Forgive me, for I have posted in haste...

****

For some reason, I rather doubt that Almighty Bob (read Douglas Adams if
that isn't even remotely funny) wanted to make Akane and Ranma out to be
villains. However... everyone who's said otherwise has had extremely valid
points. The fic reminds me, in general approach, of one of the (IMHO) best
series of all time; Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year. And if you've never
read it, don't start until you have a week to kill. I speak from experience.
But that's beside the point.

What is NOT beside the point is that those who have accused Akane and Ranma
of acting villainous, conspiracy and all, have been right. In part. If we
could perhaps wipe the events of the anime and/or manga away and start
again, revising all the way, we could rewrite most of the "stringing along".
But the truth of the matter is, there has been a grand deception going on...
a deception which is now being voluntarily unraveled, albeit slowly. The
Tomboy hasn't been railing about Ranma's departure, and some of the smaller
masked details are beginning to come to the surface.

As for Ryoga... well, read "The Masks We Must Wear", and it should be pretty
clear that Akane, even a self-aware Akane, still doesn't know that Ryoga and
P-Chan are one and the same. Ranma, in 'Baka' mode, could just be calling
Ryoga that because of the bandanna and the strange aversion to pork. For all
Akane knows, that is.

Ukyo... I'm pulling for her as much as anybody, and I think that Ranma and
Akane probably realized that the deception had gone too far when she and
Shampoo crashed the wedding. Wonder if they realize that the deception is
the one thing that's CAUSING all the problems? Probably. That's why Ranma
invoked the Saotome Secret Technique.

I mean, most of Nerima would probably facefault for the next three days if
they found out what Ranma and Akane have been pulling behind their
collective backs. The masks have to be taken off, and slowly, and - most
importantly - carefully.

I think Akane's buying time by cowing Shampoo and Kuno with the promise of
family vengeance, but that is a rather touchy point, and valid in its own
right. In the strict feudal sense, it IS war. Nodoka's sense of family honor
is flaring up rather nicely.

It's true that Akane and Ranma have been deceiving the world for the past
year or so... but can you imagine what would happen if that private love had
been developing in public all this time? Shampoo would definitely have gone
the way of "obstacles are for KILLING", emphasis on death, destruction, and
crunching of bones. Kuno Tatewaki would have proclaimed to whoever would
listen that the sorcerer Saotome was using some sort of vile love potion on
his fair Akane, and redouble his efforts to take Ranma's head off. Kuno
Kodachi would probably have slipped cyanide into Akane's lunch one day and
then gone to comfort her poor, distraught Ranma-sama. Ukyo would have made
good on her promise to herself to hunt down and kill the boy who liked
okonomiyaki more than he liked her and had run off with what little material
wealth her father had. Ryoga would see Ranma's actions as yet another
development of the eternal rivalry, only over something a lot more important
than lunch.

The Baka/Tomboy act was intended to stave off these impending disasters by
making it appear that Ranma and Akane weren't in an extremely deep
friendship with each other. Of course, the both of them knew better, and so
rejected most of the efforts of the others to try and separate them for
good. But it backfired at the wedding, and now Ranma and Akane have to find
some happy medium.

Are they villains? Not really. I don't think there are clear-cut heroes and
villains in this story, and that everybody bears at least some share of the
blame. Just think about what the alternatives would have been had Akane and
Ranma faced the truth, and I think you'll see that their deception wasn't
entirely malicious. And if the truth were to come to light, especially
now... well, Akane would be in a whole lot of danger, for all the reasons
listed above plus a year's worth of resentment. You can see why they're
handling this delicately.

Oh, and as for the stupidity of everyone else, who are supposed to be
martial artists, at least in theory... well, Cologne isn't exactly Alberta
Einstein, but she's a master of her art and extremely devious. Ukyo's been
fixated on revenge for about 10 years, Shampoo is... well, there's a mind
behind the pidgin Japanese, is all I can say. Genma's overcome by greed,
Soun by emotion, both of them by the self-preservation instinct. Mousse is
hopelessly in unrequited love, and Ryoga... well, Ryoga's strength is about
all he has going for him in the martial arts department. Aside from the
techniques Cologne taught him, that is. I think that the openness of
Anything Goes Martial Arts sort of leads to a much broader range of
possibilities for both Ranma and Akane to train in... why shouldn't Sun Tzu
be one of them?

And I better not see this in the continuation, but I'm hoping I will...

****

"You wanted to talk in private, Akane?" asked Kasumi, shutting the door to
Akane's room with a barely perceptible click.

Akane nodded. "Yes, oneechan. There's something I have to tell you."

An expression of concern spread over Kasumi's normally cheerful face. She
hoped that the tone of worry in Akane's voice didn't mean what she thought
it meant... "Ranma won't be gone for nine months, I hope." Had she said that
out loud?

Akane's sudden blush told her she had. "No, it's not that, oneechan. Ranma
wouldn't do that to me. But this is almost as serious."

Kasumi's concern changed to relief for a few seconds, and was then replaced
by a simple curiosity. "What is it, then?"

Akane bit her lip, worrying about exactly how to break this to Kasumi... but
she then realized that Kasumi was one of the very few people she could
trust. And she felt so guilty, keeping this from the woman who had taken her
mother's place...

"Kasumi... for the past few months, Ranma and I have been seeing each other
secretly and we've become really great friends and the kawaiikune/baka thing
we do every day is just an act and we didn't want to hurt anyone but then
the wedding happened and now we have to find out how to tell the truth
and..."

She dissolved into tears at that point, leaning forward and crying into
Kasumi's robe. It was much easier to bear this with Ranma here; she at least
had someone else to be herself to.

"Oh my..."

Akane took some comfort in this familiar response, but what Kasumi said next
almost brought her world crashing down...

"I must say that it's about time."

Akane pulled back, the tears abruptly gone from her eyes, replaced by a look
of utter confusion.

Kasumi smiled again, but it seemed a bit different from her normal vacant.
"Lies fix nothing, Akane. I'm sorry it took one horrible day to make you
realize that."

And with that, the events of the past few months began to make a sudden
chilling sense as Akane realized that someone close to her did a MUCH better
job of wearing a mask...

****

This silly little thing brought to you by Otaku for a Perceptive Kasumi,
local branch 7003. And I've probably gone off the deep end again and spoiled
something, haven't I?

--Glazius