Disclaimer: I still have to do this? *sighs* Fine, fine. I don't own Ranma. Don't sue me until I get rich. Which will be later, when I have my OWN comic series, muahaha! *ahem*

"The Night Before"

by Rain

Chapter Two

Ranma walked sluggishly into the kitchen that afternoon, bored in the empty house.

Heaving a sigh, he moved to open the fridge door, intent on getting food. Food is good when you're bored, he thought.

As he was about to open it, however, another note in Kasumi's handwriting caught his eye. Another note? I guess I didn't see it at breakfast. Plucking it from under the magnet, he read:

"Ranma-kun--

There are some leftovers for breakfast, and dinner to reheat in the microwave. Although there was to be snow today, it's sure to be sunny after the storm has blown itself out, and I'm sure it will be a lovely day. If Akane is home from shopping in time, you might take her out to lunch. Just a thought.

--Kasumi

P.S. If you'd like some ice cream later, I've prepared everything for the recipe. Akane knows how to make it. Don't worry, there's no actual cooking involved. Enjoy."

Just as Ranma was wondering about Kasumi's suggestion about lunch, he heard Akane in the entryway.

"Tadaima!" her voice floated in as she took off her snow boots.

Ranma met her in the hall, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Hey, Ranma. Weren't too bored, were you?" She was disentangling her arms from her down jacket, as she spoke. She was wearing gray leggings, and an oversize cream sweater with a large neck hole. The gray mittens came off next.

"Nah," he said, leaning on the doorframe. Strangely enough, he seemed to have lost his appetite, only to have it replaced with a bit of, nervousness, was it? He wasn't sure. "Say, Akane… You haven't eaten anything yet, have you? 'Cuz I was wondering, if you haven't already had lunch, maybe you'd wanna go grab something with me?"

"Oh," Akane said, looking slightly downcast. "Well, I sort of already ate with Sayuri, but--"

Ranma was a bit discouraged by that, until suddenly an idea popped into his head. "Or, we could just make some ice cream? I'm not all that hungry anyway, and Kasumi left some stuff so we could make some, if you like…"

"Sure!" Akane said, her eyes lighting up just enough so that Ranma rewarded her with one of his quirky smiles.   

They darkened, however, when Ranma confusedly pulled a large American-style coffee can out of the freezer, and a wave of memories overtook her. "Um, I'm not sure what Kasumi had in mind when she…" Ranma caught a glimpse of Akane's face. "Akane? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. …That coffee can is for making the ice cream, actually. …Okaasan used to help Kasumi-oneechan, Nabiki and I make it…"

Realization struck Ranma, a bit late, as usual. "Akane, we don't have to do it, if you don't want to, I mean--"

"No, it's fine," she said, stopping Ranma from putting the can away. She smiled again, but it wasn't forced, Ranma was glad to see. "I can show you how to make it now."

Ranma couldn't help smiling back.

Akane shuffled out of the kitchen in her socks. Carrying the can with her, she called back into the kitchen as she went back to the entryway to put her boots, coat and mittens back on. "Be sure to put a jacket on or something, there's at least a foot of snow out there!"

"Yeah, I'll be right out!" he replied, going up the stairs to his room.

Maybe this day won't be so bad after all, he thought, smiling again. It seemed he'd been smiling more since Akane came back home, strangely enough.

*           *           *

Ranma and Akane sat outside the dining room, alongside the closed screen doors, rolling the coffee can back and forth between them, exchanging pleasant small talk. The sun had recently decided to peek out from behind the puffy white clouds crowding the now-blinding blue sky.

"So, you just roll the can like this?" Ranma asked, pushing it to Akane from where he sat Indian style across from her. Akane, who had discarded her down jacket, caught it between her spread legs, and nodded.

"…Yeah, that's basically it. You do it for… I don't know, exactly… Kasumi-oneechan, Nabiki and I used to do it forever …Okaasan showed us how to make it, but all I remember is this part. I'm surprised Kasumi-oneechan remembered how, she must have been pretty young then, because I was very small when Okaasan was still well…" The dark look came back, but only just, as she looked down at her mittened* hands.

"Akane…" She looked back up at him, and noticed something she hadn't before. How she could have missed it, she didn't know.

Ranma was wearing his usual Chinese shirt, no jacket or anything; she supposed after traveling so long he was rather used to all kinds of weather. The only two things that were characteristic of the weather were the mittens and the scarf. The yellow, tattered, badly sewn scarf.

My scarf… she remembered. He's wearing the scarf I made him…

"…I'm sorry about your mother," he said. "I'm sure you've heard that a lot, but I feel like at least I should say it, of all people. It probably bothers you that even though I still have my mother, I was…" he knitted his eyebrows together in frustration. "I was too much of a coward to reveal this whole curse mess. You can't see your mother anymore, but I can, and I didn't for so long. At least, not exactly. Didn't that bother you at all?"

Akane didn't really know what to say to that. It was obviously a sensitive subject for Ranma, but she felt they had enough in common on that subject that she could sympathize with him. "Well, to be honest, it did, sort of, in the beginning of the whole "cousin Ranko" fiasco… but it didn't really in the end. I mean, we were sort of in the same situation… we were both without a mother for the larger part of our lives, but then again it's reversed at the same time. I knew my mother when I was growing up, until she died, but you don't remember being with yours when you were little. You see her now, though. But it's not your fault that your father makes stupid promises whenever he pleases, and leaves you to deal with them instead."

"But it is my fault that I didn't tell her about it for so long," Ranma said, looking angry with himself. "I should have stopped hiding and told her the truth first thing. That's what a brave person would have done."

"But Ranma, you were brave. You are. Twice you risked her finding out about everything to rescue her, and twice you did the right thing."

"That's easier than trying to count all the times I didn't do the right thing," he said morosely.

"Ranma, I couldn't bring myself to be bothered by all the secrecy when I stood by and watched all the times you got to see your mother, but you couldn't be her son. I have a feeling, in some ways, that's harder on you than it is for me to miss my own mother. They're not entirely the same thing, but they're not so different either."

Akane leaned forward and spoke reassuringly. "If you're trying to bully yourself into thinking you're not a good person Ranma, don't bother, because you are. You're one of the only people I know around here who doesn't resort to underhanded trickery or dishonest tactics, at least, not unless you're challenged to," she amended, smiling. She stood up, taking the coffee can with her, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You've always been very honest when you're ready to be, and as strange as it sounds, you're probably the most decent guy I've ever met, aside from Toufuu-sensei. Even he had more years of practice than you."

And she walked into the kitchen with the coffee can.

Ranma thought about it a while. He supposed she did have a point. But Ranma had always been rather harsh on himself, and now was no exception, so he decided to just let Akane decide what she wanted to think about him and leave it at that.

AN:

Rain: I know, "mittened" isn't a word, but I thought, gloved wasn't Akane, so I said mittened instead. I'd pull a "so sue me," but I don't want to tempt fate. There's a disclaimer! There is! Sort of…