[Ranma] "Scarlet Spring" (11/11)

Chapter Eleven or "Full Circle"

By Henry J. Cobb

$Id: scarlet_spring11.txt,v 1.2 1997/08/17 05:07:13 hcobb Exp $



The Ranma 1/2 characters and situations are the creation of Rumiko

Takahashi.  No infringement of her copyrights is intended.



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I am Akane Tendo, youngest of the three daughters of Soun Tendo.



I'm engaged to this jerk Ranma who turns into me when wet.



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The photos came the next day.



I pasted each one into my book and carefully wrote down the details of when

each photo had been taken and who was in it.



I stopped at the one photo Nabiki had taken of Ranma, me and Shampoo.  He

was standing between us, in his normal form, but I couldn't remember which

Akane, Shampoo had been.



We were both in my school uniforms and I couldn't tell us apart.  When

Shampoo was stuck in her cursed form we were more alike than two peas in a

pod.  My best friend was standing there and I couldn't identify her.  It was

like I'd already forgotten her.



A knock sounded on the room to my door.



"Go away, I'm busy."  I didn't look up.



"You must eat."  Ranma opened the door.



"Just go away."



"Do you want me to send Kasumi up here?"



"Oh alright.  Leave it and take the trophy."



"The golden pig cup?  It looks so nice on your dresser."



"No, the gymnastic one."  I pointed at it.  "You won it after all."



"It says Akane Tendo."



"That's a lie.  I wasn't even there."



"In a way, you were.  What are you working on?"



"Ranma, in this photo, who's Shampoo?"



"You were standing to my left, so Shampoo's the one on the right."



"How do you know?  How did you always know?"



"You will always be a part of me."



"Very funny Ranma!"  I snarled at him.



He left, I wrote the note and ate, then turned back to the book.



Shampoo and I had looked so different before her curse and then exactly the

same afterwards.  I guess Cologne had gotten her to trim her hair to match

mine for the disguise value.



But why had she used such a transparent lie when Ranma asked her?



"Shampoo not choose it, it go like this."  And then she showed me her curse,

but somehow Ranma wasn't surprised.



Maybe she hadn't lied.



Maybe it just went like that.  After all the rest of her body changed to

match me, so why not the hair?



I looked again at the photos, me and Shampoo at six.  Me in the short boyish

haircut that I had before trying to take Dr Tofu away from Kasumi and

Shampoo in her elaborate locks and then the recent photo with both of us in

my form with matching ponytails.



"Why didn't Shampoo turn into the girl who fell into the spring!"  I got up

and gathered a few things then went to Ranma's room.



He looked up from his book and saw that I had a pair of scissors and a cup

of cold water.  "What is it Akane?"



"Ranma, I have to know..."



"Don't worry, my blood's red in both forms."



"No, the hair."



"OK, but let's do it in the bathroom.  No sense in getting water

everywhere."



Ranma held his ponytail and I cut it off, then he splashed his face with

water and turned into me.  And the ponytail grew back.



"Th-that's why you had a ponytail when you got here!"



"No, I've had a ponytail for years.  I didn't put the clues together, not

all the way, until Shampoo came here with the ponytail.  I just don't want

to do this too often, I'm afraid my hair will wear out and I'll be bald."



"But, why?  I didn't have the ponytail when I fell into the spring ten years

ago."



"I don't turn into a six-year old either."



"You don't turn into the girl who fell into the spring, you turn into me!"



"Yeah, I've been real worried that you'd get a perm or something.  Thank

goodness you're such a tomboy."



"Ranma, I have to know what happened in China."



"Yeah, give me a moment to switch back, I'll come to your room."



I listened as Ranma explained his adventures in China.



"So there I was a girl, with a panda for a father.  We followed the guide to

this village where he said we could buy some food.  Shampoo came running up

to me shouting ``Ak-ko!  Ak-ko!''."



"So what did you do?"



"I KOed her.  I thought she was running up to attack me.  When she got up

she was crying.  I felt bad about hitting a girl, even if I was one myself."



"To be publicly defeated by an outsider is a grave insult."



"Yeah, I found out.  She gave me a kiss. I figured she was, you know, odd

like that.  Then she chased us all over China."



"I don't blame her."



"Once, she had me cornered, when I twisted my ankle, but she stopped, just

before killing me and collapsed in tears.  When we applied hot water to it,

I switched back.  Over the next few days, whenever I'd turn into you, my

ankle got a lot better."



"What happened when you turned into me for the match against Kodachi?"



"My ankle hurt, but I'm trained to deal with pain so it was no big deal.  I

made sure not to turn into you too many times until you recovered.  Just

like I made sure not to turn into you around the Thursday before last.  I

wore the dark red pants, just in case."



I blushed.  "Is there anything about me you don't know?"



"Yeah, I can tell how you're feeling, but I can't read your mind."



"So how do you feel?"



"Confused.  I love you Akane, but I just don't know if it's because you're

you or it's because I'm you.  I don't know if I've got any choice."



"I'm, I'm sorry."



"It's not your fault.  You didn't know about the curse of the springs."



Saturday, Dr Tofu came by for dinner.



Afterwards he sat by Kasumi.  "Mr Tendo, I have a..."



"Yes?"  Daddy asked.



"A A A..."



Kasumi reached over and held Tofu's hand as the rest of us watched silently.



The doctor took a deep breath.  "I have a favor to ask.  Ma-May I marry

Kasumi?"



Daddy looked so sad.  "Tofu, while I would love to have you as my son-in-law

someday, I'm afraid my answer must be no, not at this time."



"What!"  Almost everybody shouted at once.



"It's the tax code."  Nabiki explained.  "Only daddy's first daughter to

marry will get the tax break on inheriting the Dojo."



Soun looked back to Tofu.  "Eight years ago I asked you if you'd care to run

the school and you said that you'd rather be a doctor.  Ranma is the best

choice now and we must not jeopardize his chances.  You must wait for him."



"I s-see."  Tofu sobbed.



"Ranma!"  I grabbed his hand and lead him outside the house, then I turned

to him.  "Ranma, it's very important that Kasumi marry now.  If you don't

agree, I'll have to go to Tatewaki!"  I didn't mention Kasumi's unborn

child.



"Don't worry, I don't have any choice in it.  Yes Akane, I will marry you."



"Thanks!"  I pulled him to me and we kissed.  When I looked up, the family

was watching from the door.



"Nabiki, will a double ceremony do?"  I asked her.



"As long as you two tie the knot first."



"Anybody have any conflicts with next weekend?"  I asked.



Ranma stood next to me, he looked so handsome in his white tux.



The priest had just gotten to the part about asking if anybody had any

objections, when the main door to the church creaked open behind us.



"Ranma Saotome, you bastard!"  A sixteen year-old boy stood in the doorway.

He wore a cook's outfit, with a monstrous spatula strapped to his back.

"I'll see you dead before you're wed!"



"Who is this guy?"  I asked Ranma.



"I donno!"  He replied, as we jumped over a barrage of small sharpened

spatulas.



	Henry J. Cobb	hcobb@slip.net          http://www.io.com/~hcobb