Written By: Naadya
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of its characters.
Things He'll Never Say
The rain was falling unrelentingly as classes ended that day at Furinkan High. Ranma stared out the window. It was still raining heavily. Ranma detested the rain. It wasn't always like this. But ever since he started turning into his girl form when he got wet, he started hating the rain he used to love. He breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, he had remembered to bring an umbrella that morning.
As he headed towards the main entrance with his umbrella in hand, he caught sight of Akane standing in the shade, a faraway look on her face. After a moment of deliberation, he decided to see what she was up to. As he approached her, she turned to look in his direction, her lips spreading into a small smile.
"Yo. Whatcha doing, standing here staring into space?" he asked her.
"Kasumi told me to stop by the supermarket and get some stuff she needs for our dinner. But it seems that in a rush I had left my umbrella at home this morning." She said, her eyebrows furrowing. He always felt she shouldn't frown so much. She'd get a huge frown line on her forehead. In fact, he thought he just saw one actually begin to form already. However, he figured it'd be better not to mention it now. She'd probably beat him to a pulp if he did.
"Maybe I should just go ahead in the rain… It's not raining that heavily now." She said, looking out into the rain once more.
'That's just her being optimistic', he thought. It looked like it was actually raining more heavily than it did earlier.
"Well, see you later at home, Ranma" she said as she was about to take a step into the rain. That was when Ranma finally decided to stop her.
"Wait, Akane" he said. She stopped and turned to face him once more. "Here, take it." He said, holding out his umbrella to her.
"Oh, I can't take it, Ranma. Then you'll get wet and then you'd fall sick." She said, her face going slightly red. "Then we'd be stuck having to nurse you back to health. And knowing our Dads, they'd force me to do it" she added quickly, to cover her embarrassment with hostility as usual. Ranma was about to retort, but with great difficulty he held his tongue. He knew this was her plan. To make him get angry and storm off with his umbrella, leaving her to walk in the rain instead.
"Besides, I'm not that weak, to fall sick just because of a little rain" she said, flexing her arms, an endearing smile on her face.
"Don't be so stubborn and just take it. You're heading to the supermarket. You need it more than I do. I'm just heading back home. I can take a bath then. I'd be worried if you fell sick..." Shit. He let it slip out. He looked at Akane's wide eyes. He could feel the heat rush to his face and could see the blush on her face too. He quickly turned away out of embarrassment.
"But-" Akane started to say, but before she could reject further, he thrust the umbrella into her hand. And stepped out into the rain, immediately changing into his girl form. He walked off, hands in is pockets, heading home.
"Ranma!" she called after him, but he just continued walking.
Ranma didn't like the rain at all. In fact he loathed getting into it. Of course he'd never admit it, especially to her, but if it was for Akane, maybe, just maybe he could make an exception. He figured a little rain can't hurt him, after all.
Click Click Click
Hidden well in the shadows, Nabiki was busy taking pictures of the little moment between an oblivious Akane and Ranma.
"Hehe a blushing Akane and 'Pigtailed Girl' wet in the rain… I could get a fortune off these from Kuno-Baby!' She said gleefully to herself.
There was a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she stalked off in search of 'The Blue Thunder' of Furinkan High.
A/N: Thank you for reading this one-shot! I was bored, and this idea just popped into my head. I hope it was a good read and I hope Ranma and Akane were still in character. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read, and if it isn't too much trouble, please leave a review. I'll probably write a NabikixKuno one-shot as a sort of continuation to this later on =)