Tahnk you all who have reviewed, and thank you for your positive criticism as well. I appreciate it a lot. I hope to continue receiving the criticism, and it sounds like this story has potential. It has inspired me to work harder to make it better. I do have one reviewer that I must address, however.
I'd like to thank FantomoDrako for her reviews. I already felt that chapter three needed brushing up on, and this is proof. I will repost the chapter at a later date, after more about the mysterious agents that attacked Ranma has been discovered. I will also do some minor corrections on the previous chapters to better it's grammar, punctuation, that sort of stuff. I would like to say, though, that you don't have to point out every mistake if you don't want to. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, but with just one example, it makes me aware that there is a need for a revision, and as a writer in training, it's my job to revise. ;)
Now, for your wonderful reviews, at the end of the chapter, I will have a treat for you. =D Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4: Heartache and Pain
The three stood there for a long while. None of them said a word. Ranma was utterly speechless as he unsuccessfully tried to apologize and make amends for what he has done.
After a while, Ryoga turned around and muttered, "leave. You're not welcome here." He was about to close the door when Akane shoved her hand in the way.
"We came all the way out here for you. The least you can do is listen to what we have to say." Akane shouted. She sent a glare at Ryoga.
"Oh yeah? And what is it that Ranma's got to say that's so important to come all the way out here for? Because if he's come out here to apologize, I'm not accepting it." Ryoga quipped. He seemed un-phased by Akane's death glare.
"You don't have to," mumbled Ranma, "But I was gonna 'pologize to ya anyway cuz it's the right thing ta do." Ranma faintly heard Ryoga murmur 'What do you know about the right thing to do?' as he turned around and gave them leeway into the house.
"Come in," he beckoned.
From inside the house, Akari listened intently. At hearing the arrival of the two friendly visitors, she prepared tea for everyone. When they entered, she greeted them with a smile on her face.
"Why hello, Akane and Ranma. How do you do?" She poured the tea into teacups and handed them to the guests. "What brings you here?" She feigned ignorance. She didn't want to let anyone know she had been listening in on their conversation.
"Oh, nothing' much 'Kari. I just came ta try ta be a better friend ta Ryoga's all." Ranma stated. He allowed a frown to settle on his face. He didn't understand why he felt bad at the prospect of Ryoga going away forever.
From the other side of the room, Ryoga ground his teeth together in annoyance. Ranma just didn't know when to butt out of his life!
"Well, you're always welcome here at the farmhouse." Akari replied, still smiling. She clasped her hands together and giggled happily.
"No, he's not." Ryoga grumbled. Akari flinched at Ryoga's harsh response, he attention immediately on him. He pushed himself up from his seat and exclaimed, "Why should he be when he ruined my life!"
"Ryoga, that's no way to treat a guess, much less a friend." Akari replied alarmingly.
As Ryoga pointed to Ranma, he cried, "He is no friend!" Ryoga stomped out of the room, his husky voice crying out in agitation.
Seconds later, another figure entered the room. "Pop!" Akari cried out.
The old man rubbed his five o'clock shadow and replied worriedly, "What's his problem?"
"He's havin' a hard time forgivin' me." Ranma explained to Akari's granddad. "I had been the cause of much of his suffering, but I wanna take away the pain I've caused him."
"Well, ya can't do that here, now can ya, ole' chap. Get on up there and make up to yur friend. We're not goin' anywhere."
Ranma nodded hesitantly and followed Ryoga up to the guest room of the farm house. He climbed a flight of stairs. Greeting him from the second floor was a short hallway leading to three bedrooms. He assumed one was for each of the occupants of the household. Ranma chose the close one on the far end of the hall way.
He knocked on the door lightly and declared loud enough for Ryoga to hear, "I'm coming in Ryoga."
As he opened the door his neck was nearly cut in two by an oncoming polka-dotted bandana, courtesy of Ryoga. Ranma had narrowly dodged the forth-coming object by ducking. Ranma had no time to voice his objections to the attack as Ryoga rushed into battle against him.
Ranma blocked the oncoming strike. Ryoga kneed him in the stomach, causing Ranma to recoil. He fell two his knees. But Ryoga didn't stop there. He roundhouse kicking Ranma in his side. Ranma had barely managed to put his left arm in defense before he was smacked away by the intruding leg. He fell into a roll, but he quickly recovered, rolling over his shoulder and onto his feet.
"I told you that you weren't welcome here Ranma. You best leave." Ryoga growled. He closed in on Ranma again, but Ranma wasn't going to give him the chance to strike again. Ranma pushed off of the ground towards Ryoga, twirling in midair. He made a precise strike into Ryoga's cheek with his fist. He then kicked the other side of Ryoga and shot him into a bookshelf on the other side of the room.
The bookshelf shuddered and tipped over. Ranma gasped and leaped towards Ryoga, arms stretched out before him. His momentum pushed the two of them to safety. All movement suddenly stopped, as dust lifted into the air, and then settled back down just as quickly.
Ranma had his head buried in Ryoga's chest; he was breathing heavily as the excitement in his system died down. He glanced up into Ryoga's eyes and asked, "Are you alright. I was scared you were going to get hurt."
Ryoga was shocked beyond belief. "Y-you saved me? But why?" Ryoga stammered as he forced himself up. Ranma pushed himself off and balanced himself with his crutches. It was amazing that he had been able to survive so long into the fight in his condition, with as tough opponent as Ryoga.
"It's what I've been tryin' ta tell ya all along, Ryo. I care about ya. I wanna make it up to ya for all the things I ever done for you. I want us ta be friends again. Can't you see the truth in my eyes?" Ranma said. He looked Ryoga straight in the eyes. Ryoga saw loneliness, hurt, and desperation in those eyes.
"I can't believe this. It's just…How can I possibly forgive you for what you've done? Who should I blame, then, if not you?" Ryoga responded confusedly. A headache was beginning to form in the recess of his brain as he flipped the possibilities over in his mind.
"I don't want you to blame anyone, Ryo…" Ranma said sadly. There were tears forming in his eyes, but he fought them down. "I don't want you to leave forever. I want to be your friend. I want us to stay in contact."
Ryoga mulled it over in his mind for a while before coming to a conclusion. His heart wasn't ever going to be satisfied unless they amended their friendship. It had been a difficult decision to make, but Ryoga had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that things would be better if he gave Ranma another chance.
"If you truly want to be my friend," Ryoga began, "Then you will help me clean up the mess we've made, and you will give me time to think this whole thing over. Just don't pester me about it anymore right now."
"Alright." Ranma responded. His eyes glistened over with happiness, his mood having been elevated so much by the simple statement, for Ranma felt that if he had a friend whom he could talk to through all this mess, then whenever something bad happened in his life, Ryoga would be there for him.
Ranma had never had anyone who had been through as much as he had. He had always felt alone, and every single time, it seemed like, he would have to deal with everything on his own. Especially when it came to his fiancée or his pop. No one ever seemed to understand him, but Ryoga was different. He was the closest person to Ranma to understanding him, and he would ultimately be an unchanging factor in Ranma's life that he could hold onto when the going got tough.
Lunchtime came and went quickly. The two boys took a break for their lunch, brought up by Akari and Akane. Of course, the two had to explain what had happened, for they were startled by the humungous mess they had created. Surprisingly enough, Akane did not spout curses towards Ranma that day.
Afterwards, they continued their work. They had picked up the bookshelf and placed all the books neatly on the shelves. They patched up a few holes that had been created from abusive force with tough material. It wouldn't last forever, but it would hold for a while until Ryoga had the time to replace the hardwood of the guestroom.
It wasn't long before they had completed entirely. Ranma wiped his brow of sweat as he relaxed on Ryoga's bed. "That was fulfilling. And difficult." He said as he placed his crutches nearby. "You know how hard it is to do some of that stuff with a broken leg?"
"I can imagine," Ryoga replied, reflecting on earlier that day. They dropped into a comfortable silence. Both were relaxed on the bed, their minds veering off on two similar paths, but from different perspectives.
'Will he forgive me?' Ranma asked himself, 'I will be a faithful from now on if he does. Oh, I hope he does!' While Ryoga thought, 'Can I trust him? If I forgive him, he better not make me regret it, or I'll kill him.'
Though their thoughts never died, and their worries of the future never ceased, they remained tied down to their choices. Choices that had been made from their hearts, rather than their minds, like the norm.
Ryoga sighed. It was like coming out of a trance; he opened his eyes and calmly stated, "If I forgive you Ranma, will you promise never to hurt me or abandon me again?"
Ranma's heart pained at the thought of abandoning Ryoga. "I won't. I won't ever hurt you…or abandon you again. I promise." He sent a look of determination to Ryoga, showing him that he had meant every word of his statement.
Ryoga looked aback for a second before registering the words completely. He gave Ranma a small smile and said, "I forgive you Ranma."
Immediately Ranma jumped him in a hug and cried out happily. A wide smile was plastered onto his face. He squeezed as hard as he could and chuckled lightly. Ryoga hesitantly hugged Ranma back. He mumbled, "Ranma, you're choking me…"
"Oh, sorry." Ranma said, and he backed away. "I was just so happy to hear you forgive me." He was beaming happily.
'Do I really mean that much to him? After all this time, I thought he didn't care about me at all…' Ryoga's thought lingered for a while after.
=&=
"So you guys have made up?" Akane asked.
They were situated in Akari's living room. The room gave off the look of an old western style room, which was quite appealing in Akane's opinion. She sat across from Ranma and Ryoga and next to Akari. Akari's granddad was out shopping for groceries at the moment.
"Yup!" Ranma declared joyfully. Another scream later, and the couples found themselves at the front door.
"Well I guess this is goodbye for now." Akari said. The others nodded in agreement. "But we'll come again real soon." Akane replied.
They exchanged goodbyes and Akane and Ranma departed. Now that the emotional event has transpired, Ranma's mind was back on his leg and the crutches he used to get around. He silently cursed his bad luck from back then.
They were walking along when they saw something happen in the distance. Silhouettes barged into the farmhouse they had just came from. The two watched the farmhouse, seeing Akari being dragged off, followed by a more resilient Ryoga.
Ranma gasped as he hurried to the scene. Seconds felt like hours as Ranma barged in on their little parade and smacked one man with his crutches. Ranma widened his eyes when he saw the slumped figure, recognizing him to be one of the assailants from the restaurant.
"What are these guys doing here?" Ranma thought aloud. Two more suited men jumped him without warning. From the ground, Ranma pushed his way out of the fray of the attack and delivered two quick blows on one of the two men.
When the second recovered, he reinitiated contact with Ranma, exchanging blow for blow. Ranma fell back onto his back, cursing audibly. He rolled away from the man, who continued to stomp at Ranma until he was whacked in the back of the head by a sturdy umbrella.
"Needed some help?" Ryoga asked.
"Thank you." Jumping up, Ranma stood with his back to Ryoga. "We can take'em, can't we, Ryo?" About ten of them were standing around the two in a small circle.
"We sure can." Ryoga replied as they began their journey to the martial artists. Ryoga dealt a punch to one man, smacked another with his umbrella, and kicked a third to the ground.
Ranma struck hundreds of chest nut fists into at least four men, before getting struck himself. He fell to the ground, and he struggled to avoid getting hurt even more as his fifth opponent continued the assault.
Ryoga turned around just in time to land a devastating blow into the assailant's jaw. He recoiled and plummeted to the ground, unconscious. Victorious Ryoga smirked as he turned around and made to strike at another foe.
Ranma saw an oncoming attack against Ryoga. Thinking quickly, Ranma tripped him up with one crutch and stabbed at him with the other. The man went sailing back into a grove of bushes. Ranma felt relieved as he rolled to his stomach and pushed himself up again, just in time to be stomped to the ground by another pursuer.
Ryoga spun around on his heels and dropped his mouth, as if feeling Ranma's pain. Before he could react, however, he was knocked unconscious by soaring boulder. Apparently the enemy's ace in the hole had just come out to play, and that ace in the hole happened to be a gigantic, muscular man, clothed in nothing but trousers.
Alert, Ranma slapped at the man on top of him and hopped onto his foot and crutches. The others seemed to have backed away, allowing the monstrosity to close in on the martial artists. Ranma quickly dove away from an oncoming boulder. He felt confident he could win…That is until one of the enemies returned with a bucket of cold water, splashing it over Ranma.
Crying, Ranma whacked the man down and steadied herself for the monster's next attack. It leaped over to her, and, in one final swoop, and nearly thrashed her against the farm house. Thankfully, Ranma had been quicker than he had.
Ranma poised herself, and thrashed out at her opponent. The big man, standing at about seven feet tall, was almost completely unaffected by Ranma's barrage of attacks. There was absolutely no chance of her overwhelming this man with her attacks.
The guy knocked the breath out of her when he slammed her into the side of the house. She descended to the ground quickly. Her energy had been drained nearly completely when the creature readied himself for the final blow.
Just as he was about to kill poor Ranma, he was rammed onto the ground by the shoulder of Ryoga. "You okay?" Ryoga asked as he returned.
"Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be fine. You've got to defeat that guy over there. Or at least wear him down some while I recover." Ranma ordered. Ryoga seemed to sense the anxiety in Ranma's voice.
He turned to the giant, whom began a stampede towards the martial artists. Ryoga could feel the ground beneath him shake as the monster neared. "Shishi Hokoudan!" Ryoga cried out, holding the palms of his hands together. A blast soared straight into the belly of the monster. The enemy wailed out in pain and plummeted.
Ryoga gave him no respite as he whipped out his umbrella and whacked him in the side, breaking the enemy's arm. Even with a broken arm, the opponent didn't slow down as he twisted his body and tripped Ryoga, who fell into a roll and jumped back up in time to avoid the enemy's fist. It had dug into the ground and caused a powerful tremor in the Earth.
When Ryoga plopped back down on the ground, he immediately fell into a defense. The enemy had righted himself and was well on his way to deliver Ryoga another blow.
While Ryoga attended to the beast, Akane broke free from her bind, and she was now cleaning up the remaining soldiers, having trailed behind Ranma once she figured out that there would be a battle. She used everything she had been taught in the school of anything goes. She even implemented tricks of her own, swooping down low and flipping a man with her arm and driving her elbow into his stomach as he fell behind her.
It wasn't long before she reached the main conglomerate of organization members. Fresh fighters ran ahead of their comrades to greet Akane in the midst of battle. Other organization members hurried to throw their last remaining hostage in the back of a van. One started the engine of the vehicle while others boarded the van.
Akane cried out to Akari as she smacked her fists into her opponents. She struggled to reach the van as more fighters joined her. She struggled with them, and though their numbers dwindled, they were more than enough to tie Akane down while the van drove off.
Akane screamed for Akari once more. Ranma and Ryoga gave the retreating van attention, noticing the captive inside the back as the doors closed. One thought traveled through their minds. 'They've captured Akari!'
However much they wanted to catch up to that van, neither their bodies nor their opponent before them would allow them to catch up. Frustration mounted inside of them as they wallowed in their defeat. They couldn't let the notion of Akari's kidnapping to rest in their minds for very long, however, as the giant was back on the attack.
Ryoga side-stepped the man as if he were a bull and stabbed him with his umbrella. At the same time Ranma gathered her chi energy together and cried out, "Moko Takabishi!"
The monster fell back to the ground. He looked as if he were ready to give out at any time. Still, he regained his posture and spun around, slamming his good fist into Ryoga. Ryoga buckled under their opponent's force, falling back against the farmhouse.
The enemy had no time to continue his attack as he was smacked into the air by Akane's mallet. With the chime of a high-pitched bell, it was signaled that the giant had been blasted off to who knows where.
"Is everyone okay?" Akane asked. When she received disgruntled nods, she assumed their dissatisfaction came from knowing that they had failed in saving Akari from the clutches of the enemy.
"They were the same people who attacked us the other day, 'Kane." Ranma pointed out.
Akane replied, "I know. The only question is why did they attack Akari and Ryoga? And who are they?"
"Whoever they are," Ryoga voiced, "They're going to pay for taking my Akari." He pulled himself off the ground and limped in the house. Not knowing what else to do, Ranma and Akane followed him inside.
From inside the house, Ryoga made himself a drink to cool off and get his mind straight. Ranma and Akane did the same.
Ryoga ran a hand through his hair as he pondered over what he should do. "We don't know who they are." Ryoga assessed, "And we don't know where they plan to take Akari. Add on to the fact that their motive for taking her is unknown as well. We have faces, but no names to place them, and they seemed to know enough about us to formulate a strategy against us like that. With so little information about them, it'll be more difficult to bring them down."
"Which is why we need ta find out more about them and why they're going through all the trouble of kidnappin' Akari." Ranma added. Akane nodded approvingly.
"Well, there's only one way to find out at this point." Ryoga said as he walked over to the window. "And what would that be?" Ranma asked curiously.
"We interrogate one of them."
Ranma made her way over to Ryoga. Next to him, she said, "I know you're feeling pain and heartache right now Ryoga. I'm going to help you in any way I can to get Akari back for you."
Turning to Ranma with a shocked expression, Ryoga replied, "Thank you, Ranma. That means a lot to me…You're awfully kind to me as of late."
Ranma smirked at Ryoga and said, "I'm just helpin' out an old friend."
chill: The end of another great chapter!
Ranma: What do ya mean?! 'Kari got kidnapped! :'(
chill: uhm...
Ryoga: ...
Ranma: Oh no, don't you dare Ryoga...Don't get all depressed now!
Ryoga: SHISHI HOKUODAN!!!
chill: I gotta cut this short, folks. -runs away from impending doom-
Ranma: Now look what ya did, you ran off the author.
Ryoga: Now I'll never get her back! T_T
Ranma: There, there Ryoga-chan...You'll get her back when the author comes back, I'm sure of it! Stay tuned, everyone, the author will return next Monday!