DISCLAIMER: I own nothin'.
NOTE: Takes place at the end of the Moxibustion arc.
CHAPTER THREE/ THEME 03
CUTS AND BAND-AIDS
What a pain, Akane mused as she pulled apart another band-aid. She may not have gotten a fence-print face or a broken leg, but the wind burn and tiny incisions that came from Ranma's attack felt terrible. Whoever went up against Ranma when he had an attack like that had to be justifiably insane. The most annoying part was that, although she felt the pain from the cuts Akane couldn't find the stupid things because they were so small.
Thirty-five band-aids, a hot bath and many obscenities later and she was still finding random trails of blood.
"How annoying…" she sighed, pulling out another band-aid. "I'll be up all night trying to find these stupid cuts…"
A crash echoed into her room from the garden below followed by Ranma's laugh. Akane pressed her eyebrows together as the sound of breaking concrete blended together with his voice.
Oh honestly…It was past one in the morning already! It was fine to be happy to have your strength back, but did he have to act so insensitive to everyone else in the neighborhood? The neighbors complained enough as it was about their freeloaders fighting each other on the roof every morning…
After tossing her desk chair out the window and being answered by the sound of splashing water and a female's harsh cursing, Akane went back to trying to find the cuts. But no matter how much she mummified herself, there was still blood on her fingertips.
"Stupid cuts!" she cursed in her frustration. "Stupid attacks! Stupid Ranmaaaa!"
"That's my line to you!" The door flung open as Ranma towered over her with a towel slung over his shoulder and steam still rising from his jump in the bath. "What the hell was with that chair just now?! Making me fall into the water like that when I'm trying to-!"
The first aid kit smacked into his face.
"Normal people are trying to sleep. Close the door and be quiet."
"Geez…Why is it my problem if a few people can't deal with small noises…"
"Tearing down our garden wall isn't a small noise, Ranma!"
"I didn't tear it down! I barely touched it…." Akane watched his smile grow into a full blown egotistical smirk. "I can't help that my strength is so great that it crumbled from my sheer presence."
He put his hands on his hips and grinned like the smug idiot she, against every sense of reason, admired. Not that she'd ever let him know that. Ranma could barely fit his stupid fathead through the door as it was….
As if hearing her thoughts, Ranma pulled a face. Akane, not caring what he didn't like about her now, shot him one right back before reaching for another band-aid. Just as she was about to open it, Ranma swiped it from her.
"You're not cute when you have bags under your eyes, you know." He held up a mirror to her face. "You should go to bed, stupid. You're never going to get a husband looking like this."
The mirror bopped him on the head. "And what concern is that of yours?!"
"The bandages don't help your features, either."
"It's not my choice to use them!" she retorted angrily. "If my face is such a problem to look at then go away!"
A moment passed in silence before Ranma plopped down in front of her on the floor and started absently drying his hair with his towel. "You were hurt?" he asked softly.
Not sure why this question bothered her, Akane turned her eyes on the first aid box as she said, "You know how strong your attack is so stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like it's my fault."
"Well, it's not my fault! I didn't tell you to jump in there like an-!"
"Stop yelling. People are trying to sleep."
Ranma testily flicked his pointer finger against the first aid kit for a few seconds. His fingers briefly touched the box of band-aids but, when his cool blue eye meet her curious gaze, he quickly abandoned his hold on the little box with a blush.
"But it was pretty stupid…doing that…."
Leave it to Ranma to put on the charm. Not that she wanted or expected a nice word from him. She'd rather avoid the topic altogether since it was embarrassing enough what ridiculously sappy conclusions their classmates had already drawn from the whole thing. But if he was going to say anything about what she did, why couldn't he have chosen something nice?
Ranma, you idiot, she thought. See if I ever put myself in danger to help you and your fathead again….
"…Such an ingrate," she muttered, unable to hold it down.
His eyebrows jerked together. "I never said I was ungrateful."
"You never said that you were grateful either," she pointed out absently.
"What do you want?! For me to bow down before you in thanks?!"
"Of course not!"
"Then what the hell is your problem?!"
"Nothing, alright?! It's nothing!"
"What sort of person chooses to step into an attack anyways?" he taunted, harshly. "Not even Mousse would do something as stupid as that, Akane. Sometimes I can't believe how senseless you are. If it wasn't for me always watchin' out for ya, you'd be killed by how stupid you act. If anything, you should be the one thanking me for saving you."
Despite every ounce of resolve, every intention of not letting Ranma's words get to her, Akane felt her eyes begin to burn, fists curling into tight little balls. Ranma began to raise his fists.
"So you're going to fight about it?"
"Sorry…"
Ranma deadpanned. "E-Eh?"
"Sorry," she repeated, bowing her head. "Sorry for being-STUPID ENOUGH TO CARE ABOUT YOU, YOU STUPID, WOTHLESS, INSENSITVE, SELFISH, UNGRATEFUL, PIGHEAD JERK!"
With the final insult, Akane smashed the first aid box into his skull.
She quickly sprang to her feet to escape him and hide her angry tears, but Ranma caught her wrist and brusquely set her back at his side. Annoyed and humiliated, Akane feverishly tried snapping her wrist out of his before she saw him crying over someone as stupid and undeserving of her feelings as him.
But no matter how agitatedly she wrestled him, Ranma didn't let up. Instead, despite her struggling, Ranma calmly picked up her discarded band-aid and took it from the wrapper. Akane's cheek reddened as Ranma leaned close to her and applied the band-aid, very gently, against her neck. As he smoothed it down with a fumbling, calloused finger his deep blue eyes raised to met her puffy red eyes.
"….Damnit, Akane. Why are you always taking everything I say the wrong way?"
"Is there any other way to take it?" she challenged softly, quickly drying off her tears.
"Of course there is, stupid."
"How?"
"The right way. If you think for a second that I'm not grateful, than you're stupider than I thought….Am I supposed to thank you for nearly getting yourself killed?! It's that what you want?!"
"I…I never said I wanted anything from you!"
"Then quit snapping my head off already! And hold still! I can't put a band-aid on ya when you're making nasty faces at me!"
"I'm not snapping and I'm not asking anything from you! I just said to stop with-…" She deflated with a fatigued sigh. "Never mind. Go outside and break more walls down for all I care, Ranma. I'll let the police take care of you….I'm tired."
"I'd rather deal with them than a stubborn headed, violent girl who throws chairs at me. Give me that arm."
"Take it."
"Geez, how many cuts did you get…"
"More than I want to think about. I've been trying to get them all but they're too small to-"
She flinched.
"What? What's wrong?"
She recoiled again. "You're…pressing down on a cut…."
"Sorry. Didn't see it." As he tenderly laid another band-aid against her wrist he muttered, "Anyways, you better not do anything like that again."
"What makes you think I'd want to?" she asked, frowning.
"I'm serious. The next time, I won't go after you." His grip tightened around her wrist as he added, "I've got enough problems without having to deal with saving an uncute girl because she's so senseless."
Akane didn't want anything in return from the stupid fathead. In the end she didn't even care if he appreciated what she did for him because she was happy enough that the idiot wasn't mopping around the house anymore. But to disregard her care for him so completely, then to give her this cruel ultimatum because she was "senseless" was so completely offensive that Akane was in a state of utter shock and repulsion.
Of all the stupid, insensitive, pigheaded things he had ever said to her, this topped it.
Akane immediately opened her mouth to snap back at him and she shifted forward to launch a blunt object at his stupid fathead but….When he saw how red Ranma's face became, how fast his anxious blue eyes were darting up to her face and how he was now nervously squeezing and un-squeezing her wrist with a shaking hand, she closed her mouth. Eyes curiously studying this contrasting sight, Akane remained in a state of silent bewilderment.
Was Ranma really an insensitive idiot who was telling her that he refused to care for her because it was a waste of his time?
Or was he just word-retarded and concerned that she would get hurt again?
Unsure, she tested the waters a bit by saying, "If that's how it is, then I guess I don't have a choice…"
"N-Not that I care either way," he added in a rush, as if he had let out something he hadn't intended to show her.
"Why would you," she agreed, looking off to the side. "I'm just an uncute tomboy…."
"Right."
"…You weren't supposed to agree."
"But it is true, you know." He kept his eyes on the band-aid he was applying, a slight smile on his face. "I'm probably the only person in the world who'll take the time to keep you safe if you did something stupid like that again."
"I'd never do something like that for anyone else, though." When Ranma's eyebrows shot up in surprise, Akane smiled. "Because you're the only one who I'd need to help out of a such a stupid situation."
As Akane smiled and stuck her tongue out at him, Ranma muttered "uncute" and shook his head.
Akane wasn't really sure what she saw in Ranma's eyes just then as he offered his hand to help her up, but she liked it very much.
Author Notes and other such nonsense:
Okay so, wow. It's really been awhile since I've posted anything...
Well, my personal goal is to make another chapter before April 2016...? Typing that just sounds sad ;A;