Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz and Kitty own Ranma.
Rating: Pg-13
A/N: Ahhh! I thought I was only going to write 15 chapters but that'll be a little hard now won't it? I'm so happy for myself because I wrote chapter 13 a few days before I got the flu so I posted it in time for Don Erie's demands! This chapter is gonna be fun. I hope. I think I'm gonna write this one a little longer because I was looking at my story after I put it up and it really wasn't that long. I thought it was longer and it looked longer in Word but it wasn't. Anyway, I'm gonna try to make these longer. I can't wait to go quote hunting soon! Please, no flames. If you want to email me you can at tiney_panda@hotmail.com Thanks for reading!
* * *
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)
* * *
Akane wrapped her arms around Suru and squeezed. Then she pushed him off as he came in for a kiss. What was he doing? Ranma had just died, her fiancé had just died, her ex-fiancé of course. Akane pushed herself farther away and looked through the hall window. Why was she still doing this? Still thinking it was just some game. She'd slip something here and he'd slip something there just to keep the game going. She was not about to play a two-player game by herself.
Ranma wasn't here to partake in the game and it made Akane feel selfish. To be still playing this game without him. Like she was betraying him. Maybe selfish wasn't the right word, guilty. She did feel pretty guilty about this. Suru was doing great but he just wasn't Ranma. She needed him to feel needed right now. From now on she wasn't going to be the greedy person she was now. She would be kind and giving and she would never miss a chance with someone like she had with Ranma. She led herself back to a stunned Suru.
As Akane wrapped her arms around his neck he embraced her and didn't try to kiss her or anything. It was an emotionless hug, exactly what she needed. She fell deeper into his chest and could feel his heart beating slowly. He was so calm and that angered her. Ranma had just been killed and he was fine, emotionless. She needed to fill the void, she needed to let out some emotion, anything. That was when she started to cry. She hadn't intended to she just did. Suru held her tight and picked her up slightly from the ground, swaying lightly from side to side.
Suddenly, Akane heard a scream. Well, not a scream but more like a yelp. Like someone had yelped in pain or something. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn't figure out whom it belonged to. Akane spun around to face the yelp but faced nothing. She ran down the hall and turned the corner in what felt like forever. It was like her body was in slow motion and she was taking her sweet time to run after someone, something. She had to figure out who the yelp belonged to. Maybe if she asked the front desk. She was brought into another very empty room and when getting to the front desk an old man staggered out of the back room. Akane had never ringed one of those bells before now and decided she wasn't missing out on much. The guy had taken forever to emerge from the back.
"Did you see someone run out of here right now? Anyone?" Akane asked almost breathless with anticipation.
The man looked up dumbly, "Nope. Not a thing." He smiled lopsidedly and walked back into the inner office.
This was not enough. Akane knew he had seen something because when he had said no he had stepped back a step and his eyes glazed over for a split second like he was remembering something or someone. Akane had to decide if she was going to act or stay put and be happy with a no. Suru decided for her as he grabbed her waist from behind her. She jumped up what felt like twenty feet.
"Wow! Calm down there. Listen, you heard what he said, he didn't see anyone. What are you going on about? Listen, I think you should just sit down for a minute. Okay?" Suru took Akane in his arms and stared at her as if he were in charge. Oh no he wasn't! Akane pushed back from him and he snatched her hand in his. Akane spun around. It didn't hurt but she knew that there was some reason he wasn't letting her talk.
"What do you mean what I'm talking about?" Akane half screamed. She was starting to think up reasons why Suru couldn't have understood but came back to nothing.
"What you're asking the manager about. Why did you run out of that hall?" Suru questioned with a concerned look on his face.
Akane guffawed, "What? Oh hey, I don't know the SCREAM!" Akane yelled. What was he talking about? Had he somehow not heard the yelp she did? The manger had . . . hadn't he? She had seen the terror in his eyes when he had stepped back, almost in awe. This was just making Akane more confused, maybe Suru just meant he thought it was a scream not a yell . . . it was a possibility. Kinda.
"You saw who it was didn't you? The person who screamed? You saw him right?" Akane interrogated Suru. He stepped back nervously as she pushed herself on him and in an instant he stopped. His mood became cool, serene, Suru-ish.
"Akane please, just sit down, maybe we can figure this out," Akane nodded as he led her towards a couch. They sat down hands together, staring at each other, "Now these voices you say you're hearing-"
"I heard them." Akane said numbly.
"Okay, the voices you heard-" Suru tried to begin.
"The manager heard too." Akane stated just as coldly. She could act calm if she wanted to. She was just lucky Suru wasn't Ranma or she'd be going A- wall by now. Akane laughed to herself and Suru's face broke into sort of a hopeful smile. Akane looked up guiltily and looked down again as she met his eyes.
Today the thought of leaving Suru had seemed as simple as walking away but now she looked at him fiddling with the ring on her finger. He was so kind, so gentle. He loved her and that was making him think she hadn't heard any thing. He was wrong but she was just wasting time with this. He hadn't heard some how but she would show him! She knew what she had to do.
"Suru, let's leave." Akane said lowly sounding defeated. Suru lit up and nodded. He stood up still holding her hand in his and squeezed it before letting it go.
"I'll go get the car, you just stay here okay?" Suru said as he picked up her hand again and turned the engagement ring Akane had subconsciously turned upside-down right side up. She nodded and kept staring forward until he was out of sight.
Right side up. Was it right? Ranma had just died and Akane was going to marry another man. She felt herself feeling pity for her ex-fiancé, like she was cheating on him in some way. She couldn't marry Suru. Not when she felt the way she did about Ranma. She just wasn't over his death or him.
When he was safely gone Akane shot up and hopped over the front desk with ease. In one swift movement she was by the door of the inner office. The man was shaking his head from side to side and rustling through a drawer with his back to the door. When he turned around with about twenty papers in his arms he quickly threw them in the air and screamed. He threw himself behind a chair and peered out to see if Akane had gone. Akane grabbed the chair and threw it aside to face the man in front of her. She looked down at the man who had huddle himself up shielding his face with his arms. Akane crouched down and put an arm on his shoulder. He violently shook and then looked at her with a look of horror to the liking of when she had first seen him.
"G-g-g-ghost!" The man said while shivering in fear.
"Who?" Akane asked curiously.
"On the news, big crash. He died." The man mumbled as he quivered on the floor.
Akane stood up and stepped back in terror. This was beginning to sound way too familiar. How could this guy know about her crash? Akane stopped herself, she didn't even know who died. There were crashes everyday.
"Who?" Akane pushed her self to ask. The man looked down and started to shiver again. He wrapped his arms around himself and stared right at Akane.
"Ranma Saotome." The man said. He stared at the floor and cried like a baby. Seeing a ghost can scare a person! Akane didn't believe in ghosts though and she rubbed him saying it was Ranma off as a coincidence. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe it wasn't, maybe Ranma had come back! Akane laughed at how stupid she was being.
She couldn't help it though, it was echoing inside her. Ranma was alive? It couldn't be! When he had said that Akane had cried out. She couldn't help it! Then she started to laugh. The man looked up puzzled but she continued to laugh even as he moved back in fright. Even after Ranma was dead he was still making her choose. Even after he was gone she was still playing the game. She was so angry at him! He shouldn't make her play this game now. Then, for some reason, she remembered her last words to Ranma and cringed in guilt.
"You look pretty pale. I hope Nabiki didn't yell at you too hard! It's your own fault for being such a baka!"
The thought of these words being the last Akane ever said to Ranma made her cry. They had before and they still did. She wiped away the tears that she could never cry and started to stand up and slowly walk backwards through the door, over the counter and turning to face the outside world, out the door. Leaving a very stunned manager to think about the carnage that used to be his office. It was a wreck now, just how Akane felt.
Akane wanted to go home. She didn't have her car or any money so she decided to walk and think.
* * *
When she got home she opened the door using the extra key in her lawn. She threw herself on her couch and fell asleep. She had been walking for three and a half hours, two in the rain.
* * *
Akane woke to a window in the kitchen open. She sat up and walked groggily to the window and shut it with a WHOOSH. She sighed heavily and her shoulders shook with the force of her sigh.
"A. . .ka. . . ne. . . A. . . ka. . . ne." Someone or something whispered. Akane turned around in fighting stance. She noticed a note of taunting in the voice but dismissed it. There was an intruder in her apartment and she had to get it.
"Come out you coward!" Akane yelled. She swiveled and looked around in all directions.
Suddenly a huge cloud of smoke came over the kitchen and Akane ran to her living room in shock never losing her stance. When the smoke cleared something was perched on Akane's kitchen island lazily.
Akane froze in shock at what she was looking at, staring into. She wanted to run up and attack it but was just frozen there.
"Hey beautiful." Ranma said slyly. He winked and laughed joyfully as Akane watched him, open-mouthed.
A/N: Well, that was short!
And now . . . NEXT TIME ON DON'T LEAVE ME: (drum roll please)
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
I love my drumroll.
These have nothing to do with what they are, only the words. Okay, The next chapter will be full of fights but that's not all so here are your clues:
Dead Man Walking
The Follower
That's all for now so without further ado here is what you're really here for,
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
This drum roll is longer and unannounced. Ooh. Ahh
REVIEWING REVIEWS!
Crazy Hyper Gal: Ahh to become hyper is so fun! Well, I hope you lived to read this chapter because your reviews are great!
Ka_chan: Lol! Love the end of your review! I actually just used the titles it's got nothing to do with the movies. This chapter's pretty short but I wanted to get it out there before Crazy Hyper Gal died of not getting the next one so the long chapter thing was kinda botched for this chapter but next chapter will be longer! Muwahahahaha!
Animecartoons: Lol! You are SO smart! Well, you would have to be to read this story right? Lol!
X: Thanks so much! I wouldn't call this perfection but I like it and you and other people do too. I really used that not to rush it thing didn't I?
Apie: Ranma is always jumping to conclusions! Uberness! Lol! Someone should stop him but not me , Muwahahahahaha I make him do it even more!
Saturn Angel: Thank you so much! I hoped it was dark enough but I didn't want it too angsty or that would take all the funniness out of it!
May: He does have a lot of plans going wrong doesn't he? I would get Akane's mallet out and hit him too if I were her! Ryoga is at the right place at the very right time isn't he? Lol!
Erie: Well, you got to write your long review. Happy? Anyway, Rangerism was totally not intended there! You know what happens next and Ranger probably wouldn't do that would he? Lol! Maybe! I know I've got to write the next chapter soon because its oh so funny what he does! Lol!
A/N: Review my story or I might forget to write the next chapter! Next chapter hopefully up soon!
Rating: Pg-13
A/N: Ahhh! I thought I was only going to write 15 chapters but that'll be a little hard now won't it? I'm so happy for myself because I wrote chapter 13 a few days before I got the flu so I posted it in time for Don Erie's demands! This chapter is gonna be fun. I hope. I think I'm gonna write this one a little longer because I was looking at my story after I put it up and it really wasn't that long. I thought it was longer and it looked longer in Word but it wasn't. Anyway, I'm gonna try to make these longer. I can't wait to go quote hunting soon! Please, no flames. If you want to email me you can at tiney_panda@hotmail.com Thanks for reading!
* * *
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)
* * *
Akane wrapped her arms around Suru and squeezed. Then she pushed him off as he came in for a kiss. What was he doing? Ranma had just died, her fiancé had just died, her ex-fiancé of course. Akane pushed herself farther away and looked through the hall window. Why was she still doing this? Still thinking it was just some game. She'd slip something here and he'd slip something there just to keep the game going. She was not about to play a two-player game by herself.
Ranma wasn't here to partake in the game and it made Akane feel selfish. To be still playing this game without him. Like she was betraying him. Maybe selfish wasn't the right word, guilty. She did feel pretty guilty about this. Suru was doing great but he just wasn't Ranma. She needed him to feel needed right now. From now on she wasn't going to be the greedy person she was now. She would be kind and giving and she would never miss a chance with someone like she had with Ranma. She led herself back to a stunned Suru.
As Akane wrapped her arms around his neck he embraced her and didn't try to kiss her or anything. It was an emotionless hug, exactly what she needed. She fell deeper into his chest and could feel his heart beating slowly. He was so calm and that angered her. Ranma had just been killed and he was fine, emotionless. She needed to fill the void, she needed to let out some emotion, anything. That was when she started to cry. She hadn't intended to she just did. Suru held her tight and picked her up slightly from the ground, swaying lightly from side to side.
Suddenly, Akane heard a scream. Well, not a scream but more like a yelp. Like someone had yelped in pain or something. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn't figure out whom it belonged to. Akane spun around to face the yelp but faced nothing. She ran down the hall and turned the corner in what felt like forever. It was like her body was in slow motion and she was taking her sweet time to run after someone, something. She had to figure out who the yelp belonged to. Maybe if she asked the front desk. She was brought into another very empty room and when getting to the front desk an old man staggered out of the back room. Akane had never ringed one of those bells before now and decided she wasn't missing out on much. The guy had taken forever to emerge from the back.
"Did you see someone run out of here right now? Anyone?" Akane asked almost breathless with anticipation.
The man looked up dumbly, "Nope. Not a thing." He smiled lopsidedly and walked back into the inner office.
This was not enough. Akane knew he had seen something because when he had said no he had stepped back a step and his eyes glazed over for a split second like he was remembering something or someone. Akane had to decide if she was going to act or stay put and be happy with a no. Suru decided for her as he grabbed her waist from behind her. She jumped up what felt like twenty feet.
"Wow! Calm down there. Listen, you heard what he said, he didn't see anyone. What are you going on about? Listen, I think you should just sit down for a minute. Okay?" Suru took Akane in his arms and stared at her as if he were in charge. Oh no he wasn't! Akane pushed back from him and he snatched her hand in his. Akane spun around. It didn't hurt but she knew that there was some reason he wasn't letting her talk.
"What do you mean what I'm talking about?" Akane half screamed. She was starting to think up reasons why Suru couldn't have understood but came back to nothing.
"What you're asking the manager about. Why did you run out of that hall?" Suru questioned with a concerned look on his face.
Akane guffawed, "What? Oh hey, I don't know the SCREAM!" Akane yelled. What was he talking about? Had he somehow not heard the yelp she did? The manger had . . . hadn't he? She had seen the terror in his eyes when he had stepped back, almost in awe. This was just making Akane more confused, maybe Suru just meant he thought it was a scream not a yell . . . it was a possibility. Kinda.
"You saw who it was didn't you? The person who screamed? You saw him right?" Akane interrogated Suru. He stepped back nervously as she pushed herself on him and in an instant he stopped. His mood became cool, serene, Suru-ish.
"Akane please, just sit down, maybe we can figure this out," Akane nodded as he led her towards a couch. They sat down hands together, staring at each other, "Now these voices you say you're hearing-"
"I heard them." Akane said numbly.
"Okay, the voices you heard-" Suru tried to begin.
"The manager heard too." Akane stated just as coldly. She could act calm if she wanted to. She was just lucky Suru wasn't Ranma or she'd be going A- wall by now. Akane laughed to herself and Suru's face broke into sort of a hopeful smile. Akane looked up guiltily and looked down again as she met his eyes.
Today the thought of leaving Suru had seemed as simple as walking away but now she looked at him fiddling with the ring on her finger. He was so kind, so gentle. He loved her and that was making him think she hadn't heard any thing. He was wrong but she was just wasting time with this. He hadn't heard some how but she would show him! She knew what she had to do.
"Suru, let's leave." Akane said lowly sounding defeated. Suru lit up and nodded. He stood up still holding her hand in his and squeezed it before letting it go.
"I'll go get the car, you just stay here okay?" Suru said as he picked up her hand again and turned the engagement ring Akane had subconsciously turned upside-down right side up. She nodded and kept staring forward until he was out of sight.
Right side up. Was it right? Ranma had just died and Akane was going to marry another man. She felt herself feeling pity for her ex-fiancé, like she was cheating on him in some way. She couldn't marry Suru. Not when she felt the way she did about Ranma. She just wasn't over his death or him.
When he was safely gone Akane shot up and hopped over the front desk with ease. In one swift movement she was by the door of the inner office. The man was shaking his head from side to side and rustling through a drawer with his back to the door. When he turned around with about twenty papers in his arms he quickly threw them in the air and screamed. He threw himself behind a chair and peered out to see if Akane had gone. Akane grabbed the chair and threw it aside to face the man in front of her. She looked down at the man who had huddle himself up shielding his face with his arms. Akane crouched down and put an arm on his shoulder. He violently shook and then looked at her with a look of horror to the liking of when she had first seen him.
"G-g-g-ghost!" The man said while shivering in fear.
"Who?" Akane asked curiously.
"On the news, big crash. He died." The man mumbled as he quivered on the floor.
Akane stood up and stepped back in terror. This was beginning to sound way too familiar. How could this guy know about her crash? Akane stopped herself, she didn't even know who died. There were crashes everyday.
"Who?" Akane pushed her self to ask. The man looked down and started to shiver again. He wrapped his arms around himself and stared right at Akane.
"Ranma Saotome." The man said. He stared at the floor and cried like a baby. Seeing a ghost can scare a person! Akane didn't believe in ghosts though and she rubbed him saying it was Ranma off as a coincidence. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe it wasn't, maybe Ranma had come back! Akane laughed at how stupid she was being.
She couldn't help it though, it was echoing inside her. Ranma was alive? It couldn't be! When he had said that Akane had cried out. She couldn't help it! Then she started to laugh. The man looked up puzzled but she continued to laugh even as he moved back in fright. Even after Ranma was dead he was still making her choose. Even after he was gone she was still playing the game. She was so angry at him! He shouldn't make her play this game now. Then, for some reason, she remembered her last words to Ranma and cringed in guilt.
"You look pretty pale. I hope Nabiki didn't yell at you too hard! It's your own fault for being such a baka!"
The thought of these words being the last Akane ever said to Ranma made her cry. They had before and they still did. She wiped away the tears that she could never cry and started to stand up and slowly walk backwards through the door, over the counter and turning to face the outside world, out the door. Leaving a very stunned manager to think about the carnage that used to be his office. It was a wreck now, just how Akane felt.
Akane wanted to go home. She didn't have her car or any money so she decided to walk and think.
* * *
When she got home she opened the door using the extra key in her lawn. She threw herself on her couch and fell asleep. She had been walking for three and a half hours, two in the rain.
* * *
Akane woke to a window in the kitchen open. She sat up and walked groggily to the window and shut it with a WHOOSH. She sighed heavily and her shoulders shook with the force of her sigh.
"A. . .ka. . . ne. . . A. . . ka. . . ne." Someone or something whispered. Akane turned around in fighting stance. She noticed a note of taunting in the voice but dismissed it. There was an intruder in her apartment and she had to get it.
"Come out you coward!" Akane yelled. She swiveled and looked around in all directions.
Suddenly a huge cloud of smoke came over the kitchen and Akane ran to her living room in shock never losing her stance. When the smoke cleared something was perched on Akane's kitchen island lazily.
Akane froze in shock at what she was looking at, staring into. She wanted to run up and attack it but was just frozen there.
"Hey beautiful." Ranma said slyly. He winked and laughed joyfully as Akane watched him, open-mouthed.
A/N: Well, that was short!
And now . . . NEXT TIME ON DON'T LEAVE ME: (drum roll please)
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
I love my drumroll.
These have nothing to do with what they are, only the words. Okay, The next chapter will be full of fights but that's not all so here are your clues:
Dead Man Walking
The Follower
That's all for now so without further ado here is what you're really here for,
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
This drum roll is longer and unannounced. Ooh. Ahh
REVIEWING REVIEWS!
Crazy Hyper Gal: Ahh to become hyper is so fun! Well, I hope you lived to read this chapter because your reviews are great!
Ka_chan: Lol! Love the end of your review! I actually just used the titles it's got nothing to do with the movies. This chapter's pretty short but I wanted to get it out there before Crazy Hyper Gal died of not getting the next one so the long chapter thing was kinda botched for this chapter but next chapter will be longer! Muwahahahaha!
Animecartoons: Lol! You are SO smart! Well, you would have to be to read this story right? Lol!
X: Thanks so much! I wouldn't call this perfection but I like it and you and other people do too. I really used that not to rush it thing didn't I?
Apie: Ranma is always jumping to conclusions! Uberness! Lol! Someone should stop him but not me , Muwahahahahaha I make him do it even more!
Saturn Angel: Thank you so much! I hoped it was dark enough but I didn't want it too angsty or that would take all the funniness out of it!
May: He does have a lot of plans going wrong doesn't he? I would get Akane's mallet out and hit him too if I were her! Ryoga is at the right place at the very right time isn't he? Lol!
Erie: Well, you got to write your long review. Happy? Anyway, Rangerism was totally not intended there! You know what happens next and Ranger probably wouldn't do that would he? Lol! Maybe! I know I've got to write the next chapter soon because its oh so funny what he does! Lol!
A/N: Review my story or I might forget to write the next chapter! Next chapter hopefully up soon!