mystara96@aol.com (Mystara96)

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"Moonlight"
"Tsuki no Hikari"
Original Ranma Fan-fic by Michelle Mista
Based on characters created by Rumiko Takahashi
Domoo arigato, Takahashi-san!
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     Moonlight shone upon Akane as she stood by a clear lake, and
gazed at the beauty that surrounded her. The lake was almost like
a smooth glass mirror, it's surface was so calm. A soft green
meadow surrounded the lake, with cherry tree lined walkways, and
large, soft gray boulders lined the half of the lake. The night
was as clear as the lake, and the stars shone so clearly both in
the pool and in the sky that Akane was having a hard time trying
to figure out which was the sky and which was the lake. Taking in
all these sights, she sighed and looked around. As she gazed into
the smooth pool, her image surrounded by stars, she felt rather
lonely, since no one was with her to share this beautiful night.

     The night air was a little cooler than it would usually be
for early spring, and out of a combination of both the chill and
loneliness, she hugged herself with her arms as the slight breeze
picked up. The breeze blew a few of the cherry blossoms off of
the nearby trees, and one of these blooms fell in the center of
her reflection, marring the smooth surface. She watched as her
reflection slowly disappeared under the ripples created by the
pink bloom.

     All at once, she felt strong arms around her waist pulling
her lovingly, but unsure, into a gentle embrace. She smiled a
little and closed her eyes but did not turn around. She smiled
again at the heartbeat that matched her own. Opening her eyes,
she wasn't at all surprised to see that her reflection had
returned with Ranma-kun holding her around her waist.

     "Ranma," she said simply.

     Ranma shifted nervously and Akane felt his heartbeat pick up
a little more. "Akane..."

     "Hai?" she asked gently.

     "I... I want to tell you something."

     "Hai?" she repeated, the same gentleness in her voice, as
she laid her head onto Ranma's shoulder. She stood listening to
his voice, and felt her heart beat faster as he stood holding her
like this.  she thought to herself.

     Akane felt Ranma gently nuzzle her hair, and she savored the
emotions that she felt just having him close to her like this.
"Kawaii. . ."

     Akane turned around and smiled at Ranma. He returned her
smile as she turned around again to face the pool. The breeze
picked up again, obliterating their images in the pool with
softly falling cherry blossoms.

*****************************************************************

     Akane awoke in her bed, with moonlight and a warm breeze
entering from her open window. She sat up, stretched, and yawned,
instinctively looking for Ranma, but at the same time wondering
why. She held her head for a second while putting the dream
together in her head, blushing more and more as the scene kept
reworking itself in her mind's eye. She shook her head, and tried
to curse herself for being foolish; why would she want Ranma to
hold her like that? Besides, the boy had called her "kawaiikune"
one too many times today, which was why her window was open. She
didn't feel like breaking another window and as a result, thought
to open the window before booting him out of her room.

      she
thought sadly as the dream passed through her mind again. 

     Kind of disturbed, Akane stood up and leaned on her desk to
look out the window. It truly was a beautiful night in Nerima,
with the soft grey light of the moon illuminating everything it
touched with a soft beauty that the sun's light could never
match. She'd never seen a night as clear nor as warm as this
night was, especially not so early in the spring. She had no
feelings of drowsiness this night, and was quite surprised to see
that the clock read 1:43. She'd gone to bed late that night; she
couldn't understand why she'd woken up so early without feeling
any ill effects of her lack of sleep. However, she stopped
wondering about this, and stood staring out of the window.

     She smiled again at the memory of Ranma's actions in the
dream, and she felt, in her heart, a small flame. She didn't
forget the many fights that they've had, but rather looked at
them differently.  she
thought to herself as she stared out at the clear Tokyo sky.

     Her mind sorted through memories of all the wacky situations
she and Ranma had been in since she'd met him, or her, since
Ranma was female when they first met.  Akane thought with a slight smile. 

     She remembered the times she's been kidnapped and almost
been forced to marry someone else. Whenever it came down to it,
Ranma was always there. "But if I quit now, how will I get you
back?" she remembered him asking her as she begged him to stop
fighting one of his adversaries when it was apparent he was
losing. She remembered the spring on the island of Togenkyo, the
one that could cure him; the one he blew up to save her from
being cursed into becoming a guy. She'd thanked him both times
for saving her, but they never really said much too each other
about what happened afterwards.

     She knew that she couldn't say anything out right to Ranma,
though sometimes, she really wanted to. There was always someone
chasing after him, the most persistent of his callers were Ukyou,
Shampoo, and Kodachi.  She knew she was wrong for hitting Ranma
whenever Shampoo or Ukyou got too close, sometimes she didn't
even realized she'd hit him again. She couldn't help it.
Sometimes, she felt like she'd lose Ranma to either of them. They
both could cook, they were cute, at least in Ranma's eyes.  she thought to
herself, remembering how he referred to Ukyou as his "kawaii
iinazuke". Occasionally, she wondered why he even bothered to
put up with her, especially with the way she treated him.

      she
thought sadly. She'd always hated boys, she'd never had any use
for them before... besides beating them up day after day. Hell,
it was kinda worth it; it kept her in shape. But then, Ranma came
along. It was hard enough dealing with the fact that she'd been
engaged against her will, something she wasn't quite as mad about
now. But the feelings that took the place of the initial anger
was what she just couldn't deal with... not yet.

     She thought again to the emotions she felt when Ranma's arms
were around her, even if it was only in a dream, and she suddenly
had a feeling of warmth that emanated from within. "Ranma..." she
said quietly.

     A soft, slightly cool breeze drifted her way, bringing with
it the scent of spring, and bringing her back to reality. Akane
turned away from the window, and began to quietly pad her way
through the house. At Ranma and his father's room, she stopped,
and just stood there at the door for a moment, her hand paused in
a knocking position, while trying to decide whether or not she
should. In a few moments, though, she dropped her hand with the
thought that Ranma probably wouldn't want to talk to her anyway,
considering what time it was... and the fact that she'd kicked
him out of her window earlier that night.

     Akane sighed. She felt an urgent need to see and talk to
Ranma; after that dream, it seemed kind of important. There was
something she wanted to share with him, but she couldn't speak
the words to herself. She had to tell Ranma what she was feeling,
to admit it to herself with him there... she didn't know why, but
all she knew was that she couldn't sleep, at least not tonight,
until he knew what she felt inside... for him.
*****************************************************************

     Ranma was standing in a grove of cherry trees by a lake he
knew he'd never seen before, however, he never felt so at home as
he did there. The clear beauty of the scene was enhanced by the
moonlight which shined softly on the lake. He looked over toward
his right, and saw Akane.

     His heart raced at the beauty his heart had always known
she'd possessed, but that his pride and smart tongue would never
let him say. Though the moonlight illuminated all that it
touched, to him, Akane was the most beautiful of them all. He
stood some distance away from her, just watching her beautiful
form, and he felt, rather than heard, her soft sigh. At that
moment, his arms ached to just hold her and his heart ached to
speak to her. He quietly whispered, "I'm here, Akane..." as he
stepped silently toward her, afraid that if she saw or heard him,
it would break the spell.

     Soon, he stood just a step away from her, just out of the
reflection of the glass-like surface of the lake. Akane had
tilted her head back and stared at the twinkling stars above her,
before glancing back at the pool and shaking her head.
Ranma knew what she was thinking; the clearness of the stars in
the pool made it difficult to tell which of the surfaces was
really the sky.

     A breeze picked up and with it, some cherry blossoms flew
by. The slight puff of air brought a tiny bit of chill.  he thought as he saw her arms coming up to hug
herself. Acting swiftly, he slid his arms around Akane's waist,
holding her gently but firmly. He blushed, and his heart pounded
even more than it had been a second ago, his emotions lighting
within him.

     "Ranma," he heard her say. He had unconsciously expected her
to boot him away as she normally did whenever he got too close,
but somehow he knew that she wanted him to with him right now as
much as he wanted to be with her.

     "Akane..." he said, his emotions creating a lump in his
throat.

     "Hai?" she responded.

     He faltered at just hearing the sound of her voice, and his
heartbeat increased again as he nervously got his voice. "I... I
want to tell you something. . . "

     "Hai?" she asked again, and he was relieved to note that she
wasn't annoyed at him.

     Ranma's mind raced. In that short time span, he'd had all
the emotions he kept buried deep inside him take over him, and
now there was so much he wanted to share with her. He smiled as
he closed his eyes, and whispered into her ear the first thought
that had entered his mind as he watched her from the cherry tree
grove. In a rare moment, his lips spoke his true feelings,
unembarrassed and unabashed.

     "Kawaii. . . "
****************************************************************

     Ranma awoke slowly, looking around in nervous confusion.
He'd been sleeping on the roof, and was rather stiff jointed.
Akane had booted him out (again) just a few hours ago, and after
getting up and dusting himself off from the dirt of the dojo's
yard, he decided he might as well sleep up on the roof. It was
nice out, and why would he want to sleep in the same _house_ as
that tomboy anyway...?

      he thought groggily,  He shuddered a bit.  His stomach worked itself into knots.  he thought.

     The dream worked itself into his mind, unbidden.
Involuntarily, he closed his eyes and felt his heart fill with a
warm feeling that he'd felt before on occasions, but never quite
as strongly as this. Moonlight and cherry blossoms faded away
until all he could see was Akane. His heart pounded nervously,
and again, he quietly whispered her name to himself. His stomach
contracted almost painfully, as did his heart.

     "What a stupid dream," he said aloud, marring the beauty of
the night. "Calling Akane's name right now. What kinda baka yarou
am I, anyway?" His words had a hollow sound to him and he tried
to figure out why. In his mind, the vision of Akane was more real
than the tile roof he was sitting on. He couldn't help but murmur
her name to himself again, all the while trying to curse himself
out of it.

     He shook his head, and tried to fight against this feeling.
What was he doing, anyway? Did he really think that kawaiiku-....
Ranma put his head in his hands. No, Akane isn't kawaiiku nai; she
never was.  Ranma wondered,
almost frantically. He was trying desperately to clear his mind,
and push away all these thoughts that made him feel good but that
he didn't understand. All he could think about was that dream....

     Akane in the moonlight. He smiled despite himself.
 thought Ranma. 

     It hit him all at once.  he thought with
certainty, suddenly raising his head back to look at the stars.
 He
brought his knees up to his chest and sat for awhile.

      He smiled again.  he thought to himself. 

     Ranma thought back to the times he and Akane did have a
private moment with each other. The two did have a lot of time
with each other, knowing that their fathers did want them to
spend some time together. However, how they spent their time was
another story. More often than not, Ranma got hit, kicked,
punched, or otherwise physically beaten because of something that
was often not his fault. He'd never hit her back, though. He
could never hurt a girl while he's a guy; female or male,
however, he couldn't bring himself to hit Akane, even as a joking
revenge. Actually, he was afraid to touch her half them time,
knowing that if she took it the wrong way, it would get him
kicked halfway through Tokyo, which it often did. He was
surprised he didn't bump into Ryoga more often with the distance
she'd been known to punt him away.

     There have been times though, that Ranma came close to
saying what he kept inside, usually completely by accident. He
remembered his first kiss (as Ranma-chan) when Sanzenin Mikado
planted one on him (her). Ranma blenched, and his stomach
clenched with a painful urgency.  he wondered. He'd slipped up
by saying that if he were to kiss someone, it would have to be
someone he _cared_ about. Akane had said "Well, of course you
can't do it with _me_ then...", and he'd blurted out, "That's not what
I meant!", not thinking, but at least telling Akane, in some way,
what she meant to him.

     He never could say anything out right to her; he knew that
she couldn't do the same. He knew he'd shown his feelings for her
more than a few times, though. The memory of the forest and the
forgetful boy, Shinnosuke, came into his mind. Shinnosuke had confessed
his love to Akane and asked if she could love him too. She'd replied
that she guess she could. What she didn't know was that Ranma was
in the background, and he had heard every word. He couldn't
understand; Akane had never even come that close to saying
anything like that to him.  Ranma thought. But he remembered the
anguish he felt when he thought Akane loved Shinnosuke.

*********************************************************

     Ranma sighed again, and started thinking about Akane rather
than their time with each other. Even if it was all a dream, the
emotions he felt were real, he knew that now. Without knowing
exactly why, he packed up his bedroll and his pillow, jumped down
from the roof, and began to quietly enter the house through the
living room sliding door. Once inside, he laid down his bedroll
and pillow into the corner of the room, and started to make his
way into the main part of the house.

     He saw Akane as she was coming down the stairs, as quiet as
a mouse. He smiled as he realized that she really wasn't "the
klutz" he always called her, and his pulse rate quickened at the
sight of her. She was still walking down the stairs, but she
couldn't see him because of the shadows in the house, which
suited Ranma just fine. She was illuminated by the light of the
moon, even more beautiful than she was in the dream. For a
second, all he could do was stare at her. In that heartbeat, he
wanted to do nothing else.

     As she reached the bottom floor, Akane just stood there,
knowing Ranma was near, but not knowing how. "Ranma?" she called
softly.

     "I'm here, Akane." He came into the small pool of moonlight
that was admitted through an obscure window, standing close to
her, but, in his mind, not close enough.

     She looked up into his eyes, and for a moment, the couple
stood just gazing into each others eyes, caught and held by what
they saw... a reflection of themselves. Both their pulses
quickened, and their faces became more and more flushed.

     Without a word, Akane motioned for him to follow her, and
led him to the living room, where the both sat at their usual
places at the low table. The paper covered sliding door, fully
shut at this time, filtered the soft moonlight even further so
that only the barest amount of light touched them.

     "I was trying to find you," Akane said shyly. "I... I want
to apologize for kicking you through my window earlier tonight...
it was really dumb. Gomen...."

     Ranma shrugged. "It's okay, Akane... really."

     Akane smiled. He swallowed and looked her in the eye before
yet another rare moment occurred as the thought he'd kept back for
so long made its way to his lips. "You really are cute, Akane."

     Akane looked at Ranma with tears and her eyes shone happily
in the filtered moonlight. "Ranma. . ."

     "I just... I just wanted to tell you that," he said, and it
was apparent that his shyness was returning.

     They sat silently for awhile. Akane continued to blush and
was glad for the dimness. The warm feeling she had felt in her
dream was returning. She sighed a little.

     "Nani?" asked Ranma.

     "I was just thinking about...." She trailed off, hesitant.
"Iie... you might say I sound stupid."

     "Well tell me, and I'll tell you if you're being stupid or
not," he said, a smile in his voice.

     Akane looked toward the ground for a second, and then looked
back up. "I like being with you, Ranma."

     "Yeah, it's better than getting hit all the time..." he
answered without thinking, wishing his tongue would wait for his
brain, just once. He looked back at Akane, "Uh, that is... I
mean...."

     Akane was smiling as shook her head. "I know what you mean;
it's nice just talking to you." She paused for a moment. "Why are
you down here anyway? I thought you were sleeping."

     Ranma nodded. "I was. Had a..." He paused, trying to look
for a good adjective for the dream, and then gave up. "I had a
dream," he said.

     Akane was intrigued. She leaned back, with her hands
supporting her weight. "About?"

     Ranma squirmed a little nervously. "A lake," he replied
lamely.

     Akane sat up, curious. "Honto?"

     Ranma nodded wondering why she was so curious about a dream
about a lake. "Hai... why, something wrong?"

     Akane flushed in the moonlight. "No. Tell me about it," she
asked, trying to relax. "What happened?"

     Now it was Ranma's turn to blush. "You were standing by a
lake, and I watching you. I don't know why, I just was." He tried
to fake indifference with a shrug, but his shining eyes betrayed
him.  he thought. 

     "You were there?" Akane asked, leaning forward. "What did
you see?"

     Ranma's eyes widened. "What do you mean you were there? This
is _my_ dream, remember?"

     Akane shook her head. "No, you baka. I... I had the same
dream. Weird huh?"

     Ranma looked dubious. "Oh yeah, if it was your dream, what
did I do?"  he thought to himself.


     Akane looked down, and answered shyly, "Y-you held me."

     Ranma face-faulted. "... and said you were cute?" he
finished quietly.

     "Yeah, almost like you did earlier," she replied, raising
her eyes.

     Ranma caught her gaze. "And...?"

     "You'd probably never really do that," she finished quietly.

     "You think so, huh?" he asked, kind of amused and hurt at
the same time. "You don't think I'd ever hold you like that?"

     Akane shrugged. "Sometimes I hope you would... someday; but
I don't know if you really would. You never have before."

     "How do you know if I want to or not?" he asked, hoping that
he wouldn't be setting her off to get mad at him (again). "How do
you know if I've wanted to or not?"

     "You've never said anything about it."

     "Neither have you," he replied, both of them sighing at
around the same time, realizing that what the other had said was
true.

     "Do you ever want to tell me things?" Akane asked shyly.

     Ranma sighed. "Yeah," he replied, as Akane smiled. "I just
don't though."

     "Why not?"

     Ranma shrugged. "Sometimes, there's things I want to
tell you, but I just can't. I don't know why. It's hard dealing
with it. And I can't just let my guard down." He looked over at
Akane.

     Akane nodded in understanding. "I think we both can't let
our guard down."

     Ranma continued to look at Akane, whose eyes were cast
downwards at the floor. Ranma took a breath to say something when
Akane continued. "But it's not that I don't want to. I'm so used
to fighting all the time." Out of the corner of her eye, Akane
saw Ranma nod. "For the longest time, it's all I knew how to do.
Remember the boys at school?"

     "Hai," Ranma answered quietly with a smile, remembering his
first day at Furinkan with Akane. Even though he didn't want to
admit it then, he saw that Akane was truly a fighter. Stubborn,
but a fighter...  he thought,
thinking about how stubborn he could be at times.

     "Then, Dad just comes up with this idea to marry one of us
off to you; and then I'm the one who gets engaged...." Akane
paused for a second, and she and Ranma both thought back to their
engagement. "I just thought the whole thing was unfair... and why
was I the one who'd be 'perfect' for you anyway..."

     "I'm half girl, remember?" Ranma said, a little bitterness
in his voice. He sighed. "You hated guys... perfect iinazuke for
you, just like Kasumi said."

     "I don't anymore, Ranma," she countered. "Hate guys, I
mean." Her voice softened. "After everyone found out we were
engaged, no one fought me any more. I didn't have anyone to beat
up all the time, so I started to fight you."

     Ranma nodded in understanding, and put his hand on her
shoulder. "It hurts me sometimes, Akane. And I don't mean your
punches..." he said quietly.

     It was Akane's turn to nod. "I know.... Gomen..." she
whispered.

     "You're right about that fighting stuff, though," he told
her, squeezing her shoulder gently. His hand felt warm on her
shoulder. "Don't you think I know how you feel when I call you
names?" Akane nodded; she knew, of course. "I can't fight you, at
all. I can't spar you..."

     "You don't fight girls," she interjected with a smile in her
voice. "I'm surprised you don't just turn into a girl when you
want to get me back."

     "I don't want to hit you," he finished. "I don't want to
hurt you. I can't fight you like that. The only way I can fight
you is by telling you're 'kawaiikune', or unsexy, or something
like that."

     "Why do you want to fight me?" she asked.

     Ranma thought for a moment. "I don't want to fight you,
Akane. I'm like you; I just can't help it." He paused.

     "Go on," she said.

     Ranma took a breath. "You confuse me, Akane. I try to push
you away, you try to push me away, but when it all comes down to
it, I'm not gonna let anyone take you away. Not that guy Kirin,
or Toma, or Shinnosuke... not Ryoga, not Kunou... not anyone....
Same way you won't let anyone take me away from you."

     Akane turned around suddenly. "I didn't think you'd
notice..."

     Ranma tried to look annoyed, but his grin betrayed him.
"You're always jealous of Ucchan and Shampoo; I've seen it. Come
on, Akane, it's kinda obvious. And I know that you try not to
show it; same as I do. But you do...."

     Akane blushed in the moonlight. "I wish that I could talk
with you like this more," she told him.

     Ranma leaned back a little and said, "Yeah. Me too."

     The two silently sat side by side for awhile before Akane
said shyly, "Ranma?"

     "Yeah?"

     She opened her mouth to say something, but just couldn't. Her heart
pounding, she just rested her head on Ranma's shoulder, which took
Ranma by pleasant surprise.

     "You sleepy, Akane?"

     "A little," she murmured, her eyes closing. Soon, it became
apparent she'd fallen soundly asleep, as her head became heavier
and heavier on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma let her sleep on his
shoulder for a little while, before realizing that he couldn't
let her sleep like that all night, admitting to himself that he
wished he could. Silently, he picked her up in his arms and
Akane's arms automatically held him around the neck.

     "Akane?" he whispered, checking to see if she was awake. She
made no effort to reply, and kept on sleeping. Silently, and
carefully, he made his way upstairs, and opened the door to
Akane's room with little difficulty. He placed her on the bed,
and pulled her covers up around her.

     He knelt by her bed as he pulled up her covers, and studied
her sleeping form for awhile. Akane stirred, and blinked.
"Ranma?"

     "Hai?" he asked from his position next to her bed.

     She smiled, and laid back down on the bed. "Thanks for
bringing me up to bed, Ranma," she said.

     He smiled back. "Nah, it's okay." He glanced at the clock,
which read about 2:57. "It's late; I'm going to go to bed," he
told Akane.

     Akane nodded sleepily, and pulled at his hand as he got up
to leave. He turned around. She motioned for him to lean down,
and as he did, their faces came close to each others. Almost
unconsciously, they both closed their eyes, and gave each other a
soft, gentle kiss. "Good night, Ranma," Akane whispered, her eyes
shining.

     Ranma, his face flushed and happy, smiled, and said, "Good
night Akane..." He gave her hand a final squeeze, and quietly
left the room.

     As she drifted off to sleep, Akane thought about the brief
hours that was just her's and Ranma's alone.  she thought as she went to sleep. "I love
you, Ranma..." she whispered as sleep reclaimed her and the lake
appeared before her eyes again.

     Ranma, in his own room, clad in his usual tank top and
shorts, laid down on his futon. Despite Oyaji's snoring, Ranma
was happy. He brought the covers up around himself, and settled
into a nice dream, where he and Akane were standing by the same
lake. But before sleep could claim him, he said, clearly: "I love
you, too, Akane..."

*****************************************************************

Ohki! That's the end of Ranma and Akane's Moonlit Dream. I hoped
you liked it. I hope it wasn't _too_ cheesy for you! =>
Personally, I like the little love story behind the whole Ranma
series, and I do think that Ranma and Akane share a deep love for
each other.

If you like this story, (or if you didn't like it and want to
tell me personally so I don't pollute the newsgroup with anymore
bad writing => ) don't hesitate to write me at:

                             Mystara96@aol.com

Any comments are appreciated! This is one of my first attempts at
writing fan fics. There's a bigger one that I'm working on that
is a combination of the Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo! animes. Expect
some more work from me! => (If that's okay with everyone else out
there! => )

@->---- Michelle Mista ----<-@
@->-- Mystara96@aol.com ---<-@
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@->----- Mystara96@aol.com -----<-@
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