Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Insanity Continues ❯ The Gem ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ranma 1/2: The Insanity Continues

Volume 1 - Trapped.

Chapter 1 - The Gem.

Written by Lord Archive.

Characters are own Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan and are used without permission. All rights reserved.

This series was originally written in 1997, long before ffnet existed. This is one of my first fanfictions. Some edits have been made to improve readability, but it remains as an example of early Ranma 1/2 fanfiction. When this was being written, elements of this story weren't cliched, it was creating the cliches. While this remains as one of my more popular Ranma 1/2 series, it is not without it's faults as I was new to writing stories and a complete translation of Ranma 1/2 manga had yet to appear in America when this was originally written more than fifteen years ago.

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Akane's Diary Entry for:
Thursday, January 6th, 1994.

Dear Diary,
That idiot still won't say it. It's been a month since the bombed wedding, and he still hasn't told me that he loves me. I know he does, Diary, but why can't he admit it? I'm not going to tell him how I feel until he does.

The jerk still protects me like I'm some porcelain doll, and it annoys me to no end! So what if I nearly died twice in China? He thinks I can't protect myself. I can take care of myself. He didn't have to stop Kuno for me this morning, I can do that all by my self. But it does say one thing about him though... he cares about me.

I just wish I could get some time alone with Ranma and be able to talk about our relationship. I doubt it will happen, though, as someone always interrupts us.

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"You shall pay for this," a figure hissed angrily as he approached the home of his target. He fingered a gem in his hand. "Oh, yes. You will pay dearly for interfering in an old man's fun." He watched as the soaked panda walked over to the dinner table and began to eat breakfast. An aura flared around the figure when his eyes settled upon his target. "RRRRAAANNNMMMAAA!!!!!!!"

"Back already?" questioned Ranma as he took his first quick bites of breakfast.

"YOU SHALL PAY FOR TRAPPING ME IN THE RIVER!" shouted Happosai.

Ranma acted disinterestedly. "Add it to my bill."

Happosai responded by throwing what looked to be a black marble at Ranma. The young Saotome instinctively caught it. The marble immediately expanded into a sphere that surrounded not only Ranma, but Akane, who had been sitting next to him, as well.

"Wh... wh... what have you done?" Soun stared at the spot his youngest daughter had been.

Kasumi let out a shocked noise, as the sphere shrank back into the marble. For a moment, the black marble and Ranma's and Akane's clothes stayed in the air before falling down. Ranma and Akane were nowhere in sight.

The panda held up a sign, [Where are my son and Akane?]

"WHERE ARE THEY?" screamed the demonic head of Soun.

"They are banished into the black gem." Happosai dodged several of the Soun's demon head tongue strikes.

"BRING THEM BACK!" Soun spit out streams of fire.

Soun's screaming was giving Happosai a headache, and he really didn't want to fight the enraged father, and decided to relent. "Fine, I only wanted to banish Ranma. It doesn't do any good to lose two beauties." The diminutive martial arts master went over and picked up the gem and started examining it. Then a bead of nervous grew increasingly larger on Happosai's head.

A few moments later Nabiki folded her arms. "Forgot how to get them out?"

Happosai scratched his head. "I just realized, I only know how to get myself out from the inside, and not how to get someone out of it."

Kasumi fidgeted. "Are they safe in there?"

"Perfectly. They need neither food nor air." Happosai smiled sheepishly.

"So that's how you survived all those years in that cave." Nabiki thought about just how valuable this gem could be.

"Oh, my baby daughter is forever lost to us!" Tears welled up into Soun's eyes.

"Have any ideas on how to get them out?" asked Nabiki.

"I don't know." Happosai shrugged. "We could ask Cologne. It was an Amazon treasure that a young maiden gave to me."

"In other words, you stole it from her." Nabiki frowned. Her chances of getting the gem later after this was over had become slim to none with the Amazons involved.

[You forgot how to get them out!?] The giant panda used the sign to bat Happosai off into the distance.

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In a flash of light, Ranma and Akane found themselves in an impossibly big spherical room.

"What did the old freak do to me this time?" It wasn't until Ranma felt a fist impact the side of his head that he realized someone else was with him. He went on his short flight around the sphere.

Akane's fist was still clenched in anger. "You Jerk! Because you just HAD to piss off Happosai, we're both stuck here in the middle of... the gods only know where we are."

Ranma turned around to see his fiancee "A-A-Ak-Akane, wh-what happened to your clothes?" He asked and quickly began examining the floor to avoid looking at her.

Akane let out an embarrassed screech. She noticed that Ranma was naked as well. She gawked at him for a moment and then quickly turned around. Her face had taken an incredibly red color. She was glad at least the 'pervert' has the decency to look away! "I guess whatever Happosai used to send us here doesn't transport clothes...."

Ranma was still looking away. "I guess so... um... Do you have any idea of how to get out of here?" He closed his eyes, really wishing he was somewhere, anywhere else. He hated being trapped, especially with no clue as to how to escape. He hoped Akane didn't think he was going to be some pervert that would want to take advantage of this situation.

Akane took a moment to contemplate the situation and looked around and shrugged. "Not a clue."

"Well, I'm not going to sit around waiting for someone to free us. I'll try to break a way out," offered Ranma with a slight edge to his voice as he began his attack on the floor.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Akane questioned.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ranma retorted as his fist started moving faster and harder into the ground.

Ranma spent close to an hour attacking all out using all the various attacks he knew and even tried some attacks he didn't know like Bakusai Tenketsu. Not a scratch was made.

Akane searched around, trying to find an exit. She walked away from Ranma as her frustration at being trapped grew. She mentally cursed him, wondering why he had to insist on pissing off Happosai? Now she was trapped here, alone, with him.

The Tendo girl blinked, realization slamming her in the face. She WAS alone with him. It certainly looked like her wish to be alone with him so they could talk had come true. Not exactly the way she wanted, but she may as well make the best of it.

Akane looked up from the floor and saw an exhausted Ranma in front of her. Her mind reeled. Hadn't she walked AWAY from him? How could he be in front of her now? She shook her head. It didn't matter. They should use this chance to talk. "Ranma?"

"What?" Ranma snapped.

Akane frowned. "I don't think your fists are enough to get us out of here. I guess we are just going to have to be patient, and wait for them to get us out of here."

Ranma looked at Akane with wide eyes. "You're expecting Happosai, Pop or your father to get us out?!"

"Well, okay, maybe not them. I'm sure Ryoga, Shampoo, and Cologne will try to get us out. We'll just have to wait a while." Akane shrugged helplessly. "Besides, your fists aren't doing anything."

"I hate being trapped," Ranma grumbled.

"I don't like it either, but it is only temporary. We can take this time and talk alone, without fear of someone barging in or trying to listen in. And if you don't resort to name calling, I won't hit you," Akane promised.

Ranma wasn't sure how to take that offer. "Ah..."

Akane smirked. "It's better than beating your head against the floor."

Ranma smiled weakly at her joke. "Well, I haven't tried that yet."

They looked at each other before allowing themselves to laugh, releasing some of their frustration.

It wouldn't hurt to try to talk to her. If he could keep from insulting her, he might get out of this unhurt. Ranma finally answered, "I guess we could talk. Uh, what do we talk about?"

"Do you like your life?" Akane asked.

Ranma crashed to the ground. He wasn't expecting that kind of question. "What?"

"Do you like how your life as it is now?"

"I guess." Ranma shrugged. "I get into a lot of fights and I've learned a lot more since I got here than I ever did on the road."

Akane's eye quirked. "You like how things are now? Isn't there anything you'd like to change?"

Ranma nodded. "Sure, I like the way things are, but I would like to be able to make decisions for myself."

Akane blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

Ranma shrugged. "I've never really been given much chance to chose what I wanted."

"Oh, please." Akane rolled her eyes. "You can't tell me you haven't made any decisions."

"No one ever asked me whether or not I wanted four girls chasing after me!" Ranma shot at her.

Akane glared at him. "I never chased after you!"

"Right," Ranma remarked disbelievingly. "Pop certainly didn't ask me if I wanted to go through that stupid Nekoken training, or visit Jusenkyo for that matter. Not to mention... well... forget it. I just can't make any decisions. When I get close making one, something happens that takes it away."

"Why don't you make some decisions now?" Akane suggested.

Ranma cocked his head, though he still kept his eyes off of Akane's nudity. "What kind of decisions?"

"Why... Why not decide how to handle your fiancee problem?" she asked meekly.

Ranma shook his head. "I don't have a clue as to how."

Akane scowled. "You must have some ideas."

"I could break off all the engagements," he joked.

"I wouldn't go that far!" she screamed.

Ranma blinked, thinking she just wanted him to get rid of the other fiancees. He blinked again. But then wouldn't that mean... He paused for a moment. "You asked me if I had any ideas. Do you have any?"

"Let see, for Shampoo we could get Mousse to help find some legal loophole to remove her claim, or have Nabiki get them deported. And we can try to get Kodachi committed," Akane replied nervously.

Ranma considered that for a second. "That cuts out the two I like the least, but... that still leaves two of you to choose between."

Akane sighed, disappointed, "Yes, that is still a problem."

They sat quietly for some time, waiting for the other to suggest how to proceed.

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At the Neko Hanten, Cologne held the gem that Happosai had used on Ranma and Akane. She examined it closely with Genma, Soun, and Shampoo staring at her, waiting for an answer.

Shampoo gripped her serving tray tightly. "Husband trapped in gem with violent girl. Shampoo hope Ranma okay."

"We must get son-in-law out soon, but I must confess, I do not know how to release them. I will check the ancient Amazon scrolls and tomes to find a means to free them. But in the mean time, guard this gem well. It could be very bad if it breaks or gets lost." Cologne handed the gem back to Genma.

"Shampoo, get Mousse out of his cage and have him help you run the restaurant while I search for the solution," ordered Cologne.

Shampoo nodded. "Yes, great-grandmother."

Genma and Soun left with the gem. Genma held it very carefully. Surprisingly, they actually made it safely home with the gem.

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Hours passed and neither Ranma nor Akane said anything.

Ranma remained lost in thought. She hadn't asked him to choose between her and Ukyou. He didn't know how to choose between them. Ukyou was a good friend and he like her a lot... but he would rather be with Akane, though. But was Akane better off with him? He seem to make her angry all the time, and all he wanted to do was make her happy. Why did she have to take his jokes so seriously? Maybe if....

Ranma spoke tentatively, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Akane replied.

Ranma fidgeted. "Why are you angry so often?"

Akane cocked her head, appraising the question. "I'm not angry all the time... only when you do something stupid. And you're ALWAYS doing something stupid."

"Not always!" Ranma protested. "You just seem to find me in bad situations I have no control over. I can explain what happened, but you never give me a chance. You tend to jump to conclusions."

"Oh, really?" Akane replied sarcastically.

Ranma sighed. "I wish... I would like you to give me a chance to explain. I wish you would trust me...."

"It's hard to trust you completely," Akane admitted. "I can't believe in all the times I caught you doing something stupid, you were completely innocent."

"Well, maybe not all those times, but most of the time. Can you try to hear me out first next time... in the future?" Ranma almost pleaded.

"Sure," Akane promised. After a moment, she asked, "Ranma, why do you insult me all the time?"

"Um, A couple different reasons..." Ranma had even more reason not to look toward her. "I only started insulting you after you insulted me. You called me a pervert just because of a curse I have no control over, and you never stopped insulting me. Secondly, I use insults to encourage people. I insult Ryoga to make him fight harder, and your fighting skills to make you want to improve. Now why do you insult me?"

Akane sighed. "Well, you make me angry a lot, and... I can't think of any other way to get you back than to insult you or to hit you.... I don't really mean what I say and I don't want to hit you." She looked down meekly. "How come you let those other girls hug you so much?"

"I can't stop them from doing that," he retorted defensively.

"Can't you? You can push them away."

"You think I haven't tried? How did you fare in preventing me from hugging you when Shampoo used those mushrooms on me? And, how would it look if I did try to push them away. Where would I put my hands?"

Akane studied her hands, answering meekly, "Not very well in stopping you, and... you'd probably touch their breast that way... I sort of see your point, but can't you tell them that... you don't love them... or at least to stop."

Ranma let out a short laugh. "I've asked them to stop, but do they listen? Nope."

"Why haven't you told any of them you don't love them?" Akane pressed.

Ranma remained silent, twiddling his fingers.

"Well?" Akane pressed.

Ranma hesitated. "Because... because I don't really know what love is. I don't feel right telling someone that I don't feel love for them if I don't know how it's supposed to feel, do you understand?"

Akane smiled. "Well, I suppose I can understand that. Maybe... maybe I can help explain. Love is... love is... well, love is when you can't imagine what life is like without him or her. If you can imagine it, you feel an extreme pain in your soul. When you think of the future, you think of being with the person you love. Um... otherwise, it's a hard to describe. It's sort of an odd feeling. You feel you need to be with the person, to help them, to support them, make them happy when they're sad. Um... does anything I say make sense?"

Ranma looked at the floor. "In a way it does. I guess Ucchan really is in love with me."

Akane frowned. "Do you love her?"

Ranma sighed. "If she were to leave, I would miss her terribly, but it is not too hard to imagine not having her around. I might be, I don't know."

"What about Shampoo?" Akane's voice shook, as if she was holding back tears.

"Part of me would be glad to see her go, but I would miss her also." Ranma shrugged. "But, I guess I don't."

"Kodachi?" Akane added.

"Hell no!" Ranma shouted. "I even told her that I not only didn't love but I didn't even like her."

Akane tried to rein in her emotions, but her voice nervously shook as she asked, "What about m-me?"

"Um..." Ranma failed to answer.

Maybe... just maybe if she give him a hint at how she felt... he would finally tell her. "Well," Akane hesitated, "I'll... tell you something. I... I... I have trouble thinking of life without you. Can... can... well, can you imaging life without me?"

"Yeah... a dull, boring and lonely one," Ranma answered carelessly.

Akane blinked. "I-is that a yes?"

Ranma's 'open mouth, insert foot' mode kicked in, "Me? Love an uncute girl like you?"

Akane bit back her anger as she didn't want to waste this opportunity. "Yes, an 'uncute girl' like me."

Ranma remained silent.

"WELL!?" Akane fumed.

"Um, I... I... I..." Ranma took a deep breath, and braced himself for whatever the girl might do to him. "I... guess... in a way... well... maybe... I do."

Ranma felt a crushing force grasp him from behind that surprised the hell out of him. After a moment, Akane let him free of her hug and stood up.

"Ranma, can you please tell me you love me, while looking at me?" Akane's voice was filled with hope.

Akane helped Ranma up to his feet. They looked into each other's eyes. She had her own style of being cute. He had to tell her. He knew he loved her for a while, he just had to say it.

Ranma stuttered nervously, "I-I... l-l-love you."

"I... I love you too, Ranma." Akane smiled brightly at him. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that!"

"Actually, I've been wanting to say it for a while." He sighed. "I was afraid you would have rejected me."

Akane blinked. "What makes you think I would've rejected you?"

Ranma shrugged. "It just seems you're always angry at me."

"Oh," Akane replied meekly. After a moment of silence she said, "You know, in the entire time we've known each other, we've never actually had a real kiss nor been on an official date."

"Well, um, why don't we, um, go on a d-date S-Saturday," Ranma stammered nervously.

"I'd like that." A mischievous twinkle glimmered in her eyes as an... interesting notion struck her. "But... what about the kiss?"

"A k-kiss? If you want... I guess... we could... well... kiss n-now."

Akane nodded her consent. Ever so slowly, they leaned toward each other and started to kiss. If they weren't already in their own world, the rest of the world would have faded to just them. Ranma's arms wrapped around her, bringing her closer. They stopped kissing as they realized something of his anatomy pushed against her waist. Ranma whirled around and his whole body turned red with embarrassed.

Akane also turned around and blushed madly. "I thought you said I was sexless?" she joked to cover her own embarrassment.

Ranma gulped nervously. "I guess I was lying."

"So what happens now?" Akane wondered.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Ranma stammered, his face some how turning a deeper shade of red.

"Well, what are we going to do about Ukyou?" Akane asked.

Ranma relaxed at the apparent change of subject. "I'm not sure. She is a friend, and I don't want to hurt her."

"But it will hurt her more if you keep stringing her along," Akane pointed out.

Ranma sagged. "We'll have to break it to her carefully."

Time passed as Ranma and Akane were lost in thought about the turn their relationship had taken.

"You know something, Akane?" Ranma asked.

"What?" Akane wondered.

"Since I met you, I've been surround by friends and enemies. Yet there are many times I felt as lonely as Ryoga. I couldn't just go out and talk to someone about my problems because either they had a biased answer, didn't understand the problem, or were just too damn expensive. Despite being here with only you to talk to, I don't feel lonely," Ranma admitted.

Akane nodded, smiling. "I wished we could talk like this more often."

Ranma smirked. "Yeah, but of course someone would have made their presence known to us before we got around to talking about love."

Akane jokingly added, "Our dads falling through the door...."

Ranma continued, laughing, "Or Nabiki's microphone short circuiting...."

Akane laughed, "Or Kuno challenging you or begging us for dates...."

"Ryoga screaming, 'Ranma prepare to DIE!'" Ranma added with a snort to his myrth.

Akane's laughter turned into giggles when she asked, "Ranma, why do you and Ryoga fight?"

Ranma was struck cold, answering, "I can't say."

Akane blinked. "Why not?"

"I made a promise to him not to say 'cause I have a large part of the blame for his problem," Ranma nervously explained.

Akane pressed her questioning anyway. "His direction sense?"

Ranma shook his head. "No, that's a family curse."

"Then what's his problem?" Akane insisted.

"I promised him that I wouldn't tell, okay?" Ranma almost yelled at her.

"If I find out he's P-Chan, you're a dead man." Her face showed it as a joke, but her voice came out serious.

When Ranma heard this, his posture stiffened and he nervously asked, "Wh...Why would you say t-that?"

Akane blinked a few times. "Why did you just become even more nervous?"

"I... I'm not nervous," he squeaked. Get a grip, if she finds out now... he was dead!

Akane grabbed Ranma and turned him around. What she saw in his face shocked her. "You're scared. Why would my joke about Ryoga being P-Chan scare you?" She shook him violently.

"I... I... I...." Ranma lost all capacity to speak as he didn't want to reveal Ryoga's curse nor lie to Akane about this anymore.

Akane demanded, "Tell me Ryoga is not P-Chan!" He was now looking at her like a deer caught in headlights. She once again shook him violently, this time she yelled, "TELL ME HE ISN'T P-CHAN!"

But Ranma still could only stutter, "He... He... He...." She proceeded to throw him several meters away.

"He can't be P-Chan.... I was joking, but... but...." she said as the idea of one of her friends and her pet being one and the same started to form into her head. When the connections were made, she screamed, "Dear GOD! Why didn't I notice it before?! The bandanna! That stupid bandanna. All the times he transformed near me and I didn't notice... wouldn't let myself notice." She proceeded to stare at the floor for the next several minutes.

Ranma looked at her with a lot of concern and was more than a little afraid she might carry out her threat.

Akane had to remind herself that she had promised to hear him. Still shaking in anger, she prayed he had a good excuse as she asked, "Ranma, how... how did it happen?"

"Umm...Its.. kinda....like this... While I was chasing after Pop, trying to kill him for turning me into a girl, I didn't notice that Ryoga was standing on the cliff and I.... sorta ... knocked him off the cliff and into the pool of drowned pig."

"It was your fault?" Akane questioned in surprise.

Ranma nodded, his voice barely audible, "Yes."

Several minutes pass before she spoke, her voice still filled with anger, "Now I know why he wanted revenge. But why couldn't you have told me?"

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I told you, it was my fault this happened. So, I promised him I wouldn't tell. I made the damned promise before he became your pet. More than once I came close to telling you his secret just to keep him from your bed. When I did try, you accused me of being a pervert or you just wouldn't listen. Also, if I told you, it would've made me no better than my Pop since I would've broken a promise. As it was, I still dropped more than a couple hints."

"Why did he become my pet?" Akane questioned.

Ranma closed his eyes. "Um... because he loved you."

Akane stared at Ranma in shock. "You can't be serious!"

Ranma's shoulders sagged. "It's the truth."

Akane slumped to the floor. "Oh... What am I suppose to do about him now?"

"Nothing really. Thanks to Akari, he's much more willing see us happily married. That's what prompted the last fight. He blamed me for the whole wedding fiasco. Not to mention the loss of the Nannichuan." Ranma watched her, hoping he wouldn't end up dead.

Akane looked up at the odd ceiling. What was she going to do? He had asked her to trust him, but he had kept an important secret like that from her. What other secrets hadn't he told her? Why didn't he tell her?... Because he promised Ryoga he wouldn't tell anyone... She guessed that meant she could trust him with a secret... But he should have told her! Secrets like that should not have been kept. She should beat the crap out of him for that. He would just recover in a couple minutes as if nothing happened, though.

Akane glanced at Ranma who was nervously watching her. Ranma didn't want to end up like his father, who had broken every promise he had ever made that she knew of except one. By making that promise he couldn't say anything, and when he tried to... she would beat him up for it. She realized she had already been punishing him for not telling her. She sighed. "Ranma, are there any other secrets I should know about?"

Ranma took a step away from her. "Ah... No. Ryoga's curse and the way I feel about you were the only secrets I had."

"If I find out otherwise, Ranma, you'll end up in a world of hurt," she said with barely a trace of anger he had expected.

Ranma relaxed a little. "I swear those are the only secrets I know of. But, I wouldn't discount Pop having a few secrets about me."

Akane raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe more fiancees, he's pissed off some demon that wants revenge, or some family curse. You know stuff that if I found out about, I would pound him into the ground for."

Akane crossed her arms. "Oh. And you don't know anything like that and haven't told me?"

"Nope." Ranma shook his head.

There was a long pause of silence, before Ranma asked, "How long do ya suppose we've been here?"

Akane pouted. "Don't know. It's hard to keep track of time. It might have been several hours."

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Ranma questioned in a worried tone.

Akane shrugged. "Maybe any time now."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "But we could be here for days."

"Days!" Akane screeched. "I hope not! What do we do about food?"

Ranma calmly replied, "I doubt we have to worry about that."

Akane blinked. "Why?"

"I'm not hungry. If we've been here hours, I should be hungry, but I'm not," Ranma answered.

Akane almost crash to the ground from the shock of Ranma not being hungry. She blinked trying to figure out how that was possible. "You think it's a property of this prison?"

Ranma nodded. "Yep, saves trying to feed the prisoner."

"If that's the case, do you think Happosai used this prison to stay alive while trapped in that cave all those years?" Akane wondered.

Ranma shrugged. "Could be."

There was a very long pause before Akane mentioned, "We're running out of things to discuss."

"Yeah, um, well, let see..." Ranma let out a long sigh, guessing he should get this out of the way. "Um, when do you want to get... um... m-m-married?"

Akane nearly dented the floor from the sheer force of her shock that HE brought up when to get married. After a long moment of yet more silence, she sat up. "Not for a little while, at least. Perhaps just after we graduate."

Ranma nodded. "That's sorta what I was thinking. But we'll still have to get our parents to delay it that long."

"We may have to end up compromising," Akane mused, tapping her fingers on the ground. She smacked it when she got an idea. "How does this sound, if they don't back down after a while, we'll go with New Year's break of senior year."

"About a year to fourteen months?" Ranma shrugged. "Sounds okay to me."

Akane smiled while not believing any of this had happened. He had told her that he loved her! They even set the wedding date. She pinched herself to make sure it was not a dream. She looked down onto herself, noting they were alone, naked, and had no where to go... that sounded like a plot their fathers would've come up with to attempt to get them to have sex.... That didn't sound like such a bad idea to her anymore. She HAD fantasized about being with him for some time now. Why shouldn't they have sex? They loved each other and they were engaged. She knew he was at least some what into the mood. She glanced over at him with a devious grin. A muted part of her mind wondered if Happosai's stay in this prison had any part of her current line of thought.

Meanwhile, Ranma was wondering how did this all happen? Yesterday was the normal bickering about Shampoo hugging him, and now they had admitted love for each other and even set a tentative wedding date. While it hadn't been bad so far, he really wanted to get out of there. He would go crazy if he stayed there too long.

Akane broke the silence when she stated, "We're alone, naked, and have no where to go. This sounds like something our parents would set up."

Ranma nodded. "Yep. But if they did we would be out of here now."

Akane blinked. "What makes you say that?"

Ranma shrugged. "Once we said that we loved each other they would have pulled us out."

"What if our means of escape is some sort trigger set off by something we do?" Akane questioned.

Ranma scratched his head. "It's possible but we've gone through the two main triggers they would have set up."

Akane nodded slowly. "Yes, but not the third or what Happosai would use as a trigger."

Ranma blinked. "What would that be?"

Akane shook her head, realizing she needed to be as subtle as an Amazon. She sighed. "Think Ranma. As I said before: we're alone, naked, and have no where to go. The trigger might for us... to... um... have s-sex."

"You can't be serious!?" Ranma screeched in shock.

Akane looked down. "I-I am serious, besides we're officially engaged now, our parents have absolutely no objections what so ever to us doing it."

Ranma gulped as he stared at Akane. "This is not how I planned on this happening. I wanted it to be more... special."

"Just doing it with you makes it special for me." Akane smiled seductively.

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Some time later Akane awakened and was not very comfortable. She realized that the floor was very smooth and hard, while part of her is draped over... some guy. Her eyes flew open and took a quick survey. She was naked in a large sphere shaped room and Ranma was here also. "What did I do?"

"Hmm, Akane can you keep in down? I'm trying to sleep." Ranma rolled over while trying to pull the ground around him. His eyes flashed open. "Akane?!"

"Um... How did you sleep?" Akane's entire body was a deep shade of red.

"D-Did we really do it?" Ranma stammered.

"Do what? Profess love to each other, set a wedding date, or have sex?" Akane smiled coyly.

"Um, all of those," Ranma answered. He wasn't sure that this was some dream.

Akane hugged him tightly. "Yes, yes, and yes!" She said each 'yes' with more enthusiasm, and hugged him even tighter.

A few moments passed before Ranma gained any of his senses. Once found, he asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Don't know, I feel asleep shortly after you did."

"Come up with any other ideas to get out?" Ranma wondered.

Akane shook her head. "Nope"

"So what are we going to do now, if I stay here too long I'm going to go crazy." The idea of being trapped continued to chip at Ranma's nerves.

"Well, I know a couple ways of distracting you from thinking about being trapped in here." Akane grinned devilishly.

Ranma gulped, he could tell that Akane was thinking about. And what she was thinking was still new to him and made him a little nervous. "I-I'm sure you can."