Sorry for the delay- I know some of you have gotten used to me weekly
postings of these chapters.  Well, it WAS finished last week, but I didn't
finish with prereaders revisions until today (largely because my monitor
died and I was busy with Chapter 8, which is already with my prereaders). 
Anyway, C&C welcome.  Here goes.

Chapter 7

Some time during that night, the covers were worked off of Akane's feet. 
Whether it was Ranma's fault or hers would never be determined, but what
happened when she woke up was definitely something she had done- and
neither the Oni nor Iria had anything to do about it.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAH!  THAT'S COLD!" Ranma screamed as she placed her cold feet
on his bare legs.  Akane would always CLAIM that the Oni and Iria were
responsible for it, however.

Regardless of who was responsible, however, it effectively woke Ranma up.

"Ah, good, you're awake," Akane noted with a sly smile on her face.  Her
smile fell a little before she continued.  "Ready for the next part of our
little plan?" she asked nervously.

"Uh...."  Ranma had momentarily forgotten why he was in Akane's bed, but
the moment she mentioned the plan he recalled everything about the previous
night.    And he recalled the next part of the plan- to share the morning
bath... with certain conditions so that it wouldn't be any worse than those
times they had walked in on each other.  "Not really, but I doubt I could
work myself any closer to being ready, so we might as well do it now."

Akane nodded.  She felt much the same way.  "Well... who should go first?"

Ranma thought for a second.  "Why don't you?  That would feel more...
natural."

Akane raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed.  He was right, though- as often
as Ranma had walked in on her instead of the other way around, it DID feel
more normal to have him join her instead of having her join him, so she
nodded before leaving for the bathroom, Ranma following her.  She stepped
into the changing room, stripped, used the toilet, and stepped into the
bath.

Ranma knocked a minute later before entering the changing room himself. He
took off his clothes, walked over to the door.  "Akane?  Let me know when I
can come in."

A couple minutes later, after Ranma had brushed his teeth and got as ready
as he could for the day before his bath, a call came out from the bathroom,
and Ranma walked in, blushing badly. The lights were dimmed a little, as
they had agreed previously, but it was still bright enough to illuminate
all of his features.  He couldn't look up to see her face as he sat down
and rinsed himself in cold water, changing into his female half and
scrubbing away any dirt with his pumice-based soap before turning towards
the furo to join Akane.

He was a little surprised to see Akane facing away from him.  "Uh... I'm
coming in."

Akane nodded and turned to face him.  Her eyes were the seductive ones. 
"Hurry on up and get in the tub, Ranma.  Akane made me take over her body
until your lower half is under the water."

"Uh... right," he answered as he stepped into the water, changing back to
his male form.  He felt Iria-through-Akane's eyes on him as he sank down
into the steaming hot water.

"Akane's one lucky girl," the controlling succubus said, smirking, before
she blinked and Akane resumed control.  Her comment, however, had reduced
Ranma to a mindlessly blushing mass.

The two young people stared at each other from opposite ends of the furo. 
The dim lighting, the slightly rippling water, and the steam rising above
it were all doing their parts to distort the features below the surface,
but it was still clear enough that neither Ranma nor Akane felt very
comfortable.  After all, the only thing they would have to do to see
something would be to TRY and see it....

They just kept staring into each other's eyes, neither one willing to leave
the bath first, staying as far away from each other as possible.  No words
were spoken for a long time, each waiting for the other to start talking,
or move, or do SOMETHING.

"All right, this is ridiculous," Akane growled after almost a full hour of
staring at Ranma.  With a determined expression on her face, she slid
across through the still-hot water towards him.  Ranma's eyes widened as
she got closer and closer, until she finished moving, right next to him. 
"If we're going to stay in the tub like this, we might as well talk about
SOMETHING, so... are you ready to start back to school tomorrow?"

Ranma twitched with the closeness of a naked Akane.  "Well," he began, his
voice cracking, "I'm as ready for classes as always, but... I'm not sure
I'm ready to face down all of our classmates.  Especially if they find out
what we're about to do."

Akane didn't say anything for a few seconds.  She was worried about the
same thing.  However, she decided to help Ranma forget about his
concerns... by teasing him.  "What?  Are you worried about losing to
Kunou?"

Ranma, though, wasn't in the mood.  "Of course not- I doubt he even goes to
Furinken any more- isn't he in Nabiki's grade level?  Shouldn't he have
moved up to college by now?"  As he talked, his nervousness slowly left
him.  "I'm worried about... well, my friends- and yours, too, I guess. 
Ucchan... she's a great friend to both of us- maybe even more to you than
me, despite the past she and I share- but she showed at our failed wedding
that she won't let that stop her if she feels like she's about to lose me. 
And Hiroshi and Daisuke will tease me endlessly about it- they already ask
me if you and I've done it every day.  And your friends- Yuka and Sayuri,
is it?  I'm not sure about how they behave to most people, but they don't
really seem to like me.  I don't know how they'd react to hearing that you
HAVE to sleep with me, but...."  He sighed, not able to finish.  "I really
wish you'd decided to just skip school this week.  We wouldn't have had to
deal with any of this."

Akane, not thinking about what she was doing, put an arm around her
troubled fiancee and gave him a squeeze.  "I made the decision to face
this, Ranma, and I was prepared to face the consequences.  Except for
Ukyou, it seems to me that all of the problems you mentioned deal with how
our friends look at ME- and I am ready for them, and willing to take
whatever they give.  Don't worry about it."

Ranma, his senses suddenly aware again of Akane sitting next to him,
tensed.  However, he still returned the favor, and placed an arm of his own
around Akane, and hugged her to him.  He'd expected their relationship to
go fast over the next few days, but he had never expected to get this close
to her this soon.  "Akane, I can't help but worry about it.  You know how I
feel about you- I don't like seeing you hurt.  And if this mess causes you
to lose all your friends...."

Akane melted inside at his concern, and she just hugged him tighter,
leaning her whole upper body against his chest.  They stayed like that in
silence for some time, holding on to each other in the bath tub.  They both
got more comfortable with each other and eventually Akane, the heat of the
water relaxing her muscles and feeling more content then she had in years,
drifted off to sleep, her head slumping onto Ranma's shoulder.  He started
to get pretty sleepy himself, and nuzzled his head on top of Akane's,
closing his eyes.

It was right about then that the door suddenly slid open and Nodoka walked
in, startling Ranma enough that he jumped.  Akane was awakened by the
movement of her living pillow, and blinked herself awake.

"Mom!" Ranma gasped, turning his face away from his naked mother- and into
Akane's naked chest as she started to stand up.  "Ulp!"

Akane knew she was showing herself off, but just bore it with a bad blush. 
After all, the plan called for her and Ranma to change in front of each
other after the bath, so he'd be seeing in all her glory shortly, anyway. 
"Auntie Saotome!  What are you doing!"

"Oh!  I'm sorry!" Nodoka apologized sincerely.  "I heard you get up a
couple hours ago, and was sure you would have been out by now.  You two
REALLY need to remember to put out the sign."  She smiled at Ranma, who was
transfixed by the sight in front of him.  "Don't worry, Akane- I'll leave
you and my manly son to finish whatever you were doing."  With that, Mrs.
Saotome stepped on out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Well, that ruined the mood," Akane sighed, stepping out of the furo a
moment later and heading to the door.  She looked back and saw Ranma still
sitting in the tub, his eyes still where she had been a minute before. 
"Ranma!  Get out of the tub- we need to get dressed.  It's a good thing we
don't need to go to school today, or we'd already be late!"

Ranma blinked, stood up, and followed Akane to his room (both of them
grabbing robes as they went, just in case Nodoka showed up again).  He felt
extremely nervous as Akane forced herself to watch him shed the robe and
slip on his clothes, and it showed as he almost put his boxers on
backwards.  When he had finished dressing in a dark green silk shirt and
his usual black drawstring trousers, he followed Akane to her room, where
she slipped on her clothes as well- a bra, some polka-dotted panties (she
teasingly asked him which pair she should wear, and all he could do was
mention one of the only pairs he knew she owned), a blouse, a mid-length
skirt, and a vest.  Ranma twitched so much through the whole thing that
Akane once contemplated tying him down.

*	*	*	*	*

The rest of the day went along uneventfully, for the most part.  Ranma and
Akane stayed near each other for the entire day, except when one of them
had to use the bathroom.  They ate sitting next to each other, watched
television with their arms wrapped over each other's shoulders, and,
shortly before bedtime, they went out to the dojo and practiced katas
together (doing a fairly basic kata that they both knew well), just to keep
themselves in practice.

When it was time for them to go to bed, they both automatically went to
Akane's room, and changed into their night clothes.  It was fairly easy for
Ranma- all he had to do was to take off his shirt and pants- he'd been
exposed to Akane in his underclothes often enough that he wasn't too
concerned.  Akane, however, had to strip all her clothes off so she could
change into her nightgown.

Akane's nervousness left her quickly, however.  As she slipped off the vest
and started unbuttoning the blouse, she recovered the confidence she had
gained that morning, and finished undressing in a sort of comic strip-tease
sort of way, twirling each article of clothing in her hands before she
tossed it across the room and into the dirty clothes basket.  She grinned
slightly as Ranma gawked at her, enjoying his reaction.

"Akane..." he squeaked, searching her eyes to make sure it wasn't Iria who
just gave him the show.  Akane slipped on the nightgown, and crawled into
bed.  Ranma, much like the previous night, had to be told to join her and
turn off the lights.

Soon, both were asleep again- though this time, Akane cuddled up to him
BEFORE she fell asleep.

*	*	*	*	*

Ranma and Akane woke up to the alarm the next morning, and hurriedly
prepared for school.  They once again entered the changing room and bathing
room separately (after all, sharing a bath is one thing, but some things
still needed to be done in private) but this time they just washed and
slipped into the furo with few reservations.  They started sitting together
in the tub from the start, but they didn't hold on to or lean against each
other like they had the previous day- they were more comfortable with
themselves, but they still weren't totally relaxed.

If they'd had longer to soak, the warmth of the water might have lifted the
nervousness from them and they might have wound up like they had the last
time, but both were trying to limit their time in the tub in order to get
ready for school.  They ran to change into their school clothes- first
Akane's room, this time, and then Ranma's.

At breakfast, while his mother was taking some of the dishes back to the
kitchen, Ranma looked sorrowfully at his fiancee.  "It's not too late- you
can change your mind if you want."

Akane blinked, a small bit of anger growing in her.  "What?  Do you think
I'm not attractive enough for you or something?" she growled.

Ranma was startled by her reaction.  "Huh?  What are you talking about?" he
wondered, backing off of her slightly.  "What does how attractive you are
have to do with going to school?"

Akane deflated.  "Uh, school?  Oh, sorry, I thought...."

"You thought I was talking about sleeping with you," Ranma finished,
grimacing.  Quickly checking to make sure his mother was still in the
kitchen, he reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder.  "Akane, I won't
lie to you about this- I'm scared.  I mean, a week ago, just doing
something like this," he gently caressed her hair, "Would have been
impossible- I couldn't have brought myself to do it, and you wouldn't have
let me even if I tried."  He grinned.  "If I seem reluctant, it has nothing
to do with how you look."

Akane smiled nervously.  "Ranma... am I... attractive?"

"Well," he began, swallowing.  "You aren't cute, normally- no, wait!  Let
me finish!"  Akane, who had nearly broke down in angry tears, glowered at
Ranma but didn't say anything.  "Like I said, you aren't normally cute. 
When you're happy and smiling, it shows all through you.  THEN you look
cute.  Also, your hair is very cute, and so is your nose when you wrinkle
it the way you do when you're teasing me- heck, even those little horns the
Oni's placed on you look cute," he grinned.  "Like I've said in the past,
you're cute when you want to be."  He took a deep breath before continuing.
 "But how cute you are has nothing to do with how attractive you are.  You
can be as uncute as you want, but that won't effect the fact that you're...
that you're a very beautiful woman."

"Ranma..." Akane whispered, her angry tears turning to happy ones.  The
hand cradling her hair pulled her towards Ranma as his other arm wrapped
around her waist, bringing her into a sympathetic hug to allow her to cry
on his shoulder.

At the sound of the kitchen door opening, they broke apart and quickly
returned to their seats.  A few minutes later, Akane grabbed a sun hat,
tucked her horns under it, and started out to school, Ranma walking next to
her.

Ranma was on his toes for the entire trip to school- every step of the way,
he was looking towards the ceilings and the alleys, warily searching for
any sign of an attacker- probably one of Amazon origin.

Akane, on the other hand, was viewing the walk as a nice relaxing stroll
through the neighborhood- it was the first time out of the house for her
since her possession, it was warm and sunny, and the time she and Ranma had
saved by taking their bath together allowed them to get to school early
despite walking at this slow pace- even if Ranma got doused along the way.

Ranma's heightened awareness allowed him to dodge the old woman watering
her sidewalk and the bucket of water tossed out of someone's window.  It
also allowed him to notice Akane's mood, which, despite his concerns, put a
smile on his face.  If Akane was happy, he'd be happy.

While they knew they had left early enough so that they wouldn't be late,
they hadn't realized that they would be so early that their classroom door
would still be locked.  Deciding to take the opportunity for some peace and
quiet, they sat down next to each other and chatted.  While they talked,
Akane unthinkingly leaned against Ranma's shoulder, much like she had while
they were watching television the previous day, and he absently put his arm
around her, again like they had much of the previous day.  They kept
talking, not even aware of what they were doing.

"Well, well!" a child-like voice burst into their world.  "I never thought
I'd be seeing you two here this early- especially not sitting together like
that."

"Urk!" Ranma gurgled, as he jumped away from Akane.

"We're sorry, Ms. Hinako!" Akane apologized, flustered.

"No need to apologize, Akane- I don't mind if you and your fiancee show
your feelings for each other during non-class hours.  Just don't disrupt
class with it."  Hinako smiled.  "But you might want to remove your hat,
since we're inside right now."

Akane grabbed her hat as if to keep Hinako from taking it.  "I, uh...." she
began.

"Akane's too embarrassed to remove her hat, Ms. Hinako- she got a bad
haircut recently, and she doesn't want it to show," Ranma intervened,
finally recovering his head.  Akane glared at him.

"Oh!" the teacher mouthed, unlocking the door.  "I see.  Well, I'll let you
keep that hat on for a while, Akane, but you have to sit in the back row so
as not to distract the other students."

Ranma leaned over to his fiance as they followed Ms. Hinako into the
classroom.  "What was that 'look' for?" he whispered.

"If you're going to come up with a lie, Ranma, at least come up with a
convincing one.  What's going to happen at the end of the week when I lose
the horns, huh?"

"Um," Ranma began nervously, suddenly seeing the problem.  "Get a bad
haircut?"

Akane growled.  "I happen to like my hair the way it is, thank you very
much."

"Er... I'd still love you," Ranma said, trying to make his suggestion seem
more palatable.  Akane just looked at him, trying desperately to keep a
stern expression on her face when all she wanted to do was burst out
laughing.  "Um... okay, sorry.  Stupid idea.  How about keeping the hat
until the next time you get your hair trimmed?  That way, you can say the
mistake was corrected?"

Akane frowned.  "I suppose that would work- though I still don't like it." 
Then she smiled, and glanced to make sure that the only other person in the
room still was Hinako before leaning over and kissing Ranma's cheek.  "And
I'd still love you, too."

Ranma, stunned, fell back into his seat.  Akane giggled, and settled into
her own seat next to him.  A few minutes later, other students started to
drift inside the classroom, and soon Ms. Hinako began her morning lecture.

*	*	*	*	*

Ranma and Akane sat down together at a tree for lunch, hoping no-one would
join them.  So far, several people had commented on Akane's hat, and many
people were wondering what her 'bad haircut' looked like.  Up until that
point, they had avoided the questions, but the constant harassment was
starting to get to them.  Not to mention that they kept hearing whispers
about how they seemed to be acting a little differently towards each other.

Unfortunately for them, lunch would not be the peaceful break they were
hoping.  Seconds after they opened their bento boxes, an enthusiastic
okonomiyaki chef bounced into their meal.

"Hi, Ranchan!" Ukyou began, kneeling down to join them.  "Hi, Akane!  How
are things?  I haven't seen either of you since that night we got back from
Toma's island, and the people who came up with our class schedules didn't
put us in a single class together!  Have you two been avoiding me?" she
admonished.  "Akane, I heard you got a bad haircut- what happened?  Is her
haircut really bad, Ranma?"

"Hi, Ucchan," Ranma said, forcing cheerfulness through his fear that the
Oni would be discovered in front of Ukyou.  "The haircut's not that bad-
Akane's just a little upset about it, so could you not mention it any
more?" he begged, rubbing his head as if Akane had pounded him several
times for bringing it up.

"Oh, of course.  Sorry, Akane," Ukyou apologized, winking to Ranma as if
she got the message.  "So, either of you want one of my deluxe specials?"

Ranma, despite his recent desire for privacy with Akane, smiled.  "I'd love
one, thanks!"

Akane grimaced at Ranma's casual acceptance of food from her
sometimes-friendly rival for his affections, but said nothing then.  "I
don't want any, thanks," she answered instead.  "Auntie Nodoka fixed a
delicious meal, and I'll barely be able to finish it all."

Ukyou, however, was completely ignoring her.  "So, how's the food,
Ranchan?"

"Good as always, Ucchan," Ranma replied, wiping some sauce off of the
corner of his mouth.

"I just KNEW you'd like it," the okonomiyaki chef replied, wiggling herself
in a very girlish manner.

"So, how's Ryouga doing, now that he's sleeping in your store?" Ranma
asked.

"Oh, you wouldn't BELIEVE what he did the other day...."

Akane started to growl.  True, she knew about Ranma and Ukyou's past, to
some extent, but the flirting was going too far.  The problem was, she knew
she couldn't pound Ranma for it- for one thing, that would ruin all the
progress she'd made so far with him, and besides, he seemed totally
oblivious to Ukyou's attentions.  All he was interested in was the food.

She also couldn't lash out at Ukyou- after all, the girl WAS a friend, and
besides, she might accidentally knock her hat off if she started something.
 Running off would also be a bad idea- part of the reason they had agreed
to spend all the time they could together was that neither of them trusted
the Oni, and she needed Ranma to keep an eye on her in case it tried
something funny.  So, all she could do was sit, growl, and work herself
into a bad mood.

After what seemed to be hours to Akane (but was, in fact, only a couple of
minutes of Ranma and Ukyou talking), the bell rang ending the lunch period.
 She started stomping off to class before Ranma, intent on showing her
displeasure any way she could.  Suddenly, Ranma grabbed her by the arm,
dragged her off into an empty room, and spun her to face him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized.  "But it would look AWFULLY strange if I
were to refuse to talk to Ukyou, you know."

"I know, apology accepted," Akane said in a tone which indicated the
apology WASN'T accepted.  "Let's go to class, okay?"

"No, it's not okay," Ranma growled.  "Not until you actually DO know. 
Haven't you heard all the people whispering about how much we've changed? 
Didn't you notice Ukyou was pressing for attention FAR more than usual? 
Haven't you noticed the people staring at us?"

"Well..." Akane began.  She had noticed, but she didn't see what that had
to do with anything.

"Akane, look.  We absolutely MUST keep our closer relationship secret from
this school for at least this week- if it was discovered that you and I
were now admitting our love to each other, and that we were doing things
like taking baths together and sleeping in the same bed, then we'd be
mobbed, and there would be no chance of keeping those two little horns of
yours from the people who want to separate us- and once they found out that
we're being coerced into having sex with each other, there would be no way
to convince them that we loved each other afterwards.  None.  Which would
mean they would NEVER give up trying to break us apart."

Akane frowned.  "So you're saying... we need to pretend we hate each other
still?"

Ranma's lips curled in amusement.  "Sort of.  I might not know too much
about people or dates or foreign languages or anything else I might learn
in school- I wasn't raised to care about such things.  I WAS raised,
however, to know everything possible about fighting and warfare- so when I
discovered how determined you were to come to school this week, I decided
to view the next week as a war plan- and one of the primary tenets I can
think of is:  'When strong, feign weakness.  When weak, feign strength.' 
Right now, our relationship is very strong, so we have to pretend it's
weaker than it is so as to get our enemies to ignore it.  If I can keep
everyone concentrated on me instead of on breaking you AWAY from me...."

"I see....  I'm sorry, Ranma," Akane said, sounding much more sincere this
time.  She hadn't realized that he had put that much thought into the
situation.

"That's okay.  Now we better hurry, or we'll be late for class."

*	*	*	*	*

The rest of the class day was fairly uneventful- outside of a few more
stares, and Ranma and Akane getting into a staged fight which stopped most
of the people whispering behind their backs.  They headed home, and
thankfully were not attacked by Shampoo.

They went to Akane's room upon entering the dojo and started their
homework.  They didn't have to work long on it- after all, it was only the
first day of school.  Then they went to the dojo, where Ranma taught Akane
a new kata, before plopping themselves in front of the television and
cuddling like they had much of the previous day.

"You know," Akane began, rolling Ranma's pigtail around her fingers.  "I
think I'm getting too used to this."

"Huh?" was his intelligent response.

"I think I'm getting too used to holding you.  We almost got caught this
morning, because I forgot we weren't supposed to hug each other in public."

Ranma wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, and so just shut up and
watched television.

*	*	*	*	*

A few hours later, Nodoka showed up and ushered them off to bed.  Ranma and
Akane went back to what they were starting to consider 'their' room, as
opposed to just Akane's.

They both took a deep breath.  This was going to be their biggest step
before the final one- this time, they were going to sleep together NAKED.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this," Akane said.

Ranma chuckled nervously.  "I haven't been ready for ANY of the steps we've
taken- until after we've taken them.  But if you're that worried, we can
always hold off for a day."

Akane looked hopeful for a moment, then sighed and shook her head.  "No...
I'd better save those extra nights we scheduled for when we finally... go
all the way.  I'll need them for that."

Ranma nodded.  "Okay... if you're sure you can handle this."

Akane got a determined look in her eye, and started stripping.  Ranma
followed her example a few seconds later, and hopped into bed before Akane
was able to get her underwear off- namely to hide his embarrassment.

Soon, she followed him in and turned off the lights.  They avoided touching
each other for several minutes, too afraid of what might happen.  Finally,
much like she had in the bath the morning before, Akane decided she'd had
enough with being nervous, and rolled over to cuddle with him like she had
the previous night.

The second she did, she jumped back, unconsciously letting the sheets fall
off her shoulders.  "Ranma!  You- you're...."  She blushed furiously, not
able to continue.

"I'm?" Ranma asked, not realizing what Akane was talking about.  She
pointed, and Ranma started blushing himself.  "Oh... yeah.  Well... it's
not exactly something I can control, you know?  I mean... here I am, in bed
with the girl I love, and neither of us have our clothes on...."  Ranma
trailed off- not just because he didn't know how to finish what he was
saying, but also because he suddenly realized how easy it was to tell Akane
how he felt about her now that he knew she felt the same.

Akane frowned.  "You know I'm not ready for that step yet."

Ranma nodded.  "Of course I do... but it doesn't mean that I don't... er,
get excited."  He looked at Akane, still frowning.  "I'm not sure what we
could do to stop this- I could put on my boxers, I suppose- it wouldn't go
away, but you might not notice it as much."

Akane sighed, and shook her head.  "No... I'd better just get used to it. 
I was just... surprised."  With that, Akane curled up next to him again,
but was more careful of where she touched.

Ranma smiled slightly as he looked at Akane's face, resting on his chest. 
'You aren't going to be ready, are you?  But you'll probably try to force
things the next couple of days... well, you can try, but I'll just tell you
I'M not ready yet.  It'll mean we need to use those extra days, and it'll
mean having to take more precautions... but I'm not going to let you force
yourself more than you can handle, Akane.  Not when I can do something
about it....'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                             desaix@sysnet.net
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
                           fanfics available at 
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm