Shattered Dreams
A Ranma 1/2 fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
Gary Kleppe;
And some guy named Steve
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma 1/2' and all characters
therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan,
Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been
produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on
without profit. Other characters that come into
play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled
from other sources (including other fanficts,
RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly
even *GASP* American comic books!).
FOREWORD: A Study in Possibilities...
(Voice over by Rod Sterling if I could afford him...)
In the endless sea of time, everything
happens. All possibilities, however improbable,
see reality sooner or later. The impossible also
happens, more often than one might think. Such is
the way of things, no matter what universe you
happen to be in.
Consider the case of Ranma Saotome, a martial
artist in most incarnations, often cursed (usually
by turning into a girl). In one set of temporal
possibilities, he is engaged to Akane Tendo, also
a martial artist in most incarnations, whose
relationship with her fianc� is more often stormy
than not because their parents are forcing the
issue. In a further subset, Ranma is devoted to
Akane, despite their voiced protests, through a
sense of honor and unrealized emotions. In many of
these, Ranma has had to move to save Akane's life,
sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, and neither
one can truly be said to even be aware of some of
these incidents as they happen. For these are the
little things, the ones that happen within a set
of larger circumstances that tend to draw attention
away from them.
For example: In one incident shortly after Ranma
had been engaged to Akane, Ranma was involved in
another fight, this time with a boy named Ryoga Hibiki.
It is their second fight since the two turned sixteen.
Depending on the timelines involved, the fight stays
on the grounds of Furinkan High School (as opposed to
ending up in a zoo). In most cases, the tempers of both
opponents flare. Ranma staying focused on Ryoga to the
point of not noticing becoming a girl, and Ryoga
focusing on Ranma-chan to the point of not caring about
bystanders. More often than not, Ranma tries to pause
the fight in order to get the bystanders (Akane in
particular) out of immediate danger.
In a further subset, Ranma-chan has taken Akane
out of the immediate combat zone, and the two have a
misunderstanding that threatens their engagement. Ryoga
attacks again, from behind, using a 'razor belt' strike
that (in this set) is deflected into the air by
Ranma-chan. In many sets, the belt returns, killing
Akane, Ranma-chan, or both. In a precious few, Akane
turns back just in time, responding to Ranma-chan's
attempts to apologize.
Sometimes, Ryoga stops pressing the attack at that
point, other times he pulls Ranma-chan back into the
fight over her protests. In this set, he has once again
attacked from behind as Ranma-chan's concern for Akane
had seriously distracted her...
CHAPTER ONE: A Crushing Blow
Ranma-chan looked in shock at what had just happened
to her now possibly ex-fianc�e. The belt that she had
kicked out of Ryoga's hands had spun up into the air and
had returned in an arc that had sliced of most of the
length of Akane's hair. An arc that, had Akane not turned
to yell at her when she did, would have cleanly cleaved
the girl from the nape of her neck to just below her navel.
Just the thought made Ranma-chan want to cry in terror
and grief over what had almost happened. She desperately
wanted to hug Akane, to hold her, to assure herself that
Akane was really okay, but fear held her back. She had done
it before, just before Akane had started storming away in
anger. In fact, it was her fault that Akane had inadvertently
put herself at risk to begin with, what with her having
denied ever really wanting to hold her fianc�e to begin
with. How could she have been so stupid, so callous? Akane
had just renounced their engagement.
'You don't have to explain. Because starting now...
You and I are STRANGERS!'
Did she really mean that? Ranma had to know, but not
just yet. What was more important was making sure that
Akane was all right. Nothing was more important than that.
Even that nagging little feeling of impending danger was
overridden by her concern for the girl who appeared to be
in shock. Surely even Ryoga would stop his assault now that
he had nearly killed an innocent bystander...
There was an audible sound, between a thump and a crack,
and Ranma-chan's world became pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
Ranma-chan could not help but to scream in agony from
the force of the blow that struck her back just below the
shoulder blades. Her whole body beneath that point suddenly
felt as if it had been sheathed in ice and wrapped in fire
at the same time. Her vision blurred as she dropped to her
knees, still screaming.
A second blow, this one to Ranma-chan's left shoulder
blade, drove the breath from her lungs as she lost all
feeling in her left arm. As she gurgled and tried to gasp
air back into her lungs again, a startlingly coherent
thought occurred to her. [So this is it. I'm going to die.
Ryoga, I thought we could be friends again, why are you
killing me?] The next strike, she knew, would be her last
experience in this life. She could sense it in slow motion,
approaching the back of her skull, and there was nothing
she could do about it at this point. [Akane, I'm so sorry...]
The third blow never landed...
Ryoga stared in shock at the hand that had caught his
fist. It belonged to that cute girl that his hated rival
had been teasing and arguing with. She had stopped a strike
that could have crushed a solid concrete block easily, as
if it had been nothing more than a baseball. He could feel
the bones in his hand grinding together in point to the
rage in her expression.
"Get away from my fiance, you monster!" SNAP went
Ryoga's elbow joint as the girl bent it severely in an
unnatural angle. "Leave him alone!" POP went his shoulder
as the girl yanked it out of its socket, dislocating it
nearly as badly as she had his elbow. "What did he ever
do to you to deserve this!? He thought you were his friend,
damn you!"
"Because of him," Ryoga gasped through his pain, absently
choosing to refer to Ranma's proper gender, "I've seen hell!"
This, apparently, had been the wrong thing to say, because
Ryoga cried out in pain as the girl jerked the arm further
out of joint in response to it.
"What hell!? Ranma waited three days for you to show up
for your stupid bread feud!" the girl shouted. "He thought
you were his friend when he first remembered who you were!
He tried to make amends when he thought that you were still
angry with him about the bread!" Ryoga felt the air being
forced from his lungs by the blow he had just received to
the gut. "Ranma is my fiance, damn you, and if he dies..."
Ryoga looked into the girl's tear streaked, furious eyes,
and knew fear. For these were eyes he had seen before. Eyes
that promised vengeance returned one thousand-fold. Eyes that
he saw whenever he looked at himself in a mirror. "So help
me, if he dies... I... will... KILL... you!" With that, the
girl delivered an uppercut to Ryoga's jaw powerful enough to
send him flying against the wall of one of the school
buildings, unconscious...
Akane fought through the dazed shock that she was
experiencing from nearly being beheaded (having received a
really bad haircut instead). Ranma-chan had saved her life by
deciding that Akane was more important than the fight with
Ryoga, and trying to apologize. Ranma-chan had stayed with
Akane after her hair had been chopped off, honest concern
being very evident in her expression. And Ryoga had taken
advantage of this greater distraction by once again attacking
Ranma-chan from behind, this time with a fist to her back.
The first, sickening blow had effectively removed
Ranma-chan from the fight as she screamed in primal agony.
The second blow reduced these screams to a helpless gurgle,
as it became difficult for her to breathe. The third blow never
landed, for Akane Tendo had joined the fight.
Ordinarily, Akane would stand no chance in a fight with
Ryoga; but then again, ordinarily she wouldn't stand a chance
in a fight with her fianc� either, and she had managed to defeat
Ranma once before. All she knew was that a monster was killing
her iinazuke, and she had to stop him. And stop him she did.
There is an inner strength in all of us that can be called
for in times of great need or duress. Fear can bring it forth,
as can anger and desperation. So can realization of the truth
of love just found, only to be cruelly snatched away by fate...
or a monster. A martial artist is supposed to be able to access
this strength through his or her ki. In Akane's case, it was a
combination of all these factors that gave her the strength to
stop Ryoga's third blow from landing.
It was with the ferocity of an angry tigress that she then
dislocated the arm that she had grabbed and then punched him
away from her fallen love. It was with despair that she gathered
Ranma-chan in her arms and begged. Begged for anyone to call a
doctor, an ambulance, anyone to save Ranma's fading life.
This was the man she lo... liked, never mind the fact that
he was cursed to turn into a girl. Never mind his course behavior
and poor social skills, for they weren't truly his fault. He was
her hero, her friend, and he had fallen while saving her life.
Akane could do no less...
Ranma-chan lay there as she tried to gasp more air into
her lungs. Akane had saved her life, stopping Ryoga like she
did. What Akane had said in her defense warmed her heart,
for all that it still beat madly in her chest. If it weren't
for the debilitating pain coursing through her body, the
neo-girl would be content in the knowledge that Akane really
did care for her.
Unfortunately for Ranma-chan, the damage to her body, as
localized as it was, seemed to be critical. While she didn't
think that her back was actually broken, seeing as how she
had collapsed to her knees rather than all the way to the
ground, fractures were a real possibility. Her entire lower
body felt as if she was being simultaneously burned and
frozen at both temperature extremes. Definitely not a good
sign, from what her rather limited medical knowledge told
her. Also, her left arm hung limply at her side, and unlike
her legs, she couldn't feel it at all.
Ranma-chan mentally berated herself for ignoring her
sense of impending danger. Ryoga could drop in and out of
his obsessive agression at odd times. She really should have
remembered that, but it had been such a long time. She blamed
herself for forgetting and letting her guard drop.
She was scared, really scared, that she was going to die
anyway, alone and in greater pain than she had ever felt
before. Her breathing was ragged and forced, she was trembling
all over (except for the horrible lack of sensation from where
she knew her left arm to be), and she had a hard time focusing
her vision on anything for very long. [So cold... so very
cold... so hot. I'm on fire... I have to be... I'm freezing
to death... I don't want to die... not like this...]
A vision filled her eyes. That of a beautiful angel, or
rather Akane, which was good enough for her. She didn't want
to die alone. She was grateful that Akane had come back to
see her on her way...
"Akane," Ranma-chan gasped weekly as she felt herself
being gathered into her fianc�e's embrace. It felt good to
be there, despite her unabated agony. It felt... right.
"Akane... I..."
"Hush, Ranma," Akane comforted her fallen hero. "Ryoga
won't hurt you any more."
"Akane..." the neo-girl choked as her gaze lost focus
once again. "Akane..."
"I'm here, Ranma, everything is going to be all right."
"I... hurt, Akane..."
"Somebody call a doctor! Ranma's hurt!" Akane shouted at
the gathering crowd. To her irritation, most of them just
stood there in shock over what they had just witnessed.
"I... don't... want... to die... Akane..." Ranma-chan
wheezed out past her ragged breath. "I... don't want... there
to be... bad feelings... between us..."
"Don't talk like this, Ranma," Akane pleaded. "You're not
going to die!"
"I just... just wanted... to be your... friend...
Akane..."
"I think I like you too, you jerk," Akane responded
gently, tears in her eyes. "Please don't die on me!"
"I... just wanted... to say that... before I go..."
"SOMEBODY CALL A HOSPITAL NOW, DAMN IT!" Akane shouted at
the crowd once again. "I am NOT going to lose my fiance like
this!" She broke down in tears as she continued to plead.
"Someone... anyone >sob< call a doctor, a paramedic, anyone!
>Sob< I don't want to lose Ranma! Not like this! Not ever,
but definitely not like this!"
While some continued to stare at Akane and the girl she
called Ranma, others ran off to do as she requested, hoping
that they would be in time...
Ryoga came to his senses in a sea of pain. A girl had
stopped him from killing his hated rival by dislocating his
right arm severely and knocking him away from the fight. He
could feel the bruises beginning to form on his stomach and
jaw, where she had hit him harder than anyone ever had
before. Now the girl was sobbing over his fallen foe,
calling out for help for her iinazuke, never mind that Ranma
was a girl at the moment.
For the first time in a long while, Ryoga was ashamed...
of himself and his own actions.
Ryoga slowly rose to his feet and staggered away,
painfully popping the joints of his arm back into place. He
had nearly killed a girl... no, a boy... who had thought that
they had been friends and could be again. Damn it! Ranma had
been a friend of sorts, before the bread-feud had gone on too
long. He had been the only boy willing to spar with him, even
with his greater strength. And while Ranma had made fun of his
lack of a direction sense, he had never been as malicious about
it as the other kids had been.
And Ryoga had nearly killed her... er, him. He had been about
to strike the final blow when, thank all the kami, the girl had
stopped him cold. [What kind of monster have I become?] he thought
to himself. [Is my curse truly so bad that I felt justified in
murdering my friend? Even if it is his fault that I became cursed,
that's no excuse! What have I allowed myself to become?]
With tears freely flowing from his eyes, Ryoga staggered away
from the scene of the fight... straight into the spray of the
broken water fountain.
Nabiki wandered around slightly dazed in shock at what she had
just witnessed. She had thought it fun to pick on the mostly
ignorant cursed boy who had come into the lives of the Tendo
family. She had initially started out of a sense of revenge for
him not to have been the fianc� she had so desperately wanted him
to be. She had continued to pick on him because he had turned out
to be such an easy mark, not unlike her younger sister, and she
felt even less guilt than she would have had he actually been a
family member.
What she had just witnessed though...
Ryoga Hibiki had been a case of vengeance taken out of
proportion. None of what Ranma had told them could excuse the
obviously deadly intent the lost boy had just shown in this
fight. The safety of bystanders did not matter to him, in stark
contrast to Ranma. Nor did he care who was around to witness his
questionably honorable tactics.
He might even be inclined to eliminate those very same
witnesses. At the very least, he may decide to take vengeance
out on Akane, who had hurt him more than Ranma had.
Nabiki was afraid. Not only for her own safety, but for that
of Akane as well. A singular lack of interest had caused Nabiki
to stop training after their mother had died. Training in the
family School of Anything Goes Martial Arts had been an unnecessary
and painful reminder of her life before that tragedy. Now it had
just become all too necessary by far.
Tonight, she would ask her father to pick up her training
again. Akane had just fought Ryoga and won, but Nabiki held no
illusions as to what would have happened if the lost boy had not
been in shock about having been stopped in the first place. After
all, Akane had nearly died from a random attack of the lost-boy's,
and he had shown no hesitation afterwards. Either he was too
obsessed, didn't care, or was just plain stupid. In any event,
she couldn't take the chance that it was more innocent than it
appeared.
Nabiki absently picked of a somewhat damp little black pig
wearing a yellow and black bandanna that had bumped into her leg.
She would have to find the owner later, but right now she just
wanted something... anything... to help comfort her during the
dark times she saw ahead.
Nabiki raised her head at the sound of sirens. An ambulance
had arrived to pick up Ranma, and police were arriving as well.
One of the officers was getting a brief statement from Akane, but
it was obvious that she wanted to go with her fianc�e. Nabiki
wandered over to give her own statement, glad that she hadn't gone
ahead with the idea to bookie a bet for the fight. Not that she
had been given enough advanced warning about it to do so, but it
would have been the next big step for her and her compatriots.
A step that Nabiki could no longer afford to take if she wanted
to get involved with the authorities. The law could be a powerful
ally, and enforcers of the law were handily available. The law
tended to like truth and justice, as opposed to lies and cruelty.
Duty... Honor... Purpose...
A martial artist had these things...
So did an officer of the law...
Maybe it was time to pick a new direction in life. Nabiki
Tendo pondered this turn of events, seeing a branch ahead of her
in the future. Had she found her calling?
She would have to look into this new possibility, and think
hard and long about her future...
END CHAPTER ONE.
A WORD FROM TANGENT: Once again, I am writing a story similar
to others that I have found on the net. Not only that, I am
writing one that is pretty much a counter balance to 'Pieces on
the Board', a fan-fic that I wrote that has a similar theme but
takes place around the other end of the Ranma series.
What can I say? I'm Tangent, and exploring possibilities is
what I do. I don't always treat any particular character well,
nor do I always put any particular character in a bad light
(although it's awfully hard not to do so with some of them,
like Genma...). I do usually try to treat them with dignity,
whether I cast them as good or bad, but I keep my eyes and my
heart open to possibilities that present themselves.
In 'Pieces on the Board', it was an automotive accident that
initiated the story of trial and renewal. In 'Shattered Dreams'
it is a spur of the moment decision on the part of one of the
cast that causes the tragedy. A tragedy that changes many lives
forever, not the least of which is his own... and that of his victim.
C&C Welcome.
Flames will be used to roast marshmallows.
Tangent
tangent@zbzoom.net