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,  but I might
add a VERY VERY VERY mild lemon in fourth part. 
	No other odd happenings... everything in the Ranma Universe
is "traditional storyline."

Part I: After the "Wedding Fiasco" (complete)
Part II: Okonomiyaki and Jealousy (working on it)
Part III: Parting Ways (not even close)
Part IV: The Beach and Night
Part V: Untitled as of yet
***********

	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 here Ranma. Maybe you should go up and 
talk to her?" Kasumi 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 seconds 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 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 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 his son'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 terrible.
	Ranma opened his eyes and noticed everyone was looking 
at him.
	Nabiki grinned and said, "Guess you better go apologize, 
eh Ranma?"
	Ranma looked frustrated, 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 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!
	"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 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 
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 
Ranma-die-mode.
	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
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 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, 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, 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 what?
					*****
	Ranma sank to the floor against the wall and thought, "Wow."
*drip* *drip*
	Ranma looked down at the floor and noticed a couple of 
splotches of red.
	"What the...?" he wondered.
	Ranma reached up to his nose and felt the wetness, and 
realized his nose was bleeding.
	"Oh man..." he thought... "now I am turning into RYOUGA...."
	With that thought of Ryouga, Ranma got mad again.
	He thought, "Damn that pig! If he hadn't interrupted...."
	Ranma paused mid-thought.
	"If he hadn't... then what?" he wondered.
	Ranma knew he loved Akane. He had admitted that to 
himself when he held her in his arms, thinking he had lost her forever. 
He still couldn't tell her though... he had tried... and tried.
	"It is so DAMN HARD!" he yelled. And he knew the real reason
why he was so afraid.
	It was because he was half-girl and he felt he would never
be good enough for someone like Akane unless he was 100% male. 
She was so damned impetuous that he could barely keep up with all her
disasters as it was. More than anything else he wanted to protect her... 
to keep her safe... to be able to have her there as long as he lived. 
He had to admit it: Ranma never wanted to lose her. Because he loved
Akane.
	Akane was a part of him he couldn't give up. His fiancee.
	He had thought that his curse wasn't important any more.
	But it was.