Chapter 45
"Well Ranma," Akane said holding up the piece of lumber. "What do you think?"
Ranma stared at the would-be sign for a few moments as she tried to read it. Akane watched her wife in anticipation and wearing patience. "Is it good or not?"
"Um.. It's um..." Ranma said trying to find the best possible words. "How long did you say you have been working on this, again?"
"I started it the week before we got married." Akane answered as she tried to work out how long they had now been married. "So about five weeks, I guess."
"Five weeks?"Ranma asked as she further scanned her wife's 'handiwork'. The board of the sign was made of a singular piece of cedar. It was crudely cut and misshapen, but it was solid. The painting of the words, though spelled correctly was poorly written and it was difficult to make out at first glance. It was simply the case of Ranma telling her 'sometimes' overly sensitive wife that!
"You like it?" Akane said smiling as she waited for Ranma's approval.
"Uh yeah, sure." Ranma said not wanting to upset Akane. "It definitely has your touch to it, Akane. You can tell that you've worked so hard on it."
"Oh I knew you would like it." Akane said giving Ranma a quick kiss and picking up the sign. "I'm just gonna go hang this up outside. You coming with?"
"Sure." Ranma said watching how giddy Akane was with excitement. Maybe it won't look so bad once it's hung up. She thought to herself as she followed her wife outside.
Unfortunately it did look bad once hung up. Especially given the shoddy hammering and bent nails that held it up. "This is so great, Ranma." Akane said excitedly as she hugged her wife gently and pulled out her phone. "Let's take a selfie with the sign."
"Whoa, Whoa, settle down Akane." Ranma said as Akane quickly took the picture. "You didn't even give me a chance to smile for crying out loud."
"Relax Ranma," Akane said looking at the picture on her phone "It's a natural picture. You look great!"
"Huh!" Ranma said smiling as she looked at the picture and saw both her and her wife standing in front of the new sign looking happily into the camera. "You're right we do look happy, don't we?"
"And why wouldn't we be?" Akane asked as she kissed her on the cheek. "We're a happily married couple. Well, I've got to go to work now, are you gonna be alright until your mother gets here?"
"Of course I am." Ranma said trying to reassure Akane. "You don't need to worry so much, you know? I can look after myself for a couple of hours. I don't need babysitting."
"I know you can." Akane said "But you could go into labour any day now and I don't want you over exerting yourself. I just want to make sure that the both of you are safe."
"Like I said," Ranma said "I can manage for a couple hours until my mom gets here. If not, I can call her to come sooner, she won't mind. Besides, I'm not due to give birth for another two weeks. Now you're gonna be late for work. You'd best get going."
"Ok then," Akane said as she put on her coat. "You sure you're gonna be ok?"
"Yep!" Ranma said as she nodded.
"Ok then," Akane said giving Ranma a kiss goodbye, before she started walking down the street towards the Dragon's Eye. "I love you."
"I love you too, Akane." Ranma answered, watching her wife walk off to work. Looking at the sign, she sighed.
Hmm, she thought to herself as she gave the sign a quick tug. Akane's work may have been shoddy, but it was definitely solid and didn't seem to be going anywhere without a good deal of force. Maybe I can find a way to make it look like an accident.
As Ranma debated on how to destroy the new sign, she heard a rumbling sound coming her way. Perfect. She thought to herself as she recognised Katsunishiki's footsteps. This could be my chance.
"Morning Ranma!" Akari said, waving from atop of Katsunishiki's back.
"Hey Akari!" Ranma answered as she noticed someone was missing. "No Ryoga today?"
"Oh he's right here." Akari said producing a small pet carrier containing Ryoga in his pig form.
"What'd he do this time?" Ranma asked looking at Ryoga as he sat in the carrier feeling sorry for himself.
"Nothing." Akari said opening the carrier and taking Ryoga out of it. "He lost his compass so this is the best way to get him around without losing him."
"Oh." Ranma said "So what are you two up to today?"
"Nothing really." Akari said stepping down from Katsunishiki's back. "We just came by to see how you were doing. No baby yet?"
"Not yet." Ranma said shaking her head and holding her now massive bump. "I'm not due for another two weeks. Akane sent you, didn't she?"
Akari nodded, much to Ranma's chagrin. "I told her I don't need babysitting." She moaned.
"Akane said you would say something like that." Akari said "She also said that you can't be up on your feet for too long, so inside please. It is still January after all, you'll freeze"
Ranma grumbled as she followed Akari back inside the house. "Well, can I at least make you both some tea?" She offered "I need Ryoga for a favour so I'm gonna be boiling the kettle anyways."
"I'll make the tea, Ranma." Akari said handing Ryoga over to her along with some of his clothes. "You take Ryoga into the living room and sit down. I'll be back in a minute."
As she entered the living room Ranma put down Ryoga and put his clothes neatly in a pile next to him just as Akari came back in and poured some hot water onto Ryoga, turning him back to normal.
"You may wanna put your clothes on, Ryoga." Ranma pointed out as he sat their naked in front of the heavily pregnant redhead.
"From what I've heard, you like this sort of thing now." he said grinning as he put his pants back on.
"There's only one guy for me and it's Akane." Ranma pointed out as Akari handed her some tea. "Besides, he has a much better body than you do."
"I'll take your word for it." Akari said bluntly "Although, I would like to know how big his-"
"AKARI!?" Ryoga shouted, his face blushing bright red. Ranma tried to stop herself from giggling.
"What?" Akari asked smiling. "A girl needs to know these things. Come on Ranma, just between us girls."
Ranma giggled a bit more before leaning over to Akari's ear and whispering. Akari's face turned pink as began to smile.
"Ooh, lucky you!" She said before whispering something else into Ranma's ear and then joining her in a shared fit of giggles.
Ryoga cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ranma, didn't you say you needed me for something?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Huh?" Ranma asked before remembering what she said "Oh yeah. I need your help to take down the sign outside."
"You putting a new one up or something?" he asked remembering the state of the sign. "It does look a little shoddy."
"That is the new one."Ranma said much to Ryoga's shock.
"Akane?" he said
"Akane." Ranma said nodding. "We need to make it look like an accident, so she won't get upset."
"Yeah sure." Ryoga said knowing full well how dangerous an 'upset' Akane can be. He then finished his tea and stood up. "Come on then. Let's take a look at it."
As they stood outside staring at the new sign, Ryoga gave it a quick tug to see how much force it would take to remove it. "Man, Akane nailed this thing in good." He said tugging harder at the cedar board. "How long was she working on this?"
"She said about five weeks." Ranma said as she watched Ryoga study the sign.
"Five weeks?" He said as he gave the sign a quick tug and pulled it off of the dojo wall. "I'm not even sure I can read this thing, it looks like chicken scratch. What's it supposed to say again?"
"The Saotome-Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma said "There's also supposed to be details about the class times and fees, but I guess Akane forgot about that part."
"So, you're gonna be a teacher now?" Ryoga asked to which Ranma nodded.
"Well Akane's gonna be teaching herself for a while." Ranma answered "Then when I've recovered and get my full strength back, I'll be starting lessons too."
"You gonna teach any of chi techniques?" Ryoga said
"Only if I find any special candidates." Ranma answered "Until then, it's just basic martial arts."
"Well, Nerima has enough martial artist problems." Ryoga said smiling "It doesn't need half of the population learning to use the Cat-Fist or anything like that."
"You're not kidding." Ranma said
"Well I'm glad you've decided to take up teaching, Ranma" Ryoga said snapping Akane's sign "You know what they say. Those who can't, teach!"
"Sorry, what?" Ranma said, her right eye twitching at Ryoga's comment. "Care to repeat that, P-Chan?"
"Whoops." Ryoga said as he stared at Ranma who was now glowing an angry shade of red.
"Dojo. Now!" Ranma said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it." Ryoga explained "I'm sorr-"
"NOW!" Ranma shouted putting the fear of god into him.
The inside of the Dojo became a very tense atmosphere, as an unwilling Ryoga tried his best to calm an extremely annoyed Ranma.
"Seriously Ranma I don't think we should be doing this." Ryoga said, concerned for his friend/rival's well being. "You really shouldn't be over doing things."
"Shaddup Pig boy!" Ranma said furiously determined. "Besides, beating the tar out of you won't take up that much of my energy."
She then unleashed a barrage of strikes at Ryoga who managed to block most of them but still ended up being hit in the mouth, bursting his lip. Wiping the blood off, Ryoga still protested.
"I take it back, Ok?" he said blocking Ranma's attacks to the best of his abilities. "I was only joking."
"You think this is a joke, Ryoga?" Ranma shouted as she continued her assault. "For months now, I haven't been able to train. I haven't been able to spar. Everyone's been treating me like I'm made of paper and I'm SICK OF IT!"
"And how's that MY FAULT?!" Ryoga shouted as he continued to block and parry. "For crying out loud, you need to stop this! You're gonna hurt yourself!"
"I'm gonna hurt YOU!" Ranma screamed as she punched Ryoga square in the face, knocking him back into the Dojo wall.
Finally, Ryoga had had enough. "Alright fine," He said squaring off into a fighting stance "You wanna fight? I'll give you a fight!"
"Bout time!" Ranma said confidently as she stood and prepared for combat. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared for what happened next, as she felt a running sensation down her legs. "Uh oh."
Noticing the large puddle on the floor and the wet patch on Ranma's pants, Ryoga became very worried very quickly. "Um Ranma," He said "Are you okay?"
Ranma shook her head as her face became pale. "Ryoga, do me a favour and tell Akari to call Akane and my mom." She said softly as she slowly sat on the floor and started taking deep slow breaths. "And Dr. Tofu too."
"I don't understand." Ryoga said panicking "What's going on?"
"Well," Ranma said trying her best to remain calm "I think I've just gone into labour."
