Alone Time
A/N: This is just a nice little one shot, inspired by reading Joseph Palmer's Ranma fics. READ THEM THEY ARE SO GOOOOD! He has his own website. Anyway, I wanted to depict Ranma and Akane in a gentle atmosphere. Alone. Oooooooh . . . !
It was a frosty January morning. Akane looked up at Ranma who was walking on the fence beside her. She looked away and adjusted her grip on her school bag. Suddenly, she saw Ranma's gaze at her out of the corner of her eye. She almost felt like stopping and turning around to shout "what?" at him.
All of a sudden Ranma jumped off the fence and landed in front of her.
"Akane," he whispered, deep pools of affection stirring in his eyes.
Akane's breath caught in her throat as Ranma gently gripped her shoulders and kissed her with a passion that made her knees give out.
Akane opened her eyes to be greeted by the pillow, which she had been embracing, crammed against her face. "A dream . . ." she whispered to herself then tried to return to sleep as quickly as possible. When she couldn't she gave a disappointed sigh and got out of bed. Akane squinted her eyes against the early morning daylight as she made her way to the kitchen. When she arrived she and noticed a note on the fridge door and picked it up. After pouring over it once, Akane rubbed her tired eyes and read the note again.
Everyone out for a nice relaxing day at the bathhouses. Will be back late.
-Dad
Then a postscript by Kasumi: Left breakfast for you and Ranma on the table and dinner in the fridge to heat up in the oven.
Akane groaned. "Not again!" she thought. "This is second time they've tried this on us!" On the last occasion the whole family had left the two alone together when it seemed that Ranma and Mr. Saotome would be moving into Mrs. Saotome's house. Instead of reaching a touching understanding or a beautiful farewell, as was hoped, they only ended up fighting. Go figure.
Ranma came sliding down the banister and, landing expertly on his feet, he made his way to the kitchen.
"Hey," he mumbled opening the fridge. He took out a carton of orange juice and filled a glass. "Where is everyone?" he asked after taking a sip, he had been too sleepy before to really notice. Akane handed him the note.
"Aw, no way! . . . " he said after he had read it and furiously crumpled the note in his fist.
"It's not that bad, Ranma!"
"Well, I suppose," he said after a moment. Kasumi did leave us breakfast and dinner. So, at least I won't have to worry about getting poisoned by your poor excuse for cooking."
Akane malleted Ranma into the next room.
Snow began to fall heavily outside. The two had spent most of the day on the opposite sides of the house. Ranma was in the training hall for most of the day and Akane spent most of her time in her room reading and finishing her homework. In the evening Ranma took the initiative and heated the dinner before Akane could touch it.
"Akane!" Ranma yelled from the bottom of the stairs, "dinner!"
"What?" Akane looked confused as she came down. "But I was going to heat . . . oh . . ." Akane frowned for a moment but then, for some reason she let it go.
Akane fixed her own dish and knelt down at the table with it. She was astonished to see Ranma sit down beside her, she had expected him to take his dinner and retreat to another room far away from her. She didn't express her surprise to him but continued eating with a small smile tugging at her lips.
When dinner was done Akane said that she would do the dishes, which was fine with Ranma. But, what Akane did not expect was Ranma coming to her side with a dishtowel draped over his shoulder.
"I'll dry," he said. When he saw her shocked face he added, "I thought I should be here to catch whatever dishes you decide to drop." Akane's blood began to boil and her grip tightened on the plate she was holding. A small crack began to appear down the middle. Ranma gave her a pointed look. Akane blushed and quickly threw the damaged plate in the trash can.
"Why?" she asked herself. "Why do those kind of remarks from him always make me so angry?" she asked herself, even though she already knew the answer. "Because the opinion of the one we love is always the most important to us."
Of course she loved the biggest baka in Nerima. In Jusenkyo she could have sworn that she had heard him say "I love you" to her but, of course he denied it when it was brought up by her later. Akane sighed.
"What is it?" Ranma asked as he dried the glass she had just handed him.
"Nothing."
When they finally finished Ranma went into the living room to watch TV. Akane was debating whether to join him or not when all of a suddenly the power flickered out. Akane rushed to the window. She hadn't noticed before but the snow was coming down so hard and fast that it was practically a wall of white to behold now.
"Oh, great! Right in the middle of Ushio and Tora!" she heard Ranma yell. "Now I'll never know what happens!"
Akane went into one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out some candles and a lantern. She quickly lit them all and brought a candle to Ranma who took it and went upstairs to grab some manga from his room. While he was gone Akane was suddenly hit with an inspiration. Good thing they had a gas stove and that she had learned to boil water thanks to Mrs. Saotome.
Ranma sat at the table in the living room trying to read his manga in the dim candlelight. A shiver went up his arms. "Oh, yeah, this means the heats off, too." He rubbed his arm and dwelled miserably on the fact that all his other shirts, except the sleeveless Chinese shirt he was presently wearing, were in the wash.
Suddenly, he felt a warm blanket being draped about his shoulders. He looked up to see Akane's retreating form. A few minutes later, she returned, bearing a tray laden with a teapot and two teacups. She set it gently down in the middle of the table and began to, surprisingly, pour the tea without spilling at drop.
Ranma stared at Akane as she handed him the cup then proceed to pour herself some. He would have expected this sort of thing from Ukyou or Shampoo—but not Akane.
If it had been Ukyou or Shampoo he would have felt awkward, knowing they were playing house in their minds and he was the husband.
But, with Akane it felt natural, and even if she was fantasizing (he doubted it) the concept did not disturb him.
Akane quietly sipped her tea as she read one of the mangas that Ranma had brought down with him. Ranma's heartbeat quickened as he gazed at her. The kerosene lamp she had brought in bathed her face in a becoming warm glow.
Akane felt his eyes. She looked up at him and their gazes locked, but only for a brief moment because Ranma stood up abruptly and, with his candle, he left the room. Akane was left to finish her tea alone in a state of mild confusion.
"What's up with him?"
After she finished cleaning up, she went upstairs and as she passed the bathroom she heard the shower running.
"Ranma?" she called.
"Yeah?" his female voice answered her.
"Nevermind."
Thirty minutes later, Ranma stepped out of the bathroom. He stretched his arms over his head. "Well, I feel better now." He grabbed another manga from his room.
As he made his way down the stairs the sound of quiet singing floated up to his ears. For a split second he thought it was the radio or the TV but then—duh, Ranma—the power's out.
Ranma walked downstairs and his heart quickened as he neared the living room. Ranma turned the corner and stepped into the room. There he saw Akane bent over an embroidery hoop, a blanket was draped over her shoulders. He stood there listening to her, a smile stealing over his face.
Akane had not noticed him standing in the doorway yet and just went on singing to herself and sewing.
Akane's voice was surprisingly lovely, given all the times she would shout at him, he never knew her voice could that, too.
Suddenly, Akane gave a sharp yelp and stuffed a finger in her mouth.
"What happened?" Ranma rushed to her side.
Akane jumped. "How long have you been there, Ranma?"
Ranma ignored her question. "What happened, Akane?"
Akane rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine! Be that way, Ranma," she thought. But, her anger was suddenly dissolved when Ranma pulled the damaged digit out of her mouth and peered at it. A tiny spot of blood was forming on the pad of her finger.
"Stuuupid, is that all?"
"What do you mean," Akane cried indignantly, "'is that all?'"
"You made a fuss over a little needle-prick?"
"I was not the one who made the fuss!" She looked pointedly at Ranma.
"What? I—was just—I-" Ranma sputtered.
"Whatever, Ranma," she sighed and began to get up.
"No, no, sit." He nudged her back onto the pillow she had been sitting on. "Since I'm already standing, I'll get you a Band-Aid."
Akane looked down at her fuzzy white socks. "Okay, thanks."
Ranma was back a moment later. Before Akane could say anything, he took her hand again and applied the bandage to her finger.
"Ah . . . thanks . . . Ranma . . ." A blush was beginning to form on her cheeks. She thanked the soft glow of the kerosene lamp for concealing this fact.
"So . . ." Ranma drawled, leaning over her to take a good look at her "project." "You've taken up embroidery again, eh?" Akane just nodded her head. Ranma gave the fabric a good look and almost lost his balance from the shock. He snatched the hoop from Akane's fingers.
"Hey! You jerk what-?"
"This . . . this . . . this is pretty good . . . you've gotten better."
Akane was now blushing profusely (even the lamp couldn't hide it this time). "You . . . you really think so, Ranma?"
"Yeah, It's unbelievable . . ."
Akane's eyebrow twitched. "Thank you, Ranma," she said evenly.
"It's unbelievable that such a clumsy tomboy would be able to do something so . . ." The rest of his sentence went with him through the wall.
After Ranma picked himself up he went sulkily back into the living room to retrieve the manga that flew out of his hands when he did. He jumped at the sound of sniffling. Although he knew what he would see, he looked up anyway. Akane was hunched over her work, crying softly. Ranma's eyes followed a small tear as it traveled down her cheek and onto the fabric. His heart gave a painful lurch and then came one of those rare occasions where Ranma actually listened to it.
The young martial artist made his way over to Akane and slowly sat down beside her, half expecting the mallet to make its grand entrance. But, nothing happened. Akane wouldn't even look at him.
"Akane-"
"You dummy . . ." she said in a soft but choking voice, "you could have stopped at it being 'good', you know. That would have been enough! But, no! Can't you just say something nice to me for and stop there? Of course you can't!"
"Gee, Akane . . . I'm sorry."
"Whatever. I don't know why I reacted like that, I should be used to it by now."
Ranma felt a stab of guilt go through his chest.
HUG HER! His mind suddenly screamed. DO IT NOW! WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE! -The incident at Jusenkyo flashed through his mind- While you still have the chance . . . do it now.
"Akane?"
"What?"
Before he could lose his nerve he wrapped his arms around his fiancée.
"R-Ranma . . .?" Akane's voice barely came out in a whisper. He could feel her heart beating wildly against his chest.
"I'm so sorry . . . for everything."
Akane nodded into his chest. She knew what he meant.
"I was . . . I just-was afraid that- that- well, that all you felt was pity, at the failed wedding, you were going to marry me just so I could have the nanichuan water . . ."
"I—" But, before Akane could say anything Ranma laid his head on her shoulder. She sat there in shock for a moment but then was snapped back to reality by Ranma's voice coming quietly into her ear.
"I . . . I did tell you . . . at Jusenkyo . . ."
A tear slid down Akane's cheek and passed her smiling lips. She got up on the tips of her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. Ranma turned his head, his lips inches away from hers.
"Akane . . . why didn't you tell me . . .?" he breathed.
"I was afraid, too and my pride wouldn't let me . . . But I'm telling you now: I love you, Ranma Saotome . . . so much, and don't you ever think otherwise, baka!"
Ranma leaned down and tentatively brushed his lips against hers.
In the next moment they were both on the floor, kissing each other with such a fervor, as if they were trying to make up for all the lost time.
All of a sudden a bright light came into the lovers' eyes and they raised their heads to see a dumb-struck Genma and Soun who was holding a flashlight. Their surprise quickly dissolved into sheer joy.
"Wow, nice going, sis!" Nabiki said with a wink and a smirk.
"Oh no! You two should wait until you're married for that sort of thing!" Came Kasumi's distressed voice.
Normally Ranma would've jumped up and yelled and denied stuff but, for once he calmly sat up, with his arms still around Akane. He turned to her and seeing the apprehension in her eyes and feeling her grip around his torso tighten, he leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. Soun and Genma nearly lost it.
"OH! It's SO BEAUTIFUL! Now they will get married!"
Ranma ignored them except for one point. "Akane . . . do you want set a date?"
Akane blinked at him for a moment then slowly nodded her head.
"Good." Answered Ranma, "so do I."
And that's just what they did.
The End!