Disclaimer: I don't own anything (except Tomoko) it all belongs to Rumiko
Takahashi and Ranma ½
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Seventy-Nine Mondays
Chapter 1
Long Nights
By Ame
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It had been a long night. A LONG night.
Everything started with Shampoo, of coarse, almost everything always does. Ever since Ranma had graduated high school, Shampoo seems more and more desperate to marry him and get Akane out of the way.
I had been up late working on a History project when I saw him walking outside my window. It was foggy, as it usually is in October, and the clock told me it was just past twelve. But Ranma continued on constantly hardly taking notice.
He nearly fell, when he tripped over a small rock, and dropped a bottle, which shattered into a thousand pieces over the dirt. He was drunk, or had been drinking. Either way I wouldn't have blamed him. Nowadays, he never came home sober. Besides, he and Akane had fought again that day, just like everyday. It started out about Akane making dinner, since Kasumi was busy, and ended, as always, with the discussed of being forced to marry each other, which I might add hasn't taken place yet. Ranma left in a storm of furry and Akane stalked upstairs and slammed the door.
Now Ranma leaned up against a wall underneath the eaves, his head hung in anguish and drunkenness. I watched as another figure came out from the shadows to share the night.
Today, looking back, all I can think is 'if only'. If only Ranma had had one less drink, he would have noticed the difference in the lips that he kissed. If only the lamp had not flickered and died, he would have seen the differences between the deep purple hair and the midnight blue. If only the night had not been so cold, his fingertips would have sensed the distinction between the small body that he held and the one that he loved. If only I had run out to stop him, none of this would have happened.
But I didn't, he didn't, and Shampoo pulled Ranma off into the night, touching and cooing and swaying seductively all the way.
* * *
Ranma hadn't come back until late the next day. I would have taken that long too if I had to think of an excuse for not being home last night. Well Akane threw a hissy fit, as expected, and Ranma did his best to fend off her verbal assault, but it was obvious his heart wasn't in it. It was clear that something was wrong. I watched them from the kitchen as I fixed a snack for myself, casually glancing over my shoulder now and then. Nabiki, on the other hand, just sat there on the counter tape recording the whole thing.
"Tomoko?" Nabiki said not taking her eyes from the camera.
"Hai?" I looked up at her.
" What's with Ranma?"
" I d-don't know." I stumbled over my words, cursing myself for stuttering. I never had been really good at lying. Bending my head back down over my snack, I hoped Nabiki would let it drop.
"Tomoko." Nabiki said my name nice and long as she always did when she wanted something. I knew she never let a subject just drop.
"H-Hai?"
"Tell Nabiki onii-chan what you know." She could always tell when I was lying.
"I-I told you already, I d-don't know."
"Com'on, you know you want to tell me."
"Not really." I mumbled stubbornly.
"Fine." Nabiki started out of the room. "I didn't want to, but."
"All I know is Ranma was drunk last night and went off with Shampoo." I blurted out.
"Thank you." Nabiki smiled and left the kitchen.
I'd only been there four years and she already had three or four files of blackmail on me. If you've ever been into her room lately you would know what I mean. The walls are lined with file cabinets full of snapshots and note cards describing some of our most embarrassing incidents to the finest detail. Racks filled with tapes, each dated and summarized. Although, I did find it entertaining to watch the cassettes titled "Ranma's Love Life" on hot summer days when there was nothing to do.
The fighting eventually subsided with Akane screaming at Ranma that she never cared where he was in the first place. Lately, Their arguments had gotten increasingly more dramatic and violent. All too often Ranma walked away with a red cheek. Nabiki, of course, had been following all of this. She had shown me the graphs she had made. One of the intensity and frequency of their fighting, the other of how kind they were to each other, how often they accidentally brushed hands and blushed or smiled. When the two charts were overlapped there was a simple pattern of peaks and falls. According to Nabiki:
"These fights have gotten increasingly worse, worse than I've ever seen. If my theory is correct, and I'm never wrong, something big is about to happen. it could be good or bad."
That really scared me. Thoughts rolled over and over in my mind of all the changes that could come to the place I now called home. Not just that, but the fact that Nabiki was serious. Dead serious. Ranma and Akane might finally quit on each other. Everybody with some sense in their head, this doesn't apply to Kodachi, knew they loved each other underneath all the harsh words and taunts. somewhere.
I went back to my room hoping this would all turn out fine. Trying to finish that History project was getting harder and harder as the seconds slipped by. I had shared a room with Kasumi, but she was out at the market. I heard distant crashing noises form the dojo as Akane took her anger out on all inanimate objects she could lay her eyes on, coming from one wall, and the thickening silence of Ranma's thinking from the other. All in all, I couldn't have gotten a scrap of work done with all this going on. I got up and walked out of the room thinking I'd talk to Ranma and leave Akane to Nabiki. Only Nabiki knew how to handle Akane when she was having one of those 'I hate the world, so I'm gonna destroy it' temper tantrums. Kasumi would only aggravate Akane even more with her wholesome goodness; Akane usually ignores me, Soun and Genma; Ranma just gets a beating.
I knocked.
"Hai." Came a voice from within. Slowly, I opened the door.
"Ranma?"
"Tomoko!" He had looked surprised to see me. "Did you need something?"
I shook my head.
"Well, I'm not exactly in the mood to chat."
"I saw you," I broke in. "last night." He froze.
"You were standing under my window when Shampoo came."
He didn't say anything, just sat there staring guiltily at the rug.
"Ranma. Where did you go? You and Shampoo?" I was hoping against hope that what I was thinking wasn't true. Ranma looked up at me. "Did you two." I bit my lip as Ranma bowed his head, his cheeks flushing slightly. Suddenly I was angry. Angry at him for making the people I loved suffer like this.
"Ranma! How could you?!!" I nearly screamed.
Shacked he stood up to defend himself. "I swear I didn't know it was her! I thought it was Akane!" His face turned scarlet and I smiled, 'cause I had known it all along.
"You should tell her."
"Tell who?"
"Akane, of course. And apologize."
"Tell Akane?!!" Are you out of your mind? Do you know what she'll do to me?!!"
"Well. she'll tear your head off. but that's beside the point."
"You're insane." He had said turning away from me.
"No more than you."
"Look, I'm not the one sending friends into death traps."
"Yeah, you're right, I'm the one who gets drunk and."
"You think you've got us all figured out." He yelled, temper flaring, as always.
"Damn right, I do!"
'You don't! How could you?!!"
"I've been living with you guys for four years now. You'd think.
"The only reason you here is because on one of his 'training trips', The Freak stumbled across you and decided to bring you back as his personal Lingerie Model!"
I stopped. His words were true. I knew he didn't mean them. I knew they were just said out of anger and desperation. but they still hurt.
My eyes had quickly filled with tears and over flowed down onto my face.
"Hm." Ranma crossed his arms and faced the wall.
In years past, Ranma would have apologized frantically after seeing me start to cry. He would have taken it all back and made everything okay again. That Ranma and I could have "studied" math for hours and finish less than four problems. That Ranma, I could have laughed with for days on end. That Ranma, I could have loved as the older brother I never had, forever. But that Ranma had been gone long since the days of fighting nonstop and those of the hard drinking began. I wondered whether I would ever see that Ranma again.
.probably not.
* * *
If you don't understand it all yet, that's a good thing, really. The answers are coming. in the next chapter. This is my first fanfic so tell me what do you think? R/R
~Ame
--------------------------------------
Seventy-Nine Mondays
Chapter 1
Long Nights
By Ame
---------------------------------------
It had been a long night. A LONG night.
Everything started with Shampoo, of coarse, almost everything always does. Ever since Ranma had graduated high school, Shampoo seems more and more desperate to marry him and get Akane out of the way.
I had been up late working on a History project when I saw him walking outside my window. It was foggy, as it usually is in October, and the clock told me it was just past twelve. But Ranma continued on constantly hardly taking notice.
He nearly fell, when he tripped over a small rock, and dropped a bottle, which shattered into a thousand pieces over the dirt. He was drunk, or had been drinking. Either way I wouldn't have blamed him. Nowadays, he never came home sober. Besides, he and Akane had fought again that day, just like everyday. It started out about Akane making dinner, since Kasumi was busy, and ended, as always, with the discussed of being forced to marry each other, which I might add hasn't taken place yet. Ranma left in a storm of furry and Akane stalked upstairs and slammed the door.
Now Ranma leaned up against a wall underneath the eaves, his head hung in anguish and drunkenness. I watched as another figure came out from the shadows to share the night.
Today, looking back, all I can think is 'if only'. If only Ranma had had one less drink, he would have noticed the difference in the lips that he kissed. If only the lamp had not flickered and died, he would have seen the differences between the deep purple hair and the midnight blue. If only the night had not been so cold, his fingertips would have sensed the distinction between the small body that he held and the one that he loved. If only I had run out to stop him, none of this would have happened.
But I didn't, he didn't, and Shampoo pulled Ranma off into the night, touching and cooing and swaying seductively all the way.
* * *
Ranma hadn't come back until late the next day. I would have taken that long too if I had to think of an excuse for not being home last night. Well Akane threw a hissy fit, as expected, and Ranma did his best to fend off her verbal assault, but it was obvious his heart wasn't in it. It was clear that something was wrong. I watched them from the kitchen as I fixed a snack for myself, casually glancing over my shoulder now and then. Nabiki, on the other hand, just sat there on the counter tape recording the whole thing.
"Tomoko?" Nabiki said not taking her eyes from the camera.
"Hai?" I looked up at her.
" What's with Ranma?"
" I d-don't know." I stumbled over my words, cursing myself for stuttering. I never had been really good at lying. Bending my head back down over my snack, I hoped Nabiki would let it drop.
"Tomoko." Nabiki said my name nice and long as she always did when she wanted something. I knew she never let a subject just drop.
"H-Hai?"
"Tell Nabiki onii-chan what you know." She could always tell when I was lying.
"I-I told you already, I d-don't know."
"Com'on, you know you want to tell me."
"Not really." I mumbled stubbornly.
"Fine." Nabiki started out of the room. "I didn't want to, but."
"All I know is Ranma was drunk last night and went off with Shampoo." I blurted out.
"Thank you." Nabiki smiled and left the kitchen.
I'd only been there four years and she already had three or four files of blackmail on me. If you've ever been into her room lately you would know what I mean. The walls are lined with file cabinets full of snapshots and note cards describing some of our most embarrassing incidents to the finest detail. Racks filled with tapes, each dated and summarized. Although, I did find it entertaining to watch the cassettes titled "Ranma's Love Life" on hot summer days when there was nothing to do.
The fighting eventually subsided with Akane screaming at Ranma that she never cared where he was in the first place. Lately, Their arguments had gotten increasingly more dramatic and violent. All too often Ranma walked away with a red cheek. Nabiki, of course, had been following all of this. She had shown me the graphs she had made. One of the intensity and frequency of their fighting, the other of how kind they were to each other, how often they accidentally brushed hands and blushed or smiled. When the two charts were overlapped there was a simple pattern of peaks and falls. According to Nabiki:
"These fights have gotten increasingly worse, worse than I've ever seen. If my theory is correct, and I'm never wrong, something big is about to happen. it could be good or bad."
That really scared me. Thoughts rolled over and over in my mind of all the changes that could come to the place I now called home. Not just that, but the fact that Nabiki was serious. Dead serious. Ranma and Akane might finally quit on each other. Everybody with some sense in their head, this doesn't apply to Kodachi, knew they loved each other underneath all the harsh words and taunts. somewhere.
I went back to my room hoping this would all turn out fine. Trying to finish that History project was getting harder and harder as the seconds slipped by. I had shared a room with Kasumi, but she was out at the market. I heard distant crashing noises form the dojo as Akane took her anger out on all inanimate objects she could lay her eyes on, coming from one wall, and the thickening silence of Ranma's thinking from the other. All in all, I couldn't have gotten a scrap of work done with all this going on. I got up and walked out of the room thinking I'd talk to Ranma and leave Akane to Nabiki. Only Nabiki knew how to handle Akane when she was having one of those 'I hate the world, so I'm gonna destroy it' temper tantrums. Kasumi would only aggravate Akane even more with her wholesome goodness; Akane usually ignores me, Soun and Genma; Ranma just gets a beating.
I knocked.
"Hai." Came a voice from within. Slowly, I opened the door.
"Ranma?"
"Tomoko!" He had looked surprised to see me. "Did you need something?"
I shook my head.
"Well, I'm not exactly in the mood to chat."
"I saw you," I broke in. "last night." He froze.
"You were standing under my window when Shampoo came."
He didn't say anything, just sat there staring guiltily at the rug.
"Ranma. Where did you go? You and Shampoo?" I was hoping against hope that what I was thinking wasn't true. Ranma looked up at me. "Did you two." I bit my lip as Ranma bowed his head, his cheeks flushing slightly. Suddenly I was angry. Angry at him for making the people I loved suffer like this.
"Ranma! How could you?!!" I nearly screamed.
Shacked he stood up to defend himself. "I swear I didn't know it was her! I thought it was Akane!" His face turned scarlet and I smiled, 'cause I had known it all along.
"You should tell her."
"Tell who?"
"Akane, of course. And apologize."
"Tell Akane?!!" Are you out of your mind? Do you know what she'll do to me?!!"
"Well. she'll tear your head off. but that's beside the point."
"You're insane." He had said turning away from me.
"No more than you."
"Look, I'm not the one sending friends into death traps."
"Yeah, you're right, I'm the one who gets drunk and."
"You think you've got us all figured out." He yelled, temper flaring, as always.
"Damn right, I do!"
'You don't! How could you?!!"
"I've been living with you guys for four years now. You'd think.
"The only reason you here is because on one of his 'training trips', The Freak stumbled across you and decided to bring you back as his personal Lingerie Model!"
I stopped. His words were true. I knew he didn't mean them. I knew they were just said out of anger and desperation. but they still hurt.
My eyes had quickly filled with tears and over flowed down onto my face.
"Hm." Ranma crossed his arms and faced the wall.
In years past, Ranma would have apologized frantically after seeing me start to cry. He would have taken it all back and made everything okay again. That Ranma and I could have "studied" math for hours and finish less than four problems. That Ranma, I could have laughed with for days on end. That Ranma, I could have loved as the older brother I never had, forever. But that Ranma had been gone long since the days of fighting nonstop and those of the hard drinking began. I wondered whether I would ever see that Ranma again.
.probably not.
* * *
If you don't understand it all yet, that's a good thing, really. The answers are coming. in the next chapter. This is my first fanfic so tell me what do you think? R/R
~Ame