So Close

A Ranma ½ fanfiction

Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane

Notes: I'm on a Ranma ½ binge, and I don't know why. Anyway, heard this song ("So Close" - Enchanted Soundtrack) on Spotify on my way to work, and for some reason, this idea popped in my head. Not sure why, I never dreamed of writing these two in this way, but here it is, after sitting in my drive for nearly three weeks. Thanks for reading.

You feel a little disoriented when you open your eyes. At first, you don't know what the hell you are looking at. It takes a few minutes to realize you are, in fact, looking at the dojo ceiling.

Okay, pause. The last thing you remember was looking face-first at a mini-Happo-Fire-Burst. Next thing you know, you're on your back, waking up to face the (now) crumbling ceiling of the Tendo dojo.

That's right, I was getting married today. Except, I didn't. You sit up, easy there, and you survey the surroundings. To your immediate right is a dog-pile of bodies. Looks like, from bottom to top, Kodachi, Ukyo, and Shampoo. Huh. They must have knocked each other out senseless while you were conked out. A couple of feet to your left are Kuno and Mousse, both facedown on the dojo floor. Everyone is dirty and ripped up, thanks to everyone fighting in a frenzy of explosions, sharp blade spatulas and other random steel weaponry.

You take the minute to look down onto yourself. Wow, you look just as bad as they do. You're missing your right arm sleeve, for starters. The black and brown stains on your white suit make you look like a dalmatian. The corsage on your lapel is now nothing but a twig and your vest's buttons have all been ripped off. No point in wearing this, so you decide to take the blazer off. And when did you get doused with hot water? Pretty sure you were in female form when you were conscious. Whatever.

Dammit, you were so close to your cure! But isn't that your life story? Hell, you were in Jusenkyo and then all the springs flooded together. You had the Spring, literally handed to you as a gift, wrapped in a bow, and then that idiot lecher downed the whole thing in one gulp.

You're Naniichiuan-less… and wife-less, for that matter. What a day... Speaking of which, where is Akane?

You don't have to look too far. She is sitting on the floor across the dojo, in a puff of tulle and crinkle satin. Her back is turned to you, but you can tell that she's tired, just by the way her shoulders are lax to her frame.

You should probably talk to her. You get up, not listening to your sore muscles screaming at you to rest for a couple more minutes. You walk over to her and somewhere in the middle of the dojo floor, you notice her veil sitting on the floor. It makes you pause for just a minute, noticing how tattered the once white material now is. You bend down to pick it up and continue heading to its owner.

You reach her after a few more steps, and stop just a half a step behind her. "Hey." She's close, within reach, in fact.

She briefly glances up at you, "Hey," she says softly, and then returns to the task in front of her. You can now see why she's sitting on the floor. With a white trash bag in front of her, she's collecting plastic champagne glasses. They must have fallen in the ruckus, spilling their contents all over the dojo planks.

"What happened to your shoe?" you see a pair of white satin pumps sitting on the floor close by. At least, they were pumps. One of them looks like the heel is missing.

"My shoe broke," she says, looking to her right, then back to the mess on the floor. Not too far away is an unconscious Happosai, with a white heel embedded in his forehead. "Can't walk around when they're broken like that."

Feh. That old pervert deserved it. You squat down next to her, knees tucked to your chest. Her dress is as bad as your suit. Stained with dirt, specks of blood, and what looks like charred bonito flakes. One of the two flowers in her hair is gone; the remaining one looks wilted, brown, and barely hanging onto her head. And right on her skirt is a large cinged hole; you can even see the outline of her lower thigh and knee. Frankly, she looks like a mess. "God, you're a mess." You idiot, don't say that out loud!

Her aura turns up for a second in annoyance as she sends you a glare. Then, her eyes give you the once over, and her aura lowers. "Have you looked at yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah," you look around, checking out the rest of the roster of family members. There's Nabiki, standing near the door, counting the gift money. You should probably grab that later, seeing as this was your wedding. There's Akane's dad, sitting in a daze of disbelief. Your dad is beside him, in panda form, playing with a ball, rocking himself to his happy play, that idiot. And then there's your mom and Kasumi, sweeping up on the other side of the large room, where the DJ is set up- Wait, when did a DJ get here? "What's the deal with the DJ?"

"Oh. Well, Dad already paid for him to play at the reception. Might as well entertain us while we clean, you know."

That, honestly, is kind of weird. The poor idiot probably walked in wondering what the hell happened. Well, at least he is being a good sport about it. His face is expressionless as he sifts through his music selection, headphones propped on his head so only one ear is fully covered. Right now, he's playing some song you've heard on some easy listening station your mom favors.

But honestly, how the hell did you get to this point? Just 72 hours ago, you were in the fight to the death in another country. Now, you're sitting in the aftermath of crazed suitors, and all… All because she agreed to marry you. This uncute, macho chick who's built like a brick, whose thighs are too thick, who can't even kick… C'mon, Ranma, you know none of that is true.

You sigh internally.

You know, you really need to re-evaluate the gravity of her decision. She agreed to marry you, so you could get your hands on the Naniichiuan. And not just then, but so many other times in the past, she has put your needs before hers. She didn't even know you for a week, and she challenged Kuno to buy your time for escape. Or, what about when she set arm gauntlets on fire so she could help you train for the Hiryu Shoten Ha? Or when she jumped into the middle of the blast to grab that Moxibustion scroll? And when she revealed herself as a woman to distract that monster in Ryuuganzawa, so you could escape? Or how about just a few days ago, when she used the last of her energy in her dehydrated body, to jump right in the line of fire and give you that cold channel you needed to kill Saffron? There have been times when she has risked her own health, scratch that, her own life for you. Has anyone else done that?

You know the answer. Only her, always her. That idiot.

Now, granted, she's not perfect. She's short-tempered, and has the nasty habit of punch first ask questions later. She can be dense, and she always suspects the worse when it comes to finding you in compromising positions with those other girls.

But, really, does any of that matter? You know it doesn't. Because this is Akane Tendo, and whether you want to say it out loud or not, you love her, deeply and strongly.

Besides, even in that ruined dress and faded makeup, she still looks cute. Kind of.

Your brain suddenly registers that the DJ is now slowing down the mood to a ballad. You look back at her, watching as she continues to toss the champagne glasses in the garbage. Champagne that people were supposed to be toasting to you with on your wedding day. To her. Because at 17 years young, she is ready to commit her life to you. It's crazy, knowing you were so close to forever with her.

"Ranma," she cut through your thoughts, her voice tinged with a drop of acid. "Are you just going to sit there or are you going to help?"

And you know what's crazier? At 17 years young, you are willing to go forever as well. You toss her veil aside on the floor somewhere behind her and grab her hand. "Come on," you say, getting to your feet, pulling her up to hers as well.

She looks confused. "What are you doing?" she asks while you simultaneously kick your white loafers off. You back up a few steps to the only space on the floor not covered with debris or unconscious bodies. "Ranma, this place is a mess, we need to-." Her words suddenly fall dead in her throat as you hold her right hand out with your left, then place a hand on her upper back, pulling her close to you.

"Leave it," you tell her, "it'll still be there in five minutes." And then, slowly, you begin to sway to the music. And she follows your lead. Now, granted, this isn't Anything Goes School of Martial Arts Ballroom Dancing, but you did pick up a few things from back when you had to ice skate. The man is expected to lead, the woman will instinctively follow his cues, so long as he's giving out the right signals and that they are mentally in sync.

Your bodies continue to sway, and hey, you even dare to take a step here and there. She's looking at you, deep brown eyes, wondering why you initiated this, but nonetheless enjoying it, so says the gentle smile on her face.

Ah, that smile. The smile that launched the whole male population of Furinkan into a fighting frenzy. The moment she smiled at you and invited you (girl-you) to be friends, that was the beginning, wasn't it? You had been hooked just like the rest of those poor slobs.

The ballad breaks into an interlude. Time to show your fancy footwork, Saotome. You extend your arm so she's at a full arm's length away, then you pull her back towards you so she spins into your body. You extend her out again, and this time, you raise her hand above her head and twirl her. You lead her in a spiral around the floor, putting her in a turn every couple of steps. Her smile is growing wider, your heart is pumping faster. And as you near the center of your spiral, you grab a tight hold of her hand, hook your other arm around her waist, pull her body flush to yours and lift her off the floor as you spin on the balls of your feet. Her laughter fills the room, fills your heart. You don't even notice it, but some people around you are starting to stir. Near the end of the interlude, you slowly lower her back to her feet and have her do one more tight spin, slowly, before pulling her close to you again, your left and her right hand raised above her head, palm to palm.

A line in the lyrics cut through your thoughts, and you try to fight an involuntary shudder. You were so close to losing her that day in Jusendo. What if you did? What would you have done? That uneasy, sinking feeling is pulling your throat into your stomach. God, you don't even want to think about it. It was the longest ten minutes of your life, when she was lying in your arms, limp, lifeless. In those ten minutes, you held her close to you, trying to wake her with sheer willpower and prayers. Everything inside you felt numb, heavy, and your senses dulled. The air in that cave was thin, the light was dim. Why did you react that way? You've only known her for, what, a year? But that's enough.

She watches you with slightly widened eyes as your fingertips slowly ghost down her wrist, down her arm, until your hands fall at her waist.

You can't live without her. How long did it take you to figure that one out?

You're not moving as much as you were in the beginning of this dance. All you can do is stare into her eyes, her large brown eyes, which, if you looked really closely, spanned the spectrum of all sorts of brown, ranging from dark chocolate to gold, but whatever, who cares, because these eyes were unmistakably Akane's. Breath is escaping her lips just slightly heavier than compared to at rest, probably from the laughing and lifting she just experienced. But her lips, lips that were once painted a brilliant blue-red, are now faded just slightly, but for some strange reason, it doesn't matter. You would still... You drop your head, and you can hear her breath hitch in anticipation.

Just a minute there, Saotome, what are you planning to do? Kiss her?

You dip your head down, resting your temple against hers. You're so close to her, you can smell that distinct lavender shampoo from her hair, along with a slight hint of gunpowder, perspiration, and… some sort of floral perfume. Well, that's new. Did she wear it specifically just for today? You try to hide your appreciative smile. You dummy. You can feel her arms wrap around your shoulders, her breath fanning your collarbone. With her in your arms like this, you gotta admit, it feels nice. Right, even…

You don't even notice people around you are starting to wake up.

Like Shampoo, whose eyes are burning with jealousy, so much that she can't speak.

Or Ukyo, who sees the two of you, and then shuts her eyes, fighting back any tears that could potentially break through.

Even Ryouya, who had been sitting in front of the empty barrel for hours, glances up at the two of you, and then looks down, smiling in defeat.

No one makes a move. No one can disrupt your little world.

In a perfect world, the ones of fairy tales, happy endings and stuff, you would be dancing with your wife. You would have told her a long time ago that you love her (which, by the way, you should get on, you scaredy-cat). You would have finally told all those other fiancees and pursuers to take a hike. Hell, even contact with cold water wouldn't change your gender. But here you are, holding her as you both are dressed in tattered formal wear, you slightly damp, standing in the middle of a building that looks like it's going to fall apart any second now. Because your life is nowhere near perfect.

Except… when you are close to her like this.

We're so close to reaching

That famous happy end

Almost believing

This one's not pretend

Let's go on dreaming

For we know we are

So close, so close

And still so far