For What You Dream Of

			By Kyle Emmerson

    Ranma 1/2 and all of its characters and situations are the creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi. I use these characters and situations without permission.

Part One: I Promise You

****

	"Hey, Akane!" Yuka called. "You wanna head to the ice cream shoppe? We haven't seen you for weeks! We couldn't even get a chance to talk to you yesterday at the wedding."

	Akane smiled. "I've kinda been occupied."

	Sayuri nodded. "Yeah, I hear you've been in China!"

	"Not of my own free will, but yes," Akane replied, not-so-fondly recalling being carried on the backs of hundreds of birds to a whole other country.

	"Yeah, Nabiki told us the whole story," Yuka said. "For free, surprisingly."

	"Hey, Akane," Ranma said, walking up from behind her. "How's it going?"

	"Hi, Ranma," Yuka greeted. "We're going to the ice cream shoppe! Wanna come along?"

	Ranma smiled and shook his head. "Thanks Yuka, but I've got something to do at home. I'll catch ya later!" he said, running off.

	"Boy," Sayuri said. "He was in a hurry."

	Akane watched Ranma as he ran off. "Yeah," she said, somewhat distracted. Since they had returned from China, Akane found that Ranma had been... different. More friendly.

	She attributed that to what he almost said back at Jusendo. But there was something else. It was like he was making a true effort to be nice to her.

	A part of her regretted that the wedding failed miserably. Another part of her was almost thankful.

	Either way, she knew that Ranma was making an honest effort. The only thing Akane could do was the same. Make an effort to be nice to him. If he slipped up and said something stupid, try and forget about it.

	"Akane? You alive?" Sayuri asked, waving her hand by her face.

	"Yeah. Come on," she said, smiling. "Let's go."	

****

	"Now," Nodoka said, placing her wrapped katana on the table. "We can talk."

	"Dear, are you really certain we should--"

	"Yes, I am, Genma dear."

	Soun eyed his friend suspiciously. "Is there something I should know?"

	"Soun, I must first give you my most sincere thanks," Nodoka said, bowing over.

	Soun shook his head. "No thanks are needed, Nodoka, but--"

	"My husband and son have been a burden on your family for quite some time, and I am no exception to that. For the past month, I've been living off of your generosity... However, as you know, the repairs on my home are nearly complete."

	Soun looked towards the ground. "I am aware of that."

	"Now, at long last, I can stop my family from being a burden."

	Soun knew where this was going. It meant that Ranma and Genma were leaving. Now there was no chance of them being able to fulfill the promise.

	"But I would like to repay your generosity."

	Soun looked up, raising one eyebrow. "Eh?"

	"I have put some thought into this. I had assumed that the wedding would be completed yesterday, but it appears it has not. Still, I am prepared to make this offer."

	Soun was curious now. "What do you mean?"

	"As you know, my home has four bedrooms. It is built on the only thing of true value that the Saotome family holds to its name, other than my family katana."

	Soun met his eyes with Nodoka's. Could she mean...? "So, then..."

	"With your permission, I would like Akane to move in with us. She will be supplied with room and board, for no price, as payment for your generosity to our family over the past year."

	Soun was taken aback. Had he not been so shocked, he would have cried.

	Smiling, he merely bowed. "I would be honoured. However--"

	"Ahh, yes. The agreement. While I disagree with your.. methods, I cannot deny the fact that Ranma and Akane care for each other. I appreciate the sentiment, but I believe the more you push them, they farther apart they will grow. There are also other... interferences."

	Genma closed his eyes. Here it came.

	"The Kuonji girl, the Kuno girl and the Chinese girl. While the Kuonji girl does seem to have a valid claim, and the Chinese girl is motivated by her own laws, the Kuno girl has no claim whatsoever." She placed her hand on the table. "I intend for Ranma to find happiness. I believe the only way for him to achieve this, is to arrange for the disturbances to leave he and Akane alone."

	Soun nodded.

	"The Kuonji girls family will be paid money for the lost dowry. The honour of young Ukyou, however, is another matter. I will speak with the Great-Grandmother of the Chinese girl, and arrange for a meeting with the father of the Kuno girl. All of the disturbances will be taken care of, even if it takes all the holdings of the Saotome family." 

	"And what of the wedding?" Soun asked.

	"It will take place," she said. "But at the discretion of Ranma and Akane themselves. Which means, NO interference from any of you."

	Genma and Soun promptly looked towards the ground.

	"Now," she said, beckoning the waitress over. "Let's order."

****

	Akane, Sayuri and Yuka were having a great time, chatting about what had been going on in the past few weeks. Apparently Kuno had gone on a rampage through the shopping district in a frantic search for Akane and his pig-tailed girl after hearing that the foul sorcerer had left for China.

	Ms. Hinako had gotten trapped in her child form for nearly a week, and thusly gave everyone who gave her candy straight A's. Sayuri, Yuka, Hiroshi and Daisuke took turns bribing her for marking Ranma and Akane as present, so they wouldn't get in too much trouble from the school.

	They were about to speak about another new addition to Nerima, when Yuka paused and pointed towards the entrance to the ice cream shoppe, where a group of young women stood, looking rather rough.

	"Oh, no. Akane," Sayuri said. "Come on, let's get out of here."

	Akane narrowed her eyes. "Why?" Akane said. "We have just as much right to be here as they do."

	"Sayuri's right, Akane," Yuka said. "Those girls showed up just after Ranma and the others left for China. They're tough, and they always get what they want."

	"If you keep acting like you're scared of them, of course they'll get what they want," she huffed.

	"Akane, we ARE scared of them," Yuka continued.

	"Yeah, the leader's name is Oryuu," Sayuri said, pointing. "The tough one with the cigarette is Akiko, the pudgy one is Taini, then there's Megami, Noruki, Sanko, Kimi and Hanako."

	"So what? I'm not scared of them."

	"You weren't here to see what they were capable of," Yuka replied.

	"Trust me. What I went through in China scared me a lot more than what THESE people are capable of."

	Akane continued her confident strut towards the shop as Yuka and Sayuri trailed behind her, looking somewhat unsure.

	It wasn't long before the three of them were noticed by the gang. The one called Taini was the first to speak.

	"Hey," she said, blocking Akane from entering the ice cream shoppe. "What's the password?"

	Akane looked blankly at the pudgy girl. "I don't know, but I bet it's only one syllable," she replied, rather smugly.

	That one remark attracted the attention of the rest of the gang rather quickly. However, the responsibility of a response was left to Taini.

	"What did you say to me?" Taini asked.

	"I think you heard me."

	Taini narrowed her eyes. "Fine," she said. "You've just been charged the toll. Give us all your money and we'll think about letting you leave here with all your body parts."

	Akane just laughed. "Don't threaten me like that," she said. "I've faced down scarier things that you. Although, I must admit, you take the award for ugliest."

	Finally, the gang became truly annoyed. "Look who's little miss toughie," Akiko said, her cigarette bobbing up and down as her lips moved.

	"Is that supposed to be funny?" Taini asked.

	"Akane," Sayuri said, putting her hand on her friends shoulder. "I don't think--"

	"Sayuri, you and Yuka go back to my place. I'll meet you there after this is taken care of."

	"Ah-ah," Akiko said, moving to block the two. "Where do you think you two are going?"

	Oryuu, the leader, just leaned against the wall, her sunglasses reflecting the sun. "Let those two go," she said. "I think this one will be a lot more interesting."

	Needless to say, Yuka and Sayuri high-tailed it.

	"So what now," Akane asked, squinting.

	"You guys take care of her," Oryuu said. "I'll be waiting inside." She then disappeared into the Ice Cream Shoppe.

	"All right," Taini said, cracking her knuckles. "We'll take care of this. NOW."

	Suddenly, she attacked.

	Akane blocked it without a problem, deflecting Taini's punch without much effort, and whacking her on the head with her palm.

	Why not have a little fun with them, Akane thought.

	Akiko was the next to attack, trying to sweep her feet out from under her, only to discover that Akane's feet were now closer to Akiko's face than they were her legs. Akiko reeled back to the wall, putting her hand to her face.

	Blood. She was bleeding.

	Sanko and Noruki came at her from opposite sides, trying to trap her. Akane simply jumped out of the way and pushed the two of them together, knocking their heads.

	And the battle continued, eventually moving away from the shoppe, and closer into a back alley.

****

	"She's tough," Akiko said, only a few feet away from the melee.

	Taini just snarled and looked at her. "It's not over," she said.

	"Should we let those five handle her?"

	Taini shook her head. "They're having as much luck as us. We need something else."

	"What? What do you mean?"

	Taini reached into her coat pocket and narrowed her eyes. "The only way I know how."

	Akiko suddenly caught on. "What? Are you serious?! Don't you know what Oryuu would do if--"

	"Oryuu's not here. She can't do anything about it."

	"But, if we do that--"

	"It's either that, or let this chick wipe the floor with us," she said, pulling the object out of her jacket.

	"Tai, I don't think--"

 	"That's right, you don't," she said as she finally pulled the gun out of her pocket.

	And there it was, a glock pistol pointed towards the sky. "We've got to make this quick. The cops will be here faster than we can think."

	"You're not going to--"

	"If I need to."

	Suddenly, she pulled the trigger.

****

	Jab. Thrust. Crescent kick. Punch. Backflip.

	It was a daily routine. After school was over, the first place he went was to the Dojo. While he got enough exercise from Kuno at school, he was always wanting and needing more.

	And now was just such a time. It was the perfect time, too. Kasumi was out shopping, Soun and his own father were with his mother, doing God knew what at some diner somewhere. Probably talking about he and Akane, especially after the attempted wedding a few days earlier. 

	Nabiki was probably out collecting debts, or lending some money to someone.

	And Happosai. God only knew where he was. He often disappeared for days at a time.

	The peace and tranquillity was just what he needed to train.

	Suddenly, his practice was interrupted by yells from outside.

	"Always when I'm busy," Ranma said to himself, exasperated.

****

	Akane smirked as she knocked another one off her feet. Hanako, if she wasn't too mixed up in the names.

	She was having fun. It was a great exercise, and so far she'd only sustained a few hits, doing little damage. However, the others were being ground into dust, and Akane was ENJOYING it.

	Suddenly, she heard a noise. Her head spun around towards the noise as fast as she could-- Then she saw it.

	The smoking gun. It was pointed just over Akane's head. Taini smirked as she lowered it.

	"Not so tough now, are you?" she smirked.

	Akane locked up. She was going to shoot her. She was just going to kill her right then and there. It was all over.

	Suddenly, she felt an impact from behind. One of the other girls had hit her in the back with a length of wood.

	Akane hit the ground without much resistance as all the girls piled upon her at once, kicking and beating her with objects.

	Finally, before long, the girls kicked her off to the side, into some garbage, and walked away, laughing.

****

	"Ranma!" Sayuri called, running through the front gates.

	"Ranma! Quick!"

	Stunned by the urgency of her voice, Ranma popped out of the Dojo in a heartbeat.

	"Sayuri?" Ranma asked. "What's the matter?"

	Sayuri ran right up to him, and paused for a second to catch her breath.

	"Akane... *wheeze* the ice cream shoppe... *wheeze* Red Hyenas... *wheeze*" she said.

	"What? What's the matter?"

	"Ranma!" Yuka called, running through the gates. "Akane's in trouble!"

	It suddenly made sense. Akane, ice cream shoppe, and trouble. The only three things he needed to hear to get him in action.

	He took to the rooftops in mere seconds. Seconds later, and he would be at the ice cream shoppe.

	Finally, as he descended upon his destination, he heard a noise. A loud noise, not too dissimilar from a-- a gunshot.

	Nobody at the ice cream shoppe. A gunshot from only a few blocks away.

	His heart racing, he followed the sound as quickly as he could.

	Finally, he jumped into an alleyway. This was where the shot came from. He was sure of it.

	But there was nobody around. There were a few girls walking down the street nearby, but they were talking and laughing. It was like they hadn't even heard the gunshot.

	Suddenly, he heard a moan.

	Several feet away, lying in a pile of trash, was a person.

	Someone wearing a Furinkan uniform. A Furinkan GIRLS' uniform.

	Things started to pour into his head. Gunshot. Akane. Trouble.

	"God," he said. Not now. Not after all he had gone through. This couldn't have--

	Suddenly, the body moved.

	Ranma suddenly calmed. She was all right. He rushed over to her, helping her up.

	It was Akane, all right. Unfortunately, the only thing she was capable of doing was looking at him, and then slumping over, into unconsciousness.

	"Dammit," he said. She was hurt. Badly. There were cuts and bruises all over her face. No bullet wounds, thank God. He had to get her back to the Dojo either way.
	
****

	"I don't like it, Tai," Akiko said, lighting up a new cigarette.

	"Listen, girls. All Oryuu has to know is that we beat her. The gun had nothing to do with it."

	All the girls nodded in agreement. The gun wasn't what won the fight. They did.

	"Where'd you get that thing, anyway?" Sanko asked. "Those things are EXTREMELY hard to come by here in Japan."

	Taini nodded. "Of course, but this one wasn't. It's my dads. He's had it for years, and since he's out of the country, he won't miss it."

	"Yeah, but you know what'll happen if we're caught with it, Tai," Akiko muttered.

	"So what? The cops don't scare me. Neither does Oryuu."

	Akiko shook her head. "Whatever you say, Tai."

	Taini just shrugged. "Well, she's waiting for us. Let's go take care of this."

	Akiko nodded. "Let's go, girls."

****

	Ranma arrived back at the Dojo with time to spare. Apparently, Yuka and Sayuri had left.

	He couldn't say as he blamed them. Either way, it was easier for him to care for Akane without them questioning him.

	Stopping on his way into the house, he quickly called the Doctor. Since Tofu had moved away, it was harder to get ahold of a doctor, especially one that would do house calls. It didn't take long for him to contact one and get him hightailing it over to the Dojo.

	Either way, it would take some time. Ranma would have to treat some of her injuries himself.

	Ranma carried Akane bathroom and sat her on the floor. He had to examine her injuries.

	Several cuts and bruises were on her face. Nothing seemed broken, but it was best not to chance it. Split lip. Bleeding nose. Ranma touched it lightly. It was tender, but didn't seem damaged.

	Black eye. A cut on her cheek, a scrape on her forehead. Nothing that would cause massive blood loss, but still, it should be treated.

	Her uniform was ripped in many places. Ranma breathed deeply before making the next move. He places a shaky hand on the buttons to her blouse.

	Suddenly, he pulled it away, blushing lightly. What would Akane do if she knew what he was about to do.

	He took another breath as he continued. He had to survey the damage. That was all.

	He began to unbutton her blouse, and before he knew it, he was finished. He slowly opened her blouse up, baring her chest. Thank God she was wearing a bra, or else Ranma never would have been able to stand it.

	He'd seen Akane naked before. But that was usually by accident, when she'd already been naked, or when her very life had been in danger.

	Or when he'd thought her dead. Even then, he covered her up with his own shirt.

	But now was different. He was the one undressing her this time.

	Ranma shook his head. He couldn't afford to be distracted. He examined her ribs, locating several bruises.

	The next act took a bit more courage. He had to feel about her ribs for internal injuries.

	And so he did, starting from the bottom, and moving his way up towards her breasts. He paused just under her breasts.

	Damn. He swore to himself. He wasn't sure if it was broken, but he was sure it needed bandaging.

	Damn, damn, damn.

	Oh well. There was only one choice. Leaning her body against his, he pulled her blouse right off, and then tried to pull her bra off.

	"Damn," he swore. "I'll never get used to these things."

	He fumbled around with the latch for a few minutes before finally unhooking it and pulling it off.

	As he leaned her back against the bathroom cabinet, he opened the first aid kit and took out the gauze.

	As quickly as he could, he wrapped the gauze around her, covering the lower half of her breasts. Ranma blushed a deep red, hoping to all that was holy that nobody would choose THAT moment to walk in and find him.

	Finally, he finished wrapping her chest and placed her blouse back over her.

	He did a quick sweep of her legs, making notes of each scratch, and then reached into the first aid kit. He pulled out the disinfectant and individual bandages.

	As he sprayed the disinfectant onto Akane's cuts and scrapes, she began to stir.

	As she stirred, he hoped to God that she wouldn't blow up at him. He was only trying to help her.

	But he also hoped that she would tell him what had happened.

	As he placed the bandages on her wounds, her eyes fluttered open.

	"Ran... ma?" she asked, groggily.

	"Hey," he said, as tenderly as he could muster. "You okay?"

	Akane looked at him blankly for a moment. "I... My chest hurts."

	Ranma nodded. "I know. I think you've got a cracked rib. I uh.... bandaged that up first."

	Akane quickly looked down at herself. The first thing she noticed was that her blouse was covering herself.

	It was ONLY covering herself. Meaning Ranma had...

	Oh god. Her bra was lying near her. Meaning he HAD taken her blouse and bra off himself! That... that...

	She looked into his eyes, and could see only the concern.

	He was taking care of her. He really cared.

	"You all right?" he asked. "Can you tell me what happened?"

	Akane suddenly began to remember. "Oh God," she said. "I thought I was going to die. The... gang, they--"

	"Gang? What?"

	"I... challenged them to a fight. I was winning until one of them pulled out a gun. I was too shocked to move, and they all jumped on me at once."

	Ranma's eyes went wide. He suddenly put it together.

	"Those girls," he said, swearing inwardly. He began to get up, sneering. "God DAMMIT!"

	"Ranma--"

	"I'll kill them! I'll--"

	"Ranma, NO! I don't want you to protect me again!

	Ranma looked down at her. "What? Akane, I--"

	"NO, Ranma. Promise me. Promise me you'll leave them alone!"

	Ranma's eyes narrowed. "They hurt you, Akane."

	"I know," Akane laughed. "Trust me, I know."

	"And you'd still ask me--"

	"Ranma, just promise me. Please," she begged him.

	Ranma was about to tell her no way. He couldn't promise something like that. He couldn't.

	But there was something in the way she looked at him. He shook his head and sat back down.

	"Fine," he said.

	"You promise?"

	"Yeah, I promise," he said, resigned. "But I don't like it!"

	Akane breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ranma."

	"Now," he said as he rummaged around in the first aid box. "Maybe you can tell me what the hell you were doing challenging a whole gang."

	"What did you expect me to do, Ranma? Just let them do that? Let them have their way?!" 

	"Akane, I'm not expecting you to let them do that," he said, wiping some of the blood from her face with a cotton swab. "But at least do it more wisely. You're a good fighter, but you can't hope to take on a whole gang of fighters like that."

	Akane frowned. "I'm not weak, Ranma. If... they hadn't cheated, I would have been able to--"

	"How long were you fighting them for?"

	Akane paused in thought for a moment. "About five minutes."

	"And in that five minutes, you rarely got hit, right?"

	Akane nodded. "They got some shots in before the end."

	"There were what... seven of them?"

	Akane nodded.

	"Seven vs. One. You hadn't knocked any of them out, and they were able to get some hits in near the end. You were getting tired, Akane. Even if they hadn't pulled the gun, they would have worn you out eventually."

	"But... They cheated! I would have won!"

	"Akane, the world's full of fighters who cheat. Just be thankful they never shot you."

	Akane just let the tears flow from her eyes. "What would you have done, then?"

	"I'm another matter, Akane. I've been training my whole life, just for the purpose of training. You, on the other hand, have been in school all your life. You've had friends, family. A place to live. Food on your table every night."

	Akane remained silent.

	"But I've usually had to fight for it. Even from my own father. I can't count how many times I've never eaten a bite because of my father. I can't explain how many times I've had to sleep in the rain, because the tent wasn't big enough for the both of us. But I've learned that the only way to get something from him is to fight him. During the years, I learned that some people were respectable. Some people I could trust..." he sighed. "But in the end, I always went back to my father."

	"Ranma, I... I just want to be good. I wanted to prove to myself that I was still good," she sobbed. "I used to be the best, Ranma. I used to be so good that nobody could beat me. Even a horde of boys. But since you and the others came by... I can't fight."

	Ranma smiled and cupped her chin in his hand. "You've been out of practice, Akane."

	Akane looked towards the ground. "I want to be strong, Ranma. I want to be able to look Ukyou or Shampoo in the face, and know that if it came to it, I COULD actually fight them."

	Ranma sighed in thought. "I'll tell you what, Akane," he began. "I'll train you. I'll help you get better. Even if it takes years. But I want you to promise me one thing."

	Akane looked up at him, wide-eyed. "What?"

	"Since you made me promise not to get those girls back, I want you to do it. When I've trained you enough, I want you to get them back."

	Akane, despite her pain, managed a smile. "D... Do you mean it?"

	Ranma nodded. "But only if I can referee! I wouldn't want them pulling a gun on you again."

	Akane managed another smile, and let her emotions get the best of her.

	Akane, for the first time in her life, jumped on Ranma, hugging him.

****

Author's Notes:

Well! Ask and ye shall receive.

Thanks to Gary Kleppe for giving me a great C&C on this, and thanks to everyone else for supporting the idea of the fic!

I've noticed people have a few nitpicks with the fic. The first is Nodoka, and the second is the gun. I was quite aware of the gun laws of Japan, and I guess I must have just forgotten about them while writing this. Still, I gave the best explanation I could think of, and I hope people accept it.

As for Nodoka, people seem to object to her 'fixing things up' plan. This is her plan, and trust me when I say it's not going to work the way she has planned.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around thus far, and I hope you've enjoyed this part, and all future parts. ^_^

I've already got the next part outlined, and it seems that it will be a tad longer than this part.