Epilogue
Resolutions
Full of Memories (Ranma 1/2 - 3rd Season Opening)
That was all six years ago now, Ukyo thought happily as she prepared the batter to make an okonomiyaki for two hungry people who would be sharing it together. The days had passed all too quickly since that group of eight returned from China and got their lives back in order. She, Ranma, and Akane had to work themselves to the bones to catch up in all of their schoolwork and all three of them barely managed to squeak by and pass their classes. While this didn't give them very much time for their social lives, it gave Kohei, Miki, and Aremi some much-needed time to adjust to living in such a modern country. All three of them, despite Kohei's having been in Japan before, were most impressed with hot, running water, thinking it was the greatest idea in the modern world.
During this same time, Shampoo and Mousse were able to make repairs on and re-open the Nekohanten. They insisted that their two cousins and Aremi live with them. Because living there would also give them jobs, they accepted. They also kept themselves busy by continuing their training and even studying for entrance exams. Kohei had been able to enter Furinkan High last time because he was just a visitor to the country, but now, as a legal citizen, the exams were required. The three of them also unexpectedly became heroes when, one day, as they were exploring the city...
"People here are always in such a hurry," Miki commented.
"They work hard to earn the money they need to live in these large houses," Kohei explained, "look how big they are."
"One would never see houses this big in Ryu-" Aremi began, then stopped as she fell to her knees, trembling.
"Are-chan!" the brother and sister exclaimed, "what's wrong?"
"I feel... an enormous... overwhelming sensation of evil..." she stammered, "much more so than Hashin..."
"Where?" Kohei asked.
"Directly inside of that house," Aremi, her arm shaking, pointed.
"Right," Kohei nodded, "Miki, watch over her," and leapt over the wall.
"I hope that whoever lives here will forgive me," he said to himself as he entered into one room via an open window. Inside were several dolls, stuffed animals, and other objects that had seemingly come from random places, none of which Kohei knew.
"Open wide, Jean Claude," a long, browned-haired girl in a pink dress held out a spoonful of rice to a doll. Kohei had no idea who this girl was or what she was doing, but the evil sensation Aremi had felt that he now picked up was coming directly from that doll of an old man. As the girl in pink spoon-fed her doll, which surprisingly ate the food, and its eyes widened and even blushed when she hugged him after every bite, he called out.
"Get away from that!"
"Who are you and what are you doing in Azusa-chan's room?" the girl turned to face him.
"This doll is evil," and, taking the initiative, Kohei grabbed the doll from the shelf and threw it into the air.
"GENKAKU NO TAKABISHA!!!"
Utilizing the Illusory Slice and combining it with the Mouko Takabisha, which Ranma had taught him, he was instantly able to create the move he had used to destroy Hashin, cutting this same doll in half.
"Get down!" Kohei tackled the girl and sheltered her from the white explosion that rocked the house. Once it died, the girl threw him off and began to cry.
"Waaaah! Why did you do that to Jean Claude?" she wailed.
"I'm sorry," Kohei squatted in front of her, "that doll had a great aura of evil about it."
The girl sniffed a few times before looking up at him, then she saw his ponytail, "Ooo! How cute! Jacques!" grabbed it, and pulled a pair of scissors out of nowhere.
"What are you doing?" Kohei asked, shocked as he got his hair out of her reach.
"Give me back my Jacques!" she shouted, produced a large mallet, again from nowhere, and began to swing it erratically at him.
Back outside, Miki and Aremi blinked as they saw Kohei run down the street and leap across the rooftops shouting, "I can't cut my hair! It's part of my Amazon heritage!" as the girl chased him all throughout the city.
When the news of the incident was related to everyone and they recognized the "doll" as the perverted martial arts master, the three of them were loved by all in the district.
Once the Nekohanten was fully running again, Shampoo returned to Dr. Tofu's clinic and asked if she could also continue her training as a nurse, which he gladly accepted. She did have to take time off, however, a few months later when she had her baby. Everyone felt sorry for Mousse as his wife's screams of labor pains could be heard all across Nerima and Ukyo had wondered if he would come out that delivery room alive. But he did, and Shampoo gave birth to a beautiful little girl with the hair of her mother and the eyes of her father. They surprised Kohei and Miki by naming her Gel, after their cousins' mother.
That hadn't been the only happy surprise everybody received during that period of a few months. As they had all been gone for four months, when they returned they learned that Kasumi was three months pregnant. As soon as everyone was caught up with school and that academic year began to wind down she had a boy who entirely resembled his mother. She and Dr. Tofu named him Ono Makoto, hoping that giving him a name associated with knowledge and wisdom would spark his interest into maybe following the in footsteps of his father.
Before school began the next spring, someone came running into the Nekohanten to tell Shampoo that Mousse had been taken to the hospital. It turned out that he had torn his muscle again as it hadn't fully healed itself before he resumed his training. This tear, however, required surgery. He followed the doctor's, but more so Shampoo's, orders not to use it until it was healed. When it was, the physical therapist suggested he get it back into shape by throwing baseballs at targets. As luck would have it for him, scouts for one of the local Japanese leagues caught him in his therapy and saw how good of a pitcher he was, even though he wasn't left-handed. He soon signed a contract and has been pitching for one of the teams since. Everyone expected that he'd join the professional leagues within a few years, which he did.
When school did begin, Kohei startled everyone by doing so well in his entrance exams that he was admitted into Furinkan high as a senior! Aremi was also admitted, but as a first-year student. Miki was the greatest surprise as, due to her age, she should have been in junior high, but she opted to take the exams and also passed! So she and Aremi ended up in the same class and both of them immediately began to draw attention from the boys. Ukyo had never known that all three of them were so smart.
As part of the celebration for all of them getting into high school, Akane and Ukyo took Aremi and Miki to the sea during summer break. As they both expected, the sight of the two girls in swimsuits drew the attention of every boy in the area, prompting those with girlfriends to get jealous. The reaction was so strong that Aremi was declared the winner of that year's Miss Beachside Contest hands down.
Ukyo's final year of high school passed by much more peacefully than others. There were still people coming after Ranma, but he was able to take care of them with ease.
While the four of them were finishing high school, Nabiki was getting used to her college life. She had been accepted into a well-known business school where she studied business management and photography. Nobody knew or even dared ask her how she was able to afford the schooling and live on campus on her own. Because of her previous experience, she soon became the top student in both fields.
After graduating from high school, the big day that Ukyo had been waiting for finally arrived: hers and Ranma's wedding. But as arrangements turned out, Kohei and Akane's wedding came first. They hired a talented artist to create their portrait, and the finished product was most beautiful.
Ukyo would never forget what happened that day.
"And should anyone object to the union of this man with this woman, speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest spoke as Kohei and Akane stood, hands joined and staring into each others' eyes. Their joyful moment was shattered along with the door as the one who objected to their union stormed into the building.
"Fear not, dear Akane," Kuno declared as he raised his bokken, "no mere locked and barred door can hold Tatewaki Kuno. I shall smite the foul Ikimono and free thee from the hypnotic spell he has cast upon you." Kohei's eyes became as fierce as they had looked before he cured his curse as he broke the kendoist's bokken with a strong kick before he could attack.
"You truly have no honor, conceited swordsman," Kohei hadn't been this angry in a long time, "every day for the past year while you should have been in college, I instead found you awaiting Ranma and me at Furinkan only to lose to one or both of us every single time. Now you have the gall to interrupt my own wedding!"
"The Blue Thunder cannot rest until the women whose hearts truly belong to him are freed from the black magic that has been controlling them."
"I was told to never use this technique except only on those whose stupidity was deeper than the ocean and sense of honor smaller than a grain of sand," Kohei's aura was now visible to everyone, "now that time has come!" and charged.
"[Amazon Secret Technique: The Forever Immobilizing Attack!]"
Kohei's speed was so great that not only did it appear that he didn't make any other movements with his arms or legs, but he looked as if he ran right through Kuno. Once he reached the other side and stopped, he said, "It is done."
"You missed!" Kuno taunted as he raised his half-weapon, but everyone gasped as his arms suddenly lost their strength and fell to his sides.
"The tide of battle has turned and is now in my favor," Kohei declared calmly as he turned around.
"What sorcery have you cast upon me?" he demanded.
"None at all, but rather a series of pressure points on your arms that will paralyze them."
After various people in attendance gasped again, Kohei continued, "The paralysis will not take full effect for another five minutes, but after that there will be no way to remove it. Until then I am able to undo the technique, but only if you should admit the following..."
The sounds of gasps became the sounds of laughter as a humiliated Kuno had to submit to the following demands of admitting all of his defeats, apologizing to him and Ranma for accusing them of practicing black magic, admitting that he has a perverted mind and only lusts after the girls, to burn all of the photos that Nabiki had ever sold to him, and many more requests that Kuno would not have met under any circumstances, even now.
"Never!" he growled as he attempted to pick up his broken bokken, "Kuno Tatewaki is perfect! I shall overcome this vile wickedness!"
"Then you may say good-bye to your kendo career forever," Kohei answered calmly.
"Kuno-sempai..." Akane spoke quietly as she approached him.
"Akane-kun," he turned to her, "this evil man has rendered me unable to console your sadness at my loss. But nonetheless, I shall one day win you from him."
"Get it into your head!" she burst out as her red aura appeared, "I don't love you! I never loved you! I love Kohei and you've got a lot of nerve to ruin our wedding!" She channeled the aura from around her body entirely into her fist as, fueling all of her anger towards him over the years, she punched him with such power that the connecting blow sent him back outside the door and through several more walls and buildings before he finally came to a stop. Ukyo guessed that he'd be in a body cast much longer than Ranma had been after Akane punched him during the incident with the Jewel of Reversal.
"His pride was his undoing," Kohei sighed, "he could never let go of the past," and turned to his bride, "Aka-chan, that was the most powerful attack I've ever seen."
"That one had been building itself up for years," she smiled, now fully calmed down, "I'm going to confess that it felt really good."
"I fully understand how you feel," he smiled back and took her hands as they stepped back to resume the wedding.
With no further interruptions, the two of them were pronounced husband and wife and many tears were shed, especially by Soun. Immediately after the wedding, Kohei moved out of the Nekohanten's attic and into the Tendo household.
Only two weeks passed before Ranma and Ukyo's wedding. They had asked a different artist to create their portrait, but nonetheless, the finished product was just as beautiful.
Because of the incident with Kuno at Kohei and Akane's wedding, some precautions were made. Ukyo still couldn't figure out how this had happened, but it still did.
"Dammit!" Ranma coughed as the fog from the smoke bomb cleared and looked up into the rafters to see Kodachi, who had grabbed Ukyo, carried her up there, and wrapped her up in a few ribbons, including around her neck. Ukyo's forearms were loose enough to try and remove the ribbon wound around her windpipe and that made her too occupied to prepare herself if the lunatic gymnast pushed her over.
"Oh Ranma-sama," Kodachi cried, "to think that she would truly steal you from me! But in only a moment will she be taken care of so that your heart will return to me! You will know my love for you, Ranma-sama! Oohohohohohoho!"
Ranma knew that if he made any moves, she would kill Ukyo in either one of the two ways right there. But it turned out that he didn't need to do a thing at first. He blinked and dove to catch his bride when she was dropped as a flash of blue blurred up into the rafters and all of the ribbons binding Ukyo were cut.
"Ucchan, are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she sighed and looked at him, "perfectly fine."
The two of them looked back up to see that Aremi had landed and already put her sword away.
"You know nothing about what it means to love somebody," she spoke, "to truly love someone is to think of their feelings and respect their decisions."
"Your brother tried to interrupt my big brother's wedding!" a younger voice shouted as Miki leapt up onto the beams, "Now you try to ruin Ranma-onii-sama's wedding!"
The Black Rose could do nothing as her next ribbon was caught and the now 16-year-old half-Amazon girl used her weapon to throw her down towards the ground. Miki wasn't done, however, as she jumped off of the rafters, aimed herself at Kodachi's chest, and formed her body into the shape of a Y.
"TENHA RAKURUGEKI!!!"
The flaming dragon's head that appeared around Miki's legs literally consumed Kodachi's body as the powerful kick connected with her chest. Upon landing, Miki jumped from the unconscious girl in the leotard and asked, pointing at her, "Are people as insane as her allowed to live in a normal society?"
Several voices were heard as many of the guests told her, "No."
"Then why isn't she in a hospital for people whose minds are damaged?"
Murmurs of agreement came from all directions and, within 10 minutes, two men in white arrived to take Kodachi to the nearest mental institution.
"Miki-chan, Aremi-chan," Ukyo smiled, "thank you."
"Yeah, thank you," Ranma added.
"After what happened to Akane-sempai and Ko-chan, we couldn't just do nothing," Aremi replied.
"Plus I've been dying to use that technique since Xian Pu taught it to me," Miki grinned.
After that, like the one before, the wedding ended without any further delays or interruptions. More tears were shed, especially by Nodoka, and Ukyo's lifelong dream came true after years of waiting.
Only another three months passed before the next major incident. Soun developed a disease in his bones that, although it was treated and eventually cured, he lost the use of his right leg and was unable to care for the Tendo School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts from that point on. As a result, he and Genma decided that it was time to give the Tendo dojo to its heir, "Saotome" Tofu. Ukyo still couldn't believe what she had witnessed that day.
"And sign here," the lawyer pointed Dr. Tofu to one last signature line. The young doctor promptly signed and the transfer of ownership was complete.
"Well, Tendo-kun," Genma laughed, "we finally did it!"
"Yes, Saotome-kun," Sound cried as the tears poured down his cheeks, "the schools are finally united."
"C'mon son," Genma slapped Tofu's back, "what do you have to say for yourself?"
Dr. Tofu pushed his glasses back onto his face as he stood up and announced, "I am grateful that you have entrusted the care and operation of the Tendo dojo to me and my family," he gestured to Kasumi, who was holding Makoto in her lap. He took a deep breath and continued, "But as I have neither the time nor the interest in running a martial arts school, I hereby place the dojo into the capable hands of Akane-chan and Kohei-kun."
The suddenness of the announcement definitely took everyone by surprise as Ranma and Ukyo jumped up to congratulate their in-laws while Kohei and Akane just stared at each other in disbelief.
"Oh my," Kasumi spoke up, "Father, are you all right?"
Everyone turned to look at Soun and Genma. Both of them may just as well have been turned to stone. Even the waterfalls of tears from Soun's face had stopped moving.
The gift from Dr. Tofu had instantly secured their financial future, but the shock it gave Genma and Soun was enough to send them into living in a retirement home. While Akane decided to attend college and study physical education and drama, Kohei stayed at home to teach classes. He worked his hardest to put his wife through school, but when time allowed they would teach classes together, training their students in the way of Tendo Anything-Goes Martial Arts and the Ikimono Family Style of Martial Arts. Their next surprise came from finding out that Akane had become pregnant after they had celebrated their inheriting the Tendo school.
During this same time, Nodoka officially gave the Saotome School to Ranma, who immediately got to work teaching classes to put Ukyo through her schooling. She wasn't going full-time, just to take a few classes on business management so she would be more effective with her okonomiyaki shop. She had moved it from Nerima and was given permission by her husband and mother-in-law to reestablish it in the Saotome home.
Soon after all of that had been settled, Ranma found a poor woman who had no home in an alley one day. After buying her something to eat, he learned that she was a skilled manga artist but had no ideas for the plot of her introductory series and had run out of money. She immediately gained inspiration as Ranma told her the existence of a cursed training ground in China and how an old man and his son had gone there to train, but only a panda and a girl came out. Once the manga was published, an anime, several video games, and various pieces of merchandise soon followed. The success from this new series, drawn by the woman, whose name was R. Takahashi, brought so much royalties that Ranma and Ukyo never had to teach any classes at the Saotome school, but he still did for fun while she would always give their students a free okonomiyaki. Their celebration, held two months after the series Ranma 1/2 was introduced, and 5 months after Kohei and Akane had inherited the Tendo dojo, soon had Ukyo pregnant as well.
As the next nine months passed for Ukyo, she often spent time with her mother-in-law and would go visit Akane and Shampoo's families as often as possible. It was one day when she and Ranma were walking with Kohei and Akane did they finally run into an old friend.
"Have you guys seen the new Ranma 1/2 arcade game that came out recently?" they heard one kid ask his friend.
"Yeah," the other one answered, "it's so cool. You get to use two people at once in a tag-team match!"
"And how you can combine their attacks is awesome! Have you used Ranma with Kohei yet? He fires a Mouko Takabisha and Kohei absorbs into his energy sword."
"Nope, but there are some other great ones..." their voices faded as they got out of earshot.
"I still refuse to believe you included our journey in your life story that you sold to that artist, Ranma," Kohei spoke first, "but I must admit, she did a wonderful job."
"That's what really happened, isn't it?" Ranma shrugged and asked.
"I've seen that new game they were talking about," Ukyo spoke.
"So have I and it's still unbelievable that we're all characters in it. There's also Shampoo, Mousse, Miki-chan, Aremi-chan, Ryoga-kun..." the name of the man who none of them hadn't seen in years brought a question, "where is Ryoga-kun anyway?"
"Dunno," Ranma shrugged, "maybe he got so lost that he's gone from the country."
As fate would have it, Ukyo turned her head at that moment to see which new movies would be released at the local theater. Upon seeing one she stopped dead and pointed.
"R-R-R..." but couldn't finish.
The rest of the three of them also looked and Ranma and Akane dropped their jaws when they saw Hibiki Ryoga listed as the starring role in a new movie that would be released that week.
"What the hell is going on?" Ranma asked.
"I remember him," Kohei spoke, "he was the one who guided me to Nerima when I first came to Japan."
"Bwahahahahaha!!! How do you like that, Ranma?" came a familiar, rough voice from behind them. The four turned to see Ryoga, whose hair had grown longer, but still wore his bandana and had his arm around Akari, who was holding the hand of a two-year-old girl. The little one also wore a bandana and her hair was the same shade as her father's and she had the eyes and face of her mother.
"Jeez, Ryoga," Ranma piped up, "where've you been?"
After everyone greeted each other and new introductions were made, they learned that Ryoga and Akari were married right after the four had left for China and their daughter was named Naoki. Ranma immediately guessed that her name meant "straight" in hopes that she would avoid the curse her father had about lack of sense of direction. He was right.
"So anyway," Ranma said again after he dodged the punch, "what's up with that poster?"
"My first movie went a little too far when I accidentally put Jackie Chan in the hospital," he muttered, "but the producers loved it so much that they decided to cast me as the good guy in their next movie. But because of... complications, it wasn't finished until last month."
All of them had spent of joyful reunion together and they promised to meet together as often as possible. More time passed and Akane gave birth to her and Kohei's first child; A baby boy with his father's hair and mother's eyes who, despite his namesake's protests, was named Ranma. Right after that did Miki and Aremi graduate from high school. They impressed everybody by not only getting accepted into college, but into Tokyo University on the first try! Aremi had said she felt bad that they had seen two people, a boy and a girl, fail their exams and she ran away crying while he followed after her, apologizing for breaking a promise they had made to get in together.
Another four months later, Ukyo's turn came and she gave birth to-
"Ucchan!" Ranma called between his fits of laughter, "Is their lunch ready yet?"
"Yes, Ranchan," she smiled as she lifted the now-complete okonomiyaki onto a plate and called as she cut it in half, "Ranko! Ken! Stop tickling your father, it's lunchtime!"
"Oh boy, okonomiyaki!" her little 3-year-old boy, Saotome Kenichiro, shouted as he came dashing into the dining room. He could have been the exact clone of his father.
"Mama, I love your okonomiyaki!" his older, twin sister, Ranko, exclaimed as she sat down and Ukyo gave her half of the meal. Like her brother, she could have been an exact clone of one of her parents, but of her mother. Ukyo smiled as Ranma walked into the room and put his arm around her.
"Ready for this afternoon's class, Ucchan?" he asked.
"Of course," she turned to her kids, "Uncle Konatsu and grandma will be watching over the two of you so I want you to behave."
Nodoka had been more than willing to watch over her grandchildren whenever the need would arise. She was given the opportunity to name the firstborn and decided to give her the name of Ranma's girl-half that she had admired. When she learned that Ukyo had given birth to twins, said to her son, "Ranma, you're twice the man I ever imagined you'd become." Of course, he didn't get it while the two women shared a good laugh.
And Konatsu, who refused to desert his two best and only friends, swore to always watch over and protect their children. Seeing as they couldn't convince him otherwise, they eventually conceded.
"But I love Mama more than okonomiyaki!" Ken argued, obviously not hearing his mother's request.
"So do I!" Ranko retorted.
Ranma grinned at his cute wife as he also said, "So do I."
Ukyo's smile couldn't have been wider as she leaned her head on the chest of the man she had loved her whole life and a tear of happiness formed in her eye.