No Title, *sigh*
Michael H. Chen aka Zenki
michael.h.chen@yale.edu
A special bonus, a sample prologue for my next story, Dream.
Chapter 4 -- Conflict
Daylight finally turned back the darkness, and another typical day in Nerima began
again. Ranma and Akane ran into the schoolyard to be swamped by a huge horde of
people. Akane was swarmed by girls, and Ranma was swarmed by boys. Ranma was
angry.
"What's the meaning of this?" He shouted into the throng of people. The crowd of
boys around him began to murmur. "Hmph, figures he doesn't know." "Damn, and I
thought he was the playboy..." "Akane, who would of thought she..." Finally a boy
shoved a black book at Ranma. "Hey! Look at this." Expecting nothing to happen,
Ranma casually openned the book... and fell to his knees. Furiously, he flipped through
the entire book, each succeeding page infuriating him beyond normal limits. His mind
filled with unexplainable rage. `How could she! How could she! I offered her my love,
and she just purposely goes to destroy me!' He dropped the book, it's pages turning in the
wind, revealing photographs of Akane kissing other boys, Ryoga, Kuno, and a lot others.
Ranma had the look of a broken man, his eyes streamed tears. `She betrayed me!'
Meanwhile, Akane was stuck in the middle of a crowd of girls. Her ears picked up bits
and pieces of conversation. "Does she know?" "Oh, Ranma's gonna get it when she finds
out." "I really feel sorry for her." A book was shoved at her, and looking around, she
decided to open it. One look at the photographs of Ranma kissing Shampoo, Ukyou...,
various other classmates was enough. She screamed in anger. Her calm face broke into a
picture of Hell itself.
"Ranma!" She screamed, and she was surprised to see Ranma already marching to her.
He was also evidently angry at her. To be more accurate, he was half way between angry
and depressed. She saw how stiffly Ranma approached, his face red, his eyes red from
tears. Ranma stopped about two yards away from Akane. Akane instantly walked up to
him, and gave him a hard punch. Ranma, not expecting the punch, felt his chin go numb
from the impact, and the taste of blood entered his mouth. `How could she! She betrayed
me!' Enraged even further, Ranma spat blood right in front of Akane...
"Akane! How could you? I thought I loved you..." Ranma shouted as his eyes began
to flood with tears. His energy drained, he whispered "I trusted you..." Ranma bursted
into tears, and was led off by a friend who tried to comfort him. His friend looked back at
Akane and gave her a mean stare. Akane was stood still, surprised at Ranma's sudden out
burst, he had never talked back to her before.
For the rest of the day, Ranma was completely depressed. His mind, still in shock, was
trying to will himself to another parallel dimension where these problems didn't exist.
Classes became such a bore, that Ranma slept the entire morning away, and he felt that life
was not interesting any more. Lunch was unbearable, and Ranma ate with his friends, all
of whom tried to cheer him up, but he stayed as depressed as ever. To him, ever since he
openned that book, the entire world had been torn asunder.
Likewirse, Akane didn't have an easy time. During the entire day, she fought the urge
to burst into tears. She couldn't concentrate in class, and she tried to forget the entire
issue, but she couldn't. She couldn't believe that Ranma would explode at her, ever. Her
mind constantly replayed Ranma's anguished voice:"I thought I loved you..." his slouched
figure, his eyes filled with pain. Some how, some where in the back of her mind, a little
voice spoke. `Ranma would never betray you...' Her mind instantly recalled the
photographs, Ranma kissing Ukyou, Shampoo, Kodachi, and her blood began to boil.
`Hmph! What a lecher! And just when we were beginning to warm up... Maybe this is
some terrible nightmare...' During the entire morning, Akane constantly stole glances at
Ranma, who was obviously trying to avoid looking at her.
Her fears were finally verified at lunchtime. Ranma was not sitting at the usual bench
waiting for her. Alone, she was rejoined by her friends who all tried to comfort her.
Saying phrases such as "Ranma's such an insensitive clod, I always wonder why you put
up with him....." or "If I were you, I'd kill Ranma..." or "You deserve someone better than
him..." These phrases were counterproductive, and further shoved the stake that had split
her heart. She bursted into tears, her mind thinking about the previous night. One of her
more observant friends, Chiaki, had been pondering about the "coincidence" that Ranma
and Akane had simultaneously accused each other of infidelity.
"Umm, Akane, why don't we look at it from Ranma's point of view. My boyfriend
said he saw a book filled with photos of you playing around with other boys..." Akane
suddenly stiffened, her mind reeling from the obvious: Ranma thought that she was
unfaithful to him...Her heart basically stopped beating for a moment, and she felt the urge
to go apologize to Ranma, but her pride prevented her. `Why should I apologize for
something I didn't do...' Akane then remembered the punch she gave Ranma... `Oh!
Why do I always react without thinking?'
Ranma sat alone at the lunch bench, his mind so angered by the events that his sense
of rationality was completely skewed. `How will I cope, I love Akane, and she purposely
has fun with others. Damn you, Akane. Damn all the women who make my life
insufferable. If I had a mind to I would....' Ranma stopped, his mind telling him that this
was some dumb result of his emotional unstability that will not help at all. However,
Ranma's emotions were controlling him, and on the spur of the moment, Ranma finally
made his decision: he vowed that he would always stay a bachelor, and that women only
got in the way of his freedom. `I shall never love any woman, as long as I live...' He
stood up from his friends, his mind made up, and left school. `I can't stand being in class
with Akane anymore...' He quickly jogged out of the schoolyard, heading to some private
place where he could think.
Akane was surprised that Ranma had disappeared after lunch, his chair was empty. All
the boys in the class seemed to take this in stride, as if they had known that Ranma had
left. Miss Hinako wasn't taking it lightly, her childish voice dripped with anger. "Where's
Ranma? How dare he cut my class? I will have words with the principal, and I'll have to
discipline him later. Does anyone know where he went?" She went to a person in the first
row, and standing on his desk, grabbed his collar. "Do you know?" Well, after she
terrorized a few other students, she finally calmed down enough to start teaching. Akane
mentally sighed, and fought back her tears and emotions.
***
Nabiki had never seen her sister so devastated in her whole life. Almost immediately,
Nabiki felt her conscience stab her heart with a jagged dagger. Almost coming to tears
herself, she managed to calm herself by thinking about Ranma. As she walked home with
Akane, she constantly spoke soothing words to Akane, and allowed Akane to find support
in her.
"Akane, come on. What's wrong? You can tell me..." Nabiki slung her arm around
Akane's shoulders and gave her a tight squeeze. Akane still sobbing uncontrollable
stammered a jumbled response...
"It's that stupid Ranma, he betrayed me..." Akane couldn't continue, her body
shaking with each sob. Nabiki shushed her, and tried to comfort her...
"I love him, and he rejected me!" Akane shouted out to the world. Nabiki continued
holding Akane, guiding her home. Akane continued, "But I don't blame him.... I really
hurt him this time..." Akane continued sobbing, and she was still shakened when she
reached home. Nabiki again felt a twist of the dagger in her heart.
Eventually, the sisters reached the dojo. As they entered, a silence washed over them.
Feeling something amiss, they both wandered around until Kasumi cheerfully poked her
head out of the kitchen. "Oh hi, you two! How come Ranma came home early? I hope
nothing wrong happened in school. It's not like him to ever abandon you Akane..."
Kasumi's cheerful face quickly turned into a face of concern, as she watched Akane's calm
demeanor disintegrate into sadness, crying, and tears within seconds. Akane then ran off,
mounted the stairs rapidly, and locked her self in her room, and cried into her pillow.
Kasumi gave a long stare at Nabiki as if trying to read something.
"What happened Nabiki? Did you make a move on Ranma in front of Akane?"
Nabiki was indignant. "Me? Make a move? Nah! I didn't, apparently Akane got angry
because Ranma accused her of being unfaithful..." Kasumi's eyebrow raised ever-so-
slightly. `That's usually Akane's line'
Kasumi sighed, life as usual was having one of its weirder twists... "So what forced
Ranma to that conclusion?" Nabiki paused, wondering whether she should include her
involvement in this issue. She decided to withhold that information. "Apparently,
someone gave Ranma a book filled with pictures of Akane kissing other boys." Kasumi
thoughfully suggested, "They why don't they make up? It would so much easier if they
talked it over..."
Nabiki cutted her older sister off. "Too late. Akane also got an album filled with
pictures of Ranma kissing other women, and she got angry as usual. She actually punched
Ranma really hard, and made him bleed..." Kasumi's mouth formed a small oh, and she
returned back to the kitchen. `Now, how do I get the two together...' Nabiki, her
conscience ripped her heart into little bits, could hear her little sister bawling her eyes out
upstairs.
She slowly went up the stairs, as if a weight had been placed on her shoulders. And as
she passed Ranma's room, she thought she could also hear crying. Quietly knocking on
the door, she was surprised when the door was jerked open by a red wet face. Nabiki was
surprised by the sudden change in Ranma's attitude...`Gosh, so many tears, and he hasn't
metamorphasized yet?' The tears served to drive a sword through Nabiki's heart. Feeling
sorry, she entered Ranma's room.
Almost immediately Ranma cried into her shoulder, and despite the situation, Nabiki
liked the feel of that. She lead him back, and both sat on Ranma's cot, side by side.
Ranma still cried uncontrollably.
"What did I do to deserve this? Was it something I said? Was I making Akane angry?"
Ranma. "But I've decided not to worry about this...I've vowed never to love a woman any
more, and I promised to stay a bachelor for my entire life..." Ranma disengaged himself
from Nabiki and stood up, forcing himself to stop crying. Nabiki frowned when he said
this. "Umm, Ranma are you sure? What would happen if you fell in love with another
woman?"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I'll ignore my emotions, and will refuse to fall in love
with her." Nabiki's hopes of an easy conquest of Ranma were shattered. `I must prove to
him that he can love me. That's going to be challenging...' Ranma didn't ever look back,
when he left the room to do the one thing that could offer some control when his life was
in shambles, practice martial arts. Nabiki quietly stood up, and followed him out,
interested in what he was going to do.
Ranma setted up a metal sparring dummy in the backyard. `Why not? Challenging
practices are always interesting...' Taking ten paces backwards, he stood still,
concentrating his thoughts for the moment, his mind picturing his fist blasting the statue
into dust. Nabiki peeked around the corner of the house, amused with Ranma's seemingly
foolish attempt. `Ranma, ha! You won't make a dent in the statue...Oh! I hope you don't
get hurt.' Ranma's mind focused on his fists, his heart, his arms, but his mind couldn't
concentrate. `What? I could concentrate yesterday.... What's wrong today?' In anger,
Ranma charged the statue, and lashed out with his hand. Nabiki stilled herself, when
Ranma suddenly moved.
"Owww!" Ranma fell to his knees, clutching his hurt hand. Nabiki, her concern for
Ranma, overwhelming her desire to stay hidden, ran up. "Ranma, are you ok?" Ranma
looked and was surprised to see Nabiki's concerned face. Smiling briefly, he answered
curtly. "Ah, it's no problem." He winced as Nabiki took his hand. Nabiki bent down, her
head on equal level to his. "Come on, you're lying. I'll get Kasumi to look at your hand.
As Nabiki helped him up, and followed him in, his unfocused mind began to think. `Since
when did Nabiki become very nice?'
****
"Stand still Ranma." Kasumi was gently massaging Ranma's hand, causing pain to
ripple up his arm. "Owww, Kasumi could you be more gentle?" Kasumi ignored him, and
continued to massage his hand, while Ranma continued to squirm, and complain about
pain. Finally Kasumi stopped, and looked at Ranma expectantly. Ranma flexed his
fingers, hardly feeling any pain.
"Gee thanks, you're almost as good as Dr. Tofu." Kasumi blushed, her mind thinking
about that strange doctor, who some how managed to always be fun. With a smile on her
face, she returned to the kitchen to resume her chores. With that said, Ranma decided that
a jog would be good for him. He dashed out the Tendo Dojo, and took off down the
street at a respectable pace. He made it to the intersection, when he stopped suddenly, his
mind filled with a combination of terror, anger.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ranma, your princess is here!" Kodachi leaped out of
nowhere, ribbon trailing behind her, and she landed in front of Ranma. Her eyes were
definitely not happy. "Ranma! You've been a very bad person. What's the meaning of
this?" She flung pictures at Ranma, showing him kissing Ukyou and Shampoo... While
Ranma caught these pictures and looked at them in shock, Kodachi screeched, "I must
punish you." She swung her ribbon, which unfurled at Ranma. Surprised, Ranma
dropped the pictures, and he ducked the ribbon. As it passed over head, he grabbed it and
yanked it really hard.
Kodachi not expecting Ranma's counterattack, felt herself leave the ground
uncontrollably, and she landed on top of Ranma. Suddenly her anger was overwritten with
pure joy. "Oh ha hahahahahahhahahaha! Ranma, so you declare your unconditional love
for me! I forgive you!" Kodachi plastered her body onto Ranma, who really got angry, his
anger clouding his judgement.
"Get off, you *woman*" He said woman with such venomous undertones, that a few
passing girls were scared and crossed to the other side of the street. He peeled Kodachi,
and slammed her against the wall, his body close to her, his face in anger, his breath heavy.
Kodachi misinterpreted his intentions. "Oh Ranma! Control yourself, we can not do this
in public!" Her hands began to caress his chest. Ranma got further enraged at the thought
of making love to this sick minded woman. He pushed her to the ground, and started to
yell.
"Why don't you ever leave me alone!" Kodachi, however wasn't listening to Ranma.
For some reason, she started to laugh uncontrollably. She leaped up and grabbed Ranma
into her arms. "Domination? I'm completely intrigued! Come, let's make love!" Ranma
completely repulsed, broke free of her grasp, and ran as fast as he could down the street.
Kodachi only laughed. `Oh Ranma so romantic, trying to make me work to get him...'
Laughing insanely, she took off in close pursuit.
As Ranma ran, passing pedestrians, dodging obstacles, he took a chance and looked
over his shoulder. `Darn! Kodachi's still following me." He decided to take evasive
manuvers. Quickly turning, Ranma started to head down a narrow maze of alleys, and
after 20 minutes, he had not managed to throw off Kodachi, however, he did manage to
make himself disorientated. Still not willing to surrender himself to a woman, Ranma
continued to push himself, and eventually he rejoined a main street.
"Hey this road looks familiar..." Ranma's eyes quickly glanced all over the place, but
he didn't notice the Neko Haten, as he passed it. Meanwhile, inside the ramen shop,
Mousse was worried about Shampoo, who had been brooding the entire day, ever since
she saw the photographs. For no particular reason, she decided to look up from her
cooking, just in time to see Ranma pass the front of the story at high speed, followed by ....
Kodachi! With a shout of rage, Shampoo picked up her bonbori, and exited out of the
store, prepared to punish Ranma for cheating on her and for trying to elope with Kodachi!
"RAN-ma!" Ranma shuddered when her heard that voice. `Oh no! Not Shampoo!'
"Shampoo punish Ranma!" Shampoo charged after the fleeing figure, brandishing her
bonbori, her well-endowed chest heaving as she ran hard. Kodachi, hearing Shampoo,
turned her head and shouted back. "Away from Ranma! We're going to my place to
make love!" Kodachi laughed maniacally for the umpteenth time, driving Shampoo's
anger beyond rage to crazed-Amazon-woman-ready-to-split-your-skull-in-two. Shampoo
shouted a battle cry, and she charged.
"Psycho-girl, Shampoo kill you! Ranma is Shampoo's husband!" Shampoo rapidly
started to gain on Ranma and Kodachi. Ranma, completely angry at the annoying people
who were chasing him, decided to stop running. `I have to face them like a man...'
Ranma screeched to halt, and turned around in time have Kodachi crash into him....
Both tumbled on the ground, their arms and legs virtually tangled together, Kodachi
making purring noises... "Oh Ranma, let's do it now!" Ranma fought hard to extract
himself from the mess, and he almost succeeded when a bonbori smashed into his chest ,
propelling him against a fence. He slid to the ground choking in pain. Shampoo easily
punted off Kodachi, who was so excited that she didn't notice. "Oh Ranma, what a rush!"
and she continued to laugh as she sailed off into the distance. Shampoo slowly approached
Ranma, her normally cheerful face frozen in anger.
"Ranma! Shampoo now carry you to China and marry." Ranma tried to fight, but a
pain in his chest, prevented him from moving. Shampoo slowly approached, her hands
holding her bonbori, obviously prepared to knock out Ranma and steal him off to China....
She raised her bonbori, but she never got to swing. Out of nowhere, a cascade of water
fell on Shampoo. Ranma cringed in fear, but instantly a hand clamped itself over his eyes,
and he heard a voice...
"Boy, you'd think that your prospective fiancees would treat you with more dignity...."
Ranma was shocked. "Ummm, Nabiki? What are you doing here?" Nabiki thought.
`Well, I can't admit that I was also following you...I was lucky that Shampoo bursted out
so early....If she had seen me....' Nabiki decided not to tell the truth, and she spoke as she
helped Ranma up.
"I happened to be passing by, and I couldn't help but notice the mess you were in."
Ranma was still wary, it was rare that Nabiki did a good deal without expecting anything in
return. Ranma's arm draped around her shoulder, and her arm around his shoulder, they
walked off. Ranma decided to be direct "So what do you want?" Nabiki looked up at
him, as if shocked. "What do you mean? I want nothing in return for this. Do you
remember, I quitted my `business'." They silently walked off to Dr. Tofu's.
***
"Minor flesh wound?" Ranma muttered incredulously as he left the clinic with Nabiki.
"That hit knocked the wind out of me...minor flesh wound...bah!" Nabiki silently followed
Ranma, her head looking down at the ground. Ranma then looked at Nabiki. Ranma
openned his mouth to say something, but he closed it immediately afterwards. After a
minute delay, he finally forced himself to speak what was on his mind.
"Nabiki, thanks for bailing me out today. I would never like being married to
Shampoo or Kodachi." Ranma looked at Nabiki, whose head was still looking at the
ground. "Hey, what's wrong? It's not as if you had a lot of annoying fiancees, all of
whom are fighting for you..." Ranma smiled briefly at Nabiki, but the smile quickly
dissolved when he thought about Akane... Slowly, they walked home together.
After entering the Dojo, Ranma was greeted by his father. "Ranma! Defend yourself."
Ranma, seeing his father charge him, charged his father. Genma stared at this approaching
son. `Ha, I'll get him this time. Heh heh.' As they approached, Genma made a sweeping
sidestep, completely avoiding Ranma's punch. Ranma's face became a look of surprise,
that even his father had outsmarted him. Becoming possessed by rage and irrationability,
Ranma went berserk. Screaming, he charged his father.
Genma looked with dismay at his son charging him. `Oh no! Now Ranma's really
going to trash me.' Almost completely filled with fear, Genma debated whether to retreat,
but he suddenly realized that Ranma was completely unfocused in his attack, there was an
openning! Ranma reached up to his father, and launched a broadside of attacks. He
punched, kicked, elbowed, and openned into a bunch of attack forms, but was surprised to
see Genma duck his fists and launch his fist into his stomach. Ranma fell back, gasping in
pain.
`What? This is not possible! First I hurt myself on the practice dummy. Now, my
father's beating me!' Genma's success served to piss off Ranma even more. Getting up,
Ranma charged his father again. Genma, stared at Ranma, and said to himself, `That's
strange, Ranma usually is very focused in his attacks...' Genma charged Ranma.
Father approached son, and as each passed, a quick volley of attacks were exchanged.
Genma blocked fiercely, his hands successfully holding back Ranma's unorganized attacks.
As both completely their pass, Genma let his arm fly at Ranma's departing body. The base
of his hand slammed into Ranma's back, right between Ranma's shoulder blades. Intense
pain shot to Ranma's brain, his anger burned through all sanity in him. He felt rage. Rage
against Akane who cheated on him. Rage against his father who managed to be winning.
Rage at his inability to focus or concentrate. Using momentum from his father's attack,
Ranma tumbled on the ground, and as he exited the tumble, his body spun 180 degrees.
He landed on his feet facing Genma's back. Ranma again mindlessly charged his father,
only to be turned back. Ranma charged again and again and again, each attempt his father
succeeded in turning him back. Ranma finally quitted, his exhaustion overtaking him, and
he lied back on the ground breathing hard.
Genma approached his son, surprisingly not rejoicing at his victory. "Ranma, is their
something wrong? You seemed to be unfocused in your attacks..." An idea crept into
Genma's mind. "Did you do something wrong to Akane? She usually hangs around when
you spar..." Genma looked about to look for Akane, the only people he could see were
Nabiki, who was sitting on the porch next to Soun who was reading the newspaper. Akane
was not to be seen. When Genma mentioned Akane's name, and the assumed that Ranma
had wronged her, Ranma's defeated look was quickly replaced with rage.
"I wronged Akane? I wronged Akane? No, Old man, she wronged me! She left me
for other men! How could she!" Ranma screamed, and as anger possessed him, his hand
shot up, and he tried, unsuccessfully, to grab his father's throat. Genma shocked by the
anger flaming in Ranma's eyes, easily dodged the clawing hands, and he picked up Ranma,
and dragged him off.
"Yah! What are you doing?" Ranma shouted. "Hey! Hands off! What's wrong with
you? I said let go!" Nabiki watched with interest as Genma picked up Ranma, and while
Ranma was blind with rage, Genma tossed him into the pond. Genma calmly took off his
glasses, quickly polished them, and put them back on. His voice was unnaturally calm.
"Ranma, cool off." He turned around, and headed back to the house.
Ranma spitting out a mouthful of water, stood up indignantly, and he stalked off to the
house, his luscious woman body quivering, only to walk into Soun, who happened to hear
Ranma's raving in the backyard. "How dare you blame Akane?" Soun's head had inflated
to a monstrous size. "You will go and apologize and makeup with her!" Unlike before,
Ranma shouted back. "Make me! And I made a promise never to marry anyone for the
rest of my life!" Soun, after hearing Ranma's vow of celibacy, got enraged, and his hands
locked around Ranma's throat and started to strangle and shake him crazily.
Punctuating every word with a shake. "You will marry one of my daughters! You will
marry one of my daughters!..." He repeated this until he felt a tap at his shoulder. "Yes!
Nabiki! What! Do! You! Want!"
"Eh, Dad, I think you shouldn't kill Ranma, or else he'll never be able to marry...at all"
Soun looked at Ranma's red face, and dropped him on the ground. Ranma had fainted
while his slim neck was in Soun's hands, and fell to the ground with a thump. Soun didn't
stop his anger, he started sobbing when he turned to Genma.
"Genma, how will the Anything Goes School live? Your son is becoming celibate, and
refuses to marry Akane!" Sobbing uncontrollably, Soun's eye's started to gush water.
Kasumi hearing the commotion, rushes into the room. "Father!", looking at her father's
extreme greiving, "Ranma!", looking at Ranma's unconscious female body on the floor,
Nabiki kneeling beside him, "What happened?" Kasumi placed her hand lightly on her
father's shoulder, trying to sooth him. Soun sniffled.
"Oh the terror! Ranma has made a vow that he will never marry a woman!" Kasumi
tried her best to comfort Soun. "There there, There's nothing wrong, I think Ranma's just
angry and he's jumping to conclusions. Never mind father, things will work out. How
about this, father, why don't you go to bed, and rest..." Kasumi led a still sobbing Soun
off. Genma stared at the clock, and muttered something about "being late" and he ran off,
leaving Nabiki and Ranma, alone, sort of. Nabiki sighed, and she shouldered Ranma,
surprised how light Ranma-chan was.
Slowly, Nabiki teetered up the stairs, the weight of Ranma-chan threw her balance off
slightly. Struggling silently, Nabiki managed to carry Ranma up the stairs, open to door to
his room, and carefully place him on the bed. `To think a week ago, I would have killed to
have this opportunity to take photographs...' Nabiki quietly walked to the bathroom,
soaked a towel in cold water, returned to Ranma's side, and patiently dabbed his forehead.
As she tended to Ranma's inert form, her emotions were in conflict within her.
It seemed that her conscience was bothering her about how she forced Ranma and
Akane apart, and she felt guilt for Ranma's current desperation, and Akane's pain. But
another part of her was feeling pretty good, because she felt that her personality had
undergone some change. Granted, she could easily be her old self again, but she felt a
desire to be nice and do good deeds. Her mind flashed to various episodes at school: she
helped a classmate pay off his debts. She unconditionally lended some money to a new
friend, and donated some to a wandering beggar. So Nabiki existed in a strange state. A
half of her was happy, because her new personality was exposing her to the joys of life.
Another half of her was sad, sad for messing up the lives of her sister and Ranma...
As Nabiki sat there, her mind in conflict, Ranma's eye's fluttered, and finally open,
revealing a hazy image of Nabiki lost in thought while she dabbed his forehead...
"Oh ohh" Ranma groaned, "My head is pounding with pain...." Nabiki looked down
at Ranma, and sort of smiled. "Well, sorry about my dad, he kind of overreacted to your
announcement of your vow of celibacy..." Ranma smiled weakly, his head hurted, a lot.
He thought to himself, `Why all of these changes? First I'm no longer engaged to Akane.'
He felt another bout of depression, but he managed to fight it back. `Father beated me for
the first time in three years. and Nabiki's become a nice person.' And as he thought of
Nabiki, he felt a weak, unknown emotion evoked within him...
"Um, thanks Nabiki, I think I want to be alone for awhile." Nabiki nodded, and she left
without a word, closing the door behind her. Ranma stared at her departing body, and he
closed his eyes to sleep, as if his pains were really a dream.
***
Akane, who was still on her bed, but not crying, heard a gentle knock on her door.
Her voice slightly shaky replied. "Come in." `Please be Ranma....Please be Ranma....' she
wished, but it was Nabiki, and she carried a tray of food. Shocked, Akane's head quickly
turned to the clock, it read 6 o'clock. Nabiki who managed to balance the tray with one
hand, smiled sheepishly.
"Kasumi didn't want you to miss your dinner." Nabiki presented the tray containing a
bowl of rice and a smattering of samples of Kasumi's dishes. Akane smiled at Nabiki, and
she took the tray. "Thank you Nabiki, you've been really nice..." Nabiki felt an urge to
leave Akane, but some how, her newly found humanity made her sit next to Akane.
"So do you want to talk? It might make you feel better..." Akane, who daintily picked
her food with her chopsticks, and carefully chewed, nodded. After chewing completely,
and swallowing, she turned to Nabiki, her eyes looked as if she could burst into tears in any
moment.
"Why is Ranma so angry? He usually comes back after any fight we have... I mean it
seems that he thinks that I did something wrong this time. Usually it's his fault, and now
it's so confusing." Akane held her head with her hands, her mind in lost in the fog of
emotions. Nabiki felt sorry for her younger sister. "And why did father freak out this
time?" Nabiki paused before she answered, knowing very well the answer might make
Akane really sad. Akane, noticing the pause, stared into Nabiki's eye. "Really, I want to
know."
Nabiki took a breath, collected her thoughts, and decided how to say it. "Well, Ranma
was hard hit because he thought you were unfaithful, and his anger clouded his judgement.
He promised that he would never marry...I think he's just being irrational." Akane didn't
know how to react to the news... One part of her wanted to laugh hysterically: `Ranma
Saotome, a man with 3 fiancees finally decides that he would be celibate.' Images of
Ukyou, Shampoo, and even Kodachi beating on Ranma filled her mind. But a sadness
also crept in...`That must mean, he doesn't love me...'
Nabiki who looked at Akane, seemed to understand what Akane thought, her sympathy
took over, and she placed a hand on Akane's shoulder. "Oh, Akane, you don't need to
panic, I think Ranma still loves you... You should talk to him..." Akane looked at Nabiki.
"Me? You want me to talk to Ranma? After all the pain he caused me? He should come
to me..."
Nabiki, thinking about Ranma and Akane, she omniously whispered, "I don't think you
meant what you just said." She openned the door, and exited just in time to see Ranma
walking down the hall to his room with a cup in his hand.
Author's Notes
1. This chapter, by request, was rewritten to play with a couple other cast members of the Ranmaverse.
2. The nature of the sex jokes that were hidden in this draft does not reflect the mental state of the author.
Preview of "Dreams"
Dream
Michael H. Chen
michael.h.chen@yale.edu
Forward
I got the idea for this story sometime ago, while I was composing Chapter 2 of my previous story, (Notice No Title Yet!). However, although I had the idea, I couldn't visualize the story, or generate a meaningful plot outline. But after seeing Ninja Scroll a couple days ago, inspiration struck, and here's the Prologue.
Prologue
Deep within in the darkest, most hidden dungeon of the Dream Netherworld, the flame of a torch flickered, and the pale reddish light was periodically punctuated with a flash of pure white and the sound of metal hitting metal....
A raspy voice whispered, "Master...The final link of the chain is almost broken." A small, almost deformed man was swinging a sword at a chain that was holding another man, a man whose ageless body enimated hate, power, and fear. With every impact, the small man grunted, his endurance admirable, for the last 1000 years, he had endlessly hacked away the 100 chains that bonded the other man to a large black rock. With every impact, bright glowing sparks flew off in every direction, momentarily brightening the dark dungeon. The taller man's eyes were glowing, much brighter than the flying sparks, in ecstacy, as his freedom came nearer and nearer with every sword blow.
His voice omniously spoke: "For one millenia, locked in this dark dungeon alone, a stark contrast to the glory I had before. I was master of the Nether World! I was on the verge of conquering the Awakened World! Except for that confounded intervention of my friend! My very own best friend betrayed me to some mere mortal he loved. But you, you have solidly standed beside me old comrade... And now that freedom is almost upon me, I shall soon take over the world of the Awakened, and perhaps pay a visit to an old friend..." He started to laugh, and laugh and laugh. As every second progressed, the laugh became more insane, evil, and maniacal, drowning out the sound of adamant crashing against the magical links of chain.
His laughter echoed through the dungeon, throughout the Netherworld, through every dream of living man... And just as sudden the laugh started, the laugh ended. Silence screamed in the air of the dream world... Back in the dungeon, the sound of sword on metal continued, unwavering, continuous, echoing for countless years, suddenly stopped replaced by the sounds of a broken chain sliding to the ground.
A voice screamed, "I am free!" Audible even miles away, the scream was followed by a bright flash of light that instantaneously obliterated the dungeon, and the surrounding countryside, indicating a new wave of evil had come.
Meanwhile in the Awakened World, a wizened old man and a young beautiful woman were hiking through mountains somewhere in the heart of Japan, two endless wanderers who have wandered for what seemed to be an eternity. The old man stopped for the moment and looked around, turning to the woman.
His old, ancient voice carried some hidden power as he spoke. "Can you feel it? The time is almost upon us, when we shall save the world which had banished us to this one." The woman behind him nodded, her eyes filled with tears, "Father, how can you be so sure, even the prophesies weren't so clear..."
The old man laughed. "It's optimism. I already saved the dream world 1000 years ago, and we can do it again..." His mirth died down, revealing that he too was not sure about the prophesies. He sighed, as both continued to trudge onwards. `Confounded prophesies! 1000 years ago, the prophesies were so clear: They said that evil will be thwarted, but the saviors too shall be exhiled...but to the Awakened World. But this time, the prophesies were so cryptic...I hope that we can find a champion in time to represent our endeavor, that is, if we're not too late...'
Notes of Prologue
1) So the prologue doesn't reveal much of the story, bite me!
2) And for those wondering, yes, this story is going to be a Ranma fanfic.