Chapter 8: “Living together.”

Evening fell on the quiet house, the owners hadn’t returned yet from their stroll and Ukyo found herself unable to continue with her reading; glancing at her idiotic fiancée, she found that he had fallen asleep on the couch. Sighing, she wondered why had she spent the whole afternoon with that stupid book.

She knew it was because her mind was somewhere else, but her eyes were tired and she didn’t want to think about anything at all. Ukyo started to worry about Ryoga’s parents, they had left barely past midday and it was already evening. She couldn’t even start dinner cause they had to bring the groceries yet, and she was starting to feel uneasy.

Jumping up the stairs, she went to ‘her’ room and stared at the bed. There was no way in hell she was sharing it again with that jackass. She just had to find a solution… She couldn’t actually cut the bed in two, but she could find a way to separate it. She just needed something that they could put at night and take off at day so Aiko didn’t find out, but what?

She glanced at the folding screen next to the wardrobe and grinned mischievously. There it was, all flexible and made of paper. Perfect.

Carefully ripping off the wooden frame, she then stretched it on the bed. Now, all she needed was a way to attach it to the wall so they could fold it flat at daytime.

Nails! A light bulb suddenly appeared above her head, I’ll nail it to the wall! I’m such a genius!

Rushing to the basement, she idly wondered if the Hibikis had any toolbox.

His parents had come home late that evening. It turned out to be that, unaccustomed to their neighbourhood, they got lost. Funny. Dinner was eaten rather late, but he wasn’t all that sleepy since he’d had such a nice nap. Though it had ended abruptly due to some hammering noises coming from upstairs. When he’d gone investigate, he found his fiancé sitting on the bed, looking innocently at him. He’d just shaken his head and turned off.

Now that it was bedtime, he went to change after a nice shower and found himself almost stripping to nothing in front of his snickering roommate.

Blushing, he wrapped the towel tighter to his body, “where’s the screen?”

Looking from behind her book, Ukyo just shrugged.

Taking his clothes, he walked hurriedly to the bathroom, muttering about crazy females under his roof.

Turning off the lamp when he got in bed, she giggled knowingly and chirped a “Good night!”

Then there was this ‘SWOOSH’ sound and Ryoga found himself staring at a paper screen when he turned to respond.

A whole silent minute passed by before he dared to ask.

“Um… Ukyo?”

“Yeah?” Came the almost giggling reply from the other side.

“What’s… I mean… the screen…?”

“Very smart, huh?”

“But mom…”

“Did you notice before?”

“Um… no?”

“She wont either, night!”

“O-okay.”

Shivering at the thoughts of motherly punishment if she actually discovered it, he went to lock the doors. And forgot they were sliding paper doors. Damn it!

He’d need to come up with some sort of lock for them.

Lunch hour at Furinkan High tended to be a mess if you were around Ranma. Most of the times it started with Shampoo showing up to bring Ranma lunch, which most of the times was spiced with a ‘little something’, getting Akane into ‘beating the jerk’ mode; then followed Mousse, hugging somebody who he thought was his Shampoo (most of the cases Ranma or Akane), and accusing him of trying to steal his bride; then it would follow Kodachi, trying to feed him ‘something’ she calls food; then her brother would appear to smite the sorcerer Saotome and free the pigtailed goddess and the fair Akane Tendo, who at this point is at ‘murder the pervert mode’; and then, out of the blue would jump Ryoga in to defend Akane’s honour and kick Ranma’s butt, or try to…

Ukyo laughed sitting on the table, it all had happened exactly like that today. Well, she noted that she hadn’t jumped in to offer him okonomiyaki as she usually did; and Ryoga hadn’t appeared either… But it’d been near a month since they’d stopped those antics.

It had all changed so much since the engagement was announced. Now that she wasn’t part of that craziness anymore, she felt like she was left out. Of course, Ranma had been acting all friendly and all, but actually he seemed to be more interested in hang out with Ryoga than with her. Which brought Akane closer to her, trying to develop their things in common into a nice friendship.

She didn’t complain, but rather enjoyed when Akane went on and on about the stupid and perverted things Ranma did, and how she had to deal with the other fiancées and stuff; what caused her to wonder guiltily if she’s been as pain in the ass as the others were.

Akane huffed as she plopped herself down next to Ukyo, her arms crossed on her chest, her brows knitted in anger.

“Honestly! Does that boy know any limit?! Like I care if he eats their food! But at least he should tell me before I go and cook for him, right?!”

She looked expectantly at the chef, who was trying to finish her lunch.

“Yeah.” She just answered, knowing all too well that disagreeing with her at that point was a dreadful mistake.

“You’re lucky Ryoga hasn’t got any other fiancées, you don’t know how frustrating that is.” She sighed.

“Yup, I have that jackass all to myself…” she snorted, then she frowned, “and I know exactly how frustrating it was.”

Akane looked sheepish, “sorry, I forgot. It’s hard to believe that we were on different sides not too long ago.”

The pretty chef smiled, “yeah, we get along pretty well, huh?”

The short haired girl nodded enthusiastically, earning a giggle from her friend.

“I always thought that if I had to be friends with one of all of his fiancées, it would be you.”

“Somehow I feel the same way,” she agreed, looking at the chaos that was not too far from them.

She swung her book bag from side to side, bored. Another day at school had ended, not that they were many left; and now she would go home and find something to do. They were building the new Dojo in the lot behind Ryoga’s house, (she wasn’t used to call it her own yet), and it was already halfway finished, what had got all the men’s attention. Even Ranma was walking by her side right now to get to the Hibiki residence on time to help. Yep, that’s right; Ranma was as obsessed as the others were with the new Dojo. He even piped in with a few helpful ideas, not that Ryoga was too happy about it, anyway.

Today it would be even more boring, because Akane hadn’t been able to go with them, since she had to help Kasumi with some errands she had to do.

Though she couldn’t complain too much, because now she didn’t have to spend ‘quality time’ with her fiancée, like her grandparents advised.

Thank the gods they had started with the Dojo the next day she’d moved in, that kept Ryoga occupied for the entire day, and he would fall asleep immediately when they went to bed. The past three and a half weeks had been like that, she would get up early to go to school, come back in the afternoon, help around or go to her restaurant, spend time with her mother in law (which she really enjoyed), have dinner and go to bed. It wasn’t that she was having a bad time, but she really missed her restaurant. When she was living alone, she barely had any time for her own; the restaurant and school took all of her time, and she even managed to slip a few hours to chase Ranma in her tight schedule. Now, she had a lot of free time and nothing to do with it.

Of course, there had been a few incidents involving her fiancée, that kept her entertained for a few hours; like the little fights over the biggest pillow; or the time when she found her lamp mysteriously crushed under the bed one morning, when she hadn’t wanted to turn it off the night before; or the four hours argument about whether to use lemon or vinegar on the salad; and the list went on and on…

Though she wasn’t learning to get along with him, (not that she put too much effort into it), she didn’t mind a little bickering. She couldn’t bring herself to be all nice and sweet with him, not when she was so used to treat him differently. But it was his own fault, she reasoned, because he had this tendency to get on her nerves every time they saw each other. And yes, she was used to hit him and yell at him, but the more she looked for a reason, the less she found one.

She knew she’d overreacted the other day, she shouldn’t have hit him so hard, but it really infuriated her what he did. Even if it hadn’t been his fault; or so he said.

All she knew was that she woke up that morning and found her slumbering fiancée snuggling contentedly against her chest. A few spalutas to the head and a trip to the backyard through the window later, he tried to defend himself claiming that it’d been actually her who crawled under the screen and was at his side of the bed and that he had been deeply asleep, otherwise he wouldn’t even dare to touch her. Of course, this only resulted in more spatulas to the head for being such a pervert that thought some sort of plan to make her do that; and the argument went on mercilessly until they ran out of reproaches and stopped talking to each other. So it had been four days of ignoring one another.

Ranma ran to the lot behind the house, throwing a rushed ‘see ya later’ over his shoulder. Saying that the boy was excited was an understatement. Ukyo sighed unhappily as she found herself alone in the house; apparently Aiko had to do some shopping and hadn’t returned yet.

She padded to her room and changed her school uniform into more comfortable clothes; stretching her arms up drowsily, she plopped onto bed and set the pillow comfortably under her head. The window was open, facing the little backyard. She could hear the male’s voices saying nothing in particular, just plain murmur. It was quite soothing, actually; the different deep tones that made their voices, she could easily recognize them. Kida had a deep and low tone in his voice, she liked it; it was very masculine, you could say. Her father’s was harsh, even when he was saying something nice. She assumed that it seemed that way to her because it’s the way he always had talked to her.

Ranma’s was high-pitched and boyish, as if it always contained laughter; but it was firm and steady when he talked seriously; and surprisingly soft and quivering when he talked about Akane (she giggled, had she been so blind?)

Then she heard Ryoga’s voice, it was like Kida’s, but a little bit boyish; it was deep, low, but soft; hearing his voice you could guess that he wasn’t a boy anymore, but a young man, and that realization made her feel weird.

Having a fiancée like Ranma was easy. All she had to do to make him happy is talk about martial arts and keep his stomach full. Something she could do with a hand tied to her back. In spite of having eighteen, Ranma was still a boy, and he wanted to keep it that way. It was like he didn’t want to grow up. Maybe because the end of high school was near and he’d had to keep his promise to the Tendo family. You could see that Ranma loved Akane, it was a clear fact as the sun is bright, but maybe he wasn’t ready to marry her yet.

Ryoga, on the other hand, had taken his engagement seriously and didn’t care about the consequences, like having a fiancée that fights him and hits him all the time (she blushed guiltily). And that shows, even if she hates to admit it, responsibility and honour, and a great love towards his family. She assumed that he’d been forced to grow up earlier because of the lifestyle he had (like herself), learning to take care of himself at a tender age and developing an honourable personality wasn’t something easy to do. And he’d done it quite nicely (even if she hates to admit it, again), he’d turned into a nice, caring and polite young man.

Why that boy got so well on her nerves was a mystery to her. Maybe it was time to get back to the bickering, this silence treatment was really annoying.

Ryoga entered his room quietly, for his fiancée was asleep and he didn’t feel like dealing with waking her up. He walked towards the bathroom in tiptoes, careful of not making a single noise.

He took a quick shower and exited the bathroom wearing his pants, in case she had awoken. Sighing slightly as he towelled his hair off, he cast a glance at his fiancée. He took notice that she was on his side of the bed, again. It had been already four times that he found her there, one of them with him in the bed too.

Reaching for a clean shirt, he came closer to her and observed her. Sleeping calmly, she seemed like a whole different person. Her face was relaxed, a few strands of hair falling onto her face; she breathed slowly and even. Ryoga realized then just how calm and serene she looked, and wished she would be like that when she was awake, instead of the short tempered, tomboyish girl she was. Seeing her shake slightly, he covered her with the blanket.

The girl opened her eyes warily as she felt herself being covered from the cold. Her stare rested on her fiancée’s face, who seemed terrified of being punished.

“Uh… you were shaking…” He said guardedly, immediately retreating.

“Thanks.” She replied, tugging at the blanket to pull it above her shoulders.

He was about to leave when her soft voice called him, “Ryoga?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry about the other day.” She offered sleepily, closing her eyes again.

He smiled, “I’m sorry too.” But she was already asleep. He shook his head and exited the room.

Breakfast was made late since it was Saturday and Aiko wanted to oversleep a little, fact that didn’t bothered anybody in the house since she tended to get up around five. But this time it was Ukyo who woke up first, and in the middle of the bed. She looked to one side and found her fiancée sleeping crookedly, in what seemed to be a very uncomfortable position. He seemed like he was desperately trying not to get close to her, but it was difficult since he had little space to lay on. For some reason his feet were hanging off the edge of the bed. She giggled softly.

Did he sleep that way so he didn’t wake me up?She thought as she realized she was in the same position he had found her the day before. That’s nice of him.

She took a quick shower and couldn’t help to giggle again when she went to get her clothes, Ryoga had sprawled himself across the bed, snoring softly.

“Jackass.” She whispered slightly, shaking her head.

He groaned and lifted his head barely, one eye open; “Ukyo?”

“Yeah?” She said from behind the screen, picking up her clothes. They had acquired a new one since Ryoga had insisted so much, (he hated dressing in their little bathroom); tough explaining to his mother the former one’s fate had been funny.

“What time is it?”

“Early. Go back to sleep.” She ordered softly, thinking that he deserved a few more hours of rest.

“Did you hit me while I slept?... Like lots?” His voice was muffled by the pillow.

“What?” She half laughed, he probably was aching all over, due to his work at the dojo and the way he slept.

“I knew you’d get revenge…” He groaned painfully.

“I didn’t hit you, jackass;” she chuckled, “you just slept bad.”

Ryoga just buried his face in the pillow, groaning.

“Will you stop that? It’s annoying.”

“I need a massage. Call mom.”

“She’s still sleeping and I’m not waking her up.”

She walked to the little dresser and sat on the stool, brushing her hair before her bath.

“Ukyo…”

She ignored him.

“Ukyoooo…”

She kept brushing her hair, humming happily.

“Ukyo!”

“What?!” She snapped.

“Please?” He looked at her pleadingly from his position in the bed, causing her to blush fervently.

“What? No way!” she squeaked.

“It’s just a massage for God’s sake! Besides it’s your fault I slept that way!”

“Ii didn’t ask you to let me sleep! You should’ve waken me up!”

“Fine!” He turned his head around and puffed annoyingly, trying to get back to sleep.

She stared at him through the mirror, he was obviously annoyed and his back and neck probably hurt like hell.

It’s not like I asked him to sleep that way, so it’s not my fault.

But it was terribly sweet of him… A little voice whispered.

I still didn’t ask him to.

He didn’t have to do it, considering the way you’ve been treating him, and still…

But he can’t want me to.. to touch him! That pervert!

It’s just a massage, besides, he’s wearing his shirt…

He shifted again and she sighed, “damn conscience.”

Ukyo crawled to the middle of the bed and placed her hands on Ryoga’s back.

“I swear to God, Hibiki, if you get any weird ideas I’ll beat you to a pulp!” She warned.

He turned his head around to look at her ironically, shook it and faced away again.

Aiko yawned lazily as she strode to the kid’s bedroom, wanting to take Ukyo to the groceries store. Her husband still slept peacefully since he’d been tired and it wasn’t that late anyway. Reaching the door, she froze at what she heard, a hand halfway up the knob.

/OW Ukyo! OWW!/

/Stop yelling you jackass!/

/But you’re squeezing too tight!/

/It’s not my fault you’re this hard! Now stay still! /

/Okay, okay!... And it IS your fault I’m like this!/

/Well, you shouldn’t have done that last night… Is this better?/

/Mmm… yes…/

“Oh my…” Red-faced, she decided to let the kids have their fun.

“Where’s Ukyo, dear?”

“She’s taking a bath.”

“Maybe she’s tired… you should slow down a bit, son.” Kida snickered, what cause the boy to turn deep red.

“What? It’s not-- we don’t-- I mean-- Dad!”

His father laughed at the look on his son’s face, “relax boy, I’m just joking.”

“Not funny.”

“Good morning,” greeted the young chef.

“Have a seat Ukyo-chan,” Aiko chirped, “breakfast’s waiting for you.”

“You’re in a good mood today m-mom.” Ukyo noted, the feeling of the last word new to her.

“Well, we found out yesterday that there’s a fair in town and we’re going this evening!” Besides I’ll probably be a grandma soon!! She added mentally, giggling.

“We haven’t been in a fair in a while, right Ryoga? As a family, I mean.”

“Huh?” He looked up from his meal, “yeah, I guess.”

“So it’s settled, we’re definitely going;” the lady’s smile turned wider, “Ukyo-chan, I have something you might like. Come to my room later, okay?”

“Uh, okay.” Said girl nodded, curious. Ryoga shivered, he didn’t like that smile.

Later that evening, they were getting ready to go. Ryoga picked up a casual but nice attire, (and dressed in the bathroom, much to his annoyance, due to the lack of certain dressing panel), and now was waiting in the car with his father for the ladies.

His eyes widened when he saw what his mother wanted Ukyo to wear. It was a white spaghetti strapped dress, that hugged her body from her modestly covered chest to her hips, and flowed freely up to above her knees. She had a nice, soft white jacket to go along with it. They occupied the back seat, talking about how much fun fairs were and what a great time they were going to have.

It was crowded. Very crowded. Ryoga thought that if he’d been there without his sense of direction he’d been lost for days, probably ending up travelling with the festival itself. His parents had gone to find something to eat (probably ice cream, knowing his mother), and had left him alone with Ukyo. She seemed like she was having a good time, looking at all directions for what to do next. Apparently, fairs put her in a good mood; she hadn’t yell at him or hit him not even once! In fact, she was riding all the attractions with him. Not that it could be helped, since his parents had disappeared the minute they got there. ‘Fiancées quality time’, his father had said. Not wanting to ruin her mood, (and by extension risk to being clobbered to the floor), he decided to keep his mouth shut and agree to everything she’d ask.

“Hey Ryoga?” She tugged at his jacket, “can we go to the Ferris wheel?”

“Huh? Okay, I guess.”

They sat albeit uncomfortably, the seats weren’t that large. As the attraction started to roll upwards, a soothing feeling crept over them.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She said and he turned to her, her blue eyes lost in the city below, “so many lights… Looks like the stars.”

“They do. Seems like looking at the sky from above.”

Ukyo smiled at the comparison. “You know? Back when I was in the road, I used to think that looking at the stars I was closer to Ranch- Ranma, cause maybe he was looking at the same stars… And maybe he was thinking about me…”

Ryoga turned to look at her again, surprised that she would tell him something so private.

“Pretty stupid, huh?” She smiled bitter-sweetly.

“Not really… I used to think the same about Akane-san.” He confessed, blushing. “Till a few days ago, stars were the only constant thing in my life. No matter where I found myself, they were there.”

“Before I got to Nerima, they were mine, too. But then I found Ranma and I had a restaurant and went to school and stuff,” she shrugged. “What’s your constant in life now?”

“You.” He stated, and flushed when he realized what he’d said. Ukyo’s big, stupefied eyes met his. “I-I mean, b-because of the e-engagement, you know, f-family and all…” He trailed off, looking away from her.

“Yeah,” she agreed, looking away as well. “I know what you mean.”

Getting off the ride, Ukyo became amused when he stretched out his arm for her to take, his face blazing.

“We should look for your parents,” she proposed; suddenly uneasy as to staying alone with him.

“They’re probably eating ice-cream somewhere…” He said as he looked around.

“Isn’t a little cold for that?” She asked as she tightened her jacket around her.

“Not for mom,” he chuckled. “Let’s go, maybe we can have some dinner.”

The chef nodded and they started to walk towards the food stands.

“Ucchancita!” A familiar voice called from one of the stands, waggling a cane around to call their attention.

“What’s grandpa doing here?”

“Seems like they have a new yattai.” Ukyo pointed out, nearing her grandfather.

“Kids! So good to see you here!” Hana exclaimed from behind the banners, wiping her hands in her apron.

“When did you get this yattai?” The youngest girl asked, a bit taken aback.

“Oh, it belongs to the fair. We just rented it.”

She smiled at the long line forming behind them, “seems like you’re doing good!”

“Have a seat kids,” Akeru chirped, handing a costumer his take out okonomiyaki.

“Where’s uncle Ichiro?” Ryoga asked, glancing around.

“We left him in the restaurant, someone had to keep it open, you know?”

Ukyo sweatdropped, sometimes her family went a little overboard concerning business. But who was she to talk, anyway?

“Your parents passed by a moment ago, Ryochan.” Hana smiled at the boy, “Aiko was eager to get to the ice cream stand,” she giggled.

Ryoga nodded knowingly, “thought so.”

They ate in silence, enjoying the swift noises of the spatulas against the grill and the coming and going of people. Ukyo looked at her grandparents, obviously enjoying working together, and couldn’t help but picture herself and Ryoga doing the same in a distant future. She had to admit that they were having a great time, not fighting all the time for nothing like they usually did. She could see he was trying to have a peaceful night, and enjoy himself; maybe that was why he still hadn’t done anything stupid like put his foot in his mouth like certain Saotome boy usually did.

Maybe we can have a nice time, if he keeps behaving like this, she thought.

Suddenly, a purple blur attached itself to him.

“Airen! What you doing with stupid spatula girl?!” Shampoo yelled, glaring at the lady behind the grill, who returned the look, taken aback.

“What did you call me, child?” Hana asked, not too kindly.

“You no spatula girl,” the amazon blinked, “Shampoo mistake. Shampoo sorry.”

Hana nodded and resumed her work. The purple haired girl blinked a couple of times, seeming to realize something.

“Airen been working out?” She asked as her hands explored, turning her face around, meeting a couple of wide, shocked eyes.

“You no Airen,” She stated, unmoving. The thing was, Shampoo’d heard Ranma was at the fair, so she’d come chas- looking for him. Being so crowded, she settled for clamp down the first red Chinese shirt she saw. Unfortunately, Ryoga had decided to wear a long sleeved red shirt, and being so close to the grill, he’d taken his jacket off.

When Shampoo saw an okonomiyaki cart and a red shirt sitting at it, she put two and two together… and got three.

“Lost boy?”

“W-would you m-mind?”

“Shampoo mind what?” She asked confused as she made no move to leave his lap.

“G-getting off m-me?”

“Eeeep!” The amazon jumped two feet in the air, pretty much catlike; and loomed all over him, furious. “What you doing with Shampoo?!” She demanded.

“M-me?! You’re the one w-who jumped o-onto my lap from nowhere!”

“Shampoo thought you Airen! Lost boy fault for wearing red! Shampoo thought you Ranma with Spatula Girl, eating horrible horrible food!”

“Uh, she’s right over there, you know.”

“What?” She turned to see a very fuming chef.

“What do you mean horrible food, you ramen tramp!” She blinked her glare away at the wide purple eyes looking at her. “What are you looking at, bimbo?!”

“You really spatula girl?” She asked, Ukyo blinked again

“Of course I am, and the name’s Ukyo by the way.”

The purple haired bim- girl took a step closer and peered at her face, “you wear make up.” She stated.

“So?”

Her gaze travelled down, “you grow breast?” She asked perplexed, tugging at her cleavage, showing off the beginning of her bra. Ukyo yelped and crossed her arms in front of herself; Ryoga clamped his nose.

“And you wear dress?!” Shampoo exclaimed astonished as she lifted Ukyo’s dress up in the air, leaving her legs and panties exposed. Ryoga’s nose couldn’t take so much flesh and exploded like a geyser. Luckily for him, Ukyo was busy glaring at the Amazon and trying to cover herself to notice; so he had enough time to clean himself up without being spatulated for peeping. Not that it had been his fault, anyway. She was sitting in front of him, it was impossible not to look…

The young chef slapped Shampoo’s hands away, then she punched her in the arm, hard. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Why you looking like woman?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?! I’ve always been a woman you jackass!”

“But you no dress like woman, you dress like man. Why wearing dress now?”

“That’s not of your business, bimbo!”

Shampoo hmmed thinking, and look at her again; her face beauty with make up, her hair carefully put up in a bun, the white dress embracing her figure, and her legs coquettishly crossed one above the other. Then her eyes went to the lost boy; clean and smelling good, wearing nice clothes instead of his usual travelling ones, his hair short and neat; both eating and sitting closely to each other… And got three again.

“You scheming break up plan again?”

“What?”

“Shampoo help, maybe this time no go backwards like usually do.”

“Hey!” The chef protested.

“We’re not planning anything, Shampoo.” Ryoga clarified before things got any more stupid.

“You not?”

“No.”

“Then why you two doing this?”

“Doing what, bimbo?”

“Don’t call Shampoo that!”

“Hey, you started!”

“Shampoo don’t!”

“You said my food was horrible!”

“Shampoo only say truth!”

“You haven’t ever even tasted!”

“No matter!”

“Would you two stop it already!”

“SHAMPOOOOOO!”

GLOMP

“Ewww Mousse, get off of me!”

“Stupid duck! Shampoo over here!”

“Oh?”

Said boy put his glasses down his eyes, “Hibiki? What are you doing?”

“You’re the one glomping onto me, stupid.”

“Ah… Right… Sorry.” He said sheepishly as he let go, straightening his robes.

Examining the situation, Mousse took notice that not Ranma or Akane were close, and that Shampoo had been yelling at Ukyo; who, by the way, looked awesome, and Ryoga wasn’t looking half bad either; both sitting together and having dinner like a coup--

Finally, someone got four.

“I am so sorry for ruining your date! Let’s go Shampoo!” He started pushing the Amazon away from them, bowing an apology.

“What Mousse saying? Stop pushing Shampoo! What you mean date?” Then something in her teeny tiny brain clicked, “spatula girl and lost boy dating?!”

“Uuuh… We’re not dating.” Ukyo pointed out.

“You’re not?” Mousse asked as he approached them again, Shampoo next to him.

“No,” she affirmed.

“We’re just engaged.” Ryoga supplied.

“Oh… What?!” Both amazons startled, “how?”

“Long story…” The lost boy dismissed.

Suddenly, a glint lit up in Shampoo’s eyes, “you mean you no engaged to airen anymore?”

Ukyo nodded sadly, “that’s right.”

“Ooooh Shampoo so happy!”

“I bet.”

“That mean we friends now, yes?” She said standing in front of Ukyo.

“W-what?”

“We no longer enemies, spatula girl.” She bowed to the stunned chef, “Shampoo go visit soon! Bye!” And she took off, dragging a stuttering buckboy who tried to yell congratulations.

The couple just stared at the retreating forms, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Uh… Hi there. Sorry for the huge delay. I’m not all that happy with this chapter, I’ll probably re-write it later. Dunno. Hopefully it’s okay enough. I feel it’s like a huge babble, one of those that you know you have to stop but can’t, uh… You know? So, um… Yeah… Reviews painfully needed!!