Chapter 9: Akane's Confession
"Look Lum," Akane said once the two girls finished dinner and walked up the Tendo daughter's room. "You can talk to me about it but I won't force you to. Just know that I'm here. Heck, even if Ranma's that way, he does know how to listen."
Across the room, Lum wrapped her arms around her knees, floating carelessly but slowly to different parts of the room. She wasn't doing it on purpose. She just wasn't willing her body enough to stay levitated on just one spot. For Onis, and perhaps anyone else that has the power, a certain level of psychic energy and a significant amount of conscious will is needed to normally fly and steer one's directions. Otherwise, the person might find himself flying upside-down, backwards, too fast, too slow, or even to the moon. Lum's in that state at the moment, her body rotating to whatever emotion or thought she currently experienced.
Akane, on her bed, unconsciously folded her legs and embraced them the same as Lum. She thought desperately on how to break through the psychic barrier the alien princess started building around herself. It was not that Akane cannot touch Lum, only that she cannot reach the girl's mind.
"I know it's hard for you," Akane said a little while later. "I mean, if I were an alien, and a princess at that, in love with a pervert—I'm sorry for saying that! Well uhm… well I'd be lonely for one thing. I mean, I start living in a foreign planet with only the guy I love to hold on to and uh, he's not really accommodating. Well…"
Akane stumbled on her thoughts and even her words sounded incoherent to her. She wanted Lum to feel better. She knew that she won't be able to sleep unless the green-haired girl smiled a bit. What can she say? What was there that she can tell Lum? Yet, who was she anyway to advice? Lum's problem was obviously more complicated that hers, right?
"Lum," she started again. "I haven't told this to anyone… but despite how I act around Ranma, I really do like him. A lot. When he and his father first entered our home, all I saw was a panda bear carrying a red-headed, pigtailed girl over its shoulder. When I found out that it was a curse they got due to their risky martial arts training, that they change back to their own selves when doused with hot water but then turn back to their accursed bodies when doused with cold water; I was repulsed. I didn't show it of course, their situation was too huge a concept for my mind to handle, much less show the emotion I felt at the time. Nonetheless, I thought they were freaks.
"But when Ranma had to choose between the three of us, Nabiki volunteered me without my permission. And Dad consequently agreed and almost jumped up and danced in celebration. I was betrothed before I ever exhaled my breath. I mean, I wouldn't put up with it.
"Yet as the days, weeks, and months went on, I finally got used to the changing. And I realized that Ranma wasn't all that bad. I mean, we both act as if we don't like each other. Perhaps he does dislike me, I don't know. But there were moments when our bickering and insult battles disappear and we see through each other. It's hard to explain but… I think you know what I'm trying to say. That there are moments that you just see the other for what he or she is. I think it's what they call looking at the person's soul? I'm not sure. But yeah. There were times like that. So despite the overwhelming number of fights we've had and the name-calling (sometimes they do hurt) we've thrown each other, we became closer. Those moments always stood out."
Akane went on with her little monologue. She almost forgot that she was talking to someone else in the room, that she was not talking only to herself as if reassuring her own self of the things that had happened between her and Ranma.
"But then again, things got so complicated." Akane shook her head and gave a dry laugh. "There came Kodachi Kuno, but her I can handle. And she was always like that anyway so I was used to it. Even Ranma treated her like a pest, although I'd rather he turn her down more gently. But there's nothing gentle in that Black Rose's manner. She's just too stubborn like her brother.
"Anyway, Shampoo also came. And for me, she's the greatest competition that I have. Well, not that I'm competing anyway but… I mean, she's beautiful, there's no denying that. Her hair's more luxurious than mine can ever be. And her childlike innocence (ha!), probably affected by how 'cutely' she can't speak fluently (well you took care of that), adds to that appeal. I can assure you that had Ranma not been betrothed to me first, or that he hadn't seen Shampoo's Amazonian capabilities first, he might have gone to that woman. But that's Ranma, anyway. I think he puts great value on promises and even his father's words more than he knows.
"So then there's Ukyo, but she's okay and more or less normal. That's the thing though. She's not as crazy as the other two that Ranma is also close to her. I get jealous sometimes, but what can I do? They've been friends before I even knew Ranma existed. Maybe if Ranma knew then that Ukyo was not a guy, they might have been childhood sweethearts. Ay…"
Akane heavily sighed and threw her body back in bed. She looked up at the ceiling and then just remembered that she was with Lum, that she began talking essentially to ease the girl's sadness. She quickly sat back up and saw Lum still in that fetal position, only that she stopped floating. She was now seated on the carpeted floor, facing Akane. She was listening, had been listening. Akane didn't know how long. She dismissed the idea of asking. Instead, she looked straight at Lum who was staring back at her. Lum was waiting for her to continue.
Akane tried to remember her train of thought before continuing. This time, she looked straight at Lum. "There were so many things, most of them I cannot handle. Ranma's Ranma. The girls are there. The situation is always there. But I am here as well. Even if I have the upper hand, that he's living under our roof, that he is officially my fiancé and I am his fiancée, I cannot force Ranma to choose me if he doesn't want to."
A tear squeezed its way out of the corner of Akane's right eye. She didn't seem to notice it, or else she didn't show. "I wish he would. I wish he would tell how he really feels, what he really feels. Because in truth, I think I've fallen in love with him. It scares me."
More tears broke their way out and Akane choked. Lum was beside her in an instant, holding a tiger-printed handkerchief. She had forgotten her own sadness just to help alleviate the other's. Lum gave Akane a sad smile, tears also daring spill. Akane returned the smile.
Eventually, both girls laughed a sad laugh and embraced each other. They laughed and cried at the same time. And at the end of it all, they were both tired. Tired because of the burdened emotions they held. Tired because each just want one simple thing yet the situations kept complicating things for each of them.
That night, Lum and Akane slept side by side, hands held together.
o – o – o – o – o – o – o – o – o
"Go to sleep Ranma," Nabiki told the pigtailed guy as she walked by him to go to her room. "Quit eavesdropping on Akane."
"I wasn't eavesdropping," retorted Ranma. But he left his position from outside Akane's bedroom.
