Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Dreaded Disease ❯ The Dreaded Disease ( One-Shot )

The Dreaded Disease

by: TendoAkane

"Loneliness. That's always the way it starts. You don't want to feel alone anymore, so you seek out the first person or thing that makes you feel accepted, even if you know it's not good for you.

Loneliness is a terrible disease that makes you do crazy things. You feel the need to do something drastic before you fall apart, or become invisible to the entire world. And loneliness is what got me into this mess in the first place. Who am I? My name is Ryoga. What's my story? Read on and find out.

"It began as any typical day in Nerima would begin. Ukyo was up with the sun, getting Ucchan's ready for the first customers of the morning. Shampoo also rose early, trying to figure out how to get Ranma to go on a date with her. Ranma slept in; only, that is, until he heard Genma bolt out of bed, anxious to reach the table before his son. Akane practiced in the dojo before breakfast, but then hurried to the table; she wanted to eat before there was no food left. And I, well, I was lost again. Nothing new, nothing old, just lost.

"I suppose my unfortunate circumstances are the cause for my present state of mind, or it may be a fate which I have brought upon myself, but the cause of my distress is not the problem in and of itself. I have always been the one who wasn't around. My parents also suffered from mis-direction, and at a very young age I discovered that, when trying to get where I wanted to go, several problems arose. Such as I couldn't find my way and got lost for days, even weeks at a time. I was told that this trait was pre-dispositioned, but I don't care to blame it on my parents, it's not as though they could help being lost all the time.

"For a long time I just considered this curse of being lost to be an inconvenience. I always got where I wanted to go, it just took a lot longer than everyone else. But after a while, after I met Akane, the curse was more than an inconvenience, it was a plague on my very sanity. I would try to walk from my house to Furinkan Highschool, and would end up in Germany. A simple trip to the bathroom could find me in the middle of a forest somewhere, with no hope of return. It didn't take me long to fall into the pit of despair. One of these random trips, I was chasing Ranma no less, landed me in the most unlikely place; a place of nightmares, yet at the same time, a place of dreams.

"Jusenkyo is a place of cursed springs, and it was one of these aforementioned springs that drastically changed my life forever. I was chasing Ranma, trying to get revenge on him for something-or-other, (in those days it didn't matter what), and I ended up in China. It is, because of my lack of direction, that I ended up falling into the Spring of Drowned Little Black Piglet. When I finally returned home, Akane found me and adopted me as her pet, Pchan. I, of course, was in love with her and had no desire to tell her who I really was, as she kept me with her at all times and even let me sleep with her in her bed at night. I was sure that as soon as I could convince her to love me as Ryoga and not as her pet, we could be married and then I could reveal my secret. But by then she wouldn't care, because she would love me. But at first it was too dangerous, Akane had a temper that shouldn't be messed with. She was never one to take a situation calmly, so I thought it best to sit back and tell her the truth about my curse when the timing was right.

"Well, as it turns out, Akane was in love with Ranma, and vice-versa, even though they never verbally expressed their feelings to each other. As her pet, she told me everything; this included her feelings for that womanizing jerk who somehow had won her affections through his torture and daily breaking of her heart. It came to a point where I realized that she didn't love me as anything more than Pchan, and she never would. As Ryoga I was her friend, a valuable friend who would be there through anything. But that wasn't enough for me. I couldn't stand to be with her when I knew that our friendship wouldn't grow into something more.

"A few years passed, and we all remained friends; Ranma, Akane, and I. The two of them eventually married and started up the dojo again, with students and everything. I hung around for a while after the wedding, but once this event was over and done with, and there was no hope to ever make Akane mine, I retreated. I told everyone that I was going on a training trip to the mountains and wouldn't be back for some time. They all just nodded; whenever I left I was gone for a considerable period of time. They all just saw this as something normal and didn't think twice about it. `That's Ryoga, always getting lost, he'll be back soon.' This may be what pushed me over the edge. I felt like I was going to explode. That's when I decided that this time, I wouldn't be back. This time they wouldn't find me. And I almost didn't want them to. I had put up with being lost and returning, only to have my heart broken each time by Akane, although I'm sure she had no idea what she was doing to me, treating me like no more than a friend.

"Remember when I told you earlier that loneliness is a disease, one that eats away at you until there's nothing left? I had put up my whole life with being alone. I hardly saw my parents; they were also eternally lost, like myself. I spent all my time being by myself, on training trips, or just wandering until I could find my way back to the Tendo Dojo, where I could be with my one and only love. But after the wedding, realizing that Akane could and never would be mine, knowing that to her I was just another face in the crowd of potential suitors, it was just too much. Unconsciously rejected by the only person who mattered to me, that ruined me. I ran off, determined not to be found. Of course, things never work out in my favor, and I was discovered; not by the Tendos, not by Ranma, not by any of my other friends (although I did hear that after several months they looked for me, and when they found nothing, returned to their daily lives), but by the one person who I shouldn't have ever talked to. But at the time she was my refuge, she was my savior, she was the only person who cared if I lived or died.

"She liked pigs, which was a bonus, I guess. I mean, she liked it when I turned into Pchan, and then the hot water was always inconveniently turned off, but that was ok, she said she loved me and only wanted us to be happy. And she was happy when I was a pig, so I decided I could live with that. (Being a pig isn't that bad, although she seems to like me better as Pchan than as Ryoga. Funny how that works, isn't it?) I moved in with the girl and her father, and they gave me a good home. Not too long after, we married and now have 3 small children, 2 boys and a girl, who looks rather like Akane, much to my demise. I look back on all of this and realize that running away from the ones who loved me was a bad idea, but there's no turning back now. It's been too long, I'm in too deep, and there's no where I can go. My wife would just find me, anyway. Despite my getting lost, she always finds me. Even if I wanted to leave, she would just bring me back, back here to the life that I didn't chose on purpose, rather out of necessity, but it was a choice that shaped my life for the rest of my life. And there's nothing I can do about it now."

"Ryo-chan, who are you talking to?"

"No one, Akari, dear."

"Come here then, I have a new training technique that I want you to test with Katsunishiki!"

"I'll be there in a minute, I'm talking to..."

*SPLASH*

"Bweeee!!!!"

"See, I told you it was a mistake that I married her! Now if only I could go back in time and convince Akane that I'm the one..."

THE END

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8/22/03

Author's Notes: I wrote this a few days after my sister ran away; writing is my way of dealing with things, and this is what came out. Also, it's interesting to think about how Ryoga really feels about getting the shaft of Ranma and Akane's relationship, so this also deals with that!

C & C are welcome, but please, no big flames!

Supergirl371@hotmail.com

TendoAkane