OK, it's 10:30, and I woke up from a nightmare. It was one of those rare
ones you remember with vivid clarity.  Here it is.

It's a "Ranma's dead" fic, but I hope the twist is worth it.


***********************

Ranma was dead.  It wasn't a great death, the kind you hear about in
tales.  It wasn't a death for other's sake.  No, it was a small,
meaningless death, the kind of death that makes you shake as you realize
how fragile human beings really are.  Even martial artists.

***

It was a normal morning at the Tendo household.  Ranma was sparring with
his father while the Tendos ate at the table.  Akane paused from her
eating to watch the spar, and snickered as Ranma fell into the pool.

His father landed at the side of the pond and laughed at his son.  After a
moment, he started yelling Ranma's name.  He jumped into the pool, going
panda, pulled onna-Ranma out and put her down.

Onna-Ranma's neck was bent at an unnatural angle.  Genma-panda knelt
beside the body and wept.

***

At the funeral, the only one not grieving was Akane, and she was confused
by it.  She felt only...relief that Ranma had died.  She tried to feel
guilty about it, but every time she even started to remember the things
about Ranma she liked, they were drowned in anger at the things about him
she hated.

So Akane didn't think of Ranma at the funeral.  She thought of the others.

Shampoo, who was crying as she had for days before. Mousse stood
protectively beside her, his face grim.  He constantly looked sideways at
her, like he wanted to touch her, but resisted.  Akane could almost read
his mind.  *I hated you, Saotome, but Shampoo loved you.  I see that now. 
As much as I wanted to be the one she loved, I won't be the kind of man
who takes advantage of a grieving woman.*

Ukyo stood several feet away, her face streaked with the tears she had
finally stopped crying.  She stood alone, and that sight touched Akane the
most.

Kodachi was stiff, and proper, as was her brother beside her.  Neither had
said anything, before or after, recognizing that no matter what their
feelings for Ranma or the others here, this was not the time.

Her sisters stood beside her, Kasumi crying softly and Nabiki dry-eyed,
but grim as they tried to hold up their father, who was weak-kneed with
grief.

Ranma's father merely stared at the tomb, unblinking, constantly mouthing
the words "My son.  I killed my son."

Ryouga stood off to the side, and Akane noted with shock that he too had
been crying.  Ryouga, who tried to kill Ranma for years.  Ryouga, who was
Ranma's worst enemy.  Ryouga was crying for Ranma.

***

Akane sat in the park after the funeral, trying to sort out her feelings. 
*I should be grieving.  My fiancee died!*  She paused, and thought about
that.  Was Ranma ever really her fiancee?  Akane shook her head in
negation.  No, fiancees don't act the way he did.  Ranma may have been
engaged to her, but she never loved him.

"Akane?"  She turned, and saw Ryouga standing behind her.  "Are you OK?"

"I think so, Ryouga-kun," she said, and chuckled softly, turning away. 
"It's weird.  I should feel unhappy.  Sad.  Something.  But I only feel
relief.  Ranma's gone, and I'm kind of glad.  My life is easier now."

Her words were greeted with a long period of silence.  Worried, Akane
turned, and was shocked to see Ryouga glowing with battle-aura, his face
in a feral snarl she had never seen before.  

Ryouga, for his part, was overcome with an anger and depression he had
never felt before.  He was finally seeing the real Akane for the first
time, and what he saw sickened him.  "You BITCH," he growled, his voice
hoarse with anger.  "Your fiancee, my best damn friend is dead, and you're
GLAD?"  He started to shake, and with effort controlled himself.  "What
kind of monster are you?  Didn't you care for him at all?"

Akane felt herself growing angry.  "I never loved that perverted baka!  He
was always mean to me, he never respected me at all, he was always chasing
after other women, he..."

"HE LOVED YOU!" Ryouga roared, overriding Akane's words.  "Why do you
think he fought for you all those times?  He ruined all those dates
because he was jealous.  He watched over you as you slept.  He followed
you every time you went jogging.  Ranma's entire world revolved around
you!  Every second of every day he had to prevent himself from screaming
it out!"

"Why do you care?" Akane retorted.  "You were trying to kill him for the
past year!"

Ryouga just stared at her in amazement.  "You never understood, did you? 
You still don't."  He turned, so she couldn't see the tears falling from
his face.  "Ranma was my best damn friend.  That's why I chased him. 
That's why I fought against, and with him.  Hell, I even agreed to help
your parents get the two of you together, because I thought you two cared
about each other."  He paused.  "I see that it was one way."  He turned
and glared at Akane, the hatred smouldering in his eyes.  "I'm glad
Ranma's dead now, because even death is better than a life with a monster
like you, Akane."

With that, he turned, and walked away.  Akane stared after him, her anger
receeding as the words he said hit her.  "Ranma...loved me?"  

Finally, the tears began to come.

--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
"Love is stronger than justice."
-The Munificent Seven by Sting