"So, it's a schedule for babysitting me..." Akane raised an eyebrow. The three teenagers across the breakfast table shared a nervous look amongst each other, holding their breath as they waited for her response.

Truthfully, Akane wasn't sure what to feel towards this new development, which was weird since it felt like it should've been anger. But here she sat, unsure, maybe a little offended that they referenced it as babysitting. Now that she really thought about it maybe it was surprise that the 3 were pretty responsible for making this plan, she hadn't expected them to come up with a reasonable plan, just to put it off and hope that nothing bad happened. Maybe her stress levels wouldn't be as high as she initially thought they would be all things considered.

Akane struggled to find the words for a moment before continuing. "Okay, so how does it work?"

The three exhaled in relief, expecting a bigger reaction in Akane fashion. Ukyo smiled. "So, we marked here on this make-shift schedule who would be your primary watcher, every 3 days we switch, with Mousse and Ranchan having the most amount of time with you." She held up the paper proudly as if the shorter girl could see. Akane decided to let her keep going without mention. "Anyway, halfway through the plannin, I wanna say towards the end, I realized that we don't have a backup babysitter incase anything happens to the primary one. As a solution, I suggested we mark in who would fill in the roll for backup under the name of the primary."

Akane was surprised behind all the thought for the idea. "That's pretty well thought out."

Mousse nodded. "Right, this divides the work equally and can help combat any preventable accident. For example, an unexpected enemy or person comes up to find us, say Shampoo or the snake skin." They all nodded in understanding.

"I forgot about that..." Akane commented.

Ukyo clapped her hands and pointed to her side where Ranma sat eating his eggs waiting for the briefing to be over. "You should really give some credit to Ranchan, he came up with the initial idea." Ranma choked on his food, sputtering at the sudden inclusion.

Akane paused, she wasreallysurprised by the thought behind the idea. "Well no matter who came up with the plan, it sounds like a great idea in the end. Who's first up on the schedule then?"

Ranma slid down his chair as the other two looked over to Akane. Mousse pushed his glasses up. "As of after breakfast, it's Ranma, back up is me."

--

"Listen, it's not that I wanted to be the first one on the schedule, I just so happened to have lost the decidin' rock, paper, scissors, match against Mousse." Ranma explained, whispering under his breath. "One of the only 2 things that freak can best me at... Anyway-"

Akane rolled her eyes, she had been listening to the blabbering boy for the last 20 minutes crap out every excuse he could muster up. Up and down the hills of the outskirts of the village it had been nonstop talk on his end. But she got the message: he was only doing this out of obligation and had no incentive of his own. She exhaled sharply, man I want to knock his lights out.

"-So, under no circumstance does this mean anythin' really. In fact, if you gotta see it any light, see it as the universe tryin' to protect you from Mousse's slimy, schemin' hands." Ranma went on. "You got it?"

Akane crossed her arms. "No, that 20 minutes of garbage spewing didn't get your point across at all, Ranma." She removed her bag from her shoulder and set it down next to her feet. "But don't worry, I'll try not to bother you too much since this is such an inconvenience to you."

Ranma frowned. "That's not what I said."

"You pretty much did, pretty sure I heard you say it somewhere in that declaration of yours." She paused, trying not to let this snowball into an argument as habit would allow. "Whatever, let's just be civil while I get what I need done during this day."

Ranma furrowed his eyebrows, crouching down to help her get things out of her bag. Still so difficult to talk to, whatever happened to being more mature,he thought to himself. In his speech there was some truth in there, he had lost the rock, paper, scissors, match-it was all chance after all- it was also true that this would protect her from Mousse's scheming. He doesn't know exactly what Mousse would use this alone time with Akane to do but he knew it wouldn't be good. He sighed.

"What are we gonna do today anyway?" He asked.

"We're taking pictures today, Big sis asked me to right before I left." She pulled up what she was hoping was the camera. "I brought another disposable camera so you can snap some with me."

Ranma looked into the bag and pulled out a cheap looking camera, then looking up to Akane and her blindfold. "You mean, I'mgonna be snappin' the pictures, right?" He held back a snicker as Akane grumbled a bit.

"Obviously not, I've been preparing for this since we left." She stood up promptly. "I'll be taking this off and facing the consequences, I've come to terms with it don't worry."

"Wait, what!" Ranma shot up. "You can't!"

Akane lifted the camera's neck strap over her head and let the camera hang loosely from her nape, beginning to unwrap the blindfold from its knot. "If you're worried about me doing something to you, you'll be fine. I don't really remember things when I'm you know,not in the correct state of mind and all, plus you've had plenty of experience of avoiding me romantically, so it should work out just fine." She pulled down the cloth and smiled, eyes still closed. "I'm gonna trust you on this, Ranma."

Before Ranma could awkwardly protest some more he stayed silent as his eyes met hers, a smile still spread across her face. He held up a defensive stance, not sure what to expect as he closed his eyes bracing for impact anyway. But to his surprise all he heard was a shutter and a click, he slowly opened his eyes to see Akane pointing a camera directly at her fiancé. She pulled it down, her eyes bright with amusement.

"You look funny standing like that, y'know, I just had to take a picture." Akane giggled. "Let's go take some more pictures for my sister, yeah?"

Ranma dropped his stance, still not sure how to process the sudden twist of attitude. "Right." It was similar to whiplash, he thought.

Akane didn't waste another moment in grabbing his arm and leading him gently down the path they were heading down, admiring the greenery while sneaking looks at Ranma, much to his embarrassment. He didn't protest as Akane continued doing her own thing while holding his hand, beginning to clam up in a sudden wave of nervousness.

What do I have to be nervous about? This is just fake after all, Ranma thought to himself, glancing quickly down at Akane who managed to catch his stare. She looked up and grinned playfully. "Are you going to take pictures of me too?" She asked. Ranma furrowed his eyebrows as he felt his cheeks heat up; he pushed her head lightly with his index finger. "Yeah right, dork, I'm just helpin you out for Kasumi."

Akane chuckled a bit and sped up her pace, letting go of his hand gradually as Ranma watched her walk ahead of him, still trying to let his nerves calm down. When he thought about it, she wasn't much different than her usual self, when she was wasn't angry that is. Maybe a little nicer, a little less hostile, and bit more... he picked up his pace to follow closer than before. She's just actin how she does when she's in a good mood, yeah, just think of it like that.

The two stopped at a wooden crossing bridge overlooking a dip with a gentle stream of water flowing alongside it with the sun hitting it too make it shimmer; the two looked over the railing together. Akane lifted up her camera and positioned it correctly as to get the best angle for the picture, paying little to no attention as Ranma followed her lead. He peered over at her, watching her focus in on the scenery ahead of them.

"I'd suggest we dip our feet in to cool down a bit, but I don't think there's anywhere safe to do that." Akane set the camera down and looked up at him, a bit sheepish as she continued. "It wouldn't be great if I got swept in, I could drown."

Ranma took one last look over the railing and down at the water before responding with his usual teasing attitude. "It's funny that you still can't swim, Akane, no matter how many times we try to teach ya." He rested his arms on the edge of the fencing.

Akane smiled and mimicked his pose, switching between looking at him and the stream below them. "Well, to be fair, I don't really need to. You always save me before anything bad happens to me, which is nice." She shrugged. "No matter how cold the water is I can always count on you jumping in."

Her fiancé let a proud smile escape him. "Duh, wouldn't be the best martial artist in the world if I let someone like you drown on my watch."

"Oh, someone like me?" Akane cocked her head to the side, curious.

Ranma's eyes shot open as his words hit him, trying his best to backtrack from the previous statement. "Right, can't let some helpless tomboy die when I could do something about it, that would just be embarrassing for me." He waved dismissively and stood up straight. "Let's keep going already, only so many pictures of water you can take."

Akane nodded and let Ranma take the lead, deciding to snap pictures of flowers along the pathway. Ranma peaked behind himself to see if she was gonna attack him; he had insulted her just then, bad enough the tomboy name calling but the helpless part definitely was not something that she would let slide. But, as far as he could tell, Akane was far from upset, no instead, she was happily snapping pictures on her camera behind him, no signs of being pissed off or irritated. He turned his head back around to face forward.

It felt weird to say the least, or at least not comfortable that she was so calm. The situation almost didn't feel real, like it was some messed up dream where school was at night and all their classmates all had the same haircut. Ranma frowned, no that would be easier to deal with. But, the point still stands, it didn't feel natural.

"Look, Ranma, see that?" Akane pulled Ranma back by his ponytail, snapping him out of his thoughts. She pointed across from them in the trees a few meters away. "It's a bird."

Ranma winced. "A what?"

"A bird,Ranma, isn't it pretty. You don't see those everyday, y'know." She spoke in a hushed voice as Ranma's eyes finally found the bird that almost had his hair torn out. It was a vibrant red color. Unusual but not hair pullin worthy,Ranma thought.

Akane lifted her camera, taking a quick picture of the bird. "I'm sure my sister will appreciate it."

"Yeah, Kasumi'll dig it, but that was a really dramatic pause for a picture of a bird." Ranma wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, rubbing the back of his head where it still felt tender.

"But it was a very perfect pause for the bird, the shot and the bird looked gorgeous." Akane laughed, allowing Ranma to let out a chuckle. "Sorry, I pulled your hair, I didn't want you to scare it away." She reached out her hand, caressing it softly along his face as if to make up for the seizing of his hair just then. Slowly, Akane retracted her hand, a soft smile on her face.

Akane intertwined her fingers over her stomach, tilting her head down and offering a kind look in her expression, waiting for him to accept her apology. Ranma instinctively looked away.

This was definitely not natrual, Ranma thought, feeling the color rise to his face. Normally she would've told him to suck it up or just move on from the act of aggression, but that wasn't the case. Instead a more demure response, an unfamiliar one was in it's place. An earlier thought came back to him: maybe a little nicer, a little less hostile, and bit more... cute. Ah, yes the scariest word for both teenagers, cute,that is what she was.

"Well, I-uh." He avoided looking her in the eyes. "It's fine-It's cool! Yeah, I've come back from worse, no need to apologize and all." Ranma floundered, turning his back to her. "Let's just keep goin', we still have more on the agenda for today, don't we?"

Akane beamed, following close behind him as she kept an eye out for any more wildlife around them, once again paying little to no mind towards Ranma's flustered reaction,

--

The next activity began a few hours later in what felt like an eternity for Ranma, who had tried his best to keep the protruding thought of Akane being closer to him than usual away. Instead Ranma would focus on what he was good at: martial arts. Part of what Akane wanted to do was spar, and instead of his usual decline he had agreed, seeing that it would be a good way to distract himself from what Akane had been dishing out. Though, naturally he was hesitant to go all out, so he planned to go easy on her along with the combined force of being a girl. Surely that would make things run smoother than if he stayed a boy, surely.

"Okay, Akane, what d'you want to get done specifically." Ranma asked as she stretched an arm over her head. "You wanna get anythin' in that's outta the usual?"

Akane thought for a moment as she sat down, reaching for her toes. "Nothing that you'd be okay with actually helping out with; I was thinking you could just give me some tips." She looked up, smiling. "Surely there's no time like now to correct anything on my fighting style."

Ranma hummed, looking away from the other girl. It was true, she was in a good mood due to the potion. A literally-impossible-for-Akane good mood. I should take advantage. Ranma snickered at her comment, quickly regaining composure in order to respond to Akane, a smile crept on her as they made eye contact. "You're right, let's get this rollin'."

Both of them stood only a few meters away, confident smiles plastered against their face as they circled each other to get a bit more comfortable. Soon they both came to a halt, widening their stance as they waited for the other to launch an attack. Ranma signaled Akane to come at her, a smug look on her face as she did so. Akane returned the look as she lunged forward with a fist, aiming for the other girls face. Ranma dodged casually, grabbing Akane's wrist and tripping her with her leg, holding Akane up as to not let her fall.

"You ready for tips?" Ranma asked casually.

Akane regained her balance before answering, a small note of embarrassment in her reaction. "Sure."

Ranma let go of her fiancée's wrist to cross her arms, speaking matter-of-factly as she readied her criticisms. "Well, for starters, you're way too slow, I could see your punch comin' from a mile away. Then I should mention that you had no counteract, you just let me trip you without much of a fight on your end, but maybe I should just chalk that up to me bein' as fast as I am."

Akane, huffed, strainng her smile. "That it?"

"Not even close." Ranma began to count on her fingers. "The way you threw yourself into that punch was way too heavy, no wonder you're so slow, you put too much force into it immediately. And shall I mention that you attacked first? I know I signaled it but anyone knows you gotta at least try and provoke the other, and then-"

"Okay, I get it." Akane raised her voice as she held up a hand to signal him to stop, clenching the other. "Lot's a things wrong, what do you suggest I doabout it then?"

Ranma leaned back, maybe Akane could be agitated in this state. Some habits just can't be shaken off I guess. "Well," She trailed. "Maybe just relax a bit, think about an attack plan if you are gonna be the first to attack. Do that until you get faster, at least."

Akane hummed as she took the tips into consideration.I think through my attacks,she thought to herself,most of the time that is."Well how do you suggest I do that?"

"... I dunno." Ranma crouched down, a finger to her chin as she mulled over the many ways she got her ownspeed up. "I don't suppose you'd like the chestnut technique?"

The taller girl's look said it all as she set her hands on her hips, trying to think of an idea as well. In the end they both took a seat next to each other, picking at the weeds and wildflowers. Finally Ranma had an idea, though it was something she had intentionally been trying to avoid suggesting for the last year or so. She pursued her lips before looking up to the sky, trying to force the suggestion out of her mouth.

"Maybe, you could try to get a hit on me?" Ranma leaned her face onto one palm. "Like, make a game of it: So much as a finger on me and you've won. Either way if you do or don't by the time the summer ends you'll have built at least somespeed."

With a flirty pout forming on her face, Akane inclined herself towards her fiancée, much to her growing discomfort she spoke. "Say I manage to get any hit in, what do I win?"

"What do you win? A good chance of becoming a better martial artist, duh." Ranma began to drift away as Akane only continued to close in. "You want some other prize or somethin'?"

Akane, now practically pressing against the other girl, smiled. "Of course, makes it a lot more fun and it can give me a bit more incentive." She paid little to no mind Ranma's reddening expression. "Just a small thing."

Ranma averted her eyes as her hand dug into the dirt, trying her best to avoid the sudden advancements from the girl to her right. "What's the small thing?" A much more scarlet color grew on her cheeks as her mind wandered in thought,what little thing?

The dark-haired girl lowered her voice, lifting up her right hand to cup her mouth in a whisper, using her left hand to support herself up she said. "A date." She backed away; a playful smile formed on her lips. "That's all."

Ranma let out a sharp exhale; no longer uncomfortable by the situation, Ranma looked Akane in the eye as she raised an eyebrow. "Just that?"

"Of course, what did you think I was gonna suggest?" Akane cocked her head to the side. "Surely nothing ina-"

Ranma slapped a hand over her fiancée's mouth, only just hard enough to get her to stop talking. "-Wow, okay, let's not think too hard there, Akane." She relaxed her own posture. "But you got yourself a deal there, a date it is.". Hopefully the memory loss she was talkin' about does it's part, Ranma thought but did indulge in an image of getting to go on a date with her fiancee, only for a moment that is. She scowled but was promptly ignored by the other girl.

"Great! And what if I manage to get you before the summer ends?" Akane asked, clapping her hands together. "Like, say in the middle of the summer."

The red head scoffed. "Well, if you domanage to somehow, miraculously, on a whim, get a hit in, then you get your initial request." Ranma began to think, what should she offer then? "The game won't end though, you can try and hit me again and I'll try and make it more difficult for you."

"Then what? Say I make it a second time." Akane pressed, curious in what she would say next.

Ranma clicked her tongue, that's crazy. "Doubt that could even happen." Though it was impossible in her head for Akane to pull that off, still, she decided their was no harm in just humoring her just a little. "Then, you can make a second request of me. Anythin' and everythin' is on the table if you accomplish it. You can suggest anythin' you want with the second hit."

Akane's eyes widened. "You mean it?" She gave doe eyes, waiting eagerly for Ranma to say yes.

"A true martial artist never backs out of his word, does he?" Ranma stuck out her hand. "I'll even shake on it."

The taller girl looked down at the extended hand, then back up at her fiancée who had replaced her earlier embarrassment with a much more confident look. Akane grinned, fiercely taking Ranma's hand in an enthusiastic handshake. "Better clear your schedule when your time with me is up, Saotome."

Ranma broke the handshake, a certain coyness in her voice as she asked. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

"Because," Akane swiped her hand, narrowly missing Ranma by a hair as she leaned back. "I'm going to run you ragged these next few days."

The two grinned, this would certainly be entertaining for their time together.