Ranma snapped. No one could tell by his outward appearance, but he had.
His head hung down, chin to chest, and his eyes were closed. His knuckles
were white, he was clenching his fists so hard. He trembled, there, in the
midst of the fighting going on around him.
"Ranma mine!" shouted Shampoo, attacking Ukyo with her bonbori.
"Yeah, right, you Chinese hussy! Ranchan's always been mine!" Ukyo parried
Shampoo's attack and jumped out of the way of Kodachi's ribbon.
"HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! You little heathens, Ranma-Sama is mine! As soon as
you harlots are out of the picture, Ranma will carry me off into the sunset
atop a white horse!" Kodachi was crushed by a boulder.
Akane fumed. "Shut up! All of you perverts, get out of here, now!"
Akane's shout echoed through the dense forest around all of the teenagers,
and caused everyone to stop for a second and look to the Tendo girl.
"Well?" shouted Akane, her eyes burning with hatred.
Shampoo just snorted. "What, Shampoo leave airen with pervert-girl so she
seduce him? I no think so."
"For once, I agree with Shampoo. There's no way I'm letting Ranchan get
seduced by you." Ukyo readied her spatula as Shampoo wielded her bonbori.
Akane's face turned beet red, and she shouted "No! I...It's not like that
at all! How could I ever love that pervert?!?"
"Hmph. Violent-girl die now." Shampoo leapt towards Akane, her battle cry
drowning out the river in the background.
"Leave."
Ranma's quiet words somehow cut through all of the noise around him, and all
the suitors turned to look at Ranma, confused.
"What did you say, Ranma-honey?" Ukyo asked.
"I said leave. Now." Ranma kept his head to his chest, his eyes closed,
and his words soft.
Akane didn't understand what was going on, and so she went into default
'Smash Ranma' mode. "Ranma! I try to bring you some food that I cooked,
only to find you flirting with these three hussies, and then I try to give
you the food ANYWAYS, and this is how you repay me?!? Ranma no-"
Ranma never moved. His attack was simple, painless, harmless. Akane
crumpled onto the ground, unconscious. The pebble that Ranma had used to
hit Akane's pressure point clattered against the rocks next to Akane's limp
form. "Leave. Now." Ranma's words were still soft, but still carryied a
certain strength in them that left the remaining three girls motionless.
The campsite stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Ryoga charged
in, yelling, "Ranma, how could you do that to Akane?!? DIE, RANMAAAAA-"
Ryoga didn't get off nearly as light as Akane had. Ryoga's head snapped
back, and blood spurted from his broken nose. His legs and arms hung limply
at strange angles, obviously broken. Ryoga passed out before he hit the
ground, Ranma having put him to sleep in the same manner he had Akane.
Of course, none of the girls saw Ranma leave his spot on the ground as he
did this.
"R...Ranchan? What's wrong?" Ukyo was obviously scared, her voice
trembling and tears welling up in her eyes.
At first, Ranma did not even move. He just sat there, in the same position.
After about a minute, however, he started to chuckle. Soon, the chuckle
turned into laughter, then into full-blown spasms of what seemed like mirth.
He rolled around on the ground, howling in a laughter that was very
different from his usual, self-possessed laugh.
Suddenly, Ranma was in front of Shampoo and Ukyo, who had, in their fright
and confusion, moved by Kodachi, who was idly watching atop the rock that
had previously crushed her. "Why, indeed, Kunoji." His hands moving so
quickly that not even Cologne would have been able to react, he put both
Shampoo and Ukyo to sleep.
Kodachi watched and laughed insanely. "HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! Oh, Ranma-Sama,
now that you've dealt with these hussies, we can get to our-"
Kodachi's right arm never worked properly again.
Ranma slowly gathered his things, packed up his tent and put the campfire
out. Not even looking back once, he left the small clearing, still
trembling with anger.
Ranma kept on walking, still possessing that eerie calm that one can only
attain when in pain so acute that your emotions shut down and logic takes
over.
Kodachi laid there, bleeding. Shampoo, Ukyo and Akane slept peacefully, not
knowing the confusion they would know for the rest of their lives.
************************************
Twenty years later...
************************************
Akane woke up, feeling her husband's warm body close to her own and smiling.
She snuggled up to his chest, and was about to fall peacefully back asleep
when the phone rang.
She grumbled and rolled over to grab the phone, her husband, a tall German
with green eyes named Manni, opening his eyes groggily, rubbing at them.
"Hello?" muttered Akane into the reciever.
+++++++++++++
Manni looked concerned. "Are you sure, Akane-chan?"
Akane smiled and embraced Manni, resting her head on his chest. "Of course
I'm sure, dear. It's probably just some student's lawyer wanting to sue us
for hurting him, again."
Manni sighed in disgust. "These people never read the papers they sign, do
they? It clearly states in the liability form that any and all injuries
obtained while training with or for our instructors is the fault of the
individual, not the company." Manni shook his head, then looked down and
kissed the top of Akane's. "If it is, make sure that you counter sue this
time, okay?"
Akane chortled. "You can't sue for stupidity, dear."
"Really?" asked Akane's husband innocently, earning a round of chuckles from
the married couple.
"Okay, then, I'm off," said Akane as she disentangled herself from the
German's embrace. "Remember that Nabiki has to be at school early today,
and that the twins have to clean up their room before they can go over to
Soichiro's after school. Other than that, have a good day, Man-Chan."
Akane smiled and blew him a kiss, winking as she closed the door behind her.
As soon as the door was closed downstairs, a door opened upstairs and two
identical little boys, each looking no older than nine or ten years old.
They ran downstairs, one clinging to each of Manni's legs. "Morning,
daddy!" they chorused. "Where's mommy?" asked the one on Manni's left leg,
Shiro.
"Yeah," piped up the second one, Sigfried. "Where's mommy?"
Before he could answer, a young girl looking about thirteen years of age
came downstairs in her school uniform. "Bye, dad!" she said as she jumped
up to kiss his cheek. "I've gotta be at school early today, remember?" She
was out the door and down the street before the man could even blink, let
alone respond.
"...well, that's that, then, isn't it guys?" asked Manni, looking at the two
boys.
"Yeah!" they shouted. They ran upstairs shouting "It! It!"
Manni sighed and went into the kitchen to start on breakfast.
+++++++++++++
Akane looked at the address again, trying to confirm that she was at the
right building. She verified her location, opened the door and entered.
What she found was a large room, brightly lit through windows in all the
walls, filled with long tables and chairs. About twenty people were in the
room. Most of the chairs were filled, and as she looked around the room in
shock, she noticed one person sitting quietly in the front of the room.
Akane moved as quickly as she could toward her sister. "Nabiki!" she called
out, causing the older Tendo to turn her head.
"Akane? Well, I suppose it figures that you're here. C'mon, sit down."
Nabiki motioned to a seat next to her and started speaking again as Akane
sat. "This certainly is interesting. I wonder how they got everyone here
at the same time?"
Akane, puzzled by her sister's words, asked "What?"
Nabiki turned toward her sister, mild surprise showing on her face. "What,
you mean you didn't realize who all was here?" When Akane shook her head
no, Nabiki pointed to a pair of figures against the far wall, where she had
come in. "See those two?" There was a woman with long, purple hair,
wearing traditional amazon clothing standing next to a man wearing his black
hair equally as long, wearing white robes with his hands concealed in their
folds. "Shampoo and Mousse. You remember them? Of course you do. Silly
question. See those three over there?" Nabiki pointed to another three
people, also sitting alone, about two seats away from the back right corner
of the room. One was a man, tall, wearing a samurai hakama and carrying a
sheathed katana. Another was a woman who seemed to be in a wheelchair, her
long, black hair tied into a ponytail behind her head. She seemed like a
child, clutching tightly to a doll as she looked around the room with large,
scared eyes. The third was a short man in a ninja outfit, and he seemed to
be the servant of the tall man with the sword. "The Kunos and their
faithful servant, Sasuke." Nabiki pointed towards another person, engaged
in conversation with Dr. Tofu and Kasumi. "See him, talking to sis and
Tofu?" Akane saw the man she was pointing to. He had a travelling pack on,
an umbrella strapped to the top of it. His yellow and black bandana showed
him to be Ryoga Hibiki.
"Ryoga." said Akane, in shock. "Wha...what are all of these people doing
here? Why is everyone I knew in high school here? Gosunkugi, Yuka, Sayuri,
Hirosh..." Akane stopped, staring.
"What is it?" asked Nabiki, straining to see what Akane was looking at.
"...Is that...Genma and Auntie Nodoka?" Akane pointed toward two older
people in the corner of the room, quietly conversing with each other. There
was no mistaking the Saotome family katana, nor Genma's trademark dogi and
bandanna.
Nabiki squinted, then sat back in her chair. "Well, so it is. I wonder why
they're here. I mean, everyone else here ha...oh, I'm so stupid!" Nabiki
smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her palm.
"What is it, Nabiki?" Akane asked, genuinely curious.
Sighing, Nabiki spoke. "I should have seen it before, when I noticed
Shampoo and Mousse, but it took the Saotomes to realize what everyone here
has in common."
"You don't mean..." Akane narrowed her eyes.
"Ranma."
"Yes?" came a male voice over the speaker system that no one had noticed
before. All heads in the room turned towards one man, standing next to
Nabiki and Akane's table, a microphone clipped to his shirt. Ranma looked a
bit taller, and a bit stronger, but he looked basically the same, except for
the head. He wore a tight black Metallica T-shirt and camoflage pants from
the American Army, along with the Army boots. His dark sunglasses and the
tattoo on his right cheek were the only other changes that were noticable.
He had what looked to be a tear tattooed on his right cheek, just below his
eye. It reminded Akane of a character named Folken from an anime show she
had watched when she was a teenager, "The Vision of Escaflowne."
Ranma snorted at the strange looks he was recieving and jumped onto the
table in front of Akane and her sister, then began to speak. "Yeah, I was
the one who called you all here today. Believe me, you have no idea how
incredibly hard it was to find you all, not to mention how hard it was to
get you all here at the same time." The black-haired boy rubbed his
forehead in annoyance, continuing with "God, what with Nabiki's business
dealings, Tofu's medical practice, Shampoo's being an Amazon, and Pig-boy
over there getting lost all the time, it's a wonder that I even accomplished
it at all."
The shock had, by that time, worn off, and everyone spoke at once. It
immediately ceased, though, when Ryoga leapt at Ranma. "Die, Ranma!" he
screamed, swinging his umbrella with deadly intent at Ranma's head.
Ranma's eyes glowed a deep, crimson red, shining through the dark sunglasses
he wore, and Ryoga flew back into the far wall, his umbrella clattering to
the ground at Ranma's feet. "Shut up, Ryoga. You deserved what I did to
you that day. You deserved more, actually, so you should be thanking me
right now." Ranma's eyes returned to their normal color, disappearing again
beneath the tinted spectacles, but the angry look did not leave his face.
"You should be glad I didn't kill you, piggy. You followed me all over the
world, attacked me, blamed all of your own mistakes on me, and even had the
audacity to pose as 'P-Chan' with Akane." Ranma spat on the ground while
Ryoga gazed with hatred at Ranma, lying in a pile of rubble that had fallen
off the wall when he impacted it.
Akane's voice rang out next. "But Ranma, I knew about that."
All the heads in the room turned to Akane, shock plainly evident on
everyone's features. Ranma didn't move, still staring at Ryoga's unmoving
body. "I know. That doesn't excuse his actions. Besides," Ranma turned to
look at Akane with disgust in his eyes, "the only reason you did that was
because you believed him. You believed everything he said about my
destroying his life, based solely on the reason that you didn't like me when
you first met me. Yeah, you hated me less and less as time went on, but you
never stopped believing P-Chan over me, even though I'd saved you more times
than I could ever count."
This time it was Akane who wore an expression of shock. "What? Ranma, I
never thought that! I...I..." Akane stopped suddenly, remembering her
talks with Ryoga, both in human and pig form. <Did I? Did I do it for that
reason?> Akane remembered the first time she and the male Ranma had met,
the chaos and violence that ensued. She then remembered the first time she
had seen P-Chan turn into Ryoga. She had been taking a bath, and she
brought P-Chan in with her, who was sleeping peacefully, as it was almost
three in the morning. When she realized that Ryoga was naked and in the
bathtub with her own nude form, she didn't feel the same thing that she had
when she and Ranma had seen each other naked. She had felt...victory. She
could finally use something to get back at Ranma. Ranma was obviously in
love with her, the pervert, and if she kept on pretending that she didn't
know about P-Chan...<That was almost three months after Ranma arrived,>
thought Akane, back in her own time again. <Even then, when I was
questioning my own feelings about him, I wanted to hurt him, simply because
he had hurt me, destroyed my life, was rude. He wouldn't eat my cooking.
He wouldn't call me cute. He wouldn't stop calling me 'uncute,' actually.
I actually thought that revenge was the best solution.> Akane's eyes began
to tear up, and she looked deeply into Ranma's eyes. "Ranma, I...I'm so, so
sorry, Ranma. I-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't really care." Ranma turned back to
the room, an obviously false smile on his face. "Anyways, as for the rest
of you, do you have any questions?" He didn't wait for anyone to even open
their mouth. "No? Good. Because I don't care if you do. I'm here only
because my honor demands it. I would've come sooner, but I was kind of
detained for about nineteen years."
"Nineteen years?" shouted Nodoka, tears streaming down her face. "I haven't
seen you since you were five, Ranma! How could you not even come to see
your mother in nineteen years?!?" Genma was trying to calm the woman down,
but he was obviously doing no good.
"The same way you could make your five-year-old son enter into a pact of
honor that required him to commit seppuku if he did not become a 'man among
men,' mother. The same way you could let that pact destroy your son's life,
making him suffer more in one minute as 'Ranko Tendo' than an entire life as
'Ranma Saotome.' The same way you could let one Genma Saotome sell your son
for food or money, engaging him to so many females across the globe that he
still has to meet them all." Ranma was screaming by now, his eyes glowing
red again. "The same way you could smile, again and again, and say 'why,
hello, Ranko. Is my son or husband around? I'd like to see them?' I don't
think you have any leverage in this case at all, mother." Ranma spat the
last word out, lacing it with disgust and contempt.
"Fuck this," Ranma said, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't even
want to hear what the rest of you have to say. You're probably as stubborn
and ignorant as you were back then." Ranma crossed his arms across his
chest, and frowned, his eyes fading back to their normal color. "After all,
evil does live under the skin."
Ranma smiled a bit, chuckling to him self. "Shit. Evil lives in the mother
fucking skin." He continued to laugh to himself quietly for a couple of
seconds before he clapped his hands once, turned to the audience and began.
"Okay, first off, I was detained for nineteen years because I was captured
by interdimensional slave traders and sold to a demon. I finally broke out
seventeen years ago, then I spent the rest of the time hopping dimensions,
fighting off enemies and looking for home. I got here about three weeks
ago, when I started contacting all of you."
The room was deathly silent. While a story of being sold to a demon by
interdimensional slave traders would normally be outrageous, for Ranma, it
wasn't that strange.
Ranma continued. "The demon technically still owns my soul right now, which
is why I have these cool powers. Unfortunately for him, I escaped, and if
he tries to recapture me, well," Ranma cracked his knuckles, "I've learned a
few things over the years."
"Ranma!" shouted Shampoo, stepping forward a bit. "You are rightfully my
husband! You leaving me caused me much dishonor and disgrace in my tribe!
Only because my great-grandmother was a matriarch of the tribe did I remain
an Amazon!" Shampoo's eyes blazed with fury and pain as she thrust a finger
at Ranma. "I challenge you to a duel to the death!"
Ranma's mouth curled a bit at the edges, and he crossed his arms across his
chest again. "Okay, wanna fight now?"
Shampoo leapt at Ranma, her bonbori appearing out of nowhere.
Of course, when she actually reached Ranma, she was dead. Ranma smoothly
caught her, laid her on the ground and closed her eyes. "Well, that's that,
then," said Ranma as he stood up, dusting off his hands. No one in the room
moved.
"What?" asked Ranma after a few moments. Rolling his eyes, Ranma said
"Fine, who thinks I should ressurrect her?" No one in the room moved.
"Fine, just be that way."
Ranma kneeled next to Shampoo's body, his hands glowing white. He placed
his hands on her chest, and she jerked upright, coughing violently.
Ranma simply stood up and stated, "Shampoo, I killed you. Your honor has
been restored through a duel to the death. Now leave, and go back to your
family in China, with your honor in tact." Ranma motioned towards the
stunned figure of Mousse. "I never want to see you or duck-boy again."
Shampoo, still shaken up from the whole ordeal, shakily made her way over to
Mousse, who helped her leave through the only door out of the room.
As the door closed, Ranma smiled and clapped his hands together again.
"Okay, now where was I? Oh, yes. My reasons for calling you all here." He
pointed to Akane. "I needed to satisfy my honor and apologize to Akane for
the way I treated her." He then motioned to both Nabiki and Kasumi. "You
two are here because I need to apologize to your family for dishonoring it.
I'm sorry." He pointed towards his parents. "I'm disowning myself. Deal
with it." Looking towards all the people from Furinkan, he continued. "You
all suck. I hope you realize that you contributed to everything bad that
happened to anyone in this room by my doing. You all drove me near insane,
and you can burn in hell." He flicked them off, American-style. "Fuck you
for treating me like an object, a sex-goddess, an ATM," he glanced pointedly
at Nabiki with that last description, then forged on ahead, with "an excuse
to peep at my naked female form," Hiroshi and Daisuke shrank back from his
accusing stare, "and, basically, to the rest of you, blaming all of your
problems on me."
Ryoga grunted from his impact crater, but said nothing else. Yuka and
Sayuri, as well as Gosunkugi, looked to the floor, conscious of their past
follies in blaming Ranma for everything that had happened after he had
arrived in Nerima all those years ago.
Of course, everyone was speechless, so Ranma was able to breathe for a few
seconds before trudging along in his crusade.
"Ukyo," continued Ranma, with a spiteful stare at the cook, "you're pretty
evil. I still don't know what I'm gonna do with you, because you've done
what Ryoga has done by chasing me all across the world, blaming me for all
your problems; you've done what Akane has done, by whacking me with that
damned spatula every time you felt hurt in some way; you've done what
Kodachi and Shampoo have done by persisting in your cause of marrying me.
There's so much for me to do to you, but so little time." Ranma chuckled
evilly, and he abruptly stopped as a choked sob escaped Ukyo's throat.
"Ranchan...I..." sobbed Ukyo, not looking up at him.
"Shut up, Ukyo, I don't want to see those pitiful tears of yours," Ranma
sneered, getting angry. "With all you put me through, do you think I
cried?" Ranma's fists were clenched at his sides, and he sneered. NO!"
Ranma screamed, startling all those present. "I NEVER CRIED, GOD DAMNIT,
AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU DOING IT, EITHER!!!" Ranma's fury dominated his
voice. His eyes glowed red, and he glared at Ukyo with those embers burning
in his head.
Ranma removed his sunglasses, revealing a diamond-shaped tattoo surrounding
his right eye.
"Finally - and this is for everyone here - I have come back to take my
revenge on you. I said that my honor demanded this meeting today, and it
did; I needed to apologize to some, and to avenge the actions of others."
Ranma's eyes glazed over as he began to chuckle. "You see, I'm going to
kill you all. Yep, you'll all be dead by this time tomorrow." Ranma
chuckled, his voice raising in pitch a little, and he closed his eyes.
"Mousse, you have no idea what I did to Shampoo, do you? Heehee...she'll
kill you when you sleep tonight, Mousse, and then she'll kill herself."
No one in the room moved as Ranma continued to chuckle and dropped his
glasses to the ground, where they shattered into a million pieces.
"Yeah!" Ranma jumped into the middle of the room, insanity burning in his
eyes. "I'm gonna fucking waste you all! Heeheehee...You thought you could
just get away with destroying my life, did you? HeeheeheehAHAHAAA!!! NO
WAY IN HELL!!!" Ranma pulled a small, metal cylinder from his shirt and
poised his thumb over one end of it. "HAHAHAAAAAA!!!!" laughed Ranma
maniacally, sweeping his gaze around the room. "TIME TO
DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
Ranma was cut off as all the martial artists in the room leapt at him,
trying to knock the mysterious cylinder out of his hands. Ranma's eyes
burned with an intense hatred as he ducked, dodged and weaved his way around
the blows that were coming in at him from all sides. His first and last
offensive move was announced by two dreadful words: "CHESTNUT FIST!!!"
In such close proximity to one another, no one could dodge the rain of blows
that assailed the mass. Flesh bruised and bones snapped as Ranma's hands
flew at an incredible rate of speed, rendering unconscious all those who
would have disarmed him.
Akane groaned and staggered to her feet, having been repulsed by Ranma's
attack along with the rest of the 'Nerima Gang.' "Ranma...what the hell are
you doing?" Akane coughed once, splattering blood onto the floor.
Ranma smiled. "I've got this little thingey," he waved the cylinder around,
"hooked up to about thirty or forty pounds of C4 that I strategically placed
around this building. Around this block, actually. I didn't want any of
you getting away." He began to laugh.
Ranma took an instant to stop himself from laughing, then took another
instant to regain his composure. In that instant, everyone could see the
fear and lonliness that had been Ranma's companions for so many years. They
could see the pain of loss.
"Better do this before the insanity fully takes me, huh?" he said, half to
himself. His finger reached for the button, but Nabiki's voice stopped him.
"I'm sorry, Ranma."
Ranma slowly turned his head to look at Nabiki, who had tears running down
her face. "I'm sorry," she repeated, this time in a voice barely above a
whisper. "I had no idea that what I was doing to you had hurt you so much.
If I had, I never would have done it." She smiled through her tears, and
continued. "I considered you family, you know. Everyone knew that you and
Akane loved each other, so it was just a matter of time before you got
married." She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I would never hurt my
family. Tease them, sure, but never hurt them intentionally. If I had
known, I...I..." Nabiki opened her eyes again and looked to Ranma. "I'm so
sorry, Ranma."
Ranma stared at Nabiki. "...Yeah," Ranma snorted, "so am I."
He hit the button.
********************
Nabiki smiled politely at the doctor, but inside she felt sick. She had no
right to smile. Bile rose in her throat as she remembered what she had done
to Ranma, how she had sold him time and time again, how she had...no, that
wasn't what she had to do. Self-pity was no way to atone. "Thank you,
doctor," Nabiki said, turning and walking down the sterile white hallway.
She kept on going until she reached a room with the number 187 on the door.
She braced herself, then opened the door and entered.
She never could get used to seeing Ranma like that.
Nabiki moved to the side of Ranma's bed, sitting in the small, white chair
that the hospital staff kept in the room for visitors. "Hey, Ranma," she
softly said, running her eyes over the man's body. Straps held down his
arms and legs, while there were IVs running into his left arm, keeping him
in an almost constant slumber.
Ranma moaned and stirred. "...N...N-Nabiki...?" whispered Ranma softly, his
eyes still closed.
"Yeah," she said, "it's me." A sad smile graced her lips and her eyes began
to tear up.
"What brings you here?" He turned his head slightly towards her, but kept
his eyes closed.
"Just wanted to check up on you," Nabiki said, patting his hand.
Ranma smiled. "Why? I almost killed you and your sisters, you know."
Nabiki's entire body went rigid. "So what? I DID kill you. For all
intents and purposes, anyway."
Ranma snorted weakly. "No, you really didn't."
An akward silence followed as Nabiki continued to hold Ranma's hand.
"So...um, how do the doctors say you're doing?" Nabiki asked lamely, trying
to start up what little conversation Ranma was capable of.
"Oh...they say that I'm getting better, but that I'm still unstable. As the
IVs can attest to, they're afraid to let me out of a drug-induced stupor,
lest I try to kill you guys again."
Nabiki again smiled sadly and squeezed Ranma's hand in a comforting manner.
"That's good to hear. Maybe you can get out of here in a couple of months,
huh?"
Ranma smiled a little larger. "Nabiki...what would have happened if Mousse
hadn't noticed my bombs and disarmed them?" Ranma asked, catching Nabiki off
guard.
After thinking for a moment, the woman responded, "Who knows, Ranma. Who
knows."
"I'm sorry, Nabiki. I really am sorry about that." Ranma's voice began to
weaken, and his head lolled back to its orignal position on the pillow.
A single tear rolled down Nabiki's face. "I know, Ranma. You don't have to
tell me that."
Ranma's breath began to shallow. "...so tired, Nabiki..."
Nabiki squeezed his hand again, saying "Sleep, Ranma. Go to sleep."
A few minutes later, Ranma was fast asleep, and Nabiki was still holding
Ranma's hand.
Nabiki let go of Ranma's hand gently, then stood up and walked to the door.
Before she opened it, she looked back sadly at Ranma one last time. "I love
you, Ranma. I'll see you next week, okay?" she whispered. Then she opened
the door and was gone.
Ranma smiled in his sleep, dreaming of Nabiki.
************************
Well, tell me what you think! Bad? Good? Indifferent? Horribly terribly
insanely mediocre? C&C will be rewarded with the satisfaction of helping a
fellow author. Flames will be rewarded with scarred flesh and carbon.
(WHOs scarred flesh, however....YES THAT IS A THREAT) J/K ;-) You wanna
flame me, go ahead. I can't stop you.
But, anyway, please tell me what you all think.
I started this story out when I was pissed off. I kept on writing it after
those feelings had degenerated into suicidal depression, and I kept on
writing even when I had forgotten all about the entire incident. This was
thought up, reformed, written, rewritten and proofread on an impulse, and I
have to say that it's one of my better fics. In my opinion, at least. I
write my best when I'm emotional. It was originally going to be a 'Ranma
gets fed up and leaves, never to be seen again, and Akane has to deal with
her mistakes' type of fic at first, then it changed into a 'Ranma gets fed
up and leaves, but comes back in twenty years with another woman as his
wife, and Akane has to deal with the fact that she had kept on waiting for
him all that time' type of fic. After that, it was going to be a 'Ranma
leaves and comes back in twenty years and kills everyone' fic, but, at the
insistence of my...self...I ended it as a 'Ranma leaves and comes back to
try to kill everyone, but is thwarted somehow, and Nabiki falls in love with
him' fic. I'm not sure HOW I ended up there, but I did, so go suck an egg.
...Er...sorry. ^_^;
ANYWHO, thanks for reading.
A Depraved Sociopath with Psychotic Tendencies