Author's Comments: O-o-o-o-okay. Here I am taking a huge leap; this is my first Ranma 1/2 fanfic. Ack. I feel out of my element—I'm so used to writing Kingdom Hearts or Detective Conan stories. I've never felt the need to write any Ranma 1/2 fanfic since the original story is just plain awesome.
I guess what inspired this was the trailer for Tangled that I saw when I went to see Toy Story 3. I really wanted to put my own spin on the Rapunzel concept and Ranma 1/2 had the best cast of characters to play with. The entire story won't be a Rapunzel thing; it'll be more of a Rapunzel-aftermath thing...if that makes sense.
I just wanted to put this up and see if the story is worth continuing, so please let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Rapunzel.
Her knuckles cracked as she fisted her hands in barely-concealed anger. How could he? How could her father consent to Sir Kuno's marriage proposal? He wasn't the one who would marry Sir Kuno—she was! Her father didn't even ask if she was alright with the arrangement. Nooooo. She was standing right next to him when he nodded once and said "Okay."
It was not okay! No way in hell was it okay!
She quickly jumped out of the way of the tree crashing down from her enraged punch, tearing her skirt in the process. She cursed at the rip down her leg. Kasumi must have known Sir Kuno was going to propose today—why else would she have insisted she wear a dress? She should have stayed in her training clothes…
Her anger seeped from her veins when amidst the trees she spotted a tower in the distance. Had that tower always been there? If she hadn't punched down the tree, she doubted she would've been able to see it.
She picked up her skirt, stepped over the tree, and jogged over to the white stone tower. Her breath caught in her throat as she marveled the tall building. It had to have stood twice as tall as the wall surrounding her father's castle. Who did it belong to?
Her eyes scanned the flat grassy land surrounding the tower and she walked in a complete, careful circle around the base. She couldn't find a sign or any mark of ownership…or a door.
Her nose wrinkled at the thought. A tower as tall as this one with no door? That was stupid.
She looked over the tower once more. A single window rested at the very top, just below the roof. Could something be inside…?
There was only one way to find out.
As always, she was glad she kept her nails cut short. She gripped slivers of space between stones with her fingertips and began to climb, setting a pattern for herself—hand, hand, foot, foot. Hand, hand, foot, foot. Hand, hand, foot fo—
Her toe scuffed the stone, missing the crevice. Immediately her other foot lost balance and slipped, followed by both her hands. She shut her eyes tight and screamed, flailing her arms around for something to grab…and brushed her fingers on something silky.
Instinctively she clutched for dear life, tangling her fingers in the strands and propping her feet up against the side of the tower. She peeled her eyes open one at a time and nearly let go of her grip out of shock. She was holding onto hair.
"You okay?"
Her ears perked at the female voice and she followed the stream of hair to the window. She was right—there was something inside this tower. Someone.
"Y-Yes!" she shouted back.
"Then climb up!"
As carefully as she could, she pulled herself up the side of the tower, inwardly wincing at the thought of using someone's hair to climb. Whenever her ladies-in-waiting (mainly Kodachi, Sir Kuno's twisted sister) tugged too hard on her hair while combing it, she'd cry out in pain.
Ugh. Sir Kuno. Her father really wasn't going to make her marry him, was he?
She pushed aside the thought when she reached the window. Relieved she wouldn't have to use the hair any longer, she swung into the tower and landed lightly on her feet.
"Quick, help me bring this all back in."
Without wasting a moment she turned and scooped the hair into the room, alternating armfuls with her rescuer. Her legs were burning from squatting down and standing back up by the time the two of them heaved all that hair inside. She breathed an accomplished sigh before turning her eyes to her rescuer: a busty girl who stood a few inches shorter than her with hair that cascaded from her ponytail and pooled at their feet. Her blue eyes were clear and sharp and she wore a loose tunic, slacks that were way longer than her legs, and no shoes.
"Thanks," the girl said with a smile.
"No, thank you," she replied quickly, shaking her head. "If it weren't for you I would've fallen pretty hard."
She reached behind her and scratched her head, chuckling bashfully. "It was nothing, but uh…Why were you climbing up, anyway?"
Her cheeks flushed and she averted her gaze to the wooden floor, twiddling her fingers sheepishly. "I…I was curious."
"So you decided to risk your life climbing up the side of the tower?" The girl shrugged and crossed her arms. "Well, s'not like it hasn't happened before."
Carefully she lifted her eyes to see the girl smiling at her. A smile of her own grew on her face as she finally got a good look at the room, padding across the floor as she went—a bed, an empty fireplace, a kettle… "Do you live here?"
"Kinda."
…A bucket, a chair or two, and a staircase leading downwards. "How did you end up here?"
"Uh…heh. It's a long sto—"
"Yoohoo! Ranma!"
She whipped her head at the call just as the girl rolled her eyes and stepped over her hair to lean out the window, muttering darkly under her breath, "Speak of the devil…"
"Ranma, Ranma," she heard a squeaky voice call from outside the tower, "let down your hair!"
"HELL no!" the girl hollered out the window, the upper-half of her body hanging out. "Go away, you old geezer!"
She blinked, beginning to walk over to the window. "Who's that?"
"No!" the girl hissed, jerking her head back towards the far wall. "Stay back so he doesn't see you!"
"Ranma, Ranma, let down your hai—"
"I said GET LOST!" the girl screeched, snatching the shutters and slamming the window shut with a tired huff. "Sorry 'bout that," she apologized grimly.
As the girl stepped back over her hair to walk to the staircase, she asked, "Your name is Ranma?"
"Yeah." The girl disappeared down the stairs. "What's yours?"
Smiling to herself like a child knowingly going against her parents, she purposefully left out her title. "Akane."
"Akane, huh?" Ranma's head popped up above the floor as she made her way back up the stairs, ignoring the fact that she was walking on her own hair. "Nice t'meet ya."
"Same to you." That smile grew. Kasumi wasn't here to chide her to say "The pleasure is mine" or some other excruciatingly formal saying. "Who was that person who came?"
"Him?" She scoffed and rolled her clear blue eyes. "He's the reason I'm here in the first place. Him and my old man. You can sit down if you want, by the way."
"What happened?" She sat down in the chair Ranma waved a hand to.
She froze for a moment then plopped down on the bed, kicking her hair to the side. "I uh…Well, me and my old man and the old geezer were training—"
"You're a martial artist?" she suddenly cut her off. When she saw her nod hesitantly, she lit up and clapped a hand to her chest. "Me too!"
Ranma brightened, her eyes sparkling. "Really? What school?"
"School of Anything Goes."
"Really? Me too! Who's your teacher?"
"My dad."
"Huh. Maybe your old man and my old man know each other."
Akane shrugged. That wasn't important right now. "Anyway, you were training and…"
The sparkle in her eyes dimmed and her smile fell. "Have you heard of Jusenkyo?"
Her jaw dropped. "The Cursed Springs? You were training there?"
"Yeah. The old geezer earlier? He kicked me into one of the springs." Ranma sighed. "Since I'm cursed now, my old man's banished me to this tower."
"That's terrible!" Akane exclaimed. "Have you tried escaping?"
"Easier said than done. There aren't any trees to jump to and all this—" she waved her arms at the heap of hair on the floor, "—would only weigh me down if I tried climbing out. I'd cut it all off if I had something to cut it with."
Akane frowned and bit her lip. Was there something she could do to help this poor girl? There had to be something. After all, she was a—
"Princess!"
She perked up and exchanged a strange glance with Ranma.
"Princess Akane! Where are you?"
Akane hurried to the window and threw open the shutters, peering down. On the outskirts of the grassy plain, she saw a man around her age weaving amidst the trees. "Princess Akane!" he shouted with a hand cupped next to his mouth.
"What the—You're a princess?" Ranma gaped next to her.
She sighed. The jig was up. "Ryoga!" she called to the man after nodding over her shoulder at Ranma. "I'm up here!"
Ryoga whirled towards the tower and blanched. "P-Princess! A-A-Are you alright?" he cried, scurrying to the base of the tower. "How—How did you get up there?"
"I'm fine. My friend helped me." Suddenly it hit her. Ryoga could help her get Ranma out of this tower! "Do you have any rope?" she asked earnestly.
He threw down his rucksack to search its contents. "Yes, Your Highness!"
"A lot of rope?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, I'll be right down!" She turned from the window to Ranma and blinked. The girl had stepped back from the window and looked as pale as a ghost, her eyes darting around nervously. "Are you okay?" Akane asked.
"Y-Yeah!" Ranma quickly said, nodding fervently.
"Can you let your hair down again? Keep it down, too, 'cause I'm gonna be right back."
"O-Okay." She scooped up as much of her hair as she could, tiptoed to the window, and threw her hair over the edge while keeping her feet glued at least a foot from the window. "Be careful."
Only when Ranma safely touched down on the ground and released the rope did Akane allow Ryoga to fuss over her. "Are you alright, Your Highness? Your father was very worried about you!"
"I'm fine, Ryoga," she insisted. "And enough of the 'Your Highness, Your Highness' stuff. I've told you before to just call me Akane."
Ryoga heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'm very glad you're alright, Yo—I mean, A-Akane."
She glanced over her shoulder at the girl huddling behind her. She seemed awfully shy all of a sudden. "If it weren't for my new friend, I'd probably be a broken mess right now."
"What do you mean?" Ryoga asked, craning his neck to get a glimpse of the girl.
"I wanted to see what was inside the tower so I tried climbing it and I almost fell."
"And this girl…uh…" he eyed the stream of hair around their feet, "let her hair down?"
"Yeah." Akane stepped to the side to reveal the girl and smiled encouragingly at her. Maybe Ranma was attracted to Ryoga. How cute!
"Well," Ryoga bowed low to the girl, "thank you for saving Princess Akane…um…" He faltered upon realizing he didn't know her name.
"Ranko."
Akane did a double-take. Ranko? Wasn't her name Ranma?
"Ranko," Ryoga repeated slowly as he straightened up. "Thank you, Miss Ranko."
Taking one last moment to look strangely at Ranma (Ranko? Really?), Akane shook off her confusion and smiled wider. "W-Well, we should head back to the castle. Dad will be thrilled to meet another Anything Goes student."
By the time the three arrived back at the castle, Akane had half a mind to blow up at Ryoga for his poor sense of direction. What kind of hunter didn't know his way around the forest? From what she'd heard, he barely knew how to get to his own bedroom every night.
They strode into the audience chamber where the king and Kasumi, her oldest sister, fussed together over where she could be. When the two noticed them enter, they immediately rushed to their side. "Akane darling!" Her father extended his arms. "I was so worried about you!"
She glared at him. "I'm still mad at you."
The king cringed and halted in his steps. Kasumi closed the distance and wrapped her arms around her as his slanted eyes fell on the girl standing next to his daughter. "Who is this?"
She chose to keep quiet lest she called the girl the wrong name.
"I'm Ranko." She scratched the back of her head nervously as she bowed slightly and added, "Your Highness."
Akane's nose wrinkled and she furrowed her brow. So her name really was Ranko…Huh. She must have heard incorrectly earlier.
"Where are you from, Miss Ranko?" her father asked.
"The Saotome kingdom."
"Saotome? As in King Genma and Queen Nodoka?"
"Yessir."
He hummed thoughtfully, stroking his chin and nodding with approval. "I see. The king is a good friend of mine."
Akane blinked. She thought she heard Ranko mutter "That explains a lot…"
"We'd be happy to assist you home." He turned to Ryoga and ordered, "Have the stable boys prepare a carriage—"
"She should stay the night, Father," Kasumi suggested just as Ranko began to protest. "It's getting dark outside."
"Yes! Please, Dad?" Akane chirruped. "We just became friends. I don't want her to go yet."
He waved a hand dismissively. "We can bring her home before sundown—"
"You owe me for approving Sir Kuno's marriage without my permission."
He flinched, his eyes brimming with tears as he turned to her and protested, "But Akane, Sir Kuno is our best knight."
"That doesn't matter," she snapped and crossed her arms. "I refuse to marry someone who can't defeat me in a fight."
The king moaned pathetically before blubbering, "Miss Ranko is welcome to stay as long as she'd like."
A pang of realization hit her in the gut. She'd forgotten to ask Ranko if she even wanted to stay here. Glancing at the girl from the corner of her eye, she sheepishly mumbled, "W-Would you like to stay?"
The corner of Ranko's mouth quirked up in a small smile. "If you don't mind…"
"Of course not!" Akane blurted, her face breaking into a smile that threatened to tear her cheeks. "I'd love for you to stay!"
Ranko's smile widened. "In that case," she reached behind her and pinched a section of her hair, "do you have a pair of scissors?"
Author's Afterthought: Well. What do you think? Is it worth continuing? Please leave a review and let me know! Thank you for reading!