Closer 
By Kiwi Noriega

	ALL RIGHTS ARE OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND VIZ VIDEO

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CLOSER


	The day dawned and the sun cast its light upon the whole of the Tendo
dojo. The wind picked up and carried the leaves through the morning air.
Ranma wiped sweat off his brow as he drank water from a bottle, careful not
to let Akane see he was watching her. He had woken up earlier than her for
his practice and Akane was just starting hers. She was in the garden,
practicing with the dummy. His face turned to a shade of pink as he watched
her stretch, her slim body arching through the sun's rays. Her beautiful
hair swayed as she started a few punches on the dummy. Ranma found himself
entranced at the sight before him. He sat down on the sun deck and
pretended not to watch her. She was starting kicks now and Ranma watched as
her blows hit the dummy. 

	Akane continued kicking the dummy, aware that Ranma was watching her. For
no reason at all, she practiced harder whenever Ranma was around. She could
feel his eyes on her though he pretended that he wasn't doing so. Akane
felt her face getting red at the thought that Ranma was watching her
intently. 

	Buoyed by the surge of feelings that went through him watching Akane, he
stood up and approached her. The time it took for him to get to Akane felt
like an eternity, his steps slowed as he got closer to Akane, his heart
pounding in his chest. He felt hot all of a sudden and was thankful that he
was wearing a sleeveless shirt. 

	Akane looked at Ranma walking towards her at the corner of her eye, making
sure he didn't notice. She felt her blows miss a few times, showing her
lack of concentration, but right now, her center of attention was on the
person walking slowly to her.

	Ranma saw how Akane's blows suddenly changed patterns. Akane stopped in
mid-kick when Ranma was a feet away from her. She turned and smiled at him,
sending his thoughts to a flurry of motion. She turned back to the dummy
and continued her practice, her blows obviously stronger than before.

"So how about a spar?" Ranma blurted out, waiting for Akane's answer. He
felt weird asking her to spar like this; usually it started off with him
teasing her and Akane starting the whole fight. It actually felt good, to
not have to coax her into a sparring session. 

Akane was caught off guard by his question and hid it with a small smile.
"Um, okay..."

They both faced each other, a bit awkward at their peaceful start. They
both took defensive stances and warily looked at each other, awaiting the
other's move. 

Akane started it and ran, her fist extended to hit him directly on the
face. Ranma dodged and waited for a brief moment for Akane to recover, he
tried a sweep and wasn't surprised when Akane jumped over his feet. They
exchanged blows for a while, neither one giving the other the upper hand. 

Akane noticed Ranma pulling his blows and making his moves slower. *So he
thinks I'm not fast enough, well we'll see.* For once, that thought didn't
fuel her anger, but instead it was replaced by a warm feeling of mirth. She
smiled at the thought and tried harder to at least hit him once. 

"C'mon Akane, you can do better than that!" Ranma said, with a taunting
edge to his voice.

Akane answered him by saying, "This is just a warm-up!" 

A grin came over Ranma's face and he decided not to answer her. Akane
responded to Ranma's silence by a grin of her own that set his heart on
fire.  

Ranma admired Akane's strength as she sparred with him. Few women could
ever possess Akane's strength and beauty, though there were some women
warriors in Nerima. There was one thing that set Akane apart from the other
women he knew. They weren't her. The answer was as simple as that, though
it wasn't as easy to explain that to another person. He cared for her for
who she was, for being the beautiful and violent Akane he always trusted.
Ranma had a sudden urge to 'accidentally' trip and pull Akane with him to
the ground, before he could think otherwise, he realized he had just did
what he thought.

Akane let out a yelp as Ranma was suddenly pulling her down on top of him.
She saw him losing his balance and tried to help, but was only dragged
along with him. Time froze and they looked into each other's eyes, an air
of uncertainty passing over them. Ranma attempted to stand up but that only
made their flushed faces an inch closer. They remained in that position for
a while, enjoying the warmth shared by the other. Their eyes met and a
brief exchange of what could only be described as warm passed between them.


Their moment of silence was broken when Akane said, almost reluctantly,
"Um, we'd better stand up, um, in case oneechan and the others come back."

Ranma let out an uneasy chuckle and answered, "Yeah, we wouldn't want them
to think that we were, um...we were...um...y'know." She nodded her
agreement and they slowly stood, Akane helping Ranma up.

"I'll stay here..." Ranma said when Akane started for the sundeck.  

Before she stepped inside, Akane turned to him and said, "Um, Ranma?" 

"Yeah?"

 Akane's smile widened and she said, "Next time...don't be too obvious."

Ranma's smile faded and he choked audibly. *She knew!!!!* Surprise was gone
in an instant and as he watched her retreating form silhouetted by the
setting sun, a quiet smile shone on his face and he called out, "You uncute
tomboy!!" 

Akane glanced back to smile sweetly at him, "Pervert!" she ran up to her
room before he saw her crimson face, her heart soaring.

Ranma looked out to the horizon and thought, *Don't worry Akane...next
time, I'll do something better...* The thought put a smile to his face and
he casually walked into the house, his steps light and a certain song on
his mind.
	'The closer I get to touching you, the closer I get to loving you, just
give it time, just a little more time, and we'll be together, you and I...'

-end-


Author's notes:

	Well, I hope you all liked it. Only a handful of people would know the
song I based the story on, it's called 'Closer' and it's kind of an old
song. The last words on the story were just a part of the song. Well that's
it, comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome at
becknkal@addax.bc.ca

	Please visit my page, 'The Anything Goes Ranma 1/2 Fanfic Page' at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9371

-Kiwi ^_^