Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. Now excuse me while I try to defeat this evil Crypt thing that my best friend sent after me. ::mentally damns her and the human she lives with::

Chapter 4

That night

Don't leave me...(so soft, gods I love your touch)...I...love you! No! You can't take her away!

Ranma shot out of bed and looked around. He sighed and crept up to Akane's room. Akane was sleeping soundly. 'Hope she doesn't beat me if she wakes up, but it's worth the risk at the moment...I feel calmer in here right now...' he started pacing a bit, 'how do I get these dreams to stop?'

Akane thought she heard something moving in her room. 'P-Chan?' she thought as she opened her eyes. Instead she saw Ranma pacing back and forth looking tense.

"Ranma?" she whispered.

He jumped and looked at her, "Oh no, did I wake you?!"

She shrugged, "Well...yea."

"Oh...Sorry! I didn't mean...it's not like...umm..." he started backing away, looking for any signs that a practice sword might be coming out.

"It's ok, is something wrong?" A look of concern showed on her face.

"Well, I..." 'What should I do?'

Akane moved and patted the space next to her; "Do you want to talk?"

Ranma inched over and sat on the bed.

Akane raised an eyebrow, "Well?"

"Umm...well first of all why haven't you tried to kill me yet?"

"You look like you have something on your mind," she looked at him closely, "Kind of like last night."

"O-Oh..."

"Besides I'm not as violent as you always make me out to be, you just know how to get me mad sometimes," she said in a softer tone.

Ranma cringed on the inside, 'Damn my big mouth sometimes!'

"Hey, what where you trying to get from Nabiki this morning?"

"Oh...nothing..."

"Umm...ok?"

"It was just a magazine..." he stopped when she yawned.

"I'm sorry Ranma...I'm falling asleep again. I can get that magazine for you from Nabiki if you want."

"No! It's ok!"

"Alright..." Akane fell back into her pillows and drifted off to sleep.

Ranma got up and tiptoed out. 'Since when does she notice when something is wrong or I'm not a pervert for being in her room?' he thought as he went back to his room. 'She's been really nice since I apologized to her.' Ranma closed the door to his room and crawled back into bed.

No! Pop how could you do this?! Don't separate us please! (feels self running) Come on...we can run away and be together at last. I want you to be by my side forever...I love you...(feels kiss)

Morning

"Oh my god." Ranma mumbled, "I need to stop having dreams..."

"Good morning everyone!" Akane called out as she entered the room.

"Good morning, Akane." Kasumi said, poking her head out from the kitchen.

Akane looked around, "Where's Ranma?"

"Oh I don't know, I haven't seen him all morning."

"Hmm..." Akane turned and started walking toward the training dojo. Sure enough, there was Ranma. Akane gasped, he had his back to her, but he wasn't wearing a shirt and he was sweating. She tiptoed up behind him.

"Hiya!" Ranma panted as he practiced his moves. As he went to punch again a hand caught his wrist. He looked at his hand; it wasn't his father's.

"Akane?" he asked, turning around. Yup there she was... 'Wait she caught my hand?' "You caught my hand..."

"So? It's not that hard." Akane raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's just, I thought I was moving fast..."

"You were, this punch just happened to be slower."

"Oh."

Akane tilted her head; "Will you spar with me?"

"I don't fight girls."

"Oh come on. It's not fighting. I just want to train a little."

"Well...ok."

"All right! Let's go!" Akane let go of his hand and jumped back into stance.

"Give me your best shot." Ranma taunted as he positioned himself to fight.

Akane came at him with a series of punches and kicks. Ranma blocked and dodged them, but found it wasn't as easy as it usually is. 'She caught my punch before too...she's better when her mind is clear and she isn't trying to kill me. I never noticed that before.'

Ranma ducked as Akane did a high kick. Her dress went up with a whoosh and Ranma caught a glimpse of her panties. He blushed and stumbled back.

"W-wait Akane!"

Akane stopped and looked at him, "What am I getting to tough for you?" she giggled.

"No! Just do me a favor and go get your gi on."

Akane's eyes flashed with suspicion, "Why?"

"Uh...cause...um...I want to teach you few new things, but I can't show you if you're in a skirt."

"Oh! Ok!" Akane went off to her room.

"Whew, that was close...now what should I teach her?" Ranma thought for a bit, "Hmm she already has a lot of strength. I should teach her to add speed with that, she really needs to be more dexterous." He stood there and thought until she came back.

"Ok! I'm ready!" Akane came in looking energized and happy.

"All right...umm...stand here and go into your usual stance." Ranma said.

Akane did so.

"Ok, tell me when you spar with me, what are you watching?"

Akane looked puzzled, "You of course, where else would I look?"

"Ok that's one of your flaws."

"It is?" Akane looked even more confused.

"Yes, if you are watching just me you aren't really aware of what's going on everywhere else. You ever notice that while you are watching me I seem to disappear?"

Akane nodded, "You're fast."

"Well, yes but it seems more so to you because you are so focused on where I was that you don't notice where I went. Pop always told me that if I was really aware I'd be able to see where he was going to go."

"How on earth can you do that?"

"Ok come at me like you usually do."

Akane came at him with her usual style. Almost in an instant it seemed like Ranma disappeared. She stopped and looked around puzzled.

Suddenly she felt someone breathing on her neck, "See?"

She spun around, "Hey! How did you...?"

"Like I said you are so focused on getting me or finding out where I am you don't stop and let your self open up and feel where I am."

"How am I supposed to feel that?" Akane looked frustrated.

"Come on you are a good fighter, take all that strength you have and add it to your sense of awareness. Here try this, close your eyes and try to sense me."

Akane closed her eyes and a look of concentration came over her face.

"Don't concentrate so much, just relax and let everything flow..." Ranma said as he moved to a different area of the dojo.

Akane stood there for a bit, then her face brightened and she pointed her finger at him, "There you are." She said and opened her eyes.

"Yup." Ranma said with pride. 'Wow she figured that out fast.'

Akane smiled, "Wow I had no idea I could do that."

"Ok now see if you can do that while I'm moving."

Akane nodded and closed her eyes again.

Ranma waited a second then started moving as quietly as he could around the room. This time Akane didn't show any sign of seeing him so he started inching towards her. He reached out to touch and surprise her but she grabbed his hand. "What?"

Akane opened her eyes and laughed.

"Could you sense me the entire time?"

"Yup!" she said with pride.

"Wow, good job now try to add that with your fighting."

Akane nodded and went back into stance.

This time she was able to follow his moves and Ranma had a challenge. It was getting even harder to concentrate with her being so near him. At the same time this was...fun...Akane wasn't trying to beat the life out of him and she seemed to be studying his movements more than just focusing on one this. Finally she spun around and blocked what would have been his next move. "Ha! I did it! I actually figured out your patterns!"

Ranma was shocked but also filled with pride. Akane was glowing and that made him feel...warm. He was so happy he picked her up and hugged her.

"Wha...?" Akane was shocked.

"I'm proud of you...thank you..." Ranma whispered.

"Thank me for what?"

"This was fun...we never do this."

Akane blushed and Ranma thought she looked really cute, "I would like to do this more often..."

"I'd like that."

They looked at each other and suddenly Ranma was aware of how close they were. Akane seemed to mold to his body.

"Umm...you think we should go in and see if lunch is ready?" Akane asked, shifting her eyes from his gaze.

"We should..." Ranma blushed.

Akane smiled and gave him an affectionate squeeze before walking out. Ranma watched her go out, 'She hugged me back...we just had a good time without one of us making a mistake or getting mad.' he smiled, 'she looked...cute.'

Ranma shook his head and walked out to wash up before lunch.

Author's Note

So what did you think? I hope it's ok. I was working on my other story and suddenly this story came to mind and next thing I knew I was typing this up. I even went past what I had written in the book. Go me. I'm sure you can guess what's going on in Ranma's dreams a bit more now. I kinda thought this was a cute chapter, they didn't fight and Akane learned some stuff. The idea of the whole awareness is from what I'm always told when I'm training. Be aware of everything.

Oh right I read my reviews and someone asked me why I put Ukyo and Ryoga together. I always thought they looked cute together. It would so work, so I had her come in to bring him back to her place.

Ok please read and review.

Oh and in place of the crypt that StarLightShadow sent me I send her a horny Ryoga!

Ja Ne,

Himitsu Joonetsu