Author's Intro: This story is solely for entertainment purposes, and the characters are not necessarily meant to reflect their counterparts in the series. The characters evolve beyond where they are in the series, and they sometimes evolve in odd and unpredictable ways. Of course, some characters just wont evolve (mainly Akane and Ranma's parents). So let me also note a disturbing discovery I made: a fan fiction that also seemed to feature a journal written by Ranma. I just want everyone to know that I started writing this whole thing while I didn't have any internet access to be aware of that fic, and not that I suspect it's all that major a fic, because it only has two chapters right now. This fic is entirely different, and offers the story from various perspectives, including the journal entries that tell the majority of the story, and the occasional third-person scene, a few of which I plan to add to what I already have hand-written because I feel these are big character moments that deserve dialog.
Now allow me to make a better summary of the story than the short one attached to the story: Ranma is nearing graduation, as is Akane, and the pressure is on for him to choose one of his fiancés. Dr. Tofu, seeing Ranma's stress, asks him to start keeping a journal to sort out his thoughts. Ranma reluctantly does so, but forgets that certain people have snooping tendencies *cough*Nabiki!*cough*. Soon his father and Akane's father know about what he wrote, and then things really start to get interesting.
Ver: 2.0
The Update: A small addition regarding Akane's bad cooking.
May 22nd, 2003: I can't believe I'm doing this, gotta remember, journal, not diary, journal, not diary, this isn't girlish, this is a journal. Dr. Tofu insisted on it, and pointed out that very fact, girls write in diaries, guys keep journals. If journals weren't masculine, there'd be no reason for the term: diary to exist because no distinction would have to be made between the sexes. Anyway, I'm supposed to talk about my fiancés, and how that's stressing me out, or perhaps which one I'd choose if I were forced to choose-another one of Dr. Tofu's "suggestions".
Shampoo: I'll start with her, she's the most dangerous, and the one I least know, really. I mean, aside from the fact that she's cute, likes to cuddle, is Chinese and part of some Amazon tribe, I don't really know that much. And oh yeah, her tribe has these rules about marrying guys who defeat them and killing girls that defeat them. That's how all this happened, and my main problem is if I don't chose her, someone's probably going to die and I bet it will be the person I choose instead of her. Next to Aka-no, I'm going to focus on Shampoo herself. She's probably the one I wouldn't choose, all things considered, but she's also the most dangerous person not to marry.
Ukyo: I'd marry her, but I don't think of our relationship as one of "love" at all, just friendship, and I have this funny way of not being able to imagine having anything more than that. I do care for her welfare, I'd be sad if she died, heck I'd cry even, just not in front of anybody. I'd make sure the door was locked, and that the walls were sound-proof enough, but that's just a hypothetical situation that probably wouldn't happen unless I actually tried to marry her and Shampoo killed her. Now I'm talking about Shampoo again, focus-FOCUS! Ukyo can cook, unlike A-some people I know, who CAN'T! Okay, it's obvious to me what I'm talking about, and this journal doesn't have a mind to be deceived with. Anyway, Ukyo is another no-go I suppose.
Akane: Now I know, I'm just going to wait until my screwed up threads of fate send me another fiancé, maybe somebody I can actually LOVE this time, because none of my prospects look any good! Akane is the last person I'd want to be sleeping in the same bed with for one thing. Okay, okay, I remember now there have been a few times when I've proudly exclaimed "She's MY fiancé!", I never did that with the others. If the purpose of this whole journal-thing is to dig deeper into my feelings, I need to figure out why the hell I even said stuff like that.
Sometimes I wish she were my only fiancé, I mean, she was my first, and those were indeed simpler times, how I loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg for them. Sorry, had to emphasize the sarcasm, this is, after all, only written on paper. So Akane, she really does look cute when she smiles, I just used the truth that one time to throw her off her guard, I guess I just like to tease her. Obviously, it pushes her away, because she has absolutely no sense of humor. Yeah, I'd really like to get to know her, the side of her I've only really heard about and maybe seen once or twice. I know I saw it way back two years ago during that brief time she thought I was a girl. I don't know how to see that side of her, should I just go up to her and ask "Hey, you've been really mean to me these past two years, and maybe I haven't been all that nice to you either, but I'd really, really like to see your nice side. Yeah, I know you have one, I remember it from…"
Great, I'm coming up with ways to start conversations that I'll probably never have the guts to initiate…wait a second, not have the guts? Okay, maybe I'm judging myself too harshly, of course I've got guts, just not so much socially. But what am I afraid of? The obvious, she's going to think I've gone crazy, she's not going to be a whole "lets start being friends" bit, even if it's actually sincere, that's not the way she knows me to be like. She's too used to the "Jerk! Pervert! BAKA!" Ranma, like I'm so used to the uncute tomboy Akane. If she went to ME with the same bit that I just came up with, I wouldn't believe her either.
In any case, I think she has some kind of feelings for me, I mean, I obviously have something for her, otherwise I wouldn't be going on so much longer about her than the other fiancés. She's been apparently jealous of the other fiancés and people who try to pursue me romantically, or maybe she just doesn't think I deserve to have a woman or something. Nah, I doubt that, I'm pretty sure it's some kind of jealousy, or maybe just something I haven't thought about yet.
I guess perhaps the main reason we wont even start being in any way friendly to each other is perhaps our parents, the whole arranged marriage thing. Perhaps we're afraid that if we stop fighting each other constantly for one minute that our parents might pop in and say "Good! You're finally getting along! The wedding will be tomorrow, then!". Or maybe we just feel like our parents are trying to control us and that we shouldn't like each other because that would mean our parents have won or something. It could be a combination of those two things even, I suppose. I'm pretty sure it's not neither.
So, I guess my optimal situation if I were to be forced somehow to marry her would be to delay the wedding for at least a couple months. Then there'd have to be an agreement that during the days up until the wedding we'd have to get along, and not fight at all. There might be also a point at which we could cancel the wedding, but it would have to be after a certain amount of time, so we couldn't just think we could never get to know each other, and just pull out early. Then of course, the other fiancés and people pursuing me, and in fact Akane as well, would have to be taken care of, no easy task, but it might be possible.
Then there is, of course, her cooking, which would have to be somehow improved, if that's even possible. I'd probably have to talk Ukyo into it, if anyone can teach a girl as hopeless as Akane to cook, it would have to be her.
So there's the question of this entry: Who would I choose if I were forced to marry one of the three? At the beginning of this entry, I wouldn't have known, and I certainly wouldn't have even thought of deciding on who I'm deciding on, but considering the whole plan I mapped out, that is something I didn't even attempt with the others, I'd chose Akane-just because I have this plan. Haha! I know that's ridiculous, but we're talking about a hypothetical situation that for all accounts and purposes, I don't think is going to happen. So I think to hell with it! Pick Akane because she's the only one you went for far as to make a plan for! A great way of trying to answer an otherwise impossible question, who cares if it's just an easy way out?
Well, I think I might not write anything else until I think of something else to discuss, which may be a few years, I don't know.
Author's conclusion: Well, the next chapter is going to have a third-person even in it, likely, one previously unwritten. In fact, this entire entry has been re-written because I think I had Ranma go on too long about things, and considering that I wrote it early on, I think I was just experimenting with trying to establish Ranma's thought processes. Well, I think I'll start working on the second chapter right away, since I'm kinda on a roll here.
Now allow me to make a better summary of the story than the short one attached to the story: Ranma is nearing graduation, as is Akane, and the pressure is on for him to choose one of his fiancés. Dr. Tofu, seeing Ranma's stress, asks him to start keeping a journal to sort out his thoughts. Ranma reluctantly does so, but forgets that certain people have snooping tendencies *cough*Nabiki!*cough*. Soon his father and Akane's father know about what he wrote, and then things really start to get interesting.
Ver: 2.0
The Update: A small addition regarding Akane's bad cooking.
May 22nd, 2003: I can't believe I'm doing this, gotta remember, journal, not diary, journal, not diary, this isn't girlish, this is a journal. Dr. Tofu insisted on it, and pointed out that very fact, girls write in diaries, guys keep journals. If journals weren't masculine, there'd be no reason for the term: diary to exist because no distinction would have to be made between the sexes. Anyway, I'm supposed to talk about my fiancés, and how that's stressing me out, or perhaps which one I'd choose if I were forced to choose-another one of Dr. Tofu's "suggestions".
Shampoo: I'll start with her, she's the most dangerous, and the one I least know, really. I mean, aside from the fact that she's cute, likes to cuddle, is Chinese and part of some Amazon tribe, I don't really know that much. And oh yeah, her tribe has these rules about marrying guys who defeat them and killing girls that defeat them. That's how all this happened, and my main problem is if I don't chose her, someone's probably going to die and I bet it will be the person I choose instead of her. Next to Aka-no, I'm going to focus on Shampoo herself. She's probably the one I wouldn't choose, all things considered, but she's also the most dangerous person not to marry.
Ukyo: I'd marry her, but I don't think of our relationship as one of "love" at all, just friendship, and I have this funny way of not being able to imagine having anything more than that. I do care for her welfare, I'd be sad if she died, heck I'd cry even, just not in front of anybody. I'd make sure the door was locked, and that the walls were sound-proof enough, but that's just a hypothetical situation that probably wouldn't happen unless I actually tried to marry her and Shampoo killed her. Now I'm talking about Shampoo again, focus-FOCUS! Ukyo can cook, unlike A-some people I know, who CAN'T! Okay, it's obvious to me what I'm talking about, and this journal doesn't have a mind to be deceived with. Anyway, Ukyo is another no-go I suppose.
Akane: Now I know, I'm just going to wait until my screwed up threads of fate send me another fiancé, maybe somebody I can actually LOVE this time, because none of my prospects look any good! Akane is the last person I'd want to be sleeping in the same bed with for one thing. Okay, okay, I remember now there have been a few times when I've proudly exclaimed "She's MY fiancé!", I never did that with the others. If the purpose of this whole journal-thing is to dig deeper into my feelings, I need to figure out why the hell I even said stuff like that.
Sometimes I wish she were my only fiancé, I mean, she was my first, and those were indeed simpler times, how I loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg for them. Sorry, had to emphasize the sarcasm, this is, after all, only written on paper. So Akane, she really does look cute when she smiles, I just used the truth that one time to throw her off her guard, I guess I just like to tease her. Obviously, it pushes her away, because she has absolutely no sense of humor. Yeah, I'd really like to get to know her, the side of her I've only really heard about and maybe seen once or twice. I know I saw it way back two years ago during that brief time she thought I was a girl. I don't know how to see that side of her, should I just go up to her and ask "Hey, you've been really mean to me these past two years, and maybe I haven't been all that nice to you either, but I'd really, really like to see your nice side. Yeah, I know you have one, I remember it from…"
Great, I'm coming up with ways to start conversations that I'll probably never have the guts to initiate…wait a second, not have the guts? Okay, maybe I'm judging myself too harshly, of course I've got guts, just not so much socially. But what am I afraid of? The obvious, she's going to think I've gone crazy, she's not going to be a whole "lets start being friends" bit, even if it's actually sincere, that's not the way she knows me to be like. She's too used to the "Jerk! Pervert! BAKA!" Ranma, like I'm so used to the uncute tomboy Akane. If she went to ME with the same bit that I just came up with, I wouldn't believe her either.
In any case, I think she has some kind of feelings for me, I mean, I obviously have something for her, otherwise I wouldn't be going on so much longer about her than the other fiancés. She's been apparently jealous of the other fiancés and people who try to pursue me romantically, or maybe she just doesn't think I deserve to have a woman or something. Nah, I doubt that, I'm pretty sure it's some kind of jealousy, or maybe just something I haven't thought about yet.
I guess perhaps the main reason we wont even start being in any way friendly to each other is perhaps our parents, the whole arranged marriage thing. Perhaps we're afraid that if we stop fighting each other constantly for one minute that our parents might pop in and say "Good! You're finally getting along! The wedding will be tomorrow, then!". Or maybe we just feel like our parents are trying to control us and that we shouldn't like each other because that would mean our parents have won or something. It could be a combination of those two things even, I suppose. I'm pretty sure it's not neither.
So, I guess my optimal situation if I were to be forced somehow to marry her would be to delay the wedding for at least a couple months. Then there'd have to be an agreement that during the days up until the wedding we'd have to get along, and not fight at all. There might be also a point at which we could cancel the wedding, but it would have to be after a certain amount of time, so we couldn't just think we could never get to know each other, and just pull out early. Then of course, the other fiancés and people pursuing me, and in fact Akane as well, would have to be taken care of, no easy task, but it might be possible.
Then there is, of course, her cooking, which would have to be somehow improved, if that's even possible. I'd probably have to talk Ukyo into it, if anyone can teach a girl as hopeless as Akane to cook, it would have to be her.
So there's the question of this entry: Who would I choose if I were forced to marry one of the three? At the beginning of this entry, I wouldn't have known, and I certainly wouldn't have even thought of deciding on who I'm deciding on, but considering the whole plan I mapped out, that is something I didn't even attempt with the others, I'd chose Akane-just because I have this plan. Haha! I know that's ridiculous, but we're talking about a hypothetical situation that for all accounts and purposes, I don't think is going to happen. So I think to hell with it! Pick Akane because she's the only one you went for far as to make a plan for! A great way of trying to answer an otherwise impossible question, who cares if it's just an easy way out?
Well, I think I might not write anything else until I think of something else to discuss, which may be a few years, I don't know.
Author's conclusion: Well, the next chapter is going to have a third-person even in it, likely, one previously unwritten. In fact, this entire entry has been re-written because I think I had Ranma go on too long about things, and considering that I wrote it early on, I think I was just experimenting with trying to establish Ranma's thought processes. Well, I think I'll start working on the second chapter right away, since I'm kinda on a roll here.