alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/ January 17, 1997 This is a sequel of sorts to "Life and Manhood", assuming that such a short story can have a sequel. (It's not too necessary to read that first, since I go over the main points of what happened there, but please, do read it first, at least to capture the feeling of what Ranma went through previous to this story; plus, it really explains why Ranma and Akane seem just a little OOC here.) This may, in fact, become a full-blown continuation-type fic, but I'm not sure I'm going to go that far, yet. This has nowhere near the angst levels of its prequel. As always, Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko-san. My thanks to her for establishing such a wonderful world. And now, Oddzilla Productions presents.... "Waking" by Andrew Huang <...>: thoughts --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranma stirred, grimacing. His head hurt horribly, and the bit of light that managed to glow through his eyelids was jabbing straight into his head, painfully. He tried to open his eyes, and shut them immediately, as the light's intensity nearly knocked him back into unconsciousness. Yes, Ranma was suffering his first hangover. He lay still. He ran his still-cottony mind over what he could remember from last evening. He suddenly stopped on the word "tomboy" for some reason. He mentally frowned, then continued. At this point, the memories got a little fuzzy. He put a hand up to his head, but stopped when his stomach didn't agree with the movement. "Uhh...." "Akane!" Something stirred to his left. "Hmm...Ran...Ranma?" Ranma's eyes shot open again. He decided to keep them open, despite the pain. Slowly, he turned towards the sound. There, on his father's bedroll, lay Akane, opening her eyes. "What is it, Ranma?" "A...Akane...what happened yesterday?" He carefully sat up, rubbing his eyes a bit. "I'm trying to remember, but it's a little hard...." Akane looked at him. "Well...what do you remember so far?" Ranma dropped his gaze to the floor. "I was kneeling on the floor in the Dojo...I...started to cut myself, but I stopped when...when...I saw your face, in my mind." No matter how fuzzy last night was, he couldn't forget imagining her face, with that indescribable, yet...haunting expression on it. "Yeah, I stopped...you saved me...." Akane felt her heart swell a little. Even after his words the night before, hearing that felt...special. "And...then what?" Ranma looked back at her. "You...you came in. I...don't remember what happened next, for a little, but you said...said...." His eyes widened. Akane was smiling. "Yes. I said that, all right." Ranma's eyes lost focus. "You...love me...me?" Akane nodded. "And-- and then...." Akane waited expectantly. "I said...I said that I love...you." Ranma whispered that, more to himself than to anyone else. Akane reached and took his hand, squeezing it, bringing him back to reality. "You fell asleep then, and your father brought you back to your room, here. I...I decided to stay with you, just in case...and your father decided to sleep downstairs...." Ranma stared at her. "You stayed...." He blushed slightly, and looked down again. "D-domo." Akane slid up closer to him, brushing his hair out of his face. "No problem. I wanted to do this...I meant what I said yesterday." Ranma raised his head to meet hers. "And...I guess...I do too...." He gazed into her eyes. Suddenly, he was seized by an impulse, and slowly started to move his face closer to hers. Akane, seeing this, nearly jumped. At least, her heart rate did. She closed her eyes and leaned forward as well. She could feel the heat of his breath on her lips.... "Hurglk!!" Akane was suddenly hit in the chin by Ranma's forehead. Her eyes snapped open, to see Ranma suddenly curl up a little, covering his mouth with his hand. He sprang up and darted out of the room, running to the bathroom to be very noisily sick. Evidently, this had been momentous enough to create a reaction in his stomach. Akane sighed in defeat and slight exasperation. "Baka," she muttered, but with a small smile. ------------------------------------------------ Ranma had decided to forgo breakfast, owing to the state of his stomach. Still, he did decide to join everyone at the table, sitting next to a slightly blushing Akane. Kasumi, as always, smiled at him, but he noticed a note of relief in her voice when she bid him, "Ohayo gozaimasu, Ranma." Nabiki looked as she always did, except with a measure of gladness reflecting in her eyes, even as she teased him about getting himself drunk off his @$$. Soun was crying tears of joy and nearly smothered Ranma in a hug. His father gruffly grunted and slapped him on the shoulder, then pulled him aside (after, of course, sucking down a huge amount of food). "Ranma, are you all right, Son?" "I am, now, Oya...Otousan. Don't worry about it." Genma was slightly surprised by the Ranma's change of addressing him. "Ranma, tell me, whatever prompted you to do such a thing?" Ranma shook his head. "Really, don't worry about it...." Genma sighed. "Son...please, never scare me like that again. Akane told us that you were threatening to cut your wrist when she finally stopped you.... It's not like that would have done anything, because I know we would have gotten you to Toufuu-sensei or even the hospital in time, if necessary...but the simple fact that you were about to do something like that is just--just...." "Wrong? Yes, I know. It's not like me to do that, is it?" Genma nodded. "Not to mention that I got myself drunk." Ranma chuckled. "Don't worry about that, either. It's not worth the hangover. What happened last night...won't, not ever, not again." He glanced over at Akane, who smiled...almost shyly back at him. This was not lost on Genma. "Well, boy, I'll let you go, then." He smiled and gave Ranma a pat on the arm again, then ambling back to the table on a holy quest for leftovers. Ranma looked for Akane, who had gone over to the couch in front of the TV. (Fortunately, it was Sunday, so they all could relax a good bit.) Ranma sat down next to her. Neither spoke for a little while, but clearly, they weren't concentrating on what was on the screen. Slowly, Ranma snuck his hand towards hers. Akane almost jumped for the second time that morning, when she felt Ranma take her hand in his. Her thoughts were interrupted by Ranma. "Akane...where is that tanto? The one I...I almost used last night?" The question took Akane by surprise. "I just want to see it. I won't use it, I swear." Ranma smiled. "Oh...okay...it's in the Dojo." They got up, still holding hands, and walked to the Dojo. Akane dropped his hand and plucked the blade from its place on the wall, placed back there last night by Kasumi. She studied it, carefully, looking at the finely crafted handle, the beautifully worked sheath.... Ranma walked up to her, and took it from her hands, turning it over and examining the details. Unconsciously, his left hand went to the bandage under his shirt. "So.... This is the one?" Akane nodded. "Otousan tells me...it was actually from Okaasan's family. It was one of the things...that my mother had with her during the wedding ceremony. It's been a tradition of her family's...." Ranma closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. A sad smile came to his lips. "To think...to think that it took this much...." He turned to his fiancee. "Akane.... Domo arigato gozaimasu," he spoke, bowing formally to her. It surprised her a little, but she bowed back. He continued, "You saved my life...you saved me from myself. But...as bad as yesterday was, I'm...I'm kind of glad it happened, now." He suddenly grabbed her in a gentle hug, whispering in her ear, "I love you, Akane. More than I could say. For longer than I can remember." It was so easy to say now...to feel. So very easy. Akane's eyes shined. "I'm glad yesterday happened too. And I love you too, crazy baka." The words came to her naturally. She pulled back a little, gazing into his eyes. She darted her head in, quickly brushing her lips across his once, then pressing against him firmly for a long, long time. Ranma was startled for just a few moments, but quickly responded in kind, closing his eyes. The understatement of the year rang in his head for a while as he savored the feeling of the wonderful girl in his arms. Behind Akane's back, he gripped the tanto tightly, the thing that had, in a way, finally broken the spell which once held the two apart. He paused a moment, reconsidering that. --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- There you have it. The true closure for that story, the one that Ranma and Akane deserve. It took me a little longer to write this one...I tried to really get their feelings and affections across here. As I said earlier, this may turn into a continuation. If that does happen, it's not from the end of the manga--Nodoka still does not know, Akari has not come in, and Konatsu isn't here, either. They will appear, though, I think--it wouldn't be fair to them to leave them out. It's going to be difficult, I know, since I don't know those characters very well. One further thing--if this continuation does get written out, expect it to feel like Marisa Price's _A Lesson in Love_ (thank you so much, Misa- chan, for writing in such a wonderful style with such a wonderful story), not like TMTC. It's going to be a more serious work; I don't think I could maintain a level of humor too long. So, any comments? They would be appreciated.