C&A Productions Presents
                     A Work of Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
                             Words Unspoken


 It was a Western-style wedding, as the last, ill-fated one had been.
And as the aged, balding priest pronounced them man and wife, Ranma and
Akane looked at each other.  The gaze that passed between them was shy,
hesitant�and yet also full of love, and as they kissed, I knew I had
lost her forever.
 Lost her to �him-.   Ranma Saotome.  It seemed so unbelievable, so
impossible, and yet, at some level deep inside, I wasn�t really
surprised.  Our feud had been long, and at times we hated each other
with a passion that seemed almost holy.  Yet, while I could fight him on
the battlefield, Ranma had, in the end, won the war that was more
important.
 Not that Akane has known there was a war.  There she was, up on the
altar with her beloved, not even dreaming that one watching had loved
her too, who would have given his soul to have her look at him like she
looked at Ranma, to feel her touch against his skin, to hear her
laughter, see her smile, and feel it ease the loneliness he�d carried
for what seemed his entire life�
 And now she�d never know.  She had made her choice.  Not even knowing
the alternative, but she had made it nonetheless.  I didn�t like Ranma,
but telling her now would only hurt them both, make her feel pity for
me�but not love.
She�d never feel that for me now.  I�d lost my chance.
 And why didn�t she know before?  Why hadn�t he stopped her, poured out
his heart, wrested her from Ranma when there was still time?  Oh, there
were many reasons, many excuses, but I knew it boiled down to one thing.

 My curse.  That humiliating, damnable burden I�d been carrying for so
long.  How could I tell her how I felt?  How could she, or anyone else,
ever love a man, as long as he had �that- hanging over him like a
shadow?
 Maybe Akane could have.  Maybe she could have forgiven it, looked past
it, like she had looked past so much else.  I�d considered it many
times; cherishing the possibility, sometimes almost making up my mind to
confess my feelings to her�but at the last moment, the doubts always won
out.  Maybe if I�d told her sooner, if I�d taken the chance, it might
have been me who she looked at like that.
 But I�ll never know.
 There was no place for me there anymore, if indeed there ever was.  As
I walked out of the door, I felt her eyes turn to me.  She didn�t react,
she couldn�t right then, but I knew that when she had a moment, she
would try to find me, to say hello, to thank me for coming to her
wedding.  Her, my friend.  The only friend I�d ever really had�
 I couldn�t speak to her.  I didn�t think I could bear it, seeing that
smile, hearing her tell me how happy she was that I came to see her
wedding...her wedding with Ranma.  Stepping outside, I saw a small
faucet.  It would do.  Turning on the water, I splashed some on myself,
feeling the familiar change ripple through me, transforming me into my
other body.
 I paused for a moment, considering my options.  I didn�t really know
what I�d do now.  I suppose I�d simply wander, as was my wont, until
someday, somehow, I could forget about her.  And hope she had forgotten
about me.
 Spreading my wings to their full length, I pushed them forcefully down,
digging into the breeze, forcing my massive body into the air.  They
beat madly to increase the lift, raising me until I was high above the
city, my form held aloft by the warm updrafts of the sea.  Then I
followed them out, letting them carry me towards the coast.  I didn�t
really pay attention to my direction; it didn�t really matter anymore.
What mattered was falling rapidly behind me, soon to indistinguishable
from the cluster of Tokyo, soon after to disappear altogether.
 I didn�t look back.

---

C&C is, of course, welcome.
--
"He'd been an angel once. He hadn't meant to Fall.
He'd just hung around with the wrong people."
Crowley, Good Omens