With many thanks for the various suggestions and C&C sent my way.
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The Game of Life
a Shortfic by Dot
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This is the 'fic idea formerly known as "The Bet: Ranmanji", renamed to the 
above to avoid confusion with another work by the same name. (So much for 
not working on it...this idea just wouldn't leave me alone! ^^;) 
---
        Akane opened her eyes to find Ranma watching over her, and reacted 
instinctively. "You pervert!" she screamed, feeling her blood boil, and the 
ever-so-familiar mallet--where in the world did she get them from, anyway?--
made a smooth arc towards making Ranma pancake. "What are you doing in 
my room?"

        Ranma easily blocked the mallet she sent crashing his way. "Please, 
Akane. Not now." Akane felt her grip on her mallet go limp as Ranma gently 
touched her cheek. "Just let me stay here for a little while longer, and then 
I'll leave you alone."

        Akane's heart hammered loudly in her chest as Ranma's contemplative 
eyes bore into hers.  "R-ranma?"

        "One year," it came out as a mere whisper. "I can't believe I've been 
here for a whole year. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?"

        "W-what are you talking about?"

        Ranma looked away. "I'm not really supposed to tell you, but..."

        Akane grabbed Ranma's shirt and pulled him close. "Please! Tell me!"

        "Well..." Ranma took in a deep breath. "Do you remember that wish you 
made before I came to your house?"

        "Wish...what wish?" Akane thought back to the tearful nights she spent 
after Kuno had first announced to the entire school the terms of dating 
Akane. "Oh, you mean when I wished for an interesting life?"

        Ranma nodded. "And then that lady at the strange store sold you that 
game?"

        "Yeah! I never did get around to really starting that game..." Akane 
suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute! I never told you about any of 
that! How do you know about it?"

        Ranma lowered his eyes for a moment. "You did start playing that game, 
Akane, just without realizing it."

        "What do you mean? I don't understand..."

        Ranma walked over to the window, opened it, jumped onto the 
windowsill, and extended his hand.  "I'll show you." Cautiously, Akane took 
it, and let out a yelp as Ranma flew into the air.

        "Where are we going?" Akane shouted above the whistling wind.

        "You'll see!" Ranma shouted back. As they rose higher, the winds 
became so harsh that Akane had to squeeze her eyes shut.

        'Since when did Ranma learn how to fly?' she wondered as they 
continued to soar upwards.  Finally, Akane felt Ranma stop and steady her 
with his arms.

        "Open your eyes."

        Akane did, and gasped.

        The world was square. And flat. And, if Akane concentrated hard 
enough, she could barely make out an enormous spinner in the distance by the 
early morning light.

        "The game began the moment you made that wish," Ranma explained. 
"Everything that's happened since then, everyone who's shown up, and every 
place you've gone, part of that game."

        Akane boggled at this. "Everything?"

        "Yes, everything. It was all created for you."

        "Do...um..." Akane gestured towards the game board. "The rest of them 
know this?"

         "No, I'm the only one." Ranma sighed. "But now..."

        Akane followed Ranma's gaze and gasped again. Below them, 
disturbingly close to where the Tendou residence currently sat, was a large 
square marked "FINISH". "So...what happens when we get to 'finish'?" 
Akane asked fearfully. Getting no answer from Ranma, she blanched. "No...!"

        "Yes." Ranma blinked away the tears that were threatening to form at 
the edge of his eyes. "I'm sorry."

        "No...No! NO!" Akane screamed. "I don't want it to end! 
Everything...and everyone..." She looked at Ranma, and her voice broke. 
"Ranma..." She grabbed Ranma in a tight hug. "I don't want you to go!"

        "I'm sorry," Ranma repeated, this time unable to stop the tears from 
streaming down his face.

        Akane unexpectedly pushed Ranma back a bit and wiped her eyes. 
"What do you mean you're sorry?" She demanded, letting her grief and shock 
fuel her anger. "You can't just stand there and do nothing! That's not the 
Ranma I know! Even if you couldn't succeed the first time, you would try to 
figure something out! So why are you looking so helpless?"

        Ranma lowered his eyes again. "Because I'm not the one who can decide 
what happens next." He looked back up at Akane. "You are."

        "M-me?" Akane stuttered, taken aback.

        "There is a way..." Ranma paused, as if deciding whether to divulge 
what he knew.

        "What?" Akane exclaimed, a spark of hope erupting in her heart and 
flowing into her eyes.  "Ranma, tell me! Please!"

        Ranma continued, a reluctant look still on his face, "There's a way 
to keep the game going indefinitely."

        "Really? How?"

        "But would you really want to, Akane? To put up with all the insanity 
we've gone through day in and day out for the rest of your _life_?"

        "Yes!" Akane replied without any hesitation. "I don't ever want to go 
back to the way things were!" She shot Ranma a shy look, and added softly. 
"Besides, you can be an okay guy when you're not a perverted, insensitive 
jerk."

        Ranma blushed for a few seconds, then looked serious again. "You sure 
about this?"

        "Absolutely." Akane was resolute.

        "All right. Hang on tight." Ranma waited for Akane to grab onto him 
again before closing his eyes and holding out his right hand. The 'finish' 
square began pulsing and glowing brightly, and Akane felt an invisible force 
pushing her back. Akane had to shield her eyes as well from the blinding light 
and hang on with an even stronger grip.

        When she opened her eyes, she was back in her room with Ranma. 
"What happened? What did you do?"

        "I looped the game board back onto itself," Ranma answered, looking a 
bit tired.

        "So that means..." Akane was cut off in mid-sentence by a loud crash 
from downstairs.

        "Where is Airen? Shampoo bring yummy lunch!"

        "Quack! Quack!"

        "Stupid Mousse! Leave Shampoo alone!"

        "Hey! HEY!" Nabiki's irritated voice cut in above the din. "Some people 
are trying to SLEEP, you know!"

        Another loud crash sounded.

        "Where in the world am I now?!?"

        "Look around, dummy? Where else could this be?"

        Ranma and Akane looked at each other and smiled.

        "Want to join them?" Ranma asked.

        "Of course!" Akane beamed. She hefted the mallet she had dropped 
earlier and assumed the angriest stance she could manage. "RANMA NO 
BAKA!"

        Ranma made a playful face at her before making a dash for the door. 
"KAWAIKUNE!" 
---
"My dream is to play with...all of them...forever and ever..." -Lum, _Urusei 
Yastura 2: Beautiful Dreamer_
---
I still don't really have any plans to extend this further, so if someone wants to, by all means go ahead (with the proper credit, of course :)

-"Dot"
Dot-Chan on #fanfic at bachman.newberry.edu (FFIRC Chatroom)
Proud member of CAPOW (Creative Anime Prose Original Writing)

http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/italian/70
http://members.xoom.com/dotchan (mirror)

"Gendou's greatest desire was to be bitten in half by Unit 01?!?" (A friend, after watching EoE)


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