The Night After

				by Lord Archive

	It is late at night and Ranma is resting on the roof of the Tendo
home above Akane's room. He is deep in thought over the events of the
past few days.

	"We were close, so close. But, the others had to interfere, and
ruin it all. Why couldn't they just step aside. They just didn't know how
much I wanted this. Hell, I didn't know I wanted it. Not until it was
already ruined." Ranma thought before remembering an event from the
previous day.

------

	In the Tendo dinning room shortly after Soun has called off the wedding
do to damages to the house and dojo. The Tendos and Saotomes are there
recuperating from the day's hectic events except for Ranma and Akane, of
course they are fighting.

"Ranma this is all your fault!" howled Akane for the umpteenth time since
the announcement that the wedding has been called off.

"If you told me about the Nannichan earlier I would have been in a better
position to stop this mess." bellowed Ranma in reply.

"It was all of your fiancees that crashed the wedding!"

"Like it was my idea to invite them! I had nothing to do with that!"

"You keep stringing them along! You should have given them their walking
papers a long time ago!"

Before Ranma could howl his reply to Akane's last statement, Nabiki
interrupts by commenting, "The way you two are fighting, one would think
you wanted to get married."

"Yeah, so what's your point Nabiki?" Ranma said while glaring at Nabiki,
before he really considering his reply.

Ranma realize the scope of what he said only after the room went into
stunned silence. All eyes trained on him.

"Ra..Ra..Ranma, do you really mean it? Did you really want to marry me?"
spoke a shocked Akane.

"Do you think I would say that, if I didn't mean it." replied Ranma a bit
defensively. Becoming very uncomfortable with the idea of what Akane's
next question will be, he says, "I'm rather tired from everything
that's happened today, I'm going to bed." Ranma gets up and leaves..

"Ranma" he faintly heard Akane say on his way to his room.

----------

"I guess a good portion to blame for this is mine. I should have stopped
them before they could have interfered with the wedding. Told them the
truth. But, if I told them what I thought was the truth back then, I
would have told her a lie. I just did not realize just what I felt about
her. Not until I thought I lost her. But when she asked me later how I
felt, I denied it. Why? Why couldn't I tell her then? Face it your a
coward when it comes to expressing how much I care for other people. I
don't want to appear weak to others by my expressing those feelings.
That's what I keep telling myself. But, I'm afraid. Afraid I will be
rejected. Afraid if I told her what I truly feel about her, she'll respond
the same way as Shampoo does to Moose. Hated. Why am I afraid she'll
reject me though? Sure, she's expressed some hostility towards me, but
usually after I did or said something stupid. But, she sure seemed happy
this morning." Ranma thought before thinking about when he was walking to
school this morning with Akane.

----------

"We're off." cheered Akane as she and Ranma left for school.

Ranma smiled at the sight of the Akane. She was very happy and had that
smile that always seemed to melt his heart. 

	While the smile never left his face, Ranma was lost in thought. So
lost in thought, he doesn't realize he's walking next to Akane and not on
the fence. At least not until she asks him "What are you thinking about,
Ranma?" 

"Huh? What did you say?" replied Ranma as he lost his train of thought as
it switches to, "Man she is so uncute, `cause she is sooo beautiful."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about some stuff."

"Like what?"

Akane never got her answer as Kuno choose this moment to make his
entrance. Kuno being very persistent this morning delays them long enough
that they have to run to class or be late.

----------

"I wish she showed signs that she is in love with me. Maybe she does, and
I'm just blind to them. I won't get any peace of mind about this unless I
tell her. I'm just going to have to face my fears and tell her. Might as
well check to see if she's asleep."
 
	Ranma got up and walked towards the part of the roof that is
directly above Akane's bedroom window. Ranma knelt down and flipped down
in a fluid motion that placed him face to face with Akane. She apparently
has been standing there, staring out the window all night.

"A.. Akane." Ranma said.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Akane in a voice confused at
being delighted or angry at seeing him.

"It's just that I wanted to see if you're awake. I ahh wanted to talk to
you about some stuff."

"All right."

"Um Akane, well, er... I..." Ranma began nervously.

"Why don't you come inside." Akane said while stepping back so Ranma
could enter.

"Okay" Ranma said as he swayed back and forth to build momentum. In one
smooth motion, he flies through the window and lands on the floor in
front of Akane.

"So what did you want to talk about?" she said.

"I ahh... I just wanted to say... I.. I... I'm sorry." he finally said as
he sat down on Akane's bed.

"Sorry about what?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"Sorry for hurting you, by stringing along my other fiancees. I should
have told them a while ago that I didn't want to marry them."

"Well, we can fix that situation now. Can't we?"

"Sure we can." he said before saying, "And you were right in saying that
I would be sorry if I didn't marry you. Because I am."

	Akane is smiling, her heart is pounding, she can't believe what
she is hearing. "He wants to marry me. ME! And it looks like he's going
to say it. He's really going to say it!" she thought, not wanting to
distract Ranma she nods in agreement to his statement rather than say
anything.

"Akane, I'm sorry I lied to you yesterday, when you said that you know
that I'm in love with you, and I denied it. Akane I do love you." he said
staring into Akane's eyes.

A long moment passes before Akane replies, "Ra.. Ra.. Ranma, you have no
idea how long I waited for you to say that. I love you too." 

	She immediately embraces Ranma, who quickly returns the hug. He
releases the embrace first. She backs away wondering for a second why he
ended it so soon. It was answered quickly as he leaned forward and kissed
her and going into another embrace, one that neither of them wanted to
end anytime soon.

*******************************

Author's note:
This is the first Ranma fanfic I have ever posted. This story is more of
a test to see if I am on the right track in writing fanfic. If you
couldn't tell, this story occurs the night after the end of the Manga
series.  I am considering making a Lemon sequel to this fic, and possibly
another short fic related to this one. Soon I will post a story that may
be the beginning of yet another series that may never end (partly do to
the fact it will create new ongoing problems while solving older ones). 

Legal babble: Ranma 1/2 and all characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz
Video, ect...  I'm just borrowing them without permission. I'll give them
back. (Well maybe not Ukyou ;) 

Please give me C&C or even a MSTing of this story. If you wish to reply
in private mail contact me at archive@mich.com



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*   Lord Archive the JAFO, furverted otaku that is addicted to Mtg.   *
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