Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, Rumiko Takahashi does. I'm just borrowing the characters. So…tra la la, tra la la, tra la la la la la.
Warning: The real angst starts here, kids. If'n you be the type of folk to dislike angst, then you'd best skedaddle, because it only gets worse from here on in. Lots worse. As in "sweet merciful Jeebus, that's durn depressing and the like worse." Ok?
Now lesson number one in homicide
Is emotional murder's no crime
You come around here
You'd better bring a witness
Everyone in here's on the guest list
When you're gone you won't be missed
Keep one eye open when you kiss…
~The Wallflowers, "Witness"
Within her room, Akane sat on her bed, clutching her favorite pillow and crying.
To think…all this time, Ryoga had been P-chan! And neither he nor Ranma had ever told her!
Akane couldn't remember being this angry in a long time. She knew Ranma wasn't always the biggest stickler to the truth, but Ryoga had always seemed so honest! But how could he have kept such a secret from her? She'd always considered him to be one of her few good friends…but was this all she'd meant to him all along? Had he only wanted to use her, to trick her with his curse so he could sleep in her bed?
Akane didn't want to believe it. She wanted to scream at him, to hit him, to demand why, to ask him for reasons that would contradict the horrible ones running through her own mind…
But the anger wasn't even the worst thing about it. It hurt more than anything. She'd loved her little P-chan, loved Ryoga as her friend, maybe even loved Ranma in some way she wasn't sure of. And then, to find out that she'd been lied to all along…
How could it be? Thoughts of the Lost Boy surfaced in her mind, Ryoga, defending her from Ranma's teasing; Ryoga, coming to help rescue her from people like Kirin and Toma; Ryoga, diving in front of her to protect her from Miss Hinako's draining attack; Ryoga, helping her train for the rhythmic gymnastics tournament and the fight with her 'sisters'; Ryoga, trying to not only eat her cooking but complimenting her for it as well; Ryoga, who'd always listened, who'd always been so generous and kind to her…
It just didn't make sense.
Akane paused, lifting her head from the pillow.
That was it. It just didn't make sense.
"Ohh…" she breathed, realization dawning on her. The dates, the way he stood up for her, the way he always tried to spare her feelings, the things he brought her home sometimes…and the sudden change once the amnesia had set in.
Had she been so blind to it all along?
And how could she have brushed it all off without a single thought?
Akane rubbed at her eyes. Things had just become so much more complicated...
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of some sort of commotion in the yard. Discarding her pillow, Akane went to look out her window.
"Shampoo?"
*
"Ni hao!"
Ranma felt his patience wearing thin as he tried to pry Shampoo's arms from around his neck.
"Look, Shampoo, I really don't got time for this now-"
Shampoo took a step back and looked at him with a crafty gleam in her eyes that Ranma knew meant trouble. "Ranma make time," she sing-songed.
The pigtailed boy scowled at her warily. "Now what're you up to?"
Shampoo smiled in a way that managed to make her look dangerous and cute at the same time. "Say you go on date with Shampoo."
"Why would I do that?" Ranma retorted.
"Because," said the violet-headed Amazon smugly, "Shampoo have something that make Ryoga remember everything."
Ranma's eyes widened. "Wh-what?" he asked incredulously.
Shampoo pulled out the vial and held it up for him to see. "You know what this one is? Is ancient Amazon cure for amnesia. All Shampoo have do is throw powder at Directionless Boy." She sent a pointed look in Ryoga's direction. "Ranma want for Ryoga to remember, yes? Should Shampoo give to Ryoga now?"
"No!" Ranma hissed furiously.
"Hey, Ranma-honey!"
"Oh, perfect," the pigtailed boy growled as Ukyo came running across the street. She leapt up onto the wall surrounding the yard, her eyes narrowing when she saw Shampoo.
"Ukyo, what're you doin' here?" Ranma asked.
"What's that hussy doing here?" Ukyo asked.
"Spatula Girl be quiet!" Shampoo snapped. "Ranma, say you date Shampoo, or else!"
"Not doin' that either!" Ranma said. He swiped at the vial, and Shampoo leapt backwards to land atop the wall. "Give me that!" he shouted, jumping up after her.
"Ranma? What's going on?" Ryoga asked, staring up at the two facing off above him.
Shampoo pulled the stopper from the vial. "Ryoga, come here. Shampoo have special present…"
"Shampoo," Ranma warned, "give me that, right now!"
"Ranchan, what is that?"
Shampoo tittered and danced back a step along the wall, closer to where the Lost Boy was standing. "Not unless you say you date Shampoo," she taunted.
"Ranma!" Akane came running out into the yard, followed by her sisters, her father, and Genma; all curious to see what the ruckus was all about.
"Oh my. I didn't realize we had company," Kasumi said.
"Ranma, why are Shampoo and Ukyo here?" Akane asked.
"Shampoo! Shampoo!"
Ranma turned towards the sound of the call and saw Mousse charging across the yard, with Cologne not far behind. "Just what I need," he muttered to himself. Why did everyone pick the worst of times to show up?
"W-wait! Shampoo, don't use that powder! If you get any of that on him, Ryoga will remember everything!" Mousse yelled.
"What?" Ukyo cried, her voice a hybrid of alarm and disbelief.
Shampoo stamped her foot down in annoyance, causing a small puff of powder to drift up from the vial's opening. "Stupid Mousse! Go away before you mess up everything!"
"Shampoo, watch it with that stuff!" Ranma shouted.
The Amazon shot him an exasperated look. "No is real potion for real! Is fake! Real one at Cat Café, Shampoo no risk bringing it here." She turned towards Ryoga, raising the vial over her head and preparing to toss it towards him. "See, this one only flour."
"No! Shampoo, I switched the vials! That's the real one!" Mousse cried.
The warning was an instant too late.
"Aiyah!" Shampoo shrieked. She lunged, trying to grab the vial that had just left her hand as it arced away from her, the glass sparkling merrily in the afternoon sun.
Ranma dove after it. Ukyo dove after it. Shampoo dove after it.
And missed it as all three collided with each other in midair, then crashed to the ground in a heap.
The vial flew through the air, end over end, spewing the powder as it went. It finally landed at Ryoga's feet, where it shattered into a dozen little pieces, the remainder of its contents bursting upwards in a cloud.
"No," Ranma gasped in dismay. He watched as the powder surrounded the Lost Boy completely, shrouding him in a haze of white.
Within it, Ryoga closed his eyes, choking as he tried to wave the powder away from his face. He went down on his knees, half-dazed, trying to breathe.
"Ryoga, hold breath!" Shampoo cried belatedly.
Ranma and the others shoved themselves to their feet as the dust began to settle, horror stamped across their features. Ryoga knelt coughing in the midst of it, his hands raised to his head. A strange buzzing noise began to sound in his ears.
"Ryoga-honey?" Ukyo's voice rang out, heavy with concern.
What's happening to me? Ryoga wondered dimly. His thoughts seemed to be somehow detached from his body, and the voices of those around him grew faint. The buzzing grew louder, pulsing behind his eyes and down his throat. A hot tearing sensation filled him…
He started to open his mouth, to ask someone for help, but nothing came out.
Then it all came rushing back.
The world around him blurred and vanished as a thousand images flew through his mind in a wild swirl of color and sound, screaming through his senses in an unstoppable torrent. Places and people, things that happened, things that he'd done and that had been done to him; his parents, faceless strangers, the different cities, home, woods and mountains and buildings, training and techniques, fights and wins and losses, anger, laughter, loneliness, smiles, tears, his, theirs, all of it…all the broken dreams and forgotten promises, the wasted chances and shattered hopes…it was as though somewhere inside, a vast door had been opened, freeing everything within from the good to the impossibly terrible, allowing it to rage through him like a violent maelstrom, his entire life crushed into a single, brief moment…
Ryoga jerked his head up with a gasp as it stopped short, the door within his mind abruptly slamming shut. His vision cleared, returning the mundane view of his hands, which he'd planted on the wind-brushed grass to support him. He blinked in shock, trying to assimilate what had just happened to him.
It was so quiet…
Ryoga sensed those around him and turned. All eyes were on him—Cologne and Mousse, both standing near the pond, Shampoo and Ukyo a few feet away from him, Kasumi standing with her hands clasped in front of her on the porch, Nabiki and their father beside her, then Genma in his panda form…
And Akane.
All were wide-eyed, expressions full of expectancy, concern, or both.
Ryoga felt something go chill within him. A numbing cold began to spread its way throughout his body, turning it to ice as one particular thought surfaced from the newly-made pool of memories in his mind.
Akane…Akane knew…
Somewhere near his heart, the ice began to break, falling in cold, tiny pieces.
She knew.
And no one…no one had even tried to tell him…
"Were we…friends?"
"Sure. The best…"
Ryoga raised his eyes to the young man standing before him.
Ranma stared at him silently, his face devoid of expression but for the tinge of troubled anticipation that shaded his knowing blue eyes. A sinking feeling settled in his chest as he watched the Lost Boy's shoulders begin to tremble.
"You…you lied to me!" Ryoga cried, his voice tearing from his throat. Before Ranma could even blink, Ryoga had launched himself towards him, his fists a blur. The blue-eyed martial artist took a step back, dodging and bringing his arms up to block in order to avoid the repeated and rapid lunges. He tried to think of something reasonable to say, or to at least find an opening; but Ryoga was suddenly precise in his fury, anger radiating from him in heated black waves, his attack leaving no room for Ranma to gain an advantage.
"Ryoga, wait…" Ranma managed, ducking his head to the side as the bandana'd boy's fist flew past the side of his face. He was losing ground, unable to avoid being hit without moving back.
"How could you?!" Ryoga screamed, slamming his fist into Ranma's crossed forearms and causing the pigtailed boy to stagger. "You bastard!"
"Wait," Ranma gasped, dodging another ki-charged jab. He responded with a short stream of lightning-fast punches aimed at the bandana'd boy's chest, but Ryoga shifted to lead with his shoulder and the few that hit landed on his arm instead. Ryoga all but ignored it.
"It's not…what you think…" Ranma's breath was forced out of him as a glancing blow struck his side, and another collided with his shoulder. He could feel Ryoga's aura shifting like the air before a storm, the anger darkening into despair. "Ryoga, stop!"
"Go to hell!" the Lost Boy shouted. He punctuated the last word with a sharp kick that caught Ranma in his midsection, the force of it sending him sprawling onto the ground. Ranma looked up to see Ryoga bring his hands together in front of him as a faint blue glow formed between them.
There wasn't time to move anywhere that would make a difference. A Shi-shi Hokodan at this range was going to hurt like hell; but then again, Ranma thought, maybe he deserved it.
He waited for the searing blast to slam into him, to hear the roar of displaced ki hurtling past at any instant…
But it didn't happen.
Ranma glanced up in surprise. Instead of letting the attack loose, Ryoga was just standing there, a small sphere of ki swirling between his trembling hands. Crystalline tears were slipping down his face, falling from wounded dark eyes; eyes that shone with betrayal and terrible hurt.
Somewhere in the back of Ranma's mind, he realized that this was worse than being hit by a Shi-shi Hokodan.
A moment later, Ryoga's hands fell, the ball of ki dissipating into blue-white wisps that quickly faded.
"I hate you."
Then he turned and fled.
"Ryoga…" Ranma breathed. He remained where he was on the soft grass, still half-dazed from the entire incident. Then he leapt to his feet and ran to the wall. "Ryoga!"
But the Lost Boy was already nowhere in sight.
"Damn," Ranma muttered. Then, feeling the eyes upon him, he turned around to face them. No one had moved, but their expressions had changed. Shampoo appeared somewhat deflated, her bright demeanor uncharacteristically abashed. Ukyo looked at him with unbridled annoyance that was quickly inching towards anger, and maybe even a touch of disgust. Akane's face was stamped with consternation. His father simply held up a sign with an exclamation point scrawled on it. Soun was wide-eyed, but seemed otherwise blank. Nabiki stared at him rigidly but uncertainly, and Kasumi's mouth was set in a small line that indicated she was as close to disapproval as she could get. Mousse appeared unsure whether to be chagrined or aggravated, but scowled nonetheless.
Ranma wanted to give them some sort of explanation, some sort of vindication, but realized he didn't really have one.
"Oh, Ranma," Cologne sighed, finally breaking the silence. "What have you gone and done now?"
Author's Notes: If anyone's wondering why stuff is so spaced-out and odd looking, it's just because FF.net hates me and insists on displaying everything I upload as totally wonky regardless of what I do to the original document, or which format I try to upload it in. So, please forgive the craptacular 3-inch spaces between lines and whatnot. And if there are any angst/darkness-haters still present, I'll warn ye all again: It. Only. Gets. Worse. From. Here. Note that the genre is DRAMA/ANGST. That's right, it's DRAMA/ANGST. Third time's a charm: DRAMA/ANGST. That means it's gonna be dark. It's gonna be depressing. The characters are going to experience mental anguish and emotional pain. Now that this has been thoroughly hammered into everyone's skulls, any flames that contain whining or complaining or general bitchery about this story being too dark or too depressing will be giggled at and possibly posted in other places for more people to giggle at. Because you've been warned. That this story is DRAMA/ANGST. Multiple times. Enough times so that as long as you have an IQ bigger than your shoe-size, you should understand. That this is DRAMA/ANGST.
And besides all that…while I'm very glad to see that other people seem to be enjoying this (^ ^), the real reason I've started posting it here is because a friend of mine is in China and can't access my webpage, but would like to reread it. So…la. XD