Updated: 6-20-14

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Broken Palace
By: Angela Jewell
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Disclaimer: Didn't own them then, don't own them now . . . and yes, this fact still upsets me.

Special thanks to all my wonderful reviewers: pahlee, Flameraven1, PurseMonger, UrmixMoonstone, Prizz, linkgold64, Ninicool, crystalofthemoon, miikodesu, ilkane, Telly Vee, thwarth, and BobV. Please keep the reviews coming! Nothing kick-starts motivation like a demand for moar story pleaz.

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Chapter 21
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When night had started to fall, Akane made her way back to Ranma's room, following the twists and turns of the corridors that were now as familiar as the hallways back home. Though she had tried several times to sneak away before, ditching Kuno had proven more difficult than she could've possibly imagined, especially after the success she'd had with Ranma's friends. It was a sobering realization. If Kuno had been behind her kidnapping, she wasn't sure she could have escaped at all. His need to be near her at all times was suffocating—even faking dizziness and sickness hadn't worked—that just made him want to nurse her back to health himself. And all requests to return to her room were met with firm denials and an insistence that she stay by his side for her own safety. In the end, Akane had been forced to cite "woman troubles" and had threatened to go into excruciating detail if he didn't let her swing by Akari's room for supplies.

An outright lie, since Akari didn't even live in the castle, but Kuno didn't need to know that.

From there, ditching her escort in the labyrinthian corridors had proven surprisingly easy. Kuno wouldn't be happy when the poor guard returned empty-handed, but Akane couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it. If he still insisted on marrying her, he'd need to get used to disappointment; she had wasted enough time on him already.

According to Akari's note, they were taking care of Happosai tonight, and Akane wouldn't have missed it for the world. If this hadn't worked, she had planned to knock Kuno out and make a run for it, because this was too important. She had to see it through to the end.

Approaching Ranma's door, she was relieved to hear people talking inside. Part of her had worried they'd grow tired of waiting and leave her behind.

Not wanting to delay any longer, she quickly opened the door and stepped right in, not surprised to see a small party already gathered and ready to go. At some point, even Ukyo and Konatsu had returned from their travels, and Aunt Nodoka and Genma were there too, separated a bit from the group in their own small corner of the room.

As usual though, her gaze was drawn to Ranma—Ranma, who looked up the moment she entered, met her eyes with a frown, and quickly looked away. Akane's face fell at the cold reception, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it. Within seconds, Akari was bounding over, as cheerful as ever.

"Good, you're here!" she greeted enthusiastically. "We were starting to worry you wouldn't make it."

"Sorry, I got a bit held up," Akane explained, even as she tried her best not to look over at Ranma. If he wanted to ignore her, who was she to stop him? "So, what's this plan you mentioned?" she asked. She could see Happosai's cage sitting in the middle of the room, the blanket long gone as the rat noticeably paced within. For a second, Akane swore he caught her eyes and glared.

"I'm quite curious about that myself," Konatsu added, greeting her with a nod.

"Me too," said Ukyo. "Seems like all the excitement happened while we were gone—not fair, by the way. I would've loved the chance to give that old toad a few good kicks in the pants during your interrogation."

"Sorry," Ranma apologized, finally inserting himself into their circle, "but we couldn't risk waiting that long, not if we wanted to get this done by tonight. As for the butt kicking though, you'll definitely have a chance—we were just waiting for our entire party to show up before leaving." At that, he looked meaningfully at Akane, and she felt her face grow hot at the unfair censure leveled her way.

"It's not like I didn't try to get here earlier," she told him, crossing her arms defensively. "Kuno wouldn't let me out of his sight."

"Funny," Ranma said, raising an eyebrow. "Seems you were pretty good at giving people the slip before—getting sloppy already?"

Akane glowered at him, not liking his tone one bit. The hostility radiating off him could've been cut with a dull butter knife, but she was too annoyed to try to figure out where it was coming from. Instead, she decided just to ignore him.

"So, did you find the springs alright?" she asked, addressing Akari this time. When they got back to Sapporo, she knew that's where they were headed, and not being able to accompany them had been infuriating. But it was the right decision. The last thing they needed was for Kuno to learn about those springs.

"Yep, and you'll never guess what else we found," Akari said excitedly, right before Ranma shot her a look, interrupting her.

"We took care of it while you were busy fraternizing with the enemy," he told her, then added snidely. "How is the royal ass, anyhow?"

Akane bit her lip to stop herself from snapping. "It's not like I was spending time with Kuno because I wanted to, Ranma."

"Could've fooled me," he sniffed, his jaw tight.

And just like that, Akane understood—he was moping. A knowing smile crossed her face as she poked him lightly in the chest. "You know, jealousy stops being cute after a point, dummy."

He scoffed at that. "Jealous? Me? You've gotta be kidding."

Akane almost kept the antagonism going, because as stupid as it sounded, she was going to miss this—arguing, laughing, joking with Ranma—but feeling the weight of everyone's eyes on them, discretion won out. "I'm leaving tomorrow, you know. Is this really how you want to spend my last night here, Ranma? Fighting?"

Ranma frowned, the truth of her words sinking in. Of course he didn't, there were much better things they could be doing . . . but before he could say as much, Ryoga helpfully intervened on his behalf.

"Don't mind him, Princess. He's been whining ever since you left."

"I wasn't whining," he protested, punching him in the arm for such an affront.

"Sulking then?" Konatsu offered up.

Though he knew he was male, Ranma still found it hard to hit Konatsu when he looked like a woman. So he hit Ryoga again instead. "Hey!" the bandana-clad boy protested.

"Oh shut up," Ranma told him. "Are we doing this thing or what?"

"Do what thing?" Akane repeated, speaking for most of the people in the room. Even Ranma's parents had finally moved forward, ready to hear more about this plan of action.

Sharing a look with Ryoga and Akari, Ranma grinned. "We're going to make him answer to the townspeople," he told them.

Armed with several barrels of spring of drowned girl, and an angry, uncooperative rat, Ranma and the others stood beside the broken down fountain in the center of the town square, waiting for their audience to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long . . . the people of Sapporo were eager for answers, all it took were a couple cleverly timed rumors for everyone in town to flock straight for them. Already, the large square was teeming with curious villagers, busy chatting quietly among themselves.

One thing was for sure: Happosai wouldn't have any allies here. The fire he'd set to lure Ranma away from Akane had sealed his fate—many of the people present were either cursed victims themselves or poverty stricken, having had their homes and shops destroyed by smoke and flames.

Though as Ranma had come to learn, that wasn't even the worse of it. . .

For years now, families had been torn apart, pretty young girls taken to the castle against their will, to be playthings for Happosai. Many of the rats swarming the city had turned out to be their parents—cursed by Happosai as punishment for their disobedience, and left to wander the streets.

Ranma hadn't known. Hardly anyone had.

Rats couldn't tell secrets.

Which was part of the reason he'd been so willing to hand Happosai over. In the end, he had hurt so many people . . . it wasn't fair for the Saotome and Tendo families to have a monopoly on revenge.

Ranma shook those thoughts away, focusing on the task at hand.

Enough people had finally arrived, it was show time.

Moving discreetly, he grabbed Happosai's cage and carefully released him into the deep hallowed out bottom of the ancient fountain, confident he wouldn't be able to escape. It hadn't taken long to decide keeping him in the cage would be too dangerous. . . all it would take were several pissed off villagers fighting and dropping it to give Happosai the chance he needed to escape. They weren't taking any chances.

Once he was confident all his friends stationed around the fountain had their eye on the sneaky bastard, Ranma quickly climbed on top of the structure himself, grabbing hold of the pillar in the very center to boost himself up, high enough to be seen by everyone in the vicinity. Once he was sure he had their attention, he began to speak, clearly and loudly, so everyone could hear him.

"I know you're all wondering what's going on," Ranma began, making an effort to put every ounce of authority he could behind his words. "By now, you've probably heard the rumors—and yeah, most of 'em are true. The king's been using magic none of us have ever seen before, hell, that shouldn't even be possible. You've probably seen it yourselves, or maybe even experienced it firsthand—people cursed to turn into rats when splashed with cold water."

As expected, that got an immediate reaction. People started shouting confirmations, putting their own two cents in, while others demanded to see Happosai, already knowing he was the one responsible.

"Listen, I don't have all the answers," Ranma told them, and couldn't quite hide the frustration those words cost him, "and I don't know how to undo everything he's done either. But we can fix it. Well, we can fix some of it," he amended. From there, Ranma told them everything—what little they knew of the springs, all they'd managed to glean from Happosai during his interrogation, and the knowledge women could permanently change back. Though the men weren't as lucky, they were at least given the option of changing their curses from a rat to a female until the other spring could be found. The only information Ranma kept to himself was the location of the springs, knowing soon they would be sealed forever.

In the end, the crowd took all this news rather well. By the time Ranma was done, they were forced to concede they knew a hell of a lot more than when they'd started, and now they even had options; they had hope. Before today, most of those cursed hadn't even known they could turn back—this was progress, and it felt damn good.

Even so, Ranma knew it wasn't enough.

They wanted their daughters back. They wanted revenge. They wanted Happosai to pay for his crimes. And thanks to an earlier sweep of the castle, and a secret room they'd found near the springs, Ranma was finally able to oblige them.

Giving Konatsu the signal, he watched as Ukyo escorted all the captured girls Happosai had imprisoned into the square, many of them crying, stumbling on legs they hadn't used for a very long time, as they ran into the happy, welcoming arms of their parents.

Ranma couldn't help but feel feel his heart drum at the sight, and his eyes instinctively sought out Akane, wondering how she was reacting to all of this. Back in his room, he'd purposely kept it a secret, though whether it was to punish her for going off with Kuno, or because he'd wanted to see her at this moment, he wasn't quite sure—all he knew was the wait had definitely been worth it. After a whispered explanation from Akari, he saw her eyes widen, a beautiful smile springing to life on her face as she watched the touching scenes unfolding all around her, her expression glowing, despite the happy tears she hadn't managed to hold back.

It was stupid and kinda sappy, but for a moment, Ranma wished he could be right there beside her, sharing in her joy and excitement. Instead, he had to settle for her eyes meeting his for one quietly charged moment—and he could tell she was proud of him, which was almost as good. It felt a bit like redemption.

Still, it was long past time for the main event. They'd only put this off so the villagers could get the necessary information about the springs before finding themselves in a state of euphoria. But now it was time to address Happosai—the main reason they were all here.

Tearing his attention away from Akane, Ranma loudly cleared his throat, and waited until the crowd had settled down enough to listen again. Though at this point, it wouldn't have taken much—he'd just returned their children to them, they were pretty much putty now, and would've done anything that he asked.

Such as take care of a pompous, arrogant idiot who was currently living it up in the castle. . . tempting as that idea was, though, that wasn't why they were here tonight.

"The real reason we called you all out here, was to tell you that the other rumors are true. Happosai's been captured, and he won't be hurting anyone ever again."

"How can we be sure?" One brave man spoke up, his large face red, and Ranma recognized him immediately. It was the rat he had saved the night of the fire, the trembling naked man who had asked for help the moment Ranma had turned him back into a human.

Well, he'd help him now.

Pointing down at the teeming rat whose red eyes were fixed unnervingly on him, Ranma continued, "Because he's down there. He's been cursed to turn into a rat, just like some of you, only he won't be changing back. We brought him here because more than anyone, he needs to answer to you, the people whose lives he's tormented. What you choose to do with him now is your choice."

If Ranma had thought they'd hesitate for even a moment, he was wrong. The happy reunion of before was nothing but a memory now—every face in the square now looked hardened and battle-ready.

Happosai wouldn't be escaping justice tonight.

His part done, Ranma jumped off the fountain, making his way over to his friends who were waiting for him. He knew his parents would be staying till the very end—to either dispose of the old man's body, or to finish him off if the villagers chose to show mercy. Though Ranma knew that wasn't going to happen.

Turning to Akane, he asked, "Do you want to stay? We can if you want."

Biting her lip, Akane shook her head. "No, I—I trust them. I think I'd just like to go back now."

Ranma nodded, not surprised in the slightest. Akane may be a violent tomboy, but she didn't enjoy violence. "Alright then, let's get going."

As Ranma and the others turned to head back towards the castle, they couldn't quite escape the sounds of fighting and yelling going on behind them. The last sounds they heard from Happosai—the last sounds anyone would ever hear—were the strangled, pained shrieks of a dying rat.

The walk back to the castle was awkward.

Sensing the tension, his friends had gone off on their own, leaving Ranma and Akane behind to weather the uncomfortable atmosphere alone. Even when she'd been his captive, he couldn't remember things being so strained between them. But it was. Ranma could feel it. And he had no idea how to make things like they used to be again.

Stupid Kuno. This was all his fault.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow?" he asked, hoping to break the uneasy silence. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to judge her reaction. She didn't look thrilled, but then again, she didn't exactly look heartbroken either. She was probably glad to be leaving.

"Yeah," she said, and sighed. "In the morning, probably."

"Oh." His heart clenched painfully, realizing this may be one of the last times he'd be seeing her. Next time, she might be married—married, and hopefully miserable, because marrying anyone other than him felt wrong.

"I'm sorry, Ranma. . ."

"Sorry? For what?" He asked, even though he knew exactly what she was apologizing for. But he was feeling petty and hurt, and he wanted to hear her say it.

"You know, for leaving. I really don't want to go. . ."

Silence stretched between them for a good while.

"Then don't," he told her at last, the words strained.

"Ranma. . ."

He couldn't stand the look of pity in her eyes, the way she was staring at him like he was a pathetic kid that needed comforting. But he couldn't back down now. "I'm just saying, if you don't want to go, you don't have to. You're not the type to be forced to do anything you don't want to do, Akane—you can't tell me this is any different."

"It's not that easy, dummy. You know it's not."

"Of course it's that easy," he insisted, plowing right ahead. "He can't take you back by force—I won't let him! I'll lock him up somewhere, or have Ryoga put another hole in his dumb ship, or say we're already married—there are tons of solutions if you'd only stop being so stubborn!"

This time when she looked at him, her eyes were flashing, despite looking like she was trying hard not to cry. "You're such a jerk, Ranma. You're not making this any easier!"

"Good!" he shouted. "I don't WANT this to be any easier!"

At some point they'd stopped walking, and noticing movement around them, Akane realized to her embarrassment that they'd drawn a bit of a crowd; apparently the excitement with Happosai hadn't been enough to hold everyone's attention. Ranma, noticing around the same time she had, sighed in frustration as he grabbed her arm and hauled her into a nearby alleyway—away from the prying, curious eyes of strangers.

When they'd reclaimed some privacy, he wasted no time in jumping right back into it. "We can say you died or something—no way he'd be sick enough to try and marry a corpse!"

"And what about the spring?" Akane asked him, in no mood to even fake amusement now. "I can't exactly look for it back in Nerima if I'm dead, can I? You promised all those people back there, and I made a promise to you too, Ranma—besides, I have no intention of living in hiding for the rest of my life!"

He looked away for a second. "Well, that was just a suggestion. I've got a million more."

"Ranma. . ."

"We can tell him you went blind, or—or lame, or something. He won't want you if you're not perfect, and—"

"—Ranma!"

Slamming a fist into the brick wall in front of him, he stared at her, breathing hard. "Dammit! It's not like you love him or anything, so why are you trying so hard to stay engaged to him?!"

"Because, you idiot," she replied firmly, trying hard not to notice his battered fist, or the way his knuckles were starting to bruise. "Because, I love my father and I love Nerima, and I'm not about to risk WAR because the man I have to marry is an idiot! I owe them more than that!"

"You don't owe them a goddamn thing and you know it. And even if you did, who cares if they go to war—your dad has men, my pops has an army—they'll crush Kuno before it even comes to that!"

"You speak about going to war so easily, Ranma. . ."

"Yeah, well. . ." You're worth it, he wanted to tell her, but he knew that excuse would never fly, so instead he muttered defensively, "people die all the time. Ranko's proof. Why should I feel bad for a bunch of people I don't even know?"

"Because it's our duty to care," she reminded him, a fact that had been drilled into them since they were children. "You cared once too, and I know you still do—you're not heartless, Ranma. You're just—you're frustrated and hurt and you're not thinking clearly, that's all."

On the contrary, his mind had never felt clearer.

He kept trying to picture his life without Akane, and he just couldn't do it. Even when he'd been after her for revenge, he'd still wanted her in his life; he couldn't just turn that part of himself off, not as easily as she seemed able to.

"I am. Thinking clearly, I mean," he told her, his voice soft. "I just don't know how to do this without you, Akane."

She blushed prettily as he stared at her, and moments later, when he gently brushed away several strands of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes, he could tell she was trying hard not to lean into his touch. But such restraint only made him want to shake her that much more.

If words weren't working on her, maybe it was time to try something else.

Ranma's eyes drifted to her lips, and there they lingered. It had been so long since he'd tasted them, maybe he just needed to remind her what it was she was leaving behind . . . but memories of their last kiss, of sweetness tempered by anger and coercion, held him in check. He couldn't force this on her. He needed her to make the first move.

Luckily, he could tell their close proximity was having an effect on her. He caught her staring at his mouth several times, and she was starting to get jittery, her eyes darting occasionally to the end of the alleyway—as if the open space and fresh air would help keep her emotions and memories in check.

But Ranma didn't want to give her the chance to tamp them back down. Leaning forward, he gently rested his forehead against hers, purposely leaving their lips barely an inch apart before closing his eyes. "You always were the strong one, Akane," he whispered, letting the words hang there between them; counting on chemistry to do the rest.

Right away, he knew he wasn't the only one affected. Her breathing was no longer steady, and he could feel the tension crackling between them like a live, unfettered wire.

"Ranma. . ." When she said his name this time, her lips brushed his for the briefest of moments—and that's when Ranma opened his eyes, to see a want and desire reflecting his own. Still, he didn't move towards her, even though he desperately, desperately wanted to.

So Akane did it for him. Closing what little distance was left, she tilted her head up, her lips touching his with a sweet resolve that set his insides on fire. After that, all bets were off.

Cupping her face in his hands, Ranma pulled her closer and kissed her the way he'd been wanting to ever since setting eyes on her in the marketplace. His lips pleasantly tingled as he moved them over hers with expert precision, coaxing her mouth open with his own. But like everything she did, Akane gave as good as she got—before he had a chance, her tongue was already sliding against his, exploring him at leisure, leaving them both wanting and breathless.

He was pretty sure he could go on kissing Akane forever, yet just when he was ready for another round, when he was willing to lose himself in her completely—that's when Akane pulled away. Blushing like mad, she took a small step away from him and placed a hand over her chest, as if to steady her heart . . . until, like a light turning off, reality seemed to hit her, and her face darkened.

Ranma noticed immediately. "Akane. . ."

"Sorry," she said, and then laughed bitterly. "I guess I'm not that strong after all."

Needing to hold her, to do something before this all turned horribly wrong, Ranma stepped forward, but Akane held out a hand to stop him, effectively holding him back. "No, please don't," she pleaded with him, on the verge of tears. "I, I can't do this right now, Ranma." Without another word, she turned and left, not giving him a backwards glance as she hurried out of the alleyway, leaving him behind.

Ranma's hand curled into a fist as he stared helplessly in the direction she had gone. He really was a glutton for punishment. Had he really thought this could end any other way?

Cursing under his breath, he hurried to catch up, his mind kept busy as he searched desperately for a way to keep her.

His thoughts, jumbled though they were, were so occupied that Ranma failed to notice the figure standing in the shadows . . . silently watching him. Waiting.

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THE END
Chapter 21
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A/N: Just to put your mind at ease, no, it's not Happosai. He truly is dead.