Disclaimer: These belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
I got married at the age of sixteen to a complete stranger. Well, not a complete stranger. Dad says we were good friends when we were babies, before her mother died, before my father took me on his training trip. I don't remember that. I do remember the entirely distracted thought process that kept me from preventing the wedding. She'd just walked in on me as I was getting out of the tub. It was the first time she ever saw me as a guy.
She's gonna hate me. She already hates me. I shoulda said I'm a boy right at the start. But then. . . then she wouldn't have offered to be my friend. Is she still going to be my friend? Judging by that glare she's giving me, I really don't think so. Damnit! Damn Pop and his stupid training trips! Why am I even here?
"Now, now, son, your problem isn't so bad," the voice of Mr. Tendo snapped me out of my thoughts. I blinked at him. Not so bad? How did he figure?
"Here's my daughter Kasumi, she's nineteen," he announced. I nodded awkardly at the pretty brunnette, wondering just what the hell he was doing. We did the whole introduction thing already, didn't we? "And this is Nabiki, she's seventeen." This one just looked at me—the way most people look at a side of beef. She was evaluating me, and I didn't like the gleam in her eye. "And here's Akane, she's sixteen. Pick any one you want, she'll be your wife."
"Wife?" I croaked, looking up at him.I turned back to the girls just in time to see Nabiki and Kasumi exchange a Look. A you-have-to-be-kidding sort of look. Akane was too busy glaring at me to be included in the Look, and so after a second of unspoken conversation the two older girls shoved their sister forward. Pushed her right into the wolves den.
"Oh, he wants Akane," Nabiki grinned, with a sidelong glance at my breasts. Akane's eyes widened, and she turned on her sisters.
"Why does it have to be me?" she protested. I wasn't going to complain, originally, but if I was so bloody unattractive to her. . . just who did she think she was, anyway? The Queen of Sheba?
"You hate boys, right? Lucky for you Ranma is half girl!" Kasumi explained to her younger sister. I huffed and turned away from them.
"Ranma! Where are you going?" my father thundered. Away from here. Away from you. Away from all this crap you're trying to shove on me, old man.
"Back to China. This is no time to get engaged," I muttered. Mr. Tendo popped up in front of me, a sickly sweet smile on his face.
"But Ranma, we never said engaged, we said married," he said. I stared at him blankly. Mr. Tendo looked at my father, a big stupid grin on his face.
"You got ordained by that online church, right?" he asked. I felt my intestines squeeze up into a knot. He had to be kidding.
"Of course I did, Tendo. This sort of thing is far too important to leave to chance. Marry them now, I say, so we can be sure the schools will be united!"
"Yes, yes, my old friend," Mr. Tendo smiled. They just stood there grinning like idiots, nodding at each other. I glanced at Akane. . . who was staring at me in perfect horror.
"You have to be kidding. I refuse to marry a pervert like him!" she said hotly. I felt the blood rush to my face. It always does that quicker when I'm a girl. Maybe because I'm a redhead?
"Pervert! What are you talking about? YOU walked in on ME!" I shouted back at her. She was in my face then, a little chocolate-eyed bundle of fury.
"It's different when a boy sees a girl!" she snapped. I almost blushed. So what if seeing her naked had. . . affected me? Did she think it came with a remote control?
"You idiot!" I burst out.
"Pervert!"
"Tomboy!"
"Now, now children, let's just settle down and say our marriage vows," Mr. Tendo said placatingly. The oldest sister spoke up, a worried expression on her face.
"Father, this is a bad idea. They're too young," she protested. Her father waved her considerations aside.
"Ranma," my father said, his tone deadly serious as he poured the rest of the kettle of hot water over my head. "Do you swear to take care of Akane for the rest of your life, in sickness and in health, and pursue martial arts until the end of your days?" he asked. I blinked at him. I specifically remember blinking a lot during this whole procedure.
"Well, yeah, to the. . ." I was going to say "to the martial arts part," but it just never got out. I didn't have time. He wasn't listening anyway.
"Akane, do you vow to do all the stuff I just said to him?" my father asked. She turned her face away, crossing her arms.
"Absolutely. . ." She began. I'm pretty sure there was going to be a "not" on the end of that, but our fathers never gave her time. Mine clapped me hard on the back and handed me a little gold circlet.
"Give her the ring and kiss the bride, my boy," he said. I stared at Akane for a moment, unsure of what to do. She answered that question nicely, by stepping up and smacking me across the face with all the force in her body.
"Cccccccccccccccccclose enough! I pronounce you man and wife!" my father yelled. We stared at each other a long moment, the ring in my hand and my cheek throbbing. She turned away first, and that spurred me to speech. But all I could say was;
"Why are you slapping me, you stupid tomboy! It's not like I WANT to be married to an ugly chick like you!" I snapped at her. She glowered at me for a moment, just long enough for me to see the tears welling in her eyes. Then she ran up the stairs.
"Father, that's not even close to legally binding," the middle daughter pointed out, her tone bored. As if she didn't even care that her sister might be married to a complete stranger. You know, to this day I still don't like Nabiki much.
I turned around to see a giant demon head apporaching me, blue with huge scary eyes . . . holding out a marriage liscence. I screamed and fell, scittering away from him on all fours.
"Sssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiign thissssssssssssssssss," the demon hissed at me. I signed it without thinking, and the demon turned back into Soun. It's a dirty trick.
"Father, this isn't right!" Kasumi protested, trying to take the marriage lisence away from him. They argued downstairs while I, completely unnoticed, went up to talk to my, ah, wife. She wasn't really, not yet, she hadn't signed the liscence. They tricked her into that a few weeks later. And as for consummation, that still hasn't happened. But from that first night, I attatched that word to her. And she became, in my mind anyway, mine. My wife, my woman, my responsibility.
I heard her crying when I stood outside her door, but I knocked anyway. I heard her shuffling up to the door, and winced at the tearful expression on her face as she opened the door. She looked at me for a moment, then slammed the door in my face.
"Akane, would you come out here? It doesn't help anybody for you to sit in there and cry," I said, impatient. We had to figure out a way out of this, and how could we figure out ANYTHING if she wouldn't talk to me.
"I'm not interested in helping you, stupid stupid . . . STUPID!" she cried.
That's kind of how life went, back then. All the bloody time. We called each other names, teased each other, shut each other out. I found out that she was the most popular girl in school. She found out that I refuse to be beaten. I don't think she knew why, though.
People kept trying to take her from me. Kuno. Ryouga. Mikado. But if I'm the best, no one can take her. If I'm the strongest, I get to keep her. At first I really meant the whole ugly tomboy thing. But hey, she was MY ugly tomboy, even then. Mine to fight with, mine to tease. My ticket to having a home at last.
That kind of changed when Ryouga cut her hair. I watched her cry on Dr. Tofu's chest and I realized that I was jealous. Not just, that's-mine sort of jealous, either. She went to him when she was sad. I wanted her to come to me. After that, I never meant the names I called her. I put the lock of hair she'd lost in the shoebox where I kept her wedding ring and the few pictures of her I have. I bet she'd never talk to me again if she saw that box. I guess it is sort of creepy.
I began to notice the times she worried about me. I began to think that maybe, just maybe, even if she wasn't forced, she would want to be around me. Maybe. We were sort of friends then, except in most friendships one person doesn't obsessively protect the other.
Everything changed when Shampoo came for me.
I beat her, as a boy, and she came after me in a way that was infinitely scarier than her trying to kill me. She kissed me. Actually kissed me, not a kiss of death. I think my blood froze. Then, she started calling me husband.
"I'm married already!" I protested. Akane was just glaring from the sidelines. Why didn't she step in? Why didn't she claim me?
"Is really married? No wear ring," the Amazon had said, confused. That was a bit of a quandry, wasn't it?
"I would but. . ." I almost said, but she doesn't want me. Instead, I said, "I'd rather not acknowledge that tomboy."
"And I'd rather not acknowledge him," Akane sniffed, off to the side. Then she left. Just. . . walked away. That's what pissed me off. I never walked away from her, but it seemed she was always running from me.
"Divorce happen all time in Japan, yes?" Shampoo had said, with that seductive smile of hers. I wasn't buying. I just looked at her blankly for a moment, then jumped over her head and ran after Akane. I think Shampoo would have followed me, if Nabiki hadn't stopped her with questions about this whole husband thing.
I found her in the park.
She was sitting on the swing, looking kind of dejected. Good. I wanted her to be dejected, if she thought I was actually going to go after Shampoo. I wanted her to feel the same possesiveness of me that I felt of her.
"Hey," I said, akwardly. She waved me over, but didn't meet my eyes.
"We need to talk," she said, softly. I hate those words. Every guy hates those words.
"About what?" I asked.
"About. . . our, ah, whatever you call it. I don't think it's a marriage until it's conssummated, is it? I mean, we could still anull it."
"You want to. . ." I started, frowning at her, the anger already seeping out of the darker places in my mind. She wanted rid of me, eh? Ranma Saotome is not just some little pissant that you can toss aside. . .
"Shut up and let me get this out, I never will otherwise," she snapped. After a deep breath, she continued, "Look, I know you didn't want to get into this whole marriage thing any more than I did. We were sort of tricked into it. And so, if you want to anull it and see other people, that's fine. It's not like you owe me anything," she finished, in a whisper. I closed my eyes, letting the words sink in.
"It's not I like I OWE you anything?" I asked, my voice quiet. She flinched. I spun in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. She finally looked at me, nothing but surprise in her expression. No regret, nothing. Would it be that easy for her? Just to walk away?
"What do you think a marriage vow is, girlie? Just another set of words? I might not have intended to do it, but I promised to take care of you for the rest of your life and guess what? You promised the same to me!" I snarled at her, leaning closer and closer, making sure she heard me, making sure she remembered. She flinched away from me, and I caught her chin in my hand. I refused to make it easy for her to walk away from me.
"I'm a martial artist, Akane. I take my vows very seriously, whether I wanted to make them or not! So you're stuck with me!" I snapped. She blinked furiously at me, and tried to pull away. I let her go, a little horrified at what I'd done, what I'd said. I'm a lot stronger than her, I could have really hurt her, grabbing her like that.
"I'm stuck with you?" she repeated, slowly. I nodded. We just stared at each other for a long time, unsure of what to say. "You want me?"
"Look, I don't have a lot in this world. And the only part of it that I can even begin to call home is the part with you in it, so yeah, sure. You're stuck with me."
"Even though Shampoo's got long, pretty hair and a great figure. . ."
"Look, the girl is trying to KILL me. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"That's funny, because the last time I saw the two of you she didn't look like killing was what she had in mind."
Then the fighting began again. The fighting never really ends. It pauses for breif periods of time, but it never really ends. I guess that's why they all think they have a shot. Kuno, Shampoo, Ukyou, Ryouga. Any of those losers that used to assault her before school. But none of them seem to get it. Akane is mine. Mine, damnit, and nothing is going to take her away from me.
Just an idea. Sorry if it stinks, I can't really argue with flames on this one. But hey, you have to admit that he's possessive of her a very long time before she's possesive of him. A long time before they even learn how to be nice to each other.