A Ranma ½ Fanfic by INABN

Original Ranma ½ Characters and Settings ©Rumiko Takahashi

Used without express permission. 

All characters not part of the Original Ranma ½ cast are property of INABN

Lyrics property of their individual owners/writers.

Wasurenagusa Chapter Four (Part 1): When It Rains

            With a heavy sigh, Ukyou let herself drop down wearily onto the futon in her room above Ucchan's.  "What a day.  I didn't think it was going to get so busy already."  She draped her arm across her forehead, absently pushing her bangs back.  Wonder how Ran-chan's doing?  Hasn't stopped by for a couple of days.  Ukyou rolled onto her side to look out the window.  The view from the second-story of Ucchan's wasn't the best, but at least she could see above the rest of the rooftops nearby.  The first hints of moonlight were already streaming through the window, beyond which lay the violet-black skyline.

            Ukyou sat up on the futon to pull off her outfit.  She had finished all of the closing duties, and was ready for a long soak in a hot bath.  Stretching her arms over her head, Ukyou felt a few lower back muscles twinge, make that a very hot bath, she amended herself.  Walking into the bathroom, she turned on the hot water before shedding the rest of her cloths, tossing pants and binding wrap over into a hamper.  As steam filled the room Ukyou shut off the tap.  Dipping a leg gingerly into the water, the rest of her soon followed.  Placing a wet washcloth over her face, she rested against the back of the furo letting the stress of the day ebb out into the water.

            When she woke, Ukyou wondered how long she had been asleep.  Must've been out for an hour at least, she mused.  Looking down, she noted her hands were very pink and her palms were wrinkled.  Not only that, but the bath water was quite cold.  Probably what woke me.  Tossing the dry cloth to the side of the furo, Ukyou climbed out reaching for a fluffy towel that hung on a rack against the wall.  Yawning, she wrapped the towel around herself to go brush her teeth and head off to bed.  Hope tomorrow is a little calmer, it is a Monday after all.

            At about the same time as Ukyou turned in for the night, Ryouga was walking dejectedly along the sidewalk not too far from Ucchan's.  Every now and then, the lost boy would cast a glance at his surroundings.  Each time, the same grave expression, and subsequent line of thought passed through his head.  Damn it, everything looks different after dark.  I was sure that I was in Nerima before the sun set.  With a scowl, Ryouga turned around in a circle, vainly looking for something that he might, just might, recognize.  Seeing nothing, he was despondent,  where am I now?

            Ryouga heard the faint rumble of thunder in the distance as he made his way down the empty street.  Lovely, not as if things couldn't get any worse.  In preparation for the coming storm, he slipped the umbrella out from his pack.  Keeping it closed for the moment, he continued on his way, no longer caring where he ended up for the night.  So long as it's dry, he thought adamantly.  Resting the red weapon across his shoulders, Ryouga strode on, on the lookout for a place to wait out the coming rainstorm.

            A few minutes later, Ryouga passed by the front of Ucchan's unknowingly.  It was about that time when the rain started to fall.  At first, merely a few heavy drops landed on the ground, just enough for him to warrant opening his umbrella.  All too soon a light drizzle formed into thin sheets of water falling from the swollen black clouds overhead.  The lost boy trudged on, careful not to kick up enough water from the puddles to trigger his curse.  This is definitely going to be another long cold night.

            Just then he heard the telltale whine of a car approaching down the street, and promptly jumped into a nearby alleyway where the eaves protected him from the rainfall.  Soon the car shot past the alley, where sure enough a large spray of water was directed by the passing vehicle.  Ryouga lowered his umbrella to deflect the splash, smirking at his good fortune for once.  The smile didn't last too long, when as he raised his umbrella, a second car sped past following the first.  His chuckle resolved into a very angry 'bwee'.

            P-chan glared daggers at the taillights of the retreating cars.  Unbidden words sprang into his mind, almost a litany before he squelched them, damn you Ranma, this is all your fault!  Actually it probably isn't, but it feels good to blame him anyway doesn't it?  Damn you Ranma, you'll suffer for this indignity.  Hey, now.  I was joking.  Still, he probably is warm inside the Tendou home, snuggling with Akane.  Augh!  I'll kill you Ranma!  P-chan bristled vehemently, eyes narrowed down to slits as he contemplated four-hundred and one ways to kill Ranma Saotome.

            Ranma was indeed warm inside the Tendou home, though he was not as Ryouga imagined, snuggling with Akane.  Neither were his thoughts on Ryouga, or P-chan, for that matter.  Instead he was sitting on his futon looking out the rain-streaked window.  Turning his mind over the events of the past week, it all still seemed surreal enough, and he knew it had happened.  Why can't things ever work out, even just a little like I plan?  Does everything always have to be so hard around this place?

            Growing tired at the late hour, he went to lay back on the futon, resting his hands behind his head.  Glancing over at his father's considerable bulk, he rolled his eyes.  "Pops, d'ya have to snore so loud?  Can't even get to sleep with that buzz saw you've got jammed down yer throat."  Ranma focused on the patterns the sheets of rain were drawing on the window, which seemed to help him relax, just a little.  "Gonna be up all night at this rate now."  He rolled onto his side, facing the window in an attempt to ignore the grating sounds of his father.

            Ranma struggled with himself for another half-hour of tossing and turning in an attempt to get comfortable.  Man, can't get to sleep at all.  Just my luck.  He rolled onto his stomach, pulling his small pillow over his head to shut out the noise from the rest of the house.  Gah, if it wasn't raining I'd go up on the roof.  It'd be quiet up there.  Since the pillow wasn't helping, he tossed it at Genma's head.  Which did absolutely nothing to stop the snoring.  Well, that wasn't quite true; Genma snorted when the pillow hit his face, then resumed his nasal affront.

            Rolling his eyes, Ranma stepped over his dad, briefly entertaining the thought of 'accidentally' planting a foot in Genma's face.  Shaking his head, he quietly opened his door, not wanting to wake anyone else.  He glanced down the hallway then made his way to the kitchen.  Maybe some tea will put me to sleep.  Anything's worth a try at this point.  Stepping into the kitchen, Ranma was somewhat relieved to find himself up alone.  He felt that now wasn't the time to run into anyone else, in light of the days events.  Especially if that someone else happened to be Akane.

            Damn, what went wrong?  We were so close to something today.  He closed his fingers around the warm cup of tea, letting the heat flow into his hands.  Leaning back against the fridge, he rested the steaming cup down on the counter near the sink.  I tried so hard to tell her how I felt about all of this.  I know she was doing her best to listen.  We both tried so much today.  Think that might be it, hmm?  Maybe you tried too hard, tried to go too fast there.  Face it, Romeo you are not…even if you've played the part.

            Ranma stood there in the kitchen debating with himself just what to do with his life.  He stood there impassively, taking a sip of tea every so often as he saw fit.  Deep in thought, he stood there for the better part of an hour, until the remains of tea left in his cup was bitter and ice cold. Still, no clear light shone at the end of the tunnel in his mind. All the while, the rain continued to tattoo a rough beat against the windows of the Tendou home well into the night.

            Ryouga blinked himself awake as several shafts of the morning sunlight pierced his slumber.  Moving his hand across his face, he mumbled curses at the pool of warm water he was laying in.  Sitting up, the lost boy took stock of his surroundings, the last thing he remembered were those damnable cars coming down the street…  The first thing he noticed out of place was his state of dress.  Namely, the fact that he was quite naked.  In of itself, not a problem since his pack was never too far away.  Getting to his feet, Ryouga cast about for his pack or umbrella.  Neither was in sight. 

            Now, the lost boy wasn't stupid, not by a long shot.  But, some things just didn't want to add up in his head.  It was early, he was hungry, and he couldn't for the life of him remember what had happened last night.  A combination of factors that led him to become angry, then drift slowly into merely upset.  Casting another glance around, he failed to make heads or tails of his location, not surprising really since he was lost more often than not anyway.  He noted an abundance of flowers and other small plant life arranged in various patterns on the ground around himself.  I'm  in a garden?  What next, a bathhouse?

            Brushing loose soil and leaves from his skin he concentrated hard in looking for an exit.  Not the best of things if some unsuspecting housewife walks out and finds me like this.  Or worse, an irate husband.  Surrounding the garden on three sides were fairly tall cement walls.  A sizable building took up the fourth side.  It appeared to be an apartment building from what Ryouga could tell.  Painted a drab tan, the three storied complex faced the south.  How did I get in here there's no gate, he paused in thought.  Did I just walk through the apartment?  Must have, don't see any holes anywhere.

            I need to get out of here before someone spots me.  His eyes fell upon a rack of linens hanging out to dry at the back entrance to the ground floor apartment.  Something in the way of clothing first I think would be in order.  Please, please let there not only be girls clothing there.  Much to Ryouga's chagrin, there were neither female, nor male clothing on the rack.  Just great.  How the hell am I supposed to wear a bed sheet?  Don't even have anything to hold it together.  His hand shot out to grab the blue sheet regardless, when he heard a door open on the balcony just over his head.

            With the bed sheet pulled tightly around himself, he dove for cover behind a large bush near the laundry rack.  He was greeted in the bush by pointy branches and a startled bird.  Thankfully, the small bird made hardly a noise as it flew off to find a spot where it would be less likely to be disturbed.  Ryouga quickly found that he was holding his breath.  Whoever is up there, go away, just go back inside.  There is nothing for you to see out here.  When he didn't hear any movement from the balcony, he risked a peek upwards from within the shrubbery.

            Ryouga managed a weak little laugh as his gaze was met by another pair of eyes staring down at him from right outside the bush he was in.  "Ha, Ha…this, uh isn't what it looks like…I assure you."  Ryouga fought to retain some composure in the situation, which was made doubly hard by his state of dress, and that the pair of eyes belonged to a young girl.  In the back of his mind, where thoughts were a little more rational he noted the girl was around his own age, and cute too.  That same part also noted that the girl didn't seem all that mad at this.  The rest of him, namely his mouth, kept stammering out some sort of explanation.

            The continuing stare of the girl started to make him feel distinctly uncomfortable.  From past experience, not frequent ones mind you, Ryouga was expecting something along the lines of 'Eeek, Pervert!' followed by a sound thrashing.  However what the girl was doing was a far cry from the expected…he felt like she was undressing him with her eyes, not that there was much to remove at the moment.  Ryouga felt himself flush under the intense scrutiny.  "I…I, um, well that is I think I'll be going about now!"  The thoroughly embarrassed boy pushed out of the bushes, attempting to back away from the situation.  In his flight he failed to notice one little detail.  Nothing extremely major in of itself, but when taken along with everything else it became a big deal.

            "Oh…how cute."  The seemingly innocuous comment from his 'admirer' took on another meaning altogether with the seductive tone of voice she was using.  Ryouga's attention fell upon the blue mass tangled in the bushes.  Hey, that looks like the…uh oh.   Hey, bud, getting a little breezy out here is it?  Shooting a glance downward while at the same time scrambling to cover himself with his hands, the lost boy felt a little light headed about the whole incident.  Please, oh please, don't let me pass out!  Yes, for once I agree…that girl gives me the creeps…we aren't a piece of meat…let's get out of here, maybe find that sweet Akari.  Akari…

            Ryouga continued to back up until he was stopped by the wall surrounding the apartment.  Still staring, the girl made no move to stop him from leaving, even if he thought she was giving him the strangest look.  You are naked you know.  She's not even blushing or anything!  Reminds me of a shark, or …more like Nabiki, right?  Ok, that's it, I'm outta here!  Ryouga turned about to face the wall, somewhat mindful of directing the girl's attention to his posterior.  As he broke through the wall in his haste to flee, the image of the girl leering at his rear threatened to overtake his conscious thought.

            Warm sunlight cascaded through the window, washing over the sleeping form of Ukyou Kuonji.  With a sigh she rolled out of bed, ready, if not exactly willing to face the day.  "Damn, five more minutes would've been nice,"  it was a statement she had taken to making the past week once business had picked up for the summer.  A futile sentiment at best, since she knew full well that once her internal alarm went off she had next to no chance of going back to sleep.  Grumbling to herself, she headed downstairs to start preparing for the afternoon rush.   Only stopping in the bathroom long enough to scrub the sleep from her eyes and get cleaned and dressed.

            Already Ukyou missed Konatsu, she had grown used to the fawning kunoichi over the past year.  Though it was more in that he had helped with the workload around Ucchan's.  Konatsu had left two weeks ago saying that there was very urgent business with the Kenzan.  Ukyou took that to mean several things, especially since Konatsu had never expressed any such inclinations before.  No use worrying over that now, you have work to do girl!  "I'm glad that I changed the hours to open a little later during the week.  Definitely gonna need the rest if the weekend was any indication of how crazy things are gonna be for the next month."

            After giving the place a once over, Ukyou found herself satisfied with the condition of the kitchen and floor.  She was about to set out the batter for the morning when a loud crash distracted her from outside the rear of the restaurant.  Frowning, the chef brushed her powdery hands on her apron and went to take a look.  Curious, though not yet alarmed, her hand barely strayed toward the large spatula slung across her back.  This better be good, I don't have the time for any crap today.  Poking her head out the back door she scanned the mouth to the small alley.

            Faint gusts of wind caught her ponytail, stirring it as she turned her head from side to side, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.  Or that's what her first glance warranted.  Upon a second pass, she caught the frantic shuffle of something just around the edge of the dumpster.  From her angle it looked like…a pair of feet?!   "Hey, what are you doing back here!  Better not be some kind of pervert!…I swear."  Ukyou punctuated her speech with the rasp of metal on polished leather as she swung her battle spatula into her hands.

            At her words whoever it was behind the dumpster began to struggle faster with whatever they were doing.  From what Ukyou could tell as she made her way around the side of the huge bin, the person was perverted indeed.  Had to be with the way he/she was grunting and flailing his/her legs about.  Time to give this freak some incentive to get a move on…Ukyou clanged the flat of her spatula hard against the metal bin with a resounding clang. 

"Augh, what the hell are you doing!?"  Ukyou nearly jumped at the scream of the voice from the other side of the bin, despite the fact that she was intent on scaring the pervert away.  Stilling her pounding heart, Ukyou stepped around the bin with sharpened battle spatula raised overhead poised for an incapacitating blow.  However all thoughts of killing the pervert were banished, somewhat, when she saw who it was.  There amidst the loose papers and bottles on the ground lay a bewildered and nearly nude Ryouga.  "U-U-Ukyou…Tell me I'm back in Nerima."

"Ryouga honey, why are you lying naked in the trash?"  Ukyou kept the laugh she had bubbling in the back of her throat bottled up for a second longer.

"Naked…I'm not…," Ryouga looked down at himself, at the strange predicament his clothes had gotten him.  "…well, I'm still not exactly naked, but, do you mind?  At least let me fix this."  Ryouga tried hard not to think about Ukyou watching him dress more appropriately.  When he finished and told her so, she peeked back around the dumpster and saw that he was dressed correctly.  The lost boy scuffed his feet despondently as he picked up his backpack that he had been sleeping on.  "So, uh…I'd better get going,"  he gave her a toothy grin as his spirits picked up with his currently vengeful thoughts.  "Have a few new tricks to show Ranma.  He'll get what's coming to him this time!"

"Sure sugar, think you want to put your shirt on the right way first?  Or does one of your new moves need it to be on backwards?"  This time she laughed outright.  Turning red, he tossed off his pack and pulled his shirt around the right way.

"Not one word of this to anyone, Kuonji…"

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed sugar."  She gave him a teasing smile.

"Hey, I mean it.   Not a word."  Ryouga gave her his sternest expression as he folded his arms across his chest for effect.

"Just tell me one thing, and I'll leave it at that."  Ukyou mimicked his stance while sheathing her spatula.  Perplexed, he nodded lightly.

"Ok, What?"  he waited for her to ask whatever she would.  Ukyou made a show of tapping her finger against her chin in thought.

"I juts want to know…"  she paused, leaning closer to him.  "How exactly did you get your arms into your pants and your legs into your shirt when I found you out here a few minutes ago."  Ryouga nearly fell over backwards at the sheer stupidity of her question.  Though actually he was at a loss.  From what he remembered, he just woke up like that.  Which is what he told her.

"I just woke up like that…got a problem with it?"  Ryouga bared his fangs in a vain effort to regain his composure.  His answer was a stifled giggle from the Okonomiyaki chef.

"Cute Ryouga, cute.  The others will love this."  Ukyou turned around to go back inside and open up.  A rough hand on her shoulder pulled her to a stop.

"You promised me to keep this to yourself."  His voice was low, but not dangerously so.  She took that as a sign to keep niggling him.

"Did no such thing sugar, All I said was that I'd not tell anyone about you putting your shirt on backwards."  So saying, she tried to shrug off his hand, but he was having none of it.

"You aren't going anywhere until you promise me Ukyou."  He felt her shoulders tense under his palm and wondered what she was going to do.  He was more than sure that she couldn't beat him in a fight.  In fact he was just as sure that if it came to that, he would be at odds with himself when it actually came to fighting her.  Ranma was one thing, this was something else.  Even when Ranma was in his girl form, he was still Ranma, a guy.  Everyone knew that, well, maybe not the Kunou's.  But every one knew that counted.

"Look, Ukyou, it's just something that I'd appreciate."  Ryouga fought to calm himself.  I wouldn't mind more friends…more enemies, I don't need.  Just the one is enough for me.  He pulled his hand from her shoulder when he felt her relax.   He took a step back when she turned halfway and smiled at him.

"It's ok sugar, I was joking a little, that's all.  Going to be a long day for me so I was trying to sneak in a little fun before the work starts."  She smiled again as she made her way to the back door.

"Oh,"  was the constructive thing his mouth made him say.  A second later, after his brain kicked in, he gave a better reply.  "Need any help?"  When she turned to look at him, she was just as startled as he was at the offer he just made.  What am I thinking?  Come on, you know that girly-man Konatsu left a few days ago.  She's probably hurting for help around the place.  But what about…Ranma?  You can kick his ass any old time.  Besides, free food.  Well, a guy's gotta eat.  So it was that Ryouga convinced himself to offer his assistance, for good or ill.

Ukyou thought the matter over just as Ryouga was debating the merits of his big mouth.  "Tell you what hun, I do need help carrying some of the heavier things from the supply room to the kitchen.  I can manage myself, but this way I can do it in half the time."  With that, she grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him inside.  "Don't go wandering off now,"  she softened the remark with a bright smile.  "I'll be right behind you as you carry the boxes, should keep you out of trouble."  Ryouga nodded dumbly as she lead him to the stock room where she kept her extra supplies.

Ten minutes later the supplies Ukyou needed had been moved out of the store room and Ryouga was leaning against the front counter.  Sighing, Ukyou glanced out the window as she prepared to flip the open sign.  "Looks like there's going to be a bit of rain coming this way."  Ryouga declined to comment, opting instead to adjust his bandana.  "That means it's either gonna get real busy, or real dead in here."

"Oh," came the pearl of wisdom from the broad shouldered youth.  The chef turned from the window to walk back behind the serving counter, patting him on the cheek as she passed.

"Cheer up a little, nothing wrong with a bit of rain."  She gave him a grin as she warmed up the grill.  Ryouga just continued to scowl, not that he actually noticed he was making a face right now, just force of habit.

"Hah, easy for you to say.  You don't turn into a…"  The lost boy was interrupted in his lamentation by the soft ring of the door chime.  He didn't recognize the customer, so Ryouga simply shrugged off his comment.  Folding his arms across his chest, he took a seat at a nearby table.  Ukyou went into her cheery business mode and started taking the first order of the day.  It's raining again outside and she thinks it's the greatest thing in the world.  Hello, didn't she just tell you that this means it could get busy today?  Living here does cost money you know.

A few blocks across town the Tendou household was weathering a collective mood similar to Ryouga's.  With the possible exception of one Tendou Kasumi, who may or may not have been having a bad day.  It was hard to tell with her.  Nabiki could also be counted in that realm of possibility.  It was doubly hard to discern the current mood of one who was not in the household proper.  As was her wont, the shrewd business-minded Tendou sibling had departed just prior to the breakfast debacle stating the need to take care of 'urgent business' across town.

  Ranma rubbed the side of his sore arm, shooting a glare at Akane who was putting that accursed mallet back into where ever she pulled it from.  "What was that for?"  Akane for her part, just scowled back at him.  "Aww, c'mon.  I tried it see?"  Indeed proving his point Ranma took yet another bite from the contents of the bowl in his hands.   It doesn't burn so much going down this time.  However, as with the previous bite, he failed to suppress a wince. 

"Boy, eat the breakfast that your fiancée has prepared for you.  It's only proper."  The Saotome patriarch intoned as much wisdom into his words as he could.  Inwardly, Ranma wanted to scream.  Every single conversation around her with pop has to do with marriage.  Why the hell can't the old man be content for one little year longer.  Let me get out of High School at the very least.  Gah, can't even support myself right now, let alone a wife.  On the surface, he just continued to chew, wordlessly gulping down the rest of the food in the bowl.

 When he was finished Ranma left the table.  Sparing a sidelong glance toward Akane, he walked out to the dojo to work off pent up frustration.  A testament to her determination, Akane's cooking was only giving him mild indigestion now.  Feh, What am I supposed to do now?  Dammit, just when I thought things could change for the better this time.  Now that he was working himself up he wanted something to vent on.  Looking around the dojo a dark shape in the corner caught his eye.  You're not seriously thinking of hitting that thing are you?  Gotta problem with it?  Er, isn't it a little, I don't know…masochistic?  Maybe.

Two minutes into his 'workout' Ranma paused in mid-swing.  The target was already pretty much mangled despite his deliberate softening of his blows.  This didn't feel quite as good as I thought it would.  Tried to warn you.  Did you?  Must've missed that.  Ranma began pummeling the practice dummy once again.  Come on, what is the big deal, just talk to her.  Why should I talk to that tom…cut the crap, you know you want to.  Ranma stopped again, not because of the pang of conscience he was having, but because he felt someone watching him.  It was a familiar aura actually, one he was well acquainted with…Akane.

When he canted his head to look her way, he saw that she was simply staring at him.  Well, not exactly at 'him', but the practice dummy that she had tailored to resemble him.  Or, what was left of it anyway, the martial artist had reduced the dummy to little more than a frame with bits of fluff attached.  "Heh, sorry bout that Akane, must've hit it harder than I thought."  Akane took the time that he was using to scratch the back of his head to right her gaping jaw. 

"Ranma, what are you doing out here?"  Akane winced inwardly when her question came out more like a demand.  She was just so shocked at what she saw that the control over her emotions she had been carefully cultivating this past week, slipped.  Ranma almost made the mistake of firing off his standard jibe, just as he saw the regret flicker in her eyes.  Regret, and something more…he chided himself for not being able to read little subtleties from people such as this.  So much for martial arts master, I can read my opponents moves, but not a girl's emotions when I need to.

Trying to steer herself back in the right direction, Akane formed another question, "How come you ran off so fast back there?"

"Huh?  You mean just now?"  Ranma thought her second question sounded just like the first one.  Is she doing this on purpose?

"Yes dum…that is,"  Akane wiped her sweaty palms on her dress.  "I meant to ask if you wanted to talk about anything?"  Akane nearly took a step backwards when he suddenly started walking over towards her.  "R-Ranma?"  The boy in question stopped a few feet short of where she stood.  Unsure of his intention, she was further puzzled when he stood on his tip-toes to look all the way over her head.

"Yeah, Akane.  I do want to talk to ya,"  Taking another look into the house beyond her, he finished up what he had to say.  "just not in here, you know how things get around the house."  Nodding mutely Akane finally realized what he had been looking for, or rather, who he had been looking for.  She sighed knowing full well what he was referring to.  "Alright, where should we go to talk then?  It's raining outside, remember."

"Oh, right."  Ranma paused to think.  "I'll go grab an umbrella, we'll just have to find somewhere.  Shouldn't take too long I imagine."  Akane watched Ranma bound off into the house.  He just said 'an umbrella' not 'some umbrellas', or 'two umbrellas'.  She shook her head, they did need to talk, and now wasn't the time for day dreams.  Akane waited patiently by the door for him to return with however many umbrellas he thought they needed.  It'd be nice if he did just bring the one umbrella though.

Outside, though the sky was dark gray, it was merely a light shower that fell across Nerima.  Further inspection of the horizon would give the telltale signs of a larger storm cell approaching.  Akane wasn't really paying attention to the weather however, as she was trying to enjoy taking a walk with Ranma.  He even brought just the one umbrella.  She barely noticed the smile that rose unbidden to her lips, more pressing thoughts coming to mind.  Ranma noticed the pleasant expression and wondered what caused it.  He looked up at the roof of the umbrella he was currently holding.  Strange, he thought.  I could a sworn that there were three umbrellas in the stand before I went out to the dojo this morning.

"Akane," he began as soon as they were a few blocks from the dojo.  "About yesterday, I wanted to say that,"  She cut him off by nearly halting, to which he had to stop suddenly to keep the umbrella over her.

"It's ok, Ranma.  I understand what happened.  It…it made me mad, at first you know, seeing you like that.  Seeing her do that to you."  Akane kept her eyes on her shoes up to this point, not sure if she could look directly at Ranma right now.  Sheer force of will kept her fists from clenching.  Ranma watched her carefully, trying to figure out how to keep going with this.

"For what it's worth, I want to…apologize.  It should a never happened Akane.  I'm sorry."  Now Ranma was the one looking down at a very interesting crack in the sidewalk.  She could hear the sincerity in his voice, and it made her raise her eyes, just a little.

"Ranma, It's ok.  I'm sorry too, and I forgive you.  If you can forgive me,"  the last came out almost as a question, so soft did she say it.  This was Ranma's turn to be surprised.  He hid it well, only moving closer to her as if to tell her something more.  Maybe a little more important or private that what they had been talking about.  Akane shuffled her feet nervously at his proximity, the umbrella wasn't all that large after all.  His lips moved almost wordlessly, to her what he said sounded like 'I forgive you,' but it could just as easily have been something else altogether.

Not too sure what had made him do it, nonetheless Ranma felt that kissing Akane was the right thing to do at the time.  Getting no objection from his fiancée, he didn't break away.  At first there had been a mutual nervousness, and awkwardness to the act, but that soon faded with the long seconds that they remained standing there.  The handle of the umbrella hung limply in the crook of Ranma's arm, naturally his mind was elsewhere at the moment.  However when the umbrella fell away with a gust of wind Ranma noticed immediately the tingle of the curse passing through his body. 

Of all the times, why now?  Ranma opened her eyes when she felt Akane tense up, suddenly jerking away.  Akane turned away too fast and lost her footing in a deep puddle of water.  Before she could fall very far, Akane felt her wrist caught in a strong but somewhat small grip.  Letting herself be pulled back upright, Akane stood there for a long moment, feeling the drizzle plaster her bangs to her forehead.  When the redhead's grip fell away from her wrist, Akane looked up at odds with the feelings swirling around in her head.

"I didn't mean…I wasn't expecting, Ah."  Akane struggled with the words she wanted to use, not satisfied with whatever she was coming up with. "I don't want to give you an excuse, I don't know what I want right now…"  Again she tried to meet the stare she knew Ranma was giving her.  Through the falling rain those bright blue eyes met with hers, she could see a sadness there, and also that determination she knew was such an integral part of Ranma.  That is what I have to remember.  Despite everything else, this is 'Ranma' I'm standing here with.

Ranma watched Akane evenly, then made a decision.  "Akane, let's walk…we really need to talk I think.  No time like the present, right?"  She put up her confidant front, both for herself and for the benefit of Akane.  "We're both already wet as it is, a little more rain ain't gonna hurt."  With that said, the two walked off down the street, leaving the umbrella where it lay, discarded at the side of the road.

Chapter Four (Part 2): Dance the Night - Coming Soon