gziped /archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/ranma.one-special-day.gz

From: Donny Cheng <chengdo@mail.shaw.wave.ca>

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
Rumiko Takahashi and co.  I don't own any of them.  Please don't sue me.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga.  It draws ideas
from both the anime and the manga.

C & C welcomed.  Flames not.

One Special Day

By

Donny Cheng

        Ranma woke up feeling fresh and invigorated.  He felt as if he could
take on the whole world and win.  Today was his day.  He could feel it
in his bones.  He got up from his futon and went to get his father for
their usual early morning sparring practice.  After that, it would be
time for a little last minute Christmas shopping.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma fought off his father's assault as he reached for another bowl of
rice.  The table was filled with bustling noise as the whole family
chatted excitedly about the presents they were going to buy.

        "I'm back!"  Nabiki called out as she came through the front door.  She
held a load of packages in her hand.  She had made her regular rounds of
collecting various debts from people that still owed her money.  Most
had given her a present and asked for an extension since they needed
their money for presents.  She was happy to give them all extensions as
they still owed her money with interest and she got a gift in return.

        "Huh..."  Ranma, distracted by Nabiki's yell, was quickly grabbed by
Genma and thrown.  Ranma tried to flip out of the throw, but at that
moment Nabiki came walking into the dining room.  He ended up tangled
with Nabiki, resulting in many of her packages being crushed.

        Time stood still.

        Ranma could feel the tension in the air as he got off of Nabiki as fast
as possible.  He looked to the rest of the family for support and saw
nobody but Kasumi and his mother.  Everyone else had left the room in
rush.  Looking back and Nabiki, Ranma could not tell what she was
feeling at the moment.  Her head was down, apparently looking at the
damage to the gifts.  He knew he was in it deep this time.  He shuddered
as he remembered the LAST time that he destroyed one of Nabiki's
things.  "Uh... I'm sorry!  It was an accident.  It was really my
father's fault.  I didn't mean to break any to those presents your
friends gave you."

        "Ranma, you're rambling.  I'll add it to your debt.  Yeah, your
extension is still on, so don't worry about paying it until the new
year.  Now, if you will excuse me I have some things to do."

        Ranma's heart nearly stopped at Nabiki's casual response.  He was dead.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma sat on the roof debating with himself to go ahead with it or
not.  Behind him were the gifts Nabiki had left on the floor of the
dining room.  He had tried to fix it so that they at least looked
presentable.  Now, all he had to do was give them to her.  Composing
himself, Ranma decided to just bite the bullet and went for her window.
He stopped when he heard Nabiki shuffling about.  After a moment, all
was quiet.  He guessed that she had left her room.  It looked liked may
be his day after all.   He didn't have to confront her.  He would just
leave the presents in her room and be done with it.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma cursed as he glumly walked to the around Nerima with no
destination in particular.  He had to go and put his foot in his mouth
again.  He thought he saw Nabiki cringe when he said sorry to damaging
her friends' presents.  The truth was, those presents were bribes.  When
he entered Nabiki's room, he had noticed her ledger open on the table.
He had thought to take a quick glance to see how much he now owed her
and was surprised to find that all of the names in it were the same as
the ones on the gifts.  Nabiki didn't receive a single present from a
person outside her family.  She was probably in a bad mood because of
his thoughtless words.  He needed some cheering up right now, and some
free food would probably do the trick.  The Nekohanten was closest, so
Ranma headed for there.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma stopped and rubbed his eyes.  He still couldn't believe what he
was seeing.  He stared into the window of the restaurant.  Shampoo and
Ukyo sitting together inside the Nekohanten!?  They weren't planning
another sabotage, were they?  It couldn't be, there wasn't any wedding
to crash.  Curious, he decided to investigate.

                        * * * * *

        "What did you want Shampoo?"  Ukyo was wary as she watched the amazon
closely.

        "Nothing, like Shampoo want to speak with not nice girl," Shampoo
sniffed arrogantly.  "Great-grandmother and Mousse want spatula girl
here."

        "Oh, and why is that?"  Ukyo loosened up a bit after hearing that.
Mousse and her didn't have anything against each other.

        Shampoo ignored Ukyo's question and asked one of her own, "Ukyo go to
Tendo Dojo this Christmas?"

        That caught Ukyo off guard.  "I... I haven't decided yet.  I probably
won't.  I don't want to see..."

        "...Ranma and Akane together," Shampoo finished for Ukyo.  "So, Ukyo
might be alone this Christmas."

        For the second time today, Ukyo was shocked.  "You're kidding me?
You're actually concerned for me?"

        Shampoo vehemently denied that with a shake of her head.  "Shampoo told
Ukyo, is great-grandmother and Mousse concerned."

        Somehow, Ukyo doubted Shampoo.  She hardly ever had any contact with
Cologne or Mousse over the past year to warrant their concern.  However,
she did nearly bump into the amazon nearly every day in her quest to win
Ranma.  Perhaps, their rivalry had developed some mutual respect in one
another.  "Whatever you say, Shampoo.  Misery loves company, right?"

        Shampoo nodded her head.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  It just
wouldn't do to have Ukyo think that she was softening.  It was just that
look she had seen on Ukyo's face a couple of days ago after another
fight over Ranma.  Ranma, as usual, walked away in the end with Akane.
Ukyo's face, she realized, mirrored her own.  Utter and total despair.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma's mood was sinking to a dangerous low.  He was sure that he could
throw a full shi shi hokodan blast right now if wanted to.  Just as that
thought crossed his mind, Ranma noticed a bandana-wearing boy walking up
ahead of him.  A fight right about now could help him vent his anger.

                        * * * * *

        "Damn!  Where am I now?"  Ryoga was starting to panic.  Only a couple
of hours left until night and he couldn't find his way home.  "Mom and
Dad are home together for the first time in years and Akari will be
there too.  How is she going to feel if I don't show up for that
Christmas dinner I invited her to?  Arrgh!"  With a cry of pain, Ryoga
let loose a full shi shi hokodan into the air.

        Ranma watched this all from a distance.  Life sucked.

                        * * * * *

        Ranma stopped at the jeweler's shop.  He looked at the object twinkling
in the window.  He looked that the money in his hand.  He thought of
what he had seen today.  What the hell, he thought, Christmas only comes
once a year.  She can wait a little longer for his gift to her.  Ranma
immediately raced off for some shopping.  Then he would have a few
errands to run.

                        * * * * *

        "Come back here, Ranma."  Ryoga called out as he chased after the
pig-tailed boy.  "Give me back that present, right now!"

        Ranma smiled as he neared his destination.  With a flick of his wrist,
he threw the package he had taken from Ryoga into an open window of a
house.

        Ryoga cursed Ranma, as he ran towards the house.  He jumped in through
the window and found it to be very dark inside.  He stumbled his way
through trying to find a light switch.

        <Flip>

        "Are you trying to find this Ryoga-kun?"

        Ryoga stared in shock as the lights came on to reveal Akari holding the
package in her hand standing beside both his parents.  "What..?"

        "Merry Christmas, Ryoga!"  His father cheerfully called out.

        Ryoga knew it had to have been Ranma.  How could that jerk do this?
Now, he would have to let Ranma live at least until the holidays were
over.

                        * * * * *

        "Hey, Shampoo?"  Ukyo looked at a pair of packages that had
mysteriously appeared on top of the counter.

        "What?"  Shampoo asked as she finished closing up for the day.

        "Did you see who brought these in?"  The packages each had a tag with a
name on it.  One was 'Ukyo' and the other was 'Shampoo'.

                        * * * * *

        Akane smiled as she carefully unwrapped her present.  It was a
journal.  It looked exactly like her mother's old recipe book.  She
looked up at Ranma and noticed him squirming.  "Ranma, why?  I thought
you didn't like me cooking."

        Oh man, why did she have to go and smile like that, Ranma thought as
his legs turned to jello.  "I know I can't stop you from cooking.  So, I
might as well try to help.  At least that's what my mom says."

        "Thank you, Ranma.  You have no idea what that means to me.  Do you
like my present?  I thought that since I did so well with the scarf last
year, I would try something harder."

        Ranma bigsweated.  The sweater looked very much like the scarf he
received last year, meaning that it looked like a fishing net.  "Yeah, I
like it."

                        * * * * *

        Ranma surveyed the crowd before him.  With the exception of Ryoga,
Mousse, Cologne, Shampoo, and Ukyo, nearly everyone from last year was
here.  He kind of missed those guys.

        "Ranma."

        Ranma turned his head at the sound of his name.  It was Ukyo.  She
pointed outside and beckoned him to follow her.

                        * * * * *

        When they reached the koi pond, Ranma asked, "What did you want, Ukyo?"

        "I wanted to thank you for this present."  Ukyo touched the small
spatula with her name engraved on it affectionately.  It hung across her
chest forever near her heart.

        "What?  How did you know it was me?"  Ranma twitched nervously and
scratched the back of his head.

        "Ranma, I can recognize your bad writing any day of the week.  Besides,
you're my only friend in Nerima."

        "It wasn't anything special.  It didn't cost very much and it wasn't
that much trouble to get it engrav..."

        Ukyo shut Ranma up with a peck on his lips.  "It's special to me.  This
will be among my most treasured belongings.  Shampoo, your turn!"  Ukyo
called out to the amazon.  She then vaulted up and over the Tendo's
wall.

        Shampoo emerged from her hiding place in the bushes.  She and Ukyo had
agreed to greet Ranma separately.  Ukyo won the toss and had decided to
go first.  It was now her turn.

        Ranma felt the air from his lungs rush out as Shampoo nearly crushed
him with her strongest hug yet.  For the first time, Ranma did not
immediately push her away.

        "Shampoo thank Ranma for gift."  The hair ornament that Ranma had given
her was very tacky and probably cheap, but Shampoo didn't care in the
slightest.  She hoped against hope that Ranma would allow this one hug
this time.  She was pleasantly surprised to find Ranma not pushing her
away.  He didn't respond either, yet Shampoo felt that it was okay.

        "Akane, wait!  I haven't given you my present yet."  Nabiki's loud
voice could be heard from within the house.

        Ranma nearly jumped out of his skin.  The only thing that separated
Akane from this sight was just the door to the dojo.  Fortunately,
Shampoo finally let go of him and just as quickly left over the wall
taking Ukyo's path.

        Akane opened the doors to find Ranma standing outside, alone.  "Ranma,
there you are.  I looked all over for you.  Kasumi is about to light the
Christmas tree, come on."

        "Okay."  Ranma followed Akane inside.

                        * * * * *

        Nabiki watched as Ranma and Akane entered the dojo.  Consider this your
Christmas present.  Nabiki opened her new ledger with her name, written
quite badly, plastered on the cover.  She neatly wrote in the words on
the very first line:  Nabiki to Ranma:  1 gift - Debt paid.  "Merry
Christmas, Ranma."

                        * * * * *

The End.

My archive is at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4537