Disclaimer: Sadly , I don't own these characters .

Chapter IV

"Damn got here an hour early" He wondered how could he have made such a moronic mistake. It was probably still yesterday's scene that was affecting him. He wasn't interested in dating Hikaru , so he didn't even bother dressing sharply.Just a casual attire.

"Got some time to kill." He walked around the park till he reached a lake. "Huh might try riding a boat"

He slowly rowed , enjoying the view.After passing under a bridge, he started hearing a saxophone's sound, and he decided to check it out.

"Ayukawa?" He was surprised to see her there Instinctively he hid himself in the some water plants."Why did I do this?"He wasn't sure himself.

Just then the guy Ayukawa danced yesterday with came to her, with another dude.They started talking, but Madoka didn't seem to be enjoying this.When Ranma saw them attempting to grab her, he started rowing at extreme speed to the place where they were to stop them.

However when he reached it and was about to make an heroic entry, Madoka had already taken care of them.

"Saotome-kun? What's going on?" She asked in a neutral way.

Ranma stepped out of the boat , but unfortunetely for him it suddenly turned around, leaving him soaking in the water.

He was reliefed because his curse didn't trigger "Thank God I remembered to use waterproof soap today"He wasn't really keen of Madoka finding out about his girl side.

They exchanged glances and laughed.Then Ranma managed to turn the boat back in it's original position.

"So will you let me row, Saotome-kun?"
"Only if you stop calling me that.Call me Ranma please."
"Getting friendly are we?"Seeing him blush she smiled. "Just joking. Ranma it is then."

They stayed for a while in silence.

"So I was wondering..." Ranma tried to start a conversation
"What is it?"
"Do you come to the park often?"
"Every now and then"

Ranma was mesmerized by her smile "Wow she looks so full of joy now.Why the hell does she act like she's so indifferent all the time"
His trance was interrupted by a sound of something heavy falling in the water.It was a toddler who fell from a bridge. His mother was waving her hands in panic, asking for help.

He saw Ayukawa taking off her coat , getting ready to dive .

"Oh no you don't" He put his hands on hers instinctively, leaving both of them blushing. To save himself the embarassement he launched himself into the water, coming to the child's aid.

He quickly grabbed the kid , and together they returned to the surface. The mother of the boy thanked them . Ayukawa put her coat on his shoulders and winked.

They looked at each other's eyes , like they were the only people in the world. It was a magical moment.

Just then rain interrupted their trance. "Phew I am really lucky it still works" .Ranma blessed the soap again.

They went to a bar nearby and ordered coffee. Ayukawa leaned in, looking at him in a funny way.
"What's is it, do I have something on my face?" Ranma asked , self-consciously.

"Plankton."
"Eh?There's no way you can see stuff like that."

She started laughing.It had been again that sincere laugh that made his heart jump. "I wish we'd stay this way forever" he thought

Suddenly her expression got melancholic.

"Being together like this, you and I, it looks like we're dating ,doesn't it?"
"A date huh?A date ?"He rejoiced in his thoughts. "Waaa, my date with Hikaru!"He said aloud, unconciously. "Oooops" He saw Madoka face's contract.

"What date with Hikaru?!"

"Um ..uh...well.."

" I just remembered I have to go." She got up. " See ya"
"Oh, what about your jacket?"

"Be sure to wash it before returning it to me" She said over the shoulder.

"Damn , I sure screwed up this time."He said after reading a message Hikaru left on a board "Ranma , you jerk!"

The next day there was a pedagogic meeting at his school , so they weren't any classes. Ranma wanted to take the opportunity to sleep more, so he specifically warned his father not to disturb him.His bad mood made him pretty persuasive, so the old man didn't take his chances.
After breakfast, he wanted to go for a walk but just as he was heading out, Hikaru was at the gate.

" Sempai!" She hugged him.

"Uh.. Hikaru-chan..."

"I don't know what happened... I just came here randomly"
"I'm sorry for yesterday..The reason was... eh .. my dad..."
"Oh you were helping your father?"
"Uh something like that. I'm really sorry about it."

"Not at all.Sorry for writing such a stupid thing on the board"

"Allright, so want to see where I live?"Ranma wanted to compensate for his lie. As only Kasumi was home , it shouldn't pose many problems he thought.

He gave her a quick tour around the house.He could show his room without embarassement, since he managed to convince Soun to move Genma to another room some time ago.

They were sitting on his bed ,Ranma was showing her some CD's Daisuke gave him to try.Suddenly Ranma felt a presence." He opened the door

"Nabiki, weren't you supposed to be at the university?"He asked accusingly.

"Oh Ranma-kun, congratulations!I was worried about you since you are such a late-bloomer, but you finally started bringing girls home!"
"It's not that!!!"He denied vehemently

"Oh don't be so embarassed , Ranma-kun.All right kids, I'll leave you two alone."As she was stepping outside she added "Oh and remember to use protection."
He turned red like his favorite shirt

" Don't pay attention to her Hikaru-chan..." "Here have I shown you this CD already?"He quickly changed the subject.

They stayed there for a little bit ,untill Ranma finally came up with a decent excuse for her to leave.He spent the rest of the day mostly practicing, determined in recovering his form.

(The day after)

As Ranma entered Furinkan for the first time without being late this year, he noticed that almost everybody was staring at him.He was kind of used to this because of all the trouble he attracted, however this time it seemed to be something different. Still , he dismissed the glares and went to class.Ayukawa was already sitting near the window, looking outside. He didn't dare to greet her.
Komatsu and Hatta ran excitedly to him after he came in.

"Ranma you player tell us how was it?" Komatsu grinned
"Yeah and what did you do to get Hikaru in bed?"Hatta almost started nose bleeding

"Yeah you gotta teach us , man!"

Ranma just stood there astonished.

"Come on man share the wisdom !"
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" He finally muttered.

"Oh there's no need to deny it bro." Komatsu winked
"Yeah the whole school is talking about it bro"

"I didn't do anything with Hikaru" He was getting angry
"So how does it feel now that you're a man?" Hatta ignored his reply

"I didn't do those things with Hikaru, I told you!" Ranma said loudly this time.Too loudly. Ayukawa got up and left the room." Damn who the hell spread these rumors?" "AH NABIKI ! You just wait " He was furious.

He also went outside since he wasn't in the mood for class. He wanted to find Madoka to explain her what happened. After checking the school grounds without success, his frustration building up, he decided to go to the roof.

As he climbed the stairs he heard a familiar voice.

"I give you a last chance before I seriously hurt you.Where can I find Ranma Saotome?"
Ranma rushed quickly upstairs. "No...not him, not now..."

Pantyhose Taro was standing there, however his ki seemed more like Ryoga's, full of hatred and despair...

He started approaching Ayukawa aggressively, trying to intimidate her.

Ranma made an acrobatic leap and landed near them.

"Don't you dare touch her ,Pantyhose"" Ranma was glowing.

"Huh so you finally showed up , eh!?!?Sure, I'll touch you instead then! You'll taste my fists fueled by my endless pain!You lied to me , you crossdressing scum!"Taro started going in Ranma's direction.
"Huh?What's gotten into you Taro ? Didn't Happosai change your name as you wanted?" Instinctively Ranma made a few steps back.
"You think he did?!?! You know what I am called now? G-String Taro !Can you imagine what this makes me feel?!"

Ranma chuckled at that. The grandmaster of Anything Goes managed to surpass even his usual idiocy .

He exchanged glances with Ayukawa, and saw her also smile a little.

"You dare mock me?!You'll eat dirt, you transvestite!"With that he charged forward, throwing a furious amount of strikes at Ranma ,who didn't even manage to deflect half of them.
"Allright, now it's the time for you to beg for mercy!"

He seemingly became even faster, and this time he delivered a single blow hitting right in Ranma's chin , throwing him a few meters back to his knees.Ranma remained conscious , however such a blow usually leaved the reciever temporally paralized .Ranma realized the trouble he was in: even in his best form, he barely managed to keep up with Taro; however now he felt like he was no match for him at all.He struggled to get back on his feet, without success.

"Ranma !" He heard Madoka's worried voice.

"Damn these are the consequences for my slacking!And right in front of her..." As he saw that she was about to rush to help him ,he thightened his fists

"No not in front of her , not like this" He gathered all his willpower and slowly regained movement. Meanwhile Taro was standing there triumphally, rejoicing in his advantage.

" So it seems like you truly became pathetic since the last time we met!You sick transexual!"

Ranma ignored his taunts , considering his options.Finally he decided to try infuriating Taro , so he would leave an opening, and try to finish him with one attack.

"Me , a transexual?Then what does your name say about you , G-String?Are you some kind of homo?"

Just the mere mentioning of his name was enough to enrage Taro.

"That's it ,your going down!"

Taro leaped forward with a flying kick .Ranma expected something like that, so he managed to dodge it and countered with his signature move.

"Kachuu Tenchin Amaguriken" This left Taro stunned for a few seconds, leaving Ranma the opportunity to attack again. "Moko Tokahabisha!" A beam of chi hit Taro's chest leaving him on the ground. Ranma didn't have however time to celebrate , as his opponent got promptly up.

"Bwahahahaha... bwahahha... MUAHAHAHAHA!!!" He was laughing manically. "You call that a chi blast?I'll show you a real chi blast" With a sadistic expression he started concentrating energy into his palms.

"Hm...I need another target so you suffer longer"

After thinking about it, he turned to Ayukawa.

"You... I can see he cares for you very much... you also find everything funny , don't you ?"He pointed his hands at her.

"FINAL FLASH!!!!"

Time stopped for Ranma. "No, this can't be happening... I have to stop him... but how, it's too late..." "No ,I will try no matter what" With that in mind he launched himself in the beam's path.

Everything went blank for him.

Ranma slowly opened his eyes, finding himself lying on a bed. He figured out he was in the nursery room.

He saw Madoka sitting near with an extremely worried expression.

"Oh thank God you awakened!How are you" .Ranma could have sworn she had been crying. He didn't press the issue.

"Uh , it hurts pretty bad .I don't seem to have anything broken though.So ,what happened after... that..."

"How could you..." She ignored his question
"What?"
"How could you be so foolish?Throwing yourself like that in front of me?What if you'd died?" She said , still looking sad.

Ranma grabbed her hand.

"I ... I couldn't allow anything to happen to you..."

They seemed to be lost in time again, looking at each other. As Ayukawa started to lean in, the bell rang.

"Eh... so well you seem perfectly fine... then I guess I can go..." she turned away ,red from embarassment.

"Wait a second"
"What is it?" She regained her calm.
"That matter with Hikaru... nothing happened..."
"And just why are you tellling me this" She got her friendly teasing smile back on her face.

"Eh ...I just...I don't want you to misunderstand it , that's all" He was blushing now.

"Baka I already know that . Some special friend of yours named Nabiki came by and cleared things up!"

"Nabiki eh?"He was really surprised.

"Well see ya , lover boy!" Madoka waved at him.

"Maybe it was for the best that things turned to be this way" He thought about his match with Taro. "It was worth getting hurt like this just to see that smile!" He grinned.

Note: Next update will only come in a few days ,since I have a Math exam :(

Please review the story so far!!! Thanks for the support