During the week that followed Akane noticed a certain distance from Ranma, he was restless, out of focus. When they trained together, he seemed to be sure to keep some extra space between them, purposefully not touching her. It was a strange sensation, to have someone's hand so close over your arm, over your shoulder you could feel the heat from their body and to an untrained eye would look to be touching, but still his hands hovered.
Not that this was a bad thing she told herself. They didn't need to touch. Who needs to touch someone they live with.
Who needs to touch their friends like that?
But she couldn't shake the lonely feeling of seeing him be so unlike his normally confident, happy self now glum and quiet.
She wasn't able to shake the thoughts, even at work. She stared out over her desk running ideas through her mind about what could be wrong with him. Maybe just a couple of bad days?
He was fine last week. Then his mood changed after he used the Nyannichuan powder.
Did that put him in a bad mood? Does he maybe miss the curse?
Was I too intense with him?
She tapped her chin absent minded not noticing Tofu enter the front office, too involved in her thoughts. He got close and coughed softly, she jumped.
"Oh! Dr. Tofu! I'm so sorry, I don't know where my mind was wandering off to." He smiled back at her.
"No worries Akane, sometimes we get so focused on something we lose track of everything. Something you want to talk about?"
"No no, I guess I just have a lot on my mind with the wedding and moving and all. I'm sure you guys have a lot on your minds as well."
"Oh, plenty but Kasumi is so well organized it seems like nothing is out of place or order." She smiled, ready to go back to work. "Akane, why don't you take the rest of the day off and start your weekend early? I know you only have so many free weekends over the next month and you probably could use just some time to yourself. What with the family beach trip next weekend and the wedding coming so soon."
"Dr. Tofu, really I don't need to, it's fine!"
"I insist, I don't have any patients today or tomorrow, I can handle the office for a day. Go enjoy your summer!" He smiled and returned to his office, hoping she'd enjoy some time with a certain someone from her past.
As she packed up her bag and prepared to leave, Akane noticed a message from Sayuri. She opened her phone and read it, smiling wide.
This ought to do it.
XxXXXxxXXXxxx
"I'm home!" Akane pulled her shoes off and went into the house, looking for to anyone but in particular Ranma, entering the kitchen she found Nodoka instead starting dinner.
"Akane, you're home early! Is everything alright with Tofu?"
"Yeah, he's fine, he just let me leave early to enjoy the day and weekend."
"Oh, that's lovely dear, would you like to help me here after you change?"
"Um..." Akane blushed a little "Actually I got invited to go out to dinner tonight with some friends so I'd like to see them. It's a couple people from high school, some people that would know Ranma and I was-" she blushed brighter "Gonna ask him if maybe he wanted to come with. No big deal, they'd probably just like to see him is all."
Smooth Akane, real smooth.
Nodoka's smile never wavered and she nodded.
"I think that would be very nice of you Akane, get him out of the house for a little bit. He's up in his room if you wanted to go ask." Akane nodded and blushed one more time before turning around and heading back upstairs. When she was out of eye and ear shot, Nodoka placed her knife down and gripping both hands, wide grin on her face, hopped on each foot, a small, silent dance of celebration.
Being sure to not be rude, Akane knocked on his closed door and waited for his reply.
"Come on in."
She opened the door and walked in, he was laying on his side on his bed reading some kind of manga or magazine. He was in his tank top and training pants, looking like he'd just been sparring not too long ago. He chewed on some cracker, the crumbs falling onto his sheets, he hadn't even looked up at her.
"You shouldn't eat in your bed you know. You're gonna be rolling around on bits all night." She stated obviously, his eyes shot up and immediately sat up, pulling the manga over his lap.
"'Kane! Didn't know you were home, what's up?" He was a little flustered, she thought that she could see parts of his younger self when he was like this.
"So obviously you're really busy as I can see." She teased and he rolled his eyes. "But I got an invite to go out for dinner and drinks with some friends from Furinkan and I was wondering if you want to go with me." She immediately went red. "Like just to hang out. Tag along with me, to see friends. They probably wanna see you after all this time. Hiroshi and Daisuki will be there. It's nothing fancy." She kept rambling more than she had intended to, feeling like she had to sell him on this. He looked at her a little puzzled but broke out into a smile at her attempts to make it seem like a great time.
"Yeah, okay sure. Sounds like a good time, I'll come along." He looked much more like his normal self than the wandering grump of the last few days.
"Cool, cool, cool." Akane looked around the room, she took a deep breath and smiled big. "Well let's head out around 7, we can take a cab if that's okay?"
"Whatever works." He smiled wider, it put her on edge. She nodded and let herself out. Ranma's smile dropped slightly as he laid back down on his bed.
xXXXxxxXXxx
Akane finished primping her hair in her room and looked over her face one more time, this was going to be her first outing with friends since her and Shingo's breakup and Ranma's first time out since getting home. She looked over herself, this was a good thing.
For both of them.
She adjusted her top, a black silk camisole she'd gotten from Nabiki last holiday season along with some jeans. Not too dressed up, easy going because she was INCREDIBLY easy going about this date.
NOT DATE
THIS IS NOT A DATE
They were going to hang out as friends and that would cheer him up and then things would be back to normal and she could easily transition into moving out and then she would be in the clear and everything would be back on track in her life. She could even see the interaction between them on her move out day:
'Wow Ranma I am so glad that the two of us were able to sit down and figure out our years long complicated relationship over a series of conversations throughout this summer.'
'Agree Akane, I too am glad that we have moved past the childish feelings, expectations and resentments. We are such healthy and supportive friends now!
'Yes, I value our friendship deeply and would want it no other way. Well now I'll be leaving the house until I inevitably return to run the dojo alone, please enjoy!'
'I'm sure I will until I leave again! You know me, I need my independence!'
'Of course! As do I! See you at Christmas?'
'No promises!' They laugh together.
Akane sighed at herself in the mirror, grabbing a cardigan. She wouldn't likely need it in July but she suddenly felt more dressed up and wanted to dull herself down a bit.
"Yo, 'Kane you ready up there?" He called down from the stairs and she rolled her eyes, clearly on the road he hadn't learned any etiquette as it came to going out with others.
"Coming!"
She headed down and saw him and surprisingly, no one else. She would've bet money that their families would be at the door as well, cameras in toe to commemorate this occasion. Instead, she was alone with Ranma, in some casual pants and of course a red button-down Chinese style shirt. She laughed as she put on her shoes and grabbed her purse, letting whomever was inside know that they were leaving.
Heading out the door she remembered she needed to call a cab, he told her he had done so already and would only be a second. She was quiet, guess he did have a reason to hurry her up.
As the cab pulled up, she walked to the door but he was behind her and opened it for her. She turned his way and gave him a teasing "I'm impressed" face. He slammed the door on her and got in on his side. She was laughing when he got in.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, just...quite the gentleman, opening doors for ladies."
"Callin' yourself a lady, that's a good one." He chuckled as she hit his arm. "Nah, I know how to be a decent guy, had to learn when I was on the road. Some of the people I hung with or stayed with were real sticklers for stuff like that." Akane gave the taxi driver the directions to the bar and they were on their way.
"Really? Like where? Who were these people, I figured on the road you'd be I don't know..."
"Hanging with a shitty crowd?"
"Yeah, kinda. You know whoever would take you in, people who don't mind a wandering guy."
"I definitely had some sketchy people I ran into but moving from dojo to dojo, you tend to meet people who are little more I don't know, fancy?"
"Refined? Traditional?"
"Yeah, let's go with that. Well, some of 'em would just take me in but some of them I got kinda close with. I had a sensei that I met out in some small town like 2 or 3 hours out of Seoul, and while my Korean was and is lousy, their Japanese was much better. The sensei was this older guy, who had 4 sons, all grown up, married and everythin'. Anyways, I meet his wife and man, was she a tough ol' bird. She asks me about my life and all, I tell her a little bit about myself and my life, on the road, then in Nerima. As I'm talkin' to her, she's making these faces while I eat and afterwards basically tells me I'm the worst eater she's seen in her life." He started laughing as Akane looked on, caught up in the story. "So, I tell her, hey you know I don't know no better, I'm on the road lady, I'm trying to be a better fighter not a more polite chewer or whatever." He leaned back in his seat, a wide smile over his face.
"'Kane, this woman put me through the fuckin' ringer. Every time she came into a room, I had to open a door for her, pull a chair out for her, learn how to have small talk and eat proper. I was carrying umbrellas over her head, giving her my jacket if she looked at me sideways. All while her ol' man is trying to teach me the discipline from his school." He laughed. "I was gettin' taught double in that household.
"But when I was getting ready to leave, I was doin' all the stuff she taught me just naturally and that was the one time I think I ever saw that woman smile genuinely. She told me before I left that she had raised all her sons to be gentlemen and she'd be damned if she let any other man in her home and not leave to her standards." The warm sunset gave his face an additional look of calm.
"Wow, I guess you learned a lot on the road?" Akane didn't know what to offer up, this was the first time Ranma had actually talked about the things he saw and she didn't want him to feel like he couldn't talk about it openly without hurting her feelings. She didn't want him to feel like he had to hide that part of his life from her.
"Yeah, learned a lot on the road. I mean mostly martial arts but you know some cooking, I guess etiquette? Take care of myself without you know takin' advantage of people like my ol' man. I didn't want to leave a trail of angry people all over Asia after my ass you know." She nodded.
"I actually spent a lot of time with this guy Ji, that I met not long after leaving the Amazons. I wanted to spend some time in Hong Kong since I knew they had a good fighting community and I just happened to bump into him heading the same way. So, we trained together, cooked and camped together and along the way, we'd stop and he'd teach me Mandarin, teach me Cantonese. Introduce me to dojos he knew so we could stay." He looked so happy, so at peace.
"This guy told me he was only a little older than me but I know he was at least a decade and a half older but hey. Ji loved fighting in tournaments, loved the rush of it, not even the cash or winning. But the thing he loved more than fightin' was chicks." He shook his head laughing. "He was constantly on the prowl, every town, every bar we went to, he'd be trying to pick up women and you know, he would do alright for himself. I guess they didn't think he was so bad lookin' or something."
"So, you wandered around in Southeast China with a pervert?" Akane teased, he huffed out and laughed a little.
"I guess he was kinda a pervert, but not like Happosai. He just really, really loved the ladies. He would always try to get me to go out with him, learn his pickup techniques but I let him know early on I wan't interested." His smile dropped a little. "I... wanted to focus on my art, not be some playboy."
Akane wanted to joke or break the tension, but he continued.
"He told me he got it, but if I ever wanted to learn anything to come find him, he'd show me -" he said something in Mandarin, she didn't recognize. "Like...'everything under the sun'. He was a creep with a heart of gold."
Before Akane could ask anything else the taxi driver interrupted, speaking with his own native tongue.
"You speak with a eastern dialect, you don't hear that too often out here."
"Oh, it's how my friend spoke. My Mandarin ain't great so I'm sorry if I don't make sense."
"You're fine. Is this your girlfriend?"
"Uh..." He looked over at Akane, who was taken aback at his speaking abilities. She smiled curious, as if she egged him on to continue. "She's a friend. It's...tangled." He couldn't recall the word for complicated.
"Pretty girls usually make things complicated. You two look happy though if it means anything."
"Thanks."
"I recognized 'thanks'! What were you talking about?" She offered up, genuinely amazed at his linguistic display.
"We uh-"
"We spoke about his dialect. It's a little strange to hear here. I'm from a village that uses it." The driver had an accent of his own "It is not too bad for non-native speaker."
Akane was proud to hear that and laughed as they were coming up on their destination.
"That's great! I always get a little nervous when people speak another language in front of me, like they may be talking about me and I don't have a clue. That's kind of selfish though, isn't it?"
"I think a lot of people feel that way miss, but have no worry. The restaurant is on the passenger side, correct?" She nodded and prepared to grab her purse but Ranma had already grabbed some cash.
"I got the ride; you can grab me a drink for our first round, okay?" As the car came to a stop she nodded and smiled, getting out first. Ranma handed the driver the cash as he handed him a card.
"You seem like a good boy, call me when you need a ride. I work all night. I'll cut you a deal."
He took the card and thanked him, heading in behind Akane.
xxXXXxxxxxXXXXxxxx
The restaurant wasn't particularly fancy or trendy, it seemed more like a local bar that could accommodate a large number of people. It offered Western food as well as Japanese and certainly beat Yuka's initial idea of a club which was downvoted by nearly everyone else.
Ranma and Akane were the last to arrive, waving to the group of 7 awaiting them at a large table. Immediately recognizing his friends Hiroshi and Daisuke, he went up to them right away shaking their hands as they moved it to quick friendly hugs for someone they hadn't seen in years. He also remembered Yuka and Sayuri right away, both looking eerily similar as they did in high school. He was also introduced to another couple, the girl another friend of the girls in high school along with her boyfriend. And lastly a guy from Daisuke's job that was invited last minute.
Together the group caught up on their day to day lives but after the first shared appetizers, drinks and jokes, talked turned to Ranma'a adventures away from the city. He told them his stories of visiting China, Hong Kong, Thailand, about the tournaments he fought in and all the food he ate. Sayuri whined about how amazing it must've been to be able to experience so much different cuisines, an amateur chef in her own mind.
He told them that it wasn't always easy, that there were hardships to living outdoors and not knowing the local language. How on the occasion he'd be tossed from dojos for their inability to communicate with him and he'd have to think quickly about where he'd find shelter for the night. Those in the know asked if he'd ever "taken care of his little problem" which he assured them he had. They laughed relieved for him as he continued his tales.
Akane sat listening along with the rest of the group and as he told a tale of a bar room brawl he helped break up in Bangkok, she realized that today was the first day that she hadn't gotten upset or down over mentions of when he left. These stories from a time in her life where she'd been waiting on him or not thinking of him at all, didn't pull her down at all.
This is it.
Here. Now. With friends.
Ranma and I are okay.
We're better than okay, we're where we're supposed to be.
I have no more reasons to be mad at him, it's just Ranma. The Ranma I was always supposed to know, always supposed to be friends with.
He broke into a laugh and smiled at her, not overly charming, not overly handsome. That boyish smile and laugh like when they first met, genuine and carefree.
I think we've fixed this.
And to keep herself from feeling like she'd tear up, she laughed harder at his story. The feelings of uncertainty of their relationship wash away from her.
xxXXXxxxxXXXxxxx
After another drink and entrees, they got to talking as a group again. The stories of Ranma's travels and experiences had broken out into others talking about their own times in university or studies, the rebellious natures they took on out of high school, the changes they got to tell him about after he'd been gone unable to experience along with them.
Daisuke and Sayuri had started dating after graduating high school, Hiroshi and Yuka had attempted to not great results, the semesters abroad, summer trips, embarrassing moments. The changes they had together, they had separately.
"And then Sayuri, ruined her hair with her at home bleach job. Because of you Akane!" Yuka pointed at the other girl and laughed. "She had to cut her hair so short because it was so damaged." Akane smiled out of remorse for her friend. Ranma was confused.
"What? Why? Did Akane do it?"
"You jerk!" She threw a balled-up napkin at him and laughed.
"It's cause Akane's blonde looked so good! I thought I could do it myself." Sayuri whined. Ranma raised an eyebrow.
"You were blonde? That seems so weird and... not like you. I'd have never been able to spot you in a crowd."
"Yeah, I bleached it like...2 or 3 years ago? I wanted something different I dunno. It ruined my hair I had to cut it all short again cause it was so messed up."
"But it was so cute! You looked so good with it!"
Ranma wondered to himself about how much different she would've looked, he decided to ask at some point to see if she had any pictures where she looked like that. Still Akane but...different. She had wanted to be different.
"Yeah, you cut it after you came back from the U.S. remember? Because you hadn't been able to keep up with the roots abroad and you were like 'I have to get rid of this!'"
"U.S.? You went to America, 'Kane?" She laughed.
"Yeah, I went to California for a couple weeks for school, took some courses there in bilingual classes. It was good."
No one mention Shingo.
That name, it felt like a million years since she had thought about him. Had she really gotten over him so quickly? It made her feel bad that she would get over someone so fast, it was like the opposite of when Ranma left. She didn't hear him talking to her as a friend ordered the last drinks for the table.
"You speak English?" He was waiting on her.
"Oh uh, yeah a little bit." She smiled; he gave her a smile of admiration. Before she had been impressed with his Chinese but here she was with her own abilities she was hiding. He play coughed and ran a couple things in his mind.
"Hi...nice to meet you. I'm Ranma Saotome. How are you?" His English wasn't great but he was giving it everything he had, like so much of what he did. It was so surreal to hear him in another language and be able to understand.
"Hello Mr. Saotome, I'm Akane Tendou and its lovely to meet you. I'm doing well, how are you?" She couldn't help but put a little more into her response. He smirked.
"Good. It's very clean out tonight."
"Did you mean 'clear'?"
"Clear and uh damnit forget it my English is basic at best." He laughed and finished his drink about to move onto his last. Akane laughed behind her own drink.
"It was pretty good! But it's gonna take a bit to beat the English champ here!" She flexed her arm jokingly until the guy that worked with Daisuke, Hiro spoke up.
"Actually, Akane-san I double majored in English and literature so if anyone is an English champ, I think I would have to challenge you for the title." He teased to her, she made a pouting face and shoved his arm laughing.
The interaction put a bitter taste in Ranma's mouth that he took an extra-long drink to get it out.
"Hey! I know what we should go do! There's a great karaoke bar just down the street! Dai, please we haven't gone in forever and we have a big group it'll be so fun!" Sayuri grabbed the arm of her boyfriend and he groaned. She smiled and turned to the group. "Please! I promise it'll be so much! I'll buy the first round of drinks."
"Well, if you're buying the first round of drinks..." the boyfriend of the girl from high school answered and saddled himself up to head to the next spot. Soon after everyone got up and started heading up the block. Sayuri and Daisuke led the way with Yuka and Ranma behind them, followed by the girl's friend Ami and her boyfriend and lastly Akane and Hiro. Ranma overheard their conversation, speaking back and forth in English, Akane thanking him to allow her some practice since it had been a bit.
He tried not to think too much about it. Today had been a good day and tonight had been more fun than he anticipated, he didn't want to let his jealousy get the better of him.
But he couldn't help the way he felt.
"Y'know I don't know how Akane had time between school and traveling to be an idol, but she managed."
"WHAT?!" Ranma yelled. "An Idol? Seriously?"
"Oh yeah...really popular. You should've heard her hit song, 'Boy, I'll Kill You Before I Kiss You'." She started cackling. "I'm just kidding, could you imagine this one like that? Ranma we gotta get you up to speed."
xxXXXxxxxXXXxxxxx
Entering the small room, the group sat on a large sectional in front of a projection screen. Sayuri was already buried in the book of songs to pick, trying to start the group off. Akane and Yuka said they'd grab drinks and without looking up from her choices, Sayuri handed them money and shooed them off.
As they made their way to the bar, Yuka side eyed Akane and grinned.
"So..."
"So...?"
"So, Ranma."
"Yuka."
"I'm just saying. He was cute in high school."
"And my fiancée, weirdo."
"He is hot as hell, Akane when's this happening?" Akane raised an eyebrow. "Oh my god, you child. When are you going to hook up?" Akane also tripped at the bar, gripping the counter.
"Yuka! I... WE...no. I could not tell you how bad of an idea that is."
"Oh c'mon. Pitcher of beer and three glasses of wine. One of those is for you by the way." She spoke to the bartender than back to Akane. "You're single, he's single. He's...probably the best-looking guy I've ever seen in real life and you're a beautiful, lovely, single, fun loving, single, easy going, single woman." She smiled, Akane shook her head.
"It's a bad idea, Yuka. Nothing good will come of it." The bartender handed her a pitcher and Yuka the wine glasses. She nearly mentioned the kiss but thought better not too. Yuka was certainly one of her best friends, but subtlety was not one of her strong suits and she would run that knowledge into the ground.
They walked back to the room as Sayuri was singing some poppy tune to the pained ears of everyone else. After a round of drinks and a song each, Yuka pushed Akane up, new glass of wine set down.
"Akane! Do you remember when we were like...12 and I had that tape of that dance song that we played over and over?" Yuka joked and Akane scanned her memories. Finally, it landed.
"Oh my god Yuka, I haven't heard that in forever. That's so long ago! I won't remember!" She whined slightly.
"Do it! Do it!" She chanted and got the room to join, Akane groaned and found the song. Of course, it's there. She put it in.
Some dance-y, disco-y 90s tune played out, immediately Akane was singing along with English lyrics on the screen, her shoulders moving side to side as she blushed as her friends clapped along with the beat, Yuka and Sayuri cheering her on.
Ranma laughed at her bashfulness but also at how easy she had been pressured into the song, he'd heard her sing at Christmas parties in the past, she still had a light, cute voice that seemed a little too high or soft for the song she was singing. He watched as she started shaking her hips to the beat they clapped to and started feeling a little odd. He smiled through it; everyone was having fun so why should he feel weird.
Until she got to its chorus.
And while his understanding of English wasn't as advanced as Akane's or Hiro's he knew those words.
Touch Me
All Night Long
She was blushing and laughing, trying to keep up with singing while Yuka cheered her on, Sayuri and Ami joining in with their giggles that made Akane break up her own singing due to laughter.
And that's when the odd feeling he had been feeling finally fell into place.
XxXxXxXxX
The summer of their senior year Akane was invited to a sleepover at Yuka's home along with a couple other girls. Excited for a chance to get away from the house for the night, she'd over packed up everything she'd need so she'd have no excuse to come home or need anything dropped off. Unbeknownst to her, Hiroshi and Daisuke were going to be dragging a few guys to check out the girl's night together.
"I dunno why I let you idiots drag me out here." Ranma grumbled to his buddies as they stalked through the back alleys of Yuka's neighborhood. Along with the three of them were two other guys from their graduating class. "Seems stupid to spy on these chicks, not like it's somethin' I ain't seen before." He placed his arms around his head as they kept on.
"Ah so you and Akane have made some stride, eh Saotome?" Hiroshi nudged him in the ribs and teased. He went red.
"Shuddup, me and that tomboy haven't done nothing."
His light hair friend shook his head.
"It's like you have a full dessert platter in front of you man and you're eatin' salads. I wish I had half the problems you did with girls." Before Ranma could reply, Daisuke pointed out the house. The young men made their way to the gates near the backyard, poking faces through the fence in the back, Hiroshi taking the charge to the front to see best.
"See I told ya they'd be all here, I thought Ami said they were all sleeping outdoors tonight but at least ya can still see 'em."
Using the cover of night, they peaked through the fence leading to the backyard which connected to a large family room that had pillows and futons spread about as a group of six girls sat, laughing in pajamas. One girl with curly blonde hair had a microphone in her hand and was singing badly to some poppy ballad. Dancing just as bad if not worse. Ranma moved closer to the top of the stone gate dividing the backyard from alley, hiding in the dark and behind some tree so as not to be spotted. His friends tried getting him to pull them up for a better spot but he turned them down, knowing they would give themselves up easily. They fumbled over one another on the ground trying to get a peep in.
"This is even stupider than I thought it would be. 'Suke why'd you let him talk us all into this?" Ranma sneered from the top of the fence.
"Cause he's got a thing for Sayuri and I wanted to do him a fa-oofff!" Hiroshi was rocked in the ribs before he could finish answering from the aforementioned young man. Ranma turned his nose up at his friends.
Should've never let these idiots drag me outta the house. What a waste of a night.
Glumly he prepared to hop down and head out, nothing like peeping on a bunch of girls to get him shoved back in the "pervert" category at home. But someone calling out Akane's name cut through the giggles of the party and he looked back up to see what was going on. It wasn't lost on him, the small scramble of the guys on the floor below. She was getting pushed up and handed the microphone, pink lit up her face that you could tell from even where they were.
She wasn't in her typical pjs that he was used to, this time in some cute printed tank top and shorts, it made him feel funny seeing her like this with the other guys so close. Suddenly uncomfortable with everyone watching her he decided it was gonna be time to leave and if he had to drag them all out himself then so be it.
But then she was smiling and laughing when her friends pushed her into singing and dancing with them. Akane looked timid and nervous but when they started clapping along with some western pop song they'd heard on TV earlier, she closed her eyes and just tried singing along as best as possible. He'd heard her sing before and she had a nice enough voice, but that's not what kept him watching. She started dancing in place, shifting her hips and shoulders, as a wide nervous smile was on her face. Back and forth she moved her chest as she sang the English lyrics to the best of her ability. The movements were innocent enough, but the way her waist contorted and how her hips flared out against the beat made his mouth feel dry. As she got more comfortable with the song and her friends, she slowed her rocking body and bounced her shoulders back and forth. Her friends were laughing at her shyness and told her to do more that made her stammer and laugh through the lyrics.
He watched Yuka take her ponytail down and quickly brush through her dark locks and messily put together a low, terrible looking braid down her back. She turned around in her seat and let the braid fall down her neck as someone told Akane to pretend she was singing to Ranma. He felt like a rock dropped in his stomach as Akane stopped singing and dancing, blushing profusely but smiling as she grabbed a pillow under herself to throw at Yuka. At the angle he was at he could tell she was braless. That was it.
"We're leavin'. Now!" He hopped down and ground out at the other guys, they turned around slowly and whined.
"Aw c'mon man, it's late enough and just getting good!" One of these dudes pouted. Ranma's face dropped any friendliness that may have been there.
"I said, we're fuckin' leavin'. Got it?"
The guys quickly got up, not interested in getting him anymore worked up than he already was. Leaving out of the alley, they started talking about getting food and spending the night at Daisuke's, getting to the end of the street Ranma walked away from them.
"Hey Ranma! You wanna come get some food with us? There's a burger place still open if you're hungry." He smiled and shook his head.
"Nah you creeps go get food on your own. I'm tired and gotta be up early." He put a hand up and left to head home.
Along the short walk home, he felt himself getting warmer, warmer than he could remember being in a while. It had been a cool, dark night but inside it felt like someone had lit a match under all of his nerves. He closed his eyes and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose to try to shake out the image of her dancing.
Shake.
He wanted that image of her out of his head but it refused to leave.
Watching her curvy body bounce and move with music he could barely make out, her red face and wide smile. Her tight waist, a tiny sliver of stomach that peaked out under her shirt when she hopped, how she bobbed. He picked up the pace, closing his eyes as if to run away from what he was feeling, the tightness in his chest traveling around his body.
Entering the dojo, he was glad it was quiet and dark needing sometime to think. He laid down on the cold wood and stared up at the several patched up holes from years of hits. He saw one in particular and remembered that she'd made that one when she got a good hit on him recently. He groaned and ran his hands over his face.
The way her body bounces side to sidewhen she's getting ready for a big hit. Akane...
He knew how he felt about her, he'd admitted it on Mt. Phoenix but had walked it back like a coward when they got back out of what? Pride? Stubbornness? Not wanting to admit it first? He loved her and her passionate personality even if at times it was a lot to deal with. But her smile and laugh and the way she made him feel when they were together was just one of the various reasons why he loved her. But this, this was different. These feelings were not new but he hadn't felt like this in a long time.
Their families always talked about the wedding, the marriage, the joining of schools, that they'd eventually fall in love. And as lame as it was to admit, he did like those feelings. But they never talked about what happens between all that. Like when he's thinking she's cute and wants to kiss her or when she's looking beautiful and he wants to hold her. No, they never talked about any of that and they especially never spoke about that topic.
Sex.
He groaned as he tried to steady his breath. It was stupid, of course. He was on his way to manhood but between the chaos that reigned in his everyday life he typically found very little solace or time for himself. Half lidded eyes searched up into the dojo, his heart beating rapidly in his chest pounding against his ribs. His stomach clenched.
Her stomach.
He closed his eyes.
Her blushing face, smiling but shy. Nervous but excited.
He tightened his shut eyes, dark images crossing over his lids as he licked the top of his mouth, trying to moisten what was severally dry.
Her waist, her long legs
Over my shoulders
He winced as his heartbeat picked up manically, forcing himself up he made the uncomfortable walk down to the bathroom, praying no one would be awake. Creeping into the bathroom he started running warm water, double, triple checking the door was locked. He looked at the bucket as he took off his shirt and pants, a nearly impossible feat with how sensitive and hot and coiled up he felt. He considered just dumping cold water over himself and being done with it. But he could still feel this way as a girl.
He could take care of this as a girl too.
Does Akane do that too? Does she ever think about me when she does?
He moaned at the thought and finally put his hand over himself feeling how hard he was. Painfully hard. He had always prided himself on his control, he could control himself or any situation he was in and yet.
He hissed low as he pulled his boxers down, he could tell he had already made a small mess inside. Kicking them and the thought away he pressed his face and arm against the cool tile of the bathroom, over the now running water. Allowing himself a chance at peace, he gripped himself and bit his lip as he allowed thoughts to travel back to her.
Her hips rocking, side to side.
Her perky chest bouncing up and down, how soft they look. How would they taste
Would she be shy? How far would her blush travel? Would she let me put my mouth where it ended?
Her mouth. Her pretty lips.
He began pumping harder, breathing to the wall as his squinted his eyes, he wanted her. He wanted her so bad to kiss, to taste, to hear, to touch.
Akane, let me touch you like this. Let me kiss you, let me kiss you here. I want to grab you like this. I want to taste you Akane, would you let me? I want to eat you, bite you. You like my mouth? I knew you would. I want to be inside you, feel you. You're so soft, you feel so good. You feel perfect. Say my name. Tell me how good you feel. That I'm the only one that can make you feel this good. Say it. Say it. Say it.
He let out a small cry as he spills out onto the ground, continuing to pump himself until he feels an involuntary shiver and he slows himself. Forehead pressed against the warmed-up ceramic, he feels a creeping sense of guilt come over him, that what he's done has changed things between them. She's not just his uncute fiancée anymore, she's not just who he wants to kiss and hold hands with and spar with.
He wants to fuck her.
Clear thoughts start going through his mind and he realizes how late it is and that he needs to clean up. He makes sure to leave no trace of what he's done, makes sure to clean himself off. He considers the bath to relax but becomes wary if he starts thinking about her again, he sighs and finishes drying off as he heads upstairs, quickly glancing at her door before rushing the rest of the way to his room where he hopes for Akane-less sleep.
xxXXXxxxxXXXxxx
Ranma sits quietly in the dark of the karaoke room, as Akane finishes her song and her friends laugh and clap and he hopes to whatever higher power may be there that he isn't told to go next. That it would be almost certainly the most humiliated he's felt in years. To relive those feelings now, because of a spurred upon him memory.
Yuka says she wants to go next.
And he decides to go outside and catch his breath. Go to the men's room.
Adjust himself privately so he can go back in and pretend everything's normal. That he doesn't have those feelings, knowing now that he shouldn't have those feelings.
On the road yes, he would think about her but it was mostly romantic and idyllic. Of held hands and piggyback rides and chaste morning kisses.
But at night...those thoughts would come too. And she was always in those thoughts, in those scenarios.
In the bathroom.
In his room. Her room.
The family room.
The dojo.
The roof.
The backyard.
He went to the sink and ran some cold water over himself, grateful for his lack of curse. And he walked out.
And wouldn't you just know it.
"Ranma? You, okay?" She offered up immediately upon him stepping out. He sighed and smiled.
"Yeah, just got a little dizzy is all."
"Hm." She yawned and nodded. "I think we're on our last song, are you feeling up to go home?" He watched as she took in a large breath to yawn, the way her chest would swell and how her shirt would tighten.
Fuck man, stop.
"Yeah, I think so. You wanna let 'em know and I'll call a cab?" She nodded and waved him off, returning back to the room. He willed himself to not look at her walk away and turned to the bartender for a phone. He called the cabbie, identifying himself from earlier.
xxXXXxxxxXXXxxxx
They waited outside the karaoke bar, having wished everyone a good night as their friends also prepared to end the night. Ranma was unusually quiet which made Akane even more tired than she intended. Plus, the last drink had gone a touch to her head, she was her father's daughter after all.
"Ranma?"
"Mmm?" He looked forward waiting for the cab, desperately trying to get home. He debated if he couldn't just grab her and run home like they were teens again, but having his hands on her may be the wrong idea all together.
"Did you have fun tonight?" She sounded...worried. Like more hung on this than just going out with some friends from high school. He slowly looked back to her.
"I... yeah." He smiled. "I had a lot of fun."
She smiled and grabbed his hand for a moment. Shorter than he wanted but right now he didn't want any contact with her.
"I'm glad." She stared out to the road as well, looking for the cab as well. It came only minutes later. She recognized right away.
"Hello! Good to see you again, what are the chances?" Her voice was bright and beaming.
"Good to see you too miss. Please I'll take you home."
In the back seat they sat as Akane continued to yawn, the rocking motions of the car finally getting the best to her and she began slipping. Slowly her body moved along the leather and her face landed on his upper arm, her face nuzzling into his chest. He remained stoic. A terrible ride this was already.
"Doesn't look so complicated to me." The cabbie remarked from the front seat. Ranma rubbed his face with his free hand, not willing to wake her up or push her off him.
"It's not that...it's she's my...was my...wife."
"Your wife?!"
"No. Uh like...before. I don't know the word."
"Oh. Fiancée. She's your fiancée?"
"Was. But I made a mess and now she's not."
The older man hmm'd as they drove under the neon lights of the city, returning to quiet, dark Nerima. Akane remained asleep, silently snoring against his body.
"I think maybe it's not that messy. You two look right together." A moment of quiet. "What do you want?"
"I don't know. I don't really know anymore."
"I think you do."
The rest of the ride was silent, arriving at the dojo just a little past midnight. He tried shaking her awake but all she did was groan until he yanked on her arm and she woke up a bit to get herself out of the car. He wished the cabbie a good night. Akane held his arm but was slowing him down, he waited a moment for her to catch up.
And against his better judgement placed his hand on her lower back, knelt down and grabbed her knees in his other arm and prayed no one was awake. He cradled her inside, confirmed no one was still awake and carried her upstairs. Her head remained rested on his chest, how many times he had done this as a teenager and yet now it was the toughest of all.
He nudged her door open and laid her in her bed, pulling her heeled sandals off as he tried to help her get comfortable. She rolled over on her side as he hovered over her, a knee bent on her bed to make sure she was okay. From his angle he could see straight down her top, a rise of heat pooling in his stomach as she moaned out for something.
He bent closer.
She wouldn't notice.
If I kissed her.
She'd never know.
He could feel how his lusting thoughts pumped around his body and licked his lips, drawing closer. She was so beautiful but it was a beauty he could touch, could hold without it burning him. It was human like him and he could grasp it, feel it, watch how it played under his hands. His hand moved close to her face, allowing him balance to grow closer.
"Ran...ma..." She whispered out in her sleep, rubbing her head harder into her pillow. His hand was fisting her sheets and he stopped. He had to stop.
What are we doing?
I'm so fucking sick of pretending.
I'm so tired.
He let the sheet go, brushed her hair with his hand and kissed her on the top of her head. Chaste, quick.
As loving as he could.
He took a cold shower, prepared for the week and accepted that life could be unfair sometimes.