InuYasha Fan Fiction / Blue Seed Fan Fiction / El Hazard Fan Fiction / Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ A Long Way From Home ❯ So Where do I stand? ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer- Because so much has changed between chapter four and chapter three.


Chapter Four: So Where do I stand?
Akane

Akane looked at the broken back rest of the chair she held. The wood was splintered into toothpick fragments at the two support columns. She hadn’t meant to break it. She’d just been...holding onto it and...it just…snapped. Accident. It was an accident. Her brain thought numbly. I didn’t mean to. It...slipped. She touched the broken ends, knowing quite well they were past repair, or even disguising.

She had been waiting for Kagome (plus a few more residents and something to use for poker chips, if she was successful) to join her in the Rec room for a game of cards. The place was so quiet…and...she’d gotten to thinking about things, and now...Now she didn’t want to face it. Tomorrow would be better. She’d tell Nurse Nanako tomorrow and apologize. The remaining seat half of the chair was grabbed, and both ends stuffed into the game closet. There. No one would look there.

She replaced the chair at the table with one from a cluster in the corner, and sat carefully. She folded her hands primly, innocently. Despite constant self assurances that it was an accident, the broken chair ate guiltily at her. It felt as if it was staring from it’s prison, accusing her with it’s little wooden chair eyes, boring holes in her back.

“I didn’t mean to.” Akane whispered hopelessly to it, as if that was an apology. She’d just been thinking about home- her real home. The Dojo. She was wondering what kind of scrapes Ranma had gotten into, for Ranma always got himself into scrapes. It was a universal certainty. Then she’d speculated the sort of scrapes these were; Someone else Ranma wronged in China? A supernatural force he’d offended? Someone who wanted to best him in a zany fight-Or someone HE wanted to best in a wacky Anything Goes style?.... Another woman he’d been promised to by Mr. Saotome? Daughter of a…Anything Goes Martial Arts Cross Dressing Master or something equally as strange?

Unless...Shampoo...or...Ukyou had succeeded...Or god forbid, Kodachi. Not that she cared if that stupid pervert married any of the other women he was engaged to, the two-no four timing jerk! Who did he think he was with all those women? HA! Like she’d want a sex-changing pervert like that, sweaty shirt or not! In fact, Shampoo or Ukyou could HAVE him! He’d probably be happy if they took him away to- Her thought process ceased there as at that moment the chair crumbled.

On the whole, Dimensional Transference had been nothing but a big fat inconvenience. No argument there. For certain members, however, there were some benefits to receiving intensive therapy. Akane Tendo was one of those people.

Before even meeting Akane, Hatori Sohma met with Nabiki Tendo. While strange, Nabiki seemed to be the only one who could talk to Hatori with a practical head- Kasumi didn’t seem all that concerned, and Soun Tendo was so disturbed he couldn’t speak. She’d make a hell of a business woman some day, once she learned to stop the dramatics. While some of the things Nabiki said were mere opinion, Hatori did agree after his first meeting with her, that Akane Tendo was ANGRY. That anger spilled out into almost casual violence. She was ready to clobber him for asking a few standard questions. If he was to get anywhere with the delusions, he had to douse this girls inner fury. Even if that meant operating within the delusion itself.

Months of work wound every single thread back to that boy. Ranma Saotome. Everything was his fault. He was the source. He was Akane’s personal obsession. It was amusing in many ways, her anger and rage at the situation was being centered on the thing that she loved and lusted after. Yet it was her intense dislike of the arrangement, and the lamentable circumstances of the boy which made him an easy target for her ire. His continued misfortune and misstepping (If he were real Hatori really would have liked to have him on his table too!) only validated, in Akane’s mind, a hastily made decision about him. This set frame of mind that Ranma was an ass allowed her to keep seeing him in an unflattering light (and attaching any and all blame for real or perceived wrongs). Yet it also meant that admitting attraction would be confessing that she liked, well, a jerk.

In fact, in recent months, Ranma had improved in Akane’s eyes. Days of going over events, of grudgingly admitting that, well, maybe he wasn’t that terrible a guy were adding up. Into Sohma property damage. Instead of being angry at Ranma...now Akane was angry that someone would take him- Not that she would say anything beyond having the slightest interest (and that only because their parents engaged them). Yet. Hatori would rather have dealt with a lovesick teenager than a progressively violent one.

Akane was now not sure of what to think of her fiancé. On one hand she was so accustomed to being angry with him. She caught herself, even here, bursting into temper and blaming Ranma. Only this couldn’t be Ranma’s fault. He wasn’t even here. So now, Akane was simply confused. She’d never had girlfriends who wouldn’t back off from the topics that Momiji and Kagome talked about. She was constantly faced with questions about love and lust. They were getting harder to figure out.

There wasn’t too much time for dwelling, as but a few minutes later Kagome appeared with Kyo, Hitomi and Keiichi. She bore with her a big bag of Skittles, apparently having no luck providing matches or any other sort of small item.

“I thought these could work...Momiji’s Mother sent them, but she said she didn’t like them much so we could have them. Although someone should ask their parents for proper chips.” Kagome sat, her back to the windows, the others grouping around the tables. Kyo picked up and began shuffling the cards.

“I’ll ask my sister” Akane watched Kagome pull open the bag then spill the bright candies across the table top. “Nabiki likes gambling. She’d love to supply us with chips. And charge us for them.”
The girls set to dividing them into piles of red, yellow, green, orange and purple. It was decided that each person would start with fifteen skittles, and the rest were returned into the bag as a bank. The three girls had a brief discussion over who got red (each picturing the object of her affection in his red outfit). Kagome ended up winning red, Akane chose Yellow and Hitomi picked purple. Kyo and Keiichi agreed it was a silly thing to go to an altercation over. Keiichi claimed green and Kyo was stuck, unhappily with orange. He made his protests loud as he dealt the cards, but shut up when Hitomi reminded him that arguing over color was stupid, as he had said not moments before.

After a few hands everyone had settled into the game, though there was no clear winner. Instead a great deal of fun was had. The laughter attracted Jinnai and Tenchi who were given Skittles from the bank and squeezed in extra chairs. Tenchi wasn’t much of a player, but he was a good sport, accepting continued ‘loans’ from Kagome. Jinnai…on the other hand, turned out to be a wicked poker-player.

“You cheated!” Akane cried in agony as her last yellow Skittles were claimed by Jinnai and his stupid full house.

“I? The fantastic Jinnai cheat? HA! Though I could beating you peons is far to easy!” His nose went in the air as he swept his colorful piles of winnings to his corner of the table.

“He’s gotcha Akane” Keiichi’s voice trembled with humor as he gathered up the cards.

“He has to have cheated!” Grumbled the Tendo girl.

“Who’d have guessed you were good at cards, Katsu? Why didn’t you challenge Makoto to a poker match or something?” Kyo shot an orange and a yellow Skittle into the pot. “Annie Up.”

“I would never be seen with Mizuhara in such a social situation, the fiend!” Jinnai relinquished two of his Skittles back to the pot.

“Stop frowning Akane, here, I’ll loan you some cash.” Hitomi annied up for them both.

Akane won the next hand, reclaiming skittles, but Jinnai took the next two. With the majority of the winnings in his corner he gave the weary looking players a sneaky look.
“Would my fellow comrades be interesting in making this...a more…interesting game?”

“As in...?” Hitomi looked at her pathetic pile of four purples, three greens and two yellows.

“Oh a mere wager of…perhaps…a blouse...? a sock?”

“Strip Poker, You mean!” Akane growled at him “Pervert!”

Jinnai merely shrugged off the accusation. “Very well. I am sure I would defeat you all easily.”

“Hey Buster! Don’t be too sure of that!” Hitomi’s fighting spirit, which had been waning, flickered and burst again into flame.

“Yeah!” Kagome agreed “C’mon boys! Let’s strip Jinnai of that smug look and his clothes!”

“EW! Kagome!” Akane admonished.

“I don’t wanna seem him naked.” Said Keiichi, looking a bit green. The image of Jinnai in his bathing suit must still have been flicking past his vision. Akane had to agree. She’d seen quite a few nude and nearly nude men. Well.. Mousse some, but mostly it was Ranma. Honestly, the number of times he ended up in his underwear…

“He called us out!” Kyo said, hands fisted. “We’re going to clean the floor with you!” He thundered at Jinnai, who looked smugly on.

“Yeah! Watch out Katsu!” A fist came down on the table, and Kagome’s blue eyes danced with determination “Deal, Kyo!”

The first hand went to Kagome who crowed. She demanded Jinnai’s shirt, and a sock from everyone else.

“Lucky hand.” Jinnai tossed off his shirt casually, unphased. He boasted a pale chest that no one was taking a lot of time to examine.

The second hand went to Keiichi, who flushed and asked for more socks-from everyone.
“I just.... don’t want to see him naked.” He said in defense to the leveling glare he got.

The third hand was slower, the players eyeing each other suspiciously over the cards held close...bare feet swinging. The atmosphere was stupidly tense, in Akane’s opinion. Poker was fun, but it always reminded her of the gambling King, and what a lousy player Ranma was. Not that she was great…but...

“AH HA! Shirts! I want some shirts!” She was jolted from her thoughts as Jinnai slapped down a pair of aces which beat the pair of eights in Kyo’s hands, and the Jacks in Hitomi’s. All three of the girls went red faced.

“...maybe we didn’t…think this through...” Hitomi shifted in her seat, face pink, uncomfortable.

Akane rolled her eyes “Now you think of that?!”

“Shirts! Shirts!” Trilled Jinnai “OHO-Oho-oho-ohoahahahahahaha!”

“Alright alright! Just stop that laughing!” Kagome relented, unbuttoning her blouse. She got a blush from Keiichi, a whistle from Jinnai and an aversion of gaze from Kyo when she lay down her blouse on the table and crossed her arms over her bra. The expression on her lovely face dared Jinnai to make something of the white lacy bra. He didn’t. His gaze shifted to Hitomi, who also complied with a weighty sigh.

Finally Akane felt the gaze drop to her. It was heavy and expectant. She fumbled in her seat, trying to think of a way to weasel out of it. Nothing came to mind that wasn’t vastly lame.

“Well?”

“I...don’t want to...”

“You bet and lost, Akane Tendo! Pay up, Unless you wish to admit defeat!”

“You haven’t defeated me!” She shouted, still fidgeting.

“I did. Have you no honor to comply with a wager?”

Akane felt anger well u and she curled her fingers into fists.” I DO have Honor!” She shouted, then turn and ran from the room, leaving four puzzled and topless people behind her.

In the room she shared with Kagome Akane threw herself down upon her bed. She buried her hot face into her pillow and sucked in deep breaths. She DID have honor! She’d never...

But she had. She’d just run out on a bet.

It was a sobering thing to wake up one morning to discover the righteousness you had been so sure of, and acted accordingly on might be so full of holes it’d sink in an ocean of scrutiny. It was just as sobering to have this topic make itself known when you had been stolen from home and just ran out on a strip poker match.

As Akane’s thoughts usually did, they turned to Ranma. She’d hit him so often and attacked him without provocation, thinking only the worst of him. Yet he was still here-or, there rather. At the Tendo Dojo. He always came to rescue her. He even tried to apologize sometimes-rarely. And usually badly because...she always threw those apologies back in his face.

It was justified! She shut her eyes tight and tears squeezed out.

“Akane...?” Came Kagome’s tentative voice.

Akane scrubbed her eyes free of moisture. “What?”

“Are you...alright?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Kagome couldn’t help, so was the solution to lie? Or should she spill the bursting contents of her heart to her new friend.

“I’m just...It’s just.. a rough night.”

“Oh…well....I don’t want to be bother you...Look...if you need me, please ask, okay?”

“Thank you.”

Kagome retreated, closing the door behind her and plunging the room into darkness. Akane wallowed a while longer in depressing reminiscence before submitting to her growing weariness. She numbly changed into her pajamas then lay upon her bed and stared at the ceiling. She heard Jinnai’s whooping laughter twice more, and figured he had probably won, just as he said he would. When Kagome returned, Akane pretended to be asleep. She just didn’t feel like talking about it.
What was there to talk about anyway? Whispy, half confirmed feelings of guilt? An uncomfortable nagging in the pit of her stomach? Kagome couldn’t help with memories.


The next day came with entirely too much cheerfulness. It started with obnoxiously happy beams of sunlight spilling across the blankets, as if cued for her to rise, shine and sing a Disney tune. Everyone was too happy, and Akane got that guilty pleasure of glowering at people so effectively their smiles disappeared. The first remark Kyo made to her she flattened him, and she was totally unresponsive in class. There was a certain relief that came from being as nasty as possible. You didn’t need to be concerned about stepping on any toes, and you got to ruin other peoples good moods. Making people as miserable as you was oddly satisfying. Except for Momiji. She was unflappable. Almost. Glaring didn’t seem to do the job, although Akane did not have the character to be intentionally cruel.
So far Ritsuko had avoided Akane, choosing not to confront. Kaji ribbed her playfully, but also abandoned the jest. Misato...well Misato was Misato.

“Okay you guys, it’s research paper time!” The mini-skirted history teachers cheerful announcement met with a collection of groans. “I know, I hate grading ‘em as much as you hate writing ‘em. So let’s make it interesting people! We’re supposed to Explorers or something like that. Boring! So lets think of something else. What are some ideas?”

Kyo raised his hand “Not writing them?”

“Nice Try! Next?”

There was a marked silence and some fidgeting. Apparently the ideas were not flowing like sweet molten honey down the hill of inspiration. A few shifty glances followed as each person hoped their neighbor was more fleet of thought.

“...Maybe we could write out papers about periods of history...?” Kagome injected.

“As long as you don’t write yours about the Feudal Era.” Misato chirped. Kagome’s face fell and she blushed, caught.

“Any other suggestions...?”

Akane noticed Momiji squirming out of the corner of her eye. The brunette appeared to be deliberating something, and drumming her fingers as if she was considering making a suggestion. Misato noticed it to, and was less reticent about making comment. She pointed.

“Momiji? You had an idea?”

“Err..” The Kushinada went redder than Kagome had. She looked down at her clasped hands. “Well...we’ve been learned a lot about...d-different cultures...and...well…maybe...
wecouldwritepapersaboutdifferentculturesopinionsandhistoryofsex.” The last half of the sentence came out with a rush of breath, but there was no denying the final word. Misato’s eyebrows disappeared into her bangs...and then she smiled a smile that Akane did not like.

“Brilliant!”

No! No! Horrible! Akane sent a special glare to Momiji. You Pervert!!

“Are we allowed to...do that?” Tenchi also looked quite red.

“Just don’t tell anyone! This will make reading interesting! Okay Momiji, you get first pick of the country.”

Momiji must have had it in mind, for she wasted no time. “India. I want India.”

Akane’s estimation of Momiji’s score on her personal perversity meter, already high, rose several degrees. She only wanted India because of that book, the Kama Sutra. Since when had there been so much sex talk and stripping at Sohma clinic?! (A/N THAT is an excellent question, Akane.). The others seemed pretty excited about it, however, calling out countries that they wanted. Kagome wanted to tackle America for some reason, and Kyo called Great Britain. Jinnai wanted the Middle East (probably to write about harems. Was she SURROUNDED by perverts?) and Hitomi chose France.
Akane considered the rest of the globe. South America? Who cared? Too far away. Canada...was there actually anything IN Canada? Africa? No. She didn’t want to write about native rituals involving circumcising virgins. Russia? Did she want to write about really cold sex..? Did the people keep those silly fur hats on while they did the deed?

That left China.

And so China it was.

She wasn’t even going to think about Amazon Villages deep in rural China where women battled for spouses or training grounds that cursed people who fell into the springs. Nope. Not one lick. This was a test, that’s what this was! A cosmically assigned test to see if she could grasp the subject without concerning herself with Ranma. Well the fates had yet to truly test Akane Tendo! She’d show them!

And in the process she snapped her pencil in two.

Misato promised to smuggle them all sorts of books for the next meeting at the end of class. She bid them goodbye and skipped out. It finished up their lessons for the day, and for that Akane was glad. It made two papers and a stack of homework to get through.

“I bet she has a date with Kaji.” Momiji sighed as they filed out of the class.

“I bet she’s going to the nearest bar.” Kyo corrected her.

“Why not both?” Hitomi giggled, joined by most of the others for a good snicker at their teachers expense.

Kagome smashed one of her papers down into her folder. ”Writing this paper ought to be fun, don’t you think? Great idea Momiji. I was frightened we would get stuck with really boring topics.”

“I don’t think Misato would assign anything that would make her bored reading it.” Kyo leaned up against the wall as they paused outside the door. One hand was tucked into his pocket, the other balancing his books against his hip.

“I always wondered how a teacher got through a stack of papers on really dull topics. You can only read so many paragraphs on Oda Nobununga before going insane.” Hitomi said.

“Maybe they have to work up to it? My teachers always handed back papers weeks after they said they would.” Tenchi shrugged. Akane liked Tenchi well enough. He’d only been here a week, yet he seemed to fit right in with the gang. He was easy to get along with, and very friendly. Though he didn’t have enough of a backbone, in Akane’s opinion. She liked men who were somewhat decisive. Perhaps that was why she preferred Kyo. He knew what he wanted and had no qualms about making it known. Sometimes Tenchi was so worried about rocking the boat it bothered her. She wanted to grab him by the lapels, give him a good shake and tell him to stop being such a doorstop.
Momiji, of course, thought he was ‘a real sweetie’ that he was just the sort of guy a woman should marry because he was loyal, compassionate and considerate. So maybe Ranma wasn’t compassionate- he tried to be considerate…sometimes. He was loyal too-In fact he was so loyal to all the promises made in his name he had-AUGH! She was thinking about him again!! No! No think about Ranma!!

“Augh! Look how pathetic we are! We’re discussing school-Or…classes. Whatever! What have our lives come to?” Kagome mock raved. She took hold of Tenchi and shook him by his lapels. Just what Akane had been thinking about.

“Uhhh…inmates in a mental ward?” He suggested weakly. And caved, just as Akane knew he would.

“No, No, Besides that!”

“Uh...I don’t know..”

“MEDIOCRITY!!” Kagome wailed and buried her face into Akane’s shoulder and pretended to weep dramatically.

“Eh…could be worse.” Kyo said with a grin. “We could be in straight jackets.”

“Ah! But prove we aren’t! How do you know we aren’t really speaking, that we are a delusion you are experiencing whilst IN a straight jacket, a rubber room and a Psycho ward with Doctors making notes from behind a one way mirror. Prove you aren’t having an animated discussion with a wall!” Kagome egged him on, grinning wickedly.

“The wall would be saying smarter things, for starters.” Jinnai commented glibly.

“Hey! Akane! Our honor has been besmirched!”

“YOUR honor.” Akane corrected, unwillingly drawn to smiling. “And Besmirched? Back to the Romance Novel talk, Higurashi?”

“Forsooth! Methinks he befouls all womankind, my sister!” Kagome placed the back of her hand to her forehead, like a dramatic movie actress. Hitomi jumped on the wagon placing a hand on her heart.
Momiji was last, and pretended to fan herself vigorously. “How ever shall we regain the good faith in our fair and gentle sex?”

“Cut it out, you drama Queens!” Called Keiichi good naturedly. He must have been listening, and even now he strode toward them from his room, hands in his pockets.

“Sister! What insults they exchange now!” Momiji clutched Kagome, looking as if she was in need of smelling salts wafted under her nose like a proper lady.

“Blackguards!” Hitomi chimed, holding her friend up.

“Rouges!” That was Kagome.

“Villains!” Momiji was last again.

“Knaves!”

“Fools!”

“Um…Really…Bad men!” That earned Momiji a chastising look from her ‘sisters’ but she could only shrug and offer weakly in her defense. “I couldn’t think of anything else!”

“You want besmirched honor? I’ll give you besmirched honor!” Kyo growled. He pushed himself off the wall and sent the girls (except for Akane) scattering with appropriate squeals to be chased in a fit of play acting. Jinnai rolled his eyes and abandoned the mess, heading toward his room and grumbling about being forced to spend his time with simpletons. Tenchi, Akane noted, only smiled fondly at the display.
Kyo knew from his defeat at the running match that he had nary a prayer of catching the runner Hitomi, so he went after the easier prey; Kagome and Momiji. As the girls sprinted up the hall they took two different corridors, and Kyo ultimately pursued his antagonizer, Kagome. A pending shriek of protest announced his victory and he rounded the corner with the spoils of the chase slung over his shoulder and beating his upper body with fists and knees. He deposited her atop her abandoned school supplies, bruising her butt, for the Shard Detector shook a threatening fist at him.

“ Why you!”

“You’re a delusion. A Besmirched delusion. You can’t hurt me!” He taunted.

“OSU-I mean-Dammnit!” Kagome hefted herself up, intent upon smiting him with her fists. This time she chased him around in circles as Hitomi and Momiji rejoined the group and cheered Kagome on.

For a second time their activities were interrupted, but this time by an by an unsure voice. But this time it was a voice Akane recognized. It made her blood run chillingly cold. She’d prayed for and dreaded it. Now that it had come true all she wanted to do was run. Her brown eyes shut and she turned so slowly.

“Excuse me...Is one of you Akane Tendo?” The voice persisted.

Ranma Saotome.