Hi guys,
Really sorry about the earlier version of this fic, not being word
wrapped. But its my first attempt at posting so I hope I'm forgiven.
Anyway, I'm reposting this in the hope that it'll turn out better.
Bye,
Cass
-=-=-=-=-=-
This is our first fanfic, so please be gentle. Comments, criticisms and
MSTs are welcome. You can reach us at chiaty@singnet.com.sg
You can view this at http://www.singnet.com.sg/~chiaty
This story is set one year after the start of the series and it
continues from there.
< > represents a character's thoughts.
DISCLAIMER : We have writen this story out of fun. In no way do we own
the characters of this story, they belong to Takahashi Rumiko,Shogakukan
Inc, Shonen Sunday Comics, and Viz Video. The song 'Everything I Do (I
Do It For You)' does not belong to us. It is performed by Bryan Adams.
The Fabulous World of Anime
Proudly Presents
A Joint Production by Cass and GSL
The Pursuit Of Akane
---------------------
Part 1 : Ryouga confesses
He gazes into her deep blue eyes and his hand rose to caress her soft
cheek. Akane closed her eyes and waited expectantly for his kiss. He
leaned forward as his lips brushed against hers. Wrapping his other arm
around her tiny waist, he pulled her closer into their embrace as their
kiss deepened.
"Nooo! How dare you force yourself onto Akane! Ranma, Prepare To DIE!"
Ryouga lunged forward and with a mighty kick, sent Ranma into outer
space. He turned towards Akane and asked, "Are you alright?".
"Alright! How can I be alright when you kicked my husband into outer
space!"
"What! Your husband? But.... I thought you hated him." Ryouga's face
was contorted with shock and despair."
"Yes, at first but he was always there for me. You weren't. Ryouga, you
had gone for so long, I couldn't wait for you, I..I couldn't."
"But, Akane, I.... Love....You."
"You're too late, as usual," Akane said bitterly.
"Noooooooooooooo." An anguished cry reverberated throughout the entire
forest. Ryouga sat up, his heart threatened to leap out from his chest
and his face was ashen white. He looked around and realized that it was
all a dream. Upon this realization, he managed to calm himself down.
Akane's final words kept replaying in his mind and he vowed never to let
this dream become a reality. He had to profess his love for Akane before
it is too late. With a determined look on his face, he got up and ran
towards the direction of the Tendo dojo (or so he thought).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
6 months later.
After walking though the Sahara desert, braving past the riots in
Indonesia and wandering into the nuclear testing in India, Ryouga
finally reached the doorstep of the Tendo dojo. His eyes were brimming
with tears of happiness. As he knocked the door, his mind filled with
images of him and Akane living happily thereafter. As fate would have
it, a car comes by, splashing water onto him transforming him into a
cute little black piglet known as P-chan. (Oh, the irony of it all.)
"Oh my!" Kasumi said, as she carries P-chan into the house.
"Akane, look what I've found!" Kasumi passed the little piglet into
Akane's waiting arms. As she hugged him and planted kisses onto the
little pig, he muttered a little "Bwee" before he fainted.
Ranma entered the room and was fuming with anger when he saw Akane with
P-chan. <Just wait till I get my hands on you for taking advantage of
Akane.>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that night while everybody was asleep, a dark shadow was creeping
into Akane's room. Moving with a grace of a martial artist, it
carefully removed P-chan from Akane's sleeping form. It jumped through
the window into the backyard below, with P-chan struggling in its hand.
With lightning speed, it poured a kettle of hot water onto P-chan before
he could protest.
A naked Ryouga appeared and shouted, "Why did you do that for!"
"An honourable martial artist would never take advantage of a girl."
Ranma countered as he dumped several articles of clothing to Ryouga.
Ryouga frantically put on the clothes and lunged forward to attack
Ranma shouting, " I would not be in that cursed form if not for you!"
Ranma, seeing the attack, leaped away to safer grounds and launched an
attack of his own. Ryouga blocked the blow and tried to punch Ranma in
the gut but Ranma wasn't there and his fist connected with the wall.
"Stop that! Both of you are waking up the whole neighbourhood," as a
giant mallet appeared to smash the two martial artists into pancakes.
"Boys." Akane muttered as she went back to her much-needed sleep.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning has arrived and usual mayhem has started. (insert the usual
fight scene between Ranma and father which ended with both parties in
the koi pond) Ryouga went to look for Akane and found her in the kitchen
making some sort of poisonous 'food' which would make Kodachi proud.
"Akane, can I have a talk with you alone after school? We can meet in
the park." Ryouga said.
"Well, okay," Akane nodded absently as she poured a kilogram of flour
into the luminous blue soup. "Ryouga, do you want to try some?"
"Er, why don't you give it to Ranma instead, I'm not hungry right now."
Ryouga nervously replied as he backed away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
While Akane and the others were in school, Ryouga hid in a room to
prepare a confession of his feelings for Akane.
"Akane, you are the apple of my eye.
Thy infinite beauty makes the world go round.
Thou art the air that I breathe,
The soil that I walk on
And the water that I quench my thirst with.
Thou art the........"
<Wait a minute, that sounds too much like Kunou>, Ryouga thought as he
tossed the paper away.
"I need something more natural. How about......
If you are the tree, I would be the woodpecker.
If you are a flower, I would be the bee hovering around you.
If you are a leaf, I would be the earth that catches you when you fall.
If you are the earth, I would be the sun that shines on you.
If you are a flea, I would be the dog that provides a home for you.
If you are a rat, I would be the garbage can where you find food.
If you are a fly, I would be that pile of shit.
Ew, this is so disgusting. No, I have to think of a better one." Another
crumpled piece of paper joins the rest in the trash can.
"How about....
Look into my eyes
You will see what you mean to me.
Search your heart
search your soul
And when you find me there
You'll search no more.
Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for,
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for."
Ryouga breaks off singing off-tune, "You know it's true, everything I
do, I do it for you. Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for. I can't
help it, there's nothin' I want more. Ya know it's true, everything I
do, I do it for you."
In the background, we hear dogs whining and people shouting "SHUT
UP!!!". In a brilliant moment of insight, he realises his crooning can
never compare to that of Bryan Adams and unless he wants to be flattened
by Akane's mallet, he had better write another confession.
"Ah" an inspiration hit him and he began scribbling into a piece of
paper.
"The second I saw you, I knew it was love.
The moment I touched you, it was love.
And after all this time, you're still the one I love.
I was once lost, always struggling in a unfamiliar territory
But you give me hope to carry on.
On all those lonely nights when I'm lost,
All I need to do is to think of you and I'm home.
I always imagine us having a future together,
A cozy house, several children and you welcoming me back from work.
I want to make this a reality.
Akane, I love you."
Ryouga with a satisfied smile on his face, carefully folded the paper
and placed it inside his pocket. He approached Kasumi to ask if she
could lead him to the meeting place which she happily agreed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The sun shone brightly and the birds were chirping merrily, all in all,
it was a peaceful afternoon in the park. Until....
"Ranma, no baka!" and Ranma is seen shooting into outer space, courtesy
of Akane Airlines. Several moments later, Akane stormed into the park
and sat down next to Ryouga. Ryouga seeing the angry look on Akane's
face, was hesitant to confess his feelings for her yet.
Akane slowly calmed herself down, looked sweetly to Ryouga and asked,
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
Ryouga nervously swallowed and took out his written confession of love.
He began to read, "The second I saw you--" when suddenly, a gust of wind
blew the piece of paper away. "My paper!" he yelled as he watched the
piece of paper fluttered into a nearby pond. He turned to Akane who has
an expectant look on her face. <I'll just have to wing it>
"The second I saw you...I...uh..."<oh shit what comes after that> as he
looked desperately into Akane's eyes, trying to seek inspiration from
them.
"Yes, Ryouga? What are you trying to say?" She asked impatiently.
Ryouga was flustered as he couldn't remember the words and spoke the
first thing that came to his mind. "The second I saw you, I knew Ranma
made you angry and I'm going to make him pay for it." Ryouga hurriedly
left the scene.
"He asked here to tell me this! I don't believe it." She muttered to
herself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryouga was walking aimlessly and reproached himself. "I'm such a
coward! I don't have to rely on a stupid piece of paper to confess how
I feel. All I have to say is just three simple words. If I don't,
Akane might mar..ry Ranma." He shuddered at the thought. "The next
time, I swear I will tell Akane my true feelings for her." Busy with
his introspection, he failed notice that the sky has become dark. The
sky roared as rain came pouring down, triggering his curse.
"P-chan, what are you doing outside?" Akane exclaimed and hugged P-chan
to her bosom. "Bwee bwee bwee," the piglet squealed (which in pig
language means I Love You). Ryouga thought to himself that it is so easy
for him to confess in pig form when Akane couldn't understand him. "Come
on, P-chan, let's go home." Akane said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the Tendo dojo, Ranma is surrounded by his fiancees. Shampoo
is sitting on Ranma's lap and trying to feed him. "Ai ren, come try my
new recipe." Nearby Ukyou brandished her spatula, trying to separate
both of them. "Can you please get off me. I can feed myself." Ranma
said as he tried to push Shampoo off his lap.
"Ranma, no baka, why is Shampoo sitting on your lap?" Akane's battle
aura was already raging furiously.
"Didn't you want to break off the engagement? So why should you care?
Besides, Shampoo has a much a better figure than you and she is a good
cook too." Ranma answered on reflex.
Shampoo smirked at Akane and turned to kiss Ranma full on the lips.
Ranma was too shocked by the kiss to notice that Ukyou's battle aura has
flared up as well. Two simultaneous battle cries were heard "Ranma, no
baka!" and "Shampoo, you hussy!". Ukyou attacked Shampoo with her
spatula, separating Shampoo from Ranma as Akane lunged forward to attack
Ranma with her mallet. Faster than a speeding bullet, Akane's mallet
smashed repeatedly onto Ranma. "WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!" Each time her mallet
connected with Ranma's body, her fury and heartache only increased. His
words had cut her deeply, far more than that kiss with Shampoo. <Did he
really feel that way?> she wondered. <If we cancelled the engagement,
would he be thrilled?> Her vision began to blur. Akane blinked
furiously to prevent tears from falling. <Why should I care about how
he feels? I'll be better off without him and his band of admirers.>
Her vision started to go blurry again. <I better go. I'll be damned if
I let anyone see me cry because of that jerk.>
Akane ran up the stairs with P-chan in toll, leaving Ukyo and Shampoo
to pick up the pieces that was Ranma. Once in the privacy of her room,
she began sobbing. "P-chan, why can't I have a normal fiance instead of
the stupid jerk who is always surrounded by women. All he does is
critize my cooking or insult me. I just want a man who loves me
wholeheartedly, to be always there. He need not be a great martial
artist or a handsome guy so as long as he treats me well." P-chan 'bwee'
in sympathy, snuggled closer to Akane and rubbed his nose against her
leg. "Why does he always hurt me like that? Does he love me at all?
Maybe we should just call off the engagement since we seem to quarrel
all the time. Besides, all his other fiancees are more feminine than I
am, how can I ever compete? To him I'll always be a violent tomboy.
Maybe I should just give up on this 'relationship', we will both be
happier." With one final sob, she curled up on the bed with P-chan and
fell asleep.
P-chan crawled off the bed and went in search for hot water. He tried
to find the toilet or the kitchen but found Ranma in the dinning room
instead. Without hesitating, P-chan zoomed in to bite Ranma at his leg.
"Ouch, what you do that for, you pig boy!" Ranma tried frantically to
shake P-chan off his leg. Grabbing a nearby tea cup filled with hot tea,
Ranma emptied the contents onto P-chan.
Ryouga got up and went in search for his backpack. The gods must be
smiling at him for he did not get lost to and fro. With a familiar
battle cry "Ranma, prepare to die!", Ryouga charged at him. Ranma was
not prepared for this attack and he is still groggy after Akane's
wallop, did not evade the attack in time. "This is for hurting Akane,"
Ryouga landed blow after blow on Ranma's chest. "How can you make her
cry?" Ryouga continued.
"What?" Ranma yelled as he jumped away from Ryouga. Ranma's heart sank
on realization that Akane cried because of him. This momentary
distraction had allowed Ryouga an advantage to punch Ranma into an
unconscious state.
Ryouga, feeling happy about defeating Ranma, went to check on Akane. It
was an improvement compared to his past attempts, it only took him an
hour to find Akane's room. He knocked on the door and waited. Just as he
was about to give up, a teary-eye Akane opened the door and let him in.
Akane smiled at Ryouga but her eyes showed signs of despair. His heart
was broken at this sight. <She needs to know that someone loves her> he
thought. With a deep breath, he confessed, "Akane, I can't bear to see
you looking so upset. Why carry on this engagement if that jerk, Ranma,
is treating you so badly. Especially there is someone else who loves you
with all his heart and soul. This person has fallen in love with you
from the beginning and his passion grows stronger with each passing day.
He would do anything to protect you, for you are all that matters.
Akane, you would make that man the happiest person on earth by giving
him just one chance to prove his love." Ryouga's hand covered Akane's as
he softly continued. "Akane, that person is me. I have loved you from
afar for so long. Could you please give me a chance? Say you would go
out on a date with me." Ryouga stared beseechingly into Akane's eyes.
Akane was shocked and had no idea that Ryouga had felt this way about
her. Being in a fragile state, she was touched by his speech and was
moved by the knowledge that someone has cared so much about her. <If
only Ranma has cared so much about me...> but she quickly banished the
thought away before it made her sad. Maybe it's time to move on. "Yes, I
would like to." Akane replied.
<Yippee!> It was all Ryouga could do to restrain himself from shouting
out in joy. Finally, he was going out with Akane, the kind, beautiful,
innocent, gentle, lovely... The way he was feeling now, he couldn't do
a Shi Shi Hodakan to save his life.
Akane smiled faintly at Ryouga's silly grin. <I did that?> she
wondered. "When?"
"Huh?" Ryouga blinked, waking himself out of a daydream in which he
and Akane were sitting intimately in the park, murmuring sweet nothings.
"I asked when is our uh... date?" asked Akane, blushing.
"Oh...How about Sunday? We can spend the whole day together," said
Ryouga as his cheeks turned to a delightful shade of pink.
"Ok."
"Ok," Ryouga replied as he floated out of Akane's room and closed the
door. Then he did a victory dance that was a hybrid of the moonwalk and
the a-go-go. <Now all I have to do is to stay in Nerima from now until
Sunday. Oh boy.>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Three days had past. It was now Sunday morning and Ryouga was still in
the Tendo house! Ain't it amazing what can be achieved with the proper
motivation?
"Kasumi, I'm going out with a friend. Back after dinner," said Akane
softly.
"Ok. Oh my! You look kawaii!" exclaimed the eldest Tendo daughter.
"Really?" Akane beamed as she twirled around and struck a pose.
Kasumi nodded.
"Well, I'll be off now. Bye."
"Bye. Have fun."
Akane walked into the dojo where Ryouga was waiting. With his bad
sense of direction, if Akane had waited for him to fetch her, their date
would have to be cancelled. "Come on Ryouga, let's go before the others
wake up."
"Uh..." Ryouga's throat suddenly felt dry as he stared at Akane.
"You...lookk...beau..tiful," he stammered. For once, he wished he was
like Kuno, able to eloquently express how ravishing Akane was in her
pale yellow sundress and the matching crescent moon earrings.
Now, they were walking in silence to the bus stop. <Ok, we take the
bus to Kyoto and shop, go for lunch in any restaurant other than Ucchans
and Nekohanten, spend some time in the park, watch the movie "Deep
Impact", eat an early dinner in that fancy hotel and bring her home
without anyone noticing. Feasible.> Ryouga thought. It was perfectly
logical for them to keep the date a secret. Like Akane had mentioned,
her father would kick up a big fuss about her being unfaithful to Ranma,
Genma would try to sabotage the date and who knows what Nabiki would do.
However deep down, a part of him was afraid that Akane hadn't wanted
anyone to know about the date, that she didn't _want_ to go out with
him, that she didn't want Ranma to know about it because she cared about
him. His heart sank. <But I'm here with her now. Doesn't that account
for something? Being with Akane is what I've yearned for god knows how
long, I should try to enjoy it> 'because it might be the only chance I
get,' a part of him answered.
After lunch, the two were strolling in a park. <Argh! I'm bored to
death. Some date this turned out to be. All Ryouga ever does is smile
or stutter a few words. I don't think he said a full sentence today. I
rather be home with Kasumi, Nabiki, father and Ranma... I'm not missing
him. He's an insensitive, perverted jerk> "Ranma no baka" she muttered
under her breath.
"Huh?" Ryouga turned towards Akane.
"Nothing," said Akane as she walked faster.
<Damn that Saotome! Even when he's not here, he manages to make Akane
angry.> Ryouga scowled. <I'll just have to find someway to cheer her
up. Oh yeah, that's a great idea. Mr Always Depressed cheers Akane up.
If there's one thing I know, is how to be bright and joyful all day
long.> He thought sarcastically. Then he saw it. A bush with pale
blue blossoms.
"Here. For you," he said shyly while thrusting forth a bunch of
flowers. Akane was surprised. Her hand reached out to accept the
flowers just as a shout rang out.
"Hey, no picking of flowers!" They both turned to see the speaker, a
policeman, running towards them.
"Quick, let's go!" Ryouga yelled as he sprinted away, dragging Akane
with him.
(After hours of running...)
"STOP!" shouted Akane. They halted to a stop in a dark corridor. "I
think... the policeman stopped... chasing us... a long time ago," she
panted.
"Alright."
<Amazing! Here I am, panting and wheezing, and probably a total mess
and he isn't even sweating!> She thought jealously. "Where are we?"
Ryouga shrugged sheepishly.
"Great. We wouldn't be lost if you hadn't picked those flowers."
"I'm sorry but its just that you looked so moody and then I remembered
that you liked those blue flowers so I thought..." His voice trailed off
as he held up his right hand which was still holding the bouquet.
Akane's face softened. "I'll dump this," continued Ryouga.
"No!" Akane grabbed the wilting and disheveled bouquet and smiled.
"Its lovely. Thank you." Ryouga's heart soared. "Now, let's get out
of here." Akane sighed as she led the lost boy out of the corridor and
into a noisy, green field.
(In French)"...This is a crucial moment for Holland and Belgium. With
only minutes before timeout, this corner kick may spell a victory for
Holland. He kicks! The ball sails towards the goalposts only to be
kicked away by a man with a striped bandanna. A man with a striped
bandanna? Wait a minute, he isn't part of either soccer team! What's
he and that girl doing here?"
Holland and Belgium players and umpires began advancing angrily towards
our hapless pair, while hurling verbal abuses. The packed stadium, the
players' speeches and the sign proclaiming, "World Cup '98", began to
fit like a jigsaw puzzle in Ryouga's mind. They're in France! Akane
and Ryouga looked at each other and ran away before things got really
violent, with Ryouga yelling out apologies.
Minutes later, they were in a street full of shops. Ryouga had asked
around and found out that they were in Paris. Of course, the Eiffel
tower looming in the distance was a dead giveaway. When Akane found
out, there was a strange gleam in her eye, kind of like Nabiki's eyes
when she sees a thousand yen. She was like a tornado, zooming in and
out of the shops, trying on this and that. 'I'm shopping in Paris!' was
the sum total of her thoughts that afternoon.
Later that evening, Ryouga and Akane were sitting in a french
restaurant, poring over their menus. Well, actually Ryouga was, Akane
didn't know french and her English was terrible. A waiter came over and
asked for their orders. Akane randomly pointed to a dish and said,
"This."
Ryouga paled. "Uh, Akane, you've just ordered their deluxe special.
It's a dinner for a party of ten." Akane's eyes widened and asked
Ryouga to help her order instead. Ryouga nodded and started ordering
food in fluent french.
"Wow, when did you learn to speak french so fluently?" asked Akane as
she started on her dessert.
"You don't go around the world without learning a few things along the
way. I'm sorry that I got us lost but we'll take the first flight back
to Nerima in the morning. We'll spend the night in the Hilton hotel."
"Flight? Hotel? How could you afford it? You've already paid for all
of my purchases."
"With this," said Ryouga as he whipped out a credit card from his
backpack. "My parents gave me one. I can't possibly carry all the
currencies." He smiled a bit when he saw Akane's surprised look.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Everybody was in the Tendo home having dinner when the phone rang.
Kasumi answered it and a minute later, motioned Nabiki and Ranma into
the kitchen. "Akane is in Paris with Ryouga."
"What!" shouted Ranma while Nabiki raised an eyebrow.
"Apparently, they had gotten lost and will be spending the night in a
hotel," continued Kasumi.
"Nani!" yelled Ranma.
"They'll be catching the first flight home but they'll miss school
tomorrow. Akane said not to tell father or uncle Saotome about it. I
hope Akane has a great time there, and Ryouga is such a nice young man."
"Sure, onee-chan," agreed Nabiki, perhaps a little too quickly.
Ranma began even angrier as he imagined Akane and Ryouga alone in a
hotel room. Nabiki noticed his reaction and couldn't resist a little
teasing. "Why Ranma, don't tell me you're jealous?"
"What? Me, jealous over that uncute tomboy? Never! She could stay
there with Ryouga for all I care!"
"Sure," smirked Nabiki.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Next morning, Nabiki and Ranma walked to school, upon reaching the
school gate, a familiar cry was heard. "Akane, thy sweet angel, let me
prove my love for you. Do not worry, for I shall be gentle. Wait.
Where's Akane?" The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High looked around but
could not find his beloved. "Foul sorcerer," he shouted, while aiming
his wooden bokken at Ranma, "What have you done to Akane? Release her
at once!"
"Nothing! I haven't even seen her for two days!" Ranma yelled while
grabbing Kuno's weapon and flinging him to the ground several times.
Everyone else, with the exception of Nabiki, cringed at the sight. They
all moved back to let a fuming Ranma storm into class. Once, the danger
had past, they began bombarding Nabiki with questions.
"Ok. You know the rules. One thousand yen each to know why Akane
wasn't here and why Ranma is so mad," said Nabiki.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunchtime. Ranma fumed in a seat as he thought of all the rumors that
were spreading like wild fire, like Akane and his engagement were off,
the missing pair were in love and the most ridiculous of them all, they
had eloped! A few gossipmongers had tried asking him for details but
sending one of them to the sick bay, soon put an end to their questions.
<That Nabiki! Never could resist money.> Ukyou sat down and offered
him okonomiyaki. Ranma started to gobble up the food in his usual
speed, somehow being angry seemed to have increased his appetite.
"So is it true that Akane and Ryouga are out on a date?" asked Ukyou.
"Who cares!"
"Well, I've always thought that they got along well. She is gentle and
sweet when talking to him. But around you, she is angry most of the
time." Ranma ate faster, ignoring her. Ukyou pressed on, "You don't
have to worry Ranma, I'll always be here for you. I won't dump you
unlike Akane." Ranma scowled.
"Ni hao ai ren. Shampoo heard violent girl abandoned you. She know
Shampoo best choice so give up. Brought special ramen to celebrate,"
Shampoo purred as she glomped onto Ranma.
<Great. Nabiki sold the information to Shampoo as well. Is there
anyone in the world, except Pop and Uncle Tendo, who doesn't know about
it?> thought Ranma.
In cyberspace, a Korean and an Eskimo were chatting. "Did you know
Akane has left her fiance and eloped with another?" typed the Korean.
"Really? Who's Akane?" typed the Eskimo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dictionary:
Ranma, no baka = Ranma, you idiot
Nani = what
Ni hao = hello
ai ren = beloved
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