Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Evil Kasumi Returns ❯ Fairness ( Chapter 7 )

This is not a professionally written story, as I am only a hobbyist writer. I’m not an English whiz, and most of the time those that I have pre-reading for me cannot catch every mistake I make. Oh yeah I do not own Ranma ½ nor any of the characters. If I did, things would be a lot different. But alas, all I can do is dream and think ‘what if …’

And speaking of ‘What if’, after reading “Evil Kasumi II” by Targhan on The Church of Ranma and Kasumi (AKA: CoRK) I got this idea and just had to see how it could possibly play out.

And now, “Fairness”

“Akane …” Ranma said softly. “I … an I l-lo … love her too …”

That line kept running though the mind of the new Akane Hibiki. ‘He loves her… he loves her. Why? What about me?’ Woodenly she had taken the directions from Nabiki on how to get to Ryoga’s home. Although she had been there before, Akane did not trust her memory, or Ryoga’s sense of direction. And as evident in the care in which the directions were written, it seemed that someone else also didn’t want to take the chance of her getting lost.

However, the directions had not helped her deal with all of this. For the entire trip to her new home, she had been barely able to pay attention to the directions. Beside her, Ryoga also seemed affected. And though the two were holding hands, it was out of necessity, not anything else. If Akane could she’d drop his hand, and run back home. But that wasn’t possible now. ‘Everything’s ruined… why’d this have to happen? Why’d we even do that?! Life’s so unfair!’ She mentally screamed.

Beside her walked Ryoga. His head bent, and shoulders slumped. ‘I’ve won … I’ve got Akane… so why do I feel so hollow?’ he asked himself, and unfortunately, he was able to see why. ‘Why’d we do that? Why does she still want ‘him’!? And why can’t I blame Ranma for this!’

With each step he took, he seemed to slip further and further into depression. ‘Kami … this hurts worse then when she said she hated me … I … I knew it wasn’t true then … but … this still hurts.’

“Hold varlet!” A voice shouted suddenly.

“What?” Both Hibiki’s asked as they looked up to see Kuno in all his self-absorbed glory.

“My wondrous personage has been told of the forced marriage of my fierce Tigress! Say this is not true!”

“Um …” Ryoga was not sure what to say in this case.

“Kuno, go away, I’m not in the mood to listen to you.”

“NO! Verily this foul dog has already poisoned your mind away from me! Face me you coward, for tonight you shall breathe no more. And then the beauteous Akane Tendo will be freed of your enslavement and …”

“Kuno …” Akane warned. “Just go away. I’ve been through too much tonight …”

“Yea, what she said. Just go away, we’re tying to find my house,” Ryoga answered simply, but his answer only seemed to infuriate the insane kendoist more.

“Your … Your … your house! I will not stand for this; I will not allow you to force yourself upon the fierce and wondrous Akane Tendo …”

“Hibiki …” Ryoga supplied.

“What?” For once, Kuno asked a one-word question.

“Ryoga …” Akane warned, but Ryoga’s head was down and his mind was spiraling down into a deeper depression than he’s ever been in.

“Her name … is Akane Hibiki,” Ryoga said softly, and sadly, even though at one time he would have been yelling it at the top of his lungs.

“NO! Then I am too late, and the vile act has been done. I will remove you from the life of my tigress before you can cheapen her by forcing yourself upon her body and …”

What ever he was going to say next was cut off as Ryoga threw both hands out and shouted out loudly, “Shi Shi ”

Kuno was taken by surprise as in the mist of his speech, he was hit by a huge glowing green ball of energy that picked him up and carried him through several walls before depositing him unconscious on the ground in a large crater.

“Kuno! Ryoga!” Akane shouted, as she looked between the two of them, or rather where one had been standing and where the other was slumping to his knees.

Shortly before Ryoga passed out from expelling all of his depression in one shot, he was able to see Akane’s concerned eyes looking at him. As the darkness began to overtake him, he told her softly, “I never wanted to hurt you … please … don’t leave me …”

breath caught in her throat hearing that. As Ryoga slipped into unconsciousness, his new bride knew of nothing to say, or even what to do.

Cologne could not help but blink as she heard the tale from Shampoo. When her excitable great-granddaughter was through, she asked. “Then Akane is no longer his fiancée?”

“Is so! Shampoo see Kitchen-destroyer and pig-boy get married.”

Rubbing her chin, she thought about this change in things and smiled. “This will make things much easier. With Akane out of the way all we have to deal with now is Ukyo and then Ranma is ours.”

Dreams played out in Shampoo’s mind of how she can return to her village with Ranma and have many strong warriors with him. “Oh, Shampoo no can wait till Shampoo return to village with Airen!”

“But wait you will.”

“But…”

“No buts, we still have Ukyo as well as the other two Tendo girls.”

“Ai-Yah! But sneaky-mercenary-girl know not to mess with Amazons, and too-too-nice-girl-Kasumi love strange-dancing-doctor.”

Hearing the way Shampoo described them, Cologne only had one thing to say, “I really wish you’d use their names at times.” Seeing Shampoo just blink the aged woman just sighed. “Still we must make sure that neither one tries to take him. I have had enough of this place and would much prefer to be back in our own lands. You have failed twice and there is no third failure, may I remind you.”

Shampoo’s happy mood suddenly vanished. “Shampoo wish you no remind.”

“Kasumi I do not believe will be a problem. Ranma will not allow any harm to come to her and with a sufficient threat, he will willingly return with us to spare her.”

Hearing this, Shampoo actually began to worry. “But… great-grandmother… nice-girl is really nice… Shampoo no want hurt her.”

“That is of no consequence, I am not saying that we have to do anything, just the threat will be enough. Moreover, I do not believe Nabiki wishes a repeat from the last time she made herself his fiancée. So son-in-law’s ties to the Tendo’s will soon just be a memory.”

Shampoo nodded, though her happy mood had not returned. “If Great-grand-mother say so.”

“Mister part-time, get up and fix that floor!” Cologne barked and then turned to Shampoo. “Come, we have things to discuss.”

Pulling himself out of the hole he was in, Mousse sighed and wondered what had happened. When he’d seen the joy on Shampoo’s face as she returned from the Tendo’s, he assumed it meant that she was happy that Ranma had married Akane. So, he quickly went to embrace his love. However, neither of those things happened.

Instead, when she had returned, an all too eager Mousse had assaulted her, prompting her to quickly and painfully introduce him to the basement, through the kitchen floor. Unfortunately for Mousse, the café did not have a basement.

“Oh my head…” he mumbled and tried to track down exactly where things had gone so wrong. ‘After I talked to that ugly woman, I had the potion in my hands… then I saw Shampoo talking to Nabiki… though why she was wearing Ukyo’s weapon I don’t know… but she cut her hair too… and her chest was smaller…’ Shaking his head to rid it of the thoughts over his beloveds’ body as well as to make the buzzing and stars in his head to go away, Mousse tried to remember what happened after that.

‘Ok, then Shampoo sent me flying… using Ukyo’s spatula and the next thing I know I’m waking-up as a duck in the Tendo’s pond.’ As he pondered this, he reached into his robes and to his horror found something missing. ‘Oh no… where is it…’ Frantically he began searching through his things only to discover, much to his horror, it was gone. ‘NO!!! That was my only chance! If I lost that then…’

Sinking into depression Mousse began fixing the hole in the floor and wishing he could remember the directions to that old woman’s shop to get another one of those potions. However, he had been lost the first time he found it, and the old woman had said that he was her last customer and then she was going to close up the shop, permanently. ‘Life’s so unfair!’

“Life’s so unfair!” Ukyo cried out as she tried to re-open her shop after having been gone for a few days. A few days that she was hoping to spend with her Ra-chan and his mother. ‘Hopefully my mother, someday…’ Ukyo thought with a resigned sigh. However, things did not go that way. Instead, she had spent two days on a wild goose chance and after returning, she was attacked by a rabid duck! For a moment, she chuckled at that. “More like a rabid Mousse thinking I was Shampoo… the jerk… mistaking me for Shampoo!”

Throwing some spatulas at the wall where a conveniently placed picture of her rivals was located, the chef easily cut Shampoo to ribbons. “Someday… I won’t have to put up with all this and Ra-chan and I will be together, finally!” Letting her anger go, Ukyo slumped into a chair. ‘Now all I have to do is figure out what to do.’

In the past, every time she’d worked with Shampoo to remove Akane, thins had gone wrong and Ranma and Akane just became closer. “I need something, something good…” a sudden thought ran though her mind and she let out a tired sigh. ‘And someway to keep Ranma away while I do this.’ Some time ago, she had tried to set Akane up on a date, but somehow Ranma had found out about it and had messed everything up. She suddenly smiled, “That’s it! I know the perfect way to do this and make sure Ra-chan can’t get mad at me!”

With a renewed vigor, Ukyo started making plans and preparations, which lasted well into the night. While this made her late for school the next day, she didn’t care. Instead she used a little trick she learned from Nabiki, bargaining. By offering her teachers a few free meals, she easily got the ok to say home and “take care of a few business related problems.” A bit before lunchtime, she rushed out and watched as Kasumi left the Tendo dojo to go shopping. “Perfect…”

Following and watching Kasumi carefully, Ukyo waited for the perfect opportunity. When it came, Ukyo moved fast. “Here, let me help you with that,” Ukyo said as she helped Kasumi carry her shopping bags.

“Oh my, thank you Ukyo.”

“Not a problem… oh by the way… can you do me a favor?”

“I can try.” Kasumi said with a smile.

“Great, you see I am planning something, but Ranma can’t find out about it. Can you help me out with it?”

Kasumi blinked. "Ok, but if you are planning something shouldn’t you tell him?"

"Oh no, this has to be a surprise.”

“It does?”

“Yes, but please, Kasumi can you promise me he won’t find out about it.”

The eldest Tendo daughter thought about it then nodded her head. “Yes, I think I can help.”

Ukyo was getting ecstatic “Great!”

“But what should I do?”

“Promise him a special meal or something this weekend… anything… just keep him busy while I take care of some things around here. Trust me, it’ll be good; and he’ll be happy when he finds out. I just want to make sure it’s a surprise.”

Kasumi blushed at this as her mind quickly flashed some of the ways she has kept Ranma busy...very busy… as well as a special meal she prepared for him while everyone was away that first time. “Oh my…. I can do that…”

Ukyo didn’t even notice Kasumi's blush. Instead, she was thinking about how right this will be. "Ok thanks!" Ukyo then ran off leaving a blushing and daydreaming Kasumi behind.

Shaking herself out of her daydream, Kasumi noticed that Ukyo had left and she again would have to carry the groceries by herself. “Oh my… I’m late…” With that, she picked up her bags and hurried home, or hurried as fast as was proper.

Back in her restaurant, Ukyo continued with her plans. “Ok, that takes care of Ranma. He’ll be so busy eating whatever Kasumi made he won’t know what’s going on!” Happy with her progress, and her daydream, Ukyo started getting things ready for school the next day. When she had heard that Ranma and his mother were going to Tokyo to do some shopping, she had gone without hesitation, however it wasn’t until she got there that she realized that she forgot to ask where in Tokyo. This had resulted in her spending four days looking for him. She came home depressed, but the four days of searching had given her time to think.

“Ryoga… he’s my best shot… If I can get him just to drop that stupid vendetta he has, then things will be even better. Now where am I going to find him?” She then spent the rest of the day trying to find him, and even the next day at school, she kept an eye out for him.

However, having not seen him by noon, she decided to ask around to see if anyone had seen him, or had seen Akane’s pig “P-chan.”

“Sayuri, Yuka… you two have a minute?” she asked.

“Sure?” the two responded.

“Great, I know you’re good friends of Akane, but have you seen Ryoga lately?”

Blinking, the two of them looked at her. “Not lately, why?”

“I need him to…” she paused and then smiled. “I need him for something, and I know he’ll like it. I just have to find him.”

Akane’s friends were a little worried over how Ukyo had said that and tried not to tell her too much. “Oh… well… we haven’t seen him today.”

“Ah, ok, has Akane seen him recently?”

A little uncertainly, Yuka responded, “Well… yes… I think she said that she was with him just yesterday.”

‘Yesterday, that’s not good it could be weeks before he returns,’ she thought. “Kuso... ok thanks, I’ll keep trying to find him.”

Seeing her run off the two girls looked at each other in alarm. “Akane talked to you list night… right?”

“Yes,” Yuka responded sadly. “She was mad because Ryoga ran off and left her alone. I couldn’t leave, so we talked on the phone for hours.”

Sayuri sighed, “So … it’s true?”

“It is, according to Akane, she had to marry him yesterday after something went wrong, but she wouldn’t tell me what… and then after dragging him to his place she went to draw a bath. When she came back… he was gone!”

“I feel sorry for her, but why isn’t she in school today?”

This time Yuka sighed. “After getting married and having to move out, she cried a lot over the phone last night. I’m going to go see her today, but I’ll have to take the train. I don’t think she’ll be coming back to school, it’s just too far to walk!”

Sayuri agreed, “We’ll just have to keep in touch, but I think I want to go with you too. I know Akane has said that she thought Ryoga liked Ukyo, but to hear that Ukyo needs him… I feel sorry for Akane… after being married only a day; someone is trying to take her husband.”

It took Ukyo until Friday before she found Ryoga wandering the streets. This was just a little too long to suit her needs. Quickly she ran out to him before he could disappear again. “Ryoga!”

“Damn it… hay you have you seen my house?”

“What?’ Ukyo blinked at that but quickly recovered. “Ryoga we have to talk.”

“Huh… oh Ukyo! You have to help me!”

She hid a grin and thought this was going to be perfect. “I think we can help each other.”

“You do?”

“Yes, now you see I know you have this thing for Akane.”

He was caught a little off-guard by that remark. “I well you see…”

“Never mind, I have the perfect plan to get you two together!”

Blinking he asked, “You do?”

“Of course, now come here so we can discuss this.”

“Um, ok.” He said not knowing what he was getting himself into.

For Ukyo, she could only smile secretively and know that this was foolproof. “Ok, first all girls like to be taken out on a date, so you are going to take Akane out, I already have reservations in your name at a nice place I know of.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I knew you’d agree to this so I took the liberty of making the reservations for dinner, a movie and some time between you two.”

“Wow…”

Ukyo sighed, “It’ll be perfect… you, and Akane… walking together, dining together…” in her daydream, she imagined Ranma taking her out, but she didn’t tell Ryoga that.

“You sure this’ll work?”

“Of course it will, now you will have to wear this while you go out…” so saying she handed him a collar with a steel cable attached to it.

“What the hell is this?”

“Think about it you idiot, you get lost all the time. All you have to do is tell Akane where these places are and she will lead you to them, or do you want to get lost and stand her up?”

“I… well…”

“This isn’t an honor duel… if you stand up a girl, leaving them alone it will ruin any chance you have with them.”

He turned pale at that. “You… you think so?”

“I know so.” She told him flatly, as she recalled being left behind on the side of the road all those years ago. That hurt her a lot more than she ever wanted anyone to know about.

Uncertainly he asked, “Is, is there anyway to make it up to her?”

“By taking her out somewhere nice, and wearing this!” She pushed the collar at him causing him to become nervous. “Ugh, men… Look Ryoga, lets say that you do marry her one day, what then? Think your ability to get lost will just go away?”

“Hay I…”

“No just listen to me. Girls hate being left alone, especially when they’re married. So wear the stupid collar and stay close to her. If you do that, then I know Akane will forgive you for the past as well as forgetting all about Ranma.” She may have been exaggerating a little, but Ukyo wanted to make sure she had his total cooperation.

After hearing that though, Ryoga was looking at the collar with wide eyes. “She will… she’d do that?”

Nodding her head firmly she told him. “I promise you.”

To Ryoga this was it, his one chance to make everything up to his new wife. “Ok, I’ll wear it!”

“Good, now first, we have to get you a change of clothes and a bath! When was the last time you had a bath?”

“I… oh… well…” Ryoga began to blush a lot, as he didn’t want to tell her that he hadn’t had one for the past several days since he had left his pack and all his extra clothes at his home.

“Never mind, I got directions earlier this week to your place. Come on, we have to make you presentable to Akane.”

“OK!”

With Ukyo leading him like a lost puppy, Ryoga happily followed her to his home to not only to get a change of clothes but he’ll be with Akane again. Moreover, if Ukyo is right, then Akane will forgive him, and then maybe come to love him! However just before he could open the door to his home, the door flew open.

“Where the hell do you think you’ve been!?” demanded an irate Akane.

Ukyo blinked, “What? Akane?”

“So you though you’d get another girl behind my back?” Akane demanded as after having been alone for several days she was on the verge of falling apart.

“NO NO NO! Nothing like that!” Ryoga quickly protested, and then he hurriedly told her about Ukyo getting reservations for the two of them at a restaurant.

“You… you are going on a date with her!”

“What? No!” Both of them demanded.

“Listen Akane, I setup the reservations, but they are for YOU and Ryoga!”

“What?” Akane asked in surprise.

“Please Akane, she just wants to help. I’m sorry I’ve been gone… I didn’t mean to... I just got lost, and I’ve been trying to find my way back!”

“And why should I believe you?” Akane asked suspiciously since her friends had been telling her how hard Ukyo had been looking for Ryoga.

“Oh please, like I could come between you two, we’ve known all along that Ryoga’s only got eyes for you Akane. He’s just never been able to do anything about it.” The short-haired and short-fused girl began to cool down at that.

“Please Akane… I… I’m sorry I got lost but see… Ukyo got this for us!” He quickly held up the collar and leash causing the girls eyes to widen. “She even has reservations for dinner and a movie for us… please… forgive me… I didn’t mean to get lost.” Ryoga was begging her to give him another chance.

Seeing this, Ukyo was a little surprised, but she continued her plan anyway. “Come on Akane, what do you say?”

“Please Akane… I know we got off to a rocky start… but I don’t want to loose you. I mean I’ve always thought that getting married to you was going to be the happiest day of my life… but… but things went wrong.”

“Yeah, Akane he… WHAT! M-m-married!”

“Ukyo told me all these things… things I never knew before… she said you’d be angry cause I got lost… please Akane… I’ll wear this collar or do what ever you want… just please give me another chance.”

Akane just blinked at that. It seemed strange that Ukyo would help them, but it seems that she had gone out of her way to do this. “She said that?”

“She did! Look I know I’ve messed up, Ukyo has told me a lot I never knew… she said that girl like to be taken out on dates and stuff, but since I get lost it’d be like I stood you up and you’d get mad.”

She definitely could not argue with that.

“M-m-married…” Ukyo muttered.

“That’s why she got us this collar… if you can just lead me to where we have to go, I can’t get lost! See?”

Ryoga was getting desperate. He wanted to be with Akane, not have her mad at him all the time. Somehow, though his begging, Akane began to see that. Smiling softly at him she took the collar from his hands, and then placed the collar around his neck before attaching the leash. “You promise… you… you won’t leave me alone anymore?”

“I never wanted to leave you in the first place!”

Tears began to fall from her eyes. All this time, she had thought she was going to loose Ryoga too, but it seems that she was wrong. Very wrong. Giving the leash a little tug, she pulled him closer and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Well then… let’s not let this date go to waste, ok?”

Ryoga just smiled dumbly and let Akane lead him inside so he could change and the two of them could, he hoped, start over with this marriage.

“M-m-married…” Muttered Ukyo as the door closed.

After spending ten minutes outside of Ryoga’s and now apparently Akane's house, mumbling various versions of "mm-m-m-married" to herself, a maniacal grin slowly spread across Ukyo's once dumbfounded face. After leaving the front door and frightening others with her grin along the way, she made it to her shop in record time, to further her plans. "Looks like life's not so unfair after all..."

To be continued…

Next chapter, how did Kasumi keep Ranma busy for Ukyo’s plans to work? And why does Shampoo look so angry with Kasumi? What? Shampoo is challenging Kasumi to a fight?

For those viewing this on Media Miner, I apologize for the long delay in updating, but the MMo system is the worst I have ever seen. Although they say you can upload word Doc files it refuses to work properly which is one reason I have not updated in such a long time.