Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, all characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi except for the OC.
Small hands held each other tightly as two young children walked deeper and deeper into the woods. The two were best friends and fearless when they are together. The little girl was slightly leading the boy, though he was right on her tail. Glancing at his face the little girl smiled softly.
"Come on Ken-chan! Aren't you excited? They should be ahead!" she exclaimed. He grinned back at her.
"Of course I am Kane-chan! Maybe they will let us come to their world once again! The faeries are always so nice to us!" The girl nodded and they continued to go deeper and deeper into the woods. They stopped before a small pond, waiting and watching in excitement for the faeries to come out and play with them like they did so many times before. Everything around them seemed to get darker and darker, the pond before them rippled. A man in all black started rising from the center of the pond, though he was completely dry. He was beautiful, even the children could tell that. His smile sent shivers down their spines. The girls looked at the boy, wondering who this man was, as this was not the one who normally came to play. The boy had a look of horror on his face as he suddenly, rapidly started to grow older and older, until he reached the age of seventeen. He looked down at her, his expression painful and yet so full of love for her. She watched in horror as blood started trickling out of his mouth.
"Kane-chan…don't follow me. He wants you. He took me. Please I don't want anything to happen to you, please." He begged as tears poured down his cheeks. More blood flowed from his body as multiple cuts appeared. She started crying.
"Ken-chan! Ken-chan! What is going on? What happened?" she cried unable to look away from him. The older boy fell to his knees, coughing out blood.
"Listen to me! Please don't follow me! I won't be there…I'm dying. No I think I am already dead. I love you so much, so please don't follow me!"
"Ken-chan! You can't leave me! I love Ken-chan! Please don't die!" she cried loudly, sobbing. Ken suddenly fell forward and stopped moving, causing her tears to increase and her sobs to grow louder. As she cried she didn't notice the faerie from the pond walk behind her. He picked her up and held her tightly.
"Soon we will be together, soon. I promise my sweet little one." His voice sent shudders of fear down her spine. Something about him told her to get away, get away fast. The girl did the only thing she could do; she screamed loudly.
Akane Tendo shot up in her bed, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Taking several deep breaths the seventeen-year-old tried to calm herself. How long had it been since she had a dream of her childhood? So many years. She used to be able to see faeries, all different kinds, that was how she became friends with Kenichi. Both of them could see things others could not. Many times they would play at the park and play with faeries, or go to the woods and meet other faeries. She even got to meet the Summer King and the Faerie Queen. Then one morning she woke up and couldn't see them, it was like a switch in her head shut off and was not able to see or feel things others couldn't; she was normal. After that she and Kenichi didn't see each other too much, but they still wrote letters to each other. In fact Akane had just received a letter last week from him. He kept her updated on his life and she kept him updated on her life. Kenichi was her best and longest friend. Glancing around the room Akane felt much calmer, until her eyes landed on the wedding dress hanging up in her closet. The beautiful young woman sneered at the ruined dress, it now only reminded her of her heart ache and despair. She thought everything had changed after the Saffron incident, she thought he loved her. A week ago she died and came back to life for him, everything she seemed to do was for him. Yet he denied saying he loved her, left her at the altar while his other fiancées ruined her family dojo and her wedding dress. He didn't love her. That nearly killed her again. The only good thing to come out of dying was that her "faerie sight" was coming back to her. She couldn't make out the exacts of the fae but she saw many movements out of the corner of her eyes and many different shadows. She was excited, she never thought she would get it back; she would have to tell Kenichi. Thinking about him brought her dream back to the front of her mind.
'Maybe I need to give him a call? That dream was so strange, so real. It was like he was really trying to talk to me. What if something did happen to him? I need to talk to him.' Standing swiftly off her bed she noticed it was much later than when she normally woke up, her family should still be eating breakfast. Stripping off her sweaty pajamas the young woman quickly stepped into some clean clothes; a white blouse under a tight black jumper. Running down the stairs she found her family and the Saotomes at the table eating.
"Good morning Akane-chan! I tried to wake up but you looked so tired, I saved you some breakfast." Her eldest sister Kasumi greeted her with a bright smile, Akane flashed her a smile.
"Thank you Kasumi-neechan. I will be in there in a moment, I have to make a call." Akane grabbed the phone and started dialing a familiar number she memorized a very long time ago.
"Who are you calling? Hmm?" Nabiki called out. Akane ignored her, knowing she was just being nosy so she could try to earn a buck or two out of her. After the third ring a sad, tired, voice of an elder woman answered.
"Aunty! Its me Akane! Is Ken-chan available to talk?" she asked in an excited voice. There was a pause and a sniffle.
"I'm sorry Akane-chan…Ken-chan…he…he is…"the older woman trailed off bursting into tears. Akane felt her heart stop, her stomach dropped to the floor. Her entire body started to shake as fear filled her.
"Aunty…what happened to Ken-chan?" she asked softly, her voice cracking at the end.
"He is dead Akane-chan. He wouldn't wake up and he wasn't breathing and so pale. Ken-chan is dead." The older woman sobbed loudly. Akane's breath hitched, the feeling of her own death hit her in full force. Akane trembled and had to force herself to talk to the older woman.
"Aunty I will be there soon. I am coming, don't worry." Her voice was small and so full of emotion. They hung up and Akane just stood there for a minute, her breathing getting harder and faster. Setting the phone back down Akane turned and walked back to her family. Soun took one look at his youngest daughter and dropped his chopsticks.
"Akane, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked worriedly. Everyone looked at her as tears started dripping down her cheeks.
"He's dead. He's…dead. Ken-chan is dead." Her voice broke off with a sob as she fell to her knees crying loudly. Kasumi was up and had her arms around Akane before anyone could register what the youngest Tendo said.
"Ken-chan? Kenichi? He is dead? What happened?" Nabiki asked shocked. Akane shook her head.
"Aunty just said he wasn't breathing and was pale. Ken-chan is dead! I need to go see him! I have to go see Ken-chan!" Akane cried. Ranma was shocked; he had never seen Akane act like this, this Ken-chan must have been very important to her.
"Nabiki, go upstairs and pack a bag for Akane." Kasumi ordered the middle child, Nabiki did as she was told without any resistance. Kasumi continued to soothe and calm her youngest sister down with soothing words and gentle motherly strokes.
"Tendo, who is this boy?" Genma asked softly. Ranma listened to their conversation but never took his eyes off Akane.
"Kenichi is Akane's childhood friend. Her best friend. They did everything together. They were inseparable; Akane often spent the night at his house. I don't think there is anyone who knew and cared about her more than that boy. This…is heartbreaking." Soun said sadly. Akane's sobs started to slow down and she looked up at her sister with watery eyes. Kasumi smiled at her and wiped the tears from her face.
"Come now Akane-chan, Ken-chan never liked to see you cry. You must greet him with a smile so he can rest in peace. You must be strong for him and yourself, alright?" Akane nodded. Nabiki came back down with a bag for her.
"Thank you Nabiki-neechan, Kasumi-neechan. Tou-san I might be gone for a couple days, I need to be there. I need to be with him." Her voice was soft but strong.
"I should go with you." Ranma said and stood up. Akane shook her head.
"No. This is something I need to do by myself. I will be back in a couple days."
"But I-"Ranma stopped his protest as Kasumi laid a hand on his arm.
"Be safe Akane-chan and send our condolences to Ken-chan's family." She said softly. Akane nodded and headed out the door.