Bedtime Story 
by Leloi 

"I, Ranma, take you... To be my lawfully wedded wife."


Akane sat up from where she lay by the fire.  Once
again Ranma and his Pop had dragged her along on
another training trip.  She wasn�t particularly
thrilled about wasting her weekend with insults to her
cooking... But she would die before she let any other
fianc�e get a hold of Ranma for the weekend.  As usual
Ranma was out like a light as soon as his head hit the
pillow.  Genma was slower to fall asleep... even when
he took his lazy panda form to do it.  This left Akane
alone to stare up at the stars... until she heard
Ranma mumble in his sleep. 

The movement woke the panda.  He watched Akane tilt
her head to one side to listen to Ranma�s words. 

"To have and to hold from this day forward until death
do us part." 

The panda raised a sign above his head that Akane
could barely read in the flickering firelight.  It
said: "He�s had the same dream every night for a
week." 

"What is he doing?"  Akane asked. 

"Getting married."  The panda wrote on his
never-ending supply of signs. 

"To whom?"  Akane asked. 

"Don�t know... Never says a name."  The panda wrote
before throwing all his used signs on the fire.  He
rolled over and pretended to sleep.  His son�s
whimpering deprived him of sleep for the past week. 

"Any objections?  No!  No!  Sit down!  No!  Give her
back... She�s mine.  My wife..." Ranma moaned and
rolled over on his side.  "My wife..." He whimpered. 
Sobs began to wrack his body as he cried for his loss.


Akane looked at the panda and his son, crying in his
sleep.  She sighed heavily.  "Lovely family I�m being
sent to."  She thought as she snuggled back down into
her sleeping bag. 

The panda began to snore. 

"Oh... Shampoo?"  Ranma said meekly. 

Akane sat up again.  She glared at her "fianc�." 
"Ranma..." She whispered angrily. 

"No!  Shampoo... No!  Ah shit!"  Ranma cried.  "Don�t
go!" 

Akane sat up and crawled to Ranma.  She wanted to kill
him. 

The panda stopped snoring and looked up drowsily. 
"He�s never done that before."  The sign read before
it joined the pile in the fire. 

Akane sat on her knees by Ranma�s head... Ready to
pound him into the dirt.  He mumbled something very
faintly. 

"What?"  Akane said, bringing her ear closer to his
mouth. 

"Akane?"  He whispered. 

"What?"  Akane said a little louder in his ear. 

"You came back!"  He said, gleefully and threw his
arms around her neck. 

"Let go of me... You big oaf.  Idiot!"  She untangled
herself from his grasp.  She finally managed to make
him keep his arms to himself. 

He lay on his back with his eyes closed and a smug
look on his face.  "You came back to me... Akane." 

Akane crawled away from him and back to her sleeping
bag.  "Yeah... whatever."  She whispered back at him. 
"Go to sleep." 

"Oh... Akane."  He moaned very loudly and
passionately. 

The panda sat up and stared at his son.  "He�s never
done THAT before!"  The sign read. 

"Hentai!"  Akane whispered before throwing herself
into her bag. 

"Mmm" Ranma moaned.  "Oh..." 

Akane sat up and threw her pillow at him as hard as
she could.  "SHUT UP!"  She screamed at him. 

The panda looked at her with a funny look on his face.


"Akane!" groaned Ranma. 

Akane pulled a pail of water out of hammerspace and
threw it at Ranma. 

Ranma-chan sat up quickly, suddenly awake.  "What the
hell was THAT for?"  She cried. 

"You needed a cold shower."  Akane informed him. 

"You got my sleeping bag all wet.  I�m going to freeze
to death!" 

"Good."  Akane mumbled. 

"I�m serious."  Ranma-chan said quietly.  "It�s cold
and I am all wet." 

The panda sat up and tossed his son a teakettle.  "Be
a man."  The sign read. 

Ranma sighed and poured the hot water on himself.  He
couldn�t go back to his sleeping bag.  It was too wet.
He wouldn�t be able to keep his body heat from
escaping the wet fabric.  He stared at the flames of
the flickering fire.  "Stupid Akane getting me all
wet." 
Ranma fumed.  She was going to be the end of him and
he knew it.  Between her cooking and her beating him
to a bloody pulp every time she got jealous.  What did
he do this time?  He had been dreaming.  There was a
fight and a loss.  But he had regained what he lost
and he was instead lost in ecstasy.  Then the cold
water came.  Ranma shivered.  He scooted closer to the
flames.  "Can�t I sleep next to you?"  He asked the
panda. 

"No!"  The panda hit him over the head with the sign
and tossed it on the flames, bringing the fire back to
life.  Ranma jumped back to avoid being singed by the
fire.  As the flames died back down, he scooted closer
to heat. 

"I can die from cold exposure, you know."  He informed
the camp.  He hugged his legs and rested his chin on
his knees and began to shiver. 

Akane rolled over and looked at the freezing Ranma. 
He visibly shivered despite the heat from the fire.  A
cold wind blew across his back and ruffled his hair. 
He closed his eyes to it and held his legs tighter. 
"What happens if you don�t get warm?" 

"I get hypothermia and die."  Ranma said blankly. 

"Why won�t the panda help you?  You�re his son." 

The panda held up a sign.  "My fur insulates me so no
body heat escapes to heat him."  He tossed it on the
fire as his son stayed where he was... allowing the
flames to touch him. 

Akane watched in horror when Ranma didn�t even flinch
at the flames.  "It�s because of me that he�ll
freeze..." She thought.  "No!  He had that dream about
me."  She thought back.  She rolled over so she
wouldn�t have to look at him and shut her eyes
tightly. "Baka... If he hadn�t been dreaming about me
then this wouldn�t have happened.  But I did get him
wet.  He could die because of me."  Akane was aware of
the dangers of hypothermia.  If a body temperature
drops below a certain point the body can�t function. 
First the body shivers to keep its heat.  If the body
doesn�t heat up that way then it begins to draw heat
into the core.  Finally the person falls asleep and
never wakes up.  Akane turned her head so she could
see Ranma staring at the dying flames.  Another gust
of wind hit him in the back and he shut his eyes to
it.  He was visibly shivering.  "Baka." Akane thought
as she closed her eyes to him.  "He could get up and
work out to keep up his body heat... But could he work
out all night to keep himself warm?  He�s exhausted
and he�d have to stop at some point to rest."  She
watched Ranma drop his head behind his knees. 

Ranma sat watching the dying flames.  "What a way to
die."  He thought.  "Not even in battle.  Done in by
cold exposure during a camping trip.  Stupid panda
won�t even help me.  I can�t believe she hates me so
much that she would let me freeze like this.  And she
was the one to get me wet in the first place."  He
shivered with another blast of wind.  It felt like it
was trying to blow away everything he was.  His
heat... His chi... Everything was exposed to the wind.
 "I�m just so cold...  So tired."  He dropped his head
between his knees and his chest. 

Akane waited in the dark.  She wondered if the cold
would take over Ranma�s brain and make him crawl into
bed with someone to keep warm.  Obviously not the
panda... He has no body heat to share.  But she did. 
"And it was my fault."  She thought.  "But he dreamt
about being with me... About our wedding."  Akane
watched Ranma as the fire reduced itself to dying
embers.  "I was his wife?  He thinks of me enough in
that way to make me his wife in a dream?"  She watched
as Ranma shivered some more.  Suddenly he stopped and
collapsed on the ground in a fetal position.  He
moaned softly and sprawled on the cold earth. 

"She can�t even help me.  She won�t help me.  How can
she leave me here to die?  How can they hate me so
much not to help me when I truly need it?" 

Akane watched him as he stared up at the stars.  In
the glowing light of the embers she thought she saw a
glimmer run down the side of Ranma�s face.  Was he
crying?  "Ranma?" 

It took him a moment to turn his head to look at her. 
Even when he did his eyes lacked the focus she was
used to seeing from him.  "Did she just call my name?"
 He asked himself. 

"Are you really cold?" 

"Am I really cold?"  He asked himself.  "I don�t feel
cold anymore... Just really tired."  He said out loud.


"Ranma... Come here."  Akane said. 

With some difficulty Ranma managed to roll over and
crawl over to Akane.  She opened her sleeping bag wide
so he could get in beside her.  He collapsed beside
her.  "I�m just so tired..." He whispered. 

"No!  Don�t go to sleep yet."  Akane said as she
touched his arm.  It was like ice.  She lay her arm
across his chest.  He was so cold. "Stay awake.  We
have to get you warm."  She said and carefully laid
her upper body on his.  He didn�t even flinch.  He
stared at the stars. 

She heard a whacking noise and turned to see the panda
waving around a sign that read "You have to get naked
to share body heat with a victim of hypothermia." 

"SHUT UP!"  She yelled at the panda.  She looked down
at Ranma.  His eyes were on the stars.  He wasn�t
breathing.  She listened for it, but it didn�t come. 
She felt for his pulse and found it to be very weak. 
"Ranma breathe!"  She told him.  He didn�t even look
at her.  "No!  Ranma stay with me."  She whimpered and
took off her pajama top.  He was only in his muscle
shirt so she slipped it off of him.  As she pulled it
over his head he let out a breath and shut his eyes. 
"Ranma!  Wake up!"  She said and leaned forward to
give him mouth to mouth.  She gave him a few quick
puffs of air.  "Breathe!"  He started to cough weakly
and breathe after a few moments.  "You�re alive!"  She
cried and laid herself on his chest.  His eyes
flickered and looked at her for a moment.  Akane
couldn�t read his thoughts behind his eyes.  "Don�t
close your eyes.  Look at me and stay awake." 

Ranma just had a beautiful dream.  He dreamt that he
was at peace.  He was dying and Akane came and kissed
him back to life.  He opened his eyes to see her above
him.  She looked like an angel with a halo of stars
around her head.  He was beginning to feel warm. 
Casually he thought, "Is this what it is like to die?"
He was half-aware that she was talking to him. 
Telling him to stay awake.  He wanted to tell her that
this was all a dream.  "I can�t wake up because then
the dream will end."  He said to himself. 

Akane felt cold, but not as cold as she was a few
minutes ago.  Was he getting warmer?  "Stay with me." 
She whispered to Ranma.  "Who else will I fight with
if you fall asleep?"  She was very comfortable on his
chest.  More comfortable than she thought she would
be.  She threw one of her legs across both of his.  He
was still so cold in his legs.  She pulled herself up
so she covered him completely with her body.   Her
legs settled next to his.  She closed her eyes...
"Only for a moment."  She thought. 

Sunlight made her open her eyes.  "Oh no!  I fell
asleep!"  She looked at the man below her.  He had a
look of perfect peace on his face.  "He�s dead."  She
thought.  Carefully she reached up to touch his face. 
"I�m sorry."  She said. 

He opened his eyes and looked at her.  "I forgive
you." He whispered as he shut his eyes and gave a
little smile. 

"Baka!  I thought you were dead."  Akane yelled and
hit him on the shoulder.  It was then that she
realized that his arms were around her.  One of his
hands rested on her waist... Touching her bare back. 
The other rested on her butt.  He gave her a little
squeeze.  She also realized that his manhood was awake
and pressed against her stomach.  "Hentai!"  She
screamed and struggled out of his arms and her
sleeping bag. 

The panda yawned and pulled a teakettle out of
hammerspace to douse with.  "So kids, how was last
night resolved?  Is my son alive?" 

Akane stood up indignant and suddenly realizing that
she wasn�t wearing a top.  She dived for cover and
found Ranma�s muscle shirt to slip on.  "Your hentai
son is perfectly alive no thanks to you." 

Genma smiled at his future daughter-in-law wearing his
son�s shirt.  "Good."  He said.  "He has a lot of
training to do today." 

"Ah... Pop!"  Ranma whined from where he sat in
Akane�s sleeping bag.  He covered the front of his
boxers and willed it away. 

It was going to be a normal day. 

* * * * * * * * *
Author's notes:

This was my first Ranma Fanfic.  I have about a half
dozen more on my site that I'll post one by one for
C&C.  

I also have many Sailormoon Fanfics (which get C&C so
I won't post them).  I have a smaller collection on
Please Save My Earth Fanfics which I hope to post
soon.

If the punctuation or spacing in the above story seems
a little funny, then check out the archived story on
my website.  I copied and pasted but it doesn't always
come out nicely. 

http://members.xoom.com/leloi/rnmstory/bedtime.htm


Arigato, 
Leloi
http://members.xoom.com/leloi/

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