The following contains scenes of semi-waff. Viewer stomach antacids advised.
Second section (conclusion) to follow.
++++++++++++++++++++++
The dojo was empty and unused, and had been so the entire day; it's normal
occupants were in other stages of their so-called life. The one who cleaned
the place of practice was out for errands and shopping for the house. The
one who financed its constant repair was with her few and far in between
friends. The main martial artists most responsible for its constant balance
of disrepair were in the most awkward of places, at least for them. The
female was taking a nap; considerably odd, but suspected for such an active
girl. The male was in his room, but the circumstances of why he was in his
room were the cause of such an alarming change in the program.
Ranma Saotome was deep in thought, doing his best to figure a path to solve
his problems. So much had happened in the recent months; enough to merit his
present state of mind and body. It was a blur if he attempted to recall too
much at once, but it came to him in crystal clarity if he slowed each rushed
jumbled event to its rightful order. The attempted wedding, another
kidnapping, an enemy who seemingly couldn't die; they were all equally
painful to remember, but his relief came with the one variable that was the
same with all of them.
Akane Tendo had survived.
Of course there were times when it seemed all but lost for the two, both
mentally and physically, but he had risked everything to preserve what they
had, if it was anything at all. That was indeed the oddest thing of all: he
was able to admit, more to himself than anyone else that he did care about
the tomboy too much not for it to be called love. She was violent,
graceless, strong as an ox, stubborn as a mule, couldn't cook to save
anything, and had a fuse that was just short of burning at the speed of
light, but he still cared; why else would he have stuck around this long?
[Because I wasn't gonna run like Pop would,] he thought bitterly. That was
the second factor in this. Even with the group's trip forth and back, the
Saotome patriarch had not even slowed in his plans to have the two wed. Only
Nodoka's sudden intervention had eventually stopped the old man's plans all
together. Seeing as she still held him accountable to the contract of sepuku
if Ranma didn't turn out in the end like she would consider well, he had
more than happily backed off and allowed his son some space.
So now here he was, attempting to figure out his next move. Were it any
other matter of his life, he would have taken action long ago. Experience in
these situations however, was the best mentor to teach him that patience and
a little tact was the key to winning these battles. It wouldn't do to just
rush in and state something foolishly and not thought through; that had
never worked before, and he was more than confident that success of that
treasured method would be impossible now. So what could he do? It was Akane,
so any mild thing he did might leave her not to be inclined to believe him,
a path not unfamiliar to the pigtail martial artist.
He was sure however that he had just stumbled on the key to getting her to
belay her usual reactions. If he could show her something of trust,
something that showed her that he was trusting her with one of his few
special possessions, his heart, then maybe she would see. Hey, what could he
have to lose besides the girl he cared for, and very likely a reason to
continue?
Now the main problem was what to show her. It wasn't like he had Excalibur
or treasures from the unknown to give her. There was always the family
blade, but if they were to marry, she would no doubt receive it anyway. So
what could he give her that would…
Of course! It was the one thing he had that meant the most to him, and it
was indeed the best way to show that he cared for her! Immediately Ranma
went for his backpack and searched through it for the one thing that to him
was the equivalent of if not a wedding ring, then a confession of the
deepest love and trust.
Happy with his decision, and confidant of its outcome, Ranma went to his
backpack to find the item that would one way or another, change his life.
*****************************
It was such a wonderful dream. She wished it never to end, that her life be
replaced by such a beautiful, wonderful dream. It was indeed a peaceful
moment; not a rival in sight. There was no one to bother them, no surprise
weather to ruin the effect, no butting in from relatives that had no real
business in the matter. It was just Akane and Ranma, out for a pleasant
night on the town. It started with dinner, which she cooked. Every bite of
it was nothing short of delicious, and he savored every flavor, chewing
slowly before letting it go down his throat. He then began to pick at her,
but playfully; snatching some fish from her plate, then when she huffed up,
putting it to her lips. Confused at first, she looked at him, but found
nothing but happiness in his stormy eyes. Afterward, he thanked her for such
a great meal.
Then he took her to a movie, actually making pleasant small talk on the way
without saying something too upsetting. The movie wasn't extreme in action
or romance, but good for both nonetheless. Then it was a night club where
he taught her the one dance he did know. Though scared at first, she quickly
got to enjoy swing dancing. They spent the rest of the time laughing as they
both tried to learn other dances to the music, which was constantly
switching tempos.
Afterward, it was a walk in the park, basking in the crisp, night air. They
sat for a moment on a bench watching the park fountain, damaged from so many
fights that Nerima was common for, and talking about the past, present, and
future. They sometimes hit something rather painful, but instead of allowing
it to degrade into a shouting match, they talked it out, and came to some
sort of compromise on what they should do about it.
Akane never wanted it to end. To her, it was completely perfect, and
couldn't get any better. All that was actually left was the good night kiss
that she actually wanted to give him. She leaned her head in, scared, but
excited at the same time.
Before their lips met, he paused, whispering her name briefly before her
dream faded back into the unforgiving reality that saw to end the enjoyment
she was having.
"Akane?"
No. That's not what was going on. He was actually calling her. She opened
her eyes, letting the dream drift back into her subconscious, and gazed
around her room. Her room had a reddish hue about it, caused by the setting
sun. What she finally focused on was what immediately killed her pleasant,
sleepy mood and erected in its place something of annoyed posture bordering
on anger. He had the immeasurable gall to step in on her while she was
sleep? The baka was going to die.
Wait, let him give his pitiful reasons, then make him another atmospheric
condition.
*****************************
"I'm sorry to wake you, but I needed to talk to you."
That worked as an opening cushion to the anger welling within her. Ranma
mentally patted himself on the back for starting the most difficult thing he
could do with Akane: talk to her without serious physical reprocusions.
"This had better be good Ranma. I was having a nice dream."
She yawned, and he took a moment to look at her with curiousity about what
she was dreaming about before going back to the task at hand. He said a
prayer, and began his conversation.
"Akane, I know we been around each other for about a year, and there's a
lot we've both said and done that were good and bad."
She arched an eyebrow as he continued. "This is about the longest I've
stayed around anything in a while, and you and the rest of the Tendo's have
been real good to us, even with all of our freeloading. There's been a whole
lot of things that could have gone better than they did, and I really
haven't seen this much of... well... I've never seen people this active
toward me or pop at all. It's weird, but kinda good at the same time."
She sat up fully, Indian style, propping an elbow on her knee, and putting
her face in her hand. "Get to the point Ranma."
"Well," Ranma struggled with his mind to find the right words. He had it a
little while ago, why couldn't he do it now? What was so hard about telling
the tomboy that he l... lo...
Akane began to fidget at the sudden wrinkling of Ranma's face. He was
thinking, something not very common to him. That meant there was something
going on, which only served to increase the sudden butterfly activity in her
stomach. What was bothering him so much that he was willing not only to put
himself in way of a probable assault, but take his time thinking about what
he was going to say before saying it?
"Bein' here has also made me see how much everything in my life is
changing, and how much has changed since I met you."
She nodded nervously, beckoning him to continue. "I mean, I've never even
thought there was someone who could try as hard as I did on things that were
out of my reach, even if you screwed it up most of the time."
Akane's eyes narrowed dangerously. He was treading fragile ground, and was
about to be put through it with a mallet if he wasn't careful. So much for
not putting a foot in his mouth.
"You can't cook, but you keep trying , hoping that it gets better. It does
get real hard to stomach, but I still have to admire the fact that you don't
give up on it, no matter how many hospitals I wind up in."
He looked at her carefully, trying to read her changing face. He was pretty
certain that she was either planning to thank him for the wayward comment,
or kill him for the wayward insult. It wasn't intentional, it was just he
had no other way to approach it.
"The problems around here have been unbelievable, especially with the
rivals and fiancees, but you still put up with it, and plan for the future,
like that acting class in a few months."
Akane was immediately taken aback. "How did you know about that?"
He shrugged. "You told me a week ago, right before you hit me when you
thought I wasn't listening." He watched her tense a little, then continued
his building talk. "I'm not really sure how you're feelin' about all of
this, and I'm really not even gonna attempt to figure it out at the moment.
What I do know," He swallowed. It was now or never, and this was a challenge
he could not afford to walk away from, nor was he going to quit now. "That
I've gotten used to having that around. It's rough, but then you smile, or
do something that just seems to say that you're going to make it better
somehow.
"I don't know how, especially considering exactly how aggravating you can
be, but I can't really picture my life without you there in any way…"
Akane's heart skipped a beat, and fought to regain rhythm. What was with
him? Why was he saying this? She searched for an answer in his stormy eyes,
only to find anxiety and uncertainty.
"Aw, that ain't workin'!" Ranma shook his head in frustration. "It just
doesn't sound real like that, so I'm just gonna' say it."
Fear found its way to the pit of the Tendo girl's stomach. He couldn't be
admitting it to her, could he? "Ranma?"
"I... I care for you a lot Akane. I want us to be together."
He could tell he had finally hit jackpot by the light shining in Akane's
eyes. It was real hard to imagine that being a possible negative expression,
so he took it as his time to finally relax from the pressure lifted from his
mind.
"You mean it Ranma?"
He smiled. "Yeah, I do. I also wanted to give you a gift to show you how I
felt."
"What is it?"
Ranma took another breath. He won. She accepted him and that was all that
mattered. "I want you to have My Child."
His gut instinct immediately went off, which troubled him. Was someone
coming to attack him?
Attack they did. The first blow was from his heart, at seeing her face pale
and break. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes, breaking his
heart completely. The third blow was from the slap from the arm that he
never notice move in the first place.
He stood there as she glared at him, shock losing hold to a completely
foreign feeling: fear. She was going to reject him, after all they had been
through, and he did not know if he could survive such a heartless verdict.
"You want me to..." She began to shake violently, both from anger and from
sadness. "You just want me for that? To just force yourself on me like
that?" A dark blue aura outlined her shaking body, bathing the room in
another glow, as well as dropping the room temperature. "I should have
known."
"Wait, what's wrong Akane? What did I say wrong?" He would have backed away
when she rose from her spot on the bed, but his legs were not receiving any
signals to do so; his mind was too busy trying to figure out what he had
said to get such a violent, cold reaction.
"Go Ranma. I can't even look at you right now, and I really don't want to
ever look at you again." He started to say something, but was cut off by her
harsh glare. "You couldn't be any different. You actually looked like you
were genuine, but you just another boy."
"Akane please, what did I do?"
"Get out," She whispered between gritted teeth. "GET OUT NOW! Leave me
alone from now on Saotome! I don't ever want to see you again."
He left, not uttering one more sound as he shuffled out of the room.
Akane glanced only briefly at the entrance that was now closed, then broke
down into further tears; mourning the man that had actually faded with her
dream.
*****************************
Ryouga sat underneath Akane's desk, not completely sure of himself. He knew
from the feel of it, as well as the scene that had played out before him
that this was indeed Akane's room. He was completely confused as to handle
this new turn of events in his hellish existence. Akane had once more
renounced Ranma, and justly so to. How dare that coward ask something as low
as to parent his wicked seed? And then simply act as if he was ignorant of
what he had done? She had more than done the right thing in making him
leave, hopefully from her life altogether.
What was confusing him was her reaction, which she was still displaying.
Instead of feeling relieved and elated, she was crouching on the bed, crying
harder than anyone that he had ever seen. He trotted up to her on his piggy
legs, and she gazed down at him, her pained eyes breaking his heart, and
fueling his anger for the horrid Saotome.
"Oh P-chan, how could he? He actually said it, and then just ruined it all.
I thought…" She choked up, and all Ryouga could do was bwee in sympathy.
"How could you? After all this…" She hugged him closer to her chest, but his
distressed brain was far from realizing it. Why would she be crying? Didn't
she hate him, as she did the minute she found out about his true colors? It
was only a matter of time before this was to come around, but how could it
distress her this badly?
"How could you do this after I… I fell…" She fully gave headway to the sad,
hysterical tears that had been attacking at her. Nudging her softly, Ryouga
vowed to find answers to her questions, and then make Ranma pay dearly for
hurting her.
*****************************
Honestly, the both of them deserved each other, through marriage and
beyond. That was a definitely a bet that Nabiki Tendo would stake her very
life on.
No other couple could actually be that dense.
Either way, both parties concerned were now feeling hurt that was
completely misplaced, and as usual, it was up to her to fix the situation.
Of course, they didn't have to know about that.
Walking away from Akane's room, Nabiki began running through phone numbers
in her head, numbers to people that, of course, owed her a favor. Some of
the reasons for that was because some of those people had a bad habit of
running their mouths in the most inopportune times; a trait Nabiki could
indeed use to her, as well as to the two lovebirds advantage. They probably
wouldn't forgive her for it, but that could be saved for the wedding, when
she talked to Akane about exactly how she was going to throw those
flowers...
*****************************
Monday morning beamed with a promise of a good day, but the cloud of
depression, of defeat around Ranma Saotome simply would not let its morning
rays shine on him. The boy did not put much of a good defense, or fight at
all during his morning sparring session, thus was dunked repeatedly. To add
to the bad feelings, he lost most of his breakfast as well, simply not
having the heart to fight back. Kasumi smiled at him as he handed him his
bento for school, but there was a deep concern in her eyes as he left
soundlessly for Furinkan.
Akane had already walked ahead of him, intent on keeping her vow of never
speaking to him again. She ran the previous evening's event through her mind
repeatedly, but arrived to the same conclusion every time. He said he cared,
but then simply turned around and tried to claim her like a prize. How dare
he!
For once in his lifetime, Kuno looked at his tigress entering the school
gates, and thought it wiser to simply leave her be. No doubt it was the foul
sorcerer's doing anyway.
*****************************
"Akane! It's not true is it?"
"Huh?" She looked up from her bento to Sayuri's shocked face, with Yuka
coming behind her, mirroring her friend's look. "What are you talking
about?"
"You mean you haven't heard? Weren't you paying attention in class?"
Akane thought back to class and what she did. It wasn't paying attention
obviously, thanks once again to the pigtailed jerk. She was still trying to
figure out why Ranma had done what he did, and getting more angry, and at
the same time sadder by the minute. She even stole time enough to not glare,
not even stare, but just look at him. He had his head resting in his hand,
gazing out of the window, which troubled her. He was usually sound asleep by
this time, what could be possibly be troubling him? The thought of him being
sad that he couldn't…she buried whatever sadness and guilt she felt, and
that familiar anger took over completely. She turned her thoughts from him
back to the lesson, but couldn't for the exited talking around her. She
turned to look at them, and they went surprisingly silent.
Her eyes narrowed as the rest of the memory fell into place. Ukyou had
entered, and glared at both Akane and Ranma, who was completely oblivious to
her stares. She then took her seat, mumbling something that Akane had barely
picked up. It started with something she didn't make out and ended with
something that confused her slightly:
"Ranchan, how could you?"
"You mean when everyone was talking in class?"
Yuka nodded. "Yeah, they were talking about what happened between you and
Ranma."
"What do you mean they were talking about me?" Her anger returned, with a
distinct sense of dread. They couldn't have learned about what happened,
could they?
"There were saying about you gave…"
The quiet conversations around the campus came to an abrupt end with a
declaration of war:
"WHAT?! I'LL KILL HIM!"
*****************************
On a not-so-usual part on the other side of school, Ranma sneezed, and
turned back to his lunch. Everyone was in his ear all day about something
they shouldn't even have known about, which meant that Nabiki was listening
in on the two of them last night, and was no doubt making a couple of yen on
the tidbits; not that he cared. It didn't matter anyway. He had lost her,
without even understanding how. Didn't she care for him as well? As stubborn
as they both were, even he wasn't dense enough to believe that she disliked
him that much, or at least he thought he was.
He thought practically about what this falling out would mean in total. One
definitely meant that pretty soon, since the engagement was finished, they
would be leaving their place of residence soon. So does that mean it's back
to traveling, or to his mother's house? Ranma was too caught up in his slump
to even notice what kind of results could even happen should he go to live
with his mother, which would probably be sepukuu, nor did he much care.
Ranma would have went into further thinking if not for the combat spatula
that was implanted in the back of his skull. He tumbled with the swing, and
turned to face an irate, and very troubled okonomiyaki chef.
"You jackass! How could you betray me like this!"
Ranma favored her a glare while rubbing the bump on the back of his head.
"What are you talking about?"
He received another blow to the head for his troubles. "Akane you jerk! You
couldn't even come to my face to tell me you didn't want me?"
Ukyou's eyes began shimmering, putting him off guard further, as there was
still anger in them. "Don't even act like you don't know you Casanova! I
heard the whole thing! I thought you liked me!"
Ranma's anger overrode his confusion. "I do like you, but I got no idea
what your talkin' about! What do you mean I betray you?"
"With Akane. You slept with her you jerk!"
"What?" He ducked the third blow, snatched the spatula away, and dodged the
hail of mini-spatulas that were thrown at him, which all embedded themselves
in the tree he was just sitting at. "I've never slept with that tomboy in my
life! How could you even think that?"
Ukyou paused in her next attack and looked at him accusingly. "Don't give
me that bout of innocence! I heard the whole thing from Nabiki, and…"
"Enough, I don't even care anymore. Think what you want." Ranma turned and
walked away. Well, that proved his theory on what everybody was buzzing
about so suddenly. So now everyone thinks he touched her like that? Ha! He
never even dreamed in that direction.
But then, she wouldn't accept him anyway, so it didn't matter what they
thought of him. Hell, it didn't matter what she thought of him. Everybody
could just go to…
"Nihao! Shampoo bring too too delicious lunch for Ranma! You like?"
He would've replied of course, if it wasn't for the fact that she was
cutting off his air supply by glomping him. After seeing him turn a very
difficult shade of lavender, she relinquished her hold of him.
"What is it now Shampoo?"
"Shampoo make lunch for airen. You eat now." Shampoo beamed at him, then
noticed his rather glum face, which brought her mood down a few decibels.
"Ranma, you no relative of pig boy. Why so sad?"
He turned and looked at her concerned face, but just sighed. "You wouldn't
understand anyway."
"Try Shampoo. Shampoo can't have husband looking sad and grumpy." She took
a moment to think, then a bright, if sly smile came to her exotic features.
"You come with Shampoo for fun time tonight? No need for depression if
having fun. Is okay?"
Ranma put his head in his hands. This was the last thing he needed. "Look
Shampoo, I'm not gonna take you…" Then he thought about everything that had
happened up to this point. Akane at this point didn't care if he lived or
died, and there was going to be no way things were going to return to normal
after this. He had never seen that look on her face, and never wanted to see
it again. Then there were the rumors going around, which were going to
continue to float around for a moment. He expected everyone else not to
really believe what he said, or even take the time to approach the source of
the rumors, but for Ucchan to just up and blame him like that without even
talking to him about it? If this was his last hour before the explosion, why
not have some fun before he goes?
*****************************
She was going to kill him.
No, she was going to turn him into girl form, strip him naked, tie him up
in panties and bras, drench him in women's perfume, and toss him breast
first into a pit of starving Happousais. How dare he spread that horrid
rumor! Probably just his revenge against her saying no to him, that little
pervert. Now everyone in the whole school thinks that she had had sex with
him! As if!
He couldn't have just left it as it was, left her to pick up the pieces of
her heart and move on? He had to do this too? He was probably just waiting
for her too, sitting by a tree looking smug, the whole conversation planned
out the minute she confronted him:
"Akane, whatever is the matter?" SD Ranma asked innocently.
"You know what's wrong you jerk! How dare you spread rumors about me like
this!"
"But I thought you enjoyed last night Akane. You told me I was wonderful,
that you never wanted to part from me again, and that you wanted the whole
world to know about it."
SD Akane began to pound him like she never had before. "How could you! How
could you even sit there and lie like that?" She wiped tears from her eyes.
"You said you liked me, why are you talking about us like this?"
She stared down at the pulp of ink that used to be SD Ranma. "Why did you
do this to me? Don't you know that I... I-"
Akane snapped back to reality, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She would
not break down again, not like last night. It was impossible to l... l.love
someone like that. Arrogant, cocky, stupid, egotistical, perverted, lovable,
cute, dependable, loyal…
NO! What was wrong with her? Why was she still feeling like this for him?
He betrayed her trust! He was just like all the others, just wanting a
prize. A bitter smile came to Akane's lips. He was going to have to settle
for the booby prize then, and she was going to enjoy giving it to him. She
stomped up to the area Ranma ate when he didn't want to be near her, and
stopped.
Shampoo was bouncing up and down in joy, all over Ranma. What
stopped her was the words that had chosen to exit his mouth:
"Okay Shampoo, I'll take you out tonight. Nothin' better going on anyway."
She quickly shed from view, not seen by anyone, and sat down, giving her
trembling legs a break. He was going on a date, with Shampoo? Confusion of
course gave way to anger. That little…That was fine if he wanted to date the
bimbo, she wanted nothing further to do with the pervert anyway. But one way
or another, he was going to answer for these rumors.
*****************************
"Look, I'm going to my room, an' I don't want to be disturbed, so leave me
in peace for once, okay?"
Everyone looked at him and shrugged and nodded save for two people: Nabiki,
who simply shrugged, and Akane, who looked at him with death in the eye, but
went out to the dojo to unleash her anger on the unsuspecting dummies.
Kasumi turned back to preparing dinner, curious as to Ranma's sullen mood.
"I wonder what that was about?"
"Remember the yelling from last night?" Nabiki said, not even looking up
from her drink.
"Oh my," she said in sudden understanding. "Do you think it could be
serious this time? I do hope that they work it out."
Barely visible, Nabiki nodded her agreement with her older sister. "Let's
hope so," she whispered.
It was about an hour later when the two feuding people came from their
places of seclusion, with obvious differences of attitude. Ranma came
downstairs in a silk shirt of golden color, with the sleeves unrolled
completely. He also smelled fresh out of the bath. Akane on the other hand,
came into the house smelling of a heavy workout. She had her uniform in her
hand in a bundle, and was wearing her yellow gi, now soaked with sweat. Both
seem to share a sullen, quiet expression, as if afraid of what's to come. As
Akane walked past him, she only looked at him briefly, then went upstairs to
wash off. Genma and Soun, coming in from their game of shogi, looked at the
well-dressed boy in curiosity.
"Where are you going boy?"
Ranma looked at his father, judging something, then answered, "Out."
"Without your fiancee?"
"No pop," He lied. "She's bathing upstairs."
Soun shook his head sadly. "A great martial artist, but a poor liar."
"How sad can it be when the day comes when son lies to father?" Genma
squeezed Ranma at the shoulders. "Tell me boy, where are you really going?"
"Out, Pop." Ranma turned away from him and started his way out, and was
halted by Soun.
"You wouldn't be going out behind Akane's back, would you son?"
Ranma favored him a cold glare. "Would it matter? If you all really want to
find out what's going on, why not tail me as usual?" Waiting for no
response, he stepped outside, hopped onto the roof of the dojo, and then
leaped over the compound wall, disappearing into the new night.
It was ten minutes later when someone else did head after Ranma. Akane had
yet to be able to confront him, and her mind wouldn't let her rest until
this was resolved. Quickly dressing herself in a shirt and some shorts, she
headed off in the direction of the Nekohanten, intent on seeing an end to
this problem.
*****************************
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