Forging our own destinies.
Summary: After the wedding, Ranma has had enough. The wedding had dashed his one chance to marry Akane and also the chance to cure his curse. He confides with Akane, having a talk that they should have had the moment they knew about the engagement. And then he leaves. To forge his own destiny.
Author's notes: Hi everyone. This is my first fan fiction so I hope you'll go easy on me. Nevertheless, any comments is welcome.
First warning is that this is a Ranma and Akane match up. I know there are many who hate Akane and portray her very badly but seriously some of her portrayals are really over the board, like she is completely sadistic or is perverted. Anyway, this is also to give a chance to delve into Ranma's psyche which is rarely shown in anime.
Second: There are possible crossover in future, and I'm sorry to say not all of them are anime related. I do intend to keep the crossover interactions at a minimum so as to less confusion to readers who may not be familiar with the various crossover storylines. But to summaries, future plans include the following:
Bleach, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Gundam Seed and strangely enough, the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Again, I'll try to keep everything in Nerima.
Chapter 1: The First Step.
It was late at night at the Tendo residence. All the "Guests" had left, either curtesy of Ranma's fist, Akane's mallet or a few well placed words from the Ice Queen of Nerima who whispered tales of their misconducts which even they, the Nerima Wrecking Crew, would not want publicly known. The dojo was in shambles and during that midnight hour, Tendo Kasumi was cleaning up the rubbish that was left behind. And instead of her all encompassing smile and aura of calmness and happiness, it was replaced by one of sadness and she was in tears as she picked up the rubbish.
Later two persons walked into the dojo, determined to help Kasumi clean up seeing the fathers were of no use, even going out to wail the wedding's failure. Tendo Akane and Saotome Ranma looked at each other. Rather than his usual arrogant demeanor and general idiocy that he usually displayed, this time it was tempered by depression, shame and sadness. Kasumi looked at them and smiled a little when the two started to help clean up the dojo.
When the dojo was finally clean, it was 3 am in the morning. The three had still not said anything to each other. Then the first step began.
"Akane, Kasumi, I'm leaving."
The two sister's head jerked up in shock as they looked at Ranma.
"Please, I know I ain't good in words so please, I beg of you, please be quiet or I will still leave without you all knowing why."
"Ranma, let us go to my room. I'm very sure Nabiki hasn't bugged it or otherwise have it under surveillance," Kasumi said, shocking both Ranma and Akane who had always considered her oblivious to Nabiki's schemes or even the general chaos that dominated Nerima.
Two minutes later, the three were sitting on the floor in Kasumi's room.
"First of all, I'm glad that I met you all, especially you Akane. A lot of things happened but in the end, you still cared for me when it really counted. I'll never forget your help when I dueled Kodachi, or when Cologne stuck me in girl's form with the Cat Tongue technique, or the duel with the ice-skating duo. And in spite your horrible cooking skills, you still tried to improve, and you did. The last curry you made was out of this world, and I mean it in a good way."
Akane blushed wanted to say something, for once her fiery temper missed the earlier comment about her cooking. "Ranma…"
Ranma held up his hand. "I'm not finished. As I said, not once did I regret having my girly ass dragged into the Tendo Dojo. And in the last 1 ½ years that I've known, I've grown extremely fond of you."
He took a deep breath. "Tendo Akane, I loved you a long time now."
Kasumi put her hands to her mouth to suppress her growing mirth, even though she hadn't forgotten what he said about leaving. After all this time, he's finally able to say it.
Akane's eyes widened then she began to tear up. "then why are you leaving? Why couldn't you leave well enough alone and gone after the Nyanichaun bottle AFTER we were married? Why did you have to screw things up again?" she cried out.
And to both sister's shock, Ranma's eyes also began to tear up. "I just wanted you to be married to a normal man. Not a freak like I currently am."
The great Saotome Ranma, possibly the grand master of Anything Goes Martial Arts, Slayer of the Phoenix Demi-God Saffron and chaos bringer, then broke down crying. Akane moved to Ranma and did something she had never done before: she sat beside him and pulled him towards her, enveloping him in a hug. Ranma's head went down to her knees and continued crying there while Akane stroked his hair.
Through the sobs, she heard, "but I realize now that it wouldn't have mattered. Cursed or not, you would have accepted me. You already did a long time ago but this damn curse seemed, along with my pops, seemed to have robbed me of every chance for me to just show affection to you. I so wanted to walk up to mother and introduce you as my girlfriend but the damn contract interfered. And since then, everything snowballed into chaos."
He lifted his head and straightened himself in front of Akane. "Akane, I need to go on a training trip. Not to find a cure but to find myself. I know I love you, that much I'm certain. But personally, this whole being the greatest in martial arts thing is wearing me down. I still love martial arts and it'll forever be an integral part of my life. But if all martial arts will bring me is chaos and the inability to live a happy life, then I will gladly give it up for something better."
"This journey will be to find that something better or to see if I can use martial arts for something other than senseless fighting and duels. I've got some money stashed away for sometime known and I will use it to travel around Japan, or abroad if necessary. I may not be a freak but I'm far to immature for a great responsibility like marriage. And I certainly don't want you to be married to a ronin, jobless and an overall jackass."
The comment caused both sister to smile a little. They had a feeling that they wouldn't be smiling very soon so best to savor any now.
"All I want now, is to hear what you think of me, and whether you will accept my journey. I'm not asking you to wait for me, in fact, if you meet person who is better than me, please go after him, just don't mallet him too much. Not everyone is as tough as me."
All eyes were on Akane now. The girl wiped her own tears from her eyes and looked into Ranma's. "I…. probably should be very mad now. I mean, you confessed your love and then you say your leaving. Whatever your reasoning, to a girl this is the worst kind of confession to make."
Ranma looked down on the floor and both sisters could practically feel the depression oozing from him. Kasumi wanted to say something to both admonish Akane and placate Ranma when the Ranma's head jerked up as Akane said her next words.
"But I love you too so I guess I'll forgive you sooner or later. Better make it now."
Ranma then did something that made Kasumi's heart sing: he bent forward and kissed Akane. Akane's eyes widened at Ranma's boldness but her eyes closed as the two enjoyed a slow kiss that made Kasumi feel envious.
They broke the kiss about 2 minutes later. "Akane, will you accept my journey to find myself? Will you let me go find my happiness?"
"Baka, as if I could stop you from leaving even if I wanted to."
Kasumi wanted to slap her head. An insult right after a kiss was NOT a good thing to do.
"If you can, come back to me. If its alright with you, I will wait for you," she finished quietly.
Ranma's hands reached forward and held both Akane's hands. "So is this an engagement proposal?" he asked.
"Yes," Akane whispered.
"Just wait a minute." Ranma quietly sneaked out of the room and returned with a small package. He unwrapped the package and it revealed a ring box. He knelt down like some of the gaijin movies the two sisters had seen and proposed to Akane.
"Tendo Akane, would you consent to be my innazuke?" he asked as he opened the box to reveal a simple diamond ring, not very extravagant or valuable but it was a ring nonetheless and diamond was diamond.
The implication of this question was clear. He wanted to make his own decision this time. And to hell with the family honours which had done nothing but wreck their lives.
Without further ado, Akane leaped into Ranma's arms, hugging him and whispering, "yes" in his ear.
Kasumi again, was wondering why she was even here when the exchange so far had been between Akane and Ranma. Then to her surprise, Ranma pulled her into Akane's hug and for the first time, Ranma was hugging another girl in front of Akane and not getting malleted for it.
"Kasumi nee-chan, I wanted you to be the only witness for this. And to know that all your patience and work has paid off. You were the only one who stood firmly by our side when things got rough and frankly, its time you got some happiness to."
For an hour the three talked to each other of their hopes and dreams. Ranma revealed that he always had a fascination of healing bodies instead of always breaking them. He wondered if he could apprenticed himself to clinic doctors as he traveled the country so as to learn more about medicine. At the same time, he had a heard of a few martial arts clans in Okinawa that he also wished to be apprenticed to. Akane honestly did not know what she wanted but it definitely involved more than just being a housewife. She wanted to go to college, possibly even Tokyo university and find her path in life.
Kasumi surprisingly, also shared Ranma's curiosity about medicine. But ever since the death of her mother, she had taken it upon herself to looking after the family although her mother hadn't actually said those words to her before she died, in fact like all her family, her mother's message for them was to be happy. She cried as she recalled her mother's words and also the fact she had almost wasted her youth as the continous maid of the house.
"No offence Oneechan, but I think you should continue your dream. I even heard they offer night courses for that sort of thing. Later today, we'll start looking alright? I need to look at several college applications myself," Akane said.
"And if your dad or my dad tries to stop you from living your own life, I swear when I get back, they'll have me to answer to," Ranma swore.
She cried louder and continued to hug both Ranma and Akane. "Ranma, Akane please go and forge your own destinies. And I will as well." She looked at her watch, it showed nearly seven AM. "Oh my, Ranma you better leave soon. Your father will be waking up soon and I think its best we leave him out of the equation."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
10 minutes later, all three were standing outside the Tendo dojo. But instead of his usual Chinese pants and shirts with a humungous backpack, Ranma sported a long trenchcoat and a large suit case. He also sported dark sunglasses and a hat. They decided to change Ranma's look to minimize immediate recognition. Also, there was something in front of the house that Ranma had never used before in his life.
A cab.
After putting his suitcase into the cab, Ranma turned to look at the two girls. Kasumi had her serene smile again, and this time it was sincere. It was as though she was certain that this wouldn't be the last time they saw one another. Akane's eyes though, were full of tears. The two embraced each other for awhile.
"Come back to me Ranma," she whispered.
"Wait for me Akane. On what little honour I have left, I love you and will do my best to come back."
"Baka, you sound like your going to a war or something."
"I might be, depending on my path. But know that everything I do, will be for our future and happiness."
The two separated from each other and Ranma went into the cab. Ranma asked the cab to drive off first then spent the last few seconds waving at Akane and Kasumi.
"So where to now son? Ain't everyday I see a young man leaving a girlfriend behind," the cab driver said.
Ranma took one last look at the rear window before the tiny specks that was Akane and Kasumi disappeared entirely. Then he gave 10,000 yen to the cab driver.
"Your choice Oji-san. As long as its away from Nerima."
To be continued.
If you've read this far, I thank you for your time and welcome you comments.
Well, here it is, my first fan fiction. My next chapter will be when Ranma comes back. But what in the world happened to him? That's something that will be revealed bit by bit as I don't want to dwell to much on crossovers and alienate the rest of Ranma fans.
To give a sneak peek, when Ranma returns, chronologically he is 25 years old (as of the anime, I believe he is 17 at the time of the failed wedding. But to Akane and Kasumi, he's been gone only two years.
Oh, and I'm hooking up Kasumi with my own character. Bout time that Angel of Nerima deserved a good man and a little love.