Akane the Suicidal
Akane blinked, as Ryoga dragged her down the street, "Um, where are we going?"
"As far as I can get you from Ranma!" Ryoga retorted, before mumbling, "Hmm, isn't there supposed to be an intersecting street right about now?"
The raven-haired girl wasn't sure what was going on, as she found herself dragged from the house by the bandanna clad boy, as soon as her and Ranma arrived home from school that day. She didn't miss the rather happy expression Ranma had on his face, but didn't think too much about it at the time, "Why are we getting away from Ranma?"
"For your safety," Ryoga stated, "That jerk ruined my life, and I'm not about to see him do the same to someone else!"
"Hey! What do you mean he ruined your life? Ranma doesn't strike me as the type of person to do such a thing!"
"Believe me, you're better off without the jerk!" Akane pursed her lips, but said nothing more.
__________________
"Ranma...." Kasumi enquired with a heavily concerned tone, "Where's Akane?" She *really* didn't want to go through this again.
"No longer my problem," Ranma retorted, keeping his eyes glued to the TV, before chuckling at the antics of one of the characters.
"Exactly what do you mean by that?"
"Found someone else to be her bodyguard. He wanted the job more than I did."
Kasumi's eyes widened a fraction, but instead of showing anger, she looked at Ranma with a saddened expression, "That wasn't very nice, Ranma."
"Well, Ryoga shoulda thought about it first, before accepting," Ranma replied, finally turning to look at the eldest Tendou daughter with a slight frown.
__________________
"This was Ranma's idea?" Akane asked in a subdued voice, while looking down at the table they both were sitting at.
"Yeah, the jerk decided that I couldn't do a better job of watching over you than he could," Ryoga replied with a slightly haughty tone. He suddenly became a bit nervous, "Um, how am I doing?"
Akane idly twirled her finger around the front of her on the table, "Okay... I guess." For some reason, the idea that Ranma was the one who made the suggestion hurt Akane as much as he had ever before. She just wasn't sure how to take it, this time.
"Ah...." Ryoga started to panic, when he noticed the girl across from him didn't seem happy. If he had realized how much buying her a meal would seem like a date in the first place, he more than likely wouldn't be functioning, right now. He had originally stopped to ask for directions, before realizing he was in a restuarant. It had been a while since he had anything that wasn't cooked over a camp fire, or instant, so obliging himself with some of the cash he earned from doing odd jobs sounded like a good idea. Of course, eating in front of his ward wasn't the polite thing to do.
"I didn't know anyone who liked fish so much!" Ryoga commented, hoping the change of subject would perk the girl up.
"Yeah, it's okay," Akane replied, "Salmon's pretty bony, easy to choke on the bones."
"Ah..." Ryoga blinked at the comment, "I guess."
For several minutes, Ryoga endured ackward silence, as Akane's mood, if anything, seemed to get more morose. Fortunately, their meal arrived before anxiety could set in for the bandanna-clad boy.
"Ah, great!" Ryoga looked down at the sizable portion of steak in front of him, and was ready to dig in, before realizing something, "Um... where's my knife?"
Akane perked up at the question, "Hmm?"
Above her, a rather well balanced steak knife descended for the top of her head...
__________________
"So, you hoisted Akane off onto someone else," Nabiki enquired with a distainful tone.
Ranma didn't miss the attitude, "Yeah, what about it?"
"You know?" Nabiki started, "I had really thought that you may have been the best thing for Akane, and then you do something like this."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Ranma asked with a hostile, but guarded tone.
"Nothing that you would apparently understand," the middle Tendou sister replied, before heading on her way. Ranma shook his head at the conversation, deciding whatever she was talking about wasn't worth his attention. Regardless, he couldn't comprehend where the sense of guilt he was experiencing was originating from.
__________________
"Would you get down from there, you're embarrassing me!" Akane chided, looking at the bandanna-clad boy that was clinging to the ceiling fan. Akane was actually more irritated at the waiter that just happened to be walking by, carrying a tray of beverages for another table. Instead of the knife she had lobbed into the air finding it's intended target, the blade landed against the edge of the waiter's serving tray, tipping it dramatically, and launching the beverages towards Ryoga. She didn't quite understand his reaction, it was just water and soda.
After checking to ensure that there was no liquid that could accidentally find its way onto him, Ryoga relaxed a bit. They began their dinner, and as Ryoga dug in heartily, Akane couldn't find her appetite.
__________________
Ranma winced at his performance, as he attempted to grace through one of his more trying katas. that nagging feeling was beginning to really hinder him, now, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was about. It wasn't for Akane's welfare, since he actually trusted Ryoga to protect her with his life, if only to upstage his rival. He did have his concerns, but they were small.
He had an odd feeling that it had something to do with whatever Kasumi and Nabiki were talking about, but couldn't be sure if it wasn't just their usual panic whenever Akane was out of sight.
Realizing he was going to continue to suck until he had a clear concience, he decided that a conversation with Kasumi would help alleviate some concerns.
__________________
Ryoga started to realize something funny was going on. It was rather odd how many life-threatening predicements seemed to happen to Akane, perhaps Ranma did have some genuine concerns, after all. For this, he became that more dilligent, and decided that maybe they should get back to the Tendou home for the time being.
Akane was finding he mood hindering her actions; any thing she did was pretty much by automatic pilot, all subconciously done. Her thoughts were mainly on the acute feeling of betrayal that was churning inside her. It distracted her enough to not notice when Ryoga stopped at the crosswalk.
"AKANE, LOOK OUT!"
"Huh? Ryoga, what are you doing way back there?" Akane asked, paying no mind to the cement mixer truck with a familiar pigtailed indenture on the front of it, barrelling down on her.
Without hesitation, Ryoga acted fast. His feet pushed off, leaving a void of air that matter rushed to fill. Before Akane could barely blink, she was shoved out of the way of the oncoming vehicle.
Ryoga braced for impact, and found himself airborne with surpisingly less pain than he had considered. everything seemed to be going in slow motion, when he realized his trajectory was sending him towards the canal.
With the thought of having to reveal his curse to the girl he had currently swore to protect, he started ripping off bandannas from his forehead at a maddened pace, and tying them together. Just as he was descending to the cold waters below, he lashed the bandanna-chain out like a whip, and snagged onto a streetlamp. With his incredible strength, he torqued himself like a slingshot from the canal, putting him back on the other side of the fence. He landed, and began to kiss solid ground in thanks.
The cement truck had attempted to swerve to miss Ryoga, its driver already in trouble for a previous incident. Unfortunately, he was unable to regain control, as he slammed into a western style fire hydrant, snapping the front off, which incidentally had been pointing to Ryoga.
Almost like a danger-sense, the fanged boy, turned, and leapt out of the way of the jet stream of water. Akane had predicted his trajectory, and awaited him to land. She calmy waited some more for his frantic breathing to calm, before addressing him, "Wow, you're pretty good! Probably as good as Ranma!"
Ryoga turned to glare at Akane, and make a retort, just as a chuckling todler ran in front of him, aimed, and shot him in the face.
Akane blinked, and looked down at the pile of clothing with a little black piglet sitting on top, "Huh? How...?"
Ryoga wanted to laugh, with all that effort, he still managed to get splashed. With a little piggy sigh, he awaited for the realization to set in, and then the taunts; just one more thing he vowed he would kill Ranma for.
"Oh, I get it! You have a Jusenkyo curse like Ranma!" Akane replied. Ryoga looked at her, and begrudgingly nodded.
__________________
"Hey, Kasumi, about what you and Nabiki were talking about earlier..."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Ranma," Kasumi replied, not looking from her preparations for dinner, "I don't think it should be anymore of your concern, now."
Ranma felt a slightly sharp pang in his chest, but ignored it, "No, really, what's this all about?"
Kasumi then chose that moment to look at Ranma, "You really don't know, do you?"
"Well, that's why I'm ask'n!"
Kasumi shook her head, and went back to cooking.
__________________
Ryoga had quickly dressed himself, after Akane dumped hot water over him from the other side of the wall to protect his modesty. He was grateful that she didn't insult him or make fun of his curse, but now something was seriously beginning to nag him about Akane. The comment about choking on fishbones, almost falling off the edge of the subway track, and onto the third rail, the standing under a falling plate glass window... all these deadly accidents couldn't just be a coincidence.
Just as he finished putting on his shirt, and leapt over the wall, he notice Akane starting innocently at a run-away red-racer wagon, carrying several shards of broken glass at a velocity well capable of cutting leather into tiny ribbons.
Right then, Ryoga knew...
__________________
"Come on, Nabiki! Why won't you guys tell me what's wrong?" Ranma pleaded.
"What's wrong, concience getting the better of you?" Nabiki responded, not looking up from her manga.
"Well, yeah," Ranma answered truthfully, "So, can ya tell me what's going on? I'll pay!"
"You don't have enough to cover the down payment for this information, Saotome."
Before Ranma could make a retort, they heard the front door open, and Akane announce her presence in a terse voice. Dismissing his previous concerns, Ranma rushed down the stairs to greet his fiancee and his rival, "Hey guys what's... up?"
Ryoga stared at Ranma with a severely unamused expression, looking more worse for wear. Over his shoulder, he held a tightly chained up Akane, who wasn't putting in any effort to struggle.
"Here," Ryoga barked, handing the bound girl to Ranma's care, "Have a nice life."
"Hey! Thanks for the breather, man!" Ranma called out, "Ya wanna babysit her tomorrow?"
Ryoga didn't even turn around, as he gave Ranma the bird over his shoulder. With that, he walked out of the Tendou home, hoping never to see Ranma, and more importantly, Akane, ever again.
Akane blinked, as Ryoga dragged her down the street, "Um, where are we going?"
"As far as I can get you from Ranma!" Ryoga retorted, before mumbling, "Hmm, isn't there supposed to be an intersecting street right about now?"
The raven-haired girl wasn't sure what was going on, as she found herself dragged from the house by the bandanna clad boy, as soon as her and Ranma arrived home from school that day. She didn't miss the rather happy expression Ranma had on his face, but didn't think too much about it at the time, "Why are we getting away from Ranma?"
"For your safety," Ryoga stated, "That jerk ruined my life, and I'm not about to see him do the same to someone else!"
"Hey! What do you mean he ruined your life? Ranma doesn't strike me as the type of person to do such a thing!"
"Believe me, you're better off without the jerk!" Akane pursed her lips, but said nothing more.
__________________
"Ranma...." Kasumi enquired with a heavily concerned tone, "Where's Akane?" She *really* didn't want to go through this again.
"No longer my problem," Ranma retorted, keeping his eyes glued to the TV, before chuckling at the antics of one of the characters.
"Exactly what do you mean by that?"
"Found someone else to be her bodyguard. He wanted the job more than I did."
Kasumi's eyes widened a fraction, but instead of showing anger, she looked at Ranma with a saddened expression, "That wasn't very nice, Ranma."
"Well, Ryoga shoulda thought about it first, before accepting," Ranma replied, finally turning to look at the eldest Tendou daughter with a slight frown.
__________________
"This was Ranma's idea?" Akane asked in a subdued voice, while looking down at the table they both were sitting at.
"Yeah, the jerk decided that I couldn't do a better job of watching over you than he could," Ryoga replied with a slightly haughty tone. He suddenly became a bit nervous, "Um, how am I doing?"
Akane idly twirled her finger around the front of her on the table, "Okay... I guess." For some reason, the idea that Ranma was the one who made the suggestion hurt Akane as much as he had ever before. She just wasn't sure how to take it, this time.
"Ah...." Ryoga started to panic, when he noticed the girl across from him didn't seem happy. If he had realized how much buying her a meal would seem like a date in the first place, he more than likely wouldn't be functioning, right now. He had originally stopped to ask for directions, before realizing he was in a restuarant. It had been a while since he had anything that wasn't cooked over a camp fire, or instant, so obliging himself with some of the cash he earned from doing odd jobs sounded like a good idea. Of course, eating in front of his ward wasn't the polite thing to do.
"I didn't know anyone who liked fish so much!" Ryoga commented, hoping the change of subject would perk the girl up.
"Yeah, it's okay," Akane replied, "Salmon's pretty bony, easy to choke on the bones."
"Ah..." Ryoga blinked at the comment, "I guess."
For several minutes, Ryoga endured ackward silence, as Akane's mood, if anything, seemed to get more morose. Fortunately, their meal arrived before anxiety could set in for the bandanna-clad boy.
"Ah, great!" Ryoga looked down at the sizable portion of steak in front of him, and was ready to dig in, before realizing something, "Um... where's my knife?"
Akane perked up at the question, "Hmm?"
Above her, a rather well balanced steak knife descended for the top of her head...
__________________
"So, you hoisted Akane off onto someone else," Nabiki enquired with a distainful tone.
Ranma didn't miss the attitude, "Yeah, what about it?"
"You know?" Nabiki started, "I had really thought that you may have been the best thing for Akane, and then you do something like this."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Ranma asked with a hostile, but guarded tone.
"Nothing that you would apparently understand," the middle Tendou sister replied, before heading on her way. Ranma shook his head at the conversation, deciding whatever she was talking about wasn't worth his attention. Regardless, he couldn't comprehend where the sense of guilt he was experiencing was originating from.
__________________
"Would you get down from there, you're embarrassing me!" Akane chided, looking at the bandanna-clad boy that was clinging to the ceiling fan. Akane was actually more irritated at the waiter that just happened to be walking by, carrying a tray of beverages for another table. Instead of the knife she had lobbed into the air finding it's intended target, the blade landed against the edge of the waiter's serving tray, tipping it dramatically, and launching the beverages towards Ryoga. She didn't quite understand his reaction, it was just water and soda.
After checking to ensure that there was no liquid that could accidentally find its way onto him, Ryoga relaxed a bit. They began their dinner, and as Ryoga dug in heartily, Akane couldn't find her appetite.
__________________
Ranma winced at his performance, as he attempted to grace through one of his more trying katas. that nagging feeling was beginning to really hinder him, now, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was about. It wasn't for Akane's welfare, since he actually trusted Ryoga to protect her with his life, if only to upstage his rival. He did have his concerns, but they were small.
He had an odd feeling that it had something to do with whatever Kasumi and Nabiki were talking about, but couldn't be sure if it wasn't just their usual panic whenever Akane was out of sight.
Realizing he was going to continue to suck until he had a clear concience, he decided that a conversation with Kasumi would help alleviate some concerns.
__________________
Ryoga started to realize something funny was going on. It was rather odd how many life-threatening predicements seemed to happen to Akane, perhaps Ranma did have some genuine concerns, after all. For this, he became that more dilligent, and decided that maybe they should get back to the Tendou home for the time being.
Akane was finding he mood hindering her actions; any thing she did was pretty much by automatic pilot, all subconciously done. Her thoughts were mainly on the acute feeling of betrayal that was churning inside her. It distracted her enough to not notice when Ryoga stopped at the crosswalk.
"AKANE, LOOK OUT!"
"Huh? Ryoga, what are you doing way back there?" Akane asked, paying no mind to the cement mixer truck with a familiar pigtailed indenture on the front of it, barrelling down on her.
Without hesitation, Ryoga acted fast. His feet pushed off, leaving a void of air that matter rushed to fill. Before Akane could barely blink, she was shoved out of the way of the oncoming vehicle.
Ryoga braced for impact, and found himself airborne with surpisingly less pain than he had considered. everything seemed to be going in slow motion, when he realized his trajectory was sending him towards the canal.
With the thought of having to reveal his curse to the girl he had currently swore to protect, he started ripping off bandannas from his forehead at a maddened pace, and tying them together. Just as he was descending to the cold waters below, he lashed the bandanna-chain out like a whip, and snagged onto a streetlamp. With his incredible strength, he torqued himself like a slingshot from the canal, putting him back on the other side of the fence. He landed, and began to kiss solid ground in thanks.
The cement truck had attempted to swerve to miss Ryoga, its driver already in trouble for a previous incident. Unfortunately, he was unable to regain control, as he slammed into a western style fire hydrant, snapping the front off, which incidentally had been pointing to Ryoga.
Almost like a danger-sense, the fanged boy, turned, and leapt out of the way of the jet stream of water. Akane had predicted his trajectory, and awaited him to land. She calmy waited some more for his frantic breathing to calm, before addressing him, "Wow, you're pretty good! Probably as good as Ranma!"
Ryoga turned to glare at Akane, and make a retort, just as a chuckling todler ran in front of him, aimed, and shot him in the face.
Akane blinked, and looked down at the pile of clothing with a little black piglet sitting on top, "Huh? How...?"
Ryoga wanted to laugh, with all that effort, he still managed to get splashed. With a little piggy sigh, he awaited for the realization to set in, and then the taunts; just one more thing he vowed he would kill Ranma for.
"Oh, I get it! You have a Jusenkyo curse like Ranma!" Akane replied. Ryoga looked at her, and begrudgingly nodded.
__________________
"Hey, Kasumi, about what you and Nabiki were talking about earlier..."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Ranma," Kasumi replied, not looking from her preparations for dinner, "I don't think it should be anymore of your concern, now."
Ranma felt a slightly sharp pang in his chest, but ignored it, "No, really, what's this all about?"
Kasumi then chose that moment to look at Ranma, "You really don't know, do you?"
"Well, that's why I'm ask'n!"
Kasumi shook her head, and went back to cooking.
__________________
Ryoga had quickly dressed himself, after Akane dumped hot water over him from the other side of the wall to protect his modesty. He was grateful that she didn't insult him or make fun of his curse, but now something was seriously beginning to nag him about Akane. The comment about choking on fishbones, almost falling off the edge of the subway track, and onto the third rail, the standing under a falling plate glass window... all these deadly accidents couldn't just be a coincidence.
Just as he finished putting on his shirt, and leapt over the wall, he notice Akane starting innocently at a run-away red-racer wagon, carrying several shards of broken glass at a velocity well capable of cutting leather into tiny ribbons.
Right then, Ryoga knew...
__________________
"Come on, Nabiki! Why won't you guys tell me what's wrong?" Ranma pleaded.
"What's wrong, concience getting the better of you?" Nabiki responded, not looking up from her manga.
"Well, yeah," Ranma answered truthfully, "So, can ya tell me what's going on? I'll pay!"
"You don't have enough to cover the down payment for this information, Saotome."
Before Ranma could make a retort, they heard the front door open, and Akane announce her presence in a terse voice. Dismissing his previous concerns, Ranma rushed down the stairs to greet his fiancee and his rival, "Hey guys what's... up?"
Ryoga stared at Ranma with a severely unamused expression, looking more worse for wear. Over his shoulder, he held a tightly chained up Akane, who wasn't putting in any effort to struggle.
"Here," Ryoga barked, handing the bound girl to Ranma's care, "Have a nice life."
"Hey! Thanks for the breather, man!" Ranma called out, "Ya wanna babysit her tomorrow?"
Ryoga didn't even turn around, as he gave Ranma the bird over his shoulder. With that, he walked out of the Tendou home, hoping never to see Ranma, and more importantly, Akane, ever again.