Second Chances
Chapter 18 - Icy Competition And Fiery Emotions
By Lord Archive
Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and several
other companies and are used without consent. Oh My Goddess characters
belong to Fujishima Kousuke, AnimEigo, and others- also used without
consent. I'll return them... I just need to get Urd to send them back
into time....
"Ranma!" Akane yelled and grabbed a man with red hair.
He looked at her, confused. "Oro?"
"Kenshin! Who is she?!"
"Oro!"
"You're not Ranma." Akane let go of him.
"Oops, over did it. Bye." Urd left 19th century Japan.
-----------------------------
Nabiki folded her arms. "You really screwed that up."
Akane looked down sheepishly. "I know. Mikado shouldn't have been able
to kiss me."
"I'm not talking about that. You should have already kissed Ranma."
Akane glared. "It was never the right time to do that."
"If you keep this up, it never will be."
"What do you suggest I do? I just can't kiss him!"
Nabiki looked evenly at Akane. "Why not?"
"Because that would chase him away."
"Akane, kissing him might chase him away regardless of whether or not
it's the 'right time.'"
"But I might be able to lessen that risk if...."
Nabiki interrupted, "That's not why you're delaying this."
"Of course it is."
"No it's only one of the reasons, and a minor one at that."
Akane scowled angrily. "Then why am I delaying things?"
"Three reasons. Reason one, as you stated, that the 'right moment' might
not scare him as much. Reason two, you want this to be perfect and won't
let anything spoil it. Reason three, you're scared that kissing him will
chase him away."
Akane turned her head and glared at the air. "What's wrong with wanting
it to be perfect?"
"Because you're sabotaging yourself for one thing. There is no such
thing as a perfect moment outside of a romance novel. Besides, a girl's
first true kiss is usually perfect _because_ it was their first. It's
only imperfect when it's taken by someone she didn't want to take it."
"Or when he can't remember it."
Nabiki sighed. "That too. At least you can think of your first kiss was
to him and not Mikado."
Akane nodded.
"Akane, you're going to have to be more aggressive. Just kiss the boy.
Don't worry about it being prefect. It will be as long as Ranma returns
the kiss. As for chasing him away, you're going to have to take that
risk or let Shampoo be his first kiss. And if you do it at the 'right
moment' you probably will scare him more than if you just kiss him."
"How would that scare him more?"
"Because it would stir up more emotions than a quick 'hello' kiss would
do. It would be another sign for him that he'll never be leaving here."
"But I don't want to scare him away."
"I wouldn't worry about that. He seems more attached to you than before.
He already said that you're his fiancee and punched Mikado more times
than he would've if he had been the one who got that kiss. I doubt
kissing him would chase him off." Of course part of that Rock Fist
technique increased Ranma's speed and let him hit Mikado more times, but
Nabiki didn't feel the need to remind Akane.
"I hope you're right."
"Of course I am. Just don't do more than kissing, since that would scare
him a lot more."
Akane nodded and stood up to walk out of Nabiki's room.
"One last thing, do you want Shampoo to beat you in this?"
"Of course not!"
"Good, then go get him!"
Akane turned back. "But what if we can prevent Shampoo from kissing
Ranma? If he doesn't beat her...."
"With Ranma's luck, just expect it. Besides, we've got divine
intervention in this mess as well, and if Shampoo is supposed to be
here-- you can bet Ranma's will end up defeating her."
-----------------------------
Akane adjusted her outfit. She should have followed Nabiki's advice and
just kiss Ranma after their chat, but she chickened out again. She
decided a kiss for luck would be easier to explain and deal with however
Ranma had run off to his dressing room before she had the chance to stop
him, and the next time she saw him was at the rink.
Akane was tempted to kiss him anyway, but then people think she was a
slut. You just don't show public displays of affection. Mikado could get
away with it as a 'ladies man,' but the girl would be seen as easy.
Considering where he had kissed her, some people probably already
thought that, which would make kissing Ranma here much worse.
Ranma flexed his hands. He couldn't wait for the announcer to shut up so
he could pound on Mikado. First, for stealing that kiss from Akane, and
second for vowing to take a kiss from the 'pig-tailed blossom.' The
Golden Pair's flashy entrance only made Ranma more upset. "I can do
better than that."
"Oh, no," Akane muttered as Ranma picked her up, his hand holding her up
by her ass like she was a food delivery box, and carried her onto the
ice.
The extra practice sessions Ranma had this time made him skate a bit
better. He made it a couple meters onto the ice before losing his
balance. He started to fall backwards.
Akane caught the movement and flipped behind him and then lifted him up
and over her head.
Mikado smirked. "Isn't the guy suppose to carry the girl?"
Azusa was trying to stay standing while having a giggling fit.
"Shaddup!" Ranma barked. He would've rather that Akane had let him fall.
"George is already Azusa's!"
"There is no way you're going to win _B-Chan_ from me."
-----------------------------
Nabiki sat down and watched as the match began. "Didn't expect you
here."
Ryoga blinked at the girl. Where had he met her before? Why was she
talking to him? "J-just wandered in and noticed that match." He turned
his attention to the match and the food he got from a vendor, trying to
distract himself from the girl. "What got Saotome so pissed?"
"Mikado stole a kiss from Akane."
"Stole a kiss." Ryoga shook his head. "How can someone steal a kiss?"
Nabiki scowled. "Like this."
Before Ryoga knew it, Nabiki's lips were locked with his. Blood rushed
to his head and he fainted.
"Jerk," Nabiki muttered. She took Ryoga's food and munched on it while
focusing her attention back onto the match.
-----------------------------
Akane smirked as Mikado tried to stand. He was in obvious pain from the
gut punch that Ranma had just given him.
Mikado clutched his side. "To think that I could be brought to my
knees."
"For stealing a kiss from Akane, I'll do more than that. I'm going to
kill you."
Mikado smirked. "Jealous that your fiancee would kiss me?"
Akane growled. "I didn't kiss you, _you_ kissed me!"
"There's no need to deny it. I have won many hearts, and sadly broken
them as well. That innocent pig-tailed blossom is you sister, right?"
Mikado glance contemptuously at Ranma.
"No."
"She's not? Well perhaps Ms. Tendo has something to worry about. You did
get rather angry when I promised to kiss her."
Ranma growled angrily.
"Oh, please." Akane scowled. "That is not going to work. There is no way
you're going to break us apart."
Azusa glared cutely while grabbing onto Mikado's back. "Oh really?"
Mikado began to move. "Perhaps you don't know about the Golden Pair's
other name... the Anti-Matchmakers! Not _one_ pair we've face has stayed
together!"
"No way a cocky creep like you will beat us! Akane let's take them."
Akane scowled. Ranma was skating into a trap that Nabiki had warned him
about from the information that she 'collected.' They were up against
the Couple Clever.
Azusa leapt into the air and Mikado ducked as Ranma tried to take off
his head. Akane slid along the ice taking out Sanzenin's legs.
Azusa noticed that Mikado had been knocked down and changed how she was
falling. She crashed into Ranma knees first, driving him to the ground.
She quickly stood up and grabbed his legs.
Mikado glared at Akane, and gripped her wrists tightly. "We don't get to
do the Love Hurts Smash too often."
Both Ranma and Akane were soon caught into separate spins. It wasn't too
difficult to figure out what this attack was going to do, but it was one
they hadn't expected.
Ranma hoped Akane would also figure out how to beat this.
Mikado and Azusa let go of the Furinkan team at the same instant sending
the pair hurtling towards each other.
Ranma adjusted his body, praying Akane would do the same. He
straightened with his fist extended forward looking like a missile.
Akane contorted her body, and was now in a flying kick. If either Ranma
or her made a mistake or if the Golden Pair aim was perfect, they would
hurt each other a lot.
Ranma arced over Akane; so close that he felt part of her outfit brush
his body.
Saotome's fist rammed into Mikado's face. A sickening crack signaled
that his nose had been broken and he was knocked unconscious. Ranma
landed roughly on top of him. He quickly stood up and watched as Akane,
who looked like she was riding Azusa like a surfboard, slid into the
wall.
The wall exploded debris as the two collided with it. A moment later
Akane staggered from the hole.
Akane didn't mean for her kick to do this. But Mikado put a lot of power
into that spin. Azusa probably had several broken ribs from the kick.
The wall didn't help matters.
-----------------------------
"Hey. Are you okay?"
Akane took her eyes off her skates. "I guess, Ranma. How is she?"
"The paramedics think she got a cracked rib or two. Nothing major."
Akane sighed with relief. "I thought I did more than that."
"Azusa may look small and weak, but she's got a lot of strength if she
can spin me around like that." Ranma shrugged. "Besides, Mikado's broken
nose is more of a problem. He's goin' to need a good surgeon or I ruined
his 'good' looks since the bone is now in five pieces."
"I hope he doesn't decide to get revenge."
"So what? On the ice, he's nothing; off it, he's even less."
"Ranma?" Akane gulped.
"Yeah?"
Akane stood up and walked over to him. "Thanks for caring." Before he
could reply, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
Ranma froze not sure what to do.
Akane didn't end the kiss. She wasn't going to until he returned it or
pulled away.
Ranma slowly returned to his senses and could think of only one thing to
do. He kissed her back.
In that instant they felt the world shatter around them.
Oddly, the wall next to them did just that.
"Where Ranma?"
The pair looked at the Chinese girl in fright.
"You know where Ranma is, yes? Tell Shampoo."
Akane was in shock. She had forgotten that this was when Shampoo showed
up. But what was more was that Shampoo didn't recognize Ranma.
"He... SHE went that way!" Ranma pointed at the door. He tried to calm
himself, realizing Shampoo had never met his male side.
Shampoo growled and literally went through the door.
"Who was she?"
Ranma shuddered. "Someone I had hoped to never see again."
-----------------------------
Ryoga woke up in an empty stadium. He touched his lips, remembering what
had made him pass out. That had been some kiss. Not that he knew if it
was good or not, since that had been his first. But who was that girl?
He knew he had seen her somewhere before and that she knew who he was.
He could not remember her name though. He had to find out who she was.
He just had too.
And maybe get her some flowers too.
-----------------------------
Author's Note:
Finally, what you've been waiting for, Ryoga's first kiss! Better than
it being to Ranma.
Though I'm sure that some of you are happy that Ranma and Akane finally
kissed too. Not to mention that Shampoo finally appeared.
Why did Akane forget that Shampoo was going to show up then? Her memory
is not flawless and it has been a while since she read that section of
Ranma's journal. Not to mention that a lot is going on between the
skating match and the kisses that it slipped her mind. She also couldn't
be sure that Shampoo would show up at the same time either since
female-Ranma didn't make an appearance during the skating match.
In traditional Japan, displays of public affection were taboo. You just
don't do more than hold someone's hand. This affects relationships in
modern day Japan, as many people still hold that belief. Akane's
behavior throughout the Ranma series shows that she believes the any
public display of affection is wrong. If anyone was around, Akane would
stop any display of affection; but when she believed they were alone,
she was more than willing to kiss Ranma.
As you can tell, this is getting further and further from the manga. I
used to have a plot for this, but I have long since pitched it. The
characters have pulled this in directions I didn't expect at all and I
will ride this along with you. Beyond a few ideas for Shampoo and
Cologne as well as some timeline changes (rearranging when stories
occurred), I don't know how things will go.
I mean, where did the scene with Nabiki and Ryoga come from? Don't ask
me. It just happened. I didn't plan on it and until I wrote it, I didn't
even consider it. I'm blaming it on an odd comment from Michael Chase.
Besides, the Lost Boy could use a reason to show up at the Tendos. Now
this leaves me with the question: does Nabiki want him? I don't know
yet.
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