Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Distance ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Akari and Ryouga came with him to Kasumi and Ono's. The Tendou sisters and Ono were so happy to see Ryouga, and so happy to see him at ease and smiling, that they almost forgot that there were two more people to feed.

As Kasumi and Ono set about making more food, Ranma took Nabiki aside when Ryouga and Akari were settled at the table. “There's somethin' I gotta ask you,” he ground out as he half-dragged her into the hallway. He brought her into the laundry room and closed the fusuma on the rest of the house.

“Jeez, Bro, you're all mysterious. What's going on?” Nabiki looked genuinely confused.

“Oh, nothin', nothin', just, y'know, you guys coulda warned me that Akane had a fuckin' fiancée!” Nabiki flinched at his savage tone; only a desire to not alert the rest of the household to his discomfort kept him from raising his voice. At least, not alert them yet. He might yell at them later. He hadn't decided yet.

“You met him, huh?” Ranma nodded viciously and proceeded to talk about meeting Takahiro, and Nabiki grew more and more uncomfortable as his sordid tale wore on.

“Look, Ranma, we didn't say anything because we forgot, okay?” Ranma felt unconvinced, and let it show plainly on his face. Nabiki rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Do you really think we'd deliberately keep it from you? None of us like him, so none of us thought about it. We were too busy, oh, I dunno, taking care of you and helping you bury your dog…!” she hissed, poking him in the chest hard enough to make him back up a step.

Dammit, even Nabiki could make him feel ashamed of himself. He sighed heavily. “Sorry, you're—”

“No, I'm sorry we forgot,” he looked at her in surprise, “really, I am. I'm sure we all are, now.” Nabiki paused and rolled her eyes. “Sorry you had to meet him that way. He's not… a bad guy, he's just a little abrasive.” Nabiki reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, we all wish she was marrying you, Ranma.”

“Yeah…” He looked away for a moment shuffling his feet. “How long have they known each other?”

Nabiki snorted. “Like, a year. He asked her to marry him two months ago,” she sighed, “Daddy approves. He's wealthy.” Ranma winced and looked at her.

“This sucks, Nabiki.”

“Yes, Ranma, it does.” Nabiki turned and walked out of the laundry room. Ranma stood there, alone, holding back tears. He sniffed loudly and threw a few punches at the mirror, pulling them before he hit the surface. After expending some of his nervous energy, he went out to resume pretending that he was okay.

Eventually, the dinner wound down, and Ranma agreed to take Akari and Ryouga to Kita to visit Akane. The train ride was pleasant, and though Ranma was jealous of their happiness, he felt that Ryouga had repented multiple times over for how he had wronged Akane, and deserved to be content - but, then again, that was really for Akane to decide. As the train sped on, Ranma began to get more and more nervous, but tried not to let it show. He talked and talked, and listened, and caught up on old times. He felt, despite his nervousness, that having all the “crazies” back in his life wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when they were the best friends he'd ever had.

Eventually they reached their stop, and stepped out of the train. They were laughing and talking and not really paying attention, so they didn't notice who was waiting for them on the platform. “Ryouga?” Akane's voice quavered out at them in the dimness of the train station.

Ranma's senses screamed DANGER! But as he looked around and found her standing pensively next to a bench, he saw that Akane, while obviously angry, was slowly but surely calming down as she looked the three of them over. “What are you doing here?” She looked at Ranma suspiciously for a moment, then at Ryouga, and down at his hand clasped firmly in Akari's.

Ryouga let Akari's hand go, got to his knees on the dirty ground, and bowed until his forehead touched the ground. “Akane, please forgive me. I meant you no harm or dishonor. My actions have no excuse, and I understand if you are still angry with me, but I hope that one day we can be friends,” his voice was muffled against the ground, but the speech, Ranma noticed, brought tears to both Akari and Akane's eyes. Ryouga lifted his head slightly and smiled toothily at her, jabbing his thumb at Akari. “And I hope you'll come our wedding.”

Speechless, Akane stood there, quaking in place. Ranma stared at her, and her eyes flicked over to him. He nodded, slowly, almost pleadingly. Tears streamed down her face unchecked as she nodded back, eyes widening a fraction. She walked over to Ryouga and helped him to his feet. She bowed slightly to him, and then hugged him. “Of course I forgive you - who could stay angry at their friend for this long and not forgive?” Ryouga laughed happily and hugged her back, patting her with his open palms so hard that she “oofed” a little. He gasped and pulled away.

“Oops, sorry! Don't know my own strength.” Akane laughed a little breathlessly and punched him in the shoulder; he rubbed it with a small, playful wince.

Akari squealed and ran over, hugging them both. “I'm so happy!” she turned slightly as her captives tried, without much effort, to escape her grasp. “Ranma, get over here and hug with us! We're friends again, that's hug-worthy!” Hesitating, Ranma looked at Akane for a moment, but she was currently struggling in Akari's grip and giggling, too distracted to notice.

Ranma walked over and wrapped his arms around all of them, and they stood like that in silence for a few moments. He subtly took the hug as an opportunity to smell Akane's hair. Eventually, though, they all pulled away, Akari and Ryouga still holding hands. Akane invited them back to her place, and she and Akari walked ahead as they started back, cooing over Akari's simple silver engagement ring.

“Hey, Ranma,” Ryouga said sotto voce, keeping one eye on the women ahead of them, “are you and Akane…?” he looked almost hopeful, so Ranma felt pathetic when he had to shake his head. “Why?”

“She… has a fiancée,” Ryouga hissed in a sympathetic breath, and Ranma sighed wearily - no one understood the pain of that more than Ryouga, “yeah, and the guy seems like a real asshole.”

“Of course you think that - I thought that about you.” Ryouga grinned mischievously and Ranma snorted and threw a lazy punch at him, which he swatted easily aside with the force of a kicking horse. Ranma shook his numb hand out and felt a little sorry for Akari - Ryouga really needed to learn how to control his strength.

“Yeah, well, he might really be an asshole - like, not just a jerk, like me,” Ranma stared at the back of Akane's head for a moment, feeling sick to his stomach, “I never thought I'd lose her like this, Ryouga.” They reached the apartment and went inside. Ranma was relieved to see that Takahiro wasn't there, but soured when he saw that he'd left Akane a note. She read it and smiled broadly.

“Takahiro, my fiancée, says he bought some mochi for me, how sweet! I'll get it and we can share!” Akane left the room, and her guests situated themselves around the table as she bustled around the kitchen.

“Your apartment is lovely, Akane.” Akari said happily.

“Oh, thanks, I really like it a lot, but it's expensive. Luckily, movies, even lame parts, pay well!” she beamed as she transferred the sticky little treats to a plate.

“You're in movies!?” Akari cried excitedly.

Akane nodded rapidly and swept over to the table, setting the tray down. She looked at Ranma and smiled. “Look, Ranma, the baker put little letters on them for our names; here, this one's yours,” Akane gave him a mochi with an English `R' painted on it with some kind of red syrup. There were six more on the tray, one labeled with a `T' and rest with an `A.'

“Yeah,” Akane began, picking up on the talk about her movie career, “I met Takahiro on the set of my last movie. He was friends with the producer.” She bit into the mochi and made little “mm” noises. Ryouga and Akari each started eating theirs, but Ranma looked down at his suspiciously.

Something was nagging at him. Something he hadn't registered. He stared at the benign little pastry and frowned before reaching down and starting in on it. But he knew, in his mind, something was off. The mochi seemed… wetter, and Ranma did not quite feel like finishing it. Ryouga offered to, and Ranma pushed the plate over to him. Akane glared at him a little bit, but didn't say anything, and he sulked for the rest of the meal.

They finished off half of the mochi, and Akane put the rest away and set about making tea. Akari and Ryouga talked to her from their position on the sofa, about wedding plans and the renovations being made to the farm to accommodate a potential family. Ranma listened to them, and started to sweat, despite that Akane's apartment had AC. His mouth started to tingle, and he smacked his lips a little, confused. Akane came over with the tea, and the tingling sensation increased. And then he felt drool slipping down his chin and wiped his mouth in embarrassment, but no one seemed to notice.

“Hey, whoa, you okay?” Ryouga asked worriedly as Ranma swooned drunkenly for a minute. He felt light-headed, and exhausted. No, Ranma wanted to say, he was not okay. He felt like shit. “S'okay…” he managed. His tongue felt swollen, and he started to wheeze as the breath in his lungs felt more and more constricted. Spots crawled across his vision like flies, and he was dimly aware of someone calling his name, but that couldn't be right, because he was in the midst of a black anthill, and all he could feel were their tiny legs and mouths…

Lips pressed against his, and hands were on his chest. “Breathe, Ranma, breathe!” a voice he heard in his dreams, a voice he listened for whenever he thought he might hear it. “Call the hospital!” He felt her hands on his chest, pressing, too hard, pushing the air out of him, but then she breathed life into him, over and over until the world closed itself to him.