"Stray Droplets", by Krimzonrayne.

Saturday 24th of February

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma.

--- TT ---

Dear ASUS, A8J… I have a story to tell you.

It was a cold evening; that, I remembered quite clearly.

The sky was dark, especially so for being only six o'clock and it worried me.

No, I'm not afraid of the dark. That particular trait I have out grown since my childhood. Although I can be childish at times and made my share of immature decisions; some where along the line, I've definitely grown up.

No, my fear was a rational one; it was that of a young woman making her way home from work during a late hour, walking pass a particularly secluded neighborhood.

Statically, about one hundred small crimes are committed in Tokyo at any given day. Thirty percent of these cases are sexual assaults.

A rational fear indeed.

I pushed the thoughts away from my mind. Thinking about it would do nothing but agitate me further.

And I was plenty agitated as it was.

If I could remember correctly, the grounds were cracked and the loose gravels felt torturous with my high heels; it was undergoing repair or some other such rubbish. Although I'm not sure exactly what I said, I believe it was something along the line of 'pointless waste of tax-payers yens.'

Or something rather.

In any rate, as I've said before, it wasn't important anyway. What was important was what happened next.

As I made my way down the run down streets, I was thinking to myself about the failure of our tax laws. Follows the rise of Edo came an alarming rate of technological and industrial growth. And with it came inflation.

For those who do not know, inflation is the falls in value of a currency. It happens as the treasury prints more cash to satisfy the economic growths.

But there lies a deadly trap; if prize of houses and treasures translate to such minuscule token, wouldn't the government lose trillions of yens in tax money?

The answer is yes, as was the government's answer to the idea of compensating for this.

So now, with inheritance tax being so high it could bankrupt families, more and more old homes are left in ruin as the new generation moves onto apartment complex and condominiums.

But I digress; I'm only twenty-one, far too young to be contemplating the falls our 'great' society.

Yes, I also do sarcasm.

Anyway, about fifteen minutes before my house, I began hearing footsteps. At first, I refused to believe the first obvious conclusion that came to mind and didn't turn around to have a look. As they got louder, denial became harder and harder to pull. After a feel tentative seconds, I broke into a run.

The footsteps followed.

My legs were burning and my heart pounded. I remembered screaming to myself 'don't look back, don't look back'.

And then I did.

Curiosity, inquisitive, nosy, call it whatever you wish but I did look back. I turned around slowly, looking over my shoulder to glance at the men behind me. As soon as I set my eyes on them, it was as if I was entranced. Similar to the morbid fascination associated with watching car crashes, I literally couldn't tear my eyes away.

The men… they were like beasts. Instead of anger for having to chase after me, within their eyes were unholy glints of animalistic glee. They were enjoying it… the methodical hunt.

It was an eerie feeling, being a prey that's.

My eyes caught sight of one of their lecherous sneers and I froze.

I must've tripped and fell because the next thing I remembered was looking up into those lust-filled eyes.

I wasn't sure what exactly was going through my mind right then and there.

It's very easy for people who'd never experienced it before to throw in fancy words like 'horrified', 'paralyzed by fear' and other such verbiage in order to describe the feeling.

The truth is you actually don't feel anything. It was like… it wasn't like anything. If there's something that came close to it, I couldn't tell you.

There was no building up of fear or gradual realization, the truth hit like a sledge hammer.

I'm going to be rape.

It was like being told a fact; it was quick, simple and very, very shocking.

And before it even had the time to sink it, they were upon me like vulture. Unlike in movies, my blouse as with other general garments actually doesn't tear so easily; they actually had to undress me into order to do...that…I remembered putting up a struggle but I wasn't quite sure. One of the thugs got tired of my resistance and punched me in my stomach. I think two of them were pinning down my arms and legs but I couldn't be sure.

The pain was literally blinding; I actually wasn't able to see anything more than few inches in front of me.

Then I regained my breath and boy did I scream. It was probably loud enough to wake the dead.

It was definitely loud enough to call my knight in shinning armor.

He didn't wear white, but I didn't mind it one bit; he was garbed in red and black and he looked very good in them. There was no banter or corny speech, he just came out of no where and laid into them like a human-lightening bolt.

I'm not going to describe everything he did, partially because I don't have enough knowledge on martial art to explain his actions clearly. Though, it's save to say that he was VERY good at dispatching those monsters; and before I knew it, he was in front of me, offer a hand to help me up.

I must been pretty shocked and wasn't thinking straight because I refused the handsome hero's hand a tried standing up by myself. I wobbled and fell, but before I hurt myself a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around me and stopped me from falling.

I remembered looking up and seeing the most beautiful pair of soft blue eyes I've ever seen. His face held a reassuring smile but there were also signs of worriment as well.

Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed that my rescuer has a pig tail and it all came rushing back to me.

It was a couple of mouths ago when I heard the rumor for the first time, a strength unbelievable tales that spread from mouth to mouth. It was nothing more than an urban legend really; a pigtailed martial artist that can hop over buildings, turns into a girl and throw fire balls from his hands...or her… whatever…

Anyway, I thought nothing of it at the time; after all, I've heard more plausible myth and none of them held any substance.

"Are you Ranma Saotome?"

That was what I said.

Looking back now, I couldn't help but blushing a little at my idiocy. A guy just rescued me and I automatically assumed he was the local fictional superhero. To my surprised he nodded accent and was actually was going to say yes.

But then… he didn't.

"No, I'm afraid not."

That was what he said. Rather charmingly in fact. His reassuring smile was still draped across his roughish handsome face and was as pleasant as he was earlier.

But…

The way he said it… it was as if he meant something else by it. For some reason, I felt like it was something more than a simple case of mistaken identity. Also, there was something in his eyes that made me felt cold inside.

While I as contemplating this, he gently lowered me down so I could stand on my own feet.

Now I know what you're thinking; and then the cute rescued damsel gave her knight in shinning armor a passionate kiss as a reward and they fall in love, right?

Not quite.

He asked me if I was alright to which I shyly nodded affirmative. He then offered to walk me home and wouldn't let the subject drop until I assured him that I would be able to make it home by myself. He bid her farewell and warned her not to be out alone so late.

And then he left.

Yeah.

Just like that… some ending huh?

So here I am… lying on my bed typing away on my laptop, my mind going at a hundred miles per hour. I still couldn't get the tonight's event out of my mind. I still couldn't believe how calm I was about the whole thing… I mean, I was almost rape for God's sake.

And what's more confusing is that I'm thinking about his comment more than what happened! I mean, talk about paradox. Of all things that had happened today, I'm more worried guessing his name wrong?

What was his name anyway? Although, I don't think guy wore their hair in pig tail anyway. Oh well, I guess I'm wrong about that too…

Darn it! How hard is it to say, 'I'd like that' anyway? Just three simple words and I could've been talking to him for another few minutes… Ten if we'd walked slowly. If only I'm not so bloody shy!

Oh God I sound like such a loser. Here I am, berating myself for making stupid decisions about a boy who'd never be interested in me in the first place. He's probably not even eighteen.

I wonder if I'll ever meet him again. Huh….

Oh crap, look at the time. It's almost midnight, I better get to bed. I'm going over to the library tomorrow, first thing in the morning, to finish up my Chemistry's research for Monday.

Nighty night, Mr. Laptop,

Yamaguchi Keiko

--- TT ---