Okay, I think some people got the wrong idea from my little author talk of the last chapter. I will not, I repeat WILL NOT discontinue the fic whatever happens, even if I don't get any reviews whatsoever (however I absolutely love getting reviews, they are my motivation and no motivation equals longer time for updates). The whole story line is already drafted out in one of my notebooks, so even if it looks like I won't write another chapter, please look for the words: The End and if they are not there then I will write more chapters. I'm hoping to have at least 10 chapters in the end. Well, that's all I have to say, if you did not die of boredom by now, please continue reading my story.
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Ai Shite Nai Wake Ja Nai Chapter 3: Love is too strong to let go.
Akane sighed as she looked out her window. May was almost at its very end. The weather for the past month was blazing humid; it had been hot and sunny since Ranma ran away from Nerima. Maybe the kami had done it to cheer her up, but her melancholy state remained the same. She watched as the last of the cherry blossoms gently fell down from the cherry trees, drifting past her room and out of the vicinity.
"Just like Ranma," she thought as more and more of them flew away, "They're both so full of spirit; they just go where the wind takes them, never staying still, just so free, so beautiful." Akane blushed and shook that thought out of her head. Ever since Ranma had left, Akane had had more than enough time to think about their engagement.
She'd soon realized that, even though it had been arranged by their fathers for the sake of uniting the two schools together, somewhere along the way she and Ranma had begun to fall in love with each other. But Ranma, being himself, could never express his thoughts directly. Instead, he'd called her uncute and other various insults. Not always though. She thought of all the times Ranma had protected her from danger and then tried to deny that he had done it for her sake afterwards. Akane finally understood that he had only said that to cover up his true feelings. Now, everything about their relationship became as clear as a crystal to her.
She loved him. It was that simple. If only she'd confessed her feelings to him before, everything might have been completely different. She pictured herself in the western style wedding dress standing next to the altar with Ranma, pledging her eternal love to him. The infamous wrecking crew would be safely tied up and gagged in the darkest corner of the house, carefully watched by Nabiki, who would make sure that absolutely no one got out of there without either losing their sanity or all of their money. Preferably both.
That would be her perfect wedding, but Akane had to face the truth. Ranma had disappeared from Nerima a month ago, and the crazy fiancées and suitors were still on the loose. Except Kuno, who hadn't been seen by anyone after she had malleted him into the sky.
The fiancées weren't taking the fact that Ranma had left very well. If it was still possible, they had become even more insane than before. The day after Ranma's disappearance, Shampoo had burst into the dojo to see if the news about her "husband" was true and ended up chasing Akane through half of Nerima with her bon-bori instead. Akane shuddered at the mere memory of Shampoo's anger-driven features. She could remember every detail of it, even now.
That morning, Akane had been filled with emotions of complete sorrow with just a microscopic hint of hope that Ranma might, just might, return. The Tendo dojo was as silent as ever. Genma was nowhere to be seen; he seemed to have disappeared "mysteriously" after the discussion that he and her father had had. Mr. Tendo had been in his room, still busy making phone calls since the day before, probably trying to engage her to any martial artist that came along. Kasumi had been just as quiet as always, and even Nabiki hadn't been trying to fish out money from various members of the family.
Their melancholy breakfast was, however, interrupted by a tremendous crash in the back yard. Akane began to get up to see what was wrong, but she instantaneously changed her mind when her head was almost ripped off by a too-familiar bon-bori. Akane dodged the first blow, but she was not sure if she would be able to do it again. The young Amazon's speed far outmatched her own.
"What pervert girl do with airen?" Shampoo demanded as soon as she saw Akane.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault that the coward decided to run away!" she protested. Akane had decided not to tell anyone about the letter Ranma left her, since no one in Nerima would believe her. In addition, she wasn't about to let Shampoo find out that she had any feelings for Ranma, otherwise she'd be dead for sure. Besides, how had Shampoo found out that Ranma was gone?
There was only one answer to that: Nabiki. Akane glared daggers at her older sister while she nonchalantly continued to sip her tea, as if nothing unusual was happening. Well, having the city's martial artists break into the dojo was not that unusual; it was actually quite a common pastime for them, but she could have at least shown some interest in the fact that her younger sister had almost been killed a second ago.
Nabiki was an ice queen indeed. Money was the only thing that ever mattered to her. First inviting everyone in Nerima to the wedding and now selling her out to Shampoo like this; that was unforgivable. (Author's Note: No, I do not hate Nabiki, so all of you Nabiki lovers out there, please don't kill me. She'll play a much better part later in the story) The reason she wasn't trying to get money out of anyone today was probably because she had already fished out the money from everyone else in Nerima. Knowing them, they would probably arrive at the dojo any second.
"No time for thinking, pervert girl. KILL!!!" Akane swiftly dodged another attack of a bon-bori, trying to figure out what she could do to escape the Amazon's wrath. Fighting with brute strength alone would not be enough to defeat Shampoo. There was only one thing left to do - RUN!!!
Akane scrambled out of the tearoom and ran as fast as she could from the enraged Amazon. It wasn't enough though; she could hear the swooshing of the bon-bori as they got nearer and nearer to her running form. The next attack left a bloody gash in her shoulder. Akane could feel the stabbing pain as the blood oozed out of the wound and onto the wet pavement, but she continued running anyway. Now, she could see that Shampoo was getting serious.
Akane knew that she would not be able to run for much longer. Her insides were on fire, making every intake of air as painful as swallowing a knife. Soon, Shampoo would catch up with her and kill her with the bon-bori. If only Ranma were there to help her! He would easily defeat Shampoo, but only if she wasn't in her cursed form.
Shampoo's cursed form. Of course! If she turned into a cat, Shampoo would never catch up with Akane. After dodging another series of blows so close that, they left her school uniform shredded into pieces that barely covered her exhausted body, Akane abruptly turned to the left and hurried towards her destination. After another excruciating minute, it was finally in sight.
Turning around she managed to summon up whatever meager strength she had left inside of her and threw the shocked Amazon against the metal fence along the canal. Apparently, it was enough for the fence to shatter into a million sections and for Shampoo to fall head first into the raging waters. The battle was over. Akane had won.
She jumped down and picked up the cat, the bon-bori, and her clothes. It looked as if Shampoo had been knocked out by her fall.
"Good," Akane mumbled softly, facing a feline Shampoo would still cause much trouble to her.
Akane looked down at herself. The remains of clothing that were left after the bon-bori attacks drifted away when she was running. Even though going to school that day was out of question, she didn't want to walk home through half the town naked. Akane picked up Shampoo's clothes and looked at them before hesitantly putting them on. Ranma had always said that Shampoo had a better-built figure than her. Well, that idiot was wrong! The clothes fit perfectly, if only Ranma could see her now.
Slowly, Akane walked home. Her shoulder wound hurt more than ever, the blood was still coming out, soon turning one of her sleeves from a bright pink to a dark, dirty red. Carrying the bon-bori made it even harder to walk without making her shoulder wound hurt even worse. However, Akane was still glad. Who knows what would have happened if Shampoo had defeated her?
The memory of that day was horrifying, but as Akane sat there admiring the cherry blossoms, she couldn't help, but smile at her victory over Shampoo. Handling the others had been much easier. When Kodachi had found out the news, she'd taken it as a sign that "Her Ranma darling" had disappeared to elope with her and went off to catch up with him. No one had heard from her yet.
Ukyou, however, was another story. She did not come to school at all and when Akane came to see her at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki no one was there and the door bore an "Out Of Business" sign. That was most unfortunate. Even though Ukyou had brought exploding Okonomiyaki to the wedding, she was still a dear friend to both Ranma and her. Akane knew that she would miss her, but leaving would be the only honorable thing to do. Ukyou had betrayed her best friend's trust and that was only a small price to pay for what she had done. Nevertheless, Ranma would have forgiven her he was always compassionate to everyone.
Maybe that was one of the reasons that she loved him. Her love alone made her go on with life. If Ranma really loved her as he said he did then he would come back. Whether it would be tomorrow or twenty years from now, she did not care. With him beside her, everything would be back to normal -- as normal as it ever was in Nerima, of course. However, that thought was never finished, it was interrupted by her father's voice.
"Akane, come downstairs. I would like you to meet your new fiancée."
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Another cliffhanger, huh? First of all, I just want to say that I am terribly sorry for not updating my story. I was just sort of all tangled up in other things and then I had the worst possible case of writer's block in the whole entire world. Miracles do happen however; it was gone after a long and stressful week. Plus, I had to re-edit the previous chapters, but most of it were just minor corrections though. My next update will be a lot sooner than this. In addition, if anyone wants to take a guess about the identity of Akane's new fiancée or how much time will pass before Ranma comes back please do and I will give you a million dollars (that was carefully forged in my basement) if you guess right. Sayonara!
P.S. Frameofmind – Thank you so much for proofreading this chapter! I couldn't have done it without you.
Sneak Peek at Chapter 4: What did Ranma do after he left? I wonder if Kodachi ever found him.
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Ai Shite Nai Wake Ja Nai Chapter 3: Love is too strong to let go.
Akane sighed as she looked out her window. May was almost at its very end. The weather for the past month was blazing humid; it had been hot and sunny since Ranma ran away from Nerima. Maybe the kami had done it to cheer her up, but her melancholy state remained the same. She watched as the last of the cherry blossoms gently fell down from the cherry trees, drifting past her room and out of the vicinity.
"Just like Ranma," she thought as more and more of them flew away, "They're both so full of spirit; they just go where the wind takes them, never staying still, just so free, so beautiful." Akane blushed and shook that thought out of her head. Ever since Ranma had left, Akane had had more than enough time to think about their engagement.
She'd soon realized that, even though it had been arranged by their fathers for the sake of uniting the two schools together, somewhere along the way she and Ranma had begun to fall in love with each other. But Ranma, being himself, could never express his thoughts directly. Instead, he'd called her uncute and other various insults. Not always though. She thought of all the times Ranma had protected her from danger and then tried to deny that he had done it for her sake afterwards. Akane finally understood that he had only said that to cover up his true feelings. Now, everything about their relationship became as clear as a crystal to her.
She loved him. It was that simple. If only she'd confessed her feelings to him before, everything might have been completely different. She pictured herself in the western style wedding dress standing next to the altar with Ranma, pledging her eternal love to him. The infamous wrecking crew would be safely tied up and gagged in the darkest corner of the house, carefully watched by Nabiki, who would make sure that absolutely no one got out of there without either losing their sanity or all of their money. Preferably both.
That would be her perfect wedding, but Akane had to face the truth. Ranma had disappeared from Nerima a month ago, and the crazy fiancées and suitors were still on the loose. Except Kuno, who hadn't been seen by anyone after she had malleted him into the sky.
The fiancées weren't taking the fact that Ranma had left very well. If it was still possible, they had become even more insane than before. The day after Ranma's disappearance, Shampoo had burst into the dojo to see if the news about her "husband" was true and ended up chasing Akane through half of Nerima with her bon-bori instead. Akane shuddered at the mere memory of Shampoo's anger-driven features. She could remember every detail of it, even now.
That morning, Akane had been filled with emotions of complete sorrow with just a microscopic hint of hope that Ranma might, just might, return. The Tendo dojo was as silent as ever. Genma was nowhere to be seen; he seemed to have disappeared "mysteriously" after the discussion that he and her father had had. Mr. Tendo had been in his room, still busy making phone calls since the day before, probably trying to engage her to any martial artist that came along. Kasumi had been just as quiet as always, and even Nabiki hadn't been trying to fish out money from various members of the family.
Their melancholy breakfast was, however, interrupted by a tremendous crash in the back yard. Akane began to get up to see what was wrong, but she instantaneously changed her mind when her head was almost ripped off by a too-familiar bon-bori. Akane dodged the first blow, but she was not sure if she would be able to do it again. The young Amazon's speed far outmatched her own.
"What pervert girl do with airen?" Shampoo demanded as soon as she saw Akane.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault that the coward decided to run away!" she protested. Akane had decided not to tell anyone about the letter Ranma left her, since no one in Nerima would believe her. In addition, she wasn't about to let Shampoo find out that she had any feelings for Ranma, otherwise she'd be dead for sure. Besides, how had Shampoo found out that Ranma was gone?
There was only one answer to that: Nabiki. Akane glared daggers at her older sister while she nonchalantly continued to sip her tea, as if nothing unusual was happening. Well, having the city's martial artists break into the dojo was not that unusual; it was actually quite a common pastime for them, but she could have at least shown some interest in the fact that her younger sister had almost been killed a second ago.
Nabiki was an ice queen indeed. Money was the only thing that ever mattered to her. First inviting everyone in Nerima to the wedding and now selling her out to Shampoo like this; that was unforgivable. (Author's Note: No, I do not hate Nabiki, so all of you Nabiki lovers out there, please don't kill me. She'll play a much better part later in the story) The reason she wasn't trying to get money out of anyone today was probably because she had already fished out the money from everyone else in Nerima. Knowing them, they would probably arrive at the dojo any second.
"No time for thinking, pervert girl. KILL!!!" Akane swiftly dodged another attack of a bon-bori, trying to figure out what she could do to escape the Amazon's wrath. Fighting with brute strength alone would not be enough to defeat Shampoo. There was only one thing left to do - RUN!!!
Akane scrambled out of the tearoom and ran as fast as she could from the enraged Amazon. It wasn't enough though; she could hear the swooshing of the bon-bori as they got nearer and nearer to her running form. The next attack left a bloody gash in her shoulder. Akane could feel the stabbing pain as the blood oozed out of the wound and onto the wet pavement, but she continued running anyway. Now, she could see that Shampoo was getting serious.
Akane knew that she would not be able to run for much longer. Her insides were on fire, making every intake of air as painful as swallowing a knife. Soon, Shampoo would catch up with her and kill her with the bon-bori. If only Ranma were there to help her! He would easily defeat Shampoo, but only if she wasn't in her cursed form.
Shampoo's cursed form. Of course! If she turned into a cat, Shampoo would never catch up with Akane. After dodging another series of blows so close that, they left her school uniform shredded into pieces that barely covered her exhausted body, Akane abruptly turned to the left and hurried towards her destination. After another excruciating minute, it was finally in sight.
Turning around she managed to summon up whatever meager strength she had left inside of her and threw the shocked Amazon against the metal fence along the canal. Apparently, it was enough for the fence to shatter into a million sections and for Shampoo to fall head first into the raging waters. The battle was over. Akane had won.
She jumped down and picked up the cat, the bon-bori, and her clothes. It looked as if Shampoo had been knocked out by her fall.
"Good," Akane mumbled softly, facing a feline Shampoo would still cause much trouble to her.
Akane looked down at herself. The remains of clothing that were left after the bon-bori attacks drifted away when she was running. Even though going to school that day was out of question, she didn't want to walk home through half the town naked. Akane picked up Shampoo's clothes and looked at them before hesitantly putting them on. Ranma had always said that Shampoo had a better-built figure than her. Well, that idiot was wrong! The clothes fit perfectly, if only Ranma could see her now.
Slowly, Akane walked home. Her shoulder wound hurt more than ever, the blood was still coming out, soon turning one of her sleeves from a bright pink to a dark, dirty red. Carrying the bon-bori made it even harder to walk without making her shoulder wound hurt even worse. However, Akane was still glad. Who knows what would have happened if Shampoo had defeated her?
The memory of that day was horrifying, but as Akane sat there admiring the cherry blossoms, she couldn't help, but smile at her victory over Shampoo. Handling the others had been much easier. When Kodachi had found out the news, she'd taken it as a sign that "Her Ranma darling" had disappeared to elope with her and went off to catch up with him. No one had heard from her yet.
Ukyou, however, was another story. She did not come to school at all and when Akane came to see her at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki no one was there and the door bore an "Out Of Business" sign. That was most unfortunate. Even though Ukyou had brought exploding Okonomiyaki to the wedding, she was still a dear friend to both Ranma and her. Akane knew that she would miss her, but leaving would be the only honorable thing to do. Ukyou had betrayed her best friend's trust and that was only a small price to pay for what she had done. Nevertheless, Ranma would have forgiven her he was always compassionate to everyone.
Maybe that was one of the reasons that she loved him. Her love alone made her go on with life. If Ranma really loved her as he said he did then he would come back. Whether it would be tomorrow or twenty years from now, she did not care. With him beside her, everything would be back to normal -- as normal as it ever was in Nerima, of course. However, that thought was never finished, it was interrupted by her father's voice.
"Akane, come downstairs. I would like you to meet your new fiancée."
.................................................
Another cliffhanger, huh? First of all, I just want to say that I am terribly sorry for not updating my story. I was just sort of all tangled up in other things and then I had the worst possible case of writer's block in the whole entire world. Miracles do happen however; it was gone after a long and stressful week. Plus, I had to re-edit the previous chapters, but most of it were just minor corrections though. My next update will be a lot sooner than this. In addition, if anyone wants to take a guess about the identity of Akane's new fiancée or how much time will pass before Ranma comes back please do and I will give you a million dollars (that was carefully forged in my basement) if you guess right. Sayonara!
P.S. Frameofmind – Thank you so much for proofreading this chapter! I couldn't have done it without you.
Sneak Peek at Chapter 4: What did Ranma do after he left? I wonder if Kodachi ever found him.