Disclaimer: Ranma and co. are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, they are not mine, I'm just borrowing them. This fic is written purely for the entertainment of others and for my own writing pleasure, so I won't be making any money from it.
Tears In Rain
A Ranma half Fanfiction One Shot
by
Leonar Greyheart
Night fell, bringing a rare calm to the Tendo Dojo, which was broken only by the sounds of rain drumming upon the roof. Akane Tendo held her pet pig P-chan close to her as they slept, rendering him unconscious due to impaired blood circulation. Everyone else was fast asleep too...well, almost everyone.
A bedroom door quietly opened and closed as someone sneaked out and headed down the stairs. The screen door overlooking the koi pond slid open, and the silent figure stepped into the back yard, closing the door behind them before stepping over to the koi pond and looking down into its dark, mirror-like surface.
What the person saw - through the ripples created by falling raindrops - was an attractive young woman, though the young woman in question didn't much like what she saw.
She rubbed her ribs, which felt tender and swollen due to the bruises hidden beneath her clothes. Nobody knew what had happened, and they probably wouldn't care even if they did. She had made some enemies, and she had come to accept the fact as an occupation hazard.
Maybe I even had it coming, she thought to herself, sullenly.
She tried not to let things get to her like this most of the time, but it was hard. Really hard.
Most days, she'd hide her feelings behind a mask and do what she felt she had to do, and when night came she would lose a few hours of sleep over it. The next day, she'd get up and repeat the process.
That day hadn't been like most days, it hadn't just been business as usual.
Someone had wanted payback, so they decided to deliver it with a fist to her ribs.
She held her own, she had been trained in the Anything Goes style after all, once upon a time.
But it was a shock nonetheless. Things had never gotten physical before. Not until that day.
She'd had a few harsh words thrown her way from time to time, that much was to be expected.
But the idea that someone hated her so much, that they would actually lash out physically?
It hurt, and not just in the physical sense. It really, really hurt. Right down to the core.
For once, a few hours sleep lost in a no-holds-barred battle with her conscience wasn't enough.
She needed to let something out. Just a little, she told herself, not too much.
And the rain poured heavier then. Yes, just the rain. Nothing more. Nobody could say any differently, except for her battered rib, which burned angrily with each sob.
Any sound she made was drowned out by the rain, and even if it hadn't been, everyone was in bed. Nobody could see her, nobody could... "Nabiki?"
Startled by the voice, Nabiki rubbed her face dry and turned to see who had called her name.
It was Ranma, of course, dressed in her red Chinese shirt, staring at her with concern in those blue eyes of hers. Damn it, Nabiki thought and asked, "Ranma? What are you doing out here?"
"I was gonna ask ya the same. Hey, are you...cryin'?" Ranma stepped towards her, looking closer to see if she was right or not. Nabiki scowled, "Of course not! It's just the rain! That's all."
Her voice sounded so small on that last note that even Ranma wasn't convinced.
"Right...just the rain." Ranma said understandingly as she stepped up beside her.
Nabiki turned back towards the pond, eyes fixed ahead, clearly irritated by her presence.
She couldn't show her emotions in front of Ranma, and yet the way she was feeling right now she couldn't quite hold them in either. Ranma spoke up again beside her, "What happened?"
Great, now he's giving me the third degree as well. "What do you mean? I told you, I wasn't..."
"Your side. What happened?" Nabiki flinched at the question, looking over at Ranma.
Kami-sama...he looks like he could kill someone. Nabiki thought, reading the narrow-eyed expression that the redhead was directing at some imagined foe on the other side of the pond.
"Nothing...business negotiation that got out of hand. That's all." Nabiki said as calmly as she could, though still far too shakily for her own liking. Ranma just nodded, "You want me to..."
"No!" Nabiki yelled, shocking Ranma out of her potentially murderous mood.
"No...I took care of it." She added more calmly. Ranma looked at her, seeming surprised.
"You did?" She asked doubtfully, causing Nabiki to smirk a fraction.
"I'm not just a weak girl Ranma, I was trained by my father before..." The smirk fell away.
Nabiki would have expected Ranma to ask something like 'Before what', or make some sexist remark about how girls shouldn't fight. But Ranma seemed oddly subdued for once.
"So, rough day, huh?" Ranma said, sounding very tired as she broke the silence.
"I've had better." Nabiki replied bitterly, "How about you?"
"Same as usual." Ranma sighed, her voice sounding oddly broken. "Same as usual..."
Nabiki looked over at Ranma, and was shocked by what she saw. Ranma was...no, she couldn't be.
Even as a girl, Nabiki had hardly ever seen Ranma do that. After all, she had her macho pride.
But Nabiki's eyes told her that Ranma was doing exactly what she thought, "Ranma, are you...?"
Ranma just looked at Nabiki and gave her a warm, yet sad smile.
She wiped at her moist cheeks and replied, "It's just the rain...right, Nabiki? Just the rain..."
Nabiki returned the sad smile, and nodded, "Sure Ranma...it's just the rain."
With that understanding reached between them, the two teenagers stood together, staring down into the pond at reflections neither was entirely happy with. Reflections distorted by the rain.
Just the rain.
Author's Note
Well, here it is, my first fic in a long time, even if it is a short one. The formating didn't turn out like it was in the document, but never mind, it's still readable.
I was looking for inspiration for a Ranma fic from the song title 'Tears In Rain' when this scene just popped into my head and wouldn't go away. So, I sat down and tried to write it one Sunday night. I couldn't finish it at the time because I was trying to write it from Ranma's perspective, and I find it difficult to get inside his head sometimes. A week later, I sat down and found that it was once again 'Fanfic One-shot Sunday'. I thought of writing something else, but that scene was still stuck in my head. So I started from scratch and switched the perspective from Ranma to Nabiki.
That time, I finished the fic by the end of the night. What a difference a small change does.
Apologies for the angst, but angst was the first thing that popped into my mind to fit the title. I'll try and write something a bit less sad the next time 'Fanfic One-shot Sunday' comes.
In the meantime, a little quiz for y'all. I used a song title from a movie soundtrack to inspire this fic. What movie soundtrack is Tears In Rain from? Here's a clue, the title refers to a line from the film. The first reviewer who answers correctly gets to give me a title or theme to inspire another one shot.
In any case, please R&R, constructive criticism is welcome, destructive criticism ain't.
My thanks to daval21 for pre-reading this fic and advising me on how to make it flow better.
- Ja na!