Misconception?
By
David (Fido) Lindquist Jr.
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is owned by Viz. All
rights reserved.
Also thanks to Karaohki for the first draft
preread!
**********************
Soun moved one of the pieces on the board, and
sighed. For some reason, the game between him
and Genma just wasn't as interesting as it
should have been. In fact, it was boring.
*Ever since the wedding failed, * he thought
sourly, * the game hasn't been the same. Nothing
has...Maybe I need to do something different. *
The Tendo family patriarch mulled the thought
over as he waited for Genma to move a piece. Then,
just as Genma started to move, it came to him.
"Genma, why don't we go spar?"
"Spar?" his opponent replied with a surprised look
on his face then it turned thoughtful. "Well, I suppose
we could. I haven't done it in a long time."
The both of them got up and headed for the door.
"Where are you two going?"
The two of them turned to see Nabiki walking down the
stairs.
"We decided to do some sparring."
Nabiki's eyes widened as she stared at her father. She
then walked down the stairs without a word, opened the
outside door, and peered outside like she was looking
for something.
"Daughter," Soun asked. "What are you doing?"
"Checking to see if it was raining gold bullion. I figured
that if you are going to spar then maybe some other
impossible thing may happen."
"Come on Genma, let's go to the dojo," Soun said coolly and
went out the door. Genma followed casting a glance at the
sky as he went, just in case. They quickly reached their
destination.
"I'm outta here!"
The two martial arts masters stopped at the door as they
heard the familiar sound of Ranma's voice.
"Hmmm?"
*Akane? * they thought almost in unison.
"I've had it! There is no way I can make everyone
happy. Hell, I can't even make myself happy by picking the
one I want! Well, I'll just dump them all! I don't need
this kind of responsibility in my life!"
"Hey! Don't you walk away from me you coward!"
"COWARD?!? I'm a Coward?!?! "
"Yeah! You can't even kiss a girl without freaking out!"
"Oh I can't, can I? Well, watch this!"
"Hey! What are you doing? Let g...MMMPH?!?... mmmph!...
Mmmmmm...."
Both of them strained to hear more but they couldn't make
out the sounds.
"....... Oh god! I...I'm sorry! I...I didn't mean to--."
"MMM...Remind me to get you mad more often!"
They heard Akane giggle but it was drowned out by Ranma's
shout.
"This isn't funny! I forced you..."
"You didn't force me to do anything!" Akane's voice shouted
back. "Do you think I couldn't have stopped you if I wanted
to? I've done it before!"
Silence permeated the dojo for a few seconds.
"Oh man." Ranma's voice finally said. "You realize what'll
happen if this gets around, don't you?"
What Akane's voice replied made both of their mouths drop.
"So take me with you."
"Huh?"
"Jeez, have you got a hearing problem? When you leave, take
me with you!"
"You mean e..elope?"
Another round of silence descended but this once seemed
far more important than the previous one then they heard
Akane speak.
"Yes. Elope."
Soun and Genma could barely contain their joy. The two of
them immediately burst into the dojo, causing both Ranma
and Akane to turn around. Akane was surprised, but Ranma
looked like he had been caught doing something very
bad. Soun instantly dropped to his knees, wrapped his arms
around Akane's waist, then began to cry, while Genma
grabbed both of his son's empty hands and shook them
heartily.
"You two don't need to elope!" he said to Ranma. "We'll just
arrange another wedding!"
Ranma's eyes bulged out at the word 'wedding' but he had no
chance to reply before Soun cried out.
"My daughter is going to elope! Whaaah!"
"Daddy?!?! What in the world are you talking about?" Akane
replied as she tried to pry him loose. "I'm not going to
elope!"
"Y..you're not?" Soun said, letting go of his daughter. "But
we heard you say--"
"What you heard was us practicing a scene for a school
play! As if I'd ever even think of eloping with this
pervert!"
"Hey!" Ranma shouted, his fearful expression replaced with
anger. "I ain't a pervert, you tomboy!"
"Tomboy?!"
Genma and Soun slowly backed away from the two, and left
the dojo before their children's shouting escalated to
their usual 'Akane bashes Ranma' phase.
Once they were outside, the two looked at each other.
"The bar?" Genma asked.
"I'll get our wallets." Soun replied dejectedly.
********************************
A few hours later found both martial arts masters sitting
at a local bar, working through their 6th bottle of
sake. Soun was pretty much out of it, he'd just drink a
little then sob about how the families would never be
joined.
Genma, on the other hand, was thinking. It would surprise
some people that Genma actually thought. The truth be known,
Mr. Saotome was a fairly intelligent man. He just had a
tendency to be what he called 'determined to succeed'
about certain things; teaching Ranma to be the best
martial artist in the world, having Ranma marry a Tendo
and join the families, making Ranma a 'man amongst men' so
he won't have to kill himself. The fact that what he defined
as 'determined to succeed' would qualify as 'obsessed to
the point of stupidity' by practically everyone else on the
planet was lost on him.
However, he did think and at this moment, he was thinking
about the incident in the dojo with Ranma and
Akane. Something wasn't right about it. There was
something missing and he couldn't quite remember what it
was. He took another drink and continued to ponder the
problem. A couple more drinks later, the answer rose up
through the dim haze of his sake-polluted mind.
"If they were practicing for a play," he asked
out loud. "How come that didn't have any script books
with them?"
He quickly finished his last drink, then tried to wake up
a now passed out Soun to tell him about his revelation. His
arm didn't get across the table before he joined him in
slumber.
***************************
"That was a good idea," Ranma said. "Do you think it
worked?"
"Yes, I'm sure it did," Akane replied, then playfully
added, "so pervert, what's our next move?"
Ranma smirked, then pulled out a map and laid it on the
dojo floor.
"Well tomboy, I think we should zigzag across Japan for a
bit to throw off anybody who tries to find us, then..."
The End
Afterthoughts:I have no idea where this came from. Two
days ago I got the idea for this then it seemed to haunt
me until I finished it. So, here it is.:) Enjoy!