The characters in this story aren't mine, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other publications. I'm only here so I can practice my writing…
I do not own any of the characters and gains no profit from writing this story, so again please don't sue!
I already have enough problems managing bill payments…
Bold Italics means sounds/signs
Italics means thoughts...
"Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbour's Wife"
Exodus 20:11-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Set 10 years in the future…
It has been 10 years since Ranma and Akane's marriage.
Ranma thought it was the end of his troubles. That he can start afresh with the woman he loves, instead he was lying in the dojo on the futon all alone while Akane was inside the house still fuming. He can never figure out what Akane's problem was. She always accused him of cheating. She could never trust him long enough to listen to his side of the story.
It hurt.
It hurt that everyday he watches by and see how his marriage was slowly crumbling right before his eyes. A marriage he fought so hard to have. Perhaps it was wrong to be married in such a young age but after what had happened to them, after all the struggles they went through, he thought that being married to her will end all that. He thought wrong.
He thought his love for her was enough to keep them together, but the fighting never ceased. For the first two years of their marriage however they were happy. Both of them were now the heirs of "Anything Goes Martial Arts" and both teach Martial Arts. They had inherited the Tendo Dojo as agreed upon by their fathers and Happosai.
Soun Tendo & Hinako Ninomiya accompanied by Genma and Nodoka went to tour around the world. Happosai rarely makes an appearance and everything seems well. They were quite happy and content. Their lives were finally settled down, all was left was to actually start a family. To bear a child as proof of their love for one another.
Ranma closed his eyes as a sharp pain went through him, making his heart constrict and was suddenly making it hard for him to breathe.
It hurt to hear that he and Akane cannot conceive a child. They tried but to no avail. Akane even considered just to adopt a child but for some reason he was against the idea. He wanted to father a child. His own child, but seeing Akane's desire for a child, he finally gave in. They adopted a small child, a little girl which they named Sakura. For a little while they were once again happy. Their lives were now filled with bountiful happiness making their family complete but like many good things, they do not last for the Fates where far too cruel.
One day Sakura's real parents came back. They wanted their child back, something he and Akane didn't want to do and refused to do so. After a long, lengthy and a very tiring custody battle, they lost custody of Sakura. It was a very big blow to Akane. She seemed to blame herself the most for not being able to keep Sakura. She blamed herself for not being able to also conceive a child which resulted to blaming herself for her own short-comings, becoming more angry as self-loathing continued to grow in her own mind and body. Since then Akane was never the same. The fights they had occurred more frequently, just like now.
He wished his parents were back. He really needed their presence right now. He needed to speak to someone but speaking to someone was exactly the reason why he was in the dojo. Honestly, there was no reason for Akane to get so worked up over a simple phone conversation with Ukyo. It has been so long since he has spoken to her. Akane was being unfair. She began to accuse him of getting in touch with Ukyo since she could no longer fulfil her duties as a wife and bear his child. Tried as he might to convince her that she was wrong, his pleas fell into deaf ears.
Instead he was lying in the dojo, all alone. They both needed space after the argument they just had and they really need this time apart to cool off. Ugly words were exchanged, some more painful and hurtful than any bodily blows one can receive from actual acts of violence. Those same hurtful and painful words that kept him from trying to find sleep. His thoughts kept him awake and continued to bother him, why something like this can happen between them.
Why was life for him so difficult?
Was he ever meant to be happy?
Why was the Fates , the Gods, the Kamis and whoever it was that was making his life difficult, was so cruel?
Isn't he entitled to be happy like everyone else is?
His thoughts began to drift from the questions, to how everything started. He was determined to find out how everything went wrong as he began to scan through his memories.
Since he and Akane got married Cologne and Shampoo had gone back to China and he had heard little about them since then. Mousse stayed behind and managed the Cat Café (Nekohaten) and continually works there til this very day. Ryoga left upon hearing Akane's marriage to him and has never seen or heard from since then. Ukyo left Nerima with Konatsu and moved to Kyoto to expand their Okonomiyaki business. Kodachi moved to America accompanied by her father. Kasumi and Dr Tofu got married a year later and moved to Juuban where they work together at a small medical clinic. A year later after Tofu and Kasumi's marriage, Nabiki also married. She married Tatewaki Kuno. A marriage he still couldn't believe until now.
His thoughts then began to drift towards the middle Tendo.
Until now, it still surprised him when he thought about the all the help and assistance Nabiki provided over the years, ultimately leading to his current marriage with Akane until her current guidance this very day. Nabiki out of all people managed to solve his problems. Until now, it still amazes him how Nabiki resolved his fiancées problems, and fixed the mess his father had created for him caused by numerous engagements and contracts he had made on his account. Nabiki never ceased to amazed him.
It was actually quite funny now that he thought about it. When Shampoo and Cologne was about to leave, Cologne spoke with Mr Tendo. Something about Nabiki coming with them. Mr Tendo was of course reluctant and began to cry while mumbling incoherent things like no one was going to take his babies away or something like that but when Cologne spoke with Nabiki privately, Nabiki ended up leaving with them despite Mr Tendo's protests.
He could still remember accompanying them to the dock. Remembering how Akane and Kasumi reluctantly said their goodbyes to Nabiki. How Ranma could distinctly remember Kuno Tatewaki's late arrival and witnessing the sadness in his eyes as he watched the ship that carried the Amazons and Nabiki sail away. He brushed it aside as a figment of his imagination. He knew it couldn't be since Kuno and Nabiki expressed a strictly business relationship and he knew that they dislike each other. It showed how much he really didn't know about them.
Two years later, Nabiki came back. A couple of months later Kuno and her got hitched. He found it funny that people began to make bets of how long the marriage will last. The odds weren't very good. Since everyone was quite sure that they're marriage wouldn't last but they proved them both wrong and had beaten the odds for they were still together and very much in love. He found himself envying what they had. They used to be like them. Nabiki and Kuno had been married for almost eight years now and they still had no children but that didn't hinder their relationship at all. In fact it made it stronger.
He thought about what happened since Akane and his marriage started. It was their second wedding, since the first was crashed by Ukyo, Ryoga, The Kunos and the Amazons curtesy of Nabiki. That's probably why she helped Akane and him. Nabiki probably felt guilty about what she had done previously, that and the damage the Dojo had endured was enormous.
Ranma smiled at the thought.
Still he was grateful for Nabiki's help, Only she could think of a plan to get rid of their rivals and actually pull it off. The second wedding went off with out a hitch, all except for Kodachi that is but with Tatewaki's surprisingly quick intervention, the ceremony went on smoothly. The Amazons didn't show up for the wedding either. Only Mousse showed up to offer his congratulations.
The reason for this is because Nabiki found a loophole in the kiss of marriage in Amazon laws. All it required was for Akane to defeat Shampoo to win her rightful place. Once Akane defeats Shampoo in a formal combat, the Kiss of Marriage will be declared null and void. The fight happened a few weeks before he and Akane wedded. Needless to say Akane won, surprising as it may seem to hear.
He began to recall the grand battle between Akane and Shampoo. The first time they both admitted to each other how they felt. Tears fell from his eyes as he remembered the moment they admitted their love for one another. The same love that he now no longer sure of anymore.
xxxxxxx
Author's Notes:
I know this fic is very short and sort of everywhere at the moment, but you have to understand, this is from Ranma's confused and hurt point of view but I do hope you all like it.
This is one of my first ideas but was unsure wether to post it up or not but since I've been busy studying for my exams, I thought maybe this will be entertaining enough to read before I update my other fics…
A few facts though:
Ranma and Akane married at the age of 18
The present Ranma and Akane are now 28 (10yrs later)
Soun Tendo and Hinako Ninomiya are married
Tofu and Kasumi married a year after Ranma and Akane got married
2 years after Ranma and Akane married it was Nabiki and Kuno's turn
When Ranma and Akane married only their families, Ukyo, Konatsu, Tatewaki, Mousse and Kodachi was present… this is all because of Nabiki which will be explored later on this fic
Tatewaki's intervention at the wedding will also be explained as the story progresses
Coming up next is the Battle royale between Shampoo and Akane… so please stay tuned….
Please Review!
Ja Ne