Once Upon a Broken Heart
Thank you to everyone who reviewed and put this on their alert list and all that jazz. The happy dances just keep on coming! It really helps writing this knowing that you guys are enjoying it! And to Susu, again, your reviews make me laugh! I'm actually angry that I can never respond to them. I didn't think it was rude. Flattered actually that you wanted me to update!
Um, little fun fact, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has to be one of the funniest movies ever. I wish I were cool and creepy enough to laugh like Johnny Depp does when he plays Willy Wonka. If only…
Disclaimer: I do own Ranma. He's tied up in closet right now.
Chapter 7: The Lost Boy
I can't believe I told her that she wasn't cute! What am I, two?
Ranma's thoughts weren't on the garden that he and Akane were walking through. The different flowers and different smells did nothing to calm the berating Ranma was giving himself.
She has a nice punch at least.
"So what do you think?" Akane said in a surprisingly light tone. Ranma watched as she bent over some blue flower and smell it. A wide smile spread on her face as she straightened her back, closed her eyes, turned her face upwards, and warmed her face in the bright sunlight.
Still smiling, she turned back to Ranma and asked again, "What do you think of the garden?"
Blaming it on the heat, Ranma's face got red as he looked at her smiling face. Clearing his throat, Ranma answered with what he hoped was a causal voice. "It's nice, I guess. Don't know what you were saying earlier about the greatest garden ever created."
The vein in Akane's head was visibly throbbing again. Taking deep calming breaths, Akane stuck her tongue out at Ranma playfully.
"You're lucky this is my favorite place in the whole castle. Or else your teeth would be lying on the ground right about now."
"Why is this your favorite place?" Ranma with true curiosity while inwardly sighing in relief that Akane didn't get angry at his comment.
Looking at many bushes and flower beds, a sad smile appeared on her face. "Out of all the places in the castle, this was my mom's favorite place too. She and I used to come out here all the time and just walk around looking at the new flowers that would bloom from last summer."
"Oh," was all Ranma managed to say. He was never very good at uncomfortable situations.
Now what do I do?!
Thanks to his little mental panic attack, he didn't realize that Akane had walked right in front of him with her head tilted to the side (as was her fashion when she confused) starring at him, counting in her head how long it took for him to come back to earth.
Finally realizing the princess's face was right in front of his, Ranma's face glowed red as he jumped into the air with a yelp of surprise.
Pressing his hand over his heart, he tried to calm his rapid breathing. "What'd ya do that for?!" he yelled when his he finally got his breathing back to normal.
With glaring eyes, he watched as she giggled and linked her hands behind her back. "It took you 30 whole seconds to figure out I was there. Not as much as Kuno, but it's still up there concerning the record."
At then mention of some other boy's name, an unfamiliar feeling hit Ranma in the pit of his stomach.
Kuno?
"Who's Kuno?"
"Kuno? Oh just one of the noble's son. Always comes around when his father has business with mine." Akane said in a bored voice while picking up a purple flower from a flower bed lying next to her feet.
Not sure why he was feeling slightly angry at the mention on this guy, he asked in a rougher voice then he meant to. "And what did you mean by record?"
Apparently not noticing the murderous look in Ranma's eye, she chuckled as she twirled the flower between her fingers. "The poor soul has a crush on me. My sisters and I keep a record of how long he'll kind of just, I don't know…daydream I guess you could say. The longest time so far was a whole two minutes before we finally got bored of waiting for him to snap out of it. We ended up leaving him in the hall and went to play with Kasumi's dolls in her room." Looking at the clear blue sky, she chuckled again. "It was a fun day come to think of it!"
Seeing the smile on her face at the memory of some Kuno person, the feeling in Ranma's stomach grew bigger.
"Does it bother you?" Akane asked with an almost hopeful voice.
"Does what bother me?" he said as he crossed his arms and looking to the side.
"That Kuno-what is that!?" Akane screamed as she pointed at something black and yellow slumped in the corner of a part of the huge garden.
Not having to think twice, Ranma jumped into the air, somersaulted, and landed in front of Akane. Positioning himself in a battle stance, he waited for the thing that was heaped in the shadow of a tree that hung over head.
Looking over his shoulder where her hands were now resting, she asked in a whisper, "What is it?"
"I'm not sure. It looks like some sort of monster…" Ranma said, trying to get a better look.
All of a sudden, the heap moved, revealing a boy's face wearing a pained expression.
"Oh my gosh!" Akane cried as she ran out from behind Ranma and started running to the injured boy in the corner.
The same feeling from before hit the pit of Ranma's stomach like someone had just punched him as he watched Akane run to the boy, looking as if she were ready to take care of him.
Who is this guy?!
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"Are you alright?!" Akane urgently asked the boy.
Kneeling next to him, Akane noticed the yellow bandana he wore across his forehead that was splattered with mud. His face was covered in dirt and all different kinds of leaves were tangled in his black hair.
"Hey, are you ok? Should I get someone here to help you?"
The boy groaned as he opened his eyes and looked toward the worried princess. Akane was sure that concern was written on her face like the word loser is written on a forehead. His eyes grew huge and Akane could have sworn he started to blush as she placed her hand on his forehead to check for a fever.
"You're burning up!"
"Where am I?" he asked in a dazed voice while starring in amazement at Akane.
"The castle gardens," came Ranma's disgruntled voice from behind Akane. Forgetting he was even there, Akane jumped at the sound of his voice. "Now it's our turn. Who are you and why are you here?" He asked in a voice that sounded like he was trying to hold in anger.
"Ranma! That doesn't matter right now. He needs to see Doctor Tofu!" Turning back to him she asked while picking a leaf from his hair, "What's your name?"
The blush was back full force on his face as he answered with a stutter, "R-R-Ryoga."
"Well Ryoga, I'm Akane and the one standing behind me being difficult is Ranma. It's nice to meet you!" Akane said finishing off with a smile.
Ryoga just kept starring at Akane's smiling face. Before she could ask Ryoga another question, she felt a strong grip pulling on her arm to stand up.
"Come on Akane. We can get someone else to come and take him to…what's his name," Ranma said tugging on the arm he still had a hold of towards the entrance of the garden from the castle.
"What's his name? You mean you haven't met Doctor Tofu yet? Well, now's the perfect time! We can take Ryoga to get treated and then just introduce you to him!"
"I can just meet him some other time," Ranma said in a rush while still tugging her arm.
"Why are you being such a baby about it?"
"Why do I have to meet this Tofu guy anyway!?"
Yanking her arm out of Ranma's grip, Akane answered angrily, "Why? One; he's the doctor. You should have already met him when your dad got knocked out! But you didn't even go check on him! Two; Doctor Tofu is a great guy! You would really like him. Three; poor Ryoga here is sick! He needs help!" She said while counting off each point on her fingers.
"Poor Ryoga?! You just met the fool two minutes ago! You don't even know why he's here!"
"Um excuse me," a weak voice came from the ground.
"Well it obviously wasn't an easy trip if he looks like that and has a fever!" Akane said looking as if she were about to hit Ranma.
"Excuse me," the weak voice said a little louder.
"If you're so concerned about him then let's go get someone to help!"
"Why should we go get someone when we're right here able to help him out now!?"
"EXCUSE ME!" Ryoga's weak voice screamed. The teenage royals turned their heads from glaring at each other to see Ryoga standing up, leaning on what seemed like a yellow umbrella. As he opened his mouth to say something, he swayed to the side and his eyes rolled back. Before he hit the ground, Ranma caught him and held him up.
Seeing the frightened look on Akane's face, Ranma said gruffly, "It's fine. He just fainted."
They stood in an awkward silence, neither one wanting to be the one to give up their argument.
Sighing and slinging an arm around his shoulders Ranma asked, "Are you going to help carry him or are you just going to let me do it all?"
Smiling in victory, Akane rushed up and slung Ryoga's other arm around her smaller shoulders and together they walked to the castle doors.
"Thank you Ranma," Akane said looking at him from the corner of her eye.
"Yah, yah. Whatever."
Missing the blush on his stubborn face, Akane looked ahead with a smile.
Off to Tofu's!
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I actually like this chapter. Not exactly sure how you all are going to feel about it, but I'm pretty proud of it!
Do me a favor and tell me what you thought! Reviewing is so helpful! Am I being too descriptive when I'm saying how someone is talking? I just think said is such a boring word on its own. Any who, please review and tell me what you think!
Thank you for reading!
