Akane sat down heavily on a park bench. She had tried her best to follow him, but couldn't find Ranma anywhere.
"I can't believe Ranma's first kiss was stolen by a boy." she muttered.
There was a cracking sound from the tree branches above. Suddenly, with a tremendous crash, Ryoga was sitting next to her on the bench. Or rather, he was on the bench, but head first.
"F-fancy meeting you here, Akane."
"Ryoga?" Akane involuntarily tugged at her now-shorter hair. "What were you doing in that tree?"
"I was in the bushes, looking for a lost baseball… is there a baseball field near here?"
"Not very near, but there's probably one within two or three kilometers, and… you know what, the exact details don't really matter. Did you, uh, happen to overhear me right now?"
Ryoga nodded as he righted himself. "Yeah, and, uh, sorry. Sorry for eavesdropping, but..."
"Listen, Ryoga," she interrupted him and sighed. "Can you keep it to yourself? Ranma… well, it seemed like he didn't want anyone to know."
"You say that, but," Ryoga frowned, "why did he tell you, then?"
"What? No, he didn't tell me! He didn't need…"
"Did somebody else tell you about it? I didn't think there was anybody watching."
"Nobody else told me, Ryoga. Nobody needed to! I saw it all with my own eyes!"
Ryoga paled. "That's impossible! How did that happen?"
"It was right in front of me!"
"I… I see." Ryoga averted his eyes. "Um, what did you feel about it?"
"It made me sick!"
Ryoga glared at her, hurt in his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with a boy kissing a boy! Maybe it's uncommon, but it's totally normal!"
"That's not what I meant. What made me sick was that Ranma was forced into the kiss!"
"Th-that's not true! Ranma was completely consenting… wasn't he?"
"No! He was trying to get away!"
"But if it bothered him, why did he go with me to my house to make out later?"
Akane felt like her eyes spinning. Ranma, making out? "Ranma and Sanzenin are at your house? When did that happen?"
"It was about two years ago, but who is Sanzenin?"
There was a long, long pause.
"Ryoga? What are you talking about?" Akane asked quietly.
"Ranma's first kiss… right?"
"Right, but why did you say it was two years ago?"
"Because it was two years ago?"
"Ranma kissed some boy two years ago?"
Ryoga stood up, shaking slightly. "I am not just 'some boy,' Akane. You and I might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I thought we could at least be friends."
"Wait… are you telling me that you and Ranma kissed back in middle school?"
"Of course? What do you think I was talking about."
Akane thought back through the whole conversation they had just had, and reinterpreted everything using this new bit of information.
She felt her forehead sweating, which only happened during exercise or when she felt guilty.
She bowed to Ryoga. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to insult you, I misunderstood everything you were saying. I should have listened more closely, it's just that I'm so upset by what happened today…"
"What happened today?"
"At the ice skating rink, this boy had tried to kiss me, but Ranma stopped him. Then Ranma got splashed and Sanzenin kissed him, instead, without asking or anything."
"I see," Ryoga said quietly. "Then, I jumped to conclusions as well. I humbly apologize."
"No, don't worry about it."
There was a bit of an awkward silence. "So… you like Ranma?" Akane asked.
"I don't, I don't it's just…" he saw Akane looking at him with a flat 'are you kidding me?' expression. "I… had a crush on him in middle school. I confessed and we kissed a few times. Then he left and I got angry. Right now I… it's complicated, all right?" he explained, sounding slightly piqued. "Besides, you like Ranma, too, right?"
"N-no, I don't! I…" She saw Ryoga giving her a copy of the look she had given him moments before. "Fine. Let's agree on 'it's complicated,' okay?"
Ryoga chuckled. Soon, Akane started giggling as well. They laughed quietly for a minute.
"So, now that we've cleared the air a bit," Ryoga said, cracking his knuckles ominously, "Do you know where I can find this 'Sanzenin' person?"
Akane held out her palms In a stopping gesture. "No, you can't kill him!"
"I'm pretty sure I can."
"No, I mean I do believe that you're physically capable of killing him, I just think going that far would be a really bad idea."
"But… I have to do something. We have to do something."
"How about this, then? Why don't we go and find Ranma, and talk to him."
"But what about…"
"Then all three of us can go and break Sanzenin's arms."
Slowly, a small smile appeared on Ryoga's face. "Akane? I think we really can be good friends after all."
Akane held out an open hand in an arm-wrestling pose. Ryoga clasped his hand with hers.
"Good friends… and best rivals."
Story begun: May 10, 2022
Story completed: May 10, 2022
(They don't all take forever. Sometimes a story arrives in my head pretty much fully-formed.)
When I was writing this, I realized I had the opportunity for a pun. I couldn't fit it in the story, but it was a good idea for a title. (Also, I couldn't think of a better one.)