Chapter 6

That's not fair, Ranma. You cheated! Akane protested from her spot by Ranma's side. Akane was now able to get around the island under her own power without the aid or her fiancé or a crutch. Currently, Akane was lying in the sun grumbling about how he had managed to beat her yet again at their new game. It had been over a week since their bet and they were now living in their newly constructed home. At the moment, they were working not to far from their newly completed home.

Ranma glanced over towards her while he carefully constructed a harpoon out of a few stones and other materials lying around the island. Hey! I did not! You know it's true! he retorted; Ranma glared at her before returning to the task on hand. he grumbled, You know that every time you try to do it, you can't. Girls just don't have the right balance to do it.

You should know, you're a girl half the time! Akane retorted grumpily.

Ranma protested, he knew that Akane didn't really mean anything by that comment, it was just part of his cursed life and she was just being a sore looser. I'm finished, Akane. How's the net coming?

I think It's ok.oh damn! Akane started to say only to cut herself off when she encountered a problem.

What happened now? Ranma asked before remembering the multiple mishaps that had occurred when he had first taught Akane how to weave. Glancing over towards her, he blinked in surprise for a few moments as the site of Akane's current predicament came into view. How did you do that,

I have no idea. Once minute I'm working on this knot and then the next I take my attention away for just a second and BAM! I'm all tied up! she replied, complete frustration and bewilderment lacing the tone of her voice. Akane tugged frantically at her hands, trying to separate her fingers from the knots. She wasn't having much success since each tug only made the knots tighter.

Ranma tried very hard not to laugh but he couldn't hold it back any longer, .h-here let m-me get that for ya. Reaching over, Ranma untangled her fingers from the knots.

Akane replied, licking suddenly dry lips. She watched as he leaned forward, his muscles rippling in the dappled shade with each movement. As he worked, his fingertips brushed over Akane's skin, sending little tingles of electricity up her arms.

Aww. It's nothin, Akane. Besides, Ranma grunted as he worked on a particularly stubborn knot. If ya stay stuck like this, ya'll never finish the fishing net and we'll be out of a good way to catch some fish, he finished saying before leaning back, a mischievous grin to his lips. Ranma watched for Akane's reaction to what he had just said. He was still smiling when Akane punched him lightly in the arm, but her muttered words warmed his heart.

she mumbled afectionately, ignoring the tingling sensation as she withdrew her fist. Akane knew that Ranma had a tendency to say things before he even knew what he was saying. Sure, they had gotten into some serious fights over the last two months, and all of them had ended with them not speaking to the other for over a week. It got really lonely with no one to talk to. Akane admitted that she had the same problem of letting her mouth run off before thinking. It must be due to our martial arts training of react first and think later, Akane thought, glancing towards Ranma.

Ranma said, trying to get her attention for the fifth time. Akane blinked for a few moments before focusing her attention back towards Ranma.

Huh? What was that you were saying, Ranma? Akane asked as a blush colored her cheeks.

I was saying that we should go and catch some lunch. We're not making these things for nothin, Ranma replied as he indicated the fishing net and the harpoon.

Are you sure it's such a good idea for me to be so close to the water? What if I fall in?

Don't worry, Akane. You have gotten better. I mean, you finally learned to dog paddle the other day. He watched as Akane nodded her head and thought to himself, "Geez, I can't believe it took almost three months for her to learn how to do that!" before he continued. Ranma picked something up off of the ground, Ya see this rope that's attached to the end of the net?

Akane answered hesitantly as she eyed the rope Ranma was holding.

Well, you'll be on the beach and all ya have to do is throw the net but keep the rope under your foot. Let the net sink, then give a good tug on the rope and pull it in." As Ranma explained, he gave a demonstration for Akane's benifit. "When ya pull on the rope it should close the opening on the net and trap the fish inside, he finished, grinning at his own ingenuity.

Akane blinked in amazement before she reached up and felt his forehead. Are you ok? Your not sick are you, Ranma? Akane said teasingly.

Hey! I saw fishermen doin this on a nature channel one time. I thought it would be a good idea to try, Ranma growled and pushed her hand away from his brow. Geez! And I try to help

Akane started to giggle hysterically as she noticed Ranma making a funny face, Come on, Ranma. I was only joking!

Ranma turned towards Akane and grinned, Heh. I know Akane. Now lets get going.

Both, Ranma and Akane made their way towards the beach, each thinking about their time on the island. During that time, Ranma had unsuccessfully tried to make a raft to get off the island but it had ended in disaster when the raft had been pushed onto the reef. Ranma had barely managed to escape with his life intact and since then they hadn't tried that again. Since they had decided to wait for rescue and build a place to stay after that failure. Akane had spent the past few months making palm frond mats, while Ranma had devoted most of his time building their home, hunting for food and fruits and teaching Akane how to recognize certain plants that were used for medical purposes. As they walked into the open, Akane shaded her eyes from the bright glare as she stared out at the open water.

Ranma answered, his eyes focused toward a distant spot on the horizon.

Akane bit her lower lip as she thought of how to broach the subject with him. Gulping down her pride, she forged on ahead and asked, D-do you think that you couldthat is if you don't mind.train me?

"Train you to do what, Akane?" he asked as he turned towards her. "I have been training you on the use of plants and how to survive out here. You gotta be more specific."

"I meant in Martial arts you baka," Akane growled, exasperated. Glancing towards his face, Akane watched the play of emotion make their way over his features. Ranma opened his mouth to reply but Akane forged on ahead, certain that he was about to refuse her. "I mean, if you train me to be as good as you, than you'll have someone to spar with every morning. And you won't get rusty while where here.

Ranma was silent for a few moments as he thought about what she had just said. While it was true that he needed someone to spar with, he was afraid that he might hurt Akane if he did train her. "Akane," Ranma said hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Can I think about it for a while?" Ranma asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

Akane frowned at his request, she thought that he would answer her immediately but it apparently she was wrong, "But..."

"Hey, now I ain't saying no. But, I ain't saying yes...either," Ranma interrupted her before she could protest. "You gotta realize Akane, that I'm much stronger than you and I'm worried that I'll accidentally hurt you," he said, voicing his concerns to her. Turning, Ranma faced Akane and sighed, " I really don't want to do that but you're right about me getting rusty if I don't practice."

Akane recognized the concern behind his words but she really wanted him to train her. Sighing, she smiled slightly dejectedly and replied, "Sure, I understand Ranma. I'm not a piece of china, I won't break if you hit me."

"That's not it, Akane," Ranma growled before marching over towards a near by tree. "This," he raised his hand and punched the tree, "is what happens when I'm not using my full strength." The tree shuddered then fell as his fist connected. Turning, Ranma glanced towards Akane to see a questioning look in her eyes. He answered her before she could voice it, "It comes from all those fights with Ryoga. He's built like a Sherman tank, ya know."

Akane giggled at his remark and decided to give in for now, "Ok, I'll give you time. But, make sure you let me know when you've decided."

"Thanks, Akane!" Ranma smiled before he made a dash towards the water. "Come on Akane, or the fish will swim away!"

"Hey!" Akane yelled as she dashed after him. "Ranma, wait for me!"

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"Akane! How ya doin?" Ranma-chan yelled from her perch atop a rock that was situated thirty feet out from shore.

Akane glanced up from hauling in the net. Smiling she cupped her hands over her mouth and called, "I'm doing great Ranma! I think we have enough fish for lunch!" A sudden gust of wind pushed a big piece of hair into her eyes and Akane reached up a hand to brush them away. "Could you see if you can catch some lobster if at all possible?"

Ranma-chan waived to acknowledged the request. Then, she dove into the water. The first few tries were met with failure and Ranma had to surface for another breath of air before she dove once more. She spotted movement from the corner of her eye and swam over to investigate. "All right! Wait till Akane sees these!" Ranma thought as she stealthily swam up behind the biggest lobsters that she'd ever seen. Grabbing them on the carapace was the only way to catch them with out getting pinched by those massive claws. Turning, Ranma made for the surface but she hadn't gone very far when a shadow swam overhead.

Pausing, Ranma-chan glanced up and spotted the biggest Great White shark that she'd ever seen. "Oh Shit!" she thought while carefully watching to see what it was going to do. Ranma knew that she couldn't hold her breath any longer but she also couldn't make herself a target for the shark. The only way for her to get out of the reach of the shark was to swim right under it and towards the rock she had dove off of. "Oh, this is just great," Ranma thought sarcastically before making a swift dash through the water and towards safety. The shadow of the Great White swerved and started heading in Ranma's direction. Glancing upwards, Ranma noticed this and started swimming faster, her air supply was running dangerously low and she didn't think that she could hold it any longer. Delving into her ki reserves, Ranma-chan sped through the water, she could sense the shark closing in on her and pushed all the more to get to the rocks. Aiming her body upwards, she pushed and then shot directly out of the water and onto the safety of the rocks. Gasping for breath, Ranma glanced over her shoulder to see the shark slam into the rocks. Suddenly, her legs collapsed out from under her and she had to sit down to rest. "That's the last time I do something like that!" she panted as she stood shakily.

"Ranma! Are you all right! I saw a sharks fin!" Akane yelled worriedly from her spot close to the water's edge. She was pacing back and forth, alternately biting her fingernails and balling her hands into fists. Akane had spotted the fin just seconds after he had dove into the water and was terrified. She had tried screaming his name to no avail and because he was underwater at the time, he didn't hear her.

Ranma was too winded to reply so he balled his fist and held it up in the air to signal that he was fine. After a while, when he was properly rested, Ranma-chan jumped from rock to rock to get back to the beach. There was no way he was going back into the water with a shark swimming around! When she reached the shore she hadn't taken a single step before she was tackled by one hundred and fifty pounds of an extremely worried, Akane.


Akane straddled Ranma while frantically running her hands over her body, checking for any bite marks or serious injuries. Ranma was so stunned by the loss of air that it took her a few moments to protest, Hey! I'm fine! Ranma sucked in a shocked breath when Akane's hand brushed her breast, Ack! Watch where you're putting your hands, Akane!

Akane blinked before she noticed what she was doing and where her hand was. she yelped while blushing the same shade as Ranma-chan's hair. Quickly, she climbed off of Ranma and sat next to her.

Ranma-chan levered herself up to rest on her elbows, eyebrows raised inquiringly, Not that I don't mind ya doin that Kane, but were both girls right now.

Akane flushed dark purple and gaped in shock. Ranma could see she was really embarrassed so she decided to go easy on her. It's ok, Akane. I know you were just worried about me. I was just teasin ya, she grinned while watching for what Akane's next reaction would be. What Ranma wasn't expecting was for Akane to start crying.


Akane was relieved at having Ranma back, healthy and in one piece that she couldn't contain herself any longer and started to sob, Oh, R-ranmawas so scared! I-I don't know what I'd do if you had g-gotten h-hurt!

Ranma was stunned at her reaction to the near miss with the shark, but she figured that since they were the only two people on the island, Akane would be all alone and unable to protect herself if he had gotten killed. Ranma sat up quickly, enveloped Akane in a hug and started whispering soothing words in her fiancée's ear, I'm fine Akane, I'll be more careful next time. That mean shark didn't lay a tooth on me, really! All the while she was rubbing her back in a circular motion to try and calm her down. It seemed to work for a while, and after five minutes of continuous crying, Akane finally stopped.

Sniffling, Akane raised her head to stare Ranma directly in the eyes and screamed, You better not do that again, you jerk! Then, she punched him, hard, If you ever scare me like that again....I'll kill you myself!

Ranma yelped while grinning stupidly. This, was the strong tomboy that he was used to and not that wishy-washy crybaby that had suddenly appeared in her place. Sure, he knew they had a funny way of showing how much they cared for each other but he knew he didn't want it any other way. Unconsciously reaching out a hand, Ranma gently caressed Akane's cheek, whipping away the residual tear tracks and said, Come on, Akane. Lets get going and make some lunch. We'll have to think about making some type of safe place for me to actually dive into the water without becoming shark bait.

Akane's breath caught in her throat when Ranma did that, she was afraid to move or he'd stop what he was doing. Akane thought of how she had treated Ranma in the past and realized that she didn't like what she had done. At school she was pressured to call him a pervert because of his curse. Now, since they had been living on this island by themselves, she was forced to realize that Ranma was the same person inside even if he sometimes wore a different body. Rising to her feet, Akane nodded as a light blush colored her cheeks, grabbing their catch, she followed Ranma back towards their new home.

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The next morning in the hours before dawn, Ranma suddenly awoke to a craving that couln't be denighed any longer. He was tired of fish day in and day out. "Looks like its time to go hunting! But, I don't think I can do it by myself," he muttered, crawing out of bed and towards Akane's section in the loft. He hoped that Akane wouldn't kill him for waking her up this early. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he shook her gently. Nothing happened except Akane snorted cutely before rolling over in her sleep to settle on her other side.

"Geez! And she says that I sleep like a rock...then, what the hell does she sleep like, huh?....a boulder?" Ranma thought as he reached out once more and shook her violently, "Akane! Get up!"

Akane moaned, then mumbled something that Ranma had trouble deciphering, "Mmmmwnslp...rrrrnnnbbbkkkaaaa."

"What?" he said as he shook her once more, this time with better results. Akane's eyes snapped open as she growled her displeasure at being woken up at such an early hour, "What....do...you...want, Ranma!"

"Oops, guess Akane didn't get enough sleep last night....hehe," Ranma though grinning to himself as he carefully watched for any sudden aggressive movements. Ranma knew from experience that a cranky Akane was a dangerous Akane, prone to sudden violent fits of anger. "Ummm..."

"Well?" Akane glared at him as she waited for his answer.

Ranma decided to broach the subject of hunting very carefully, "Ah, Akane?"

"What," she barked out tiredly. Akane wished that he would just get to the point already. She wanted to go back to sleep since she had spent most of the night reliving Ranma's near miss with the shark the other day.

"Well, are you sorta tired of fish and fruit everyday?"

Akane sat up suddenly, gaping at him in disbelief. "That was the reason he just woke me up from the most beautiful dream I've ever had," Akane thought to angrily to herself. "This," Akane paused, took a deep calming breath before continuing, "You woke me up...to ask me If I WAS TIRED OF FISH!!!" Unfortunately that calming breath didn't work very well, she clenched her fist, ready to clobber him at any given second.

Ranma winced, "Ok, so maybe that didn't come out right....better think of somethin quick or she'll kill me before I can explain." Taking a deep breath, he held up his hands into the classic warding off pain gesture while he forged on with his explanation. "Now Akane, wait! I spotted some tracks in the forest the other day and I think we can get some fresh meat. But, I can't go hunting by myself....I....I need your help."

Akane blinked as his words sank in, she couldn't believe that he wanted her to help. Just the thought of killing something made her a little bit squeamish. "What are we going hunting for?"

"Wild boar."

"We're going to kill a pig!"

"Um....well, yeah."

"Are you crazy! Those things are dangerous!"

"Wellthat's why I need your help, stupid!" he shot back. It wasn't until after the stupid comment had left his mouth that he realized what he had just said. "Oh shit...I'm dead!" he thought, backing away slightly.

"Grrrrr! What did you call me?"

"I'm sorry, Akane. That didn't come out right. Come on, I really need your help with this one. If we're going to eat something besides fruit and fish we gotta start hunting for our food."

Akane saw how serious Ranma was being and sighed. She was tired of eating nothing but fish and fruit every day. "All right. I'll help...I really am sick of eating that stuff every day," she replied, throwing off her blanket before standing. "How are we going to kill it, Ranma?"

"When I scrounged around the chopper the other day...I found a collection of knives. The pilot musta been collecting them. We could make two of them into spears just for hunting and the rest we could use for other things."

Akane had climbed down the ladder while listening to Ranma. She hummed every few minutes so he knew that she was listening, before finally asking, "Ranma?"

"What?"

"Wouldn't it be able to smell us first before we even got within range?"

"Yeah," he replied before continuing, "Ya see, I've gotta plan...."

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