Back again with a new chapter. Sorry for the delay, had a tough time with this one. Whew.

On with the story now, and don't forget you can actually SKIP anything above or under the line (the *.*.* thing) if you're not interested: that's why I put that line there in the first place. ^_^

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"Of Loose Gi's and Lost Focuses"

Chapter 13

The Nekohanten was busy as always and Mousse was rushing back and forth from the kitchen to the tables delivering ramen and other Chinese specials while Shampoo was taking orders and flirting with the customers as usual. They left good tips, so she had no problem with doing it.

Her smiles were warmer than usual though. She was happy. Or at least she would be soon. And she was so very excited with anticipation that she could barely contain herself. She even hadn't pounded Mousse for a whole day! He, for one thing, was glad of it, but had he known the reasons behind it, he wouldn't have been that merry.

Cologne hadn't been very surprised at Shampoo's news about Ranma and Akane's behaviour a few days before. She was way too old to misinterpret their behaviour from the very first moment she had seen them together. She knew she only had a chance till the two didn't realize each other's feelings. Nothing would separate them once they became a true couple. Ranma was far too possessive of her as it was, and vice versa.

So when she heard of their kiss in the park, she started thinking of the ultimate plan to get that stubborn boy to marry her great-granddaughter. The fact that there were other ways of resolving the matter respecting the Amazon laws was nagging her at the back of her mind, but once again she chose to ignore it. Instead, she skimmed her "special recipes" book looking for something appropriate.

Never-Leave-Me-Ramen? That sounded interesting enough. She read the recipe and its effects quickly, wondering if it would work. All of her other plans have failed miserably or have backfired in one way or anther. Why would this be any different?

Because she was an Amazon elder and Ranma was a mere foreign male. It had to work. She tightened her lips and went to look for the ingredients. She would need to get out of town to get some of them.

Mousse, who was still delivering the dishes to the customers kept coming in and out the kitchen and of course noticed Cologne reading the old Amazon cook-book. Since Shampoo had got mad at him for mixing up the orders since he was unable to tell a customer from a plant, he currently had his glasses on, so when passing behind Cologne's back, he had noticed the name of the recipe she was interested in.

The old ghoul didn't really pay any attention to him, knowing he was blind as a bat and being unaware he was wearing glasses for once. Mousse on his part avoided making her notice his interest in what she was doing so he never stopped too close to her.

Another drugged pot of ramen. Mousse sighed inwardly, knowing what that meant. He didn't know what particular effect it would have but he knew exactly what would happen. Another scheme, another try at getting Ranma to marry Shampoo. So that's why Shampoo was so happy.

He wondered why they were at it again, seeing that every single plan they had previously conceived had inevitably failed. As smart and experienced as Cologne was, she should have figured out that she couldn't make Ranma do what he didn't want. Not for long anyway. Was Cologne really that dumb? Or did she underestimate Ranma so badly? He had been taught never to doubt an elder's decision but this… They had been in Japan for over three years and nothing of what they all have tried, including his own attempts at defeating Ranma, had worked. Why not just give it up. After all it was over three years, and Shampoo did have a way out if…

He just shrugged his shoulders and went on with his work. It wasn't in his power to change things anyway, as much as he wanted to.

Akane's secret training (secret to her, anyway) went on. Once again, Ranma wondered where the Amazons were and how come Shampoo hadn't attacked them again. His bad feeling about it was growing by the day. Thank god Akane was learning quickly. Currently they were working on speed. Which meant that Ranma had to think of a new way of training her every single day. Some of them were quite funny, and they both enjoyed them, like the cherry blossom catching bet.

They were sparring in the dojo when Akane sent Ranma flying out after another set of insults he dished out. He hit the cherry tree in the garden face first. A couple of minutes later, he came to and the first thing he saw were the cherry blossoms falling of the tree, swirling in the air and falling gently to the floor. The second thing he saw was the concern written all over Akane's face.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Urgh…" he just groaned, still a little dizzy. "Why d'ya have ta…" he started after a moment but was interrupted by Kasumi's voice.

"Akane, Ranma, look at the mess you've done with the cherry blossoms! And I just finished sweeping the garden a little while ago two!" Kasumi's slight frown and a tinge less sweet than usual voice made them both shiver.

"I'm sorry Kasumi", they both blurted out at the same time, looking down.

"We'll clean the mess right away, don't worry", Ranma added.

"Thank you Ranma, I'll appreciate that. Oh, and Akane, be sure to help Ranma, after all you threw him in the tree in the first place." Akane cringed in guilt.

Kasumi turned and re-entered the house smiling her trademark smile (Plus and indefinable shade that some might have interpreted as mischief, but that was Kasumi we're talking about, right?).

Akane was still cringing, not daring to look at Ranma. She had been trying so hard to control her temper, but the jerk just couldn't keep his big mouth shut. She was so happy he was willing to spar with her more often lately that she decided to refrain from punching him too hard for his stupid insults. But he just wouldn't stop and in the end she always lost it. Funny, though, she had a strange impression of being able to hit him with more ease and to throw him even further than before. It was probably just an impression anyway.

Ranma watched the display of emotions on her face not really understanding it, then sighed and got up, heading for the broom and sack stuffed with petals and leaves that was leaning against the house wall. Akane followed him, picking up the dustpan.

They worked in silence for a couple of minutes. When they had almost finished, a light breeze raised some of the collected petals spreading them in the air, making them fly around again.

"Figures", grunted Akane, staring at the petals with a frown. She was about to continue picking up the ones already on the floor when she noticed Ranma jumping around her in quick moves, catching the flying petals in his hands.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, "you're making them fly even more!" Despite her angry voice, she could not feel but mesmerised by his gracious dance in the middle of those beautiful cherry blossoms. He was so…

"No, I'm not," Ranma replied unaware of her longing glance, too busy with what he was doing.

"I'm catching them before they land. You should try it too."

"Why would I want to do that? Jump around like a crazed monkey. Feh." She looked away, picking up the fallen blossoms again.

"Because it's fun", Ranma simply said. "Anyway, you couldn't do it even if you tried, being so slow and everything…" he teased.

"Oh yeah?!" she exclaimed, getting up.

'Yes!' Ranma thought, watching her getting ready from the corner of her eye.

"I just have to catch them, what's difficult about it? Anyone can do that." And she started catching the blossoms herself.

"Yeah, but you have to catch as many as possible before they land and also empty your hands in the sack every now and then… like this…" he demonstrated, "without any blossom touching the ground in the process. I bet you can't do it."

His smirk made her decision for her.

"You're on. I bet I can catch more than you!"

"Prove it!"

"But no special moves like the Chestnut Fist!" she remembered.

'Oops, too bad she thought about that!' Ranma thought but agreed.

So they both jumped to and 'fro for a while, both catching every little blossom, every single flower that happened to be floating in the air. Occasionally they would go for the same one and their hands would touch, a tingle spreading through their hands to their whole arms and bodies. Every touch made the sensation grow stronger.

Akane was in turmoil. She was doing her best trying to catch the blossoms; she knew Ranma was fast but she also wanted to show him that she wasn't the slow klutz he took her for. So she doubled her efforts every time she noticed Ranma stealing a blossom she was aiming for. For once she was not getting angry at him. Even her previous ill mood had dissolved and she was actually having fun. Those tingles provoked by their random contacts were stirring her insides in a pleasant way. And Ranma's smiles were taking her breath away far more then the physical exercise.

The breeze came and went away, making their game last longer, stealing some of the blossoms away, towards the gate, and making them run after them and turn around laughing as they realized they couldn't get them.

Sometimes Akane wondered if Ranma had figured that not all of their contacts were 'accidental'. She didn't really care.

Ranma had indeed noticed it and wondered in turn if Akane knew that none of the contacts were accidental. He purposefully aimed for the petals Akane was after, just to brush her hand, just to barely touch her hip, to be able to make her skirt flutter even higher, to get an even better view of the little amount of cleavage her T-shirt allowed for.

He knew it wasn't right. He should have been thinking about her training alone. Concentrating on making her push her limits even farther. But she was too beautiful, too stunningly beautiful, almost dancing with her natural grace between the blossoms, her hair floating around her face from all the movement, her face radiant, her eyes shining. And the sun was too golden in the approaching evening and the breeze too delightful after the warm day, and the peaceful feeling just too great for him to just ignore it all.

There was just one more tiny petal floating right now. One petal, at an equal distance from both of them. Ranma saw her move towards it and jumped himself. Not to catch the petal. To catch her.

Or rather, to pin her down and kiss her without giving her nor himself time to think.

'Hey!' Akane wanted to yell, finding herself on the ground with her fiancé on top of her. Instead she found her lips sealed by his and his tongue hungrily searching her mouth. Not that she minded at all.

After she recovered from the initial shock, she started kissing him back with the same fire and tried to hold him but find her hands still held down by his.

She broke the kiss and he looked at her in surprise. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes on fire and his breathing a little too fast. His senses were too dimmed to notice the same signs of excitement in Akane's face. All he could think was, 'Didn't she want this too?'

"My hands. Let them go," she breathed. He stared blankly at her for a moment, not understanding at first, fearing what was in store for him later. Did she want to leave? Throw him in the pond? To LEO?

He let go of her hands preparing to accept the blow. Maybe he shouldn't have pinned her down like that. Maybe he should have… But then, she had kissed him back… So why was she going to…?

Suddenly her attack came, and found him completely unprepared.

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This isn't a real cliff hanger, right? So don't get mad at me please… God, this one was sooooo tough. I got stuck in the middle of the chapter, unable to find a way to go on. That's why it took me so long. Sorry guys, I know I usually take forever to update but this time I really wanted to do it soon and it just wouldn't come out right. I rewrote almost the whole chapter twice. And I never, I mean never rewrite a chapter.

Anyway, now it is done and I hope you liked it and most of all I know where to go next so I might be starting the next chapter right away. Thanks for the patience! And thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love you all! Most of you told me you like it so far in your reviews and I really appreciate that. Some, on the other hand, had comment I want to answer to.

To Wacko Chuck: Sorry if it bothers you, but some people actually like to find answers to the questions they put in reviews. This seems to be the easiest way to answer them. As I said, skip it if you're not interested. The chapters are all of the same length, more or less, and I don't really think it's just 10% of the space they take on FF.net.

Prettyinpink, LeaMarie F. Rocket, xzotic2986, ash etc.: Yes, there will be more P-chan/Ryoga, don't worry, but I don't want to tell you more. About the length of the chapters – can't really do much about it. And yes, saucy bits are on their way. ~_^

Thor: You got your personal answer anyway, just wanted to publicly thank you. ~_~

Shall-iin: I agree with you about the multiple authors thing. I can't imagine myself co-writing a story, so don't worry about that. LOL

Nevets309: Their fathers are rather suspicious, I agree, but since Ranma is insulting Akane all the time for her training's sake, do you really think they can tell any difference?

Thanks again and if you have comments, questions or anything to say at all, review.