Provoked
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Chapter 4
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Ranma writhed and held his head as he recovered. "Geez. What'd you do that for?"
Akane squeezed her fist tighter and scowled. "UGH, I hate you! You're such a moron!" She threw the tray at him. Ranma winced and stood to his feet. "And you're just a homely, psycho, macho chick! Why don't you try bein' like other girls, huh? Why do you always hafta be so uncute?"
Akane's hand bolted and smacked his mouth. "I don't care what you think anymore, Ranma!" She reeled her fist back and aimed at his cheek. Ranma blocked it.
There was a pause as she glared him in the eye and Ranma frowned at her.
She pulled her fist back once more. Widening her stance, she swung at his head again. Ranma jerked his head sideways to avoid the blow.
"Man...I change my mind. I liked you better when I thought you had hit your head." One hand on the counter, Ranma leaped up to dodge Akane's kick. But it made less of a difference when seconds later he was mauled by a frying pan. He groaned and hit the floor. Immediately, he recuperated.
"Cut it out!"
"YOU cut it out!" She aimed a kick at his shin, but Ranma swiftly dodged, causing her to kick the counter instead. "Ow..."
Ranma scooted away immediately. She hissed and bent over, rubbing her foot in pain.
"...You okay?" he asked.
Akane glared as her blood boiled. That jerk. He had no right to dodge her blows. He deserved it. ALL of it, after all the pain he had caused her that day.
That's when she felt a stinging in her hand. She ceased from rubbing her foot to find a smeared red blotch. She quickly flipped her hand over to find out why.
Blood dripped from the bleeding gash across her palm.
"Akane!" Ranma grabbed her hand and examined it. "You're bleeding."
She snatched her hand away and slapped him with the other one. "Get away from me."
Ranma stared in confusion. A throbbing vein appeared at his temple. "Well, fine then. Next time, remind me not to even bother!"
"Don't act like you're worried about me."
"Ha! You're right. Why worry 'bout stupid ol' you?"
Akane growled and glared daggers at him. He returned the glare.
Before he could even blink, he was bashed by a deep-fryer that seemed to come out of nowhere.
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Akane ran her bleeding palm under the kitchen faucet. The water hit the gash and flooded away the blood temporarily. But as soon she retracted her hand, the bleeding continued.
She thought back to when she first struck him with the tray...And then the frying pan...And then the deep fryer.
A smirk came to her lips.
Even she couldn't explain it, but for some reason...she felt extremely blissful. She reviewed and counted all the times she had hit him that day. The thought conceived a warm sensation in the pit of her stomach.
She turned off the faucet and spun around, scanning for paper towels. Her eyes immediately shifted back to the mess of smeared food on the floor. She frowned down at it.
That dummy. The LEAST he was going to do was clean up the mess that he caused.
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Ranma dabbed his head with an ice pack and looked in the mirror. "The hell is wrong with her?"
A swollen knot peaked out from under his black hair. "I try to be nice to her and this is how she treats me."
Every violent incident from that day flashed through his head.
"Hmp," he said frowning. "Why do I even bother with her?" He sat and thought about all her actions. Then his frown slowly faded.
"Dummy...I was trying to be NICE."
"Huh?"
Akane lowered to her knees. She moved the tray aside and began to pick up the broken glass pieces. "I was tired of us always fighting...so I wanted to change things."
Ranma sighed and looked in the mirror.
"I guess she could could say the same about me..."
Suddenly the bathroom door swung open. Akane stomped in.
"Hey! Why doncha try KNOCKING?"
She ignored his comment and approached him. She stared him down before kicking his gut.
"What'd I do now?"
"I believe that's YOUR mess in the kitchen."
"MY mess? How so?"
Akane didn't bother to respond. She gave him her most threatening scowl. He knew what would happen next.
Ranma rolled his eyes and exhaled. "Man, your uncute," he mumbled. He cautiously walked around her and exited the bathroom.
Akane watched him. When he was completely out of sight. She let her scowl wash away and form into a smirk.
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