Rooftop Confessions by Sereko

Not only am I back… but I'm back with a bang! As a reminder, in the last chapter Ranma & Akane told their family that they're a couple. In rapid succession, everyone else is about to find out as well. And there's a special treat for you all towards the end. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2.


Confession 9


Fairytales, movies and even ordinary people focused too much on the grand gestures of love. It was always about knights in shining armor, public declarations of love and over-the-top dates under a full moon or on the beach as the sun was setting. Daydreamers didn't consider the smaller things. They didn't understand how warm and safe you could feel just by holding your lover's hand. They didn't lend enough meaning to the tingles that shoot up your spine at the soft caress of his fingers against your cheek. It was always about the passionate embrace, not the innocent kiss that could curl your toes better than any open-mouthed lip lock.

'Not that I don't enjoy that too,' Akane thought devilishly to herself. But that came as part of lust. The other…the comfort, the companionship, the boundless joy was more a part of love than she was willing to admit. She could feel it, though. There, inside of her, as she sat once more on the dojo rooftop with Ranma. She was nestled between his legs again, leaning back against his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her.

He wasn't getting fresh with her. He wasn't pressuring her into a more physical relationship. He was instead talking to her seriously about the problem of their multiple suitors…and that led part of her to hope that maybe he was leaning a little closer to love as well. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they found in each other something they never imagined could happen – especially between the two of them? The girly side of Akane practically squealed at the thought.

The dedicated martial artist had noticed her feminine side coming out more and more frequently as of late. She knew that it was because of her growing relationship with Ranma. By letting him in and tearing down some of the emotional walls that stood between them, she had effectively dropped her tough act. She had someone to lean on, someone to trust and, more importantly, someone whom she no longer felt the need to argue with or prove herself to. Akane didn't feel weaker by any means. It wasn't about losing her strength, or even her stubbornness really, it was about realizing that she didn't need to fight quite so hard for things anymore.

Akane sank further into Ranma's embrace, letting his warmth envelope her as the wind started to kick up. She brought herself out of her introspection to focus on his words. They had been talking about their accumulated fiancées and suitors. Both of them had agreed that the next step was to tell them all the news: Ranma and Akane were a couple and would no longer recognize any of the other admirers who laid claim to them. There was little chance it would go over very well, or that certain people would even take them seriously, but they had to try.

They would start with the Kunos.


They asked Sasuke to bring them straight to father Kuno, in the hopes that they would get to him before Kodachi or Tatewaki Kuno found out. No such luck. Since Sasuke was both a spy and a ninja, he managed to tell his mistress and master of their presence using hidden switches and signals within the first 10 feet down the entrance hallway. Fortunately, neither decided to confront Ranma and Akane until they were in the large welcoming chamber with Mr. Kuno – too eager, as they were, to discover what their dearest loves wanted with their father.

After kneeling in front of the crazy principle, Ranma immediately spoke up. The plan was to cater to the traditionalist in him and hope that his official observation of their engagement would be enough to stop his eager children's advances. "Thank you for welcoming us into your home on such short notice, Mr. Kuno."

"Of course, of course. No trouble at all. How is your schoolwork coming along?"

"Fine, sir. Better than the last time you saw me," Ranma answered sheepishly.

"Glad to hear it. Now, what brings you and Miss Tendo here today?" The middle-aged man was looking and acting more on top of things than usual, in a traditional men's kimono instead of a Hawaiian shirt.

Ranma looked to the side to gauge Akane's readiness. She was in perfect seiza position, with her head bowed in continued respect. It was hard for him to see her so submissive and restrained. She gave no indication that she was anything other than content at having to play the part of the obedient woman. They had both agreed that the more traditional the better, no matter what that meant. Still, it was unsettling to see. Of course, if they were really going by the book, then their fathers would be the ones doing this, not them. They were far too afraid of what Soun and Genma might say given the chance, however. "We are here to officially announce our engagement."

Mr. Kuno was about to respond, but was interrupted by the disbelieving gasps of his children. "This cannot be!" Tatewaki exclaimed. The Black Rose was equally as resolute. Their father lifted his hand to quiet them.

"I accept your announcement and wish to congratulate you both," he said while bowing to Ranma in respect. There was a storm of movement and noise behind him and he continued, "My children also congratulate you and understand that they are honor-bound to accept your union as well."

Ranma returned the bow in gratitude. "Thank you," he breathed in relief as he watched Kuno and Kodachi frozen in place, their desire to leap forward and stop what was happening very plain on their faces.


Once safely outside the gates of the Tatewaki compound, the couple breathed a sigh of relief. One down. So many more to go…

Akane started to walk down the street, but Ranma caught her wrist to stop her. She turned questioningly back to him. "What's up?" Her companion didn't answer her. He had a serious look on his face, the kind that she had become more familiar with since their nights of confession but that still sent a tingle down her spine. Without paying heed to the change in atmosphere around them, Ranma reached forward and carefully removed the hair clips that the blue-haired girl had used to tightly pull back her locks. He then ran his hand through the short strands until pieces fell unruly around her face.

"I like your hair down." He brushed once more at her hair, appreciating its silky texture. His simple statement seemed to hold a much deeper meaning. The feminist in Akane sat up and cheered. Could it be that seeing her so subservient in the Kuno household had bothered him? Many people, herself included, accused him of being a male chauvinist pig… but maybe they had it wrong. Maybe being a girl half the time made him one of their greatest advocates.

Akane smiled. "Me too," she responded.


"That went well," Akane said retrospectively. They were back on the rooftop, remembering their adventure for the day.

Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "You realize that we have to tell the others immediately." His companion raised her eyebrow, effectively hiding the fear that cropped up in her at that statement. "Kuno and Kodachi aren't gonna keep their traps shut about this. If we don't tell everyone else soon, they'll find out from those nuts. That would be bad...very bad." He shuddered to think what chaos would ensue if Kuno and Kodachi ran rampant around town shouting 'Our dearests are engaged!' He glanced up when Akane stood. "Huh?"

She stared back down at him impatiently. "Well, come on!" she insisted and motioned for him to stand as well.

He obeyed, then asked, "Where are we going?"

Akane snagged his hand, dragged him to the edge of the roof and indicated that he should jump down with her. "We are going to see Ukyou." Her answer nearly made him tumble headfirst off the roof.

"What?"

She stared at him meaningfully once they reached the gate to the dojo. "You said we had to tell people before Kuno and Kodachi could ruin things. It's well after dinner. Ukyou should be closing up shop. We can catch her now when she doesn't have an entire restaurant of people to deal with."

It was logical, he thought. "Okay." Now or never, right? "But I wanna go alone." He watched as Akane's brow furrowed, trying to think of each and every reason why he would make such a request. He squeezed one of her hands reassuringly. "She's my best friend, 'kane. I think it'll go easier if I talk to her by myself."

His fiancée slowly nodded her head in agreement. "You're right. The last thing she's going to want is me there while you tell her you're breaking up with her." Ranma made a face at that terminology, but smiled at her in gratitude.

"Thanks. I'll be right back and let you know how it goes." He leaned forward to kiss her cheek, then spun around and made a bee-line for U-chan's. Akane watched as his dust trail disappeared around a corner.


The doors were shut and the 'closed' sign was posted, but he could see her sweeping inside. Ranma bravely stepped up and knocked.

Ukyou walked over and looked shocked at her company. She unlocked the doors and ushered Ranma inside. "What's up, sugar?" she asked him. She pulled down chairs so they could sit at one of her tables. "Why're you here so late?"

Her fiancé of sorts coughed and attempted to broach the topic of conversation. He fiddled with his hands on top of the table, finding no correct words. "I…" he began nervously. "You're my best friend, Ukyou." She beamed at that. It was always a source of pride for her that of everyone, Ranma considered himself closest to her. "I've known you forever and you're 'bout the only person that I can really talk to." He paused and took a deep breath to bolster himself for the words to come. "But I don't love you," he blurted.

Ukyou sat back in her chair, a little surprised by his bluntness. She looked awkwardly away from him, hurt by his words even though she knew they were coming. She knew something was up that day Ranma and Akane were over for lunch. Still, she had spent most of her life chasing after this man and feeling entitled to having him. It was unsettling to have him so concisely turn her whole life into a moot point.

She was brought swiftly out of her thoughts when Ranma laid one of his hands on top of her own. Akane had softened him, the chef thought, before he began to speak again. "I didn't mean to say it like that. You are my best friend and I care about you a lot, but I don't love you." He pulled his hand away to cover his face in frustration. "God, I'm so bad at this," he mumbled.

Ukyou couldn't help but laugh.

His head shot up in surprise. "Ukyou?" he questioned. She had completely given herself over to laughter, letting the delirium of her situation consume her.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed between giggles. Her arm was wrapped tightly across her stomach as if she could physically contain her mirth. "It's just-" she broke off to let out another tapering laugh, "this is too much."

Ranma leaned forward over the table in concern. He had no idea what he'd said that would prompt this reaction.

Coming down off her high, Ukyou finally took pity on him. "I've spent 15 years trying everything I could think of to get you to like me. I dedicated my life to securing you as my fiancé, not one of those other hussies – 'cause let's face it, I'm a hell of a lot more stable than Shampoo or Kodachi," she winked at him and was rewarded with a soft smile and a nod. "I spent more time than I care to admit scheming up ways to make you mine… but I never stood a chance, did I?" The question was rhetorical and she continued on without waiting for an answer.

"I could never make you look at me the way you always looked at her, even when you were in the middle of an argument. And I could never make you lose yourself as you did anytime you thought some guy was taking Akane away from you." She met his eyes sympathetically. "That day with Saffron-" she immediately reached out for him when he pulled away to avoid the memory. "Your world ended," she said succinctly and watched as he got lost in that horrible moment. "You thought you'd lost her for real and your world collapsed around you."

She saw him fading on her, so she took a moment to go to the kitchen and make them some tea, giving him the space he didn't know he needed. When she got back, he had returned to the present. "I'm sorry for the way I've behaved over the past few months, Ranma. The botched wedding and all that nonsense. I'm not proud of how crazed I was to claim you. But you don't have to worry. I won't come after you anymore. You found the woman you love," she smiled when he flinched a bit at the L-word. Still her Ranma, then. He might've gotten better at expressing his emotions, but he was still squeamish in front of his more powerful ones. "You found her and you've chosen." She laughed. "This is kinda nice, sugar. I feel like a weight's been lifted."

"You feel? Whadda 'bout me? I came in here thinking there was a good chance you'd kill me." He barked in laughter and she was quick to join him.

They spent the rest of the night reacquainting themselves with being friends, not fiancées. It was a long while later, after many stories and laughs, when he returned to the rooftop to give Akane the good news. He had a broad smile on his face and a light heart. Maybe this telling everyone thing wouldn't be so bad after all.


"You know," he drawled as they reclined together on the roof the next night. Now that almost everyone knew they were together, there was no need to hide out away from their family. That being said, it was still nice to have privacy and the thought of kissing his fiancée in front of her father made him gag. No, the rooftop was still theirs. "Ukyou made a good point the other day," he finished.

Akane cocked her head, keeping her attention on the fading horizon. "Yeah?" she asked disinterestedly. She was happy that Ranma had gotten his friend back, even happier that the chef had stepped aside so easily, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear about the woman every second of the day. In his excitement, Ranma had been rambling on about Ukyou since he'd had his "totally amazing" talk with her.

Ranma rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one arm so that he could stare down at his companion. "Yeah," he parroted. A warm smile grew across his face. "She said that I love you."

Akane's heart stopped. Her body froze, afraid that even the slightest movement – like breathing – would break the spell Ranma was under. She refused to turn and look at him, keeping her eyes fixed on the stars. "Have you seen Shampoo today?"

The pigtailed boy's smile faded at her random question. This wasn't exactly how he'd hoped she'd respond to his confession. "Uh…no."

"What about Kodachi?"

Now he scratched his head. What the heck was going through her mind right now? "No," he said more firmly in his frustration. What did the other girls have to do with him saying that he loved her?

"Did you drink or eat anything at Ukyou's?"

If he didn't know better, he would've sworn that he heard a hint of fear in her voice. "Well, yeah," he admitted and knitted his brow when Akane tightened up even more beside him. "She made some tea."

Akane took a deep, calming breath. "Ok," she whispered. "That's okay," she continued more to herself than to him, "we'll talk to Cologne tomorrow and see if there's an antidote. I know she won't want to help us, but she wouldn't want Ukyou messing around with love spells and plus, we haven't told Shampoo yet, so she wouldn't be on the war path…" her ramble continued as she sat up and starting ticking off the phases of her plan on her fingers. She still hadn't once glanced at her fiancé, fear keeping her facing forward.

A gentle hand caught her chin, another snaking its way around her neck. Slowly but surely, Ranma turned her so that she had to look at him. His eyes were pools of emotion. Everything, fear and mirth and love, was swirling together in a dizzying dance. Akane suddenly felt light-headed. "Akane," he spoke in a low, tender voice. "I love you."

"No, no," she shook her head and tried to displace his steadfast hands. "It's the spell. But we'll get an antidote soon and-" Her words were cut off by his lips. She did her best to remain motionless, knowing that whatever love potion Ukyou had slipped him was forcing him to act this way. She didn't want to take advantage of his current situation.

Finally, just as the woman beneath him was starting to waver in her resolve, he pulled away. He didn't go far, though, his nose barely brushing hers and his breath wafting against her slightly parted mouth. "If Ukyou put me under a spell, wouldn't I be telling her that I loved her?" he said in his most logical voice.

"Ranma," Akane seemed to whine. Her emotions were somewhere caught between embarrassment, total disbelief and incredible joy.

He saw her hesitating and said, for the third time that night, "I love you, Akane Tendo." His whisper made its way straight to her heart and he leaned in to catch her gasp between his lips. She was already open to him and he took advantage, plundering her mouth in a surge of passion. She whimpered once more before succumbing to the kiss herself. She pushed against him, fusing their lips and tilting her head to gain better access. Her hand slipped up his front before finding a resting place over his heart.

After a time, they drew apart. Each gasped for air but still tightly held onto one another. Finally starting to believe that this wasn't some cruel joke – 'cause let's face it, she'd been on the receiving end of more than her fair share of those – Akane pulled away far enough to take in all of Ranma at once.

He was more relaxed than she could ever remember seeing him. A sense of purpose, or maybe it was belonging, had settled over him. His eyes were bright as they stared unerringly back at her. She traced the line of his jaw with two of her fingers. From the moment she met him, or her she corrected, he had taken over her life. Her old routines were thrown out the window and every day became a battle. Either a battle with Ranma, one of his fiancées, one of her suitors or herself as she constantly tried to prove herself to the lot. She had lost a piece of who she was because of all that… but, in a way, she had gained new pieces. She had acquired passion. Passion for her martial art. Passion for life. She had acquired friends. Ryoga, despite or maybe because of his crush on her, had been an even more steadfast companion than Sayuri and Yuka.

And she had Ranma. He was at times infuriating and tender. Dismissive and protective. Arrogant and humble. Male and female. She had thought it would bother her more that he periodically switched genders. In the beginning she had been disturbed and a little disgusted by it. But once the entire Jusenkyo crew made their way to Nerima, it became commonplace. She had gotten used to it and stopped seeing a difference when he was in either form. It was all Ranma.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled herself into the curve of his arms, tucking her head under his chin. She didn't know how they had gotten to this point. The old Ranma would be shaking like a leaf at their closeness. He was always so nervous to show a more sensitive side. The old Akane would've blasted him into the sky screaming out "Hentai!" as he went. She had always been afraid to be too feminine. That would make her appear weak and weakness was not allowed amongst the Jusenkyo crew. They would've eaten her alive. But it didn't matter so much anymore. With Ranma committing himself to showing his softer side, she could let her tough girl walls down. She didn't have to fight so hard. She didn't have to prove anything to him anymore.

She basked in his embrace, loving how his arms would occasionally tighten ever-so-slightly around her. He loved her. Gods be praised, through everything, he had fallen in love with her.

A giddy grin flew across her face. 'He picked me,' she thought childishly. One of her hands slipped around his neck. She entrenched her fingers in his braid and slowly nuzzled her head up, soaking in his scent as she went, until they were cheek to cheek. She placed a kiss on his jaw, prompting him to move a hand up around her back to hold her head in place. The moment was perfect and she couldn't hold back anymore. "I love you too," she breathed into his ear.

She felt him suck in a breath, was amazed to feel his heartbeat increase through their flush bodies. Using the hand at the base of her skull, he pulled her away so that they could see each other. "Really?" he asked in a moment of vulnerability.

It broke her heart that it was easier for him to admit he loved her than to believe that she could love him back. Her eyes watered against her will. "Yes, really. I love you, Ranma Saotome," she emphasized before leaning in and pressing her mouth softly against his. He absorbed her moment of tenderness. Then, excitement burst through him and he crushed her to him.

She laughed against him, but let out a yelp when he brought them both quickly to their feet. He picked her up in a bone-crushing hug and spun her around with a 1000-watt smile plastered on his face. After a few spins, he dropped her back on her unsteady feet. He pecked her on the lips and, with a 'woop!' to the sky, ran and jumped off the roof.

Akane's heart caught in her throat and she ran to the roof's edge just in time to see her daredevil cannonball into the koi pond. Magically the pond seemed to deepen to accept his maneuver and the affronted koi jumped out of his way. Relieved to see he hadn't hurt himself, Akane laughed happily down at him… her. Oh what a life he had in store for her.

She couldn't wait.


A giant step forward, I realize. But it seemed like the right time and the words just flowed out before I knew what I was writing. So, there you go, the biggest confession of them all. Next chapter: Ryoga, Shampoo, and a fight!