Ok, second part of chapter four. Let’s call it chappie five. I wrote it in short paragraphs, don’t ask me why, cuz I don’t know. Heh.

Chapter 5: “Moving in.”

Nerima surely looked nice in the morning. It was middle autumn and the streets were covered in fallen leaves, people walking to the market or in their morning jog, children going to school… It was quite nice. And the car was just awesome. It was the first time he drove around town; every time his father had let him drive (that they’d been miraculously together for more than five minutes) had been on a deserted highway.

Akeru was comfortably sitting on the passenger’s seat, looking around with a huge grin on his face. He had asked Ryouga to show him the Nerima ward of Tokyo, and he liked it. But there was another reason for Akeru’s big grin. And Ryouga just knew it had something to do with the engagement. He knew that at any moment he would just come out of the blue and say something like ‘I want grandchildren’ or something like that.

Ryouga shuddered at the thought.

Luckily for him, Akeru only asked him to bring him back to the Ucchan’s, since it was almost lunch time and he had to help around. Besides, he had to pick up his mother, too. Funny, he half expected this little ride to be an excuse for a life-wrecking news. They were gonna end it today, anyway; as he said to Ukyou the night before.

What he didn’t ever expect, though, was seeing his mother and his (reluctantly accepted for now) fiancée waiting for him on the sidewalk surrounded by luggage.

“I think Ucchancita is ready to leave!” Akeru exclaimed.

“L-leave?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you!” Akeru said as he was exiting the car, “she’s moving in with you.”

Ryouga’s eyes looked like two balloons that were suddenly puffed up with more air than what they resisted.

“Wh-?” He exhaled.

“C’mon boy! Help the ladies with the bags!” Akeru chirped.

Ukyou got hurriedly into the back seat and ignored his father’s waving hand. She was so pissed off at him.

After stuffing the poor trunk with bags, Ryouga and his mother occupied the front seats and the car rolled back to the Hibiki residence.

Looking at her son’s look, a mix of anger and annoyance plastered on his face, she felt like she had to elaborate.

“Before you say anything, darling, I’ll let you know that this was your father’s idea, and I had no say in the matter.”

“It’s ok , mom.” He said in a dead tone. He glanced at Ukyou through the rearview mirror, she was looking through the window, a bored expression on her face.

“I know we should have discussed this together, but your father and Ichiro decided that it was better that all the family’s men talked about it alone.”

“Oh, and I’m supposed to be a girl now?” He sneered; he heard Ukyou snort.

“It’s not like that, Ryouga. You know how they are…” His mother said in an apologizing tone.

“Yeah, I know.” He resented.

The rest of the trip home continued in silence.

“Ukyou! Welcome home!” Hibiki Kida greeted his daughter in law with glee, “I’m so glad you’re finally here!”

“Tanks Mr. Hibiki…” She said toneless. Apparently, his new daughter wasn’t sharing his excitement; he wondered why.

“Dear? Did you finish your little job?” Aiko asked her husband, as he started to help Ryouga with the bags.

“Uh-huh!” He answered, “they’re gonna like it!”

Ukyou followed the lady inside the house, to start lunch. As they passed Ryouga, his mother addressed to him.

“Take those to your room, honey. And don’t ask, it wasn’t my idea either.”

Ryouga groaned.

Climbing the stairs with heavy steps, he reached the door of his bedroom.

What the hell is wrong with her? Why is she here? We were supposed to call the engagement off today. Why is she moving in?

He left the bags on the floor and slid the door open. He blinked. Then he slid the door closed. He shook his head.

“I didn’t see that.” He stated out loud.

He slid the door open again, and froze.

No, it hadn’t been his imagination. There actually was a double sized bed in his bedroom.

“No… way…”

He closed his eyes for a while and opened them again. The bed was still there. It had a fluffy, white bedspread and puffy white cushions. Two little wooden nightstands were at each side of it, matching a cute white dresser with a huge mirror at the right side of the bed; and his wardrobe on the left side had been somehow ‘expanded’ for two.

Calm…You have to remain calm…

“DAAAAAAAAAAAD!!”

The pot Ukyou held almost fell off her hands as the shout rang through the house. She cast an inquiring look at Aiko, who only sighed and continued to cook the noodles.

As his father reached the bedroom with the rest of the luggage, he looked innocently at his son, who, for some reason, had this irate look on his face.

“What is it, son?” He said as he entered the very recently reformed room.

“What is it? Gee, I don’t know, dad. I got up this morning in MY room, that looked perfectly normal; and now I find that it’s suddenly perfectly accommodated for a married couple!! Do you have any idea of what it might have happened, daddy?!”

“Uh… well… were else was Ukyou supposed to sleep?” He shrugged, innocently.

“I don’t know, dad. The guestroom, maybe? I thought it was a room for guests.” He retorted acidly, his fangs poking out menacingly.

“Oh, but it’s occupied by all of our souvenirs; your mother wanted a little more space in our room, and yours was truly stuffed, too.”

“So that’s your excuse.”

“Yeah,” he said with a grin, reaching his bedroom, “besides, you can have more fun with your fiancée in that bed, don’t you think boy?”

At the utterly perplexed and embarrassed look Ryouga gave to him, he had to laugh.

Lunch was really, really quiet. Ryouga didn’t utter a word, barely eating; Ukyou poked at her food in a bored manner; Aiko cast reprimanding looks at her husband every now and then, and Kida was simply enjoying his food, snickering every once in a while as some kinky thought came to mind about the new sleeping accommodations.

Around three in the afternoon, Hibiki took his son to the vacant lot next to their house.

“What are we doing here, dad?” He crossed his arms sternly, Ryouga was still pretty mad about what had happened to his room. But he rather not think about that until bedtime. When he’d had to sleep… Next to her… He pinched his nose.

“You know this lot belongs to us, right?”

Ryouga nodded, “so?”

“Son, we’re gonna build up the family dojo here.” Kida said proud.

He looked at his father with surprise.

“We are?!” He asked, excitement pouring off his voice.

“Yes, you need a stable job now that you’re gonna have a family, and it was always our idea anyway.”

“Dad, I don’t know what to say…” Ryouga’s eyes moistened. His father’s shone with pride.

“Why do I have to sleep in his room, Mrs. Hibiki?” Ukyou protested as they climbed the stairs to her new bedroom. She had to unpack.

“Are you really asking me this?” She smiled, “it was them who arranged this, it was kind of predictable that it would happen.”

“You have a point there.” She sighed.

“Besides, my room was really stuffed with souvenirs, I needed more space now that we actually are going to sleep in that room.” Aiko giggled, “don’t worry; Kida probably put the extra bed in Ryouga’s room; it’s a nice bed, you’ll be comfortable.”

“As long as it’s as far away from Ryouga’s as possible.” The chef murmured under her breath as they slid the door open.

SHLICK

“Oh…my…God.”

“That’s a double sized bed.” Ukyou uttered, stunned.

“It is.” Aiko supplied.

Both women were standing at the door, looking dumbly at the bed.

“I am not supposed to sleep there, aren’t I?” Ukyou tremulously asked.

“I’m afraid so.” Aiko nodded. “Dear, why don’t you start unpacking? I’ll help you in a second, I need to have a word with my husband.”

“Sure.”

“Wow dad, you really pissed her off now, huh?”

“Nah, she was already a little pissed about last night.” Came the muffled voice.

“Well, you did go behind her back when you talked to Akeru.”

“Aww, you know she wouldn’t have agreed with it if we told her.”

“Exactly.” Ryouga sneered. He helped his father out of the trash can and dusted him off.

“And you complain about your fiancée.”

Mrs. Hibiki went back to her son’s room to help Ukyou with her things, only to find said girl still standing at the doorframe, the dumbstruck look still on her face.

…this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening…

“Ukyou, are you ok?”

“Wha?” The girl blinked, “I don’t know… This is too much…” She shook her head.

“I know sweetie, I know things had been going too fast, but sadly we’re not the ones who decide in this one.”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Hibiki, but I don’t think I can go along with this.” Ukyou’s eyes watered.

The Hibiki matriarch flinched. She was expecting this anytime soon.

“Come in, girl. Let’s talk.”

Aiko made the girl sit on the bed and she sat next to her.

“Ok child, tell me what’s wrong.”

Ukyou brushed the tears off her eyes and cleared her throat, “things aren’t easy for me, Mrs. Hibiki. This isn’t what…” She sighed. “Since I was a little child, I was engaged to Ranma. Even after they left me crying in the dirt, even after promising my family that I’d take vengeance, I grew up with the illusion of marrying him someday. My mother wanted to see me married, my father wanted me to restore our honor. It’s all I ever had.” She sniffled, “and after twelve years, my dad comes back and changes everything that I lived for in just a minute, without sparing my feelings or anything.”

“Dear, we both know Ichiro isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know he does things thinking about his family. Your father always dreamt a wonderful life for you, maybe that’s why he engaged you to Saotome in the first place. And I know your mom also wanted the best for you, ever since she find out she was expecting you.”

Something inside the girl warmed. The only good thing about this whole mess was that she found out more about her mother.

“She did?”

“Mm-hmm.” The lady nodded. “Besides, if you married Ranma, your family honor still wouldn’t be restored, because you had a promise that it weighted much more than your engagement with the Saotomes. We’re talking about a three generation’s promise here. If it’s of any consolation, your engagement to them had always been null, since you already had a commitment to us. I don’t know how Akeru would’ve reacted if you’d married Ranma.” Aiko shuddered.

“Well, if I had married him, that would’ve mean that I dishonored the family, since I didn’t fulfilled the family’s obligations. Then, grandpa Akeru would’ve probably disinherited me.”

“Which is what he’s going to do now, if you don’t marry my son.”

Ukyou’s eyes grew wide as saucers. Even if it hadn’t been mentioned, that is surely what was going to happen if she refused to carry out the promise they made so long ago. Then she would lose the family heirloom (her spatula), the family name, the family title as an okonomiyaki chef. She’d lose everything she is.

“I hadn’t thought about that.” She said, her voice constrict.

Aiko patted her head softly and stood up.

“Just think about it. Maybe you should talk about this with your grandmother.” She said while leaving the room.

“Maybe…” Ukyou’s face darkened as the implications of what had been said started swirling in her mind.

Well, I’m not entirely happy about this one, maybe I’ll rewrite it later; it’ll just have to do for now. Ok, some answers:

About Ryouga finishing high school sooner, I really didn’t want to deal with that along the story, so I gave him (and myself) an easy way out.

I know they’re gonna sleep in the same bed, (supposedly), but I don’t plan to make them go too fast. That way the story would end up sooner, heheh. This isn’t the most complicated thing their parents will do, don’t worry. Mwahahahaha.

Now, I know there hasn’t been too much interaction between them in this one, but that will come next chapter; and I’ll throw in R&A, heh.

Thanks to all of you for reading, and for taking your time and reviewing. I really appreciate it.