Chapter 7
Ranma had spent the last five days fighting with the black piglet that had made its appearance at the worst possible time –just as he always did. Akane was scheduled to leave today for her retreat, and Ranma had tried to spend more than five minute with her for the past week, to no avail.
Ryouga had overextended his stay at this point, and had not left Akane's side, making it difficult for Ranma to carry on with his plans. He had wanted to ask Akane out on a date before she left, but every time they tried, P-Chan would interrupt.
"That damn Ryouga! He better watch out cuz I'm in the mood for bacon." Ranma thought to himself as he reached the top of the stairs. He stood outside Akane's door and knocked. She immediately invited in the guest.
"Hey, Akane! Do you have a minute?"
She had laid her bag on her bed, and she was folding her clothes and putting them inside it. She had laid some shoes on the floor, and a few clothes still hung from hangers in her closet.
"How many things did she plan on taking with her? She would only be gone for three days!"
It was then that Ranma noticed P-Chan inside the bag, resting on top of Akane's underwear, a smile on his face as he stared back at Ranma's glare..
"That motherfu-"
"Ranma?"
Ranma's head snapped towards her. Her head was tilted to the side as she held in her hands a small colorful piece of clothing he could not immediately identify. "Ranma, have you been listening to me?"
Ranma blushed. "Sorry…I was…distracted for a moment."
"Oh! Were you thinking about Sakura?"
"Who?"
"Sakura! The girl that has been chasing you at school."
"Oh! No, not really. So, when do you leave?"
"I need to be at the train station by 3 a.m."
"3 AM?! Damn, that's early!"
"Tell me about. It's past nine and I haven't even had a chance to eat, with school and planning here and there, and now packing."
Ranma smiled. It seemed fate was merciful with him today. "I can help you pack, and if you're nice to me, I might even take you out to eat."
"Really? Wait, are you gonna make me buy dinner?" She said, accidentally dropping the piece of clothing she had been holding. When she saw Ranma bend down to pick it up for her, she turned back to her bag, and Ranma continued speaking. "No! I'm buying, but only if you earn it," Ranma said, teasing her and feeling better about having the chance to talk to her before she left. Before handing her the piece of clothing, his curiosity got the best of him, and he stretched the item to see what it was.
It was a thong.
His face shone bright red, and he began mumbling incoherent words as he stared at the bottom of Akane's bikini. "A-a-a-kane…is this?"
"What?" she asked as she turned around to face Ranma. Her face also became red as she snatched the item from Ranma's hands and threw it on top of P-Chan. P-Chan's nose began bleeding when the thong hit his face, and he ended up running away from the room after shaking off the cloth from his tiny body.
Akane grabbed the thong and shoved it to the bottom of the bag before turning around and grabbing Ranma by his shirt.
"Ranma, please, please, don't tell Kasumi I'm taking that with me! PLEASE!"
Ranma, who was slowly recovering from the mental image of Akane wearing a thong, nodded to her. When Akane saw Ranma was agreeing to keep her secret, she smiled at him and hugged him by wrapping her arms around his neck. Ranma stood still, waiting for her to change her mind and pushed herself away, but she did not.
Akane was suddenly hit with the soft smell of his cologne, making her instinctively close her eyes and hug him tighter. She became very aware that her chest was pressing against his, and that his arms had begun surrounding her waist. She swallowed hard when nervousness started building inside her, but she could not make herself pull away.
Ranma, on the other hand, was having his own internal battle. His thoughts swapped from imagining Akane at the beach in her bikini, and Akane, here and now, wrapping her arms around him. His heart began racing when he felt her stand on her toes so that she could rub her nose against his neck.
He whispered her name in her ear, and she responded by whispering his. She began pulling back slowly, but the side of her face rubbed against his as she did. She stopped a few inches away from him, their noses almost touching. Having her so close allowed him to see the last purple spots of her bruise, making him frown. He raised his hand and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. She closed her eyes as he did so, and he took this as an invitation to let go. His thumb began moving to her lips, and he brushed them with a tenderness he himself had not thought he had in him.
"Akane…I…"
However, she did not let him finish. She pushed herself up and closed the distance between their lips. He immediately closed his eyes and pushed down on her so she would not have to stand on her toes anymore. He heard her gasp when his tongue went inside of her mouth, and then she heard him scream when P-Chan jumped on him and bit him on his back.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled at the piglet as he turned around to try and step on the intruder. Akane took a step back, realization of what had just happened finally hitting her. She shook her head to regain her senses, and saw as Ranma ran down the hall after P-Chan. As soon as they were both out, she closed the door behind them, locked it, and held her weight against it.
She could feel her body shaking, whether it was due to nervousness or the scare she received when Ranma screamed, she did not know. She covered her face with her hands, and growled.
"What am I doing? Why did I do that? Ranma's gonna get the wrong idea!"
She walked back to her bag and began packing the remaining items as quickly as she could. She had to get out of there before Ranma came back. She just could not face him right now. By the time Ranma had thrown Ryouga in the streets, naked and beat up, Akane had left the home. Ranma returned to her room, eager to talk to her about the kiss they had just shared. He opened the door to her room to find a note on her desk, left behind by her. The note had but a single line. That was all he needed to break his spirit.
"I'm sorry, Ranma."
He knew what she had meant. She was sorry she misled him. She had not meant to kiss him, and she was sorry the kiss took place.
"Am I being punished for what I did to the other girls? Is this how they felt?"
He looked around and saw her bags were gone, but the window in her room was still open. He stepped outside through the window, hoping to see Akane close by, but she was gone. Ranma crumpled the note and threw it on the ground before coming inside the house. He turned the lights off in her room, closing the door behind.
"I'm sorry too, Akane."
He did not see Ryouga again until Akane returned with more than just souvenirs in her hands, and more than just good memories in her heart.
A/N: In case you were wondering, the song for this fic is "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon
