people asked me to post this yet again. Sigh. What the heck are you all 
writing your stories in?! I write mine in notepad and then cut and paste
them into Eudora. What the heck is causing all these errors ? SOB :(

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 am sorry I yelled at you, Kasumi."
	Kasumi smiled. "That is 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
Anime Page!!! includes my Ranma and MI picture pages!!
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~marisa/
Mermaid Saga Web Page!!
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~marisa/mermaid.html
Member of COR and UDIC.
Anime otaku forever! Medieval Studies and English major.