Yeah, yeah, I know, I update like every change of season… I'm sorry to all of you who stick with me and this story (ant the other one, too – I intend to update Studying as soon as I can, honest), and I really appreciate all the reviews and feedback that I get. You'll find some answers at the end, as usual. Thanks again and enjoy your read!
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"Of Loose Gi's and Lost Focuses"
Chapter 12
Now why would Akane fall for the same trick again?
And again.
And again and again.
How could she just get so angry at her fiancé that she managed not to notice where she was walking, what she was doing and how good she was getting at doing it?
These were questions that Ranma didn't really waste too much time on, although occasionally they did find his guard down. As long as it was working, he decided, he didn't really care. He was sure she wasn't just too dumb to figure it out (though the thought did come to him, considering the P-chan business…). Sometimes he wondered why she would get so mad at him. Maybe he could ask her that after the training was over. For now it would remain an unsolved puzzle.
At the moment he was lying in the schoolyard, having finished his bento and enjoying the peace and quiet for a change. His mind drifted to his fiancée.
'I mean, she knows I love her. We even…' He blushed remembering some particular scenes. 'And she said she loved me too. She should know that I don't really mean what I say… Maybe she's just playing along… Nah. She couldn't fake that kind of anger.'
He grinned remembering some of the moments of her secret training during the last few days, like the morning after her first fence-walking, when she had actually fell for practically the same trick and run on the fences almost to the school gates. He had decided to get off and make her follow just in case someone else would show up and make her suddenly realize her position again. Just when he had jumped off, though, coming around a corner he had seen Kuno, in his usual attire and with the usual bokken in his hands. The upperclassman had addressed him with his usual "Saotome you vile cur" and attacked him promptly, but before he could even come close to him, he had found his face pressed to the dirt, one foot on his head and one on his back.
"Stop it Kuno, we don't have time for this, we won't be late again today!" Akane had yelled already running after Ranma, who had turned towards the school to hide his grin at her performance. And he didn't only have her lifting skirt and beautiful legs, which had been quite exposed when she had jumped off the fence like a pro, in mind…
Has it been just days from that sparring session in the dojo? He could hardly believe it.
Akane was indeed getting much better concerning her balance. Her control was of course another issue. And there was another problem. How could he make her realize what she was able to do and avoid her getting to scared to prove it to herself? He really didn't have a clue about that one.
One thing that surprised him was how fast Akane had actually become in just a few days. He almost resorted to his female form, which was much faster than his male side, just to see if she could match him (or rather, her). He still hadn't completely rejected the idea, the problems being that he generally hated being a girl, especially at school, and he didn't want to admit openly (not even to himself) that girls can be better at something than guys. Not even his own girl-side.
Another surprising fact was that Shampoo had disappeared since that one time they had seen her on their way to school. Ranma had a bad feeling about it, but in a way he was glad he had time to train Akane. And himself.
He noticed that his speed was improving too, even as a male. Being a natural, Akane was almost as fast as Ranma himself in catching up new techniques. This made him rather proud of her and he regretted that he was unable to let her know.
Akane was sitting among her friends, finishing her lunch. The girls were busy talking and they didn't notice her quietness, for which she was glad. She wouldn't really have been able to explain her mood to anyone.
She looked towards her fiancé. He was eating alone, smiling blissfully and looking even more adorable than usually. Her heart swelled. Her eyes felt hot for a moment. 'Why?', she asked herself.
'Why does he do it? Why does he mock me all the time? My skills as a martial artist, my figure, my cooking, my everything… He said he… loved me…' She still felt so unsure of it that it was almost hard to think about it. 'But then, when Shampoo asked him if he did, he just ran away, avoiding the answer. Was he just playing games with me? Like the time he had said I was cute, so long ago?'
She looked away from him, hiding her sad eyes under her bangs, staring at her empty bento. She heard the bell go off and she sighed as she steadied herself and went back to the classroom.
Ukyo was seated at a distance both from Akane and Ranma. She was studying them carefully. She had been doing so since the morning incident with the fence, noticing Ranma's unusually nasty comments towards Akane and her anger at him. She decided not to interfere for the time being, but she kept a vigil eye.
'Has he finally realized that he doesn't love her? That she is just a violent, uncute tomboy who can't cook to save her life?' she wondered, stars forming in her eyes for a moment. Then she realized what he had just thought. 'Why would he have to realize that he doesn't love her? Why would I have the two of them and the word love in the same sentence at all?'
Images of the past, recent and not, fleshed through her mind. Ranma holding Akane long after he had caught her, Ranma always checking on Akane, to see if she was ok, even in the schoolyard or at the beach, Ranma saving her countless times from anybody or anything…
'No! No!' She shouted internally, refusing to accept the images. With tight lips and a stern expression, she rushed back to class. The bell had just signalled the beginning of the next period.
On the way home from school, Ranma and Akane surprisingly both remained on the ground, silent, each lost in his own thoughts.
'Well, at least he is not insulting me again,' Akane thought bitterly. 'He has been doing it every single moment we spend together for ages now!'
'Wow, it feels kind of nice to just walk for once. I guess we deserve a little break after all.' He smiled inwardly, remembering he had a little cash on him, since Nabiki hadn't been bugging him lately (she was too busy extorting money from someone else, he though bitterly), so he could treat Akane to some ice-cream.
Being Ranma, he had failed to notice her sullen expression, so he just grabbed her hands and enthusiastically exclaimed:
"Hey, Akane, let's get some ice-cream. My treat!"
His grin almost slipped as he noticed her sorrowful expression. Was there anything wrong, he wondered?
Akane's expression went from sad to surprised to a mix he could not define. She didn't reply, she just stared at him, her hands still in his.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.
"N-nothing," she asked, still looking at him in that undefined manner. That was precisely what bothered him the most. If Akane was angry, she hit him, she didn't look at him like that. He could take the pain, but he couldn't take her lost look.
"Come on, what's bothering you?" he insisted, concern showing in his eys.
Akane finally snapped out of her stupor.
"What's bothering me?" she almost yelled. "You've done nothing but insult me for days, called me names, criticized everything about me, mocked me, offended me in almost every possible way…. And you have the nerve to ask me what's bothering me?!?"
"Uhm…yeah?" he said sheepishly, letting go of one of her hands to bring his own to scratch his pigtail.
"Ranma!" Akane yelled, ready to pound him to the moon, her free hand already reaching for the mallet.
"Oh, come on, Akane, you know I don't mean it! It's just… Well, it's nothing…" He couldn't tell her about the training yet, not yet. He noticed he was still holding her hand. She hadn't pulled it away. Maybe he could calm her down.
"You know how I feel about you…" he said quietly, squeezing her hand lightly and looking straight at her angry eyes. "You I … but I can't say it here… someone might…"
The mallet disappeared the moment their eyes met. As he spoke, Akane's anger melted, leaving her confused as before. She knew how he felt… He had said he loved her. They both had said it.
"But… then… why?" she asked, defeated.
"It's just… It's just our game. You know we've been doing it for so long that… It's just…" He didn't know what to say. So he changed the subject. "Why don't we go get some ice-cream? Come on!"
He pulled her by her hand and started walking towards the nearby ice-cream parlour. She let him pull her and eventually caught up to him. She still wasn't happy with his explanation, but she decided to let it go and enjoy herself. Till it lasted.
They entered the parlour hand in hand, though neither of them was really aware of it. Some students stared at them wide-eyed, unbelieving. Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane holding hands? 'Oh, wait till I tell the others!' was probably the most frequent thought that crossed their minds.
Akane and Ranma didn't even notice them. They bought their ice-cream and went out again.
"Let's go to the park," Ranma proposed and Akane gladly accepted. Her demeanour was still a little subdued and Ranma tried his best to cheer her up, telling her jokes heard from Hiroshi and Daisuke (some of which made them both blush…), talking about some past adventure or the other and generally trying his best to get her to smile.
Akane couldn't resist. She had rarely had the pleasure to see that side of Ranma. The relaxed, funny, even witty teenager who talked to her like a friend would. Or, even better, a boyfriend. She laughed at his jokes, at first quietly, just a small smile, then her sunny smiles came out and made Ranma want to jump around like a monkey. He didn't of course, he was enjoying his ice-cream and his company way too much to risk changing into a girl by getting splashed at a fountain or something.
He led her to a bench, set down and watched her sit down next to him, close enough to make them brush slightly against each other, to make him feel her warmth, to give him that tingling sensation wherever he felt a contact.
She leaned back, stretching her legs. He copied her motions, lifting his arms behind his head, in his usual manner.
'Is he going to hold me?' she wondered.
'Will she mallet me to Mars if I hold her?' he asked himself. 'Ah, here goes nothing…'
He lowered his right arm resting it on the bench behind her back, carefully. He was barely touching her, not even daring to look at her and see her reaction. Her back stiffened a little. He braced himself for the mallet.
But it never came.
Instead, he felt her head on his shoulder and an arm being pushed behind his back, the hand finding rest on his waist.
He relaxed visibly ad moved his arm to hold her more firmly. Neither said a word for a long while.
From afar, a figure clad in man's clothes with a giant spatula on the back was watching, tears in her eyes. Why wasn't she running towards the couple? Pulling them apart? Smacking both of them with the spatula?
After some time, she quietly turned around and headed home. She had a restaurant to run after all. No matter how broken her heart might be.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Waaaaaah!!!! Done! Can't believe it! You cant't too, right? Sorry again (*bows her head low in shame*)!
Again, forgive all the mistakes, misspells and any other annoyances you might have encountered… I will reread in soon and fix what I spot. If you wish, you could point what bothered you out to me. I accept criticism when it's due. And I know it's almost three in the morning and this can't be that good…
Anyway, I hope you are enjoying it. It's far from finished and I know for sure I am going to finish it, sooner or later. So you don't have to worry about me leaving you with another unfinished story. In fact, as I already said, I have the plot figured out, roughly. Three pages of it. And this chapter comes somewhere in the first third of the first page. Lots more there for me to write and for you to read…
Let me know what you feel, how you liked or hated it or anything at all. Some people have great idea and sometimes I really find them useful! Thanks again!
Now, to answer a couple of reviews:
First, thanks to all the people who more or less just stated they like the story: Mai, Douid, personthing, the verve, Kalen Darkmoon, Dark Phoenix, Tofu, beanysnake, Madith, Lady Mokondane, Holy-Psychic-Vulpix and Taylor. Glad you like it guys! Hope I won't disappoint you!
Minako-chan: Akane never really trains properly in the manga or series (at least not for a long time). Usually she breaks bricks or throws Ranma around town. I really think she is better than that, so yeah, we agree on that! ^_^
Dogbertcarrol: Hmmm. How long till she realizes? Lol. As you can see, she hasn't so far. Who knows. Akane is the most oblivious character in the Ranmaverse, not to mention her ability to just not see and get any kind of hints… Poor girl… Thank god Ranma only wants her to get better! ~_^
Mary: Spicy, huh? Not much of that in this chapter. But there will be more, just maybe not that soon… Sorry if I disappoint you but the story line gets a bit complicated… You'll see. And no, I don't really know anybody that quick to anger, though I do have a friend that gets angry quite easily… Lol
Tanpopo: Thanks a lot for all your compliments. I really appreciate them, especially the one concerning my English.. Lol
Carnath: I guess you were right about Akane… ~_~
Thor: Thanks for your offer, I'll think about it. And as far as Ranma hurting Akane's feelings goes, I guess some answers are present in this very chapter. He doesn't feel good about it. But sometimes he just doesn't realize how much he really hurts her. Same old Ranma, I guess. Plus he relies on the fact that they've confessed their feelings, so he thinks she should know he doesn't mean any of it. Of course Akane being Akane can't just ignore his words… Oh well, more to come…
Inuyasha@dog-boy29902: Thanks. And thanks for the questions too. Kuno is present in this chapter and we'll see more of him, don't worry. Lol. Ranma hasn't gone girl in the story lone because of pure luck. It will not last, don't worry. And as far as their fathers are concerned, they haven't fully realized what has been happening, that's why they're relatively calm. For now.
Thanks again and hope to see you soon!
