'And Life Goes On'
 
                Part 1, chapter 3: Won't You Dream of Me?
 
 
        As Ranma clambered down the stairs, he gave some
 serious thought to his dream last night; he could vaguely
 remember having such dreams before, but it scared him a
 little to have such a vivid memory of it. He could still recall
 Akane's smile, and how warm it had made him feel inside.
 
        "Morning, Ranma." Kasumi greeted him, as he entered
 the dinning room. He took a seat next to Akane, and began to
 furiously eat the food laid out in front of him. Akane watched,
 disgusted by her fiancee's manners.
 
        "I can see why Kuno and the others think so lowly of
 you; you've got the decency of a pig." Ranma paused a moment,
 considering a reply that would get him tossed into the pond by
 Akane; deciding upon it in less than a second, he opened his
 mouth and...
 
        Nothing. Even now, as she started their morning fight,
 he could still see the image of the kind, gentle Akane from his
 dream. He simply couldn't snap back at her, or didn't want to.
 It'd blow away one of the few nice memories he had of Akane.
 
        "Need hearing-aids, Ranma? I'm sure I could get you a
 pair, at a bargain price." Nabiki offered, pleased to have found another
 possible money source in Ranma; she knew he wouldn't want Kuno
 to know he needed them, or Ryoga, or anybody else for that matter.
 
        "I don't need no hearing aids." He mumbled, not wanting to
 put up with Nabiki this morning; not that he ever wanted to, anyway.
 *How Nabiki is related to Akane I'll never understand; I mean, Akane's
 so much swee-* He bit on his chopstick hard, breaking it in half, again
 surprised what was running through his mind. "Ow!" 
 
        "Aw, what's wrong, did poor Ranma bite his tongue?"
 Akane asked, using a mocking tone she reserved for P-chan.
 Ranma spit out the broken half of his chopstick to show his sudden
 cause of pain. Everybody just looked at the broken chopstick, and
 resumed eating, not impressed by the hardness of his teeth; it after
 all, was no harder than his head.
 
        
        Ksaumi observed her family and friends in the silent way she
 always did; noticing the odd events that were caused because of
 them, but not making much out of it. Kasumi figured that if it was
 any of her business, she'd be told about it. Above kindness, above
 being a good role model to her sisters, Kasumi valued privacy.
 
        She noticed her youngest sister was again starting to bicker
 with Ranma, and smiled to herself. She admitted, at first she had
 puzzled over this remarkable behavior, even if it didn't have nothing
 to do with her. Well, actually it did, since she was the one to clean
 up their messes, but that was besides the point. Kasumi finally decided
 that it was another form of practicing; she didn't know if there was such
 a thing as 'Verbal Fights Martial Arts', but knew if there was Akane
 and Ranma would be the top fighters. And who knew, with so
 many different and unique martial arts styles Kasumi has witnessed
 in her 19 years, it could very well exist.
 
        "Aw, what's wrong, did Ranma bite his tongue?" Kasumi was
 touched; Akane, finally worried about her fiancee! Well, maybe it
 wasn't so good Ranma had broken his chopstick; did he have to
 demonstrate his martial arts skills at the table?
 
        Ranma got up to get a new one, and Kasumi felt a pang of
 guilt, thinking how she should have gotten it for him. Deciding to
 make it up for him later by making his favorite dinner, Kasumi then
 tried to start a conversation going. "What are you going to do today,
 Akane?" Akane munched, clearing her mouth of all food before she
 answered.
 
        "I'm going to the movies with some friends." Nabiki perked
 up her ears; knowing Akane's plans always came in handy, her
 admirers always are willing to pay a pretty sum for that information.
 
 
        "You're going to that new martial arts film?" Akane eyed her
 sister suspiciously, knowing all ready how she planned to use this piece
 of news; and she knew the last thing she wanted was to have Kuno
 crash into the theater, searching for her.
 
        "Naw, we haven't decided yet. And I doubt we'll go there
 we get enough of that here. And it's live, to boot." Akane didn't
 feel too bad as she watched Nabiki's face fall a little; the less
 Nabiki knew, the less embarrassment and trouble she'd cause for
 Akane.
 
        
        Ranma pretended to be eating, but secretly listened in on
 their conversation. *Akane's going to the movies? I wonder- no, 
 wait, I don't care what Akane's doing, she doesn't in the least
 interest me. Not in the slightest, uhn-uhn.* Ranma ate faster,
 wanting to concentrate on stuffing the food down his throat rather
 than on Akane.
 
        He felt a hand on his shoulder's, and heard "Ranma-kun,
 why not join Akane and her friends?" Ranma spat out half the
 contents of the food in his mouth, and Akane wrinkled her face. 
 
        "Dad! I want to have a normal, peaceful day for once! Not
 only I don't want him there, but he'd bring with him anything but peace!"
 
        "Don't make it sound like I wanna go with ya, I've better
 things to do than hand out with a group of dopey girls!" Ranma
 slammed on hand on the table, raising himself a little. Akane
 imitated his moves, and asked sweetly,
 
        "Like what?" He face faulted, trying to quickly think up an
 answer.
 
        "I, uh, that is, I'm going to visit Ucchan's." By reading her
 face, he knew he had made a mistake. He raised his hands to
 protect his face from a blow, but to his surprise, none came.
 
        "How good for you, Ranma." She gave him a sweet smile,
 sat again, and ate the remaining bits of food in her bowl, as Ranma
 sat confused. Putting the bowl down, she stood up. "Oh, and Ranma...."
 
        "What?" A fist answered his question, followed by angry stomps. 
        
        

	Isabel Arantes