"Of Loss, Life, & Love"
Chapter 4: Catharsis
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Luna12


"Well – (hic) – Tendo-kun, we had some good – (hic) - times together, didn't we?"

Genma took another hearty swallow of sake in front of the Tendo family shrine. A side offering of the drink, placed by Genma, sat beside the remains of his best friend's urn in the Tendo alter. As was Japanese custom, the urn would remain on the altar of the family's house for 35 days before being buried next to his wife. Osenko incense sticks burned at the side, their scent filling the enclosed hallway.

"I always thought – (hic) – we'd be together to – (hic) – see our kids marry, watch – (hic) – the grandkids grow up."

He sighed. Even the warm, drunken buzz of the sake couldn't dismiss the feeling of loss and an emotion even more potent: worry. Nabiki was now the undisputed head of finances, and it was clear she didn't approve of Genma's long-term lodging. But he still did not have the funds to pay for his house to be restored to its former glory. He needed to plan for the future. After all, he had a wife and son to support. And more importantly, he had himself to support.

Something had to be done, and soon. Genma knew he needed to make himself the father-in-law (as opposed to the freeloading friend of the family), and secure his position of comfort. Despite his and Soun's past efforts and plotting, Ranma and Akane remained unmarried.

Granted, things had improved from the disastrous relations Ranma and Akane had upon meeting that fateful day two years ago, but they were a long way off from wedding bells. They needed a strong push - but what would work? All the past schemes to match-make had blown up in his and Tendo's face before. On top of which, he would be operating by himself now. Genma smiled a strange, ironic smile. Then again, the loss of his dearest friend may have given him the best leverage.

Genma half sauntered, half staggered into the dining room area. The guests had all left. The only one remaining in the room was his pig-tailed son.

Ranma could smell the scent of sake come off his old man. He was about to make a crack about it, but stopped; his Pop was grieving in his own way and deserved a break.

Genma looked around the room a few times, "Where's your fiancée, boy?"

Ranma felt his tongue control slip. "Which girl?" he purposely replied, despite knowing full well whom Pop was referring to. "If it's the one you sold me off to for a Okonomiyaki cart, she just left."

Genma grumbled in response. "Don't be smart with me, boy. Where's Tendo Akane?"

Ranma was about to answer when he heard familiar footsteps come down the stairs. Angry footsteps.

Akane entered the dinning room, wearing her gi; it was clear that she was heading to the dojo. Her entire being seemed to radiate fury. Ranma wondered if she had indeed heard the disgraceful display and commotion from the tea, even upstairs in her room. Considering her current mood, he wouldn't be surprised if she had.

Genma, whose concern for self-preservation had made him only partly sober, was heedless of her attitude.

Akane was about to brush past, her intentions clear, but Genma grabbed her elbow clumsily and held her back. "I need to talk with you," he spoke, speech slightly slurred.

Akane's eyes narrowed in annoyance. The man was clearly drunk and she was in no mood to sit idly and talk. Still he was - had been, she mentally corrected - her father's best friend and an elder no less. She managed to remain forcibly polite. "Yes?"

"Privately."

Akane sighed and followed him. Ranma had a bad feeling about this. He knew his father too well and his tone of voice sounded alarm bells in Ranma's mind. It was the same tone he used whenever he was scheming something particularly unpleasant, like when he repeatably threw him in the pit of ca-ca- feline creatures. Concern pricked, Ranma followed.

Genma led Akane out onto the porch. With the door closed behind them, it allowed them a small margin of privacy from the rest of the household.

That was when he noticed Ranma's continued presence for the first time, and gave him an annoyed look. "I didn't invite you, boy."

Ranma crossed his arms. "Well, too bad. What do you have to tell Akane you can't tell me?"

Genma humphed in reply, the strong smell of sake oozed from his breath. He turned to face Akane, ignoring Ranma. "It grieves me that you failed to honor dear Tendo-kun, your father, before he passed."

"W-what?" Akane asked, in dead shock.

"Pop, what the hell are you talking about?" Ranma yelled.

Genma raised a hand to wave off Ranma's outburst. He turned to Akane, "Tendo passed without his dearest wish being fulfilled: Uniting the schools by you marrying Ranma."

Akane couldn't believe Genma was asking her to do this now, of all times. It had been established that Ranma and her would be married after things were sorted out - if ever that happened. Genma was blatantly preying on her emotions. Under normal circumstances, she would have punched the panda transforming man into the sky, or shouted angry protests - but these were not normal circumstances. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice died in her throat and her lips moved without sound. She couldn't deny her father had his heart set on her marrying Ranma. As much as she wanted to deny it, a small seed of doubt began to bloom. Had her father died feeling unfilled? Was he disappointed with her for not going through with the marriage?

Ranma sat down hard with an equal amount of shock. He knew Pop was underhanded, but pulling something like this?

Genma continued. "The least you can do is try and fulfill his last wish."

Shock over, Ranma stood up in a rage and hit his father so hard he went head-first into the koi pond, unconscious.

Akane's jaw hung open as she stared at Ranma, whose aura was flared out in obvious anger.

Ranma put his hands on Akane' shoulders, making sure she was listening to every word he had to say. "Don't listen to that crap, Akane. Hell, you were the one who even got in the dress willingly last time. You didn't do nothin' wrong, you hear me?"

Akane nodded dumbly. Ranma's words made some sense and managed to penetrate the fog of doubt and guilt that had formed in her mind. It wasn't as if she broke the engagement, although the words she overheard from upstairs had her concerned as to the actual state of said arrangement.

Genma, now in panda form, had regained consciousness and was walking back toward them. It was clear his trip hadn't improved his common sense; he carried a sign that read "Marry Ranma. Make Tendo Soun proud!"

At this point. Akane had gotten over her numb shock, leaving her temper in full force. Ranma saw his father approach and on instinct stepped protectively in front of Akane, hopping to prevent any further hurtful stupidity. Unexpectedly, Ranma felt Akane push him out of the way. She stepped towards Genma, her own aura burning with anger.

! SMACK !

The sound of flesh meeting fur reverberated in the small yard. Ranma watched the parabolic arc of a panda fading away into the distance with admiration. Akane wasn't the star of Furinkan's softball team for nothing.

By the time Ranma turned around, Akane was no longer there. He knew where she was, though; the sounds of destructive rage emanated from the dojo.

! SMASH !

Another brick bit the dust. Akane was already steamed from before, but Genma's outburst was the icing on the cake for today's events. Each brick she visualized as one of the many problems that had been heaped upon her. Genma, the engagement, Ranma's fiancées, and most of all, the rage she had at fate for taking her father away from her.

Ranma watched her from the dojo window, keeping his distance; it was clear Akane needed to be alone to vent. Each time she assembled a new pile of bricks it was higher than the one before.

'That big a pile...who does she think she is, Ryoga?' Ranma thought to himself, starting to get worried. The bricks were now taller than Akane was high. Even he didn't want to attempt smashing a pile that large with his fists.

Akane's chop came down like a hammer, but this time the crash of flesh meeting concrete was followed by a human howl of pain.

Ranma rushed into the dojo. Akane was clenching her bleeding hand to her chest, feeling foolish at being caught in her reckless act.

"Are you crazy?" Ranma tried not to raise his voice, but it was an old habit to disguise his concern for Akane with irritation.

Akane glared up at him, her embarrassment mixing with the annoyance she had over his comment. "I'm fine," she lied through gritted teeth. Her eyes, which wavered with pain, betrayed her statement.

"Yeah, right," Ranma scoffed, sarcastically. 'Crazy macho chick' he thought to himself as he gently took Akane's injured hand. Her hand, which seemed amazingly small in his own, was scrapped, bleeding and swelling. He prodded gently with his fingers and heard her intake a sharp breath.

"Well, nothing seems broken," he sighed. "Why the hell would you pile the bricks up that high, dummy?"

His blue-gray eyes met hers. Despite the gruff words, his eyes spoke volumes. Suddenly, the tears that had refused to come previously became an unstoppable flood. She tried to wipe them away, but her efforts were as effective as stopping a monsoon with a bucket.

Ranma was at a loss. He hated it when Akane cried, but the past few days had shown him that not crying was hurting her even more. She wiped helplessly at her face with her good hand. "I ca-can't. I can't stop crying. Why can't I bloody stop?"

Ranma wiped gently at her face with his own hand. He knew full well it wasn't her hand that was hurting her. "Just because you're a tomboy, doesn't mean you're not human."

Impulsively, without warning, she was hugging him tightly, her face buried in his chest while she sobbed.

What was he supposed to do? All of a sudden he had a weeping Akane in his arms. The last time that had happened, she had been crying in happy relief at his return, and he was so stunned he merely stood there in the hallway in stiff, (but pleased), shock. Somehow, he knew standing like a dumb statue was not good enough for the current situation. He let his instincts guide him, and found himself stroking her shivering back gently in comfort. The pain she exuded was as sharp and tangible as broken glass. Through their contact, he felt each small hiccup that racked her frame, which had shrank in the past week from not eating.

Eventually, he felt Akane pull away, eyes red and face blushing a matching shade of embarrassment. "Sorry to, uh, get your shirt wet and everything."

Ranma shrugged and tried to make light of the situation. "Are you kidding? I didn't even change form. You'll have to cry a lot harder than that to bother me. Wait. That didn't come out right! I don't want you to cry, ever. That is…well… ugh!"

Akane raised her hand, signaling him to stop the train wreck of communication. "I think I understand what you mean."

She stood and, while smiling down at him, offered him her left uninjured hand to help him get up. He took her hand and stood up, mostly on his own exertion, not wanting to make her do any effort at all. Despite Akane's rumpled appearance, even now there was no denying she was cute. He discarded the thought quickly, not wanting to blush.

Akane looked around and sighed.

"I think I should clean this up."

"Wait a minute," stopped Ranma as he disappeared out the door. Akane blinked once and he was back carrying the first aid kit. Motioning for her to sit down next to him, he proceeded to clean the wound and wrap it up so that it would heal correctly. His actions were both tender and skilled.

Once done and her hand was her own again, she examined the bandaging. She was surprised.

"Pretty good, Ranma. Where did you learn that?"

"From you," he answered not looking up from the kit he was reorganizing, "all those times you treated me. Well, I am a quick learner, after all." He closed the kit and looked up at her surprised face. He chuckled. "Hey, it's true. I figured it was good to learn, so I watched how ya did it. I guess I finally got to return the favor, huh?"

"Oh," she replied, too stunned to think of anything more eloquent to say. She stood up once more, this time with Ranma helping her up.

"Ranma?"

He turned to look at her. She seemed nervous. "Yeah?" he prompted.

Under his gaze, she seemed to fidget and look even more uncomfortable. "With Daddy gone… are we, I mean, I guess we're not engaged anymore..."

Ranma looked up in shock. "Are you… do you want to break it off?"

Akane felt put on the spot and flustered. "That's not what I said," she answered heatedly.

"But is that what you meant?" Ranma demanded, a lump rising in his throat. He suddenly felt very defensive. It was one thing to hear the other girls claim the engagement was off, but Akane?

"NO!" Akane replied, realizing too late how strongly she answered. She blushed, embarrassed. "I mean, not really, but I heard what your other fiancées said."

Ranma bristled. He thought it was rather cold-hearted, having those girls instantly use Tendo-san's death as a way to break him and Akane apart.

"Well, don't pay them any mind. They're just jealous."

Akane's eyebrows arched in obvious disbelief. "Jealous! Of me? The 'uncute' fiancée? I doubt it."

"Just 'cause you act uncute sometimes, doesn't change the fact we're still engaged."

'Still. He said still. Does it mean he doesn't mind?' Akane's hope soared, although she didn't want to concentrate as to why it did so. She just allowed herself to relish the lighter feeling in her chest.

Ranma forced himself to look Akane in the eye before continuing. For once, his voice was dead serious. "I don't want ya listening to anything Pop said, either. I don't want you – or me - feeling trapped into this."

The question she had been beating around the bush finally managed to escape. "So, you're still okay with us being engaged? You're not going to call it off?" Her voice was tentative, and Ranma couldn't tell if it was because she wanted an easy way out of their engagement, or just the opposite.

Ranma gulped audibly, feeling flustered and unsure how to respond. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, practically vibrating with unease. He had to be honest with himself. With no one else in the room waiting to send off the wedding invites and bring in the priest, he could answer truthfully – and the truth was that he didn't want to end the engagement. As much as he used to complain about it, he had come to accept the way things were.

At first, he'd hated being forced into something by his Pop. Then he got to know Akane, really got to know her. Even though he had his pick of girls and Akane was the temperamental, tomboy fiancée who couldn't cook, she was also the one who was always there for him.

And as much as he valued his friendship with Ukyo, he couldn't say the same about her. She had openly tried to manipulate him before, and though he forgave her each time, it wasn't the same. He saw Ucchan more as a brother, anyway. Shampoo was nearly as zany as Kodachi and the last think he wanted to be was an Amazon husband. He wouldn't be treated as a person, but as a prize.

Akane, who always helped him in a bind, who put her own life at risk for his, who as much as she got upset at him (and usually for good reason, he had to admit) never once kicked him when he was down. She was a compassionate soul with a love for life and a stubborn determination he recognized in himself. More so, there was Jusendo. Jusendo had forced him to face those feelings. He couldn't voice them aloud, or even properly act on them, but he couldn't lie to himself either.

Ranma felt Akane's eyes on him, burning like tiny pinpricks. He tried to make his answer as nonchalant as possible, but it still came out a bit nervous and awkward. "It's, uh, okay with me, if it's, well, okay with you, that is."

A slow, half-smile started to form on her lips. It was a far cry from the radiant smile he loved, but it was better than anything he had seen since Tendo-san's death. "I'm okay with it if you are, too. And not because of our dads." Akane felt the heat rise to her face and she hoped with all her might that she wasn't blushing.

Ranma dared to fully look at her, and was captured in place by her image. Her hand was bleeding and bandaged, her face streaked with dried tears, and her unnaturally skinny frame clung to her rumpled gi. But despite everything she had been through in the past few weeks, she sat up straight and tall. She was a fighter, through and through. His fighter.

He felt drawn towards her, and found himself unconscionably leaning in. Akane found herself doing the same. They were inches apart, and their breathing increased in unison.

It was at that moment that Nabiki choose to barge into the dojo. "Akane, I need you to -" Nabiki's eyes grew wide at the scene before her. Both Ranma and Akane were in the dojo, leaning suspiciously close to each other, and neither one fighting the other.

It only took a second before the couple jumped away from each other like a cat with its tail caught in a rocking chair.

Nabiki smirked, wishing she had her camera. "Heh. Well, don't let me interrupt anything."

Akane glared heatedly at her older sister. "What is it, Nabiki?"

Nabiki's right eyebrow cocked. 'They're not sputtering clumsy denials of what they were doing. Interesting.' Nabiki put aside her suspicions for the moment and answered her sister. "I need to see you upstairs."

Akane sighed as she walked out of the dojo. Would this day ever end?


A/N: I think this is one of my favorite chapters. Let me know how you liked it by reviewing.