[Episode 44009] [Episode 44009]It was no simple thing -- after fighting Saffron at Jusendo, Ranma knew that he loved Akane. Loved her enough to want to spend the rest of his life with her. He thought she loved him, too.
But love wasn't enough for Saotome Ranma; he had honor, too. While he did care for Ukyou, she was a friend, and he didn't love her as much as Akane, or in quite the same way.
Shampoo also was someone he held a debt to. He had challenged her during that spate with the reversal jewel, and confirmed that he and the Chinese girl were indeed affianced, if not simply wed.
Yes, marrying Akane would have delighted Ranma. And destroyed any honor he held.
So he had tried to keep the youngest Tendo at arm's length, to avoid hurting anyone ... but it was too late for that, too late by far. Happosai, ultimately, had proven the solution, telling Ranma of an ancient temple where a wish could be made. The cost, of course, was that Ranma could make only a single wish, and Happosai made it quite clear to Ranma that the young man would need to choose if he would rather be cured of his curse, or have the love of his life.
Ranma had thought it strange to receive such a clear warning from the old pervert, and stranger still that the pervert would volunteer the location of anything that would deprive him of his lovely 'Ranma-chan'. When he pressed Happosai, the old man had merely laughed, saying, that he didn't expect to go without his own joy.
So the Saotome heir had left one night, and trekked a day and a half into the mountains, to find the shrine that Happosai had told him of. There he burnt an offering, and staring into the flames, said, "I wish ... somehow ... I could get out of this without hurting any of the girls. Akane ... Ucchan ... Shampoo ... hell, even Kodachi. If only I could make a choice without crushing them or hurting their honor!"
Then, a deeply mocking laugh sounded, and a voice from the depths of his own mind told him, "Your desire is to be granted...."
Unnerved, he returned to Nerima, frantic to find out what had been done.
And his wish had been granted, though not in a way he ever would have wished. A monstrous being of shadow and writhing tentacles had appeared and stolen all four of the girls away.
A monster couldn't stop Ranma, not when it was holding nearly all he'd held dear. So he'd gone to confront the demon in its underground layer, and battled it with Cologne, his father, and perhaps in remorse for what his words had done, Happosai. Soun was inconsolable, and remained behind, weeping.
After Cologne had turned her staff into a spear of light that threatened to blind Ranma, the demon had hid in the stone, and formed a monolithic titan of bleeding rock, revealing that all of the girls Ranma wished to protect were encased in crystal beneath the thing's lair. Then, while Cologne was weak, recovering from her attacks, the floor of the cavern had opened up, magma bubbling into the chamber.
The magic of the Phoenix Pill saved Ranma's live when a stream of molten stone splashed across his chest, and he willed the soul of ice to give him the strength to destroy his enemy with a great Hiryuu Shouten Ha, one he prayed to any loving kami that wouldn't destroy the girls.
And Ranma had won, as he always did, even though the battle left Genma in critical condition, Cologne weakened, and Happosai dead. In the aftermath, the demon's flailing limbs shattered all four crystals. And then Ranma's heart broke.
He screamed in a voice that tore at his throat, and the air itself, causing the far ends of the chasm to reverberate and ring back his despair. Before him was a heap of shattered crystal; no blood, no soft pieces. Whatever was left of his fiancees was now nothing more than a grisly mound of cold and glistening components.
"You can't leave me!" he demanded, shaking his fists at the hole his Hiryuu Shouten Ha had carved through the ceiling, the one that let sunlight finally slay the beast. He didn't even know who he was crying for when he realized the tears on his face. Was it Akane, who he had loved? Was it Ukyou, the friend who helped him when he needed it most? Shampoo, who he still owed a debt of honor to? He didn't think it would have been Kodachi, but had to admit that he cared about her, even if it wasn't love; she had deserved better. They all had.
Perhaps they heard him. Perhaps the wish was still being worked. Perhaps, when Ranma reached into himself to pour out the entirety of his chi, he grabbed his Jusenkyou curse itself in desperation, and there was some horrible sympathy between it and the remains in front of him.
He didn't know, and didn't care. She had appeared then, naked, before him. Her eyes were fiery and passionate, but full of fear. Her hair ran to her waist in a fan of red, bangs not quite shadowing the sea-foam green and blue of her wavering gaze. She'd called him something then, though he couldn't remember what it was, and fallen into an embrace with him.
Perhaps, he thought, his arms reflexively encircling this girl, she was a centimeter taller than Akane. But she clutched his shirt and bawled into his chest the same way she did. Then she looked up, and told him that she had come back because he had called her. And then she asked ... would he remember to take care of her, as he'd promised?
He didn't know what else to do, so he'd said yes.
Once they'd reached the surface, and she was dressed in one of his shirts, he'd hauled his father to the hospital. Cologne told him to regard the girl as his fiancee, and Shampoo ... and said she'd speak of it more later when she had time to think things through. Until she came to speak with him again, Ranma had been charged with her care. He'd asked her what her name was, and she said until they could find one for her, he could call her 'Shiiko'. 'Shii' was 'four'. And 'shii' was 'death', too. From the death of four girls, a new one had been born. He laughed hollowly at the name, but accepted.
And when he'd gotten back to the dojo, there had been recriminations ... yelling. A wonder where Akane was, and who this new girl was. Shiiko said she was Akane, even if she was also Shampoo ... and Ukyou ... and Kodachi.
The Tendo patriarch was put to bed after that. The elder Tendo sisters did not trust this new interloper, and Ranma himself was confused, focusing on training, and the soothing thoughtlessness of strenuous activity. She'd come to him, and insisted that she train with him. He refused. She attacked.
He'd deflected her initial attacks with annoyance, and then she set into him in earnest, and he was hard-pressed to stave her off, taxed from the battle with the demon, and his wild prayer, the surge of chi he had let off. After the first few minutes, her stance began to shift, almost more quickly than he could follow, and her strength and confidence grew. He finally found himself battling against someone who he didn't have to hold back against, as Ryouga had been in some rare fights, along with some of his more notable foes.
With a stunned sort of shock, he realized that the amalgamated martial knowledge of his pursuers was something that might eclipse his own.
A rolling wave of punches at his upper body blinded him with Ukyou's trademark fluid precision, but it had been the wild strength of a sweep-kick that Akane would have used that threw him to the ground. From there, Shampoo's savage grace sprang after him when he rolled away, and then a ribbon from one sleeve and snared him, binding his arms to his body.
While he sat there in amazement, she'd knelt down over him, and brought her face close to his. Her eyes were practically glowing, her cheeks flushed. Her breath was sweet, and brushed against his lips gently. And then she'd done something no girl had ever done before. She'd asked to kiss him.
Hadn't assumed. Hadn't demanded he would kiss her. Hadn't tried to take it.
He shook his head in refusal.
Downcast, she freed him, and he challenged her to another match. Her heart wasn't in it. It took less than a minute for him to realize how much of the fiery passion he admired had faded after his denial. So he pinned her. And asked if he could kiss her.
And then one thing had led to another, and they'd snuck past the parents, into the room that was Akane's, and she'd kicked her furniture in front of the door. Their clothing was forgotten in a shred of torn scraps, and they fell to the floor, too eager to reach the bed.
The pressing need of their union drew both into a spiral of entangled power; an skein of fiery energy surrounded her as they kissed. A glowing red aura of lust, of desire -- of imbalanced yin chi. His own aura burst forth, bright blue, and the two mingled as they'd joined.
When it was over, they lay together, not knowing or caring who had heard. He didn't know how he was going to manage things. He didn't know who she really was, or what the future held.
She had been more pragmatic; the two had fled to the Ucchan's to escape Soun's fury at Ranma's 'betrayal', still refusing to believe that Ranma's love was his daughter. Konatsu had been difficult to convince, but ultimately accepted. The ninja had done what they wouldn't ask anyone else to do, with his stealth skills, and thus she took the one family name she would be sure no one could contest.
Kuonji Shinko. 'New girl', she had called herself. It was what everyone else had called her, after all. Ranma didn't care what her name was.
She loved him. He loved her.
For the moment, that was enough.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Sgt. Chibi De`Ohki
(Posted Fri, 05 Aug 2005 17:54)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.