Title: Ranma 1/2-Different life, Different love
Author:
Part: 3/?
Warnings: PG-13, Brief yuri, massive spoilers for the manga
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, and heaven forbid she find out what I've been doing with them.
Summary: It's basically yet another AU rewriting the Ranma story from the beginning. Ranma has a stronger moral sense in this universe, meaning, all the questionable things he did in the original, i.e. stealing food, tricking Ryouga, he didn't do in this universe. This part starts to cover the match against Kodachi.
Pairing:Ryouga/Ranma-kun (mostly)
Misc. Author notes: Again, some of the scenes are taken straight from the manga before I mangle them.
Archive: Yes, please.

C&C craved and much appreciated.

//-indicates flashback
** Indicates thoughts

*****************************

"...You shouldn't have agreed so quick," Ranma was saying, while playing with one of the gymnastic props, "Do you even know how to use these things?"

"You just watch!" Akane said confidently.

They were interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open and Ryouga trotting up in his cursed form.

"What's up, Ryo-kun?" Ranma asked. The answer came in the form of being pounced, and the now familiar pressing of teeth to his neck. "Ugh...get offa me. The bathroom's that way, dolt."

A few minutes later, Soun Tendo watched nonplussed as the wolf hopped into the tub with him and emerged as the lost boy. His complete lack of reaction continued as the naked young man stepped out and dressed himself. Not a word was exchanged between the two and Ryouga uneventfully exited the bathroom.

***

"Why does he always do that?" Ranma complained after Ryouga wandered off, rubbing his neck.

"Beats me," his fiancee said. "Okay, now watch this!" She tossed a couple of clubs into the air only to have them clatter to the floor.

"Are you supposed to let them drop?" Was Ranma's sarcastic comment.

"Very funny. Let's try the ribbon." She twirled it and promptly became immobilized.

Ranma looked at her bemused. "Are you supposed to get tangled up?"

"Shut UP!" She kicked the obligatory bucket of water that was always sitting in the dojo at him.

Then she proceeded to break the hoop.

Apparently, that was all she could take. "Aargh!! I'm a klutz! I'm a klutz!!"

At least female Ranma was a little more sympathetic to her. "Come on Akane, I've seen you fight. I know you're coordinated enough to do this, even if it is a bit feminine for you," she said, regretting the last part the instant it came out of her mouth.

"Look you..."

"I can instruct you." Both of them turned to look at Ryouga.

"Where did you learn gymnastic martial arts, Fang?" Ranma asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, I was kinda lost at the time..." The lost boy scratched the back of his head.

Ranma facefaulted.

"Thank you so much, Ryouga." Akane said.

"No problem." Ryouga said. Inside he thought, *I hope helping your fiancee makes you happy, Ranma.* His mind no longer blinded by self-imposed rage, he could now clearly see why he had forced himself to hate Ranma. He was deeply and hopelessly in love with his friend. A friend who obviously didn't love him return and was engaged to boot. Oh, He could count on the other martial artist for affection, and a kind of brotherly love, but that was it. It made him depressed just thinking about it.

Ranma startled him out of his black thoughts with a pat to the back. "Good luck teaching her, buddy...you're going to need it."

*******************
Several exhausting hours later...


"That's enough drilling with the ribbon. You're improving, Akane. I'm sure you'll be ready in time for the match." Ryouga said.

"Really?" Akane asked. Ryouga nodded.

"You're still upright, that's good." Ranma-chan said, noting that Akane was still tangling herself up in the ribbon, but genuinely trying to be encouraging without lying outright.

"Shut up, Ranma!"

*************
Not too much later the two martial artists were walking down the hall to Ranma's room.

"It's embarassing to watch. I think you're being overly optimistic." Ranma-chan said to her friend while tugging absently at the lost boy's bandanna, avoiding the half-hearted attempts to swat her away.

"Making Akane feel bad isn't going to do any good. You don't want her to give up, do you?" Ryouga finally caught her by the wrist and made her stop.

"No...but I don't want her to get her ass kicked...Hey, did you just hear something from Akane's room?"

They exchanged a look and rushed in to find Akane standing facing the window as black rose petals swirled around her.

"Who do you think is going to clean up this room?!" She yelled after the retreating figure.

"I suppose Ryo-kun and I could help," Ranma-chan said. Ryouga gave her a 'what-are-you-talking-about' look.

Akane turned in surprise. "What are you two doing in here?" Her fingers twitched in preparation for reaching into mallet space. (Because of Ryouga- she didn't see Ranma as an intruder in girl form)

"We heard something crash, so we came to see if you were okay," Ryouga said.

"Oh, thank you." Akane relaxed considerably. "That crazy girl Kodachi tried to ambush me, but I got rid of her. Um, could one of you get a broom, please? Not you, Ryouga-kun. I want to get this done quickly."

So Ranma went off to fetch the broom, while the other two put the room back into some kind of order. With the three of them, it didn't take long for them to get the job done.

After they finished, Ranma went off to change back into a guy, first leading his friend down the hall to his room.

Ryouga was already stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and in Ranma's futon when he returned from the bath in guy form. Ranma hesitated for a moment, remembering the last time they shared a bed, but not wanting his buddy to think that anything was wrong, he shrugged and got under the covers with the lost boy. Ryouga immediately rolled over to give him a hug. The other martial artist tended to hug him a lot, and Ranma loved it, once he got used to being touched in a way that was not meant to hurt. He wondered though- none of his male friends at school ever did. Which was a shame, since it gave him a nice feeling- he felt cared for, wanted. He didn't understand it, he saw girls hugging each other all the time. Even Akane had hugged him a couple of times when he was in girl form.

He buried his face in the lost boy's shoulder. Even when he was in guy form Ryouga smelled good to him; a warm, earthy scent-very masculine and uniquely Ryouga. The memory of the other boy's kiss still burned on Ranma's lips like a brand, and stirred feelings in him he was by now fairly sure he wasn't supposed to be having. Reluctantly he pulled away and rolled over. "G'night, Ryo-kun," he said.

"Sleep well, Ran-chan." Ryouga was disappointed and even slightly hurt that the long-haired martial artist hadn't wanted to cuddle more, but he knew Ranma wasn't a pervert. Not like him. Of all the accursed bad luck, why did he have to go and fall for another guy? It wasn't as if girls didn't interest him at all. He certaintly found Ranma's girl side attractive enough. He sighed and stared at Ranma's back, his eyes tracing the lines of the toned muscular form in front of him, longing to touch him, kiss him, tell him how much he loved him. But he couldn't. Ranma would be disgusted and remind him he was engaged to a girl; it would be the end of their friendship forever.

Ryouga sat up. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep anytime soon. *Maybe I should just disappear...never see him again.* He struggled with himself for a while before getting out of bed. His mind made up, he grabbed his pack and clothes and slipped out of the room, and eventually into the night. (With a few detours along the way)


************
The next morning...

Ranma and Akane were walking to school in the normal fashion. For once the martial artist had managed to avoid the sweet old neighbor's washwater.

"Do ya always hafta wake me up with a bucket of water?" Ranma was complaining.

"I've tried being nice about it, and yelling 'WAKE UP DOOFUS' doesn't seem to work, so it's either that or hitting you on the head with something. By the way, where's Ryouga? I thought he was staying over."

"I think he must've gotten lost going to the privy in the middle of the night or something. I'm sure he'll be back soon, tho."

"Before the match, I hope. He's been a great help so far."

*Helped keep the damage down, but otherwise...* He thought sourly, then something caught the corner of his eye. "Incoming, Akane!"

Kodachi was indeed coming in for the kill, but Akane easily caught the bokken aimed at her head and sent Kunou's sister flying- straight into Ranma.

"Oof!" Ranma landed on his butt with the Black Rose sprawled out all over him.

They were both stunned for a moment from the impact. Then Kodachi took a good, long look at him, and deemed him gorgeous. At last, she had met a handsome man to fall in love with. "Ohohoho, thank you kind sir, for breaking my fall. Let me repay you..."

"Um, getting off of me would do just fine." He noted that after ridding herself of the psycho, Akane had simply kept going, leaving him to fend for himself.

"Oh no, please tell me your name." She leaned in close and batted her eyelashes at him.

He sweatdropped and recoiled in an attempt to keep some personal space. "Er, Ranma Saotome. Will you please get off, I'm going to be late."

"Then these are for you, dear Ranma," she said, handing him a bouquet of black roses, never mind where she pulled them out from.

Ranma got a whiff of the scent and found himself unable to move. "What the?"

"Not to worry dear, it's just a little paralysis gas." Kodachi tittered.

"Are you crazy?!!!" Ranma gasped out, as the chemicals did their work.

"Now, be brave," she said leaning over him, "And take these lips of mine."

"GYEEEEE!!!" Was all the protest the young man could make.

Then she kissed him.

"Ooooooo...." About half the school was watching, too. Gawking might be a better word. A split appeared in the crowd and Tatewaki Kunou stepped forth.

"Hmmm..." He looked the two over with a critical eye. Then he clapped his hands together. "Yes!"

"Oh, Ranma-dear and I can go steady then?" Kodachi asked eagerly. Kunou nodded.

"Wonderful! I must tell my classmates." She bounced off in a flurry of black rose petals and maniacal giggles.

Kunou watched her go. "Really, that girl is such a deviant, but even so, Ranma Saotome, take care of my little sister." He gave the frozen Ranma's shoulder a quick squeeze and walked off.

"???" Come to think of it, Ranma could see the family resemblance.

The crowd around him waited for him to show some kind of response. Then the whispers started.
"Did he just dump Akane?" "That must've been some kiss to put him in shock like that." "Wait, I think there's something wrong with him..."

Finally a couple of his classmates figured out he couldn't move and carried him to the nurse's office. It took a couple of hours, but the gas eventually wore off and he was able to go to class. He sat down in his usual spot next to Akane, cheeks burning with shame.

He would glance over at her nervously from time to time, but his fiancee didn't say a word to him until school was over and they were walking home.

"So," Akane began, "How was it?"

"Huh?!" Ranma was expecting to have his ass chewed, not asked his opinion on the matter.

"The kiss, silly, how was it?" She banged on the wire fence with her bag, but Ranma easily kept his balance.

"You know I couldn't have avoided it." Ranma was still in self-defense mode.

"I know, but I'm still curious."

*What? She's not mad?!* "Uh, I'll have you know that freak was not the first girl I wanted to kiss, or last, for that matter." Ranma's mind was doing cartwheels trying to regain its grasp on the situation.

"First kiss? Really?"

"With a girl, yeah." It was a half-truth, but he wasn't about to admit he'd been kissed by a guy, even if it was just Ryouga.

"And you didn't like it, even though she's pretty?"

"Pretty doesn't come into it." Ranma shuddered. "I mean, she *forced* herself on me. I feel so dirty."

Akane giggled. "It's not funny!" Ranma yelled and dashed off so she couldn't keep up.

****

Akane found him, well actually her, in the dojo. The martial artist hadn't been able to avoid the old woman's ladle this time. "Hey Ranma, sorry I laughed at you back there. It's just, well, I never thought I'd hear a guy say he felt dirty."

"S'okay," Ranma-chan mumbled. "It's just, I wish it had been someone I liked."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda picky that way. I mean, you don't just go around kissing anybody, you know."

Akane looked down and nervously twiddled her fingers. "So...do you like me?" Akane asked.

Ranma's head shot up.

"Of course I do. We're friends, right---mmph?" Ranma-chan's eye's grew wide as saucers as she was kissed by her fiancee. *Oh wow,* she thought. This was much, much better. She wrapped her arms around Akane's waist and held her close. The thought that this was how she felt with Ryouga came to mind, but she pointedly ignored it.

After a minute Akane broke off the kiss and pulled a dazed Ranma-chan to her feet, and took her upstairs.

As they went into Akane's room, Ranma realized she was still in girl form...


TBC, as always.