Ranma ½: Death of Happiness

Tragedy

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Chapter 10

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Akari was tired. She had been traveling for a week, looking for Ryoga,

whom she hadn't seen in over a month. Her first stop in her attempt to

find her boyfriend, was a quick stop at the Tendo dojo…

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Flashback

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"Hello Akari. How may I help you?" Kasumi said pleasantly as she

escorted the younger girl into the living room. No one else was there at

the moment so Akari felt more at ease as they sat down and sipped some

tea together.

"I'm looking for Ryoga, Kasumi, and I know that he used to come here and

fight Ranma a lot. So I was wondering if you would know, perhaps, which

direction he had been heading in the last time you say him and when that

was." Akari said as she put her cup back on the table.

"I understand." Kasumi said with a smile before she continued. "He was

here about three weeks ago and he didn't stay for very long. I believe

he finally figured out that he didn't love Akane as much as he had

thought. I'm not sure where he was going, but he headed towards Jubaan.

You might want to go to where Ranma will be staying in a few weeks. It's

his aunt's house and they will be picking him up in a week or two."

"But, why would I go to where Ranma is? It's Ryoga I want." Akari said

confused.

"Because Ryoga some how always finds Ranma, no matter where they go. He

may get lost on the way, but he always ends up with Ranma." Kasumi said

and handed her an address.

"Here is the address. Just go there in a couple weeks and Ryoga will

probably be there."

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End Flashback.

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"Well, here we are, Juuban." Akari said as she and her pig stopped at

the edge of a large park at the edge of the Jubaan shopping district.

"We might as well camp here for the night before we head towards Ranma's

new place."

She quickly set up a small campsite and started a small fire. As she

cooked a small meal for herself and prepared something for her pig, she

failed to notice as a figure appeared behind her, just outside of the

ring of light from the fire.

Ryoga reluctantly laid back on the bed in Ranma's room. He had let

himself be convinced to stay for the rest of the week to help train the

others, telling himself that it would be too much work to train someone

else up to his level to fight with. Already Ranma has twice as strong as

when they had first started his retraining, and at the rate they were

going, he would be as good as before the accident in another week or

two.

"Thanks for staying Ryoga." Ranma said quietly from the other bed across

the room.

"No problem." Ryoga said and then turned his gaze back to the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Ranma asked worriedly. It was very rare that Ryoga was

this quiet and contemplative.

"I don't know. Just a bad feeling, I guess. Like something was going to

happen very soon."

"Things have been very quiet lately. No new attacks or anything." Ranma

said and suddenly the communicator that Luna had given to all the new

knights, well, Serena had given him his, started to beep. Grabbing it,

he opened the lid and found Rei's face on the small screen.

'Everyone! Get to the park as soon as you can. There is another attack.'

She snapped and turned her communicator off as she went to follow her

own directions.

"You want to come?" Ranma asked Ryoga as he got up and the lost boy

nodded. Ranma quickly and silently transformed into Jupiter Knight and

jumped out the window.

Ryoga wiggled into his clothes and scooped up his pack in case he got

lost on the way there or on the way back and followed Jupiter K. out the

window. Serena and Rini joined them a moment later as Sailor Moon and

Sailor Chibi Moon and the four of them ran down the street. As the

approached the park, they were joined by Sailors Mercury and Saturn, and

the two Saturn Knights who had been spending the night with Hotaru since

no one else had been home, Chibi-Mercury K., and Tuxedo Mask.

The arrived at the park to see, Sailor Mars, Mars K., Mercury K., Chibi-

Mars K., and Chibi-Venus K already there. Sailor Pluto, Pluto K., and

Chibi-Pluto K. appeared a moment later from a portal from the time

gates. Everyone then turned towards the monster and it's victim.

"No…Akari!!!" Ryoga screamed as he got a good look at the person.

Rushing forward, he landed a crushing blow on the monster's face and

scooped her up as it dropped her. As he retreated with his precious

burden, the others jumped forward to try and destroy the monster that

looked like a tree.

"Akari? Akari, can you hear me?!" he demanded as he put her down a safe

distance from the fight. Saturn was there as well to heal her, but Akari

was too far-gone. She only had enough strength to smile as him briefly,

before the last of her energy was drained and she died quietly in his

arms.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he screamed as he held her close to

his chest, tears running down his face. Saturn was also crying silently

as she realized that there was nothing that she could do.

The entire fight had come to a stop at his heart broken wail as the

others stared at him in shock. Never had any of them ever heard anything

that full of pain and sorrow. Even the monster was frozen as it watched

the boy rock back and forth slightly as he wailed his grief to the

heavens.

Gently, Ryoga placed her body on the round and stood up. A sickly green

aura surrounded him, faster and bigger than Ranma had ever seen before.

As Ryoga turned around to glare at the monster, he whispered, "You have

taken everything from me. I have nothing left." Rising his hands, a ball

of the green aura filled it, growing bigger, and bigger until it had to

be almost four feet in diameter. "I'll make you pay for this. Shi Shi

Hokodan!" he screamed the last three words as he released the ball of ki

at the startled monster.

The creature screamed as it disintegrated, leaving nothing behind but a

pile of scorched wood dust that disappeared after a moment. Ebonite

quietly disappeared from his hiding spot before any of the others could

discover him. He had to report this new fighter to his queen.

"Ryoga? Are you all right?" Ranma asked as he detransformed and went to

where his friend had slumped to the ground, tired from using that much

energy in his attack.

Ignoring him, Ryoga pushed himself to his feet and wearily turned back

to Akari's still form. Brushing back her hair from her pale face, he let

a few more tears slip down his face before he reached into his pack,

which was right next to him and pulled out a small black box. Most of

the people there gasped as they realized what it was. Opening the box,

he pulled out a diamond ring and slipped it on Akari's ring finger

before standing up.

"This is…all your…fault Ranma." He said softly and turned murderous eyes

towards the startled pigtailed boy.

"What?!"

"You heard me. If you hadn't convinced me to stay and help you train, it

you hadn't been so selfish, I would have been free to find Akari. She

wouldn't have come here and she wouldn't have been mixed up in one of

your battles. She's dead because of you, Ranma, and I can never forgive

you for that. The next time I see you, you die." He said and turned

towards Akari's small camp.

He packed it up quickly and found the sumo pig where it had been knocked

out when the monster had first arrived. Waking it up, he loaded it with

her things before turning back to the others. "Sailor Pluto. Transport

me to Akari's home. I know you can do that." He said coldly and she

nodded. Shouldering his pack, he picked up Akari's body and followed the

time scout into a portal, the pig bringing up the rear of the train.

The two Pluto knights stayed behind to give him some privacy and they

watched silently as the portal closed before turning towards the others.

Everyone had detransformed by then and were standing in little groups.

Duo, Hotaru, Shin, Darien, Serena, Rini, and Lita were gathered around a

white-faced Ranma, trying to convince him that it wasn't his fault. Ami,

Heero, and Odin were standing near them. Wufei, Rei and Matt were

standing a little bit away from them and Tai was standing alone near a

large tree. Quickly, Trowa and Triton changed back and headed towards

the small blond who looked like he was a bout to break down in tears.

As soon as they reached him, he lunged into Trowa's arms and started

crying as the taller man started trying to comfort him.

In the time gates, Sailor Pluto turned towards the angry teen behind her

and sighed. It was a tragedy that his girlfriend had died and she could

understand his anger, but she wasn't sure what to do to help him.

"Open the portal already." He snapped at her as he cuddled Akari's body

closer to his chest.

"It wasn't Ranma's fault, you know." She said and he glared at her.

Seeing that he wouldn't believe her, she summoned a view screen from the

time stream and showed him what would've happened if he hadn't met up

with Ranma at the arcade. He watched silently as the him in the screen

wandered around, ending up in Russia with Akari still searching for him.

He saw he go to the Tendo dojo and talk to Kasumi and then head towards

Jubaan, searching for him a long the way. Then he saw the fight in which

she was still killed, but the monster also killed several more people

before finally being defeated by a powerful attack from Sailor Moon.

"See? She still would've died, but many others would also have died

along with her." Pluto said softly as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"What I see is that it really was his fault. She was going to his house

to find me. HIS house! I will never for give him so why don't you just

open the portal before I get mad and throw a Shi Shi Hokodan at you?" he

snarled as he held out a hand, which began to fill with green energy.

Wordlessly, she opened a portal and gestured him through it. He, his

burden, and the sumo pig, disappeared into it and appeared at the front

of the pig farm that Akari and her family ran.

"Good luck, Ryoga." She said softly as she closed the portal and opened

another one back to the Jubaan Park.

"It's all my fault." Ranma whispered as he sat down on the hard ground,

and stared at his hands.

"It's not your fault." Duo said firmly and the others surrounding them

nodded.

"Yes it is. If he hadn't stayed to help me, then he would have found her

before she came here to find him got killed. I kept him here, it's my

fault." Ranma said as he bowed his head.

"Did you tell her to come here? Did you send the monster? Did you force

Ryoga to stay here? No to all three." Duo snapped. "She came of her own

free will, Ebonite sent the monster, and Ryoga stayed as a form of

apology for what he's done to you in the past. If he had really wanted

to, he would have left already."

"It's still my fault." Ranma said stubbornly.

"It wasn't your fault, just like it wasn't Heero's when he accidentally

killed a bunch of people who were working towards peace." Duo said

firmly. Ranma's head shot up to stare at him, along with most of the

people who could hear him.

"What?" Hotaru asked as she tugged on one of Duo's arms.

"We were given false information along with our orders and in fulfilling

them, he accidentally killed Noventa and those other guys. It wasn't his

fault, but it also doesn't change that fact that those people are dead."

Duo said then turned his attention to the ground. Quietly, he said, "I

blamed myself for a long time about the destruction of the Maxwell

church. If I had only got the mobile suit faster, tried harder, they

wouldn't be dead. But I recently came to grips with the fact that I

would have just ended up dead too, protecting the church."

"That wasn't your fault! You couldn't know that the Alliance would do

that." Ranma protested as he stared up at the braided teenager.

"Yes, I know that now. But you couldn't have know that she was coming or

that Ebonite would attack her, either." Duo said quietly and Ranma

reluctantly nodded.

"He is right, you know." Sestuna said from behind them and everyone

turned to look at her. She had detransformed after exiting the portal

and now was dressed in a purple dress that hugged her figure. Trowa came

up behind her, followed by Tai and Triton, and wrapped his arms around

her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as he stared at the group

in front of them.

"I showed Ryoga a timeline of what would have happened if he had never

met up with all of you. Basically, he would be in Russia and she still

would have come here and would still have been killed, but in that

timeline, a bunch of others would have died as well." Sestuna said and

Trowa hugged her tighter.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Rei said, "I think that everyone

should go home for now. We'll talk about it tomorrow at the scout

meeting at the temple. Be there by twelve o'clock." Nodding, the others

turned and headed for their homes. Sestuna invited Trowa, Triton, and

Tai to come stay at the house with her, Hotaru, and Hotaru's guests. Rei

invited Matt and Wufei to stay at the temple and Darien invited Heero to

stay with him and Odin. Knowing that Ranma couldn't stay with her

without raising suspicions, Lita asked Ami to stay at her apartment.

That being decided, everyone went their own way, with Rini and Serena

walking on either side of Ranma, both holding his hands as they headed

back towards their home.

In the morning at breakfast, Ranma dropped a bombshell on his family.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make." He said as he sat down at

the table.

"What's that dear, and where is Ryoga? I hope he didn't get lost again."

Irene said as she put some miso soup in front of everyone.

"He didn't get lost. He left late last night." Ranma started but paused

for a moment before continuing. He and his cousins had come up with a

story last night on the way home about why Ryoga had left. "His fiancée,

Akari, was killed last night. He went to go tell her family."

"How do you know that? And how did he find out about her?" Ken asked.

"We felt that something was going to happen and were feeling restless so

we went out for a while to get some air and we ended up at the park.

There we saw a tree monster attack her, so we stepped in to stop it and

I got hurt. Ryoga took it out in one blast, but it was to late for her.

The scouts had arrived just before he took it out and Saturn tried to

heal Akari, but she was already gone. The scouts transported her body

and Ryoga to her home while Saturn worked on me. She completely healed

my back and I'm 100% healthy again, so for my announcement, I'm leaving

to get an apartment of my own." Ranma said and concentrated on his food,

while the others stared at him.

"But, why? I thought you were happy here." Irene said quietly, a few

tears gathering in her eyes.

"I have been. All of you have been great, but I don't want to freeload

off of you guys forever, and now that I'm all better, I don't have the

excuse of my injuries to keep me here. I was planning on getting an

apartment near here so that I could be close to you guys and I noticed

that there were a lot of job opening around the business district." He

said and smiled timidly at his aunt and uncle.

"Were are you going to get the money for an apartment? Ken asked.

"I have some saved up in an account in the bank of Tokyo, and there

should be enough in there for a couple months rent, plus some

necessities that I'll need to get, like a futon, a refrigerator, a

couch and couple other odds and ends." Ranma said and poked at his food

for a little bit, before putting down his chopsticks and stood up. That

was when the others realized that he wasn't wearing his braces or had

his crutches nearby.

"Excuse me. I'm going to start looking for a place to stay." He said and

turned towards the living room where the morning paper was waiting.    

'What?!' Mina screeched over the phone as Serena held it away from her

ear in pain.

"You heard me. Ranma is moving out and Ryoga's fiancée was killed." She

repeated as he brought the phone back to her poor abused ear.

'We're only about an hour away from the Tokyo airport so we'll be there

in about an hour and a half.' Mina said, then exchanged farewells with

Serena before they hung up.

"What's going to happen between Ranma and Ryoga the next time they

meet?" Rini asked quietly in the silence after Serena had hung up.

"I don't know, but hopefully, they'll be able to work out heir

differences without killing each other. I know that Ranma wouldn't be

able to live with himself if e did anything to Ryoga, but I think that

Ryoga is serious about what he said before he left." Serena said and

Luna nodded from where she sat on the bed next to the two girls. They

had retired there after Ranma had begun his search for his new apartment

to let the others know what was going on. Just as Serena had finished

calling the others that were still in town, Mina had called from the

plane as she and Quatre were nearing home. She had promised she would

tell Haruka, Michiru and the three knights what had happened.

"I just hope that everything works out." Serena sighed as she clasped a

pillow to her chest.

An hour and a half later, Mina and Quatre rang the doorbell and were

immediately ushered inside by Serena. As soon as they were in her room,

Serena explained everything and at the end of the story, Quatre shook

his head.

"They seemed so close. How could Ryoga mean that?" he asked and Serena

spoke up, as she was more familiar with Ranma and Ryoga's past than

anyone else there.

"Ranma and Ryoga went to jr. high together years ago and they were

always fighting because Ranma would always bet the last bread of the day

before Ryoga could and Ryoga decided that Ranma had slighted his honor.

So he challenged Ranma to an honor dual. Ranma waited three days for him

behind Ryoga's house, but because of his bad direction, Ryoga got there

on the fourth day after Ranma had left to continue his training journey.

He followed him to China where something happened. I'm not sure what

happened to him, but because of it, he decided that he had to kill Ranma

because it was Ranma's fault. In Nerima, he was always trying to kill

him, but they were also friends to a certain extent. Now, it's going to

be just like it was then, but now, Ryoga doesn't consider Ranma his

friend anymore." She finished quietly.

"This is horrible." Mina said as she hugged one of the stuffed toys to

her chest.

"I just hope that both of them make it through this." Quatre said

quietly and the others could only nod in agreement.

After a moment of silence, Serena spoke up again in an attempt to change

the subject. "So, what happened in England. Did you get that guy in

trouble?"

"Yes, and I have more news, too!" Mina exclaimed, glad they weren't

talking about Ranma and Ryoga anymore. "Uranus and Neptune Knights will

be joining us in a few days and the war is over!"

"What? Really?!" Serena exclaimed happily.

"Really. While we were there, Haruka and Michiru arrived there and told

them and restored their memories." Quatre said with a smile at the two

bubbly blonds in front of him. "They are having peace talks with the

colony leaders right now and then, when the matter is settled, the four

of them are coming here. They should be here in a couple days."

"That is so cool! We have to call a scout and knight meeting at the

temple as soon as possible." Serena said as she opened her communicator

and called the others, who agreed to meet them there at twelve.

"Well, I think I want to get back to the house and see what happened

there since we were gone." Quatre said as he stood up with a smile on

his face.

"Yeah, and I want to check in with Artemis." Mina said as she stood up

as well. Exchanging goodbyes, they left and Serena went in search of

Luna to talk to.

Far away in America, a teenage girl with long brown hair with green

streaks died though out the huge mass and brilliant blue eyes, entered

an airport wearing baggy black jeans and a black tank top with the

picture of an angel with black wings that had the words "Fallen Angel"

above it. She was carrying a backpack and two suitcases as she hurried

over to the desk to have her suitcases put on the plane.

Within fifteen minutes, she was at the gate leading to the plane, which

would bring here to Tokyo, Japan. 'Just a little bit longer and then I

will have my revenge.' She thought as she settled into her seat with her

bag in the seat next to here. There was barely anyone on this flight as

it was at two o'clock in the morning and those that were around here

were already going to sleep.

After the plane had lifted off and she was sure that no one else around

here was going to wake up, she turned to her bag and unzipped it.

"It's about time!" a voice said from the bag as something popped it's

head out to look at the girl, who showed no surprise at having a

miniature fire dragon that talked, pop out of her bag.

"I'm sorry, but I had to make sure that no one else was awake around us

before I let you out, Terra." The girl said as she watched the dragon

wiggle out of the opening and settled around her neck.

"How long is this flight?" the dragon, which happened to be male, asked

quietly.

"About six hours, I think. It will be about two o'clock a.m. when we get

there, so we should get some sleep."

"I agree, but you must remember, they probably won't accept you

immediately. They don't take well to strangers who show up, knowing all

about them while they don't know anything about the newbe."

"I guess, but I have to get my revenge, no matter what. I care if they

don't trust me. That isn't part of the plan."

"What ever, just go to sleep. You are going to need to get some rest if

you plan on being aware when we get there." Terra sighed as he closed

his eyes. "Good night, Lilly."

"Night Terra." Lilly said as she reclined the back of her seat and

closed her eyes.

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TBC