Had it really been that long since he left? He never really did keep count, it just didn't seem right to do so. But Akane was still legally his fiancée, and he needed to take care of that business before he could marry Alex.
Stopping in his tracks, Ranma let out a little laugh at that. Marriage, it was something he never thought he would ever get to do. Because of the agreement between his and Akane’s father, as well as his own personal need for honor, Ranma was trapped in a dilemma.
But everything about the weretiger just seemed SO right, so perfect. Ranma knew from his time with Alex that he couldn't just string her along when he did to girls during his childhood, he was a man now, and a man needed to make choices, not just sit around and do nothing.
Although ironically, sitting around and doing nothing was what got him out of the mess with his other three problems. Realizing that, Ranma just shook his head at how that mess was stratened out.
It had actually all happened within the space of a year after Jusendo.
Strangely, Ukyo had been the first to drop out of the 'race' for marriage. Her downfall had been getting Nabiki involved in the madness that was Ranma's life. It had all started during the middle Tendo's birthday. The reason was actually kind of simple, everyone had actually forgotten about it and because of that Nabiki had been feeling down. So Ranma, being Ranma and getting annoyed at the mood she had been displaying later that night (plus he knew that if Nabiki was miserable she'd take it out on the money Ranma owed her) dragged her out of the house, well threw over his shoulder and carried across the rooftops really, to go get some ice cream to maybe cheer her up and find out what was wrong; he was the one paying of course. After finding out what the problem was and cheering her up with some kind words, the two headed back home the way normal people did, and that's when Ukyo apparently saw them.
The next day at school Ukyo had threatened the girl with physical harm unless she 'broke up' with 'her Ranchan'. Not being one to take physical threats lying down, Nabiki went back home and returned two days later with her kind of weapon: knowledge. She didn't use any hired goons, ferreted out secrets, or any other dirty tricks, just some little pieces of information that had been in front of everyone's nose the entire time, it was just that nobody bothered to connect them.
The plain and simple truth all along was, Ukyo's contract with Genma wasn't valid. The original dowry, the okonomiyaki cart Genma had run off with, had been lost to Gambling King by Ukyo long before Genma and Ukyo's father made their agreement.
No cart meant no contract, and no contract meant no engagement.
She still tried to get Ranma as always of course, but without the honor tied into it Ukyo had about as much chance as Kodachi or Shampoo. In the end she was simply left behind, and ultimately forgotten.
As for the other two...
Well, Ranma never did find out what happened to Kodachi, and truthfully he didn't give a damn anymore. A few years of being exposed to the real world had given Ranma a little less forgiving outlook, and now that he could look back on some things that foolish girl did, he could only wonder how he pitied her enough not to ship the girl off to the nearest insane asylum. Shampoo was more or less in the same boat, but he actually knew what happened to her.
She left, it was that plain in simple. After her great-grandmother died from old age about a month before Ranma took off, Shampoo was called on to become the next leader of the Amazons. In the end she had a choice, go back in dishonor for not capturing her husband, or be even more dishonored by not going back and ignoring her duties. Shampoo simply picked the lesser of the two.
As for Akane... well... it wasn't as if he hated her or anything. In truth he didn't have any resentment at all towards the girl, and there wasn't any reason he should. But with a month without other fiancées and things to get in the way they had actually gotten to know one another. But the truth was, they just weren't cut out for each other. The both of them were too alike in the wrong ways, and had too many differences to get along for any real length of time.
So after the two fathers had tried some stupid plan to try and get them together, Ranma just left. No forewarning, no long goodbyes, he didn't even bother leaving a note. He just went out for a small training trip and didn't come back.
Shaking off old memories of the past, the pigtailed man walked forward to find the nearest phone. It would be better if he warned them before he came crashing back into their lives.
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(Posted Wed, 03 Dec 2003 03:39)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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