Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, just this story.  So yeah, don't sue me.

            Ranma had finished his morning kata and, with a towel draped over his shoulder, he headed back inside.  When he entered the dining room he saw Soun sitting at the table and heard Kasumi cooking breakfast in the kitchen. Noticing Ranma, Soun laid his newspaper on the table, "Ohayo Ranma-kun."

            Soun never set his newspaper down to address him in the morning, so Ranma answered accordingly, "Alright, Whaddya want..."

            "Go upstairs and wake up Akane."

            "You're joking, right?"

            "Afraid not."

            Ranma turned his head to the side "Hmph! I'm not dealin' with that tomboy this early in the morning, get Nabiki to do it."

            Soun's head instantly expanded, accompanied by a pair of demon eyes and a snake tongue, "RANMMMAAAA-KUUNN"

            Ranma instantly cowered towards the stairs "Alright! Alright!"

            Ranma angrily thought to himself as he climbed the stairs, "Don't see why I have to wake her up, I'll just end up getting hit for just going into her room..."

            Ranma bumped into Nabiki just as she was leaving her room, "Hey...think you could do me a favor?"

            Nabiki raised an eyebrow in interest, causing Ranma to cringe a bit, "What do you want?"

            "Think you could wake up Akane for me?"

            "100,000 yen" Nabiki stated plainly.

            Ranma's eyes widened for a second, "You know damn well that I don't have that much money!"

            "No deal then..." Nabiki started walking away.

            Ranma became slightly desperate, "Can't we work something out!?"

            "Nope." Nabiki waved her hand as she went down the stairs.

            Ranma glared at Nabiki as she descended down the stairs, "I don't see how that idiot kuno is able to deal with her all the time..."  A feeling of dread suddenly hit Ranma as he found himself just outside of Akane's room, "Hope she's not sleeping heavy as usual..."  Ranma took a step forward and started pounding on the door, "Oi! Akane! Okiru yo!" there was no answer, "Oi! Wake up!" Ranma started pounding on the door again.  "Shit..." he muttered to himself.

            As Ranma opened the door he was greeted by the sight of a heavily sleeping and slightly indecent Akane.  Blushing slightly, he turned his gaze away at the sight, "How in the hell am I going to wake up that tomboy without getting pounded..." then inspiration hit him, "That's right, as long as I get out of the room by the time she wakes up I can shake her awake".  Ranma carefully walked across the room and put a hand on Akane's shoulder; she quickly latched onto his arm.

            "P-chan..." Akane muttered in her sleep.

            "Dammit...not this again, if I don't get away I'll be pounded for sure..." Ranma carefully tugged against Akane's hold, but to no avail.

            "P-chan, please don't leave..." Akane tugged on Ranma's arm as she rolled onto her back, causing him to lose his balance, allowing his face to fall just inches short of hers.

            Ranma blushed in a dark shade of red as he held his breath, "Shit...I can't even breathe; I have to find a way to get out of this." He tried lifting himself up, but Akane strengthened her grip, causing him to fall even closer to her face.  Ranma felt Akane's breath on his face, causing him to immediately tense up as a slight feeling of panic went through his body.  The panicking feeling wouldn't have been a problem if Ranma had remembered to breathe, therefore his lungs quickly began starving for oxygen.  One last thought occurred in his mind before he let the air out of his lungs to take a breath "I'm dead."

            "KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" came Akane's tell-tale scream as crashing could be heard upstairs.

            Soun continued to read his newspaper, sipping some tea "He's bound to get it right one of these days..."

            Nabiki took a sip from her tea, "Somehow I doubt that..."

            Kasumi stopped on her way back to the kitchen, "Oh my, I hope Ranma-kun is alright..."

            Akane was back on her bed, covered up in her blanket as if she was protecting her dignity, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

            Ranma popped up from the indentation in the floor, "I wasn't doing anything!  I just came up here to wake you up!"

            Akane's face turned to an even darker shade of red...if that was even possible, "Since when does waking someone up involve taking advantage of them!?"

            It was now Ranma's turn to go red, "Ha! And what makes you think I'd try taking advantage of a sexless tomboy like you!?"

            Akane's red face was now more from anger than embarrassment, "You were the one that was trying to kiss me!!!"

            "You were the one that put me in that position!" Ranma grinned as an idea came to him, "Besides, you don't know the first thing about kissing..."

            Akane played right along with his idea, "Yeah and you should be the one to talk..."

            Ranma's grin was growing cockier by the moment, "Like I said who'd want to take advantage of an uncute, sexless tomboy like you..."

            Akane shot off her bed and faced off with Ranma, "Yeah, and like you would ever get the guts to try it!"

            "Who says I don't!" Ranma retorted.

            "Well, for some guy who's never kissed..." Akane was interrupted as Ranma gave her a peck on the lips.

            "Have now." Ranma grinned in triumph.

            After she got over the shock, Akane stared at Ranma with a half-lidded gaze, "Is that all..."

            "Yeah," Nabiki piped up as she stood in the doorway, "Is that all?"

            Akane went beet red for a second, and after a moment's hesitation, she did what came natural, "HENTAI!!!" she screamed as she punted Ranma out of the window.

            "KAWAIKUNE!!!" was his reply as he flew off.

            Nabiki watched in amusement as Ranma flew off, she had been watching every since she snuck off to see what made Akane scream.  She would have said something already, but she was too busy taking pictures while they were distracted.  "Still..." she mused with a smirk, "My little sister needs to work on that temper of hers" She waited until Akane set her foot down and calmed her breathing, then she spoke, "You didn't really have to do that just because I showed up..."

            "I would have done it anyways," Akane stated in a huffy tone, "I just didn't expect the idiot to try it, that's all..."

            Nabiki's smirk turned into a knowing smile "Come on Akane, you were practically asking for that one."

            "Wh-Who'd want to kiss that Jerk!?" Akane's stuttering and beet-red face were betraying her.

            "Obviously you," Nabiki stated matter-of-factly.

            "And what makes you say that!?" Akane challenged.

            Nabiki did a perfect imitation of Akane's half-lidded gaze, "Is that all..." Nabiki grinned, "you can't get any more obvious that that imouto."

            Akane turned her head to the side, hiding her red face, "It's not my fault that I got more of a kiss from neko-ranma than that..."

            "So you wanted more?"

            Akane turned right back to Nabiki, "I didn't say that!!!"

            "Some things are best left unsaid."  Nabiki said in a mock motherly tone.

            "Nabiki!" Akane yelled, scandalized.

            Nabiki turned to walk out the door, "Maybe next time you should try to seduce him in the evening."

            An intense red blush came across her cheeks as she sat on her bed, "I wouldn't!"  She stopped herself as she noticed Nabiki had already left.

            Ranma angrily dug into his breakfast, everyone at the table chose to stare at him, wondering what was up.  Everyone except for Nabiki of course, she leisurely ate her breakfast with a knowing smirk.  As Akane entered the room, Ranma dropped his bowl down a bit to steal a glare at the girl before he went back to his breakfast with renewed vigor.  This glare had not gone unnoticed by everyone at the table, so they turned their stares to Akane, an expectant look on their faces.

            Akane was taken aback by the sudden attention, "What...?" everyone stared at her with a half-lidded gaze, "Nothing happened, alright!"  Akane angrily sat down in her usual seat next to Ranma, causing him to tip up his bowl even further.  Everyone looked at the two, expecting a fight to break out at any moment, but Ranma was able to finish his breakfast before another word could be said.

            "I'm finished." Ranma stated bluntly as he put his bowl back on the table, "I'll be leaving now..."  Ranma grabbed his book bag and headed out the door.

            "Chotto...Ranma!" Akane yelled in annoyance as she grabbed her book bag, blurting out a quick 'I'm finished' before chasing after him.

            Nabiki let out a small chuckle as she watched her sister rush out the door, "This'll be entertaining..." she mused with a smirk.

            Soun noticed Nabiki's chuckle, "So...what happened this time?" Soun winced as Nabiki's smirk turned into a grin.

            "Oh, Ranma-kun just bit off a little more than he could chew this time."  With that, Nabiki finished her breakfast, "I'm finished," she said as she set down her bowl, then she too grabbed her bag and left for school.

            "Oh my..." Kasumi said as she gathered the dishes, "I wonder what happened..."

            "Saotome-kun...?" Soun said in a confused tone of voice.

            "I have no idea..."said Genma in reply as he continued to eat his breakfast.

            Ranma was walking on the fence on his way to school; he had purposely picked up his usual pace, and was currently lost in thought.  "Stupid Tomboy..." Ranma muttered to himself.  "She even challenged me to do it, and then I get punted out of the window like I've done something wrong..." He let out an exasperated sigh before he continued, "Of course, if Nabiki hadn't of showed up...her sister's sole purpose in life must be to start shit...well...that and swindling people," Ranma chuckled to himself, not even noticing that he was back at his usual pace.  Suddenly his thoughts ceased.

            "RANMAAAAA!!!" Akane called for him while running to catch up.

            "Damn Tomboy..." Ranma muttered to himself as he broke into a run.

            "RANMA!" Akane cried, "Wait up!" she was now trying, and failing, to match Ranma's pace.

            "HA!" Ranma answered back, "Who'd wait for a violent tomboy like you!?"  Since he was paying attention to Akane, he failed to notice the 'do not walk on fence' sign.

            "Ranma!" Akane had tried to warn him, but was cut off by a splash.  "Oh well," Akane sighed to herself, "looks like we'll have to stop by Dr. Tofu's on the way to school..."

            Ranma could only grumble to herself as Akane dragged her up.

            Dr. Tofu turned his head towards the sound of the door chime, "Welcome..." he then realized who had just walked in the door "Well Well, I haven't seen you two in quite a while," he said with an amused smile.

            Ranma laughed a bit "Yeah we've been kind of busy lately."

            Tofu started filling a kettle with hot water "I've heard."  He turned off the water and walked over to hand Ranma the kettle, "How did the wedding go by the way?"

            Ranma was at a loss for words "I...uh...you see..." then he looked down and grumbled, "it didn't..."

            Tofu chuckled, "I see, somehow I'm not surprised," Tofu then dumped the kettle of water over Ranma's head, "So, are you two planning on having it on a later date?"

            Ranma turned red, "What the hell!?" he was cut off as Akane grabbed his arm.

            Akane laughed nervously as she started dragging Ranma towards the door, "Sorry, we need to get going; we'll be late if we don't hurry!"

            Tofu still kept his amused smile, "OK, I'll see you two later then."

            Akane continued to drag Ranma until they got out of the building, Ranma was more that a little annoyed by his treatment, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

            Akane let out an exasperated sigh, "Do you really want to answer questions about wedding plans?"

            Ranma's temper was snuffed out easily, "Good point..." then, after some thought, it came back to him as easily as it went, "Why in the hell did you kick me earlier anyways!?"

            Akane blushed at his outburst, "I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea..."

            "I think everybody got the 'wrong idea' when you agreed to that wedding..."

            Akane's blush got deeper, "Hey! I was forced into that wedding!"

            Ranma scoffed, "So says the blushing bride..."

            Akane was caught on that one, and after a bit of stuttering she had a comeback, "Wh-Who'd want to marry you anways!?  You couldn't kiss decently if your life depended on it!"

            Ranma smirked, "Heh, do I have to prove you wrong again?"

            Akane turned her head to the side, "I'd like to see you try...you'd never get past a peck on the lips..."

            This time Akane had her head turned back for her, "Really...you think so little of me..." Ranma said as he held her by her chin.

            "Let go of me..." Akane whispered without any token of resistance.

            "What's wrong?" Ranma said in a low tone, "It seems that I'm not the one who's afraid of going beyond a peck on the lips..." Ranma smirked as he closed in.

            "Wait...if somebody sees us they'll get the wrong idea..." Akane's breathing started to get heavy.

            "I'd say it's a little late for that now." Ranma smirked as Akane closed her eyes.

            "ahem"

            Ranma turned Akane's head to the side as soon as Nabiki cleared her throat, "You're right, your whiskers are coming back..."

            "What's up Ranma?" Nabiki asked with an evil grin, "Lookin' for somethin' to hang on to?"

            Ranma looked confused for a second, "Just what the hell are you talking about!?"

            Nabiki let out a sigh, "If you two are going to kiss, then it's only natural that you take it to the next step..."

            They both stood there with dumbfounded looks...Akane was the first one to catch on, "Onee-san!"

            "Well, I'm right, aren't I?" she stated with a cocky smirk.

            Ranma finally regained his senses, "Like hell!  Like I'd ever do that with some uncute chick like her!"

            Ranma didn't even notice the strong grip on his wrist, "Let's get to class..." Akane said angrily.

            "Wait a second; I'm not done with her yet!" Ranma yelled defiantly.

            "Let's get going!" Akane growled, accompanied by her own version of her father's patented attack.

            "Ha-Hai" was all Ranma could say as he allowed himself to be dragged off.

            Although Her smirk remained, Nabiki was a little surprised at this, "Well, at least she's improved a little bit..." then her smirk turned into a full-blown grin, "Of course...this makes it just that much more interesting"  Nabiki put her camera back into its usual hiding place before she casually strode off to school.

            Akane and Ranma had rounded the final corner before the front gate of Furinkan High.  They were now walking hand in hand, as Akane's dragging had ceased as soon as she had lost sight of her sister.  Everyone they passed gave a curious look towards the pair.  Ranma was easily the first one to notice, "You can let go of me now..."

            Akane felt a surge of anger, then noticed everybody's glances towards them, "Oh, sorry..."  She blushed as she put some distance between them.

            "You know..." Ranma scratched his nose and looked elsewhere, "We can try that again sometime if you'd like..."

            "Not a chance in hell." Akane deadpanned.

            "You've got a point there." Ranma turned a cocky grin towards Akane, "It didn't sound like a very good idea to begin with..."

            It was over in less than a second.  "Hmph!" Akane turned her head to the side as she stormed off to class.  Leaving a twitching Ranma embedded in the ground.

            "And you said there was something weird going on between the two of them!" commented one student.

            "I guess you're right...some things never change..." the second commented wistfully.

            Class was quite an uncomfortable affair for the seemingly cursed couple.  Ranma and Akane sat at opposite ends of the room, the events of that morning weighing heavily on their minds.  The only thing the rest of the class could have noticed was that the couple was being a little colder towards each other than usual.  The pair glanced at each other every now and again, trying to figure out what was going through the other's mind, yet more often than not they would catch each other's glance and totally defeat the purpose.  Everybody in the class noticed the difference however; usually Akane would sit close enough to Ranma to keep him in check. Finally the teacher turned around from his lesson to see them both staring in the same direction, "You Two!"

            They both snapped their heads forward.

            "Do you find staring out the same window more important than paying attention in class?"

            Ranma was the first to deliver an answer, "I wasn't staring out the window!" and what an answer it was…

            "Oh…" The teacher answered sarcastically, "Then just what were you staring at?"

            Ranma's face went red, "That's none of your business!"

            "Good," The teacher said as he picked his book back up, "Then you two can go stand out in the hall."

            I looks could kill, Akane's look toward Ranma at that moment would have mutilated him.  And as the whispers started to pick up in class, the embarrassment would have buried him three days ago…

As Ranma and Akane stood in the hall the previous inability to look the other in the eye seemed to have disappeared altogether.  The pair were staring each other down with the ferocity of…well…the ferocity of an angry Akane.  "Just what the hell did you think you were doing!?" Akane almost yelled

"I wasn't doing anything, that teacher should just mind his own damn business!" Ranma shot back.

"Well, if you would just quit staring at me…I already told you no…" Akane was in the mood for a game…

  "Like hell...I wasn't the only one staring you know!" and Ranma didn't even see it coming…

 "So you were staring!?"

"Well, I did say you whiskers were growing back…I was just checking to see how much farther you could stray from being cute…"

"RANMA NO…" Akane lifted her mallet.

"ahem" …and fell backwards in a comical fashion.

"What seems to be the problem here?" said the annoyed teacher.

"Nothing…" said Ranma as he chuckled nervously.

"Good," the teacher said as he picked up some larger buckets, "Then you wouldn't mind holding these, would you?"

"Eh heh…" Ranma sighed as he took the buckets.

After a couple of seconds Akane was able to get back up, "Now, where were we?"

"We were talking about how uncute you are," Ranma suggested helpfully.

"Yeah…" Realization dawned over Akane's expression, "Just what the...oof!"

Ranma took his other bucket from his right hand, "I ain't goin' to hold your buckets for you for the rest of the period, besides, he gave us bigger buckets…"

"I noticed…" Akane said weakly, then she thought for a second, and just as she was about ready to say something…

The bell rang.

"Well, I'll see you next class!" Ranma blurted as he turned around and darted off.

"Ranma!!!" Akane yelled in pursuit…until she figured out just how hard it is to run with two 7-gallon buckets of water in tow…

"You alright?" asked a random passerby.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…" said Akane as she started to get up, "…just as soon as kill my fiancé." she added with a weary smile.

            "Saotome Ranma, prepare yourself!" came the familiar cry of Kuno.

            "What is it now…?" Ranma asked sarcastically as he dodged Kuno's opening attack.

            "You have disgraced the fair Tendo Akane and for that you will pay!" Kuno exclaimed as he continued to attack.

            Ranma put his foot in Kuno's face, not having any idea where that one came from, "Oh, and how's that?"

            "She has fell to the ground in disgrace after interacting with such a foul excuse of a man!" cried Kuno.

            Ranma chuckled as he fully recovered from his kick, "You mean she tripped over herself when I left, right?  There's nothing I can do about her being a klutz…"

            "And just who is a klutz?" came an angry voice from behind him.

            Ranma couldn't help but gulp, but luckily he was saved, "Akane Tendo I am overjoyed to see that you have recovered!" exclaimed Kuno as he hugged Akane.

            "Will you…BUTT OUT!" Akane yelled as she punted Kuno down the hall.

            "Well, we had better get to class," offered Ranma, chuckling nervously.

            The first bell rang to reiterate the point he just made "Alright, we'll deal with this later then…" the exasperated Akane gave in.

            "Ok, then I'll meet you there!" Ranma waved as he rushed off.

            "Hey...wait up!" cried Akane as she too starting running towards class.

End Chapter 1