The Lost Library of Florestica

A Ranma ½ story
by Ginrai

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video.

C&C appreciated - ranmafics@hotmail.com

"What did you say?" Akane asked Ranma, as she gave him a look of disbelief and promised pain.

"Yes, Ranchan. Just what did you mean by that?" Ukyou asked, giving him the same look.

"Shampoo know Airen just joking. Airen not choose someone other than Shampoo." Shampoo held up her bonbori to show Ranma just how much she liked his joke.

Seeing the look the three girls gave him, Ranma backed away a bit before answering. "Actually, it's true. I can't marry any of you because… because I'm in love with someone else." He felt a little better having said that, though the looks on each of his former fiancées promised even more pain than before.

"Who… who is it?" Akane asked, afraid of whom his choice might be, but nevertheless curious about it.

Suddenly Ukyou ran up to Ranma, grabbed her ex-fiancé by the shirt and started shaking him. "How could you?! Why choose Kodachi?!"

The other two girls were stunned when they realized that Kodachi, in fact, was not with them for this announcement.

"But…"

"What is so good about her and those damn shady roses?!"

"Actually, I…"

"She never listens to you. She doesn't even know about the curse! At least choose someone that listens and understands you. Someone like me!"

Seeing that Ranma was never going to be able to say anything while being shook by Ukyou, Akane and Shampoo pulled her away from him.

"Why would I choose Kodachi? I don't even want her to know that I made a choice. I mean, she scares me!"

"Ranma, father said that you had to marry a Tendou. It doesn't have to be me. Did you choose Kasumi?" Akane felt sad when saying this. In her mind it was obvious that Ranma chose her oldest sister. She was always the calm one and maybe he just wanted a peaceful life.

"Kasumi? No. She's nice and all, but love and marriage between us wouldn't work. Sometimes she's just too nice. I need someone that's willing to actually tell me that I'm doing something wrong."

"So Airen choose mercenary sister?"

Before anything else could be said, Ranma replied. "Nabiki?! That would be a very scary thought! The only thing she's ever cared about was how much money she can make by using me. She would need time to make a choice for love or money. I mean, I'd rather marry Mr. Tendou to have the schools united. Not that I'm ever gonna let such a thing control my decision."

"So you're in love with a guy, Ranchan?" Ukyou started to mentally curse herself. <If I only kept dressing like a guy. Ranchan would then still be in love with me and not…> "Is it Ryouga?" In a sick sort of way, it made sense. They just had to be some type of fated couple.

"NO!!!" Ranma screamed after letting the shock get through his system. "I don't care about Ryouga that way! Let him have a boring life with Akari!"

"Mousse no bother Shampoo for a while. Maybe he go crazy and fall in love with Airen girl side? He probably think that love at first sight."

"Come to think of it, Kunou hasn't been around me lately. Not that I don't like that. Do you think that he's somehow erased Ranma's memories and made him believe that they're in a state of bliss together?"

"Will you girls stop thinking like that?!" Ranma was beginning to think that maybe he shouldn't have told them, and that he should have just ran away. Though, considering their persistence, it would have resulted in a long and winding road and possibly even a bitter end.

For a moment Akane thought that Ranma was 'keeping it in the family' or so to speak. But she immediately shook herself of such thoughts. Ranma wasn't that lonely at heart.

"Maybe Airen enter the Phoenix." Shampoo suggested. The others gave her a look of confusion. "Never mind."

When hearing the word 'phoenix', Akane thought of someone else. "Is it Kiima?" she asked reluctantly. Could he have actually won the heart of the phoenix guard? The fact that Kiima once tried to kill her depressed Akane even more.

"Haven't seen Kiima since Mount Phoenix. And I wouldn't know what to do if I did see her."

Seeing their list getting shorter, their thoughts started to get a bit more unique. "D… do you like animals?" one of the girls asked, though Ranma wasn't sure who.

"Umm… sort of." Ranma couldn't imagine why they would ask him such a question at this point.

This caused the girls to look at each other before staring back at him.

"Ranchan, is it a dog?" Seeing Ranma's expressionless face, Ukyou jumped to the logical conclusion. "It is, isn't it? Why does it always have to be a dog?!" Ukyou then screamed out, lamenting on it being the unusual couple, "There is no such thing as justice!"

"It has to be P-chan." Akane said, her face showing even more pain than before. They both always did seem to fight whenever they were seen together and that usually is the first sign of true love. It just wasn't fair. "Damn it, Ranma, you can't have him. I'm P-chan's lover!"

"Shampoo think Neko-Ken change Airen's mind. Make him love robot with brain of cat."

Ranma slowly started to back away from the girls, shaking his head while doing so. "Umm… none of the above. What I want is someone who won't hold me down and make me stay in one place. Someone who's good at martial arts and has a strong will."

"Someone like you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I mean."

A cry of 'Pervert!' followed by a severe beating could be heard.

Slowly getting up, Ranma looked at the three irate girls. "What was that for?!"

"It's obvious, Ranma," Akane started.

"Airen use water from Spring of Drowned Twins, creating boy-Airen and girl-Airen."

"After which the girl Ranchan will be named 'Ranko'."

"Who, being your dream girl, you will then marry."

"Where did you come up with such a messed up idea?! Just why would I even want to marry myself?" Ranma couldn't believe how the girls were acting. The more he heard them, the more he realized that it was for the better that he hadn't chosen any of them.

"You look stressed out, Ranma-chan"

Hearing the new voice, the girls turned to see a blue-haired girl that was around their age. Her movements gave away the fact that she was a martial artist, and possibly a good one.

"Who you?" Shampoo asked. The other girl seemed familiar, even Amazon-like. She just looked back at Shampoo and smiled.

"Cologne-chan!" Ranma shouted out as he ran to hug the girl.

"Wha…"

"Cologne?!"

"Great-grandmother?!"

Ranma looked back at them as if they were crazy. "Of course. I mean, she knows more martial arts than any of us, even Happosai. She'll know when I need to be disciplined. Plus, she’s cute." Ranma blushed after saying the last bit.

"Great-grandmother, why?"

"None of you girls seemed to be getting any closer to him. One day he came to the Nekohanten and asked for my help in improving his martial arts. After that I usually helped him out at night. As time went on, we got to know more about each other. Ranma started to see me as the mother he couldn't have. And I started to fall in love with him. It came to the point where I was willing to give up being matriarch just to be with him."

"But how you become young? Spring of Drowned Girl no work that way."

"It was a process that involved things that I don't want Ranma-chan to hear. I'll just say that it involved us being naked. I did ease the pain for him as much as I could and after it was over I erased any knowledge he had of it."

The three girls just stared at Ranma, all of them speechless.

"I guess that's all. Nothing else to say. I'm… well, I'm sorry if any of you are disappointed. And… Have a nice life!"

With that, Ranma and Cologne ran off into the sunset, both holding hands.

Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyou watched as the two lovebirds ran off. And they stood, motionless and still in complete disbelief. This continued as the wind blew their hair around, and went on as day became night. Only when the crickets started to chirp were all three able to express any sort of reaction.

"RANMA NO BAKA!"

Author's notes: I think this is about the right time to send this fic. Then again, maybe not. ^_^

Thanks to Vince for providing me with an allusion to 'Roses of Shadow'.

The following are the fics that I referred to (for those that are interested in knowing whether they noticed all of them):

by Gary Kleppe: