Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all its characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and have been used without permission. This fanfiction was written for personal enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of the readers.

Key:

"speech"

::thoughts::

flashback

Carousel:

Usotsuki

by Rain

Part Three.

For a wedding, it was a bit on the sad side. There seemed to be a invisible barrier between the pair that had supposedly just been bound together forever. Akane was dancing with her father, another American tradition insisted upon by Kasumi. Ranma stood off to one side of the room, apart from the rest, his hands in his pockets, watching her, silently praying he hadn't made a terrible mistake.

Nabiki sauntered over to him, but there might have been something there under her usual mask. Was it concern? Ranma couldn't be sure, and couldn't be bothered to care for the moment. Nabiki brushed past being ignored, as usual, and got right to the point.

"What's eating you, Saotome? You're a married man now, but besides the obvious…" she trailed off, turned to the rest of the room, and took a sip of champagne.

"Nothing really, Nabiki," he answered through clenched teeth. "Just that nagging feeling that I've screwed everything up beyond fixing. Nothing special." He continued to watch Akane and her father.

She looked happy enough until you looked past the smile that wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What are you talking about? You just married the girl you're crazy about. Don't deny it, everybody knows it by now."

"I wasn't going to say a thing, Nabiki," Ranma replied evenly.

Nabiki was a bit ruffled, to say the least. She never showed it, of course.

"Well at least we've improved some in that department," she commented dryly, scanning the room again, watching Akane as well. "I would assume everything was fine and dandy if you and my sister didn't look so damn depressed."

"I don't expect you to understand Nabiki," Ranma sighed. "So I figure it's best not to waste my breath." He moved as if to leave. Nabiki grabbed his arm, and Ranma, being in no mood to resist anything really at this point, just sighed louder but didn't turn back. "What."

"You and my sister are crazy for each other, this is your wedding, don't you 'what' me, I want to know what the hell is going on."

"That's exactly what you don't understand, Nabiki," Ranma finished, easily shaking his arm from her grasp. "She married me because the 'joining the houses' act got old, just like my mom said. She married me because it's a tired scene around her and we're both sick of it. Love had nothing to do with it."

"What in the hell are you talking about?! You just said-"

"I never said I was the one who doesn't love who they married." Nabiki was too stunned to stop him from walking away.

::What is going on? Doesn't he know how much Akane cares for him?:: But the retreating figure left no room for doubt, and Nabiki wasn't one to argue the obvious.

::This is ridiculous.::

*           *           *

"Get on with it, son!" Nodoka hissed threateningly, shoving Ranma out into the middle of the room where Akane still stood from her dance with her father. Despite how miserable he had been feeling the whole time, Ranma still found a way to be flustered and nervous when he approached her for the first time since he had unknowingly shattered her heart.

"The bride and groom will now share their first dance," some random guy playing the music announced. Ranma's heart just beat faster.

Akane looked sad but she tried to hide it with a smile, knowing well enough Ranma could see right through it. But by now she was done smiling for him. It was for the people in the room desperate to believe that they were in love. Well, they were half right, she knew.

Ranma shakily took her hands in his again, placing one on his shoulder. He wrapped one of his around her waist, and clasped the other tightly around hers. Before he could stop to think about how he wished he could be this close to her all the time, music started.

He wasn't really paying attention to the song or what he was doing, and neither was she. The slow rhythm making Akane braver, without even knowing why, she let go of his hand and reached it up around his neck to meet the other. Following her lead, Ranma pulled her closer to him, moving the hand she had held to rest in the middle of her back. Akane's face was against his now, and he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Every time he got close to her he couldn't help but forget everything that he had been thinking about and replace it with that feeble hope that it wasn't just him who was in love with her…

He had to say it. He had to tell her before it was too late.

He tried to even out his breathing and get his voice to work, but it wasn't cooperating. All he could manage was a quiet whisper in her ear.

"Akane… I…"

Why was it so hard? Why did he feel like he was giving in too?

"I… I'm so sorry…"

Akane pulled her face back and looked straight at him; into his eyes for the first time since he had lifted her veil.

She wanted so badly for him to tell her what she needed to hear. She had lost hope when he had turned her face and kissed her on the cheek… was it so terrible to marry her? But she felt it coming back full force when she looked into those blue eyes that looked so sad and afraid and… there was still that one thing she couldn't identify. She needed to know.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

She wasn't sure what he meant, why should he be sorry? Was he sorry he had married her, or was he sorry he hadn't kissed her? Sorry that nothing ever worked out for them or sorry that he still hadn't said it?

Maybe it was because they were both so confused and lost and felt so desperate to say what neither of them had, but neither was sure who moved forwards first. All either of them could be sure of was that suddenly their faces were so close for the second time that night, but there was something different this time… Everyone in the room had practically stopped what they were doing but neither of them was aware and they had stopped swaying to the music and this was the closest they had ever been… Akane's eyes fluttered closed and they were so close…

There was a crashing sound as a figure fell through the roof, landing right in front of them. Akane's eyes snapped open and they jumped apart again. If you were listening for it, there was an audible, very exasperated sigh from the others in the room

The figure stood, masked by the dust and chipped plaster, but there was no mistaking the shadow of that giant fighting spatula.

"What in the blue hell is going on?!" Ukyou demanded in a dangerous voice.

End Part Three.

Hehe, aren't I evil, a cliffhanger! That's all I've got time for tonight, but first thing tomorrow you can bet on more!

Until my next post; next day delivery or sooner, guaranteed!

::Rain

P.S. Contact me at creepyoldmanwink@yahoo.com

I am not a creepy old man. I am a teenage girl. It's a joke with a friend. So there. ^_~