"The Chance of Change"

A Ranma ½ fanfiction by Pia-san

Disclaimer:

All the legal stuff that everybody knows goes here. None of the characters are mine; they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to Viz Communications. The characters are being used without permission, and if anybody has a problem with that, so what. I don't, and anyway I'm not making a profit out of this and neither can you, so there!

Chapter Six: Intensities (Part II)

Latest Revision: 15/March/2015

As Ranma walked to school after that little chat with his sister, he couldn't stop his mind from wondering about the simple reality that Ranko saw. Ranko was, of course, only five. Practically a baby! But he guessed it also meant that she still didn't have all the prejudices and fears that made for 'complicated'.

Could it really be that simple? Would it really be that bad if he came up to Akane and told her that he was interested in her? That he wanted to… to… what? Date her?

His pace was fast and urgent, reflecting his state of mind. His sight fixed on the ground, hands fisted in his pockets, his arms were stiff by his sides, his shoulders hunched forward. Tense and insecure.

Ranma was not usually introspective. He understood the world around him by moving through it. His body and mind somehow became more attentive, more sensitive of his surroundings when things were happening. So all this wondering and thinking was leaving his mind more confused than was worth his trouble. It was happening a lot lately. Right at this moment, he couldn't very well remember why he thought Akane might like him. Couldn't put his finger on it. But when he was with her, and things unfolded between them, he was so much more aware. And he had these moments of blinding confidence that allowed him to startle the girl. He could see it at moments such as those.

Or maybe... perhaps... was it all in his head anyways? What if he was wrong and Akane turned him down? He simply couldn't find the confidence to tell himself it would be all right, and take the final leap.

Why couldn't he just simply be the image the world had of him? He was a charmer. Confident. The guy with the dashing smile and the nice looks. Ha.

He would have to be pretty stupid not to recognize that, at least. He knew he had what it took for girls to look at him. Because, well, they did it often enough. Only at this point, being aware of his charms wasn't proving to be quite enough. For one thing, he remembered very keenly how Akane had looked at him that first time. Almost as an experiment. So he guessed his more obvious attributes didn't really do anything for her. It made him feel insecure when he thought about it. But on the other hand, he was.

Akane was a very pretty girl. She was beautiful. Ranma reckoned she could probably get any guy she wanted. If she wanted to. If her interests relied more heavily on looks, she would have had a boyfriend by now. Girls that pretty never stayed single for very long. So why was she? Had she been heartbroken before?

Ranma's pace slowed, and his features softened.

There was a lot more to her than she let on. It was part of what made her such an interesting person. And Ranma thought he was getting to know her. Or that she was allowing him to know her. It was exciting. At least, he knew there was a certain way in which he would look at her that was sure to extract the most endearing reactions from her. Was it true what people said? Every guy thinks every girl wants them?

Fine. So, the macho bravado and all that were not enough. It's already failed him before. Quite miserably at that, too.

What was it, then? What was she expecting of him?

Ranma had absolutely no idea. Would he be able to give her what she wanted? This was scaring the hell out of him, because he really had no idea how well he would deal with a relationship, or if he would meet anyone's standards.

He needed reassurance on a more basic level though. Here, things got a bit tricky, because even as he was now certain Akane wanted more than appearances, he still wanted her to want him, plain and simple. His ego and confidence could always use the reassurance.

Ranma raised his head as he approached Furinkan.

What was it with all the thinking? Why couldn't he just be happy with the fact that Akane seemed to like him? Why did he have to go all picky and sensitive and asking himself all kinds of ridiculous questions? It was supposed to be alright to just want a girl and be done with it.

What would Hiroshi and Daisuke think if they could see all his mental wanderings? They would surely be disappointed. They would say something like he could have any girl he wanted, so why bother with so many niceties. You big, big disgrace to us male population.

It bothered him. Because on one side, he would have been glad if he could just want Akane and have everything solved for him. Let his male nature handle everything. And on the other side, he wanted to bother with the niceties. Was it really all that terrible?

What would Akane say if she knew he was feeling so conflicted over her? Perhaps she expected him to be the reliable male presence and he was over analyzing things.

It mattered to him what Akane thought. Not about him particularly, even if that was certainly part of it. It mattered to him what she thought of her life and friends, whether she had an interesting opinion about anything at all.

It suddenly dawned on him that he had no particular prejudgments regarding Akane. He could rely on her to be witty, short tempered, and honest. And that was about it. Wasn't she always surprising him? He expected her to be... resourceful. This meant he never knew exactly what to expect. She would never be a disappointment, he was certain, because he had no preconceptions about her. It's not like they weren't expectations... only it was more like curiosity about her.

And then it suddenly occurred to him, that just as he was discovering Akane, she might be discovering him as well.

So maybe, just maybe, he didn't need to fit any sort of frame, either. Didn't he like Akane because she was herself when they were together? Akane was a smart woman. He seriously doubted she was half as concerned as he was of what people would say about her.

Ranma had never been particularly bad at trying to relax, and go with the flow. So perhaps that was the approach now. Leap into action, forget about trying to fit whatever expectations and let things happen on their own. And the next time he felt like doing something... like... running the back of his finger over her cheekbones... maybe he should just go ahead and do it.

He had just entered Furinkan grounds, and headed straight for the lunch area, where he knew they would be building sings from early in the morning.

Ranma spotted Akane right away, bossing people around, and being generally executive.

He smiled as he felt himself grow warm at the sight of her. His eyes travelled up and down her form, staring for a while at the now visible back of her neck.

How had that come to happen? Cutting her hair so short like that? Not that he was complaining. He had loved it, in fact. He couldn't stop thinking about it. But he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Akane's new hairstyle could be a little... distracting.

That whole day had been strangely intimate. Not in the sense one would normally like, but because he got to see a little bit of Akane's relationship with her family. He really hadn't expected her to give in so easily to his requests of training in her family dojo. She'd seemed greatly disturbed at the idea, and he couldn't help but wonder why.

At first he thought she may have been ashamed of him for some reason or other, but it had been short lived. The minute he had set foot on the Tendo household grounds, things had gotten strange, though. Akane's older sister, Kasumi, whom he barely remembered from childhood days, had practically driven him up the walls with offerings of tea and food and whatnot. Not that he wasn't grateful, but it was a bit overwhelming, especially since he was trying to make a good impression on whomever he had to face. Akane had warned him about the strange aloof state her father had seemed to drown in after his wife's death. But he was not expecting this seemingly overexcited older sister. It had been a tad strange.

Akane had been very shy and upset about the whole thing, and even if she hadn't said anything, Ranma couldn't help but wonder how uncomfortable Akane really was with his presence there. She'd made him go around the house to the back and into the dojo, not once stepping foot into the house itself.

This hadn't proven to be very effective either, because the noises of their sparring had attracted the attention of yet another sister. Nabiki was the middle Tendo girl, Akane had explained, whom Ranma did not remember at all. This one had an air of nonchalance about her that was actually quite intimidating. Ranma could just hear Nabiki's wheels turning inside her head. She had that look that only truly smart and confident people had. Ranma was suddenly certain this girl would have been able to sell sand in the desert.

It was a rather... interesting bunch of people, Ranma thought as he remembered. And he hadn't even seen Akane's father yet. She'd told him that had always been very quiet, traditional man, who did not bother to voice out the judgments he felt every situation deserved. Akane had explained that he'd once been very critical and thoughtful, but that quietness had now nothing to do with thoughtfulness. Ranma wasn't looking forward to meeting him at all.

What he hadn't been expecting at all was Nabiki's comment. Or Akane's reaction to it.

Nabiki had been standing on the doorway for a few minutes while they sparred. Ranma had been particularly anxious and self-conscious, being in this room with Akane on close proximity, sweating and panting and yelling. He'd been pretty worked up when Nabiki had showed up.

Among one of the pauses on their attacks and defence, silence and heavy breathing filling the air, Nabiki had interrupted their concentration by talking out loud.

"Nice," she had said in a very sultry voice. Ranma had turned around to look at the intruder, surprised to see someone standing there that he hadn't managed to sense at all. She had a lopsided smile on her face, and her eyes were running up and down his form. "Very nice catch, sis. Well done. Do let me know when you're done?"

Ranma had heard Akane's sharp intake of breath. He returned his attention to Akane, and was surprised to see her all tense and small and looking quite upset.

Ranma turned to look at Nabiki again, who was slowly walking away, an arm waving about, "Ta, tah". And she was gone.

He couldn't figure out what had troubled Akane so very much. Okay, so maybe he knew, but he didn't think it was such a big deal. Sisterly banter and all that. He supposed he'd do it to his brothers, had he had any. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't granted much time to think a whole lot about it, either. Next thing he knew, Akane was attacking him quite viciously, even for her standards.

This lasted for a few minutes, until her hair started to get loose from the clip she was wearing it in, and she had to stop to put it back into place.

Ranma gave out sigh of relief. It had been… way too distracting. He knew Akane might be calming down, because she would have ignored her hair had she been mad enough.

Ranma couldn't help himself, "You know, Akane, the long hair doesn't really help. You don't look any less of a tomboy because of it. Might just as well be done with it!" he stated in one breath, his hands on his hips. He didn't even want to remember the excruciatingly painful moments that had followed. Still, he should have known by now. Every person had a limit, even more so when that person was Akane.

It still had seemed like a good thing to say at the moment, though it had been somehow disconcerting when Akane had just suddenly flipped.

And then, Akane had ushered him away. So much for training. He really hadn't known he was over doing it. On his defence, he thought, he hadn't really known what had ticked Akane so very much. Had it been her sister's comment? There was definitely something there. Point was, if he had known what had turned Akane so violent, maybe he would have known what to say. But he was just a teenage boy, damn it, and not a very eloquent one at that either.

Still, he hadn't expected Akane to take his taunts seriously. Maybe he shouldn't taunt her so much, and try and get her to react through… nice things. Something that didn't involve insulting her. Particularly not the things that he enjoyed about her. Why did he keep doing that? Huh. Talk about a challenge.

A now she looked... more fragile, so much more a woman than she had before. It was the exposure of the long line of her neck, he though, and this made her whole body look lither and much more delicate. And then, there was the problem of the attitude, he figured. To him, her… femininity resided in her confidence, not in being delicate, he thought, and this type of haircut radiated the idea of independence and strength.

The combination of fragility and strength was just… intoxicating to him.

Also, she was just that hot.

The following day... It had been a difficult one, he had to admit.

For one thing, Akane had apologized to him. Apologized! That's right. 'For being such a nutcase yesterday', she'd said.

But he had only nodded dumbly, feeling like a major ass, and just very openly impressed with the new haircut.

He'd thought about her the whole blasted day. And the way her neck looked, how it screamed to be kissed. He wanted to bury his head in there, to nuzzle her and see what she smelled like. He'd thought about her, and about other things, too. So much so, that he'd had to find excuses to stay on his seat behind his desk at the most inopportune moments, or risk getting seriously laughed at and embarrassed by the... Well, by the evidence of his thoughts. He knew he was a teenager, but this was ridiculous. He felt several years younger and more awkward than he really was.

It was one thing to be a healthy teenager who thinks about girls rather constantly, but it was quite another to let that disturb his daily activities to the point of, quite literally, having no activities. At all. Other than mind activity, that was.

He didn't think he would have been able to bear a training session either. So at lunchtime, he had actually used Ranko as an excuse, that he had to pick her up earlier that day, and that Akane shouldn't miss her daily training on his account and whatnot. So Ranma had literally fled the school grounds right after his last class, like a man running for his life.

Man, that had been a long night. Not that he was complaining anyway.

Thankfully, things had gotten better after that. It must have been the shock, he was certain.

He still had this aloof look on his face when he was taken from his musings by Akane, who was waving at him.

Smiling happily, he headed in her direction.

OOOOOOO

Akane could feel him watching. She'd seen him out of the corner of her eye. It had sent her into immediate overdrive, the sight of him saturating her senses.

What was he doing anyway? He was making her nervous.

Again.

So instead of wondering, she took the direct approach and waved at him to come closer.

"About damned time that bastard showed up. Who does he think he is, king of the world?", muttered an angry Daisuke, who was busy fighting with a paint can he couldn't get open.

"Oh, grow up. He's here, isn't he?" Sayuri muttered under her breath, as she banged into a nail with much more force than necessary. "Like you're doing so much work," she huffed. Yuka and Akane just smiled, and Hiroshi sighed.

Akane turned around to help Daisuke. "Just do it this way, silly."

Making a big show, Daisuke collapsed on his back and sighed dramatically. Akane had just lifted the lid when Ranma joined them.

"So, where do you want me?" he asked in a casual voice after removing his long-sleeved red shirt, and tossing it over a pile of their stuff.

Oh, hell. Where, indeed. Akane's mouth went a bit dry. And she was guessing so had Sayuri's, the way she stared.

And she was alright to think so, given the automatic response images her brain had supplied at the phrase. And the sight! Had he done that on purpose? It was going to be a long day. Thank god he had been wearing that white undershirt underneath.

Reminding herself that people were looking at her, she opened her mouth to try and say something, but ended up doing a fish impression instead.

And then she heard Yuka giggling somewhere on the background.

Getting a grip, she looked up at him, a bright smile on her face.

"Could you please bring those boards over here?" she said pointing a good 20 yards away. "We need to have them painted before lunchtime, and then nail them to those long sticks to make signs. I thought of taking the paint over there, but there really wasn't any working space. So..."

Ranma nodded, seeing that she was right, and got to work, wondering how was it possible anyone to not make something off of a line like that? Had it fallen on deaf ears? Forgetting to bother with it, he carried the heavy boards one by one. It was these kinds of things that came a bit more naturally to him when he wasn't thinking about them. He'd just keep it up, then, until Akane reacted. Or until she realised how he felt? Was that a bit too cowardly?

Meanwhile, Akane tried her best to ignore Ranma and not look in his general direction.

Or at his strong arms.

Or at his rather nice ass whenever he crouched to take the damn boards. Which happened often. Damn, those boards.

They worked silently for a while, until Ranma dropped the last of the boards on the ground.

"This is going to be a lot of work," he pointed out, looking around at the many people working and running and being generally productive.

"Totally." Sayuri agreed, sitting down for a while.

"Are you sure it will all be done by tomorrow?" Hiroshi asked Akane, rather unhelpfully.

"It has to be," Akane answered pointedly. She started to carry a couple of paint cans to distribute between her helpers before a strong hand caught her arm.

"Don't. Here, let me", said Ranma very softly. He was standing so close to her, it was almost too much closeness. Taking one of the cans from her, their fingers touched briefly, only it lasted a little bit more than necessary. Ranma smiled at her in that endearing way of his.

"Yeah, okay," Akane mumbled unintelligently before shyly turning away and making a fuss over finding a paint brush that was right there on plain sight.

And they proceeded to add white paint on all the surfaces.

OOOOOOO

They stopped their painting duty by lunchtime, to sit down for a while and enjoy some sandwiches.

"Do you really believe it will all be done by tomorrow…" Hiroshi asked again, absently unwrapping his food.

Akane sighed and rose her eyes to look up at Ranma, who was quietly chuckling. She smiled up at him.

It was Yuka who answered the question, "Do you see all those people helping out? Of course it will be done by tomorrow."

"Of course," Sayuri agreed, "Akane had everything planned-"

Yuka nodded thoughtfully.

"-so you just do your part, and everything should work out nicely. And besides," she said pointing a finger to the signs, "those things are going to give us points, and if we win, we won't have to clean all the big mess the carnival will leave behind. People will work hard, believe me."

"Oh, really?" Daisuke asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Well, yeah, there has to be some point to winning, right?" Akane added.

"Only, you forget, since you are all seniors, and we are juniors, we are en-e-mies..." Sayuri explained gleefully.

"And we're helping you?" Hiroshi complained.

Akane tried to laugh as she tried to eat. Long life to girl power, she thought, amused.

He continued, "At least we get to kick some ass!" Hiroshi added hotly. "When will that be?" he asked with big, bright, hopeful eyes.

Akane stared at his eager face. "Tomorrow there will be different people setting up the things we built today, and hanging banners and decorating and all that. Carnival stands and games will be up and running Monday and Tuesday during the afternoons after class. People can try the different games and collect points for their class. Wednesday will be cleaning the mess day," she paused for another bite. "And starting to sort out the stuff for all the real competitions on Friday. I'm really looking forward to that! Principal Kuno has even rented a small stage structure, for all the acts and awards and stuff. That should also arrive on Wednesday. We'll be doing everything out in the open."

Ranma added, "Wait, why Friday? I thought that'd be SVD. When's that going to be?" Ranma said slightly alarmed, "Now, dunno about the rest of you, but I'm definitely looking forward to that," Ranma said pointing his head to signal Akane, "we won't even have classes that day."

"My, you've been sort of paying attention!" Akane said, honestly surprised. "SVD is on Thursday."

Ranma looked at her, looking hurt, "But of course I pay attention! You talk about this constantly. How could I have possibly missed it?"

"Why do you care about lessons, anyway! Last week and all you know…" Hiroshi said.

Akane smiled flattened. "Anyway. It's a good thing they have cut us some slack with lessons. Otherwise it would not have been as much fun. Oh! And during the weekend, loosing class cleans up."

"And who's going to clean that mess? No one in their right mind would show up for that unless forced!" Yuka asked.

"Certainly not moi," Daisuke added assuredly.

"Me either," Hiroshi added.

Both guys nodded vigorously.

"Yeah right, you selfish rats, that's why we had to make cleaning part of the whole thing, and make the losing class help with it." Akane said "You could probably skip it all you wanted even if you came in last place, since you're not supposed to be here anymore after Friday anyway. But all the rest of us have another month and a half of classes to finish… Soooo unfair…"

Yuka and Sayuri sighed in agreement with her friend.

They got back to work right afterwards.

OOOOOOO

It was late, late afternoon when they were done, almost evening, and as was usual by now, Ranma walked Akane home. They were silent most of the way, almost uncomfortably so. Both of them could feel the tension between them, but didn't quite know what to do about it.

Blame it on the flirting. They both had been at it all afternoon.

Akane just knew that painting could do that to people. It had been all so clichéd that she could have laughed had it not been happening to her. Ranma had even tickled her, for crying out loud! Not that she had minded, of course. What made the difference now, she wondered, if they'd been so audacious and rather relaxed about it before?

Ranma´s thoughts were more or less on the same line as Akane's, only he was more physically aware of her presence, instead of actually thinking of her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, or hold her hand or something. But he held it in. Unlike he said he would. He'd given himself plenty of leeway all day anyway. But he'd have liked to ease the tension, or at least give him something to focus on. He knew exactly what the problem was. Whereas before they'd had their painting and building to return to from their brief touches and looks, now they'd only each other's company. So the dynamics of the day felt a bit too... overwhelming. Would anything give? Gods, scary…

The Tendo Dojo was in sight, and Ranma cursed himself for his lack of confidence. He'd had the perfect chance to ask her if she might like to go out on a date with him. He could even have tried to just hold her hand as way of question. The way they'd been with each other today… It was much too evident. He was so sure now that she returned his feelings. Or at least his attraction. And they were by themselves, intoxicated with the other's presence. But he just couldn't find the courage to do anything about it.

They were at her doorway now. It felt like such a fateful moment to him. Akane turned to face him. She looked a mess. There were smudges of paint on her face, and she looked very tired, but she was smiling up at him. He was instantly warmed over by the general tenderness of her, and smiled softly in return, feeling a bit more relaxed at last. He was sure Akane could feel the change in the atmosphere, too.

"Ranma, I-"

But she was unable to continue, because Ranma had quite absently raised a hand to run his thumb softly over a smudged spot, right above Akane's eyebrow, his fingers barely touching the hair close to her ear, even before he had had the time to even register what he was doing.

Akane's heart was jammed in her throat, the feel of Ranma's fingers lingering close to her ear, far longer than necessary, practically searing her skin. Her body trembled slightly. It was too intimate. Too sudden. She was sure Ranma could feel it. His whole body stiffened only seconds afterwards. He removed his hand hastily, and struggled very hard to look casual, like nothing had happened. He plastered a very forced grin on his face, and took a step back.

"Eh, sooo… See you, Akane!" he said much too cheerfully, waving frantically, before tucking his fists in his pockets and walking away.

Akane blinked a couple of times, before making up her mind. She took a deep calming breath. It was all so silly, she thought, closing her eyes and gathering her wits.

She was not ready to say goodbye just yet, and made to follow him.

"Ranma, wait!"

Ranma, who'd been cursing himself for his stupidity, dumbly and slowly turned around, trying for a poker face. He wasn't expecting that. Had she forgotten something? He was eager to find out. Akane stood before him, her hands fidgeting over her chest.

Ranma really had no clue what was going on. All he wanted to do at the moment was to disappear into the deep places of the earth. He hoped he hadn't messed it up.

Akane took a breath and seemed to relax. She smiled up at him, "Thank you for your help today. I really appreciated it."

Ranma opened his mouth to answer, but before he even had time to notice the action, Akane had taken a step closer to him. She stood on her toes, and kissed him on the cheek for the briefest of moments.

And just as rapidly as she'd kissed him, she had ran back to her doorway, looking at him one more time and waving goodbye, before pushing the door open, walking in, and closing it behind her.

Ranma was holding his breath.

He blinked a couple of times.

Then he blinked some more.

That did not just happen.

Akane had kissed him.

Pecked him, was more like it. But it was all the same to him. All he could do was reach up to touch the spot on his cheek, which burned with sudden intensity, and stare dumbly at the closed door.

On the other side, Akane was leaning back heavily, clutching her chest with her hands, trying desperately to stop her racing heart, a mad grin on her face.

OOOOOOO

Akane hadn't been sleeping much. And she was seriously considering skipping school on that Thursday morning. After all, because of SVD, they would have their classes suspended if need be. And she was just plain tired.

The carnival had been a success. People had been very enthusiastic about the different stands and games, and as expected, the seniors had been on the lead almost from the beginning, in almost every stand, leaving the poor first years to clean the mess afterwards.

Akane was glad it hadn't been them. She was really tired, and too emotionally exhausted to go cleaning, on top of classes. And they still had SVD ahead of them, and then the teams competition day by the end of the week. This, she was really looking forward to. They'd prepared exhibits and several different acts for the seniors' final day in high school.

After that little incident on her front door on Saturday evening, she hadn't seen Ranma until the following Monday, when they'd been rivals. In fact, he hadn't really seen that much of him, being busy as they both were with all the activities. She had been quite relieved for things to be that way. Akane wasn't really sure if she could have managed a normal interaction with Ranma without turning into a puddle of nerves in the process.

As she had thought, things had not been particularly easy either. They'd been either really shy about each other, or the complete opposite. Akane was confused. And feeling a bit lonely. She had not realized how smoothly she had added Ranma to her daily life.

She was almost regretting her rash actions on the previous Saturday, even if it had been just a small kiss on the cheek. She had been so very nervous that just yesterday she'd had to run away from training at lunchtime, and every other opportunity that meant she had to see Ranma.

"Oh, who am I kidding", Akane muttered to herself, finally kicking back the sheet. She really wanted to know how things would turn out today. If only the butterflies in her stomach would give her a break!

OOOOOOO

Ranma had tried to go with the flow, even if it hadn't helped much. All in all, he'd had fun, and their class was in the lead. But he'd missed Akane. They'd spotted each other on occasion, and had shared a few moments, but there'd been more tension than he could think of as healthy. He figured whatever game they were playing, it was just about to give. But he didn't quite know what it would take for that to happen.

It wasn't of consequence anyway. Senior Vengeance Day was upon them, and he was pretty certain things would be interesting that day.

Ranma walked into the schoolyard to be greeted by his classmates who were already organized, separated into groups, setting traps, deciding where to keep the prisoners, how best to close the exits, where to keep their victims, and in general, planning better ways to cause mayhem.

Scared freshmen where running hastily to their classes, trying to get inside their classrooms before the bell rang, when the school would finally be officially theirs for the taking.

Ranma was carrying flour bags into the 'detention' zone a few minutes before the fist bell rang, when he saw Akane running across the schoolyard and into the main building.

He smiled to himself.

The bell rang.

Everything had been pretty quiet for the first hours. But people had to eventually come out of their classrooms, to use the restrooms or something. They just had to. And if they didn't, they would retrieve them by force if it was necessary.

Thing were bound to get interesting no matter what.

OOOOOOO

Everything had been so strange. In fact, just as strange and different as they'd planned for things to be. There was a lot of excitement and nervous energy in the aire. Things had started out alright, but had rapidly escalated to something uncomfortably close to uncontrollable. That was the reason why Akane's English teacher, and several other educators had decided to forgo classes only after the first period. Some teacher had just decided to just go home, leaving a shortage of staff behind. Not to mention, sine teacher were also helping out the seniors.

Since students couldn't be left unsupervised under the current mess that events were unfolding into, Akane and her classmates had been shoved into a classroom that was already overcrowded with students from other classes, all desperately hiding from the mess, and awaiting their destiny. The classroom had been so full of people, that there was barely any room for the newcomers, and Akane and her friends had taken residence by the desk closer to door, pushed even closer than usual to it by the sheer number of students and general mess in the room. Yuka sat on the empty chair, and Akane and Sayuri had sat on top of the desk, their legs hanging lazily about, more or less facing the door.

They'd expected this; it was all part of the deal. Personally, Akane thought this was a great way to finish the school year. And as she looked around the crowded classroom, she realized she wasn't the only one.

They could hear people screaming and running and laughing in the yard, and in the halls. Some of her classmates had rapidly gathered around the windows, to look outside and laugh at the fates of those chosen by the seniors. Some underclassmen had set up a fort of sorts by the lunch area, and were defending themselves with water bombs as best as they could.

Akane sighed. They were supposedly safe in the classrooms, but if they so much as ventured for a little walk, even to the bathrooms, they would get caught in the mock war. So it was either waiting for everything to die down on its own, or to take the risk. There were also the occasional groups of seniors bursting into the classroom, and demanding for a few hostages. Boys had definitely proven to be the most damage for the Furinkan High population of underclassmen, but girls were not that far behind, Akane mused. She guessed everyone was waiting for an opportunity to relieve stress after all.

She could see that other classes had taken it upon themselves to boycott the senior's plans, and had made a little coup of their own –safety in numbers, she guessed- going as far as secretly stealing water bombs and such. It really was chaos on the school grounds. But the excitement was evident in most faces.

Quite suddenly, startling her out of her reverie, the door snapped opened. Next thing she knew, Ranma's form was there on the doorway, in front of her.

Akane gasped, the sound audible in the suddenly silent classroom. This is how it'd been every time a hostage had been taken. People retreated in fear. This time though, she could only stare. There was this essence about him, of energy about to burst free, of recklessness waiting to happen. He was gasping just a bit, from running all over the place, apparently. He had even disposed off the Chinese shirt, damn him, and was wearing that white tanktop instead. Some of his clothing was a little damp in several places, too, probably from running into the lines of fire of some of the underclassmen water bombers, his skin glistening a bit where the water had most recently fallen. There was a sly smile across his handsome features. And Akane found herself holding her breath.

Akane was very aware of him, and of nothing else around her. She simply couldn't take her eyes off of him, or stop the funny feelings that ran up and down her body, to settle at the pit of her flipping stomach. She could feel her finger twitching to get in contact with his shoulders, or to get anywhere near him. Christ, she could even feel the texture on the pads of her fingers, as if she was already touching him, and her thoughts and desires were the same thing. She was startled by the intensity of her own thoughts. This was becoming a habit for her these days, or so it seemed.

His blue eyes fell on her instantly, spotting her right away on her very reachable position at the front of the class. He looked at her, with such fierce eyes that they made her wonder what could he have been thinking about. Akane could not stop her beating heart, nor her flaming cheeks, as time stood suspended. Ranma stepped slightly into the room, his hand gripping the doorframe. She could feel people leaning back slightly in their seats. It was kind of funny, actually. But Akane just noticed they were large hands.

"Would anyone care to come next? Just a bit of flour, a bit of vinegar... Nothing much..." he said, smiling lopsidedly in a way she had grown so accustomed to, in a way she had grown to love, and taking a step closer in her direction. And then his eyes turned towards her. "It would always be safer for the victim to come willingly..."

She could hear the whispering spreading through the classroom. No doubt there'd be a couple of brave ladies who's step forward.

It was too bad... or too good, that they'd been so awfully crowded in that classroom. She had nowhere to run. And her friends, and not even the sensei were going to help her, she just knew it. There had been plenty of talking lately. People knew that she and Ranma had something going on. Not quite something yet. But who knew? And so, no matter how many glazed eyes any number of pretty girls turned in his direction, there was absolutely no reason why he would pick any other person in the classroom but Akane, despite the fact that boys were supposed to take care of boys only, so to speak.

A scarce two feet from her, Akane could not fail to notice how thin and worn Ranma's tanktop was. And so close to her, too. She knew she was gapping like a fish. He looked so gorgeous, and carefree. And she wanted him so very much.

Oh dear Gods... Akane thought in awe. She really, really wanted him... And on some unconscious level, she realized that it was not to do with her beating heart, or with the fact that she could spend hours on end talking to him about nothing at all. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was so handsome, or that he seemed to like her, too.

It wasn't more complicated than that, really. It was just plainly basic. And as Akane tried to put her finger on it, her body would just not stop reacting in all kinds of strange ways to the sight before her, and to her imagination.

She was breathless, paying so much attention to the ripples under the shirt, that she almost took no notice of the movements of Ranma's other arm, extending towards her.

But just as she noticed that, she felt two steady arms pushing her forward from her lower back. Yuka, the traitor! She barely had any time to react and avoid falling on her ass. Reality struck her, at last, and she had the presence of mind to panic ever so slightly.

"What!" she yelled, as everyone else started to cheer on. It would be her now at the mercy of the seniors, as they took turns to torture her a bit, until someone else took her place. Vinegar and eggs. Yuck. "No! Yuka! Come on!" She yelled from her standing position between the desk and Ranma. And she turned around, her back to Ranma, as her arms flew wildly around trying desperately to grasp anything that would give her some sort of advantage to resist, as Ranma's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled. She reached toward their friends, but ended up grabbing the edge of the desk instead.

The look on their faces! They were positively delighted. And so was she. Matter of fact was, the only reason why she kept putting up so much of a resistance was because the harder she tried to free herself, the stronger Ranma tried to pull her out of the room. She didn't think he was really trying anyways. She struggled and struggled, until both his arms were tightly wrapped around her, to pull her more firmly, in a grip tighter than she thought was necessary.

And Akane was enjoying it so very much, despite the fact that she kept telling herself in her head that it was all because they would be doing nasty things to her hair or something like that. Who wanted to go around round the street smelling of vinegar anyway?

And Ranma pulled and pulled, Akane grabbing onto Sayuri's arms when her fingers finally slipped and let go of the desk. She grabbed her as if her life depended on it. The classroom cheered on for her to be taken away. And Sayuri... her dear friend Sayuri started trying to pry her fingers from her arms! The teacher was just amused. It was kind of funny, actually.

Amidst the chaos, the cheering, the slight desperation, she felt Ranma's breath close to her ear. "C'mon, woman, no sense resisting." He whispered, only for her. And proceeded to tickle her sides, until she let go. Which didn't take much, really. Everything was on overload. Ranma pulled her backwards, against him, and slightly off the ground, took a couple of steps back, and set her back down again.

Quite abruptly, they were outside the classroom. There was a loud snap. Sayuri had violently closed the door shut behind them. Akane had seen the wicked smile on her friend's face before her image disappeared behind the panel.

They were in the hallway, Ranma holding her very close, both arms around her waist. A couple of the seniors ran past behind them, collecting a victim trying to run away. Akane couldn't see any of them, nor Ranma's face for that matter. She was gasping, not quite believing what had just happened. Unable to process what was still happening. All she could do was to stare dumbly at the closed door, the sounds around her muffling together into a fuzzy wave, overshadowed by Ranma's strong presence behind her, her own gasps, and the beating of her heart

Akane's heart had sped to limits which she had yet to understand. Her face felt hot enough to explode, as did other bits of her as well. And her limbs felt like they were made of wool. She was literally ready to collapse. Or melt. Or explode. All of her. She could feel Ranma's warmth radiating off him onto her back all too strongly, and the blush grew deeper. She swallowed audibly, and stared absently at the floor, her arms lifted as if to hold her head, her sight past Ranma's arms wrapped around her torso. Her breathing grew even heavier. Give in, Akane, give in, give in…

Ranma was at a loss. And all too terribly excited. Here he was, holding the girl of his dreams, in a state of arousal that was certainly not safe given the circumstances, that much he was certain of. He didn't know he had it in him. To go to a room, and practically drag the girl out just for the sake of holding her. Adrenaline, and something more, he figured. This was the hands on 'do it and think later' bit he was so good at. But it only took him so far. And here he was now, the hall had just been momentarily deserted, and even if he could hear the screams from people in the yard, and inside the classroom as well, the only sound that caught his attention was Akane's fast breathing. And the way her body expanded and contracted because of it.

He'd been there with his mates, trying to steal back some of the water bombs that had been taken from them, when he suddenly missed her. He was having so much fun, and he'd wanted to share that. Hadn't they been picking people from the classrooms for a while now? The problem was, he hadn't known where she could be. All he had to do was go and start looking. It hadn't taken him that long. He was surprised to see that most people were very well prepared to defend their classrooms, too. He just hoped he'd be able to get her to come out. And when he found her... he was a lucky, lucky bastard.

And now, he was holding her in his arms, the scent of her overwhelming his nostrils, her warmth seeping through his skin, her form so small and tight inside his hold. He wanted to... he wanted...

Quite unconsciously, he pulled her closer still, holding her a bit tighter, dropping his head forwards to slightly rest his forehead on the nape of her neck.

Oh, how he had wanted to do that.

He was surprised. Because as nervous as she'd seem, and as awkward as he'd started to feel after a few seconds, Akane seemed to relax, lowering her arms to rest on top of his, and leaned back onto him, tilting her head backwards a little, to rest against his shoulder and forcing his head to drop lower still, his cheek coming in close contact with the side of her neck. Her breathing was loud in his ears.

Oh, Gods... Ranma thought he didn't know what to do, he was too afraid and excited to do anything, while thinking that something had to happen. They couldn't very well stay like this all day... But he wanted... and unable to help himself, he turned his head just a bit, and lightly rested his lips over the skin of Akane's neck, barely touching her, pulling her impossibly closer. Damn everything else, Ranma thought. He didn't care if he hated him for this afterwards. He'd wanted to hold her so many times. And she wasn't complaining. Yet. Oh, gods, so worth it...

Akane could not believe her senses. Here she was, in Ranma's arms, and he was... what? What was he doing? Kissing? Her neck?

Oh my God.

If only her body would cooperate. But she was beyond thinking at this moment, the sensations were to intense to bear. And a sort of… needy kind of sound escaped her throat. It startled her, and she tensed noticeably, even if it'd been her idea to get a bit too comfortable in Ranma's embrace in the first place. But he continued to hold her steadily.

Ranma was worried. This had started as nothing more than a playful deal, he told himself. But it had escalated into something else quite rapidly. And Akane was tense now, for all she had relaxed only a moment earlier. In spite of himself, and wishing very badly he could feel different at Akane's sudden discomfort, Ranma was positively delighted. That, and freaked out of his mind, too. Because now she had started moving against him. He could feel way too many curves for his comfort. And too much heat. But he really didn't want to scare her either.

In a state of sudden and too much awareness, and taking his cue from a couple of girls that were dragging a third female between the two them, but laughing soundly all the way, Ranma had a sudden dose of reality fall on him, the world suddenly re-shaping around him. And so, he started to pull her towards the staircase once again. Just carry on, as if he hadn't been trying to neck her just a second before.

Lucky for him, as he'd though would happen, Akane reacted by grabbing the door handle as strongly as she could. Some people tried to make a run from one of the nearby classrooms, as other seniors came from behind a door to ambush them. They were not so alone anymore, and students were running around them in different directions.

"Come on, 'Kane, it's your turn now. No sense putting up such a cat's fight" he said in one breath, pulling her all the while. The hallway was once again submitted to chaos.

Surprisingly, Akane let go of the door. Perhaps there was such a thing as 'too much', so Ranma released her in turn. But he was struck by another brilliant idea, and taking advantage of the commotion around them, that seemed to isolate them somehow, Ranma turned Akane around and crouched before her.

The next fraction of a second was an eternity to her. She was at a loss of what to do. She had an inkling that if she stopped struggling, he'd let her go. Which had happened. But now what? She'd been embarrassed to look him in the face. But that's not what she ended up seeing when he turned her around. Nooo. She'd seen the top of his head. What had just happened? Why was he crouching? What was going to happen? Should she break into a run and try to save her life now that she was free? Sort of? Like everybody else seemed to be doing?

She was held fast in her place by her curiosity. Also, she wanted his arms around her again. Even if she truly didn't want to face the hordes of vengeful seniors, she really wanted to know what was in Ranma's mind that made him behave so strangely. But she was enjoying herself. She was scared of the intense feelings alright, but enjoying herself nonetheless. Probably too much.

Before she could think of anything else, she was suddenly slightly lifted off her feet, and her midriff connected quite roughly with Ranma's strong shoulder.

Damn it.

Ranma was standing up again, his arms going behind her knees. And he proceeded to effortlessly lift her off the ground. The second he had Akane nicely balanced and conveniently trapped over his shoulder, she started to wail and trash in an attempt to break free.

Ranma laughed soundly and started to calmly walk to the stairs.

"Oh, Ranma! Let me go! You big nitwit! You can't do this to me! Please, put me down!" Akane was yelling and kicking and punching, but Ranma realized he was enjoying himself too much to let her go. This was a hunter getting the pray. And Akane should have known better. She should have ran for it when she had the chance.

Akane was growing desperate and uncomfortable. He was really going to deliver her to the masses, for Christ sakes! And the bastard was enjoying this, too.

Suddenly inspired, much like he'd done during their sparing session two weeks before, Akane lowered all defences, stopped her trashing, and let her body hung limply over Ranma's shoulder. "It's not fun anymore..." she lied in a pitiful voice.

His response was almost instantaneous, and Akane even had the grace to feel a bit guilty at the game she was playing. She mentally congratulated herself in knowing Ranma so well, though. She was also a little bit mortified at how close her body felt to Ranma's now that she wasn't struggling against him. She was suddenly much more aware of the places in which Ranma was holding her. Akane felt her temperature rise slightly again.

Ranma stopped walking, and for several seconds stood still in the hallway.

"Ok" he murmured almost soundlessly. Akane had surrendered to her fate. And what was the whole point of this? Surely not make her do something she didn't want to. If he was perfectly honest with himself, and he normally wasn't, this was just an excuse, albeit the perfect one, to be with her in a different way than usual... It was the game that mattered. Everything else was pointless. And she'd given up on the game. Then, well, there was nothing much he could do. He wasn't just about to bring her to any kind of harm, even if it was actually harmless

So he couldn't continue. He simply couldn't bring himself to do that to her. He stood in the middle of the chaotic hallway, and very slowly, he hunched slightly forwards to let her drop down to the ground. She lifted her upper body, and tried to slide down to the floor, her body sliding over his in a slow and most delicious motion, he had to note, while he helped her remain balanced. Gods, he did not want to let her go.

Now that he thought about it, in a very tiny portion of his mind, this also was different than their usual interactions. He had never gotten to hold her so closely or tightly before.

Ranma closed his eyes, trying to remember every bit of feeling this action provided.

The ruffling of her skirt, rising just a little bit under the friction of his hands...

Her warmth against his chest...

The way her hands gripped his shoulders for balance…

How she bounced when she finally reached the ground, or how large his hands felt surrounding her hips…

Or how she leaned a bit more into him for support...

And when he looked at her, her eyes were wide open and surprised. She was even panting just the slightest bit, and her cheeks were full of color.

There was only so much a healthy eighteen year old could take, and he'd reached his limit. She was so enthralling, so irresistible to him. Without even thinking about it, he pulled her closer, one of his hands sliding around her waist to rest at the small of her back.

Akane did not resist. She was too much into the mood of the moment to let anything else stand in the way. And besides, she soooo wanted to be close to him.

Ranma leaned in a bit closer, and Akane had to close her eyes, all too aware and overwhelmed by the heat radiating off him, the strength of his hand on her back, slowly urging her towards him, of the musky smell rousing from his skin. She could feel the muscles of his chest going up and down with every breath. She gripped his shoulders a bit tighter.

And after a few moments that stretched like minutes, Ranma finally dipped his head. And his lips were over hers, the first touch so soft it could have been a puff of air across her lips. Akane's eyes snapped wide open, only to be lazily closed after the realization that this was her and Ranma kissing, and that she wanted to burn every moment of it in her mind.

The strange feeling of touching skin not her own with her lips sent shivers up and down her spine. Ranma's lips were soft and warm, and she got easily lost in the sensations and the silky warmth.

She unconsciously parted her lips to wet them, and as her tongue darted out to moisten her skin, she found Ranma's tongue doing something similar, meeting hers in a shy touch, and darting further out to caress her lower lip. Ranma's mouth swept across her own in slow leisurely movements, capturing her lower lip and lightly tugging on it, the gentle sucking pressure sending blood into her lips, and making her heart flutter faster in her chest.

Akane groaned softly. She wanted to open her mouth and take a deep breath, and as she did so, Ranma's tongue followed her inside her mouth.

Akane lost it then. She had kissed people before, but it had never ever felt so... so utterly fulfilling and refreshing, and, and—and so many other things at the same time. And she wanted so much more of it.

Without knowing, her arms moved to wrap themselves around Ranma's neck, her body lifting on her toes, aching to press herself closer to his warm body. His arms went around her waist, gripping her closer to him, as his throat rumbled with a deep groan. Ranma was lost in their little ephemeral world. She fitted so very nicely against him, her firm body doing wonders for his mind and other parts as well. One of his hands slithered across her back and towards her neck, to caress her nape and bury his spread fingers in the short locks, pulling her even closer still.

Suddenly out of breath, Ranma pulled back slightly, their swollen lips lingering together for a moment. Akane cracked her eyes open to stare unfocusedly at Ranma's closed eyes. Time went by slower still for a few seconds, as they tried to unsuccessfully catch their breaths and pull away. But they'd been heading this way for a while now. And really, nobody would blame them if they gave in. Would they? Their parted mouths crashed together again, a bit roughly, possessively, putting all the frustration and yearning from the previous weeks into it.

It was so right, so good, and so much of it, that Akane was feeling terribly overwhelmed, and relieved at the same time. It was terrifying to her to feel so strongly and physically. It was... it was as if she had been holding her breath her whole life, and now she could finally exhale in one long, fullfilling sigh.

Akane started to pull away, throwing her head back slightly, to be rewarded by the look of Ranma's fogged gaze. Trying to get her breathing under control and feeling absurdly shy all of a sudden, Akane lowered her eyes from his intense gaze.

"Ran-ma... I-"

She felt Ranma's sigh, and he was suddenly pulling her closer, burying his head between her neck and shoulder, taking in the scent of her. He was quietly holding her as if his life depended on it.

"Akane..." he murmured softly into her neck, making her skin tickle.

Akane closed her eyes to savor the moment, only to feel sudden cold wetness all around her.

What?

Ranma stiffened in the embrace, and slowly pulled himself away from her, turning slightly around, his arms never leaving her body, to face the couple of boys holding an empty water bucket in their guilty hands.

"Shit," Daisuke murmured. "I guess this wasn't such a good idea after all."

Besides him, Hiroshi nodded and swallowed audibly.

Placing the empty water bucket very slowly on the ground, Hiroshi whispered, "Run".

Akane was too surprised to say anything, but Ranma was looking positively murderous. It sent shivers up her spine to see him looking so... dangerous. Oh wait, the corner of his mouth was twitching. Well, yeah, she too wanted to burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. She was also rather nervous. And in a way, grateful to those two weirdoes. The tension was gone. And the cold water... well. It was almost a welcome development. Almost.

But Hiroshi and Daisuke were actually running down the hallway for dear life. She could not stay nervous for long, after such and undignified departure.

Ranma looked down at Akane, his features softening, the smile finally cracking up his face.

Akane started chuckled a bit sheepishly. Ranma joined her. It could have been so awkward, Ranma thought, but here they were, after a mind numbing kiss, and this beautiful girl was laughing right alongside him.

Feeling suddenly daring, he abruptly embraced her again.

"C'mon, Akane, let's go somewhere else."

Akane nodded, and slowly and breathlessly extracted herself from Ranma's arms. He offered his hand to her.

She gladly took it, if a bit hesitantly, feeling completely silly as he entwined their fingers together. For some reason, this made her just as giddy and tingly as the kiss had. She smiled up at him. She had never held hands like that before.

Soundlessly, they started to walk down the hallway.

To be continued...

Author's Notes about High School culture:

SVD and the activities at the end of the school year are actually a sort of fixture around here. Also, please don't laugh at me, but when I first started writing this, I didn't read or watch that much romantic manga or anime, or slice-of-life, so other than Ranma things (which never aired around here past the first couple of series), I had nooooo idea that Festivals were a standard for Japanese high-schools, and very recurrent resource in high school based stories. I thought I was being very original by doing this. But there you go. The SVD day is actually a yearly celebration on a school's anniversary, and it's called "School Week", and everyone from first to twelfth graders to teachers to maintenance staff and even parents can participate. SVD can happen during that time, or later in the year, a week before seniors leave school. It's actually called something like "Black List Day". While it is in fact regulated bullying, it's actually quite harmless, and a lot of fun. There's usually a lot of water involved, which is awesome, cause by the time it happens, the heat and dryness of the air are horrible. There's also some activities organised by the Juniors to give a farewell to the seniors. It will be a day trip to the beach or something of the sort. Now I can admit that actually, most of my inspiration for this story came from such a farewell event (I remember a game of water volleyball, and arms pulling me around, for the sake of the game of course), and during a Senior Vengance Day, while I was on my own Junior year. Hehe.

Also, I have very little idea about the Japanese academic year, so I'm mostly just repeating the stuff that I went through, which I find fits this story. Academic year runs from beginning of fall to the beginning of summer (on the wrong months, tho! :P). Then there's two months of summer holidays. Senior year students seat extra exams to get into University at the end of the year, so actually, their classes finish a whole month earlier than the rest of the school. This happens nationwide. I apologise I can't be more accurate about things in this story. I've tried to make timings less confusing.

Thanks for reading! Please leave your comments! See you soon!