Akane the Suicidal
"Okay, what's with the silent treatment now?" Ranma enquired with an annoyed tone. Akane didn't even acknowledge him, as she continued to stare straight at the television.
"Oh, come on, at least let me unchain you!" As Ranma approached the girl sitting bound at the dining table, she finally spoke.
"Don't... just leave me alone."
"Hey! What I do?" Ranma retorted, "We haven't even been around each other all day!" Akane again remained silent, staring towards the TV, but not actually focusing on it.
"Fine, stay that way," Ranma threw his hands into the air, and walked away. Once he was out of Akane's sight, Kasumi and Nabiki each grabbed onto one of his arms.
"Saotome, we need to talk, "Nabiki commanded."
"This really important?" Ranma enquired, not really in the mood for the two older girls' antics.
Both Kasumi and Nabiki lead him up to Nabiki's room, feeling their grim urgency should more than answer their sister's fiance's question. "Hey, we're not actually gonna leave Akane in there alone, are we?" Ranma enquired with a somewhat worried tone.
Nabiki looked back in the direction of where her sister would be, "Don't worry, she has other things on her mind at the moment." With that, they all started upstairs.
Akane hadn't even been paying attention to her sisters leading her fiance off. Nabiki was right about her being lost in her own thoughts; thoughts centering around hurt and betrayal, so soon after giving him another chance...
_____________________
Nabiki closed her door, and then turned to Ranma, "Sit."
The pigtailed boy begrudginly obeyed, sitting at her desk, "What's this all about?"
"Saotome," Nabiki started, "You screwed up!"
Ranma shrugged, "Well, anybody finally gonna tell me how I screwed up?" Ranma blinked, realising something, "Waitaminute, this is about dumping Akane onto Ryoga, isn't it?"
"Well," Kasumi interjected, "Yes, but-"
"Oh, ain't this rich!" Ranma cut her off, "I find my own sucker to take my place, at least for the time being..." Ranma glanced down and away from the two sisters, "Since he wasn't stupid enough to take the job on a permenant basis..." He shifted his slate gray eyes back to Nabiki and Kasumi, "And I catch hell for it! Didn't you two AND your father do the same thing?"
"Ranma, listen, we-"
"Nope, don't even try to explain it, hypocracy isn't just a state in Greece."
"It isn't even a state in Greece, Ran-" Nabiki attempted to correct.
"Why is everyone mad at me? I didn't do anything different from what any of you did!" Ranma groaned in fustration, "Forget it, you're all nuts! I'm stuck as the fiance and full-time babysitter for Kavorkian's favorite patient, with potential father and sister-in-laws that flip out at the mention of some guy name Happosai!"
_____________________
Somewhere, in the Indian Ocean, air bubbles from several leagues below, broke the surface...
_____________________
"YOU SAID IT!!! YOU SAID THAT NAME!!!" Nabiki started wailing, while pointing at Ranma as if it would ward him off.
The menacing grin on Ranma's face could not be mistaken. "Ohhhhh noooooo!!" Ranma gasped in mock fear, while clasping his hands together, "The big, bad, Happosai's gonna get me!!!"
_____________________
the water's began to churn, as the air bubbles started to come in more rapid succession; building quickly, and beginning to froth the water's surface...
_____________________
"HE's COMING! HE'S COMING HERE!!!" Kasumi wailed, attempting to push open the door that only swung inwards in her desperate attempt to obey that instinct from the reptilian part of her brain that commanded her to flee.
"Oooh!" Ranma continued, in a ghastly tone, wiggling his fingers at the sides of his face, as if imitating some ghostly spector, "Haaaaaaaappppooooooo.... huh?"
The pigtailed boy watched, as Kasumi's eyes rolled up into her head, and fell backwards in a faint. He then turned and found Nabiki sitting at the corner of her bed with her arms crossed over her chest, and straining to keep her legs tightly closed and knees against her chest. All the while shifting her wide, wild eyes from side to side, and occasionally to the ceiling, seeming to look for someone in fear well past paranoia.
Ranma dropped his hands to his side, and shook his head, "Like I said, you're all nuts," With that, he left the room, lightly kicking the unconcious Kasumi's feet out of the way to exit.
_____________________
The waters suddenly calmed, returning to the calm seas they had been before...
_____________________
Ranma chuckled to himself; maybe he just needed an episode of 'The Tendou Family psychotics' to cheer him up a bit, "All these hysterics over this Happosai character..."
_____________________
The Indian Ocean erupted in a geyser; an explosion that almost rivaled the one caused by the nuclear testing the French conducted a few years ago in that very location...
_____________________
For two days, Ranma attepted to enjoy the peace he had from Akane's silent treatment, he really did. Unfortunately, he began to miss the kind, sweet girl that lay under the Spokesperson for euthenasia.
It was the same annoying feeling he got from the last time he managed to get Akane mad at him. He wasn't so sure what hurt her so bad, at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he realized that even if she took great pleasure in finding eloquent ways of sanctioning herself, she had feelings, too.
Ranma's brow furrowed, as he sat on the rooftop of the Tendou home, thinking hard on the situation. He knew it had something to do with handing her off to Ryoga like he did, but Akane took it rather well when her father and sisters passed her as a responsibility off onto him. It wasn't making any sense to him.
With a groan of fustration, Ranma leapt from the roof, deciding that he knew he had to go to the source for any answers.
He landed, and entered through the back door, where he found Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi watching TV. The latter two were flanking their younger sister protectively, as if protecting her from herself. Once the two older girls noticed Ranma standing at the entrance to the dining room, they moved closer against Akane, stating loud and clear who they were protecting her from.
"Ah..." Ranma started nervously, feeling the animosity in the room. He scrached the back of his head before continuing, "Mind if I speak with Akane, ah... alone?"
Nabiki and Kasumi turned to look at their younger sister, who had still not bothered to acknowledge Ranma's presence. Both girls shook their head in unison.
Ranma gritted his teeth, deciding that 'no' was not an option. Before any of the three girls could blink, Ranma was already hopping up to the roof with Akane in his arms.
Akane gasped in surprise, pushing her head against Ranma's chest tighter. Sure, she could have saved her self if she fell, or better yet, not bothered, but she was still taken by surprise, nonetheless.
She barely even realized when she and Ranma came to a stop on top of her house, as she clung to the pigtailed boy's back. Slowly, she turned her head to see Ranma staring back at her with an innocently curious expression.
"Akane... we need to talk," Ranma stated as serious as he possibly could, while attempting to hide the nervous stutter that was threatening to erupt from him from the way Akane was holding onto him.
Akane recalled her anger, and quickly pushed herself away from Ranma, "What do you want?"
Ranma's face firmed, "I wanna know why you're so angry with me!"
Akane looked at Ranma with a baleful glare, "Why do *you* think I'm mad at you, Ranma?"
The martial artist groaned, irritated with the way the Tendou girls always seemed to answer a question with questions, "Is this about Ryoga the other day? How come you're mad at me, but not at your sisters for passing you onto me? Huh?"
Akane snorted in distain, "Don't worry, I can let myself down..." With that, she walked to the edge of the roof, with her back turned to a befuddled Ranma, and tipped herself over the edge.
Ranma swore, just barely managing to snap out of his confused daze, and diving to catch Akane's ankle, while keeping her from slamming her head into the wall.
Akane's deep brown eyes looked back up at Ranma, "I wouldn't be such a burden to you if you wouldn't keep saving me." Her expression softened, "Why do you bother?"
"Akane, I ain't gonna just let you kill yourself, no matter how tempting you make it!" Ranma snapped, holding steady to his fiancee's leg. Akane studied Ranma's fierce and determined expression, before reaching up her own hand to grab onto Ranma's wrist. Both of them collaborated to pull Akane back to the roof.
"You gonna answer my question?" Ranma asked, allowing his irritation of the whole situation show through.
Akane began to glare at him again, "How dare you bring my sisters into this!"
"That ain't gonna change facts, Akane," Ranma retorted, not giving ground.
"Fine," Akane growled. Her mouth opened, and shut, as she wasn't quite sure of the answer, herself on that one. She did know the reason she was mad at Ranma. "They did it because I am their sister."
"That's not even a half-decent answer," Ranma replied, folding his arms across his chest.
"Why do you do it, Ranma?" Akane continued, undaunted, "You do it for 'martial artist's duty'? Well, if that's the case, Kasumi and Nabiki relieved you, you're free to go!"
"Damn it, Akane! Answer my question!" Ranma nearly shouted, grabbing Akane's arm.
"Why are you pretending to care?" Akane snapped back, vehemantly, "You already showed me the first time when Ryoga showed up exactly how much you 'cared'. I give you a second change... deities, I was even blaming myself!" Akane threw her arms up, shaking Ranma's grasp off of herself. She turned back to Ranma, and he would be a complete fool to not notice the way her eyes watered up, "I gave you a second chance, and this is how you spend it? If you don't really care, Ranma, just say so!"
"Akane..." the pigtailed boy took a tentative step towards the girl, "When you asked me if I wanted to be friends, I..." Ranma looked away from Akane, who had begun to stare back at him with curious expectation, "it was the first time in a long time I had anyone be that nice to me." Ranma turned away, fully from the girl, "When you're not making my life Hell, I... kinda don't mind being around you."
"Oh, Ranma," Akane whispered, approaching his back. She stopped, and gave a silent gasp at what she saw over his shoulder.
Ranma took a deep breath, and sighed in defeat, "I guess I got all the answers from you you're gonna give me, let's get down from-"
"Ranma, you mind if we stay up here a bit longer?" Akane asked, forcing Ranma to sit beside her. Ranma turned to ask Akane what she wanted, before she pointed up ahead.
"Ah..." Ranma started, "I guess that does look nice..."
"Mmmhmm," Akane replied, subconciously leaning her head against Ranma's shoulder, as she continued to stare at the setting sun. Ranma didn't notice the action, nor did he notice the soft whisper she voiced.
"I'll forgive you, this time, Ranma Saotome..."
"Okay, what's with the silent treatment now?" Ranma enquired with an annoyed tone. Akane didn't even acknowledge him, as she continued to stare straight at the television.
"Oh, come on, at least let me unchain you!" As Ranma approached the girl sitting bound at the dining table, she finally spoke.
"Don't... just leave me alone."
"Hey! What I do?" Ranma retorted, "We haven't even been around each other all day!" Akane again remained silent, staring towards the TV, but not actually focusing on it.
"Fine, stay that way," Ranma threw his hands into the air, and walked away. Once he was out of Akane's sight, Kasumi and Nabiki each grabbed onto one of his arms.
"Saotome, we need to talk, "Nabiki commanded."
"This really important?" Ranma enquired, not really in the mood for the two older girls' antics.
Both Kasumi and Nabiki lead him up to Nabiki's room, feeling their grim urgency should more than answer their sister's fiance's question. "Hey, we're not actually gonna leave Akane in there alone, are we?" Ranma enquired with a somewhat worried tone.
Nabiki looked back in the direction of where her sister would be, "Don't worry, she has other things on her mind at the moment." With that, they all started upstairs.
Akane hadn't even been paying attention to her sisters leading her fiance off. Nabiki was right about her being lost in her own thoughts; thoughts centering around hurt and betrayal, so soon after giving him another chance...
_____________________
Nabiki closed her door, and then turned to Ranma, "Sit."
The pigtailed boy begrudginly obeyed, sitting at her desk, "What's this all about?"
"Saotome," Nabiki started, "You screwed up!"
Ranma shrugged, "Well, anybody finally gonna tell me how I screwed up?" Ranma blinked, realising something, "Waitaminute, this is about dumping Akane onto Ryoga, isn't it?"
"Well," Kasumi interjected, "Yes, but-"
"Oh, ain't this rich!" Ranma cut her off, "I find my own sucker to take my place, at least for the time being..." Ranma glanced down and away from the two sisters, "Since he wasn't stupid enough to take the job on a permenant basis..." He shifted his slate gray eyes back to Nabiki and Kasumi, "And I catch hell for it! Didn't you two AND your father do the same thing?"
"Ranma, listen, we-"
"Nope, don't even try to explain it, hypocracy isn't just a state in Greece."
"It isn't even a state in Greece, Ran-" Nabiki attempted to correct.
"Why is everyone mad at me? I didn't do anything different from what any of you did!" Ranma groaned in fustration, "Forget it, you're all nuts! I'm stuck as the fiance and full-time babysitter for Kavorkian's favorite patient, with potential father and sister-in-laws that flip out at the mention of some guy name Happosai!"
_____________________
Somewhere, in the Indian Ocean, air bubbles from several leagues below, broke the surface...
_____________________
"YOU SAID IT!!! YOU SAID THAT NAME!!!" Nabiki started wailing, while pointing at Ranma as if it would ward him off.
The menacing grin on Ranma's face could not be mistaken. "Ohhhhh noooooo!!" Ranma gasped in mock fear, while clasping his hands together, "The big, bad, Happosai's gonna get me!!!"
_____________________
the water's began to churn, as the air bubbles started to come in more rapid succession; building quickly, and beginning to froth the water's surface...
_____________________
"HE's COMING! HE'S COMING HERE!!!" Kasumi wailed, attempting to push open the door that only swung inwards in her desperate attempt to obey that instinct from the reptilian part of her brain that commanded her to flee.
"Oooh!" Ranma continued, in a ghastly tone, wiggling his fingers at the sides of his face, as if imitating some ghostly spector, "Haaaaaaaappppooooooo.... huh?"
The pigtailed boy watched, as Kasumi's eyes rolled up into her head, and fell backwards in a faint. He then turned and found Nabiki sitting at the corner of her bed with her arms crossed over her chest, and straining to keep her legs tightly closed and knees against her chest. All the while shifting her wide, wild eyes from side to side, and occasionally to the ceiling, seeming to look for someone in fear well past paranoia.
Ranma dropped his hands to his side, and shook his head, "Like I said, you're all nuts," With that, he left the room, lightly kicking the unconcious Kasumi's feet out of the way to exit.
_____________________
The waters suddenly calmed, returning to the calm seas they had been before...
_____________________
Ranma chuckled to himself; maybe he just needed an episode of 'The Tendou Family psychotics' to cheer him up a bit, "All these hysterics over this Happosai character..."
_____________________
The Indian Ocean erupted in a geyser; an explosion that almost rivaled the one caused by the nuclear testing the French conducted a few years ago in that very location...
_____________________
For two days, Ranma attepted to enjoy the peace he had from Akane's silent treatment, he really did. Unfortunately, he began to miss the kind, sweet girl that lay under the Spokesperson for euthenasia.
It was the same annoying feeling he got from the last time he managed to get Akane mad at him. He wasn't so sure what hurt her so bad, at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he realized that even if she took great pleasure in finding eloquent ways of sanctioning herself, she had feelings, too.
Ranma's brow furrowed, as he sat on the rooftop of the Tendou home, thinking hard on the situation. He knew it had something to do with handing her off to Ryoga like he did, but Akane took it rather well when her father and sisters passed her as a responsibility off onto him. It wasn't making any sense to him.
With a groan of fustration, Ranma leapt from the roof, deciding that he knew he had to go to the source for any answers.
He landed, and entered through the back door, where he found Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi watching TV. The latter two were flanking their younger sister protectively, as if protecting her from herself. Once the two older girls noticed Ranma standing at the entrance to the dining room, they moved closer against Akane, stating loud and clear who they were protecting her from.
"Ah..." Ranma started nervously, feeling the animosity in the room. He scrached the back of his head before continuing, "Mind if I speak with Akane, ah... alone?"
Nabiki and Kasumi turned to look at their younger sister, who had still not bothered to acknowledge Ranma's presence. Both girls shook their head in unison.
Ranma gritted his teeth, deciding that 'no' was not an option. Before any of the three girls could blink, Ranma was already hopping up to the roof with Akane in his arms.
Akane gasped in surprise, pushing her head against Ranma's chest tighter. Sure, she could have saved her self if she fell, or better yet, not bothered, but she was still taken by surprise, nonetheless.
She barely even realized when she and Ranma came to a stop on top of her house, as she clung to the pigtailed boy's back. Slowly, she turned her head to see Ranma staring back at her with an innocently curious expression.
"Akane... we need to talk," Ranma stated as serious as he possibly could, while attempting to hide the nervous stutter that was threatening to erupt from him from the way Akane was holding onto him.
Akane recalled her anger, and quickly pushed herself away from Ranma, "What do you want?"
Ranma's face firmed, "I wanna know why you're so angry with me!"
Akane looked at Ranma with a baleful glare, "Why do *you* think I'm mad at you, Ranma?"
The martial artist groaned, irritated with the way the Tendou girls always seemed to answer a question with questions, "Is this about Ryoga the other day? How come you're mad at me, but not at your sisters for passing you onto me? Huh?"
Akane snorted in distain, "Don't worry, I can let myself down..." With that, she walked to the edge of the roof, with her back turned to a befuddled Ranma, and tipped herself over the edge.
Ranma swore, just barely managing to snap out of his confused daze, and diving to catch Akane's ankle, while keeping her from slamming her head into the wall.
Akane's deep brown eyes looked back up at Ranma, "I wouldn't be such a burden to you if you wouldn't keep saving me." Her expression softened, "Why do you bother?"
"Akane, I ain't gonna just let you kill yourself, no matter how tempting you make it!" Ranma snapped, holding steady to his fiancee's leg. Akane studied Ranma's fierce and determined expression, before reaching up her own hand to grab onto Ranma's wrist. Both of them collaborated to pull Akane back to the roof.
"You gonna answer my question?" Ranma asked, allowing his irritation of the whole situation show through.
Akane began to glare at him again, "How dare you bring my sisters into this!"
"That ain't gonna change facts, Akane," Ranma retorted, not giving ground.
"Fine," Akane growled. Her mouth opened, and shut, as she wasn't quite sure of the answer, herself on that one. She did know the reason she was mad at Ranma. "They did it because I am their sister."
"That's not even a half-decent answer," Ranma replied, folding his arms across his chest.
"Why do you do it, Ranma?" Akane continued, undaunted, "You do it for 'martial artist's duty'? Well, if that's the case, Kasumi and Nabiki relieved you, you're free to go!"
"Damn it, Akane! Answer my question!" Ranma nearly shouted, grabbing Akane's arm.
"Why are you pretending to care?" Akane snapped back, vehemantly, "You already showed me the first time when Ryoga showed up exactly how much you 'cared'. I give you a second change... deities, I was even blaming myself!" Akane threw her arms up, shaking Ranma's grasp off of herself. She turned back to Ranma, and he would be a complete fool to not notice the way her eyes watered up, "I gave you a second chance, and this is how you spend it? If you don't really care, Ranma, just say so!"
"Akane..." the pigtailed boy took a tentative step towards the girl, "When you asked me if I wanted to be friends, I..." Ranma looked away from Akane, who had begun to stare back at him with curious expectation, "it was the first time in a long time I had anyone be that nice to me." Ranma turned away, fully from the girl, "When you're not making my life Hell, I... kinda don't mind being around you."
"Oh, Ranma," Akane whispered, approaching his back. She stopped, and gave a silent gasp at what she saw over his shoulder.
Ranma took a deep breath, and sighed in defeat, "I guess I got all the answers from you you're gonna give me, let's get down from-"
"Ranma, you mind if we stay up here a bit longer?" Akane asked, forcing Ranma to sit beside her. Ranma turned to ask Akane what she wanted, before she pointed up ahead.
"Ah..." Ranma started, "I guess that does look nice..."
"Mmmhmm," Akane replied, subconciously leaning her head against Ranma's shoulder, as she continued to stare at the setting sun. Ranma didn't notice the action, nor did he notice the soft whisper she voiced.
"I'll forgive you, this time, Ranma Saotome..."