Anyway... Here's the next part, all original scenes in a backlash to
being too repetitious in Part III.
C&C, MST, Any Indication of Life on Mars, ALL WELCOME!!!
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Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
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Akane 1/2
by skeezy5
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Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...
KOR belongs to Mr. Kimagura, I guess...
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Part Four - Kimiko
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*Gees, here she is. Took me long enough.* Ranma sees Akane-kun
standing behind the Gym, a kettle in her hands. As he blinks a few
times, she pours the steaming water over her head, turning back into her
female form. Ranma, making sure nobody had seen that, rounds the corner
behind which he had been hiding. "Hey stupid! What are you thinking!
What if somebody saw?"
Akane whirls around in a combat stance but relaxes, seeing that
its only Ranma.
"Hey! Did you hear me? Do you want people to find out about your
secret? What's the idea changing back? Its lunch time right now.
People might be wandering about!" Ranma walks up to the girl and whaps
her on the back of the head.
"Whaddya do that for!"
"For ignoring me." It is only then that he notices Akane shaking
slightly. "Hey... What's wrong?"
"Stupid Kuno..." Akane's voice becomes tense again, and Ranma
almost takes a step back.
"Aww come on. Its your fault you guys jumped into the pool.
After that, you beat him into a pulp. Why are you pissed off about
Kuno?" He puts a hand on Akane's shoulder, which she violently brushes
off.
"He grabbed my chest while we're in the pool!"
"Huh? So what? You're a guy at the time. Isn't that..." Ranma
doesn't finish his sentence, noticing that Akane is shaking like that
not from anger, but because she's about to cry.
"I'M A GIRL, DAMN IT! I'M A GIRL!!!" Akane whirls about and
punches the wall, burying her fist in it.
Ranma almost smacks himself in the head for having missed the
obvious. Though he had lived almost his whole life dealing with his
gender issues, it was a brand new shock for her. His heart softens,
knowing what the girl is going through. "Of course, you're a girl."
Akane, with one fist still buried in the wall, brushes a tear out
of her eye. "When he grabbed me, I got so mad. But then, I realized
that since I was a guy at the moment, it didn't matter. Then I got even
angrier at myself for thinking that. I'm not a guy. I'm a girl..."
"Come on Akane, its not something to cry over."
"What would you know about..." Akane whirls about, an angry look
on her face, but then pauses, seeing Ranma standing there in his school
dress. "Oh. Sorry."
"Its okay. Hey, I know it can be hard... Heck, my own mom treats
me like I'm a girl all the time. She calls me daughter when she thinks
I'm not within ear shot, but I've heard it..." Ranma smiles bitterly.
"Its okay though. The few people who know my secret like Akama,
Tenma... heck even Kuno treat me like one of the guys. Besides, I know
I'm a guy, and as long as I know that, it doesn't matter what other
people think. Akane, you're a girl. Don't you ever doubt that."
"Thanks, Ranma..." Akane buries her face in his shoulder finally
letting her tears out. He nervously pats her on the shoulder, feeling
very uncomfortable at their close proximity. Though it isn't the first
time that a girl is crying into his shoulder, she is the first one that
knows of his real gender, and that makes it... awkward.
"Hey, come on. A tough girl like you shouldn't be crying."
"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Akane snaps her head up, a frown
on her face.
"Ah... Nothing! Nothing! Why don't we go have lunch or
something? I'm starved."
Akane stifles an angry retort, feeling her stomach grumble. She
is about to agree when she remembers something. "I lost my lunch when
you threw my bag at Kuno this morning."
"Eh? Uh... You can share my lunch with me then. I don't eat a
lot. Come on, Mom's bentos are the best!" Seeing Akane's eyes dart
over his shoulder, Ranma spins around. "Who... Oh. Hi, Kimiko."
The girl that just stepped around the corner is tall, almost as
tall as Ranma, who is half a head taller than most girls. Her hair is
long, extending down to her waist. She would have been described as
being beautiful, but the crooked smile on her face made most people
notice the roguish quality about her first. "Well hello, kiddo. Heard
some interesting rumors about you today."
"Uhh... Yeah?" Ranma replies nervously, hoping Kimiko hadn't
heard the conversation between him and Akane.
"Yeah. Like that you have a really handsome fiance. Didn't know
you had it in you, kid. You never seemed interested in boys."
"Well, our parents arranged it when we were born, and I just found
out about it." Ranma's voice almost has a guilty quality to it. Akane
peers over his shoulder curiously, finally meeting Kimiko.
"So who's this? I don't think I've seen you around." Kimiko
looks back at the pretty face peering over Ranma's shoulder, scowling
slightly.
"I'm..." Akane starts to respond, her tone reflecting the fact
that she doesn't like the scowl on Kimiko's face.
"She's... ah, she's my fiance's sister!" Ranma splutters out,
cutting off Akane. "Her name's... Akemi!"
"Oh, I see." Kimiko smiles her crooked half smile again.
"Hanging out with your future in laws, huh? I can understand that.
Want a cigarette, kid?"
Akane stares as Kimiko produces a worn pack of Yeheyuans. She
takes one and light it up, then points the pack in Akane's direction.
"No thanks. Its bad for your health."
Kimiko raises an eyebrow at that, and her jaw seems to take a hard
set. Ranma winces internally and grabs Akane's hand. "Oh well, nice
seeing you Kimiko. See you later!"
With that, he drags along Akane while the two girls are exchanging
icy stares.
^_-
"So that was Kimiko, huh?" Akane-kun's voice has a definitely
hostile quality to it. They are sitting in the yard in front of the
school, a bit apart from the others, sharing Ranma's lunch. Ranma is
eating in an almost dainty fashion, while Akane-kun wolfs down her
portion like a starving man... er... woman.
"Yeah." Ranma mutters, picking away at his lunch.
"So how'd you become friends with a delinquent like that? You
don't seem like the type."
"Will you shut up! You shouldn't say things like that about
people you know nothing about!" Akane-kun looks in surprise at Ranma's
vehement response, then huffs and turns back to her lunch.
"Well, it looks like the two love birds are getting along much
better today." They look up and see Tenma smiling at them in a fashion
that made Buddha look evil.
"TENMA! WE ARE NOT LOVE BIRDS!!!" Ranma is on his feet and
yelling in Tenma's face. "If you think that I'm interested in that
stupid tomboy, you are sadly mistaken!"
*Is that so?! And I was just beginning to think that you were an
okay guy, Ranma!!!* Akane-kun fumes and is about to shout out a retort,
but Tenma cuts her off.
"Really? That's not what Kimiko said. She saw you behind the Gym
with a strange pigtailed girl. I only know of one of those around
here." Tenma slightly nods his head at Akane-kun. "Already putting on
the moves. Mother would be proud."
"Kimiko said that, huh?" Akane-kun looks in surprise, as all the
anger that had been in Ranma's voice drains out, leaving it... resigned.
"So I guess you had lunch with her again, huh?"
"Yes. She's almost as good a cook now as mother is." Tenma keeps
on smiling, seemingly oblivious to his brother's sudden change in mood.
"That's nice to know. Well, you know what they say. When a
woman's cooking for..." His voice peters off, and it is silent for a
moment.
"You should join us sometime, Ranma. I'm sure she'd be glad if
you came along."
"Ah... I don't think so." Ranma pushes over the remaining part
of his lunch to Akane-kun. "I'm not hungry anymore. You can have the
rest." With that, he stands up and walks back to the school building.
"What's with Ranma?" Akane-kun inhales what's left of Ranma's
lunch in one gulp.
"I have no idea." Tenma cocks his head to one side, watching his
brother mope off. Akane-kun frowns, catching the tail end of something
in Tenma's voice, but she isn't sure what.
^_-
Akane-kun rolls her eyes as the teacher drones on. Yawning, she
wonders how anybody could stay awake and glances over at Ranma. Ranma
is studiously scribbling down notes, but his mind seems to be elsewhere,
as his handwriting continuously dissolves from the neat, practiced
penmanship to a wild scrawl. Akane-kun frowns again, remembering the
incident from lunch. Slowly, she scribbles down a note and tosses it
onto Ranma's desk.
Ranma looks up in surprise at the note, in even greater surprise,
seeing that its from Akane-kun instead of one of the girls, and opens
it.
//Hey, what's up with you and "K"?//
Making sure that the teacher isn't looking, Ranma scribbles
something down, refolds it, and tosses it back to Akane-kun.
//None of your business. Its nothing.//
Akane-kun frowns and scribbles again.
//Oh really? That's NOT what it looked like.//
Rolling his eyes, Ranma replies.
//Prithee tell me wise one, what art thou asking of then?//
//You like "K", don't you?//
//That's none of your business!//
As the note is being tossed back, the teacher finally decides that
its gone on for long enough. "Akane. Ranma. would you two please come
to the front of the room? And don't forget that note, either."
The class looks on with interest as the two condemned march to the
gallows. Akane-kun suddenly wishes she'd taken that cigarette from
Kimiko earlier and saved it for now. The teacher continues. "Though
this is a very childish way of going about it, I'm afraid I'll have to
make an example out of you two. Now, please read."
Gulping the two of them begin reading. As the contents are
spilled, the whispering starts.
"Oh my God, did you hear that? Ranma likes Kuno!" A brown
haired, freckled boy whispers.
"No way you dummy. She doesn't! Akane's just getting jealous of
all the attention Kuno shows Ranma." A girl with her hair tied back
mutters, a bit louder than the boy.
"You are so out of the loop. Kuno's one of the few guys Ranma
even bothers to talk to. I've always thought there was something going
on between them." A second boy with black hair responds, loud enough so
that the whole class can hear.
"Oh please. You are so out of it. Didn't you know? Ranma spends
all his time over at Dr. Tofu's clinic! She's..." As the second girl
is responding, even louder than the second boy, Ranma yells in
embarrassment and runs out the door.
"Ranma!" Akane-kun runs out the door, and the teacher smacks
himself on the head, his classroom now in a full uproar.
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[Author's Notes]
Gees... Man, I can't believe it was easier making that up than
copying out of the Manga. I guess its because I catch my own rhythm.
Anyway, I decided to cut out the unnecessarily repetitious scenes. Part
III kinda required it, to introduce Kuno, setup for Kimiko, etc., but
this didn't since the aftermath of the Kuno-Akane encounter was Ranma-
Akane.
Which leads up into the introduction of Kimiko. As I indicated in
the disclaimer, she's modeled after Ayukawa Madoka. She's also Dr.
Tofu's sister, in case some of you didn't catch that from Part III. She
also fills the niche of Ranma's hopeless love interest. Yeah, I know.
I'm a lame brained, unoriginal human being. So sue me.
As you may or may not have noticed, the Akane-Ranma relationship
is not AS rocky as in the Manga. That's because in this, they have a
common problem - their gender identity problem - which lets them relate
to each other better. Also, my Akane isn't as big a macho jerk as the
original Ranma, and my Ranma isn't quite as angry as the original Akane.
Guess its the Akane-Ranma fan in me that just refuses to die. (ANYTHING
to help their relationship...)
I actually had another 400 words or so, but lost it when Word
decided to kick out. I HATE MICROSOFT!!! Anyway, so that leaves you
with a short chapter. I'm sorry. I just can't bring myself to rewrite
that whole scene at the moment. WAY TOO PO'd for that...