Seijitsu no Kesshite Ai Shiniai Nakunaru
[ True Love Never Dies ]
Chapter 2: Showdown of Emotions; The Duel of Ryouga and Ranma
FanFic based on Ranma ½
By Kris Thompson

This is a work of fiction based on Rumiko Takahashi's 'Ranma Nibun no Ichi' a.k.a. 
Ranma ½ and was created for the author's personal enjoyment.

[Note!  This is an alter-verse fic!  You have been warned!]

Ranma stood on the back porch and starred out at the koi pond.  It was a dull and 
dreary evening, the clouds dark and grey in the sky.  Ironically, a ray of light managed to 
peer through the dense, foreboding clouds.

"Hey,"

Ranma turned to see his fian-, excuse me, his *former* fiancee step out onto the porch. 
"Hey,"  he said.  "Where's Ryouga?"

"He's over at his parents' house tonight."  Akane answered.

There lay a tense silence between them.  "Ranma, we need to talk."  Akane's voice 
broke that stillness.

"Oh really?  About what?"  Ranma's voice said with venom as fresh as it had been six 
years ago.

Akane's brows knitted together in anger and frustration.  "About what?!  Ryouga and I 
have been here for a week now and you know damn well what we need to talk about!"  
Akane stopped, sighed at seeing no change in his posture.  "Ranma, look at me."

He gave into her request only to find that her angry eyes had been replaced with those 
of pleading ones.  "I would like to enter this marriage without any bad blood between 
us."

"'Between us'?  Who, you and me?"  Ranma turned to face her.

Akane remained unchanged.  "Not just us, but Ryouga as well."

He didn't answer, only turned to lean his arms on the railing.  "Why did you fall in love 
with him?"

Akane was taken aback.  "What?  What are you talking about?"

"Love him.  When did you fall in love with him?"  Ranma repeated himself.

"Ryouga?  It took a while-"

"When did you fall out of love with me?"  He interrupted.

Akane gave him a puzzled look.  "Excuse me?"

He turned swiftly and took hold of her by her shoulders.  He shook her once.  "Must I 
repeat myself?!  When did you fall out of love with me, Akane?!"

She pushed herself away from him.  He could see her visibly shaking, could see her 
trying to use her anger to hide her fear.  "Fall out of love with you?"  Akane's voice 
trembled, but she held on the the anger that was inside her.  "If you want the honest 
truth, *Ran-ma*, I never have.  The reason I 'fell in love' with Ryouga is because he was 
at least *willing* to admit that he loved me!  Not like some people standing here now!"

Ranma's anger burned to life.  "Really?  Cause you know, for the record, I don't recall 
you saying three certain words to me either, Akane!"

"And you want to know why, Ranma?  Because you never once gave me a clear signal! 
 How the hell was I supposed to know what the hell to do?!"

"Like this!"  And in one, swift movement Ranma had moved across the space between 
them and held Akane in an aggressive embrace and kissed her lips hard.  She tried to 
gasp and push him away, but her emotions gave in and soon, she was kissing him 
back.

They both drew apart and looked up into each other's eyes.

"Akane,"  Ranma said gasped.  "I love you.  More than anything in the world.  Why I 
didn't tell you before, I don't know.  All I know is that I was a coward for not telling you 
sooner."

She looked down.  "Ranma..."  Suddenly, her eyes clouded over and she pulled herself 
from his embrace.  "I can't do this.  It's too late, Ranma.  You had your chance, now live 
with it."  She turned and started for the door when she felt a hand close around hers, 
stopping her.

"Is this to be my justice, Akane?  My punishment?"  He looked at her with his steel blue 
eyes.  "Because you know damn well as anyone else that if you go and marry Ryouga 
that you will not only be punishing one person, but three.  You'll punish me for not telling 
you sooner, Ryouga for loving someone who doesn't love him with equal abandon and 
you will punish yourself for loving me."

She wrenched her hand away from his with a sudden jerk.  "Don't try this with me, 
Ranma.  I know what I'm doing, so don't try to make me feel guilty for what I know is 
right!"  and with that, she turned and stalked into the house.

Ranma sighed just as Ryouga stepped from the side of the house.  "Ryouga?"

"You hentai.  I had always thought that you had gotten yourself into questionable 
situations that were not really your fault, but this one takes the cake."  Ryouga starred at 
him with anger in his eyes.

Ranma just looked at him.

"She loves *me* now Ranma.  And nothing you say can ever change that plain but true 
fact.  I could fight you now for kissing my fiancee, but it wouldn't matter even if I did win, 
because I've already won the most important battle of them all:  Who has won Akane's 
heart?  The victor, Ryouga Hibiki!  The loser, Ranma Saotome."  Ryouga glared at 
Ranma.  "Why don't you go back to your little 'Ucchan', or that Chinese hussy 
Shampoo?  I'm sure one of them are still pining for you."  Ryouga pushed past him as 
he entered the house.

As he heard the door click, Ranma muttered under his breath, "Bastard."

Author's Notes

Well, with Chapter 2 completed, I shall call it a night, here at the Krissy residence.  I 
must say that I think I've done a pretty good job for today... worked 9 hours at my work 
place, managed to complete 2, count 'em, *2* fanfics and all before 1 o'clock in the 
morning.  Ah, the sweet smell of victory.

As for a little teaser for the readers of this fic, this is NOT a Akane/Ryouga fic.  As a 
member of the Knight of the True Fiancee, Akane-Chan Clique, it would be breaking the 
rules a bit.  I am a firm believer in Ranma/Akane pairing, so if you're a Ryouga/Akane 
person, I suggest that you read no further... unless you wanna.  The whole 
Ryouga-being-engaged-to-Akane thing is only present to give a conflict, nothing more.

And I have been asked why Ranma wasn't paired up with Nabiki when Akane left.  
Basically, it's because... Well, this *is* Nabiki we're talking about here.  Don't cha think 
she would have found some loop hole to get herself out of it?  Besides, she is one of 
the one's who knows the truth about how Ranma and Akane really feel about one 
another and she really does care for her family, so she is still hoping the two will get 
back together.

And some people have insisted that the other fiancees be included.  No problem.  I 
already had them in mind before I even began typing a word of this fic.  But, like I said, 
this *is* strictly a Ranma/Akane fic.  ^_~

Well, if you have any questions about this fic or others, email me at 
cartoonpaperclips@email.com and I'll try to clarify to the best of my abilities.  Oh!  And 
by the way, flames will be dealt with in kind.  ^_^

Signin' off!

Krissy

www.geocities.com/kuroi_hoshi