Story of a fic.

I published this fic originally in Spanish some time ago. This is an adaptation, that is, the story is not mine. I first read this story back when I was a teenager, and I liked it a lot. Many years later I came across the same story again, and it was just like the first time I read it. But this time I was struck by how much this story seemed to harmonize with the Ranmaverse. Maybe it could be adapted succesfully. The idea would not leave my mind for days until I decided to give it a try, and after a fevered weekend's work I finally posted it. Needless to say, I was thrilled to receive favs and feedback from those who liked it. One of them asked me to translate the story into English, and even though my English is far from perfect I decided to accept the challenge. So bear in mind that this is an English translation by a non native English speaker of the Spanish translation of a story originally written in English. So there's bound to be a certain amount of Chinese whispers effect going on here. I hope I didn't make too much of a mess of the story. In case anybody read my original version, I refined a few minor details here and there, but otherwise everything is much the same. Once again, the story is not mine, and, other than condensing and editing, the amount of adaptation work involved was minimal. All I did was to recognize a story worthy (to me, at least) of adaptation, publish it and traslate it to the best of my ability. Of course, any mistakes in it are my own and no one else's. Anyway, here it is, Shreehime. I hope you like it.

Without further ado, here's the story.

Love caprice.

Characters property of Rumiko Takahashi's. History condensed and adapted from an original story by Lee Stafford.

Synopsis

Akane is a successful top model of worldwide fame. Ranma is a millionaire entrepreneur determined to buy the Tendo dojo. There is only one way that Akane can keep her inheritance, and it consists in marrying Ranma. Will they both be able to fulfill the terms of their agreement: not to fall in love?

Chapter 1

Akane was outdoors, near the north boundary, when she saw him. He was a tall, vigorous man, walking with a forceful and flexible stride, observing attentively around, without any dissimulation or nervousness, as if he had every right to wander there.

Akane had left her house quickly and crossly, with her dog D-chan, obfuscated because of her recent face-off with Hinako. She felt an enormous need to be alone, and that stranger was there, that intruder wearing a black braid, without any right to trespass into another's property and who was invading her solitude.

She stopped and watched him warily as he drew near. The man kept walking unconcernedly, stopping within a few paces from the girl and the dog. He wore informal pants and jacket, but Akane, whose business it was to know something about clothes, recognized the quality of the garments' construction and fabric. Anyway, he was an intruder.

All the aggravation and, almost, desperation, that Hinako had provoked in Akane, now went to her head when she faced the stranger. But, since, deep down, she knew her discomfort was not this man's fault, she strove to maintain a reasonable courtesy.

—Excuse me— she said coolly—. But, are you aware that you are within our property?

—Am I? —his accent gave him away as a Kyoto native, which did not faze Akane, who had visited the old capital several times and had friends who had been born there. But she did not like the stranger's air, which showed somewhat of an arrogant slant—. Whose property it is, exactly?

—My father's, Soun Tendo, and mine —replied Akane icily—. Could it be possible that you might have strayed from your way?

The man gave a deep chuckle that seemed to Akane like a foreboding of danger.

—Miss, I never stray from my way. I always go exactly where I want to go.

Akane was not easily scared normally, but the stranger was tall and strong, and she, for the moment, was a little fragile. Suddenly she felt grateful of the canine company by her side, but, curiously, although D-chan pricked its ears with interest, it did not even growl at him. It did not feel threatened.

—Whether by mistake or intentionally, you are trespassing on private property—said Akane, endeavoring to feign assurance. In order to give her warning more emphasis, she looked directly into his eyes, and found an uncommon attractiveness in the face that looked back at her unflinchingly. It was an alert, intelligent visage, with a square jaw and deep blue eyes, like the sea when a storm is impending. The man looked at her, and his broad shoulders went up and down carelessly.

—All right —Akane went on—. I will go back home, and you'd better have left, when I come back with my father's katana.

Those grayish blue eyes watched her with a long appraising look, going over her slender body, clad in blue jeans and a loose-fitting sweater that emphasized her frailty.

—I guess I should put you at ease. I'm no intruder—said the stranger at last—. Actually, I have your father's permission to traverse this property as much and as often as I wish.

Akane frowned, puzzled.

—I don't understand. Why has he allowed you to do so? Are you a friend of his?

The man smiled, but that did not make her feel at all reassured, since there was a furtive, predatory quality in the stranger's humour. And his next words froze her.

—Not exactly—he said—. But it is usual to get to know a property thoroughly before buying it, don't you think?

It was a long while before she could reply. Or, at least, that was what it seemed to Akane.

—You must be mistaken. The Tendo dojo is not for sale, I assure you.

—You should talk to your father—said he.

But Father has avoided me all the time since I came back home, two days ago, thought Akane. She suddenly understood that what the stranger was telling her was true. It explained so many things... her father's guilty evasiveness, Hinako's smugness, her eagerness to tell her what she had been told to keep secret.

Akane could hardly see through the fog forming before her eyes. Tears of rage and desperation threatened to blind her, but no way would she allow him to see her cry. Of course she would talk to her father!

—That is exactly what I'm going to do! —she said, turning around, heading resolutely home.

—Woman! Wait! —she heard the stranger's voice behind her, but she did not stop.

The strain of running made her feel as if her legs were folding. She breathed with difficulty and her temples throbbed... her whole body was warning her that she could not sustain such a physical strain, not yet. But she went on stubbornly until she was sure she was out of the stranger's sight, and then she collapsed in the welcome privacy of a thick copse, and the last thing she remembered was D-chan's rough, wet tongue licking her cheeks.

And when she woke up, she was in her own bed, in the house she had loved from childhood, her ancestral home.

The memories came slowly to Akane's mind. She had been in Hawaii, modeling swimsuits, when she had caught a tropical disease that turned out to be more serious than what was expected. She had been repatriated by aerial ambulance. Modern medicine soon controlled the disease, but it left Akane weakened, and the physicians insisted on a complete rest, for a long spell.

Akane knew they meant it; the first tentative steps from bed to a chair had left her exhausted, and she knew well how draining a day's work as a model was. Besides, although thinness was essential in her job, no one really wanted an emaciated model.

—Is there some place where you can go to recover, for a month, more or less? — a friendly young doctor had asked her.

Akane hesitated. While she was still sick, she had refused to let her people know her state, convinced that it would prove to be just a temporary ailment. But, like a wounded animal, she knew that there was only one place where she could recover her strength. She had to go home. Hinako would be there, of course... oh, well, Hinako could go hang! The Tendo dojo was Akane's home, and her refuge.

—My father lives in Nerima —she said—. I could go there.

—Splendid! The place has the perfect climate—the doctor remarked.

So Akane went back to Nerima.

Darkness was falling over the peaceful landscape, but there still was enough light for Akane to see the cherry trees about to bloom. She blinked to keep back homesick tears, and wondered how on earth she had been able to leave all this behind.

When whe was younger, it had never occurred to her that she would ever leave. She took it for granted that she would marry some local young man and that she would lead a blissful conjugal life in Nerima, taking care of her children and enjoying her father's company.

As she grew, she started realizing that all was not fine in financial matters. Things broke, and they were not fixed or replaced, an essential maintenance was not always carried out.

But she did not wish for too much monetarily. And anyway, things could not be too bad; her father still enjoyed his cigars, his sake and his go matches with his friends.

Then, when Akane was seventeen, coming back home one afternoon, she found a beautiful stranger rising gracefully to her feet to greet her.

—Akane-chan— Soun welcomed her—. I want you to meet someone who's very special to me. Her name is Hinako, and I hope you two will get along.

Akane was then as tall as she was now, but she lacked the poise and deportment her subsequent training would give her, while the young woman before her was so elegant and ladylike.

—Well—said Hinako, watching her—. How tall you are!

Akane knew then that Hinako would never be, would never want to be, her friend. Not that she showed herself obviously unpleasant; actually, she was all sweetness and charm in Soun's presence. But she had ways of excluding Akane, of making her feel like an encumbrance. Hinako wanted to be part of a couple, she did not want the presence of a stepdaughter a few years younger than she herself was, who could steal her man's attention from her.

At seventeen, Akane lacked the weapons she needed to oppose Hinako. With her exquisite beauty, Hinako made her feel inferior, because she had not yet realized that she herself was possessed of an even rarer and more striking beauty.

Soun Tendo, on his part, bedazzled by Hinako, was determined to make her his wife. And since Hinako was likewise determined, Akane had no other choice than to take matters philosophically.

But the situation did not improve. As the new Mrs. Tendo, Hinako administrated the dojo for her own benefit, and that meant spending money every time she thought it necessary, which happened very often. It was natural for a newlywed to want to make changes in her home, but Akane could not help bemoaning when beloved pieces of furniture disappeared, to be replaced by something modern that clashed with the whole ensemble. When her bedroom was redecorated and re-furnished, without her being consulted, Akane had her first serious quarrel with her stepmother.

Trembling with fury, she flung the pillows to the floor and swept away the knickknacks on the hated new dresser, while Hinako looked on, blinking, in apparent injured inocence, and Akane's father stood a few steps back.

—But, Akane... darling... I thought all girls loved pink... these drapes are so pretty, and it was time for you to have new furniture, instead of those old, ugly things.

—I hate pink! I like my things... I like my room the way it was!—shouted Akane rebelliously—You had no right to change my room without my acquiescence!

—Akane-chan, I think that Hinako wanted to surprise you —her father intervened, in a conciliatory air, and Akane turned against him as well.

—Don't call me that! Never again call me that! —"Akane-chan" had been the affectionate way her mother had called her. Akane barely remembered her, as a persistent, dark-haired, obssesingly soft image.

Only when they were alone, the innocent air disappeared from Hinako's face, and she gave Akane a hard look.

—I'm your father's wife, Akane, whether you like it or not; this is my house and I will do in it whatever I please. You'll have to accept it. And you'll gain nothing by going to your father behind my back, because I will be the winner—she said triumphantly—. Never forget it.

From that moment, everything went from bad to worse. Hinako always contrived to make Akane look at fault. Her father, she knew, thought she was only showing herself difficult, in a typical jealousy reaction toward an unwanted stepmother. But Akane would have willingly accepted her father's marriage to any other woman. But he had to choose Hinako, who detested martial arts, who considered her stepdaughter a hindrance and who was decided to make her life miserable.

Akane put up with the situation for almost a whole year, and when she turned eighteen, decided she had had enough. Since Hinako was there to stay and there was no way for them to coexist harmoniously, it was evident that it was she who had to leave. In a way, she was admitting defeat, but she told herself that, sometimes, to yield was the only possible strategy.

She only told her father that it was time for her to go out to the wold and get her own life. There was no purpose in bringing out recriminations that her father would undoubtedly disregard. He was married to Hinako, and so under her thumb, that he could not brook the least complaint about her.

—But, where will you go? What will you do? —asked Soun, stunned—. I always thought you loved the dojo.

—I love it —Akane shrugged, trying not to think about how much it hurt her to leave her beloved home—. But I want to get a job, and most of them are found in the city. I'll come to visit you once in a while—she added lightly.

She stayed with an ex-schoolmate in Tokyo while she looked for work. The only position she could find right away was as a waitress in a cafeteria, although she would not earn enough money to live on her own, once she left her friend's hospitality. She did not seem anxious to get rid of Akane, but Akane was. She longed to achieve self-sufficiency, to depend on no one.

On arriving home one night, exhausted, her friend, Sayuri, had a friend with her. Akane was not in the mood to be companionable, so she decided to retire to her room.

But the young visitor was watching her in a very peculiar way, evaluating her with his eyes.

—Hey, Sayuri! —he said reproachingly—. How come you never told me how attractive your friend is?

Akane paled, fearful that, if he was one of Sayuri's beaux, she would not be pleased about it. But he turned out to be her friend's cousin, and a professional photographer.

—Have you ever thought about modeling? —he asked—. I'm sure you would be perfect. No, I really mean it... turn around... slowly... like that...

—This is ridiculous! —protested Akane, laughing embarrasedly. But a few minutes later she was turning her head, her body, moving and posing until the photographer stated delightedly that she was a natural model.

—You'll need a photo shoot, of course, but I'll do it gladly—he said.

Akane shrugged and agreed; she did not take it seriously yet, but she had nothing to lose. It was only when she saw her pictures that she understood the extent of her own potential. She was very photogenic, and less that a week later Akane was hired by an important agency.

She had not been an instant success. Young and unsure of herself, she had had to learn the trade gradually. But Akane had the kind of beauty that did not depend on extreme youth, and as she matured, her attractiveness bloomed. When she turned twenty, her services acquired a great demand, and hers was the picture that smiled from the cover of many magazines.

Her work took her now to many parts of the world, and she settled in Tokyo, where she shared an apartment with a friend. Once in a while, as she had promised, she visited Nerima, but her stays were short. Now that she was a woman with her own career, she did nor feel intimidated by Hinako, and most of the time they kept a cautious truce, only broken by some occasional shooting. Akane suspected that Hinako felt envious of her success, but now, at least, she could not make fun of her awkardness, since her new appearance and style had taken her all over the world.

Now, tucked in her bed, Akane made a mental tally of the events of that afternoon, her walk and her encounter with the stranger, who had communicated her his intention of buying the Tendo dojo. She remembered his complex, interesting face, his tall, slim body... Who was he? What kind of man would show interest in buying an almost ruined dojo and with such large grounds?

Oh! What did it matter! Why should she wonder about him and his motives, when the important thing was the fact that her father wanted to sell the estate? What was important was not to whom, of course.

She opened her eyes slowly, and saw doctor Tofu standing beside her bed. He had been the family doctor since Akane was a little girl.

—Hello, young lady. I did not expect to be sent for so soon—said the physician.

—I'm sorry, doctor Tofu. I think I overestimated my strength —she said in a weak voice.

—Indeed —said Tofu, with paternal severity—. Exercise is good, but in moderation, when one's recovering, Akane. You will need to rest a lot. You have been very sick, and you should not forget it.

—All right, doctor —she nodded docilely—. I promise you to take things easy.

—Nobody who knows you would expect that from you —said Tofu, grinning—. You have always loved martial arts; I can't understand how you can put up with the life of a model.

The physician put his utensils into his satchel.

—Well, now I must go to put your father at ease. Don't forget my advice, I don't want to be bothered again because of you— he concluded with a smile that underscored the fact he was joking.

When the door opened again, it was not Soun who entered, but Hinako. Akane looked neutrally at her. Hinako was wearing sports clothing, although the only sport she practiced was jogging in the shopping mall.

—You gave us quite a fright—she said, with false cheerfulness—. But doctor Tofu says you'll be fine.

Akane did not think, even for a minute, that it was worry about her health what brought Hinako there, so she disdained her prelude.

—I already know—said Akane—. You won't have to keep silent anymore. I know that Father wants to sell the dojo. And I suppose you'll be happy—Akane was not able to control the sarcasm.

—It will be a relief to get rid of that old thing of a house and to live in a civilized place—said Hinako acrimoniously—.Anyway, that is what your father wants, and that is what matters—she added hypocritely.

Akane laughed harshly.

—Oh, yes, sure! How long did it take you to convince him?

—I have no need to put up with this from you—stated Hinako—. We will sell and that's all. I suppose he told you —she concluded meaningfully.

Akane frowned.

—Ranma Saotome, of course. The one who's buying the dojo. Who else? —said Hinako impatiently.

—Saotome? — questioned Akane—Is that his name? How did you know I talked to him?

—Don't you remember? It was he who carried you here in his arms! Very dramatic, Akane. But it will be to no avail. Faint all that you want; the Tendo dojo will be sold. And that likable millionaire, Mr. Saotome, will turn the estate into a shopping mall. What do you think of it?

To be continued...

One last thing, just in case.

Feel free to send me any feedback/comments/criticism/corrections you like, except regarding geographical observations, e.g. the relationship Nerima/Tokyo, whether there is a ferry connecting Japan and Thailand (coming later) and such. Although of course I had to do some research, I at no time had the objective of reflecting a total accuracy in every detail, I focused mainly on the romantic aspect of the story, and my only aim is to entertain. Other than that, this would-be writer thanks all the help her readers can offer her to refine her art of writing.