Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Challenge ❯ Chapter 3

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

TITLE: The Night Before

BY: Jessi

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Ranma characters, they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and anyone else who owns them.

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Ukyo and Ryoga sat in the painfully clean living room, awkwardly watching Soun and Genma playing shogi.

"Do over!!!" Genma shouted.

"I'm sorry, Saotome. No do overs," Soun replied patiently.

"Awww, come on Tendo, for an old pal?" Genma pleaded.

"I'm sorry Saotome," Soun replied.

"Oh look! It's a pork bun!!!" Genma tried again.

"Now now, Saotome, you know I wouldn't fall for such trickery as that!!!" Soun said, impatience showing in his voice.

Ryoga appeared to be watching Soun and Genma play shogi, but his mind was elsewhere.

*What will I say to Akane? How bout, "Yo Akane!" Umm... no that isn't right. Or "Hello Akane, I have missed seeing your smile for many days now," no that sucks, sounds like I'm desperate for her, which I am.. but she doesn't know that. I've got it! I'll go with "Hey, Akane. Long time no see!" Yup, that's good.* Ryoga smiled to himself.

Ukyo looked over at Ryoga; he had a large smile on his face. Ukyo wondered to herself what he was thinking. *Wow... Ryoga's really cute when he smiles* Ukyo thought. *Oh my god! What am I saying! I love Ran-chan!!* Ukyo reprimanded herself silently.

While Ukyo was berating herself, Kasumi walked in with Akane, who didn't look very happy. Ryoga jumped up and said his line, "Hey, Akane. No time long see!"

"Umm... don't you mean 'LONG time, NO, see?" Akane asked.

*Oh, damn. Hibiki, you idiot!* Ryoga thought. "Yeah, o'course. I was just checking to see if you'd catch that," Ryoga said. *Yeah, good way to cover it up.* Ryoga thought.

"Hahaha, well, I'm smarter than you think Ryoga! I caught it!" Akane laughed, and turned to Ukyo.

"Hi, Ukyo. Ranma isn't in at the moment.. and I'm not sure when he'll be back," Akane said, with an edge noticeable in her voice. *Bitch* Akane thought bitterly.

"Ok, thanks for the info, Akane. Actually, I'm here to pick up a recipe from Kasumi," Ukyo replied, her icy tone matching that of Akane's. *Damn, what's her problem* Ukyo thought.

Kasumi, seeing tension between the two, quickly spoke up, "Oh yes, Ukyo. I have the recipe in the kitchen. Please come this way."

Ukyo shot one last glance at Akane, and followed Kasumi to the kitchen.

*Grrr... I really don't like her* Akane said to herself.

"So, um, Akane," Ryoga said tentatively.

"Oh, I"m sorry Ryoga! I got carried away in my thoughts! Kasumi told me you're staying for dinner! Would you like to wash up first?" Akane asked.

"Umm.. sure, but could you show me the way to the bathroom?" Ryoga asked quietly. Akane laughed and led Ryoga to the bathroom.

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*What's everybody going to say about me not being cursed anymore? Wonder what Pop'll say? He'll probably be pissed 'cause I'm not cursed anymore and he is... He deserves it; he's the one that got me into that mess to begin with. And Akane, will she still call me a pervert...? Oh who cares what that tomboy thinks anyway! All I know is that I'm not cursed anymore and I'm glad.* Ranma thought to himself as he ran along the fence toward the Tendo dojo.

He ran with a glazed look across his face, thinking about his uncursed body. Ranma was so absorbed in his thoughts that his battle senses were put "on hold" for a minute, so he didn't notice that someone was advancing on him.

"Saotome! You fiend!! Playing with poor Shampoo's heart!!" Mousse jumped down in front of Ranma, brandishing his many weapons from the depths of his sleeves.

"Damn! Mousse! What are you talking about? And how the hell do you keep all those weapons inside your sleeves??" Ranma shouted.

"Saotome, I should've known you'd resort to underhanded tricks! Trying to divert my attention away from our battle with your questions! You will pay!" Mousse cried, and attacked Ranma, who only just jumped out of the way.

"Sorry, Mousse! I gotta go home, I'm cured!!!" Ranma yelled as he ran along the fence away from the furious Chinese boy.

"You honorless bastard!! Come back here!" Mousse tried chasing after Ranma, but due to his poor eye sight, ran instead into a nearby pole, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Ranma headed back home as quickly as he could, he didn't want to have to fight any of the other crazy people that either wanted him dead or wanted to marry him.

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Kasumi danced around the kitchen, stirring the contents of pots and checking the food in the oven to make sure all was well.

"Hey Kasumi, do you need help? I can set the table or something if you want me to," Ukyo offered.

"Oh my! I could never impose such duties on a GUEST!!" Kasumi sounded astonished.

"I'm offering Kasumi! It's all right, I'll set the table," Ukyo said firmly.

Before Kasumi could protest, Ukyo got the dinnerware and was setting the table.

*My, my, such a nice girl* Kasumi thought as she watched Ukyo set the table. *Oh! The food is almost done. Where's Ranma... he should be here by now.* Kasumi wondered.

"Hello everyone!!!" Ranma's voice sounded from the front door. *Oh my, here he is now, he must be quite hungry!* Kasumi thought. *Well I mustn't keep him waiting for his food!* And Kasumi put the food on serving dishes and hurried off to the dining room.

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Shampoo was sitting in a chair at the Nekohanten, reflecting on what she had just done. The spell cast on Ranma had no cure, that she knew of anyway, and there was no turning back now, Cologne would be sure of that.

*Well, Shampoo finally get what is hers by Amazon law! No way Violent Pervert Girl or Spatula Girl or that psycho girl get Ranma now, he is all Shampoo's!* She thought viciously.

Cologne entered the main dining room, and interrupted Shampoo's thoughts.

"Well, child, the spell will go into effect tonight, and three days from today, the boy will be ours. There is no turning back now. We must begin to pack; we need to be ready to leave in three days. Besides, I felt that stupid Duck-boy's aura this evening; no doubt he might put a damper on our plans. We must avoid him as much as possible, Mousse cannot find out about the plan," Cologne told Shampoo.

"Yes, Great-grandmudder, Duck-boy no discover plan!" Shampoo exclaimed.

"Good, well Shampoo, run upstairs and begin collecting your things, depending on Ranma, the spell might be completely in effect sooner than three days and we MUST be ready," Cologne said.

Shampoo nodded and took the stairs to her room two at a time.

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The Tendos, Ranma, Genma, Ukyo, and Ryoga knelt around the table eating, or in Ranma and Genma's case, inhaling, their dinner. Ranma and Ryoga kept exchanging dirty looks that nobody noticed, as did Ukyo and Akane.

"So, P-c.. oh, I mean, RYOGA," Ranma said with an evil glint in his eye, "We haven't seen you around lately. Where have you been?? France? Germany? Or did you stay in Japan this time around?"

Ryoga looked infuriated at Ranma's near "slip" at saying P-chan instead of Ryoga, and the fact that Ranma was once again jeering at his poor direction sense. *Alright, Hibiki. Calm down, you're a guest at Akane's house. Make a good example of yourself* He told himself.

"Actually, Ranma, I visited Turkey, well I think it was Turkey, while I was gone," Ryoga said with a nasty look at Ranma.

"Was it a nice place, Ryoga?" Akane asked, not noticing the dirty looks the two were giving each other.

"It was a pretty nice place, well, I might have wandered out of Turkey a few times, but I'm pretty sure that it was nice," Ryoga said, blushing.

"Hey, Akane," Ranma said, interrupting the conversation, "Have you seen P-chan around lately? I haven't.."

"Umm... I haven't either Ranma! He goes missing so often! But he always comes back; I might go looking for him after dinner." Akane replied.

Ranma chanced a look at Ryoga, and was pleased to see that his remark to Akane was having the desired effect. Ryoga looked as though if the Tendos weren't there he would have jumped up and killed Ranma right on the spot.

"Kasumi, this food is wonderful!" Ukyo exclaimed, bringing Ranma and Ryoga out of their staring contest.

"Thank you, Ukyo. If you like, I'd be happy to give you some more of my recipes," Kasumi replied with a smile.

"Would you, Kasumi? That'd be great!" Ukyo said.

"So, Ukyo, how's business been lately?" Ranma asked. Ukyo glanced at Akane, who looked at Ukyo with a murderous glare, before replying.

Nobody noticed the tension between Ukyo and Akane except Nabiki, who seemed to be the only person at the table, except for Kasumi, who wasn't completely absorbed in their food, or sharing glares with a person across the table. Genma and Soun were COMPLETELY oblivious to the conversation around the table.

"Huh? Oh yeah, business has been great lately, even though my favorite customer hasn't been by lately. Ran-chan, I really wish you would come more often," Ukyo said. "But I can understand why you don't come all the time, why would you when you have Kasumi to cook this wonderful food for you every day!"

Kasumi beamed at Ukyo. "Yeah, sure, I'll come by more often." Ranma told her.

*I've had ENOUGH of listening to Ukyo flirt with Ranma! That idiot! Can't he realize that she's after him?* Akane stood up, "Well, I've had enough, it was great Kasumi, I'm going to go look for P-chan."

Ryoga stood up as well, "Akane, I'll come with you. Kasumi, it was wonderful, thank you so much for the delicious meal," Ryoga praised Kasumi, and Akane and Ryoga left the room together.

Ranma watched the two leave, and started to feel his blood boil. *Geez, what am I getting so worked up for? It's not like I LIKE Akane or anything, she isn't even cute.*

"Thanks Kasumi, I'm going to wash up now, see ya later, Ukyo," Ranma told the group as he left the room. He went to the bathroom, and started running the water. Ranma looked out the window, trying to see Akane and Ryoga.

*That stupid Akane, she hasn't figured out that P-chan IS Ryoga. Ahhhh* Ranma let out a sigh as he lowered himself into the warm water.
*Man, am I tired... I'm gonna go to bed as soon as I'm finished, nah, I'll wait until Ryoga gets back with Akane.* Ranma stopped thinking and let the warm water override his senses.

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To be continued...

All right, I must say that I REALLY dislike this chapter. Especially the dinner scene... I'll probably end up rewriting that scene sometime soon; I don't like it because Soun, Genma, and Nabiki don't have much to say. But hey, the story doesn't revolve around them much anyway. So don't bother telling me that I need to give them more of a role in the dinner scene, I already know that and I'm not going to bother doing that right now. Anyway, in the next chapter, things are REALLY going to start happening; I should have it up pretty soon.
C&C welcome

jfossmeyer@hotmail.com