You won't believe it: I'm updating already! Yay… Don't get used to it, though, I still can't promise all the chapters will be out soon.

Thanks to all my reviewers – see notes at the bottom for answers to questions. Hope you like the story, but in any case please let me know what you think.

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"Of Loose Gi's and Lost Focuses"

Chapter 8

The morning woke a very embarrassed Akane and an equally embarrassed Ranma.

Akane's first thought was: 'Did everything really happen? Did we really…? And did Ranma really say…?' She felt her cheeks get very hot and tried to calm down before she went to the bathroom for her morning routine. She knew it was real, she felt giddy at how much her relationship with Ranma had changed in just one day. She could hardly believe she had behaved the way she did, around him. Then again, she thought, she had wanted that to happen for so long that she just couldn't stop. Almost.

She thought about all the times she had believed things had changed between her and her fiancé in the past, especially after the failed wedding, and how disappointed and hurt she had felt when he had acted like the usual jerk or denied that anything had happened, calling her those same names over and over again.

"He better not do it this time, or else…" she mumbled, slightly afraid, while she was brushing her hair.

The bathroom door opened suddenly and a very sleepy Ranma appeared. Akane saw him in the mirror, but couldn't face him, so she just looked down, afraid how he would react.

"Oops, sorry, the door was open…" he apologised, bracing himself for the usual beating. But nothing happened; he noticed Akane was looking down rather sheepishly.

His thoughts that morning have been chaotic just as much as Akane's. Only he was wondering if she would wake up feeling angry at him for kissing and touching her the way he did the day before. He was so happy that they had finally confessed their feelings, happy to know she felt the same way, yet knowing her temper and never being sure what would make her go over the edge at a given time, he was not sure what to expect.

So when he saw she wasn't going to clobber him for walking into the bathroom while she was inside, he stood there, at the door, not knowing what to do.

"It's ok," she finally said, without looking at him, "you can come in, I'm almost finished anyway."

Though he was surprised, he quietly stepped in and closed the door. He walked to her.

She didn't turn.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"Tell me what happened yesterday," she asked, still looking away.

"You mean you don't remember?" Ranma was confused. "We… uhmmm… kissed and you said you love me… and I love you too…" he trailed off, seeing her turning, eyes large and the happiest expression he had ever seen on her face. She held him as hard as Shampoo would have, or even harder, only this time Ranma wasn't bothered by it. He was relieved, though still confused. He held her back, resting his head on top of hers.

"I was so afraid," she whispered to his shirt, "so afraid you'll deny everything again and…"

"Not any more," he whispered back. "I love you."

It was still hard to say, but much less than before, since he knew she felt the same way.

She lifted her head and smiled one of her heart-melting smiles. Their faces were so close that Ranma couldn't resist. He lowered his head and kissed her lightly.

"I love you too," she said afterwards.

They gazed at each other in marvel for some minutes then Akane spoke again.

"I'd better go before anyone starts wondering where we are. I bet Nabiki would be overjoyed to find us like this."

Ranma smiled. "Yup, she's already suspicious. She saw me coming out of your room last night. But I think I might have found the right approach to keep her off our backs."

"Really? And what would that be?" she wondered, walking toward the door.

"Just a little joke I made," he said inconclusively. "I might tell you some other time."

Akane was curious, but she knew it was too risky to stay there and try to convince him, so she just said they'd meet downstairs for breakfast and went to her room. Luckily there wasn't anyone to see her and ask questions.

A little later, the family was gathered for breakfast. Akane and Ranma were sitting next to each other as usually, still feeling very shy and very awkward. They just glanced at each other every now and then, noticing the other one blushing lightly, trying to avoid staring and trying to hide any possible changes in their behaviour not to make the family suspicious. Fortunately, their fathers were too busy eating, so they didn't really notice anything. Kasumi was busy passing the food, yet if someone looked closely enough, they could notice her smile was larger than her usual Kasumi-smile. She said nothing of course.

On the other hand, Nabiki wasn't busy and did notice something was going on. Added to what she had seen the day before, she was now practically sure her sister and her future brother-in-law were up to something. She decided she would wait and see what happened, and of course she would make sure to have a camera and a tape-recorder ready to catch any evidence.

After breakfast, Nabiki went ahead as usual and Ranma and Akane headed for school together. Ranma jumped on the fence out of habit. Akane wasn't pleased with that, but kept quiet. They actually both kept very quiet, afraid to say something somebody might hear, and on Ranma's part, afraid to say something that would get Akane mad.

When she thought they were far away from home enough, Akane decided to say something.

"Why do you always have to walk up there?"

Her tone was not her usual annoyed one, yet Ranma looked at her cautiously. She didn't look angry, just a bit nervous, maybe.

"Balance practice, you know that," he said. Then he decided to jump off and joined her. "Then again, I might skip it just for now, I'd rather be here right now."

She looked at him, almost sure he was teasing her again, and noticed a slight blush on his cheeks. He was smiling shyly, so she just smiled back and they walked on in silence.

When they were halfway to the school, Ranma suddenly exclaimed: "Hey, how come Shampoo hasn't come yet today?"

Akane went from happy-as-a-bird mode to red-glowing-angry mode in less than one second.

"What do you mean? Do you miss her, you pervert?" she yelled at him.

"No, of course not, tomboy!" Ranma exclaimed, adding the insult out of habit again. "It's just that she always runs over me with that damn bicycle of hers and I'm surprised she's not here today. And after she saw…"

He was interrupted by a familiar sound: "Rrrrrrriiiiiinngggg!"

Before Akane or Ranma had time to blink or say anything, Shampoo was already there. Ranma barely managed to dodge her.

"Nihao, airen!" the Amazon exclaimed with a smile, though she was eyeing both of them suspiciously. She had heard them yelling at each other and was surprised to see them angry at each other, after she had seen them kissing the night before. She was ready to challenge Akane and defeat her once and for all, but now she wasn't so sure any more.

"Uhmmm, hi, Shampoo," Ranma said sheepishly, trying to decipher her mood. Was she planning to attack her rival? He wouldn't allow it.

"Why airen ran away yesterday? Shampoo saw him kissing violent girl, she sure. She kill violent girl and get airen back and take him to Amazon village!" she exclaimed.

Akane looked slightly nervous. She had forgotten about the girl seeing them in the park. She was surprised at the fact that Shampoo wasn't glomping Ranma as usually, which meant she was very serious about what she was saying. Akane looked at Ranma, her anger forgotten.

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Ranko and Mr. Panda: You know how Nabiki is… do you really think there's a chance that she doesn't find out, sooner or later?

BlazeStryker: No, Akane didn't hear the remark but the lost boy IS going to appear and things might happen…

LeaMarie F. Rocket: Of course P-chan is going to be in the story. I couldn't leave that cute piglet out and besides Ryoga always makes things more interesting.

Playwrite-Chailyn: I guess if you look at one chapter separately, they are very OOC, but I believe that characters develop in each story, so in my case, they probably get a bit away from what we are used to. And besides, I don't have Takahashi's genius, I can never make them as good as she does, nor claim to do so.

Thanks to all of you other people who reviewed too! I'm very happy to receive e-mail and I appreciate anything you have to say, even if you think this whole thing sucks. See you soon!