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Clogged Sink Press Presents:

The Crow/Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction:


                             As the Crow Flies


By Plunger

      All characters copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc. and
              Viz Communications, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah...
      The Crow is copyright of James O'Barr or whoever else owns it...  
______________________________________________________________________________

[Story begins...]

[Epilogue - Homecoming]

Akane ran into the graveyard and headed straight for Ranma's grave, something
deep inside telling her that that was where he was. She arrived to find him
lying limply against his own gravestone.

She ran over and dropped to her knees next to him. Looking at him, she was
able to see that he was battered and wounded from the battle. He looked pale
and weak.

Panicking, she pulled him up by the front of his leather vest. Feeling his 
neck, she was able to find a faint pulse. Ignoring the surge of elation that
ran through her, she urgently said, "Hang on, Ranma! Don't you dare die on 
me again!", giving him a shake to reinforce her words.

Ranma groaned and opened his eyes. He had really just wanted to sit back and
quietly slip away and be left in peace. With Akane, it was vain hope. "You're
such a tomboy, you know..." he murmered weakly.

Akane bristled, but held him tightly anyway, "Shh, Ranma... I'll take care of 
you..."

Ranma nodded and slipped into unconsciousness again.

"Ranma! Wake up!"

Ranma's eyes snapped open at the sudden sound. He looked around and saw that
he was still in the graveyard. He turned his head and saw Akane hovering next 
to him, a frightened look on her face. "I've got to go get help. Will you be 
okay?" 

Ranma groaned a little, before whispering, "It's okay..."

Akane stared, "What do you mean `okay'?"

"I knew what would happen when I came back..." he replied slowly, "The condi-
tion was that I only stay a short time... I had to protect you..."

Akane gasped as understanding hit her, "No..." she whispered fiercely, "Not 
again! I wont lose you again! There must be some way..."

Ranma gestured towards the black bird that sat on a gravestone across from
them, "The crow has the power to free me..."

Akane turned and looked at the bird for the first time. It looked curiously 
back at her. Akane frowned and then spoke, "You... I saw you before..." The
crow nodded and hopped along the headstone.

"Why?! Why can't Ranma stay?!" she demanded angrilly, as if the bird was to 
blame for the entire situation. A look of shock passed over her face and her 
expression fell, "I see... But I love him! Doesn't that count?! It does? NO!
That's not fair! NO! I need him more!"

Akane glared angrilly at the bird and then defiantly took Ranma's hand in 
her own, "You'll have to take me too, then!"

The crow gazed at her for a long time, it's eyes lingering on the couple's 
joined hands. Suddenly Akane looked up, an expression of joy on her face, 
"Really?" she exclaimed, "You mean it?!"

She jumped up excitedly and ran out of the graveyard. The crow watched her 
retreating form for a moment and then flew over and landed on Ranma's shou-
lder. He looked up at it uncertainly. After a moment, he nodded and said, 
"Yes... I understand... Thank you... I will tell her..."

The crow nodded one last time and then leapt into the air. It flew once over
the graveyard, then with a loud cry, turned and disapeared into the night sky. 

Ranma watched the crow leave with a certain sense of fear, strangely mixed 
with relief. When Akane returned with the family in tow, he was still staring 
at the place where he had last seen the crow.

Akane crouched down next to Ranma and grabbed his hand. "Ranma, are you 
alright?!" she asked urgently. 

Ranma snaped awake and nodded, "Yeah...I think I am..." He looked up and saw
Kasumi and Nabiki looking warily at him. Souun was blubbering everywhere and
raving about miracles. Ranma couldn't help but smile. He winced as he did so.

Akane noticed this, "Oh! We'd better get you to Toufuu-sensei! Can you walk?"

Ranma nodded and slowly staggered to his feet. His body ached and felt as if
the onlt thing holding it together was the leather surrounding him. He sucked
in a deep breath and stepped away from the headstone. Akane hovered near him, 
but he waved her away. He was determined to walked back into the land of the 
living on his own feet. 

As he stepped out the gate of the graveyard, he held out his hand. He smiled 
contentedly as he felt Akane's hand slip into his own. 

He turned and looked at her loving face. "Are you okay?" she asked again.

Ranma smiled, "Yeah... I am...finally..."

With that, they turned and slowly began to walk to the Dr. Toufuu's clinic.

The next morning, Ranma got up and went to breakfast. Akane was sitting at
the table eating. She was surprised when she saw him. "Oh! You're up... I 
didn't want to wake you... I thought you must be tired..."

Ranma shrugged, he thought he should have been tired too, but he wasn't. 

Sitting down, he grabbed a bowl and began shovelling rice into it. Nabiki
looked over and dryly said, "I guess some things never change... Your manners
haven't improved!"

Ranma stared for a moment and then finished with a little more decorum. Akane
smiled as Ranma gave Nabiki an evil smile and then took great pains to be as
well manered as possible. Nabiki ignored him, wearing an expession of distain 
on her face.

Shortly after, Akane got up to go to school. 

"Hang on!" said Ranma, as she grabbed her bag.

"Hm?" she asked confused, "You're coming? So soon..."

He nodded and grabbed a notepad and pen before stuffing it into a bag. Akane
watched all this and then smiled as he joined her at the door. He nodded and
they walked out onto the street.

"You know," Akane mused, "That you're going to cause a sensation?"

Ranma looked quizically at her, "Why? 'Cause I'm back from the dead?"

Akane laughed, "No... Because you're still wearing all that leather!"

Ranma looked down and realized she was right. He shrugged. He was sort of
getting used to it...

Later that day, Ranma and Akane walked through the park where his funeral had
been held. They were holding hands and talking animatedly. From time to time,
one would exclaim or shout, then the other would console them. A short time 
later, they stood overlooking the lake with Ranma holding Akane from behind, 
his arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled as she watched the cherry 
blossoms fall into the water.

"Spring..." she whispered.

Ranma started, "Wha?" he asked, confused.

"It will be spring..." she said, not explaining.

"When?" said Ranma, somewhat annoyed.

Akane smiled and put her hands on his, "When our baby is born..."

"Oh..." said Ranma.

"You're happy, aren't you?" she asked. Ranma noted a tinge of worry in her
voice. He leaned over and kissed her neck, "I've never been happier..."

She smiled and turned to his kiss him, "Good..."

After a moment of kissing, they turned and walked hand in hand from the park.

"You know..." Ranma mused as they left, "We should get married...soon..."

A few days later, Ranma sat on the porch at the Tendou Doujou. He looked 
out at the sunset, revelling in the sight. Akane came over and knelt behind 
him wrapping her arms around his neck. He smiled and put his hands on hers.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, gazing around the yard.

"The sunset..." he replied.

"Why?"

Ranma shifted, "Because I never bothered to notice how beautiful it was 
before..." 

Akane said nothing, but rested her head on his shoulder.

"Dying makes you see things for what they are..." Ranma added, as if to 
himself, "You realise just how precious every moment is...and how precious 
every experience is..."

Akane smiled, a littled amazed at Ranma's philosophical state. She squeezed
him and said, "I know... When you died... I thought..I couldn't go on... I...
never realised just how much you really meant..." A few tears began to roll
almost unconsciously down her cheeks.

Ranma turned and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him, "It's 
alright, Akane... I'm here... And I'm never leaving again..."

Akane wiped away her tears, "Promise?"

Ranma smiled, "Absolutely..."

Akane shifted and sat next to him, looking out at the orange sunlight. Ranma
put his arm around her and she relaxed against him. "Only a week until the 
wedding..." she noted quietly.

He nodded absently, "Yeah... A real one, this time..."

[The End]
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Author's Notes:

Hmm... This has got to be one of my strangest fanfics... And probably one 
of which I am particularly proud. I have never written anything with quite 
as much intensity, I don't think, and it effected me a great deal as I wrote 
it.

It started as a stray thought that ran through my mind after a friend mentio-
ned The Crow halfway through a conversation about Ranma. This twigged my imag-
ination and this story is a result.

The parts about the Crow were more or less incidental to my original plan, in
which I wanted to write a story about Ranma dying and Akane coping with it 
and then having him come back by some miraculous means. The Crow seemed as 
good a method as any, and allowed me to use a very dark and, hopefully, atmo-
spheric setting. 

I know that some of you are mad at me for making this into a gunfest, but I
did it for a couple of obivous reasons. The first is that the style of combat
used in the movie was all gunplay and I was trying to stay as close to the 
feel of the film as I possibly could. The second reason was that after getting 
toasted, Ranma was only going to be able to beat his enemies by adopting their 
methods. While some may question the morality of this, I will just point you
to Mouko Takabisha and Hiryuushoutenha as examples of Ranma adapting to beat
his opponent with their own abilities.

This was going to be a dark fic from word go. When you kill the main charac-
ter, it's very difficult to do anything else... I guess when I started I was
really only thinking of the death issue rather than anything else. As I 
went along, I realized that it was mearly a means to facilitate a study of 
the depths of Ranma and Akane's feelings and what death might do to them.

I did a lot of cruel things to them, but I think they were strong enough to
overcome all that and be better for it. Ranma needed to overcome his hopeless
lack of responsibility and Akane had to realise that she loved Ranma uncond-
itionally... THAT'S what this was all about... I think...

Anyway... I hope you liked it and send comments to:

plunger@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au