Prince and A Horse

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Chapter 1- On Flowers and Horses

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Akane sighed. It could have been a peaceful day. The temperature was warm. The sun shone to its fullest, with not a single cloud in its territory. The afternoon breeze added a moderate chill to the air and washed many pink petals off their homes on cherry blossom trees, then sent then swaying through the air.

It was beautiful. Akane sat on the deck admiring the fluttering dance of the petals as the breeze swept them into the backyard. It could have been a calming experience. The sight alone was mesmerizing. And the soft splashes of koi hitting the surface of the pond and birds chirping would have made this peaceful spring day a lot more enjoyable.

But typically, any peace at the Tendo residence seldom lasted long.

She turned and glared at the three freeloading houseguests that had been producing a commotion at the table, spoiling the serene moment she longed to have. They were oblivious of her irritation as they bickered greedily over food. She turned her attention back to the pond and sighed. 'Well...Good while it lasted.' She climbed to her feet and shuffled into the house.

She disacknoweledged the scene of Ranma, Genma, and Happosai assaulting each other with chopsticks and started up the stairs toward her bedroom. She had homework to finish.

Maybe she would go spend an hour or so at the park later. Lately she had found that the simple environment of children and fresh air could soothe her. It made a wonderful study place as well as just a diversion to clear her mind. And it also offered an escape from the chaos haven known as her home.

Akane entered her room and pressed the door closed behind her. Her eyes instantly drew toward the new addition positioned on her bed. 'Huh?' She neared the edge of the bed, her eyes never leaving the object. "What's this?"

There centered on top of her linen was a red rose wrapped in green tissue paper. She took the rose into her hand and examined it. The petals appeared relatively healthy as if it was freshly picked and the thorns had been trimly removed, giving the flower a benign appearance.

'But where did it come from?' she wondered. She glanced around her bedroom for any signs of a previous visitor. The window was propped open like she had left it, making it a possible account. Her eyes traveled over the rose again. The bulky definition of the tissue paper seemed suspiciously airy for the skinny stem of the flower. Her fingers clutched it curiously.

As she squeezed the winded paper, her fingers were restrained by a stiff definition inside. She immediately layed the rose flat in her palm and began to untwist the tissue paper to reveal this new item.

Once she had removed the tissue, a small white card fell from the bulky mass of paper. The card was constructed, creatively, into a thin box shape. It's appearance was oddly similar to a matchbox. Her name had been printed neatly in pen on the upper left corner. The word 'Monday' was centered across the top of the card in a bold red font. And an arrangement of cursive style letters followed underneath.

A rose for everyday I think of you.

She studied the card curiously. Once she reared the bottom end of it, her eyes grew wide. Signed in black pen was the name 'Ranma Saotome'. The card nearly slipped from her hand.

"RANMA?" Her eyes skimmed over the writings again. As the words reemerged a second time, the world around her seemed to jerk violently to a halt. Her heart pulsed a random rhythm of beats and her cheeks tinted with pink.

"Everyday he...thinks of me?" The rose suddenly seemed to have new meaning as it lay there in her hand. The glossy appearance of each petal was enhanced by the sunlight peering in through the window. The velvety texture caressed the pads of her fingers as she rotated it in her hand to study it further. Her opposite hand absently grasped the card as the mental image of Ranma sneaking into her room to place the rose on her bed flustered her.

'Ranma...', she thought. She felt the shape of the card crush under the stress of her hand. Quickly relaxing her fist, she attempted to press the box back into its original form. Thats when an angular-shaped plastic packet slipped from the inside of the card. She didn't have the chance to catch it before it hit the floor.

'Now what's this?' She reached for the square packet and casually examined it. As her mind sharply comprehended the clear silver label on it, her mouth fell open and her hand began to tremble.

"WHAT!"

...

"Cut it out, Freak!" Ranma leaped back and a stream of cold water splashed the empty spot where he had been standing.

"Come on. Change for me, Ranma," Happosai pleaded. Ranma turned his attention back to the table where his plate was being robbed by a sneaky, determined panda.

"Hey!" He dived for the plate but proved to be a second too slow as Genma snatched the plate away and Ranma smashed, face first, onto the table surface. Several dishes rattled and crashed the floor.

"Will you three give it a rest!" Silence fell over the room and all three houseguests turned to find a very agitated middle Tendo daughter. She repositioned dishes upon the table. "What are you even fighting for? Kasumi and Auntie haven't returned with the groceries yet."

Ranma ignored her line of reasoning and reached for the corners of his father's mouth. He hooked two fingers over each corner and stretched them past their normal boundary. "Gimme that pickle back, You!" Water trickled down over his head and his body shrunk and reformed.

Before he had the chance to turn and retaliate, he felt a rough yank at his pigtail. "Ow!" Akane tightened her grip threateningly and hauled him in one direction.

"Ranma. Hallway. NOW."

"Ow! Hey, lemme go, Akane!" She dragged him through the shoji door and a fair distance down the hall to ensure their privacy. She flung him against the wall and scowled. Ranma rubbed the back of his head and groaned. "That hurt!...Whaddaya want?"

She towered close to his smaller form, clutching the items in her hands. With a swift flick, she whipped the rose across his cheek. Ranma just blinked, unsure of how to define the action. "What?"

It hadn't had the affect she wanted.

Akane quivered, furiously. "You wanna explain THIS?" She thrust the plastic packet centimeters from his face. Ranma's eyes crossed momentarily to adjust to the minimal distance. Once he found the action useless, he reached down and removed the small purple square from her hand. He cluelessly examined it and the letters printed on the packet.

"Trojan..." He flipped the square in his hand for further analysis. His eyes met Akane's in casual bewilderment. "What's this?"

"You should know! YOU gave it to me!"

His face molded into a frown. "What?...I didn't-" He studied the item once more and skimmed over the print and subprint.

Trojan.

For Her Pleasure.

One Lubricated Condom.

Several seconds passed as his eyes seized the meaning of each word thoroughly. With each line his eyes bulged further. A sickening shade of blue claimed his features as the condom fell from his grip. "Gyaah!" He stood frozen by disbelief before he could meet Akane's eyes again. "W...W-What're you thinkin' showin' me that?"

She placed her hands on her hips, none too impressed. "What were YOU thinking leaving it on my bed, pervert!"

"What are you TALKIN' about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. If you think this is supposed to be funny, it's not!" She flung the rose at him.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "...I didn't leave anything on your bed."

"Yeah right." She positioned the crushed card in his line of vision. "You signed your name RIGHT HERE."

Reluctantly, he took it into his own hand and read through the decorative fonts. His face slowly twisted incredulously into disgust before he lowered the card and crumbled it up in his fist. "You can't be serious, Akane."

Her frown remained stern, displaying that she in no possible form, was making it up.

Ranma stared down at the neglected rose on the floor. He bent over and pick it up and toyed with it as if it could provide him answers. Akane's glare never left him.

After an uncomfortable moment dragged by, he squished the stem in his hand and frowned back at her in return. "Look, It wasn't me, okay! Thats not even my handwriting...And what DORK would come up with something so cheesy? Think about it? Does it even add up?"

Akane crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes narrowed. Visibly from his reaction, he was as equally baffled as she was. But that still didn't clarify the situation. There had to be some sort of explanation. "Then who, Ranma?"

"I don't know! But it wasn't ME."

Their eyes remained locked as silence fell between them. Akane couldn't find the heart to fully believe him, nor fully disbelieve him. She glanced down at the rose that his fingers were now furiously twisting, then down at the condom. Ranma followed her gaze.

It was a joke, he determined. Somebody obviously was amused at the idea of Akane thinking Ranma was a perverted jerk. Seeing as though she already held such opininons of him, it had to be someone who witnessed their arguments constantly. That had to be it. If it wasn't a joke than...

He looked at the crumpled ball again. "...Wait a minute..."

Akane looked up and uncrossed her arms. "...What?"

He straightened the card back to it's original shape and reread the print. He looked at the rose, while considering his newest thought. Akane watched him as he squeezed both items and frowned. "What?" she repeated.

Ranma clenched his teeth. He glanced around, thoughtfully. "It all makes sense now..."

"How?"

Ranma snatched the condom up, then started down the hall. His footsteps fell in heavy tramps until he reached the living room where their families were conversing, innocently. Akane curiously followed behind him.

He didn't waste time to march directly to the table and drop all three items in front of his father. Akane gaped. 'What was he doing?'

Everyone's attention averted to him. Next, he reached for a tea kettle and poured the contents over the panda until his features altered and restructred to those of a man. Ranma scowled and pressed a foot up on the table while eyeing both his father and Soun intensely. "Did you think this would be funny?"

Both men stared at him before turning to the items that had been spilled before them. Their shared expressions remained stoic, until they examined each item seperately. Genma was the first to move, reaching for the condom. He held it up for a better look as his face took on a mix of awe and perplexity. Soun and Happosai crowded closer to him to make the same examination. Immediately, they gained an equal sense of awe. All eyes returned to Ranma and Akane.

She stiffened in awkwardness and gawked at her fiance as a he stood before the families, shamelessly.

"Whoa..." Nabiki said arching an eyebrow. "Going for it already, Saotome?"

Soun reobtained control over his expression and stared solemnly at his future son-in-law. Occasionally, his eyes would shift to Akane. He cleared his throat. "Son... Is this your way of asking...what I think you're asking?"

Ranma allowed his foot to slip from the table. He blushed, weakly. "W-What?..."

Soun's mustache twitched with restrained emotion. His eyes glistened at the small, but powerful item of current attention, then back at Ranma and Akane. Thick tears began to stream down his cheeks. Ranma cursed and braced himself for what was next.

"YES, Son!...The answer is yes!" Soun seemed to expand and tower over Ranma, unnaturally. "I give you my full permission."

Akane's eyes grew wide. "Permission for WHAT?" A large lump formed in Ranma's throat. His face convulsed as he took two cautious steps backwards as if he was set to avoid some vicious beast ahead of him.

Okay. So maybe they WEREN'T responsible after all.

Genma's grin spread and he turned to his companion. "You know what this means, Tendo?" Soun used his sleeve to swab the water from his face. "...I think I do, Saotome." A gush of joyful tears erupted from the two men. "The time has finally come."

Ranma and Akane peered between them in horror. "No!" Ranma shouted waving his hands. "...I-Its not like that! I thought-" His protests fell upon deaf ears because neither man was stable enough to consider his words. They broke into euphoric laughter and ranted about the unison of their two schools.

He stood, uncertain of what to do. Suddenly a fist bonked the crown of his head and he turned to find Akane, grimacing deeply. "Nice going, idiot! Now look what you've done." She spun and stormed blushingly down the hall, toward the staircase.

Left to confront the families alone, Ranma returned his attention to them. Happosai circled around his hysterical students and advanced toward Ranma. His eyes were casted downward as he shook his head in dishonor. "Ranma, you should be ashamed. To lead Dear Akane astray like this."

Ranma frowned and clenched his fist. "What're ya talkin' about?"

"Now listen, Ranma." The head of the Tendo household approached him. The sheet of paper that he now clutched in his hand seemed to have appeared from nowhere. He held the paper up and gripped Ranma's shoulder. "Before you go through with it, I need you to sign this."

"...What is it?" he replied, needlessly.

"Your marriage liscense."

Ranma glowered at the document in question. "No!...I told ya it wasn't me. I didn't do it!" He began to back away from the point of everyone's focus. The sound of footsteps approaching from down the hall was his only savior.

"You didn't do what?"

They turned to the sight of Nodoka baring several grocery bags. Seconds later, Kasumi followed in behind her with her own baggage of groceries. "We're home."

They rested her bags on the floor to relieve themselves from the burdening weight and turned to the members of the curious commotion that had taken place. She smiled, pleasantly at her son. "What's going on, Ranma?"

Ranma quickly eased over to block her view of table and rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "Y...Ah, n-nothing..."

"Sorry we took so long," Kasumi said, either clueless or uncaring of the situation. "The stores were crowded."

Nabiki smirked. "It's okay, Sis. You arrived just in time."

"Just in time for what?" Nodoka managed to make her way around her son to study the two fathers' odd behavior. Ranma felt a firm hand slap to his back. "Why, the boy's finally bloomed," Genma boasted. "Once he signs the liscence we can determine the wedding date and then-"

"WEDDING?" He eased further away, wanting to vanish from the scene completely. He turned and buried his face in his hands, warily.

What had he done?

He tried his best to divert his thoughts so he couldn't construe the families' interpretation of the circumstance as they filled the two ladies in on what had taken place. Regardless, his ears managed to pick up Nodoka's surprised gasp and Kasumi's inflated "Oh my".

Ranma sighed in defeat.

"Ranma..." Nodoka turned to look at him. "Is this true?"

"No, it's NOT true! Someone left that rose and that co...uh...THAT on Akane's bed. To make matters worse, they put my name on it!" The more effort he centered on sounding convincing, the less convincing he managed to be.

Nodoka's visage, at first, held a bland astonishment. But as she studied Ranma's reaction and the rosy new tint of his face, she smiled, supportively. Ranma tensed up as the woman drew closer to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Ranma. There's no need to be embarrassed."

"H-Huh?"

"It's completely normal. A man should WANT to express his desires for a woman. I'm so proud of you."

He froze, speechless. He believed the situation maybe could have progressed a lot less awkwardly if he had actually BEEN a man at the moment. The families resumed their keen celebration and planning and Ranma staggered, gracelessly out of the room.

It was still all difficult to grasp. One minute he thought he was on to something, and then the next...him and Akane's wedding was being planned. He groaned, infuriatingly. He had to do something.

'Akane's gonna HATE me.'

Before he could even consider setting things straight with their families, he had to set things straight with her. Once outside her door, he rapped at it softly. The duck plaque rattled lightly against the wood with each knock. "...A-Akane..."

"Go away," she said without hesitation.

"I need to talk to you..." She didn't respond. Ranma flexed in frustration. He couldn't have her believing he was a pervert and that this was entirely his fault. Because it wasn't. "Akane, please." He waited several more seconds for an answer. When it didn't come, he twisted the knob and let himself in. Akane swung around in her swivel chair, gallingly and stood. "I said go away!"

Ranma remained a safe distance away, by the door. "Akane, I didn't do it! You gotta listen."

She appeared to slightly relax as she retook her seat in her chair. Seconds of silence passed and Ranma watched her as she engaged in her own activity, seeming to discontinue the conversation. Ranma summoned the courage to approach her side at the desk. This seemed to be the action she needed to continue.

"Ranma, listen. I don't care what my dad told you..." She looked up to meet his eyes with a penetrating glare. "If you ever even THINK of trying anything, I'll see to it that you DIE."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Aw, come on! You know I'm not that kinda guy. And do you really believe I think so little of you?...That after one rose and card, you'd be rarin' to go?"

Her features fell, thoughtfully. "Well...Do you?"

"Of course not." Ranma shuffled over to her bed and took a seat at the edge. He stared down at the floor as possible explanations swarmed his mind. Akane watched him, expectantly.

"Look, Akane...Somebody must've just set this up as a joke. They thought it would be funny. I don't know WHO, but I'll find out." He flexed his fingers into a fist. "And once I do...I'll expose them and we'll settle this once and for all, okay?"

Akane continued to watch him, silently. She sighed and returned to her activity at her desk.

"You'd better."

...

Um...Admittedly, I kind of rushed through this chapter. But I hope it isn't too bad because I promise the following chapters will be better. Anyway, let me know what you think so far.

I don't own Ranma 1/2.