Perhaps you're wondering why I'm reposting this. Call it for the benefit of
the FFML's new members....!
This story was inspired by nothing more than a simple picture of Ukyo.
If anyone wants a peek at the pic, just ask me. It is in JPG format.
BIG thanks go out to Raphael See, for the revision!
Ranma 1/2 = (C) of Shogakukan
"Saishu no Wakare"
- by WebDragon
Comments are welcome, of course.
----------------------
SAISHU NO WAKARE
(Final Farewell)
Ranma awoke in a cold sweat in his bed, the morning light
blinding him temporarily as he opened his eyes and beheld the dawn of
a new day. <D-damn. It was just a dream>, he thought to himself.
He sat up and clutched his forehead in one clammy hand, the other
resting on the blanket. <It...it had been so real>. Beside him, Akane
stirred and reached a hand out, questing for him. Ranma smiled and
put his hand on hers. Her fingers latched onto his with an intense
fervour and she drew him close to her.
He responded and brought his face down to hers. And he kissed
her lightly, a soft brush of his lips that belied the intensity of emotion
he was feeling at the moment. Love first and foremost, mixed with a
considerable amount of....relief. His eyes began to tear up but he
blinked the tears away. <Don't think about it>, he told himself.
But it was hard not to. It seemed like it had only happened
yesterday, instead of six weeks ago. The vividness of that moment still
hadn't diminished in the slightest. An involuntary tear rolled down his
face and he quickly wiped it away.
Then he lay down and enfolded Akane in his arms. A firm, yet
gentle grip he gave her, a brush of skin on skin, while the cool breeze
blew in from the window. This was what he needed to get a grip on
himself. Akane snorted and instinctively snuggled closer to him, her
face on his chest. Ranma rested his chin on Akane's head and lay there,
thinking of his dream.....
* * *
Ukyo was walking beside him on a road next to a field full of
wildflowers. They were both grown up and she was dressed as Ranma
had last remembered her. She had black tights on and she wore her
favorite okonomiyaki shirt - the one that reached halfway down her
thighs and was tied up at her waist. Her hair, cascading down her back,
bore a white ribbon in it. The only things she were missing were her
bandolier and her giant spatula.
He remembered her hugging him. It was a gentle hug, nothing at
all like the fierce embraces he usually received - right before Akane
malleted him, that is. It was an embrace full of unspoken meanings and
emotion, and he had returned it without reservation, for nowhere around
could he see any signs of civilization, or other people.
It was out of love that he had hugged her back, but it was not the
kind of love he reserved for Akane. It was deep friendship, nothing
more, and the both of them had known it. Then they had broken the
hug and Ranma continued walking with Ukyo up the road.
They were the only ones in this semi-surreal world of humming
insects that played in a score that included bird song and the rustle of
the wind in the tall summer grasses. It was like a symphony of life,
Ranma mused. A cloudless sky with a mantle of blue covering the
whole of the earth, and a sun lending life to everything under its gaze,
provided for a background scenery as the insects, the birds, and the
wind sang their song.
It had felt like old times again; Him and her, walking through a
world free of worry. No decisions to be made, no real life matters
pressuring him to act. It had been....complete freedom.
Then he had taken a step forward and noticed that Ukyo was no
longer beside him. He had looked back and he had seen Ukyo standing
in the field. How had she gotten there? He had turned back and walked
back to her...or tried to, but he kept moving up the road. Everytime he
tried to move towards Ukyo he advanced the same distance away.
"Ucchan!!! Come back!!", he had yelled as he stretched his hand out
to her.
Ukyo had just given him a smile, full of longing and love, and
unspoken words. Then she had waved goodbye and she began to walk
off through the meadow, the tall grasses swaying back and forth as she
made her way through them. Ranma cried out again and tried to reach
her, but she kept progressing further and further until Ukyo was a small
figure in the distance. She turned about then and waved again. Then
the shade of a tree's branches hid her from view and.....
* * *
That was when he woke up. <Ukyo....>
He looked down guiltily at his wife and stroked her hair. She just
kept on snoring away into his chest. <That's the Akane I know>, he
thought wryly to himself. Releasing Akane, Ranma sat up and went to
the washroom.
He looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced. God, he looked
like hell. He touched the bristle growing on his chin and over his upper
lip. And to think that just five years ago, when he was sixteen, he had
worried about NOT growing a beard. It came with growing up, he
supposed. He reached for the razor, to make himself presentable, but
he paused. <I wonder....> He turned on the cold water tap and
lowered his face to the stream. Then he splashed a handful of water on
his face.
Instantly the curse took effect and he shrank in size and became a
woman. Then she looked up into the mirror, turning off the cold water
tap as she did. The bristle was gone.
Yes! A revolutionary turn of events for men everywhere who
didn't like to shave!! Just dunk yourself in Jusenkyo's very own
nyannichuan and you will never have to shave again!!
<Hah.> Ranma-chan stood back from the basin and examined
herself. Her female body had aged at the same rate as her male body
did. Where a cute girl would have been standing five years ago, a
thoroughly beautiful and sexy *woman* now posed before the mirror,
her red pigtail hanging seductively over her shoulder and brushing a
straining breast under a sheer, sleeveless shirt....Ranma-chan shuddered
at that thought. She could never think of herself as a woman. Never,
never, never.
"Morning, Ranma."
Ranma-chan jumped and turned about. Akane stood there in her
nightgown, grinning at her. Then she brushed past Ranma-chan and she
went to the basin, to brush her teeth.
"M-morning, Akane." Ranma-chan flushed a deep red. Caught
posing in front of the mirror *again*!! Really, this curse was causing
her more trouble day by day. Swallowing her embarrassment, she
butted in beside Akane and began to brush her teeth as well.
Her thoughts returning to her dream, Ranma-chan couldn't help but think
about Ukyo. Akane was saying something but she didn't hear a
word of it. Right now, all her senses were directed inwards to try and
remember how Ukyo had sounded like, yet, try as she might, she
couldn't recall anything at all. Not until she silently mouthed
`Ran-chan' to herself. Those words had flowed from Ukyo's lips
countless of times in greeting, or in jest. In sorrow or in anger. But no
matter the reason, `Ran-chan' had been said with love at its essence.
Unrequited love now that is. Forever....and....and ever. A hot
tear drop fell from her face and hit Akane's hand, which was just
reaching for the hot water tap. Akane paused, and then she turned to
Ranma-chan.
"Ranma....what's wrong?", she asked with concern.
"Nothing. Nothing at all, Akane."
Akane brought her hand up to her lips, and tasted the wet spot on her
hand with the tip of her tongue. Ranma-chan wrenched the hot
water tap on and splashed her face with it. His tears mixed with the
comforting warmth of the stream of water and he wept silently. Then
he felt a hand lift him up from the basin by the chest. Akane's hand.
"Ranma....I'm sorry. I should have known."
"Don't be, Akane. It's just that....that I still remember it so
clearly." Ranma turned the tap off and turned away from Akane, so
that she couldn't see his tears.
"We've already said...our goodbyes, Ranma. Please, let her go.
I weep for her too, Ranma, but...but we can't change what had
happened in the past."
"It may be in the past...but it's still there. Ucchan...."
And Ranma's memories fell back six weeks. To that day of
sorrow......
* * *
It was a morning under grey clouds when they had assembled at
the place. Ranma, Akane, all the Tendos and Saotomes. Shampoo,
Mousse and Cologne. Ryoga and Akari. Even Happosai. All wore
clothing of purest white as they assembled around a grave. Ukyo
Kuonji's final resting place.
An illness of some sort, the doctors couldn't identify it, had struck
Ukyo two weeks before. It had progressed with a fury that stole the
spark of life from Ukyo and rendered her bedridden. Ranma could still
remember the moment she had passed away.
She had opened her eyes, while lying in her bed, and she had
whispered two words in a voice so soft only Ranma could hear. He
remembered leaning with his ear close to her lips as everyone else in the
room strove, in vain, to hear what Ukyo was saying.
"Wakare, Ranchan", had come her voice in a trembling whisper
meant for his ears only.
Farewell, Ranchan. Then she had squeezed his hand in one last
grip, full of unspoken love, and she had closed her eyes. And passed
away into the realm of spirit, her going-away seeming to leave a vacuum
of feeling in Ranma, a void that he couldn't fill no matter what he did.
For one of the rare times in his life, he had wept. Fiercely and
unashamedly. No words had come. Though he had tried to bid her
farewell, he couldn't. Silence had greeted silence, except for his sobs
of anguish splitting the air apart with their intensity.
The Ucchan had been closed down and Nabiki had taken care of
all the legal details. Ranma had told her NOT to sell the restaurant
under any circumstances, and Nabiki had merely looked him in the eye,
and had said, "I wasn't planning to, Ranma."
Ranma's thoughts returned to the present when the priest read out
the final rites. All assembled spoke the ritual words in solemnness.
Then the casket was laid in the ground and one by one people came
forward, with their last words and parting gifts. Ryoga gave a
bandanna, while Akari draped a silken handkerchief, embroidered with
little pigs, on the casket.
Cologne gave a beautifully wrought jade brooch, and Mousse
placed a kiridashi beside the brooch.
Shampoo came forward then.
"Zaijian....wo de pengyou." She placed a bonbori reverently on
the side of the casket and stepped back, tears already welling up in her
eyes. No doubt, for all her talk of `killing' and `slaying', Shampoo's
first encounter with death had sobered up her view of the world. With
no one else to hold, Ranma being on the other side of the grave,
Shampoo laid a hand on Mousse's and squeezed. Mousse hardly noticed
at all, for once seeing without his glasses.
The adults of the gathering gave flowers. Nabiki took a piece of
paper, with writing on it, out of her pocket and tore it in two. These
she laid on the casket, putting Cologne's brooch over the pieces to keep
them from flying away. Ranma caught the words `Loan' on one piece
of paper before Nabiki strategically placed Mousse's kiridashi over the
words.
Akane produced the framed picture of the group shot that was
taken on Toma's island. This she put, with great care, inside the grave
and on the casket.
Ranma came forward last of all, right after Akane. He laid a hand
on the wood.
"Ukyo. You've been....my best friend. I'm no good at this sort
of thing, as you already know, so I'll....I'll make it short. Farewell,
Ucchan. We'll always...."
Ranma choked and struggled to regain his composure.
"...We'll always....remember you. Ucchan. I'm sorry
I've...nothing to give you. I'm sorry."
Akane laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke words of comfort. He put a
trembling hand on Akane's.
"All I can give you is my farewell, Ucchan. Please forgive me."
And he turned away, so that he wouldn't have to see the first
spadeful of soil being put in.
* * *
Ranma left the bathroom, followed closely by Akane. He sat down
heavily on the bed and sighed. Six weeks had done nothing at all. His
best childhood friend was gone and he had done little but comfort her.
He....he wanted to have done more for Ukyo. It was not fair!
It was because of him that Ukyo had gone through all that she did.
Hell, she had even opened a restaurant, so that she could support
herself, for she was living where Ranma did. That had showed alot of
strength of character on her part; that, as well as being coupled with a
fierce, unabashed love for him and for life in general.
Had there been a week that went by without him eating at least one
of her okonomiyaki? Did he or didn't he help her through that boom in
her business, until she could hire more help? Why, it had only seemed
like yesterday that he was just chatting with her about life in general
while gobbling down an okonomiyaki.....
Even now Ranma thought he could just hop down to the Ucchan
and see her cooking the okonomiyaki with enthusiasm while handling
two different phone calls at once and serving customers with zest. It
would be as if nothing had ever happened, nothing had ever changed.
There she would be, envisioned Ranma, flipping an okonomiyaki to a
customer, then she would call out a greeting to a regular, and then speak
on the phone to her friends. Long brown hair flying, eyes wide with
excitement, the smell of cooking permeating the atmosphere. That was
the trademark of the Ucchan - enthusiasm and a love for cooking and
pleasing the customer.
And there he would be, with Akane at his side, waving to Ukyo.
She would flip them two okonomiyaki and keep on working, albeit with
less emphasis on the cooking and more of her attention directed to
Ranma. Maybe....just maybe...nothing had ever changed. Perhaps if
he ran down there fast enough....she'd still be....
One look at Akane's sober face destroyed that fantasy. God, he
missed her. <Wakare, Ranchan.....>, rang her words in his mind
over and over again. She had said...goodbye. After a journey of a
thousand miles, searching for him, trying to become his wife but failing,
she finally ended her too-short quest with an uttered farewell to him.
Her best friend and fiance. It felt, in some way, his fault that Ukyo had
passed away.
Ranma silently changed into his red shirt, which Kasumi had
modified to fit his bigger frame, and his black pants. Then he left the
room.
"Where are you going, Ranma?", asked Akane.
"Out for a walk. I'll be back later, Akane."
And he felt Akane's eyes follow him all the way down the hallway
and out of the house.
Ranma stepped out of the Tendo Dojo into the sunlight. It was a
warm day and he basked in the heat of summer as he left the Dojo
boundaries and walked to the Ucchan, like he had done everyday for the
past week or so. His feet traced familiar paths and he deftly avoided the
old woman with the ladle of water. Down an alleyway and over that
house. Past Furinkan High and turn that corner....
The Ucchan. It looked the way it had always been, except the
windows were shut and the door was locked. It had the feel of Ukyo all
about it. Indeed, she had spent most of her time after school running
the business. And when the day ended, she would retire to her room
upstairs. In short, it had been her life.
Ranma walked up to the front door and paused. He hadn't entered
since her passing away, but right now he needed to *feel* Ukyo - and
maybe reconcile himself to her. Yes. That's it. He produced a key
and unlocked the front door, and stepped inside. A thin layer of dust
covered everything, from the chairs to the tables to the grill, and the
seats by the counter. Any moment now, Ucchan would come running
out of her room to see who it was......
But she didn't come. He imagined Ukyo behind the counter,
smiling at him even as she scraped the grill clean. He walked over to
the seat by the counter, his favorite one, and sat down. Then he rested
his elbows on the counter and stared sightlessly into the semi-darkness.
"Ucchan. I'm sorry for coming into your place without asking
your permission, but I feel as if I hadn't said my goodbyes yet."
Ranma sighed. "I know I said goodbye...at the service, but I
didn't even say anything like that when you bid me farewell. `Wakare,
Ranchan', you had said. Well, I'd like to say goodbye in the same way,
but it is not the same. It's not...the same without you here to hear me."
Ranma shifted around on his seat and faced the spot where Ukyo
would have stood if she...she was still alive.
"Do you remember our childhood together, Ucchan? Of course
you do. How could we forget the fun days we had? And the day you
scraped your knee on that stone, I remember how you...you shrieked
when the iodine was put on the wound. Then we climbed that tree and
couldn't get down until my dad pulled the both of us from there. And
our daily fights. Yes. Did you really enjoy them? Even when I kept
defeating you?"
Ranma didn't feel the least strange talking to the air. To him, the
Ucchan would always answer - in his heart. He knew what Ukyo would
have said. "Yes, Ranchan!" or "Those were the times, right Ranchan?"
had been her typical answers.
Ranma got up and went around the counter. There. A spot on the
floor worn bare by her constant pacing and moving about. He squatted
down and rubbed it with his fingers, feeling the smoothness of the wood
in that spot.
A glint of metal caught his eye and he peered under the counter.
Ukyo's big spatula and her bandolier. The bandolier had just one
throwing spatula in its pockets. He pulled the big spatula and the
bandolier out with trembling hands and stood up. And he placed them
on the grill and looked down at Ukyo's equipment.
Suddenly, seized by an urge he couldn't explain, Ranma went
upstairs to Ukyo's room and entered it.
Here.
This was where Ukyo had passed away. Ranma felt tears welling
up again but he swallowed and pushed them away. And he walked
about the room, feeling the presence of Ukyo all about him. The room
was sparse, yet comforting in a fashion.
A little blue book caught his attention. It was centered right on her
desk and it seemed to beckon to him. Ranma picked it up and opened
it tentatively. It...it was Ukyo's diary and in her handwriting. He
turned to the bookmark in the diary and he began to read what had been
written there.
--------------------
June 29th, 1992
--------------------
Dear diary, I hope to go on a date with Ranchan today, my FIRST
ONE, - that is, if my business allows me to. I know the regulars won't
really mind....
I know of a place we both could go to! I'll get the train tickets for
the both of us for a round trip back to my old town. I've always wanted to
revisit that place, especially that meadow we used to play in when we were
kids. Anyhow, better get back to schoolwork or else my grades
will suffer.....
-------------------
Ranma flipped the page, but it was blank. The next one was blank
too. Then he caught sight of two pieces of paper bookmarking a certain
part of the diary and he flipped to that.
-------------------
July 5th, 1992
-------------------
Dear diary, I finally got the train tickets for our date. They're the
indefinite kind, the ones that aren't postdated, and I hope to catch
Ranchan for a visit back home TOMORROW. Oh, I'm *so* excited!!
-------------------
Ranma pulled a train ticket out and looked at it for a long moment. It
had bookmarked a part of the diary written three years ago. He ran a finger
over the words in the diary, trying to imagine Ukyo's
excitement as she had written those words. He could just see her now
with a smile on her face, her pen scratching furiously on the soft paper
of the diary. Yet, something didn't sit quite right with him. There was
something he was missing....
On a hunch, Ranma turned the page. It was blank. He flipped the
diary and skimmed through the rest of the pages. They were ALL
blank. The reason why slowly dawned upon him.
Him and Akane had been married since July 6th, 1992. And today
was July 5th, 1995. Their anniversary was tomorrow. And Ukyo had
meant to take him out on her first date on July 6th, which just happened
to be the day Mr. Tendo and his dad had sprung that surprise wedding -
in order to avoid the fiasco that had happened the first time around.
Ranma put the diary down and slowly let out his breath. And all
this while....Ukyo had been acting so nice to the both of them....so
joyful and optimistic.
Ranma suddenly wondered how Ukyo had been keeping her tears
within her. He thought about the....strength and courage to keep on
smiling day to day to the customers. Ranma thought about the cheerful
attitude she had always assumed whenever him and Akane visited.
All the missing feelings of frustration, anger, sadness and betrayal,
which Ukyo had never shown since the second wedding - it all became
apparent to Ranma now. His image of Ukyo, full of life and happiness,
now changed to one where she was hunched over her desk in absolute
grief, her limp hair hiding her face from view.
He could just hear the hollow thumps now as Ukyo slammed her
fist over and over again on the shut diary.....
Ranma suddenly put the ticket in his pocket and closed the diary,
carefully. He exited the room, closing the door behind him, and he
scooped up Ukyo's big spatula and her bandolier. Ranma left the
Ucchan and headed off with a purpose for the first time in six weeks.
He was finally going to make peace with Ukyo.
- - - - -
Ranma stepped off the train and left the train station behind. The
town where he had spent some of his life in had changed. Then again,
it HAS been fifteen years, hasn't it? Memory guided his steps through
the town and to the spot where the okonomiyaki cart would have been
if his father hadn't taken it. It too was no longer the same. Carts
selling ramen and various other foodstuffs now occupied the streetside,
but no one was selling okonomiyaki. <Fitting...>, Ranma supposed.
He walked down the street and weaved in between people and made his
way out of the town.
He reached the beginnings of the meadow via a winding road.
Strangely, it was still untouched by real estate developers. And he took
his first tentative step into its greenery since his abrupt departure
fifteen years ago. The sights and sounds of the field of life enfolded him
and seemed to welcome him back. Ranma followed a well-trod path - to the
big rock that sat like some brooding giant in the middle of the field.
A mountain, it had seemed to him when he was young, and a
mountain it still seemed. It hadn't changed a bit, this immutable rock
that he and Ucchan had, and maybe would have, scaled to look down
over their domain. With a leap, he soared in the air and landed lightly
on the rock. Ranma laid the spatula and the bandolier on the rock and
he sat down.
Here was the spot where he had usually sat, and there was where
Ucchan would have perched. Ranma contemplated the spot now,
imagining Ukyo sitting there, her long hair hiding her back as she faced
away from him, long legs curled up beneath her. He imagined her
turning about and pointing out some wonder of nature they hadn't seen
yet, an excited smile on her face.
Then they would have sprung off the rock and run, to try and catch
the dragonfly or to watch the dandelion puffs spin in the wind, one by
one spiralling into the heavens. Perhaps he would catch her and initiate
a wrestling match. Or, maybe she would race him back to the rock.
Or, maybe she would unwrap her lunch and share a slice of
okonomiyaki with him. He would always slink about her, like a
predator, and try to take pieces of okonomiyaki from her without her
knowing. It had become a game of sorts with the both of them, Ranma
trying to sneak a piece, Ukyo trying to eat it up as fast as she could.
Ranma patted the spatula and felt a pang in his heart. This was the
spatula she had always worn. Day in, day out, it was slung on her
back. It had never left her side, except under extreme circumstances.
And this bandolier, it had always graced her front and added a feeling
of the martial spirit to her feminine curves, for it would usually be filled
with throwing spatulas. Now, there was only one left. He could almost
imagine her wearing them now. Almost.
All they were missing....was Ucchan herself.
"Ucchan......"
"Ranma."
Ranma started and looked around in great surprise. Ukyo?! Where is
she? She...she isn't gone after all!
Something poked his leg from below and he looked down. It
was....Akane.
"Akane!? H-how did...did you get here?"
"I followed you. I simply took the same train as you did." She
looked up into his eyes, matching him gaze for gaze.
"Akane, you didn't go into Ukyo's room.....did you?"
"Do I look insensitive to you, Ranma? Of course I didn't."
Ranma sighed and swung down from the rock, grabbing the spatula
and the bandolier as he did.
"Look, Akane. I can explain this....."
Akane threw herself into a hug with Ranma, holding him tight. No words
broke the sounds of nature for a long time, and Ranma hugged her back. Then
she spoke.
"Ranma....this is eating you up from the inside. I know you didn't
have the opportunity to say goodbye to Ukyo. God knows that I know,
seeing you mope for six weeks straight. But is this what Ukyo would
have wanted you to do? I...I know she really loved you, Ranma. I can
even forgive her attempts to bomb me at our first failed wedding - she
had seen you slipping away from her fingers. She had known you first
before I did, or Shampoo, or even Kodachi. It just didn't seem fair, to
her."
Ranma considered telling her about Ukyo's diary....and what she
had written there, but he stopped himself. No sense spreading more
grief to Akane as well.
Akane took a deep breath. "So, that's it. People don't see how
I could forgive her at all, but I can. Four years take alot out of a
person's spite for another, and I didn't have the energy to waste in a
vendetta against Ukyo." Akane looked up into Ranma's face.
"Anyhow, enough about me. I've said my goodbyes, Ranma, to her.
Can you do the same? Ukyo wouldn't want you going through your
days like this."
Ranma took Akane's hand in response and led her through the
meadow, both of them not saying a word. Ranma stopped at a certain
tree and he bent down, and he saw the faintest scratchings of hiragana.
His name, written in hiragana, was above Ukyo's name, also etched in
hiragana. His eyes made out other writing, mostly declarations of
friendship, that progressed from a child's eye level in a spiral that
worked its way down the tree trunk. He and Akane bent low and
circled the tree, to read the writing. Ranma's words abruptly stopped
but Ukyo's continued onwards. "I hope he comes back"...."Where is
he? Ranchan?"....all the way down the tree to its base, where the last
words were "I'll find him wherever he is."
Ranma sat down on the ground heavily. He was going to have to
give Pop a really severe beating in practice today, or tomorrow. Akane
sat down beside him, and Ranma leaned back on the tree. A leaf fell as
the wind swept the branches and it landed just ahead of Ranma's feet.
The two of them didn't speak for a long while, then Ranma broke the
silence.
"We always came to this tree, Ukyo and I. And with one of her
father's spatulas, we would carve stuff into the trunk every once in a
while, when we felt like it. This tree, and the rock, were like....I
dunno, pathways or something to the magic world of this meadow. This
was *our* place, we had told ourselves. We would never grow up to
become adults....as long as we remained in here because we would
never age, nor change....nor die."
Ranma sighed and crossed his hands over his knees.
"Well, that was what we had thought. Maybe....maybe it was
true. Maybe this meadow is a magical place. But who knows now?
Especially....especially now."
Ranma looked over at Akane. She motioned for Ranma to
continue, watching the leaves fall from the tree.
"Anyways, it was where we came to hide from what our fathers
had demanded that we do. And we had played many things, back then.
You know....the safari hunter or aeroplanes in a dogfight....you name
it, we played it. All except `House'. We never thought about fiancees,
or fiances, or stuff like that, y'know? Not back then."
Akane didn't reply and Ranma fell silent. The long minutes passed
lazily and the song of the meadow sang them into a drowsy state.
Akane leaned over to Ranma and held his arm. Then the both of them
heard laughter, high pitched and tinkling. They opened their eyes and
looked at the big rock, where it was coming from.
Two children, both about six or seven in age, were scaling the
rock. One child, wearing a red shirt, crouched on the top of the rock
and looked up into the sky, his mouth wide with wonder. The second
child, obviously a girl by the way she was dressed, clambered up beside
him and stared at the sky as well. The boy pointed out a cloud shape
and the girl squealed with amusement. They took turns pointing out
clouds, and dragonflies, and anything in the sky that caught their fancy.
"Look...an ae-ro-plane!! Zoom!! Zoom!!"
"It's...making clouds!! Look! Wow...."
Ranma stood up and brought Akane up with him. Then he took
the small spatula out of its pocket he put the bandolier on a low hanging
branch. He gave it, and the tree, one final pat of farewell, and he lead
Akane to the big rock. The two children sat up and waved to the two
of them. Akane waved back and then the children of two generations
met face to face.
"Hi!! I'm Suroichi! What's your name?", squeaked the boy.
"And I'm Haneda!", added the girl.
Ranma smiled. The inheritors of the meadow had come to claim
their place at last, in the form of Suroichi and Haneda. Ranma
reverently laid the spatula beneath the big rock and took a step back.
The two children regarded the shiny item inquisitively.
"Suroichi....Haneda? Please don't take the spatula away, alright?
Whatever you do, just leave it where it is", said Ranma to the two
children. They nodded and took turns feeling it, but they respected
Ranma's wishes and didn't move it from its final resting spot. Then
Ranma bent down and, with the throwing spatula, he began to inscribe
words on the big rock's side, with painstaking care. The two children
and Akane watched him in curious silence. He finished and he laid his
makeshift pencil next to the big spatula. He stood up and turned about,
as if composing himself.
"Ranma....?", inquired Akane. Ranma smiled reassuring at her
and turned to face the rock, and the tree further off, where the bandolier
swung in the wind. Akane scooped the two children up and put them
down from the rock. This was going to be an important moment for
Ranma.
"Ucchan....I'll never forget you. I had never said goodbye but this
is where it had all started, so I thought it would be fitting to make peace
with you here. You had bid me farewell just before you....left. I'll say
goodbye, in my own words and my own way, in this meadow where
everything had begun....so long ago." <And I'm sorry about the
date....Ucchan. But I'm here now. I'm back. You had found
me....and now I've found you.> he said in his mind.
Ranma heard the wind rustle the tall summer grasses and the leaves
of the trees in response to his words.....and his thoughts. He took a
deep breath and put his hand on the big spatula for the last time.
"Wakare, Ucchan. I'll...I'll really miss you."
With that, Ranma took Akane's hand and led her from the field of
memories, following the well-trod path, and back to the road that led to
the town, and to the real world, leaving the unchanging meadow behind
them.
On the way back, inside a booth of the train, Akane turned to
Ranma.
"What did you write on the rock, Ranma?"
Ranma smiled and stroked her face with his fingers.
" `Saishu no wakare, Ucchan' ", he said as he dipped his head close to
kiss her.
---------------------------
Comments? Boy, am I glad to get this sadfic off my chest.
-WebDragon (kmark@odyssey.on.ca)