Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't claim to.
Just borrowing them for a while.
Ranma 1/2
Unexpected Results
Part 10
By: J. Hunt
Part 10:
Ukyo Kounji was not having a good time. She stood facing a straw practice
dummy in the Tendo's back yard. Her entire body was beginning to
ache and was starting to feel like it was slowly turning to lead. Her
breathing was ragged and she had to pause and swallow to try and catch her
breath. She hefted her spatula before her, its weight feeling much greater than
normal. With a snarl, she slashed forward in an upward arc, slicing a training
dummy in half. Reversing the slice at the at its highest point, she completed
the motion by bringing the flat of the weapon down to smash the dummy.
She stood there, breathing heavily and leaning against her spatula for support.
A whistling sound caught her attention and she barely reacted in time to bring up
her spatula to ward off brick that was hurled at her from above. This was followed
by a veritable rain of bricks. With a yell, she spun her spatula and began to
deflect or smash the bricks. With a tired smirk she moved her head to the side
to let the last brick sail past. That smirk turned to a look of fright as she
jumped back just as a large rock struck the ground where she had just been standing
and sent up an explosion of dirt and dust. Ukyo brought up an arm to cover her face
from the dirt, and when she did that a small weighted rope shot from out of the
dust cloud. It wrapped around her spatula and yanked it out of the one hand that
held it.
"Hey!" Ukyo cried, then tensed and turned as another hail of bricks came at her.
She reached over her shoulder and produced a boken that she had been wearing
where her spatula normally was. She slashed at the bricks, shattering those that
she managed to hit, and dodging those she didn't. One managed to get through her
defense, however and tagged her on her shoulder causing her to yelp in pain.
Momentarily caught off guard another hit her in the gut, and she doubled over, going to
her knees coughing.
"Ucchan you okay?" came Ranma's voice as the redhead leapt off of the roof, leaving her
stacks of bricks and Ukyo's stolen spatula behind and rushing over to the girl. Akane
also rushed over to the chef.
"I-I'm fine," Ukyo said slowly and somewhat wobbly stood, though she still rubbed
her stomach with on hand. She wrinkled her nose as she looked down at the
boken in her hands. "This stick still doesn't feel right."
"You did much better that time," Akane said.
"Still not quite good enough yet," Ranma said. "But you did real well for the first day."
From inside Kasumi called them all to dinner.
"We'll take a break for food," Ranma said, "and when we get done we'll work on your unarmed
fighting."
Ukyo groaned. The three martial artist made their way back into the house. Soun was seated
at the table along with Nabiki, who had returned a couple of hours earlier. She looked up
as they came in with an indifferent look on her face. She watched them as they took their
seats and were served. She glanced once down at her own food, but made no move to eat.
Instead, she waited until Ranma lifted her bowl and began shoveling food into her mouth.
"I ran into Ryoga today," she said in a bored and neutral voice. The result was anything
but bored or neutral as Ranma spewed forth a fountain of half chewed rice.
"Ranma!" Akane exclaimed and began to hit the redhead on the back as she coughed. Across
from her Nabiki glared coldly at then and began to wipe the rice off of herself. A glance
around the table had Mr. Tendo and Kasumi look at Ranma in concern and Ukyo, pale as a
sheet, staring at Nabiki in wide-eyed horror.
"Mousse was with him, and they had a very interesting conversation," Nabiki continued.
Ranma's coughing turned to full out choking.
"Ryoga was in a big hurry to see you, Ranma," Nabiki went on. "I tried to bring him
with me, but I looked away from him for a few seconds and lost him."
"What's going on with Ryoga?" Akane asked still patting Ranma's back. "Did you do something
to him Ranma?"
"Nothing, I did nothing!" Ranma wheezed. Nabiki smirked.
"That's not what I heard Saotome," Nabiki said. "I got the whole story out of him before
he got lost."
Ranma and Ukyo both let out a high squeal at this and jumped to their feet. This had the
unfortunate effect of knocking Akane, whom had been leaning slightly over Ranma to pat her
back, over on to her rear.
"W-What's going on?" Soun asked. Nabiki opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off
when Ranma leapt over the table and tackled the other girl, putting her hand over
Nabiki's mouth.
"Heehee," Ranma laughed looking around the startled people from where she sat on Nabiki's
lap. Nabiki was giving Ranma a look that promised divine wrath when she let go.
"Ranma what are you doing, have you gone crazy?" Akane exclaimed as she leapt to her feet
and slammed her hands down on the table. Ranma's only answer was a cackle that did not sound
entirely sane.
Looking at the situation, Ukyo did the only thing she could think of: she reached in to her
shirt, and, shouting "Flower Bomb" throw one of said bombs on to the table. Using the
resulting flour explosion as cover, she snatched Ranma by the collar and pulling her behind
her beat a hasty retreat from the house. When the flour finally settled the Tendo's all
wiped the flour from their faces and turned to look at Nabiki.
"What in the Hell is going on here," Akane demanded. Nabiki smirked.
"Well little sister," Nabiki said. "That is a very interesting story."
A short time later, Ukyo burst through the door of her restaurant pulling Ranma behind her.
She tossed the red haired girl onto a seat near the grill then slammed the door closed
behind her and leaned against it heavily, panting.
"You okay Ranchan?" Ukyo asked. Ranma's response was to cackle insanely again. Ukyo
walked up to the girl and slapped her a few times lightly across the face.
"Snap out of it," she said. Ranma blinked at her then looked around as if just noticing
where she was.
"Th-thanks Ucchan," Ranma said, then sighed letting her shoulders slump.
"I'm doomed," Ranma said. "Nabiki has probably told them everything by now."
The pigtailed girl jumped to her feet suddenly and began to pace.
"Well they had to find out sooner or later," Ukyo said.
"Yeah I know," Ranma said. "But I wasn't ready yet, and I sure as Hell didn't want them
to find out like this."
Ukyo grimaced.
"Leave it to Nabiki to but her nose in where it doesn't belong," she sighed and took a
seat on a stool near the grill. She eyed the pacing red head cautiously, then shook
her head.
Ranma suddenly stopped and turned to regard Ukyo. Ukyo fidgeted under the girls
intense gaze for a moment.
"I've been thinking about something you said the yesterday day, Ucchan," Ranma said at last.
"Oh?" Ukyo asked. "Which thing?"
"About choices," Ranma said and this time she fidgeted. "A-and about choosing not to have
this baby."
"Oh." Ukyo responded. Both girls were silent then, the sound of the traffic outside the
restaurant the only noise to be heard.
"I hate this Ukyo," Ranma said at last. She was looking up at the ceiling blinking back the
wetness in her eyes, and was fighting to keep her voice neutral and for the most part was
succeeding, though a slight tremor of emotion was evident. She reached a hand up and
rubbed at her eyes. "I can feel it growing inside me, and the more I think about it
the stronger I can feel it. I want that feeling to go away. I want this all to
just go away."
She looked at back to Ukyo and rubbed her eyes again. The chef got off of her stool
and walked over to hug the smaller girl. After a moments hesitation, Ranma raised her
arms and hugged Ukyo back.
"Well whatever you have decided," Ukyo said slowly. "I'll back you up 100 percent. Do
you want me to call and set you up an appointment? Doctor Tofu gave me a number
just in case you decided you wanted it."
Ranma let go of Ukyo and stepped back. She stared up to the ceiling for a moment, then
slowly nodded her head.
"Yeah, I guess you should give 'em a call," she said. Ukyo walked behind the counter
and picked up the phone as Ranma slumped down onto one of the stools. Before Ukyo had
finished dialing the number, however, there was a sudden loud banging at the door.
"Ranma, Ukyo, I know you two are in there," came Akane's bellowing voice. "Let me
in this minute."
Ukyo froze and Ranma let out a loud squeal and dived behind the counter to hide.
"She's going to kill me," the red head squeaked putting her head between her knees and
covering the top of it with her hands.
"Open this door now!" Akane shouted from outside.
"We're closed, no body's here come back later!" Ranma shouted back from her hiding
place.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Akane shouted back. "Open this door this minute."
Ranma began to giggle hysterically and rock back and forth, mumbling "I'm doomed" over
and over again. Ukyo looked first at Ranma, then over at the door. She put the phone
back on the receiver then walked over to the door.
"What are you doing?" Ranma squawked. Ukyo ignored her and put her hand on the lock.
"Akane do you remember the promise you made me last night," she asked. There was silence
from the other side of the door.
"I remember," Akane replied at last.
"Good," Ukyo said, "because the only way I'm letting you in is if you stick by that now,
and let Ranma tell his side of the story."
The silent pause was longer this time.
"Alright then," Akane said. "I promise, now let me in."
Ukyo undid the lock and slowly slid the door open. Akane stood there, her arms crossed
under her breasts, wearing a mask of fury and worry.
"Come in," Ukyo said stepping aside for Akane and making a sweeping motion with her arm.
Akane's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing and walked in. Behind her, Ukyo shut and
relocked the door.
"Have a seat Akane," Ukyo said and lead Akane to a table. Akane took the offered seat
and turned a steady gaze around the room.
"Where is Ranma?" she asked in a cold, flat voice. Ukyo frowned and walked back behind
the counter.
"Come on Ranma," she said in a calm, soothing voice, as if she was trying to coach some
timid animal out of its cage. "Its alright, Akane is just here to talk."
With some reluctance, Ranma peeked over the top of the counter towards Akane, then ever so
slowly stood and began to rub the back of his head nervously.
"H-hi Akane," Ranma said and gave a sickly little smile. "I guess Nabiki told you all about
it huh?"
Akane merely stared at the nervous girl in silence. Ranma winced then took a deep breath,
steeling her courage.
"I'm sorry Akane," Ranma said, not meeting the girl's gaze. "I don't know what you must
think about me right now but I want you to know that I am so sorry about all of this.
Ukyo and Mom keep telling me that it isn't my fault, that it was the love potion Shampoo
gave me that made me and Ryoga do...that, but I still feel responsible for
all of this. I was so stupid to trust Shampoo, but she said she had a cure for the
curse and I guess, well I was just stupid is all."
Ranma shook her head, and wiped away a few tears again.
"I never wanted any of this to happen, you got to believe that," Ranma continued. Her
voice broke slightly, and she coughed then swallowed. "I understand if you hate me now.
Its like all those times you called me a pervert coming true. Me getting pregnant by
Ryoga. I'm sorry Akane, I'm so, so sorry."
She spared a glance up at Akane. The youngest Tendo was sitting broomstick strait, her
face pale. Ranma flinched and looked away again.
"I wanted to stop it," Ranma continued, her voice taking on a desperate, pleading quality,
tears beginning to stream openly down her face. "I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted
to stop I couldn't even make myself try. When I finally got control back, all I wanted to
do was just die. I felt so unclean, so filthy. I still don't know if I'll ever feel
clean. I just wanted to curl up and stop existing. It was just after we had finished,
doing it that Shampoo showed up. I saw her and, and I just snapped. I don't remember much
after that until I got to the Cat Cafe and fought Shampoo."
Ukyo put a comforting hand on the red head's shoulder as she stopped talking. At her table
Akane sat motionless.
"Let me see if I understand this," she said at last in a quiet voice. "Shampoo gave you
a potion that some how caused you to have sex with Ryoga against your will, and now you're
pregnant with his child?"
"Y-yes," Ranma replied. "I-isn't that what Nabiki told you?"
"I couldn't afford Nabiki's price, and she said this was too big for any freebies even to
family," Akane said, her eyes had gone strangely vacant, and her voice sounded numb. "She
didn't tell me anything."
Ukyo and Ranma both stared at Akane speechless. Slowly she got to her feet and headed for the
door.
"Akane?" Ranma asked taking a step towards the girl's back. Akane stopped and a shiver ran
down her back. Slowly she turned to look over her shoulder at the pigtailed girl. Ranma
flinched and looked away from the torrent of emotions she saw in the other girl's face.
"Why, Ranma," Akane said, the emotions playing in her voice also. "Just tell me why."
"I thought it was a cure," Ranma said. Slowly Akane turned and walked to stand before the
smaller girl. Ranma held her breath as she looked into the other girl's eyes.
"I'm sorry Akane," she mumbled under her breath.
"Are, are you in love with Ryoga now," Akane asked. Ranma winced.
"No," she responded. "The potion wore off."
Akane nodded.
For a moment they looked at each other, then Akane took a step back and slapped Ranma
across the face.
"You idiot," Akane seethed. "How could you do something so stupid."
Ranma stumbled back, her eyes wide and her hand going to the red mark on her face. Akane
took a step forward to keep the distance between them the same. At her side, Akane's fists
were clenching and unclenching.
"Leave him alone," Ukyo shouted.
"Stay out of this, Ukyo," Akane snapped without looking at the chef. Akane reached forward
and grabbed Ranma's collar, pulling her forward so their faces were only inches apart.
"Do you enjoy being so stupid?" Akane growled, shaking Ranma a bit. "Do you like having
things like this happen to you?"
"I said that is enough," Ukyo yelled and started forward to separate the two. Before she could,
however, Akane let Ranma go, and the red head stumbled back and fell into Ukyo, knocking them
into a tangle on the floor. Akane stood looking down at both of them, a red glow starting to
surround her body.
"First it was all those other girls, and now you've brought poor Ryoga into all this," Akane
said. "You jerk, when are you going to start thinking about these stupid things you do
before you do them."
"Its not his fault Akane," Ukyo growled from her position on the floor. "He didn't choose
for any of this crap to happen. He might have been too trusting for believing Shampoo
but that’s it. Can't you see how much all this has hurt him?"
Akane's aura flared brighter at those words, then slowly faded and Akane slowly sank to the
floor. She looked at Ranma and Ukyo for a moment, then burst into tears and began to sob
into her hands.
"I-It was supposed to be me," she stammered between sobs.
Ranma disengaged herself from Ukyo and walked over and knelt beside Akane.
"Akane?" she asked hesitantly and put her hand on the girl's shacking shoulders. Akane
pulled away from Ranma's touch and continued to sob. Ranma looked over his shoulder at
Ukyo, who shook her head and shrugged.
"Akane, don't cry, please," Ranma said and put her hand on Akane's shoulder again. Again
the short haired girl pulled away. "Please Akane."
With a sigh, and a helpless shake of her head, Ranma started to stand. She was stopped when
Akane's hand shot out and took hers. With a moan, Akane leapt forward and threw her arms
around Ranma's neck, knocking the smaller girl down.
"Ranma you idiot," she said with a choked sob then buried her face against
Ranma's neck and continued to cry. Ranma's pigtail stood on end as she looked at the
distraught girl who had clamored on to her lap and was crying against her. She turned
to Ukyo for help, but the chef had a strange, sad look on her face and offered no assistance.
Slowly and hesitantly, Ranma brought her arms up and slid them around Akane. The girl
seemed to tense for a moment, then relaxed more into Ranma's embrace.
"Shhhh, it's okay Akane," Ranma said and began rocking Akane slightly. "Everything is going
to be just fine."
-----------------------
Okay that’s all I got so far for this teaser, the next part of the chapter will deal with
Shampoo's training, and also another factor is going to be added it the mix.
Tell me what you think so far, any input will be appreciated.
Just send it to brokenworks@hotmail.com.
Thanks
J-Hunt