Another Rainy Day in Nerima
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.
Author's Notes: well, the last chapter went down a lot better than I thought it would, given how scanty it was towards the finale. I had a couple of reviewers state that they were hoping this chapter would highlight just how miserable Ranma and Akane would be together; now, admittedly, that was the original plan (albeit with the intent that it'd be viewed by Ranma-Prime offscreen). However, I was challenged to make a relatively positive chapter… so… yeah. Note, however, that this is a chapter about Ranma and Akane- not a Ranma/Akane chapter. I cannot bring myself to do that. And given that this chapter took the most revision of all the chapters this story has had so far, I don't want to try it.
An Evil Fox: yes, Ranma developed that ki blast on his own; I always thought that the anime's "Faux Fire Burst" could have made a nifty-looking ki blast technique. There's actually a few puns attached to it, both calling it Hadoken (which not only means fireball, but is also what the technique looks like) and Ranma-beta's reference to how calling it "Fire Burst" felt eerie for some reason. As for whether or not Shampoo ever found out… well…
Teturo: methinks that you are misremembering the Tsubasa storyline. In the original manga, we have Ranma-chan telling the apparent lesbian that s/he's sure that "she" could get a boyfriend, telling Akane, and I quote Viz Media, "I'm just trying to lead Tsubasa onto the correct path" when Akane demands to know why Ranma showed up as a boy, and then demanding that "she" stop chasing girls and go out with guys before Tsubasa's real gender comes out. The anime changes the date-explanation to Ranma not wanting to be called a pervert for having a girl after his female side, even preferring the trouble that another 'girlfriend' would cause, and has him asking Tsubasa to give guys a chance before he tears "her" shirt off, but it adds him/her angrily/disgustedly describing Tsubasa as a pervert when "her" apparent sexuality is revealed. It's obvious that Ranma does not think highly of homosexuality, especially when they're interested in him.
Xyber-Dragoon: I appreciate the plot suggestion, but I'm afraid it wouldn't work. Ranma's not heartless enough to just leave someone with their mind screwed up… and, more importantly, his ego is too big to allow himself to just be forgotten about like that. Not to mention that Genma and the other Tendos will be on his case to restore her, and it's a perfect opportunity to take a side-trip to Jusenkyo.
Sdarian: I do admit that I agree it's a bit weird that Nanniichuan and Nyanniichuan cancel each other out, but it's shown in the series that it's so (the Instant Nanniichuan story); I chalk it up to 'opposing energies cancel out'. Like how Fire and Ice magic dispel each other in Slayers. As for why the Guide wouldn't simply have casks of them out to cure visitors, beyond the fact he's pretty well established as a bumbling nincompoop, there's also the fact that there isn't really much call for them. The locals all know about the place so they avoid it like the plague, people brought for punishment can't get a cure, and visitors to Jusenkyo are rare as hen's teeth. Remember, Ranma and Genma were chased out of China before getting cured and are basically kept away, Ryoga couldn't find his own butt with both hands and a roadmap, Taro and the Frog Hermit like their curses, Shampoo is being punished, Mousse doesn't want to be away from Shampoo and probably considers it a 'badge of shame' ("I won't get cured until I destroy Ranma", sort of thing), and Herb couldn't make use of Nanniichuan while his curse was locked- until he retrieved the Kettle of Opening, taking a dip would just render him a girl who becomes a boy with cold water (or a boy who becomes a girl with hot water; take your pick), not cure him. He probably got himself cured once he was back home in China.
Lousy Poet Automaton: it's not normally in Ranma's character to spend so much time navel-gazing, I admit, but normally he also doesn't learn from navel-gazing. Seeing all of this laid out before him without any breaks is necessary to hammer into his head that he can start making changes to his life. Not to mention the basic backstory is Ranma has been cooped up in the shop due to the mini-monsoon currently raging outside- it's only been one day so far, and he hasn't been able to leave the shop yet.
Digital Dragon Productions: I appreciate the sentiment, though it's hard to tell that it's a compliment, given how you cut it off. And it looks there like you have your own fanfiction idea; I'd be happy to beta it for you, but I think you should be the one to write it, given that you came up with it. Suffice to say that Natsume and Kurumi will be showing up in at least one oneshot (the sakura-mochi one, if you wish to know) and maybe more.
Chapter 12: Trying Too Hard
"You know who I haven't looked in on yet?" Ranma-prime asked. He was more talking to himself than to Abe, so he didn't really notice when Abe chose to reply with a shake of the head (being busy currently hauling a load of miscellaneous junk to somewhere deeper in the store), instead going on in the same fashion. "Akane. I mean, she's the girl I'm actually engaged to. Shouldn't I take a look at a timeline with her?"
"Is that even possible?" Abe asked on his way past. "I mean, from what I've heard, the only reason Akane isn't officially your girlfriend is because you've always been too wishy-washy to come out and say it."
"I am not wishy-washy!" Ranma-prime roared.
"Whatever. She's the girl you pretty much favor already. I'm not sure that there are any timelines where you could have gotten closer. Hasn't she always blown her chances with you whenever she's popped up in the Eye so far?" Abe commented, not bothering to stick around for an answer as he returned to the depths of the store.
"No, she hasn't." Ranma-prime grumbled. It took him only a few moments to think of a suitable timeline to investigate, and the Eye began to swirl into the image of that fateful day of the inter-scholastic drama competition...
Akane was in a bit of dilemma, it was time for the major kiss scene in the play and she didn't know what to do.
'Should I use the tape? I mean, its not as if he is going to care either way. No, if I'm going to kiss him, might as well do it all the way, all natural! Besides, if he can't realize how I feel about him from this, well I can always just say I wanted him to win the trip to China.'
Akane decided that thinking more about it wasn't going to get the job done and with only a short breath to gather courage, Akane firmly placed her hands on Ranma's face and kissed him full on the lips.
There was a brief moment as Ranam tensed and then slowly, he began to relax as Akane smiled slightly, 'Well, at least I know he actually likes getting kissed.'
Prior to the kiss, Ranma's mental state could be easily summed up as "conflicted". Now, however, "nonexistent" worked best.
Now, Ranma wasn't totally naive about sex and related topics. Just mostly. He knew the basic mechanics, in a dry fashion, having received that education from his father and other crude sorts encountered on the road. But hearing about kissing (among other things) and actually being kissed for real were two different things. True, Ranma had technically been kissed twice since coming to Nerima, but he didn't count either of them. Mikado's, besides being a kiss from another guy (and mentally traumatizing), had been forced and very brief- it's solitary saving grace. Shampoo's was much the same; she was the dominant one there, and couple that with how 'out of it' Ranma had been, and he had barely registered he was even being kissed. Here, however, the sorta cute girl he kinda, sorta, maybe liked was giving him a soft, gentle kiss, and it was registering all too well. Primordial instincts finally asserted themselves and he began, slowly, gently, to kiss back.
Then, as suddenly as it had happened, the two broke apart. For an instant, the world ceased to exist any further than the couple's eyes, staring into each other's depths. It was an instant of purest, blessed peace. And then that peace was shattered forever as reality came roaring back in, carried on the winds of cheers of congratulations, roars of rage, the delighted weeping of the fathers and the general havoc as all of the other Furinkan students made their personal feelings on the matter clear (or at least attempted to do so). Akane's and Ranma's faces both flared bright red, hot enough to cook eggs, and they exploded into action so perfectly synchronized that you would have been hard pressed to disbelieve that they had neither planned nor rehearsed it, fleeing from the stage and off the school grounds in different directions.
Ranma-Prime hummed to himself in surprise. "Well, that was strange. I would have bet money she'd have sent him into LEO."
"Strange, I thought you had more faith in her than that." Abe commented.
"Oh, I have plenty of faith in her. It's just that Akane has never been able to take pressure very well." Ranma-prime replied lightly. Practically feeling the sudden silence, he turned to find Abe staring at him with an expression not unlike Ranma was a dung beetle who had proven able to not only speak, but also dictate the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. "What?" He snapped angrily.
"You... you know!?" Abe finally spluttered.
"That Akane can't handle being embarrassed or stuff like that? Duh." Ranma-prime retorted.
"But- then- why do you always tease her then?! Do you get off on being beaten or something?" Abe looked and sounded completely dumbstruck as he said this.
"Bite your tongue! And I don't tease her! Well, now and then, yeah, but I don't tease her all that often! The tomboy just takes stuff that I say wrong..." Ranma-prime grumbled the last part to himself, though Abe clearly heard him.
"How can she take it wrong when you routinely rub her weaknesses in her face, verbally and physically?" Abe asked in a disbelieving tone of voice.
"Hey, I'm trying to help her!" Ranma-prime protested.
"Help her? By insulting her?" Abe replied.
"Now you're doing it!" Ranma-prime snapped in a hurt tone of voice. "How is she supposed to get any better unless she works what she ain't good at? I'm doing her a favor by pointing out just where it is she needs to improve herself- it's not my fault she throws a tantrum instead of trying to fix what's broken! Hell, if I had acted towards my old man trying to teach me the way she does when I try to teach her, he would have beaten the need to fix them into me, no matter how many bruises it took. Can't do that sort of thing to a girl though."
Abe shook his head, "You know, most girls aren't exactly the kind of people you can just walk up to and insult their weaknesses and they'll try and fix them immediately. They tend to be more emotional about these things."
"Damn right they get emotional about those sort of things." Ranma groused as Abe rolled his eyes.
"Yeah well, sometimes you just have to tell it to them in a straightforward manner, without any teasing. I think you'll find that things will go a lot smoother if you do it that way."
"Yeah, yeah." Ranma waved idly and Abe shrugged as the teen returned to watching the mirror, he had said his piece after all.
The current scene depicted by the Eye showed Akane, somewhere in Nerima, having fled the school grounds in her embarrassment at having her first kiss witnessed by so many. Still, bright as she was blushing, she couldn't really regret it. She felt strangely lighter, as though a burden had finally been lifted from her now that she had let Ranma know how she really felt for him. And not only that, he had kissed her back! Did that mean... he felt the same way for her, too? No, he couldn't- he was always saying such nasty things to her, and then there was that Chinese floozy he let hang around him.
But... it wasn't as though he had much choice, now did he? That pervert and her lunatic grandmother were obsessed with those ridiculous, stupid laws of their backwater tribe, and they just refused to see sense and listen. As for Ranma's behavior... well... she had to admit, she had acted much the same way. She had hated the fact her father was forcing her into marrying someone she'd never even met. Could Ranma have been the same way? Acting like he had to push back against his own father?
Meanwhile, Ranma was in a calmer state, though his mind was still running wild after the experience. Akane had kissed him and it had felt good. It didn't feel awkward, it felt...natural in a sense.
'So what does that mean? Does the tomboy actually like me? I know we argue and all that since we got forced into this stupid engagement...'
'But could he actually like me?' Akane thought, 'Yes, he has to, and that means...'
"She really does like me.' Ranma smiled, 'That means she'll stop hitting me so much.'
'That means he'll stop teasing me so much.' Akane grinned widely.
'Things are going to be better.' The two thought to themselves as they each left their respective hiding places.
Unfortunately, things don't always run as anticipated. Later that evening, after the semi-celebration that Soun and Genma had thrown in their delight at Ranma and Akane having kissed (it had taken a united front by the two teens to keep them from calling a minister, but the fathers had been willing to hold off by taking their defiance as a sign of the teens' being in love), things were finally quieting down and it was approaching the time for them to go to bed. The evening had been somewhat awkward, but surprisingly mainly due to Soun and Genma, with Nabiki adding her own occasional taunts and teasing (though fortunately Kasumi ran some interference on the whole mess)- Ranma and Akane were more comfortable around each other (sans the occasional blush) than they had been since... well, ever. The fathers were elsewhere in the house enjoying a celebratory drink, Happosai was... who knew were, and who cared? And Nabiki and Kasumi had gone to their rooms. Akane and Ranma were left in peace.
And that was when the first sour note of the evening made its appearance. Ryoga, in his 'P-chan' guise, wandered onto the scene, to the delight of his unwitting love interest.
"Ah! P-chan! There you are, baby- come to mommy." Akane gushed happily, scooping up the blissful boy-turned-piglet and cuddling him eagerly to her breasts, Ranma twitching in anger as P-chan took full advantage of that to nuzzle. She stood up from the table. "It's time to go beddy-byes, P-chan."
"Wait, Akane! You can't take P-Chan to bed with you again!" Ranma shouted, instinctively ready to protest (futilely, as always) against Akane's unwitting indulgence in Ryoga's perverse goals, and flinching back from Akane's angry expression and aggressive/protective body language.
"What, Ranma? Don't you dare try to pick on P-chan! I've warned you about bullying him!" Akane's anger was sharper than it normally was; she thought Ranma cared for her, so why was he going out of his way to pick on her? He knew she hated the way he tormented her poor little pet!
Ranma fought the urge to grind his teeth in frustration; how could a girl who was so fixated on fighting perverts be so stupid? You'd think that, given she knew people who could turn into animals, she'd be the first to be suspicious of strange animals- hell, that she'd make a habit of pouring hot water on any strange animal or strange girl that she met, just in case they were a perverted boy with a Jusenkyo curse. Besides; didn't people do stuff for people that they really cared about? And if she really did care for him, maybe he could use that to persuade her to stop taking P-chan to bed with her...
"I wasn't going to bully him, I just thought that maybe you could perhaps have him sleep somewhere else. I mean, with all those blankets, he might get suffocated or something like that."
Needless to say, Ranma was imagining that situation occurring, with him doing the honors to the hypocritical pig.
Though she showed no sign of it on her face, Akane was shocked, and more than a little disappointed. She had opened her heart to Ranma, and she thought he cared. So why was he still tormenting her little P-chan? Was he really that jealous of him? Giving no sign of her dismay, she snorted disdainfully. "As if I'd ever be so careless with my precious baby. And since when do you care, Ranma?"
Crap, did he say something wrong? Oh, don't tell him that the tomboy thought he was 'teasing' her precious P-Chan again? Ranma mentally winced in disappointment; not even a day had passed and Akane was back to her old tricks. He had thought she was going to change, just a little anyway. Still, she hadn't flown of the handle immediately, so maybe he could persuade her- couldn't hurt to try, right?
"Aw, Akane, don't be that way. I don't mean anything by it, I just don't think it's right take that little runt to bed with you. I mean, he's not a toy, now is he? Aren't you mature enough to sleep on your own? ...And besides which, it's not that big a favor, now is it? I mean, if you really do like me, then surely you can do this one favor for me?" Ranma asked, putting on his best 'boyish charm' to add weight to his words.
Akane fought to keep the anger off of her face at Ranma's blatantly patronizing, wheedling words. How could he stand there and say such things to her with a straight face? She had thought that Ranma would stop being such a petty, jealous person when she made it clear that she did love him. Was her kiss not enough for him? Was he so pathetic that he resented even the care she gave to a harmless pet? Well, if this was the game he wanted to play...
"Oh, so you're worried for my sake, are you?" Akane said sweetly, a gentle smile on her face. Unfortunately for Ranma, if he had been paying closer attention, he would have realized that the squeal P-chan emitted was due to the pain from the force with which Akane's fingers had unconsciously clamped down, rather than rage at Ranma's attempted manipulation.
"That's right." Ranma replied confidently. But what was with the strange feeling of dread he had?
Akane leaned closer to Ranma, still smiling, until she was practically eye-to-eye with him. And then her expression changed to one of deepest anger. "Yeah right, pull the other one, you jerk! I can't believe you! I always knew you were petty and jealous, but this time you've really taken the cake! I can't believe you're so pathetic that you'd pull a stunt like this!"
In the Prime timeline, Ranma-prime winced as his counterpart began to argue back with Akane, prompting her to even further heights of vehemence (which just made him nastier in retaliation).
"Trouble in paradise?" Abe muttered sarcastically.
"Shut up. They only just kissed for the first time. A few arguments aren't anything to worry about." Ranma-prime grumbled as he began to delve further into the future.
A few arguments soon turned into many arguments and before Ranma knew it, the situation changed to the point that putting Akane and his other self in the same room was like putting a cobra and a mongoose in a cage, a fight of some sort was inevitable and it got to the point where Genma felt he needed to have a chat with his son.
"Son, let's have a spar, I need to talk to you."
Ranma was somewhat puzzled; his old man was never that eager for a sparring session these days, and more than once he'd gotten the feeling that their battles were just routine that Genma had yet to relinquish. Still, he had no pressing concerns to attract his attention elsewhere, and he could use the distraction, so he followed the elder Saotome to the dojo proper. There, the pre-fight rituals complete, they began to spar, relatively lightly at first (by their standards), as was the norm.
"So, what's up, pops?"
Genma considered his words for a moment before getting straight to the point, "Son, I'll be blunt. I've noticed that you haven't been getting along with your fiancée recently and I'm getting worried."
"So why are you bringing this up with me? It's not me who starts the damn fights!" Ranma complained, an extra doze of viciousness in the subsequent blows he aimed at his father.
"Oh, I know son, I know." Genma replied in a placating fashion, even as he dodged Ranma's new assault and retaliated. "However, perhaps you could try to be a little more diplomatic. I'm certain that whatever problems you have with Akane can be solved if you could try to remain calm. After all, even a fool can tell that a shouting match will solve nothing." Genma weaved around several strikes, noting that they were slightly more vicious than usual.
"Like I said, tell her that! I'm the diplomatic one- she's the one who always blows her damn stack when I say something she don't like! She won't even listen to me, just flies off the handle and hits me!" Ranma griped, so caught up in his complaints that several small chinks began to develop in his defenses.
Genma immediately took advantage of the chinks before Ranma reasserted his defense, "Maybe so, but you like all Saotome men are a proud person and while that pride is a good thing, it can make us seek fights where there are none or make a bad situation worse, and I'm afraid to say that you are as much to blame for this as Akane is."
"Name one instance where it was my fault!" Ranma demanded once he'd gotten back off the floor, throwing himself at his father with increased fervor.
"Last night." Genma's reply was blunt and his face was perfectly serious as he began dodging and redirecting the blows, "Honestly boy, I trained you to be able to keep your cool under any circumstance, and you go and blow your top every time you get into an argument with Akane; are you really slipping that badly?"
"Slipping! I'll show you slipping! Who are you to talk, huh? Who's the one who has to put up with her, huh? You know, that's the only thing worse than the fact she insists she's always in the right! It's the fact you two actually support her when she says she's in the right!"
"Now son, you're exaggerating a little..." Genma didn't really have a chance to finish as he was put on the defensive.
"No I'm not! I'm sick of her, and I'm sick of you! If this is all you wanted to talk to me about, then we're done! Good! Bye!" These last three words were punctuated with powerful blows to Genma's head, sending him sprawling to the ground with the final one.
His final thought before he lost consciousness, as Ranma stormed out, was "that definitely could have gone better..."
Ranma-prime couldn't help but wince; still, he and Akane went through "hot and cold" spats all the time- surely things would perk up? After all, they always had done before… He quickly turned his attention to another key event.
"Ranma! Come back and eat this!"
"I'll take a rain check! You eat it!"
"How can you say that when I worked so damn hard on it, and all for your sake?!"
"Because it's not fit for human consumption! You can't cook! Why can't you understand that?"
"Do those two ever stop?" Nabiki grumbled, watching as Ranma and Akane raced around and around the yard, arguing at the tops of their lungs.
"Like you've any grounds to complain, Ranma! People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, you know!" Akane shouted angrily.
"And just what the hell does that mean?" Ranma asked after a moment or two of puzzling that statement out, the vast majority of his anger vanishing as that seemingly ridiculous statement registered.
"Everyone knows that only girls cook. Bad I might be, but I'm still more of a cook than you!" Akane declared triumphantly.
"...You're saying I'm a worse cook than you?" Ranma finally gritted out, his eye twitching in a frankly rather worrisome tic.
"You couldn't make something better than I could if your life depended on it," Akane replied confidently.
"You're challenging me? You? Are challenging? Me?" Ranma asked, the disbelief dripping from his words so obvious it was practically visible. "...Well, fine. I accept your challenge."
Without further ado, Ranma walked straight past Akane and into the kitchen, gently steering Kasumi out before getting to work as the entire household watched as Ranma began grabbing ingredients at random, his body a whirl of motion as he started cooking. He was a lot slower in the kitchen than Akane was, but the ease with which he assembled everything meant, in the end, he saved time, as he didn't constantly have to try and 'catch up' to himself when something went wrong. Finally, everything was ready and a full family-sized meal was laid out on the table, neat and professional.
Ranma smirked triumphantly at his fiancée.. "Well? Now who's the better cook?"
"Appearance doesn't count." Akane protested, crossing her arms.
"You're right. Kasumi? Nabiki? Do the honors."
The two elder Tendos reluctantly sat down at the table, directing more than a few nervous looks at both Akane and Ranma, before beginning to eat.
"Oh, my, this is rather good, Ranma." Kasumi commented in mild surprise.
"Yeah, Saotome. Why didn't you say you could cook before?" Nabiki added.
"Nobody ever asked me." Ranma said with an exaggeratedly nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. His triumphant grin grew wider as Soun and Genma quickly joined the other Tendos, eating with every sign of enjoyment. Nobody got the better of Ranma Saotome!
Akane, meanwhile, was trying to hold back her anguish at the scene; her heart feeling like it had literally shattered into pieces. How could Ranma betray her like this? Didn't he care for her at all? She had tried her best! It wasn't fair! He was a better martial artist than her; he turned into a girl that was cuter than she was; now he was a better cook! What had she ever done to deserve this? Why did he have to torture her like this? "Ranma... you... jerk!" Akane finally screamed, tears gushing down her face as she turned and ran away, audibly sobbing.
"...But things got better from there, right?" Ranma-prime asked the mirror. Somehow, without even speaking, it managed to convey hesitance. "Right?" He asked- or perhaps pleaded might be the better word. With obvious reluctance, the Eye began to move, flicking to various points in time as it had done for the previous timeline.
The first scene started out simply enough, the pair sparring while being watched by Genma and Ranma focused in as Akane launched a powerful haymaker and Ranma simply flowed around it with an annoyed look before firmly tapping Akane, the action seemingly serving to annoy Akane.
"Dammit Ranma! I can take a hit you know! So just hit me already!"
Too quick to follow, a series of emotions swept over Ranma's face before a kind of angry resignation finally settled into the dominant position. "Fine. You asked for it." He growled.
Akane promptly moved in with a broad left hood. Ducking around it easily, Ranma struck back almost instinctively. It wasn't full strength; Ranma-Prime could tell easily, but just hard enough that it was going to hurt. And Akane dropped to her knees coughing from the force of the impact as Ranma walked off, ignoring Genma's protest.
"I'm done. If you can't take a little tap like that, I'm not going to bother."
Ranma-Prime winced as the realization sunk in that, in that one cold statement, his counterpart had summed up his entire opinion of Akane's skill, and displayed his utter disrespect for Akane at the same time as the mirror began to move forward.
The next scene seemed peaceful enough, with Ranma going through kata in a park on a sunny day, until Shampoo showed up. Ranma-Prime braced himself for a glomp, but then found himself gaping as Shampoo simply stopped and began chatting casually. No glomps, no attempts to kiss him, no expressions of affection of any kind.
"So how is Ranma doing? Shampoo notice that Ranma been fighting too too many times with Akane."
Ranma shrugged as he cracked his joints. "It's fine when we stay out of each other's way. Still, she keeps getting on my nerves and frankly, I think it's making me slip, so I figured I'd practice out here in the park."
Shampoo was about to speak up when she glanced behind Ranma and her expression soured slightly, "Shampoo have to go now, nice talking to Ranma." As she left, Ranma turned slightly and his expression dimmed at seeing Akane stomping up to him.
"I knew it! You weren't out here practicing, just meeting another one of your floozies! Pervert!"
Ranma's face was stony, as he walked past her, only pausing long enough to hiss, "I didn't know you gave a damn about whether I talked to girls other than you." With that he resumed walking away, leaving a confused and angry Akane.
Ranma-Prime regarded the mirror with what could be called trepidation… if it wasn't for the far more volatile emotions mixed into it. "I'm guessing its only going to get worse from there… right?" The mirror's response was to begin shifting forward again, but, before it could get too far…
"Enough!" Ranma-prime practically roared. "I get it already! Me and Akane have problems! So what's your point?! I had problems with all of the other girls, and that didn't stop me hooking up with them!"
"Um, just to point out, when you really boil it down, your problems with the other girls primarily stemmed from their often childish and/or outright amoral attempts to get your attention." Abe commented, his voice sounding as though it were coming from far away. "Outside of that, you're afraid of what Shampoo's laws might mean for you if you do accept them, you've never so much as tried to see Ukyo in a romantic light, and Kodachi's worldview is fragmented, to put it mildly, and so you've tried your hardest to stay out of it."
"Your point?" Ranma-prime asked vehemently.
"My point is that the problems you have with them aren't quite so bad as you think they are, that's all."
"Swell. Terrific. And I suppose you're going to show me that we ended up having the granddaddy of all break ups and hated each other for the rest of our lives?" Ranma-prime snarled at the Eye. It made no sound, but instead scrolled into the image of another argument between himself and Akane…
"I can't take it anymore!"
Ranma blinked as Akane collapsed to her knees and began sobbing, "Dammit it all, I was happy until you came into my life! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
Ranma snorted as he sat down as well, "You think I want this? I never wanted this engagement, but at least I tried to make it work! I- I just... I don't know what went wrong. I was trying, and I guess you were too, but... how did it come to this? We can't seem to go more than a few hours without fighting, and my old man and his weird grasp of honor haven't made things any easier- Shampoo and those Kuno freaks were bad enough, but who could have expected Ucchan?"
"What? You think I haven't been trying as well?" Akane turned a half-hearted, weak glare in Ranma's direction, "And really, Ucchan? What did she do that I didn't to get a pet name? Dammit, I actually wanted this to work and now..." She slumped further to the ground, "This sucks."
"You got that right." Ranma answered softly. "Damn the old men and their stupid ideas, and damn them again for being stubborn fools. And now, here we are; stuck together, unable to stand each other, and with half of Tokyo trying to pull us apart. I... I don't blame you. You know, for hating me."
Akane choked down another sob as she got her emotions under control before whispering, "I don't hate you."
Ranma blinked and turned his head to her, "Eh?"
Akane sniffed slightly, "I don't hate you, I hate this engagement, I don't want anything to do with it anymore! I don't care if you marry Kasumi, or Nabiki or any one of those damn floozies of yours, I don't care if we never speak to each other again, I just don't want to be engaged to you any more!"
Ranma directed an expression at once relieved and aghast at Akane upon hearing those words, before a tired acceptance sank into place and he gave a morose nod. "I agree with you. Hell, I know we got our bad points, but I don't think we need to go as far as stop speaking. I mean, you did ask to be my friend that day, I'd still like that."
Akane sniffed again, "You mean it?"
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I mean it. I mean, it's not as if being friends can be any worse than this mess we're in right now."
Akane smiled slightly, "I'd like that, being friends I mean."
Ranma chuckled, "So, this mean our engagement is officially broken?"
Akane nodded with a smile on her face, "And I never, ever, ever, want to be engaged to a pervert like you again."
Ranma gave her a soft, self-mocking chuckle in return. "Back at ya… tomboy."
Not a very romantic chapter at all, but what did you expect from us? Anyway, that's the most controversial of our chapters done, so now we resume our regular program of voting for inclusions. In related news, it's come to my attention that more than a few of the oneshot "seeds" that Gideon020 and I have come up with (or which have been suggested) don't seem to be very popular. After discussing this, we decided that this would be the 'cut off point'; once the next chapter of Another Rainy Day is complete, we will remove any oneshots that have less than 7 votes from the roster. We may get around to writing them up eventually, but they won't be part of this story. If you want to see what we can do with a seed, leave a review, or send a PM, telling me which ones you want. To let you all know where the various seeds are standing, here's the list.
What If…
Ranma kissed Shampoo back when she gave him the "Kiss of Marriage"?
Votes: 25
Kaori won the Takeout Race?
Votes: 18
Ranma told Shampoo he loved her during the Reversal Jewel?
Votes: 13
Ukyo managed to actually get her "talk" with Ranma during the Great Girly-Girl Gambit episode?
Votes: 12
Shampoo thought to get Ranma to sign her marriage license in secret during the Red Thread of Fate affair, so they were still legally married after Akane cut the thread at the last second?
Votes: 10
Ranma blurted out to Akane that when he said "I love you", he thought she was Nabiki?
Votes: 10
Shampoo resisted the urge to go back and fight with Ukyo during the hotsprings race, so she and Ranma won the trip to Jusenkyo?
Votes: 9
Ranma and Shampoo failed to kiss before Maomolin rang the bell for the 108th time?
Votes: 9
Ukyo had been the one to jump into the tornado for the chart?
Votes: 8
Ranma finds out how much Ukyo is hurt after "Swimming with Psychos"?
Votes: 7
When Ranma beat Ling-ling & Lung-lung, they replaced Shampoo as his Amazon bride?
Votes: 7
Shampoo figured out Ranma was lying about really being a girl instead of going back to China?
Votes: 6
Ryoga decided to try and hook Ranma & Shampoo up when Shampoo first came to Nerima?
Votes: 6
Ranma thought to ask Shampoo to have their date after he beat the Dojo Destroyer?
Votes: 5
During the Ten-Year Sauce mess, Ukyo actually threw away the sauce like she said she was going to do?
Votes: 5
When Ranma ate Akane's love-predicting sakura-mochi, an X appeared on his face?
Votes: 5
Ranma tasted Ukyo's sauce without spilling it?
Votes: 2
Akane hadn't gone to Yumogi Valley?
Votes: 2
Shampoo snapped her fingers before the cat sneezed when using the Kirahashi Mushroom?
Votes: 2