Hello Everyone! This is my first Ranma 1/2 fic. I don't own Ranma, that honor belongs to the beloved Takahashi Rumiko Sensei. Actually I guess it sort of belongs to Viz too, and Suikoden, and a lot of other companies I can't remember or don't know about. Major Spoilers for the END OF THE SERIES!!! If you don't want to know what happens don't read this. I am picking up a little after the wedding debacle. I did my best to keep everyone in character. Nabiki is Nabiki however, and I find it hard to write her : ) Please read and review! I hope you like it! Please understand that this is the rewrite of a story that I wrote over four years ago. So maybe some of the more cliché moments you see in here weren't quite so cliché back in the day.
A Ranma Nibun No Ichi Story:
Back to the Beginning
By Ranma1517730129
"RAAAANNMAAA!!!!" Akane punted Ranma into the stratosphere and breathed loudly, her hands clenched at her sides. "Idiot" she whispered. She stared down at her hands and sighed loudly. She wouldn't cry. Crying was for the weak, and Akane Tendo was not weak. At least she didn't used to be, although she could count on her hands the number of times she had cried before Ranma came and now she wasn't really sure if she could say that. She stood there concentrating on her hands then she looked beyond them into the pond as she recounted the events that she could remember. //When my mother died...Ryugenzawa...That time with Nabiki...The Sakura festival after mom died.// The occasions ticked off in her head one after another. Akane focused back on her hands.
Most of the tears in her past were about her mother. "Why? Everything would be so different...If you had just stayed here with us. I miss you." The last words were choked with emotion. Akane felt the strength seep out of her legs and she fell to her knees. Anger, pain, regret, sadness, but mostly anger stung at the back of her eyes and threatened to become hot tears. She stared at her image in the pond and waited until the storm of emotion passed. She looked in the water and tried to see her mother in herself...Her eyes...Maybe her smile...Kasumi looked more like her mother than she ever would. Akane knew that her mother had been a beautiful woman, and Akane was a tomboy. Akane's hand touched the water before she ever even realized that she had reached forward. "Maybe I am un-cute" Akane thought out loud.
Her mind glossed over her recent memories. Saffron, Rouge, Jusenkyo, Jusendo, an admission...Or not, she could very well have imagined it. //Ranma seemed quick to deny it,// She thought bitterly. Akane remembered being weak, so frail. Never had she come so close to death and in that moment she understood her mother. How she must have felt. So close but not able to reach out... Maybe her mother felt like she did when she was dying. Naked fear, cold as an icy wind in the winter. Feelings of helplessness, never being able to say what you wanted to no matter how close you are to... //No...// Akane looked into her own eyes. No her mother was sick, she wasn't an asphyxiating doll. Although dying like that was terrifying it wasn't like her mother's death at all. Better not to compare the two.
Akane looked back into the pond her face superimposed on koi swimming in little circles feeding on the bottom of the glassy pool. In the past when Akane needed strength she would simply train harder. Maybe that was what she needed now. Training. Perhaps she could use her feelings in a positive way. She imagined going on a training journey. Japan in the winter and spring, learning what she could from those along the way as she walked the path of a true martial artist. Wind whipping through trees covered in snow and then new buds in the spring falling about her as she went through a kata in the light of the early dawn. //Ranma's face staring at her. Eyes full of mystery, deep blue beautiful pools...Wait where did that come from//
"Ranma!" Akane said in surprise. Then she realized she was falling backwards. She took a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding and let out a muffled "urummph" as she landed on her butt.
"Hey Akane, what are you doing? You've been out here for hours. Are you really that mad?"
She tried to remember what Ranma's latest infraction had been but she just couldn't concentrate enough so she said what came easiest. "Dolt!"
"Hey listen I ain't checkin' on you cause' I want to. Kasumi made me! And," Akane felt her hands go out before Ranma could say anything more stupid. *Splash* Instant redhead. "HEY! Whadja' do that for?!?"
"Don't bother me Ranma. I'm NOT in the mood." Akane lifted herself off the ground and walked into the house. She heard the girl yelling things to her but she didn't hear what it was that she said Akane was too focused on her next move to care.
***************
Ranma knew what was coming next. He heard his name and he felt himself ready his body for lower earth orbit...Then it came...POW! "Stupid tom-boy." He mumbled. // If she insists on makin' food how come I always gotta' choke it down. Have ta' admit though, that wasn't as bad as the last concoction...Maybe she's getting better. // The thought was in his head for five seconds before he landed on the roof of the Tendo Dojo. "Hey at least this time I didn't go through the roof." He said bemusedly from his headstanding position.
Nothing bothered Ranma more than his ability to find trouble when he wanted it least and making a hole in the Dojo meant more work for him. It's not that he minded mending the dojo's roof. It's just that the place was like a second home to him and it had just been fixed after the debacle with the near wedding between him and Akane. The line of thought ended there, Ranma wanted nothing to do with the ideas floating in his head at that moment. She could be so difficult sometimes. He never understood what she was thinking. One minute she was fine. The next...Well...She was callin' him stupid and hitting him into the friendly skies. //Girls are so difficult! // With that thought he righted himself from his position on his head and walked toward the edge of the roof and he saw Akane. She was staring at her hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world. // Weird //, thought Ranma, but he felt a strange need to watch. This was a side to Akane he almost never saw. Passive but, still so much inner strength. Sometimes she could be so...
"Why? Everything would be so different...If you had just stayed here with us. I miss you." Akane was talking to herself.
Ranma felt a pang of sorrow for the girl standing there in that moment. He knew what it was like to be without a mother. Akane was swaying on her feet, and that was when Akane fell to her knees. Ranma felt the need to catch her, hold her, do something, but he wasn't sure so he just watched. // I wonder if she's still weak from Jusenkyo...// Ranma didn't go there either. Ranma never thought too hard about stuff that bothered him. Death, dying, sickness, anything that involved those things and the people he l...//what's she doin'?//
Ranma watched Akane stare at the water. Whatever was bugging her had to be serious, Ranma knew the look on her face. Introspective and looking for something beyond the face staring back at you. Her hand slowly reached out and touched the water where her face reflected; she seemed startled and put her hand back on the ground. Ranma stared at the girl sitting on the grass around the pond.
"Maybe I am un-cute." She said to the water.
Two years and he didn't know if he really knew Akane the person. He knew that he liked her. He could say that in his mind. She was smart, interesting, funny when she wanted to be, all the things that guys went for. Not to mention that she was brash, violent, and could be very un-cute, but Ranma knew that her good qualities were what people were willing to die for. //Kill...It had hurt, I thought that she was gone, Saffron would have been dead...I tried to kill him. Man I have got to stop this or I'm gonna' start lookin' like Akane.// Ranma tried to bring himself levity but it failed pitifully. His hands were out in front of himself like they were when he did the Mouku Tokabisha. "Such power" he said silently to himself.
For a second he was back in Jusendo, two bodies, one violently brought to his end lay somewhere in the scorched earth. That body would have to wait. Ranma looked down at Akane; his red Chinese shirt was wrapped around her otherwise naked body. Akane...she wasn't breathing. She wasn't a doll anymore, this wasn't supposed to happen. He had fought for the water, won, and she had changed back. She was supposed to open her eyes, maybe yell at him for seeing her naked. Anguish, it wasn't just a word, it felt exactly like it sounded. She couldn't be dead; he never got to tell her how he felt. "I love you." It sounded so hollow. She couldn't hear it. She would never hear it. Then her eyes opened. Every emotion he knew and some he didn't passed through him. He faintly remembered Ryoga being there but right now, in his mind it was just the two of them. The scene started to play itself out in his head in a completely different way. Ranma held her and told her everything. Good things, bad things, stuff that he wouldn't tell his own mother, an unusually long list considering his mother...That wasn't how it happened though. Ranma shook his head. Feelings stuff just wasn't his thing.
Akane was still staring at herself when Ranma jumped off the roof. He approached silently and bent his head into Akane's line of vision...she didn't flinch. "Hey Akane, what are you doing? You've been out here for hours. Are you really that mad?" He decided that the direct approach was best. She finally saw him when he spoke and she seemed really surprised. The goofy smile that she was wearing went away, too bad, she was adorable.
"Dolt", she said.
//I take it all back,// he thought. "Hey listen I ain't checkin' on you cause' I want to. Kasumi made me! And," Ranma was rambling. It took him completely by surprise; it was the fastest she had ever moved. The air, the pond, Ranma felt the change take over. Where he was, she now stood. "HEY! Whadja' do that for?!?" Ranma said aggravated.
"Don't bother me Ranma. I'm NOT in the mood."
This said she was already turning to leave. "Where you think you're going? Hey come back here! You are so un-cute!" The words were there but they were really half hearted. Ranma-girl type felt her voice fail, "Akane, are you ok? Can I help?" her words became quiet until they died on her lips...She just couldn't say that stuff aloud.
***************
It was three in the morning. The darkness in Akane's room was battling with the light from her window. It was no use, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't find sleep. There was so much to do. Her pack was already filled with clothes, two books, money she had begged off of Nabiki. Vaguely she wondered if a 2% interest was good or not. Her father was going to cry; she hated watching him cry. It was inevitable though. Kasumi might pack some extra things for her to eat. That would be better than hunting from the start. Inevitably her mind went to her arranged fiancée. Part of her wanted to invite Ranma, the other half wanted to bribe Nabiki into getting rid of him for the morning. That's when the light shifted by her window. //Happosi...no, he has gone off again.// She corrected herself. Then the form opened her latch and sat in the window. Akane feigned sleep.
"Hey Akane...how long are you gonna' pretend to be asleep?"
"Ranma! What are you doing in my room?!?" Akane whispered exasperated at Ranma's invasion of her privacy.
"Keep it down, you want everybody to hear?" Ranma chastened her. Akane blushed deep crimson."Oh. Ah. Ummm. Sorry. I-ah...You want to meet me on the roof?"
"Ok..." Akane decided to humor Ranma this time. He didn't insult her, which was a good sign. She looked over to ask Ranma when he wanted to have this talk but he was already gone. Akane slid out of her window placing her feet on the owning and grabbed the gable to the roof. "Honestly" Akane said aloud as she pulled herself up over the gutter. She was only slightly surprised when a pair of strong hands grabbed her waist and helped her up the rest of the way. "Can I help you Ranma?" Akane tried to sound aloof, but it wasn't working, she sounded as worried as she felt.
"Hey um. I was just a little worried is all, you don't have to get all upset!" Ranma looked over his shoulder at Akane and tried to hide the expression of worry.
"Oh, Ranma is that all?" Akane smiled, he was worried. Akane sat on the roof and motioned for Ranma to join her. He stood there for a second. "I won't bite!" Akane let a little of the annoyance she felt creep into her words. Ranma sat down and looked up at the stars then leaned back to look at the panorama of the sky before beginning.
"Akane..." Ranma stole himself as if for battle. "I noticed this afternoon that you seemed kind of...Upset. Something was bothering you. I thought maybe you would want to talk er' somethin'."
Akane decided that this was the answer to her question. He had asked so she would tell him. "Ranma, promise me you won't get mad or say anything until I'm finished ok?" Akane noticed that Ranma flinched a little with those words. Akane silently wondered if she'd hurt his feelings. She leaned back to join Ranma looking up at the shining firmament. "Since you arrived my life has turned upside-down." Akane began. She noticed Ranma getting ready to respond but the sound didn't quite reach his lips so she continued. "However the only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I wasn't able to stop any of it. I'm a martial artist too, but I didn't defeat Toma, or Taro, or even Shampoo. For a while I just let it go, but I can't now. I am going to inherit the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, I am it's sole heir, whether I marry you or not." The last statement made Akane blush, but she had to say it. Ranma seemed quite, so she continued.
"I think that the last two years have taught me one thing above all else. I need more training. I need to see the world and learn more than what my father has taught me. The Anything Goes School is depending on me. I believe in it and I don't want to let myself down. My honor needs this..." Ranma didn't know much about feelings, but Akane knew he understood honor. She felt like the statement was a little calculating, maybe below the belt, but Ranma was nodding his head and he hadn't said anything yet. Maybe just maybe she was getting through. "I am leaving tomorrow. I am going to find that missing piece of my training. I just can't return until I do. I know that you understand...Please Ranma...Say you understand."
*********************
Ranma understood alright. Ranma understood that Akane was going out into the wilds of Japan and invariably going to get herself killed. He wanted to say that she was insane. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't leave...Why?...Because...Because...He would eventually think of something beside himself. Some other reason that wouldn't be so damn embarrassing. "I understand Akane..."
"Oh Ranma..."Akane whispered. He cast a sidelong glance at Akane.
"I understand that you can't cook, so you'll starve to death. You can't swim, so you'll drown. When you're sick ya' don't know how ta' take care of yourself. On the other hand you're built like a brick and you're dumb as an ox so maybe it'll take you longer to realize you're in trouble. Have fun Akane. Don't worry about us we'll come see you in the hospital or somethin' alright!" He made little waving gestures and smiled a big toothy grin. Ranma knew he was laying it on thick, but maybe this would buy him some time. He saw it coming. It came out of nowhere, but he always knew it was there. Maybe it was his advanced sense of danger. He could have blocked it, but he always knew when he deserved it most. This was one of those times.
"RAAAANMAAA!" she swung the hammer and it collided with his head.
He also knew where he was headed. Ranma had come to the conclusion long ago that cursed people also attracted water like the plague. What Ranma, now Ranma-chan, didn't expect was the reaction that Akane would have to his little tirade, she was on her way out the door when Ranma sputtered to life again. "Awwww geez...Akane wait up!" Ranma jumped into the second story window and landed on something big and furry. "Pop get outa' my way!" Ranma-chan ran around the room grabbing everything she needed for a training journey and was just packing the kettle when a sign connected with her head. The abused panda looked mad.
"What's the big idea?!? Show some respect to your father!" The sign said. The panda then looked at his son/daughter and noticed the pack "Are we going somewhere?" was scrawled on the new sign.
"Nope." Ranma kicked the panda into the awaiting pond, shouldered his pack, and ran downstairs grabbing the ever-ready kettle off the stove splashing her/himself and running from the dojo at top speed. Akane wasn't fast but she had a good lead, and he didn't want her getting away. "How can I protect ya' if you just keep running off...Stupid tomboy. If you get hurt..." Ranma didn't finish the thought a long line of unfinished thoughts of late. He couldn't. So he thought something else. //Once a year, if I can just get her to run away from home only once a year.//
***************
Nabiki hung up the earphones. Sure, she expected that Akane would one day go completely insane. At first it was because of Kuno-baby, she thought that one day one of the boys at school would beat her and she would just go over the edge. Then, well then Ranma moved in. In one moment the situation at school went from strange to almost welcome or normal. Princes, martial artists, old hags with the ability to make waterspouts and magical potions these were all a part of daily life now. All of these things were strange, but very profitable. Nabiki stared down at her abacus and smiled. Yes, profits had gone way up since Ranma arrived. It was not a coincidence either.
Nabiki often found herself openly using her bequeathed brother-in-law in many a scheme. His girl side was a moneymaking commodity, although for her sisters' sake she hoped that one day he would rid himself of the girl-side. //It's just too strange.// She thought to herself. The Tendo girl then decided to open the letter that was quickly shoved under the door of her room. The lines of the letter were blurry to her eyes, mostly because the girl had gotten no sleep that evening. Spying on her sister was tiring work, earlier she even thought about having a talk with her. Akane was despondent. Not like the normal anger, she wasn't talking to anyone. Usually her wrath was saved for Ranma alone, but not today. That made Nabiki worry. Akane was always angry about something, but recently her anger was not as fiery or quick to burn. She was suffering over something, keeping the sadness inside. Nabiki didn't think of herself as an expert on feelings but she knew when her sister was acting strange. Nabiki also knew a lot about keeping emotion suppressed. She stared at the letter willing her eyes to focus so she could read.
"Dear Nabiki,
I have gone on a training journey. I decided to give you the letter because you are the only one in the family that is reasonable when it comes to my training. I trust you will give the message to father in a calm and rational manner. Today my status as a true martial artist becomes a reality. I will not return to the Tendo Dojo until my mastery is that of a disciplined and strong teacher. I intend to backpack across Japan with nothing but my wits to keep me safe. I will return. Don't worry about me. Thanks again for the cash advance.
Love,
Akane"
"Good lord" said Nabiki. Nabiki didn't understand this training journey crap. "She's finally gone insane. I hope Ranma catches up to her quick, cause' if Akane is surviving by her wits alone she won't be alive very long." Now only one question remained. "How on earth do I tell Daddy." She stood up. "Well no time like the present." Nabiki only noticed a grousing damp panda standing in the early rays of the sun as she was turning to leave. She wondered mildly what had been said before Ranma left, signs didn't speak and Ranma didn't say much because she/he was in a hurry. She decided she would have a little fun before the house exploded with a new crisis. Nabiki opened her window, and turned on her light so that Genma could see her better. "Hey Mr. Saotome, taking an early morning dip?" The panda growled a response and then realized that he didn't have the correct vocal chords and held up a waterlogged sign. "Ah, Good Morning Nabiki, nothing like an early morning constitutional." She snickered. "Good morning. Uncle." The last statement was dry, but she found it hard not to crack a smile. She heard Kasumi's door open. Breakfast would be ready soon, she better tell daddy now so that he wouldn't cry all over the food. "Hey Daddy!"
***********
Nerima was waking all around Akane. She was finding a bit of peace comforting, but she was worried that eventually solitude would wear upon her need for company. She held two envelopes in her hand but she would deliver them at one location. Eventually the second letter would get to the intended individual. Of course one envelope was to Yuka and Sayori. She had written them each a personal note and put them together. Akane figured that the two would be together at least once today. The other envelope was addressed to Ranma. Although their conversation had gone really badly, she didn't doubt that Ranma would be upset if she didn't at least explain better. If she'd been able to contain her anger earlier she would have told him then. Akane had asked Yuka to deliver Ranma's letter herself. Yuka had never let her down before, and she believed in her now. Akane was simply going to drop the letter in the mail slot when Yuka walked out of her house.
"Hey Akane!" Akane hadn't expected to be confronted with her friend this early in the morning. Yuka was a late sleeper, especially when she didn't have to attend school.
"Your father just called looking for you. I could hardly make out what he was saying but he wanted to know if I'd seen you today." Akane tried to smile but her face wanted to crack. They were already looking for her. Ranma must have told them she was gone. She could only imagine him sitting there smugly refusing to go after her. Pointing out that he'd chased her enough. Akane's fist clenched and unclenched a rock that she'd picked up earlier noticing that it had become dust and sand in her palm. Yuka was staring at her friend. She was expecting a reply. "I'm sorry Yuka what did you say?"
"I said, should I call and tell them you're here? Or should I just do what I think'll be best and let you go?" Yuka was a smart girl, she had realized that the pack on Akane's back was really heavily laden with equipment.
"Thank you Yuka. I appreciate it." Akane smiled. Yuka was a good friend.
"How about if Ranma comes by..." Akane stood there for a second. She considered it.
"Tell Ranma that I was here...but don't tell him which way I went." Yuka smiled at her friend. Akane wasn't hiding from him and she seemed to appreciate that. Yuka stared at Akane's hand and the letters that were obviously for her care.
"Those meant for me?" Yuka giggled. Akane guessed because of the death grip in which she held the letters.
"Yes. Sorry Yuka. I'm going to miss you a lot." She hugged her friend. She tried to remember a time Yuka wasn't in her life but found the memories hard to locate. "Give Sayori a hug for me. Good bye Yuka." Her friend was now holding the letters against her. Was she crying? Akane tried to smile but found her lips wouldn't respond. She felt a tear spill down her cheek.
"Should I give Ranma a hug for you too?" Yuka was now grinning impishly.
"No!" Akane felt her cheeks get hot. "Um, I mean, if you want to, I mean. Forget it." Akane was a little flustered and she knew that it was showing. "Whatever you think is appropriate. You can do me a favor though. Make sure that Ukyo doesn't try anything while I'm gone ok? That goes for Shampoo too. Without me here who knows what kind of trouble Ranma'll get himself into." Yuka was laughing again. That was good, it would make leaving a little easier.
"Oh, Akane. You know that Ranma will get into trouble whether you are here or not. But I'll still try my best to remind him you still exist. Like I think he could ever forget considering how much he's in love with you." Yuka smiled as Akane gaped at her, but Akane recovered quickly. She gave her a big smile.
"Bye Yuka!" Akane ran away from her friend's house not looking back.
******************
Yuka watched her friend go. "Good luck Akane!" Yuka shouted. Akane had become so strong. She remembered when Akane would have just gone home when her father called. Akane was going out on her own. Yuka wondered how long it would be before she would venture out on her own. She stared at the beautiful pinking sky and realized that it would be a wonderful day. "Akane, the sun is shining on your decision." Yuka tried to imagine her life without Akane. "It's going to be a dull year." She said to no one. Out of the corner of her eye Yuka detected a blur. Being Akane's friend was good eye training. The blur ran in front of her house. She thought she saw a smile with a hand held toward her...V...for victory. "Good morning Ranma!" she called. "Want your letter?" Yuka blinked when she realized it was already gone. "You two have fun now." Yuka opened the door with a smile and felt herself running for the phone, time to call Sayori.
******************
Ranma had caught up to Akane after about one hour. It would have been sooner but he had to think about what Akane would do. Ranma wasn't always good about getting in the mind of his fiancée. He went to the wrong friend's house and arrived at Yuka's a little after Akane had left. Yuka was standing outside and Ranma finally knew he was on the right track. He saw a letter with his name on it, ran forward, and grabbed it before the girl could even say hi. Ranma loved to do things like this, it was the highlight of being a martial artist. He could never imagine being slow, clumsy, or unbalanced. His ki was in harmony with the rest of his body. He had been a martial artist since before he could remember. Genma had seen to that. He had to give up a few things in his life, but he was never the type to whine about life, so he'd tried to make the best of an otherwise bad situation.
Akane was now in view. So the question he'd avoided until now came into Ranma's mind. //Should I make her turn back?// Ranma realized that Akane had been really miserable lately. Ranma noted to himself that if he had noticed others must have. //I'd never pick up on something like that unless it was real obvious.// Ranma acknowledged, he wasn't really good at picking out peoples feelings. Akane is a hard person to read anyway, Ranma knew. She hid behind violence a lot. It was easy. Ranma did it himself on occasions and he always knew when he did it. //A weakness? No.// Ranma thought this over. //Not a weakness. Just easier sometimes, I think I get that stuff from Pop. He doesn't deal with stuff either.// Ranma realized that he was a lot like his father sometimes. The thought made him shudder.
Ranma looked at Akane. The sun had risen low over the roofs of Nerima and it seemed to make her glow like some kind of angel. //Nope. I'm gonna' follow her for a while. Figure out where she's headed and call the Tendo's. I'll tell them that Me and Akane are together. That'll make her dad stop cryin'. Keep him and Pop drunk for a while. I'll just keep them posted. Akane deserves this. Maybe it'll be fun.// Ranma realized that he hadn't been on a training journey in a while. Maybe this is what he needed, maybe it would make the dreams go away. Jusendo was haunting his mind awake and asleep. This might be precisely what the doctor ordered.
******************
"WHY???" Soun was crying and he saw that his daughter was giving him a stern and uninterested look.
"How should I know, daddy, she just did, ok?"
Nabiki could be so cold sometimes. A father could be saddened by such a lack of empathy in a daughter. //So unlike her mother.// This line of thought only made Soun cry harder. Soun had asked the middle daughter to produce the letter in question but she sternly refused, she said that it was worth a lot to her. Soun realized that a trinket of ones siblings' departure would be valuable to them so he didn't prod Nabiki any further. "It's so good to see you holding your sister's last wishes in such a protective manner. It makes me so proud!" Soun was in fact very proud of his middle daughter. She was very intelligent, and thorough in thought. She could turn any situation her way. Absently he wondered if she was manipulating him now. That was not possible however. Nabiki would never do something to hurt her one and only Daddy. "Oh Akane." He wailed again. His daughter rolled her eyes.
"Daddy, she isn't dead. She went on a training mission. How do you expect her to inherit the dojo if she doesn't train."
Soun thought about this for a moment and his tears abated. He then decided his next course of action was to cut Akane off before she could get too far. Soun tried not to sob as he called Akane's friends. Neither girl knew anything about where Akane was headed. Soun replaced the receiver to the phone and stared up at Nabiki. "Anything could happen to her alone in the wilderness...Oh my BABY GIRL!" Tears flowed freely again as a panda entered the room.
"Growf?" Soun stared at his friend-turned- Panda.
"Akane! Oh, Akane!" Soun watched Nabiki turn to the damp panda.
"Akane has run off Uncle." His middle daughter was taking this too well.
"Oh my!" Kasumi stepped into the room. His eldest daughter wore a look of concern. Soun realized that he might have been a little too loud. "Akane wasn't in her room, when I went to call her for breakfast...I guess that's why." His oldest daughter was taking this too well.
"RANMA!" Soun looked around the room to find the obvious reason for his daughter's latest trip. "Where are you?" Soun's head began to look like an inflated oni.
"DADDY! That's what I was trying to tell you!" Nabiki was staring at him. He thought he had missed a few things she said while he was crying but he got so emotional sometimes. "Ranma is with Akane." Soun broke down into new tears. Tears of joy.
"Oh MY LITTLE GIRL!" Soun and the panda embraced. "Come on Genma let's go get a drink!"
The panda held up a sign. "You're buying, right?" Soun was too happy to point out it was Genma's turn.
"But father isn't it a little early?" Kasumi had said this. Soun decided not to answer the question and instead cried more and left his room to wait for Genma. Today, they would celebrate the joining of their dojos.
*********************************
"Here is the first step!" Akane was staring at the road and the train station. She didn't know which to take so she stood and waffled. Akane imagined that Ranma would have yelled at her by now if he had been there. She almost thought she heard him curse, but she knew that it would be a few days before Ranma caught up. "Why do I care?" She mused to herself. //He's not here now, besides saying stuff like that makes me sound like I want him with me. Do I?// Akane got more frustrated. She started to walk down the road. It led past a field, and Akane decided that she would walk through the field to the tree line and follow a path as soon as she found one.
She looked behind her at the way she came. Nerima was beginning to look like a far away dot on the horizon. Out here she could see for miles. There was no where to hide. Ranma hadn't followed her. //Why should he? The only reason he goes after me is because they kick him out of the house if he doesn't. Am I disappointed?// Akane decided to let the question go. She started to concentrate on her breath. She regulated it, and then picked the speed of her air going in and out. Breathing was very important to one's ki. Air had to reach every part of ones body. Blood is cleaned by the air we take in, and without air we die. Akane knew this, but she had done very little with her breathing in years. Each breath was slowly measured. She took in air and let her lungs burn with expectance to let the air out, then she deprived them of air. Her lungs felt like a well-stoked fire.
Akane returned to a normal breathing pattern but was acutely aware of each breath. Then she took notice of how she was breathing, not shallow breaths that filled only the top of the lungs, but deep breaths found at the bottom of her diaphragm. She remembered that her father had taught her all of these exercises early in her training.
"The first things you learn are sometimes the least practiced" Akane mused. She looked at the tree line and saw what she had been looking for. "A trail!" Akane stated happily. She walked toward the trees and entered the forest, but ventured a look back at Nerima. One last look. She stood tall and bowed at the waist. "When I return I will bring honor to my family." Akane tried to keep a snapshot in her head of how the day looked. The field had a sort of shining to it in the mid-afternoon light. "Where is Furinkan High School?" Akane giggled. She hoped that she saw Ryoga while she was out here. Then again what were the chances that she would run into anyone out here? She turned from her home and walked into the darkness of the forest.
Akane would travel fifteen minutes before the deer path was no longer beaten out ending in a thorn bush. "Oh yeah...This is the life" Akane frowned as she pulled the long thorny vine away from her clothes and out of her forearm.
************************
Ranma cursed again under his breath. Why was she just standing there like an idiot? It looked like she was going to go forward, then she stopped. "Urgh!" he found himself beginning to curse but Akane looked in his direction. If she saw him now the cool part of this training journey would be over. Ranma's game of avoid-the-Akane was beginning to just really get fun, and he had no intentions of spoiling it so early in the game. //Walk for it Akane! It'll be more work, and that's what you're out here for.// Ranma caught himself thinking. Akane looked like she was suddenly really angry about something and started to walk down the road.
"YES!" At Akane's final decision Ranma bounded down to the train station and stuck his phone card into the slot. "Hey Kasumi...Yeah, I know...Well it was kind of a last minute decision. NO! Sorry...Didn't mean to yell. No Kasumi we aren't eloping. Akane and me...Yeah I...Are going on a long training journey." Kasumi was the one he really wanted to talk to. Nabiki could be so mercenary and he didn't think that he could really fool her. That's when the voice changed...Oh no!
"Ranma. Hey. Nabiki." Ranma felt his stomach curdle. "Do me a favor and keep my little sister safe ok? By the way I know the truth and I lied for you so I am going to put it on your tab with a five percent interest for every month you are gone ok?" She didn't wait for Ranma to say anything she had handed the phone back to Kasumi.
"Yeah...Ok Kasumi. Tell anyone that comes by that I'm on a training journey...Well yeah except them. I don't want that kind of trouble popping up. Talk to you soon! Bye Kasumi!" Ranma hung up the phone. "That...That... Nabiki!" He yelled at the pay phone. People were walking around him like he was insane, so Ranma decided that now was a good time to stop disturbing the wa and start the game again.
"Here we go." Ranma picked up speed and felt his legs pumping under him. His pack was just heavy enough to cause a marginal loss of speed, but nothing critical. By his own reckoning he could still beat Ryoga with this thing on, so it wouldn't be a big deal. He looked at the road where Akane had apparently gone into the field. //Well gee Akane don't cover your tracks at all do ya'?// Ranma looked at a green field that had a part straight down the center and weaved a bit in . Ranma looked at the road heading into the tunnel, then looked toward the field. He knew she was out there somewhere, but an open field would end the game and Ranma figured this was the perfect stealth exercise. Akane would be edgy and notice him if he made the slightest noise. She had proved this when she looked for him at the train station. Ranma entered the forest and jumped into the trees. "Tree stealth. I feel like a ninja from one of those anime movies." Ranma jumped lightly from branch to branch. Each jump was timed and measured. If Ranma guessed wrong he would fall.
Training with Akane was fun...Especially when she didn't know he was there. It wasn't long before he saw her. She seemed to be concentrating hard on something. Probably breathing techniques, he thought. She doesn't think about stuff like that enough, but then group fighters usually don't. Akane could afford to be sloppy against multiple foes as long as they didn't have any central thought. Group mentality is messy and doesn't learn from its mistakes. Akane used that to her advantage all the time when she fought. She was coming toward him now. She had seen the path in the forest. She was looking homeward and Ranma doubted her resolve for a second. "Go ahead Akane. You can do it." Ranma felt like a cheerleader. He knew that only she could make the decision to go forward. Akane was mumbling something in the direction of home...He made out the word honor. He watched as she went into the woods and smiled, he wondered how long it would take for Akane to realize she was on an eventually terminating deer path.
A Ranma Nibun No Ichi Story:
Back to the Beginning
By Ranma1517730129
"RAAAANNMAAA!!!!" Akane punted Ranma into the stratosphere and breathed loudly, her hands clenched at her sides. "Idiot" she whispered. She stared down at her hands and sighed loudly. She wouldn't cry. Crying was for the weak, and Akane Tendo was not weak. At least she didn't used to be, although she could count on her hands the number of times she had cried before Ranma came and now she wasn't really sure if she could say that. She stood there concentrating on her hands then she looked beyond them into the pond as she recounted the events that she could remember. //When my mother died...Ryugenzawa...That time with Nabiki...The Sakura festival after mom died.// The occasions ticked off in her head one after another. Akane focused back on her hands.
Most of the tears in her past were about her mother. "Why? Everything would be so different...If you had just stayed here with us. I miss you." The last words were choked with emotion. Akane felt the strength seep out of her legs and she fell to her knees. Anger, pain, regret, sadness, but mostly anger stung at the back of her eyes and threatened to become hot tears. She stared at her image in the pond and waited until the storm of emotion passed. She looked in the water and tried to see her mother in herself...Her eyes...Maybe her smile...Kasumi looked more like her mother than she ever would. Akane knew that her mother had been a beautiful woman, and Akane was a tomboy. Akane's hand touched the water before she ever even realized that she had reached forward. "Maybe I am un-cute" Akane thought out loud.
Her mind glossed over her recent memories. Saffron, Rouge, Jusenkyo, Jusendo, an admission...Or not, she could very well have imagined it. //Ranma seemed quick to deny it,// She thought bitterly. Akane remembered being weak, so frail. Never had she come so close to death and in that moment she understood her mother. How she must have felt. So close but not able to reach out... Maybe her mother felt like she did when she was dying. Naked fear, cold as an icy wind in the winter. Feelings of helplessness, never being able to say what you wanted to no matter how close you are to... //No...// Akane looked into her own eyes. No her mother was sick, she wasn't an asphyxiating doll. Although dying like that was terrifying it wasn't like her mother's death at all. Better not to compare the two.
Akane looked back into the pond her face superimposed on koi swimming in little circles feeding on the bottom of the glassy pool. In the past when Akane needed strength she would simply train harder. Maybe that was what she needed now. Training. Perhaps she could use her feelings in a positive way. She imagined going on a training journey. Japan in the winter and spring, learning what she could from those along the way as she walked the path of a true martial artist. Wind whipping through trees covered in snow and then new buds in the spring falling about her as she went through a kata in the light of the early dawn. //Ranma's face staring at her. Eyes full of mystery, deep blue beautiful pools...Wait where did that come from//
"Ranma!" Akane said in surprise. Then she realized she was falling backwards. She took a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding and let out a muffled "urummph" as she landed on her butt.
"Hey Akane, what are you doing? You've been out here for hours. Are you really that mad?"
She tried to remember what Ranma's latest infraction had been but she just couldn't concentrate enough so she said what came easiest. "Dolt!"
"Hey listen I ain't checkin' on you cause' I want to. Kasumi made me! And," Akane felt her hands go out before Ranma could say anything more stupid. *Splash* Instant redhead. "HEY! Whadja' do that for?!?"
"Don't bother me Ranma. I'm NOT in the mood." Akane lifted herself off the ground and walked into the house. She heard the girl yelling things to her but she didn't hear what it was that she said Akane was too focused on her next move to care.
***************
Ranma knew what was coming next. He heard his name and he felt himself ready his body for lower earth orbit...Then it came...POW! "Stupid tom-boy." He mumbled. // If she insists on makin' food how come I always gotta' choke it down. Have ta' admit though, that wasn't as bad as the last concoction...Maybe she's getting better. // The thought was in his head for five seconds before he landed on the roof of the Tendo Dojo. "Hey at least this time I didn't go through the roof." He said bemusedly from his headstanding position.
Nothing bothered Ranma more than his ability to find trouble when he wanted it least and making a hole in the Dojo meant more work for him. It's not that he minded mending the dojo's roof. It's just that the place was like a second home to him and it had just been fixed after the debacle with the near wedding between him and Akane. The line of thought ended there, Ranma wanted nothing to do with the ideas floating in his head at that moment. She could be so difficult sometimes. He never understood what she was thinking. One minute she was fine. The next...Well...She was callin' him stupid and hitting him into the friendly skies. //Girls are so difficult! // With that thought he righted himself from his position on his head and walked toward the edge of the roof and he saw Akane. She was staring at her hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world. // Weird //, thought Ranma, but he felt a strange need to watch. This was a side to Akane he almost never saw. Passive but, still so much inner strength. Sometimes she could be so...
"Why? Everything would be so different...If you had just stayed here with us. I miss you." Akane was talking to herself.
Ranma felt a pang of sorrow for the girl standing there in that moment. He knew what it was like to be without a mother. Akane was swaying on her feet, and that was when Akane fell to her knees. Ranma felt the need to catch her, hold her, do something, but he wasn't sure so he just watched. // I wonder if she's still weak from Jusenkyo...// Ranma didn't go there either. Ranma never thought too hard about stuff that bothered him. Death, dying, sickness, anything that involved those things and the people he l...//what's she doin'?//
Ranma watched Akane stare at the water. Whatever was bugging her had to be serious, Ranma knew the look on her face. Introspective and looking for something beyond the face staring back at you. Her hand slowly reached out and touched the water where her face reflected; she seemed startled and put her hand back on the ground. Ranma stared at the girl sitting on the grass around the pond.
"Maybe I am un-cute." She said to the water.
Two years and he didn't know if he really knew Akane the person. He knew that he liked her. He could say that in his mind. She was smart, interesting, funny when she wanted to be, all the things that guys went for. Not to mention that she was brash, violent, and could be very un-cute, but Ranma knew that her good qualities were what people were willing to die for. //Kill...It had hurt, I thought that she was gone, Saffron would have been dead...I tried to kill him. Man I have got to stop this or I'm gonna' start lookin' like Akane.// Ranma tried to bring himself levity but it failed pitifully. His hands were out in front of himself like they were when he did the Mouku Tokabisha. "Such power" he said silently to himself.
For a second he was back in Jusendo, two bodies, one violently brought to his end lay somewhere in the scorched earth. That body would have to wait. Ranma looked down at Akane; his red Chinese shirt was wrapped around her otherwise naked body. Akane...she wasn't breathing. She wasn't a doll anymore, this wasn't supposed to happen. He had fought for the water, won, and she had changed back. She was supposed to open her eyes, maybe yell at him for seeing her naked. Anguish, it wasn't just a word, it felt exactly like it sounded. She couldn't be dead; he never got to tell her how he felt. "I love you." It sounded so hollow. She couldn't hear it. She would never hear it. Then her eyes opened. Every emotion he knew and some he didn't passed through him. He faintly remembered Ryoga being there but right now, in his mind it was just the two of them. The scene started to play itself out in his head in a completely different way. Ranma held her and told her everything. Good things, bad things, stuff that he wouldn't tell his own mother, an unusually long list considering his mother...That wasn't how it happened though. Ranma shook his head. Feelings stuff just wasn't his thing.
Akane was still staring at herself when Ranma jumped off the roof. He approached silently and bent his head into Akane's line of vision...she didn't flinch. "Hey Akane, what are you doing? You've been out here for hours. Are you really that mad?" He decided that the direct approach was best. She finally saw him when he spoke and she seemed really surprised. The goofy smile that she was wearing went away, too bad, she was adorable.
"Dolt", she said.
//I take it all back,// he thought. "Hey listen I ain't checkin' on you cause' I want to. Kasumi made me! And," Ranma was rambling. It took him completely by surprise; it was the fastest she had ever moved. The air, the pond, Ranma felt the change take over. Where he was, she now stood. "HEY! Whadja' do that for?!?" Ranma said aggravated.
"Don't bother me Ranma. I'm NOT in the mood."
This said she was already turning to leave. "Where you think you're going? Hey come back here! You are so un-cute!" The words were there but they were really half hearted. Ranma-girl type felt her voice fail, "Akane, are you ok? Can I help?" her words became quiet until they died on her lips...She just couldn't say that stuff aloud.
***************
It was three in the morning. The darkness in Akane's room was battling with the light from her window. It was no use, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't find sleep. There was so much to do. Her pack was already filled with clothes, two books, money she had begged off of Nabiki. Vaguely she wondered if a 2% interest was good or not. Her father was going to cry; she hated watching him cry. It was inevitable though. Kasumi might pack some extra things for her to eat. That would be better than hunting from the start. Inevitably her mind went to her arranged fiancée. Part of her wanted to invite Ranma, the other half wanted to bribe Nabiki into getting rid of him for the morning. That's when the light shifted by her window. //Happosi...no, he has gone off again.// She corrected herself. Then the form opened her latch and sat in the window. Akane feigned sleep.
"Hey Akane...how long are you gonna' pretend to be asleep?"
"Ranma! What are you doing in my room?!?" Akane whispered exasperated at Ranma's invasion of her privacy.
"Keep it down, you want everybody to hear?" Ranma chastened her. Akane blushed deep crimson."Oh. Ah. Ummm. Sorry. I-ah...You want to meet me on the roof?"
"Ok..." Akane decided to humor Ranma this time. He didn't insult her, which was a good sign. She looked over to ask Ranma when he wanted to have this talk but he was already gone. Akane slid out of her window placing her feet on the owning and grabbed the gable to the roof. "Honestly" Akane said aloud as she pulled herself up over the gutter. She was only slightly surprised when a pair of strong hands grabbed her waist and helped her up the rest of the way. "Can I help you Ranma?" Akane tried to sound aloof, but it wasn't working, she sounded as worried as she felt.
"Hey um. I was just a little worried is all, you don't have to get all upset!" Ranma looked over his shoulder at Akane and tried to hide the expression of worry.
"Oh, Ranma is that all?" Akane smiled, he was worried. Akane sat on the roof and motioned for Ranma to join her. He stood there for a second. "I won't bite!" Akane let a little of the annoyance she felt creep into her words. Ranma sat down and looked up at the stars then leaned back to look at the panorama of the sky before beginning.
"Akane..." Ranma stole himself as if for battle. "I noticed this afternoon that you seemed kind of...Upset. Something was bothering you. I thought maybe you would want to talk er' somethin'."
Akane decided that this was the answer to her question. He had asked so she would tell him. "Ranma, promise me you won't get mad or say anything until I'm finished ok?" Akane noticed that Ranma flinched a little with those words. Akane silently wondered if she'd hurt his feelings. She leaned back to join Ranma looking up at the shining firmament. "Since you arrived my life has turned upside-down." Akane began. She noticed Ranma getting ready to respond but the sound didn't quite reach his lips so she continued. "However the only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I wasn't able to stop any of it. I'm a martial artist too, but I didn't defeat Toma, or Taro, or even Shampoo. For a while I just let it go, but I can't now. I am going to inherit the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, I am it's sole heir, whether I marry you or not." The last statement made Akane blush, but she had to say it. Ranma seemed quite, so she continued.
"I think that the last two years have taught me one thing above all else. I need more training. I need to see the world and learn more than what my father has taught me. The Anything Goes School is depending on me. I believe in it and I don't want to let myself down. My honor needs this..." Ranma didn't know much about feelings, but Akane knew he understood honor. She felt like the statement was a little calculating, maybe below the belt, but Ranma was nodding his head and he hadn't said anything yet. Maybe just maybe she was getting through. "I am leaving tomorrow. I am going to find that missing piece of my training. I just can't return until I do. I know that you understand...Please Ranma...Say you understand."
*********************
Ranma understood alright. Ranma understood that Akane was going out into the wilds of Japan and invariably going to get herself killed. He wanted to say that she was insane. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't leave...Why?...Because...Because...He would eventually think of something beside himself. Some other reason that wouldn't be so damn embarrassing. "I understand Akane..."
"Oh Ranma..."Akane whispered. He cast a sidelong glance at Akane.
"I understand that you can't cook, so you'll starve to death. You can't swim, so you'll drown. When you're sick ya' don't know how ta' take care of yourself. On the other hand you're built like a brick and you're dumb as an ox so maybe it'll take you longer to realize you're in trouble. Have fun Akane. Don't worry about us we'll come see you in the hospital or somethin' alright!" He made little waving gestures and smiled a big toothy grin. Ranma knew he was laying it on thick, but maybe this would buy him some time. He saw it coming. It came out of nowhere, but he always knew it was there. Maybe it was his advanced sense of danger. He could have blocked it, but he always knew when he deserved it most. This was one of those times.
"RAAAANMAAA!" she swung the hammer and it collided with his head.
He also knew where he was headed. Ranma had come to the conclusion long ago that cursed people also attracted water like the plague. What Ranma, now Ranma-chan, didn't expect was the reaction that Akane would have to his little tirade, she was on her way out the door when Ranma sputtered to life again. "Awwww geez...Akane wait up!" Ranma jumped into the second story window and landed on something big and furry. "Pop get outa' my way!" Ranma-chan ran around the room grabbing everything she needed for a training journey and was just packing the kettle when a sign connected with her head. The abused panda looked mad.
"What's the big idea?!? Show some respect to your father!" The sign said. The panda then looked at his son/daughter and noticed the pack "Are we going somewhere?" was scrawled on the new sign.
"Nope." Ranma kicked the panda into the awaiting pond, shouldered his pack, and ran downstairs grabbing the ever-ready kettle off the stove splashing her/himself and running from the dojo at top speed. Akane wasn't fast but she had a good lead, and he didn't want her getting away. "How can I protect ya' if you just keep running off...Stupid tomboy. If you get hurt..." Ranma didn't finish the thought a long line of unfinished thoughts of late. He couldn't. So he thought something else. //Once a year, if I can just get her to run away from home only once a year.//
***************
Nabiki hung up the earphones. Sure, she expected that Akane would one day go completely insane. At first it was because of Kuno-baby, she thought that one day one of the boys at school would beat her and she would just go over the edge. Then, well then Ranma moved in. In one moment the situation at school went from strange to almost welcome or normal. Princes, martial artists, old hags with the ability to make waterspouts and magical potions these were all a part of daily life now. All of these things were strange, but very profitable. Nabiki stared down at her abacus and smiled. Yes, profits had gone way up since Ranma arrived. It was not a coincidence either.
Nabiki often found herself openly using her bequeathed brother-in-law in many a scheme. His girl side was a moneymaking commodity, although for her sisters' sake she hoped that one day he would rid himself of the girl-side. //It's just too strange.// She thought to herself. The Tendo girl then decided to open the letter that was quickly shoved under the door of her room. The lines of the letter were blurry to her eyes, mostly because the girl had gotten no sleep that evening. Spying on her sister was tiring work, earlier she even thought about having a talk with her. Akane was despondent. Not like the normal anger, she wasn't talking to anyone. Usually her wrath was saved for Ranma alone, but not today. That made Nabiki worry. Akane was always angry about something, but recently her anger was not as fiery or quick to burn. She was suffering over something, keeping the sadness inside. Nabiki didn't think of herself as an expert on feelings but she knew when her sister was acting strange. Nabiki also knew a lot about keeping emotion suppressed. She stared at the letter willing her eyes to focus so she could read.
"Dear Nabiki,
I have gone on a training journey. I decided to give you the letter because you are the only one in the family that is reasonable when it comes to my training. I trust you will give the message to father in a calm and rational manner. Today my status as a true martial artist becomes a reality. I will not return to the Tendo Dojo until my mastery is that of a disciplined and strong teacher. I intend to backpack across Japan with nothing but my wits to keep me safe. I will return. Don't worry about me. Thanks again for the cash advance.
Love,
Akane"
"Good lord" said Nabiki. Nabiki didn't understand this training journey crap. "She's finally gone insane. I hope Ranma catches up to her quick, cause' if Akane is surviving by her wits alone she won't be alive very long." Now only one question remained. "How on earth do I tell Daddy." She stood up. "Well no time like the present." Nabiki only noticed a grousing damp panda standing in the early rays of the sun as she was turning to leave. She wondered mildly what had been said before Ranma left, signs didn't speak and Ranma didn't say much because she/he was in a hurry. She decided she would have a little fun before the house exploded with a new crisis. Nabiki opened her window, and turned on her light so that Genma could see her better. "Hey Mr. Saotome, taking an early morning dip?" The panda growled a response and then realized that he didn't have the correct vocal chords and held up a waterlogged sign. "Ah, Good Morning Nabiki, nothing like an early morning constitutional." She snickered. "Good morning. Uncle." The last statement was dry, but she found it hard not to crack a smile. She heard Kasumi's door open. Breakfast would be ready soon, she better tell daddy now so that he wouldn't cry all over the food. "Hey Daddy!"
***********
Nerima was waking all around Akane. She was finding a bit of peace comforting, but she was worried that eventually solitude would wear upon her need for company. She held two envelopes in her hand but she would deliver them at one location. Eventually the second letter would get to the intended individual. Of course one envelope was to Yuka and Sayori. She had written them each a personal note and put them together. Akane figured that the two would be together at least once today. The other envelope was addressed to Ranma. Although their conversation had gone really badly, she didn't doubt that Ranma would be upset if she didn't at least explain better. If she'd been able to contain her anger earlier she would have told him then. Akane had asked Yuka to deliver Ranma's letter herself. Yuka had never let her down before, and she believed in her now. Akane was simply going to drop the letter in the mail slot when Yuka walked out of her house.
"Hey Akane!" Akane hadn't expected to be confronted with her friend this early in the morning. Yuka was a late sleeper, especially when she didn't have to attend school.
"Your father just called looking for you. I could hardly make out what he was saying but he wanted to know if I'd seen you today." Akane tried to smile but her face wanted to crack. They were already looking for her. Ranma must have told them she was gone. She could only imagine him sitting there smugly refusing to go after her. Pointing out that he'd chased her enough. Akane's fist clenched and unclenched a rock that she'd picked up earlier noticing that it had become dust and sand in her palm. Yuka was staring at her friend. She was expecting a reply. "I'm sorry Yuka what did you say?"
"I said, should I call and tell them you're here? Or should I just do what I think'll be best and let you go?" Yuka was a smart girl, she had realized that the pack on Akane's back was really heavily laden with equipment.
"Thank you Yuka. I appreciate it." Akane smiled. Yuka was a good friend.
"How about if Ranma comes by..." Akane stood there for a second. She considered it.
"Tell Ranma that I was here...but don't tell him which way I went." Yuka smiled at her friend. Akane wasn't hiding from him and she seemed to appreciate that. Yuka stared at Akane's hand and the letters that were obviously for her care.
"Those meant for me?" Yuka giggled. Akane guessed because of the death grip in which she held the letters.
"Yes. Sorry Yuka. I'm going to miss you a lot." She hugged her friend. She tried to remember a time Yuka wasn't in her life but found the memories hard to locate. "Give Sayori a hug for me. Good bye Yuka." Her friend was now holding the letters against her. Was she crying? Akane tried to smile but found her lips wouldn't respond. She felt a tear spill down her cheek.
"Should I give Ranma a hug for you too?" Yuka was now grinning impishly.
"No!" Akane felt her cheeks get hot. "Um, I mean, if you want to, I mean. Forget it." Akane was a little flustered and she knew that it was showing. "Whatever you think is appropriate. You can do me a favor though. Make sure that Ukyo doesn't try anything while I'm gone ok? That goes for Shampoo too. Without me here who knows what kind of trouble Ranma'll get himself into." Yuka was laughing again. That was good, it would make leaving a little easier.
"Oh, Akane. You know that Ranma will get into trouble whether you are here or not. But I'll still try my best to remind him you still exist. Like I think he could ever forget considering how much he's in love with you." Yuka smiled as Akane gaped at her, but Akane recovered quickly. She gave her a big smile.
"Bye Yuka!" Akane ran away from her friend's house not looking back.
******************
Yuka watched her friend go. "Good luck Akane!" Yuka shouted. Akane had become so strong. She remembered when Akane would have just gone home when her father called. Akane was going out on her own. Yuka wondered how long it would be before she would venture out on her own. She stared at the beautiful pinking sky and realized that it would be a wonderful day. "Akane, the sun is shining on your decision." Yuka tried to imagine her life without Akane. "It's going to be a dull year." She said to no one. Out of the corner of her eye Yuka detected a blur. Being Akane's friend was good eye training. The blur ran in front of her house. She thought she saw a smile with a hand held toward her...V...for victory. "Good morning Ranma!" she called. "Want your letter?" Yuka blinked when she realized it was already gone. "You two have fun now." Yuka opened the door with a smile and felt herself running for the phone, time to call Sayori.
******************
Ranma had caught up to Akane after about one hour. It would have been sooner but he had to think about what Akane would do. Ranma wasn't always good about getting in the mind of his fiancée. He went to the wrong friend's house and arrived at Yuka's a little after Akane had left. Yuka was standing outside and Ranma finally knew he was on the right track. He saw a letter with his name on it, ran forward, and grabbed it before the girl could even say hi. Ranma loved to do things like this, it was the highlight of being a martial artist. He could never imagine being slow, clumsy, or unbalanced. His ki was in harmony with the rest of his body. He had been a martial artist since before he could remember. Genma had seen to that. He had to give up a few things in his life, but he was never the type to whine about life, so he'd tried to make the best of an otherwise bad situation.
Akane was now in view. So the question he'd avoided until now came into Ranma's mind. //Should I make her turn back?// Ranma realized that Akane had been really miserable lately. Ranma noted to himself that if he had noticed others must have. //I'd never pick up on something like that unless it was real obvious.// Ranma acknowledged, he wasn't really good at picking out peoples feelings. Akane is a hard person to read anyway, Ranma knew. She hid behind violence a lot. It was easy. Ranma did it himself on occasions and he always knew when he did it. //A weakness? No.// Ranma thought this over. //Not a weakness. Just easier sometimes, I think I get that stuff from Pop. He doesn't deal with stuff either.// Ranma realized that he was a lot like his father sometimes. The thought made him shudder.
Ranma looked at Akane. The sun had risen low over the roofs of Nerima and it seemed to make her glow like some kind of angel. //Nope. I'm gonna' follow her for a while. Figure out where she's headed and call the Tendo's. I'll tell them that Me and Akane are together. That'll make her dad stop cryin'. Keep him and Pop drunk for a while. I'll just keep them posted. Akane deserves this. Maybe it'll be fun.// Ranma realized that he hadn't been on a training journey in a while. Maybe this is what he needed, maybe it would make the dreams go away. Jusendo was haunting his mind awake and asleep. This might be precisely what the doctor ordered.
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"WHY???" Soun was crying and he saw that his daughter was giving him a stern and uninterested look.
"How should I know, daddy, she just did, ok?"
Nabiki could be so cold sometimes. A father could be saddened by such a lack of empathy in a daughter. //So unlike her mother.// This line of thought only made Soun cry harder. Soun had asked the middle daughter to produce the letter in question but she sternly refused, she said that it was worth a lot to her. Soun realized that a trinket of ones siblings' departure would be valuable to them so he didn't prod Nabiki any further. "It's so good to see you holding your sister's last wishes in such a protective manner. It makes me so proud!" Soun was in fact very proud of his middle daughter. She was very intelligent, and thorough in thought. She could turn any situation her way. Absently he wondered if she was manipulating him now. That was not possible however. Nabiki would never do something to hurt her one and only Daddy. "Oh Akane." He wailed again. His daughter rolled her eyes.
"Daddy, she isn't dead. She went on a training mission. How do you expect her to inherit the dojo if she doesn't train."
Soun thought about this for a moment and his tears abated. He then decided his next course of action was to cut Akane off before she could get too far. Soun tried not to sob as he called Akane's friends. Neither girl knew anything about where Akane was headed. Soun replaced the receiver to the phone and stared up at Nabiki. "Anything could happen to her alone in the wilderness...Oh my BABY GIRL!" Tears flowed freely again as a panda entered the room.
"Growf?" Soun stared at his friend-turned- Panda.
"Akane! Oh, Akane!" Soun watched Nabiki turn to the damp panda.
"Akane has run off Uncle." His middle daughter was taking this too well.
"Oh my!" Kasumi stepped into the room. His eldest daughter wore a look of concern. Soun realized that he might have been a little too loud. "Akane wasn't in her room, when I went to call her for breakfast...I guess that's why." His oldest daughter was taking this too well.
"RANMA!" Soun looked around the room to find the obvious reason for his daughter's latest trip. "Where are you?" Soun's head began to look like an inflated oni.
"DADDY! That's what I was trying to tell you!" Nabiki was staring at him. He thought he had missed a few things she said while he was crying but he got so emotional sometimes. "Ranma is with Akane." Soun broke down into new tears. Tears of joy.
"Oh MY LITTLE GIRL!" Soun and the panda embraced. "Come on Genma let's go get a drink!"
The panda held up a sign. "You're buying, right?" Soun was too happy to point out it was Genma's turn.
"But father isn't it a little early?" Kasumi had said this. Soun decided not to answer the question and instead cried more and left his room to wait for Genma. Today, they would celebrate the joining of their dojos.
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"Here is the first step!" Akane was staring at the road and the train station. She didn't know which to take so she stood and waffled. Akane imagined that Ranma would have yelled at her by now if he had been there. She almost thought she heard him curse, but she knew that it would be a few days before Ranma caught up. "Why do I care?" She mused to herself. //He's not here now, besides saying stuff like that makes me sound like I want him with me. Do I?// Akane got more frustrated. She started to walk down the road. It led past a field, and Akane decided that she would walk through the field to the tree line and follow a path as soon as she found one.
She looked behind her at the way she came. Nerima was beginning to look like a far away dot on the horizon. Out here she could see for miles. There was no where to hide. Ranma hadn't followed her. //Why should he? The only reason he goes after me is because they kick him out of the house if he doesn't. Am I disappointed?// Akane decided to let the question go. She started to concentrate on her breath. She regulated it, and then picked the speed of her air going in and out. Breathing was very important to one's ki. Air had to reach every part of ones body. Blood is cleaned by the air we take in, and without air we die. Akane knew this, but she had done very little with her breathing in years. Each breath was slowly measured. She took in air and let her lungs burn with expectance to let the air out, then she deprived them of air. Her lungs felt like a well-stoked fire.
Akane returned to a normal breathing pattern but was acutely aware of each breath. Then she took notice of how she was breathing, not shallow breaths that filled only the top of the lungs, but deep breaths found at the bottom of her diaphragm. She remembered that her father had taught her all of these exercises early in her training.
"The first things you learn are sometimes the least practiced" Akane mused. She looked at the tree line and saw what she had been looking for. "A trail!" Akane stated happily. She walked toward the trees and entered the forest, but ventured a look back at Nerima. One last look. She stood tall and bowed at the waist. "When I return I will bring honor to my family." Akane tried to keep a snapshot in her head of how the day looked. The field had a sort of shining to it in the mid-afternoon light. "Where is Furinkan High School?" Akane giggled. She hoped that she saw Ryoga while she was out here. Then again what were the chances that she would run into anyone out here? She turned from her home and walked into the darkness of the forest.
Akane would travel fifteen minutes before the deer path was no longer beaten out ending in a thorn bush. "Oh yeah...This is the life" Akane frowned as she pulled the long thorny vine away from her clothes and out of her forearm.
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Ranma cursed again under his breath. Why was she just standing there like an idiot? It looked like she was going to go forward, then she stopped. "Urgh!" he found himself beginning to curse but Akane looked in his direction. If she saw him now the cool part of this training journey would be over. Ranma's game of avoid-the-Akane was beginning to just really get fun, and he had no intentions of spoiling it so early in the game. //Walk for it Akane! It'll be more work, and that's what you're out here for.// Ranma caught himself thinking. Akane looked like she was suddenly really angry about something and started to walk down the road.
"YES!" At Akane's final decision Ranma bounded down to the train station and stuck his phone card into the slot. "Hey Kasumi...Yeah, I know...Well it was kind of a last minute decision. NO! Sorry...Didn't mean to yell. No Kasumi we aren't eloping. Akane and me...Yeah I...Are going on a long training journey." Kasumi was the one he really wanted to talk to. Nabiki could be so mercenary and he didn't think that he could really fool her. That's when the voice changed...Oh no!
"Ranma. Hey. Nabiki." Ranma felt his stomach curdle. "Do me a favor and keep my little sister safe ok? By the way I know the truth and I lied for you so I am going to put it on your tab with a five percent interest for every month you are gone ok?" She didn't wait for Ranma to say anything she had handed the phone back to Kasumi.
"Yeah...Ok Kasumi. Tell anyone that comes by that I'm on a training journey...Well yeah except them. I don't want that kind of trouble popping up. Talk to you soon! Bye Kasumi!" Ranma hung up the phone. "That...That... Nabiki!" He yelled at the pay phone. People were walking around him like he was insane, so Ranma decided that now was a good time to stop disturbing the wa and start the game again.
"Here we go." Ranma picked up speed and felt his legs pumping under him. His pack was just heavy enough to cause a marginal loss of speed, but nothing critical. By his own reckoning he could still beat Ryoga with this thing on, so it wouldn't be a big deal. He looked at the road where Akane had apparently gone into the field. //Well gee Akane don't cover your tracks at all do ya'?// Ranma looked at a green field that had a part straight down the center and weaved a bit in . Ranma looked at the road heading into the tunnel, then looked toward the field. He knew she was out there somewhere, but an open field would end the game and Ranma figured this was the perfect stealth exercise. Akane would be edgy and notice him if he made the slightest noise. She had proved this when she looked for him at the train station. Ranma entered the forest and jumped into the trees. "Tree stealth. I feel like a ninja from one of those anime movies." Ranma jumped lightly from branch to branch. Each jump was timed and measured. If Ranma guessed wrong he would fall.
Training with Akane was fun...Especially when she didn't know he was there. It wasn't long before he saw her. She seemed to be concentrating hard on something. Probably breathing techniques, he thought. She doesn't think about stuff like that enough, but then group fighters usually don't. Akane could afford to be sloppy against multiple foes as long as they didn't have any central thought. Group mentality is messy and doesn't learn from its mistakes. Akane used that to her advantage all the time when she fought. She was coming toward him now. She had seen the path in the forest. She was looking homeward and Ranma doubted her resolve for a second. "Go ahead Akane. You can do it." Ranma felt like a cheerleader. He knew that only she could make the decision to go forward. Akane was mumbling something in the direction of home...He made out the word honor. He watched as she went into the woods and smiled, he wondered how long it would take for Akane to realize she was on an eventually terminating deer path.
