The village was burning around him. He could feel the wash of heat on his back from the blazing houses. People were running out, screaming. In the smoke and noise, the bandits were getting in each other’s way enough that most of the villagers were managing to escape.
Not Akane. She ran out of one of the burning houses, straight toward the bandit leader. He sprinted after her, yelling. The guy was the size of a mountain – she couldn’t take him by herself! The villain swatted her aside and came straight for him. Gotta protect Akane… I promised… He felt himself growing cold, as his feet carried him around the bandit chief in an ever-contracting spiral… and the flames rose around him…
Gods, that was a weird dream! Horses and swords and spears, and bandits attacking with fire… like something out of a movie, the kind of thing the tomboy liked to stay up and watch. The house was completely silent… except, of course, for Oyaji’s snoring, but then Oyaji had snored like that every night of his life and he always slept through it. Yet he sensed… Something’s… not exactly wrong, but…
Shadow-silent, he padded downstairs. There was a faint light in the living room, and a hissing noise. Both came from the snow-filled television screen. That’s right, she said she wanted to watch some movie. What’d she do, go to bed and leave the TV on? Come on, she ain’t that dumb. He crossed the room to turn off the set and saw her, wrapped in a quilt, her head resting on her arm, sound asleep.
“Oi, Akane. C’mon, wake up.”
“NO!” she screamed and flung herself onto him. Caught off balance, he toppled over backwards. “Don’t die, you can’t die, you said you’d protect me forever, you promised!” she sobbed.
“Anou na,” he growled. “Wake up, Akane, you’re dreamin’.”
She froze, blinked. “Ra… Ranma?” Abruptly she was about a meter away from him, avoiding his eyes and making a great show of gathering up the quilt.
“Guess you fell asleep watchin’ your… what were you watchin’ anyway?”
“Fire Tripper. I really like it, but I hadn’t seen it for years.”
“That what you were dreamin’bout?”
“Something like it, only instead of Shu and Suzuko, it was us. There was fire anyway, and men with swords and spears and arrows. And they…” She looked away again. “The fire was so bad… they killed you.” He heard an odd catch in her voice… was she crying?
“Oi oi,” he growled. “Whatcha gettin’ so upset about a stupid dream for?” She whirled with an angry glare and he grinned at her. “You oughtta believe in me more’n that. Gettin’ killed. Jeez!”
She blinked at him a moment, then her scowl faded and a faint smile lit her face, like the sun showing through a thin spot in storm clouds. She nodded. “Thank you, Ranma.”
Huh? Thank you? She musta been…
A mischievous glint came into her eyes, and she reached up and kissed him quickly on the nose, then she was gone, too fast for him to react. Her giggle floated back to him, along with the sound of her footsteps on the stairs.
When his brain finally recovered, he switched off the television and padded back to his own room. Oyaji was still snoring, undisturbed. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, remembering his own dream. Swords and spears and arrows and fire. It seemed familiar somehow.
You said you’d protect me forever. You promised.
When did I start protectin’ her anyway? That time Ryouga showed up? No… jeez, first time we sparred… I knew I couldn’t let her get hurt. Huh. What if that was me? What if somehow… ’cuz I promised…
Aww, man. Guy could get a headache wonderin’bout stuff like that. He turned over and closed his eyes. There was still time to get a little more shuteye before Oyaji rousted him for their morning workout.
NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.
This is actually one of my older pieces. I wrote it nearly three years ago, after I first saw Fire Tripper. The idea of the promise just stuck in my head – magic can be so literal.