CHAPTER SIXTEEN: 1998 / 2004
End of an Era
Akane yawned.
“Urg, what time is it?” Ukyo moaned, rubbing her eyes.
Akane blinked sleepily at her digital clock, then gasped, suddenly wide awake. “Ohmigosh! It’s one in the afternoon...” She sat bolt upright. “We’ve missed school!”
“Hey, sugar, be calm, be calm.” Ukyo reached out for Akane’s shoulders and smoothed them several times in quick succession. The dark-haired girl’s shoulders slowly slumped in relaxation with each motion.
“Wow, that feels good,” Akane admitted, closing her eyes briefly. “I’m so sore from last night.”1
Ukyo flushed. “Er... yeah...”
Akane bit her lower lip. “Why didn’t Kasumi come and wake us up?”
“Does she usually?”
“Every morning!” Akane returned, standing and going to her closet. “I mean, the woman’s like clockwork, she–” Akane paused as her absently reaching hand met empty air. “Where’s my school uniform?”
Ukyo frowned. “You don’t suppose Kasumi and Ryoga really did get lost, do you?”
Akane blinked, then darted out of her bedroom door.
“Akane–!” Ukyo exclaimed, then shook her head in consternation, following after the agitated Tendo girl. Of course, she ran into Akane from behind almost immediately, as Akane slammed to a stop on the threshold of the kitchen.
Ukyo soon recognized the problem. It was Tatewaki Kuno, who happened to be in the kitchen.
Kuno was seated at the table, leaning towards Ranma-onna with a scowl across his features. When he realized that Akane was in the room, he straightened, eyeing her curiously. Ukyo stepped out from behind the youngest Tendo in reflexive shock, getting a better look and attempting to assess the situation. Ranma didn’t seem agitated. If anything, her expression was amused.
“Ranma, what is he doing here!” Akane demanded in a high-pitched and slightly accusatory tone of voice.
“Hmm?” Ranma looked up, seeming to notice their presence for the first time. “Oh. Gosh, the better question is, what are you doing there? Wearing that?”
Akane flushed, looking down to realize she was wearing only a pyjama top, along with her panties. She whirled on Ukyo. “Why didn’t you tell me!”
Ukyo sighed. “I tried, honey, I tried.”
“I needs must know only one thing,” Kuno intoned, standing and gazing imperiously at the youngest Tendo girl. “Did you know about this?”
Akane blinked at him. “Know about what?”
“Well, that’s one thing to salve my pride, in any case,” he continued sorrowfully. “If the both of you had hatched this plan between you...”
“Nope. I take full credit for my brilliance,” Ranma answered, still seated at the table, gazing up at Kuno with a slight smirk.
“Is it either of them?” Kuno demanded.
“No. I told you it wasn’t Akane. And Ukyo? You must be crazy.”
“Crazy? We established that,” Kuno pointed out with a put-upon sigh, slumping back into a seated position by the grinning redhead.
“Just what is going on here?” Akane snapped. “Why is he here at this hour?”
“At what hour? Akane, it’s one in the afternoon.” Ranma blinked again at the clock. “Does anyone want lunch?”
“I’m hungry,” Kuno announced. “Running around all night is hard work.”
“Uh huh,” Ranma agreed, with a raised eyebrow.
“I mean, why isn’t anyone in school?” Akane demanded.
“Akane-san... it’s Sunday,” Kuno replied patiently.
Having Kuno talk to her as though she’d lost it was not, ideally, how Akane began her day. Her eyebrow twitched. “Ukyo, why didn’t you tell me that!”
Ukyo shrugged, stretching her arms above her head. “Seemed like more fun?”
“Ooooh!” Akane stomped up the stairs, presumably to put on clothes.
“She is kinda fun, ain’t she?” Ranma queried.
“Yeah...” Ukyo shook herself. “Well, anyway... why is Kuno really here, Ranma?” She turned to Kuno. “Why are you really here?”
Ranma grinned at Kuno. “He’s seen the light. Kuno, tell her you’ve seen the light.”
Kuno sighed, shrugging as though he was quite put-upon. “I’ve seen the light,” he deadpanned.
“Be more specific than that, Kuno.”
“Oh, fine. That’s Saotome Ranma, who turns into a boy, who always could and most likely will continue to do so. The trigger, oddly enough, seems to be water. He gained the curse while in China on a training trip with his father; he was born a boy.”
Ranma cleared her throat.
“And she doesn’t want to date me.”
“And?” Ranma prompted.
“And although I may ask her to my heart’s content, Akane does not wish to date me, either.”
Ukyo’s jaw dropped. “Whooooaaaa...” She grinned, a slow, wondering grin. “H-how...?”
Kuno grinned too, slightly wicked, one side of his lips twitching up. “A dead fish taught me,” he murmured.
Ukyo choked on air. “Really?”
Kasumi scooted down the stairs, skidding into the kitchen. “I’m so sorry! Is everything all right?”
Akane followed her. “Kasumi, the world doesn’t die off if you don’t wake up on time.”
“Funny, it seemed like it did,” Ukyo whispered, too quietly for the eldest Tendo to hear.
“Where’s Ryoga?” Ranma wondered. “Did he sleep here last night?”
Ukyo caught Kuno staring at Ranma, but couldn’t interpret the sudden surmise in the older boy’s eyes.
“Yes, someplace,” Kasumi supplied. “Perhaps the dojo? Something like that?” She yawned. “I could really use some tea.”
Ranma moved to the stove. “Here, Kasumi, sit down. Ukyo and I will cook, won’t we, Ukyo?”
Ukyo nodded, placed firmly into familiar territory. “Sure. You got some flour and stuff, Ranma?”
Ranma nodded and began to procure ingredients. “Er... Akane, do you mind checking on Ryoga? Make sure he didn’t wander off in the night?”
Akane nodded, slipping out the back door and moving to the dojo.
“It’s so nice how much concern you’re showing for Ryoga,” Kasumi observed.
Ranma stiffened slightly, then smiled a bit. “Well, sure. We’re friends,” she added, handing Ukyo the wire basket of eggs from the refridgerator.
“Tatewaki Kuno, isn’t it?” Kasumi murmured politely.
“Madam, today I am everything and nothing,” he replied. “I am scarcely able to supply my name, or anything else about me. I change moment to moment. Perhaps tomorrow I shall be a woman. What do you think?”
Kasumi giggled. “I hardly consider it likely, Kuno-san.”
“All the same, all the same,” Kuno tacked on vaguely. “You are Tendo Kasumi, are you not?”
“Y- er, no. Technically, no. But I will be again, soon.”
“After your tea?”
“After my divorce.”
Ukyo spun around to face the eldest Tendo girl. “What?”
Ranma shook her head silently at the chef. “Later,” she promised.
Kuno blinked, but took this news in good stride. “Well then, I’m certain you must be glad to have your name back.”
“Oddly, yes, I will be,” Kasumi bit off.
Ranma handed the girl her tea, and placed some in front of Kuno.
“After all of this, I actually get tea?” he inquired with a small laugh. “More than I deserve.”
“I won’t argue with you,” Ranma returned.
Ryoga came in through the back door, Akane following closely behind him. “Whoa. Hello, everyone.”
“Morning, Ryoga,” Ukyo replied, busying herself with some okonomiyaki mix in a bowl. “Sleep okay?”
“Er... not so well,” Ryoga admitted, his eyes finding Ranma, who pretended not to notice.
Akane blinked at Kuno. “What is he still doing here?”
“Akane!” Kasumi chided. “He’s our guest!”
“I do not wish to distress your little sister, Kasumi-san. I will go.”
“Oh, don’t do that!” Kasumi fluttered. “Akane! Apologize to Kuno-san.”
Akane gaped slightly. “Er...”
“Oh, you know she’s sorry, Kasumi,” Ranma interjected, saving Akane from what she obviously saw as a deep humiliation.
“Y-yeah. What he said,” Akane filled in, bobbing slightly. “Do you two need any help?”
Ranma nodded. “Set the table, okay?”
Akane grinned. “Okay, Ranma.”
“I’ll help,” Ryoga said. Together, he and Akane had the table set in time for all of them to sit down, setting one more place when Nabiki finally wandered down blearily.
“Itedakimasu!”
“Ranma...”
The pigtailed boy peered down from the roof. “Ryoga?”
Ryoga bounced up to the slate to land next to the other boy. After staring at Ranma quietly for a moment, he crouched down next to him.
Ranma respected the other boy’s silence, sprawling out on the rooftop again, hands behind his head, gazing up at the darkening night sky.
“Are you okay?”
Ranma smiled. “Hey. What brought that on?”
“I’m just wondering, all right? I’m your friend. I can ask.”
The other boy’s smile widened. “Yeah? So you can admit it? We’re friends?”
“It almost became... uh, more than that, yesterday,” Ryoga tacked on quietly.
Ranma jerked into a seated position, swiveling to stare at the bandanna’d boy, taken aback byhis sudden frankness. “R-Ryoga?”
“C’mon. It did, Ranma, we... ugh. If your mother hadn’t interrupted us, you would’ve been my first and second kiss.”
“When I woke up and kissed you, that was your first?”
Ryoga slapped his forehead with his open palm. “Ranma...”
“Sorry. I know. I’m just a little bit thrown.”
“Me too.”
“I mean, I thought you’d be angry at me.”
Ryoga sighed. “I’ll admit, the thought crossed my mind.” He snorted. “Several times, actually. Over and over again. But no matter how I look at it, this has been coming at me for awhile. We both know... that time when you kissed me... I k-kissed you... back.”
Ranma examined him in the dim glow of evening, the moon shining on him and highlighting his nearly luminescent flush. “Yeah,” Ranma replied simply. “You did, didn’t you? So, what did you think of it?”
Ryoga squirmed uncomfortably.
“Maybe that’s a lot to ask, so early.”
“So early? You mean, you expect this kind of thing to continue?”
Ranma smirked. “It has been, hasn’t it? First that dream of mine, then the kiss – then the almost-kiss. And the crying.” His face fell. “I can’t look at it any other way; I turn to you when I’m in trouble. Not Akane, not Ukyo – you.”
“Why?”
Ranma shook his head. “Damned if I know.” He snuck a look at Ryoga from out of the corner of his eye. “D’you think about me?”
Ryoga turned even redder. “Think about you!”
“Miss me when you’re off in the middle of noplace?”
The Lost Boy swallowed. “What, exactly, are you implying?” At Ranma’s bland, unchanging expression, he shook his head vehemently. “Naw. You’re trying to trick me into saying I think your girl form’s hot, or something. And then you’ll tell Akane, throw it back in my face...”
Ranma shrugged. “You’re the one who brought it up. Why?”
The other boy froze. “I just... I don’t know. I was... I was worried.”
“So you do think about me?”
“No! I mean... like a friend thinks about...”
“The other day, you wouldn’t admit we were friends when we really were. I think that, now you admit we’re friends, we’re probably already a little bit beyond that,” Ranma cut in.
Ryoga stood. “I don’t know why the hell I talk to you, you idiot! I’m trying to make some sense of this, here, and all you do is...”
Ranma leapt to his feet as well, swearing quietly under his breath; but he seemed more agitated with himself than with the Lost Boy. “I’m sorry, Ryoga. I’m doing the best I can. What I meant was, what made you worry?”
Ryoga eyed him suspiciously. “W-well... for awhile there, you were moping. The crying was just the culmination, you’d been different all along. I worried the curse was finally getting to you, or something.”
Ranma nodded. “Not exactly, but I guess I can see where you got the idea.”
“And then you seemed to be so close to Akane, and I didn’t know what to make of that, but also closer... to me. To everyone.”
“I’m close with Akane like a friend,” Ranma murmured.
“Oh? Now that you can admit you’re friends, maybe you’re really something much more...”
“Touche.”
“Anyway, it kept bugging me.”
“Sorry I was taking up so much space.”
“Well, you were! What was I supposed to do? Say, ‘gee, Ranma, you’ve got me worried?’”
“And yet, in the end, that’s exactly what you did.”
Ryoga smiled weakly. “Yeah. I ran out of ideas.”
They shared a small, strained laugh. “Ryoga?”
“What?”
“Thanks for worrying. You an’ Akane noticed. No one else really did.”
“Oh. Well... you’re welcome, I guess.”
“Now, back to the question at hand.”
Ryoga gulped audibly.
“Do you actually want to kiss me?”
The Lost Boy shook his head vehemently.
“I don’t mean like this, idiot,” Ranma snapped, gesturing towards his male form.
“If I say no, you’ll think I’m saying you’re ugly as a girl or something. If I say yes, you’ll call me a pervert and hit me from here to kingdom come. Either way I lose.”
Ranma smiled evilly. “You might as well tell the truth, then.”
The other boy’s eyes darted nervously, as though searching for some way to engineer an escape. “Well... I mean... of course, I’m curious about it, the first one was really – I mean... er, it wasn’t so bad...” He stared helplessly at Ranma’s grinning features. “Aw, crap.”
“So you liked it.”
Ryoga closed his eyes tightly. “Well...”
“A lot?”
“Given the circumstances... I guess. I mean, it was crazy it was okay at all...”
Ranma smiled. “That’s good then. I liked it a lot, too. You’re a decent kisser for your age.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just how many people have you been kissing, anyway?”
“That’s none of your business,” Ranma replied coldly. “Unless – you want to make it your business?”
There was a brief period of silence as Ryoga absorbed this statement. “W-what do you mean?”
Ranma merely smiled, a little bit awkwardly, more than a little bit nervously.
“Are you serious? You’re not serious.” When Ranma merely raised an eyebrow at him, Ryoga paused, a thunderstruck expression painted across his features. “Man...”
“Took the words right outta my mouth, buddy.”
Ryoga shook his head in consternation. “My brain hurts.”
“That’s okay. I wouldn’t think that’s all that strange, in your case.”
“Shut up, Ranma.” Ryoga shook his head again. “I... I need to go somewhere to think for awhile.”
Ranma eyed him anxiously. “All right. But I need to give you something before you go. You just wait right there. Okay? Understand? Don’t move.”
“Geez, got it, got it.”
Five minutes later, Ranma bounded to the roof, bright red hair flying out behind her in the breeze, unbound, whipping like a flag.
Ranma smiled at him tentatively, then with increasing confidence as she read his expression. She strode up to him and allowed her smile to break into a bright grin. And then she kissed him.
Ryoga was slightly less surprised, this time; although he would have liked to have been able to pretend that he hadn’t been expecting such a gift, his subconscious had been more than expecting it. Her arms rose to cross behind his neck, her nose nudged lightly against his, and her hips rested almost imperceptibly against his.
And then there was her lips, of course, which darted in and out and between his, her tongue running gently across his lower lip. He found himself leaning against her, pressing her to him desperately, part of him thinking that Ranma would soon realize just what she was doing, and with whom.
When they parted for air, the redhead’s smile was small again, sweet and awkward again, as though she were a little bit embarrassed at her display – but her eyes showed no remorse, and a certain joy in the courage that led her to claim him so unashamedly. “Now,” she said, in a quiet, intimate voice that brought shivers up and down Ryoga’s spine, “now... go think it over, Ryoga...”
Nabiki opted to sleep in Akane’s room rather than take Sachiko away with her. Ranma found it in her heart to be grateful. She might have to wait five years to see Sachiko again, after tonight.
Ryoga was seated across from her on their bed, his grey-green eyes closed, lashes resting against his cheeks. He was seated Indian-style, and holding her hand.
Ranma suppressed the urge to scoot closer for comfort. She didn’t know what she was wishing more vehemently – that this could work, or that it couldn’t. She wanted to stay with Ryoga so badly... but she couldn’t leave that other Ranma to repeat those six years until death found her. It was impossible for her to blithely ignore someone in trouble like that. “Ryoga...” she whispered.
His hand tightened around her own, and she broke her promise not to ease closer to him.
“Ryoga, will you look at me?” she demanded, but softly.
His eyes opened and regarded her somberly. “Yes?”
Her jaw firmed. “Would you kiss me?”
Ryoga’s brows lifted abruptly in surprise. “Ranma...?”
“I want to know for sure,” she replied cryptically. “I want to kiss you when things aren’t so certain between us. I want to kiss you not as your wife. Do you know what I mean?”
Ryoga shook his head, bemused. “No...”
“I guess I want to know if I really love you, or if it was just...”
“What, atmosphere?”
“Don’t laugh at me, you jerk. I’m being serious, here.”
“Do you think you maybe fooled yourself into liking me?”
“I said ‘love’. The least you can do is say the same,” Ranma snapped.
“Sorry.”
“Things don’t seem to move in synch with us. I’m falling apart, you’re together. I’m together, you’re falling apart.” She grinned weakly. “I wanna kiss, you wanna kiss. But almost never at the same time.”
He returned her small smile. “Oh, I want to kiss...”
“But now that I’m underage, your golden little heart feels guilty? Ass.”
Ryoga’s smile looked sick for a minute. “Now that you’re not my wife, exactly, my golden little heart feels guilty,” he temporized.
“Oh, so age doesn’t come into play at all?”
“A little.”
She smiled. “How about I take it out of your hands?”
Sighing, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ranma, I know it’s you in a way. But it feels a little...”
“A little like cheating?”
He nodded morosely.
“Damn you and your Boy Scout ways,” she taunted, but something inside her – that expansive feeling she’d gained with his arms around her – was combusting, dying a slow, ashy little death. “So I’ll never know if we really love one another...”
“That’s not true.” He drew her head into his lap and began stroking Ranma’s red hair, teasing it between his fingers. “How’s that?”
She closed her eyes. “It’s... surprisingly nice.”
“Mmm. I always liked your hair.”
She wished he could talk about something else, something more pertinent, more weighty; something she could hold on to. “Let me know if I’m making it hard for you to concentrate,” she murmured, then realized that could be taken in more ways than one.
“Heh.”
At least he’d thought it was funny, instead of just another clumsy attempt to go farther down the unbeaten path. Ranma had been as forward as her pride would allow her, and now she had to keep quiet, while Ryoga searched in his mind for the place from which he’d stolen her. Perhaps even for the state of mind in which he’d exercised his power.
And what, then? she had to wonder, searching for something to think about. Say this works. And I’m back, back to being ‘Saotome Ranma: Man Amongst Men’. The very thought actually made her shudder. And then I’ll be...
Visions of laughing easily with the Tendo girls, of kissing Ryoga, ran through her head with a painful clarity.
That will be gone. Sachiko...
“I wanna see Sachiko.”
“She’s asleep, Ranma.” Ryoga’s fingers continued to stroke Ranma’s hair.
“No! I wanna see her...!”
Ryoga caught her tears with his thumb, then leaned down to kiss both of her eyelids, teasing the moisture away like he had... Kami-sama, had it been just that morning? Or the morning before that?
“I know you’ll have your wife back,” Ranma said, the broken undercurrent to her voice surprising even her, “but I’ll have to wait for you. Don’t you feel any pity?”
Ryoga pulled her to him rather suddenly, shifting her to a seated position. After a determined gaze into her wet eyes, he pressed his lips demandingly to hers.
Ranma melted into him, her hands gripping his hair roughly. They broke after several minutes, panting, their foreheads resting against one another. Desperation, Ranma found, made a great aphrodesiac. She thought she might even sleep with Ryoga in such a state, without any reservations until the morning after. Amazing what a little despair can do... And that, Ranma realized, was finally enough to convince her. After all, you didn’t feel this way about leaving a friend, even a really good one.
“Don’t you remember, Ryoga? Don’t you remember what I told you?”
His eyes scanned her face, astute, as always, at assessing her condition, almost reading her thoughts. “It’s running through my mind over and over.”
“What I said about throwing my manhood away for a lie...”
“I know, Ranma. I know.” He stroked her hair, his other hand resting at the small of her back.
“No... I mean, it’s... it’s not a lie. It’s real.” She stared into his eyes until his head dipped slightly in acknowledgement, in understanding.
“It’s close to midnight. I’ll keep trying, though. Do you want to lie down?”
Ranma blinked away tears and eased herself down onto the bed, her head pillowed once more in his lap, her eyes locked to his. “Geez, Ryoga, huh? Who would’ve pictured this way back then?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “Or right now, depending on how you look at it.”
He grinned at her in return, lopsidedly. “Yeah, right? Never – not me and you. Not even under the influence of magical fishing rods, love potions, or cursed jewels.”
“With a beautiful little girl sleeping upstairs.”
“Nabiki would resent that,” Ryoga quipped, trying for humor. “Don’t you think?”
“Smartass,” Ranma replied, transferring her eyes from his to the living room ceiling. “What time is it now?”
Ryoga looked at his watch. “Twelve-oh-one.”
“Happy Anniversary, then,” she replied.
For a moment, Ryoga was silent in the darkness. “How...?”
“The girls let me know. It’s the fifth one, isn’t it? I hope this works. The fifth is special, right? You should spend it with her... not some last-second stand-in. Right?” She yawned.
“Ranma...”
“Don’t say a word, Hibiki,” she whispered.
“Is it okay to say, ‘Happy Anniversary to you, too’?”
“Whether it is or not, you’ve said it.” She smiled at him, though. “And thanks. Even if I don’t seem to recall marrying you. Or having your kid. Or anything but your being angry... and my being obnoxious.”
“Ranma,” he whispered again, a faint reproach in his voice.
“Yeah, I know, I know. All in the past. For you. For me, that’s the present. Possibly the future.”
“No! Ranma... please try to get along with me. Please! I can’t stand the thought of six more years of wandering without anything to my name but a stupidly heavy umbrella and a lot of depressive chi, you know?”
“Heh.” Ranma grinned at him, her eyelids heavy. “No prob, Ryoga. I swear I’ll be good to you. At least as good as you’ve been to me.”
The lines in his face smoothed, relaxed. “Thank you.”
Ranma couldn’t think where she’d ever heard the words said with quite that much conviction. It gave her own casual promise much more weight. “Ryoga?”
His attention was all for her. Ranma wondered if she’d go into withdrawl if she made it back. He always listened to her so completely; no one back home had ever done that for her.
“I do love you, you know,” she told him.
He smiled like the sun rising on a cold morning. “I’ll love you, too,” he whispered, and touched his lips to hers.
Ranma closed her eyes to hide the fact that they were filling, turning away from him to hide her features. Several minutes later, she finally dropped off into an uneasy slumber.
Ranma jolted awake, gazing around Akane’s bedroom. “Whaaa...?”
She didn’t understand. One minute, she’d been kissing her future husband on the roof of her house, the next... waking up here.
She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d dropped off while dusting, the last thing she recalled before her impromptu ‘trip’, and had a horrible, horrible nightmare. Not that it was so bad towards the end, she decided, a silly smile forming.
“Ryoooga!” she called, re-claiming the dust rag that she’d left hanging half off of the yellow lampshade that sat on Akane’s bedside table. She gave the shade a halfhearted swipe and slipped out of the bedroom door.
She peered around. The lights in the house were still off, and the glow around her made her realize that it was very early morning, perhaps four or five. She crept to Sachiko’s room and peered in, surprised to find Nabiki curled up in a futon on the floor. She had to wonder when Nabiki had popped by to stay over, and why neither she nor Ryoga had opted to wake her up to let her know.
Sachiko stirred in her sleep, whispered, “mama...”
Ranma gasped, then clapped her hand to her lips to prevent herself from waking the baby. Sachiko had uttered her first word...
Ranma shook off her shock and pleased surprise, and began to ascend to the room that she and Ryoga shared, tiptoeing through the half-open door.
Ryoga was sprawled inelegantly against the sheets, one leg straight, the other bent, arms at odd angles. She crept up to him and grinned, preparing to pounce.
The grin faded as her careful eye caught tear-tracks on his cheeks and the sorrow on his face, even while he slept. She changed her mind abruptly and crawled over to perch by him, leaning over to shake him awake. “Ryoga... Ryoga!”
He stirred, scanning the room for a moment before his eyes focused on her face. “Ranma.” He sat up rather gingerly, rubbing the small of his back; Ranma realized that the position he was in had to be uncomfortable.
She placed a warm hand on his shoulder. “What’s the matter?”
Ryoga sighed heavily, scrubbing a hand through his already-dissheveled hair. “I’ve failed you,” he said quietly.
“Failed me? Failed me how?”
Ryoga shook his head. “I can’t do it. I’ve tried and tried.”
The redhead frowned. “Are you still dreaming, Ryoga-kun?”
“Still... dreaming?” He took her by the shoulders and gazed into her blue eyes. “I don’t know...” he murmured, a small grin breaking out onto his features. “Am I?”
She shook her head slowly.
“Ranma?”
“Yesss?” she drawled, startled.
He issued a whoop and dragged her from the bed, swinging her through the air as she shrieked and giggled.
“What’s got into you?” she demanded when he finally set her feet once more on the ground.
He pulled her tee shirt up to view her stomach, running his fingers lovingly over her scar.
“Well, whatever it is,” she breathed, “I wish it got into you more often!”
Ryoga searched her eyes one last time, his expression desperate. “It is really you?”
“No, the Easter Bunny,” Ranma replied. “Who were you expecting?”
His gaze continued to pierce her for a moment longer before he wrapped her up in a bone-crushing hug. “Kami-sama,” he breathed. “Thank you...”
Ranma’s expression had shifted to worry by the time she withdrew. “Now you’re scaring me,” she said quietly. “What happened? Don’t tell me... I really left?”
He nodded.
“Oh, God, Ryoga. How long!”
“Five and a half days,” he replied, somber.
“I’m so sorry! You must’ve gone crazy looking for me...”
“No... because... well, I thought I already had you,” he said. “You were here... in a way. Only, er, younger...”
Ranma’s eyes widened. “I... see. I think.” She whirled around, eyes searching, until she discovered Causality Loops and You. Dragging the book out, she began to flip through it.
“Where did you send her back? Or... I should say, when?”
“Right after I sent her here,” Ryoga replied.
“I thought so,” she said after a moment or two of quick scanning.
“Then... shouldn’t you recall everything that happened? Including what happened this week? I mean, that was you, too,” Ryoga replied. “In your past. So...”
Ranma shook her head. “I remember figuring it out at some point, when I first bought the book – although at the time, I wasn’t sure why I was concerned, or even why I bought the stupid thing.”
Ryoga observed the volume – its pages were worn and its spine was cracked. It was obvious Ranma had read it several times.
“It’s because of when you sent her back,” she replied. “Look, I can’t have been in nineteen ninety-eight at the same time as the other Ranma. We’d have met one another, which we didn’t.”
He puzzled that over for a moment. “So you’re saying I sent her back to the wrong spot?”
“Well – yes, in a way. You ended up creating a slightly different timeline, separate from this one. That’s why I don’t recall anything that happened while she was here. I am not quite the future her...” She closed the book, rubbing her right temple with her free hand. “Ugh. My brain hurts.”
“So there’s no you in the past.”
“Never was,” Ranma replied blithely. “At least, not in the universe in which she now finds herself. In ours, however... ah. I think I’ve got it. That’s why I recall everything...”
“Will she?” Ryoga inquired, his voice going suddenly quiet as he remembered the promise he’d extracted from the redhead, reaching out to grip Ranma’s right hand in his. “Will she remember everything?”
Ranma’s expression softened to something like pity as she squeezed his hand in return. “Ah, yes,” she said softly. “Yes, she certainly will.”
“I will,” Ranma whispered again. “Please listen when I...” She blinked awake. “Uh... did it work?”
She gazed around. She was in Akane’s room, which did not look any different from before. She looked down at herself, then shook her head in consternation. Presumably that wouldn’t help; it hadn’t helped the last time, either.
“Ugggh,” Ranma said softly to herself as her stomach roiled and her head pounded. Apparently, the hangover was back in full force. “W-what happened?”
Ryoga came through the door, a pained expression on his face. “Geez, are you all right? I thought you were gone for sure...”
Ranma sighed, a bouyancy filling her as she realized that she could wait a little while before saying goodbye to Sachiko and Ryoga. “Thank goodness.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
For a moment, he struggled in surprise. Don’t worry, Ryoga, I don’t mind! In fact, I’m relieved... And I am your wife, you idiot! Or close enough...
After a moment or two, Ryoga slumped bonelessly, letting her guide the kiss, and eventually wrapping his arms around her and pressing her to him.
When Ranma drew back for air, Ryoga’s eyes fluttered open languidly – then widened to stare at her with a wild terror.
“Ryoga...” she whispered softly. “Ryoga, what’s wrong? I’m sorry, I know I’m not exactly your wife, but...”
He pulled away from her and stumbled out the door.
Ranma’s eyes flew after him like startled birds. “What...?”
Nabiki was standing in the doorway, staring at her like she’d lost her mind. Nabiki, with a shoulder-length bob cut, and... and a camera in her hands... and staring at her like...
Ranma’s legs slid out from under her. Wait. But... no... this... this didn’t happen to me. I didn’t start that kiss! She did! Ryoga’s wife!
“Ranma...” Nabiki finally said. She grinned cheekily at the startled redhead. “Boy, are these gonna sell for a fortune!”
Ranma looked after her blankly, vainly having expected Nabiki to ride to her rescue like she had only... only moments before... “No, wait...” Ranma said aloud, but Nabiki had already disappeared down the hallway. The redhead staggered to her feet. But if I didn’t change places with her... if I’m back here at the exact same moment I left... then... then...?
Then there hadn’t been anybody to switch places with?
Then she was the one stuck in the loop! She was in the past and the future... her! Her mind snatched at the concept, but it seemed to evade her... how could she be in two places at once?
Well, it wasn’t quite two places at once, she reasoned slowly. In effect, the Ranma who was waking up in Akane’s room in two thousand four was now her past, and this was her future...
And yet, if both women were her, what, then, would happen when she turned twenty-three? Would she come back here – again, jolted back by her husband’s spell? And live those same six years again, only to be jolted back – again? And again, and again, until she went insane or died a natural death? When I’m fifty-eight... will I wake up in this bed... again? Will anyone even be able to tell I’m me by that point? Will my life restart, every six years...?
Ranma’s eyes widened, then blanked as she began to slowly but surely grasp – not understand in some vague and intellectual way, but truly grasp – the concept of eternity... Her future circled out before her like some gigantic snake, determined to crush her in its coils.
Author’s Notes:
Sorry to cut that off riiiight there. I think that the concepts that the Ranmas grasp because of their practical positions are actually very difficult to grasp if you’re not in the situation yourself, so it seemed a good place to close, to allow for... rumination.
I think I’ll take a moment to state that, in terms of logistics, this is the most annoying story ever. Let’s just say that multiple diagrams, with arrows, stick-figures and timelines were employed.
I will also add that Ranma-future is correct in her assumption, and Ranma-past is incorrect. Why make it two disparate timelines? Isn’t that unnecessarily complicated? Work it out on paper if you must. Every other way leads to loops like the one Ranma-past believes herself stuck in.2 I wanted a happy ending, so I couldn’t end with one of the Ranmas stuck in a causality loop for all eternity, or until she died a natural death.
This, folks, is not the end!
1 Just a gentle reminder that nothing, nothing, happened last night. Get your mind out of the gutter.
2 If you can find another, less complicated way, let me know. Of course, you’ll have to explain – coherently – how your idea does NOT lead to a causality loop. So far, this is the only concept I have found that even has the possibility of not leading to one – and even it is on slightly shaky theoretical ground.
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