This is after the end of the manga and before the wedding attempt. It is a Ranma/Akane story with others later if people want. Most of Ranma's problems will be solved but he'll get a new one.
The last chapter was a bit short but they will be longer. There are going to be some flashbacks coming up and violence…
Thanks a lot for the reviews, good and bad. Sorry if people don't like OOC but it's my story – though I don't own any characters unless I made them up.
A few days previously…
It all started a few days ago. A change had come over the Tendo household. A calmness that was not there before the journey to China. This was mainly because Ranma spent most of his time training furiously in the dojo and so had little time to talk with Akane to start any arguments. By the time the evening came he was too tired to bother with any name calling.
Akane was internally getting worried. She didn't remember much about china. She remembered getting knocked out and then somehow waking up, mostly naked, in Ranma's arms. She'd been too embarrassed by it to really ask what had happened and Ranma didn't seem to want to volunteer any information. In fact he kind of seemed to be avoiding her…he seemed to be avoiding everyone…
Ranma's mind was firm. He HAD to train hard. He MUST be the best. He had to be able to protect Akane from anything. Plus, if he was dead tired at the end of the day there was more chance he would have a dreamless sleep. He didn't really want any more of the ones that followed him after china. Images of Akane's lifeless body, never waking. They were images he wanted to forget.
Ranma wanted to tell Akane what had happened fully, he did…but how do you tell someone that you realised you loved them after they had nearly died…
"Ranma dear." Came a soft voice as Ukyo walked into the dojo, "Why are you training so hard? I've been worried about you."
"I've been busy Ukyo. I've had a lot on my mind sorry." Ukyo didn't miss the fact that he had used her proper name. He had been so quiet and distant lately. After she'd had a talk with Ryoga more had been made clear to her.
That comes up later
"What's going on here?" Akane's furious voice cut into the conversation. Akane couldn't believe this. Ranma had barely said a word since they'd come back and now she found him chin wagging with Ukyo!!!
"I-" Ranma began but was cut off by Ukyo.
"Akane we need to talk. Ranma you stay here." Both were surprised at the fact that she didn't use his nickname.
Akane followed giving Ranma a suspicious look and he simply shrugged in response.
When they were in the garden together Ukyo turned to Akane.
"Akane, we need to sort this out." She, unlike Shampoo, knew the situation now and as much as it pained her she knew what she had to do.
"Sort out what?" Akane was suspicious and who can blame her.
"Ranma. I'm renouncing my claim to him."
Akane could only stare in shock at first but that was replaced by suspicion…"What's caused this change of heart?"
"I know that I'm not the one he wants. You are."
"How do you know that? I don't think anything that happens shows that." Akane scoffed.
"You're the one he always goes off to rescue." Ukyo said sadly.
"He goes off to rescue anyone he cares about." Akane countered, refusing to budge. She wanted to hold on to her anger at him so she didn't have room for the more awkward emotions that Ranma caused in her.
"Yes." Ukyo conceded, "but it's always you he goes to rescue first." She raised an eyebrow checking for Akanes reaction. She had gone quiet and a thoughtful expression came across her face.
Then Shampoo burst into the room, hurling various throwing daggers at them that were dodged or blocked by Ukyos spatula. One or two grazed Akanes shoulder.
"Obstacle dies!!!" she snarled charging at Akane again, ignoring Ukyo.
Akane dodged and weaved the attacks knowing she could not keep up the dance for much longer.
She did not have to. An avenging demon with a heart as gentle as a child's but now willing to act out such atrocities on those who would harm those it cared for.
"ENOUGH!" yelled Ranma snatching Shampoos bonbori from the air and throwing it through the wall of the dojo. This time she had gone too far. He had had enough. He struck Shampoo backhanded across the face sending her spinning to the floor. She knew what the situation was now surely?
They all stared in shock. Ranma had never struck a "real" girl at all, let alone struck a girl with something approaching his full power.
"Get out Shampoo. Do NOT come near Akane again. Are we clear?"
"Airen?" Shampoo whimpered in shock.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!!" he roared furiously. "Are we clear?" his voice dangerously quiet and even more threatening.
Shampoo nodded mutely and left in a storm of tears.
Ranma checked on Akane.
"Are you okay?" he asked her tenderly as he checked her over for injuries. Akane could only nod in shock at his tenderness just after he had been the most violent she had ever seen him. Yes he'd fought, a lot, bet he'd never been like that.
"What?" he snapped at the watching people who had come running and watched with their jaws on the floor. "I should have let her hurt Akane?" They all suddenly found the floor very interesting and no one dared say anything. He snorted and left the house now he knew Akane was okay. He was going to put a stop to this.
"Oh my. Did that just happen?" asked a confused Kasumi. "What's happened to Ranma?"
The only who knew fully what happened, Genma, said nothing.
Back to the present…
Ranma left the cat café still not fully calmed down. How dare she. How dare she!
"Saotome." Came a quiet voice from the shadows. It was Mousse. The trip to China had produced one good by product in that there was a new understanding between the two martial artists.
"What is it? I'm still in kind of a bad mood."
"I understand my friend. I wanted to apologise for not stopping Shampoo. It will not happen again I swear." He was very serious. Ranma was glad that they understood one another now. It was good to have an ally for once.
Ranma calmed somewhat. "Thanks. Are you still set on Shampoo?" He hoped the Amazon youth would open his eyes.
"No." He looked sad for while. "There was a time I would have killed for her but I have seen too much now. I will not waste my life on a spoilt brat who only cares about herself."
"You finally worked it out." He looked at the weapons master with new respect. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to meditate on it. I hope that my path will become clearer to me."
"Then good luck duck boy. If I can help you in anyway…" he gave him a smirk and was off again.
"See you soon Saotome."
Ranma's next stop was to see perhaps the one person who was, slightly, removed from the extreme lunacy of his life. He was lucky that they also happened to be his mother.
"Ranma!" she beamed as she gave him a huge hug. He returned it gingerly. It was still strange for him to receive love and affection from someone who didn't want anything in return.
Nodoka could see something troubling her son and brought him inside to talk. After a while in which Ranma explained recent events he got to the crux of his problems.
"I'm tired of this Mum. I'm tired of the other fiancées threatening Akane thinking I wont do anything 'cos they're girls. Tired of being a doormat. Is that wrong of me?"
"Why should you not want to protect your fiancée? That seems perfectly natural to me. Hitting a girl is allowed in some circumstances…"
Across town events were being set in motion that would change everything
Shampoo poured through her Grandmothers books searching for the means to achieve her goal. It was always Akane. If she could remove her then Ranma would be hers. She had to be careful, for in China she had seen what he was truly capable of when fighting for what mattered to him.
She needed to destroy Akane at all costs and she couldn't let Ranma stop her. Not if she wanted her to fulfil her hopes and dreams.
Then she found what she was looking for. It could give her her hearts desire, at the expense of her soul…
Like it? Wish I'd done something different? Let me know.
In the next chapter someone's going to die…