Subject: [FFML][Fic][Ranma 1/2] The Other Breaking Point
From: "Morpheus the Shaper" <milamber@mindspring.com>
Date: 2/18/1999, 2:01 AM
To: "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>

You know the drill by now. None of these characters are mine. The original
copyright is R. Takahashi's, and she's sold it to some other people, none of
whom are me.

The Other Breaking Point

By

Morpheus the Shaper


"Now Shampoo save Airen from marriage to violent tomboy, Ranma come back to
China and marry Shampoo, yes?" The bouncy Amazon latched onto Ranma and
ignored his attempts to pry her off. From the wall of the compound another
voice spoke up, "No way, you little hussy. Ranma's marrying *me!*" The owner
of the voice leapt down to engage the Amazon with her battle spatula. In
moments the two girls were engaged in a heated battle. From Ranma's point of
view, the only good thing about it was that it got him out of Shampoo's
clutches.

A moment later, though, he was confronted with Soun's demon-head and his
father's panda-form. "RANMA! IS WHAT SHE SAID TRUE?" the demon-head spoke.
Genma only 'Growf'ed, but still managed to be menacing. Sweating furiously,
Ranma tried to deny it, but no-one was paying any attention, and Soun
continued, "YOU MUST WED AKANE AND CARRY ON THE ANYTHING GOES SCHOOL!"

>From behind Soun, a stave clubbed him across the back of the head, startling
him out of his berating of his daughter's fiancee. The wrinkled owner of the
stave spoke up, "Nonsense. Ranma is Shampoo's groom." No sooner had she made
this pronouncement than a shrill laugh echoed across the compound followed
by yet another unwelcome visitor, this time one with enough agility to leap
down through the mass of people surrounding Ranma and embrace him calling,
"Never fear, Ranma-sama, for I shall rescue you from the clutches of these
vile harridans and carry you away to safety!" Ranma struggled in Kodachi's
grip, attempting to get away before anything worse happened. Her grip was as
tight as a python's, however, and he lacked the leverage to force her away
without placing his hands in positions that would get him far worse than a
simple beating.

The penultimate doom came with Akane's strident voice, "Ranma, I can't
believe you are *still* flirting with all these girls!" She strode across
the lawn, shinai in hand, ready to deliver a thrashing. From the roof, Ryoga
was about to join the fray, when the ultimate voice of doom made itself
heard over the din. "My son," the Saotome matriarch spoke, "This behavior
isn't very manly of you."

At that, something within Ranma broke and he took a deep breath, his battle
aura flaring to full strength. Kodachi, not quite so oblivious as some
believed, released Ranma and backed slowly away. As the pigtailed martial
artist rose to his feet, his aura grew brighter and brighter, rivalling its
strength when fighting Saffron. Finally, he spoke, in a voice that cut
through the din as effectively as a gunshot, "SILENCE!"

In the quiet that followed his shout, his labored breathing could clearly be
heard. After a few moments, he continued in a tone of ice and stone, "I have
had enough. I have made a decision. Anybody who cares what that decision is,
will be in the dojo at noon tomorrow. Until then, if I see any of you, and I
do mean *any* of you, you wll regret it." With that, he bounded over the
wall and ran out into the city. Of them all, none of them save Ryoga
retained the will to follow him, and Ryoga knew better. The others might not
have recognized the ki sheeting off of Ranma, but he did. It was born of
anger, hate and depression, three emotions with which he was intimately
familiar. Anyone crossing Ranma right now would indeed regret it. Probably
for the rest of their very short lives. And ties of blood and honor would
not likely save them.

<hr color=#ff0000>

Gathered at noon, in the Tendo Dojo, were all those who had been at the
incident the previous day, as well as Nabiki, Kasumi, Mousse, Konatsu and
Kuno. The peace in the training hall was a tenuous one, but it held, because
of the promise of a resolution to the question of Ranma. As the Noon hour
passed, the tension increased. At 12:01, the door to the dojo slid open, and
Ranma, dressed all in white, stepped through. Sliding the door closed behind
him, he strode to the front of the assemblage and knelt, laying a small
package to the side and taking a small scroll in his hand.

After settling himself, he turned his gaze to the gathered people. "You have
each come here, because you believe you have some stake in my decisions
regarding my situation. Well, here it is." He took a long breath and looked
down at the scroll in his hand, opening it. "I have been trapped in a
contrictory maze of obligations because of the disgraceful actions of my
father. He has lied, stolen, and made promises in my name, promises
incapable of being kept. My mother insists on attempting to hold me to a
'promise' made when I was five, and incapable of understanding that a
promise was even being made, much less the seriousness of it. She also uses
this promise ruthlessly to attempt to control me, and bend me to her will,
regardless of my wishes or feelings. I have been subjected to blackmail,
drugs, magic and outright violence in an attempt to coerce me into choosing
one of four women as fiancees, these acts frequently perpetrated by the
women themselves. I have been assaulted and challenged for no reason and to
no purpose, save as an outlet for the challenger's frustrations, or because
the challenger persisted, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, in
maintaining that I was to blame for some misfortune of the challenger's. My
honor has been abused by those taking advantage of it who had none of their
own, and I have been insulted to my face and called a liar by those who had
no evidence whatsoever that my words were anything less than true."

Ranma looked up from the scroll. "I have tolerated this situation too long.
I have permitted it to go on as long as I have in the hopes that a way
out... an *honorable* way out, would present itself. That hope has proven
false, and I am no longer willing to live like this. I have been abused and
misused by my family, and those who would presume to become my family." He
paused for a second, then continued, "Therefore, I place this choice before
those who hold some bond or claim over me. You will release me from these
bonds, and rescind your arrangements. Or I will perform seppuku. I await
your choices." With that statement, he fell silent.

The rest of the dojo, however, erupted in pandemonium. Genma and Soun both
attempted to browbeat Ranma into changing his mind, but within seconds, both
were upside down against the wall of the dojo. Shampoo and Ukyo both ran
over to him with, no doubt, something similar in mind, but, being slightly
more perceptive than the two fathers, stopped short, frozen by the look in
his eyes. Ranma permitted the noise to continue for a few more moments
before shouting, "QUIET!"

After recieved it, he spoke again, "As I thought. I admit I had hoped that
you people could be rational just this once, but I guess I was expectin' too
much of ya." Having come to the end of his prepared speech, Ranma's language
slipped back into his more normal idiom. "All right everyone. Sit down and
shut up. I'm gonna go around to each of ya, and ask individually." Order was
slowly restored to the room, and Ranma turned first to his Father. "All
right, old man. You're the one with the most crap. You gonna take
responsibility for it yourself, and stop laying it on me?" Genma looked into
the icy gaze of his son, and then into the steely gaze of his wife and
nodded, "Hai." Ranma wasn't finished though, "You gonna renounce the
engagements and return the dowries?"

Genma paled, "Son, surely you don't mean to..."

"Yes or no, old man."

Nodoka chose that moment to take a hand, "My son, surely this isn't
necessary. All your father needs to do is dissolve all but one of them. That
would eliminate the conflict."

Ranma shook his head, "No. I'm not going to live up to his promises any
more. It's all or nothing."

She opened her mouth to speak again, then shut it in the face of his obvious
intransigence. Ranma turned back to his father, "Yes or no, old man."

Genma looked down at the floor and softly muttered, "Hai."

At that, both Ukyo and Soun stood, glaring at Genma, but Ranma shouted, "SIT
DOWN AND SHUT UP! YOU CAN KILL HIM LATER!" Stunned and a little intimidated,
they sat. Next, Ranma turned to his mother, "Well, Mom?"

She looked at him helplessly, "Would you really do this, my son?"

"The bonds you have placed on me are intolerable. No *man* would put up with
it."

Nodoka bowed to his words, "You are right, my son. I release you from your
promise. You have fulfilled it and more."

Ranma's eyes softened for a moment, "Thank you, Mother."

The next person to have Ranma's burning gaze turned upon him was Soun,
"Well, Tendo, what's it gonna be? You gonna release me, or are you gonna be
my second?"

Soun stared into Ranma's eyes for several seconds, gauging the boy's
determination, and saw within them only anger and death. He quickly looked
away and nodded, "I release you. You need no longer marry my daughter." With
that pronouncement, Akane stood, tears in her eyes and began to run towards
the door. She was stopped by a sharp bark from Ranma, "Akane! Sit down!"

She turned back towards him, "Ranma you... you.... you..."

"'Sit Down,' I said, and shut up, and for once in your life, listen!"

Stunned by his tone, Akane did so, tears still running down her face
unheeded.

Ranma then turned to Ukyo, "Well," he asked, "What'll it be?" Ukyo's face
too was tear streaked as she nodded, "You're free, Ranma. I'd rather see you
with someone else than dead because I wouldn't let go."

Ranma nodded, and, for just a moment, something softer crossed his visage.
It was gone in an instant, and he turned to Ryoga, "You know what I'm
talking about Ryoga. You gonna be a man, or a pig?" Ryoga's visage darkened
noticably as he spoke, "Ranma, for what you've put me through, for what
you've done, I should kill you. I should stand by, and let you die by your
own hand." He paused for a moment, "But I won't. Because then we'll never
know who's really the better man."

Ranma nodded in response, "You have 24 hours to handle it, or I will." Ryoga
nodded.

Turning to Kuno and Kodachi and freezing them in place with his voice and
the raw hate in his eyes, Ranma spoke, "Tatewaki Kuno, Kodachi Kuno, your
claims to the Pig-tailed girl and myself are rejected. Kodachi, any claim
you might have had was lost months ago in the Martial Arts Rhythmic
Gymnastics match. Kuno, you have challenged me repeatedly for the pig-tailed
girl, and have lost every time. The next time either of you attempts
anything with either of us, you had best be prepared to spend some time
incapacitated." Ranma turned away, and, freed from his gaze, Kuno rose,
"Never! I Tatewaki Kuno shall, urk!" That last was the result of a bo staff
thrown into his solar plexus. Kuno folded over quietly and concentrated on
breathing for a little while.

Last, Ranma faced Cologne and Shampoo, "You two are the only ones remaining
with anything even vaguely resembling a claim on me. Will you renounce it,
or will there be blood?"

Cologne was the first to speak, "No. We will not renounce it. Three thousand
years of tradition and law are at stake here. You will marry Shampoo and
return to China."

Ranma nodded as though this were the answer he was expecting. "Then it will
be blood." The others quickly rose to their feet and began shouting, but
Ranma again cut through their noise, "FOR THE LAST TIME, SIT DOWN AND SHUT
UP!" In a few moments, order was restored and Ranma picked up the bundle at
his side. Opening it, revealed a tanto. Unadorned, and functional, it was
quite obviously razor sharp. Holding it in his right hand, Ranma looked back
at the the ancient amazon, "Last chance." She shook her head, and Ranma
spoke, "So be it." The tanto moved with a blurred motion, and only the honed
reflexes of a grandmaster martial artist prevented it from finding its mark.
Instead of flesh and blood, it met  gnarled wood. Less than four inches in
front of Shampoo's right eye.

Shampoo fell back with a startled cry into Mousse's arms, tangling them both
up, and Cologne glared at Ranma, "What did you do that for, son-in-law?"

Ranma rose to his feet, "With but a single bond upon me, old ghoul, and
because of the nature of that bond, blood must indeed be spilled, but it
need not be mine. Shampoo's will do just as well. After all, I can't marry a
dead girl, can I?"

Nodoka began to speak up, "Son, attacking a girl isn't... very... ... ...
Um.... Nevermind."

Cologne looked up at her great granddaughter's prospective husband, and saw
within his eyes the promise of death, and the utter certainty that it would
not be he that died. She remembered what Shampoo had told her of the battle
with Saffron, and sighed. "So be it. Ranma Saotome, you are dead to us. I
cast you from the ranks of the Amazons, and none will aid you. You are
banished forevermore from the lands of the Amazons, and if you return there,
your death will be swift and merciless." She turned away, "Come Mousse,
Shampoo, it is time to return home."

"But great-grandmother, what about," she gestured towards Ranma.

Cologne shook her head, "Your husband is dead child. It's time to go home
and see if you can find one who is a little less foolish." Silently, Shampoo
followed the elder out the door. Mousse followed behind, but stopped and
looked back. "If you were not already dead to us, Ranma Saotome, I would
kill you for what you tried to do." He turned back, and was quickly gone.

Ranma, exhausted, dropped to the floor as the others gathered around him.
Nabiki was the first to speak, "So, Ranma, what about me and Kasumi?"

Ranma cocked an eye at the older girl, "Kasumi has no hold over me that I
haven't given her freely. And as for what I owe you. Well, you may have
swindled me, blackmailed me, and tricked me into most of that, but it's a
debt I incurred myself, and I'm not going to break it." His eyes sought out
one figure as he climbed to his feet. "Now, if you'll allow me, there is one
last thing I have to do today. I have one last promise to keep."

Genma and Nodoka looked at each other, and then at their son, worried. That
final statement had sounded awfully... final.

Making his way over to where a small figure sat, her hands covering her
tear-stained face, he knelt down beside her. As  reached out his hand to
lightly grasp her shoulder, he heard the quiet sounds of her sobs. "Akane."

Her voice was ragged and hoarse, "What? You got what you wanted. W-why are
you st-still here? You don't have to muh-marry me any more." Her voice
strengthened and took on a familiar cast of anger as she raised her face to
him, "Why don't you just GO AWAY and LEAVE ME ALONE?"

Ranma reached around and grasped her other shoulder, pulling her to face
him, "I've only got one more question, Akane. And then, if you want, I'll go
away, and you'll never have to see me again."

Calmed by the sad, almost despairing tone of his voice, she quieted down a
bit, "What, then?"

"Akane Tendo, I know I can be a real jerk, and I'm not too smart, and...
well you know. But you are the most important thing in this world to me."

Akane's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"I would do anything for you."

She was having some difficulty breathing.

"I would die for you. I would... I have, killed for you."

It really wasn't fair of people to sneak up on her like that and hit her
with a skillet.

"I love you so much it hurts."

Her mouth worked silently.

"Will you marry me?"

For several long moments, only silence greeted Ranma's question. Then, Ranma
seemed to deflate, and something died in his eyes. Quietly, he said, "I see.
Goodbye, Akane. I won't bother you anymore." As he started to rise and
leave, he was thrown to the floor and pinned there by the weight of a
thrashing girl screaming, "BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA! Don't you EVER EVER
EVER walk away from me like that again!"

"A-akane? What are you talking about?"

"Yes, Yes, you idiot, I'll marry you! If you *EVER* scare me like that
again, I'll... I'll..." In the end, words failed her, and she simply lay
there, sobbing, clutching Ranma desperately, as though afraid that if she
let go, she might never see him again.

Carefully, Ranma put his arms around his sobbing fiancee, then, sensing
something amiss, looked up into the faces surrounding him. All of them
twisted by emotion. Knowing from experience that massive violence was about
to commence, he reacted in the finest tradition of the Saotome school.
"Hey," he shouted, looking out past the ring of bodies, "get away from us,
you old freak!" True to form, everyone turned to look for Happosai, and by
the time they realized it was a trick and looked back, Ranma was gone, and
Akane with him.

Several minutes, and only a few less kilometers away, Ranma came to a halt,
his breathing labored, his legs trembling, but his arms gentle and sure as
he cradled his fiancee to his chest. Her tear-stained face was still pressed
to his chest, her eyes closed, and her fists bunched in his shirt. Slowly,
he lowered himself to his knees and held her until her sobs quieted.
Sniffling, she looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her face.
Looking down at his fiancee, and well and truely past the end of his
prepared speeches, he said the first thing that came into his head, "Geez,
Akane, you look like hell."

For a moment, Akane's eyes grew huge, then they narrowed in anger, /"How
dare he! That, that, that...."/ After a moment, though, another thought
struck her, and she started giggling. In a few moments, she was laughing
almost hysterically. Fortunately for Ranma's peace of mind, she quickly
quieted and turned her smiling face on him. If anything, her smile grew
brighter when she saw Ranma's stunned and rapt expression. /"Have I always
had this effect on him?"/ she wondered briefly. After another moment, she
wrapped her arms around Ranma and gave him a gentle hug, "Thanks, Ranma."

"Ummm," he replied, hardly believing his luck, "Ya. Sure. Anytime." He
paused a moment, "Ummm," he repeated, "What'd I do?"

Akane managed to smother another bout of giggles and answered, "You just
proved that this wasn't all just a dream, and you weren't some kind of
imposter. Only you could be so sweet one second, and then such a baka the
next."

"Hey!"

Akane giggled again and put her finger over Ranma's lips, "But you're *my*
baka now."

C&C welcome. Encouraged, even.
If you'd like to see this in the original format (with bold and italics and
such) it can be found on my web page.
Morpheus the Shaper
http://milamber.home.mindspring.com