"For now, at I think it best you take Ranma someplace quiet," Cologne was saying. "I'm afraid it's all a bit much for the boy, I mean, girl to take."
"Okay, so why not let Ranma off the hook then?" Ryoga countered smoothly. By now, he, like the others, knew that the shriveled up elder was a stickler for Amazon law; especially when it was advantageous to her. Ranma's condition pretty much annulled his engagement to Shampoo and she'd be hard pressed to find another suitable enough to take his place. Well, there was always Ryoga, but she knew knew Shampoo would never go for it; neither would he. He didn't put it pass the old crone to use this new arrangement with Mousse as a stall tactic while she came up with a way to salvage her great granddaughter's claim on him... um, her.
"Why don't you, sonny boy?" Cologne chuckled, half covering her mouth with her sleeve. She wasn't stupid. The suspicion in Ryoga's eye was more than evident, and he wasn't entirely wrong.
Truth was, that whole business about the law going both ways was a crock. At least, it was now. That law had been done away with ages ago. It seemed a good idea at the time it was originally drafted, thinking it would ensure an influx of strong women into the tribe. Unfortunately, this eventually lead to a village of weak men. How were the women supposed to bear strong offspring from stock like that? So they put the kibosh on it, leaving only the one that applied to women to rectify the problem.
Besides, if the women were always having to look outside the village for suitable husbands, it'd leave fewer of them there to defend it. In effect, what she'd done was tell the truth as far as the truth went. And it would stay that way until such time she could indeed salvage Shampoo's claim.
For now, she'd have a little fun with them.
"No need for that," Ryoga told her. "We never got "engaged" in the first place."
"Not what I heard" she cackled in reply.
Ryoga grit his teeth. How dare she even think- No way, he was letting that slide. "Now you listen here, I never-"
"Argue about it later," Akane cut in, "I'm really worried about Ranma. Let's take care of that first. Then we'll deal with... ugh!" The Tendo girl shook her head distastefully, unable to bear the thought of Ranma being engaged to a guy. Make that two. Part of her wanted to argue that he had it coming somehow, but the more sensible side of her (you know, the part that gets used 0.009% of the time) knew better. And, really, she was worried about him.
"Anyway, whatever. Let's just go, Ryoga," she said.
"Uh, yeah. Sure," he replied.
Ryoga walked to where the redhead lay sprawled on the floor, half mumbling, half giggling, "Shoot me... shoot me now." The Lost Boy heaved a sigh and shook his head. Their differences aside, Ryoga couldn't bear to see him like this. It was unmanly. So was what he was about to do. Again. Bending at the knees, he hooked Ranma's arms over his shoulders and lifted. The boy supported her weight with little effort, hooking his arms beneath her legs.
"Hey, Granny, you mind if I-"
Cologne was way ahead of him. "Leave it here. I'll have Shampoo drop it off at the Tendo home on her next delivery."
Ryoga nodded, seeming okay with it. Then followed Akane out the door.
An idea occurred to Ryoga once they were outside the Cat Cafe. He didn't waste time explaining, not that there was much to explain. He just figured it'd be better for Ranma to breakdown in front of him rather than Akane in case he wasn't finished when he came to. It was a guy thing. *shrug*
"Akane, why don't you go on ahead? We'll meet you there, okay?"
"Why?" she asked, clearly confused by this sudden change in plans. "What're you-?"
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," he assured her with a smile. Bunching his leg muscles, he launched himself onto the nearest roof.
"Hey, Ryoga! Wait up!" she called after him.
"Gotta run!"
Before she could give chase, he quickly leapt several times in succession and vanished from of sight. Now she really was worried. With Ryoga's sense of direction, they could end up out of the country somewhere... or halfway around the world.
5 hours later...
Okay, he was pretty sure they were still in Japan. Exactly where at was a different story. There weren't any landmarks to go by and he didn't recognize anyone so that didn't help. He supposed he could always ask directions, but there was always the fear he'd end up looking stupid if he was some place that should have been obvious; he hated when that happened.
"Ryoga."
The Hibiki boy was too intent on getting his bearings to notice someone calling his name. "There's gotta be something around here," he mumbled to himself.
"Ryoga," they called again, this time in a low, edged tone.
"Let's see, if that's east..."
"That's north, you moron," the girl grumbled at him.
"And I'm pretty sure that tree should've been over there. And we came this way," Ryoga went on, pointing left of it whilst checking his map, "so we've been traveling south."
"God, you couldn't find the ground if you weren't standing on it," the redhead swore under her breath. Then slamming her mouth against his ear, she yelled, "We've been going west, you idiot!! Gimmie that!!" Ranma snatched the worn parchment paper from him, turning it this way and that, looked around for a moment, then slowly closed her eyes.
"Well...?" Ryoga asked sternly, seeing as how Ranma couldn't tell where they were either. That and the fact she had been awake and didn't tell him. Jerk.
"Ryoga..." she said, her voice dangerously quiet.
"I'm waiting."
Rather than answer, she yanked on his collar to where she could put him in a choke hold and gave a sharp twist down and to their right; resulting in an audible pop. Directly across the street, from the roof they were standing on, was Ukyo's restaurant; the sassy brunette could easily be seen sweeping the walk out front. She even smiled and waved when she saw them and emptied her dust pan.
Ryoga blinked a couple of times. Oh, so that's were they were. He'd been trying to find that lot again, the one where they met when he possessed the Mark of the Battle God. "Well hey, how 'bout that?" he laughed nervously.
The redhead folded her arms, half lidding her eyes. "Yeah. How 'bout that? It took you almost five hours to make an eight minute trip." Now with her hands on her hips, "Just where were we supposed to be going anyway?"
"Someplace private," he answered honestly.
Ranma's eyes flew wide. "Excuse me?!"
"It wasn't like that!!" Ryoga retorted.
"Hey, guys. What 'cha doin' up there?" Ukyo asked them.
The Pigtailed girl and Lost Boy stopped scowling at each other at the sound of her voice. Neither said anything, not knowing whether they should tell her what had happened. Granted, it was only a matter of time before she and the rest of Nerima found out anyway, but still.... Before either could voice a reply, their stomachs growled reminding them they hadn't eaten. Maybe a pit stop at Ukyo's wasn't such a bad idea.
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(Posted Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:59)
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