RANMA ½: A Thirst For Vengance
Copyright © 1996 Brian Navy (geosword@fastlane.net)
Characters are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and all copyrights apply
where needed.
PART ONE - A Nightmare In The Making
It was finally happening. Her arm was hooked in his and she was smiling.
As Ranma looked at her, something registered inside. Maybe it was the light
of the sunny day playing tricks on his eyes or maybe his brain had gone numb
but he realized that Akane was actually very cute. She looked back at him
and smiled. Ranma could feel her grip tighten around his arm.
What was puzzling Ranma the most at the moment was the fact that nothing
had happened since Akane and he had decided to go on a walk. As natural law
dictated, Ranma should have been challenged by Ryouga or Kuno by now, at
least one, two or all of his other fiancées/wives/insane women should have
tried to steal him away and someone should have shown up to kidnap Akane.
None of that was happening though. They were alone and Ranma was enjoying
it to the fullest.
"It’s such a beautiful day." Akane said, leaning her head on Ranma’s arm.
<What do I say now? I’m no good at this kind of stuff.>
"Y-yeah. It is, isn’t it." Ranma said nervously.
Akane touched the corsage that Ranma had given her a little earlier in the
day. He smiled. That had been the right move. Not all of his dad’s ideas
were bad after all.
"I am surprised we have made it this far without being interrupted. It’s a
good sign." She said.
"I was thinking the same thing. Where’s a piece of wood so I can knock on
it?" Ranma said.
Akane let a little giggle out. <That was cute>, Ranma thought. She was
opening up to him. Perhaps the planets had aligned to cause this freak
occurrence. They had not yelled at each other once today. That in it self
was an accomplishment. The fact that neither had yelled at the other in
three days was an impossibility that had somehow come true.
They hadn’t spoken much. <Was that good or bad?> He had taken her to eat
at the Beef Bowl Noodle Stand. They had talked a little about their future,
avoiding the obvious question of if they were meant for each other. Ranma
had given her the corsage then and Akane had fallen silent. At first Ranma
thought he had messed up but she took it and put it on. She said thank you
then they had decided to go for the walk they were on now.
"So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" she suddenly asked, an
impossible question for Ranma to answer. He was no good at dating which was
undeniably what this had become. Most of the dates he had been on had ended
in someone fighting someone else or some mystic monster trashing the place.
Now here he was, walking arm in arm with his arranged fiancée, and she had
asked him what he wanted to do. Nothing came to mind except what he was
doing right now, walking with her in peace.
"I just want to be with you."
<Oh my God! What did I just say? Was that really me?>
Akane brought the walk to a halt and she turned to face Ranma fully. Her
eyes had a sparkle in them, probably the sun reflecting off the tears that
were forming.
"Did you really mean that Ranma?" she asked, hope in her soft voice.
<Well did I?>
Ranma looked back at Akane and into her brown eyes. She was not cute. She
was beautiful. As Ranma looked at her for a long moment he saw the future
and she was in it. He swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in his
throat. "Yes I did." He managed to say without stuttering.
Akane leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in
his chest. Ranma heard her sniffle and he knew she was crying and for once,
Ranma knew, they were not tears of anger or sorrow. She was happy and so
was he. She hooked her arm back into his and they walked on again. Akane
touched the corsage with a smile. It popped lose and fell to the ground. A
car sped by. The wind from the car picked up the corsage and carried it
across the street. Akane instantly took off after it.
The car, a black Lincoln, came to a screeching halt as a couple of men
rounded a corner. The screeching tires caught the two’s attention and they
looked up. The doors to the car flew open and four men jumped out with
mini-Ak’s and Uzi’s. The two men reached into their stylish jackets while
diving and removed their own automatics. Gunfire broke the silent peace.
The four men from the Lincoln opened up on the two men but missed when the
two dived behind a parked car. The car began to be riddled with bullet
holes. The windows shattered, the front right tire exploded and the hood
sprang open. The two men raised their own weapons above the hood of the car
and fired back, blindly. One of the four attackers got hit in the leg and
dropped to the ground. He scrambled behind his own car, with the rest,
while firing.
Akane had thrown herself to the ground in the middle of the street and
Ranma had dove behind another parked car. He peaked over the hood. <What
the hell is going on? AKANE!>
The two men stood and ran while firing. They managed to make it to another
parked car before any return fire came their way. Bullet holes began
appearing all over their new cover.
"Eat us you Widow Dragon fucks!" one of the two defenders shouted out
through bursts of fire.
That shout was answered by all four of the attackers rising up and firing
in unison. One of the defenders stood up to return fire but he was hit
several times in the chest. He was flung back against the wall. He slumped
down dead. The other defender fired back while roaring in rage. His spray
caught two of the assailants in the chest, spinning them around like ballerinas.
Akane was scared like a rabbit. Her heart was beating wildly and her
normally calm mind was starting to panic. She did what any rabbit would do,
she got up and ran. <Where was Ranma? There!>
It was like watching a video in slow motion. Ranma saw her stand, turn
around and run for him. She moved painfully slow. It was unreal, the whole
situation. Then Ranma saw the last defender rise up again, his arm
outstretched with a deadly weapon held at the end. She was in the way!
Ranma leapt over the hood of the car he was hiding behind and ran for Akane.
In his mind he knew he was to late. Then he heard the sound, like popcorn
popping and he saw the look in her eyes.
Akane felt two quick jolts in her back and a slight sting but nothing else.
She had heard the guns go off again and now she couldn’t breath. That was
strange. Why was she falling to the ground? She wasn’t that clumsy but her
legs had quit on her for no reason. She felt something warm on her back and
inside her and there was sudden flare of intense pain. Her vision faded to
black and Akane knew she had been shot. It wasn’t as painful as she thought
it would have been.
Akane fell face first into the street. Ranma threw himself over her and
closed his eyes while the gunfire continued. He couldn’t hear the new sound
that made itself known in the distant, that of police sirens. The gunmen
heard them though. The remaining attackers got back in their Lincoln and
peeled off. The last man took off running into an alley.
Ranma couldn’t hear the gunfire anymore so he opened his eyes. He got to
his knees and looked down at Akane.
"God no!" he shouted out, shocked and in disbelief.
Akane had been hit in the right side and the lower left part of her back.
Her yellow dress was turning red in a circle around the wounds. Ranma
turned her over. Her eyes were closed and her face showed peace.
"Akane!?"
Ranma shook her gently and kept calling her name over and over again. He
brushed her black hair out of her eyes. Her chest rose and fell
irregularly. She wasn’t dead but she wasn’t conscious either. Ranma knew
this was bad. He hugged her close and did something he had never done in
his life, he cried.
END PART ONE
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WASHUU: Lineage... Social status... why should these
things matter? That's how grown ups are...
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oo Member of M.A.S., MEN AGAINST SHAMPOO! oo
oo Devoted worshipper of KAWAII anime girlies! oo
oo President of ANIME NATION! oo
oo Holder of the sacred P-chan plushie! oo
oo Keeper of the Carrot Basket! oo
oo Member of #AAS# - Achika Appreciation Society! oo
oo Grand Sardine of the Nuku-Nuku Fan Club oo
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Advice for the day: Don't make super bounce balls out of
nitroglyisern.