A/N: Not only is this the first Ranma fanfiction I've started to write, it is also one of the first stories I've written in quite some time (about 10 years) - so please, bear with me as I shake the dust off. Of course, I do need to state the obvious: I do not own Ranma ½, and these characters are used without permission.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu, the Art of War
An early morning sun rose over a desolate ruin…..(wait, many apologies, that's what once was the Tendo Dojo) as the residents woke from slumber. Only one still slept soundly, and that was only because he had been groggy from being knocked unconscious the evening before. At least he did until being tossed into the koi pond like she had most mornings. Climbing out, Ranma cracked her knuckles. "Damn it, Pop, yer gonna pay for that!"
Leaping out of the pond at her assailant, Ranma flipped over his shoulders and threw him backwards into the pond, landing somewhat dignified at the table where breakfast was waiting. Kasumi came out from the kitchen with a kettle of hot water, and passed it to Akane.
"Honestly, Ranma, do you have to fight him every morning?" Akane asked as she poured the water onto Ranma. The same question she had been asking almost every morning - as if it would've changed anything.
"What, and miss out on beating up Pops? Now why would I go and do a stupid thing like that?"
"After the last two weeks, I thought you'd want a break from fighting."
"After last night, I have a few very specific words to say to him."
"Ah. He's all yours,then."
Soun took a puff on his pipe and sighed. "I think it might be wisest just to say we'll hold the wedding after you each get your affairs in order."
Ranma and Akane glanced at each other. "You realize this is entirely…..
….your fault."
They blinked as they realized they were staring at each other, and looked away, blushing slightly.
After finishing breakfast and getting ready for school, Akane looked at Ranma and smiled.
"Race you to school." She said.
"You're on."
Ranma ran along the top of the fence, while Akane remained on the ground. With a leap and flip Ranma landed in front of the school gate just in front of Akane. "Hah! I win!"
Out in the courtyard, Tatewaki Kuno stood in front of the horde of students waiting for Ranma and Akane to arrive. This being the first day they had school since returning from China, many were wondering what exactly happened. Kuno stepped forward and issued his challenge. "Saotome! You vile cur! Stand before me and pay for your sins! You have stolen the beauteous Akane Tendo away to China and subjected her to vile depravities. Then you dare attempt to force her to be wed against her will. No more. From hell's heart, I strike at thee!"
Ranma glanced at Akane, and she merely gave him a nod. [1]
Ranma walked forward, evading every swing Kuno threw at him, until he was standing eye to eye with him. "I will only say this once, Kuno. I have killed an immortal being to save Akane - and you think you can stand in MY way? She is my fiancee, you're just a pest. " Raising a finger to Kuno's forehead, he spoke in a quiet voice, punctuating every word with a flick. If he had been paying a little more attention, he might have been aware that he wasn't speaking quietly so much as shouting at the top of his lungs. "Do you get it now? Akane. Tendo. Is. My. Fiancee.."
The final flick sent Kuno flying.
He then noticed that not only was everyone staring at him with their jaws hanging open, but Akane was blushing severely. The school's bell started ringing, bringing everyone out of the moment in a mad dash through the doors. Unfortunately for Kuno, he had landed right in front of the doors, and no one particularly took any care to avoid stepping on him.
In their classroom, Ranma found himself cornered by Hiroshi and Daisuke, while Akane was dealing with Yuka and Sayuri. Even the rest of the students in the class were straining to overhear their conversations.
"Akane, did you hear what Ranma said out there? Did he really mean such a thing? What on earth happened in China? Has he finally admitted how he feels about you?"
Both of them were speaking at once, so Akane wasn't quite sure who was asking which question. Still, the questions she was being asked did deserve some answer, but how much of the truth was she willing to give? Still, given the way that she was being stared at, she felt she at least needed to say something.
"Well.. I heard what he said, but who knows if he actually meant it - it might just have been a way to throw Kuno off balance, given how crazy he is." Of course, Akane was quite convinced he met every word he had said. If there was one thing about him that she loved, it was that incredible protective instinct of his, despite the trouble it always brought.
"What about China? You just up and disappeared last week - you went and followed him, didn't you?"
"It wasn't by choice. The people Ranma went to fight found his photo of me, so they thought they could use me against him. They took me to where Ranma had gotten his curse, Jusenkyo, and chased me into a spring. I thought I was going to drown, but I woke up in a dungeon. Ranma didn't even know I was there until I had already trying to escape."
"Wait, They chased you into a spring? You have a CURSE?!"
"I don't have a curse….They had just dug the spring to create a new curse. Anything that falls into that spring will take my form when hit with cold water. That apparently, is how they planned to use me against Ranma and the others. Ranma told me later that she pretended to be me to steal a map to the source of Jusenkyo from him and the others." [2]
"Anyway, I escaped and found Ranma in trouble, like always. He was trapped with Saffron, the prince of Ho'o Peak - who was trying to drain Jusenkyo to trigger a transformation of some kind. As long as hot water was pouring onto him, Ranma couldn't do anything to escape or even fight. I had to make a choice, and I chose to save him by turning off the water. As I did it, I yelled at him to run. I didn't know that it would kill me."
"Wait… what? Kill you!?" The shock and alarm was quite evident in Yuka's voice.
"I had all the water in my body magically evaporated, and was shrunk into a nearly immobile doll. That was close enough for me. You'll have to ask Ranma about the fight, though, because the next thing I remember is him saying he loved me, and him crying over me. Actually, it was one of his tears dropping on my face that made me wake up"
"Wow, I guess saying it doesn't mean as much as showing it like that."
"Of course, being an idiot boy, he denied he even said such a thing…. But I know I heard him. Really, you'd think he'd understand just how well I've come to know him."
"And what about you? Have you told him how you feel about him?"
"If he hasn't figured it out by now, that's his problem." Akane answered flatly, but the slight blush on her cheeks was a clear indicator of what she was actually thinking.
"That's not an answer, Akane."
"I know." [3] She was having too much fun with her friends to consider how open she was being with her feelings regarding Ranma. They had known her long enough that it was well past obvious that she loved him. After all, it was the two of them that originally noticed how well they were matched, even if they had been denying it for the past two years. Hopefully, it wouldn't take another two years for them to clue in themselves.
Over on the other side of the room, Ranma was dealing with his own conversation, but he was not going to be quite as forthcoming as Akane.
"I already told ya, I didn't even know Akane was there until later. I didn't wanna get her involved, but you know how that always turns out."
"You are a big enough magnet for trouble, we're just lucky we don't get drawn in ourselves."
"You want in on the next batch of crazy, be my guest. Maybe I'd get lucky, and Kodachi would end up being interested in one of you instead of me."
In unison, Hiroshi and Daisuke shuddered, "NO THANK YOU!"
"Anyway, that was probably the most challenging fight I've ever had, and that's not counting the time Happosai hit me with that damn mark. This time, it was a real fight to the death. I only won because Akane showed me what I needed to do."
"So what happened after the fight?"
Ranma froze, if there was one moment in his life he never wanted to revisit, it would be that one. The feeling of holding Akane's body cold in his arms would be one that would haunt him the rest of his life. 'That was the worst moment of my life… even the nekoken doesn't even come close. I will die before I *ever* let that happen again …'
"Ranma?" Daisuke poked him in the shoulder, having noticed that he was distracted.
"I won. Isn't that enough?" The coldness in Ranma's eyes should've been enough to end the conversation, but never underestimate the perverted depths the teenage male mind can reach.
"Oh, I get it." Hiroshi grinned. "You don't want to tell us how you and Akane celebrated, do you?"
"C'mon man, you've got to tell us," Daisuke cajoled, "you can't hide anything from us. You finally had your chance to get with her, didn't you?"
"Feh. If *that* happened I wouldn't be talking about it with anyone, least of all either of you"
"So something *did* happen!"
Ranma shrugged. "You'd just go ahead and think that anyway." He was getting frustrated, as he hadn't had much time to himself to sort out everything that had happened. Much of it was still too raw in his memory, especially how terrified he felt when he thought Akane was dead. If he had attempted a Shi-Shi Hokodan at that particular moment, he probably would've leveled China itself.
"You meant what you said to Kuno, out there didn't you?"
"I said what I said." Ranma had already forgotten what exactly he had said to Kuno, so there was no point trying to explain what was probably meaningless banter between combatants.
The two conversations ended abruptly as the teacher walked in, but the four participants who were not engaged clearly noticed that Ranma and Akane were looking at each other and blushing slightly.
Within the Nekohanten another conversation was taking place between an Amazonian Elder and her great-granddaughter.
"Grand-daughter, do not imagine for a moment that I hold your theft of the map against you - you were not in control of your own mind, but I must know how you came back to yourself. The battle with Saffron will be enough for another day."
"After Ranma escaped Saffron, Shampoo threaten to snap Akane's neck unless Ranma give her himself. Ranma say he want see Shampoo naked, but was trick to get imprinting eggs Shampoo had. Ranma got Shampoo into egg, but Mousse give Shampoo mirror so she imprint on herself."
"Mousse gave you a mirror? He did not try to have you imprint yourself on him? That is most interesting."
"Mousse always want Shampoo, but now he prove himself too weak even when perfect opportunity present itself."
"If you think that was weakness, you are as blind as he is without glasses. Imagine what he could've had you do if you imprinted on him. You'd have been no better than a slave to him, and while most outsider males would drown themselves drooling over such a possibility, he chose to *ignore* that opportunity and give you your own will back. I am starting to think he may be a more worthy match for you than he appears."
"Shampoo know Mousse, he no understand what Shampoo want. Mousse is good man, but Ranma better."
"And yet, child, you just asked the most important question: What do *you* want? Ranma has made his choice, and it isn't you. Have you heard the foreign saying 'perfection is the enemy of the good'? You have tried to win Ranma, and have failed repeatedly. What good can come of continuing a futile struggle? His actions have shown that this battle has been lost before it even began. That is not even considering that he is powerful enough to be a threat to the tribe. Think about how he was able to defeat Saffron, do you not see the threat he could become? Now we must seek another path. He will not join us willingly, but perhaps we might at least earn his trust. If we have that, then we have accomplished much."
"What great-grandmother mean?"
"It is simple, my dear. As an Elder, once I have a chance to speak with him, I will consider dissolving your Kiss of Marriage upon him. You can no longer gain him as a husband, but we may yet gain him as an ally. Consider this, Shampoo, between Ranma and Mousse, which one knows you most? Who between them understands you? We will speak about this again after you have had some time to think."
Ranma was balanced on the fence as usual, and Akane was on the sidewalk as they were walking back from school. Ranma had a slight scowl on his face as he thought about what had happened that day.
He sighed.
Akane turned to look at him, slight concern in her eyes. "What is it, Ranma?"
"I don't get it, Akane. Everyone seems to think Jusendo was just another adventure for us, but it wasn't. We both almost got killed. As far as I'm concerned, you were! You don't know what it was like holding you there in that cavern. I just can't go through a thing like that again."
He paused and turned to look at her. She could tell that he was trying to control his emotions, and failing miserably. The subtle clenching of his fists was a dead giveaway. Still, she waited for him to finish his thought.
"I killed someone in that fight. *I* killed. That's not something you can undo. Yeah, sure, he turned out to have been an immortal being, but what if I was fighting someone like Herb, or Pantyhose Taro? There's no way I could've known he'd just revert to an egg. I've always tried to keep control of my strength, but that was the first time I have ever had to let it loose like that, and it almost wasn't enough. I got lucky, and even that wasn't enough to keep you safe. We're engaged, aren't we? Doesn't that mean your safety is my responsibility?"
Akane turned to look at him. "Don't you think I can take care of myself, Ranma?"
"Uh….." Ranma always looked like a deer in headlights when he panicked and had to scramble for a response, which Akane found simply adorable. [4] "Yes, alright, you can take care of yourself most of the time, but honestly, 'kane, how often have you been kidnapped, or I've been drugged, or we've been forced into a ridiculous situation?"
"If you've paid any attention, we've always ended up getting out of those situations together. Besides, you once ended up a five-year old from a mushroom - that's pretty ridiculous."
"Heh.. Admit it, you enjoyed that way more than Ryoga or I did. That was still a dirty trick you played, making us think that we'd be stuck that way."
Akane blushed slightly, remembering that she actually had spanked him for his behaviour.
She briefly wondered what would've happened if their positions had been reversed. "Well, it was pretty funny. You were finally acting your age. Although, Dad was a little weird about it. You did make for a pretty cute kid. I wonder what you would've looked like if you'd been in your cursed form." She smiled at the thought.
"Akane, If you were ever a cuter kid than me, I'll eat your cooking for a week."
"Oh really?" She rolled her eyes at him. "Well then, it's a bet. When we get home, we'll have to ask your mom for some pictures, I'm sure she's kept some of you, and if you turn out to have been a cuter kid, I'll go on a training trip with you."
"What, to cook?"
"To train, you idiot. You can do the cooking if you want."
Ranma paled a little, because he was slowly coming to realize the dangerous ground he was getting himself into. There was only going to be one way out of this, and his pride wasn't going to come out unscathed. Given the difficult choice between his pride and his dignity, his sense of self-preservation won out. "Alright, alright, fine, then we'll also have to look at some pictures of you. I'm sure Kasumi knows where they are."
"You actually want to see pictures of me as a kid? You know that I'm going to have to ask your mother for a baby picture of you."
"Oh, and I guess I'll ask your Dad for one of you."
"You couldn't possibly have been a cuter baby than me!"
"Oh yeah? It's not my fault baby girls are automatically cute. Boys are just handsome."
"Oh, so you think I'm handsome do…." Ranma shut himself up with a rather unmanly squeak, because when one hasn't quite been able to put into words how they feel about someone, there are a number of pitfalls that can emerge in conversation with them. It's one thing to have decided for yourself that you love them, but it is quite another thing to converse with it remaining unsaid. A discerning eye might just guess at the heart behind the words, but for the uninitiated, it'll always just seem like petty bickering. In the back of his mind, Ranma was quite certain how Akane felt about him, just as she knew how he felt about her, but because they haven't quite had the chance to properly acknowledge it to each other, they were just leading themselves into the kind of trouble that only comes from love. Ranma searched Akane's face for any signs of reaction, because he was counting on her sense of embarrassment to put an end to this before it got out of hand. Too late for him, they were already home.
Nodoka Saotome was waiting for Ranma and Akane by the gate as they stepped through. Whatever had happened to her son in China greatly concerned her, as Genma did not give her all the details, save that he had killed to save Akane's life. While she felt that such an act proved Ranma's manliness, it is the sort of thing that becomes a burden on one's soul. If she could have spared her son such a responsibility, she would not have hesitated. As it stood, she needed to let Ranma come to terms with it himself. Akane would likely play a large part in doing that, as the bond between them was clear. Unlike her husband, she knew that meddling in the affairs of the heart always led to disaster. For all his skill in martial arts, her son was virtually hopeless where the heart was concerned.
Ranma came through the gate first, with Akane laughing behind him. His face was slightly red, so he had evidently stepped on a verbal land mine. [5] He greeted his mother with a wave.
"Welcome home. How was school?" Nodoka asked.
"Terrible. Everyone kept wanting to know about what happened in China. I only told Hiroshi and Daisuke some of the details, but they're probably going to tell everyone else. We only got back four days ago, anyway." Ranma was just glad to be home. He had had enough of people bugging him for details about what happened. Maybe if he had a chance to meditate, he'd be able to clear his mind enough to actually deal with it.
"Yeah, I was talking to my friends too, and that was all they wanted to know about. Ranma and I haven't even had a chance to talk about it with each other, so it's been a little overwhelming." Akane suspected that trying to talk about this with Ranma before he was ready would just lead to more evasive answers and lead to one of their usual arguments. She wasn't going to let him know that she was starting some of those arguments on purpose because of how fun it was to get him riled up. She never considered the possibility that he was doing the same thing.
"You can always talk to me, you know. That goes for the both of you. You have grown up to be quite a man, Ranma, but you should know that even the manliest among them still needs his mother."
Ranma flushed a little at his mother's statement, but nodded. "Sure, Mom, I will."
Akane looked between them, and then decided that this would probably be the best opportunity she had to settle their little bet. "Auntie Saotome, I was wondering if you had any photos of Ranma when he was younger? I've always wondered what he might've looked like as a baby."
There are some looks you really do not want to see on your mother's face as a young man, and Ranma got a close look at one of them. Nodoka had taken on the 'Look of the Future Grandmother', which would normally be fine if you're not the one going to be having kids, but seeing as Ranma was an only child, he just felt a deep sense of impending doom. As soon as Akane asked for her pictures of Ranma, Nodoka had already started to imagine her first grandchild.
"Why, yes, Akane, I do have quite a few photos packed away. I would be glad to show them to you. In fact, why don't you ask your father for your own photos, so Ranma can see what you looked like as well?" [6]
"That would be great. I'd love to show him some of my childhood. We haven't talked that much about it, anyway."
"Hey, don't I get any say in this?" Ranma tried to interrupt, but was totally unaware he was making one of the most famous of the classic blunders. The first, of course, is never to get involved in a land war in Asia, the second obviously being to never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, but here he was committing the third, and arguably the most dangerous blunder - Interrupting a mother and a prospective daughter-in-law.
"Ranma. Don't be so rude." His mother was focused on Akane, but he could see the curve of the katana at her hip, so he wisely shut his mouth before it brought him any more trouble.
"I made sure that the photo albums where one of the first things I brought over. Come and see me in a few minutes so I can get them. Ranma, go and put your things away."
Recognizing that he would not have any choice in the matter, he went into his room and did as his mother asked. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, muttered against the injustice of uncute tomboys conspiring with his mother under his breath, and returned to the living room.
Returning to where his mother and Akane were sitting, Ranma hesitantly sat down between them. His mother had two photo albums sitting on the table in front of her, and was opening a third. He pinched the bridge of his nose, dreading what was about to happen. He needn't have worried, because the very first photo his mother pulled out was one he really did not expect.
"Now, Akane, I think you may have seen this one before. It was taken a few days before Ranma and his father left on their training trip."
"Oh no…. Not that one…. No, no, no, nooo…." Ranma paled and buried his face in his hands. Even the Soul of Ice wouldn't save him from this. When Genma used this photo, it helped him to master the Hiryu Shoten Ha, but with his mother having a copy…. He really didn't want to think about it.
"Oh yes, his father showed it to me, back when Ranma was learning the Soul of Ice technique." Akane suppressed a giggle at the look on Ranma's face as he realized the trouble he was in.
"This is one of my favorites, actually. This was taken when Ranma was 3 years old, and it was just happenstance that I caught it.." Nodoka slid a photo out of the album and handed it to Akane. Ranma was sitting cross legged with a small black kitten sleeping in his lap. He had a large smile on his face. Akane's eyes flicked over to Ranma's, slightly horrified.
"You had a cat?" Akane asked.
"Well, he loved it very much, but it wasn't ours, he belonged to a neighbour of ours. This little one seemed to adore Ranma, but he stopped coming around when Ranma was 6, I never figured out why." Nodoka grimaced slightly.
"So Ranma used to love cats, that's pretty interesting." Akane stated.
"Used to? What do you mean by that?" Nodoka asked.
"Uh…. I'll explain later, Mom. So what's this one, then?" Ranma reached over and picked up a photograph. It was of a much younger Genma and Soun. Each were holding an infant and were grinning like madmen.
"That was taken when you and Akane met for the very first time. You were only about 3 months old, while she was only about 2 weeks old. Akane, you should know that your mother was the one to take the picture." Nodoka was sympathetic to the girl, because her mother had been as close a friend to her as Soun was to Genma. The twin looks of surprise on both her son and his fiancee's faces were quite endearing, it would seem they were unaware of just how close their families were tied.
"My mother took this picture?" Akane's eyes were wide with surprise and awe.
"Yes, she was quite insistent about it. It's not surprising neither of you remember. There should be another one of us, instead of your fathers."
Ranma was looking at the photograph, examining every detail. While Genma and Soun were grinning in the picture, his younger self was looking at the infant Akane with a look of curiosity. She on the other hand was smiling and reaching back towards him.
"I think it was expected even then that it would be the pair of you fulfilling the agreement. While they had made the agreement before even Kasumi was born, well, there's no denying you were quite taken with her even then, Ranma."
Akane looked over at the photograph, and studied it as intently as Ranma was doing. They looked up from it to each other, and spoke in unison. "You win." They blinked, and started laughing, leaving Nodoka to look at them quizzically. Ranma was hesitant to explain, but Akane spoke up first.
"We made a bet before we got home. I guess we both lost."
"A bet? And just what did you bet on?"
Akane blushed. "Does it really matter? We were arguing over which of us was cuter as kid because of some magical mushrooms we encountered last spring. It turned Ranma and Ryoga back into 5 year olds. Fortunately, we were able to turn them back."
"Yeah, by playing dirty, 'kane. Seriously, I don't think I'd fall for that trick again."
"Did you take any pictures?!" Ranma sweatdropped in response to his mother's intrigued questioning.
"Actually, I had Nabiki take a few. I can go and get some of them later."
"Nabiki took pictures!? You didn't tell me that!" Ranma was aghast, and perhaps a little bit nervous.
"Don't worry so much, Ranma - she only took the ones that I asked her to take."
"How reassuring." He said dryly.
Nodoka interrupted them with a quiet laugh. "So what exactly were the stakes of your bet, then?"
"Uh… I said I'd eat her cooking for a week if she turned out to be cuter than I was."
"And I said I'd go on a training trip with him, not to cook, but to actually train with him."
Nodoka smiled at them. "And since you spoke at the same time, you both lost. That sounds very familiar. That kept happening with your fathers so many times - making bets that they could both lose. They usually lost to me and your mother, anyway."
"Really? That explains quite a bit." Akane was smiling.
Nodoka reached for another photograph. This one was of a very young Ranma in mid-fall from his first attempt at fence-walking. The panicked look on his face is the same one he's always had, which greatly amused Akane.
"Hey, I learned to do that eventually. You haven't even tried it yet, so what're you laughing about?"
"Some things never change, Ranma - you always look like that when you panic."
"I do not!"
The evening passed quickly, with photographs, memories and pointless bickering filling the air. Eventually the rest of the family joined them. Ranma would never quite admit just how much he enjoyed the experience, and it wasn't even half as embarrassing as he expected it to be. Akane on the other hand, was glad to have gotten a glimpse into the early life of the young man who had invaded her life.
That night, as the dojo's denizens slept, Ranma rested fitfully, his mind awhirl with memory. Even as he fell asleep it wasn't long before he began to dream:
The cavern was cold, that much Ranma noticed as he advanced to the flickering light ahead of him. He eventually came upon a ledge overlooking a scene permanently etched into his memory. He was back at Jusendo, and found himself having an outsider's perspective on the worst moment of his young life. He looked down where the other him was holding Akane at the base of the Dragon Spout, and watched as he spoke to Akane, tears falling from his face. He waited anxiously to see the moment when Akane would wake, listening to his tearful confession of love, only to be shocked and surprised when she did not respond as he remembered. The male figure below started screaming wordlessly, echoing off the walls of the cavern, until it sounded more like the yowl of a wounded and enraged animal. He watched as his erstwhile companions approached the trembling figure until he found his perspective shifting and merging with that of his other self..
Ryoga, Mousse, Genma and Shampoo approached Ranma as he cradled Akane's body in his arms. Ryoga called out to him. "Ranma? Is Akane alright?" He froze when he saw the inhuman look in Ranma's eyes. He reached out to touch Ranma's shoulder, to try to break the stupor when he stopped with a sharp inhale of breath. He hadn't even seen Ranma move, but he had certainly felt the Ki claws rip through his chest. Ranma looked up at him as he fell, an animalistic snarl on his face as he moved to attack the rest of the party. Ryoga tried to gasp out a warning but it just came out as a bloody gurgle as everything grew dark around him, the screams of his compatriots echoing through the chamber.
Ranma was nothing more than a passenger in his own mind as the Nekoken berserker tore through those that remained. Shampoo was the next victim of the rampage, and there must've been some lingering anger over her threat to Akane because she suffered the worst out of the three. With a quick swipe of claws, her throat was torn out, and as she fell to the ground the raw savagery of the bestial Ranma came to the fore. Before she even hit the ground she had been disemboweled. Mousse attacked, screaming for vengeance, but he was thrown against the wall with a sickening crack after having his left arm torn from his body. Genma, still in his panda form, acted in the only way his cowardly nature left open to him, and fled into the shadows.
Ranma turned towards Kima and the bundled egg she carried. With a loud growl he gave chase as she took off and flew back towards Ho'o Peak. The vicious feline in a human body finally reached Ho'o Peak, and the nearly defenseless inhabitants fell against the onslaught of their perfect predator. Time blurred in a flurry of violence and screams, with Ranma left watching the massacre out of the beast's eyes. When the dust settled, there was only one living thing on that mountain, and its terrifying howls of rage and pain were heard for miles.
Akane woke suddenly to a plaintive and frightened mewling at her door. Curious, she got up to take a look, and was surprised to find Ranma darting inside lost in the Nekoken. His eyes were wide open and it was clear that he was frightened. His nostrils were flaring as he circled around her, immersing himself in her scent. Ranma rubbed himself against her legs, glad to be in her presence. Akane was slightly embarrassed and sat down on the edge of her bed. Ranma leapt up beside her and curled up, purring. Absentmindedly, Akane reached over and started stroking his hair. She didn't know what could've sent him into the Nekoken, as there were no cats around, but it would probably take a while for him to come out of such a state.
"Oh, Ranma, what could've done this to you? If only you could tell me." Ranma shifted beside her, lying on his back with his head in her lap. His body was still trembling, but after a few minutes she felt him settle down. She looked down at him, and saw that he was falling back asleep. Once he had settled, she gently shook him awake. Ranma's eyes flew wide open with a panic as he suddenly realized where he was..
"Gyah! A-A-Akane? What?" His voice was a little slurred and confused. He sat up with a start. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he turned to look at her. "When did I come into your room?"
"You don't remember going into the Nekoken? I heard you at my door, and when I let you in, you were terrified. You were just sniffing at me, and rubbing yourself on my legs, acting like you were afraid something had happened to me. Then you just fell asleep. What happened?"
Ranma blinked as the nightmare finally faded from his mind. He saw the raw concern in Akane's eyes as he tried to explain. "I don't know. I had a nightmare about Jusendo. I was watching myself talk to you after the fight with Saffron, but this time things were different. You died in my arms, and that somehow pushed me into the Nekoken."
"So that's when you woke up in the Nekoken and had to come check on me?"
"No, that was just the start of the nightmare. When Ryoga approached to check on us, I found that I was no longer watching from a distance but was looking out from my own eyes, feeling the same things as my dreamself. He reached out to put a hand on my shoulder, and I killed him for it - stabbed him right through the chest with my ki-claws. That's not the worst of it, I killed Shampoo and Mousse as well. Pops just up and vanished, though. After that, I chased Kima and Saffron all the way back to Ho'o Peak. I killed everyone."
"It was just a nightmare, Ranma."
"You don't understand, Akane,this wasn't just any nightmare. I killed *everyone* on that mountain. I was a passenger in my own body, with no control over the beast I had become, and the dream ended with me alone on an empty mountain. I didn't wake up until you shook me."
Akane's eyes widened with the implications of what Ranma was telling her. No wonder he looked so shaken - his personal code explicitly forbid harming innocents, and yet he had dreamed of not only breaking his code, but in the worst way imaginable. She didn't want to imagine what he was describing, but he looked shaken enough she didn't want to leave him alone.
Ranma paused, bile rising in his throat, until he darted off to the bathroom to vomit, his dry heaves loud enough for Akane to hear. He returned looking pale and haggard. He sat down on Akane's bed and continued his explanation after taking a few moments to compose himself.
"That wasn't the worst of it, Akane. Not even close. It was having fun. I could feel the pleasure from each kill. I… I enjoyed it!"
He went silent. This was something he'd never be able to fully explain to her, he wasn't even sure he could fully explain it to himself. For now, he just needed to be near her, to assure himself that she was fine. He was thus caught quite off guard when Akane wrapped her arms around him in a firm embrace.
"It wasn't real, Ranma. You'd never do a thing like that - except for Saffron, you've never had any lethal intent towards your opponents - you've always just fought until they were unconscious. It's just not in your nature to kill."
"Yeah, I know, but when I'm in the Nekoken, I'm entirely driven by instinct. I can really only see two real options at that point, friend or foe, and at that point, the definition of 'friend' can vary. You're probably the only person who can safely be around me at that point."
"What about your mother? How would you see her at that point?"
"She doesn't know yet about the Nekoken. I don't think that'd end well."
"It is your biggest weakness, shouldn't she know about it? She might be able to help you overcome it."
Ranma stared at her. Was she really this blind? Did she not see the obvious truth sitting right in front of her? He knew he could be an idiot at times, but this was ridiculous. They had known each other for over 2 years at this point, and she still couldn't see it?
"The Nekoken is not my biggest weakness, Akane."
Akane suddenly remembered what Kima had said to her at Jusenkyo. She had said that Akane herself was Ranma's weakness, and given what happened afterward, she couldn't deny the truth of those words, even though she tried to deny there being anything between her and Ranma at that point, she knew the words were hollow. She let go of Ranma to look him in the eyes, and inhaled with a gasp.
"It's me, isn't it? Your biggest weakness is me."
Ranma was silent. So many emotions were flowing through him he wasn't sure what he should say. He could deny it, but as they both already knew the yet unsaid truth between them it would be meaningless. He could admit it, but that would have trouble of his own. He took the only option he could see. Ranma just nodded. Words would not be coming easily to him in this moment, so he remained silent. It was easier to just see where things would go from here, and adapt accordingly. That was, after all, the true strength of Anything Goes, adaptation and improvisation. He should've probably said something at least, because as he was nodding Akane embraced him again.
"I know. Ranma, I know. You don't have to say anything."
"Thanks, Akane." He reached up and squeezed her hand, a simple gesture that was full of emotions they hadn't been able to express with words. She squeezed back, and then let go of him. She snapped her fingers and stood up to rummage through one of her drawers. She pulled out a small gift-wrapped box and brought it over to Ranma. "Here."
"What is this, Akane?"
"Something I picked up for you a while back that I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to give to you. It's a book I thought you might find interesting."
Ranma tore open the box and pulled out a small book. "Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'. I've heard of it, but I haven't actually had a chance to read a copy of it. Thanks, Akane. I think I'll enjoy this."
Akane stood up and opened her door. "I think it's time we went back to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Ranma."
Ranma left her room to go back to bed. "Good night, Akane, and thanks… I…. I guess I really needed you tonight, didn't I?"
Akane smiled and gave a small shrug. "I couldn't leave you stuck as a cat, now could I? You could have clawed up the furniture, and who knows if you're even properly house trained….."
"So uncute, ya Tomboy." The grin on his face took all possible sting out of the words. It still wasn't the smartest thing to say, but being male guarantees idiocy at random intervals. [7]
Akane slammed the door shut in his face with a growl, and went back to bed, blushing slightly.
End of Chapter 1: On Warfare
Author's notes:
[1] - If the movie 300 comes to mind, you'd be right.
[2] - I doubt Ranma would have told her of the exact circumstances, though.
[3] - Imagine the scene from The Empire Strikes Back with Ranma and Akane. It works, doesn't it?
[4] - This expression is typically an involuntary reflex that is usually not observed in the wild, but occurs when there is at least some degree of reciprocal interest.
[5] - Most fanfics refer to this phenomena as 'Saotome Foot-in-Mouth Disease', I elected to avoid that term, because 'conversational landmine' is a far more vivid (and accurate) metaphor.
[6] - As embarrassing as it is for baby photos to be pulled out, I want you to consider the necessary level of relationship required for this to happen in the first place - it's essentially the penultimate stage of a relationship'.
[7] - If we males could ever find a way to even explain why this happens, we'd still never fix it.