[Ranma 1/2 fanfic] "The More Things Change" - part 3
RpM-acct2/5
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Part III
Ranma & Mousse's "Operation: True Romance!"
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[Early Fall] October
It was a surprisingly nice fall day. The air was cool, the sun not
unpleasantly warming to the skin, and a gentle breeze blew the leaves slightly.
It was a nice day to be in the forest, as long as you weren't in front of a red
umbrella. The red umbrella zoomed through the wind, sliced a tree, curved in
it's flight path, and landed neatly in Ryoga's hand. "Hm... nice to see I
haven't lost my touch." Ryoga snapped the umbrella shut, held it like a sword,
and took a few practice swings.
Ukyo sat nearby up in the branches of a tree. "Hey, where'd you learn to
fight with that thing?" she asked, pointing to Ryoga's umbrella.
"Oh... well, while I was chasing down Ranma, I stumbled into this dojo.
It specialized in... how did they put it? Oh yeah, 'Unorthodox Weaponry'
Martial Arts.
Ryoga looked carefully at Ukyo. "Saaay, you wouldn't happen to be familiar
with them, would you?"
"What?"
"Well, you _do_ use spatulas, and they did have a kitchenware division."
"Nope. Coincidence."
"Hm... anyways, they had a division for umbrellas and since I had to carry
around an umbrella anyways, I figured I'd learn how to use it."
"Umbrella. Martial. Arts. Right...."
"Okay, it sounds weird, but I'm telling you, it was there. Now that I think
about it, it was weird. I thought I was in China, but I stumble into this dojo
with everyone speaking perfect japanese. Hmm....Anyways, I was getting really
good at it, but I couldn't hang around there too long since I was still chasing
after Ranma and he was still on the move traveling with his father on that
training trip. Now that I think about it, I wish I stayed there a little
longer. The master really had some great moves with his umbrella."
"Oh, like what?"
"Well, he could ki-blast with his umbrella, believe it or not. Had
something to do with the carving on the handle. I think. He could guide his
umbrella around alot better than I just did. Another thing he did was show
me some design principals in making combat umbrellas. There were all sorts of
possible designs to follow. There was one which contained blades, one
that extended to become a staff, one that held poisons, the list
goes on.
"Weird."
"The best designer that the school ever had was this gaijin guy, kinda fat
and arrogant. Great designs, though. Last I heard about him was that he went
to a life of crime in America."
"Sounds familiar..."
"Anyways, as part of training, every student builds his own umbrella.
This one," Ryoga said, as he lifted his umbrella, "was one of several I built
during my stay. I built it mainly for sheer brute force. Breaks cement
nicely."
"Several?"
"One was cut in half during my first fight with Ranma. Anyways, all of
mine are identical."
"What is that thing made of anyways? It's really heavy."
"Don't know. I just went to this warehouse one day with my master. He
said something about good quality and told me to use this stuff if I was
going to use the design that I had layed out.."
Ryoga shook his head. Ukyo noticed a slightly worried look on his face.
"What's bothering you?"
"Eh? Oh, nothing, nothing." said Ryoga. He hoped to get away from his
troubles with this little trip to the woods, but they wouldn't get out of his
head. Actually, the memory of what he thought was Ranma-chan giving him a
deep french kiss was still haunting him. Ryoga was permanently scarred by
that memory. He tried to block it out, but as with any truely horrible
event, the memory of it just kept on back, making Ryoga sick to his stomach.
Dammit, his first kiss was from RANMA??? Blech.
"I'm glad we're out here. It's nice to leave the city every now and then."
said Ryoga.
"Speaking of leaving things... Ryoga, you feeling any better?"
"Hm?"
"Y'know, about Akane."
"Oh, that. Well, yeah, sort of. I think I can deal with the sight of her
and Ranma together now, but there's... there's a feeling of regret that
always hangs around me. How about you?"
"You took the words right outta my mouth."
The two looked out into the woods silently for a moment.
"Well, the best we can do now is wish Akane-"
"And Ranchan," Ukyo added.
Ryoga gritted his teeth, "yeah, and him, a happy marrige. But still...
I can't help but think that there's still time for me to do something about
this. I can't let it end like this. I just can't..." He closed his eyes.
"Hey, it's getting dark. Let's get back. You ready to practice on your
directions?"
"Yeah, sure, no problem."
"Don't forget to use the compass."
"Yeah, yeah. Quit nagging."
"Who's nagging?!"
"You are!"
"Shut up!"
---------
Much Later...
Ukyo and Ryoga were sitting down at Ucchan's, playing a round of poker.
"You did good today, Ryoga. Ten hours. Big improvement. Used to take
you two days to get back to the house.."
"Thanks. By the way, you done?"
"Yep. Show'em."
Ryoga displayed his cards with confidence. "Three aces. Beat that."
Ukyo flashed her cards with more confidence. "Full house. Hah!"
Suddenly, the creak of the front door was heard. They both turned
their heads to see standing in the open doorway... Shampoo.
Strangely, Shampoo had a look of ... it was hard to describe. It was
something like mild boredom mixed with the look of being stuck with a job that
she really didn't want.
She turned away, looking at someone neither Ukyo nor Ryoga could see.
Shampoo then nodded her head, sighing, and closed the door quietly.
_boom_
The door exploded into splinters, but in a strange way. Compared to the
other times Shampoo smashed down doors and walls, this effort was weak, with
a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. The door exploded _lazily_. Shampoo once
again appeared, and turned to an unseen person yet again.
"I have to?" she asked. Then she sighed, lazily pointed a bonbori at Ryoga,
and with a deadpan face and a not very enthusiastic voice, said, "Nii hao.
Ryoga." Shampoo turned away, looking again at the unseen person, then
continued, "You. Come. Marry. Shampoo. Now." It sounded very much like
she was reading from a script, and not doing a good job of it as well. She
looked back one last time, turned to Ryoga again, rolled up her eyes and said
"Wuoda. Airen."
From outside, the other person was finally heard. "Bah! Granddaughter,
you're embarrassing me! This is a disgrace. I'm going back to the cafe."
Cologne threw down her cue cards in disgust and stomped back (yes, _stomped_,
even though she was using her stick to walk around) to the Nekohanten.
Ryoga spoke to Shampoo first. "Er... not too enthusiastic about this,
are you."
"No."
Ukyo asked, "you can't break this engagement?"
"No."
Shampoo closed her eyes. She sniffled a bit.
Ryoga knew what was going to happen next. He'd seen something very
similar plenty of times at the Tendo's.
Suddenly, Shampoo burst out into a full Soun Tendo Wail (tm). Through
the gushers of tears she was able to sob "Shampoo want Ranma!" and began
to sink to her knees. Ryoga took off a bandana and offered it to her. She
blew her nose in it and offered it back. Naturally, he refused.
Mousse came in. "Shampoo? Is Shampoo in here? Oh, what's Mr. Tendo
doing here, and crying again too?"
"Mousse," Ukyo said, slapping his glasses down to his eyes,"that's Shampoo."
Mousse ran up to her. "Shampoo!!! UGGH!!!"
Shampoo, still crying, returned her fist to her side. Mousse extracted
himself from the wall.
Ukyo sighed. "Another exciting Friday night, eh Ryoga?"
"Isn't it?" Ryoga nodded solemnly.
"Hey, Mousse, wanna join in the poker game? Wait around until
Shampoo calms down anyways..."
"Oh, sure. Thanks Ukyo."
Ukyo looked over at the wailing Shampoo. "Anybody ever sat down yet and
had a long talk with her yet? She should've gotten over it by now."
Mousse looked at Ukyo. "Have you? Gotten over it, I mean..."
"Well, sorta, yeah. Definitely more than she has." In the back of Ukyo's
mind a familiar chorus began {NOT married YET! NOT married YET!}
"Maybe someone ought to, before this whole thing gets out of hand," Ryoga
suggested. "She was really psychotic before."
"Has Ranchan ever talked to her about it?"
"Is that such a good idea?" Mousse asked.
"Well, he talked things over with me. I felt better about it." She said.
{No I don't} she thought to herself. "Maybe it'll work for her?"
The guys looked deep in thought. Ryoga was wondering how quickly she'd
maim Ranma. Mousse was wondering if he should begin dipping into the
passion spice supplies and cook up something for Shampoo.
Then Ryoga remembered another problem of his.
"Hey, Mousse. Look, I don't mean to offend you, but will you hurry up
and beat up Shampoo?"
"WHAT?"
"Or have you forgotten? The old ghoul has shoved ME into being her next
son-in-law! I don't wanna marry Shampoo!"
"You want me to hurt Shampoo?!"
"Look duck-boy, I don't see any other alternative at the moment. C'mon,
be a man and beat her up! Heck, she's still sobbing now! Get over there
and hit her with something heavy while she's distracted!"
"I... it... just... to strike now.... that would be dishonorable. Besides,
I just couldn't hurt her!"
"What? You think Ranma beat Shampoo HONORABLY? Some big arranged fight?
Let me tell you, he beat her totally by accident, and when she was fighting
with someone else! You tell me how HONORABLE that is, eh? Go and be a man!
Hit her while she's not looking! Just get her off of my hands, okay?"
"Guys," Ukyo interrupted, "we're gonna have a poker night over at
Ranchan's in a couple of days. You guys wanna come? I mean, Mouse,
you might be able to get together with Ranma and come up with a plan
to get Shampoo. He's told me he wants to help you out."
"Oh really? Why?" Mousse was suspicious.
"You remember when she attacked Akane?"
"Oh."
"How about you, Ryoga? C'mon." She knew he might have a hard time
going back there, but she hoped this final test would push him to get
over Akane. Had she thought more on this, she'd have discovered something
surprising about her motives.
"Er... if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not..."
"C'mon, don't be such a baby."
"Who're you calling a baby?"
"Who do you think, pig-boy?"
----------------
"Ucchan," Ranma muttered, "I don't believe you did this."
Before him, Ranma had a considerable number of his "old friends". Mousse
was there, sitting next to and looking at Shampoo, who was sniffling into
the bandana that Ryoga had given her several days ago. Ukyo was there
shuffling the cards. Akane was sitting next to Ranma, looking uneasily at
Shampoo.
Ryoga looked shellshocked. Every now and then he'd glance at Akane and
Ranma. Whenever he glanced at Akane he looked more depressed. Every time he
looked at Ranma, Ryoga looked more horrified. Ranma had earlier asked Ryoga
what was bothering him, but Ryoga just screamed and hid behind Ukyo.
Then Akane punched Ranma and told him to stop picking on Ryoga.
The potential for disaster was fairly high already. All they needed was
Kuno and his sister.
"Ranchan, c'mon, you agreed to this. Besides, you need to do something
about Shampoo. In fact... maybe now would be a good time?"
Ranma sighed. He wasn't going to look forward to this. What was
probbably going to happen was Shampoo would glomp unto him and Akane would
boot him through the roof. After all, that's what always happened in the past.
Resigned to his fate, Ranma walked to Shampoo.
"Shampoo, we need to talk."
All eyes turned nervously towards the pair. They knew what Shampoo was
capable of, and were ready to tackle her to the ground if she went on a
homocidal rage.
"You want talk to Shampoo?" She looked sad.
Ranma looked around. "Tell you what, follow me." They both headed
outside. This puzzled everyone.
"Hey," Mousse said, holding Ranma by the shoulder, "what are you doing?"
"Look, she's upset already. I'm trying to reject her as gently as
possible. We're gonna be on the roof. If you hear any crashing noise,
get up there and help me."
And so Ranma and Shampoo stepped out of the room and to the roof.
"Shampoo, you gotta understand..." Ranma muttered. The two sat out on the
roof in the moonlight, Ranma continuing to talk, and Shampoo turning away,
looking more empty by the minute.
Meanwhile, back in the room, the card game resumed.
"I fold," Akane said.
"I'm in," Mousse followed.
"I'll raise ya ten" Ryoga confidently said.
"Mousse, y'think they're gonna be okay up there?" Ukyo asked.
"I'm sure. But keep your weapons ready."
"By the way," Ukyo said, "Ryoga, what's bothering you so much?"
Ryoga looked noticably ill when Ranma was in the room, and it didn't go
unnoticed. "I don't want to talk about it." Ryoga firmly said.
Suddenly there was the loud sound of feet running and Ranma yelling.
Everyone stood up. Mousse whipped out baseball bats, Ryoga held his umbrella
at the ready, Ukyo gripped her mega-spatula, and Akane hefted her mallet.
"Yaah! Get her away from me!" Ranma yelled and ran into the room.
What followed wasn't what they expected.
"O-hohohoho! Ranma darling! Wait!"
Everyone stared blankly at Kodachi.
"Her?" Ukyo asked.
"Oh, I guess she finally got out of jail," Akane added.
"She was in jail?" Ryoga asked.
Suddenly, Kodachi stopped in her tracks. "Ryoga darling?"
Everyone looked at Ryoga. "Ryoga DARLING?" Ukyo asked angrily.
"What?" Ryoga asked. He was as confused as the rest of them.
"Ryoga darling! *glomp* I've found you at last!"
Ranma looked at Ryoga. "Hey, Ryoga, when did this happen?"
"I don't know! What's going on? Help!"
"Oh, Ranma darling! I've got a gift for both of you!" With lightning
speed, she whipped out two boquets of black roses. She threw one at Ranma,
which exploded in front of his face, and shoved the other in Ryoga's face.
"Ack." Ranma said, holding his nose.
"I can't move" Ryoga mumbled.
"Yeah, paralysis powder. Good thing I held my breath."
"Ah, at least I've caught my Ryoga darling! Come, give me your lips!"
Suddenly, Kodachi was pried off by a titanic spatula.
"Get off him, girl."
"Oh-ho-ho, so you're after his heart as well, are you?"
"Er, NO! Of course not! It's just not nice to go around poisoning and
kissing people! Get out of here!" She pointed at Kodachi with her spatula.
"Kodachi," Ranma asked, "you're after Ryoga now?"
Suddenly, Kodachi turned to Ranma. "Ah, my darling Ranma! I don't know
what to do! Shall I pursue the hansome Ranma or shall I choose the
herculean Ryoga?"
Kodachi closed her eyes deep in thought. Then opened them.
"I cannot bear to depart with either! I must have you both!" She ran
to Ranma, bouquet in hand. Suddenly, a mallet crashed into her head
and she was booted unceremoniously out by Akane.
"I don't believe her! She's EXACTLY like her brother Kuno!"
"Did someone speak my name?" Kuno asked. Everyone was startled by
his sudden appearance.
"Uh oh." Ryoga was worried. He was still paralyzed.
"Greetings. I have come in search of the pig-tailed girl and... YOU!"
Kuno yelled, pointing his bokken at Ryoga, "You enslaver and abuser of women!"
and then noticed Ranma. "AND YOU! EVIL SORCERER! I shall smite thee BOTH!"
"Help!" Ryoga squeaked, "I'm still paralyzed!"
Reflexively, Ranma punched the charging Kuno. Ukyo caught him with her
assault spatula and flipped him out the door, where he would have exited this
little scene except that he collided with the returning Kodachi. Both
crashed onto the floor but recovered quickly.
*CRASH* Yet another Tendo household wall came crashing down, revealing
an angry Shampoo, with bonbori in hand. "Where stupid crazy girl?! Shampoo
KILL!"
"Guys," Ranma said, "this is getting ugly. RUN!"
"Why?" Akane asked.
"You want the house wrecked even more? We're running out of insurance
companies, y'know."
"Oh. RUN!!!"
Ranma, Akane and Mousse stampeeded out through the Shampoo-made hole
in the wall. Ukyo was about to join them when she heard Ryoga squeaking
pitifully "I can't move! Help!"
Ukyo sighed, hefted Ryoga onto her back and put his arms around her
neck. "C'mon, let's get outta here."
"Ranma," Mousse asked, "what happened to Shampoo?"
"Back there, I think, about to kill Kodachi."
"Oh, that's okay then."
The five of them could be seen, four shadows hopping across rooftops
(Ukyo was still carrying Ryoga with difficulty) followed by two other
figures.
"Hibiki, stand your ground you coward!"
"Ryoga darling! Ranma darling! Wait!"
And finally there was one figure at the end waving bonbori and yelling
"crazy psycho girl, I KILL!!!"
Suddenly a large explosion burst and a section of roof nearby was
severely damaged. Tsubasa, flying in the Mishima heavy industries aircraft
POISON-1, came into view and he turned on the loudspeakers. "HIBIKI, LET
GO OF UKYO _NOW_"
Everyone ran faster. Ukyo was yelling "I don't believe this! TSUBASA!
I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!"
Ryoga muttered to himself "Why me?"
The eight figures raced into the night, chased by a mini-jet. It was just
another night in Nerima.
-----------
[the next day]
Mousse was waiting in front of Furinkan High school. He had an arranged
meeting to attend.
Ranma came up to him. "Good. You showed up."
"Hey, I'm not Ryoga."
Briefly, Mousse looked nervous. "Ranma, you and Akane still are okay,
right? I mean, you still want to marry her, yes?"
"Well, yeah."
"Good to hear it!" Mousse said, giving a large grin and patted Ranma
on the back.
{I wonder why he's asking} Ranma thought, and then dismissed it as just
an icebreaker in conversation. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, I need your
help, and I think it would help us both in the end."
"Really?"
"I've got a plan."
Mousse looked at Ranma suspiciously. Maybe Ranma always was the best when
it came to martial arts battles, but it's been known that his scheming skills
were sometimes woefully inadequate.
"You sure about this?"
"Well, maybe Akane doesn't think this is a great idea, but that doesn't mean
much. You know your way around those weird spices Cologne always uses,
right?"
Mousse looked uneasy again. "Well, yes."
"Good. Now here's the plan...."
-----------
Akane was walking along the Nerima streets, which was usual. She was
walking with Ryoga, which wasn't. Normally after school she'd be accompanying
Ranma, but he said he was going to meet with Mousse to work on a plan that
Akane suggested was destined for disaster. Also, Ukyo had asked Akane to guide
Ryoga home since she had to attend to some business about her resteraunt which
forced her to leave school earlier than everyone else, including Ryoga.
"Akane, tell me something," Ryoga said.
"Yes?"
"Has Ranma been acting... strange lately?"
"Strange? Like how?"
"Er... I dunno. Acting a bit... um... happier, maybe? Not looking at you
so much anymore? Dressing up in your clothes? Something like that?"
"What? No, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"
Ryoga was looking a bit shaky.
"Hey, Ryoga, you okay?"
"Um, er, yeah. Fine. Just feel a bit of a cold coming on."
"Good thing you've got such a nice girl like Ukyo waiting at home
to take care of you."
"What?"
"Aren't you two ... y'know..."
"Well, no. We aren't..."
She stopped walking, and turned to face him. "Why not?"
Ryoga was surprised at this. {What's she thinking? Why is she asking
me if I'm dating Ukyo?}
"I mean," Akane continued, "you've been mooching off of her for several
months now, she always helps you around, and there must have been _some_
reason why you moved in with her to begin with, right?"
"Er..." Ryoga realized that nobody ever told Akane how he felt, not
even himself. To explain that now would be too awkward.
"You've always seemed so lonely, getting lost so much and not having a home.
Now you two are getting along great, and you're telling me that you two
AREN'T in a relationship?"
"Well, yes."
"Why don't you go for it?"
"It's just... I... I don't know."
"C'mon, don't you think she's cute? I think you'll make a great couple."
"You.. um... you really think so?"
Finally, they reached Ucchan's. Ukyo was sweeping outside. Akane whispered
into Ryoga's ear "think about it, okay?" then waved goodbye to Ukyo.
Ryoga waved goodbye to Akane as she walked away. And waved. And waved...
*CLANG*
"OUCH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR???"
"Snap out of it!"
Not picking his words with tact, Ryoga yelled back, "What's your problem?
Jealous?"
Ukyo narrowed her eyes and turned around, walking into the store.
"I am _not_ jealous."
Damn, what's her problem? he wondered, scratching his head.
As Ryoga walked to the resteraunt, the door slammed shut in his face.
Ryoga blinked. He sighed. He knew there was no use talking with Ukyo when
she was like this. Nothing to do now but go look for a good campsite.
---------------
Outside the Tendo residence, someone in a suit stared at the house.
"Well, this is the place... but I don't see him here. Maybe he's on
a trip or something. Ah, well, I'll just check back in a couple of weeks."
---------------
Meanwhile, at the Tendo kitchen...
A pot boiled, its steam writhing with magical essence. Two figures
stood over it watching with interest.
"I'd have done this sooner, but the old ghoul always watches over what
happens in the kitchen," Mousse solemnly said.
"So this is the stuf, eh? You sure about this, Mousse?"
Mousse smiled. "Well, it sure worked on ... it worked. I'm sure of that."
"Well, let's get to work. Where's Shampoo?"
"She should be over at the Nekohanten by now."
"Alright, get to it. Good luck."
---------------
Ukyo sat in her store, fuming. Then she cooled down. The side-effects
of what she had just done finally dawned on her.
"Oh no, he'll be lost for days."
She ran out the door in search of him.
{Why did I do that anyways?}
---------------
Mousse spotted Shampoo sitting at the window table of the Nekohanten in a
gloomy mood.
"Are you okay, Shampoo?"
"Leave Shampoo alone." She replied, with not much emotion in her voice.
"You look terrible. Did you even eat yet today?" Mousse knew Shampoo's
habits. Ever since Ranma decided, Shampoo had a considerable loss in appetite.
She did eat rarely, and right now seemed to be the right time.
"Look, I'll leave this out here for you," he said, leaving a bowl of ramen
in front of her, "just leave the bowl and I'll clean up."
Shampoo sighed. Mousse hovered nearby. He knew that he had to be nearby
when the spices took affect. He also knew that he couldn't act suspicious
or else she'd know there was something going on. Normally she would already
be suspicious, but in her depressed state she let her defenses down.
Mousse really didn't believe in this plan. He'd thought of it on his
own plenty of times before but dismissed it as a dishonorable way to win over
her heart. However, as time had gone by, he felt that his own window of
opportunity was running out fast. Mousse was becoming desperate enough to
resort to this trick.
Shampoo picked up a fork...
---------------
Ryoga wandered the streets of Nerima, aimlessly. He didn't know where
to go. His camping equipment was still back at the resteraunt. Camping out
without it would be rough.
Staying at the Tendo residence, as a boy or as a pig, would be just as
rough.
Ryoga decided to turn back and see if Ukyo had calmed down any. Maybe, he
hoped, just maybe she'd be sane.
Then he realize he was already lost. Again.
--------------
Mousse eagerly watched as she ate the ramen. And ate. And ate....
Now was the time! He stood up and was about to step into her line of view
when suddenly she stood up and yelled "Wo ai ni!" and ran forward happily.
"My darling!" Mousse yelled, his arms outstretched.
Shampoo ran right past him and out the door.
Mousse looked alarmed. He looked around. He saw Ryoga walking outside
in the street, in perfect view from the window seat.
"DAMN!" He banged his head on the table in frustration. "I don't believe
this!"
--------------
"Nii hao! Ryoga! Wo ai ni!" Shampoo cheerfully yelled as she glomped
onto Ryoga.
"Yaaaah! Get off! Get offa me!" To say that Ryoga was alarmed would be
an understatement. This time around Shampoo was VERY enthusiastic and
VERY agressive. She was also holding him _really_ tightly.
"You come marry Shampoo now, yes?"
"NO NO NO!!! Let me go!!!"
Nearby, Mousse was sneaking away. He didn't like the idea of artificially
gaining Shampoo's love, so he didn't put too much spice in. This had turned
out to be an incredibly good idea, because if he had gone ballistic with the
spices Shampoo would have been obsessed with Ryoga for years. For now, at
least, Shampoo would be chasing around Ryoga only for an hour or so. Until
then, Mousse didn't want to be around.
After all, things could get ugly, and he didn't want the blame.
--------------
{Damn damn damn damn where IS that idiot? He's gonna be lost for a stupidly
long time! Good thing this is the weekend. Where IS he?}
Ukyo walked quickly through the local streets, hoping that Ryoga hadn't
wandered off too far. Then she saw him. Wrapped by Shampoo. Tightly. And
not getting out of it.
"Why that..."
--------------
Mousse arrived back at the Tendo dojo. This wasn't unnoticed by Ranma
since Mousse was _supposed_ to be romancing Shampoo at the time.
"Yo, Mousse, what are you doing here?"
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Talk about what?"
"Exactly. Just let me hide here until things settle down."
"C'mon, tell me."
"Look, don't get mad, okay?"
"Fine, just tell me."
"Well, it went like this......" In a low voice Mousse explained the
disaster of the day. When he was done, he looked at Ranma, expecting to see
an angry glare or something similar.
Ranma was red in the face, holding his hand over his mouth. Then he burst
out laughing. "This is GREAT! I don't believe this! Shampoo is chasing
after RYOGA? Oh man, I gotta get some air."
They both went to the front gate, Mousse in a serious manner, Ranma
laughing all the way.
Then Ryoga ran by.
"Go away! I don't want you! Get lost!" He frantically yelled. He was
followed closely by Shampoo, who was almost within arm's reach.
"Ryoga! You marry Shampoo yes!"
As quickly as they arrived, they zoomed by. Then Ukyo showed up, strolling
in the direction where Ryoga and Shampoo had gone. She idly twirled her
battle-spatula. Her eyes were narrow and her breathing was slow.
"Ryoga, you idiot" she mumbled.
Mousse and Ranma stood there for a moment, silently. Then they both
quietly went back inside the house.
- end part 3 -