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 embarrassed.
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 too 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 interrupt
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 numerous 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 tried 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 he was 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
sorcerer
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 those 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, one would 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 was sitting in class looking absently out the window, and seemed
to be
fidgeting with something in his pocket.  Nabiki was sitting next to him,
and Ukyou
was sitting two rows over, with Akane sitting in front of her. 

"Hey loverboy, when are you going to tell her?"  Nabiki looked 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 color 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 moved 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
atrocity. 
However curiosity 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 calendar,
and looked
it over thoroughly.  "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 could
see her sister Akane lying directly across from her.  Akane, however had
been
strapped down to her bed. 

Nabiki rolled over, moaning just a little incoherently.  If one could
listen 
closer, one could hear... 

"...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