Okay, folks, this is the very last chapter to Revenge. I hope you've liked the ride.
I have to first apologize for how long it took to get this finished. I just moved, and with all the settling, it wound up delaying me on both this fic and the other one I have in progress, Chill Pill. I always planned this to be four chapters, and I definitely wouldn't have wanted to leave this at 75% for so long, but it wasn't really avoidable.
Tuatara asked why I wrote this fic. There are two parts to the answer. The first I mentioned in the first chapter. I lean towards Ranma x Akane WAFFy stuff. That's my natural inclination. However, I don't want that to be everything I write. I strive for versatility, and that means using a range of characters and types of stories. Much like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey doing Photo Hut and Cable Guy respectively, I wanted to break out of my shell and go in an entirely different direction.
The second reason I wrote this was to work on my biggest fault. You may or may not have noticed this, but I don't use a lot of adjectives. Not enough to suit me, anyway. You see, IRL, outside of the fanfic world, my tendency is toward the movie and television format. My friends and I like to write comedy sketches, and they're always in screenplay format. I'm a cinematographer at heart; when I write, I picture every bit of what's happening. Unfortunately, my natural tendency is to display it via storyboards, and I suck at using words to get the same message across. I'm trying to get better about that, and you might have noticed that in the last couple of chapters of Chill Pill, but I thought that something dark would be a great way to go about it. As I'd said before, I wanted to create an atmosphere a bit like some of the movie The Crow— not copying the storyline, but rather the dark atmosphere that seemed to be everywhere in every scene. I had to use very specific language to pull that off.
I must say that I didn't much enjoy writing something so dark. I don't like sad things. However, I'm very proud of this fic. IMO, it was an outstanding success. My initial idea was to have Ranma die at the hands of a crazy fiancée, have Akane avenge him, and have someone die as Shampoo did, though I didn't know who. Now that I look back, I believe I made the right choices. Only by catching her off-guard could Akane have ever defeated Shampoo, and I absolutely believe that Shampoo would be more likely to panic if in danger. (So would Kodachi, frankly, but I didn't use her because I thought Akane could easily take her in hand-to-hand combat. Kodachi might be a champion of martial arts rhythmic gymnastics, but that doesn't make her any good bare-handed.) I think Ukyo's chapter worked great, too; she's not so crazy, and that level of mental stability would help her reel with whatever was thrown at her. Had Akane snuck a leg-gash on her, she wouldn't have tried to run for it.
So, with all of that in mind, this fic worked very well for me. I think I did it right, all around. (And if you don't think so, well... I have something you can put in your mouth.) With that said, if you haven't gotten into the darkness, this chapter may redeem the series for you. It's not bright and sunny, but it is a bit of a lighter spot compared to what's been going on. I should also point out the epilogue— originally, I wasn't going to write it, but rather leave the story open-ended by stopping at the end of the dojo scene. However, I know that my open endings annoy the piss out of most of my regulars, and besides that, I think it allows us to see how the events of the story changed Akane. Once I brainstormed it, I realized that I couldn't possibly skip it.
Okay, enough of my long-winded-ness. Enjoy the exciting conclusion to Revenge.
Akane walked down the street, glancing at the fence alongside the aqueduct. She'd walked along this road since before she could remember, but somehow she knew that, looking at that green fence, she'd always picture Ranma walking on it. This was the time of year, too; the time of year it was when Ranma first showed up. Boy, did they start rough. She truly did hate him at first, but it hadn't taken long for him to warm her heart. He had a way of doing that.
She stopped, leaning on the fence and gazing into the water below. It was right around here that she'd knocked him in after he told her that her short hair looked cute. Something about his words that day put her at ease more than it had been since he'd arrived. She was playful with him then, for the first time. That night, she barely slept, her mind racing. That was the first time that she wanted to marry him.
Then, the thought came into her mind that it would never, ever happen. He was gone. Forever. She'd never have the opportunity to kiss him, hold him, marry him, or grow old with him. Never. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes, and she took a deep breath to keep her composure. She realized how true it was that you never knew what you had until you lost it. If she'd have known how little time they'd spend together, she'd have confessed her feelings a long time ago. It was so clear now just how petty some of their arguments had been.
A tear fell, hitting the water and sending rippling circles radiating outward. Damn them, Shampoo and Ukyo. And Kodachi, too. They could never accept that Ranma didn't want them. He tried to let them down easy... sure, he seemed happy enough accepting their gifts, but now that she looked back, she could see all the signs that he was trying to keep them at arm's length. But they just had to keep trying. She'd gotten her revenge on the two whose fighting got him killed, but... it didn't bring him back. Nothing could. She wiped her eyes. How dare they... they didn't have the right to take him away from her. She could have tortured them to death over a period of years and it would have been too good for them. Because they'd looked at him as some kind of trophy, she had to live her life without him.
Taking a breath, she turned and started walking again. She thought of the other part of losing Ranma. Before he'd arrived, she'd been in love with Doctor Tofu. Then, Ranma stole her heart— she'd always thought that her budding feelings for Ranma was what made her get over the doctor. Now... she had no idea. She didn't even want to imagine being with someone else, but she knew that eventually, it would happen. It had to; she couldn't be alone forever. Still, being the first time in many years that she had no man in her heart, she felt so... lost. She had no idea where to start. 'Maybe it's better that way,' she thought. 'I'll leave it alone until something comes my way that feels right.'
And just where was she going to find somebody as good as Ranma?
She was startled from her thoughts by a loud battle cry. She instinctively reached at her side, already realizing that she wasn't carrying her katana. She never did, unless it was a specific mission, and there wouldn't be any more of those. Seeing something flying her way, she dove to the ground as something unidentifiable whizzed over her head, smashing through a wall behind her. Jumping to her feet, she immediately found herself dodging something else. This time, she was able to see it, making out the image of a concrete garden duck as it flew past. Looking for her attacker, she quickly recognized Mousse, standing with a look of fury on his face. With another cry, a flurry of metal spikes came racing toward her; she only barely managed to jump out of their way, with a couple of them coming so close that they sliced lines through her sleeve.
A chain darted out for her, forcing her to dive to the street once again. Lying on her stomach, she knew that she couldn't keep dodging— she couldn't keep ahead of his attacks forever. She needed an attack, and quick. Looking up, she saw that she was under a streetlight, a tall pole with a horizontal arm holding the light. It gave her an idea. As the chain retracted, flying back toward Mousse, she jumped to her feet and latched onto the pole. Mousse threw something resembling a cannonball at her, and it hit the light pole, sending a web of cracks shooting out of the impact point and knocking several little splinters loose. Akane reached around and punched the broken spot with all of her might. The pole shuddered from the impact, and she could feel the top half start to wobble. With another punch it snapped. As she dove away, the pole crashed down, breaking off the light fixture on top as it slammed into the asphalt. Another duck sailed at Akane as she leapt in the air, landing in the road. With another leap, she rolled along the ground, grabbing the broken arm from the light pole as she went.
Jumping to her feet, she awaited his next attack. One thing was for certain: this was no ordinary match for him. He was not smirking with thoughts of imminent success, like he usually did. No, this time his face was a mixture of fury and immense sadness, like he couldn't decide whether to murder her or burst into tears. There was no doubt in her mind that he would kill her or die trying. He pulled his arms back and released his chains a second time. As they shot toward her, Akane stood her ground, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Just before the deadly weapons reached her, she jumped sideways, turned, and hit the chain as it whizzed past. Putting all of her strength into it, she was able to knock the nearest chain sideways, sending the end turning and flying back towards its sender. Mousse ducked as it raced toward his head, but he didn't move far enough. The chain grazed his face, stripping his glasses away.
Mousse looked around in a panic, fully aware that he couldn't defeat an enemy that he couldn't see. Obviously, his glasses were far to small a target for him to discern in his impaired state, and failing to find them, he started throwing his weapons wildly, missing Akane by a mile. She crouched, trying to figure a way to get close. Her chance came as he turned a bit to the side. Jumping up, she sprinted and tackled him. He landed hard on the road.
Akane expected a rough struggle to keep him pinned, but rather than try to throw her off, he laid his head back and began to weep uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face pooled on the road beneath him as he opened his mouth to moan loudly. As she looked down at him, Akane saw the consequence of her mission of vengeance, something that she hadn't stopped to think about before. Just as she had to go on forever without Ranma, Mousse was now forever without Shampoo. She started to hate herself for what she'd done, but just as quickly, her memory of Shampoo's attitude toward Mousse brought a new thought into her mind. She looked down at Mousse, feeling almost angry at his open display of grief. Not because it was wrong to be sad, but because Shampoo hadn't been a good enough person to deserve it.
"You took my Shampoo," he weeped, tears streaming down his face. "I can't live without her... just kill me... let me be with her..." Akane stared down at him, in disbelief. How could he weep for her? She was so horrible to him! The anger started to rise in her, anger that was really directed at Shampoo for the way she'd treated him. Bringing an arm back, she slapped him hard across the face. "Mousse!" she shouted, grabbing the front of his robe. "Get ahold of yourself!"
The boy was so startled that he ceased his sobbing, looking up at her in confusion. She just shook her head. "Mouse, for crying out loud..." she said, more gently. "Mousse... why would you cry over Shampoo? She treated you more horrible than I've ever seen someone treat another human being. She was nicer to complete strangers than she was to you. She never loved you, Mousse! Can't you see that?" Mouse shook his head and opened his mouth to protest; Akane shook him hard through her grip on his robe. "Deny it all you want," she continued, "but some part of you knows I'm right."
She sighed. "Mousse... there are girls here and in China that would kiss your feet. Do you have any idea how much most girls want a guy who will be as devoted to them as you were to Shampoo? Instead, you're crying over the one person who did nothing but take advantage of your feelings. She never did anything but use you. I watched her. She'd bat her eyelashes at you when she needed something, and then turn around and beat on you because something made her angry. You deserve someone who will treat you like a person. Stop wasting your love on someone who never loved you back. You're worth more than that! Go find a girl who deserves you. Someone who's good enough. Shampoo wasn't."
She stifled a sob, looking to the sky as her eyes started to fill with tears. "I wasn't either... for Ranma. I see it now. I always thought he wasn't good enough for me, but when I look back, I realize... They way I treated him, I didn't deserve him. But, listen to me— Shampoo didn't deserve you, either. This is the one good thing that can come out of all of this. You can start fresh. I'm sure you don't see it now, but your life will be better. You're the only person in all of this mess who can say that."
She looked around, and, following one of his extended chains, saw his glasses tangled in it. She slid off of him. "You deserve to be happy, Mousse," she said softly. "Find someone who will make you that way. Please." With that, she leapt, landing by his glasses. She picked them up, tossed them onto his chest, and leapt again, landing behind a row of bushes. She lay on the ground, peeking out at him.
Mouse put his glasses on, slowly sitting up. He looked around for a moment, but, not seeing Akane where she was hiding, he simply stared straight ahead. Akane watched as he sat motionless, deep in thought. The minutes ticked by. After what seemed like an eternity, he stood silently. Holding his head high and squaring his shoulders, he turned and walked away slowly. There was an air of defiance about him. "I hope that's his sense of self worth coming to him," she whispered to herself. As soon as he was out of sight, she stood and started walking back toward the dojo.
She looked over her shoulder one last time. "Take care of yourself, Mousse," she whispered.
Ranma stared back from the photo as Akane stood in front of the new shrine hanging from the dojo wall. She smiled at the picture; Ranma was in mid punch against a practice dummy right there in the dojo. It was a great picture of him; sometimes, Nabiki's sneakiness with a camera came in handy.
She tapped the rin gong and backed away, turning to sit on the dojo floor. Closing her eyes, she remembered the time Ranma almost kissed her right where she sat. She didn't know if he'd have gone through with it, but she did know that she'd desperately wanted him to. She'd never have admitted it to him, but at that moment, she wanted to kiss him more than she'd ever wanted anything in her entire life. She was a nervous wreck for the rest of the day.
And that was after Mikkado kissed him as a girl. Right before Ranma called her his fiancée and told Mikkado he'd kill anyone who messed with his fiancée. She sighed. No wonder she loved him so much. When he wasn't sticking his foot in his mouth, he was the sweetest person in the world.
She'd always thought that relieving the tension between them would have solved most of their problems. She was sure that she'd missed a million opportunities to make a move of her own... if only she'd have admitted her feelings. She knew at that moment that never telling Ranma how much she'd loved him would be her biggest regret she'd ever have. For the rest of her life, she'd be kicking herself over that fact.
She heard a footstep and opened her eyes to see Ryoga standing in the doorway. He smiled nervously. "Oh, h-hey, Akane," he said with a chuckle. "I managed to wander my way to your house. I thought Ranma might be out here." Akane's eyes widened, as it dawned on her that he'd been lost since before everything happened. He had no idea...
She motioned for him to come in, patting the floor directly in front of her. "Ryoga," she said softly. "Please, sit down. A lot of stuff happened that I need to tell you about..."
Epilogue
Four months later
Akane sat on the engawa, facing the koi pond. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the angry tears wanting to force their way out. This... whole... time... He'd been fooling her... this whole time... She'd never had the slightest inkling that Ryoga and her little pet P-Chan... but then, she decided to take him in the bath with her. She'd wondered why the little pig was struggling so hard, and then... she was already naked and in the furo, and the minute she set P-Chan in the water, an equally naked Ryoga popped out, immediately bolting for the door. The end result, of course, was Akane beating a naked Ryoga senseless in the yard for the entire neighborhood to see, but she wasn't thinking about that at the time.
She shook her head. Just when she was starting to trust again. Just when she thought it was safe to love again. Ryoga started spending his time around the Tendo house, and his friendship had been such a great comfort. They'd been able to spend so much time together— she hadn't seen Mousse since their encounter, or any of the other crazies that she'd had to deal with. They could just go places and talk, like normal people. Truth be told, she missed the craziness once in a while, but it was also nice to see things staying calm.
With all the quality time between them, she'd started to look at his masculine qualities. He was really shy in nature, and it came across absolutely charming— he was always so polite and soft-spoken. She tried to be level-headed, though. She'd written out a list of the qualities she wanted in a man, hoping to make a choice based upon reason and not entirely emotion. One day while she was mulling over it, Ryoga walked in. Lowering the paper to look at him, she realized the perfect man was right in front of her...
It had been a month since then; a week since their incident in the furo. A million different feelings swirled in her mind. Most of all, she felt so incredibly stupid. Ranma had even tried to warn her... Ranma... now he was amazing. As if being betrayed by Ryoga weren't bad enough, it made her realize that she'd been yelling at Ranma as he was trying to protect her. He tried to keep Ryoga away without giving up his secret... it was so noble... and she'd responded by pounding him, thinking he was picking on the animal. She smacked herself in the head. Idiot... who picks on an animal? She should have seen that there was more to the story...
As much as she tried to hate Ryoga, though, she just couldn't. The thought of how many times Ranma had tried to warn her had reminded her of P-Chan's behavior. Always looking away when she undressed, for example. It was hard not to notice an animal that seemed so intelligent. And acting protective of her even when he was too small to fend off a dog. All he was really guilty of was snuggling with her, something that wouldn't have been proper when he was a boy only because of the sexual aspect— which couldn't happen when he was an eight-inch pig.
She took a breath. If her losing Ranma had taught her anything, it was not to jump to conclusions. She'd done it to Ranma so many times, and now, she had with Ryoga, too. Maybe she shouldn't have beat him senseless. Maybe she should've let him run, and tracked him down later to talk. Letting out the breath, she came to the realization that anger would only make things worse. It was what continually ruined things between she and Ranma. She needed to talk to Ryoga. She wanted to ask him to explain things, even if she didn't like what she heard. It was the right thing to do. She had to at least hear him out.
She was startled by a rustling noise. Looking up, she saw a bush in the yard shake. Standing and walking over to it, she found Ryoga, in pig form, hiding inside. He trembled, his face a mixture of fear and shame. She picked him up, shaking her head sadly. "You got lost, huh?" she asked, as the pig nodded in reply. She turned toward the house. "I'll take you to the furo," she continued. "I want you to change back. We need to talk."
A few minutes later, they sat silently at the kotatsu, Ryoga donned in a robe that Akane had found for him. He was blushing furiously, unshed tears in his eyes. Akane sat, trying to think of what to say. After a few minutes of silence, it came to her. "Ryoga," she said calmly, "just tell me why. Why did you come into my bed with me? You could have ran when I tried to take you to bed."
Ryoga sighed, closing his eyes. "The first night you found me as a pig, and didn't know who I was... you gave me a kiss on the nose. Then, when you took me upstairs, you were holding me. No one's ever done either of those things to me before. You're the only person who ever cared for me like that, even if you didn't know it was me. I was sure you wouldn't do those things to me as a boy, so I... changed. I know that sounds pretty crazy."
He held up his hands in defense. "I promise I never did anything perverted, though. I swear! I never looked when you undressed or anything! That's not what I wanted. Not that you aren't pretty or anything, but it would have been disrespectful to... you know... peep at you... I just wanted to be held. It felt so good to be loved like that. That's all it was about."
Akane sat, with her chin in her hands, as tears started to come to her eyes again. "It doesn't sound crazy at all," she said, her voice cracking. "Everybody wants to be loved. You should have been able to find it without having to change forms like that." She stopped, squeezing her eyes shut as the tears started to flow. Ryoga put a hand on her arm. "Akane?" he asked. "You okay?"
Not coming up with an answer, she threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. After a moment of astonishment, he put his arms around her and held her. "Ryoga," she whispered. "After Ranma died I felt so alone. I know exactly how you felt. It feels terrible." She looked into his eyes. "And you were the one who made me feel cared for again. I don't ever want to feel alone again. I don't want you to, either."
She buried her face in his shoulder as he held her tight.
A/N: There it is, folks. I'm going to keep this ending note brief.
First, if you haven't heard, a company in Japan is making a live-action Ranma made-for-TV movie. It's expected to hit the airwaves in Japan in December. Google will get you the details.
Second, I wanted to share with you what I'm going to be working on now that this fic is finished. I had this great idea to put out a section of the first chapter as a preview. I was given the idea by a practice that American TV networks engage in; during a commercial break in their prime-time lineup, they'll run an entire scene from some new show. My original plan was to do that here, in my ending author's note, but I found that it would've been longer than the entire chapter. Ergo, I'm going to make a page on my website dedicated to it; go and check it out:
jeremygu dot 99k dot org /wiki/Fanfics/Fall_2011_Preview
Thanks again for all the reviews. I hope you liked this one and the next one I'll be starting.