Yeah, yeah, I know. What am I doing starting another story when I haven't even
finished any of the other ones yet? This one kind of slipped through the
cracks...Consider it practice.......
Ranma 1/2 and all characters there in were created by Rumiko Takahashi not me.
Blame her.
RANMA 1/2:
Children of the Ghost
<> Thoughts
** sounds/actions
() foreign languages
~ a wavy line
Chapter 1 : A Plan of Action
Life, Ranma Saotome decided, had a twisted sense of humor.
"Ranma take Shampoo on date now, not stupid spatula girl," said the purpled
haired girl who had latched on to Ranma's right arm like a drowning man on
a life preserver.
"In your dreams, you chinese bimbo, Ranchan's going out with me," Replied the
brown haired girl who had a hold on Ranma's left arm that the jaws of life
would not have been able to break.
Sparks momentarily flew between the two girl's eyes and then they braced
themselves.
Ranma thought then let out a scream as the two began a tug-of-war.
"Ranma take Shampoo!" Shampoo said.
"He's taking me!" Ukyo replied.
"Stupid pancake girl hurting Airen. Let go!" *YANK*
"You're the one that's hurting him, cat-girl, you let go." *YANK*
"Akane!" Ranma shouted and looked to his short haired fiancee for help, then
wished he hadn't.
"Ranma, you pervert," Akane said her right eyelid twitching and the veins
standing out on her forehand. "How dare you carry on with both of them, right
in front of my face no less."
Akane was glowing blue and had a mallet in her hand that had appeared from
seemingly nowhere. She took a step towards the three of them. Neither Shampoo
nor Ukyo seemed to notice her, both being to busy trading insults.
"Ranma no baka!" Akane screamed and raised her mallet high. Ranma, unable to
free himself, closed his eyes and prayed for a quick death. There was a sudden
swishing sound, and Ranma cringed, then opened his eyes when he wasn't mashed
into the ground. Akane blinked and looked at her empty hands. Ukyo and Shampoo
stopped trying to tear Ranma in half and turned to look at Akane.
Ranma thought.
"OHOHOHOHOHOH," came a familiar voice, accompanied by a rain of black rose petals.
Ranma shivered.
They all turned to see Kodachi "The Black Rose" Kuno standing on top of a
telephone pole twirling a ribbon that had Akane's mallet tangled in one end
of it.
"Foolish girl," she cackled, "did you truly believe that I, Kodachi the Black
Rose, would allow you to injure my Ranma-sama before our glorious date!
OHOHOHOH."
With a flick of her wrist, the mallet was sent sailing of into the distance.
Ranma thought
as he watched the mallet vanish. He then realized what she had said and paled.
"What crazy girl say," Shampoo asked. "Ranma go on date with Shampoo not you."
"Yeah," Ukyo said. "There's no way we're going to let Ranchan go anywhere
with a nutcase like you."
Kodachi leapt down from the pole and grabbed Ranma around the waist.
"Come dearest," she said and tried to pull him away. "Let us leave this vile
harlots and go somewhere where we can be alone."
"Are you deaf and crazy?" Ukyo snapped and began pulling on Ranma's arm again.
"You're not taking my Ranchan anywhere!"
Shampoo, not to be undone, began pulling on his other arm for all she was worth.
Ranma found himself being pulled in three directions at once by three bickering
girl.
"Akane, you gotta help me!" he said shooting her a pleading look.
Akane hmmphed and turned and walked away.
"It's your own fault for being a pervert," she said coldly. "I hope you enjoy
your date."
-------------------------
A few hours later, Ranma sank deep into the furo letting the hot water soothe
his sore muscles.
"Stupid girls," he mummered to himself, then sighed.
he thought. He knew
it wasn't just what had happened that day that was bothering him, but the way
his life had been going since he had arrived in Nerima. Somewhere along the
way it had gone spiraling out of control. The business with the girls was just
one of the more obvious examples of the chaos that his life had become.
He had hoped that if he gave it enough time the problem would solve itself.
He shook his head sadly. This was a decision that he absolutely did not want
to make. He wasn't sure how he really felt about the girls, except Kodachi,
he knew EXACTLY how he felt about her. Ukyo was cute, and he could talk to her
about things he couldn't talk to anyone else about, Shampoo was, Ranma blushed
when he thought about what Shampoo was, and Akane, well Akane confused the hell
out of him.
Ranma sat silently staring at the ceiling and thinking. If there was going to
be an end to the whole mess, he'd have to be the one to do it. He grimaced as
he thought about what everyone would do when he told them that he was going to
pick his fiancee. He needed time to think through his feelings, but knew that
they wouldn't give it to him.
he thought as he
got out of the furo. He dried himself off and dressed, then went down stairs.
Kasumi was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Nabiki was reading, and the
fathers were playing a game of go. Akane was sitting at the table holding
P-chan. She glared at Ranma as he walked in.
"So you're back," she said coldly. "I thought you'd be out with one of those
bimbos."
"They started fighting each other and I snuck away," he said. He went over
and picked up the telephone.
"Who are you calling?" Akane asked.
"Yeah, Shampoo its me," he said after the Chinese girl had answered. Akane glared. "Can you come over in about half an hour? No, it's not a date. I
have something I gotta tell you. It's a surprise. Yeah, I'll tell you when
you get here. Bye."
He hung up the phone. Everyone was now staring at him, even Kasumi who had
come in from the kitchen.
"What was that all about," Akane demanded.
"Son, why are you inviting that, that girl over here?" Mr. Tendo asked.
Ranma ignored them, and dialed another number.
"Hey, Ucchan, it's me," he said. "Yeah listen can you come over here in
about thirty minutes? You can, great. I got something I want to say to
you. No, it's a secret. I'll tell you when you get here. Okay, bye Ucchan."
"Ranma, just what do you think you are doing inviting those girls over?"
Akane asked.
"Listen everybody," Ranma said turning to them. "I've been doing some thinking,
and I've come to a decision."
"What kind of decision?" Nabiki asked.
Ranma shook his head.
"I'm ain't saying noth'n yet," he said. "When Shampoo and Ukyo get here I'm gonna
tell everybody at once so I don't have to go through it all again."
"Oh my," Kasumi said. "This sounds serious."
Ranma nodded.
"I'll be in my room," he said. "Please call me when they get here."
"Wait a minute," Akane said and started to rise to go after him. She
was stopped by Kasumi's hand on her shoulder.
"Leave him alone for now, Akane," Kasumi said.
"But Kasumi," Akane began to protest.
"Akane, I think it would be best if you left Ranma alone for now," Kasumi said.
"I'm sure you'll find out all you want to know when the others arrive so just be
patient."
"Oh, all right," Akane said and sat back down.
Exactly thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang and a very excited Ukyo was let
in.
"So where's Ranchan," she asked. "He said he had something he wanted to tell me.
He made it sound really important."
"Ranma is upstairs," Kasumi told her offering the young chef some tea. "He's
waiting for Shampoo to arrive before he makes his announcement."
Ukyo frowned, but accepted the tea.
"Shampoo's coming too?" she asked. As if in answer, there was a loud boom that
shook the house. It was followed by one of the walls exploding inwards.
"Niho, Shampoo here see Airen," Shampoo said coming through the wreckage. She
looked around happily, until she saw Ukyo.
"What stupid pancake girl doing here?" she asked.
"Hey sugar, Ranma honey invited me," Ukyo replied.
"My poor house," Soun said looking at the hole and weeping.
"Don't worry, Daddy," Nabiki said coming up to stand beside him. "Whatever
this announcement of Ranma's is I'm sure I'll make enough off of it to fix this."
"Now that everyone is here," Kasumi said. "I'll go fetch Ranma."
She walked up the stairs to his room and knocked on the door.
"Ranma Ukyo and Shampoo are here," she said. Ranma opened the door and stepped
out.
"Thanks, Kasumi," he said and started to head downstairs.
"One moment, Ranma," Kasumi said. "I think I know what this announcement is
going to be about. I know your life has been hectic lately, and I just want
to make sure you haven't made any rash decisions. Are you sure you have put
enough thought into this."
Ranma grimaced.
"That's the whole problem, Kasumi," he said. "I haven't put any thought into
it, and now it's a giant mess. I was hoping it would solve itself, but that
ain't gonna happen, or at least if it does, it ain't gonna be pretty. I just
wanna try and regain some control of my life, and to do that I'm gonna need
sometime to think with out all these distractions."
Kasumi nodded.
"I see," she said. "That sounds like a very good idea and a very mature thing
to do, Ranma."
"Thanks," Ranma said and took a deep breath. "Well, lets get this over with."
Ukyo and Shampoo were bickering as Ranma and Kasumi entered and Akane looked
fit to kill. Ranma sighed.
"Eh, excuse me," he said to no effect. Ranma frowned. "Ah, girls if you two
will stop that I can say what I got to say."
No effect.
"Allow me," Kasumi said. She walked over to the two girls and took them each
by the shoulder.
"You two, sit," she said sternly. Everyone looked at her shocked for a moment,
then the two girls blushed and did as they were told. "You can go ahead now,
Ranma."
"Thanks Kasumi," Ranma said he then turned to look at everyone. "I've called
you here to talk about this whole fiancee thing. It's gone on long enough,
and I think its time I ended it."
"It's about time," Nabiki said.
"Oh, son you've made us so happy," Soun said as he and Genma rushed Ranma.
"You're finally going to wed my Akane and unite our schools!"
"Daddy," Akane blushed and shouted.
"What you talking, Ranma is Shampoo's husband," Shampoo said.
"In your dreams Amazon, Ranchan's marrying me," Ukyo said.
Ranma looked around, like an animal caught in a trap.
"Father, Mr. Saotome, Shampoo, Ukyo, Akane, Sit down," Kasumi ordered.
Everyone turned to look at Kasumi who looked annoyed, if such a thing
were possible. "All of you be quiet and let Ranma finish."
She gave them each a stern look and the all retreated back to their
seats. She then smiled at Ranma to continue.
"I need time to think about this," Ranma said, "with out any distractions,
so I'm leaving. I'm going away somewhere where I can actually think
about this. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but when I come back I,
I'll have made my choice. Now before any of you get it in your head to
try and follow me to convince me of who I should chose I am telling you
right now to forget it. If any of you try to interfere," Ranma looked
down uncomfortably. "then I'll call it all off. All the engagements.
I am dead serious about this. I don't want to see any of you until after
I come back. I'm sick and tired of all this crap, and one way or another
I ain't gonna let it go on anymore."
He looked up again, and they could all see the seriousness in his expression.
"I think that is a very good idea, Ranma," Kasumi said. "Would you like
me to pack you some food?"
"No thank you, Kasumi," Ranma said. "I want to leave as soon as possible."
"Oh, it'll only take me a few moments," Kasumi said and left for the kitchen.
Ranma watched her go, then turned to look at the others.
"I guess I'll go get my pack," he said, slowly.
"Wait, Ranma," Akane asked, her eyes wide. "You're leaving tonight?"
Ranma nodded.
"I want this over as soon as possible," he said.
"Can't you at least wait until tomorrow?" Ukyo asked.
Ranma shook his head.
"No, I'm gonna do this now. I already put this off for too long," he said.
"But..."
"Damn, it no," Ranma said glaring at them. "You're not talking me out of
this, and I ain't gonna wait. And no, Pop, you ain't commin' with me."
Genma opened his mouth to say respond, but a glare from his son cut him
off. Ranma turned from them and went upstairs to get his pack. When he
came back down, Kasumi was waiting for him with a bundle wrapped in a
piece of clothe.
"This should last you for a little while," Kasumi said with a smile.
"Thanks," Ranma said accepting the bundle. He turned to give everyone one
last look. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing ya."
And with that, he turned to the door and walked out.
___________
Next:
Part 2: A Girl's Agenda