[FFML] [fanfic][ranma][violence] Tokens Chapter 1

Note: Still looking for C&C or comments. Thank you.

Chapter 1

When Ranma and Akane were seven years old, Akane was sent to visit her betrothed in Jiya. Queen Kurumi consulted with her wise women and they told her it was necessary.

�Don�t be afraid, my darling,� said the Queen as she knelt and kissed her daughter goodbye. �Remember that you are a lioness of the desert. Nothing will harm you.�

�She is just a little cub, still,� laughed her guardian, Qiyar Al-Nasrullah, a warrior himself. He was Akane�s uncle, a giant and dusty warrior, who had always seemed to loom over little Akane.

Al-Nasrullah had come back from the war on the lower hills only to escort the little princess. Although Jin and Jiya were wary allies, and had with Cantos and the smaller kingdoms continued to war with the Arun over the seven years, there seemed no sign that their attack would lessen. The armies still fought to keep the hordes back.

Akane reached Jiya in the presence of her uncle and a regiment of soldiers. Kurumi had heard tales of Genma.

The whole court had turned up to meet her. Here was one of their princesses, returned from a foreign land. They were surprised at her beauty, her large, dark eyes and soft, silky black hair. Her sisters� hair was brown. Akane had roses in her cheeks and she was a sturdy child dressed in the flowing desert caftan of Jin.

Genma and Ranma were away in training, which everyone considered a blessing. Nodoka gathered her child into her arms and held her close. Her sisters stared at her. Kasumi and Nabiki had grown into pretty young princesses, but their glances constantly assessed the need for flight, and they hid behind their mother and her handmaidens

A few days later, the King and his foster son returned and Akane met her fianc�e for the first time. They considered each other. Genma turned cold eyes on her.

�I won�t have her presence corrupting him,� he said. �She will see him at dinners and that�s all the contact necessary.� And none would gainsay him.

Akane watched Ranma when she saw him in the halls or hallways. She knew that he was the real son of her foster parents and that he was a prisoner of war, as she was. But whereas Soun and Kurumi lavished her with love, she could see that it was not the same for Ranma.

Genma believed strongly that only harshness and vicious, intense training would create Ranma into the invincible warlord Genma wanted as his successor. He showed Ranma no love. He was merciless by nature.

The prince walked around the palace with a proud, angry set of his shoulders. His easy arrogance and chilling blue glance did not invite closeness or confidence. The guards posted over him after his first attempt to escape followed him deferentially.

Akane followed them once out of curiosity. The prince and his guards went down a deep, spiraling staircase down to where Akane imagined the dungeons must be. There, the guards opened an iron door and ushered the prince in. The door clanged shut on him.

Akane walked forward. Was this where he lived? One of the guards saw her and stared.

�Open the door. I�d like to meet him,� she said.

The guard shook his head. �I don�t think that�s a good idea, Highness. I�m sure His Majesty would not��

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The guard shoved Akane into an empty room. �Stay there till I come get you.�

Akane heard a voice. It was Jso, Genma�s lover. He strode past the guards and pulled open the door. He disappeared inside.

Akane heard the clink of chains and then some kind of sound, staccato and rhythmic. She strained her ears, but she could hear nothing more. Heeding the guard, she waited and waited. The open door blocked her view.

She heard Jso come out and scream at the guards, �Who has been drugging him? When I find out I�ll have your ears!� The guards murmured some reply, and then silence.

Finally, she crawled out of the room. She could hear Jso�s steps receding up the stairs, and she turned and walked quietly into the room.

Ranma hung from manacles, his tunic shredded from repeated blows. His guard was taking him down and she could see his bloodied back.

His trousers hung around his ankles.

His head hung to his chest, but some sound she made caused him to glance up, unseeing, and Akane nearly stepped back from the rage glowing in his cobalt eyes.

Later, she was summoned to him by the guard. She found him sitting on his bed, bandages wrapped around his pale child�s torso.

He smiled icily when he saw her.

�Akane Tendo, my fianc�e.� He studied her. �They say if you had been a boy that I would have been spared this hell.�

Akane flushed. She stared at him.

�I would take your place if I could,� she said defiantly.

�You?� Ranma began to laugh, and he laughed until he coughed. �You are just a girl. You are weak, and your body would never be able to live and take the kind of punishment that mine does, daily.�

Akane clenched her hands. �Girls can be strong, too!�

�Come here, Akane,� Ranma said. She hesitated. Ranma stood up, and went to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her. Then he leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.

He made a soft sound. �I wondered what it would be like to be touched by a female for a change.� Akane didn�t understand his words or his meaning. His guards escorted her back to her rooms.

Akane only saw him once again before she left. It was an early afternoon and she had gone down to the training field in hopes of practicing her own kenpo. As she neared it, she heard peculiar sounds coming from the field. She heard screaming. But there was another sound. It sounded like�

�Cats. The yowling of hundreds of cats. She ran up against the fence and peered through the slats. She could see the edges of a pit, and Genma was perched at the lip, peering down into the darkness. It was from there that the screaming and the yowling came.

Even then Akane did not quite understand immediately. Then Genma began to pull on the rope he was holding, and as the coils of rope on the ground began to grow, Akane was seized by a horrible idea. It was a child�s certainty that held her, the part of her mind that told her that that there WAS a monster under the curtains of her bed, a certainty with no reason or need for one.

She knew before she saw Ranma�s head appear, before she saw his body emerge from the pit and he collapsed on the ground, still screaming, covered with bites and scratches. Genma held him down easily.

Akane began to scream herself. She thought her screams must come in sympathy to Ranma�s own. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she gripped the slats tightly. Genma looked up.

Hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away. She was lifted and carried, still crying, over the huge shoulder of her uncle. He began to jog away from the field.

�No, uncle, go back! Go back!�

�Hush, little cub,� said Al-Nasrullah in an oddly subdued voice, his strides lengthening. �When you are full grown I will allow you to return for that monster, but until then I will see to you.�

And Akane was too out of breath from her tears and being jolted to reply. She hung like a small, damp rag on Al-Nasrullah�s back. They left for Jin that very night.

�I�ll grow strong, Ranma. I will!� Akane vowed in her small palanquin, staring back at the city of Jiya. �And then I�ll come back and save you!�

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