Once Upon A Dream With Me
Li Cruz
CHAPTER 2: Letting Go
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Thanks, three reviews for first chapter within 5 days. Wow, new records. Yes, I do know I have grammar errors but hey, it gets the point across. As to the beta reader, long ago I gave up on trying to get others to read it. Beside it may take days for them to finish. I prefer to make sure I don't have too many plot holes before posting and the rhythm is right.
I plan to write about the Incident in this chapter. And about Cologne, think like an Amazon. What's the point of keeping an engagement to someone who is no longer strong enough to fight back? And to note I hate doing summaries.
Also I will update when I feel the chapter is up to snuff. It may be several days though.-Li Cruz.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ranma watched the scene play out.
"Kami, Akane! Listen for me for just one frigging moment! I didn't-." What seemed to be a healthy and hale version of him yelled at Akane.
Akane's punch landed in his stomach. Ranma bend over, trying to reclaim his breath.
Ranma could hear an illness rattling in his double's chest. He watched himself gasp for breath. His eyes were slightly glazed as he looked up to see Akane hit again. Ranma woke up before the hit connected.
He rolled over to his side and stared at his wheelchair in the dim light.
'What was that? A memory?' Ranma bit the inside of his lip. 'If so, why did she hit me? What did I do wrong?'
Ranma sighed before trying to sleep again. He slid back into it.
He now was watching himself coughing hard into his hand. Kasumi comes into the room with some medication. Her eyes were worried.
"Maybe you should go to the doctor's first?"
"No. If I don't do it, I might lose my nerve." A thin smile appeared on his face. He takes the pill bottle from her hand.
"Beside, Kasumi, it's time I tried to make peace with the others and solve some of my problems."
Kasumi sighed. "Let me go with you at least."
He nods. "Okay, but keep a good distance. It could get messy.
Ranma watches the scene change to seeing Kasumi cradling his head in her lap and screaming for help.
Ranma was jerked awake by someone entering the room. He kept his breathing deep and even. He could feel eyes on him but he didn't dare move. All he knew it wasn't Kasumi.
"Ranma, can you ever forgive me? I didn't know you were ill that day. Akane said it was your fault that day, yet I can't shake the feeling that you were the victim here. I 'm now the best young martial artist here with one of the prettiest girls here and yet..." A male voice trailed off, his whisper clear to Ranma's ear. "I'm sorry."
Ranma listened to Ryoga shut the door and walked down the hall. Ranma opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling in thought. He didn't even realize the sun began to rise.
Kasumi came in to a wide awake Ranma. He turned his head to look at her before pushing himself up to a semi-sitting position. He gave her a soft smile.
"What happened during the week before my coma?" Ranma asked.
Kasumi paused in mid-step. "Do you remember?"
"Everything? No. But I want to know what happened that whole week."
Kasumi nodded. "I'll tell you over breakfast. It's only you and me today."
An half an hour later found Kasumi sitting next to Ranma whose wheelchair was position next to the porch. A tray of drink and food sat between them. Kasumi blew on her tea.
"Where should I start?"
Ranma humorously said. "The beginning is nice."
"Ranma!" She said smiling. Then she sighed. "It didn't really start to deteriorate until after your and Akane's failed wedding. You were depressed a few weeks after. You came to me like you normally would to talk things out. You asked me if love was supposed to be so painful. You were having doubts about if Akane really loved you. Not long after that day, you started to become sick. You hid it so well that I didn't know you were sick. One night I found you in your room when Genma went to see your mother for a week..."
Kasumi stopped at Ranma's door. Somebody was having a violent coughing fits. She heard the rattle of a medicine bottle. She opened the door.
"Ranma!? Are you alright?" Kasumi asked, seeing Ranma.
His face was pale and he looked extremely tired. His breath rattled in his throat. He gave her a sad smile and beckoned her in.
"I was hoping it would pass before anyone would notice." His voice had some humor in it.
"Ranma, you look terrible. What's a matter?" Kasumi sat down next to him.
"I'm feeling a little under the weather, that's all." Ranma waved it off.
"Ranma." Kasumi said firmly, as she picked up the bottle. "Cough suppressant?"
He sighed. "Yeah, Kasumi. I came down with something. I've had it before. It kind of zaps my strength for a while and I sometimes have coughing fits. It'll pass, Kasumi, in a few days."
"Ranma, you should see a doctor."
"Kasumi, it's only lasts for about a week. I'll be fine. It's just the second day."
"It didn't last a week."
"No, but somehow you had it under control by the fifth day. It seemed to vanish but it returned after you fought Ryoga. He hit you in the chest. You managed to keep from coughing until you arrive back at the house. I had to help you to bed. No one bothered to ask why you went to bed. For the next few days, I had to constantly nurse you after fights or Akane's beatings even though you did your best to avoid them. You weren't healing properly and you didn't eat as much as you used to. The damage your body couldn't heal must have been building up until It happened."
Kasumi frowned, looking into the cup. Ranma reached over to place a reassuring hand over hers. She gave a faint smile.
"You decide to end the chaos. You said it was going to kill you one day. First thing you were going to do is talk things out with your fiancées. Then you promised you'd go to the doctor right after.
"Then you asked me to go to the doctor's first, but I said I'd lose my nerve if I did."
"Yes, yes you did say that."
"You asked to follow me and I allowed you on one condition."
"That I keep my distance because you thought it could go bad."
"I was right it seemed." Ranma closed his eyes. "Can you continue?"
"Hai. You called Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyou to the school. You all meet in the middle of the school yard. I was sitting under a tree on the edge of the school yard near the school..."
"Girls? I need for you to hear me out first."
"Okay."
"I want to call off the enragements." Ranma began, his hand in supplementation.
"WHAT?!" The three girls yelled. Ranma flinched visibly.
"I have a few good." He never got to finish his sentence.
"YOU HAVE SOMEONE ELSE, DON'T YOU?" Akane yelled.
Ranma shook his head. He counted the seconds until...
"RANMA, DIE!" Ryoga screamed as he sped towards Ranma.
Ranma barely avoided the punch. He felt strangely tired. He sensed Kuno making his strike as well. He pivoted on his heel. The bokken can within millimeters of his body.
"You foul demon! Die, Soatome!"
Mousse appeared as if on que without his glasses. He threw out multiple daggers. Ranma felt the cold slice along his back. He could hear Kasumi gasp. He backpedaled a few feet. He could feel a coughing fit press against his lungs. He snarled through his coughing fit, his temper finally reaching breaking point with his exhaustion and his 'friends' and their current stupidity.
"You girls said you'd listen to me all the fucking way out." He wheezed out. Everyone went quiet. "But no. You all had to act like idiots and jump to fucking conclusion."
Akane hissed out. "Are you calling us idiots?"
"I am. You being the biggest fool of them all. I'm tired of being your fucking fall guy. You out of all of them keep leading me on like that. I'm nothing to you, just some object to play with. You blame everything that goes wrong with you on me. Some of it may be my own fault. The rest is either your fault or someone else-"
"Shut up about Akane!" Ryoga made a hit in the stomach. Ranma's eyesight went black for a good second. "All you are is a dishonorable pervert."
"Hypocrite." Ranma wheezed. "She's just stringing you all along. She's a regular vixen. A real bitch."
The group went deathly quiet. Ranma felt blood slide down his backside. He tried pulling deep breathes to fill his oxygen-starved lungs. Akane's battle scream echoed in the air as she launched herself at Ranma. She punched and kicked him into the school building's wall. Ranma dimly heard several ribs crack under the pressure and at least one arm felt like it was broken. Shampoo and Uykou attacked Akane in hope of getting her off Ranma. Apparently they thought they still had a chance with Ranma. The three guys tried to restrain the girls from killing each other while Ranma felt himself slide a bit down. He hoped it wouldn't get worse.
Murphy's Law just had to hit. Happosia came running in followed by an armored Soun, Genma, Kodachi, and Pantyhose-taro. Kodachi demanding her 'things' back and the remaining three trying to dispose of him. Principal Kuno decided to show up to see what's happening and tried one of his new haircutting techniques. And a few other enemies show up.
As you can guess, the fates must have been having a field day at the time. Oddly enough Ranma didn't join into the battle royale, but then again he was too busy trying to keep standing. Everyone kind of forgot about poor Ranma.
As if someone up there was trying to test him, one of the group's ki attacks got out of control. Let's say Ryoga was caught between stopping Akane, keeping uninjured, and killing Happosia to notice it. It slammed into Ranma and sent him through about eight walls before it and he ran out of momentum. It buried him under a deep pile of rubble.
"So my injuries and being paraplegic is a result of the Incident and the illness."
"Yes. The illness was cured about a month later. It was some rare virus that needed a certain genetic trait to exist. There were only two hundred reported cases. It only had a five percent death rate."
"What was it called?"
"I don't remember anymore. From what I was told, it weakens the body, leaving it difficult for the infected person to pursue a very active lifestyle."
"Like mine was."
"Yes. It also acted like a flu virus during later stages of the infection."
"What about the last stage?"
"When the illness finishes with the body, it often leaves the person asthmatic and prone to other illness and broken bones."
"So Mousse's dagger didn't cut my nerve cord."
"No, it just fractured some of the vertebrates. It was the ki blast that broke your back. Luckily your spinal cord was spared damage. It's just your muscles wasted way and with your bones and the minor brain damage..."
"It'll be a while before I walk again."
"Hai."
Kasumi looked downcast. Ranma patted her hand again and smiled.
"Don't look so down. So what if I can't walk for a while, it isn't your fault. Beside one day I will walk."
"Uh, Ranma, do you remember anything else about yourself?"
"Why?"
"Do you remember about your Junsykeno curse?"
"Jun-what?"
Kasumi sighed with a smile. "I think I'll show you. Unfortunately it'll be cold."
She had Ranma propped out of his wheelchair on the porch. He held onto the column and watched as she approached with a glass of water. She splashed Ranma with it. Ranma blinked.
"Okay, Kasumi-chan. What was supposed to happen?" He said calmly, not knowing whether to laugh or glare.
Kasumi blinked too. "Why didn't you turn into a girl?"
Ranma shrugged. "Was I supposed to?"
Kasumi nodded dumbly. Ranma merely blinked. His face became thoughtful. He sniggered.
"What is it, Ranma?
"I remember something about it." He sniggered again. "And it seems I'm free of it."
================================================
Next Chapter: Ranma meets Kuno
Li Cruz
CHAPTER 2: Letting Go
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Thanks, three reviews for first chapter within 5 days. Wow, new records. Yes, I do know I have grammar errors but hey, it gets the point across. As to the beta reader, long ago I gave up on trying to get others to read it. Beside it may take days for them to finish. I prefer to make sure I don't have too many plot holes before posting and the rhythm is right.
I plan to write about the Incident in this chapter. And about Cologne, think like an Amazon. What's the point of keeping an engagement to someone who is no longer strong enough to fight back? And to note I hate doing summaries.
Also I will update when I feel the chapter is up to snuff. It may be several days though.-Li Cruz.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ranma watched the scene play out.
"Kami, Akane! Listen for me for just one frigging moment! I didn't-." What seemed to be a healthy and hale version of him yelled at Akane.
Akane's punch landed in his stomach. Ranma bend over, trying to reclaim his breath.
Ranma could hear an illness rattling in his double's chest. He watched himself gasp for breath. His eyes were slightly glazed as he looked up to see Akane hit again. Ranma woke up before the hit connected.
He rolled over to his side and stared at his wheelchair in the dim light.
'What was that? A memory?' Ranma bit the inside of his lip. 'If so, why did she hit me? What did I do wrong?'
Ranma sighed before trying to sleep again. He slid back into it.
He now was watching himself coughing hard into his hand. Kasumi comes into the room with some medication. Her eyes were worried.
"Maybe you should go to the doctor's first?"
"No. If I don't do it, I might lose my nerve." A thin smile appeared on his face. He takes the pill bottle from her hand.
"Beside, Kasumi, it's time I tried to make peace with the others and solve some of my problems."
Kasumi sighed. "Let me go with you at least."
He nods. "Okay, but keep a good distance. It could get messy.
Ranma watches the scene change to seeing Kasumi cradling his head in her lap and screaming for help.
Ranma was jerked awake by someone entering the room. He kept his breathing deep and even. He could feel eyes on him but he didn't dare move. All he knew it wasn't Kasumi.
"Ranma, can you ever forgive me? I didn't know you were ill that day. Akane said it was your fault that day, yet I can't shake the feeling that you were the victim here. I 'm now the best young martial artist here with one of the prettiest girls here and yet..." A male voice trailed off, his whisper clear to Ranma's ear. "I'm sorry."
Ranma listened to Ryoga shut the door and walked down the hall. Ranma opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling in thought. He didn't even realize the sun began to rise.
Kasumi came in to a wide awake Ranma. He turned his head to look at her before pushing himself up to a semi-sitting position. He gave her a soft smile.
"What happened during the week before my coma?" Ranma asked.
Kasumi paused in mid-step. "Do you remember?"
"Everything? No. But I want to know what happened that whole week."
Kasumi nodded. "I'll tell you over breakfast. It's only you and me today."
An half an hour later found Kasumi sitting next to Ranma whose wheelchair was position next to the porch. A tray of drink and food sat between them. Kasumi blew on her tea.
"Where should I start?"
Ranma humorously said. "The beginning is nice."
"Ranma!" She said smiling. Then she sighed. "It didn't really start to deteriorate until after your and Akane's failed wedding. You were depressed a few weeks after. You came to me like you normally would to talk things out. You asked me if love was supposed to be so painful. You were having doubts about if Akane really loved you. Not long after that day, you started to become sick. You hid it so well that I didn't know you were sick. One night I found you in your room when Genma went to see your mother for a week..."
Kasumi stopped at Ranma's door. Somebody was having a violent coughing fits. She heard the rattle of a medicine bottle. She opened the door.
"Ranma!? Are you alright?" Kasumi asked, seeing Ranma.
His face was pale and he looked extremely tired. His breath rattled in his throat. He gave her a sad smile and beckoned her in.
"I was hoping it would pass before anyone would notice." His voice had some humor in it.
"Ranma, you look terrible. What's a matter?" Kasumi sat down next to him.
"I'm feeling a little under the weather, that's all." Ranma waved it off.
"Ranma." Kasumi said firmly, as she picked up the bottle. "Cough suppressant?"
He sighed. "Yeah, Kasumi. I came down with something. I've had it before. It kind of zaps my strength for a while and I sometimes have coughing fits. It'll pass, Kasumi, in a few days."
"Ranma, you should see a doctor."
"Kasumi, it's only lasts for about a week. I'll be fine. It's just the second day."
"It didn't last a week."
"No, but somehow you had it under control by the fifth day. It seemed to vanish but it returned after you fought Ryoga. He hit you in the chest. You managed to keep from coughing until you arrive back at the house. I had to help you to bed. No one bothered to ask why you went to bed. For the next few days, I had to constantly nurse you after fights or Akane's beatings even though you did your best to avoid them. You weren't healing properly and you didn't eat as much as you used to. The damage your body couldn't heal must have been building up until It happened."
Kasumi frowned, looking into the cup. Ranma reached over to place a reassuring hand over hers. She gave a faint smile.
"You decide to end the chaos. You said it was going to kill you one day. First thing you were going to do is talk things out with your fiancées. Then you promised you'd go to the doctor right after.
"Then you asked me to go to the doctor's first, but I said I'd lose my nerve if I did."
"Yes, yes you did say that."
"You asked to follow me and I allowed you on one condition."
"That I keep my distance because you thought it could go bad."
"I was right it seemed." Ranma closed his eyes. "Can you continue?"
"Hai. You called Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyou to the school. You all meet in the middle of the school yard. I was sitting under a tree on the edge of the school yard near the school..."
"Girls? I need for you to hear me out first."
"Okay."
"I want to call off the enragements." Ranma began, his hand in supplementation.
"WHAT?!" The three girls yelled. Ranma flinched visibly.
"I have a few good." He never got to finish his sentence.
"YOU HAVE SOMEONE ELSE, DON'T YOU?" Akane yelled.
Ranma shook his head. He counted the seconds until...
"RANMA, DIE!" Ryoga screamed as he sped towards Ranma.
Ranma barely avoided the punch. He felt strangely tired. He sensed Kuno making his strike as well. He pivoted on his heel. The bokken can within millimeters of his body.
"You foul demon! Die, Soatome!"
Mousse appeared as if on que without his glasses. He threw out multiple daggers. Ranma felt the cold slice along his back. He could hear Kasumi gasp. He backpedaled a few feet. He could feel a coughing fit press against his lungs. He snarled through his coughing fit, his temper finally reaching breaking point with his exhaustion and his 'friends' and their current stupidity.
"You girls said you'd listen to me all the fucking way out." He wheezed out. Everyone went quiet. "But no. You all had to act like idiots and jump to fucking conclusion."
Akane hissed out. "Are you calling us idiots?"
"I am. You being the biggest fool of them all. I'm tired of being your fucking fall guy. You out of all of them keep leading me on like that. I'm nothing to you, just some object to play with. You blame everything that goes wrong with you on me. Some of it may be my own fault. The rest is either your fault or someone else-"
"Shut up about Akane!" Ryoga made a hit in the stomach. Ranma's eyesight went black for a good second. "All you are is a dishonorable pervert."
"Hypocrite." Ranma wheezed. "She's just stringing you all along. She's a regular vixen. A real bitch."
The group went deathly quiet. Ranma felt blood slide down his backside. He tried pulling deep breathes to fill his oxygen-starved lungs. Akane's battle scream echoed in the air as she launched herself at Ranma. She punched and kicked him into the school building's wall. Ranma dimly heard several ribs crack under the pressure and at least one arm felt like it was broken. Shampoo and Uykou attacked Akane in hope of getting her off Ranma. Apparently they thought they still had a chance with Ranma. The three guys tried to restrain the girls from killing each other while Ranma felt himself slide a bit down. He hoped it wouldn't get worse.
Murphy's Law just had to hit. Happosia came running in followed by an armored Soun, Genma, Kodachi, and Pantyhose-taro. Kodachi demanding her 'things' back and the remaining three trying to dispose of him. Principal Kuno decided to show up to see what's happening and tried one of his new haircutting techniques. And a few other enemies show up.
As you can guess, the fates must have been having a field day at the time. Oddly enough Ranma didn't join into the battle royale, but then again he was too busy trying to keep standing. Everyone kind of forgot about poor Ranma.
As if someone up there was trying to test him, one of the group's ki attacks got out of control. Let's say Ryoga was caught between stopping Akane, keeping uninjured, and killing Happosia to notice it. It slammed into Ranma and sent him through about eight walls before it and he ran out of momentum. It buried him under a deep pile of rubble.
"So my injuries and being paraplegic is a result of the Incident and the illness."
"Yes. The illness was cured about a month later. It was some rare virus that needed a certain genetic trait to exist. There were only two hundred reported cases. It only had a five percent death rate."
"What was it called?"
"I don't remember anymore. From what I was told, it weakens the body, leaving it difficult for the infected person to pursue a very active lifestyle."
"Like mine was."
"Yes. It also acted like a flu virus during later stages of the infection."
"What about the last stage?"
"When the illness finishes with the body, it often leaves the person asthmatic and prone to other illness and broken bones."
"So Mousse's dagger didn't cut my nerve cord."
"No, it just fractured some of the vertebrates. It was the ki blast that broke your back. Luckily your spinal cord was spared damage. It's just your muscles wasted way and with your bones and the minor brain damage..."
"It'll be a while before I walk again."
"Hai."
Kasumi looked downcast. Ranma patted her hand again and smiled.
"Don't look so down. So what if I can't walk for a while, it isn't your fault. Beside one day I will walk."
"Uh, Ranma, do you remember anything else about yourself?"
"Why?"
"Do you remember about your Junsykeno curse?"
"Jun-what?"
Kasumi sighed with a smile. "I think I'll show you. Unfortunately it'll be cold."
She had Ranma propped out of his wheelchair on the porch. He held onto the column and watched as she approached with a glass of water. She splashed Ranma with it. Ranma blinked.
"Okay, Kasumi-chan. What was supposed to happen?" He said calmly, not knowing whether to laugh or glare.
Kasumi blinked too. "Why didn't you turn into a girl?"
Ranma shrugged. "Was I supposed to?"
Kasumi nodded dumbly. Ranma merely blinked. His face became thoughtful. He sniggered.
"What is it, Ranma?
"I remember something about it." He sniggered again. "And it seems I'm free of it."
================================================
Next Chapter: Ranma meets Kuno