Broken
Shadow Knight
Chapter 4: An Unlikely Friend
Note: Okay, this is kinda gonna be long. I didn't feel like re-writing the whole chapter from my previous ideas, so I just pasted it and fixed it up a bit. So um.if you find some mistakes, sorry. Been working on some other stuff, and I figured I should update on this. So here ya go. ^_^
~
*Thoughts*
~
A figure appeared, strolling down the street, whistling a cheerful tune as it carefully balanced a box on its hand. Stopping, the figure stared into the placid window of a shop and stared at its reflection. Looking at the figure, one could see that it was a girl.
A white bow adorned her long brown hair as she stopped and set the box down to adjust the large metal spatula on her back. No matter where she went, she never felt completely safe without it. She smiled at her reflection and picked up the box.
She was going to make her Ran-chan happy with this one. She had spent special time on it, making sure it was just the way he liked his okonomiyaki. She grinned to herself and continued down the sidewalk toward the dojo he stayed at. Thinking about exactly where he was staying at made her stop again and frown. She didn't exactly dislike where he was staying at, but one of his fiancées was there. One that had repeatedly gotten in the way between her and Ran-chan.
Akane.
She didn't hate the girl, but she always felt a slight prick of contempt whenever she got to close to her Ranma. Sure, she was just another fiancée, but something about her always irked Ukyo when she was around him.
Sighing, she began walking again. She knew that the girl wasn't much competition compared to her, but there was just something that made her stand out from the rest of them. Something that made her special to him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew it was there.
Ukyo shook her head and tried to ignore the vengeful thoughts swarming in her head, thoughts in which she was beating Akane and winning Ranma's love. She knew that there would always be a dishonest and wary bond between them, but she wondered, would they have been friends if not for the feud between Ranma?
Ukyo's eyes softened as she thought the question over. They probably would have made great friends. . . .but now that could never happen. Not until Ranma had married one of them. For now and until then, they were enemies. Sighing once again, she felt her hand reach up and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. *Well,* she thought, *the most I can do now is make my Ran-chan happy with a good meal.*
She plastered a cute smile on her face as she saw the gates of the Tendo dojo in view. Suddenly, she saw the gate door fly open with a loud slam. Through it, she saw a blurry figure rush out. Not stopping the blur ran forward down the street. Ukyo stood stunned as the figure ran past her. As her clothes settled back in place, Ukyo patted her hair down. That sure was odd. She looked back at the quickly retreating figure. Just before the figure turned the corner, she saw the familiar dark blue shade of hair that made her stop. Was that Akane?
Then she realized that she had heard something as the girl had passed her. Could it be that she was. . . .crying? Ukyo knew she had cried many times thinking of what she had sacrificed for Ranma. Only to see that it was not returned in his love. She knew that he would always be a heart breaker, intentionally or not. He was just. . . so perfect. And he didn't know what to do with it.
Looking at the package in her hand, her eyes strayed and looked between the entrance to the dojo, and the path the girl had fled. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and turned around, following the tear struck ground to the girl she had just been thinking about.
~
As the day grew on, a figure could be seen jogging along the streets of Nermia, searching for someone. With a huge spatula strapped to her back, the girl searched for signs of the running blue haired girl. Huffing, she sat on a bench and caught her breathe. *Geeze that girl sure does run fast!* Still sitting, leaned backward and let her head loll back as she took in deep breathes.
Suddenly, she stopped. From her upside point of view, she could see a girl sitting on a nearby swing, rocking slowly back and forth. Raising her head, she turned around and could see the girl's dark hair sway as a gentle wind picked up. She stood to her feet and sat in the swing next to the girl.
Looking closely, Ukyo could see that it was indeed Akane. Her dark blue hair was matted to her forehead, pinned from the sweat of her running. She was shaking, she faintly noticed. But not from the cold.
She was crying.
She could see the silent tears run down her cheeks as the girl fought to control herself from sobbing out loud. Ukyo sat there, staring at her. What could have happened that did this much damage to her?
She got out of her swing and kneeled in front of the quivering girl. Placing her hands on the Akane's shoulders, she tried to calm her. She needed to see what happened.
"Akane? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Akane's outline shook even more violently with each word. Ukyo saw this and squeezed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She must really be in some pain.
Ukyo smiled softly, "Akane. . . . you can tell me. I'll listen to you. Just tell me what's bothering you."
Before she could react, Akane suddenly broke down as a hoarse sob emerged from her throat. Covering her mouth with a shaky hand, she tried to muffle her loud cries. Ukyo remained silent as she watched the girl begin to rock back and forth, holding her knees to her chest.
With hard eyes, she reached out and took the shaking girl into a hug. Just holding her there, Ukyo waited until Akane stopped rocking back and forth, muttering utter nonsense to no one.
Seeing that she was done, Ukyo let go and turned Akane to face her. She lifted her face up in her hands and forced her to look at her.
"Now Akane, you have to tell me what happened. If you don't, you'll never resolve this and it will make you miserable for the rest of you life. Especially if it's hurting you this bad. Now swallow you tears down and tell me what's wrong."
Akane looked at Ukyo with a lost look in her eyes. As Ukyo's words registered into her brain, she took her head in her hands and tried to sort through the chaotic storm in her mind. Opening her eyes again, she saw that Ukyo was still waiting patiently for her to control herself.
Taking slow, deep breathes, Akane focused her eyes on Ukyo in case she got lost in the storm in her mind once again. Gripping the sleeves of her shirt, she sighed and closed her eyes.
"I don't know why it's such a shock to me," she spoke softly, "It was an answer I should have expected for a long time. But I guess I had some kind of foolish hope that he would say yes. That he would be happy. That we'd be happy. But. . . . . I never knew it would hurt this much."
Looking up, she saw Ukyo looking at her with expecting eyes. Wanting to know exactly what went on. Who exactly this he was and what the question was. Then something flashed into her thoughts. Her eyes widened as an idea leaked into her mind. Was it. . . . . . Ranma who had done this to her? He was one of the only people who affected her so much. . . . .She turned her eyes back to the girl, praying that this person that was so cruel would not be Ranma.
Akane watched Ukyo, her eyes studying. She must have guessed. I know this is going to make her happy. Knowing that Ranma is free from my bond to him. She felt a seed of envy begin to sprout in her heart, but with one swift thought she cut it down. She didn't need. . . . didn't have the right to feel any envy over Ranma again. He didn't care anymore. . .
"Akane. . . . what did you ask? And. . . .who was it you asked?"
Flicking her eyes to the ground, she tried to control the turmoil in her emotions. She felt her body began to shake. It still hurt. Just the thought of his response was like pouring salt over her wounds. Her wounded heart.
Akane swallowed audibly and looked down at the ground, "I. . .I asked him if he. . . if he love. . .loved me. But. . . .he said no. He said that he. . .he never loved me. That. . . .I wasn't good enough. I wasn't anything to him. Just a foolish dreamer for love. . ."
Ukyo stared wide-eyed at the trembling girl. She knew after the first few lines that the boy was. It would take a complete fool to not know whom her heart was grieving over. So. . . it was true. Ranma did this. But why? She just didn't understand it. Ukyo had always thought that she never had a chance against Akane. Sure, he called her his cute fiancée, but...she knew that it was just a facade.
Just a way to stop her.
Ranma had always made insults about Akane. Her figure, her cooking, her skill. Anything really. But. . . about her feelings? There was just something wrong with this picture. She knew that he had made many stupid mistakes in the past, but she knew he was always an honorable man. He kept to his word. He never liked seeing any girl cry. Any person for that matter. Something was definitely wrong with this picture.
Ukyo screwed her eyes back toward Akane. She was sitting there silently. Staring blankly at the ground as tears ran down her face. Her eyes were swollen, puffy and red from her continuous crying. Ukyo could feel the mourning silence emitting from her. As if she had just lost a good friend to death.
Ukyo saw the girl was beginning to lose it. This is how she felt when Ran- chan had left her. When she gave up her femininity to get her revenge on him. Knowing that he had chosen okonomiyaki over her. She couldn't let Akane do this. She was too. . . too innocent for this. So inexperienced. She didn't know what the effects of this would do to her.
Ukyo scooted closer to the girl. She wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and gave her a hug. She knew she couldn't do much more than this, but she had to help her before she was lost to her sadness.
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the small voice whispering in her head, telling her this was the perfect advantage to steal Ranma for herself. She pushed the excited thoughts out of her head and focused on reviving Akane out of her shell. Suddenly, from the shadows cast from Akane's hair, she heard a small, unstable voice whisper.
"Do you think. . . .that he could ever love me? That maybe. . . . I just asked at a bad time? That he'd care if I changed? If I became more feminine? Gave up the art?"
Ukyo's eyes snapped open at the last few lines. She let go of Akane and forced her around. She jerked up Akane's chin and looked at her face. She could see that her tears had stopped, but not the sadness.
"Listen to me Akane. Don't you ever change who you are. You are best at being who you are. There is no one else like you. Everyone sets themselves apart from others by their personality. If not that, then what they do. You can't change who you are. There will always be a trace of it.
Unless you want to become one of those mindless drones, searching the world for something they can never find. They can't find themselves. That's why no body likes those kinds of people.
But you Akane, you have something special about you that no one can ever take away. You're stubborn as a mule, strong as a bull, you're clever like a monkey, you're good at the art, you're a tomboy, you're. . . . you're you! Others may not see these qualities in the same view as you do, but you need appreciate these things. They're what make you special in the world.
Some people. . . um. . . like me. . .couldn't see these things. I took mine for granted and regret it every day since. I gave up everything in my life just to get revenge on Ranma. My femininity, my dad's business, my life back home. . . Just so I could get revenge. But everything cost a price, and when I did that, I lost it all.
I'm slowly regaining all these things, but every once in a while, I just sit and wonder. Did I make the right choice? I met up with Ranma. He's better now, but was it really worth it? I'm warning you now Akane. Don't ever give it up. Not even for love."
Akane sat, stunned in silence. She never knew Ukyo's complete history. Sure, she got glimpses or fragments that involved Ranma, but she never knew exactly what happened to her. It was just a total surprise to her. She didn't exactly know how to react to Ukyo's little speech, but she did know that it had helped her. Without it, she knew she would be in a place where no one could reach her.
She studied Ukyo. Why was she helping her any ways? Why was she being so nice? Weren't they enemies? The girl seemed concerned enough to show that she was no threat to her. She smiled. Ukyo really was a good person at heart. It was just hard for her to see it when Ranma got in the way.
She shook her head. *No,* she thought, *I won't let this hurt me anymore. I'm going to live by who I really am. . . .Thanks Ukyo.*
Akane turned to the girl. With a smile, she hugged the girl fiercely and stood up. She breathed in the cold morning air and closed her eyes. She never thought she could ever feel so good after feeling so bad. She felt. . . .calmed. Opening her eyes, she reached a hand to Ukyo, who was still sitting on the ground. She knew it was sort of late, but she wanted to try and become friends with the chef.
With Ranma, she never really had the chance to really start a friendship. She was always. . . too jealous. She enjoyed this time they got to share with one another. Akane offered a hand to the girl.
"Come on Ukyo," Akane smiled, "Maybe your right. I wont give up. No, I'm sure I'll get over it. But I know I'll miss him. I'll always care about him, but. . .I just want him to be happy too. I know he likes you. Make sure that you take care of him. And, if you want. . . I know this is late, but. . .= ahem = Do you want to be friends?"
Ukyo looked up suddenly, bewildered. She stared at the hand as if it was something she had never seen one before. *She wants to be friends? She must really be giving up on Ranma.*
Ukyo grinned back at her and took the hand. She dusted her clothes off and looked at the blue haired girl. She was so...happy and calm. She reached over and playfully punched Akane on the arm. Akane looked back over to her and smiled. Ukyo felt happy at seeing that. She normally would have enjoyed knowing that Ranma didn't love Akane, but. . .right now it was different.
He had hurt her. Deep. She had to make sure there wasn't a mistake before she started showing her affections toward Ranma again. She wouldn't stop a love between the two. Or him and anyone for that matter. She might have made that foolish mistake before when they were almost married, but. . . now she had learned her lesson the hard way, and would fight for Ranma's love, with honesty.
"Akane? I know this might be a little hard, but. . .maybe Ran-chan was just flustered," Ukyo weakly smiled, "when you asked him that question. You know how he gets when you get emotional on him. He shoves his foot in his mouth and acts like a jerk. Especially when it concerns you.
I think. . .maybe he was just startled. I don't think he can take things straightforward like that, you know? He always messes things up like that. I'm sure he didn't mean it. . . He just screwed up with his words. He just got defensive."
Akane stared at Ukyo. *Could she be right? Just maybe. . . *
"You really think so Ukyo?"
Ukyo smiled as she heard the growing, quivering hope in the question.
"Yeah Akane. I really think so. Now come on you tomboy. Let's go get that silly dope!"
Akane let out a snort. She felt her heart weigh less then a feather. There was a warm light that seemed to spread throughout her body. It was nice feeling this way. . . knowing that she had a chance again. She stared at Ukyo and grinned slyly.
"Yeah! Were gonna beat that boy to a pulp for that! And don't think I'll forget what you said. I'm going to get you for that!
Ukyo pulled her lower eyelid down and stuck her tongue at Akane. She knew it was childish, but it didn't matter. She didn't care anymore about their differences. She felt happy with Akane. She had a friend finally that she could talk to in this crowded town.
She knew that when it came to Ranma choosing one of them, it was going to be difficult, but she just wanted to enjoy this new friendship while she had it.
"Nyah! Not if you can't catch me! Come on. Let's go and see if Ran-chan is at your place. We'll get to the bottom of this, okay?"
"Okay and. . . thanks."
With that, she chased after the mischievously grinning chef who continued to stick her tongue at her. If one looked, they could see that they were heading toward the inner part of Nermia toward a certain dojo.
~
Elsewhere, deeper in the heart of Nermia, a small building displaying a sign read as the "Neko Haten", could be seen. Inside a withered form sat, twitching occasionally as it heard a crashing sound from somewhere in the backyard.
It sighed with exasperation and stepped out from the darkness of a room. With long, thick, white hair, the figure held the mane back with a white scarf. Signs of whispered beauty could be seen through the wrinkles now held on the aged feminine face.
Through her seemingly innocent elderly appearance, her eyes betrayed her false purity. There was a gleam in her eyes that would promise a quick death to anyone who betrayed her.
A viciousness that glowed deeply, waiting to be unleashed like a smoldering fire. A darkness in her soul that enjoyed in seeing suffering and pain. But she never let it show. She held this base part of her psyche a secret to everyone around her. She clenched it tightly, making sure that this evil would not escape her and be revealed.
Gathering a gnarled wooden staff that sat beside her into her withered arms, she began walking slowly toward the back of the restaurant, keeping a tight hold on her emotions. She would deal with young blind idiot without getting angry. She could do this. She kept chanting to herself, hoping it would work. As the lady reached the back, she poked her head out through the open doors, expecting the worst.
She wasn't disappointed.
There strewn across the yard were various weapons and instruments of odd origins laying on the ground. She flinched as she saw that some had broken through the windows of the building. Of all the broken assortment of objects, there was one particular article still standing through all the destruction.
A straw dummy supported on a wooden peg. She looked toward the other end of the small yard and saw a boy with long black hair cluck in frustration as he looked over the weapons, all missing their mark. With a sigh, the boy closed his eyes and began to concentrate, focusing his energy at the target before him.
Walking closer, she noticed the boy was adorned in another of his loose Chinese style robes. Without opening his eyes, the boy suddenly unleashed a volley of iron chains from his long sleeve, sending them through the air. The boy stiffened suddenly, and twisted his wrist quickly upward.
The chains reacted smoothly to the motion, curving gently in the air. She watched as the chains, set in their new direction, wrapped quickly around the straw dummy still standing across the yard. She noticed with a frown that the dummy also had an unmistakable straw pigtail to go with it.
Although she knew she should berate the boy for this, she smiled slightly. She could see the boy was indeed a true master of hidden weapons. Mousse would indeed make a fine breed of specimen for this art. She knew this and had willingly tolerated with his arrival in Nermia, and thus staying with them. After all, being the only Chinese Amazons in this foreign country meant they had to stick together.
Even though she accepted his stay, she could not dismiss the fact that he still tried to compete with her son-in-law's chances with Shampoo. Not only this, but he also had the nerve to endeavor in interrupting her granddaughter's attempts at swooning Ranma into submission.
She had punished him for this several times, but the blind boy was stubborn. As was he when he insisted that he was Shampoo's rightful husband. Or when he said he wasn't blind without his glasses. Jumping on her wooden staff she had brought with her, she sighed and she glanced over at Mousse, now jumping with joy at his victory. It was time for his annual beating. . .
~
The black haired Amazon faintly noticed a presence approaching him slowly from the back of the restaurant. He turned around and glanced. Through his fuzzy vision, he could see a tall figure coming closer.
With long hair, Mousse guessed it to be the one person to have hair like this and practically leaped over to the still walking figure. With hands splayed out in front of him, he ran to the figure, closing the distance between them while shouting out the name of his love.
"Shampoo!"
Before he enfolded the figure with a bear-crushing hug, a sudden swift blow on the head made him stop and crash bluntly to the ground. Picking his head up from the imprint his face had made in the ground, he stood up and slipped his thick glasses on from behind his head. As Mousse's vision began to focus and become sharper, he backed up and gasped, pointing at the figure before him.
Mousse shivered in disgust, "It's an ugly troll!"
He suddenly notice a vein pop angrily on the old woman's forehead before he found himself struck onto the ground once again. After several blows from the woman's staff, Mousse felt the woman finally stop and allow him to regain his footing. As he dusted himself off, he heard a voice muttering darkly to him.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you next time boy. I'm only stopping now because I think my punishments are beginning to give you brain damage. You will address me appropriately boy. Or else you will suffer the consequences. Do you understand?"
Mousse cast his glance downward and glared silently at the ground before responding to her question.
"Yes, Elder Cologne."
Cologne smiled slyly and waved her hand to the boy.
"Good. Now begin to clean your mess up. The damages you did to the windows will be coming out of your pay. Understand?"
Mousse nodded curtly in consent.
"Very well then. Get started."
Mousse bowed deeply to her and then turned sharply around picking his various weapons up off the ground, shoving them back into the deep folds of his robe. Seeing that he was doing as he was told, Cologne smiled again and hopped quickly back inside on her staff as she heard the jingle from the bell on the front door, announcing someone's arrival.
~
WOAH! Done another one. Thank goodness. I hope you enjoyed it! Well, I enjoyed writing it.
Anyways, with Ukyo, I don't hate her, but I don't think she goes well with Ranma. And for the whole friendship/bonding thing, well, I believe Ukyo was deeply hurt when Ranma left her so long ago. I've read in several other stories where later on, Ukyo goes insane from wanting Ranma so much and do everything she can. . . just to receive nothing in return.
Well, I'm definitely not going to make her go insane in here, but I want her to realize that her pain is the same as Akane's going through. So, she gonna help her get through it and not suffer like she did. Uh. I think that about covers it.
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!: Akane and Ukyo try to look for Ranma and get him to spill the truth. Meanwhile, Shampoo and Ranma arrive at the Neko Haten where Cologne watches and who's this?! MOUSSE???!!!
PLEASE! PLEASE REVIEW! All reviews help me keep going! Ciao. ^_~
Shadow Knight
Chapter 4: An Unlikely Friend
Note: Okay, this is kinda gonna be long. I didn't feel like re-writing the whole chapter from my previous ideas, so I just pasted it and fixed it up a bit. So um.if you find some mistakes, sorry. Been working on some other stuff, and I figured I should update on this. So here ya go. ^_^
~
*Thoughts*
~
A figure appeared, strolling down the street, whistling a cheerful tune as it carefully balanced a box on its hand. Stopping, the figure stared into the placid window of a shop and stared at its reflection. Looking at the figure, one could see that it was a girl.
A white bow adorned her long brown hair as she stopped and set the box down to adjust the large metal spatula on her back. No matter where she went, she never felt completely safe without it. She smiled at her reflection and picked up the box.
She was going to make her Ran-chan happy with this one. She had spent special time on it, making sure it was just the way he liked his okonomiyaki. She grinned to herself and continued down the sidewalk toward the dojo he stayed at. Thinking about exactly where he was staying at made her stop again and frown. She didn't exactly dislike where he was staying at, but one of his fiancées was there. One that had repeatedly gotten in the way between her and Ran-chan.
Akane.
She didn't hate the girl, but she always felt a slight prick of contempt whenever she got to close to her Ranma. Sure, she was just another fiancée, but something about her always irked Ukyo when she was around him.
Sighing, she began walking again. She knew that the girl wasn't much competition compared to her, but there was just something that made her stand out from the rest of them. Something that made her special to him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew it was there.
Ukyo shook her head and tried to ignore the vengeful thoughts swarming in her head, thoughts in which she was beating Akane and winning Ranma's love. She knew that there would always be a dishonest and wary bond between them, but she wondered, would they have been friends if not for the feud between Ranma?
Ukyo's eyes softened as she thought the question over. They probably would have made great friends. . . .but now that could never happen. Not until Ranma had married one of them. For now and until then, they were enemies. Sighing once again, she felt her hand reach up and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. *Well,* she thought, *the most I can do now is make my Ran-chan happy with a good meal.*
She plastered a cute smile on her face as she saw the gates of the Tendo dojo in view. Suddenly, she saw the gate door fly open with a loud slam. Through it, she saw a blurry figure rush out. Not stopping the blur ran forward down the street. Ukyo stood stunned as the figure ran past her. As her clothes settled back in place, Ukyo patted her hair down. That sure was odd. She looked back at the quickly retreating figure. Just before the figure turned the corner, she saw the familiar dark blue shade of hair that made her stop. Was that Akane?
Then she realized that she had heard something as the girl had passed her. Could it be that she was. . . .crying? Ukyo knew she had cried many times thinking of what she had sacrificed for Ranma. Only to see that it was not returned in his love. She knew that he would always be a heart breaker, intentionally or not. He was just. . . so perfect. And he didn't know what to do with it.
Looking at the package in her hand, her eyes strayed and looked between the entrance to the dojo, and the path the girl had fled. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and turned around, following the tear struck ground to the girl she had just been thinking about.
~
As the day grew on, a figure could be seen jogging along the streets of Nermia, searching for someone. With a huge spatula strapped to her back, the girl searched for signs of the running blue haired girl. Huffing, she sat on a bench and caught her breathe. *Geeze that girl sure does run fast!* Still sitting, leaned backward and let her head loll back as she took in deep breathes.
Suddenly, she stopped. From her upside point of view, she could see a girl sitting on a nearby swing, rocking slowly back and forth. Raising her head, she turned around and could see the girl's dark hair sway as a gentle wind picked up. She stood to her feet and sat in the swing next to the girl.
Looking closely, Ukyo could see that it was indeed Akane. Her dark blue hair was matted to her forehead, pinned from the sweat of her running. She was shaking, she faintly noticed. But not from the cold.
She was crying.
She could see the silent tears run down her cheeks as the girl fought to control herself from sobbing out loud. Ukyo sat there, staring at her. What could have happened that did this much damage to her?
She got out of her swing and kneeled in front of the quivering girl. Placing her hands on the Akane's shoulders, she tried to calm her. She needed to see what happened.
"Akane? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Akane's outline shook even more violently with each word. Ukyo saw this and squeezed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She must really be in some pain.
Ukyo smiled softly, "Akane. . . . you can tell me. I'll listen to you. Just tell me what's bothering you."
Before she could react, Akane suddenly broke down as a hoarse sob emerged from her throat. Covering her mouth with a shaky hand, she tried to muffle her loud cries. Ukyo remained silent as she watched the girl begin to rock back and forth, holding her knees to her chest.
With hard eyes, she reached out and took the shaking girl into a hug. Just holding her there, Ukyo waited until Akane stopped rocking back and forth, muttering utter nonsense to no one.
Seeing that she was done, Ukyo let go and turned Akane to face her. She lifted her face up in her hands and forced her to look at her.
"Now Akane, you have to tell me what happened. If you don't, you'll never resolve this and it will make you miserable for the rest of you life. Especially if it's hurting you this bad. Now swallow you tears down and tell me what's wrong."
Akane looked at Ukyo with a lost look in her eyes. As Ukyo's words registered into her brain, she took her head in her hands and tried to sort through the chaotic storm in her mind. Opening her eyes again, she saw that Ukyo was still waiting patiently for her to control herself.
Taking slow, deep breathes, Akane focused her eyes on Ukyo in case she got lost in the storm in her mind once again. Gripping the sleeves of her shirt, she sighed and closed her eyes.
"I don't know why it's such a shock to me," she spoke softly, "It was an answer I should have expected for a long time. But I guess I had some kind of foolish hope that he would say yes. That he would be happy. That we'd be happy. But. . . . . I never knew it would hurt this much."
Looking up, she saw Ukyo looking at her with expecting eyes. Wanting to know exactly what went on. Who exactly this he was and what the question was. Then something flashed into her thoughts. Her eyes widened as an idea leaked into her mind. Was it. . . . . . Ranma who had done this to her? He was one of the only people who affected her so much. . . . .She turned her eyes back to the girl, praying that this person that was so cruel would not be Ranma.
Akane watched Ukyo, her eyes studying. She must have guessed. I know this is going to make her happy. Knowing that Ranma is free from my bond to him. She felt a seed of envy begin to sprout in her heart, but with one swift thought she cut it down. She didn't need. . . . didn't have the right to feel any envy over Ranma again. He didn't care anymore. . .
"Akane. . . . what did you ask? And. . . .who was it you asked?"
Flicking her eyes to the ground, she tried to control the turmoil in her emotions. She felt her body began to shake. It still hurt. Just the thought of his response was like pouring salt over her wounds. Her wounded heart.
Akane swallowed audibly and looked down at the ground, "I. . .I asked him if he. . . if he love. . .loved me. But. . . .he said no. He said that he. . .he never loved me. That. . . .I wasn't good enough. I wasn't anything to him. Just a foolish dreamer for love. . ."
Ukyo stared wide-eyed at the trembling girl. She knew after the first few lines that the boy was. It would take a complete fool to not know whom her heart was grieving over. So. . . it was true. Ranma did this. But why? She just didn't understand it. Ukyo had always thought that she never had a chance against Akane. Sure, he called her his cute fiancée, but...she knew that it was just a facade.
Just a way to stop her.
Ranma had always made insults about Akane. Her figure, her cooking, her skill. Anything really. But. . . about her feelings? There was just something wrong with this picture. She knew that he had made many stupid mistakes in the past, but she knew he was always an honorable man. He kept to his word. He never liked seeing any girl cry. Any person for that matter. Something was definitely wrong with this picture.
Ukyo screwed her eyes back toward Akane. She was sitting there silently. Staring blankly at the ground as tears ran down her face. Her eyes were swollen, puffy and red from her continuous crying. Ukyo could feel the mourning silence emitting from her. As if she had just lost a good friend to death.
Ukyo saw the girl was beginning to lose it. This is how she felt when Ran- chan had left her. When she gave up her femininity to get her revenge on him. Knowing that he had chosen okonomiyaki over her. She couldn't let Akane do this. She was too. . . too innocent for this. So inexperienced. She didn't know what the effects of this would do to her.
Ukyo scooted closer to the girl. She wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and gave her a hug. She knew she couldn't do much more than this, but she had to help her before she was lost to her sadness.
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the small voice whispering in her head, telling her this was the perfect advantage to steal Ranma for herself. She pushed the excited thoughts out of her head and focused on reviving Akane out of her shell. Suddenly, from the shadows cast from Akane's hair, she heard a small, unstable voice whisper.
"Do you think. . . .that he could ever love me? That maybe. . . . I just asked at a bad time? That he'd care if I changed? If I became more feminine? Gave up the art?"
Ukyo's eyes snapped open at the last few lines. She let go of Akane and forced her around. She jerked up Akane's chin and looked at her face. She could see that her tears had stopped, but not the sadness.
"Listen to me Akane. Don't you ever change who you are. You are best at being who you are. There is no one else like you. Everyone sets themselves apart from others by their personality. If not that, then what they do. You can't change who you are. There will always be a trace of it.
Unless you want to become one of those mindless drones, searching the world for something they can never find. They can't find themselves. That's why no body likes those kinds of people.
But you Akane, you have something special about you that no one can ever take away. You're stubborn as a mule, strong as a bull, you're clever like a monkey, you're good at the art, you're a tomboy, you're. . . . you're you! Others may not see these qualities in the same view as you do, but you need appreciate these things. They're what make you special in the world.
Some people. . . um. . . like me. . .couldn't see these things. I took mine for granted and regret it every day since. I gave up everything in my life just to get revenge on Ranma. My femininity, my dad's business, my life back home. . . Just so I could get revenge. But everything cost a price, and when I did that, I lost it all.
I'm slowly regaining all these things, but every once in a while, I just sit and wonder. Did I make the right choice? I met up with Ranma. He's better now, but was it really worth it? I'm warning you now Akane. Don't ever give it up. Not even for love."
Akane sat, stunned in silence. She never knew Ukyo's complete history. Sure, she got glimpses or fragments that involved Ranma, but she never knew exactly what happened to her. It was just a total surprise to her. She didn't exactly know how to react to Ukyo's little speech, but she did know that it had helped her. Without it, she knew she would be in a place where no one could reach her.
She studied Ukyo. Why was she helping her any ways? Why was she being so nice? Weren't they enemies? The girl seemed concerned enough to show that she was no threat to her. She smiled. Ukyo really was a good person at heart. It was just hard for her to see it when Ranma got in the way.
She shook her head. *No,* she thought, *I won't let this hurt me anymore. I'm going to live by who I really am. . . .Thanks Ukyo.*
Akane turned to the girl. With a smile, she hugged the girl fiercely and stood up. She breathed in the cold morning air and closed her eyes. She never thought she could ever feel so good after feeling so bad. She felt. . . .calmed. Opening her eyes, she reached a hand to Ukyo, who was still sitting on the ground. She knew it was sort of late, but she wanted to try and become friends with the chef.
With Ranma, she never really had the chance to really start a friendship. She was always. . . too jealous. She enjoyed this time they got to share with one another. Akane offered a hand to the girl.
"Come on Ukyo," Akane smiled, "Maybe your right. I wont give up. No, I'm sure I'll get over it. But I know I'll miss him. I'll always care about him, but. . .I just want him to be happy too. I know he likes you. Make sure that you take care of him. And, if you want. . . I know this is late, but. . .= ahem = Do you want to be friends?"
Ukyo looked up suddenly, bewildered. She stared at the hand as if it was something she had never seen one before. *She wants to be friends? She must really be giving up on Ranma.*
Ukyo grinned back at her and took the hand. She dusted her clothes off and looked at the blue haired girl. She was so...happy and calm. She reached over and playfully punched Akane on the arm. Akane looked back over to her and smiled. Ukyo felt happy at seeing that. She normally would have enjoyed knowing that Ranma didn't love Akane, but. . .right now it was different.
He had hurt her. Deep. She had to make sure there wasn't a mistake before she started showing her affections toward Ranma again. She wouldn't stop a love between the two. Or him and anyone for that matter. She might have made that foolish mistake before when they were almost married, but. . . now she had learned her lesson the hard way, and would fight for Ranma's love, with honesty.
"Akane? I know this might be a little hard, but. . .maybe Ran-chan was just flustered," Ukyo weakly smiled, "when you asked him that question. You know how he gets when you get emotional on him. He shoves his foot in his mouth and acts like a jerk. Especially when it concerns you.
I think. . .maybe he was just startled. I don't think he can take things straightforward like that, you know? He always messes things up like that. I'm sure he didn't mean it. . . He just screwed up with his words. He just got defensive."
Akane stared at Ukyo. *Could she be right? Just maybe. . . *
"You really think so Ukyo?"
Ukyo smiled as she heard the growing, quivering hope in the question.
"Yeah Akane. I really think so. Now come on you tomboy. Let's go get that silly dope!"
Akane let out a snort. She felt her heart weigh less then a feather. There was a warm light that seemed to spread throughout her body. It was nice feeling this way. . . knowing that she had a chance again. She stared at Ukyo and grinned slyly.
"Yeah! Were gonna beat that boy to a pulp for that! And don't think I'll forget what you said. I'm going to get you for that!
Ukyo pulled her lower eyelid down and stuck her tongue at Akane. She knew it was childish, but it didn't matter. She didn't care anymore about their differences. She felt happy with Akane. She had a friend finally that she could talk to in this crowded town.
She knew that when it came to Ranma choosing one of them, it was going to be difficult, but she just wanted to enjoy this new friendship while she had it.
"Nyah! Not if you can't catch me! Come on. Let's go and see if Ran-chan is at your place. We'll get to the bottom of this, okay?"
"Okay and. . . thanks."
With that, she chased after the mischievously grinning chef who continued to stick her tongue at her. If one looked, they could see that they were heading toward the inner part of Nermia toward a certain dojo.
~
Elsewhere, deeper in the heart of Nermia, a small building displaying a sign read as the "Neko Haten", could be seen. Inside a withered form sat, twitching occasionally as it heard a crashing sound from somewhere in the backyard.
It sighed with exasperation and stepped out from the darkness of a room. With long, thick, white hair, the figure held the mane back with a white scarf. Signs of whispered beauty could be seen through the wrinkles now held on the aged feminine face.
Through her seemingly innocent elderly appearance, her eyes betrayed her false purity. There was a gleam in her eyes that would promise a quick death to anyone who betrayed her.
A viciousness that glowed deeply, waiting to be unleashed like a smoldering fire. A darkness in her soul that enjoyed in seeing suffering and pain. But she never let it show. She held this base part of her psyche a secret to everyone around her. She clenched it tightly, making sure that this evil would not escape her and be revealed.
Gathering a gnarled wooden staff that sat beside her into her withered arms, she began walking slowly toward the back of the restaurant, keeping a tight hold on her emotions. She would deal with young blind idiot without getting angry. She could do this. She kept chanting to herself, hoping it would work. As the lady reached the back, she poked her head out through the open doors, expecting the worst.
She wasn't disappointed.
There strewn across the yard were various weapons and instruments of odd origins laying on the ground. She flinched as she saw that some had broken through the windows of the building. Of all the broken assortment of objects, there was one particular article still standing through all the destruction.
A straw dummy supported on a wooden peg. She looked toward the other end of the small yard and saw a boy with long black hair cluck in frustration as he looked over the weapons, all missing their mark. With a sigh, the boy closed his eyes and began to concentrate, focusing his energy at the target before him.
Walking closer, she noticed the boy was adorned in another of his loose Chinese style robes. Without opening his eyes, the boy suddenly unleashed a volley of iron chains from his long sleeve, sending them through the air. The boy stiffened suddenly, and twisted his wrist quickly upward.
The chains reacted smoothly to the motion, curving gently in the air. She watched as the chains, set in their new direction, wrapped quickly around the straw dummy still standing across the yard. She noticed with a frown that the dummy also had an unmistakable straw pigtail to go with it.
Although she knew she should berate the boy for this, she smiled slightly. She could see the boy was indeed a true master of hidden weapons. Mousse would indeed make a fine breed of specimen for this art. She knew this and had willingly tolerated with his arrival in Nermia, and thus staying with them. After all, being the only Chinese Amazons in this foreign country meant they had to stick together.
Even though she accepted his stay, she could not dismiss the fact that he still tried to compete with her son-in-law's chances with Shampoo. Not only this, but he also had the nerve to endeavor in interrupting her granddaughter's attempts at swooning Ranma into submission.
She had punished him for this several times, but the blind boy was stubborn. As was he when he insisted that he was Shampoo's rightful husband. Or when he said he wasn't blind without his glasses. Jumping on her wooden staff she had brought with her, she sighed and she glanced over at Mousse, now jumping with joy at his victory. It was time for his annual beating. . .
~
The black haired Amazon faintly noticed a presence approaching him slowly from the back of the restaurant. He turned around and glanced. Through his fuzzy vision, he could see a tall figure coming closer.
With long hair, Mousse guessed it to be the one person to have hair like this and practically leaped over to the still walking figure. With hands splayed out in front of him, he ran to the figure, closing the distance between them while shouting out the name of his love.
"Shampoo!"
Before he enfolded the figure with a bear-crushing hug, a sudden swift blow on the head made him stop and crash bluntly to the ground. Picking his head up from the imprint his face had made in the ground, he stood up and slipped his thick glasses on from behind his head. As Mousse's vision began to focus and become sharper, he backed up and gasped, pointing at the figure before him.
Mousse shivered in disgust, "It's an ugly troll!"
He suddenly notice a vein pop angrily on the old woman's forehead before he found himself struck onto the ground once again. After several blows from the woman's staff, Mousse felt the woman finally stop and allow him to regain his footing. As he dusted himself off, he heard a voice muttering darkly to him.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you next time boy. I'm only stopping now because I think my punishments are beginning to give you brain damage. You will address me appropriately boy. Or else you will suffer the consequences. Do you understand?"
Mousse cast his glance downward and glared silently at the ground before responding to her question.
"Yes, Elder Cologne."
Cologne smiled slyly and waved her hand to the boy.
"Good. Now begin to clean your mess up. The damages you did to the windows will be coming out of your pay. Understand?"
Mousse nodded curtly in consent.
"Very well then. Get started."
Mousse bowed deeply to her and then turned sharply around picking his various weapons up off the ground, shoving them back into the deep folds of his robe. Seeing that he was doing as he was told, Cologne smiled again and hopped quickly back inside on her staff as she heard the jingle from the bell on the front door, announcing someone's arrival.
~
WOAH! Done another one. Thank goodness. I hope you enjoyed it! Well, I enjoyed writing it.
Anyways, with Ukyo, I don't hate her, but I don't think she goes well with Ranma. And for the whole friendship/bonding thing, well, I believe Ukyo was deeply hurt when Ranma left her so long ago. I've read in several other stories where later on, Ukyo goes insane from wanting Ranma so much and do everything she can. . . just to receive nothing in return.
Well, I'm definitely not going to make her go insane in here, but I want her to realize that her pain is the same as Akane's going through. So, she gonna help her get through it and not suffer like she did. Uh. I think that about covers it.
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!: Akane and Ukyo try to look for Ranma and get him to spill the truth. Meanwhile, Shampoo and Ranma arrive at the Neko Haten where Cologne watches and who's this?! MOUSSE???!!!
PLEASE! PLEASE REVIEW! All reviews help me keep going! Ciao. ^_~