Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and it's characters are the product and property of rumiko takahashi and viz video.

A Bengal Tale

Epilogue

By Michael Fetter

Strength, power, she saw it all in the way he moved, legs tensing and untensing as he bound through the forest. The long red and black tail swaying playfully through wind, the tiger was at peace in this forest. Here he was strong and none dare cross his path. In this forest, he was one with the . . .

Akane woke slowly, blinking away the sleep in her eyes until she caught the morning sun from her window. She stared longingly to the mountains, green, alive, home to some basic instincts.

She passed her sister in the dining room, skipping breakfast to head straight for the front door. There was a smell of warm breakfast beckoning her stomach, but she only had so much time with him, food could wait.

"Akane?" Nabiki called from the dining room table. "He's not getting any better." She was answered with the door locking back in place as Akane left the house.

Mr. Saotome had gone a week ago after finding out what happened to his son. Akane wasn't sure where he'd gone, maybe to Ranma's mother if she still lived. Sometimes the man would return and sit quietly, playing shogi with her father. The men seemed to share some deeper grief beyond Ranma's absence. No one was certain, but Nabiki claimed she overheard the two men sobbing about the schools no longer being united.

Whatever that was supposed to mean.

~

"I dreamt of you again last night, Pussycat."

She found him running about the edges of the forest like she had for the past week. The small tiger had his head lying across her chest, rubbing against her affectionately. It was almost a ritual now, to come out here, lie beneath these trees, just hold each other for as long as they could. Ranma would have to return to the forest eventually, hunt his meals and drag it to wherever he was sleeping.

Akane had thought about changing, to be the tiger, and stay with Pussycat, but she was afraid that she might not be able to return, that she wouldn't want to return. It was a not in the pit of her stomach, twisting her in two directions. Every moment she spent away from Pussycat hurt like a fish out of water, she spent the day counting the minutes until she could be with him again.

"You were so strong, powerful. I could see the forest mold itself to your every wish."

The tiger no longer responded as Ranma once had. Akane almost feared he couldn't understand her at all anymore. But he still met her, here; the love in his eyes was a warm glow that lifted her spirits.

Lately, she realized, he had been getting edgier, facing west, back to China, perhaps where this all began. Not all the Amazons had returned yet. The old woman, Cologne, remained, to guide them, she felt. The Amazon likely knew of what was to come and she waited, an honor debt demanded no less.

Neko-Ranma shifted again on her stomach to stare up at her eyes, shining those mysterious blue eyes. The same blue she remembered seeing in Ranma. The curse never altered the eyes.

"You'll be leaving soon, won't you Pussycat?" she wasn't sure if she should smile or cry. "I can see it when you look at me."

Neko-Ranma closed his eyes and rubbed her once more then stood. He faced out over the horizon to some distant place in the West. There was a call to his primal nature, beckoning his return to China.

Without a word, Akane grabbed the tiger by the neck and held onto him. "I don't want to lose you."

Nothing was said. There was nothing to be said. A decision had to be made and it was Akane's to make. Neko-Ranma would sorely miss her presence if he left now and she was not with him. There was nothing for Neko-Ranma in Japan anymore. A world to progressive left the wild in ashes. He knew that just as surely as Akane did.

"Can you wait a little longer." She didn't cry. Akane stared off in the same direction Pussycat did. "I need to say goodbye. Let them know things will be all right."

~

They were assembled in the living room of the Tendou home. Neko-Ranma paced at the door, often turning to look to the West. Cologne waited silently beside the tiger, stroking its fur as it passed. Soun was already crying over the loss of his youngest daughter.

"Are you sure about this, sugar?" Ukyou asked again. She had heard of Akane's departure by phone call from her older sister. The combat spatula was twiddled between her hands as she watched the tearful goodbye. "What if Pussycat never gets any better?"

"Don't worry child." Cologne patted Akane on the arm as they watched Neko-Ranma stir restlessly at the entrance to the dojo. "Ranma was strong enough to control the berserker and defeat the demon Ryouga. He will beat the Neko-ken as well. It will only require some time."

Nodding, Akane thanked the old woman with a smile.

"Sis? What are you going to do?" asked Nabiki beside Kasumi and their father.

Removing the shoes from her feet, Akane stepped up to her sister with sad eyes. "I can't leave him, Nabiki. I will never leave him."

Nabiki sobbed for a minute then gave her little sister a fierce hug. "Keep in touch, little sister."

Akane nodded, patting her sister on the back.

Soun wailed for a minute with Akane in his arms. It took Nabiki and Kasumi that long to pry their father off of her.

"I love you too, daddy."

Last in line, Kasumi settled for a simple hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You'll remember to visit us sometime, won't you?"

Smiling, Akane took a sidelong glance at the pacing Bengal tiger. "Who knows? Perhaps the next time I visit you'll finally meet the real Ranma Saotome too."

"We'll be in the same area." Cologne reminded the group. "You can count on me to check up on them from time to time."

Kasumi smiled in appreciation then watched her sister pull away and stand beside Neko-Ranma, who was still gazing out to the morning sun.

She stroked his fur for a moment. It was so soft and warm. Neither of them had had much time to appreciate what their curse was. Neko-Ranma was a beautiful animal. He was strong, compassionate, and loyal.

Smiling again, Akane reached for the glass at the small table near the entrance and poured it over her head. Her clothing ripped and fell in tatters to the ground. It didn't matter anymore though. So long as Ranma was with her, she was happy.

~

That was five years ago, Nabiki recalled.

She was sitting in the family room with Soun and Kasumi. They decided to get together like this on Akane's birthday each year. Their father still cried when he thought of Akane already out on her own. He wasn't sad anymore, not after the letters Cologne sent them every few months.

The letters were passed around, read aloud, and placed in an ornamental box beside their mother's shrine in the dojo. Each told them something special, new that had occurred in the tigers' lives. Despite herself, Nabiki cried in joy for the happiness her little sister had found.

"Isn't this a wonderful picture, Nabiki?" Kasumi offered the small photograph Cologne had sent, taken by the occasional Chinese Amazon explorer.

Wiping away the tear, Nabiki accepted the picture from her sister, holding it up to the light to study every detail.

Picking up his cup of tea, Soun smiled at his two present daughters. "I can hardly believe it. The direction my little girl's life has gone. It's rather like a dream."

"A dream?" Nabiki brushed the gloss of the picture with her fingertips, imagining Neko-Akane bounding through the jungle, playing tag with Neko-Ranma. "Seems more like a fairy tale."

~

Somewhere in the hills surrounding the Quinghai province, two tigers stood at the entrance to a dark cavern. Their fur rustled in the wind as they gazed upon the setting sun. Neko-Akane smiled as she envisioned what her family in Nerima was doing right now. She thought of them smiling, Kasumi with Toufuu, and Nabiki making her mark in the business world. Her father would still be running the dojo, teaching all those kids.

Sensing the melancholy, Neko-Ranma nuzzled Neko-Akane's mane in an attempt to bring her back to the present.

Akane returned the affectionate gesture, staring lovingly at the smaller tiger. Between their feet, three small cubs chirped with small tiger sounds, chasing one another in a game of tag like their parents were ought to do.

~

Holding the picture of her sister and Akane's cubs tenderly, Nabiki smiled and reconsidered her last thought. Akane wasn't living a fairy tale. She was living a Bengal Tale.

The End

* * *

I'd have to admit I'd be a real bastard if I didn't release this last piece on the same day as chapter thirteen. I could just hear the screams of protest for Ranma's fate. So many people wrote in to tell me how much they were enjoying "Bengal Tale" and how they wish to see Ranma get better. Well, that didn't exactly happen here, not in the way anyone expected anyway.

As many of you could probably tell, this epilogue was really my ingeneous way of introducing a (drum roll please) sequel (cymbals clash) I plan on entitling, "A Bengal Tale: The Cat Fist Strikes Back" (the crowd goes wild! . . . well? . . . go on . . . go wild, I won't stop you . . . okay, okay the title is a little queer, but I thought the series was just following some sort of great Star Wars kind of theme. I know someone out there is still laughing. Well, I'll try thinking up a better title, but still plans are being put in motion and this little cog of creativity is not yet done sapping this cash cow for all it's worth, Hahahahahahahaha!).

Send C&C to jehtek@hotmail.com

Or visit my website at: www.geocities.com/jehtek/

Ja ne.