Abandoning One's Manhood
Part 3: You Want Me to Marry THAT Girl!?
by Minako
All of the Ranma 1/2 characters and related stuff belongs to Rumiko
Takahashi. Any original characters I may decide to stick in here are
mine, steal them and I'll cry. Then I'll get over it and steal them
back, after sending you flames until your email account is full. ^_^
*** = flashback
-------
Ryouga paled. He hadn't realized...
****
"You must be wondering why you haven't met your fiance yet. You
see, at this time, I have no idea where my son is."
****
Fiance... me... and... RANMA!?
****
"Fiance... you mean Ryouga... and me... no...." The girl with
the pigtail looked seriously distressed. Then she turned on the panda.
"What the hell was this!? Some kinda joke!?" She yelled. The panda
began to scribble on a sign.
*I had no idea! Truly! I thought it was a girl!*
****
Ryouga swallowed, and turned to look at Ranma, an equally pale
Ranma looked back at him. In sync, they turned back to their parents.
"You don't mean..."
"You can't think..." Tanima smiled at the pair.
"Well, yes. A promise is a promise, and with Ranma half girl,
that promise can be kept." Genma nodded.
"What the hell do you mean 'half girl'!? He's still half guy!"
"I'm ALL guy!" Genma looked pointedly at Ranma.
"You don't LOOK all guy." He stated. Ranma looked down at his
female self.
"Maybe not at the moment, but I think guy!" Tanima blinked and
looked over at her.
"How do you think guy?" Ranma looked surprised, then seemed to
think about it.
"The hell if I know!"
"So you're a girl?" Ranma looked frustrated.
"I didn't say that!"
"You didn't?"
"NO!!"
"I don't care if he's a guy or a girl, I'm NOT marrying Saotome
Ranma. EVER. Male or female."
"Even for family honour?" Ryouga stiffened.
"If he was a girl, I'd consider it, for the family honour. But
where the hell's the honour in marrying another guy?"
"You tell him Ryouga." Said Ranma, nodding in agreement.
"You shut up before I kill you."
"Calm down you two. I'm sure there's honour in it somewhere,
and besides, he's only half guy."
"I'm all guy!!"
"But only half the time, besides, you two are such good friends
to begin with..."
"FRIENDS!? He's trying to KILL me!"
"TRYING!!?? I'm going to SUCCEED!!" Ryouga stood up again.
"You wanna fight now!? Then make your move!!" Ranma stood up
and took a defensive stance.
"Prepare yourself Ranma!!"
"Look how cute they are..." Tanima said, smiling.
"HEY!! We are NOT cute!!" They yelled in unision. They both
turned and glared at each other.
"So, it's decided then." Tanima clapped his hands together and
smiled.
"Yes, it's been decided, I'm NOT marrying another guy!
Espcially not RANMA."
"Same here!"
"At least they agree..." Offered Genma
"They'll give in sooner or later." said Tanima. "Now, sit down
boys." Both Ranma and Ryouga reluctantly sat, and Tanima poured them
each a cup of tea, dumping an extra cup over Ranma's head to change
him back.
"I'm not giving in." Ranma said softly. Tanima ignored him.
"So, Genma, do you know of any way to make a Jusenkyou curse
permanent?"
Ranma choked on his tea.
-------
"Alright Ranma, you can stay in this room. Your father will be
next door to your room on the right, Ryouga's at the top of the stairs,
and I'm across from you... or is it the other way around...?" Ranma
grinned slightly.
"Don't worry, I'll figure it out." Tanima smiled.
"I'm glad one of us will..." He smiled again, then offered
Ranma a towel. "The bathroom's downstairs somewhere I believe. You can
go take a bath if you can find it." Ranma took the towel and nodded.
"Thanks." Tanima smiled and left the room. Ranma dropped his
bag on the floor beside himself, then sat down cross legged, putting
the towel on the floor. He closed his eyes. He honestly couldn't think
of anything worse that could've happened... no... the only thing that
could've been worse was not getting to eat. He'd only agreed to go
because he figured he'd get a good meal out of the deal, and if he was
lucky, the girl wouldn't be interested. He didn't want to get married.
'Well guess what, your fiance's a guy who's trying to kill you, you're
home free...' he sighed again and picked up the towel. Studying it for
a moment, he stood up and began to hunt for the bath.
-------
Ryouga sat down in the furo and leaned his head against the
edge as he basked in the hot water. He liked the hot water a lot,
especially since Jusnkyou. He made a face. Ranma. Why hadn't he killed
him yet, and how the hell did they end up ENGAGED. Ryouga sighed.
'Maybe it would've been better if I'd never made it home...' he thought
to himself. The door slid open, and he looked up, a surprised and naked
red haired girl stood in the doorway. Ryouga fought off the incoming
nosebleed. 'It's RANMA.' he told himself. She stepped in and picked up
a bucket, filling it with hot water. Ryouga looked away as she did so,
blushing.
"Sorry. I wouldn't've come in here a girl if I'd known you were
here." Ryouga nodded, and turned back around to glare when he heard the
hot water splash as Ranma rinsed himself off. The other boy stepped
into the furo. They sat in silence for a long time, just soaking in the
hot water and ignoring one another's existance. "You know what?" Ranma
said after a while. Ryouga glanced at him.
"What?" He asked suspiciously.
"This sucks." He answered simply. Despite his anger, and
embarassment, despite the burning hatred he felt towards Ranma, Ryouga
laughed.
-------
The room was dark. There was a large desk and a chair in the
middle of the room. Other than that it was bare. There were no lighting
fixtures, no anything. A man sat in the chair, his face shrouded in
darkness. There was a knock on the door in the wall behind him.
"Come in." The man's voice was deep and emotionless. The door
opened, and a young girl bowed when she entered. No more than eighteen,
she was dressed in a black kimono covered with small white flowers. She
slowly rose, keeping her eyes on the ground, Her long white hair
falling back behind her shoulders where it belonged. She remained
standing in the pool of light from the door.
"You called sir?" her voice was quiet, and there was a hint of
fear in it.
"Yes." There was a long silence, but it didn't look like he
would say much else. The girl swallowed.
"What is it that you want sir?" she asked quietly
"A cute red head." she blinked, confusion evident on her face.
"What?"
"You heard me." She swallowed again.
"Why?" She asked softly. He turned to glare over his shoulder
at her.
"Don't ever question my orders." She gulped, and stifled her
opinion of him wanting a person.
"Yes Sir, sorry Sir." Silence again. "A man or a woman Sir?"
"A woman this time." She nodded.
"Is there anyone in particular Sir?"
"Yes... there is. This one." He tossed a picture over his
shoulder, and she caught it. It was a picture of a red-haired girl
fighting with a boy.
"Alright Sir, but she looks quite formidable, how..."
"You know how." He interrupted.
"Are you sure Sir?" He nodded.
"Yes, but be sure she's not injured, at the moment I'm more
worried about her companions."
"Yes Sir." She turned to leave.
"Kahi?" She turned, half out the doorway.
"Yes Sir?" She asked.
"When was the last time they were fed?" She thought about it.
"About two weeks ago, Sir."
"Good. Carry on." With that, Kahi left the room, closing the
door. The darkness returned, but had the room not been empty one
could've caught the glint of white teeth in the man's smile.
-------
Finally, after many months, I have gone about finishing this. I decided
that it was kinda pathetic that I'd been off for a month and STILL
hadn't gone about finishing this ^_^ Yeah, well, at least it's done
now, ne? And I know it's kinda confusing, but it'll all make sense by
the end! C&C are welcome, daybreak_impression@yahoo.ca constructive
criticism's ok, but flames make me cry.
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