Inversion

Broken Quill and Scattered Ink

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, or its characters.

….

"Even liquid water can become ice; nature transforms all so quickly—we humans should be capable of change at an even faster rate." ~Anon.

….

"If you think that you can leave this place without my permission," Ranma snarled. "you've got another thing comin'."

Akane stared up with defiant brown orbs, refusing to back down. Her hands clenched white by her sides. "You don't own me, Ranma. I can do whatever I want without your say-so!"

"As a matter of fact," Ranma smirked, leaning his face closer to hers with a hard smirk. "I do own you. We're married, remember? I'm your husband."

"Marriage does not constitute possession." Akane whispered angrily.

Blood boiled in his ears, a sign that he was being defeated. And when Ranma could not find the words to counter hers—the fact that he was losing ate him—he resorted to physical violence. In a flash, he instantaneously grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her against the nearest wall. Akane fell backwards with a crash, not even given enough time to scream. He bounded after her like a madman, jumping atop of her, sitting upon her stomach, grabbing her wrists and forcefully pinning her to the ground.

"Ranma!" Akane gasped out, looking at the furious, intense, blue-fire gaze of her husband above her. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I ain't gonna let you go to that idiot's house, do you hear me? No matter what it is that I have to do."

Akane lost her hold on defiance. Her panic level increased dramatically, and for a second, the insane thought that Ranma was going to kill her crept into her mind. She lost hold of calming her husband. And instead, remembered watching him in those hundreds of battles with enemies; she knew that he was capable of killing her in a matter of seconds if he wished.

For once, their roles were reversed. The usually angry Akane did not have any power over the submissive Ranma.

Her heart pounded. Perspiration formed on her forehead.

So this is what fear feels like.

Ranma tightened his hold on her wrists, then leaned down, narrowed his eyes, grinned hideously and whispered harshly: "You love Shinnosuke, don't you?"

Akane closed her eyes and turned her head away from him, to rid of this picture of her husband she had never seen before. She wanted to scream. But all she could muster was a weak: "Ranma, stop—"

"No!" Ranma raged, picking up her wrists and slamming them back into the ground with full, crushing force. "Tell me first! Admit that you love him! Tell me!"

Stupid tears began to form on the back of her closed eyelids; she could feel them. She shook her head vigorously from side to side, trying to stop the stinging sensation. Only when Ranma screamed did she realize that she had absently answered his question.

"You lie!" He roared, voice overpowering their quiet home. "Don't lay there and tell me that you don't love him! You do love him! You love him more than me!"

Akane was glad she had answered correctly. And when she heard his admittance of jealousy, the thought that she loved Shinnosuke more than Ranma, she was less afraid. She gathered the courage to open her eyes and stare into Ranma's hurt and angry ones.

"I do not love anyone more than you, Ranma." She whispered quietly, genuinely, from the heart. "Never would I find someone better than you."

There was a small, but sharp, intake of breath that Ranma took in. But instead of relief, defense covered his eyes. "Stop lying to me!" He gripped her wrists tighter, painfully, that Akane winced and doubted that blood was able to flow through her veins there.

"I'm not lying."

Ranma leaned close to her, positioning his lips over hers so that their mouths were touching. He rasped against her mouth angrily. "You are. You are lying to me. You're afraid I'll get angry if I knew the truth. So you lie. I hate it when you lie."

She whispered back: "When have I lied to you before, Ranma?"

"This must be the first lie. I can tell," Ranma pressed a forceful, painful kiss against his wife. He pulled away, his eyes enraged with almost madness. "You love him. He treats you better than I do. He smiles at you, makes you laugh, buys gifts for you, is willing to do anything for you, will eat your cooking without a second thought, always says nice things to you—"

Akane looked up at him with a sad smile. "But I married you, you idiot."

Ranma trembled down at her, eyes wavering. "But if you were given a choice—"

"I would still choose you over any other man in the world."

For reassurance, he leaned down and pressed another painful kiss. She kissed back warily, gently, tiredly. He pulled away again, loosening his hold on her wrists.

His madness melted away into insecured fear. Akane was dizzy from his emotions.

"You love him. Because he shows that he loves you."

Akane stared softly at him. "I do not."

And Ranma leaned down to kiss again.

"You do." He whispered quietly after pulling away.

"I do not."

Another searing kiss.

"Do."

"Never."

This time, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, staying there for quite a while and closing his eyes.

Akane closed her own, breathing gently against his neck.

He pulled away and looked down at her, dark eyes finding relief. "What have I done to you, Akane?"

"Nothing." Akane whispered up at him. "You only frightened me, is all."

And he bent down again, needing her.

….

It was morning again, and Akane was happy to find their old relationship returning. The only thing that bothered her was being too close to her husband; whenever they were too close, she found her heartbeat rising in fear.

She hated him touching her wrists. They bruised from last night, and she did not want him touching her.

Worst of all were his kisses. They no longer held the love in them like when they first met, but full of hunger and need and reassurance. The Ranma she married was too confident to feed off kisses. He never forced her to do anything she never wanted to do.

Akane slowly felt submission creeping into her personality; and she hated every bit of it.

Her thoughts were cut off by a gentle hand grabbing her wrist.

"Akane…" she felt a familiar chin rest on her shoulder, and a chest against her back.

"Hm?" she squeaked in alarm.

"There are bruises here." He stated matter-of-factly, turning her wrist over, bringing it to his lips, and kissing her sore pressure points.

"Yes, there are."

"Because of me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." He whispered, never releasing her wrist. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

"Ranma," Akane shivered uncomfortably. "Please stop this. All of it."

"Stop what?" he pressed a kiss to her cheek. A chuckle gurgled from his throat. "I can't stop loving you. That's impossible for me. I'd rather die."

"This isn't like you—"

"Why isn't it?" a dark tone laced his voice.

"Please, don't—"

He turned her around with massive force. Stared intently into her eyes, and Akane felt fear in the lumps of her throat.

"Don't what? Don't kiss you whenever I feel like it? Is it because Shinnosuke's are better?"

"No!" Akane closed her eyes and shouted. "I never said that!"

"That's what I'm hearing!"

"I told you that I'd never—"

"It's easy to lie!"

Akane shook her head vigorously. "This isn't fair! I never accuse you of anything when you leave to Ukyo's or Shampoo's!"

"Idiot. I'm not doing anything but eating at their places."

"I'm not doing anything but eating at Shinnosuke's!"

Ranma pulled back his arm and shot it out at her, slamming his palm against her mouth so that she felt her head crack backwards before snapping back into normal position.

Tears trickled easily from the pain. She sobbed against his hand.

He leaned close. "Don't say his name. I hate when you speak his name in your voice. It disgusts me."

She mumbled against his hand. He released her.

"I…I never do anything at his house, Ranma—"

He slammed a kiss against her mouth. He pulled away, eyes half-lidded.

"That's better," he whispered. "hearing my name from your mouth is so much better."

….

She cried. She began to hate life, and feared Ranma whenever he walked into the house from training the children in the dojo.

It was one night several weeks later that he spoke to her, broken-spirited and wary.

"We've changed, Akane. I hate this; and I don't know how to fix it."

"Changed?" She acted innocent when she was unsure of doing anything else.

"Yes." He stared at the ceiling; his profile was so different. So calm. Akane relaxed a bit easier. "Why is that?"

"We're who we are," Akane answered simply. "We haven't changed."

And she knew that she was a liar. They had become two people, two strangers, strangled by this marriage. And Akane had no idea how to fix it.

"We haven't changed," she whispered again, more to herself than to Ranma.

"We are the same people that we were when we first married." One more time. Just for reassurance.

And they both nodded off to sleep, starting to believe their lie.

….

A/N: Just something to brush up on my writing skills. I am not planning to continue this, as it is clearly OOC, it was just a different view—role reversal of Ranma and Akane's usual fights, and taking Ranma's jealousy to a new level. Hope you enjoyed it, please review to help my writing improve!

Also, be on the lookout for the final installment of the long one-shot, "Sift Through the Mud" that will be out very soon. Around the same time, the first chapter to my "Ranma-cast-in-college" fic should be out, and I will be undergoing beginning my jail fanfic.

Lots of writing coming up! Hope you all enjoy the storytelling I love to give.

BQnSI