The Disaster Sisters: Celestial Interference

Part IV: For the love of the art

By Kalio

The screen of Fate's computer glowed, softly humming it's existence. Asleep after her hard day at work, she had no chance to get away from her older sister.

'Hi, Fate!' She jumped about a foot in the air, hoping it was some other fool who would wake her up with such cheer. She turned, resignedly. Nope, no luck.

'Hey Des, what's up?' Destiny grinned.

'I just came to find out how our little assignment has been doing in the last couple of days...'

'Uh, just like normal, no need to stress your pretty little head with it...' Fate rushed trying to keep her from finding out about the current status. And failing that, she would have to be brutally blunt this time. She couldn't afford anymore setbacks now that the final stages of celestial interference were upon them.

'Oh, well, I just thought that maybe... we could try the arrows, again...' Fate face-faulted. Once had been enough. The arrows they used last time were designed for the celestial forces on the basis of cupid's arrows from Greek mythology. Often times, when people were meant to be together forever, they were impervious to the arrows' effects. Last time they tried the arrows, Ranma almost found out about them, and that certainly wasn't a good idea, now.

'NO! No arrows! They were ineffective last time, you know. They aren't going to work, now...' Destiny pouted.

'But-'

'No buts, Des. We can't risk the exposure. Leave it to me, sis, I got it.'

'But-'

'No buts! I can handle it by myself... Now, let me get some sleep, I've had a very trying day.'

'Okay...'

***

Akane shifted in her bed again. Why couldn't she sleep? Suddenly it hit her, and the realization wasn't happy. Her thoughts were all on Tatsuya. She imagined what it would be like to be in his arms, to be really loved by someone who understood her. But when she closed her eyes to picture it, all she could see was Ranma's face. Then, today, when she was with Tatsuya, she forgot all about Ranma. But then, that's what she wanted, right? So why couldn't she shake the feeling that she was betraying Ranma? "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! Just `cause he's suddenly jealous, doesn't mean that I'm betraying him. He only cares because he thinks of me as a possession!" Then why does it hurt so bad to care about someone else?

***

A soft knock woke Akane. 'Good morning, Akane-chan! I thought you might want some breakfast!'

Akane sat up, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. 'Hm? Oh, Tatsuya, come on in!' The door opened and Tatsuya stepped in.

'Hey, girlie, I thought you might like some breakfast before training, ne?'

'Training? Today? Really?' She grinned widely as he nodded. 'Thanks so much!'

Tatsuya brought the tray over to Akane's bed, took his plate, and set it on his lap. Akane smiled as she dug in, excitedly talking over what he had planned. Akane nervously bit her bottom lip as she grinned. With lightening speed she smudged some maple syrup on Tatsuya's nose. His mouth hung open in shock, and he quickly decided to retaliate by getting some on her cheek.

The fight following could not escape the eyes of Nabiki as she strolled by. Her brow constricted in critical and solemn thought. Oh, Ranma was going to hate this...

***

Akane walked outside towards the back entrance of the dojo laughing at the joke Tatsuya told, when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, she gasped. 'Ranma!' she screamed.

Before them, Ranma seemed to have collapsed on his path home, and he didn't look very good, he looked as if he had just been in a fight with Saffron or fallen off a cliff... one of the which. Either way, he was bruised all over and his clothes were torn.

They ran to him, and Akane checked to make sure he had no head or neck injuries before shaking him. 'Ranma! RANMA! Wake up! PLEASE!' Her face was white, and filled with worry until he stirred, his eyes half open.

'Wazhuh?'

'Ranma! Are you okay? What happened to you?!' She helped him sit up and supported him as he held his head in his hands.

'Ah.... my head's throbbing....' He groaned. 'I don't remember...'

Akane's eyes went wide. 'Did you get attacked? Did you slip on the dojo roof?'

'Naw... I think... I think I trained too hard last night...' Later that night he had run to the forest a few mere miles outside of Tokyo were he spent a few hours straining to shoot from tree to tree. By the time he got home, he was torn up pretty badly, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to tell her he exhausted himself physically and emotionally because of her... that would be about as smart as actually doing it... not very.

'You were training last night? Why didn't you get sleep, you know you've been pushing it really hard lately. You know your body needs rest.' She sighed. 'Com'on, Ranma, let's get you upstairs, to your futon.'

'Let me help,' Tatsuya jumped up hoping to get in better graces with Ranma. But he wouldn't have any of it, and neither would Akane.

'No, Tatsuya, go get Kasumi and tell her what happened, I'll take Ranma inside.' Tatsuya took off, and Akane helped Ranma to his feet.

'Thanks, Akane.' He managed to say.

"Oh, Ranma, what did you do to yourself...?" 'I know its not like you to back off when something gets hard, but Ranma, I think you better take it down a notch where you don't collapse, okay? Promise me.' Ranma leaned on her for the first time in his life, and actually rather agreed with her, he really overdid it last night. Especially when she was still so close.

'Sure, `Kane. Will do... Just... do one thing for me...' Akane kept walking but looked at him hesitantly.

'Yea?'

'Could you move your hand, my side has a bruise right there...' Akane would have face-faulted, but that would have been a problem, so she just made an exasperated face and moved her hand.

'Ahh.... thanks...' If he could be making jokes right now, then he must not be all that bad.

***

Tatsuya leaned against the doorframe of the guest room, arms crossed. He frowned slightly, feeling left out. Akane was fussing over the cuts and bruises Ranma had, and he didn't like the feeling.

Nabiki walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. 'Hey, Tatsuya, can I ask you a few questions?'

'Huh? Sure, I guess. What'd you have in mind?'

'Not much, do you want to go somewhere else to talk or do you want them to overhear?' Tatsuya looked at the arguing pair.

'Better make it somewhere else.'

'Good choice.'

***

'You like my sister, don't you?' Tatsuya smirked.

'So it's true, you don't waste any time with small talk.'

'Yea, that's true, I suppose I don't. Now answer the question.'

'Yea, I do. Is that it? Did you bring me outside to ask me just that?'

'Nope, if that was all, I wouldn't bother asking since I already knew. I really want to know where you're from, and what brings you here. Daddy hasn't had a new student in ages, so I gotta wonder, does it have anything to do with Ranma.'

'Very perceptive, Nabiki. First of all, yes, I do want to learn from your father. Second of all, you're right, I did mainly come to see the Great Saotome Ranma in action and training. And judging from last night-' he paused to listen to Ranma's shouts of "Owww!" and Akane's yells of "Oh sit still and don't be a baby! Honestly!" '-I'd say that I'd have my work cut out for me to train like that.'

'So I ask you again, do you really like my sister, or are you just trying to find one of Ranma's weak spots? You sure found one, the other he tends to avoid like the plague.'

'No, I really do like Akane. She was the most friendly person in the world to me, and getting to know her, I just want to know more. To be honest, I don't want to beat Ranma, though that would be nice, but I really just wanted to know how he did it all and see if I was up to that. It is, however disturbing to see how he treats her when she's his weak spot. I'm glad, though, because maybe she can like me without too much hesitation.'

'I don't know about that... you can try, but be careful, my sister's more fragile than she seems to project, if you hurt her, I promise an empty bank account in your future.'

'Got it. No hurt Akane, if no want robbed. Anything else?'

'Yea, if you're going to make a move on Akane, make damn certain Ranma ain't watching. He WILL kill you.'

'Check.'

***

Once Ranma was soundly snoring on his futon, Tatsuya finally got to take Akane outside. Instead of going to the dojo, they stayed in the back yard, so that they could enjoy the sunny atmosphere.

'Alright, Akane, first I want to spar with you to see where you're at and what I don't need to teach you.'

'Okay, that's cool, but I warn you, I haven't had any real training in about 10 years, so if I'm really bad, try to ignore it, k?'

'It's alright, you don't have to worry about that, now, just fight.'

After a few minutes of sparing, Akane had been knocked to the ground several times as Tatsuya tested for weak defense areas. He blocked, dodged, and danced around her, avoiding blows as best he could. It wasn't too long before he stopped her.

'Okay! Good job for someone with ten years to forget, Akane! Some of those moves were pretty complicated, too.' Akane blushed, but wasn't about to tell him she learned the katas for them by watching Ranma.

'Thanks. What's next?'

'Back to the basics for reaffirmation. Let's start with balance...'

***

After a few hours of lessons with some breaks for lunch, water, and bathroom stops, things started to wind down.

'See, if you notice something coming from this direction,' he made motions helpfully with his hands, 'you want to get block it with the most efficient option available to you. Like this-' He lifted her arm and showed her.

'Mm-hm...' Akane nodded and looked at him to continue. He looked at her directly in the eyes.

'And then you might...' He cut himself short and kissed her quickly. He moved back and waited for her reaction.

Akane's eyes widened and when it was over, she touched her fingertips to her lips. 'Gee, I didn't know that was an efficient option.'

'Yea... I guess it wasn't, was it?'

'No, but it was effective in taking your opponent by surprise.'

'Yea. I should surprise you more often...'

***

Ranma's snapped open. He didn't know why, but something was nagging at him in his sleep. It wasn't nightmares, or anything like that, but something in the back of his mind told him to stay awake. He walked over to the window and looked out. Tatsuya and Akane were out there training. Ranma scowled. It was incredibly weird seeing Akane learning moves and techniques from some guy in his back yard.

He sighed, pressing his fingers against the glass. Things were changing, he could feel it. He watched as Tatsuya showed Akane the best way to block without hurting yourself. He was just about to turn away form the window when he saw it.

Tatsuya leaned forward to catch Akane's lips with his own. Ranma's heart stopped. Akane didn't kiss back, but she didn't push him away, either...

A/n: Hey, guys! Thanks for the reviews, they've been wonderful and helpful! So, continue to be helpful, review! Anyway, I'm working on part V as I conclude this part, so it won't be a forever long wait, ok? Good.