Warning, before you read any further there are some facts about this fic you must know. First of all Ranma ain't mine, it's the property of the beauteous Takahashi Rumiko.
Secondly, this story will kick ass, but only if you let it. Be open-minded and give the author the benefit of the doubt; believe that those glaring plot holes will be filled in sooner or later. Remember, the key to a good reading experience is twenty percent writer and eighty percent reader.
--- TT ---
…Sentiment for the Remaining Flowers…
By Kei, Krimzon & Rayne.
--- TT ---
...ep1... ...we met some girl...
Thunderstruck, ACDC
--- TT ---
It had begun raining.
It had begun raining.
"RANMA!" A certain short haired tomboy yelled at her fiancée. No that she seriously considered him as one, of course, it was arranged by their parent didn't you knew? Yeah, arranged marriage, can you believe it? Who even do such archaic things these days?
"What is it?" The boy, Ranma, called back tiredly from where he was, lying down on the wooden door with a dejected and somber look on his face.
"It's raining." Akane continued in a more civil tone than before, having noticed the pig tailed boy melancholy struck mood. So Ranma really is more sensitive than he let on; she really wasn't sure what to think about that.
"So it is…" The raven haired martial artist commented in a subdued voice. He was still lying on floor, starring up at the ceiling. And he still looked as if someone had died.
A minute past in silence; neither of them was willing to speak, even though they both knew what was going through each others mind, it's not easy to talk about it.
…
"Well?" The girl snapped out rather irritably, her impatience finally gotten the better of her. Despite the fact that she's rather bull headed in all things she does, resolve was never one of her forte. Oh well, she never claims she was perfect. "Aren't you going to talk to her?"
Instead of retorting back angrily like he usually did, Ranma simply turned his head and looked out into the veranda and the backyard.
"Yeah…" He said solemnly before turning to Akane with a sad smile adorning his face. "I've got to don't I? No one could do it but someone has to try."
With that, the boy stood up and made a little show of brushing himself off. It was almost as if he was stalling. He fixed a look of grim determination on his face before walking out the living room, heading into the direction of the stair.
Watching him go, the youngest Tendo could not help but feel a pang of guilt rising within her heart. It wasn't her fault, she knew… but it wasn't his fault either… it just wasn't fair…
"…w… wait Ranma." She called out hesitantly. The boy paused amidst his stride and turned around to face her. He looked at her with almost pleadingly with his forlorn face. Akane felt as if her heart had suddenly gotten heavier.
"...w…would you like… that's, eh… I mean, em…. do you want me to come with you?" The short haired girl mumbled quietly, choosing to study the wooden floor instead of looking her fiancée in the eyes. One could hardly false her, after all it was an interesting floor. Why, those patterns in these woods are simply…
…fascinating… yeah, that's it…
Ranma sent her an appreciative smile, mouthing a silence 'thank you' before looking away. "I don't think you should…. I mean, if she's really me then I don't think she'd want to see you right now. If I were her, I think… seeing you would just be a reminder of what I can't have anymore…"
'Can't have anymore… is he being possessive? Does this mean he wants me?' Akane blushed faintly as her mind wondered dangerously close being R rated.
"I mean you're not THAT much of a Tomboy right?" The pig tailed boy said uncertainly; he never considered the possibility of girls being in love with one another before but Daisuke and Hiroshi assured him that it's true. Still Akane isn't like that, right? "I mean, she's a girl now… so… you know…"
Oh boy, did she know or what.
"Ranma you IDIOT!" Akane shouted, punctuating her last word with a mighty left hook.
She glanced at his crumpled and twitching carcass once before giving a dignified 'hmph' and walked passed him and up the stairs. Stupid jerk, why does he have to be such a pervert at a time like this?
A time like what, you ask.
Try having your jerk of a fiancée splitting into two persons, both with the same mind but one who's cured and another stuck in a female body forever. Then one of them began to have an emotional break down and an identity crisis, and THEN the stupid 'cured' one began to act melancholy all of the sudden.
'God, why do you do this to me?' She mentally bemoaned heaven… well, to be more precise, it was the ceiling but who cares about that?
She stared at the ceiling a bit more but, naturally, it didn't answer. What was she expecting anyway? Some kind of loud booming noise to promise her everything will be okay?
"Ranma…. You moronic, idiotic jerky ass…" Akane muttered angrily, gnashing her teeth as she did so.
And with that, our ever so lovable tomboy stumped up stair to confront her now-permanently female and silently brooding fiancée. And maybe get her to come down from the roof before she caught a cold and die. Yeah, maybe…
Stupid stupid stupid stupid ….
The hand railing cracked under the pressure of her grip; but, would you dare remind her of that in her current mood?
"RANMA!!!!!!" Akane roared, slamming opened the outer door and stumped out onto the balcony. She spun around and glanced up at the edge of the roof hotly. She stood there getting soaked in the rains for about a minute, waiting for some sort of reply from the red headed girl who was, without a doubt, sulking on the rain swept roof.
Nothing…
"COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Still nothing…
Akane's anger burnt itself out and she was left this curious assortment of feelings, sympathy and sorrow and affection combined together to form something wishy-washy that was twitching within her chest.
Damn that jerk, she thought irritably before hopping up, taking hold of the ledge and swinging herself up onto the roof.
--- TT ---
Ten minutes earlier
Out side the Tendo residence four figures moved swiftly across the field; they leant low as they ran, forcing the spikes of their combat boots to dig into the slippery mud in order to maintain balance while they traversed the unfavorable ground. They all wore midnight black combat garb which covered their whole body except from their eyes, making them look like some sort of ninja from the old samurai movies.
Except Edo era's ninjas don't usually carry high powered firearms and assortment of convert-military armaments.
"…tsk…Command calling Sword One, response." A voice crackled to life over the ear pieces, everyone in the group had one so they all heard it loud and clearly. One of the four lifted her hand up to her communication device and tapped it twice.
"This is Sword One; we're in position, awaiting further instruction over." The masked maiden, for her slender feminine nose professed that much, said simply, letting the mouth piece that was attached to her throat picked up her response.
"Roger that Sword One; now, I trust you all know what to do. Keep alert and wait for the signal from Gunner One before executing the plan CAREFULLY, understood?"
"Roger that." The ninja-like operative said with a groan. Why must she insist on repeating that over and over? It wasn't like they didn't get it after the first time. But still, she could understand her reasoning for it though…
"Make sure that you do. And, for heaven's sake, please keep the amount of collateral damage to the minimal."
"Minimal damage, gotcha. Sword One, over and out."
--- TT ---
In another place far, far away a red headed woman in navy blue suit gave a small shudder as she watched the line went dead over the intercom. She resisted the urge to bury her head into her hands as a sense of dread came over her being. 'Why didn't the word 'Gotcha' served to reassure me one bit?', she thought to herself.
"Excuse me, sempai?" Another red head said shyly from beside her. She looked almost identical to the other woman except she seemed to be a few years younger and seemed less confident.
"Yes, what is it?" The older one grumbled, sounding slightly annoyed at the world in general.
"Em… according to these plans there should be no actual combat at all, much less any noticeable collateral damage. So why did you comment on it, sempai?" The shy girl said, sounding slightly puzzled
"What are you talking about…" The older one began to say, turning around as she did so. She had a look of confusion on her face but when she saw the girl, it dissolved into a glint of realization. "Oh that's right… sometime I forgot how new you are."
"Hm… How do I explain this…you see they have this habit of…you know…" She said, gesticulating with her hands. Still seeing the look of incomprehension on the other girl's face, she sighed before continuing.
"…Oh what the heck, just watch this and you'll know what I mean soon enough" The older girl said irritably, pulling out a turning around one of the smaller screens as she did so.
The younger red head peered closely into it with interest.
There were lines of strange alien alphabets in green cascading down the screen. She couldn't make out any sense of it at all.
"Wow, you can read this?" She asked incredulously; incredible, this's just like the Matrix.
"Of course not you ninny, that's the screensaver." The other woman said in an annoyed tone. She leant over and tapped the screen causing the numerous green lines to fade into the desktop with a picture of Bruce Lee as its wallpaper.
She brought up a window and clicked 'play'. Suddenly a image of image of something white and square came into view. It looked like something was looking at a window from the outside.
"Is this…"
"Yeah that's the live-footage from a camera attached to Sword One's headgear."
"Sword One?" The younger of the two said questioningly. She heard the other woman said that earlier as well. It was all very confusing.
"Sachiko… you know, that girl we were talking to before. I introduced you to the entire crew member yesterday; she's the one with the katana, remember?
"Yea…" She said uncertainly. It was all very confusing… oh wait, didn't she just say something like that that earlier?
The older one of the two smiled at her young charge amiably. It wasn't until the said charge turned away that she dropped her façade and allowed a look of despair to descend upon her face. Why oh why, did we have to have another mission the very next day after we picked up a new recruit?
'Oh well at least she'll be the last one, right? There're already six of us… I can't possibly take another one.'
Why did she suddenly felt like she's having a migraine?
The intercom next to her crackled to life. A brief zazz of static disappeared leaving another familiar voice speaking to her.
"Gunner One calling Command... package is in location and alone, requesting permission to commence operation Elegant Swordwoman…"
The woman, who was also known 'Command' rubbed her temple silently, she suddenly had a feeling that something was or will be terribly wrong.
'Changing the plan at the last second is bad, Kijo. Don't go against your own rules.' The red haired woman, Kijo, mentally berated herself. She steeled herself and made the decision, speaking into the microphone with a note of finality.
"Permission granted."
--- TT ---
Author's note:
You guys must think I'm mad, for starting another story so soon. Especially when I have like four incomplete ones waiting to be updated. But please bear with me on this; I have a really good feeling about this one.
Anyway, review please… I'd like to know what you guys think of this idea. Don't worry I haven't abandoned This Sky This Dream or Finding Alice… in fact, the next chapter of This Sky will be out soon…
So how about that review, huh? You know you want to……
