Subject: [FFML] [Ranma] Crucifix- part 1
From: "Akane Miata" <akane_miata@tendodojo.com>
Date: 1/22/2000, 1:22 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

*sigh* Sorry if the format is terrible, but I have no choice as to how my fic is wrapped (I just moved houses, and a new internet service, so temporarily, the only e-mail I have is an in-browser thing, which gives you no options like that.)If it's really that bad, then maybe I'll just post it at RAAC, and you can read it there, ok?  Sorry...  Anyway, for the last time, this is NOT a crossover between Ranma-Freddie.  I just stole that 

song ^^  Anyways, just check it out, ok? 





Crucifix

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic

by Akane Miata

Part 1

	

	

	Akane shivered lightly from the cold, as she got ready for bed.  She stretched out her sore muscles, which were complaining painfully on how much she'd overused them training earlier. She looked over at the clock

that sat on her desk: 11:13  *Good thing it's not a school night...* She thought to herself, while getting out her new pajamas.

	Yesterday after school, she and Nabiki had gone shopping for new clothes.  It was already nearing summer, and Akane was sick and tired of her old ratty and warm 

pj's. Picking out an exceptionally adorable set

of a tank top that was colored a soft pink with a black piglet in the middle, with a matching pair of black satin girl's boxers with a pink piglet on the hem.  She slipped said outfit on quickly, even though tonight was cooler than most.  Walking over to the full-length mirror,

she smiled slightly at the reflection.  *Ain't half-bad..* Turning back

towards her bed, she was about to slide in under the covers when a thought crossed her mind.

	*I'm home alone... not that I'm scared or anything, but maybe I'll lock

my door anyway..*  Dad and Uncle Saotome had gone out to a bar again,

saying they had 'planning' to do.  *There will be pain if I find out

that their 'planning' had to do with me getting wed to Ranma...*  Akane

thought, a slight bitterness adorning her soft face.  She reached her

hand down, and gently pushed the button on the doorknob, causing it to

lock, and make a light 'click' sound as it did.  Feeling much more

secure, she walked over to her window to make sure it too was locked.

	*I wonder how Nabiki is doing?* A slight smirk appeared on Akane's

face, replacing the anger.  Nabiki had left on a cruise with Kuno

earlier, and wouldn't be back until the day after tomorrow.  That was

one of the reasons they had gone shopping in the first place: to buy

Nabiki some new bathing suits to 'impress Kuno-baby' as Nabiki casually

put it.  *What the heck does she see in him?*

	Flipping the latch that locked her window, she pulled the curtains

closed and turned back to her bed.  *I guess I'm not that tired

yet...maybe I'll read..*  Akane blinked as she saw a book sitting on her

desk, that didn't belong to her. On closer inspection, she noted it was

a medical book.  *Oh shoot!  I never returned this to Dr. Tofu...*

Kasumi had asked her to take it back to his clinic for her, but she'd

never had time.

	Now, Kasumi and Tofu were out on their first official date.  How this

had gotten arranged without Dr.Tofu passing out was beyond her... Akane

felt a pang of jealousy at the thought of them together.  Mostly she had

gotten over it, but, well..first love dies hard.  But still, now she had

more important things to think about...  A smile made its way to her

face.  The last time she'd shown any remnants of her old feelings about

Dr.Tofu in front of Ranma... she'd seen the look he had on his face, the

one he'd thought no one saw.. Akane felt a strange sort of happiness at

seeing it... The feelings of jealousy she had right now were nothing

compared to what she felt when Ranma hung on to his other fiances..or

rather, they hung on him.  No, what she felt right now was hollow...more

of an echo of the emotion she had had for the doctor.  What she felt for

Ranma, however, was- *Not that I like that jerk, of course.*  She shook

her head, angry at the general direction her thoughts had been headed.

She closed her eyes, and ran a frustrated hand through her hair, which

still smelled strongly of sakura from when she'd taken a bath, earlier.

She and Ranma had some -serious- talking to do.  *Not tonight, though*

she thought, glancing at the clock again.  Ranma had gone out to a late

Jackie Chan movie with Hiroshi and Daisuke, and wouldn't be back for

another hour, or so.

	So, all-in-all, that left Akane as the only occupant of the Tendo

house, for the moment. *Great...I'm the only person in this whole house

that didn't have something to do tonight..not only that, but it's

Saturday night!!*  Not that she hadn't gotten an offer... She'd gotten

two, in fact.  Her first offer had been from Sayuri and Yuka.  Her

friends had wanted to go to a dance club, but Akane really hadn't felt

up to it.  Also, she was very aware that she and Ranma would be the main

topic of the conversation through a good portion of the night, so that

option was out.  	

	The second one had come from a most unlikely source. When Shampoo

and Ukyou came bouncing over, looking to see if Ranma wanted to do

something, he had turned them down, and ran out of the house to take 

'Rosh and Dai' up on their invitation, before either fianc� had time to react.

	Although they would have been quick to follow, rain always did have

uncanny timing in Nerima, as it started to pour down in thick sheets.

Even though that usually wouldn't have slowed them down too much, Ukyou

tripped over Shampoo-turned-cat, and while Ukyou fell, she managed to

both squish Shampoo and scrape her knee.  Kasumi took them both in, and

fixed them up.  After they were cozily sipping tea, and looking quite

glum, they'd asked her if she wanted to hang out for a while.  Although

Akane had been tempted, she'd turned them down, too, since she knew

they'd end up fighting, and fighting two pissed off Ranma suitors wasn't

her idea of a good time...

	And so, here she was, Saturday night, already ready for bed, at only

11:35. Akane sighed, not really wanting to go to sleep so early.

Sitting down at her desk, she pulled out her dairy, hoping that writing

down her thoughts would help.  After staring at the blank page for a

good 15 minutes, she slammed it shut and threw it to her desk in

frustration.  *Argh!! I didn't *DO* anything today!! Nothing to write

about!!* She had written about her feelings on Ranma and Dr.Tofu enough

times, and nothing else seemed interesting enough to write about.  She

placed her chin gingerly into her open palm, with her elbow on the desk. 

Although the small movement caused her muscles to protest slightly, they

calmed down, and the light pain subsided. Looking towards the clock

again, she absently noted the time.  11:53.  A slight shiver ran through her,

causing her to turn towards her bed.  The warm-looking covers were seeming

awfully inviting to the chill in the air.

	Reaching over to turn on her desk lamp, she winced for second as the

room was brightened slightly.  Once that was done, Akane hopped off her

chair and ran over to her door.  She flipped the overhead light's switch

off, and the room's harsh brightness was replaced with a warm glow,

emanating from her little lamp.  Checking one more time to make sure her

door was locked, she slipped under her covers, and grabbed her book.

	She looked over once more to her small clock.  The dainty face showed

11:57.  Another shiver ran through her body, stronger than the last one.

She raised an eyebrow as she noticed the room seemed to be getting

strangely cooler.  *Just my imagination...* Ignoring it, she tried to

lose herself in the book.  She succeed for about a minute or two.  That

was when she heard it...

	*What was that?* It had sounded like a faint scratching sound... Not

being able to help herself, she looked back to her clock.  It was

exactly midnight.  *Lovely*  She thought bitterly.  *I'm freaking myself

out...* Forcing herself to look back to her book, she tried to read some

more, but the words were falling on blind eyes.

	*There it was again!!* She thought, hearing the scratching noise once

more.  *Akane, you dork.  It's just a raccoon or something!* The

rational part of her mind screamed.

	*Then why is it coming from inside the house?* She heard the scared

part of her softly whisper...

	*Shut up!!*  Akane tried to distract herself by once more turning

to her novel.  Only reading a sentence or two, she looked back to her

clock.  12:00. "This has got to be the longest frickin' minute ever.."

She growled under her breath.  Akane nearly jumped out of her skin when

she heard the sound again.  *What the HELL is that??*  She thought,

trying to deny that she was shaking with fear.  *Okay girl...chill out!!

It's just a RAT or something!!*

	As the scratching noise continued, she heard the small part of her mind

whisper, *Why does that sound like metal, then, Akane? Hmm?*

	Taking in a shuddering breath, she slowly got out of bed.  *Okay, I

guess I'll just find out MYSELF what it is... Maybe it's just Ranma..or,

at worst some burglar.  I can handle a burglar.*  Although she had a

sinking feeling that whatever was making the noise wasn't either of

those two, she got up and walked over to her bokken.  	Picking it up,

she slowly made her way over to her door.  She started wondering how she

was gonna work up the courage to unlock and open the door, when the

noise nearly made her squeak in fright, as it picked up volume.

	*It's coming closer...*

	Then, as suddenly as it came, it stopped.  It was as though a deathly

silence had settled over the entire dojo.  Terrified, but still curious

as to what the sound was, she tip-toed over to her door.  Akane stood

there, frozen in fear.  *Wha-?  I...I locked this, didn't I?*  She

looked down to her door, which, to her horror, was quite unlocked.

Reaching a shaking hand down, she quickly locked the door.  Backing

away, Akane decided that it would be best if she just stayed in her room

until Ranma came back. She looked back over to her clock.  She tried

to calm her rapid breathing when she'd seen what time it was: 12:00...

	*The thing is just broken...*  She thought, angry at herself for

getting worked up over silly things... Walking over to her clock, she

bent down to get a closer look.  She faltered in her step when she

noticed the second hand still moving, but the minute hand stayed in

place.  Yanking the cord out of the wall, she expected the clock to

stop.  That's what happens when an electrical device is no longer

supplied with power: It stops.  *Ok..then why the hell is the thing

still moving??*  Her mind screamed.  Shaking her head, trying to rid it

of scary thoughts, she decided it was being powered by batteries, or

something.

	Leaving her clock, she turned back towards her door.  "I'm only scaring

myself," she said out loud, wanting to hear more than the ticking of the

clock, which alone didn't seem to penetrate the silence.  Akane felt

herself paling at the sight of the door.  A song suddenly came into her

mind...(1..2)  Her grip on the bokken was starting to turn her knuckles

white...(Somethin's coming for you...) Her hand, almost violently

shaking, (3..4) reached out to her unlocked door, (Better lock the

door..) and quickly locked it..(5..6)  Running over to jewelry box, she

desperately dug through it, looking for something she wasn't even sure

she still had..(Get your Crucifix...) The song, still running through

her head, was a song her mother had taught her long ago...(7..8)  Why

she'd done it, Akane had never known.  (Gonna stay up late..)  But Akane

had a feeling that she was about to find out, as she pulled out a small

chain necklace from within the jewelry box, given to her by her mother,

before her death...(9..10) Akane saw through the lies that had been told

to her, long ago.. She knew that her mother hadn't died from a

sickness...(Never sleep again..)  Slowly, almost as though she was

accepting her fate, Akane reached behind her neck, and locked the clasp,

then she released the necklace from her hold, and let the small silver

crucifix dangle from her neck.  That done, she turned back to her unlocked door...

*********

I have the next part written, but in a sense this is still a teaser, just a bit more intense.  I think I'm gonna go and try sending Crucifix to RAAC now..the teaser is already up at tass, but I haven't gotten around to sending them the entire first chapter.  Anyways, tell me what you think, whether public or private!  Thanks!

Akane Miata



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