Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Insanity's End? ❯ Quick Progress ( Chapter 2 )

Suddenly he was wide-awake, and his eyes shot open in a display pure horror.

Insanity’s End?
A Ranma ½ FanFic by Ranma-sensei

Chapter 2: Quick Progress

He tugged his sleeping bag, which was draped over them, away, carefully took Akane in his arms and, cradling her there, stood up slowly, awkwardly.

Taking care that he didn’t wake her up, Ranma then lowered Akane onto her sleeping bag and covered her with his own. Kneeling down beside her, he tenderly brushed her bangs out of her face. Then he stood up and dressed. Done so, he turned his head, said “I love you… Akane-chan.” , and went outside.

Akane, still fast asleep, turned and hugged Ranma’s pillow. “I love you too, Ranma.”

The pillow sweatdropped.

~~~~~~

“Ohayô, Ranma.” When Akane left the tent, the sun had already risen a bit.

“Ohayô, Akane-chan.” Ranma blushed upon realizing what he had just said.

Akane smiled faintly. “Say, Ranma, why didn’t you wake me up, already?” she asked surprisedly.

“Well, ah, I…” Ranma started poking the tips of his index fingers together.

“Hm?” What is he nervous about, now?

“Well, ah, to be honest…”

Akane crossed her arms before her chest. “I’d be glad if you would.” she said in mock annoyance.

“I… I…” Ranma gulped several times; he had again bought into her act. “Well, I… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. You looked so… so… um, uh… peaceful.” Ranma flushed at that last statement. “Gomen ne, Akane-chan.” He let his head hang.

Akane just couldn’t suppress her smile. “That’s really sweet of you, but you shouldn’t have. After all, I’m a martial artist, ne? I shouldn’t be sleeping longer than my sensei does, should I?”

“Well…” Ranma looked up at her and she could read his eyes easily: It’s not like I probably could have.

“How are you feeling?” asked Ranma a little concernedly.

“Well, the long sleeping tensed me up a little.” Akane laid her hands on her backside and stretched forward. Ranma took in the effect it had on her front, and promptly felt a trickle of blood. He turned away hastily.

“Thanks again.” Akane grinned and sat down beside him. “So, what do we do now?”

“What do you mean, ‘What do we-- Oh! Well, you’re already very strong, but you lack a lot of speed, so we need to fix that, first.”

“So it is just the speed?” asked Akane curiously.

“M- Yes, mostly, Akane.” Ranma became nervous. “You are…” How do I say that? “…Your attacks are too slow… No, I mean they are just too-- No, I… Never mind.”

Akane felt crushed. “R-really?” she whispered, her eyes moistening. “Am I really that far behind?” She let her head hang. “What am I good for, anyway?”

“Akane, I…” Ranma reached out his arms, but hesitated. This caught Akane’s attention. She choked, and started giggling.

“C’mon, Ranma.” she said. “Don’t be so hesitant all of a sudden. You already know I don’t mind.”

“If it’s alright, then…” Ranma waited for her to nod, and suddenly lashed out. Akane, always having been a little ticklish, sprang up shrieking, and then started to laugh.

“R- Ranma! What a- are you do-ing?!” she uttered.

“What’s it look like?” Ranma’s arms were a blur of motion, his hands tickling Akane in hundreds of spots a second. “Try tickling me back, or I’ll tickle ya to death!”

“Just… you… wait!” cried Akane in between laughs. She started attacking back. “I’ll get you!” Ranma stopped attacking in favor of dodging.

Seeing as her blows didn’t even come close to her limits, Ranma mentally kicked himself in advance, and started teasing Akane: “Try it, slowpoke! Before you get me, Ryôga can read a map and not get lost at the same time!”

“Ohhhh! Come back here so I can tickle you!” Akane, having forgotten her tears, doubled her efforts, and her lashing-out increased in speed. But Ranma was still faster than her, not letting her touch him. And so the day had started…

~~~~~~

Lunch time at Fûrinkan.

Ukyô was sullenly picking at her lunch trying to sort things out, and was wondering where Ranma and Akane were, when suddenly the building was rattled by blows. “What the he--“ The wall closest to her exploded inward.

“Nihao, Ranma! Shampoo make special ra-- Aiya! Where Ranma?”

“Listen, honey!” Ukyô climbed out from under the debris. “You are going for Ran-chan’s heart; I can understand that. You make your own doors, okay! But Never, EVER, do that again!”

“Ukyô better watch, no get buried.” Shampoo just shrugged her shoulders.

“You!!” The chef growled and leapt at the Amazon. A dust-cloud rose, obscuring most of the fight. Only sometimes, and only for a second, one or both of them could be seen, kicking, biting or strangling the respectively other.

~~~~~~

Evening. Mount Terror.

“Hey dolly, you gonna catch me today, or what?”

“Oh yeah!?” Akane, her arms a blur for hours now, was starting to get unnerved. I’ve HAD IT!! He keeps teasing me, and I can’t even touch him! For that he will die… She smiled a grim smile, ...laughing.

Her opponent seemed to slow down, and Akane saw her chance. She lashed out; left, and right, and left and right, and left and right and left…

“So, yo-- ha… Tha-- Haha… That’s impossib-- WAHAHAHA!!! Stop it! Ple-he-he-hease!”

“Ha, I’ve got you now! Suffer!!” Akane lashed out and out, tickling Ranma hundreds of times a second.

“Wee-hee’lll see that!!” Ranma started tickling back, and shortly after the only sounds to be heard were laughing, giggling and occasional shrieks.

When they were totally drained, the two lovers ended their dance.

“Ranma… your training… is… dangerous.” Akane was huffing.

“Wha-… -t do you mean? Didn’t… you… like it?” Ranma wasn’t feeling any better.

“I… did. But I… almost… killed myself… laughing.” As if they had agreed on it, they both simultaneously took a few long, deep breaths.

“But it was fun, ne?” Ranma grinned at her. He sobered. “Anyway, you’ve gotten very fast today. You even pulled off a Kachû Tenshin Amaguriken in the end. You just have to remember how you did it.”

Akane turned serious. “Ranma, why do you insist on teasing me?”

“Aw, Akane…” Ranma didn’t quite know how to break her that. “Y’know, I’m teasin’ ya just to encourage you. You don’t use the power you got, so I need a way ta activate it.”

“You know, those were kinda fun, but the others…” Akane didn’t seem all too happy, “…do you really think I'm that ugly?”

“Akane, I…” Ranma was desperate. “I- I don’t mean it that way. I just, just say such things, and I only realize it when I already said ‘em. An'…” Ranma looked to the ground. “I can’t really blame ya for hittin’ me when I done that.”

“Ranma…” Now it was Akane’s turn inspecting her feet. “I’m sorry I hit you so often. I shouldn’t, really. I-- No, let me finish! I should listen you out and not jump to conclusions. I am sorry, Ranma.” She let her head hang.

“Well, 's about time you--“ Akane’s head snapping up made Ranma realize that he was doing it again, and he slapped his hands over his mouth. “Oh geez, Akane, I’m sorry!” He sighed. “Here I’m doing it again. Guess I must really be hard to live with. I mean, I am a first class jerk, the type you usually despise, and yet you put up with me. Why?”

“Ranma, I think it’s for the same reason why you put up with me. It says ‘Love is blind’. I say, it must be, for we both love each other; despite our - big - flaws.”

“You got that one right…” Ranma suddenly smiled an impish smile. “But you know, I think I love ya because yer a tomboy.”

Akane playfully stuck out her tongue at him. “And maybe I couldn’t love you without you being at least a bit of a hentai.”

“Look who’s talking.”

The growling of Ranma’s stomach caught Akane’s attention. “It seems someone here is hungry, ne?” she said, smiling sweetly.

“How’d you know?” Ranma laughed, laying a hand to the back of his head.

~~~~~~

The next morning had Ranma showing Akane different stances. In his opinion, hers were too open in showing her readiness. Akane wasn’t too enthused with his choice of words, but managed not to stomp her sensei into the ground.

Later that day Ranma did a REAL spar with Akane. She had talked him into hitting her so she would become tougher. Ranma didn’t like it, really, but she had made him promise it. He winced every time he got a hit in. Akane was a girl, after all! She couldn’t possibly take his blows, could she?

Oh, and how she could! Akane took each and every blow he landed without complaining. All she did was concentrate on building up her defenses and trying to leave less openings. Actually, the harder she got hit, the less she seemed to mind. Seeing as she was tougher than he had thought, Ranma started to loosen up and have fun, too.

And so this day went on…

~~~~~~

This afternoon, Ucchan’s Okonomiyaki-ya was closed down. Ukyô Kuonji had decided that she needed some time alone to come to terms with her own life. She was lying on her futon, sadly thinking about her life so far.

When she reached the downstairs, however, her eyes fell on the counter, and an image of Ranma sitting there and happily chattering away with her flashed through her mind. Tears started welling up, and Ukyô collapsed down to the floor burying her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, Ran-chan!” she cried between sobs, “I’m so sorry!”

~~~~~~

Ranma and Akane came back to the camp when the sun was already setting.

Despite leaning into Ranma and hobbling a little, Akane seemed to be happy. In fact, she looked like the happiest woman in the world.

“I’m sorry, Akane.” Ranma sounded self-accusing. He felt more than just guilty. “I shouldn’t have hit ya so ha--“

“Don’t be.” Akane told him firmly. “How should I ever get tougher, if my sensei refuses to hit me?” She felt a lot better already, but that didn’t stop her from leaning into Ranma. “You know, being taken seriously by YOU of all people, that’s something really special for me.” Akane smiled up at him.

“Ah? How so?” Ranma was earnestly clueless.

“You wouldn’t know, would you?” She turned to hug Ranma. She sure seems to recover as quickly as I do. “Well, my father never really trained me. He always appreciated my efforts, but he would spar with me scarcely, and I can count those on one hand. The only people having ever considered me a martial artist where Shampoo and Ukyô, and they would only fight me in order to get rid of me.”

“And yet you…” Akane looked up, and he saw her eyes glistening a little. “You wouldn’t spar with me. Oh yes,” Her voice became mocking, “you would let ME fight YOU, but you would only dodge my attacks, never retaliate.” She sighed, sounding wistful again, “While you would fight Shampoo, or even Ukyô, for real, you've never even considered retaliating at ME. Do you know how that feels?” She locked her arms around Ranma’s waist and squeezed tight. Ranma’s eyes bulged out. “It feels HOLLOW!!”

Loosening her grip and laying her hands on his front, Akane was intent on staring at Ranma’s shirt-clad chest. “And now you are taking me seriously; fighting and hitting me as if I was a worthy opponent - which I know I am not.” She looked up and smiled at him. “That’s what I want to thank you for.” Leaning up, she caught Ranma’s mouth in a kiss, blowing his mind out of his ears.

“My, isn’t that lovely?” came a mocking comment.

Ranma and Akane’s eyes flew open in total shock. They disengaged and turned the same instant, falling into defensive stances. There, leaning against a tree, stood Ryôga, arms crossed and looking like he always did just before attacking Ranma.

“Relax, Ranma.” Ryôga uncrossed his arms and straightened out. “I already told you that I won’t interfere anymore.” He saluted them and said with a grin: “Hi, guys! How’s it goin’?”

Akane’s stance shifted to relaxed, and Ranma gulped low, but audibly.

“Ya, Ryôga-kun!” Akane stepped forward, waving a hand hello in a very Ranma-esque manner. Ryôga’s brow crinkled, the more as Ranma was frantically pointing at Akane and making desperate-looking cut-throat-gestures with his hands.

Then his eyes widened. Oh no, she-- Suddenly, Akane seemed to vanish. “Ryôga, RU--“ Before he knew it, Ryôga was drenched with cold water. “…-N!!! Oh, forget it.” However, Ryôga did run. Or better, he tried, because Akane already had him by his bandanna. Then she turned him so that he faced her.

Seeing as running away wasn’t a choice anymore, the little black piglet stopped struggling and let his legs hang, the realization of sure death written into its sadly looking eyes.

“Not a chance! Do you think you’re getting away from me THAT easily!?” The edge in Akane’s voice was unmistakable.

“Kwee wee, pweee!!” P-chan was panic-stricken, and his explanations sounded rather… incomprehensible.

“Well, Ryôga: If you promise not to run away, I’ll change you back. If not… I haven’t decided what to cook for dinner. Yet!” Akane’s mouth formed a grin that would have frightened a Kappa. “So, do you promise?” Her voice forbid denial.

The black piglet nodded his head frantically.

“Good.” With that, Akane set him on the floor, produced a teakettle and poured its contents onto him. Her sad whisper of “Goodbye, P-chan.” was too soft for everybody else’s ears.

“Akane-san, I…” Ryôga trailed off. He didn’t know what to tell her.

“Don’t you EVER remind me what things happened with you being… him.” Her face still being as hard as stone, Akane punched absentmindedly at the dead tree beside her, ripping a hole into it in less than ten seconds. “Do it, and I will reward you. Understand?”

Seeing as Akane's speed now almost matched her strength, Ryôga gulped. “Hai.”

“Very good.” Akane's gaze wandered downwards, and her face settled into a smirk. “I think you should at least wear shorts.” she said flatly, still looking down on Ryôga.

With a mighty cry of “Eeeep!!”, the lost boy jumped into the nearby bushes.

Seconds later he emerged from them wearing his usual outfit - and a rather embarrassed expression.

“Okay, Ryôga…” Akane waved a hand at the camp. “Why don’t you join us for dinner? As a guest, I mean.” she added with a grin.

“H- hai.” answered Ryôga weakly.

“So, what are you doing up here, Ryôga?” asked Ranma. “Got lost again?”

Ryôga’s head snapped up momentarily, but he deflated almost immediately. “Well, kind of. I was going to follow you, but, somehow, I took the wrong turn.” He twiddled his fingers.

“Figures.” muttered Akane. Why did I never notice that on P-chan? He got lost all the time. And Ryôga would always appear shortly before or after P-chan had. She shook her head. No use thinking about the past. There's better times for this. The three of them sat down at the fire, and Akane started cooking.

“You know, you couldn’t possibly have deceived anybody, this past Sunday.” Ryôga wore a slight smirk. “You were just lucky your fathers or Nabiki weren’t there, then. Kasumi, however… Sorry, Ranma, but even your mother seems a bit, ah… absent-minded, sometimes.”

“Thing with Kasumi is…” Akane answered over Ranma’s growl, “She isn’t as oblivious as you’d think. She's just really good.”

“Hope you like it.” said Akane, handing Ranma and Ryôga each a bowl.

Ryôga, knowing of Akane’s usual ‘skill’ at cooking, eyed his dinner warily. But seeing as Ranma already gobbled his food with appetite, he too dug in.

“Ranma!” Akane poked Ranma lightly in the ribs.

Ranma got her hint and slowed down, now ALMOST eating like a civilized person.

“Better.” said Akane, not quite sounding satisfied.

Ryôga held the bowl closer to his mouth, observing the strange conversation over the brim of it. I wouldn’t believe it, hadn’t I seen it with my own eyes… Ranma is actually willing to let Akane teach him table manners. My god, the world’s gotta end! He grinned at his wit.

“Say, Ryôga-kun, do you like it?”

“Hunh? Oh, the food! Yes, it’s good! I’m just wondering… Uh, never mind!”

“You mean since when I can cook?”

“Um…” Ryôga looked down embarrassedly. “Yes.”

“I see.” Akane grumbled a little, but lightened up quickly. “Okay, I’ll tell you. You see, last Tuesday…”

“Already told ya!” Ranma shouted back. “I’m not yet prepared ta face death!”

“Ohhhh, you…! Come back here!” Akane chased Ranma for another five minutes, but when he looked back later, he saw that he must have shook her off.

“Phew, that was--“ Ranma never finished his sentence as Akane’s hands closed around his throat and she lifted him off the ground. “Urk.”

“Do you know how much that hurts, having you ridicule my cooking!?” she whispered fiercely, shaking him like a rag doll, both of her hands still around his neck.

“A- kane, don’t…” Ranma choked out. He then reconsidered his words: “Learn cooking… first, then… I won’t.”

Akane dropped him to the floor and stared daggers at him. “Fine then, teach me!” she said coldly.

“Yeah, and then she blew up the school's kitchens 1-3 before she got how to cook safely. Well, to be accurate, she blew up the first, burnt down the second, and--“ Akane’s fist being slowly pushed into his side told Ranma he'd better stop his remarks about her cooking attempts. “However, she did learn very fast. I never seen nobody learn something quicker’n she did - ‘cept me, of course!” Akane just shook her head at his comment.

“Hai, thank you for telling me.” Ryôga looked curious, still. “But that act of yours, how come…?”

“That’s another story.” Akane turned her attention back to the discussion at hand. “Well, the day after that Ranma…”

“I’ll show ya something.” With that, Ranma seemed to disappear.

“What do you want to sho-- Wah, Ranma!!” Ranma had grabbed a hold of her waist and hopped onto the fence, taking her with him. There, after she had balanced herself, he let go.

“Thought I’ll teach ya a little in balance.” He pushed her forward, forcing her to walk on the fence. “ Whoops!” Ranma quickly renewed his grip when Akane suddenly slipped.

“See, it’s not that hard, is it?” Akane shook her head at that. “Let’s go a little faster.” After about five minutes, Akane was walking all by herself, but still with Ranma sticking close to her.

“I was wondering…” started Akane.

“Hm?”

“I mean…” Akane looked back over her shoulder while still walking on the fence. “What do we do about that training trip we planned for next week? Our fathers will be hard enough to deal with, anyway, but if they know…” She trailed off.

“I know what you mean.” answered Ranma. “They’d be arranging for the next marriage before the remains of the last one aren’t even swept together. Hmm… I’ve got no idea whatso-- Hey!”

Startled by Ranma’s cry, Akane slipped on the fence. “EEEP!!” A pair of strong hands she knew only too well prevented her from making a rather painful experience straddling the fence. “Phew. What’s with you!?” she asked, turning on the fence and punching his shoulder playfully.

“Uh, gomen.” Ranma laid a hand behind his head. “'s just, I think I’ve got an idea.” This of course got Akane’s attention. “You like acting, right?”

“Yeah, but what--“ Suddenly her face lit up in realization. “Ranma! That’s a clever idea! But…” She turned serious. “I don’t wanna hurt you, act or not.” She cast her look downward.

“Aw, come on.” Ranma bent down so he could look her in the face. “I won’t break. Okay?”

Akane smiled a little. “Now, where have I heard that line before?”

“Uh…” Now it was Ranma's turn looking down. “Gomen again, but you know how I feel ‘bout that.” He looked up. “Anyway, you ready to do this?”

“Hai, I suppose so.” Akane sported what should have been a reassuring smile.

“Okay then, now that that’s settled…” Ranma took hold of Akane’s waist again, turned her in a flash, and resumed pushing her forward.

“Ranma…!!” cried Akane delightedly.

“Whatcha grinnin’ at?” asked Ranma.

“Oh, nothin’.” Ryôga waved him off. “Just wondering if you considered that Akane was wearing her school uniform at that time.”

Akane, realization dawning on her, jumped up, reached into hammerspace, hefted her mallet, cried “Ryôga no hentai!” and embedded the lost boy two feet into the ground, arms and legs akimbo. Then she turned on Ranma, growling lightly, almost playfully. “And you…!”

Ranma was meanwhile busy resuming the position of the crouching tiger. “Gomen, gomen, gomen…”

Seeing as she couldn’t resist his begging for amnesty, Akane stowed her mallet away and settled for a light whap on the head; almost featherlight. He looked up in surprise.

“Okay, I’ll let it slide.” She winked at him seductively. “For first-class service.” At this and her wink, Ranma swallowed hard.

Crawling back out of the Hibiki-shaped hole, Ryôga laid one hand on the big lump growing on his head. “That actually hurt a bit.” he muttered surprisedly. He looked up. “Gomen ne, Akane-san.”

“All right, Ryôga-kun… And stop calling me -san, please. That’s so formal.” She smiled a little. “Akane will do just fine.”

“Hai, Akane-sa-- Akane.” Yawning behind his hand, he realized that it had gotten very late, already. “I guess we should be going to sleep, ne? We’ve got some trainin’ to do tomorrow, don’t we?”

“Uh, Ryôga-kun?” Akane looked at him sporting a curious expression.

Ryôga smiled a little. “Ryôga will do just fine. What is it?”

“Hai. Ryôga, why… why didn’t you ever tell me?” Akane’s face was mostly indifferent, but a note of betrayal had crept onto it.

“Akane-san, I…” Ryôga didn’t know what to say. Mostly because he didn’t really know why he hadn’t told her, himself. “I guess I was just a little too… too immature to realize you’d never like me for who I am. I thought that if I was your pet that I could have all of your affection, leaving none to Ranma, and maybe, one day, he’d get fed up and leave.” He smiled weakly. “Pretty silly, eh?”

“Well…” Akane pondered a little. “I must admit it makes sense, given your situation. Nonetheless…” She looked at him, betrayal now clearly in her manner. “You shouldn’t have been my pet, to begin with.”

“H- Hai. I agree.” Ryôga's eyes sought out the ground, his expression sullen. “Maybe if--“ Stopping in mid-sentence, Ryôga laid a hand behind his head and laughed nervously. “But that’s not important! Good night.” He snuck off toward his backpack.

Akane watched as he set up his tent without saying a single word. Shooting a glance at Ranma, she saw that he was deep in thought. Feeling her eyes on him, he gave her a look telling her he was thinking the same thing. At his helpless shrug, Akane nodded.

“Goodnight, Ryôga!” She went into the tent.

“’night, pal!” called Ranma across the camp where Ryôga was just about to enter his tent.

“Good night, you two!” Frowning, Ryôga entered his tent. Ranma’s sharing a tent with Akane? Could they…? He pondered a little, then shook his head. OH, what do I care? After rolling out his sleeping bag, Ryôga stripped down to his boxers and went to bed. Sleep soon washed over him, but his dreams were filled with sadness.

~~~~~~

The next day, Ryôga let himself be talked into training Ranma and Akane Bakusai Tenketsu. He didn’t really like the idea of having to hurt Akane, but he felt that he owed her, and maybe training her would pay off part of this debt. So, he complied and taught first Akane, and after she mastered it in half a day, he trained a very distraught and worried Ranma in it, who couldn’t really concentrate on finding the breaking point.

~~~~~~

Kasumi was cleaning up her father’s room. It wasn’t too often that he wasn’t at home and she had the possibility to try and bring order to the chaos. This day was one of them, Soûn having taken his shôgi board and gone over to the Saotome’s place visiting Genma. Maybe he’s finally coming around, again. He wouldn’t move anywhere much without the family since mother passed away. On the other side, playing shôgi and drinking with Saotome no ojî-san… Kasumi sighed disappointedly and resumed with her work.

When she took one of the folders she wanted to set on a board, off the floor, a piece of paper fluttered out. Laying the folder to the side, she squatted to pick it up. “I wish he would at least file the papers he’s got lying around. I--” Kasumi trailed off. The top of the page had caught her attention. Running her eyes over it they went wider and wider.

A mere minute later near-hysterical laughter caught Nabiki’s attention, the more as it seemed to be Kasumi's. She ran to her father’s room, from where it came, and stopped short in her tracks at seeing her big sister - composure in person! - laugh out loud and heartily.

“Sis?! What’s going on?!” Kasumi turned her head and, seeing Nabiki standing in the doorway looking at her in slack-jawed wonder, launched into fits of giggling.

“No- Nothing, Nabiki-chan! It’s just...” Trying to control her laughter, Kasumi just held out the sheet of paper for Nabiki to take.

Reading the document, Nabiki’s eyes grew wider and wider, until they didn’t seem to fit in their sockets, anymore. When she finished reading the paper, however, she too broke down laughing. “Oh, this… this is… rich! I wonder how the-- Hehehe! …how they managed to-- Wahaha!! …Oh, never mind, sis! Hahahahaha!!

When the two elder Tendô sisters calmed down, Nabiki took the documents and filed them away in her room. She then helped Kasumi clean up her fathers room before he got home.

~~~~~~

Next morning, seeing as she was a very fast learner, Ranma and Ryôga taught Akane to concentrate and gather her ki outside her body in order to throw ki blasts.

Halfway through the day, Ryôga asked if it wasn’t a good idea to start Akane on the Hiryû Shôten Ha, seeing as it taught the control of one's aura.

When all the preparations were done (Ranma having frisked Akane quite thoroughly), it came in handy that Ryôga had spent a good amount of time as Akane’s pet. Akane, however, spent most of the time embarrassedly chasing after Ryôga and waving her arms (“Hey, that’s not fair!” - “This is so embarrassing!”), so on this day they could not finish training her in this technique.

A small figure watched silently from a dark treetop. “Interesting. So he has officially chosen his mate and is preparing her for the final face-off. I just hope...” The dark figure sighed, and hopped away as silently as it came.

~~~~~~

Training the Hiryû Shôten Ha was very distressing. At least it seemed so to Akane, but as midday came around she had finally come to accept the humiliation and concentrate on staying in the spiral. This was when things got interesting:

Since Ryôga and Ranma were unable to build up any hate against Akane, they had to resort to active battle auras in order to produce the heat needed for the Ascending Dragon Strike. However, it took them several more hours to work up the courage to really go after Akane, tough or not. When they came this far, however…

~~~~~~

“That’s strange.”

“Hm?” Yuka looked up from her ice cream, the scoop still sticking from her mouth.

“Didn’t you see that twister just now? It seemed to come from Mount Terror.” Sayuri asked her friend.

“Oh, come on. You were just dreami--“ Right in that moment a body hit the pavement just outside the shop’s panorama window. “Hm, but I think I just saw Ranma ending yet another flying session.” She grinned a little.

“Sô desu-ka?” Sayuri irritably cocked an eyebrow at her friend, and then looked out the window and down. “Still…” She winced. “I wonder how he manages that…” She hooked a thumb at him standing back up and idly brushing off his clothes, “after destroying the pavement with his impact.” Yuka just shrugged her shoulders.

~~~~~~

“Oooff…” Akane sat in the crater, a blank expression stuck on her face, and her right arm still raised up to the sky. When she came to, she found that she was lucky to have thought of taking with her more than one track-suit; this one sure wasn’t suited for wearing anymore.

~~~~~~

After having picked up Ryôga, Ranma returned to the camp. The sun was already setting, and he felt drained.

Having assured none of them three was severely injured, Akane turned to cooking dinner. When she was done, they sat down at the fire; Ranma and Akane together, and Ryôga facing them.

“So, how do you plan to handle the others?”

“Well, Ryôga… To be honest…” Ranma trailed off.

“We don’t have the slightest idea.” said Akane, finishing the sentence. “Kunô-sempai’s harmless, and Kodachi’s just plain crazy… I don’t really wanna hurt Ukyô, though. She may be my rival, but she’s my friend, too.” Akane looked down at her lap.

“Okay, but what about Shampoo and her great-grandmother?” Ranma and Akane slumped at that. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to--“

“No, it’s alright, Ryôga.” Akane tried to smile. “It’s just… We don’t know how to deal with them. Shampoo is so damn pigheaded… Oh, sorry.” Ryôga arched an eyebrow at that. “I mean, she’ll challenge me for Ranma, and I really don’t know her skill. She’s an Amazon - a warrior; born to fight. I don’t know if I can take her on. And there still is this kiss of death she gave me...” Akane slumped further, then jumped at feeling a huge aura flaring up beside her. It was cold as ice, and yet it was extremely hot! Was this how her anger felt?

“If she hurts you...” Ranma’s voice was low and thundering; it was creepy, and Akane couldn’t suppress a shudder.

“Now, now, Ranma.” Ryôga tried to calm the pigtailed martial artist. “I’m sure Akane will be fine.” Ranma deflated a little. “She learned much in the past few days. Shampoo won’t expect that much skill from her, and that’ll be her doom.”

Ranma’s aura flickered, and then vanished. He sighed. “You are right.” He laid an arm around Akane and smiled at her. “I’m sure you can make it.”

“Arigatô, Ranma. That’s kind of you.” Akane leaned up to kiss him, and Ryôturned away, blushing brightly.

~~~~~~

Saturday afternoon.

The three of them were busy breaking their camp, but somehow Ranma and Akane weren’t able to finish by the time Ryôga had already packed up his stuff. Maybe Akane’s tickle technique had something to do with it?

“Come on, you two! Stop fooling around and--“ Ryôga sweatdropped at seeing Akane and Ranma turn and advance on him, grinning evilly. “Hey guys, don’t do anything you might regret! I mean, I-- Hehe! No, please! Stop i-hi-hit!!” Ryôga backtracked until he stood with his back to the stream that there was. “Co- Come on, guys, don--“ Splash!

“Oi! Oi, Ryôga. No need to go P-chan just ‘cau-- Whoa, Akane, don’t puuu--“ Splash!

“Oops.” Akane was grinning madly.

“Oh, yeah?” retorted onna-Ranma in mock anger. “Just you wait!” Before she could think of running away, a pillar of water crashed onto Akane.

“Ohhh, you’ll pay for that!” What followed, can only be described as water play, for ‘fight’ would be an overstatement.

When Ranma and Ryôga had changed back, and Akane had gotten some dry clothes, they finished breaking the camp and started for home. That is, after they had caught Ryôga, who had promptly run off in the wrong direction.

~~~~~~

Around midday, the three martial artists arrived at the Tendô residence. Ranma was almost immediately confronted with a madly grinning Genma.

“What’s with that goofy grin, oyaji!? Because of you I had a lot of trouble!” retorted Ranma, punching his father through the front wall. Depending on the point of view, his words were the literal truth. He couldn’t have possibly told anyone the intimate details.

“But, boy! What could possibly have caused you trouble sleeping in the same tent as Aka…” A dark glow suddenly illuminating Ranma’s face let Soûn trail off in “-ne?” When he turned to his daughter, he almost fainted in terror.

“Daddy, you were in on this!?” growled Akane. Soûn swallowed hard and sported a deer-in-headlights look. Ryôga just watched the scene amusedly.

“My, you are back already? Come on in, I just finished lunch.” Once again, Kasumi saved the two fathers’ hide.

Having regained his composure after Akane had turned away and started into the house, Soûn took Ryôga aside and quietly asked him: “Have you told her?” His tone was somewhat tense.

Another glow told him that maybe this hadn’t been QUITE as quiet as he had intended it to be.

Akane turned around deliberately, slowly advanced on her father and asked in a calm, yet icy voice: “Daddy, you knew about that, too?”

“I, uh… Well… I-I’ve got something very important to take care of!” Before the sentence was even finished, a Soûn-shaped dust cloud stood where he had been only moments before.

“Tendô-san, let me help you!” cried Ryôga, not wanting to be the new focus of Akane’s anger. A mere second later, three man-shaped holes in the wall fence were the only evidence that there had been anyone at all.

Akane turned to Ranma, a look of pure rage still etched into her face. Seeing him cringe away in fear, Akane deflated and slowly, reassuringly smiled up at him. However, her face said Something has to be done - soon! Ranma just nodded at that.

Tomorrow would be the day!

~~~~~~

This night, neither Akane nor Ranma slept well. Having slept together for almost a week now, they found themselves not being able to sleep for quite a long time. When they finally did, Akane dreamt about the happenings in Jusenkyô and Jusendô, and she tossed and turned most of the night.

In her room, Akane had stopped turning, leaving her lying on her back. She was crying in her sleep. “I’m here, Ranma. Can’t you see me?” She choked. “Can’t you hear me?”

~~~~~~

It was a bright Sunday, and a rare sight, too, as Genma and Soûn were sparring in the dôjô.

“Daddy! Uncle Saotome! Mind if we join in?”

“Yeah, how ‘bout sparring with your daughter, Mister Tendô?”

“No!” Soûn was shocked that Ranma - especially him, the chauvinist numero uno! - would suggest something like that. “I would only hurt her, and I don’t want that!”

“Fine, then she’ll spar with oyaji.”

“But, he’s even better than me!” protested Soûn.

“Oh, she sure doesn’t seem to mind that.” commented Ranma, calmly watching her blur in on his father.

~~~~~~

Mere minutes later, two figures lay, battered, bruised and unconscious, on the dôjô floor. Two others were just leaving it.

“Honestly! Daddy with his announcements! Even when they attacked me simultaneously, they didn’t get a hit in. Bu--“

“Oh! and what about this one?” Ranma touched Akane on the left side of her ribcage.

“Ow! Okay, so they got one single hit in.” She stuck her tongue out at her lover.

Ranma smirked. “Ya know? How ya forced oyaji to take this direction so your father had to defend himself, that was great work.”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been half the fun taking out only one of them.” Akane grinned at him.

“No complaints here.” Ranma grinned right back, and closed the shôji behind the two of them.

~~~~~~

In the late afternoon, Akane came into the kitchen. “Kasumi onê-chan? Do you know where daddy is?”

Kasumi turned around and wiped her hands on her apron. “Why, Akane-chan, he and Saotome no ojî-san left half an hour ago. Father said something about training in the woods.”

“Oh, good. Just what I wanted them to do.”

A loud thump could be heard when Nabiki fell down the stairs.

~~~~~~

“Hîbâ-chan, Shan Pu done with chores. Can go now?“ Having had to work for the past weeks, the chinese girl had grown increasingly fidgety.

“I am sorry, great-granddaughter...“ Cologne appeared in the kitchen, “But I need you to tidy out the attic. We badly need to get rid of some of that stuff.“

“But...“ Cologne mad a hand gesture that silenced her grandchild.

“I know, child. And I wouldn't ask it of you if it needn't be done. But only this last task, and you can go about your business as always, I promise.“ Seeing Shampoo relax, the amazon elder sighed internally. I cannot continue this much longer...

~~~~~~

Dinner was rather quiet, since the two fathers seemed to want to go through with their plan.

Afterwards, Akane and Ranma looked at each other, blushed a little, and then nodded at each other. The time couldn’t have been better.

“No!” said Kasumi just as the two of them opened their mouths. “You cannot elope.” Nabiki mustered all that she could to keep a straight face.

“Wha- What?” Ranma and Akane were shell-shocked. “Why?” Nabiki rolling on the floor laughing just confused them more.

“Yo-hou’ll see…” Nabiki produced a piece of paper and held it out for them to read.

The Tendô residence’s roof rose several feet at a mighty cry of “NANI?!!!!”

“Well, you see…” said Nabiki, smirking, “you can only marry once.” She shot a look at Kasumi to see her grinning from ear to ear. “And you are already married.”

Having somewhat regained her composure, Akane spoke up: “I... I know how my signature got there, but how’d they get Ranma’s?”

Kasumi shrugged, a gesture Ranma had never seen on her before. “Maybe they tricked him, or they faked it. It doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“Well, I’m sure this is my handwriting…” started Ranma, “but… Oh hell, you’re right.” He laid his arm around Akane’s shoulder. “Just one question: How did you know…?”

“Oh…” said Nabiki. “It really wasn’t easy figuring this was all some act you'd put up, but after what Kasumi told me about last Sunday…”

“Which reminds me…” Kasumi turned to look at her youngest sister irritably. “No more “bad” cooking, little sister, or you are banned from the kitchen. I am tired of cleaning up that mess, afterwards.” The edge in her voice, too, was unusual to Ranma.

“Hai.” answered Akane meekly.

“Good. And now I want you to tell us what really happened in the past few weeks.” Kasumi’s tone was pleasant, but nonetheless commanding. Ranma and Akane sighed. This was going to be a looong evening.

~~~~~~

This night again, Ranma and Akane did have nightmares:


Jusendô. Akane is turning the Kinjakan, trying to save Ranma’s life. You’re not getting Ranma so long as I live! She is drained of all water and shrunk to the size of a doll by the heat the Kinjakan is radiating.

...

Just as Akane shot up in her bed soaked with sweat, a heartrending cry of anguish shot through the house. Before she even knew it, she was out of her bed and in Ranma’s room.

Ranma sat there, dripping with sweat and shaking violently. His eyes were overflowing, and raw despair was written all over his face. Akane quickly knelt down beside him and took him into a firm, yet tender embrace. She rocked a little back and forth. “Shh, Ranma. It’s alright. I’m okay. You saved me.” Had she given it any thought, she would have realized that she, too, was all tears.

By the door stood a fearful Kasumi and Nabiki, having woken up from the screaming.

Kasumi smiled a small smile at the scene, and, after nodding at Nabiki, quietly closed the fusuma and went to bed again.

“Please, Akane…” Ranma looked up into her face, “Please don’t leave me.”

“No, Ranma.” Akane whispered back. “I’ll always be with you.” She lowered him onto his futon, crawled in herself, and snuggled up next to him, embracing him tightly, protectively. Ranma, still shaking a little, sighed and embraced Akane, too. “I love you, Akane.”

“Hmmm.” Akane kissed him on his nose. “I love you, too, Ranma.” She too sighed with relief, and soon sleep washed over them, this time only holding pleasant dreams.

Thanks to my pre-readers, LeaCarter and myleanne (and my girlfriend Kane-chan for reviewing the latest version of this one! --Ran-chan, 2004-07-27)

Ja ne,
Ranma-sensei