A Lesson In Love
Chapter XIII: Forgiveness
By Marisa Price
(Copyright to Marisa Price, 1996, All Rights Reserved)
mdp102@york.ac.uk

Part II

	Akane's eyelashes gently moved, and Ranma sat up
and leaned toward the bed expectantly.
	Her eyes finally opened, and she grimaced in pain.
She looked up and noticed Ranma staring at her, a worried
frown on his face. Her eyes were blank, and then she turned
her face to look the other direction.
	Ranma blinked, surprised, and queried, "A...Akane?"
	"What, are you here to gloat?" she asked darkly.
	Ranma was now shocked. He reached out to touch her
shoulder and she shrugged his hand away.
	He froze. He recognized this Akane, this was the 
girl he had known for the first year of their relationship.
She was again the angry girl who had pounced on him for
every thing that he had done wrong, mallet in hand.
	"What's wrong? What're you talking about?" he 
finally asked.
	Akane turned to look at him again and said, "I 
thought you would be with Ukyou; after all, she's the one
that you love."
	Ranma sat back in his chair, the breath knocked 
from his body as if she had physically punched him. He
asked, hoarsely, "What the hell are you TALKING about,
Akane?!"
	She rolled her head back to look at the ceiling,
desperately trying to maintain her coldness to stay the
tears that threatened to erupt from her eyes.
	"I read the 'project' that you were working on this
morning, the one that you were so desperate to hide from
me," she said in a monotone.
	"Project?" Ranma wondered aloud, having forgotten
the letter completely.
	She stiffened, and, trying to restrain herself,
said with gritted teeth, "You know, the letter. After 
reading that, it made sense to me why you were asking me
last night about 'how to chose between two girls that you
loved equally' and all that."
	"The letter??" Ranma asked, racking his brain. Then
he remembered. Ranma stood so quickly that his chair 
clattered to the ground. He stood up and went over to the
wall and braced himself against it, desperately trying to
control himself, taking deep, even breaths.
	Akane looked at him before saying, sarcastically,
"What? Remember now?"
	Ranma turned to Akane and looked at her, sadly,
before he said, "Akane no baka."
	He stormed towards her, and put his hands on the
bed, looking her in the eyes. He said, quietly, "If you
are talking about what I think you are talking about, then
you almost killed yourself over a letter to Ukyou from
RYOUGA."
	"Ryouga?" Akane said blankly, her eyes having 
widened, and then she said, "But...!"
	"But what?" Ranma asked, sitting back in his 
chair, dejectedly.
	He started to count on his fingers, "First off,"
he ticked off one of his fingers, "You shoulda trusted
me more than that. Secondly, you shoulda came and asked me
before you went and got all excited. Thirdly, how could
ya have even thought such a thing when I asked you to
marry me last night?!"
	Akane had begun to cry. She sobbed, "But you never
told me that Ryouga was back! How long has he been here?
How could I have known! All I knew was that you were being
all secretive this morning, and then all of a sudden I 
found this letter!"
	Ranma said, sadly, "You're right. I SHOULD have 
told you that Ryouga was back. But," he added, "I was 
trying to spare you from having to deal with him. And,
anyway, you still should have known that letter wasn't from
me! Was it signed 'Ranma' anywhere?!"
	Akane thought back, and then started to shake her
head back and forth, tears rolling off her cheeks.
	Ranma said grimly, "I didn't think so. Akane," he
stood again and looked down at her, saying sharply, "Shit.
What do I haveta do to get you to trust me?! Get rid of 
every girl who has ever looked twice at me?"
	Akane closed her eyes and got out, "N..No..!"
	Ranma pulled away, crossing his arms on his chest.
	"Shampoo is gone by the way, back to China. That
should make you happy at least."
	She started and asked, "Gone..? Oh Ranma..." She
said, between sobs, "I...." sniffle "am..." gasp "SO" cry
"SORRY!!!!" Her tears began again.
	Ranma leaned down and picked her up gently, holding
her in his lap. He then took her hand and showed it to her,
saying, "Look Akane. I gave you this ring because you're
the most important person in the whole universe to me. I
love you so much that it hurts sometimes."
	She looked up at him tearfully, and said, "Ranma..."
	He shushed her, and placed his finger on her lips,
and then said, "Akane. You just have to learn to believe in
me. I always protect you, and I have never wanted anyone
else. Why can't you see that?"
	She leaned against him and his arms went around her
protectively. She said, quietly, "I'm so sorry Ranma. I 
can be such a jealous, suspicious, idiot. I guess I can't
figure out why you would want to spend the rest of your
life with someone like me."
	"Akane, I like you just the way you are. You're
perfect," he said, softly kissing the top of her head,
avoiding the bandages.
	"Ranma, I love you..."
	"I know. I love you too, you kawaiikune bakarou."
	She gave a wet giggle, sniffling.
	He lifted her chin so that her eyes looked up to
his, and said, "I forgive you for being an idiot today. And
I'm sorry about not telling you that Ryouga was around; it
coulda stopped a lot of people from being hurt."
	Akane sat up and said, "Oh god. Ukyou. Is she OK?"
	"I dunno," Ranma shrugged, "I hadta worry about you
first. And I kinda thought that the whole thing was HER 
fault, so I was ready to hate her." Ranma realized that he
was immensely relived that this had all been a just a
misunderstanding, and that Ukyou hadn't betrayed him.
	Akane gasped, and then realized that Ranma could
not have known that SHE would go attack Ukyou.
	"Oh no," Akane said fearfully, "You didn't do 
anything to her did you? I think she was just gonna pin
me down and then I, dummy that I can be, let myself get
distracted and turn, making her aim off..."
	Ranma shook his head, and said, "No. Ryouga made
me think about it, and then I brought you here. Ryouga is
over at her place right now."
	Ranma looked at her and then asked, "You know...
Did you know that you were about to do a Shishi-Hokodan 
when I burst through Ucchan's door?"
	"What?" Akane asked in surprise.
	Ranma nodded and said, looking at her a bit
differently, from a martial artist's standpoint, "Hey, Akane,
I think you may have been right all this time that you were
a martial artist."
	"Gee thanks," Akane said sarcastically, wincing as
she moved her shoulder the wrong way.
	Ranma stuck his tongue out at her and then said,
"You know, I think I am gonna start trying to train you to
do a few ki-based attacks once you get better.."
	"Really?" Akane asked, her eyes bright and hopeful.
	He smiled at her and gave her a gentle kiss.
	"Really."
	They just held each other for awhile, when Akane
finally said, "You know, we should probably call Ukyou and
Ryouga and let them know that I am going to be OK."
	The door opened, startling Ranma and Akane, and
Nabiki sauntered into the room. She smiled at the cuddled
couple, and then said, "I just called them. Dr. Tofu told
me there had been some sort of accident and that he knew
Ukyou was involved."
	She looked at her bandaged little sister and said,
"You OK, Sis?"
	Akane nodded.
	Nabiki smiled again and said, "Well, that's good.
Dr. Tofu said he heard that you were awake in here, but
decided not to disturb the two of you. He'll probably want
to come in now and look at you."
	As if on cue, Dr. Tofu entered the room and looked
happily at his patient. Akane smiled back and Ranma got
off of the hospital bed, letting her lay back down so that
the doctor could examine her.
	He checked all of her injuries, and then gave her
a gentle pat on the head. He said to her, "You look good,
Akane. You are just going to need a lot of R&R for the next
week or so, and you should try to keep those bandages
clean," he looked at her, serious all of a sudden, and
added, "And stay out of fights, OK?"
	Akane promised to stay out of trouble.
	"Well. That's all I can do. I think you should stay
here at the clinic overnight, as you have lost a lot of
blood, but you can go home tomorrow. The scarring should be
minimal. Just take care of yourself, got it?"
	Akane nodded again, and Ranma vowed to protect her.
	Tofu looked reassured, and started to walk out of
the room, reminding them that he lived in the back room of
the clinic, and that if Akane needed him they should feel
no qualms about waking him up.
	Nabiki walked over to her sister and gave her a
brief hug. She said, quietly, "There isn't anything I 
should know?"
	Akane shook her head and said, "No, Sis. It was all
just a HUGE misunderstanding..."
	Nabiki nodded and seemed placated by that, but
added, "OK. You let me know if the situation changes. I 
want my little sister to stay happy and healthy." Nabiki
eyed Ranma at this point, as if the whole situation was his
fault. She then said, "Well, I'm outta here then. I have a
TON of stuff to do. I'll tell everyone that you are safe,
and try to stop Dad from crying his eyes out. See you later
guys! Oh Ranma, don't forget you owe me for earlier!"
	And Nabiki was gone.
	"Are you sure you're related to her?" Ranma asked,
bewildered.
	Akane giggled, "Nabiki is Nabiki. She's pretty
incorrigible."
	"Um, hello?" a voice called from the front lobby.
	Ryouga.
	"I'll go show him where we are so he doesn't get
lost. Are you gonna be OK?" 
	Akane nodded, realizing that it was time to deal 
with the situation.
	Ranma disappeared for a minute, and then reappeared
with Ryouga in tow. Behind Ryouga, almost hiding behind his
shoulder, was Ukyou.
	Ryouga said, bowing formally, "If you can find it
in your heart to allow me, I would like to apologize to 
you."
	Akane respected his formality, and said, "You can
speak, Ryouga."
	Ryouga fumbled for words, but then managed, "Akane.
I kept secrets from you for a very long time, and I want to
apologize for that. I only did what I thought was right at
the time; now I realize that it was wrong. Firstly, I hope
that you can forgive me for that and that we might be able
to be friends again. Secondly, I ask you to please forgive
me for the incident today. I left a letter for Ukyou in
Ranma's room, and I am afraid that was what caused all the
trouble today. I was responsible for your misinterpretation."
	Akane smiled sweetly at Ryouga and said, "As to 
your first request, I forgave you for that already. It 
seems like such a long time ago anyway, and it was pretty
idiotic for me not to have figured it out in the first 
place. Let's just put that behind us, OK? Your second 
request is denied."
	Ryouga, who had begun to look much happier during
Akane's speech, was startled back into despair as he echoed
her words: "...D...Denied?"
	Akane nodded, her expression serious. Then she
smiled and said, "Denied because it wasn't your fault. -I-
was at fault because I didn't trust Ranma like I should
have. It was also Ranma's fault," here she slugged Ranma,
"Because if he had told me in the first place, this never
would have happened."
	Ranma glowered at her.
	Ryouga smiled at Akane, and bowed again, saying, 
"Thanks, Akane. It means the world to me..."
	Akane nodded, and gave him a reassuring smile. Then
she looked at Ukyou, lurking behind Ryouga.
	Akane said, softly, "Ukyou..."
 	Ukyou looked at Akane, and Akane saw that there
were tears in Ukyou's eyes.
	"Ukyou, I am so sorry for blaming you and attacking
you... you didn't deserve that..."
	Ukyou ducked around Ryouga and ran to Akane's side,
throwing her arms around her, hugging her while trying not
to hurt her.
	Ukyou gasped out, "Akane, -I- am so sorry. I
wouldn't have hurt you on purpose for anything. I only
meant to pin your clothing down to stop you from blowing up
the restaurant... but you moved..."
	Akane hugged Ukyou back and said, starting to cry
herself, "I know. You spent the whole time trying to calm
me down. You had no choice. It was my fault, not yours..."
	"I... I'm also sorry for being such a pain in the
ass lately. I have been such a jerk to you, just because I
was jealous of how happy you were with Ranma.." Ukyou
cried.
	Akane soothed her, "No, no, no. I would have acted
the same way. I haven't been very understanding about how
you felt either... I'm sorry too..."
	Ukyou pulled away from Akane and smiled at her, 
wiping her hand on her cheek to get rid of the wetness 
there. She said, "Akane, you know, if we had met in a 
different kind of situation, I actually think we would have
been really good friends..."
	"I think we still can be really good friends..."
Akane said gently.
	Ranma coughed, and said, "I think we should all 
just forgive each other and get on with life."
	Everyone giggled.
	Ranma looked at Ryouga and Ukyou and asked, "So,
guys, I'm assuming you've gotten over your little fight and
are getting along again?"
	They looked at each other, blushed, and nodded.
	Ranma smiled and went over to hold Akane in his
arms, and then said, "Well get the heck outta here and let
Akane sleep then. I'll see you both at work tomorrow, OK?
Gotta start getting together money for China!"
	Ryouga and Ukyou agreed, and then went over to hug
Akane goodbye. After they had left, Akane relaxed back in
Ranma's arms and enjoyed the feeling of security. Ranma
gave her a lopsided grin and commented, "Well, that was
pretty easy."
	Akane smiled back at him, then closed her eyes and
started to relax, her head-wound still painful and the loss
of blood making her sleepy.
	But before she let herself fall asleep she mumbled
to Ranma, happily, "Forgiveness is a wonderful thing..." 

End of Chapter XIII