A little background on this fanfiction before you begin reading. Akane's Twin is a wonderful fanfiction originally written by Lisa Emerson and given a rewrite overhaul by me. I had first read it way back when in the 90's and forgot about it for a long time. Then I found it again years later and realized that she had never finished it; it had no ending and stopped just as it was starting to get interesting.
Well, I loved her fic so much that I took it upon myself to email her. I thought it was a long shot but I decided to go for it anyway. Sure enough, Lisa eventually email me back and I was pleasantly surprised. She explained that since writing Akane's Twin, she had gotten married and became very busy with her life, and that's when I offered to take up this wonderful fic of hers, and she agreed to it happily.
There is a link to the main site for this fanfiction which has fanart of the characters drawn by me and Lisa, along with Lisa's email address. You can find the link on my profile page.
So here is the new incarnation of Lisa Emerson's fantastic fanfiction, Akane's Twin.
Akane's Twin
Written by Lisa Emerson and Lady Relena
Beta reading and editing by Rewind Gone Nuts
It had been a year since the fight with Saffron at Jusenkyo; a year since the sounds of rivalry and battles had ceased in Nerima, and a year since Akane Tendo had died. The small ward was now a relatively silent place. The Tendos', especially Soun, were utterly devastated about the death of their dear Akane. It just wasn't the same place without her. However, through grief, depression, and even illness, they had managed to keep themselves together as a family.
The house was quite now. Only Mr. Tendo and his two daughters remained. Ranma and his father Genma, now lived with Nodoka in their newly rebuilt house. He just couldn't take living at the Tendos' anymore. Everywhere he went there were memories of Akane; everything in the house reminded him of her and even her very sent still lingered in the air. It was driving him to the point of insanity. Nadoka noticed her son's behaviour and did the only thing she could think of: she forced him leave and took him with her. It was the only thing she could do to help her broken son. Since then, the pigtailed boy hadn't so much as taken a step into Nerima. Without Akane, it wasn't home to him anymore.
It was early in the afternoon when Kasumi had finished hanging up the laundry. The Koi pond reminded her so much of Ranma. As she recalled, the poor boy used to fall into it at least once a week. She tried to push the memories aside as she entered the living room. A quiet sigh escaped her mouth as she eyed the room. It was completely empty. A very uncomfortable and depressing silence filled the area which was once boisterous with life.
Kasumi's light blue eyes fell to the dining room table and her lips began to break into a small smile. Everyone she had even known had sat in this room at one time or another. They were a bit of a nuisance then but she missed them all now. Fond memories of her sister and Ranma always came rushing back to her on this day, for it was two years ago today, that Akane was laid to rest next to their mother's grave.
Pushing her memories back once again, Kasumi started to walk down the hallway toward the dojo. Her father now spent most of his time there since her little sister's passing. Sometimes he would spend half the day in there, just meditating. Kasumi knew that it was an unhealthy escape from everything, but she never felt the need to complained about it until now. It was the anniversary of Akane's death and he needed to start living with them again. The last thing her little sister would have wanted was for their father to become depressed and reclusive.
The eldest Tendo daughter got to the doorway and spotted her father in his usual place. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor, all-alone in his silence. She always felt a slight pang whenever she saw him now. Her father was still a kind and loving man but he hadn't smiled since the day Akane died.
Slowly, Kasumi walked over to her father and whispered, "Father, do you want some lunch?"
Soun snapped his eyes open slightly surprised by the interruption. He looked up at his eldest chilled and tried to talk without any lingering sorrow.
"I'm sorry. I was thinking… Well… Anyway, what is it Kasumi?"
Kasumi put a comforting had on her father's shoulder, for she knew exactly what he was going to say. "Oh father, it's okay to think about Akane, especially on this day. It's very hard for all of us to be without her, but the rest of us are still here for you and everything is going to be okay. So please... please come and eat some lunch with me father."
Soun listened to his daughters pleases. They sounded so dispirit to him; and at that moment he suddenly realized something. Kasumi wasn't just asking him to eat lunch with her, she was asking him to start living.
Now he couldn't help but feel selfish and guilty for the way he had been acting, but at the same time, he also couldn't help the heart ache he felt. First he lost his wife to an illness, and now he had lost Akane in a battle against Saffron. His little girl bravely surrendered her life to save Ranma's, and that's what killed him the most. Since her death, he had blamed himself for not giving her enough training in the arts. Perhaps if he had forced Akane to train harder in the Anything Goes style, she would still be alive.
Soun had been coming to the dojo almost every day to think about his little girl: the same dojo where he taught her Martial Arts. Those were his favorite memory's of her. But while he kept wallowing in his self pity, he was also alienating himself from his two other daughters who needed him. Kasumi had been so patient and supportive during this past year, and Nabiki had taken up the job of paying the bills and keeping the house in a good shape. They were trying their hardest to make ends meet while he remained practically absent from their lives.
The Tendo Patrick finally looked up at his eldest daughter and hugged her with tear filled eyes. He knew that it was finally time to let it all go; all, the self pity; the anger, and the guilt. He had to start living for his two beautiful children.
"You two are such a good daughters. I've been acting so selfishly this past year. We'll always miss her; our dear Akane."
It was 6:00 AM in California, U.S.A. A huge two story English styled house made of red brick and oak, caught the morning's sun rays as it streamed through the trees and dance on the side of the house.
A woman in her late thirty's came out from the front door to pick up the mornings newspaper. She had brown eyes and Auburn hair, which hung an inch away from her shoulders. The slim and firm looking woman was clad in a white business suit, with white pearl earrings and white high heels. Her name was Gail Sakuma; head graphic designer for the one and only 'People Magazine'.
She promptly brought the news paper in and started reading the comic stripes with her usual morning coffee. She loved to start the morning off with a little laughter. After reading for a while, the women checked her watch. It was 6:11. She put the paper down and walked to the stairs.
"Mina, it's time to get up now!" she yelled.
Mina could barely hear her mother yelling from the pillow being on her head.
"Ma, give me ten more minutes."
Gail raised her right eyebrow as she glanced at the clock on the wall. If it were up to Mina, she would sleep in all day. Her daughter was never a morning person but she knew that today was an important day for her.
"Okay then, I guess you're okay with missing the final exams today!" Her lips then turned into a mischievous grin. "Maybe you should prepare for repeating the eleventh grade."
Mina's golden yellow eyes snapped opened and she shot up from her bed.
"No the exams! There's no way I can miss that!" She panicked and immediately tried to kick the blankets off of her. Mina was in such a rush that she didn't even notice her sheets had gotten wrapped around her ankle.
"AAAAAA!" she screamed as she crash on the floor, face first.
Gail cringed, hearing the thud from above her.
Mina pushed herself off the floor. "Oww! My face!" she yelled in irritation.
Gail chuckled, "That's the spirit." She said returning to the kitchen with a happy hum in her voice.
A little while later, Mina got out of the shower, brushed her teeth, put on some clothes, and made sure to brush her Azure blue hair before running down stairs. In the kitchen, Mina noticed her breakfast on table. She then turned to her mother who was drinking the rest of her coffee.
"Ma, why didn't you let me cook breakfast?", she said with obvious disappointment. "Remember, today was my turn to cook?"
The woman placed her coffee down and replied with a smile, "Oh, don't push yourself so hard. Besides you should study a little bit more before you leave."
"A little bit?" Mina said then turned her head to the clock in the wall. It was already 6:30 and school started at 8:00. "I guess I shouldn't have broken the alarm clock yesterday."
"Gail looked at her daughter with mild annoyance. "That's right. Who do you think has to replace those every time you break them? Anyway, never mind that. Sit and eat before your breakfast gets cold."
Gail drove up to George Washington High School in her Nissan X-Terra and stopped at the front of the school. Mina hoped out of the car and grabbed her backpack from the front seat. Gail grasped her daughter's hand and smiled at her, "Good luck, sweetheart."
"Thanks mom," she said squeezing her mother's hand in reassurance and closing the car door.
As her mother drove away to work her golden eyes followed her. With a sigh she then turned her head up to the blue sky "I hate school! Please, please give me strength before I take my final exams." she groaned.
"Are you talking to the sky again Mina?"
Mina whirled around to find her friend Rea staring at her mockingly. Rea had been Mina's best friend since kindergarten. She was about an inch shorter then Mina, with long dirty blond hair and sky blue eyes. She admired her friend greatly for being one of the best academic students in her school and not being stuck up about it. Rea was always casual and down to earth, but she could be quite sarcastic when she wanted to be.
The blond raised an eyebrow as she folded her arms over her chest. "That's the fourth time this week," she drawled lazily.
Mina blinked as she blushed in embarrassment. "Er... Hi Rea, I'm just nervous about taking the final exams. I'm not really good at this kind of stuff." Just as she finished her sentence, a thought came to her "Hey Rea, you're my bestest friend in the whole wide world right? Maybe you could show how much you care by giving me some of the answers today."
The shorter girl raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Is that really the best you could do?"
"Oh come on Rea, I'm terrible at exams; it's not fair that you were born a genius and I wasn't.
"No way Mina. Besides even if I wanted to, you have classes like Japanese Language, which I don't have. I know you can do it without my help you're just lazy." She giggled at that last part. "Oh and by the way, you should quit talking to the sky; people are going to start thinking you're crazy.
"B-b-but-" she whined.
she glanced over her shoulder with an amused grin on her face. "Come on, we better get to class now - and don't worry, I have faith in you."
Mina pouted with mock irritation, then sighed heavily, "You never change, but thanks for the encouragement."
The bell finally rang and they went their separate ways to class.
"Good luck on your exams Mina."
"Good luck to you too," she returned.
It was finally lunch time and a welcomed break for all the students. Mina popped her head into the cafeteria in search of her best friend. She finally spotted Rea at one of the tables and quickly grabbed her lunch to sit beside her.
"So, how did it go?" The short haired girl asked curiously while taking a bite of her tuna sandwich.
Rea finished her soda and put it down, with a smug grin on her face, "It was a piece of cake. How about you?"
Mina eyed at her enviously. 'Of course, Rea would never fail an exam.' then she answered with a smirk of her own, "It went great. I studied hard, thanks to my mom waking me up early this morning."
"Oh so you did that thing I suggested?" The blond smiled mockingly.
The blue haired girl shot her an irritated glare over the rim of her juice box, and Rea couldn't help but snicker at her frustrations.
"Oh no, next period is Biology." Mina remembered in a panic.
"Oh yeah, you suck at Biology."
Mina pleaded and grabbing her friends T-shirt, "I might not make it through Biology! Pleeeeease help me cheat?"
Rea pulled her shirt back while chuckling when she suddenly, overheard the other students in the cafeteria begin to whisper something.
"Psst, did you hear that?" said a girl with long Teal hair. "Mina's trying to cheat on her boyfriend Kenny; how cruel." her friend with the short silver ponytail, nodded in agreement.
A black haired girl with twin tails sitting across from them, decided to chimed in on their conversation. "It seems like she's never happy with him. What did he ever do to her?"
"Maybe he isn't good in bed." A boy with orange-red hair and yellow eyes, interjected smugly.
The three girls looked at the boy with fury in their eyes. The girl with black pigtails suddenly decided to stand up for Kenny and shot up from her set. "Why! You think you're so much better than Kenny? Dream on!"
The boy stood up, challenging her back. "Oh yeah, well I heard that Mina would rather sleep with a panda then with Kenny."
Mina tried to hear what they were saying but they were too far away; all she heard were the words 'sleep, with' and 'Kenny.'
"Sleep with Kenny!" she shouted. "Over my dead body! I'd rather go to bed with a panda then with him!"
"Ha! I told you!" yelled the boy in victory as he pointed at the black haired girl.
"So, what's so special about Pandas?" asked, the silver haired girl with the ponytail.
Mina slapped her forehead in exasperation. Their lack of intelligence was astounding.
Rea suddenly got up from her set and stomped on the table. With a megaphone in hand, all eyes turn toward her. "Shut the hell up all of you! She didn't sleep with my idiot brother and she isn't his girlfriend, understand! If I hear Mina's name one more time, I swear I'll stuff all of your heads in a toilet!"
Silence filled the room and the blond huffed in satisfaction.
Mina blinked with a huge sweat drop on her head. 'Well, I guess that's better,' She thought inwardly.
Rea finally got off the table and stat back down to finish her lunch. "As I was saying," she continued "I'm not going to help you cheat this time. You'll have to do it on your own; which reminds me - did you make sure to call the city blood bank for a sample of blood? To be honest, I still can't believe the blood bank agreed to help our school with this exam."
"Well, I heard that Mr. Hanson's wife works there and that she's a big department head or something like that. Anyway, since my mother donates blood every six months I went and got some of hers.
"Your mother's?" She gave her a strange look. "Why hers?"
Mina shrugged, "I don't know, It was the only thing I could think of at the time."
"Well all I can say is try to do your best."
The short haired girl sniffled as she ate the last of her lunch, "You're no help at all!"
"Someday, you'll thank me." The blond replied prudishly.
The bell rung loud in their ears, as they put away their lunch trays and walked to their Biology class.
As Mina walked in, she nervously scanned the exam papers and blood analysis equipment on her teacher's desk. When everyone was settled into their sets, her biology teacher, Mr. Hanson grabbed the exams and passed them to each student.
After handing out the last test, Mr. Hanson went and stood in front of the class. "You all have an hour and a half to finish the exam. Good luck everyone."
Mina swallowed the lump in her throat and glanced over her shoulder at her best friend.
Rea just smiled and winked at her.
The short haired returned a nervous smile and turned back to the exam in front of her. 'Well, it's do or die now.' She picked up the pencil and began her test.
Forty-five minutes later, Mina popped her head up and breathed a sight of relief. 'Whew, these questions were easier then I thought they would be. Now it's time to do the blood test.'
Mina got the vile of her mother's blood from her backpack and put it in a test tube with a solution of chemicals she pre mixed the day before. The test developed to show blood type *O.* 'Yes! I did it right. This isn't so bad after all. Actually that was kind of fun. I think I'll do it again, but I guess I'll have to use my blood this time.'
Mina found a small glass slide under one of the unused microscopes and used the edge to prick her finger. She made sure to squeeze enough blood to get a few results, just in case she did it wrong. She dripped some of her blood in a new vile with the same chemical solution and waited for the results. When the test finally developed, it turned into blood type *AB.* For a split second her mouth went dry until she shook her head and eyed the test results again.
"Impossible. I must have made a mistake," she unknowingly whispered out loud. Mina had unintentionally caught the attention of Rea and a few of the other students in her class.
Rae heard one of the students start whispering about something and she turned to glared daggers at them. The students took one glance and quickly returned to their work.
The short blond turned back toward her friend and saw Mr. Hanson walking over to her.
"Is everything okay Mina?"
"Umm, I'm not sure if I did this right?" Mina said puzzled.
He lifted his glasses up and leaned in to check her work. "Hmm, let me see the results." He looked at her data for half a minute before giving it back to her. "You did the procedure just right. You did a great job."
Mina suddenly felt her heart crash and shatter into a thousand pieces as she went into a state of shock.
Mr. Hanson grew concerned about her reaction. "Are you alright Mina? Do you need to go see the nurse?"
She snapped herself back to reality and faced her teacher. "No Mr. Hanson, I'm fine... Thanks for helping me."
The bell finally rang and it couldn't have come at a better time. Mr. Hanson returned to the front of the room and addressed the class, "Okay everyone, leave the exams on my desk and have a nice day."
Rea felt uneasy. She couldn't understand why her friend would look so devastated when the teacher said she had done her test perfectly. She grew even more worried when she walked over to Mina and noticed that her face was drained of color.
"Mina, what's wrong? You did the exam right, isn't that great?"
Mina shook her head, "That's not it."
She quietly handed Rea the blood test results but before her friend could fully read it, she felt eyes on the back of her head.
Rea glanced over her shoulder and glared at all the eavesdropping students. Now was really not the time for their eavesdropping.
"Okay, which one of you wants their head in the toilet first!"
The students winced in panic and speed out of class.
She sighed heavily as she went back to reading the test results.
"Okay, I can see this first one is your mothers, but whose blood test is this?"
"It's mine." Mina stated softly.
"So then what's the- "She stopped, and finally realized what the problem was. It was impossible for a person with type O blood to have a child with type AB. Now it was Rea's turn to be shocked.
"Wait a minute, these results could be wrong, Mina?"
"I tested my blood a bunch of times and got the same results. Besides you herd Mr. Hanson."
Rae desperately tried to keep her friend's spirits up it was hard to argue with DNA evidence. "Well maybe he's wrong, or maybe you mixed the solution wrong."
Mina couldn't take anymore, she knew Rea was just trying to cheer her up but it wasn't working. She turned and smiled sadly at her best friend. "Thanks for trying Rae, but I think I'm going to go home now."
"But it's the middle of the day and P.E is next. It's your favorite class remember." Rae said trying anything to make Mina feel better.
She simply answered "I can't go today," and walked away.
The blond could do nothing but watch as her friend disappear. She had a feeling that things would never be the same after this.
Mina left school campus without notifying her P.E. teacher or any other faculty. She didn't really care if she got in trouble. She didn't care about anything at the moment.
When she got to her house, she ran straight upstairs to her room and closed the door. She sat quietly on her bed in and pulled her knees toward her chest. She stared at the blood test results in her hand over and over again. After a while, she placed the results on the bed and began looking around her room. Mina's eyes finally settled on a picture of her and her mother wearing bathing-suits on a beach. It was taken on their vacation to Hawaii; her favorite place. She always loved that picture because of the great memories they had together and because of the weird guy in the background, trying to cut off some Hawaiian boy's hair.
She studied the picture of their vacation together. Once fond memories of the past were now being mixed with feelings of mistrust.
Why hadn't she seen it before; her mother was always touche when she asked about who her father was. The one time Mina asked about it, Gail told her that she had dated some guy for about a year before they mutually separated. Then when she found out she was pregnant, she decided to keep her instead of giving her up. That was the only story Mina knew, and it was a lie. Why hadn't she ever asked again? Maybe she was so content with just having her mother around that she never thought about it. Everything she knew about herself was a lie. Where did she really come from and how did Gail end up as her mother?
Mina's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone bursting into the living room. She knew it had to be her.
"Mina are you home?" Gail shouted in panic as she ran up the stairs toward her room.
She stopped in her tracks as she saw her daughter standing in the hallway glaring at her.
Gail let out a sigh of relief. "Oh Mina, I was worried about you. Your school called me and said that you had just left without telling anyone. Are you alright?"
With her hands clenched at her sides and her mind full of resentment she had only one question to ask her mother.
"Who am I?"
Gail's face suddenly went pail, but she tried to keep her wits about her. Maybe this wasn't what she thought it was. Maybe she was asking for a different reason. That just had to be it. "Mina, what are you talking about?"
Mina's eyes narrowed coldly as she threw the blood test results at her mother. Gail caught the papers as it hit her chest.
"In Biology today, I tested your blood and mine! We're not the same! My blood is type *AB* and yours is type *O.*It's impossible for me to be your daughter!"
Anxiety built up within Gail and her heart felt as if fell into her stomach. She cursed herself for not realizing that something like this could happen. She had forgotten all about it until now. She remembered giving Mina her consent to obtain a sample of her blood at the blood bank. How could she have been so careless?
She chocked as she read the test results in her hands. "These results must be a mistake." Gail said trying her best to deny it as much as possible.
Mina knew better though, she could see knew she was lying by her nervous reaction. She was lying to her again and Mina finally exploded into a fury.
"Those results are perfect! I did the test three times and I even had Mr. Hanson check them! Who am I! Answer me!"
Gail's knees became weak and she knelt down onto the floor. There was nothing else she could say to convince Mina otherwise. Gail's body shook uncontrollably as she buried her face in her hands while leaning against the wall.
"Please forgive me Mina", she sobbed. "I couldn't tell you the truth because I was afraid you would leave me forever! You're my daughter and the only person I have in this world! I couldn't bear to lose you because you were too important to me; the most important person in the world! Please don't leave me now! I love you too much please don't leave!"
A/N
I bet some of you are wondering why I would take up this fanfiction, seeing as that I'm not much of an Akane fan. Well, just because Mina is her twin, doesn't mean that she's going to act exactly liker her. It's true that they'll have some similarities (that will mostly show later on) but Mina has lived a different life and in a different culture up till now. It would be really stupid and lazy if Lisa or I made her have the same personality as Akane. Not only is that a sing of a poor writer but it's completely unfair to Mina's character and to the readers.
About Rea's name - I honestly don't know why Lisa decided to spell it Rea instead of Rei or Ray but it's still said the same way. I personally, think it make it more unique.