Second  Chances

				By Lord Archive



The first chapter is sad and dark. The following chapters are not. 

This story begins over six months after Manga volume 38.

Legal Babble: Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, 
etc..., and are used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll 
return them. I can't afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on.



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				   Chapter 8 - Lost
				-----------------------



Onna-Ranma was cornered. There looked like no escape for her. All her 
training meant nothing against this. There was just no kind of training 
that would deal with what she was facing. "No WAY! I'm NOT wearing any 
girls' clothing!" Ranma was clad in only her boxers and a towel.

"But Ranma, ALL your clothes are in the wash right now," Kasumi pleaded.

"You just can't run around naked you know," Nabiki said flatly.

"Come on, Ranma," Akane said. "I've got some clothes that aren't TOO 
feminine."

Ranma sighed; she knew this was a lost cause and surrendered. "Fine," 
she grumbled.

Akane led Ranma to her room and pulled out a shirt and a pair of cover-
alls. They had 'China' written on the chest and on one of the knees. 
"This should work."

Nabiki gave Akane a questioning look.

Ranma reluctantly grabbed the offered clothes, and slipped them on. Once 
on, she said, "It doesn't fit. The chest is too tight."

Akane gritted her teeth slightly, but then relaxed. "Maybe it is a 
little tight, but you haven't gotten used to something pressed against 
your chest, have you?"

"Um, not really. Anyway, the waist is too big."

"Sorry you had to fall in the Jusenkyo spring of drown young super-
model," Akane said sarcastically. "Clothes aren't exactly designed for 
someone with your figure."

"Huh?" Ranma questioned.

"Akane just means Jusenkyo gave you a body that most girls would kill to 
have as their own," Nabiki said.

"Well, I'd kill to get rid of it," Ranma replied, sadly looking into the 
mirror.

Akane placed her hand on Ranma's shoulder. "I know you hate the curse, 
but it's part of you now. You're going to have to learn to accept it."

"But I don't want to accept it! It's NOT part of me!"

Akane sighed. "Ranma, you can accept the curse and still be a guy, a man 
amongst men."

"Yeah right, I have such a great body for a man amongst men," Ranma said 
sarcastically.

"The curse only changes how you look, it doesn't change who you are. You 
don't act any different when you're a girl," Nabiki said.

"Well, I FEEL different, and that scares me. I'm a guy damn it! I don't 
want this body! And I never want to wear women's clothes, EVER!" Ranma 
ran out of the room.

"That went well," Nabiki said sarcastically.

Akane glared at Nabiki before running after Ranma. She found her in the 
changing room, removing the last of her clothes. 

"Leave me alone," Ranma snapped at Akane.

"Ranma... I'm sorry," Akane said as she hugged Ranma. "I-I didn't know 
you felt different as a girl. I'm sorry I'm pushing you to accept this 
before you're ready." 

Ranma reluctantly hugged Akane back. "This isn't fair! Why did this 
happen to me?"

"I don't know, Ranma. Maybe it was just REALLY bad luck, or maybe you've 
got a role to play in fate that requires you being a girl. I wish I 
could help you. I really want to help you. If I can help you with 
anything, name it. I'm here for you."

Ranma let go of her hug. "Thanks for the offer. What I want right now is 
to be alone. Okay?"

Akane nodded. "You go take a bath. Your clothes should be ready when you 
get out." She turned and left the room.

Ranma went and filled the furo. She sighed as she looked in the mirror 
at herself.  Ranma smiled weakly, 
remembering the hug. 

----------------------------

Ranma was overjoyed when the bell rang, ending school. He was quite 
thankful Akane had said nothing about accepting the curse since the 
clothing incident a couple days ago. He wasn't sure he liked that she 
hadn't seemed as close to him since then, though.

Akane sighed in relief when the school bell rang. School was a bit 
boring normally, but sitting through the class a second time, hearing 
the same material over again, was EXTREMELY boring. 

When Akane realized that she was forcing Ranma to accept his curse 
before he was ready, she also thought about the other things she might 
have been forcing without realizing it. In particular her acceptance 
of their engagement and her instant closeness to Ranma might be causing 
him to accept things before he was ready.

Ranma decided he had enough of school and said, "Come on, Akane. Race 
ya home!"

Akane snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Ranma running out the 
door, and realized something... 

Akane ran after him, yelling, "Ranma, stop!"

"Come and get me," Ranma called back, exiting the school.

Akane saw the familiar form of someone whom she had thought was a 
friend, charging at Ranma and preparing to attack. "Ranma! Watch out!"

Ranma looked up at the figure of someone above him with a strange 
umbrella. The figure called out after committing to his attack, "Ranma, 
Prepare to DIE!!!"

Ranma dodged the blow with reflexes honed by years of practice. The 
ground under him exploded from the sheer force of the attack.

"You!" Ranma said, vaguely remembering his attacker.

"You haven't changed, Ranma. You're still good at running away," the 
attacker sneered.

Akane glared at him with a look that could freeze blood. "Who are you, 
and why did you attack my fiance?"

"Fiance?" the attacker questioned.

"Yes, my fiance. Now tell me who you are and why you attacked him?" 
Akane snarled angrily.

"You have poor choice in men." He chuckled. "I'm Hibiki Ryoga, and I 
shall have my revenge!"

A lightbulb turned on over Ranma's head as he remembered Ryoga, "Hey, 
long time no see, buddy! How've you been?"

"How've I been?!" Ryoga snapped. "Have you no idea of the suffering 
I've seen because of you? I will make you pay for running out on our 
man to man duel!"

"What are you talking about? I waited three days at the appointed 
spot."

"Oh sure, but when I showed up on the fourth day you had already run 
away to China."

"Tell me," Ranma asked, "why did it take you four days to get to a 
vacant lot that was just 500 yards down the street from your house?" 

"You think I was out on an evening stroll?! I suffered trying to meet 
up with you! You broke a vow between men when you ran off to China 
with your father!" Ryoga yelled. He swung his umbrella at Ranma.

"Now listen here!" Akane growled, blocking the swing by grabbing the 
end of the umbrella. She slid a couple inches before stopping it. "YOU 
broke the vow between men when YOU didn't show up at the appointed 
time for the duel. Don't blame him for something that's YOUR fault."

Ryoga stared dumbly at Akane, not just because of her words, but because 
she had stopped his swing.

"Hey, keep out of this. This is between me and Ryoga," Ranma said.

"Right, this is between men," Ryoga confirmed. He turned to Ranma and 
charged. "Ranma I will destroy your happiness!" 

Ranma dodged the charge and Ryoga kept going. 

"My happiness?" Ranma asked, watching Ryoga as he ran off into the 
distance. "Am I happy?"

Akane glared at Ranma. "I hope you're happier now than you were before 
coming to Nerima."

Ranma looked at Akane and shrugged. "I guess."

----------------------------

Akane was in the dojo, decimating the practice dummy with a flurry of 
movements born of frustration, fear, anger, and years of martial arts 
training. She ripped into the dummy with moves that could kill a man. 
To almost everyone else she would be a force to be reckon with, but to 
herself and Ranma she was way too slow. She continued her attack trying 
to forget what happened after Ryoga left, and failed.

Nabiki entered the dojo and saw the Akane she knew, her angry little 
sister. The only difference was that the Akane she remembered was raw 
unfocused power, but the Akane before her was highly focused and far 
more dangerous. Nabiki watched as Akane literally ripped her target to 
shreds.

Akane stopped once the practice dummy was unrecognizable. She looked 
down at the remains, and it brought back a memory, a memory of 
Happosai's corpse at her feet. Akane became sick, barely able to stop 
herself from vomiting. She ran outside the dojo to try to regain 
control.

Nabiki looked at Akane with a questioning look. "Akane, are you all 
right? You look like you were about to throw up back there."

Akane took a couple breaths and steadied herself. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What just happened?"

Akane looked at Nabiki. "The dummy... brought back a rather bad 
memory, that I'd rather not think about."

Nabiki thought Akane was probably referring to Ranma's death, and 
decided to change the subject. "Now Akane, why did you, ah, practice 
like you did?"

Akane sighed sadly. "I was upset at Ranma's response to Ryoga saying 
he'd destroy his happiness. Ranma asked me if he was happy. And when I 
said I hope he was happier now, all he said was, 'I guess.' Shouldn't 
he be happy? He has a home and friends, and he still questioned if he 
was happy!"

"You know better than anyone else the hard life Ranma had. He's never 
had what he's got now. He doesn't know if he should be happy with this 
or if he would be happier living on the road. He needs time to 
understand his feelings. Try to remember what it was like for you when 
Ranma first arrived and consider what it'd be like if the roles were 
reversed and you were cursed and expected to follow him as he walked 
all over Japan and China."

Akane sighed. "I know... but I guess I want my Ranma back now and I'm 
getting a bit impatient. It's hard trying to keep my distance when I 
love him so much it hurts. There are times I want to act like Shampoo 
and throw myself at him. The only thing stopping me is that I know he 
doesn't like that. Instead of bringing him closer to me, I'd be 
chasing him away."

Nabiki smirked a little, remembering some of Shampoo's exploits that 
she had read. "Somehow I don't see you acting like that."

"Well, maybe not exactly the same way... but I am more than a little 
tempted to seduce him."

Nabiki shook her head. "Do try to keep your panties on. I'm not sure I 
want to be an aunt anytime soon."

----------------------------

"Here Ranma, this just came for you," Kasumi said, handing a letter to 
onna-Ranma and placing a teakettle next to her.

"A challenge letter from Ryoga," Ranma said reading over the letter.

"Will he make it in time for this one?" Akane joked.

"Nope, it's supposed to be yesterday."

"How bad of a direction sense could he have?" Nabiki asked.

"The worst. He can get lost in a room with one door,"  Ranma quipped.

Akane giggled. "Anyway, what started this feud?"

Ranma thought for a moment, coming up blank.

"Anything to deal with when you two went to the same school?" Nabiki 
asked.

Ranma snapped her fingers. "That's it! It was back at the start of a 
new semester, during lunch. The cafeteria lady threw out the last of 
the curry bread and I caught it before Ryoga could get it. He seemed 
upset about it. He was even crying tears of bitterness. Lunch was 
always a war there. After all it was a boys' school."

"Boys' school?" Kasumi questioned.

"I was a boy all the time back then," Ranma said bitterly.

"All that for taking some bread. You sure there wasn't more to it?" 
Akane asked.

As Kasumi poured hot water from the teakettle on Ranma, he remembered 
more and said, "Well, there was also chow mein bread, and then 
croquette bread, and melon bread, cutlet sandwich, meat bread, and 
there was seaweed bread..."

"My, sounds like the straws that broke the camel's back," Kasumi said.

Nabiki whispered to Akane, "You sure you want him?"

Akane nodded slightly.

-----------------------------

Author's notes:

Thanks to the numerous pre-readers and those who sent C&C on this 
series.

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/fuji/9061/second