Friends

Part 5

By Belphera

Sitting in the place, Akane fiddled with her purse. This was so
outrageous, so daring, so exciting. Only Ranma would be able to do
something like this. Looking over at Ranma, she admired the way the
setting sun was shining against his ruggedly handsome face. Mentally she
traced the outline of his jaw and smiled at the excitement reflected in
his eyes. As if they were connected by some strange bond, he chose that
moment to look across at her and lean over towards her.

"Surprised?"

"I'll say. What made you do something like this?"

"Well, I wanted to show your family and my family just how much I love
you." Akane blushed deeply and wondered just if he really meant that.
Berating herself, Akane convinced herself that Ranma could never love
her in that way. No, Ranma loved women who were beautiful, graceful, and
the typical supermodel type.

Realizing what he just said, Ranma quickly looked down and stammered.

"Well, I mean, how much they think I love you." Mentally smacking
himself, Ranma fidgeted a bit. How could he have just say that? He did
love Akane. But only as a friend, right? But still, was that sadness in
her eyes that he just saw?

Sighing inwardly, Akane felt a bit depressed that Ranma just confirmed
that he couldn't really love her. No. Ranma could never love someone who
was as plain and conservative as herself..

"Don't worry about it Ranma. Besides I think this is exciting." Sitting
back, Ranma was angry at himself. He had hurt Akane. And for that, he
was furious with himself. He would make it up to her somehow.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Akane just stared at the setup around her. It was simply amazing! Never
in her life would she have thought that she would be eating in a place
where there were so many famous people eating. After the plane had
landed, Ranma had had two helicopters waiting to take them to the
mansion. It was simply one excitement after another. However once inside
the mansion, that's when Akane truly saw just how influential and famous
Ranma was.

It seemed as if everyone knew Ranma. As soon as Ranma entered the
mansion, numerous people crowded around him. Each greeted Ranma with
dignity and warmth. There was also much attention focused on herself. It
seemed that being the fiancie of Ranma raised her status among people
immensely. Suddenly she felt a bit overwhelmed by the rich, the
influential, and the famous. It seemed as if the new head of government
in China was quite fond of movie stars and musicians. The who's who of
the world seemed to be at the party, just as Nabiki had said.

The entire setup of the gala was absolutely a sight to behold. It was
decorated mostly in gold and in a Chinese fashion. Statues of dragons,
phoenixes, tigers, and other animals stood everywhere. Akane had not a
doubt that all the material was all real and not imitations. In the
center of all the tables was a sort of dance floor, and off to a side a
live orchestra was playing.

"Akane?"

"Yes Ranma?" Cutting through the waves of women who were asking her
about how Ranma and her met, Ranma took hold of Akane's hand and pulled
her through.

"I want you to meet someone." Directing Akane to a table, Akane sat face
to face with a bright-eyed blond woman. She had a very wide smile and a
perky attitude. She was definitely some kind of model or actress. She
looked familiar somehow.

"Hi! You must be Akane!"

"Yeah?" Akane said a bit unsure of whom this was. She definitely wasn't
some jealous old girlfriend, and she seemed friendly enough.

"You don't remember me?"

"No I'm sorry, I can't seem to place where I've seen you from." Akane
said as she took a close look at the woman in front of her. Those bright
blue eyes.

"It's me! Cameron! Remember?! I used to date Ranma when he first moved
into his house."

"Cameron? Oh My god! It is you! You've changed! Well not much, but I
don't know, you just look different!" Akane exclaimed and hugged the
woman in front of her. Cameron had been one of the few women that she
like that was dating Ranma.

"Well, I'm an actress now! I haven't kept in touch with Ranma for at
least a year though. But hey let's talk about you! You're getting
married to Ranma?"

"Uh yeah." Akane was silently torturing herself. Another person she had
to deceive now, and Cameron was such a nice person too.

"This is so unexpected! But you know somehow I thought you two would
get together!"

"How so?"

"Well, I mean, you two just seemed to always be more than just friend
you know? There were always those little subtle hints here and there."

"Really?" Was this true? No, it couldn't be. She was just saying this
because she thought that Ranma was marrying her.

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing! You've also seemed to bloom! I
just love this look on you!"

"Oh well, Ranma had a designer woman take me shopping. She recommended
this dress."

"Really? Which designer?"

"I forget. But yeah, it was all Ranma."

"Now, now, you can't say that. You've always been beautiful, Ranma just
coaxed the flower to bloom. And now here you are!" Cameron smiled. Just
then, Ranma cut in.

"Sorry Cameron, but I'm going to have to take Akane away from you."

"Okay, has the main guest arrived?"

"Yeah, we should sit." Taking Ranma's arm, Akane walked over to their
table. Her eyes bugged out a bit to see who was sitting there. First
there was the President of the US and the First Lady, and the man who
seemed to be the new leader of China.

"Everyone?" Ranma said as he turned to the table.

"This is my future wife Akane Tendo." Presenting Akane, each member at
the table greeted her politely.

"So this is the woman who stole the heart of the world's most notorious
playboy eh?" Herb, the new leader of China said with a smile.

"Er" that was all Akane could get out. Sitting down, Akane looked at
each member of the table and suddenly saw that these people were no
different that she was in the flesh. They were all flesh and skin just
as she was. Relaxing a bit, Akane smiled. Next to her sat Nodoka, Kasumi
and Nabiki. Ryouga and Ranko sat at the table with Cameron.

The dinner started after Herb and the president made a speech.
Chattering flowed through the air. As the gala went one, Akane relaxed
more and more. She answered each question with as much wit as she could
manage.

"So Akane, what is it that you do?" The first lady asked.

"Well I teach."

"Ah, for which university?"

"Um, not a university. I teach grade school and martial arts in my
family dojo."

"Ah.the nurturer of today's youth. So do you enjoy what you do?"

"Of course, I love children. I mean I love the way that they need
someone to care for them."

"Well said." Nearby Ranma was talking with Herb as the two looked on.

"She's really something." Herb complemented.

"I know, that's why she's so important to me."

"You know you are very lucky, I thought that you'd be the last one to
get married."

"Well I was just lucky that Akane came along." Ranma said as he looked
at Akane wistfully. It was true, Akane was such an important factor in
his life. Since the very beginning, Akane had been there for him, both
emotionally and physically. Whenever he had a bad day, she was there to
comfort him. If ever he hurt, she was there to soothe the pain. No
matter how bad it was, Akane was always there for him, as he would
always be there for her.

"Hey Ranma I think that woman is hailing you." Looking behind him, he
searched and found a tall, well-built, Asian woman with plum-tinted
black hair. She was wearing a tight dress that reflected the typical
Chinese dress. Swaying her hips in a seductive manner, she walked over
to their table. Many of the guys in the room were staring at her. Even
Herb was staring so hard that his eyes almost fell out. Ranma was the
only on who groaned and had a pained look on his face.

"Ni Hao Ranma." The woman said with a beautiful smile. Immediately
everyone at the table looked up at the woman. Most of the women were
envious of the woman, as the men were staring appreciatively.

"Hello Xian Nu. It's a surprise seeing you here tonight."

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and all my friends were here, so I
figured why not." Suddenly Herb's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Pardon me miss. But aren't you the new supermodel from China?"

"Why yes I am. How good of you to notice."

"Well Xian what do you want?"

"Nothing Ranma, I just wanted to see you and your future wife." With
that Xian turned to Akane and looked at her with raised eyebrows. Akane
glared at Xian, knowing just who she was. Standing up the two women just
looked at each other. Suddenly, Xian made a sudden move and hugged
Akane very tightly.

"You will take care of Ranma right?" Xian whispered into Akane's ear.
Surprised, Akane could just nod. Breaking the hug, Xian smiled at Akane
and presented her with a bracelet.

"Akane Tendo, I present to you a trinket from the village of the Chinese
Amazons. As future bride to Ranma, honorary tribe member, you will also
be considered an honorary member of the tribe as well." Akane just
looked at Xian dumbly and accepted the gift. Placing the bracelet on her
wrist, she bowed and thanked Xian.

"Thank you Xian Nu."

"I will go now, I have friends who are waiting." With that, Xian turned
and left. Ranma just glared at Xian as she left. He had a bad feeling
about this. Xian was a woman, and an Amazon woman, it was simply too
strange that she would give up on him so quickly and without a fight.
______________________________________________________________________________________

As time passed, the gala became more and more of a relaxed environment.
Akane looked down at her glass and wondered if it was the champagne or
just her, but she felt extremely high spirited. Her emotions had bubbled
to the surface as she continued to talk with the people around the
table.

"So Akane, have you and Ranma set a date yet?" Kasumi asked.
Immediately, this topic sparked the interest of all the women at the
table.

"Yes, Akane are you going to hold a traditional Shinto wedding or a
modern American style wedding?" Nodoka asked curiously.

"Well- er, Ranma and I really aren't sure yet. I mean we've just gotten
engaged, and we'd just like to take things one step at a time." Akane
said trying to avoid the questions.

"Oh but Akane, wouldn't you like to have some opinions from us? You
know, so that when you do start to plan, then you'll have a number of
ideas to choose from." The First Lady suggested. The five elder women at
the table moved in closer to each other as they began to throw out
ideas.

"Well, I'm not sure yet. I'm sure Ranma would want to be part of this
discussion." Akane reasoned. It was enough that she felt extremely
guilty about this whole charade.  As the women assured Akane that Ranma
was talking 'men' topics with the others, Akane just looked down into
her glass of champagne holding back her tears. She simply could not
believe that she was playing this out. Kasumi sounded so happy and
lively and it was all because of her false marriage. Several time as the
women discussed wedding settings, Akane looked to Kasumi and wanted to
tell her the truth. But seeing her sister, one who she loved as her
mother, chatting with the others, Kasumi's eyes seemed to sparkle.
Immediately Akane would stop. If she was to tell Kasumi the truth, that
sparkle would die. She simply could not do that. She could not kill that
sparkle in Kasumi's eyes.
______________________________________________________________________________________

"Hello ladies, and what seems to be the hot topic amongst this table?" A
reporter asked as she pulled up a chair to sit by the other women.

"Well, we were just give ideas for young Akane's future wedding to
Ranma." The First Lady responded.

"Ah weddings. They are such a joy. You would mind if I shared my
experiences would you?" the reporter asked Akane.

"Um, of course not." Akane said a bit nervously.  A few moments later,
Cameron and Ranko came up to the table and also shared their input. Then
very soon they had to move to a different section of the room as more
and more women from the gala came over to them and threw in their
opinion for the wedding. And at the center of the group was Akane who
was quite embarrassed by the attention. After an hour or so, they came
up with the idea of an Americanized version of the Shinto wedding.
Ranma's designer friend Ms. Versache had offered to design a wedding
dress that would be the cross of an American wedding dress and a
Japanese kimono.
______________________________________________________________________________________

At the table, Ranma was still talking with Herb and the American
President, as well as Kirin, the newest General of the Chinese Army,
Ryouga, the heads of the American security, FBI, CIA, Emperor of Japan,
Leader of Russia, and the Leader of several more countries. It was
beginning to turn out to be like a diplomatic meeting. Looking up from
their conversations, Ranma looked at Akane and saw that she was a bit
uncomfortable. Smiling and admiring the way that Akane was handling
being the center of attention, Ranma leaned over to Herb.

"Hey Herb, you mind if I did a little dancing?"

"Go right ahead my friend." Herb said with a knowing smile. Getting up
Ranma looked at all the men gathered.

"Well, gentlemen, I'm afraid that there is something horribly wrong with
this gala."

"And what would that be?" The President asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems that we have a very large and open space in the center of the
room, and if I am not mistaken, there is an orchestra playing." Ranma
said with as much seriousness as possible. Several of the men around him
murmured to themselves. The President's face also mirrored seriousness,
covering his humor underneath.

"And so I feel that I must take the first step to remedy this
situation." Crossing the room, and walking up to the conductor.

"Maestro, I would like to request a few waltzes for the people to dance
to. I would like for this gala to become a bit more active. What do you
say?" Ranma said politely. Nodding, the conductor ended the song quickly
and lead the orchestra in a waltz. Grinning, Ranma walked over to the
group of dozens of women. The women parted the way for Ranma, as he made
his way over to Akane. Once in front of Akane, most of the women were
whispering amongst themselves and wondering what Ranma was doing. Akane
looked up at Ranma and immediately saw the spark in his eyes and his
boyish grin. With a sweeping gesture, Ranma settled onto one knee and
one hand held out towards her.

"My Lady, would you honor me in this dance?" Ranma said in the most
formal tone he could. Akane looked at him and just smiled.

"Of course, I would be honored to dance with you, My Lord." Akane
recognized this scene immediately. Ranma always called her stuffy and
too conservative. So one day, Ranma took Akane out to a restaurant. And
when they were just were finished with desert, Ranma stood up and bowed
to Akane and asked her to dance. Ranma had taught Akane how to ballroom
dance, and the two took to the floor. And ever since then, they've done
this constantly.

Leading Akane to the center of the room, they took up their dancing
positions. Moving gracefully across the dance floor, the pair moved as
one.

"Oh Ranma, this is just so perfect."

"Isn't it Akane?"

"Only you Ranma."

"Only me what?"

"Only you could make a day like this possible."

"Well, I am a man of many talents."

"I know, and it just kills me that when we finally do break the news to
everyone, so many people will have to be disappointed."

"Now, now Akane, don't think like that."

"I know, I know, I just have to be strong and hope it all works out."

"It will Akane, but for tonight, you are my beautiful date, who is
dancing with me in front of all of the most powerful people in the
world."

"Oh gee, you make me feel so much better." Akane says sarcastically.
Looking over Akane's shoulder, Ranma sees his mother and Kasumi.

"Both my mother and your sister are positively beaming you know?"

"I suppose all this is worth seeing them both so happy, isn't it?"

"Yes I suppose it is."

"You know, all these women are just simply so jealous over you."

"Oh is that right mister modest?"

"It's true, they are so jealous that I'm so in love with a woman, and
it's not them."

"You know Ranma, I really am going to find a good woman for you."

"Oh no, not this conversation again."

"Now Ranma, I want you to be with someone who you deserve. Someone who
would never hurt you."

"Now you speak of the impossible."

"But you deserve a woman like that Ranma."

"It doesn't matter. I wouldn't be happy with any woman who I wouldn't
love."

"I know. I just want to see you happy, Ranma. You are my best friend."

"As you to I." As the waltz winded down, Ranma ended by swooping down
and kissing Akane passionately. Applause erupted around them.
______________________________________________________________________________________

As the gala began to come to a close guests were preparing to leave. The
night had been absolutely perfect for Ranma. Not only did he get to see
his good friend Herb again, but Akane had a good time, his mother was
happy, as was his sister. As he rose to say that he was leaving, Herb
stopped him.

"Just wait a few moments. I'm going to say something, but I want you to
hear." Getting up, Herb caught everyone's attention. Waiting a few
moments for everyone to settle and look up at him, Herb began to speak.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming to welcome me this evening.
However before everyone leaves, I would like to conduct a short order of
business and I would like everyone to be a witness to something I will
be doing. As all of you know, Ranma Saotome is one of my closest
friends. Since we were young and trained together in China, we have been
companions. Just recently he has had something stolen from him, which I
thought never would happen." Several people gasped at this.

"And what was this that was stolen from him? His heart. And the woman
who holds it is Akane Tendo, his future bride." Gesturing to Akane, who
is blushing tremendously.

"As an engagement present to my good friend, Ranma Saotome, I would like
to present the ownership to a dozen islands. These islands used to
belong to China, and they reside in the Pacific. All islands hold
fertile land and are all rich in resources. It is in my hopes that with
this present, Ranma and Akane will be able to build their lives
together. As of now, these island belong to Ranma, and no one can
challenge ownership, the island can never be changed ownership by
anyone, including anyone from the Saotome lineage or China. That is all,
and hope the best for my friend Ranma and Akane." And with this, Herb
places a pendant around Ranma and a pendant around Akane. Silence
surrounds the room, but the General for the Chinese army begins to clap,
as applause roars and both Ranma and Akane look embarrassed.

As the applause dies down, guests gather to leave. Ranma walks over to
Herb.

"Herb, I can't accept this!"

"Why Ranma Saotome are you refusing the gift given to you by a king?"

"Herb, what would I do with an island?"

"12 islands actually, and they are actually ancestral grounds for me.
Since I have stepped up to power in China, I want you to have it."

"This is too much Herb. I don't deserve this." Ranma protested.

"No, Ranma, you deserve much more. If not for you I would have continued
on as a young brash king, who didn't know about the common people. I
would have thought myself absolutely invincible." Herb looked seriously
at Ranma.

"Ranma for four generations, my family has disgraced itself. When we
receive the blessing of the dragon, my ancestor became very greedy. He
became hated by many, but many could not stop him. Soon the kindness and
the gentleness my family was known for was no more. And for four
generations it continued, until me, the fifth generation. You came along
and humbled me. You took me to see the common people. You forced me to
live as one for a while. You opened my eyes to the world around me. You
saved my family from anymore shame. Now the people love me and the
protect me and obey me not out of fear, but out of respect and love. And
that night upon Phoenix mountain, when you put everything on line for
me, you are a true friend. These islands are nothing compared to what
you have given me and my family. I hope I can do more in the future. As
I said that night, my line will be forever in debt to the line of
Saotome. And I mean it." Ranma looked upon his friend, after several
moments of silence, Ranma held his hand out.

"Thank you Herb, I will honor your gift. You hold me too high, I did
what I had to do because it was right. Farewell my friend. Don't be a
stranger." Herb nodded, and took Ranma's hand and shook.

Author's notes:

Okay here is part 5. I'm currently working on part 6. I hope it will be
out within a week, but with finals around the bend, I'm not too sure.
Please send me C&C. And I am curious as to how everyone feels about the
direction I'm taking this. I am thinking about adding in some mystical
material when Cologne and the Chinese Amazons enter the scene. Friends?
The homepage will be coming out soon i hope. Probably around the same
time as Part 6. Well that's it for now. Oh yeah one thing before I go,
the time line is around about past the year 2000, so Bill Clinton is not
the President mentioned in this part. Ranma and Akane are around their
mid twenties.

-Belphera