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This story is set one year after the start of the series and it takes on
from there.
< > represents a character's thoughts
DISCLAIMER : We have written 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 Fabulous World of Anime
Proudly Presents
A Joint Production by Cass and GSL
The Pursuit Of Akane
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Part 4 : Choices and decisions
Kasumi noticed Akane's troubled look and asked, "What's wrong? Didn't
you go out with Ranma on a date? How come you came back with Ryouga
instead?"
"Oh, onee-chan," cried Akane as she recounted the details of the
disastrous date.
"Oh my!" was Kasumi's response. Akane and Ranma were like oil and
water, they couldn't be mixed.
"That's not all. Ryouga proposed to me," said Akane, without a trace
of a smile.
"Why, that's wonderful. Ryouga is sweet and considerate towards you.
You and Ranma are only engaged. It can be cancelled," gushed Kasumi.
"But why aren't you smiling?"
"I know I should be happy about it but when he proposed, for an instant
I wished that Ranma was the one who asked for my hand in marriage. I
don't get it. Here's a man who adores me and instead I wish he was the
guy who keeps criticizing my cooking. Oh onee-chan, should I accept
Ryouga's proposal?"
"Akane, you know that I can't decide for you. A marriage is for life.
You have to choose wisely. Marry the one you love."
"But my mind is a blur right now. Ryouga is awfully sweet and he loves
me. But his sense of direction sucks. He may leave to buy some food
and never reach home until 2 months later. But if we were married, I
could keep an eye on him and he wouldn't get lost so much. A good thing
about him being the lost boy is that he has travelled around the world,
albeit unintentionally. The stories he told me about the places he has
visited, people he has met," Akane smiled faintly, remembering.
Just then, Ranma walked into the house. He was angry, angry with
himself for making such a mess out of their second date. <If only I
could have kept those girls away.> He had tried, kami knew how hard he
had tried, but it seemed that something would always happen to make
Akane angry. <I'll apologize to Akane, tomorrow when she's calmed down.
Maybe buy her a present.> he thought tiredly as he lumbered past the
kitchen. Then his sharp ears picked up a voice, Akane's voice, coming
from the kitchen.
"And for our first date, Ryouga brought me to Paris! I know he didn't
mean to but still Paris!" sighed Akane contentedly. "Where did Ranma
bring me on OUR first date? La Mason. An Italian restaurant that all
of us have been to several times a year. Very 'original'. In fact, our
fathers arranged the whole damn thing, so it wasn't even a date! I
don't know why I bother hesitating, it's obvious that Ryouga is a better
choice. He's cute with those two fangs, a great martial artist and he
adores me. When I'm with him, all my worries seem to fade away. All
Ranma seems to do is give me a headache. I don't mean to get angry at
him but he just makes me so mad sometimes. I call him a pervert. He
calls me uncute tomboy. Then I yell 'Ranma no baka' and kick him out of
the house or hit him on the head. I'm so sick of it all. I don't want
to spend my entire life quarrelling with my husband." Akane angrily
banged her fist on the tabletop as she struggled to keep her emotions in
check. Kasumi hugged her.
Outside, Ranma had heard enough. Every sentence Akane said was like a
dagger piercing through his heart. All the pain he suffered during
fights could not compare to the pain he felt now. Despaired, he quickly
ran away.
In a soft whisper, Akane continued, "But there are times when I can see
affection in Ranma's eyes, days when we would get along. And those
times are some of my happiest. He never said he loves me but from the
way he risked his life to save mine many times, he must care. Of
course, then he would insult me and the moment is ruined." A pause.
"But when we held hands, there's electricity in the air. I felt so
lightheaded and intoxicated. I don't get that feeling with Ryouga."
Akane broke off, about to cry.
Kasumi held Akane tightly, wishing she could will all this heartache to
go away. Slowly, Kasumi led Akane into her room and told her to get
some sleep. "In the morning, things will be better," she comforted
Akane.
On the rooftop, Ranma sat. This was his favourite spot. A place where
he could be alone with his thoughts or just to relax and admire the
view. It was his private sanctuary of sorts that few dared disturb.
Only Akane would sometimes accompany him up here.
<Akane>, thought Ranma as his right hand rested on the place she
usually sat. He closed his eyes, imagining he could still feel the
warmth of her body on the tiles, still smell the scent of her soap. He
breathed in deeply. Once, they had watched the sunset together, or
rather she was admiring it and he was admiring her. He wanted to say
something then, like he loves her or he was happy that they're engaged,
but he didn't. He never did. Always, he hurled insults to hide his
feelings.
At the beginning, he said them to get out of the engagement. All he
wanted was to be the best martial artist and to find a cure for his
curse. He didn't want the engagement, didn't need another complication
in his life. And later his other fianc�es came into the picture. He
resented his father and thought that women were trouble that he could do
without.
However, Akane had slowly, inch by inch, crept into his heart. Too
late. He was used to insulting her. It had become a force of habit.
He knew that he loved her but he could never find the words to say. Or
more accurately, could never say them out loud.
He always thought he had plenty of time to confess his true feelings.
But now... Snippets of Akane's speech replayed in his head. "Ryouga is
a better choice", "for our first date, Ryouga brought me to Paris!",
"All Ranma seems to do is give me a headache.", "I'm so sick of it all.
I don't want to spend my entire life quarrelling with my husband." In a
week, Ryouga had managed to do what Ranma couldn't accomplish in a year
- Ryouga had confessed his love to Akane and won her heart. Why did he
wait so long? Why did he let his foolish pride get in the way of
obtaining happiness? Why?
<Does it matter?> a voice within him answered. <You've wasted your
chance, you didn't treasure her, and now her heart belongs to another.
You should just give her up.>
<No!> his heart shouted. But he knew he must. There is no point in
keeping the engagement if Akane doesn't love him. Honour demands that
he should let her go. When you love someone, you want he/she to be
happy. If Akane's happiness lies with Ryouga, then so be it. It is the
right thing to do. But then why does he hurt so much?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning. Three groggy people sat down to eat breakfast, the rest have
already started their meals. Ryouga was restless last night, wondering
if Akane had decided not to marry him. Ranma was up all night on the
roof, thinking. Akane had nightmares about her indecision between the
two men, leading to them engaging in an all out battle that lead to both
of them dead. One weird nightmare that got her shaking violently was
Ryouga and Ranma got tired waiting for her answer and so Ranma as Ranko
married Ryouga.
(Ranma and Ryouga sat next to each other while Akane was directly
opposite Ranma.) Akane smiled sweetly at Ryouga. Ranma's heart ached
at the sight. <I would never see her smile at me with such affection
again> thought Ranma sadly. He stared at her lovely face, ignoring
Genma who was busy stealing his food. Feeling someone was staring at
her, Akane turned to look at Ranma. Embarrassed, Ranma hurriedly
averted his gaze and ate what was left of his udon.
After school, Ranma approached Akane, saying, "We have to talk."
Apprehensively, Akane followed Ranma as he took the long way home. The
whole day he has been avoiding Akane. During lunch, he thanked Ukyou
and Shampoo for their offers of lunch but said that he had packed
enough. It wasn't like Ranma to turn down a free lunch. Akane had felt
tension accumulating in the air, and now she felt, no she knew that
whatever Ranma had to say would affect their lives forever. Her heart
beated faster.
"Akane," stuttered Ranma. He shook his head, trying to clear his
thoughts. He had rehearsed his lines the whole day so that he wouldn't
mess this up. <He's gonna apologize and say he loves me> thought Akane
excitedly. <A woman's intuition is never wrong>.
"Akane." Ranma inhaled deeply and said, "I'm sorry that our date last
night was ruined." He kept his eyes on the path ahead, knowing that if
he gazed upon her face or looked deeply into her eyes, he would chicken
out. "But I'm glad it had happened. We were both forced into this
engagement and I know you're not happy about it. We simply aren't
compatible. Now that you fell in love with Ryouga-"
"But I-" Akane replied, surprised.
"No, let me finish. Now that you fell in love with Ryouga, I see no
reason to continue our relationship. After all," He steeled his heart
for what he was about to say. "You don't love me and I... don't love
you either. So I hereby break off our engagement. I uh have something
on so I'll see you later." Ranma hurriedly jumped up onto the fence and
rushed off, letting a single tear slide down his cheek.
Akane numbly watched Ranma go, only when he was a mere red speck in the
distance, did her legs collapse. She kneeled on the sidewalk, tears
rolling down, ignoring the looks of passerbys. They didn't matter, her
being a public spectacle didn't matter. What did matter anymore?
Strangely enough, a part of her noted that it wasn't raining. Wasn't it
supposed to pour when the female lead is crying in the streets? Minutes
later, her tears had stopped. Maybe she was tired of crying or maybe
she had run out of tears. Slowly, she picked herself up and started
walking, wanting to get herself lost like Ryouga.
<Argh!> After two hours of just aimlessly walking, Akane was still
only 2 blocks away from her home. <How does Ryouga do it?> Giving up,
she went home.
Akane laid on the futon and shut her eyes. But the words, Ranma's
words, "I don't love you" kept repeating in her head, like a broken
record. "Argh!" she screamed. She quickly ran to the dojo to practice.
Somehow, smashing bricks into tiny pieces of rubble always made her feel
better. "Kyaa!" A poor defenseless brick was completely obliterated.
<Who cares about Ranma? I'll be better off without him.> "Kyaa!"
Another brick disintegrates.
"Uh, Akane?"
Akane whirled around, startled by the voice.
"I was wondering, about what I've said earlier-"
"Yes."
"You mean you'll marry me? YES! She said yes!" shouted Ryouga with
glee. He hugged her tightly. Akane smiled, here was a man who loved
her, who was there for her. Why should she wait for someone else? She
began hugging him back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(A few days had past. It is a bright Sunday afternoon.)
"Mr. Tendo, can I speak with you?" asked Ryouga respectfully. Soun
nodded. Akane brought her two sisters in. They sat in the living room,
waiting for an extremely nervous Ryouga to start. Ryouga held Akane's
hand and said, "I would like to ask you for Akane's hand-in-marriage.
She has agreed but we would like to have your permission."
"NANI! DON'T YOU KNOW MY DAUGHTER IS ENGAGED TO ANOTHER?!" thundered
Soun. Ryouga cringed back in fear as Soun lunged forward.
"Ranma and I have decided to cancel our engagement," Akane said softly.
"Nani!" shouted Soun as he fell into a heap on the floor.
"Its true. I broke it off." Ranma had entered the room, with
Genma-panda in tow.
"How could you do this! Now our two families will never be joined,"
cried Soun as his tears gushed out. Everyone else face faulted.
"Kids nowadays are so disrespectful of their elders' decisions,"
flashed Genma-panda.
"Well I don't care. We're no longer engaged and that's that!" shouted
Ranma.
"Its ok, father," Kasumi continued, "Ryouga is a good martial artist.
You can join the Hibiki and Tendo schools together." Ryouga nodded
furiously.
"Well," replied Soun sniffling. "All right, Ryouga, you have my
permission to marry my youngest daughter." Leaping up, he hugged Akane
tightly and exclaimed, "My daughter is getting married! My daughter is
getting married! I'm so proud of you." Letting her go, the beaming
father asked, "When's the wedding? Haven't decided? Well then, let's
make it a month from now."
"But father, we didn't say we want to get married so soon," protested
Akane to no avail. Ryouga looked at her, concerned that she might not
want to be his wife. "I thought we would graduate and go out on more
dates first," whispered Akane to Ryouga's ear. Ryouga smiled, his
worries were unfounded.
That night, Kasumi had prepared a celebration feast fit for a king, or
in this case, fit for the huge appetites of the Saotomes. Everyone had
gotten up and toasted to the happiness of the blushing couple. Even
Ranma had stood up and wished them all the best. Then he sat down and
gorged on the food.
"You know, its too bad Ranma couldn't be my son-in-law," slurred Soun.
He and Genma had consumed many bottles of sake.
"Yeah," agreed Genma, a little drunk.
Several toasts later. "Hey, the original agreement was for Ranma to
marry any of the Tendo girls. Since, Akane is unavailable, why don't
Ranma choose another for his fianc�e?" asked Genma.
"NO!" shouted Ranma, Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi in unison.
"Why yes, that's a great idea," said Soun, pointedly ignoring the
outraged looks the teenagers were giving him. "Who do you want?" he
asked Ranma.
"Neither! I have too many girls chasing after me as it is. I've just
gotten out of an engagement and you push me into another! No way! I'm
going to China to look for a cure."
"Foolish boy! I shall make the decision for you." Glancing at Nabiki
and Kasumi, Genma pointed at Nabiki. "She's perfect. Only a year older
than you. Already a shrewd money-maker."
Kasumi heaved a sigh of relief while Ranma and Nabiki protested. "Her!
She'll sell me to the highest bidder!" "He's too poor for my tastes."
Ranma started pummeling Genma. "Wait!" shouted the elder Saotome just
as Ranma was about to kick him into outer space. He hurriedly produced
a crumpled letter. Years ago, a friend of his had offered to engage his
newborn son to his daughter, if he has one. Although, Ranma was born,
they still kept in contact. "The agreement still stands. You're a girl
half the time. If you don't want to be engaged to Nabiki, then you'll
be engaged to him." He thrust a recent photo of a skinny boy with a
face full of pimples and a leery grin.
"Oh yeah? I just have to explain that my girl side is just a curse
activated by cold water and that I'm really a boy."
Genma grinned and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, son. Masaki,
that's his name, is a bisexual." Ranma shivered and agreed to the
match, already dreading life with Nabiki. Nabiki glared at Ranma, it's
just like him to be so easily manipulated. No matter, so long as she
disagreed, there won't be an engagement. Soun began sobbing loudly,
begging Nabiki to humor her old father.
"Stop crying. I know all your tricks. Heck, I even taught you some,"
said Nabiki in a bored tone.
<If crying won't work, gentle persuasion will.> schemed Soun. He
stopped crying and said in a smooth salesman's tone, "I'm only looking
after our interest. You told me several times that our income has risen
significantly since Ranma arrived. If you're his fianc�e, you could get
him to pose for more pictures, arrange more duels. You'll make a
killing!" Nabiki's eyes gleamed as she considered the profits she'll
reap. However she refused. There are many other ways to earn money.
Frowning, Soun declared that if Nabiki don't agree, well then, Kasumi
would be engaged to Ranma. Kasumi's eyes pleaded desperately with
Nabiki.
"Fine. I'll do it," replied Nabiki emotionlessly. She knew very well
that Kasumi liked Dr. Tofu but wouldn't disobey their father. Kasumi
_would_ marry Ranma if their father asked her to. Nabiki didn't want to
ruin her onee-chan's chance at love and besides, she could figure a way
to back out of this engagement later. Meanwhile, her profits will soar.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"1001, 1002, 1003,..." Ranma uttered as he exercised by doing push-ups.
He was in his room, memories of the earlier dinner had flushed his head.
<They looked so happy.> "Argh! Forget it." He pushed himself to complete
more push-ups. <Akane. No! She likes Ryouga. Stop thinking of her.> He
willed himself.
"Why did you break off your engagement with Akane?! Now all my work and
effort has gone down the drain. Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi are going to
kill me once they come back from Hong Kong. Especially, now since I'm
your FIANCEE!" Nabiki yelled.
"Hey! You think I want to be engaged to you. I've enough troubles to
sustain my whole life." Ranma got up and stared Nabiki in the eye.
"You still haven't answered me. Why did you break off the engagement
with Akane?!" Nabiki repeated.
"You want to know why? I tell you why! Because she has fallen for
Ryouga. I heard her saying that Ryouga is the better choice and all I
give her are headaches. What do you want me to do? Stand in the way of
her happiness?" Ranma retorted.
"Did Akane really says that she likes Ryouga?" Nabiki asked
unbelievingly.
"Not exactly. I think she was comparing the two of us and she said that
Ryouga was the better choice." Ranma recalled.
"You stupid, no brain, senseless butt-head! She just said that he was
the better choice. She didn't say that she likes Ryouga. How could you
jump to conclusions?" Nabiki scolded.
"But...but she says that all I give her is headaches and she even
commented how cute Ryouga looks or how he adores her." Ranma defended
himself.
"I don't believe you are so dense. You give everyone headaches. This is
your character. As for the comments, I think even Kuno looks better than
you do. But that doesn't stop a person from loving you." Nabiki
continued. "Why do you think I help you in the first place?"
"Huh? So that you can gain from the sale of my photographs?" Ranma
replied.
"Kami, please strike some sense into this fellow." Nabiki brought up
her hands over her head and 'prayed'. Then she resumed. "Ranma, over
this past year, I've noticed quite a number of things. You being so
stupid may have missed it. Akane loves you. The way she looks at you,
the way she smiles and even when she cooks for you all proves that. You
always say that she is trying to poison you but why did she keep on
trying even though she knows that you won't appreciate her cooking?
Because she wants to be your wife. Did you see her cook for Ryouga? No.
Don't you get it?"
Ranma was speechless. Nabiki took a photo out of her pocket and passed
it to Ranma. He held it carefully. It was the photo that Nabiki had
taken before they left for the first date.
"Take a look at her. Did you see the love in her eyes?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Now you know why I helped you. I want my sister to be happy. That's
why I tried to bring the two of you together." She said lastly.
He thought for a moment, still staring at the photo. "So now, what
should I do?"
"Do you want her back?" Nabiki asked.
He nodded again apprehensively.
"Then, go tell her your true feelings. You don't have too much time.
Say it before it is too late." She advised.
Ranma seemed to be deep in thought. So to further motivate him, Nabiki
began. "If you don't do this, you're going to regret it for the rest of
your life." She had finished. She went to the door, slowly opened it and
stepped out of the room.
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