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D a r k n e s s a n d L i g h t
by: Adrian Wong
A DARK Ranma « Fan Fiction.
All relevant characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
This story copyright 1997 - Adrian Wong
Author's Ramblings:
Special thanks to all those on and off the FFML that had
contrubuted ideas about the good and bad points regarding POISON.
In the beginning, I was merely trying to create a long version of
POISON. As time passed by, however, I've changed the story too
much to be called a "long version". Inspirations, some of them
contrasting, came in a frenzy. . . all of which eventually led to
this somewhat familiar but NEW story. Only several tiny clips
were remained from POISON in this finished monsterousity, and
even they had been mordified considerably.
Warning:
This story is guaranteed to be even more controversal than
my previous work, POISON. Situations of adult nature are ahead,
even though this is NO lemon fic (at least I don't think it is).
Young readers and those with weak stomachs. . . be prepared for
anything.
Note: Dialogues are in " "
Thoughts are in < >
Songs are in * *
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Is it really her that you want?
The question, which can be heard by no one else but him,
echoed in his mind as he absently braided his hair into a
pigtail. Even though the effects of the dragaon's whisker had
wore off long ago (See manga volume 15), he would still braid his
hair due to force of habbit.
Sitting beside him around dinning table were two girls. On
the table were two report cards, which the two girls were looking
through at the moment.
"Oh, this isn't fair! I could have gotten an A+ in Calculus
instead of just A. I was just one mark behind the standard!"
Akane bit her lips as her fists crutched her red dress.
<Once upon a time . . . yes.> The boy thought as he tied up
the pigtail with a string.
Nabiki was a mask of cold calculation. "Hmm. . . so that
new computer teacher did dare to fail me after all." Didn't he
know that Tendo Nabiki had more profitable businesses to take
care of other than her studies? Besides, she only wanted a
passing grade! "Just wait until I spread some interesting photos
regarding his private life around . . . Say, Ranma-kun, you never
did tell us last night
about YOUR scores on the exams."
Startled out of his train of thought, the boy struggled for
words. "It . . . it's not important, Nabiki." Ranma said
hesitantly.
"C'mon, Ranma. At least tell us your average." Akane said.
When Ranma said it in a most reluctant manner, the sisters
were stunned.
"Ranma. . ." Nabiki said seriously. "For 1000 yens, I will
keep this as a secret."
"Baka! I told you to study more often!" Akane said hotly.
"I have to spend all my time practicing Anything Goes!"
Ranma, who wasn't in a good mood to begin with, snapped back.
And a big paw of a hand slapped him hard on the head.
"Ranma! Akane is also a martial artist! Yet I don't see
her getting low grades!" Genma bellowed.
"But she spent only one-tenth of my effort in training-"
"What's that suppose to mean?!" Akane's face turned scarlet
from rage. How dare this freeloading baka insult her like this
in her own home?!
"I was only saying-"
"That's enough from you! Have I trained you all those years
just to have you turn out to be such an unmanly disgrace to our
school?" Genma Saotome asked indignantly.
Ranma reacted as if he had been slapped. "Unmanly
disgrace?"
"If you're not, then stop acting like one and crease your
whining! Now come with me to the dojo, I'm going to whip you
back into shape." The big, overweight man headed toward the
dojo.
Ranma gritted his teeth to force down his anger, then
gradually sighed and followed his father into the dojo.
Rebellious as he might appear to be, Ranma always obeyed his
father in the end. After all, his father had been a lot better
to him than before since their stay at the Tendos.
He could still remember how Pop used to be, once upon a
time. . .
########################## FLASHBACK ############################
The boy, leaning against a tree, was feeling miserable.
Today was his birthday, his first day being seven. He
wanted so much just to be with his friends, grappling, wrestling,
or maybe even just talking will be fun.
But he had to spent it alone.
At his age, he didn't know the the word lonely, yet. All his
young mind could figure out was that he felt miserable without
his little buddies. Well, actually, he could do without
Yusaku-chan, who teased him about not having a mother, or
Ratiko-chan,
who said that he looked like a girl with his hair.
But he wanted to be with his Ucchan.
Of the bunch of kids that he had befriended in Kyoto, Ucchan
was his favorite pal, his best friend. Almost as good as he was
in what his Pop called the Art', Ucchan was the son of a great
cook. They both liked the same things (food and fights) and had
gone through some interesting adventures together (they once
joined forces to defeat a evil gambler who ripped off little
kids). Even fighting with Ucchan was fun, as Ucchan always lost
to him, and Ucchan's father would always selflessly reward his
"victory" with a free lunch.
The boy's train of thoughts were abruptly cut off as a foot
swept him off his feet and he landed heavily on his rump.
The huge, bespectacled figure towered over him. "Son! How
many times do I have to tell you NOT to let your guard down?!"
"Sor. . . sorry, Father." The boy picked himself off the
ground as quickly as he could. "I was thinking. . ."
"If you think too much during a real fight, then your
opponent will surely find an opening to take advantage of! Now
come with me, we need to do the morning workouts." The man said.
"Pop, I . . ."
"What?"
"I want to go back to Kyoto to be with Ucchan again." The
boy said meekly.
His father looked nervous for a second, then his glaze
hardened. "Son, friends come and go. Just forget about that boy
and find some other kids to play with. A real man must learn to
move on."
"But Pop, why can't we move back to Kyoto? We can always
continue our training there, and me and him can go to school
together-"
"QUIET! I will NOT accept such display of weakness from
you, Boy." The huge man bore his eyes into his son's and spoke
in a stern voice. "A man cannot allow himself to long for
another that way. It is . . . unnatural. Travelling from one
place to another is the path of a martial artist. You shall not
mention that boy. . . ever again. Is that clear, my son?"
The little boy looked puzzled. "But I only wanted to-"
SLAP!!!!!
"IS THAT CLEAR?!"
The boy, with one side of his face covered by a red
handprint, replied in a stunned voice.
"Yes. . . Father."
"Good. Now, show me the move that I taught you yesterday."
The boy obliged, and trained through his entire birthday
without another thought of his best friend. <If Father is mad
enough to hit me like this, then I must have been really unmanly.
But I AM a martial artist, I mustn't be like this. . .>
#################################################################
"Transvestite! Pervert! Jerk! Loser. . ."
Reminants of Akane's curses chased after Ranma as he stroded away
faster and faster.
Normally, he would have made himself believe that Akane's
violent curses toward him was just a tomboyish act, and wouldn't
have been affected by them one bit. But after spending more than
a year with her, he began to see the possible falsity of that
notion.
Not that it helps, of course.
"My son, of all the girls around you, I think most highly of
Tendo Akane." Nodoka had once said to her son in the privacy of
her house, smiling motherly as she did so. "Miss Kuonji is. . .
a very passionate person, someone that can make a very good
friend. But given her. . . independent personality, I doubt if
she can make a tradition housewife. Shampoo. . . well, lets just
say that girls like that have all their assets on the physical
side. As for Miss Kuno. . . for the love of your mother please
don't even think about it."
"You see?!" Genma said on the side. "Even your mother
thinks that Akane is the one for you. And you said that the
engagement was a mistake. . ."
"Ranma-kun," Kasumi had said once to him at the Tendos.
"You must make a choice before anybody gets hurt."
"But I don't know who I want. . ." Ranma had replied,
hoping to delay the inevitable.
"Ranma-kun," Soun had said on the side. "You have always
risked yourself to come to my daughter's rescue in the past when
she needed it, surely you must have felt something for her.
Besides, it's the honorable thing to do."
Nabiki cheerfully joined into the conversation. "What? You
don't think that you can just walk off from her after FREELOADING
at our house for so long now, do you?"
<. . . Of all the girls that I can chose from, it just had
to be HER that everybody sticks up for.> Ranma sighed as he
stepped heavily into the dojo.
* * * * * * *
The Tendos were all gathering around the dinning table,
waiting for the fast food takeout being offered to them.
"Baka, baka, baka. . ." Akane mumbled to herself.
Soun turned to his daughter. "Don't worry, daughter. I'm
sure that Ranma will come and apologize to you real soon."
"Oh, my. What did Ranma-kun do?" Kasumi asked.
"That jerk! Saying that I only spent one-tenth of his
effort in training. . ."
"But he does practice much more than you, Akane-chan."
"Sister! How could you stand on his side?!" Akane, the
youngest child who was loved and cherished by her family, the one
who was most reluctant to apologize or accept defeat, pouted.
"Well. . ."
"Morning, everyone!" Ukyou, carrying an extra-large order
of okonomiyakis leaped over the exterior wall of the garden and
entered the house. "Here is something for the family." She
placed the food on the table.
"Thanks, Ukyou-san." Soun Tendo smiled, if a little bit too
politely.
Ukyou was slightly nervous, even thought she didn't let it
show through. Being back in "enemy territory" after bombing up
that arranged wedding was a heavy weight on her mind. Striking
dark eyes scanned the room, glistering a bit under the sunlight.
"So, where's Ran-chan?"
Akane, who was about to pick up a piece of okonomiyaki,
tensed up on impulse. Kasumi, who was pouring Ukyou a cup of
tea, answered the question. "Ranma-kun and his father are
sparring in the dojo, Ukyou-san."
Ukyou sipped the tea. "Thanks for the tea, Kasumi-san. I
think I will go say Hi to him."
"Grrr. . ." A bright aura flared around the Tendo girl,
prompting her family to back away from her a bit. "My. If she
did this often enough last winter, we could have saved a heck of
an electric bill regarding heat." Nabiki smiled with amusment as
she flexed her slender arms.
Luckily for her, Akane couldn't hear a word that she said,
being so focused in her anger. One thing that really inflamed
her about Ranma was his ability to attract the most pesistant
kind of women, who all happened to be top martial artists!
Before all of them showed up, SHE was the best there was. Then
came Kodachi, who was deadly, but not quite skillful enough to
hurt her reputation as the best female martial artist of Nerima.
As if some unknown forces against her had noticed that, there
came Shampoo and Ukyou. From then on, her kempo skill was being
cruelly downplayed as a joke.
What's worse was that she couldn't stop those two from
chasing after HER fiancee with brute force, and Ranma became her
only hope in warding off them. Yet the fact that he had chosen
to accept them as friends gave those two even more reasons to
chase him, thus crushing that hope of her.
Ranma WAS a playboy. That's what came into her mind every
time this issue resurfaced in her head. If only he drove them
away once and for all, then all would be alright. But no. HE
had to be the nice guy when it came to dealing with any girl
aside from HER! Dammit!! And it was SHE who had always risked
herself to save his ungrateful behind whenever he got into
trouble!! Without her turning off that hot water ring, he'd be
killed at Mt. Phoenix! Ungrateful jerk!
In her anger, Akane had crutched her chopsticks so hard that
they snapped. Ukyou saw this and sighed to herself as she walked
towards the dojo.
<How could she be so damn posessive and yet denied her
feeling so strongly?> She wondered. <Oh well, it's fine with
me anyhow. With her, at least I won't have to go through a fight
just to see Ran-chan.>
* * * * * * *
Inside the Tendo Dojo, the Saotomes were sparring. Genma
was fighting with unusual intensity, surprising Ranma.
"Yaaah!" Ranma yeped as he ducked under a high-kick that
would have crushed his face had it made contact. "Take it easy,
Pop! What's gotten into you?"
Genma ignored the question and fought even harder, pushing
his son back. Ranma tried to counter-attack, but his father was
just as fast as him in his defenses. "You've been having it way
too easy, boy!"
<Having it way too easy? He said. . .I have been having it
way too easy?!>
His mind thought back to all that he had been through in the
name of honor. . .
Martial arts was something that had been forced upon Ranma
since he was old enough to think. He didn't like the painful
path at first. But having no way out of the deadly Saotome
training method, which involved dangerous training methods like
being thrown into a pit of hungry cats with fish paste on one's
body, Ranma gradually grown to love what he couldn't fight.
At 16, he hadn't yet lost a battle that he can't win back.
He had focused literally ALL of his time in studying the art of
Anything Goes. He even went to pathetic lengths to prove his
"manliness", hiding his true self under layers and layers of
masks as a result.
It was true that in the very beginning, before his true
gender was revealed to the Tendos, he had been secretly charmed
by Akane, the only smiling face in the house. But that smile
didn't last long, as she quickly discovered his manhood under the
most embarrassing circumstance. From then on, her smile had
became a rare thing, almost permanetly replaced by a scowl. He
had thought about leaving, but "honor" demanded that that he
successfully woo the Tendo girl to inherit the Tendo Dojo. Ranma
had made himself love her, pasting that brilliant smile on her
face inside his mind whenever he thought about her, shutting out
her scowl whenever he could. Tiring as it was, it worked, and
his efforts had ensured his and his father's successful stay at
the Tendos for over a year.
He did have some kind of charm after all.
Even as a child, the boy had already possessed a special
attraction that drew everybody to him. By repeatedly engaging
him to various young girls with rich fathers, Genma had more than
enough to fund their training trip. As he continued to mature. .
. No. . . He didn't want to remember that. . .
Yet the old memories had already slipped into his mind
before he could put up his defense.
########################## FLASHBACK ############################
The boy was. . . surprised to say the least when his father
told him about having a party for his twelth birthday.
Several weeks ago, his Pop had took him to yet another
family. The boy was left to sit under a tree in the yard,
watching his Pop's animated conversation with the man of the
household. Pop always brought him along on what he called
"business trips" like this, which he couldn't fully understand.
After all, what use could the boy be being there?
Had he been a formally educated child, the boy would surely
thought about the possibility of the business being related to
him. But then again, unlike all the kids that he passed on the
road, he hadn't been to school for a day in his life. The truth
was, he didn't even have a chance of interacting with anyobody
other than his Pop.
"Your trainning will be all that you need in life, boy."
Pop's words echoed in his brain.
Finally, the man in the house shook his head, and his Pop
had looked much more dejected than a failed salesman.
That night, his Pop almost strangled him in fiery.
"You p__! You unproductive piece of s___! Nobody, NOBODY
is willing to engage his daughter to you anymore!! At this rate,
we would both STARVE!! STARVE!!" Pop shouted, looming his
bloated face over his son's.
The boy didn't understand a word his father was saying, all
he was worried about at that moment was the well-being of his
neck.
Pop tossed him onto the ground like a rag door, leaving the
boy gasping for breath.
That was three weeks ago, and Pop had been a lot harder on
him since then. And now, out of the blue, there comes this
birthday party, one that he never had before.
How could he not be overjoyed?
#################################################################
While Ranma's mind was running wild, his father had already
leaped over him. The older Saotome's arms became a blur as they
shot toward the back of Ranma's head, mercifully knocking the
memories off it. The boy fell facefirst to the ground, and Genma
dragged his head up by his pigtail, forceing him to stare into
his father's face.
"You listen to me and listen to me good, boy. I am tired of
seeing you jeapordizing your engagememt with Akane. Everything
is going well for us for a change, and I'd really hate to see you
you screwing it up." He stared into the boy's eyes. "Just
remember how things were like in the old days . . ." These words
sent shivers up Ranma's spine. Germa continued in a voice so
sincere that it sounded phony. "And you will know how fortunate
you are to have this engagement-"
"Ran-chan!" Ukyou, who just stepped in, called out at her
fianc‚. Germa let go of his son's pigtail and quickly stroded
out the dojo, ignoring the girl whose dowary he had stolen with a
false promise.
Ukyou ran up to Ranma, who was struggling back up. She
frowned as she saw the paleness of his face. "Jesus! Is
your father trying to kill you with his insane sparring methods?"
Ukyou asked, her heart already aching for him.
"I'm okay, Ucchan, really I am." Ranma forced himself to
give a reassuring smile and quickly turned away from Ukyou's dark
eyes, shutting her out.
Everytime that Ukyou saw him like this, she wanted to plead
with him, to slap him, to do anything that could get him to open
up to her before he got eaten alive by whatever pains that she
couldn't know about. It was times like these that she would
really came close to despising the Tendo girl for not doing her
duty to rescue her fiance from his everyday demons.
Then she remembered the reason for which she came.
"Ran-chan, about what you said to me at school about the . . .
wedding? Does that mean-"
"Hey, you. Father ask me to come ask you to breakfast."
Akane stroded into the dojo, cutting off Ukyou as she stared
crossly at Ranma. Lowering his pride (and self-worth for that
matter), he walked up to Akane. "I'm sorry." He mumbled.
"It's all right." Akane said dismissively as Ranma hurried
out. Ukyou walked up to Akane, frowning. "What was all that
about?"
After the story was told, Ukyou could feel herself REALLY
despising the Tendo Girl. In the past, she woundn't have mind
how Akane was treating Ran-chan, since she throught that they
didn't get along anyway. But after seeing how whole-heartedly
Ran-chan had been protecting Akane from various threats for about
a year, she could tell that the Tendo girl DID hold a special
place in her love's heart. Ukyou could almost see how her
Ran-chan was drifting further and further away from her . . .
. . . and into the hands of the only girl who could afford
to treat him like dirt.
Ukyou spoke up crossly. "It still doesn't explain why
Ran-chan was apologizing though, does it?"
The tone of her voice was not lost on Akane. "Hey! Are you
saying that I do not work as hard as him in the Art?"
"That goes without saying, you-!" Ukyou stopped herself
before using any coarse language. She was always "the sensible,
supportive fiancee", thus couldn't affort to act barbaric toward
the "legitimate fiancee" if she was going to keep that status in
Ran-chan's heart. So instead, she forced down her anger and
tried to reason in a more or less civilized manner. "None of us,
not even Ryoga, worked as hard as Ran-chan on his martial arts.
Why do you think he can be the undisputed champion of our group
for so long?"
Akane was still inflamed with anger though. "OKAY! So
maybe you got a point. But couldn't he at least be more
sensitive toward my feelings about it?!"
Ukyou couldn't help but retort angrily this time. "How
about YOU being more sensitive toward HIS feelings? You know
damn well that he is careless in his manners, yet he still cared
so much about you it is almost irrational."
"What?!" Akane was startled.
"Remember how I teamed up with Shampoo to destroy that
wedding of yours? I thought I was doing him a favor, I really
did." Ukyou lowered her dark eyes, long lashes trembling as she
continued. "But then he berated me the next day at school,
saying that I was trying to ruin things. I asked him if it means
that it was . . . you . . . that he really wants, and he ran
away, as if pursued by a pack of CATS!!"
Akane simply stood there stunned.
Ukyou's dark eyes became teary with frustrated emotions. "I
cared about Ran-chan's happiness, more than you ever would or
could! If you turned out to be the one that he wants, which I
won't understand why , I. . . I might give up. . ."
Akane gapsed. "You?! Give Up?!"
"WELL, I'LL HAVE TO, WON'T I?!" Ukyou almost barked. "The
only reason that Ran-chan considers me as a friend is that I'm
about the only fiancee that he has who could somewhat sacrifrice
her own pride to tolerate the other ones, especially YOU! If I
make a scene after he has actually choose you by his own free
will, I will lose only only my love but also my best friend . . .
I will lose everything that had fuel me for ten torturous years
struggling on the road." She finished with a whisper.
Akane actually looked slightly sympathetic. "Ukyou . . ."
Ukyou turned to her, a thousand emotions flashing through
her face. "I'll always love him, Akane-chan. I'll always want
him for myself, having made him the centre of my life for ten
years. That's why I can warn you right now: If you want to keep
him, then you'd better shape up your act and start being a little
bit better to him. That way, at least Ran-chan will have more
reasons to stick by your side. You keep on treating him like
dirt, and you will squash whatever weird love that he feels for
you. Keep doing this, and I WILL successfully take him away from
you. Nobody can tolerate living under another's mercy forever."
"You're taking this too far. . ." Akane said weakly.
"If I am, it's because I love him." Ukyou stated firmly.
The two girls stared intensely at each other for a long
time. Then finally, Akane looked down and away.
"You won, Ukyou." Akane said, facing away and crutching her
fists.
"Akane-chan," Ukyou smoothened her features. "this is not
about who has the better claim on Ran-chan. This is about HIS
happiness, the thing that you should pay more attention to if you
love him. As long as you are like this, I won't give up my
pursue of Ranchan."
"Who said that I love. . ." Akane immediately stopped
herself from saying the habital lines and actually thought it
through. "I. . . I. . ."
Ukyou sighed, knowing that the two of them would have stayed
in the dojo for eternity if she was to wait for Akane's answer.
"Come on, let's went back to the house."
Akane sighed also. "Go ahead."
* * * * * * *