This one comes from trying to read through T. H. Tiger's "The Shikima
Interface". I know I promised T. H. that I was going to C&C it, but
it's hard, darn it! I'll get to it! Honest!
*sigh* Ever had a day that you just HAD to write? It's a month for me.
Oh, yeah. Plunger's "Guilt" and "Regret" are to blame, too. So are all
those friends of mine who dared to conjecture on the elusive end to
Ranma 1/2. We might have been wrong, but who wasn't?
******
"I have to leave."
"That's not funny, Ranma." She snuggles up next to me under the sheets,
and I'm suddenly aware of her curves, her. The scent of her hair, of her
musk, of her distinct feminine essence. I feel myself get turned on
again.
She smiles, knowing without being told. We kiss, drinking of each other,
thirsty, not just for the five years' separation, but for our entire
lifetimes. She rolls over, pressing her slick and supple body on top
of mine.
"Please," I breathe, "please, Akane."
She stops nuzzling my neck at the mention of the name. "Yes, that IS my
name." Sighing, she looks at me in askance. "What?"
"I have to leave." I hold her body to mine, tracing the finely toned
muscles underneath her baby-smooth skin, committing them to memory.
"I understand," she says, quietly. "We... we're going too fast, right?
You just came back... I... I missed you so..."
"Akane," I say softly. "I... I love you..."
"But...?"
I am torn, wanting to see the girl I have loved more than life itself
in her mischievous eyes, yet unable to let her see the turmoil within
mine. I... I have to tell her. "I have to go back to China."
She wielded the silence like a knife into my heart. "It... it's
Shampoo, isn't it?"
"If it were that simple," I replied, "I would have stayed away, I would
never had hurt you, like I know it would."
"Why, then? Why did you come back?"
"I had to... see you. To feel you. To make love to you, like I always
wanted to, living under the same roof, all those years, as a whole man."
My eyes begin to water, and I am unable to bear the pain. "To say
goodbye."
"But... but I..." She notices the tears running down my cheeks. "Ranma.
My dear, dear Ranma. My loving, beautiful and brave Ranma." She wiped
the tears from my face, and kissed them.
******
I could still taste his sweat on my lips. His passion, his seed, his
tears, his goodbye. I stay in bed for moments more, weighing his words,
considering his sincere and haunting love.
I walk to the cabinet, and open it, pulling out the tied-up piglet.
Undoing his bounds, I set him down, along with a kettle of warm water.
I walk over to the window, looking over the carp pond, wondering of the
foretold success that eluded me.
He holds my bare shoulders, communicating words he has never dared to
tell me. His hurt, his understanding, his pain, his rapture... I bite
my lip, worried that the words I speak would turn him away as well.
"He left."
Ryoga... always the obvious, always the painfully obvious... "Yes."
"I... will never leave you."
The sadness Ranma bore in me all these interim years came to life,
Ranma's legacy, Ranma's curse, washed away at my past, and nursed my
forestalled womanhood back to health.
******
"Cologne?"
The old ghoul turns to me, no doubt astounded by my temerity.
"Yes, child?"
I am hesitant, but Cologne waves her staff at me, beckoning me to
enter and to take a seat across from hers. I comply, albeit with
some worry.
"I... I was just... worried."
Cologne keeps her voice stern, but soft. "My dear, the Goddess
herself watches over you. You need not worry of anything of or
not of this world."
My Amazon training tell me to immediately accede the point, and
yet the fear settled on the pit of my stomach. I hold my peace,
hoping to find the words that would excuse my trespass.
She sighs the weary sigh of the wise. "It's Ranma, isn't it?"
I nod slightly. The elder eyes me, and shakes her head. "Your
husband stands by his word, dear. If he said that he would
return, that is what he would do."
"Yes, but, Mother..."
My sponsor and matriarch turns away from me. "If you are afraid that
he will leave you, you must look within yourself to see if he loves
you, and vice versa."
"But... he loves her with all his heart. I know that."
"As do you him. My child, why do you torment yourself like this?"
I hold my head in my hands, trying to quell the demons. "I... I
don't know. I... I've never felt so close to losing him... it was
better when we hadn't been separated..."
Cologne pivots on her heel, giving me a glare. "Nonsense! It was
the Goddess's will. You should be honored! You were given the
chance to join the Amazons, even if your were an outsider, of sorts."
I have no doubt that the Goddess had meant well: I would have never
had the chance to realize my dreams of being accepted into the tribe
or to marry my love and soulmate.
But whose name did he really call at night? Mine or hers?
******
Akane shouts, a gutteral wail of anguish, and flees my hut, red hair
flailing in her wake. I know it is useless to follow, but she will
return.
Sometimes, I wonder whether or not I should have asked the Goddess to
resurrect Ranma when I had found him, on the brink of death. In one
blow, he was revived and his curse removed. Who would have known?
Indeed, who would?
******
Switch
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/mezza9.html
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
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Word from the Laity: Wipe yer feet! Bloody 'ell...
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Currently under construction... confessional at the links.
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