A Ranma ½ fan fiction…
Author – Chibi / Warlordess
Disclaimer – I don't own Ranma ½; it is a product by the great Rumiko Takahashi. I'm also not creative enough to make up a better disclaimer than that. How sad…
Notes – I have no idea how this idea came to me. I went from having no inspiration or confidence for R/A fan fiction to harboring this suddenly evolved plot that just popped out of nowhere. It was just, I could see this as something in the series, I guess. Those who've read the manga might not agree with me first off thanks to the summary I gave you, but it is a bit misleading, so you'll just have to find out why. Also, let it be known… I HATE THAT TITLE! DIE, TITLE!
Dedication – To my online sister, Silverflare07, who sent me the first through third seasons of the anime and who encouraged the creation and progress of this fic. She's the one who deserves it most of all.
OoO
Title - Herbal Remedies
Chapter Four - "Puddle of Mud"
Summary - It started with Akane's losing her mind and telling Ranma that she loved him, and then it was his unwillingness to tell her he didn't feel the same way. . . But how did all of this madness start, and when? R x A romance. Kind of. :P
OoO
The next morning, Akane woke up and rose from her covers with a sense of dread at the thought that it was a school day. And a school day meant that she would have to go out in public with Ranma. . . freaky-and-obsessively-in-love-with-her Ranma. . . Somehow, that was nowhere near as flattering as it should have been.
Yawning and allowing herself a good stretch, Akane unhooked her daily uniform from the hanger suspended from her door, and grabbed a towel and her soap bucket, heading for the bath. Upon opening her door, however, she ran into a little problem. . .
"R-Ranma? What are you doing in the hallway? And right outside my room, no less!" She yelled, nudging him awake with her foot since her arms were full. He awoke from his slouching position and looked up at her, revealing two very droopy eyes.
"Oh, my Akane! Ohayo!" He said, leaping forward and latching onto her waist. Akane contained the urge to scream and kick him away with the constant reminder that this was not the real Ranma and it wasn't his fault. Finally, he released her and offered an explanation, "Jiji-hentai tried to get into your room in the middle of the night, assuming that you'd be too exhausted from beating me around the head to fend for yourself. Luckily, I was waiting here to tackle him just in case."
"Oh, well. . . arigatou." She fumbled in reply, ". . . But I could have handled him on my own!" She finished, stomping off to the bath.
"You're welcome, kawaii fiance! Aishiteru!" He called after her and she waved back at him in point of ending the conversation, closing the bath door with a snap, "Okay, you take a shower first and I'll finish getting your laundry off of the clothes line!"
In the middle of removing her shirt, Akane halted, her face turning red in fury and embarrassment. Surely, it had to be a joke. Ranma would never dare to be stupid enough to touch her dresses, shirts, shorts, uniforms, or. . . underwear. . . He had to be smarter than that. . . Or had he really lost the will to live. . . ?
But even as she went through the clothes from yesterday, which were still sitting innocently in the laundry basket, and which should have also contained all of her things from yesterday as well, school and training, she knew that he must have.
Quickly, she threw her clothes back on and, forgetting to bathe, tore from the bathroom and jumped down the stairs, crossing the main room where her father, Genma, and Kasumi already sat, and leaping onto the dew-dashed grass out back.
Before she'd even allowed herself a chance to stand straight, she flung herself at Ranma, tackling him to the ground.
"Ranma! How. . . dare. . . you. . . !" She seethed breathlessly as he lay there beneath her, speechless and confused, and holding her bra in his hand. Seeing red, she shrieked, "Give me that! Don't you ever, ever, ever touch my things again! Do you hear me? If you do, I'll - I'll--"
"--That's right, Akane, take the initiative! Go on, then!" She heard her father's familiar tone from the background, and her scarlet-laced vision dissipated into reality.
And reality was mocking her with the acknowledgement that she was in the backyard in the early morning, pinning her fiancé to the ground; her fiancé who, despite being much stronger than her and currently having recovered from the shock of her throwing him down, was not attempting to get her off of him. And the shock of all this was enough to cause any lingering anger she'd held before to vanish and be replaced by a crimson flush that swept over her face entirely.
"Why, Akane, I didn't know that you were that type of--" Ranma started.
"--Finish that comment and I'll. . . go out on a date with Ryouga!" Of course, that was really no way for her to make a come-back in a normal argument, but seeing as Ranma was so in love with her. . .
"No. . . ! You wouldn't dare, would you? Not when I'm here right now, loving you this much!" He whimpered childishly and tightened his hold on her waist.
"Get. . . get off of me!" She squirmed, turning red again.
"Well, forgive me for saying so, but aren't you the one on top of me. . . ?" He asked with a slightly boyish grin.
". . . We have to get ready for school. . . ! We only have ten minutes!" She cried out, shocked, as she managed to glance at her watch, "Kasumi-oneechan, could you finish this laundry for us? Ranma. . . drop the bra and let's go. We still have to eat breakfast. . . !" She mumbled embarrassedly as the two of them walked past their fathers.
"Your lunches are on the table next to the front door!" Kasumi called after them.
By the time they were finished eating and ready to go, Ranma had attempted to feed her, asked her if she wanted him to polish her shoes, and tried to hold her hand four times.
"Stop it!" She said, slapping his arm so that he pulled it back after trying to take hold of her for the fifth time, "Look, Ranma, I know you might not be able to help it, but. . ." She sighed as they passed the point where he would usually leap onto the fence he always walked along, but today he was still busily staring at her as he strolled at her side, ". . . try and keep your distance today, okay? After yesterday, well, if I know Furinkan High School students, then the word about us has already spread to the end of the district and back again. Anyway, just try not to. . . smother me so much, okay? And keep your hands to yourself!" She repeated, smacking him away again as he tried to make another move on her.
"Understood, Akane, my love." He stated in a creepy uber-romantic tone.
"Oh, and after school today, I plan to go and look for P-chan. . . he looked a bit. . . sick. . . the last time I saw him, a couple of days ago. I don't want your help, though, so you'll have to go home or out somewhere without me." He gave her a puppy-dog face, but she turned her head to avoid it, "C'mon, you know that you two don't get along very well, and he's kind of really protective of me and who I give my attention to, so your. . . behavioral issues won't help any."
She supposed that she would have expected him to fight more, but he merely smiled and turned away.
If that's what you want, then--"
"--Well, it is!" She shouted confidently. But why was she suddenly angry at him? Nothing good ever came of being angry over nothing. . .
Ranma finally got the chance to succeed in grabbing hold of her hand and, sighing, she allowed him to keep his grasp on it. It just wasn't worth messing with, and nothing she said or did seemed to deter his loving figure anyway.
Two seconds later, however, the calm of the moment was broken by a familiar shout.
"Ranma Saotome, how dare you besmirch the lovely Akane Tendo with your touch!" Kuno stated confidently, his boken held high above his head as he plowed furiously through the groups of students entering the schoolyard, "For your crimes against her hospitable beauty and our fate to be together, I shall--" He was cut short by Ranma's foot smashing him in the face.
Akane sighed, almost in relief; at least one thing was familiar about his new attitude.
"Now, you listen here, Kuno-baka. . ." He started, his eyes burning with crackling anger, ". . . and this goes for the rest of you hentai as well! Akane Tendo is my rightful fiancé and I'm in love with her!"
"N-nani. . . ?" Akane asked, horrified at his speech, "No! Shut up!"
But Ranma had every intention of going on.
"Any of you who might have a problem with it can answer to me! And if you plan to try and take it up with Akane, herself, fine; just be sure to expect my foot up your--"
"--It's not true, not true, I tell you!" Akane shrieked as everyone began murmuring around her.
"So, for future reference, don't disturb our relationship, otherwise, I'll probably have to kill you!" Suddenly, his furious demeanor vanished and a happy smile returned, "Okay? Now, c'mon, Akane, or homeroom will start without us," he finished, although she wasn't listening to him anyway.
"I swear, it's not true! No, really, don't believe a thing he says; it's not his fault. He's sick, er, hurt - hit himself upside the head yesterday. . . He hasn't been the same since. . ." She was reassuring everyone.
"Ranma!" Another voice shouted, sounding deathly cold.
"Ran-chan!" Ukyou's voice rung out.
She, a newly revitalized Kuno, and now Ryouga charged Ranma as one, knocking their weapons, fists, and feet against any part of his body that they could reach. This was the one thing that finally gained Akane's attention, and she somehow managed to convince herself to help her fiancé out, even after all of the damage he'd caused.
"Matte ou, you three! Attacking him all at once isn't fair! If you want a challenge, then let me get in this, too!" She yelled in his defense, immediately gaining their attention, along with every other organism with eyes and / or ears in a five mile radius. She turned pink but shook it off, taking a sturdy fighting stance.
Fortunately, none of them felt that she was the person worth blaming this situation on, even Ukyou, who was looking downright furious at Ranma's words.
Ranma, grinning broadly at the thought of Akane defending his outburst of affection for her, quickly leapt at her, grabbing a hold of her waist.
"Oh, Akane, I knew that you'd come around! Now we can finally start talking about the wedding ceremony, and the kids, and the dog, and all of the other wonderful things to do with our life together!" Before any of the former members of the opposing party could separate the two teenagers, Akane took hold of her fiancé's collar and threw him over her shoulder, sending him flying into the ground about thirty feet away.
"Who the heck do you think I'm marrying, baka? And how many times do I have to tell you to stop grabbing me like that? Get a hold of yourself and listen to me. . ." She breathed deeply as she rounded on him again, getting close enough to make positive that he was awake and paying attention to her, ". . . I don't. . . I don't feel like. . . not for. . ." She fumbled, somehow not able to say it the way she'd planned, "Just. . . stop, okay, Ranma? Then maybe you'll live to see age seventeen." And, finally, with the ringing of the school bell, the crowd began to disperse, flocking into the building for Homeroom.
Avoiding the expressions and muttering of all of those around her, Akane continued walking as though nothing had just happened.
"She has such a courageous, loving heart, and her voice is so beautiful. . ." Ranma sighed devotedly from behind her, and she quickened her step, ignoring when Ryouga reappeared beside the Saotome boy and beat him soundly upside the head.
Morning classes went by rather strangely for Akane; or, rather, the transition from classroom to classroom was strange. Every time Akane exited one room and began walking down the hallway to another, she would catch a glimpse of Ryouga or Kuno sneaking glances at her progress from behind a potted plant or through the windows.
Ukyou, too, was acting a bit differently. As Akane would make a move and Ranma would always join her (which caused some real issues when the Tendo girl tried to go to the bathroom during third period), Ukyou was suddenly compelled to glue herself to the very small space between them, which, somehow, Akane found relieving and aggravating at the same time.
When lunchtime came around, Akane took advantage of the headache that'd been pulsing in her head all day long and decided to visit the Nurses Office. She soon realized this was a mistake, as Ranma became so worried about her health that he carried her there in his arms in front of everyone, telling her things like "not to worry" and "our love for one another will get us through anything". And just when she'd thought she'd escaped him because one of the Nurses rules was 'Patient Privacy', she found out that the student attendant was a fan of their relationship.
"Oh, it's you two! Wow, I'd heard you finally told each other how you felt. . . Please be sure to take things at the right pace and enjoy your time together!" The woman stated in a motherly tone, patting Ranma on the shoulder before drawing the curtain closed around Akane's bed and slipping out to eat her lunch.
"Ugh, could you stop looking at me like that, onegai?" The girl asked her fiancé as he kneeled beside her, his face about half a foot from hers. She was getting very annoyed by his 'constant vigilance' persona, "No, really, you're getting on my nerves!"
"I can't help it! I'm worried about you, my lovely, kawaii fiancé. What with this sudden headache. . . Perhaps we should go home and tend to you there--"
"--And stop calling me that! Whatever happened to kawaiikune, waistless, built-like-a-brick, macho, manly, uncoordinated, and all of that other stuff?" She yelled at him, hurriedly sitting up to add incentive to her fiery reply, but Ranma quickly pushed her back down to the comfort of her pillow, "And why is it you think I have a headache, anyway? You, and everything else that's going on is driving me crazy. . . !"
Ranma, who seemed to have a response to this, immediately replied, "At least you don't have to worry about P-chan, though; at least you know he's alright." There was a wide, almost oblivious smile on his face.
"P-chan. . . ? Nani? How am I supposed to know if he's okay? Come to think of it, how do you know?" Her voice seemed to be getting louder as she pressed the subject and Ranma, for once not intending to reveal Ryouga's secret, began to draw back.
"Er, ano. . . that is to say. . . I suppose it's just a feeling. . ."
Now, Ryouga's position didn't mean the world to Ranma at the moment, and definitely not nearly as much as Akane's did. . . and it was undoubtedly obvious that she would be upset after learning of her pet's true identity, which was something Ranma would never allow if he could help it.
Of course, before he could help it, Ryouga, not aware that Ranma was - in a way - trying to help him, came out of nowhere, pummeling him furiously over the head and then turning embarrassedly to Akane.
"Ano, Akane-chan, koonichiwa. . ." He said, averting his eyes and stepping on Ranma's hands as the better martial artist attempted to pick himself up off the ground, "I hope you're feeling better. . . Do you need anything? A drink? Some medicine? Should I go get the nurse? How about I go buy some--"
"--Some strange product from Kyoto? Not right now, P-chan!" Ranma said aggravatedly, kicking at the eternally lost boy (who skillfully avoided it). He seemed thoroughly pissed at the fact that his doting on Akane had been suspended.
"Who are you calling P-chan?" Ryouga shouted, cracking his knuckles and raising his fists, using his well-begotten speed and catching the pigtailed boy in the gut, but it didn't really seem to affect him.
"P-P-P-chan!" Ranma mocked in a sing-song tone.
"I said--" Ryouga's reply was interrupted by Akane.
"You two, I've had enough! Ranma, I'm disappointed in you! How many times have I told you not to pick on Ryouga-kun! And you, Ryouga-kun, well. . . for someone who seems to be so genuinely worried about my condition, you aren't showing it much. And what about my lil' P-chan? Ryouga-kun, do you know something about him. . . ?" Akane broke off mid-statement as a look of recognition dawned open her face, ". . . Ie. . . Don't tell me. . ."
"It - it's not really. . . I mean, Ano. . ." Ryouga fumbled; Ranma continued smirking in the background.
". . . You're trying to tell me. . . that you found my P-chan and took him home for me? Oh, arigatou!" And she threw her arms around him in the element of the moment, turning him to a puddle of toned, blubbering nothingness.
"Hey!" Ranma shouted, losing himself and pulling the still brain-dead Ryouga and the thoroughly relieved Akane apart by their collars.
Then, quite suddenly, the Tendo daughter turned to him and held him by the hands, leaving him in the same position as his closest rival.
"And you, Ranma. . . You were going to tell me about this before Ryouga showed up, weren't you? Arigatou. . . you were right. . . Not having to worry about my P-chan is a great thing. . ." She finished, letting go of her fiancé and turning to face the window beyond her bed, allowing both love-struck boys a chance to recover.
Then she spun around to face them again, a heavenly kind and warm smile spreading over her face, "I feel a lot better now!"
And both male martial artists were right back where they started.
OoO
Notes - Hello! Er… well, actually, I don't have much to say to start off. . . I guess that I should thank the two people who sent me the Japanese titles of Ranma's "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire" and Ryouga's "Breaking Point" attacks. You have been very helpful in that, now, as long as I copy those titles down for when I'm typing this fic up at home, I can keep updating every week. I'm sure that even those who don't like the Japanese translations I'm doing can thank you for that.
What's more, happy belated Christmas and New Year! Yea, sure, I could have said that during the chapter updates that I posted around the Xmas time, but I figured, 'Why follow the trend? Let's forget to tell the readers Happy Holidays until after they're over!' Lol. . . Well, it sounded good at the time. . .
Also, let me just take the time to thank said reviewers for their courageous fishing appetites. Er, that is to say. . . This is my first Ranma ½ fic, and, therefore, I really didn't expect to get any reviewers for it, at least, not as many as I have been getting. I'd like to thank all of those who've stuck their toes back into the water time and time again to check out my works in new categories, those of which I obviously don't know much about, and those of other authors who do the same. We know that, starting off, we can't be thought of as much, but that you read our well-thought-out idea's nonetheless means a lot. So thank you.
Oh, I'm on a roll now, aren't I? I started out with nothing to say and soon enough, I'd filled up three well-sized paragraphs yakking. Amazing. Anyway, I hope to receive at least seven reviews (as that seems to be the minor limit for every chapter before this) and I'll see you all next week, preferably Tuesday or Wednesday.
Until then. . .