From: dorianval@aol.com (DorianVal)
Stolen Innocence
A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction
By
Jeremy Harper
Disclaimer - All characters in this work are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi
and are used without permission.
Part 1
"Ranma."
Ranma stopped eating for a moment, a wad of ramen hanging from his mouth. He
slurped up the noodles, swallowed them with a loud gulp, and set down his bowl
and chopsticks. He blinked, once, twice, three times, as a cloud of dizziness
swirled in his brain. He looked around the Nekohanten stupidly, his eyes
suddenly glazed and dull.
"Ranma."
Ranma shook his head sharply, eyes still blinking. The dizziness fled, leaving
as swiftly as it came, replaced now by painful warmth. Sweat condensed and
beaded on his brow, and he could suddenly feel the circulation of his blood, a
sluggish flow of molten iron that scalded his veins and arteries. His heart
pumped wildly, beating against his ribcage like some wild animal railing
against confinement. In his pants Ranma could feel his groin throb and pulse,
burning with the heat of an open blast furnace.
"Ranma."
Ranma forced himself to his feet, pushing up on the table, knocking away his
chair. He swallowed hard, trying to relieve his powder-dry throat. He panted,
gasping in desperation, his lungs starving for air. Ranma could swear that he
could see his breath; moist, hot puffs of smoke tumbling up and away from his
mouth. He shut his eyes tightly and bowed his head. He was being consumed, an
alien fire from within slowly rendering him down to ash.
"Ranma."
Ranma's eyes snapped open and his head jerked up. A great groan of pain and
longing rumbled from deep within his chest as his vision tunneled and his
senses focused on the beautiful young woman sitting across from him, smiling
triumphantly.
"Ranma make love to Shampoo now." Shampoo stated simply.
"What did you do to me, Shampoo?" Ranma rasped out, his voice hoarse and
cracking.
"Lace ramen with passion spice." Shampoo answered happily. She stood up and
started to walk around the table towards Ranma. He snarled at her, took a step
back, and slipped, falling down to one knee. He forced himself back up and
leaned on the table for support.
"Damn it! You promised me! You promised to stop manipulating me," he hissed.
Shampoo shrugged, rolling her shoulders with a studied sensuality that made him
shiver.
"All fair in love and war." Shampoo's eyes were bright, illuminated by
smoldering motes of lust and exultation. Her full, soft lips parted, allowing
her tongue to dart out and wet them. With languid seductiveness she unbuttoned
her blouse; her eyes never wavered from Ranma's trembling form. The blouse fell
to the floor, the silk whispering as it revealed her soft, flawless flesh, as
white and unblemished as a flawless pearl, and her full breasts, the nipples
taut in excitement and anticipation. Arms spread for an embrace; she took a
tiny step towards Ranma.
"Ranma make love to Shampoo now," she reiterated. "Ranma make Shampoo his one
true wife."
Ranma shook his head violently in protest, but his drugged body betrayed his
will. He lurched forward, reaching out to grab Shampoo, nearly tripping over
his feet in his haste. Shampoo shivered at the touch of his burning hands
grasping her hips, feeling their heat through the silk of her pants. He dragged
her into a rough embrace, his strong arms encircling her waist. Shampoo stared
up into her airen's matchless blue eyes and sighed happily, seeing the lust and
desire alight in them. But there was pain there too; pain and shame and a great
raging anger. But in the euphoria of her triumph and desire Shampoo did not
notice.
(I've won. I've finally beaten that perverted brat and that idiot spatula
girl,) Shampoo thought. She reached up to kiss Ranma...
And felt the breath rush out of her body and her spine explode in agony, as
Ranma's embrace became a crushing bear hug.
"Airen!" she gasped out in protest. Fighting instincts taking over, she struck
him across the face with a palm strike, but Ranma did not relinquish the hold.
Spitting blood, snarling ferally, Ranma popped his hips, lifting Shampoo high
into the air and slamming her down through the table. He rode down with her,
crushing her against the unyielding floor with his weight. Shampoo managed a
short shriek before blackness rushed to take her.
For a moment Ranma lay still, relishing the feel of Shampoo's soft body beneath
him. Then with a snarl he pushed himself to his feet, leaping off of her as if
she were something vile and unclean. He looked down at the limp form lying
amongst the ruins of the table. Shampoo moaned softly, her head rolling to one
side. Ranma shuddered; even while unconscious she exuded an exotic sensuality.
His body quaked in a fit of primal, animalistic lust, his breath hissing
sharply through grinding teeth as modern morals battled reawakened atavistic
instincts. Oh gods, how he wanted her, how he wanted to shed his clothes and
fall on top of her and take her and to Hell with the consequences.
"NO!" Ranma tore his gaze from Shampoo, locking it to the ceiling. He squeezed
his eyes shut as he reined in his drug-induced emotions, calling upon every
ounce of his spiritual and emotional strength.
"No," Ranma repeated, whispering hoarsely. "Not against my will, and not with
her." With a sob of pain he turned and staggered out of the Nekohanten.
How long he reeled drunkenly through the streets of Nerima, Ranma could not
guess. Time had stopped for him, as he struggled with the passion spice rushing
though his veins. To prevent him from throwing himself at the first woman he
stumbled across he called upon every trick of meditation he knew to render
himself insensate, walling his senses behind a redoubt of will. Blind, deaf,
dumb, anosmatic, numb, he staggered onwards, his body guided by instinct alone.
Finally he grounded to a halt. Falling to his knees, he relaxed slightly,
allowing himself to discern his surroundings.
Ranma found himself in a wooded grove, surrounded by trees, birds twittering
away blissfully in the branches. He recognized the place as Nerima Park, with
this grove somewhat secluded from the main paths. Sighing in relief Ranma
crawled to the foot of the closest tree and collapsed. He curled into a ball,
mustering his reserves, determined to stay here until the passion spice had run
its course.
(Damn you, Shampoo,) he raged silently as he felt the spice burn in his blood.
(You promised me! After you bombed the wedding I made you swear on your honor
that you'd stop trying to manipulate me. You damn purple-haired bitch, at least
this shows me how little you care for honor. 'All fair in love and war,' you
say. I wouldn't touch you now if you were the last woman on Earth. Kami help
you the next time I see you. Why is it that you just see me as a piece a meat,
as some prize to be won in some stupid contest, with no consideration for what
or how I feel? And Ukyo ain't much better. That's why I made the two of you
swear that promise to stop interfering in my life. I didn't want to, but you
gave me no choice. All I ever wanted was to be your friend. Why couldn't you
ever see that!) Ranma shuddered hard. (Oh gods this hurts! I feel like I'm
dying. Damn you Shampoo! Damn you for doing this to me. And damn me to hell for
being stupid enough to ever trust you. Stupid fool! You're no better than the
Old Man, letting your belly do your thinking for you.) He groaned as a fresh
wave of lust flamed through him. (Someone, anyone, please take this away from
me! Please...)
"Ranma?"
Ranma blinked, and then froze. He had been so caught up in his anger and pain
and self-loathing that he hadn't noticed anyone come by. The person was behind
him, standing at the outskirt of the grove. "Who's there?" he questioned
querulously, not daring to roll over.
"Ranma, what's wrong?"
(Oh no...
Akane...)
"Are you all right?" Concerned and worried Akane started towards her trembling
fiancé.
"No... I'm not," Ranma answered. "I am... most definitely not... all right..."
Ranma started to quake more violently then ever before as his lust ignited with
fresh vigor, burning as hot as a nuclear flame. His raging senses breached the
walls of his will and focused on Akane with a crystalline clarity he never
before enjoyed. He could hear her soft footfalls on the sward; smell her scent
as it wafted to him on a gentle breeze: Honey and peaches, headier to him than
any wine on Earth. He could almost taste it on the air he breathed. Part of him
wondered if her lips tasted like that; if her skin tasted like that; if her...
sex... tasted... like that....
(No!) He thought desperately. (Not like this! Not against my will!) Akane was
getting closer, and he knew if he saw her he would all control. "Akane, please
stay back. Please..."
"What's wrong with you?" Akane asked, a hint of irritation creeping into her
voice in spite of her concern. "I saw you stagger into here like you had just
been on the losing end of a fight, find you lying on the ground, shaking, and
you expect me to stay back? If you're hurt let me help you!"
"I'm not hurt. Not in the way you think. (Kami give me strength!) "Shampoo...
She poisoned me."
"Poisoned you? What do you mean by that? Why would she do such a thing?"
"It... it's not that kind of poison. She called it passion spice. It makes
you... want... any person of the opposite sex you see. She put it in the ramen
she gave me, and like the fool I am, I ate it."
Akane blinked, surprised and a little frightened by the self-contempt evident
in Ranma's voice, and by what his answer insinuated. "Ranma, did you... Did
you..." she could not bring herself to finish the question.
"No. But I wanted to. Oh gods, I wanted her so bad," Ranma tightened his grip
around his knees, crushing them together painfully. "But I was angry too. She
promised me she wouldn't pull this garbage anymore, and she goes and breaks her
word. I... I knocked her out."
"You actually -hit- her?"
"I threw her through a table," Ranma answered through gritted teeth, ashamed of
his actions. "After that I got out of the Nekohanten as quick as I could.
Somehow I ended up here. Not sure how. I planned on laying low until the spice
wore off." Ranma swallowed, then continued in a strained voice. "You better get
out of here now, Akane."
"What? But I can't leave you alone like this! What if one of the other girls
comes across you?"
"I... I won't do anything with them. I'll run, as fast as I can. I swear to you
Akane, on my honor as a martial artist."
Akane shook her head. "Ranma, you can't guarantee that, not while that Chinese
hussy's potion is still in you. Besides, look at the pain you're in! Let me
take you to Dr Tofu; maybe he can do something to help you." Akane again
started towards Ranma.
"Akane, NO!" She stopped, checked by the violence in Ranma's protest. He pushed
himself up into a sitting position, back still towards her. He took a deep,
trembling breath to steady himself. "I'm in pain because you're here with me."
Akane scowled. "What do you mean by -that-?"
"What I -mean- is that I'm in pain because I'm forcing myself not to jump on
you!" Ranma shut his eyes tight, holding back tears of frustration, longing,
and fear. "-Please- Akane, for once listen to me and do what I ask. I... I
think I could resist any of the other girls, despite being under the spice's
effect, but I don't think I can hold out much longer with you here. I don't
want to do something that I'll always regret and make you hate me forever. I
care for you too much..."
"Ranma?"
"I care for you too much to have our first time happen because of some damn
drug! Please Akane, go away before I lose control."
Akane fell back a step, hand covering her mouth. "You care for me?" she
ventured hesitantly. "You... want me?"
Ranma nodded, and started to tremble with greater violence.
"Yeah, I do. I... care for you. Care for you a lot. I want you, and not because
of the damn spice. But I don't want our first time to be because of the spice."
Ranma curled up tight against his legs as a groan escaped his mouth. "Akane,
go... please. I don't want to... hurt you. Please..."
A moment of silence passed. "O...okay Ranma. I'll leave now." Akane said
timidly. She turned to go. "I'll come back in a few hours to check on you. Is
that all right?" Ranma nodded.
"Thank you, Akane." Her footfalls receded in the distance, her scent faded from
the air. Ranma fell on his side, muscles so tense that they were like stone. He
gasped out a soft sob of relief.
-She wants you, - whispered the lust within him. -She wants you as much as you
want her. Go after her. Take her. Make her your own. -
"No," Ranma whispered. "Not against my will. I will not be forced." With that
he closed his eyes and entombed himself in darkness.
Akane slowly threaded her way through the trees, all the while thinking about
what Ranma had said to her. She turned those words over and over again in her
mind, savoring them, stunned by their implications, almost frightened by them.
-I care for you. Care for you a lot. -
-I want you. -
-I don't want our first time to be because I forced myself on you because of
some damn drug! -
Walking out of the copse, Akane sat down on a nearby park bench, resting her
chin in her hands. Her face was very pale, her brown eyes wide open, and
possessing a far away look.
(He cares about me,) she thought. (He finally admitted that he cares. Even
after all we've been through I never thought I would ever hear him say that. I
always believed he did, but now I know for certain. I just wish it hadn't taken
one of Shampoo's stupid Chinese potions to make him say it.) Akane sighed. (And
he wants me too. I can't be as uncute as he's always saying if he wants me.)
Akane frowned, and covered her eyes with her hands. (Kami! He was in such pain!
I've never seen him like that before. And he's doing it for me, because he's
afraid that I would hate him if he tried to...) She lifted face from her hands,
blinking away the tears she felt starting to well up.
"But I wouldn't. I don't think I could hate him, no matter what he did," she
murmured to herself. "I yell at him, and I hit him. He makes me so mad
sometimes that I can't even think straight, but I would never hate him. I care
too much for him. He's my best friend, and more..." Akane stood up and looked
over to the copse of trees, a determined gleam lighting in her eyes.
(He's in pain, suffering because of me. He's always trying to help me when I'm
in trouble, even when I don't need it. He's even killed for me...) Images of
Saffron being torn apart by Ranma's anger-fueled chi blasts flashed through her
imagination. (I can make his pain stop. I owe it to him. Besides, we're
engaged. Engaged couples can do whatever they want with each other. And he
cares for me.)
-He cares for you, - a voice whispered in the back of her mind. -But that is
not the same as loving you. What will you do if he does not love you? -
"It doesn't matter," she whispered back. "I... we care for each other. That
will be enough."
Once again, time lost all meaning for Ranma. A minute, an hour, a day, it would
all feel the same to him in his self-imposed fortress of will and meditation.
In it nothing mattered and nothing existed save for an unclean fire and his
efforts to extinguish it.
(Let this end soon. Please...)
A soft hand gently touched his shoulder; his mind did not register it, but his
body did. The hand caressed his arm, and under its ministrations Ranma slowly
uncurled and relaxed, bunched muscles falling into repose. He was carefully
rolled onto his back, and someone straddled his hips. The veil of darkness
lifted from his brain as he became aware. Ranma opened his eyes, blinking to
bring the blur above him into focus. His vision cleared, and there was Akane
looking down at him, a coy, shy smile playing on her lips.
Ranma gasped in fear, feeling the passion spice roar back to life, as strong
and hot as ever. He tried to scramble out from underneath her but Akane brought
down her hands onto his shoulders and pinned him. He struggled for an instant,
and then gave up. He felt so tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had
been this weary. His bones were leaden, his muscles and tendons, wet string.
Ranma looked up pleadingly into Akane's warm brown eyes.
"Akane..."
"Shhh..." Akane put a finger to his lips. "It's all right Ranma." She tilted
her head to one side, considering him briefly, then lowered her face to his and
kissed him.
Ranma moaned into her soft lips, the spice and his own too long repressed
feelings shattering his defenses. His arms slipped around her shoulders
unbidden, and he pressed her strong, supple body tightly against himself. He
started to cry, the tears falling unchecked from his eyes, but he did not care;
the events of this day were just too much for his over-stressed emotions.
Akane broke the kiss, pulling away slightly. She brushed away Ranma's tears,
and felt tears of her own begin to well up in response. It hurt her to her core
to see the intense pain and shame staining his deep blue eyes.
"Its okay," she whispered. "I don't mind." She began to unbutton his shirt.
"Akane..."
"I know." She slipped her hand into the half-open shirt and pressed it against
his chest. She could not help but shiver at the feel of it, the hard contours
and the accumulated scars earned from a lifetime of constant training and
fighting exciting her. "I won't lie to you, I really don't want it this way
either. But you're in pain, and I care for you too much to let you suffer.
Especially when I have a way to make it stop. Did you mean what you said a
little while ago? Do you... care for me?"
Ranma nodded, not trusting his voice.
"And I care for you too. I care for you very, very much. And that's all that
truly matters, in the end, ne Ranma?"
Ranma nodded again, and pulled Akane down. He kissed her, hesitantly at first,
then with greater passion as he let himself go.
And together they made his pain go away...
Notes and Acknowledgments
Akane misremembering how Saffron was defeated was deliberate on my part. In her
dehydrated state, I figured she was not aware of her surroundings, and heard
about the fight from second and third hand sources. Thus 'imagined' instead of
'recalled' or 'remembered'.
I would like to thank Lord Archive, for his valuable pre-reading and advice,
and for providing the initial story seed (go to his web page and check out Loss
of Innocence, the inspiration for this story), and my good friend Joe McGlone,
otaku supreme, for his encouragement and support.
This is my first completed work of fan fiction, and I'd like to hear what you
thought. Send all comments and criticism to DorianVal@aol.com. Don't bother
with flames, please; if you have nothing constructive to tell me, don't write
me.
Thanks for your time and tolerance.
Jeremy Harper
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