Ranma/ NiGHTS
'Into Dreams'
"Wow, Akane, you seem a lot better than a couple of days ago," Sayuri commented, drinking from her juice box. Akane turned a bright smile towards her friend, "Hmm? I guess so, I've... gotten a good nights sleep for once."
"Oh, for a moment we thought that Ranma had finally asked you to the prom or something," Yuka joked, earning sharp glances from most of the other girls sitting with her and Akane.
"Oh, he hasn't no," Akane said casually, which managed to redirect all the attention from Yuka, and toward Akane. None of them realized their breath was held, as they watched Akane calmly chew on a piece of tempura. The raven haired girl suddenly noticed the silence, and that attention was on her now, "Huh? Something wrong?"
"I saw Ranma earlier today, for her to be this happy, he should have been in traction," One girl commented.
"Yeah, not a scratch or bruise on him," another girl added.
"Heck, he seemed pretty happy himself!"
Suddenly, a unified conclusion was drawn, and all girls turned to look at Akane with undisguised shock. "Akane, you DIDN'T!"
"Didn't what?" the girl in question asked with a morsel of food just an inch from entering her mouth.
"Did you and Ranma, well, you know..." It took Akane a few moments to understand what the gesture meant, but it was easily figured when she started to blush, and turn away from her slyly grinning friends.
"N-no, I haven't kissed Ranma, or anything."
"Then what is going on between you and Ranma?" Yuka asked, anxious to hear gossip.
"Nothing, come on you guys, cut it out!" Akane argued with a slight studder about her friends getting into her personal business, earning laughs from all around the lunch table. From down the end, Ukyo looked towards Akane with a contemplative expression, before going off to find her fiancee.
________________________
"Hey Ranma, you're not acting like a whipped puppy anymore," Hiroshi commented, a bit happier to see his friend no longer brooding like he had been for a while. Ranma didn't look extremely happy or anything, but it was a marked improvement over his past attitude. He had been deep in thought most of the day, thinking about how he was going to set things straight with a certain female friend of his. He couldn't really recall last night's dream, but he felt that he need to talk with Ukyo on where they stand. He didn't want to lose her as a friend, but felt if things got too far, he would before she realized it... if that wasn't the case already.
"Huh? Just been thinking about things, that's all," Ranma replied, not even sure of what Hiroshi had said to him.
"So, who you taking?" Daisuke started.
"Taking?" Ranma's confused expression prompted his two male friends
"Yeah, to the prom," Hiroshi helpfully clarified.
"Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, or Kodachi?" Daisuke added.
"Or all four?" they both said in unison, and gave each other a high five.
"Geez, you guys are a bunch of perverts," Ranma retorted without much heat. In fact, he was slightly grinning, which threw both his friends off kilter.
"YOU ARE TAKING THEM ALL OUT!" Daisuke shouted, while pointing at Ranma.
"Gee, you're a braver man than I can ever be, Saotome," Hiroshi stated with a bit of awe.
"Hey, it ain't like that!"
"I hope it's not, Ranma-Honey..."
The three young men paused, and turned to look behind them. "Uh, Ukyo..." Hiroshi greeted nervously, while actually paying more attention to the head of Ukyo's weapon on her back.
"Um, exactly how much did you hear?" Daisuke tentatively asked.
Ukyo smiled sweetly, "Enough for the both of you to start running... NOW," before she could unholster her weapon, Ranma's two friends were off to find somewhere else to spend lunch. Ranma watched Ukyo as she continued to smile and sit down next to him. He noticed that her smile was missing a slight *something* to it, and the was she had referred to him also lacked the same missing presence.
Trying to muster up as much casualness as he could, Ranma greeted his childhood friend, "Sup, Ucchan?"
"Ranchan, I wanted to ask you about the upcoming Prom thing..." Ukyo suddenly looked down, and started to twidle her fingers. She tried to read Ranma's face out of the corner of her eye, but Ranma's own head was turned away.
"Um... y-yeah?" Ranma tensed himself, ready to bolt if things got too uncomfortable. He wanted to clean up things between him and Ukyo, but not over a delicate subject like this.
Ukyo swallowed the last of her fear finally, and looked up at Ranma with a determined expression, "Have you asked Akane to go with you yet? I think she wants to pretty bad, I mean with you."
Ranma shot up to run, and face faulted. He attempted to recover by pulling his face off the ground, and turning to look at Ukyo, "Huh?"
"I think she's been acting pretty upset lately because you haven't asked her yet." Ranma stared at Ukyo, who still wore an expression of cheer on her face. He was studying her to find any hint of strain in her smile, and was hard pressed to find any, not that he was an expert on things like that. It didn't escape his attention that Ukyo kept talking like Akane was the definite choice for him, and that he was definitely going. That last part he hadn't even decided himself yet.
"Uh, h-how do you know she wants to go with me?" Ranma ventured cautiously. Ukyo just smirked, and punched him in the shoulder.
"Just call it women's intuition, Jackass." Ukyo's light smile was contagious, and Ranma found himself wearing one.
"I guess..." Ranma looked down at the lush green grass, not allowing her to see the smile melt from her face, and vice versa, "But, um, what about y-"
"I need to get going before lunch is up, got a few things to get done before returning to class," Ukyo interrupted. She sat up and patted Ranma on the shoulder, "I'll see you around Ranma, okay?"
"Uh, sure, see you around," Ranma replied, puzzled by her abrupt need to depart.
Ukyo walked away, and as she did so, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. She wasn't sure why she brought them to school, but felt the urge to anyway. She removed the cards from the box, and looked at the first card of the deck, the Jack of Spades. The young chef pouted at the card with slight distain, and shoved it somewhere into the rest of the deck. She flipped over the next card, the Queen of Hearts. A lone crystaline tear landed on the heart in the top corner, and slid down across the card.
________________________
The rest of the school day had passed without event, leaving Ranma and Akane on their walk home to contemplate things. Akane was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even note the various stray glances Ranma was giving her. The pigtailed boy himself wondered what was on the other girl's mind, hoping and fearing both at the same time that it had something to do with him.
Ranma looked around, noting that it was at least a block more before they got to the general area Shampoo would ambush him, and decided that now would be the best of times to ask.
"Hey... Akane?" Ranma's tone was cavalier, which was an impressive feat considering his current inner turmoil.
The girl stopped, and looked at him as if realizing for the first time Ranma was with her, "Uh, yes?" Her blush went unnoticed to Ranma, as he was busy gathering how to ask the question.
"I was, you know, kinda wondering... there's that Prom thing coming up, and, well..." Ranma firmed himself, he had faced a virtual god for her, surely he can face this, "If.. you know.. you'll like to, well... go with me... Imeanifyouwantto... or something..."
Akane blinked, and then smiled towards Ranma in a way that made him gasp. In her smile, he found that *something* that was missing from Ukyo's. But this time it was much more potent; infinitely brighter than any light, impossibly soothing, and completely warming without heat.
________________________
Reala prepared himself for the upcoming battle. There would be no silly side treks this time for the two; he would present their goals to them outright, and tell them they would have to get past him in order to do so. The sinister harliquin ensured that it would not be an easy thing for either Ranma or Akane to do, as he was taking steps to make it that much more difficult for the two young adults. They had to be forcably stopped, and robbed of what was needed to syphon the magical dream-like energies of Jusenkyo.
To do so, he had to tear Ranma's anchor away, by showing her her flaws. She was conqeuring her dreams, so that route was not working. So, he found another way to do it... with a bit of help, of course. Once that anchor was broken away, the vessel itself would be set adrift in its own misery, after Ranma himself learned that he indeed was not invincible. Convincing him of such was attempted through his dreams of failing against Saffron. Ranma believed he was now discovering the way back to his confidense, and even if he failed to defeat the pigtailed boy and the girl he was infatuated with (which, was a ludicrus assumption itself, he thought), Ranma would ultimately fall at the end because of this. It was something Reala realized, and was pretty sure Zmartwan saw too, but it was best to take precautions as they lay.
'Into Dreams'
"Wow, Akane, you seem a lot better than a couple of days ago," Sayuri commented, drinking from her juice box. Akane turned a bright smile towards her friend, "Hmm? I guess so, I've... gotten a good nights sleep for once."
"Oh, for a moment we thought that Ranma had finally asked you to the prom or something," Yuka joked, earning sharp glances from most of the other girls sitting with her and Akane.
"Oh, he hasn't no," Akane said casually, which managed to redirect all the attention from Yuka, and toward Akane. None of them realized their breath was held, as they watched Akane calmly chew on a piece of tempura. The raven haired girl suddenly noticed the silence, and that attention was on her now, "Huh? Something wrong?"
"I saw Ranma earlier today, for her to be this happy, he should have been in traction," One girl commented.
"Yeah, not a scratch or bruise on him," another girl added.
"Heck, he seemed pretty happy himself!"
Suddenly, a unified conclusion was drawn, and all girls turned to look at Akane with undisguised shock. "Akane, you DIDN'T!"
"Didn't what?" the girl in question asked with a morsel of food just an inch from entering her mouth.
"Did you and Ranma, well, you know..." It took Akane a few moments to understand what the gesture meant, but it was easily figured when she started to blush, and turn away from her slyly grinning friends.
"N-no, I haven't kissed Ranma, or anything."
"Then what is going on between you and Ranma?" Yuka asked, anxious to hear gossip.
"Nothing, come on you guys, cut it out!" Akane argued with a slight studder about her friends getting into her personal business, earning laughs from all around the lunch table. From down the end, Ukyo looked towards Akane with a contemplative expression, before going off to find her fiancee.
________________________
"Hey Ranma, you're not acting like a whipped puppy anymore," Hiroshi commented, a bit happier to see his friend no longer brooding like he had been for a while. Ranma didn't look extremely happy or anything, but it was a marked improvement over his past attitude. He had been deep in thought most of the day, thinking about how he was going to set things straight with a certain female friend of his. He couldn't really recall last night's dream, but he felt that he need to talk with Ukyo on where they stand. He didn't want to lose her as a friend, but felt if things got too far, he would before she realized it... if that wasn't the case already.
"Huh? Just been thinking about things, that's all," Ranma replied, not even sure of what Hiroshi had said to him.
"So, who you taking?" Daisuke started.
"Taking?" Ranma's confused expression prompted his two male friends
"Yeah, to the prom," Hiroshi helpfully clarified.
"Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, or Kodachi?" Daisuke added.
"Or all four?" they both said in unison, and gave each other a high five.
"Geez, you guys are a bunch of perverts," Ranma retorted without much heat. In fact, he was slightly grinning, which threw both his friends off kilter.
"YOU ARE TAKING THEM ALL OUT!" Daisuke shouted, while pointing at Ranma.
"Gee, you're a braver man than I can ever be, Saotome," Hiroshi stated with a bit of awe.
"Hey, it ain't like that!"
"I hope it's not, Ranma-Honey..."
The three young men paused, and turned to look behind them. "Uh, Ukyo..." Hiroshi greeted nervously, while actually paying more attention to the head of Ukyo's weapon on her back.
"Um, exactly how much did you hear?" Daisuke tentatively asked.
Ukyo smiled sweetly, "Enough for the both of you to start running... NOW," before she could unholster her weapon, Ranma's two friends were off to find somewhere else to spend lunch. Ranma watched Ukyo as she continued to smile and sit down next to him. He noticed that her smile was missing a slight *something* to it, and the was she had referred to him also lacked the same missing presence.
Trying to muster up as much casualness as he could, Ranma greeted his childhood friend, "Sup, Ucchan?"
"Ranchan, I wanted to ask you about the upcoming Prom thing..." Ukyo suddenly looked down, and started to twidle her fingers. She tried to read Ranma's face out of the corner of her eye, but Ranma's own head was turned away.
"Um... y-yeah?" Ranma tensed himself, ready to bolt if things got too uncomfortable. He wanted to clean up things between him and Ukyo, but not over a delicate subject like this.
Ukyo swallowed the last of her fear finally, and looked up at Ranma with a determined expression, "Have you asked Akane to go with you yet? I think she wants to pretty bad, I mean with you."
Ranma shot up to run, and face faulted. He attempted to recover by pulling his face off the ground, and turning to look at Ukyo, "Huh?"
"I think she's been acting pretty upset lately because you haven't asked her yet." Ranma stared at Ukyo, who still wore an expression of cheer on her face. He was studying her to find any hint of strain in her smile, and was hard pressed to find any, not that he was an expert on things like that. It didn't escape his attention that Ukyo kept talking like Akane was the definite choice for him, and that he was definitely going. That last part he hadn't even decided himself yet.
"Uh, h-how do you know she wants to go with me?" Ranma ventured cautiously. Ukyo just smirked, and punched him in the shoulder.
"Just call it women's intuition, Jackass." Ukyo's light smile was contagious, and Ranma found himself wearing one.
"I guess..." Ranma looked down at the lush green grass, not allowing her to see the smile melt from her face, and vice versa, "But, um, what about y-"
"I need to get going before lunch is up, got a few things to get done before returning to class," Ukyo interrupted. She sat up and patted Ranma on the shoulder, "I'll see you around Ranma, okay?"
"Uh, sure, see you around," Ranma replied, puzzled by her abrupt need to depart.
Ukyo walked away, and as she did so, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. She wasn't sure why she brought them to school, but felt the urge to anyway. She removed the cards from the box, and looked at the first card of the deck, the Jack of Spades. The young chef pouted at the card with slight distain, and shoved it somewhere into the rest of the deck. She flipped over the next card, the Queen of Hearts. A lone crystaline tear landed on the heart in the top corner, and slid down across the card.
________________________
The rest of the school day had passed without event, leaving Ranma and Akane on their walk home to contemplate things. Akane was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even note the various stray glances Ranma was giving her. The pigtailed boy himself wondered what was on the other girl's mind, hoping and fearing both at the same time that it had something to do with him.
Ranma looked around, noting that it was at least a block more before they got to the general area Shampoo would ambush him, and decided that now would be the best of times to ask.
"Hey... Akane?" Ranma's tone was cavalier, which was an impressive feat considering his current inner turmoil.
The girl stopped, and looked at him as if realizing for the first time Ranma was with her, "Uh, yes?" Her blush went unnoticed to Ranma, as he was busy gathering how to ask the question.
"I was, you know, kinda wondering... there's that Prom thing coming up, and, well..." Ranma firmed himself, he had faced a virtual god for her, surely he can face this, "If.. you know.. you'll like to, well... go with me... Imeanifyouwantto... or something..."
Akane blinked, and then smiled towards Ranma in a way that made him gasp. In her smile, he found that *something* that was missing from Ukyo's. But this time it was much more potent; infinitely brighter than any light, impossibly soothing, and completely warming without heat.
________________________
Reala prepared himself for the upcoming battle. There would be no silly side treks this time for the two; he would present their goals to them outright, and tell them they would have to get past him in order to do so. The sinister harliquin ensured that it would not be an easy thing for either Ranma or Akane to do, as he was taking steps to make it that much more difficult for the two young adults. They had to be forcably stopped, and robbed of what was needed to syphon the magical dream-like energies of Jusenkyo.
To do so, he had to tear Ranma's anchor away, by showing her her flaws. She was conqeuring her dreams, so that route was not working. So, he found another way to do it... with a bit of help, of course. Once that anchor was broken away, the vessel itself would be set adrift in its own misery, after Ranma himself learned that he indeed was not invincible. Convincing him of such was attempted through his dreams of failing against Saffron. Ranma believed he was now discovering the way back to his confidense, and even if he failed to defeat the pigtailed boy and the girl he was infatuated with (which, was a ludicrus assumption itself, he thought), Ranma would ultimately fall at the end because of this. It was something Reala realized, and was pretty sure Zmartwan saw too, but it was best to take precautions as they lay.