Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi
Akane Tendou was 12 years years old, practicing in the Tendou dojo. Her father was across her, a few meters away, holding up his arms in an alert stance. He stared at her in concentration as sweat ran down his face and over his chest.
"Concentrate, Akane!" he said in a commanding voice as his forearms suddenly tensed up.
At the same moment, Akane came rushing towards him in a blur of fair skin and long bluish-black hair, and gave a flying kick towards her father's midsection. Her right foot crashed into the forearm he held over his chest, but was totally unprepared for what he did next.
Instead of falling back to the direction of the wooden dojo floor, Soun Tendou sprang up, towards Akane. She fell over on the floor in an awkward position, one leg sprawled beneath her. She looked up at her father in open admiration. Adoration shone in her light hazel eyes as she stood up on her own.
"No fair," she grinned.
Mr. Tendou laughed as he appraised his youngest daughter. He wiped the trickle of sweat off his brow and put a steady hand on Akane's shoulder.
"You need more practice, girl," he said.
That night, Kasumi Tendou, the eldest daughter of the Tendou household, cooked a wonderful meal of grilled fish and pickled papaya. The family sat around the low table, eating and chatting easily about their days and what was going on in their lives. Nabiki Tendou discussed her latest money-making scheme, and the three sisters argued about the moral implications.
Akane went out to a movie with her friends afterwards, and they had a lovely time singing karaoke when the movie was finished. They took a neoprint picture, and Akane stuck it into her wallet as they bade each other good night and good-bye.
Akane Tendou was living a happy childhood. She was rapidly growing up to be very beautiful, with long dark blackish-blue hair, and amber eyes framed by dark lashes. Her creamy complexion was complimented perfectly by rosy, curving lips and a pert nose.
"See you tomorrow," Akane said as she waved to her two friends and walked along the road towards the dojo. The streets of Nerima were known to be safe, even at night.
She walked along the narrow road, looking to her right towards the canal. It sparkled on the other side of the wire fence. Akane smiled and pulled her pink jacket closer to herself. Life couldn't be more perfect.
'Tick tick tick tick tick.'
Akane stopped in her tracks, ears straining. It sounded like there was a sort of wristwatch, ticking in the alley there.
She looked at the dark area apprehensively before making her decision. Then she crept towards the alley, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark space.
'tick tick tick tick.'
It was faster now, as if she were playing some sort of hot and cold game. The closer you game, the higher the excitement. Intrigued, Akane saw that the alley was extending even farther down the back of the stone building.
Funny, how she'd never noticed this long alley, despite the fact that she'd been living in Nerima all her life. She followed the ticking sound, which seemed to come from the very end. It was very cold and damp in the alley, but Akane was too intrigued to notice.
Her jeans and plain white shirt underneath the jacket clung to her skin.
'tickticktickticktick.'
The moon glowed overhead, giving a dim silver cast over her. Then all too soon, there it was. The source of the ticking.
The alley path came to an abrupt halt, a looming brick wall in front of Akane.
'tickticktickticktick.'
It was a white vortex right in the middle of the wall, about the size of a tennis ball. It glowed and pulsed with life, swirling into itself. It spun threads of silver and white that cut into the darkness around it.
Akane stared, entranced. Knowing that she shouldnt, she reached out with a tentative hand. All the world seemed to collapse into a field of white. It rushed into her face all at once, making her open her mouth in alarm. But she couldnt scream.
There was a scream of blinding whiteness, then all went black.
She woke up to a dull throb in her head. Her eyes opened reluctantly and she found herself staring straight into the eyes of an old woman, who couldn't have been less than eighty years old. Akane Tendou sat upright from the hard wooden cot, and was immediately overcome by a wave of dizziness.
Her hand went to her head to steady herself.
"Where am I?" The most frequently used cliché in the book.
She took in the site of the room around her. She was in a one-room house, old style. The walls were still made of compacted clay piled on top of one another for a drab gray color. The floor was wooden slabs put side by side and sanded for a smooth finish. She was in the small cottage's only bed, and there to the side was a cozy fireplace. There was a small stove made of bricks and a wooden table set beside it.
Akane looked at the old woman who had been sitting beside the bed, on a squat wooden chair. The old woman looked back at her with little interest, White hair was piled up on her head in a fixed bun. Her brown eyes still had a fire in them as they appraised each other.
"Where am I?" Akane repeated awkwardly.
"I found you in the forest clearing," the old woman said, as if that explained everything. In her wrinkled hands, she held a bowl of clear broth. "You're not from around here, are you?"
Akane shook her head. She swung her legs awkwardly over the edge of the bed and ignored the pit in her stomach. What forest? Nerima didn't have a forest.
"Can you show me where you found me?" Akane asked, tongue feeling thick. She had to get back to where she came from. That place wasn't here. Her father would kill her if she stayed out too late.
The old woman stared at her a moment longer, then sighed. She stood up with an effort.
"Follow me." She walked to the wooden table and set the bowl of soup down with a clack. Her feet shuffled as she walked towards the wooden door and pushed it open. Akane stood up, too harassed to care about what she might have looked like.
She was already wearing her sneakers, so she just hurried over to the door. The old woman stared at her as Akane's jaw dropped in shock. Outside the house was a dirt road that led to two directions, one towards a small town with similar houses and few scattered buildings. The other direction led directly into a dense foliage of trees. It was getting dark outside.
The old woman walked towards the forest. Without a word, Akane followed after her. They walked in awkward silence towards the trees, but there was really nothing to say. Akane was too filled with dread to think about conversation.
They followed a well-worn forest path. Then, abruptly, the old woman steered to the left and disappeared into what seemed to be a wall of leaves. Akane followed. Together, they walked the dense path. The path suddenly opened up into what was a small forest clearing.
It formed a perfect circle, surrounded by large trees that shot up straight into the sky. The dimming afternoon light shone down on the soil.
"Here?" Akane asked stupidly as she stepped forward. She walked towards the center of the circle, and saw that there was a brushing of the soil, as if something large had dropped down on it.
Akane turned slowly to look at the old woman who was watching her with sharp eyes.
"Where am I?"
"You're in the village of Nam." A slight shrug.
"Where's Nerima?" Akane said in a small voice, brain not fully processing what was happening to her.
"Nerima doesn't exist here," the old woman said, her expression becoming gently somewhat. "You're another one."
"Another one?" This time, Akane's interest was captivated. Her head shot up. For the first time in hours, she was thinking properly. "Another what?"
The old woman shook her head as she started walking towards the center of the circle, where Akane stood.
"There are worlds that exist side by side to the world that you know," she said, looking wise and powerful with knowledge. "Sometimes, the doors between the worlds open. When this happens, some people, or even objects, may be drawn into a different space."
Akane shook her head as she averted her gaze from the old woman. Did things like that really happen?
Skepticism was clearly written across her face. The old woman sighed as she stood beside the young girl.
"Believe it, young one," she said, and put a wrinkled hand on Akane's arm. "I was sent here 60 years ago, when I was 16years old. I saw something glitter in the water pond, and it drew me in when I tried to grab it. I thought it was the ring that I'd dropped accidentally seconds before that. I came to here in this clearing, and have been coming back ever since."
"60 years ago?" Akane was shocked. "Is it impossible to leave here at all? Is that why you keep coming back here? To try to go back?
The old woman shook her head.
"Burma doesn't exist to me anymore," she said, naming her home country. "I come here to help those who fell through the same thing I did."
"Is there any way to go back?"
Akane's life in Nerima for 12 years flashed through her head: Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, and all her friends. She saw the clearing and was filled with such a sense of alarm that she almost chocked. She looked up towards the sky, and her attention was caught by a brilliant violet star, which shone apart from the rest.
"The doors to this world opens when that star appears," the old woman said, as she followed Akane's gaze. "But you can only pass through the door once every time it appears."
Akane felt a surge of hope as she looked towards the dimming sky.
"Then I just have to wait until the star reappears," she said, her breath barely above a whisper. "Tomorrow, I can come back…"
But the old woman had a pitiful look in her eyes.
Her old hand came up to stroke Akane's long hair as she looked up to the sky.
"That star only appears every 3 years," she said softly as her hand never wavered.
The stars and sky became a blur of colors as Akane felt the tears slide down her face.
The next day, Lola Inda, as the old woman was called, enrolled Akane in the town's only elementary to high school, assuring Akane that she should do it.
Lola Inda gave Akane several shapeless dresses, which she had no choise but to wear to the town school. Her jeans and jacket were too out of place. So Akane walked the dirt road to the large building, feeling resentment for her situation so strong that she might as well have cursed the gods.
The school was a very large building which was divided to make classrooms. Akane went in, feeling awkward, and found her classroom, where the teacher introduced her to her classmates.
There were about 12 people in her class, most who had straight brownish hair and dark eyes. Only a young boy who had similar Japanese features as her caught Akane's attention. He had black ponytail that was braided behind his back, and he had blue eyes. He wore a shirt that looked to be of Chinese origin. Along with his classmates, he appraised her as she introduced herself, feeling awkward in the green dress Lola Inda had given her.
"This was my very first dress given by the kind man who took me in," she had explained to Akane as she washed it.
Akane sat down in her seat and forced memories of Nerima out of her mind.
It immediately became apparent that Akane didn't fit in. It was obvious to her classmates that she didn't want to be there, and their adolescent minds took that as rejection.
They shunned her just like she was shunning them. The town teacher didn't seem to notice that Akane was by herself in the cafeteria. The lessons themselves were irrelevant to Akane and bored her terribly. All they did was do some storytelling about the lives of great knights and crusades and fighters. There were lessons on etiquette and the proper way of behaving and so on and so forth.
Lola Inda seemed to understand. She never pressed the fact that Akane never had anywhere to go on the early afternoon dismissals, and instead wandered around the forest. Akane had established a bed beside the fireplace, made of a straw mat and her old clothes for a pillow.
She was simply disheartened and had a hard time coping with her new life.
Akane was walking around in the forest when she heard sounds of trees breaking. Curious, she followed the sound until she came across two blurs high above the tree tops, fighting midair. Her heart skipped a beat as she took in the familiar sight of martial arts.
A panda and a young girl with red hair were fighting in the treetops, flying over the trees and in between branches. Their arms and legs were blurs as they jabbed, dived, kicked at each other, trying to find a weakness.
"You're getting slow pops!"
Taunted the young girl as she gave a diving kick straight into the panda's gut. The panda gave an animal groan as it doubled up in pain and fell straight towards the earth, right in front of Akane.
Akane jumped back as the large panda crashed in front of her through the trees, killing all living objects within a meter's radius.
She was still staring at the panda in open amazement when the young red-haired girl dropped down beside the panda and noticed Akane.
There was a flash of recognition in the young girl's eyes, but Akane couldn't be sure. She'd never seen the girl before in her life.
"Yo," said the girl awkwardly.
"You know martial arts!" Akane sputtered as she walked towards the girl, feeling her heart skip a beat. "Are you from around here?"
The girl looked confused by the question.
"Pops and I travel around the country a lot," she said as explanation. She jabbed a thumb at the unconscious panda. Akane realized that the girl might not be from earth after all.
"Fight me," Akane said suddenly. She stepped back and hiked up the long hem of her skirt, revealing her legs. The familiar feeling of excitement before a fight was bubbling up inside her.
She felt alive, for the first time in weeks.
"Huh?" the girl looked at Akane in confusion, blushing slightly when Akane's pale legs came into view. "I-ah-"
"Now!" It was a demand.
Akane lunged towards the girl, but just as quickly, the red-haired beauty jumped back.
"I… don't fight against girls," the red haired girl said in apology as she held up her hands.
Akane stopped in her tracks. What was she doing? She was attacking a girl for no reason at all except she wanted a fight. Yet…
"Please," Akane said harshly, never relaxing from her fighting pose. "I want to fight."
"You know how to do martial arts?" The red-haired girl was genuinely surprised. For she'd recognized Akane Tendou from her classroom. Akane was slightly withdrawn, and hadn't showed any exceptional inclination in violent arts before now.
"Yes I do." My father taught me.
"I'm not gonna fight a girl," said the red-haired girl.
"I'm not just any girl," Akane retorted as she felt frustration bubble up inside her. The red-haired girl's body tensed. Akane sensed instinctively that she was going to bolt. She gave a scathing glare, which froze the red-haired girl immediately.
"Please." It was a demand.
"You go to the town school, right?"
"Yes, I do…what does that have to do with anything?
The red-haired girl racked her brain, not believing for a second that Akane Tendou would perform whatever task.
"Listen, if you can give me the school bell, then I'll fight you."
Akane's brow furrowed. The school bell? Right on the sloping roof of the school building, rising above the dull red cement tiles. It was set up in a way that was similar to church bells, hanging from a rope on the beam.
All Akane said was: "Will you be here tomorrow?"
The red-haired girl nodded slowly.
"Ey, I gotta go. Bye!"
She jumped up into the air and disappeared into the treetops, leaving he unconscious panda in her wake. Akane stared after the figure.
Pls review! Godbless