Draxon's Review Corner Presents
An In-House Production
Ranma 1/2  : A Demon's Delight
Chapter Two: The Unforgiven
Theme Song : Metallica Black - Track 4 - The Unforgiven 

Akane arose from the blackness of sleep, the sensation of movement jerking her 
away from a peaceful dream.
"Akane?  Are you alive in there?" It was Ranma's voice.  Wait a second!  
Wasn't Ranma always the one impossible to wake up?
"Wha..." Akane yawned deeply as she opened her eyes.  Ranma was standing over 
her, with his left hand on her shoulder.  Ranma withdrew his hand as Akane 
became aware of the real world once again.
"Well I see you had a good time last night, where'd you go?"
"Wha.. Oh yeah..."  Akane shook her head slightly as she sat up, casting off 
some of the drowsiness that seemed to dominate her.  She yawned again as she 
stretched.  "I was training just outside Tokyo, in the forest."  Ranma found a 
comfortable resting spot against the door to the room.
"I know you had a bad day but that didn't mean you had to go running off like 
that Akane."  
Akane looked over at Ranma, he had apparently been up for some time, or had 
food since he woke up.  "I was learning a special technique."
Ranma laughed.  "How long did you try before you came home?"  He continued 
laughing, images of Akane misperforming several hundred techniques filling his 
head.
"I learned it."  Akane said, a sly, evil grin crossing her face. Ranma froze, 
then quickly made his exit from the room.
Akane grinned.  The days of Ranma being a complete jerk and getting away with 
it were over.  She looked at her clock.  It was almost 9 already.  Oh well, 
not like she could help her Algebra class anyway.  She stood and retrieved a 
school uniform from her closet and walked out of the room on her way to the 
bathroom.
[...]

Ranma looked at his father, who was impartial to Akane having learned a 
technique.  "Why do you think it is so bad?  If anything, this will be good 
for the dojo when you and Akane take over." Genma's words seemed shallow.
"Because,  she always hits me when she's mad, and I always manage to make her 
mad.  Now what are we going to do?  It's not like I can just ask her nicely to 
beat me up without using it, and she will use it, whatever it is, the first 
time she gets a chance.  If it is ANY good, I'm toast."
Genma lowered his mouth close to Ranma's ear, and whispered. "The Saotome 
Final Attack is always an option..."  The words were delivered with a dark 
tone, which sent a chill down Ranma's spine.
Soun entered the room and took a seat a few feet in front of the TV.  He 
turned it on to reveal a news program.  A reporter was talking about massive 
damage to an area in the forests not far outside Tokyo.
"... A 4 meter wide gap extending 40 meters in the forest has seemingly 
appeared overnight.  The only evidence as to the cause was a pair of brand new 
women's underwear found at the scene.  Tracing back with the only evidence, 
several wildlife preservation agencies have chosen this man as their suspect." 
An image of Happosai raiding a clothing store appeared on the screen. Soun 
changed channels on the TV, cutting the news program off as it faded back to 
the news studios.
Ranma stared at the TV for a few seconds.  Akane had been training on a 
technique the night before, and Happosai had apparently been there as well.
"He couldn't have..."  Ranma stated dryly, looking upstairs for any activity.  
If Happosai had taught Akane one of his techniques...
This was bad.
[...]  Lunch Hour
"Give me a break Akane, all I want to know is what this new technique of yours 
does."  Ranma had been trying to find out all day, with little success, what 
her new technique was.  Whenever Ranma had asked, he had either been ignored, 
or Akane had changed the topic of the conversation.
Akane answered, "It's a surprise."
Ranma walked down the stairs of the back exit to Fuurinkan High.  Akane 
followed shortly behind.  Her mood had completely changed since yesterday-she 
was partially cheery, and several test insults earlier in the day had shown 
her temper was down to the microscopic range.  He began to walk toward the 
tree that he and Akane frequently ate lunch under when he noticed  someone who 
was performing various martial arts techniques.  He had black hair cut just 
below the ears on the sides, with medium length vangs, and was wearing a pair 
of black sweats, complemented by a deep blue T-shirt.  He was the only person 
on campus beside Ranma not wearing a uniform.  As Ranma drew to ten feet 
distance the person leapt at the tree, hitting it with a flying sidekick, and 
gaining enough rebound to enable him to grasp to a branch-which he flipped off 
of in a rather impressive display of skill-landing feet first on the ground 
just a few feet in front of Ranma.  He had crystal blue eyes that gave Ranma 
an odd feeling when he glanced at him.  Ranma slipped his backpack off and 
dropped it next to the tree.
"Nice."  Ranma said, referring to the last bit of maneuvering he had 
witnessed.
"Thanks.  Name's Apsu, Apsu Tetsumi of the Tetsumi School of Various Martial 
Arts."
Ranma smiled, if the guy wanted family martial arts titles...
"Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts."
Akane looked at Apsu. He seemed familiar to her... Wait a sec?  Various 
Martial Arts!  So THAT'S him!  "Hey Apsu, where have you been for the past..." 

"14 months?" Apsu smiled, "I think I recognize you but I can't place you in my 
mind."
"Akane Tendo." she said smiling.  She had known Apsu over a year ago, and the 
two had become  friends.  He was into the martial arts, and had left on an 
extended training trip at the end of her 8th grade year.
"Oh yeah, now I remember.  You'll have to forgive my memory, I've been all 
across eastern Asia training."  He sat down under the tree, and relaxed his 
muscles.
Ranma opened his backpack and retrieved a packaged lunch made by Kasumi.  
Before he identified it's contents he ate it, breaking speed records across 
the globe.
Apsu retrieved his backpack, and began searching through it.  After a few 
seconds  He produced a
sandwich, and took a decently sized bite.  "How's life been treating you 
lately?"
"Actually, not that great.  I guess things could always get worse, so I'm not 
complaining, but I have been working on my martial arts too, I think I've 
improved a lot.  We'll have to practice sometime."
Ranma listened the conversation.  He really wanted to know what technique 
Akane had supposedly learned.  Whatever it was, she learned it in one night, 
and she wasn't exactly the greatest martial artist.  It seemed the best way to 
find out was to actually get her to use it.  He nodded as his fears were 
pushed away by common sense.
"Akane since when did you start improving?  I didn't notice."  Ranma was sure 
to sound as insulting as possible with a single phrase.  The statement seemed 
to hurt him as much as he had planned on it making Akane angry, but he 
couldn't stand not knowing for any longer...
Apsu looked up at Ranma strangely, that wasn't anything like what he had 
expected to hear.  "What's your problem?"  he asked.  Honorable martial 
artists wouldn't insult a girl like that for no reason...
Ranma smirked, "Nothing, just making sure Akane doesn't get her hopes up.  She 
really hasn't improved that much since I've been around... and that's a long 
time."
"And just who are you to treat her like that?" Apsu stood.
"She's my fiancee'!"  Ranma blurted, as if it were obvious.
Apsu glowered, Ranma's actions toward his old friend and his immediate 
rudeness to him infuriated him.
"I'll handle this."  Akane said as she stood.
"And just what are you going to do Akane?  Cook me something?"  He closed his 
eyes and leaned back.  If Akane had learned any special techniques he could 
handle it, and he wanted to know exactly what the old pervert had taught her.  
Suddenly the tree shook, and Ranma fell out, landing on his feet.
"Give me a break and let me get some rest while we still have some of lunch 
period left, all I need is to go in sweaty and tired from dodging you for 30 
minutes."
Apsu resisted the urge to impound Ranma.  If Akane didn't want him interfering 
in her relationships he could respect that.  He stood where he had been seated 
a second earlier, about four feet from Ranma, and side by side with Akane.  
"This guy is your fiancee'?  I would have expected you to have gotten someone 
who was at least partially nice."
Akane walked forward, channeling chi into her newly-clenched fist before it 
could form a battle aura that screamed "Special Technique!"  She thrust her 
fist at Ranma, rather slowly.  He snapped his head to the side, avoiding 
Akane's punch. Akane initiated a flurry of kicks and punches - all of which 
were dodged by Ranma.
"Get it over with Akane, either leave me alone or use your fancy technique."  
He leapt over Akane, putting himself between Akane and the tree, which Apsu 
was leaned up against.  A savage battlecry gave Ranma the warning he needed to 
dart to the side.
Apsu watched as Akane's fist sailed toward him.  He decided to do her a favor 
and let the punch land - it would hurt Akane a lot more to hit the tree.  
Akane's fist slammed into his stomach, but he had been prepared, and suffered 
minimal pain.
Ranma turned to see Akane's fist release a blue wave of energy that began to 
pulse through Apsu, who either didn't know or didn't care about what had just 
happened.
Akane opened her eyes.  After sensing impact she had released the full might 
of the Sugoiken on Ra-Apsu?  "Apsu!"  She exclaimed as the blue field of 
energy completed its penetration.
"What?"  Apsu asked.  Akane should have known that he could take a punch--  He 
felt an odd force, and was suddenly blown backwards, into the tree, with 
tremendous force.  He screamed as another wave of energy formed just in front 
of him, and quickly passed through him, crushing him harder into the tree.
Akane's heart doubled in rate as the second wave of chi energy passed through 
Apsu.  Happosai hadn't told her about a second wave!  An ear piercing scream 
from Apsu confirmed that he was in great pain when a third wave appeared.  It 
ignored Apsu and instead began the pulsing action through the tree. 5 seconds  
after Apsu had been initially crushed against the tree it began to shatter 
into sawdust.  Apsu collapsed to the ground, clutching at his stomach, when 
ANOTHER burst of energy exploded from beneath him.  Everyone at Fuurinkan 
High, and possibly the entire Nerima district heard savage cries of pure agony 
as Apsu was blasted into the air.  After a few short seconds he was no longer 
visible to the naked eye.
Akane retreated a step away from where Apsu and a tree once stood.  Happosai 
had told her it wouldn't... that it COULDN'T do this!
Ranma stood in shock.  What Akane had just done was beyond belief.  The 
technique she had used dwarfed even his special attacks if the screaming from 
Apsu was any indication.  Akane backed into him, then turned, her face frozen 
in fear and disbelief.  Ranma started to say something, but Akane ran.  He 
followed,  A deep feeling of regret clawing at his soul.  He had taken 
something important to Akane and turned it against her in the worst possible 
way.  Akane had finally mastered a special technique, and he had to take that 
and make it a bad, possibly even traumatic experience for her.  He had caused 
serious injury and possibly even death to someone who had never done anything 
to him...
Akane ran on, with no particular destination.  She knew Ranma was close behind 
her, and would eventually catch up with her.  Her instincts told her to run, 
and she did so.  From Ranma, from the school...

...from herself.