Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma 1/2: The Truth and the Tempest ❯ Truths and Dreams ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

[Author’s Note: The characters and setting herein- with the exception of one or two O.C.’s of my own design- are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I apologize for the delay between postings, but I’ve been out of town and needed to get my mental strength back. And now, back to our story. Be aware, there will be a moderate portion of WAFF in this chapter.]

Ranma ½: The Truth and the Tempest

Chapter 22: Truths and Dreams

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A bead of sweat ran down Ranma’s temple. His eyes were shut and his face for the most part relaxed, with the exception of his furrowed brow. He couldn’t see her, of course, but it felt to him like Akane was in much the same condition. His eyes scrunched tighter in concentration mixed with irritation. This ain’t fair, man. Ya couldn’t have picked somethin’ different for this exercise?

We’re almost done, Ranma, Shingen replied. I know it’s painful, but I need to understand the situation more. And you both need the experience if you want full control over the Link.

The three of them sat in the center of the training floor, in the inner circle of the ward pattern. They sat with their calves tucked beneath them, their hands resting on their knees. All had their eyes closed. Shingen took a slow, measured breath, his face a mask of serenity. Ranma took one as well, which did little to relieve the furrows in his brow. Akane did likewise, though her breathing shook slightly on the exhale. The air between them was crisscrossed with barely perceptible lines of ki which ebbed and flowed every second, growing stronger one moment, weak the next.

Slowly, the flow of energy began to rise, rippling through the air from Akane to Ranma, then from him back to her again, and finally resonating with Shingen’s aura. The air shivered, gradually filling with a high-pitched sound akin to a tuning fork. It grew, louder and louder, and both Ranma and Akane began to wince. The aura surrounding the three grew from blue to pale yellow, then a sort of sunset yellow, until all three were bathed in a warm golden mass of light.

All at once, the light stopped. Shingen’s eyes opened and the two teens before him let out relieved sighs. Ranma shook his head, almost hoping the action would wipe away the images they had just spent long minutes recalling.

“I know it’s late, you two,” Shingen said at length, “but before we turned in for the night this had to be done.”

“Yeah, yeah, you wanted ta test how much we could do with this Astral Link thing, I know,” Ranma spat. “But why the hell didja insist on both of us going back to… to THAT?”

“Ranma, I had to find out exactly what it was that happened to you both at Jusendo,” Shingen replied calmly. “You never mentioned more than a few words about it before, and I was convinced that something happened up there that’s causing you to hold back. I sensed it in our sparring, and if I hadn’t been so rattled when I first met you I might have sensed it back then.”

“Are you telling me you had me an’ her relay everything we experienced at Phoenix Mountain through that Link because you were curious?”

“Concerned is more like it.” Shingen stood up slowly, keeping his eyes locked to Ranma’s. “I wanted to know what was causing you to hold back on your power. I can see it now, you’re stronger than I ever imagined you could be… you just have it reined in so tightly it’s hard to see it all at first.” He let out a long sigh. “I can also see why you’d want to keep that power constrained.”

Ranma put a hand to his head. “Look, I get why ya wanted to know about it, but still, that wasn’t fair, Shingen. I put up with enough hell that day when I had to… had to kill… I didn’t want to have to relive it all over again in a threeway Link,” he said tiredly. A shiver ran down his spine as more images, sporadic ones, flashed through his mind… images of that same day, yet not from his point of view. And now I know what it was like for Akane, as well… at least, partially… couldn’t make sense of most of what I saw…

Shingen nodded sadly. “Believe me, I know all too well what it means to relive a nightmare you’d sooner forget.” He straightened his jacket collar. “I honestly wasn’t trying to hurt either of you. I know you’d just as soon forget everything that happened. But you have to understand that your blood, your Hunter blood carries certain responsibilities. And those will often involve facing some of your deepest, darkest fears. We don’t force duties, to be sure; a Hunter can pick and choose as they please most times, but sometimes a mission may call for us to face that which we’d rather not. You may be forced to call on that same power you’re so afraid of, Ranma- not just to save one life, but possibly hundreds of lives. And when it comes to facing off against demonkind, more often than not, you will have to kill.

“I had to understand what it is you’ve both gone through. It’s the only way I could hope to train you properly. Now I think I can.”

Ranma was silent for a moment. Akane remained still, looking at the floor.

“Shingen… just don’t ask me to do that again, okay?”

Shingen nodded. “Fair enough. I suppose I didn’t really know what I was asking for when I set up a multiple Link between us.” He turned towards the bunk room, then stopped. “Though I must say, it did help confirm my suspicions about a few things.”

Ranma blinked. “Suspicions? What suspicions?”

The taller man shrugged. “Just that whatever happened to you two may have been serious enough to trigger your latent abilities,” he said softly. “The final push, as it were. Only natural, really; after exposure to so much supernatural activity this past year, I’d be surprised if the incident with the Phoenix clan didn’t awaken each of you. In fact… it might have been what pulled you both through.” He shrugged his jacket off and slung it over one shoulder, walking slowly towards the bunk room. “Get some rest if you can; we’ll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” he added before ducking inside.

Ranma sat in silence a moment longer before pulling himself to his feet. Of all the memories he could’ve chosen for this little experiment of his, he had ta pick that one. I’ll be lucky if I don’t have another nightmare thanks to that… I just hope to gods Akane doesn’t have one. Not after some of the stuff I saw… the sensations… didn’t feel much, but maybe she was blocking out most of it from me. He sighed, flexing his arms and trying to rid himself of the sensations… the shared sensations of the battle royale with Saffron.

“There’s… there’s more to it than that…” Ranma’s head snapped up at Akane’s words. Turning, he saw her still kneeling on the floor, her fists gripping the fabric of her gi pants; she drew in a long breath and her shoulders started to shake.

“Akane…” Ranma closed the distance between them and kneeled next to her. “You okay?”

She sniffled; her eyes were hidden by her bangs but he could just make out a tear rolling down her cheek. “I will be… I’m just a little overwhelmed, that’s all.”

Slowly, he rested his right arm over her shoulders, drawing her into a gentle embrace. “Sorry… if he’d told us what we’d be recollecting when we started that exercise I woulda told him to pound sand…”

“It’s not just that, Ranma,” Akane said in a low tone. “I… I felt something when we were in the Link… something I think I should have known, or maybe needed to know. About what happened that day… on the mountain…” She shivered.

Ranma blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“I… I’d thought about it once or twice, I didn’t think… t-there was anything to it, that it was j-just my imagination… didn’t think it had r-really happened…”

“Acchan, you’re starting to scare me; c’mon, tell me what’s wrong.” She looked up slowly and swallowed hard.

“I… I died.”

Ranma’s eyes widened as she sniffled and continued. “It wasn’t for very long, just a moment or two… I t-thought I was just unconscious… but when we were in the Link, I felt something pass from Shingen to me… images, something he’d seen in me…” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Ranma… if it hadn’t been for you, I’d be dead right now.”

Ranma shook his head, stunned. “You mean… I thought I’d gotten that water to ya in time, but when you didn’t open your eyes…” A chill washed over him as he remembered how unresponsive she’d been, how cold her skin had felt after she’d returned to her normal size. “You… so you really did…”

Akane nodded. “Up till now I didn’t think much of it,” she said softly. “I don’t remember much… just feeling very calm… cold… and alone… and I didn’t want to be alone.” She looked at the floor, hugging herself as Ranma pulled closer to her. “Then I heard you… I heard you cry out, felt a sudden warming… and I knew t-that’s where I wanted to be… I tried to fight the cold, push it away… and then…”

“Then you woke up?”

She nodded. “Yeah…”

Ranma swallowed hard. “I can’t believe it…” And right in my arms, too… Gods, talk about cutting it too close to the mark…

“I didn’t even really know myself, but when I overheard Shingen’s musings in the Link…” Akane shifted, pulling her knees to her chest. “He’d… he’d seen something in me… I’ve been scarred, Ranma.”

“Scarred?” Ranma asked. “What’re you talking about? What scar?”

“In my… I guess in my spirit,” she replied slowly. “Something about… it wasn’t clear, but I think I heard him call it a Lazarus Mark… a sign that I’ve… my spirit crossed over… and then came back…” Her shoulders began to shake again, and she bit her lip to try and choke back a sob. Ranma drew her into his arms and hugged her tight, running a hand up and down her back; she responded by gripping him tightly around the waist. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have come back at all… you h-helped me find my way back…”

“Akane… let’s not talk about this anymore, please,” said Ranma gently. “It’s okay now. You’re still here, I’m still here. We‘re both here.” He stroked her hair as she rested her chin on his shoulder. “We just gotta make sure that what happened there, doesn’t happen ever again. An’ if you ask me, I don’t think we’ll have that kinda problem; you’re getting better at the Art every day and we’ve both got this new gift that we’re learning about. We just gotta take it one step at a time.” He pushed a tear of his own back and kissed her on the neck. “I’m not gonna lose you again.”

“I’m not gonna lose you, either,” Akane said, tightening her hug slightly. The two said nothing for a few moments, but sat and clung to one another as though their lives depended on it.

After about a minute, Ranma stirred. “It’s getting a bit late,” he whispered in her ear. “Maybe we should get some sleep; that might make us both feel better.”

Akane nodded slightly. “Just hold me a while longer, please.”

“Anything you want… kawaii tomboy,” Ranma said with a warm smile.

Akane giggled weakly and brushed a feather-light kiss on his cheek. “Handsome baka.”

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Soun had finished a prayer at the family shrine and was just stepping back into the house when he heard somebody descending the stairs with slow, heavy steps. What on earth? he thought as he approached the foot of the stairs. Did Saotome get up and try to get something from his room? He turned the corner and blinked in surprise as Nodoka trudged down the last two steps with an air he had seldom seen before. She was leaning against the wall slightly, and it looked as if she had been emotionally drained; he could just make out a single tear streak on her cheek, and audibly gulped as he noticed she was shaking in a manner befitting someone holding back a tsunami-sized rage.

“No-Nodoka?” Soun stammered, his eyes widening at the sight of her gripping her katana so tightly the knuckles on her right hand were white. “Um… you seem a little bit tense. Is… is everything alright?” At that moment, the sound of dishes being washed ceased and Kasumi emerged from the kitchen, curiosity and concern showing on her face. Nodoka looked up; her face was a mask of shock and shame, with a definite fire dancing in her eyes.

“No, Soun… everything is most definitely not alright,” she said emotionlessly. “I’m afraid that my husband has been less than truthful about… about the ‘training’ he has put my son through.”

“Er… training?”

“I never knew…” she murmured, beginning to shake some more as another tear escaped her eye. “I never knew… my son…”

“Oh, my,” Kasumi said softly, not knowing what to make of things. “What was it, Auntie? What happened?” Nabiki sauntered by at that moment with a ledger and a soda, and promptly stopped when she caught sight of the Saotome matriarch shaking like a leaf. Just then several things happened simultaneously.

The book Nodoka had been holding in the crook of her left arm fell to the floor, displaying the words Neko-ken for all the room to see.

A loud groan escaped the adjoining room, followed by a bleary-eyed Genma slouching up and padding into the foyer where the others were gathered. “Uhhh… No-chan, could you get me something to drink, please? I’m really quite thirsty…”

Nabiki promptly flinched and began backing away, casting a pitying look at Genma as a single word danced through her mind. “Busted.”

Her instinct proved correct; Genma barely had time to blink before a loud SMACK echoed through the halls of the house, accompanied by him falling backwards and bouncing at least once before skidding to a halt on the floor. His eyes had easily grown to the size of baseballs and there was a massive red welt on his face.

“HOW DARE YOU!!!”

Genma flinched, staring up at Nodoka with a combination of confusion and fear. His mind was still woozy from the aftereffects of the Spirit Purge, but the sight of his wife with eyes blazing and a shaking hand on her katana’s hilt snapped him to attention. “Uh… dear? Did I say something wrong?” he stammered.

“How could you do something so monstrous to your own son!” Nodoka snapped, taking a step towards him. “And just how long were you planning to wait before you told me? I trusted you to take care of Ranma on that foolish trip of yours, and now I find you’ve gone and done something like THIS? What kind of a father are you? Are you insane, stupid or just incredibly HEARTLESS???”

Genma gulped. “No-chan, please, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t you ‘No-chan’ me, mister, it’s not going to work tonight!” She bent down and snapped up the training manual, then flung it at Genma hard enough to bruise his forehead. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out about this sooner or later?” Genma shook his head, looked down at the book and promptly turned white as a ghost. “I found it when I was cleaning your belongings, like a good wife should; imagine my surprise when I leafed through it and found a few notes of your own on the inside of the cover! Notes that indicated you‘d used this foolish technique on our son, and not just once, either!”

“S-sweetheart, I c-can explain…”

“Explain what? That you were ‘training’ him? You think after reading the things I’ve read that I’d believe that excuse? Did you even bother to read the entire thing before subjecting my son to this… this TRAINING? This isn’t training, it’s nothing more than physical and psychological abuse!!!” She sucked in a quick breath as two tears worked their way down her face. “No, of course you didn’t read the whole thing, you never do! That’s why you and Ranma got cursed at Jusenkyo, too! You didn’t pay attention! YOU DIDN’T CARE!!! All you care about is your damned martial arts school and protecting your own hide!”

Genma was shaking like Jell-O as he hurriedly assumed the Crouch of the Tiger stance. “I d-didn’t know… I made a mistake, dear, I just wanted the boy to be strong and know an unbeatable technique, I didn’t know what would happen, I’m a fool, I know I’m a fool, I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry…” He was abruptly cut off by another open palm slap, this time to the top of his head, and he realized something he had feared all along… Nodoka could hit HARD when she was angry.

“Stop blubbering, Genma, that won’t work this time,” she said in a tone as hard as steel. “You really think an ‘I’m sorry’ can fix this? You think it can take back the fact that you threw my baby to the mercy of starving cats? Gods only know what it could have done to him…”

“Not to mention the collateral damage it’s caused,” Nabiki muttered.

Just a second too late, she realized she’d spoken loud enough for everyone in the room to hear- especially Nodoka, who turned and stared at Nabiki and the others in shock.

“Wait a moment… you mean you knew about this?”

Soun swallowed hard. “Well… it was a bit hard not to…” Noting the ice in her glare, he sighed and stared at the floor in shame. “I would have said something, Nodoka, but I felt for sure Saotome would have told you. I figured it was a family matter… I… I didn’t think it was my place.” I’m sorry, old friend, but this is one hole I can’t help you dig your way out of.

Kasumi said nothing, but looked away guiltily. Nabiki twisted her hands and did likewise. For a few moments, Nodoka looked at each of them in disbelief, then hung her head and turned back towards her cowering husband.

“I can only assume you convinced or begged them not to mention anything to me,” she said in a low tone. “Possibly with something related to ‘honor’ or the like thrown in, am I correct?”

Genma said nothing, but backed away from her another step and shut his eyes tightly. I’m a dead man, I’m a dead man, I’m a dead man…

“Great Kami, how could I have been so stupid,” Nodoka said in a miserable tone. “All those years away from me, and the reward is a series of curses, broken promises, and heavens know what kind of mental scarring… what happened to you, Genma?” She looked up and stepped towards Soun. “I think I had better leave.”

Kasumi looked up. “I beg your pardon, Auntie?”

“I’m afraid if I stay here this night I might do something in anger that I might regret later on,” Nodoka replied in a shaky voice. “Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, I thank you for your hospitality and only wish you could have felt free to tell me some of the things that man has done while we were apart; it might have made things easier if you had.” She turned on her heel and glared at Genma. “When my son comes home I want to have a long talk with him; what transpires from that will help me decide what must be done about this. Until then, I do not wish to see you or talk to you, Genma Saotome… and if you so much as think of leaving town before then, I will have no compunction against using this blade as I see fit!”

Genma opted that moment to take the path of least resistance and fainted.

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That night was peaceful. A cooling breeze washed over Nerima as its various residents turned in for the evening. Storefronts and offices closed down, and people began thinking up plans for the weekend as they settled down to rest. Some had an easier time of it than others.

Soun couldn’t sleep for fear of what might become of his old friend and training partner. He had to admit Genma had had it coming to him for a long time; there were numerous occasions when he had been shocked by the things Genma had done. Soun had put up a good front for the most part, going along with the excuse ‘for the sake of the Art’, but with this new revelation, he didn’t think he could go along with it any longer.

Kasumi couldn’t sleep; she was too worried about Auntie Nodoka’s state of mind. She knew Nodoka was a strong-willed person, with a warrior’s spirit, but something about her demeanor and the way she shook made Kasumi bite her lip. She hoped Auntie wouldn’t be so rash as to execute Genma for what he had done, and was secretly relieved she had gone back to her own home for the time being. It would give her a chance to think things out- and while Kasumi did think Genma had done some very stupid things in his time, she didn’t wish Seppuku on him, as Nodoka seemed to suggest. Nobody deserves that in this day and age, she thought to herself.

At her home, Nodoka couldn’t sleep; she was too busy berating herself for not being there when Ranma needed her most. She knew Genma had put him through harsh training, but to find out her son had gone through this was more than she ever expected. It wasn’t the action of the man she had married, and certainly didn’t seem to have anything to do with becoming manly. The more she thought it over, the more it seemed to her that Genma hadn’t fulfilled the contract so much as Ranma had. The Genma she once knew was no coward, didn’t back down begging for his life, and didn’t seem like the kind of man who would sneak around and lie to others. A new batch of tears escaped her as she wondered what had happened to the man she had fallen in love with. I mustn’t let emotion rule my actions, she said to herself firmly. This isn’t something that can be solved with one quick action or the edge of a blade. Kami help me, part of me still does care for the idiot… but what do I do now?

Nabiki couldn’t sleep; she was on a caffeine buzz.

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Ranma looked around. He was standing in the local park, not two feet from the tree where he and Akane had first had lunch together almost a year prior. He blinked, then looked down at himself; he wore his favorite red vest and black pants, and the wrist and ankle weights were gone. The sky above the leaf canopy was clear and bright, not a cloud visible. There wasn’t a sound anywhere except for the wind and the occasional bird.

“Must be dreaming,” he said to himself, letting out a sigh. “Heh, thought for sure I’d be havin’ another nightmare after that damn exercise.” He walked over to the bench and sat down heavily, his mind racing. He was still having a hard time coming to grips with what he’d learned… that he hadn’t just saved Akane in the nick of time, but apparently brought her back from the dead as well. He bit his lip as visions of what could have happened otherwise swam through his mind. Why the hell didn’t Shingen just tell me himself? He rested his elbows on his knees and sighed.

“If I’d been a moment too late… or if somethin‘ else had happened…” He wrung his hands and stared at some of the trees. A moment passed by and he groaned, batting himself on the head. “Dammit, don’t think like that, what’s done is done. She’s okay, I’m okay.” He leaned back on the bench, resting his head lightly against the tree behind it. A light breeze wafted through the dream-park, and for a few moments Ranma sat in silence. A pair of birds sang in the treetops above.

“Haven’t had a nice quiet dream in a while,” he said to himself, looking around the park. “I wish Akane was here…”

“I wish Ranma was here…”

His head jerked up at the sound of a familiar voice. Glancing around, he caught sight of a figure walking through another section of the park. A figure in a simple yet elegant yellow sundress, with short blue-black hair. She was looking away from him but froze in place at the same time Ranma caught a glimpse of her.

Ranma stood up slowly as she turned around to face him. “Hey… ‘kane?”

Akane blinked. “Ranma? What’re you doing here?”

“Hey, that’s my line,” he replied as he crossed the park and joined her under a tree. “Is that really you? Or are you just part of my dream?”

“What’re you talking about?” Akane asked, confused. “Part of your dream? I thought I was the one dreaming, maybe you’re just a part of my dream!”

“How could I be part o’ your dream when I was…” Ranma began.

“But I was just over there until you called out to…” said Akane before her sentence ground to a halt. Both of them blinked at the same time.

“The Link.”

Akane’s eyes widened- and then she giggled. “We Linked in our sleep?”

“I think we gotta get a little more control on this thing, unless ya wanna be hooked up at the head all the time,” Ranma snickered. Akane nodded with another laugh of her own before taking a step forward and pulling Ranma into a hug. He reciprocated readily, and for another moment the two of them held on to one another until their laughs subsided.

At length, Ranma pulled back to look Akane in the eyes. “Still… I gotta admit, this is real nice.”

“What, the fact that we’re having a pleasant dream, or the fact we’re sharing a dream?”

“Yes,” he answered with a smirk.

“You goofball,” Akane murmured playfully, mussing his hair up with her hand. “You are right, though… this is really nice.” She pulled back a little further. “Hey, isn’t this the park where…”

“Yeah, when we were first engaged,” Ranma replied. “We were having some lunch on that bench when you told me about the way Doc Tofu acted around Kasumi.”

“That’s right… I was still wearing my hair long back then,” said Akane. She paused, then squeezed his hand. “That wasn’t really one of our better days, was it?”

Ranma shrugged, then sighed. “That was a long time ago, Acchan. I think I was a bit of a bigger jerk back then.”

“So why dream of this place?”

Another sigh. “I think it was one of the only real quiet times we had before all hell broke loose. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly what I’d call a date, but for a while at least… it was just… I dunno, quiet.”

Akane nodded slowly. “And we didn’t get too many of those moments afterward, did we,” she mused.

“I guess I just wanted something nice to counter that damn exercise we did, so I wound up here.” Ranma paused, then turned back to face her again. “Hey, you feel any better?”

“I think so,” she said. “Still a little rattled about the whole thing, but I’ll be okay.” She looked at him and smirked. “You’re going to worry about me regardless, aren‘t you?”

“Hey, I’m tryin’ my best but ya know I can’t help it sometimes.”

Akane’s smile grew warm. “Yeah, I know.” A moment later, she shifted her grip, lacing her fingers with his. “Hey… come with me, I want to show you something.” Ranma turned and gave her a slightly confused look. “Relax, dummy, it’s nothing bad.” She tugged on his hand, pulling him down the lane she had been walking on. Ranma shrugged, allowing her to guide him into another section of the park. Soon they were darting through a heavily wooded area that Ranma knew for certain wasn’t part of the park; the concrete path had disappeared, replaced by a sylvan lane lined with ferns and exotic flowers. Every once in a while, he would glimpse off to one side and catch a flash of something… an image? Or was it a memory? He started to wonder if he was seeing some of Akane’s memories through the Link when the path suddenly opened up and Akane slowed down. He looked up.

They were standing in an open field on a hill overlooking a valley. A long line of trees ran down the hill on his left, and off in the distance he could just make out a river snaking down the valley and emptying into a perfectly still lake. Not far from where he and Akane stood, he could make out a single flowering tree, casting shade over a patch of flat grassy ground. It wasn’t quite the same as his dream’s park, but the feeling of calm was nearly identical.

“What is this place?”

“My family used to come here when I was little,” said Akane softly. “Years ago… before my mom passed away. Every once in a while, we’d bring a picnic out to this ridge and spend the day just… just having fun.” She looked around and squeezed his hand again. “I think of this place now and again if I need some quiet time… it’s special to me.” She paused, then looked up into Ranma’s eyes.

“I used to dream about my mom all the time, about being with her here again. Made it easier to deal with things if I thought back to those times.”

Ranma nodded slowly. “You say ya used to… don’t you do that anymore?”

She nodded slightly. “Sure I do… but not always right here. I mean, I still love this place, I want to go back there for real some time soon… and I wanted someone else special to me to see it, too.” A light breeze drifted across the field, scattering a few flowers playfully.

Ranma looked around. “I wish I’d been able to have a place like this when I was little.”

Akane nodded sadly, remembering some images she’d seen while in the threeway Link… images of being on the move, never resting at any one place for long, to say nothing of the countless days of rigorous, often brutal, training at his father’s hands. It wasn’t something she’d intended to see, but couldn’t help but notice during the exercise, and it made her curse herself even more for all the times she’d berated him without waiting for an explanation. She sidled closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. “You know… if you want, I’d be happy to share this place with you.”

“You don’t have to do that, if it’s your special place an’ all…”

“I told you I wanted someone else special to see it too, didn’t I?” She poked him playfully on the nose, prompting him to poke her back. She giggled and started walking towards the tree. It wasn’t long before the two of them were sitting on the ground in the shade, cuddled up to one another and talking about some of their better times.

Gradually the conversation drifted off and the two of them sat in silence for some time, watching errant clouds drift over the dreamscape treetops. Every once in a while, a bird would land in the tree and sing a few notes, and just as soon fly off.

“You know, I was worried neither of us would be having good dreams tonight,” Ranma said, breaking the silence. “Not after that mess… or that Laser-russ thing you told me about.”

Akane nodded, smoothing out part of her sundress. “Maybe we didn’t dream about it because we already relived it,” she mused. “I’m no expert, but maybe just facing it all over again in that exercise was supposed to help us come to terms with it.”

“You mean like how if a person watches a scary movie enough, they get numb to it?” Ranma asked, slightly confused.

“I guess, I don’t know.” Akane shivered slightly and pulled closer to Ranma. “I was just glad to be in a place I recognized, and started wishing I could share it with you.” She paused, then snickered. “Maybe that’s what got me into your dream.”

“Or me into yours,” Ranma replied with a smile. Akane nodded.

Another moment passed. Akane looked away and shifted nervously. “Um… Ranma? Can I ask you something?”

“Hey, you can ask me anything ya want, Akane. What’s up?”

Akane fidgeted, pressing her fingers together slightly. “Well… I’ve been thinking about something for a while… probably ever since Sunday night, after we first cleared the air between us…” She turned and rested on her knees, looking nervously at Ranma, who began to look confused. “Ranma… do you… well, you know if things had turned out differently on Sunday, we would’ve been… we might’ve been married by now…” She swallowed hard. “Do… do you wish it could have been different?”

Ranma blinked; it wasn’t a question he had been expecting, least of all in the middle of a dream. He knew it would have come up sooner or later, and had been dreading that his Saotome foot-in-mouth syndrome would rear itself. He looked at her sitting before him, obviously scared of what the answer might be. His face relaxed. There wasn’t any prodding at the back of his head, no impulses from an unknown source. I can do this.

“That’s not an easy question to answer, Acchan,” he said in a soft tone. “The truth is, there’s a lot of things I wish coulda been different… but at the same time, it may have been for the best.”

Akane stared at him. “What?”

“Let me finish,” he said with a voice that could calm a drunken panda. Akane blinked and settled back, telling herself not to jump to conclusions.

“I’m not saying that I didn’t want it to happen at all.” Akane looked up at that, a spark of hope beginning to flicker in her. “Look at it this way… our dads practically railroaded us into it; I get knocked out and wake up in a tuxedo, we both wind up reverting to form- and I’m sorry I did that, must’ve been that damn curse that made me fight with ya like that- and then we get everyone from the local wrecking crew visiting before either of us ever had a chance to deal with them.” He sighed. “I felt like I was gettin’ played like a puppet that day, an’ I was afraid you were, too.”

Akane nodded slowly. “Yeah… that was a little much to deal with,” she said. “Maybe if I’d just told you I wanted to go through with it in the first place, we wouldn’t have gotten into that fight…”

“Would that have stopped the morons from cropping up and blowing up the place?”

Akane paused, then shook her head. “No, I guess not.”

“All I wanted was a chance to clear the whole mess up beforehand; trouble is I was bangin’ my brains out trying to figure out a way to do it…”

“And not coming up with too many solutions,” Akane continued. “I know how you feel, I couldn’t really think of anything reasonable, either.” She shrugged. “I used to think it was easy- pick one fiancée and be done with it- but I guess it just wasn’t ever that simple.”

“Nope, not with the way some of those deals came up.” Ranma paused, then took a deep breath. “Besides… there was one thing I wanted to do before either one of us got decked out in wedding attire.”

“What was that?”

He swallowed hard and took her left hand in his right.

“Look… I know ya weren’t too happy at first with this, the way our dads and your sisters kinda bunched us together without giving us a choice- but that‘s old ground, I know, we‘ve been talkin‘ about that on an‘ off all week,” he said. “I just… I just wish we’d had a chance to move at our own pace, that’s all. Hell, all I wanted was a moment where we could be alone… get away from all the idiots, maybe have a chance to get my head in order.” He held her hand a bit tighter and fidgeted. “I never even got the chance to find some place like this… just some out o’ the way place where… where we could sit an’ talk… where I could finally get over my own damn ego and say something like…” He took one deep breath and looked her straight in the eyes. “Akane Tendo, will you marry me?”

Akane’s breath caught in her throat. She’d had a feeling the conversation had been heading in the direction it had, but part of her had been scared… scared he’d try to make some stupid joke, or that he’d back off and change the conversation to something else. He said it… he actually said it! Dream or no, it was the real Ranma, not one I’d thought up, and he actually said it after all this time! A smile broke out on her face and she lunged forward, catching him in an Amazon-style glomp that knocked him onto his back, beneath the tree.

Ranma gasped; it may have been a dreamscape but it still felt like the wind got knocked out of him. “Uh… does that mean you will?”

Akane laughed, an errant happy tear rolling down her face. “Ranma no baka, do you think I could possibly say no after everything we’ve just been through?” she giggled, cupping his face in her hands. “Of course I will!” She sniffled once, then brought her face down to meet his and gave him a loving kiss, which he readily returned.

After a moment, their lips separated and Ranma looked up at her with a smile on his face. “Ya don’t mind I asked you while we’re both asleep, do you?”

She shook her head. “I’m just glad you asked at all,” she said. “That means a lot to me… it really does. Especially here.”

“Hey, maybe sometime soon we can go up to this valley for real- when we‘re awake, I mean,” Ranma mused.

“That’d be really nice… I’d like that, maybe once we get things settled down once and for all.” She stroked his hair and laid down beside him, snuggling into the crook of his arm. “Hey… you know I love you, right?”

Ranma nodded. “I love you too, Acchan… I’m just sorry I kept putting off tellin’ you.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Akane replied. “I promise you, I’m gonna make up for all the times I lost it around you…”

“Hey, ya don’t have to do that, I thought I told you that on Sunday.”

“I mean it, Ranma. I did a lot of really rotten things to you because I couldn’t keep my temper under control, and a lot of times you hadn’t even done anything wrong, either,” she said, a look of regret mixing with the joy in her eyes. “I did a lot of thinking on and off this past week… I don’t like the person I was, at least around you, and I…”

“Akane,” he said, interrupting her as he propped himself up on his elbows. “Stop. We already talked about this a couple times before; stop beatin’ yourself up over the past. Geez, you’ve told me a few times to stop beatin’ myself up over it- it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just chalk it up to both of us needin’ to grow a little. Yeah, we made some mistakes and we fought a lot, but we were always there when we needed each other, right?” He brushed her cheek, wiping a tear away. “You don’t have ta make up for anything.”

For a moment, Akane said nothing, but looked at her pig-tailed fiancé and wondered how he could be so forgiving. Gradually, the mixed emotion in her eyes passed on; the shadow of remorse lifted, leaving only the joy at the realization that he was hers, and hers alone. It didn’t matter whether he had proposed in a shared dream, in the Tendo dojo or in the middle of the Neko Hanten, the simple fact was he had done it. He had offered her a choice- albeit one she had made long before. A warmth spread over her, as did a desire to share her joy with him. “Ranma…”

“Yeah?” he replied before noticing the sudden predatory look in her eyes.

“Kiss me.” A second later, Ranma found himself on his back once again, Akane lying atop his chest as she pressed her lips to his. It took barely a second for him to re-assess the situation, and shortly thereafter he folded his arms across her back, pulling her close as he kissed her with equal abandon. A contented sigh escaped Akane as she opened her lips, allowing their tongues to caress and mingle in a fire dance of their own. Her right hand traced slow circles on his chest as her left snaked beneath his head, pulling him to her with no resistance whatever. Ranma’s left hand reciprocated her action, stroking a spot on the back of Akane’s neck that elicited a moan of pleasure. His right hand smoothed out a path down her back, gliding along the curve of her hip and then reversing the direction towards her waist; the gentle caresses sent tingles down Akane’s spine and fresh tears of happiness down her cheeks.

As the two young lovers became lost in each other’s embrace, they failed to notice the dreamscape begin to fade, washing away like a sandcastle at high tide…

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Shingen folded his arms in amusement. “And here I thought I’d seen it all,” he chuckled.

The night for him had been relatively uneventful. He had retired about the same time as Ranma and Akane had, his thoughts continually returning to the same thing. “It matches up too well to be discounted,” he had thought to himself even as he slept. “The Elders’ Scroll said it clearly… one who would overcome the icy grip of death, another who would challenge the gods- they would be the heirs to two lost clans.”

He had awakened early in the morning out of sheer impatience, and had sat on his bunk in contemplation. He had put up a hospital screen between his bunk and the others, allowing for some modicum of privacy. “Akane bears a Lazarus Mark, proving she died once and returned… and Ranma challenged and defeated the demigod Saffron in mortal combat to try and save her. Both bear the marks of Hunter blood in their aura, and then Father sends me…” Eventually he had nodded to himself and slid out of his bunk, padding quietly to the washroom to shower and change. “Who would’ve thought those two would signal the revival of those clans.” I never thought I’d see the day the Tiger and the Stallion rose again…

He had finished cleaning up and had just re-tied his bandanna when he had overheard some odd sounds emanating from the bunk room. He dismissed it at first, thinking Ranma was talking in his sleep, but then overheard something akin to moaning. It brought back memories of the multi-way Link exercise and it had occurred to him that the aftereffects might not be pleasant ones. In short order, he exited the bathroom and skirted around one of the privacy curtains… where he now stood in disbelief. Walking and talking in one’s sleep was one thing. Making out in one’s sleep was another- but was apparently possible, as Akane had somehow left her bunk and wound up sprawled across Ranma’s body in the next bunk. The two of them were kissing almost hard enough to bruise each other’s lips, and their hands seemed to have taken on a life of their own as they caressed and clung to one another.

Shingen shook his head and cleared his throat. “I think you’d best save your strength for training, you two. Come on, we can’t sleep the day away… or whatever it is you two were doing.”

Akane’s eyes snapped open, as did Ranma’s. For a moment, there was absolute silence in the room; she pulled away from his lips almost in a daze as they stared at one another.

“Uh… morning,” Ranma said at length, a halting laugh in his voice.

“Yeah… morning to you, too,” Akane replied in an identical tone. “I… wow… I guess that was more than just a dream.” She disentangled herself from his embrace slowly, noting the weights on her wrists and ankles again. Ranma nodded, then began to laugh- nervously at first, but quickly becoming more relaxed; Akane joined him soon after.

“Mind telling me what had you two so energetic at this early hour?” asked Shingen, bemused.

“Well, ya see…” “It’s just that…” “I was fast asleep an’ was hopin’ she wasn’t having nightmares…” “I wanted to share something I saw in my dream with him…” “I saw her…” “We started walking together…” “Didn’t know we could do this…”

Shingen shook his head and held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down already.” He straightened his bandanna out. “Now I could only hear about half of what you two were saying, but I’m guessing- based on what I did hear- that somehow you two managed to create an Astral Link while asleep?” The two paused, then nodded with a slight blush.

Shingen smirked. “Not that big a deal, really, just means you’re getting more proficient with the Link. Though I wouldn’t say dreamsharing is the best use of the Link, tactically speaking anyway. It can be fun- me and my sister used to dreamshare when we were younger- but that kind of energy is best used for communication on the battlefield.” He turned and retrieved his jacket from a peg on the wall. “Still, must’ve been a hell of a dream if it resulted in that.”

Akane flushed bright red. “Shingen!”

“Hey, I’m just pulling your chain, alright?” he replied, throwing his hands up in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. “I’m just glad you didn’t have a bad night, that’s all… I know that last exercise was rough on you both yesterday. As it is, we’ve got a long day ahead of us; there’s not much space in the washroom so you’ll have to take turns in there.” He turned on a heel and walked to the far end of the bunk room, where he rummaged through several boxes of breakfast items.

Akane straightened her hair out and looked at Ranma sheepishly. “Um… sorry about that, I guess I got so into the dream I kinda lost control,” she muttered.

“Eh… no biggie,” Ranma replied awkwardly. “Although… I gotta admit, that was kind of a nice way to wake up.”

Akane giggled and blushed again. “Guess I can’t really argue with you on that,” she said. After a moment, her smile faltered and she looked up into his eyes again. “Ranma… did you really ask me what I thought you asked me? In the dream?”

He smiled. “Only if you really did say yes.” Her smile returned in full force and she nodded before sitting up and pulling him into a quick hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She took a deep calming breath, then pulled away to look him in the eyes with a playful smirk. “Dibs on the bath,” she quipped before planting a peck on his forehead, skipping away from him and grabbing her clothes; this done, she scrambled into the washroom leaving a stunned but highly amused Ranma in her tracks.

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“I know I should have let both of you know about the Lazarus Mark,” said Shingen. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, Ranma; I didn’t think you’d take it well from me.” He took a bite of a cereal bar and chewed slowly. Akane and Ranma were sitting on a bunk opposite him, both dressed in their practice gis. “I let it slip to Akane during the Link- she had to know, and I thought you might take it better from her. If I made a mistake, I apologize.”

Ranma said nothing, but took a bite of his own breakfast bar and chewed for a long time. Akane sat next to him and sipped a cup of instant tea.

“So… what does this Lazzy-thing mean?” he asked eventually. “Is it gonna hurt her, or…”

Shingen shook his head. “It’s nothing serious, my friend,” he said. “It’s usually nothing more than spiritual scar tissue… it just means you came really close to the edge, that’s all.”

Akane nodded to herself. “Too close, you mean.”

“But not close enough,” Shingen continued. “You’re a very lucky person, Akane.”

She nodded again, subconsciously squeezing Ranma’s hand. “I know.” She took another sip, then looked up. “Is there anything else I should know?”

Shingen shrugged, finishing off the cereal bar. “It all depends on how one receives the scar,” he said. “There could be no residual effect at all… then again, it’s possible your senses could become heightened in some way over time.” He shrugged, then stood up. “Coming back from the brink can sometimes do that to a person. I should know.” He sighed. “I’ve been there myself.”

Ranma blinked. “Huh?”

“I’ve been a part of my clan’s trade since I was seven years old- twenty years of training and fighting as a Hunter. I got taken to the edge once when I was sixteen- I got careless, didn’t prepare myself properly.” He sighed and pulled up his t-shirt; Akane gasped at the sight of three wicked scars running diagonal from his pectorals down across his stomach. Shingen nodded once and pulled his shirt back down again.

“Look, this isn’t important right now. We’ve got a lot of work to do today; I want to work on ki techniques this morning and see what you both can do. But before we do that, there’s something else I want to show you.” He straightened his jacket and headed for the door to the main warehouse, beckoning them both to follow.

A few moments later, they were all out sitting in a circle on the training floor. Akane shook her head, trying to adjust to the combination of what she had heard and seen. The prospect of what had given Shingen a scar like that rattled her a lot, but at the same time she kept telling herself that this was why they were training. If we have to face something with a claw that size, I want to be ready, she told herself.

Ranma, for his part, had slowly begun to calm down over the whole matter, and was mulling over something entirely different. I wonder if this whole Hunter blood thing slows down aging, Shingen sure as hell doesn’t look 27... His thoughts were abruptly cut off as Shingen set something down on the floor before them- the long black case he had brought with them.

“Before I show you what’s in here, I’d like to know something,” Shingen said.

Great. More questions, Ranma groused. “Okay, whatcha want to know now?”

Shingen looked at them both long and hard. “Do the names Sagara or Saito mean anything to either of you?”

Ranma blinked. On the periphery of his vision he saw Akane’s eyes widen slightly. Okay… now this is gettin’ really odd, he thought. “Uh… did you say Sagara?”

“I did,” Shingen replied. “Do you recognize it?”

“Well… yeah, I kinda do,” Ranma said uneasily. “I think Sagara was actually my mom’s maiden name…”

“What about you, Akane?”

Akane nodded slowly. “Actually… it’s the same for me; Saito was my mother’s name before she became a Tendo…”

Shingen nodded. “Then there isn’t any doubt,” he said, flipping open the latches on the case. As he pulled the top open, Ranma and Akane both stared at the two wakizashi lying within. The runes engraved on each sword’s saya appeared to scintillate with an inner pulse of its own. Both teens’ eyes traveled up and down the length of the blades- and suddenly stopped. Ranma’s eyes widened; Akane’s hand flew to her mouth in shock.

On the blue sheath of the tiger-motif sword, near the tsuba, was engraved a family crest bearing the kanji, Saito. On the red-black saya of the stallion-mark sword lay a similar engraving. The kanji for Sagara was clearly visible.

“These aren’t mere wakizashi, you two. These are Hunter clan swords,” said Shingen softly. “Your clan swords.”

To Be Continued…

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Author’s note: For anime buffs, the names of Sagara and Saito are not intended to be a link to Rurouni Kenshin in any way; I happened to find the names appealing. Read into it what you will. For those curious about the references to the Tiger and the Stallion, remember that Kuno often refers to Akane as his wild tigress, and of course, Ranma’s name translates to ‘wild horse’. And, for an even deeper meaning, look up the Horse and Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac. Certain aspects of their personalities match very closely to our favorite duo- and more importantly, according to the Zodiac, the Horse and the Tiger are a perfect match for one another. Just food for thought about those two…

Thanks for stopping by; I don’t know when the next chapter will be forthcoming. Hopefully it won’t be three weeks like this time, but you never can tell. Next installment- ki training begins. Until next time.

Neon Ronin