Hippocrates

Chapter 2

It was dark, Akane was trying to hurry home. She had her bag, her work clothes she was trying to keep from rumpling, and the two unwieldy books. It was almost impossible to juggle all three: she didn't want to wrinkle her work clothes, but it looked there was no other choice if she wanted to make it home. Setting the books down she folded her clothes as best she could and placed them carefully in her bag, sighing at the thought of having to re-iron her clothes she shot the books a dirty look.

Who reads books like this? she pouted in her head. Dr. Tofu was out of his mind if he thought she was going to read these books all the way through. Weren't there cliff notes for this kind of thing? What on earth did immunology have to do with martial arts? If she didn't trust the doctor to help her she really would have thought he was crazy. She gave another sigh, resigning herself and setting her determination, she would do whatever it took to perfect her art.

As she was about to reach down and collect the books she sensed something behind her. Throwing a lightening fast kick she felt her foot brush against something.

"Woah, Akane it's me!" Ranma said, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace.

Akane just stood there in the darkness. She had done it. She thrown the kick correctly. She felt the difference that Dr. Tofu had been trying to show her before.

"Did you see that?" she asked excitedly, "Did you see my kick?"

Ranma couldn't help but smile. He saw the kick not only had she done it correctly, but she's done it quickly grazing his shirt. If he shared in her excitement that would mean admitting he knew why she was excited, and that would mean admitting he'd watched her train and eavesdropped on her conversation with the doctor. Something he was utterly unwilling to do.

Thanking the universe for the darkness that hid his smile from the brown eyed girl he opened his mouth in an attempt to cover up his reaction.

"Yeah, I saw the kick. It was definitely slow enough to see."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"How many times and in how many ways do I have to tell you? You're slow. I'm beginning to think in more ways then one."

"Why you..." Akane growled balling up her fists. What was his problem tonight? She hadn't even done anything yet and he was already picking a fight.

He quickly took a step back before she could hit him. He wanted to have a conversation before he got pounded for the slow comment. Deciding a diversionary tactic would be the best way to defuse the girl that was slowly lighting up like a Roman Candle he switched topics.

"What were you doin' so late at Dr. Tofu's anyway?" he said trying to keep his voice deceptively casual.

"What do you care?" she huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't!" he shot back. He felt a rising bubble of annoyance inside. It irritated him she was spending so much time with someone else. Time in the day and idle conversation that used to be his now, belonged to the Doctor and old people with arthritis and he didn't like it.

Anyone who watched Akane could see that she wasn't in love with Tofu anymore, but something inside of him didn't like the thought of her smiles wasted on patients that wouldn't appreciate them like he did. Why didn't she just give him a straight answer? Why did everything have to be a fight? Why didn't she tell him she wanted to work on her form? The girl lived at a freakn' dojo surrounded by martial artists there was no reason for her to run through katas in the dark side yard of the clinic when she had him at home. Her lack of a straight answer only irritated him more. All he wanted was some honest answers. It wasn't like Akane to be deceptive. The bubble was rising higher and higher and he was mentally preparing himself for a battle royale. Stupid Akane, this wouldn't have happened if she wasn't so stubborn.

"If you must know-we were training." Akane looked away. Even though it was dark she didn't want to see his face when he asked her why the Doctor would waste his time training a clumsy girl like her.

Ranama's anger deflated like an empty balloon.

"Why are you bugging him about training you?"

"I didn't bug him, he offered," she said, thinking she'd dodged a rather painful insult.

"I wonder why," he mused, "you'd think by the end of the day he'd be sick of being around a wildebeast like you." He eyed her sideways so he could gauge her reaction.

Akane glared at the boy apparently she had gotten ahead of herself. She had no idea why Ranma was going out of his way to be a jerk tonight. Akane prepared to punt him into the next city when she remembered her promise to Dr. Tofu earlier.

Just great, she thought, I barely lasted 10 minutes without wanting to smash his face.

Since she couldn't remove Ranma from the vicinity she decided to remove herself instead. Without retorting she bent down and grabbed her things ready to bolt, but she was seriously hampered by those cumbersome books. She turned on her heel to get away as quickly as circumstances would permit when a strong, rough hand clamped down on her shoulder almost causing her to lose her grip on the books.

"Hey, we were having a conversation and last time I checked it's impolite to leave in the middle," said the voice attached to the hand.

"What would you know about being polite?" she snorted.

"Obviously more than you."

She could hear the smirk in his voice and she wanted to hit him hard enough to erase it.

"I'm leaving," she said flatly. Shrugging off his hand she continued on her way home.

He followed her quietly watching her struggle with the books as she passed in and out of the streetlights. He hadn't meant to be so mean, but inside Ranma was worried. When he was worried he lashed out at the people he was worried about. Tonight that person was Akane. He was bothered about what he heard on the roof. That she was changing; that she didn't want or need him; that she would rather depend on Tofu than him. He was mentally kicking himself: he hadn't even gotten any information out of her, all they had done was exchange insults. He didn't know why she was training with Tofu. He had to find a way to start another conversation. He was just working on another approach when her voice floated back to him.

"You know, a polite person would offer to help."

He smiled and caught up to where she was. "You just said I didn't know anything about being polite."

"You don't, you big jerk," she didn't make eye contact and merely kept walking.

Not one to be blown off easily he fell back on his old habit of getting her attention via insult. "I may be a jerk, but with your yeti like strength I wouldn't think two little books would give you such trouble."

"It's just awkward balancing my books and bag; it has nothing to do with strength." With as much dignity as she could muster given the current topic of conversation, she added, "Like you know anything about yetis anyway."

"Hey, I know stuff about yetis. They live where it snows and they eat yaks and stuff. With a little more hair on your body you could pass for a small yeti. You have the same dumb expression I've seen in drawings."

No dumber than yours, she thought.

"Yeah," he said continuing on in the same vein, "I could totally see you taking down a yak with your bare hands."

Akane ignored his comments. Did Dr. Tofu really know what he was asking? People like this deserved to be hit.

"I'm just wondering why you're favoring me with original material," she drawled a little too much like Nabiki for Ranma's liking. "Usually you save this kind stuff for special occasions like my birthday."

He shrugged off the heavy sarcasm. He was pleased she'd noticed his insults were new thanks to the late night special on Bigfoot. Not wanting to fall into the same trap as before he steered the conversation back to Dr. Tofu. "You really shouldn't be bothering Dr. Tofu with training."

Akane's eye begin to twitch. Sometimes having a conversation with Ranma was like riding the bumpercars– lots of starts, lots of stops and a slightly nauseous feeling afterwards.

"I already told you," she ground out between tightly clenched teeth, "he offered to train me. He offered."

Ranma was momentarily distracted at her ability to annunciate without moving her jaw.

"Well, I mean, katas are only part of training," he said reaching up behind his head nervously, "he's not going to really work on combat techniques with you, right? I can't see Dr. Tofu hitting the sister of the girl he's madly in love with. That's not going to score him any points with Kasumi."

Akane shrugged, "I don't know what he's got planned."

Ranma took a few steps closer to Akane and took the books out of her hands. He could see her face illuminated by the nearby streetlight. Her skin looked so soft.

"Why him, Akane? I can show you katas."

The words came out softer and deeper than his ususal voice. Akane was suddenly aware of how close Ranma was, and that he was looking at her with his ocean eyes. Then she saw it. That flash of vulnerability that made it impossible to deny him anything. Ranma the jerk she could deal with; Ranma the arrogant she could blow off; but Ranma the vulnerable, she just wanted to wrap him in her arms until he had absorbed some of her strength and could go back to being jerky and arrogant. She knew that Ranma dealt with the world mouth first, fists second and emotions third. She loved it when he displayed a softer side, but she also knew that it wasn't the side the world was meant to see.

She was vaguely aware that he was waiting for some kind of response from her.

"Why not me?" There it was again, that flash of vulnerability, it was all she could do not to throw her arms around his neck.

Embarrassed by her train of thought she blurted out the first thing that came to mind that had nothing to do with hugging Ranma.

"He offered."

"You've said quite a few times now. So if Kuno had offered to train you, you'd have spent a cozy couple of hours with him tonight?" his words came out a little more brittle then he wanted.

"Don't be stupid. I want good training."

"Why does it have to be Dr. Tofu?"

"Who else is there? Uyko? Shampoo? I can't see them making any real effort to help me out. Ryoga? He'd help me, but I can't count on him to stick around long enough to make any real progress."

"Ryoga! You'd pick Ryoga over me to help train you?"

"I didn't think you would help."

"Why would you think that? If you really needed help I'd help you."

"Oh yeah? What about all the times I've asked you to spar with me and all you did was dodge?

Is that your version of help? Am I a better martial artist now?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm trying to be nice here," he seethed, his voice was rising with every exchange until he was practically yelling.

"Oh THIS is your definition of nice? Yelling at me for wanting to get better?" her voice matching him in volume and tenor. They were now standing toe to toe and Akane was craning her neck to shout into his face. If he hadn't had the books in his hands he would have taken her by the shoulders and shaken her for her stupidity.

"No you idiot girl, I am offering to train you!" He shouted into the stunned face of the girl before him.

"What?" she asked slowly in confused disbelief...

It was like some fantasy come to life. Ranma was offering to spend time with her, training her. Thoughts of hugging the man in front of her popped back into her brain. This is what she'd always wanted. The chance to prove that they really could be partners in the dojo. That with a little work she could be good as any of his other fiancees.

"Really, you would train me and work with me and hit me? her voice dropped as she said the last part and Ranma not realizing the magnituded of his words quickly backpedaled.

"I got time to show you katas. I can help you with your form. I'd train you the same way I saw the doc trainin' you tonight. You don't need to go to Tofu when you've got the best right here."

All Tofu did with her was run through the basics. Ranma didn't agree to hit her. He was being as evasive now as he ever was in the dojo. Still, even with him showing her the basics he was offering her a chance to one up the other fiancees and that was something to be considered.

Her heart fluttered in excitement, but her brain took the opportunity to stomp her heart back in place. This was the exact kind of crazy ride she was trying to get off of. The rise of anticipation, the crash of disappointment, and the pain of discouragement all of which were present whenever doing anything with Ranma. She was trying to escape the cycle of unfulfilled hopes. If there was anything she'd learned it was that nothing with Ranma ever turned out the way she expected. Even so, her heart pointed out, that sometimes it wasn't all bad. She thought of the walk home from Ryugenzawa and Ranma actually wanting to hold her hand.

Her brain knowing that it was about to lose the battle to her heart, grasped at straws. Holding hands hardly constituted a committed, romantic move for Ranma: he held her hand in the cursed tunnel of lost love and that certainly wasn't a romantic experience. What had he said, "when you've got the best right here?" Slowly her rational thought exerted its superiority over her emotions. It had nothing to do with trying to spend time with her; his ego was hurt because she'd turned to someone else, his ego not his heart.

"Why do you want me to stop training with Tofu and start training with you. How do I know you will take me seriously?" she eyed him suspiciously for some ulterior motive. It was a fruitless move as it was very hard to see his face in the dark.

"Akane, if there's anyone on this earth that can whip your big butt back into shape, it's me."

Akane looked into his blue eyes full of confidence that she wouldn't refuse his answer. A huge part of her didn't want to, but the training she needed had nothing to do with being out of shape. It was training that Ranma really couldn't help her with.

"No, I can't do that."

"What do you mean you can't? Just tell him you've changed your mind. Feh, girls do that kind of stuff all the time." he said flippantly waving his had aimlessly in the air.

"It's not just the martial arts, Dr. Tofu needs my help and I promised to help him."

Ranma couldn't believe his ears. Akane had refused to train with him. After all the nagging and begging she'd done. After all the fights they'd gotten in over this very subject she was saying no. She'd rather train with the damn doctor. Ranma felt a surge of bitterness towards a man who he had always rather liked.

"Akane, what could you possibly be able to help Dr. Tofu with?" His anger at her rejection of his training made him a little more vindictive than usual.

Akane felt her temper flare at his acrid tone and tried unsuccessfully to tamp it down.

"Don't hold back, Ranma," she spat out, "tell me what you really think of me." With that she placed her hands on the books he was holding defensively against his chest and gave a mighty shove. Without waiting to see if he fell over she fled into the darkness.

Ranma watched her go, feeling like the jerk she always said he was. "Geeze Akane, I didn't mean that the way it sounded," but he was addressing empty air. The shove had done nothing but make him take a few steps back, she might as well sucker punched him. It was enough that he didn't stop her from leaving. Ranma cursed in the darkness. Could things get any worse?

Of course they could, he thought, feeling his chest tighten.

The dumb girl, Akane had chosen to train with Dr. Tofu instead of him. She claimed she didn't didn't need to depend on him anymore. Well he wasn't going to stand for it. He'd prove that she needed him. He'd sit back and let her take care of things herself. That would show her. Starting tomorrow he'd let her handle all her problems by herself. By tomorrow night she would be crawling back to him, begging him to train her. He could picture it now...

"Oh please, Ranma you are so manly and strong. I made a mistake, please, please teach me and protect me. I was so wrong. You are the only one that can keep me safe," sobbed a kneeling Akane clutching pitifully at the hem of his pants.

"I'll forgive you this time Akane, but you owe me," his hand benevolently resting on her bowed head.

"Oh Ranma, I'll do anything just don't cast me aside," her hands were clasped tightly across her chest and her eyes were swimming with unshed tears and gratitude.

Shooting a triumphant grin to the sky, he hurried after the girl anxious to put his plan into action.

Author's notes:

Thank you for the kind reviews. It made me crank out this chapter faster than I thought possible.