Disclaim This!
This is my story and If I want to say I own it, then I do! I just borrowed the characters from other people.
START
Ranma held Ryoga as the pig tried to escape it's fate. He snorted to himself how even though Ryoga had agreed to tell Akane everything, he was still trying to avoid doing so. The pig was nearly as honorless as his old man, no matter what he thought of himself. Why else would he have done everything he'd done to separate Ranma and Akane? He'd outright lied at every opportunity to drive a wedge between them. He'd helped Ranma's other fiancee's try and seduce Ranma into betraying Akane's trust more times then Ranma could count. He'd tried to use the Breaking Point on Ranma, knowing full well that if it had worked, Ranma would have died. Luckily, Cologne had not told the bastard that the technique didn't work on people.
Ranma wasn't, or more accurately hadn't been, a perso nwho held onto grudges for long. He forgave everyone nearly everything they did to him, so long as he was able to find a positive aspect to their actions. No matter how idiotic the training methods of his father were, he didn't hate him. Most people would wish his father dead, but Ranma didn't. He just wanted the old fool to stay out of his life unless they were training and not make descicions based on his fat stomach or greed.
Now though, he understood how people could hold onto the pain caused by others. He knew what it was to hate. And he knew that he hated Ryoga, nearly as much as he hated Kuno or the old freak. There was little about any of them that had any redeeming worth in his eyes. The old freak might be one of the premier martial artists of the world, but look at what he wasted his talents on. Using his skills to spy on, humiliate, and molest innocent (and some not so innocent) girls. Kuno was nearly as bad. Only his wealth, and the weirdness of Nerima kept him and his sister from being commited to an institute for every one's safety.
Without their money, the siblings, and their twisted freak father, would have been locked away years ago. Ryoga was one of the strongest people Ranma knew, and though most owuldn't believe it, one of the smartest. With that odd family furse of getting lost, Ryoga should not have made it this far in life, or become as strong and skilled as he was. He had travelled most of the world, and could speak more languages than Ranma could count, but he seemed unaware of his own gifts. All Ryoga ever saw was the pain of the family curse, and that he was constantly being beaten in battles against Ranma.
Ranma shook himself of his thoughts and a smile lit his face as he caught sight of Akane coming out the door with a kettle. His grin widdened when she gave him that smile she'd only ever given him and his heart started to beat faster. He couldn't take his eyes away as she approached and nearly lost his grip on Pchan when the pig managed to get a bite of one of his fingers. He shook the pig lightly, having forgotten just for a moment what he was doing as memories of some of his recent dreams washed over him.
"Thank you, Akane-chan." he said as his fiancee reached them and held out the kettle. Taking it with one hand, he placed Pchan on the ground, and stepped on him to hold the scrambling pig in place. "Akane, there is something I have been hiding for you since not long after we met. I was convinced that something that was not trully my fault was my responsibility and that to keep my honor, I had to keep a secret from you. A secret that was then used against me as the person forcing my hand used it to interfere in our relationship. Many of the incidents that have happened since we met were a result of my having to go out of my way to keep this secret, often to my own deficit. I wish now to appologize for keeping this from you and for holding my own honor as more valuable then your own. I have no excuse except to offer that my entire life has been defined by honor and lack of honor. I have commited my entire being to being as honorauble as I possibly can, in direct opposition to the example of my father. I wished to be the opposite of everything he was."
Akane listened quietly as Ranma spoke. She felt angry that he had been hiding something from her, but could understand how important his honor was to him considering the horrible example his father had given. "I understand, Ranma. No one could possibly want to be like your father. He's a thief, a liar, and a scoundrel and the only good thing about him is also a bad thing in that he's an excellent martial artist. He tortured you while you were growing up with those insane training methods and the horrible things he forced you to do. Please, continue, anata. Who is this person who has forced you to lie all this time?"
Ranma looked at the sun as he pondered the question. "He is someone I always thought of as one of my friends. Someone who, though he has come to our rescue a time or two, has caused more problems then nearly everyone we have ever encountered. He is a vile, hateful man, who has used you in order to try and get at me. He has deliberately and frequently used the . . . secret as a means to deliberately provoke me into assaults on him. Assaults which you disliked and took his side on."
Akane was starting to get a bad feeling about this conversation and it's coming conclusion. She looked down at her beloved pet pig, and noticed it trying to scramble out from Ranma's foot even as Ranma positioned the kettle above. She noticed the pig's eyes widden in fear and his efforst to escape increase and a dull, heavy feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. "It's Pchan, isn't it, Ranma? Pchan is the person you're talking about. He's cursed." she whispered, tears filling her eyes as she recalled all the times she had cuddled or stroked the pig while berating Ranma for attacking a helpless animal. "Who is it, Ranma? Who's done this to us?" She said, a flash of anger coursing in her veins as various memories of changing or bathing in front of her pet passed through her mind.
Ranma said nothing, simply looked into his fiancee's eyes. Slowly, he turned the kettle, allowed the hot water to pour out and over the prone form of the black piglet.
END
So what do you think? Cliffhanger ending, got to love it, don't you?
Just Kidding, I wouldn't do this to you.
RESTART
Akane stared down as a naked boy replaced the form of her former pet. The boy had turned under Ranmas foot and curled into a ball, trying desperately to hide his face. But it didn't matter. Tied to his head, holding his unruly dark hair from his face was a bandana. A familiar bandana that had adorned her pig's neck, and which she had always assumed was a gift from her friend. A friend who wore them constantly and was able to do amazing things with those pieces of cloth.
Rage filled her as her aura flared into existence around her as she came to realize the truth. All the lies, all the pain, the anger she had previousy felt towards her fiancee were reflected back tenfold towards the figure cowaring beneath her fiancee's foot. The lies the bastard had told her to try and make her hate Ranma, the way he was constantly making Ranma look like he was picking on her pet. The times he'd watched her change and bath and snuggled against her while she slept. The way he would make it look like Ranma was beating him up for no reason. The many many times she had whispered secrets to Pchan which had then been used against Ranma by his friends/fiancee's/enemies. She'd often wondered how they had learned of the secrets she'd only told her pet, and she had placed the blame on her mercenarial sister.
Her aura was so intense that even Ranma was flinching and this drew her attention. She stared at the evidence of her fiancee's betrayal before reason took hold again. Guilt flooded her as she studied the forelorn expression on her beloved fiancee's face. All those times, all the pain and anger. All because of that bastards lies.
Her aura winked out and tears streamed from her eyes. She flung her arms around her fiancee, not even noticing that she stomped the betrayer into the ground while clinging to him. "I'm so sorry, Ranma!" she cried out, as her feet unconciously continued to stomp on the naked idiot's head, crushing him into the pavement. "I'm so sorry I never believed you and that I stood up for that bastard!" she contineud to cry and hug her fiancee as her feet moved from Ryoga's head to stomp on his back. The sounds of pain and cracking ribs continued for some time as Ranma held Akane and let her work through her guilt and anger.
Eventually, the tears stopped, and they started walking back into the yard, only to be stopped by the anquished moans and muttering of the battered youth.
"It's a lie!" he shouted at them as he dug himself out from the crater Akane had stomped him in. Somehow, he'd managed to pull clothes out of nowhere and was fully dressed. "It's all Ranma's fault! He pushed me into that pool and forced me to lie to you. I tried to explain but he would always stop me. I tried everytime to tell you about myself and to tell you that I love you, but that honorless bastard kept interrupting me and starting a fight!"
Akane looked at Ryoga as he continued to beg and plead with her to listen to him and ignore Ranma's lies. Her face was a solid mask of stone, not showing any expression.
"Please! Akane, please. Believe me, I love you. Ranma doesn't. He's an insensitive, womanizing pervert who's constantly cheating on you with his other fiancees and even with other boys. He's nothing but a thief and a liar and a pervert worse than Happosai ever could dream of being. I bet he even let his father knock him into Nannichuan so that he could peep on girls and seduce the guys he couldn't get as a guy!" Ryoga was on his knees, bowing to her while shooting glares at Ranma.
Akane stared down blankly at the boy who had betrayed her in the worst possible way. "Leave." she stated coldly, a chill forming in the air between her and Ryoga.
Ryoga's babbling appology/accusations paused as he stared up at her stupidly. "Huh?"
"Leave, Hibiki, and never return to my sight." she stated, the temparature around them dropping 5 degrees in seconds.
Ryoga was starting to sweat in fear and shiver as the temperature continued to drop. "But Akane, I love you! It's all Ranma's fault! He's made my life a living hell! You don't know the pain he's cause me!"
Akane's eyes flashed angerously at Ryoga's words. A mist was starting to form around them, but she didn't notice. "Leave, Hibiki. I want nothing to do with you ever again. If I ever see you, in any form, I will show you what pain is. I reject your so-called love, for if you had loved me, no one would have stopped you from telling me the truth about your curse within days of our meeting. Yet you have continued to use your curse to cause pain to my fiancee, using the secrets I confided to my pet against him and causing me to attack him for defending himself against your abuse. You are the worste kind of scum in the world, for you are too stupid to admit what you are, even to yourself. Ranma does have flaws, but he knows they are there, even though he pretends they don't exist to others, he works to overcome them. Even his father and Happosai are more honorable then yourself. Happosai might be the worlds biggest pervert, but he admits it. Damn, he's PROUD of it. Ranma's father might be a greedy, foolish, pathetic liar, thief and all round scoundrel, but he never pretends to be anything else. He takes pride in what he is, no matter how generally unacceptable that is to most people."
"You, however, can not even admit that it was your fault that you missed the duel with Ranma. He waited at the assigned place for 3 days, Hibiki. And the grounds were right accross the street from your home. Then you CHOSE to follow him to China, he did not force you too. If you were so foolish as to stand on the edge of a cliff while watching a nearly naked girl chasing a panda, and then too immature to control yourself when she leapt over your head and you saw something private that you lost your balance and fell from the cliff, then it is your own responsibility. You wonder how I know this, and I will tell you. I have heard your discussing this with Ranma on several occassions, though I missed the part about your landing in a pool and being cursed."
She glared at him and snorted, turning her back on him as he lay prostrate on the ground before her. "Ranma is worth a million of you, Hibiki. You are worthless and pathetic and I want you gone from my life. Leave now, and I will allow you to retain your pathetic life, but if you chose to remain much longer, then I will be forced to end your miserable existence." She turned and stalked into the yard, pausing as she noted Ranma was not following her. "Come Ranma-sama. Leave that pathetic moron as he is. He isn't worth your pity or friendship."
Shrugging, Ranma grinned sadly at the Lost Boy and followed his fiancee into the yard, closing the gate behind him with finality.
