The knock on the door sounded like titanium spikes were being
hammered into his head. Whoever was at the door had better have a good
reason for waking him like this. The unfamiliar dry mouth plagued him she
began to awaken. Moving his tongue around and smacking his lips together,
he began to relieve himself of the horrible torture. This was the reason he
did not drink. Rubbing his eyes, Ranma blearily looked up at the ceiling.
What happened last night? He did not remember much besides drinking himself
into a stupor and listening to someone. Shaking his head, he tried to clear
his mind to remember what happened last night. Moving his wrist to his
face, he looked at the time. It was almost 3 in the afternoon, covering his
eyes with his wrist he tried to think about what he may have needed to get
done. After running through mental list, he realized he did not have any
important issues to address today. However, the knocking continued.
Pivoting his head he cursed at the offending door.
"Who the fuck is it? I am trying to sleep!" Immediately he regretted it as a dozen more spikes were pounded into his head. Calming himself, he tried to control his emotions. Finally finding his center, he tried to balance himself. Semi-regaining his cool demeanor was about to get out of bed when a body stirred next to him. Freezing, he looked to his right. Snuggling against his bare chest was some woman. That's right the blonde woman from the night before. Trying to keep calm, he slowly reached down and lifted the sheets only to find that they were both nude and judging by the moistness of the covers he pretty much knew what happened last night. Finding his emotions of panic starting to rise, he realized that he was not wearing a condom and neither did he see any around them.
"Ranma? It's Kurumi! Mom wants us to head out now! I'll come back in an hour!" Hearing his sister's voice, Ranma looked to the ceiling and said one word.
"Shit." At that, Usagi groggily opened her eyes. Her pillow was unusually firm today, but at the same time it was very comfortable. Wrapping her arms around her pillow, she hugged it closer enjoying the smoothness of the cushion's skin. Suddenly her brain halted the euphoric state she was in. Smooth skin? Pillows did not have skin. Opening her eyes wide she realized her head was resting on a firm but bare chest. Slowly her eyes trailed up the collarbone to the neck and finally the face of the man. Oh my god! Usagi began to panic and opened her mouth to scream but found that she had an odd taste in her mouth and her tongue was stiff. Pushing the man away, she felt her nude body slide across the silk sheets of the bed. Nude! Panicking immensely, she struggled to get out of the bed. The man had now gotten out of the bed and stood beside her. Even though her head pounded and her vision was somewhat obscure, she could have sworn she hadn't even seen him move. Opening her mouth to scream, Usagi found it covered by a hand.
"Quiet. My head is pounding and the last thing we need is you screaming. Please believe me when I say I will not hurt you." The man said calmly. Usagi looked at the man with fear in her eyes. However when she looked into his smoky blue eyes, she saw no malice in them. Slowly she nodded. "Thank you."
After the man removed his hand from her mouth, she shook her head clear. "Do you remember what happened?" Gesturing to the bed, the man just stayed silent. Looking at the bed, she saw rumpled sheets and dark stains all over the bed. Looking down at herself and the man, she realized that they were both nude. With an 'eep' she grabbed the sheets and wrapped it around her body.
"Yes well as you can see we didn't spend the night reading." Shaking her head, Usagi started to remember bits and pieces of last night. The bar, the man, Mamoru. With that thought her knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
"Oh god. Mamoru, how could you?" Burying her face in her hands, she began to cry.
_______________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Nodoka sat on the balcony and looked over the city. Today she would spend with her daughters and son. So long had she waited for Ranma to free some time up to spend with her and his sisters. He still refused to spend much time with Genma. After Ranma had defeated him in battle and declared that Genma had nothing else to teach him. However, the reason that she was rather vexed was the fact that he was supposed to wake up early and spend the entire day with them. Now it was already past noon and her son still had not awakened. Kurumi went up to the penthouse to wake her brother, but still had not returned. As much as she loved her son, she was quite angry with him at this moment.
Bursting in the door, Kurumi announced to her mother. "Mom, Ranma is getting up, he needs some time to get dressed. I said we'd give him an hour."
"Very good, we shall get ready as well. Have you girls decided where you would like to go?"
"Where ever you would like to visit mother." Natsume said with a slight bow of the head.
"Natsume, I've told you to stop doing that. I love you dearly, but I do find all this bowing and scarping annoying." Nodoka said sharply. Ever since she had adopted the two girls, Kurumi had blossomed into a talkative and happy go lucky girl. Natsume on the other hand continuously stayed by her side constantly trying to help her. She loved them both dearly, but she wanted Natsume to go out and have fun and live her life instead of acting like a servant to herself and Genma.
"I'm sorry mother, I did not mean to offend you. Perhaps we should visit the shopping district. Kurumi has always enjoyed spending time there." Natsume said.
"Shopping it is, but we all know that this will be like hell for your brother, he hates to shop." Nodoka said with a mischievous grin. "But there are plenty of prospects for him to find a girl at the mall."
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma looked around for his pants and found nothing. He was about to grab a towel from the bathroom when he saw the blonde woman fall to her knees and weep. Thinking back to the night before, he remembered her name and what they had talked about. Usagi. His heart seemed to go out to her, but he quickly pulled back. She was going through he same pain he had gone through. He knew exactly how she felt. 'Why?' was the most common question she was probably asking herself. Massaging his temples he quickly tried to clear his head. He didn't want to deal with this now. He just needed to get rid of this migraine and figure out what to do. Granted he could just throw her out of his apartment, he just couldn't risk the possibility that the media would get their hands on this and run amuck with his image. Pushing all thoughts aside, he realized she was sobbing into the blankets. Rolling his eyes, he knelt down to her level and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Why are you wasting your tears?" Ranma wanted her to shake her hysterics so he could have a rational and calm talk with her. Seeing that she wasn't responding, Ranma sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Listen why don't you take a nice long shower or bath, we both stink but you need to get this off of your mind. After you do that I need you to not think about this Mamoru character. Can you do that?"
Usagi looked up with tears stained eyes and shrugged off his hand. She seemed angry with him. "Forget about him? We were destined for each other. This shouldn't have happened!" Usagi started to stand and her voice was becoming shrill. "We were supposed to be married and be happy together. Do you know what that's like to know that there is someone out there waiting for you? That when the time came there was someone you could settle down with and you were both soul mates? I've lost that! I- I- just don't understand!" With that she collapsed into a heap. Shaking his head, Ranma almost chuckled. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he didn't have time to divulge in it now. Right now he had to make her realize a few things. Putting both hands on her shoulders, he hoisted her to her feet even as she struggled.
"Listen, there is nothing you can do right now. Nothing. What is past is past. You can't change it, and even if you could it would have been better than finding out years down the road when the pain would be even greater. Cope with this whichever way you choose to, but if you continue on this path of self-pity you may never rise from it. If that happens you will be a useless husk. You want to let this Mamoru guy win? Stand up for yourself! Destiny is a fallacy used to control people. You want to be a slave to destiny? Destiny is for people who cannot help themselves rely on destiny. Snap out of it! Calm down and figure out what you are going to do now. This helps no one. Now go take a bath or something and calm down." Ranma's last words were said with a commanding tone. By now he had raised his voice and lost his temper. Glaring at Ranma, Usagi pushed him away from her and walked to the bathroom. Slamming the door behind her, she locked it. Shaking his head, Ranma tried to shake his anger from his head. He had never lost his temper in a long time. Somehow this woman just seems to make his blood boil. Finding his center again, he asserted his iron clad will to calm himself down.
Suddenly the vid-phone rang in the living room. Walking out of the bedroom, Ranma noticed that the entire room looked like a hurricane blew through it. Making a mental note to call the cleaning crew, he pressed the answer key on the phone. An image of his partner appeared on the screen as he did so.
"Yes Nabiki? What do you want?"
"Well I know today is your day off but... well, well, well, wild party at your place last night?" Looking around the room Ranma just massaged his head and waved for Nabiki to continue.
"I don't need your comments on my day off. Now what do you want?"
"Well, I am about to fax you that list of girls and their biographies faxed to you. Why don't you go over them with Auntie and your sisters? They can pick someone out for you. You need to bring one of them to the gala this weekend. The press will be all over that." Nabiki said while signing some papers.
Pausing, Ranma wondered what Nabiki was talking about. Did she already know? "Girls? What are you talking about?"
With an annoyed look, Nabiki yelled at her partner. "Ranma! You promised you would pick a girl to pose as your girlfriend for your public appearances! Don't back out now!"
Remembering his promise, he grimaced at this and nodded. "Alright, send it over now, I look over them." Massaging his temples again, he turned on the water heater.
"Ranma? Are you ok? You seem unsettled." Peering over her desk, she tried to get a better look at Ranma. "Are you nude? Why are you nude?"
Opening a new tea canister, he took out a cup and sprinkled some tealeaves into the cup. "I'm fine. I just have something to deal with."
"Something to deal with? What is it? The Phoenix? Has Saffron sent an assassin after you?" Nabiki began to worry as millions of ideas flew into her head.
Ranma looked straight at Nabiki with a look that conveyed to her to drop the topic. "No, it's just something I need to figure out. I-"
Suddenly a still blanket clad Usagi stormed into the room. "You know what? You know nothing about me and you know nothing of what happened to me last night! I don't know how you could make suggestions about what I should do with my life? Who are you to tell me what I should think or do?"
There was silence for a minute, until Nabiki started yelling over the vid-phone. "Who the hell is that? And why does she have a blanket wrapped around her? Ranma? What the hell is going on?"
Turning to Usagi, Ranma crossed the room in a split second. Towering over her he looked her straight in her eye as she stared defiantly back. Ranma looked at her with his anger but she did not yield as she stared back with a daring look. After well over a minute and Nabiki yelling at them over the phone. Ranma smirked.
"At least you aren't sobbing or whining." Usagi looked confused for a moment as Ranma continued. "It's good to see you've come somewhat out of that self-pitying pathetic mess I saw in the bedroom."
Shock and anger returned to Usagi's eyes as she slapped Ranma solidly across the face. Turning on her heels, she let out a frustrated yell and stomped back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Rubbing his face, Ranma grinned. He felt such a rise of emotions every time he spoke to her or even when he was around her.
"Nice to see your charm with women haven't diminished over the years Ranma." Turning back around Ranma faced his partner. Nabiki had an amused look on her face now. "So what are you planning to do about this? You know if the press finds out about this you're image will be slandered even more."
"I know, I know, I have to figure out what to do." Sitting down, Ranma began to rub his temples again. What was he going to do? He couldn't just let Usagi run free. Maybe if he gave her money, she would leave this alone, but the problem was that she didn't seem like the type to take a bribe.
Suddenly Nabiki's voice penetrated through his thoughts. "Ranma? What is that on your finger?"
Not understanding, Ranma looked at his hands. The sunlight that came through the window caused a small glare on a small band of metal on his finger. Staring at it for a bit, he stood up and walked towards the bedroom door. Perhaps it was just a ring. Perhaps they weren't actually married. Just then he saw it by the front door, a piece of paper that looked notarized. Slowly walking over to the paper, he had a dreaded feeling in his stomach.
"Ranma? What are you doing? Where are you going?" Nabiki asked as Ranma walked out of the vid-phone's line of sight. Ranma slowly picked up the paper and looked at it. There it was, his name and Usagi's name right next to each other. After all this time, avoiding marriage, being denied marriage, and forsaking marriage, he was actually legally married. He didn't know how he felt about this. For the first time in a long time he actually started to panic. He was married to a complete stranger, whose intentions he knew nothing about. He knew he couldn't get the marriage annulled because they had obviously had sex. Shaking his head, Ranma walked back in front of Nabiki while still staring at the document in his hands.
"I'm married." Ranma sat down on the couch with a thump as he tried to process this information.
"You're what?" Nabiki exclaimed. "To that girl who was just in here? How did this happen?"
"I don't remember." Shaking his head, Ranma looked up at Nabiki and walked towards the vid-phone. "Nabiki I have to go and speak to Usagi, I'll call you as soon as everything is sorted out."
"But-" Ranma quickly cut Nabiki off as he disconnected his vid-phone. Walking to the bedroom, he saw Usagi on the balcony connected to his bedroom. She was still wrapped in a blanket as she stared out at the city. The wind whipped at her hair tossing it about and the sun shone down on her making her skin shine and her hair seemed to glow. From this distance, Ranma caught himself. She was not just beautiful, but heavenly. Ranma felt an odd pounding in his chest but he quickly squelched it and opened the balcony door.
Usagi glanced back at him as he walked onto the balcony. She ignored him and continued to look out into the city. She smiled a bit, walked towards the edge of the balcony and let the blanket go. Ranma took a sharp breath, as she was completely nude under it all. After about a few minutes of silence, she spoke.
"You're Ranma Saotome the multi-billionaire right?"
"I see you recognize me then." Ranma said as he walked towards her position slowly. After a few moments of silence she spoke again.
"You know I came to America so I could find myself. I needed to live on my own and learn to be independent. Mamoru was so angry when I told him about this. But I had to leave him I needed to be free. He finally said he understood, and we made a pact. I would come here for as long as I needed to, and he would let me find myself. He said he understood that I needed to fulfill certain needs before we were to be married. However we promised each other to keep true to each other. We spoke to one another once or twice a year when he wasn't busy and I wasn't busy. I haven't seen him in over four years, but I waited. Mamoru said he would wait for me forever. We were destined to live happily ever after. Now I don't know. Nothing is making any sense. Mamoru has betrayed me. What is the rest of my life to be?"
"Usagi, listen, you need to sit down. I need to tell you something." Ranma said as he pulled out one of the chairs on the balcony.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand what I'm going through. After all, what's a dumb blonde to you the great Ranma Saotome? Why would you care about my problems and why would you care about me. I could jump off this roof and you probably wouldn't even care. I've read about you. You are a cold-hearted man Ranma Saotome." Usagi said as she turned to look at him.
"Well I have to care about your well being now. We're married." Ranma hoped that this would shock her out of her self-loathing. Usagi looked at him sharply as he held up his left hand and the marriage certificate. Her emotions already in disarray, she looked down at her own hand and noticed that there was a simple wedding band there as well. It was true. At that point her mind shut down as she considered the implications of this revelation. The last thing she remembered was feeling weightless as she fell backwards right off the edge of the balcony.
Ranma ran as fast as he could to the edge of the balcony but Usagi was already too far for him to pull her back in. Diving off the edge, he grabbed onto Usagi with one hand and with the other hand he grabbed onto the edge of another balcony. Hoisting the two of them up onto the balcony he quickly gathered Usagi into his arms and shook her a bit to see if he would get any response. She groaned a bit as Ranma breathed out a sigh of relief. He had almost not made it. Leaning back he rested against the metal gate of the balcony.
Suddenly her heard someone clearing their throat as Ranma looked up and saw Kurumi and Natsume crowding around the door of the balcony. They each had a perplexed look on their faces. Leaning back even more into the gate, Ranma sighed. It was going to be a very very long day.
Usagi opened her eyes to stare at a blank ceiling. Suddenly she remembered falling over the side of the balcony. Sitting up she felt around and didn't feel anything that was broken or missing. Looking around at her surroundings she was in a hotel room but it wasn't Ranma's room. Perhaps she had just dreamed it all? Pushing her hair back she felt a cold band of metal brush against her forehead. Looking at her hand she saw the wedding band. Realization crashed into her as she realized that it wasn't a dream. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door.
"Usagi? Are you awake now?" It was a female voice. Gathering the blanket around herself, she wondered who it could be.
"Yes, yes I am." With that the door opened and a young woman about her age walked in. She had short brown hair that was hung to her shoulder, and she was wearing a nice skirt and top. Usagi felt a bit self-conscious when she saw the girl. She had a lithe build, yet walked with an uncanny grace, to top it of she had a round and cute face many men lingered for.
"Hi there, I'm Kurumi Saotome. Ranma's my older brother. My mom asked me to give you something to wear since I'm the closest in size to you."
Feeling a bit more at ease, Usagi nodded and loosened a bit. "Thank you."
Kurumi placed some underwear and an outfit on the chair near the door. "There's a bathroom right next to you if you want to freshen up. When you are finished dressing and ready to come to room 811, mom wants to speak with you." Bowing slightly Kurumi left the room and closed the door.
Usagi slowly got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom. She was still very confused about everything that was happening. First she finds out that her Mamoru was no better than a liar. Then she is treated horribly by Ranma Saotome, who is now married to her.
Turning the water on, she steps into the shower and relishes the feeling of the steaming hot water. Picking up a bar of soap, she looks at her hand and the band, which now adorned her ring finger. Around her neck is still her locket that she had from the moon kingdom. She opened it and listened to the song as she reminisced about the times when she was Princess Serenity. Clenching the locket in her hand she wishes for Princess Serenity to rise to the surface. Her Princess Serenity personality always seemed capable of dealing with any problem. After several minutes, Usagi gave it up and looked at the locket in disgust. Tearing off from her neck, she flung it away. Kneeling down in the shower, she began to sob once again. Nothing would ever be the same. She just couldn't forgive Mamoru this time around, and her Princess persona seemed to fail her. Tears fell from her eyes as she hoped the sound of the shower would drown out her sobs.
Stepping out of the shower, Ranma quickly dried himself as he boiled off the water by raising his battle aura a bit. Opening his dresser, he looked through it for something to wear. Sensing someone at his bedroom door, he quickly opened it and caught his sister Natsume who was leaning on the door. She quickly stood up and blushed at his nudity. However unabashed, he just went back to picking out some clothing. Natsume cleared her throat a bit shuffled her feet a bit.
"So where did you meet her?" Ranma looked at Natsume as he put on some boxers and pants.
"At a bar, she wasn't doing too well."
Surprised, Natsume started pacing around the room. "Oh... so are you two really married?"
"Yes." Ranma started buttoning his shirt as he looked in the mirror. Natsume stopped her pacing and looked at Ranma.
"Do you love her?" Ranma looked up at his sister. Eyeing her carefully, Ranma ignored the question and walked out of the bedroom. Natsume chased after him and grabbed his shoulder from behind. Ranma turned around and stared at her dead in the eye.
"I gave up love a long time ago." Natsume flinched a bit and nodded.
"Then what are you going to do about the current situation?" Adjusting his shirt a bit, Ranma looked ahead for a bit and gained a mischievous grin as he turned to Natsume.
"That's a secret!"
Nodoka sat on a chair in her room staring at the wall, her back ramrod straight and chin held high as she contemplated the current situation that was brought about by her son. She could not fathom what he was thinking when he married that girl. She hadn't seen her son's new wife yet, but the way Kurumi described her she seemed like a small girl. Her first instinct was to call their lawyer and get this whole thing resolved. However Ranma forbade it, citing that Usagi was not a bad person, but in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nodoka loved the fact that her son was so manly that any woman in the world would love to be with him, but for him to sleep around was preposterous.
"Mother?" her son's voice cut through her thoughts. Dressed in a simple button down shirt and khakis, her son was simply the pinnacle of manliness.
"Son there is much we need to discuss."
"Would one of them be the fact I am married now?" Ranma said with a grin. Nodoka raised an eyebrow at that. Her son hadn't cracked a smile on his face in six years.
"This is not funny, this girl that you married, do you even know who she really is? She could be after you for your money!"
"I have spoken with her this morning and she doesn't seem the type to do that. Besides I think this can work out to my advantage." Ranma said as he began pacing around the room. "Think of it, the press is always criticizing me for not having a partner of the opposite sex. Usagi doesn't seem like she would take advantage of the situation, and I can dispel all rumors by saying that we have been dating for a while before we got married. The reason I hid our relationship was because I did not want to put her into the spotlight. Not only would this paint me as a 'settled- down' man but also a compassionate one at that."
Shaking her head, Nodoka couldn't believe her son wanted to go through with this sham of a marriage. "You understand that you will have to also convince this Usagi girl to go along with the idea right? What makes you think that she will go along with this?"
"I know exactly what she is going through, I am pretty sure I know how to convince her." Ranma said with a determined look.
Drying herself off, Usagi looked in the mirror and wondered what was wrong with her that would drive Mamoru to take pleasure in other women. Staring at the foggy image in the mirror, she wondered what would happen now. Glancing down at her hand she wondered what Ranma would do. They couldn't stay married so he would probably pay her off and ask that she never spoke to the press about this. Frowning, she thought of the raven hair man and how he was so frustrating. Yet there was something about him that made her pause about hating him. He seemed hurt and almost compassionate in some ways. She wondered what his life was like to have such a look of pain in his eyes every time he looked at her. Running her finger around the metal band, she wondered what her life would be like if she were with Ranma? Probably filled with riches and mountains of anything she wanted, but what of Neo-Crystal Tokyo? Will it exist now that it seems that Mamoru no longer cares for her? She could still be Queen but who would be her king? Perhaps she should forgive Mamoru, then they could move back to Japan and be happy there. Start over with a brand new relationship.
Shaking her head, she knew it could never be. She heard Mamoru, he had wanted Anna as much as she wanted him. There was no love it was just sex, but they had made a pact that they would not give their purity to anyone else but each other. Besides if he could know Anna for just a few hours before bedding her down without a second thought on his mind, then what's to say he hadn't done it many times before?
Walking into the bedroom she began to dress herself. Mamoru had betrayed her and she could not put on a happy face and forgive him, not even for the fate of a kingdom. She would rule by herself if necessary. He had his chance and he blew it. He thought that she needed him? She would show him! She would move on with her life and not have a second thought on her mind. Mamoru could see just how much she needed him. Nodding in affirmation, Usagi proceeded to dry her hair. Placing her hair into her pigtails, she stopped. She could not go back to that hairstyle, that was the past and the past was now dead, she would have to changer herself if she were to move on. Sighing, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and left the bedroom.
Sitting in a large chair, Ranma contemplated his situation. He would use this whole misunderstanding to his advantage. First he would have to convince Usagi to agree to his plan. By what he has seen she seems like the type to play along as long as he watched what he said. After all she could benefit from being his wife. He would help take her mind off her current situation and perhaps she would see that she didn't need to love to live.
Glancing up, he saw his mother sitting in another chair with her hands folded in her lap, back ramrod straight, and chin pointing up. Just like the noble woman she was brought up to be. Next to her, his two adopted sisters sat. Kurumi was flipping through a fashion magazine of sorts and Natsume sat with in the same position as his mother with the family katana in her lap.
Smiling internally, Ranma looked at his family. Although he thought emotions were unnecessary, there were a few that he did accept. He did love his family because that was who he lived for, the survival of the Saotome clan. Ensuring that in generations to come the Saotome clan will always have security.
Suddenly there was a knocking at the door. Looking to the door his mother nodded her head to signal Natsume to open the door. As his sister opened the door to allow Usagi to enter, Ranma carefully watched his mother. For a moment his mother just stared at Usagi, and Usagi stared at his mother. Suddenly there was look of recognition in each other's eyes.
"You!" The two women said in unison. Surprised, Ranma wondered how they knew each other.
"You are the woman at that gala!" Usagi said quickly.
"Yes I am, how have you been dear?" Nodoka responded with tenderness in her voice.
"You told me I should take a break from my boyfriend! And now he is gone!" Usagi exclaimed as she walked to his mother and stood in front of her.
Nodoka looked at her with surprise "Well dear I did say that but I also said that if you two were really meant to be with each other then there should be no problems getting back together."
Usagi looked at her and wanted to scream at her but just broke down in tears. Sinking down to her knees, she began to cry. Nodoka looked at her with sadness and gathered the weeping girl closer to her and placed Usagi's head in her lap. She gently stroked the girl's beautiful blond hair.
"It's not fair, we were meant to be with each other forever!" Usagi said over and over.
"It's ok dear, sometimes things just don't work out. It is all part of our life experience." Nodoka said as she patted the girl on her head.
Recovering from his sudden surprise, Ranma cleared his throat. Attracting the attention of his mother and his teary wife, he stood and grinned.
"Mother I would like you to meet my wife, Usagi Saotome." He said as he addressed his mother and gestured to the teary eyed girl kneeling in front of his mother. "Usagi, this is my mother, Nodoka Saotome."
There was a brief moment of silence when realization dawned once again in their eyes.
"You're his mother?" Usagi said with disbelief. His mother nodded her head and helped the girl into a seat beside her.
"I'm assuming that you are my son's wife then." She said with a resigned look in her eyes.
"I- " Usagi looked to Ranma and back to the older woman. "I was married to Ranma, but only accidentally!"
"Yes, well I heard the story from my son earlier. I'm just a bit surprised that it would be you." Nodoka confessed.
"Yes well... this wasn't exactly planned." Usagi said "But we need to get this cleared up I can't be married. This just isn't right! I don't even know your son! He doesn't know me! We've only known each other for a day!"
"I understand and I am inclined to agree with you, but my son wants to discuss this." Nodoka said nodding her head towards Ranma.
"Yes, well... Usagi, I have a proposition for you." Ranma began.
"I won't tell anyone." Usagi said in a quiet voice.
"Excuse me?" Ranma asked a bit bewildered.
"I said I won't tell anyone that we were married. As soon as we get this marriage business annulled I would be more than happy to go our separate ways." Looking at Ranma, Usagi spoke with a bit of anger in her eyes.
"Well, I'm afraid that's unacceptable." Ranma said as he walked over to a table and poured himself a glass of orange juice.
"Then what?" Usagi asked not understanding why Ranma would disagree with what she had said.
"Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Please take some breakfast because this may take a while to explain." Gesturing to the table of food. Usagi shook her head and refused the food. Shrugging Ranma continued. "As you know I am a very rich man quite a bit of fame. Being such a famed man, I am in the public eye quite a bit. In the past years I have not had much problems with the public. However recently, my personal life has been under attack by the press and the public regarding my marital status. I choose not to pursue any type of relationships with women due to my own personal beliefs that a man cannot do his best if burdened with either a physical or emotional relationship with a woman, except with family of course."
"And where do I fit into all this?" Usagi asked not liking where the explanation was headed.
"Well, I would like for us to continued to be married. In this I would gain a wife so that the press would cease their constant bantering about my social life. All you have to do is attend public functions with me, cease your pursuit of relationships with other men, and live with me." Taking a sip of water he went on. "Now should you decide that you want to pursue other men, we can then get a divorce down the line and you could live your life and I could live my life. That is what I get out of the arrangement. What I am offering you is a chance to recuperate from your ordeal. I know what you have been through with all your ex-boyfriend's betrayal must be devastating. What I want is for you to be able to live your life without the need to worry about monetary needs. Do what you have to recover. When you have recovered, then you can choose to leave this marriage."
Usagi looked at Ranma and thought for a bit. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and tried to process what was being offered to her and what was being asked of her.
"What if I refuse?"
"Well you could do that but the law says that we have to stay married for a period of time due to the fact that we have had sexual intercourse." Ranma said as he picked up a piece of toast.
"I didn't know about that." Usagi said as she sighed. "I don't know, this is happening too fast! I don't know what to do!"
"Do what you think is right. That is the only thing that my son can ask of you." Nodoka said as she placed her hand on Usagi's hand. "Personally I think that this would not be such a bad idea. I would like to help you move on if you would allow me to."
Comforted by the older woman's words, Usagi wondered how Ranma's mother seemed so ... well, motherly. "How do you suppose we explain our marriage to the public and press? We can't just simply say that we got drunk and married can we?"
"Of course not, we can just say we were seeing each other secretly and that we hid it from our family and friends." Ranma said as he put apricot jam on his toast.
Usagi looked at Ranma with a bit less hostility than before and wondered if it was such a good idea to even consider this.
"I am not so sure that staying with you would be such a help to myself. I've read things about you and how heartless you have been in the past."
"Yes well, I can be heartless in the arena of business, however I swear to you on my honor that I will try not to hurt you in any way. If you read the articles I think you have then you will know that I do not throw that statement around at all. I mean it." Ranma said sincerely.
Fidgeting a bit, Usagi stood up and paced about the room. After a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and nodded her head.
"I agree, I will be your wife for now."
"Excellent! Now Kurumi if you would start the process of having our people cement the story that Usagi and myself have been dating for the past few months, we can introduce Usagi to the press as my wife." Ranma said as he finished his toast.
"Wait!" Usagi exclaimed and walked over to Ranma. Standing toe to toe with him she looked up into his eyes. "Listen if you ever hurt myself or any of my friends or family I will stop this arrangement, honor or not."
Looking at Usagi, Ranma saw her confidence rising and slowly cracked a smile. "I understand and you have my word."
Stepping back, Usagi nodded, but Ranma grasped her by her waist slightly. Usagi looked at him with a bit of anger.
"What are you doing?"
Grinning, Ranma just tilted her chin up so that her face faced his.
"You will have to go and shop for some new clothes and be briefed in the story that Kurumi and her team are creating."
Nodding, Usagi stepped back and looked to Nodoka who was smiling at the couple.
"Very well. I would like to go home right now to speak to my roommate."
"Of course, Kurumi you go with Usagi. I want the cover done by the time you get to her place is that understood?" Ranma said as he waved his hand towards his sister.
"Of course Ranma." Kurumi said with a brief bow of the head.
As she turned to leave, Ranma stopped Usagi and turned her back around.
"Also you have to learn not to flinch every time I hold hands with you. I know this will take a bit getting used to. Be sure not to tell your roommate yet. I would like this to be a surprise if possible."
"I will. Should I come back here afterwards?" Usagi said with a normal tone that held no more anger towards Ranma.
"Yes, now go I have a few phone calls to make." Ranma said still grinning. "I will see you later tonight... anata."
Usagi looked a bit startled but relaxed and nodded. "See you soon... anata."
"Who the fuck is it? I am trying to sleep!" Immediately he regretted it as a dozen more spikes were pounded into his head. Calming himself, he tried to control his emotions. Finally finding his center, he tried to balance himself. Semi-regaining his cool demeanor was about to get out of bed when a body stirred next to him. Freezing, he looked to his right. Snuggling against his bare chest was some woman. That's right the blonde woman from the night before. Trying to keep calm, he slowly reached down and lifted the sheets only to find that they were both nude and judging by the moistness of the covers he pretty much knew what happened last night. Finding his emotions of panic starting to rise, he realized that he was not wearing a condom and neither did he see any around them.
"Ranma? It's Kurumi! Mom wants us to head out now! I'll come back in an hour!" Hearing his sister's voice, Ranma looked to the ceiling and said one word.
"Shit." At that, Usagi groggily opened her eyes. Her pillow was unusually firm today, but at the same time it was very comfortable. Wrapping her arms around her pillow, she hugged it closer enjoying the smoothness of the cushion's skin. Suddenly her brain halted the euphoric state she was in. Smooth skin? Pillows did not have skin. Opening her eyes wide she realized her head was resting on a firm but bare chest. Slowly her eyes trailed up the collarbone to the neck and finally the face of the man. Oh my god! Usagi began to panic and opened her mouth to scream but found that she had an odd taste in her mouth and her tongue was stiff. Pushing the man away, she felt her nude body slide across the silk sheets of the bed. Nude! Panicking immensely, she struggled to get out of the bed. The man had now gotten out of the bed and stood beside her. Even though her head pounded and her vision was somewhat obscure, she could have sworn she hadn't even seen him move. Opening her mouth to scream, Usagi found it covered by a hand.
"Quiet. My head is pounding and the last thing we need is you screaming. Please believe me when I say I will not hurt you." The man said calmly. Usagi looked at the man with fear in her eyes. However when she looked into his smoky blue eyes, she saw no malice in them. Slowly she nodded. "Thank you."
After the man removed his hand from her mouth, she shook her head clear. "Do you remember what happened?" Gesturing to the bed, the man just stayed silent. Looking at the bed, she saw rumpled sheets and dark stains all over the bed. Looking down at herself and the man, she realized that they were both nude. With an 'eep' she grabbed the sheets and wrapped it around her body.
"Yes well as you can see we didn't spend the night reading." Shaking her head, Usagi started to remember bits and pieces of last night. The bar, the man, Mamoru. With that thought her knees gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
"Oh god. Mamoru, how could you?" Burying her face in her hands, she began to cry.
_______________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Nodoka sat on the balcony and looked over the city. Today she would spend with her daughters and son. So long had she waited for Ranma to free some time up to spend with her and his sisters. He still refused to spend much time with Genma. After Ranma had defeated him in battle and declared that Genma had nothing else to teach him. However, the reason that she was rather vexed was the fact that he was supposed to wake up early and spend the entire day with them. Now it was already past noon and her son still had not awakened. Kurumi went up to the penthouse to wake her brother, but still had not returned. As much as she loved her son, she was quite angry with him at this moment.
Bursting in the door, Kurumi announced to her mother. "Mom, Ranma is getting up, he needs some time to get dressed. I said we'd give him an hour."
"Very good, we shall get ready as well. Have you girls decided where you would like to go?"
"Where ever you would like to visit mother." Natsume said with a slight bow of the head.
"Natsume, I've told you to stop doing that. I love you dearly, but I do find all this bowing and scarping annoying." Nodoka said sharply. Ever since she had adopted the two girls, Kurumi had blossomed into a talkative and happy go lucky girl. Natsume on the other hand continuously stayed by her side constantly trying to help her. She loved them both dearly, but she wanted Natsume to go out and have fun and live her life instead of acting like a servant to herself and Genma.
"I'm sorry mother, I did not mean to offend you. Perhaps we should visit the shopping district. Kurumi has always enjoyed spending time there." Natsume said.
"Shopping it is, but we all know that this will be like hell for your brother, he hates to shop." Nodoka said with a mischievous grin. "But there are plenty of prospects for him to find a girl at the mall."
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma looked around for his pants and found nothing. He was about to grab a towel from the bathroom when he saw the blonde woman fall to her knees and weep. Thinking back to the night before, he remembered her name and what they had talked about. Usagi. His heart seemed to go out to her, but he quickly pulled back. She was going through he same pain he had gone through. He knew exactly how she felt. 'Why?' was the most common question she was probably asking herself. Massaging his temples he quickly tried to clear his head. He didn't want to deal with this now. He just needed to get rid of this migraine and figure out what to do. Granted he could just throw her out of his apartment, he just couldn't risk the possibility that the media would get their hands on this and run amuck with his image. Pushing all thoughts aside, he realized she was sobbing into the blankets. Rolling his eyes, he knelt down to her level and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Why are you wasting your tears?" Ranma wanted her to shake her hysterics so he could have a rational and calm talk with her. Seeing that she wasn't responding, Ranma sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Listen why don't you take a nice long shower or bath, we both stink but you need to get this off of your mind. After you do that I need you to not think about this Mamoru character. Can you do that?"
Usagi looked up with tears stained eyes and shrugged off his hand. She seemed angry with him. "Forget about him? We were destined for each other. This shouldn't have happened!" Usagi started to stand and her voice was becoming shrill. "We were supposed to be married and be happy together. Do you know what that's like to know that there is someone out there waiting for you? That when the time came there was someone you could settle down with and you were both soul mates? I've lost that! I- I- just don't understand!" With that she collapsed into a heap. Shaking his head, Ranma almost chuckled. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he didn't have time to divulge in it now. Right now he had to make her realize a few things. Putting both hands on her shoulders, he hoisted her to her feet even as she struggled.
"Listen, there is nothing you can do right now. Nothing. What is past is past. You can't change it, and even if you could it would have been better than finding out years down the road when the pain would be even greater. Cope with this whichever way you choose to, but if you continue on this path of self-pity you may never rise from it. If that happens you will be a useless husk. You want to let this Mamoru guy win? Stand up for yourself! Destiny is a fallacy used to control people. You want to be a slave to destiny? Destiny is for people who cannot help themselves rely on destiny. Snap out of it! Calm down and figure out what you are going to do now. This helps no one. Now go take a bath or something and calm down." Ranma's last words were said with a commanding tone. By now he had raised his voice and lost his temper. Glaring at Ranma, Usagi pushed him away from her and walked to the bathroom. Slamming the door behind her, she locked it. Shaking his head, Ranma tried to shake his anger from his head. He had never lost his temper in a long time. Somehow this woman just seems to make his blood boil. Finding his center again, he asserted his iron clad will to calm himself down.
Suddenly the vid-phone rang in the living room. Walking out of the bedroom, Ranma noticed that the entire room looked like a hurricane blew through it. Making a mental note to call the cleaning crew, he pressed the answer key on the phone. An image of his partner appeared on the screen as he did so.
"Yes Nabiki? What do you want?"
"Well I know today is your day off but... well, well, well, wild party at your place last night?" Looking around the room Ranma just massaged his head and waved for Nabiki to continue.
"I don't need your comments on my day off. Now what do you want?"
"Well, I am about to fax you that list of girls and their biographies faxed to you. Why don't you go over them with Auntie and your sisters? They can pick someone out for you. You need to bring one of them to the gala this weekend. The press will be all over that." Nabiki said while signing some papers.
Pausing, Ranma wondered what Nabiki was talking about. Did she already know? "Girls? What are you talking about?"
With an annoyed look, Nabiki yelled at her partner. "Ranma! You promised you would pick a girl to pose as your girlfriend for your public appearances! Don't back out now!"
Remembering his promise, he grimaced at this and nodded. "Alright, send it over now, I look over them." Massaging his temples again, he turned on the water heater.
"Ranma? Are you ok? You seem unsettled." Peering over her desk, she tried to get a better look at Ranma. "Are you nude? Why are you nude?"
Opening a new tea canister, he took out a cup and sprinkled some tealeaves into the cup. "I'm fine. I just have something to deal with."
"Something to deal with? What is it? The Phoenix? Has Saffron sent an assassin after you?" Nabiki began to worry as millions of ideas flew into her head.
Ranma looked straight at Nabiki with a look that conveyed to her to drop the topic. "No, it's just something I need to figure out. I-"
Suddenly a still blanket clad Usagi stormed into the room. "You know what? You know nothing about me and you know nothing of what happened to me last night! I don't know how you could make suggestions about what I should do with my life? Who are you to tell me what I should think or do?"
There was silence for a minute, until Nabiki started yelling over the vid-phone. "Who the hell is that? And why does she have a blanket wrapped around her? Ranma? What the hell is going on?"
Turning to Usagi, Ranma crossed the room in a split second. Towering over her he looked her straight in her eye as she stared defiantly back. Ranma looked at her with his anger but she did not yield as she stared back with a daring look. After well over a minute and Nabiki yelling at them over the phone. Ranma smirked.
"At least you aren't sobbing or whining." Usagi looked confused for a moment as Ranma continued. "It's good to see you've come somewhat out of that self-pitying pathetic mess I saw in the bedroom."
Shock and anger returned to Usagi's eyes as she slapped Ranma solidly across the face. Turning on her heels, she let out a frustrated yell and stomped back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Rubbing his face, Ranma grinned. He felt such a rise of emotions every time he spoke to her or even when he was around her.
"Nice to see your charm with women haven't diminished over the years Ranma." Turning back around Ranma faced his partner. Nabiki had an amused look on her face now. "So what are you planning to do about this? You know if the press finds out about this you're image will be slandered even more."
"I know, I know, I have to figure out what to do." Sitting down, Ranma began to rub his temples again. What was he going to do? He couldn't just let Usagi run free. Maybe if he gave her money, she would leave this alone, but the problem was that she didn't seem like the type to take a bribe.
Suddenly Nabiki's voice penetrated through his thoughts. "Ranma? What is that on your finger?"
Not understanding, Ranma looked at his hands. The sunlight that came through the window caused a small glare on a small band of metal on his finger. Staring at it for a bit, he stood up and walked towards the bedroom door. Perhaps it was just a ring. Perhaps they weren't actually married. Just then he saw it by the front door, a piece of paper that looked notarized. Slowly walking over to the paper, he had a dreaded feeling in his stomach.
"Ranma? What are you doing? Where are you going?" Nabiki asked as Ranma walked out of the vid-phone's line of sight. Ranma slowly picked up the paper and looked at it. There it was, his name and Usagi's name right next to each other. After all this time, avoiding marriage, being denied marriage, and forsaking marriage, he was actually legally married. He didn't know how he felt about this. For the first time in a long time he actually started to panic. He was married to a complete stranger, whose intentions he knew nothing about. He knew he couldn't get the marriage annulled because they had obviously had sex. Shaking his head, Ranma walked back in front of Nabiki while still staring at the document in his hands.
"I'm married." Ranma sat down on the couch with a thump as he tried to process this information.
"You're what?" Nabiki exclaimed. "To that girl who was just in here? How did this happen?"
"I don't remember." Shaking his head, Ranma looked up at Nabiki and walked towards the vid-phone. "Nabiki I have to go and speak to Usagi, I'll call you as soon as everything is sorted out."
"But-" Ranma quickly cut Nabiki off as he disconnected his vid-phone. Walking to the bedroom, he saw Usagi on the balcony connected to his bedroom. She was still wrapped in a blanket as she stared out at the city. The wind whipped at her hair tossing it about and the sun shone down on her making her skin shine and her hair seemed to glow. From this distance, Ranma caught himself. She was not just beautiful, but heavenly. Ranma felt an odd pounding in his chest but he quickly squelched it and opened the balcony door.
Usagi glanced back at him as he walked onto the balcony. She ignored him and continued to look out into the city. She smiled a bit, walked towards the edge of the balcony and let the blanket go. Ranma took a sharp breath, as she was completely nude under it all. After about a few minutes of silence, she spoke.
"You're Ranma Saotome the multi-billionaire right?"
"I see you recognize me then." Ranma said as he walked towards her position slowly. After a few moments of silence she spoke again.
"You know I came to America so I could find myself. I needed to live on my own and learn to be independent. Mamoru was so angry when I told him about this. But I had to leave him I needed to be free. He finally said he understood, and we made a pact. I would come here for as long as I needed to, and he would let me find myself. He said he understood that I needed to fulfill certain needs before we were to be married. However we promised each other to keep true to each other. We spoke to one another once or twice a year when he wasn't busy and I wasn't busy. I haven't seen him in over four years, but I waited. Mamoru said he would wait for me forever. We were destined to live happily ever after. Now I don't know. Nothing is making any sense. Mamoru has betrayed me. What is the rest of my life to be?"
"Usagi, listen, you need to sit down. I need to tell you something." Ranma said as he pulled out one of the chairs on the balcony.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand what I'm going through. After all, what's a dumb blonde to you the great Ranma Saotome? Why would you care about my problems and why would you care about me. I could jump off this roof and you probably wouldn't even care. I've read about you. You are a cold-hearted man Ranma Saotome." Usagi said as she turned to look at him.
"Well I have to care about your well being now. We're married." Ranma hoped that this would shock her out of her self-loathing. Usagi looked at him sharply as he held up his left hand and the marriage certificate. Her emotions already in disarray, she looked down at her own hand and noticed that there was a simple wedding band there as well. It was true. At that point her mind shut down as she considered the implications of this revelation. The last thing she remembered was feeling weightless as she fell backwards right off the edge of the balcony.
Ranma ran as fast as he could to the edge of the balcony but Usagi was already too far for him to pull her back in. Diving off the edge, he grabbed onto Usagi with one hand and with the other hand he grabbed onto the edge of another balcony. Hoisting the two of them up onto the balcony he quickly gathered Usagi into his arms and shook her a bit to see if he would get any response. She groaned a bit as Ranma breathed out a sigh of relief. He had almost not made it. Leaning back he rested against the metal gate of the balcony.
Suddenly her heard someone clearing their throat as Ranma looked up and saw Kurumi and Natsume crowding around the door of the balcony. They each had a perplexed look on their faces. Leaning back even more into the gate, Ranma sighed. It was going to be a very very long day.
Usagi opened her eyes to stare at a blank ceiling. Suddenly she remembered falling over the side of the balcony. Sitting up she felt around and didn't feel anything that was broken or missing. Looking around at her surroundings she was in a hotel room but it wasn't Ranma's room. Perhaps she had just dreamed it all? Pushing her hair back she felt a cold band of metal brush against her forehead. Looking at her hand she saw the wedding band. Realization crashed into her as she realized that it wasn't a dream. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door.
"Usagi? Are you awake now?" It was a female voice. Gathering the blanket around herself, she wondered who it could be.
"Yes, yes I am." With that the door opened and a young woman about her age walked in. She had short brown hair that was hung to her shoulder, and she was wearing a nice skirt and top. Usagi felt a bit self-conscious when she saw the girl. She had a lithe build, yet walked with an uncanny grace, to top it of she had a round and cute face many men lingered for.
"Hi there, I'm Kurumi Saotome. Ranma's my older brother. My mom asked me to give you something to wear since I'm the closest in size to you."
Feeling a bit more at ease, Usagi nodded and loosened a bit. "Thank you."
Kurumi placed some underwear and an outfit on the chair near the door. "There's a bathroom right next to you if you want to freshen up. When you are finished dressing and ready to come to room 811, mom wants to speak with you." Bowing slightly Kurumi left the room and closed the door.
Usagi slowly got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom. She was still very confused about everything that was happening. First she finds out that her Mamoru was no better than a liar. Then she is treated horribly by Ranma Saotome, who is now married to her.
Turning the water on, she steps into the shower and relishes the feeling of the steaming hot water. Picking up a bar of soap, she looks at her hand and the band, which now adorned her ring finger. Around her neck is still her locket that she had from the moon kingdom. She opened it and listened to the song as she reminisced about the times when she was Princess Serenity. Clenching the locket in her hand she wishes for Princess Serenity to rise to the surface. Her Princess Serenity personality always seemed capable of dealing with any problem. After several minutes, Usagi gave it up and looked at the locket in disgust. Tearing off from her neck, she flung it away. Kneeling down in the shower, she began to sob once again. Nothing would ever be the same. She just couldn't forgive Mamoru this time around, and her Princess persona seemed to fail her. Tears fell from her eyes as she hoped the sound of the shower would drown out her sobs.
Stepping out of the shower, Ranma quickly dried himself as he boiled off the water by raising his battle aura a bit. Opening his dresser, he looked through it for something to wear. Sensing someone at his bedroom door, he quickly opened it and caught his sister Natsume who was leaning on the door. She quickly stood up and blushed at his nudity. However unabashed, he just went back to picking out some clothing. Natsume cleared her throat a bit shuffled her feet a bit.
"So where did you meet her?" Ranma looked at Natsume as he put on some boxers and pants.
"At a bar, she wasn't doing too well."
Surprised, Natsume started pacing around the room. "Oh... so are you two really married?"
"Yes." Ranma started buttoning his shirt as he looked in the mirror. Natsume stopped her pacing and looked at Ranma.
"Do you love her?" Ranma looked up at his sister. Eyeing her carefully, Ranma ignored the question and walked out of the bedroom. Natsume chased after him and grabbed his shoulder from behind. Ranma turned around and stared at her dead in the eye.
"I gave up love a long time ago." Natsume flinched a bit and nodded.
"Then what are you going to do about the current situation?" Adjusting his shirt a bit, Ranma looked ahead for a bit and gained a mischievous grin as he turned to Natsume.
"That's a secret!"
Nodoka sat on a chair in her room staring at the wall, her back ramrod straight and chin held high as she contemplated the current situation that was brought about by her son. She could not fathom what he was thinking when he married that girl. She hadn't seen her son's new wife yet, but the way Kurumi described her she seemed like a small girl. Her first instinct was to call their lawyer and get this whole thing resolved. However Ranma forbade it, citing that Usagi was not a bad person, but in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nodoka loved the fact that her son was so manly that any woman in the world would love to be with him, but for him to sleep around was preposterous.
"Mother?" her son's voice cut through her thoughts. Dressed in a simple button down shirt and khakis, her son was simply the pinnacle of manliness.
"Son there is much we need to discuss."
"Would one of them be the fact I am married now?" Ranma said with a grin. Nodoka raised an eyebrow at that. Her son hadn't cracked a smile on his face in six years.
"This is not funny, this girl that you married, do you even know who she really is? She could be after you for your money!"
"I have spoken with her this morning and she doesn't seem the type to do that. Besides I think this can work out to my advantage." Ranma said as he began pacing around the room. "Think of it, the press is always criticizing me for not having a partner of the opposite sex. Usagi doesn't seem like she would take advantage of the situation, and I can dispel all rumors by saying that we have been dating for a while before we got married. The reason I hid our relationship was because I did not want to put her into the spotlight. Not only would this paint me as a 'settled- down' man but also a compassionate one at that."
Shaking her head, Nodoka couldn't believe her son wanted to go through with this sham of a marriage. "You understand that you will have to also convince this Usagi girl to go along with the idea right? What makes you think that she will go along with this?"
"I know exactly what she is going through, I am pretty sure I know how to convince her." Ranma said with a determined look.
Drying herself off, Usagi looked in the mirror and wondered what was wrong with her that would drive Mamoru to take pleasure in other women. Staring at the foggy image in the mirror, she wondered what would happen now. Glancing down at her hand she wondered what Ranma would do. They couldn't stay married so he would probably pay her off and ask that she never spoke to the press about this. Frowning, she thought of the raven hair man and how he was so frustrating. Yet there was something about him that made her pause about hating him. He seemed hurt and almost compassionate in some ways. She wondered what his life was like to have such a look of pain in his eyes every time he looked at her. Running her finger around the metal band, she wondered what her life would be like if she were with Ranma? Probably filled with riches and mountains of anything she wanted, but what of Neo-Crystal Tokyo? Will it exist now that it seems that Mamoru no longer cares for her? She could still be Queen but who would be her king? Perhaps she should forgive Mamoru, then they could move back to Japan and be happy there. Start over with a brand new relationship.
Shaking her head, she knew it could never be. She heard Mamoru, he had wanted Anna as much as she wanted him. There was no love it was just sex, but they had made a pact that they would not give their purity to anyone else but each other. Besides if he could know Anna for just a few hours before bedding her down without a second thought on his mind, then what's to say he hadn't done it many times before?
Walking into the bedroom she began to dress herself. Mamoru had betrayed her and she could not put on a happy face and forgive him, not even for the fate of a kingdom. She would rule by herself if necessary. He had his chance and he blew it. He thought that she needed him? She would show him! She would move on with her life and not have a second thought on her mind. Mamoru could see just how much she needed him. Nodding in affirmation, Usagi proceeded to dry her hair. Placing her hair into her pigtails, she stopped. She could not go back to that hairstyle, that was the past and the past was now dead, she would have to changer herself if she were to move on. Sighing, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and left the bedroom.
Sitting in a large chair, Ranma contemplated his situation. He would use this whole misunderstanding to his advantage. First he would have to convince Usagi to agree to his plan. By what he has seen she seems like the type to play along as long as he watched what he said. After all she could benefit from being his wife. He would help take her mind off her current situation and perhaps she would see that she didn't need to love to live.
Glancing up, he saw his mother sitting in another chair with her hands folded in her lap, back ramrod straight, and chin pointing up. Just like the noble woman she was brought up to be. Next to her, his two adopted sisters sat. Kurumi was flipping through a fashion magazine of sorts and Natsume sat with in the same position as his mother with the family katana in her lap.
Smiling internally, Ranma looked at his family. Although he thought emotions were unnecessary, there were a few that he did accept. He did love his family because that was who he lived for, the survival of the Saotome clan. Ensuring that in generations to come the Saotome clan will always have security.
Suddenly there was a knocking at the door. Looking to the door his mother nodded her head to signal Natsume to open the door. As his sister opened the door to allow Usagi to enter, Ranma carefully watched his mother. For a moment his mother just stared at Usagi, and Usagi stared at his mother. Suddenly there was look of recognition in each other's eyes.
"You!" The two women said in unison. Surprised, Ranma wondered how they knew each other.
"You are the woman at that gala!" Usagi said quickly.
"Yes I am, how have you been dear?" Nodoka responded with tenderness in her voice.
"You told me I should take a break from my boyfriend! And now he is gone!" Usagi exclaimed as she walked to his mother and stood in front of her.
Nodoka looked at her with surprise "Well dear I did say that but I also said that if you two were really meant to be with each other then there should be no problems getting back together."
Usagi looked at her and wanted to scream at her but just broke down in tears. Sinking down to her knees, she began to cry. Nodoka looked at her with sadness and gathered the weeping girl closer to her and placed Usagi's head in her lap. She gently stroked the girl's beautiful blond hair.
"It's not fair, we were meant to be with each other forever!" Usagi said over and over.
"It's ok dear, sometimes things just don't work out. It is all part of our life experience." Nodoka said as she patted the girl on her head.
Recovering from his sudden surprise, Ranma cleared his throat. Attracting the attention of his mother and his teary wife, he stood and grinned.
"Mother I would like you to meet my wife, Usagi Saotome." He said as he addressed his mother and gestured to the teary eyed girl kneeling in front of his mother. "Usagi, this is my mother, Nodoka Saotome."
There was a brief moment of silence when realization dawned once again in their eyes.
"You're his mother?" Usagi said with disbelief. His mother nodded her head and helped the girl into a seat beside her.
"I'm assuming that you are my son's wife then." She said with a resigned look in her eyes.
"I- " Usagi looked to Ranma and back to the older woman. "I was married to Ranma, but only accidentally!"
"Yes, well I heard the story from my son earlier. I'm just a bit surprised that it would be you." Nodoka confessed.
"Yes well... this wasn't exactly planned." Usagi said "But we need to get this cleared up I can't be married. This just isn't right! I don't even know your son! He doesn't know me! We've only known each other for a day!"
"I understand and I am inclined to agree with you, but my son wants to discuss this." Nodoka said nodding her head towards Ranma.
"Yes, well... Usagi, I have a proposition for you." Ranma began.
"I won't tell anyone." Usagi said in a quiet voice.
"Excuse me?" Ranma asked a bit bewildered.
"I said I won't tell anyone that we were married. As soon as we get this marriage business annulled I would be more than happy to go our separate ways." Looking at Ranma, Usagi spoke with a bit of anger in her eyes.
"Well, I'm afraid that's unacceptable." Ranma said as he walked over to a table and poured himself a glass of orange juice.
"Then what?" Usagi asked not understanding why Ranma would disagree with what she had said.
"Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Please take some breakfast because this may take a while to explain." Gesturing to the table of food. Usagi shook her head and refused the food. Shrugging Ranma continued. "As you know I am a very rich man quite a bit of fame. Being such a famed man, I am in the public eye quite a bit. In the past years I have not had much problems with the public. However recently, my personal life has been under attack by the press and the public regarding my marital status. I choose not to pursue any type of relationships with women due to my own personal beliefs that a man cannot do his best if burdened with either a physical or emotional relationship with a woman, except with family of course."
"And where do I fit into all this?" Usagi asked not liking where the explanation was headed.
"Well, I would like for us to continued to be married. In this I would gain a wife so that the press would cease their constant bantering about my social life. All you have to do is attend public functions with me, cease your pursuit of relationships with other men, and live with me." Taking a sip of water he went on. "Now should you decide that you want to pursue other men, we can then get a divorce down the line and you could live your life and I could live my life. That is what I get out of the arrangement. What I am offering you is a chance to recuperate from your ordeal. I know what you have been through with all your ex-boyfriend's betrayal must be devastating. What I want is for you to be able to live your life without the need to worry about monetary needs. Do what you have to recover. When you have recovered, then you can choose to leave this marriage."
Usagi looked at Ranma and thought for a bit. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and tried to process what was being offered to her and what was being asked of her.
"What if I refuse?"
"Well you could do that but the law says that we have to stay married for a period of time due to the fact that we have had sexual intercourse." Ranma said as he picked up a piece of toast.
"I didn't know about that." Usagi said as she sighed. "I don't know, this is happening too fast! I don't know what to do!"
"Do what you think is right. That is the only thing that my son can ask of you." Nodoka said as she placed her hand on Usagi's hand. "Personally I think that this would not be such a bad idea. I would like to help you move on if you would allow me to."
Comforted by the older woman's words, Usagi wondered how Ranma's mother seemed so ... well, motherly. "How do you suppose we explain our marriage to the public and press? We can't just simply say that we got drunk and married can we?"
"Of course not, we can just say we were seeing each other secretly and that we hid it from our family and friends." Ranma said as he put apricot jam on his toast.
Usagi looked at Ranma with a bit less hostility than before and wondered if it was such a good idea to even consider this.
"I am not so sure that staying with you would be such a help to myself. I've read things about you and how heartless you have been in the past."
"Yes well, I can be heartless in the arena of business, however I swear to you on my honor that I will try not to hurt you in any way. If you read the articles I think you have then you will know that I do not throw that statement around at all. I mean it." Ranma said sincerely.
Fidgeting a bit, Usagi stood up and paced about the room. After a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and nodded her head.
"I agree, I will be your wife for now."
"Excellent! Now Kurumi if you would start the process of having our people cement the story that Usagi and myself have been dating for the past few months, we can introduce Usagi to the press as my wife." Ranma said as he finished his toast.
"Wait!" Usagi exclaimed and walked over to Ranma. Standing toe to toe with him she looked up into his eyes. "Listen if you ever hurt myself or any of my friends or family I will stop this arrangement, honor or not."
Looking at Usagi, Ranma saw her confidence rising and slowly cracked a smile. "I understand and you have my word."
Stepping back, Usagi nodded, but Ranma grasped her by her waist slightly. Usagi looked at him with a bit of anger.
"What are you doing?"
Grinning, Ranma just tilted her chin up so that her face faced his.
"You will have to go and shop for some new clothes and be briefed in the story that Kurumi and her team are creating."
Nodding, Usagi stepped back and looked to Nodoka who was smiling at the couple.
"Very well. I would like to go home right now to speak to my roommate."
"Of course, Kurumi you go with Usagi. I want the cover done by the time you get to her place is that understood?" Ranma said as he waved his hand towards his sister.
"Of course Ranma." Kurumi said with a brief bow of the head.
As she turned to leave, Ranma stopped Usagi and turned her back around.
"Also you have to learn not to flinch every time I hold hands with you. I know this will take a bit getting used to. Be sure not to tell your roommate yet. I would like this to be a surprise if possible."
"I will. Should I come back here afterwards?" Usagi said with a normal tone that held no more anger towards Ranma.
"Yes, now go I have a few phone calls to make." Ranma said still grinning. "I will see you later tonight... anata."
Usagi looked a bit startled but relaxed and nodded. "See you soon... anata."