Ranma ½ doesn't belong to me, if it did I wouldn't be here right now.
"So where are we going again pops?" asked a little Ranma as he walked behind his father down the streets of Nerima Ward.
"I told you already boy, we are going to visit a dear old friend of mine who's wife had died, he wants us to go to the funeral. I don't know why though, I wasn't there for the birth of his daughters so why would he want me now?" Genma asked himself.
"Hey dad, are you talking to yourself again?" Ranma asked trying to hold back a laugh as he watched his father mumble to himself. "Man you sure are strange some-" Ranma stopped himself "Hey, you said daughters, doesn't he have any sons? Will I have to hang out with girls?" Ranma asked, now a bit disappointed they had to stop their training trip for this.
"Yes you will Ranma, but I don't want you to pick up some of their girly traits, alright?" Ranma just nodded his head. The rest of the walk was full of awkward silence between father and son.
"Well, we're here." Genma said, breaking the silence. Ranma looked up at the sign that was by the front gate, and one word stood out to him, 'Dojo.'
"Wow, you never told me that your friend owned a dojo! Why didn't you tell me? Lets go inside!" he said with excitement, he looked as if he was ready for a 150-meter dash, when Genma grabbed his son's shirt collar.
"Be respectful boy." Genma went through one of the large wooden doors that was all ready open, dragging his son behind him. 'It looks so dead now that Kimiko is gone.' He absently noted as he looked around the yard.
Genma got to the front door and gently knocked on the wooden doorframe. "Just a moment." Came an old, tired voice from inside. Soun Tendo slid open the shoji door like a ghost would have at a haunted house. The man looked like he had seen death. His black, shiny hair was limp and stringy, like he hadn't washed it in days, making his hair look like seaweed; his eyes were dead and there were bags under them, they were also red and puffy from crying. The smallest of smiles found its way on the mans face when he saw who was at his front door. "Aw, Saotome, my old friend, it's so good to see you again, I just wish it was under better circumstances."
"Same to you Tendo. This is my son, Ranma." Genma said, introducing his son, dragging him forward to face the weary man.
"Ranma, so nice to finally meet you, I'm Soun Tendo" he said offering the young boy his hand, Ranma took it and they shook hands. "Girls, come out here." Soun called, soon two pretty brown haired girls came out to stand by their father. "This is my oldest daughter Kasumi," Soun said indicating who she was with his hand. "She's the oldest. She has become the new homemaker of the house. This is Nabiki, she is the middle child, I haven't seen her cry once since the accident, she's so brave."
"It's very nice to meet the two of you," Genma said, nodding his head to both of them. "But where's Akane?" he asked.
Soun frowned, he turned his head to yell up the stairs. "Akane! Get your butt down here now!" Everyone flinched at the volume of his voice, he then turned to them and said, "She's taking it the hardest." A young, bright, sunny girl stood at the top of the stairs and skipped down them cheerily, when she came to stand by Soun he looked down to her and said, "Why didn't you come down when I told you to Akane."
The girl known as Akane smiled up at her father and simply replied, "You said 'girls' not 'Akane'." she giggled, Soun's frown just deepened.
"Well Akane, this is Genma and Ranma Saotome, you will make friends with Ranma, alright?" Soun's was not asking but he was demanding.
"Alright," Akane said, shrugging her shoulders. "But which one is Ranma?"
Soun sighed in irritation at his youngest daughter. "The young one Akane." He said through clenched teeth.
"May I speak with you for a minute Soun?" Genma asked, not liking his friends' behavior.
"Yes you may, girls go back to what you were doing." he said, talking to the two oldest daughters, he then turned to Akane and simply walked away.
When everyone was gone, Akane turned to Ranma and asked, "You wanna be friends?" Ranma seemed to hesitate for a second, and then he remembered that scary man Soun, and nodded his head. Akane's face lit up, she took his hand and dragged him up the stairs to her room. They were both sitting on the floor of Akane's room, Akane looked at the young boy with interest "So you're a martial artist?" It was more of a statement than a question, as she pointed to his dirty gi.
"Uh, yeah." Ranma said lamely
"You wanna spar in the dojo? Dad doesn't fight with me anymore." She said, pouting a bit.
"Really? 'Cause from what I saw down there he seems to like to fight with you a lot." Akane giggled at that little statement and raced him to the dojo.
The week that the two Saotomes were there, they were both treated like part of the family. Genma managed to squeeze out how Kimiko died and why he was treating his youngest like that, and he sympathized with the man, but told him that gave him no reason to treat Akane like that.
Ranma and Akane became fast friends, they would spar in the dojo all morning and would play in the yard till sunset.
When the funeral finally came, everyone seemed sad about something, either for the Saotome's departure after it was over or the reminder of Kimiko Tendo's death. Well...almost everyone. Akane remained her same cheery self, she showed up at the funeral in a bright yellow sundress. Everyone thought she was heartless.
Everyone who came received a white rose to place on the woman's grave after she was buried. But Akane collected everyone's rose and made a crown out of them, and since it was an open casket service, Akane easily placed the crown on her mother's head. Kimiko looked like a sleeping angel in her simple, yet elegant sky blue dress, her curley midnight blue hair had two butterfly hair clips on both sides of her head to keep her hair out of her face.
Through the whole service while everyone was crying, Akane had her ever-present smile on, but her eyes seemed to betray her, as they showed her sadness. When the coffin was closed and lowered into the ground, Ranma thought he saw a flicker of something in her eyes 'Is that… self hatred?' But it was gone as soon as it came.
The ride back to the Tendo Dojo was quiet, the only sound was the motor of the rented black car, barely enough to fit them all. When they got back home the first thing Genma said to his son was, "Pack up boy, we leave in an hour."
"Finished last night." Ranma stated, shrugging his shoulders casually.
"Well, I'm going to go up to my room, I'll come down to say goodbye." Akane said, but her voice cracked a bit and she ran up the stairs, they could all hear her door slammed shut.
Ranma's eyes followed her and then he ran up the stairs after her. Ranma opened the door and found Akane sitting on her bed, silently crying, but still kept her smile in place. "Akane?" Ranma asked, getting her attention. "Why do you always smile?" sitting next to her on the bed.
Akane drew in a shaky breath and let it out slowly "Mom said that if you smile, it can cure anything, so I thought if I keep smiling then maybe she'd come back to us." Her smile was starting to grow weaker.
"Oh Akane, I don't think your mother would like you holding your feelings in like this." Ranma said, putting his arm around her shoulder and rubbing her arm gently.
Akane's dam finally broke, her smile vanished, and she threw herself into Ranma's arms, weeping and sobbing and crying her young heart out. "It's my fault mommy's not with us! It's my fault she's dead! Momma please come back! Momma!" she wailed into Ranma's shoulder.
The Tendo's were on the front porch giving their last farewells and hugs goodbye to the Saotome's. "Will you ever come back Ranma?" Akane asked her eyes still red from her cry.
"I'll try." He said honestly, he turned to leave with his father but turned right back around to Akane "You know, you're really cute when you smile Akane, but I like it better when it's real and not forced." He then kissed her cheek and ran off with his father.
Akane let a few tears slip down her cheek and couldn't tell if they were from happiness, or sadness from seeing her best friend and first love walk away from her.
Summer rains, you can never predict them.