TotH webpage (all parts): http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
The Taming of the Horse
a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Vince Seifert (seifertv@csus.edu)
Ranma 1/2 characters and situations are copyright 1987, 1998
by Takahashi Rumiko. Publishing rights (Japan) by Shogakukan
Inc. Publishing rights (North America) by Viz Inc. This work
is not intended to infringe those rights.
~~~~~ Chapter 5: Breaking ~~~~~
The time of breaking is critical to the development of
an even-tempered, tractable horse. Mistakes during this
phase can result in an animal which is skittish,
intransigent, or even dangerous... The rider will be
required to be patient and firm, and keep control of the
process at all times... if this is done properly, the result
is a bond between horse and rider which enriches both their
lives.
-- from Chapter 5
"'A date'?" Ranma was the picture of a pigtailed martial
artist who couldn't believe his ears. He'd thought he was in
Akane's room after supper to get help with his homework.
"You heard me," Akane said firmly. "I want you to ask me
out. I want you to set a date and time that you'll come pick me
up to go do something normal. Like dinner and a movie, or
something."
Ranma looked dubious. "Why would I want ta make a big
production out of it? Ya wanna go hang out somewhere, fine, but--"
"It's what couples do, you jerk! We are a couple, aren't
we?" Her glare dared him to say otherwise.
He took the dare. "Whaddaya mean, couple?"
Akane took a deep, cleansing breath and let it out. It
didn't help. "A couple. I am your fiancee. You--" *God help
me,* her scathing glance implied-- "are my fiance. A Couple."
"OK. You can ask me out on a date," he said smugly.
"Oooh! You... you..."
Ranma looked down into Akane's eyes. She was breathing hard
and had her fists clenched, and he couldn't imagine why she
hadn't hit him yet. His heart pounded once... twice... three,
four, five and her arms went around his neck and her fingers
grabbed his hair and pulled his head down, and her lips were hot
on his and not gentle, not gentle at all, but he didn't mind.
His arms enclosed her like they knew what they were doing, which
was a good thing, because he wasn't paying attention to them.
Akane broke the kiss and leaned back, looking up into
Ranma's eyes. His lips settled into a goofy smile. "Wow. So
that's what Shampoo an' Kodachi were tryin' for..."
Akane broke out of his embrace and stepped back, suddenly
furious. "You're supposed to be thinking about me, not them!"
she snarled.
Ranma's face flashed through several expressions before
settling on the superior smirk Akane hated so much. "Heh. Why
don'tcha make me?" She couldn't let that pass, could she? Akane
let fly with her best right jab, targeted three inches past where
his navel would be when he dodged, but it hit air behind his back
because he'd flowed inside it and picked her up and was kissing
her, kissing her the way he fought, with joy and abandon and...
oh boy... with technique that started out clumsy but improved by
the second. She heard a little moan and realized it was her own
voice but didn't care, because she'd wanted this for so long and
all she wanted to do now was to drag him down on the floor and...
and... and what?
WHAM!
Ranma bounced off the wall yelling "What?! What?!" and
stopped.
Akane was leaning against the opposite wall from the
panicked shove that had separated them, hand at her chest, still
breathing hard. "No! Not until we're married!" she gasped.
Ranma blinked, dumbfounded. "What, no kissing?"
"No, no..." She stopped and looked again. There was no way
Ranma could be faking that stupid look. And that meant... "Argh!
I can't believe it! There's no way ANYONE could be that dense!"
"What?! If not kissing, then what?!"
"My god. You're not kidding. You weren't thinking..."
*And I was.* Akane blushed deeply and hid her face in her hands.
*Oh, boy, was I ever.*
Ranma stared at her flaming ears and suddenly Got It. "Oh.
That. Uh..."
Akane peeked out. Ranma was blushing as badly as she was.
*Maybe he won't make fun of me...* "Well, I, um... How could you
not... you know?"
Ranma put his hand to the back of his head and examined the
ceiling. "Uh... I dunno. Don't tell my momma, but I guess it
was always jus' something that happened ta other people, far
a..." He was interrupted by a thump from the next room and shut
up quickly. In the sudden silence both Ranma and Akane could
hear muffled noises, noises that sounded like... laughing? They
stared at each other. *Microphone?* Sweatdrops appeared on both
heads.
"NABIKI!!!" they screamed in unison, and darted for the
door. Ranma was slightly ahead as they rounded the curve,
averting a nasty pileup in the doorway.
Nabiki just had time to untangle herself from her headphone
cable and pop the tape out before Ranma and Akane burst into her
room. Her hand dove into her waistband and came out empty. "Ah-
ah-ah!" she chided them. "Don't even think about it."
Ranma was thinking about it. He eyed the outline of the
cassette in Nabiki's pants. His hand twitched. Akane caught his
eye and mouthed "Go for it." Nabiki caught his eye and glared
coolly at him. About that time he started thinking about what
else was inside Nabiki's pants...
Ranma stepped back and shrugged helplessly at Akane.
"Sorry, no can do. If ya wanna make dragon stew for dinner, I'll
go kill the ingredients for ya, but not this."
"Coward," Akane muttered. She steeled herself and turned to
Nabiki. "How much?"
"Priceless." They gaped at her. "No, really, you can't
afford this and no one else can either. I'm keeping this one to
cheer me through the dark years to come." Akane and Ranma
exchanged desperate looks. "Besides, by the sound of it, pretty
soon you'll have much better things to be embarrassed about."
Ranma and Akane both flushed scarlet. "Think of it as a lesson
in not getting caught."
Akane found her voice again. "Nabiki... if you ever, ever,
ever let anyone listen to that tape, I'll... I'll hold it
against you as long as I live." She slumped, deflated by the
negligible weight of the best credible threat she could come up
with.
"What, not even Kasumi? How about Father? Hey, I bet
Happosai'd really get a kick out of it..."
"NABIKI!!!"
"Whoa, in stereo yet." Nabiki smiled triumphantly and
flapped a hand at them. "Just kidding. Really. I promise no
one else will hear it, cross my abacus and hope to go broke."
Akane considered her for a moment. "Well, all right. But
for god's sake, keep it in a safe place."
"But..." Ranma started.
"Come ON, Ranma!" Akane grabbed his pigtail and started
dragging him out.
Nabiki couldn't resist a parting shot. "Hey, hey, What-No-
Kissing-san," she whispered to Ranma as he stumbled past. Ranma
just had time for a dirty look before the door slammed. Nabiki
grinned, winced suddenly, and carefully fished the tape out. She
turned it over in her fingers, then smiled, loaded it back into
the recorder and pressed "Rewind".
Out in the hall, Akane let go of Ranma's pigtail. "We need
to talk," she told him.
"We do? Uh, yeah, sure we do. Quit lookin' at me like
that."
"Not here, though. Someplace without microphones."
"And fiancees. 'Cept you, of course. Heh heh."
"Heh." *Baka.* "The roof?"
"Nah, I think Nabiki can bug us there too. Mebbe the dojo
roof... uh, no."
"The park?"
"Let's go." Ranma cracked his knuckles and smiled
viciously. "If we're really, really lucky, we'll run inta some
muggers. Ya need the practice." Bop!
~~~~~
The small park near the dojo had a few trees, some concrete
benches, and a lovely view of the canal. This time of night, the
city lights were kind of pretty if you squinted, too. Akane
badly wanted Ranma to put his arm around her on the walk there,
but couldn't quite bring herself to put her arm around him.
"Here," Ranma said, walking up to a backless bench near the
embankment. "You sit that way, I'll sit this way, an' we're
lookin' over each others' shoulders and nobody can sneak up on
us."
Akane sighed and sat as indicated. "You're paranoid."
"Nah. That's only if no one IS out to get ya." Ranma
grinned rakishly. He sat facing her. He lost the grin. The
breeze made a lonely sound in the trees.
*We could kiss so easily, sitting like this,* Akane
realized. *Did he... could he have planned it that way?* She
waited hopefully. The breeze whispered again. *Come ON, baka!*
Finally she got tired of waiting. "You could kiss me again,
you know," she told him shyly. "If you wanted to."
Ranma started. "Uh, yeah, I guess I could..." He leaned
over a little and forward a little. Their lips met. Akane
closed her eyes. Their lips moved around a bit. Their lips
parted.
*...That's all? What happened to...* Akane opened her
eyes.
Ranma had a slight frown. He looked like he was mulling
something over. "Jeez, Akane, that was pathetic," he said
finally. "Even a cold gal like you oughta be able to kiss better
than that."
It was his sensei voice at its most irritating, and Akane's
reaction was automatic. *Grr! I'll show him!* She lunged
forward. She didn't notice Ranma's expression change from
disappointment to anticipation, but she did notice when his arms
closed around her, her aura burst out in a soundless explosion
and she could see it, she could see their auras spark and sizzle
against each other with her eyes shut... *He has to love me as
much as I love him, there's no other way something as wonderful
as this could be happening...*
Then it was over and her closed eyes were leaking tears.
She took advantage of the way their arms were interlocked to hug
him hard. He hugged her back, but not nearly as hard, as though
she were something precious that might break if he weren't
careful.
Akane pushed back to look up at Ranma. For the first time
she could remember, he looked happy. Not triumphant-happy or
relieved-happy or trying-to-look-cute happy, but ordinary, glad-
to-be-alive happy. It didn't last, though. He started looking
apprehensive. Akane figured she'd better say something before he
did.
"What... what was all that about?"
He shrugged. "I dunno." His expression said that he did
know.
Akane gave him an impatient look. "You have the worst poker
face in history, remember? Try again."
He sighed. "I don't wanna say."
"You're not trying to get me mad so you can kiss me again,
are you?"
He twitched. "Uh..."
She let her hands wander over his back a bit. *Such a fine
back... such a pity it has a shirt on it... whoa, girl.* "Well,
let's see here. We kiss, and it's... nice. We kiss when I'm
mad, and... fireworks." She tilted an eyebrow at him. "It WAS
fireworks for you, too, wasn't it?"
"Mm." He blushed.
"So--"
"Hold it, Akane. I don't wanna talk about this too much."
She stared at him, surprised. "Well, whyever not?"
"I... uh... it might be like the Art is, sometimes. You
think about it too much and it sorta... goes away." He gestured
helplessly. His voice fell almost to a mumble. "I... I don't...
I don't want it to go away."
Akane stared at him. "Oh, Ranma..." *Now!* "Ranma?
Remember just before the wedding?" He twitched. He did. She
laid a finger across his lips just in case. "I know you love me,
Ranma. I've known since Jusendo. Maybe you didn't tell me then,
and maybe you sort of didn't before the wedding, and maybe you
can't tell me now." She took a breath. "But that's all right,
as long you don't deny it now, because... because I love you,
Ranma."
His eyes widened. She took the finger off his lips. He was
trembling. *Fear?* She was. *Fear... oh, god, what if I've
ruined it, what if he doesn't love me back, what if I lose him
because I said I love him?* She called on what control she'd
mastered. *Now I have to be the strong one...*
She hugged him again, clumsily, and tried to soothe him. It
wasn't working. *Oh, no! He wasn't ready yet!*
"Akane?" His voice was ragged. "What about the curse?"
Hope surged within her. She tried to make her voice matter-
of-fact. "I can live with it if you can."
He pulled back enough to look her in the eyes, and didn't
say anything. His doubt was clear.
She sighed. "Go jump in the canal. Come back female, and
I'll tell you again." She gave him a half-hearted glare. "But
no perverted stuff."
His mouth twitched. It was a pretty ghastly excuse for a
smile, but it was a smile. Then he was gone.
Splash!
Ranma vaulted back over the railing. She stripped off her
shirt, wrung it out, and put it back on, not looking at Akane.
Akane got up, moved over beside her, and turned the shorter girl
to face her.
"I love you, Ranma." Akane gazed into Ranma's eyes, willing
her to believe it. Tears welled up and overflowed, and suddenly
Ranma was crying, in great, wrenching sobs that sounded like they
were being torn out of her one at a time. Akane put her arms
around her, waited for the storm to subside, and tried to think
happy thoughts.
Eventually Ranma sniffled and pulled away. Akane wordlessly
offered her a handkerchief. "Thanks." Snort!
"You still blow your nose like a boy," Akane observed.
Ranma laughed a bit and wiped her nose. "I don't think ya
want this back just yet," she said, inspecting the handkerchief.
"Damnedest thing, though, this body handles the mushy stuff
better than mine." She glanced at Akane. "That hurt a lot.
Like... like a half-healed wound."
Akane shrugged. "Maybe it was one," she said lightly.
"Hmm..." Suddenly Ranma's gaze flicked past Akane. "Shit,"
she hissed. "Shampoo. On a bicycle. Let's go for the trees."
"Wait, Ranma," Akane said. She touched Ranma's shoulder.
"Why should we run?"
Ranma straightened slowly from her crouch, looking confused.
She opened her mouth and closed it. "Hell, you're right," she
said wonderingly. "I ain't done nothin'..." She caught Akane's
eye and Akane could read her thought: *but Shampoo won't see it
that way... oh shit.*
Akane looked grim. "Just remember who's who and what's
what," she told Ranma.
Ranma looked shellshocked. "I don't think I got that all
sorted out yet," she blurted.
"WHAT?!"
"Nihao, Ranma!"
Ranma ignored the approaching bicycle. A look of joy
suddenly spread over her face. She bounded away from Akane.
"Hah, what's it to ya? Yer too slow ta catch me anyway! Bii-
da!"
Akane stared in disbelief-- and suddenly got it. "Come back
here and take your punishment like a man, you coward!" *Now!*
She charged at Ranma, who sprang away-- right at Shampoo.
"Airen! Shampoo so--" Crunch! "Aiya!"
"Sorry, Shampoo!" Ranma called over her shoulder without
slowing down. "I've got a tomboy after me! Bye!"
Akane carefully ran over Shampoo's bicycle. "Oops! I'm so
clumsy!" She sprinted after Ranma.
Shampoo stared after them. *There was something strange
about that...* Then she noticed her bicycle, its wheels bent and
twisted. She started cursing in Chinese.
Well away from the park, Ranma dropped out of the night and
raced along beside Akane. "Whee! That was fun!"
Akane glanced over and grinned. "We make a good team, don't
we? Look out!"
Ranma barely avoided an inconveniently-placed light pole.
"Don't DO that!" she yelled.
"Do what?" Akane asked innocently, slowing to a walk.
"Smile at me when there's posts and things in the way!"
Akane giggled and clapped Ranma on the shoulder. "It's not
my fault you weren't looking where you were going."
Ranma suddenly looked up and past her and sniffed the air
warily. Akane groaned. "Now what?"
"Rain comin'. Home's too far... ah. C'mon." Ranma ran
down the street. Akane followed. They made it to shelter under
the canal bridge just before rain started falling in roaring
sheets. It slackened after the initial downpour, but kept
falling.
"Well, if Shampoo's still lookin' for us, she's doin' it on
four legs," Ranma said, staring out into the rain.
Akane dusted off a section of concrete abutment with her
hand, wiped her hand on her skirt, and sat down. "Over here."
Ranma turned to look at her, and she patted the concrete beside
her. Ranma sagged a bit, but she came over and sat beside Akane,
close enough that each could feel the other's body heat, but not
quite touching. They listened to the rain for a while.
"Ranma? What are you thinking about?" Akane's voice was
gentle.
"Dunno. I guess... hopin' things won't change too much."
She felt Akane move sideways to close the small gap between them,
so that they were touching from shoulder to knee, and sighed
faintly. *I didn't dare do that, but I'm glad she did.* She
felt a fist hit her in the ribs, not hard, but knew it was a hint
to say the right thing. "I mean... things have been pretty good
with us lately, but what just happened could change
everythin'..." She shrugged desperately.
Akane took pity on her. "You don't want to lose the good
things between us."
"Yeah... somethin' like that."
"Ranma... what DO you want? Really?"
"Ya mean, besides to be a guy full-time an' enough to eat?"
She sensed Akane's nod in the dark, and thought about it for a
while. She laughed a little. "I don't get asked that much. I
guess I don't think about it much." She paused. "Good friends.
And... good enemies."
"What?"
"Well, hell, you like havin' friends, don'tcha? That part
oughta make sense," Ranma said. "I only ever had but two before
I came here. Ukyo and Ryoga." Akane said nothing. "I miss
Ryoga. He's not exactly my friend, but he's my best enemy. Ya
can't have good fights without good enemies, and we had some
great fights."
"Is that why you were always picking on him?"
Ranma shook her head disgustedly. "Look, Akane, it's a guy
thing. Hell, it's a martial-artist-guy thing. You're a martial-
artist-tomboy, ya oughta be able to understand at least part of
it-- ow!" Ranma rubbed her ribs. Akane had punched her, but
hadn't pulled away.
"Which one am I?" Akane asked softly.
"I think you're more tomboy than martial artist, but-- ow!"
"No, you baka. Friend or enemy?"
"Uh, if you're gonna hit me, hit me someplace else, 'cause
that spot is gettin' sore. Uh... both." She felt Akane lose
interest in punching her again just before letting fly.
"Both? Ranma, you know you're going to have to explain
that."
"Explain what? I enjoyed all the fights we had, okay? Even
if I took all the hits!" Ranma's voice paused, then continued at
a lower volume. "And you never hit me when I was down, and you
busted your butt to cover me when my momma coulda had me slit my
belly... and... and... you hardly ever let me be lonely."
"Ranma..." Akane put her arm around the smaller girl.
"Hey, I thought you said no perverted stuff," Ranma
protested weakly.
"This isn't perverted," Akane told her. "Real girls do this
all the time. Besides, no one's watching."
Ranma didn't answer, but her arm crept around Akane's waist.
Akane summoned her courage. "What about the engagement?"
Ranma sighed. "I guess I got used to it. Uh... if our
friends hadn't wrecked the wedding, I think I woulda gone through
with it. You were so pretty..." Akane blushed in the dark and
tightened her one-armed hug. "Um... but... I dunno if I'm ready
to be a hu-- husband. Right now, what I really want is a buddy."
She paused. "If... if it helps any, if I had to get married, I'd
want it to be to you."
"Oh..." He heard her voice shake. "Oh, yes, it helps. Oh,
Ranma..."
"I guess... another thing I want is for you to be happy.
What do YOU want, Akane?"
"I ... I want to be your... partner." The words spilled out
in a rush. "That's the other reason why I wanted you to train
me. So I could be good enough that you wouldn't have to protect
me all the time, so that I could protect you if you needed it, so
that together we could beat anyone we couldn't beat apart."
"But... but it's a man's duty..." Ranma's feminine voice
began.
Akane sprang to her feet and turned to face Ranma. "NO!
That's for other people! You keep calling me a tomboy. Fine,
I'm a tomboy. Well, you're a boy who's a girl sometimes. That's
fine with me too. But those silly man-woman rules don't work for
us. They can't!"
"But--"
Akane overrode her. "Someday you're going back to China
looking for a cure, or someone's going to need a hero and you'll
volunteer, or... or the weirdness of our lives will just get out
of control again some way I can't even imagine, and you'll go do
something dangerous again. Well, next time you're not going
alone."
"Akane--"
"I know, I know, you want me to be safe. But what's safe?
I stayed 'safe at home' last time, and those bastards came and
took me anyway!
"I couldn't STAND it when I had to wait, wondering if you
were dead or alive. I want to go with you wherever you go. I
want to fight by your side. If I d-die, I want to die in your
arms. Don't you DARE take that away from me because you want me
to be safe!" Her voice failed, and she covered her face with her
hands, knowing that Ranma was seeing the same time and place that
she was:
Ranma sat on a ledge of tortured stone by enchanted
waters in a smashed cavern, holding a young woman clad only
in his shirt. She lay limp and unbreathing in his arms, and
he was sure that she was dead, and he knew that he had been
able to save her, and had failed utterly. His tears fell on
her face, and he screamed her name: "AKANE!!"
...and her hand touched his face.
Akane got control of herself and saw Ranma. She was huddled
with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms around her legs,
shivering. *Uh oh.* Akane sat beside her and shook her.
"Ranma?"
"I was so sure you were..." Ranma said indistinctly.
"Don't think about that. Think about afterwards, when I
lived, and you held me, and everything was perfect." *Right up
until you started worrying about whether you'd told me you loved
me,* she added to herself.
Ranma uncoiled a little. "Yeah..." Akane heard her gulp.
"Still. I don't ever want anything like that to happen again."
"I don't either, but I'd rather that than waiting to find
out you were gone, or knowing that if I'd been there you'd still
be alive."
Ranma was thinking about that. She could almost hear the
gears grinding away at the idea that he might be the one to die
and she might be the one who could have saved him. "I guess we
better train harder," Ranma said finally. It was as close to
conceding defeat as Ranma could come.
Akane managed to hold her tongue and patted Ranma on the
shoulder. "Partners?"
Ranma sighed. "Yeah. Partners."
"Then you've given me what I want. I'll go on being a good
friend-- and a good enemy to you, Ranma. I'll try to keep Father
off your neck about the wedding. Only..."
"Only what?" Ranma said warily.
"Well... I know you don't want to get married yet, but it
would be nice if we could be... fiancees for real. You know, two
people who are thinking about getting married someday. To each
other, I mean."
"No problem. I, uh, I was sorta thinkin' that anyhow. I
just didn't think you were."
"Oh. Well, I was." Akane paused. "What about Shampoo and
Ukyo and Kodachi?"
Ranma sighed again. "I don't want to marry any of them.
Shampoo's all right, but I can't forget her chasing me across
China for two weeks. She's the first person who ever really
tried ta kill me. Her curse don't help. And boy, she just don't
give up. I'm tired of her grabbin' me all the time, an' I damn
sure don't wanna be a Joketsuzoku husband.
"Ukyo's nice and all, but I still sorta think of her as a
guy. I'm not confused enough to want to marry a guy. But I feel
real bad about what my pop did to her. I gotta make that up
somehow, or I'm just as worthless as he is.
"I'm not responsible for Kodachi. She don't listen any
more'n Kuno does. If they listened, they'd know I don't want
either of 'em."
"Well, why don't you just tell them that, then?" Akane said.
*I will NOT bring up all the times the 'pig-tailed girl' led Kuno-
sempai on. Not now, anyway.*
"I can't!" Ranma brooded. "Every time I try, I get it
wrong or they get it wrong or something. I look at 'em lookin'
at me all hopeful like and my brain just goes to jelly and the
words come out wrong. I can't. I just can't, any more'n I can
pet a ca-cat without flippin' out." She looked at Akane. "If ya
wanna be jealous, I guess that's fair, but I tell ya you got no
real reason to be. Go on hittin' me if ya hafta."
Akane smiled ruefully. "I don't want to hit you. I'd
rather kiss you."
"Uh. If ya do that, THEY'LL hit me. Oh, well, I can take
it." She ducked her head. "It's worth it..."
"Oh, Ranma, you say the sweetest things." Akane grinned and
punched her lightly in the shoulder.
"Gaah." Ranma looked up. "The rain's stopped."
"So it has." *Hot water...* Akane got up and waited.
Ranma stood, rubbed her face, and followed Akane out from under
the bridge.
~~~~~
Kasumi turned as Akane and Ranma came into the kitchen.
"Oh, hello, Ranma-kun. Did you have a nice walk, Akane?"
"Sure, nice," Akane said casually. "Can you spare some hot
water, Kasumi?"
"Of course." Kasumi handed Ranma the kettle. She slipped
out to the veranda. He returned a moment later and gave the
kettle back to Kasumi with a word of thanks, then followed Akane
out.
Akane led Ranma back outside and stopped inside the dojo
gate. "I'd like to be with you longer, Ranma, but it's getting
late and we have school tomorrow... so..."
"Yeah, I know. Well... g'night." He turned to leave, then
turned back. "Uh..." Akane was still standing there, nearly
invisible in the shadow of the gate roof. Waiting. Watching
him. Smiling. Ranma looked around for observers, then moved
closer to her. She turned her face up, and got her kiss; no
fireworks, but a silent promise of many more to follow. Ranma
released her and turned for the gate.
"Oh, Ranma?" Akane's voice held a note of mischief.
He stopped and turned. "Yeah?"
"So when's our date?"
Ranma fell over.
~~~~~ end Breaking ~~~~~
Next: Ranma and Akane leave Furinkan for another school,
in Chapter 6: Herding
Vince Seifert Network Analyst seifertv@csus.edu
http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/ updated 1998Jun04
CSUS hired me to build their network, not to speak for the university.