Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Life of Chaos ❯ To Chase or Not to Chase ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Life of Chaos

Furinkan Part 1 - Where In Japan Is Saotome Ranma?

Chapter 2 - To Chase or Not to Chase

By: Lord Archive

Most characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan and are used without permission. All rights reserved.

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Kasumi cleared out her ears as the surprised chorus of 'WHAT?!' still rang loudly. She sighed. "Ranma and Akane eloped this morning and are on their honeymoon. They won't be back for some time."

The gathered Furinkan students could only stare in shock.

Kuno stepped forward. "You must be mistaken. The lovely Tendo Akane would never marry that fiend."

Kasumi shook her head. "I assure you, Akane and Ranma are married. I was one of the witnesses."

"It was forced. Tendo Akane was made to marry him against her will!" Kuno bellowed.

"Actually, eloping was Akane's idea. And Ranma agreed to go along with it by his own choice," Kasumi informed.

Kuno pointed at Kasumi. "You... must be lying... or daft... insane! My beACK!!"

Soun stood over Kuno's body, the family's spear pressed against his throat. "What did you say about my darling daughter?" Soun demanded.

Kuno stared at the spear tip in fright. "I was just questioning her about the impossibility of Tendo Akane marrying the vile Saotome."

Soun glared. "My daughter, Akane, has married Ranma. My precious Kasumi would never lie. If she says Akane and Ranma are married and on their honeymoon, then that's what happened." The spear shook. "My little baby is married." He began to cry and hugged the panda that was standing behind him.

The Genma-panda patted his friend on the back, holding a sign reading, 'There, there. They'll be back.'

Mousse finally came out of his shock. "Shampoo is free? She's finally free. She doesn't have to marry Saotome anymore! Shampoo is free at last!! FREE AT LAST!!!"

Shampoo pounded Mousse into the ground and then demanded, "Where did Ranma and kitchen destroyer go?"

Kasumi shrugged. "I don't know. They didn't leave any information like that."

Nabiki massaged her temples. "Let me guess. They up and decided yesterday to elope this morning and leave town completely, but have no clue as to where they would be going."

Kasumi giggled nervously. "That's about right."

"I'll deal with any business needs tomorrow." Nabiki waved at the group. "I need to lie down." She shambled off. "How could I not have known about this?"

Ukyou gripped her combat spatula and turned around and stomped off.

The other students wondered off one by one.

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"Hello, Ukyou," Konatsu greeted while looking up from the grill as she entered. He tugged nervously at his new male traditional Okonomiyaki chef uniform.

Konatsu noted the determined look on her face as she stormed past the kitchen and up the stairs. He wanted to follow her and find out what's going on, but he had customers to serve and Ukyou would not forgive him if he abandoned the grill. His boss returned a moment later carrying a bag.

"Ukyou?" Konatsu asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going away for a few days," Ukyou snapped.

"What about school and Ucchan's?" Konatsu questioned, tightening his hold in case she tried to run away.

Ukyou paused. "Call the school and tell them I'm sick."

"But what if the vice-principal checks? If you're not here, it would violate your agreement," Konatsu noted.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Ukyou screamed. "Ranma and Akane just ELOPED. That jack ass has gone to god knows where with her AND DID'T EVEN TRY TO TELL ME!" Tears leaked out of her eyes. "I can't let this go. I have to know why he left."

"Do you know where they are?" Konatsu questioned.

"No, I don't," Ukyou replied bitterly.

"Then how can you find them?" Konatsu pressed.

"I'll find that jack ass. He can't abandon me again." Ukyou clenched her fist.

Konatsu sighed, knowing that Ukyou wanted to chase him to the ends of the Earth. "Why don't you try to find out where they went first? You can go after them on a weekend, and I can tend the restaurant without running into problems with the school nor lose money and business hours." He placed his other hand on Ukyou's bag, ready to take it from her.

Ukyou nodded slowly, letting his words seep in. "Fine. I'll be back later."

Konatsu watched as she ran out the door. He wondered if she noticed he had even taken her bag, or her bandiler filled with throwing spatulas for that matter. He understood she was upset, and was amazed she had even listened to him.

Konatsu sighed demurely as he went back to working with his customers. He knew Ukyou loved Ranma in the way the he loved Ukyou. And if she had married and run off with Ranma, he would chase after her as well just to make sure she was safe and being well taken care of.

While Konatsu knew of jealousy through his girl's manga, he couldn't bring himself to feel that way toward Ranma. He knew Ranma didn't share Ukyou's feelings, at least not in the same way Ranma cared for Akane. Now the weird Tsubasa fellow, there was someone he could fell jealousy for. Fortunately, Ukyou disliked Tsubasa strongly so he didn't have much worries there.

"Excuse me, pal?" one of the male customers asked.

Konatsu shook his head out of his thought. "Is there something I can get you?"

"Yeah. Do you know what happened to that really cute waitress that worked here last week?" the customer questioned. "She had this really great body a guy can really get into, if you know what I mean."

Konatsu covered his mouth while giggling shyly and blushing. "No, sir. I'm afraid I don't," he lied.

The customer looked closely at Konatsu's face and then at his chest. A sickly pale look covered the customers features before rushing into the bathroom to retch.

Konatsu sighed. "Ukyou isn't going to like that."

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Kodachi followed her brother into their spacious Japanese mansion.

Kuno strode straight for the phone, pulled out a phone book and started dialing.

Kodachi shook her head as her brother contacted a private investigator. She nearly laughed at the descriptions he gave for Ranma and Akane. She was pretty sure by the time he was done ranting, the private dick would 'take the case' but it would be more apt to say the detective would milk her brother for money and do nothing.

Kodachi wandered off as her brother called another investigator. He was bound to call everyone in the phone book.

An hour later Kuno frantically went through the house picking up various items.

"Going somewhere, brother dearest?" Kodachi questioned with no small amount of sarcasm in reference to their relation.

"Of course, the beauteous Akane, and no doubt the vivacious pig-tailed girl, have been swept away by the hideous Saotome and I shall hunt down and do away with that vile fiend once and for all," Kuno ranted.

"You will do away with him? I find that hard to believe," Kodachi replied haughtily.

"Do not mock me, sister. I shall smite that demon and free my loves! They shall lavish their attention on me as they've always wished." Kuno laughed nobly at the thought.

Kodachi scowled at the deranged laughter of her brother. She fully believed that he was imagining both girls staring at him fondly in scantily clad clothes. She shook her head. "Do as you wish. Just don't expect a warm welcome when you drag your defeated tail across the threshold."

"I fully intend to not return until I am victorious!" Kuno announced.

"So, you're not coming back?" Kodachi smirked. "It'll be so nice to have this house all to myself."

"And why aren't you chasing after you're 'beloved Ranma?'" Kuno glared.

"I know a lost cost when I've seen it. Farewell, brother dearest. I wish I could say it was nice to know you." Kodachi waved him off as she departed to her half of the mansion.

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Kasumi frowned when she saw Nabiki dialing on the phone, grinning like the cat who caught the mouse.

"Hello, Nerima Investigators?" Nabiki questioned into the phone. "Yes, this is Tendo Nabiki, and I was wondering if anyone has contacted you over two missing people?"

Kasumi's frown deepened.

Nabiki sighed. "Yes, I know you can't divulge clients information. I'm not asking about who wants them found, but the two who you've might have been hired to find."

Kasumi debated if she should step in and stop Nabiki.

Nabiki nodded. "Yes. The two people I'm calling about are Saotome Ranma and his new wife, Saotome Akane-- my sister and formerly of the Tendo clan. Now, on the chance someone has hired you to find them... don't."

Kasumi blinked.

"My sister and my new brother-in-law have to deal with a few... eccentric people that don't know when to stop chasing after someone they can't have. It got to the point for them they eloped and ran away from town because of them. If you assist in finding Ranma and Akane, my family and the Saotome family will sue you for mental health damages and invasion of privacy," Nabiki explained.

Nabiki frowned and waved at Kasumi to come over.

Kasumi blushed in shame for being caught.

Nabiki pulled the phone away from her head and held it out. "I need you to confirm what I've said."

Kasumi nodded and took the phone. "Hello? Yes... um, I'm Tendo Kasumi. I was one of the witnesses for the marriage. No, we don't want to know where they are, they need to get away and find themselves. I understand, thank you."

Kasumi smiled as she hung up the phone. "He won't investigate where Ranma and Akane are, but he also said he'll be keeping the money he was paid to find them."

Nabiki shrugged. "Kuno's loss."

Kasumi nodded. "This is a very good thing you're doing."

"I'm just making sure that Ranma and Akane won't be coming back until I'm in college. I don't want their insanity causing me to do badly on the college placement tests," Nabiki defended.

"Whatever you say," Kasumi replied with a hint of disbelief.

"Now we've got a few more investigators to go. Want to help?" Nabiki asked.

"Of course." Kasumi smiled brightly.

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Silence.

That was how one had to refer to the Furinkan grounds the third day of the new school year... unnatural silence.

The sumo-pig in the back field did not grunt.

Taro slept quietly as his teacher droned on.

Nabiki stared off into space still trying to figure out how she possible could not have known that her little sister had decided to elope with Ranma until after she had left town completely.

Kuno's rants and pledges of love went unheard, if anyone ever bothered to listen, since he wasn't even in school.

In the classroom that was supposed to house the now newlywed Saotome Ranma and Akane no one dared to even make a sound in fear of upsetting the martial artist of ridiculous skills even more. Even Ms. Hinako was afraid to set off the live grenade that was her students.

The students who did not care who Ranma or Akane ended up with prayed that the response would go quietly.

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Lunch had begun and Ukyou could not take being around anyone. She went to the roof to escape. She scowled recognizing a figure that had beaten her there.

"Do you want something?" Kodachi questioned.

"Just some fresh air," Ukyou growled.

After a moment of silence, Kodachi asked, "Why aren't you out searching for him?"

"Why aren't you?" Ukyou shot back.

Kodachi rolled her eyes. "I asked first, so it is only polite that you answer first."

"Well, unlike some people..." Ukyou sneered. "...I have to work for a living. I can't afford to chase after Ranma."

Kodachi looked over. "Ranma? Not Ranchan?"

Ukyou clenched her fist. "Until I have a chance to find out why he ran off on me again, I can't call him that."

Kodachi nodded. "I see."

"So why aren't you tearing up everything in search for your 'beloved Ranma,'" Ukyou mocked.

"Because unlike SOME people I knew Ranma didn't love me. I continued to chase him hoping he would change his mind." Kodachi lost her air of confidence and sighed. "But I spent the entire first day watching him with Tendo and knew she was winning. I just didn't think she was this far ahead." She scowled angrily. "What did he see in that vile wench?"

Ukyou glared. "I have NO clue. She's friendly to anyone, but she has an angry streak kilometers wide. She can't cook, sew, or swim. As a girl, she's hopeless. Why did he marry her?"

"Of that, I can only see two reasons since their parents had nothing to do with this one. First, that he got fed up with us fighting over him so he just picked one of us to marry." Kodachi looked up into the sky. "Which I doubt that is the case. He seems to enjoy the attention and the fighting."

Ukyou nodded. "He was born to fight. It's all he knows."

Kodachi sighed again. "The second reason is for love, as blind as a bat it may be in this case."

"They hated each other. They argued all the time. She doesn't understand him at all! How could he possibly love her?" Ukyou nearly yelled in anger.

"Tell me how many arguments did you see that were solely caused by them?" Kodachi asked.

Ukyou blinked. "Quite a few. Usually because he insulted her for one thing or another."

Kodachi shrugged. "I'm not sure if he does truly insult off-handedly. He's a very honest, if crude, person. He's not afraid to straight out say what he's feeling to someone. I admired that since too many people hold in what they feel inside."

"You certainly believed in letting everyone know what you were feeling," Ukyou commented.

Kodachi turned and began to walk away. "Was I being honest or was I deceiving with the illusion of being emotionally unrestricted?"

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"Sha-" Mousse was interrupted by being punched into the wall.

"She's warmin' up to you," Hiroshi commented. "You actually got a syllable off."

Mousse smiled at that.

"Where ninja-boy go?" Shampoo questioned irritably.

Daisuke shrugged. "I believe he left to open Ucchan's again."

"So, he's with Spatula-girl?" Shampoo clenched her fist. If he had left school grounds she couldn't go after him until school ended. However, then she had to go back to the Neko Hanten or her great-grandmother would put her in a world of hurt.

Hiroshi and Daisuke learned more than enough about how to recognize an extremely pissed off martial artist, particularly of the female gender. They backed away carefully to someone who was hopefully safer.

"Hiya, Ryoga," Hiroshi greeted.

Ryoga blinked, trying to remember who this guy was. Probably one of Ranma's friends, he concluded. "Ah, hi."

"What's with the long face? After gettin' laid, I'd thought you'd be happy," Hiroshi commented.

Daisuke smirked. "Unless Akari still doesn't know about the challenge and he's worried about her finding out."

Ryoga seemed to shirk in his seat, before exploding into a bark of, "Don't talk about that!"

Daisuke was a good two meters farther away from the walking tank. "Whatever you say, man."

Ryoga slumped in his seat. "What am I going to do?" If Akari found out about Mousse's challenge, he was a dead man. He'd be roasted like a pig. An image formed in his head of his lover doing just that to him, and he wasn't even 'P-Chan.'

"Oh, Ryoga, I've brought our lunch," Akari called out returning to the classroom with lunches from the cafeteria.

Ryoga screamed incoherently and ran through the outside wall. Being on the second floor apparently didn't register much as he kept on running.

Akari looked at the sandwiches she had gotten. "I didn't think he was THAT against eating ham."

Hiroshi and Daisuke sweated nervously and laughed nervously.

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"Did fem-boy run off because I'm living in town now?" Taro questioned.

Nabiki looked up at the muscular Chinese martial artist who was one of the few people Ranma could not defeat without a lot of help or dumb luck. She wonder if Taro beat Saotome in the ego department as well. With a smirk, Nabiki replied, "Actually, I don't think you registered in Ranma and Akane's decision to leave at all."

"Oh, really?" Taro remarked, disbelievingly.

Nabiki waved him off. "They left because all of Ranma's suitors ended up being in the same class. If they had stayed her, Akane you'd have gone insane in a few weeks, dragging Ranma along with her. After all, if he had decided to run away from you, which he never would, why did he marry my sister before leaving?"

"To appease their idiot fathers and get money from them," Taro replied.

Nabiki almost laughed. "That certainly would be one way for them to do it, but Kasumi and Auntie Saotome are the ones who controls the money. I'm sure Ranma wouldn't have to get married just to get their help." Well, Kasumi wouldn't force the issue anyway. "And Auntie wouldn't abide by Ranma doing something so unmanly as running from someone he's defeated."

"Bah," Taro scoffed. "Ranma is a little girl, and his 'wins' were luck, nothing more."

"Whatever you say," Nabiki replied with a sarcastic tone.

Taro growled and turned away from her.

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Author's Notes:

Finally some damage that can't be overlooks, a Ryoga shaped door on the second floor.


Unused future scene:

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Kasumi looked uncertain. "Auntie, I have a question."

"What is it?" Nodoka wondered.

Kasumi twiddled her fingers. "Now that Ranma and Akane are married, I was thinking it was time I looked for a husband."

Nodoka smiled at her. "I think it's long past due for that. Have any prospects?"

"Currently... no." Kasumi sighed. "That's why I was thinking that since Father now owns the Saotome home, maybe I should live there."

Nodoka's mouth was slightly agape. "Whatever for?"

"Well, I was hoping that in the process of finding a husband, I'd also find myself. I've been doing so much for my family, I thought it was time to do something for myself." Kasumi looked at the woman guiltily. "I'm being selfish, aren't I?"

Nodoka shook her head and laughed slightly. "Heavens no, dear. That is a great idea. You should start living on your own for yourself. I can take care of your father and Nabiki."

"If it's too much of a burden...." Kasumi trailed off.

Nodoka waved the young woman off. "It won't be any trouble. It'll give me something to do besides wait for Ranma and Akane to return. We'll talk to your father about leaving tonight."

Kasumi looked down at her hands. "Maybe we should wait until after he's recovered from finding out about Ranma and Akane."

Nodoka blinked then nodded. Soun was a bit over-emotional. It would be better to wait a little while after he's dealt with the shock of his youngest daughter eloping and running away from home.

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Life of Chaos Furinkan had very little developed after this point. The main points of issue that were coming up were:

Konatsu becoming the new Ranma with suitors since Ryoga slept with Akari, Azusa will focus on him, he will end up defeating Shampoo who then has to 'pursue' him which she doesn't want to, and of course his feelings for Ukyou.

Akari finding herself with the Hibiki lack of direction sense curse as her first symptom of morning sickness as she becomes pregnant. (It's a long Lord Archive fict, someone was going to end up pregnant.) Akari, as heir to a productive pig farm, had her future set for her and starting a family at seventeen or twenty-seven has little difference on her ability to raise children beyond the maturity of herself and Ryoga.

Various failed attempts to find Ranma and Akane.

Up Next:
Life of Chaos Journey
Ranma and Akane's decision to leave and the start of their new adventures together.