"WASURERARENAI"(Unforgettable)
An alternative reality fanfic written by Emily Siazon.
All characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
< > are thoughts
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Chapter 11
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     Shinnosuke walked toward the Tendos' with Akane, the events from
the night before a long forgotten memory. He was glad that Akane was 
cheerful once again, although the reason for the change in behavior 
eluded him.
 
     They were making their way towards the backyard when they noticed 
Kasumi hanging the day's laundry.

     With a wave, Akane and Shinnosuke made their way towards the
Tendo girl and were a bit surprised to find her hanging her laundry 
at a speed much faster than normal.
 
     "Speed training," Kasumi informed them before they could ask.

     "I see," Akane answered, even though she didn't. "Um, where's
Ranma?"

     "He's somewhere inside, but I'm afraid I've been outside all
day..."

     "That's all right. We'll wait for him out here," Akane answered,
looking up a bit worriedly at the storm clouds on the edge of the
horizon. She relaxed a few seconds later when she realized that it
wasn't going to rain until much later, meaning the cookies she had
baked for Ranma were in no danger of getting soaked.

     The two spent the next couple of minutes talking amiably with
Kasumi. Akane dominated most of the conversation as she told them of
the latest move Ranma had been trying to teach her. 

     Unknown to Akane, Shinnosuke had started to eat some of the food
during the conversation and was starting to feel quite sick. "Excuse 
me," Shinnosuke suddenly blurted out before running towards the 
lavatory.

     Getting over her surprise from the sudden outburst, Akane
followed him but went through the wrong door, ending up in the bath
instead.

     She was about to leave and go through the other door when she
noticed that the furo was occupied. Inside sat a naked Shampoo with
a nervous Ranma who was in a similar state of undress.

     Akane leaned against the door, too shocked to speak.

     "I can explain..." Ranma started to say, pushing a surprised 
Shampoo away from him and wrapping a towel around his waist as he 
got out of the bath.

     By the time he had managed to walk across the room, Akane had
gathered enough of her wits to snap out of her stupor. "You... You
pervert!" she yelled, slapping him hard on the face.

     Holding his stinging cheek, he tried to follow her as she ran out
of the room. "A-Akane..."

                     *        *        *

     Shinnosuke had just opened the door when he saw Akane run past.
"Hey, where are you going?"

     When she didn't answer him, he looked at the towel clad Ranma who
wasn't too far behind. The reason for her upset behavior suddenly 
became startlingly clear. "You bastard!" he growled, pushing Ranma 
away from the door.

     "What are you...?"

     "Don't you _ever_ go near her again," Shinnosuke interrupted,
glaring at the pig-tailed martial artist. "If you do, I swear I'll kill
you!"

                        *       *        *

     When Akane finally looked up from her short run around town, she
found herself standing on her favorite spot, the grassy river bank at
the edge of town.

     "The last place I wanted to be in," she muttered. The place no
longer had a calming effect. It had too many memories of the time she
had spent there with Ranma.

     "That jerk," she whispered, taking out the severed blue locks
from her pocket. It was the only thing she had left that made her
feel close to her family.

     She brought it closer to her, desperately needing the little
comfort it gave her while she turned her head look out at the azure
water, the color bringing forth a memory she now wanted to forget.

                       *       *       *

     "The color was almost as pretty as your hair," Ranma commented as
he glanced at her direction.

     "Stop lying!" Akane could feel her blood rushing to her face,
turning it the same shade of red as the leaves from the tree they were
sitting under

     She wasn't used to receiving compliments. It made her feel a bit
uncomfortable, although the feeling was in no way unpleasant.

     She playfully punched him in the arm, thinking that he really
didn't mean it, judging from the sly grin he had on his face.

     "It's true..."

                     *        *        *

     Akane's train of thought was broken by a rustling of nearby
branches. "Go away!"

     Unfortunately, Shampoo wasn't in any mood to comply with her
request.

     "You made husband sad. Shampoo here to make sure that no 
happen again."

     Akane backed away from the slowly advancing girl, her 
expression one of panic as she realized she was trapped.

     The last thing she saw was Shampoo's hands zooming towards her
head before she blacked out.

                       *        *        *

     <Akane, where are you?> It had started to rain sometime during
his search for her, but for once, Ranma Saotome was glad to feel the
cold November rain against her skin.

     She made no effort to wipe away her tears, knowing that the
downpour helped conceal her distress.

     It had been a while since somebody had spotted Akane, and she was
worried that something horrible might have happened to her.

     <I wish you gave me a chance to explain,> Ranma-chan thought as
she looked into the school yard, in hopes of finding Akane there. She
let out a small growl of frustration when she saw that it was empty.

     With a sigh, she walked away and headed to the last place she
could think of that the blue haired girl would go to. <Akane, I hope
you're all right.>

                      *        *        *

     Shampoo let out the a disgusted snort. The weakling in front of 
her hadn't put up much of a struggle.

     She almost felt guilty for what she had done, but knew that it
was necessary to make her husband happy.

     Her mind was so preoccupied on how grateful Ranma would be, 
that she ran out of the clearing, her weapons from her fight, 
forgotten.

                      *        *        *

     Feeling something light settling on her face, Akane decided it
was time to open her eyes and wake up. She was a bit surprised to 
find that it was a red leaf. Now, what was it doing in her... room?

     She blinked a couple of times, and rubbed her eyes to make sure
she was awake. She was lying next to the river, fortunately not too
wet from the rain due to the big oak tree beside her.

     "There you are," a relieved sounding female voice yelled out,
getting Akane's attention before she had time to wonder why she had
slept outside.

     Akane sat up and found herself face to face with a concerned
looking redhead.

     "I want you to know that Shampoo sneaked up on me..."
Ranma-chan babbled, helping the other girl get up.

     "T-Thank you."

     "So you see, it really wasn't my... Huh?"

     "I said, thanks."

     "But, but you, I thought..."

     Akane couldn't help but laugh as the shorter girl continued to
mutter incoherently. Regaining her composure after a lot of effort,
she held out her hand. "I'm Akane. Want to be friends?"

     "Akane, stop joking around," Ranma-chan said, laughing. She was
relieved to see that her friend had decided to forget the whole
incident.

     "How do you know my name?"

     Ranma-chan's smile ceased when she saw the genuine look of
puzzlement on the blue haired girl. "Akane, don't you remember me?"

                      *        *        *

     Ryoga Hibiki looked up from the flower stand where he was buying
flowers for Akane. He sighed in relief when he noticed that the rain
was finally starting to ease up. He certainly couldn't confess his
feelings in pig form.

     He decided after their talk during her birthday party that it was
time to confess to Akane how he felt about her. He would have done it
yesterday, but he had lost his nerve.

     But today would be different. He would tell her how he felt even
if it took all day.


                        *        *        *

     Ranma-chan was out of breath as she reached the clinic, Akane
nestled safely in her arms.

     Of course, if anyone had bothered to ask Akane, her opinion of
the situation would have vastly differed.

     "Let me go," she howled, confused and more than a little annoyed
that this strange girl had picked her up and told her she needed to
get her head examined.

     Akane thought it was pretty obvious that one of them needed that
examination, though it certainly wasn't her.

     Ranma-chan just ignored her and went straight to Dr. Tofu,
quickly informing him on the situation.

     "How are you feeling, Akane?" the young doctor asked while he
ran his hand over her head to check for suspicious bumps.

     "I'm fine, Dr. Tofu."

     He and Ranma-chan looked surprised after hearing this.

     "I thought you said she had amnesia?" Dr. Tofu asked the shorter
girl.

     "She does! Listen." She turned around to face Akane who was
frowning at her. "Akane, who am I?"

     "How should I know."

     "I'm Ranma. We're friends, remember?"

     <Ranma? Why does that sound familiar?> Akane's face lit up as she
finally remembered. "I know! You're disagreeable and nasty!"

     "Hey! You have no right to insult..."

     "Akane," Dr. Tofu interrupted, "that's 'rancid'."

     <She's... She's only forgotten about me,> Ranma-chan thought,
sinking down to the ground in despair.

     "I'm sorry, Ranma. I don't have enough clues to tell what could
be causing her memory loss."

     "Maybe this would help," Akane volunteered, taking out an empty
bottle of formula #411. She was still a bit confused why they thought
something was wrong with her, but if Dr. Tofu was worried...

     "Where did you get that?"

     "It was near me when I woke up. Is it important?"

     "Very. Now I'll be able to cure you in a couple of weeks."

     "Why are you going to wait so long?" Ranma-chan inquired, her
face etched with worry.

     "I'm afraid I don't have the antidote for this. I'm going to have
to order formula #911 from a drugstore in China."

     "But that's going to take forever!"

     "There's nothing more I can do."

     "Then I'm going to China and get that antidote myself. I'll do
anything to make Akane remember me."

                      *        *        *

      Akane sighed as she made her way home. She got tired of
listening to the two talk about finding a cure for her so she decided
to leave. They probably didn't even notice she was gone.

      She rounded a corner and bumped into someone, sending her flying
a couple of feet from the impact. The incident gave her a feeling of
deja vu, though she couldn't think of a reason why it should.

     She was about to stand up when she noticed a hand reaching for
hers to help her. With a grateful smile, she accepted the offer.
"Shinnosuke, what are you doing out here?"

                      *        *        *

     Ranma-chan was making her way home when she bumped into the lost
boy. She quickly got into a defensive stance, eyeing her adversary
warily. "Look, Ryoga, I don't have time to fight right now."

     "What makes you think I came all the way here just to see you?"

     "Well, what other reason do you have?" she asked arrogantly.
"Your whole life revolves around killing me."

     Ryoga just glared at her, his mind on more important things. <I
wonder if Akane is nearby,> he mused, nervously glancing at the
flowers in his hand to make sure it hadn't wilted since he had last
checked it 2 minutes and four seconds ago.

     Not getting the retort she was expecting, Ranma-chan let her
guard down. "Are you sick or somethin'?"

     Ryoga tightened his hold on the flowers until his knuckles 
turned white. <I'm not going to fight him. I can't afford to be 
distracted. Not today.>

     "Or maybe you've finally realized that I'm a better martial
artist than you are and you have no chance of defeating..."
Ranma-chan's voice trailed off, although it wasn't because Ryoga had
finally lost his temper and slugged her in the gut. No, the reason
was much, much worse.

      In front of the dojo stood Akane, with Shinnosuke in her arms.

      Ranma-chan let out a strangled cry before heading towards the
opposite direction. She ran as fast as she could, not wanting to see
the cozy scene any longer. <If Akane could remember... she wouldn't
have done that, would she?>

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AUTHORS NOTES: Wow, finally done with this part. It would have been
done sooner if my computer didn't act up *grumble*
I'd like to thank Scott for helping me edit this. He's the main reason 
I'm writing this. It gives me an excuse to constantly harass him to 
write Orange Marmalade faster ^_^
All comments and criticisms welcome. From, "It's just like my personal
psychic said, your fic has changed my life!" to, "I hate your fic so 
much, that I print it out just so I can use it as toilet paper!"O_o