Clair de Lune

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Ranma ½ and or to the characters of the wonderful manga. I only borrow it to let my imagination run wild. I don't make any money with this story either!


The star-shaped snowflakes danced around the young woman like white powdered sugar, covered the wide area where she was all alone at that late hour with a soft layer of sugar, dimmed the shining light of the large lanterns, and lay down on hers with white, Hands covered with silk gloves, playing with each other there and finally melting.

The black-haired woman looked around one last time, saw the trees decorated for Christmas with tinsel, candles, bells, balls, saw the snow-covered fountain on which, sublime and cruel at the same time, the features of an ancient deity carved in stone for eternity They looked down, saw the old lanterns, whose ephemeral light in the snowstorm only barely illuminated the wide, white square, saw the wooden portal through which their feet should immediately carry them at a quick pace, saw the venerable church, whose towers deep into it Cloudy skies reached us one last time.

The tips of her white patent leather shoes peeked out from under the wavy hem of her dress, adorned with the finest silk embroidery, as she walked smoothly and slowly towards the portal. Despite the cold, the young woman smiled brightly as she pulled the woolen jacket that wrapped her bare shoulders tightly around her body. And when she looked at her palms covered with those velvet gloves, small water droplets pearled on her hands and seeped away forever into the noble fabric.

The weeping woman, trembling with indescribable happiness, calmed down hastily, laughed sobbing and carefully wiped the tears from her eyes so as not to render the hours of makeup useless within a second, and floated, glowing with joy, to that wooden portal of the church which she gently pushed open, quietly slipped through and closed again behind her.

At a measured pace, although she could hardly convince her irrepressible heart, in which she had long ago stood in front of the altar with the young man who was now waiting for her to redeem the eternal bond that was to last between them To run to him, she strutted along the empty rows of the church towards the altar where two men were waiting for her. The older, gray-haired man wore simple black clothes and held a leather book in his hands - but the young woman only had eyes for the second man.

Also dressed entirely in white, he stood in front of the old, smiling pastor. With bowed head he waited impatiently for the appearance of his loved one, who turned swiftly and skillfully to show the whole world, which she could not see, her uncanny pride.The man with raven hair turned to her, heart beating wildly, opened his mouth to shout something to her, but lost his speech at that bewitching sight. Smiling gently, he stepped up to her, offered her his arm, which she hugged lovingly, and stepped with her in front of the altar.

Meanwhile, the cloud cover, which had hidden the silver light of the full moon, tore slightly, so that the smallest rays of spun moonlight hit the church, smashed through the windows and bathed the wedding, which was held on the deepest, quietest and holiest night, in a white light as if for a celebration . Smiling shyly, he looked into his fiancée's eyes as she admired the play of light.

"Hm," interrupted the priest, whose robe went so well with the two lovers' hair, skeptical about the silent conversation and held up his book, heavy with meaning. "Where are the guests, groomsmen and family?"

"W-we, we don't have any," replied the bride, startled, and looked fearfully at the nice pastor. "We only decided to get married today - that's why we don't have any guests and our families don't yet know that we are getting married ... that's why it's so late at night ... I hope it will no problem is ... "

"So you two want to run away?" Asked the old man, raised an eyebrow in question and began to laugh at the terrified features of the couple. "My children, that is not a problem at all, so do not worry! If two lovers want to marry in front of God, then I am with the greatest joy - even on Christmas Eve shortly before midnight - ready to be the mediator of God! Even if my wife might resent you for that. "

"W-thank you so much!" The woman exclaimed, relieved because of his first words.

"There is nothing to thank, my dear!" Laughed the pastor loudly and looked at the wonderful play of colors on the bare, dark walls of the church. "As long as you two, my children, are here, that's perfectly fine. Shall we start then?"

Unsure, even shy, the young woman looked for her husband with bowed head, whose eyes winked at her with a reassuring smile. At this show of affection, she lifted her dancing heart to dizzying heights of happiness, from which she was never to return to the sober ground of facts that evening, and she smiled and felt for his hand, which she took gently in hers to show him that he would never be alone again.

"Really, my dear ones!" The priest rebuked the young couple as they stood hand in hand in front of him, so that they quickly averted their gaze from each other and dropped the other's hand. "We should stick to a few customs then, or don't you think so?""N-of course!", The groom stammered nervously and caught another glimpse of his adorable fiancée.

"Well then," began the pastor with a blissful smile. "We have gathered here today - well, actually only you have gathered here, but it doesn't matter - to lead these two people into the holy covenant of marriage ..."

Again the young bride looked longingly at her fiancé and smiled happily at him when he too sought her gaze. The pastor's words flew past them like in a busy harbor where the two had been sitting for years and waiting for the ship to finally arrive and, although thrown back from the walls in the empty church and repeated a thousand times, neither understood the bride or the groom a single word until the pastor finally addressed the young man directly.

"Mr. Saotome," he said, smiling indulgently. "If I may now ask you for your marriage certificate?"

"Me, yes, wait a minute, me!" He stuttered nervously, but calmed down when his wife put her hands in his and looked at him lovingly. "Wherever you go, I want to go; wherever you stay, I stay too."

And finally, before neither the pastor nor the young bride could say anything that deep night, he breathed one last word into the emptiness of the church ...

"Akane ..."

Although it was only a word, just her name, it said more than any other word in the world. Her heart burst with happiness as she, the wasted years, the pain, the grief, forgetting all that, wrapped her arms around him and let her tears, her pent up emotions, her love run free. For a long time the two martial artists stood in the dark church and held each other, reassuring themselves that the time had come.

"Y-that was my saying too," she whispered softly in his ear, but the priest had also heard the words that were only intended for his ears and now cleared his throat.

"Well, my dear ones," he said with a friendly smile and held out his arms to them. "If I could ask for the rings now?"

Without taking his eyes off his fiancée, Ranma rummaged in his trouser pocket, but found it empty. Drawing his eyebrows together, he looked in the other pocket, but the box with the rings wasn't there either. He nervously searched his jacket and finally stared at his fiancée, pale as he could not find the rings. But Akane just smiled gently and held the box out to him.

"You asked me to take care of her because you were sure you would lose her," she replied to his questioning look.

"Mr. Saotome, did you listen to me?"

"Um, me, yes!" Said the martial artist confused when the pastor spoke to him, but briefly remembered that he was in a church. "Sorry, no, I wasn't listening to you.""I almost thought so!" Said the pastor with a smile and put his book on the altar. "And since I see that you two loved ones can hardly stand it anymore, I have decided to shorten the ceremony a little. Give each other the rings, please!"

The two young adults did as they were told and placed the rings on each other's ring finger, keeping their eyes on each other the entire time. Akane's heart exploding with joy missed a beat or two as the groom gently touched her fingers and finally put the gold ring in its right place.

"And hereby I declare you to be husband and wife!", The priest explained with a blissful smile and added quietly to Ranma: "You can kiss the bride now, my child!"

Before Akane knew what was happening, her husband had already pressed his lips to hers and kissed her sensually. And again her heart, her mind stopped. The joy, the happiness that she felt could not be put into words and although she knew it was really happening, it seemed to her as if she were an outside observer, for such happiness could not possibly be true. And suddenly she found herself with her husband on the snow-covered square, arm in arm, dancing tightly.

Floating with joy, they danced in the dead of night in the wide square; just the two of you, tightly embraced; just the two of them, without family, friends, guests; just the two of them, radiant with happiness; just the two of them, the eternally quarreling couple; just the two of them, those driven to the wedding by their families; just the two of you, Ranma and Akane!



The sudden, loud whirring of her telephone snatched the young woman from her delightful dreams. Reluctantly, angry, she blindly fumbled for her cell phone and resolutely pressed a button.

"Yes ?!" she barked into the receiver, her eyes still closed with tiredness.

"Good morning, you sleepy head!" Replied the all too familiar voice of her older sister. "Where are you two? The annual Christmas dinner