Chapter 9

Turning on the bathroom faucet, Akane collected some of the cool water 
in her hands and gently splashed her face to get rid of the day's 
build-up of perspiration. She inspected her eyes carefully and, luckily, 
they weren't red, just a little puffy. Pumping a blot of moisturiser, 
she blended it into her face.

<Why do I even bother?> She leaned over the sink, her hair meeting its 
reflection on the mirror. Squeezing her eyes shut, she choked back 
another sob. <It's not like he notices or even cares anymore.>

She tried to calm down again; if she had applied any more force to her 
grip, she would have crushed the sides of the sink. Grabbing a cup, she 
turned the water up until it was half full. Downing it quickly, she 
returned the cup to its holder and washed her hands.

<I hope he has lost his mind,> she thought as she wiped her hands and 
lip with the towel. <I hope he's forgotten everything so he can get the 
hell out of my house.>

Walking over to the dining room, she rubbed her palms together to get 
rid of the clamminess from the cold water. Turning the corner, she saw 
Nabiki sitting at the table flipping through a fashion magazine. Dad and 
Mr. Saotome were still hunched over their game board. Nabiki gave her a 
look that asked: <Are you okay?>

She wasn't but she gave her sister a quick nod. Nabiki returned to her 
magazine and Akane took the seat across from her looking out into the 
backyard.

Kasumi started to bring in the food and Ranma was helping her. The 
spread was way too extravagant for a normal meal.

All the major food groups were present: fried, steamed, grilled, and 
tempura. All this was because of Ranma?

Akane conceded that similar treatment was given to her when she finally 
made it out of Tofu's, but-for lack of a better explanation-this 
was...Ranma.

"Here you go," Ranma said handing a bowl of rice to her. A blue pattern 
of a dragon undulating between the sea and the clouds decorated the 
porcelain dish; she set it down.

Ranma was acting completely different. Setting the table, serving the 
two families, and all while wearing a smile matching Kasumi's beam for 
beam. Akane just sat there, confusion the only expression she could 
reply with.

The last one to sit, Ranma placed a mug of Sapporo by Dad and crossed 
her legs under the table beside Akane. Dad raised his glass in a toast 
with Mr. Saotome.

"To many more wonderful times, eh, Saotome?"

"Why Tendo, you way as well ask for another hot day tomorrow."

The two shared a round of laughter and drink.

Nabiki picked up her sake glass. "To Ranma getting her memory back," she 
said and tapped the bottom against Mr. Saotome's mug.

"Certainly, well said Nabiki." And Dad turned to Ranma.

She picked up her water glass, knocked against his mug and downed it 
quickly. "Whoo-whee!" she said banging the glass down on the table and 
slapping her knee. "I hope you got more of that coming 'cause I'm just 
getting warmed up!"

Everyone except Akane laughed at this. She was waiting for Rod Sterling 
to show up telling her to tap her ruby red slippers.

She sighed to herself and picked up her rice bowl and chopsticks to eat. 

?                    ?

Ranma was having a wonderful time. She was sharing wonderful food with 
wonderful people and cracking wonderfully bad jokes.

She passed off her rice bowl for a refill. When it returned, she 
collected some ginger and lotus root and put it on top. Adding a splash 
of soy sauce, she dug in.

She was amazed at the amount of food she was packing away, easily 
keeping up with Father and Uncle. Except in the drink department. She 
had a sip of Nabiki's sake earlier and opted to stick to water. Uncle on 
the other hand, just finished his third rather large mug of beer.

"Father," Kasumi asked, "are you sure you should be drinking so much?"

"Oh come on Sis," Nabiki responded, a little flush herself. "It's not 
like they have school tomorrow." She threw her head back and laughed.

Ranma chuckled slightly, more at Nabiki than at the joke. Then she 
turned to Akane and stopped. Akane was sitting very quietly, slowly 
transferring the rice from her bowl to her mouth. She hadn't asked for 
seconds yet and the plate in front of her was still more than half full.

Putting her chopsticks down, Ranma tapped the girl on the shoulder. 
"Akane is everything okay?"

Getting no answer, she tried again. "Would you like some fresh rice? 
Yours must be cold by now."

Akane put her food down. "It's okay, I wasn't very hungry tonight 
anyway." Pushing away from the table, she got up and left.

Ranma sat for a few minutes, her food forgotten, the conversation tuned 
out, deciding what to do. She got up.

?                    ?

For what little she ate, Akane could feel the rice cement itself into a 
rock in her stomach. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she had her hands 
on her lap. A breeze blew from the open window.

Was it a charade? Ranma had abused his transformation before to annoy 
people, especially Ryoga. Of course, being able to confuse the whole 
family would be a stretch. Especially Nabiki.

So then was it true?

<You hurt him, and now he can't remember you.>

Hurt him? Hurt him how? The mop? Akane rolled her eyes.

Getting up from the bed she took of her blouse and shook her hair out. 
She tossed the garment with her skirt into her clothes hamper as she 
walked over to her closet. Selecting her pyjamas, she slid the door shut 
and lay them out on the bed. Slipping her arms through her bra straps, 
she put on her top, then unhooked the bra catch and pulled it out. 
Removing her panties, she tossed both pieces after the blouse and skirt. 
She'd finished putting on her bottoms when there was a knock at the 
door.

She paid it no attention. Whoever it was could go away.

Whoever it was knocked again. And so, she ignored it. She went to her 
desk and a book.

A third knock.

Exasperated, Akane yelled, "*Who is it?*"

When the door opened, Ranma stuck her head in. Akane glowered at her.

"Sorry to disturb you," she said. She looked down then up again as her 
hand now entered holding up a tray of octopus puffs. "Peace offering?"

"I'm not hungry." Akane turned back to her book.

"Yeah, I could see that." The door closed. Akane tightened because Ranma 
was on the wrong side of it.

"So what *are* you doing?"

"I'm reading a book."

Ranma was now looking over her shoulder. "So why is it upside-down?"

Akane slammed the book closed and turned in her chair to face the 
red-haired girl. "What do you want?"

Ranma held up the puffs again. "Dessert. Join me?"

The death stare didn't change. "Get out," Akane said flatly.

"What's wrong?"

Getting up, Akane jumped on her bed and turned away from Ranma. Half 
because she didn't want to see her and half because she didn't want to 
be seen.

Ranma sat down on the bed. "Akane, please tell me what's the matter." 
She placed a hand on Akane's shoulder.

<That's it.>

Getting up quickly, Akane faced Ranma again, fires blazing in her eyes. 
"Cut the bullshit Ranma! What the fuck are you trying to pull?"

Ranma jerked back. "I beg your pardon?"

"Oh please." Akane covered her cheeks with her hands. "Oh, look at me. 
I've hit my head and now I've lost my memory," she dramatised. "It's an 
overused plot device on bad TV soap operas, but it's happening to me!" 
She resumed Death-stare Mode.

"What did I do?" Ranma asked, a genuine look of concern on her face.

The stare faltered a bit. "Huh?"

"What did I do that made you want to hate me so much?"

Akane's eyes darted back and forth. That was not the response she was 
prepared for. Ranma crying, trying to keep up the act; Ranma laughing, 
admitting it was a joke; even Ranma angry, having been found out: that's 
what she was expecting. But this?

Ranma smiled and slapped Akane on the knee. "Well," she said, "whatever 
kind of person I was before, I'll try my damnedest not to become again."

"What?" Akane's voice wavered.

"Come on, it obvious you hated that other Ranma--"

"Who said I hated--"

"You don't have to say it." Ranma got up. "When I first saw you, you 
didn't know what happened so you acted the way you would've if I were 
still me."

"Yes, but--"

"And since the first thing you did was give me the ice queen routine... 
Well, it says to me..." Her voice softened. "It says that I must have 
been a pretty terrible person." Her eyes closed and she hung her head. 
She poked one eye open to see if it was having an effect and quickly 
hung her head again, adding a loud sigh for emphasis.

Akane smiled--it was a wry smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Are you 
done?"

Ranma bounced up. "Yeah," she said with a grin. So Akane threw a pillow 
at her. "Hey, what's this? Anything-Goes Pillow Fighting?"

"You remember Anything-Goes?"

Ranma picked up the pillow from the floor. "What remember? It's all 
those two old farts could talk about all afternoon. Anything-Goes This, 
Anything-Goes That. It gets annoying after the first three hours."

Akane switched to a kneeling position on the bed. "En garde," she said 
except Ranma was already taking her first swing.

Yeah, right, Akane thought. Giving a push, she bounced off the bed and 
extended her legs, pushing her away from the wall and over Ranma's head.

Ranma looked at her, astonished, when she landed. "How did you do that?"

"Oh come on, Ranma," she said. "You taught me that one."

Akane and Ranma went at it like that for a while. Ranma did get a few 
blows in but Akane mostly controlled the match.

<Not bad, Ranma. You're even able to mask your fighting style 
effectively. But I know what'll finally get a reaction out of you.>

She let herself get hit one more time then called for a stop to the 
match.

"Darn," Ranma said with playful sarcasm. "Just when I was starting to 
win."

"You'll get me next time," Akane said tossing the pillow back on the 
bed. "Good night, Ranma." She went to hug her.

"Good night." Ranma hugged back.

It was amazing. Ranma always smelled the same, no matter what form he 
was in. <No matter.>

Akane gave Ranma the most passionate kiss she could conjure forth. 
Tastes the same too, some part of her mind registered.

Ranma took a couple of quick sniffs of air then pushed herself away from 
Akane. A hand came up to her face to shield her lips. A surprised, 
almost horrified, look was in her eyes. She backed up to the door not 
wanting to turn her back.

"Uh, I think I need some sleep. G'night Akane. Enjoy the octopus puffs." 
The door shut.

Again, Ranma was on the wrong side. Akane wanted to explain, wanted to 
understand. Wanted to know what the fuck was going on! She grabbed the 
tray of desserts and threw it out the window. They fell in the fishpond 
and scared the carp, but they ate them anyway.

She fell into bed and cried herself to sleep, her mind chanting: 
<Ranma's dead, Ranma's dead, I killed him and Ranma's dead...>


Chapter 10

Akane had gone to bed in tears and, after a night of fitful sleep, she 
awoke with depression.

She moved through her daily rituals in an almost trace-like state and 
took her seat at the table quietly. Kasumi placed some dishes in front 
of her. She stared at the food, unmoving. Her eyes half closed and 
leaning on the table with her knuckles digging into her cheekbones--a 
bit painful but easy to ignore--she didn't notice when Nabiki plodded 
in.

Staring down at her place setting for a moment, Nabiki unceremoniously 
fell on her ass and slumped over the table, burying her head in her 
arms. Akane looked at her for a moment then resumed her previous task

"Sis," Nabiki moaned through the table, "why did you have to wake me up? 
I'm on vacation."

"Because you promised you would help Father and I with the chores in 
return for a place to stay for summer break," Kasumi replied. "It wasn't 
easy moving your bed back in after we had turned it into a TV room."

Nabiki grumbled a few choice profanities that weren't completely 
muffled. "But Dad's not awake yet himself."

"He will be soon," the eldest sister said and went back to the kitchen.

Nabiki managed to look up a bit. "*Ungh.* I feel like a pack of rabid 
gerbils are chewing on my spinal cord," she said to Akane. There was no 
reply. She looked off in another direction. "Oh, hey, Ranma," she said 
then slumped back down.

To this, Akane reacted. She turned around quickly to see her standing in 
the doorway.

<Ranma...>

?                    ?

<Akane...>

Ranma stood in the doorway, a slight flush of embarrassment filling her 
cheeks. Akane responded in like-and both of them would have stayed that 
way--but Kasumi brake the impasse.

"Ranma, can you help me with these?" She held up a tray of food.

"Uh..." Ranma responded at first. "Sure."

She took the tray from her and set the dishes out on the table, trying 
very hard not to look at the blue-haired girl. She did spend one blink 
looking in Akane's direction however, but she was staring glumly at her 
food again. Before that could change again, Ranma doubled her effort on 
arranging the food on the table.

"Ranma, could you be a little more quiet?" came Nabiki's muffled voice.

"What's wrong with you, Nabiki?" Ranma asked.

"Don't mind Nabiki, Ranma," Kasumi said cheerfully from behind the wall. 
"She just saw one to many pink elephants last nigh." She walked off to 
the master bedroom.

"Father, Mr. Saotome, time to get up," she said, her voice filtering 
down the hallway. A couple groans responded.

"Oh," she said, coming back to the dining room. "Ranma, I almost 
forgot." She pulled out a sheet of folded paper from her apron. "A 
letter came for you this morning."

Ranma thanked her and read the letter. Shrugging her shoulders, she 
crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. One change of clothes 
later--though it was only one pair of pants for another, a red shirt for 
blue--she was in the foyer, putting on her shoes.

"I'm going for a jog," she called out and opened the door.

"Ranma..."

She stopped. Turning around partially, she saw Akane standing beside the 
staircase. Another torturous silence followed until Ranma tried to leave 
again.

"Ranma, can't you say anything to me..."

Ranma stared at the walkway, unable to meet Akane's eyes no matter how 
much her body tried to tell her otherwise.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "I can't love you. Not the way you want 
me to." And she left.

?                    ?

<Typical,> Akane thought. A tiny smile stood out on her face as more 
tears welled in her eyes. <A complete amnesiac and he still manages to 
get it completely wrong.>

The hand that had been resting on the banister was now gripping it 
tightly knuckles blanched and wood groaning. A couple fissures were 
starting to develop.

Kasumi stepped into the hallway. "Akane--"

*Crack!*

Akane slowly turned to her sister, the absurd smile still there, her 
brow knitted so tightly with grief that the muscles were in pain. She 
glanced down at the fistful of splinters. A few rivulets of blood had 
found their way onto the stair.

"I think," she said, barely able to move her voice past the trembling in 
her chin, "I need to go lie down."

"I'll get the first aid kit--"

"*NO!*" Akane yelled so loudly, it caused Kasumi to jump in surprise. 
"*Don't come anywhere near me!*"

She jumped up the stair three at a time, dropping the reddened splinters 
as she went and slammed the door to her room.

Authors Notes:
I'm sorry I haven't been writing a lot on RNU, I've been working on 
other fics and school has been eating up a lot of my time. But here's 
chapter 10 and I've already started 11 so hopefully I can have that out 
in the next 2 weeks. Ja na.


- Shakudo -
Eternal Worshiper of Makoto Kino, Ukyo Kuonji, and Sayuka Kumashiro
Holder of the files of Ranma Nibun no Usugurami and Sailor Moon D

Email: shakudo@hotmail.com
NEW URL: http://members.tripod.com/Shakudo/main.html

I love the way those cute little anime girls say, "kawaii!"




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