Legal Note: N/A *************************************************************************************

Chapter Eight: Akane

The next morning I woke up and Ranma wasn't in the room. He just disappeared sometime after dinner. Kasumi said that he slept out on the beach. I guess he hates me so much he can't even be in the same room as me. After another great breakfast from my sister I got into my bathing suit. I'm to meet Samba at the pool so he can teach me to swim. I got there by about eight.

"Akane!" Samba sat at a lounge chair with his hand in air and a great smile. There were only two other people there at that time.

"Hi Samba. Thanks for doing this." I sat on the chair next to his.

"It's no problem for a great swimmer and martial artist like myself. Besides I like you."

"Uh, should we get started then?"

"Yeah sure we can. Okay so how poor are you?"

"I drowned in four feet of water when I'm about four and a half feet tall." I looked away ashamed.

"I see. Well, there's nothing I can't do. So I can most definitely teach you to swim. I mean, I am the very best." Damn Samba is very egotistical. He acts like he's invincible. It surprises me that he doesn't speak of himself in third person. "Okay lets go."

"Alright." He led me to the ledge near the middle of the pool.

"I think you should try by fear first." I turned to him with question.

"How do you learn by fe-" he pushed me into the pool. I tried my best to get my head above the water, but I just barely got to the top. It was the deep end too so I had no clue as to where the ladder was. That's when I was pulled aside and I could breathe again. "What was that?!"

"I was just trying it out." Samba had saved me now, but he was laughing about it. When Ranma saved me he didn't laugh, at least not in the rude way Samba does it. "I'm sorry, but it was just to see what I was up against. I would never harm you Akane. Never."

"I believe you." Somehow I did. He wasn't trying to drown me. "You don't teach people that way though!" I whacked him over the head, which he just laughed about.

"I'm going to have to be careful around you Akane." He stuck out his tongue at me as if it was all a joke. "Okay. Now then lets get going. First lets see you float on your back. You need to do that first." His face went to a more serious one as if activated by a switch.

"Float on my back?" I never really even tried that. "I guess that could work. I never thought of trying to do that."

"Well, I, being the best, would of course think of it. You see swimming isn't all moving your arms and legs and stuff. You need balance in the water. You need to let the water do part of the job. Now c'mon." He led me into the shallow end of the pool. The water was just as cold as yesterday, maybe cooler.

"So what do I have to do?" I looked to him for an answer.

"Easy. I'll help you. Lie on your back and I'll hold you up. When you're ready tell me. All you have to really do is try to remain flat, don't bend." I nodded and lied on the water where he held me from under.

"Okay." He let go, and at first I was above water, but quickly I was under the water. Samba helped me back up. "I couldn't do it."

"Well, it was only your first try okay. Don't beat yourself up over it. I didn't become the best over night." He gave an encouraging smile to me and I felt a whole lot better. "We can try kicking exercises. That may help."

"What are they for?" What the hell is a kicking exercise? I use Ranma for that.

"You hold onto something and practice your kicking. It's not just your arms that you use to swim. You'll learn how to use your legs when you swim first."

"Okay then. Lets go." He took my hands and I began to kick, but my feet weren't anywhere near the water's surface. I know that when you swim your feet are almost out of the water, but mine weren't. I failed as hard as I kicked. Then I kicked Samba in the shin. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine. I'm the greatest martial artist, er, marine martial artist and that attack wouldn't hurt me." Did he say I was weak?! That's two guys that think I'm weak! "Though, you are pretty strong. It does hurt a bit. Anyway, lets take a break." I nodded, at least he didn't think I was weak like Ranma did.

"Okay then." We left the pool to sit on the lounge chairs again. "I stink don't I?"

"Uh, well, not really Akane." He was lying. He had a face that said it. "It could be worse."

"Worse? You can't get worse than me." I looked away to some kids who were in the kiddie pool nearby. They look like they're having lots of fun.

"So you never got to do things like they do then."

"Yeah. It makes you feel left out a bit, but it's no problem really." It was a big problem I just would never admit it, but Ranma knew. Even if I told him that lie he would've known.

"Swimming isn't as great as it seems. Especially when you get the water in your ears and once I was bit by a fish in a lake."

"Well everything has a positive and negative side to it."

"I guess so. Say, about tonight. What is that guy I challenged to you?" He's asking about Ranma? Does he want to know Ranma's skill, or if he's my boyfriend?

"Ranma? He's, he's my, er, well..." I shouldn't say. It's not like Ranma was really my fiancé. Our fathers made all this.

"Ranma's his name? So is he your brother? Boyfriend?" He was eager to find out the answer by the look on his face.

"Ranma is my fiancé! There I said it." I couldn't look Samba in his face.

"Your fiancé? Really? He didn't seem like that to me."

"Well, it was an arranged marriage and neither of us really want it."

"So that means technically you're still open. Hmm, tell you what Akane, if I win tonight will you get rid of him and go out with me?" I turned to him shocked. I can't believe he said that! I had a strange will to accept. I mean if he won I can be rid of obligation to Ranma, and then if it didn't work out with Samba I'd be free from all attachments.

"I agree."

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Thanks to:

Maria