Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Choices ❯ Consequences ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

{} = Thoughts
[] = Chinese


Choices
By: Dyne <paradised@yahoo.com>
Part 4
Consequences

Ranma sat inside of his tent studying the map, but his thoughts
were elsewhere. He, Ukyo, and Shampoo had left Nerima a week ago
on their journey. However, all three had to carry their own individual
tent because not only would it have been a dangerous idea for either
one of the girls to share his tent, but the two argued so constantly
during the trip that he was afraid if they shared a tent, one of them
would have been dead the next morning.
{Why can't those two just get along?} he thought, {at least
there haven't been any major fights in the past couple of days. If I was
travelling alone, I'd already be on my way back.} They had set up
camp just a few minutes beforehand and he could smell dinner being
cooked. It was Ukyo's turn to prepare the meal and the smell of the
okonomiyaki from the portable grill made his mouth water. Making
the food had been another argument. Both girls fought over who would
get to cook for Ranma first, and although it was decided with a coin
toss, Shampoo didn't take her loss gracefully.
Ranma shook the thoughts from his head and actually got back
to the study of the top portion of the map. He didn't get very far as he
heard a knock in the door of his tent and Shampoo's voice say, "Ranma,
spatula girl say dinner ready."
"Thanks," he answered, "be out in a minute." He heard the
Amazon walk away, counted to 20, then put the map aside and left the
tent, heading for the fire. He had learned right away not to leave the
tent immediately after Shampoo would tell him dinner was ready. She
would tackle him if he didn't wait for her to leave, so he had to drag her
over to the fire, prompting Ukyo's jealousy. When he arrived he found
the two sitting on a log, already eating. It didn't matter where he sat as
they would always move to be next to him, so rather than worry about
it, he just sat between them.
"Glad you could join us, Ranchan," Ukyo said as she scooted
up closer to him and handed him a plate stacked with five
okonomiyaki. He smiled and looked to see what her daily message
was. There had been her usual array of hearts, smiling faces, and
winking faces, but tonight there was a written message in sauce on the
top one. It read, "Midnight, up by the cliff." He looked back at Ukyo,
who just winked before continuing her meal. He inhaled the top
okonomiyaki before Shampoo could see it, then joined the girls in
routine dinner conversation.

When midnight came, Ukyo was sitting nervously on a rock
at the meeting place. {I don't know how he'll take what I have to say,},
she thought, {but I don't even know what to say.} She was still in her
normal okonomiyaki seller's outfit, but left her weapons in the tent.
Only someone as crazy as the three of them would travel this far out, so
she felt safe under the blanket of stars and the light of the full moon.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard oncoming footsteps from
behind.
"Ucchan?" Ranma's voice called quietly.
"I'm over here on the rock," she answered. Soon he sat and
joined her.
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
Ukyo sighed, "To be honest, I don't know."
"Are you just nervous because we should arrive at the ruins
tomorrow?"
"That might be it, but I think I just wanted to spend some quiet
time with you. We haven't had much time to talk lately."
"Yeah, things have been pretty crazy."
"You know, Ranchan, when I first got sick all I could feel was
self-pity; I couldn't get to school, there was no one to run the shop, and
I'd have been stuck in bed alone for a week. Until you knocked on my
window, I honestly felt that nobody would notice me gone and no one
would visit me. But when you did come, to even cut class to visit, my
world turned around. Even when you had to leave, you made sure
someone would be there for me, and you practically risked your life in
doing so. I just realized that I never really thanked you properly."
"Ucchan," he said, "you've thanked me for it and more
already. I never asked you to help when Ryoga dropped the map in
your shop. And if it hadn't been for your volunteering and searching,
we might never have found the location of the ruins."
"Yes, but for some reason I'm worried."
"Worried?"
"Yes, I volunteered to help with this journey because: One - I
want to be close to you, and Two - I want you to be happy. If it takes
the complete removal of your curse to make you happy, I'd travel the
ends of the earth with you to find that cure. But with this method, these
ruins, and this treasure we don't know if it even exists, just gives me a
terrible feeling." A cold with blew through the top of the cliff, causing
her to shiver.
"Hey, it'll be okay," he said as he surprised her by putting his
arm around her shoulders, "if the treasure is a fake, I'll still be the one
who's cursed, right?"
"True, but I can't shake this feeling that we'll be torn apart
somehow." She didn't realize as she leaned her head over onto his
shoulder. He didn't seem to care.
"Ucchan, I'm not about to let anything bad happen to you.
You're my pal and no one could replace you."
"Thank you, Ranchan," she could feel a red tinge come to her
cheeks and thought, {But will I ever be anything more?}
"Feeling better?" Ranma asked.
"Much," she sighed, "but can we just sit here a little longer?"
"Sure."
No more words were exchanged between the two as Ukyo
looked up at the stars. She {was} feeling better and much safer in
Ranma's arms. She didn't know how long it was, nor how many
shooting stars flew by before she fell asleep.

<center><img src="choices4_picture.jpg" alt="Drawn by
Suicide"></center>

The next morning, back in Nerima, Nodoka was walking up to
the front gate at the Tendo's. She had planned to arrive just after Akane
and Nabiki had left for school. Her plan was to try and spend most of
the day alone with Genma and Soun, so that just left Kasumi to get
away from the house. She was prepared with every tactic to hopefully
make either of the two men nervous enough to confess about Genma's
curse. She had only walked down the sidewalk when she saw Kasumi
leaving the house and carrying a plate.
"Good morning, Kasumi-chan," Nodoka greeted.
"Auntie Saotome," she chirped, "good morning! What brings
you here today?"
"There is something I wish to discuss with your father and my
husband if he's around, and maybe cook dinner for all of you tonight."
"Well, Father is inside playing Shogi with Ranko-chan's pet
panda. I was just on my way to take some rice balls to Tofu-sensei.
Have you ever met him?"
"I'm afraid I haven't."
"He's a funny young man who's been our family doctor ever
since he earned his degree. Akane always speaks highly of him and I
have to agree with her. After I visit him, I have some errands to run. If
you need to shop for some ingredients for dinner, I'll gladly pick them
up for you."
"Would you really?" Everything was all going according to
plan. She pulled out a list of what she would need to buy and the
needed money and handed them to her, "Thank you very much."
"Oh my," Kasumi slightly gasped at the list, "Auntie you must
be cooking a feast for us tonight."
"They're all my husband's favorites. But if you want me to
come I'll gladly accompany you."
"No, it will be my pleasure."
"Thank you again, Kasumi-chan. Good-bye for now."
"Bye, Auntie Saotome," she said happily as she walked out
through the gate. Nodoka smiled at she entered the house.
{It begins,} she thought.

{What the hell was I thinking last night?} Ranma thought as
he, Shampoo, and Ukyo made their way through the trees and brush, {If
either Shampoo or Akane had seen me with Ucchan last night or
coming out of her tent when I put her to bed, I'd be in a hospital right
now.} He took a quick glance over to her, she was in the lead using her
spatula like a machete to cut away plants, {But still, it was the most
relaxing few minutes in the last month.} He had good timing in ending
his thinking, for when he saw Ukyo cut through another patch of tall
brush, he heard her exclaim, "Ranchan! This is it! We're here!"
"All right!" he shouted as he cut through the brush with
Shampoo following behind. Sure enough, on the opposite end sat a
clearing in which stood an enormous statue of a dragon that was worn
and weathered with age. The mouth of the dragon was fully open,
revealing a descending staircase.
"Not exactly what I thought it would be like," Ranma said
aloud as he looked down into the darkness.
"We go inside?" Shampoo asked.
"Yep," he answered as he reached into his pack and produced
six torches, "we'll need a fire to light these. Any wood around here?"

It didn't take the trio very long to find enough wood to build a
big enough fire. While they had it going, Ukyo convinced the other
two to eat an early and big lunch as they had no idea how long they
would be inside.
"You've waited this long," she said as she flipped a fresh
okonomiyaki into Ranma's hands and starting another, "15 more
minutes won't kill you."
"Why is spatula girl wanting to hesitate?" Shampoo piped up,
"she afraid?" She saw Ranma wince.
"It's only common sense for survival," Ukyo shot her a glare.
"Hmph!" the Amazon simply grunted and looked away. The
rest of the meal was eaten in silence.
With their torches lit and supplies ready, Ranma took the first
step inside to lead the way down into the depths of the earth. It didn't
take long before all three of them lost count of the stairs.
"How far down do these things go?" Ranma half-asked/half-
complained after 20 minutes. The light from the combined torches did
a fine job in illuminating the path ahead, but it was another five
minutes before the light showed a flat surface below. The entire
hallway was hewn out of a dull stone that had to be incredibly strong to
withstand the weight of all the earth above it.
"How far down are we?" Ukyo asked as they reached the
bottom.
"No idea" Ranma said and "Not know" Shampoo answered at
the same time.
"I'm guessing that we're about here on the map," she pointed
to a spot on her copy, "this stupid thing doesn't show anything about
elevation."
"If you're right, then there should be a fork coming up ahead...
there it is," Ranma observed and stopped.
"Which way we go?" Shampoo asked, also stopping.
Ukyo stepped ahead into the lead before she stopped and
studied the route for a few moments. "It looks like the shorter way is
left," she said as she began to walk down the passage. Ranma started to
follow at a distance of only a couple of paces, but just as she got only a
few meters inside, there was suddenly a loud RUMBLE and a thick
stone wall raised up out of the floor between them!

"Ucchan!" Ranma coughed as he ran into the settling dust and
banged on the wall, "Ucchan, can you hear me?! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine!" she shouted from the other side, although still hard
to hear, "The other path still leads to that big room, we'll just meet up
there!"
"Okay, you be careful!"
"You too, Ranchan. Later!" he couldn't hear her walk away.
A feeling of dread entered into his stomach, knotting it up as he turned
around to see Shampoo beaming.
"Ranma alone with Shampoo in dark," she cooed, "aiyah..."
{Doesn't she know when to stop?} he thought, then gave her a
cold look.
"This isn't the time or place for this," he said icily. She only
smiled.
"Just tease Ranma, we have fun when is all over."
Ranma only sighed then started down the down the other path.
"Come on," he gestured, "we have to stick close together so we don't
get separated either." Shampoo was thrilled with the idea.
He had no idea as to how long they had been walking. The
two had traversed for several kilometers down the passage, which
twisted and turned a nearly countless number of times. The only
audible sounds were their echoing footsteps and breathing.
"Ranma" Shampoo suddenly asked out of nowhere, "you
worry for spatula girl?"
As usual, Ranma's voice spoke before his mind, "Of course
I'm worried about her. She's a long-time friend of mine."
"Oh," she lowered her eyes, "would Ranma worry about
Shampoo?"
"Huh?" he stopped and looked at her.
"Shampoo remember what Ranma say on date," she leaned up
against the wall to rest for a moment, "and Shampoo decide that-" but
didn't get to finish as the wall rotated around 180 degrees, leaving only
a blank side where he had been looking at her.
"Dammit!" he cursed, running up to the wall and pushing
where she had been leaning, in vain, "Shampoo! Say something!"
There was no audible response.
"Goddammit! I knew I should have come alone!" he slunk
down to the ground, "If anything happens to either of those two I'll
never be able to forgive myself!" He clenched his fists again and
banged on the wall as hard as he could, "Ucchan! Shampoo! Nobody
asked either of you to come with me! Why did you come! WHY?!"
He sat there for several minutes taking deep breaths in an effort to calm
down and could easily imagine them answering him.
"You jackass," Ukyo would say, "haven't I promised you that I
would take care of you for the rest of your life?"
And Shampoo, "Shampoo love Ranma and do best to become
wonderful bride."
{Those two,} Ranma thought, {at least they're honest with their
feelings. Why can't I do the same? I'd better find them and get out of
here, even if we find the treasure or not, they're more important.} He
stood back up, composed himself, and began his journey again, alone.
"I hope Shampoo's all right," he said to himself after another
hour, ignoring the feeling of deja vu, "at least I could hear Ucchan tell
me she was fine. She's probably waiting for me and has the treasure."
During this time, he had had to light his second torch. It wasn't long
after that when its light fell upon the apparent dead end that he
recognized.
"Everything's exactly the same," he said as he ran his fingers
along the dragon carved into the doorway, smirked, "not everything,"
and gave it a push to open it a crack, then waited for it to open itself the
rest of the way.
Only that never happened.
"Come on," Ranma shouted after several minutes, "open up
already!" The door still didn't respond.
"Fine then," he huffed and stepped back a few paces. As he
leapt off the ground he expected the door to open and readied himself
to land on the ground... not to hit the door and land on his butt.
"Ow..." he muttered as he stood, "right on the tail bone," then
looked up to see the door open. {Whoever made these ruins sure likes
to torment me,} he thought as he entered the chamber, {looks like I got
here first.}
Ranma immediately had to shield his eyes from the bright
glare that appeared out of the middle of the room. His eyes had been so
accustomed to the darkness that the sudden flash could easily have
blinded him. After a minute of letting his eyes adjust and listening to a
type of grinding, he opened them and saw the chamber fully
illuminated and the center pedestal fully risen. The glass container of
the crystal blue liquid stood on top.
"This is it..." he said in disbelief as he approached the
pedestal, "this is the treasure that can remove the effects of Jusenkyo."
He slowly reached for the vial...

Picked it up...

Raised it into the air...

And crushed it in his hand.

Ranma ignored the pain and blood coming from his palm as
the glass pierced it. He only watched the liquid fall to the floor and
soak in almost instantly.
"I don't know exactly who that was or if this was the cause,"
he announced, "but to let someone die because of this doesn't make it
worth it!"
His heart leapt into his throat when he heard a THUMP from
the entrance. {NO! Did it still happen?!} he thought as he spun around
looking at the top of the door. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw
nobody hanging from it, but worry entered him again when he saw
Ukyo sprawled face-down on the floor.
"Ucchan!" he cried and ran over. He kneeled next to her and
took her into his arms, "Ucchan! Wake up! Speak to me! Please,
Ucchan! Say something!" He was nearly hyperventilating, but
managed to calm down a little when he saw her still breathing.
"What is this place?!" Ranma shouted into the air.
"I shall answer that question," came a deep, powerful voice
from behind. Ranma whipped his head to see an apparition of a dragon
emerge from the carving on the door. The two looked exactly alike,
and for the first time, he noticed that the outside statue was the same as
well.
"Who are you?!" he demanded.
"I am one of the Guardian Dragon gods of the people of
Musk," it answered, "this is my shrine. I would tell you my name but it
is impossible for humans to pronounce."
"Your shrine?"
"Yes, this is my shrine where the ancient people of the Musk
would worship me and present their newly born princes. We are inside
the Chamber of Kings."
"What's up with that treasure?! Why would Ucchan have died
if I drank it?!"
"The treasure has no name, but it has been my gift to them.
However, because the Musk abandoned me, I cursed it more so than the
waters of Jusenkyo. Should any one drink it for the purpose of
removing that curse of Jusenkyo, the price is the life of the one person
who truly loves that person more so than anyone else."
"Truly loves...?" Ranma looked down at the unconscious
Ukyo. He remembered that she had told him many times that she loved
him. He had even asked her this question once. But it now finally
began to sink in.
"Tell me," Ranma said quietly, "why did you lead me here?"
"I did not lead you," the dragon replied, "I merely warned you
in a dream. You were the one who made the decision to seek these
ruins. It was pure happenstance that the map fell into your hands. It
originally belonged to Herb, who kept it in rather poor conditions. One
day, a large wind storm arose and the map was carried all the way into
Japan over the sea. It literally blew into the hands of The Wanderer,
but he never noticed."
"Wait a minute," Ranma looked back up, "if Herb knew about
this place, why didn't he come here?"
"The curse. He knows about it and would have had an even
harder time finding a mate if he killed the one who already loves him,
even though they have yet to meet."
"And I nearly killed Ucchan..." he said in disbelief and looked
at her again, "I told you that I'd never let anything bad happen to you,
and I nearly committed the worst sin against you..." He held her
unconscious form tightly against his chest and shouted without
hesitation, "I love you, Ukyo! I'd never trade you for anything! Please
wake up!"
"She will awaken in time," the dragon said calmly, "it was I
who brought her here."
"Brought her here...?" Ranma suddenly remembered
something, "What about Shampoo?!"
"Wait here and she will find you," it answered and began to
fade out.
"Wait!" he shouted, "I still have things to ask you! Why did
no one know about these ruins?"
"Because those who are not cursed of Jusenkyo are destroyed
by me should they attempt to enter this shrine. Because her life was in
your hands, I spared her. Now I have answered enough..." with that, it
was gone. Ranma just sat there, staring at Ukyo's face.
"Ucchan," he said quietly as he hugged her again, "forgive
me."

"[Where is Ranma?]" Shampoo asked herself in Mandarin as
she walked down the long corridor she'd been travelling since they
were separated. It was nice to be able to think in her own language for
once. She had heard him call out to her but she guessed he didn't hear
her reply. Along with the spatula girl, her map showed this passage
leading to the big room. After an hour of walking, she saw a huge flash
of light way off in the distance. It was only a dot to her.
"[Ranma must already be there!]" Shampoo exclaimed as she
broke into a run. It took her several minutes to reach the spot where the
light had come from. When she reached the large, illuminated room,
she ran into the doorway in time to see Ranma holding the spatula girl
and hearing him shout, "I love you, Ukyo! I'd never trade you for
anything!"
Shampoo stopped as she could feel her heart shattering, "[He
just said he loves her...]" she stepped back behind the door and dropped
to her knees as reality slammed into her at full force. It took several
minutes and all of her willpower to not break out in tears before she
could stand up. She entered the large chamber through the small door,
her footsteps loud.
"Who's there?" Ranma looked up, then sighed in relief,
"Shampoo! You're all right! I never saw that door you came from."
"Ranma," she said both cold and shakingly, "where is
treasure?"
He just shook his head, "The treasure is gone. There was
nothing here when I arrived. Ukyo's just exhausted. Let's get out of
here." As he spoke, he lifted the spatula girl onto his back and started
the long walk out. Shampoo sighed as she followed, holding her torch
for them to see. She knew what she had to do.

"Auntie Saotome, that was delicious!" Akane exclaimed as she
finished her dinner.
"Yeah," Nabiki added, "I can't eat another bite."
"I guess I still have a lot to learn about cooking," Kasumi
smiled.
Soun didn't say a word. He looked like he was ready to fall
apart.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Nodoka said, "I was hoping that
Genma could be here because they all are his favorite foods and I
imagine that he hasn't had much of them during the last 10 years." She
looked over at the panda. His bowl was still full of leaves and bamboo
shoots. He was eyeing the leftover food and visibly drooling.
"It's too bad that Panda-san shouldn't be eating this kind of
food," she said as she gathered it up, "would anyone like some tea?"
"Yes," all the girls chimed. Soun, still silent, just nodded.
{I must have really frightened those two today,} Nodoka
thought as she entered the kitchen and started making tea. During the
whole day they had managed to resist her attempts to get Genma to
confess about his Panda form. She had gone all out in mentioning
Ranma, engagements, other girls who might be interested in him, and
the legend of a cursed spring in China she had read about. But after a
day of failure, she was ready for her last attempt, and there would be
witnesses. After the tea had been prepared, she walked back into the
dining area.
"The tea's ready," she said happily then 'tripped' over her own
feet, sending the tray spilling all over the panda.

"Auntie Saotome!" Akane yelled, "are you all right?" She
looked over to where Nodoka had fallen, but found no one. She then
glanced over to the clearing steam and found her with her katana
drawn, standing over a trembling and begging Genma.
"Akane-chan," she said smirking, "I couldn't be better," as she
looked down at him, "now, husband, you have a little explaining to do
and we need to have a talk about what you've done to my son."
For the next few seconds, the only audible sound was
Kasumi's "Oh my..."

Then time had long past sunset when Ranma, still carrying
Ukyo piggyback, and Shampoo left the ruins and set up camp right
outside. His hand was still tender but the bleeding had at least stopped.
"Shampoo," he said, "I'm going to watch over Ucchan. Can
you please fix something to eat?"
The Amazon nodded in affirmative and soon had the fire
going. Ranma simply sat at Ukyo's side in the tent thinking about what
would have happened if he and Shampoo had cured their curses. He
had a guess as to whom she would have killed, but they wouldn't have
found that out until after returning to Nerima.
"I nearly killed the one who truly loves me," Ranma said to
himself, "here she is at arm's length and has been since we were
reunited," over and over again. He continued to apologize to her for his
blindness and kept pleading for her to wake up. He had done so for
nearly an hour before the fatigue of the day caught up to him and he fell
asleep sitting down.
Ranma snapped awake a few hours later. It was well past
midnight and the waning moon provided enough light to see outside
when he poked his head out. He wondered why Shampoo hadn't called
him for dinner.
"Shampoo?" he called quietly, in case she was still awake. No
answer.
"Shampoo?" he called again and walked over to where the fire
had been. Only a few glowing embers remained and a couple of very
cold bowls of noodles sat by them. Her tent was gone.
{Did she leave?} Ranma thought as he searched for clues,
{why would she go ahead without warning?} He finally found a note
addressed to him inside his own tent. It only had two words written on
it, "Bie lao..."


Several kilometers ahead, Shampoo was pressing herself to the
limit to get back to Nerima long before Ranma could make it. She
wanted to pack up and return to China as quickly as possible.
"[Hopefully great-grandmother will understand,]" she said to
herself, "[Ranma doesn't want to be with me. He'll be happy with the
spatula girl. She's the one he loves and it wouldn't change anything if I
killed her. It's very strange, I'm crying, but I feel glad for them...]"

Early the next morning, Ukyo finally began to open her eyes.
"Where am I?" she asked the air, but quickly recognized her
own tent, "how'd I get back outside? The last thing I remember was
getting close to that big chamber, then... I can't remember..." She
grasped her head, desperately trying to recall any experience, but a tired
voice startled her out of it.
"Ucchan?" Ranma said from the other end of the tent. When
he saw her awake, he rushed over and threw his arms around her,
"Ucchan! You're awake!"
"Ranchan?" she was confused, "How did I get back out here?
What happened? Did you find the treasure?"
He loosened his hold on her and looked her in the eyes.
"Ucchan," he said, "it's all my fault."
"Ranchan, what are you talking about?"
"The treasure. I found it, but learned almost too late that it
was cursed. If I'd used it instead of destroying it, you... you..." he
couldn't finish.
"Ranchan...?"
Ranma shook his head, trying to hold back his emotions, but
failed.
"You'd be dead right now!" he finally got out, then added,
"and I couldn't have handled that."
Ukyo slowly put her hands up to her neck, "So it wasn't a
dream."
"Dream?"
"Ranchan, the night I got sick I also had this terrible nightmare
where I was wandering around a pitch black space. Then I saw you and
called out to you. You heard me and gestured me to go to you, so I did.
When I got in front of you, you suddenly wrapped a cord around my
neck and started strangling me. What was strange, was that you looked
like you had no idea what you were doing."
"Ranma dropped his head again, "It almost became reality.
The curse of the treasure is the life of someone close to you. I just hope
you can forgive me."
"Ranchan," she took his hands, taking note that one was
bandaged, "I could never hate you."
"Do you mean that?" he looked back into her eyes.
"That's what being a friend is about," she smiled.
"Ucchan, you've always been there for me and I've never
responded in kind. I've learned my lesson now. What happened
yesterday, and nearly losing you, only taught me... how much I really
love you."
Ukyo's eyes widened. Did he just say the three words she'd so
longed to hear from him?
"I've made up my mind," he continued, "I take back the choice
of okonomiyaki. From now on, I choose Ukyo."
"Ranchan..." she was speechless and could tell that he was
nervous.
After a minute of silence, Ranma spoke again, "Kuonji Ukyo,
will you grant me the honor of becoming my bride?"
"Ranchan," she said quietly as her emotions shot through the
roof, "YES!" She threw herself into his arms and tears of happiness
immediately began to flow. All of the heartache, sorrow, pain, torment,
teasing, and rejection she had suffered to reach this moment had been
worth it. This was the happiest moment of her life.

Ranma didn't care what the consequences of this choice would
be. He didn't care about how the family honor would be affected when
he openly renounced his engagement to Akane. He didn't care how
she, Genma, Mr. Tendo, Cologne, Kodachi, or anyone else would react
to his choosing Ukyo. He held the woman he loved tightly to his chest
as she continued to cry her tears of joy. The choice had been made, and
for the first time in Ranma's life, the decision was his.

THE END