Author's Note:
Koalakitty has banned me from writing anything else until I have finished "Without Her", but I just can't help it! Besides, don't you miss seeing Ranma and Akane together?
The concept for this story is nothing new, but I don't think lovely moments and WAFF will ever go out of style. So here's the first (more or less rough) draft of a little one shot, inspired by a Hallmark card and two of Yoko Kanno's compositions –- "Paradiso" from Wolf's Rain, "Kimi Ga Fuku Hi" from The Vision of Escaflowne.
Comments and suggestions will be very much appreciated.
Now back to the angst of my other fic.
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. All hers. But the story belongs to me. Any unauthorized copying, lending, or distribution without the author's consent is punishable by law. Violators shall be subjected to investigation by police agencies and to criminal prosecution. Then again, I might just throw a tantrum.
Lunar Ember Presents
A Ranma ½ Fanfiction
WHAT CAME WITH THE UMBRELLA
"Tell me you'll extend your hands and embrace me, oh far sky
And I'll feel alive"
- Yoko Kanno, "Kaze Ga Fuku Hi"
He had heard it echoing through the empty school corridors, and now he watched it behind the safety of a closed window, mesmerized by its sheer intensity.
The rain had come all of a sudden, after long, dry weeks of pure heat and blinding sunlight. He wasn't expecting it, and thus he didn't even think of carrying an umbrella with him that day. Now after finally finishing an after-school punishment due to a commotion that he somewhat had a hand in, he was stuck in an almost-deserted Furinkan High.
"Saotome?"
Tipping his head to one side, he saw the buxom figure of Hinako-sensei. He gave her an easy grin, carefully biting back a chuckle as he felt raw energy pulsating from her – he had no doubt that a drained Kuno was unconsciously floating somewhere along Nerima's sewage system.
"Aren't you going home yet?"
Ranma carelessly shrugged.
"Rain's too strong. I ain't got no umbrella and I don't wanna get wet."
"I see. I could lend you one, you know."
"Nah. It's okay."
A flash of lightning drew maps across the sky, followed by the loud crack of thunder. Ranma slightly furrowed his brows. He knew he wouldn't be going home anytime soon.
"Where's Akane-chan?"
"She went home right after class."
"She didn't wait for you?"
"Told her not to. And good thing I did. The sky was starting to get dark by then. Now it's raining like hell."
He leaned his head on the window, misting the glass as he gave out a slow breath. Yeah, Akane's probably home, and boy, how he wished he were too. He was pretty tired, what with three exams earlier and the ruckus Kuno had caused, the reason for which he never really knew. Add that to the fact that he was also punished for it. Now all he wanted was to go home, rest, and maybe drink a cup or two of the hot chocolate that Kasumi usually prepared during rainy days like –
Ranma frowned.
"What's the matter?"
Hinako was looking at him as if she were pretty much amused.
"Saotome, you aren't really a delinquent, aren't you?"
"Eh?"
"I mean, you aren't really a pervert, and you aren't really a Casanova, are you?"
"OF COURSE NOT! I don't even know why I have that kind of reputation – "
"Well, I usually find you in the most compromising positions – "
"It's not like I WANTED to be in compromising positions."
The teacher's sudden laughter rose above the drumming of the rain. He didn't know what she found so funny; he didn't even know what the hell was wrong with the woman and that made him uncomfortable. He felt his cheeks grow warm and as much as he controlled himself, he started fidgeting. He hated fidgeting. He hated being embarrassed.
"It ain't always my fault, y'know."
Thunder rumbled outside, but it seemed like Hinako heard him. Slowly, her laughter abated and she gazed at him with a small smile on her lips.
"I know."
Ranma gave a start.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Then why do you still keep on chasing after me?"
"Because sometimes, it's lots of fun."
Rolling his eyes, he groaned in exasperation and hit his head on the glass. The woman beside him sure was mighty weird. Ranma sighed. Damn, I should have grabbed an umbrella before I left the house…
"What do you think, Saotome?"
"Huh?"
"What do you think of the rain?" Hinako asked, gazing out the window, as if finding something peaceful in the storm that ensued.
He turned to look at her without lifting his head. "I think it's plain annoying."
"Really? Well I think it's beautiful…" she smiled serenely. "Its strength is its beauty, as beauty is its strength..."
Something passed across Hinako's face – nostalgia, regret, envy – Ranma couldn't really tell, but he knew that weird things tend to happen when women get that dazed look on their faces.
"Er… that's…nice…"
He was about to sneak away when Hinako looked at him, her intense gaze holding him to where he stood.
"You - where do you get your strength?"
He stared at her for a moment, his jaw slightly slack, thinking if whether her question were for real or not. When he saw her eyebrow slightly twitch, he knew that he had better give her a proper answer, lest he suffer the same fate that had befallen the mighty Kuno.
"Well, Saotome?"
"Um, I got my strength from all the training I did – "
"But training wouldn't do anything if you aren't driven to train." She said, cutting him short. "Tell me, Saotome. What drives you?"
Hinako seemed mighty interested to know more about him, and being given her full attention while not being drained flat was something that he wasn't used to. On impulse he took a step back, avoiding the intensity of her stare.
"I don't really – "
"Tell me," she said. "Or else."
Ranma gulped and started to think.
"What drives me? I dunno. I think it's pride. Yeah, pride. Then again maybe it's just because I like martial arts. I want to perfect it. Yeah, I think that's it. Maybe if I'm good enough I could defeat that good for nothing Oyaji of mine and become the kinda guy that Ofukuro – "
He fell silent, knowing that he had babbled more than he should have, waiting for the laughter that was sure to follow - but the only thing that he heard was the rain.
Hinako gazed at him, urging him to go on. Ranma realized that this was one of the rare times that somebody was actually willing to hear him out, and the attention that at first frightened him suddenly placed him at ease. He didn't think anymore; he didn't have to for he found out that words, once released, never stopped flowing.
"I don't wanna be pushed around. I wanna be the strongest. Maybe that's it. Or maybe it's the fact that acquiring strength is the only thing that I am good at. Maybe – " he paused, his mind stalling even as his lips continued to move. "Maybe I'm driven by the want to prove something."
"To prove what?"
"That I am worth something."
A certain heaviness washed over him at his admission. He never really thought about it, and he realized that it was easier if such things weren't realized. Ranma was suddenly annoyed. If only he wasn't stupid enough to be goaded into answering Hinako's stupid question, he wouldn't feel the sadness that fell on his shoulders.
"That good enough for ya?"
The woman tipped her head to the side. "It was an honest answer."
"People just don't go around asking people stuff like that, y'know."
"I don't."
"Well you just asked me!"
"You're an exception. You aren't normal. You interest me."
"Ha, ha. Thank you very much."
"You interest me because you have your own strength, while I only use the strength of others."
The answer surprised him, but before he could say anything coherent, a surge of energy came from Hinako – it literally spilled out of her, momentarily charging the air before fading away, leaving at its wake a little girl who seemed lost in the emptiness of the hallway.
"Sensei…"
"Well!" Her smile was so large that Ranma believed he just imagined her loneliness. "Twas nice talking with you Saotome. See yah tomorrow!"
With that she ran away, her footsteps swallowed by the deep rumble of thunder.
Ranma stood there for a long, quiet moment, staring at where she had gone, thinking that somehow he was still lucky, but not exactly knowing why.
Sighing, he looked out of the window, out to the downpour.
He really should've brought an umbrella.
When after a few more minutes the rain didn't let up, Ranma decided that he wanted to get home more than he wanted to stay dry.
He walked towards the exit of the building, thinking of the conversation he just had with Hinako-sensei. It was weird, but he knew that it was the only sane exchange he had had with another person in ages. It made him think about a lot of things that he rarely gave importance to.
"Tell me, Saotome. What drives you?"
Was it really his want to prove himself to others that pushed him so hard to train? It didn't seem right. It wasn't as simple as that – maybe before it was, but now the answer seemed like a half-truth.
Great. Now he was even confusing himself.
Ranma tiredly rubbed his nape, resigning himself to the flow of thoughts.
Affirmation, he had told Hinako. He knew that he needed affirmation, something that he almost never had those years when he trained with his father. Genma was a strict master; perfect for him was not good enough. But although he would never admit it, in a way he was grateful to the old man for pushing him past the confines of physical norms, teaching him that nothing was truly impossible. If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have the confidence to test his limits, to mock danger, to defy laws.
In any case, if all he needed was affirmation, he could easily get lots of it anywhere – he had three fiancées (and a self-proclaimed girlfriend) for crying out loud. Granted that Shampoo and Kodachi might see him as nothing but power manifested, he was sure that Ukyo saw him as something more. And Akane –
He stalled.
"Akane?"
He stood by the main doors of Furinkan High while she stood before him in the rain, gazing at him from under an umbrella that strangely matched the color of her eyes.
"Looks like you're thinking really hard. Careful, Ranma, you might pop a brain stem."
"What are you doing here?" He asked, suddenly not in the mood for an argument. "Don't tell me you just came to insult me."
"Quit flattering yourself. I wouldn't waste my time for that." She playfully raised an eyebrow, and Ranma realized that she was actually just teasing.
"Fine. Then what?"
"I brought you this," she said, pulling out a foldable umbrella from her shoulder bag. "I borrowed this from Kasumi. I thought that carrying those pails until after school was punishment enough, and you do deserve to stay dry."
She approached him, lowering her own umbrella as she entered the building. Ranma blinked once, twice, looking at what she offered as if it were some foreign object.
"What's the matter?"
"What's that for?"
"It's something that I'd hit you over the head with if you don't stop asking stupid questions."
"Oh."
The young woman sighed in exasperation. "I was just kidding Ranma, what on earth is wrong with you?"
He gazed at her, her defiant eyes burying deep into his own, and somehow it was right at that moment that epiphany dawned upon him.
He knew it wasn't anymore just affirmation that drove him to become stronger. He didn't need to prove himself to others, as much as he needed to prove himself worthy of something, someone, far more important.
He realized too, why in spite of all the seemingly comical tragedies that he had gone through, he was still lucky.
Akane stared at him, genuine annoyance slowly seeping into her features.
"Do you want the umbrella or not?"
He momentarily closed his eyes, breathing in the rain. When he opened them again, the vision of her against the blues and the grays made him smile.
"I don't need it."
Her anger crashed against him, but before she could say anything, Ranma took Kasumi's umbrella and placed it back in her bag – with a quirky grin he took the one she held and stepped underneath it, beside her.
"This'll do."
Akane stared at him, her face blank for a moment. As quickly as the anger came it was gone, and it left her with nothing else to do but to forcibly hide a clumsy smile.
"F-Fine."
Ranma didn't know why he felt so warm all of a sudden.
"Let's go home."
It was funny how the answers came to him when he least expected them to come; how they gave him a strange sense of comfort even if he still couldn't fully understand them and all the possibilities that came with them. It was funny too, how in spite of the smallness of the umbrella, neither him nor Akane truly got wet.
"So tell me, Saotome. What drives you?"
He smiled.
It's more than pride, or need, or affirmation...
She smiled back.
...It's what came with the umbrella.
-owari-