alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/ Inspired by _A Lesson in Love_, TMTC/TPOH, the writing style of Matthew Trotter (who in turn attributes that to Pratchett--though I'll probably not live up to either), and other excellent Ranma fics out there. You might note that this draws a bit on some of my other Ranma fics. Well, that would only happen if you guys read my stuff, which sometimes I'm not so sure about. :) You know the drill, characters and universe belong to Takahashi-san and all that stuff. Sue me, and you won't be getting much money. And now, Oddzilla Productions presents.... "These are the Days to Remember" by Andrew Huang (apologies to Billy Joel) <...>: thoughts *...*: sounds --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- -Oh What a Night (apologies to Frankie Valli) Step. Step. Gently, now. Step. "Hmmm...." This wasn't the way the evening was supposed to end. Step. Step. Step. No, not at all. "*giggle* Wha'cha thinking, Ranma?" But we get ahead of ourselves. Let's go back a bit. *** It was the night of a dance being held by Furinkan High School, for all of its students. In a certain household in that school's district, a small argument was raging. "Why do I have to go with hiemr?!" No, that's not a typo, that's two different voices saying the same thing except for the last word: the male voice said "her", while the female voice said "him". Tendou Soun immediately flopped down at Akane's feet, begging, "Oh, please, please, please, my dear daughter, I beg you..." all the while threatening to create an environment that would facilitate the growth of athlete's foot. It didn't take very long before she gave an exasperated sigh and nodded. While that went on, Ranma was swatted at with signboards saying, {It is your duty to your fiancee!} while growls of a panda were projected at him. He easily dodged the swings, laughing. "Gotta be faster than that, Oyaji! And there's no way--" At this point, Soun turned to Ranma to do some persuasion. However, as Ranma was not his daughter, there was no groveling, but rather, a demon head screaming, "YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD, BOY!!!" After Ranma extracted his head from the ceiling and stopped his shaking, he agreed. Ranma and Akane (and peripherally, Nabiki--but that's not important for the moment[3]) were now walking to Furinkan. "Idiot." "Tomboy." Just the usual walk to Furinkan. No one got hurt--yet. Once at Furinkan, the three piled into the gym, along with about three quarters of the population of the high school. Some techno piece was playing, at drive-by window-breaking sound levels. Ranma grumpily sat down at the side of the gym. Akane joined him. "...." "?" "...said, I...." "...hear y...." At this point, the two decided to leave the gym so that they could actually communicate verbally. "I don't want to be here." "Well, it's too late now. We're stuck here...otherwise, I think our parents will pound you. "Why is it that _I_ always get yelled at, and not you?" "Maybe because I'm a cuter girl than you give me credit for." "Heh. Whatever, kawaiikunee." *smack* "Ow! Hey--gack!" "What? What is it?" Ranma ducked behind a table and pulled Akane down with him. "Shampoo's here." "Great. The Chinese bimbo. If you go anywhere near--" "Hey, I'm the one who hid us, didn't I?" Akane decided not to answer. The two watched as Shampoo searched around, holding...some food container. Whether or not it was drugged was a toss-up. Finally, Shampoo left the area, walking into the gym. Ranma and Akane sighed in relief, But, perhaps, it was a little too soon for Ranma. "Ranchan!" Oh, dear. At least, Ucchan and Akane got along somewhat. Akane was smoldering a little already, vowing to crank him one good when Ukyou grabbed onto him. But.... "Heh, Ucchan, how's it going?" "Okay. I'm kinda tired, though. Not sure why I came here.... Hello, Akane." Akane decided to calm down a bit. "Hello, Ukyou." "Gosh, it's been a hard day." Ukyou slumped down into a chair. "Business was crazy. I don't know _why_ so many people were coming in today...so, how's it been for you guys?" Both grumbled at the same time. "Don't wanna be here." "Parents forced you, huh?" Two heads nodded simultaneously. There was silence from the little group for a while...until a few people walked in--with food. And punch. Ranma's face brightened. "Well, as long as we're here, might as well make the most of it!" He headed over to the food. Akane and Ukyou looked at each other, then shrugged. They headed over as well. Ranma had downed a piece of cake when he heard a cry of pain next to him. Akane! "What! What is it?!" He whirled to see his fiancee gasping for breath, then rushing over to the punch bowl. Ukyou stared at a piece of sushi in her hand. "Well, she ate one of these...looks like there's a _lot_ of wasabi[4] in it." "Ahh, couldn't be that bad." He snatched a piece himself, popped it in his mouth, and chewed. "Ur-K!" A bomb detonated. Fortunately, that area had been cleared by the police. Meanwhile, back at Furinkan, Ranma learned the hard way that the sushi was indeed over-wasabied. He decided to join Akane at the punch bowl, where she was downing her second cup and about to go for a third. He hurriedly dipped a cup for himself, and took a swig. Then he spit it right out. "Whoa!" Ukyou darted over beside him. "What? What's wrong?" "Smell." He tilted the cup towards Ukyou's nose. "Yow! There's sake in there!" "Probably something stronger than sake. It reeks!" "Wha? What was that?" Akane wiped her mouth and rejoined the other two. "Uhm, Akane, how much did you drink?" "I lost count at the fourth cup. Why?" "Oh, damn." "*hic* Woo, excuse me. What's wrong?" *** No doubt, the atomic sushi and the spiked punch were meant to be a paired effect. "*giggle* Hey, this is fuuuuuun. *hic* Hee!" That brings us to the present, a sparse fifteen minutes after leaving the house. Remember that scene from the first season of Ranma 1/2? The piggyback bit after a visit to Toufuu's? Reverse the roles for both and the gender for one, and you have a general picture of what was happening now. Ranma wisely (Ranma? wise?) decided to take Akane home quietly before something really bad happened. "That's nice, Akane." "Wow. I never knew being drunk was soooo nice. I gotta do this again." Akane raised her head from Ranma's broad shoulders and nuzzled his hair a bit. This scene was now reaching past bizarre. "Sure, sure...." Ranma wasn't really listening, which normally would have earned him a smack upside the head at the least. However, very fortunately for Ranma, Akane made a pleasant drunk. Very pleasant. "'N' thanks for carrying me back...but I still want to stay a little longer!" Ranma decided not to answer. Akane made up for the silence by humming one of Kasumi's cooking (heh) tunes, punctuated with a hiccup here and a giggle there. He chuckled slightly at the thought. Finally, after a bit, they arrived back at the Tendou's. The fathers had gone out to a bar to celebrate their victory against the forces of stubborness, and Kasumi...was, well, her location could be revealed by the screams of agonized patients as pressure points unknown to the Fist of the North Star were jabbed blindly. Ranma carefully ascended the steps, walked into Akane's room, and gently set Akane down on her bed. Unsure what to do next, he looked around for a moment, before just deciding to settle down here for a few moments and make sure things were okay. "Akane? Ummm...." "Yah?" She smiled. It was _that_ +smile+[5]. It really caught Ranma off guard. "Uh...umm...that is...are you feeling okay?" "Sure! I feel great! Never better. *giggle*" "Oh, well.... Okay." Ranma relaxed a little. If she hadn't hit him by now, he was entitled to let down his guard a bit. "Figures a tomboy as slow as you wouldn't taste sake in there until it was too late." Oops. Letting down one's guard in moments of relative safety is okay, but he probably went a little too far. He cringed, in that Pavlovian way, but no hammer/fist/table/instrument of doom was coming. He opened his eyes to see Akane pouting at him. "*hic* Well, I couldn't help it. That was a llllllot of wasabi!" A tear glimmered in her eye. She started to sniffle. Ranma panicked. An angry Akane, he could handle (or dodge, or just accept his fate). A crying Akane...that was always something that got him. "I'm sorry! Sorry!" For once, Ranma was given the chance to apologize before reaching mid-level crusing altitude. It was quite strange. Akane's face brightened immediately. "Oh, well, then. That's okay. But you also drank some yourself, ya know. Baaaaaaaaka. *giggle*" She +smile+d again, idly fingering the skirt of her dress, that yellow dress with the suspenders over her fine blue satin blouse, the one dress which showed her legs off so nicely. Her cheeks were a bit flushed from the alcohol, giving her face a beautiful glow. Her eyes sparkled with the forgotten tears, catching Ranma's in her gaze. Part of Ranma's mind instantly liquified. You know, the part which always insisted that he have nothing to do with this sexless tomboy. The part which survived the collapse was mumbling "kawaii" in its near- meltdown state. "Ummmm.... Ummmmmmmmmm...." "Wha? 'S all you can say is 'ummm'?" She teasingly poked him in the shoulder and let her hand fall in his as he reached to catch it. So delicate, when not clenched in a fist.... Ranma's mental processors still hadn't quite recovered, but.... He leaned over slowly...slowly... ...ever so slowly... ...confused, Akane didn't move away, but just blinked as he came closer... ...so very slowly... ...by now, you'd have expected Shampoo to come crashing through the wall and then performing unimaginable feats of violence... ...or for Kunou to leap in and going on as he usually does... ...or for someone to complain about the overuse of ellipses... ...he moved closer... ...and touched his lips to hers. With only a moment of hesitation, Akane leaned in and responded to his kiss. Was this of free will? Depends on your definition. A few seconds after lip contact, the goo in Ranma's head resolidified and realized what was going on. Ranma's head jerked back suddenly as the now-awake part of his mind screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He dropped her hand and stood up, backing away in shock. Akane, similarly, was a bit surprised, but not as much as Ranma. She looked up at the retreating form of her fiancee. "That was nice." She +smile+d yet again. Then she passed out. Ranma paused for a second, torn between running away and first checking to see if she was okay, _then_ running away. The matter seemed to be decided for him once he heard her soft snores and the gentle rise and fall of her chest (ahem, don't be staring at _that_ now, boyo). He quickly darted out of the room, down the stairs, out the door, and onto the rooftop. He needed to do some thinking, and the top of the Doujou was the best place for that. Back inside, Akane slumbered peacefully, as the alcohol slowly worked her internal systems over in that wonderful way that alcohol does things to a sleeping human. Also, if one listened carefully, a bit of weeping could be heard. Nabiki had tailed them back, after seeing them leave-- and found her camera empty of film. Oh, the horror, the horror.... --- [1] The author would do footnotes, but that would _really_ be pushing the Trotter/Pratchett angle. . . . Waitaminut[2].... [2] Aw, heck, I'll do footnotes anyway. And I'll stop talking about myself in the third person...at least, for the footnotes. [3] Actually, always be watching for Nabiki. Always. [4] For those who don't know, wasabi is this green paste made from Japanese horseradish; if you exhale the wrong way while eating it, you'll never have stuffy sinuses again. [5] If you've ever been in love, you know what I'm talking about. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Warning: The author is an occasionally pedantic Harvard student who just returned from a review session for orgo when writing this next part.] Specifically, the type of alcohol that we humans can drink without immediate deadly effects is ethyl alcohol, aka ethanol, aka grain alcohol. Still, it is toxic to the body, and for this, the liver must process it and break it down into something else. That something else is ethyl aldehyde, aka acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde also isn't very nice to the human body. The body reacts to this as well. And _that_ reaction is called the hangover. [We now return you to normal English.] Akane, meet the hangover. "Aaaaaaagh." It's pleased to meet you too. Akane tried desperately not to move. It hurt to move. No, that wasn't quite right...iT HuRt t0 m0VE. It was fortunate that today was Sunday; otherwise, she would have had to miss at least a significant portion of school. It was then that she tasted her breath. "Eeeurgh!" Regretfully, she started to ease herself up off the bed, opening her eyes slowly to minimize the pain. It didn't work too well. She paused, and collected her thoughts, such as they were. "Went to the party. Stayed there for a little bit. Ate some food that was too hot. Drank some...spiked punch. Got drunk. Ranma took me home. Umm. Umm." Akane knew that her memory didn't end there. Something had definitely happened before she fell asleep. But damned if she could remember what it was exactly...only that generally, being drunk had been kind of pleasant. "Must ask Ranma later." She slowly walked out her door, squinting. As she exited, she knocked into a large mass, which did many things to her head--none of them good. She stumbled and nearly fell down, when a strong pair of arms caught her. "AK-AKANE! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" She nearly screamed. "D-d-don't yell like that!" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I'M NOT YELLING.... Oh. Must be the hangover." "Ranma?" "Yes." At the moment, he was barely above whispering, but Akane's heightened hearing senses registered it as a normal level of sound. "Uhh, heh, are you all right? Umm...." "No, I'm not. Now let me get to the bathroom." She attempted to move away from him, but her legs failed her again. It was at that point that she realized that he was still holding her in a semi-embrace. Her cheeks reddened even more. Stablizing herself, she muttered, "Let go of me, pervert!" Apparently, Ranma just now realized the same thing, and opened his arms. "AH, HEHEH, DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT, HEH." He put a hand behind his head in that anime pose of medium-level embarassment. Akane winced at the heightened decibel level, but said nothing. She rather continued on to the bathroom, where she began brushing her teeth to get the sensation of Pestilence and War out of her mouth[1]. Only then did something occur to her. "Whurr di Rma aak swrrd? Lk Ryyoa...." For the toothbrush-speech impaired, she said, "Why did Ranma act so weird? Like Ryouga...." Ranma, meanwhile, had just stopped shaking. Last night was a weird one for him, to say the least. For one, there was the explaining that he had to do to the fathers when they returned...fortunately, they approved of his decision to bring her back. Then there was that bad feeling that he kept on having every time he passed Nabiki. Something surely had happened.... And, of course, there was the obvious. He had kissed her. And before the terror had set in, he could recall...the joy. The joy he had felt when he touched his lips to hers. It was like that time when he took her hand in his after leaving Ryugenzawa, or when she had hugged him after the ordeal with the doll at the inn...a warm, gentle feeling of joy. Except that this time, that warm, gentle feeling had all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Perhaps that was what had snapped him so quickly back to reality last night. No, no mistaking that it had been a good feeling.... But it really scared him. Ranma sighed and continued down the steps to the dining room. He was _not_ going to let his father take his food, not this morning.... He turned the corner to confront the paternal vacuum cleaner. "All right, Oyaji, you'd better...er." He found himself staring into a pair of eyes that were definitely not his fathers, since they were framed by dark brown hair. "Well, Ranma-kun," a voice purred, "I hadn't really been able to talk to you about this until now." The eyes glinted in just the way that Mother Teresa's wouldn't. "Wh-what are you talking about, Nabiki?" "Why, this!" She waved a Polaroid in front of him. "And I think you know what I mean." A moment of deathly silence. You know, the type when a test message is sent to a mailing list where test messages are strictly verboten, just before all Hell breaks loose. "How much?" "I'll be kind. 3000 yen." Reach for back pocket. Extract wallet. Open wallet. Remove money. Hand over. Close wallet. Replace in back pocket. A common set of actions in the Tendou household. "Dammit." Ranma sighed and walked past Nabiki, who was grinning wildly. However, since his mind was already in a thinking mode from his earlier contemplations, something occurred to him rather quickly. "Nabiki...." He whirled around and grabbed the girl by the arm before she could spring away. He pulled her back and spun her to face him. "You don't have any pictures, actually, do you? Otherwise, you'd be showing them to me." "Okay, so you got me. But no refunds. Besides, you know I'd get it back from you sooner or later." Nabiki grinned again. Suddenly, she dropped the jovial expression on her face. "But, Ranma, what do you do now?" That took Ranma back a few steps. "Uh, I...I...don't know." "What's going on?" Akane rubbed her aching eyes as she strode into the vicinity. Once Ranma's heart resumed beating, he looked at Akane and laughed nervously. "N-nothing's happening, just me and Nabiki talking, that's all, heh." "Oh." Akane knew that he was lying, but now was not the time to question. Rather, she continued on her Kami-given mission to seek some painkillers. Nabiki turned back to Ranma. "You have to, you know." "Huh?" "Tell her." "I--but--she'd--can't...." "You're so pathetic sometimes." Nabiki turned around and continued on to the dining table. Ranma sighed. "Yeah." He followed. --- [1] Death was not present--her own cooking had not been involved, and Famine didn't really apply. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ranma." "Hm?" "What happened after you brought me home last night?" *thud* Akane turned to see Ranma picking himself up off the ground. "Oww." He remounted the pole, standing on it on one leg. "Would you just get down off of there? You already walk on the fence constantly; it's not like you need to be working on your balancing skills all the time." "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You just probably wish that you could do the same." *whack* *thud* "What was that for!?" Ranma again got up off the ground, but decided not to get back on the pole. "So, what happened after you brought me back home?" "I, uh, took you to bed, that's all, yeah." "And?" "And what?!" "You've been acting weird all morning, almost like Ryouga." Fortunately, Akane missed Ranma's facefault. "I know something weird happened last night." "Well, sure, you got drunk, because you were too slow to realize that--hey, stop swinging at me--the punch was spiked--would you cut that out?--and then _you_ got all weird when you were drunk--ow!" "What do you mean, weird?" "Uhh...that is...." "Well, you were drunk...." "Yeah, that's really specific...." Akane's voice trailed off, and her eyes grew slightly distant. "But I do remember that...it was kind of nice." "Well...yeah... you weren't half as tom--I mean--you weren't nearly as vio--oh, geez. Just hit me now." *clonk* "Urr...." "You just can't say _anything_ nice, can you!?" At this point, the author realized that he could have written this whole section in script format, and decided to push things a bit forward. "Ranma! You bastard!" Murphy's Law must have been having fun today. "Yeah, Ryouga, what do you want now?" "You dare insult Akane again!?" "Yeah, I bet you don't even know what I said this time." Ryouga stopped short, straining to think about what it had been that had gotten Akane riled again. He failed. "Well, it doesn't matter; you got her ang--" "Ryouga, please, stop. It's all right." Akane placed a placating hand on Ryouga's shoulder and smiled at him, the combined effects of which were more powerful than an elephant tranquilizer[1]. "Ah, heh, he-hello, Akane-san...." He laughed nervously. She gave him a patient nod. "Hello, Ryouga." "Oh! I nearly forgot!" "What, the directions to this place?" *crunch* "*gurgle*" Akane turned back to Ryouga, finding him fumbling with...an odd metal amulet. "What's this?" "I found it in some caves somewhere." Ryouga handed the amulet over to her. "Something's written on here...mmm...yen...yen...'Yendor'?" She shrugged, and put it on around her neck. "Thanks, Ryouga!" Nervous laughter, as always. "Heh, yeah...some guy named...umm, Rodney, I think, kept on trying to take it away. Geez, he was annoying--" "Ranchan? Are you home?" Ukyou strode into the yard at this point. "Oh, Akane...are you all right now?" "Oh, yeah...I guess I'm fine." "Uhhhh...h-hi, Ucchan." "Ranchan! You okay?" He could have said, "No, I'm not, thanks to the tomboy," but that would be detrimental to his health. "No, I'm not, thanks to the tomboy," he said.[2] "Ranma! You insult Akane-san again? I'm going to have to pound y--" "Ryouga, hold on. As his fiancee, _I_ get to pound him," Akane snarled. She missed the pained look on his face and Ukyou's darkening visage. After the dust settled, Ukyou glared at Akane. "You didn't have to hurt him that much! You know, he is right." "Well, it's not like you don't hit him either. I recall a few times when you bashed him over the head with your spatula...." Ryouga started to do an imitation of a tennis match spectator sitting at midcourt as he watched the two ladies argue. He missed the fact that Ranma was finally recovering, and managed to stand up. Ranma looked at the escalating war of words in front of him. A wise man will never mess with a potential catfight. But Ranma's not wise. Plus, this scene really needed to get along with things. "Would you stop fighting alrea...urk?" He cut himself off as two angry stares were leveled at him. Fortunately, Akane and Ukyou decided to listen, and calmed down. "Anyways, before I get interrupted again," muttered Ukyou, "what happened after you left?" "Well, I, uh just took her home...." "Wait, why did you have to take Akane-san home, and from what?" "She got drunk, when--" "WHAT?! RANMA! YOU LET AKANE--" "Well, that's what he says he did, but he's acting weird now--" "--GET DRUNK?! THAT'S IT! I'LL--" "Acting weird? Ranchan, what does she mean by that?" "What are you asking him for? I'm standing right here--" "--KILL YOU, YOU--" "Ai ren! Shampoo miss you at dance yesterday!" "Shampoo, could you go away right now? We're--" "--BASTARD!!" "Ranma-sama! I would have joined you at the dance yesterday, but some foul contraption...er, sent me away from your school before I could locate you--" Ranma's put up with a lot in his life. A worthless father, separation from his mother for more than ten years, several fiancees (one of which he's never quite sure how he feels about her, and vice versa), many mortal enemies, the humiliation of being sold for food a few times, a curse that, had he been of a different mind-set, he might have enjoyed, but he's not like that, so he didn't enjoy it at all, which is a good thing. Now, where was I? "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA[continue for however long you like]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ah, yes. The poor boy was going to snap sooner or later.... Everyone stopped squabbling, and watched Ranma's form disappear over the fence. "What's gotten into _him_?"[3] --- [1] That is, if it was used on the appropriately sized creature. After all, if you shot Leviathan with one, it wouldn't do much. It's a matter of scale. Really--*SMASH* we apologize for the inconvenience. we now return you to footnotes that may actually be of use. thank you. [2] When was Ranma's mouth ever concerned with the health of the rest of him? [3] Guess who said that line. What, why are you looking at me? I don't know either. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranma ran. And ran. And ran. And tripped. "YAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" *crunch* For once, he didn't land in water[1], but rather, in a pile of discarded cardboard boxes. Kind of comfortable, really. "Aww, man.... I'm dead. I'm just so dead." Sighing, Ranma picked himself up and looked around. He was somewhere in downtown Tokyo, on the roof of a small grocery store. The view was nice up here.... Despite the noise of the city, it was more peaceful than anything Ranma had experienced for weeks. Actually, no. Just before he kuh, kuh, kissed Akane, staring into her deep dark eyes, almost drowning in them indeed...one moment of perfect beauty. She could be so cute. "Why can't I tell her? I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I told her that she looked cute. Well...." It wasn't just that, though. He had kuh, kuh, kissed her, too. And so? If he told her, she'd call him a pervert and cream him. And that certainly wasn't anything new, right? Well, Shampoo, Ukyou, Ryouga, Kunou, Kodachi, would be out to get him, plus their fathers were going to try to get them married, too. Again, nothing new. Truth be told, it wasn't the immediate consequences (read: world of pain) that worried him, it was what all of it meant. The potential of his head on a pike mattered less than what was going to happen between them two afterwards, if he told her. Nearly the whole time that they had known each other, they never made an open show of affection for each other.... It wasn't that nothing was there. Feelings long denied within himself were finally rising to the surface. Heck, after what had happened last night, they were impossible to keep down. And, well, it seemed at times that Akane liked him. Liked him? Liked her? "Hmm...it's getting a little cold...." Unfortunately, he hadn't thought of bringing his jacket with him (panic attacks usually preclude logic[2]). He summoned a little of his ki to warm himself up. "I don't know what to do." But really, he did. Nabiki was right...he _did_ have to tell her. He again recalled the image of her cute, tipsy smile. Unconsciously, some of his ki gathered into his hands.... --- [1] Clearly, a violation of the Laws of the Ranmaverse. The authorities are currently investigating. [2] It's not like Ranma has much logical grasp to begin with, anyway. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Akane was feeling...guilty. Yes, that was the word. Guilty. Guilty about Ranma. Feeling guilty about Ranma was not something she was very familiar with; it almost made her angry at Ranma for that, but then that would just make her feel even more guilty. A vicious cycle, that one. It had been a few hours since her fiancee had screamed and run off into the city. A rather loud and painful scream, too...or, rather, a loud and pained scream. It was now past dinnertime, and he still hadn't come back. Akane shut the book on her desk, unable to concentrate on her homework, and walked to her window, looking out over the yard. That was when she heard two soft thumps coming from above. The roof. It had to be Ranma. She quietly calmed herself, promising not to get angry at Ranma, at least, not unless he gave her sufficient reason to, thus pleasing the Akane fans. She pulled on a jacket, and with that, she opened the window and carefully clambered up onto the tiles. Sure enough, sitting with his back to her, was Ranma. He had grabbed a small blanket, to ward off the slight chill in the air. She called softly. "Ranma. Where have you been?" There was no answer; he didn't even turn around. "Ranma?" She crept closer to him. "Hello? Are you in there? Answer me!" She didn't like being ignored by him, and now, was starting to get a little angry. "Hey! HEY!" She finally reached him...and noticed a faint glow coming from his hands, held out in front of him. Cupped in his palms was a faint ball of ki, pulsating with an orange warmth. "Ranma?" He finally opened his eyes and acknowledged her presence. "Hi, Akane," he murmured. "Sorry I didn't come back earlier. I had to...think." An insult immediately rose up to Akane's lips, but she quickly stifled it. "What...what are you doing there?" She indicated the sphere of energy floating in his hands. "Just something that I discovered recently. Watch." He closed his eyes again, and concentrated. The ball wavered, then slowly shifted form... becoming a four-pointed star. After a moment, the fuzzy edges sharpened into focus. Akane let out a breath in surprise. "That's pretty...." Ranma opened his eyes, and the star collapsed back into a ball. "Thanks. I've been working on this sort of thing all day. I haven't really been able to make much else yet, though." "How do you do that?" "The ki ball is easy enough...shaping it is the hard part. I just have to think of something...something that kind of reflects what I want it to look like. It's pretty calming." Akane stared at his profile, a faint smile touching his lips, bathed in the glow of his ki ball. She narrowly avoided a mild OOCism and shook herself, but her eyes were again drawn to his face. He looked over at her, straight into her eyes. Caught off guard, she blushed and looked down, just for a moment. Ranma closed his eyes again, and Akane looked at his hands, wondering what would come up next. The ki ball shuddered, flattening along an axis. The bottom stretched into a bit of a point, while the top started to split down the middle for a little, then halting. The sides straightened and slanted, forming a... ...a heart. Ranma's brow twitched, and the heart flushed, changing from orange to a deep crimson. Slowly, Ranma's eyes opened, and the heart stayed as it was. Akane blinked. Apparently, Ranma was trying to say something, and either a) she didn't know what it was, or b) she was somewhat afraid of what he was saying. "Umm, Ranma...." "What, Akane?" The calm in his voice...scared her. She quickly tried to change the subject. "Uh, so, where were you? I heard that Shampoo and Ukyou were looking all over but...." Her words faded as she saw the heart collapse at the mention of her rivals. "Aww, geez, you just had to interrupt me like that, didn't you?" Ranma's tone held a bit of exasperation, but also, a little...um, friendliness. Yeah, just friendliness. "Oh well, since you asked.... I was just walking around downtown for a bit...well, all right, running around the rooftops downtown. And like I said, I was thinking. About...." "About?" "Um, food. Yeah, I'm feeling kinda hungry. Say, did Kasumi save--" What a time to lose resolve. "Ranma! Don't you be chickening out on me now. What were you thinking about?" He sighed, the sigh of a condemned prisoner. "All right.... Last night. I was thinking about last night." "So, what did happen last night? And if you say 'nothing' again, I'm going to punt you." Ranma looked down, and formed the ki ball, then shaping it into a heart, again. "Last night, when I put you in your bed, you...you looked so, umm, cute...you were very drunk, but also very cute." If he noticed Akane's sharp intake of breath, he didn't show it. "In fact...I couldn't help...but kiss you." The world stopped for Akane. There was silence, so much so that you could hear one hand clapping. A tree fell in the woods with no one around, and it _did_ make a sound. Bill Gates's humility could be noticed. It was _that_ quiet. "Well, 'bye! I'm going to go eat now," Ranma said, brightly. He dispelled the heart, and quickly jumped off the roof to seek out nourishment. Akane could only stare off after him, too shocked to follow. How's that for anticlimactic? --- [1] For once, I have no useful footnotes. Then again, some would argue, I didn't have any at all to begin with.