It's finally done. This part has had so many false starts. But now, I
think I've got it working. There are probably a half a dozen things I did
wrong, and I expect that (I tried not to, but being ones own proof reader
is never a garentee of success) So please feel free to give me any C&C you
have. As usaul, no MiSTs (or dibs of MiSTing rights until I say so, please.
If you want to read previous parts, see:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~stephenratliff/works/Ranma/
It's all up to date, save this part. (which has just been finished) Since
part 14 is almost done, expect it next week, unless the muse strikes one of
my Trek Fics.
First, a little summary of What has gone before:
Part 1: Akane meets Ranma at age 12. They spar. Akane walks in on Ranma
Part 2: Ryoga first appears. Ranma shows off in Gym class. Ranma is
challenged to teach the class gymnastics. Ranma walks in on Akane.
Part 3: Akane teaches the uneven bars. Sensei Ogawa has an agenda.
Nabiki takes a picture. Ranma walks in on Akane.
Part 4: Akane finds the picture. Akane and Ranma eat away from Nabiki
Ranma and Akane pull a joke on Nabiki that gets Akane a kiss. Ranma and
Akane talk in the bath.
Part 5: Ranma and Akane finish teaching gymnastics. The betrothal document
is found. Kasumi walks in on Ranma and Akane. Kasumi talks to Akane.
Part 6: Genma learns of Akane. Soun cries. Akane and Ranma walk on
fences. Nodoka appears.
Part 7: Nodoka plays sword master. Nabiki finds out what is planned for
her. Nabiki and Akane spar. Nodoka waits for Genma.
Part 8: Ranma has breakfast with his mother. Akane and Ranma talk about
his parents. Nabiki is teased during a lunch interrupted by Ryoga.
Ranma's move to the Tendos announced. Ranma finds out that Akane is ticklish.
Part 9: Ranma moves in. Kasumi talks with Nodoka. Soun evaluates Ranma.
Akane and Ranma fall asleep watching TV.
Part 10: Soun stops Genma from waking Ranma and Akane up. Ranma and Akane
engage in pillow fight. Ranma and Genma spar over pond. Soun decides to
reopen the Dojo. Nodoka talks Akane about sex.
Part 11: Akane and Ranma are interrupted by Kasumi. Kasumi chastises
Akane. Ranma asks Nodoka if she'll help him buy a ring for Akane. Ranma
and Akane do it. Nabiki talks to Akane about what she just did.
Part 12: Ranma and Akane wake up together. Ranma proposes. Soun starts
to teach again. Akane informs her father, and a good look at the family
photo album is given.
Ranma was up against the wall. On his face was an expression of pure
fear. And what had this twelve year old martial artist scared? That was
what Akane wondered. One moment he had his arm around her, the next, well,
he had practically become part of the wall's plaster. "Ca- ca-ca-cat," her
fiance said, pointing down.
At Akane's feet was a little cut gray kitten.
"Honestly, Ranma, it's just a little kitten," Akane said, picking up the
kitten to show it to him.
"Can't stand cats," Ranma sputtered, as he edged away, turning to run
upstairs.
Akane found Ranma in his room. He was in a meditative position, his brow
furrowed in concentration. She moved beside him, wrapping her arms around
him. "Ranma, why are you afraid of cats?" she asked.
"It's Dad's fault, if it weren't for that cat fist training," Ranma began
before trailing off.
"Cat fist?" Akane asked.
"A unbeatable technic Dad taught me when I was ten," Ranma replied. "Dad
didn't turn the page to discover that it was banned until after he trained
me in it."
"So you learnt it," Akane assumed. "It can't be that bad."
"In order to learn it, he threw me into this pit of c-c-cats, covered with
fish cakes," Ranma said. "It didn't work the first time, so he did it
again."
An express of disgust covered Akane's face. She couldn't believe anyone
could be so cruel.
"Fish cakes didn't seem to work, so he tried other cat food," Ranma said.
"Eventually, it worked. Several hours after he put me in the pit for the
tenth time, I woke up in the arms of an friendly old lady in the
neighborhood that I trusted. Apparently I'd jumped out of the pit like a
c- c-cat and then proceeded to bat my father around like he was a ball of
yarn through out the neighborhood. He had to get nine stitches and had two
broken ribs."
"Wow."
"And I can't remember anything I did while I was under the c-cat fist,"
Ranma said. "That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that every
time I spend too much time around c-cats, I go into it again."
Akane stood up, suddenly fuming. "I'm going to march on over to your
house and give your father a piece of my mind!" she grumbled.
"It's not that bad, Akane," Ranma said. "I haven't seen that many cats in
the eight months I've been here, and I usually can get away from them
before the cat fist takes over."
"He's your father, he shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff to you," Akane
said.
"He's my father, I have to obey what he wants," Ranma said. "Fortunately,
he wants me to marry you." He kissed her.
Akane melted into him, her anger suddenly replaced with desire. "That is
fortunate, isn't it?" Akane mumbled before she pulled him over to the bed.
Neither of them came back downstairs until the next morning, and they were
late at that.
Saturday afternoon found Akane putting on her wedding kimono. It was her
mothers. She was probably the only one of her mother's daughters who would
fit in it to be married. It was made of cotton, and as a newlywed, her
mother had washed it and put it in the dryer. The kimono now fit Akane,
and the short notice and her young age didn't make it easy for her to get
another, even if she desired another.
Nodoka was helping her soon to be daughter-in-law with that kimono. She'd
been the shoulder that Akane's mother had cried on when she had discovered
the state of the kimono. It brought a smile to Nodoka's face when she
realized that Kimiko's chief sorrow at the result of her careless mistake
turned out not to be true.
"Are you ready, Akane?" Nodoka asked.
"Not really. I'm only twelve. I shouldn't be married for another
decade," Akane said. "I can't cook, I can't sew, and Kasumi is always
picking up after me. I'm not ready to be married."
"That may be so, but we can work on that," Nodoka said. "You love my son,
don't you?"
"Yes," Akane said softly, not even pausing to think.
"And it is an honorable match between families," Nodoka said. "That's all
that matters."
"Mother," Akane tried the word. It seemed awkward addressing someone as
that more than a year after her mother's death. "How much do you know
about Ranma's training?"
"I know his father has taken him to all the major and minor training
grounds in Japan," Nodoka said. "He intends to make Ranma a man among men
and the greatest martial artist of his generation. It's your job to
determine the former now, and as for the latter, history will be the judge."
"Ranma went trained for a technic called the cat fist, have you heard
about that training," Akane asked.
"Dearest rarely tells me about any training he gives Ranma," Nodoka said.
"I generally just know the broad outlines. I know that the next leg is
supposed to be a three year trip through China, but that's all."
"Ranma was telling me about it last night..."
Ranma was standing at the altar that had been set up in the Dojo, waiting
for Akane and her father to enter. The wait was beginning to get on his
nerves. All of his classmates were seated in the Dojo, some with parents,
some without. He'd had to greet them all, and sometimes it had been
somewhat embarrassing. Ranma had been doing it with Akane for over three
months, almost every night, but all the comments about wedding night
activities were still enough to make him blush.
Any of Nabiki's classmates would have been surprised if they where to find
out what was going on in her mind. They would have expected her to be
going over the cost of the wedding, how much each minute of Akane's delay
was costing, and how much she could sell pictures of the wedding night for.
Instead, Nabiki was fantasying about her wedding. She knew she wouldn't
fit in Akane's kimono, but she saw herself in an elaborate silk one. She
saw herself standing in front of the priest sharing the sake with a tall
and handsome man. As for pictures of the wedding night, Akane had already
had a long talk about that. Both sisters understood that Nabiki would
never sell pictures like that. In fact, the only pictures she had ever
sold were some class pictures. After the wedding, however, she would have
a picture of the happy couple. She'd also have a picture of the empty bed,
and would be taking a list of those who purchased this "wedding bed"
picture. She had no idea why Akane and Ranma wanted that list, but they
were paying for it.
Soun was already in tears, but their volume doubled as Akane entered. She
looked so much like her mother in that kimono. He took her arm and led her
to the altar, crying all the way about his baby daughter being all grown up.
Genma was strangely absent. He had been sent to check to see when Akane
would be ready, but he had not returned with his wife and Akane. His wife
slid into her seat next to Kasumi.
Kasumi was puzzling over a comment Akane had made. "Now you can go back
to being a sister to me." What did it mean? Was she not doing a good
enough job? Kasumi cooked, cleaned, mended, and washed, all while
attending her first year of High School. She couldn't do much more. Was
it because she was making Akane and Nabiki do some chores? Perhaps, but
they had to learn to do those things. She hoped Akane wouldn't try to cook
for Ranma too soon...
Akane took a sip from the sake bowl. It was bitter, and her face showed
her distaste for the liquid. Ranma had a similar expression.
Sensei Ogawa sat watching the ceremony. Frankly, this marriage worried
her. The children were too young. However, she hadn't been asked, and she
had felt honored that she, of all of Ranma and Akane's teachers, had been
the only one invited.
All too soon the wedding was over. Because of the young age of the
couple, a reception had been replaced with Akane and Ranma bidding the
guests goodbye. They'd be spending the weekend alone at the Tendo home.
It was a responsibility and gift they did not feel ready for. On the other
hand, it would mean that Akane wouldn't have to press her face into the
pillow.
Before everyone had left, Genma pulled Ranma into the bushes.
"Get your stuff boy, it's time to go on the rest of the training trip,"
Genma said.
"Are you kidding?" Ranma replied. "It's my wedding night, can't you wait
until Monday, at least?"
"Get your..." Genma started to repeat, until he felt the cold metal of the
family sword tickling the back of his neck.
"You were saying, dearest?" Nodoka said. "I believe our son has a wife
waiting him upstairs. We wouldn't want to keep him from his husbandly
duties, would we, dearest?"
Genma cowered.
"Ranma, go be with your wife," Nodoka said. "I've got to talk to your
father about the cat fist training. Your father will be ready to take you
on the rest of your training trip either Monday if he can give me a
satisfactory excuse or in a couple of weeks, if not."
"Thank you mother," Ranma said, bowing. Then he rushed to find his wife.
With the point of the sword, Nodoka directed Genma to where he'd end up
making it two weeks, in all likelihood.