Chapter 2: Simple Intermezzo of Two

"I can't believe this thing costs me-"

"I can't believe you actually made those entire sentences up!" scolded Akane. She let herself fell on her bed with her face on the pillow. "Geez, stupid Ranma," said her with a muffled voice.

Ranma rested his chin on the edge of Akane's bed. "Akane, don't be mad at me," pleaded Ranma, with an uncomfortable grin on his face. He was only acting as a drama king, that's all. Then, he felt bad for having Akane getting the wrong idea. "It isn't like what you think it is."

Akane gave no reaction, even when Ranma started poking her cheek.

"Akane, I'm sorry," Ranma apologized with an unclear voice.

Akane peeped a bit. "What? I couldn't hear what you said."

"I said, 'Akane, I'm sorry'," Ranma repeated his sentence, this time more boldly.

"What?" asked Akane again.

"Akane, I'm sorry!" said Ranma right in Akane's ear.

Akane smiled and lifted her face. "Sorry, do another repeat?"

Ranma closed his eyes, letting himself calm down. He let the air circulate his lungs a few times before taking a very deep breath. "AKANEEE, I'M SORRY!" He shouted with all the air he had in his respiratory system. After, he panted for a few seconds and took another deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he repeated the same two words again and again.

Akane laughed and tried getting up. She laughed and laughed. "My… stomach …hurts…" She tried talking in the middle of her laughter.

Ranma was panting and breathing heavily. He looked at Akane. He smiled. "That's… not… so cute… Akane," said him as he tried to normalize his breathing rate. "That's not true," said a little voice inside him. "Yeah, I know," thought Ranma.

Akane was still laughing. Ranma was still panting.

"I guess she is kind of cute," Ranma whispered to himself.

"Ranma, your face is all red!" Akane told Ranma after cooling down. "You really look as if you're blushing!" Akane sat on the floor and stretched her legs.

"Hehe, I guess all those laughing made your face red as well," replied Ranma, sitting beside Akane. His back leaned on the bed.

"Anyway, I wasn't mad at you back then," confessed Akane. "I was just trying to act like what you did. I think I hit the spot." She turned her face to Ranma and smiled widely.

"What?!" Ranma couldn't believe what he just heard. His jaws dropped. "Great, I must look so stupid, or perhaps idiotic."

"Ehehe, peace!" Akane giggled. She did the V sign hand gesture while still smiling her smile of victory.

"That's so not cute," muttered Ranma, half whispering. "Again, that's not true." A tiny voice emerged inside him for the second time. "I know that! You needn't tell me!"

"Eh? Ranma? What's wrong?" asked Akane, not understanding the sudden change of situation. "Are you… mad at me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Ranma back. He tried recalling the last ten seconds. "Wait, did I say it out loud?"

Akane nodded. "You mentioned something about you knowing and not needing me to tell you about something," she told Ranma, sounding uneasy. "Did I-"

"No, no, no!" exclaimed Ranma at once. His face reddened and felt a bit warmer than usual. "You did nothing wrong, Akane, don't worry, everything's under control." He blurted all the words out at once. He placed his hands on his hips and let out an awkward laugh. "Ha-ha… Anyway, what now?"

"You sure are acting weird…" commented Akane before moving onto the next topic. "What now? Well, let's do something about that," said her, pointing her finger at the Jusenkyo powder sachet on her desk.

Ranma took the sachet and held it up. "Oh, I forgot the whole thing. Akane, let's try i-"

"Not so fast, 'cause first, you need to fix yourself," said Akane, changing the direction of her finger to point Ranma. "You'll need to undergo a special training, Ranma." A glimpse of light moved across her eyes.

Ranma sat upright and cleared his throat. "A spe-cial train-ing?" asked him stutteringly. His instinct told him that bad things are coming his way. He trusted Akane, but this case seemed to be exceptional. "A-Are you sure it's sa-safe?"

"Of course!" Akane cried out confidently. She swung her body closer to Ranma. "It's meant to train you to be a man, that's all," explained Akane. "Don't worry, I will play no pranks on you this time, it's a promise."

"Alright then! Sounds great!" Ranma gave the sachet to Akane and stood up. He tried his best to get rid of his inner voice which told him to back out, get out, and never return again. "So, when will it start?"

Akane pull her desk drawer and put in the small flat thing. "The first sunrise," said her, gazing at the scorching summer sun. "Enjoy your day while you can, Ranma."


Author's note: Greetings, fellow readers! I know, this is faster than when I expected it (or more like "myself") to finish. I have a reason for this; next week I'll be in a battlefield; it's between me and school… Yea, not as cool as World War I nor World War II, but the struggle is real. So, for you guys who are having the same fight, let our pain and sufferi-, ahem, I mean, let our effort be in unity!