Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Love ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Imported From: RAAC
Let's see, this is where I tell you this is my first fanfic, and that you
should go easy on me...I don't think so. I'd prefer it if you tear this
thing apart instead of going easy on it if it sucks.

Everything contained within is copyrighted to the great Takahashi-sama, I
have no permission to use her works and gain no profit from writing this.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated(I love praise but I can also
take flames, constructive criticism never hurts). Send comments to
ranchan@mail.accent.net or e0fq7z7a@credit.erin.utoronto.ca.
===================================== ====================================
P-P-P-chan productions proudly presents...

Lost Love.
A Ranma 1/2 story.
By:Lucas Muzzatti


"Fanime, as you like it."
=================================================================< br>
"I love you Akane."

Four simple words, but said with sincerity. Why had he denied her
those words? For that matter why had he denied them to himself? He had
always loved her. Sure she had her rough spots, she had a hair trigger
temper, was always hitting him and was so jealous it hurt, yet through all
that he still loved her. But now she would never hear those
words...because Akane Tendo was dead. She was dead and he could find
no-one else to blame but himself. He looked at the picture of Akane again
and then held it tightly to his chest. It happened five years ago today,
June 3rd.

As she had done so many times before Akane ran off on another of her
fool errands. She just up and left, leaving only a note saying that she
would be home shortly and for the family to not worry. As always Soun and
Genma had shoed him out the door to find her. "It is your duty as her
fiancee." they had said. So off he went, grumbling all the way along about
how she was so stupid and look at all the trouble she was making him go
through.

When he finally caught up to her Akane was very angry at being
followed, but saw that there was nothing she could do. She explained that
a village had called the dojo asking for help. There was a creature that
was causing havoc in their town. And of course, Akane had felt it was her
duty as a martial artist to protect those who could not fight for
themselves. She had also wanted to show everyone she was capable of doing
this on her own, without Ranma.

He had laughed at her, laughed at her story. Later when they came face
to face with the monster Ranma was no longer laughing. It had been a huge
thing. They confronted it and the battle had been long and hard. Both
Ranma and Akane were badly hurt, still they continued on unabated.

Finally Akane made the mistake of getting too close to the creature.
It grabbed her and tossed her into a nearby pond. Ranma dove in after her.
She knew Akane could not swim and that she had to save her. As she
reached Akane and was about to grab her hand she was pulled away by the
creature. Ranma fought desperately to free herself from the monster's
grip the whole time Akane calling her name begging for her to help.

It was then that Akane sank below the surface.

For the first time in her life Ranma felt true fear. She mustered up
enough strength and broke free of the monsters grip and dove underwater
after Akane. Again, just as she was about to grab Akane's hand she was
grabbed from behind by the creature. And she was held there, mere inches
from being able to grab hold of her fiancee's hand. Whenever one of them
would lunge for the other the creature would pull her back just far enough
that neither could grab hold.

Ranma could feel her lungs burning and knew that Akane must need air
even more. She was panicking now, she could not reach Akane nor could she
break free of the creature.

Akane must have seen this fear in Ranma's eyes because hers softened.
Ranma saw a look of forgiveness and understanding appear on Akane's face
and knew this was the end. Just then Akane succumbed to the maddening
urge to breath, exhaling all the air that remained in her lungs and taking
in a lungful of water. It was then that Akane realized exactly what was
happening to her. She panicked. She flailed around, but did nothing more
then take in more water and exhaust any oxygen that she still had in her
body. As time passed her struggling slowed down. The flailing ceased.
And the light went out of Akane's eyes.

Ranma screamed.

Had they been on dry land the scream would have been so intense that it
could have toppled mountains. But there, under water, no-one could here
it. It was such a useless gesture.

She fought the monsters grip even harder now. The creature
effortlessly dragged her to the surface and threw her onto dry land.
Ranma rose to her feet and charged the creature. It effortlessly batted
her away. She then attempted to charge up a chi attack. But her chi was
always based on confidence. Right now she had none. She was full of
despair. <I can't do anythi...wait!> she thought. <The Shi shi Houkoudan
... Yes, I can do that!>. Suddenly she focused on her feelings of
despair, she felt the power well up inside her, never before had she been
able to focus so much power.

She concentrated all her strength into the blast which erupted into a
column above her head before it came crashing down around her forming
concentric circles of energy which emanated out from the point at which
she stood. The blast tore everything that surrounded her apart as it sped
towards the creature. As it made contact she could not see the beast but
was sure that it had been incinerated in the blast. However, as the smoke
cleared, she saw the monster standing there unharmed with an evil grin on
it's face. The massive blast which she had generated had been absorbed by
the beast with little more effect than a feather hitting a freight train.
Ranma saw red. Again she tried to charge the beast, but her legs fell out
from under her. She was spent. All the strength had been sapped from
her. She was helpless. The creature saw this, and laughed. A long
mocking laugh. Mocking the sorrow she now felt. She could do nothing to
stop it as it strode away. It disappeared into the newly risen fog,
laughing all the while.

And then it was gone.

Ranma staggered to her feet. <Akane.> she thought. <I gotta get
Akane.> With that she dove into the water again. Strength or no, air or
no, she had to save Akane.

There was still a chance, wasn't there? People had been revived after
being under water for some time hadn't they?

It took her a while but she finally found Akane's body and brought it to
the surface. Ranma did everything in her power to revive Akane. As her
despair grew she started shaking Akane. "Wake up you stupid tomboy!!!"
she screamed. "Akane, don't do this to me!!...You can't die!!..." she
pleaded. "I need you!!" no response. "Dammit Akane, I love you!!"
Ranma began to sob. " Please...please don't die." Akane's response was
unending silence.

Akane was dead.

The mere acceptance of this drove Ranma into hysterics, and before she
was through she had laid waste to everything around her. Strength she had
not had moments ago was transferred into raw ferocious power. After the
dust had settled she looked out upon the damage she had caused. She did
not feel any better, nor worse. She felt nothing.

Ranma was exhausted and full of despair. But she knew what she had to
do. She had to take Akane home...for the last time. The last action that
she performed before beginning her return trip was to boil water so that
she could change back to a boy.

The trip back to the Tendo dojo was the most difficult he had ever
taken. He carried Akane's body as if she were some young child who had
fallen asleep and was being taken to bed. He did not stop once, not to
rest, not to eat. He ignored the looks he got from the people he passed.
The trip could have taken days. Weeks. Hours. Ranma didn't know. Ranma
didn't care.

When he arrived back at the dojo he went straight to the backyard. He
stopped before the patio holding tightly onto Akane's still form. Soun
and Genma looked up joyously. Finally their children were home and it
seemed that they had grown closer. Then they saw the look in his eyes and
they knew. Kasumi dropped the plate that she had been holding, Nabiki and
Genma stared slack jawed and Soun began to wail.

At that Ranma fell to his knees and began to sob. He began mumbling
that it was all his fault and that he had dishonored the family, he should
have saved her, he loved her. He pounded his fists on the ground and
cried. The Tendo's continued to look on in shock. What had happened had
yet to sink in.

At that moment a familiar figure came out into the yard. "Kasumi, did
someone drop a plate?" It was Ryouga. He walked onto the patio and
suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He saw the collective looks of
sorrow on the faces of the inhabitants of the dojo. Then he saw Akane.
His heart shattered.

The next person he saw was Ranma. The rage that grew in Ryouga was
unparalleled and he launched himself at his friend/foe. He was surprised
when Ranma made no move to defend himself but did not think on it long.
If Ranma wasn't going to fight back all the better. "Ranma, I'm going to
kill you!!!" In all the times he had said it before he had never really
meant it, but now was different, now Ranma deserved to die.

He unleashed a flurry of attacks on Ranma that left him bruised and
battered. On several occasions one could hear Ranma's bones breaking.
Every time Ranma was knocked down he would simply get back up to take more
of a beating.

Finally when Ranma was unable to stand Ryouga prepared to strike the
killing blow. "Ranma," he said in a menacing tone, "now at the end of
your life there is one thing I would like to know. Why won't you fight
back? Why won't you fight for your life?"

"I don't deserve to live." Ranma said it in such a resigned tone one
would think he was asking Ryouga to finish the job. He began to cry.
Ryouga was shocked. "I failed Akane, I couldn't save her! She was right
there and I couldn't do a damn thing. It's my fault that she's dead. I
should be dead not her. Ryouga...I loved her." Ryouga was shocked
doubly. <He loved her? B-b-but that would mean...> His train of thought
was again broken as Ranma spoke. The tone was unmistakable, he was
begging. "Ryouga...please finish the job."

Ryouga fell back, a look of pure shock on his face. He was actually
begging Ryouga to kill him. Ryouga faltered, his hatred leaked away to be
replaced with the most heartfelt pity. His greatest foe, the reason why
his life was a living hell, and he could find no hatred in his heart for
him now. At that instant he finally allowed himself to realize something
he had known for so long yet denied himself. Ranma loved Akane, more
importantly she had loved him back. He knew that Ranma had done all that
he could. Ranma had always laid his life on the line for Akane. No
matter the cost to himself. This realization was hard for him. Ryouga
was confused and heartbroken, he lept from the yard and ran off, unable to
face Ranma any longer. Unable to face what he had almost done.

The next few days went by slowly and painfully. Ranma had been
admitted to Dr. Tofu's clinic and was recovering from his wounds. Ryouga
had beaten him up severely. He would be bed ridden for several weeks.
His body would heal though, given time. His heart was another matter.
His friends came to visit him, but he paid no attention to them. For all
intents and purposes they were not even there. When the time for Akane's
memorial came he had to be dragged there. He kept blathering that he had
no right to be there. At the service he had sat in his wheelchair, off to
the side. He cried the whole time. Whenever someone would come over to
comfort him he pushed them away fiercely. He didn't deserve pity. Even
Ryouga had shown up to pay his final respects. Amazingly he had found the
cemetery with no help at all.

Ranma had fully expected Ryouga to kill him, in fact he had hoped that
he would. Instead Ryouga did something remarkable, he went to console
Ranma. "Ranma," he had said. "I don't blame you for Akane's death, I
know you must have done everything in you're power to save her." What he
said next started to break him up. It was also a shock to Ranma, "I know
you loved her, I also know she loved you. I was a fool to ever believe
that she loved me. I'm sorry that I took so much of your precious time
together away from you." Ryouga had to pause for a moment to compose
himself, then continued. "If there is anything you ever need from me just
ask."

Before Ranma could formulate a response Ryouga turned and left. Ranma was
awestruck to say the least.


Time passed slowly. The Tendo family tried to pick up the pieces and
get back to living. The loss of his youngest daughter had affected Soun
deeply. He had fallen ill and was now laid up in bed. His wife was gone,
and now his youngest daughter had gone to join her. It was too much for
the Patriarch of the anything goes school of martial arts to handle.

Back at Dr. Tofu's clinic Ranma was recovering quickly from his wounds.
He had always been a quick healer. <Why?> he thought, <Couldn't I have
recovered quickly enough to be of any use to Akane.> "WHY COULDN'T I SAVE
HER!!!" At this point Ranma had finally snapped. It had all become too
much for him to deal with. He was useless now. All his years of training
and he had not been able to use any of those skills when he had needed
them most. Life was not worth living anymore.

All Ranma's screaming had aroused Dr. Tofu from sleep and he had come to
find out what was wrong. What he found was too shocking for words.

Ranma had completely torn the room which he was occupying asunder. Dr.
Tofu ran and tried to subdue Ranma. "Ranma, stop!" he screamed, "You'll
hurt yourself! Ranma calm down please!" Ranma did not hear him, that or
he chose not to heed his calls to stop. Ranma simply batted Tofu away. He
crashed into a cabinet which housed the sedatives he used to put the
patients out when they were in too much pain. He quickly grabbed a needle
and filled it with the sedative. Ranma was currently facing away from the
doctor. For all intents and purposes Ranma did not even know that he was
there, he was caught in a blood rush. Tofu took this opportunity to jab
the needle into Ranma's backside. The effects should have been
instantaneous, but Ranma was running on far too much adrenaline now. What
he perceived was pain, his first response was to remove the cause. He
turned and viciously backhanded the doctor in the head. Tofu went reeling
into the far wall where he slumped down, unconscious.

As the drugs began to kick in the red haze in front of Ranma's eyes
began to lift. He saw what he had done. "Wha..what have I done?!?!" He
stared unblinking. Their was a red stain on the side of Dr. Tofu's head.
As he looked down at his hand for the first time he saw a matching stain.
"I've become a monster...a monster like the one that killed Akane." Ranma
was delirious. He wanted to end his life. No monster should be allowed
to live. He saw the means to fulfilling this goal. In the cabinet that
the doctor had toppled over, light glinted off the blade of the doctors
scalpel. Generally used for dissecting specimens, Ranma intended to use
it to dissect himself.

He picked up the blade and studied it. Not a very impressive looking
tool, but it would suffice. He raised the blade high and it glinted in
the light of the room. He was just about to plunge the blade into his
heart when a voice rung out in his head.

"STOP!!!!!"

He turned slowly around, and froze, for Akane stood there before him.

Perhaps it was the drugs that coursed through his veins, perhaps it was
his delirium, or perhaps it was a ghost.

"Ranma, what are you doing?" Her voice seemed to echo through the room,
reverberating through his body.

Ranma was awestruck. After several moments he again found his capacity
for speech. "Akane, I failed you. I should have saved you." He began to
cry. "I'm worthless. I'm the one who should have died."

"No!!" Akane responded in a tone that silenced all reproach. "You did
everything you could to save me. It's not your fault. I should have
never gone off like that in the first place. It was more my fault than
yours." She too began to cry. "Ranma, look at yourself. Look at what
you've become. The Ranma I knew would never give up. The Ranma I knew
would never do something so dis-honourable." She emphasized that last
word. Ranma visibly winced. "The Ranma I knew would never back down from
a challenge." She stared at Ranma now, a look of pleading in her eyes.
"Well I challenge you, I challenge you to continue living. It'll be hard
I know, but all challenges are. Are you man enough to accept." She spoke
those last words with a biting steel to her voice.

Ranma looked up, he stared into Akane's eyes. He stared for a long
time "I.......I accept your challenge." He finally managed before he broke
eye contact.

"I'm glad." Akane said. She smiled at him.

"Akane?" Ranma queried. She focused on him again. "Akane...I lo..."
He was silenced as Akane placed her hand over his mouth. Strangely enough
it felt warm and solid.

"Shhhh." She hushed him. "I know." She paused for a moment. "I do too."

It was then that the drugs finally took effect and Ranma lapsed into
unconsciousness.

End part one
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Endnotes. I wrote this a long time ago, I don't remember why, something
about reading allot of Ranma is dead fics, Akane deals with it. I hadn't
seen many of the reverse, so this came to my head. Originally slated to
be something like a six pager this story started to take on a life of it's
own. I have been mulling over what was to be done with this fic when I
decided that I could put what I had out as part one and work on part two
when I had the time. At this point I'd like to thank a few people who
helped me along. First I'd like to thank my friend and co-founder of
P-P-P-chan productions Paul Ervi, soon to be a member of the FFML, why
thank him? It looks good. Thanx to Richard D. Lawson for helping me to
post Lost Love way back when, if it weren't for his help this fic would
never have gotten started. Next thanx to J. Austin Wilde who preread the
story and gave me good feedback, I'd also like to thank Kun-chan, who if
she reads this will know that I modified a certain scene so that it would
work better(I even used the line she suggested, hope that isn't
plagiarism), thanx Kun-chan for the advice.

Lastly I'd like to give a huge thanx to Chris Willmore, Chris, you gave me
a review that warmed my heart, thank you. Be here next time to see the
conclusion of Lost Love.
================================================================= ===========


Ja ne!!

Ranchan

******************************************** ****************************
Lucas "RANCHAN" Muzzatti
Science student at U of T "Don't look at A-ZU-SA!!" Azusa Shiratori
ranchan@mail.accent.net

Member of the Church of Ryoga:
Protector of Akane while Ryouga's Lost and Ranma's not Around

Member of the Church of Azusa:
High priest, keeper of Kawaii and writer of the 12 commandements of
Kawaii.

Join now, and you get to give up a treasured object of your very own to
the Goddess Azusa! Or she'll kill you!
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