Ryoga arrived at the Saotome house without incident and then set out for Nerima.
"All right." Ranma said, slipping into his old role of team leader. "Our first destination is the Ucchan's. She's an old friend of mine, and I can only think of one solution that saves our honor and hopefully, our friendship as well."
"And if she refuses to listen?" Ken asked.
"Then we give her a total reimbursement. The yattai, the free meals, pain and suffering, everything." Nabiki said. "You can't pay for a life, but you can help rebuild it."
"Do you think she'll understand?" Ken asked, opening the door.
"We can only hope." Rikku said as the group filed into the restaurant.
"I'm sorry, but the Ucchan's is closed for inventory today." Ukyo called from the stockroom. "I'll have to ask you to leave."
"We were hoping to talk to the proprietor, if she would spare a little of her time." Ranma called.
"What can I do for - YOU!" Ukyo lunged at Ranma, unsheathing her spatula as she came. "Who the hell do you think you are, waltzing in here without a care after what you did to me?"
"Auntie Ukyo, stop." Rikku said, bracing the flat of her sword against the spatula. "Please, calm down and listen to what we have to say."
"A-auntie?" Ukyo faltered and Rikku relaxed in response. "Who are you?"
"In the six months Ranma has been gone, he's been traveling among countless alternate realities. For us, twenty five years have passed since he left this dimension. He's grown to love, married, and had children. But one person we found we could rely on more often than not... was you, Auntie."
Ukyo stood for a long while digesting what she had heard. "If you're married... why have you come here?"
"To try to salvage our friendship." Ranma said.
"And my honor?" Ukyo asked.
"I have a proposal, but it's not the one you wanted." Ranma said seriously.
"Come on." Rikku said guiding the young chef into a chair. "You deal with these mature issues. Ken, gimme a hand at the grill."
"Tell me something, Ranma. Who did finally tame you?" Ukyo asked.
"Don't tell me I've aged so much you don't recognize me, Ukyo. You're okonomiyaki saved my family from many a night of my sister's... less than stellar cooking."
"Nabiki?" Ukyo leaned forward studying the older woman's face. "Yeah, I see it now. You've changed."
"Motherhood does that to you." Nabiki chuckled. "And I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"Hey Ryoga, what do you want on yours?" Rikku called.
"How about... bacon and sausage?" He said with a twinkle in his eyes as most of those present face faulted.
"Be careful, Ryo. Might be someone you knew." Ken chided. "Now, seriously, what can we get for you?"
"A vegetarian, please."
"So Ranma, what's this proposal you have for me?" Ukyo asked as Ken brought out tea.
"I want to adopt you into the Saotome clan." Ranma said simply.
"I don't want your pity Ranma!" Ukyo snapped.
"That's good, because I'm not giving any." Ranma replied evenly. "What our fathers did was stupid, mine for making the proposal, and yours for accepting, but we should not have to suffer for that mistake. I love my wife and family very much and have no intention of leaving them. I'm not offering you my pity, or an 'easy out', or a way to soothe my conscience. I'm trying to give my first and best friend the family she's been denied."
"But Ranma, if I don't restore my family's honor-"
"Ucchan, why should you be held responsible for your father's decision? If he was so all fired angry about my father's actions, then why didn't he step up, be a man, and settle it himself? We were children. They had no right depending on us to solve their own problems."
"Ranma he'll throw me out the clan! I'll lose everything!"
"Will you? You'll still have your self respect, a successful business and friends who stand behind you."
"Oh yeah, like who?"
"Me for one." Ryoga said.
"I've got your back." Nabiki said.
"I did promise to take care of you." Ranma reminded her.
"I know we may not look like much." Ken called.
"But we got a lot of very dangerous surprises." Rikku responded, sniffing the air. "Is something burning?"
"You're leaning on the grill." Ken said, pointing nonchalantly to the sizzling grill.
"Oh hell's. It's gonna take me forever to clean that!" Rikku exclaimed pulling her smoldering flesh away from the hot grill.
"Are you all right?" Ukyo cried leaping to her feet.
"It's fine." Rikku assured the cook. "I can't even feel it, my heat tolerance is so insanely high. Hazard of being a student of the Fire Path, among other things. Keep an eye on the food little bro." She said producing a hand held medical scanner.
"Here, let me help." Ukyo insisted, gently grabbing Rikku's injured hand.
"All right." Rikku said flipping a smaller scanner off the back of the unit. "Run this over my hand until I tell you to stop."
"Will she be all right?" Nodoka murmured to Ken as he brought out the house specialty.
"Probably. I've seen big sis handle much, much worse."
"Ah good, no nerve damage." Rikku said, taking the smaller scanner from the older girl and exchanging it for a small silver cylinder.
"Where are you getting those things from?" Ukyo asked curiously.
"Extradimensional storage space. Kinda like how Mousse keeps so many weapons on him. Hold my hand steady will you please?" Once Ukyo had a firm grip, Rikku began to reverse the damage done to her hand.
"That's amazing." Ukyo said in awe. "And useful too."
"I sometimes forget that my common is you're unique. The dermal regenerator is something I picked up on a journey to the future. It's become invaluable to us over the years." The redhead lead the way back to the table and joined her family.
"This is GREAT!" Ukyo exclaimed around a mouthful of food. "I mean," She swallowed hastily. "this is on par with my own okonomiyaki!"
"I'm glad to hear that." Rikku said with a smile and a faint blush.
"Where did you learn- I taught you how to make this, didn't I?" Ukyo paused with her food midway to her mouth, as the younger girl nodded.
"What do you say to my offer, Ukyo? Would you be our..."
Nabiki grinned and took up where her husband had let off. "Could you be our..."
"Won't you please... " Kenshiro added softly.
"Won't you please..." Rikku smiled as the plea reached its conclusion.
"Please won't you be... our family?" The Saotome's said in soft unison.
Ukyo found herself laughing at the clan's antics. "All right, you four. This is not Mr. Roger's Neighborhood."
"Sure seems like the Neighborhood of Make Believe to me." Nabiki smirked.
"I... I'll join the Saotome family, but I have a stipulation. A small thing really."
"What is it?" Nabiki asked cautiously.
"Well, you're not legally married here yet right?"
"No, not yet." Ranma said, narrowing his eyes. "Why?"
"I-I want to be part of the wedding. Once I join the family, I'll be Ranma's sister and I'll never have the chance to walk down the aisle with him, so I'd like to at least have the memories, please."
"Pardon us, while we have a family conference." Ranma said, gathering his family in a loose huddle. After a few moments of whispering, they stood and turned to face her.
"All right Ukyo." Nabiki said. "How does Maid of Honor grab ya?"
Ukyo smiled, blinking back tears of joy as she nodded. "Thank you, all of you." She said as the Saotome's, including Nodoka gathered into a warm loving hug.
"Welcome home, my sister." Ranma whispered.
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(Posted Sun, 02 Jan 2005 18:15)
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