Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a clue"
Written by Asayogure
Last modified (10/15/1999)
Chapter 1, "Loves first kiss."
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Begin.
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Pre-dawn in the tendou dojo. A traditional Japanese
room, floored with tatami and outfitted with shoji doors.
Ranma is lying on his back with one arm draped over his
eyes and the other sprawled at a 90 degree angle from his
body. Genma preferring to sleep as a panda, since it is so
much warmer, is curled up about a meter from Ranma facing
away from him, snoring loudly. Ranma miraculously enough,
has managed to stay male throughout the night, but has
however, managed to kick the covers off of himself, and is
shivering slightly on his futon. The window is open to the
crisp spring-like air, and the beginnings of the daily
chirping of the neighborhood birds can be heard faintly.
Genma raises a massive paw to scratch an itch idly in
his sleep, letting it fall with a *thump*. While not a
loud noise, with Ranma's life-time of training, it was
enough to wake him instantly. Sitting bolt upright, his
eyes snapped open, his hands up in a defensive position,
and his heart beat wildly as his still groggy mind and eyes
scanned the room for the unknown threat. Glancing over at
Genma realization hit him, "Stupid old man!" he thought,
glaring at his father, " he just lives to torment me, "he
mumbled.
Ranma debated with himself whether or not to attack his
father for awaking him, or to try to go back to sleep,
sleep won. Rolling over he pulled the covers back up and
closed his eyes trying to go back to sleep. His mind
however was now wide awake and ready for action. Rolling
back to lie flat on his back with a resigned *sigh*, Ranma
allowed his thoughts to drift where he usually forbade
them. He started to think about the one thing in his life
that he had no control over, and had absolutely no idea how
to deal with . . . he thought of Akane.
Images and memories of her flooded his mind in rapid
fire, her beautiful smile, her cute haircut, every detail
of her face, mind and body, his minds eye traced every
detail that he knew of her, and he blushed when he
remembered just how much he knew, remembering their first
encounter as opposite sexes. How shocked he had been to
see her out of her gi, and her turning out to be so . . .
well cute!
With another *sigh* Ranma let his fantasy of her speak
to him, not really anything intelligible, all he really
wanted was to hear her soft lilting voice speaking to him,
as he had heard her speak to her other friends and loved
ones. He just wanted to have a conversation with her, to
hear her speak with neither anger nor sarcasm. Just to
have a normal conversation with the girl he was supposed to
marry.
Drifting back to the night before in his thoughts, he
winced as he recalled it's outcome, smacking himself
mentally, and cursing himself for his ineptness concerning
interaction with other people. Ranma replayed the night
before in his mind, trying to see what he had done wrong,
and how he should have done things differently . . .
::Early evening at the Tendou dojo::
Soun and panda Genma are on the porch playing Go as
usual, and cheating as usual. Nabiki in her trademark
"lazy" clothes, I.E. short shorts and an off the shoulder
halter top, is in a corner of the family room, doing her
leg exercises, neither Akane nor Kasumi are anywhere to be
seen. Ranma is outside in the yard next to the koi pond,
wearing a blue version of his silk traditional Chinese
sleeveless shirt, and his trademark black pants, he is
standing with his feet shoulder width apart, facing a
wooden pole exactly his height wrapped with rope on the
top. He is rotating his body and alternating smashing his
left and right steel-like fists into the rope wrapped part.
The wind is blowing faintly carrying the scent of flowers
and the promise of a beautiful spring, a fish in the koi
pond leapt, and the wind chimes ring.
Shattering this perfect moment of tranquillity came the
feminine cry of "Dinner's ready!" Ranma without missing a
beat recoiling his left fist from a punch, changed the
right strike to a chop, his palm facing upwards and his
hand like a knife edge, the pole looked unaffected for a
moment, then a hairline angled cut appeared, and the top of
the pole slid off slowly, hitting the ground with a *plop*.
With a self satisfied grin on his face, Ranma turned and
leapt the few meters from his spot to his customary seat at
the table, next to Akane.
The rest of the family were converging at the table as
well, Nabiki plopping herself unceremoniously at her spot,
Soun taking his place at the head of the table with
dignity, leaving Genma the opportunity while his back was
turned to move a few of the game pieces. Genma taking his
seat next to Soun grabbed a kettle of hot water seemingly
out of nowhere and poured it on himself, changing back to
his human form, gaining the hands with which he could feed
himself the fastest. Ranma moving his head back and forth
quickly scanning the room for something, voiced his growing
dread hesitantly,
"W- where's ...A-akane?"
"Why, she's right here." Kasumi said coming rounding
the kitchen entrance, gesturing behind her. As Kasumi
started setting everyone's places Ranma glanced over her
shoulder, Akane was standing sort of uneasily, and was
clutching a steaming plate, containing he could only guess,
was some sort of food substance... hoping against hope,
Ranma looked back at Kasumi to see if she had set his place
yet, seeing the table all set out and Genma already doing
his impersonation of a vacuum cleaner, Ranma noticed a
conspicuous absence of a plate in front of himself.
A large sweat drop formed on the back of Ranma's head.
Akane, not having said a word during this small pause,
stood rather stiffly. A faint sheen of sweat kissed her
forehead, and she looked somewhat worried. Ranma however
missed all these details as his eyes and nose informed him
that Akane had been cooking again.
A sickly grimace appeared on his face, as his brain
sorted rapid fire through a list of possible excuses he
could use to leave the table.
"Akane has been working really hard all evening, RanmA"
she pronounced the last 'A' in his name harder, snapping
him out of his "deer-caught-in-the-headlights,"
impersonation.
"She made it just for you, isn't that sweet?!"
Again that hard tone to Kasumi's voice indicated to Ranma
the he had better behave. Stuttering he managed to choke
out,
"T-thank Y-you, A-akane." Akane knelt beside her
future husband, and hesitantly placed the plate of weird
looking food before him, along with a pair of chopsticks.
Soun from behind a fountain of tears sputtered out,
"Oh my girl, my girl, is growing up, wah ha ha, I'm so
proud!" Tears streamed down his face as he looked upon his
youngest daughter's obvious display of affection for Ranma.
Nabiki just stared expectantly, and Genma's munching
slightly registered in the back of Ranma's mind.
"Well go on, Ranma," Kasumi prompted, her voice again
gentle. With an audible *gulp* and a visible reluctance,
Ranma separated his chopsticks and lowered them down slowly
to the steaming mound of . . . whatever-it-was.
Akane unnoticed by the rest of the family still
kneeling beside Ranma clenched her tiny hands into fists
and felt her whole body go ridged. Her face animated with
hope she silently chanted.
"I hope, I hope, I hope, please, please, please, please."
As he raised the parcel of food to his mouth, a collective
gasp was heard, as everyone (except Genma, who at the
moment was moving his hands so fast feeding his face, that
they were becoming a blur.) Held their breath.
Placing the food in his mouth he let it rest on his
tongue, trying to use will power to swallow it. But the
sensations overcame him, and he fainted, falling backwards.
Sitting up he politely pushed the plate away from
himself mumbling, "thank you Akane it's . . . errr, good,
but I'm not feeling to well all of a sudden, I think I'll
skip dinner. Ranma lied, then placing his hand behind his
head said, "I'll go see if Ryouga is around anywhere."
"At least I know he can eat this stuff," Ranma thought
to himself. Ranma, as he moved to get up, completely
missed the single tear sliding down Akane's cheek.
Stunned, Akane was thinking to herself,
"NOW what did I do wrong?!" Her emotions in upheaval
she replaced these unfamiliar feelings with those that she
was more comfortable with, she started to grow angry.
"He didn't even give it a chance and I worked really
hard, TOO!" She thought to herself. Turning to face him as
he made his get-away, she whipped out her trusty mallet and
launched him into next week yelling,
"Ranma you jerk!!!!" As he sailed away, Ranma managed
to yell back,
"Uuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnncuteeeeeeeeeeee!"
::the memory faded to black as Ranma's memory failed::
Snapping back to himself, Ranma again mentally smacked
himself for his knee-jerk-foot-in-the-mouth reaction that
Akane's cooking seemed to bring out in him. He knew damn
well in his secret heart, that she was trying so hard to
cook for HIM, and if not out of, L-love, then out of a
genuine desire to show Ranma affection somehow.
Muttering to himself, Ranma rolled back till his lower
body, and legs were off the floor, then placing his hands
astride his head, he reversed his momentum, and pushed with
his hands at the same time, effectively launching himself
onto his feet, perfectly balanced and poised as usual.
Ranma headed off in the direction of the bath, intent on
soaking away his worries as well as any dirt. Passing
Genma on the way out he swiftly kicked the Panda in the
butt. Smirking to himself, Ranma walked out. Genma still
sound asleep, simply scratched the injured area absently
and rolled over again.
Silent as a ninja, Ranma practiced his stealth as he
slinked down the hallway. Not one to ever tell the old
man, but Ranma did listen to the things that Genma said,
and while he knew that most of it was just his stupid
rambling, some things Genma said rang true. One of them
being his saying,
"A true martial artist can turn any experience, no matter
how difficult or unpleasant into training . . ." Ranma
early in life had decided to take that to heart, running
along fence tops to practice his balance, using ordinary
situations to train, such as standing in the hall holding
water buckets for being late, and in situations such as
this early morning, when everyone was still asleep, he
liked to practice stealth, or ninjitsu.
However he froze in his exercise as he caught out of
the corner of his eye, the blue woodcut duck scrawled with
Akane's name in English characters, as was the trend,
hanging on her door. Impulse overcame reason, and Ranma
ever so quietly padded up to her door, and quietly let
himself in.
"Just to check on her, and make sure Mr. P isn't in
there," he told himself. Lowering his eyes to the floor as
he did so, in case Akane while sleeping, had managed to
uncover any . . . sensitive areas. He closed the door
behind himself, and just stood there, at the doorway
listening to her breathe. Smirking inwardly to himself he
thought,
"She would kill me if she found me in her room just
staring at her." Ever so slowly, he raised his eyes,
starting at the foot of her bed. Where her feet were, he
raised his gaze, noting how unlike him she was, in that she
usually managed to keep her covers on herself while
sleeping,
"I guess she isn't violent all the time,"
he thought. With relief his gaze reached her torso, and he
noted that she was fully clothed in her yellow pajamas with
the pigs on them, letting out the breath he hadn't even
known he was holding with a *whew*, he froze, terrified
that the sound had awakened her. Glancing at her face he
relaxed as he saw her eyes still closed. He also smirked
outwardly as he noted the absence of "P-chan", and saw that
instead she was cuddling one of her spare pillows to her
tightly, he also noticed that she was mumbling as she
slept. Curious he crept closer to her bed to hear what she
said.
Taking a seat gingerly on the edge of her bed. He took
the time to stare unashamedly at her beautiful features.
Noting how her soft hair framed her face so perfectly on
the pillow as she slept, and how even when closed her eyes
were still beautiful, and her lips were turned upward
slightly at the corners in a sort of half smile as she
slept, then he noticed something else, she was . . .
Blushing? Snapping out if his reverie, he listened to what
she was saying, most of it was too garbled to discern, but
a few bits and pieces managed to come through.
"R-ranma . . . why . . . what . . . how can I . . . oh
Ranma . . . I . . . don't you know . . . I L . . ."
Rolling over in her sleep, the last thing she was trying to
say was lost into the pillow. "She's . . . she's dreaming
about . . . Me!?" Listening again he caught his name
again, this time followed by a sound he had never heard
from Akane before, after speaking his name, a very
contented and drawn out sigh.
A slow grin spread across his face as he heard that
sigh, it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in
his entire life! Reaching down hesitantly he moved his
hand to her head, and softly stroked her hair out of her
face.
"She's so cute sometimes . . . it's hard to believe
that this Akane and the one that is always hitting me in
the head are one and the same person," he thought to
himself. Worry of discovery was starting to nag at his
mind though, and with a disappointed *sigh* he got up from
her bed, not making a sound as he did so, he opened her
door, all the while keeping his gaze on her, and let
himself out, just as quietly as when he had entered, all
Akane did was roll over again, and continue whatever dream
she was having.
Now even more out of balance than before Ranma
desperately needed to unwind. Intent on relaxing in the
bath for awhile he entered the changing room, and shucked
off his boxers and tee shirt he had slept in, tossing them
casually over his shoulder as he went into the main
bathroom. Starting the flow of hot water that would fill
the tub for the day, Ranma sat down on one of the wash
stools and began to thoughtfully scrub himself clean.
"Why, oh why am I so shook up now? Why should I care if
she dreams about me? Can it be that I really do care for
that uncute tomboy? Naw, it must be something else, maybe
an aftereffect of her cooking?"
He muttered to himself while scrubbing, after awhile
the tub was full and he dumped a pail of cold water over
himself to rinse away the soap, hardly even noticing the
change now, as when by himself and with no mirror present,
and no one to remind him that he was now a girl, the
effects of the curse were subtle enough as to be noticeable
now to him. Plodding over to the tub, Ranma slowly lowered
himself into the almost scalding water, wincing as it
snaked it's way up his nervous system, leaving a tingling
sensation in it's wake, finally he was up to his neck, and
he collapsed against the tub wall and tried to rebalance
his now chaotic mind.
An unknown amount of time had passed, Ranma shutting
out all outside influence, and shutting out even his own
thoughts. Letting the warmth of the furo soak into
himself, ever since Jusenkyo, Ranma had hated being cold,
mostly because cold now to him meant changing, the warmer
the better as far as Ranma was concerned. Ever so slightly
almost hesitantly Ranma raised his head up, then his torso
out of the inviting water.
Looking much calmer he climbed up the steps leading out
of the furo. Steam emanating off his now almost pink skin,
in the chilled air of the much cooler bathroom. Wrapping a
towel around his waist, he padded out of the bathroom.
Still walking so as to make the minimal amount of noise,
Ranma headed for his room.
Sliding open the shoji he entered the Tendou guest room
made into an almost-permanent residence with the Saotome
presence in it. Moving over to the dresser where he kept
his clothes, no longer quieting his movements since he
didn't care if he woke the old man up or not, and besides
he could sleep through anything. Quickly dressing
himself, choosing his traditional outfit, but with a ivory
white version of his Chinese silk sleeveless shirt, with
gold ties in front and an ebony black interior.
Now suitably dressed for the day. Ranma's stomach
rumbled, reminding him that not only did he skip dinner
last night, (due to the fact that he was in low earth
orbit, playing human satellite) but he needed breakfast as
well. He steeled himself against the hunger however since
he knew that Kasumi although usually first up in the
household, wouldn't have breakfast ready for at least
another hour and a half, half an hour after she woke up as
usual. So he headed downstairs to think.
Walking down the stairs a mischievous grin appeared on
Ranma's face and he hopped up onto the banister and with
his indoor house slippers on, sliding down the rest of the
way. Reaching bottom much faster.
"Heh, still got it!" He remarked to himself. Ranma
usually refrained from any acrobatics in the house. Ever
since that one time when he had almost plowed into Kasumi
almost knocking her over, when he was leaping down the
stairs. His code of honour would never allow him to injure
anyone whom could not defend themselves, even accidentally,
especially a woman, and especially someone as sweet and
innocent as Kasumi. So this was a rare opportunity for
Ranma to do this and be sure no one would be hurt. Ranma
started to wander in and out of the various rooms of the
Tendou residence, memories overtaking him as he recalled
all the things that had happened there.
Stopping in front of the frame to the shoji leading to
the backyard, he ran his hand over the noticeably newer
wood of the left side, where Shampoo's bonbori had smashed
through, when she was trying to kill Akane that day she had
showed up from China. In fact there were little patches of
new all over the Tendou residence, especially in the dojo,
where either due to circumstances beyond their control or
overeager training, Ranma or others had managed to destroy
parts of it.
Ranma's wandering lead him back to the shoji again, and
he opened them this time. Stopping just to look. He had
intended to go to the dojo and run through a few katas, but
he just started to stare at the beauty that confronted him.
With dawn just barely starting to alight the sky, the
world was truly a beautiful place. The wind had died down
to a whisper, and everything was silent. The pink buds on
the cherry tree were silhouetted in what little light the
dawn was giving, and seemed to be glowing with a life of
their own, contrasting sharply with the greener but dull
new leaves that were also growing. The koi pond was an odd
shade of blue-green. It seemed to be made of ice, and with
such crisp air the entire world seemed to be sharply in
focus.
"Wow," Ranma murmured. Almost as if in a trance, he
walked solemnly to the edge of the koi pond and stared into
its depths, hardly even breathing. Ranma tried to become
part of the silence as he sat down on a nearby rock and
began to meditate, the world seemed to freeze as Ranma
slipped into himself.
Time passed and the wind picked up, and the sun's hues
became more radiant, the birds began their daily serenade.
Ranma came back to himself with a start, when he felt the
suns first rays peeking over the boundary wall. Stretching
and yawning, he looked around as he did so. The bird's
song's lifting his spirits noticing that the silent world
had fled and a more vibrant and alive world had taken it's
place.
His heart froze though as he shifted his gaze to his
left and beheld what was there. Akane was sitting on a
rock right next to his! In the same kind of meditating
trance that he had assumed moments earlier.
"She must have come down when I was meditating,"
he thought to himself. Taking another opportunity to
stare, Ranma allowed his eyes to play over her delicate
features. Her eyes were shut, and fluttering slightly, her
hair had obviously just been brushed, as it was shining
vibrantly in the early morning light, the light bouncing
off of her hair making it seem alive. Her skin (all that
was visible to Ranma outside of her standard red belt clad
gi, anyway,) was covered with goose pimples, reacting to
the cool morning air, he supposed.
Akane had come out of her own trance the second Ranma
had yawned and stretched, some instinct though had urged
her to remain as she was. So she stayed motionless, her
back straight and her legs crossed underneath her, with her
head lolling down onto her sternum. A small shiver of
electricity ran down her spine as she thought to herself,
"Why is he looking at me like that? Can it be oh, can
it be that he really doesn't think that I am all that
uncute?" Her breath came in shallow heaves and her skin
was going all goose pimply, not because of the cold, but
because of the attention that Ranma was paying her.
Finally she couldn't stand it any longer, and
playacting she imitated his movements from earlier.
Opening her eyes she met Ranma's gaze, and the two just
looked at each other shyly. Raising his arm behind his
head, Ranma cleared his throat.
"Uh . . . heh, wahcha doin' up this early, A-Akane?
. . . W-What are you looking at?"
He asked self consciously. Akane blushed and turned her
gaze down, suddenly finding the grass very interesting.
"Well since she's already up, and out here . . ."
Ranma thought to himself. "Um A-Akane?" He voiced
hesitantly.
"Y-Yes . . . " she answered. Smacking himself
mentally, Ranma forced the words out in a rush,
"Wouldyouliketogopracticewithme?" Once done he exhaled
rather loudly, *whew* He thought, "Well, at least she
can't say I never offered," he fully expected a sarcastic
remark or her refusal. He stood up on suddenly shaky legs.
Ranma stood above her looking down at her with those
blue-gray eyes of his.
"He is waiting for an answer!" Her mind shouted at
her. She was however, too confused to respond
intelligently. "Why is he being so nice to me?" She
pondered. Chalking it up to the absurd, Akane simply
nodded her head.
Shock turned Ranma's blood to ice-water. He had
expected her to refuse! While training with his father for
10 years had made Ranma an excellent and powerful martial
artist, those years hadn't prepared him to interact with
other people. Slowly and hesitantly Ranma extended
his hand to Akane. Akane for her part was beside herself,
"Ranma is being so nice to me! Is this his way of trying
to say he's sorry for dinner last night?"
Also as hesitantly, and overriding her pride, Akane
extended her hand, allowed Ranma to help her to her feet.
His touch was electric on her skin, Ranma tightening the
muscles in his arm, effortlessly lifted her to her feet.
Embarrassed he dropped her hand and turned his back to her
and began to walk in the direction of the dojo. Partly
because he really did need to train, but mostly to hide the
rampaging blush spreading over his features. Akane as well
was still standing where he had lifted her, also blushing
furiously.
"I think that that is the first time Ranma has ever
touched me, without it being absolutely necessary." She
was reeling. Unsteadily she walked on her wobbly legs to
the dojo. Peering inside she saw Ranma was already running
through a kata, warming up.
So she decided to just watch for the moment. Akane
realized that she had never really watched Ranma when he
practiced. She was usually too busy being jealous of his
skill, or busy trying to beat him up for his latest insult.
"Wow!" She thought, "He moves like a dancer . . . "
Watching Ranma move through a simple for him, but extremely
acrobatic and difficult kata, for her, she couldn't help
but admire his skill. After Ranma finished his warm-up
kata, he faced the dojo shrine and bowed. Akane couldn't
help herself, as giddy as she was feeling, she clapped!
Ranma looked up, and seeing her there, broke out in a grin,
and also blushed slightly.
"C-Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked. Ranma
now in familiar territory replied more confidently,
"Sure Akane, but first we should stretch out your
sleepy muscles, eh?"
"O-Okay" she stuttered. Stepping through the door
frame, Akane bowed facing the dojo interior, and stepped
onto the main floor. Cinching her belt up tighter and
tucking the loose parts back into place, she sat down and
kicked out her legs, and started to reach for her toes on
her left and right sides. Ranma just sat cooling his
heels, well squatted actually, and watched her stretch.
"Want me to help you, Akane?" He asked. Although Ranma
had never actually helped any of the other all too few
students he had trained, to stretch, whether they were male
or female, Akane did not know that, and grinning slyly he
also admitted to himself, seeing that this was one of the
rare times when they were alone together, that he also
wanted to be able to touch her without that damn mallet of
hers smacking him into next week!
"I have got to ask her where the hell she keeps that
thing someday," he thought wryly.
"S-Sure...." Akane whispered still facing the floor.
"Oh my god he is going to touch me again," she thought as
her heart leapt into her throat and her adrenaline level
rose several levels. Shifting so that her back was facing
him, she leaned forward again, and Ranma, needing no
further encouragement placed his hands on her back, and
applied pressure.
The only person that he had ever partner stretched with
was Genma, so he was a little surprised when Akane *yelped*
from under his pressure. Looking down he saw a slight
grimace on her face.
"Oh shoot! I hurt her already!" Furious with himself,
Ranma quickly stood up, and started to form an apology.
"A-Akane, I-I'm so sorry! I-I-I " hanging his head he
closed his eyes and resigned himself to the mallet attack
about to crash into his skull. A few seconds passed, Ranma
was still standing . . . looking up he saw Akane just
staring at him, with an expression he could only describe
as concern or forgiveness, or something else that he wasn't
even ready to *think* about yet.
"It's okay Ranma just be a little more gentle with me
okay? I am not as strong as a mule, ya know," she smirked,
making him blush using one of his own insults against him.
But inside her head, her world was spinning! In her state
of mind her knee-jerk reaction to his clumsiness had been
delayed, so Ranma had been able to try apologize.
"That was so sweet! He actually thought he hurt me!
He even tried to apologize, and was ready to accept
punishment!" Using a supreme control that she hadn't even
known she possessed, Akane overrode her mind and body's
commands to leap into his arms and hug him to death.
Moving woodenly Ranma moved back into position behind
Akane, and placed his hands again onto her back. Applying
the gentlest amount of pressure, he started to stretch her
out, "His hands are trembling!" She thought to herself,
although the now kitten like force he was exerting wasn't
really enough to help her stretch, she didn't really care
at the moment, just the fact that Ranma's hands where on
her, and that he was being so thoughtful, and careful with
her . . . she wanted to cry!
Ranma moving outside normal stretching protocol, still
crouching above her, started to kneed the muscles in her
shoulders. He had no idea why, or how he even started!
All he knew was that he was touching the girl that he cared
most for in the world, and she hadn't smacked him yet!
"I must still be dreaming." He thought. Akane
thought her mind was going to snap and she couldn't stop
the electric sensations from running through her body, his
touch was setting her on fire!!! She couldn't hold it back
any longer and a small involuntary groan escaped her lips.
*mmmmmmm*
Ranma paused a minute when he heard that, then smiling
stopped his tender administrations, before he lost his last
vestige of control. Nudging her gently to a sitting
position, he continued helping her stretch, as she leaned
over to her left and right sides, stretching sideways now
that she was done stretching horizontally. The sensations
rapidly were fading from her body. Akane took a deep
breath and let it out slowly, commanding her body to behave
itself she put all her attention into stretching, as
thinking about Ranma was starting to make her dizzy.
"Well I think that you are ready now Akane . . . want
to begin?" Ranma, letting the instructor in him take
control, stood up and again reached down to help Akane to
her feet, not even hesitating this time Akane stretched her
own hand up and accepted his help, since she also knew in
the back of her mind that her legs were going to be wobbly
after the sensations Ranma had been evoking in her. While
standing however her clumsy nature reared its ugly head,
and she tripped!
Ranma didn't even think, he just reacted. Seeing what
she was about to crash into, he leapt with superhuman speed
and strength, knocking her back, and killing her momentum
as he held her in his arms. The next thing Akane knew she
was lying on her face on something hard yet soft, pushing
herself up with her arms, Akane looked down to see what she
had landed on...and found Ranma's eyes looking back! He
was breathing hard, and had a panicked look on his face,
wondering why he looked so panicked she looked up, and saw
to her horror, that if she had continued her fall unchecked
she would have crashed right into the west window!
Ranma, with his heart still racing, simply held her.
Not really caring what anyone would think if they walked in
and saw them like that. Akane's control finally snapped
and she broke down crying! Sobbing a panicked yet relieved
cry into his chest. Akane let out all the emotions that
had been building in her since she woke up. Clutching her
saviour to her she wept like a child. The fear of the
moment quickly fading into tears of joy and something else
that she still wasn't that sure of.
Ranma would always be there to protect her, she had
known that for awhile now, but he had just demonstrated it
again, throwing himself unthinkingly into danger for her
sake.
Ranma, however much as he was enjoying holding his
fiancee, was starting to grow uncomfortable with her tears
though. Whispering he asked, "Akane . . . Akane, hey
Akane, are you okay?" Wanting to check her for any
injuries but holding back since she seemed okay, and he
didn't want her to think he was a pervert.
"Oh Ranma," Akane managed to sob out. Not finding the
words she needed she simply stopped crying as best she
could and relaxed into his arms. Ranma was growing
uncomfortable though on the hard wooden floor, and gently
he again demonstrated the mastery of his body, as only
using his stomach muscles he raised them both into a
sitting position. Turning her as he did so, with her
ending up sitting crosswise in his lap, with her arms
around his neck, and her face buried into his chest.
Letting things stay as they were, Ranma waited for
Akane to come back to herself, and stand up. She finally
raised her head from his chest with an embarrassed
expression on her face.
"T-Thank you Ranma, I mean it thank you." She smiled
her beautiful smile at him, and Ranma lost all lucid
control over his mind.
"Y-Your welcome." He replied, wanting to say three very
different words. Standing up he continued to hold onto
her, cradling her in his arms, Akane's emotion debated with
her pride on whether or not she should get down,
"Oh I can stay here all day", emotion said.
"Shut up you wimp!" Pride shot back.
"But I like it here in his arms!" Emotion continued.
"You are a strong martial artist, and independent . . .
stand up!!" Pride snapped back.
"Yeah?! Well you are a freak of nature, now go jump in a
Koi pond and cool off!" emotion retorted.
"Don't make me come over there and tear you a new . . .
a new something." Pride was at a loss on what she could
tear in emotion. Pride however eventually won. ^_^
"R-Ranma, "she said almost apologetically, "Um, I can
walk fine now, thanks."
"Oh," Ranma said, looking slightly disappointed.
Carefully he set her down onto her feet, keeping his arms
around her waist, almost as if he was hugging her. The
position they were in, and after what she had seen earlier,
Akane made a mental note to get Ranma to take her dancing
sometime. Grinning ear to ear she mentally pictured Ranma
trying to dance normal dances, or say, the funky chicken!
Hesitantly she broke the embrace though, turning her back
to him, she looked out the window, and noted that not all
that much time had passed since they had entered the dojo.
Turning back to him with her composure back in place, Akane
waded a little into unfamiliar waters, she asked Ranma for
help.
"Well are you ready to teach me how to do that kata
now?" She voiced with an uneasy smile. Cinching up her
belt and taking a deep breath, Akane stepped into the
default "student ready" position, with her feet set
shoulder width apart, and her legs slightly bent, with
her arms folded behind her back.
"Um, sure Akane...." Ranma said, " Where do you want to
begin?" he asked. "Why at the beginning of course, silly."
Smiling as she said so, and giggling a little, Akane let
out a little of the stress she was feeling.
After a second Ranma joined in, and soon both of them
were chuckling lightly. Recovering his composure Ranma
started to lead Akane through the kata. He corrected her
gently when she made a mistake and cheered loudly when she
made it through the harder parts. Akane, for her part was
trying to pay attention to what she was doing, but inside
she was grinning from ear to ear.
"I never realized how patient Ranma could be, he is a
great teacher!" She thought. Ranma was having the time of
his life, not only had Akane not hit him today...yet
anyway, but he was alone with her, getting along with her,
and in effect, he was playing with his fiancee!
Ranma felt like jumping up and down and doing a victory
dance and he almost laughed out loud as he imagined doing
said dance on Genma's sleeping head! While he was doing
his best to stay focused on training though, only about 25%
of his attention was on her form mechanics, the rest of his
attention was staring at Akane.
"She really does have a kind of grace when doing this
kind of stuff." He thought. Finally they reached the end
of the kata, and Ranma went to the north wall and sat down
against it, "Okay Akane, now with no help from me lets see
you run through it by yourself." He said with a silly grin
on his face.
Akane got a serious look on her face, and resolving
herself to do her best for her new teacher, she set into
the kata, moving not too fast and not too slow, and with
all the grace and dignity that she could muster, trying to
dance through it as she had seen him do earlier, and with a
slight smug expression on her face, she admitted to
herself, that while not nearly as perfect as Ranma's
demonstration, for the first time doing it, she was doing
great!
Ranma sat there in a brooding silence, amazed at how
quickly she had picked it up, "She must have really been
paying attention to me . . . " He thought. He had already
noted several small errors in her form, but he stopped
himself from saying anything and thus kept his foot out of
his mouth, besides she really was doing great! Finishing
she bowed to the shrine, and then giggling she bowed to
Ranma as well.
Ranma grinned and jumped up. He bowed as well. "So
how did I do," she asked expectantly. "You were . . . " he
paused a minute to make her sweat it out a little, since he
enjoyed teasing her. Actually that was how he showed
affection although he was not aware of it, was by teasing
those he loved...well, except for Genma.
But before she could become angry he said, "You were
great Akane!" He said, "Much better than any other first
time student with that kata."
"Thank you Sensei!" Akane grinned. Then as impulse
grabbed her, and she launched a snap kick at Ranma's head.
Ranma of course dodged easily. "Heh ya wanna play
dontcha?!" He taunted. Akane grinning crazily, launched
kick after punch after chop rapidly increasing the speed of
her techniques. Ranma adopted a more instructor like
stance, and started to coach her.
"Don't twist your hips so much, that telegraphs what
kind of kick you are about to throw, try not to look where
you plan on punching, don't turn your back to me after that
kind of kick."
Getting into the spirit of things, Ranma threw soft
kicks and a few punches at her. Akane instead of trying to
imitate Ranma's speed, simply blocked his techniques.
"Harder!" She fairly screamed. Wanting him to actually spar
with her for once. She increased the intensity of her
attacks, trying to goad Ranma's anger so that he would
attack her and stop his constant dodging. But Ranma's
training had conditioned him to accept pain, and while a
few of her techniques were actually connecting now, he
refused to use even 1/4 of his full speed or power against
a girl, especially THIS girl. Akane was starting to get
angry now. She couldn't help it.
"Why does he do this to me? Why won't he treat me like
an equal? Why can't he just ignore that I am a girl for
once?" Starting to glow a slight red, Akane launched a
suicide attack at Ranma, aimed right at his head. The speed
of her attack was a little too fast, and Ranma knew that if
he dodged it she would be seriously injured because her
trajectory had her going towards the wall a little too
fast, and he doubted she had control enough to check her
attack in time. If he blocked it effectively so that it
wouldn't hurt him, then he would possibly break or sprain
her wrist.
So Ranma did the only thing that he could do, he
shifted his body so that she would connect with his stomach
muscles and braced for impact. "Ranma!!!" Akane's battle
cry came out as she rushed towards him, but in the nano-
second that she had between punch and impact her mind
screamed, "Something is wrong, he isn't blocking!! He
isn't dodging either!!" At the last second she tried to
pull her punch, but her momentum carried her the rest of
the way, and she connected solidly with Ranma's torso. Up
he flew to the rafters and he hit with a *splat* Doing his
impression of "The human pancake," on the wall. Then he
slid down the wall head first to the floor.
"Shoot!" Akane said to herself as she ran over to him,
"He was supposed to block that . . . why did he just take
it?" Kneeling besides him she looked down at the mostly
unconscious Ranma, he was moaning slightly, and Akane
simply put her arms under him and held him, cringing as she
waited for his furious words. Looking down she saw him
staring at her, and quickly she tried to blurt out an
apology.
"Ranma I'm . . . sorry . . . "
Casting her eyes down she waited for him to call her
uncute scream at her and storm off, a tear slid down her
cheek, as he wiggled out of her grasp. Closing her eyes
she told herself that she deserved it. Then Ranma did
something that she was totally unprepared for. He
squatted down next to her in silence.
"Akane..." he started.
"Y-Yes?" she hesitated.
"T-That was a good shot." He said, punctuating his
statement with a light jab on her shoulder. He the forced
a grin through his pain to show her it really was okay.
Noticing her gaze was still on the ground, gently Ranma
reached his hand down to her chin and lifted her gaze to
meet his. Showing her his eyes, which at the moment were
filled with something that was confusing the hell out of
Akane. She didn't know how to deal with this Ranma! This
Ranma was kind and sensitive and very patient with her. He
wasn't behaving like he was supposed to!
"Oh Ranma I'm sorry!" She sobbed as again she collapsed
into his embrace, and Ranma did something that Genma would
kill him for, he cried with her. Holding this beautiful
girl in his arms, on this perfect morning, listening to her
sobbing on his chest, feeling her warm tears soak his gi,
and her hands gripping his back, Ranma gained a new
perspective on life.
"Shh shh shh" He tried to comfort her making funny
sounding cooing noises. "It's okay Akane I'm fine"
Mentally slapping herself, Akane forced herself to get
under control. Sucking her breaths in slightly and her
chest heaving, her emotions running rampant through her
mind and body Akane just sat there for a minute. In the
empty silence Ranma added with a grimace.
"You know you really do need to work on your control
. . . "
Grabbing at the chance to have a talk with Ranma, Akane
tried to voice her concerns. "Why, why wont you ever spar
with me seriously?" With her looking up at him with those
tear-streaked eyes, Ranma had no recourse but the truth.
"It's partly because of how I was raised and partly because
I-I don't want to hurt you Akane . . . " he trailed off.
"But I am a martial artist too ya know. I can take care
of myself." She countered.
"Yes but..." Ranma tried to argue, but all of the
arguments that he wanted to use right now, sounded stupid
in his head.
"Besides I have seen you fight girls before." Ticking
off her fingers as she went, "You've fought Ukyou, Shampoo-
several times and you fought Kodachi as well...." Grinning
smugly at him Akane waited for a reply.
Ranma knew he was trapped. "Y-Yes that is true, but I
don't think I could live with myself if . . . if I hurt you
A-Akane . . . " Ashamed Ranma looked down at the floor.
Akane's heart froze. He CARED for her, he really did!
Whether or not it was . . . L-Love . . . he still
cared, and Akane threw away the last of her inhibitions.
She threw herself into his arms, and hugged him fiercely.
Ranma panicked at first, then relaxed into her arms, and
held her as well, "This is the first time we have ever
willingly hugged each other!" He elated to himself. "I
wonder if . . . "
His mind trailed off as Akane seemed to collapse into
him, they were now laying side by side on the dojo floor
holding each other. The force of her throwing herself into
him had knocked him down. Tentatively Ranma reached over
and stroked her hair.
Akane was in heaven, she curled up into Ranma's side
and pulled back her head a little so that she could look at
her fiancee's handsome face. Ranma met her gaze after
about a second. They simply stared at each other, both
wanting to go further, but neither one knowing how to
broach the subject, nor did they know how far the other was
willing to go. Ranma gazed at Akane and looked into her
eyes, leaning his head forward moving his mouth towards
hers, he stopped and waited and looked again, blushing, and
Akane nodded her assent. Grinning, Ranma completed the
movement, and their lips brushed.
His touch was like fire! Akane's whole body felt like
it was glowing! Where he was resting his hands on her
back, she could have sworn she was getting burned, her back
arched involuntarily towards him as his lips brushed hers,
and she faintly *moaned* her assent again. Ranma then
leaned in and kissed her closed mouthed. His lips were
somewhat moist and the electric sensations he was provoking
in her were making her blush furiously and she tightened
her grip on him. *moaning* into his still closed mouth,
Akane opened her lips slightly prompting without words for
Ranma to go further. Ranma in turn parted his lips
slightly, and Akane with very little control left accepted
the tip of Ranma's tongue, this being the most intimate she
had ever been with him before, or any other man for that
matter, Akane's head was swimming.
Ranma was shocked as all hell, she had opened her lips
and was sucking gently on his tongue. Unfamiliar feelings
were building up in Ranma, and combined with the heat of
her body, the scent of her, and what she was allowing him
to do, Ranma allowed something inside of himself to snap,
and opened his mouth fully, sucking crazily on her tongue,
and rolling her over on top of him so that he could feel
every part of her touching him.
Akane was a little shocked at first when Ranma
responded like he did, but her mind was not in any kind of
a state to stop, nor think reasonably, and she let go
entirely and felt herself falling, the room seemed to dim
out of view, and then she closed her eyes and let the
sensations rule her, caressing his teeth and sucking
alternately on his tongue and lips. Akane was enjoying
letting herself be female, even more so since she was doing
this with HIM! Even more important, while she was enjoying
having Ranma touch her, the fact that he had been so kind
and open with her, and the way he was behaving, meant the
world to her.
Ranma was also in his own little world where only Akane
existed was starting to feel TOO light headed, and so
gently he broke the kiss. His head was swimming, he looked
up at Akane and saw a flushed face, lightly coated with
sweat and a happy grin plastered across it. She was
panting slightly, and neither one of them knew what to say.
Akane however noticed the position of the sun, and the
fear of someone walking in on them overpowered her desire
to lay on Ranma all day. Gently she rolled off of him, and
sat facing him. "Ranma I . . . "
"Shhhhh" he said gently not wanting to spoil the
moment. He turned her so that she was facing away from
him, and placing his back against the wall he pulled her
back to sit in between his legs. Gently he pulled her to
lay back against his chest, lovingly he ran his fingers
through her hair, and felt as she adjusted her gi modestly
as she sat lying against him. Their moment was shattered
however when Kasumi's high pitched voice rang out from the
household,
"Breakfast everyone!" Faint stumbling sounds could be
heard from the direction of the house, which could only
have Genma stumbling-falling down the stairs in his rush to
get food.
Akane leapt away from Ranma, and as he got up , they
both just kind of stood there, neither sure how to end the
moment nor if anything was necessary to say. Akane still
giddy and way to confused, with emotions and feelings still
running through her, simply smiled at Ranma and turned her
back to him and walked out of the dojo. Ranma following
suit, though after he exited the dojo, he leapt up to the
roof top and into his room, so he could come down the
stairs and therefore not raise any suspicions.
Humming quietly to himself, Ranma walked down the
stairs this time. Pausing at the landing to simply watch
his new family. Genma as usual trying to inhale
everything, even the plates if he wasn't careful, Soun
sitting at the head of the table with a toothbrush in his
mouth reading the morning paper. Nabiki yawning into her
teacup and looking disheveled. Kasumi looking perfect as
always sitting by Nabiki and refilling their plates and
Akane sitting at her usual spot next to Ranma's eating
daintily.
With a grin Ranma waltzed into the room, and sat next
to Akane, not saying anything he simply smiled at her and
sat down and started eating. No one seemed to notice, and
Akane just blushed as she looked up, then continued eating.
_______________________________________________________
End.
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