This is our first fanfic, so please be gentle. Comments, criticisms
and MSTs are welcome. You can reach us at chiaty@singnet.com.sg
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This story is set one year after the start of the series and
it takes on from there.
< > represents a character's thoughts
DISCLAIMER : We have written this story out of fun. In no way
do we own the characters of this story, they belong to Takahashi
Rumiko,Shogakukan Inc, Shonen Sunday Comics, and Viz Video.
The Fabulous World of Anime
Proudly Presents
A Joint Production by Cass and GSL
The Pursuit Of Akane
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Part 4 : Choices and decisions
Kasumi noticed Akane's troubled look and asked, "What's
wrong? Didn't you go out with Ranma on a date? How come you
came back with Ryouga instead?"
"Oh, onee-chan," cried Akane as she recounted the
details of the disastrous date.
"Oh my!" was Kasumi's response. Akane and Ranma
are like oil and water, they couldn't be mixed.
"That's not all. Ryouga proposed to me," said
Akane, without a trace of a smile.
"Why, that's wonderful. Ryouga is sweet and considerate
towards you. You and Ranma are only engaged. It can be cancelled,"
gushed Kasumi. "But why aren't you smiling?"
"I know I should be happy about it but when he proposed,
for an instant I wished that Ranma was the one who asked for my
hand in marriage. I don't get it. Here's a man who adores me
and instead I wish he was the guy who keeps criticizing my cooking.
Oh onee-chan, should I accept Ryouga's proposal?"
"Akane, you know that I can't decide for you. A marriage
is for life. You have to choose wisely. Marry the one you love."
"But my mind is a blur right now. Ryouga is awfully
sweet and he loves me. But his sense of direction sucks. He
may leave to buy some food and never reach home until 2 months
later. But if we were married, I could keep an eye on him and
he wouldn't get lost so much. A good thing about him being the
lost boy is that he has travelled around the world, albeit unintentionally.
The stories he told me about the places he has visited, people
he has met," Akane smiled faintly, remembering.
Just then, Ranma walked into the house. He was angry, angry
at himself for making a such mess out of their second date. <If
only I could have kept those girls away.> He had tried, kami
knows how hard he had tried, but it seems that something would
always happen to make Akane angry. <I'll apologize to Akane,
tomorrow when she's calmed down. Maybe buy her a present.>
he thought tiredly as he lumbered past the kitchen. Then his
sharp ears picked up a voice, Akane's voice, coming from the kitchen.
"And for our first date, Ryouga brought me to Paris!
I know he didn't mean to but still Paris!," sighed Akane
contentedly. "Where did Ranma bring me on OUR first date?
La Mason. An Italian restaurant that all of us have been to several
times a year. Very 'original'. In fact, our fathers arranged
the whole damn thing, so it wasn't even a date! I don't know
why I bother hesitating, its obvious that Ryouga is a better choice.
He's cute with those two fangs, a great martial artist and he
adores me. When I'm with him, all my worries seem to fade away.
All Ranma seems to do is give me a headache. I don't mean to
get angry at him but he just makes me so mad sometimes. I call
him a pervert. He calls me uncute tomboy. Then I yell 'Ranma
no baka' and kick him out of the house or hit him on the head.
I'm so sick of it all. I don't want to spend my entire life
quarrelling with my husband." Akane angrily banged her fist
on the tabletop as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.
Kasumi hugged her.
Outside, Ranma had heard enough. Every sentence Akane said
was like a dagger piercing through his heart. All the pain he
suffered during fights could not compare to the pain he felt now.
Despaired, he quickly ran away.
In a soft whisper, Akane continued, "But there are times
when I can see affection in Ranma's eyes, days when we would get
along. And those times are some of my happiest. He never said
he loves me but from the way he risked his life to save mine many
times, he must care. Of course, then he'll insult me and the
moment is ruined." A pause. "But when we held hands,
there's electricity in the air. I felt so lightheaded and intoxicated.
I don't get that feeling with Ryouga." Akane broke off,
about to cry.
Kasumi held Akane tightly, wishing she could will all this
heartache to go away. Slowly, Kasumi led Akane into her room
and told her to get some sleep. "In the morning, things
will be better," she comforted Akane.
On the rooftop, Ranma sat. This was his favourite spot.
A place where he could be alone with his thoughts or just to
relax and admire the view. It was his private sanctuary of sorts
that few dared disturb. Only Akane would sometimes accompany
him up here.
<Akane>, thought Ranma as his right hand rested on
the place she usually sat. He closed his eyes, imagining he could
still feel the warmth of her body on the tiles, still smell the
scent of her soap. He breathed in deeply. Once, they had watched
the sunset together, or rather she was admiring it and he was
admiring her. He wanted to say something then, like he loves
her or he was happy that they're engaged, but he didn't. He never
did. Always, he hurled insults to hide his feelings.
At the beginning, he said them to get out of the engagement.
All he wanted was to be the best martial artist and to find a
cure for his curse. He didn't want the engagement, didn't need
another complication in his life. And later his other fiancees
came into the picture. He resented his father and thought that
women were trouble that he could do without.
However, Akane had slowly, inch by inch, crept into his heart.
Too late. He was used to insulting her. It had become a force
of habit. He knew that he loved her but he could never find the
words to say. Or more accurately, could never say them out loud.
He always thought he had plenty of time to confess his true
feelings. But now... Snippets of Akane's speech replayed in
his head. "Ryouga is a better choice", "for our
first date, Ryouga brought me to Paris!", "All Ranma
seems to do is give me a headache.", "I'm so sick of
it all. I don't want to spend my entire life quarrelling with
my husband." In a week, Ryouga had managed to do what Ranma
couldn't accomplish in a year - Ryouga had confessed his love
to Akane and won her heart. Why did he wait so long? Why did
he let his foolish pride get in the way of obtaining happiness?
Why?
<Does it matter?> a voice within him answered. <You've
wasted your chance, you didn't treasure her, now her heart belongs
to another. You should just give her up.>
<No!> his heart shouted. But he knew he must. There
is no point in keeping the engagement if Akane doesn't love him.
Honour demands that he should let her go. When you love someone,
you want he/she to be happy. If Akane's happiness lies with Ryouga,
then so be it. It is the right thing to do. But then why does
he hurt so much?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning. Three groggy people sat down to eat breakfast,
the rest have already started their meals. Ryouga was restless
last night, wondering if Akane had decided not to marry him.
Ranma was up all night on the roof, thinking. Akane had nightmares
about her indecision between the two men, leading to them engaging
in an all out battle that lead to both of them dead. One weird
nightmare that got her shaking violently was Ryouga and Ranma
got tired waiting for her answer and so Ranma as Ranko married
Ryouga.
(Ranma and Ryouga sat next to each other while Akane was
directly opposite Ranma.) Akane smiled sweetly at Ryouga. Ranma's
heart ached at the sight. <I would never see her smile at
me with such affection again> thought Ranma sadly. He stared
at her lovely face, ignoring Genma who was busy stealing his food.
Feeling someone was staring at her, Akane turned to look at Ranma.
Embarrassed, Ranma hurriedly averted his gaze and ate what was
left of his udon.
After school, Ranma approached Akane, saying, "We have
to talk." Apprehensively, Akane followed Ranma as he took
the long way home. The whole day he has been avoiding Akane.
During lunch, he thanked Ukyou and Shampoo for their offers of
lunch but said that he had packed enough. It wasn't like Ranma
to turn down a free lunch. Akane had felt tension accumulating
in the air, and now she felt, no she knew that whatever Ranma
had to say would affect their lives forever. Her heart beated
faster.
"Akane," stuttered Ranma. He shook his head, trying
to clear his thoughts. He had rehearsed his lines the whole day
so that he wouldn't mess this up. <He's gonna apologize and
say he loves me> thought Akane excitedly. <A woman's intuition
is never wrong>.
"Akane." Ranma inhaled deeply and said, "I'm
sorry that our date last night was ruined." He kept his
eyes on the path ahead, knowing that if he gazed upon her face
or looked deeply into her eyes, he would chicken out. "But
I'm glad it had happened. We were both forced into this engagement
and I know you're not happy about it. We simply aren't compatible.
Now that you fell in love with Ryouga-"
"But I-" Akane replied, surprised.
"No, let me finish. Now that you fell in love with
Ryouga, I see no reason to continue our relationship. After all,"
He steeled his heart for what he was about to say. "You
don't love me and I... don't love you either. So I hereby break
off our engagement. I uh have something on so I'll see you later."
Ranma hurriedly jumped up onto the fence and rushed off, letting
a single tear slide down his cheek.
Akane numbly watched Ranma go, only when he was a mere red
speck in the distance, did her legs collapse. She kneeled on
the sidewalk, tears rolling down, ignoring the looks of passerbys.
They didn't matter, her being a public spectacle didn't matter.
What did matter anymore? Strangely enough, a part of her noted
that it wasn't raining. Wasn't it supposed to pour when the female
lead is crying in the streets? Minutes later, her tears had stopped.
Maybe she was tired of crying or maybe she had run out of tears.
Slowly, she picked herself up and started walking, wanting to
get herself lost like Ryouga.
<Arrgh!> After two hours of just aimlessly walking,
Akane was still only 2 blocks away from her home. <How does
Ryouga do it?.> Giving up, she went home.
Akane laid on the futon and shut her eyes. But the words,
Ranma's words, "I don't love you" kept repeating in
her head, like a broken record. "Argh!" she screamed.
She quickly ran to the dojo to practice. Somehow, smashing bricks
into tiny pieces of rubble always made her feel better. "Kyaa!"
A poor defenseless brick was completely obliterated. <Who
cares about Ranma. I'll be better off without him.> "Kyaa!"
Another brick disintegrates.
"Uh, Akane?"
Akane whirled around, startled by the voice.
"I was wondering, about what I've said earlier-"
"Yes."
"You mean you'll marry me? YES! She said yes!"
shouted Ryouga with glee. He hugged her tightly. Akane smiled,
here was a man who loved her, who was there for her. Why should
she wait for someone else? She began hugging him back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(A few days had past. It is a bright Sunday afternoon.)
"Mr Tendo, can I speak with you?" asked Ryouga
respectfully. Soun nodded. Akane brought her two sisters in.
They sat in the living room, waiting for an extremely nervous
Ryouga to start. Ryouga held Akane's hand and said, "I would
like to ask you for Akane's hand-in-marriage. She has agreed
but we would like to have your permission."
"NANI! DON'T YOU KNOW MY DAUGHTER IS ENGAGED TO ANOTHER,"
thundered Soun. Ryouga cringed back in fear as Soun lunged forward.
"Ranma and I have decided to cancel our engagement,"
Akane said softly.
"Nani!" shouted Soun as he fell into a heap on
the floor.
"Its true. I broke it off." Ranma had entered
the room, with Genma-panda in tow.
"How could you do this! Now our two families will never
be joined," cried Soun as his tears gushed out. Everyone
else facefaulted.
"Kids nowadays are so disrespectful of their elders'
decisions," flashed Genma-panda.
"Well I don't care. We're no longer engaged and that's
that!" shouted Ranma.
"Its ok, father," Kasumi continued, "Ryouga
is a good martial artist. You can join the Hibiki and Tendo schools
together." Ryouga nodded furiously.
"Well," replied Soun sniffling. "Alright,
Ryouga, you have my permission to marry my youngest daughter."
Leaping up, he hugged Akane tightly and exclaimed, "My daughter
is getting married! My daughter is getting married! I'm so proud
of you." Letting her go, the beaming father asked, "When's
the wedding? Haven't decided? Well then, let's make it a month
from now."
"But father, we didn't say we want to get married so
soon," protested Akane to no avail. Ryouga looked at her,
concerned that she might not want to be his wife. "I thought
we would graduate and go out on more dates first," whispered
Akane to Ryouga's ear. Ryouga smiled, his worries were unfounded.
That night, Kasumi had prepared a celebration feast fit for
a king, or in this case, fit for the huge appetites of the Saotomes.
Everyone had gotten up and toasted to the happiness of the blushing
couple. Even Ranma had stood up and wished them all the best.
Then he sat down and gorged on the food.
"You know, its too bad Ranma couldn't be my son-in-law,"
slurred Soun. He and Genma had consumed many bottles of sake.
"Yeah," agreed Genma, a little drunk.
Several toasts later. "Hey, the original agreement
was for Ranma to marry any of the Tendo girls. Since, Akane is
unavailable, why don't Ranma choose another for his fiance?"
asked Genma.
"NO!" shouted Ranma, Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi in
unison.
"Why yes, that's a great idea," said Soun, pointedly
ignoring the outraged looks the teenagers were giving him. "Who
do you want?" he asked Ranma.
"Neither! I have too many girls chasing after me as
it is. I've just gotten out of an engagement and you push me
into another! No way! I'm going to China to look for a cure."
"Foolish boy! I shall make the decision for you."
Glancing at Nabiki and Kasumi, Genma pointed at Nabiki. "She's
perfect. Only a year older than you. Already a shrewd money-maker."
Kasumi heaved a sigh of relief while Ranma and Nabiki protested.
"Her! She'll sell me to the highest bidder!" "He's
too poor for my tastes."
Ranma started pummeling Genma. "Wait!" shouted
the elder Saotome just as Ranma was about to kick him into outer
space. He hurriedly produced a crumpled letter. Years ago, a
friend of his had offered to engage his newborn son to his daughter,
if he has one. Although, Ranma was born, they still kept in contact.
"The agreement still stands. You're a girl half the time.
If you don't want to be engaged to Nabiki, then you'll be engaged
to him." He thrusted a recent photo of a skinny boy with
a face full of pimples and a leery grin.
"Oh yeah? I just have to explain that my girl side
is just a curse activated by cold water and that I'm really a
boy."
Genma grinned and shook his head. "I'm afraid not,
son. Masaki, that's his name, is a bisexual." Ranma shivered
and agreed to the match, already dreading life with Nabiki. Nabiki
glared at Ranma, it's just like him to be so easily manipulated.
No matter, so long as she disagreed, there won't be an engagement.
Soun began sobbing loudly, begging Nabiki to humor her old father.
"Stop crying. I know all your tricks. Heck, I even
taught you some," said Nabiki in a bored tone.
<If crying won't work, gentle persuasion will.> schemed
Soun. He stopped crying and said in a smooth salesman's tone,
"I'm only looking after our interest. You told me several
times that our income has risen significantly since Ranma arrived.
If you're his fiance, you could get him to pose for more pictures,
arrange more duels. You'll make a killing!" Nabiki's eyes
gleamed as she considered the profits she'll reap. However she
refused. There are many other ways to earn money. Frowning,
Soun declared that if Nabiki don't agree, well then, Kasumi would
be engaged to Ranma. Kasumi's eyes pleaded desperately with Nabiki.
"Fine. I'll do it," replied Nabiki emotionlessly.
She knew very well that Kasumi liked Dr Tofu but wouldn't disobey
their father. Kasumi _would_ marry Ranma if their father asked
her to. Nabiki didn't want to ruin her onee-chan's chance at
love and besides, she could figure a way to back out of this engagement
later. Meanwhile, her profits will soar.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"1001, 1002, 1003,..." Ranma uttered as he exercised
by doing push-ups. He is in his room, memories of the earlier
dinner had flushed his head. <They look so happy.> "Argh!
Forget it." He pushed himself to complete more push-ups.
<Akane. No! She likes Ryouga. Stop thinking of her.> He
willed himself.
"Why did you break off your engagement with Akane?!
Now all my work and effort has gone down the drain. Ukyou, Shampoo
and Kodachi are going to kill me once they come back from Hong
Kong. Especially, now since I'm your FIANCEE." Nabiki yelled.
"Hey! You think I want to be engaged to you. I've enough
troubles to sustain my whole life." Ranma got up and stared
Nabiki in the eye.
"You still haven't answered me. Why did you break off
the engagement with Akane!" Nabiki repeated.
"You want to know why? I tell you why! Because she has
fallen for Ryouga. I heard her saying that Ryouga is the better
choice and all I give her are headaches. What do you want me to
do? Stand in the way of her happiness?" Ranma retorted.
"Did Akane really says that she likes Ryouga?"
Nabiki asked unbelievingly.
"Not exactly. I think she was comparing the two of us
and she said that Ryouga was the better choice." Ranma recalled.
"You stupid, no brain, senseless butt-head! She just
said that he was the better choice. She didn't say that she likes
Ryouga. How could you jump to conclusions." Nabiki scolded.
"But...but she says that all I give her is headaches
and she even commented how cute Ryouga looks or how he adores
her." Ranma defended himself.
"I don't believe you are so dense. You give everyone
headaches. This is your character. As for the comments, I think
even Kuno looks better than you do. But that doesn't stop a person
from loving you." Nabiki continued. "Why do you think
I help you in the first place?"
"Huh? So that you can gain from the sale of my photographs?"
Ranma replied.
"Kami, please strike some sense into this fellow."
Nabiki brought up her hands over her head and 'prayed'. Then she
resumed. "Ranma, over this past year, I've noticed quite
a number of things. You being so stupid may have missed it. Akane
loves you. The way she looks at you, the way she smiles and even
when she cooks for you all proves that. You always say that she
is trying to poison you but why did she keep on trying even though
she knows that you won't appreciate her cooking? Because she wants
to be your wife. Did you see her cook for Ryouga? No. Don't you
get it?"
Ranma was speechless. Nabiki took a photo out of her pocket
and passed it to Ranma. He held it carefully. It was the photo
that Nabiki had taken before they left for the first date.
"Did you see the love in her eyes?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Now you know why I helped you. I want my sister to
be happy. That's why I tried to bring the two of you together."
She said lastly.
He thought for a moment, still staring at the photo. "So
now, what should I do?"
"Do you want her back?" Nabiki asked.
He nodded again apprehensively.
"Then, go tell her your true feelings. You don't have
too much time. Say it before it is too late." She advised.
Ranma seems to be deep in thought. So to further motivate
him, Nabiki began. "If you don't do this, you're going to
regret it for the rest of your life." She had finished. She
went to the door, slowly opened it and stepped out of the room.
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