"Wow! This is amazing, dad!"Akane exclaimed as she ran up the stairs, " it feels like a century ago that we last came here !"

"Come now Akane," Soun laughed, huffing as he reached the top "it hasn't been that long. Not more than a decade or so."

A little further down a few clings and clangs could be heard along with a few attempts at growling by your friendly neighbourhood panda.

"Aww geez pops !" Ranma said pushing his dad off his back "who asked you to stay in your cursed form, huh? I wouldn't carry you on my back in either form even if you gave me a wheelbarrow full of food."

'Is this what I have taught you, boy? I am ashamed to call you my son!' and BAM the next thing you could hear was the sound of a board making contact with our hero's head.

"OW," Akane thought and then chuckle " I guess it's true, empty vessels do make the make the most noise." She turned and stared down at the father and son duo, " how could even THINK that he could climb the thousand staired temple in his cursed form?"

She shook her head resignedly as the rest of the family did the same while the father-son duo started fighting for the hundredth time that day. The inn, which was basically an extension of the temple, had been the last place they had visited when Akane's mother had been alive. While most of the memories of the trip were fuzzy, Akane could almost hear her mother's voice calling for her...


"Akane, did you know mommy and daddy met in this temple?"

"Really mommy? Was mommy the princess of this temple? Did daddy rescue mommy? Did he fight a dragon?"

"No, silly, mommy had to train here every day. And on one of those days, she met daddy. He came crashing into mommy's life. He fell from the sky."

"Daddy can fly ?!" Akane asked incredulously and started flapping her arms and jumping around " maybe I can ask him to teach me !"

"I don't think he would. It would be very difficult for him to catch you if you could." she said holding her sides while she laughed picturing her husband catching their flying daughters " he'd definitely have a hard time"

"Mommy, do you think there are really a thousand stairs?" she said, "Can you tell me how you and daddy met ?"

"My, my so many questions" she held onto Akane's hand " I'll tell you what, why don't we keep the storytelling for tonight and for now let's count the steps? Are you ready? One, two, three…"


"HELLOOOOOW? EAARTH TOO AAKKAAANNNEEEE?Mission control we are receiving no response from Akane." She blinked as she saw a hand moving in front of her face "ya think she fainted standing?HELLOOOOW?"

Akane snapped as she stepped out of her past and blinked twice before focusing her gaze at the young man who had come really close to her that his nose grazed hers . Surprised , she jumped back and almost fell down the stairs when Ranma caught her arm in the nick of time and pulled her back up. Letting go of her arm he acted as though he was pulling a walkie talkie out of his pocket.

"Hello ? Mission control? This is Cap'n Ranma Saotome" he said "the droid, code name Akane, just tried to commit suicide. I suspect a malfunctioning brain. Do you copy? malfunctioning brain. Over"

"I"LL GIVE YOU A MALFUNCTIONING BRAIN !" Akane said, a tick forming on her forehead "GET BACK HERE YOU JERK !"

She had been chasing him for a while and he seemed to have completely vanished off the face of the earth . Panting, she was about to climb down the stairs to look for him when Kasumi called for help, ask her to come in and unpack.

"Akane, I think you should go and take a bath ." Kasumi said straightening out the futons as Akane flopped onto them " you look like you've been running around the whole place"

"Oh please," Nabiki said putting a few chips in her mouth " She doesn't just look it, she actually was running over the whole place. So, have you found runner yet?"

" If it is Ranma you were looking for, he was here the whole time … I am not quite sure where he is right now. He bounded off with some snacks after taking a shower."

Akane growled, "I've been searching for him like a madwoman and that son of a biiiiiii…." she saw Kasumi stare at her "iiiiscuit has been having the time of his life"

"Really what was I thinking? I was going to use coarse language in front of Kasumi? Not possible. Even the rudest sailor would bow and blush if he even used a teeny tiny swear word in front of Kasumi ." Akane thought "this wouldn't do. I have to calm my nerves and what better way to do that other than having a shower and visiting the lake ?"


Ranma leapt over the treetops. It had been over two hours since he had seen Akane. having spent a lot of time with her, being away from her for that long was a bit too much for Ranma to handle even though he did try his best to deny it. Spotting a figure walking next to the lake, he increased his speed and sprinted towards his fiancée.

Akane looked up from her reflection, the moonlight making her dark hair look a gorgeous shade of blue. Had anyone seen her at that moment they would've definitely thought that she was her mother who'd come back to life. Hearing the crunch she turned around smiling, knowing full well who it was.

"Hey there cap'n Ranma," she said smirking "droid no. 2016, code name Akane is fully functioning."

"Good to know Akane," he said grinning and plopped down next to her "good to know"

they sat in silence, enjoying the cool evening and the feel of the grass between their toes. The gentle breeze untainted by the pollution in the city and the stars shone brighter than anywhere ever.

"Hey, Ranma ?" Akane whispered not wanting to break the peace that had settled "You know, My parents met each here for the first time ."

"Really?" he said surprised. Akane had never really spoken about her mother " So how? I mean, how did they meet?"

"Its actually quite a story," Akane chuckled "ok here goes …"


"Stupid master Chingensai, "the blue-haired young lady sat on the stairs "ok so which one was this? step number … 669." She wiped her brow "I swear there are probably more than a 1000 steps! Each day I count I always reach up to more than 1100"

She heard a scream from one of the maids and sighed "master is probably at it again. That damn letch"

It was the nature of her perverted master to well.. be perverted. Somehow she had managed to fend him off and keep her underwear from him. Stretching her sore muscles, she gulped down the water and looked up curiously, the screams were the same but her master's laugh was really different and on top of that she could hear the shouts of two men along with it.

"Eh, its none of my concern," she thought shrugging and looked back down" it's probably those 'guests' Chingensai was talking about" as she was about to get up when she saw a shadow and looked up, her hands held up alert.

She was greeted with the sight of a clean-shaven man about her age, flapping his arms and trying to stay airborne by half swimming. As far as she could understand he was screaming something like " master Happosai, how could youuuuuuu ?" and that's when he crashed on her

"Ow, ow, ow," Soun said as he clutched his head "that old goat didn't have to use his stupid firework on us did he" he growled "just because we sold him out to the maids he kicked his ONLY students. Poor Saotome must be on the other side."

Raising his head a little, he looked at the thing he was holding in his arms. After a few seconds, he realized it was a young woman, probably the same age as he. Soun gently flipped her and was greeted with a sight of what he would call a fallen angel, a very angry angel. She wore a gi and her short curly hair was the darkest shade of black that the sunlight made it glow blue. Her face had a timeless look and as she blinked in angry-confusion he saw her eyes were a beautiful shade of golden brown.

He held for a second, entranced by the intensity of her eyes, painfully unaware of the fact that he had grabbed onto her chest while steadying her from behind.

She looked at the handsome young man who was steadying her and was suddenly aware of something squeezing her breast. Looking down she saw the hand that belonged to the unknown man helping her and all thoughts of thanking him disappeared.

"PERVERT!" she screamed, getting ready to punch the daylights out of the man before her

"Wait? what ?! Noooooooo... " was the last thing Soun said before he was sent to infinity and beyond.


"there you have it," Akane said wiping the tears rolling down her eyes as she laughed " sounds a bit like what happened to us, right? Dad says she was just like me ."

" I bet she was," Ranma said laughing " she must've been a major pain in the ass just like you ."

"Jerk," she said as she pinched the palm of his hand which he offered her " look who is talking. You are the other name for trouble ."

They both walked silently holding hands and secretly hoping the other wouldn't mind. Akane stopped at the beginning of the staircase. Ranma tensed and was about to let to go of her hand but was rewarded with a squeeze.

"Ranma?" Akane whispered, "I don't remember if there really are a 1000 steps …"

"ok, so …."

"….and I don't think I counted the stairs with my mother…actually, I think I didn't really know how to count up to 1000 then …"

"yeah….." Ranma said confused. where the hell was she taking this conversation anyway?

"..could we count them together ?"

Ranma did a double take and looked at Akane to make sure it really was her

"Okay," Ranma asked suspiciously "who are you and what did you do to Akane ?"

And as expected he was rewarded with a punch.

"forget what I said " she removed her hand from his grip " idiot"

she climbed the first few steps muttering the numbers when she felt a hand on her arm. Annoyed, she looked at him and spat out "what ?"

" I am sorry, ok?" he wrapped his fingers around hers "let's count together ."

"Do you really mean it?" she said hopefully looking at their entwined fingers

"Of course I do !"

"ok then …" she held his hand a little tighter as he stood beside her and smiled to herself " this is step number…35"

they climbed silently, only the whispers of their countings and the sound of the nearby crickets could be heard. Although, soon enough….

" NO! it's 886!"

"NO, YOU CLUTZ it is 907"

"How the hell did you reach that far? Ranma, do you even know how to count ?"

and they had bickered all the way to the top forgetting all about the counting, "Akane look," Ranma said pulling her hand and pointed at the sky "shooting stars!" turning to face her he said "Quick make a wish"

"Seriously?"Akane giggled "You, Ranma Saotome, believe in all this ?"

"Hey," Ranma grumbled "there is no harm believing"

"Okay, Okay" Akane closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her "let's see.."

"so, What did ya wish for ?"Ranma asked not noticing the light blush on her face

"there's no way I am gonna tell you that, " Akane said, not meeting his eyes " what about you ?"

"Oh, that's easy, I wished I would get rid of my curse and" Ranma winked at her " there would be no school"

'and I wish time would just slow the hell down' he continued in his head.

Akane chuckled, 'Typical Ranma logic. What else could he have wished for? ' She held the bannister and breathed in deeply as he stood quietly next to her.

"Hey, Akane,"

"Yeah? "

"Thanks for telling me about your parents."

"You liked the story?"

"Yeah"

"Well, at least there is something you like about me."

"Aww, geez Akane. Don't be like that" Ranma scratched the back of his head "there are a lot of things I like about you, I mean,.. uh, it's not like I hate you or nothing but ..uh...I like you but ya know not like the like like but the like …. Oh, man, do you get what I am sayi-"

And whatever he was about to say had been forgotten as Akane's lips brushed his, her lashes tickling his cheeks. There were no tongues, teeth or any other fancy technique. Just two people who were crazy about each other finally being true to their feelings.

They slowly broke apart, cheeks flushed, unsure of what to say or do.

"AKANE!" Nabiki called from inside "Kasumi need's your help ."

"Well, that's …" Akane said shyly "I need to go, bye."

"Y-yeah" Ranma said blushing and scratched the back of his head " I will see you at dinner"

"Yeah, See you then" and without turning back, she ran back inside


In the inn

Akane entered the room amazed and obviously dazed. "OH MY GOD. I just kissed Ranma. I KISSED Ranma. I kissed RANMA!" she thought and felt the heat rise up her neck "my wish came true. …but oh my god, I KISSED Ranma !"

"Oh my, Akane!" Kasumi exclaimed "Are you alright? Your face is completely red !"

"Yeah Akane," Nabiki said inspecting her sister closely " you are total 'akane*' right now"

Akane gently patted her sisters' cheeks and hummed a nameless song as she went inside her room leaving a stunned Nabiki and Kasumi behind.

Outside

"What's wrong with you boy," Genma said "you've been staring at the sky for a while now. Don't tell me you've given up the art for stargazing "

"No, it's not that pops," Ranma said as another shooting star whizzed by" it's just the stars are incredibly bright tonight"


*Akane here is the meaning of her name which is crimson

Author's note :

Woah, it's been a while since I came back here and boy are my grammar mistakes embarrassing.

So I've tried to correct most of my errors and made some teensy weensy changes. Hope you guys enjoy it~~