Chapter Seven
Wistful
"I'm off!"
Kasumi came to the front door of the Tendo residence to see Akane about to open the door. She had changed her clothes and had a small backpack hanging from her shoulder.
"You're going back to the hospital, Akane?" Kasumi said. She held up three large bento containers wrapped up together in a furoshiki cloth. "Could I trouble you to bring this along? I'm sure poor Ryoga hasn't gotten himself anything to eat today, and I'm sure Ranma would rather not eat the hospital food. There's one for you as well."
Akane gladly took the bento boxes. "Thanks, Kasumi!" she said happily. She headed out the door, carrying the bento by the knot of the cloth at the top. She walked quickly, anxious to get back to Ranma. She could hardly believe the events of the last several hours, and though she was deeply concerned for her ex-fiancé, she did her best to stay positive and make the very best out of the situation.
Besides, what did she have to worry about?
Ranma is strong, Akane mused to herself as she walked. If anyone can pull through this, it's him.
He was lost.
Ryoga knew the feeling well, and he felt that way much more than he liked. However, this was a different kind of lost. He experienced the feeling so frequently, he had come to discover that sometimes, lost could be a good feeling, too. There had been times in the past when he actually thanked his lack of directional sense, when he and Ranma were out in the mountains training together, and Ryoga would lead them astray. A couple extra days in the mountains alone with Ranma: Ryoga could only describe it as pure bliss. It had always been one of their favourite things to do together. Of course, ever since Ranma started working full-time, it got a little difficult to schedule training trips that far from the city.
Ranma's passion for the Art, and his lifelong bond to the Anything-Goes school, wouldn't let him stay away from the Tendo Dojo—even once he'd moved out at the beginning of his last year of high school. He taught the men-only afternoon classes at the dojo every Thursday, and the open afternoon classes every Friday. The latter was the Tendo Dojo's most popular class, with the biggest turnout of students—thanks to Ranma's recognition throughout the city, students came from all over for a chance to be the pupil of Saotome-sensei.
This was, essentially, the same reason he got hired at the gym at the community centre. Of course, he didn't get hired just for being Ranma Saotome. He had to get certification, but he was eighteen, fresh out of high school and determined to show his father he hadn't thrown his life away on Ryoga Hibiki. Once he decided to set out to be a personal trainer, Dr. Tofu gave Ranma the money to pay for his courses and certified training, but once he started his job at the Furinkan Community Centre, Ranma quickly paid the doctor back. Tofu had declined at first, but Ranma wouldn't allow the doctor to refuse. Ranma ended up giving Kasumi the money to give to the doctor (knowing full well Dr. Tofu could never say no to her).
Then, Azalea's opened at the start of the present year. By then, Ranma and Ryoga weren't exactly struggling, but they couldn't afford Ranma taking much time off from work. So, Ranma got the job as a waiter at the café for some extra cushioning money. Ever since, this year had been one of the best for Ranma and Ryoga, financially. Ryoga's parents would send care packages of food, and money for the house's mortgage, but Ranma was responsible for the rest of the bills, by his own accord.
Yes, they were comfortable. But Ranma had been busier than he'd ever been. He'd planted himself into a rut of work. Ever since his mornings had been taken up by Azalea's, Ryoga had more opportunities to find chores to do around the house while Ranma was away, but not too much. It was usually just changing a load of laundry, or rinsing out a cup of half-drank orange juice Ranma had forgotten on the counter. Ranma was rarely home and Ryoga wasn't messy—the house was usually spotless. For the first three days of the week when Ranma got home in the afternoons, he had a short window of free time. This time he'd usually spend with Ryoga and Shirokuro before he was off to the community centre in the evenings; even earlier on Wednesday nights, when not only did he do personal training, but taught his all-women self defense class. He did get a day or two off nowadays from the community centre, but that usually meant he stayed even longer at the café.
For the last three years, Ranma had been working harder than he had even on his decade-long training expedition. It was all to prove himself to his father that he could live a life that he chose for himself. In exchange he sacrificed much if not all of his free time, leaving little to spend with the boy he'd fallen for in junior high. They may not have time for weekends away in the mountains anymore, but Ryoga cherished those easy afternoons three times a week, blessed he even got that much time. Ranma would never talk about work, unless Ryoga asked, and even when he did Ranma always kept it brief. Ranma didn't like to waste a single moment.
Now more than ever, Ryoga wished for that pleasant lost feeling. The kind of lost he felt now, was even worse than the times he'd spend weeks away from home trying to find his way back. This kind of lost was something he'd never experienced before. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to react. It was all so confusing, he figured he was still in denial about it all, but he couldn't kid himself. Ranma didn't love him anymore—Ranma wasn't capable of loving him anymore. Ryoga could feel tears sting his eyes once again as the awful thought entered his mind for the thousandth time. He shut his eyes, willing away the tears. It wouldn't do him any good to have Ranma see them—he wouldn't understand why they were there, anyway.
Ryoga felt something tap his shoulder, and he opened his eyes and looked up. Ranma was looking at him. He blinked at Ryoga's recognition, and then held up his notepad. No words were written, Ryoga noticed. Instead, Ranma had drawn four intersecting lines into a 3x3 grid, and in one of the spaces he'd drawn a single X.
"You want to play X's and O's?" Ryoga said, almost amazedly. He looked up at Ranma with wide eyes. He nodded simply, holding out the notepad and pen to Ryoga. Ryoga slowly accepted the pad and pen, and then stared down at the page. A smile crept to his lips.
"I'm sta-a-a-arving…" Ranma groaned.
Ryoga looked down as his date bumped his forehead off their dinner table, and willed himself not to look around the restaurant to see how many heads had turned.
"I didn't know this place would be so busy," Ryoga admitted, playing with his extremely soft napkin. "I've never been to a place like this before."
Ranma looked up, though still hunched over and resting his chin on the table. "Me neither," he grumbled. "If I'd known it'd take this long, I woulda said we should just go to Uuchan's."
Ryoga gave Ranma a bland look. "You did say that," Ryoga muttered. "About thirteen times, actually, on the way here."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Well, it's just stupid of you to waste your emergency funds just to take me out to some dumb fancy-shmancy restaurant that starves their customers."
"Ranma, it's your eighteenth birthday, and I wanted to celebrate it properly." Ryoga countered. "Like I said, neither of us have ever been to a place this nice. Hell, we never get to go out for dinner in general, so let's just…enjoy it."
Ranma pouted, but said nothing. They were quiet for a moment. Ranma sat up, resting his chin in his hands. He watched forlornly as another couple got their plates of food. He looked away and played with his tie, which he had as loose as he could tie it without looking frumpy amongst the other formally dressed restaurant-goers. He forced himself to stop fumbling, but his fingers still lightly drummed the table.
He looked so damn bored; Ryoga knew he had to do something. Ranma was already antsy, and the louder his stomach grumbled, the worse he'd get. What's more, he hadn't even wanted to celebrate his birthday.
He was graduating from Furinkan High next March, and he'd been on edge ever since completing his second-last year at Furinkan. It had gotten out near the end of the school year that Ranma Saotome was dating Ryoga Hibiki, and the backlash from Ranma's family had been theatrical, to put it lightly. Things were starting to settle into place with the Tendos—Akane had started talking to Ranma again several weeks before— and Ranma had moved into Ryoga's house, and though they enjoyed having a place of their own, Ranma's fight with his father had been an elephant in the room ever since Ranma had come home with a black eye. Now, several weeks later, Ranma's eye had cleared up just in time for his birthday dinner, but he was still in the midst of his feud with Genma; father and son refused to speak to each other.
However, today was a day to relax. Only Ranma wasn't relaxing. The drumming of his fingers was beginning to intensify as his impatience grew.
Ryoga pulled out his wallet, finding a piece of crumpled receipt paper. He looked up in time to see a waitress walking by with an empty tray.
"Miss?" Ryoga called. The nurse stopped, and Ranma looked up curiously. "Could I trouble you for a pen, if you have one extra?"
"Of course, sir," the waitress said, quickly plucking one of the pens off her apron pocket, handing it to Ryoga. Ryoga thanked her and the waitress walked off. Ranma watched as Ryoga started to write on the back on the receipt. Ryoga slid the paper across the table to Ranma, and then he tucked the pen into Ranma's now unmoving fingers. Ryoga watched as Ranma slowly smiled. Then, he grinned.
"How'd you know I'd wanna be X's?" Ranma laughed.
"Because it's the symbol of failure?" Ryoga jeered.
Ranma gave Ryoga a determined look far too intense for a game of Xs and Os. "Xs are cooler lookin' than Os," Ranma said haughtily, raising his pen. "I'm gonna challenge the symbolism of Xs and Os right here an' now. Bring it on, Hibiki."
Ryoga laughed, softly. "Such bold proclamations from a man about to lose," he said. He grinned, flashing Ranma his fangs. "Your move, Saotome."
They played seven games; Ranma won five, Ryoga two. Then, at last, their food came.
Ryoga wasn't surprised Ranma had remembered the day, but was instead touched that he'd shown his recognition of their special outing, and then used it to…what? Cheer Ryoga up? Ryoga wasn't sure. Could it all have been just incredible, coincidental timing? Maybe Ranma just felt like it was something to do, and wasn't doing it to cheer him up or to show him in the only way he could that he still cared for him.
Either way, in this moment at least, Ryoga didn't care. He drew a circle in one of the empty spaces within the lines, and handed it back to Ranma. Ranma checked the page; his pen hovered briefly in the air, before he made his mark.
This continued on in the same fashion, until Ryoga filled the sixth space with his final O. He realized, then, he'd made a diagonal row—he'd won. He looked up at Ranma, and raised his eyebrow. Ranma blinked at him.
"You let me win, didn't you?" Ryoga said, smirking.
Ranma shook his head.
"You liar," Ryoga laughed. "All right, rematch."
They played another three rounds. Ryoga won each one.
"All right, Saotome," Ryoga said with a playful sneer. "Now you're definitely letting me win."
Ranma took back the notepad, flipping to a new page. He jotted something down, and showed Ryoga.
You were dark blue. Now your light green
"I am?" Ryoga asked curiously, looking at Ranma. "What's dark blue mean?"
Ranma thought for a moment before he jotted down the word 'depressed'. Ryoga's eyes widened. So maybe he had understood his tears, after all.
"And light green?" Ryoga pressed on.
Ranma wrote 'content'.
Ryoga smiled softly. 'Content' was a good word for how he felt now. The simple game had distracted him, and cheered him up, like Ranma had wanted it to, he was sure. The small gesture filled Ryoga with something akin to hope…but he dare not let it go that far. After all, Ranma could be like for the rest of his life, for all he knew. He quickly banished the thought away, sure his colour was already darkening to Ranma again.
Content would have to be good enough for now.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Ryoga looked around to see Akane enter.
"Hi, Ryoga, Ranma," she greeted with a sweet smile. "Kasumi made lunch for you guys."
Ryoga suddenly realized how empty his stomach was. "Wow, that's great," he said. Akane came over and sat on the edge of the bed, placing the bento between the three of them beside her. Ryoga noticed her set a small backpack on the ground. Looks like Akane was planning to stay the night.
"Well, lets dig in, you two must be starving," Akane said, undoing the cloth and separating the three bentos. Akane raised her eyebrows, noticing Kasumi had placed a sticky note in the shape of a panda on the last box, and with her neat handwriting she'd written Ranma's name, and a very adorable doodle of his guise. Akane smiled, setting the box in Ranma's lap.
"Looks like Kasumi made one special for you," Akane remarked.
Ranma blinked at the box. He took the sticky note off the box, and stuck it into his notepad, his other keepsake from Kasumi. Akane and Ryoga looked at one another, smiling. Ranma opened his bento to reveal riceballs, fried shrimp and octopus sausage on a bed of cabbage, grilled carrots, sweet potato, and mushrooms, and star and dragon fruit.
"Wow," Ryoga said in awe. "Kasumi went all out. That's practically all of Ranma's favourites."
"She even made the seaweed on the riceballs into the shape of pigtails!" Akane cried in fascination.
Akane and Ryoga eagerly opened their own bentos, and weren't disappointed. Kasumi had put the same amount of love and care into their lunches. The only difference was, Ranma had two extra of his decorative riceballs. Akane found chopsticks wrapped up in a separate cloth with the furoshiki cloth, and handed them out. They broke their utensils apart and gladly began to feast on Kasumi's delicious boxed lunch. Surprisingly, Ranma was taking his time, and he was the last to finish his food.
"Were you able to call Azalea's, and the community centre?" Akane asked, as she cleaned up everyone's bentos.
Ryoga nodded. "Azalea already had given him the day off today, and said she wished him a speedy recovery, and to keep updated. The community centre said the same." Ryoga explained.
Akane's brow furrowed. "Did you go into detail about what happened?" she asked. "I mean, it's not like he's taking time off from work for a week cause he has the flu."
"I explained the best I could over the phone," Ryoga sighed. "It's…really something you have to see to believe. I just said he had a head injury and wasn't able to speak. I left out the part about…him not be able to show emotions."
Akane sighed herself. "Yeah, that would be pretty weird to explain," she said. "Well, I guess all that matters now is seeing that Ranma recovers."
Akane looked over at Ranma, who had been listening to her and Ryoga's conversation. She smiled warmly at him, getting up and sitting directly beside him on the bed. "Here, Ranma, I'll braid your hair."
Ryoga watched Ranma lean away from Akane's hands. She stopped, her eyes wide. Ranma looked at Akane, and pointed at Ryoga. Akane huffed impatiently.
"Oh, gimme that hair already, Saotome!" Akane barked, grabbing Ranma's ponytail and yanking out the elastic. "Honestly, you weren't even going to let me try, you jerk…"
Ranma sat still, allowing Akane to braid his hair. The elastic was pinched between her teeth, her brow scrunched in concentration. Her fingers snagged Ranma's hair and pulled his head backward slightly, but his face, of course, did not change. Akane sat back, looking satisfied. Ryoga examined the loose, sloppy braid draped off-centre down the back of Ranma's neck.
Ranma looked over at Akane, then at Ryoga. He pulled his hair out of the braid, and swiveled around in bed, his back facing Ryoga. Ryoga's eyes widened, and he looked nervously at Akane, who wouldn't meet his eyes, a dark red stain on her cheeks. Ryoga bit his lip, and then leaned over and re-braided Ranma's hair. It wasn't as pristine as how Ranma would tie it, but it was certainly better than Akane's handiwork. Ranma, apparently satisfied, turned back around and kept his hair put.
Akane's scowl melted away into a look of mirth, and she suddenly bubbled with laughter. She infected Ryoga with her sweet laugh, and he joined in. Ranma watched on as Akane doubled over with laughter. Ryoga's laughter settled down, and steadied into a smile as he watched Akane wipe tears from her eyes as her own merriment calmed to giggles.
"I wish I could have come home to visit sooner," Akane sighed. "My roommates all wanted to go to on a trip for spring break. We went skiing, and to the hot springs…it was a lot of fun, but I was really getting homesick by the end of it all. Besides, I had to come home for Ranma's 20th. The girls kept me running around with them sight-seeing so much, I wasn't able to come home until near the end of March, and school starts in just a couple more weeks. It was already a shame to have such a small window of time to visit everyone, but now, with Ranma…" Akane trailed off, looking at Ranma. She looked as torn as she did earlier, when asked to leave with her family or stay at the hospital.
"Well, you told me once on the phone that Niigata is only about 2 hours from Nerima by train, right?" Ryoga asked.
"Yes," Akane confirmed. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I just mean…we're not all that far. Whenever you get another break, we're only a train-ride away. And other than that, you can always give me a call. I'll call every week, if you want." Ryoga smiled. "It'll feel like you never even left."
She was so excited, but she'd been crying on and off all week. Between graduation, saying goodbye to friends, and overall anxiety about the situation as a whole, Akane was having a difficult time mentally preparing herself from moving out of the only home she'd ever known.
She'd been dealing with bouts of tears all week, but this was the worst so far. She sat on her bed, bawling into a pillow. She'd been looking around her room and, in a sudden moment of clarity, realized this was her last night in it. As soon as the thought dawned on her, a dam had broken. Now, she couldn't get the tears to stop.
Then, she heard a soft knocking. It wasn't from her door. She sat upright, and her head whirled toward the window. She jumped up and slid aside the glass, backing away to let her visitor inside. She was gracious enough to let him swing inside and land on the floor before flinging herself into his arms.
"Ranma!" Akane cried.
Ranma put his arms around Akane as she began to cry again into his shirt.
"Aw, Akane," Ranma sighed softly. "Stop cryin'."
"I-I'm sorry," Akane hiccupped. "I'm just…s-so glad you're here!"
Ranma laughed. "Well, y'didn't think I was gonna let ya go off to university without comin' to see you first, did you?"
Akane smiled through her tears, holding him closer. She wasn't sure if he'd been careful about his words (since when was Ranma Saotome ever 'careful'?) but she nonetheless appreciated the fact he hadn't used the word 'goodbye'.
"Thank you, Ranma," Akane sniffled.
"Anytime, tomboy," Ranma said, kissing her hair.
Akane tried to hold back the deep sigh she felt floating up her throat at the feeling of his warm lips.
"I thought I could handle this," Akane whispered.
She felt Ranma's frame tense. "Akane…"
She realized he was reading into her words, and quickly continued. "I'm such a dummy, crying over this." Akane forcibly chuckled, pulling herself out of their embrace. "I mean it's not like I'll be gone forever. Honestly, I've been more upset about this than dad has, and he's been a wreck since I told him I'd decided to go IUJ."
Ranma laughed heartily at that. "Trust me, Akane, your old man will be much worse once you really do leave," he snickered. "He'll probably start a flood in his bedroom, cryin' himself to sleep."
Akane slumped. "I'm just…going to miss everyone so much. I've lived here all my life. Why didn't I just choose a university close to home, if I was going to be such a big baby about it?" Akane growled out the last part, frustrated at her childishness.
Ranma watched her, his face suddenly soft with sympathy, all his joking aside. He sighed, sitting down on the edge of Akane's bed. Akane looked at him curiously.
"You know," he said quietly. "My earliest memory…is of missing my mother."
Akane stared down at Ranma, but he was looking out the window, his eyes far away in recollection. Akane sat down slowly beside him. Ranma put his hands further back on the mattress and leaned back before he continued.
"Back then, I was too young to understand why we'd left home. One night I finally asked Pops where Mom was, and Pops just said: 'She isn't here right now'." Ranma scoffed lightly, and shrugged. "After that, I never asked about her."
Ranma looked over at Akane, and wiped away a tear that'd escaped down her cheek.
"I didn't need to ask, 'cause I didn't need to know. It didn't matter where Mom was; just cause she wasn't there didn't mean she was gone for good." Ranma rubbed Akane's wet cheek with his thumb.
Then, Ranma turned around to face Akane fully, taking her hands in his. She stared at him, and for some reason tears wouldn't come to her eyes anymore. She'd finally stopped crying.
"So, when you leave, you won't really be gone," Ranma smiled. "You just won't be here right now."
"Thanks, Ryoga." Akane said softly.
Just then, Usagi entered the room, breaking Akane and Ryoga out of their moment. They watched on as the nurse removed Ranma's bandages and checked his head while she explained the procedure for Ranma's MRI, which Dr. Fushimi had apparently scheduled for the following morning. She finished her check-up, and left the room. Akane watched the door close behind Usagi.
"I hope tomorrow will give us some more answers," Akane mumbled. "And some good news."
"Me, too." Ryoga sighed. Trepidation started to wash over him again. "Akane, what am I going to do?"
"What do you mean?" Akane asked, looking concerned.
"Ranma is…our only means of income," Ryoga said quietly. It always made his teeth clench together to admit this embarrassing fact. "If he can't work, for who knows how long, what am I…how am I going to…?"
"Ryoga," Akane placed her hands over Ryoga's clenched fists, stopping him. "Relax. We can talk about our options."
Ryoga took a deep breath. Thank God for Akane. She knew how to bring him back from over the edge almost as well as Ranma did; of course, with Ranma unable to physically talk him down, Akane was his next best.
"Ranma never let me try to find any work," Ryoga explained. "He said what he was making was more than enough for us, and he didn't want me getting lost."
Akane pondered for a moment. "Well, haven't you ever considered finding a way to work from home? Your business could come to you, instead of you coming to the business." she suggested.
Ryoga thought about it. "That…sounds great, but what would I even do?" Ryoga said, baffled. "I dropped out of school in junior high. I don't have any skills to start something like that."
Akane paused for a long time, looking deep in thought. Suddenly, she looked up, her eyes wide with realization.
"Daycare!" she exclaimed.
Ryoga blinked. "D-daycare?" he stammered. "Akane, I don't know the first thing about taking care of kids. Besides, I'd have to get all sorts of certifications and whatnot before anyone's mother would trust me with their children. B-besides, I'm no good at—"
"Not children," Akane cut him off. "Animals!"
Ryoga stared at her. "You mean…a daycare for…people's pets?"
"Uh-huh!" Akane nodded, beaming excitedly. "You could start a pet sitting service. You're so good with Shirokuro, and you even spent some time training pigs at Akari's farm back in the day…you have a way with animals, Ryoga. You could have your clients bring their pets right to the house—you have the space. You could start off by looking after your neighbour's pets…we could make up some flyers to put around town…get your name out there."
Ryoga watched Akane in astonishment. The more she talked about it, the more enticing the idea became.
"Pet sitting," he murmured, mostly to himself. "I'm sure Shirokuro wouldn't mind having the extra company…she loves to play."
Akane looked over at Ranma and smiled, but stopped when she saw that Ranma was looking down, writing in his notepad. Ryoga and Akane watched curiously until he showed them the page.
Could put flyers up at community centre
"That's a great idea, Ranma!" Akane said happily. "The community centre would be a great place to get the word out. Hey, we could get Ukyo to put a flyer outside her store, too! Oh, and I'll hand them out to all the students at the dojo, too!"
Ryoga couldn't believe the smile on his face. It all sounded so exciting. The plan was so foolproof, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought to start something like this years ago. Suddenly, his smile faded.
"Ryoga?" Akane said, noticing Ryoga's expression.
"If I'd considered all of this ages ago, I could have been running a full-time, successful business by now. I could be making enough to support the both of us," Ryoga said anxiously. "Ranma had to get hurt before a fire even got sparked under my ass…!"
Ryoga's eyes filled with tears as he looked over at Ranma, who watched him vacantly. He grabbed Ranma's pen-free hand, and gripped it tightly.
"Ranma, I'm sorry!" Ryoga cried, tears running down his face freely now. "Here you've been, trying to build a life for you and I, and I've done nothing."
Didn't I use to be your rival in everything? That desire to be your equal…loving you shouldn't have taken that away! It should have intensified that feeling. I always felt guilty watching you work yourself ragged; I felt so powerless, thinking there was no way for me to provide for you on my own. Over time, I guess that one thought got so ingrained in my mind that I truly started to believe there was nothing I could do. You were hell-bent on handling it all on your own and I felt like I'd just get in your way.
"All this time…I've been nothing but a burden to you!" Ryoga sobbed. "You've been taking care of me all this time, leading me smoothly through life while you ploughed your way through so that path could be there in the first place. You've shown me more kindness than anyone on this earth…and I took it for granted."
"Ryoga…" Akane whispered, tears in her eyes, moved by Ryoga's display of affection. It was such a raw moment, Akane almost wanted to look away. Yet she watched on as Ryoga stared deeply into Ranma's own, the former's face wrought with passion—the latter, expressionless.
I know that you don't love me anymore, Ranma, but… "…Let me take care of you, now." Ryoga whispered.
Ryoga could feel Ranma's pulse beat against his palm. It was strong, healthy as always. It beat steady, calmly. Unlike Ryoga, Ranma's heart wasn't racing. Ranma pulled his hand slowly, effortlessly out of Ryoga's solid grip. Ryoga gazed at him as Ranma picked up his notepad, and wrote something.
I can still work
"Ranma, you have a brain injury. You can't work!" Akane blurted. "Besides, even after you got out of the hospital, you can't talk. How can you instruct your classes at the dojo, or the community centre? How can you take people's orders at the café?"
"Ranma, once I get this pet sitting thing going, it'll be fine." Ryoga assured. "Please, just rest, and let me handle this for once."
"There's no way the doctor will allow you to go back to work, anyways. Your jobs are too physically demanding." Akane continued to argue. "Unless you're completely 100% cured by the time you leave this hospital, Ranma, there is no way you are going back to work."
Ranma looked at Akane, then to Ryoga. Then, he looked away, and did nothing more.
"Honestly, still as stubborn as ever," Akane grumbled. She turned back to Ryoga. "So, do you want me to design the flyers, then?"
Ryoga stiffened, his eyes trailing down to Akane's bag sitting on the floor, to the fat yellow seal (that was actually supposed to be a chick) on the front pocket of the bag.
He gulped. "M-maybe Ukyo can help us…she's a great artist." he stuttered nervously.
Akane huffed. "That's true," she agreed brusquely.
Akane and Ryoga discussed more plans for the pet sitting, until the sky outside turned dark and Akane yawned.
"I think we'd better turn in," she said sleepily.
"Ranma does have that MRI in the…" Ryoga began to say, but trailed off as he noticed Ranma was already asleep, sitting up on his inclined bed. His head bobbed as he breathed deeply.
Akane smiled at the sight, and stood up. "I'm going to go change, be right back," she said, grabbing her bag and leaving the room.
Ryoga tucked one hand under Ranma's head gently, pressing the button for the bed to decline. He carefully shifted Ranma, though he knew nothing would wake him when he was this deep in the thrall of his slumber. Once the bed had fully reclined, he slowly laid Ranma's head back on the pillows. Then Ryoga pulled up the bed sheets down by Ranma's knees up to his chest. Ranma continued to breath slowly, soft and deep. Ryoga ran his fingers through Ranma's bangs, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a strange smile.
"You know, I kind of miss your snoring," Ryoga whispered, chuckling softly to himself. "Never thought I'd ever hear myself say that."
He leaned down, close enough he could feel Ranma's warm breath feather against his skin, smell his undeniable scent; its familiar sweetness made Ryoga close his eyes and sigh in contentment. He drew even closer, but stopped, hesitating. His lips hovered just over Ranma's. He opened his eyes slowly, gazing at Ranma's slightly parted mouth. Ryoga closed his eyes again; as his lids shuttered his gaze, a pained expression slid down his face.
Ryoga kissed Ranma's hair, breathing in that old familiar smell.
Authour's Notes:
A few things:
1) In Japan, the symbol of the X and the O have a universal meaning of 'failure' and 'success', respectively. Hence, Ryoga's joke about Ranma wanting to be the 'symbol of failure' during their game.
2) Also, in case you are curious, Akane attends the International University of Japan (IUJ), which is located in the city of Minami-Uonuma in the Niigata prefecture. It is, in truth, about 2 hours from Nerima. Furinkan is a fictional city in the Ranma 1/2 universe (it's not on Google Maps!) so I just used the non-fictional Nerima's distance from Niigata for narrative sake.
As I've said in an earlier Authour's Note, flashbacks pop up pretty frequently in this story, giving a helpful bit of insight to the events leading up to the beginning of Emotion (how Ranma and Ryoga first fell in love (ooh la la), drama between Ranma and his father, Akane's feelings, etc...) Writing a story with a mute, emotionless main character is, in a word, interesting. But in order to keep this story's pulse beating, I have to break away from our favourite pigtailed protagonist now and then to shine some light on the people in his life. When your hero loses all his emotion, it really helps you to focus on everyone else's. And that, of course, is what this story is all about.
If you tell me your heart hurts, then I've done my job right.
Till next time,
Jadells