Ranma ½/Dragonball Z: The Power of Change

Chapter 2: Remembrance

By Lord Dark Angel

Disclaimer- If you've seen one disclaimer, you've seen them all. Same old same old… I don't own the characters, it's done for fun not profit, I'm not a writer for a living, and I have no money, so please… Don't sue me. Done and done. On with the fic:

Ranma slowly hovers along on his long route back to the Tendou Dojo. He can't quite understand all of what is happening, at least what he has become. He has attempted to use Herbs flying technique before, but it was way too draining. Whatever new power he has… It wasn't working… Try as he might, he couldn't keep his mind off what was really bothering him…

He gazes down softly at the girl in his arms. This would change everything, and it wasn't going to be fun… Since Ranma first arrived in Nerima, and more specifically, the Tendou home he had stayed at the past year, things had been… Fun. It was the first time he had the chance to settle down somewhere since he was 6. And this lasted a lot longer. And now there were so many people here….

His only two friends, Uuchan and Ryouga had shown up early in his stay, and Ryouga had stayed his rival the whole time. Shampoo had proved herself to be a friend, as even Mousse has been at times. Cologne has shown him many things, and Happosai has been fun to try to kick around. Nabiki has a way of keeping you on your toes, Kuno and Kodachi both were nothing but annoying 90% of the time, but even THEY had their moments… Though he can't think of one…

There were friends at school, and the many foes he encountered here… It has been great, in a very weird sort of way. But then, Ranma's whole life is weird… At least here he had people. People he cared about… Above all else there were 3 people he could count on. Despite wanting him as more than a friend, Ukyou has always put aside whatever else was there to help Ranma if he really needed it. Kasumi, Akanes eldest and sweetest sister, always gave Ranma the benefit of the doubt, was the only one who ever showed him kindness no matter what had happened, and was there to talk. And then, there was Akane… He fell in love with her the moment she offered to be his friend.

Love… He allowed the truth to come out… Sadly it was too late for that. It was too late for it soon after it began. Whether she loved him or not… Nothing would ever come of it. She overreacted too much to what happened in his daily life, and was awful to him on most occasions. But he loved her anyway, and went out of his way to protect her to the best of his abilities and beyond.

This time it wasn't enough… He failed. He failed her, he failed her family, and he failed… himself. What could he do though? What is done is done… There's no way to bring back the dead, and no matter how much Ranma wanted it differently, Akane is dead.

He arrives at the Tendou home and goes up to the familiar window of Akanes room. Many nights he spent, wishing he could go in and tell her he cared about her, tell her he was sorry… But it was destined never to happen. Someone would show up to make things worse, or Akane herself would refuse to hear what he wanted to say and it would always enter a downward spiral… No… Things would never work out between them… But knowing this made him love her no less. If she were only alive, if he could only tell her the truth, the depth of his feelings that scared even him, maybe, just maybe she would act differently and prove him wrong…


Ifs and what-ifs are all Ranma has as he enters Akanes bedroom and lays her into her bed one last time. He brushes the tears out of his eyes, and the hair out of her face and gazes upon the one he loves. Tears drop and roll down her cold cheek, lending their warmth in a vain attempt to wake her. Ranma dips his head down, and softly kisses her cheek. The power leaves his body, and his hair returns to normal, the green in his eyes replaced by a shade of blue, dulled by the sadness in them. Exhausted, Ranma slowly lays himself on the bed behind her and holds her gently. As he slowly passes into the land of slumber, he whispers something he could never say in her life…

"Akane… I love you."

Authors Notes:
Rewrite of Chapter 2 down.

This is a COMPLETE rewrite. I had it, oh… 60% done… When stupid Word crashed and lost the whole thing… So I started from scratch, and it was a good, good thing.

This is much longer than the original chapter 2, and much better. The original was only a teaser chapter, but this is a real one. Definite improvement.

Catch ya next time.

And if you're catching this on FF.net, don't forget to check out my homepage:

Ja ne everybody.

- LDA