Ranma ½ Fanfic Words That I Can Not Say By Kris Thompson This is a work of fiction based on Rumiko Takahashi's 'Ranma Nibun no Ichi' a.k.a. Ranma ½ and was created for the author's personal enjoyment. "What was I *thinking*?!" Ranma muttered to himself as he headed up to his room. 'Not like the sees anything in you anyway,' a voice reminded him. "Awww, shut up," Ranma breathed, wishing that that voice would go away. But, it persisted, as if it survived on this sort of mental torture. Which was very possible in Nermia. 'Gee Ranma, why would she want a freak when she could have someone who will actually *stay* a man when they go swimming?' The voice continued its assault. He trudged into his room and shut the door. He didn't bother to turn on the light, because then he would have to see and that would remind him of the earlier happenings of this evening. This evening had been the one of Furikan High's prom. There seemed to be more girls that attend school than boys so the prom theme had been some hooky one about ten girls who dressed up in short sailor outfits and paraded around saving the universe or something. The semi-romantic side of it was one of the main sailor girls was in love with some guy who dressed up in this tuxedo to fight. Personally, to Ranma, it sounded stupid and didn't feel like going. But Akane's father had pulled his demon head trick and scarred Ranma into attending - with Akane of course. The night was supposed to be magical; dancing with a beautiful girl, the theme, the sureal-ness of it all... had somehow never happened. 'The "beautiful girl" part happened though,' he thought to himself. Akane had been one of the most beautiful girls there. *The* most beautiful girl there. She had worn a gorgeous sleeveless silver dress that hinted at a light blue when she moved, he cute short hair which had sported a cluster of tiny blue flowers. And true, the evening had started out like the dream he'd always wished for. But Ranma ha forgotten where he was and who he was. He had forgotten that trouble followed him where ever he went and that he was in Nermia, which seemed to be the international center for insanity. Shampoo had crashed the dance and then decided that an all out fight with Akane was in order. After breaking the two of them up, Akane looked at him sadly. She had whispered his name and then turned on her heel and ran off. Basically, the night had been ruined, for both of them. The dream shattered and the spell broken. Ranma had stared after her for several moments until Shampoo decided to glomp him. He shook her off and told her to never see him again. She had looked up with those same sad eyes Akane had looked at him with and began to cry. She was a girl of tradition, so he hoped that she would honour his request. Then he left the school. He wasn't looking for Akane; she was most likely at home, crying to Kasumi. No, he was just walking to think of his life. And about an hour and a half later, he returned home. Ranma looked around the room in the dark, the shutter on the window casting odd shadows on the walls. He walked to the window to get some fresh air, but stopped when he opened them. There was Akane, standing by the koi pond, still in her blue/silver dress, the flowers long gone. She started to dance, a slow rhythmic dance that resembled a kata. He watched her as she moved gracefully across the grass, her feet barely touching it. He watched her in awe as if he had never seen her before in his life, as if an angel had appeared before him. Before he knew it, he was standing in the back yard. He watched her for a few moments more, making sure that he didn't make any sound as he came up behind her and joined in on her kata. He slid his hands down her arms, holding close to him. He heard her give a small gasp at being so surprised and she stiffened, but she took this in stride. He leaned his head down and whispered "Akane" in her ear and was overjoyed when she relaxed against him. They continued their balled for a few moments longer and then stopped. Ranma unwrapped his arms from Akane and backed away from her about a foot. She didn't move. He raised an eyebrow. "Akane?" Before he could do anything, Akane launched herself into his chest, wrapping her slim arms around his waist as the toppled over. Ranma sat up slightly and looked down at Akane, who was still sobbing into his dress shirt. "Wha-what's wrong?" "You," Akane managed to choke out. "Me?" Ranma asked. A muffled 'Yes' before another bout of tears. "What did I do?" he asked, bewildered. Akane barely raised her head from his chest. "You didn't let me fight Shampoo. You destroyed my honour." She said silently. Now Ranma was confused. "Destroyed your honour? How?" "You didn't let the fight with Shampoo go on." He reached down and pulled her around to where they were both facing the same way. He picked up her arm and held it out in front of her. "Do you see that?" he asked her, showing her the bruise on her forearm. "Do you see what Shampoo did to ya? And she wasn't even going all out!" She reached out with her other hand and touched the bruise gently, then let her fingers run over the rips and tears that Shampoo had caused in her dress. Ranma sighed. "It's not because I don't think you could take Shampoo on. I just don't want you to get hurt, Akane." She raised her head and turned it so she could look at him. "Why? You don't care about a tomboy like me." Ranma's eyes went wide for a moment. 'These are the words I can not say, these are the words I can not say, thesearethewordsIcannotsay, thesearethewordsIcannotsaythesearethewordsIcannotsay...' "Akane, I do care! I care for you so much it hurts sometimes." Akane was surprised. "What are you saying, Ranma?" He swallowed. "What I'm saying is... is... that..." By now, one would expect Soun and Genma to have fallen out of a nearby tree with a video camera, or Ryouga shows up, or Kasumi walks outside offering fresh baked cookies... ...but none of that happened. "What?" Akane breathed. "That I... I love you." Ranma said quietly. "You... you love me?" Akane asked. "Yeah," He said, looking away from her. Suddenly his face was brought back to the front and he suddenly felt Akane's lips against his. His arms wound themselves around her waist and he kissed her back, thinking 'These are the words I can say'. fin. Author's Note Why did I write this? I have no clue. Just felt like it. Hope you liked it. Thanks! ~krissy