This spamfic was written while listening to Kenny Roger's The
Gambler.  Ranma 1/2 and all of it's character's are not my property-
neither is the Gambler.  Please don't sue me- I have no money.


This is a really rough draft.  I haven't read the Ranma manga in far
too long, nor seen the anime in longer.  If anyone could suggest
specific scenes for Ranma to remember in the verses below, I'd really
appreciate it.


	Ranma sighed, and wordlessly showed the large gaijin guard his ticket
wordlessly.  He didn't know where he was, or where the train was
going.  It didn't matter- he was just sick of the whole mess... and
this field trip had just compounded it.

	He thought back to what had started the whole mess, in Japan, as he
looked for his seat.  A field trip for the english class to America,
to immerse them over a month in the language they were learning.  It
had seemed like a good way to get away from the troubles in Nerima-
hah.  He should have expected things to go to hell.

	Ranma found the small booth that he had purchased a seat in for this
trip to who-knows-where in the middle of the night.  There was only
one other occupant in the compartment, an old looking American playing
with a pack of cards.  Ranma sat down heavily, and pulled out his
bottle of - what was it the shopkeeper had called it?  Yeah, whiskey,
that was it.

	Ranma continued to reminisce.  First of all, none of his fiancees had
staid in Nerima- nor had any of his enemies.  And then there had been
the incidents with the LA street gangs... Too tired to sleep, Ranma
took turns with the gambler, staring out the window at the darkness. 
In between staring, Ranma continued to gulp down the whiskey, and
think about all the hell he had gone through.  Where did he even think
he was going, with little money, barely knowing the language...

	The old gambler must have gotten bored or something, because at about
that moment he spoke up.  Surprisingly, he spoke flawless Japanese. 
"Son," he said, "I've made my life out of readin' peoples' faces,
knowin' what the cards were, by the way their eyes.  So if you don't
mind my saying, I can see you're out of aces.  For a taste of your
whiskey, I'll give you some advice."

	Ranma handed him the bottle, and the gambler drank down the last
swallow of whiskey.  Then he somehow managed to convince Ranma to buy
him a cigarette, and asked Ranma for a light.  Ranma lit it with a
Mouku Takabishi- a small one, anyway, and he stared at the man, the
night getting deathly quiet.  "Jeez," thought Ranma, "I go a couple
thousand miles just to find Pop again... I shoulda known better..."

	The gambler's face lost all expression.  He said, "If you're going to
play the game boy, you better learn to play it right."  Ranma looked
up, curious.  

"Cause you got to know when to hold 'em,"

Thoughts of Akane, in those few tender moments, ran through Ranma's
head.  Then he remembered all the times he'd messed it up by not being
able to say what he truly felt...

"Know when to fold 'em,"

Ranma thought of the times when he just wouldn't shut up, kept saying
the wrong thing and the pain it had caused him.

"Know when to walk away,"

Fights that could have been avoided, enemies who would have been
friends, if it hadn't been for his pride...

"Know when to run."

Thoughts of Kodachi, Genma's stupid schemes, and other...
entanglements...

"You never count your money while you're sitting at the table,
there'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done."

Ranma stared wordlessly at the gambler, understanding dawning in his
eyes.

"Now every gambler knows, the secret to survival- is knowing what to
throw away"

Ranma considered his pride again, and his secret fears of additional
complications if he chose, of hurting people if he didn't choose them.

"Knowing what to keep."

He thought again of those special, rare moments with Akane.

"Cause every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser"

Ranma thought of the cooking and mallet-blows, the love and the
friendship, the special moments, and the horrible fights.

"And the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

Ranma nodded, knowing that his life would be full of interesting
times, and maybe peace only could come with death.  For that matter,
wasn't running away like a little death?  He was just killing off part
of his past... Not dealing with it...

	So when the gambler finished speaking, he turned back towards the
window, crushed out his cigarette, and faded off to sleep.  As Ranma
thought of holding and folding- of saying what he meant, what he felt,
and shutting up when it was necessary, for once keeping a lock on his
mouth-  well, somewhere in the darkness, the Gambler he broke even,
and in his final words Ranma found an ace that he could keep.

	Ranma returned to the rest of the students from Furinkan High the
next day, shaken a bit, but with something changed about him.  It had
been three days since he left.  It wasn't long until they found out
what it was.  Because Akane ran up to him, halting a few feet away
from him.  She looked ready to cry or hit him, as though she hadn't
decided yet.

	Ranma looked at her, and his heart seemed to catch in his throat,
wanting to say something, but too embarrassed to say it in front of
the others.  I mean, it wouldn't be too manly, would it?  Not the
right image for me... And then he remembered the gambler's words.

"Cause you got to know when to hold 'em."

Ranma quietly said, "I missed you Akane."
Akane looked shocked.  "I... I missed you to, you dummy!  Why'd you
have to run off like that?"
Ranma was about to spit out a biting retort, and he remembered again.

"Know when to fold 'em"

Instead, he said, "I'm sorry.  I just had to think."  Then he kissed
her.  Akane was too shocked to say anything, but then Ryouga showed
up, screaming his "DIE RANMA!" perhaps a bit more strident after that
kiss...  Ranma tensed for a fight...

"Know when to walk away."

Ranma stopped.  Ryouga yelled at him to fight, to be a man.  Ranma
just shook his head.  "Not today, Ryouga.  I ain't in the mood for
it."  Then he put his arm around Akane and turned away.  Akane, happy
that for some reason Ranma wasn't being a jerk or picking on Ryouga,
was more than willing to leave with him.

Unfortunately, Shampoo, Ukyou, and Cologne chose that moment to show
up.

"Know when to run."

Ranma probably should have fought them- they were attacking him and
Akane after all.  Instead, he picked up Akane and leaped up over the
rooftops.  They gave chase, but Ranma managed to lose them eventually,
turning into a secluded alley.

Akane turned to him, questioning, almost fearful that this moment
would end.  "R-r-ranma?  What's this all about?  How come you're being
so nice?"  Ranma began to think about that himself.  Why was he being
this way?  Why had those simple words affected him so much?  Why was
he doing all this stuff for Akane?  And as he remained silent, Akane
got more and more nervous.

"You never count your money, when you're sitting at the table. 
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done."

He shook his head, smiled at Akane, and kissed her again.  "Because I
love you."  And he let it go from there.  After all, there'd be plenty
of time for counting when the dealing was done...

"Cause you got to know when to hold 'em
	'When to hold 'em'
Know when to fold 'em
	'When to fold 'em'
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money, when you're sitting at the table.
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done.

Cause you got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money, when you're sitting at the table.
There'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done."
-- 
Brian A.H.