Split Ring

A Ranma 1/2 fanfic

Notes: Part 3. What, a third part? I know, I'm just as surprised as you are. Full author's notes at the very bottom.

"Why do you wear a keyring thing on your hand?"

Ranma looked up from his food. He and his schoolmates, Daisuke and Hiroshi, were enjoying the warm fall air, as they sat down for their lunch break. The sun was beating down on the roof of Furinkan High School, so the three young men took shade under the overhang, which surrounded the entryway to the roof. Ranma glanced at his left thumb as if he was glancing at a watch, then returned to his riceball in hand. "It's nothing."

"But you've been wearing it since you got back from break," Daisuke added to Hiroshi's question. "I thought you wore it to remind you of something, like how people tie strings on their fingers so they won't forget to go grocery shopping. But you've been wearing that for, what, at least a month."

"Come on, Saotome. Or did you forget what the reminder was for?"

Ranma just shrugged. In reality, there was no way he could forget what it reminded him of. Of a warm Okinawan afternoon. Of a beautiful view of the sky and ocean. Of standing at an altar, in front of his tomboy who he never expected to fall for that hard and that fast. Of kissing her, promising himself and her to be forever faithful to her. On their terms, not their families. He brought the soda can to his lips, trying to nonchalantly cover his emerging smile and his rising blush.

It had been a month and some weeks since they got 'married'. They returned to school like normal, returned to their normal home life as best as they could. But he couldn't help but notice how things were different. How, when she jabbed him in annoyance, her fist would linger at the point of contact. How, when they would walk through town, they were in-step, and much closer so that their shoulders brushed. How, sometimes, if no one was in the hallways, he drop by her room, exchange goodnights, and then share a quick hug before anyone said or noticed anything. How, if luck was on their side on certain nights, Ranma would sneak to Akane's room, and he would lounge back on her bed while she laid against him, talking, reading a book, anything at all for at least an hour or two.

A few hours later, school ended. Ranma and Akane walked home on a new route, one that added another ten minutes to their trip. As the crowd of Furinkan students thinned out and dispersed, Ranma wordlessly reached out his hand to Akane's left, taking it in his own.

She smiled at him. He half-smiled back in response and rubbed his fingers over her knuckles, right where her middle and ring knuckle usually made contact with a punch, feeling her thin calluses. Her fingers were completely bare. Ranma's steps slowed down as he looked down to her hand.

"Oh," it was as if she read his mind. "It kept falling off, and I didn't want to lose it, so…" she reached her free hand towards her collar and pulled out a black cord necklace, with the split ring threaded through.

"Oh," was all Ranma said to the matter. That was a good idea, considering how much smaller her hand was, compared to his.

As they reached closer to home, they gently let go of one another, yet still kept their proximity.

And then, sometime after dinner, it began to irk Ranma. One of his first promises as her 'husband' was to get her a ring. It's been over a month, and he had not fulfilled his promise. Was he or was he not a man?

Problem was, rings were expensive. And, he wasn't rolling in yen either. Ranma sat at the dining table, watching TV, internally sighing over his own poverty. Kasumi had just come in, placed the day's mail on the table for her father to sift through.

"Hey, Sis," Nabiki called out to her, eyes glued to her phone. "Check this out."

While Kasumi looked on to the smaller screen in her younger sister's hand, Ranma kept his eyes on the larger screen in the dining room. He stayed still, leaning his elbow on the table, head cradled in his hand. What to do, what to do…

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a department store flyer sitting on the table. He tried his best not to look particularly interested in it, but he managed to at least grab a quick glance at the prices. It only annoyed him even more. 90,000 yen to start? For a tiny single diamond ring? What kind of robbery was that?

But that was a big department store price. Maybe things were cheaper at small mom and pop shops, right?

No, he soon found out. Akane went out to a movie with Sayuri, so he took the opportunity to go jewelry hunting. He walked into a small shop off his normal trek home and immediately walked out. The prices were the same, just about.

"Great," he grumbled, defeated. Ranma arrived home, once again, ringless and still broke. He checked in the dining room to see that Genma and Soun were engrossed in a game of shogi. And there, again, on the corner of the dining table, was today's mail. With his back to the adults, he took the department store flyers, and exited the room. He walked up the stairs and quickly headed to his room. He flopped down on the floor and began to flip through the pages. "Geez," he hissed through his teeth. Still, everything was so expensive. Is this what people expect when you got married? To pay double a mortgage payment for a piece of shiny jewelry?

The door slowly slid opened; Ranma stuffed all the flyers under his seat. To his surprise, Nabiki walked through the door and closed it behind her. "There won't be any sales until maybe this winter."

"Wh-what?" he feigned ignorance.

"Jewelry sales," the middle sister took a few steps into the room, arms crossed. "Best time to buy jewelry is the Christmas season. After that, around Valentine's Day and White Day. For rings especially."

Ranma could feel his body flush from his face, all the way down to his neck. "Wh-wh-what are you talking about? Why would I want to buy a ring?"

"I can only assume to replace the keychain rings you and Akane both wear," she said, pointing down to his hand. "Probably because you two decided to elope last minute and you didn't have rings to exchange."

Ranma tried to hide his hand away from view.

"Did you even pay for the keychains you used?"

Ranma's brow twitched. "The guy gifted it, I think," he replied curtly. "Who else knows?"

"Pretty sure it's just Kasumi and me."

He nodded. That was a relief. Kasumi was very trustworthy. Then again, Nabiki always calculated anything for the sake of profit. "I want to keep it that way. Let Akane and I deal with it ourselves."

"That's fine," Nabiki shrugged, "but someone is going to notice eventually that the two of you are wearing those. Might as well make it count. Probably best to swap it out for something less, I don't know, what's the word I'm looking for…"

'Cheap, go on, say it,' he could feel his pride being attacked, like a punch to the gut. "Not like it matters," Ranma huffed. "This crap is too rich for me."

She arched an eyebrow. "Let me throw you a line here…"

"I don't want money from you, Nabiki," Ranma interjected before she could offer. Call him crazy, but things like this should be from him. Christmas presents are one thing, but wedding rings? No, he had to draw a line somewhere, right?

"I wasn't planning to. I was going to give you some advice," Nabiki finished. "This is Akane we're talking about. She's not a fancy girl."

"Yeah, I know," he said, "but even the simple stuff is expensive. Hell, even a single band with nothing on it is out of my budget."

"What's your budget?"

"Whatever I can steal from Pops' wallet without him noticing."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?"

"I don't have a job, okay?"

"You know, Daddy is probably still holding onto the ring for that ceremony from last year. You could always use that."

Ranma shook his head. "What we did in Okinawa was on our terms not anyone else's. I want it to stay that way." Which was true. He was sure their fathers' had kept their wedding bands somewhere, but it wasn't even a consideration.

Nabiki smiled. "Why don't you think outside the box? It doesn't have to be a diamond. It doesn't have to be platinum. Heck, it doesn't even have to be gold. It's just gotta be a ring, and it's gotta be Akane."

Ranma nodded, taking in her advice. "Hey, can I borrow your laptop?"

It took him hours to search, but he ran into something that caught his eye. In his very meager budget, and definitely Akane.

It took about a week to show up in the mail. He was stalking the mailbox and the front door for days, tracking it on the computer at school when he found a few minutes of downtime. Finally, it arrived.

So, while everyone was in bed or turned in for the night, Ranma made a trip to his wife's room. He hopped out of his bedroom window and crossed the tiled roof, over to hers at the house's corner. He flipped and suspended himself upside down, while wrapping on her window.

Akane was about to turn her desk lamp off before she heard his knock. She reached over the desk and opened the window. "Hey," she greeted him. She stepped aside, giving Ranma space to land.

Ranma gave a small hop, flipped and landed in the window opening with perfect precision. "I know we already said our goodnights, but I wanted to give something to you." He stepped into her bedroom, and onto the floor next to her.

"To me?"

"Yeah. To replace the one I gave you, you know. Earlier. In Okinawa."

"Oh." Her fingertips brushed a spot under her clavicle, a brush creeping up to her face. "You didn't have to-."

"I-I know," he stammered, "but I said I would. And I want to. So, yeah." He could feel his own blush creeping up his neck. Before he had a change of mind, he held out the small black pouch in his hand, thrusting it into her view. "Here."

Her eyes widened. "Ranma…" she took it in her hands and slowly unzipped it to reveal its contents. She looked to the ring, then back at him. Inside was a smooth, red, silicone band.

"Remember, I don't have a job or nothing," he defended. "But this seemed like a good idea. Red, because you know, your name, but silicone can easily expand and contract. So, it won't hurt you if you punch anybody or nothin'."

Akane picked it out of the pouch and examined it, her eyes unreadable to him. Did she hate it? What was she thinking? Then, he saw a glimmer in her eyes. "You initialed the inside?"

"Y-yeah," he scratched his cheek, displaying one of those nervous ticks. "Since it wasn't a diamond or gold or whatever, I still wanted to make it meaningful." He kept his gaze on her, studying her face. When they sparred, she was so easy to read, but now… Now, he didn't know what was going on. "You… you don't like it?" he could feel his mood sink.

Akane shook her head quickly. "No! It's not that, just…" she reached down to the desk drawer closest to the bed and opened it. To Ranma's utter amazement, she pulled out an identical black pouch. "... it's just, I'm surprised how much we think alike."

"You mean, you…"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded.

Ranma quickly opened the pouch and revealed the ring inside: a single black band, similar to Akane's, only thicker, with a thin red bar running along the middle.

"I engraved it, too," she admitted sheepishly.

There, right along the inside where the red color ran, were the initials "AT", in the same block font as the "RS" which resided in her ring. "Red and black?"

"Well, at first, it was to symbolize your hair color change when you become a girl, but the fact that mine is red, that'll work too," Akane giggled. "Where did you get the idea for the silicone?"

"Well, Nabiki told me to think outside the box, so while I was poking around her laptop, I noticed this site pop up in the sponsored part of the browser and…" he looked down to Akane. "What?"

Akane smiled, amused at something she realized. "I asked Kasumi for help, and we borrowed Nabiki's laptop to browse websites."

Huh, interesting, Ranma thought. Then again, they both knew, didn't they? "I think we just got played. Who knew Kasumi had it in her?"

"Never underestimate my oldest sister," Akane giggled. And then her expression straightened, looking down at the ring. "Ranma… how did you pay for this? I mean, it's an online store, so how? You don't have a credit card."

"Neither do you."

"I used Kasumi's."

"Oh. I used Pops'."

Akane's expression fell in disbelief. "You used your dad's credit card?!" Akane exclaimed, hissing, trying to keep her voice down.

"It's an online store, what was I supposed to do?!"

"I don't know! Maybe borrow Kasumi's card?!"

"How was I supposed to know she has a credit card? Besides, I only had cash!"

"So, why didn't you give her the cash so you could use her card?!"

"Okay, again, how was I supposed to know Kasumi has a credit card?" Ranma was pretty sure that his dad didn't constantly monitor his transactions, but then again...

"Then ask!" Akane huffed, and then took a long deep breath, trying to relax. "Geez, well, too late now. Looks like your dad might find out sooner or later. Meaning, my dad too." Her eyes fell down to the ring nestled in her palm, her brow furrowed towards each other. "Now what?"

Ranma looked at her.

"It looks like this ring will actually fit this finger," she spoke, as if musing out loud. Akane tilted her head up to meet his gaze. "But… what should we do? Actually wear them properly? It's going to get us in trouble."

Trouble? Meaning their parents' meddling, Shampoo, that old chrone Cologne, Ukyo, Ryouga, among many more... Ranma had been lamenting on it for weeks. What did it mean for him to give her the ring? That he kept his promise? Sure, that's all fine and well, but if he was honest with himself, he wanted her to wear the ring. He wanted people to see that she was wearing a ring. That meant more to him than he thought it ever would.

To hell with trouble. Ranma took the ring from her.

"Ranma?"

Ranma took the red ring out of the pouch, tossing the pouch on her bed. He reached for her left hand and guided the ring onto her left fourth finger. "Bring on the trouble, we can take it. Right?"

Akane's worried expression faded as she smiled at her hand, then him. "So long as I'm with you, like you said."

Ranma could feel his face blush, as she referred to his vows back in Okinawa. He watched her as she gently took his ring in her own hand, then placed the ring onto his left fourth finger. But she didn't let go of his hand; she drew delicate lines with her fingers, caressing the skin of his hand with feather-like touches. Ranma watched and marveled at the sight of the ring, the one he bought her, grace her finger, the one that so happened to match the one he wore.

Ranma raised his hand to cradle his wife's face; Akane's face looked up to him. He could feel his body warm up again at the anticipation of what he was about to do next. He leaned forward…

And then froze when he heard someone knock as they placed their hands on Akane's bedroom doorknob. Ranma immediately jumped out of the open window, and placed a firm grip on the window sill, dangling out of sight.

"Oh," he could hear Kasumi's voice. "Good, you're still up. Father forgot to mention that tomorrow morning is going to be a full class, so he'll need both you and Ranma up at seven to help instruct."

"Oh-okay," Akane answered, her voice tightened ever so slightly.

"Well, goodnight, Akane. Good night, Ranma."

Wait, how did she know? "G'night," Ranma responded back. As soon as he hoisted himself on the window sill, the door softly closed. They were alone in the room again. "Don't underestimate her, huh?" he reiterated Akane's words from earlier.

"Told you," she said.

Ranma pulled himself up so that he balanced on his toes on the metal window track, knees to his chest. "Guess that's our cue to go to sleep."

"Mmm. Guess so."

Ranma watched as Akane approached the window and wrapped her arms around his neck; he returned the action by embracing her. He tilted his head towards her, taking in her melon and fresh linen scent again. And then, Ranma could feel her slightly pull away, her temple pressed against his. She tilted her head to face him. "Ranma…"

Ranma's eyes widened, noticing how her lips were angled towards his. There was something exhilarating and comforting all at once when he was this close to her. It felt like the high he got when mastering a new technique, but also like watching the sunrise. Exciting and calming all at once. And the feelings began to multiply as her lips moved closer and closer to his. Ranma slowly closed his eyes in anticipation.

And then, when there was only a breath between them, with her lips brushing, hovering over his, she softly whispered, "Good night, Ranma." She pulled away from him, one hand on each side of the window frame.

Ranma's eyes snapped open. He could feel himself heat up from head to toe, a mix of embarrassment, annoyance and something else. The little minx! "Smooth, Tendo. Real smooth. You'll pay for that."

She just smirked at him, satisfaction painted all over her face. "I look forward to it."

That's right, he thought. They vowed to each other a whole lifetime to mess with one another. The idea brought a smile to his face. With that, he jumped out the window and made his way across the rooftop to his room. He twiddled his fingers on his left hand, feeling the new sensation on his ring finger. His smile broadened.

...owari.

Gibberish:

A couple of notes regarding inspiration.

Part 1: Mostly inspired by How I Met Your Mother "Something Borrowed" episode (I think!), when Lily and Marshall were encountering problem after problem during their wedding day. To remedy the situation, the two of them exchanged vows in the garden, in front of Robin, Barney and Ted. It was a small, intimate ceremony, just like how the couple originally wanted. So that, the various problems related to the big ceremony didn't matter, because the moment that was important to them happened early. And sure, Ranma and Akane are still high schoolers, and they didn't officially marry, I understand that, but it was more on the lines of… a commitment vow, for lack of a better word? So, the keychains were almost like a promise ring. At least until they really got married.

Part 2: Nothing in particular. Nabiki's POV was just an interesting exercise.

Part 3: Some two years after my husband and I got married, he lost 30 pounds, causing his ring to be very loose. He didn't want me to buy anything expensive to replace it. At the time, he was doing Crossfit workouts, and that's when I heard about the Qalo silicone rings. I bought him a black band to replace his ill-fitting first ring (which fell down the drain when it slipped off while he was showering, forever lost… but I digress). And during our most recent anniversary, he bought me a thin black band to match his. And if you're curious, they are around $20 USD. Totally in a teenager's budget.

Well, anyway, thanks for letting me rattle on. Hope you enjoyed this warm and fluffy fic.