Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Choices ❯ Discussions ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

{} = Thoughts


Choices
By: Dyne <paradised@yahoo.com>
Part 2
Discussions

Ranma was only half-surprised that Shampoo had burst in
with the intention of killing Ukyo. He quickly threw himself between
the Amazon and the sickly okonomiyaki chef, grabbed Shampoo's
wrists, and squeezed the right pressure points to force her hands open,
causing her to drop her bonbori. He knew what the reaction would be
as Shampoo's eyes lit up and she gasped happily.
"Wo da airen!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms
around him in another hug.
{This is getting old,} Ranma thought, then explained,
"Shampoo, the reason I'm here with Ukyo is... Shampoo, are you
listening?" Shampoo was, as usual, rubbing her head against Ranma's
chest, muttering a happy "Aiyah..." every few seconds. He looked
over at Ukyo, who simply shrugged because she was in no condition to
argue. He pried the purple-headed girl from his chest and glared at her.
She got the message and let go.
"Listen, Shampoo," Ranma began again, "the reason I'm with
Ucchan is because she's sick," as if on cue, Ukyo coughed again.
Ranma continued, "and no one is around to take care of her. If you had
come and attacked a sick person, think of how bad it would be for your
honor."
Shampoo lowered her eyes. "Shampoo understand, wait until
spatula girl is well before killing." Ranma sighed then glanced back at
the map, still lying at Ukyo's side.
"Shampoo," he began again, "Can I ask for a favor?"
"What Ranma want?" she replied, her eyes lighting up.
"We found this old map and we need to know if you can read
the Chinese on the bottom." He picked up the map and handed it to
her. After pondering over it for a moment, she spoke.
"Is old Chinese, but Shampoo can read."
"Really? What does it say?" Shampoo's face developed an
impish smile.
"Shampoo only tell if Ranma date." He sweatdropped.
"O-okay," he stammered a bit, "I promise we'll go on a date
this weekend."
"No!" she countered, "Right now!"
Ranma swallowed hard again and looked back and forth
between Shampoo and Ukyo, then sighed and spoke, "Okay, but only a
walk in the park. Go home and get ready, but don't tell {anyone}.
{Especially} Akane, Mousse, or Cologne. Got it?" Shampoo nodded
and ran back out from where she had come in exclaiming "Aiyah! So
happy!"
Ranma turned back to his cute fiancé and sighed. "Sorry
Ucchan," he sighed, "I know you wanted me to stay." He blinked
when he saw her giggling uncontrollably.
"Don't worry about it," she said, "even though that she-devil
and I don't get along. I have to confess that sometimes she makes me
laugh. I should be asleep anyway."
Ranma smiled, but it didn't last long. "Is ill don't want to
leave you alone for too long. Now who can I ask to look over you and
maybe open up the shop after school's out?" He thought for a moment
before the light bulb in his head turned on.
"I've got it!" he exclaimed, "It's a bit risky but I know exactly
who to ask." He dashed back downstairs leaving a slightly stunned
Ukyo.

{What is Ranchan doing?} she thought, {He's curious about
that map but he's doing so much for me today.} Ukyo sighed and
slightly wished that he could stay, but wasn't going to force him,
especially after what they had just talked about. A few minutes later
she was surprised to see Ranma return in female form.
"I paid Nabiki a good sum of money for that information and
I'll be damned if I didn't put it to good use," Ranma-chan said, "My
replacement will be here in hopefully less than an hour. I'll try to patch
up the wall a bit before Shampoo gets back."
"Who's your replacement?"
"My mother, Nodoka."
Ukyo's jaw would have hit the floor if she still wasn't wearing
her mask.

A few minutes beforehand, Saotome Nodoka was sitting at her
table enjoying an afternoon cup of tea. But, as it had been happening
lately, the loneliness was beginning to overcome her. {Maybe I'll go
visit the Tendos again this afternoon,} she thought, {then maybe I can
catch Ranma when he gets home from school.} She sighed and set her
cup down just as the phone rang.
"Who could that be?" Nodoka asked herself as she stood up
and walked over to answer it, "Hello? Saotome residence."
"Auntie Saotome!" came an excited voice from the other end,
"How are you today?"
"It sounds like Ranko. Is this Ranko-chan?"
"Yes it is," 'Ranko's' voice replied, "I just got down here to
visit and Kasumi gave me a note from Ranma-"
"From Ranma?" Nodoka's spirits brightened upon hearing her
son's name.
"Yes, he said that one of his best friends is very sick and asked
that I take care of her until he could get home, but I have some
important errands to run and was wondering if you could help her out?"
The response came in less than a second.
"Certainly! It would be a wonderful opportunity to meet with
one of Ranma's friends personally."
"Thank you so much, Auntie Saotome! Do you know where
the Okonomiyaki Ucchan in Nerima is?"
"I believe so, I've walked by there a few times but have never
eaten there. Is Ranma's friend the nice young lady who I usually see
outside cleaning the walk and saying hello to everyone?"
"Yes, she is. Her name's Kuonji Ukyo."
"I'll go catch the next train to Nerima and be there within an
hour."
"Thanks again, Auntie Saotome. I'll tell Ranma to stop by if I
see him. Bye!"
"Bye-bye, Ranko-chan." With that she hung up. It would be a
nice change of pace to visit Nerima to help nurse someone back to
health instead of just visiting the Tendos and finding Ranma and
Genma gone. Nodoka quickly gathered what she needed and left to
catch the next available train.

{I'm dead if Pop finds out that I invited Mom up here,}
Ranma-chan thought as she hung up the phone and began to walk back
upstairs, {but at least I can trust her to watch after Ucchan. And if this
works out, I'll finally get to sit down and talk with mom as myself.
Ucchan'll definitely be surprised when she finds out who agreed to take
care of her.}

"Curse you, Ranma!" Ryoga shouted as he tried to figure out
where he was. The land was flat, with a few sparse trees along the
sides of a dirt path. He guessed that he had wandered into an open field
that was going to be used for farming. However, if he'd had turned
around, he would have seen a playground behind some of the trees. He
continued his trek to search for someone to ask directions on how to get
back to Nerima when, suddenly, he heard a loud SCREEECH behind
him. He turned to find a black car headed straight for him!
{No time to dodge!} Ryoga thought as he instinctively
extended his index finger and slammed it into the ground, yelling
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The resulting explosion formed a good-
sized mound of rocks between him and the car. The driver, who had
been going full throttle before, slammed on the brakes. But it did no
good as he collided head-on with the mountain of rubble. The front of
the car was reduced to half of the distance it measured from how badly
it crumpled up as not a pebble was displaced from the mound.
Ryoga was waiting was waiting right outside the door as the
driver stumbled out onto the ground.
"Where is the Tendo dojo?" he asked. The driver was even
more stunned! Here this kid had somehow blown up the ground in
front of him and he only did so to ask for directions?! The driver, still
shaken up from the crash, suddenly began to tremble as both men could
hear the sound of incoming sirens.
"Out of my way!" the man cried as he attempted to push
Ryoga aside and run past him. However, his legs felt only like jelly
and he wouldn't have gotten very far had legs leg been working
because he quickly found himself hoisted by the collar a good half
meter above the ground.
"Where is the Tendo dojo!" Ryoga asked again, sounding a
little annoyed, "Tell me how to get to Nerima at least. Then I'll let you
go."
The man was speechless and tried to stammer out a few false
answers but his vocal chords did not seem to be working. He dropped
his head and emitted a defeatist "I'm sunk" as about half a dozen police
cars pulled up and surrounded the two.
"FREEZE!" a young policewoman yelled as she and several
other officers piled out of their cars, aiming their guns at the man
whom Ryoga had caused to crash.
"I give up," the man sighed as he raised his hands in
surrender. He didn't resist as two of the officers took him from Ryoga
and escorted him into one of the cars. Ryoga, of course, had no idea
why the police had arrived and just arrested the one he had stopped.
"Good job, kid," the female officer who he'd seen first said as
she slapped him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him forward,
"you've got a big reward coming your way. We've been after this
criminal for months and managed to chase him after his latest job
today. But he'd somehow managed to avoid us until you showed up."
"Uh... thanks," was all that escaped Ryoga's lips as he
regained his balance and tried to figure out what had just happened,
"but I don't want any reward." The female officer nearly collapsed.
"N-no reward?" she asked, shocked, then turned to her partner
who was just coming out of the car, "Hey, Miyuki, did you hear that?"
"I think it's very honorable of him not to accept it, Natsumi.
After all, any good citizen would have done the same. Don't you
agree, young man?"
Ryoga only nodded, then slowly opened his mouth,
"Although... could you two possibly give me directions? I'm kind of
lost."
"You're in Bokuto Park," Miyuki assured him, "Where are
you headed?"
"The Tendo dojo in Nerima."
Miyuki and Natsumi looked at each other for a moment and
nodded before Natsumi pointed back to their car and said, "Hop in, I'm
sure the force won't mind us giving you a lift for helping us catch that
guy."
Ryoga's eyes brightened, "Really? Thank you very much. I
don't know how long it would've taken me to find my way back there."
After introductions were made, the three entered the mini
patrol car and drove off. Right after they had started, Natsumi spoke,
"Hibiki-kun, tell me a little more about yourself..."

Ranma sighed as Shampoo hugged his arm while they walked
along the park. She had returned only a few minutes after Ranma had
called his mother, turned back into a guy, and crudely patched up
Ukyo's wall, and she was dressed for what he must have thought was
going to be the most formal night of her life. Shampoo had spared no
expense in using make-up, jewelry, and her fanciest Chinese dress for
this date, despite how simple it was supposed to be. {Sure she looks
cute,} Ranma thought, {but isn't this kinda overdoing it a little?} One
of the primary reasons he had agreed to this date, besides wanting to
get the map translated, was that this was a good chance to be alone with
Shampoo for one sole purpose: to talk and maybe break something
through to her.
"Shampoo," he began, "can I ask you a few questions?"
"Anything, airen," she answered, only half paying attention as
she squeezed his arm more.
"Why are you still chasing after me?"
She blinked. "What Ranma mean? Shampoo love Ranma."
"I know. You've said you loved me ever since I beat you.
But in the few minutes before that happened you didn't even bat an eye
when you saw that I was a man while you were looking for the 'girl-
type' Ranma."
"Shampoo no understand."
"Let me put it this way. Do you say that you love me because
of who I am or because of your village's law? Would you have given
up on me after so long if your great-grandmother hadn't come with you
when you returned? Are the one who even made the decision to come
back to Japan just to get me to marry you?" The third question caused
a spark to ignite inside the Amazon's head.
"You mean that Shampoo trying to win Ranma not Shampoo's
idea?" she asked.
"You couldn't have said it better. I don't know much about
love, but it's not something you take by force, nor is it something
people can decide for you. Remember that incident with the Jewel of
Reversal? I tried hard to earn your love back, even though I thought of
it as a challenge. But Cologne was using your feelings to try and
manipulate us into marrying. If you truly love someone, wouldn't you
want them to be happy, even if you couldn't win their love?" By this
time, Ranma had felt like he was talking to himself instead of
Shampoo, but when he noticed that she didn't respond, he decided not
to say anything else. She did begin to talk again after a moment, but
she changed the subject. Ranma could see in her eyes, however, that
what he had just said was starting to leave a strong impression on her
mind.

Ukyo didn't know how long she had been sleeping before an
extra-powerful coughing fit forced her out of her slumber. Ranma had
asked her to get whatever amount of sleep she could right after
Shampoo returned and literally dragged him out of the store. As she sat
up, she took a look outside the window and noticed that a light rain was
falling, it even felt like that inside as she felt something that had been
on her forehead fall off and watched it land in her lap. It was a damp
cloth.
"Oh, I'm sorry," came a gentle voice from the doorway, "did I
wake you?"
Ukyo turned to the source of the voice and saw a near middle-
aged woman in a kimono standing there. Her features and how they
resembled Ranma's instantly told her who she was.
"No, it wasn't your fault," Ukyo sighed assuredly as she
scooted back a little to lean up against the head of the bed, "Saotome-
san."
"Oh good, I was afraid that I was making too much noise
when I came back upstairs to change your cloth. And yes, I'm
Ranma's mother, Saotome Nodoka. Ranko asked me to take care of
you this afternoon, Kuonji Ukyo-san."
"Oh there's no need to be so formal with me," Ukyo said,
smiling, "just call me Ucchan. It's Ranchan's nickname for me."
"Ranchan? Oh, you mean Ranma. But only on one
condition."
"What is that?"
"That you call me Auntie Nodoka."
"All right, Auntie, you win," Ukyo smiled again as she felt a
strong sense of peace with Ranma's mother here.
"By the way, Ucchan, while you're awake and I'm here I
wanted to tell you that your customers hope that you get well soon."
"That's nice of them, I need to remember to thank them..."
she blinked and fully realized what they'd just said, "My customers?
Did you open the shop, Auntie Nodoka? What time is it?"
Nodoka only giggled, "Closing time according to your chart
was 10 minutes ago and I had just finished cleaning up down there
before coming back in here. You've been asleep all afternoon. I don't
know if my okonomiyaki is as good as I'm sure yours are, but
everybody was understanding."
{Wow,} Ukyo thought, {she's absolutely amazing! Definitely
the kind of woman I hope to be able to call mother-in-law. Wait a
minute...}
"Auntie," she said, "has Ranma come by yet?"
Nodoka sighed and shook her head, "I'm afraid not. I've been
looking so forward to seeing him."
{That jackass!} Ukyo thought again, {I'll have to teach him a
good lesson! Who knows what that Amazon floozy is doing to him.}
"Ucchan?" Nodoka asked, breaking her train of thought,
"Ranko-chan told me that you and Ranma are good friends. May I ask
how you met?"
Ukyo swallowed hard. This was a story that she didn't want
to tell very often, especially now and to the one she was talking to. At
the same time, she wanted to confide in this woman, but also didn't
want her to think that her son wasn't the man among men she hoped he
had become. She guessed that Nodoka must have noticed her
hesitation when she said, "If you're not feeling up to it, you don't have
to tell me."
"No," Ukyo sighed, "it's okay." {I'll just leave out some
parts} she thought, and began her tale.
"I met Ranchan just a few weeks after he and Gen- I mean
Saotome-san started their 10-year training journey. My father and I
were also travelling around Japan with our yattai trying to raise enough
money to open our own okonomiyaki shop. We only had the yattai at
the time, but we were doing well and earning the money quickly.
Anyway, our families met in Kyoto where Ranma quickly became a
frequent customer. We became fast friends and played and trained
together every day as children should do. But after several weeks, the
time came for Ranchan to continue his journey. I wanted to go with
them but... I couldn't. I wanted to be as strong as Ranchan the next
time I saw him so every day for years I trained like nobody had ever
seen in my own martial arts style. After 10 years my father said I was
ready to make my own decisions, gave me enough money to start a
shop, and sent me to make my fortune. I found this building here in
Nerima and on my first day at Furinkan High School, there was
Ranchan in my class. You wouldn't have believed how surprised he
was to see me, and he hadn't forgotten about me either. We were
reunited and he's still a frequent customer." Ukyo half- giggled and
half-coughed as she finished her story, then sighed. It had been
difficult to embellish the story, but she didn't think that Nodoka would
be too happy about the truth: How their fathers had set up the
engagement between her and Ranma because he was always earning
free okonomiyaki, how Genma had tricked Ranma into "choosing"
okonomiyaki over her and stealing her dowry, how she had renounced
her womanhood and spent the 10 years training just in the pursuit of
revenge and restoring the Kuonji family honor, and how she had again
fallen in love with Ranma when he realized that she was a girl and
called her cute.
"What a touching story," Nodoka said, "It's just as the popular
saying goes, 'True love knows no bounds.'"
Ukyo snapped out of her thoughts about the past and raised
her eyebrows, "Love?"
"You don't have to hide it, Ucchan," she said, smiling, "I can
tell by the sparkle in your eyes whenever you say his name that you're
in love with my son."
{She is so smart!} Ukyo thought as her entire face took on a
shade of red, {But I guess she didn't sit around doing nothing for 10
years.} "I... um..." she began, but didn't get far as a loud whistle from
downstairs cut her off.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Nodoka gasped, "I had put some water
on for tea and I was going to make you some soup. I'll be right back,
Ucchan."
Ukyo watched as her new friend and Auntie hurried out of the
room and heard her rush downstairs. She leaned back and sighed again
as she closed her eyes to rest them for a little bit. She had only just
begun to relax when she heard a loud scream followed by an even
louder CLANG come from downstairs.

{Damn the rain!} Ranma-chan thought as she sprinted back
towards the Ucchan, {Not only do I turn into a girl, but I think that
damn curse also leads me to cold water when it's not wanted!} Luckily
for her, the storm had broken out right after Shampoo had given him
the translation of the characters on the map and returned home.
Although Shampoo had dragged the date for as long as she could, she
had at least kept her promise. {I hope Ucchan doesn't mind that I asked
Shampoo to help us find whatever's on the map. I think she'd be glad
to help me get rid of my curse.} When Ranma reached the
okonomiyaki shop she was surprised to find the front door unlocked.
"Ucchan?" Ranma asked as she stepped into the dining area
and looked around. She then heard the whistle of a teakettle from the
kitchen and grinned. {She must've put that on for me when she heard
the rain start.} Even though Ranma preferred a bath vs. a kettle of
boiling water to revert to male form, she had to make do with what was
available. After all, beggars can't be choosers. As she entered the
kitchen and prepared to pour enough water on herself to change back, a
loud cry came from nowhere.
"Ranko-chan!"
Ranma was a skilled martial artist, but the concerned voice of
his mother startled her into dropping the kettle onto the floor, after
bouncing off of his head and splashing most of the water onto her.

Nodoka was shocked to find Ranko inside Ukyo's kitchen
soaked from the rain and about to pour boiling water onto herself.
However it hadn't helped that she had startled her. The water emptied
from the kettle immediately began to steam up the room.
"Ranko-chan!" Nodoka cried, "Are you okay?" she ran up to
the figure in the steam and hugged it; only it didn't feel like Ranko, it
felt like a man. She quickly let go and once the steam cleared, saw that
it was indeed a man standing there. He had the same ponytail as
Ranko, but his hair was black.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
The young man dropped his head and reached back to scratch
it. A large sweatdrop appeared before he spoke, "Mother, I'm your
son, Saotome Ranma. Sorry about this."