Water Wars by Aisuru aisuru_chan@yahoo.com

"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane screamed, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. 'I can't let him effect me this way,' she thought to herself, blinking furiously. It certainly wasn't her fault that their parents had decided that marrying her to Ranma would preserve the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts for years to come. Sure she had opposed the idea at first - who wouldn't react badly to being told that her life had been planned out for her with no consideration for her feelings - but Ranma was taking his rebellion a bit too far.

"What?" he asked, giving her an arrogant smirk. "Were you hoping I'd lie to you? I've always thought you were un-cute. Why would dressing up in military fatigues and war paint do for you what frilly dresses can't?"

Akane turned her back to him. The mall was having a candy-costume party to celebrate Halloween - if you wore a costume, you got the candy. Their school had asked for volunteers to dress up and pass out candy, and when she had seen Ranma's name on the list she had added her own. She had always seen costumes as a fun way to pretend to be someone new, and since who she was certainly wasn't attracting Ranma's attention, she wanted to try being someone else for a change. Maybe mimicking his war costume had been a bit much, but he didn't have to be so cruel to her!

"So now you're going to pout?" he taunted. "You are SO UNCUTE!" Ranma's stance was cold and indifferent, but he felt his heart thaw just the tiniest bit when one of Akane's hands reached up to wipe roughly at her tears. 'Damnit!' he thought. 'Had to go make her cry again, didn't you, Ranma.' Sure, he hadn't been very nice, had she really expected him to tell her the truth: that the camouflaged pants were hugging her hips and her rounded butt in a most enticing way? That the shirt, which she had probably bought in a thrift store and shrunk in hot water, giving the short notice of the event, was just a little too tight across her chest? That the green and brown make-up was bringing out the startling blue of her eyes in a way he'd never seen before?

"Oh, come on, Akane, I'm sorry," he finally muttered, giving his voice a bit of a whine. He took a few steps towards her. He unfortunately missed the way her head was hung down and her shoulders shook with rage. She lashed out when he reached her.

"Ranma, YOU JERK!" she exclaimed again, spinning around to face him and spraying him with the water gun she had brought as a whimsical part of her costume.

"What'd you do that for?" girl-type-Ranma exclaimed.

"Uh, oops?" Akane squeaked, having momentarily forgotten Ranma's unusual water curse that turned him into a voluptuous red-headed teenage girl if touched with cold water. She shouldn't have forgotten - she had heard enough lesbian jokes from her sisters, who thought Ranma was perfect for her because she hated guys. She didn't really hate guys, she just didn't like how desperate and pawing they tended to become. Ranma wasn't like that; he tended to ignore her, which had sparked her secret interest.

"Oops?" girl-type-Ranma exclaimed. Her luxurious red hair hung sodden over her exotically shaped eyes. The military fatigue shirt stretched enticingly across her full breasts. Her broadened hips strained the seams of pants that had fit Ranma quite nicely before. "Oops!?" she repeated a little louder as she tightened her belt over her tiny waist.

"Well, you deserved it!" Akane yelled, jealous that her fiancé was more womanly than she would ever be. "You are such a jerk!"

"I think you need to get some new material," girl-type-Ranma muttered, crossing her arms across her bosom. At Akane's confused look, girl-type- Ranma clarified: "You've called me a jerk three times in the last five minutes." There was a pause, during which Akane glared, before girl-type- Ranma spoke again. "Uh, do you have any hot water on you? I don't think this costume is child-appropriate anymore."

Akane glanced down to girl-type-Ranma's breasts, obviously not held in a bra or any support of any kind, then jerked her eyes away as she remembered the taunts of her sisters. "No, I suppose it isn't," she glared. She grabbed girl-type-Ranma's wrist and pulled her to one of the side halls in the mall.

"You aren't taking me to the girls' room, are you, Akane?" girl-type-Ranma asked nervously. "Because I'm no peeping Tom."

"No, you're more of a peeping Jane," Akane joked, looking behind her at the flustered red-head she was dragging along. She opened the door to an unlocked janitorial closet, thrusting girl-type-Ranma inside. "You wait here, I'll go fill my water-gun up with hot water. I'll be right back."

"You'd better be," girl-type-Ranma complained. "I don't want to be stuck in a stupid closet forever. I'm getting cold."

Akane slammed the door shut with her foot, muffling girl-type-Ranma's complaints. She walked to the girls room, walking at a leisurely pace. The restroom was empty save for herself, and she took the time to inspect herself in the mirror before running the hot water to let it heat up. Her black hair was cut shorter than she liked it, thanks to one of Ranma's stupid battles that had cut off her long pony-tail, but Ranma had said it suited her so she had kept it that length. Her war paint was a little smeared from wiping at her tears, but it wasn't too noticeable. She thought she looked sort of sexy in the costume, but she had to admit that, when compared to girl-type-Ranma's appearance, she was 'built like a brick,' as Ranma liked to tease.

She sighed, wondering if an un-cute girl like her might actually be lucky to have an arranged fiancé. Then she trudged back to the janitorial closet to see said fiancé. "The woman in my life," she joked to herself.

Akane was so lost in her thoughts that she ignored whatever it was girl- type-Ranma was saying and stepped into the closet with her. "You idiot!" the higher-pitched voice said as the door closed behind her with a loud click.

"What?" Akane asked. "Why didn't you turn the light on? Do you like sitting in the dark like a moron?"

"No, but apparently you do," girl-type-Ranma accused. "There is no light in here. There also isn't a doorknob on this side of the door."

"What!" Akane cried out in alarm, "You mean we're locked in here? Together? In the dark? Can this day possibly get any worse?"

"Hey, don't worry about it," girl-type-Ranma tried to soothe Akane's building fright. 'I may be a girl right now,' Ranma thought, 'but she's still my fiancé.' "At least there isn't a cat in here!"

"Oh, yeah, like a cat is what I'm worried about." Akane tried to look around in the darkness, but she could see absolutely nothing. She reached her hands out, trying to see what was in the room. She managed to knock over some sort of box off a shelf over their heads.

"Ouch!" girl-type-Ranma cried out as a bottle of some sort of cleaner hit her on the forehead. She bent over and felt around of the floor for whatever had dropped, not wanting Akane to trip over any of the junk. Something she touched squeaked, and Akane jumped.

"What was that? Was that a mouse?" Akane cried down to Ranma.

Ranma picked up the plastic thing that had squeaked, giving an adorable giggle as she realized what it was. Then she rolled her eyes in disgust at making such a cute, feminine sound. "It's a rubber ducky," she explained, handing it to Akane. At least she tried to hand it up to Akane. Instead she managed to poke Akane in the chest with it.

"Hey! Cut that out, you jerk!" Akane yelled.

"Oh, yeah, because I meant to do that on purpose," girl-type-Ranma said sarcastically.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Akane muttered. "Why don't you just spend a little more time telling me how un-cute I am. I think I have a few fragments of self-esteem that you haven't shredded to pieces yet. Go ahead. I'm locked in here with you, not like I can run away. What am I going to do, turn you into a girl again?"

"What are you talking about?" girl-type-Ranma asked. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You don't take any of that stuff seriously, do you?" Akane's snuffle was her only answer.

Girl-type-Ranma sighed, a cute little feminine sigh. 'I didn't want to do this yet,' she thought, 'and I certainly didn't want to do this as a girl, but I guess I don't have much of a choice. Girl-type-Ranma got to her feet and took a step towards her fiancé. "I don't really think you're un-cute," girl-type-Ranma finally said. "In fact, I don't think you're un-cute at all."

"Yeah, whatever," Akane mumbled, waiting for the punch-line she knew was coming.

"No, really," Ranma insisted in her soft soprano. She reached a hand towards Akane, hesitantly, not sure exactly where she was, and thankfully her hand touched on her shoulder. "In fact, I think you're really cute. It's just, you know, with our fathers being such idiots and all, I didn't want to let on that."

"That what?" Akane asked, skeptical.

"That I really like you."

Akane gasped in surprise. Girl-type-Ranma petted Akane awkwardly, stroking her hand up to cradle her fiancé's face. Akane leaned into the touch. "I really like you, too," she finally said, her voice a whisper.

Girl-type-Ranma sighed in relief, leaning forward to rest her forehead against Akane. "How about we don't tell them yet? Keep them on their toes? I mean, we're both still pretty young to be thinking about marriage."

Akane nodded slightly, her nose bumping against girl-type-Ranma's nose at the gesture. They were silent for a while, both finding comfort in the closeness. Forgetting that he was in girl form, Ranma tilted her head to the side and brushed her lips against Akane's soft mouth. Akane jumped a little in surprise before leaning into the kiss. The water-gun, whose water had long since gone cool, fell to the floor, forgotten, as the kiss intensified. Akane lifted her now empty arms up to Ranma, putting them around her neck, and Ranma let her hands slide down to rest on the swell of Akane's hips.

They were startled apart when the door was suddenly flung open and a bright flash blinded their eyes, which had grown unaccustomed to the light. Nabiki, the youngest of Akane's older sisters, stood in the doorway, highlighted by the bright fluorescent lights of the mall like an angel - an angel of torment. The two blinked, their arms still around each other, and as their eyes got used to the brightness they noticed the Polaroid photograph the girl was waving around. As it developed, they saw the clear image of Akane and the voluptuous red-pigtail-girl in a passionate lip- lock. "I hope you two have been saving your allowance," she threatened. "This is going to cost you!"