Provoked

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Chapter 7

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This is my second time posting this chapter because i caught a few spelling errors. Sorry. :)

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Ranma pouted as he scanned through the manga in front of him. He had involuntarily read the same page multiple times. After not being able to concentrate after the tenth time, he flipped it closed and pushed it aside.

No matter how he pieced the clues together, he just could not come to a sensible conclusion. First, the being nice (although Akane had explained that), next the excessive violence, and then the kiss.

Ranma blushed as the scene replayed over in his head. And now she wanted to stay away from him? It just didn't make sense. He knew something had been wrong from the beginning but he never considered it to be this serious. She wouldn't even trust him enough to tell him.

Ranma sighed and spread out on the floor. It was too much to attempt to figure out on his own.

He happened to glance down at his arm. A smeared red blotch stretched across his forearm. He furrowed his eyebrows and examined it.

"Blood?..."

He brushed his thumb against the blotch. It didn't smear or come off, it was dry. Ranma examined himself looking for any cuts or wounds. He couldn't find th source of the blood andd he wasn't in pain. Where could it have come from?

He got and started toward the bathroom, while looking for any other blood stains. He happened to spot another one on the sleeve of his orange shirt.

Ranma frowned. Was he bleeding?

He didn't remember being punctured or cut.

Though Akane's blows did cause quite a few impacts.

He turned the faucet on and grabbed abar of soap. The stain on his forearm vanished immediately after being by running water.

"Now to get this out," he said, tugging his sleeve. He frowned agian.

That's when it hit him.

If the blood hadn't come from HIM, then...

"...Akane's hand!" He turned the faucet off and dried his arm on the guest towel.

He headed back to his room with an idea.

Akane sighed and closed the front door behind her. She kicked her shoes off and started down the hall wit two bags in her had. When she made it to the kitchen, she plopped both of them on the table and took a seat. She rested her face in her hand while glooming down at the thinner bag.

It shamed her that she was reduced to doing this. But she knew that this matter was way too embarrassing and personl to discuss with anyone.

Even Doctor Tofu. This was something she had to analyze herself.

She reached into the thin bag and pulled out two books. One was titled, "Fetishism and Paraphilia." The second was titled, "Mental Illnesses." They were her only chance of diagnosing herself without someone finding out. And then, with luck, maybe she would learn the treatment necessary to cure herself.

She laid aside "Mental Illnesses." and opened the other book. She stared with the Introduction which summarized the definitions of fetishism and paraphilia.

Fetishism (sexual or erotic) was described as the sexual arousal one receives from a physical object. The object of interest is called the fetish.

In Akane's case, no object was involved, so se continued on.

Paraphilia was described as sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative stimulation and may cause distress or serious problems to the people involved.

Akane thought about it. That seemed more relevant, because in her case, the sexually arousing situation was her causing physical pain to Ranma. And she agreed that it was definitely causing serious problems.

Akane's eye's averted to the side and she jumped.

Ranma happened to be standing in the doorway, staring at her. "Uh...yo."

She quickly shut the book, sat it down on top of the other, and used the thin bag to cover them. "...Hey..." she said as her heart thumped. He approached her with a black rectangle shaped object in his hand.

'Damn,' Akane thought. 'What part of we need to keep our distance didn't he get?'

Ranma grinned and took a seat next to her at the table. "Hey. Let me see your hand."

Akane raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Your hand."

She stared with cluelessness, but lifted her hand toward him. He looked at it, then smirked. "Wrong hand."

She paused in confusion, then gave him her other hand. He examined the cut across her palm.

'Oh yeah,' she thought. She had completely forgot about it. He sat the black object on the table. It appeared to be a case. He snapped it open and looked inside. He held her hand and reached for a wipe. Akane stared at him in awe. What was he doing?

He gently dabbed at the cut. She frowned at him.

"Don't think this is going to make me tell you."

Ranma looked up. "Oh, don't be like that, Akane."

She hmphed. "I meant what I said earlier."

Ranma stared at her as he finished cleaning her wound. He sta the wipe down. "Fine. Then let me ask you another question."

She waited expectantly. Ranma blushed slightly. "Why'd you...y' know...kiss me?"

Her heart skipped a beat at the question. She didn't respond. Why HAD she kissed him? She couldn't even answer it. She had gotten caught in the moment and it just...happened. But she couldn't explain that to him because it would just lead to more questions.

"I don't know," she responded, staring at the table. "I'm not really feeling myself today."

Ranma nodded in understanding. "I see...So it was...involuntary?"

Akane nodded. He didn't say anything else forseveral moments. He just looked around as if he was searching for answers. Akane wondered what he could have possibly been thinking. And why he had asked about the kiss.

Ranma noticed the two bags on the table. "What's all that?"

Akane snapped out of her thoughts. She had almost forgotten. "Oh," she said reaching for the large paper bag. "I ordered us take-out for dinner...you know...because we have nothing else to eat." She pulled out one of two cartons that were in the bag. She handed it to Ranma. "Wow..thanks." Akane took the second for herself.

Ranma stared down at the carton as guilt struck him. Flashbacks of the whole food incident haunted him. He felt horrible.

"Akane..."

"Huh?"

"I wanna apologize for earlier...I shoulda just gave your cooking a chance. I promise next time'll be different, okay?"

Akane shrugged as if she couldn't have cared less. "Mm-hmm..."

Ranma stared at her. Something still wasn't right. He sat the carton down. "Look. Will you PLEASE just tell me what's going on? It's been botherin' me all day. Just tell me, will ya?"

Akane said nothing. She opened her carton and and reached for the chopstick holder in the center of the table. Right when her fingers reached the holder, Ranma's hand shot out and grabbed hers. She stared at it in shock and then made eye-contact with him.

"Akane...You trust me, right?"

She still stared in shock. The touch sent jolts through her as his hand grasped hers more firmly. Akane swallowed and nodded.

"You've always been able to trust me?"

She nodded again. His grasp lightened. The gentle touch sent even more jolts through her body. Her breathing grew heavier.

"Then please..."

Akane shook her head. "Ranma, you just don't understand. I CANNOT tell you." He pulled back and frowned. "I just... can't take that risk," she finished.

Ranma sighed and closed his eyes. When he spoke again, there was a hint of anger in his voice. "Okay. You know there's absolutely NOTHING you could ever do to make me feel disgust or shame or hatred towards you. I don't care if you tell me you have some sort of fatal and contagious disease. I'd accept you anyway. So what's going on with you that's so repulsive you're afraid to tell me?"

Akane was speechless. She almost felt guilty for for hiding it from him. By his expression she could tell there'd be greater consequences for NOT telling him.

"Okay..." she sighed and looked him eye. Ranma waited impatiently.

Akane opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Images of Ranma rolling around in laughter flashed through her mind. She withdrew.

She rehearsed possible responses in her head. Her face flushed with embarrassment. Ranma's grave expression gave her the push she needed to go through with it.

"I..." He leaned closer to hear her response. "...Hitting you...turns me on."

Ranma stared at her.

For a moment Akane thought that maybe he hadn't heard her. But he didn't ask her to repeat herself so obviously he had.

"Excuse me?..."

She looked down at the floor and played with her fingers.

"That's it?" Ranma asked. "That's what this is all about?"

She nodded. "But there's nothing to worry about because I'm working on curing myself." She removed the thin bag from the books. Ranam looked at them andthen back at her. He wasn't really sure how to respond.

"You...get turned on by hitting me?"

She nodded. "i know its strange but...I just get this urge. And the urge grows the more i hit you. And its like my skin's on fire. And then when you touch me..."

She couldn't continue.

"That's why I said its best you stay away from me."

Ranma was still lost for words. He kept quiet for a long moment, looking around the kitchen.

Akane sighed. She knew it would ruin their relationship.

Ranma looked back at all the incidents. It all made sense but at the same time, it didn't. All the violence of course did. Bu the other stuff like the unusual kindness and the kiss...He couldn't help but wonder what else was to it. He analyzed all of what she had just told him, silently.

He honestly didn't understand why she was so desperate to hide it. At the very least he found it...interesting.

Ranma thought about it again before staring at her. An idea came to his head.

AT first he tried to push the idea aside. He couldn't think of any other way to make the situation better or less awkward.

The idea came back to him, making him blush. He thought about what Akane's response would be and it quickly made him halt.

He glanced over at her again and summoned the courage to speak. He cleared his throat.

"Akane..."

She quickly looked up. "Hmm?"

Ranma avoided eye contact. "I wanna ask you somethin'...but I don't know how you'll react."

"What?" she asked curiously.

His face grew darker.

"How ...would you feel ...if ...I HELPED you."

"You mean help cure me?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he responded. "I mean... with your urge."

She stared with curiosity for a moment. It took several seconds for her to realize what he meant.