Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters, which means everyone mentioned here. I do not own the song "Eventually" by Pink from the album Missundaztood. I am not making any money. At all. From anything. Gah.
Song lyrics are in italic.
*Ranma's POV*
I'm an opportunity
And I knock so softly
The boy stared down at the lines written in his notebook. They weren't entirely right. Not everyone saw him as an opportunity. Some people saw him as an obstacle. Of course, even they were more than happy to use him as an opportunity if the chance came. He snorted and turned his head away from the notebook.
It had been this way for as long as he could remember. His father had certainly always seen him as an opportunity. Nothing more.
Sometimes I get loud
When I wish everybody'd just get off me
He wanted to yell, to scream:
"Shut up!"
"Leave me alone!"
Every once in awhile, he tried. But nobody paid any attention. They were fighting over him constantly, but they never listened to him. Those few times he had exploded they had--if they noticed at all--passed it off as a bad day or him feeling sick. Sometimes they would try to be quiet, to be nice, for a little while. It always ended up as a fight between the girls about who would take care of him, or one of the guys would "protest," or someone new would show up...
So many players
You'd think I was a board game
The fiancées: Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi. The guys chasing the fiancées: Ryouga, Kuno, Tsubasa, and Mousse. The supporters of the fiancées: the fathers, Cologne, and Sasuke--sometimes. The various random elements such as his mother, Happousai, and Nabiki. And those were just the main players. Others were appearing and disappearing constantly.
At first, he thought he was the prize, until he realized that he was the game. It wasn't about him anymore--if it ever had been. It was about *them*--their pride, their position in the game. They only used him to advance their positions.
It's every man for themselves
There are no teammates
Occasionally, they would try to team up to achieve a common goal. The girls would work together to get rid of any new rival. The guys would collaborate in an effort to defeat him. Sometimes, they would even team up with him to try to find a cure for the curses or to rescue whoever was the latest kidnapee.
It always fell apart in the end. Sometimes, it would even fall apart in the middle. The girls would start arguing over him. The guys would start arguing over who got to beat him up. Half the time when they seemed to be working together, everyone was really plotting against each other.
This life gets lonely
Alone in a sea of people, he had no one to talk to. No one who cared about him.
When everybody wants something
They'll smile up in your face
He laughed under his breath--not a happy laugh, but a short, bitter one. They all smiled so much. When they wanted something, they'd smile. And when they thought they had won--oh, they always smiled then. Sweet happy smiles, wide grins, even wider smirks...the kind of smiles that filled him with rage and made him want to hit something or someone.
But they'll get theirs eventually
And I hope I'm there
Surrounded by familiar faces with no name
None of them know me
Or want to share my pain
Not one of them really knew him. If you asked them about him, they would tell you what he looked like. They would tell you he was a martial artist. The best. Even those who hated him would grudgingly admit that he was good. Very good.
They could tell you a lot about him, actually. They would tell you that he was strong, fast, selfish, arrogant, greedy, rude, and handsome...
They couldn't tell you his favorite color or if there was anything he liked besides martial arts and food. They could tell you he sucked at cards, but they couldn't tell you anything he was good at--again, except for martial arts and eating.
Most of all, they couldn't tell you how he felt about anything. Because they never even tried to listen to him when he told them. They didn't care what he said or felt. All they cared about was what they wanted him to say.
They only wish to bask in my light
Then fade away
If he did anything good, someone else would always take the credit.
"I'm the one who taught him that."
"He did it for me."
Some were more subtle than others.
"He is such a good pupil. The best I've ever had."
"Thank you so much for helping me." But always with a sly look at the others.
Always with a look of such pride in their faces. Pride in themselves, not in him.
To win my love, to them a game
To watch me live my life in vain
They all had their own dreams about him. The fathers expected him to run the dojo and support them. Ukyo wanted him to become a cook and help her sell okonomiyaki. Cologne and Shampoo saw him as breeding stock, a second-class citizen, someone to come home to. Kodachi and Akane were harder to figure out, but they did seem to see him as a knight in shining armor, someone they could mould into the perfect husband.
They never seemed to understand that he wouldn't be happy in the roles they laid out for him. That, in such roles, he would fade away day by day until he was just a shell. Or perhaps they just didn't care.
When all is done and the glitter fades, fades away
They'll get theirs eventually
And I hope I'm there
I drank your poison
'Cause you told me it's wine
He could remember the day he had first arrived in Nerima. The girl who had defended him and who had been the first and only person to ever ask him "Do you want to be friends?"
But that had been a lie. He wasn't a girl and so she didn't want to be friends. And no matter how much he hoped and wished, no matter what he might have believed in the beginning, none of them wanted to be friends.
Shame on you if you fooled me once
Shame on me if you fooled me twice
He didn't believe them anymore. There was no one left to believe in. Even his own mother wanted something, wanted him to be someone else.
I didn't know the price
You'll get yours eventually
So what good am I to you
If I can't be broken
He wouldn't let them break him. He wouldn't bend to their dreams and lose himself. But sometimes he wondered if it wasn't too late. If he hadn't already lost too much...
You'll get yours, yes
You'll get yours eventually
