See You at the Show
Part III
By Kalio
***
Akane pulled out one of her favorite books, "Diary of an Angel with Broken Wings." It was the diary of a fictional character named Angel who had a particularly hard life. In any case, it had one of her favorite passages about love and dating in it. Considering that she had just come home from the private show that 'Anything Goes' had held, and she had left Ranma with her cell phone number, not to mention her regular phone number, she thought it was appropriate to revisit. It was always good to find perspective before entering a relationship of any kind.
Opening the book to the place where it seemed permanently pressed open from use, she stared to read.
'Love is a strange thing. While I do want to fall in love, I want it to be for keeps. Not to say that I want to fall for the first person that I find even remotely attractive and likable. That would be nice, but I'm not sold that easy. Chances are, I will not find someone perfect for me the first time I go out on a limb and trust someone more than the usual, "back off, scum." Rather, I want it to be real. Real love, not just momentary commitment to the physical, but a connection that will last far into the future.
'When I finally decide to marry, it can't be "the next step", you know, the thing to do. When I walk down the aisle, I want to feel like there is no doubt in my mind and heart that I am in love with him. You know how sometimes in weddings how the groom gasps slightly when he sees the bride, and nearly cries because he knows, for sure, that he is EXACTLY where he wants to be, and the bride looks at him with the same teary eyes because she feels the same way? That's how I want it to be. To know, without a doubt, that whatever will hold me to this person in the future is love, and not mere obligation.
'Not to say that that kind of love is easy and picture perfect. All lovers have problems, that is a fact proven time and time again, and there is no getting around it. Love is not love without trials, and if it is love, you can succeed. Further more, I don't want to end up alienated in the future with the person I fell in love with. No interaction, or loving exchanges, is worse than the occasional fighting. Much worse. People change, but here's the beauty of it; they can change together.
'The prospect of love still scares the shit out of me, though. Trust, while wonderful, is so very risky, and I can tell that there is heartache in store for me, no matter what I do, no matter what stupid magazine tips I might use. But I guess that makes the brighter moments all the better, huh? Its all in the little moments. Sure, the big picture is important for overall happiness, but true, unadulterated happiness is only found in those little moments. The ones where you can think to yourself "I am lucky." And honestly mean it.
' Those moments, the ones where you know you're lucky, or maybe even if its only sub-consciously, make the hard times in between bearable. You can't hold on to them and you can't really fake them or recreate them. No matter how much people have tried, you can't really do it. So you hold on, and enjoy them with people who haven't totally screwed you over.
'And there it is. The reason to live, knowing that there will always be reasons for which to live, because it could always be worse, and when its better, life isn't horrible at all, but its great. And that's why I want to be in love, to have someone in my life that I can share everything with, who will hold me in the good times and the bad, who I can do the same for. If you can find someone like that, you are truly lucky because the moments seem to come more often as opposed to the few and far between.'
Akane sighed as she finished reading. It seemed like such a true view of love as she had thus-far observed it. Not only that, it was comforting, yet realistic at the same time. As it seemed, she would never get to feel that way about anyone. Sure, she had dated a few guys before, but none of them had ever left her feeling any trust in them. In fact, they had made her feel pretty lousy. The only one she had really cared much about was a boy that she had dated a couple of years back, but had break up with because he had to move away with his family. It had hurt to lose him, but in retrospect, it felt more like she was losing a friend than someone she felt romantically attached to. She remembered how much more he liked her, than she liked him. Overzealous was a word that described him best.
She hoped Ranma would be different, but she was weary of entering a relationship, now. Of all the times to get involved with someone, now was just about the worst. The anniversary of her mother's death was approaching fast, and her father would be a wreck. Not only that, her high school career was coming to a close, and she had yet to decide which college she would go to, if she would attend any that she had been accepted to. Normally, she would have not even stopped to consider not attending college, but with recent developments in her 'hobby', she might have major career choices to make, and soon. Even considering that, she hadn't really felt like dealing with any heartache, and boys were one sure-fire way to it. She could deal with being lonely. That, she was used to.
But she had to admit... he was pretty hot. Well toned muscles, blue-grey eyes, dark, soft hair, and expressive lips were a few things that she couldn't ignore. Failing that, he didn't seem entirely like a jerk. She knew he had to have a sense of humor if he could talk about himself as being a 'retard', etc, etc. Besides, Jared gave her a great recommendation of him, and Jared seemed truly trustworthy. The kind of guy that, while doesn't interest you romantically, is exactly who you could hang out with long amounts of time. She was thrilled that Kris gave him her number.
She was, however, interrupted in her thoughts as her cell rang. Wondering who would call so late, she answered. 'M'ello?'
'Akane?'
She started in surprise. 'Ranma? Oh, hey! What's up?'
Ranma paused on the other end. 'Nothing much. I just couldn't sleep because I'm so excited about the tour, and I just needed to talk. I... kinda thought that if you were up, it would be nice to get to know you better. Ya know?'
Akane smiled. 'Yeah, okay. What do you want to know?'
He grinned, and spoke. 'What don't I want to know?'
She laughed. 'Well, aren't we the nosy one? I guess I should start with: I'm seventeen, a senior in high school. I have two older sisters, Kasumi and Nabiki, and I still have my dad, but my mom passed away when I was 15.'(a/n: will explain the age difference of Akane when her mother died, later)
Ranma listened intently. 'Your mom died? Man, I'm sorry.'
'Don't be. If you are born, you die. Its sad, but she was a happy woman.'
'Wow, I guess you have good perspective, huh? I guess your family life is better than mine, then.' Ranma snorted. 'My pops is the most selfish person in the world. I don't know why my mother doesn't leave his sorry ass. He used to be a good guy, but somewhere along the way, he lost it.'
Akane chuckled. 'I think my dad lost it somewhere along the way, too. I don't think he has ever gotten over my mother's death, and sometimes he really worries me. He's kind of like a shell sometimes, its scary. I know he loved her very much, but I also know that Mom would have wanted him to move on, and get on with life. As it is, we had to basically close down the shop and park for use, which is a shame because it brought so much money in. I mean we can live on what we have now for a long time, but Father needs to work again, he really does.'
'Geez, Akane, that's rough. What kind of shop did your family run?'
Akane broke into a smile. 'Well, we had this great set-up. It was a skate shop and park.'
'Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone!' He sounded incredulous. 'Are you telling me, that your family used to run the old Tendo Skate Park? I should have known when I heard your last name! Dude! I know it was only a few years before it went under, but man, it was famous! So... the reason its closed now is because your mother died?'
'Yeah, pretty much. It was a great park, wasn't it?'
'Hell yeah! Did it get torn down? I mean, whoa, what happened to it?'
Akane grinned. 'Well, no, its still ours, and up. If Dad did some repairs and advertising, it could be back open in a couple of months, good as new.'
'Holy shit! I mean... what can I do to get you to let me see it?'
She laughed. 'Down boy! I'll let you come see it, if you want.'
'Do I ever!'
'Very well, just be warned, there are much more spiders there than the usual park. That, and the foam pit doesn't have as much spring to it as it used to.'
Ranma's eyes tried to leave their sockets. 'Foam pit? You mean like the one at Woodward? You're killing me, here!'
'Yeah, like that one. Its really useful, or so I hear.'
'What? You have one of the greatest places in the world to skate! Do you skate?!'
She smirked. 'A little.'
'Geez, you scared me, there. I might have had to be angry with you,' he joked.
'Trust me, I would be angry with myself, too. I kind of am at my sisters, because they never got into it. Its not so much that they never tried it, but they just never felt that they could be any good, and they just stopped doing it. I guess it was never about fun for them. Kasumi wanted to be more girly, and Nabiki always felt that if it didn't make her a star athlete with lots of money and power, it wasn't worth it. Obviously, she gave up after her first time down a ramp.'
Ranma laughed. 'Yeah, I can see how one so driven toward money would see it that way. So did your mom skate? Your dad?'
'Well, Mom never really tried, as far as I know. She was always too weak to be any good, and Dad only really liked to watch, he never really could get his balance straight.'
'What do you mean, your mother was too weak? Isn't that kind of harsh?'
'Oh no, I mean that she was sick, and didn't have the strength to be risking life and limb doing tricks.'
"Oh. Was she always sick?'
'I don't know. She was sick almost my entire life, but I think that she was probably never really normal. The doctors said that they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. I mean, they knew that she wasn't functioning the same as everyone, but they couldn't figure out what caused it. I don't know much about it because Dad didn't want to burden us with things like that, but I know she lived much longer than expected. I guess I didn't know how lucky I was.'
'Yeah, I my mom ever got sick, I don't know what to do. I guess I'd write a song for her, but I mean, that really doesn't help anything.'
'When I was little, I used to worry that Mom and Dad would die, but as you grow up, you take it for granted that they will always be there, but they aren't, you know? Life is so fragile, and can be taken away quickly. Its probably the reason why I go after my dreams more now, because you can be as strong as you want to be if you try, and if you get hurt, you get hurt. I think its better just to go for it and be happy instead of worrying.'
'Yeah, I think you're right. I've spent the last couple of years putting things aside to play with Anything Goes, and now its pretty much starting to pay off. I mean, I'm not ready for fame or whatever, but it is so cool to think that I have a band that's going to have a cd, and crowds to play to.'
'That's pretty awesome. I really liked your cd, by the way, it was great. I want to see you guys play live again.'
'Thanks, we worked really hard to make it good. And, hey, if you want to hear us play more this summer, we need hands. If you want to be a roadie, we could pay you to come on tour with us. Not a lot, of course, but we need someone to help set up, drive, help tune up, soundcheck, and Jared has this crazy idea of video tapping our tour. He thinks it will be funny.'
'Dude! I am so there! Dad wanted me to get a job, and this is the perfect one.'
'Good. You're Dad will let you go on tour with us, won't he?'
'Oh geez. I'm not sure. Maybe if Shelly and Kris came along, too, but not by myself with just guys.'
'Um, I think that perhaps, we could take one of them, but not both. Probably Jared will want to invite Kris to come along. They seemed to really hit it off after the set tonight.'
Akane smiled. 'Yeah, they sure did. I bet Kris would like to come along, too. Her parents are idiots, and let her do whatever she wants, so she's a lock, if she's up for it.'
'Great! Now all we have to do is set it up with the parentals, and, oh yeah, ask Jared and Kris. Hey what will your other friend say, if she can't come?'
'I don't know, truthfully. I think her family's taking a trip to Rome this summer, so she probably wouldn't be able to come anyway. Still, I think we had better do the taping of the trip thing or she might be angry at me.'
'Sounds fair enough.'
Akane was silent for a minute. 'Wow.'
'What?'
'I'm making plans to be a roadie for a band that I've only seen live, twice, because the "frontman", I guess you could say, likes me, and I don't really know anything about him.'
'Huh. That's not fair. You do to know something about me. And I'm not the frontman, or whatever.'
'Yes, you are. You play the guitar and sing. That's a frontman. And what do I know about you?'
Akane could almost hear him smirk through the receiver. 'That I'm devilishly handsome and talented.'
She laughed. Somehow she knew that was coming. 'Sure, sure, Ranma. What I meant was, I don't know much about what you like, what you dislike, etc.'
'Well,' he started, 'I dislike homework, especially writing, being sick, pushy parents, and girls who push themselves on me. I like singing, playing my guitar, music, in general, skateboarding, you...'
'Ha ha. Nice little list, but just because I know "stats", doesn't mean I know you.'
'What's there to know? I'm pretty boring.'
Akane fiddled with the phone cord, suddenly nervous about how to answer. 'Well... for instance, I know that Nabiki, while usually very cold, and impervious, has an Achilles tendon for warm, caramel coffee. I know that Shelly rolls her eyes when she lies, and that Kris can't watch horror movies without her baby blanket. I've never told any of them that I know these things, of course, well, that's not true. I always tease Kris about the baby blanket thing, but other than that, I just know them.'
Ranma shivered, feeling anxious. 'Oh. I guess you don't really know me, huh?'
'Yeah. That's why its a little weird that I might spend the summer with you and your band. As little as I know you, at least we seem to get along well.'
'Yeah, we do.' He paused for a moment. 'So... what's your achilles?'
She laughed. "Like I'd tell you!'
'Aw, why not?' he pouted.
'You'll just have to figure it out yourself.'
He grinned. 'Is that a challenge?'
'You bet.'
At this point, Akane looked at the clock with surprise. 'Shit. Look at the time!'
'Man, its late.'
'Early, more like. I have school tomorrow. I gotta go.'
'Yeah, me, too. Goodnight, Akane.'
'Night, Ranma.'
Akane paused before putting the phone all the way down, and then brought it back to her ear. 'Ranma?'
'Yeah?'
'I like you, too.'
Ranma smiled. 'Goodnight, Akane. I'll call you tomorrow.'
'Kay. Night.' She put the phone in place. What am I getting myself into, she thought.
***
A/n: I graduated yesterday! Woohoo! Anyway, sorry for the long wait, I had started writing this
chapter, and then I realized that if I was going to write it that way, I would be skipping several chapters
worth of interaction, and information. Sorry guys.
I wanted to say, before I got into something else, that I must make something clear before I get hacked on about it. I don't really like labels, but I know that they are almost necessary. As far as my affiliation with music is, I generally like alternative, pop-punk, and emo. I am not opposed to more hardcore bands, but NFG is my favorite band, and they are pop-punk. That said, I don't want to hear about what is punk and what is not.
I gotta say, thanks for the reviews. Some of you have no idea how great it is to have feedback, good or bad. In answer to some of your reviews:
To Obsessed (Love it!) Reader: I do have plans for Ryoga in store, of course. I probably won't use your idea with him being in a rival band (mostly because I never really understood the need for bands to compete with music), but it was a good one.
Lavender Gaia: Yeah, I struggled over whether Shampoo should have correct grammar or not, but in the end, I decided that for the sake of keeping the story within the context of American culture, I would keep her attitudes the same, but adapt her to be American born, as well. If I hadn't, the story would have a different tone with cultural undercurrents that would be more difficult to balance. I.e. Shampoo's language barrier would cause more of a problem as far as Ranma's feelings. She may have felt that Ranma was prejudice, as some people are, towards people who didn't know the language as well. In the manga, it didn't really come up, but I feel that in this setting, the issue would be more prevalent. Especially because Shampoo has met Ranma before Akane has, if you get what I'm saying. I didn't want to dance around the issue and take the focus of the main story. Ranma explaining that he wasn't interested in her because of the way she acted and not the way she talked, would have been like explain his curse to the Kunos.
Apie: Yes, I wish he dressed like that on the show, too.
Leina: I'm really trying to keep the characters true, and still make them fit into this setting. I hope that Ranma does seem a little too overconfident, but also as emotionally vulnerable as he sometimes is.
Animecartoons: I set this in the U.S. for two very noteworthy reasons. One, I live here, and I know much more about the culture here, than the culture in Japan. Two, I don't know any Japanese punk or otherwise alternative songs. All I know are the theme songs, really. Actually, I have a few cds that my friends let me copy. Mostly Kenshin, one Ranma, and a few Fushigi Yuugi songs. Anyway, I hope that answers why I didn't put the story in Japan.
