I have had a lot of requests for this... I guess some people don't have web
access or something. The first 7 or so parts are available on the
remailer... Here are the first four parts for newbies who are interested...
if you have read this already, go ahead and delete, nothing has changed
since the last revision...

If you want the other 11 parts, send me an email or go to:

http://www.york.ac.uk/~mdp102/lesson.html

A LESSON IN LOVE 
By Marisa Price
Copyright to Marisa Price 1996 (All rights Reserved)
Based on characters copyright to Rumiko Takahashi.
mdp102@york.ac.uk

A Ranma ½ Fanfiction


Chapter I
The Wedding Fiasco

	Furinken High, never the ideal educational establishment, felt
particularly strange to Ranma and Akane on the day after what everyone 
in Nerima was referring to as the "wedding fiasco." All in all it was a
quiet day: not a squabble, obsessed maniac, or martial arts duel to be 
seen. Anyone who lived in Nerima knew that the quiet itself made the 
day especially bizarre. Ranma and Akane had run to school together, 
late as always, and everything seemed to being going well between them.
Akane was being nice to him and Ranma hadn't said anything stupid for
at least an hour.
	Things were just not normal. Something was just BOUND to happen.
	At lunch the hot gossip was that Akane hadn't beat up Ranma all
day. The explanation, including Ranma's trip to China, Akane's near 
death, and the failed wedding, was still hush hush around the Furinken 
campus. No one wanted to be on either Ranma OR Akane's bad side at the 
moment, and they knew that ANY mention of any of these subjects was 
probably going to put the unlucky person into the hospital.
	So, when you can't get the information from the source, go to 
your second-best resource. In this case, the most reliable (but also 
the most expensive) source of information was none other than Nabiki 
Tendo. It was, to say the least, one of Nabiki's more profitable days.
	Akane sat under a tree with her two friends, Sayuri and Yuka, 
eating lunch. They knew better than to even MENTION the "R-word", and 
never spoke about Ranma unless Akane brought him up in a conversation. 
So, for the moment, Akane was having a peaceful lunch.
	Akane was thanking the powers that be that her friends hadn't 
said anything about the "fiasco"; Akane didn't even want to have to 
think about it. Ranma had the chance to admit how he felt; Akane had 
assumed he would be honest with himself. Instead, he chickened out. 
Akane stole a glance at Ranma, who sat about 20 feet away on some 
benches talking to his friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke, and a few other 
guys. Akane saw him get up and demonstrate a move to the other boys.
	"What a show-off," Akane thought, thoroughly disgusted.
	Ranma was doing a good job of ignoring the whole wedding 
disaster himself. He had admitted to himself that he did love the 
kawaiikune tomboy when he held her in his arms, thinking that he had 
lost her. However, when faced with her in a bridal dress and impending
marriage, he wasn't able to get the words out. 
	"Do you love me, Ranma? Can't you say it?" Akane had asked.
	And Ranma realized he didn't know. He didn't really know what 
love WAS exactly, or if the feeling he had for Akane was the kind of 
sentiment that led to taking her down the aisle, into his heart, and 
into his arms, FOREVER.
	Ranma was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Daisuke 
asking him something. Finally, after being cuffed on the back of his 
head, he noticed the group of boys staring at him.
	"What?!" Ranma asked.
	All the boys glanced at each other, and then Daisuke 
repeated, "We just wanted to see that move you were talking about last 
week, you know the one to avoid being hit when someone tries to punch 
you."
	"OH!" Ranma said, and gave a nervous laugh. He stood up and 
began to demonstrate, his face a little redder than usual.
	Both Akane and Ranma were totally oblivious to the crowd 
encircling Nabiki on the other end of the lawn. Nabiki was detailing
the events that occurred after the wedding, and, for a fee, telling 
people that, yes, Akane and Ranma were still engaged, and no, the date
was not yet certain. She also proffered some pictures of Akane in a 
wedding dress and Ranma in his tux to interested parties.
	"Too bad you couldn't get pictures of the wedding NIGHT!" 
someone chuckled in the group around Nabiki.
	"People, people!" Nabiki smiled, "When and if those pictures 
become available, you KNOW who will have them!"

*******

	Lunch was over, and everyone filed back to their classes. Akane
had just sat in her seat, thanking the powers that be that she had 
survived lunch unscathed for once, when the girl in the desk next to 
her asked, "So, Akane, is it true that you and Ranma are still getting 
married?"
	Akane turned bright red and her eyes bugged out a bit. She
stuttered out, "Uh... well... not exactly.... I... I mean Ranma and 
I... I mean NO!... my father..."
	"Yeah, whatever, Akane," the girl said, smirking.
	Akane stopped and blushed furiously.
	Another group of girls joined the rapidly gathering crowd 
around Akane. One asked, "Did you really almost die in China, Akane? 
And Ranma saved you?"
	Akane looked as if she would have liked to sink into a hole in 
the ground. The boys were starting to enter the classroom too, and, as 
Akane looked over and saw a sputtering Ranma surrounded by a crowd, she
got some small satisfaction out of the fact that he was probably being 
interrogated too.
	Akane began, "I don't see how this is any of your business..."
	A girl, Miki, said, "Oh come on, Akane! We were all invited to
this ‘big wedding for Ranma and Akane' and we were basically gypped!" 
Everyone nodded, and the girl continued, "I mean, the least you could 
have done was still had a reception, and, if not that, at least given 
us an EXPLANATION!"
	Yuka came to Akane's defense, saying, "Come on! Leave Akane 
alone! You know it was all Ranma's fault! It always is, isn't it,
Akane?!"
	Akane nodded, and everyone else in the group sighed.
	"I suppose so," Miki finally said, "that guy is SUCH a loser
Akane! I mean, he is a good martial artist, but he is a terrible 
boyfriend! Why don't you MAKE him love you, or dump him!"
	Akane rolled her eyes and commented, "Love. Right. Whatever."
	Akane just looked at the ground. The crowd continued talking 
and Akane began to look more and more troubled. Akane figured Ranma 
loving her and admitting it was, at this point, just a fantasy.
	She thought to herself, "I know he cares about me... but he has
never OFICIALLY said he loves me. Not even when he thought I was
dying..."
	Akane looked over at the baka, impossible to miss in his red
satin shirt in the crowd of black and white school uniforms. He sat at 
his desk, looking furiously at the group of boys who surrounded him. 
Ranma, of course, hadn't seemed to notice the crowd around her.
	"Oblivious idiot!" Akane muttered.

*****

	Ranma's interrogation was a bit more personal than Akane's. A 
guy, someone Ranma didn't know very well, commented, "So, man, that 
whole wedding thing was a big no go, eh?"
	Ranma groaned, "Come on man. Ain't nothin personal?"
	Daisuke elbowed Ranma and asked, winking his eye, "So... dija 
do... ‘it'.. yet with Akane? I mean since you thought you would be 
married and all...."
	"Yeah," another guy added, "I mean is she as violent between
the sheets as she is regularly? Heh! Now that would be interesting!"
	"Well, she DOES have a great body," Hiroshi smiled, a dreamy 
look on his face, adding, "What I wouldn't give to be her fiancee. You 
lucky dog, Ranma."
	At this point Ranma was totally pissed off, embarrassed, and 
confused. These guys were touching on a subject Ranma felt VERY 
uncomfortable about. Ranma jumped up, and, as usual, opened his mouth
without thinking and shouted, "Lay off man! Like I would do that with 
an uncute tomboy like Akane anyway!!"
	Akane, and everyone else, stiffened as they heard Ranma's
shout. Everyone turned to Akane to see what she would do. Akane looked 
furious. This, in addition to the questioning she had just endured, was
too much. Akane got up and stomped over to Ranma and hit him on the
head shouting, "Ranma no.... Ranma no.... Ranma no BAKA!!!!!"
	Then, tears filling her eyes, she turned and ran out of the 
classroom. Just then the bell rang.
	Ranma, a bit catatonic from Akane's clobbering, still saw the 
tears and thought, "Me and my big mouth," before getting up to run 
after her.
	Unfortunately, he didn't hear the bell (because the ringing in
his head from Akane's hit was already pretty loud) and ran straight 
into Miss Hinako as he flew out of the classroom.
	"And where do YOU think you are going, Mr. Saotome?" Hinako 
asked, childlike, but looking furious and dangerous all the same.
	"Uh..." Ranma muttered, looking down at the pint-sized 
disciplinarian, and then said, "To the, uh, bathroom?"
	"Go sit down!" Hinako shouted, adding, "You should have taken
care of that at lunch!"
	Ranma sighed, turned, and went back to his desk, thinking, 
"Maybe she will have cooled down some by the time I get home."
	He cringed.
	"Then again, maybe I'm dead...." Ranma thought.
	The tittering in the classroom hushed, not wanting to face 
Hinako's wrath, but someone in the back commented loudly, when Miss 
Hinako went to close the classroom door, "Well at least things are 
back to normal!"

*****

NOTE: stuff surrounded by ** means it is in another language, i.e.
Chinese.

	Of course, things really weren't back to normal, but everyone 
wanted to believe they were. The scene at the Nekohanten was familiar
at least... but a certain unfamiliar feeling ran through Shampoo.
	Mousse had done it again. Shampoo sighed as she placed a cool 
wet cloth on his bruised and bleeding forehead and securely tucked the
sheets around him.
	Mousse was knocked out cold, or else he would probably be 
raving something about her great beauty or his joy at her "tender" 
ministrations. Shampoo sighed again, pulling off Mousse's glasses. She 
held them up to the light, and the myriad of cracks and chips caused a 
prismatic light to glow through the thick glass, leaving a rainbow on 
the nearby wall.
	"Great-grandmother," Shampoo turned and yelled to Cologne, who
was busy in the kitchen creating her special Amazon-style ramen for
their dinner.
	"Yes Shampoo?" Cologne asked as she hopped in on her giant 
staff, her gnarled body wrapped around it like monkey grabbing at the 
limb of a tree. Long swirling white hair, the only remnant of her 
275-year ago Amazonian beauty, swirled around her like a cape. She 
looked down at Mousse, the blood from a cut on his forehead running on 
her recently cleaned pillows.
	"I see Mousse won't be working today," Cologne smirked.
	Shampoo just frowned and said, *Can you sew him up?*
	"What happened this time, Shampoo?" Cologne asked, as she 
shuffled around in a cabinet for medicinal supplies. She was always 
prepared to be amused by this obsessed would-be-fiancee of her 
Great-granddaughter's. 
	Shampoo threw her hands up in the air, and then crossed them 
against her chest. She adopted a perturbed look and began, *Well today
when I was making a delivery, two men tried take the ramen. . .*
	Cologne nodded in encouragement for her to go on.
	*And, as usual, stupid Mousse appeared and tried to stop the 
men. He never realizes that I can defend myself!*  she grimaced in 
exasperation, her hands falling to her sides in clenched fists, before 
she continued, *Mousse got wet, when he fell into a puddle he didn't 
see, and became a duck. He knows he isn't as strong in his cursed form,
but he STILL tried to defend me! He is so stupid!*
	Cologne grimaced, her eyes narrowing as she considered the 
situation, and then she finally said, "And did they get the ramen, 
Shampoo?"
	"Aiyaa!" Shampoo said, slipping into Japanese."Yes they get 
ramen because Shampoo have to run back and save Mousse. Stupid, stupid,
Mousse," Shampoo stood and walked into the kitchen, opening a sizable 
drawer. She pulled out a pair of glasses, a particularly strong pair, 
from the large assortment collected there for "accidents."
	Shampoo sat down again, placed the glasses on Mousse's face. 
She dropped her hands into her lap and stared at the floor. Cologne was
amused. She shook her head as she walked out of the room, sensing that
the ramen was ready, chuckling. She thought, "That Mousse just tries 
too hard. That one has been trying too hard all his life, poor fool." 
Out loud she said, "I will come back to stitch him up in a while, I 
have to prepare the materials."
	Shampoo looked at her hands, still folded in her lap, time 
passing without notice. She was startled when she realized Mousse had 
been staring at her for several minutes, and one of his hands now 
covered her own. 
	Mousse smiled at her, a tight pained smile, and said, "You 
stayed, Shampoo. You took care of me. Thank-you. I only wish I could 
have..."
	Shampoo stood up quickly, pulling her hands from Mousse's. She 
shouted at him, "How many times Shampoo need tell Mousse no need 
protect Shampoo!"
	Mousse tried sitting up, causing blood to start trickling from 
his head again, and he looked more than a bit dizzy. He said quietly,
"I am sorry, Shampoo. Shampoo, I was only doing what I thought was 
right."
	"Right for Mousse, not right for Shampoo."
	He began to look pale and started to fall sideways.
	"Mousse!" Shampoo shouted, catching him before he could fall 
off the bed and then laid him back against the pillow. *You stay in bed
Mousse! The cut is deep! Great-grandmother will give you stitches
soon.*
	He just smiled that sad smile again and said, *I'm all right 
now, Shampoo. Honestly I am. And I am sorry if you don't want me to 
defend you. I... I just can't seem to help it sometimes... you see... 
as the one you have chose to defend you, that cursed Ranma Saotome, has
left you time and time again to save that Akane Tendo... someone else 
has to...*
	Shampoo cut him off, *Ranma doesn't love Akane! They fight! 
Ranma will realize soon that I am better, just you wait Mousse. You 
leave Ranma and I alone!*
	*Will he defend you in the crucial moment, Shampoo?* Mousse 
smiled, and added, *as I would?* And then, his eyes growing heavy, he 
sank back down on the bed and fell asleep.
	Shampoo remembered the battle against Monlon when Ranma had 
left her to fight and had gone on himself to help Akane. She had 
survived, and won, but. . . he had left her behind. However, Ranma 
could defeat those that Mousse could never even contemplate, such as 
Kirin and Saffron and others. Bah, Mousse was nothing compared to
Ranma. Shampoo needed a strong warrior, someone who COULD protect her,
or at least that she wasn't constantly trying to rescue as she had to
do for Mousse. Mousse was sweet and caring, but his obsessiveness drove
her insane. If but one time he let HER decide how she felt, she might 
feel differently.
	Shampoo frowned at that thought and stood, upset now, and
strode out to the front of the Nekohantan, going to unlock her bicycle.
Cologne called from the kitchen, "Where are you going Shampoo?"
	Shampoo poked her head back in the cafe and said to her 
great-grandmother, fury still lighting her eyes, *I am going to see 
Ranma.*
	Cologne smiled again at this development. She called after 
Shampoo, "Tell my future-son-in-law I said hello!"



Chapter II: Kissing is Such Sweet Sorrow

	Akane slammed the door open, knocking it out of the slider. 
Kasumi looked up and said, "Oh my. You are home early today, Akane!"
	Akane was furious, confused, and embarrassed. As with Ranma,
this did not make a good combination. She opened her mouth and said,
"I felt sick. I came home. LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
	Akane stormed past a blinking Kasumi, went upstairs to her room
and slammed the door.
	"Oh my," Kasumi said again, looking at the place where Akane 
had stood, frowning.
	Kasumi finally turned around and walked up the stairs. She put 
her ear to Akane's door and heard a lot of stomping, pounding, and 
banging, mixed with several shouts of, "BAKA!!!"
	"Ranma." Kasumi thought.
	Finally the noise quieted down and Kasumi knocked on the door.
	Akane: (muttered) "Come in."
	Akane was sitting at her desk, her back to Kasumi, looking out 
the window. There were weights and bokkens and other objects thrown 
about the room. Kasumi frowned, wondering where to begin, when Akane 
turned and said, quietly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kasumi."
	Kasumi smiled. "That's OK, Akane. I know we all have bad days.
You want to talk about it?"
	Akane began to tear up a bit as the whole story, including why 
she was pissed at Ranma, her anger at and the nosy students, and, 
finally, how she was feeling strange... almost sorry... that the 
wedding had not happened... that it hadn't even FAZED that jerk, 
Ranma... It all came out in one tearful, blurred, rush.
	Unspoken was the truth of the matter: Akane was confused, 
still, about how she felt about Ranma.
	Kasumi went over and hugged her sister and said, "You should 
know, Akane, that Ranma has spent so much of his life training in the 
marital arts that he never received any social training. The way he 
shows affection to his father is by fighting him, insulting him, and 
practicing martial arts with him."
	Akane: "So?"
	Kasumi sighed and said, "Well, Akane, who else do you know that
Ranma treats like he does his father?"
	Akane looked blank.
	Kasumi laughed and pointed out, "YOU, you silly. Ranma is very 
shy and doesn't know how to express love. It terrifies him. Nothing has
ever been permanent for him, anyone he loved except his father was 
taken away from him. Permanence, such as in admitting love, scares him.
He is probably afraid he will lose you the same way he had to give up 
his mother."
	Akane STILL looked blank and asked, "And your point is....?"
	Kasumi said sternly, "My point is that sometimes Ranma's 
insults are his way of saying, 'I love you', and are just his way of 
fighting his insecurities. Akane, Ranma DOES love you. It is just hard 
for him to say the words."
	Akane started to tear up again and said, fiercely, "But he 
DOESN'T, Kasumi! Wouldn't I have SOME feeling that he does?"
	"Akane," Kasumi said, looking sad, "You are just as insecure 
and just as unable to say how YOU feel. I think a lot of that has to do
with our losing our mother, we have all been a little closed since 
then, scared to show our love "...As our mother did..."
	Akane began to cry harder. Kasumi began to tear up a little 
herself, and walked over to hug Akane. Kasumi leaned down and kissed 
Akane on the top of her head, the way Mother used to do, and then 
started to walk out of the room.
	Akane: "Kasumi?"
	Kasumi, her eyes sparkling, turned back to look at Akane.
	Akane sniffed, smiled, and said quietly, "I love you, Kasumi."
	Kasumi nodded, and said, "I know. I love you too little sister."

*****

	Kasumi just reached the bottom of the stairs when Ranma walked 
in the door. Kasumi smiled and said, "Hello Ranma!"
	Ranma looked very uncomfortable and was shuffling his feet. He 
looked up at Kasumi and asked, "Um... is Akane home...?"
	Kasumi nodded and smiled, her eyes drier now. 
	"Yes she is here Ranma. Maybe you should go up and talk to 
her?" Kasumi asked.
	"Was... was she upset?" Ranma asked haltingly, noticing that 
Kasumi looked a little upset herself, and added, "Uh, are you O.K.?"
	"I'm fine," Kasumi said, and smiled. "I think Akane needs you 
more than I do right now."
	Ranma sighed, nodded at Kasumi, and began to walk up the 
stairs. He crept along the hallway until he reached Akane's door. He 
hesitated, and then raised his hand to knock. After a few seconds had 
passed, and he still hadn't knocked, he realized that he couldn't do
it. He didn't know what to say. Ranma turned and went to his bedroom, 
sat down on his futon, and began to think.
	Akane had heard Ranma's familiar step in the hall and knew he 
had paused outside her door.
	"So, he did follow me home from school... took him long 
enough!" she thought.
	Akane's heart began to thump. She wondered if he would knock. 
If he would apologize. Then, she heard the steps begin again and the 
sound of the door to Ranma's room opening and shutting.
	"Chicken. Baka. Fool!" she said quietly.

*****

	By the time Akane finally left her room, Ranma had already 
given up on apologizing and gone to practice in the dojo with his 
father. Akane decided she would do something nice for Ranma; maybe
being friendly would help ease the tension between them. Akane entered 
the kitchen with high hopes.
	"Kasumi- can you help me make dinner for everyone tonight?" 
Akane asked.
	Kasumi looked a bit afraid.
	Akane smiled and said, "I PROMISE I will listen to you, too."
	Kasumi sighed in relief.
	Two hours later Kasumi sent Akane out to get Ranma and Genma. 
She entered the dojo, watched Ranma and Genma sparring for a minute, 
and then said, "Ranma, Mr. Saotome, dinner time!"
	Ranma looked at Akane. She smiled at him.
	Ranma thought, in abject fear, "Why is she being so NICE to 
me?"
	Then, it hit him. She must have..... OH NO.... COOKED!!!
	Genma was not quite as quick as Ranma, and also missed the 
look of horror on his son's face.
	Genma smiled and said, "Sounds GREAT, Akane!" and ran off to go 
attack the food before his son could get it all.
	Akane smiled after Genma's retreating form, and turned to look 
back at Ranma. Then, she saw the grimace on his face.
	"Ranma... aren't you coming? I am OK... about earlier..." she 
added, frowning, and reinforced her words by saying, "Really!"
	Ranma sputtered at this, not knowing what to say. Finally, what
seemed a safer course popped into his mouth and he said, "Uh... did you
cook, Akane?"
	Akane nodded, smiling, and said, "Yep! And it came out great 
too!" She blushed and added, "I made it for you.... it is that curry 
that I make that is OK..."
	Ranma blanched again, and, then, damn fool, he said it. "So you
ARE still mad, Akane!! Except you are trying to be all nice and then 
secretly come up and try and kill me with your rotten cooking!"
	Akane looked crushed, and then she began to look angry. A blue 
aura began to form around her and she whipped a mallet out of nowhere, 
whamming Ranma with it several times before she stormed out of the 
dojo.

*****

	Ranma finally crawled from the dojo into the dining room. 
Nabiki, Genma, Kasumi, Soun, and Nadoka were all already munching away 
happily. Ranma looked at the food on the table.... it looked... well, 
NORMAL.
	Ranma sat down, picking up a bowl and some chopsticks. He put
some of the food in his bowl and poked at it. He leaned down and 
sniffed the mix and thought, "Hey... it even SMELLS good."
	Nadoka looked at her son and asked, "Is something wrong Ranma?"
	Ranma shook his head and said, "It is just, well... Akane said
she cooked dinner!"
	Kasumi smiled and said, "Yes she did Ranma! She listened to me
very closely and tried all the dishes herself before she served them...
I think she was cooking for you especially, Ranma!"
	Ranma sighed, closed his eyes, and began to eat. He realized 
that it was actually... good. Which made him feel terrible. Ranma 
opened his eyes and noticed everyone was looking at him.
	He blushed, and then groaned, thinking, "What ELSE can go wrong
today?"
	Nabiki grinned and said, "Guess you better go apologize, eh 
Ranma?"
	Ranma looked frustrated, but, knowing he couldn't fight well on
an empty stomach, finished eating before he went to go apologize for 
the second time that day. But, fate had other ideas.
	Suddenly, a cry filled the Tendo Dojo.
	Ryouga: "Ranma, where are you???!!!"
	Ranma realized his day was about to get, unbelievably, even 
worse. He groaned and got up to go greet his "guest."

*****

	Ranma tapped Ryouga on the shoulder. Ryouga was looking into 
the coat closet asking, "Ranma? Are you in here?"
	Ryouga turned around at the tap, saw Ranma, and assumed a 
fighting stance.
	"RAAAANNNNNMMMMAA!" Ryouga shouted.
	Ranma wasn't even fazed. He asked, "Ok, Ryouga, what did I do 
now?"
	Ryouga, as usual, looked really pissed off, and said, "I have
been thinking about it, and I STILL can't believe that you allowed the
wedding between you and Akane to be called off. I LET you have her 
because I thought you loved her and were going to marry her!!!"
	Ranma backed against the wall, hands raised in the typical 
Takahashi "oh shit" manner.
	Ranma stammered, "Lll....llll....looo...? Ryouga, what are you 
TALKING about? After that whole fiasco you were HAPPY I didn't marry 
her... and then you wandered off!"
	"I care only about her happiness!" Ryouga shouted, raising his
umbrella to strike Ranma, and adding, "Even if I must sacrifice my
own!"
	"I guess this means you just couldn't FIND Akari, huh,
pig-boy?" Ranma said, spitefully, getting angry finally.
	Ranma moved just in time as Ryouga's swipe knocked a very large
hole in the wall where Ranma had been standing. Ryouga, his balance
off, fell through the new "doorway." Ranma looked out at Ryouga's prone
form, thought for a minute, and then decided that this was the perfect
way to work off some of the stress he had built up from the day's 
events. 
	Ranma shouted, "Ok, Ryouga! Let's fight then!" and jumped
outside.

*****

	She was furious, furious, furious!! Akane scrubbed her hair
violently, as if trying to wash the anger and the voices out of her 
head. All the words, however, were still floating in her mind and 
echoing in her ears. She had made Ranma a wonderful meal, she had even 
tasted it herself!! It was, for once, not only edible but somewhat
good!
	**"So you ARE still mad, Akane!! Except you are trying to be 
all nice and then secretly come up and try and kill me with your rotten
cooking!"**
	"Baka!" she screamed as she dunked her head into the water, 
rinsing out the shampoo, then placed her rinsed face in her hands, 
tears mixing with the water streaming from her clean, shiny, cropped 
hair. She thought, "As if you should talk, hentai. You made me like
you, you jerk, and for some stupid reason I try to please you! I am 
such an idiot! Ranma you fool!"
	She got out of the bath, letting the warm water start to drain.
She picked up a warm, fuzzy yellow towel and wiped down her lithe,
athletic figure. She looked in the mirror and thought, "Not bad!" She 
sighed. She was good enough for Kuno, Shinnosuke, and even... well, she
knew Ryouga had some kind of an attraction for her. But oh no! Not Mr. 
high-and-Mighty-I-have-Shampoo-Ukyou-and-Kodachi-after-me-
Ranma-Saotome!
	She thrust her feet into her slippers and strode to the
door, sliding it open with a blow that she wished had struck Ranma 
himself. Looking down at the ground she fumed, storming out of the 
laundry room... and right smack into Ranma-chan, who was coming in the
door.
	She looked up, realized who it was, and threw her hand back in 
preparation for attack. Ranma backed off as quickly as he/she possibly
could toward the bathtub and said, "Wait wait wait! Akane, I didn't 
know you were in here! Ryouga threw me into the pond and...."
	Akane shouted, "Pervert!!" and strode up to him/her, where he 
stood in front of the bathtub, and thrust him/her back into the 
draining bathwater.
	Ranma grew before her eyes and his voice deepened. "What dija 
do THAT for, Akane?" he muttered, his boxers, towel, and tank-top now 
soaking wet AGAIN.
	"You.. you... jerk!" Akane screamed."I wanted you to be a boy" 
(this said particularly scathingly) "for what I am going to do to you!"
	Ranma thrust his hands out in defense, "What, what did I do 
Akane? Are you still mad about the dinner? Jeesh. I ate some after you 
left you know, it was pretty good... I mean for a tomboy's cooking and 
all... I was just teasin ya Akane, ok? OK?" he looked up at her, 
expecting to see that blue aura glowing and her body set in 
Ranma-die-mode.
	However, the fact that Ranma had actually eaten her food, and 
admitted he liked it, placated her somewhat and was enough to stop her 
attack. Ranma was surprised to notice tears at the corners of her eyes,
she looked up, her big brown eyes glowing, and asked, "Oh Ranma, do you
really mean it?"
	Ranma hoisted himself out of the bathtub and smiled.
	"Sure I meant it Akane! You think -I-" :here he gave her a 
wicked grin: "would I eat it if I couldn't stand it?"
	"Ranma..." Akane looked like she wanted to say something more, 
thinking, "Is this the way it is always going to be between us? A 
contest of wills?" but instead sighed and turned to leave, saying over 
her shoulder, "Have a nice bath..." and started to walk out.
	Suddenly, Ranma was behind her, his hand on her shoulder, 
turning her to face him. He lifted up her chin with his hand, looked
down at her, and asked cautiously, "Does this mean I am forgiven? Or 
should I be waiting for a surprise attack?"
	All of a sudden Akane's eyes began to glitter mischievously. 
She smiled up at him and said, "Oh I would be prepared for the surprise
attack..." and then she reached up and pulled his head down to hers.
	"Akan...!" Ranma began to shout, but it was too late... she was
already kissing him as if her life depended on it. Ranma began to sweat
and chills overtook his body. What was he going to do? If he rejected
her she would kill him! Then, he began to realize how pleasurable the
kiss really was, and, he remembered how cute she had looked right
before she grabbed him.... when she smiled...
	Ranma finally gave into the inevitability of it all and 
tightened his arms around Akane, his fiancee, his best friend, and....
something else he would have to think about later..... He deepened the 
kiss and realized that this was something he had wanted to do for a 
very long time.

******

	Ryouga came trotting down the hallway, P-chan in form after his
tussle with Ranma in the pond, and was heading for the baths to clean 
up and turn back into himself. He was amazed that he had actually found
the bathroom so quickly in this enormous house! Maybe he was getting
better with that direction-dyslexia problem...
	However, this happy thought quickly disappeared from Ryouga's 
mind when he waddled into the bathroom, looked up, and saw his worst 
nightmare.
	Ranma and Akane. KISSING.
	"BWEEEE!!!!" a black lightning bolt of piglet fired against 
Ranma, who, though distracted, by reflex blocked Ryouga's attack. The 
kiss was ended, however.
	Akane realized that it was P-chan, and picked the pig up, 
trying to calm him. She thought that the way Ranma had been holding her
had scared her little pet... maybe he thought Ranma was attacking her.
Akane paused mid-thought. "The way Ranma had been holding her...." She
suddenly, P-chan blubbering in her arms, turned to look at Ranma, but
was only in time to see Ranma's shadow as he slid the bathroom door 
shut.
	"Not a word? What is he thinking? Why is he hiding in the 
bathroom?" she wondered.
	Then, with the force of a year of frustration and indecisevness
finally concluded, it hit Akane what had happened. What had REALLY
happened, and all the connotations of what it might mean tore at her. 
And he had turned away- disappearing behind the door. Tears began to 
flow down her cheeks again, dripping on P-Chan. She thought, "Oh Ranma,
Ranma.... what have I DONE?!"
	Akane fled from the laundry room, ran to her room, slammed the
door, and flung herself down on the bed and began to cry. A day for 
tears indeed, she thought. She looked up at the frame and picture that 
Ranma had given her that past Christmas, of her and Ranma, and all of 
the Gang. She thought of that moment when he gave the frame to her- had
they almost kissed that time? There had been so many half-kisses and
interrupted moments: or was that only the way it seemed to her? She 
stared at his handsome face.
	"Oh Ranma," she thought, "What ARE we exactly? Are we friends? 
or fiancees? or are we... in love?"






Marisa Price
marisa@gladstone.uoregon.edu
mdp102@york.ac.uk
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~marisa/