An Uncertain End

by Lord Archive

Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, etc..., and are 
used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I 
can't afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on.

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Akane stared at the clock from her bed. It read five o'clock in the 
afternoon. She sighed. <I should have expected this to happen at some 
point. It's not like I couldn't feel the tension between us growing to 
the point it would finally snapped. And snapped it did. It's over now. 
All over.> She sighed again.

Akane heard some noises from downstairs. <Kasumi and Auntie Saotome 
are back from the market. Nabiki is probably out reaming some people 
for some money that they 'owe' her. Dad and Uncle Saotome are still 
off to where ever Happosai dragged them to.>

Akane shut her eyes. <Why did it happen? I don't know. I'm not sure I 
care to know. It finally happened and now it's time to deal with it. 
I know some people will think I did something stupid, and others 
would think it's about time. I'm not sure which one I believe. Maybe 
both, maybe neither.>

Akane sighed. <So, what is going to happen now? I guess I know the 
answer to that. I'm not sure if I really want that future, but my 
choices are largely gone now... If I ever HAD any choices.>

Akane opened her eyes and looked at the odd reflection in the mirror. 
<That's not completely true. This was a choice, and I made it. Whether 
it was a good choice or a bad one, I made a decision. I just hope and 
pray it wasn't mistake.>

Akane heard another noise from downstairs. <Nabiki's back. Wonder what 
she'll think about this. She'll probably be upset. Kasumi won't be 
happy either. I'm not sure what Auntie Saotome would think. At this 
point, I don't care what Dad and Uncle Saotome will feel about this. 
Those two have a good amount of the blame for it ending up like this. 
All their pressure to get me married to that Baka only helped keep us 
apart, adding to the tension between Ranma and me.>

A tear rolled down from Akane's eye. <Oh, Ranma, why did it have to 
happen this way? Why? I wish things would've worked out better for us 
and not end up like it had. We came so close to being married and it 
failed. You came so close to telling me you love me, but you didn't. I 
don't know why I've never told you how I really feel.> She sighed. 
<That is all in the past, it is time to look at the future.>

Akane sighed. <What will my future be? I'll eventually get married, 
raise a couple kids, and run the dojo. It's not like I didn't know 
that before Ranma showed up, but I liked thinking I had other options. 
I still do, I guess, but I don't think I want anything else.>

"It's the end of the world as I know it, and I feel fine," Akane 
muttered in English, quoting a gaijin song. <Do I feel fine? It some 
way yes and other ways no. The end to this mess has finally come, and 
that, at least, is good. It could've ended better. It didn't have to 
happen this way.> She closed her eyes. <Then again, maybe it did. It 
might have been the only way the end could've come.>

The bed shifter slightly. <Do I like how it ended? Not really. Things 
could've happened so much better. Do I regret it? I can't. If I start 
feeling that way about this, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. 
It had to end, and I will not regret how it ended.>

Akane heard a knock on the door and saw the door open slightly and 
Kasumi stick her head into the room. "Akane, dinner is almost 
read...dy... Oh, My!!! Akane?!"

Akane sighed. "Be down in a couple minutes."

Kasumi stared in wide eyed shock, and nodded. She shut the door as she 
left.

Akane slipped out of her bed, and stretched. "Ite! I don't think I'll 
be able to walk normally for days." She turned towards the bed and 
kicked it. "Wake up!"

"Wha... What?!" The guy in her bed sat up with a start.

"Dinner is almost ready," Akane replied with a slight growl.

"Um... Akane, about what we, ah, did?"

"What about it, Ranma?"

The pig-tailed martial artist gulped. "You're not happy about 
it are you? You didn't want to do it."

Akane sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make love to 
you, but I wanted to wait to be married first. I don�t like it that 
I lost my virginity because we started kissing and didn�t stop. 
THAT is why I'm not happy." <Well, that and you haven't told me you 
love me yet.>

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push anything that you didn't want to..." 

Akane interrupted him with a kiss. "You didn't push me into having 
sex. Everyone else did. The constant tug-of-war over who gets who, 
pushed us together and apart. It made a growing tension between us, 
and it was going to end in one of three ways: we do what we did, we 
break up, or we endure all the pressure until we got married. I 
really wanted option three, but option one wasn't that bad."

"So, you don't regret it?" Ranma asked.

"For now, no. Don't make me ever regret it or you'll be a girl in both 
your forms."

Ranma shuddered. "Um... How would I make you regret it?"

"If you marry someone else."

"Oh."

-----------------------------

Author's Note:

After reading 'Wedding Night' where Ranma and Akane start kissing, and
almost didn't stop. This story came from the thought of what would
Akane feel about it if after having her first real kiss, they didn't 
stop until they had had sex. She certainly wouldn't be gleeful.


			 / LORD ARCHIVE \
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