OK, it seems I am starting to form a pattern…two chapters every time I sit down to write…weird.
Disclaimer: What's that? I won the sweepstakes for part ownership of Ranma ½? Oh, guess I didn't.
Ranma's POV
I didn't know what was going on other than Ryu was giving Akane a slightly pitying look and Akane was being very secretive. Akane then let out a sigh and told me that Dr. Tofu liked Kasumi.
"Are you sure about Dr. Tofu? I mean, he didn't make an announcement or anything about it, did he?" I asked and Ryu snorted
"No, but it's painfully obvious. Just stick around and you'll know that there's no doubt about Dr. Tofu's feelings," He remarked and Akane nodded in agreement. Dr. Tofu then walked out with that cream for my face just as Kasumi walked in and Dr. Tofu's glasses seemed to fog up. Suddenly I found my neck at a ninety degree angle and I couldn't move it back.
"What the heck's goin' on here?!" I shouted
"I probably should have mentioned that the 'painfully' part of my last remark wasn't just a turn of phrase. It really is painful," Ryu commented
"Gee, thanks!" I barked at him
"Hello, Dr. Tofu," Kasumi greeted
"Kasumi! Fancy meeting you here!" Dr. Tofu said in a slightly deranged sounding voice. He then continued to make an absolute fool o' himself. Ryu and Akane were right. It is obvious.
"Hey doc," I called
"Yes Akane, what is it?" Dr. Tofu asked
"I'm Ranma," I told him
"OK Ranma, what seems to be the problem?"
"My neck is killing me."
"Another injury? What am I going to do with you?" Tofu wondered and then dislocated my neck in the other direction. Me and my big mouth! Akane and Ryu then decided to leave and I sure wasn't going to be left here with Dr. Tofu when he was like that, so I followed. I lost them, but eventually tracked them down to a spot on the side of the canal where Akane was throwing rocks…very big rocks. I walked up behind them and thought Akane was crying. So I made a funny face to try and cheer her up. I got slammed into the ground for my troubles.
"Scarlet, I believe Ranma was injured enough; did you really have to do that to him?" Ryu asked
"Well he shouldn't have snuck up on me!" Akane shouted and I got up. I then found out that Akane had somehow fixed my neck!
"Hey, I'm cured!" I exclaimed
"How nice for you," Akane said dryly
"There, it's nice to see you're back to your usual self," I remarked
"What did you say?" Akane growled
"Now that's the ticket!" She stormed off and snatched up her book bag to leave. Naturally, I followed. Eventually we got into a small fight, but then Akane turned the tables by telling me that I liked her!
"Scarlet, that's a little bit of a jump in logic, don't you think?" Ryu commented, but Akane ignored him
"Admit it, that's why you're following me!" She then ran and jumped onto a poll in the middle of the canal. I wasn't so lucky.
"What am I going to do with you two?" Ryu sighed
"Got you!" Akane crowed and started laughing.
"What's gotten into her?" I wondered to myself, but of course, no one answered. Eventually I got out of the canal and on the way home, Akane ask that I lend her some money so we could all go get something to eat.
"If you lend me money, then it'll be my treat," Akane told me and I still don't see how that works. When I asked Ryu, he just told me not to question female logic. So we headed to the closest fast food joint, McDonalds, and bought some food to go. We eventually found a nice place in the park to sit and eat. We ate in silence for awhile and threw some paper basketballs. Then I noticed Akane grabbing her third double cheese burger after a thing of nuggets.
"Still hungry?" I asked
"So I'm not all dainty like Kasumi, big deal!" She snapped
"Hey, that is not what I said," I protested
"Scarlet's always seen Kasumi as a bit of a rival. In her mind, Kasumi's about as good as it gets and she feels inadequate sometimes," Ryu explained
"Thanks Ryu, but I could have told him myself," Akane muttered and Ryu raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "As long as I can remember, Dr. Tofu's been in love with Kasumi…" She then told me one particular incident where Dr. Tofu went nuts. Somehow, he had managed to electrocute himself. "And then Dr. Tofu ran all over town while carrying Betty on his back." I had to laugh a bit at that.
"Tell me you're kidding!"
"I wish she was. I ended up getting clocked by Betty's femur that day," Ryu commented, "Not an experience I'd wish to repeat."
"Dr. Tofu would never do something silly like that for my sake," Akane sighed
"Come on, you two are pulling my leg," I said
"We're telling the truth!" Akane exclaimed
"Man, he must really have it bad then." I remarked
"It's all true, cross my heart and hope to die," Ryu swore
"Stupid jerk," I muttered
"He's really in love," Akane said
"And that leaves you with a really broken heart, now doesn't it?" I observed and then realized what I had said. We lapsed into an awkward silence and then Dr. Tofu ran by with Betty riding on his back…just like Ryu and Akane had said. He even danced around a bit with her! I couldn't keep myself from giggling a bit and then Akane announced she was going home. Alone.
"Hey, you never know, I mean, it's not impossible…" I said
"Would you stop trying to be nice to me? I have a broken heart, or have you forgotten already?!" Akane shouted
"Well then, you've gotta realize these things happen," I told her and she let out a humorless laugh.
"You sounded just like Ryu for a moment; he was always trying to get me to forget Dr. Tofu because he knew it'd end this way…" I noticed tears gathering in Akane's eyes. She then ran off. I turned to Ryu.
"How do I help her?" I demanded
"I don't know. She's been hung up over Dr. Tofu for quite awhile and that makes the heart break all the more sever. It'd probably be best to leave her alone for awhile while she gets her thoughts and emotions in order. Otherwise you two might get into a shouting match and say things you don't mean," Ryu told me and then I noticed I had left my school bag back at Dr. Tofu's clinic.
"Hey Ryu, you mind coming with me to get my bag?" I asked and he shrugged and came along. "Ryu, are you a martial artist?"
"I piss Kuno off on a regular basis. In the interest of my continued survival, it was kinda more of a need than want," Ryu answered
"Why does he hate you?" I questioned, "If you don't mind."
"Nah, go ahead and ask all you like. Anyway, if I had to guess, it's because of all the time I spend with Scarlet without getting punted every other minute. He's probably jealous of that and takes it out on me with his bokken. Of course that's not to say I don't expressly tick him off from time to time when I'm in the mood for a practice match. Before you came around, he was one of the better martial artists in the area, even in spite of his big mouth," Ryu explained, "Come to think of it, Akane's not that bad a martial artist either, but out of necessity, her fighting technique is more street brawler than any regular style."
"Yeah, I noticed that when I first saw her fighting off those boys. If she ever did start focusing on a particular style, maybe even Anything Goes, she'd be a monster with all her raw strength," I remarked
"I told her something similar and got punched in the arm. It goes back to her whole rivalry with Kasumi. She's both ashamed and proud of how strong she is," Ryu commented and that's when we arrived at the clinic. We went in and I got my bag and then asked Pops for some hot water. He gave it to me and then poured some on himself.
"Ranma, what happened to Akane?" He asked
"She's probably somewhere moping," I replied
"YOU FOOL!" Pops shouted, "Listen Ranma, let me tell you this, 'how his thoughtless words broke my heart'. Have you heard these words before?"
"Where'd you hear something cheesy like that?" I asked
"In that magazine," Pop motioned to a magazine lying on the sofa.
"And why were you reading a fashion magazine?" Ryu asked
"Never mind that! Those words mean that sometimes we hurt the ones we love and if Akane's feeling bad about it, you must be the one to comfort her. You're her fiancé after all," Pop said
"Which I wouldn't be if you had bothered to ask me!" I shouted
"Anyway," Ryu interrupted, "It's not Ranma's fault. It was actually Dr. Tofu who inadvertently hurt Akane's feelings." Pop continued as if he hadn't said anything.
"You're old enough to know how women are," Pop then left.
"Oh yeah, EXCEPT YOU KEPT GOING ON ABOUT HOW 'WOMEN WERE A DISTRACTION'! So thanks to you, I don't know anything about women!" I shouted at the door. I then chased after him and he told me about how he broke some girl's heart and then got a mallet in the head for it. Even I knew that Pop had been an idiot about the whole thing. I then ditched him and walked home. On the way, I came to a decision.
Once I got home, I attacked Akane. I wasn't really serious, but Akane seemed to get the message.
"If we're going to fight, at least get serious," Akane quipped, "How do you expect me to work out my anger if you won't fight back?"
"Don't you get tired of being angry all the time?" I questioned
"I like being angry!" She declared and resumed trying to punch me.
"Well then that's too bad…"
"Why's that?!" She shouted
"Because you're really cute when you smile," I told her and headed into the house.
Akane's POV
'Cause you're really cute when you smile,' those words kept running through my head. Did he really mean it? After my bath, I decided to go look in my mirror and smile.
"What are you making those goofy faces for? I think I'm gonna be sick," For whatever reason, Ranma was sitting in the window.
"What are you doing in my room?!" I shouted and then grabbed my mallet. He was surprised long enough for me to bat him into next week. Honestly! He says one thing one minute and then the complete opposite the next! But which one does he really mean?
That's the end of this chapter. Next up we get to see Ryoga! I don't know why, but I just love Hibiki! Except when he's pulling his P-chan scam. Then I feel in the mood for bacon.