Ranma 1/2:  Dreams and Realities; Part 3--**Awakenings**
By:  Numbski
Last Updated:  12/17/96
 
Legal Stuff:  All these characters were created by Rumiko Takahashi and I
therefore take no credit for them.  All I did was place a hypothetical
situation upon them.
 
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Ranma slowly opened his eyes from the sleep he had been in since...

<Since what?  What the heck happened?>  He looked around and found himself
in a very sterile environment, white seemed to be the predominant theme
surrounding him.  "Where am I?"  He tried to sit up in his bed to get a better look,
but he was brought back down by the pain that shot up through his back.  Indeed,
what had happened?

*******

Ranma and Akane walked up the stairs arm in arm.  Akane was in his arms,
shaking rather violently from the careening emotions she was feeling.  Why hadn't
either of them come forward and told her the truth?  Now she had slept
with...with....HIM in her bed all this time.  The thought absolutely disgusted her.  She
hated him now.  She also had Ranma to blame as well, but for some reason she
couldn't bring herself to do it, not right now.  She looked down and at the ring on her
left hand and back up at the one that had given it to her.

The two walked into Akane's room.  The sun had gone down by now, the
bright moonlight illuminated the room enough that neither of them cared enough to
turn the lights on.  They sat down on the floor in each other arms.  Akane was
leaning on Ranma's shoulder, trying to steady herself.  This was all too much for
her to bear right now.  She finally gathered up her emotions enough to attempt
speaking.

"Ranma....why?"  She feebly attempted to keep from breaking down in tears.
"Why didn't you tell me P-chan was..."  She finally couldn't take it anymore.
The tears came down worse than a tsunami now.  Ranma held her in his arms and
didn't dare let go.  He finally had her, and now he wouldn't let anything tear
them apart.

"Because it was my, it was my fault.  Ryouga chased Pop and I to
Jusenkeyo.  I was pissed off at Pop for dragging me out there. Ryouga got in the way of me
kicking Pop, so I knocked him out of the way."  He was trying hard himself not to
fall into tears.  He had kept this from her for so long, he wasn't sure if he
could take it himself anymore.

"That still doesn't mean you couldn't have told me."  She was still
crying, this sharp remark came from the absolute bitterness she was feeling.  Ranma and
Ryouga had dishonored her and made a fool out of her.  She was so embarassed.
There were so many times she had dressed in front of P-chan, or told him things that
she told no one else.  Now she knew the truth.

"I was bound by my stupid honor Akane.  I didn't like it.  You saw how
much I abused P-chan and how much I tried to keep him away from you.  Now you
understand why I acted the way I did."  He to had now broken down into tears.  They
embraced each other tightly.  Neither of them wanted to let go of the other.

"Akane, I love you.  Please Forgive me..."  He was trying so hard to
regain his composure.  Men didn't cry, this was no way for him to be acting, but he
couldn't help himself.  The tears continued to come.

She looked up at him and managed to force a weak smile at him.  "Baka..."
She leaned over and kissed him tenderly on the lips.  She was still bitter
about the whole situation, but she was starting to feel close to Ranma for the first
time, and that emotion was taking priority over all others at the moment.

"Kawaiikunee iianazuke..."  He leaned over and returned the kiss, enjoying
the feeling that the emptiness he had been feeling for so long was finally
being filled.  The two kissed for a long time, enjoying each other's company
more than anything.

The two jumped apart startled at a knock that came from the door.

"Hey sis, can I talk to ya for a sec?"  It was Nabiki.  Leave it to her to 
interupt a sensitive moment.

"Uh, could you wait a minute Nabiki, I..."  She was cut off by a yell from
downstairs.

Suddenly, everything around them began to crash and burn....

*******

<Whoa.>  Ranma thought to himself as he lay there in bed.  Things were
starting to come back to him.  The blast, where had it come from, and why?  The
ceiling had caved in on top of them, but for the life of him he couldn't piece it
together.  

His head was bandaged, and he had inumerous wires and tubes running from
him.  Finally, someone would be able to answer his questions.  A nurse walked in
to check on him, seeming somewhat startled to see him awake.

"Mr. Saotome, how are you feeling?"  She tryed to look as normal as
possible to hide her surprise to see him conscious.

"Well, everytime I try to sit up my back starts to kill me, but other than
that I feel okay."  He was somewhat confused, mostly from his abrupt awakening,
also from being called Mr. Saotome.  That wasn't normal.  "Where am I?"

"You're at Tokyo General Hospital, and have been for the last 2 days."
She looked at him thoughtfully.  "Hold on a moment so I can call a doctor in to speak
with you."  She walked over to an intercom and spoke into it, Ranma not
listening carefully enough to hear what was being said.  When she was finished she
walked back over to his bedside, checking his blood pressure and doing some other
routine checks.

"Do you happen to know what happened to me?  I'm not really sure I
remember right."  He looked hopefully up at the nurse tending to him.  

"I really don't know much.  You came in from a massive explosion that
occurred in the Nerima district.  It originated at the Tendi residence.  We don't know
what happened."

"Tendo.  Was the house destroyed?"  He was starting to feel a coldness
come over his body.  A thought had come to him that scared him so much that he began
shaking.

"What about Akane?  Akane Tendo?"  He held his breath waiting for a
response.  He realized that he had just rapidly blurted out a slur of questions.

"Well, I don't know about the house, but Akane and Nabiki Tendo are right
across the hall.  They are both unconscious yet, and in critical but stable
condition.  It looks like they are both going to make it, but you are the first to
awaken."

The cold feeling continued up his body.  Finally, just as the doctor and
someone that looked like they were in a police officer's uniform walked into the
room, he slipped back into unconsciousness, satisfied that Akane was safe, or at
least as safe as he was.

*******

The school bell rang, dismissing the students for the day.  As all days go
at Furinkan, it was expected that Kunou Tatewaki would try once more to
win the affections of the "pig-tailed goddess" and Tendo Akane from that
vile sorceror Saotome.  It was well know that Ranma had put these two
under some sort of spell, for there is no way that either of them would,
in their right minds, deny the love of the Great Kunou Tatewaki and choose
that cur instead.

At least these were in the inner workings of Kunou's mind anyway.

At the ringing of the bell, Nabiki, Ranma, and Akane headed for the Tendo
home in the usual manner.  This included Ranma and Akane arguing, and
Nabiki watching in sheer amusement, waiting for the inevitable.

"You JERK!  How could you let Ukyou just hang all over you like that?
Right in front of the entire school?"  Akane was already glowing a light
blue, this was a pretty fast manifestation.  If one didn't know better,
you'd think she actually TRAINED her ki to swell at Ranma alone.

"Gimme a break, will ya Akane?"  Ranma was in no mood to fight right now,
in fact he had been acting very strangely all day.  He had to keep up a
front, he couldn't let her know what was going on.  "I couldn't help it
she glomped onto me like that.  What was I supposed to do, hit her?"

"Then what made her glomp onto you like that?  You had to have done
SOMETHING."

Nabiki nearly choked.  Ranma was having an equally difficult time holding
his composure.  What to say?  He couldn't tell her the truth...

##Two Hours Earlier##

Ranma is sitting in class looking absently out the window, and seems to be
fidgeting with something in his pocket.  Nabiki is sitting next to him,
and Ukyou is sitting two rows over, with Akane sitting in front of her.

"Hey loverboy, when are you going to tell her?"  Nabiki look at him with
an amused look on her face.  She was enjoying the harassment she was
giving Ranma, and knew that he could do nothing about it, except change
his facial colour to something closely matching that of his favorite silk
shirt.

"I dunno, I haven't found the right time."  The object Ranma has been
fidgeting with now moves out of Ranma's pocket into his hand, just in view
of Ranma and Nabiki.  "I, uh, really appreciate you helping me get this
for her, you don't know how much it means to me, and her both."

Nabiki was the one to blush this time, it wasn't of her nature to give
money away, but this time, something was very different about the whole
scenario.  She had to do it.  Ranma was finally go to get up the nerve
to...her line of thought was finally distracted by Ukyou, who had started
to take interest in the conversation between Nabiki and Ranma.

"What are you two up to?"  She leaned over to the unexpected surprise of
Ranma trying to hide something.  She did catch a glimpse of a small red
box about 2 inches  in width and 1 inch high.  Ukyou's eyes widened.
"Ranma!  I knew you'd finally come to your senses!  Why didn't you tell
me?"  She had quickly jumped to the conclusion that Ranma wanted to marry
her, and was out of her chair and glomped onto Ranma, who had somehow
passed the box to Nabiki out of sight of Ukyou and most importantly Akane
who was now fuming.

"You HENTAI!"  Akane stood up and the Dimensional Hammer (tm) was in her
hand ready to go...

##Back to the present## 

"Fine then, if you're going to go letting every girl in town go hanging
all over you, maybe I ought to open up my options a bit with the men in
town."  She had turned absolutely cynical now, she was still mad, but she
was purposely trying to make Ranma jealous, and she was doing a good job
of not showing it.

"Come on Akane, do you really think a kawaikunee tomboy like you would
actually be able to get a guy..."  He ended up being cut short, but not
from a fuming Akane.

"Saotome you cur!  Release Tendo Akane and the pig tailed one to me at
once or feel the wrath of the Blue Thunder!"  Kunou ran up and tried
desperately to hit Ranma, but as usual he didn't have a prayer of touching
him.  Trees fell, walls got smashed, and Kunou was generally making a mess
of the place.  As ticked off as Akane was, she couldn't help but laugh.
This picture had repeated itself so many times.  She knew Ranma loved her,
but he would never show it, and she was just as stubborn, and would remain
so.  She wondered if either of them would ever give.

"Kunou sempai, you just don't get it do you?  You can't beat me, so GIVE
IT UP!!!"  By this time Ranma was getting ready to boot Kunou into lower
orbit, but Nabiki had shaken out of her laughter long enough to stop him.

"Hey Kunou baby, why don't we go get something to eat?"  Nabiki had this
sweet and innocent look in her eyes, and Kunou knew what that meant:  He
was about to lose some money.  However, he usually got something
worthwhile in exchange, so he willingly left his fight with Ranma to
follow Nabiki, not without first making some choice insults to Ranma of
course.  As they walked by, Nabiki slid her hand into Ranma's pocket, much
to his and Kunou's surprise.  Ranma jumped about ten feet at the feeling
of someone sticking her hand into his pocket.  He calmed down once he
realized that the box was back in his possession.  Kunou knew none of this
however, but he managed to hold his tongue until they had arrived at their
destination.

"Tendo Nabiki, how is it that you go and place your hand in that cur
Saotome's pants?"  He had the most peculiar look on his face; a cross
between confusion and disgust all at once.  Nabiki turned to him and
smiled.  "That information isn't free Kunou baby."

He looked at her, almost unwilling to know why she would commit such an
attrocity.  However curiousity got the best of him in the end, and his
pocketbook was opened wide.

Reaching in and taking out what she considered to be a fair price, she
returned to the conversation.  "I had a gift that Ranma bought for Akane,
and I had to give it to him without Akane seeing it.  He knows it didn't
mean anything, and Akane was probably just confused about it and thought
nothing of it.  She probably thought he owed me money again."

Kunou finally relaxed, knowing that she hadn't fallen under Saotome's
spell as well.  Nabiki proceeded to order her fill of food as Kunou
ordered a hot tea.  Nabiki ate and Kunou finally spoke up.  "Well, what do
you want?  You usually bring me here when you have something to sell."
She gave him an amused look.  

"Yes, there is something I want in fact."  She pulled out a callendar, and
looked it over thouroughly.  "What are you doing tomorrow early evening?"
Kunou was surprised, he had expected to see pictures of his two precious
beauties.  He stumbled over his next several words.

"Um, tomorrow, Saturday, I don't think I am busy. Why do you ask?"  

Nabiki thought carefully before she spoke.  She had been plotting for a
while, and didn't want to blow it now.

"Well, I would like to be taken out on a date, if you wouldn't mind doing
the honors."  She did her best to keep a smirk on her face to hide the
nervousness she had been feeling just a moment ago.  Kunou on the other
hand looked like he had just been rudely awakened from la la land.

"What?"  It was the only thing he could stumble out.  I uh, never
considered, uh.  He looked at her, and finally, after drawing a deep
breath, answered.

"Yes, I would be honored."

*******

Nabiki was lying peacefully in a white sheeted bed.  Upon looking around,
one can see her sister Akane lying directly across from her.  Akane,
however has been strapped down to her bed.

Nabiki rolled over, moaning just a little incoherently.  After listening
closer...

"...if you wouldn't mind doing the honors..."

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Well, that's all for part 3.  Have you caught what has actually happened,
and what is only the imagination of those involved?  Did Nabiki ask out
Kunou?  It wouldn't be any fun if I told you, now would it? =)

and now the sig...

Numbski's Outta Site:  http://panther.greenville.edu/~ashadwic
Dreams and Realities Homepage:
http://panther.greenville.edu/~ashadwic/ranma/dreams.htm