“Your loss Saotome,” she said with a wink. “But you’re probably right, I don’t think you could handle me.”
Rolling his eyes, Ranma turned back to what he was doing. “Whatever you say.”
“So what had you all grumpy when I came in?” Nabiki asked.
Ranma stopped what he was doing for a few moments. “I...” he paused, but didn’t have the time to finish because someone else entered the room.
“Morning Nabiki,” she heard Akane say. Nabiki saw Ranma’s eyes narrow, and instantly knew what had pissed him off. Then she looked towards her sister.
“Morning Akane,” she said. She noticed that Akane was carrying two pails of water and had some towels draped over her shoulder. “What’re those for?”
“Well,” Akane replied with a small, sly grin, “I accidentally filled the furo too high. I figured instead of wasting the water that I could use it for a more practical purpose. Say, waking up two certain drunk men.”
Nabiki laughed out loud at the idea. “That’s very frugal of you, conserving water that way. Mind if I watch?”
“Not at all,” Akane said. She then turned tentatively towards Ranma. “You wanna watch Ranma?”
“No,” he replied. “I need to finish this.”
Akane let out a small sigh and had a sad look on her face. “OK,” was all she said as she made her way towards the dining area.
‘Interesting,’ Nabiki thought as she followed her sister. ‘Maybe some of what I said to her last night is actually sinking in.’
She watched as Akane first took one bucket and then the other and doused both men. She couldn’t help but laugh as they both sputtered and came fully awake, each with an indignant look on their face.
“Before either of you thinks about saying anything,” Akane said, “just remember how pissed I still am at you about Ryoga.” She glared at each of them until they began to shrink in on themselves.
‘Big bad martial artists,’ Nabiki thought with an amused expression. Then Akane spoke again.
“So, anything to say?” Both men shook their heads. “Good. Now, here are some towels for you to clean yourselves up, and also the water on the floor. I also want you to take care of these sake bottles. Understood?” When she got a nod from each, Akane left and headed towards the bathroom.
As everyone sat down to breakfast, Soun kept looking at his youngest daughter. He wanted to chastise her for the rude manner in which she’d awoken him, but whenever he started to open his mouth, she’d glare at him and he’d clamp his mouth shut.
‘It’s like dealing with her mother,’ he thought sadly. Though whether sad that he couldn’t get through to Akane, or that he was reminded of his long dead wife, he couldn’t say.
He was surprised when he saw Ranma bringing in the food from the kitchen.
“Where’s Kasumi?” Soun asked. He saw Ranma shake his head in frustration, but the boy didn’t say anything.
“She has to stay in bed,” Nabiki said. “She can’t get up until tonight. So you two,” she pointed at him and Genma, “will have to fend for yourself at lunchtime.”
Soun was about to speak up, but the angry look he got from Ranma shut him up.
Once all the food was on the table, everyone quickly began eating. Soun was surprised that the food tasted decent. “Who cooked this?” he asked.
“Why, our new resident chef of course,” Nabiki said with a smile. She pointed to Ranma to indicate whom she was referring to.
“Well, it’s not all that bad,” Soun said genuinely.
“Of course,” Genma replied. “When on long training trips, martial artists must learn the value of cooking a decent meal. As long as they don’t make a habit out of it.” With that, he cast a menacing glance at Ranma.
Ranma didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he quickly finished up his food and then put some on another plate. Then he put on a cup of tea and some water, and also put a bottle of pills.
“I’m taking this up to Kasumi,” the young man said. “I expect you guys will order lunch, since you’re both too lazy to cook.”
Soun and Genma both nearly choked on their food while trying to retort and swallow at the same time. Ranma didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Anyway, don’t forget to order something for Kasumi. And make sure she takes these when she eats.” Ranma indicated the bottle of medicine. “I’ll leave it upstairs.” Without another word, the pig-tailed boy turned and walked upstairs.
“We need to teach that boy some manners Tendo,” Genma said. Soun was about to nod, when Akane cut in.
“Both of you just leave him alone!” She also got up from the table and left.
Looking to his middle daughter for support, Soun only saw contempt there. “I would do what she says daddy.” Nabiki continued her meal, ignoring both men.
Soun blew out a sigh and kept eating his food. ‘My dear wife in heaven,’ he thought sadly, ‘when did my daughters turn against me?’ It was all he could do to keep himself from crying. And then a more important question pushed to the forefront of his mind.
‘And how do I repair the damage I’ve done?’
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Kasumi awoke from a soft sleep when she heard a light knocking on her bedroom door. “Come in,” she called out. The door opened and Ranma entered with a tray of food. She sat up a little as he made his way over to her. He set the tray on her desk and made his way to the bed. “Do you need some help sitting up?” he asked. With a nod, Kasumi watched as Ranma knelt next to the bed and placed a strong arm behind her back. He gently pushed her forward until she was in a sitting position. Then she scooted her butt back so that she was able to lean against the headboard. |
Looking at the tray, Kasumi was surprised by what she saw. There was rice of course, and it actually looked like it was prepared correctly. She also saw the miso soup, which smelled good. In addition, there was a tamagoyaki omelet, and pickled cucumbers. What amazed her was not only the fact that everything was correct for a traditional breakfast, but also that it looked well made.
Glancing up at Ranma, she noticed that he was watching her nervously. She patted the side of the bed and told him to sit while she tried it out. After he’d sat, she took the chopsticks and tried the rice. It tasted fine. Then she held up the bowl of miso soup and took a sip. She was surprised that it tasted so good, so she had some more. After setting the bowl back down on the tray, she used her chopsticks again and tried the omelet. ‘A little too much soy sauce,’ she thought. ‘But otherwise, not bad at all.’
Finally, she glanced back at Ranma, who was sweating as he watched for a reaction. She set the chopsticks down, bent forward, and gave him a peck on the cheek. He was quite surprised, and his face turned a bright shade of red.
“Ranma,” Kasumi said as she leaned back against the headboard again, “this is delicious. You did a wonderful job. Thank you very much.”
Placing his hand on the back of his neck, Ranma grinned as his facial color returned to normal. “No big deal,” he said with a small laugh. “I’m just glad you like it.”
“I do,” she stated truthfully. Then she gave him a lopsided grin. “And now I know who to have cook if I’m not feeling well.”
The sudden frown that appeared on his face was the last thing she’d expected. “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.
“It’s just...” he began, then stopped. He looked at the floor for a minute to gather his thoughts. Then he faced her again and looked her in the eyes. “After this morning, I feel kinda ashamed.”
“Ashamed?” Kasumi asked, not understanding what he was talking about.
“Yeah. I never realized, until this morning, how much work you do around here. You do more than the rest of us combined. And it makes me feel even worse for bein’ a freeloader.”
“Oh Ranma,” Kasumi said, her voice filled with a newfound respect, “that’s very sweet, but it’s not necessary. I love taking care of everyone. Including you and your father. So please don’t worry about it. Okay?”
“I am worried about it,” Ranma replied. “And I wanna do something about it. I wanna help out where I can from now on.” His voice was filled with so much determination, that it actually surprised Kasumi.
“You don’t have-”
“Please,” Ranma interrupted. “I want to.”
Kasumi saw the seriousness in his expression and considered his words. ‘It would be nice to have some help around the house. And it would be a chance to get to know him better.’
“Alright Ranma,” she said. “We can talk more about it later, okay?”
Ranma’s face lit up with a grin, one of the truly happy ones that she loved to see him wear. “Deal. I need ta get going to school.” He stood up. “Don’t forget to take your medicine, and don’t worry about the tray. Just leave it there. Also, our dads are ordering lunch, so you won’t hafta worry about that. So you stay in bed young lady,” he said in mock sternness.
Unable to stop it, a giggle burst forth from Kasumi. “Yes sir!” she said in an equally mocking tone. The two shared a brief laugh, and then Ranma left the room.
‘It really is nice to have someone look after me,’ she thought, as she continued to eat her breakfast.
Later that morning, Ranma found himself sitting in class, ignoring whatever it was the teacher was droning on about. After leaving Kasumi, he’d gone to his room for his book-bag, as well as one other item. It was the one thing he hoped he wouldn’t have to use today, but if it meant protecting Kasumi, he was willing to do so. He’d slipped it into his bag and left for school.
His walk to school with Akane and Nabiki had been uneventful. Surprisingly, Kuno hadn’t shown up for his normal morning beating either. Ukyo tried to talk with him before class started, but the bell rang so they had to take their seats. He did tell her though that he wanted to talk with her at lunch. So Ranma spent his entire morning class thinking about the upcoming chat, which was fast approaching.
A few times he’d glanced over in her direction, only to look away when she’d returned his gaze. ‘Damn, this is gonna be tough,’ he thought. Finally, well before he thought he was ready, the lunch bell rang. ‘Well, this is it.’ With that, he grabbed his bag and made a beeline for Ukyo.
| All morning, Ukyo was having a difficult time concentrating. She sat at her desk, either watching Ranma, wondering what he wanted to talk about, or daydreaming about him. She was a little worried about the way he’d acted the day before, but she got over it quickly. ‘Besides,’ she told herself, ‘it’s not like I have to worry about Akane anymore. Now that it’s just me and Shampoo, I’ll win Ranma for sure. After all, I’m the cute fiancée, and we are best friends.’ Occasionally, her mind would drift to thoughts of Ranma that weren’t exactly appropriate for school, and she’d suddenly start blushing. Then she’d look around to see if anyone noticed. A few times she’d caught Ranma watching her, and that only fueled her fantasies, thinking that he was fantasizing about her. Her daydreaming ended when the lunch bell rang, and she looked up in time to see Ranma heading straight for her. ‘He’s going to declare his love for me,’ she |
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She idly noticed that everyone else in the classroom had seen Ranma making his way towards her, and so everyone formed a loose circle around where she was. It wasn’t close enough to be rude, but certainly close enough for them to overhear what was happening. ‘I don’t care,’ she thought. ‘If Ran-chan is going to declare his love for me, I want the whole world to hear it.’
It only took a moment, but finally Ranma was standing right in front of her. ‘He looks really serious,’ she thought, taking that as a good sign.
“Ukyo,” he said in a neutral tone, “we need to talk.”
The first warning bell began to go off in her head. ‘He didn’t call me U-Chan,’ she thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Akane standing in the circle, watching on. ‘Did they make up or something?’ she wondered. Then she saw Nabiki enter the room, and the girl moved to stand next to her younger sister. Finally, she turned her attention back to Ranma.
“Sure Ran-chan,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.
“This is gonna be difficult for me ta say, so please let me finish before you say anything. Okay?”
‘Well,’ she thought to herself, ‘he does have trouble expressing his feelings. Maybe he really is going to tell me he loves me and is just nervous.’ Ukyo held onto that thought like it was a life-raft as she nodded.
With a sigh, Ranma began to speak. “Ukyo, you know that yer my best friend in the whole world. You know that I care about you deeply, and that I would do almost anything ta make you happy.”
Ukyo could practically feel herself glowing at Ranma’s words, that is, until his next statement.
“However, there’s one thing I can’t give you. I will always think of you as my friend, and nothing more. I’m sorry, but I can’t marry you.”
There was a collective gasp from nearly everyone in the room. Ukyo felt her head starting to spin as her fantasy came crashing down. She saw that Ranma had stopped for the moment, so she decided to speak.
“But the engagement...” she began, but couldn’t continue.
“Ukyo,” Ranma said softly. “If you force me ta honor the marriage, then I know in my heart that I’ll resent you for it. And I don’t want that. Do you?”
A small shake of the head was all that Ukyo could manage.
“Second,” Ranma continued, “Even though he cheated, the Gambling King still owned the deed to your father’s yattai when your father and mine made the engagement. So technically, that means there was no dowry, and 'cause of that, no arrangement.”
A swell of anger at the whole situation, maybe the whole world, was starting to build in Ukyo. “I don’t care what you say!” she growled. “Our father’s didn’t know that, and since the Gambling King really did cheat, he never really owned the yattai. So I refuse to let you go on some technicality.”
“So you would force me into it,” Ranma said quietly, “even if I ended up hating you for it?”
“I...” Ukyo began, but her voice caught in her throat. The idea that her Ran-chan might come to hate her was almost more than she could bear. She collected her thoughts before speaking again.
“We don’t have to get married right away,” she practically pleaded. “I’m sure that given enough time, you’ll come to feel the same way about me as I do about you.”
Ranma shook his head sadly. “No amount of time is gonna change how I feel Ukyo. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t believe you,” Ukyo replied, her anger starting to rise again. “I won’t let you out of the engagement. At least until I’m convinced there’s no chance.”
With a downcast expression, Ranma pulled his bag up from his side. “I guess that doesn’t leave me any choice then.” He reached inside the bag and pulled out a tanto blade. He held it in one hand, and let the bag fall to the floor with the other. There was another collective gasp from the assembled crowd.
“I told you that I care about you, and I meant it. But I can’t marry you. So that means there are only two ways I can retain yer honor and my own. The first, is that you release me from the agreement, and hopefully we can still be friends. If your family demands payment for the yattai, I will work as many years as it takes ta do so, if that’s what it takes. Even after the whole Gambling King thing.”
He then held the blade out towards her. “The only other thing I can do is to use this. If I commit seppuku, that will wipe out the dishonor that my family will face for me breaking the engagement. It will also mean you won’t face any dishonor either.” Ranma fell to his knees in front of Ukyo.
For her part, she could only watch, horrified that her Ran-chan could even think of doing such a thing. ‘Would he really rather do this instead of marrying me?’ she wondered. ‘Why?’
“Am I really that hideous to you?” she whispered.
“Of course not!” Ranma said, his face filled with compassion. “I really care about you as a friend, but I know it will never go beyond that. I’m sorry.” He then placed his other hand on the tanto, and turned it so the blade was facing him. Slowly and deliberately, he moved it towards the left side of his stomach as everyone watched in morbid fascination. Once the tip touched his shirt, he stopped.
“Since you are my best friend, I will ask that you take your battle spatula and act as my kaishikunin. However, I won’t give you the signal for when to strike. I want you to decide when I’ve suffered enough for the pain I’ve caused you. Can you do that for me U-Chan?”
Ukyo began to sob and shake her head. “No,” she whispered. “I can’t do it.”
“I’m sorry U-Chan,” Ranma said sincerely. “If you’d rather not, then I can go without a kaishikunin. I can only hope that I won’t dishonor myself by screaming out.”
“Please don’t,” Ukyo said murmured.
“Then please release me from the engagement. Those are the only two choices left.”
Looking deep into his eyes, Ukyo was able to see that Ranma was completely serious. ‘I know he’s had to think about seppuku a lot because of his mom. I just never imagined it would come to this. Do I watch him die, or go through life being his friend and nothing more?’ The decision couldn’t have been more black and white for Ukyo.
“I... release you,” she said quietly.
“I didn’t hear you U-Chan,” Ranma said, his voice hopeful. “What was that?”
“I said,” she said loudly, “I release you dammit!” Her tears began to fall in earnest as she jumped up and fled the room.
Akane had watched the entire exchange between Ranma and Ukyo in awe. “He was willing to die for Kasumi,” she said softly.
It apparently wasn’t soft enough, since Nabiki spoke to her. “Are you really surprised?” she whispered in Akane’s ear. “How many times has he risked his life to save you?”
“I know,” Akane conceded. “But this... this is different.” Out of the corner of her eye, Akane saw her sister nod slightly.
They both watched as Ranma finally stood up from where he’d been kneeling. He quickly put the tanto back in his pack before he made his way over to them.
“So this was the plan you didn’t want to tell me about Saotome,” Nabiki said coolly. Ranma merely nodded.
“What are you talking about?” Akane said, turning to face her sister.
“Last night I was helping Ranma come up with ways to deal with his fiancée problem,” Nabiki said. “He told me that he had a last resort idea for Ukyo that he’d use if nothing else worked out, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. Probably a good thing he didn’t, or I would’ve had to beat some sense into him.”
With a nod, Akane looked back and forth between the two. “So you guys were working out a way to protect Ka-”
Her words were cut short as Nabiki slapped a hand over her mouth. “Quiet,” she hissed. “Nobody knows about that. Do you really want Shampoo or Kodachi to find out before Ranma’s had a chance to deal with them?”
“Sorry,” Akane said. However, it appeared the damage was already done. People who had been close enough to hear began to whisper, though there were of course no details, just wild speculation.
Nabiki looked around and sighed. “Guess I’ll have to do some damage control. By the way Ranma,” she continued in a low tone, “please tell me that the plan you have for Shampoo isn’t as desperate as this one.”
“Don’t worry,” Ranma said, waving his hand dismissively. “Nothing like that, I swear. Anyhow, since I forgot to pack a bento this morning, I have to go buy somethin' before lunch is over.” Without another word, he headed out of the room in search of some food.
‘Oh kami,’ Akane thought. ‘Why don’t I believe him? I really hope he doesn’t do something even remotely as stupid as this.’ Her stomach began to growl, and she realized that she didn’t have a lunch either. She headed out of the room in the same direction as her former fiancé, hoping that maybe she’d have a chance to talk with him and find out what he had planned.
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