Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Uncute ❯ Prologue

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

TITLE: Uncute
BY: Jessi
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Ranma 1/2 characters.
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Ranma and Akane were outside in the dojo, sparring. Ranma was beating Akane, and she was getting angry. Ranma dealt the final blow, and Akane fumed.
"Ha! I beat you again, you uncute tomboy! You'd think that as manly as you are, you'd at least be able to put up a fight against me!" Ranma teased. "Ranma!!" Akane shouted before she beat him into the ground. As Ranma lay twitching on the floor, Akane ran from the dojo.
*That jerk! He knows that he's one of the best martial artists in Nerima! Why does he have to rub it in so much?* Akane thought as she took the stairs two at a time.
Akane walked to the bathroom, and ran the bathwater, she wasn't going to bother washing before she hopped in the tub. She stripped off her gi, but before she climbed in the bathtub, she looked in the full length mirror hanging on the wall. *Is that why Ranma thinks I'm so tomboyish? Because, he thinks I'm... fat??? It's.. true. I am fat. I'm like a hippo!* Akane thought in horror. *It's time I went on a diet!! That'd show Ranma that I am cute! Hmph!* Akane decided.
She climbed into the bathtub, and let the warm water override her thoughts.
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Ranma laid on his futon, thinking about the incident in the dojo. *Geez, why do girls have to be so damn sensitive! You'd think by now that Akane would know that I really don't mean all those things I say..! How could I? Especially since she's so.. cute.* Ranma thought. Mulling over his thoughts, Ranma rolled over and fell asleep still wondering about Akane.
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The next morning, Kasumi went about preparing breakfast, she was fixing the usual meal that her family ate every morning. As Kasumi fixed breakfast, she hummed happily to herself. All was right with the world for her.
"Good morning, Kasumi," Akane's voice rang from the kitchen threshold. Kasumi turned away from the stove to face her little sister. "Good morning, Akane! You're up early today, aren't you?" Kasumi asked cheerily.
"Yeah I'm up a bit earlier than I usually am during summer break. Actually, I wanted to tell you that I'm not going to be eating the usual breakfast. I think I'm just going to have some fruit and a glass of juice. Okay?" Akane said hesitantly.
Kasumi looked at her questioningly for a moment, then nodded with a smile.
"Thanks Kasumi. I just thought I should let you know so you didn't fix too much food! Well, I think I'm going to go for run. I'll be back before too long!" Akane added as she walked out the door.
"Okay Akane! Have a nice jog!" Kasumi said to an empty kitchen.
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Three months later...
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Akane stood in the bathroom, looking in the mirror. In all honesty, Akane had lost quite a bit of weight dieting, but she did not see that she was as skinny as a twig.
She sank into a naked heap on the bathroom floor, sobbing.
*I tried so hard to lose weight! I dieted, and exercised, and did everything that you should do to lose weight! And still, no results! And obviously Ranma hasn't noticed, he still calls me tomboyish and sexless... What else can I do!?* Akane cried to herself.
After Akane had laid on the floor for several minutes, she suddenly sat up, looking thoughtful. Akane got a grin on her face and went downstairs to the kitchen.
Looking around to make sure that no one was around, Akane opened the refrigerator, and pulled out some food. She sat down at the table, and began to eat. Akane ate a lot of food, most of it junk food, but she just ate and ate with a grin on her face. When Akane finished her food, she went upstairs to the bathroom.
Akane locked the door after checking that there was nobody in the halls. She walked to the toilet, and kneeled down in front of it. Taking two fingers, Akane slowly stuck them down her throat, as far as they could go. Choking, she quickly pulled them out. Akane had tears in her eyes, why she didn't know, but they were there.
She tried again, and again, each time pulling her fingers back up because of the uncomfortable feeling. When Akane pulled her fingers back, there was mucus and spit covering them, as well as gastric juices from her stomach that came up with the gags.
"Dammit! It's going to work this time!" Akane whispered to herself. Without hesitation, Akane rammed three of her fingers down her throat as far as she could, and pressed against the back of her esophagus. She made several disgusting gagging noises, and then she convulsed, and vomit came shooting up her throat and into the toilet.
Akane stood up, with a grin on her face, but tears in her eyes, and wiped her mouth before brushing her teeth.
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Ranma walked into the house, and ran up the steps to the upper floor. As he walked past the bathroom, Akane walked out.
"Hey, Akane. Where is everybody?" Ranma asked. Akane shrugged and entered her bedroom.
Ranma looked at Akane with confusion, but dismissed her odd behavior. He went into the bathroom, and was met by the smell of vomit.
"Eww! What a smell! I guess Akane had a stomach ache or something," Ranma assumed. He opened the window to air out the smell, and rinsed his face with cool water, he had been sparring with Kuno before he came home.
He left the bathroom, and went downstairs. Ranma flopped onto the couch to read a magazine, but his thoughts soon changed course.
*Akane has been losing A LOT of weight lately. She looks great! And she's getting stronger because of all the exercising she's been doing. She's gonna be able to beat the shit out of me before I know it! Well, maybe not, but she'll be more of a fight than she used to be!* Ranma thought.
*I wonder if she has a stomach ache, I guess I better go talk to her.*
Ranma left the couch and headed upstairs.
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Akane sat on her bed, thinking about what she had just done. It certainly wasn't a pleasant sensation, not at all. It burned her throat a bit, and puke in the toilet wasn't at all pretty. Her eyes watered when she did it, and pressing on the back of her throat was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. For a moment, doubt overcame her.
*I'm playing with fire doing this. We studied eating disorders in school, I know what will probably happen to me if I continue doing this. Is it really worth it?* Akane wondered. She quickly shook all doubts away, and nodded. "Yes, it IS worth it," She said quietly.
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One month later...
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Akane stood in the bathroom, on the scale. She now weighed 92 pounds. Four months ago, she weighed a healty 120. Akane looked at her frame, quite a small build, acutually. She had purged each time she had eaten since that fateful day when she did it the first time. The results were still not what Akane had hoped for, but there were other things happening to Akane's body, that she just hadn't noticed.
Her hair had started falling out, due to lack of nutrition. She could no longer break cinder blocks. She couldn't even jump high enough to evade a low kick anymore. Akane was weak and as frail as an elderly lady. But she did not notice, or did not care.
She bent over the toilet, and continued her ritual.
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Ranma was jogging around the block, thinking.
*Akane's lost even more weight lately. And the smell of vomit is constantly in the bathroom now. Her hair's falling out, too. I've noticed it all over the floor in the bathroom! I wonder if anyone's noticed it, too.*
He finished his final lap, and found Kasumi in the yard, hanging laundry.
"Hey, Kasumi," Ranma said by way of greeting. "Hello, Ranma. Did you have a nice jog?" she asked.
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, it was fine. I wanted to ask you something, actually," Ranma said hesitantly.
"Go ahead, Ranma. You can always talk to me"
"Umm... okay. Well, Akane's been losing a lot of weight lately, you've noticed it, right?" Ranma asked.
"Yes, Akane is on a diet, Ranma. Why?" Kasumi asked.
"Oh... she's on a diet, then. Umm... nevermind Kasumi," Ranma said slowly. He walked inside the house, still thinking.
*Akane's on a diet? But she's losing hair, the bathroom always smells of puke, and Akane's getting thinner and thinner. And she can't even break her cinder blocks anymore! She can't evade kicks or anything anymore, either.* Ranma thought. He thought some more.
Ranma thought back to school, where they had learned in health class about eating disorders. One of them, called bulimia nervosa, bulimia in short, was where a person eats large amounts of food, and then gags themself or uses a laxative to get the food out of the system. A bulimic would lose large amounts of weight, hair, and would become weak from malnutrition.
He sat up, mind and heart racing. *Is Akane a bulimic?*
He ran up the stairs, two at a time, to the bathroom. He tried the handle, but it was locked so he listened at the door. Inside, he could hear the sounds of a person gagging, and then the sound of something hitting water.
Ranma was scared, and he broke down the door. A startled Akane was kneeling in front of the toilet, fingers in her mouth.
"Ranma! What are you doing!!!" Akane said angrily.
"What am I doing? What the hell are YOU doing? Geez, Akane! I know what you're doing! I'm not stupid OR blind! I don't know why Nabiki hasn't noticed! You fed Kasumi that bull shit about a diet, but I know that you have an eating disorder! Why didn't Nabiki notice it, Akane? She's perceptive about these things. Why didn't she figure it out!?!" Ranma yelled.
Akane looked stunned. "Ranma, I can take care of myself. I don't have an eating disorder. My weight is perfectly UNDER CONTROL! So you need to leave me alone, I'm FINE!!!" Akane shouted. She pushed past him at the door, walking around splintered wood.
"Akane, you're sick! I'm going to talk to Nabiki about what the HELL is going on. About why she hasn't noticed anything wrong. Dammit, Akane! You're sick, and you NEED HELP," Ranma shouted after her.
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Nabiki stood in her room, her listening glass pressed against the wall of her bedroom, which was immediately adjacent to the bathroom. She listened to Ranma and Akane arguing with wide eyes.
*Ranma's right! Why didn't I notice that there was something wrong with Akane??? I can't believe that Ranma was perceptive enough to realize what was happening with my sister! But what do I do now?* Nabiki thought.
Nabiki left her room, and saw Ranma sitting outside Akane's bedroom, a mixture of worry and anger on his features.
"Ranma?" Nabiki said tentatively.
"You heard it, didn't you, Nabiki? Why didn't you realize what was happening to Akane?" Ranma asked blankly.
Nabiki was speechless for a moment before collecting herself.
"I don't know why I never noticed all the signs. I suppose I was so absorbed in keeping this family on its feet financially that I never.. took time... to notice what was happening to the family's members. I'm sorry, Ranma. But I know now. What are we going to do?" Nabiki said shamefuully.
Ranma looked at Nabiki. "I don't know. Akane has Kasumi fooled, she thinks Akane is on a diet. Pops and your dad are completely oblivious to what happens around here, too. So the only people that know, are me and you. What CAN we do? She'll get too sick. She'll hurt herself, and she'll wind up in the hospital," Ranma said sadly.
Nabiki nodded, "I know. And Akane's stubborn as a mule. She won't stop because of us. Kasumi won't believe us, she'll say 'If Akane says she's alright, Akane is alright.' So it's up to the two of us. We need to keep your dad and my dad out of this. They'll get worked up and screw things up. Now, we need to find a way to make Akane see what she's doing to herself. But for now, keep an eye on her, okay Ranma?"
"I know, I will."
"Well, Ranma. I'll work on the plan, you just watch Akane. Agreed?" Nabiki asked.
Ranma nodded.
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Inside Akane's room, Akane listened to the quiet voices outside her bedroom. She put two and two together, and realized that Ranma and Nabiki were going to ruin her life. They were going to ruin her life because Akane's life now revolved around food and purging. Her every thought was centered around finding food, and then finding a bathroom to throw it up.
*I won't let them ruin MY life! I need to get out of this place! At least, until I'm skinny enough to make Ranma love me!!!* Akane thought.
She began gathering together a few things and stuffed them in a duffel bag, and threw it out the window. She would not be able to support her own weight and the weight of the bag as she climbed out the window, she was too weak. Akane carefully examined the side of the house outside her room to find the easiest way down. Of course, she would normally have just jumped, but in her current condition, she would have broken her neck. Akane found her route, and carefully climbed down, slipping every so often.
When on the ground, Akane gathered up her bag, and looked around her backyard for what could be the last time in a very long while. Her eyes lingered on the laundry that Kasumi had hung to dry several hours ago, she would miss Kasumi dearly. Then she looked to the roof, where Ranma spent much of his time. She would miss Ranma most of all, but he was trying to ruin her. She would show him! And Akane took off into the dusk, thinking subconsciously how she was going to survive in her condition.
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"Where's Akane?? I haven't seen her since last evening!" Kasumi asked Ranma.
"Well, I last saw her go into her room, and to my knowledge, she hasn't left it since!" Ranma said.
"But, I just checked her room, and she wasn't there, Ranma," Kasumi sighed.
Ranma immediately looked panicked. He ran to Akane's room, leaving Kasumi standing in the parlor, confused.
"Akane!" Ranma shouted when he banged open her door. He glanced around, and noticed that her closet door was open, and that some of her clothing was gone. He noticed that her large yellow duffel bag was also gone from it's place near the foot of her bed.
"Oh no." Ranma whispered.
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"Tendo residance," Nabiki spoke into the mouthpiece of the telephone.
"Huh? Hmm. Uh huh. Okay, we'll be right down," Nabiki said before hanging up.
"Ranma!! Kasumi! Father! Mr. Saotome!" Nabiki yelled urgently through the house. Everyone came running immediately at the note of urgency in Nabiki's usually calm voice.
"Nabiki! Akane's gone! I don't know where she could have gone!" Ranma yelled as he tripped down the stairs.
"She's at the hopital, Ranma. Apparently, she ran away last night, and collapsed from malnutrition about a mile from here. The police picked her up, and she's being treated in the hospital. We're to go there as soon as we can," Nabiki explained to the group of people surrounding her.
"Oh my poor daughter!" Soun cried before fainting.
Kasumi rushed over to help him, but Nabiki put out a hand to stop her.
"Leave him be, Kasumi. He would just freak out when he saw Akane anyway. Come on, he'll be alright. Let's go to the hospital," Nabiki said.
Kasumi hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her coat and followed the others out the door.
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"Nabiki Tendo? Hello, I am Dr. Fujiro," a young man approached the Tendos and two Saotomes.
"Hello Doctor. Will my sister be okay?" Nabiki asked.
The young doctor sighed, and took a seat across from them.
"Apparently, your sister is a victim of an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa. Bulimics eat food, usually large amounts, and then throw up or take laxatives to rid themselves of it. According to the tests, your sister has been a bulimic for at least two months," the doctor explained.
"Will she be okay?" Ranma asked after being silent for a while.
The doctor sighed again, "Because her case is mild, she will recover. But not for at least 8 months to a year. Would you like to see her?" He asked.
Ranma nodded, and they followed the doctor to Akane's room.
*She will be okay...* Ranma thought to himself.
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AUTHOR'S COMMENTS: The ending was awful, but I didn't want this to be incredibly long. This is my first one-shot. I wrote this for two reasons, 1) Because I've never read anything involving Ranma that was centered around and eating disorder, and 2) Because eating disorders are serious problems. And while you cannot die from bulimia nervosa, you can be seriously harmed and cause other problems to your body. 8 months to a year of recovery from bulimia is a very short recovery period, as usually it can take sometimes up to 10 years. The other major eating disorder is known as anorexia nervosa. An anorexic will stop eating comletely and has a great fear of food and gaining weight. Anorexia can be fatal. Most anorexics are also bulimics. If you, or someone you know, has an eating disorder, please, seek help.