Ranma ½ characters is property of Viz communications and Rumiko Takahashi.

For her, I'll do it.

Part 2

By

Dr Facer

=0=

Akane places me on her lap and tells me everything that happened. She explains Jusenkyo is back to normal, and that the Nannichuan was a wedding gift sent by the guide. She also explains her father decided to use it as a bargain chip to force Ranma go through with the wedding.

I can feel her hands trembling as she pets me. She's crying now, telling me how much she regrets letting her father manipulate things the way he did.

My poor Akane… she doesn't deserve this kind of suffering, this kind of guilt.

I rub my snout against her hands to offer some comfort and she smiles softly at me. I know it isn't much but… it's all that I can do.

She keeps me on her lap for a long while until something captures her attention. She places me on her bed and pets my head, telling me to stay there. I obey and watch her leave the room. Where is she going?

Oh. I can hear Ranma's voice. He's finally awake.

I rather not face him now, not after what I did, so I hide under Akane's bed and stay there until she returns.

Akane was calmer when she came back, but the melancholy in her voice was still there, and the sadness in her eyes had only gotten deeper. From what she told me things with Ranma were… peaceful, but she thinks they've grown apart again. It seems Ranma feels betrayed after what mister Tendo did. I can't say Ranma's wrong, but Akane is not at fault here.

I didn't sleep much that night.

I spent the hours thinking, meditating and trying to find a way to always be there for Akane when she needs me. Because I know, I just know, that she will marry Ranma one day. She already has in her heart. And a relationship with him is not going to be easy. She will despair, she will cry, and she will be happy. But for those times when things between them don't go well…

For those times I have to be here to help her deal with her sadness.

And it seems there is only one way I will be able to do that.

=0=

Ranma intercepted me on the stairs the morning after. Said he wanted to talk to me alone for a minute and carried me to the bath.

The hot water in the tub sure felt nice.

I emerge as a man, expecting a punch to the face or accusations of being a pervert, but when none of that comes I can't help but to look at Ranma and wonder why he seems so uncomfortable.

He finally talks. He struggled, but he… he thanked me.

Akane told him I helped get rid of all the other crazy jerks, and he is grateful. For an instant it seems we've both reached a silent agreement, a truce. That's when he finally asks the question I was expecting to hear.

"Why are you still here, Ryoga?"

"I am here because I have to," I reply as seriously as I can. "Akane needs help, and there will be times when only P-Chan will be able to help her."

"I don't understand," he says, staring at me with doubt in his eyes. "Do you mean… you want to help her as her pet… you're not serious, are you?"

"I am, I will help her as P-Chan for the rest of my life," I say, my voice determined.

"Ryoga… is that a joke?" He asks with a frown. "Do you really want to be her pet pig forever?

"Just take me to the Koi pond, I hid my pack there yesterday."

=0=

"Do you know what this is, Ranma?" I ask as I show him the artifact. "I found it at what's left of Horaisan; I was there a while ago, shortly before the problem with Saffron."

"That's… that's the Musk's Pail of Preservation!" He says, staring at me with what I identify as fear in his eyes. "It… it's that thing that locks your cursed form!"

"Yes, it is… Ranma, calm down, I'm not going to use it on you," I tell him as I scoop some water from the pond. "I have no ill will towards you anymore. I'm simply trying to help Akane, why don't you trust me?"

"Ryoga… please, if this is a joke, you're taking it too far," he says, alarmed. "It's dangerous, you… you don't know what you're doing… put that thing down."

"Ranma, you already know I love Akane more than anything in this world," I tell him as I close my eyes, preparing for what I am about to do. "And… and if the only way I can help her is by being her pet and losing my humanity… well… then so be it."

"Wait… Ryoga, don't!"

I ignore him. He reaches for the ladle, but I can see fear of getting wet with the magic water and being locked in his girl form makes him a fraction of a second too slow. The water hits me and my body shifts.

"Ryoga, you… you damned idiot!" He screams at me as I look up, wondering if he was always this tall.

In the end, Ranma's frustration is not important. The only thing that is important, the only thing that really matters is that I love Akane.

Because right now, and I'm sure in the future as well, she will need the unconditional love of her pet, a love that only I can give her, even if I am destined to be a pig until the day I die.

But this is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Because I love Akane, and for her… for her I'll do it.

-End-

Notes:

2019 rewrite. This story was originally published in 2001, when I was experimenting with first person POV (I found that I didn't like it much and I still don't, I find it quite limiting). Anyway, the story honestly needed a lot of work and since it is quite short I decided to revamp it a little. The original ending was not satisfactory, so I ended up writing an epilogue for it that I feel better explains Ryoga's choice and gives it far more weight than it previously did.

I hope you enjoyed reading it.