Here it is, post # three! Wow, am I ever flying through these.

Just a quick note before the boring stuff: I actually think this might have happened. Maybe not in so many words, but it sure seems likely. I personallyset this just before Ukyou shows up in Nerima.

Now the boring stuff. Ranma & co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 'Nuff said.

('Nuff said was first coined by Marvel comics.)

I want to Thank:

GOD, who gave me this talent, to live a small section of a characters life,and then write it down.

J. Austin Wilde, who not only helped smooth this out by VOLUNTEERING to pre-read, but encouraged me no end, all the while teaching me not to be too impatient to post (whether he realizes it or not).

Rumiko Takahashi for bringing the Tendo's, Saotome's, Kuonji, Hibiki, etc... into this world, and giving us a feild to make our own.

Chris Wilmore, who is always just a joy.

And finally, you all, for reading. You like me, you REALLY like me!

Jai-kun

Mind Over Mouth
by Jai-kun

In the Nerima district in Tokyo, the sun set slowly on what had been a rather beautiful fall day. The leaves had changed to their glorious colored splendor, and all in all the day, while a little cold, had been a beautiful one.

Outside the Tendo Dojo, however, clipped murmuring from inside was threatening to end the longest run of peace the house had seen in a year.

"...baka..."

"...tomboy!"

"Why you pervert!" Voices inside became recognizable as a young man and a young woman. To the people who lived in the area and walked by the house daily, nothing strange was happening. The arguing had become so commonplace one could pass by with hardly an upward glance. Even when it escalated to it's highest level (marked by the young man flying from various areas within the house at amazing velocities) the most notice taken was someone reaching for a rake to gather the newest pieces of the Tendo home to land in their yard.

"What did you say? Would you care to repeat that, Ranma?" came the surprisingly feminine growl from Akane Tendo.

"What?" asked Ranma Saotome incredulously, "I just said your dinner looked like somethin' fit to feed P-Chan for a change..." He smirked at the little pig in Akane's arms, who in turn looked terrified at the prospect she might take her fiancee seriously.

Luckily for P-Chan, Akane didn't notice.

"I can't believe you said that!! I worked for hours-"

"Ahh, that's what I get for trying to pay you a compliment."

The rest of the family continued to eat as the battle raged on. Nabiki had found out Akane was going to cook, made some lame excuse of having won takeout for four, and proceeded to order out. Akane was only appeased that Ranma would still be able to eat the dinner she had prepared.

"Saying my cooking is fit to feed P-Chan is not a compliment!"

A frown creased Ranma's face. What does it take to please this chick, anyway? he thought to himself. His mouth, on the other hand, fell into what it thought would be an acceptable and expected pattern. Those around it could have told it that it should have known better.

"Ah, what do I care what you think? You're uncute, unsexy, built like a tank, got the looks of a gorilla, and the brains of an ox!"

About this time his mind caught up with his mouth. What are you DOING to us?!?

If he hadn't been so busy scolding himself, he might have noticed the blue aura burning from Akane's angry body.

If he hadn't just noticed the aura, he might have noticed a fist shaped blur flying toward his chin.

If he had noticed all that, he definantly wouldn't have noticed that he was now flying out of the same hole in the roof he flew out of yesterday at this time. The one that hadn't been repaired yet.

Luckily for him, he didn't have to compensate for an impact, and was able to twist himself to land on his feet.

"Akane," sighed Kasumi, in a tone that, coming from anyone else, would have been considered surprisingly calm, but from her was
as close to anger as she had ever expressed. "You promised."

Akane blushed in shame as she remembered the 100th promise "not to strike anyone (meaning Ranma) in anger."

"You're right, oneechan," muttered Akane sheepishly, "I'm sorry." She stood and walked into the garden to check on Ranma, and was surprised to notice him glaring at her.

"Whatta you want?" he growled, obviously still angry despite his relatively soft landing.

Akane fought back another surge of fury, only to succumb to her second most common emotion: melancholy. Why can't we just... "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Ranma..."

Ranma, in turn, was feeling shame after noting the sadness in her eyes. It was all your fault, after all, his mind reminded his mouth.

Ranma looked at the ground, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Akane fought back tears, mad at herself for caring what this hentai, baka, half-woman deviant thought anyway. Who am I kidding, she resigned. Of course I care.

Ranma's mind, determined to both rectify the mistake the idiot mouth had made AND keep that same mouth under tighter control from now on, propelled Ranma forward. Ya know, she really is cute...

Ranma shuffled over to Akane, watching her bowed head with a mixture of remorse and wonder. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Akane..."

"Just forget about it, Ranma," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Huh?"

"Just... forget it." She glanced up at him, resignation and depression etched in her pretty features. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, that's all." She turned to leave, the weight of her growing despondency slumping her shoulders.

"Akane," Ranma said in a soft, concerned voice. It was enough to stop her, but not enough to turn her back around, or even lift her head. Ranma again reached for her shoulder, his mind working overtime to get the right words out for once. His mouth was uncharacteristically willing to cooperate. "What's wrong?"

She did turn then, although her head was still bowed. "It's never going to be any different between us, is it?"

Ranma's face went through a mix of emotions, finally settling on determination. He reached down, softly but firmly grabbed Akane's hand, and began to lead her out of the garden. "Come on."

Akane looked up, surprised, as they walked out the gate, down the street, and toward the less developed side of town. She almost ripped her hand away in anger until she noticed something that lifted some of her depression.

He's holding my hand...

Ranma eventually let Akane pull up even with him, but they continued to walk in silence for at least ten more minutes, until they reached a vacant lot. They were both quite familiar with this lot, it being the place Ranma had been banished to many times for one reason or the other. That's why it wasn't particularly surprising to Akane when Ranma said, "I spend a lot of time here."

"I know. You get sent here a lot..."

Ranma shook his head. "No, not like that. I mean I come here to think and stuff."

Akane turned to look at Ranma's silhouette. Even from the side, in the moonlight, she could see something... more. Not the usual self confident, devil-may-care person she both loved and hated, but someone who was at this moment... open. He seemed to be both scared and relieved, like he had been holding something in, but was now going to let it out.

"Why?" It was a simple question, heartfelt, and actually seemed to put Ranma at ease a little bit.

"Well, 'cause it's away from a lot of the noise and stuff that always goes on around the house, and I ain't got Pop or nobody disturbin' me when I want to think. But mostly," he grinned mischievously, "it's 'cause of the view."

With that, he picked Akane up into his arms and vaulted up into the tall tree, leaping nimbly from branch to branch until he was perched on the last sturdy limb near the top. Akane, too surprised to object, was still clinging to Ranma for dear life when he stopped. When her wits returned, she reacted in the only way she knew how. She hit Ranma over the head. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Hey, watch it, Akane," Ranma shouted, rubbing his head. He sat down and looked out over the city, his mind barely holding back the retort that his mouth was aching to let go.

Akane turned too, seeing red, and caught sight of the city view. Her heart skipped a beat. I had no idea Nerima was so beautiful at night. The quiet district spread beneath her, a beautiful contrast to the gleaming lights of Tokyo in the distance. "It's beautiful up here..." She gingerly sat next to Ranma.

Ranma's legs swung over the side as he and Akane gazed out at the view before them. It was extremely quiet in the tree, any sounds muffled by the mere fact that they were up so high. The breeze rustled in the leaves, a little colder due to the height, and Akane wrapped her arms around herself, fighting back a shiver. She was surprised when a warm shirt dropped over her shoulders. She looked down, and saw that it was a Chinese style shirt with wooden closures. She looked sideways at Ranma, who was still looking out over the city, in a tank-top.

They sat in silence, enjoying the view. Ranma looked over at Akane from the corner of his eye. He noticed how she huddled into
his shirt, and a small smile touched his lips.

Akane's quiet enjoyment of the view was interrupted by Ranma clearing his throat. She glanced over at him, and noticed he was... staring? "What?!?"

Ranma's head snapped forward, but he spoke clearly. "About what you said at home, about us always fightin' and all that..." His face was obscured by a shadow, but Akane made no move to try to see it. The truth was, she wasn't sure she really wanted to hear what he was about to say. She could just hear him telling her that he never loved her and he was running off to China with Shampoo...

"I'm sorry."

Akane had never had trouble with her hearing, but just then she doubted what she had heard. Ranma proceeded to remove that doubt.

"I'm sorry you find it so hard between us. I guess I still ain't used to all this... ya know... fiancee stuff..."

Akane looked away. She was trying to sound angry, but ended up sounding more... hurt. "No, you aren't."

Ranma sighed heavily. "Well, can you blame me? My only real role model took his six year old son and left his wife to go on a ten year training mission'..."

Akane giggled despite herself. She then looked back over Nerima and steeled herself. "I can understand that, Ranma. But... why are you so mean to me? You insult my Kenpo, my weight, my cooking, my... my looks..."

"Hey, I can't help it if-" His mind positively glared at his mouth. "Umm... I mean... Geez, Akane. Your cooking's just bad. As for your Kenpo," he continued, unaware (again) of Akane's clenched teeth and fists, "I just tease you about that to motivate you. You fight much better when you're mad." Akane's fist unclenched a little as he spoke. Ranma continued to surprise her. "In fact, when I saw you fightin' all those guys, you know, when I first got here, I thought, "Wow, this chick is good!"

Akane's fists unclenched all the way as her mouth went slack. "You- you did?"

Ranma blushed. "Well... yeah."

After a long uncomfortable silence, Ranma put a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her to face him. "Look, Akane, I don't know how I feel about this whole engagement thing, all right?" Akane tried to turn away, but his hand was firm. "All I know is I don't like it when other guys try to come between us. No, let me finish," he interrupted before Akane was able to point out Shampoo. "You're my fiancee, and I ain't lettin' no one take you away!"

He turned away from Akane, embarrassed. Akane stared at the back of his head. "Do... do you mean that, Ranma?"

Ranma didn't answer her directly. Instead he spoke in a low voice, his mind and his mouth in perfect agreement. "I will always be there to protect you, Akane, I promise... I won't let anyone take you away..." He turned toward her, saw her smiling, and bent toward her face...

Then the branch snapped.

Faster than Akane could watch, Ranma grabbed around her waist, and flipped over to land on the next branch with his feet. He nimbly hopped down the remaining branches to the ground.

After a silent, breath catching moment, Ranma let go of Akane, lowering her to the floor. "Whew, that was close. I wonder how that branch broke?" Akane began to stutter a thank you when she heard it. "Must've been the extra weight."

Akane's vision was clouded with a familiar red. "WHAT did you say?"

Ranma, not sensing the danger, went on. "Usually I'm the only one up there... EEP!" He had turned to see her glowing a very dangerous shade of blue.

"ARE YOU SAYING I'M FAT?!?" Akane fumed.

Ranma's mind desperately tried to talk them out of the situation. Do something! it screamed at the mouth.

"That's NOT what I MEANT!" Ranma shouted defiantly. "Why do you have to take every stupid thing I say and twist it out of proportion?"

Akane, as usual, heard the wrong word. "So now I'm STUPID?!?"

Ranma's mind threw it's hands up in defeat as the mallet came crashing down.

Akane dragged Ranma home. Who's fault was it this time? His... or mine. Akane's heart sank at the proposition that she was to blame, but her anger once again rose to save her. If he wasn't such a jerk, I wouldn't have had to hit him!

She took him home and dropped him near the front door. From behind her came a now familiar "Oh my..."

"It's not what you think, Kasumi... we fell out of a tree..."

Kasumi's eyes shone as she looked at her sister. "Ranma must have saved you again, then! Wasn't that nice of him!"

Akane looked down at her baka, hentai iinazuke. Yes, he did... and it was, she thought tenderly.

Kasumi told Akane to go ahead and take her bath, that she would have Father and Mr. Saotome take Ranma upstairs. Akane nodded and slowly walked upstairs to the bath.

Before long she was soaking in the warm tub, hot water nearly touching her shoulders. Her anger and depression washed away with the water. Her mind, while emptying itself of the days events, remembered what Ranma had said in the tree. I will always be there to protect you, Akane, I promise... I won't let anyone take you away...

As her mind cleared in the bath's steam, a smile crept onto her face.

In Ranma's room, he was dreaming of Akane, who was smiling at him as they walked along the sand of a beach. Cold water lapped his bare feet as she looked deep into his eyes.

His mind smiled. The damn mouth is so much easier to control like this.

In his sleep, Ranma smiled and muttered, "Kawaii..."

FIN