Hippocrates
Chapter 6
Akane was sitting on the side of the room before school watching the dance company practice their team routines. She was on the side of the room because it was quickly discovered that Akane didn't dance well with others. She wasn't quite able to pull off the whole dancing within a large group of people. She had been relegated to two solo pieces. This was fine with her. The first dance she was to perform was a modified Kata. In the interest of time Rina decided that trying to teach Akane more than one new dance wasn't going to work. It wasn't that Akane was a bad dancer, it was that she wasn't as…expressive as one might hope a dancer to be. She learned the steps quickly and performed them with precision, but the steps were all done with the same intense focus that she used when she smashed bricks. Hence the reason she was sidelined for the group dances. It was painfully apparent when she danced with the company that she lacked a certain amount of feeling in her dancing or maybe there were too many feelings, but none of them helped her blend in with the company.
Akane was grateful she wasn't in the company dances. The theme for the competition was "Dance Around the World" and some of the group pieces, especially those from Tahiti and America, had skimpy costumes and a little too much gyrating for Akane's comfort. When the girls finished their number it was time to shower and get ready for school. This was the most uncomfortable part of Akane's day. She was always amazed that her blush had faded before her first class. The girls in the dance club had a reputation with the guys and from what they said in the locker room Akane thought it deserved. After listening in a few mornings Akane came to the conclusion that she either didn't pay enough attention in their Human Development class or they didn't teach everything there was to know about boys and girls.
She wanted to quickly change and get out of the locker room before the girls started going into details about their weekends, but a cluster of girls had gathered around her locker and she couldn't get to it. They were passing stuff around and ohhing and ahhhing. One of the girls in the dance club was dating a boy who went to the University. He had taken an Arts and Crafts class and was now trying to sell some of the things he made in the class to recoup his supply costs. He had given some of his work to his girlfriend to see if she could sell it. There were pieces of hand-painted pottery, small woven mats and leather that had been worked. It was the leather that caught Akane's attention. There was a large black piece that had rearing horses embossed on it. It looked like the leather had been covered, by a bunch of Ferrari symbols. She thought of Ranma as she looked at it and on impulse bought it. His eighteenth birthday was coming up and she might be able to make him something out of it.
"How was your weekend?" one of the girls asked Akane. "Did you and Ranma do anything fun?"
Akane looked at the girl. She was in the grade below her and only superficially known to her, but past experience taught her where this line of questioning was going.
"I worked all weekend and then I practiced my routines. Nothing fun. Look, are you guys going to move so I can get dressed?"
"Sure, just a sec and we will clean this stuff up and get out of your way," another girl said. The crowd quickly shifted its attention back to weekend escapades.
With no choice but to wait it out, Akane found herself sitting on a bench the next row over waiting for the crowd to break up so she could change into her uniform when the talk started. Trying not to listen she fidgeted with the leather and turned her attention towards the windows or the ceiling or anything but the girls camped out in front of her locker. She was fairly radiating embarrassment when Rina came up and sat down next to her.
"Nice leather," she commented aimlessly.
"Thanks," Akane said her fingers running over the embossed surface.
After a moment of awkward silence between the pair Rina asked, "Does it really make you that uncomfortable to hear them talk about their boyfriends? You are engaged. You can't honestly tell me that you haven't thought about meeting Ranma in a dark closet somewhere."
Akane's face blushed as she thought about the one time she and Ranma had actually been in a dark closet together.
"Have you been in a dark closet with Ranma?" Rina asked at Akane's fierce reaction. When Akane was silent and managed to go even redder Rina knew she had her answer. "Well, well, well Akane Tendo I never would have thought you had it in you," Rina's sly voice spurred Akane to vehement denials.
"It's not like that…there were all these frogs and snakes…he didn't even want me…he was just trying to get something out of me," the explanation was stuttered and choppy.
"Don't you know, sweetie, that's why boys take girls into closets; to get something out of them."
Akane's face felt like it was warm enough for fusion. "Not like that. Ranma just wanted some martial arts suit from me. He wasn't even interested in acting the way a boy and a girl in a dark closet could act… but he did share his cake with me," she finished. A ghost of a smile was on her face at the thought of Ranma actually sharing a treat with her.
"He what? Akane you are not as innocent as you come across if you are doing that in the closet with Ranma." Rina looked shocked and impressed.
"No, no, no," Akane waved her hands in front of her as if trying to brush away the words just spoken. "I mean we actually had a cake in there and we ate it, that's all. Ranma wouldn't do anything like that, at least, not with me."
"It doesn't sound like you'd mind if it did happen."
"Are we done talking about this?"
"Sure if you want, I don't know why this makes you so uncomfortable, but whatever."
Akane shrugged and not quite meeting Rina's eye she said quietly, "I just think that people should keep private things…well…private."
Rina looked at Akane in disbelief and then burst out laughing.
"Oh that's really rich coming from you, Akane." She said between gasps.
"What?" Akane indignantly. "I don't go talking about my private life to everyone."
"No, you just shout out your business as you pummel the one person in your life that should be privy to your private life."
"I can't help it if people listen in and start unfounded rumors about me and Ranma."
"People can't help but listen in. How you act and what you say just adds fuel to the rumors," Rina dryly observed, "You do know how to stop the rumors don't you?"
"Now that Nabiki is gone I was kind of hoping that things would die down on their own." Akane finished her eyes on the ground and her toes absently tracing the grout in the locker room floor.
"I wouldn't count on it. You're going to have to stop arguing with Ranma in public. That would stop the rumors for sure. There would be nothing to talk about, at least on your side. People will still probably talk about him." Rina finished thoughtfully.
"I don't even start half of the fights…"Akane started to protest, but Rina cut her off.
"You know, keep private things private. I would think a disagreement between an engaged couple would be a very private matter. Wouldn't you?"
If it had been any other couple Akane would have agreed, but Ranma seemed to manage to publicly humiliate her and she felt the need to publicly defend herself.
Akane heard the voices from the next row over dissipating and so she said, "Thanks for the advice, Rina. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Frowning at the leather she still held in her hands she quickly walked around the row of lockers to shower and change. Grabbing her stuff she glanced at the clock and cursed under her breath. If she didn't hurry she was going to be late.
Ranma watched as Akane slid into her seat moments before the bell rang. Her hair was sticking to her neck and her skin looked pink and clean. He let his attention linger on her for a moment more before turning to Hiroshi who was telling him about his weekend. She had managed to disappear out of his life again after Nabiki's graduation. He was back to trying to catch glimpses of her as she flitted from activity to activity. He felt pathetic. When did he lose his life? When did he become such a sorry excuse for a teenage boy that he actually hung out at home hoping to have a conversation with Akane? Picking up his pencil he looked at the back of Akane. Her collar wasn't straight. She must have dressed in a hurry. He wondered what made her late this morning.
Absently he began to doodle on his paper and mulled over the turn his life had taken the last two months. Akane seemed to have time to give to everyone else but him. It irked him that anyone who asked for some of her time was granted an hour or two, but she seemed to have nothing to spare for him. His hand stilled at the thought. She gave her time to people who asked, maybe he should ask. The idea was so crazy. What if, instead of trying to trick her, he just asked her to spend some time with him? Not like a date, he mentally back pedaled, but just two people having a conversation. They wouldn't have to go to a movie or anything: they could go sit by the bridge or even train in the dojo. Hope blossomed in his chest and for a moment he thought it might work until he remembered the other crazy girls and he was sure they would spoil it. Then Akane would be mad at him and in the end it wouldn't be worth it. He looked up again at her back only to find her brown eyes staring at him questioningly. Maybe it would be worth it…
Akane flipped around in her chair embarrassed at having been caught looking at Ranma. She was still mulling over Rina's words. "Keep private things private." Actually they were her words twisted into a meaning she had never considered. Her eyes kept being drawn back to Ranma where he sat doodling on his paper oblivious to the lesson being taught. Would people think less of her if she didn't try to defend herself from the verbal attacks of Ranma and his harem? Would she think less of herself? Pretending to look out the window Akane craned her neck enough that she could see Ranma out of the corner of her eye. Gasping she whipped her head back around. He'd been looking at her again or maybe he was just looking to see if she was looking. How mortifying to be caught looking at Ranma.
Ranma noticed Akane looking at him again and speculated on Akane's possible responses to his request for some of her time. She always surprised him. Just when he thought they were getting somewhere she would totally misunderstand him, or even worse; she would go all girly and cute and then they would get interrupted by some outside force. It seemed it could go either way in this case. How would he ask her without making it sound like a date? He definitely didn't want to date the tomboy: just talk to his friend for a while. At the same time he didn't want to put too much stress on the fact that they were meeting as friends because they were fiancées and… his eyes drifted back to Akane whose mind was noticeably miles away. He was curious as to what she was concentrating so hard on when she turned in her seat to look at him again. He smirked. Obviously, he had his answer. He ducked his head in an attempt to hide the smug look he could feel on his face.
"Ms. Tendo, if you could spare a moment from your busy task of staring at Mr. Saotome and concentrate on the lesson please?" Her teacher snidely asked.
"Yes, Sensei." Akane said blushing.
Ranma's head whipped up at this rebuke. Akane did keep looking at him, she must have something to say to him. He wondered what she needed; it must be important for her to risk getting in trouble at school. On a piece of notebook paper he wrote. What do you need, Tomboy? He wadded it up in a ball and aimed it just over her shoulder. With a quick flick of his wrist the note landed safely in the spine of her notebook. Akane picked it up and read it. Confused at his question she scribbled out, What are you talking about? In her fist she crumpled the paper up and waited for the teacher to turn his back before tossing the note to Ranma. She missed and the note landed on Hiroshi's desk. Puzzled but delighted at receiving a note from Akane he looked up and shyly smiled at her.
Akane could have groaned out loud. She smiled back and jerked her head in Ranma's direction hoping he would get the hint. Hiroshi's smile grew even bigger and he wagged his eyebrows at her. Their silent interaction was brought to a close by Ranma who slapped Hiroshi upside the head and took the note out of his hand.
"Ms. Tendo, please go stand in the hallway and I hope this teaches you to save pursuing Mr. Saotome until break." The teacher said over his shoulder as he wrote more math equations on the board. Utterly humiliated at having been associated with Ranma twice in one hour she kept her eyes down as she made her way into the hall Ranma's eyes boring into her back as the door closed behind her.
Akane shifted her weight. She felt like she'd been in the hall forever. Stupid Ranma, she thought, this was all his fault. Pouting she shifted the buckets in her hands and scratched her calf with her foot. Her mind drifted back to Ranma and Rina. The words she'd spoken earlier were rattling around in her brain like marbles in a jar. So absorbed was she in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the increasing decibel level in the classroom.
"He doesn't want it!"
"He not say no to me. I make food special for my Airen."
"He's not your Airen, you stupid girl. He's barely even talked to you since you came back from China."
"Is not true."
Akane crept over to the door way and watched the scene unfold with an odd sense of detachment. Ranma sat at his desk with two steaming meals in front of him. The class was watching the exchange between Ukyo and Shampoo like a tennis match, and Ranma's head was flipping back and forth from each plate trying to decide which one to eat first. Akane's hand tightened around the handle of the buckets. She didn't want to read anything into which dish he picked, but part of her thought that his choice of Ramen or Okonomiyaki was an indication of which girl he preferred.
He leaned forward and sniffed in pure pleasure. Having so many girls chase after him was a huge pain, but it did have its perks and this was one of them. Which one to start with? They both looked good and the girls brought them before lunch making this an extra meal. Akane was safely out in the hall and she couldn't make a scene. It was the perfect set up. Whipping out his chopsticks he prepared to dive in when he saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye. Akane was standing in the doorway looking at him as he prepared to feast. Her expression was inscrutable and he had the feeling that there was suddenly a lot more at stake than which dish to eat first. Brown eyes met blue and for a moment Ranma feared she was going to come into the room and chuck his precious food out the window, but she turned and left the doorway. Not exactly sure what just happened, he turned his attention back to the food knowing it was only a matter of time before a fight between the girls broke out in earnest.
Akane left. She left school. There was no point in staying and watching Ranma make an idiot of himself over those girls. She didn't want to go home yet. She wasn't ready to risk another private conversation with Kasumi. Dr. Tofu was so close to asking her out and Akane was afraid she would give their whole plan away if she spent the afternoon with her sister. Wandering toward the park she decided to practice channeling compassion for Dr. Tofu. Aimlessly walking down the alley that lead to the park she heard a low moaning sound. Looking around she saw Mousse chained to a power pole.
"Mousse what happened to you?" Looking at the trussed up boy Akane begin to unwind the chains that held him bound to the pole. He had a gash down the side of his face and his robe was ripped showing off his muscular chest and another long, shallow slash that moved from his collar bone to the edge of a pectoral. One sleeve was ripped and he seemed a little disoriented. His glasses were on the ground so Akane set to freeing him from his own chains and helped him to sit down in the alley.
"Shampoo," he moaned piteously and glomped onto the girl that was supporting him. "I knew you would come back for me."
Akane tried to gently wriggle out of his grasp.
"Shampoo," he cried out.
"Hey!" she shouted. "I'm not Shampoo." A well placed elbow to the ribs got him to let go of her. She bent down and retrieved his glasses then thrust them into his hands. He put them on.
"You're not Shampoo."
"I told you that already, Mousse. Who tied you up?"
"Shampoo!" the boy moaned again.
"Yes, I know. Everyone loves Shampoo." The words were bitter as the image of Ranma eating Shampoo's ramen flashed in her mind. "However this conversation would go a lot faster if you would quit moaning her name."
"No, Shampoo tied me up because I was trying to stop her from wasting her lunch on Saotome."
"Oh."
Silently, gently Akane fingered the chains that he so expertly concealed beneath his robes.
"You know," she said quietly, "I feel sorry for you, Mousse."
"Excuse me?"
"It's kind of pathetic the way you follow Shampoo around. She only has eyes for Ranma. Why don't you just give up?"
"Obviously you don't understand the power of true love," he replied haughtily. "You do not simply abandon the one you love, simply because she shows signs of disinterest."
Akane snorted. Taking in his battered appearance she thought, if this is disinterest I'd hate to see what dislike looked like.
"Mousse, you can't make someone be in love with you. What makes you think that getting rid of Ranma will make Shampoo fall in love with you?"
"Nothing at all, but I hate to see her waste herself on someone who is so obviously unworthy of her and the name of Amazon."
"So if you found someone who was worthy of both things you would step back and let him have Shampoo?"
Mousse looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and Akane wondered if he knew how similar their situations were.
"When you put it that way, I guess," he said slowly, "I would give her up if I found someone who was worthy of both Shampoo and the Amazons. It would then honorable to step aside…but I believe that I am the only one worthy of both, so this discussion is completely hypothetical."
Pushing his glasses up on his face he tried to stand up but his wobbly knees wouldn't hold him.
"Here Mousse," Akane said sighing, "let me help you."
Reaching out she took the arm that was under the ripped sleeve and inspected it. It had a long bloody scratch.
"These are all cuts," she observed, "she must have used your own weapons against you or you would have more blunt trauma. Hold still."
Channeling her ki she projected it down her arms and into Mousse. She had been slowly getting the hang of making it move through her arms and she and Dr. Tofu had been practicing on the small children that came into the clinic.
Mousse watched fascinated at what Akane was doing. His arm felt warm and in his chest he felt something like understanding. It was like Akane understood his feelings. Shaking his head to dispel the feeling, he knew it was impossible, they barely knew each other.
"May I?" she asked politely and she placed her hand on his bare chest and filled him with her ki. Again he felt as though Akane was the only person who could understand how he felt. It was a comforting and disconcerting at the same time.
Lastly she touched his face and he looked at her. Her eyes were closed in concentration and her hand was little and surprisingly soft for someone who did martial arts. Her fingers feathered across his jaw and the warmth filled him for a third time and he didn't think about it; his hand reached up and covered hers and he looked questioningly into her eyes.
Delicately she withdrew her hand from under his and he felt his face. There was no gash. He looked at his arm and down at his own chest. "I've seen women in the village do things like this before. How do you do it?"
"Ki."
"Ah, thank you Akane Tendo."
"No problem, Mousse. I'd tell you to be careful around Shampoo, but that would be pointless, wouldn't it?"
"Probably," he smiled and looked at her curiously. "Can I ask you a question about your technique?"
Akane nodded.
"What do you feel when you heal someone? It is strange but when you were touching me it felt like you understood me, but now that we are standing apart and talking the feeling is little more than an odd, passing sensation."
Akane, unprepared for his question and his honesty, looked thoughtful. "I use compassion so that's what I feel, but I don't know why you felt the way you did, Mousse. I will ask Dr. Tofu about it when I am at work. I usually just practice on children getting shots and they never give me feedback like this."
"I must go back to the restaurant. Many thanks, Akane Tendo." He turned and made his way down the alley stopping to look back at the girl who was still kneeling in the middle of it. It was odd being with Akane. He hadn't thought of Shampoo for at least ten minutes. He thought of the feelings she generated inside of him and with no answers to his questions about the short haired girl he turned his mind down the familiar path that was his love for Shampoo.
Walking down the alley, Ranma was holding a cloth to his face. This morning hadn't turned out well at all. Shampoo and Ukyo's battle took over the classroom and before he ate his food they had tipped over the desk it was on to make room to fight. To make matters worse Ranma was distracted by Hiroshi and Diasuke talking about how the dance company needed a boy for one of the numbers and that boy would probably get to dance with Akane. Because he was listening to their conversation and not watching the fight he got hit by two wayward spatulas and now his face was cut and bleeding in two places. He left the room to ask Akane about the dancing but she had slipped away.
This time she blatantly left school. He wanted to ask her about that morning and why she kept looking at him. He'd finally worked up the courage to ask for some time with her. The more he thought about it the more the idea appealed to him. Feh, he scoffed to himself, he'd have to get close to her to ask her, and that wasn't going to happen if she kept vanishing on him. He tenderly removed the cloth the school nurse had given him. It was soaked with blood. Sighing, he supposed he'd have to go to Dr. Tofu's and have him stitch up his face. At least that is why he told himself he was heading in the direction of the clinic, it certainly didn't have anything to do with Akane. His reasons were all medical.
Upon entering the waiting room Ranma found it full of young mothers with little children. Not Dr. Tofu's usual crowd he thought and removed his shoes and tried to smooth down his hair in the front. He slipped into a pair of slippers provided by the clinic and walked towards the back where the examination rooms were.
"Akane," he called out softly listening for her response as he slowly made his way down the hall. He could hear her voice talking softly to someone and stopped outside of the exam room to wait for her to come out. The murmur of voices was reassuring, he couldn't work out what they were saying, but she didn't sound hurt or upset. Her voice had a soothing quality to it that he was unfamiliar with. She almost sounded like Kasumi, Ranma smiled at the idea of his violent tomboy exhibiting some of the gentler qualities of her sister. Soon the door opened and a mother and her child left the room.
"Thank you Dr. Tofu, I can't tell you how much easier it is to bring him here for his shots. He never sits this still anywhere else. You and your beautiful assistant are miracle workers."
At these words Ranma looked at the little boy who was the subject of the discussion and he had a particularly star stuck expression on his face every time he looked back in the room at Akane. Ranma's eyes narrowed. Dr. Tofu ushered the mother down the hallway and out into the reception area and Ranma let himself in the exam room. Akane was cleaning up some mess of needles and other doctor looking junk. Her hair was pulled back in a clip and she had a plain white tee-shirt on and some scrub bottoms. Ranma looked her over having never seen her in work attire. Scrubs had to be one of the most unflattering articles of clothing ever invented, but Akane made them look good. Part of her charm was how completely oblivious she was as to the effect her appearance had on him and the other part was she had a really great butt. With a clipboard in her hand she looked less like the upset, slightly disheveled girl from school this morning and more like a woman who knew what she was doing. The thought was intriguing and unsettling at the same time.
"Ranma!" Akane called out in surprise when she noticed him behind her. This broke him out of his thoughts; thoughts that had unfortunately left little else in his brain.
"What are you doing here? Oh you're hurt!" she exclaimed in one breath. "Come here and sit down, I can fix it."
Ranma, unused to seeing Akane competent in anything other than smashing bricks, obeyed without a word and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Absently he scratched at the cuts as he watched Akane wash her hands.
"Stop touching it with your dirty hands, do you want an infection?" Her tone was exasperated and Ranma assumed that she was annoyed he was bugging her at work.
Akane was unprepared to see Ranma at work. This was her Ranma free zone and she was slightly annoyed that he had invaded this private space until she saw he was hurt.
"What happened?" she asked drying her hands and gesturing for Ranma to sit on the stool.
"Um, I didn't get out of the way of Uyko and Shampoo fast enough. I was collateral damage," he said with a shrug.
"I guess that put a crimp in your lunch plans," her voice came out tighter than she meant it to.
"I'll say, they spilled the food everywhere. What a waste," he thought longingly of the free meal.
"Who won the fight?"
"Don't know."
"You don't know who won the fight and you weren't paying enough attention to dodge Uyko, I am assuming it was her because these look like spatula slices, so what were you doing?" Akane asked, hoping, by some miracle, he would say he was paying attention to math.
"Um.." Ranma blushed. He didn't want her to know that the conversation about her dancing with some other guy was what held his attention. How he was going to ask her about it without her thinking he was jealous. That thought made him blush harder because he wasn't jealous, he just felt bad for the guy that was going to be saddled with her. He stopped this train of thought, there was no way she would agree to go on a non date with him if he insulted her. Gah, how could he have come in here without a plan!
Akane watched the expressions flit across his face and decided that she didn't want to know.
"Never mind Ranma, let me fix your cuts."
Ranma was sitting on the twisty stool in the middle of the exam room and looking at her with an expression of wariness and something else she'd seen before but couldn't name.
"You're not going to try to sew me up or anything like that are you?"
It was the tone of voice that tipped her off, he was wearing the same expression he got when he was about to eat her cooking. He had a mix of wariness and resignation to pain written across his face. Akane resisted the urge to poke him in the eye with a tongue depressor.
"No, Ranma I'm not going to try to stitch you up. I don't know how to sew stitches. Hold still, I promise this won't hurt."
"What are you going to do to me?" Ranma asked his feet pushed the stool and himself out of her reach.
"Nothing that will hurt, I promise." She said taking two steps forward.
Ranma changed directions on the stool and scooted out of her way, which was no mean feat as the exam room they were in wasn't very large.
"Nothing that will hurt me or you?" he asked suspiciously.
Taking two more steps in his direction she said, "Nothing that will hurt you. If you'll just sit still and stop being such a baby, I will fix your cuts and you can be on your way. That's why you came isn't it?" she asked and hoped that she didn't sound like she was fishing for another answer.
"Uh…yup, sure. That's why I'm here," Ranma said taking the excuse that had just been handed to him on a silver platter.
Akane moved closer to him and Ranma had to repress the urge to flee. He wasn't sure why he was scared of her; he wanted to blame it on the fact that he didn't like the idea of Akane handling sharp things near his face, but he was just as scared of the idea of being close to this woman-like Akane. He noticed that Akane didn't have anything in her hands and so he forced himself to relax. Whatever she was going to do it was going to be with her bare hands and he could handle that.
"Ranma," she said in the same quiet tone he heard earlier, "I'm just going to touch your face, you don't have to look like I am going to knife you or anything. Relax." Her hands were trembling slightly in excitement. This was it. She was going to show him that her training was paying off and he was going to be impressed with her…maybe even proud.
Ranma watched her come closer and decided that not watching was best so he closed his eyes. If his eminent death by gross medical incompetence was approaching he didn't want to see it. He felt Akane lean down and caught a whiff of her perfume or soap or something and he relaxed. Her little hands were at the edge of his hair and he sensed Akane tense up so he opened his eyes and saw that hers were closed in deep concentration. The warmth that suddenly flooded him stunned him in its intensity. It was as if there were no years of misunderstanding between them. It was her warm smile on that first day injected into his veins; no curse, no cats, no fathers, no crazy girls, just all the nice things that should have been.
Her fingers lightly moved down to his cheek and again Ranma felt the warmth that was Akane. It wasn't like earlier times in his life when he basked in its glow, then her kindness heated him from the outside in. This time it was warming him from the inside out and he wanted to soak in it until his skin went all pruney. He was enjoying her small hands as they feathered across his face and the combination of her touch and the emotions he was feeling was heady.
For her part, Akane was startled when she started to heal Ranma that images and impressions flooded her mind. Impressions of gnawing hunger, of boredom, of loneliness. Scenes flashed into her brain of leaky tents, running from angry mobs and austere training grounds. Memories that weren't hers, but were Ranma's had somehow bounced into her brain. Deftly she moved her hand down to his cheek and focused her energy again. She felt him shift beneath her fingers almost as if he was pressing his face into her hand. Softening her expression and making her touch much more personal than professional she reveled in touching him. Rarely did Ranma make any effort to touch her and so she had kept her distance, but there were many times when she would have liked to hug him or hold his hand. Knowing that those kinds of gestures wouldn't be received without some kind of insulting remark was reason to refrain from touching him. Now, however he was sitting completely still and she had him at her mercy.
Opening her eyes she saw his eyes were closed. She took this time to study his face. He had a short scar by his eyebrow and she wondered how it got there. There was a circular scar that looked like a chicken pox scar just under his lip. The idea of Ranma with this childhood illness made her smile. She hoped that he was still at home with his mom when he was sick. His recent cuts were healed and Akane gave into the temptation to sooth his past injuries. She tenderly swept her fingers over his brow and her hand down his jawline. Her fingers were splayed so that she traced his jaw, his cheek and her thumb brushed over the corner of his mouth, grazed his bottom lip and the scar just below. She felt him start under her hand and she quickly turned around, protecting herself from whatever verbal assault he was going to launch at her.
Ranma jolted when he felt Akane touch his lip. His eyes flew open, but she had already withdrawn her hand and was busy washing her hands with her back to him. He was feeling confused. Akane had touched his lip. He was sure of it, but if that was the case why was she on the other side of the room? That was some kind of signal right? Didn't that kind of thing lead to kissing? It was a terribly intimate gesture, but she didn't seem to notice it even happened. Maybe it was an accident. He'd misinterpreted her signals before. The fact that her lips were now five feet away from his was a big indicator that it must have been an accident. What the hell just happened? One minute he was basking in the comfort and peace of being with Akane and now by touching him she'd triggered his attraction and suddenly the exam room was way too small.
"Ok you're all patched up. You might want to go to the bathroom and wash the rest of the blood off your face before you go out in public." Secretly Akane was impressed at how steady her voice sounded, she almost pulled off professional. She needed to get him out of the room while she collected herself. Then she could talk to him about her ki technique. She hoped he'd be as fascinated by it as she was.
Ranma looked at her back. What was she talking about? Was he the only one that felt like there had been a small tornado that rushed through the room. Was she seriously not affected by what just happened? Why was everything with her so one sided? How could she stand there washing her hands and not have felt anything? She was always so unaffected by anything that transpired between them. He needed some fresh air. Abruptly he stood up and in frustration pushed the stool in Akane's direction.
Akane turned around and the stool whacked her in the knees.
"Ouch, what was that for?"
"Oh sorry." His tone was cool and he defiantly held her gaze. If she was going to pretend nothing happened then he could play that game too.
"Are you going to wash up?" she asked hesitantly, not sure why he was suddenly so aloof
"Nah, I think I'll do it when I get home." He said.
"Aren't you even going to go look in the mirror?"
"Look if you're done cleaning me up, I think I'll find Dr. Tofu and see if I need stitches."
When Akane didn't respond right away he said, "I'll see you." He turned on his heel and left the exam room, but he didn't look for the doctor. He headed home.
Akane stared at the doorway in disbelief. Was he that repulsed by her that he couldn't stand to be in the same room with her? Again she had read too much into the situation. She shouldn't have touched his face. He didn't even look to see her handiwork. There was no pleasing him, nothing she did would ever be good enough. She left the room and went outside to calm herself before the next patient came in. When the young mother brought her baby in for immunizations Akane was all smiles.
Ranma sat brooding in the furo. How could he have even thought that Akane would want to spend time with him? Today in the exam room Ranma was so close to just blurting out his idea of spending time together, and just when he thought they were getting somewhere she went all clinical on him. He ran his hands over his face in frustration his fingers paused on the side where Uyko's spatula's had sliced him. He didn't feel any trace of the wounds. He'd always been a fast healer, but never this fast. Weird.