******************************
  "Foolish Games"
A Ranma 1/2 Fan fiction by Pia Oo-yo-ah.

Hello, there. This is my first fanfic, and it's really old. I did it 
mostly
for myself, and that's the biggest problem. This means this fanfic is
_extremely_ cheesy and melodramatic, just the way _I_ like it, and I
_really_ mean it. It was coming out so cheesy that I finally decided to 
make
it even worse and turn it into a parody of romantic fics out there. But 
like
someone in the list said some days ago: is it parody, or just bad 
writing? I
don't know, judge for yourself, and don't say I didn't warn you. No 
offense
to anyone is intended. I really like romantic fics... Oh well...

Also, thanks to my friends Viviana Fendez and Larry Fontenot for 
pre-reading 
for me...

The usual disclaimer goes here: None of the characters in this fic are 
mine,
they belong to the great Rumiko Takahashi. I'm using them without 
permission
but it's okay 'cause I can't make any money out of it and neither can 
you,
so there. Now for the story...

******************************

It had been quite some time since Akane had started wandering aimlessly
around the small seaside resort. She had been crying; her face was red, 
her
eyes were puffy, and her cheeks were stained with the tracks of her 
tears.
It was near sunset now, and the soft spring breeze was playing with her 
hair
and ruffling her dress around her knees.  Her hands were clutched 
against
her chest, and she looked lost and fragile.

She was standing at the top of a small hill with a nice view of the town 
at
her left and the endless billowing ocean in front of her. The setting 
sun
cast long, dark shadows and streaked the sky with beautiful orange 
ribbons
of light.  Nature was outdoing herself in a gorgeous display of color, 
but
Akane felt utterly depressed by the beauty around her.  She was wishing 
that
he was there sharing it with her.

She was tired of crying, tired of running away, tired of everything.  
She
was especially tired of him.  Yet despite the fact that he was the cause 
of
her suffering, she wished he were there.  All the other people who'd 
been on
the beach that day had gone in for dinner.  The only sounds she heard 
were
the sounds of the wind in her ears, and the waves crashing on the rocks
below her.

She brought her right hand to her ear to place a strand of her 
black-blue
hair behind it in one long moment when the wind died down and the sound 
of
the ocean faded away.  Her face mirrored her anguish as her eyes fixed 
on
the horizon.

"Oh, Ranma..."

As another tear slipped down her cheek, the silence was broken by 
another
wave hitting the rocks below her.  With an angry gesture she wiped off 
the
lone tear. She wanted to be able to be mad at Ranma, but all she could
summon was sadness.  Once again, she wished he were there to share the
moment, just to enjoy it, just to be with her.  She wished he _ wanted _ 
to
be with her.

  ******************************

Ranma and Akane had been a married couple for a week now. Their
parents had decided they should have a couple of weeks alone as a 
honeymoon,
and Nabiki had arranged their stay in a small cabin in this town.  
Nabiki
was keeping the location secret from everyone, for the obvious reasons, 
for
the couple's sake� and for a hefty sum of money extorted from their 
doting
parents.

The wedding had been more or less forced on them the same way the first
(disastrous) one had, but deep inside she'd known she really wanted to 
go
through with it. She loved Ranma too much to drag their relationship out
much further than it had already gone. When they had first met, she was
furious that her father had prearranged her life without her knowledge, 
but
slowly she had grown to care about Ranma.  She had eventually realized 
that
while he was often an insensitive jerk, he was also a romantic at heart. 
The
problem was that when she tried to get along with him, and it just 
didn't
seem to work.

Still, there were all those times when he had fought like crazy for her 
sake
and the times he had seemed so worried when she didn't seem to be well.
There had even been times when they had been alone, and he had been 
tender
and sweet to her. She thought at those times that he might love her. But
then he would insult her and ruin the mood.

When her father had told her about the new wedding attempt and that 
Ranma
had agreed to it, she was secretly happy to know that she was the one 
who
would become Ranma's bride, rather than any of the other girls who 
wanted to
marry him.  However, when she had talked to Ranma the day before the
wedding, Ranma had only seemed to go along with whatever Akane said.  It
almost seemed to her that he really wasn't interested in what was going 
on.
She couldn't quite figure out if he wanted to marry her, or if he was 
just
doing it to uphold his family's honor after all.  Ranma had never before 
let
anyone tell him what to do without arguing about it.  The only "valid"
reason Ranma had given her was:

"Hey, maybe it'll get our folks off our backs for once."

They had been in college for a year and a half, and were on spring break
when they were married.  Thanks to Kasumi, no one interrupted the 
ceremony
this time.  Kasumi had thoughtfully invited the entire neighborhood 
Martial
Artist crowd over for dinner the night before the wedding, and fed them 
a
dinner that had been spiced with ground-up sleeping pills.  Doctor Tofu 
had
given Akane instructions for the proper dosages for each person as a 
wedding
gift, and Kasumi had used the information to good effect.  None of the
normally suspicious Martial Artists had thought that Kasumi would ever 
pull
a trick like that, and so they were fast asleep all the next day.  Akane 
and
Ranma had slipped away from Nerima right after the ceremony.  No one but
Nabiki knew where they were, not even their parents.

That night, when they were getting ready to go to bed, Ranma wordlessly
grabbed a pillow and lay down on the couch.  The next day, their
relationship seemed to slide back into the old patterns.  Ranma slipped 
into
his usual "jerk" mode, only this time he kept saying he couldn't believe
he'd married a tomboy. He seemed to be bored or depressed. Akane 
couldn't
tell which one.  The conclusion she arrived at was that Ranma must be
unhappy even though she was trying her best to please him.  She hadn't 
once
attempted to cook, and she had worn clothing she thought Ranma would 
think
were feminine.  She had even stopped training in case he thought it was 
too
macho for her.  She also tried to smile more often; after all, Ranma had
once said she looked cute when she smiled.

During the following days, Ranma didn't insult her, and asked her why 
she 
didn't cook. He even asked her if she wanted to walk by the beach. It 
was 
one of those rare moments when he was trying to get along with her.  
Seeing Ranma obviously trying so hard hurt her even more. She had 
thought 
that after all those years together, he would eventually fall in love 
with 
her, just the way she had fallen for him. But it seemed that hadn't 
happened.

Ranma was trying _too _ hard; it was completely out of character for him 
to
be so considerate of her.  Behind the act, it looked to her like he was
miserable.  She could only think that it was because he didn't really 
love
her, and that he must have married her because he thought that he had 
to.
She knew that Ranma would be too honorable to cheat on her, so that 
meant
that since he was stuck with her, Ranma would never find the love he
deserved.  Being the cause of his misery was something she didn't want, 
but
she wasn't sure what she should do.

Akane had thought she could handle it, that it wouldn't be so hard to 
bear 
with it. Today at lunch, Ranma kept to himself while they were eating, 
so Akane tried to
start a conversation.  She put on her best smile.

"Would you like to go for a swim after lunch?" she asked.

"I don't really feel like it" he said, and kept eating.

"Maybe we should go home," she said, the smile fading.  Ranma's response 
had
been so cold!

"Whatever you want" Ranma replied flatly, and kept eating.

"I'm asking you. You don't seem to be enjoying this."

"Am I supposed to enjoy a honeymoon with you?"

Akane's heart broke. She tried to hide it, but her eyes filled with 
tears.

"I'm sorry, Akane! I didn't mean it like that... er... I mean..."

"It's okay Ranma... I understand", she said staring at her plate. She 
took a
deep breath and let it out slowly as Ranma started to eat again.

"So, would you like to do anything at all after lunch?"

Akane tried to force a weak smile, but she just couldn't.  Ranma seemed 
to
think about it for a little while, and then looked straight into Akane's
eyes.

"I just want to be alone... I have to figure things out. I thought it 
would
be easier after we got married, but it looks like it's not."

"I see," Akane said softly.

They finished their meal in silence. Akane started to pick up the 
dishes, as
Ranma just sat there. She couldn't bear his silence, and before she knew 
it
she was running down the street, crying.  She didn't want it to be like
this! They were both so miserable.  If they were ever to have a chance
together, they had to work it out, to sit down and talk about it. But 
first
she needed to cry and let it all out. Walking and running around this 
nice
little town would do her good. She just couldn't stop thinking of their 
last
conversation, and how mean Ranma had been.

She stopped her wandering late that evening when she noticed the sunset. 
Its
beauty drew her, even though her mind was filled with confusing 
thoughts.
She relaxed a little as the sight soothed her.  Yes, they needed to 
talk;
she was sure they could work it out. They were adults after all, weren't
they?  But still...

"Oh, Ranma..."

  ******************************

Ranma had been running all over the place, looking for Akane. She had 
been
gone since lunch, and he was too worried to sit and wait for her.

"Damn!  I really put my foot in my mouth THIS time!"

The worse thing was that he knew it was his fault to begin with.  He'd 
been
messing up her life ever since he and his father first set foot in the 
Tendo
home.  She had been so high spirited when he first met her, and he'd 
been
insulting her and lying to her ever since.  After their marriage, 
something
had happened to her: she wasn't training and she didn't try to cook.  
She
didn't even hit him anymore, for crying out loud!  He knew that she was
trying to act more feminine, but that wasn't the Akane he had fallen in 
love
with.

'Still' Ranma thought 'she's more beautiful than ever.'

A smile flitted across his face, but vanished in a moment.  So many 
changes
in such a short time couldn't be good. Something had to be very wrong 
with
her.  He was sure he was the cause of it all, because Akane didn't love 
him
the way he loved her. It was easy to admit it now. He had fallen in love
with Akane almost at first sight, although he hadn't realized it at 
first.
He had hoped she could love him back, but he was convinced now that it 
just
hadn't happened.  Instead, her spirit was broken. He kept running, 
twisting
that ring in his left hand with his thumb.

"Akane..."

He had finally given in to his father's plans for him to marry her, 
since
she was the only girl he really wanted to spend his life with, and he 
had
thought that Akane had agreed for the same reason.

'I guess I was wrong about that.  My stupid ego got in the way again, 
and I
just assumed that she wanted to marry me too.  Ha.  I must have been
thinking something like "how could she not fall for the great Ranma 
Saotome
like everyone else does?"  I really am a baka, aren't I?'

He had hoped they would work it out after their wedding.  They would be 
able
to spend some time by themselves on the honeymoon and to talk about how 
they
felt about each other... if they had the guts, that was.  Things didn't 
seem
to go that way, however.  She had seemed so sad after the wedding that 
he
had decided to leave her alone that night, and not insist she sleep with
him.  Surely Akane wouldn't want a freak like him touching her; wasn't 
her
life ruined enough as it was?

Now, he was considering having the marriage annulled, in the hope that 
she
would then be able to find some _ normal _ guy, not a weirdo like him.
After all, what kind of man was he, spending half of his time as a girl?  
He
unconsciously turned his hand into a hard fist.

Right now, Akane was stuck with a half boy/half girl jerk, and he _had_ 
been
a jerk to her at lunch, just to see if she would react like she used to 
at
home before they had married.  Instead, he'd just hurt her even more.  
The
violent, strong-willed girl he loved so much was gone, and it was his
fault.  Maybe she would leave him now, and look for another guy.  God 
knew
it wouldn't be hard for her to find one.  She was so damn beautiful�  
But
now they were married, would she leave him?  There was no way she would
cheat on him.  He knew her better than that.

'And even if she finds another guy,' Ranma thought 'I'll probably get
jealous and screw that up for her too.'  He had always been jealous when
other guys got close to Akane.  Because of him, Akane would never find 
the
love she deserved, and that he wanted so much to give her.  He hated 
himself
for that.

What if he told her how he felt? No way that would work.  She'd probably
just feel even more trapped.  Maybe with time she might grow to care 
about
him, but how long would that take?  They would both be unhappy in the
meantime.

Ranma stopped running as a soft breeze stroked him. He looked up at the
orange-streaked sky. He wasn't in the town anymore, but rather in the 
small
hills by the beach a short distance outside it. He could see their cabin
from here. He had run all over town without finding any trace of Akane.

He looked towards the setting sun. The soft breeze felt cool on his 
skin.
He closed his eyes, and pictured Akane in his mind. He had always 
thought of
her as a beautiful girl, but he realized that she was a young woman now.  
He
thought of her crying as she ran from him, and it broke his heart to 
think
of how he made her suffer.

"Oh, Akane..." he whispered softly

Ranma took a deep breath and opened his eyes. It was then that he saw 
her.
She was standing about thirty yards away from him, looking at the sunset
with her back to him.  She was so beautiful that his heart started to 
beat
faster. He had found her at last.

Now what?  He felt an urgent need to go to her and hold her, but he 
didn't
want to spoil the vision he was seeing. He clenched his fist at his
indecision. She was right. He was just a stupid jerk.

She looked so peaceful; he didn't want to ruin that for her, but before 
he
knew it he'd started walking towards her. He stopped a few feet behind 
her.
What should he do? He had to tell her how he felt; when it came right 
down
to it, it was as simple as that. Apologize first, then tell her how he 
felt
and go from there... For a moment he was tempted to just leave as 
quietly as
he had arrived, but the worst thing he could do was to chicken out now.

'Pandas run away' he thought 'not men.'

It was then that he heard her sigh.

"Oh, Ranma..."

"I'm here, Akane..."

  ******************************

Somehow, she wasn't surprised.  Her heart pounded faster in her chest at 
the
sound of his voice.  She turned around slowly to see Ranma giving her a 
weak
smile. The sun and her face were reflected on his beautiful gray-blue 
eyes.

"Ranma!" She looked away, and then shyly looked back at him again. "How 
long
have you been there?"

"Not long." He looked at the ground. So did Akane.

In the background, the sound of the waves kept crashing over and over, 
as
the silence between them lengthened. Ranma lifted his head to look at 
Akane,
at the same moment she did. He took a deep breath.

"Akane, I..." "Ranma, I..." Both of them smiled at the coincidence.

"You found me," she said.

"I had to" Ranma said. He paused for a moment in surprise at how easily 
the
words had come. He then took a couple of steps closer to Akane. She 
started,
but Ranma didn't notice.

His arms were against his sides, his hands clenched into fists. He could
feel his heart pounding. Her eyes were so beautiful and clear that he 
could
see his reflection... She was smiling; that was everything to him.  
Ranma
forced his hands to relax, and tried to compose himself for what he had 
to
say.

She held her breath as she waited for his next words, hoping against all
hope that they would be�

" I... I'm sorry, Akane."

Akane was puzzled.  What was he sorry for?  That his life had been 
messed
up?  That he was stuck with such a sorry excuse for a wife that she 
couldn't
cook without ruining perfectly good food?

"I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you all this time.  I'm sorry you 
were
forced to marry me. It's my fault you're so unhappy, and I wish there 
was
some way I could make it up to you." He gazed at his feet again.

Akane was shaking. She stood with one hand to her mouth. What was he was
trying to say?  She didn't know what to think anymore.

Ranma struggled to find the right words so she wouldn't misunderstand 
him.

"I know it's hard being married and all, and that it's even harder to be
married to a sex-changing freak."

He looked away for a second, his pain easy to see on his face. Akane 
shook
her head to deny any such thing, but he didn�t notice. He closed his 
eyes
for a second. When he opened them again, Akane could see a quiet
determination in his eyes that filled her with wonder.  Her eyes filled 
with
tears again, afraid of his next words.

'Come on, baka, say it,' he was thinking. 'Enough preamble already...'

He looked at her, and saw that she was starting to cry again.

"Akane, please..." he said, almost whispering. "Don't cry... It hurts to 
see
you cry."

Akane caught her breath at this and looked away. The tears started to 
slide
down her cheeks again, as they had done almost the entire day...

Seeing her like this was too much for Ranma. He couldn't let Akane 
suffer
like this. He took another step towards her. Akane didn't notice. The 
tears
wouldn't let her.

"I�ll let you go if you want to leave me, or if you want to stay I'll do 
my
best to be a good husband to you.  We're going to work this out, 
Akane...
because I want us both to be happy..."

Suddenly, she felt Ranma's strong hand softly tilting her head to face 
him.
He was smiling at her, a decisive look on his handsome face.

"...I want _you_ to be happy..."

Akane held her breath and stared. Ranma leaned in a little.

"... Because I love you, Akane."

For Akane, time and sound stopped abruptly. She kept repeating his words 
in
her mind. He had said it. He loved her. A thousand million thoughts 
invaded
her already confused mind in a matter of a second. She could only stare 
at
him.

"Ranma... I..." she whispered, and burst out crying again against his 
chest.
He hugged and rocked her tenderly as she cried. He let out a breath of
relief he didn't realize he was holding and closed his eyes. It felt so 
good
and right to hold her like that.

Akane cried softly for a couple of minutes. They held each other as the 
sun
began to slide down over the horizon. Akane was finally happy, and sure 
of
where future would lead.  She lost herself in his embrace. There seemed 
to
be a spot just made for her head, right there between Ranma's chin and
shoulder. After a couple of minutes, Akane pulled back to look up at 
him.

'She looks so beautiful' Ranma thought, and didn't have time for 
anything
else. Akane grinned, and suddenly kissed him, her eyes closed. Ranma's 
eyes
widened in surprise, then he slowly started to relax again. He closed 
his
eyes as he returned her kiss tenderly.  After quite some time, they 
broke
off their kiss. Akane looked at him.

"I love you, too, Ranma... I've always loved you, so don't you ever talk 
about leaving me again or I'll get REALLY mad at you�"

She smiled at him and tapped on his back with the handle of the mallet 
she
mysteriously summoned from nowhere.  It vanished again a moment later as
Ranma returned her smile and kissed her softly on her forehead, drawing 
her
back into his arms.  THAT was the Akane he knew and loved!

  Holding hands, and leaning on each other, they slowly walked back 
towards
the town, as the last of the sun disappeared behind the deep blue ocean.

  ****************************** EL FIN ********************************

  Author Notes:
-If you're reading this...  CONGRATULATIONS!  You made it this far, so
you're probably able to read any of my fanfics  (Not that I've written 
that
much...).

-I told you it was cheesy, so don't say I didn't warn you...

-I'd like constructive comments about this. I'm only starting and it's 
hard
doing it on your own. I need your help to improve, so sent comments, 
PLEASE!
E-mail me with your comments. Ask about any grammar or words that looked
weird or if you didn't know what I wanted to say. English is not my 
native
language, so it's only to be expected to find that kind of stuff.

-Finally, thanks for reading...

  "Whatever happens, have a nice day..."

  Pia Oo-yo-ah.
  http://ranma-and-akane.home.ml.org/
  pia.shadowfalls@unforgettable.com  (please reply to this adress or you 
   feedback will be mixed up with the list stuff...)



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