Disclaimer: All characters herein belong to Rumiko Takahasi, and I am making no profit from their use in this story.
In a Different World
Just so you know
If some dark stranger asked me I might go
And so
Don’t blame me when you’re lonely
We’re sailing out to sea, the ship and me . . .
– Red Shoe Sunday
Ranma Saotome sighed heavily to himself as he walked away from the front entrance of Furinkian High, his pace slow and weary. From behind him, the distant sounds of students having lunch in the cafeteria, or at play out on the ball fields, barely penetrated his hearing. Feeling more alone than he ever had in his life, Ranma found a solitary bench beneath a shading spread of trees and flopped himself down, wishing he could just curl up and die.
How had his life become so . . . so . . . oh, Ranma didn’t even know a word horrible enough to describe it. His entire existence was a series of one pathetic event after another. He had been dragged around Japan by a clueless and abusive father his entire life. He had never had any friends or companionship as a child. He had fallen into a spring and was now cursed to change into a female whenever he was splashed with cold water. He was brought to Nerima and engaged to some violent tom-boyish girl he could hardly stand. He was constantly challenged by rivals when he was a boy, and chased after by some of those same rivals when he was a girl. Things never seemed to settle down, and whenever something bad happened . . . it was always he who took the blame. And the blows.
Ranma rubbed the bruise on his forehead ruefully, fighting back tears. Tears were unmanly, and Kami forbid that he ever be unmanly. His father would rip him apart. His mother would have him commit suicide. No, Ranma wasn’t even suppose to show feelings, no matter how much he was hurting inside. He was expected to simply go along with what he was told. Marry Akane. Inherit the dojo. Follow the Anything Goes traditions. Don’t complain.
(( I won’t complain, )) Ranma thought miserably to himself. (( I just wish she’d believe me for once. It wasn’t my fault. Just because I turn into a girl, doesn’t mean I’m a pervert. ))
But Akane never believed him. Never. She expected him to always be at her side, constantly ready to defend her as was his duty as her iinazuke. She expected him to treat her with respect and courtesy, but she rarely reciprocated. He was nothing but a showpiece to her, something to lord over her girlfriends, demonstrating her superiority to them as illustrated by the fact that -she- already had a husband lined up. He was her tool when she needed him, someone to fight for her honor or come to her rescue when she got herself trapped in some ridiculous situation. Beyond that, Ranma Saotome was nothing to Akane Tendo. She didn’t like him, took his presence for granted, and never ever believed anything he said.
"Oh come on, Akane!" he’d growled, just moments ago in the girl’s locker room of Furinkian High. "I had nothing to do with this! It was Happosai, its ALWAYS Happosai!"
"Oh right, Ranma," Akane had countered, pulling her Mallet-sama out of hammerspace and making her opinion quite clear, driving him to the floor as she bashed his forehead. "Don’t give me any of your lame excuses, you pervert!"
Ranma shut his eyes slowly against the throbbing in his head, and silently listened to the sounds of the breeze blowing around him and the other teenagers laughing and enjoying themselves nearby, none of whom could possibly understand what kind of life he lived. It all seemed so damn meaningless sometimes. It was as if, somewhere along the way he had missed something that he was suppose to find, some part of himself that was necessary for peace and comfort. He couldn’t imagine what that something could possibly be, but he grieved for its absence with every hollow pointless painful day that passed by, bringing him closer to his marriage to Akane. If he survived that long.
(( Either she’ll kill me, or I’ll kill myself. ))
A shadow fell over him, blocking the breeze. Expecting Akane and cringing at the thought of further punishment from his iinazuke, Ranma looked up warily through the curtain of his black bangs, barely lifting his head.
A young man stood in front of him, gazing down with a calm expression on his handsome rounded face and a warm smile in his dark earthen eyes. He stood casually, one hand thrust into the pocket of his pants, as the wind ruffled his thick unruly black hair. Though he wore the grey-blue boy’s uniform of Furinkian High, Ranma could not recall ever seeing him before. He was good-looking, slender, and his very presence felt comfortable and inviting.
"Kon’nichi wa," he greeted in a low easy voice. "Ranma Saotome?"
Ranma blinked, then nodded. "Hai."
"I’ve been watching you since I came to this school," the young bishounen said matter-of-factly.
Ranma raised his head a little higher, contemplating this stranger. His first reaction was, as always, distrust. Was this another rival, coming to challenge him for Akane? "I ain’t in the mood for fighting, today, pal," he stated sharply. "If you want Akane, go fight her."
The young man laughed softly. "I’m not interested in Akane Tendo," he assured, and took a seat on the bench, sitting a little closer than Ranma was comfortable with.
"Well then, what do you want?" Ranma eyed him sideways. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he admired how handsome the young man was, how the school uniform fit over him smartly like it had been precisely tailored to his exact proportions, how the non-regulation bandana in his hair did very little to keep his bangs away from his eyes. Ranma swallowed down those thoughts as quickly as he could. He had spent years suppressing that part of himself, and there would only be pain in letting his interest in the wrong sex surface again. It wasn’t manly.
"As I said, I’ve been watching you," he said with a slight shrug. "You and your female counterpart."
Ranma groaned and looked away. "I get it. You’re interested in -her-. Well, forget it buddy," he said irritably. "I got nothing to do with her."
"Please, don’t insult my intelligence. Perhaps dullards like Tatewaki Kuno are blind to your curse, but I’m not. I know that you and the red-headed pig-tailed girl are the same person."
Ranma glanced back at him, a strange feeling of dread rolling into his stomach. "You do?" he whispered, then straightened, locking his indifferent mask firmly back into place. "Yeah so? What about it?"
The young man smiled. It was the type of smile that Ranma had been waiting to see directed towards him his entire life, once that promised caring and love, and a whisper of far more intimate things to come. It was a smile that lit Ranma up inside from head to toe, making him feel like he was the only person in the world that mattered at that moment. It was exactly what he had always been missing and grieving for.
"So, it makes no difference to me, Ranma Saotome. I want you just as you are."
Ranma opened his mouth, but no words came out. Shocked into paralysis, he could only sit there as the young man leaned over and gently brushed his lips against Ranma’s cheek, breathing a soft warm breath over his skin that sent chills racing from Ranma’s stomach out to all other parts of his body. He locked eyes with the man as he pulled back, suddenly fascinated by the light of tenderness and love in those soft brown depths.
"Gomen nasai," the young man said, staying close to Ranma, their bodies touching ever so slightly. "That was rude of me, considering that we’ve just met, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ve thought you were beautiful from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I didn’t want to leave before letting you know how I feel."
Ranma felt disappointment crack through him, breaking his heart into tiny pieces. "You . . . you’re leaving?" Oh, it just wasn’t fair! To feel alive for the first time ever, then have it ripped away from him? Was he being divinely punished for some crime he knew nothing of?
The brown-eyed boy lowered his face sadly. "Hai. I was only attending Furinkian temporarily. You see, my family travels a lot. My father is a businessman. We’re leaving for London in the morning. I suppose it would have been better for both of us if I had just kept my mouth shut but . . . oh Ranma," he looked up again. "I feel like I’ve been looking for you all my life, and never realized it."
"I . . . I feel it too . . . " Ranma breathed, putting his fingers to his cheek to touch the spot that the young man’s lips had brushed. He stared, a pleading look in his eyes as the stranger stood, smoothing down his uniform, preparing to leave. "Wait," Ranma reached out and grabbed his hand. "Don’t go, please?"
"I have to, Ranma," he said miserably, then a mischievous look that seemed quite at home on his handsome face swept over his features. He turned back to Ranma, crouching down in front of the boy and taking his other hand. "Come with me," he requested, a new smile in his eyes.
Ranma’s heart jumped into his throat and he nearly choked on it. "What?! I can’t do that! I have responsibilities . . . a dojo to inherit, an iinazuke to marry . . . "
"So what? Those things are here, and you will be elsewhere. None of it will matter. Please, Ranma. It won’t be a problem with my parents," he smirked slyly. "They’re always asking me when I’m going to find someone nice to settle down with."
Ranma blushed hotly. But to go? Drop everything and just leave with someone he didn’t even know? Could he do that? Did he have the courage to walk away from all of his honor and responsibility, his parents, the dojo . . . Akane? Leave behind all of the pain, feelings of insignificance, loneliness and endless nights of nursing head wounds from Akane’s mallet?
Ranma stood, pulling the other young man up with him. He gazed into those splendid eyes and nodded. "Hai. I’ll go with you . . . um . . . "
"Ryoga," he chuckled. "Ryoga Hibiki. Guess I should have told you that sooner, huh?"
"Ryoga," Ranma repeated, rolling the name around on his tongue and in his head, getting used to the sound. It felt so right and fitted perfectly into that huge gaping hole that had been the center of his soul for so long now. Though they had only known each other for a matter of moments, it suddenly seemed impossible for Ranma to imagine himself without Ryoga by his side.
"Let’s go," Ryoga beamed, pulling him along by the hands, his happiness and eagerness infectious. "You’ll love London! Its so pretty this time of year, and I can’t wait to show you around the rest of Europe."
Ranma laughed and allowed himself to be led. As Ryoga chatted excitedly about what they would see on the trip, the warmth of his hand steadying and reassuring, Ranma looked back at the school and gave himself over to a brief moment of regret. (( I should at least say good bye to Akane, )) he thought soberly, then shook his head. (( Forget it. I never mattered to her any way. ))
Without another thought as to what he was leaving behind, Ranma Saotome walked off of the Furinkian High School grounds, gazing only at Ryoga, the new center of his world. For the first time in his life, he no longer felt alone. Beside this young man was where he belonged.
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