Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma.
Chapter 2:
The untouchable innocent
There was no sunlight. Not in the windowless fortress that Akane woke up to. The world was a muggy picture of mist and smoke, as if she had just stepped out of a steaming shower. Her head lolled across her chest as her vision flickered and began to even out. She winced at the brightness. There was no sunlight.
Light fixtures like glowing eyes glared down at her from the ceiling. Desk lamps cast odd shadows against the walls from there precarious positions atop cluttered tables. The feeble flames of many candles faltered and danced, wax pooling on the bare floor around them. Candles. Strange.
She sat in a chair, cords chafing her wrists and ankles, among the beaten walls, the scuffed floors, the smell of rain and fire. The light. In the room that brought her own apartment to her mind for a reason she did not understand. They were both in pretty bad shape. Maybe that was it. Or maybe that was less disgusting.
"You're awake."
Her view became a kaleidoscope as her head snapped up too fast. It was him.
"Don't scream. No one will hear you."
Screaming hadn't even crossed her mind.
He crossed the room moving behind her. And though she watched him with only suspicion in her eyes, she had a hard time believing he was a killer. The killer. Like a name that doesn't fit its owner, though they've had it all their life. Like two colors that don't quite match, though they ought to. Like a piece that just doesn't fit, though there is no other place to put it. Innocent death. Looks can be deceiving.
The cord around her wrists loosened. Akane felt a great sense of relief and pain because, like many other things, she had not realized how much of a burden the bindings were until they were less painful. The skin felt raw, cooled by her sweat and the air around it. The cord around her ankles loosened. She felt the same mixture of hurt and reprieve.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to move in your sleep, so I tied you a little tighter. I'll get you something, be right back."
She hoped it was pity and not concern that she heard in his voice. She wished it were pity and not concern. She wished it were hatred. Brutality. Revulsion. The same things that she felt. It would be so much easier, then, to continue to feel that way.
Akane's breath escaped from her throat in a startled gasp, a sharp intake of air. She could just see the top of his head behind her. The smell of antiseptics – a sour, acrid smell – permeated the naturally musty odor of the room. She felt his hands at her scraped wrists, covered in cold cream. The kind you found in cheap drugstores packaged in industrial sized bottles. Unbelievably, painfully cold.
"I know it hurts now, but this will make it better."
Was that concern again? Damn him.
"Why am I alive?"
Her voice was hoarse, slurred, thick. Raw like her throat, like her wrists. It was a stupid question. What question wasn't?
"I don't know. Why am I alive?"
It was a stupid answer. He stood in front of her. Untouchable. If it was an answer at all.
She was angry. It was the innocence in him, around him. It was the unchanging note of concern in his voice. It was his joke of an answer. His childish kindness. The way he would not hate her. The way he made his crimes slip to the back of her mind like a dream upon waking. The way they came back around to sting her when she realized….
She could not be disgusted with him. She was not innocent. She never felt concern. She was never kind. She hated many. She could only be disgusted with herself. For not being a better person. And she hated him for that.
"Damn you!"
She was angry.
"Hate me!"
She was crying.
"Kill me!"
There were no tears.
He stared at her, unfazed. Him, the killer. The untouchable innocent.
"No. Are you hungry?"
Akane's face fell. Her mouth hung open. Her brows pushed together. Her eyes partway lidded. He watched her, waiting for an answer. Gradually her mouth closed, her face became a blank mask. A doll's face.
"I… no. I'm not."
"Oh, me neither. I was just asking."
She closed her eyes and took a deep, quivering breath. Confused and shaken. And angry. There was a distinct lack of fear.
"I'll ask you again. Why am I alive?"
"I'll tell you again. I don't know."
She grit her teeth. They ground together unpleasantly.
"Did you bring me here?"
"Yes."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"Kill you."
She started, her eyes widening. Not in fear, in shock. He met her eye in his unshakable friendly demeanor and laughed. His laugh was not twisted, not chilling. Neither was he.
"I was kidding."
"No shit."
Her voice was a breathy hiss as he grinned at her lopsidedly. A confident smirk. He was in control. She was under his control.
"I'm not sure what I'm going to do with you."
Akane didn't like that. Maybe it was childish of her, or maybe it was more mature than anything, but she wanted that control. And it was all too clear, like the truth that slaps you in the face, that she would never have it. Not here, not with him. The truth was ugly.
"I guess I'll go find a spare room to lock you in."
He could have been talking about the weather. The jerk. As if that wasn't enough, he had to turn back around just before he left the room. And say the words she least wanted to hear.
"Oh yeah, almost forgot. Call me Ranma."
Now he had a name. He was a person. More real, more tangible. A person she hated because she couldn't hate him. He was too… pure. Like a child, but different. Very different.
Ranma. The wild horse. The killer. The untouchable innocent.
A/N: Short chapter, sorry! Okay, in the first chap., Akane was sort of detached from everything. Well, she's usually that way when everything is in order and under control, but when everything is sort of chaotic because it's not at all what she expected she lets her emotions get the best of her. In the Ranma universe Ranma is the one who usually sets off her temper, well now he does too, but in a different way. Umm… as for Ranma, you'll find out more about him later. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! These chapters are going to come out slowly until I finish Half and Half. I'm a slow writer, sorry. If you think the atmosphere in this story is a little surreal well, it's supposed to be kind of like that. I guess that's all I have to say, except REVIEW!! Okay, welll, bye.