Title- A Hollowed Out Heart
Author- DrkPhnx
E-Mail- dark(underscore)phoneix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Stupid FF(dot)Net...jeeze.
Disclaimer- I almost literally own nothing, not to mention any series that may appear within this story. Please don't sue me!
Rating- PG-13
Pairing- None as of now
Spoilers- Through the end of Ranma 1/2. Not too sure about Bleach, as I've only seen the anime and the manga is so far ahead of it. Through the Soul Society arc at the very least.
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Chapter Three
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"It's actually you."
Manami froze before she could comment on Akane's wishes, her face paling noticeably. Ranma wasn't so oblivious afterall!
"Ranma...you jerk!" Akane suddenly shouted. The Shinigami's attention snapped back to the spirit. How on Earth had an immaterial spirit manifested a large wooden hammer like that?
"Here I am, dead, and you ignored me when I try to share my last moments with you!" With a grunt of anger and a rattling of chain, Akane leapt for her former fiance, prepared to teach him the error of his ways, yet again, by the most violent and expedient means available.
It was disconcerting to all involved, moreso to Ranma than the ladies, when the spirit girl and her spectral hammer passed through him without the slightest pause.
"Grrr! Ranma, stand still and take your punishment!" Swing, swing, lunging tackle, swing, kick to the shin, swing. None of the attacks missed, as Ranma didn't even attempt to dodge, yet all proved ineffective.
Before the situation could grow even stranger, Manami cleared her throat loudly, trying to draw the girl's otherwise focussed attention. Akane showed no sign of having heard her. Twice more the Shinigami attempted to distract the preoccupied girl from her task. Eventually, well over a minute after the tirade began and innumerable attacks on poor stunned Ranma, she lost patience and snapped,"Akane, you silly girl, calm down! You've got an opportunity so precious you couldn't imagine what most people would do in your place. Don't squander this chance to speak with your lover one last time!"
That got Akane's attention and Ranma's, too. She stopped in mid-swing and along with Ranma, flushed an embarassed pink, then they shouted in stereo, "We're not lovers!"
Manami shrugged, satisfied that she'd accomplished her goal. She was disappointed in Akane, but strictly in her capacity as a woman and not as a Shinigami. If she were engaged to a boy as well put together as Ranma, well, perhaps that train of thought was best left unexplored. "Whatever you say. Akane, Ranma, say your goodbyes. I'll leave you alone for as long as I dare. I would recommend somewhere with a little privacy, Ranma." She looked over Ranma's shoulder with a pointed sort of expression that led his gaze to a clump of emergency workers, all of whom were regarding him curiously.
"Ah...yeah...um," Ranma scratched the back of his head, brain still not quite back in proper gear after discovering Spirit Akane's existance.
Akane sighed, a little smile tugging at her lips. "Meet me behind the equipment shed near the gym, Ranma."
Relieved to have the decision taken out of his hands, you never could tell what would offend Akane, she may not have liked his janitor's closet idea, Ranma nodded gratefully.
Manami watched as an odd looked crossed Ranma's face. Suddenly there was some sort of compression and simultaneous dispersion of the boy's spirit energy. And then he was gone! The Shinigami could feel no sign of his presence whatsoever, not even a trace of movement indicative of Flash Step.
"Hmph!" Akane groused, not unkindly. "He's such a showoff sometimes. Leave it to Ranma to try to impress a Shinigami at a time like this."
Manami followed alongside Akane as she hurried to her rendezvous with Ranma. "What was that? Teleportation?" It wouldn't be a total shock, she thought. That realization alone was enough of a sign that she needed a drink.
"Not even close. I'm sure Ranma would want you to think that, though. It's just a stealth technique his father invented. The jerk never would teach it to me, either."
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Ranma paced back and forth, back and forth, waiting for Akane to arrive. What was taking her so long? It wasn't like she had to come very far! She was a ghost, couldn't she walk through walls and stuff? If that wouldn't shorten travel time, Ranma didn't know what would.
"Ranma..."
Finally. He turned to face his fiance's ghost. This was his chance. He could tell her how he felt, apologize for all the harsh words and the missed opportunities, say goodbye. "Akane, I-" Ranma stopped, suddenly unable to form words. His throat felt tight and his tongue thick and unresponsive. No way, he couldn't be at a loss for words now of all times! Normally he couldn't make his stupid mouth shut up. It was always saying stupid things getting him in trouble. The least it could do now was cooperate.
Akane laughed. "We're really something else, aren't we, Ranma?" she asked ruefully. Closing the distance between them, she tried to reach out and take his hand. It was a useless gesture, the spirit appendage passing through his flesh and blood one just as her earlier attempts at slightly more violent contact had.
Like a switch had been flipped that turned his brain back on, Ranma could speak again. "I'm so sorry, Akane. I should have been there to protect you." The martial arts prodigy turned his attention to his feet, too ashamed to look Akane in the eye. "If I had been on time, like I promised mom, you'd be safe now, not..." The tightness returned. He couldn't say the word.
"Dead?" Akane volunteered softly. He nodded miserably. "Ranma, you big dope, listen to me right now. This wasn't your fault. Not one little bit. You couldn't protect me from something coming out of the ground like that. If you'd been there earlier, you would have had to watch me die." Akane paused, letting it sink in. "I'm glad you didn't have to see that, Ranma."
"I shoulda been there," he muttered. "It's my job to keep you safe."
The spirit sighed, her frustration evident. "Ranma, if it weren't for you keeping me safe, I'd be dead already. Or some psycho's sex slave. Or a dead former sex slave. Anyway, you get the idea. At least you better!"
"You wouldn't be anybody's slave, you violent tomboy. They'd a brought you back in a month and paid your dad to keep you away from 'em." For a few seconds Ranma seemed back to his old self, then his eyes widened as he realized what his damned mouth had said, and he clamped his hands over it before he could swallow more of his foot.
"Idiot," Akane said, smiling up at the boy fondly. She ached to reach out and touch him despite her earlier failures.
A look of resolve came over Ranma's features without warning, his back straightened and his eyes glinted with determination. Akane took a deep, superfluous breath at the sight. Kami-sama, he was so hot when he looked like that. More than once she'd seen this transformation overcome her fiance and it never failed to excite and disturb her, no matter the situation or anger she may have felt towards him at the time. For the longest time Akane had tried to ignore what it did to her, how it made parts of her grow heated or damp, even when he was a "she". Nothing would come of that now, she thought sadly.
"I'm gonna mess this up, probably, not being real good with words and all," Ranma stated, almost more to himself than to Akane. "I want you to know I'm sorry for all the mean stuff I've said about you. You're not uncute. You're cute, no, that's not right. Akane, I think you're beautiful!"
Ranma's cheeks flushed at his confession, but continued after a few moment's pause. "Even if the stuff I said was true, I'm still sorry about hurting your feelings. You're a tomboy, for sure. I liked that about you, Akane. Why would I want some girly girl when I could have a tomboy like you?" Akane's face brightened. "You couldn't cook worth a damn, but you tried so hard because you cared. Even terrified or in agony because of it, I still appreciated the effort."
Yeah, that's true, Akane thought. Mostly. She had to admit to herself that there was a lot of selfish desire to prove herself better than the other fiances and their culinary expertise. No point in telling Ranma that, though. If she broke his momentum now, chances were he'd never manage to get started again.
The fierce determination painting Ranma's features sharpened, a frown of concentration furrowing his brow. Akane felt a gentle pressure eminating from Ranma, the first purely physical sensation she'd experienced since dying. Her fiance's battle aura had made an appearance. The golden fire, shot through with swirls and streamers of pink, clung to Ranma like a second skin, condensing more tightly around him than she'd ever seen before.
Satisfied with his effort, Ranma closed the short distance between himself and Akane. To Akane's amazement and his triumph, he was able to caress her cheek. The spirit girl leaned into the touch, already a bit hungry for physical contact after only a short time as a ghost, but far more strongly starved for Ranma's touch. Her face tingled and her eyes slipped shut as she sighed in pleasure. They popped open again as Ranma embraced her tightly, holding her much smaller frame to his.
Before Akane could speak, Ranma had one more proclamation to make.
"Akane," he whispered,"I l-love you."
The spirit girl sniffled and her vision blurred as spectral tears welled up. "Oh, Ranma, I love you, too."
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Manami dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. Such a touching moment.
"Ranma's a good boy. He's got all kinds of rough edges, but that just gives him more character, I say."
The Shinigami, startled at from her interrupted voyeurism, found that she'd been joined by a short...thing. Human? If so, this had to be the most shrivelled, shrunken person she'd ever seen.
"I wish I could figure out what he's doing with his ki," the creature continued. It turned to look at her. "Hi there, pretty Shinigami lady! Don't worry, I know I shouldn't be able to see you. Whatever Ranma's doing with his ki that's letting him touch Akane is casting some sort of spiritual shadow over the area. It's letting me see a pretty good outline of you girls."
"Who are you?" Manami finally asked.
Reading the woman's lips, he responded. "The name's Happosai, hot stuff, and I'm Ranma's many many times removed grandfather. He's a chip off the old block. I bet that Hollow didn't know what hit it." Happosai chuckled darkly. His expression turned into a leer. "You know, those robes don't do your figure justice at all."
"Pervert," the Shinigami hissed quietly, not wishing to disturb Ranma and Akane's visit.
"And proud of it!"
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"I'm ready, Manami."
Drawing her sword, the Shinigami prepared to perform the soul burial ritual.
Akane exchanged a final smile with Ranma and looked away, wishing they'd had more time together.
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Author's Notes: Did I handle that well enough? I've never been able to write this sort of stuff very well.