Heavenly Intervention
Chapter 06
All Wrong
Akane frowned as she stared at her very attractive feminine form in the mirror in her room. "It's time to get back my manhood." She said as she stared with a fire of determination.
Akane had been training for a week straight in hopes that she would be able to surprise Cologne with what she had learned, enough to win against the three hundred year old master. She had been extra careful not to train anywhere near anybody that she knew. She had to perfect the amazon skills she had stolen while she was in China. Despite the fact that Shampoo was never a favorite character of hers she had actually fallen for the foreign girl. Akane walked over to her bed and lay down for a few minutes. She wasn't allowed to see Shampoo until she was ready to fight Cologne.
The old bat had been nice enough to allow her a week to prepare... but Akane wasn't fooled... Cologne wanted her to lose. She hated the idea of her grand daughter in love with another girl... even if she did change into a guy. "I have to beat her at full strength." She muttered. "I have to have the element of surprise."
Just then Ranma was at the door to her room. "What do you need manhood for?" He stated, his arms crossed over his chest as he stood leaning against her doorframe. "You're a girl."
"Who happens to like another girl." Akane sniffed. "I'm not interested in you Ranma." She stated.
Ranma looked confused. "Why? You're a girl... I'm a guy, well mostly, and we're engaged."
Akane frowned. "So? Just cause we're engaged doesn't mean I have to like you. The pact was also for you to marry 'one' of the Tendo girls... you could pick Nabiki or Kasumi and my dad would be perfectly happy about that."
"But..." Ranma started. "Nabiki's so weird... and Kasumi's too nice. You had the same curse."
"So what?" Akane stated, sitting up on her bed. "Didn't you hear me? When you first came here? Opposites attract. Try Kasumi."
Ranma stepped forwards. "What do you mean 'Try Kasumi'?" He asked. "I can't just say I want to be with her instead of you out of the blue!"
"Yes you can." Akane said with a calm face upon her delicate features as she stood up.
Ranma just stood there dumbfounded as he watched her exit her room and walk away from him. He couldn't help but watch her firm posterior as she bounced down the stairs. He then sighed. *I like you Akane.* He thought to himself a little saddened by the rejection he just faced.
Ranma then frowned. *I won't be defeated by her again!* He thought darkly. *I can beat her! I'LL MAKE HER FALL IN LOVE WITH ME!!* Ranma smiled and then turned and ran the other way into the guest room.
****************
Akane smiled evilly as she approached the door of the Cat Café. She opened the door and stepped inside. "OLD GHOUL!!" She called out. "I'm here for my fiancee and the Phoenix pill!" Shampoo smiled as Akane entered.
Cologne came out of the back and smiled "Well then daughter in law." She said with more than a little spite. "FOLLOW ME!!!" She cried leaping out a window before Akane knew what to do.
Akane, without thinking quickly chased after the old bat. Determined to defeat her and win Shampoo's hand. She didn't question her move to leave. She didn't care. She just wanted to win. She had realized earlier just how much she really did care for Shampoo. After a week of training and reflecting on the time they shared together it just hit her. She loved Shampoo.
*I can't back down!* Akane thought as she leapt across rooftops and telephone poles trying to keep up with the Joketsuzoku matriarch. *I can't lose to her! If Ranma can do it...!* Akane had a sliver of doubt enter her mind as she thought of that. Cologne liked Ranma and supported Shampoo's quest to 'catch' him in the canon Ranma ½ universe. Cologne did not like her however and she had no doubt in her mind that the old broad would be as sneaky and skillful against her as she would against an opponent equally matched with her 300 years of training.
Akane grinned and sped up to catch the woman. *I HAVE to defeat her!*
Akane frowned as she realized where Cologne was leading her as the old woman entered a building. "Shit! A public bath!" She noted out loud before jumping from the rooftops down to the street. Though she was vulnerable to all water at the moment she entered without hesitation. She quickly found the woman standing in the middle of the girls side of the bath in the middle of the large soaking area balancing on top of her oversized cane.
"Well daughter in law. You were able to keep up with me at full speed. I am impressed. You're far more talented than you put on." Cologne stated.
"Shut up old woman!" Akane growled back ignoring all the women around her who were staring at the confrontation between the two martial artists with interest. "I'm here for one thinig and one thing only! To kick your ass and win back Shampoo!" She stated dropping into a martial arts stance.
Cologne nodded. "You're welcome to try girl, but you're a hundred years too young to defeat me yet!" She said, shifting her wait only slightly to one side.
Akane growled and ran towards th two foot tall woman. Cologne smiled at the girl, expecting her to jump towards her position once she got to the waters edge. She was suddenly surprised as Akane ran straight through it, picking up speed so drastically once reaching the edge that she was a blur of motion that Cologne could barely follow. Akane seemed to just appear in front of the withered old creature and sent a vicious kick at her face which she dodged, barely. Akane continued her blinding fast movements right to the other side of the soaking area, dropping into a defensive stance.
"It seems you have a few surprises up your sleeve as well." Cologne stated surprised at Akane's skill level. "Your skill seems to be much greater than an ordinary 19 year old girl."
Akane smiled mischievously, thinking that she had the upper hand. "I'm only 16!" She called out before attacking again, turning once again into a blur. Cologne quickly adjusted to the speed of the warrior and grabbed her leg as she tried for a mid-air kick combination, swinging the girl directly into the water.
Akane was surprised at having been caught while her entire body was going Amaguriken speed and quickly realized she was in the water, which felt like some sort of acid, burning her flesh right off her body. She jumped out of the water screaming and quick as she could got to the edge of the water, shivering at the surprising amount of pain coming from being fully submersed in the water with the moxibustion point Cologne had applied upon her. "Damn... you... woman!" She hissed as she recovered somewhat.
During the short skirmish a chain around Colognes neck, which had been hidden beneath her tunic had come out. Akane recognized it as the locket that was supposedly holding the Phoenix pill.
Cologne smiled as she held it out in front of herself with one hand as the other held on to the cane that supported her and kept her out of the water. "I believe this is what you're looking for." Cologne stated with a dark smirk that made Akane's heart sink. "Tell me Akane." She started off, "How is it you could move so fast? You're much to young to be able to move so fluidly at such speeds. You're much older than you put on I think."
Akane smirked as well building up the confidence in her aura. "Well your senses are misinforming you then Amazon trash!" Akane then stood up to her full height no longer shaking in pai, her aura bursting with confidence. "TAKE THIS!!" Akane then rushed the old woman again, this time, halfway through her speedy trek across the water her hands began to glow with powerful energy.
Cologne eyes widened in sudden surprise as Akane thrust her arms out towards her at point blank range. *What!? This girl knows Chi attacks!?!* She thought before getting hit full force with a blast of confidence fueled chi.
"MOKO TAKABISHA!!!!" Akane yelled. The blast of yellow chi engulfed the old woman and sent her flying towards the wall of the building, which exploded outwards and brought the fight out into the open. Akane smirked down at the woman as she landed just outside the hole where Cologne lay a few feet away on the ground.
She frowned slightly when Cologne got up with no problem whatsoever and smiled herself. "Very interesting." She stated, patting some dust off her shoulders. "I was completely unaware that you were able to manipulate chi in an offensive form." Cologne chuckled a bit. "I won't be caught off guard like that again."
Akane growled. "Whatever the case You're dead granny! HYAAAAAHHH!!!!" Akane leapt forward with a kick when Cologne seemed to split into two and Akane went right in between the two. She rolled with the missed kick and growled. *Damn it!* She thought. *She's doing that Curious cat illusion clone thing!*
Cologne began to laugh maniacally and continued to split up until there was a small army of Colognes surrounding Akane. Akane cursed under her breath as the bystanders all looked on in wonder at the spectacle of a expert martial arts duel. The Colognes began to spin around Akane while they all laughed. "Which one is the real me!?" She asked the girl cryptically.
Akane closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the old woman's aura. Just then she was smacked on the back of her head with a wooden cane. "Auugh!" She called out in pain as she stumbled forwards. She was then hit again from another angle and then again, again, and again. As soon as it stopped she closed her eyes again and concentrated. "None of them is the real you!" She stated surprised when she found that none of the Colognes in the circle had an aura.
Cologne chuckled from on top of a nearby wall. "Very observant daughter in law!" She called down. The illusions then disappeared and Ranma stood there glaring at the woman, a black eye starting to form from the cane strikes.
"Damn it! Why are you doing this to me!?" Akane called out to the amazon. "I still have all the parts as a guy! It's not like we couldn't elope!!" Akane sighed in exasperation. "We both love each other and I'm a strong warrior!"
Cologne's eyes flared. "I will not let Shampoo marry another girl!!" Cologne growled. "It's unnatural! Very few women in the Joketsuzoku have had relationships with other girls! We have a law that exiles all of these people from the village and I will not have Shampoo, my great granddaughter and future matriarch of Joketsuzoku, be exiled!" She stated.
"What about the curse?" Akane asked. "Wouldn't that change it?"
"If it did," Cologne said with a smirk. "I wouldn't have gotten rid of yours." Cologne said.
Akane froze in shock at the statement made by the old woman."What? Gotten rid of?"
Cologne nodded. "I had to make sure one thing didn't lead to the other you know." Cologne added. "The pressure points I used on you were only to make all water burn you. Not lock you in your true form. There is not way to lock a cursed one in their true form."
Akane was at a loss for words. "No...way?"
Cologne nodded. "That's right. The water I used on you was heated up spring of drowned girl water. The only way a person can be cured by the cursed water of their original form is by heating it."
"But what about...?"
"Shampoo?" Cologne finished for the girl. "She's already figured it out. Why do you think I've forbidden contact between the two of you for the last week?"
It suddenly all came back to Akane. How could she have been so blind? Akane frowned, rage boiling inside of her. She had to beg her mother to let her father take her on that training trip so she could find Jusenkyo and have a somewhat normal relationship with a girl. "So what?" Akane started. "You just led me on cause you wanted a good fight or something!?"
Cologne's eyebrows furrowed in to a glare at the martial artist below her wall perch on the street. "No child. I want to destroy you for taking advantage of my Shampoo!"
Cologne then began to Attack Akane again. Swinging at her with lightning fast strikes of her cane, fists and feet. Akane was very hard pressed to dodge or block the attacks. And felt more and more getting through her defenses until she was basically just getting brutally pummeled. *This isn't good!* Akane thought as she was struck with an amaguiriken speed flurry of cane blows. *She's going all out! She's not holding back!* Just then the attacks stopped and rAkane looked up from her place on the ground where she fell and noticed Ranma standing there in male form glaring at the old woman who had backed away momentarily.
"Leave my fiancee alone!" Ranma stated. Dropping into a defensive stance.
Cologne looked surprised at the boy. She was so busy beating on the trollop Akane that she had failed to think of what others might join the fray. "You're the boy who lives with her right?" Cologne asked the pigtailed martial artist. "The one that's cursed to turn into a girl..." Cologne then thought back to one of the times she had seen Ranma transform and then back to the instance in the village where Shampoo was first defeated. Cologne smiled at Ranma and then down at Akane. She tossed a paper towards Ranma and turned to leave. "That's instructions on how to undo the moxibustion point on your fiance. I'm sorry to cause you any trouble." She stated before leaping away across the rooftops.
Ranma frowned as he watched her disappear, making sure that she was gone before getting back to Akane. "You okay?" He asked as he lifted her up by her shoulders so she was in a kneeling position. Her face was covered in bumps and bruises, was all puffy from the beating, and her Black Chines ghi was torn and dirty.
Akane coughed up a little blood. "Ranma... she's up... to something." She stated. Before passing out.
Ranma sighed as he looked down at her. He quickly took her up in his arms and carried her, quickly, back to the Tendo dojo where he could then call a doctor.
*****************
Akane awoke hours later, her head hurt, she couldn't see too well. She tried to move but then stopped when she realized that not just her head hurt. Her everything hurt. "Akane?" A voice said from above her.
Akane looked up, squinting to see properly. "Mom?" Her vision became a little clearer as she looked around more and realized she was home. Dr. Tofu, Ranma, and all the others were sitting around her. "I lost." She said sadly.
Kimiko put a hand on her daughter's face caressing it gently. "Don't worry sweety. It's not your fault."
Akane groaned as she struggled to sit up. "No. It is."
"Akane?" Ranma sated, worried about her.
"I got way too cocky about my abilities. I'm better than Ranma so I figured I didn't have to worry about anyone else. There's always somebody better." Akane said through clenched teeth. She turned towards Ranma, her puffy face black and blue all over from the beating. "Thank you for saving me Ranma." She stated. "I think Cologne was trying to kill me."
Ranma blushed slightly. "Yeah well... Someone had to save you, yah macho chick."
Akane just smiled and then turned to look at Tofu. "So what's the prognosis doc?" She asked cheerily. "Or diagnosis, or whatever it is you did while I was out of it."
Tofu smiled. "Well first off it's nice to meet you Akane. I've heard a lot about you from your family while you were on your training trip. You've turned out to be very beautiful, and a talented martial artist."
Kasumi, who had gone to the kitchen for some tea frowned at the praise Tofu gave her little sister.
Akane smiled. "Thanks Dr. Tofu.. So why do I hurt so bad?" She asked.
Tofu looked over the note pad he had with him where he had written down a list of the injuries Akane had received at Cologne's beating. "Well your left legs Tibia and Fibula are both broken, I'll bring you to my clinic later to fix that. Three of your ribs are broken, You've got several cuts on your arms, face, legs, and chest. Some of these will heal but a good deal of them will leave some nasty scars. And lastly two of your fingers are broken."
Akane blinked in shock. She was surprised to say the least that all that had happened to her in her battle with Cologne. Akane decided to lay back down. Nabiki frowned as she looked down at her sister. "Honestly Akane. This is all your fault."
"Nabiki!" Kimiko scolded her second child.
Nabiki frowned at her mother. "Well it's true! If she had just stuck with Ranma instead of getting engaged to a girl this wouldn't have happened!"
Akane sighed. "Well... I'll just have to train harder when I get better."
Ranma shrugged. "I don't know how good that'll do."
"I'm teaching you everything I know Ranma." Akane said.
"What?" Ranma wondered. "Why?"
"Well," Akane started. "Cologne seemed interested in you when you came and saved me... that much I could see. If you want to stand a chance against her as well you'll need my help... and I want to be prepared as well in case she decides she wants to come after me again."
Ranma looked surprised but nodded. He had seen some of Akane's moves and he was actually eager to train with her. "Sure."
Akane smiled and turned back to the doctor. "You can take me away and patch me up now doc." She said with that Tofu took Akane away to the clinic.
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Akane sighed as she lay on the uncomfortable cot in the clinic. She had a cast on her leg and bandages all over her chest and arms. She grumbled as she thought about her situation stuck in Akane's body in the Ranma ½ world. *Now I'm going to have to go to school as a girl.* she thought annoyed at the prospect of wearing the girly Furinkan school uniform. *Now the only Ranma girl that I had a chance with as a girl with a curse is gone cause of another stupid amazon rule.
"Big sister?" came a voice from near the door.
Akane struggled to lift her neck up enough to see. She smiled as she saw Tetsuo. He was a good kid but Akane had barely spent any time with him since she got back from her trip. "Hey squirt. How's it goin?" She asked.
Tetsuo walked over to where the youngest Tendo daughter lay broken. He sat down on a nearby chair and frowned at the vision of his sister in pain. "I guess I don't have a brother anymore huh?" He asked sullenly.
Akane sighed but didn't respond, the eleven year old boy continued anyway. "Why didn't you just... like Ranma? Did you like girls when you were a guy?" He asked, not understanding why his sister would date and kiss other girls.
Akane sighed. "I like girls even when I'm not one."
"Why?" Tetsuo asked. "What about inheriting the dojo? Don't you want to do that? Don't you want our martial arts school to live on?"
"I do Tetsuo... it's just... I'm not attracted to men. Ranma's just a friend. I can't possible think of him as anything more. I'm sure there'll be lots of women that'll be interested in Ranma. It's just not me."
Tetsuo sighed. "Will you teach me with Ranma too?" He asked.
Akane smiled. "You want to get into martial arts?" She asked.
Tetsuo nodded. "Since Dad was gone I never got to learn... but when I kept hearing about how you were on a martial arts adventure I wanted to. Tofu helped me learn some shiatsu but it's not much."
"Sure."
"What?"
Akane griinned and lifted up her arm to pat him on the head. "I'll gladly teach yah. It'll be easy, but it'll be a lot of hard work. You ready to work really hard?" She asked.
Tetsuo smiled excitedly. "Yes!"
"Go get Ranma's Dad to teach you until I get out of here. I won't be able to get crutches till tomorrow so I'm staying here over night according to Tofu."
"Alright!" Tetsuo cried excitedly leaping up to take off and start training.
"Wait!" Akane called, grabbing his arm before he could leave. "Does Tofu like Kasumi?" She asked, having been confused by the mans calm face despite the fact that Kasumi was in the same room when she had awoken on the Tendo floor earlier that day.
Tetsuo paused and looked confused. "Uhhh. Yeah. I guess. They tried dating in high school before if I remember correctly."
Akane looked surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah." Tetsuo continued. "I think it just didn't work out... why?"
Akane took her hand off of Tetsuos arm and smiled. "Just curious." She stated. "Does she have a new boyfriend?"
Tetsuo shook his head. "No she sais she wants to finish school first before getting into that stuff. Why are you asking me about Kasumi?"
Akane chuckled. "Just getting to know the family I haven't seen in so long."
Tetsuo rolled his eyes and left.
Akane sighed as she stared at the ceiling for a little while after Tetsuo left. "Everything's so different with Mom alive." She muttered. "Go I wish those god damn amazons weren't so homophobic."
"Shampoo no homo." came a voice from the door.
Akane sighed. "I guess this is you coming to tell me that You're leaving for China soon huh?" she asked, not lifting up her head to look at the girl. "Or did your grandmother send you to kill me?"
Akane heard light footsteps coming towards her and turned her head to the purple haired amazon she had fallen in love with once she was beside her. "Shampoo come to say goodbye." she stated.
Shampoo sat down and frowned sadly. "Shampoo love Akane." She stated. "But can no see Akane. Great Grandmother no like."
"Why are you here then?" Akane asked.
Shampoo then picked up a delivery box. She smiled. "Shampoo supposed to be doing delivery."
"Guess you can't stay long huh?" Akane said as she lifted up her hand and lightly stroked the side of Shampoo's face.
Shampoo closed her eyes and sighed at the delicate touch of her former fiance. "Shampoo love Akane... don't want to leave." Shampoo then leaned forward and kissed Akane on the lips. It was the first time that she had done that while they were both girls. Even though they hadn't seen each other much since their cures. Akane cherished it. It was a sign to her that Shampoo didn't care what sex she was.
Shampoo then stood up after breaking the kiss. "Shampoo have to go now."
Akane's face sunk into that of a sad expression. "Would I be able to write to you at least?" Akane asked as Shampoo began to walk towards the exit.
"Shampoo send you address." She stated before leaving, a few tears running down her cheek.
***************
Author's Notes: {Well I decided to leave it at that. What better ending to a chapter than the fated and tragic leave of a loved one? Anywho I'm coming along with this just fine. I was over at a friends house out of town for a few days so lack of updates is due to that. As for character development... I want Tetsuo to have some sort of important part in the story but I'm completely lost. As for those who aren't sure TETSUO IS NOT THE PERSON FROM AKIRA!!! I've had someone e-mail me a long time ago that he/or she thought it was a neat idea to cross it over with Akira... Sorry... no Akira here. Just a common Japanese name that I got from a name generating program. Bwell as it were this rant has gone on for far too long. Good fight, and good night.}
Morden Night: mordennight@hotmail.com
Ciao