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.



				--------------------------
				Chapter 9 - Ranma vs. Ryoga
				--------------------------



Ranma watched his opponent carefully. The attacks were skillful. They 
just didn't have much speed behind them. Fix that and his opponent 
would become very dangerous.

"Come on, fight back!"

"Why?" Ranma replied.

"Do you think running away long enough will give you a victory?"

"I don't run away!" Ranma snapped.

"That's what it looks like to me."

"Oh, yeah?" Ranma did a foot sweep.

His opponent jumped over it. "A beginner could avoid that."

"Try this!" Ranma let a series of punches fly.

Akane smiled as she was pegged by half of them. "That's more like it, 
but you don't have to soften them up, though, I need to know how to 
take stronger hits."

"It's not right to hit girls," Ranma replied, going back to the game 
of dodging Akane's attacks.

"Oh, really? Why is that?"

"Because girls are weaker!"

"So if you had to fight in your girl form, you'd lose because you're 
weaker?"

"No way. Even though my girl form is weaker, it's better than any 
other guy!"

"Then how come other girls can't be stronger than most guys? If your 
female body is better than most guys, why can't I be better as well?"

"Girls just aren't!"

Ranma finally failed to avoid one of Akane's attacks. An uppercut to 
the chin. He was imbedded in the ceiling.

Akane's eyes unsteadily looked at Ranma. "I'm sorry about losing my 
control there... but you need to realize that girls aren't helpless 
and weak."

Ranma pulled himself from the ceiling and landed next to Akane, 
rubbing his chin. "I know not all girls are helpless and weak... it's 
just I don't... well... Never mind." He turned and left the dojo.

"You don't feel right doing something that could hurt me," Akane 
whispered hopefully as if to finish what he tried to say. 

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

"Place your bets!" Nabiki called out. "Place your bets on the outcome 
of a battle between old rivals. Once the best of friends, now 
bitterest of enemies. Who shall win? Will it be the Furinkan High's 
own Saotome Ranma, or will it be the Eternal Lost Boy, Hibiki Ryoga?"

"I was never his friend, and don't call me that!!" Ryoga shouted.

Akane sat by one of the exits to the soccer field watching as Ranma 
and Ryoga stood in the field sizing each other up. She had refused to 
comment on Nabiki's betting pool, but it didn't stop Nabiki from 
passing off some information she acquired through 'research' that 
Ryoga was a good match against Ranma.

Akane groaned when Ranma tried to stop Ryoga from fighting with bread. 
She had hoped she had convinced him not to do that. She smiled a 
little when she noticed that the bread wasn't past the expiration 
date this time. Not that it stopped the fight.

Ranma and Ryoga started fighting and everyone was in awe (except 
Akane) of the skill they showed. They watched in fascination as Ryoga 
pulled off feats of strengths, and yet Ranma's speed prevented the 
Lost Boy from landing a blow.

Akane grinned as the fight was almost exactly like she remembered it. 
Now all that needed to happen was for... RRRRRIIIIPPPPP... Ranma's 
shirt to tear. Akane quickly left for the fountains followed by 
Nabiki.

 Nabiki mentally cheered seeing Ryoga land to the side of the 
fountains. 

Ranma's enraged attack followed the lost boy right into the fountains,
shattering them. Ryoga quickly used his umbrella to block the water.

Unnoticed by the two combatants, Akane's right hand flared with red 
chi. She sent a blast at the base of the water spout, causing water to 
splash irregularly. Ryoga's legs became soaked. 

Suddenly Ryoga's umbrella started to fall and his clothes washed away.
Ryoga was nowhere to be seen.

"I've been such a fool," Akane whispered.

Nabiki ran off in the direction of Ryoga's clothes, just as Ranma 
jumped out of the water.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Ranma asked.

"The idiot got lost. I'm going to drag his ass back here to finish the 
fight," Nabiki replied.

"You might want to wait until you're a guy before the next round," 
Akane added.

Ranma looked down, and blushed slightly. She readjusted her shirt so 
it wasn't so revealing. "Oh, yeah."

"Where they go?" was the most coherent question of a mob of students.

"Ah, Ryoga got lost and Ranma went to follow, but I don't think he 
went the same way," Akane answered them.

The students made some rather disgusted sounds. "Who won then?" was 
asked by someone.

"I'd say it was a draw," Akane commented.

Ranma made a disgusted sound. The students moaned knowing Nabiki would 
keep all the bets, since she had stated they were betting on the 
outcome of the fight.

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

Nabiki smirked seeing the black piglet looking sadly at his clothes. 
"Oh, look at the cute piggy!" 

Ryoga looked up and saw a girl's dress twirling over his head and 
could see the girl's panties...

Nabiki shook her head.  She 
grimaced noticing the blood from the pig's nose bleed on her left 
sock and shoe. She then shrugged, and picked up the unconscious Ryoga 
and his clothes.

Nabiki returned to the broken water fountain and placed Ryoga and his 
clothes near his umbrella. 

Akane arrived a minute later with half a cup of hot ramen. The girls 
quickly left hoping that Ryoga would wake up and see the ramen, using 
the hot water in it to transform back. If he did, he should make his 
late night appointment at the Tendo home in a couple days.

Several minutes later the Ryoga woke up. He saw the ramen and ate 
it. He then went to work setting up his portable stove, wishing for 
an easier way to get hot water. He idly wonder what had happened to 
the girl he saw, and why the coward, Saotome, had run off on him 
again.

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

Akane stared out the window. She somehow found it impossible not to 
cry. She tried to dry her tears when someone walked into the room.

"Sis, what's with the tears?" Nabiki asked. "Everything worked out 
perfectly. I doubt either of them suspect anything."

"It-It's not that. It's just what happened after the fight is one of 
my most important memories and now he'll never share it," Akane 
sobbed.

"What do you mean?"

"When Ryoga's weapon cut my hair, Ranma was extremely concerned for 
me. Even during the fight he was trying to protect me. Because I had 
hurt my ankle during the fight I went to see Dr. Tofu after Kasumi 
fixed my hair. When I was there Dr. Tofu said I looked cute. Do you 
have any idea how long I had waited for him to say that?"

Nabiki shook her head.

"Years! And when he said it then, I didn't care! I started crying. I 
didn't know what was wrong with me. Why hadn't I cared? Afterwards 
something happened that scared me. I wish it hadn't, but it did. Ranma 
said he liked how I looked and I couldn't have been happier! It 
shocked the hell out of me, so I tried to hide it. It wouldn't do for 
me to actually like the man I was being forced to marry. I've been 
such a stupid bitch." Akane cried into her hands.

"So, that's why you got your hair cut," Nabiki said. She knew from 
Ranma's 'other' journal that he liked Akane with short hair, but 
didn't think it was enough for Akane to cut her hair like she had.

Akane nodded.

"Well, Sis, I don't see any way you could've made that event happen 
even if your hair wasn't cut. You couldn't possibly stay in script 
for your part of the battle, so you would've had to do something 
pretty interesting to get your hair chopped."

"I know, but I still wi... wanted us to share that memory, and maybe 
make it a better one." 

"Well, let's not worry too much on the good memories he'll miss out 
on. You can always make sure to have better ones with him."

"I can try."

Nabiki nodded. "Now, Akane, who do you think will win tomorrow's 
soccer game?"

Akane scowled at Nabiki. "Not sure. Several of our school's players 
had minor injuries the last time around."

Nabiki shrugged, and started to leave. "Akane, are you sure you can 
go through with our plan for Ryoga's next appearance?"

Akane nodded. "I DO have some experience with what I have to do."

"Not a very good one according to the journal," Nabiki joked, and 
quickly left the room.

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

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