~~~~~

    Well, I was going to wait to write this until the pages
it's on are updated, (I wanted to leave off where Ryoga was
naked...) but I'm afraid I'll forget what I wanted to do with
this, so I'm gonna go ahead and do it now. Actually I wrote
it yesterday, but then I accidentally deleted it. I am stupid,
I know, so now I have to do it all over again. Oh, yesterday
I noticed that on RJ's page, the parts where I put someone
thinking are cut out for some reason. I don't know why, but
I apologize, 'cause some parts sound kinda...odd. Oh well,
don't sweat the little things, ne?


Soulmate
Part 7


__________________________________________________________________

    Akane's eyes narrowed in anger and she produced the ever
so famous "convenient mallet" which always happens to appear
out of nowhere at just the right moments of anger to seriously
injure the object of one's rage, then disappear ever so neatly,
leaving no trace of evidence whatsoever.
    Ryoga was P-Chan, P-chan was Ryoga. The boy you like is not
supposed to secretly be your pet pig. It just didn't work that
way, it was icky. No one should have to deal with the fact that
they have a crush on a boy who is secretly a barnyard animal,
even if both forms are incredibly cute. It didn't matter that
Ryoga was currently naked...
    Very naked.
    And he looked good, too.
    Maybe it did matter a little, but Akane was not about to
allow herself to be distracted from her revenge. (Did I mention
he's naked?) Not only was she angry at Ryoga, but she was mad
at Ranma, too. The jerk. He'd known all along, but hadn't told
her. He'd let her make a complete fool of herself, even going
so far as to let her take the pig to BED with her. They both
needed to die.
    "Akane, I think you all need to talk," Usagi said quietly,
putting her hand on her friend's arm.
    "They didn't tell me!" She growled.
    "Put yourself in Ryoga's place, Akane. The boy is totally
head over heels in love with you," said Usagi, glancing at Ryoga who was at
that
very moment blushing a shade of red that shouldn't be humanly
possible. "Now, when you met him, you were engaged to Ranma,
correct? When you adopted 'P-chan' it was Ryoga's chance to be
near you because there was no other way. If it wasn't for the
fact he's naked I'd say it was very romantic, all in all."
    Akane lowered her mallet. "Well..."
    "And Akane, you just told Ranma today that you like Ryoga
and would like to try to date him, or did I totally misinterpret
the little scene where Ranma teased poor, ignorant Ryoga about
it all?"
    Akane blushed and looked at the ground. "Um..."
    "Now, the way I see it, you have two choices. Ryoga can
go get dressed, then you can talk about it, or you can hold
this against him, and you two can live unhappily forever.
Because you would, you know. You guys would be miserable
without each other."
    They took the first choice.
_______________________________________________________________

    Ranma, walking on the fence beside Usagi, (who was on the
ground) watched her in a kind of amazement mixed with secret
longing. She'd been in Nermia for two months. Two months that
were both different, but the same as previous months had been.
Ranko was still popular with the guys, as was Akane, but now
there was Usagi added to the mix, who got as much, or more
attention than the others. Usagi, or rather, Urou, got
attention, too. The entire female community was after "him"
whenever his face was shown in public.
    There were improvements though. Ryoga and Akane were
together, although the little lost boy still challenged Ranma
frequently, and Kodachi had taken up the hobby of boyfriend
hunting, and thus left Ranma alone. (However, she did begin
to chase after Urou, but Usagi took it better than Ranma would
in her situation.) Ukyo and Shampoo still wanted to marry him,
but now they tried to win his love in more normal fashions
instead of killing all obstacles. They liked Usagi, who for
some reason or another, was always was there to protect Ranma
from his fiancees, and always reasoned with them to go a little
easier on "the poor guy."
    Unexpectedly, Usagi looked up at him. "How do you do that?"
    "What? Walking on the fence? It's easy. Come on up and I'll
teach you."
    "Oh, no," Usagi shook her head, blushing cutely.
    "Why? 'Fraid I'll let you fall?"
    "I'm just too clumsy, that's all."
    "Ha!" Ranma jumped down from the fence and began to walk
backwards so he could look Usagi in the face. "In all the time
I've been training you, I haven't once seen you as anything but
graceful. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if the whole bein'
a klutz thing was just a lie."
    "Why would I lie about something like that?"
    "I dunno, to make me feel sorry for you?"
    "Yeah, in your dreams."
    "Gosh, I gotta stop talking in my sleep, if you can hear
me all the way from Tofu's house."
    "Why are you following me home, anyway?"
    "I have to return some books Kasumi borrowed." It was the
truth, but he didn't mention that he'd volunteered for the job.
Any chance to be near Usagi... "But don't change the subject.
Just give it a try, I promise I won't let you get hurt."
    "I don't want-"
    Usagi was cut off abruptly by Ranma surging forward and
grabbing her around the waist, then leaping onto the fence.
    "Ranma!" she screeched.
    "How do you expect me to concentrate if you're staring me
in the face?" He turned her so that her back was to him, then
put his hands on her waist. "You need to learn to stand before
you can walk, ne?" So slowly that she didn't notice he removed
his hands from her sides, and before long she was standing alone.
    "If I didn't know better, Ranma, I'd say you only brought
me up here for an excuse to hold me."
    If she only knew... "Aw, you saw right through my brilliant
plan," Ranma flirted back. "Unfortunately though, I haven't been
holding you for five minutes."
    "What?"
    "Don't talk, concentrate." Ranma jumped off the fence.
"Walk to the end, I'll follow and catch you if you fall."
    "Another of your 'brilliant' plans, Saotome?"
    "Of course, Tsukino."
    Usagi began to walk, and made it all the way to the end.
She really was an amazing student. "I did it!" she said happily.
    "I told you." Ranma grinned.
    "Catch me," Usagi commanded, then jumped off the fence.
Ranma caught her with ease even though she could have made the
jump easily on her own.
    "You did a good job," Ranma said, starting to feel a little
uncomfortable. He was so close to her...
    "Thank you," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
Her blue eyes met his, and the distance between their heads
decreased. His lips brushed hers, and slowly the kiss deepened.
    "I need to tell you how I feel..." Ranma choked out when
the kiss ended.
    "You...don't like me that way, Ranma?"
    "That's not it." They were speaking so quietly it was a
wonder they could be heard over the beating of their own
hearts. "You have to be warned. If I ever have you, I'll
never let you go."
    "Good. I wouldn't have it any other way."
_________________________________________________________________

    (Two years later) Ranko and Urou walked down the street
hand in hand in the pouring rain. They'd gotten drenched
before even having a chance to reach shelter, and now didn't
bother to hide from the cold, wet droplets.
    "How long will your uncle be out of town?" Ranko asked.
    "I dunno. Why, is it going to be hard for you having me
stay at the Tendo house?"
    "Yes, very."
    Urou laughed. "No sneaking into my room now. Genma-pa
and Uncle Soun made it very clear that if you're anywhere
near me after nine o'clock, you'll be begging for your life
in a matter of minutes. You still wanna try?"
    "Tease," Ranko muttered. "Hey, where do you want to stop
for lunch?"
    "I'm suddenly not hungry," Urou muttered, distracted by
something hanging on a telephone pole. He pulled the piece
of paper off. "Look, Ran-chan."
    "A martial arts tournament. So what? You know I hate
those things. They aren't challenging enough."
    "I know. Ranma, back in Juuban, I never would have been
able to beat the Senshi in a fight. I want to prove to myself
that I can."
    "What's a tourney have 'ta do with it?"
    "You didn't read the bottom of it." He handed her the paper.
    Ranko read it all rather than scan it this time.
"Charity tournament, one thousand yen entry fee.  Winner gets
all the money from entry to go to the cause of his or her
choice. Contestants will be fighting against..." Ranko gasped.
"The Sailor Senshi!"
___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________
To be continued