Hi Minna-chan!! How are you all doing? Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving…I know I did! Well, this is chapter 4 of this fic and I really want to thank you all for sticking with me, reviewing and e-mailing me to keep me on my toes. So here goes! Enjoy.
Review! Review! Review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½
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Soundlessly closing the door behind her, Akane flopped down on her bed, exhausted
Trying to act cute had its good points, but it was really exhausting, and it was sorely out of character for her. Sure she liked the look on Ranma's face when he had seen her, maybe even remember his expression for life, but it bothered her that it took this to get his attention. Not that she wanted his attention, she quickly reassured herself.
She sighed removing the red high heel shoes that her sister had lent her. Her feet hurt too; she thought sullenly, her hands moving unconsciously to rub her aching feet. What girls must undergo in order to look pretty, she thought ruthlessly, her gaze momentarily traveling to the window.
Her head whipped back to the window immediately. Was it her imagination, or did she just see P-chan's necktie, dangling from the tree limb outside of the window. She blinked slowly, reopening her eyes. It was gone! She rubbed her eyes, staring at the tree limb again. It was still gone.
Akane gave out another tired sigh, putting a hand to her forehead. Now she was going crazy. 'I had better get some sleep.' That decided, she laid down closing her eyes, almost immediately falling into a deep sleep, totally unaware of the two culprits that lay just outside of her window.
*~*~*~*~*
Ranma sighed relieved that she didn't catch them, from the precarious position on the tree limb. If she had caught them, there would have been hell to pay.
He turned an angry glare to Ryoga, shoving the evidence that his bandana provided back at Ryoga. "Ryoga you idiot! You almost got us caught!" Ranma hissed furiously to his unexpected accomplice.
Ryoga flushed red. "We shouldn't even be up here, you pervert!" Ryoga said with conviction, returning Ranma's glare with the same intensity.
"W-what?!?!" Ranma sputtered indignantly. "Need I remind you P-BRAIN," Ranma started, "That this was your idea?!?!" Ranma almost yelled, torn between wanting to punch Ryoga and not wanting to wake Akane.
Ryoga opened his mouth to let lose a retort until he realized the truth behind Ranma's accusation, causing him to shut his mouth momentarily. "Well you shouldn't have listened…have you no conscious?" Ryoga inquired in a berating tone of voice.
Ranma nearly exploded. "Me!?!? You don't call sleeping in her bed perverted?" Ranma half-yelled, but immediately quieted down some when he saw Akane's motionless form stir slightly.
Ryoga's flush only rose higher. "Th-that's none of your business!" He yelled, releasing one of his arms from around the tree limb, attempting to punch his nemesis.
Seeing Ryoga draw back his fist, Ranma brought both legs up to capture his wrist. "Look, Ryoga…if were going to work together, then we have to stop fighting. But just for now." He finished hurriedly; not wanting to make the impression that he would ever want to be Ryoga's friend.
Snatching his fist away from it's captured position; Ryoga stared at Ranma with slightly narrowed eyes. "I guess your right. I'm going to sleep." With that, he relinquished his grip on the tree limp, and to Ranma's amazement, falling almost silently into the little pond.
Emerging a little black piglet, he threw Ranma a look that plainly said 'ha' before quickly darting into the dojo to be with his unrequited "love", before Ranma even had time to react.
*~*~*~*~*
'What's going on!?' Ranma questioned himself for the millionth time in the last couple of days. Akane's behavior went from just plain weird to a schizophrenic kind of weird.
Instead of being the uncute tomboy he was so accustomed to, she was slowly transforming into this beautiful creature that he wasn't sure he knew.
Ranma turned to his side fitfully. He really had to find out what was wrong with her. It was of the utmost importance. If she didn't revert back to the way she was, he might do something crazy, like kiss her. And that itself might lead to an even bigger disaster: letting her know how he truly felt about her.
*~*~*~*~*
The sun cast it's golden rays into Akane's window, making her squint her eyes slightly before finally opening them. She rose, yawing slightly, getting ready to handle her daily toiletries.
Rubbing her eyes gently with the backs of her hands, she made her way to the bathroom. Not really paying attention to where she was going, she collided with the unsuspecting body of her fiancé, almost making her fall.
Seeing this, Ranma immediately made a grab for her, his hands failing to her waist to steady her.
Akane gaze flew to Ranma's equally startled face, momentarily stunned by his hasty appearance and his nearness. She had almost lost her temper at the sudden intrusion, but she wasn't prepared for the feelings his nearness caused. It was heady and vastly unsettling. And she could see that it affected him also, for he looked as uneasy as she felt.
Breaking off both of their reveries, Ranma quickly dislodged his arm from around her waist, his hasty action almost causing her to fall. "L-look where you're going next time!" He said from between clenched teeth, trying to sound disgusted with the prospect of having bumped into her.
Akane's eyes burned with their familiar fire, but she refused to let it out. How dare he act as though she disgusted him!? Well she had come to far to let him bait her into an argument. Pasting on a fake smile, she decided to confuse him once again. "Ranma-chan, I'm sorry I didn't see you there…I'm sorry. It won't happen again!" With a toss of her short hair, she marched right past him, and into the bathroom, soundlessly closing the door behind her.
'Sorry!?!? It'll never happen again!?!?' Ranma mimicked Akane's voice in his head. He should have expected that kind of response after the way she had been acting lately, but this was just to unreal. He was going to go find Ryoga and fast, so that they could get started on their mission.
He didn't have to look far. Ranma numbly took a step but halted when he heard an offensive squeal come from an object under his foot.
"P-chan!" He exclaimed as the small black pig glared at him meaningfully. Ryoga had been watching the whole exchange by the two and had been extremely surprised. For as long as he had met Akane, she had always taken her anger out on Ranma. Even though Ranma had told him what had happened, he had been wholly unprepared for her reaction. He had been more than ready to take a chunk out of Ranma's exposed ankle in Akane's defense until she had apologized and just walked away.
"Ryoga, come on. Were getting to the bottom of this." Ranma consented, kicking P-chan in the air, with skill that would have made a soccer player proud, and catching the now angered pig.
*~*~*~*~*
Akane looked around the room once again searching for Ranma's familiar face to no avail. 'Where the hell was he!?' Akane thought once again. It was mid-after noon and still she hadn't seen him since the episode earlier today. She had dressed up from him and he wasn't even showing his face! She fumed heatedly.
Instantly looking at the bright side, she decided she would go out of the day. She hadn't really been anywhere for the past few days, so it would do her some good to go out today. She needed a break.
That decided; she headed for the dojo gate. However, when she was almost outside of the gate, she stopped, whipping her head around quickly to slowly survey her surroundings. When she saw nothing of interest, she started to walk again.
Odd…she had felt as if someone had been watching her. 'I must really need this day out.' She sighed, determined to relieve her mind of both Ranma and the bet.
Unbeknownst to Akane, her first impression proved to be the right one. She was indeed being watched.
*~*~*~*~*
"Are you sure spying on her will help us find out what's wrong with her?" Ranma said somewhat skeptically, from his perch on the rooftop.
Pulling his hat up, Ryoga gave him a glare without heat. "Of course it'll work." He quipped offended, reaching for a pair of binoculars for his trench coat.
"And why do we have to wear these clothes? Won't people look at us suspiciously if were wearing trench coats and hats in the summer!?" Ranma pointed out reasonably.
Ryoga flushed slightly, not having thought of the possibility. "It doesn't matter. Akane's going into that restaurant." He pointed, attempting to change the subject at hand.
His gaze followed Ryoga's outstretched arm to where his fiancé was sitting. He blinked slowly. His usually uncute fiancé sat there alone looking even more cute and sexy than she had the day before.
"Umm…I guess we'll just sit back and watch her…" Ranma trailed off uneasily, trying to tear his thoughts away from Akane.
*~*~*~*~*
Ranma had never realized how much of nothing one person could do in one day! They had been trailing Akane almost all day, and what did they find out: nothing! She had done nothing to pique their curiosity all day! Save maybe drinking a milkshake, but that was only because he wanted one. Talk about a boring day!
Well he had had about enough of it! Giving the dozing Ryoga a meaningful glare, he got up; ready to do what he should have done in the first place. He was going to confront her himself.
He agilely jumped from the roof ready to go talk to Akane when he was stopped by the sound of someone's shoe tapping impatiently behind him.
He turned around slowly and was greeted by bunch angry faces of about a dozen different women. 'Oh boy…' Ranma thought nervously.
"We caught the pervert that's been spying on us all day!" The leader growled, the other's starting to come closer, malice filling their eyes.
Ranma backed up, his hands flying up in a gesture of defense. "Y-you've go the wrong person!" He tried vainly to reason with the angry women a few seconds before he was pounced on.
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Akane slowly sipped her now mushy milkshake due to the little interest she really had in it. Try as she might, she just couldn't banish Ranma from her thoughts or the fact that she was doing something wrong. Sure it was fun to see how Ranma would react to a nicer her, but she could tell that she was really messing with his sanity. Not only that, it felt…unnatural.
Throwing her useless milkshake in the garbage by the entrance to the department store that she was about to enter, a staggering figure caught the corner of Akane's eyes.
"Ranma!" Akane exclaimed, as the figure approached her, silently wagging an accusing finger in her direction. Had he not looked so utterly ridiculous, she would have felt a surge of anger at his obvious accusation. She did the only thing she could do: laugh.
Ranma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It's good to know that my suffering is amusing to you!" He said darkly, his gaze momentarily flickering toward the approaching figure on the side of him.
"What do you mean?" Akane said innocently, already well aware of to what her angry fiancé was insinuating.
"You know what I mean. Any idiot can tell that you've been acting really strange these past few days. Isn't that right Ryoga?"
Ryoga shook his head in the affirmative quickly. "Hey!!" He growled, once he noticed the insult thrown into that statement.
Ranma sighed trying to clear his brain some. "Akane…tell me what's wrong. And don't shake your head like there's nothing wrong." He finished quickly, when he saw that Akane was about to deny his accusations once more.
'Shit.' Akane thought frantically, her mind moving swiftly, trying to find a possibility that would be believable; Something besides the truth of course.
Akane gave a feigned defeated sigh. "Okay…I'll tell you. Well Ranma, I wanted for us to be closer even if were already betrothed. I wanted us to be like best friends before we were married." She said insincerely, mentally wincing, the lie flowing smoothly from her lips.
Ranma looked as if he had been struck by lightning. "A-Akane…I meant tell me the truth." Speaking to her as if she were a baby.
"I am. I really do want us to be closer." To Ryoga's horror, she stepped closer grasping Ranma's stiff-arm, gently laying her head on it. Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she wondered what the hell she had just gotten herself into.
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What has she gotten herself into indeed…so how did you like it? I didn't really like this chapter all that much. Probably because my heart wasn't into it. But lots of stuff has been happening to me lately and I'm working on 3 different fics at the same time and I have this idea for an Inuyasha epic…but I have to wait until this 3 are finished. *Dramatic sigh* the life of a fanfic writer!! Anyways, if you would like to be on my mailing list just leave it in a review. 'Till next time!
Breezbox