Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Third Chances ❯ Redifining the Game ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 8
Redefining the Game
 
 
Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.
 
I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.
 
I find that if I let thinks sit for a while in my head; I can play them out farther. Plus by trying and keeping my chapters between 2500 and 3000+ words, it helps keep me from making the story slide out of control, turning a diamond to a pile of shit.
 
Please feel free to review, and make comments. If you find a spelling or wordage mistake, feel free to let me know. Thank you.
 
Also, please check out my other stories. I try to keep a constant level of dedication to all of them.
 
Thanks again to Howard Russell, the best damn pre-reader out there and the main reason my latest stuff is so damn good.
 
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She slowly came to, the next morning, her neck a little sore. Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself lying on what she had earlier thought was a lumpy mattress. But her eyes now spotted the sleeping figure of her possible fiancé: Ranma Saotome.
 
Last night had gone well, all things considered. Before Cologne left, she told Nabiki she had no idea why Akane was acting the way she was. There were no spells or potions in or on her, and no new techniques that would account for the personality shift. For all intents and purposes, Akane had just...stopped caring.
 
She half expected to see Akane in self-assigned sentry duty while the two watched the movies, constantly harping that Ranma shouldn't be even looking at either of them. Or at the very least, the two fathers—Dumb and Dumbass—trying to force them together and make Ranma choose only her.
 
Nothing.
 
Akane, for whatever reasons, had gone from Queen PMS Bitch to emotionless automaton. The fathers were on their best behavior because “Mother” was watching them.
 
So, for the last night that Ranma would be staying at the Tendo Dojo, the two had a peaceful time watching some movies that both were interested in. Like Ranma, she preferred some action in her movies. No sappy love stories like the ones that girls her age drooled over. She preferred some intrigue so murder mysteries were a good pick. Both had had fun making jokes about idiotic victims, stupid plots, and insane scenes.
 
This led to now: her asleep on top of him on the couch., A blanket draped over them was the only sign anyone had found them. And, judging by a lack of a priest, it meant that it was most likely Kasumi, having gotten up for her usual morning rounds.
 
So, she lowered her head back to his chest, enjoying the feeling. She didn't get to experience much that night. First, because she was drunk and exhausted from their...activities; and second, because of the fear: the fear of the betrayal, the fear of being caught...the fear of letting themselves or each other down.
 
It was that last fear that killed her current mood. She slowly removed herself from him and the blanket, heading into the kitchen. Once there, she stood along the counter watching her sister begin morning breakfast preparations. “Kasumi, I know I probably don't say this enough, but I really am grateful for everything you've ever done for me.”
 
Kasumi stopped chopping the vegetables for a moment, looking at her sister with shocked eyes. “Oh, that's all right, Nabiki. You don't need to thank me, I was—”
 
Nabiki silenced her usual replies with a tight hug. “You don't get it, do you, Kasumi?” When Nabiki saw her still surprised sister silently shake her head, she almost laughed. “If it wasn't for you, I really don't think any of us would be here. You gave up so much to help us...and still do. Kasumi, even if I may say it few and far between, I want you to know I love you, sister dear, with all of my heart. And, thank you for being there for me, always.”
 
“Nabiki, are you feeling okay? Are you sick? Dying?” Kasumi backed away from the hug, first checking Nabiki's temperature with her hand on Nabiki's forehead, then looking her over, appraising her appearance, wondering if that was why Nabiki had been sick lately.
 
Nabiki shook her head, trying to head off further investigation by her sister. “No, Kasumi, I'm fine.” Unless you count that I'm pregnant and trying to get married to a guy who has lunatics for parents. “I've just been doing a lot of thinking lately, not that Auntie's little proposal last night didn't make things more complicated. But...but I'm starting to finally understand some things, and I don't want you to see me as some manipulative, ungrateful bitch that you were forced to take care of. I want you to see me as a sister who loves you, and who is grateful for ever single sacrifice you've ever made for her.” She embraced her sister again, feeling slightly better as Kasumi also took the hug seriously. “Just...let me know if I can help you, in any way. I don't want to be dead weight here, anymore. And I want you to be able to have some free time and fun as well.”
 
The two stayed like that for a few more minutes, reforming some bonds the years had tarnished. It was after the hug the two began to chat as they worked together to finish breakfast, talking like they had before, years ago, when an older woman had once watched over them.
 
That same woman was currently smiling down upon her children, promising that her husband would have one hell of a nightmare tonight for hurting them so.
 
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Shampoo placed the phone back on the charger. As suggested by her great-grandmother, she had called ahead to see if it would be okay for her to accompany Ranma and his mother back to their house. While she would learn where it was—something Nabiki had never even sold—it also would give her a better chance to show both Ranma and Nodoka how serious she was. It wasn't like Ranma needed any help moving things. His possessions seemed to always fit in his backpack, and not because he knew Hidden Weapons Style.
 
She also wanted to ask when the best time for them to go out would be. She was trying to hold herself back, not throw herself at him as she had done in the past. While, true, he didn't have school today, she still wanted to make lunch for them and needed to know if anyone had anything in particular they wanted.
 
She wanted to make a better impression now with this new...contest? No, that thought didn't sit well with her now. It wasn't a contest. A contest made it sound dead...impersonal.
 
If anything, she didn't want Ranma to have more pain in his life. Her talk with Nabiki that day a week ago had proven that, showed her how...uncaring she had been.
 
“Shampoo, my love!”
 
Of course, some people never change. She stared at him as he was kneeling before a statue the Cologne had purchased earlier in the week. She was tired of him, tired of his attitude, and tired of his unwavering stupidity. She had grown from her encounter with Nabiki, and grown from her encounters with Ranma's mother. Why couldn't he? He was as much told that, if he bothered her, Nodoka would kill him.
 
And yet... “What do you want, Mu Tze?” she asked in Mandarin. She needed to make this clear as possible and her broken Japanese held back how she could express herself.
 
Mousse turned towards her, using her voice to align his sight. “Xian Pu, thanks to your new guardian, you are free from the rules binding you to that fool, Ranma. Now we can be together!”
 
She walked right up to him, tired of his foolishness. He had once had her friendship, but he was killing it, and now, it might not ever be possible again. Her right hand reached out, wrapping itself around his throat, and squeezing slightly. “Mu Tze, this one is sick and tired of you! Every time this one turns around, she finds you attacking those who she calls friends or those who could be more. Why? Are you so scared that you cannot see what is before you? My beloved's mother may have freed me from suffering the wrath of my own foolishness, but she also told you what would happen should you keep pursuing me like Stupid Stick Boy does with my beloved's cursed form and the Kitchen Destroyer. Why? Do you see them running towards Kuno to declare love? No! And yet you seem to think that will work for me. Why? Answer me, Mu Tze!”
 
She released the pressure slightly, giving him the chance to try and redeem himself.
 
“But...but you love me, and I love you!”
 
She brought her face closer to him, so even he might be able to make out how pissed she was. “This one has never once said she loved you. This one treated you as a friend when you needed one, and you returned that friendship with nothing but this...this perversion of love. This one thought of you as a friend, nothing more. Now, it is near impossible to even see that, so great is the damage you have done.
 
“This one does not know if she will end up with Ranma in the end as a lover or a brother; such is his decision to make. It is no longer mine, nor was it ever yours. But one thing is certain: at most, you and I will be friends., But it appears now you wish to make me an enemy. Decide, Mu Tze...decide if you are worthy of friendship. If not, then leave now and never darken my presence again. I am tired of your childish antics and your inability to accept the truth, simply because you believe you know better than everyone.”
 
She released him and watched as he slumped to the floor, defeated. Then she simply walked away to prepare the lunch she was going to serve at the Saotome home. She also needed to call Ukyo and ask if she wanted to assist as well. Sundays tended to be dead in Nerima for the lunch crowds, most families choosing to eat together, so it was unlikely she would be busy.
 
As soon as she was gone, Mousse heard another voice. “I always wondered when she'd do that.”
 
Mousse turned his head, his face showing his anger. “This is your fault, you old mummy.”
 
Cologne merely shook her head, not even bothering to bonk him on the head for that remark. “The only person who you can rightly blame for this turn of events is yourself. Even your own family warned you what this obsession with my great-granddaughter would lead to—that it would force her to hate and despise you—but you wouldn't listen.” She hopped over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Now do you see what you've done? Like that Kuno boy, you've forced any possible feelings she may have had for you to die and turn dark, simply because you insisted she felt some way she told you she didn't.”
 
She began to walk away, letting him sit in his pity and anger. “You could have opened your eyes at any time; seen the faults you had, seen what such actions were doing to any feelings she may have been able to have for you. But, like your eyesight, you choose to ignore the problem, insisting it didn't exist. Well, congratulations, Mr. Part-timer, you've defeated the friendship Shampoo felt for you. You perhaps hurt her more than anything I ever thought could.”
 
“I would never hurt Shampoo!”
 
“And what do you think what you have done has made her feel? You know for a fact that the warriors in the village were afraid of her, and any male friends she could have had were attacked by you because you thought they were trying to take her from you. She lived a lonely existence like Ranma, and you just ensured she would always have a reason to hate you. Open your eyes, child! Your greatest enemy to Shampoo wasn't me or Ranma, it was your own blind nature.” She resumed her departure from the dining room. “I do look forward to seeing if you can amaze me and regain her friendship, but even I can see it will never be more than that.”
 
Mousse was left alone before he stalked up to his room.
 
He spent the rest of the day in there crying.
 
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Ukyo hung up the phone, confused by the way events were progressing. Shampoo had just called her, asking if she would like to help prepare a meal to have at the Saotome home to celebrate Ranma's return there, as a token of the new turn in their lives. Never once did she call Ukyo “Spatula Girl” or refer to Ranma as “Airen.”
 
“Ms. Ukyo, are you feeling well?”
 
She turned to see Konatsu, still dressed for a day of work. “Yeah, sugar. I'm just a little tired. Didn't get much sleep last night.”
 
He seemed to accept that excuse. He knew enough not to pry too deeply into the reason for her sleep troubles, having a good idea what they might be, already.
 
But that didn't help her at the moment. Ukyo was being forced to consider dozens of things she had never even thought of before. When she had heard the Tendo agreement had been shifted to Nabiki again, she had thought her chances of gaining Ranma were unbeatable. But Nabiki had actually taken the agreement seriously, refusing to sell Ranma to her for a date. Even telling her, if she wanted a date with Ranma, then ask him herself.
 
That shocked Ukyo, as she had honestly expected to have to always set up her dates with Ranma through the mercenary girl. So, to be told by her to ask him out herself, was a shock.
 
Who knew it was to be a week of shocks?
 
Even Ranma had been different: friendlier to Nabiki. When she asked him, he said it was because she put her faith and trust in him. He wouldn't elaborate on it, but by judging how he acted with the whole calendar deal, she suspected it had something to do with the dojo. She knew enough about business that, with what that venture must have brought in, they could be living a higher lifestyle than they were now, so it must have all been socked away for future expenses. She had no idea why the Tendo sisters let their father get away with his lazy attitude.
 
But then, who was she to complain, after everything her father had made her do?
 
She was angry at that; it had been one of the main thoughts to plague her last night. This whole idea of revenge should have been done by her father, not her. He was the one who made the deal, tried to foist her off on a man of questionable character. Hell, he hadn't even talked to Ranma about it. You think the first thing you would do before marrying your daughter off was making certain everyone knew what was happening.
 
And then, when his “brilliant” plan fell through, he made her pay for it. She knew for a fact that she never told anyone she was engaged to Ranma. Hell, her friends at the time were more of a set of loose acquaintances. That meant her father had gone off spouting it. So, when she was left behind, what better way to hide his stupidity than say his daughter was gone and now he just had his son to worry about.
 
Face it; I doubt any of the suitors has a family or life to be proud of. Ranchan's father was a bastard who sold him whenever convenient. Mine blamed me when he failed and made me suffer. The Tendo sisters have to take care of theirs because he refuses to see them as a reason to be productive. And I can guess Mousse made Shampoo's life much worse.
 
Great, we're perfect role models for how to do things.
 
Our children don't stand a chance. We might as well give them the prison gang tattoos now.
 
She shook her head, clearing those thoughts. Right now, she needed to get cooking so that, when they arrived as the Saotome house, they could eat and celebrate.
 
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“Mother, how are you today?” Kodachi looked as Nodoka, her new adoptive mother, came into her room at the clinic. While Nodoka did try and come as often as she could, she usually stayed away from the mornings as they were usually set aside for Kodachi's therapy sessions and workshops. If she had any free time, it was usually Sasuke who came by and told her stories of her mother.
 
“I am quite well, dear. How are things with you?”
 
Kodachi smiled. “The doctors say I am making great progress. They doubt I'll get out of here within a month, but they say my schoolwork hasn't fallen like most patients. They are even saying that other visitors might be allowed soon besides you and Sasuke.”
 
Nodoka walked over to the chair where Kodachi had been sitting, staring at the scene of nature before her and losing herself in the simple pleasures. She bowed down and gave the former mad maniac a kiss on the forehead. “I'm proud of you, dear. But don't force yourself too hard. We want this done right.”
 
“Yes, Mother.” She smiled and looked out the window again, watching as a small flock of birds landed on the lawn, looking for worms. “It...it is still weird, like I'm still trying to see through the fog, but the picture is getting clearer. I'm ashamed of what I was like. But...I can't keep feeling guilty. I need to move on.” She turned towards Nodoka. “I've already written some of those girls I...assaulted while being the Black Rose, but I have a long way to go.”
 
Nodoka knelt beside her. “You have a long way to go, Kodachi. But remember, you are doing this not only for yourself, but for everyone. That includes your mother. I'm certain she's looking on you with happiness and pride at what you're doing now.”
 
She patted Nodoka's hand while still staring out the window. Despite the words of comfort, Kodachi still saw her soul as tainted from her madness, from the actions she had done. Even if it took the rest of her life, she'd sworn that she would make it up the karma and try to repay those whom she had abused. “Mother, when they allow it, can you bring Ranma here, even for a few minutes? I have so much to apologize for.”
 
Nodoka got an impish gleam in her eyes. “Oh, do you plan to sleep with my son while I keep the doctors busy?”
 
Kodachi didn't miss a beat. “Sleeping with my new brother would be improper, Mother. No, it will just have to be pure, animalistic sex.”
 
Nodoka's eyes got wide until she heard the giggles of her new daughter. “I'm kidding, Mother. I've accepted that those thoughts are not possible. I merely wish to ask his forgiveness and see how I may assist him.”
 
Nodoka slowly got her pulse back under control. That's good, I doubt Ranma would be ready for a mistress after marrying his three wives. “That was a naughty joke, child. Funny...but it was still naughty.
 
“I have to go now, I'm supposed to meet him at the Tendo Dojo and escort him to our home. I'm sorry I can't spend more time with you today.”
 
“That's okay, Mother. I know you have to help him. Just let him know I'm sorry.”
 
“I will, child. Be well.”
 
Nodoka left, casting one more glance at the true legacy of her friend. She knew Kodachi was pushing herself hard to get through the madness, but was also trying to deal with the wave of guilt that came with seeing the real world. She's strong. She will survive.
 
I hate to see what happens when she finds out that Ranma and Ranko are one and the same.
 
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Omake by Howard!
 
Ranma looked at his three fiancées. “I know I'm supposed to choose between you but it's so difficult.” He looked at each of them in turn, “Nabiki: the proud mercenary. Ukyo: the cute chef. Shampoo: the fierce warrior.” He raised his arms to the heavens, “How am I supposed to choose between you?” He grabbed all three and pulled them into a disturbing group-glomp. “I must have you both!”
 
All three young women reacted with shouts of outrage and began hitting him. Some with weapons, some without.
 
“How dare you?”
 
“I can't believe you!”
 
“You so stupid!”
 
“ `Both' refers to just two!”
 
“What kind of man can't count?”
 
“Aiyah, stupid man's stupider than Mousse!”
 
The three girls walked off together, grumbling about their, now, ex-fiancés math skills.
 
Ranma was left alone.
 
The shock and confusion still plain in his face, he sadly protested, “It was a quote.”
 
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If I messed anything up, then let me know including typos.
 
Any suggestions on how I should continue the story or improve it would also be accepted.
 
Also, if you have any suggestions for how this should go, let me know. My own imagination, while vast, always enjoys a new thought. Also, catch me if you don't think I am making the characters true to form, or a way to make them better.