--- TT ---
'This Sky This Dream.' by Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana.
Chapter One: Sapphire; the end of winter's beautiful blues.
Standard disclaimer applies to all pre existing characters, the poem is mine though. Megumi Hayashibara and other voice actors/actresses mentioned are people in their own right and I do not, in any way, own any of them. They name are used here without consent but for non-monetary purposes.
Title is a quote from the opening theme for season 3.
Note that the irregular and seemingly incorrect usage of commas and colons are intentional. They are done specifically to convey specific meanings (i.e. to understand, pause at every comma when reading like you should!) please do not regard them as grammatical mistake.
--- TT ---
Glance to the North, for spring comes.
Like a colorful melodious duet it dances, flitted across the barren land.
And you, my sweet innocent Dandelion, shall feel its gentle graces.
And you, my sweet innocent Dandelion, shall be lifted amongst the cerulean sea.
And you, my sweet young Dandelion, you shall fly.
But so cold, the wheel turns.
Ever so slowly, the sky shifts, under what is nothing but words,
words that are left unspoken. If it is forever then… let it hold its peace.
For today there are, no words left unshared that were meant to be imparted,
no thought unvoiced that should have been heard.
And so, ever so slowly, the wheel will turn,
for God had forsaken us for other unworldly duties.
But take heart, my sweet Dandelion. For all is not lost.
You still have your dreams.
And in those dream you have ambition.
Of all those that are glorious there's but one destiny;
to be bound inside a nutshell and suffer bad dreams.
But times will come, my sweet Dandelion, when you must wake.
For all that has a beginning, has an end.
In the meantime fly! Fly, my ambitious Dandelion,
ride that bittersweet taste of freedom as long as it lasts...
…as long as it lasts...
For when you come down you shall know, once more,
of what has been so obscure before.
That ground is hard and you, my Dandelion, you cannot fly.
The Flight of the Dandelion, by Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana
--- TT ---
Sleep and peace seem to have a way of intertwining with one another. One cannot know true peace without sleep. And sleep, it seems, comes unbidden when one is at peace. Such, is nature of most mankind.
Most, being the practical word here.
The reason being that for some, sleep and peace themselves seems mutually elusive enough. And for them to even think of such rare fortune of experiencing both phenomena at the same time would seem foolish; not so different from lusting after the proverbial pot of gold at the end of rainbow really.
And such, is the nature of one Saotome Ranma, a boy who appeared to have been blessed to live in an interesting time. To exist as a play-toy of some obscure mischievous god, even if he did manage to defeat one. To be the object of desire of several attractive women while he himself is one at certain points in time. To be a heroic rescuer of maidens and slayer of demonic beasts who reaps no reward for his fearless efforts.
Yes, he must be truly blessed to live such an eventful life. Though if you ask him he would say he has been cursed.
But I digress, the point is, or rather, was that; there's freedom in dreams. Because only in dream do you truly have a choice.
--- TT ---
The soft echoing sounds of footsteps follow. Wherever she goes, wherever he goes. No matter how fast she runs, no matter how fast he runs; it always follows. Just one step slower at the last corner or behind the closed door or in her shadow, always hidden but always follows.
Always follows.
"Who are you?" The girl, the boy, yelled at the phantom, and with all certainty, it was a phantom, daring it to confront her, him. But her words, his words, were not ones of bravery but cowardice. Because she is, he is, afraid of what she, or he, cannot see but if her, or his, damnable pursuer would appear then she, or is it he, could deal with it.
"What do you want?" She, or is it he, shouted at the door she had walked through not a moment ago, wishing it would open. Wishing it would remain close. "What do you want?"
"What do you want?" came a quiet reply.
She, it was definitely a she now, as HE would never be THIS afraid, spun around. Her bright red hair, lacking the ever-present Dragon's whisker, fluttered into a radiant halo as she turned to face the origin of the reply.
"…What do you want? ...What do you want?" The increasing softer echoes resounded across the dark hall the girl was in.
Hall, the girl thought, looking around in desperation as she lost her bearings. What happened to the corridor she was in moments ago? What is this place? Where is she?
"Are you afraid?" Came a voice, this time not of her making.
"Of course not!" The girl scoffed as she leaned back into a defensive stance, preparing for the anticipated- the imminent battle.
"... you are," the voice commented in a monotone voice that was devoid of any emotion. "How, utterly, disappointing… I was expecting so, much, more."
"I'm not afraid!" the girl bellowed indignantly but her heart wasn't in it. She was well and truly petrified by now.
"You are not?" the voice said with no small amount of sarcasm. "Yet your pulse quickens, your pupils dilate and your dainty hands shake. What interesting reactions. Are you then, perhaps, sexually aroused? After all, that would account for all of your symptoms. Are you, perhaps, turned on by the fact that some mysterious stalker might physically bend you to his will and use your body for his carnal pleasure?
The girl stiffened, she had not thought of that. What if that was her intention from the beginning?
Wait, HER? Where did that come from? Wasn't it just, well, an IT a moment before? What had made her decide that her stalker was female? Wait, stalker? Wasn't she just a pursuer a moment before? What does it mean? What does it mean?
What does it mean?!?
"It means, my dear Girl," the voice that was now clearly feminine said, this time almost mockingly, tauntingly, "that you knew exactly who I am."
"No! It can't be," The red haired girl gasped loudly as she backed away, having dropped her arms as all martial knowledge escaped her leaving behind a terrified young girl. "You're not real."
"On the contrary, my dear Ranma-chan, I am very real," The voice disputed, stepping out from the shadow which silhouetted before. The girl who, apart from jet-black hair, was almost an exact replica of the red head pointed at Ranma and continued. "You, on the other hand, are only figment of a writer's imagination; a character in pages of a comic book."
"You're lying," The martial artist, or was that imaginary martial artist, protested weakly as she kept backing away, her gazed fixed at the floor.
"I'm not. I'm not because I can't," Ranma's raven-haired counterpart said quietly. "Oh god, how I wish I could, how I PRAY I could. But I can't, you know I can't." She walked forward, placed a finger under the cringing girl's chin and lifted her face up so she can look into her eyes.
"No one can lie to themselves Ranma, not forever."
"No no no no no," The red haired girl shook her head and muttered in denial. This is just a bad dream. It has to be. Her companion, her stalker, her phantom, sighed loudly, as if she was reading her mind. She walked forward and grabbed the shorter girl by her lapel, hoisting her up almost effortlessly.
"Then wake up."
--- TT ---
"Wake up!"
It was wet. A simple, familiar, yet both pleasant and unpleasant sensation all rolled into one. Then it spreads, ever so slowly it crept, across the hand, up the arm around the shoulder and finished as a soft tingle in the spine.
Saotome Ranma, now a girl, blinked once before dodging an in coming foot that blocked her field of vision not a moment earlier. She shook herself slightly as she dodged the follow up punches and kicks from her opponent. He was middle-aged, ugly and somewhat overweighed.
'Middle-aged, ugly and overweighed?' she thought. Confusion turned to relief and mild irritation as gears began to turn in her head.
"Why did ya do that Pop? I was having a good dream!" The young martial artist yelled as she hit her old man with her own flurry of blows. It was a lie, though; she wasn't having a good dream at all. In fact it was more of a nightmare, the same one she's been having for weeks.
"You're getting too soft Boy. Sleeping for more than day break is for weak little girls," Genma yelled right back as he parried her blows with some difficulty. 'Hm, the boy is getting much faster now, especially in his female form.' The bald man noted as a blow slipped through his defense and tagged him on a shoulder. He retaliated with a powerful round house kick that force the girl to jump back.
Ranma curled into a ball in mid-air and flew out the window into the back yard where she landed beside the koi pond. She slipped into a loose stance and waited for her father to attack. When he did, she simply threw him into the cold water beside her. In truth she could have fought him like she does Ryoga; trading meaningless blows to develop each other skill and reflexes but her heart wasn't in it today.
"That was a cheap shot!" The emerging panda shook his sign at her angrily.
"Whatever Pop, I'm going to take a bath," She said indifferently as she walked onto the veranda. A part of her still thanked him for waking her up and unwittingly rescued her from a nightmare, and for that she didn't really want to hurt him.
"What's with you?" said the new sign. "Is it that time of the month again?"
'On the other hand,' Ranma thought as she turned around, cracking her knuckles as she did so. 'Toughening him up for future battles would be perfectly suitable expression gratitude.'
And the battle was joined anew.
-A while later-
"Ranma-chan! Uncle!" a voice that the pseudo-girl recognized as Kasumi's called out to them. "Breakfast is ready!"
"I'll be right there Kasumi!" the red head shouted her reply. She spared the crumpled, bruised and beaten form of her father one last glance before walking into the house. Just as she walked through the sliding door, she heard a familiar incessant tapping of a curtain Tendo sister.
"Tsk Tsk Tsk. Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. How many times to I have to tell you, I'm not a morning person?" A very irritated Nabiki rebuked the buxom young martial artist. "Pay the four thousand yen you own me now and I'll forget about it." she said, holding out her hand expectantly at her.
Ranma was about to argue that it was Genma's fault but the words died in her mouth. For some reason it was important for her that she kept to her normal routine today. As if something was coming, something big. Something that she knew, subconsciously, will challenge her view of the world and change everything. It was as if this deeper sense of understanding was telling her to go about her day per normal, to act as if nothing has changed so that she may commemorate each and everyone in her life to memory.
As if she was saying goodbye to them one last time.
"Well?" the older girl pressed impatiently, torn between stripping her favorite victim of some cash and getting her daily fix of caffeine.
Ranma shook herself out of her reverie and handed her one-day sister-in-law her money, grumbling as she did so. Well, faking grumbling as she did so. The brown haired girl blinked once before taking the money and walked away. She hadn't expected it to be quite so easy. A part of her was glad at the lack of hassle but a smaller part, the older sister persona, could not help but worry for him. It was not like him give in without a fight, even if any effort would have been futile. She stopped just as she reached the door to the kitchen, her nagging conscience finally got to her.
"Ranma…" Nabiki paused, not sure how to address the topic. "…are you okay?"
The said girl paused. 'How did she know?' the thought reverberated through her head. She turned around slowly as if her hands were caught in the proverbial cookie jar. A momentary awkward silence occurred when her soft blue eyes met the other girl's brown orbs.
"Of course I am," Ranma answered brightly, her voice filled with false confidence and phony bravado, which the mercenary girl saw right through.
"Then why are you idling in the hallway, Saotome? If you make me wait for my bath, I swear you will regret it," the ice queen said vehemently, hoping to god that her poisonous tone would hide her true emotions. She watched him (who was presently her) as she paced away quickly and sighed. She knew whatever was troubling him, it was big and he would not, and cannot share it with her. She sighed once again; sometime she wanted nothing more than to be there for him, to tell him that he can trust her when it really matters, that she would not betray him when he needed her the most.
"Ranma…" she whispered. "… sometime I wish that you could see the truth."
"Sister…" Akane uttered from behind her, apparently heard everything.
"I know… but it really hurt sometimes," Nabiki said turning around, sighing softly as she did so. "At least it's almost over."
"Yes…today is THE day," The younger girl commented in the same low pitch and emotionless voice her sister often used.
Nabiki eyes widen in shock. "Today?!? But I have no idea..." she gasped, holding her hand over her mouth in case she could refrain herself from shouting. Her eyes narrowed as a thought came to her. "Why wasn't I informed? Why didn't I know in the first place?"
Akane sighed; she knew it wasn't going to be pleasant, explaining this to her sister that is. "You KNOW why, you were too close to HIM. We know what you would've done if we told you. Heck, YOU know what you would've done."
Nabiki clenched her right fist hard enough for her knuckles to turn white. "I would've retrained myself. You don't have the right to keep that information from me, especially when you know how much I care about him," She snarled at her sister, gritting her teeth in fury.
A lesser individual would've run away when confronted with such aura of rage, but not Akane, she just wasn't that kind of person. "Don't give me that crap about self-control Nabiki, out of all of us that's the one thing you have the least of. Beside, what would you've done with the information? Jump his bone one last time before it's all over?" The brown haired girl said with a sneer.
Slap!
Akane stared dazedly up at her older sister as she rubbed her reddening cheek. That slap had hurt! She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Nabiki screamed at the fallen girl, tears streaming down her face. "How dare you…" she repeated, softer this time, almost under her breath. The girl gave her younger sister one last withering look before turning around and walked away.
"Have you forgotten why you're here, 'Sister'?" Akane asked rhetorically, not lifting her eyes off the wooden floor. "You know that this day was coming. You know there's nothing you can do."
"So? Do you know how much it hurt to have it sprung on me like this? I love him, damn it. Doesn't mean anything to you?"
"Today is inevitable, Sis. Knowing it would've hurt you more."
"DON"T YOU DARE SAY IT WAS FOR MY OWN GOOD!" Nabiki shrieked before continuing in a much softer tone. "You have no idea what he means to me."
Akane apparently had enough; she jumped up and crossed the space between herself and her older sister in frightening speed. "Oh for Christ's sake! Open your eyes Nabiki, he doesn't exist. He's not real!" The young girl said, shaking Nabiki's shoulders with her hands.
"He's as real as we are!" Nabiki retorted angrily, she wasn't ready to back down, not over this. Some how, this fire of determination must have made itself known to the younger girl because nothing more was said between the two. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Akane released her sister and brushed past her. When she reached the stairs, she paused and turned around slowly.
"Please Nabiki, finish what you're here for. You know what to do. It's not that complicated so please; just do your part okay?" Akane said tiredly before she turned around and plodded upstairs to get ready.
Left with that, Nabiki sighed and grimly followed her sister upstairs where her own ceremonial kimono awaits.
--- TT ---
"What the?! What the heck am I wearing?!" Ranma awoke, blinked once and screamed. He tugged at his white …something… uncomfortably as he waited for an explanation. He didn't really mind formal wear that much, partly because it suits him well and makes him look even more dashing than normal. But the decorative roses were a bit too feminine for his taste.
"A tuxedo, SON! You have to dress appropriately for your wedding, don't you?" Soun said blandly, stressing the word son meaningfully.
"My what?" Ranma asked in undisguised confusion.
"Akane has consented to proceed with the wedding," Genma clarified from behind the boy just as his mother chimed in her comment, "Oh Ranma you look so strong and manly!"
Ranma eyes widened as the weight of what had just been said sank in. He ran upstairs and threw open the door to Akane's room, causing the duck sign to fell off.
"HEY AKANE! What is this nonsense about agreeing to the w…" The boy trailed off as looked inside. What he saw left him speechless.
Inside was Akane, dressed all in white with a single sapphire rose resting atop her locks, holding a bundle of white flowers in her hands. "Hello Ranma..." She said softly, causing the said boy's heart to skip a beat.
"Aguh.. Gwufa? Ooga? Whoa," Ranma blurted out ineligibly, his brain overloaded by the image of angel-like Akane.
"Don't you like my dress, Ranma? I guess the Japanese-style one would've been better after all," Akane said, noting the lack of comment.
"Ah…No I mean they're both c… cute." The pig tailed martial artist garbled, his heart beating ever so loudly. "Wow… You look really beautiful, Akane."
"You really think so?" The wedding dressed girl asked softly without meeting his gaze. "I'm so glad."
As Ranma looked down at his fiancée, his fear of commitment began to return in folds. Thousands folds. He fidgeted nervously, staring alternately between the beautiful girl and the hem of her dress.
"Why the sudden change of heart? What made you want to go ahead with the wedding?" Ranma queried, sounding genuinely curious.
"Well…" Akane began, shifting her gaze from the floor between them and into the eyes of her fiancé. "You love me don't you?"
"Um… I do?" The boy said, feinting a surprise about the line of thought. "What made you think that all of a sudden?"
"But… When you were crying over me at Jusenkyo… I could've sworn I heard you… Y'know, say you loved me," Akane intoned softly, but at the same time, expectantly.
A part of Ranma wanted nothing more than to just accept it but… It's too fast. He's only eighteen; he doesn't want to get married. What about kids! He's not ready to be a father!
"I'm sure I didn't say it out loud! I didn't! NO WAY!" The pig-tailed boy yelled defiantly, more to convince himself than anyone else though.
Akane looked as if she was about to retort angrily but just as she opened her mouth something seemed to change within her. She allowed the fury within her eyes to die and looked at him strangely, almost lovingly.
"Does it really matter that you haven't said it out loud, Ranma?" the girl asked, enveloping his hands with hers. "A part of me has always known, how you really feel I mean, a long time ago, even before Jusenkyo."
"Then how do I really feel ya tomboy? Huh?" Ranma baited, hoping that his fiancée's temper would rear its ugly head.
"Heh heh heh." Akane chuckled softly, holding one dainty hand in front of her mouth. "You never had much of a poker face, Ranma-kun."
"Then how do I really feel, huh? Ya Tomboy!" the boy taunted nervously as his façade began to crackle beneath the cute wedding dressed girl's jovial scrutiny. "Well?"
Akane continued to giggle for few more seconds before assuming a serious facial expression. She looked straight into his eyes and, without the teeniest amount of hesitation, stated with total conviction.
"You love me."
--- TT ---
Nabiki treads softly as she began making her way down the stairs, being additionally careful so she'd not trip on the hem of her kinomo. The irony seemed hollow but it was almost as if that's what she'd been doing all her life, treading softly and being careful that is.
The girl sighed, again softly and quietly, before joining her older sister in the kitchen. She spotted her father sitting in the corner and walked over to him. He seemed to be hiding something but wasn't exactly inconspicuous about it.
"Daddy, you look very suspicious. You're hiding something from Ranma there, aren't you?" Nabiki recited her script accurately, right down to the last letter.
"He he he he he," Soun Tendo chuckled madly to himself as he recalled the conversation he had with the Jusenkyo guide over the phone. "Bwah ha ha ha. Until the opening of the barrel at the reception… Ranma isn't going anywhere near the Nanniichuan!!!"
"I see so THAT'S what you said to Akane to sell her on this idea. At least I only swindle people out of MONEY, Daddy." The brown haired girl said contemptuously. She didn't even have to fake the look of disgust on her face.
Ding Dong!
"Oh my, the priest is here!" Kasumi noted and began to leave the room.
"Don't worry Onee-chan, I'll get the door," the middle Tendo sister said stiffly, pushing past her father and out the door before her sister could utter a word of protest.
Soun eyed his daughter confusedly as she left the room. He turned to his eldest child and asked. "What has gotten into her, Kasumi?
"I believe Akane-chan just told her the significance of today's event, Father," The girl answered as she goes about preparing for the wedding's reception.
"But I thought she knew about the wedding days ago," the father said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "I mean she did play her part perfectly just then."
"Yes, but we have plenty of failed wedding attempts before so it may never have occurred to her this one will be the last."
The longhaired widower thought about it for another minute before shrugging his shoulders and began helping Kasumi with the catering. 'Oh well, it's not like there's anything he can do about it now anyway.' He thought silently to himself, gesturing to his portly friend to give them a hand.
"I'll go see if the boy and Akane are ready, Tendo," Genma said before scooting out of the kitchen, once again expertly escaping from anything that has a resemblance of an honest job.
Nodoka glared at her lazy husband's behind before moving to help Kasumi with a particularly large tray of various finger foods. 'Just one more day, Nodoka, just one more day,' She repeated the words to herself like they were mantra.
"We're ready, Daddy," Nabiki said from the doorway, and then it occurred to her. "Where are the guests?"
"It just us, Nabiki. Akane wanted a small and quiet wedding remember?" Soun answered ingenuously.
"Yeah right… You just don't want any potential troublemakers here, didn't you?" The shorthaired girl commented dryly. "What about Akane's friends, Yuka and Sayuri, don't you think they want to be here for their best friend's wedding?"
"Now now Nabiki, let not make a big deal out of this. You know exactly how important today is, it was simply too risky to let them know about this."
The supposedly heartless mercenary gave her father an indignant humph before turning away. He was right and she knew it, but it still hurts, very much so as the matter of fact. She heaved a tired sigh before leaving for the dojo.
'Get yourself together, Nabiki,' She mentally prompted herself, fingering the bouquet of lavenders in her hands desultorily as she waited.
Waited as the man she loved walked by her and up to the altar. Waited as the man she loved get married. Waited as the man she loved took that final step to forever be out of her reach. And waited and waited.
Because that all she ever did, because that's all she had ever been expected to do, and maybe, because that's all she ever really wanted to do.
--- TT ---
"What wrong, Ranma-kun?" Akane intoned softly from where she was, standing beside him with her delicate hands encircled around his, the two of them holding a small mallet over the seemingly innocent wooden cask.
What's wrong? That was exactly what was going through the pigtailed boy's mind at the moment and for the love of god, he couldn't answer it. The last half an hour had been a blur for Ranma and now he was very confused, enlighteningly so.
In fact he would've bet a cask of Nanniichuan that he was confused but then again, you could almost say Ranma was an expert on the topic anyway. In fact there probably weren't enough fingers and toes in Nerima to count how many times he had been confused. But it was hardly his fault that his parents didn't choose a particularly academic life for him.
But none of that mattered now, right? He'd beaten the ultimate bad guy, got married to Akane, the girl he love AND secured a cask of Nanniichuan, which is going to guarantee their happy marriage. And that's that, right?
Then what's the problem? Why wasn't he grabbing the cure (and he was sure it's THE cure, not just any old cure) the front of him and give himself a blight-eradicating douse? Why was he hesitating?
What's wrong!?!?
"…Ranma?" His beautiful bride said softly but questioningly, her perfect brows etched in confusion.
'Of course she's confuse, you Baka!' He mentally shouted at himself. 'What the hell are you doing? Have you lost it? The Nanniichuan is right in front of you, just one splash and you're cured!'
"Ranma…"
"I can't do it Akane. There's only enough water for one here, what about Pop, Mousse and Ryoga? I can't just use it all myself, it's too dishonorable." Ranma said looking away.
"But Ranma, the Jusenkyo guide can always send us more."
"Then let one of them use it first. I can wait," The boy countered, flashing Akane a cheeky grin to show that he wasn't angry. "Besides, remember what I said at Jusenkyo? My girl side is a part of me now; it's not a curse to be cure anymore."
Instead of retorting angrily or accusing him of being a pervert for wanting to keep his curse like he'd expected, Akane gave him an uneasy smile, which felt awfully genuine. "If that's what you wish, Ranma-kun," the girl said softly before continuing on in an even softer and somewhat vacillate tone. "It's just that even though I'd gladly marry you without it, this Nanniichuan is a dowry and it was one of the reasons I agreed to this wedding. I know that you'd rather wait a few more years and I wanted to finish high school first but…At Jusenkyo you sacrificed your cure to save my life and I knew how much you wanted it…"
"Akane, if you're marrying me just cuz of the stupid cur-" Ranma began to say but he was cut off.
"No! It's not because of that… it isn't just that…"
"It isn't too late, you know," The tuxedoed boy intoned softly, looking away as he said the few most painful words. "…you can still call it off. Because, Akane, if you're doing this for something stupid like that you'll regret it forever."
"NO! Ranma, you don't understand," the girl cried, hugging Ranma fiercely before stating in a firm voice. "I. Love. You. I've fallen for you a long time ago. And the cure, the cure just helped me see that."
"The cure?"
"Well, it wasn't so much the cure as how you've always acted, Ranma. The way you always put me ahead of yourself and it's not just the cure, but also that time with the moxibustion point as well. It made me realize how much you cared about me; how much you love me." At this point the corners of the girl's lips curved up slowly, forming a hesitative smile that Ranma found irresistible.
"And I thought… I thought that if you're cured then maybe, just maybe, we can finally stop fighting and we can live happily together…" Akane's voice gave out at this point and a single tear fell from her face. She lifted a hand from where it was, entwined with his around the small mallet, and brushed the tear away.
"…I guess I was just being stupid as usual, huh?" she said with a sniffle that broke Ranma's heart.
"No Akane, it's my fault. I was the one being stupid. I should've realized what's important to me," the pigtailed boy said in a self-punitive tone. "You are important to me, Akane. Not some curse form or being the best martial artist ever or all the other rubbish I've been spouting, you, Tendo Akane; the most kind, loving and beautiful bride anyone could've wished for. You, Akane, are important to me."
Ranma brought the mallet down swiftly, making a small hole in the wooden cask. He gripped the edge of the container with one hand and turned it over his head.
"You are the person I love with all my heart," Ranma, still male and more confident than he'd ever been in his entire life, declared, with all certainty of the man who killed a god, to his wife, who smiled brightly and continued to cry, but this time in tears of happiness.
And they kissed, passionately, breathtakingly, lovingly.
It was almost like a spell has been broken. Suddenly, they were back in the Tendo dojo in front of their family and the applause was thundering. Every one were there, clapping tearfully for them; Kasumi with her unfaltering smile, Nodoka, beaming proudly, Nabiki, who managed to capture it all with her video camera and, of course, Suon who was, as you might've guessed, bawling in happiness at the realization of his dream.
Even Genma, who vowed to never cry except the occasional crocodile tears when conning someone, was openly weeping at the heart breaking scene.
The couple looked around the room with the expression of deer caught in headlight on their faces. They turned to each other, blushing with embarrassment. They got caught up in the moment and had completely forgotten their audience.
--- TT ---
"Ranma, why is it that you wanted to keep your curse?" Akane asked out of curiosity.
After that moment of drama unfolded, the wedding proceeded even better than both of them could ask for and now the newly-weds were just sitting back and generally enjoying themselves.
"Well, the truth is the curse represents something special for me. It proves that there's something you can't explain, that magic exists," Ranma said thoughtfully, staring at the panda who was stuffing its face with leftovers. "It reminds me that there's such a thing as a miracle."
"I never thought about it that way," the young bride admitted. "I guess I became used to all the excitement that followed you around."
"Yeah, that kinda what I mean," he said distractedly. "The last two years has been very hectic but to be honest I enjoyed almost every second of it."
"Ranma, the adrenaline junky, who would've thought?" the girl teased, leaning closer to her husband.
"Yep, ya got me," the martial artist whispered as he gave Akane a quick peck on her cheek to which she blushed cutely. "But no more though."
"Huh? What do you mean, Ranma?"
"Last two years was fun while it lasted, Akane, but do you really want to drag our marriage through something like that? I can't do that to you, Love." Ranma kissed her again. "I have to grow up sometime, we all have to."
Suddenly it all became clear to the shorthaired girl. "Oh, so that's why you didn't want the cure."
"Yeah, the curse reminded me of my …unique life and I guess a part of me never wanted it to end, you know, all the challenges, all the adventures-"
"All the fiancées…" Akane added.
"Yeah, all those cute, cute girls… it was a joke, ya tomboy!" he yelled playfully at his wife, his smile never slipped from his face. A short but awkward moment of silence ensued until Akane decided to break it.
"So why did you give it up?"
"Weren't ya listening, ya tomboy?" he asked aggravatingly. Akane took a halfhearted swing at the maddening boy but it failed to with the grin off his face. He danced in and kissed her again. "I did it for you, Love, my cute, cute, princess."
"So this is the ending, huh, the last chapter of the chronicles of Wild Horse." Akane said breathlessly, she could get used to this kissing stuff real quickly. "Is it a good ending?"
"You bet it is," Ranma whispered before lifting his young wife up bridal style, causing her to squeal. "Now let's get to the 'happily ever after' part."
The End.
"Are you satisfied?" The question rang out from behind her.
"…No," the red haired girl answered truthfully.
"Look that was the last one," The black haired girl said impatiently, turning off the television with the remote. "…you're stalling aren't you?"
The red head on the sofa considered the question silently. Was she stalling? Maybe, but that hardly matters, does it?
"No, it doesn't. There's no real sense of time here, only what our mind registers," the other girl answered the rhetorical, unasked question.
"Then why are you so impatient?" The girl voiced her thought even though it was apparent that it wasn't necessary.
"Because I can't see the reason for it!" the girl shouted.
"No you can not," the girl said in the same emotionless tone. She stood up and took the remote from the other girl's hand and switched on the television. It was now showing the two newlyweds snuggling up to each other. The girl returned to her seat and sat back down to watch. She gestured to the groom who snoring loudly, unaware he was being watched. "Neither could she."
"She?"
"Yes, she. But, alas, you can not understand that either," She commented solemnly. She paused and added as if it was an afterthought. "No, only I could. Only I have to bear that burden."
Silence shrouded them as the girl's voice trailed off as she gazed vacantly at the screen.
"Look, you have to go back. Now, I know I probably can't even begin to imagine what you've gone through but-"
"You are correct. You have absolutely no idea what I have gone through."
The other girl closed her mouth indignantly at the interruption. She glared at her counter part, who was still watching the sleeping couple avidly. She was about to pick up where she left off but was suspended once again by the same eerily calm voice.
"I can not go back," she said simply. She continued on, ignoring the dark haired girl who was gawking at her. "Not after all this, not with my memories. They are too… self-destructive."
"B…but then all this would've been for nothing."
"Yes, but that would be preferable to the alternative. I, you, me, us, we, would not remain sane, not with such memories."
"But you seem calm and rational enough."
"Yes, but that is further proof of my insanity. Because any sane person would be distraught beyond compare, the fact that I seem calm is sufficient indication of the caustic nature of my memories."
The dark haired one sat down dejectedly next to her companion. "So that's it then, I just go back and pretend like it was nothing? Like it was just a wonderful fantasy that I dreamt up and forget about when I'm awake?"
The corners to the stoic red head's lips lifted up, forming a discrete smile for the first time. "Oh, I wouldn't say it has been all for naught," she said wryly.
"What is it?" the raven-haired girl asked. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she felt an unfamiliar tingling in the back of her spine. She turned to the other girl and hissed, "What have you done?"
The change was as instantaneous as it was terrifying. The previously inexpressive girl sneered coldly as she turned on the other girl. She lashed out with a hand and took her counter part by her throat, pulling her up, strangling her.
"What have I done? I've done the only thing that was left for me to do, Megumi," the girl chuckled madly. "I thought you were smarter than this; I mean, 'This burden I bear.' 'Self-destructive.' 'The caustic nature of my memories.'" she quoted herself, using the same impassive tone as before. "I thought you would've caught on earlier."
The hand that was around her throat tightened even further, cutting off Megumi's supply of oxygen. The darkness began to eat away the edge of her vision; one of the telltale signs of impending unconsciousness.
"But of course, by now it is too late."
--- TT ---
Ranma woke.
He was in a bed, a soft warm bed. A luxury he couldn't remember the last time he'd experienced. Compared to the hard futon he was used to, it felt …different, not unpleasant just different. He glanced to the right and felt …nothing?!?!
The boy jumped out of bed and looked around frantically, where is Akane? Why wasn't she with him? He picked up the clothing that was hastily discarded last night from the floor and quickly dressed. He ran up to the door and was almost shocked out of his skin as he opened it.
On the other side was nothing, just dark emptiness that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles.
"Closed the door, Ranma," an erringly familiar voice intoned from behind him.
The boy, no… the man, spun around quickly, causing his pigtail to swing about erratically. Ranma blinked once and, resisting the urge to rub his eye, walked over to the bed and sat down. "This is one of those dreams, isn't it?" he said more to himself than the red head sitting beside him.
"Yes," his cursed form answered immediately and truthfully. "…and no."
"Eh huh," Ranma snorted, not in the least convinced by… by… the Freudian manifestation of his femininity. "It's so like YOU to say that."
"Kasumi doesn't know everything, Ranma," the girl said dispassionately.
"Right, right and I suppose YOU do?" the boy, no, the man countered, not backing down. According to Kasumi, confronting his dual feminine-masculine inferiority complex is the only way to get rid of the nightmares. And if there's one thing Saotome Ranma is good at, it's not backing down. "You and I are the same person, you're not any smarter than I am."
"Masterful approach, Ranma, but I'm neither you nor you female persona," the girl said, smirking lightly. "And this isn't exactly one of those dreams."
"Eh huh," Ranma commented in the same disbelieving tone, crossing his arm as he did so. "We'll see about that," he said in defiance, willing the room to change like he usually did.
….
"What the…" He muttered in confusion as nothing happened. What the hell is going on? He was lucid dreaming wasn't he? Why didn't it work?
He snapped out of his brief stupor and leapt over his curse toward the window. The pigtailed man grasped the curtain and was about to fling it aside when the same calm voice stopped him.
"Oh, that is so like you, Ranma," she commented with a giggle, mimicking his voice. "If you can't go straight you find a way around or you retreat; going through life treating everything as a battle. You know, I envy you sometime." She looked down at her scarred and calloused knuckles and continued on quietly. "Well not YOU per se, but your arrogance, your bliss. The way you can suffer so much yet never complain, treating it all like common occurrences; like it was normal."
"You never really knew how bad you had it do you? Never really understood what it all signified. All the torture, all the betrayals, all the abuse and all the pain; it was just one big adventure for you, isn't it? I never wanted to understand you, Ranma, but I guess I do now."
Ranma's hand tensed up, he didn't have to listen to this! She's just messing with his head. He thrust the curtains aside and froze up at the scene that greeted him.
The girl stood up and walked over to join the catatonic martial artist beside the windowsill. "But something does escape me though. For instance, I could never comprehend how you stand THEM." She said gesturing to the bodies scattered about haphazardly outside, bodies of his friends, rivals and fiancées alike…
…bodies that were mutilated almost beyond recognition. "Ryoga, Mousse, Shampoo, Ukyou and… Oh God no… Pop… Mum…"
"And don't let me get started on that worthless piece of lard and his lunatic of a wife…God how I hate them." She turned from the scene of carnage to face him and asked amusedly. "But do you know who the worst of them all is?"
"No… no… no… no…"
"Yep, you got it! Akane the hypocritical bitch. The one who treated us like we were her training dummy; she was the worst of them all." The girl shivered from some perverse pleasure, probably from remembering what she did to Ranma's young wife.
"Soooo….." she drawled, leaning closer and into her taller counter part as she did so. "Where my big 'thank you' for fixing up your life?"
That did it for Ranma and his aura erupted into existence. But instead of the usual blue halo of confidence it was red with a tint of black. Red for anger and black… black was for hatred.
"Oh what's wrong? Poor lil Ranma don't like his wedding gift?"
"AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The martial artist gave a scream of pure rage and rushed the girl. His speed took her by surprise and she was sent reeling across the room by his lightening fast blows. But his advantage didn't last, and as the red head's guard snapped into place, Ranma found himself hitting air.
The pigtailed man hopped back and, with a single slash of his arm, sent dozens of midnight black vacuum blades toward the girl.
"Ah ah ah" The girl wagged a finger at him condescendingly as she uses her superior speed to dodged the dark blades. She grabbed a Tanto, which she materialized with a snap of her fingers out of thin air and waved it at him. "Tsk Tsk Tsk, hitting girls, Ranma? That's not very manly at all. What ever shall we do with you?" she said mockingly, impersonating his mother with obvious amusement. She spun the short blade about in her dainty hand and tossed it to him. "Maybe you should just kill yourself. That would be the HONOURABLE path, right?"
Ranma didn't answer her; he was too consumed in his emotion to process irrelevant words. His mind worked like a perfectly honed fighting machine and it was calculating every path to which he could achieve victory.
And it found one.
He dashed forward leaning over to keep his centre of gravity low; maintaining balance at the high speed he was going. He spun around and lashed out with two well-placed kicks that parted her defenses. His right hand whipped back and snagged the Tanto from its flight path and brought it forward, removing the sheath with his thumb somewhere along the way.
It was tough, surprisingly so. Similar to cutting an overcooked steak but at the same time it was different. But the warmth was definitely …new. Absolutely. Unquestionably. It was something he'd never felt before. And it was something he was sure he never wanted to feel again.
And as the cloudy red haze cleared away Ranma, the pig tailed boy, looked down and see. The clear blue eyes that seemed to say thank you. The two soft hands that weren't holding his hand as a desperate measure of defense but was pulling on the knife; helping him kill her.
And as Ranma looked at the eviscerated girl he began to see, for the first time, what really happened.
For the first time, Ranma recognized that curious glint in her eyes for what it really was; Madness. It wasn't maliciousness or amusement that droved the girl; it was the pain of insanity. And for that one moment of epiphany the pig tailed boy, and he was a boy, understood her and could sympathize with her.
"Thank you," the girl gasped before smiling happily.
And died.
And it was then that he was consumed by the overwhelming guilt that he hadn't anticipated. But he only suffered for a moment before the blissful sleep claimed him.
--- TT ---
"!#ma!#$ wake up #$ come on &#$$!!!" !#$ $#.
"Ran$ wa#$ $ $#?" Aka# $#$#. "I sw!# if you're #!$$ thi#"
"Ranma!!!" A loud cry rang out. "Please wake up! I didn't mean it. Please!"
Ranma blinked and woke up. She felt a slight weight on her chest and tried to sit up only to lie down again as her effort triggered a bout of sporadic coughing. It was water, she was coughing up water. She looked down at the short haired girl attached to her bosom and resisted a sigh. She still has the curse and that could only mean one thing.
'So it was all a dream?' the redhead asked herself, feeling a huge amount of relief and a twang of disappointment.
"Ranma! You're awake!" Akane yelled in relief, hugging the other girl close. "Are you feeling okay?" she leant back slightly and asked.
"Of course I am!" Noticing that Akane did a double take, Ranma added curiously. "Shouldn't I be?"
A moment of silence ensued as Akane stared at her in confusion.
"CUT!!!!" A louder, mega-phone enhanced yelled rang out. "LET'S TAKE FIVE… no, make that a wrap, it's five o-clock already. We'll try again tomorrow."
Ranma looked around and noticed for the first time where she was. She was sitting with Akane in the Tendo backyard, or rather, a perfect replica of it. Because instead of neighboring houses there was only darkness surrounding the area. The red head turned to the origin of then noise, which was a middle age man who was sitting in a sort of a lifted up seat. The sort she'd seen tennis referees sat on. He turned toward her and asked patiently, "Did you forget the line, Miss?"
"Wha? Who? Me?" Ranma sputtered, looking around to make sure he wasn't talking to someone else.
"Yes you, Megumi-chan," the man said. "Noriko-san said her lines perfectly."
"Huh?" the red head muttered in confusion. "What are you talking about? Who are Megumi and Noriko? And who the heck are you anyway?"
"Now is not the time for joke, Miss Megumi. Now, do you think you can remember the lines by tomorrow?" the man, whose patient had been worn thin practically yelled at her.
"And I'm not joking, ya Ole Geezer!" Ranma retorted testily and turned toward the shorthaired girl who was now standing beside her. "Come on Akane, let's get outta here."
But 'Akane' seemed to think differently. She all but slapped away the shorter girl's hand and glared at the red head angrily. "This isn't funny Megumi-san!"
"What's going on here?" came a gruff sounding voice from behind Ranma. She spun around and found herself face to face with… herself?
"What's wrong?" the male Ranma look-alike asked them. "Is everything okay?"
Akane seemed to brighten considerably at the newcomer's present. She practically swooned as she gushed at him. "Nothing is wrong, Kappei-kun."
"Wha?!?!" Ranma muttered in bewilderment. What the heck is going on? She splashed some water around her feet at the boy to get his attention and was stunned when he didn't change. Suddenly, she felt very uncomfortable being in her curse form right now. This was one of her major fear, one of the reason why she didn't try using the spring of drowned twin to cure herself; she didn't know what would've happen if she split into two and was the one left with female body while the other one just go his merry way.
"HOT WATER! I NEED HOT WATER NOW!!!!!" the pig tailed girl demanded.
"Really Megumi-san, don't you think your little joke has gone far enough?" the Akane look-alike groused, crossing her arm at the shorter girl. How dare she cut in on my conversation with Kappei-kun? "I thought you're supposed to be a professional."
"Come on Noriko-chan, don't be so harsh on her, this is a difficult scene for her to play after all," Kappei said in a placating tone. He turned to Ranma with winsome smile and said. "Come on there's a public bath house just around the corner, I'll take you."
Noriko froze up, her Kappei with THAT girl in public Furoba? I don't think so. She faked a smile and put a hand on Kappei's shoulder. "No Kappei-kun, I'll take her," She turned to the pigtailed girl and said. "I'm sorry Megumi-san, but it has been a stressful day for me as well. If you want, I can take you to bath house I frequent, I know you'll just love it."
Ranma nodded numbly and followed the girl out of the set. She wasn't sure what's going on but at least now Akane's not being hostile toward her like before.
--- TT ---
Author's note:
Thank you for reading. This is my first serious fanfic and I do hope I'm doing at least a decent job. If you like it, please leave a review. It's easy and simple and no, you don't even have to be constructive or insightful, a comment like, "Nice fic" will motivate anyone.
At last, but not least, a big thanks to Tread Weaver; my pre-reader whom, without his help, this fic would've been unreadable.
See you in the next chapter!
P.S. No, I've NOT given up on Truth about Wisdom. I'm working on a good ending and a new arc.
--- TT ---
Right... em... when I wrote this I've decided that "This Sky This Dream" isn't gonna be one of those fic where you have to reread each chapters like four times and do back ground research or get a psychology degree to understand it.
Yes, it has a lot of ironical and sub plot and hidden meanings but I want to make it so readers can actually enjoy it without understanding every aspect of the fic. So i've decided to keep the plot summary of each chapter at the end. If you want to read it; proceed.
…
First dream sequence is where an individual with Ranma memory is given another set of memory, a normal adult with normal childhood one. She has obviously gone insane, hence the second to last scene. We shall call her 'Ranko'.
The second plot line is the manga-Ranma but undergoing a different ending, the reason for that will be made clear at the end of the fic. Yes, it is a plot device. The way other Ranma casts acts and think is not a plot hole.
"If they're figment of Megumi's imagination then why can they have thoughts and feeling?" You ask
Well it's to give insight into Megumi's mind and what she thought of each of the individual in Ranma's cast and it reflects how she think THEY thinks. Yes, this will be touch on and IS a plot device in later chapters.
The wedding is shown being viewed by Ranko and Megumi because Ranko is, in a sense, given the choice to pick a good ending for her dream, hence the reference to lucid dreaming by Ranma later on. The confrontation scene between Megumi and the insane 'Ranko' fore-shadows what happens the Nerimans later on.
Canon-Ranma's killing of Ranko is also a symbolism. It's a more dramatic rendition of Ranma's curing himself and getting rid of his female side and the magic that goes along with it. Again, this will become important as it signifies the ending of the dream and, in a sense, the madness of Ranma's life and accepting reality. Thus, journey to the real world.
At the end of the chapter, Ranma is obviously thrust into the body of Megumi, the actress who play Ranma-onna.