The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz Communications Inc.)
No copyright infringement is intended.
An electric charge hung in the air. It stirred more powerfully than waking early on girl’s day. It felt greater even than having to wait for one’s sisters before leaving to see the sakura bloom. It was a million butterflies flapping their way around a young girl’s stomach.
Akane Tendou glowed as she approached the school gates. Her long mane flowing as it trailed in her wake. Her cleaned and pressed uniform, still smelling of Kasumi’s care and love, felt like an invincible armor against the troubles of yesteryear.
Today would be the start of something wonderful. It was the first day of a new life. Today was her day. No longer was she just a childish junior high student. Today was her first day of Furinkan High. Today, she was on top of the world.
“But soft, what light, through yonder window breaks?”
Amid the throngs of students one lone girl with long dark hair froze, almost tripping herself.
“Tis the east, and Juliet is the sun!”
The girl glanced around for whoever was shouting and to whom.
“Oh arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon.”
Off to the side a young boy stood, towering over the other students and most of the teachers. His face held a deep seriousness, as if he wasn’t standing in a school yard, but upon a great stage performing for the emperor. His soft brown eyes gazed intently into the crowd. With his boshuen features and his sharp school uniform, he could have just stepped out of a shoujo manga.
“Who is sick and pale with grief,” he continued.
She glanced around. There were several girls standing around her. Surely he was reciting to one of them. She couldn’t imagine why he’d be interested in her. She was just a tomboy, one of the guys. She had even played the part of Romeo once. The part of Juliet was not a role she’d ever play, especially opposite such a handsome boy.
“That thou, her maid…”
The boy in question strolled purposefully up to his target.
“…art far more fair than she,” the strange boy said as he presented the girl with a single red rose.
Hesitantly, she accepted the rose. He gave her a hart-melting smile, then turned and walked away. The girl stood there blushing for several breathless moments.
Akane Tendou was late to her first day of class.
= = = = = = = = = =
“How long haveyou two know each other?” - “That was so sweet." - “Wow, you are so lucky.” - “Are you two really together?” - “How did you two meet?” - “How far have you gone?”
‘Finally,’ Akane moaned to herself as she nearly collapsed by the school gate, ‘it’s over.’
While she attempted to catch her breath, she reflected on the day and the several dozen notes stuffed into her bag. All day long, the girls had been coming up to her asking about this morning. Never before had the other girls been that nice to her.
A serene smile seemed to just come naturally to her.
“Just what were you thinking?” a voice exclaimed through her thoughts.
“Wha-?” came Akane’s broken response as she looked up to the source.
Nabiki stood almost towering over the younger girl with her hands planted firmly on her hips. A slight breeze brushed her hair and caused her blue-white school dress to wave. Chocolate brown eyes flashed with that smoldering Tendou fire.
“I asked just what was going on through that little head of yours.”
“What are you talking about?” Akane responded, confusion and hurt clear in her tone.
“Do you even know what everyone is saying about you?”
Akane’s eyes went wide with the accusation before narrowing in on her elder sister.
“You’re just upset they aren’t talking about you!” Akane shouted. She was not going to let her sister ruin this day.
“Let’s not talk about this here,” Nabiki responded as she glanced around. “We can finish this at home,” she stated as she stepped past Akane.
“You’re just running away because you know I’m right!” Akane yelled after her older sister.
“This is not the place.” Nabiki hesitated in her step as she spoke, but didn’t turn to face the younger girl.
“They talked to me today! I was popular today! Me, not you!” Akane whined. She knew she was whining, but she couldn’t understand why her sister felt the need to ruin this day.
“’Was’ being the operative word,” Nabiki said as she finally spun to face Akane. “Look around you! If you’re so popular, where is everyone?” Nabiki gestured to the nearly empty school yard. “Where are your legion of adoring fans?”
“It isn’t like that,” Akane muttered.
Akane turned away, unable to meet her older sister’s gaze. She crossed her arms, burying her tight fists. Her gaze drifted downward, allowing her long hair to hide her face.
Akane could feel the hardened gaze of the elder girl studying her. The two stood alone in the school yard.
“They were nice to me, today,” Akane spoke at last.
“They were only nice to you because you had something they wanted.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe it or not, that’s how most people are.”
“No!”
Nabiki blinked.
“No! I refuse to believe that! Not everyone is as self-centered and cruel as you think they are!”
“Akane.”
“You’ll see!” Akane shouted as she took off running.
= = = = = = = = = =
After her bath, Akane trudged her way up the stairs to her room.
Dinner had been a quiet affair. Neither she nor Nabiki had spoken about their day, or to each other. Their father had quietly eaten his share and retired to his room. Kasumi looked like she wanted to say something, but she never did.
Akane shut her door then leaned back against it, baring the outside world from entering. Heaving a sigh, she gazed about her room.
Her bed sat next to the wall on her right, where it had for as long as she could remember. Empty and flat save for a few fluffy pillows covered by a yellow blanket.
A couple of weights sat on the floor just under her bed. A full length mirror stood over by the closet.
A set of drawers sat next to the near wall. Up on top, cute furry animals sat next to martial art books and a modest manga collection. Magical girls who save the world and the men who love them next to brave valiant knights fighting to save their true loves.
The desk sat under the window. A cup filled with pens sat next to a simple lamp and a radio. A leather carrier sat on the floor, leaning against the desk. Inside, school work and books sat prearranged for the next day.
An unflattering blue school uniform lay draped across the chair.
Hidden behind a closet door, cute and fluffy dresses hung next to yellow practice gis.
Akane wondered about this teenager that she was becoming. Was she really any different from the person she was last year?
Last year....
Last year, she had been asked to play a part in a tough girl-gang play. She refused. It had originally been a male only play that the guys thought would be cute to recast with girls. None of the other girls had wanted to do it either, but she had been the only one to stand up for herself.
Last year, she might as well have been invisible. The girls only saw her as that strange Tendou girl. The boys hadn’t even noticed her. The teachers saw disappointment when she didn’t measure up to the perfect student, Kasumi.
Akane moved to her desk and gazed out her window.
‘She’s just jealous,’ Akane decided, as she completely failed to put this afternoon behind her.
Kasumi had graduated last year, while Nabiki had been a first-year student. The elder Tendou usually denied it; but, according to Nabiki, she had been one of the most popular girls at Furinkan. She hadn’t even intended to go, since high school isn’t really required. That had been one of the few times father had put his foot down.
Akane thought back to the strange boy that had given her that rose this morning.
‘Am I really that pretty?’ she thought to herself.
She looked up into her full length mirror. A brown-eyed squiggly haired girl was all that looking back at her. The same girl that had been there the day before, the day before that, and so-on.
‘No different,’ she thought. ‘Nothing special.’
She glanced down at herself and sighed. That had been the only real change.
With a flick of her wrist, she freed her towel then stood in all her supposed glory before the harsh eye of the mirror.
Turning one way, then another, she studied the image in the mirror. Striking poses that showed off her body.
Towards the end of last year, she had hit a growth spurt. Not able to afford a new junior high uniform that would only be worn less than half a year, she had had to make due. Her top had become uncomfortably tight, but it had effectively hidden her new growth.
This year she had a new school and a new uniform, one that fit.
Was that really all that boys care about? The size of a girls chest?
Tired of looking at herself, she grabbed her night clothes and dressed for bed.
As she climbed into bed she gazed toward the ceiling and thought of a certain doctor. He wasn’t just some boy. He could look past all those hormones that plagued male-kind and really see a person. She always felt safe around him.
She wouldn’t mind it at all if he wanted to give her a rose.
