**This is slightly revised at the end. somehow part of the story went
missing when I posted the story. sorry! The future chapters will make more
sense with the revision!
Btw ~*..* means thinking . and anonymous reviewers are now permitted! Thanx
Gohansfav1 for letting me know that anonymous reviewers couldn't review. I
didn't even realize that option was "on". thanx and enjoy!
*Part 2*
"Ranma! We're going to be late again!" yelled Akane as she slipped on her shoes. "Honestly, you'd think we'd be early for once. After all, he's had almost two years to adjust!" she muttered under her breath, quickly glancing at her watch. She sighed with impatience. her mind screamed as she scanned the room. Irritated, her fists curled up into a ball until abruptly, a loud crash echoed from the living room. *THUD*
"POPS! Leave me alone already! You ate my radish yesterday! I hafta get to school!" Suddenly, Ranma appeared from the room and rapidly ran toward the very annoyed and surprised Akane. "Com'on, Akane!" he blurted out as he seized her wrist and yanked her out of the house. "See ya, Pops!" he yelled behind him. Halfway to school, Akane's anger finally caught up with her as she felt the painful strain on her wrist.
"Ranma! RANMA!!! WAIT!!" Ranma skidded to a stop and turned to Akane, looking at her with blank confusion. Akane jerked her hand out of his grasp and rubbed the reddened area gently as she angrily glared at him.
"What were you trying to do, wrench my arm out?" she accused in a low tone. Surprised by the absence of her usual mallet or fist-in-face routine, he laughed nervously.
"Sorry, Akane. 'Guess I was in too much of a hurry to get away from Pops." Akane's anger quickly vanished by the shock of the apology. After a few moments of looking at her companion blankly, her face melted into a warm, understanding smile.
"It's okay. I guess I was just taken by surprise when we flew out of the house," Akane forgave him. Ranma watched the sunlight shine on his fiancee's face, glittering tenderly on her stunning smile as his heart began to race harder and harder by the second. He finally snapped back into reality when he felt like his chest would burst open from his pumping heart.
"We. uh. we'd better get to school," he finally manage to verbalize.
"Yeah," Akane agreed, still smiling. She wasn't quite used to Ranma's change from "big-macho martial artist" to "Akane's close friend and companion", but she was enjoying it very much. They strolled quietly for a moment, side by side, something else Akane needed to adjust to, but enjoyed. Ranma broke the still silence.
"Race ya!" he challenged as he made a head start, sprinting off.
"HEY! No fair!" Akane laughed as she dashed after him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Besides the daily routine of sending Kuno to greet the clouds, the school day went by fairly uneventful. The fact that Ranma had refused to talk to neither Ukyo nor Shampoo since the disastrous wedding contributed to much of the peacefulness the two teenagers had been experiencing lately. Although it hurt Ranma to ignore them, he couldn't forgive them for their attempt to hurt Akane. He had nearly lost her once at Jusenkyo, and their pursuit to harm her angered him enough to consider their actions unforgivable. Besides, due to their success in postponing the wedding, Ranma and Akane's relationship had become virtually non-existent for weeks afterwards. Because of embarrassment and uncertainty that lingered torturously in their heads, they avoided each other after the incident, unable to face one another. Finally, one night, long after everyone had gone to bed, Akane had found Ranma sitting in the kitchen in the middle of the night, staring intensely into space with an expression of terror clearly written on his face. It had been the first time the nightmare that haunted often Ranma had occurred. From that night on, the two slowly managed to pick up the pieces of their shattered relationship and built it into a fragile but "healthier" relationship, each controlling their anger and thinking before speaking. Ranma had even decided to train Akane, mostly due to his fear of a Saffron and wedding incident de-ja-vu.
White, cotton-ball clouds danced in the baby-blue sky as it proudly flaunted the glittering golden ball of wondrous energy. The wind gently blew over the land, playfully tossing about Akane's blue-black hair as the two young students strolled home, side-by-side. Ranma stole quick glances at Akane, admiring her beauty as she walked in deep thought. A small smile began to make its way on his lips when a sudden, stomach-twisting feeling washed over him. A warning of danger. But it was not like his usual martial arts instincts; the feeling was much worse, almost sickening. Something was going to happen. Something awful. Ranma turned his eyes back to Akane, who was enjoying the picturesque scenery. Upon realizing how peaceful the day had been, including the pleasant leisurely walk he and Akane were enjoying, he shook off the thought of danger and leaned back into his arms he had placed behind his head. The two continued in silence until they passed "Ucchan's". Ranma subconsciously glanced at the restaurant then quickly looked away. Akane had observed Ranma's quick peek as she expressed a look of concern.
"Ranma," she said softly as she stopped walking. Startled by her sudden halt, Ranma turned to her blankly. Noticing her worried expression, he busted into bitter laughter.
"Its nothing, Akane. Don't worry so much," he reassured her, barely biting back the word "tomboy". Frustrated, Akane shot a cold glare at her fiancée, which quickly melted back into concern.
"Ranma, maybe it's time to forgive her. It's been months now and she truly seems sorry. And besides, she's your oldest fri."
"No," Ranma interrupted sternly, as he turned away from Akane. No matter how much he cared for Ucchan and wanted to remain her friend, his heart refused to let go of the memory of the disastrous wedding and her partake in it. Both Ukyo and Shampoo tried to commit the unforgivable: hurt Akane.
Akane began to tense up in irritated rage. "Stop being so stubborn! I know you want to be friends and I know you even ca.care for her. So put your stupid 'manly pride' aside and go talk to her!" Akane insisted, her voice unintentionally rising at Ranma.
"No I said!" Ranma faced Akane again, his face hardened with anger. "I can't, and it ain't because of my 'stupid' pride. Its because. because." he drifted off, unable to verbalize the words he held in his heart he mentally finished.
"Because?" Akane asked impatiently. Ranma sighed as his face softened sadly.
"I can't explain it now, but can we maybe, ya know, maybe talk about this some other time? Please? I don't feel like arguing now." Akane opened her month in protest as she caught something in his eyes. It was sincere and truly pleading. She hesitated a moment.
"Okay," she surrendered to the plea. With relief, Ranma sighed again. With the sickening feeling still lingering about in his mind, the last thing he wanted to think about was how he pushed his only childhood friend out of his life.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Like their school day, the evening flew by fairly unexciting. In fact, Ranma and Akane had not fought at all throughout the evening, although they came very close to a routine quarrel at one point.
Akane was reviewing over a new kata Ranma had taught her the night before when she noticed he was not paying attention to her efforts. Annoyed, she stopped to face Ranma. "How am I supposed to learn if my own teacher isn't paying attention to his student?" she scolded in her usual hands-on-hips mode. Ranma, startled by the voice, snapped back into reality. The edgy feeling, which had distracted him from the lesson, got the best of him as he turned to Akane, irritated.
"Well, I'd thought a tomboy like you would already know how to do this! Geez, Akane!" he retorted, immediately regretting the words, knowing it would strike a deep dent into Akane's pride. He flinched as he watched her flare up, a blue ki flowing around her. he silently cursed himself. "I'm sorry, Akane. I didn't mean to snap at ya, it's just. never mind," he finished, not willing to alarm Akane just because of a "feeling" as his facial expression became one of frustration and weariness. Akane suddenly became aware of Ranma's absence of energetic verbal abuse, which was replaced by a seemingly drained disturbance. Her blue glow of rage quickly vanished as she realized something was apparently on his mind.
"Ranma? Are. are you okay? If. if you want to talk about anything, you know I. I am h.here for you," her assurance dwindled down to a low whisper with bashful embarrassment as she knelt in front of him. Ranma looked up into his fiancee's sweet, mocha-colored eyes and for an everlasting minute he was content. A small smile slowly made it way onto his lips.
"I. I know," he answered softly, his heart still heavy from his edginess. "I. I just have this. bad feeling, like somethin's gonna happen or somethin." Seeing Akane's worried glint in her eyes became too much for him. "It's probably nothin," he quickly reassured her, smirking. "It just might be somthin' I ate," he taunted her, recalling the lunch she had made for him. Although her cooking had improved, thanks to her newly learned self-control and Kasumi's patience, Ranma still liked to tease her about it anyway, and she would always play along.
"Ranma! Why you baka!" she exclaimed half yelling, half laughing as she charged at him with the new kata she had been practicing.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"She is quite beautiful, your majesty. And with her skills and ability to learn quickly, she'll make an excellent queen. I think she's the best choice out of the three," a humble voice commented to the tall figure standing in front of the mirror exhibiting an image of a familiar person. The figure stepped closer to the glass surface and gently caressed it as the person on the opposite side of the mirror slept peacefully. A low light illuminated the figure's physical features. He had a strong built, handsome face, which displayed his pride and grace, and long white hair. He appeared to be young.
"Yes. She will be the One," he agreed softly as he gazed at the image with pleasure.
"Shall we call in the men?" asked the servant.
"No, not yet. Tell them to wait until tomorrow night. I shall prepare until then," the young man replied.
"Yes, Prince Toru."
"You may leave now, Miiye." Miiye, the servant, took a bow and promptly left. Toru continued to watch the sleeping figure. He had been searching three years for "the One" to fulfill the prophesy. With just over a week left to fulfill the prophesy, the prince was obliged to make a final decision on the female he believed to be "the One".
He turned and gazed at the ancient scroll which humbly lied on a glistening glass table.
He had search for his wife-to-be across the globe, narrowing it down to a Japanese chef, a Chinese Amazon, and her. She seemed to fit the prophesized queen's description from the ancient text. She was independent, kind, caring, and strong. But her apparent lack of martial arts skill compared to the others troubled him. He sensed she was different, special, but the lack of the fighting skills tipped the scales against her. Recently, however, through some training, her skills improved greatly in a short amount of time. Obviously, she had a hidden talent in the Arts that enabled her to pick up difficult routines quickly.
*Its more than hidden talent. It's the prophetic powers that prove she is the "One"* Toru reminded himself. *And soon we shall unite and rule the universe with her prophetically released awesome powers.* He smirked as he outlined the image of her cheek with a finger before he waved away the reflection.
*Part 2*
"Ranma! We're going to be late again!" yelled Akane as she slipped on her shoes. "Honestly, you'd think we'd be early for once. After all, he's had almost two years to adjust!" she muttered under her breath, quickly glancing at her watch. She sighed with impatience. her mind screamed as she scanned the room. Irritated, her fists curled up into a ball until abruptly, a loud crash echoed from the living room. *THUD*
"POPS! Leave me alone already! You ate my radish yesterday! I hafta get to school!" Suddenly, Ranma appeared from the room and rapidly ran toward the very annoyed and surprised Akane. "Com'on, Akane!" he blurted out as he seized her wrist and yanked her out of the house. "See ya, Pops!" he yelled behind him. Halfway to school, Akane's anger finally caught up with her as she felt the painful strain on her wrist.
"Ranma! RANMA!!! WAIT!!" Ranma skidded to a stop and turned to Akane, looking at her with blank confusion. Akane jerked her hand out of his grasp and rubbed the reddened area gently as she angrily glared at him.
"What were you trying to do, wrench my arm out?" she accused in a low tone. Surprised by the absence of her usual mallet or fist-in-face routine, he laughed nervously.
"Sorry, Akane. 'Guess I was in too much of a hurry to get away from Pops." Akane's anger quickly vanished by the shock of the apology. After a few moments of looking at her companion blankly, her face melted into a warm, understanding smile.
"It's okay. I guess I was just taken by surprise when we flew out of the house," Akane forgave him. Ranma watched the sunlight shine on his fiancee's face, glittering tenderly on her stunning smile as his heart began to race harder and harder by the second. He finally snapped back into reality when he felt like his chest would burst open from his pumping heart.
"We. uh. we'd better get to school," he finally manage to verbalize.
"Yeah," Akane agreed, still smiling. She wasn't quite used to Ranma's change from "big-macho martial artist" to "Akane's close friend and companion", but she was enjoying it very much. They strolled quietly for a moment, side by side, something else Akane needed to adjust to, but enjoyed. Ranma broke the still silence.
"Race ya!" he challenged as he made a head start, sprinting off.
"HEY! No fair!" Akane laughed as she dashed after him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Besides the daily routine of sending Kuno to greet the clouds, the school day went by fairly uneventful. The fact that Ranma had refused to talk to neither Ukyo nor Shampoo since the disastrous wedding contributed to much of the peacefulness the two teenagers had been experiencing lately. Although it hurt Ranma to ignore them, he couldn't forgive them for their attempt to hurt Akane. He had nearly lost her once at Jusenkyo, and their pursuit to harm her angered him enough to consider their actions unforgivable. Besides, due to their success in postponing the wedding, Ranma and Akane's relationship had become virtually non-existent for weeks afterwards. Because of embarrassment and uncertainty that lingered torturously in their heads, they avoided each other after the incident, unable to face one another. Finally, one night, long after everyone had gone to bed, Akane had found Ranma sitting in the kitchen in the middle of the night, staring intensely into space with an expression of terror clearly written on his face. It had been the first time the nightmare that haunted often Ranma had occurred. From that night on, the two slowly managed to pick up the pieces of their shattered relationship and built it into a fragile but "healthier" relationship, each controlling their anger and thinking before speaking. Ranma had even decided to train Akane, mostly due to his fear of a Saffron and wedding incident de-ja-vu.
White, cotton-ball clouds danced in the baby-blue sky as it proudly flaunted the glittering golden ball of wondrous energy. The wind gently blew over the land, playfully tossing about Akane's blue-black hair as the two young students strolled home, side-by-side. Ranma stole quick glances at Akane, admiring her beauty as she walked in deep thought. A small smile began to make its way on his lips when a sudden, stomach-twisting feeling washed over him. A warning of danger. But it was not like his usual martial arts instincts; the feeling was much worse, almost sickening. Something was going to happen. Something awful. Ranma turned his eyes back to Akane, who was enjoying the picturesque scenery. Upon realizing how peaceful the day had been, including the pleasant leisurely walk he and Akane were enjoying, he shook off the thought of danger and leaned back into his arms he had placed behind his head. The two continued in silence until they passed "Ucchan's". Ranma subconsciously glanced at the restaurant then quickly looked away. Akane had observed Ranma's quick peek as she expressed a look of concern.
"Ranma," she said softly as she stopped walking. Startled by her sudden halt, Ranma turned to her blankly. Noticing her worried expression, he busted into bitter laughter.
"Its nothing, Akane. Don't worry so much," he reassured her, barely biting back the word "tomboy". Frustrated, Akane shot a cold glare at her fiancée, which quickly melted back into concern.
"Ranma, maybe it's time to forgive her. It's been months now and she truly seems sorry. And besides, she's your oldest fri."
"No," Ranma interrupted sternly, as he turned away from Akane. No matter how much he cared for Ucchan and wanted to remain her friend, his heart refused to let go of the memory of the disastrous wedding and her partake in it. Both Ukyo and Shampoo tried to commit the unforgivable: hurt Akane.
Akane began to tense up in irritated rage. "Stop being so stubborn! I know you want to be friends and I know you even ca.care for her. So put your stupid 'manly pride' aside and go talk to her!" Akane insisted, her voice unintentionally rising at Ranma.
"No I said!" Ranma faced Akane again, his face hardened with anger. "I can't, and it ain't because of my 'stupid' pride. Its because. because." he drifted off, unable to verbalize the words he held in his heart he mentally finished.
"Because?" Akane asked impatiently. Ranma sighed as his face softened sadly.
"I can't explain it now, but can we maybe, ya know, maybe talk about this some other time? Please? I don't feel like arguing now." Akane opened her month in protest as she caught something in his eyes. It was sincere and truly pleading. She hesitated a moment.
"Okay," she surrendered to the plea. With relief, Ranma sighed again. With the sickening feeling still lingering about in his mind, the last thing he wanted to think about was how he pushed his only childhood friend out of his life.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Like their school day, the evening flew by fairly unexciting. In fact, Ranma and Akane had not fought at all throughout the evening, although they came very close to a routine quarrel at one point.
Akane was reviewing over a new kata Ranma had taught her the night before when she noticed he was not paying attention to her efforts. Annoyed, she stopped to face Ranma. "How am I supposed to learn if my own teacher isn't paying attention to his student?" she scolded in her usual hands-on-hips mode. Ranma, startled by the voice, snapped back into reality. The edgy feeling, which had distracted him from the lesson, got the best of him as he turned to Akane, irritated.
"Well, I'd thought a tomboy like you would already know how to do this! Geez, Akane!" he retorted, immediately regretting the words, knowing it would strike a deep dent into Akane's pride. He flinched as he watched her flare up, a blue ki flowing around her. he silently cursed himself. "I'm sorry, Akane. I didn't mean to snap at ya, it's just. never mind," he finished, not willing to alarm Akane just because of a "feeling" as his facial expression became one of frustration and weariness. Akane suddenly became aware of Ranma's absence of energetic verbal abuse, which was replaced by a seemingly drained disturbance. Her blue glow of rage quickly vanished as she realized something was apparently on his mind.
"Ranma? Are. are you okay? If. if you want to talk about anything, you know I. I am h.here for you," her assurance dwindled down to a low whisper with bashful embarrassment as she knelt in front of him. Ranma looked up into his fiancee's sweet, mocha-colored eyes and for an everlasting minute he was content. A small smile slowly made it way onto his lips.
"I. I know," he answered softly, his heart still heavy from his edginess. "I. I just have this. bad feeling, like somethin's gonna happen or somethin." Seeing Akane's worried glint in her eyes became too much for him. "It's probably nothin," he quickly reassured her, smirking. "It just might be somthin' I ate," he taunted her, recalling the lunch she had made for him. Although her cooking had improved, thanks to her newly learned self-control and Kasumi's patience, Ranma still liked to tease her about it anyway, and she would always play along.
"Ranma! Why you baka!" she exclaimed half yelling, half laughing as she charged at him with the new kata she had been practicing.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"She is quite beautiful, your majesty. And with her skills and ability to learn quickly, she'll make an excellent queen. I think she's the best choice out of the three," a humble voice commented to the tall figure standing in front of the mirror exhibiting an image of a familiar person. The figure stepped closer to the glass surface and gently caressed it as the person on the opposite side of the mirror slept peacefully. A low light illuminated the figure's physical features. He had a strong built, handsome face, which displayed his pride and grace, and long white hair. He appeared to be young.
"Yes. She will be the One," he agreed softly as he gazed at the image with pleasure.
"Shall we call in the men?" asked the servant.
"No, not yet. Tell them to wait until tomorrow night. I shall prepare until then," the young man replied.
"Yes, Prince Toru."
"You may leave now, Miiye." Miiye, the servant, took a bow and promptly left. Toru continued to watch the sleeping figure. He had been searching three years for "the One" to fulfill the prophesy. With just over a week left to fulfill the prophesy, the prince was obliged to make a final decision on the female he believed to be "the One".
He turned and gazed at the ancient scroll which humbly lied on a glistening glass table.
He had search for his wife-to-be across the globe, narrowing it down to a Japanese chef, a Chinese Amazon, and her. She seemed to fit the prophesized queen's description from the ancient text. She was independent, kind, caring, and strong. But her apparent lack of martial arts skill compared to the others troubled him. He sensed she was different, special, but the lack of the fighting skills tipped the scales against her. Recently, however, through some training, her skills improved greatly in a short amount of time. Obviously, she had a hidden talent in the Arts that enabled her to pick up difficult routines quickly.
*Its more than hidden talent. It's the prophetic powers that prove she is the "One"* Toru reminded himself. *And soon we shall unite and rule the universe with her prophetically released awesome powers.* He smirked as he outlined the image of her cheek with a finger before he waved away the reflection.