Broken
Shadow Knight
Chapter 12: Dead Reality
Disclaimer: Ownership is to Rumiko Takahashi
~
NOTE: So, so, so, so very sorry about the long hiatus. Been very busy and very lazy.
~
Nermia's thick blanket of night swelled about it heavily. Dark clouds began brewing, curling long, lazy fingers around the pallid moon. The stars winked out of sight as the dark span grew and molded the sky. Then, in a sudden instant, the soft hiss of raindrops slipped along the streets and rooftops, announcing their presence. Drainpipes began to groan and moan under the abrupt downpour, almost sounding human.
Normally the shift of weather would have been nice, but for some reason, there was a gloomy and despairing air about it. It was as if the sky was weeping for some unfortunate soul.
For a soul who's burning flame. . . was about to flicker out.
~
Damn it, Ranma. . . why couldn't you just stay asleep a little bit longer?
Turning her head toward the dribbles of rain scurrying along the surface of the window, the girl bit her lip anxiously. She wasn't ready for this. Not now. Even 5 days after it had happened. . she wasn't ready to face him.
"Ukyo. . . is. . .is something wrong?"
She didn't want to see his curious face, etched with worry. She didn't want to see those innocent and inquiring eyes imploring her. Ukyo brought a few strands of her chestnut hair around her finger and curled it nervously about.
Please, please don't ask me, she cried out in her mind, clenching her eyes shut, Just let me disappear. . please. . .
"Ukyo, please look at me. Please. . . tell me what happened."
Clenching her nails into her fists, Ukyo restrained the growing fear inside her, threatening to destroy her carefully composed calm. Turning with a sigh, Ukyo turned.
His lips were drawn into a careful smile, but his eyes shook with a budding terror.
Oh no. . . he knew something was wrong. Please. . . please give me strength. . . . . . ., she thought as she gathered her hands to her arms.
Opening her eyes to his face, she felt the beast inside her thrive on her fear once again.
But most of all. . . give Ranma strength to bear through this.
~
"Ukyo, please look at me. Please. . . tell me what happened."
Even as he heard himself implore to her, he felt his heart slow in his chest and constrict in painful fear. Wh. . . . What could have happened?
Slowly she turned to face him, her brown eyes softened with a film of tears. This can't be good. She stared at him the way a mother would with a child when telling him some awful news. Her hands slid to her arms as if to bring her some comfort.
"Ranma. . . ," she started, biting her lips slightly, as she shook away. . tears?
Slowly the raven-haired boy slid up into a sitting position and reached out to the sad chef. He grabbed her wrists lightly and drew them away from her face. A brief shock of fear struck him and made his insides churn.
She was. . . crying. . .
"Ukyo," he asked with new urgency, shaking her arms lightly, "Please! Please tell me! What happened while I was asleep?"
At the mention of him being asleep, Ukyo's head jerked up stiffly. She pulled out of his grasp and hugged her arms as if he had bruised her.
"Ranma. . . you. . . you weren't exactly yourself," Ukyo sniffled lightly, trying to regain control of her emotions, "You. . . you were. . . different. . ."
"What exactly do you mean?" Ranma didn't like where this was heading.
Scrubbing her face quickly, Ukyo brought down her clenched fist and stared at him sadly. "Ranma. . . you were. . . drugged."
"What?!" Ranma nearly leaped off his futon mattress. Yet, the pain that burned inside his limbs forced him to lay back. Turning toward Ukyo, his eyes demanded reasoning.
"Ra. . . Ranma. . . you weren't very nice when you were drugged. . ," continued Ukyo, her words become shakier with each breath, "You were actually very. . . vio. . violent. . .But. . you were only mean to one person. . ."
As Ukyo trailed off, Ranma felt a thousand different degrees of alarm course through him. Underneath the comforter atop of him, his hands began to shake and twitch. Oh please say it wasn't who he thought it was. . . Please. .
Please say it wasn't her. . .
"Oh Ranma. . . I know you didn't mean it," Ukyo suddenly flustered, a stream of salty tears dribbling down her face now, "Whatever you do, Ranma. . . for heaven's sake, please don't blame yourself. ."
A small sob escaped the chef's throat as she couldn't continue. Her hands jerked up like frightened birds and went to clamp her mouth shut, muffling the hiccupping sob. Ranma's heart withered inside him as he saw her stared at him with such fear.
Oh . . what had he done?
"Ranma," she suddenly breathed out, "It wasn't your fault! You weren't doing it! It was something else! It was somebody else! Oh Ranma you didn't do it! You didn't do it! No, not you! You didn't-"
Her shouting was suddenly cut off as another sob robbed her of her voice. Guttural calls from her throat rocked her body lightly.
Not knowing what else to do with such a display, Ranma did what he could. Reaching over, he gathered the shivering chef into his arms and hugged her lightly, waiting for her cries to subside. "Ukyo," he spoke softly, patting her hair lightly to calm her, "I. . .I must know what I've done. . . It doesn't matter if I was drugged or not. . . I must know. ."
He pulled her away from him at shoulder's length and brought her face up to meet his. As her glazed eyes met his, she began to shake harder, a small, frightened whimper coming from her throat.
"Ukyo, my dearest childhood friend, I must know. What happened?"
As he stared intently into her eyes, Ukyo could not pull away. It was as if she were being sucked into his azure pools. "I. . . I. . I can't. . .," she whispered pleadingly.
Ranma gave her a small, sad smile. "Yes, you can."
Her body shook with a shuddering sigh. "Ranma. . . I. . . You were drugged. It was a potential drug that made you obey any command given to you. You. . . you were told to hurt someone. At first it was just being cold and mean. . .but. . . you got violent for some reason. I think. . . I think there was another drug involved. . . a more potent one. . .
But. . . but you began to grow really violent. The strange thing though. . . it was only to one person. . . You didn't hurt anyone else. . . Just her. . ."
"Her?" Ranma asked, the knot growing tighter inside him. Please, don't let it be her. . . please.
Ukyo cast mournful eyes to him. "Ranma. . . . you. . .you beat Akane."
~
A shocked flash swept over Ranma's face, his eyes widening as his fears were confirmed. His face constricted, but just as suddenly, melted away into a blank expression. His lips were drawn into a tight, thin line. As he stared at Ukyo with dull, flat eyes, it seemed as if he were looking through her, as if she wasn't there. Only his hands shook lightly in his lap.
Oh Ranma. . . no. . . No, she was afraid this might happen!
He was blaming himself.
"It. . . it wasn't your fault Ranma!" she cried out desperately, grasping his hands tightly upon seeing his face, "Please Ranma! It wasn't your fault! You couldn't help it! Ranma?! Ranma! Ranma please listen to m-!"
"Who did it?"
Hearing the whisper off his lips, Ukyo blinked, her face shocked at his tone. When. . .when did he get so cold? Why did he sound so. . . dead?
"It was. . . Shampoo," Ukyo mumbled, staring at the ground, unable to look into his eyes. It. . . it frightened her to look into them. There was something so deep and terrible in those eyes. . . something that terrified her.
"Where is Akane now?"
Ukyo flinched at the cold voice. Yet, she knew the hardest part was yet to come. She didn't look up into his eyes. "Ranma. . . she's. . . she's. ."
"What is it Ukyo?! Spit it out!" Ranma grabbed her shoulders and forced her up straight to level with him.
As his fingers grew tight in their grasp upon her arms, Ukyo felt her breath quicken. A need, more fervent and desperate than ever to run out of the room. . . to get away from him enveloped her. "She's gone Ranma. . . she's gone," she managed to breath out.
Ranma's fingers loosened on her arms, and she fell slightly to the floor. She shoved herself back away from his still form until her back was pressed against the wall. She was scared of him. His eyes. . .oh his eyes! They bit into her soul and ripped it apart! How terrible and fearful were those eyes!
"Ukyo, I'm sorry I've been rude to you. Please except my apology, but I believe I need to be alone."
Ukyo looked up fearfully and saw Ranma staring at her. His eyes weren't soft. They were quite hard and frigid actually. She knew that if she objected, he would throw her out.
She had to get out of here.
"It's. . it's alright. Just tell me if you n. . need anything. I'll be ou. . outside."
Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and walked quickly to the door, almost leaping outside.
Shutting the door behind her, she breathed quickly, her heart beating quickly against her chest. Clasping her hand to her chest, she tried to sort through the chaos running rampant through her mind.
What. . what was that? That wasn't the Ranma she knew! It was. . . it was somebody else. He dealt with her in such a way that she believed he would strike out at her. And yet. . . he was so. . . cold. . . so dead in spirit and soul.
Had she lost the Ran-chan she loved forever?
~
He stared at the wall, trying to stop the tears from running down his face. He hadn't meant to be so mean to Ukyo, but. . . .
Ranma looked down at his hands and felt his body shake. So. . . all those images. . . those things of his dream. . . they were. . . true? He was that terrible monster in his dreams?
He didn't want to believe it to be true, but somewhere deep inside his mind, he knew that he had done it. He had beat Akane. And now. . the only girl he had every truly loved. . . she was gone. . .because of him.
A cold storm brewed inside him as he felt a tear burn down his weathered cheeks, reminding him of his lost love.
Balling his fists tightly, he clamped his eyes shut against the tears, opened his mouth,
. . .and screamed.
~
Not a single soul didn't feel some sadness sweep over them in the town of Nermia. Only a few knew what the heart-wrenching scream that erupted through the town meant.
But everyone felt the pain in it.
It was the scream of someone who died inside.
~
Okay! I know that was short, but I needed to get this done and honestly I think that if I tried to continue with it right now, it would mess up the flow and would be too long. Although. . . for some of you, I bet you would just eat up a 25 page chapter or so, eh? ^_^
Well, I just am so busy lately. Uh! Too much stuff going on! Too many assignments. Plus I'm not feeling too well right now, so there! . . .uh. . yeah. -_-
But I promise I'll start getting some stuff done during my break for the Holidays. AND THANK YOU to all of you who read and/or review this crap. Thank you for all you encouragement also. I really appreciate it.
If someone had questions to ask about this story, I'm sorry, but I can't quite answer them at the moment because I'm not on the internet and mine is quite slow. But if you have any DEMANDING questions just ask and make it stand out in some bold way and I'll try to answer it.
Criticism, praise, just a plain review, all is welcome! Criticism helps me improve, praise is a nice encouragement for more chapters, and a plain one is pleasing to know someone cares enough to review. Thank you all again.
Until the next chap,
Ciao. ^_~
P.S. NEXT CHAP: Ranma has to duke out some punishment; don't worry, it's not as bad as you think.
P.P.S. Sorry I made some of you cry! ^_^
Shadow Knight
Chapter 12: Dead Reality
Disclaimer: Ownership is to Rumiko Takahashi
~
NOTE: So, so, so, so very sorry about the long hiatus. Been very busy and very lazy.
~
Nermia's thick blanket of night swelled about it heavily. Dark clouds began brewing, curling long, lazy fingers around the pallid moon. The stars winked out of sight as the dark span grew and molded the sky. Then, in a sudden instant, the soft hiss of raindrops slipped along the streets and rooftops, announcing their presence. Drainpipes began to groan and moan under the abrupt downpour, almost sounding human.
Normally the shift of weather would have been nice, but for some reason, there was a gloomy and despairing air about it. It was as if the sky was weeping for some unfortunate soul.
For a soul who's burning flame. . . was about to flicker out.
~
Damn it, Ranma. . . why couldn't you just stay asleep a little bit longer?
Turning her head toward the dribbles of rain scurrying along the surface of the window, the girl bit her lip anxiously. She wasn't ready for this. Not now. Even 5 days after it had happened. . she wasn't ready to face him.
"Ukyo. . . is. . .is something wrong?"
She didn't want to see his curious face, etched with worry. She didn't want to see those innocent and inquiring eyes imploring her. Ukyo brought a few strands of her chestnut hair around her finger and curled it nervously about.
Please, please don't ask me, she cried out in her mind, clenching her eyes shut, Just let me disappear. . please. . .
"Ukyo, please look at me. Please. . . tell me what happened."
Clenching her nails into her fists, Ukyo restrained the growing fear inside her, threatening to destroy her carefully composed calm. Turning with a sigh, Ukyo turned.
His lips were drawn into a careful smile, but his eyes shook with a budding terror.
Oh no. . . he knew something was wrong. Please. . . please give me strength. . . . . . ., she thought as she gathered her hands to her arms.
Opening her eyes to his face, she felt the beast inside her thrive on her fear once again.
But most of all. . . give Ranma strength to bear through this.
~
"Ukyo, please look at me. Please. . . tell me what happened."
Even as he heard himself implore to her, he felt his heart slow in his chest and constrict in painful fear. Wh. . . . What could have happened?
Slowly she turned to face him, her brown eyes softened with a film of tears. This can't be good. She stared at him the way a mother would with a child when telling him some awful news. Her hands slid to her arms as if to bring her some comfort.
"Ranma. . . ," she started, biting her lips slightly, as she shook away. . tears?
Slowly the raven-haired boy slid up into a sitting position and reached out to the sad chef. He grabbed her wrists lightly and drew them away from her face. A brief shock of fear struck him and made his insides churn.
She was. . . crying. . .
"Ukyo," he asked with new urgency, shaking her arms lightly, "Please! Please tell me! What happened while I was asleep?"
At the mention of him being asleep, Ukyo's head jerked up stiffly. She pulled out of his grasp and hugged her arms as if he had bruised her.
"Ranma. . . you. . . you weren't exactly yourself," Ukyo sniffled lightly, trying to regain control of her emotions, "You. . . you were. . . different. . ."
"What exactly do you mean?" Ranma didn't like where this was heading.
Scrubbing her face quickly, Ukyo brought down her clenched fist and stared at him sadly. "Ranma. . . you were. . . drugged."
"What?!" Ranma nearly leaped off his futon mattress. Yet, the pain that burned inside his limbs forced him to lay back. Turning toward Ukyo, his eyes demanded reasoning.
"Ra. . . Ranma. . . you weren't very nice when you were drugged. . ," continued Ukyo, her words become shakier with each breath, "You were actually very. . . vio. . violent. . .But. . you were only mean to one person. . ."
As Ukyo trailed off, Ranma felt a thousand different degrees of alarm course through him. Underneath the comforter atop of him, his hands began to shake and twitch. Oh please say it wasn't who he thought it was. . . Please. .
Please say it wasn't her. . .
"Oh Ranma. . . I know you didn't mean it," Ukyo suddenly flustered, a stream of salty tears dribbling down her face now, "Whatever you do, Ranma. . . for heaven's sake, please don't blame yourself. ."
A small sob escaped the chef's throat as she couldn't continue. Her hands jerked up like frightened birds and went to clamp her mouth shut, muffling the hiccupping sob. Ranma's heart withered inside him as he saw her stared at him with such fear.
Oh . . what had he done?
"Ranma," she suddenly breathed out, "It wasn't your fault! You weren't doing it! It was something else! It was somebody else! Oh Ranma you didn't do it! You didn't do it! No, not you! You didn't-"
Her shouting was suddenly cut off as another sob robbed her of her voice. Guttural calls from her throat rocked her body lightly.
Not knowing what else to do with such a display, Ranma did what he could. Reaching over, he gathered the shivering chef into his arms and hugged her lightly, waiting for her cries to subside. "Ukyo," he spoke softly, patting her hair lightly to calm her, "I. . .I must know what I've done. . . It doesn't matter if I was drugged or not. . . I must know. ."
He pulled her away from him at shoulder's length and brought her face up to meet his. As her glazed eyes met his, she began to shake harder, a small, frightened whimper coming from her throat.
"Ukyo, my dearest childhood friend, I must know. What happened?"
As he stared intently into her eyes, Ukyo could not pull away. It was as if she were being sucked into his azure pools. "I. . . I. . I can't. . .," she whispered pleadingly.
Ranma gave her a small, sad smile. "Yes, you can."
Her body shook with a shuddering sigh. "Ranma. . . I. . . You were drugged. It was a potential drug that made you obey any command given to you. You. . . you were told to hurt someone. At first it was just being cold and mean. . .but. . . you got violent for some reason. I think. . . I think there was another drug involved. . . a more potent one. . .
But. . . but you began to grow really violent. The strange thing though. . . it was only to one person. . . You didn't hurt anyone else. . . Just her. . ."
"Her?" Ranma asked, the knot growing tighter inside him. Please, don't let it be her. . . please.
Ukyo cast mournful eyes to him. "Ranma. . . . you. . .you beat Akane."
~
A shocked flash swept over Ranma's face, his eyes widening as his fears were confirmed. His face constricted, but just as suddenly, melted away into a blank expression. His lips were drawn into a tight, thin line. As he stared at Ukyo with dull, flat eyes, it seemed as if he were looking through her, as if she wasn't there. Only his hands shook lightly in his lap.
Oh Ranma. . . no. . . No, she was afraid this might happen!
He was blaming himself.
"It. . . it wasn't your fault Ranma!" she cried out desperately, grasping his hands tightly upon seeing his face, "Please Ranma! It wasn't your fault! You couldn't help it! Ranma?! Ranma! Ranma please listen to m-!"
"Who did it?"
Hearing the whisper off his lips, Ukyo blinked, her face shocked at his tone. When. . .when did he get so cold? Why did he sound so. . . dead?
"It was. . . Shampoo," Ukyo mumbled, staring at the ground, unable to look into his eyes. It. . . it frightened her to look into them. There was something so deep and terrible in those eyes. . . something that terrified her.
"Where is Akane now?"
Ukyo flinched at the cold voice. Yet, she knew the hardest part was yet to come. She didn't look up into his eyes. "Ranma. . . she's. . . she's. ."
"What is it Ukyo?! Spit it out!" Ranma grabbed her shoulders and forced her up straight to level with him.
As his fingers grew tight in their grasp upon her arms, Ukyo felt her breath quicken. A need, more fervent and desperate than ever to run out of the room. . . to get away from him enveloped her. "She's gone Ranma. . . she's gone," she managed to breath out.
Ranma's fingers loosened on her arms, and she fell slightly to the floor. She shoved herself back away from his still form until her back was pressed against the wall. She was scared of him. His eyes. . .oh his eyes! They bit into her soul and ripped it apart! How terrible and fearful were those eyes!
"Ukyo, I'm sorry I've been rude to you. Please except my apology, but I believe I need to be alone."
Ukyo looked up fearfully and saw Ranma staring at her. His eyes weren't soft. They were quite hard and frigid actually. She knew that if she objected, he would throw her out.
She had to get out of here.
"It's. . it's alright. Just tell me if you n. . need anything. I'll be ou. . outside."
Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and walked quickly to the door, almost leaping outside.
Shutting the door behind her, she breathed quickly, her heart beating quickly against her chest. Clasping her hand to her chest, she tried to sort through the chaos running rampant through her mind.
What. . what was that? That wasn't the Ranma she knew! It was. . . it was somebody else. He dealt with her in such a way that she believed he would strike out at her. And yet. . . he was so. . . cold. . . so dead in spirit and soul.
Had she lost the Ran-chan she loved forever?
~
He stared at the wall, trying to stop the tears from running down his face. He hadn't meant to be so mean to Ukyo, but. . . .
Ranma looked down at his hands and felt his body shake. So. . . all those images. . . those things of his dream. . . they were. . . true? He was that terrible monster in his dreams?
He didn't want to believe it to be true, but somewhere deep inside his mind, he knew that he had done it. He had beat Akane. And now. . the only girl he had every truly loved. . . she was gone. . .because of him.
A cold storm brewed inside him as he felt a tear burn down his weathered cheeks, reminding him of his lost love.
Balling his fists tightly, he clamped his eyes shut against the tears, opened his mouth,
. . .and screamed.
~
Not a single soul didn't feel some sadness sweep over them in the town of Nermia. Only a few knew what the heart-wrenching scream that erupted through the town meant.
But everyone felt the pain in it.
It was the scream of someone who died inside.
~
Okay! I know that was short, but I needed to get this done and honestly I think that if I tried to continue with it right now, it would mess up the flow and would be too long. Although. . . for some of you, I bet you would just eat up a 25 page chapter or so, eh? ^_^
Well, I just am so busy lately. Uh! Too much stuff going on! Too many assignments. Plus I'm not feeling too well right now, so there! . . .uh. . yeah. -_-
But I promise I'll start getting some stuff done during my break for the Holidays. AND THANK YOU to all of you who read and/or review this crap. Thank you for all you encouragement also. I really appreciate it.
If someone had questions to ask about this story, I'm sorry, but I can't quite answer them at the moment because I'm not on the internet and mine is quite slow. But if you have any DEMANDING questions just ask and make it stand out in some bold way and I'll try to answer it.
Criticism, praise, just a plain review, all is welcome! Criticism helps me improve, praise is a nice encouragement for more chapters, and a plain one is pleasing to know someone cares enough to review. Thank you all again.
Until the next chap,
Ciao. ^_~
P.S. NEXT CHAP: Ranma has to duke out some punishment; don't worry, it's not as bad as you think.
P.P.S. Sorry I made some of you cry! ^_^