Introducing:
Ranma ½ Fanfic Production:
A SECOND CHANCE TO LOVE…
Part Seven:
Ranma went back to the Tendo residence with trepidation. The last exchange in school seemed to give him a very unsettling feeling in the deep conscience and he hated to be bothered by something for prolong periods of time. The red imprint left from Akane's slap had faded long ago but the significance of the act left him wondering what had gone wrong in the daily routine of insults traded followed by the impending Mallet of DoomTM.
A whiff of burning wood managed to be picked up by his honed smell. 'Are people burning old furniture and clearing up old stuff so late at the end of spring? Last time I recalled, residents of Nerima had their yearly clearing since autumn before the New Year' (A.N: I'm referring to the Japanese New Year. Correct me if I'm wrong if I made a mistake on the dates.)
Ranma followed the burning scent and he was surprised that it had led to the Tendo residence which the Saotome family and himself put up. A girlish figure wearing Furinkan High uniform stooped down to toss in a branch to encourage the flames. Rays of golden sunlight hit her short haircut as the figure seemingly brushed away something on her face. Dark navy highlights were reflected upon the locks of hair and without a doubt. Ranma knew that it was Akane.
"Akane!" Ranma took larger steps to reach the girl. The girl in askance recognised the voice of her ex-iinazuke and hurriedly turned to go back to the house.
"Akane! Where are you going? I'm trying to tell you something! Stupid tomboy!" Ranma double in efforts to reach her, just before he broke into a brisk run after the girl, Kasumi and Nabiki come out from nowhere and obstructed his way.
"Ranma-kun, I have prepared a baked of cookies for all of you. Follow me to the kitchen for your share, ok?" Kasumi smiled, trying to guide him to the kitchen.
"Thank you Kasumi but I need to speak to the uncute fiancée of mine first." Ranma declined and tried to dash up to the stairs leading to Akane's room.
Nabiki however closed up and grinned grimly. "Ranma-kun. Get the hint. Akane prefers not see to you right now." In a rare display of sisterly concern, Nabiki exchanged meaningful eye contact with Kasumi. Kasumi smiled back encouragingly. "Frankly, after hearing from my sources of what you did, I do not blame my little sis."
Ranma's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? We just had our usual quarrel. She should not be such a petty idiot."
Nabiki sighed. As if she was speaking to a dense child of six years old, she began to make her point. "Ranma-kun, supposed Saotome ojiisan was better in martial arts than you."
Ranma interjected, "That will never happen. I am much better than oyaji."
Nabiki let out a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Fine. Supposed it was Ryouga or Mousse who beat you in every round of martial contest." Ranma begun to open his mouth to protest as Nabiki held up her hand to silence him. "Quiet. Just imagine, ok?"
"If you are once a formidable martial artist until someone came along and defeated you. Before you could reconcile the defeat, others who are much better and better looking to you appeared one after another." Ignoring Ranma's sputtering denial, Nabiki continued, "You hope to train up and improve so that at least you are still considered strong. Then that someone who first beaten you told you how you will never be able to match up ever."
"All your efforts are like trying to walk a few steps while others around you improved by leaps and bounds. Not because you are lousy but simply because they are just the most gifted bunch of idiots the world can get all suddenly surrounding you in where you lived. You tried to be nice to a person and the person told you straight in the face that their efforts stunk. All your previous peaceful life disrupted by just one person's arrival. How would you feel if this continues for over two long years, hmmm?" Nabiki glared at the boy trying to digest and dissect the information gathered.
Ranma blinked and tried to visualize. Honestly, he could not as he had always overcome the newest foes and learnt new martial art techniques. It had never occurred to him that Akane's pace in learning new techniques are slower not because she was dense and hopeless. He could recall however during his short lapses of stumbling in trying to master new techniques, the dejection and humiliation the opponents shown him has nearly made him gave up, especially in one particular incident of Happousai using acupuncture to make him lost his physical strength. The pure agony of never able to do what he enjoyed best had hit him hard at that point but with the exhilaration of turning the tables back at his opponents subsequently made him forget the bitter taste of defeat.
Widening his eyes, Ranma spoke hesitantly, "Did I really make her feel that way in those jokes and teasing?"
Both elder Tendo sisters smiled in relief at how Ranma finally seen his folly.
Nabiki replied, "As a martial artist, I believe you know that better than us."
Ranma winced as he turned his face away in shame and regret. "I think I will stay out in the porch for a little while longer."
Kasumi nodded her head approvingly as she chirped happily, "I will bring out the cookies for you." Ranma thanked her and stood at the fire still blazing away.
A certain item being swallowed at the fire caught his eye. It was a solid wooden photo frame made of sturdy and expensive wood that contained a very familiar picture, a picture that he had spent last Christmas agonising before framing a very precious moment into.
Ranma stood stupefied for a while before he used his Tenshin Amakuriken to rescue the item. The nearly disintegrated photo with only Akane's face visible within the soot, still contained the vestige of looking huffily at the corner of her eyes at him and the other fiancées, never standing close to Ranma in the photo shoots in these two short years in Nerima.
A cool breeze came along and swept the picture from his numb fingers as he watched on the face of the girl he always quarrelled with, laughed with and shared many little moments with, being plucked out of his very hands.
'She would never…' The photo meant more than just capturing a moment in time as what other people would view from their perspective. To him and Akane, it had secretly meant the value of companionship with the group of Nerima friends since Ranma's arrival, a confirmation of something that was hidden just beneath the daily facade of childish squabbles.
Ranma snapped back to focus and raced after the photo as if his very life or reputation depended on it. It was a memento of them both fighting over Nodoka's favour, of Akane resignedly gave Ranma treats when he posed as a girl to enter ice-cream parlour for sundaes, a history in two years of Ranma and Akane.
Akane was propping her chin upon her hand, glazing out of her bedroom window and was seemingly deep in thoughts. Her eyes still retained the vestige of redness from the crying after she reached home.
'Perhaps I have been too hasty on my part. Is it fair to Ranma?' Her conscious pricked since she calmed down after burning the evidence of memories once shared with the younger Saotome.
The anger raises its head and retorted, 'Well, what about the times when he made of fun you and hurt you?'
Indecisive, Akane felt that perhaps she should give a little bit more time for both of them - that is if there is anything that existed between them in the first place.
Just then, the door to her little thinking sanctuary was burst opened, the hinges groaning at the frequent abuse it received from the occupant of the room herself and the Tendo house guests.
"What the hell do you mean by this?" Ranma waved the nearly burnt photograph at his fiancée's face. "Of the trouble I went through at Christmas, from approaching Nabiki to running from the other rivals and pursuers, you think that it is all right to burn the present a person gets you?"
Akane felt rightly chastised and the words of apology and regret were at the tip of her tongue when Ranma snorted, hiding successful from her how hurt he was at this significant act. Anger was most pre-eminent and even though there was a cry just hidden at the bottom recess of his heart, he was used to squashing the last protests and instead focus at his most familiar weapon, anger and gratification.
"Well, go ahead and destroy all stuff that people gave you. I shan't be surprised that you are capable of removing what your friends and family gave you. Even your mother…" Ranma rambled on with his rush of fury and sadly he did not restrain himself at the most sensitive issue and finally cross the point of no return.
Akane begun to murmur, "Stop. Please. STOP IT!"
Ranma stopped in his remarks to notice tears of anger but most of all, the look of hatred and betrayal being shed because of him. Finally, his mind and heart connects as he tried to explain, "Akane. I'm sorry." Not knowing how to continue, Ranma tried to put his hand on her shoulder as his fiancée trembled with intense emotions.
"Don't touch me!" Akane screamed as she jerked back from his slightest touch. Ranma jerked back and inhaled sharply.
"Akane? I'm sorry. I was a jerk. I shouldn't speak about your mom that way. I don't mean it."
Akane tried to control her tears falling to no avail as she sobbed out, "Right. That is the problem with us. Don't you see? We always reacted before we realized that we are sorry. I am tired of all this repeated cycles. I wanted this torture to end."
Ranma tried again, "I will. This is just one last time." He used all his efforts to manage a weak smile to reassure her. "Just one last chance."
The deep chocolate brown jewels that sparkled with the tears that used to captivate Ranma glanced up in last bit of hope.
"You mean it?" Akane whispered.
Ranma regained more of his usual confidence and puffed his chest up in mock warrior style. "Without a doubt. A Saotome never makes a mistake twice." He pounded his chest for further emphasis.
Akane stretched out her hand in a friendly truce gesture. "It's a deal." She offered one of her trademark heartbreaking smiles that all the boys of Nerima and beyond, even the one pigtailed teenage boy whom she never knew about her influence on.
The heart of Ranma beat furiously at the effects of a full-blown Akane's smile and he gripped her hand firmly. "You got it"
(End of Chapter 7)