Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Savior: The Prophecy ❯ Fulfilling the Prophecy: Forgiveness (part 1) ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: firagabird 
I've decided, after a bit of thought, that I cut the chapter into two parts and post the first half now, instead of waiting for eternity for me to post the whole thing. *sweatdrop*
So, here it is. All I can really say for now without spoiling anything is that a whole lot of emotions are gonna be gone through by Akane in this one.
I'll release the second one soon, hopefully.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.10.2005 | Updated On: 06.04.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 761 | Status: Work In Progress
I've decided, after a bit of thought, that I cut the chapter into two parts and post the first half now, instead of waiting for eternity for me to post the whole thing. *sweatdrop*
So, here it is. All I can really say for now without spoiling anything is that a whole lot of emotions are gonna be gone through by Akane in this one.
I'll release the second one soon, hopefully.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.10.2005 | Updated On: 06.04.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 761 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any of its characters. I use their characters only to make Fan fiction. They all belong to Rumiko Takaheshi.
Author’s Notes: Hello, Minna-san! Before anything else, I personally want to thank everybody so much for receiving all these perfect 10’s. It really helps to warm my heart up and boost my ego. =)
First up: I guess I have to apologize about promising to update more frequently. It’s much harder than I thought for me to have a continuous flow of determination, especially with my debut story being so big.
In fact, this story’s turning out to be so epic in proportion that I decided to make this into separate books! O.O It ain’t really that hard to imagine, considering that I’m still writing out the beginning, but it’s kinda shocking, huh?
Anyway, I’m hoping that I manage to keep the time interval between updates to a minimum (hopefully a month or less). I’m gonna modify the prologue, btw, as soon as I upload this chapter. Please bear with me; the job of an author is harder than most people think!
Well, I think that’s everything. Feel free to start reading! E)
Vampire Savior: by firagabird
Fulfilling the Prophecy, Chapter 4: Forgiveness
Symbols:
"speaking"
'th inking'
*_*_*
Scene location change (brief)
_*_*_
“Gomen-na sai.” It was odd how just one word could have so many different meanings, how just one word contained so much depth. And yet, Ranma said just one word. Gomen-nasai.
“Wh-what?”
_*_*_
‘Wh-what…?’
_*_*_
< br> With just one word, Akane was completely taken by surprise.
“Why… why are you apologizing…?” The moist-eyed young teen felt her cheeks slightly wet, and wiped it on the palm of her hand. At the same moment, Ranma reflexively took that hand, gently and by the wrist, gesturing to it.
“This is why…” For a few seconds, Akane’s mind took it’s time to process the information that was so suddenly given to her.
(Note: you can skip this part if you want to.)
‘A hand… A hand is in front of my face… The hand is wet... My hand feels wet… This is my hand in front of my face… My hand looks blurry… I’m crying… I wiped my tears away with my hand… Ranma… Ranma is apologizing because of this wet hand… Apologizing because of these tears… Why am I crying…? I’m crying… because I treated Ranma badly… I still do… I just did… Ranma’s apologizing because… because I have been hurting him…? No… no, that-that can’t be… Apologizing… People apologize when they know they did something wrong… Ranma thinks that he’s done something wrong… Ranma never apologized before... He only ever does if he's done something very wrong... what is so awful, I wonder… I am crying… Ranma is apologizing because I am crying… Because he knows that he has done something very wrong, something awful… He knows that it is his fault… that I am… crying……?’
Finally, it clicked. It all clicked. Akane was pulled back to all her memories about the past two years. Her attitude towards Ranma, the only boy- no, not a boy- the only man he ever truly loved. Sure, there was Tofu Ono, but it was puppy love. She knew that now. She hurt him. She felt horrible about it. It was only a few moments ago, when she had been crying on Kasumi’s lap, that she discovered that fact. She mistreated him, and she hated it. She hated it so much, that it made her tears come back.
Ranma… She loved him… Even then, when he was boastful and arrogant, she knew deep down that she loved him… That there was a part of him inside that caught her heart... When he turned 18, he seemed to have grown out of that attitude. He was kinder, kinder to her, and kinder to everybody. His true self had so suddenly surfaced, and she loved him even more. And yet, she hurt him.
“No, Ranma…” She whispered weakly, trying her best not to choke on her tears. “Please don't, don’t apologize… It’s not your fault. I-it never was…” It was true. While she looked back at the past, she noticed how the problems she blamed Ranma for never seemed to have been started deliberately by him. Sure, he was involved most of the time, but that was always due to the consequences of others (mainly his dad). It made her feel worse thinking about it: She blamed him, hurt him, for things he never caused, never meant to happen.
_*_*_
Her voice was very faint, but she could hear it. Nabiki could hear it clearly.
‘It… It never was… No, no, it-it can’t be true…’ She tried to reason it out, knowing that all of the times she extorted him she had thought that it was all just the braided martial artist’s fault. ‘It was all his fault, no one else’s… It just has to be…’ For the first time in her life, she felt insecure.
_*_*_
Ranma, on the other hand, was completely taken aback at what his fiancé had just said.
‘Not my fault…? She ain’t cryin’ ‘cuz o’ me? How’s that possible?’ He was used to being blamed constantly of problems that always tended to rise up around him. In fact, that was why he was dubbed the “avatar of chaos”. He couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. “Akane, What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?” He was trying to reason with the emotionally unstable teen, ignoring the fact that he had never done this before. “Listen ta yourself. Ya don’t know what you’re say-”
“I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M SAYING, RANMA!” the female martial artist cut him off with a strong voice, making him jump slightly. “My tears aren’t caused by anything you have done, and neither was any other problem in my life!” Passionate anger engulfed her at that moment, and she didn’t care about a thing, besides what she was saying and wanted to say. “For the past two years, you have been living with me in my house. Ever since the day you walked into my life up until this one, you have NEVER purposely caused ANY of the pain and chaos that accompanied you. The curse was not your fault! Ryoga’s incessent anger was not your fault! Gods damn it Ranma, THE WEDDING WAS NOT YOUR FAULT!”
_*_*_
Nabiki winced at the volume of her sister’s voice, putting a hand in between the glass and her ear.
‘Dammit Akane, keep it down!’ She heard them starting to talk again, or rather it was the infuriated youth speaking and Ranma listening, and quickly put her ear back and managed to catch the end of her outcry. She almost dropped the glass when she caught those last words.
“The wedding was not your fault.”
Her gut wrenched and her eye involuntarily twitched, widening as her delicately-made walls that had protected her from the harsh reality came crashing down. Her mouth was slightly agape, and her hands started to go numb. After all this time, the middle sister of the Tendo family always thought that her onee-chan didn’t know it was her fault for inviting everyone to ruin the wedding. All this time, she kept that small fact that she really did something to make a lasting impression in everyone, especially her sister.
She could still remember what had happened. For weeks, she refused to come out of her room, and she could always hear her beloved sister cry herself to sleep. That was the main reason she stopped her habit immediately afterwards… The month following after, everyone tried to forget that incident, and the place quieted down for a while. Things went as usual in the Tendo household, with the exception that no one was bugging them anymore.
Akane was still affected by the memory sometimes but she went on with her life, although they never saw even a spark of joy that she used to radiate. Even Kasumi, whose face was perpetually plastered with an angelic smile, seemed less enthusiastic about anything. Nabiki had prayed to the Gods that no one found out after seeing the ripples that SHE caused. Unfortunately, Akane had.
_*_*_
As the “rage, incarnated” stood up and continued, Ranma couldn’t do anything but listen and stare.
“For all the time that I’ve known you, you have never hurt me. Not even a mere scratch. In fact, you have protected me from every single danger that surrounded you. In contrast, I- no, not just me- WE have all hurt you incessantly for things that were NOT your fault. ”Can’t you see, Ranma?! You’re not the problem. Everyone else is. Nabiki extorts you’re curse and your ability in a fight. Our fathers and your mother try to get us together using any means possible, even drugs. Ryoga continues to try and defeat you after being four days late for a fight that was supposed to have ended years ago. Our suitors and admirers make our everyday lives a living hell.
”And I,” she whispered the last of her anger out, mixing it with tears. “I have blamed everything bad that ever happened in my life on you. It’s not your fault, Ranma…. It never was. It never will be.”
_*_*_
‘Oh, oh gods…’ Nabiki, her eyes welling up for the first time since their mother's passing, held a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened in shock and horror. The horror of discovering everything her the disturbing truth. You would find it hard to believe, but the second of the Tendo daughters did have a conscience. She’d never done anything that seemed cold or malicious without reason. Every time she exploited Ranma whenever she needed money, she reasoned that it was all his fault that he was freeloading. That he wasn’t doing a thing to help in the household. What Akane just said had hit hard. Very hard.
‘I… I have been exploiting and extorting Ranma for two whole years, without even so much as an excuse…?’ She thought, letting the glass slip away from her numb hands. ‘In the process, I’ve humiliated, ridiculed, and practically tortured him, just to get a few hundred more yen into our family’s account.’ What, you didn’t know? Nabiki didn’t do all this just for fun, you know. She’s not that much of an ice queen. The only reason she did what she did to earn money, was because of her family’s financial status. She just found pleasure, maybe even went a little overboard, with earning money.
‘I… he… There is no way I can repay for him… He won’t even trust me with anything. No one would, no one could…’ It just hit her again. Ranma wasn’t the only one. There were also others that she also hurt, though not as harshly as what she did to her sister’s fiancé. Weakly, she whispered out. “What have I done?”
She couldn’t handle it anymore. Her conscience, the same one that she had tried finding loopholes in to feel a sense of judgment, was driving each and every point deep into her mind. It hurt.
‘No… No, please… stop it… I, I…’ Her dilated eyes had been transfixed on the horror of everything at empty space through quaking hands. She was breaking down.
‘Get a HOLD on yourself, girl!’ A voice from her head suddenly boomed, knocking the unstable youth from her trance.
‘Wha…? Wh-who ‘s there…?’
‘Call me your conscience, you could probably only comprehend that much,’ the voice of a man stated harshly.
‘My… my conscience…’
‘Yes. Now first things first. SNAP OUT OF IT!’ The shock of his voice gave her the sensation of being slapped, straightening herself up instantly.
‘I have, I have…!’
‘Good. Now, listen to me very carefully. You have done countless things to that boy, yes?’
‘Yes… I have…’
‘Stay with me here. All of them are unforgivable, as you say.’
‘…’ Nabiki’s damp eyes looked down in shame. “They… they are, aren’t they…?”
‘Yes, they are. BUT, You can do something to compensate. That IS what you want, is it not?’
“Of… of course that is what I want…!” She spoke with an involuntarily raised tone.
‘Keep it down, will you?!’
“Oh…” She knew that thinking would probably be better, so she switched to that. ‘S-sorry…’
‘Better. Now, to repent a bad deed, one replaces and erases it with a good one. Do you understand?’
‘Yes… I understand… But… in order to replace all I have done… it’ll be almost impossible…!’
‘Of course, it isn’t hard to think that. But what would you expect? You’ve been at it for two years.’
‘I have…?’
‘It’s not impossible, though,’ it continued, ignoring her. ‘Just lengthy. It will take time, but it CAN be done. I assure you of it by my honor.’
‘It can… But, wait…’ By my honor... ‘Who… Who are you?’
‘Merely a conscience, for the moment. I will tell you more in the near future. Now go back to your feeding session and STOP EAVESDROPPING!!!’
The middle Tendo daughter slightly jumped and nearly gasped, quickly getting up and picking the cup that she had dropped up. She left with haste, looking back at the door momentarily.
‘Thank you, whoever you really are.’
_*_*_
After exhausting herself of adrenaline, Akane slumped to her knees and panted in short, quick, and shaky gasps. Processing what he had just heard, Ranma discovered that everything the fiery teen said was completely true.
‘It… never was my fault… It was always someone else who caused it. Akane was blaming me for things that weren’t my fault… But, that means she thinks it’s HER fault! Oh, shit!'
Quickly crawling towards his fiancé to try and change her train of thinking, Ranma touched her shoulder and tried to talk to her, unaware of the flinch on the same area he held her on.
“Akane, you’re not thinkin’ straight. It can’t be your fault-” “STOP APOLOGIZING, RANMA!!!” she yelled again, so suddenly that it made the surprised youth back away and let go of her. It was obvious that she was still tensed up with anger, as she looked up at him with furious, beige-colored, twin orbs.
His hand slapped away in his fiancé’s blind anger, the suddenly fearful martial artist instinctively backed up into the wall, the horror shown in his wide, azure eyes. He wasn’t afraid of her physically, since he knew that he could defeat her in a fight. It was those eyes, and the situations he was accustomed to whenever he saw them. It made him want to get away, always seeing those scornful eyes before feeling this enormous amount of pain. Ranma lost rational thought.
Coming back to her senses, Akane blinked rapidly in confusion caused by shock, turning into horror as well as she realized what she had done.
“Gods… No, Ranma… Don’t, please… I-I didn’t mean…” She slowly moved towards her loved one, tears starting to well up again. “Please, Ranma…” She stopped right in front of him, and tried to touch his cheek with her hand.
Shaking slightly, Ranma’s dialated eyes looked at the incoming hand, and reflexively flinched away, kicking at the floor to get away from her. He tripped on a piece of clothing, but didn’t wonder why it was there; the only thing on his mind right now was to get away from the… the predator. As he fell, the terrified youth kept his gaze on the person he was escaping from. He used his hands this time, and bumped into a corner. He reached a dead end.
“R-Ranma…”
&nbs p; Akane’s tears were flowing freely by now. The thought of how much she hurt him, paired up with her beloved's sudden irrational (was it really irrational…?) fear, was becoming too much to handle. All she could think of was trying to stop Ranma from being afraid of her. The tear-stricken teen tried her hardest to keep herself together, as she neared her target. From a distance, one might get the feeling of a predator approaching a trapped prey. In the current, primal state that Ranma’s mind had been brought about by something unknown, it was the feeling he was experiencing.
His hands and feet tried to push him through the wall as she neared, to no avail. Finally, after what seemed to both as an eternity, Akane kneeled in front of the trembling martial artist. She herself was trembling, but with the difference of her knowing exactly what was happening. How she wished she didn’t.
The latter of the two went for a second go.
“R-Ranma… Please… S-stop running…” The words apparently didn’t seem to have the intended effect if any, as her fiancé continued eyeing her fearfully. Reaching out for his cheek, Akane put effort into moving her quaking hand as cautiously as possible. It seemed that her rather short-sighted plan was about to work, when something, something that would be etched into her mind for a long time, was spoken by him.
“Please… Go away…”
End of Part 1
Author’s Notes: Just one thing before ending this chapter. Is there anyone out there who’d be willing to help me with this? It can be on anything, about any aspect of the developing story. I just really need some help if I wanna finish this as close to the time that I want it to (namely before June).
Also, if it isn’t asking for too much, I really hope that whoever decides to help me either has Yahoo! Or MSN Messenger, so we could have live discussions. If anyone’s interested, please e-mail me at tjmeneses@yahoo.com or firagabird@hotmail.com … You could also add me to your Msgr. List:
Yahoo! ID – tjmeneses , keitaro_the_anthro_lion
MSN ID – firagabird@hotmail.com
Read & Review! Comments & Constructive Criticism is Welcome! Please No Flames!!!
Author’s Notes: Hello, Minna-san! Before anything else, I personally want to thank everybody so much for receiving all these perfect 10’s. It really helps to warm my heart up and boost my ego. =)
First up: I guess I have to apologize about promising to update more frequently. It’s much harder than I thought for me to have a continuous flow of determination, especially with my debut story being so big.
In fact, this story’s turning out to be so epic in proportion that I decided to make this into separate books! O.O It ain’t really that hard to imagine, considering that I’m still writing out the beginning, but it’s kinda shocking, huh?
Anyway, I’m hoping that I manage to keep the time interval between updates to a minimum (hopefully a month or less). I’m gonna modify the prologue, btw, as soon as I upload this chapter. Please bear with me; the job of an author is harder than most people think!
Well, I think that’s everything. Feel free to start reading! E)
Vampire Savior: by firagabird
Fulfilling the Prophecy, Chapter 4: Forgiveness
Symbols:
"speaking"
'th inking'
*_*_*
Scene location change (brief)
_*_*_
“Gomen-na sai.” It was odd how just one word could have so many different meanings, how just one word contained so much depth. And yet, Ranma said just one word. Gomen-nasai.
“Wh-what?”
_*_*_
‘Wh-what…?’
_*_*_
< br> With just one word, Akane was completely taken by surprise.
“Why… why are you apologizing…?” The moist-eyed young teen felt her cheeks slightly wet, and wiped it on the palm of her hand. At the same moment, Ranma reflexively took that hand, gently and by the wrist, gesturing to it.
“This is why…” For a few seconds, Akane’s mind took it’s time to process the information that was so suddenly given to her.
(Note: you can skip this part if you want to.)
‘A hand… A hand is in front of my face… The hand is wet... My hand feels wet… This is my hand in front of my face… My hand looks blurry… I’m crying… I wiped my tears away with my hand… Ranma… Ranma is apologizing because of this wet hand… Apologizing because of these tears… Why am I crying…? I’m crying… because I treated Ranma badly… I still do… I just did… Ranma’s apologizing because… because I have been hurting him…? No… no, that-that can’t be… Apologizing… People apologize when they know they did something wrong… Ranma thinks that he’s done something wrong… Ranma never apologized before... He only ever does if he's done something very wrong... what is so awful, I wonder… I am crying… Ranma is apologizing because I am crying… Because he knows that he has done something very wrong, something awful… He knows that it is his fault… that I am… crying……?’
Finally, it clicked. It all clicked. Akane was pulled back to all her memories about the past two years. Her attitude towards Ranma, the only boy- no, not a boy- the only man he ever truly loved. Sure, there was Tofu Ono, but it was puppy love. She knew that now. She hurt him. She felt horrible about it. It was only a few moments ago, when she had been crying on Kasumi’s lap, that she discovered that fact. She mistreated him, and she hated it. She hated it so much, that it made her tears come back.
Ranma… She loved him… Even then, when he was boastful and arrogant, she knew deep down that she loved him… That there was a part of him inside that caught her heart... When he turned 18, he seemed to have grown out of that attitude. He was kinder, kinder to her, and kinder to everybody. His true self had so suddenly surfaced, and she loved him even more. And yet, she hurt him.
“No, Ranma…” She whispered weakly, trying her best not to choke on her tears. “Please don't, don’t apologize… It’s not your fault. I-it never was…” It was true. While she looked back at the past, she noticed how the problems she blamed Ranma for never seemed to have been started deliberately by him. Sure, he was involved most of the time, but that was always due to the consequences of others (mainly his dad). It made her feel worse thinking about it: She blamed him, hurt him, for things he never caused, never meant to happen.
_*_*_
Her voice was very faint, but she could hear it. Nabiki could hear it clearly.
‘It… It never was… No, no, it-it can’t be true…’ She tried to reason it out, knowing that all of the times she extorted him she had thought that it was all just the braided martial artist’s fault. ‘It was all his fault, no one else’s… It just has to be…’ For the first time in her life, she felt insecure.
_*_*_
Ranma, on the other hand, was completely taken aback at what his fiancé had just said.
‘Not my fault…? She ain’t cryin’ ‘cuz o’ me? How’s that possible?’ He was used to being blamed constantly of problems that always tended to rise up around him. In fact, that was why he was dubbed the “avatar of chaos”. He couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. “Akane, What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?” He was trying to reason with the emotionally unstable teen, ignoring the fact that he had never done this before. “Listen ta yourself. Ya don’t know what you’re say-”
“I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M SAYING, RANMA!” the female martial artist cut him off with a strong voice, making him jump slightly. “My tears aren’t caused by anything you have done, and neither was any other problem in my life!” Passionate anger engulfed her at that moment, and she didn’t care about a thing, besides what she was saying and wanted to say. “For the past two years, you have been living with me in my house. Ever since the day you walked into my life up until this one, you have NEVER purposely caused ANY of the pain and chaos that accompanied you. The curse was not your fault! Ryoga’s incessent anger was not your fault! Gods damn it Ranma, THE WEDDING WAS NOT YOUR FAULT!”
_*_*_
Nabiki winced at the volume of her sister’s voice, putting a hand in between the glass and her ear.
‘Dammit Akane, keep it down!’ She heard them starting to talk again, or rather it was the infuriated youth speaking and Ranma listening, and quickly put her ear back and managed to catch the end of her outcry. She almost dropped the glass when she caught those last words.
“The wedding was not your fault.”
Her gut wrenched and her eye involuntarily twitched, widening as her delicately-made walls that had protected her from the harsh reality came crashing down. Her mouth was slightly agape, and her hands started to go numb. After all this time, the middle sister of the Tendo family always thought that her onee-chan didn’t know it was her fault for inviting everyone to ruin the wedding. All this time, she kept that small fact that she really did something to make a lasting impression in everyone, especially her sister.
She could still remember what had happened. For weeks, she refused to come out of her room, and she could always hear her beloved sister cry herself to sleep. That was the main reason she stopped her habit immediately afterwards… The month following after, everyone tried to forget that incident, and the place quieted down for a while. Things went as usual in the Tendo household, with the exception that no one was bugging them anymore.
Akane was still affected by the memory sometimes but she went on with her life, although they never saw even a spark of joy that she used to radiate. Even Kasumi, whose face was perpetually plastered with an angelic smile, seemed less enthusiastic about anything. Nabiki had prayed to the Gods that no one found out after seeing the ripples that SHE caused. Unfortunately, Akane had.
_*_*_
As the “rage, incarnated” stood up and continued, Ranma couldn’t do anything but listen and stare.
“For all the time that I’ve known you, you have never hurt me. Not even a mere scratch. In fact, you have protected me from every single danger that surrounded you. In contrast, I- no, not just me- WE have all hurt you incessantly for things that were NOT your fault. ”Can’t you see, Ranma?! You’re not the problem. Everyone else is. Nabiki extorts you’re curse and your ability in a fight. Our fathers and your mother try to get us together using any means possible, even drugs. Ryoga continues to try and defeat you after being four days late for a fight that was supposed to have ended years ago. Our suitors and admirers make our everyday lives a living hell.
”And I,” she whispered the last of her anger out, mixing it with tears. “I have blamed everything bad that ever happened in my life on you. It’s not your fault, Ranma…. It never was. It never will be.”
_*_*_
‘Oh, oh gods…’ Nabiki, her eyes welling up for the first time since their mother's passing, held a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened in shock and horror. The horror of discovering everything her the disturbing truth. You would find it hard to believe, but the second of the Tendo daughters did have a conscience. She’d never done anything that seemed cold or malicious without reason. Every time she exploited Ranma whenever she needed money, she reasoned that it was all his fault that he was freeloading. That he wasn’t doing a thing to help in the household. What Akane just said had hit hard. Very hard.
‘I… I have been exploiting and extorting Ranma for two whole years, without even so much as an excuse…?’ She thought, letting the glass slip away from her numb hands. ‘In the process, I’ve humiliated, ridiculed, and practically tortured him, just to get a few hundred more yen into our family’s account.’ What, you didn’t know? Nabiki didn’t do all this just for fun, you know. She’s not that much of an ice queen. The only reason she did what she did to earn money, was because of her family’s financial status. She just found pleasure, maybe even went a little overboard, with earning money.
‘I… he… There is no way I can repay for him… He won’t even trust me with anything. No one would, no one could…’ It just hit her again. Ranma wasn’t the only one. There were also others that she also hurt, though not as harshly as what she did to her sister’s fiancé. Weakly, she whispered out. “What have I done?”
She couldn’t handle it anymore. Her conscience, the same one that she had tried finding loopholes in to feel a sense of judgment, was driving each and every point deep into her mind. It hurt.
‘No… No, please… stop it… I, I…’ Her dilated eyes had been transfixed on the horror of everything at empty space through quaking hands. She was breaking down.
‘Get a HOLD on yourself, girl!’ A voice from her head suddenly boomed, knocking the unstable youth from her trance.
‘Wha…? Wh-who ‘s there…?’
‘Call me your conscience, you could probably only comprehend that much,’ the voice of a man stated harshly.
‘My… my conscience…’
‘Yes. Now first things first. SNAP OUT OF IT!’ The shock of his voice gave her the sensation of being slapped, straightening herself up instantly.
‘I have, I have…!’
‘Good. Now, listen to me very carefully. You have done countless things to that boy, yes?’
‘Yes… I have…’
‘Stay with me here. All of them are unforgivable, as you say.’
‘…’ Nabiki’s damp eyes looked down in shame. “They… they are, aren’t they…?”
‘Yes, they are. BUT, You can do something to compensate. That IS what you want, is it not?’
“Of… of course that is what I want…!” She spoke with an involuntarily raised tone.
‘Keep it down, will you?!’
“Oh…” She knew that thinking would probably be better, so she switched to that. ‘S-sorry…’
‘Better. Now, to repent a bad deed, one replaces and erases it with a good one. Do you understand?’
‘Yes… I understand… But… in order to replace all I have done… it’ll be almost impossible…!’
‘Of course, it isn’t hard to think that. But what would you expect? You’ve been at it for two years.’
‘I have…?’
‘It’s not impossible, though,’ it continued, ignoring her. ‘Just lengthy. It will take time, but it CAN be done. I assure you of it by my honor.’
‘It can… But, wait…’ By my honor... ‘Who… Who are you?’
‘Merely a conscience, for the moment. I will tell you more in the near future. Now go back to your feeding session and STOP EAVESDROPPING!!!’
The middle Tendo daughter slightly jumped and nearly gasped, quickly getting up and picking the cup that she had dropped up. She left with haste, looking back at the door momentarily.
‘Thank you, whoever you really are.’
_*_*_
After exhausting herself of adrenaline, Akane slumped to her knees and panted in short, quick, and shaky gasps. Processing what he had just heard, Ranma discovered that everything the fiery teen said was completely true.
‘It… never was my fault… It was always someone else who caused it. Akane was blaming me for things that weren’t my fault… But, that means she thinks it’s HER fault! Oh, shit!'
Quickly crawling towards his fiancé to try and change her train of thinking, Ranma touched her shoulder and tried to talk to her, unaware of the flinch on the same area he held her on.
“Akane, you’re not thinkin’ straight. It can’t be your fault-” “STOP APOLOGIZING, RANMA!!!” she yelled again, so suddenly that it made the surprised youth back away and let go of her. It was obvious that she was still tensed up with anger, as she looked up at him with furious, beige-colored, twin orbs.
His hand slapped away in his fiancé’s blind anger, the suddenly fearful martial artist instinctively backed up into the wall, the horror shown in his wide, azure eyes. He wasn’t afraid of her physically, since he knew that he could defeat her in a fight. It was those eyes, and the situations he was accustomed to whenever he saw them. It made him want to get away, always seeing those scornful eyes before feeling this enormous amount of pain. Ranma lost rational thought.
Coming back to her senses, Akane blinked rapidly in confusion caused by shock, turning into horror as well as she realized what she had done.
“Gods… No, Ranma… Don’t, please… I-I didn’t mean…” She slowly moved towards her loved one, tears starting to well up again. “Please, Ranma…” She stopped right in front of him, and tried to touch his cheek with her hand.
Shaking slightly, Ranma’s dialated eyes looked at the incoming hand, and reflexively flinched away, kicking at the floor to get away from her. He tripped on a piece of clothing, but didn’t wonder why it was there; the only thing on his mind right now was to get away from the… the predator. As he fell, the terrified youth kept his gaze on the person he was escaping from. He used his hands this time, and bumped into a corner. He reached a dead end.
“R-Ranma…”
&nbs p; Akane’s tears were flowing freely by now. The thought of how much she hurt him, paired up with her beloved's sudden irrational (was it really irrational…?) fear, was becoming too much to handle. All she could think of was trying to stop Ranma from being afraid of her. The tear-stricken teen tried her hardest to keep herself together, as she neared her target. From a distance, one might get the feeling of a predator approaching a trapped prey. In the current, primal state that Ranma’s mind had been brought about by something unknown, it was the feeling he was experiencing.
His hands and feet tried to push him through the wall as she neared, to no avail. Finally, after what seemed to both as an eternity, Akane kneeled in front of the trembling martial artist. She herself was trembling, but with the difference of her knowing exactly what was happening. How she wished she didn’t.
The latter of the two went for a second go.
“R-Ranma… Please… S-stop running…” The words apparently didn’t seem to have the intended effect if any, as her fiancé continued eyeing her fearfully. Reaching out for his cheek, Akane put effort into moving her quaking hand as cautiously as possible. It seemed that her rather short-sighted plan was about to work, when something, something that would be etched into her mind for a long time, was spoken by him.
“Please… Go away…”
End of Part 1
Author’s Notes: Just one thing before ending this chapter. Is there anyone out there who’d be willing to help me with this? It can be on anything, about any aspect of the developing story. I just really need some help if I wanna finish this as close to the time that I want it to (namely before June).
Also, if it isn’t asking for too much, I really hope that whoever decides to help me either has Yahoo! Or MSN Messenger, so we could have live discussions. If anyone’s interested, please e-mail me at tjmeneses@yahoo.com or firagabird@hotmail.com … You could also add me to your Msgr. List:
Yahoo! ID – tjmeneses , keitaro_the_anthro_lion
MSN ID – firagabird@hotmail.com
Read & Review! Comments & Constructive Criticism is Welcome! Please No Flames!!!