Chapter No. 8
"Ryoga's difficult confession"

Inside the Tendo household, breakfast was being served. One person was missing from the table.

"Where's Akane?" asked a worried Kasumi.

Nabiki shrugged. "Still out training, I suppose."

Kasumi frowned. "She'll be late for school."

Ranma looked up and glanced towards the door. Nobody was coming. Maybe something had happened to Akane.

'Be a gentleman and go find her.' Genma waved the sign he had written on under Ranma's nose.

Before Ranma could argue back, Kasumi dropped two packed lunches onto his lap. "Please give one to Akane, okay, Ranma?" she asked with a sweet smile.

It was one thing arguing with his old man but quite another to talk back to sweet, kind Kasumi. Ranma knew better than to refuse her. He took the lunches, tucked one under each arm and then set off.

The moment he stepped outdoors, he could smell the rain coming. Although the day had been shaping up to be sunny earlier, the wind had now picked up and clouds were starting to cover the skies. There weren't any storm clouds but even so, Ranma predicted a light shower forthcoming.

Stupid Akane, running in any kind of weather, he thought. Where was she, anyway?

"Um… Ryoga?" Her voice sounded muffled.

She was utterly taken-aback by him hugging her. (Who wouldn't be?) She hadn't expected Ryoga's feelings to be like this. She hadn't expected that he had missed her as much as she had missed him. It never crossed her mind that perhaps Ryoga thought of her as more than a friend. In some ways, she was as innocent as he was.

When Ryoga realised what he had just done, he was horrified. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, unnecessarily loudly and hastily. He backed away and his face was as red as a tomato. To think that he had hugged Akane! She must think of him as another Kuno now!

"Silly," Akane giggled. "I've already forgiven you."

Ryoga stopped. Did Akane mean what he thought she meant? She liked being hugged by him? Did that mean…?

"For cutting my hair, you know. It might sound weird to say this, but it really made me a better person. I'm actually very grateful."

"Oh," said Ryoga. That hadn't been what he had been wanting to hear, oddly enough.

"You must have been caught up in other things," Akane said suddenly with a meaningful glance at Shampoo. "I guess you really must have gone to China. So are you really married to Shampoo?"

He blinked. "Of course not!" he insisted. "That's a stupid lie she made up!" How could Akane think that of him? He would never, no matter how afraid he was, willingly choose Shampoo over Akane! The idea was absurd.

"Oh," Akane blinked. "I didn't know you were so popular with the girls!"

"He wish," Shampoo snorted. Ryoga was just no in so many ways.

"Akane, what can I say to give you the right idea about me?" he groaned.

Akane didn't reply to that. She didn't get the chance.

Shampoo heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see who was coming. "Nihao, Ranma!" she exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised tone. She straightened up and waved. Honestly speaking, it was the best thing that had happened to her all day.

Ranma, who had been in mid-run, slowed to a trot and then he halted. He had an uncomprehending look on his face. "Shampoo, you're still here? I thought you went back to China!"

"No, no, Ranma darling!" Shampoo cooed earnestly. "Shampoo marry Ranma!"

"Complex character, isn't she?" Akane remarked drily.

"Not really," said Ryoga.

They exchanged a glance and grinned.

It was then Ranma noticed those two for the first time.

"Akane! Ryoga! What are you doing here?" So this was what Akane had been up to, having a rendezvous with Ryoga! Star-crossed lovers, were they? For a reason he did not want to figure out, Ranma felt his blood boil.

For reasons he was perfectly aware of, Ryoga was equally as livid. "You!" he snarled as he sprang to his feet. He was unarmed, but he bared his teeth fiercely to make up for it. "Ranma, prepare to die!"

"What have I done wrong?" Ranma demanded. "Tell me what I've done and I'll try and make up for it!" Ruefully, he realised he should have asked earlier when he had been a girl and Ryoga had not wanted to kill him or at least inflict serious bodily harm.

Ryoga shook his head with a savage energy. "What have you not done wrong?" he retorted tersely. "Because of you, my life has turned to hell!" He would have added, "And you stole my girlfriend!" but he wasn't even sure Akane was his girlfriend and Shampoo would have laughed at him.

Instead, Ryoga glared and then roared, "It's time to settle this, Raanmaaaaaaaa!"

He charged. His sheer strength was mind-numbing. Ranma only barely managed to dodge Ryoga's swift and furious punch. Ranma turned his head and saw that though Ryoga had missed him, the other boy's fist had collided into the brick sidewalk and had broken a hole right through it.

Shampoo gasped. "Ryoga strong!" In all their travels, Ryoga had never displayed such brutal and concentrated power. If Ranma was not careful, he might actually find himself completely blown away.

Ranma was worried. Somewhat. With the blind speed of a completely crazed wild boar, Ryoga uprooted a stop sign and swung the thing at Ranma. Ranma's evasion was even narrower than his first. He was forced to back flip into the water and then swim out back onto the footpath. Ryoga made no attempt to follow him and instead waited by the brink of the water for Ranma to come to him. Completely drenched and female, Ranma realised with a sinking heart that he was probably going to be late for school and he and Akane's lunches were utterly spoiled.

"Stop it!" Akane yelled suddenly, frantically. Hastily, she planted herself between Ranma and Ryoga. "Ryoga, you're really going to hurt him the way you're going! Stop!"

Her shouting did the trick. Ryoga blinked and the red haze in his eyes went away. But… was Akane taking Ranma's side?

"Ryoga wasn't going to kill me," Ranma muttered. "I don't need to be rescued by a girl."

"I…" Ryoga began. "Akane…"

She cut him off. "You said you respected Ranma. You said he's the only one you consider a worthy rival." She sighed. "Something happened to you in China. That's why you're angry at Ranma."

Ryoga said nothing. There was nothing to say. Akane already knew she was right.

"Listen to me, Ryoga," she said seriously, in the sort of way that commanded him to look up into her beautiful, intelligent eyes. "Did you fall into Jusenkyo?"

Ryoga's heart stoped beating.

What was he to say? Of course he had fallen in. It had never crossed his mind to reveal the secret, but if ever there was a time, it was now.

Fear gripped him abruptly. He had fallen into Jusenkyo and become worthless, but more than that, he was Akane's pet. He could never forget that night he had spent in her bed, his snout pressed tightly against the hill of her breasts. He dreamt dreams he had never dared to dream before. And now she was to expose his secret lechery. He couldn't bear it!

He felt sick. A slippery, agonising sensation came over him. There was cold fear and hot shame, intermingled to form pain and cowardice. Oh yes, he was a coward - he knew that perfectly well.

"He's such a coward!" Akane had said.

"Attitude wrong!" Shampoo had said.

Their voices resonated in his ears. The loudest voice was his, he realised. "Akane can never love you as a man," the voice sneeringly echoed. "You are a pig and a coward. What is there to like?"

Again, he could hear Akane's question fall from her lips. Did you fall into Jusenkyo?

Ryoga opened his mouth and said, "No."

At that moment, it started to rain.

"No," he gasped. But the word didn't come out. All that came from his mouth was an ugly pig's squeal.

In the grey, colourless water, he caught a reflection of himself. He was hideous.

"Are you lost?"

"I don't know my way back home."

"You've probably run away from home."

"No, I haven't. I forgot where my home is."

"How could you forget your home? You're a coward for running away!"

"No…"

"You are a coward, always running away!"

"I don't know…"

"Are you a man?"

"Not any more."

"It's all your fault."

He could hear Akane yelling his name as the blood pounded in his ears. There was nothing in the world but his shadow and there was nothing to do but run. So run he did.

Shampoo watched Ryoga blindly dash past. She did not have the heart to scorn his cowardice. She picked up a rock and threw it at his head. Ryoga fell over, dazed, unable to run any longer.

"Can't run from self," Shampoo said unusually softly as she cradled the frightened piglet in her arms.

Akane saw the look of pure hatred on Ryoga's face. She knew who it was for. It was then she lost all control of her limbs. She collapsed onto her knees and before she knew it, she was crying.

"Ryoga…" Ranma muttered sadly, still floating in the water.

The next day, Ryoga was nowhere to be found and Akane received a letter.

'Dear Akane,' it began:

'It's true; I am P-chan. I'm sorry I never told you before. The truth is; I became your pet because I love you and I was too afraid to admit it.

'I have gone away on a training journey to become strong. I don't want to be a coward any more. My destination is China. Shampoo is coming with me to help me find the way. Perhaps there I can find a cure to my curse.

'Maybe one day I can come to love myself. And when it happens, for sure I'll come back to you. Until then, please take care.

'Yours, Ryoga.'

Akane never told anyone what she thought of the letter. She only placed in her drawer on top of Ryoga's first letter. Before she closed the drawer, she withdrew the first letter and scratched out what she had written on the back. Then she wrote a new message, one that made her smile in a sad sort of way.

'Ryoga, you coward' was replaced with, 'I believe in you.'

"Even if you are pervert," Akane chuckled as she closed the drawer and resumed her life.