Chapter 4 –  The turning of the wheel

Ranma sat up slowly. His fingers closed around the cherry blossom and he lifted it, twirling it as he stared at it. The beautiful luminous flower. He slowly walked upstairs to him room and his feet seemed to stop by themselves before Akane's door as his eyes stared at the duck nameplate. He felt rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to leave. And he heard her, humming softly. He listened for long seconds and realized that she was happy.

"Oh Akane, did we have to get to this moment for you to be happy?" he whispered to himself.
He went to his room like an automaton and took out the small box that he hid at the far end of his drawer. Opening it, he placed the blossom among the many things that he had collected from her over the years. All the memories and the tokens of her affection. But it was over now. Time had taken it away and he had let it go.

The weekend slipped by and Monday morning brought no Kuno with his bokken for Akane. Instead she found Nabiki making conversation with him while the whole school stared and whispered about them but they did not seem to mind. Akane waved hello at them and deep inside understood her sister. She was not the only one doing some growing up. They all were, even Ranma in his own way, she though with a growing smile.

"Hi Akane," a girl jogged up to her.

"Hi Ukyo, how are you?" she smiled at the girl. They chattered on their way inside the school.

"Where Ranchan?" Ukyo asked.

"Staring at Kuno and Nabiki," was Akane's reply. Ukyo turned back to find Ranma sitting on his haunches on the wall staring at Nabiki and Kuno who were deep in conversation and completely ignoring him.

The day slipped by and afternoon brought an invitation to Akane from Ukyo.

Akane sat at Ukyo's counter munching happily and smiled teasingly at Ukyo who was quickly battering away okonomiyaki.

"Hey Ukyo, does us being friends give me free okonomiyaki any time I want?" she grinned up at her new friend.

"Nah, that's Ranchan's privilege," came the smiling answer and Ukyo looked closely at Akane who spluttered and then giggled.

"What's it like, Akane?" she asked.

"What what's like?" came the question.

"What's it like letting go of Ranma?"

"It's hard and sad and yet it's like I'm so much stronger than before. Now I no longer have to look over my shoulder for an attack or for any of the fiancées wrath. It's feeling good about yourself again Ukyo. It's feeling free," Akane smiled at her friend.

"Are you happy Akane?"

"Yeah, I am. Sometimes there is melancholy for times gone by but now most of the time I'm happy." Akane seemed to find the words deep down inside of herself for Ukyo.

They stayed silent for a few moments before Akane asked Ukyo, "What do you plan on doing after school?"

"I don't know. Marry Ranchan," Ukyo giggled and Akane giggled with her.

"And make lots of babies" Akane added. It felt really good – she thought – really good to have Ukyo as a real friend.

They chattered for the rest of the afternoon and as a smiling Akane waved at Ukyo from the door as she left, a single phrase remained in Ukyo's mind.

- "What do you plan on doing after school?" Akane had asked – she thought about Akane's words and was still lost in her thoughts as she closed her shop.

"I'm home," Akane shouted as she slipped off her shoes before bouncing into the house. A face suddenly popped up before her and she shrieked as she jumped back.

"Gotcha'" Ranma fell to the floor hugging his tummy and laughing hilariously.

Akane couldn't help but smile at his boyish fun. She pulled out her tongue at him and jumped over him going into the living room. Nabiki was already there reading a manga and munching cookies. Kasumi popped her head from the kitchen to enquire about Akane's day before disappearing again.

"So where have you been?" Nabiki asked.

"At Ukyo's," came Akane's reply. Nabiki's lifting eyebrows was the only comment she made before swinging her gaze back to her reading material. Ranma listened to the two sisters and shrugged saying, "Hey you could have told me, I would have come too."

"Nah, it was a girl's thing, you couldn't have came his answer before Akane disappeared up the stairs. He followed her and waited a few minutes before knocking on her door.

"Come in," came the shout.

"Akane, there is something that I'd like to do" he said slowly.

"Sure," she turned towards him as he sat gingerly on the edge of her bed.

"Akane, can I train you... I mean that you need to keep up with your martial arts practice and neither your dad nor mine will do it, so can I?" he finished in one breath. Akane stared at him taken aback as never before in her life by Ranma.

"Why now Ranma?" was the only answer that she could find.

"Because... because," he lifted his head and stared into her eyes, "Because next year is our last one at school and then I don't know what will happen," – I don't know if you will stay here or leave, he finished for himself and felt a wry smile appearing on his face. He seemed to be keeping many words to himself these days – he though. He had spent last night on the roof, trying to find a way to make sure that Akane would be safe the day she left the Tendo Dojo. He had come up with three solutions: he could follow her everywhere to protect her (he couldn't), he could ask it of Ryoga (he couldn't either) or he could train her to be able to defend herself (he couldn't but he could try). And finally he had come to the conclusion that the third option was the right one. He would just have to force himself to train her but it would definitely set his mind at ease. The day she left, he would know that she would be able to take care of herself, at least. The day she left... those words that gotten stuck in his mind and had spent the last half of the night trying to come to terms with that. Still he closed his mind to it and refused to think about it. Right now all that he would think about was trying to train Akane. And now as she stared at him thinking about what he had said, he wondered again if he could do it. But he was Ranma Saotome and he could do anything. Akane stared at him for a long time and then acquiesced.

"When do we start?" she asked. He lifted his head with huge hopeful expression on it and said, "Now?" Akane lunged for him and he jumped away muttering, "Joking, joking"

"And Shampoo and Ukyo, Ranma?" she asked the question.

"No need to tell them or they'll be after you in no time at all," his grin faded and she nodded.

The next morning, both of them were up early and Akane's training started.

"Don't rotate your hips that much, it relays your move to your opponent," He corrected her time and time again, with patience. Two hours later, both were sweating and grinning at each other as Kasumi stopped them for breakfast and to get ready for school.

"Arrigato Ranma, that feels good," Akane stretched her.

"Nah, it was good. You're a quick learner Akane," he complimented her as they went into the house and she smiled at him.

"But not as quick as me," he added and Akane swept her hand down. The next thing Ranma knew was that he was wet and Akane was striking up the stairs in a flash.

"Hey, what d'you do that for?" yelled Ranma-chan as he went after her and ended up skidding to his feet as a bathroom door banged shut in his face. He heard her laughter inside and felt himself grinning. And so, they developed a routine. Each morning they would train and none of the fiancées found out. Nabiki never breathed out a word about it and Soun and Genma for once decided to act as adults. They went to school and Shampoo glomped on Ranma on the fence. Word had gotten around about Akane's decision and Shampoo now only stared at her with a weird expression before glomping Ranma. Akane would shout a hello to Shampoo and go on her way while Ranma would try to slither away until the Amazon's squeeze would get tight enough to prevent any slithering. And then Ranma would manage to get away and catch up with Akane who would be grinning while he did his best to scowl down at her.

One afternoon after a long tiring day at school, Akane sat down by Ranma as he stuffed himself with cookies and watching television. He glanced at her once before returning his attention to the screen.

"Ranma, am I good enough in the martial arts?" she asked.

"Yoo aaarrr," he replied his mouth full and crumbs escaping then turned to her when she remained silent.

"I mean, am I doing good?" she asked again.

"Just told you, you're doing very good," he peered at her, "You haven't challenged anyone, have you?"

"No, you know I wouldn't. But it feels wrong that you're giving me so much and I don't give you anything back," she replied.

"Huh? It's ok" he peered some more.

"What if I can help you out with something?" she suggested.

"What?" she had his whole attention now.

"Schoolwork?" she offered gently.

"Oh Akane, you know I hate that," he groaned.

"But you're going to need it for the exams, especially when you'll teach in the dojo?" she added.

"How?" regarding her through half-closed lids.

"Well, your students would respect a well-learned sensei even more," she let the phrase float out and Ranma frowned thinking about it.

"Let's just make a deal, I school you some and you teach me in the mornings, then we're equal," she stated.

Ranma thought some more and finally nodded. They shook on the deal and Akane skipped away only to run into Nabiki who lifted a brow and then broke into a smile and muttered under her breath as she went by, "Manipulation... Learn from the best I guess..." and Akane grinned at her sister's back. And so began Ranma's schooling by Akane, another thing that they kept a secret. Slowly they were becoming friends and time just slipped by.

Akane liked the life that she was building. She liked the friendship that had developed between her and Ranma, the friendship that had developed between her and Ukyo. Shampoo still kept her distance but there were no longer any shouts of "Violent girl I kill" or "Pervert girl I kill". Kuno became a good friend but grew closer to Nabiki. They were alike in a way – thought Akane – they both hid behind masks and words. And as the friendship between them grew, Kuno forgot about his pig-tailed goddess and started to live a more normal life. Sometimes after one of the passages of Kodachi, when she stood with black rose petals swirling around her, Akane would think wryly that maybe Kodachi was really crazy. Everyone knew but not Kodachi, she kept on her illusions and Akane would feel pity for the girl. The boys no longer attacked her at school even though they knew of her decision. Without their leader, they no longer wanted to fight Akane. And since she had grown even nicer, they no longer felt like trying to force her into anything. They grew up too.

Ranma liked his life too. He and Akane had grown closer, they had more opportunities to talk. They fought only in the morning and the rest of the time, Akane treated his runaway mouth with amusement. She was good, very good even – he thought – but then he had always known that with some more dedication, she would be very good. He remembered teaching her the Kachu Tenshin Amagurren. Her face had that so comical look the first time she had succeeded at it. Then she  had jumped up with a loud "Yay!" and had jumped on him hugging him till his ribs cracked before doing one of her funny gigs around the dojo. He had not been able to laugh. All that had gone through his mind was that someday, those smiles would no longer be here. Someday she would hug someone else for something that person had taught her. Right then and there he had wanted so hard for that someone else to be him. And when she had turned to him, her grin all over her face, he had had to force a smile for her. But there were moments when sadness tended to overwhelm him and at such times, he retreated to the roof.

The end of the year stepped in. Nabiki was no longer seen as she worked on her schoolwork with even more dedication and only went out to go to the library with Kuno. Ranma and Akane studied just as hard and one afternoon, as they left school with Ukyo, Akane lifted her head to the skies and smiled "School's over, now the holidays!" and Ukyo, echoed her joy, Ranma realized that he had only one year left with her.

My Notes :

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