Akane looked down again and saw that the waves ended just a few feet from where their trench had begun. By nightfall, the waves would cover the castle completely. Then it would be gone.
All characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi , Viz, etc.... I just do this writing for fun because I love Ranma ½ so much! This is my second fanfic, after "Spring Showers." I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! C&C are most welcome... (flames, too - but no infernos, please!)
The bright blue of the sky was now slowly deepening into a shade
of periwinkle. In the distance, the clouds, wispy and few as they
were, had taken on a hue of pink and light orange, borrowing from
the glare of the late-afternoon sun. The sea, so calm and blue,
gently sang a duet with the breeze; the only sound breaking the
serenity of the afternoon were the sweet murmurs of the waves
kissing the shore and rising inexorably higher.
Akane sat on the golden sand high up the shore, her legs tucked
under her, gazing reflectively out into the water. A large straw
hat decorated by a white sash perched on her blue black hair,
the ribbon's tails whipping gaily with the sea breeze. She was
smiling absently, simply drinking in the beauty spread out before
her.
Much as she enjoyed spending time with her family, she was also
glad of this short time alone. It was times like these when she
could feel the peace seeping into her, calming her, and making
her whole. She always came back from sessions like these with
a clearer mind and a clearer sense of who she was.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to inhale the sweet
ocean air. It was laced with a faint smell of Kasumi's delicious
cooking. She smiled, suddenly being reminded that she really wasn't
as alone as she made herself out to be. Her senses brought into
awareness by thoughts of Kasumi's cooking, she could suddenly
hear Ranma's voice screaming insults at his father as they sparred
behind a sand dune in the distance, well out of reach of the water.
Squinting at the cottage, she was sure she could make out the
forms of Nabiki and her father playing poker on the porch.
Thanks to her ingenuity, Nabiki was able to "borrow"
a seaside cottage from one of the numerous people who owed her
something. The cottage, though rather small, was just right for
all the Tendos and both Saotomes to fit into. It was on a private
beach - something that Akane was very happy about. She considered
this trip to be a well-deserved break from the constant chaos
that had swirled around Nerima since Ranma and his father had
arrived… a quiet time to take advantage of all the sun, the
sea, and the sand had to offer.
An unearthly screech suddenly pierced the peaceful afternoon.
Startled, Akane looked up and saw two seagulls so gracefully flying
side by side, squawking at each other as they disappeared into
one of the crevices in the sheer cliffs just off the shore. She
smiled ruefully to herself. She could never, for the life of her,
figure out just how such beautiful birds could make such an awful
noise. Their squawks always reminded her of a fishwife screaming,
"Baka! Baka! Baka!" at her husband.
She laughed aloud at the thought, suddenly remembering someone
who also constantly spouted off that particular phrase and whom
she said it to.
"Something funny, Akane?" said a sweet voice above her.
Akane opened her eyes, moments ago squeezed shut by mirth, to
see Kasumi peering down at her with a serene smile on her face.
In her hands, Kasumi held a blue plastic toy bucket and two child-sized
shovels. Akane's eyes widened in delight.
"Oneechan!" she exclaimed, reaching for the toys. "I
remember these! Where did you find them?" Without waiting
for an answer, Akane took the toys from Kasumi and crawled a bit
further down the shore to where the sand was moist but still out
of the reach of the playful waves. Kasumi laughed as Akane quickly
began filling the bucket with sand. "Oh this is so much fun
- I haven't built a sandcastle for such a long time, not since
we were at the beach with Mother."
Akane was surprised when she felt Kasumi stoop down and take a
seat on the sand beside her. She stopped what she was doing for
a moment to shoot a look of puzzlement at her eldest sister. "Oneechan…
uh… shouldn't you be inside the house preparing dinner?"
Akane asked hesitantly as she watched Kasumi take the other shovel
and add more sand into the bucket Akane had already began filling.
Kasumi laughed again as she took the other shovel. "Don't
worry, Akane, I started dinner earlier so I could make it down
here in time to watch the sunset. It's on the stove, just waiting
to be served," she said. "When I heard from Nabiki that
you were down here, too, I couldn't resist taking these to you.
I meant them to be a surprise - I found them in my room when I
was cleaning up a few months ago, and I thought I'd give them
to you the next time we were at the beach." Akane missed
Kasumi's wise smile as she watched her younger sister dig a deep
trench to protect the beginnings of her sandcastle then tip over
the filled bucket to form her first tower. "You always loved
doing this."
They worked in silence, Kasumi's soft, white hands slowly and
methodically shoveling sand into the bucket, while Akane's jerky,
eager movements making more sand spill back to the sand rather
than the bucket. The orange cast of the setting sun bathed them
with its fiery light, making everything seem like a scene from
a dream. In a just few minutes, Kasumi and Akane had three towers
formed between them, a fortress slowly rising up from the sand.
They had always worked well together, even when they were little
girls.
Akane glanced behind her and smiled at the long familiar shadows
she saw - two girls sitting on the sand with a castle and a bucket
in between them. She remembered this! It was just like when she
and Kasumi would sit at the beach till nightfall building the
highest, nicest sandcastle you ever saw. A puzzled frown crossed
her face - did Nabiki build sandcastles with them, too? Somehow
Akane didn't think so, but she seemed to remember three shadows
on the sand all those years ago.
"Do you remember, Akane?" Kasumi asked her, tipping
over another bucket of sand on top of the middle tower, to make
it rise above the other two. "When all five of us went to
the beach, the two of us spent every afternoon building sandcastles
while Nabiki wandered along the shore with her own bucket collecting
sea shells and other 'treasures.' We would build the sandcastle
as high up the shore as we possibly could, but come the next morning
-"
"Come the next morning, we would find the sandcastle washed
away by the tide during the night!" Akane stood up and stretched
a bit, the shovel in one hand and her other hand on her hat to
keep it from flying away. "I remember, Oneechan! I remember...
I remember how I'd drag you along the shore, not quite believing
the castle was gone, hoping that maybe we got the spot wrong and
that it was still there on the beach, just waiting for us to return
to it. But it was always gone."
Kasumi put her shovel down and a wistful expression came over
her serene face as she stared out into the distance, watching
the sun, red now, slowly dip into the horizon. "You cried
every single time we couldn't find our sandcastle," Kasumi
told her, not noticing as Akane sat back beside her once more
and began deepening the trench in front of their castle. "You
always ran back home to Mother, asking her where the castle had
gone. She simply smiled, picked you up, and promised you that
she would help you build a new one." She looked at Akane,
who had a surprised look on her face. "Don't you remember
that, Akane?"
Akane's face suddenly became sad. "No - no, I… I think
I do remember. She was the third shadow, wasn't she, Oneechan?
It wasn't Nabiki, it was... it was Mom. She was there every afternoon,
too, building sandcastles with us, wasn't she?"
Kasumi nodded, watching Akane closely.
Akane dropped the shovel onto the sand, slowly stood up, closed
her eyes and tried to recall a scene like this one, with two little
girls and a woman sitting on the sand with a sandcastle between
them. Suddenly it was there - and all Akane could see was her
mother's gentle smile.
* * * *
"If this sandcastle ain't here tomorrow morning, I'll never
make another sandcastle again," little Akane had said with
a defiant look on her face. "I don't like the waves taking
them away all the time after we work so hard on them."
Her mother had laughed. "Akane, you have to learn to accept
that the waves are always going to do that, no matter how strong
or how high we build our sandcastles. But, look, you don't hear
Kasumi saying that she'll never build another sandcastle again,
even if she's had her castles taken away by the waves a lot longer
than you have."
Akane's bottom lip had thrust out petulantly. "Only three
years, Mommy," she said.
Kasumi and her mother had laughed at Akane's rebellious expression.
"Here, baby, climb into Mommy's lap and give her a hug,"
her mom had said, dropping the shovel and opening her arms. "And
if the sandcastle is gone tomorrow morning, I'll help you and
your Oneechan build another one. What do you say?"
Akane had cuddled into her mother's waiting arms. "I love
you, Mom."
"And I love you, Akane-chan."
The setting sun cast an orange glow about them, making everything
seem as if it were a scene from a dream.
* * * *
"People shouldn't be afraid of building sandcastles,"
Kasumi suddenly said as she put finishing touches on the wall
of the castle she and Akane had been building and stood up. "Mother
always told me that the important thing was that, no matter where
the castle went afterwards, you could always keep an image of
it here..." Kasumi reached out and gently touched Akane's
forehead. "And here." And she reached out and gently
touched Akane's chest, right above her heart.
Akane's eyes snapped open. "But I'm not afraid of building
sandcastles, Oneechan!"
"Do you realize that this is the first time since Mother
died that you've built a sandcastle with me?" Kasumi pointed
out. "The first time we visited the beach after Mom passed
away, I brought the bucket and the shovels out and invited you
to join me in building a sandcastle on the shore..."
Suddenly recalling that day, Akane looked down at the castle between
them and felt tears fill her eyes. "And I said that I didn't
want to because Mom wasn't there to build it with us... and why
bother because it was going to disappear anyway, just like..."
"Just like Mom," Kasumi said quietly. Silence hung between
them as they both looked out into the horizon, watching as the
last crescent of orange light disappeared into the ocean. "But
Mom isn't really gone, is she, Akane?"
"No," Akane said, looking at Kasumi with a tearful smile.
"She's here." She tapped her forehead. "And here."
She tapped the spot over her heart, right where Kasumi had touched
her earlier.
Kasumi nodded. "It's the building that's important,"
she said, smiling sweetly at her puzzled younger sister. "When
we build, we build memories - and these become a part of us long
after everything else is gone." She opened her arms to Akane.
Akane rushed into them and gave Kasumi a big hug.
"I love you, Oneechan."
"And I you, Akane-chan." All of a sudden, Kasumi laughed.
"Looks like our menfolk are hungry - I can hear Ranma's stomach
grumbling from here."
Startled, Akane looked up from Kasumi's shoulder to find Ranma
standing a few meters beyond them, rubbing the back of his neck
with an awkward expression on his face. He looked like he was
blushing, but she wasn't too sure. Akane felt her face began to
flush - and to hide it, she bent to gather the bucket and the
two shovels from the sand. She felt, rather than saw, Kasumi beckon
Ranma to come closer to them. After a few more moments of hesitation,
he began to slowly walk towards them.
"I better go see to dinner now, before Uncle Saotome turns
my kitchen upside down looking for food," Kasumi said, taking
the toys from Akane with one hand and pulling her up with another.
Then she tipped Akane's face and smiled straight into her eyes.
"Don't be afraid, little sister. Everything is already there,
ready for you. All you need to do is take it," she whispered,
touching Akane's cheek gently.
Comprehension dawned in Akane's eyes. "You weren't just talking
about sandcastles, were you, Kasumi?"
With another of her wise smiles, Kasumi answered Akane's question
by gently kissing her on the forehead. "Mother would be proud
of you." She then turned to give Ranma a welcoming smile.
"I'll see you both at dinner, okay?"
With a final wave, Kasumi was off for the house.
Ranma and Akane stared after her as she gracefully walked towards
the cottage. The last light was quickly fading, the sky now a
darker shade of blue. In the distance, the bright pink clouds
were now deep red. Night was falling.
"Nice castle," Ranma said, hunching down to take a closer
look at the castle Akane and Kasumi had built. Akane looked down
again and saw that the waves ended just a few feet from where
their trench had begun. By nightfall, the waves would cover the
castle completely. Then it would be gone.
"It will be gone by tonight," she said, a wistful tone
in her voice.
Ranma looked up at her, and there was a sad look in her eyes.
Darn, but he just hated seeing that kind of look in her eyes...
"Uh... I... uh... we can make another one together tomorrow,"
he told her, standing up beside her. She looked at him in surprise.
Ranma felt his face grow warmer.
This time Akane was sure that he was blushing. She smiled brightly
at him, her spirit suddenly soaring. "I'd like that very
much, Ranma. Thank you."
"Uh..." he broke the silence and looked around, catching
sight of the two seagulls Akane had seen earlier. "Look at
those birds... don't you wish you could fly like that?"
"Yeah," Akane replied, suddenly shivering from the cool
breeze. Concerned, Ranma moved closer to her and placed an arm
around her shoulder. Akane stared at the two seagulls and smiled
to herself. He really could be so sweet sometimes - especially
when he wasn't really thinking.
"Cold?" he asked, peering down at her face and once
again seeing her sweet smile.
"A bit," she said, leaning into his warmth. "I..."
Suddenly the seagulls squawked at each other once more. Ranma
and Akane both winced.
"You know, I never can figure out how such great looking
birds can make such an awful sound," Ranma said, covering
his ear with one hand.
Akane laughed, recalling she had the same thought just a few hours
earlier. "They sort of sound like..."
"YOU!" Ranma teased, laughing as well. "Baka! Baka!
Baka..." he squawked. He trailed off feeling Akane tense,
suddenly realizing that he just let his mouth run away from his
brain once more. He braced himself, waiting for the wallop from
Akane's hyperdimensional mallet. To his surprise, there was none.
"They sound like US," she corrected, tipping her head
and smiling up at him.
A part of him just wanted to curl up inside that smile of hers
and never leave. He shook himself mentally. What was he thinking?
"Like I'm the one who screams like a fishwife all the time!"
he said, laughing as Akane stuck her tongue out at him. Taking
her by surprise, he swiped her hat from her head and began running
towards the cottage.
"Ranma no baka!" she said, giving chase. But she was
laughing too as she tried to grab the hat that Ranma held just
within her reach.
As she watched the two of them laughing and running towards the
cottage from the kitchen window, Kasumi smiled to herself and
thought that she had better make sure that the bucket and the
shovels were where Akane was sure to see them tomorrow.
Above Ranma and Akane's laughter, Kasumi was certain she could
hear the ocean and the wind sing a sweet duet in the twilight
- and the loving tones of her own mother's voice.
"I love you, Kasumi-chan."
"I love you, too, Mom."
- fin -