"Ukyou," Ranma said in a serious voice, "I never wanted to hurt you." He gave a short ionic laugh. "I never wanted to hurt anybody, but what can I do? I wish that I could take care of you and Shampoo and the others. I wish that my father was more responsible and honorable, but I can't, and he ain't. I've thought about it a lot, and I hope that I've made the right decision, but I couldn't see a way out without somebody's feelings bein' hurt."
He took a moment to collect his thoughts, reaching back and rubbing the back of his head slowly. "It hurts me to have to do this, but I'm askin' you to break off our engagement. I'm going to be working and save some money, and I'm gonna pay you'n your family back for what Pop took from you just as soon as I can, but things just can't go on the way they've been. Too many people keep gettin' hurt. Please try'n understand. I hope we can still be friends." He looked up hopefully.
Nabiki nodded thoughtfully. "Not bad Ranma-kun. Sincere. Apologetic. Just a touch of groveling. It just might work."
Ranma smiled shyly at his newest fiancé. She'd made his life so much easier. He was much less likely to make an idiot out of himself lately thanks to her training and advice. He wasn't looking forward to the confrontations ahead of him, especially the one that he was practicing for right now. Nabiki was right, though. It was important that he talk to Ukyou himself first thing in the morning, before she had a chance to hear about his upcoming marriage from some one else. Rumors flew fast and furious at Furinkan High School, and he wanted to spare her the embarrassment of learning about it from another class mate.
Nabiki looked at him and grinned. "Enough talking." she said, then came over and sat in his lap. They were in her room again, but he suddenly realized that he was in a much more precarious position than he'd been in in any of their earlier practice sessions. She ran a finger down his cheek slowly. "I really think we should pick things up from where we were interrupted earlier."
He decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad position after all.
***
Mousse was awakened early the next morning by the sound of someone knocking on the outside door downstairs. He smiled as he heard his unknown benefactress answering the door and greeting her visitor. It was obvious that she was glad to see him. She had such a melodic voice.
He listened to the rise and fall of the distant voices for a couple of minutes. He had almost fallen back to sleep when the cheerful lilt of her voice suddenly rose in anger. "No." She yelled desperately. "You don't mean it! You can't!"
She was in trouble. He frowned. Someone was making her unhappy, and he intended to do something about it. He groaned as he tried to get out of the bed, the blood in his head pounding loudly against his skull. He'd do something about it in just a few moments.
A sob rose from the ground floor. _She needs you NOW._ Mousse gritted his teeth and pushed himself upright despite his aching head and protesting muscles. He stood shakily and began to make his way to the door. Whoever had hurt her would pay.
Then he heard the door open again. The unknown male said something softly, apologetically, and left. She was running up the stairs about the same time that he made it to the doorway of his room. Blinded by her tears, the woman collided with her patient and both fell to the floor. Mousse groaned.
Ukyou swallowed a sob. "Sorry Mousse. I- I didn't see you there."
_Kind in all circumstances._ the boy noticed through the pain he felt all through his body. What sort of monster could have hurt her like this. He tried to stand, to reassure her, but another groan came instead of the words that would bring her comfort.
She leaned over him, wiping her eyes, and lifted him to his feet. "Let's get you back to bed."
As she tried to lower him onto the cot, he grabbed her hand. "Please," he whispered. "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what he did to you."
He felt her stiffen. One sniffle, then another, and suddenly she was crying uncontrollably again. He reached out and embraced her. His body protested, the pain flared back to life, but he held on. As her body shook and her ragged breath caught over and over again on the lump in her throat, he held her. Finally she spoke in a hoarse whisper. "Ra-Ranma doesn't love me."
And then he knew. His eyes closed, and he held her closer still. "Don't cry Ukyou. Don't cry."
***
"I don't get it!" said Yuko. "I just don't understand. Why did you agree to this? Why don't you just tell your dad to get stuffed? I never thought I'd see *you* accept an arranged marriage so calmly." She looked at Nabiki, who sat quietly at her desk, then elbowed Masami looking for help.
"Yeah!" said Masami. "What's going on? Why Ranma?"
Nabiki allowed herself an instant to remember her own insecurities of the night before. She'd been up late into the morning worrying about many things, not the least of which had been money. It wasn't everything, but life without it could strain even true love. Some time around dawn, the worried scowl she'd worn since just after Ranma had left her had slipped away, replaced by a smile that grew with each passing moment as solutions poured into her mind. Suddenly she'd had a new confidence that everything would be alright. The warm joyful feeling that she'd had after making her decision returned in force, and she'd resolved never to doubt this particular decision again. It was time to move on and make a new life for herself with a new business partner, a very special one.
Now in the face of her friends' skepticism, she felt reluctant to tell them the whole truth, still, she didn't want them to worry.
She gave a calculating predatory smile. After all, she had a reputation to maintain. "Are you kidding?" she asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Ranma is a *gold mine*!" Yuko and Masami still looked skeptical. Some of the solutions that the dawn had brought, she knew, would put their minds at ease. "His hair alone is worth a fortune. Do you know how much human hair sells for? And Ranma's is gorgeous! He can grow enough in just a few seconds to bring in 50 or 60 thousand yen. Not to mention the money he could make on the tournament circuit, and the money *I* can make taking bets. And his looks! With the right connections, I could easily get him a great career as a model. Two models in fact!" She smirked slightly with this last comment, but the old general contempt with the world was gone, replaced by ironic, but genuine tenderness for the man she was talking about. Her henchwomen didn't notice. They smirked as well, as if suddenly understanding. It hurt Nabiki a little to cheapen her relationship with Ranma in front of her friends, but she didn't know how to put her very real feelings into words. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.
Lunch was in full swing when the three of them finished this conversation. Voices buzzed around them excitedly. The fabled Furinkan High rumor mill was working at full speed. She frowned, knowing that today she and Ranma were the grist for that mill. Oh well. She thought standing on her chair to make an announcement. Why not give them something to talk about.
***
In a quiet bedroom above a busy restaurant, a tiny man with a bandanna tied under his nose was rooting happily through a drawer. He was murmuring cheerfully to himself, and didn't notice the young woman who now stood in the doorway. "Panties, panties, panties..." He frowned. "Where are the bras?"
"Shampoo no own bras." said an icy voice from the doorway, a voice that caused the perverted master to turn towards it with something approaching trepidation. After staring for a moment at the beautiful figure back lighted dramatically in the entrance and the scowl on the face of said figure, he realized that he was in a bit of danger. Well, discretion was the better part of valor.
"Ah my lovely Shampoo." he said, getting one last look at her shapely curves, "I wish I could stay and play, but I must be going now." He grabbed a handful of underwear and jumped out the window.
The Amazon was not pleased. "Old pervert come back!!" she screamed in fury before giving chase.
***
_I could get used to this._ Ranma thought as he and Nabiki came around the final corner on their walk home. Her hand in his felt wonderful and natural, and when she looked up and caught him watching her, she blushed ever so slightly, and looked at the ground with a surprisingly innocent smile on her face. Any more happiness and he'd probably explode.
Reaching the dojo, they noticed the banner. "CONGRATULATIONS RANMA AND NABIKI!"
"What is this?!" Ranma asked, slightly upset as he noticed the number of people walking in and out of the house and around the yard.
Nabiki smiled. He noticed that it was a very different smile this time. It was much less innocent for one thing. "Oh, didn't I tell you? Daddy arranged an engagement party for us."
***
_They're having a party?_ Pansuto Tarou thought idly as he crouched once more in the shadow of a nearby tree. He was getting quite bored standing there. He'd been waiting for Happosai for almost a week now, and so far he hadn't seen a trace of him. Maybe he'd moved out. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself, (not because he was cold, but because it was a dramatic sort of thing to do, even if no one could see it) and continued to watch.
***
_Stupid party._ Thought Akane, as she helped Kasumi pass out glasses of lemonade. _Stupid Ranma, stupid Nabiki._ She glared at an innocent guest as he asked for a refill. _Stupid Daddy, stupid engagement, stupid party._
All things considered, she was taking things rather well.
She looked over to where Ranma stood, with that embarrassed look on his face, the one he used to wear whenever people would talk about him and Akane. People were pressed tightly around him offering congratulations, and teasing him about his upcoming wedding.
Well, she didn't care. She growled at another guest and headed back to the kitchen for more ice. He could marry Nabiki and Shampoo *and* Ukyou for all she cared. It wasn't as if she *liked* him or anything. It wasn't as if she was in love with him. It wasn't as if she'd miss the way he sometimes looked at her, or the way he protected her even when she didn't need it, or the jealous look that other girls would get in their eyes when they saw her with him, or the way he sometimes told her that she was cute when she smiled, or the little flutter that her heart would give when he touched her hand, or-
"Aaargh!" she screamed. "RANMA YOU JERK!"
"Akane?" Kasumi asked sweetly, "Are you alright?"
"Uh.. Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some more ice."
"Oh. Alright." Kasumi's smile was sweet and vacant as always. She went to the freezer and pulled out an ice cube tray. As she worked, Akane suffered another wave of depression. One silent sob almost got through. Fiercely choking it back, she decided to get angrier. It had always worked before.
Then again, what had anger ever really gotten her. Nabiki's laughter drifted merrily to her ears from somewhere outside. _Stupid Nabiki._
But Nabiki wasn't stupid. Nabiki wasn't stupid at all, and in the end, Nabiki's cleverness had gotten her what she must have wanted all along. Nabiki had *tricked* her and had tricked Ranma, and now Nabiki was marrying *HER* fiancé. She had to have been planning this from the beginning. She'd won too. _Well!_ Akane promised, a determined look coming over her, _Nabiki will get hers._
***
"Old pervert come back!" Shampoo yelled for the eighteenth time. Creative insults were never her strongest area. Persistence, on the other hand, she excelled at. Happosai looked over his shoulder, unable to believe that he hadn't shaken her yet.
"I see that I need a distraction." he thought out loud. "But what?"
His brow wrinkled in concentration (not that anyone could have told the difference) as he thought.
"That's it!"
He smiled and changed directions. "Oh Ranma? Ranma my boy?"
***
"Where on earth am I now?!?"
Ryoga looked at all the people around him. They were all chattering and sipping glasses of lemonade as they walked aimlessly around in someone's yard. And weren't those Furinkan High School uniforms that some of them were wearing.
"Oh, hi Ryoga." said Ranma from the cluster of people surrounding him. "Glad you could make it."
"Wha..?" he muttered, still looking around in confusion. What was Ranma doing here?
***
Akari Unryu was one of very few people who were genuinely thrilled to hear about Ranma Saotome's upcoming wedding. She'd run into a friend of hers who was one of Ranma's class mates on their way to his engagement party. She hadn't planned to come at first, but her friend had insisted that the invitation had been an open one. It seemed that the bride's father was so excited to finally be marrying off one of his three daughters, that anyone was welcome in his home this day.
It would be nice to see Ranma again. He was such a nice boy. She'd never be able to repay him for his help in meeting Ryoga and getting to know him. She hoped that Ranma and his future wife would be very happy together.
And maybe Ryoga would be at the party.
***
Ukyou shook her head as she led Mousse around another lamppost. She wished again that he'd just let her go to the Nekohanten and *ask* for his glasses, but he was insistent. It was understandable, she supposed, considering the way that Shampoo had treated him.
They'd spent most of the day talking. Mousse understood how much it hurt to be rejected by the one you love. Even if Ranma's rejection had been kinder than Shampoo's, it hadn't hurt any less. Mousse was a good listener. She looked at him and smiled. He was handsome too.
At first she'd wanted to hate Ranma. The old anger and desire for revenge had come back. After hours of soul searching, she had realized that she didn't really blame him. He had been placed in a very uncomfortable position, and none of it was his fault. She hoped that they could still be friends, and had decided to stop by and talk to him personally.
Mousse had asked to come along. He was still stiff and sore, and leading him around so carefully was slowing her down quite a bit, but the truth was that she was glad for the company. She wasn't sure if she could trust herself not to chicken out or get upset again.
"Pardon me miss." He said politely as his arm brushed against a telephone pole.
***
Akane's day was getting worse and worse.
How could Ranma be taking this so calmly? How could he leave her like this? She wanted to make him pay. Her mind whirled with schemes to hurt him, to cause him to feel pain like she was feeling.
Scanning the yard, she noticed Ryoga standing next to the pond. He looked pretty confused. That was nothing new. She decided to go talk to him, the beginnings of an idea forming in her mind.
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