When Will I Hold You?

A Ranma Nibunoichi x-over

by Matthew Talbain

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma Nibunoichi, nor do I own the lyrics to Sailor Moon's Makoto image song, "Rainy Day Man".

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't worry, Forgotten Yesterday is still on. I'm just having a hard time with chapter three.

------------Chapter One: Rainy Day Man--------------

It all started on that day. That day....that day, I first met you. Well, the day I first REALLY met you. It was Heaven, it was the starts and moon, it was everything I'd ever hoped for. And now, that day hurts me more than anything I've ever known. Because I know I can never have you. Besides, why would you, the paragon of men, want me? Little old me...

I remember that day well. It was about a year after you first arrived, kicking and screaming, your pigtail clutched in the grip of that...that madwoman. Oh, I know I shouldn't call my best friend a madwoman, but the way Akane treats you is just horrible. I've seen firsthand how much you've tried to change, how you've always gone that extra distance to try to reason with her.

And all your efforts are rewarded with "Ranma no baka!" or "Ranma no hentai!" and some frequent flyer miles into Tomobiki or Juuban. It hurts me just to watch you go flying through the air, and it hurts me even more to watch you limp past my window, that false smile plastered on your face as you go to your doom once more, for yet another imagined slight. Oh, Ranma....

Why can't I get that day out of my head? I remember it so clearly...

We'd just started our second year, and it was your seventeenth birthday. I remember that especially well, because of the incredibly pained look on your face. But I remember that day even more because it was the day my boyfriend left me, left me for an impossible dream so many other boys wanted to follow. That damned madwoman, as usual.

I don't know why, to this day, I went to the bridge, the one you called "your bridge", to cry. But I did. All I could do was cry, for hours. And then, around lunchtime at school, you came to cry yourself, in hiding. I remember it so well.

I was leaning against the rock support, and all I could think was "Why does life have to be so heartless to me?". And then you dropped down, facign away from me, your shirt torn and your back heaving with sobs. My own ceased, and I crept up to you.

I almost giggled at the way you just stopped crying all of a sudden and whirled to see me. And you just stared at me, your mouth gaping, until you saw my tears. And you spoke to me.

"What're ya doin' at my bridge? More importantly, what's wrong? Ya get hurt?" And I just started crying again. I ran headlong into your arms and I just cried my tears out. And, like most romantic fantasy men girls dream about, you just stroked my hair, forgetting your own problems and started worrying about mine. You'll never know how grateful I am for that moment, and I'll always remember it. I'll always remember the way you whispered my name secretly, softly, the way you began telling me about your own problems even as it began to drizzle gently and cleansingly.

When I think about the first time
I thought I found someone who cared for me
But things were not as they appeared to be...

Since that day, Ranma, I'll always remember the way your chest felt so strong, so unbending and yet so giving. And the way you always stop to talk to me, to make sure I'm alright. it's so sweet of you. No wonder I fell for you.

Yes, Ranma, I admit it, at last. You aren't a pervert, you aren't an arrogant, self-absorbed bastard like I once thought you were. I should never have let Akane get me to believe those things about you. Maybe if I hadn't, I'd have had a chance to be with you. Some hopeful part of me still thinks I do, that you mean more when you stop and talk to me, that that smile you reveal when you're limping past my window is reserved just for me...

Rainy day man
On your shoulder I cried
When my first brush with love
Left me shaking inside
Rainy day man...

You were hurting badly, that day. Oh, why do I keep ending there? Maybe because everything began there...well, everything between us. It was your birthday, and you'd been fought with not so much as reprieve from your father. Your mother, I remember, was expecting you to lose your virginity that day, your father expected you to suck it up and be a man, and Akane...

Akane beat you, she gave you an extra malleting because of that remark your mother made. That damnable Ryouga and Mousse hounded you viciously, and Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyou, damn those hussies, wanted to act on your mother's expectations for a birthday "encounter". I'll never forget the nearly lifeless look in your eyes as you jumped down to the bridge, turning away from me and crying.

Ever since I can remember
Just like a brother, you've been strong and true
Always been the one to see me through...

I remember, so fondly, the way you looked at me when I held you close and cried, for both you and me. The look of happiness the next day when I privately handed you a cake, a new shirt, and a "Happy Birthday" almost outdid it, but I'll hold tight to that spark I saw when I held you, that spark that told me you felt more for me than for any other person you'd ever felt anything for.

Rainy day man
You're much more than a friend
I would give anything
Just to see you again
Rainy day man
Always been the one to see me through...

Now, here I am, staring at a picture of you, wanting to hold you, to kiss you. I fell in love with the sensitive, caring, honorable young man with no way out. I still admire the way you do your best not to hurt any of your so-called fiances, and I admire the way you always, despite their violent attacks, try to maintain a friendship with all of your rivals. Nobody else I know, Ranma, would contantly try to help any young men who try to kill then on a daily, or near-daily, in Ryouga's case, basis. But you do.

You put up with your gluttonous, greedy panda father, your deluded, mentally-unseetled mother, and a family of psych ward rejects. Okay, Kasumi isn't nearly that clueless, and she is trying her best to help her family, but still, Nabiki, Tendo-san, and Akane more than make up for her lack in the psychiatric ward's requirements.

Rainy day man
On your shoulder I cried
When my first brush with love
Left me shaking inside

Rainy day man
You've much more than a friend
I would give anything
Just to see you again...

For all of that, Ranma, and for being my freidn when I needed one, for being my Rainy Day Man, I love you.

Rainy day man....

I love you for being everything you are. I love you for putting up with everything you've done for me.

Rainy day man....

I love you for that first kiss under the bridge, that kiss that you weren't allowed to give. I love you for holding me, for that spark in your eyes.

Rainy day man....

But most of all, Ranma...most of all....

Rainy day man....

I love you for the way you whispered my name, the loving tone you used when you said...

"Sayuri...."

---------Author's Corner-----------

Well, come on, review me! I need feedback! Should I do a second chapter or what? If so, what song should I use, and from whose point of view?

I love you all, people.