Disclaimer: Ranma ain't mine. If you have a problem with that, buy the rights, and give 'em to me. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for blah blah blah. You really don't care, do you?

Layers of Truth

I hate Saotome Ranma. I hate him with every fibre of my being. I told him once

that I would destroy his happiness, and I meant it. However, it will take cunning.

I have long known that I cannot beat him in a fair fight. Yet I keep challenging him. Why?

Everyone sees of me what I want them to see. Even Nabiki is fooled. By playing a simpleton

who blames everything on Ranma, and attacks him, even though he could destroy me without

trying, I keep people from considering that I might attack on another front. A simple

trick, useful in both magic, and war.

Why do I do this? Because I blame him for running out on our fight? Because he got

me cursed? Don't be silly. I know Ranma better than nearly anyone. We went to school

together for a year, remember? He walked me home every day. We were friends. No, his father

must have physically dragged him from that empty lot where we were supposed to fight. He

would never leave a challenge, otherwise. As for my curse, it was just bad luck. I didn't,

at the time, realize that it was Ranma who knocked me in, but I saw how focused he was on

the panda; he probably didn't realize I was there, and I was too shocked to dodge in time.

No, the reason I hate him is more basic than anything he's ever done to me. I've

known what it was, for a long time now. Jealousy, pure and simple. He's a better man than I

can ever be. No matter how hard I train, he'll always beat me. No matter how honorable I act,

he'll do better without trying. No matter if I try to do the right thing, he'll sacrifice

himself to do the right thing, without even thinking about it. And, even after everything I

do to him, he still considers me a friend. Why do you think he attacts flocks of women? Who

wouldn't want to be with him? And I know I can never be half the man he is. So I will destroy

him.

You might have noticed, I haven't yet mentioned Akane. What's there to say? He's right

when he insults her. She's a violent, quick-tempered tomboy, an inept martial artist, and quite

possibly the worst cook possible. She could make pure water lethal. If it didn't involve Ranma,

I'd want absolutely nothing to do with her. What, steal her from him? That would be cutting off

my nose to spite my face. Why would I suffer with her, just to make him suffer? No, I want them

to end up together.

Haven't you ever noticed how each scheme to break them up, just gets them

closer together, in the end? I have. As P-Chan, she gets upset at him for picking on me, true,

but, in private, she tells me that, when she thinks about it, it shows he's jealous, and must,

therefore, like her. On that day when I first met her, I conceived this plan. When I told him

I would destroy his happiness, he asked her if he was happy. Right then and there, I realized

that he implicitly trusted and liked her. When I saw how violent and quick-tempered she was, my

plan was born. By the time they marry, they'll be forever in love, and so, he'll willingly

suffer for the rest of his life her temper, violence, and cooking.

Revenge is sweet.

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Author's notes:

This came from rereading the manga. I was thinking about the line where Ryoga

says, "I will destroy your happiness!", and Ranma asks Akane if he's happy. Then, it occurred

to me that, throughout his first appearance, Ryoga completely ignored Akane, until he apologized

about the hair, and that seemed only due to everyone else's reaction. Then, everything he does

to try to break up Ranma and Akane seems to backfire. Yet he still seems obsessed with hurting

Ranma, as evidenced by their constant fights, and "Ranma! Prepare to die!"'s.

Then, I thought, "What if Ryoga isn't as dumb as he always appears? What if this was all

part of his plot to, as he said, destroy Ranma's happiness?". The rest just kinda came naturally.

The title is from the movie "Basic", which I've seen a couple times, recently. One

character says, "there are layers of truth", and, when trying to title this story, that's what I

thought of. Ryoga's actions in the series are a layer of truth, but his underlying motives in

this short work are another.

YAY! Reviews! 'Kay, I'm going to respond to a couple of the reviews I've received so far.

Blue Dragon4: 4 out of what? ^_^

Ghost: Of course Ranma loves Akane. That's Ryoga's revenge. Sure, Ranma kinda cared for her when Ryoga first showed up, but everything Ryoga does either makes Ranma jealous, or brings Ranma and Akane closer together. And, no, I don't think she's that bad. I really like Akane. However, look at it from Ryoga's point of view; his first experience with her is when she hit both him and Ranma after her hair got cut. As p-chan, he sleeps in her bed. From the book (I forget which) where happosai dresses up as p-chan, and she sleeps on the roof with him, we know that she's very violent in her sleep. Ryoga constantly sees Akane beating the royal crap out of Ranma over each and every percieved slight. Even though she isn't really that bad, that's most of what he sees from her. As for him talking about his love for Akane, according to the "reality" this story presents, he's getting into character. As he says in my fic, "If it didn't involve Ranma, I'd want absolutely nothing to do with her." Consistently pretending to be a sap, secretly in love, with someone whom in reality you don't care for in the least, takes a LOT of practice, I'd imagine. Yay for Ad Hoc explanations! :-D

Everyone should review my writings. Or I'll go sulk.