past


Disclaimer: I neither own Ranma ½ nor those wonderful characters in this manga; I just borrow it to write a story that I don't want to make money off of in any way.




[i]"[...]Do you remember, Ranma? Do you remember what happened before? Do you remember?"

"How could I ever forget that?"

"Ranma!"

"Hmm?" The young martial artist muttered in response, slowly turning to his spirited fiancée, waiting impatiently as she carefully walked towards him across the snowy school square and watching the slowly moving clouds with interest.

Up there in the infinite firmament, the bright blue sky was covered by a loose layer of white clouds, from whose fluffy structures little snowflakes gently sailed onto the earth, which after they had emerged on the coldest day of the year that was drawing to a close, so eventful icy ground had fallen, reunited with their fallen brothers and sisters in joy and, like their fathers and mothers, the clouds in the sky, formed an impenetrable layer on which a black-haired woman now slowly walked.

That young martial artist watched every single movement of her fiancé as she approached him, saw him exhale slowly, only to look curiously at his breath visible in the bitter cold, wondered why he was not freezing, although he was only in his usual way dressed in a red shirt, while with a thick coat over her blue school uniform and hand-knitted gloves, hat and scarf she was still trembling from the low temperature, and finally stopped right in front of him.

For seconds the two young adults looked at each other, surrounded by the snow-covered trees that adorned the way from their school gate to their school, surrounded by their friends teasing each other in pre-Christmas elation, and yet trapped in their very own world. For seconds Akane looked into those blue eyes in which she thought she recognized her own brown eyes so well, into those eyes she had looked into months before, when she had awakened in his strong arms after he had woken her up from her eternal sleep had called back.

"What is it, Akane?" The young man asked impatiently and nervously, as his fiancée only looked at him and said nothing while he grinned and said goodbye to his best friends and wished them a Merry Christmas.

"You left your scarf," she answered slowly, after she had torn herself from her thoughts reluctantly and thoughtfully, and offered him her self-made yellow scarf.

The young man looked thoughtfully at the scarf with furrowed brows, carefully slid the fabric through his fingers, felt every bump, every knot, every mistake his fiancée made in the clumsy attempt to make him a Christmas present and to please him would have.Then he hastily packed it in his backpack.

"Thank you," he whispered with bowed head to avoid the questioning look of the young woman and stared at her snow-covered shoes.

"Why aren't you wearing it?" Akane asked disappointed. "In the morning, when we go to school, you wear it too! Why do you never have it on in the afternoon when you go wherever?"

"Because because it's cold in the morning and not anymore," he replied evasively, looking at her strangely touched. "Is there anything else?"

Shaking her head in the negative, she watched as he said goodbye to her with a faint smile and a short nod and, just like every day for the past four weeks, turned to look at the without saying another word big city like losing one of the little snowflakes at the lightest touch. But just as he was about to run away, the young woman weighed down all those questions which she had asked him so often and to which he had given her no answers; she quickly grabbed his shirt and held it, looking away, for she felt the blood in her cheeks, despite the heavy burden it carried, from her heart.

"Akane?"

"Eh, you have to, I mean, tomorrow is Christmas," she stammered awkwardly and took a deep breath of the fresh, clear, cold air to calm down before she finally continued: "Don't we want to run home together again today? "

"Ah, I can't, I still have to do something," he replied hastily, but his fiancée wouldn't let go of him.

"What is it?" She asked in a calm voice, although she could hardly control the wild beast in her pounding heart. "What do you do every day after school? Why do you always come home so late? Where are you?"

"I'll tell you a different time," he evaded her and gently tore himself away from her.

"And tomorrow?" She called after him as he slowly walked through the school gate and turned a corner.

"I'll be home all day!"

Sighing exhausted, the young woman tossed her coat into a corner of her room and with another deep sigh fell onto her soft bed. Lost in thought, she watched the shining sun, which had fought its way through the numerous layers of white clouds to give the earth its warming light, while cold, star-shaped snowflakes still glided loftily on the icy ground.

A single hot tear ran down her cheek, which, like her moist eyes, she dried with her left hand as she pondered the comforting advice of her older sister to trust her fiancé. She wanted to trust him, especially now at Christmas time, but how could she, since she was separated from him by countless layers of admirers and fiancés. Angrily, she hit her mattress with her fists.Suddenly there was a soft knock on her door.

"Akane? Are you there?", The soft voice of her big sister penetrated her ear.

"You can come in, Kasumi," replied the martial artist as calmly as possible, sat up and looked astonished when her sister closed the door behind her.

"What's going on, Akane?" The older woman asked with maternal kindness and sat down on the bed with her little sister.

"Nothing! Why do you ask?"

"Akane", Kasumi rebuked her and pointed to a wet track on the floor and the coat in the corner. "Without saying a word, you disappeared into your room with your wet street shoes! Even if I didn't know you so well, I would have known something was wrong with you. Is it Ranma?"

"Wh-wh-what?" Akane stuttered, surprised by her sister's sudden question. "N-no-no, of course not! What should be with this idiot?"

"Very well," said Kasumi, got up and ran back to the door. "If you don't want to talk, you don't have to, but if you want, you know where to find me."

Sad and angry at the same time, Akane stared at Kasumi, who lingered on the doorstep for a short moment, while she struggled with herself in her thoughts whether she should, could and would tell her sister, what she felt, what she thought, and decided ultimately for it.

"I think I'm losing him," she whispered, trying to hold back her tears.

"What?"

"I think I'm losing him," she repeated softly, suppressing a heavy sob, while silent tears that she cursed and tried to wipe away ran down her cheek.

"Oh, Akane!", Kasumi comforted her little sister, who, after her older sister had closed the door again and sat down next to her, leaned against her and her face, angry at herself and the arrogant martial artist, on her shoulder buried. "You're not going to lose him! It's all very different from what you think! Just trust him a little more, then ..."

"Trust?" She shouted angrily and wiped the tears from her face again. "Should I trust him? I've already had that the whole time! And nothing has happened! Tomorrow is Christmas and he should be here! At home! With me!"

"Akane", Kasumi soothed the angry young woman, brushed a strand of black hair from her face and whispered softly in her ear: "I promise you, it is not what you think. And I promise you, it will be tomorrow Be home. "

"But what am I supposed to do," she began, suddenly paused and stared at her sister in disbelief. "What do you know that I don't know ?!"

"Me, nothing," the older woman denied, averting her face from her sister's penetrating gaze and finally staring at the floor in shame. "Please, Akane, I can't tell, I promised!""Kasumi," urged the martial artist urgently, took her sister's face in both hands and forced her to look into her eyes. "Kasumi, you don't have to tell me, you should only answer two questions. Please, Kasumi! Please, sister! Please, just this one time! Please! It's Christmas!"

The brown-haired woman nodded reluctantly.

"Is he on shampoo?", Akane asked immediately and saw with a satisfied smile how her sister shook her head. "Is he with Ukyo?"

Kasumi looked to the side evasively and Akane knew that her worst fears had come true. Her glass heart shattered into a thousand pieces and every single shard was carried into every part of her body by her blood, which was driven on by an invisible force, for it could not be her heart, it hurt so much, and it dug mercilessly deep in the veins. The stabbing pain spread rapidly, but Akane's tears had run dry. Slowly, almost in a trance, she got up, picked up her coat, thanked her sister, who shouted something Akane couldn't understand, and set off to find her fiancé.

"It's not what you think Akane!"

Exhausted, Ranma sat down at the counter of the restaurant and looked at his best friend, the blue-clad chef, hungrily. With a laugh as bright as a bell, that black-haired woman poured the batter onto the hot stove and pulled a spatula from the strap that she always wore.

"The usual, sweetheart?" She asked, amused when she felt his hungry stare.

"You just know me too well, Ucchan!" Smiled Ranma and neither of the two friends noticed how the door opened a crack.

"It took a long time for you today," remarked the chef as she turned the dough and looked curiously at her friend.

"Hm, the last time it took you longer, today it took me longer," he replied cheekily and quickly added when he saw that Ukyo was threatening to burn his dinner: "Okay, okay, I have one Bought a Christmas present! Do you want to see it? "

"It's not at all ... of course I want to see it, what do you think?"

The emptiness Akane felt gave