I don't own Ranma 1/2. Viz Media, Kitty and Rumiko Takahashi do.

Ranma 1/2 : Sundered Souls

Of Roads and Campfires: Part 2

Ryoga breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his longtime rival drift into unconsciousness. Thank kami-sama that he's not in a coma. Akane-san never would have forgiven me. His eyebrows furrowed. But why on earth did he fly back from that hit? It wasn't even a sucker-punch. He took as if he weren't a martial artist.

"What on earth happened to you, Ranma? I could have killed you." Ryoga shuddered. Despite his proclamations to the contrary, he wasn't a killer. The very idea of someone dying by his hands, on purpose or by accident, kept him up at night. He had come uncomfortably close to death a few times himself, courtesy of both of his curses.

They say that Jusenkyo curses are personalized to teach the inflicted party a lesson. Ryoga couldn't fathom exactly what he was meant to learn by being turned into a small, helpless and potentially delicious animal. Ranma's curse, however, he understood. He might not be particularly bright, but the symbolism behind it was about as subtle as a brick to the head.

Ryoga winced as the idea of head trauma crossed his mind. He prayed that the worst of the injury was behind them, because even though it hurt his pride, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get Ranma to the hospital on time should the need arise. The problem was that he didn't know what to do. The only injuries he'd ever nursed were basically cuts and scrapes. It was probably a good idea not move her, for fear of risking further aggravation to her head.

His head, Ryoga forcibly reminded himself. Around Ranma, pronouns started to become blurred. Intellectually and through experience, he understood that Ranma was, at his core, a man. But his gut instincts when dealing with his female form were entirely to the contrary. As a result, he made a point to exaggerate his protestations to Ranma being a woman whenever possible.

It shamed him to no end that he had even the slightest attraction to the pig-tailed martial artist's cursed form. It was enough to drive someone mad that behind that lithe, nubile body was a hotheaded, egotistical boy. It only made it worse that this half-man was stringing along 3 beautiful women, including the love of Ryoga's life, Akane!

"Akane-san..." Ryoga sighed, as cherubs frolicked behind him, "if only I could share with you my innermost, secret heart, I know that we could be happy together."

Ryoga shook himself out of his reverie as a groan elicited itself from between the lips of his longtime rival.

".. Nggh – Akane." Ranma-chan struggled slightly in her bedding, but soon came to a rest.

"You've got it bad for her too, haven't you, Ranma?" Ryoga whispered, tears in his eyes. Ryoga knew that, despite all of his protestations, Ranma really cared for Akane. The way that things were heading, with the months that had passed since the failed wedding, Ranma would be due to his move, soon. Everyone could tell that the fiancee situation had been weighing even more heavily on Ranma recently, evidenced by his insistence on being away from home so often. Whether it was searching for a cure or going off on a 'training mission', Ranma kept his distance from the Tendo Dojo more often than not. And though this would be the most optimal time for Ryoga to make his move on Akane-san, he couldn't help but feel that doing it while Ranma was away would be ... dishonorable. A low growl elicited itself from Ryoga's throat as he stared into the campfire flames. Sometimes even he was confused by his own code of honor. Damn it all.

He lay out his sleeping bag, meticulously going through his checklist of things to do before bed. He set about preparing for sleep, routinely checking on Ranma-chan to make sure that she would be fine for the night.

Finally, finished with all of his preparations and convinced that his fairweather friend and foe would survive the night, he allowed the dreamlands to take him.

~~~.~~~.~~~

At another campfire...

A pig-tailed boy sat in thought, his mind racing as he turned a small black box over and over in his hands. With all of his tactical brilliance, one would think that some of his skills would carry over into planning out how to speak to women. Just compare the conversation to a fight, he told himself. Begin the opening moves and feints, judge your opponent's intended course of action, determine the appropriate counter and then strike!

Unfortunately, Ranma Saotome had a problem. He trusted his instincts too much. This would be fine for any other individual who had not been raised by Genma Saotome. Circumstances being as they were, his instinctive defense when it came to using his words entailed slinging insult after insult until the opposition was worn down or fought to an acceptable standstill. This often wound up working poorly in conversations with those of the feminine persuasion.

What he was about to attempt in the next few days, however, had no margin for error. He opened the box, exposing a modest, but respectable engagement ring. He had spent the past few months saving up for it here and there. He had, on occasion, entered himself into small competitions under an alias while he was away on one of his 'training trips', squirrelling away whatever sum he acquired into a small savings account that he had opened. Living with Nabiki for two years hasn't been an entirely wasted experience, he mused.

When he had purchased this ring, he had made a promise. It was this promise that was weighing on his mind at that very instant. Whichever came first, the 3rd anniversary of their meeting, or his finding a cure, he would settle his engagements and propose to Akane Tendo. He honestly had thought that the end of the year would be the determining factor and his unexpected success in ending his curse left him slightly unprepared.

At the thought of his curse being gone, he grinned warmly, hands roaming over the contours of his chest, around his shoulders and down his hips. He revelled in the permanence of his male form. For a while, he had come to accept his curse as a part of him. He even remembered saying at one point that it was probably something that he needed. After today, however, having taken a swim in his true body, he realized that what he had been experiencing before was a form of Stockholm Syndrome. He had accepted his curse because it had seemed that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get rid of it. Now that he was truly free, he knew there would be no lingering regrets over his erstwhile feminine form.

He eyed the pocket in his pack where he knew that the gem resided. Although it had brought him his cure, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of foreboding that came with the apparent ease of its blessing. From all his prior experiences in magic, nothing ever wound up being quite what it appeared at first. He had examined himself thoroughly, however, and could not find any negative side effects to this cure. Unless he had some magical cancer growing inside of him (he knocked on the log he was leaning against), the whole thing had gone off without a hitch.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to break off all of his other engagements cleanly, explain his most recent absence and its ramifications, propose to Akane and make it out all in one piece.

And so the pig-tailed boy sat in thought.

Authors Note: I promise that the next chapter will be longer, and hopefully not as far apart. I'm posting this chapter to inform everyone following this story that it is NOT dead, just moving slowly. I'm worried slightly about the quality of the writing, but even more worried about not getting anything published. So I'm going to push through the next couple of chapters and refactor them at a later time.

Hope your lives are going well!

-Cat5