A Lesson In Trust
by Marisa Price
These characters are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and the property of
Viz Video, Shogukun?, Kitty Animation, etc. This doc not for sale, etc.
The basic idea of this story:
	This story is what takes place right after the final Ranma 1/2 manga.
Should be typical Ranma Universe, might add a VERY VERY VERY mild lemon in
fourth part. No other odd happenings... everything in the Ranma Universe is
"traditional."
(I hope)
Part I: After the "Wedding Fiasco" (complete) Sections A, B, & C.
Part II: Okonomiyaki and Jealousy (working on it)
Part III: Off to China (not even close)
Part IV: The Beach and Night (I have an idea, may have very very mild lemon)
Part V: Parting as Friends (nope not done)
*************************
A Lesson In Trust
PART I: AFTER THE "WEDDING FIASCO"
Section B

	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.
	"Yes she is he Ranma. Maybe you should go up and talk to her?" She asked.
	"Was... was she upset?" Ranma asked haltingly.
	Kasumi nodded.
	Ranma sighed and walked up the stairs. He walked along the hallway
until he reached Akane's door. He hesitated, and then raised his hand to
knock. After
a few second had passed, and he still hadn't knocked, he realized that he
couldn't do
it. He didn't know the 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..." 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 heard 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
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 back 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, also missing the look of horror
on Ranma's face.
	Genma smiled and said, "Sounds GREAT, Akane!" before running off.
	Akane smiled after Genma's retreating form, and then turned to look back at
Ranma. Then, she saw the look on his face.
	"Ranma... aren't you coming?" she asked, frowning.
	Ranma sputtered, "Uh... did you cook, Akane?"
	Akane nodded, smiling, and said, "Yep! And it came out great too!"
	Ranma blanched again, and, then, he said it.
	"You are gonna kill us all with that cooking of yours, Akane!!"
	Akane crushed Ranma with a very large mallet and stormed out of the dojo.
					*****
	Ranma finally crawled from the dojo into the dining room. Nabiki, Genma,
Kasumi, Soun, and Nadoka were all munching 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."
	Nodoka 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 made them.... I think she was
cooking for you
especially Ranma."
	Ranma groaned, thinking, "What ELSE can go wrong today?"
	Ranma sighed, closed his eyes, and began to eat. He realized that it was
actually... good. Which made him feel even worse.
	Ranma opened his eyes and noticed everyone was looking at him.
	Nabiki grinned and said, "Guess you better go apologize, eh Ranma?"
	Ranma groaned, finished eating, survived, and then got up to go
apologize, AGAIN. Suddenly, a cry filled the Tendo Dojo.
Ryouga: "Ranma, where are you???!!!"
	Ranma realized his day was about to get even worse.
	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 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.
	Ranma moved just in time, and 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
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!
	"You are gonna kill us all with that cooking of yours, Akane!!"
	"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. 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 somewhat 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. . .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 baths 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 what was left of the warm
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.
	"You.. you... jerk!" Akane screamed. "I wanted you to be a man" 
(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 destruction position.
	However, the fact that Ranma had actually eaten her food, and admitted he 
liked it, 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 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 sighed and turned to leave, "have a nice bath..." 
she muttered as she 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 and looked down at her,
	He 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.... 
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 thought quickly
disappeared
from his 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; it ended the kiss, 
however.
	Akane realized that it was P-chan, picked him up and began 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, like a slap, it hit Akane what had happened. What had REALLY 
happened, and all the connotations of what it might mean tore at her. Tears 
began again to flow down her cheeks, 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, flung herself down on the bed and began to cry. She looked up at 
the frame and picture that Ranma had given her that past Christmas 
and stared at his handsome face.
	Oh Ranma, she thought, "What ARE we exactly? Are we friends?
or fiancees? or....?"
        She started to sob again.
                                *****