The science fair was in one week. Akane knew she had to think of something. And then it hit her. Something that would make her life a little bit easier. She couldn't wait.

THE SCIENCE PROJECT

By: Mea Maxima Culpa

Be forewarned there is a bit of OOC on Akane's part. Other than that, this fic is for Ranma and Akane lovers. Just them. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. It's all Rumiko Takahashi's and she's welcome to it.

Five days later

Akane wiped a greasy hand across her forehead and sighed. It was finished. All the time and work she put into it would finally pay off. Now she just had to find her test subject.

Ranma was late as usual. He had been mauled by Shampoo again and it had taken him nearly twenty minutes to pry her off. As he walked into the Tendo dojo, he could sense a feeling of foreboding wash over him. He took it that Akane was having a bad day. The door slammed shut behind him and the little hairs on the back of his neck stood up. There stood Akane with an eerie smile on her face.

"Welcome home, Ranma. I hope you've had a nice day." Akane said calmly, her face not showing any hint of what was in store for her "fiancé."

"Um, yeah, it was okay. Why?" Ranma asked, the warning bells going off in his head. 'Why is she being so nice?'

"Well, I have a favor to ask you." Akane said, peering at him.

"What?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"Would you help me test out my science project?" Akane asked as she prettily stuck out her lower lip and batted her eyes at him. 'Maybe my somewhat questionable women skills will help me.'

"Hell no!" Ranma shouted. "Last time I helped you with a "project" you fried my hair and I couldn't walk straight for a week!" He started looking for a quick escape route. Unfortunately for Ranma, he didn't see Akane's mallet come out until it was too late and embedded in his face. He was promptly knocked unconscious.

"Fine." Akane mumbled as she dragged an unconscious Ranma by his foot, up to her room. "If you want to do it the hard way..."

"Ugh, she just had to hit me with her mallet, didn't she?" Ranma grunted as he awoke from his unconscious state. "Now, where am I?"

As he lifted his head, much to his surprise, he found himself in Akane's bedroom . . . tied to a chair.

"She's gone whacked. That's the only way I can explain this, the crazy, uncute tomboy has gone completely psycho." He mumbled, as he tried to wriggle free of the ropes that held him.

"I can assure you, Ranma, that I am completely sane," A voice said from behind him. "And I just need you to cooperate for once. Completely. Okay?"

Akane walked up beside him, smiling. "And don't try breaking those ropes. I got them from Doctor Tofu, with some persuasion of course, and they are completely unbreakable. Even for you."

She went back behind him to fiddle with something that he couldn't see.

"Feh, you're not going to make me eat some of your cooking or something, are you?" Ranma choked out, fearing for his life if she said yes.

"Ranma no baka! There's nothing wrong with my cooking! I should make you eat some 'special' for that remark." Akane growled as she came back into his line of sight. "But no, I have something more important in mind. Just for you." She smiled dangerously at him.

Ranma swallowed. "What?" He squeaked out.

"Oh! Don't you remember? You get to test out my science project!"

Ranma's screams rang throughout the house, until Akane shoved a sock in his mouth, anyway.

"Ranma, I promise to take out the sock when I get everything set up. Then I'm just going to hook you up and ask you a few questions, okay?" Akane asked.

She knew this thing would come in handy. The idea had hit her soon after their failed wedding, and that's when Akane knew that she needed some answers. Because she knew their parents would most likely to try again and she didn't want to get married not knowing if he loved her or not. So she decided to finally do something about it. She knew that Ranma would never give her the answers she needed willingly, so she devised a plan. One that she had been waiting to go through with at the right time. That time was now.

She took Ranma's left hand and put little suction cups with wires attached to them on each of his fingers. She did the same to his right. Then she put a suction cup on each side of his head at his temples. His eyes darted nervously over her. He started to sweat.

"Relax Ranma," Akane cooed. "This won't hurt a bit." 'The only thing that might get hurt is your pride.' She added silently.

After fiddling with the thing behind him, she came and crouched in front of him. Their faces scant inches apart.

"All right. Down to business. Now Ranma, I am going to ask you five and only five questions. After five questions the battery dies and I have to recharge it for an twenty-four hours. Remember that you can only answer "yes" or "no." Nothing else. You must answer yes or no within fifteen seconds or you get a very unpleasant shock. Got that?" Ranma nodded earnestly and Akane wheeled her contraption into his view. It looked like a cross between a toaster and a speedometer, except for numbers there were the words "True" and "False" with a needle sitting at the middle.

It was a lie detector.

Oooh. Cliffhanger. What will she ask him? Will he answer her willingly or would he rather be shocked? Stay tuned for another shocking (heh, heh Sweatdrop . . . uh, yeah) chapter of THE SCIENCE PROJECT!!!

See ya!

Mea Maxima Culpa