"The Gift"
Part IV
Akane stood staring at where Ranma had stood only minutes
before. When he had asked her if she liked him... she had frozen. She
couldn’t tell him, even if he couldn’t remember anything. Akane sighed
and walked over to her drawer. She opened it and took out Ranma’s
present. She ran her fingers over it and sat down on the bed. Akane
noticed that the pendant had two spots for pictures. It was a lovers'
locket. Akane sighed again and lay back on the bed, thinking perhaps
that one day her picture and Ranma’s would decorate that pendant... she
closed her eyes and dreamed.
It was dark and somewhere inside she could hear the dripping of
water. Pendants hung from the walls at regularly spaced intervals
emitting a soft glow. She looked closer at the pendants and noticed
that they resembled hers in many aspects... except these ones had
pictures in them. Akane shrugged and continued on down the passage. At
the end was a cloaked figure.
"Do you truly wish to have Ranma’s picture grace your pendant?" The
cloaked figure whispered.
-It’s only a dream right? What could be the harm?- Akane thought to
herself.
"But it is much more than a dream... Akane" the figure said.
"Huh? How do you know my name?" Akane asked.
"I know much more than you would expect... Akane" the figure hissed.
"Who are you?" Akane demanded.
"A mere friend... no more, no less. So do you wish to have Ranma’s face
decorate that empty space in your pendant?" The figure asked softly.
"I-I guess so..." Akane said blushing furiously.
"Done then." The figure said with a flash of teeth deep within the hood.
The figure raised a hand, it was limned in power and Akane felt her mind
spiral down into unconsciousness.
Akane woke to a horrible pain in her chest. It was a wrenching agony.
She gasped and sat up. The pendant felt heavy on her chest and seemed
to pull at her neck. She gasped again. Akane felt her conscious mind
spiraling down into darkness, then Akane felt no more.
Ranma sat on the roof thinking. Actually Ranma was trying in
vain to remember his past experiences. He tried to remember who he was.
He stood and looked up at the sky. It was a vast sea of blue, the sun
was beginning to set and it was slowly turning the sky a golden shade.
He sighed and sat back down.
-What is my relation to Akane anyway?- He wondered.
-I know she’s my fiancee, but it wasn’t explained to me how it came to
be... I wonder if she likes me.- Ranma pondered.
"Saotome! I shall smite thee! Prepare yourself!" Kunou yelled running
down the roof at Ranma his bokken leading the way.
Ranma jumped up and stared at the man running at him.
"W-Who the hell are you?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"Knave! You try trickery now to win this duel? I shall smite thee
forthwith!" Kunou said attacking with his bokken.
Ranma dodged instinctively. The bokken sliced the air beside his head.
Ranma took a step back...
"Who the hell are you and why are you attacking me?" Ranma asked.
"Ignorance is not an excuse! You shall pay for thine crimes villain!"
Kunou yelled striking again.
"W-wait!" Ranma yelled dodging yet again.
"Argh! Stand still and take your smiting like a man!" Kunou yelled
striking yet again.
"I’m starting to get mad!" Ranma returned dodging again.
"Cretinous knave! Take this! And this! And this! And this! And this!
And this! And this! And this!" Kunou screamed going wild with his
bokken.
"Woah!" Ranma yelled contorting his body in strange positions to avoid
all of Kunou’s strikes.
"The end draws nigh Saotome soon you shall pay for your-urgh!" Kunou
stopped in mid preach as Ryouga landed on his head.
"Ranma! Now I’m going to make you pay for backing out on a man to man
duel!!" Ryouga yelled drawing his umbrella.
"What the hell is going on here..." Ranma asked no one in particular,
then dodged as Ryouga swiped at him with his umbrella.
Ryouga jumped back as small spatula’s started embedding themselves in
the roof in a line towards him. Ukyou landed on the rising Kunou’s
head.
"Argh!" Exclaimed Kunou as Ukyou landed on his head.
"Ryouga! Leave Ran-chan alone!" Ukyou yelled drawing her
monster-spatula. "Don’t worry Ran-chan, ill take care of Ryouga here so
that we can be alone!" Ukyou said winking at Ranma.
"..." Ranma said his mouth hanging open.
Ryouga and Ukyou started to fight. Ranma watched on and suddenly heard
a bike bell... a memory tickled his thoughts.
-Run? Run? Why would I associate running with a bike bell?- Ranma
wondered.
Wham!
A fifty pound bike slammed into Ranma along with a 120 pound Amazon.
"Nihao Ranma!" Shampoo said clinging to Ranma’s prone body.
"Ranma! What are you doing with my Shampoo?" An enraged Mousse yelled.
"Awww... man not more!" Ranma said.
"Mousse not fight Ranma!" Shampoo declared pulling out her bonbori.
"Very well Shampoo I shall defeat you, and you shall become my bride!"
Mousse declared and suddenly he had a mace in each hand.
Mousse attacked Shampoo adding to the general chaos on top of the Tendou
household.
Ranma stood there looking at the general chaos, then casually kicked
Kunou in the face as he again tried to rise. Ranma started to remember
a law he had once heard about... something about Murphy his thoughts
were interrupted by insane laughing.
"Bwahahahahaha! Ranma darling! I have come for you!" Kodachi declared as
she sailed through the air gracefully to land upon Kunou’s once again
rising head.
-Flee! Flee! Flee while you are still able to!- Ranma’s thoughts
screamed at him.
"Wha..." Ranma said, then he was taken aback as the girl dressed in a
leotard threw her arms about him.
"Sister! Get away from him so that I might properly finish the job I
started!" Kunou yelled as he finally stood.
"Why brother dear... we can’t have that! If you hurt him how can I we
be a couple?" Kodachi asked evilly.
"Take this Sister!" Kunou yelled striking at Kodachi’s head.
Kodachi nimbly moved to the side. Ranma who was standing behind her,
however, was not so lucky. He received the smiting of his life as
Kunou’s bokken crowned him. Kunou was too busy fighting his sister,
however, to notice that he had finally smited Ranma. Ranma fell to the
ground with a large bump sticking out from the top of his head.
"What is going on up here?" Kasumi asked innocently poking her head up
over the edge of the roof.
Everyone froze. Shampoo stopped her bonbori in mid-swing as she was
about to pulverize Mousse’s face. Ryouga stopped his umbrella an inch
from Ukyou’s face. Kodachi hesitated in strangling her brother with her
ribbon. Ranma took advantage of the momentary lull in the battle to get
to his feet and run like hell. As he ran however he attracted all sorts
of attention to him. Everyone turned to watch him run, then...
"Ran-chan get back here!"
"Saotome you shall not escape so easily!"
"Ranma no run!"
"Ranma you coward! Don’t think you can get away again!"
"Ranma at last Shampoo shall be mine!"
"Ranma darling come back!"
Everyone yelled as they all threw something. Ranma looked over his
shoulder to see a bonbori, a spatula the size of his body, some
bandannas, a roof tile, a ribbon, and a hell of a lot of chains, all
flying for him.
"Oh! Damn-urgh!" Ranma said as he was hit.
Ranma was overbalanced and did a face-plant through the roof into
Akane’s room.
"Would you all like some lunch?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma fell through the roof onto Akane’s bed.
-Awww! Man that hurt! Hey Akane’s bed is kind of lumpy...- Ranma opened
his eyes.
"Akane... wait I didn’t mean to... it’s not what you think!" Ranma said
quickly.
He looked more closely at Akane. She lay there not moving.
"Akane? Akane? Are you ok?" Ranma asked anxiously.
Ranma felt something poking him in the ribs. He reached down and pulled
it out. It was the medallion he had given her. Upon reflection he
realized that he had his memory back, it must have been that hit on the
head from Kunou he decided.
-Hey! Where did this pendant come from anyway?- Ranma wondered.
-I don’t remember buying it- he thought to himself.
-What happened to me while I was unconscious in that cave?- Ranma asked
himself.
He looked closer at the pendant and saw a picture of Akane in it. It
looked surprisingly lifelike. Ranma turned his attention back to Akane.
"Akane?" Ranma asked shaking her.
"Akane wake up!" Ranma said shaking her harder.
Ranma examined her closely. He could find no marks. She was barely
breathing. Ranma ran downstairs past the dining room, where everyone
from the roof had gone to eat, and to the phone. He picked it up and
hurriedly dialed the number for Doctor Tofu’s clinic.
"Hello? Doctor Tofu? Can you come over right away? Something is wrong
with Akane!
End Part IV
"The Gift"
Part V
"Ranma I don’t know how to tell you this..." Dr. Tofu said gravely.
"Whatever it is Doctor, I can handle it... tell me" Ranma stated.
"Well Ranma... I have never had to tell someone this before..." Dr. Tofu
continued.
"It’s ok Doctor just spit it out" Ranma said apprehensively
"Well... Ranma you have rice on your chin" Dr. Tofu said. (Ranma had
just eaten lunch)
"Urgh!" Ranma said as he facefaulted.
"What about Akane?" Ranma asked as he got up (wiping his chin).
"Oh, her face is clean. I just checked" Doctor Tofu went on.
"Doctor!" Ranma said as he barely stopped his facefault.
"Oh... well Akane seems to be ok physically... but as for
spiritually..." Dr. Tofu said.
"What is wrong with her?" Ranma asked.
"Well as near as I can tell... her soul is no longer in her body" Dr.
Tofu said.
"What?!?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"Her soul is no longer in her body" Dr. Tofu repeated.
"What could have done this to her?" Ranma asked.
"I don’t know, was there anything around her when you found her?" Dr.
Tofu asked.
"Well there was this pendant thingy..." Ranma showed it to Dr. Tofu.
"Hmmm... do you mind if I borrow this? I think I may have seen
something about it in one of my books" Dr. Tofu said seriously.
"Sure by all means..." Ranma said still overwhelmed.
"Thanks, I’ll call if I have any news..." Dr. Tofu said on his way out.
_________________________________________________________
Ranma sat in a chair in Akane’s room. The chair was pulled up
to Akane’s bed and Ranma sat in it staring at her. Akane lay sprawled
out on the bed her hand resting on near the side of the bed palm up.
Ranma looked around the room, to see if anyone was watching. Seeing no
one he reached out his hand and gently touched Akane’s hand. It was
soft like silk. He slowly moved his hand farther up her hand until he
held it palm to palm. He felt a warmth flow up his arm and spread to
his entire body. Ranma sat there like that for what seemed like
forever.
"Ranma..." Nabiki said from the doorway.
Ranma jumped up immediately standing on the chair.
"I wasn’t doing anything I swear!" Ranma exclaimed.
Nabiki arched an eyebrow at him.
"Really, Ranma... I was only coming to tell you that Doctor Tofu is on
the phone for you" Nabiki said "Unless you would rather stay here ALONE
with Akane?" Nabiki asked archly.
"Uhh....no I’ll talk to Dr. Tofu..." Ranma said blushing furiously.
_________________________________________________________
Ranma walked down the stairs and picked up the phone.
"Hello Doctor... I see... but why Akane?... hmmm.... all right... ok...
I can do that... yes I’ll ask Kasumi now... Thank you very much Doctor
Tofu... yes goodbye" Ranma said putting the phone down.
He walked to the front door and opened it. There in a bag was the gift
he had given Akane. Ranma went back inside. Ranma walked over into the
kitchen. Kasumi was there reading a cook book.
"Kasumi? Do you have any nightshade?" Ranma asked seriously.
"Ranma? Why would I have nightshade? Isn’t that a poison?" Kasumi asked
innocently.
"Yes but I need some... please it’s really important!" Ranma pleaded.
"All right Ranma I’ll see if I have some" Kasumi said sweetly.
She stood up and went to a cupboard. She opened it and looked around
through some jars for a minute. Then she pulled out a small jar with a
sealed cap.
"Here Ranma, be careful with it... it’s dangerous!" Kasumi warned.
"Yes... I will..." Ranma promised.
Ranma stood in Akane’s room, Kasumi’s jar sat on Akane’s desk.
Ranma walked over and took out a leaf of nightshade. He placed it
carefully in a small bowl and ground it to powder with a pestle. Ranma
then put a pinch of powder in a glass and filled it with water. He
picked up the glass and looked at Akane. Ranma walked over to the bed
and lay down beside her. He reached out with one hand to grasp Akane’s
hand. He placed the pendant on his chest, then he drained the glass.
"This is for you... Akane" Ranma whispered as his world went black.
It was dark and somewhere inside he could hear the dripping of
water. Pendants hung from the walls at regularly spaced intervals
emitting a soft glow. Ranma looked around. He was in a tunnel
stretching forward as far as he could see, it also stretched back as far
as he could see. He started forward. After an eternity of walking, the
tunnel opened up into a large cavern. In the center was a figure
dressed in dark robes.
"My greetings... Ranma" came the sibilant whisper.
"Who are you? Where is Akane?" Ranma demanded.
"I have an answer to both of those questions" The figure hissed.
"Well?" Ranma prompted.
"I am The Keeper of souls or rather the collector of souls, I collect
them and store them for eternity. As for your second question, she is
part of my collection" The Keeper whispered.
"Return her to me now and you wont get hurt!" Ranma declared.
"You? Hurt me? I think not..." The Keeper laughed.
"Well take this! HIRIYU-SHOTEN-HA!" Ranma yelled unleashing his
technique.
As the wind died down Ranma saw that the Keeper was completely unfazed
by his attack, and was actually laughing. It was a dry coughing laugh,
but a laugh just the same. Ranma stood there unbelievingly.
"Let me see her!" Ranma demanded, shaking off his shock.
"See her? All right..." The Keeper allowed graciously.
The Keeper raised its hand and a blue crystal the size of Ranma
materialized. Inside was Akane. The Keeper waved its hand again and
the crystal dematerialized dropping Akane to the floor.
"Ranma! You came for me!" Akane said tearfully.
"Akane are you all right?" Ranma asked.
"Yes Ranma I’m ok" Akane responded.
"Ranma can we go home?" Akane whispered softly.
"I’m sorry Akane..." Ranma returned softly.
"Time for you to return to your eternity of imprisonment Akane!" The
Keeper whispered.
Ranma thought desperately. The Keeper stood and raised its hand. It
was bathed in an aura of power. The Keeper pointed at Akane and a beam
of pure red power shot out of it at her. Ranma jumped in front of Akane
and took the beam full force in the chest.
"Run Akane! Run!-Argh!" Ranma screamed. Ranma fell to his knees
screaming in agony.
Akane turned and ran, she ran like she had never ran before. She flew
down the tunnel and her vision started to blur, she heard a voice. It
was Ranma’s.
"Akane... I give you my death... so that you may have life... this is my
gift to you Akane... goodbye Akane..." Ranma’s voice whispered.
"Ranma! No!" Akane yelled. Akane’s vision blurred and the next thing
she saw was the ceiling of her room.
Akane felt a hand in hers and glanced over to see Ranma laying next to
her. His face was very pale and he was sweating profusely. Akane
quickly sat up and shook him.
"Ranma get up!" Akane said urgently.
"Ranma get up! Ranma you fool!" Akane started yelling at him.
There was suddenly a knock at Akane’s door. She got up quickly to
answer it. It was Dr. Tofu.
"Has Ranma taken the drink yet? I told him to wait until I got here..."
Dr. Tofu took in Ranma laying on the bed and Akane looking at him with
teary eyes.
"I see..." he said.
Dr. Tofu walked over to the bed and checked Ranma’s pulse. He looked up
at Akane.
"Akane... I can’t do anything for him. He ingested nightshade to
liberate his spirit. If he can find his way back to his body he might
make it through, if not... well then he wont" Dr. Tofu said.
"But Doctor, there must be something that you can do!" Akane pleaded.
"I’m sorry Akane, all we can do is wait" Dr. Tofu said comfortingly.
Akane and Dr. Tofu sat in Akane’s room watching Ranma’s
condition get steadily worse. Ranma was now the color of a corpse and
his pulse was barely present. He would go into convulsions every once
and a while and he was sweating bullets. Ranma convulsed yet again,
then stopped. Dr. Tofu approached him and checked his pulse again. He
looked up at Akane and swallowed.
"Akane... he doesn’t have a pulse... I’m sorry Akane" Dr. Tofu said
sadly.
Akane threw herself on Ranma sobbing.
"No! You can’t be dead! You idiot Ranma, this is all your fault!" Akane
sobbed.
"I’ll be outside if you need me..." Dr. Tofu said, closing the door as
he left.
Akane lay on Ranma sobbing and cursing him alternately.
"Ranma... what good is life if it’s life without you?" Akane asked
softly.
"Ranma... don’t you know that it is you that I love?" Akane asked.
"Ranma... come back to me. Please." Akane said, tears spilling down her
cheeks.
Finally she cried herself into exhaustion and fell into a shallow,
dreamless sleep.
Ranma woke. He was encased in a crystal. He looked around his
surroundings. The Keeper sat before him on its throne. Ranma got up
slowly. The Keeper was muttering to itself.
"Hmmm... interesting..." The Keeper muttered.
"His soul is not completely free, he is still bound to his body... but
not for long... with his soul free his body shall soon waste away..."
The Keeper hissed.
The Keeper looked up at Ranma. Ranma saw red eyes glint from deep
within the hood.
"Awake? Time for you to visit your new home, you had best get used to
it... for it will be your home for eternity..." The Keeper said waving
its hand.
Ranma sat down, he was content that Akane was safe... but he viewed
spending eternity with a little trepidation. The view outside Ranma’s
crystal changed, he saw that he was suspended in a vast room filled with
many such crystals. Ranma lay back in the crystal and closed his eyes.
His eyes popped open abruptly as pain shot through his stomach.
"Ow! My stomach! I thought you couldn’t feel things when you were
dead..." Ranma said to himself. "I don’t think I had any of Akane’s
cooking either..." he continued.
He closed his eyes again and forgot about pain... it would end sometime.
Ranma felt pulled somewhere... he let himself travel and darkness
descended. He couldn’t move, he felt something surging through his
veins. He also heard voices they were hollow, as if coming out of a
cave...
"Akane... I can’t do anything for him. He ingested nightshade to
liberate his spirit. If he can find his way back to his body he might
make it through, if not... well then he wont" Dr. Tofu said.
"But Doctor, there must be something that you can do!" Akane pleaded.
"I’m sorry Akane, all we can do is wait" Dr. Tofu said comfortingly.
Ranma’s hearing started to become muffled and he felt tugged back in
another direction. He left.
Ranma woke, once again in his crystal. He got up.
"That was Akane, and Dr. Tofu!" Ranma exclaimed.
"I must have been back in my body!" Ranma decided. "I have to get back
there..." Ranma said closing his eyes once again.
He concentrated on going home... Ranma felt pulled again.
He stood on a plain... on one side The Keeper stood with shining strands
extending from its arms to Ranma. On the other side Akane stood staring
at him. Ranma tried to go to Akane but found he could not. The strands
connecting him to The Keeper were too difficult to break.
"You are mine..." The Keeper hissed maliciously.
"Ungh! Akane!" Ranma yelled.
Akane stood there, tears formed in her eyes and she started to fade.
"Ranma... what good is life if it’s life without you?" Akane asked
softly.
"Akane!" Ranma yelled struggling against the Keeper.
"You cannot escape me..." The Keeper stated with calm clarity.
"Ranma... don’t you know that it is you that I love?" Akane asked fading
even more.
"Akane..." Ranma whispered.
The bonds connecting Ranma to the Keeper started to fray.
"What?! Impossible!" The Keeper said surprised.
"Ranma come back to me..." Akane said becoming ghost-like.
"Akane!!" Ranma screamed.
Raw power surged out from Ranma destroying the bonds. It continued on
and struck the Keeper. The Keeper started screaming, then dissipated.
Ranma ran toward Akane, he reached out and held her within his arms.
Akane woke to the feeling of someone putting their arms around her. She
opened her eyes slowly to see a pale faced Ranma looking at her. Akane
got up unbelievingly. She stared at him. Then she cupped his cheek.
It was real. She leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips. Ranma
went into shock. Akane was kissing him... he had thought about it
before but... she was kissing him! Ranma face turned very red, and a
warm feeling filled his body. He lay there with Akane in his arms.
"Father are you sure we should be doing this?" Kasumi asked softly.
"Of course Kasumi dear! As Akane’s father it is my prerogative!" Soun
said quietly.
"Growr!" Mr. Panda said video taping the whole scene in Akane’s bedroom.
"That is fifty-thousand yen that Kunou owes me!" Nabiki exclaimed
happily.
It must have been the sound of the video camera because both
Ranma and Akane looked up at the exact same moment. Both saw the entire
Tendou family (plus Mr. Saotome) gathered in the doorway to Akane’s
room. Both Ranma and Akane flushed beet red. Ranma jumped up
immediately and said:
"Pop! I’m gonna kill you!!"
The End.
Author’s note: I hope you enjoyed the fanfic. It took quite a bit of
effort. In the making of this fanfic, I listened to
quite a few different varieties of music including Bon-
Jovi, Guns ‘n Roses, Toni Braxton, Greensleeves,
And many other orchestral musics. It is currently
1:17 in the morning so if the ending was bad, that is
my excuse. Please tell me if you like my first fanfic
I worked very hard on it and would like any
comments or criticisms you may have... also if you
have any new ideas for a good fanfic please tell me...
I might write it. Thanx for suffering through my
story and I hope you enjoyed it.
Kiyoshi
(Brenon Holmes)