Dedicated to: Noah! ^_^ Hi hi!
Author's notes: I know..this is longer than I usually write...but people asked! I'm a slave to people who like my fic's. @.@ And...for anyone who wants to redicule me for how I protrayed Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 characters...
How a character turns out in a fanfic is by how the fanfic author sees them. Well, I don't EXACTLY see Akane how she is in this fic, but I needed her mind to become this way for something later on in this fanfic series...^-^;
Hikaru followed him, curious as to why he was leaving the fight, and also because he was her only friend so far, and did not yet want to part with him this day. They walked, Hikaru behind him, in silence, until she finally spoke up.
"Ranma, why did you leave them alone to fight?"
"Akane can protect herself, and the others would
get angry at me if I interfered."
"...I know...but..."
"I'm tiring of trying to stop this. It's an everyday
thing. And all 'cause my pop gave me three fiancees."
"That isn't the only reason."
"No, it isn't. But..."
Hikaru interrupted him. "Hey...we're friends, right?"
Ranma stopped walking on the fence, and jumped down
next to her. He smiled softly, and his eyes were warm. "Yeah,
it's good to have one that doesnt want to either kill me or marry me."
A silence came over the two, and each one pondered
what else to say to the other. Hikaru broke it. "So...um...what do
you want to talk about?"
Ranma shrugged and the two continued walking.
Hikaru looked up at the sky and stopped. "Oh...it's beautiful...Ranma,
look! Sunset!"
Ranma did, and stopped walking, he jumped down from the fence he was walking on, and stood next to Hikaru. Hikaru leaned into Ranma a bit, and when Ranma looked down she stood straight up. "Ack! Sorry...tired." She rubbed one of her eyes, emphasizing it. They turned away from the sunset and walked back to the tendo dojo, hoping the fight was over.
Alas, it was not. They opened the door to see Akane block an upper kick from Kodachi.
Hikaru couldn't stand it anymore, this was bothering her too much, even though she knew it wasn't her place to butt into someone else's business. She stormed towards them and yelled in a louder and demanding voice than anyone would have expected her to have. "STOP!!!"
By human instinct, all three stopped and looked to Hikaru to see what was so important. "What?" They said, irritated that someone stopped their fight, even if only for a moment. Hikaru took a step towards all four of them, raised her hand, and slapped them all at once, the noise of her hand making contact with their faces loud in the deepening night.
"You're all, just...really...really foolish! I can't believe any of you! If I were any of your mothers...i'd be ashamed! You don't fight for stupid reasons, especially if it doesn't even help the purpose your aiming for! Don't you GET IT?! RANMA WONT LIKE ANY OF YOU IF YOU KEEP HURTING OTHER PEOPLE! IT SHOWS OTHERS HOW CRUEL YOU CAN BE!" Her voice rang out.
Shampoo narrowed her eyes. Leaning forward, she did what Ranma and the others had forgotten she had the ability to do. She kissed Hikaru on the cheek, then stepped back, creating a distance between the two, as she glared, keeping eye contact. Purple eyes glaring at the equally angry firey red. Hikaru then touched a hand to her cheek where shampoo's lips had rested, and looked scared. "What was that for? I was just yelling at you." Hikaru didn't know the amazon law, and what it had meant.
"You I kill!" Shampoo yelled, but stormed out of the house. "Soon! Shampoo come back to kill red-braided girl!"
"...Well, what do you three have to say." Hikaru turned back to the others, still there. Kodachi glared at her, and left, giving an insane laugh which made the others cover their ears. Ukyou sniffed and stormed out. Akane simply ran up to her room, slamming the door.
"Normally they'd just fight you...I guess they're tired from the battle they were already in." Ranma said. Hikaru looked up, blinking, then shrugged.
"I can't do martial arts, but I'm pretty good with a sword." Hikaru admitted. Then looked at the mess in the living room of the tendo household. She began to neaten things up. Ranma sat down on a cushion and watched her.
"You don't have to do that, you're a guest." He said something again as Hikaru bent down to put a cushion where it was supposed to go. She seemed not to take notice, but a warm smile had appeared on her face.
"Hey, Hikaru, hear me? You don't have to do that."
She stood up and turned her face to look at Ranma.
"I know. But...if it's messy...why not?" She straightened out
the last feature in the room and then took a good look at the room before
Kasumi walked into it, and blinked at the two.
"Ah! I'm so sorry! Here, i'll show you where you can sleep. I heard the fight was going on, so we better not disturb Akane's rest. Everyone else is sleeping, so I guess you'll have to sleep in the same room as Genma and Ranma...if that's okay." Kasumi looked to Hikaru.
"Sure! That's fine." She was too polite to refuse.
And then when Hikaru layed her futon on the floor, noticed that two men where going to be sleeping in the same room as her. Oh dear...That would be a little scary. Hikaru shook her head as she became warm under the blankets of her futon, away from Genma and Ranma. She had faced scary things before!
Her eyes drifted to Ranma. He had already fallen asleep.
...She noticed something that made her want to go to him and comfort him. Normally, a person would smile or seem comfortable in his or her own slumber...but...Ranma...he looked a little sad. Aside from the fact that his mouth was open and he looked a little like a young boy. She let out a small smile. Not too sad, just enough to be noticed if someone really looked.
She turned her back to him and tried to go to sleep. Maybe she could erase that trace of sadness from her new friend.
. . .
Ranma opened his eyes as morning came. Normally he'd want to sleep in, to try to resist the upcoming every-day occurances, but now that he had someone that seemed to care more about helping him than helping him for her own benefit, he felt that he could bear getting up already.
He heard something from the dojo. When you were a martial artist, you had to have keen ears. Then he looked to where Hikaru had slept. The futon was rolled up neatly, and a large pack..probably holding the things she had brought with her, was slightly open, as if someone had taken something out of it.
Hikaru was probably the one in the dojo, then. But...then he heard another noise from the dojo, something more of a yelp of pain. Ranma, curious, went there to find out what was going on.
Ranma opened the door to see first, a wooden sword on the ground, in a position that looked like it had been dropped, then when he looked up from the ground, he saw what the noises were coming from.
"You don't just butt into a fight between rivals! If Ranma was awake to see this..I wouldn't be doing it..but since he isn't, Hikaru Shidou, you stupid idealistic child! Yeah, that's what you look like...a little child. You're eyes seem so innocent, but I can see something behind all that. I see some pain and other things, too. Well? Whatever happened to you, you deserved it! Your beliefs on what should be will never happen in the real world!" ....Ranma blinked in shock at these words. The voice belonged to Akane. He had never heard her use such an abusive tone before. He continued watching as Akane swung another punch to the dodging Hikaru.
"I don't care...I wont fight you no matter what you say...I don't like to fight...unless I have to." Hikaru said between dodges.
"Stupid. The fight has already started! If you let me beat you like this, then I expect you to stay away from Ranma! Kodachi, Shampoo, and Ukyou are enough trouble as it is! Stop getting close to him!"
"You..."love"...Ranma so much as to deny him any comfort in friendship?"
"Shut up!"
"You think it's right to let someone live on without
anyone to trust in?"
"He can trust someone! Ranma can trust me!"
"But yet you beat him, and you deny him friends."
"I said SHUT UP!" Yelled Akane, driving
a kick into Hikaru, to powerful for her to block and sending her sprawled
onto the ground at Ranma's feet.
Akane realized Ranma was there and stopped her advance towards the fallen Hikaru. Her eyes were wide.
Hikaru coughed, and a few droplets of blood fell onto the wooden floor. She looked up. "...Ranma...?"
Ranma picked up Hikaru's small frame from the floor, gave an emotionless stare to Akane, who still stood there, and walked away. He put shoes on before he left the house, and began to walk towards Dr. Tofu's.
"...Where're we going?" Hikaru said, her voice sounding a little hoarse. Hikaru was no martial artist, she could take hits, but the continuous fighting in Cephiro had made her body tired, and she wasn't as strong as she had been. Her body was tired out from the strenuous use over the years. This time, her body couldn't fully protect itself.
"To Dr. Tofu's." Ranma said quietly.
Hikaru leaned her head into Ranma's chest.
"I'm sorry."
"...?"
"...I'm...really sorry."
Ranma stopped walking. It was still early
in the morning, so noone was out to look at them. "What for?"
"For fighting with Akane...I know she's one of your
fiancees..."
"It's okay. She started the fight, didn't she?
And you didn't hit her back at all. You just kept dodging until you tired
out."
"...I'm so weak...I can't do martial arts at all.
I can use a sword, and I used to be really strong...but I strained myself
too much and my body is too weak to be strong enough to withstand someone
like Akane." Hikaru said, sounding miserable. She buried her face
deeped into his shirt.
"I said it was okay, Hikaru." He held her
a little tighter. Feeling more protective over her now.
Hikaru's eyes widened and she coughed again. A few droplets of blood again came out, but rested on Ranma's shirt. She coughed again, but this time covered her mouth. "Cfff...I'm sorry...cff, cff." She had a small coughing fit into her hand. Ranma's pace began to become faster.
When had Akane become strong enough to make someone cough up so much blood?
"Try not to cough, Hikaru." Ranma said. "I'll get you to Dr. Tofu's as fast as I can."
--End of Chapter Three!--
Hope you liked it! ^^;