Chapter Twelve
Morning came and Akane sat up in her sleeping bag, stretching before opening the tent flap and seeing Ryoga poking at the fire pit with a stick, encouraging the flames to lap at the logs. Ranma shuffled towards the fire with a pan full of ingredients for breakfast when he saw Akane crawling from her tent, and he gave her a nod of acknowledgement as he balanced the pan atop the campfire.
Akane approached. "Want any help?" Ranma's eyes widened briefly, as did Ryoga's who was still kneeling beside the fire.
"Tha's alright. We got it here." Ranma said quickly.
Akane sighed and tried not to take offense. It was probably safer this way, her cooking was straight up toxic at best, but she wanted to help. So far, she felt like she hadn't helped much since this little journey had begun. She sat down across the fire from the boys and pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them.
"Is breakfast almost ready?" Mousse asked, coming into the campsite, and addressing a nearby tree.
"Put yer glasses on." Ranma growled in exasperation.
Mousse adjusted his glasses, saw he was speaking to a pine tree and turned towards the fire and the three others sitting around it. His gaze swept over the three of them, pausing on Ryoga as a breeze rustled, blowing downwind towards Mousse and his glasses glinted, a besotted look crossing his face. "Need help with anything?" He asked, looming over Ryoga.
With a resigned sigh, Ryoga elbowed Mousse in the gut, sending him back a few feet with an 'oof' from Mousse. "Ya, give me some elbow room." He grunted in annoyance.
Mousse slumped near Akane on the ground, a mix of rejection, confusion and anger playing across his face. She could relate to those feelings. This love potion was a real pain, and she hated the way it messed with her head and kept messing with her judgement. Mousse seemed to feel the same way by the looks of it. Mousse must have felt her gaze on him because he looked up and she met his eyes with a sympathetic smile. He studied her for a moment before returning it with a weak one of his own.
Akane let her thoughts drift, lighting on Ranma or Ryoga before she forced her thoughts on to other things. She didn't notice Ranma until he stood before her, offering her a plate with rice and some fish someone must have caught earlier. She blinked out of her thoughts and up at the pigtailed martial artist. She beamed at him brightly and Ranma's breath caught, and his heart clenched in his chest.
Akane let her thoughts continue to drift as they ate a quiet breakfast before breaking camp and setting out for a long hike inland towards the Kurokadairu swamp. After they had walked in uncomfortable silence for a while, Akane couldn't keep it to herself anymore. The thought she had been trying to avoid all morning. Or, at least, one of them.
"Ryoga, will you walk with me?" Ranma had been leading, Mousse following, Akane behind him and Ryoga taking up the rear. Akane looked over her shoulder to see his startled expression. Ranma began to make his way back towards them, his brow furrowed and mouth pulling down in a frown. Akane saw Ranma stomping towards them, and she fixed him with a stern look. "Alone."
Ranma stopped abruptly, a hurt look crossing his face before quickly becoming stony as his eyes narrowed at Ryoga in anger. Akane waited with arms crossed stubbornly over her chest until Ranma stomped his way back to the front of their procession and Mousse followed along, and Ryoga pulled even with Akane, waiting until she made the first move.
"Akane?" He asked tentatively.
She held up a finger, signaling his silence, her eyes locked on the pigtailed martial artists broad back. "Ranma you baka." She muttered softly. When Ranma didn't turn around to shout an angry reply or show any sign of hearing her, Akane started walking and motioned Ryoga to join her.
"Ryoga…" She said quietly, watching the ground ahead of her instead of looking at the lost boy with the bandana.
"Akane." He responded just as quietly as waves of anxiety crashed through him.
"Shampoo was the one that made the love potion?"
"…yes."
"…whose idea was it?"
"Shampoos. But… I knew what she was going to do…" He hung his head in shame but continued to trudge along.
Akane took a long time to process this. Or more likely, a long time to contain her instinctive flare of anger. Her voice shook ever so slightly. "Why did you do it?" She whispered, feeling the tears gathering in her eyes as the circumstances of her situation, of not being in control of her own feelings, came over her.
Ryoga clenched his fists, hearing the wavering in her voice. He closed his eyes for a moment as he mentally condemned and berated himself. "I… I…" He took a deep breath, and his dark brown eyes met her chocolate brown ones with a pleading look. "Akane, I've been in love with you basically since I first met you."
This took Akane by surprise. How could she have missed that?! Then she thought back to all his sweet yet awkward stammering, how he was always so offended when Ranma insulted her or how he had put himself in danger time and again, much like Ranma had, and he had done all of that out of love.
"I always had such a hard time telling you my feelings. Every time I tried, something, or someone would always get in the way."
An image of Ranma crossdressing and pretending to be Ryoga's younger sister when she had gone over to see the puppies at Ryoga's house. Ranma not being able to ice skate, but pairing up with Ryoga in his cursed form to keep her from skating with him. Ranma allowing himself to be crushed by Ryoga's embrace on his and Akane's "date". Ranma had always tried to interfere when Akane was alone with Ryoga… Even Ranma knew how Ryoga felt about her. She thought bitterly.
"I could never tell you how strong, beautiful or brave you are. And Ranma was always such a jerk to you and yet he was the one you were engaged to. It just never seemed fair, he never appreciated you or loved you like I could have."
Akane was softening to the fanged boy as he poured his heart and soul out before her. His earnestness moved her, and the breeze brought his scent to her, weakening her resolve even further, much to her chagrin.
"I guess when I found out that you had finally dumped Ranma, I saw my chance, but Shampoo had other ideas… I should have known better. Shampoo can never be trusted. I'm so stupid!"
Akane's warring feelings won over in Ryoga's favor. She placed a hand on his shoulder as they continued to follow the other two out of earshot. Ryoga looked startled and then nervous as his eyes darted from her hand to her face, as if he was expecting a well-deserved mallet at any moment. "I understand Ryoga." His grimace melted into a dopey smile, relief washing over him. Akane stopped his early celebration. "It wasn't okay," he cringed, "but I understand now." Akane withdrew her hand and Ryoga nodded and let out a small sigh. Akane shot him a parting smile before she started jogging towards the front of their little line, coming alongside Ranma and Ryoga caught his startled smile as she caught up and elbowed him lightly in the side.
"Good talk?" Ranma teased, rubbing his side where she had struck him.
Akane pondered for a moment, theatrically tapping a finger against her lips in an exaggerated show of thought. What she didn't realize was Ranma's hungry gaze watched this motion with rapt attention. He quickly pulled on his casual smirk as she turned back to him. "It was… enlightening."
Ranma cocked an eyebrow and kept his voice steady and light despite the twisting in his stomach. "Oh? Do tell."
She let out a heavy sigh, all joking put aside. "I asked him why he did it." She was watching the path again, afraid to meet his gaze.
"Ah." Ranma tucked his hands in his pants pockets and looked thoughtful. "An' what didjya say?" He asked, trying to sound casual, but hanging on her every word.
Akane was quiet for a bit, So he did know… she thought before she turned a sorrowful smile on Ranma. "That I understood."
"What?!" Ranma snapped before he could control it and run it through the filter he had been working on since Akane had dumped him for running his stupid mouth.
Akane fixed him with a hard stare, also attempting to control her knee-jerk reaction to anger. "I said I understood, not that it was okay." She stressed.
Ranma took a breath to argue, caught the look on her face and blew it out instead. "An' what else?"
Akane watched him for a moment, before relaxing her stiff stance. "Nothing." She shrugged her shoulder.
"Really?" He asked skeptically, poking the shoulder she had shrugged.
"Really baka." She said playfully, smiling at him.
The smile disarmed Ranma from his usual retort. Without thinking once again, he let slip what he was running through his head. "I've missed your smile."
Akane stumbled at his sudden admission. She looked at him in awe and surprised pleasure. She blushed and smiled at Ranma, causing him to blush in turn, rubbing the back of his neck to try to diffuse some of his nervous energy. "Thank you Ranma. I've missed your antics."
Hope and a bright smile blossomed on his face. "Really?"
"It's been quiet since you and your parents left. Too quiet." There was sadness in her voice and Ranma wondered at it. Then she turned a sunny smile on him, throwing out a teasing elbow to catch him in the ribs. "But the food bill and repair costs have gone way down!"
Ranma frowned, but when she started laughing, he felt his stomach knot and his chest grow light and found himself beaming down at her. That's how she caught him, grinning down at her and his beautiful steely-blue eyes shining in delight. Her breath caught and her chest tightened, she opened her mouth to say something, still keeping pace when her foot snagged a root and she started to fall. Her arms shot out to catch herself, a small cry pulled from her lips, and she closed her eyes, braced for the impact, but all she felt was a strong arm catch her, halting her fall and gently righting her. Her eyes opened, catching Ranma's concerned look melting into a smile.
"You okay?"
She nodded shyly.
"Klutz." He teased, with a gentle smile.
Akane gave a half-hearted chuckle as her stomach twisted violently and knowing her face was violently red, she pulled away and tried to get a little space from Ranma, so she started to jog ahead lightly. Remember that he told you he didn't love you! That he didn't want to marry me! That's why you made your dad end the engagement after all… Nothing has changed. She mentally berated herself as she jogged ahead. Breathing deeply of the fresh air, trying to clear her mind
Ranma stopped and watched her run ahead, feeling a bit disappointed, confused and yet still hopeful. He had seen her blush, the moment their eyes had met. Plus, she missed him, or at least his antics, whatever that meant, and they were laughing together again. It was more than he had hoped for, but what he had secretly wanted all along.
Mousse caught up to him, the two martial artists exchanged a look, Mousse gave him a small smile and inclined his head before he continued on his way. Ranma shook his head, clearing his thoughts and trotted after them, Ryoga trailing behind.
The four martial artists hiked inland for the rest of the day, the terrain becoming thicker and more jungle-like, the humidity, heat and insects increasing the further they went. As the sun was getting low in the sky, they discovered several natural hot spring pools.
"We'll camp here tonight." Ranma announced, dropping his pack, and stretching his back. Akane dropped her pack as well, digging for a water bottle from her pack, and drinking deeply. Mousse and Ryoga also shrugged out of their packs and began setting up camp. Akane and Ranma began pitching their own tents as well as Akane wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, tired from the long trek and looking forward to a bath. After putting up her tent, she sat on the ground, taking a deep breath, and letting the tension out of her shoulders.
"You good?" Ranma asked, standing over her and offering her a hand up. She took the hand and stood.
"Just a long hike. I'm ready to relax in those hot springs and clean up a bit."
Ranma nodded, pulling his sweat laden shirt away from where it was sticking bodily to him. "I know whatcha mean. I'll grab the guys, that way we can stay in one place, an' you can find a pool where we can't see ya." Akane gave him a skeptical look. Ranma held his hand up in the air, grinning in a teasing way. "No peeking! I swear!"
Akane nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good idea."
Akane started to turn away, but turned back as Ranma spoke again, this time, less sure of himself. "Just… Just don't wander off too far," Akane found herself smiling at his concern. "Or a pool tha's too deep…" she frowned at his reference at her inability to swim.
"I'll be fine Ranma." She said a little gruffly, stalking to her pack and started searching for a clean set of clothes and a towel. Same old Ranma… She thought with frustration. Doesn't think I'm capable of not drowning in the bath… Stupid jerk.
Ryoga broke her out her angry reverie, a towel in his hand and a concerned look on his face. "Akane? Are you ready to head to the hot springs?"
Akane tampered her thoughts and smiled up at the fanged boy. "Yes, I'm ready." She stood and joined the other boys also holding fresh clothes and towels. They left their little campsite behind and headed in the direction of the steam drifting above the tree line. There were several pools of varying sizes and large boulders that acted as natural dividers between a few of them. The group found a suitable set of pools that were separated by a few such boulders and even a few pine trees that would give Akane privacy but kept her close enough in case something decided to attack.
Akane walked around to the far side, making sure she was well out of sight and giving herself time to hear the boys bicker and tease each other before the sounds were mixed with splashing and groans of relief. Hearing this, Akane started to undress, peeling off her sweat and dirt encrusted clothes and folding them on the rock next to her clean clothes and hung her towel from a nearby branch that hung over the water just a bit. She slowly slid her toes into the water, sighing at the temperature as she slowly sank in the rest of her body, allowing herself to fully submerge, finding a rock lined bottom where she could touch and still keep her head above water.
She surfaced, brushing her blue-black hair out of her face, and scrubbing the dirt from her face with her hands. She continued to run her hands over her limbs, and torso, using the warm water to wash herself clean. When she was satisfied she was as clean as warm water was going to get her, she found a submerged boulder she could sit on and lean against the wall of the spring comfortably, letting her thoughts drift.
She thought back to what Ryoga had confessed to her earlier. She sighed, wanting to berate herself for being so oblivious to all the signs, but that wouldn't get her anywhere. No wonder Ranma teased her so much. Why was she always so bad at realizing when other people had feelings for her? I mean, Kuno had no trouble expressing himself, and neither did the other jerks that challenged her for a date, but they didn't know her. If they had just been normal and introduced themselves, talked to her for a little bit and wanted to get to know her more, she would have been happy to go out for ice cream or lunch on a date with them. Not that anyone ever really cares about my feelings or what I really want. Her self-pity spoke up, thinking of the arranged marriage her father had forced upon her. That's not fair. When I realized Ranma didn't love me, daddy let me end the engagement. He even kicked his best friend, his best friend's wife, and his ex-future-son-in-law out of the house for me. Seeing her so heartbroken had frightened Soun, being overly emotional himself, he had come to his baby girls defense and in-spite of his promise and years of devious schemes down the drain, her father had ended the arrangement.
She heard a shout from the other side of the rock wall that separated her hot spring pool from the boys and heard Ryoga yelping and yelling at Mousse to leave him alone while Ranma tried exasperatedly to keep the peace.
Ryoga's voice brought him to the forefront of her mind. As she thought of the lost boy, a confusing mix of emotions washed over her. They had been friends for a long time, or so she had thought. While she valued him as a friend, he had been in love with her all along. She had never considered him romantically… at least not until she had been spritzed with Shampoo's love potion. Now… Now there was something charming about his smile with that little fang poking out. Cute even. And his dark eyes were always so soulful, and he was so sensitive and in-touch with his emotions… Not like Ranma. A small voice interrupted her thoughts. She shut down that line of thinking immediately.
"One thing at a time." She mumbled quietly to herself.
She was only feeling this way about Ryoga because of the love potion. It messed with her emotions and altered her views and opinions. His work with the angry mother boar had been incredibly impressive and she was in awe of the raw power he possessed, matching that mammoth beast in strength while it took all three of them to land a blow in order to fell her. She had seen this display of strength before, but now, thanks to the love potion, she took more notice. With Ryoga's confession, she saw deeper into his motivations. He had done this to her, but he was here, risking himself for her (and Mousse) to undo what he had done. He had seemed truly repentant.
How would she feel after the cure? Would she still want to be his friend? Would she hate him? Would she have any residual feelings for him, especially after his confession of love? It was all too much to think about and her head was beginning to hurt. She sunk under the water again and when she surfaced, she heard more angry shouting from across the wall. She stopped to listen.
"I told you earlier! Get OFF me!" Ryoga hollered and there was the thud of flesh meeting flesh in a heavy blow and a loud splash of water.
"Com'mon man, I already told ya to give 'em a break." Ranma broke in wearily, apparently tired of playing referee.
Mousse's indignant roar startled Akane. "It's not my fault! Do you think I LIKE this?! I don't want to be attracted to you, but you had to go messing with Shampoo's crazy Amazon magic!"
"I didn't spray you!" Ryoga argued.
"No, but we wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you!" Mousse hollered back.
"We'll get the cure soon enough." Ranma tried to soothe.
It was quiet for a moment before more splashing and another dull thud of a hit connecting sounded before the arguing continued. "Get off me ya pervert!" Came Ryoga's startled yelp.
"Dis wooddin 'ave 'appen you wern' in 'ere!" Mousse shouted in a nasally voice, leading Akane to assume he had been hit in the nose.
"Ryoga…" Ranma said with a long, sympathetic sigh. "He's gotta point."
"What?!" Ryoga yelled.
"So why don't you…" there was a tussling and splashing before Ryoga's pale form briefly appeared before soaring through the trees to disappear somewhere in the direction of their campsite. "Give the guy a break!" Ranma finished with a huff, splashing back down in the water from the sound of it.
Akane waited with bated breath to see what would happen next. She didn't dare make a sound, not wanting to draw attention to herself and interrupting. It was a long silence before there was a long sigh and the silence was broken.
"Thank you for that." Mousse sounded resigned.
"No problem." Ranma said lightly. There was another pause before he tentatively continued. "Ya know, I'd get pretty tired of glomping onto that pig all the time too."
"It's… not great." Mousse's voice sounded pained.
"What I said earlier's true. We'll get that cure. We're maybe half day's hike from the swamp. We can get that plant no problem."
"The plant grows underwater…" Mousse said in a dejected tone.
"Oh. Well… you and I can get that stupid plant." Ranma's confidence only wavering for a moment. Akane knew why she wouldn't be able to help… again, but she wondered at why Ryoga had been excluded. Ranma was a fine swimmer, even in his girl form and Mousse swam just fine as a duck when his curse activated. Maybe Ryoga couldn't swim, like her? Her train of thought was interrupted.
"Then we need the leaves of the Nepeta Cataria superbia." Mousse recited from memory. "And the teapot."
"Then we'll get those too!" Ranma said, getting frustrated. "Look, you're not gonna have ta put up with this particular curse much longer. You'll be free to chase that crazy Amazon, maybe even convince 'er to leave me alone… And Akane won't be forced to look at Ryoga like that." He said with disgust. This left her pondering what look she had been giving Ryoga before she was interrupted again.
"So the rumors really are true…" Mousse mused. "She ended the engagement and you and your family moved out?"
There was a long pause and Akane felt her heartbeat painfully in her chest as her stomach clenched.
"…yes."
"May I ask what happened?" Mousse asked softly, sounding genuinely curious and sympathetic.
"I'm an idiot… I said some things I didn' mean an' Akane heard… It came out all wrong an' before I had a chance to explain she malleted me." There was a contemplative silence from the other side of the wall as Akane heard pieces of that memory echoing in her mind. The same phrases that haunted her and steeled her resolve. "I wouldn't of had to save her if she didn't keep getting kidnapped. She just kept getting in the way that idiot. More trouble than she's worth. If I didn' go through with the wedding, I wasn' gonna get any water from the Spring of the Drowned Man. No! I don't love her! I never said that! Maybe you should marry her, I don't need all these fiancés and trouble!"
The words still rang fresh in her memory, tearing painfully at her, ripping tears from her eyes and she worked hard to repress any sobs that wanted to tear from her. A distraction came in the form of Ranma's pained voice continuing sadly.
"By the time I got back to school, she was gone, but everyone told me what happened."
"What happened?" Mousse prompted softly.
Ranma took a deep breath and blew it out loudly. "She… She called off the engagement."
Akane was surprised that he still sounded stunned by her decision. Well what did he expect?! The inner, angry voice responded. She silenced it as he continued shakily.
"I wanted ta go after her, but Hinako drained my ki. By the time I could make it ta my feet, school was over. It took a long time ta get home and when I did, my mom and pop were packin' all our stuff. Mr. Tendo and my pop were real pissed at me an' I had no idea what was even goin' on!" Another deep breath blown out heavily. "My mom was the one tha' told me we were movin' out. I tried to talk ta Akane, but she'd locked herself in her room. I wrote on her window and figured we'd talk about everything at school later or somethin' but she didn' come to school for a couple days. When she did come back… she didn' want anything ta do with me."
With this, Ranma sounded lost, and it hurt her to hear him like this, but it also confused her. Shouldn't he have been happy to finally be free of at least one fiancé? That's what he'd wanted all along. She'd never been as good at martial arts as Ukyo or Shampoo, and she couldn't cook like them either. She was just trouble, someone he always had to protect because she wasn't strong enough or good enough to protect herself.
Everything was too confusing. Why did life have to be so hard sometimes?
"That's rough buddy." Mousse commiserated. "Looks like you guys were getting along well earlier."
"Maybe…" Ranma sounded contemplative, but not overly optimistic.
That brought up a point for Akane. Did she want to get along with Ranma? Was it better to go back to the way things were? Or was it better to stick to her decision and let them both move on with their lives?
Deciding that overthinking and eavesdropping wasn't doing her any good, she carefully climbed the rocks out of the hot spring and dried off with her towel before dressing in her clean clothes, bundling her towel and dirty clothes together before picking her way back to the campsite, spotting Ryoga pouting as he manned a frying pan over a fire that hadn't been there earlier.
"I see Ranma's aim was good." Akane teased, trying to break the tension as she put away her dirty clothes and towel.
"Akane!" Ryoga startled from his reverie. "Uh, I'm, er, just making dinner!" he proclaimed, gesturing at the pan he was attending.
"I see that." She smiled. "Thank you."
Ryoga swallowed hard. "No problem."
Feeling his eyes weighing heavily on her, Akane quickly found an excuse to not be alone with the bandana clad boy. "I'll go find some more firewood. You stay here and keep cooking!" She called as she quickly trotted for the tree line, leaving the campsites view before she could breathe again. She collected herself and began hunting for small branches to bring back to the camp.
After about ten minutes of rummaging for proper kindling for the fire, she found an appealing, but large log. She smiled at the opportunity, putting down her small armload as she readied herself above the log. This will be a good way to blow off some steam. She thought, bringing her hand down, severing the tree limb with her blow, much like the boards she broke at home. Her small battle cry echoed through the trees around her, and she moved down the branch, ready to strike again and sever another well sized hunk of wood for the fire. She was nearly through the log when a voice startled her, causing her to miss her final blow, bringing her up short.
"Yo 'Kane." Ranma greeted in typical Ranma fashion. "Want a hand with all this firewood?" He asked, already stacking the kindling she had found and adding the larger logs to his growing pile as well.
"Oh," she said, sounding dazed for a moment before snapping out of it. "I was going to do it myself…"
Ranma shrugged, his arms stacked high with firewood. "I don't mind helping." He said with a soft smile.
Akane returned it, grabbing the last few pieces she had broken, and she joined him. "Thanks, I'm sure this will be plenty." They made their way back to the campsite, depositing their firewood nearby and getting settled around the fire as Ryoga handed each of them a plate, Mousse already eating his share.
Ranma pulled the map from his pack and looked it over as he ate. "We should be there… aroun' the afternoon… tomorrow." He said between bites of food.
"The Hydrilla plant's roots are what we need. This particular plant grows underwater in the Kurokadairu Swamp." Mousse stated this while making stern eye contact with Ryoga.
Ryoga grimaced and nodded. "Akane and I can stay on land, maybe get a boat."
"Can you not swim Ryoga?" Akane asked, looking at him curiously over the fire.
Ryoga's face turned crimson as he stuttered out a response. "Eh! Er, uh… somethin', uh, like that, ya… hehe…" He rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion, a drop of sweat on his brow.
Ranma chuckled darkly. "Ya, this pig can't swim."
Ryoga clenched his fist, but before he could retort, Akane swatted Ranma on the back of the head. "That wasn't very nice." She chastised.
Ranma just shrugged, not wanting to argue further, and finished devouring his meal. Everyone was clean and had eaten, the fire was dying down to warm, glowing embers and sleepily, the four martial artists climbed into their respective tents or sleeping bags and fell asleep.
Sarahplainntall here! Sorry for the delay in updates, I have a few different stories going and I'm nearly finished with veterinary nursing school, so things are a bit crazy (holidays and family slowed things down too). This turned out to be one of my longer chapters, ya! Hope you enjoyed it, I always appreciate comments/reviews/flames/etc.
Special thanks to Nikichan, thank you for your continuous support of this fic and my own personal life. You are FABULOUS.
CuteClau, not a whole lot of action in this chapter, but a lot of feels. Next chapter is next ingredient and more crazy antics!