Ranma opened the door to Akane's room and looked inside. When he saw her empty bed, he sighed. He just couldn't get used to the fact that she wasn't here anymore...
He would have never thought it possible, but... he missed her. He had gotten used to hear her angry voice, her reactions to his playful jokes, her cute smile that she had been showing way too rarely...
But now she was gone... and the only thing he could do about it was praying that she would return safely.
Three days ago, Akane had fallen into a deep coma... and she simply wouldn't wake up. It happened one morning after everyone else had been gotten up from bed, and Kasumi realized how late Akane was. She entered her room... and found her lying in bed.... she just wouldn't wake up.
Dr. Tofu and other doctors who came over to take a look at her didn't understand the situation at all... There was simply no reason why Akane wouldn't wake up. All of her vital signs were fine, Akane was as healthy as ever...
She just wouldn't wake up...
In the end, they decided to take her to the hospital, where they could have a closer look at her. That has been three days ago, and she still wasn't home...
Ranma sat down on his fiancee's bed and picked up the little pig plushie, a present of Ryoga (perhaps for all the times he couldn't be here as P-chan...). He turned it around a few times in his hands, then he sighed again and went back down. He was feeling so... so helpless! Perhaps a little training would cheer him up...
This evening, the members of the Tendo household weren't talking much... they all were still feeling depressed because Akane wasn't with them. Ranma was thinking back to this morning, when Ukyo had asked him when Akane would finally return.
He... just wasn't able to tell her the truth. By now, he was wondering how Ucchan and Shampoo would have reacted if they found out... Would they have offered their condolences... or would they be happy because there was one fiancee less?
That evening, Ranma was going to bed early. But somehow... he couldn't find any sleep. He turned around a few times, listening to his father's snoring next to him, until he just couldn't bear it any more: He stood up and went upstairs, again into Akane's room.
When in there, he once again felt helpless... Dang... if there would just be something he could do about this whole situation...
He took a look at Akane's things... her desk, her wardrobe, everything... until his gaze fell onto a small pile of papers lying on her desk.
He picked them up. "Huh..." he mumbled. "Drawings? Heh... never thought that tomboy could draw so good..."
The first drawing showed an enormous castle rising over a big lake... the second drawing showed a mountain range behind a deep chasm... and the third drawing was a regal dragon with spread wings.
Maybe... Akane had been drawing those things when she was sitting alone in her room... every time she was feeling sad... and neither P-chan or her friends could cheer her up...
Suddenly, Ranma sensed that he wasn't alone in the room any more... He turned around... and saw someone sitting in the big rocking chair in the corner of the room.
Wait a minute... since when did Akane have a rocking chair?
Then he saw the face of the person sitting there. "Kasumi...?" he murmured. What was she doing here that late in the evening?
Strangely enough, Kasumi was dressed in a loose, white robe that made her look... wise. And somehow, an aura of peace and power seemed to surround her.
She smiled at him. "Greetings, Ranma! Do not be alarmed, I am not Akane's eldest sister... I just look like her. My name is Kasu... and I'm here because I need your help."
"Kasu, uh-huh..." Somehow, he believed her. But what was even stranger: He felt that this Kasumi-look-a-like had more power than he could imagine. "And just where do you come from... Kasu?"
"I'm from a magical kingdom, hidden within a different plane of existence... It is called... Ja'an!" She sighed and looked down at her hands while rocking. "You know... several months ago... we got a visitor from your world for the first time... it was your fiancee, Akane!"
"Akane..." Ranma wondered. His gaze fell on the drawings on her desk. "You mean... those drawings show things that actually exist?"
Kasu nodded. "Yes, Akane found the way into our realm in her dreams... and every time she felt lonely and depressed, she paid us a visit. She was finding many friends over here, although she was a little baffled at first... because so many of our residents look so much like people she knows." She giggled.
Then her face grew sad. "But then... the last time she visited us... she was being kidnapped."
Ranma gasped. "K-kidnapped? By who?"
Kasu looked at him sternly. "By Ekana... the evil mistress of the Shadow Realm!"
"T-then you must go and save her! What are you waiting for?"
Kasu sighed. "I wish we could, Ranma... I wish we could... but, no one of our kingdom is able to pass the Shadow Mountains, the barrier to Ekana's realm... only someone from your realm can do that... you're the only one who can save her! Will you do it?"
Ranma thought less than a second about it, then he nodded.
"I'll do it! How do I get there?"
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(Posted Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:46)
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