Akane's quiet for a long moment... thinking, just thinking, of everything she'd done with Ranma in the year since he'd come to town. How they even managed to have fun together sometimes, just... doing all those ordinary, every day things like going shopping or to the beach or just hanging out together. And how happy Ranma seemed in those ordinary, every day moments.
"He didn't remember what his mother looked like when I first met him," she says suddenly. "His dad took him away when he was that little. And when Auntie Saotome used to visit he'd always have to pretend to be my cousin, because his dad had promised to make him a man amongst men before they could see her again and he... wasn't yet."
And then, suddenly, she makes a sound that's hard to tell if it's a laugh or a sob. "Just-- gah, the Cat Fist. Sometimes he really wasn't human in his head. Undefeatable when he was. But-- not human."
Connie's eyes widen as Akane describes some of Ranma's life, oscillating between abject horror and righteous fury before settling on both. Turning away, she crosses her arms and huffs. "You know, I was going to make more scathing comments about this Ranma, but... now I feel more sorry for him than anything else."
It was kind of funny, really. Steven's problems were the exact opposite of Ranma's.
Grasping Akane's hand with both of hers and staring deep into her eyes, Connie says, "You see now? This? What we're doing, what we've been doing for these past few days... I wouldn't trade any of these kinds of moments for all the power in the world. Because this is what's important."
After a long moment, Akane nods tightly. "Yeah," she says softly. "I'm-- really glad, I think, that my dad never... did anything Mr Saotome did. Even if Ranma is stupid and ridiculous and a pervert and the worst--" She lets out a shaky breath. "And the best fighter I know. And the most honorable. And... a really good person when he's not terrible. And... probably my best friend, not that you can ever tell him that."
Her eyes don't move from Connie's face. How funny, she thinks, that here of all places she'd found the friend she'd wanted Ranma to be, back when she thought Ranma was a girl too.
Her mouth opens to say-- something. She's not sure. But what comes out instead is a song:
"Dreading the school bell, we can't help but worry Classmates behind me, we can't help but hurry They'll catch their breath and then, they'll say: 'Good-Mor-ni-ng!'"
Connie begins slowly swaying along with Akane's melody, a half-melancholy, half-sweet smile spreading across her face. Now this is familiar, familiar in a way that makes her heart ache for home... but also familiar in a way that makes her glad that she's here in this moment, too.
The way Pearl taught swordfighting was almost like dancing, in its own way. Elegant, refined. But as Connie begins dancing along with the song, Connie draws on her very first dance with Steven, when they both stopped caring about form or steps or not looking like a pair of complete dorks and just moved like their hearts told them to.
Connie starts slow, of course, as she picks up the part of the song Akane gave her.
"Sweet summer grass that Grows wild by the roadside Starting each day with A smile I can't hide"
"It's what I know... But it may not always be so."
As she finishes her part, Connie picks up the pace, holding out a hand to invite Akane to join her.
It reminds Akane, somehow, of all those times when she was little and she'd been invited to take a boy's part in country dancing or a class play or-- any of those things, because she'd been 'as good as.' Except Connie hasn't said anything to her like that. Connie treats her like a girl, like the girl she is, even if she's horrible at being one. Even if she's outclassed by a boy who isn't really a girl, who only has a girl's body sometimes.
Why couldn't Ranma have really been a girl?
She takes Connie's hand and the bridge of the song together.
"Casual moments like these mean the most to me Treasured times that don't need any key. In the album of my heart I keep, Old times stay like new...
Connie gives Akane a wide smile as she raises her arm to twirl her. It really was like her first dance with Steven, in a way; except she was the one bringing Akane out of her "shell" (if a complex about physical and violence could be compared at all to moderate social anxiety). Yet it felt different enough to be entire new; forging new memories that she would treasure instead of dredging up old ones that were painful with the lens of time and maturity laid over them.
"No, I won't forget... No, I won't forget...
These gentle times We'll share forever Long past all Those times are through"
Maybe it's because Connie's taken the boy's role in the dance, even though she's of course not a boy either. And that's good. Akane wouldn't want her to be a boy. She's wonderful how she is already.
"Even when I'm sad... Even when I'm glad... Memories of days I'll never, ever let go."
She comes out of the twirl with her head tilted slightly up, looking up into Connie's big, dark eyes, her heart beating the way it did when Ranma (who she had thought was a girl) had poked in her the back after tricking her into punching through the wall.
At the very end of the dance, Connie dips Akane. She smiles down at her, the warmth in Akane's eyes reflected in hers. What a strange mirror memories can be. Just a few months ago, Connie would've given to share this moment with Steven again, to be that innocent and carefree... but now, she's infinitely more glad that it's just her and Akane.
Connie smiles wider at Akane's thanks, opens her mouth to say something, then-
Remember that intense sparring match that sparked this entire interlude? Connie's finally feeling its effects. Such as losing strength in her legs.
She falls to the side, desperately rolling over so she won't crush Akane beneath her, and ends up flat on her back, laughing.
Akane lets herself get pulled down as well, coming to a thump on the sandy grass right next to Connie, laughing as well.
"Thanks," she repeats. "I-- really needed that, I think. It really does help to know that... I might not be as good as Ranma, but I had a better life than he did. Even with what happened to my mom and everything else. I mean, having to fight my way into school every day was awful, but it's not being wrapped in fish sausage and being tossed into a pit of hungry cats."
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no subject
"He didn't remember what his mother looked like when I first met him," she says suddenly. "His dad took him away when he was that little. And when Auntie Saotome used to visit he'd always have to pretend to be my cousin, because his dad had promised to make him a man amongst men before they could see her again and he... wasn't yet."
And then, suddenly, she makes a sound that's hard to tell if it's a laugh or a sob. "Just-- gah, the Cat Fist. Sometimes he really wasn't human in his head. Undefeatable when he was. But-- not human."
no subject
It was kind of funny, really. Steven's problems were the exact opposite of Ranma's.
Grasping Akane's hand with both of hers and staring deep into her eyes, Connie says, "You see now? This? What we're doing, what we've been doing for these past few days... I wouldn't trade any of these kinds of moments for all the power in the world. Because this is what's important."
no subject
Her eyes don't move from Connie's face. How funny, she thinks, that here of all places she'd found the friend she'd wanted Ranma to be, back when she thought Ranma was a girl too.
Her mouth opens to say-- something. She's not sure. But what comes out instead is a song:
"Dreading the school bell, we can't help but worry
Classmates behind me, we can't help but hurry
They'll catch their breath and then, they'll say:
'Good-Mor-ni-ng!'"
no subject
The way Pearl taught swordfighting was almost like dancing, in its own way. Elegant, refined. But as Connie begins dancing along with the song, Connie draws on her very first dance with Steven, when they both stopped caring about form or steps or not looking like a pair of complete dorks and just moved like their hearts told them to.
Connie starts slow, of course, as she picks up the part of the song Akane gave her.
"Sweet summer grass that
Grows wild by the roadside
Starting each day with
A smile I can't hide"
"It's what I know...
But it may not always be so."
As she finishes her part, Connie picks up the pace, holding out a hand to invite Akane to join her.
no subject
Why couldn't Ranma have really been a girl?She takes Connie's hand and the bridge of the song together.
"Casual moments like these mean the most to me
Treasured times that don't need any key.
In the album of my heart I keep,
Old times stay like new...
no subject
"No, I won't forget...
No, I won't forget...
These gentle times
We'll share forever
Long past all
Those times are through"
no subject
"Even when I'm sad...
Even when I'm glad...
Memories of days I'll never, ever let go."
She comes out of the twirl with her head tilted slightly up, looking up into Connie's big, dark eyes, her heart beating the way it did when Ranma (who she had thought was a girl) had poked in her the back after tricking her into punching through the wall.
"Thanks," she whispers.
no subject
Connie smiles wider at Akane's thanks, opens her mouth to say something, then-
Remember that intense sparring match that sparked this entire interlude? Connie's finally feeling its effects. Such as losing strength in her legs.
She falls to the side, desperately rolling over so she won't crush Akane beneath her, and ends up flat on her back, laughing.
no subject
"Thanks," she repeats. "I-- really needed that, I think. It really does help to know that... I might not be as good as Ranma, but I had a better life than he did. Even with what happened to my mom and everything else. I mean, having to fight my way into school every day was awful, but it's not being wrapped in fish sausage and being tossed into a pit of hungry cats."
no subject
Beat.
"What, what happened to Ranma?"