Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
With the Band
by pahlee
This is an alternative universe fanfiction where there are no curses. Just two strangers falling in love.
Set 4: Falling for You
Akane twirled in her white sundress, watched it flutter around her nicely shaped legs and then rest subtly on her thighs. She turned to her side as she admired her profile, and promptly cupped her breasts that were nicely highlighted by her dress. "Is this too much?"
A knock on her door brought her out of her delusions as her father entered the room and caught sight of his daugther, "My princess is all grown up!" He grinned, but then it turned into a frown as he noticed just how much the dress did not cover and his over-protective daddy mode kicked in, "But sweetie, don't you think that dress is a little short?"
Akane looked down and sure, it was shorter than most outfits she wore, but she was not a kid anymore. She was not that tomboy she was when she was in high school...at least not as much. Irregardless, she thought she looked her age and more importantly: sexy.
"Daddy, I'm 21!" Akane replied as she crossed her arms, "This is fine!"
Soun grumbled but gave up as he saw his daughter was not going to budge. So he let out a sigh, "Ok..ok, but you do look beautiful, princess." Akane smiled at her father, "Thanks daddy."
"Well, are you ready to go? It's already 10:48."
"Let me slip on these sandals and I'll be there!"
#
Ranma revved the engine on his bike as he made a tight right turn. His surroundings blurred as he zipped past establishments and made his way to the appointed spot. He took his helmet off and shook his head, causing an involuntary sexy moment and girls around him giggled and shrieked when they realized who he was.
He gave them a sexy grin and wink as he parked his bike and pulled out his phone. He could hear the girls' cameras clicking behind him. His attention was caught when a patrol car pulled into the lot and parkes in front of him. He got nervous, he looked around for a parking violation and he groaned internally as he did not want another ticket. But he was surprised when the passenger door opened and a sandaled foot peeked out and emerged a very gorgeous girl in a white dress.
He felt his chin drop as she flashed him a grin and she turned her attention back to the car, he saw her lean in, and allowing him a peek, and kiss the older gentleman on the cheek and heard her say, "Thanks daddy, see you when I get home."
"Alright sweetie, have fun." He said as he turned to look at Ranma, give him a 'hurt-my-daughter-you'll-find-yourself-in-a-world-of-hurt' look and then smile sweetly at his daughter as she shut the door and he drove off. Ranma gulped as he tried to avert his gaze, but Akane's dad kind of scared him.
"Ignore him," Akane said as she picked up on what just happened, "He's just being a worried father is all, he wasn't all too keen on me going on a date with someone I just met, at a concert..."
He flashed her a grin, "No worries, I'll take care of his little princess." Akane blushed as she looked around, "Did you drive here?" Ranma chuckled as he patted the bike behind him, "Sure did," he took in her clothes, "Y'know, I didn't see you as the type to wear dresses." He saw her blush, "But as long as you hold on real tight, you'll be fine."
"I didn't know you drove a motorcycle, I would have worn jeans."Akane replied, a bit embarassed. Ranma just smiled as he check her out again, "Nawh, it'll be fine, besides you'll make my bike ever sexier with you on it."
#
Akane held onto Ranma, her arms laced around his waist as her head was off to the side as the helmet protected her against the winds and any danger. She watched, through the helmet, Ranma navigate them to the resturaunt he had reservations for. She held on tighter when he leaned into a narrow turn.
Whereas Ranma smirked to himself as he felt Akane hold a little bit tighter. He deliberately took this way so that would happen and was glad his plan was working. He fought hard with himself not to look down and admire her creamy silky legs that were wrapped around him, else they would wreck. When he did finally manage to come to a stop, he took his precious time as he helped her off the bike.
Entering the posh little eatery, Akane smiled at Ranma as she took in the enviroment. And, to her amusment, Ranma's cute butt as he walked slightly ahead of her. When they entered, they were ushered off to a secluded table and were handed their menus.
"Anything to drink?" the waiter asked.
Akane blinked as she replied, "Water's fine."
"Same."
The waiter nodded as he retreated. Akane blushed, "Oh, erm... Sorry. You could have gotten a drink."
"Nah, caffine spoils the vocals for me. Besides, water works. Y'know you coulda gotten tea or something, it's on me."
Akane blushed a deeper red, which Ranma found quite cute, "I don't drink soda, it makes me dizzy if I train afterwards."
"Train? In what?" He asked, amused and interested.
"Don't laugh," Akane muttered as ahe fidgeted in her seat and her voice got softer, almost embarassed, "But...I do martial arts."
"Really?" Ranma said, taken back and quite surprised. Her cheeks remained an attractive pink as he eyed her, "I would have never guessed, I never known a lot of girls partaking in the art!"
"Eh?" Akane responded, her pink hue slowly disapating, "Do you practice too?"
Ranma winked as he brought his hand up and hit his chest for emphasis, "You think I got this way by pure luck? Naaah, before our band got signed, I was so focused on the art, I would probably say I'm among the best." Akane scoffed, Ranma narrowed his eyes as his lips curled into a mischievous grin, "What about you, huh?"
"What about me?" Akane replied smoothly as she patted down her dress.
The waiter came and placed their drinks before them. "I'll be back to take your order in a few minutes." A mutter from the couple signaled his leave.
"Your training, do you still do it?"
"Yes, whenever I have the time," Akane answered truthfully, "But because of school and work, I have less and less time to work on my form."
"Sounds bogus." Ranma quipped.
"What?" Akane replied, agitated. Ranma laughed as he waved his arms in a defensive manner, "No, no, haha, the whole can't train because of other matters thing. Not that what you do is bogus, haha." Akane reddened and Ranma found himself chuckling again, "Hey, no worries."
"Sorry." Akane whispered, but Ranma just smiled at her. The two then picked up the menu and a companionable silence followed as they scanned the menu. While this happened, Ranma could not help but feel the brush of her feet each time she shifted in her seat. He half-heartedly wondered if she was doing it on purpose or thinks that his own leg was a table leg. The waiter came back and took their order and when he left an awkward silence followed.
Akane looked around the room, her eyes darting from one corner to the other. She crossed her legs and began to tap her foot as she tried to think of something to talk about, but all her ideas seemed lame to her.
"Are you busy tonight?"
His voice scared her out of thoughts as she turned to look at him. He was just smiling at her, like this was the easiest thing in the world for him to do.
"Uh, well, not really." Akane replied.
"Would you like to go to the kick-off concert tonight to see my band perform?"
Akane felt her cheeks get hotter as the blood rushed to her face. She interally groaned, if she kept this up she would forever be a tomato. "I really want to spend more time with you before I leave, so after this lunch - you wanna go back to my place, stay for practice and go to the show? We can hang out inbetween..."
Ranma stared at the girl. He felt his heart race, his pulse quicken as he waited for an answer. He was so bold, bolder than he ever was when it came to a potential "friend". He tried to put a hold on his tongue, but the words kept coming out and he was powerless to do anything about it.
"Y-yeah, I'd like that."
Her answer made his heart soar and he felt as if though a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders. He smiled a huge chesmire grin at her and let out a soft chuckle. It was followed by the steaming plates of their food and laughter from their small talk.
#
"Alright, if a girl with a scary face comes a yellin' at me, just stay behind me while I handle her." Ranma said as they got off the bike.
Jokingly, Akane teased, "Is she your girlfriend?"
"No, she's my manager and I kinda snuck out," he laughed as he grabbed a hold of her hand, which felt so natural to the both of them as they entered the building and boarded the elevator. "Snuck out?" Akane questioned. Ranma shrugged as he pressed the executive floor button and gave her a wink that made her blush, "Some things are worth gettin' in trouble for."
When they got to the desired floor, he pressed his finger to his lips and pulled her along to a room which he unlocked and allowed her in. "Stay here, make yourself at home, I gotta talk to the guys and tell Uyko I got a guest whose gonna sit in on practice."
Akane nodded and Ranma made an even bolder move as he leaned down and kissed her forhead, he pulled away quickly, his face red, "Be back in just a moment. Close the door." Shocked, but listening, Akane nodded as he gave her one last smile and turned to leave. As she watched his retreating back, she let out a relieved sigh and shut the door.
She rested her head against the doorframe before she turned around and walked towards the couches. She sat down with a plop as she crossed her legs and let out another sigh. She looked down at her hands and pressed the unlock button on her phone. She had two missed calls and seven messages. Her fingers hovered over the review button but she quickly locked her phone and put it away.
This was their time.
#
Ranma hurried as fast as he could. He got a good lashing from Ukyo but she cleared him for a guest so he was in high spirits. On his way back to the room, he realized it would be another good hour before the band assembled for practice: what will they do? When he neared his room, he was intercepted by Mousse.
"Who'd you bring back to your room?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"A guest." Ranma stutteres.
"A pretty guest, in a short white dress," Mousse shook his head, "Man mate, I thought you had more willpower than us, bringin' back some whore to the hotel."
Ranma was admonished, his cheeks flaring up with both anger and embarassment, "She's not some whore Mousse! She's my guest!" He grabbed him by the collar, "Oh, but I swear if I catch you ogling, bro, I'll be introducing you to a world of pain." Mousse chuckled as he raised his hands in surrender, "Heey, chill out mate, I was just kidding." Ranma friend, "Geez, sorry man...I-I don't know what came over me."
"She must be some guest," Mousse said then smiled, "It's that girl from the concert isn't it?" Ranma's silence answered him. Mousse smirked, "I toldja man, you might be in love. Haha, just look at how jealous you get when you even thought of me looking at her." Ranma did not say anything as he tried to reason out his mind. Mousse shuffled a bit and then shoved something in his hand.
"Dunno if you'll be bold enough to even go that far, knowing you, but better safe than sorry, see you at practice bro." Mousse grinned as he walked around Ranma and went into a room.
Ranma looked down at his hand and blushed, he shoved it in his pocket and grumbled something incomphrensive and blushed even more. "The nerve of that guy-!"
As he unlocked the door, he opened the room to Akane sitting on the couch and looking through his magazine collection on the table. He just then realized that some of those magazines were not going to put him in a good light. He fell over the couch, tripped over the coffee table and landed with a thump over the glossy magazines, only to be foiled with Akane holding one of the girly mags in her hands and showcasing it to him.
Her cheeks were a cute pink from embarassment, but she smiled, "My, my, aren't you a healthy young man, Ranma."
Ranma groaned as he reached for the magazine, snatching it from her hand and quickly throwing it across the room. His was ablaze from embarassment while the girl he was trying to impress giggled. "It's okay, Ranma. That's perfectly normal."
"Yeah but I didn't want ya to see 'em." Ranma mumbled, not controlling his mouth. Akane caught his slip, "Hmm? Why not?" Ranma flailed, "Ah, well, y-yeah see uhh!" At this, Akane let out another giggle as she seductively batted her eyes at him to blush even more, "Hmm, ne, Ranma," she leaned forward, exposing a small amount of cleavage to make Ranma sweat more, she gave him a wink, "Or would you rather have the real thing?"
Akane was astonished. Who was that taking control of her mouth and making her say those words! But it was fun to see Ranma squirm. Her eyes fell towards his excitment and she giggled and she pulled back and ran a hand through her hair, "Don't get excited there Romeo, I'm not that kind of girl. I'm only teasing."
Ranma faltered and tried to hide his embarassment, but the way she looked and moved just made his insides churn and his heart race faster. He followed her line of sight and quickly covered his embarassment by sitting down on the couch and began to think of baseball and the likes. His cheeks flushed even redder when his mind began to trail off again.
Akane laughed, "I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable, Ranma, I'm sorry if I did, I was just teasing." Ranma finally controlled himself and he sat before Akane. She smiled at him.
That smile.
Something about it made him feel happy. He just felt this attraction to her, much like when he first spotted her out in the crowd yesterday. And then he found himself leaning closer, as if something was pulling him towards her. And Akane did not seem to refuse his advances as she slowly closed her eyes - waiting.
Ranma nervously went for it, it was not like it was his first kiss or anything, wait; it was his first kiss (one that he initated and would actually want to happen)! Even though he played a part of a casanova, Ranma was ultimately a very shy boy. He finally reached his goal and kissed her. Tenative at first, but found himself hungry for her kisses. It got more possessive as he leaned in more and pulled her from the couch.
Akane was in ectacsy. Her mind went blank and began to play fireworks as Ranma's lips claimed hers. Ever so often when they would part for air, she would breath his name and he would be back at it with new vigor..
Their make-out session came to a halt when a bang at the door interupoted them. Akane pulled back, embarassed as Ranma groaned to open the door.
"It's practice time mate what do -" Ryoga said a bit angerily, but saw Ranma's flushed face and then the girl on the couch with the bright red face and swollen lips (of seduction!), "Ohh, I see, am I interuppting a moment?"
"No!" Ranma said as he saw Akane blush and turned her head, "We were just talking!" Ryoga snickered, "Yeah, with your tongues haha, look mate," Ryoga ignored his friends' glare, "Ukyo sent me up here to get you, practice starts now."
Ranma nodded and Ryoga turned to leave. "Coming, Akane?" Ranma asked. And in the distance Ryoga called out, "That's what he (Ranma) said!"
#
Akane held onto Ranma's hand as he led her to the practice room. She blushed as he squeezed her hand reassuringly and looked at her with an emotion she just could not place. Her heart begn to race as he heart beat echoed in her ears.
If one would simply look at the couple, they could see the love radiate off them in waves. However, the two young adults are still oblivious to what fate has in store for them and both are too silly-lost-in-emotions to realize it.
Because with each step they took, they were falling in love more and more.
They fell for each other, and when Ranma opened the door to the practice room, he opened a metaphoric doorway to their future.
Author's Note
Could you believe me if I told you that I wrote this story yesterday at 11 o clock and then just finished it today when I woke up? I was really inspired to write on this story for some reason so here is the results! Hopefully my other stories will also be updated before the end of the week! I am writing on Trust, Hope & Love right now and it is a very long chapter!