I'm not even afraid to confess that this story is really weird, and a lot of you probably won't like it. It's an alternate reality Ranma…but it's like nothing like Ranma, and Akane is a princess…yea…well here's my story.
Oh, and Akane has long hair in this, like in the first Ranma ½ book.
"Long live King Kuno and Queen Kasumi!"
"To King Kuno and Queen Kasumi!" the crowd cheered as the king stood proudly by his new wife, who just smiled and nodded. Kasumi, along with her sisters Nabiki and Akane, was one of the most loved, young women in the kingdom. Her father was the king, and had lost his wife, and decided that it was time to give the throne up to his eldest daughter, who'd been arranged to have a marriage her whole life. Nabiki stood in the background glaring angrily at Kasumi and longingly at Kuno, and Akane stood by her father, tears of happiness streaming down her face.
"Father," said Akane softly. "Do you think Kuno will be able to do this? Nobody will ever be as great a ruler as you were."
"As long as my Kasumi is around, nothing can go wrong," he said confidently. Akane smiled, shaking her long, black hair away from her face, trying to get a better look at the new couple. Suddenly, Kuno glanced back at Nabiki, raising his eyebrows seductively at her. Nabiki smiled back knowingly, and then looked away. Akane gasped in shock.
"Father! Father! Did you not just see-
"Akane, hush now, they're going to the Celebration, come now!" he said, walking over to the limousine.
"But Father…" she rushed to keep up with him, but by now, he was in the car with the rest of the royal family.
Akane was unfortunately stuck in between Nabiki and her father, so she wouldn't have had a chance to tell her father what she'd seen. A few minutes later, they arrived at a palace, with lights strung all about it, and loud music coming from inside. A man helped her out of the limousine, and her father escorted her and Nabiki into the palace and down the staircase into the ballroom. Nabiki found her fellow princess friends, Shampoo and Ukyo, so Akane was finally alone with her father. After a few minutes of following him around, having to chat with guests, she finally was able to talk to him.
"Father, there's something I must tell you-
"Now, now Akane, it's all right, I know. You're too shy to dance with anyone. Do you think I forgot about your sixteenth birthday?" Akane blushed. "Now, look over there. There's a young man who's been eyeing ever since you arrived, go and speak to him."
"Father, that's not what I was going to say-
"Ah, it seems it doesn't matter in the first place here he comes now. I'm afraid I must desert you; your Uncle Felix has just entered. Hello Felix!"
Akane sighed lightly and rolled her eyes. She turned to go to the rest room to freshen up, and ran straight into someone. "Oh!"
"Forgive me!" said the person she'd run into. Akane looked up into the eyes of the man she'd disturbed, and lingered for a second, before standing up and clearing her throat. The man had bright, brown eyes, long, black hair in a pigtail, and a tall, muscular figure. He was wearing an expensive, black suit.
"I- I'm sorry," said Akane, blushing deeply. "I didn't see you-
"Oh, no, it was my entire fault, Princess," he said bowing deeply. "Would you like to dance?"
"Um…" Akane never had a chance to answer, because the man had already lightly taken her gloved hand and was leading her to the floor.
He set his hand delicately on her waist and linked his hand with hers, moving in a skilled way to the slow waltz. Akane was suddenly entranced by his warm touch and gentle glide, and after a moment, she almost intuitively brought her arms up around his neck, and he put both of his around her waist. Both were enraptured in the dance, and the man twirled her and brought her back to him. Soon after, he leaned to her ear, whispering so softly she had to strain even though his mouth was at her ear, "Princess…I've just one question for you…"
"Mmm…?"
"Princess Nabiki… have you had your cherry popped?"
She stood back from him. "Mm? What?"
"Would you like me to pop your cherry?" Suddenly, two men sitting at a table nearby burst out laughing.
"Why, you…YOU PERVERT!" Akane slapped him across the face. "And my name's Akane, not Nabiki!"
The man's confused idiom paled immediately. "Oh my gosh- I'm so sorry-
But it was too late. Akane was already walking over to linger some more with her father. "Father!" Akane uttered holding back tears of mortification and disgrace. Akane pulled her father away from a multitude of prosperous Lords and Ladies. "Father, that man, the one I was dancing with-
"Ah, yes! I see you have met Ranma!"
Akane's jaw dropped to the ground. "Ranma? Ranma Saotome? My fiancée?"
"Of course! Didn't you recognize him?"
"Well, no, considering I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM IN TEN YEARS!" said Akane, completely fuming.
"This is Mr. Genma Saotome, Ranma's father," said Akane's father, pointing to the oversized man with glasses he'd been previously speaking to.
Akane strained her mind trying to remember Ranma. She was six years old when she met him, but she didn't quite understand what it meant to have a fiancée. All she really remembered is that he and Nabiki would go off and play with each other, leaving Akane behind, yelling for them to wait up.
Akane was getting ready to tell all to her father, but then he got involved in another crowd of men and women, and Akane just walked away, having given up. She walked out the front, and around to a small, well-furnished courtyard. Akane sat down on a granite bench, and rested her head on her hand in frustration, but couldn't keep her thoughts on the events of that day for long, because she heard someone enter the courtyard.
Akane looked up, but then got ready to leave, as it was Ranma who'd entered the courtyard. "Please, Akane. Don't leave."
"Why should I stay?" she asked huffily.
"Just let me explain to you, okay?" Akane didn't look at him, but she didn't walk away. "Okay, well, when Nabiki and I were little, she came up to me and said do you want me to pop your cherry. And I said, do you know what that means? And she said she'd just heard it on television, and so that was our "inside joke" when we were little."
"Okay, well, that still doesn't explain why you said it to me," Akane said, still not looking at him.
"Well, it was so long ago…I think around ten years by now, and, well, the two of you look so similar, and her hair is short now, and you used to be the one with short hair, and she had the long hair…But seriously, I truly am sorry about that-
"It doesn't matter! You shouldn't say that to a girl no matter what, especially to one who's regal, and thought to have not been your fiancée! I've been humiliated in front of a lot of important people!"
"It's not as if I wasn't embarrassed either! And plus, in the end, you ended up being my fiancée anyway, didn't you?" He asked smugly. "But seriously, Akane, I am sincerely sorry. I would never humiliate you on purpose." Akane blushed as he sat down next to her, and she quickly stood up. Akane had always been ill at ease and timid around men, and though Ranma was her fiancée, it didn't make much of a difference to her. Ranma looked puzzled, but then he smirked. "That's strange. When we were little, you followed me everywhere, and now you want to be as far away from me as possible. So, why so shy all of a sudden?"
"That's none of your business, Ranma Saotome!"
"Must have had a rough time going through puberty, am I right?" Akane was still silent, but her face was turning redder and redder, from anger and embarrassment about the focus of the conversation. "But I don't know how you could have, seeing as puberty obviously did you wonders."
"Rrrrrrrr…Ranma! JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE TO MARRY EACH OTHER DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SAY STUFF LIKE THAT TO ME!" Akane started stomping away.
"Akane," said Ranma, restraining his voice. "That was a compliment. CAN'T YOU TAKE A STINKIN' COMPLIMENT?" Ranma finished with a yell, since Akane had turned the corner, around to the entrance to the Celebration. She has got serious issues, thought Ranma, as he walked toward the Celebration.
A week after the Celebration…
"Akane! A young man has come to see you!" yelled Suki, the maid, in a taunting sing-song voice.
"Oh, just tell him I already have a fiancée!" she hollered back.
"Trust me, I already did!" said Suki, walking in with the aforementioned "young man".
"Ranma! What are you doing here!" asked a shocked Akane.
"My father's back in town for a meeting, and I asked if I could come with him," said Ranma, trying to sound cheerful.
"Why are you so happy?" asked Akane in a sneering way.
Ranma stared at her as if she were a three-eyed alien, and said, "Because I'm seeing you." This received a blush from Akane. "And because we're going to be staying here for a few weeks, since my father has so many things to out here."
Akane stood there with her mouth agape for a few seconds, and finally forced out, "Well- well, that does not mean that we have to stay together and be…intimate, or anything!"
Somewhere else in the palace…
"Father, where is King Kuno?" asked Kasumi, who was in a lounge with her father, stirring her coffee.
"Um…last I heard, he and Nabiki were going on a tour of the lower floor of the palace," said her father absentmindedly, reading his newspaper all the while.
Kasumi said nothing for several minutes, but her bird-brained father didn't notice. He also didn't notice Kasumi walking over to her father's hunting room, ever-so-slowly.
Back to Ranma and Akane…
"I didn't say we had to do anything 'intimate'," said Ranma as calmly as he could.
But by then, Akane wasn't listening to him. Her thoughts were back to the exchanged looks between Kuno and Nabiki. Whenever Akane would gain the courage to speak about it, her father would always find someway to interrupt.
"Akane? Are you alright?"
"Yes… it's just that I… I feel as if something is wrong…" Suddenly, the pair looked up in shock, at the most horrible sound either of them could have imagined. "Kasumi!" Akane took off on an elegant run.
"Akane! Come back!" yelled Ranma, dashing after her, a few seconds later.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHRRRR!
Kasumi seized the nearest breakable item and threw it at the bed.
"Kasumi, settle down-
"NABIKI! HOW COULD YOU!" suddenly, her fire filled eyes turned toward Kuno. "And Kuno…" he voice softly shook with restrained anger. "You told me you loved me."
"Kasu-
"YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE OVER HER! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Akane appeared in the doorway just in time to see three shots get fired out of a huge hunting gun.
Akane felt as if everything was going into slow motion. Her eyes burned with tears, and she backed away from the door, as she watched her oldest sister slump to the floor. She staggered a bit, and hurled all over the place. Then, she started running, not even noticing the tears involuntarily gushing down her face. A second later, she ran into Ranma, and completely crumpled down. "Oh my gosh, Akane, what's wrong?" asked Ranma, heaving her up to him. But Akane could say nothing. She just looked up at him, still crying, and then choked and passed out. "Oh my gosh…" he muttered as he swiftly curled her under his arms and dashed toward anyone.
Ranma firmly kept himself from crying. Though he was not, everyone else in the nation was sobbing violently, over the death of the King, Queen, and Princess. His eyes never once left Akane, who was in the front row, several pews ahead of him. Akane, along with everyone else in the nation, could not, practically refused to believe that Kasumi would do such a thing. But, who was to blame her? She'd found her new husband in bed with her baby sister.
A few minutes later, the royal family walked down the aisle, all crying sadly, except for Akane. Her tears were bitter.
A few days later, people finally started to come out of their rooms, finally started to eat small meals. After all, they'd probably die themselves if they didn't take care of themselves.
Nothing was ever, EVER, going to be the same. How could it be? Kasumi and Nabiki were huge parts in EVERY-one's lives. One day, everyone was told to meet for a meeting. Ranma made his way over. Genma, Soun, and Akane were in there, and Ranma took a seat next to his father, across from Akane. "I know that this isn't probably the most appropriate thing to be talking about…but…it can't be avoided…" said Soun weakly. "Well…now that there's no King…or Queen…well…" Suddenly, Akane and Ranma realized where this was going.
"Father…you can't be serious-
"Akane, it's not as if I can be King again, and you're next in line, so…"
"But- but…" Akane glanced across at Ranma, who quickly looked down. "I-I- I- I'm not ready for this at all! I'm only sixteen years old!" Her father stared her down firmly. Finally Akane let out a breath and asked feebly, "How long do I have…until I…have to get married?"
"The most we can give you is…well, about a month."
Akane held her head in her arms in aggravation…a month…she was going to get married at sixteen years old…
A couple of hours later…
"Who is it?" asked Akane, as she heard a knock at the door.
Ranma entered into her bedroom, and she quickly stood up from her bed, where she'd been reading a book.
"Ranma…"
"Look, Akane, I don't like what's happening any more than you do, but we should at least try to make the best of it," said Ranma, walking into her room.
"You shouldn't be in here. It IS my bedroom, after all," said Akane softly, ignoring his comment.
Ranma sighed and sweat-dropped. "Akane, I came in here to talk to you. Don't you think that since we're getting married, we should at least get to know each other?"
Akane's cheeks turned red as she realized how close Ranma was to her. "Well- um-
"Miss Akane!" said Suki in her goofy voice. Akane quickly went to her bedroom door, Ranma right behind her. Right as Akane walked out, Suki walked in. Suki and Akane shrieked, as Suki dropped her pitcher of water for Akane. Akane tried to grab it, but accidentally threw it.
A shocked Akane and an embarrassed Suki turned around to see an… "awkward" Ranma.
"Ranma? Is that you?" asked Akane incredulously, afraid of the answer.
"Um…heh-heh…" Ranma giggled nervously. It looked exactly like Ranma except for the red hair and the shortness…oh, yes, one other thing too…
"He's got b-!" yelled Suki. Quickly, Ranma put his hand over the young servant's mouth, and pulled her inside the room.
Akane was breathing so hard she was in danger of hyperventilating, and Ranma took the two girls by the arms and sat them on the bed. "Would you mind explaining this!"
"Okay just…listen, please. My father and I travel all of the time everywhere. One time, about a year ago, he and I were taking a visit in China, and we went to go look at the cursed springs. Suddenly, a man named Ryoga and a man named Mousse came and attacked me. Well, we were fighting on the land of cursed springs, so…well, I went to dodge him, and somehow, right as my dad got into the middle to break us up, we all bumped into each other, and each of us landed in a different spring. Pop landed into the Spring of Drowned Panda, Ryoga into the Spring of Drowned Black Pig, Mousse into the Spring of Drowned Duck, and me into the springofdrownedgirl," he finished with a mumble.
"What?"
"The Spring of Drowned Girl," he said blushing as Suki and Akane surpressed giggles. "And now, whenever one of us gets cold water on us, we turn into a panda, pig, duck, and girl."
"Well, how do you turn back?" asked Akane.
"Hot water," said Ranma, looking at Suki. "Would you mind?"
As Suki got up to leave, something dawned on Akane. "Wait a second! I can't marry someone who's half girl!"
Ranma blushed angrily. "It's not like I've always been a girl. And besides, if I'm really careful, we won't have to worry about it." Akane just shuddered and inched away a little bit.
Then Suki came in with a pitcher of hot water, and dumped over Ranma, make Akane give a dirty look because of her now soaking sheets.
"Does my father know about this?" asked Akane.
"Well, since my father never knows when to keep his mouth shut, I would assume so," said Ranma, and then suddenly smiled. "You know, this is probably one of the most civilized conversations we've ever had with each other, even though the topic isn't the greatest."
Akane even smiled. "Ha, yea."
"Usually you would have run off by now with some excuse," said Ranma, laughing slightly.
"What's that supposed to mean!" asked Akane furiously.
Ranma sweat-dropped, "Uh, heh heh, nothing…" He cowered at Akane's scary glare. They both suddenly looked up at Suki's freaked out look, and watched as she oozed away through the door.
Akane got ready to start yelling at him again, but Ranma cut her off. "Seriously, Akane, we can't rule Nerima if we argue about everything!"
"Well…well…" Akane sputtered. "You're the one who starts it all in the first place, and you know it! If you weren't so conceited and egotistical and-
Ranma groaned into his hand. "Do you know what? I give up! I'm leaving! And I'm not marrying you! Have fun ruling the country by yourself. Or maybe you can just rule it with one of the many bachelors who come just for your wealth and fame! GOODBYE!" Ranma slammed her bedroom door.
Akane sat there in shock for a moment, her mouth agape, still staring at the door, and then broke down and started crying.
Ranma, however, was still fuming, as he trudged down the hall to his quarters that he and his father were staying in. As he reached his door, he had finally come to his senses, and his stomach dropped to the floor, having realized that he'd just refused to marry a princess…and especially one as cute as Akane.
As Akane got up and slowly walked to her door, Ranma dashed to Akane's room, so that Akane opened the door, and Ranma accidentally pummeled her to the ground. Ranma, of course, ended up on top of Akane, and Akane looked up into his fearful eyes, hers still red, and slightly shining with tears. "Ranma-
"Akane I'm-
Ranma looked away. "Ranma, you were right…I do argue with you about everything…but that's not the only thing you were right about…I am shy around men…" Akane bit her lip and Ranma couldn't help but smirk at her.
"Akane…I'm so sorry…
"…so…if I do something rash to you…don't take it personally." They sat in silence for a moment or so, before Akane cleared her throat, saying, "You can…um…get off of me now…"
Ranma didn't move for a couple of seconds, in shock that he'd completely forgotten their position, but then abruptly stood up. He offered his hand to Akane, and she took it lightly, with a soft blush on her face. She opened the door for him, and he began to walk out.
But he slipped back in quickly. "I have a quick question, Akane, something I've been wanting to ask you ever since the Celebration…" she looked up at him expectedly. "What shampoo do you use?"
"Uh-um…" she stuttered, her face reddening deeper than a tomato. "It- it's a special formula made just for me, by an American scientist…"
"Oh," he said thoughtfully. They both sort of twiddled their thumbs for a second, until Ranma muttered, "It's really nice," and dashed out of the room.
So…that's chapter one! What do you think? Should I go on? Whatev, just… PLZ REVIEW!