Ranma and everything associated doesn't belong to me, and I get no more out of this than the pleasure of imagining her characters in action. Don't kill me, please.

This scene takes place immediately after Ranma's near kiss with Kodachi in book two, before Akane fights her in the martial-arts gymnastics competition.

Trophies
by katyclismic

To hell with chivalry, Ranma thought to himself. Every time I try to save some chick I end up in pain. A chill wind moaned over the Tendo house, raising yet another set of goosebumps and making him shiver uncontrollably, the only reaction allowed to him by Kodachi's paralysis gas. Kodachi herself was long gone. Akane was only a few feet away, but she was probably sound asleep by now. He had appreciated her thoughtfulness in giving him her robe, but not as much as he would have appreciated actually tucking the damn thing in so it wouldn't fly away. Or for that matter helping him inside, where it was warm. At this point the idea of warmth seemed as distant as the Taj Mahal.

He shivered again, violently, vowing not to feel sorry for himself. Hadn't he undergone worse with Genma in the name of training? A little cold never hurt anybody. A lot of cold tends to kill pretty easily, though, an evil little part of his mind added. Surely it wasn't cold enough to get hypothermia, right? It was only October, after all.

It had been maybe an hour since the girls had left in their individual snits. He had originally tried willing himself to move, to no effect. It became quickly apparent that the gas would just have to wear out on its own. He snorted in remembered indignation, then realized what that meant and tried moving again. A single finger twitched, then two more. It was wearing off! Maybe he would get to sleep in a bed tonight after all.

After a few more exhausting minutes of effort, he was able to form a fist. It would be a while yet before he could crawl inside, though, so he rested again. Blast that Kodachi. What was she even doing here? She was in the vicinity of Akane's window when he had clocked her with the kettle, so presumably she had just left there... had she threatened Akane? The thought made his fists clench of their own accord, though weakly. But no, Akane had seemed fine when she smacked Kodachi away from Ranma. Except possibly a little jealous, he liked to think.

He was, very quietly even in his own mind, grateful to Akane for her well-timed kick. He hadn't had much experience with girls before - apart from being one - but somehow he didn't think that his first kiss should be from some wacko chick who had paralyzed him! The thought would have made his skin scrawl, if it wasn't already covered in goosebumps. Nobody should have to suffer through that.

The thought made him scowl. The high school bunch were like that too, creeps who wanted to use force to "win" Akane. He snarled at the sky. Lead by Kuno, the chief pervert. Maybe he'd pound the upperclassmen's face in extra hard the next time he saw him. Akane was tough enough that they couldn't just take her, though, a thought that made Ranma strangly satisfied. Proud? Something.

To derail that uncomfortable train of thought, he made a slow and agonizing push to right himself. Once upright he sat for a minute, panting and exhausted. The wind was colder, now, but maybe soon he could get himself inside. His thoughts went unbidden to last week, when he had accidently fallen on Akane in the middle of chasing "P-chan" around her room. She had been so horrified, but he had dismissed it originally as a stupid girly overreaction. Her family certainly didn't seem to think much of it. Hell, Soun had practically hugged him later - or would have, if Ranma hadn't dodged. But Akane probably thought he was going to try and force a kiss on her, like all of those other guys. No wonder she was pissed.

But... did she really think he'd do something like that? Would Akane be as horrified to kiss him as he would be to kiss Kodachi? Kodachi was pyscho, and those guys at school were the biggest horndogs he'd ever met. Plus they aren't as good-looking. Did she really lump him in with that lot? That's stupid. It's not like I'd ever try to win her like that.

He grimaced. Even in his head that sounded like something to be malleted for. Someday he was going to start thinking of what he said before he said it.

He pulled himself toward the closest edge of the roof, where it jutted over Akane's window. His strength was still a shadow of its normal level, and he wasn't sure if he flipped over the edge of the roof that his grip would hold long enough for his momentum to get him through the window, rather than just dropping him to the ground below. He tested his grip on the gutter, but it was shaky and weak; how much stemmed from cold and how much from the paralysis gas was irrelevent. A few more minutes, then.

He couldn't see much through Akane's window besides a pale, moonlit corner of the bedspread. Ryoga was certainly down there, snuggled up in Akane's bed. Ranma gritted his teeth, thinking, That lousy pig is worse that any of the high school guys, taking advantage of her like that. When she found out that the pig was really a man, Ryoga would be crippled for life. A grim smile flashed across Ranma's face. Of course, Ranma could always work on that in the mean time, without betraying Ryoga's secret like he had so stupidly promised. As cold metal bit into his hands, he realized that he was deforming the gutter with his grip. Perhaps it was time to go inside.

He peered over the edge of the roof and noted that the window was halfway open. It might be tricky, if his coordination was still off, but he thought he could do it. He pushed himself up in a handstand, then felt himself start to crumple and hastily swung out and back into the window frame. His poor setup made his angle slightly off, and a horrible crack! sounded as his elbow clipped the side of the window. He fell to the floor inside, cursing silently and holding the battered limb.

"Mwh? Who'zere?" a sleepy voice called from the bed. Ranma didn't answer, but his breathing was loud and harsh from the exhertion, and it made Akane sit up and look around. Spying him on the floor, she snapped, "What are you doing, Ranma? It's one in the morning!" He couldn't answer for a second, trying to get his breath back, and the uncustomary silence surprised Akane. "Hey, is something wrong? Aside from being a pervert," she added caustically.

Spying piggy little Ryoga behind her, Ranma could only growl for a second. "I just needed, huff to get inside where, uff it's warm, dork," he panted after a moment.

"Have you been out there this entire time?" she asked incredulously, getting out of bed.

"Kodachi used some kind of paralysis gas in that, huff bouquet she shoved at me," he said, his tone sour. "I haven't been able to move."

Inexplicably, she blushed, then came around the bed and pulled at his good arm, trying to get him up. "Oh, you are cold," she exclaimed at the icy feel of his skin. "Maybe you should take a bath."

"Funny, you weren't so concerned two hours ago," he retorted. "I'm fine."

Akane looked furious. "Well, I just caught you making out with my completely psychopathic opponent, so maybe I-"

"OW!" Ranma yelped as her fingernails dug into his arm. "Leggo!"

She released him with a angry jerk of her hand. "You know what? Get out. I'm not going to worry about you any more." She stalked back to bed and cuddled P-chan.

"Since when have you ever worried about me?" Ranma muttered, eyeing the pig. "Maybe I will take a bath, do you think I can take 'P-chan' with me?"

She ignored him, pulling the covers over her and the piglet-boy.

Ranma sat for a second, thinking. This was singularly unusual for Ranma, but he still needed a minute before he could get up, so he couldn't storm off, muttering, like he would normally. He took a breath. "Akane," he said in a quiet voice. "It would make me feel better if you didn't slee-- have, uh, P-chan with you."

She didn't answer.

"I think-" He stopped, not knowing how to finish. The silence grew long and awkward, and he noticed she was unnaturally still. Listening, perhaps? "Look, Akane, that thing with Kodachi -- I mean, it wasn't really with Kodachi, it was really just her. Uh, so I think I know about those guys and you at school. How you feel, I mean."

There was a brief pause, then Akane sat up with a strange look on her face."What was that supposed to mean?" she asked, watching him carefully.

"That you don't like being forced into something like that," he explained, grateful he at least made sense for once, even if it wasn't exactly what he meant to say. "You shouldn't be tricked like that," he added, looking menacingly at Ryoga. The piglet bweeed at him in contempt.

Akane laughed. "Oh, he's just a pig, Ranma, honestly... but thank you," she said more seriously. "Nobody seems to think that it's weird."

"Sleeping with a pig? Well, to tell you the truth, I kinda th-"

"Idiot! I meant the challenges in the morning." Akane wore a curious half-smile, though.

"Well." Ranma was at a loss for words again, and looked away from her completely uncute and non-sweet expression. What kind of tomboy wears cutesy teddy bear pajamas, anyway? he grumbled to himself, then in a rush corrected himself. Uncute. Uncute teddy bear pajamas. "I can't really understand why they'd do it," he continued, trying to ignore his wayward thoughts.

"What?" Akane said sharply. "You're surprised anyone would fight for me?"

"No, stupid," Ranma snapped in return. "I'm surprised anyone thinks you're a trophy." As the words left his lips, he knew that once again, somewhere en route to his mouth, his meaning had been hijacked, shot up and crashed spectacularly on the Isle of Stupid Things That Will Get Ranma Smacked. Akane started to rise from her bed, face red and lips thin. "Just a trophy! Just to be won!" he yelped in a desperate attempt to reroute, but she didn't seem appeased. He flung up an arm protectively.

The expected blow never came, though. She only yanked the door wide for him, telling him flatly, "Ranma, you need to leave. It's late."

He looked into her eyes, dark and fathomless in the night shadows. "Akane..." The sentence had no good ending that he could see, so he just got up stiffly and stood for a second, trying desperately to think of something that would get rid of that horrible blank expression she wore. The seconds ticked by, the handle started to creak under the pressure of Akane's grip, and the longer he stood there, the farther he sunk in the black, sucking pit of silence. Screw it, he said to himself. She won't listen anyway.

So naturally, as soon as her door clicked firmly closed behind him, he thought of something.

"Akane?" he whispered through the door. "Hey, listen... I would fight for you, if you wanted me to, ya know."

Only silence met his ears. He waited for a moment, hopeful, but it was clear that she had already gone to bed. For a few moments he considered knocking, but they had already been awfully noisy and if they didn't get chastised for it tomorrow he'd be really surprised. In the end, his slightly forlorn, shadowy figure limped down the hall to the guest room where his panda-shaped father slept, and slipped through the door.

Pressed up to the other side of her door, Akane smothered a surprised giggle with the piglet she held in her arms and snuggled him close, her eyes soft and sparkling. The piglet was thouroughly irritated.

Copious thanks go to my beta reader, indygodusk, who makes me laugh at my own style and chastises my commas as needed. I shall also recommend her stories, because she is amazing in both style and story development, and takes the idea of sexy cliffhangers to new heights.

This may develop into further chapters exploring the 'first kiss' drama of the series, depending on my whims and access to later issues of the manga, but it stands only as a vignette at this point.

Thanks to everyone for the warm reviews! basks in the glow

ARRGH. I'll use italics for now, but both brackets and asterisks, not to mention several random spaces, keep being deleted every friggin time I save. I know there's a way to keep my asterisks in ff, I've seen them in other stories. Suggestions?

As always, reviews are welcome!