Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Silent Warrior ❯ Ah Decisions, Decisions ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8 Ah, Decisions, Decisions

The tension was high around the breakfast table Saturday morning at the Saotome house. Ranma sat curiously watching his father fidget and take nervous glances in his mother's direction. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night do to his little chat with his mother and his restlessness during that nightmare, so he was too tired to question his father's actions. He did however; notice the wrapped bundle that his mother would finger ever so often. She had it lying across her lap.

Ranma looked up towards the clock on the wall and realized he had to get going so he wouldn't be late to school. He quickly finished off the rest of his breakfast, and drained his tea while he stood. "I gotta get going, I'll see yall later." He said grabbing his bento from the kitchen cabinet, and heading for the door. He sat down by the small shoe rack and slipped on his black slippers.

"Have a good day son. I believe your father and I have much to discuss while you're gone, so why don't you find something to do for this afternoon until dinner." Nodoka said, never taking her eyes off her husband. Genma just cringed away from her and strangely wished he had some cold water…for what reason, he didn't know. ( ^_^ )

"Okay mom, my friends and I were planning on going out somewhere later anyway. Don't worry about dinner; I'll be getting home a little late." Ranma didn't know how late the movie would be running, and he didn't want to disappoint his mother by not showing up for the dinner she would prepare for him.

"Alright dear, have a good time." Nodoka grinned evilly as she thought up many ways to interrogate her husband. 'Oh, decisions, decisions…'

Ranma had once again met Akane and Nabiki at the entrance to their school later that morning. They exchanged pleasantries and began making their way inside. It was nice being able to actually walk into school and not have to worry about being jumped from every direction.

Both Ranma and Akane were smiling and chatting adamantly while Nabiki just walked next to them looking uninterested. But that look suddenly took on a look of shock at the sight before her. Nabiki's two companions had yet to notice what she saw. '…What the hell' Nabiki thought.

"Saotome!" Both Ranma and Akane cringed at that voice. They both mentally cursed at themselves for actually thinking they would go a day in peace. Both turned their heads towards the direction of the voice. Both pairs of eyes went to the size of saucers and their jaws hung limp. A sight no one had ever seen before was standing in front of them.

There, garbed in a normal blue Furinkan High School uniform and missing his usual 'glorious' weapon…was Tatewaki Kuno. No samurai clothing and no bokken in sight. Ranma finally shook his head to clear himself out of his stupor as Kuno started to approach. Ranma immediately tensed up preparing to defend himself.

<BOOM> The whole student body simultaneously facefaulted at the sight of the 'Mighty Blue Thunder of Furinkan High' prostrated himself before Ranma and Akane. They recovered in time to hear him speak.

"I am here before you for three reasons today," he said loud enough for all to hear. "The first is to thank you, Ranma Saotome, for forcing me to see my own idiocy, and also I wish to apologize for the cowardly acts that I have committed towards you. Your defeat made me somehow open my eyes to the real world. And for that I am in your debt." He then brought his head up and looked at Akane. Then, once again he bowed his head to the ground.

"Akane Tendo, I am deeply sorry for my previous actions. They were truly dishonorable and cowardly. I will no longer pursue you for your affections. I am also, in your debt." Once again Kuno rose, this time standing up. He walked back towards the front doors of the school and stood upon the steps. He turned to face all the watchful, wide-eyed members of the student body.

"Fellow students. The third reason I am here is to apologize to all of you. My actions up to a few days ago were mere results of a delusional mind. I have caused much grief to many of you, and for that I truly am sorry." He bows deeply at the waist. He rises moment later and stares at Ranma and Akane.

"Please, I know what I did caused you both to despise me very deeply, but I have been, you could say, 'born again.' I would greatly be honored if you all would give me another chance at friendship. I have overcome my former self and wish to truly be happy, and not merely feel joy in my own mind." He bows once more and awaits their answer.

Kuno suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up. Ranma is staring down at him with a small smile on his face. "Everyone deserves a second chance Kuno. And you are not an exception. I would not only be happy to be your first friend, but I would truly be honored." Ranma extends his right hand in a western style handshake.

Kuno gets a relieved smile, and grasps the hand firmly. "You are truly a great man Ranma Saotome. Truly great." He gives their grasped hands one firm shake. Akane approaches from their side. Kuno looks to the ground.

"I can forgive you Kuno. Though it will take time, I also believe I could be your friend." She gives him a small smile. Ranma grins towards her and gives a nod of his head in approval. Kuno lets out the breath he was holding and grins towards her.

"Thank you Tendo-san, for giving me a chance." Kuno says as he releases Ranma's hand. "Well, we shouldn't be late to class. We best get going." He says gesturing to the door. The three walk through.

Back in the yard, the students are still staring wide-eyed with sweatdrops on the back of their heads. Nabiki is frowning. "Well, there goes half my income…" she mumbles as she stalks into the school.

It is now noon for the residents of Nerima. The students at Furinkan are starting to file out of the school quickly. Many shouts and cheers are heard as they run off with their friends or head home for the weekend. Ranma and Akane exit together with Nabiki close behind.

"So Ran-chan, what did you think of your first week of school?" asked Akane as they head for the gate. She peers over to him.

"It was great, never a dull moment at this place. Made some great friends too." says Ranma, smiling to Akane.

Akane blushes and turns away. 'God I love that smile,' she thinks to her self grinning slightly herself. Then she mentally slaps herself. 'Gah, what the hell! Hes just a boy!' she screams in her head. She looks over to him again. 'A cute boy though…'

Ranma had watched the short play of emotions on Akane's face and decided not to ask about them. He brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head as he suddenly gets a little nervous. "Hey…Kane-chan. I don't have anything to do until we meet the others tonight. So, uhh… I was wondering if you would like to spar or something until then?" He asks as he watches her through the corner of his eye. He grins when he sees her smile at him.

"Sure Ranma, you can come over to my house and we can use our dojo. You can meet my father and older sister too." She says cheerfully. 'Maybe he'll take me seriously…'

"Great, lead the way!" says Ranma as they make their way out of the gate. Nabiki had decided to speak with her business cohorts briefly, so she stayed behind.

Both make their way down the street towards the Tendo Dojo.

"Hmm…Uchan's…this place has the same name as an old friend of mine…" Ranma thinks out loud. They had passed the soon-to-be-open restraunt on the way to Akane's home. "Hey, and its gonna be an Okynomiaki (A/N spelling?) Shop too. I wonder if it IS her?"

'Her! Why that…that, wait a second…he said friend…' Akane blinks, 'Why the hell should I care!' "Old girlfriend?" She asks in a voice symbolizing that she couldn't really careless.

Ranma nods. "Yea, she was great." He says wistfully. A vain pops out of Akane's forehead and a small red glow appears around her. She's about to reach for Mallet-sama when he continues. "Yup, we were five at the time. She was my first real friend. Best friend actually." He says facing forward.

'Five…best friend?' the glow immediately disappears and Mallet-sama drops back into hammer-space. She shakes her head. 'There's no way I like this guy…' she trails off as she looks at him and sees him smile towards her. She blushes. 'Why can't he just be like all the other jerks...?'

"Tadaima!" yelled Akane as she slipped off her shoes and placed them in the small footlocker by the door. Ranma waited right outside the door. Akane was about to walk to the living room when she noticed Ranma wasn't with her. She turned and looked at him. "Well come on. Come meet my dad." She said motioning him inside.

Ranma nodded and removed is shoes in the same fashion as his friend. He took a quick look around as he did so. The house was nice, cleanly kept and seemed to give a traditional feel to the modern age.

Ranma followed Akane into what seemed to be the living room. A man was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. The paper hid the man's features, so Ranma couldn't get a good look at him.

"Daddy, I'd like you to meet my friend Ranma. Ranma, this is the master of this dojo, Soun Tendo." Akane gestured back and forth between them. The paper in Mr. Tendo's hand was neatly folded by him and Ranma now got a good look at Soun. He was of a slight build, signifying he was never very powerful, but most likely quick and agile. He had a thin black mustache that covered his upper lip and long black hair that ran freely down his back. All and all Ranma could tell he was once very good in the Art, but lack of practice has lead to skill loss.

Soun Tendo looked the boy over. 'Hmm, well built…has a presence of a great martial artist. His posture is relaxed yet prepared to do battle at a moments notice. He's a handsome fellow too.' He looked to his daughter and almost lost it and broke down crying. 'Oh happy day. My girl is growing up!!' Suddenly his posture straightened up and he took on a serious tone. "Very well son, you have my permission to court my daughter." He nods solemnly.

<BOOM><BOOM> Ranma and Akane promptly facefaulted. Akane is the first to recover. "DAD!! HE AND I ARE NOT DATING!!" she screamed getting red in the face, though from anger or embarrassment no one will ever know.

Ranma stood up and stared at the confrontation in front oh him. Akane was leaning forward towards her father and had her fist clenched. Soun sat calmly staring at his daughter in a wise, solemn position. He seemed to take on an air of superiority and Ranma waited for him to scold his daughter for raising her voice to him. Then…

"WAAHHHHHHHHH!! MY DAUGHTER YELLED AT ME!!!" two streams of tears sprung forth like a busted water pipe. Ranma has to dive to his right to stay dry. "KASUMI!!! AKANE HATES ME!! WAAHHHHHHH!!!" Soun continues to bawl. Akane just puts her head in her hands and slightly shakes it, trying to hide her embarrassment. Then a very familiar face came in from what seemed to be the kitchen.

'Kasumi…' Ranma thinks as he watches her make her way over to her father.

"There, there father. Akane doesn't hate you. She loves you very much." Kasumi said in a soothing tone as she pats the crying man on the back. Ranma's eyes widen as he senses a HUGE aura of calmness being emitted from the older girl. He watches in awe as it seems someone had shut off the valve to the busted pipe immediately, and Soun was now calm again.

'Wow…' he thinks in awe, as the aura disappears. He continues to stare at Kasumi.

Akane notices this. 'Baka…what is he looking at. He's probably undressing my sister with his eyes…Grrr." Akane thinks. "And what are YOU looking at, RAN-CHAN?" she says very sarcastically. Her anger begins to rise.

"That…that…" Ranma stutters.

'PERVERT! HE 'IS' THINKING THAT!' A mallet appears in her hands and she makes her way over to her 'friend.' She hefts it up over her head as he continues to stare at Kasumi. She feels tears coming to her eyes. 'First Dr. Tofu…and now…now HIM!' she thinks. "RAN-CHAN NO BAKA!!"

"THAT AURA…" states Ranma taking two steps towards the direction he had seen Akane last. "Kane-chan did you feel…"

<WHOOOSH> Mallet-sama strikes dead onto its intended target…only the target had moved two steps in its wielders direction. So instead of hitting Ranma squarely on the head, it misses and ends up hitting air. There was only one problem with this. You see, Akane was wielding Mallet-sama two handed, and the blow was of the overhead type. Since Ranma had taken two steps towards her, when she brought both arms down for the blow, she missed. Doing so caused both her arms to spread apart to make room for her targets head which was now only inches from her. Splitting her arms ended up making her drape both arms around said targets neck. And Ranma being the kind gentleman he is, graciously caught his friend from falling by grabbing her by the waste…lets just say, this ended up being a VERY awkward situation.

She could feel his warm breath caress her cheek. Her body shuttered at the feel. He was no different. Their height difference caused her breath to travel over his throat, and his breath caught at the sensation. Akane slowly looked up as Ranma peered down. Their eyes met, and the entire world seemed to freeze around them. They were no longer in a house, but in an endless field of flowers. The breeze lightly brushed at their hair and clothing. The sun, off to the west is slowly descending as it travels to its daily resting place over the horizon. Akane's lips parted and she gently licked them, then she lightly bit her lower lip. A blush is seen on both of their cheeks. Ranma slowly took in her scent in one deep breath, and closed his eyes as his mind is assaulted with her beautiful fragrance. He opens his eyes and looks into her deep, deep beautiful brown eyes.

As she looked back up to him she noticed how firm, and warm his body felt against hers. She peered into his deep blue eyes, and felt herself drowning in them. Both slowly started to move towards each other, Ranma gently dipping his head and tightening his grasp on her waste. Akane lifted up onto her tip-toes and raised her head up. Closer they came, closer. He could feel her breath caressing his lips. She slightly parted her lips as her eyes started to droop. Closer…closer. Now two inches…one…a half…and then…

"WAAAAHHHHHHHH!! MY BABIES GROWING UP!! SHE'S GONNA LEAVE ME FOR SOME MAN!! WAAAAHHHHHH" they were snapped back to reality by Soun's wailing.

They were both at opposite sides of the room the instant they broke apart. Both were trying to catch their breath and keep their heart from jumping out of their chests. They briefly peered at each other, and quickly turned away, blushing even darker. "I…uhh…I…umm," Ranma tried to say, but he could still feel her breath on his lips. He licked them unconsciously. 'Oh man…'

"Well…umm…yea…" Akane was no better. Her body tingled with the memory of his body pressed against her. 'Wow…'

"Oh my! Ranma-kun. Its nice to see you again. Would you like some tea?" Kasumi's calming aura went out full blast as she spoke. Ranma and Akane could feel the tension in their bodies fade away. Ranma smiled. 'That's a useful technique she has, I'll have to ask her about it sometime.' He looks over at Akane and feels the heat come to his face once again. 'Man…I can't believe we almost…jeez…' he turned back to Kasumi and smiled. "It's a pleasure to see you again Kasumi. How have you been? Well I hope?"

Kasumi smiled her pleasant little smile. "Yes I have Ranma-kun. How about you?" she raises an eyebrow and looks from Ranma to Akane. "I'm glad to see you both have become such good friends." She said. Kasumi almost…ALMOST lost her serene composure as she sees both go as red as a stop sign. (A/N OH LORDY! God forbid that happening to Kasumi! ::peers around waiting for the world to callapse in on itself::) ( ^_~)

"Umm…yea. Well we umm, just come to spar a little before we go out…WITH THE OTHERS…umm, yeah." Ranma hasn't felt this embarrassed since his father tossed him into the girl's side of the public bath in Nagasaka when he was 12. He slightly grinds his toe into the floorboards.

"Yea…uhh, spar, that's right…let's go Ranma!" Akane says as she races towards the back door, grabbing Ranma's arm on the way out. Kasumi and Soun just blink.

"Oh my…"

Akane and Ranma are now sparring inside the dojo. Neither ones mind is really on it as they try to sort out their feelings. They nonchalantly trade blows. High kicks, leg sweeps, haymakers, right hooks, palm strikes, and roundhouses; all are only preformed with half an effort.

'I don't believe what we almost…I mean, with a BOY for crying out loud!!' Akane thinks as she throws a left handed punch. 'There's no way I can like him he's…he's…well he's a BOY!' she mentally screams.

'I thought she didn't like me like that…she said it herself.' Ranma thinks. 'Why would someone like her want me anyway? Its not like I can give her anything. I have no money, no nice gifts all those books said girls like. No…she couldn't like me. That was just an accident.'

Back and forth they trade blows. One would be pushed back, then the other. But as this is going on, one thought is going through both their minds…

"There's no way he likes me like that…"

"There's no way she likes me like that…"

Ranma is slowly walking home from his date…err get together with Akane and his friends. It had gone great. Sayori had smashed her ice cream cone into Hiroshi's face when he tried to 'wipe' away a bit of chocolate that had fallen onto her breast. Everyone had fallen over laughing at that. They had sat and talked for an hour in the booth at the ice-cream parlor. Then they had proceeded to the movie theatre. The girls had insisted on seeing some sappy love show with lots of loving and absolutely no action.

Ranma and the guys had almost fallen asleep when he heard a slight 'sob' come from his right. 'Akane…' he thought as he saw her, tissue in hand, crying softly as she watched the movie. Nervously he had reached over and lightly grasped her hand in his. She had jumped slightly at the contact, but then gave him a small smile and a squeeze to say it was alright. Five minutes later, she had leaned her head slightly on Ranma's shoulder, and it was safe to say that he was wide awake for the rest of the show. The warm feeling that she had left in his arm had yet to subside.

He absently rubbed the arm she was leaning on as he opened the gate to his house. 'Man…I don't know what to think. Those damn books never said anything about this…' he quietly unlocked the front door and stepped inside. He stopped suddenly when his eyes caught sight of bloody bandages on the table in the dining room.

"Hello son, did you have a nice time?" his mother said in a happy tone.

Over in the corner of the room, was Genma cowering like a beaten puppy. Small cuts were all over his body, and his gee hung limply from his torso. Ranma saw the hurt in his eyes, the pain from all his wounds, and the pleading of his gaze that seemed to say, 'please son…HELP ME!'

Ranma thought back to all the loving moments with his father on their trip, all the loving embraces, all the encouraging words. He said the next few words from the bottom of his heart, pouring all his soul into it. Nodoka and Genma watched him as he opened his mouth and said his righteous words…

"Damn mom…you're good with that sword! ( O_o )

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Author Notes:

::Slams fists into the keyboard over and over in frustration:: Damn you Soun!!! Damn you to hell!! How could you do that, they were so close! What insensitive bastard would write this fanfiction like that!! ::looks at the keyboard in front of him and looks down at himself, then back to the computer screen:: <sweatdrop>

Hehe, anyway, don't worry folks; I'm not done with Genma by a long shot. And what's this I see? Is that an advancement in a relationship I see? And Kuno…is normal? Man, lots of wackiness is showing itself around every corner. And who was that shadowed person in the hall? (Note: If your don't know…you don't watch enough Ranma ½ )

Anyway, hoped you liked it. That was my first attempt at a WAFFY scene. I'm sure more will come soon enough. With who involded…Heh, I'm not telling. ( : P )

Next Up: A new player enters the scene to shake things up a bit. Keep reading to find out who it is.

Thx a lot and keep reviewing. Love the comments and suggestions.

Eternal Flame