Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this. They belong to the great mind of Rumiko Takahashi and I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. I make no money off of this.
"One thousand two hundred and forty-three... one thousand two hundred forty-four... one thousand two hundred forty-five." Ranma said through clenched teeth. He was upside down, his legs straight up in the air and doing pushups on two fingers. Deciding that was enough he lowered himself down and sat in lotus position, commencing a set of breathing exercises to focus his mind.
Ever since the wedding fiasco he'd been restless, he was frustrated, angry and confused. He was angry at his father for getting him in this mess, he was angry at his other fiances for showing up, he was frustrated with himself for lacking the courage to tell Akane how he really felt. And he was confused by Akane's willingness to go with the wedding. She'd been vehemently opposed to the engagement since they met, although sometimes they did get close, but those moments were easily forgotten when they'd have misunderstandings due to a purple headed Amazon glomp which would prompt Akane to send him into near orbit with her favorite mallet.
As he sank deeper into his meditation he tried to let go of his emotions, trusting his chi to guide him to peacefulness. His breathing became even as the sweat on his face cooled the breeze in the dojo. "Something has to change" he thought to himself. "I need to find out how she feels, I need to get rid of Shampoo, and Ukyo. I never considered Kodachi as a real option..." He opened his eyes and looked around the dojo, "This place feels empty somehow, perhaps it's time for me to get my mastery and take on some students."
Feeling better now that he'd made a few decisions he stood up and brushed off his clothes, he walked to the door of the dojo, opened it and bowed towards the dojo before exiting pulling the door shut as he did.
That evening at dinner when Genma tried to steal his food Ranma didn't even give him a chance. Placing his bowl out of reach Ranma walked around the table grabbed his father by his gi and launched him over the Tendo wall, pointedly ignoring his pathetic fathers screams of protest. The Tendos of course just acted like nothing happened, although Akane did seem to be having trouble keeping a slight grin off her face at the display.
Finishing his dinner without even asking for seconds Ranma stood up, "Akane, can I speak to you when you're finished?" he asked politely. Not bothering to look up from her food she responded with a simple "Sure."
"Thank you for the excellent meal Kasumi." Ranma said, before politely bowing and stepping outside.
"Where the hell is that ungrateful son of mine?!" shouted Genma as he slammed shut the front door behind him. "Here I sacrifice to train him and for him to just up and..." his complaints died on his lips as his nose caught the scent of his unfinished dinner. He put the incident out of his mind as his stomach growled, the boy could wait, his stomach could not!
"Thank you Kasumi, it was great!" exclaimed Akane as she jumped up from the table, she ran out the door following where Ranma had left a few minutes previously.
Stepping outside she noted it was a beautiful night, the sun had not yet set all the way and was still an orange ball sinking into the horizon. The sky turned from orange to a pretty purple color with a few random stars adding to the beauty of the scene where it got darker. She looked around the yard and spotted Ranma and her breath caught in her throat. He was in the middle of a kata, his graceful fluid movements nearly as beautiful as the evening sky surrounding them. I wish Nabiki would photograph stuff like this instead of just perverted pictures all the time! She thought to herself watching him, she realized at this point she was staring but just didn't care. She sat down and watched him patiently waiting for him to finish.
A few minutes later he finished up the kata, bringing his hands down in front of his solar plexus exhaling sharply. He then bowed to the setting sun and shook himself off allowing his muscles to relax. Smiling gently he turned around, "Hi Akane" he said, then his heart started racing when he saw the beautiful smile that was gracing her lips.
"Can you teach me that kata sometime?" she asked, looking up at him with longing in her eyes.
"Yeah, sure 'Kane" he said nervously. "Hey, listen ifeellikeweneedtotalkaboutth eweddingtoomanythinghappened toofastandthingsgotoutofcont rolandI'msorry!"
"What?"
"I'm sorry Akane." Ranma said "I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry for the ruined wedding, I'm sorry my father is an idiot that engaged me to someone new every time his stomach growled, I'm sorry for Shampoo, I'm sorry for Kodachi, I'm sorry that our wedding was ruined. And I'm sorry that you had to get engaged to someone like me. I know you never wanted this in the first place, perhaps if we called it.."
"Don't!" Akane said sharply, "Don't you dare try to back out now!" She grabbed onto his red shirt and pulled herself up to him tears at the corners of her eyes.
"I admit I didn't want to be engaged" She said quietly "I'm not sorry for being engaged to you, although I wish we could have made that decision on our own. I'm sorry for my temper, when I see those bimbos hanging off of you I get so jealous!" Akane covered her mouth realizing her slip up.
"You get jealous?" Ranma said, "All this time I thought.."
"Can we be honest with each other?" Akane asked tentatively "I mean no holds barred, completely honest for just a moment." she waited until Ranma nodded.
"Okay. Ranma I.." she paused, looking into his eyes "I.." her heart was racing and she felt like she was about to start shaking "I.. I.. Iloveyou!"
He blinked, he looked at her, he blinked again. "Huh?"
She sighed "I said," she said trying to slow down "I love you."
"I love you too tomboy," he said kindly in return "I think I've been in love with you this whole time and I've just been too stupid to admit it to myself till.. you know"
She did know, it was no surprise to her that Ranma didn't want to talk about Saffron. Even if the guy did come back to life Ranma still had to live with knowing he'd been pushed to the point that taking a life seemed like a necessity.
"So what now?" she said, still holding him close.
"I've wanted to do something for a long time now," he said as his fingers grabbed her chin, gently tilting her head up. She gladly pressed herself up to him allowing him to kiss her. After a few seconds they both parted for air.
"Wow" they said at the same time, then they grinned at each other and started laughing.
Later that night they were on the roof of the Tendo house talking quietly.
"I have to get rid of the rest of these suitors, no I mean WE have to get rid of the rest of these suitors."
"Agreed."
"I've also been thinking, this dojo is very empty, perhaps we need to start getting some students."
"Perhaps you need to train your first" Akane said punching Ranma in the shoulder gently "now that we know how we feel about each other will you train me seriously? When we do take over the dojo I want to teach as your equal."
Ranma sighed, still against hitting girls, but reluctantly accepting the necessity for training Akane. "Agreed."
Suddenly he sat up "I got it!" he said excitedly, "we only have a few weeks left of school, after we get done I say we go on a training trip, just the two of us for the whole summer. That will give me enough time to get you well caught up, and perhaps we can learn some new tricks, and when we come back we'll have a good plan to get rid of the pests"
Akane nodded liking this idea, agreed on what would be happening they shared a few more gentle and curious kisses before Ranma carried Akane downstairs so they could go talk to the family about the plans for the upcoming training trip.
First fanfic, I know which way I want it to go and if I keep writing it this will eventually most likely end up being a crossover by the time I write a sequel. For this story so far my plan is to straighten out the lives of Akane, Ranma and co.. Please R&R thanks!