Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Savior: The Prophecy ❯ Fulfilling the Prophecy: Reminiscing ( Chapter 1 )

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

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any of its characters. I use their characters only to make Fanfiction. They all belong to Rumiko Takaheshi.

Author's Notes: I hafta tell you this before I continue with the story. For thorough fanfic readers out there who keep record of all the writers and their fanfics, not seeing my name anywhere in the site isn't a coincidence. I am a newbie. I really don't know the common way to write some things or what to write, and I'm clueless about the meanings of a lot of terms people use in their stories. In other words, I'm inexperienced in a lot of places, so please don't blame me for anything I do wrong.


   Btw, to Serath. It seems you found my account on MM.Org. For your info, yes I’m alive. I’ll also be looking forward to hearing from you again. *smiles*


   Also, if anyone ain't busy, help me out by giving me some advice, either through reviews or by e-mail (tjmenesesyahoo.com). Or, if you're interested, give me your pen name, so I can send story drafts for prereading, 'cuz my list is pretty empty. I wasn't able to write this on my prologue piece 'cuz it was already complete, and I don't wanna mess it up more than I already have.

   Now that I'm done with that, let's continue on with the story!

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Vampire Savior: by firagabird
Fulfilling the Prophecy, Chapter 1: Reminiscing

Symbols:

"speaking"
'th inking'
*effects*
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
   Flashba ck
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   Nerima is definitely a more than ordinary place. Over the past two years, it has become the largest magnet for, well, just about anything you can think of, really. Actually it still is, but things calmed down a little since the world was looking for anything else it could throw at it, on some occasions even literately. It seems like almost everyday, martial artists, mysterious men, or inhuman entities would come barging into this district with some sort of crazy revenge or insane obligation, or something. Overtime, though, these sorts of things became normal, and soon people all over Nerima became used to the seemingly unbelievable occurrences as they flowed into the district like an open faucet. In fact, the original and main magnet of these day to day phenomena, being a phenomenon himself when he came to Nerima, and also the target for many others, can be currently seen flying... falling from LEO (lower earth orbit), to the sidewalk next to a restaurant.

*Thud!*

   Ranma, who just turned eighteen a few weeks ago, landed head-first with his face firmly planted to the concrete, leaving a mold-like shape of his body on it. He winced in pain as he felt some of his joints pop out from its socket.
   "Does she always hafta do that?" he asked to no one in particular. This event occurred at an almost daily basis. A passerby who was walking near him ignored it, merely shaking her head in mild amazement on how he could have survived that fall like all the other times it happened, as if it were routine. In fact, by the time the passerby had gone, Ranma got himself out of the body-shaped crater, popped all his joints back in their place, and muttered curses to himself for always failing to get out of situations like those, while his feet switched to autopilot and headed back home as he began contemplating on the past few hours.

   He was having a nice day, and he almost came to the point of saying something nice to Akane just a few moments ago. He felt annoyance towards the one who made him end up like this, which by the way wasn't her, but a certain purple-haired Amazon who just had to glomp him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

   The day started out great. He woke up just shortly before his stupid father managed to kick him out of his futon, and he absentmindedly threw him out of the window and into the pond. A panda emerged from it soon after.
   "Growf!" Genma said as he came out of the water, grumbling incomprehensible noises at being beaten before his son could even wake up fully, and proceeded into the house to get some breakfast. 'Damn boy, throwing me out before we could even get a decent sparring match,' Genma thought fumingly. 'He was just lucky this time. Next time, I'll make sure he gets what he deserves.' While he was thinking of new ways of attacking his son, Kasumi handed the panda a kettle of hot water, and he absently used to turn himself back into a man. 'He seems strong enough to be my successor, though, I will give him that,' he suddenly thought, swelling a little with pride, when he shortly thought of all the training and knowledge of the Art he has given him, ignoring everything else he did.

   Back at the guestroom, Ranma finished preparing his things for taking a bath after doing some warm-ups, obviously feeling that the lack of a workout with his pop kept him drowsy.
   "Good thing I was dreamin' about giving that bald old man a hammering in the first place," he said to himself feeling a little bit more active after his kata, and headed straight for the bathroom. Making sure that no one was in there, Ranma put his clothes down in the changing area and started to bathe inside. After a nice soak in the furo, Ranma dried himself up, brushed his teeth, put his clothes on. He opened the door and suddenly came face to face with Akane, obviously about to go in. He thanked the gods that she didn't try to come before he finished, which he knew the cause being that he forgot to hang up the occupied sign. By his past experiences of misfortune, he knew that if she did, he would have his body aching as a result of the major mallet hit he would receive, and it takes a hard hit to hurt Ranma. He also remembered the fact that the only reason he never avoided her mallet was because he knew that being hit by her would make her release the anger she had out of her, and the only reason to make him care enough about her that he would swallow his pride and let himself get hit just to let her anger out, was because he-

   "W-what are you looking at?" Ranma was snapped out of his train of thought when he realized that he was staring at Akane, who was blushing slightly. "I-is there something on my face? Well, w-what?" She asked again, starting to get uncomfortable with the closeness of their bodies and the apparent scrutiny her face was being given, and her eyes focused on the bridge of her nose, trying not to look at Ranma. Ranma was about to stick his foot in his mouth again, but somehow caught it, also feeling the warmth emanating from her form. He tried to look at something else embarrassingly, sensing a blush form on his cheeks, and also feeling as self-conscious as the person next to him.
   "N-nothing," Ranma said, embarrassed at being caught staring at her. They quickly went opposite directions and soon he found himself in his place at the table.

   Genma was too busy thinking his usual thoughts, so he didn't notice Ranma come to the table and start to eat like the human vacuum he was, time seemingly meaningless for the bucket of fat at the moment. Ranma, on the other hand, knew precisely what the time was, and didn't exactly enjoy the idea of being late- not really major a consequence, actually, but also taking into consideration all that water that he would have near him...shiver

   And so, he finished eating his breakfast in under the same time that would take for you to drink a glass of water, and, for the first time in his entire life, was the one waiting for Akane by the front gate.
   'Man, I really must be taking up a lotta time in sparring if I finish later than this,' Ranma mentally whined when Akane showed up a couple of minutes later, finally ready to go to school. "We better get a move on already. I don't wanna be late," Ranma teased Akane. He then took a slightly worried and curious tone when he talked again. "What were ya doin' in the bathroom, anyway?" Akane was about to throw an insult back at Ranma by reflex, and immediately had another blush with the knowledge of herself having a fantasy of an alternate possibility of what he might've done, other than just stare at her, back when she was taking a bath.
   "Uh, nothing important." She definitely didn't wasn't about to tell him THAT. "C-come on, let's go to school already."

   School for Ranma went okay for him, and for once, he didn't meet up with any of his other admirers, fans of both his male and female sides. He also got his report card for this term, and was surprised at his grades. Apart from PE, which was perfect, all of his other subjects were actually okay. This was unusual, considering he was always sleeping at class. With the grades he had, it was as if whenever he took a nap, his eyes were merely closed, but his ears and brain were taking in every boring lecture while he dozed off in class... But that was just unlikely. He knew for a fact, though, that his schoolwork was getting easier these days ever since he turned 18.

   Ah yes, that day of the year... Although the birthday party wasn't much more than a tea ceremony with his parents, there was an exception. He received a gift from Akane; a book about a lot of different styles of martial arts, most of which he hadn't learned of yet. He was overjoyed not only to the fact that, with this book, he could extend his knowledge of the Art, but also because Akane was the one who gave it to him. In his mind, he thought that she cared enough to give him something for his special occasion, and a significant item to him, as well.

   Anyway... When school ended, Ranma and Akane walked back home. Ranma, being in a good mood, wanted to forget his training on the fence for today and walked beside Akane. She smiled inwardly, liking the location he was walking because she could feel his warmth.
   'I just wish he could be like this everyday,' Akane thought, while grinning at the thought of Ranma always being close to her, and her eyes had a glint of mischief as they walked home together, side by side. Ranma was also savoring the feel of her next to him. Her warmth, her scent, her look, even just her presence made him tempted to take her small, warm hand into his large, strong ones and just say that he lo...

   Suddenly a bell ringed, and soon Ranma found himself being glomped at the waist by Shampoo as if he was a huge teddy bear who was too fluffy to not hug with full force.
   "Nihao, Airen!" Shampoo said while glomping him. "Why Airen with Violent Girl? Want date with Shampoo, yes?" Ranma's body quickly stiffened at the glomp of the purple-haired bimbo, his pigtail shot straight up in the air and his mind went to overdrive, thinking of a way to get this Chinese Amazon of him before it was too late, but unfortunately for him, it was too late.

   He sensed the aura of anger surrounding Akane and, quickly after that, felt the pain of a mallet connecting with his face like a train going at full speed, together with the feeling of the arms which were once holding on to him loosen as his body lifted straight into the sky. The the ground became smaller with every second of his trip, courtesy of Akane Mallet Airlines, and he heard Akane's fading voice saying, "RANMA NO BAKA!" Feeling the gravity beckoning on his body, soon he was soon plummeting back to the ground, aimed for the sidewalk of Ucchan's.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

   Ranma didn't mind being malleted because he was too used to that to care. What really pained him was the fact that, when faced with girls, he really was helpless, and Akane would usually take it the wrong way (jump to conclusions), punting him to the sky. His problem with girls came from the fact that he was never taught the proper way to treat them during his ten-year training trip. The only thing he knew about girls was in part of the martial artist's oath, stating that the female gender tended to be weak and that they must be protected. Other than that, women were a complete mystery to him. Most of his fiancés were a complete contrast of what he learned, further deepening his clueless ness of the opposite gender, and with Akane, whenever he tried to protect her, she seemed to only be enraged, thinking that he thought of her as being helpless, something she also took the wrong way. All in all, he just wished he could know how to deal with women, and that someone would pop up, just like everyone else in this place, and help him out. Little did he know, though, that his wish would be granted, and the things that came with it would be unimaginable. While Ranma was busy thinking, he failed to notice the shadowy figure that was spying on him and was following him from the crater.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   Ranma reached the Tendo dojo in a little before a half-hour since his crash. Along the way, he was considering what to do when Akane showed up. He thought of two options. He could either tease her for being a tomboy and losing her temper so quickly, or apologize to her and tell her what really happened, hoping that she would accept the apology, and maybe even smile at him. Obviously, he chose the second option, favoring his health by avoiding the risk of Akane taking what he would say in the first one the wrong way. So when he came to the front gate, he was rehearsing what to do once he went in, including how to do it.
   "Okay, I'll just slip through my window, knock my pop out if he's in there while I'm at it, go to Akane's door, and maybe my apology'll come out the right way," the braided martial artist muttered, determination in his voice, and on his face. 'Just hope fate won't screw with me again, like all the other times,' he added, remembering all the pain from his past mistakes, and swearing to make Akane smile again..

   While Ranma was steeling himself, he didn't notice the figure that was following him silently approach him from his back, and when its prey deemed himself prepared and pressed the doorbell, the figure hit a pressure point that makes the victim fall unconscious on him, and immediately he fell to the ground.
   'What the hell?' was the last thing he could think before losing his grip of the conscious realm completely. The figure, knowing its time was limited due to the fact that its target was able to call for attention, quickly got to work and moved its head to Ranma's neck, and in a few seconds, jumped away to the shadows, using a technique seemingly similar to the Umisenken, leaving two small pricks on its prey's neck. The prey seemed to have a spasm attack and started convulsing, and an inner glow seemed to surround him, colored gold. After a few seconds, the prey relaxed and the glow vanished. A few seconds later, the gate opened, and the victim's mate came to visibility.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   Akane was in her room, sobbing on her elder sister, Kasumi, while thinking of the nice day she had before that bimbo came.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

   When the sun shone and she woke up, Akane shook her head trying to get rid of the remaining feeling of sleepiness out of her, and got her clothes and things she needed for her morning ritual. When she got to the bathroom, she saw that the occupied sign wasn't hanging on the door and was about to open it, when it opened up unexpectedly. Ranma, finished with his bath, appeared behind the door. She was about to say something when she saw him staring at her, and she suddenly became acutely aware of their closeness to each other. She asked nervously what it was that he was staring at. That seemed to snap him out of his reverie, and he also seemed to notice the closeness. He said it was nothing, also stuttering, but instead with embarrassment.

   She went in to take a bath, and she did, but she also started to have a fantasy of what would've happened if their meeting took a different direction. Unknowingly, her soapy hands started caressing her body. As her fantasy became more intense, so did her caresses, and she was starting to moan his name, when she heard her eldest sister's voice calling out to her.
   "Akane-chan, time for breakfast." She immediately stopped what she was doing and finished everything else she had to do, all the while blushing profusely.
   'Wh-what was I just doing!?' she asked herself about that unexpected reaction to Ranma. Fast forward a few minutes and she was out of the house, seeing Ranma already out and waiting for her. He teased her a bit, and she would have insulted him back, if not for his other comment/question, in which she blushed for the third time this day (not counting her blush in the bathroom).

   Then there was school. They weren't ambushed by any of their other suitors or rivals throughout the whole day, which was surprising, considering none of those people were usually ever somewhere else besides near those two, if you don't count the lost boy, Ryoga. School went by smoothly, and when it ended, they were walking back home side by side, which was the final blow to mark that day a 'great day' and she wished for him to walk with her like this everyday. The next event, though, was enough to include the word 'almost', and it came in the form of Shampoo. She knew that it wasn't Ranma's fault, but her anger was turned towards him anyway, since it always was. Before she knew what she was doing, she was seeing a dot in the sky, yelling "RANMA NO BAKA!" Shampoo let go when she felt the person whom she was 'giving her affection to' suddenly go up, and she let go after a second or two. Unfortunately, she was too late in letting go, and the force exerted on her was enough to launch her straight into the canal running beside the road, immediately transforming her into a cat. Mentally throwing Chinese curses at the violent woman, she ran to the Nekohanten to get changed back into a girl. Akane immediately realized what she had done and ran back home, tears clearly evident on her face, which kept on coming down up until the house.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

   That was the reason why she was crying, because of her acquired reflex that tended to direct her rage to Ranma, even if she clearly knew he wasn't to blame.
   'I'm sure he must hate me now,' Akane thought grimly, now thinking of all the times that she jumped to conclusions to, making her cry even more. She found this out a few weeks ago, when she gave him a present for his birthday, but it was only now that she felt the impact of what she had been doing for the past two years. 'Who could love a short-tempered tomboy?' She slowly lowered the mask of self-denial she had glazed on her face for two years straight, and could feel wave after wave of remorse and regret washing over her conscience the more she thought of the times that she lashed out on him for things that were trivial and not even his fault. Or the times she had hit him with her mallet for things that weren't all his fault, and seemed to hurt him more deeply than she wanted to while she was at it. Akane never meant to hurt him when he teased him, only try to keep him distanced. She now wondered if he took any of those harsh remarks about his handicaps (his curse included) she said seriously. She remembered the sudden panic in her fiancè's face when he got glomped by that bitch, and his eyes showed disgust and anger towards the Amazon's advances and despair at what he knew the situation looked like. 'Gods, I have become such a thick-headed, uncute tomboy,' Akane said, knowing that she had hurt him unintentionally.

   In her mind, the self-enraged youth meant to hit Shampoo, but her body was so used to all the other situations like this that happened, and instead of hitting its intended target, went for the usual person and hit Ranma instead.
   'If not for the engagement and his honor, he probably would have left a long time ago, I suppose. Now I have no chance of staying as his friend, much less any hope of there being anything more...' That's right. She loved him with all her soul, but she was certain that she had absolutely no place in his heart, for how she treated him ever since he set foot in their household. She had developed the tendancy of lashing out on Ranma by default, and she hated herself for it.

   Kasumi heard her little sister's sobs when she went to her room, and followed her in. Akane panicked a little at the presence of someone else in her room, and was about to go to a corner and curl up, if not for her comforting voice calling out to her.
   "Akane, what's wrong? It's just me, Kasumi," the figure's voice said, worry clearly evident in the person's voice. Akane recognized that person's voice as her onee-chan's, and immediately flung her arms around her sister.
   "Oh, Kasumi!" the younger girl cried out, sobbing bucket after bucket of tears caused by the regret and self-loathing following her epiphany, "I... I love Ranma, Onee-chan." At this, Kasumi started to assume her younger sister had come to her senses, and her tears were actually that of joy.
   "Of course you do, Akane-chan," she comfortingly said, craddling her baby sister with her arms as she buried her head into her chest.
   "But then... Why is it that I hurt him so much despite my love for him...?"

   That question caught the maternal sister off guard, and blew all of her previous thoughts out the window.
   "Well, Akane-imouto, that is, um..." she stuttered out, fumbling with what to say. "Wh-why do you say that...?" her sister with tear-stained cheeks looked up at her with a momentary flash of annoyance, but her expression immediately returned to its original state and she looked downwards.
   "I..." she started, trying to collect her thoughts. "I-I am pushing him away b-by doing all th-these cruel things to him. N-now... Now I am sure that he absolutely hates me!" Her tears were increasing in volume, together with her increasingly shaky voice. Kasumi gave a short "Oh, my!" look while continuing to patiently listen to her sister. "H-how could-d he ev-ven l-l-love so-omeon-ne l-like me? H-how c-c-can h-he e-even-en s-sta-nd m-me an-nd l-l-let-t m-m-me h-h-hit-t..." The emotionally downhill-falling youth's sobbing was getting louder and her chest was convulsing, to the point that she could barely even talk.

   'O Gods above,' Kasumi prayed silently, 'please give me the power to rekindle the light you have given my sister whom I love, so she may see it as always in the past and be calmed.'
   "Now, Akane, how can you say that? Ranma doesn't hate you," Kasumi reasoned with a soothing voice.
   "I'm-m su-sure h-he hates m-me," Akane insisted, trying to keep her crying down a bit to let her talk.
   "How are you sure of that?" Kasumi questioned her. "Has he ever done anything to hurt you for the times that you hit him? Has he ever wanted to break off the engagement for the things you blamed on him? Has he even said he hated you because all of your teasing?" Akane's crying was slowly deforming into a few occasional sniffles, and considered if he had ever shown any form of hate towards her.
   "No," she said shortly, still sulking at the fact of her treating him badly all those times. "But, I have formed a tendency to hit him, even if he didn't do anything. I bet he thinks of me as a monster. Even just a moment ago, I hit him even though both of us clearly knew that it wasn't his fault that purple-haired bimbo glomped him like every other time."

   Akane looked as if she was about to cry again, if it wasn't for Kasumi's intervention.
   "Akane," she said in a caring voice, "do you think Ranma is the type of person to think that? Sure, he may not exactly like what you do to him, but he never holds a grudge against anyone, even less think of them as monsters. I am sure he thinks nothing of what you did to him. As for your tendency of hitting him and other 'bad habits'... I can help you try and keep them from surfacing again, if you want my help of course." Akane considered that for a moment, and thought that that would be a good idea.
   "Yeah, I would like your help very much, Kasumi. I am sure I will not be able to control it by myself." She said with the satisfaction of having her fear of Ranma hating her having disappeared. "Thank you oneechan. I love you so much." Kasumi put Akane's head gently on her shoulder before she continued, making sure she was finally relaxed.

   A few long moments passed, Akane being cradled by her big sister, before Kasumi continued in a gentle and casual voice.
   "Besides, I am sure that Ranma loves you very much, just afraid to admit it." With this statement, Akane's head shot straight up, with the disapproval of her sister, and was now fully listening to her sister.
   "Really, oneechan? D-do you really think he l-loves me?" She asked, excitement clearly expressed in her voice, and at the same time making her voice a little shaky. "But then, if he loves me, why does he tease me and call me names?" Her face held confusion as she said this. Kasumi took a moment to think this through before speaking again.
   "It must be that, like you, Ranma is very uncertain of your answer, and that he hides his feelings by using a mask of apathy. You should realize that, whenever you are hurt or down, he is always concerned for you, and really cares for you enough to rescue you whenever something happens to you. If you want him to show his feelings for you, though, you must stop treating him badly. I am certain that there is a fear or uncertainty in him of you not feeling the same way, and instead of coming out with it, just buries it in his heart, so you should treat him more nicely than before." Akane took all of what the eldest Tendo daughter said, and was overjoyed with the possibility of Ranma actually liking her, and that everything he teased her about, had never meant any of it.

   Then and there, Akane made a decision. She suddenly stood up, making her elder sister exclaim her signature "Oh my!" and look up to see her sister, determination etched all over her face.
   "Akane-chan, where are you going?" she asked, startled by her little sister's sudden movement, and wondered what she was going to do. Akane looked at her sister and answered her, while wiping her tears away.
   "I will wait for Ranma to come back, and I'm going to give him the best hug he's ever been given," She voiced out with a steel will. "I know that I will conquer my flaws, Kasumi, and I will do my best to not show them again. You will still help me, right, Kasumi?" She flashed her big sister her puppy-dog eyes look, and Kasumi couldn't help but agree, not that she needed any persuasion, though.
   "Of course, Akane. I will help you show Ranma your femininity," she replied, and Akane's resolve faltered momentarily as she blushed at the way her sister had said it.
   " I'm going to the gate and wait for him there, okay?" she told her sister while heading downstairs and towards the door.
   "Okay, little sister, I'll head to the kitchen in a moment, as well," Kasumi returned, trying to put her bones back in their place, which managed to dislocated themselves due to the strength of Akane's hug a few moments ago, and decided to rest a few minutes before trying to get up.

   Akane was heading downstairs when the doorbell rang, telling those inside that there was someone wanting to come in. Akane knew for sure that it was Ranma, and she strode over to the front gate with one thing on her mind: 'I won't be the Akane that drives him away, like before. I will be the Akane who loves him.' She thought she saw a glow from behind the gate at the other side, but thought of it as her imagination. When she opened the gate, she wasn't expecting to see what she saw. She stood in her place, completely shocked at the scene before her, determination completely vanished.

   There, at the opening in front of the gate, with his back on the pavement and his face sideways, two needle-like pricks formed on his neck, and blood dripping from his wound, was Ranma.

End of Chapter 1

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Author's Notes: There's just one thing I want to say before starting on the second part. I'm very inexperienced at writing, and I feel like I'm losing my ability to put words together in a more pleasing way. I really wish for there to be volunteering beta-readers or co-authors to help me with this. Also, I hope that more people will submit reviews, 'cuz I frankly need other people's thoughts about it. Also, if anyone knows of a better title for this story, please post it in your review

   Read & Review! Comments & Constructive Criticism are welcome!