Love is in the Air: A Christmas Story
Chapter 2: Calm Before the Songs...(Version 2.1)
Disclaimer...
Unfortunately, I don't have a huge cabinet full of witty and interesting disclaimers... gomen.... so, you'll be stuck with my boring ones. Here goes!!!! I don't own Ranma 1/2. Isn't that sad???? All characters are property of Ms. Rumiko Takahashi... isn't she awesome!!!!! ^o^ *Waves flag....GO RUMIKO!!!* Anyway, that's that, you all know this, no need to repeat it....
Note before beginning...
Ahum.... I, Hotaru Kimiko Lai, do offer my most sincere thank yous to all the wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart, and good looking people who reviewed this fic. How do I know their characteristics??? Simple, only wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart and good looking people would review... just kidding....^^;; Anyway, my most sincere thanks to all of you out there who are reading this and are wondering, "When is the stupid story going to start????!!!!" THANX, THANX, THANX, THANX!
You all deserve a cookie, so consider yourself given a cookie... Any one you like, no matter the cost (it can be one worth three million dollars for all I care...) Now on with the story!!!!
_______________________________________
Begin.
_______________________________________
The two stood there silently, not knowing what to do. Ranma was not sure of himself. One minute, he felt like running away from her, but the next, he realized he wanted to be beside her. There was an awkward silence in the air, both standing under Kasumi's sprig of mistletoe, but neither noticing it.
'What in the world is he waiting for????' thought Akane to herself. 'He's just standing there... What bug bit him? He's been acting weird ever since eating.... Oh no...' The most horrifying thought sped across her mind. What if... her cooking had done something to him. Perhaps it had erased part of his memory and he forgot how to insult her. 'Not that that is so bad....' or perhaps, it made him stupid.... 'Wait, he was already stupid.' Whatever it was, it was her fault... Great, she had really messed it up this time. Tears started to gather in her eyes. It wasn't fair! She hadn't meant for this to happen!
Meanwhile...Ranma....
'What the heck should I do?' he thought worriedly. Darn it, there it was again, that stupid sticky perfume smell. How he.... loved the perfume that came from Akane. It was exquisite, yet delicate, alluring, but sincere. It was so like Akane, it fit her perfectly. With a start, he realized that he had just learned to like the perfume, just because Akane had put it on. 'I'm going crazy,' he thought to himself. 'Not that everyone else would care, except.... Akane...' *click* 'What the heck is that sound?' thought Ranma. It sounds like...
His thoughts were interrupted as Akane all of a sudden turned away from him and ran away from him. He caught the sight of crystalline tears falling from her brown orbs as she turned. They sparkled like glittering diamonds in the afternoon sun. 'Kawaii...' he thought, before he realized that she was crying. That snapped him back to reality.
"Akane!!!" he said as he ran after her. "What's wrong?" But Akane didn't answer him, and kept on running. He ran even faster and soon caught up with her. By that time, they were out of the Tendo dojo and in one of the streets around the place. He grabbed her arm and brought her to him. He hugged her softly, as if slightly unsure of what he was doing. The snow had stopped for a while, but the streets were white with freshly fallen snow.
Akane's mind was thrown in turmoil. One minute, she was running as fast as she could, the next, she was being held in Ranma's arms, almost as if he were... worried about her. *click*
"What do you want?" she asked him, not looking at him. Ranma was stuck.... he didn't know what the heck he was doing. This was the first time he caught a girl and held her like this.
'AAAAHHH!! What do I do now??', he thought desperately. Another voice inside him answered.
'Tell her you're worried, baka! What else?'
'But then, she'll clobber me and call me a pervert or something...'
'But she hasn't called you pervert yet...'
'But....'
'No buts, or are you a chicken?'
'Am not!'
'Are too!'
'Am not!'
'Fine, prove it!'
'Fine, I will!' There was silence and a pause...
'Well? I'm waiting...'
'Let me think, will ya!!!?'
'Sure, but hurry, Akane is getting suspicious.' And she was. Akane's confusion was slowly but surely turning to righteous fury.
"Ranma," she said with false sweetness. "You have fifteen seconds to explain what in the world you are doing starting from now... or else, I personally will cream you and then punt you to the stratosphere." Ranma froze. He had to think quick.
'Quick! Just tell her you're worried about her!' said the annoying little voice in his brain. He decided to take the advice.
"I,... uh... I..." he started.
"Yes Ranma?" she asked, her patience running out like a bucket with half the bottom missing.
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said quickly. And then, he crossed his toes, since he was still holding Akane.
"Fine, Ranma no...." started an angry Akane. "wait... what did you say?"
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said just as fast.
"You're worried?" she asked, half surprised. The mallet that had begun to materialize abruptly disappeared. She turned in his arms. *click* "Why?" Ranma gulped. He... he... he really liked how she felt in his arms. He blushed lightly and tried to ignore his burning cheeks.
"Because... I do," he said softly. Akane sniffled, and hugged him a little, still a bit shy.
"But... but, I..." she started. Ranma tried to shush her, but she kept on. "I know this isn't you, Ranma," she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry, I never meant for it to happen! I promise I'll never cook again!" Ranma was stunned, how did they jump from hugging to talking about her cooking?
"What?" asked Ranma. "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," said Akane, her tears forgotten. "I gave you amnesia!"
"..." said Ranma intelligently.
"Well, selective amnesia," said Akane. She stepped back from him and looked at him critically in the eye. Somehow, a drastic change had come over her, and she was now standing, with her arms crossed in front of her, looking very serious and almost... professional. Ranma was now extremely puzzled. Very. Really. How in the world did they go from comforting, to hugging, to cooking and now to amnesia... It was a bit hard to follow Akane's logic. Akane kept on.
"I know you probably don't believe me," she said with a tutor like voice, as if she were a teacher to a pre kinder gardener. "But I gave you selective amnesia with my food. I still haven't been able to identify the actual ingredient to actually cause such a cerebral change in your system. After all, you've always been unaffected by my cooking... I don't understand how it could happen.... although I bet the peanut butter with chocolate ice-cream had something to do with it..." She would have kept on, had Ranma not silenced her.
"Um,... excuse me... " said Ranma. "... but I think I would have known if I had selective amnesia."
"Of course you wouldn't, baka," said Akane. Her face scrunched up cutely as she studied him and looked into his eyes to see if there was a sign of sickness in them. "Anyway, I think it'd be better if I took you to Tofu's office, 'K?"
"But there's nothing wrong with me!!!!" said Ranma. "I know how amnesia feels like..."
"Yeah, right," said Akane as she grabbed his arm and promptly began to drag him in the general direction of the street. "Now, stop whining and get moving. Besides, what happens if the you don't remember, is because the amnesia erased exactly that part of the brain. Imagine what will happen???"
"But, Akane!" said Ranma as he resisted her attempts to pull him to the Doctor's office. "Why in the world do you think I have amnesia????"
"No, not amnesia," said Akane as she unsuccessfully tried to pull him along. "It's selective amnesia!" She got closer to him and looked him in the eye. Very close... "I know it's hard to believe, but you do. Don't you believe me?" Ranma thought for a while, as hard as he could... why couldn't they go back to almost hugging, that was very nice. The smell of her perfume swirled around him, and he felt as if he would be intoxicated by the exquisite tangyness of the perfume. This time, the perfume seemed playful, enchanting... he would willingly drown in it forever, if he got to be with Akane... A part of him snapped. He smiled gently at her and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Akane eeped, and blushed bright crimson. To Ranma's eyes, it made her look even cuter. "Um, Ranma," started Akane. But Ranma ignored her and hugged her to him. Akane's worry turned to confusement, which turned to embarrassment which very soon turned to... yup, you guessed it, anger...
"Ranma, will you please explain to me, what in the world you are doing????" she asked threateningly.
"Aren't I allowed to hug my inaazuke??" he asked gently. That seemed to shut Akane up. Akane looked up at his eyes, fear in her eyes. Ranma read the unasked question and smiled gently. "I see, you think I have amnesia, because I'm treating you differently..., right?" Akane felt speechless. She didn't know what in the world had come over Ranma, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Did she really want to give him his memory back? After all, he was treating her much, much better... but... wouldn't that be selfish of her part?
'It would be,... very selfish of my part,... and unfair for him," she thought, her eyes tearing up once again. She wouldn't allow that to happen.
"Akane, what's wrong?" he asked gently as he noticed her tears falling gently down her rosy cheeks. He wiped her tears away with his fingers. She stared at him, with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.
"I'm sorry, Ranma," she said softly. "But it wouldn't be fair for you. I'm so sorry, I never meant for all of this to happen,..." She started to sniff a little and materialized her hammer out of nowhere and gave him a hard one over the head. The last thing Ranma saw before darkness overwhelmed him, were Akane's silver tears on her red cheeks.
Author's notes...
Well, pardon for the long time between writing and for the short chapter. I've been bombarded with the bane of all authors (or at least me...) ,... homework... ugh... *shudder*
Well.... this chapter was supposed to be on them caroling, but that will be next chapter. I felt like I should put up something quick, because I'll be taking a trip to play in a band concert (no, not rock...), and unfortunately, won't have time to write much... I know... that's very sad...
Anyway, as always, Read and Review... please???? And if you really, really, really, really want to flame me, well, I can't do much about it, right??? But any comments and criticisms, good or bad, would be extremely welcome. And once again, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. You are all extremely cool!!!!!!!!!
As you might know, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but,... oh well.... next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it out. The next one should be about them Caroling... should.... you never know with author's...^o^
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Quote for the Chapter...
"Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading."
-Horace
Thank you to all you reviewers, who like this story... your comments are a treasured memory for me!!! HKL
PS,... no, I didn't turn the computer upside down to write the story... ^^
PPS... And to "lija" thank you for your comments, I think I fixed the mistake. Thanks for telling me...^o^
Chapter 2: Calm Before the Songs...(Version 2.1)
Disclaimer...
Unfortunately, I don't have a huge cabinet full of witty and interesting disclaimers... gomen.... so, you'll be stuck with my boring ones. Here goes!!!! I don't own Ranma 1/2. Isn't that sad???? All characters are property of Ms. Rumiko Takahashi... isn't she awesome!!!!! ^o^ *Waves flag....GO RUMIKO!!!* Anyway, that's that, you all know this, no need to repeat it....
Note before beginning...
Ahum.... I, Hotaru Kimiko Lai, do offer my most sincere thank yous to all the wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart, and good looking people who reviewed this fic. How do I know their characteristics??? Simple, only wonderful and cool and intelligent and smart and good looking people would review... just kidding....^^;; Anyway, my most sincere thanks to all of you out there who are reading this and are wondering, "When is the stupid story going to start????!!!!" THANX, THANX, THANX, THANX!
You all deserve a cookie, so consider yourself given a cookie... Any one you like, no matter the cost (it can be one worth three million dollars for all I care...) Now on with the story!!!!
_______________________________________
Begin.
_______________________________________
The two stood there silently, not knowing what to do. Ranma was not sure of himself. One minute, he felt like running away from her, but the next, he realized he wanted to be beside her. There was an awkward silence in the air, both standing under Kasumi's sprig of mistletoe, but neither noticing it.
'What in the world is he waiting for????' thought Akane to herself. 'He's just standing there... What bug bit him? He's been acting weird ever since eating.... Oh no...' The most horrifying thought sped across her mind. What if... her cooking had done something to him. Perhaps it had erased part of his memory and he forgot how to insult her. 'Not that that is so bad....' or perhaps, it made him stupid.... 'Wait, he was already stupid.' Whatever it was, it was her fault... Great, she had really messed it up this time. Tears started to gather in her eyes. It wasn't fair! She hadn't meant for this to happen!
Meanwhile...Ranma....
'What the heck should I do?' he thought worriedly. Darn it, there it was again, that stupid sticky perfume smell. How he.... loved the perfume that came from Akane. It was exquisite, yet delicate, alluring, but sincere. It was so like Akane, it fit her perfectly. With a start, he realized that he had just learned to like the perfume, just because Akane had put it on. 'I'm going crazy,' he thought to himself. 'Not that everyone else would care, except.... Akane...' *click* 'What the heck is that sound?' thought Ranma. It sounds like...
His thoughts were interrupted as Akane all of a sudden turned away from him and ran away from him. He caught the sight of crystalline tears falling from her brown orbs as she turned. They sparkled like glittering diamonds in the afternoon sun. 'Kawaii...' he thought, before he realized that she was crying. That snapped him back to reality.
"Akane!!!" he said as he ran after her. "What's wrong?" But Akane didn't answer him, and kept on running. He ran even faster and soon caught up with her. By that time, they were out of the Tendo dojo and in one of the streets around the place. He grabbed her arm and brought her to him. He hugged her softly, as if slightly unsure of what he was doing. The snow had stopped for a while, but the streets were white with freshly fallen snow.
Akane's mind was thrown in turmoil. One minute, she was running as fast as she could, the next, she was being held in Ranma's arms, almost as if he were... worried about her. *click*
"What do you want?" she asked him, not looking at him. Ranma was stuck.... he didn't know what the heck he was doing. This was the first time he caught a girl and held her like this.
'AAAAHHH!! What do I do now??', he thought desperately. Another voice inside him answered.
'Tell her you're worried, baka! What else?'
'But then, she'll clobber me and call me a pervert or something...'
'But she hasn't called you pervert yet...'
'But....'
'No buts, or are you a chicken?'
'Am not!'
'Are too!'
'Am not!'
'Fine, prove it!'
'Fine, I will!' There was silence and a pause...
'Well? I'm waiting...'
'Let me think, will ya!!!?'
'Sure, but hurry, Akane is getting suspicious.' And she was. Akane's confusion was slowly but surely turning to righteous fury.
"Ranma," she said with false sweetness. "You have fifteen seconds to explain what in the world you are doing starting from now... or else, I personally will cream you and then punt you to the stratosphere." Ranma froze. He had to think quick.
'Quick! Just tell her you're worried about her!' said the annoying little voice in his brain. He decided to take the advice.
"I,... uh... I..." he started.
"Yes Ranma?" she asked, her patience running out like a bucket with half the bottom missing.
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said quickly. And then, he crossed his toes, since he was still holding Akane.
"Fine, Ranma no...." started an angry Akane. "wait... what did you say?"
"iwasworriedaboutyou." he said just as fast.
"You're worried?" she asked, half surprised. The mallet that had begun to materialize abruptly disappeared. She turned in his arms. *click* "Why?" Ranma gulped. He... he... he really liked how she felt in his arms. He blushed lightly and tried to ignore his burning cheeks.
"Because... I do," he said softly. Akane sniffled, and hugged him a little, still a bit shy.
"But... but, I..." she started. Ranma tried to shush her, but she kept on. "I know this isn't you, Ranma," she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry, I never meant for it to happen! I promise I'll never cook again!" Ranma was stunned, how did they jump from hugging to talking about her cooking?
"What?" asked Ranma. "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," said Akane, her tears forgotten. "I gave you amnesia!"
"..." said Ranma intelligently.
"Well, selective amnesia," said Akane. She stepped back from him and looked at him critically in the eye. Somehow, a drastic change had come over her, and she was now standing, with her arms crossed in front of her, looking very serious and almost... professional. Ranma was now extremely puzzled. Very. Really. How in the world did they go from comforting, to hugging, to cooking and now to amnesia... It was a bit hard to follow Akane's logic. Akane kept on.
"I know you probably don't believe me," she said with a tutor like voice, as if she were a teacher to a pre kinder gardener. "But I gave you selective amnesia with my food. I still haven't been able to identify the actual ingredient to actually cause such a cerebral change in your system. After all, you've always been unaffected by my cooking... I don't understand how it could happen.... although I bet the peanut butter with chocolate ice-cream had something to do with it..." She would have kept on, had Ranma not silenced her.
"Um,... excuse me... " said Ranma. "... but I think I would have known if I had selective amnesia."
"Of course you wouldn't, baka," said Akane. Her face scrunched up cutely as she studied him and looked into his eyes to see if there was a sign of sickness in them. "Anyway, I think it'd be better if I took you to Tofu's office, 'K?"
"But there's nothing wrong with me!!!!" said Ranma. "I know how amnesia feels like..."
"Yeah, right," said Akane as she grabbed his arm and promptly began to drag him in the general direction of the street. "Now, stop whining and get moving. Besides, what happens if the you don't remember, is because the amnesia erased exactly that part of the brain. Imagine what will happen???"
"But, Akane!" said Ranma as he resisted her attempts to pull him to the Doctor's office. "Why in the world do you think I have amnesia????"
"No, not amnesia," said Akane as she unsuccessfully tried to pull him along. "It's selective amnesia!" She got closer to him and looked him in the eye. Very close... "I know it's hard to believe, but you do. Don't you believe me?" Ranma thought for a while, as hard as he could... why couldn't they go back to almost hugging, that was very nice. The smell of her perfume swirled around him, and he felt as if he would be intoxicated by the exquisite tangyness of the perfume. This time, the perfume seemed playful, enchanting... he would willingly drown in it forever, if he got to be with Akane... A part of him snapped. He smiled gently at her and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Akane eeped, and blushed bright crimson. To Ranma's eyes, it made her look even cuter. "Um, Ranma," started Akane. But Ranma ignored her and hugged her to him. Akane's worry turned to confusement, which turned to embarrassment which very soon turned to... yup, you guessed it, anger...
"Ranma, will you please explain to me, what in the world you are doing????" she asked threateningly.
"Aren't I allowed to hug my inaazuke??" he asked gently. That seemed to shut Akane up. Akane looked up at his eyes, fear in her eyes. Ranma read the unasked question and smiled gently. "I see, you think I have amnesia, because I'm treating you differently..., right?" Akane felt speechless. She didn't know what in the world had come over Ranma, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Did she really want to give him his memory back? After all, he was treating her much, much better... but... wouldn't that be selfish of her part?
'It would be,... very selfish of my part,... and unfair for him," she thought, her eyes tearing up once again. She wouldn't allow that to happen.
"Akane, what's wrong?" he asked gently as he noticed her tears falling gently down her rosy cheeks. He wiped her tears away with his fingers. She stared at him, with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.
"I'm sorry, Ranma," she said softly. "But it wouldn't be fair for you. I'm so sorry, I never meant for all of this to happen,..." She started to sniff a little and materialized her hammer out of nowhere and gave him a hard one over the head. The last thing Ranma saw before darkness overwhelmed him, were Akane's silver tears on her red cheeks.
Author's notes...
Well, pardon for the long time between writing and for the short chapter. I've been bombarded with the bane of all authors (or at least me...) ,... homework... ugh... *shudder*
Well.... this chapter was supposed to be on them caroling, but that will be next chapter. I felt like I should put up something quick, because I'll be taking a trip to play in a band concert (no, not rock...), and unfortunately, won't have time to write much... I know... that's very sad...
Anyway, as always, Read and Review... please???? And if you really, really, really, really want to flame me, well, I can't do much about it, right??? But any comments and criticisms, good or bad, would be extremely welcome. And once again, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. You are all extremely cool!!!!!!!!!
As you might know, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but,... oh well.... next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it out. The next one should be about them Caroling... should.... you never know with author's...^o^
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Quote for the Chapter...
"Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading."
-Horace
Thank you to all you reviewers, who like this story... your comments are a treasured memory for me!!! HKL
PS,... no, I didn't turn the computer upside down to write the story... ^^
PPS... And to "lija" thank you for your comments, I think I fixed the mistake. Thanks for telling me...^o^