For those who read the draft, its not much different.  I decided
to let it sit mostly as it is.  Hope the grammar isn't too horrendous.
=======================
Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
=======================

1/2 Golden Pair
      by skeezy5

=======================

Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...

=======================

	I am Shiratori Azusa.  Together with Sanzenin Mikado, we have been 
known as the Golden Pair.  Yesterday, we were the undefeated champions 
of the high school skating world.  Our skill and chemistry has long been 
the stuff of legend.  We thought we were unbeatable.
	Every once in a while, life throws a curve ball at you, a small 
irony.  I was thrown one yesterday.  Their names were Saotome Ranma and 
Tendo Akane.  It is almost poetic justice that we met them through my 
continual obsession with...
	But I must back up, for the tale which I wish to tell begins much 
further back than that...

@->-

	"Hey, Azusa, let's go to the ice skating rink."  Michiko grabbed 
my arm and started pulling me along.  Stumbling, I barely snagged my bag 
as she dragged me out of the classroom.
	"What's at the rink?"  I asked curiously.  
	"The new transfer student.  He's supposed to be really cute."  
Michiko grinned.  I sighed and followed her, knowing that she'd probably 
make an absolute fool out of herself while fawning over this guy.  
Somebody had to look out for her, and I guessed it was me.
	When we arrived there, the rink was already full of girls, and we 
could only find a seat some distance away from the ring.  I pulled out a 
book and began reading, not interested in ogling some guy, but Michiko 
insisted that I watch.  
	It was then that I first saw him.  He was tall, handsome, and 
suave, but I didn't care about any of that.  There were many guys like 
that.  What caught my eye was his movement on the ice.  It was as if 
they had created the word 'graceful' to describe it.  He was... beyond 
beautiful.  Watching him, it was as if the world had been isolated to 
me, him, and my heart beats.  
	"Hey, Azusa, you're blushing."  Michiko's comment broke me out of 
my trance, but it was too late.  I had already tasted the apple.

@->-

	Love?  Not quite.  But there had been something magical about him. 
Sanzenin Mikado.  That name had obsessed my every thought and dream for 
the following weeks.  I had also started paying more attention to my 
appearance, my clothes, my hair.  I am pretty.  I have always been told 
that.  But that day, when I had gotten home and looked in the mirror at 
my shoulder length brown hair, my sweater and jeans, I had felt 
inadequate.  Unworthy.  Unworthy of him.

@->-

	The rink seemed even larger, now that it was empty.  The 
competition had ended hours ago, and everybody had gone home.  Mikado 
had won, of course, outshining all the other boys from the region.  I 
had sat in the back, my eyes fixed on him alone the whole time.  As he 
left, I tried to get close to him, maybe catch his eye, but there was no 
way to get through his Fan Club.  
	I had always been shy, but with him, I could not even get a chance 
to talk to him.  Though we were in the same homeroom, there would always 
be a flock of girls around him, and I couldn't get his attention.  All I 
could do was sit at my desk and stare at him, the teacher's words 
falling on my ears like some foreign language.
	Tying the laces tight, I stepped onto the ice.  I hadn't ice 
skated since early in my elementary school years, when my mother had 
forced me to.  I had hated it.  Trembling, I steadied myself against the 
wall and took a few shaky steps on the ice.
	Here.  Here was where Mikado had stood after his victory.  Here 
was where he had kissed that girl in his Fan Club.  My heart burned with 
that memory, the dark viper of jealousy coiling itself around my heart.  
Why?  What made her so special?  Why should he show his affections to 
her?  It was not that he loved her, for she was not the first one.  He 
has shown his affection to many, many girls, and never twice to the same 
one.  But why not me?  I would've given almost anything to have been in 
her place.
	Pushing off the wall, I slid a few meters before I almost stumbled 
and fell.  The only thing that stopped me was an arm that caught me 
around the waist.  Flustered by my near fall, I was further shocked to 
see that the arm belonged to none other than him.  "Mi... Mikado."
	"Hello there.  You're in my class, aren't you?"
	I nearly swooned at that point, discovering that he had noticed 
me.  Not trusting my voice, I nodded.  Something about him seemed 
different - so different, that for a moment, I thought I had fallen, and 
the figure before me was merely a figment of my imagination.  He seemed 
almost... vulnerable.
	"Shiratori Azusa, right?"  
	I nearly swooned a second time, finding out that he knew my name.  
Glad that he was still holding me, this time I worked up my courage and 
squeaked out, "Ye... Yeah."
	"Should pay more attention when you're skating.  A delicate girl 
like you could really hurt herself by falling."  He skated back to the 
rink wall and gently put me down.  It was dark in the rink, the lights 
turned off hours ago, but the ice seemed to emit a strange glow, a glow 
which was reflected in Mikado's eyes.
	Realizing that I'd been staring into his eyes for sometime, I 
blushed and looked down at my skates.  I felt self conscious, wearing a 
baggy sweater and sweat pants.  I felt so... plain.  Not wanting to lose 
this chance though, I wracked my brain for something to say.  "Uh... So 
do you come here this late often?"
	Mikado pushed off and glided across the ice a bit, but never too 
far.  "Yes.  The ice is truly where I feel at home, and whenever I feel 
troubled or am lonely, I come here.  Like tonight."  
	"Lonely?"  I asked, shocked that the object of my adulation 
actually felt alone.
	He did not respond to me but merely smiled.  Then, he broke into a 
dance across the ice.  He was as beautiful as ever, but something seemed 
wrong, missing.  It was only after a few minutes that I realized he was 
skating in the fashion of a pair, of a team.  I could see every move, 
spinning with his imaginary partner, throwing her up in the air, 
catching her...  Coming to the finale, he held his imaginary partner out 
at an arms length, both of them bowing to the audience.
	I clapped as he approached me.  Once he was near enough, I asked, 
"So you haven't found a partner yet?"
	"Singles skating is a fight with one self.  It requires the 
learning of skills, the training of the body, and the battle with one's 
mind.  It is an art.  Pair skating, however, is different.  It requires 
that two people work constantly to change and adapt to fit the pattern.  
It is the difference between building a monolith and creating a 
beautiful tapestry.  I am undefeated in singles skating, but have not 
found a girl who can match me in pair skating."  The look of longing in 
his face was undeniable, a hunger which seems to be unquenchable.  I 
realized then the depth with which he pursued perfection on ice.
	"What... What's it like?  Skating?"
	"Do you want to see?"  Without waiting for my answer, he picked me 
up and slid out onto the ice again.  His strong arms carried me 
effortlessly, and the sensation was closer to flying than to anything 
else.  I had seen an American movie, Superman, when I was a kid.  I felt 
like Lois Lane from that movie, floating in sky in the arms of Superman.  
Finally, we came to a stop, right back where we had started, and he put 
me down.  
	"Wow...  That was...  incredible."  The word seemed so inadequate 
to describe the feeling, but that was the best I could come up with.
	"Would you like to learn?  I could teach you a bit."  
	There was no way I could refuse.

@->-

	If he had only had my heart up to that night, he had gained 
mastery over me in my entirety at that point - mind, body, and soul.  I 
had felt that I had seen the real Mikado, past all the flair and 
bravado.  I had seen the man who hungered after perfection and had felt 
that I knew him.  
	We had met again for many nights after that, and he had taught me 
how to skate.  I had improved quickly under his tutelage, and as my 
skill had grown, I had felt that the small bond we had formed that night 
had also grown.  He never did show any interest to me, but I hadn't 
minded.  I had felt that I shared something with him that none of the 
other girls did.

@->-

	"Hey, Michiko, I really need to go now."  I glanced at my watch 
again, desperate to get out of there.  My friends had insisted on 
throwing me a farewell party when they had found out that I was moving 
to America, and so we were at Michiko's place.
	"Huh?  Why?  Its only 10 o'clock.  Your flight tomorrow isn't 
until noon, right?  You can hang out longer!  I'm sure your parents 
won't mind."  Michiko frowned.  
	Though I felt bad lying to her, my best friend since childhood, I 
had an appointment to keep, and I was already late.  "I need to finish a 
bit of packing.  You know how it is, the last minute rush."  
	"Aww...  All right.  I'll see you tomorrow at the airport, okay?"
	"Okay, see you."  With that, I rushed out of her house and caught 
a cab.  I was supposed to meet Mikado at school in fifteen minutes for 
our final skating lesson.  Watching the street whiz by, the realization 
entered my mind that it would be the last time I saw this street for 
years, but that realization passed out of my mind as quickly as it came. 
My mind filled with thoughts of Mikado alone.
	When the cab stopped, I pressed a wad of bill's into the driver's 
hands and ran out without getting the change.  I raced over to the rink, 
relieved that I was only ten minutes late.  Patting my hair down into 
some semblance of order, I stepped through the doors and walked down to 
the rink.
	Mikado was already there, of course, practicing.  I stopped at the 
edge of the ice and stared at him for a long time, but this time, my 
mind was only half on what he was doing.  I ran through the list again 
in my mind and hoped that the conversation would happen as I'd planned, 
no, fantasized it.  Finally, seeing that I wasn't stepping on to the 
ice, Mikado came to a stop in front of me.  "What's wrong?"
	"I...  I'm leaving tomorrow for America."  He remained silent, 
gazing at me curiously.  I continued.  "This is our last lesson."
	He finally responded at that.  "That's too bad.  You've learned 
much from me, but you could've improved much more with time.  Even more 
if you'd concentrated more on skating while you practiced."
	I blushed at that, knowing what I had been distracted so much by.  
"I just wanted to say...  I enjoyed our lessons a lot, and I promise 
I'll practice skating every day when I get there..."  
	"That would be good."  Hearing the flatness of his voice, I almost 
wanted to cry.  Wasn't he even going to say that he'd miss me?  Was our 
bond so shallow?  "You have much potential.  You may become a great 
skater with a lot of practice."
	"You're just saying that."  My emotional roller coaster took 
another turn, returning to a high with the simple compliment.  
	"No.  I am glad that my first pupil was so talented."
	Perhaps that was why.  Was it because he looked upon me as a 
student that I never felt any warmth from him?  My feelings were torn, 
glad on one hand that I was special to him in my own way, but sad at the 
same time that I was nothing more than that, a student.  "Will... Will 
you remember me?"
	He paused for a moment, and something imperceptible flashed 
through his eyes.  He started to say something, but then stopped. After 
looking at me for a while again, he finally said, "I will."

@->-

	San Francisco had been a nice town, and there had been enough 
Japanese stores and people for me not to feel too homesick.  While I had 
been there, I had been lonely for different reasons.  Perhaps it had 
been because I had felt that I had left a vital part of my life back in 
Tokyo.  No, it had been exactly for that reason.  I had felt lonely 
because I had felt that without Mikado, my life had no meaning.
	It had taken two years for me to convince my parents, but finally, 
they had given into my begging, and I had moved back to our house in 
Tokyo.  I had grown much as a skater during that time, and as I had 
anxiously waited for the plane ride home to end, I had felt that Mikado 
would be proud of me.

@->-

	I watched as the bus drove off, cresting the hill and going back 
towards the city.  Standing at the bus stop, I fingered the letter in my 
hands again, the culmination of all my feelings, thoughts, and longings 
for the last two years.  I had thought much about this encounter and had 
written out what I wanted to say to him, not trusting myself to be able 
to voice all of those words.
	The breeze ran its fingers through my hair, and once more, I 
noticed how weird it was to have short hair again.  I had grown it out 
during my stay in America, but had cut it before my return, making 
myself look just as I had on the day I had left him.
	A few long minutes passed, and I saw another bus coming.  My watch 
showed the time to be five minutes before six, the time when Mikado 
usually came home.  As the bus pulled up the hill, I felt my body grow 
tense with excitement, just as it had for the last six buses.  As it 
slowed to a stop, I saw a tall figure approaching the front of the bus 
to get off.  Was it him?
	A familiar figure stood at the top of the steps as the doors swung 
open.  I felt my whole life up until then coalescing for this moment, as 
if I had lived to get here.  As he stepped down, out of the bus, his 
gaze swept up to look at me.
	And then he looked away.  Turning, he put his arm around the girl 
that had stepped off after him and walked past me without sparing me 
another glance.  I stood there, the words I had not been able to say two
years ago still held in my hands.

@->-

	Betrayal?  No, not really.  I had always known what he was like, 
and it would have been foolish of me to have expected anything else.  He 
needed the attention, the adulation, the worshipping.  I had known all 
that.  It still hadn't stopped the hurting, however, because it was not 
the girl at his side which had broken my heart.  It had been that blank 
look of non-recognition.  He hadn't remembered me at all.
	Did I give up that day?  No.  I still wanted him more than 
anything else in the world. So I decided that day, that I would make 
myself indispensable to him.  He had been looking into finding a partner 
for pair skating.  I swore that day that I would become that partner.  I 
would become the best, and then, he wouldn't be able to forget me.  
Ever.
	It was about then that it also started.  I had always felt 
inadequate in my appearance, but that feeling of inferiority was 
amplified beyond all measure.  I decided that I needed to be cuter.  And 
to that effect, I grew my hair out again, started wearing make up, and 
absolutely changed my demeanor.  But above all, I began surrounding 
myself with cute things.  My obsession had begun.

@->-

	As they called out my name, I raised my hand and waved to the 
crowd.  I watched as my Fan Club went wild, the boys cheering mindlessly 
for me.  Even before the judges had put out the scores, I had known I 
was the best.  There had been no other girl who matched me in skill, 
style, or beauty on the rink today, and they were supposedly the best 
that the region had to offer.  Now, they all knew I was the best.
	I saw the jealousy in the eyes of some of the girls, respect in 
others, but all of them acknowledged that I was better.  With a thin 
smile, I took it all in, but instead of taking their congratulations, I 
merely turned away and headed for the changing rooms.  After all, their 
approval or disapproval meant nothing to me.
	As I entered the hallway, I was mobbed by a flock of boys.  It was 
an interesting experience, and I felt like Moses walking through the Red 
Sea.  Though I was surrounded on all sides, they easily parted out of my 
way as I moved on towards the changing room.  
	As I rounded the corner, I saw him standing in front of the door.  
Though he was looking idly out the window, I knew it was me he had come 
for.  For a moment I felt an old, familiar feeling rising in my heart, 
but I squeezed it back into the deep void which it had crawled out from.  
Finally, reaching the door, I turned the handle, pretending not to have 
noticed him.
	"Azusa."  That same cold, flat voice called out my name.
	For a moment, I was tempted to ignore him, to leave him.  After 
all I had accomplished, did I really need him?  I answered, "Yes?"
	"I am Sanzenin Mikado.  I saw you skate today.  You are very 
good."  I felt the jealousy emanating from my fans, but Mikado was 
unfazed by it.
	"I know."  I looked up at him, my best 'bored and impatient' look 
on my face.
	"There is a pair skating tournament coming up in two months.  Only 
you are good enough to skate as my pair."
	I cocked my head to one side, the look on my face becoming one of 
even greater ennui.  "What of it?"
	"Be mine."  Once upon a time, those words would've made me weak at 
my knees, my heart flutter, and my head feel light.
	"I will."  

@->-

	And so we were the Golden Pair.  From then on, he needed me as 
much as I needed him.  We were each one half of a pair, yet never a 
whole.  The fury with which I threw myself into our skating matches 
matched his obsession with perfection.  The fury born of hatred for all 
the other couples.  Stepping on the ice, I could always see the caring 
and closeness between them.  And I hated that thing which they had that 
I could never have.  And so I set out to destroy them.
	When I had suggested the 'Good Bye Whirl', Mikado merely looked 
upon it as a tool.  I had looked upon it as revenge.  If I couldn't have 
it, nobody else would.

@->-

	"Got it?!  Akane is my fiancee!  Lay a lip on her and I'll kill 
you!"  Ranma yelled.  As I heard those words, I felt the rage beginning 
to build up within me again, and I knew where this would be heading.
	"Your fiancee, huh?  Such bonds are fragile.  And I will do all in 
my power to shatter those bonds!"  Mikado's smug words gave me the 
signal.  We would tear them apart as we had torn apart so many others.  
	The next few minutes passed in a surreal deja vu as we entered 
into a well practiced routine.  I almost felt as if I'd taken a step 
back and become a mere observer, the angry shade controlling my body 
smoothly snagging Ranma and Akane into the 'Good Bye Whirl.'
	As we spun furiously, I heard the exchange between Ranma and 
Akane.  A long forgotten feeling struggled against its bond within me, 
listening to them.  Though I brought it back under control once more, 
that small slip was enough for me to lose my concentration, and I let go 
of Ranma's legs.
	The passionless observer gone from my body, I cringed, watching 
the two of them flying towards the wall.  As they neared, however, Ranma 
somehow flipped in midair, and took the brunt of the impact.  As they 
fell to the ice, however, only one thing caught my eye.  They never let 
go of their hands.
	The match continued as the Furinkan side switched its pairs, but 
for me, it was over.  My body still reacted, instinct and habit taking 
over, but I was done, defeated.

@->-

	Yesterday, we, the Golden Pair, lost.  But more importantly, the 
'Good Bye Whirl' was foiled.  I had believed Mikado.  I had believed 
that to reach the perfection that he sought, skill and prowess were all 
that mattered.  I was wrong.  The love and trust between Ranma and Akane 
survived us.  That which I had given up for Mikado was that which 
destroyed us.  
	We could reclaim our title as champions easily.  After all, it had 
only been a fluke which had defeated us.  But it does not matter to me 
any more.  I have seen the truth.  No matter how good we are, no matter 
how hard we work, there is something out there that is greater than us.  
I am Shiratori Azusa.  We are no longer the Golden Pair.
	Am I over him?  Only time will tell.  Goodnight, Antoinette.

=======================

[Author's Notes]

	This is a combo of watching Wang Kar Wei's "Fallen Angels", 
watching that sad DoCo video, and hearing the remark, "Azusa is 
shallow."  Gather your own conclusions.