Disclaimer: Hmph, I refuse. I do have better things to be doing. *sniffy voice* Ok, so maybe I don't. That's not the point. What can I say, I'm a rebel.

"The Night Before"

by Rain

Chapter Three

Akane was standing at the kitchen counter, scooping the freshly made ice cream into a couple of bowls, when an evil idea suddenly occurred to her. She smiled devilishly.

Ranma was still sitting outside on the edge of the patio, staring into space, apparently deep in thought, when Akane snuck back outside, and crept slowly to the right, behind him, and into the snow-covered yard.

Ranma was just starting to wonder what on earth Akane could be doing in the kitchen for so long, when a snowball went "whap!" into the back of his head.

Akane burst into laughter as he turned around to glare at her in mock anger. But he started laughing, too. "Snowballs, huh?" he laughed. "I don't think I've played around in the snow since I was… well, it was before I left home, so that was a while ago."

"Well, you'd better remember, or I'm going to pound you into the ground!" Akane shrieked as Ranma chucked one back at her.

A furious snowball fight ensued, as Ranma and Akane proceeded to pelt the living daylights out of one another with the fresh snow.

"You'll never catch me!" Akane called, scooping up more of the white fluff between her mittens.

"Oh, yeah?" Ranma laughed under his breath.

Before Akane even knew what was happening, Ranma had tackled her. The two of them tumbled to the ground, sending snow flying, wrestling halfheartedly and laughing madly for no apparent reason.

Finally Akane stopped laughing long enough to give in. "Stop! [wheeze] Stop, I surrender," she gasped, waving an imaginary white flag.

It was just as well, Ranma had her arms pinned by then anyway. They lay there in the snow for a while, catching their breath, trying not to start another laughing fit. White, cold snow everywhere, all over the both of them. They were both flushed from the cold air, and their breath rose out into the air in little white clouds.

"You're… insane, Ranma," Akane panted.

"Well, you'd have to be crazy to be me," he replied airily, hardly even winded. It was strangely true.

It's amazing… If I hadn't known better, I'd have never thought at first glance such a stand-offish guy was so laid back and full of energy, Akane thought to herself, smiling widely. "Is that so? Well I guess I'm crazy too, 'cause I like you, Ranma," she announced candidly.

Ranma absentmindedly brushed a bit of snow off her slightly pink cheek. "You've got snow in your hair," he said distractedly.

Akane smirked. "I've got snow all over me. There's snow everywhere, baka."

"True," Ranma chuckled softly. His steel blue eyes softened as he smiled crookedly back down at her. "You know, I don't mind you too much, either, tomboy."

He still hadn't moved his hand from the side of her face. They were both getting a bit chilled from lying in the snow so long. He shifted slightly in the snow, unconsciously moving a bit closer to her, and for one wild moment Akane thought he was going to kiss her.

Ranma seemed to realize how close he had somehow gotten to her too, because he moved back onto his heels, stood, and reached a hand down to help her up.

"We'd better get back inside, or we're going to freeze," he said softly.

Akane nodded, taking his hand and walking back into the house.

Relax, Akane, she told herself firmly. You're just imagining things.

*           *           *

The rest of the late evening passed as a pleasant haze, nothing particularly extraordinary happening. At least, not by the standards of a native of Nerima, that is.

Ranma was lounging around the main room when Akane shuffled downstairs, just out of the furo, toweling her hair, already in her yellow pajamas. She yawned widely, stopping to look at the news report Ranma was watching. Something about an explosion out in the mountains, involving some boulders and falling debris, a large panda, a middle-aged man, and what appeared to be a large moving sack of underwear. Akane shuddered.  Who knows what kind of trouble they're getting into. Scratch that, I don't want to know.

"It's getting late," she said.

"Yeah," Ranma said, turning around to look up at her. "I'll probably go to bed after the news. I wonder what in the name of Kami they're trying to pull out there."

"Happosai's a virus, we'll never be rid of him," Akane sighed in agreement. "Well, oyasumi nasai." She started for the stairs. "Ne, Ranma?"

"Hm?" he turned in her direction again.

She considered him for a minute, then smiled. The sort of Akane smile that made Ranma flush a little.

"Thanks. …For today."

He smiled back. "You too. Oyasumi, ne."

"Hai, hai," she called over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs again, grinning.

Just as Ranma was about to shut off the TV, about half an hour later, a special news report came on. Curious, he hung back, watching the new feed for some sort of sky watch.

Only minutes afterwards, he rushed upstairs, taking them two at a time.

Amazingly, Ranma had an idea that just might not backfire.

AN:

Rain: So I guess that's as cliffhanger-ish I'm going to get in this fic. Those who have read my others now can sigh in relief, lol.

So… Who knows if it snows in Nerima? I've only seen that one Ranma episode where they're walking in the snow with the umbrella (in some random OAV music video), and in the first 23 mangas it doesn't, so I'm assuming they either haven't covered that time of year, or it just doesn't snow there. Well wait, there was that one where Akane had the crutches, there was snow then. Ah, well. Either way, it was a silly idea, so I just decided "Ok, Kami, it now can officially snow in Nerima!" So there you go.

To jade: How crazy is this? I wrote The Morning After and The Night Before way back in February, when I first signed on to ff.net, and hadn't even figured out how to read stories, lol. Oh, I was so innocent and really rather dopey back then… *wistful sigh*

Readers: You're still dopey!

Rain: I know, I know. So anyway, I wrote them and promptly forgot about them, while writing "The Sound of Silence," "They" (*cringes* I hate that one!), "Carousel: Usotsuki," and "Regarding Ranma." Then I actually started reading peoples' fics and reviewing them, not too long ago. Just last week, after I had re-written TMA and TNB, I read "Behind the Question" and "Could it Be?" and basically fell out of my chair. It's almost the exact same thing, in the snow! I laughed, it was such a bizarre coincidence. I wonder how often this happens to other people, or maybe I've just gone mad and think it's funny, who knows.

Readers: You've already gone mad, it's too late to start.

Rain: Shush. So, I thought I'd tell you about that, it's so strange! Me and my bizarre anecdotes. My life is… out there.

Hope you all liked this chapter, don't flame me, etc, there'll be more tomorrow!

::Rain

"Wild laughter without reason is best, because by that point you can be sure you've gone completely mad." –myself, and I am crazy, so it's only too true.

Readers: It's dorky to quote yourself. *laugh*

Rain: Well, I thought it was funny. But I didn't mean funny like that…

Until tomorrow!

::Rain