On Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:58:06 -0400, you wrote:
THE TENDO DOJO
8:30 A.M.
"Ah, Ranma....Akane....Please take a seat."
Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo walked into the Tendo gym
and both sat down in front of their respective parent. Ranma had a
bored expression on his face as he stared up at the ceiling, while Akane
looked at the floor, her face expressionless.
"I wonder what Pop's got planned for us now? Another date?
Man, they just don't know when to quit...." Ranma thought to himself
as he glanced at his *fiancee* and noticed she was avoiding eye contact
with him. "She can't even stand to be in the same room with me...."
Akane, not surprisingly, was thinking among similar lines. "I
wish Dad and Mr. Saotome would just give it a rest and stop trying to
fix us up...." She gave a quick look over at Ranma and frowned when
she noticed how bored he was. "Look at that jerk, he looks like he's
going to fall asleep at any moment...."
Soun finally broke the silence. "We've called you both in here to tell
you something very important. Saotome and I have come to a
decision about your engagement...."
"Without us...." Ranma interrupted sarcastically.
Genma glared at him. "Be quiet, boy and let Tendo finish."
"Why should we?" Akane suddenly stood up, anger crossing
over her features. "You never let us have any say in the matter so why
should we let you? Come on Ranma, let's get out of here."
Ranma nodded his agreement and was about to stand up when
Soun replied gently. "Please....just hear us out. What we have to say
is very important and I think you'll both want to hear it."
Akane hesitated and then sat back down, deciding to give her
father a chance. Ranma also seemed reluctant to stay but he figured he
might as well find out what his old man had planned for him.
Soun smiled as they both sat back down. "Thank you for
staying. Now, as I was saying, Saotome and I have both come to a
decision regarding your engagement...."
Genma piped in. "We know the both of you have been fighting
constantly over this and that you clearly don't want to be forced into
marriage against your will...."
"You got that straight." Ranma agreed wholeheartedly, earning
a glare from Akane.
"Oh yeah, like I want to spend the rest of my life with a
PERVERT!" she shot back.
"Uncute!"
"Jerk!"
"Tomboy!"
"Cross-dresser!"
"Sexless!"
Soun and Genma bigsweated as they watched their children
continue to hurl insult after insult at each other. Then Genma decided
enough was enough as he shouted. "If you two would stop yelling at
each other for a moment, you'd know that Tendo and I have decided to
cancel the engagement!"
Ranma and Akane both froze. Solid. Soun took advantage of
the moment by adding. "Saotome and I have decided that we can't
force you to love each other and that we're only hurting you both by
engaging you against your will. So as of now, you two are no longer
engaged and won't ever have to worry about us interfering in your lives
again."
Ranma and Akane were in a deep state of shock. Then they
looked at each other and then at their parents. "
"You....You're really serious?" Ranma stammered.
"You're leaving it up to us?" Akane asked, disbelief crossing
her features.
Soun and Genma both nodded. "We apologize for all the
trouble we've caused." Genma said, sincerely. "We wanted our dojos
to be united so badly, we didn't consider how you might feel about
it...."
Ranma frowned as a thought struck him. "Is there something
you're not telling me, Pop? Maybe another FIANCEE you failed to
mention...."
Genma laughed. "Not this time, m'boy. Tendo and I have
grown a little wiser over the past year, that's all."
Ranma's skeptical look told him he wasn't buying it. "I don't
blame you for being suspicious of your father, Ranma. Genma's certainly
sprung some....interesting surprises on us over the past year." Soun
remarked as Genma nervously chuckled. "But I assure both of you that
there's no ulterior motive behind this. We only want what's best for
you and not what's best for us."
Ranma still had trouble believing him as he looked over at
Akane, who's mind was in a turmoil as the full impact of her father's
decision struck home....
* * *
"So, how do you feel about all this, Ranma?"
Akane and Ranma sat next to each other on the porch outside,
both of them still in a relative state of shock over their parent's
announcement. Without looking up, Ranma replied "I don't know....part
of me still thinks this is all some scheme to get us together again...."
Akane stared at the koi pond. "Could be....but what if their really
serious about this?" she wondered aloud.
Ranma shrugged. "Then I guess we're not engaged anymore."
Akane looked over at Ranma, dismayed by his seemingly
casual attitude towards a subject that was very important to her.
"Hmph! I guess you're all happy now, huh?" she muttered. "Now
you can be even more of a pervert!"
Ranma sighed. "You really think that much of me, Akane?"
Akane faltered, surprised by this answer. "W...What do you
mean?"
"I mean....don't you think if all I wanted to do was sleep around with
other girls, I would have done it by now?" Ranma replied, staring off
into the distance.
"W....Well...." Akane faltered. "Your father made you
promise...."
"No, Akane. *I* didn't promise a thing. I didn't promise to
marry anyone or be engaged to anybody. *He* did all that." Ranma
replied.
"But your family honor...." Akane pointed out.
"Family honor? Tell that to my old man. He's sold me for
food, engaged me for food, made a promise for me to commit seppuku
if I didn't become a man among men....THAT kind of family honor I
can do without, thank you very much."
Akane fell silent as she realized he had a point. "Okay, but the
question is now that we're no longer being forced into marriage, are you
going to keep your engagements with Shampoo or Ukyou?"
Ranma paused a moment before he answered. "I don't know."
Akane clenched her fists. "What do you mean by that?!?"
"I mean that I honestly don't know. Up till now, I never really
had a chance to think about it. Now, that I'm not being forced into
anything, I'd like the time to consider my options."
"Meaning you might want to marry Ukyou or Shampoo?"
Akane replied, her tone slightly sarcastic.
"I might."
Akane felt herself growing furious. "Well, then don't let ME
stop you!" she fairly snarled as she crossed her arms and looked away
>from him....
Only to have Ranma turn her around to face him directly.
"Akane, do you want to marry me?"
Akane felt the anger drain out of her as she found herself
looking into his eyes. "W....What are you doing....?" she managed to
say.
Ranma grabbed her shoulders firmly. "Do you?" he asked.
Akane felt herself shaking with indecision as Ranma continued
to stare into her eyes. Could she spend the rest of her life with
Ranma? Granted he could be really nice to her when he tried and they
HAD been through a lot. But they also still fought a great deal and
there were times that Ranma REALLY got on her nerves and seemed to
either not notice or not care. Confronted with these thoughts, Akane
was unable to find the words that she had thought she wanted to say for
a long time.
"I....I....I'm not....I mean....I....I...." Akane babbled before she
finally blurted out. "I'm not sure!" she finished, then added, rather
lamely. "....yet."
"Neither am I...." Ranma replied softly as he released her
shoulders. "That's why I want time to find out if I feel anything else
for Shampoo, Ukyou...."
"Kodachi?" Akane added hastily.
Ranma shuddered violently. "I think you know my feelings
about her....But, yeah....I want time to live my life and find out if
what we have...."
"What DO we have, Ranma?" Akane asked.
It was Ranma's turn to be flustered. "Well, I mean....A lot's
happened to us over the past year....Sometimes when you've spent enough
time with someone, you sort of....well....get to know them? You know?"
Akane smiled faintly. "I think I know what you mean."
"Besides....there are other guys....guys that you might
find....well...." Ranma hesitated. "....more to your liking."
"Like who? Kunou-Sempai?" Akane retorted sarcastically.
"Well, there's always....Ryouga." Ranma suggested.
"Ryouga?!?" Akane exclaimed. Then she thought about it for
a minute. "Hmmm....Hibiki Akane....Has a nice ring to it...."
Ranma felt a wave of anger wash over him as he shouted.
"Hey, I might be wrong! He....He could be completely wrong for...."
Ranma ceased his protests as he realized he was being baited.
"I was just teasing you Ranma....thought I suppose if you're
going to explore your relationship with your fiancees, I should do the
same sort of thing...."
"Uh....right. That's only fair." Ranma agreed, a little too
quickly.
They were both silent for a long moment. Then Ranma stood
up and offered his hand to Akane. "You want to go spar in the dojo with
me for a while?"
Akane smiled as she shook her head. "And give you a chance to
show off again? Thanks, but I think I'll pass this time."
"Hey, your loss." Ranma replied as he walked back into the
house. Akane remained on the porch, thinking of what the future would
bring....
Akane spoked up, right before Ranma disappeared around the corner of the
house "Ranma"
"Yeah?" he replied, turning around to face her, a glimmer in his eyes
she had never seen. He looked rather content, like he was glad the engagment had
been cancelled.
"Do you...like the thought of no longer being...engaged?" she finally
asked. Her heart felt fluttery as she asked that. She
Ranma seemed thoughtful for a moment "Does it matter?"
"It matters to me" Akane wanted to say, unable to bring those words out
for they diedbefore they left her lips. It took her a short moment before she
could speak "Well....I-I was just wondering. That's all"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders "You shure you don't wanna spar?"
Akane nodded "No thank you"
She watched as he walked around the corner off the house, disappearing
from her gaze.
At that moment in time, Akane had never felt so along than she did now.
"Ranma" she said silently, wiping a tear from her eyes.
-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong: jeffwong@li.net
http://www.rit.edu/~jkw7063/fanfic/index.htm
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
The latter site has been updated on Sept 22nd.