Never Forever
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by Florencio B. de la Merced, Jr. (fmerced@pworld.net.ph)

A Fanfic inspired by the anime Ranma 1/2 created and copyrighted by Rumiko
Takahashi
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------------
| Prologue |
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-----------------
| Furinkan High |
-----------------

Nabiki stepped out of the main hall and scouted around to look for her
sister. Figuring she was too early coming out of class, Nabiki sat on the
steps just in front of one of the huge pillars that decorated the facade of
her school. A quick glance at her watch verified that it was five minutes
after classes had ended, but still no sign of Akane, or her sister's
fiancé, Ranma Saotome. Dismissing any thoughts that something might be
wrong, Nabiki dug into her backpack and brought out a small notepad. She
reviewed several pages and wrote on a few new ones. A loud scream that came
just above her and on her left caught her attention. Looking up Nabiki saw
her sister was engaged in a verbal tussle with Ranma. It wasn't surprising
to find the two couple locked in heated debate, as Nabiki had grown
accustomed to her sister and Ranma's petty quarrels.

"What was I suppose to do? BAKA!"

"Well duh, Akane. If only you could keep your temper."

"Look who's talking, jerk!"

Nabiki placed her notepad back into her bag and stood up. She started to
walk off the steps when Ranma and Akane finally noticed her. "Let's go,
guys." Nabiki didn't bother to look back as she noted how the angry voices
of her sister's and that of Ranma followed her out of Furinkan High.

"He was just kidding. Why can't you see that?"

"I'm not going to let him get away with saying that! Even if he is your
friend."

"But, I always call you that."

"You're...different." Akane looked the other way.

"Really?" Ranma stuck his head closer to his fiancée.

"Oh! Grow up!" Akane ran further ahead and joined her elder sister in
stride.

Nabiki smiled, after hearing the conversation behind her and seeing the
flush red face on her sister who was now walking along side. Nabiki turned
her head and looked at the curious stare Ranma was giving her sister. "You
better listen to her, Ranma."

"Huh?"

"BAKA!" Nabiki gave a sarcastic grin after insulting Ranma.

"Hey! Only Akane can say that to me!"

Tears fell from Akane's eyes as she hurriedly ran off ahead of her two
companions.

"Hey, wait up Akane!" Ranma followed his fiancée, leaving a happily
smirking Nabiki behind.

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| Tendo dojo |
--------------

Nabiki threw her bag on the bed upon entering her room. She quickly scoured
through her closet for some change of clothes. Nabiki pulled out an orange
hanging blouse, which she always liked to wear around the house. "Nah."
Nabiki returned to her wardrobe and pulled out a few more of her regular
outfits.

"Um, Nabiki." Akane was standing behind the half-opened door to Nabiki's
room.

Nabiki placed all the clothes she had taken off the rack of her closet on
the bed before letting her sister inside the room. "What is it, Akane?" To
Nabiki's surprise, her sister pulled from behind her back two dresses.

"What do you think I should wear?"

Nabiki examined the two sets of dresses; one was a petite blue blouse with
matching skirt, while the other was a pink outfit. Nabiki was about to say
what dress she liked but a thought occurred to her. "But, these are not
house clothes, Akane. Are you going somewhere?"

"Hai. I'm going on a date." Akane pressed forward the two dresses again,
hiding her smile from her sister.

"The blue one. You always did look good in blue." Nabiki looked back on her
bed and sighed at her own indecision on what to change her school uniform in
to.

"Thanks. Ranma always did like this dress." Akane was about to leave but
hesitated when she saw the difficulty her own sister was having with her
wardrobe. "Try the orange, you always look sexy in it."

"Thanks." Nabiki waited for Akane to leave before going back to her closet.

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| Akane's Room |
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"Just a second." Akane pivoted her hat towards the left, as her reflection
looked better that way. She stood back from the mirror and circled in her
place, finally convinced she's dressed well enough for her fiancé.

"Is everything all right?" Ranma's hand twisted the doorknob but to his
surprise the door sprung open, almost tripping him into the room.

"Oops."

Ranma pulled himself up and looked at Akane. "Uh..." Akane laughed a bit at
Ranma's reaction and quickly closed his gaping jaw. Akane lead him out of
her room.

"You look like you've never seen me like this." Akane fought a bit to
control her giggling.

"Only in my dreams..." Ranma slapped his head the instant he realized he was
mumbling.

"Really?"

"Well, no." Ranma looked the other way as he tried to hide the embarrassment
he's feeling at the moment.

"Well, I think you look very handsome in that white outfit of yours." Akane
lost control and laughed as they climbed down the stairs holding each
other's hands.

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| Nabiki's Room |
-----------------

The room was littered with large and small boxes with some open and some
still sealed with duck tape. Nabiki was browsing through old pictures she
had stored away in one of the boxes she pulled out of her closet.

"Oh, Mom. I wish you were here. I really need your help right now." Nabiki
closed her eyes to rest. Looking at so many pictures had brought lot of
memories she had long forgotten.

She put down the pictures and wiped the tears that formed in her eyes.

------------------------
| Nerima Train Station |
------------------------

"Where to?" The driver asked a tall, well-dressed young man while loading
the luggage into his taxi.

"The Tendo dojo." The young man took comfort in the back seat of the cab.


"What?" The driver turned the ignition key and the car roared to life.

"The Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts, please."

"Funny, you don't look like a martial artist." The taxi snaked its way
through the late afternoon traffic.

"I'm not." A wistful grin briefly appeared through the rear view mirror but
the driver was paying more attention to the road ahead rather than his
mysterious passenger.

--------
| Park |
--------

Ranma and Akane were sitting on a bench overlooking the small man-made lake
that served as the main attraction of the park. Akane was enjoying every
moment, and was a bit amused at the effort her fiancé was putting into the
cotton candy she bought for him.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Akane wiped the small bit of candy that smeared
Ranma's face.

"Sorry."

"You should see yourself, eating away at that candy." Akane let out a brief
giggle before turning her attention to her own cotton candy.

"You...you..." Ranma grinned upon the mess Akane made on her face.

"What?"

Ranma deftly wiped the small bud of candy hanging at the tip of Akane's
nose. They both laughed.

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| Tendo dojo |
--------------

"Thank you." The man quickly faced the gates of the dojo as the taxi sped
away. He knocked a few times, noticing the absence of any doorbell or modern
device that would detect his presence.

The door gates slid open and a tall and beautiful woman faced the stranger.
"Oh, my. May I help you?" Kasumi bowed in reply to the courteous greeting
the young man gave.

"Hello there. Kasumi, right?"

"Why, yes. How did you know?"

"I used to have a big crush on you, when we were both young."

"You did?" Kasumi backed a bit, not really remembering the kind face that
was in front of her.

"Is Nabiki home?"

"Why, yes she is. Did you have a crush on her too?"

The young man blinked a bit, but soon recalled how the eldest of the Tendo
sisters was innocent to so many things. "Um..."

The deep and harsh voice came suddenly from behind Kasumi. "Who is it,
Kasumi?" Soun walked away from the shogi game he and Genma were playing in
order to investigate the new visitor.

"I don't know father."

"You don't know?" Genma fixed his glasses and looked strangely at the man
standing at the gates of the dojo.

"Oh, who are you anyway?" An energetic smile accompanied the question coming
from Kasumi.

"I'm Misaki, Tendo Misaki."

"Did you say, Tendo?" Soun and Genma blinked and stared at each other when
the young man only nodded in affirmation.

"Misaki? Hey, I remember you." Kasumi paused to recall more from her memory.
"Aren't you Nabiki's best friend?"

"That was ten years ago." Misaki promptly followed Kasumi inside the dojo,
carrying his things with him.

Soun and Genma only followed the two with their eyes. "Are you related to
us, Misaki?" Soun had never heard a Misaki relative before and the thought
was
bothering him.

"Hai. I'm Nabiki's husband."

Kasumi stopped abruptly when she heard the answer from her guest. Soun could
only faint upon hearing those words from Misaki. Genma was on the other hand
trying to remember from where he had heard of this Misaki fellow, as the
name sounded familiar to him.

"Did you say husband?" Kasumi turned around to face Misaki.

"Um, I guess Nabiki never told anyone."

Kasumi only nodded in response to the fact that indeed the news came as a
surprise to everyone.

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| Nabiki's Room |
-----------------

Nabiki was holding an old picture taken when she was still a child. It was
at the carnival and she remembered that day clearly. Her mother was still
alive, Akane was still chubby and Kasumi was the smaller but still the same.
She noticed the small boy that was part of the picture. "Misaki. I wonder
where he could be right now?" Nabiki smiled as she recalled the many happy
moments she had with Misaki, especially that day at the carnival.

"Oh, Nabiki." Kasumi peeked into the crack of Nabiki's half-opened door.

"Yes."

"Misaki is here to see you."

Nabiki blinked and almost fell off her bed. "Who, Kasumi?"

"Your husband is downstairs, Nabiki. You better change your uniform before
you see him." Kasumi closed the door before she went back downstairs to
entertain the new member of the family.

"Husband?" Nabiki winced at recalling something from her childhood past.
"Oh, my!" She stood up frantically looking around her room for the orange
hanging blouse she first pulled out of her closet.

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| End of Prologue |
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<<<------->>>

The SWO tag stands for "Serious, Weird, and Odd" and this will alert anyone
reading this fic that deep psychological or philosophical thinking may be
required to understand passages in the story.  You have been warned. :)

C & C greatly appreciated, but since this is only a prologue, I wouldn't
expect much.

SPAMs please reroute to the SPAM ML

And to those who still doesn't put an accent in their e's in the word
fiancé/e then here's how...

press -> Alt + 130 (numeric keypad) then you'll get é

Enjoy

Singing out