The characters of Ranma Nibunnoichi are the sole creation of the 
brilliant manga artist Rumiko Takahashi.  Unlike other fan-fics, this one 
needed no external characters on my part.  Any constructive C&C is welcome.  
No destructive, please.  I would particularly appreciate any information on 
how to draw readers in, and how to make scenes more descriptive.
	This fan-fic is posted on my website at 
http://homepages.go.com/homepages/l/u/n/lunahinomura/akane00.html if you 
would like to go see it.
	<example> denotes a thought.
	*example* denotes an accented word or a sound effect.
	*        *        * denotes a break in the chapter.

Akane no Birthday
~ Chapter 1: Contemplation ~ 


	So many things had gone wrong today.
	And now, here he was. . .  This would be his one and only chance to 
put things right.
	But he couldn't do it.
	He couldn't go through with it.
	It was too hard. . .  He was -- no, he *wasn't* scared. . .  Was he?
	
	He was standing outside Her room now, looking at the name plate on 
her door.  Akane.  Her name was so beautiful.  Ah-kah-ne.  Akane.  He could 
speak that name forever. . .  He formed the syllables with his mouth silently 
in the darkness he was waiting in.  Waiting. . .  For what?  She wasn't 
asleep yet, he could tell.  He could hear her quietly weeping.  That, and the 
light was shining through the crack between the bottom of the door and the 
floor.  His grip tightened on the exquisitely wrapped package in his hands.  
He glanced down at it.  It was too dark to see what color it was, but he 
remembered. . .  He'd picked out the wrapping paper and ribbon himself, after 
all.  The paper had a pattern of little pink pigs on a sky blue background, 
and the ribbon was a deep azure.  If he had searched harder, perhaps he could 
have found a pattern of black piglets like he'd wanted to.  But no, all he 
could give her was this.  This, coming from the bottom of his heart.
	What a joke -- he hadn't even wrapped the present by himself.  He'd 
had to get *Kasumi* to do it.  *And* he had to make her promise not to tell 
anyone, not Nabiki, not his father, not Mr. Tendo. . .
	And especially not Akane.
	Definitely not Akane.
	If he didn't go through with this now, he knew he would never have 
the courage to again.  He'd never be able to look her in the eye again.  She 
wouldn't love him. . .  She'd fall in love with someone else, like Ryoga. . .
	No.
	He'd die before he'd let Ryoga marry Akane.
	The familiar pangs of anger and jealousy flared up within him, but he 
forced them down.  He had to remember why he had to do this, to persuade 
himself to do this.  He couldn't, he wouldn't let his confidence dissipate so 
quickly.  It never had before.  But this situation was different from his 
usual fights.  He glanced once more at the name plate, then back down at the 
gift in his hands.  Slowly, he began to remember. . .

*        *        *

	"Ranma!  Wake up already!"
	"Aw, Akane, let me sleep. . .  Just five more minutes. . ." he 
mumbled.
	"Ranma, you said that yesterday, and we were late yesterday!  I'm not 
letting you off this time."
	"Don't worry 'bout it, Akane. . ."
	Akane was fuming.  He could tell, even though he was still half 
asleep, floating between consciousness and unconsciousness.  Her battle aura 
completely gave her away.  What he wouldn't give for her to learn to control 
her ki. . .  Ah, well.  Might as well stop thinking about it and go back to 
bed. . .
	"Hey!  You can't do this to me!  Not *today*!  Especially not 
*today*!"
	Hmph.  Akane wouldn't even let him sleep.  Not even five minutes.  
Five lousy minutes.  What was the matter with that girl?  Fine, if she was 
going to complain like that, he didn't want to have to hear it.  He lifted up 
his head and began pushing himself up.  Jeez, obeying her was bad enough, but 
having to sit (well, *lay*, actually) there listening to her annoying--
	*Splash*
	He scoffed.  Or, rather, she scoffed.  That woke him (uh, *her*) up 
in a hurry.
	"Hey!  What'd you do that for?!  I was getting up, wasn't I?!" the 
now onna-teki Ranma said.
	"You were being too slow!  Can't you be nice to me, just once?  
Acting like this, on today of all days. . ."
	"What's so special about today, Akane?" Ranma said, shaking the water 
out of her bright red hair.  "Now I gotta take a bath and it'll be even 
longer before we can leave."
	"Big deal, I'll get Kasumi to boil some hot water."
	"All right, whatever.  What's with today?"
	"You mean. . .  You *don't know*?"
	"Don't know what?  C'mon, just tell me."
	Akane only turned around, turned away from her.  "Ranma, if you don't 
remember. . .  Go to school by yourself.  I don't care if you're late.  Let's 
go, P-chan."
	P-chan?  Ryoga was here?  She must still have been tired; she hadn't 
even noticed the dumb pork-for-brains with the awful sense of direction.  
Then, another thought entered her mind.
	"Hey!  P-chan didn't sleep in your room again, did he?"
	"So what if he did?  There's nothing to be jealous about," Akane said 
coldly, now walking away.
	"I'm not jealous!  It's. . .  It's. . .  It's disgusting," she said.
	"He's just a pet!  Grow up, Ranma," Akane retorted, leaving the room.
	"Jeez.  She's so uncute," Ranma-chan muttered to herself.  "Might as 
well get downstairs and some of that hot water Akane promised.  At least 
she's good for one thing."  She decided not to bother with her clothes until 
after Kasumi had the hot water ready, and left the room.

*        *        *

	"How could I have been so naive?  I thought for sure he'd remember.  
He's inconsiderate, isn't he, P-chan?" Akane said, wiping a tear from her eye.
	P-chan (that is, Ryoga) uttered a buii of agreement.  He loved 
looking at Akane's brown eyes when they were full of tears.  Because it meant 
she was mad at Ranma, and he could teach Ranma a lesson.  Of course, he also 
liked looking into Akane's brown eyes when they were full of joy.  Because it 
meant he could make her happy.  Then again, he also liked looking into 
Akane's brown eyes when they were full of fear.  Because it meant he could 
comfort her.  Hell, who wouldn't enjoy gazing into the eyes of the one you 
loved?
	"Still, I had hoped he would remember.  It's my special day, and 
already it's coming off to a bad start.  I won't tell him -- how's that?  I 
should let him suffer.  I wonder if he even feels bad about it."
	P-chan scoffed a buki.  Ha.  Ranma would pay.  He knew that much 
already.  <Ranma, you can't *do* this to Akane.  I won't let you. . .>
	"It's just that. . .  I'm seventeen today.  It's my *birthday*, 
P-chan.  And I wanted to share that with Ranma."
	P-chan uttered both a buii and buki of disbelief.  Her birthday?  Oh, 
no!  He had to get her a gift before that	idiot Ranma ever thought to 
do so.
	"I don't even think I realized how much I wanted Ranma to just say, 
'Happy Birthday, Akane'.  And I'm not even going to tell him.  If he doesn't 
say it by midnight, I'll never forgive him.  He should buy me a present too.  
Nee, P-chan?"
	P-chan had since fainted.
	"P-chan?  P-chan!" Akane cried.
	"Akane, what's wrong?" Ranma said, pushing through her door.
	"It's P-chan!  He's--  Hey!  Get out of my room!"  Her book bag went 
flying from her hand directly into Ranma-chan's eye.
	"Ow!  Ohh!  I can't believe I was actually *worried* about you!"
	"You were?" Akane said in disbelief.
	"Yeah.  Who knows?  I thought you might have given him a nosebleed or 
suffocated him from shoving him into your--"
	*WHACK*
	"That Ranma, he never learns, does he, P-chan?" she said, walking 
away from Ranma, who was writhing in pain in front of Akane's room.
	"Buii. . ." he said, following Akane and leaving Ranma's fallen 
figure behind.
	"Ugh. . .  My aching head.  Better get some of that hot water before 
I'm late to school."  She pushed herself up from the ground, feeling the bump 
on her skull.  "That tomboy of a fianc�e.  She's no good for anybody."  She 
walked down the stairs slowly, headed on into the kitchen.  Looked around, 
she located the water kettle and poured it on her head.
	"What?  There's no hot water here. . ."
	"Hello, Ranma."
	Ranma leapt so high from surprise she grabbed onto the ceiling before 
looking back down.  "Ry-Ryoga!"
	"How dare you treat Akane in such a manner!" Ryoga said, leaping 
towards the ceiling.
	Ranma anticipated Ryoga's move, and let go of the ceiling.  She 
landed on her feet, while Ryoga crashed face-first into it.  The impact 
practically shook the entire house.
	"Ryoga, what're you doing here?"
	"Immit it obmious?" Ryoga said, his face pressed against the ceiling. 
 Prying it off, he repeated his words.  "I meant, 'Isn't it obvious?' because 
I'm here to teach you the right way to treat Akane!"  He leapt off the 
ceiling and went straight at Ranma. . .
	. . . who moved out of the way as soon as Ryoga approached her, 
assisting his flight with a swift roundhouse kick to the back.  "You're a 
moron, Ryoga.  I can't believe you wasted all this hot water just to do this. 
 Now I'm going to have to get more.  As for Akane, I don't know what she's 
harping about, and I don't care.  There's nothing more special about today 
than there was about yesterday, and the only thing special about yesterday is 
that Kasumi actually asked her to help cook 'cause she needed someone to boil 
water for the noodles.  Akane can't do anything, and--" the impact of a 
rather hard kettle of water colliding with the back of her skull (which was 
still aching from Akane's previous retribution) stopped her.  The impact must 
have split open the kettle, because she could feel the contents of the water 
kettle flowing down through her (well, *his*, now) hair and over his 
well-developed shoulders.  At least it was hot water this time.  He looked up 
at his assailant.
	"What now, Akane?" he growled.
	"So, that's the only reason you're glad I can boil water?  So you can 
stuff your face with Kasumi's cooking?  I said I don't care if you don't 
remember what day it is!  I'm leaving."  She walked out the door and started 
on her way to school.
	"Jeez.  She's uncute."  He turned back to look at the unconscious 
form of Ryoga slumped against the wall, then walked through the door.  A 
giant panda was standing outside, holding out Ranma's book bag.  "Thanks, 
Oyaji," Ranma said, snatching the bag.  He took a small step towards the 
nearest building, then leapt high into the air.  Running along the roofs, he 
knew he could make it to school way before Akane would.
	Maybe by then, he'd figure out why Akane was so mad.

~ End of Chapter One ~