Oh dear... I need to see my pyschiatrist... I've got another darkfic for 
you... This one isn't quite as graphicly ugly as Replica, but it's still
got a fair bit of gore and death in it. Parts 1-2,5 and 9 are fairly 
hopeful, but everything else eminated from the darker pits of my mind.

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Clogged Sink Press Presents:

The Crow/Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction:


                             As the Crow Flies


By Plunger

      All characters copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc. and
              Viz Communications, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah...
      The Crow is copyright of James O'Barr or whoever else owns it...  
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[Story begins...]

[Prelude - New Horizons]

Ranma Saotome sat on the roof of the Tendou doujou. Looking over at the 
house, he was able to see in the window of Akane's bedroom. She was sitting 
at her desk with her head in her hands. From his vantage point, she appeared 
to be crying. 

He sighed and looked away. Once again, he had managed to inadvertantly make
some thoughtless personal comment about her. She had taken offense, which he
supposed she was justified to, and had flattened him, which he supposed she 
was justifed to do as well.

Looking out at the night, he shook his head in frustration. No matter how 
hard he tried, he always said the wrong thing. Whenever it looked like he 
might finally have a chance to admit his real feelings, he would be inter-
upted or he would cave in at the last moment. 

Ranma looked up and gazed at the moon. "Akane..." he whispered, "I really do
love you... Why can't I just say it to your face?" 

There was no reply. Nor did he expect one. After living at the Tendou-ke for
so long, he felt a terrible sense of guilt that he was using them. He knew he
lived there only because he was Akane's fiancee, but there never seemed to be
much point to that since they never got on. Not that he didn't want to... 

On the contrary. He desparately wanted to have a normal peaceful life with a
family and a permantent home... All the things he had missed as child himself.
He swore that he would not inflict the same on his children.

He grinned sheepishly to himself... Children... What a weird thought... 
He knew he wanted to be a father, and he knew he wanted to train an heir to 
the Masubetsu Kakuto Ryuu, but it was still an odd feeling. He, who had, by 
his own admission, shirked all forms of responsibility his whole life, was 
suddenly dreaming of permanence and responsiblity that he knew nothing about.

He supposed that it was a given anyway. He had two fiancees...and two would-
bes... If he wanted it, he could have any one he chose any time he pleased.
He smiled for a moment, thinking what a stud he was. His smile faded and he
sighed again. He still had to choose one fiancee to marry. 

He loved them both in different ways and that was the problem. He cared a 
great deal about both of them, and it made choosing an agonising choice. Up 
until now, he had simply put it to the back of this mind and tried his best 
to ignore it. 

Now, however, events had forced him to face his feelings and, for the first 
time, his responsibilities...and it scared him. He knew he had to choose and
soon. After the battle at Hou Ou Son where he had nearly lost Akane, he 
finally realised how uncertain life could be. 

He had wasted so much time, never considering that he or any of his fiancees
could be torn apart or killed at any time. He had to make a choice now or he 
might never get another chance. He would never forgive himself if Akane or 
Ukyou died without knowing how he really felt.

The problem remained, however... Which one... Which of the two did he want
to spend the rest of his life with? It was a daunting decision. 

He turned and looked over at Akane's window. The light had gone out and the 
curtains appeared to be closed. He raised an eyebrow, Akane must have been 
more upset than he thought, to be going to sleep so early. 

He smiled a little to himself as an ironic thought crossed his mind. Here he 
was, agonsing over who to marry and he was halfway to being married to Akane
anyway. Maybe that made the choice easier...

He stood up and ran across the doujou roof. As he reached the end, he leapt
into the air and somersaulted easily over the gap to land on the ledge below 
Akane's window. He looked in through the space in the curtains. She lay in 
bed, peacefully sleeping. 

He was struck by how different her face looked in the moonlight. It was...
calm, relaxed, carefree. So unlike how it was when she had looked angrilly 
at him earlier. He sighed again. He caused her so much pain... So much 
distress... The fact the he didn't mean it was irrelevant... He still did 
it.

Could he really hope to be happily married to Akane? Or would they just spend 
their lives fighting and bickering? They had gone through so much already and 
they were still together. It seemed that there was no force that could separ-
ate them. No matter what anyone did, he knew that he and Akane were always 
together. Nothing could change that, not him, her, or anyone else. 

He sat back, watching her face rapturously. There was really no choice to be 
made. He and Akane knew virtually everything there was to know about each 
other...and he loved her. That he figured, was about the best basis for a 
marriage he knew of. If love and understanding were a measure of two people's
rightness for each other, then he and Akane were off the scale.

He chuckled at that, causing Akane to stir. He silenced himself immediately,
and contented himself with a surrupticious smile. He and Akane suited to each
other. It was weird logic to say the least, but no matter how he looked at it,
they were right. They had gone through things that would have destroyed most
couples and survived relatively unscathed. They had fought and made up more 
times than he could remember. If they come this far... Why not go all the way?

Ranma set his jaw and took deep breath. It was time to be a man and face up
to his responsibilities. Surprisingly, he was looking forward to it.

Ranma crawled up to the window and tapped on the glass. Akane shifted a little
in her sleep, but did not move. Ranma sighed. He needed to tell her how he 
felt before he lost his nerve. He rapped on the glass again, a little harder 
this time.

Akane sat up suddenly and turned the light on. She looked around and saw 
Ranma looking in the window. She scowled at him and turned away. He sighed 
and tapped gently but insistantly on the pane. Akane turned back to face him, 
and with a frustrated roll of her eyes, got out of bed and opened the window. 
Ranma quickly jumped into the room before she changed her mind.

"It'd better be good, Ranma." she growled.

Ranma paled a little. He would have hoped to have caught her in a better mood,
but he had to make do.

Akane stood across from him, her hands on her hips and glaring at him. 

He sighed a little and looked her in the eyes. His kindly and loving expres-
sion threw her for a moment. Ranma saw her anger waver and struck. As in 
battle, he attacked when his opponent was weak.

"Akane..." he began, "I've been outside thinking..."

"About what you said before?! This'll be good!" she spat, her anger returning,
with reinforcements.

Ranma ignored it, "Yeah... And I'm sorry for what I said."

Akane stared incredulously, "You're sorry?!"

"Yes," he replied, "And I have to tell you something..."

Akane raised an eyebrow curiously, her face betrayig no emotion, "Go on..."

Ranma walked up to her and took her hands, surprising her more. "What are you
doing, Ranma?" she asked nervously.

He simply smiled and said, "I'm telling you that I love you and I want to 
marry you."

Akane's mind reeled with the impact of his words. Ranma... Admitting he 
loved her and wanted to marry her. It was all too much. The world blurred 
and lurched suddenly to the side. Just before she passed out, she felt Ranma 
catch her and call her name...

"Akane... Akane... Please... Wake up... Are you okay?" 

Akane heard the voice at the edge of her consciousness. There was some reason
why she didn't want to wake up. There was something frightening out there. 
She sighed, Ranma would take care of it, whatever it was...

Ranma... That was it!

She snapped awake and sat up suddenly. Looking around, she was she was still
in her room and Ranma was sitting next to her. She turned to look at him, 
"What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out for a few seconds." he replied, concern plain on his face.

She stared, "I did?" 

He nodded. 

After a moment she looked up at him, "Did you mean what you said? You weren't
just joking or something?"

Ranma took her hand and shook his head, his expression serious, "No. I've 
thought long and hard about this whole thing... I care about you more than
anything else..."

Akane's eyes shimmered for a moment and then she threw herself against Ranma,
who clumsiliy put his arms around her. She cried for a few minutes, while 
Ranma sweated profusely. He was not used to this sort of thing and he had no
idea what to do, so he just held her and waited for something to happen.

Finally, she recovered and sat back, smiling through her tears, "I've been 
hoping for so long that you would say that to me, Ranma... I'd almost begun 
to doubt whether it would ever happen..."

Ranma smiled nervously at her, "Yeah... It..took a lot of doing... Um... I...
I take it you feel that same?"

Akane grinned and wrapped her arms around him, "Of course! I've loved you for
so long!" 

Ranma nodded and added, "What about getting married?"

She paled a little at the thought, "Er... Well... I'm not sure... We're still
pretty young... Is it a good idea?"

"I love you, you love me. Do we need anything else?" he replied. He cautiously
put his arm around her as he said it.

Akane smiled and snuggled close to her fiancee, "Well... I guess we could..."

Ranma smiled sheepishly and said, "I suppose we should tell Oyaji and 
Ojisan..." 

Akane's eyes lit up mischieviously, "Not yet... Let's keep it between us for 
a while... It can be our little secret..."

Ranma nodded and kissed the top of her head.

"Tell me something, Ranma..." Akane said absently.

"Anything..." he whispered.

"Why'd you choose me?"

Ranma paled for a moment and then smiled and began to explain. 

The light stayed on in Akane's room for much of night. After a while it 
turned off. Some hours later, Ranma quietly left and returned to his room.

[End part 1]
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Okay... I know what you're thinking... Where's the good stuff? It's coming.
Things are going to get VERY VERY nasty.... Read on...