Akane
by Kirinin
Nine
“Any idea why she's staring at me?" Sayuri wanted to know. Akane blushed and turned to face front, her eyes trained on the board, focusing on the algebra with burning cheeks. Hiroshi shrugged. Akane's behavior had been strange all day. Sayuri had told him she'd been especially odd during gym class. ‘It's like she got embarrassed all of a sudden. She went into the bathroom to change.’ Akane wrote furiously, ignoring both of her friends in favor of her black-and-white notebook. After class, the two of them cornered her. "What's going on, Akane?" Sayuri demanded, hands on hips. "Yeah, 'Kane, give it up," Hiro told her with his patented half-smile. "Something's going on, and you promised to tell." "I what?" Akane exclaimed indignantly. "I never did!" "Yeah you did. If it has to do with Ranma, you promised me just last night you'd tell me stuff no matter how weird it seemed." Akane frowned at him, and opened her mouth to retort, but her protests died on her lips. "Alright," she said, bowing her head in acceptance. "But after school, okay? I don't think I could stand saying this in class, where just anybody could hear." Sayuri and Hiroshi exchanged a meaningful glance. Akane wished they'd stop doing that; it was like she wasn't there. "Okay," Sayuri replied, and Hiroshi nodded.That day at the ice cream parlor, Akane fiddled with her parfait, swirling its contents around lazily. "It's really weird. Sayuri, Hiroshi, you have to promise, on your honor, that you won't tell a soul about this." The two of them nodded. "Of course, Akane." "Well... okay." Akane took a deep breath. "Do either of you know if Ranma and I were... uhm, dating?" Akane had her eyes closed. She didn't want to see their looks of disgust. "Hey, you remembered that?" Sayuri wanted to know. Her voice was excited. Akane opened one eye. "Yeah, actually I guess you could say that the two of you were together," Hiroshi added casually. Akane stare at them both, totally incredulous. "Are you serious? And you two say it just like that?" Sayuri shrugged. "You two seemed against it, but your fathers really pushed you together. Still, no matter how hard you fought, you also seemed to like each other." Akane felt her jaw drop. "Our fathers?" she cried. "B-but—" Hiroshi nodded resolutely to himself. "I think its time we showed you something," Hiroshi said. He stood, leaving his parfait. "C'mon, Sayuri." Sayuri frowned at him, but rose as well, even though her ice cream was only half-finished. She didn't appear to know what Hiroshi was talking about, but as they walked, her expression grew grimmer. "Are you sure? Don't you think we should ask Nabiki first?" "I think she's ready. Besides, if she doesn't see this, she's going to think we meant to lie to her—" Akane, who was trotting along behind them, started at this. "Lie to me? Hiroshi, Sayuri, what do you mean? About what?" Hiroshi stopped. "Here we are." Akane looked up at the gates beside the three of them, and shivered. "The graveyard?" To their left stood the giant iron gates to the Kamitenchi Graveyard, sprawling over the north part of Nerima. Akane shivered again. "Ranma's here?" she wondered quietly. Hiroshi gulped, and nodded. "Was I..." Akane began, searching for words. "Was I there for her funeral?" The two teenagers shook their heads. "Like I said," Sayuri repeated sadly, "for the first week you were pretty shaken up." Akane snorted. "That's a nice way of putting it." She turned to her friends, who were staring at her with that look in their eyes. That look that said they were ever so sorry for her. "C'mon, let's get this over with," Akane demanded. "Let's go see whatever it is you want me to see." The three teenagers trailed into the graveyard and walked for a couple of tense, silent moments until they arrived at a gravesite with a great deal of flowers around it.
~Saotome Ranma~ (1981-1998) ~Beloved Son~ ~Beloved Fiancé~ ~the best martial artist in all the world~
Akane stared. "A boy? Ranma was a boy?! But... but, the pictures..." Hiroshi shrugged at her. "It's such an outrageous story that nobody figured you'd believe it. You'll probably still think Sayuri and I are pulling your leg until you go confirm it with your family." "I... nobody said Ranma was a girl at first, I just assumed. I mean, why would a boy be staying with my sisters and I? That's so—" Akane turned white as a sheet. "Unless..." Sayuri nodded at her. "That's right. Your fathers matched the two of you, and he came to live with your family. You were his fiancée." Akane sat down heavily on the grass as everyone's words came back to her. ‘You fought like family, but you always stood up for each other...’ Gods. That's why she wanted to kiss Ranma. And that's why I felt like I was betraying something when I thought I was going to kiss Hiro! I was being unfaithful... to my fiancé! Who's... who's dead. Suddenly, it was like Ranma's death hit her all over again. There was a boy who she'd known and almost certainly loved, and she couldn't even remember who he was. It was terrible, unthinkable. She roused herself enough to ask one more question. "But then... who's the girl?" Hiroshi and Sayuri looked pained. "That, you're going to have some trouble with."
I refuse to believe it. I refuse. "I'm serious, Akane," Nabiki was saying. "Look at them. Don't they look the same?" She was holding a picture of a redheaded girl in one hand, and a picture of a dark-haired boy in the other. Akane grimaced. "So do you and I, oneechan, but I don't turn into you with hot water." She examined the picture of the boy minutely. They looked almost exactly the same. One was red-headed, and a girl. No. Way. No! No way! Nabiki sighed, viewing the expression on her younger sister’s face with resignation. "Oh, alright. I'll get the home video. You can see the change for yourself." She rose and walked from the room. Kasumi drifted into the room and sat on the couch silently. Soun appeared from outside, and sat down on the couch, too. Akane had the strange feeling that they had a longing to this other time, a longing for something she could no longer remember being a part of. Nabiki returned with the tape and placed it in the VCR. For a moment, there was nothing. Then... "Merry Christmas!" the voices cried. Sitting at the table was a young man, with a somewhat sheepish and confused expression. It looked right, on his face, as though he was used to being both sheepish and confused. That strange, bald, bespectacled man was sitting next to him, and Akane realized that they had to be related somehow. Then, she walked onto the screen. "Merry Christmas, Ranma," she said, strain in her voice. Akane stared, her eyes glued to the screen. This video was not jogging any memories, which made everything doubly strange. It was as though some strange doppleganger of herself had participated in these things rather than she herself. "Thanks, 'Kane," he replied. Akane blinked. He said her name just like Hiroshi did; Hiro must've picked it up from him. "I made you something," the television Akane informed him hopefully. Akane frowned. Made him something? Could... could I have gotten better at knitting, or... perhaps cooking? Or maybe— Ranma opened up a... something. A... scarf? It was practically unrecognizable, if it was a scarf. "Uh... thanks." "Ranma, show some more respect to your fiancée!" the bald man demanded. "What, old man? I said thanks, didn't I? What am I supposed to say? I don't even know what it is!" Akane's gaze smoldered. "It's a scarf, of course! Ranma no baka! And after I worked so hard on it..." Ranma paused, looking a little guilty. "I shouldn't a' said that," he murmured under his breath. His face etched with remorse, he swung his large gray eyes Akane's way. "I got you something, too," he said, handing her a gift. Akane leaned towards Ranma. Akane leaned towards the screen. "It's... a cookbook?" The Akane on-screen looked puzzled. "Yeah, I figured you needed to improve your cookin' and all." This, apparently, was the last straw. "RANMA NO BAKA!" A ki mallet appeared in Akane's waiting grip and sent Ranma sailing through the air and into the koi pond near the dojo. Akane examine the tape. There was no static, no blinks, nothing to indicate the tape had been cut and pasted back together. And yet a redhead was emerging from the pond. "Aw, 'Kane, you know that won't make your cooking any better." Akane growled. "Come here and take your beating! I'm gonna get you Ranma!" The two chased each other around in a scene that bordered on comic. Nabiki hit stop, and Akane was thrown back into her own place and time. She felt numb, disbelieving, and yet somehow that scene had seemed normal to her. Normal but painful. Normal? And what does that make me? Soun was wailing. "Ohhh, for those days again...!" Akane blinked at him. "What are you talking about? We obviously hated one another!" Kasumi frowned at her little sister as much as it was possible for her to do so. "You and Ranma were deeply in love, Akane." "Even with the curse?" Nabiki looked back and forth between her sisters. "I wouldn't say madly in love, Akane, but you two certainly were devoted to one another. No matter what it looks like, when one of you got into trouble, the other would leap to defend. Sort of like brother and sister I guess, but you two also had your more romantic moments. And he obviously liked you a great deal, or he never would have agreed to take you to China with him." "China?" Something seemed very special about that place, as though the entire country was... magical? "Did Ranma get his curse there?" Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun all turned to her and stared. Akane felt as though she'd been pinned to the floor by their gazes. "Yeah, Ranma got it there, in China, in a magical spring. I guess there's some stuff that you really do remember, huh, sis?" Nabiki grinned at her, her smile strained. Akane shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess. Listen, I have a lot of thinking to do. I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?" "That's fine," Kasumi replied. "Just be back before it gets too late, okay?" "All right, oneechan," Akane replied. "Don't worry about it." "I'm going upstairs to work," Nabiki told her family. Akane slipped out the door and began to walk down the street, her hands thrust into her pockets. The night was crisp and cool, and there was a nice wet breeze coming in from the south. It carried the promise of rain. "Excuse me, sir?" Akane turned. "I'm sorry - miss. Could you please tell me if this is Nagasaki?" "No, this is Tokyo." Quiet cursing could be heard. The dark figure in the street shook his head and turned to go. "Ryoga?" Akane took one step after him. "Don't you want to talk to me at least a little?" The figure froze. "Akane?" "I'm sorry; it's awfully dark. But yes, it's me." Akane jumped as Ryoga's hand swung around. For one terrifying moment she swore he was about to hit her; she remembered Ryoga's strength and knew that if he so much as backhanded her, she would be in deep trouble. Instead, he had grabbed the collar of her shirt and lifted easily, until her feet were a foot off the ground. His expression was truly murderous, and Akane blanched at the sight of his fangs. "Don't you dare," he hissed, his face inches from hers. "Don't you dare. You and I both know what you've done, so for God's sake let's not pretend." Akane blinked back tears. "R-Ryoga?" she whispered. A strange alteration came over his features and he let her go. She fell to the ground, her hands out behind her to support her as she landed. "Just get the hell away from me," Ryoga said, his voice completely and utterly devoid of all emotion. "Just please stay away." And then he was gone, like an apparition, off into the night. Gone like he'd never been. Akane briefly entertained the idea that she was going insane, but her bruises from the fall were all too real. A strange feeling settled over her. I did it, she thought dizzily. Ryoga has a crush on me. He'd only hate me so suddenly if I... If he thought I did it. I haven't done anything! Sure I argued with Ranma, but even Nabiki says we were in love. I... I would never really hurt somebody I loved. Would I?
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