Nightmares In Nerima

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Part 7

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"Damn," Ranma cursed. He lay sprawled out on the grass beside his favorite tree in the school yard. The tree's leaves supplied shade, hindering the intense contact of sunlight. Thin cottony white clouds traveled by overhead. The refreshing, though rare cool breeze that passed, mixed with the occupied voices and laughter of his schoolmates around the yard.

He had fallen asleep in class for the second time. He didn't even recall falling asleep until he was awoken by the teacher and sentenced to the hallway. His classmate's interested stares had bored through him again, embarrassing him once again. Some of their stares had been of curiosity. A few other students' glares had been stained with irritation. Some with concern. (Specifically Akane). The remaining students' faces were written with amusement.

Which suddenly led him to wonder if he had cried out again in class. If he had, he would certainly suffer more teasing from his gutter-minded friends. Especially considering what his dream had been about. He had probably mumbled Akane's name countless times during his dream.

'I've gotta stop doin' that,' he thought. He couldn't allow himself to fall asleep again in class. At least not while these bizarre nightmares were constantly appearing. The origin of these recurring dreams was a mystery. His only option was to hope this little 'stage' eventually passed so he could sleep peacefully again.'

He blinked heavily against the tempting daze of drowsiness. The warm atmosphere only contributed to the condition.

His eyes had slowly began to close when a silhouette towered over him and jarred him from his daze. He immediately sat up when the silhouette took a seat beside him.

"Hey...," Akane said. She rested the fresh, neat appearing bento in her hands on her lap.

"Hey." He sat indian style, pressed his palms against the ground, and leaned back slightly. Neither of them spoke for several seconds. Akane just studied Ranma curiously and he waited, expectantly, for her to either clarify her presence or start a conversation.

After an awkward moment of staring at each other, she jerked her gaze away and looked at her lap. She gripped the bento and thrust it at him. "Here."

Ranma looked partially surprised for a second as he stared down at the bento. "Um..." He couldn't muster an excuse this time. The corner of his mouth twitched as he attempted to force a smile.

Akane frowned and shoved the box at him. "Oh, honestly...I didn't make it, okay? It's store bought. Here."

He slowly reached for the bento, his face stiff, trying to conceal his obvious relief. He opened it nonchalantly and began to pick at the contents with the chopsticks.

Another brief silence passed between them. Ranma couldn't help but feel like there was actually a reason why she had come and sat next to him. He picked out a random shrimp from the box and stuffed it in his mouth as he waited for her to speak.

"You know..." she said. He looked up with the tail end of the shrimp poking out between his lips. "You chose a terrible time to sleep in class."

There it was.

Her mouth curved into a frown as she continued. "We've got final exams next week and you're missing all the vital information...Unless you want to take summer courses than you need to make some sort of passing grade."

Ranma smirked. "Well, that's why I'm lucky to have YOU."

She rolled her eyes. "Nice try. Just try to stay awake...because I won't be able to help you with everything."

His smirk disappeared and he sighed, looking across the yard.

If only it was just that easy.

As Akane continued to stare at him, her frown slowly shifted into a look of concern. "...Are you still tired?"

He leaned back further. "Eh...I should be alright." He happened to glance over in her direction and notice she just sat there, her hands folded in her lap. He lifted an eyebrow,"Hey...Why aren't you eating?"

She froze and peaked down at the bento in his lap before quickly looking away.

Ranma stood confused at her reaction to his question. He looked down at the bento in her lap. Slowly, realization rised. The chopsticks lowered from his mouth and he frowned.

"Ah, Akane...You didn't hafta gimme your lunch."

She shook her head, avoiding eye contact. "No, no, it's okay. I'm not hungry."

"Here. Take it back." He repositioned the lid over the box and held it out. She only peaked at it and shook her head again.

"Akane..." Ranma said, firmly.

"Just keep it, Ranma. I know you forgot your lunch again and I don't have much of an appetite.

His features softened and he lowered the bento. "...Akane..."

A small smirk played at her lips. "...Or would you have prefered if I had MADE you one, home-made?"

He blushed slightly and looked down. "T-Thank you..."

The minute hand on the school clock imaccurately aimed at the '8'. Akane squinted across the yard in the direction of it. "There's still a good thirty minutes before class begins. If you wanna sleep, now would be the time...I'll come wake if you want."

He blinked. "Um...okay."

Akane stood to her feet and threw him one last smile before taking off across the yard. Ranma watched her, his face still flushed. He stared down at the bento box. 'That was...nice of her,' he thought.

He had been seeing a lot of this side of her lately. It caused confusion, as well as attraction. This side of her was the side that occasionally reminded him why he liked being around her so much.

Her smile was always a lot more inviting on this side.

'...And it's definitely a lot cuter.' he admitted.

His hands clutched the box tighter as he studied Furinkan's clock himself. Lunch was barely even half over and he would have gotten a decent amount of time to nap.

But unfortunately, that wasn't his aim. Though he wanted nothing more than to give into his body's desire for rest, he couldn't.

He wasn't sure how much longer he would last, or when his eyes would betray him and surrender to the deprivation. And he really didn't want to risk finding out.

Bento in hand, he stood to his feet.

...

The bell sounded, informing all students that the lunch break had ended. The school yard gradually cleared as the mob of male students playing soccer loosened and vanished as the students went their various directions. Socializing students mimicked the same pattern and eventually the school yard was near deserted.

Akane arrived at the front entrance, moving around the final cluster of students making their way to class. Her lips curved upward slightly in a smile as she took the steps three at a time. When she reached the final step, the smile disappeared. Her eyes paused at the previously visited spot by the tree where she had been less than a half hour earlier. A cool breeze blew through the yard, grazing the healthy grass, as well as lifting her skirt and hair slightly to flutter in unison.

The entire yard was empty.

Her eyebrows arched, but she spent little time pondering the idea, knowing she was on the verge of being tardy. She scanned the yard one last time before traveling back up the steps toward the entrance.

'He went on ahead to class already,' she thought.

Akane sighed in relief as she arrived to her fourth period class only seconds before the bell rang. Majority of the chemistry students had already taken their seats and were quietly conversing among themselves until Mrs. Kasuya began role call.

"Asaoka Tohari."

"Present," Tohari responded after standing.

"Azuri Kohane."

"Here."

Akane found her own seat at the back of the crowded room and settled down. The entire first portion of the attendance list had been called and the teacher had neared completion.

"Rakashi Hinata."

There was no response. Mrs. Kasuya hesitated to document the student's absence. She continued on.

"Sanatse Kenmaru."

"Here," Kenmaru replied.

"Saotome Ranma."

The teacher waited for a reply that never came. Students glanced around the classroom, scanning the numerous seats to find Ranma's seat was in fact empty.

'Huh?' Akane thought.

"No Saotome?" Mrs. Kayusa asked.

The students didn't respond directly, instead whispered amongst themselves about how they were sure they had seen Ranma earlier that day. The teacher documented the absence and continued on. "Siioshi Sakura."

Akane stared at the lonely desk, that had on a regular basis been occupied by her fiance. She frowned at it, inferring that Ranma would arrive late for class.

Mrs. Kayusa concluded role call and began the lecture for the day. "No talking, please take out your pens and paper and take notes as I go through the primary topics that will be included on your final exam."

She summarized the basics of a few laws, acids and bases, logarithm, molarity, and naming compounds. Akane mimicked the notes that the teacher jotted on the board, though her mind wasn't dedicated to the lecture. As many more minutes passed, Ranma's seat remained empty. Twenty-five minutes soon became forty-five minutes. The teacher had concluded her lecture and cleared up any misconceptions her students may have had.

Akane suddenly realized that something must have happened. Sure, Ranma had shown up tardy a few times for school, and even classes on other occasions, but he would rarely remain absent from a class when he had actually shown up for school.

That was, unless he was in the nurses office.

Had something happened?

The remainder of the hour dragged by, suffocatingly. The bell sounded and students gathered their belongings and headed toward the next period class. Akane didn't share a fifth hour class with Ranma, but she did however have World History with him last hour. She drew no haste as she passed by many students on her path toward her Algebra II class. Her eyes scanned back and forth down the hallway, a portion of her sincerely hoping that she would spot him. But as the students cleared the halls and departed to their scheduled rooms, her hope began to wane.

'Well...there's still last hour,' she thought. The next hour lapsed as quickly as it had came. The end of the day was only a blink away and the anticipation had the student body antsy. To Akane's dismay, Ranma hadn't made an appearance to the final class of the day.

Her worry and suspicion grew with every passing moment. It wasn't like him to just go missing without warning. She had asked a few students from his fifth period Geometry class if he had shown up. They all informed that he hadn't.

And then there she was, at the end of the day, waiting by his locker. She leaned against it casually, her inner panic tugging to be released. But as the majority of the student body exited the school, it became more obvious that her chance of running into him was near none.

She shifted against the locker, preparing to look else where when a brown-haired girl, clad in a boys' school uniform approached her. "Hey, Akane."

Akane stood up straight. "Ukyo?"

"You wouldn't have happened to see Ranchan, have you?" There was a minor extent of worry and curiosity obvious on her face.

"...No. Have you?"

She shook her head and glanced over her shoulder, down the hall. "Yesterday, I invited him over to the restaraunt to eat today. So I was gonna see if he wanted to walk with me."

Akane's eyes narrowed. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, but I haven't seen him all afternoon...You know where he could be?"

"No clue," she replied.

Ukyo gaped. "Wait...So he's missing?"

Akane's eyes scanned the hallway, absently as she thought of a sensible reply. "Uh...well-"

"Why didn't you say something?...He just disappeared at random? What if something's happened to him?"

"Yeah, well-"

"Here, I'll go look around!" Ukyo rested her satchel over her shoulder and took off toward the exit. Akane watched her in awe. After a few seconds, her mouth curved into a frown and she started down the hall, toward the nurse's office.

'Dummy,' she thought. How could he have made plans to go eat with Ukyo, if he had agreed to go to the movies with her that afternoon? Her fists clenched automatically as she arrived at the nurse's office. The door was shut and she hoped, for his sake, that he wasn't in there because she would have a few words (and a fist) just for him.

Her hand shot out and grasped the knob with her anger heightening at the thought of him lying to her, or changing his mind about their date.

Akane suddenly hesitated and blushed. 'Wait...Did I just think...'date'?' She shook the thought away and corrected herself. 'Not date...but...' No replacement came to mind. Her hand twisted the knob and pulled the door open. 'Whatever.'

She came to an abrupt halt and stared curiously at the scene before her. Two students, one male, the other female, immediately hauled away from each other, practically throwing their own bodies to separate sides of the room. She didn't necessarily know the boy, but she recognized the girl as Reiko from her volleyball team. Akane's eyebrow arched, as she contemplated what could have possibly caused their reaction. Her cheeks gradually went an awkward shade of pink when she realized that Reiko was fumbling to rebutton her blouse. Her male companion had faced the other side of the room, his back turned to them. From his arm gestures, it appeared that he was scrambling with the zipper and button of his pants.

A predictable silence filled the room.

"Uh...S-Sorry..." Akane immediately turned away and closed the door behind her, leaving them with their obvious suspicion. She shook her head at the implied engagement of her two schoolmates and blushed more intensely.

Determining that Ranma was no longer present on school grounds worried her. She darted down the hall and out the front door of the building.

But what reason would he have had to disappear? Everything had been fine at lunch. She considered the events of the day and what Ukyo had mentioned. Akane's face molded firmly. She swallowed and tried to dismiss the idea of him possibly avoiding her.

It would have made cunningly good sense. Maybe he had chosen to go eat at Ukyo's, but didn't want to encounter Akane, so he skipped out early, to wait at the restaraunt.

She furrowed, shaking her head.

No, that still wouldn't have explained why he had disappeared so early, specifically right after lunch. She was now running down the street toward her home. Whatever the explanation was, it was stirring her stomach. Akane huffed as she neared the Tendo home.

'Something's definitely wrong,' she thought.

...