This is the Ranma story that I promised everyone on the temp list I would
finish. I have been working on it since late November. I would appreciate
any input.
Cologne hummed softly to herself as she stirred a pot of
ramen. Business was slow today. She didn't mind. It was a
nice break from the usual frantic pace in the restaurant. She
smiled pleasantly as she heard the sounds of excessive violence
coming down through the ceiling. No doubt great-grand-daughter
was upstairs teaching Mousse a lesson again. Shampoo's skills as
a warrior increased every day. She would make a fine leader of
the Amazon tribe.
A sudden premonition interrupted her happy meditations. She
hadn't lived to be 300 years old by ignoring such feelings.
There was something in the air. She pogoed to the door and went
out into the alley. Hmm. Yes, she sensed the shifts.
She thought about the people she knew here in Japan. There
were a surprising number of powerful young martial artists in the
area. They all held their own circles of enemies and allies. The
balance of power was a delicate thing here in Nerima. She had
often tried to disrupt it before, but the time had not been
right. The focus of that balance seemed to be her own future
son-in-law, Ranma Saotome.
As the wind blew, she felt its influence. Things were
about to change forever in Nerima.
-----------------------------
Waking Up
A work of fanfiction by Michelle Thatcher
Based on Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ˝
Legal Jargon: All of Takahashi Rumiko's characters belong to
her. I have absolutely no legal right to be using them in my own
stories.
-----------------------------
Author's notes:
This story came to be as a result of some random observations
about the characters. Each and every one of them without
exception has what would be considered a "tragic flaw". If this
were Shakespeare, they'd all have been dead a long time ago. They
are each competent and powerful in all but one aspect of their
personality. In that one aspect (which is different in each
character) they are not just a little slow, but in fact grossly
immature. This story is about maturity. It is about what
happens when people like these encountered some harsh realities,
and are forced to look at their weaknesses instead of blithely
denying them. Not everyone in this story will go through radical
changes, but things will indeed never be the same.
-----------------------------
One month later:
Ranma scowled at his opponent. She was the toughest foe he
had ever encountered. So skilled. So determined. Well, it
didn't matter. He had faced all kinds of challenges from all
kinds of rivals. This was no different. His brow set. "6,000
yen. No more."
"7,500. Really Ranma, that's the lowest I can go. I've put
a lot of time and effort into this already."
Ranma snorted. "Hmph. I'll bet you have."
"Why Ranma whatever do you mean?"
"Whaddo I mean?" He gave Nabiki what he hoped was a mocking
glance. She was so much better at that sort of thing than he
was, though. He wasn't sure how it would turn out. Oh well.
"I'll bet you just conned somebody to get it in the first place."
He leaned back against the frame of her bed from where he sat on
the floor and crossed his arms over his chest, looking pleased
with himself for that deduction, until he noticed how hurt Nabiki
looked. As if he'd physically hit her almost.
"Hey!" she said unhappily. "That's not fair. I had to
pull in a lot of favors to get this for you, and this is how you
thank me?" She pouted slightly, looking like she was really
having trouble controlling her emotions. Her bottom lip began to
tremble.
_Uh-oh._ He began to sweat. "Aw, don't cry Nabiki. I
didn't mean nothin' by that. Not really." He reached into his
pocket. "I'll give you 7,000 yen. It's all I got." He held out
the money. "C'mon. Take it."
Suddenly brightening, she agreed. "Okay. It's a deal."
Ranma's shoulders slouched forward and he let out a huge
sigh. As he relaxed, the battle tension drained from his jaw and
shoulders. It had been a long time since he'd had to focus this
hard on anything. He looked at Nabiki and grinned. "How was
that?" He asked anxiously. "Was that better?" He put the money
back into his pocket.
Nabiki laughed happily. "Yes Ranma-kun, that was a bit
better. You didn't let me intimidate you this time. But," She
tried to look stern through her obvious pleasure at his
improvement. "it could have been better. You shouldn't have
fallen for the cute little pout. Never make it personal, Ranma.
If you hadn't insulted me, I wouldn't have had a chance to play
hurt and vulnerable. You're sucker for a girl who cries a
little."
He looked down. "Geeze, I thought I'd really upset you for
a minute there."
She shook her head. "I'm a business woman, Ranma. I
wouldn't get far if I let little barbs like that get to me." She
looked at him squarely. "Don't try to make people angry. It may
work in the martial arts, but it won't work in the business
world. Business people are hardened and cynical, and most of
them aren't ashamed to admit that they'd sell their own mothers
for a profit, so you can't really get to them with insults." She
relaxed and smiled again. "It *is* good that you're trying to
compare this to a battle. It does require discipline and
practice and strategy. There are differences, though. It's good
to stay alert, but you mustn't look so tense. Your neck and
shoulders look just like they do when you're sparring. If people
see that you're nervous, they'll start looking for buttons to
push, ways to upset you. The danger here isn't physical, so
there's no need to get into a battle stance."
Getting up, Ranma bowed to Nabiki. "Thanks again for
helping me with this... Sensei." He smiled affectionately at the
woman who was quickly becoming a good friend. Who would have
thought he'd ever be getting along this well with *Nabiki* of all
people.
She shook her head at his impertinence and rose to open her
door. "Anytime. You'd better get outside. Isn't Akane
expecting your help with the yard work this afternoon?"
"Oh man I forgot!" He said horrified. "She's gonna kill
me." Heading through the door, he touched Nabiki's arm in a
familiar way. "Same time tomorrow?" and he smiled.
"Same time tomorrow." She replied as an electric shock ran
up her arm from where his hand had been. She ignored it. As he
ran down the stairs at his typical breakneck speed, she smiled to
herself. Why had it taken her so long to notice how really cute
he was. She sighed. It had been too long since she'd had a
real friend, someone that she opened up to and had fun with.
Much, much too long.
***
It had started a few months after the Saotomes' arrival with
an uneasy truce. It had been a while since Nabiki had sold any
candid shots of Ranma-chan to Kuno-sempai, and he'd stopped being
so paranoid that she was hiding around every corner, camera in
hand. They'd managed to be pleasant to one another at meals and
to speak civilly even when no one else was around.
After that, it had turned into mutual respect. It hadn't
taken Nabiki long to realize that he wasn't stupid. He actually
had a good share of raw intelligence, he just lacked social
skills, probably because of his isolated upbringing. Besides
which, he was very honest (to the point of putting himself into
physical danger when it came to his dealings with Akane). He was
also painfully honorable about every little thing, a fact which
she admired in him more and more as she really got to know Genma.
How Ranma had turned out to be such a kind and decent person
with Uncle Saotome as his only role model was a mystery to her.
There was much more to him than she had realized at first. He
deserved her support.
As time passed, he had noticed the change in her attitude.
It had been very subtle. She was still sarcastic, and he still
occasionally felt the sharp edge of her humor, but more and more,
her wit had come to his defense against Akane, against his
father, against the world. He may not have been good with
people, but it hadn't taken him long to see that things were
changing between himself and his fiance's second older sister.
That had been the extent of it until a few weeks ago.
Nabiki had had a bad day. She had bad days often enough,
days when making book had gone bad, days when she'd lost leverage
or blackmail material or credibility of one sort or another, she
had learned that such days were a part of life. Days like that
she could shrug off. She could cut her losses and move on. This
particular day was not one of those.
She'd never tried to fool herself. She knew that deep
inside her there were oceans of pain and hurt. There were parts
of her soul that had become dark and cruel because of the way
that she had chosen to deal with first her pain and then her
loneliness. Years ago that same pain that had made Kasumi
withdraw into her own little world, and had made Akane so very
angry had made Nabiki shut off her feelings all together. To
have feelings made you weak. To show feelings made you
vulnerable. To be strong was to feel nothing. She'd learned how
to build walls around the hurt. Those walls had kept her safe,
but they had come at a price. They had held in the love and the
joy as well, and they had kept her all alone in the middle of a
loving family. She knew how to play sympathetic, or wounded, or
caring. She was really quite an actress. At least that's how
she thought of it on her better days. On days like this one she
knew that what she really was was a fake, the shell of a
beautiful girl filled with the black, foul-smelling sludge of
years of letting her feelings eat her from the inside, years of
self hatred and lack of trust.
Sometimes the pain would beat at the walls until they
couldn't hold it inside any more, and it would overwhelm her
again, just like it had ten years ago. Sadness and black
depression would fill her. Those times were becoming more and
more frequent lately, and it scared her. That particular day it
scared her enough that she left school, needing some time alone
to think.
For a calming influence, she'd drawn a bath for herself.
She'd been soaking in the water, her mind in turmoil, tears
occasionally running from her eyes for about an hour when the
door had opened and a naked Ranma-chan had come in with a towel
draped over her shoulders. She took two steps forward then
realized that the tub was occupied. That had caused her to step
back with a loud "Gaahh" and trip over her own feet. She fell to
the floor with a crash swearing and apologizing over and over
again. "Nabiki! Nabiki, I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"
Any other day, Nabiki would have laughed, and then started
talking about an instalment plan that would keep Akane from
finding out about this. Today she just wasn't in the mood. She
moved forward in the water until the edge of the tub covered her
body from view, "It's okay Ranma-kun. No harm done."
The intruder, who had been scrambling to cover her own
exposure had suddenly frozen in place, losing her grip on the
towel which she had almost succeeded in draping in a concealing
way. It flopped to the ground. "Really?!" Noticing the towel,
she pulled it up over her chest again. This was not the time to
show a lack of "feminine modesty." "You're not going to yell and
throw things at me?"
Nabiki almost smiled at that. "No."
"You're not going to come after me with a boken?"
"No."
"Are you gonna tell Akane?"
"No." She studied her houseguest for a moment. "You don't
look so good. What happened?"
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Ryoga happened." She pointed down
at herself. "I couldn't stay at school like this."
Any other day, she would have said "Why not? It's not as if
the entire school doesn't already know." Today she just said
"No, I guess not."
Despite her usual lack of observational powers, Ranma
noticed something in her voice. She leaned closer and looked her
in the eye. "You don't look so good yourself, Nabiki. Are you
alright?"
Sighing, Nabiki crossed her arms on the edge of the tub and
rested her chin on them. "I'm alright. I just didn't feel like
staying at school after lunch."
Ranma cocked her head sideways, studying Nabiki's face
again. "That's not like you." That's when she noticed the red
in her eyes. "Hey, you've been crying, haven't you?"
Her first impulse was to yell and tell Ranma that it wasn't
any of her business, but as she opened her mouth, something got
through to her. Ranma really looked worried. Ranma! The same
Ranma that she'd used and lied to for almost a year. The same
Ranma that she had *sold* to Shampoo and Ukyou and even *Kodachi*
last Christmas. That very Ranma was looking at her now with the
expression of concern and caring that she usually saved for Akane
in her worst scrapes. Looking at *her*. Something in Nabiki's
heart shifted. She gulped once, and burst into tears again.
This did nothing to put Ranma's mind at ease. She began
waving her arms around frantically. "Oh Nabiki, don't cry!
Please don't cry!" She lurched forward and put one hand on
Nabiki's arm. "Everything'll be okay, just please stop crying!"
She really had no idea how to deal with females in distress.
The terror in her expression brought Nabiki back to herself, she
couldn't help giving a small wet giggle. "Sorry Ranma. Things
just get to me sometimes." She sighed and wiped her eyes with
the back of her hand. Her body slipped further into the water as
she let herself relax slightly.
She expected more confusion from her uninvited bath guest,
but instead Ranma leaned back and looked down at the tile.
"Yeah." She whispered. "I know what you mean."
Startled, Nabiki looked at her sister's fiance. She looked
really depressed. The toughest mega jock martial artist in the
universe was sitting on her bathroom floor looking ready to cry.
Nabiki considered Ranma's life. In a rare moment of
empathy, she thought about what it must be like to leave your
mother behind at the age of six, to go all over the Orient trying
to perfect ancient martial arts techniques, to be at the mercy of
a father who loved you, but who lacked self control and sometimes
put his own comfort before your future. She wondered what it was
like to try to make friends knowing that eventually you would
leave them as you had left everyone else. On top of which heaven
knew that Akane and father hadn't made things any easier for him.
She'd given him quite a few headaches herself. What would all of
that do to a person? If Nabiki understood people the way she
thought she did, that sort of a life would make it hard to reach
out to others. It would make it easy to hide your real feelings
behind a wall. It could make a person just like... just like...
*her*. She thought about this. Ranma had a hard time admitting
his feelings, just like Nabiki. Ranma had focused all of his
emotion and energy into one outlet, just like Nabiki. Ranma
really did care about people, but he thought that showing that
care would make him vulnerable, just like Nabiki. She found
herself wondering if Ranma had as hard a time keeping the walls
intact as she sometimes did. Looking at her now, she suspected
that she did.
"You do know, don't you?"
Ranma nodded silently, then stood and turned towards the
door. "Let me know when you're through." She took a step
forward.
"Ranma?"
She stopped, but didn't turn around. "Yes?"
"You're right, you know. Everything *will* be okay." She
wasn't sure why she'd said that, but it seemed to make Ranma feel
better. The tension drained from her shoulders even though her
voice was gruff.
"Thanks." She grunted, then left.
She'd stayed in the tub another fifteen or twenty minutes
thinking about the encounter and had come to a decision. Ranma
was alone. He was hurting badly, and he needed a friend. She
decided that she would do anything she could to help him feel
welcome and loved in the Tendo home.
She told herself half heartedly that she was doing it
because if Ranma continued to be unhappy he would leave and that
would be bad for the dojo. His reputation had generated quite a
bit of business already, and it was bound to increase even more
when he started teaching there. In her heart, though she knew
that she had other reasons. In one week, he had stopped asking
her what she wanted from him every time she was nice to him. In
two weeks he had started to actually smile when he saw her in the
hall or the lunchroom at school. It was still very new, but it
had already had a profound effect on both of them.
She wasn't able to admit it to herself at the time, but now
she realized that she needed their friendship as badly as he did.
She liked the person that she was becoming around him. She just
felt better inside now, and she liked it. Now on days when she
felt the darkness getting stronger, she could find a peaceful
center. She knew that she wasn't really a fake. That helped a
lot. It was still hard to show her feelings, but it was a
start, and when she let herself really think about it, she was
proud that she had taken it.
All this reflecting was making Nabiki hungry. "Hope Akane
lets him live. I wonder if there are any rice cakes left from
dinner last night?"
***
Akane was raking the grass. Her father usually did all the
yard work by himself. It was one of his favorite things, but he
hadn't been feeling well for the past few days, and she had
volunteered to do it this afternoon.
"Ranma you *Jerk*!" She said, banging the rake down on the
last word then drawing it to her as she repeated the phrase.
"Ranma, you *Jerk*!" another downstroke, pull, and lift, then
another, each punctuated by the same three words. It had become
a mantra by now. It helped her to work in a rhythm and, more
importantly, it helped her keep her anger hot. Where was he
anyway? A touch of worry came into her mind unbidden, but it
only made her angrier.
"RANMA YOU *JERK*!!" With a loud crack, the abused rake
gave up its struggle to hold its shape, and the wooden handle
splintered in a hundred directions on her last exclamation. That
did it. All of Akane's remaining control evaporated and she
screamed with rage. Fists clenched, body trembling she turned
towards the house just in time to see the jerk in question coming
out from the porch. "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" she screamed,
shaking the stub handle of the rake at him as if she would have
liked to drive it through his heart.
Freezing, Ranma stared at her, a "who me?" look in his eyes.
"What's wrong Akane?" _Is she *this* mad just 'cause I'm late?_
"WHAT'S WRONG?!? YOU WERE *SUPPOSED* TO BE HERE AN HOUR
AGO!!!"
_Oh boy._ "Yeah I know. I had some business with Nabiki."
As Akane passed from the blind fury stage into the equally
dangerous smoldering anger stage, she began to walk slowly
towards him. "Nabiki?" she asked in her most skeptical voice.
"Business? Are you sure you weren't just goofing off with
Shampoo or Ukyou again?"
_Now that's not fair._ He thought. _When have I *ever*
'goofed off' with Shampoo?_ "Couldn't." he said in a casual
voice. "Ukyou's visiting her folks, and Shampoo's workin'."
Seeing the fire in her eyes intensify, part of Ranma's mind asked
_Why do you say things to make her angry? You know it's just
going to get you pounded._ Still, it really annoyed him when she
acted this way. He had to get even, didn't he?
"Oh! I see!"
"Yeah. I wanted to stop by Ucchan's on the way home, but
then I remembered that she's in Kyoto. It's too bad too. She
promised to cook something special for me the next time I came
by, and with her bein' such a good cook and all, I thought..."
Ranma's eyes widened as she reached him. This was going to hurt.
***
Dripping and cold, Ranma sat on the porch. She tried to
sigh through the piece of wooden rake handle wedged vertically in
her mouth, but it came out as a gurgle. _Tomboy_. She thought,
knowing that saying it out loud would just get the roof of her
mouth all scraped up.
***
_That Jerk_.
Lying on her bed, her face pressed into the pillow, Akane
wept quietly. He made her so angry. She yelled, letting out
some of the frustration.
"I HATE YOU!"
She frowned. _No, that's not right._ She bit her lip.
She didn't hate Ranma exactly. It was more frustration than
hate. He could be such a jerk sometimes. On the other hand,
there were times when he acted like he really cared for her. He
was sure handsome when he looked at her with _that_ expression on
his face, the one he wore when things had been quiet and no one
else was around. He sort of smiled softly, his eyes sparkling.
_Hey, you're mad at him. Remember?_
"I WISH YOU'D JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
That one really wasn't right. She shook her head. She
tried to think for a moment about a life without Ranma. A sense
of emptiness hit her. Hard. No Ranma? She almost started
sobbing. She admitted to herself that even though they had some
problems (_Okay, we have *a lot* of problems._) she really did
like him. He had become very... important to her. But
sometimes...
"YOU'RE SUCH A JERK!"
She frowned again. That wasn't right either. Sure he was
insensitive at times, but he never did anything *really* mean to
her. He just always said things to make her angry. _No. That's
not it either._ He said things. How she reacted to them was her
decision.
That hit her hard. If that were true then most of their
fights had been her fault.
"NO WAY!" She yelled. "OF COURSE IT'S HIS FAULT!" _Jerk
jerk jerk._ But the edge was wearing off of her anger. A
desperate sadness was taking its place. The tears were coming
uncontrollably now.
So many strange feelings. She was too upset to sort them
out now. She'd worry about all that stuff later. She shut off
her light and tried to sleep.
***
Mousse was angry, and cold, and feathered. He was also
hurt. He'd had a run in with a very large tomcat, and even
though he'd come out of the fight the victor, he'd taken some
damage too. His head was beginning to feel light, probably from
loss of blood.
_Wonderful._ he thought bitterly. _I'm going to faint.
I'd better get out of the street if I don't want to end up as
dinner for someone. Or something._ He shuddered.
_Shampoo, why do you do things like this?_
The thought of the woman he loved did little to make him
feel better. This might have been because his last memory of her
involved a bucket of cold water, an alley, and a pile of garbage.
He spotted a sturdy looking cardboard box half a block down
the street. It was probably the best he could do. As he started
waddling towards it, though, he realized that he wasn't going to
make it. _This is it then._ he thought. _Goodbye Shampoo._
She'd gotten what she wanted in the end. He would never bother
her again.
It was a strange experience, this giving yourself up to
death. Suddenly all of his memories and thoughts seemed to put
themselves into perspective. He asked himself why he loved
Shampoo so much. Just as he lost consciousness, he realized that
he really couldn't think of an answer.
He didn't hear a girl gasp behind him. "Mousse?"
***
_This has got to be the most boring thing I've ever seen._
Ranma thought as he sat beside Akane watching television. His
attention strayed out the window. He began thinking about
school, and training, and girls. Why did his life have to be so
complicated. He knew that a lot of guys would willingly trade
places with him. There were worse things than having three
beautiful fiancees he supposed, but each of them was so
incredibly demanding in their own way. Even Ukyou made it clear
that she wanted so much from him.
He sighed. The sound made Akane turn to him, a question in
her eyes. He smiled weakly, and she turned back to her cartoon.
The telephone rang as Ranma returned to his thoughts. He
barely registered Kasumi's announcement that it was for his
father. He did notice, however, when his father started babbling
and jumping from one foot to the other. "Next Tuesday? Uh, YES,
OF COURSE. Hehe, we'd be happy to see you then. "Oh, yes, I'm
sure he'll will be THRILLED to finally meet her! Hehehe.
Alright, goodbye."
Ranma looked at his father. "What was that all about Pop?"
Panic filled Genma's eyes as he looked at his son. "Oh
nothing. Just never mind about that."
His eyes narrowing, he asked again. "Who was that on the
phone?"
Mr. Saotome was about to deny everything when he noticed the
hard look in Ranma's eyes. He sighed. No point in prolonging
the agony. "Come with me, my boy. I have to talk to you."
***
"MY WHAT?"
"She's your fiancee. It was eight years ago. Her father
and I arranged it."
Ranma fumed. At least the old fool had the good grace to
look embarrassed. His voice turned deadly cold. "I oughta..."
His whole body shook and his fists clenched. "If you weren't my
old man, I'd kill you right now. Whadja sell me for this time?
No wait. I don't wanna know. Just tell me, is she the last
one?"
Genma's cheeks reddened. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, let's see." He began counting on his fingers. "This
makes FIVE marriages that you've arranged for me *that I know
about*. How. Many. More?"
Sweating, Genma began doing calculations in his head. "Uh,
four more. No five. Um actually..."
He was cut off by Ranma's scream of rage. "WHAT WERE YOU
*THINKING*?!? That they'd all just *forget*? That I could just
marry *all* of them?" His teeth ground together. He couldn't
remember being this angry or hurt. He wanted to hurt back. "You
disgust me." He said, his voice like ice. Then he turned and
left. He didn't wait to see his father's reaction. He didn't
have the heart. He wanted to be alone, to sort things out.
Preoccupied, he bumped into Akane on his way out. "Sorry."
he said distantly.
Akane growled. "Honestly Ranma! You shouldn't yell like
that. The whole house heard you. What was that all about
anyway?"
If Akane wasn't already beginning to fall into the familiar
blinding anger, she might have noticed the pain and despair in
Ranma's voice. "Not now Akane." He brushed past her gently and
headed for the door.
"Hey!" she yelled. "Don't turn your back on me! Ranma!"
He was too upset to even hear her. In seconds he was out
the door and running down the street. Akane screamed in
frustration. He could be so rude sometimes. She'd get even with
him when he got home.
***
"Was that Ranma?" Ukyou asked herself as she rounded the
corner on her way to her restaurant. She'd seen a young man run
by. He'd looked angry. She might have followed, but she had her
own worries at the moment.
She frowned at the closed sign as she unlocked the door.
She had planned to open as soon as she got back from her trip,
and knew that everything inside was in order, but it looked like
business would have to wait until morning. Something else
required her attention right now. Looking at the unconscious
duck in the curl of her arm, she clicked her tongue in sympathy.
"Don't worry Mousse." she whispered. "We'll get you fixed up."
It was a good thing that she'd found out about Mousse's
curse a few weeks before when he and Ranma had had that little...
discussion/ fight/ swim at school. If she hadn't, he'd be in
even worse trouble now. Of course, this would be no picnic.
As she walked through the dark dining room she wondered what
had happened to put him in such a poor state of affairs. On
second thought, she could probably guess. "Another fight with
Shampoo I'll bet." she conjectured into the silence.
She reached the kitchen by feel and then turned the lights
on. The kettle was never far from the stove. She'd learned to
keep it handy. When it was filled and heating, she went upstairs
and put her guest down softly on a cot in the spare room. She
began to gather the things that he would need; clothes, bandages,
iodine, until she heard the kettle whistling downstairs.
"This'll probably sting Sugar." she said kindly "Can't be
helped though. I don't know a thing about first aid for ducks."
***
_How does Akane stay so angry all the time?_ Ranma wondered
idly as he sat beneath the dock trying to decide what to do about
this new addition to his collection of fiancees. His own anger
had left him hours ago, leaving only a weary blank feeling. _How
could pop do this?_ He asked himself for the hundredth time.
_Doesn't he care about what it's doing to me?_
He hugged his knees a little tighter trying to stay warm as
the last rays of the sun began to fade. One thing was for sure,
he couldn't let this go on any longer. He didn't want to spend
the rest of his life running from potential brides (or potential
fathers-in-law). He didn't want to hurt the fiancees he already
had, but didn't know how to deal with them.
Why did Akane have to make things so difficult all the time.
Couldn't she see that he was trying. There was a lot about her
that still confused him. Sometimes he didn't think she liked him
very much, but other times she seemed to be encouraging him in an
adorably clumsy tomboy way. He smiled. He wasn't any better at
that sort of thing than she was. She was also very cute. When
she smiled, it made him believe that a life with her might be
possible. He admitted to himself that he really liked Nabiki,
but he wasn't sure how she felt about him. _Whoa!_ he thought.
_Did I say Nabiki? I meant Akane._
He thought about her face. It was beautiful and he wouldn't
mind looking at it for the rest of his life. He thought about
the times he'd watched her work out in the dojo, the way she
focused so intently on anything that she did. He thought about
the afternoons that he'd spent talking to her in her room, and
learning diplomacy. _No wait. That was Nabiki._ He thought
about Akane's cute nose, about her kindness, about the way she'd
get irritated when his other fiancé's were around. He thought
about the way she stayed so calm and focused when she closed a
business deal and how... _This is getting out of hand._
He sat in the dark and thought, only moving after hours of
introspection.
"Well, I gotta do somethin'" He said to the darkness.
"C'mon Saotome, time to be a man."
***
.\\ishamouse~ www.geocities.com/tokyo/4022
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Second Student Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy
"That was Zen; this is Tao."
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