Hi again! I managed to write the new chapter, finally. Hope you like it. It's just some waff and fluff, so if you don't like the kind, avoid it. ;) Thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter, I really appreciated what you said. Muahhhh!!!

Disclaimer: Even if I did own Ranma, I doubt I'd waste my time trying to make money out of him with fanfiction…

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

AFTER THE FIREWORKS – Chapter 2

Ranma just stared, speechless. His hands were dangling beside his hips, while Akane was still holding onto his shirt. She wished he would say something. Anything. Her eyes were still wet, though the tears had stopped rolling down her cheeks. Gathering her strength, she spoke again.

"We are very similar, in more than one way."

He just looked at her, puzzled. What was she talking about? She noticed his expression and smiled a little.

"I didn't believe Kasumi when she said so a while ago either. I had your very own reaction. 'Me and that sex-changing pervert, alike?' were my exact words."

He flinched, trying to get away from her. She wouldn't release her grip.

"Then, lately, I thought about it. When you denied your words, when you backed off every time we were remotely close, when you would open up a little just to become more distant the next moment… I finally realized that we both feel the same way."

She stopped to watch his reaction.

"And what that is?" he asked carefully, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer. Did she really know or…?

Akane fixed her eyes in his.

"Afraid", she stated.

"What?" he yelled, disappointed more than he would ever admit. "I'm not afraid of anything!"

Akane laughed inwardly. His reaction was exactly the one she expected.

"Yes you are. You're afraid of me as much as I'm afraid of you", she added quietly. Seeing that he was going to interrupt her again, she continued quickly.

"I'm not speaking of physical damage or fights. I know you aren't afraid of anyone you have to fight. But you are afraid of getting close to anybody just as much as me."

At her words, he shut his mouth, at a loss.

"The engagement, our parents, the fiancées, the fights… Everything has helped keeping us from our utmost fear: caring for another person. I was so afraid you'd fall in love with Ukyo or Shampoo, or even Kodachi, that I fought every feeling I had for you. I wouldn't even admit I had one whatsoever."

She released his shirt and moved over to her bed, sitting down, as if she were afraid her knees wouldn't be able to support her much longer.

"Still I couldn't help it. And neither could you. I saw it, so I fought even more. One the one had I yelled at least once every day I didn't want to have you as a fiancé, on the other hand I couldn't stand the ways the other girls hung all over you all the time. So I got angry. And I hit you."

Ranma was still standing in the middle of the room, staring at her, speechless.

"You fought the engagement just as hard as I did, you called me uncute and tomboy and insulted me in every possible way, you never told the other girls off… And still when it mattered, you were always there for me. You'd always save me, or listen to me when I was down, or try to cheer me up… and then you'd stick your foot in your mouth… and I'd get angry… and we'd fight… Just because we both were too afraid to face what had happened."

"You…" Ranma finally started, but stopped because he didn't really know what he could or should say, afraid he'd stick his proverbial foot in his mouth once again. What was Akane trying to say? That she felt what he felt? He hoped he wasn't getting the wrong message.

Akane waited to give him space to talk, but when she saw he wouldn't say anything, she continued.

"Today you asked me why I wanted to marry you."

He remembered the moment he saw her in her beautiful wedding dress. She had said she was doing it for him, to get him the water of the Spring of drowned man.

"I chickened out and said it was because of the water."

"It wasn't?" he asked, finally regaining his voice.

"No, not really. I don't really care about your curse any more. And I wouldn't have married you just to get rid of it. I mean, marriage is forever." She kept her eyes low, so he couldn't read her expression.

"So why were you going to do it?" he asked.

"For the same reason I did all the other things. And because I heard you say those words at Jusendo," she said quietly.

"But…"

"And just as this morning, I still find it difficult to tell you the truth. Just as you find it difficult telling the truth to me, right?" she asked, looking at him.

"No, I…" he started, panicking again, but then he saw her eyes and stopped, sighed and decided for once to try to be honest about it. "… Yeah, I suppose so."

"So I'm going to say it, and I don't care if the world just goes and dies the moment after I do, or if all the girls and our fathers and Nabiki and Kasumi just bang in here shouting and everything, and I don't care if you say the same… well, I do care… but it is true even if you don't say it, I just know. So there…" She paused, stood up, walked to him, took his face between her palms and said slowly, almost lingeringly, "I love you, Saotome Ranma."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

There. Done. Please review and let me know what you think. Thank you for your time!