Follow the 10-foot Footprints (Part I)
Broken Quill and Scattered Ink
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½.
A/N: I'm back! I wanted to take a break from the seriousness of my Ranma fanfics so far, and write something a little more fun and light-hearted. This fic was initially just a one shot called "Inversion," but I ended up writing a couple more one-shots since then, and decided to open this up as a collection of my one-shots. So when I'm tired of working on my other fics, I will be using this as my outlet. It will definitely be updated more often than the others, so look out for this one! Enjoy!
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Five shirts, four pairs of pants.
The colors of the shirts and black pants became a blur as Ranma angrily wadded up the very few belongings and stuffed them into the bottom of his hiking backpack.
"Ranma, think about what you're doing," his father—currently human—was standing behind him, towering over him, babbling in an attempt to get some sense into his son. "this dojo will be yours once you marry Akane-kun. Why are you throwing it all away?"
He took note of his son visibly bristling at the name of his fiancée.
"I am not staying here for no dojo!" his voice bellowed back, continuing to throw items into his pack. "And most definitely ain't here for no stupid fiancées, either!"
Genma countered his loud son with demands, as usual. "I will not have a son who disrespects his fiancée like that! Watch your mouth, Boy!"
"Pops, it ain't my fault that she stupidly fell in l-love—"
"Boy, calm down—"
"—with that stupid jungle-freak and just wanted to run off and go live with him forever!"
Ranma stood, securing his pack on his back. His eyes lit with determination, not so different to when he was mentally preparing himself for a fight.
"Well you know what I have to say? Good riddance to ya', if that's what she wants. I ain't goin' after her a second time to that freakish forest with those stupid huge animals. And she wants to go marry that moron? Go ahead. I ain't gonna be here to congratulate her. Sorry."
Ranma's footsteps were unsteady as he walked towards their door. Genma noticed that the confidence lining his voice did nothing in his physical display. The boy was practically a walking bundle of shaking nerves as he inched his way to the door of their bedroom.
Things have changed. Within these few weeks returning from Jusenkyo, everyone could see that the engaged couple of the Tendo house have been on edge around each other. They fought as usual, but with less ire. When news of marriage or any affection came up, the two no longer spoke nor denied it; no longer looked at each other in the face. Confused and lost over where they were or how to act around each other. Even Genma and Soun had shared their worries over their two engaged children over the Shoji board when all were at school.
But when it mattered most, the two displayed their care for one another. Akane became more protective over Ranma, and when one of his many fiancées came to ask Ranma for dates, Akane aided Ranma in his verbal refusal of them.
"Shampoo, Ranma has said 'no'."
And when Kuno came to the house looking for Akane after they had returned from China, Ranma was quick and agile, knocking out anyone who came within an inch of Akane's personal space.
Not that those actions were much different than before the China trip…
Ranma always looked out for Akane, and took even more care to assure that other young men would come near her.
That's it!
A glint appeared on Genma's spectacles. "So you're saying that you are jealous, right Son?"
Ranma stopped at the door. He turned around slowly, red flames licking at his aura. "What?"
"Face it." Genma whispered, his mind turning to find ways to get his son to stay. To convince him that this will all blow over, because things always did in the Tendo household. "You're jealous of Akane-kun being with Shinnosuke."
"Tch." Ranma let out, narrowing his eyes. "I couldn't care less about who that Tomboy falls in love with."
The flames growing brighter around him said otherwise.
"And you really don't think that this is all out of character for Akane-kun, Ranma?" Genma continued, now that he had his son's attention. "If you aren't jealous, prove it. Go bring Akane-kun back from Ryugenzawa. Find out what is wrong with her."
Ranma turned back to the door. "Nice try, Pops. But I'm goin' on a trainin' trip. I ain't meddling in her crap anymore."
Ranma felt his heart lunge at the idea that right at this moment, Akane and that forgetful Shinnosuke were somewhere in the forest, together, probably eating her dinner and him praising her on her beauty, her cooking, her name—
Ranma nearly vomited. Then, a picture of Akane's face popped into his mind, and the bile rising in his throat disappeared. He remembered the bright smile that lined her face when she announced to the family that she was headed to Ryugenzawa to see Shinnosuke. Quickly, the vomit rose again.
He stood at the doorway, a hand on the thin paper shoji door. For once, what his father had said was true. Akane was acting out of sorts this morning—he might say a bit cuter than usual. Only a bit though.
And for her to go to that forest for a second time, without any strong man (save for Shinnosuke, of course, but that dolt was not as strong as Ranma) by her side, all alone with the huge animals…
Ranma felt a delayed heart-attack come. After Jusenkyo, he had always been watching over Akane, even in the safest activities she took part in. Why had he not felt this panic earlier, when she was leaving out their door, when she had started travelling down the road in front of the dojo?
His mind answered himself.
You were so upset with Akane wanting to go to Ryugenzawa all of a sudden, that you shouted "who needs you, anyway, Tomboy?" and ran upstairs to sulk.
Ranma closed his eyes. Shut up.
The panic overwhelmed him. He should not be standing here, wondering what he should do. The choice was already made. He had to go find her.
"Boy? Boy! Are you even listening to me?"
Ranma found himself on the ground, slapped over the head by his father.
"Pops! What didja do that—"
"You've been standing there for five minutes like a zombie! What are you thinking about doing, huh? Are you leaving to train or are you going to go save Akane-kun?"
Soun burst through the door, in tears, as expected. "Saotome, you know the answer!"
He turned to the brain-rot boy on the floor. "Son, you're going to save my daughter, aren't you? Aren't you? Just like last time, bring her home!"
Ranma looked at the fathers, silent. He wondered why that choice wasn't made in the first place.
What kind of man runs away from his problems? He asked himself. And clearly, it's expected of me to go save her. There's no thinkin' needed here.
"Boy, what kind of man runs away from his problems, anyway?" Genma shouted, grabbing hold of Ranma's collar. "Are you a man or not? If you are, go save Akane-kun!"
Ranma looked back with a small smile. "Just what I was thinkin', Pops."
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A/N: Working to get back into the swing of writing [I feel like I say that a lot].
Please review and make any comments you would like about this two-part one-shot! I'll be updating the next one soon!