Situation: Ranma has been kicked out of the home because he won't apologize to Happosai. He is sitting outside at the park, with a small fire in front of him to try and keep him from the cold.

Chapter 10: S.O.S.! The Wrath of the Happosai

"Perhaps it's best if you lay low for a while, son," Soun Tendo had told him, clearly watching out for himself rather than the rest of the family. Naturally, Ranma's father had followed it up with a consolatory sign which read: "Only for 2-3 days," to which Kasumi had added how bad she felt about leaving Ranma out in the cold.

The middle Tendo sister had jumped in to making fun of his misery by suggesting he took his removal from the home as a vacation. Ranma scoffed at the idea of how anyone who was kicked out of their home could see living on the streets as a vacation of any kind.

"Hmpf! He throws a fit and I am out in the cold!" he said, shivering almost out of control. "Really cold," he added, wondering why the hell he had not brought better clothing with him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the thump of footsteps pressing down on freezing grass, forcing him to look up to see his fiancée's face wrapped up in a scarf, her body surrounded by a thick coat, and her hands sporting a pair of thick gloves that could have passed for oven mitts due to their size. His attention to her hands lead to him realizing she was holding a rather large paper bag in one hand, and a thermos in the other.

"Oh! Hey, Akane!"

"Thought you might be hungry," she mumbled behind the cloth on her mouth, walking closer to Ranma and kneeling down in front of him. The cold concrete ground made her knees shiver, reminding her that she had been stupid enough to wear a skirt to go out on a cold night such as this.

Her feelings of discomfort, however, would disappear once she returned home, while Ranma's would continue until the issue with Happosai and his spoiled attitude came to an end.

She placed the bag and thermos on the ground, quickly reaching inside and taking out a couple of rice balls. A blink of an eye was all it took for him to accept her offerings, knowing by the look of the rice that it had been Kasumi who had cooked the food.

As Akane watched him eat like a man who had just come out of the wilderness, she reached down inside the bag and took out a small plastic cup. She then struggled to tilt the thermos to pour the tea inside the cup, almost dropping the entire liquid on herself due to the challenge the large gloves presented.

"Here," she said, passing on to him the cup of freshly brewed hot tea.

"Great! Thanks a lot!" Ranma said, munching on his second ball of rice and washing it down with the tea Akane had just poured for him. Akane waited for him to look partially satisfied before handing him another rice ball and speaking again.

"Don't you think you're…" she said, still sounding muffled behind the scarf on her face. Ranma held the ball of rice in his mouth before using his hands to pull lightly on the cloth so he could hear her better. The closeness that had been required to accomplish his task, added with the fact that he was now adjusting her scarf so that it still provided her protection from the wind chill but allowed her voice to be heard without interruption made her look away from his concentrated look.

Once he was satisfied with his job, he took the ball of rice with his right hand and swallowed it all at once, lightly punching his chest to force down the delicious food so he could speak again. He was yet to pull away from her, and she did not seem willing to pull away from him either. He could not blame her, though; the wind was picking up.

"What were you saying, Akane?"

"I-I…I said, I meant, why don't you just get it over with?" she asked, trying her best to cover the nervousness his proximity caused her.

Ranma knitted his brows at her suggestion; almost finding it offending that she asked him to give up so easily. "No way! I'd rather take my chances and stay out here and freeze to death than to give that little freak of nature what he wants."

"But, Ranma, you can't just live here forever!"

"I know that, 'kane! But I also know I'm not wrong. I'm not apologizing to that letch. 'sides, I think I've come up with a way to fix that freak's red wagon for good."

"You mean you got a plan?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't think I can pull it off without you, Akane," he said before leaning forward and whispering the plan to her. She knew not even Happosai would be out in this cold, so there was really no need for him to be so secretive. She did not mind the gesture, at all, but she was still coming to terms with the fact that she felt really comfortable around this boy.

Once he finished relaying his plan to her, he pulled back. His attention moved to the thermos and paper bag. "So, what do you think? Can you help me?" he asked her, rolling up the bag and putting it aside before pouring himself another cup of tea.

"I don't see why not," she responded. "It sounds like it could work."

"Of course it will; I came up with it. Jeez, Akane, do ya have no faith in me?"

"Idiot; of course I do, but you know how the Master gets. I just don't want you to end up worse than you are right now, that's all."

Ranma finished drinking his tea before tilting his head to the side and smirking at her. "Are you worried about me, Akane?"

The blush on her cheeks was immediate and inevitable. She dug her face inside her scarf as much as she could before looking away from him. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to," he said, a smug tone in his voice.

"Ugh, you're impossible! Here I am, being nice to you and walking out in this cold for you, and you make fun of me! That's it! I'm out of here!" she said, standing up. Ranma stood up after her, pulling lightly on her arm to prevent her from walking away.

"Hey, whoa, chill, Akane. It was just a stupid joke."

"Oh, yeah? Well, let me laugh it out on my way home!" she said, trying to pull away from him. She did not mind dealing with uncaring, self-centered Ranma, to that side of him she was used to. But when they were alone and he acted more like a fiancée than a brat, she was yet to learn how to handle herself around him.

"Don't be like that, Akane. I wanna go home, too. You think I'm happy knowing he's back there around you all day, maybe trying to pull some shit on you, and I'm not there to protect you?"

"I…I guess not," she conceded, relaxing her shoulders and turning around to face him once more. "Here," she said, trying to unbutton her coat but failing miserably due to the gloves. She used her teeth to pull one off, and then pulled the other, revealing she was actually wearing two pairs. She handed him one pair and he gladly accepted them.

"Wait, there's more," she continued as she held her own gloves in her teeth and began undoing the buttons of her coat. Once she finally pulled it off, Ranma noticed she was wearing one underneath, and the one she had taken off actually belonged to him.

"And, one more thing," she said, handing him the coat and unbuttoning her own to take out a scarf she had placed in the inside pocket. "Here, that's all I could sneak out without the Master noticing."

Ranma held the coat, scarf and gloves in his hands, alternating between staring at the garments and then at Akane. He gave her a grateful smile before noticing the lack of double layers was making her shiver already.

He bundled all items together and placed them atop his backpack. He then turned around and walked closer to his fiancée, pulling her closer to him by grabbing onto the lapels of her coat.

"Hold up, let's wrap you up again," he said, taking the gloves from her with his own teeth while she still held them with hers, much to her shock. He adjusted the scarf and buttoned her up again. He then pulled the gloves from his mouth and covered her hands with them. Once he was satisfied with his work, his hands moved to her face once more, adjusting the scarf so that the bottom half of her face was covered from the cold, just as it had been when she had arrived.

"There you go; safe for the way back."

"Thank you, Ranma."

"Thank you, Akane. Now, go back home, or you'll get sick."

"Be careful, please."

"I will," he reassured her before giving her gloved hands a squeeze and seeing her off. The smile on his face could not be removed even during his sleep.

A/N: Thanks for your patience! See you next weekend!