To reply, post publically or e-mail the author at karaohki@snet.net
Enjoy!

The FFML Refugee List

Well, it's about time I contributed to our list!  This is the result of our
one-hour challenge Sunday night, and was revised/polished a little.  My
thanks to the guys in Group #1, who were VERY helpful!

Feel free to comment:  to me, the list, or both.  And please, don't
re-distribute the story to any E-groups lists.  If anybody wants a copy,
tell them to let me know.

Kara

Truth in Art

A Ranma 1/2 fanfic by June "KaraOhki" Geraci
February 18, 2001

Ranma 1/2 was created by and belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and her
characters
are being used without permission.  This story was written for fun only,
and
may not be used commercially.


-------------------



The class broke out into laughter.

"Scared of cats?" asked Hiroshi.

"Yes.  Positively terrified of cats," responded the teacher.

"That's hard to believe.  A man who led huge armies into battle?  I thought
he was fearless."

The teacher merely smiled.  "Evidently not, according to the history
books."
Several students looked over at one young man, who was trying not to react
to the topic of conversation.

"Sort of reminds us of somebody we know, doesn't it?" asked one of the
boys.

A wave of giggles swept across the room again, engulfing all of the
students.  That is, all of them but two.  Akane glanced over at Ranma, who
had his head down, carefully avoiding the eyes of everyone in the room. 
She
also noted that his hands gripped the sides of the desk so tightly that it
looked as though he would break off pieces of it.  She quickly scribbled a
note and tossed it onto his desk.

"Don't feel bad, Ranma.  At least now you know you're not the only one!"

Akane waited as Ranma unfolded the note and read it.  He crumpled it up,
shoved it into his pocket, and rewarded Akane with a weak smile.

The teacher droned on with the lesson, but Akane's thoughts were far away.
How did the Emperor develop his fear of cats?  Did he ever encounter a cat
during battle?  How bad WAS his fear?  Her imagination began to run wild,
and instead of taking notes on the class, Akane began to scribble into her
notebook.  She kept writing until the bell rang and everyone ran outside to
have lunch.

*****

Ranma waited until most of the students were gone before picking up his
bento and leaving the room.  He was surprised that Akane hadn't waited for
him.  When he arrived outside, she was nowhere to be seen and he scanned
the
grounds looking for her amidst the crowds of students.

"Sempai?"

Ranma looked down.  A first year student was standing there, smiling shyly
at him.

"Saotome-sempai?  Are you looking for your fiancee?"  She pointed to a
small
grove of trees off to one side.  "I saw her go that way."

"Thank you."  Ranma took off for the trees.  It still unnerved him to hear
anyone call him "sempai".  The word still had a tendency to make him look
over his shoulder for Kuno, who was finally out of his and Akane's hair and
off in college.

He found Akane sitting in the grass, unpacking her bento.

"Akane, why didn't you wait for me?"

"I have an idea I want to work on.  I'll see you back in class."

Ranma felt somewhat disappointed.  "Can't I sit with you?  I won't bother
you."

"Ranma!" Daisuke called.  "You want to eat with us?

"It's okay," said Akane softly.  "Go with them.  I'll have lunch with you
tomorrow."  She watched as Ranma joined his friends and walked to a sunny
spot to eat.  Then she sat down, unwrapped her bento, and got out her art
supplies.

*****

Between bites of lunch Akane began to draw.  Then switching back and forth
between colored pencils and chopsticks began to get annoying, so she wolfed
down the remainder of her lunch and concentrated on what she was doing.

It had been a long time since Akane had been so inspired.  Her pencils flew
across the paper, filling in details and adding color and dialog. She was
so
engrossed in what she was doing that she totally lost track of time.  Then
a
shadow fell across the sheet she was working on.

"Akane, you coming back inside?"

"What?"

Ranma pointed at the clock tower.  "You're gonna be late if you don't stop
drawing.  What is that, anyway?"

Akane was already packing her pencils into their box, and closing her
sketch
pad.  "Nothing."  She started to put the pad away, but Ranma made a grab at
it.

"No!"

"C'mon!  Let me see!"

Akane got to her feet and started to back away, holding the pad behind her
back.

"I said no!  Go away!"

Ranma's hand shot out and grabbed the pad.  It was in his hands before
Akane
could prevent it, and then he was gone.  Akane paused long enough to pick
up
her bento and art supplies, and then she followed him over the horizon.

"Give that back!"

*****

Ranma heard Akane's cries behind him and ran faster.  He tried to lose her,
and finally succeeded long enough to run to a place where she might have
difficulty finding him.  He ran into the center of the maze, and sat down
to
look at the pad.

[Akane drew a manga?]

*****

The first panel showed a palace.  It didn't look anything like a Japanese
palace, and then Ranma noticed that the French flag was flying from one of
the turrets.

The scene changed to inside a huge kitchen.  A palace guard was holding a
kitten, and shouting at one of the cooks.

"You know cats are not allowed in this palace!  Why is this creature here?"

The terrified cook replied, "it is here to catch the mice!  We have a
terrible problem with mice in the pantries!"

"Well get a terrier, then!  They catch mice as well as cats do, and the
Emperor will not be bothered by one."

As he spoke the kitten wriggled free and ran off, with several guards
chasing after it.

*****

"Damn!  She's illustrating our history lesson!" said Ranma.  "I didn't know
Akane could draw so well."  He flipped up the page to see the next, and
stared.  Akane had drawn the Emperor, but he didn't look like the picture
in
the history books.

[She drew Napoleon to look like me?  Because he was scared of cats, too?]

*****

The Emperor sat in conference with his generals.  He looked rather annoyed.

"What IS that noise in the hallway?"

One of the men opened the door and the kitten ran in, followed by several
palace guards.  It ran directly to the Emperor and jumped into his lap.

"Nya!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!  GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!!!"

The Emperor got up and ran around the room, screaming.  Instead of getting
frightened and running away, the kitten got frightened and dug its claws
into his jacket.  This just got the poor man more hysterical. Even with his
fear of cats, Ranma couldn't help laughing as he followed the pictures
Akane
had drawn, which illustrated the Emperor completely wrecking the room
before
someone got the cat off him.

Unfortunately, it was too late.  The Emperor went into Neko-ken.

*****

[Nah, that's too unbelievable,] thought Ranma.  [I can swallow him being
scared of cats, but not Neko-ken.  Why'd she throw that in?]

The next panels made that quite clear

*****

The scene shifted to a large elegant bathroom.  There was an old-fashioned
bathtub on clawed feet in the room, and the rear view of a young woman with
long dark hair soaking in the tub.  The woman's hair hung down over the
edge
of the tub, and the end of her ponytail was tied with a familiar-looking
ribbon.  A maid ran into the room, gesturing frantically at the woman in
the
tub.

"My lady!  You must come quickly!  The Emperor needs you!"

"I just got in, Marie.  Can't he wait for a few minutes?"

"Madame, you don't understand.  There was a cat--"

"I'm on my way."

The scene shifted back to the conference room.  The table was nothing but a
pile of toothpicks, the curtains were shredded, and most of the people in
the room bore terrible scratches.  The Emperor/Ranma stood on all fours at
one end of the room, back arched, hissing.  Everyone else was plastered
against the wall at the opposite end.

"Where is the Empress Josephine?  She is the only one who can help us now!"

"Her maid said she was on her way.  Just don't move!"

*****

Ranma laughed at the sound effects Akane had used to show Josephine's
approach.  "Tip tap tip tap tiptaptiptap!"  Then the swish lines she drew
to
show the door flying open were quite effective.

He was not surprised at all to see that the Empress looked just like Akane,
with the long hair she had when he'd first met her.  She had drawn herself
standing in the doorway, out of breath, looking quite concerned.

[Nice job, Akane.  She didn't even take time to get dressed, and the way
she's holding that bathrobe closed...I bet there's nothing on underneath.]

Ranma flipped the page over and stared.

*****

The next panel showed the Emperor's expression when he spotted the Empress.
There was no longer any fear or anger in his face.  Instead, there was pure
joy.

[Is that the way I look when I'm in Neko-ken and I see her?] Ranma
wondered.

On the page, the Emperor leaped all the way across the room and landed at
his Empress' feet.  She sat on the floor and held out both arms, and he
climbed into her lap and began to purr.  The front of her bathrobe opened a
little, and the Emperor (and the reader) got a nice view of some very
attractive cleavage.

"What a good boy!" said Akane/Josephine, as she stroked Ranma/Napoleon's
hair.  The Emperor lifted his head and brought his lips close to his
wife's,
but the next picture was no more than a few rough lines.  Akane hadn't had
time to finish it, and Ranma couldn't help but wonder if poor Napoleon was
going to get kissed or clobbered.

*****

Ranma heard running footsteps, and smiled when he heard his fiancee's
voice.

"Why'd he come HERE?  I always get lost in this place!"

Then she appeared in front of him.

"Nice job, Akane."

Ranma had the satisfaction of seeing his fiancee blush.  "You-you liked
it?"

"Yeah.  How were you going to end it?"

"Well I did have a couple of ideas.  Maybe you can help me out."  Akane sat
down in the grass and held her arms out to Ranma.  Her expression was
unreadable, but he took the hint and came closer.

"You're not going to hit me if I do this, are you?"

"I'm more likely to hit you if you don't!"

Ranma swallowed hard, and got into Akane's lap.  "Now what?"

Akane began to pet Ranma as if he was in Neko-ken.  "Nice kitty!"

"Um, purr?"

Akane looked annoyed.

"You can do better than that!"

Ranma curled up into a ball and attempted a purr.  Akane giggled, and
stroked his hair.  After a couple of minutes she tugged on his hair, and he
slowly uncurled.  Akane was looking at him with an expression remarkably
like the one she'd drawn on the Empress.

"So, Ranma, what DOES happen nex--"  Akane didn't get to finish the
question, because Ranma answered it for her.

A few minutes later she spoke again.  "Should I draw that?"

"Would you?"  Ranma retrieved the pad and handed it to Akane.  He sat close
to her and watched as she drew the Emperor kissing his Empress, wondering
if
Napoleon would remember the kiss.  His arm crept around Akane's shoulders
and he kissed her cheek.  It didn't really matter.  HE wouldn't forget.

karaohki@snet.net
KaraOhki's Pagoda - www.karaohki.com

**********************************************
Sparrow singing--
its tiny mouth
  open
-----Buson

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