Chapter 6

Ranma heard Akane's words and his eyes widened to the size of soccer balls, he could feel his jaw drop in shock. Suddenly, he shivered as if a cold wind had blown through the bathroom. What the two didn't realize was that the cold sensation meant was that the dust had taken effect. Lost in thought, Ranma tried to come up with a valid reason to what he had just heard. "She's apologizing...to me! Is she sick or somethin'" he thought, before coming to realize that Akane had changed. "Maybe she knows now how it feels....yeah, that's it." Clearing his throat, Ranma turned around and faced Akane, placing a hand on her shoulder he replied, "It's all right 'Kane. I know you never meant anythin' by it."


Akane lifted her tear stained face,sniffeled and asked timidly," You mean it...you're not mad at me?"

"Naaah. See, I figure it was your way of tellin' me that ya cared," he replied, somehow not able to stop the truth from emerging. He had a sudden strong urge to tell her how he really felt about her. "Akane, I...I act the same way when other guys try ta get your attention cause I....I l...love you."

Akane froze, shocked that Ranma had finally managed to admit that he cared for her. She felt something crack deep within her soul, it felt like a weight being lifted from her heart and made her feel warm inside. Deciding that if he could admit it then, she should too, so Akane smiled warmly and replied shyly," I love you too, Ranma."

Grinning goofily, Ranma blushed and asked nervously, "Ya don't mind that I...I turn inta a girl sometimes?"

"No. I understand now that you can't help it. I promise to never use it as a punishment again. And I know how you feel now because I have the same curse that you do." Turning away, Akane asked shakily,"Do you mind that I can turn into a guy now?"

"Naah. I don't mind cause you're Akane an ya'll always be Akane to me in either form," he replied in a rare moment of compassion.

Akane felt a jolt of happiness and couldn't contain herself, turning around, she lunged at him, winding her arms around his neck, Akane brought her face close to his and kissed him with a passion that could only be felt deep within the soul.

Ranma froze when he felt her naked breasts against his chest, he was even more shocked when he felt her soft lips kiss his. As the kiss continued, he felt a jolt of heat run from his lips to encompass his whole body and shivered. Moaning, he pulled her closer and instinctively opened his mouth, thrust his tongue inside her mouth and returned the kiss with an even greater passion. Ranma ran his hands slowly down Akane's back to cup her rear end, squeezing ever so gently and slowly rubbing his sex against her stomach.

A few incoherent moments passed before Akane's brain registered what she was doing and what that thing prodding her in her stomach really was. Blushing to the roots of her hair, Akane desperately tried to calm her raging hormones enough for coherent thought. "Oh my god! I'm kissing Ranma and we're n...n...naked and he's........oh my god!" she thought, panicking, Akane pushed Ranma away hard enough that he slammed against the wall with a loud thud, and slid, stunned, into the water. While he was submerged, Akane jumped out of the fuiro like a streak of lightning and was out the door in a matter of seconds.

As Ranma emerged from the water gasping, he could hear door slamming from down the hall. "Ah man, why'd she have ta do that? And why the heck did she run away?" he grumbled in confusion. His confusion was alleviated when by pure accident he glanced down to see the evidence of his desire standing at attention. "Ack!" he gasped in realization and blushed tomato red in embarrassment. "Damn Hoji, why'd ya have ta wake up now!" he growled at his stiffened member. Grumbling in annoyance, Ranma climbed out of the furio, wrapped a towel around his waist and ran down the hall to try and apologize to Akane.

*************************

Urd was laughing so hard she was having trouble maintaining her invisibility spell, she had seen everything, including Ranma's comment to his family jewels. In all of her career as a goddess, Urd never could understand the males need to name his masculinity. "Oh Father, I haven't had so much of a good time since the last time I......." she rubbed her temple in an attempt to jar her memory. Scrunching her nose in thought she tried to remember. "Oh, when was that again...oh yeah! Since the last time I got these two together!" Quickly composing herself, Urd realized that she had forgotten about the spell that had kept those two safe from her brother, Loki.

"Damn! I better go see if I can help them before Loki's spell brings all sorts of trouble down on their heads before they can finish." Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the next room, "Oh, Damn!"Urd muttered and quickly fazed though the bathroom wall and all other walls until she came upon a scene of utter chaos. "Shit! There goes my vacation!" she cursed taking in the mess. To her right, stood the Chinese Amazon trio. To her left stood the psychotic siblings who went by the name of Kuno. And to top it all off, in the center of the storm stood her two charges, as naked as the day they were born.


****************************************


"Akane! I'm sorry! That's somthin I can't help, it happens to guys every once in a while...you gotta forgive me...please," Ranma yelled as he burst into the room after her.

"Ranma! Don't you bother to knock!" Akane yelled whirling around only to gasp in surprise as a partially naked Ranma came into view. Just the sight of his naked muscular chest made her whimper in remembered need. Mistaking her whimper for something entirely different, Ranma stepped closer, grasped her shoulders and enveloped her in a hug, crushing her breasts to his chest. "Please 'Kane," he pleaded in a quiet growling whisper of arousal.

"Ranma," she whispered, tilting her face towards his to answer positively only to lock gazes and get lost in his deep blue eyes. Inhaling at the sudden rush of desire, "I forgive you," Akane whispered as she leaned forward, pressing herself tighter to his warmth while releasing an involuntary whimper of longing.

Understanding the sound for the first time, Ranma released one of her shoulders and tilted her chin up for better access. Then, he kissed her with all the suppressed desire he had been holding in for the past two years.

Akane moaned as Ranma kissed her, she was vaguely aware of her surroundings, but everything seemed far less important than what was happening to her at the moment.


Akane pulled Ranma closer and as they both deepened the kiss, their towels slowly fell to the floor, unnoticed. As their passion rose to overwhelming heights, they suddenly they felt a slight tingling sensation and their bodies went numb for a brief instant and then the change occurred.

****************


Urd blinked as she took in the scene, Ranma and Akane were currently locked in a passionate kiss while the Nerima gang stood there in shock. Shan-Pu was the first to snap out of it and quickly grabbed the nearest thing. Unfortunately, the nearest thing on hand happened to be an ice-cold glass of water. The minute the liquid hit the two and the change occurred and chaos reigned. Akane's body grew taller, her hips narrowed and her chest flattened. While Ranma's body did the complete opposite as his form rounded and shrunk. Throughout it all, the two remained lip-locked and never noticed the change.

"Aieya!!!!" The purple Amazon screamed, her jaw dropping in shock.

"You knave! How dare you molest my AKANE!...DIE!" Kuno ranted delusionaly before raising his boken and charging towards the oblivious couple.

"Ohohohoho! Ranma-sama! Drop that whore and come into my arms as I will show you the pleasures of kissing thise sweat lips of mine!" Kodatchi laughed miniacly while leaping forwards to push Akane aside. Unfortunely for both of the Kuno siblings, neither noticed the others actions and ended up knocking each other out cold when they colided.

"Ranma honey!....ewwww that's gross!!! He's kissing a boy and their naked!!" Ukyo muttered feeling nauseous, completely ignoring the fact that that boy was Akane, turning, she ran out of the room heading for the nearest bathroom.

Ku-Lon's eyes practically fell out of their sockets as she beheld the passionate embrace of Ranma and the newly cursed Akane. Growling in irritation, the matriarch cleared her throat and shouted, "Shan-Pu! Go and retrieve your husband from that...that husband stealer!"

The purple haired Amazon blinked in surprise at her great-grandmother's words. "Shan-Pu better do what great-grandmother say...or she be in big trouble," she muttered, slowly making her way over towards the couple. Lately she had gotten the feeling that her pursuit of Ranma had become pointless, but she reasoned to herself that she must follow the elders orders or face the consequences. Taking another step closer to the couple, she suddenly slammed into some kind of force field. "Aieya! What this?" Shan-Pu exclaimed, feeling along the edge only to find that it formed a complete bubble around the couple.

Ku-Lon stepped up next to her great-granddaughter and poked at the force field, "Hmmm.....I wonder." Stretching out her senses she detected a slight tingling that indicated a different kind of magic than what she herself practiced. It was something that she hadn't felt in two hundred years, but it was something that she recognized. "I can't interfere now. This must be the work of a Goddess. But, I must be sure," she thought. The elder glanced around the room but couldn't spot any distortions in the air so she spoke in an archaic tongue used to communicate with their gods. This language was only known to the elder council members, "Revered Goddess, Please show yourself only to me and tell me what is thy will."

Urd was surprised that this mortal knew her language and out of curiosity, decided to find out what the old one wanted. Slowly, her form fazed into view directly over the kissing couple. "I am here, old one. You have summoned me to know what my will is." Pausing, The Goddess of Love floated lower so that she now hovered above the wood floor and continued, "These two," she pointed towards Ranma and Akane. "Are soul mates and it is_ my_ will and my _fathers_ will that they remain together. To interfere, will incur the wrath of the gods. You must call off your foolish pursuit of this mortal, Ranma."

Sighing in resignation, Ku-Lon turned towards her great-granddaughter and used the voice she only used while making council decries, "Shan-Pu! This boy Ranma, is no longer your husband! This is by the will of the gods and you will accept this! We must return home."

"Akane's a guy!" Mu-Tsu exclaimed as his brain finally caught up with what he was seeing; blinking a few times before turning towards his the bouncy purple hared girl. He took a deep breath and was about to comment when he noticed Shan-Pu's eyes roll back into her head as she fainted dead away. Mu-Tsu managed to catch her before she hit the floor. Glancing towards Ku-Lon, he asked," What happened? Why did she faint?"

"Ranma is no longer Shan-Pu's husband. The gods declared this and we must obey our gods. Come, we will be returning home tomorrow," Ku-Lon replied as she hopped out the window and down the street.

Mu-Tsu grinned at her words, turning he cleared his throat and glanced towards the kissing couple, he murmured, "Good luck you two. I hope you'll be happy in your new life." Then, he was gone and the only evidence that he had been there was the curtains floating in the night breeze.


Feeling the chilly wind rush over their heated bodies, Ranma and Akane broke the kiss and shivered from the cold. "How..." Akane started to say only to quickly shut up at the sound of her cursed voice. Quickly, she glanced downwards and saw that she had turned back into a guy. Frantically, she turned her gaze towards Ranma and noticed that he too had changed. It was then that her thoughts ground to a screeching halt. Only to start up again as realization flooded her mind, "I...Ranma...curse...activated...we're naked and we...kissed!"

Nervously, Akane-kun glanced at his companion to gauge her reaction. What he saw made him sigh in relief, Ranma-chan seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she had. Taking a breath to speak, "I..."but was interrupted by Ranma as he whispered," Akane...I know that what we did felt great. But, when we changed...when you changed..." Ranma-chan but her lip as she struggled to force the words past her suddenly dry lips. "I didn't care that our curses were activated. I just wanted...you.......and I still want you, but. " Gazing straight into Akane-kun's eyes, Ranma forged on, "I didn't care that you were a guy...and I forgot all about my curse. I realized that you're Akane....no matter what form you're in....all I cared about was that I love you and that the curse didn't matter any more. If you don't feel the same way...then I understand." Ranma turned around to leave, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

Akane smiled through his tears, reaching out a shaky hand, he placed on upon Ranma-chans shoulder and turned her to face him. Quickly, before he lost his nerve. Akane brought his lips to press firmly upon Ranma's own in a brief but passionate kiss. Stepping back, Akane picked up both of their towels, handed one to Ranma while covering his nakedness and replied,"Ranma, I feel the same way. I don't care about the curse. No matter what forms we're in, I will always love you."

Ranma-chan smiled as she felt the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders and replied, "I'm glad cause' I don't think I coulda let you go."

"Ranma..." Akane-kun sighed and was about to comment when he noticed a flickering of movement from the corner of his eye.

Urd slowly materialized in front of the couple and cleared her throat, "Ahem."

Ranma and Akane turned around and gaped in disbelief at the figure who floated in front of them. She had long silver-white hair that reached past her waist and strange markings upon her forehead and cheeks. "Who are you?" they both exclaimed.

Urd, satisfied that she had their attention, continued," I'm Urd. First class and unlimited Goddess of Love at your service!" Urd winked mischievously and continued in an exasperated tone, "It's about time you two admitted that you loved each other. You don't know the trouble I've been through just to get you guys together!" Floating closer, the goddess scrutinized them thoroughly before giving a bell like sounding laugh of relief."I see that my efforts to get you to together worked out fine."

Growling in anger, Ranma-chan pushed Akane-kun behind her and stepped forward menacingly, "You mean you did this to AKANE!"

Urd winced as Ranma's voice rose to a shriek before regaining her composure. Glaring at the cursed boy, The goddess replied, "Yes! I did cause her to change into a boy. If I hadn't then something really terrible would have happened to both of you."

Akane pushed Ranma-chan aside and asked, "Like what?"

Urd sighed, slightly annoyed at their reactions but she reasoned that they were understandable due to the circumstances. Slowly, the goddess brought her hands together until they touched. Then muttering a few words, she inched them apart slowly. As her hands moved further apart from the other, a warm red glow appeared in the center and revealed two sets of red thread.

Ranma gasped at the sight and hesitantly asked, "Is that us...I mean is that our life lines?"

"Yes. This is what my sisters and I call the threads of fate. This shows what will be and what could be. Right now...since you've admitted that you love one another...they are back to what they should be. But," Urd paused and muttered a few more words and the threads pulsed in response. They gave a brief flash of light that caused the mortals to glance away before dulling to a tolerable level.

Glancing back at the thread, both Ranma and Akane noticed that both of the threads were black halfway through. Gulping nervously and pointing, Akane spoke, "Is that mine?"

Turning, Urd gave a sad smile and replied, "Yes. This is what would have happened to you if you two had not admitted that you loved one another." Taking a deep breath urd continued,"Akane....you would have died in two weeks. This would have been caused by another argument and when you chased after Ranma in a rage....you had a run in with a truck...and lost your life."

"You're joking right!" Ranma exclaimed while eyeing the other thread. The one that was slightly longer than the other, but was cut short just the same. Reaching out a hand, Ranma pointed and said, "Then I guess that one's mine."

"I'm sorry, but...yes." Urd replied as she dissipated the threads. Feeling a slight headache centered between her eyes, she wanted to rub the pain away, but ignored it and continued, "You only survived your soul mate by two weeks. You died of a broken heart."

"Soul mate!" Ranma and Akane both exclaimed while pointing towards the other.

"Yes. You two were made for each other, and I have had to watch over you two ever since you were born," she replied as she slowly lowered herself to touch the floor. Releasing the spell holding herself in the air, Urd lifted her arms and continued gruffly, "Now that that has been explained. I can release you two of the curses." She then started chanting. Her voice rose and fell with each word, creating a dance and cadence all of its own as the magic swirled around the room.

"But..." Ranma began to interrupt, but was stopped by a tap from Akane and glanced towards him. "What?"

"Shhhh. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth....in other words...shut up!" Akane hissed as she realized what Urd had said.

Ranma-chan thought for a moment and suddenly it dawned on him like a ton of bricks hitting him on the head. Her eyes widened to the size of tennis balls and she whispered to Akane, "She's gonna cure us both!"

"Yep," Akane nodded, a huge grin plastered on his face. Akane-kun was so happy that he pulled Ranma into another heated kiss. They were so busy kissing each other that they never noticed the pulsing light that surrounded them, nor the brief wink and the gentle whisper that floated on the breeze as Urd faded from view.

"Live long and love well...."


****************************************