Chapter 3: Tears and Munchies
"Ranma, you and I never had our battle," Akane stated after she suddenly approached Ranma who was skipping rocks in the water while he was relaxing at the lake.
He turned around, and then looked up at Akane. "You're right. Why should we battle though? After all, we both know that I'd definitely beat the living hell out of you."
Akane laughed confidently then positioned herself in her battle stance. She bent her knees and the flame of determination danced in her eyes. Ranma casually got up, thinking there'd be no problem during the upcoming match. But Ranma still didn't know that Akane found out about Kaimono kissing Ranma, so Akane was furious. When a girl like Akane is overly mad, you'd best stay away.
She charged at him like a bullet at full speed with her fists firmly clenched. Her target simply stood there with an ugly grin across his face, and then quickly dodged the attack. Akane then tripped and splashed into the cold night water.
"This isn't over, Ranma!!!" she bellowed, then got right back on her feet and ran at him once again. This time, she planned to soar into the air then attack with agility.
At this point, Ranma had become a little grimmer about the battle, awaiting her move attentively. His bold eyes were locked on her, following her as she jumped into the sky. Her clothes blew in the wind as thunder and lightning struck, but it didn't bother either of them. She took the clueless Ranma by surprise, then drilled his stomach with her rock solid fist. She smiled with an obvious look of satisfaction as she stood above Ranma who was trying to rub the pain away. Light droplets of wet precipitation slowly fell to the ground then quickly became hard rain falling in a rhythmic pattern.
He smirked at Akane, and then slowly rose to his feet. Luckily, Ranma had been wearing a hooded black sweater so the rain didn't give Akane any advantage.
"You know what, Akane? You really took me by surprise," he said then punched her stomach with force.
Though Akane saw the attack coming and was more than capable of preventing self-damage, she took the shot hard. She was obviously in pain but she didn't even care. It almost seemed as if she regretted hurting Ranma, the one she had strong yet unexplainable emotions towards. He was a treasure safely locked in her heart, but he was also the demon breathing the sizzling flames within her.
"Akane?" Ranma asked curiously.
As soon as Ranma spoke her name, she had broken into tears, clearly due to something else rather than pain. She fell to her knees staring right up at the tall, bold Ranma. The rain had calmed down, but the gods of thunder and lightning continued their electrical storm. Akane's eyes fell to the ground, trying to avoid Ranma's worried gaze.
"Akane? What's the matter? I'm sure that hit didn't hurt you that much. Come on, we better head back home. Akane? Oh come on you stupid tomboy! Now's not the time to be stubborn. You could get sick out in this weather...I think," Ranma kneeled down in front of Akane and tried to convince her to stand up.
"Ranma..." she said silently.
"Maybe this'll work," he frowned before taking Akane in his arms to carry her home. Though he never thought he'd be able to do this without Akane having a fit, he remembered the time Akane had given him a "piggy-back-ride" home. He looked down at her, smiling, and continued the short walk home that seemed like an eternity in the drizzling rain.
Once they arrived at the dojo, Akane had fallen asleep in Ranma's arms. They stealthily entered through the back door not the bother anybody's slumber. He placed Akane down in a chair in the kitchen then removed his hooded sweater before he tiptoed upstairs to get a towel.
"Hmm? How did I get back?" Akane whispered as she awakened.
"Ah, you're awake now. Well, here's a towel," he said with a friendly tone then launched the fluffy dark blue towel at her when he walked through the doorway.
She stood up to catch it and then a little smile sat on her smooth face. She quickly wiped it away though, then started walking away. She quietly said good night to Ranma then disappeared in the hallway to go to her room.
"Well, that was weird...When she challenged me a few days ago I really thought she meant she was going to beat the hell out of me in the dojo. Eh, stupid girl," Ranma hung his sweater up then slowly walked to his bedroom.
Many hours later, the radiant sun rose and lit up the light blue sky. Ryoga's head was buried in the snow-white pillow he used for comfort and didn't want to wake up. He was sleeping on the couch in the living room but Kaimono had given him a couple of blankets so he wouldn't be too uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Kaimono, clothed in her white night gown, ambled into the room Ryoga was resting.
"Ryoga? Are you awake yet?"
"Arg! Uh, no," Ryoga rudely mumbled then remembered where he was and that he was a guest. "I mean, yeah, I'd love to wake up and see you!!"
Kaimono giggled then pulled him off the couch. "Alright, get up now. Dad made breakfast before he left so you better come have some before it gets cold."
She marched away cheerfully expecting Ryoga to follow her. And that he did. He wearily trudged into the warm dining room that had a very tasty smell in the atmosphere. He's eyes popped out of his head as he sat down at the table staring at the what seemed perfect breakfast.
"I...I haven't had a home cooked meal that looks as yummy as this in so long!" He wailed happily.
As they ate, the birds happily warbled their beautiful songs perched on branches in the luscious trees outside. Ryoga and Kaimono didn't speak much until Kaimono suddenly asked about the cursed springs.
"Cursed springs? What about them?" Ryoga asked as he hungrily stuffed pancakes into his mouth.
"I'm just kind of curious. Why did you go there in the first place?"
Ryoga shrugged, "Stupid thing with Ranma. I was chasing him while him and his father were training and then we all fell into separate ponds. Blah, blah, blah. Curse you, Ranma!!"
Once they had both finished eating and gobbling down orange juice, Kaimono quickly washed up the dishes then went upstairs to get dressed. She entered her cozy room, grabbed a simple white shirt and pair of denim pants from her wardrobe then slapped them on her body quickly. She then took a wooden brush with her initials carved in the handle, then slowly brushed through her long hair. She then marched down the stairs and saw Ryoga waiting at the door.
"Let's go over to Ranma's place. Urm, I don't really know where it is actually," she laughed with an obvious look of embarrassment on her cheery face.
Ryoga laughed triumphantly, "I do! I'll bring you right there!"
'Why do I have the feeling he doesn't know where it is at all...?' Kaimono pondered as sweat rolled down her neck.