Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a clue"
Written by Asayogure5@att.net
Last modified (10/15/1999)
Chapter 1, "Loves first kiss."
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Begin.
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Pre-dawn in the tendou dojo. A traditional Japanese room, floored
with tatami and outfitted with shoji doors. Ranma is lying on his
back with one arm draped over his eyes and the other sprawled at a
90 degree angle from his body. Genma preferring to sleep as a panda,
since it is so much warmer, is curled up about a meter from Ranma
facing away from him, snoring loudly. Ranma miraculously enough,
has managed to stay male throughout the night, but has however,
managed to kick the covers off of himself, and is shivering slightly
on his futon. The window is open to the crisp spring-like air, and
the beginnings of the daily chirping of the neighborhood birds can
be heard faintly.
Genma raises a massive paw to scratch an itch idly in his sleep,
letting it fall with a *thump*. While not a loud noise, with Ranma's
life-time of training, it was enough to wake him instantly.
Sitting bolt upright, his eyes snapped open, his hands up in a
defensive position, and his heart beat wildly as his still groggy
mind and eyes scanned the room for the unknown threat. Glancing
over at Genma realization hit him, "Stupid old man!" he thought,
glaring at his father, " he just lives to torment me, "he mumbled.
Ranma debated with himself whether or not to attack his father for
awaking him, or to try to go back to sleep, sleep won. Rolling over
he pulled the covers back up and closed his eyes trying to go back
to sleep. His mind however was now wide awake and ready for action.
Rolling back to lie flat on his back with a resigned *sigh*, Ranma
allowed his thoughts to drift where he usually forbade them. He
started to think about the one thing in his life that he had no
control over, and had absolutely no idea how to deal with... he
thought of Akane.
Images and memories of her flooded his mind in rapid fire, her
beautiful smile, her cute haircut, every detail of her face, mind and
body, his minds eye traced every detail that he knew of her, and he
blushed when he remembered just how much he knew, remembering
their first encounter as opposite sexes. How shocked he had been
to see her out of her gi, and her turning out to be so...well cute!
With another *sigh* Ranma let his fantasy of her speak to him, not
really anything intelligible, all he really wanted was to hear her
soft lilting voice speaking to him, as he had heard her speak to her
other friends and loved ones. He just wanted to have a conversation
with her, to hear her speak with neither anger nor sarcasm. Just to
have a normal conversation with the girl he was supposed to marry.
Drifting back to the night before in his thoughts, he winced as he
recalled it's outcome, smacking himself mentally, and cursing himself
for his ineptness concerning interaction with other people. Ranma
replayed the night before in his mind, trying to see what he had done
wrong, and how he should have done things differently............
::Early evening at the Tendou dojo::
Soun and panda Genma are on the porch playing GO as usual,
and cheating as usual. Nabiki in her trademark "lazy" clothes, IE
short shorts and an off the shoulder halter top, is in a corner of the
family room, doing her leg exercises, neither Akane nor Kasumi are
anywhere to be seen. Ranma is outside in the yard next to the koi
pond, wearing a blue version of his silk traditional Chinese sleeveless
shirt, and his trademark black pants, he is standing with his feet
shoulder width apart, facing a wooden pole exactly his height wrapped
with rope on the top. He is rotating his body and alternating smashing
his left and right steel-like fists into the rope wrapped part. The
wind is blowing faintly carrying the scent of flowers and the promise
of a beautiful spring, a fish in the koi pond leapt, and the wind chimes
ring.
Shattering this perfect moment of tranquillity came the feminine
cry of "Dinner's ready!" Ranma without missing a beat recoiling his
left fist from a punch, changed the right strike to a chop, his palm
facing upwards and his hand like a knife edge, the pole looked
unaffected for a moment, then a hairline angled cut appeared, and
the top of the pole slid off slowly, hitting the ground with a *plop*.
With a self satisfied grin on his face, Ranma turned and leapt the few
meters from his spot to his customary seat at the table, next to
Akane.
The rest of the family were converging at the table as well, Nabiki
plopping herself unceremoniously at her spot, Soun taking his place at
the head of the table with dignity, leaving Genma the opportunity
while his back was turned to move a few of the game pieces. Genma
taking his seat next to Soun grabbed a kettle of hot water seemingly
out of nowhere and poured it on himself, changing back to his human
form, gaining the hands with which he could feed himself the fastest.
Ranma moving his head back and forth quickly scanning the room for
something, voiced his growing dread hesitantly,
" W- where's ...A-akane?"
"Why, she's right here." Kasumi said coming rounding the kitchen
entrance, gesturing behind her. As Kasumi started setting everyone's
places Ranma glanced over her shoulder, Akane was standing sort of
uneasily, and was clutching a steaming plate, containing he could only
guess, was some sort of food substance... hoping against hope,
Ranma looked back at Kasumi to see if she had set his place yet,
seeing the table all set out and Genma already doing his impersonation
of a vacuum cleaner, Ranma noticed a conspicuous absence of a plate
in front of himself.
A large sweat drop formed on the back of Ranma's head. Akane, not
having said a word during this small pause, stood rather stiffly. A
faint sheen of sweat kissed her forehead, and she looked somewhat
worried. Ranma however missed all these details as his eyes and
nose informed him that Akane had been cooking again.
A sickly grimace appeared on his face, as his brain sorted rapid
fire through a list of possible excuses he could use to leave the
table.
"Akane has been working really hard all evening, Ranm " she
pronounced the last 'A' in his name harder, snapping him out of his
"deer-caught-in-the-headlights" impersonation.
"She made it just for you, isn't that sweet?!"
Again that hard tone to Kasumi's voice indicated to Ranma the he had
better behave. Stuttering he managed to choke out,
"T-thank Y-you, A-akane." Akane knelt beside her future husband,
and hesitantly placed the plate of weird looking food before him,
along with a pair of chopsticks. Soun from behind a fountain of tears
sputtered out,
"Oh my girl, my girl, is growing up, wah ha ha, I'm so proud!"
Tears streamed down his face as he looked upon his youngest
daughter's obvious display of affection for Ranma. Nabiki just stared
expectantly, and Genma's munching slightly registered in the back of
Ranma's mind.
"Well go on, Ranma," Kasumi prompted, her voice again gentle. With
an audible *gulp* and a visible reluctance, Ranma separated his
chopsticks and lowered them down slowly to the steaming mound of...
whatever-it-was.
Akane unnoticed by the rest of the family still kneeling beside
Ranma clenched her tiny hands into fists and felt her whole body go
ridged. Her face animated with hope she silently chanted.
"I hope, I hope, I hope, please, please, please, please."
As he raised the parcel of food to his mouth, a collective gasp was
heard, as everyone (except Genma, who at the moment was moving
his hands so fast feeding his face, that they were becoming a blur.)
held their breath.
Placing the food in his mouth he let it rest on his tongue, trying
to use will power to swallow it. But the sensations overcame him,
and he fainted, falling backwards.
Sitting up he politely pushed the plate away from himself
mumbling,
"thank you Akane it's...errr, good, but I'm not feeling to well all of
a sudden, I think I'll skip dinner, and um *with his hand behind his
head* and go see if Ryouga is around anywhere."
"At least I know he can eat this stuff," Ranma thought to himself.
Ranma, as he moved to get up, completely missed the single tear
sliding down Akane's cheek. Stunned, Akane was thinking to
herself,
"NOW what did I do wrong?!" Her emotions in upheaval she
replaced these unfamiliar feelings with those that she was more
comfortable with, she started to grow angry.
"He didn't even give it a chance and I worked really hard, TOO!"
She thought to herself. Turning to face him as he made his get-away,
she whipped out her trusty mallet and launched him into next week
yelling,
"Ranma you jerk!!!!"
As he sailed away, Ranma managed to yell back,
"Uuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnncuteeeeeeeeeeee!"
::the memory faded to black as Ranma's memory failed::
Snapping back to himself, Ranma again mentally smacked himself
for his knee-jerk-foot-in-the-mouth reaction that Akane's cooking
seemed to bring out in him. He knew damn well in his secret heart,
that she was trying so hard to cook for HIM, and if not out of, L-love,
then out of a genuine desire to show Ranma affection somehow.
Muttering to himself, Ranma rolled back till his lower body, and
legs were off the floor, then placing his hands astride his head, he
reversed his momentum, and pushed with his hands at the same time,
effectively launching himself onto his feet, perfectly balanced and
poised as usual. Ranma headed off in the direction of the bath,
intent on soaking away his worries as well as any dirt. Passing
Genma on the way out he swiftly kicked the Panda in the butt.
Smirking to himself, Ranma walked out.
Genma still sound asleep, simply scratched the injured area
absently and rolled over again.
Silent as a ninja, Ranma practiced his stealth as he slinked down
the hallway. Not one to ever tell the old man, but Ranma did listen
to the things that Genma said, and while he knew that most of it was
just his stupid rambling, some things Genma said rang true. One of
them being his saying,
"A true martial artist can turn any experience, no matter how
difficult or unpleasant into training..."
Ranma early in life had decided to take that to heart, running along
fence tops to practice his balance, using ordinary situations to train,
such as standing in the hall holding water buckets for being late,
and in situations such as this early morning, when everyone was
still asleep, he liked to practice stealth, or ninjitsu.
However he froze in his exercise as he caught out of the corner of
his eye, the blue woodcut duck scrawled with Akane's name in English
characters, as was the trend, hanging on her door. Impulse overcame
reason, and Ranma ever so quietly padded up to her door, and quietly
let himself in.
"Just to check on her, and make sure Mr. P isn't in there,"
he told himself. Lowering his eyes to the floor as he did so, in case
Akane while sleeping, had managed to uncover any...sensitive areas.
He closed the door behind himself, and just stood there, at the
doorway listening to her breathe. Smirking inwardly to himself he
thought,
"She would kill me if she found me in her room just staring at her."
Ever so slowly, he raised his eyes, starting at the foot of her bed.
Where her feet were, he raised his gaze, noting how unlike him she
was, in that she usually managed to keep her covers on herself while
sleeping,
"I guess she isn't violent all the time,"
he thought. With relief his gaze reached her torso, and he noted that
she was fully clothed in her yellow pajamas with the pigs on them,
letting out the breath he hadn't even known he was holding with a
*whew*, he froze, terrified that the sound had awakened her.
Glancing at her face he relaxed as he saw her eyes still closed.
He also smirked outwardly as he noted the absence of "P-chan", and
saw that instead she was cuddling one of her spare pillows to her
tightly, he also noticed that she was mumbling as she slept. Curious
he crept closer to her bed to hear what she said.
Taking a seat gingerly on the edge of her bed. He took the time to
stare unashamedly at her beautiful features. Noting how her soft hair
framed her face so perfectly on the pillow as she slept, and how even
when closed her eyes were still beautiful, and her lips were turned
upward slightly at the corners in a sort of half smile as she slept,
then he noticed something else, she was...Blushing! Snapping out
if his reverie, he listened to what she was saying, most of it was too
garbled to discern, but a few bits and pieces managed to come through.
"R-ranma... why...what... how can I... oh Ranma... I... don't you
know...I L... "
rolling over the last thing she was trying to say was lost into the
pillow.
"She's... she's dreaming about... ME??!"
Listening again he caught his name again, this time followed by a
sound he had never heard from Akane before, after speaking his name,
a very contented and drawn out sigh.
A slow grin spread across his face as he heard that sigh, it was
the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his entire life!
Reaching down hesitantly he moved his hand to her head, and softly
stroked her hair out of her face.
"She's so cute sometimes...it's hard to believe that this Akane and
the one that is always hitting me in the head are one and the same
person,"
he thought to himself. Worry of discovery was starting to nag at his
mind though, and with a disappointed *sigh* he got up from her bed,
not making a sound as he did so, he opened her door, all the while
keeping his gaze on her, and let himself out, just as quietly as when
he had entered, all Akane did was roll over again, and continue
whatever dream she was having.
Now even more out of balance than before Ranma desperately
needed to unwind. Intent on relaxing in the bath for awhile he entered
the changing room, and shucked off his boxers and tee shirt he had
slept in, tossing them casually over his shoulder as he went into the
main bathroom. Starting the flow of hot water that would fill the tub
for the day, Ranma sat down on one of the wash stools and began
to thoughtfully scrub himself clean.
"Why, oh why am I so shook up now? Why should I care if she
dreams about me? Can it be that I really do care for that uncute
tomboy? Naw, it must be something else, maybe an aftereffect of her
cooking?"
He muttered to himself while scrubbing, after awhile the tub was
full and he dumped a pail of cold water over himself to rinse away the
soap, hardly even noticing the change now, as when by himself and
with no mirror present, and no one to remind him that he was now a
girl, the effects of the curse were subtle enough as to be unnoticeable
now to him. Plodding over to the tub, Ranma slowly lowered himself
into the almost scalding water, wincing as it snaked it's way up his
nervous system, leaving a tingling sensation in it's wake, finally he
was up to his neck, and he collapsed against the tub wall and tried
to rebalance his now chaotic mind.
An unknown amount of time had passed, Ranma shutting out all
outside influence, and shutting out even his own thoughts. Letting
the warmth of the furo soak into himself, ever since Jusenkyo, Ranma
had hated being cold, mostly because cold now to him meant changing,
the warmer the better as far as Ranma was concerned. Ever so slightly
almost hesitantly Ranma raised his head up, then his torso out of the
inviting water.
Looking much calmer he climbed up the steps leading out of the
furo. Steam emanating off his now almost pink skin, in the chilled
air of the much cooler bathroom. Wrapping a towel around his waist,
he padded out of the bathroom. Still walking so as to make the minimal
amount of noise, Ranma headed for his room.
Sliding open the shoji he entered the Tendou guest room made into
an almost-permanent residence with the Saotome presence in it. Moving
over to the dresser where he kept his clothes, no longer quieting his
movements since he didn't care if he woke the old man up or not, and
besides he could sleep through anything. Quickly dressing himself,
choosing his traditional outfit, but with a ivory white version of his
Chinese silk sleeveless shirt, with gold ties in front and an ebony
black interior.
Now suitably dressed for the day. Ranma's stomach rumbled,
reminding him that not only did he skip dinner last night, (due to the
fact that he was in low earth orbit, playing human satellite) but he
needed breakfast as well. He steeled himself against the hunger
however since he knew that Kasumi although usually first up in the
household, wouldn't have breakfast ready for at least another hour
and a half, half an hour after she woke up as usual. So he headed
downstairs to think.
Walking down the stairs a mischievous grin appeared on Ranma's
face and he hopped up onto the banister and with his indoor house
slippers on, sliding down the rest of the way. Reaching bottom much
faster.
"Heh, still got it!"
He remarked to himself. Ranma usually refrained from any acrobatics
in the house. Ever since that one time when he had almost plowed
into Kasumi almost knocking her over, when he was leaping down the
stairs. His code of honour would never allow him to injure anyone whom
could not defend themselves, even accidentally, especially a woman, and
especially someone as sweet and innocent as Kasumi. So this was a
rare opportunity for Ranma to do this and be sure no one would be hurt.
Ranma started to wander in and out of the various rooms of the Tendou
residence, memories overtaking him as he recalled all the things that
had happened there.
Stopping in front of the frame to the shoji leading to the
backyard, he ran his hand over the noticeably newer wood of the left
side, where Shampoo's bonbori had smashed through, when she was
trying to kill Akane that day she had showed up from China. In fact
there were little patches of new all over the Tendou residence,
especially in the dojo, where either due to circumstances beyond
their control or overeager training, Ranma or others had managed to
destroy parts of it.
Ranma's wandering lead him back to the shoji again, and he opened
them this time. Stopping just to look. He had intended to go to the
dojo and run through a few katas, but he just started to stare at the
beauty that confronted him.
With dawn just barely starting to alight the sky, the world was
truly a beautiful place. The wind had died down to a whisper, and
everything was silent. The pink buds on the cherry tree were
silhouetted in what little light the dawn was giving, and seemed to be
glowing with a life of their own, contrasting sharply with the greener
but dull new leaves that were also growing. The koi pond was an odd
shade of blue-green. It seemed to be made of ice, and with such crisp
air the entire world seemed to be sharply in focus.
"Wow,"
Ranma murmured. Almost as if in a trance, he walked solemnly to
the edge of the koi pond and stared into its depths, hardly even
breathing. Ranma tried to become part of the silence as he sat down
on a nearby rock and began to meditate, the world seemed to freeze
as Ranma slipped into himself.
Time passed and the wind picked up, and the sun's hues became more
radiant, the birds began their daily serenade. Ranma came back to
himself with a start, when he felt the suns first rays peeking over
the boundary wall. Stretching and yawning, he looked around as he did
so. The bird's song's lifting his spirits noticing that the silent
world had fled and a more vibrant and alive world had taken it's place.
His heart froze though as he shifted his gaze to his left and
beheld what was there. Akane was sitting on a rock right next to his!
In the same kind of meditating trance that he had assumed moments
earlier.
"She must have come down when I was meditating,"
he thought to himself. Taking another opportunity to stare, Ranma
allowed his eyes to play over her delicate features. Her eyes were
shut, and fluttering slightly, her hair had obviously just been brushed,
as it was shining vibrantly in the early morning light, the light
bouncing off of her hair making it seem alive. Her skin (all that was
visible to Ranma outside of her standard red belt clad gi, anyway,) was
covered with goose pimples, reacting to the cool morning air, he
supposed.
Akane had come out of her own trance the second Ranma had yawned
and stretched, some instinct though had urged her to remain as she
was. So she stayed motionless, her back straight and her legs crossed
underneath her, with her head lolling down onto her sternum. A small
shiver of electricity ran down her spine as she thought to herself,
" Why is he looking at me like that? Can it be oh, can it be that he
really doesn't think that I am all that uncute?" Her breath came in
shallow heaves and her skin was going all goose pimply, not because of
the cold, but because of the attention that Ranma was paying her.
Finally she couldn't stand it any longer, and playacting she
imitated his movements from earlier. Opening her eyes she met Ranma's
gaze, and the two just looked at each other shyly. Raising his arm
behind his head, Ranma cleared his throat.
"Uh...heh, wahcha doin' up this early, A-Akane? ... W-What are
you looking at?"
He asked self consciously. Akane blushed and turned her gaze down,
suddenly finding the grass very interesting.
"Well since she's already up, and out here..."
Ranma thought to himself.
"Um A-Akane?" He voiced hesitantly.
"Y-Yes..." she answered.
Smacking himself mentally, Ranma forced the words out in a rush,
"Wouldyouliketogopracticewithme?"
Once done he exhaled rather loudly, *whew* He thought,
"Well, at least she can't say I never offered,"
he fully expected a sarcastic remark or her refusal. He stood up on
suddenly shaky legs.
Ranma stood above her looking down at her with those blue-gray
eyes of his.
"He is waiting for an answer!" Her mind shouted at her.
She was however, too confused to respond intelligently.
"Why is he being so nice to me?" She pondered. Chalking it up to
the absurd, Akane simply nodded her head.
Shock turned Ranma's blood to ice-water. He had expected her to
refuse! While training with his father for 10 years had made Ranma an
excellent and powerful martial artist, those years hadn't prepared him
to interact with other people. Slowly and hesitantly Ranma extended
his hand to Akane. Akane for her part was beside herself,
"Ranma is being so nice to me! Is this his way of trying to say he's
sorry for dinner last night?"
Also as hesitantly, and overriding her pride, Akane extended her
hand, allowed Ranma to help her to her feet. His touch was electric
on her skin, Ranma tightening the muscles in his arm, effortlessly
lifted her to her feet. Embarrassed he dropped her hand and turned
his back to her and began to walk in the direction of the dojo.
Partly because he really did need to train, but mostly to hide the
rampaging blush spreading over his features. Akane as well was
still standing where he had lifted her, also blushing furiously.
"I think that that is the first time Ranma has ever touched me,
without it being absolutely necessary." She was reeling.
Unsteadily she walked on her wobbly legs to the dojo. Peering inside
she saw Ranma was already running through a kata, warming up.
So she decided to just watch for the moment. Akane realized that
she had never really watched Ranma when he practiced. She was
usually too busy being jealous of his skill, or busy trying to beat
him up for his latest insult.
"Wow!" She thought, "He moves like a dancer..."
Watching Ranma move through a simple for him, but extremely
acrobatic and difficult kata, for her, she couldn't help but admire
his skill. After Ranma finished his warm-up kata, he faced the dojo
shrine and bowed.
Akane couldn't help herself, as giddy as she was feeling, she clapped!
Ranma looked up, and seeing her there, broke out in a grin, and also
blushed slightly.
"C-Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked. Ranma now in
familiar territory replied more confidently,
"Sure Akane, but first we should stretch out your sleepy muscles, eh?"
"O-Okay" she stuttered. Stepping through the door frame, Akane
bowed facing the dojo interior, and stepped onto the main floor.
Cinching her belt up tighter and tucking the loose parts back into
place, she sat down and kicked out her legs, and started to reach for
her toes on her left and right sides. Ranma just sat cooling his heels,
well squatted actually, and watched her stretch.
"Want me to help you, Akane?" He asked. Although Ranma had never
actually helped any of the other all too few students he had trained,
to stretch, whether they were male or female, Akane did not know that,
and grinning slyly he also admitted to himself, seeing that this was
one of the rare times when they were alone together, that he also
wanted to be able to touch her without that damn mallet of hers smacking
him into next week!
"I have got to ask her where the hell she keeps that thing someday,"
he thought wryly.
"S-Sure...." Akane whispered still facing the floor. "Oh my god
he is going to touch me again," she thought as her heart leapt into
her throat and her adrenaline level rose several levels. Shifting so
that her back was facing him, she leaned forward again, and Ranma,
needing no further encouragement placed his hands on her back, and
applied pressure.
The only person that he had ever partner stretched with was Genma, so
he was a little surprised when Akane *yelped* from under his pressure.
Looking down he saw a slight grimace on her face.
"Oh shoot! I hurt her already!" Furious with himself, Ranma
quickly stood up, and started to form an apology.
"A-Akane, I-I'm so sorry! I-I-I " hanging his head he closed his eyes
and resigned himself to the mallet attack about to crash into his skull.
A few seconds passed, Ranma was still standing...looking up he saw
Akane just staring at him, with an expression he could only describe
as concern or forgiveness, or something else that he wasn't even ready
to *think* about yet.
"It's okay Ranma just be a little more gentle with me okay? I am
not as strong as a mule, ya know," she smirked, making him blush using
one of his own insults against him. But inside her head, her world
was spinning! In her state of mind her knee-jerk reaction to his
clumsiness had been delayed, so Ranma had been able to try apologize.
"That was so sweet! He actually thought he hurt me! He even tried
to apologize, and was ready to accept punishment!"
Using a supreme control that she hadn't even known she possessed,
Akane overrode her mind and body's commands to leap into his
arms and hug him to death.
Moving woodenly Ranma moved back into position behind Akane, and
placed his hands again onto her back. Applying the gentlest amount of
pressure, he started to stretch her out, "His hands are trembling!"
She thought to herself, although the now kitten like force he was
exerting wasn't really enough to help her stretch, she didn't really
care at the moment, just the fact that Ranma's hands where on her,
and that he was being so thoughtful, and careful with her...she wanted
to cry!
Ranma moving outside normal stretching protocol, still crouching
above her, started to kneed the muscles in her shoulders. He had no
idea why, or how he even started! All he knew was that he was
touching the girl that he cared most for in the world, and she hadn't
smacked him yet!
"I must still be dreaming." He thought. Akane thought her mind
was going to snap and she couldn't stop the electric sensations from
running through her body, his touch was setting her on fire!!! She
couldn't hold it back any longer and a small involuntary groan escaped
her lips. *mmmmmmm*
Ranma paused a minute when he heard that, then smiling stopped his
tender administrations, before he lost his last vestige of control.
Nudging her gently to a sitting position, he continued helping her
stretch, as she leaned over to her left and right sides, stretching
sideways now that she was done stretching horizontally. The sensations
rapidly were fading from her body. Akane took a deep breath and let it
out slowly, commanding her body to behave itself she put all her
attention into stretching, as thinking about Ranma was starting to make
her dizzy.
"Well I think that you are ready now Akane...want to begin?"
Ranma, letting the instructor in him take control, stood up and again
reached down to help Akane to her feet, not even hesitating this time
Akane stretched her own hand up and accepted his help, since she
also knew in the back of her mind that her legs were going to be
wobbly after the sensations Ranma had been evoking in her. While
standing however her clumsy nature reared its ugly head, and she
tripped!
Ranma didn't even think, he just reacted. Seeing what she was
about to crash into, he leapt with superhuman speed and strength,
knocking her back, and killing her momentum as he held her in his
arms. The next thing Akane knew she was lying on her face on
something hard yet soft, pushing herself up with her arms, Akane
looked down to see what she had landed on...and found Ranma's
eyes looking back! He was breathing hard, and had a panicked look
on his face, wondering why he looked so panicked she looked up,
and saw to her horror, that if she had continued her fall unchecked
she would have crashed right into the west window!
Ranma, with his heart still racing, simply held her. Not really
caring what anyone would think if they walked in and saw them like
that. Akane's control finally snapped and she broke down crying!
Sobbing a panicked yet relieved cry into his chest. Akane let out
all the emotions that had been building in her since she woke up.
Clutching her saviour to her she wept like a child. The fear of the
moment quickly fading into tears of joy and something else that
she still wasn't that sure of.
Ranma would always be there to protect her, she had known that
for awhile now, but he had just demonstrated it again, throwing
himself unthinkingly into danger for her sake.
Ranma, however much as he was enjoying holding his fianc�e, was
starting to grow uncomfortable with her tears though. Whispering he
asked, "Akane...Akane, hey Akane, are you okay?" Wanting to check her
for any injuries but holding back since she seemed okay, and he didn't
want her to think he was a pervert.
"Oh Ranma," Akane managed to sob out. Not finding the words she
needed she simply stopped crying as best she could and relaxed into
his arms. Ranma was growing uncomfortable though on the hard wooden
floor, and gently he again demonstrated the mastery of his body, as
only using his stomach muscles he raised them both into a sitting
position. Turning her as he did so, with her ending up sitting
crosswise in his lap, with her arms around his neck, and her face buried
into his chest.
Letting things stay as they were, Ranma waited for Akane to come
back to herself, and stand up. She finally raised her head from his
chest with an embarrassed expression on her face.
"T-Thank you Ranma, I mean it thank you." She smiled her
beautiful smile at him, and Ranma lost all lucid control over his
mind.
"Y-Your welcome." He replied, wanting to say three very different
words.
Standing up he continued to hold onto her, cradling her in his arms,
Akane's emotion debated with her pride on whether or not she should
get down,
"Oh I can stay here all day", emotion said.
"Shut up you wimp!" Pride shot back.
"But I like it here in his arms!" Emotion continued.
"You are a strong martial artist, and independent...stand up!!"
Pride snapped back.
"Yeah?! Well you are a freak of nature, now go jump in a Koi pond
and cool off!" emotion retorted.
"Don't make me come over there and tear you a new...a new
something." Pride was at a loss on what she could tear in emotion.
Pride however eventually won. ^_^
"R-Ranma, "she said almost apologetically, "Um, I can walk fine
now, thanks." "Oh," Ranma said, looking slightly disappointed.
Carefully he set her down onto her feet, keeping his arms around her
waist, almost as if he was hugging her. The position they were in,
and after what she had seen earlier, Akane made a mental note to
get Ranma to take her dancing sometime. Grinning ear to ear she
mentally pictured Ranma trying to dance normal dances, or say, the
funky chicken! Hesitantly she broke the embrace though, turning her
back to him, she looked out the window, and noted that
not all that much time had passed since they had entered the dojo.
Turning back to him with her composure back in place, Akane waded
a little into unfamiliar waters, she asked Ranma for help.
"Well are you ready to teach me how to do that kata now?" She
voiced with an uneasy smile. Cinching up her belt and taking a deep
breath, Akane stepped into the default "student ready" position, with
her feet set shoulder width apart, and her legs slightly bent, with
her arms folded behind her back.
"Um, sure Akane...." Ranma said, " Where do you want to begin?"
he asked. "Why at the beginning of course, silly." Smiling as she
said so, and giggling a little, Akane let out a little of the stress
she was feeling.
After a second Ranma joined in, and soon both of them were
chuckling lightly. Recovering his composure Ranma started to lead
Akane through the kata. He corrected her gently when she made a
mistake and cheered loudly when she made it through the harder parts.
Akane, for her part was trying to pay attention to what she was doing,
but inside she was grinning from ear to ear.
"I never realized how patient Ranma could be, he is a great
teacher!" She thought. Ranma was having the time of his life, not
only had Akane not hit him today...yet anyway, but he was alone with
her, getting along with her, and in effect, he was playing with his
fianc�e!
Ranma felt like jumping up and down and doing a victory dance and
he almost laughed out loud as he imagined doing said dance on
Genma's sleeping head! While he was doing his best to stay focused
on training though, only about 25% of his attention was on her form
mechanics, the rest of his attention was staring at Akane.
"She really does have a kind of grace when doing this kind of
stuff." He thought. Finally they reached the end of the kata, and
Ranma went to the north wall and sat down against it,
"Okay Akane, now with no help from me lets see you run through it
by yourself." He said with a silly grin on his face.
Akane got a serious look on her face, and resolving herself to do
her best for her new teacher, she set into the kata, moving not too
fast and not too slow, and with all the grace and dignity that she
could muster, trying to dance through it as she had seen him do earlier,
and with a slight smug expression on her face, she admitted to herself,
that while not nearly as perfect as Ranma's demonstration, for the first
time doing it, she was doing great!
Ranma sat there in a brooding silence, amazed at how quickly she
had picked it up, "She must have really been paying attention to
me..." He thought. He had already noted several small errors in her
form, but he stopped himself from saying anything and thus kept his
foot out of his mouth, besides she really was doing great! Finishing
she bowed to the shrine, and then giggling she bowed to Ranma as
well.
Ranma grinned and jumped up. He bowed as well. "So how did I
do," she asked expectantly. "You were..." he paused a minute to make
her sweat it out a little, since he enjoyed teasing her. Actually that
was how he showed affection although he was not aware of it, was by
teasing those he loved...well, except for Genma.
But before she could become angry he said, "You were great Akane!"
He said, "Much better than any other first time student with that
kata."
"Thank you Sensei!" Akane grinned. Then as impulse grabbed her,
and she launched a snap kick at Ranma's head. Ranma of course
dodged easily. "Heh ya wanna play dontcha?!" He taunted. Akane
grinning crazily, launched kick after punch after chop rapidly
increasing
the speed of her techniques. Ranma adopted a more instructor like
stance, and started to coach her.
"Don't twist your hips so much, that telegraphs what kind of kick
you are about to throw, try not to look where you plan on punching,
don't turn your back to me after that kind of kick."
Getting into the spirit of things, Ranma threw soft kicks and a
few punches at her. Akane instead of trying to imitate Ranma's speed,
simply blocked his techniques. "Harder!" She fairly screamed. Wanting
him to actually spar with her for once. She increased the intensity of
her attacks, trying to goad Ranma's anger so that he would attack her
and stop his constant dodging. But Ranma's training had conditioned
him to accept pain, and while a few of her techniques were actually
connecting now, he refused to use even 1/4 of his full speed or power
against a girl, especially THIS girl. Akane was starting to get angry
now. She couldn't help it.
"Why does he do this to me? Why won't he treat me like an equal?
Why can't he just ignore that I am a girl for once?" Starting to glow
a slight red, Akane launched a suicide attack at Ranma, aimed right at
his head. The speed of her attack was a little too fast, and Ranma
knew that if he dodged it she would be seriously injured because her
trajectory had her going towards the wall a little too fast, and he
doubted she had control enough to check her attack in time. If he
blocked it effectively so that it wouldn't hurt him, then he would
possibly break or sprain her wrist.
So Ranma did the only thing that he could do, he shifted his body
so that she would connect with his stomach muscles and braced for
impact. "Ranma!!!" Akane's battle cry came out as she rushed towards
him, but in the nano-second that she had between punch and impact
her mind screamed,
"Something is wrong, he isn't blocking!! He isn't dodging either!!"
At the last second she tried to pull her punch, but her momentum
carried her the rest of the way, and she connected solidly with Ranma's
torso. Up he flew to the rafters and he hit with a *splat* Doing his
impression of "The human pancake," on the wall. Then he slid down
the wall head first to the floor.
"Shoot!" Akane said to herself as she ran over to him, "He was
supposed to block that...why did he just take it?" Kneeling besides
him she looked down at the mostly unconscious Ranma, he was moaning
slightly, and Akane simply put her arms under him and held him,
cringing as she waited for his furious words. Looking down she saw him
staring at her, and quickly she tried to blurt out an apology.
"Ranma I'mmm...sorry..."
Casting her eyes down she waited for him to call her uncute scream
at her and storm off, a tear slid down her cheek, as he wiggled out of
her grasp. Closing her eyes she told herself that she deserved it.
Then Ranma did something that she was totally unprepared for. He
squatted down next to her in silence.
"Akane..." he started.
"Y-Yes?" she hesitated.
"T-That was a good shot." He said, punctuating his statement with a
light jab on her shoulder. He the forced a grin through his pain to
show her it really was okay. Noticing her gaze was still on the ground,
gently Ranma reached his hand down to her chin and lifted her gaze to
meet his. Showing her his eyes, which at the moment were filled with
something that was confusing the hell out of Akane. She didn't know
how to deal with this Ranma! This Ranma was kind and sensitive
and very patient with her. He wasn't behaving like he was supposed
to!
"Oh Ranma I'm sorry!" She sobbed as again she collapsed into his
embrace, and Ranma did something that Genma would kill him for, he
cried with her. Holding this beautiful girl in his arms, on this
perfect morning, listening to her sobbing on his chest, feeling her warm
tears soak his gi, and her hands gripping his back, Ranma gained a new
perspective on life.
"Shh shh shh" He tried to comfort her making funny sounding cooing
noises. "It's okay Akane I'm fine"
Mentally slapping herself, Akane forced herself to get under
control. Sucking her breaths in slightly and her chest heaving, her
emotions running rampant through her mind and body Akane just sat
there for a minute. In the empty silence Ranma added with a grimace.
"You know you really do need to work on your control...."
Grabbing at the chance to have a talk with Ranma, Akane tried to
voice her concerns. "Why, why wont you ever spar with me seriously?"
With her looking up at him with those tear-streaked eyes, Ranma had no
recourse but the truth. "It's partly because of how I was raised and
partly because I-I don't want to hurt you Akane..." he trailed off.
"But I am a martial artist too ya know. I can take care of myself."
She countered.
"Yes but..." Ranma tried to argue, but all of the arguments that he
wanted to use right now, sounded stupid in his head.
"Besides I have seen you fight girls before." Ticking off her
fingers as she went, "You've fought Ukyo, Shampoo-several times and
you fought Kodachi as well...." Grinning smugly at him Akane waited
for a reply.
Ranma knew he was trapped. "Y-Yes that is true, but I don't think
I could live with myself if...if I hurt you A-Akane...."Ashamed Ranma
looked down at the floor. Akane's heart froze. HE CARED for her, he
really did!
Whether or not it was.... L-Love...he still cared, and Akane threw
away the last of her inhibitions. She threw herself into his arms,
and hugged him fiercely. Ranma panicked at first, then relaxed into
her arms, and held her as well, "This is the first time we have ever
willingly hugged each other!" He elated to himself. "I wonder if..."
His mind trailed off as Akane seemed to collapse into him, they were
now laying side by side on the dojo floor holding each other. The
force of her throwing herself into him had knocked him down.
Tentatively Ranma reached over and stroked her hair.
Akane was in heaven, she curled up into Ranma's side and pulled
back her head a little so that she could look at her fianc�e's
handsome face. Ranma met her gaze after about a second. They
simply stared at each other, both wanting to go further, but neither
one knowing how to broach the subject, nor did they know how far
the other was willing to go. Ranma gazed at Akane and looked into
her eyes, leaning his head forward moving his mouth towards hers,
he stopped and waited and looked again, blushing, and Akane
nodded her assent. Grinning, Ranma completed the movement,
and their lips brushed.
His touch was like fire! Akane's whole body felt like it was
glowing! Where he was resting his hands on her back, she could have
sworn she was getting burned, her back arched involuntarily towards
him as his lips brushed hers, and she faintly *moaned* her assent
again. Ranma then leaned in and kissed her closed mouthed. His
lips were somewhat moist and the electric sensations he was
provoking in her were making her blush furiously and she tightened
her grip on him. *moaning* into his still closed mouth, Akane opened
her lips slightly prompting without words for Ranma to go further.
Ranma in turn parted his lips slightly, and Akane with very little
control left accepted the tip of Ranma's tongue, this being the most
intimate she had ever been with him before, or any other man for
that matter, Akane's head was swimming.
Ranma was shocked as all hell, she had opened her lips and was
sucking gently on his tongue. Unfamiliar feelings were building up in
Ranma, and combined with the heat of her body, the scent of her, and
what she was allowing him to do, Ranma allowed something inside of
himself to snap, and opened his mouth fully, sucking crazily on her
tongue, and rolling her over on top of him so that he could feel every
part of her touching him.
Akane was a little shocked at first when Ranma responded like he
did, but her mind was not in any kind of a state to stop, nor think
reasonably, and she let go entirely and felt herself falling, the room
seemed to dim out of view, and then she closed her eyes and let the
sensations rule her, caressing his teeth and sucking alternately on
his tongue and lips. Akane was enjoying letting herself be female,
even more so since she was doing this with HIM! Even more important,
while she was enjoying having Ranma touch her, the fact that he had
been so kind and open with her, and the way he was behaving, meant
the world to her.
Ranma was also in his own little world where only Akane existed
was starting to feel TOO light headed, and so gently he broke the
kiss. His head was swimming, he looked up at Akane and saw a
flushed face, lightly coated with sweat and a happy grin plastered
across it. She was panting slightly,and neither one of them knew
what to say.
Akane however noticed the position of the sun, and the fear of
someone walking in on them overpowered her desire to lay on Ranma
all day. Gently she rolled off of him, and sat facing him. "Ranma
I..."
"Shhhhh" he said gently not wanting to spoil the moment. He
turned her so that she was facing away from him, and placing his back
against the wall he pulled her back to sit in between his legs.
Gently he pulled her to lay back against his chest, lovingly he ran his
fingers through her hair, and felt as she adjusted her gi modestly as
she sat lying against him. Their moment was shattered however when
Kasumi's high pitched voice rang out from the household,
"Breakfast everyone!" Faint stumbling sounds could be heard from
the direction of the house, which could only have Genma
stumbling-falling down the stairs in his rush to get food.
Akane leapt away from Ranma, and as he got up , they both just
kind of stood there, neither sure how to end the moment nor if
anything was necessary to say. Akane still giddy and way to
confused, with emotions and feelings still running through her, simply
smiled at Ranma and turned her back to him and walked out of the dojo.
Ranma following suit, though after he exited the dojo, he leapt up to
the roof top and into his room, so he could come down the stairs and
therefore not raise any suspicions.
Humming quietly to himself, Ranma walked down the stairs this
time. Pausing at the landing to simply watch his new family. Genma
as usual trying to inhale everything, even the plates if he wasn't
careful, Soun sitting at the head of the table with a toothbrush in his
mouth reading the morning paper. Nabiki yawning into her teacup and
looking disheveled. Kasumi looking perfect as always sitting by Nabiki
and refilling their plates and Akane sitting at her usual spot next to
Ranma's eating daintily.
With a grin Ranma waltzed into the room, and sat next to Akane,
not saying anything he simply smiled at her and sat down and started
eating. No one seemed to notice, and Akane just blushed as she looked
up, then continued eating.
_______________________________________________________
End.
~ lemme know if formatting doesn't work on your end
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