Ranma 1/2 Songfic: Sake Lullaby
By: Ranmano1fan
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, it's characters or the song portrayed in this story. They are the rightful property of their respectful owners. I am only borrowing them for the time being and will return them when I am done. Enjoy and please leave a review if you wish.
It's been three months since the failed wedding of Ranma and Akane and their relationship has been on a downward spiral ever since. Shortly after the wedding, Akane caught him being held warmly by the purple-haired amazon Shampoo and later the same day being held lovingly by the okonomiyaki chef Ukyo. She has seen him in their arms; along with those belonging to the crazy gymnast Kodachi; many times over the past twelve weeks. But what got her was the fact that Ranma didn't look like he was trying hard enough to get away. It didn't matter to her that a scared and repugnant look on his face was there, but that he couldn't muster the courage to tell these girls to let him go.
So one day she came right out and asked him who he wanted to be with between the four girls. She was hoping he'd flat out say it was her he would choose, but instead Ranma couldn't bring himself to tell her anything, much less what she wanted to hear. The next day Akane threw him out of her house, both figuratively and literally, tossing the small amount of belongings he gathered while staying in her home out onto the curb and him across the street. He picked up his stuff and after standing there staring at her house for a few minutes with his heart expecting her to change her mind, he reluctantly went back home and was greeted with open arms by his mother.
She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget
Over the course of the next few months, Ranma's social life dissolved. His grades; already low; became nonexistent. His martial arts training over and done with and his confidence gone. He also took up a nasty habit of staying out all night and coming home with sake on his breath. His friends and family watched him as he became a shell of his former self.
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
No matter how hard he tried, his memories of Akane were burned into his brain. There were times, in the beginning, he would cry himself to sleep. Only to wake up with her in his thoughts, about a future life with her, having and raising a family and they tore him apart...
Until the night
He couldn't take it anymore.
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Coming home after another night of drinking, he snuck into his parent's room, took his mother's katana from her side of the bed and went to his room. He sat there on his bed, silent tears falling from his face.
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
He held the unsheathed katana in his hands, staring at it. And he thought of Akane one last time before he knew what it was that needed to be done.
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I'll love her till I die
Ranma was found the next morning by his mother, face down on his pillow, her katana protruding out of his back, his shirt and bed soaked with blood. She found a note inside his pocket that said, "Akane, I love you. I never meant to hurt you, I'm sorry."
And when we buried him beneath the willow
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Ranma's funeral was a solemn event. His parents decided to bury him on a hill underneath a cherry tree overlooking the city. They thought he might want to keep an eye on things from that vantage point. A lot of people came to pay their respects including his classmates, the Chinese amazons, both Kuno siblings, Ukyo and Ryoga, Dr. Tofu and the Tendo family. Akane saw her former fiance laying in the casket and was overcome with grief. And when Nodoka showed her the note, it only made her cry more. At that moment she knew he had made a choice.
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The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath
The despair she was feeling over what she had done to him hurt her so much that in the weeks following his death, her life skidded out of control. She continuously blamed herself for what happened and at times the pain of it was unbearable. Though she never told them, her sisters and her friends could tell she had started drinking to ease her suffering. She began to isolate herself from the outside world, depending on the sake bottles for comfort.
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind
It didn't matter how much liquor she drank, thoughts of Ranma laying in the casket and of him alive would never leave her mind. The memories of him consumed her...
Until the night
She had had enough of life.
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
If what remained of her existence on this Earth was going to be all sorrow and no joy, she wanted no part of it. After downing her last bottle of sake, she went to the kitchen, took a large knife from a drawer and brought it back to her room.
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
Her sobbing was incessant as she sat on her bed, the knife handle clutched in her hands. Visions of Ranma were the last things she thought of as she prepared herself to join him.
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life
Her older sister Kasumi discovered her the next morning, her face buried in her pillow with the knife's point sticking out of her back, a pool of soaked-in blood around her. In her hand she was holding a picture frame. The picture inside the frame was of Ranma and her, surrounded by their friends and family.
We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
Akane was put to rest under the cherry tree beside the one she was suppose to marry. Her funeral brought along as many broken hearts as his did. Everyone that had shown up for Ranma's burial arrived for her's as well.
And all that were in attendance believed the two teenagers were up in heaven, back together again.
The End
Note: This story came to me after listening to the song and I pictured it happening to Ranma and Akane if things in their chaotic lives went from bad to worse.
I am a rabid Ranma/Akane fan and I hope this little story doesn't offend all of their other fans. Thank you.