Subject: [FFML] [FANFIC][R1/2] [corrected] Dreams Come as They May part one - Ambivalence -
From: AlphSailor@aol.com
Date: 3/24/2000, 9:44 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com


The day has come at last! As I promised, here is the part one of 
Dreams Come as They May. C&C would be greatly appreciated.

[FFML] A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction
--- --- ---



    She was lost.

    A step, then another. And another... no, she wasn't 
walking, was she? She was running, she vaguely corrected 
herself, and unsteadily at that. She had stumbled to the 
ground several times already.

    How long has it been since she began running? How longer 
still since she began searching? And she couldn't recall the 
last time she had tried to commit suicide. Only one thing 
prevented her from dropping dead when she should have months 
ago: she had to be with him. 

    She just needed a minute with him...

    And she could finally die with a smile on her face, for 
she would finally have admitted to him what she had denied to 
herself for so long. 

    It took her a long time, and many failed attempts to 
come this far. Every failure ate away at her heart, but she 
refused to give up. She firmly believed that her dream would 
come true someday.

    She thought she was dreaming.

    She recognized the familiar landscape from her long-
buried memories. Was it really only two years ago? But that 
was impossible, wasn't it? She must be dreaming then.

    Disoriented, she couldn't recall much of what had 
happened within the last 12 hours. She remembered seeing a 
mirror; a cracked one. She knew because she was still 
carrying it, but couldn't fathom why she held to it tightly 
at her heart. She just knew that it was very important; that 
it would be instrumental in reuniting him with her.

    The knowledge comforted her, and she was reassured that 
things would turn out all right in the end.

    Then she saw him.

    For years she had envisioned various incidents when she 
might be able to meet him, or to bring him back. Everyone had 
called her delusional; but she didn't pay them any attention. 
She knew she would meet him one last time.

    Her vision eliminated other strangers, focusing only on 
her target. She ignored a familiar-looking girl that seemed 
to be arguing with her man. She screamed out his name and 
spread her arms wide, running towards him.

    She could see his startled expression as she jumped at 
him with so much velocity that she overpowered him. She 
embraced him tightly, tears streaming from her eyes. Time 
seemed to slow for her as both of them began their fall to 
the ground.

    It's a dream. Her brain told her that it was physically 
impossible for him to be still here, waiting for her. So it 
concluded that it must be a dream, but she didn't care.

    Even as her vision turned to white, Akane Tendo's heart 
soared in happiness as she was finally reunited with her 
long-removed Ranma Saotome...


---------------------------------


Dreams Come as They May
                    - Part I

Written by Dark Alpha
--- AlphSailor@aol.com

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, 
first published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to 
North America by Viz Communications. Read them and laugh. :)

Begin.


---------------------------------


    - Ambivalence -



    It was not good day for Akane Tendo. She had been angry 
at Ranma for the third and fourth time, but couldn't remember 
the reasons why she was mad. Events around Nerima tend to 
have that effect. Like that incident which had recently 
occurred a few minutes ago with Ranma and another woman, much 
to her disappointment.

    She remembered shaking her hand at Ranma, angry at 
something now forgotten. Ranma had tried to protest his 
innocence, which only frustrated her further. In 
retrospection, she was almost absolutely certain it had been 
about fiancees.
 
    She recalled this much at least because the instant a 
young woman popped out of nowhere and pounced on Ranma, 
screaming out his name, Akane had regretted her words and 
then her response. But she was now stuck with the results and 
two unconscious forms on the ground, only one of which was 
intentional.

    She berated herself for letting her temper get the 
better of her, just as it had so often in the past. The 
instant this woman had plastered herself with such passion 
and emotion that would make Shampoo green with envy, her 
brain went into overdrive and took in a scope of the 
situation just as Nabiki would have, albeit in prejudiced 
perspective. 

    A young girl was attaching herself to Ranma, and judging 
from the newcomer's actions, she had to be extremely 
'familiar' with Ranma. And from her biased experience, the 
only way any woman would have been familiar with the Casanova 
was if she was his _fiancee_; of that Akane did had no doubt. 
Since she did not recognize her, even though there was 
something about her that seemed familiar, it meant that Ranma 
must have picked up _yet_ another one.

    And with that conclusion, she was definitely _not_ 
happy. Everyone within earshot spared Ranma a moment of 
sympathy as Akane expressed fully her feelings about the 
situation; she screamed, "Ranma *no* BAKA!" and executed her 
trustworthy "Anti-fiancee" maneuver designed specifically to 
separate Ranma from any woman he came in close contact. In 
another words, she knocked Ranma out cold with her fist.

    Good, no 'uncute fiancee' remarks from him, either.

    She turned to face the new suitor, and instead of an 
angry fiancee demanding an explanation for what she did to 
her 'Ranma-honey' that she had expected, she found an 
unconscious young woman, with pained expression on her face.

    Immediately, her anger left her and she felt like a 
heel.

    "Honestly," Akane sighed as she knelt beside the 
unconscious girl for a better look, which wasn't better 
because she was laying face-down on the ground and her 
unkempt long black hair partially obstructed her face, but 
not her expression; mixed with a look of shock and pain, and 
something else... a twinge of happiness?

    Frowning slightly at a rather long scabbard hanging from 
the back of the girl and the mean-looking sword it harbored, 
she didn't like the looks of it. She never felt comfortable 
around swords, not since Shampoo had shown up chasing after 
Ranma's female half with intent to kill. They were too easy 
to wield, and frequently used to kill...

    Akane shook her head to clear her thoughts, but she 
couldn't dismiss a nagging thought that something big was 
about to happen, and that this seemingly harmless young girl 
would be connected somehow.

    After debating with herself over the logic of trying to 
rouse up a dead-to-the-world type of person, her curiosity 
won over. A raving-mad girl who ran around screaming Ranma's 
name and carrying a nasty sword _did_, in her opinion, bear 
some needed investigation, though for reasons she refused to 
acknowledge. Aware of the deadly blade, she began examining 
the girl's facial features and noted that the girl was not 
much older than she was, perhaps around eighteen. She reached 
out and brushed aside the hair strands for a better look at 
the face. Her hair, while long and lush black, was unkempt 
and frayed. A lot of dirt and soot marred the girl's face, 
recently moistened by tears.

    Placing her school case aside for a moment, she gently 
lifted the body to its side for a better look. She did not 
anticipate, however, the girl's light form and ended up 
flipping the girl on her back. Except for a slight sharp 
outburst of breath, there was no reaction from the girl. She 
didn't expect otherwise.

    She was not prepared for what she saw, however.

    "Oh my gosh!"

    The unconscious girl's clothes were ruined, having been 
ripped in several places and heavily soiled. Akane wasn't 
concerned about that; rather, it was blood. A _lot_ of blood. 
The concrete beneath the girl was already dyed in red.

    "What in the world happened here?!" Her previous 
reservations about the mysterious girl were immediately 
hurled out of her mind as she quickly inspected her 
condition. It didn't take her long to discover a large ragged 
rip on the girl's right side of jacket. The shirt underneath 
was already heavily soaked red.

    Akane gingerly lifted aside the rip in the clothing and 
gasped in shock. There were three long and angry red slits 
snaking diagonally from the unconscious girl's mid-section to 
her right hip. It was still bleeding, though not as heavily 
as she had feared. Not wasting time, she quickly shrugged her 
dress jacket off and ripped it into large pieces and pressed 
one of them against the wound. The unconscious girl did not 
react in pain, nor did wake up. This worried her greatly.

    "Somebody call 119! The girl's bleeding!"

    A young man knelt next to Akane and was about to push 
her aside, offering his help, but she didn't listen to him as 
she shrugged his hands off her. Only one thing echoed inside 
her thought, that whatever had happened to this girl, she 
felt that she was partially responsible.

    Realizing that the cloth she was pressing against the 
wound was already soaked with blood, she quickly replaced it 
with fresh shards of her now-ruined jacket. Just as she was 
about to resume applying pressure again, she blinked at the 
sight of her bloodstained hands.


    ...someone screamed behind her ear and she swiveled 
around, bringing about her kanata to bear. The bandit 
descended towards her, grinning madly, his hand extended. 
Something glistened in dark, and she jerked backwards, 
bringing up her red hands into her view, still gripping to 
the hilt of her blade. This was it then. Better do than not 
do...


    "Miss!"

    Akane snapped out of her daze and quickly applied 
pressure on the wound almost mechanically. "Damn it, it's not 
enough..." She gritted as the fresh cloth slowly turned red, 
absorbing the slow trickle of blood.

    Despite the pressure to stop the bleeding, Akane knew it 
wouldn't be enough; the girl needed medical attention, fast. 
She already knew that call for 119 had been made, but the 
question was how long would it take for help to come? About 
ten minutes, seven at the earliest. No, that was far too 
long. There had to be someone experienced in medicine nearby, 
someone she knew and trusted... Doctor Tofu!

    He would be able to help the girl! And his office was 
only a block away!

    Akane would later vaguely recall shoving away a number 
of bystanders from the unconscious girl in desperation and 
picking her up, easing her onto her back. She didn't recall 
shouting out her intentions, informing the kind man to 
explain things to Ranma when he came to, that he should come 
too.

    Only things she could recall was running, carrying the 
girl on her back and wondering why she seemed so familiar to 
her. And the blood-stained hands of hers... groping at the 
darkness...

    And her own conscience reminding that this might have 
been her fault somehow.

    If she had known exactly whom she was carrying on her 
back, she might have felt differently about what her 
conscience was trying to tell her. An additional conscious 
thought about a certain boy might have helped prevent a 
drastic change in her life, and allowed only a not-so minor 
adjustment. She would have had an easier time in the future. 
All she had to do was acknowledge her feelings.

    She might have salvaged the lives of herself and the 
injured girl she carried.

    But she didn't; instead she misinterpreted her own words 
and willed herself to run faster, faster than ever she had in 
her life, down the path that would lead her to Dr. Tofu.

    This was definitely _not_ a good day for her.


    - - - -


    ...clanking noise to my left, and a scream.

    no no no not now - someone in pain near me. what to do, 
cant help him... Ranma? No, Ranma's hurt! Gotta help him and 
must-- *krunch* oh, right couple of my ribs are broken, 
again. Don't feel any pain, though.

    Ignore my injuries, I've got to get up and--

    Nothing. I'm not moving much at all, it's an effort to 
push myself off the ground.

    Why do I feel so weak? My head's killing me, and I can't 
remember what's going on, wait. Paralysis drug-tipped darts, 
wasn't it?

    Another groan of pain, and with my addled brain, I 
barely recognized it as being Ranma's. I turned my head to 
one side and was surprised to see Ranma's face, streaked with 
tears. I blinked in surprise when I noticed that my eyes were 
brimming with tears as well.

    I tried to open my mouth, but nothing came out - damn my 
paralysis! Why can't I say it to him?! I've got to tell him 
that I lo-- that it's too dangerous out here! I didn't know 
if Ranma understood what I was trying to say, but he smiled 
at me. 

    I stared, transfixed by his smile...

    He tried to help me to my feet, even though I moved like 
a puppet. With an effort, I managed to rise to my knees 
before I were driven to the ground violently by some unknown 
force. I didn't react, instead I stared at the spot where 
Ranma once had been.

    Where did he...? Oh no, nono, he's gone. It can't be. 
ranma's gone... and it's my fault, i told him to do it. he's 
gone because of me...


    - - - -


    She snapped her eyes wide open and sprang up from the 
lying position in surprise. Her mouth was open in a silent 
scream. Immediately, she doubled over in an imagined pain, 
clutching to her wound. She berated herself for having been 
so careless when she had...

    Had, she had tried...

    ?

    What had she done? Her mind was blank; she couldn't 
recall what had happened to her, or where she had ended up. 
She raised her hand to touch her forehead gingerly, almost as 
if by some magic touch, her memory would be restored. Surely 
she must have done something crazy...

    Then she remembered everything. Or at least some 
portions of her memory, and she remembered Ranma.

    She wept in despair, having been so tantalizingly close. 
But it had been nothing but a dream. A delusion, induced by 
her exhaustion and fading hope. She drew her arms around 
herself for comfort. Her mouth went dry when she realized 
something.

    Someone had treated her wounds, and from what she could 
recall, she wasn't that person. How could an unconscious 
person, quite possibly dying, nurse her own wounds? No, 
someone else had. Subconsciously, she scratched the itch on 
her skin near the edge of thick bandages covering her wounds. 
Rather skillfully, she idly noted, since she barely felt any 
pain. Only an occasional itching sensation. She sensed 
another set of bandages on her right thigh.

    Her grief quickly forgotten, she quickly focused on the 
world around her, bringing her senses to their fullest. She 
saw more technology in the room than she had in last two 
years. A brief wave of nostalgia swept through her mind, but 
she suppressed it. Wherever she was, she determined that she 
must be in doctor's house. Medicine, painkillers, scalpels, 
oxygen masks...

    Wait. The scalpels. There was an unmistakable telltale 
ring where a drop of water had evaporated on the metallic 
handle of the instrument. For some reason, that particular 
instrument filled her with cold dread. The blade was sharp 
and could easily draw blood, even if the handler was 
incompetent. A weapon... if used properly it could become a 
weapon. A weapon.

    Her mind drew in the harsh cold reality and the answer 
came to her, her eyes flickering around the room more warily. 
She had been captured. How could she have been so foolish? 
Who had captured her? Why was she captured? Fear intensified 
when she couldn't recall anything from her memories. 
 
    Whoever her captor was, he obviously wanted her alive, 
if the condition of her injuries were of any indication. For 
what reasons, she did not know, nor care. All she knew that 
someone had her as a prisoner, and wanted to keep her here. 
No, she disagreed silently. If someone wanted to keep her in, 
then she wanted to get out. It was as simple as that. 

    Simple, everything to her were instantly reduced to the 
simplest terms, and quickly analyzed. Simple, everything was 
that way; she had learned the hard way.

    Quietly, she removed her bed covers and slid her body 
off her bed. She shuddered slightly in the air-conditioned 
room, noting fact that except for her panties, she was quite 
naked. She tested her body weight on her legs. Good, she 
could support herself. Next, she needed something to cover up 
her nudity. Fortunately for her, the clothing she had worn 
before lapsing into unconsciousness had been discarded upon a 
nearby counter.

    She frowned at the condition of her clothing. Her shirt 
was had been completely shredded and was thoroughly soaked 
with her blood; it was useless. At least her jacket was still 
salvageable, despite the ugly gash where someone or something 
had clawed through at her. Fortunately, the rest of outfit 
was still in good condition. She was also extremely relieved 
when she retrieved two pieces of necklaces with jeweled orbs 
placed beside her clothing. They were absolutely priceless to 
her. She fastened them both to her neck and wasted no moment 
dressing up.

    To her surprise, she uncovered her kanata resting 
underneath her jacket. As she picked up her sword, she shook 
her head at the incompetence of her captor. For a moment she 
wondered whether she should be relieved or furious. She 
decided to settle for latter.

    She had just been insulted; discarding her weapons 
unsecured and within her easy reach meant that her captor 
wasn't taking her seriously. He probably considered her a 
cheap person. If there was one thing she hated more than 
anything in world, it was being not taken seriously.

    Besides, anger was good. It helped her focus her 
attention, and heighten her senses. It was familiar to her. 

    Having dressed up completely (sans her ruined shirt), 
she gripped the hilt of her weapon, and drew it out slowly. 
It was undamaged. The polished blade reflected back her face, 
and she composed herself. Quickly and silently, she slid her 
kanata back into its scabbard and slung it around her 
shoulder. 

    Time to make her leave.

    She quickly glanced around the room and frowned as she 
realized that there was only one way out, and it was through 
the only doorway in the room. Its curtains drawn close, it 
beckoned and teased her at the same time. She inched closer 
to the exit carefully, wary of possible dangers. It didn't 
take long for her to register voices.

    Voices. She could hear people talking just outside her 
room. She quickly ceased her motion; if she were close enough 
to hear voices, the speakers would be able to hear her as 
well.

    "...don't know what happened to her, but at least I 
managed to stop the bleeding." A male voice, she noted. 
Probably a doctor of a sort, judging from his words. He might 
have been the one who took care of her. She decided to be 
careful with this person for two reasons: he was a doctor, 
and therefore was most likely to have knowledge of the 
surrounding area that she could use to her advantage, and she 
also wanted to know why she had been given extreme care.

    "How's she doing?" The second voice puzzled her the 
most; it was definitely feminine and concern was evident in 
the voice. She frowned as she strained to hear this 
particular speaker. It seemed familiar somehow, but she 
couldn't quite place it.

    "Lot better than I had anticipated. I'm surprised that 
she's still alive, considering the fact that the cuts were 
inflicted at least an hour before you brought her in. She's 
been suffering from starvation, dehydration, blood loss, and 
exhaustion."

    She found herself nodding in agreement with the male 
voice. Her fists clenched as dark thoughts swirled around her 
head. Whoever did this to her, she swore that she would pay 
him back in full. A broken nose sounded like a good place to 
start. So intently focused on her situation, the conversation 
beyond her room did not reach her senses, until a name was 
mentioned.

    "Why does it always have to be Ranma? He's always 
getting into mess like this..."

    What?!

    Caught unprepared, she jerked reflexively back to the 
sound of the voices. A small bottle of medicine that decided 
to fall was instantly intercepted mid-air by her hands. She 
absentmindedly put the bottle back to its original place. She 
strained to listen more. 

    For some reason, her head chose this particular 
opportunity to inform her that she had a headache. Each stab 
of pain seemed to blot out the voices. 

    "... don't know, but ... coming ...  suppose you're 
right ... I wish he'd ... Great... got a head..."

    She cursed her ill luck. She was having extreme 
difficulty in hearing the conversation. She could hear only 
occasional words and phrases, though. It was not enough. She 
needed to know more about her situation, her captors.

    Her damned headache was not helping her matters though. 
On a whim, she glanced back to the prescription bottle she 
had caught earlier. She opened it and quickly popped two 
pills into her mouth before returning her attention to the 
conversation.

    "Ranma no baka..."

    Her throat tightened when she heard the last three 
words. Cold fear permeated her body. It was not that they 
sounded familiar to her - rather, she had used that phrase 
far too often for her own good. No, something did not feel 
right to her, hearing familiar phrases rolling off a familiar 
voice.

    If only she could recall the identity of the speaker! 
She raged internally over her frustration of being not able 
to identify the speaker.

    "...nevertheless, Ranma...almost the time... waking up 
soon... strangely familiar... reminds me... Shampoo... at 
least hope so..."

    Seemingly of its own will, her hand traversed to the 
hilt of her weapon secured tightly on her back, almost as if 
remembering something. She willed her hand back to its 
original position.

    Ranma... and Shampoo. She knew those two names. Not only 
she knew them both, they were a fatal combination to her. She 
had pursed the first, and she would find him. The second, she 
had snubbed and...

    The second...

    The girl raised her right hand, almost unwillingly. A 
painful reminder in a form of a scar...

    She tore her eyes from her hand and tried to focus her 
attention to the conversation. It was now mostly worthless. 
She was about to give up and focus upon her problems when she 
overheard the female voice mutter something under her breath.

    "...that girl... _bitch_... nerve to... work him up..."

    She seethed in anger. Even though the female hadn't 
actually specified her, she knew just exactly who she was 
referring about. So this girl had dared to call her a 
_bitch_, eh?

    She had heard enough. It would not be long before the 
doctor decided to check out her condition. She had to escape 
and find her way around.

    A distraction. That was all she needed- a diversion of a 
sort. If she could create one, she could easily take her 
captors by surprise and turn tables around against them. But 
how...?

    Almost acting on her instinct, she turned her attention 
to the far end of the room. She smiled when she noticed a 
circuit breaker box stationed on the wall, cables running out 
from the bottom. She would later wonder how she had known 
about the exact location of the circuit breakers. But she had 
more pressing matters to attend to, so she didn't pay it much 
attention. It only mattered to her that it was there.

    Two-inch thick cabling snaked out of the bottom and ran 
down along the edge of the flooring until it vanished into a 
juncture not so far from her. It was exactly what she needed.

    After a quick double-checking to ensure that her 
'visitors' were still unaware of her consciousness, she drew 
out her kanata. With a single swing, the blade sliced through 
the metal box into half, as if it were made out of butter. 
Electrical sparks spat out of the severed wires. The lights 
flickered off and on before plunging the room and the 
adjacent one into the darkness. Some stray sunlight seeped 
into her room.

    She quickly sheathed her weapon and wasted few precious 
seconds to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Raising her 
hands, even as she pressed herself against the wall near the 
doorway, she cupped her mouth.

    A shout of 'HELP!' echoed throughout the room, drawing 
the attention of the doctor and the girl in the adjacent 
room. The duo rushed instinctively to respond to the cries of 
help without a thought or caution. This proved to be a 
mistake.

    Staying silent, her single cry having served her 
purpose, she waited for the doctor to enter. When he did, she 
grabbed the doctor's extended left arm and pushed and pulled 
him further into the darkened room. A split-second later, the 
doctor was on his ground, cringing in a painful position with 
his left arm twisted upwards behind his back.

    To the girl coming in after the doctor, it appeared to 
her that the doctor had simply fallen out of sight. 
Naturally, she came in to offer aid. The moment she entered 
the black room, her senses screamed out, 'ambush' and 'stop 
dawdling and get out of the way!' 

    It might have been a case where an Akane Tendo had been 
accused of not being a decent martial artist, when compared 
with Ranma and others. She didn't fare well in her feminine 
duties either; but she was _not_ slow. She was just as fast 
as the martial artists that had invaded her hometown and her 
home, if not faster.

    The mysterious girl simply proved herself to be faster.

    Still firmly plastered against the edge of the doorway, 
she brought down her free arm on the girl's head. Hard.

    The girl quickly collapsed to the ground, unconscious. 

    The entire incident had barely lasted only three 
seconds. Even as she continued to twist the doctor's hand 
painfully, the girl looked down at the unconscious form in 
disgust. 

    She so wanted to show the girl how wrong she was about 
the 'bitch.' 

    "AKANE!" The girl started at the unexpected outburst of 
her name. She jerked her head around in surprise, just in 
time to see a fist reaching out for her. The doctor, having 
finally realized what had happened to him, reacted 
instinctively to the danger. So he ignored the pain in his 
immobilized arm and twisted his body almost impossibly, his 
other arm reaching out for the girl's neck.

    The sole girl's eyes widened as she realized the 
doctor's intentions; he was going precisely for the paralysis 
point!

    She yanked her body backwards, allowing the arm to drift 
harmlessly past her. Her arm met with the doctor's and drew 
him around while releasing his other arm from the painful 
hold. With her second arm free, she grabbed his head and 
propelled his momentum even faster.

    Unfortunately for the doctor, a plaster wall happened to 
be in his way.

    She realized her mistake, but the prone form of the 
doctor sliding down the wall informed her that it was too 
late to correct her blunder.

    "Damn..." She sighed heavily. Why couldn't she have been 
able to foresee that maneuver and had simply disabled his arm 
and limiting his mobility, instead of knocking him out? Now 
she had no way to get information she desperately needed.

    Aware of the reality of the situation, her headache 
decided to return and help dull the gravity of the situation 
for her. Not so grateful, she banged her head against the 
wall in frustration and anger at her stupidity. This did not 
detain her curiosity, though.

    How did the doctor know her name, Akane wondered. She 
had been careful about not revealing her name to outsiders...

    Stop that! She was _not_ with the Amazons anymore! She 
would _not_ emulate them, nor conform to their beliefs. She 
never had since the beginning, anyway. 

    Aware that she was running out of time, she knelt and 
gently lifted the doctor from his undignified (and obviously 
uncomfortable) position against the wall and dragged him into 
the next room. Even the girl who had recently insulted her 
was given same treatment. 

    Under the circumstances, she did what she could to help 
ease their future discomfort. She really wished she had a 
light of some sort so she could have better look at them. 
Apparently when she had cut power, she had short-circuited 
the whole building. Pale light from the blue sky provided the 
little illumination the entire building had, thanks to the 
poor positioning of windows, due to its modern design.

    As she probed the unconscious girl's neck for signs of 
injury, she felt an unusual case of deja vu. She couldn't 
shake the feeling that she knew this girl somehow, almost as 
if there was a sort of bond between them...

    o~/ Dreading the school bell, we can't help but worry 
o~/
    o~/ Classmates behind me, we can't help but hurry. o~/

    She frowned slightly as lyrics sang in her headache-
ridden temple. What's going on?

    o~/ They'll catch their breath and then, they'll say: 
o~/
    o~/ "Good - Mor - ni - ng!" o~/

    Akane shook her head, disquieted by the words. It was 
creepy for her, hearing the lyrics in a darkened room with 
two people acting like dead. Her headache seemed to be 
pulsating in synch with the song. It was too much for her.

    o~/ Sweet summer grass that grows wild by the roadside 
o~/
    o~/ Starting each day with a smile that I can't hide. 
o~/

    She HAD to get out of here, to get away from the sense 
of familiarity of the room and its inhabitants. Knowing and 
yet not knowing was starting to drive her crazy. Any longer, 
she feared she might go crazy.

    Satisfied that there would be no permanent harm to them, 
she scurried out of the room and into the blinding sunset. To 
escape the unusual degree of familiarity she did not want to 
acknowledge.

    o~/ It's what I know... But may not always be so. o~/

    She was running down the street now. Not paying any 
attention to the bystanders who gave her unusual looks. Looks 
of realization and later confusion. Some of them even called 
out for her. No, no- please don't recognize me! She despaired 
and feared. She wanted nobody to remember her, she didn't 
want to remember faces of people who might have once been her 
friends or allies.

    She wanted to be left alone! Why can't she just be left 
alone?!

    o~/ Casual moments like these mean the most to me o~/
    o~/ Treasured times that don't need any key. o~/

    She wanted nothing to do with others! She only wanted 
Ranma, and nothing else! _NOTHING!_

    For better mobility in her escape and less exposure to 
civilians, she jumped onto the roof of a nearby home.

    o~/ In the album of my heart I keep, o~/
    o~/ old times stay like new. o~/

    o~/ No, I won't forget... (how this sky is blue) o~/
    o~/ No, I won't forget... (how this dream came true) o~/

    Her latest escapade forgotten, Akane bounced across the 
Nerima rooftops like a super-powered grasshopper. Two birds 
screeched in anger as their nest were disturbed. A man 
repairing a small rooftop leak was knocked off.

    She did not care. She only wanted to get away from it 
all. The familiarity. The conformity. The community. That 
girl she had felt so familiar with. All of it and everything.

    She ran even faster.

    o~/ They're the gentle times we'll share forever o~/
    o~/ Long past all those times are thru. o~/

    o~/ Even when I'm sad... (days I just don't know) o~/
    o~/ Even when I'm sad... (days the tears just flow) o~/

    o~/ Mem'ries of days I'll never, ever let go. o~/


    - - - -


    ...in my hand the hunting knife I had used to... No 
matter, it would suffice. Seppuku's not even worth the 
effort. Besides there's no one who would be my second.

    The house is quiet. Daddy... gone, dead. Not yet, 
though- but he's on the way. Just like my Mommy. Kasumi's out 
shopping, she wouldn't be back for another hour. Good.

    Nabiki? Where did she go? No matter, I only need fifteen 
minutes and it'd be over.

    I quietly disrobed my clothes and gazed upon my final 
steaming hot bath. I took extra care in folding my clothes 
away, and scrubbed my body clean. Better to die clean rather 
than filthy. Show others that I still cared, at least.

    With my menial cleaning duties done, I stepped into the 
furo and winced at hot temperature. Hotter, the better. I let 
my body soak in water for five minutes, to mellow out my 
skin.

    I raised my left arm and marveled at the perfection of 
my forearm. Pale white and devoid of any scars. As I brought 
my hunting knife I still held to it clumsily, I felt a twinge 
of pity at the intentional disfigurement of the perfection, 
but it was unavoidable. It slid across my skin easily. I 
barely felt any pain as I bled. I immersed my wrist into warm 
water and watched it seep out even faster.

    Ahh, I smiled contently and let my tears run free. For 
Ranma. For me. For us.

    Maybe it wouldn't take me long to die, I hoped.

    I executed similar operation on my right wrist. I felt 
no pain as I lowered my arms back into water, allowing it to 
suck my blood out of me. I must have willed my blood to flow 
even faster, because it didn't take long for the water to 
turn blood red.

    Sighing blissfully, I sank my body into water, coming to 
rest just above my neck. I remembered closing my eyes, to 
help me focus on the sensation of hot water grow colder and 
colder until i felt nothing.

    ranma, im coming and ive missed you...


    - - - -


    "AKANE!"

    Startled by the scream, Akane spasmed out of her 
artificially induced rest.

    First thing she did was to check her wrists, to see if 
she had any life left. Yes. She was still alive, and her 
wrists were unslashed. Akane released a huge breath of relief 
as she rubbed them. 

    It had been so vivid. She had never felt so closely 
attached to a dream like this one before. She could still 
feel cooling sensation of hot water, and her own blood 
pumping out of her wrists...

    She shuddered violently, squeezing her eyes tight. No 
more, please! I don't want to remember and feel and see! Her 
breathing became haphazard, coming out and in short but 
inscrutable pattern. Yet her chest heaved in and out.

    A pair of arms reassured her living, and words of 
concern finally registered in her ears, "...all right? You're 
not hurt, aren't you? Oh man, if I ever catch that guy who 
did this to ya..."

    She snapped her head back to reality and saw Ranma. 
RANMA!

    Almost as if driven by desperation, she reached out and 
pulled him into a heart-crunching embrace, squeezing him like 
a doll. Caught by surprise, Ranma felt his insides caving 
inside under the Akane's powerful grip, his air being forced 
out. "A-Akane, I c-can't breathe...!" He squeaked out.

    Akane blinked, "Ranma?" Realizing what she was doing, 
she released him just as quickly as she had grabbed him, 
already positioning herself a meter further from him with a 
red face. Ranma toppled back and fell from the force of 
Akane's shove and bumped the back of his head against the 
floor.

    "What was that for?!" Ranma wheezed as he got up, eyeing 
the girl oddly.

    "I thought-" Akane paused, then tried again, as she 
tried to search for the reason, "I-I... I-I don't know." she 
finally admitted. Ranma crooked his head at her, but then 
shrugged. It wasn't important to him anyway, so he tried to 
dismiss it away.

    She wasn't listening; she recalled her... dream? It 
seemed to be more than a dream to her, almost as if she was 
reliving a past experience. But it was impossible, wasn't it? 
She had never committed suicide, or even considered it.

    Yet she felt sure that it had happened in some way.

    Never before had she felt such an overpowering sense of 
finality and hopelessness. She imagined that she probably 
would be able to pull off a perfect Shishi Hokodan if she had 
tried with that much heavy emotion. This must have been how 
Ryouga had felt when he thought she had hated him during his 
Shishi Hokodan duel with Ranma three months ago.

    "Ranma..." Akane trailed off as feelings of doubt and 
uncertainty bore its way into her thoughts. No way had she 
tried killing herself. She was sure of it. And certainly not 
over Ranma!

    '...was sure of it'? Why did she say that? She had NEVER 
done such a thing. It was just a dream, yeah that's it. No 
way it could be anything more than that!

    Her senses already heightened by her scare told her that 
someone had entered the room. She lifted her head from her 
close body embrace and inhaled sharply when she saw the 
doctor. "What happened, Doctor?!" She gasped as she noticed 
his bloodied nose.

    "Dub burry, I'b bine.  Dust hud mah nobe, dat's ah." 
Tofu mumbled as he pinched his nose with a Kleenex. "Ow."

    "But what about..." Akane tried, but the doctor shushed 
her. 

    "That's okay, it's stopped now." He let go of his nose, 
relieved that the bleeding had stopped, and that his nose 
wasn't broken. "Whoever she was, she didn't intend to cause 
any serious injuries. She just simply knocked us both out."

    "But why'd she do that?" Ranma interrupted, "I mean, you 
helped her, didn't ya?"

    "True," Tofu nodded as he discarded the used Kleenex in 
the wastebasket. "But I'm not really sure. When she had me in 
her hold, I sensed something about her. She's just feeling 
defensive, scared, I think." The doctor paused for a moment 
to think. There was something about that girl that he 
couldn't quite put his finger on. He told them so.

    Akane nodded in agreement. She had briefly looked over 
the strange girl just before Tofu had kindly asked her to 
step out so he could take care of the girl. When she did, she 
had a strange feeling of deja vu, although she could not 
understand why. It was almost as if she had known her 
somehow.

    Ranma, however, thought differently. "Something's not 
right. How'd she get hurt, anyway? Whoever she is, she's 
gotta be good. I mean, she knocked you two out in less than 
ten seconds, tops. That's gotta mean she's a decent fighter 
at least, but she's hurt somehow."

    Akane blinked at him and wondered how she knew. Tofu 
smiled grimly, "I agree, Ranma. Those wounds aren't normal; 
they were done deliberately with a sharp instrument. 
Thankfully they weren't serious."

    "Are you sure? There was so much blood..." Akane 
prompted as her voice trailed off, the haunting memory of her 
'supposed' suicide still haunting her.

    "There's another puzzling aspect: her injuries were 
definitely at least forty minutes old, quite possibly around 
fifty. I'm surprised that she didn't go to the nearest 
hospital. There's plenty within her distance."

    "Oh." The girl replied as her thoughts drifted. If she 
hadn't found her, that girl might have...

    The doctor must have been thinking along the similar 
lines when he spoke, "Thankfully, she made it - how she 
managed to lose this much blood and yet remain conscious I 
find it hard to believe. But the risk is still there. I'm not 
comfortable having her out there, running and jumping for all 
we know, without medical attention. Any serious strain might 
cause her stitches to reopen. I'm going to contact nearby 
hospitals, so they'll know what to do in case she ends up 
hurt again." The doctor nodded. He paused as he glanced at 
Akane.  

    "Oh, Akane, don't worry about the blow to your neck. 
It's nothing, you'll have a slight bruise, but nothing 
serious." Akane blinked as she realized that she had been 
massaging the sore spot on her neck for a while. Tofu 
continued, "If you'd like to, you can leave now. Now if 
you'll excuse me, I've got to some calls to make." With that, 
Tofu sidestepped Ranma and left, leaving Akane to her 
thoughts.

    Now alone, Ranma turned to Akane and asked testily, "You 
okay, Akane?"

    "I'm fine," Akane said as she shook her head. A nagging 
thought refused to leave her, so she decided to make it 
known. "Who's that girl anyway? Why was she looking for you?" 
Her eyes narrowed as she added another line, "Another fiancee 
of yours?"

    "No! I don't even know her! I've never met her before, 
honest!" Ranma protested. "Besides, I've already got my hands 
full with of you."

    Well, his admission certainly sounded genuine. She 
sighed in mixed disappointment and relief. Since she thought 
she had detected a vague compliment somewhere in his words, 
she decided not to purse it further.

    Just for once, she thought despondently, she wished that 
she would have a day of normality. A nice day after a great 
night's sleep. A nice talk with Ranma without an argument, or 
any interference from his so-called fiancees. She briefly 
wondered how it would feel if she could just hold his hand 
while walking, like a couple...

    Ranma placed his hand on Akane's shoulder, concerned. 
"Something wrong?"

    "Nothing." Akane just shook her head. "Let's just go 
home. I don't feel like blaming you right now. I just want to 
go home."

    At least one good thing came out of it; her headache 
apparently had stopped.

    She could almost hear her own breath wheezing as it 
slowly ceased...


    - - - -


    Nerima.

    Akane bit into a piece of rice ball she had managed to 
purchase without being recognized, not happy at all. Of all 
the places in the world she could have ended up in, it just 
_had_ to be Nerima.

    It wasn't that she didn't want to return to her old 
hometown; rather, she would have preferred to come back 
during a happier time or with good news. Like Ranma.

    Funny, the district hadn't changed that much since she 
had left. Then again, she supposed, there had been no reason 
for it to change since Ranma had left. Even so, she wasn't 
sure if there had been _any_ changes at all. She had been 
away for quite some time after all. She supposed that the 
recession Japan was suffering from was partly to fault. 
Nothing seemed to be for better, but they weren't for worse 
either.

    Only one thing concerned her at this moment was getting 
out of the city and return to China as quickly as possible. 
She still had something to do there, but she couldn't recall 
what. She only knew that it was urgent. Perhaps Cologne might 
be able to help.

    She sighed as she put the rest of her rice ball back 
into her jacket, ignoring her discomfort of wearing not 
wearing a shirt or a gi underneath her jacket. While she was 
already on her way out of the place, she still had one place 
to visit, and she was already there.

    Hundreds of narrow stone pillars with markings spread 
far and wide from her place at the entrance.

    She quickly purchased some incense and a small bowl of 
water, borrowing a ladle. She wasn't sure why she was doing 
this, but her heart told her that it would help. It might 
even help clear away some of her uncertainties.

    It did not take her long to single out a single pillar 
among the hundreds dotting the scared place. She paused 
before it for a moment to read the markings on it.

    Tendo.

    The granite marking was not elaborately decorated, and 
seemed to be dull and unattractive-looking, a stark contrast 
to the scores of markers nearby, which featured their own 
unique makeup. But it held a special meaning to Akane.

    Her mother. Even though she had been only a little girl 
when her mother had died, she remembered the last words Mommy 
had spoken to her, as the monster inside her slowly ate away 
at her life.

    **please be strong, my dear akane. i am sorry that i 
can't be with you for long, but please promise that you'll 
always be strong, and that you will discover your own 
happiness...**

    **i promise, mommy! i promise always, so please don't 
leave me!**

    A tear swelled in her eyes, and she wiped them away. 
Yes... she nodded her head sharply as she clutched her fists. 
The last hour had been the closest she had come to throwing 
in the towel. But never again!, she renewed her vow.

    She would find Ranma even if it meant going into the 
bowels of hell!

    Doubts creeped in, however. "But..."

    She knelt near the marking and raised her hand to it, 
reaching out to feel the deep incisions of her mother's name 
etched on it. Her right hand quavered slightly as it made the 
contact then withdrew quickly as if it scorched.

    Akane stared at her hand in genuine surprise. Then she 
closed her eyes and nodded deeply. 

    "Thank you... I'd almost forgotten. Almost." Smiling bit 
wider than she had in months, she took in a deep breath, 
inhaling the fresh scent of springtime grass. Picking up the 
ladle, she began the ritual. As she prepared for the 
occasion, she was secretly relieved to notice that her 
father's marking was conspicuously absent.

    The water slowly drizzled from the wooden cup and 
splashed on top of the stone pillar. She then lit the incense 
she had and placed it at the base of the marker. Blowing out 
the torch, she knelt and mentally prepared herself for a task 
she had allowed to fall into disuse after years. Her mother 
would have been upset if she were still alive today.

    She prayed to the spirits.

    Thank you, Mommy... Daddy. I won't give up until I find 
him! I swear this on my honor as a Tendo!

    Her resolve began to falter slightly once more. But... 
Oh Mommy, I need you so much! I'm alone and I don't know what 
to do! R-Ranma's gone a-and...

    "Oh, I'm sorry for intruding."

    An invisible barrier of emotion slammed into her, and 
flung aside her thoughts into chaos. Fear gripped her body.

    Oh, no... please not her! I-I can't face her, not here, 
not now!

    She turned around slowly and mentally made a thousand 
offerings and promises to gods that might have been 
listening. Then she made another thousand even though she 
knew all of them would flutter by unheeded.

    There she was, a radiant-looking young girl, holding a 
small collection of flowers. The dying rays of sun darkened 
her light blue dress, but did not hide her innocent smile.

    Her scarred hand twitched slightly in extreme 
nervousness. Words of the days past resurfaced in her 
thoughts, intensifying her guilt.

    "Kasumi." Akane swallowed hard. She could feel rivulets 
of sweat dripping down her neck.

    The girl smiled sweetly in return, just as she had 
remembered it long time ago. Except that it was marred by 
hidden features of shock and confusion that she didn't show. 
But Akane saw them and her fear increased ten-fold. She took 
a step back.

    Her hand twitched again and she quickly put it behind 
her head and scratched, partly to hide her hand, partly in 
embarrassment, and partly in an attempt to lighten the mood.    

    "Uh- I-it's been quite a while since we met, 
oneechan..." Akane forced her smile nervously.


    - - - -


    "Hey, I said I'd pay you back, I promise!" Onna-Ranma 
defended herself, muttering something that Akane could not 
quite hear.
 
    "It doesn't matter if you can pay me back or not," she 
countered, "The point is that you should've known! Do you 
have any idea how embarrassing it was for me when I had to 
pay for ice cream when you realized that you didn't have any 
money? You said it'd be on you, remember?!"

    Onna-Ranma yelped, "I said I was sorry! You were in some 
deep funk, so I just wanted to cheer ya up, that's all."

    "Oh forget it." She waved her hand dismissively as she 
took her slip shoes off as the cursed female bounded 
apologetically past her.

    "Welcome back, Akane, Ranma." Kasumi greeted them 
cheerfully as usual as she walked past them with a watering 
pot. Akane immediately noticed a slight discrepancy in her 
voice. However, Ranma was concerned about something else.

    "You got any hot water ready?"

    Kasumi paused and shook her head. "I filled the kettle, 
but I haven't set it on the stove yet, Ranma."

    "I'll do it, Kasumi! Thanks!" With that, Onna-Ranma 
slipped past Kasumi with a greeting and zeroed right into the 
kitchen, in hurry to relinquish her cursed form. Without even 
a simple greeting to Kasumi, Akane noted as she put aside her 
purse, less several hundred yen.

    The moment Ranma left, Kasumi's smile vanished.

    "Akane?" Kasumi replied in a quiet, subdued tone that 
was quite uncharacteristic of her. She didn't normally fidget 
like she was right now, either.

    "What's wrong, Kasumi?"

    "I'm not sure about how to put it this way..." Kasumi 
shook her head slightly. "I don't want to be rude here, 
but..."

    Warning bells instantly went off in Akane's mind. If 
there was anything Kasumi had any trouble dealing with, it 
was usually unpleasant matters. They weren't her best forte; 
her sister disliked keeping them secret. Not that she could 
without being too obvious in doing so anyway. She was 
painfully clear as glass at this moment.

    Trouble was not something Akane wanted to deal with at 
this moment. Not after what had occurred between her and that 
mysterious girl.

    "Kasumi." Akane placed her hands on her sister's 
shoulders and spoke calmly, pushing aside her concerns for a 
moment. "Please tell me."

    "When I visited our Mother earlier, I met someone at her 
marker." Akane inclined her head, confused. Why would it be 
unusual? She knew that her mother had some friends who still 
occasionally stopped to pay her their respects. She suggested 
the notion to Kasumi.

    "Yes, you're right, Akane... but..." Kasumi bowed her 
head in shame and whispered almost too lightly for Akane to 
hear. "I think we might have an illegitimate sister."

    Ah. So they had another...

    "WHAT?!" Akane blurted out before she could stop 
herself, drawing in Onna-Ranma's attention as she poked her 
head into the room.

    "Something wrong, Akane?"

    "Nothing." She said simply, waving her away. "I just got 
a bit excited, that's all."

    "If you say so," Onna-Ranma replied, unconvinced, and 
disappeared back into the kitchen.

    Akane waited few moments to make sure Ranma wasn't 
listening, then turned to her sister and spoke again in 
hushed tones. "Are you trying to tell me that Daddy had an 
affair with another woman before I was even born?!"

    "Well, you needn't have to be _that_ blunt, but yes 
that's what I think."

    "Hold on, why do you think we've got another sister? Did 
she say who her father was?"

    "I was so surprised that I forgot to ask, but... she 
called me 'oneechan.' She seems to know a lot about Nabiki 
and me..."

    "'Seems to know'...? What do you mean?"

    Kasumi put her finger to her chin as she recalled her 
meeting. "She remembered... things. She told me she knew our 
mother... and the vacation we had at Hokkaido. She remembered 
the fun she had with Nabiki and me." She twisted her fingers 
around, uncertain. "She... she didn't tell me how she knew, 
but she implied that she had been with us during our 
vacation..." She scrunched her eyebrows together in deep 
thought, which unsettled Akane. "But I don't remember seeing 
her back then..."

    Akane relaxed. So THAT was what was bothering Kasumi. 
She simply didn't react well when greeted by a stranger 
unless properly introduced.  "Oh, don't worry about it... 
it's okay, sis. It's probably a case of mistaken identity. 
She might've mistook you for someone else." Akane patted her 
sister's back confidently. "I'll set her straight. Where did 
you say she was?" Still, she felt uncomfortable with someone 
traipsing around the community with a misguided notion of 
being a Tendo.

    "Upstairs, I think." At Akane's questioning glance, 
Kasumi hastily explained, "I didn't know what I was supposed 
to do with her, so I just naturally invited her in. She said 
she was going to her room."

    Akane frowned. "*Her* room? What did she mean by that?"

    "I don't know. I'm sorry, Akane, but you'll have to look 
around for her. You don't mind, do you?"

    She shook her head. "Don't worry, I'll talk with her and 
get to the bottom of this." Kasumi relaxed as she placed her 
hand on her sister's shoulder. "Why don't you go ahead and do 
whatever you were about to do and I'll take care of it?" 
Literally, that is.

    Kasumi nodded and picked up her watering pot, relieved 
to have the terrible burden and responsibility off her 
shoulders. She disliked being shouldered with unnecessary 
responsibilities, so she was more than grateful to relinquish 
the trouble to her younger sister. Kasumi moved into the main 
room cheerfully to water some plants. No sooner than her 
sister had departed than Akane had climbed up the stairs 
heading to the second floor and the bedrooms, including 
hers...

    Her eyebrows met.

    An uninvited guest nosing around in her room without any 
business being there. A number of possibilities of what such 
a person might do in her room flew through her mind. A girl 
with a long piece of cloth tied around her head under her 
nose sneaking around the room, pulling out drawers of her 
desk, paging through her personal photo Album, or taking a 
brief doze on her bed. But interestingly enough, it was not 
any of those, but the thought of her accidentally uncovering 
one of her most personal secrets, a small box hidden away 
somewhere behind her desk, that infuriated her the most...

    A box full of tiny reminders of her mother and a 
pigtailed martial artist...

    Spurred into action, she quickly stomped her way up the 
stairs, straight for her room. She was never the one for 
subtlety, so she shouted out, "All right, whoever you are, 
you'd better nobody not be in my room, or you'll be sorry!"

    She slammed her door open, expecting to catch the 
intruder with her hands on her treasure... and found her room 
clean. She blinked. "Nobody's here? But I could've... oh." 
She was probably just acting bit paranoid that's all, she 
assured herself. Of course there was no way anybody would 
have found it! It was the best place to hide it, and nobody 
would have even guessed as to where it is!

    Satisfied by her conclusions, she gave her room a quick-
over, paying an extra attention to her desk (and was also 
quite relieved when reassured that her secret had remained 
secret, apparently), before moving on to Nabiki and Kasumi's 
rooms. Disappointed by lack of results of her search, she was 
about to move on to the fourth and the largest room on her 
floor; Saotome's room.

    As she approached the room, a feeling of dread crept up 
her spine, almost as if having a premonition of something was 
going to happen. Something happened.

    An uneasy feeling swept through her body, almost as if 
she was... disoriented? Multitude of memories of running from 
an unknown figure washed over her, before a vivid image of... 
claw-hook trailing a length of chains loomed towards before 
being yanked downwards...

    ...and sickening sounds of her own skin ripping as the 
talons ripped into her fleshy stomach...

    Akane jerked involuntarily backwards from the sensation, 
bumping her back against the cool wooden walls of the hall. 
She realized that she was already panting slightly, but... 
what the hell was that?

    Fishing out her left hand where it had previously been 
clutching to her right side, her shoulders slackened as Akane 
realized that her hand was still clean, as ever. No trace of 
blood. Probing her side, she saw that there was nothing 
amiss.

    Still, she could've sworn that it had been real. For a 
split-second there, she had felt pain, or was it also 
imagined?

    ranma, im scared! where are you...?

    She snapped her head up, startled.

    Where had that thought come from?

    She shook her head to clear confusion from her mind and 
was rewarded with extra confusion for her actions. Could she 
be going crazy? She shuddered at the thought of going insane 
like Kodachi. NO! she mentally screamed, I'm NOT going crazy 
like that lunatic!

    She stood there for few moments to gather her bearings 
and decided to go below for some medicine to get rid of the 
beginnings of a headache she felt coming. A BIG one, she was 
sure.

    As she was about to turn around to head down the stairs 
to the kitchen for the cure, she heard a slight rustling 
sound in... Ranma's room?!

    Her eyes widened for a moment, then she frowned as she 
recalled the reason for having gone upstairs in the first 
place. "Why am I not surprised?" Akane muttered to herself. 
Of all rooms, her mystery 'sister' just had to visit her 
fiance's. It would be just her luck that whoever this 
'sister' was, she would happen to be 'familiar' with that 
hentai. Another contender against her engagement to him...

    Akane sighed in frustration and groused mentally at her 
misery, about how she had ended up being engaged to a jerk 
she was starting to like-- nono. Strike that; DIDN'T like, 
no. She didn't like him. Well... maybe a bit. But still! And 
the insanity Ranma had brought with him was starting to wear 
her thin. Unless she did something about that, and soon, she 
would have to deal with it for the rest of her life if she 
wanted to be with that baka.

    For her sanity, she decided to leave her last thought at 
that, rather than engaging in a philosophical debate with 
herself.

    Pushing aside the door open, she saw a girl slightly 
older than her huddled over Ranma's futon. It struck her that 
she seemed to be... crying?

    Startled by Akane's unexpected entrance, the girl froze. 
She blinked and realized that she was not alone. So she 
quickly rubbed tears away from her eyes. Internally, the girl 
despaired. Why couldn't she even have a moment alone with 
Ranma, even if he was really dead (which she refused to 
accept), and mourn in silence?

    It seemed to her that time was slowing down. The motions 
of the girl as she turned around appeared to be done in an 
agonizing slow exaggerated fashion, even as her own legs 
refused follow her own accord.

    In one single moment, two pairs of eyes met each other. 
Three and zero years of knowledge were not and were 
transmitted to each other in that single contact.  It was 
broken by a stray thought. Or two. Oddly enough, they seemed 
to create an echo in their minds.

    he's not here.

    Akane had envisioned many things. Many of her fantasies 
were typical of a sixteen-year old female high school 
student. They ranged from a simple daydream or wistful 
thinking to her wildest dreams to, yes, even sexual fantasies 
(of the latter, she didn't want to admit to herself, she had 
enjoyed).

    But nobody had ever envisioned meeting a version of 
herself. A real warm-blooded living carbon-copy of herself.

    So both Akanes' reactions were rather predictable: "WHO 
the hell are you?!"

    "I'm Akane, who are YOU?"

    "I'm Akane TENDO!"

    "No, _I'M_ TENDO!"

    "Liar!"

    "YOU are!"

    "I'm Akane!"

    "No, you're not!"

    "I am so!"

    "Are not!"

    "Am so!"

    "Are not!"

    The elder Akane growled irritably, some nerve this 
impostor had, impersonating her AND reminding her of her 
underdeveloped figure she had when she was younger! Wasn't 
being hauled back into retro-times bad enough for her? Her 
arm inched towards her carelessly discarded katana.

    The younger Akane growled irritably, some nerve this 
impostor had, impersonating her AND flaunting with better 
figure than she had! This person just picked a wrong person 
to make a fool out of. Her muscles tensed from its relapse 
from Martial Arts training, itching for a fight.

    Fortunately, the inevitable duel was narrowly averted by 
a timely arrival of a manly Ranma Saotome, albeit wearing a 
slightly damp clothing.

    "Hey, Akane? You in here--?" He paused mid-sentence as 
two pairs of predatory eye tread across him as if he was some 
unwanted guest. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted by 
the reaction; this _was_ his room after all. Even if it was 
currently on a lease to him.

    All that changed in an instant when two girls recognized 
him. Akane frowned in the expression of annoyance that he was 
already familiar with. But the second girl, which for some 
reason he had immediately pegged as familiar to him somehow, 
had an expression of disbelief on her face, which made it 
more difficult for him to get a bead on her face. The facial 
features were in different places, conveying wrong impression 
of familiarity to him.

    "Ra.. Ranma?" The slightly older Akane's voice quivered, 
almost as if she was having difficulty in believing her eyes. 
It wasn't far from the truth.
 
    "Yeah." Ranma was instantly wary. Even though he didn't 
really recognize her, something about the girl seemed to tug 
at his memories somehow, but he couldn't place it. And given 
that Akane was in the same room as the girl and him, he knew 
it would only spell trouble, so he had to be extra, extra, 
_extra_ careful here. "I'm Ranma Saotome."

    "Re... Really?"

    "Yeah. What do you want with meeeEE?" was his words as a 
bone-crushing embrace that would have made Shampoo insanely 
jealous forced his air out of him.

    Geez, is this day for glompin' or what, Ranma thought, 
having been subjected to a similar experience by a rather 
busty Amazonian female just after he had left that ice cream 
parlor with Akane earlier, before the elder Akane planted a 
passionate - WHOA! - kiss on his lips.

    Taken aback by the intensity and amount of emotion of 
the kiss, which he doubted even Shampoo would rival (heck, 
that first kiss was nothing compared to the one he was 
having), he wasn't sure whether he should respond or end it. 
Thankfully, the decision was made in his stead.

    "Oh, RANMA! It's you, it's _really_ you! I thought I'd 
never see you again! You've got no idea how much missed you!" 
Akane cried as she finally broke the kiss, settling for a 
much more comfortable hugging of Ranma.

    He blinked. He blinked again. No way, he thought. It was 
impossible. But he voiced out the impossibility. "A- Akane?"

    Akane nodded vigorously, simply too overwhelmed with 
excitement and happiness to form words.

    "But, but- you're older, no wait, I mean you look 
different!" He realized that he was babbling, so he forced 
himself to calm down and tried again. "Akane, how'd you grow 
up so fast?"

    He instantly regretted the words as they came out of his 
mouth. He brought up his hands to his face, expecting a blow 
of some kind. It never came. Instead, he heard a different 
noise and opened his eyes to sight he would have never 
believed: an Akane crossing her arms to herself and laughing.

    It was a warm and pleasant laugh, the kind that made a 
person feel like he was being chided, yet appreciated at the 
same time. Ranma decided that he liked the sound of her 
laugh. Still...

    "Hey, what's so damned funny?!"

    Still laughing, Akane managed out, "But it's just that 
it's been so long that I never thought that your insults 
would sound so wonderful to me..."

    "Huh?" 

    "Oh, Ranma... I'm just so glad that we're together 
again..." Akane wiped away her tears as she stepped back. 
There was a slight rustling noise that distracted Ranma, 
drawing his attention to the source.

    So startled by Ranma's presence, the elder Akane had 
neglected to keep her jacket closed, so when she had let go 
of Ranma and gave him some slack, she also gave him a quite 
eyeful of her exposed brasserie.

    Ranma instinctively glanced down to her bosoms and 
gulped audibly. Suddenly he felt an ominous presence behind 
him and swallowed again. Akane was NOT happy. He spun around 
with his hands up in warding gestures, "I didn't mean to, 
Akane, rea--!!"

    Akane didn't give him a chance to finish as she used the 
wooden shinai she had found nearby and bludgeoned him into 
unconsciousness, while screaming out what kind of a pervert 
her fiancee was.

    Almost as if to verify Akane's claims, Ranma's last 
thought was about how odd that Akane's breasts had seemed 
bigger a minute ago...

    His fiancee ceased her attack the instant he had 
osculated the tatami. Akane winced internally; she really 
hadn't intended to be so... harsh on him, but her reflexes 
had kicked in. Ironically unaware of his final thoughts, she 
had admitted to herself only recently that Ranma wasn't as 
much of a pervert as she had accused him of being in the 
past. However, she was more than determined not to allow 
Ranma an opportunity to prove her wrong.

    Lifting her shinai from unconscious Ranma's head, and 
allowing a tiny bump to sprout free from the mop of black 
hair, Akane turned around to face her unexpected guest. 
Anticipating a shocked expression on her guest's face, she 
had planned to force a smile to her face and dismiss the 
entire incident as merely 'reining in' the old letch's 
'influence' on him.

    A lie, really. But she had gotten better at this, so it 
wouldn't be a problem for her...

    "An--aaAAIIIOWWW!" She cried in pain as she felt her 
hand holding onto the shinai crack back into an unnatural 
position. Her eyes glanced back to her guest, who had been 
standing almost three meters from her only moments ago, 
gripping her wrist in its painful position.

    Her eyes widened in shock. The older Akane had reacted 
so quickly that she never saw it coming. God, she couldn't 
believe the sheer speed and force behind this seemingly 
harmless visitor; if the girl had applied just ten more 
pounds of force behind her hand, her hand would have had 
snapped.

    Akane gave her younger twin a hard glare, full of anger 
and hostility. "Drop it, sister. I'm warning you," she spoke 
threateningly, "Do that again, and I'll make sure you'll live 
to regret it."

    As if to underscore her words, the pressure on younger 
girl's wrist intensified slightly.



END
--- --- --- --- ---


For now.

Many thanks to:

Murmur the Fallen
Nightman
Captain Exposition (keep on cheering for me!)
And FFIRC members who attended Jan '00 one-hour challenge and 
their delightful comments on the sidestory.

C&C would be appreciated.

This will be archived at its official website at
http://www/geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/7233/dreams.htm

In case you're wondering (or have recognized), the lyric 
I used in this part was Omoide ga Ippai, or "So Many 
Memories," from the opening scene for Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle.


DA/R


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