Three Days to Say I Love You

By Angela Jewell

Summary: At Jusendou, Akane came back to life... But at what cost?

Disclaimer: As most people know, I don’t own these characters (unfortunately!) and am merely borrowing them for this story. So, if you bother to sue me, you’ll lose and still be broke.

And remember:

Reviews=motivation to write!

(Sorry for any mistakes: I do plan on revising this tomorrow after school…)

Epilogue

Wanderings and Revelations

As the Hannya walked through the darkness, nothing stirred.

Of course, if something had stirred, she wouldn’t have noticed. Her thoughts were focused on one thing, and one thing only:

Ranma.

She found herself once again cursing the meddler’s name. How had he done it? she wondered. How had he managed to reverse a spell that was supposed to be unbreakable? Countered a technique that had been used successfully for thousands of years?

Had he been forewarned in advance? Or had someone secretly been helping him?

No, she told herself firmly with a shake of her head. He hadn’t been helped. If he had, she would have felt the other’s presence, sensed their interference.

No. There was only one explanation; one person to blame.

Herself.

The admission left her feeling cold and bitter, and the guilt began to slowly seep around her, enveloping her in her own resentment and hatred. She had grown too confident, too comfortable with her abilities—she knew that now. One hundred years of waiting had made her careless. Instead of allowing the bargain to be fulfilled properly, she had allowed herself to approach her prey early, too eager to claim her prize and her consequent freedom.

That had been her vital mistake.

She had been a fool to taunt him, to push him. That one hour had cost her everything. And all because of a stubborn, foolish, love-sick boy!

Shaking with rage, the Hannya paused to take a deep, calming breath. The darkness surrounding her became suffocating, leaving her feeling trapped and enslaved—the way she had felt for the last one hundred years.

Again, the thought came to her, unbidden: She should have done everything in her power to keep Akane away from him for the remaining hour—filled her head with more lies—stretched it to the point where she would kill him the moment she saw him.

The same method the Ancient Oni had used to ensnare her…

She snarled at the memory, and her hands flew to her eyes, willing the images away. But again they came, more powerful and more real as ever before. Hiroshi, lying before her, his blood pooling at her feet… his body thrown protectively over Ayami’s…

Ayami. Even in death he had protected her.

The hurt and betrayal all came back, and the only thing that made the memories bearable, was the comforting anger that came along with them. No, she convinced herself. She didn’t feel bad for killing Hiroshi. She felt a smile return to her face as she remembered Ayami lying dead beneath him.

Yes, his betrayal and death had been the one thing that had condemned her to a life as a Hannya—but once the transformation was complete, and her revenge fulfilled, she found it harder as time went by to wander aimlessly alone in the darkness.

For such was the fate of a Hannya.

With such an ill-fate, however, it was easy to find things to be angry about. And now she had found strength in a new source—strength which would help her get by in her remaining time, until a new source of power could be found, and manipulated, before taking her place.

Ranma and Akane. The two who had cost her the very freedom she had sought and yearned for, all along.

Even now, she could still taste the essence of Akane’s fury—the strength that was there. She had been so close, too close… she shook with the unleashed anger, her entire body glowing with the power it radiated. If only she hadn’t underestimated them, she berated herself. If she hadn’t, then Akane would be here now, wandering in her place.

There would be no freedom for her now, only more wandering, more waiting…

How long would it be this time? she wondered. One hundred years? Two hundred? A thousand?

The Hannya continued walking, her thoughts filled with regrets… and anger. For her, there would always be anger.

And she stopped as she heard a loud, tormented scream, fill the air. And it was several long moments before she realized it was her own.

*           *           *

Akane glanced nervously at Ranma, her knees curled up to her chin, her heart pounding relentlessly in her chest. “Well,” she asked again, leaning forward slightly on her bed. “Did you mean it or didn’t you?” She tried her best to keep her voice light and casual, but she could hear the anger, the uncertainty, the underlying fear that had managed to creep into her voice, despite her best efforts to control it.

It had been a week since the nightmare with the Hannya had ended—a week and it was as if nothing had changed: He still called her uncute; she still called him a pervert. Even Shampoo and Kodachi still came around every once in awhile—Shampoo to stake her claim, and Kodachi— well, who could tell what Kodachi was ever thinking…

She almost found herself doubting the whole thing ever happened.

“Of course I did,” Ranma replied quickly as a slight blush spread across his face.

“And…?”

Ranma looked at her in confusion, his eyebrow raised. “And what?” he asked, bemused.

Akane felt her entire face glowing with embarrassment as she quickly looked away, angry that he could be so dense, that he’d make her spell it out for him. “And,” she replied hotly, her voice shaking with anger, “do you still…?” She looked at him expectantly, her nervousness temporarily overpowered by her irritation.

“Akane…”

He was staring at her, his blue eyes soft and comforting, his face serious and open, and she felt her anger quickly melting away.

Blushing, she stared down at her comforter. She knew she would never be able to tell him if he kept looking at her like that. “Because I know that when you told he the first time, the situation wasn’t… well, normal,” she continued softly. “And I just wanted to make sure that you actually meant what you said—and that—and that you weren’t merely saying it because you felt you had too, or needed too, in order to save me, or—or to beat the Hannya, and...”

“You dummy.”

Akane’s head jerked up at the insult, and her hands unconsciously grasped the comforter beneath her in tight fists. Angry brown eyes, met laughing blue ones, and then Ranma was leaning forward and flicking her forehead with his finger.

“Of course I meant it,” he replied, sticking his tongue out at her. “Who else would be crazy enough to love an uncute, unfeminine girl like you?”

Akane felt her anger quickly drain away.

He said he loved her!

Her heart was beating so strongly in her chest, she was afraid that he might hear it at any moment!

And then… the rest of his words slowly began to sink in, and her heart slowly began to return to normal. “Who cares if I’m not cute and feminine,” she told him, hitting him with her pillow. “I know I certainly don’t.”

Ranma laughed as he sat on the bed next to her, his expression suddenly turning serious. “Sorry about the past week, Akane,” he replied at last. “I should’ve known you’d be worried, but I had so many different things on my mind, I didn’t even notice. I didn’t mean ta—ya know, make you worry, or doubt what happened-- or anything.” He glanced at Akane out of the corner of his eye, and then quickly looked away.

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I mean, I still have to think of a way to get Shampoo and Kodachi off my back, and then I was trying to decide whether or not we should tell our pops, or try to keep it a secret for a little longer… and then I was trying ta think of a way to make everything up to Ukyo, while retaining our family honor, and—” Ranma suddenly stopped, surprised to feel a small pair of arms wrapped tightly around his body, and glanced down to see Akane there, leaning against him, holding him tightly.

“I love you too,” she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ranma smiled despite himself, as he slowly, nervously, moved his arms in an attempt to wrap them around her body as well. And then they were sitting there, wrapped in each other’s arms…

After a few moments, Akane reluctantly pulled away. “You know,” she told him, “there is one thing about the Bargain that confuses me.”

Ranma looked at her in surprise. “What?”

“Well, when the Hannya was going through the rules, the amount of time I had was really specific—a moment past the deadline, and she said it was too late. Yet, once I met the Hannya, and—and started changing—my time was up. So, how were you still able to release me by saying it—when technically, you shouldn’t have been able too?”

Ranma shrugged. “I don’t know… lucky, I guess?”

Akane shook her head. “No,” she replied. “There must be something I’m missing…”

Ranma laughed. “Well, maybe the bargain-gods didn’t know what time it was?”

“Ranma, I’m trying to be serious here,” she replied, annoyed.

“Okay, okay,” Ranma put his hands up in a submissive gesture, as he slowly backing away. “Well, what time was it when the bargain was made? Did you get the time wrong or something?”

Again, Akane shook her head. “No,” she said. “I asked the Jusenkyou Guide what time it was as soon as I could—the time started the moment I woke up in China.”

Ranma raised an eyebrow. “China, huh?” he asked her. “Well, what watch were you using three days later when your time was up? One from Japan?”

Akane nodded her head. “Yeah. It was Nabiki’s watch. So?”

Ranma rolled his eyes. “Geez, Akane,” he sighed. “You really are dense, ain’t cha?”

 

Akane narrowed her eyes. “And just what do you mean by that?” she demanded.

Ranma laughed. “If you were going by the time on Nabiki’s watch, then you would have been an hour ahead.” He paused to look at Akane, who was staring wide-eyed at the small clock on her desk. “There is an hour time difference between Japan and China, ya know.”

Akane laughed sheepishly as she turned back to look at him. “Oh,” she replied, turning away from his mocking smile. “Well, if you’re so smart, then you must have managed to figure out a solution to every single one of those problems you mentioned earlier,” she replied.

Ranma shook his head as he laughed. “Nope,” he told her. “Not one.”

“Ha! I knew it,” Akane sniffed, as she turned away from him.

Ranma moved closer towards her. “But I’m sure between the two of us, we can think of something…”

Slowly, Akane turned around to face him, and smiled in agreement.

No matter what the consequences, she knew they would face them together. After all, they had taken on demons, and princes, and spirits before… a couple love-sick teenagers, and two stubborn parents shouldn’t be too hard…

…Right?

*           *           *

THE END

*           *           *

Authors Notes:

Well, there it is in its entirety. And sorry, but there’s no way I’m approaching the whole “get rid of Shampoo, Kodachi, let’s tell our parents storylines”—this was just my way to get these stubborn kids to admit their feelings for each other. And since my other stories are going so slow, I was afraid I’d NEVER get to these kind of scenes with them… so this was my way of saying, yes, I will MAKE them say it! **evil laughter**

I’m sorry it took so long to get this Epilogue out! I kept putting this off for some reason, and kept telling myself I’d write it tomorrow, but tomorrow never came…

If I hadn’t made a bet with a friend at work that I couldn’t finish this epilogue by the time school started, I probably never would have finished it. Hehe. It’s 12:33 am, and school literally starts today, but I still beat the cut off!!!! Lucky for you I’m so cheap, and didn’t want to part with 10 dollars, huh?! ;)

Anyway, because of the time limit, I haven’t had much of a change to really go through this and correct it. I literally sat down and wrote this in a 3 or 4 hour sitting, so I know there are some errors, but I plan on going through this and fixing it up a little tomorrow after school, if I get a chance. Right now… I am SOOOO tired. Must sleep…

And I’m sorry if my explanations are… well… stupid. But they are legitimate reasons, (in my own head), so I don’t care how flimsy or unbelievable they are. And I know it’s a long shot that Ranma would know about the time difference, while Akane doesn’t… but I would chalk it up to the fact that Akane has had more important things on her mind, and while I’m sure she’s more than aware of the time difference, I’m going to act like it temporarily slipped her mind. And Ranma can be perceptive when he wants to be… and all the clues were there, so it’s not that far-fetched that he’d be able to piece that together.

If you’re still not satisfied, pretend this Epilogue doesn’t exist, and that Chapter 6 was the ending. This is just FYI anyway. =)

Either way, I hope you’ve liked this story!!!!