A/N: Hello, finally the update is ready. I'm sorry if there are many flaws, I guess I just wanted to update this story, while I still had the time.
Explanation and apology at the bottom… wuv ya
Disclaimer: Still not mine, unfortunately
Ps. Jumped New Year's
………………………………...
The days to come
Chapter 6: Love quarrels
Two weeks after New Year's Eve.
Akane was sitting by the tend watching them carefully.
Ranma and Ukyou was joking and laughing, and Akane felt like the unwanted third member.
"Geez" she thought. "Where is Ryouga or even that idiot Kuno when you need to make Ranma jealous?"
As if on cue, the lost boy stepped out of a bush. "WHERE ON EARTH AM I KNOW???" Ryouga screamed.
Akane immediately jumped up. "Oh, hi Ryouga. Funny you should show up here," she said walking over to him.
"H-hi A-A-Akane" the bandana boy greeted, nervously as ever.
"Lost again, huh?" She asked smiling brightly.
Ryouga blushed all over and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, guess so…" he said looking around himself.
"You big silly. You never did have any sense of direction, now did you?" Akane said-asked, then she broke into a heartfelt laugh.
"If Ranma comes to interrupt he might still want to…" Akane thought, then caught herself blushing. She looked quickly over her shoulder, just to see Ranma and Ukyou in a tickling combat.
"…the last time you saw me" Ryouga said finishing a sentence.
Akane looked at him quickly, and then started to giggle rather loudly. "Don't you worry about that Ryouga, Ranma explained everything to me," she said, noticing to her own satisfaction that Ukyou and Ranma's fight had stopped.
"Now if he notices us, he'll be sure to interrupt," Akane thought looking rather grim.
"You actually listened to him?" Ryouga asked, in a wondering tone of voice.
She looked at him with a forced smile. Of course, she had not, but Ryouga did not need to know of her little scheme.
"I suppose," she said simply.
"Akane!" Ranma called, making her to spin around.
"Yeah?" She answered, smiling happily; finally, she got some attention.
Unfortunately, as she turned, she saw that he was not only still standing with Ukyou, but were still looking happy (a happy look does not fit a jealous guy).
Oooh how she wanted to hammer him, just punch him flat and tell him not to flirt with another girl.
However she did not, she turned to Ryouga instead. "If you ain't got anywhere to be at the moment, you are welcome to stay with us," Akane said, putting on a sweet smile and offered her hand.
Ryouga blushed to a crimson red (tomatoes would have been jealous of his color). Well he did have a date with Akari, but she usually waited even if he was a month late, so he could stay here for a little while.
In the end, Ryouga accepted her hand, and they walked together towards Ranma and Ukyou.
If Akane had noticed the way Ranma was starring at them, she would have been satisfied and let go of Ryouga at the spot. Unfortunately for Ranma and fortunately for Ryouga, she did not; Ukyou was accidentally blocking the view.
Ukyou turned to Ranma, and barely caught a glimpse of his eyes that resembled a fire.
"Uh, Ran-Chan?" Ukyou asked, but was suddenly grabbed by 'Ran-Chan' and hugged tender.
Now Ukyou was not a complete ditz as Kodachi, and was very aware of the silent war between Ranma and Akane. However, she did not want to pass an opportunity to actually make Ranma fall in love with her, so of course she played along with his little act.
"Ryouga… hi" Ranma growled, narrowing his eyes at the lost bandana boy, who was holding hands with his fiancée.
"So… what did you want?" Akane asked returning the favor, of a growl and narrowed eyes, as Ranma was still standing with his arms around Ukyou.
"Ukyou" Ranma said turning Ukyou around so that she was now facing the others "has learned a new trick" he finished without letting go of her.
Akane gave him a quick nod, and then turned to Ryouga. "Do you bring presents?" Akane asked, sort of demanding him to hand over whatever he was carrying in his rucksack.
Ryouga looked at the gifts, originally meant for Akari.
"I'm sorry Akari, but I will buy you new presents for when I finally find you" the lost boy thought and started piling gifts for Akane.
"And these, and this, and here is more of that, and a little more of this, and I really hope you'll enjoy the things" Ryouga said finishing the pile of gifts (A/N: so many ands' in one sentence, sorry but I just thought it sounded good).
Akane looked like she was about to cry, well if you were in her place you would understand. The man (boy?) she loved (loves) in the arms of another woman, a good (male) friend of yours brings you like a gazillion presents, and the man you love don't even twitch.
Ranma looked like he had discovered the discovery of the century, as he pointed to a nametag sticking to some of the gifts.
"Why does it say 'To Akari'?" He (Ranma-Einstein) asked.
Ryouga blushed and laughed a little. "Oh my… does it? Well that is a mistake" bandana boy stated.
Ranma stuck his nose in the air huffing. "Bah, well you should still see the trick Ukyou learned".
Ukyou winced at the mentioning of her name, but nodded and prepared to perform the trick.
She stood straight, then bend her knees, and was suddenly apologizing.
Akane snorted. "The crouching tiger…" she said in a huff, but then smiled tauntingly "figures, like father like son".
Ranma eyed her. "Don't say that! Try to attack Ukyou," he said.
Akane rolled her eyes, but did as she was told to anyway.
As she neared Ukyou, the longhaired chef quickly grabbed her legs and twisted her so that Akane was now lying on her stomach.
"May I present the upgraded crouching tiger?" Ranma said, motioning to Ukyou.
The shorthaired girl accepted Ukyou's hand and was soon standing again.
Ranma mocked Akane, until Ryouga attacked him, screaming something along the lines of 'how dare you mock Akane'.
Ukyou looked at the two, a smile forming on her lips. "So what do you say, want to go for a swim?"
Akane looked surprised, why was Ukyou being nice to her? "Sure" she answered a bit uncertain.
Ryouga and Ranma were in some sort of a battle, when the two girls left to take a swim.
………………………………...
Ukyou slipped back against a stone in the small hot water lake, which the girls had found.
"So…" Ukyou said looking at her companion, her greatest rival in the combat for Ran-Chan.
Akane looked quite pleasant in the water, and smiled at the Chef in response.
"You and Ran-Chan seem to be more pleased with each other!?" Ukyou said, closing her eyes relaxing in the warm water.
Akane huffed. "Like as if" the young Tendo said.
Ukyou looked at her. "Like totally," she said splashing water at Akane.
"You should have seen Ranma when you walked hand in hand with Ryouga," Ukyou said sadly.
"Really?" Akane asked sitting up.
Ukyou shrugged. "I might as well face it, I lost. You and Ran-Chan makes a perfect match".
Akane blushed, but figured that it might be the heat (she wished it was the heat). "Nuh uh, you and Ranma are such great friends" she said splashing some water back at the brown-haired girl.
"Yeah, well I actually prefer loosing to you, rather than the bimbo or the lunatic" Ukyou said.
Akane nodded. "Yeah me to, I mean loose him to you, rather than one of the other two".
The girls looked at each other then laughed.
"Ya know, if it hadn't been for all this crazy shit we might have been friends," Ukyou said.
Akane nodded, "yeah".
Then the two girls faced each other, just a second before they started their water combat.
………………………………...
"Y'know" Ranma said looking at Ryouga. "If she really was going to choose someone else, I think I would be happy if she chose you".
The boys had stopped fighting and was now sitting close to the tends.
Ryouga smiled. "Yeah, I feel the same" the lost bandana boy agreed.
"Not that I think she would ever give up on me" Ranma said confidently.
Ryouga shook his head. "You should never be too incautious with the girl you love".
Ranma blushed, looking embarrassed. "I never said I love her," the young pigtailed martial artist protested.
Ryouga a.k.a the lost boy rolled his eyes. "Who exactly do you think you are fooling?" He asked.
Ranma laughed nervously. "I don't love Ukyou," he said firmly.
"Who were talking about Ukyou?" Ryouga asked. "I never shoved that much interest in Ukyou. We were talking about Akane, you bozo!"
Now, the pigtailed Saotome wasn't a complete idiot, and was very aware of the fact that they had been talking about Akane. However, he did a good job of shoving his incomprehension.
"Really?" Ranma asked, completely innocent.
Ryouga huffed. "Listen to me Ranma Saotome, Akane won't always wait for you. At some point, she will feel the need to have her love returned. However, if you are not ready to pronounce your love for her when that time comes, she will search elsewhere" the lost Ryouga had made his point.
"She loves me?" Ranma asked, eyes wide. Could it be, for real? "Has she told you that she loves me?" He asked. Then realized that he was getting worked up, and in a second calmed down, to the careless Ranma we know.
"So let her leave, I don't care what she does, that macho chick means absolutely nothing to me" Ranma said, making sure that no one was about to guess his true feelings.
Someone gasped making both of the boys spin around, to see who or what it was that had made the sound.
"So I was right, you kissed me out of petty," Akane said, tears forming in her eyes.
Ranma jumped up. "No, no, no. You were not supposed to here that" he said waiving his hands.
She nodded once. "Congrats Ukyou, he's all yours" she said then turned to leave.
"Oh and another thing" Akane said, turning back shortly. "I HATE YOU," she screamed, and then she was gone.
Ryouga looked at the pit, in which Ranma was lying. "How did that happen, she wasn't close enough to touch you, and she just screamed" the lost boy wondered.
"Figures" Ukyou said with a smile, "her rage is a fabulous technique".
Ranma closed his eyes, kicking himself mentally. "Now look what you did! What am I supposed to do now?" He thought.
Ukyou looked at him, smiling sadly because of what she was about to say. "Go get her Ran-Chan, don't be an idiot and let her go" the chef said with a sigh.
Ryouga nodded "yeah Ranma, if you love her, you should get going".
Ranma looked surprised at the two, the one who wanted to marry him and the other who wanted to marry Akane.
"Thanks, you truly are my friends," the pigtailed Ranma said getting up.
Ukyou looked down herself. "Go now! Before I change my mind," she said.
Ryouga nodded. "Now!" The lost boy ordered, holding back his tears, "WAAAAAAH" (he never did a very good job of hiding his feelings).
Ranma nodded and started running in the direction, which Akane had taken.
………………………………...
"Ranma no baka" Akane cursed, throwing another brick into the water.
"Art thou angry?" Someone asked making Akane jump startled.
She narrowed her eyes at the older boy. "Kuno" she spat.
"I have come to fight the vile Ranma Saotome, who holds you prisoner," the very heroic Kendo artist pronounced.
Akane sweat dropped. "Yeah… thanks Kuno".
"Yo" a third person said poking Kuno on the shoulder.
"Show your self!" Kuno ordered.
"I'm right here Kuno" Ranma said landing in front of him. "So… you've come to defeat me?" Ranma asked mockingly "no time to waist then, attack me Kuno".
Kuno screamed and charged at Ranma, who soon kicked the blue thunder into the air.
"What do you want?" Akane snarled.
Ranma snapped around to look at her.
He scratched the back of his neck. "You know, that thing I said to Ryouga, I didn't mean it," he said smiling gently.
"Bah" she hissed. "You never mean anything. I can't figure out when you are sincere, and when you are pulling a trick".
Ranma gaped at her. "But I didn't mean it. You mean a lot to me, that is why I kissed you. I… well I am not ready to tell you yet. However, I promise that in time I will be".
Akane snorted "yeah, like I would ever believe that". She turned to look at him angrily. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
"Ranma, Akane" Ryouga called, he had changed his mind about letting Ranma and Akane get together, and had strangely enough found the lovebirds.
Akane turned to look; just as she caught the view of Ryouga, it started raining. Ranma quickly turned her head to kiss her, but as he drew back from the kiss, she slapped him.
"What?" Ranma asked truly surprised.
Akane narrowed her eyes at her. "Don't you dare kiss me at the moment" she snarled.
They heard a bwee and Akane turned, "P-Chan". She took her little piglet up to pet him.
Ranma narrowed her eyes at the piglet. "I hate you, you pig!" She thought angrily following right behind Akane and P-Chan/Ryouga.
………………………………...
Ranma went directly into her tent, when they got back to the camp.
Ukyou raised an eyebrow, and then she turned to look at Akane holding her little pet piglet.
"What did you say to him?" She asked, looking back at Ranma's tent.
"Nothing" Akane said short.
Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh, ya know that he wouldn't act like that unless something was wrong" the longhaired chef had started heating some water for Ranma, currently in girl form.
"He kissed me," Akane said, making Ukyou fall flat on the ground.
"Which made you angry?" Ukyou asked, wanting to strangle the girl who was mad, because her Ran-Chan had kissed the girl.
"Well…" Akane told Ukyou the story.
"And then he kissed me as a girl" Akane said finishing the story "not only were we fighting, but he was also in girl shape".
Ukyou nodded "and so you slapped him?" She asked.
Akane nodded, looking guilty.
"You know how lucky you are?" Ukyou asked.
Akane looked surprised. "Me? Lucky?" She asked.
"Yeah. Ranma loves you, even though you treat him like shit. I would give my right arm for just one kiss, and I would die for his love, even if he would only return it for one day," Ukyou said finishing her speech.
Akane nodded, yeah she was kinda lucky, but how could Ukyou be so sure that he loved (loves) her? Ukyou had also heard him tell Ryouga, that he had absolutely no feelings for her.
"You should be careful," Ukyou, said in a warning tone. "I doubt that Ranma will stay with you forever, if you keep acting like you do. You have to start shoving your feelings for him, act more like a girl, and do more cute things".
Akane nodded. "Will you teach me?" She asked the chef, who might not be the best to teach that specific subject.
"P-Chan where are you going?" Akane asked her pet pig as it ran away.
"Akane I will teach you," Ryouga said, stepping out of nowhere.
Ukyou nodded. "Yeah it might be the best if you get someone else to teach ya how to act like a girl" then she raised her eyebrows "however a girl might be the best".
Akane shook her head. "No, no. I will take whatever help I can get" she said, and then turned to Ryouga "teach me everything you know".
Ryouga nodded. "First of all, we'll have to buy you some much more lady like clothes. Where is the nearest town?"
Akane raised an eyebrow. "Oh Ryouga" she said with a smile. "We are just barely out of Tokyo" Akane motioned to a sign that said 'Tokyo ½ a mile'.
Ryouga blushed, and walked in the opposite direction of Tokyo. Akane laughed and grabbed his arm to take him the right way, towards Tokyo.
Ukyou was shaking her head, when someone suddenly put a hand on her shoulder.
"Where are they going?" Ranma asked in a very monotone voice, in guy shape gain.
"Uh towards Tokyo, Akane was going to buy groceries for us and Ryouga offered to help" Ukyou said rather quickly.
"Is that so…" Ranma said looking at all the groceries that they had bought yesterday.
Ukyou bit her lip. "Um well, Ryouga… Ryouga wanted to buy presents for Akari, and Akane offered to go along, to make sure that he was going in the right direction".
The chef looked up, but Ranma was gone. "Crap" she thought, "I was alone with Ran-Chan… I let him get away" Ukyou pouted her lips a little "bummer".
………………………………...
Akane laughed. "You seriously want me to wear this now?" She asked her companion Ryouga.
The lost boy looked at the blue dress that Akane was wearing, and then nodded trying very hard to resist a nosebleed.
Akane twirled around, watching herself in a windows reflection. The blue dress was hugging her curves tightly. However, it was loose from the thighs and down, thus giving her the ability to escape if needed.
"Don't you think it is a bit too much?" She asked.
Ryouga shook his head, but had no time to respond when a redhead suddenly fell into his arms.
"Oh my goodness, thank you. You saved me from the robbers, they were following me," the red head said.
Akane raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Doesn't she look an awful lot like Ranma" Akane wondered.
"Robbers you say?" heroic Ryouga asked. "Let me teach them not to rob beautiful young women" and so the lost boy turned to run in the different direction, of the one the red head had come from.
Akane splashed hot water on the red headed girl. "Ranma why are you bothering us?" She asked.
Ryouga's eyes narrowed. "Ranma…" he growled turning to face the red headed girl, now turned black haired boy.
"Akane you macho, sexless, tombooooy" Ranma yelled flying through the sky.
"Akane you must learn a few things of what being a real woman means" Ryouga said, pulling her along with him.
Akane raised an eyebrow as the entered a cinema, but Ryouga explained to her that they were going to watch some movies with real women, so that she could learn from the women in the movies.
Ranma who was watching nearby, had not heard a thing, and had started glowing. "So now she is dating him? That no good unfaithful hag… ooh how I loath her, but that's no reason for her to go and date another guy" the scary pigtailed boy on fire thought.
………………………………...
Akane returned to the camp a couple of hours later.
Ukyou looked up; she was currently sitting on the ground. "Hi there Akane, what happened to Ryouga?" The female chef asked.
"Well he vanished suddenly, but I'm pretty sure I heard him call 'Akari there you are'" the usually boyish girl, who for the moment looked like a woman said.
"Aren't we fancy" Ranma who appeared behind a tree spit.
Akane remembered all of the rules she had taught that day, and so she fell to her knees apologizing.
"I'm sorry you do not like the dress," she said.
He was startled to say the least, what was she doing and why?
"Uh, you, the dress don't look that dumb, but why are you wearing it?" Ranma asked.
He remembered one time, when she had told him, that once when she fell in love she would automatically turn cute. It couldn't be what was happening now, could it? "No, not Ryouga" Ranma thought, reassuring himself.
Akane wanted nothing more than to hammer him flat, but she kept her calm, and began apologizing for wearing the dress without an occasion.
Ranma was really getting freaked out; the Akane that he knew would have killed him by now.
What to do, when your woman acts different from usual, fake infidelity, that has got to make her react.
"Yo Ukyou" Ranma said walking towards the longhaired chef.
Ukyou looked up. "Yeah?" She ask-responded.
"You look really great, unlike someone else I know" Ranma said, looking at Akane through the corner of his eyes.
Akane's fists had started clenching, and she wore an expression that fit her well.
"You really mean that Ranma?" Ukyou asked getting up.
"Indeed. I would much rather have you than this other person, who's totally not cute and always violent".
Akane was now surrounded by her usual blue aura, and Ranma was sure that she'd turn back into the Akane that he knew.
However, with a lot of effort and a really, really long breath Akane managed to restrain herself.
Ukyou was amazed at the sudden change, where as Ranma on the other hand, was starting to get worried.
Akane started singing and doing the dishes.
"Who annoys Akane the most?" Ranma thought. Minutes later, he was gone, in search of a phone.
When he returned, he wore a quite confident smile. This was sure to get on her nerves, and then she had to react.
Ring ring A very familiar sound of a bicycle bell rang.
"Cat café delivery, Shampoo here" a screeching voice squealed throughout the forest.
"Ah, Shampoo… I've been waiting for you" Ranma said in a somewhat seductive tone of voice.
"Airen" Shampoo beamed.
"So what took you so long, want to go for a walk in the forest?" Ranma asked.
"Sure, Shampoo like that very much" then she turned to look at Akane. "Why violent girl wear pretty dress? Makes her look almost female" the Chinese girl stated.
"Come on, do something. Yell at me, look insulted, hammer me… something" Ranma thought watching the peaceful Akane.
Peaceful? Maybe, but being in the state of a shock, gives you the power to stand very still.
"What is going on?" Akane thought.
"So Shampoo, have you been training hard to win me at the tournament?" Ranma asked.
Ukyou watched the two carefully, not Shampoo and Ranma, but Akane and Ranma.
Shampoo suddenly jumped to grope Ranma. "Oh Airen, Shampoo loves you so much" she sort of purred into Ranma's ear.
"Will you please excuse me?" Akane asked. She had to get rid of her anger, but not in front of, or on Ranma.
Ranma watched her as she left through the forest. "Finally, some reaction. Now if I could just…" He thought, trying to fight off Shampoo.
However when Ukyou started yelling at Shampoo for being a bimbo, he really didn't have to do much work and quietly left the two bickering girls.
………………………………...
Akane hit another brick. "Why does he keep doing this to me?" She thought.
Then she focused her anger, and simply screamed it out, breaking a few other bricks in two.
"You know, we really ought to train that technique of yours" a voice suddenly sounded behind her.
"What do you want?" She asked turning to face him.
"I want to know why you started acting like another person?" He said walking up to her.
"What do you mean?" Akane asked.
"Well, you were all female…" He said.
She narrowed her eyes. "And I'm not usually?" she asked with anger.
"That was not, what I was saying. It's just that the Akane that I know, wouldn't have let me get away with so much" he tried, he really tried to save this one.
"Oh so you were just playing me" Akane said in a matter of statement.
"No that was" Ranma started to defend himself, but was cut short by Akane.
"Precisely what you were doing. The thing with Ukyou and then Shampoo" had she ever been angry before, this was at least 10 times worse.
"Well, what did you expect? You come back from a date with Ryouga, and act all different. I had to do something, to see if you were still in there" Ranma hissed.
"I was not on a date with Ryouga, he was just teaching me… well Ukyou said" Akane had calmed down.
"What did Ukyou say?" Ranma asked, calming down as well.
"Well she explained, that you… that I… well, that I needed to be more feminine" Akane was trying to explain, without really saying it.
"What?" Ranma asked, moving closer to her. "When did you start listening to Ukyou?"
"It's not that I did, it's just that I didn't… I mean" Akane could feel the tears burning in her eyes. "I just wish that we could be a normal couple" she finally screamed, the tears escaped her eyes and she had started sobbing.
"Is that so?" Ranma asked starting to caress her face. "If those are not happy tears, then please stop crying, I hate to see you cry. I'm sorry that I don't know how to express my feelings, but I'm really bad with words" he dried the tears away from her eyes.
"I'm sorry" Akane said in a low sob.
"For what?" He asked, looking her in the eyes, her deep brown eyes, her brown chocolate eyes.
She could have drowned in his clear blue eyes, his secure yet sensitive eyes. Her tears had stopped running, but she couldn't move.
And so the long lost couple just stood there for several minutes, watching each other.
Until Akane finally broke free of the spell and hugged him.
"Thank you" she whispered.
Ranma smiled, but could not say a word, for he was in heaven.
Akane looked up to see his happy, frozen face and giggled giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Want to go for a walk?" Ranma asked, finally able to move a muscle again.
"Sure but what about the other girls?" Akane asked.
"Don't you worry about them" he said stretching out his arm uncomfortably.
Akane took his hand smiling all over, and so they walked through the forest together.
………………………………...
Meanwhile near the tents, two women were yelling at each other.
"Airen marry Shampoo" the blue-purplish haired girl yelled.
"As if. Why would he want to marry a hussy like you?" The long brown haired girl yelled.
"He no want to marry Ukyou" Shampoo yelled back.
"Well Ran-Chan and I are friends at least" Ukyou responded.
And so let us leave, while the girls do not notice us.
………………………………...
A/N: Yo I'm so sorry for the delay, I've just been soooo busy… got myself a new apartment. Wepeee! I'm moving out, and it's a great apartment too.
Anyhow, I hope you can forgive me.
Well for the next chapter I'm moving them out of the forest, so prepare for tha big tournament . heh.
Love all of my reviewers very much, thank you so much for all the response.
Tata