Kayla the kawaii gurl says: Konnichiwa minna-san!!!!! Eh… sorry about the wait… again… just to warn you, this might start happening more often… but uh… anyways… time for something I haven't done in a really long time… THANK YOUS!

Phi cong: Phi-chan!!! Omg I haven't talked to you in so long!! How is everything? How's Patrick?? Any new stories?? We really gotta talk again some time!

The-Real-Rosie-Gamgee: glad to see that you're still keeping up with the story! Thanks for the compliment!

Nikisha Riles: hm… elope eh? Hm… that's a possibility… we'll have to see!

Everyone else: Thank you sooooooo much!!!!!! Hope this chapter is to your liking!

Disclaimer: Oh you guys didn't know? I own Ranma!!!!!! Well, at least in my dreams I do… unfortunately in real life, I don't. Excuse me while I cry me a river….

Chapter 13!!!

Ranma frowned deeply as an annoying beeping sound reached his ears. Oh how he hated alarm clocks. They always went off at the worst possible time! He grumbled and opened a blurry eye to glare sleepily at the wailing machine, then rolled over. He had been having the best dream ever and he was determined to get back to sleep to continue it!

He cuddled up to his pillow, bringing it close to him as he buried his face into it, inhaling deeply. * Hm… this smell is familiar…* He smiled. * Hm… smells kinda like Akane. *

Suddenly he felt his pillow move, and on instinct he cuddled closer to it, then a thought hit him and he froze.

*Wait… since when do pillows move? * His eyes shot open and he was met with the back of Akane's head only a couple inches from his own. Immediately he sat straight up in bed, staring at the peacefully sleeping girl on her futon placed next to his.

His first instinct was to scream, but since he was currently incapable of any speech, screaming was not an option. However, sitting there staring wide-eyed at Akane was, and you better believe he was doing plenty of that! It took a while, but his brain finally managed to recall the events that had happened the night before. He still couldn't believe it though, and continued to stare at her, waiting to wake up from the dream he was supposedly dreaming.

Akane sighed and rolled over, her face now in his line of vision. Slowly her brows creased and he could tell that she was beginning to wake from her slumber. He looked around the room, hoping that nobody would bust in on them. After all, their family was prone to doing that.

His thoughts were interrupted as a quiet and slightly tired voice reached his ears.

"What are you looking for?" His eyes fell back down on her, blue-gray meeting chocolate brown. Slowly she sat up and ran her fingers through her sleep-tussled hair. She smiled at him and he smiled back, that same old lop-sided grin of his that she always loved to see. "I'm looking for meddling parents or possibly any video cameras that Nabiki might have set up during the night." Akane nodded slowly, still obviously tired. 

"What time is it?" She squinted as she peered at the alarm clock on the floor beside them, her vision still blurred due to the fact that she just woke up. Ranma, noticing that she was having a slight vision problem at the moment, decided to answer for her. "It's almost seven-thirty…" He trailed off, still looking at her with a slightly baffled expression on his face. "What? What's with that look?" He grinned slightly at her question and scratched the back of his head, a nervous tick that he had and sometimes wish he didn't, it always let people know when he was feeling uncertain. "I thought I was dreaming last night up but now… I guess not huh?"

She smiled warmly at him as she stood and stretched. Bending down she leveled her face with his and looked in him in the eyes. "I guess not…" she started moving in closer and he reacted by doing the same thing. Just as their lips were about to touch she turned away and jumped up, stirring a disappointed moan out of him. She grinned and stuck her tongue out playfully before placing her hand on the door. "Sorry Ranma-kun, but I have to get ready, I have to get to the pageant headquarters."

Pouting he laid back down on the futon, placing his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. "Fine… You'd better hurry up then…" The disappointment in his voice didn't go unnoticed by Akane, and she frowned slightly. Honestly that boy could be such a baby sometime!

Ranma lay there, completely unaware that his fiancée was still in the room with him, until he felt a pair of silky soft lips on his own. He opened his eyes to find Akane standing there with her hands on her hips, a light scowl etched on her face despite the smile that tugged at her lips. "Honestly Ranma, you're like a child sometimes." He grinned back. "Well, at least I got what I wanted ne?" Shaking her head she kicked him lightly before going back over to the door.

"I might be home later than usual, they're going to be having a meeting after the rehearsal…" She trailed off and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Do you want to do something when I get back?"

She held her breath, a nervous feeling creeping into her stomach. Why was she so nervous? It wasn't like she was asking him to marry her, she was just asking if he wanted to hang out and do something fun. Well, maybe she was a bit nervous because at the moment he wasn't saying anything. He was just lying there, staring at her.

"Sure." Unconsciously she released her breath she was holding. "Ok, I'll call before I come home! Have fun today." She waved and quickly left the room, racing down to the bathroom in case anybody might be up and might have a chance to see her beet-red face.

Back in the room Ranma was still lying there on the futon, a ridiculously huge smile on his face. Rolling over he decided he would try to get some more sleep.

Oh yeah, he had a feeling that today was going to be a good day, if not then it was sure to be an interesting one.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Akane pulled on a pair of form fitting jeans as fast as she could. She had spaced out when she was getting ready in the bathroom and was now trying to hurry up so that she wouldn't keep Lavender waiting outside. The two had decided that they would walk to rehearsals together since for Lavender, Akane's house was on the way.

As she exited the bathroom she came face to face with Kasumi who had her hand up as if she were just about to knock. Akane tried to stop but wasn't that successful seeing as she bumped into the eldest Tendo. "Gomen Kasumi…" Kasumi only smiled. "It's ok… Oh yes, I was just coming to tell you that you friend is waiting outside for you."

"How long has she been out there?" Akane blindly grabbed a jacket as she headed for the door. "Not long!" Kasumi called to her retreating form. "Be careful Akane!!" Akane smiled back at her sister as she slipped on her shoes, then yelled back a "Don't worry I will!" before she was out the door.

"Wow, it took you long enough." Akane only stuck out her tongue in response as she put on the jacket she had grabbed. "Sorry, I was spacing out in the bathroom…" She stopped walking for a moment as she surveyed the article of clothing on her. It was rather big and was blue, a color she was sure she didn't have when it came to coats. Suddenly it hit her, she had Ranma's coat. She took a quick sniff and nodded her head in confirmation. Yep, it was his all right.

"Um… did you just sniff that coat?" Akane looked up at Lavender who had a very confused look on her face. Laughing nervously she tried to explain. "Well… you see… I was just um… I grabbed Ranma's jacket on accident." Lavender got that smirk on her face that told Akane that she was about to get teased. "Ah ok… so you were smelling it because you can't get enough of him right? Aw, that's so cute!" Akane sighed. Man, she hated it when she was right.

After Lavender had a good laugh at Akane's expense, the two settled for walking in silence. That is, until Lavender broke it. "Say Akane, I was wondering… who else knows about you and Ranma besides me and Kohana?" Akane wrapped the jacket around her a little tighter, wondering where she was going with this. "Well… just me, you two, Ranma of course, and my sister…" That was when she had a flashback of the day before, when Nabiki had found out. Nabiki had said something about rumors going around, had Lavender heard them?

"Say Lavender-chan… have you heard any rumors or anything about us?" Lavender thought for a moment. "Nope, haven't heard a thing, why? Is somebody starting one?" A cool wind blew past and the two girls shudder slightly. "No… well… Nabiki said she had heard one, but then again, I'm not so sure." Lavender frowned slightly. "You don't think that Ukyo or another one of the 'fiancées' heard or saw anything did you?" A sinking feeling suddenly made itself known in her stomach. "I hope not, I don't think we're ready to deal with anything that would happen if they found out right now, especially Ukyo." Lavender nodded in agreement, imagining what kind of things might occur if and when word got out.

Unknown to the two, their person of choice to talk about was only a couple of feet away from them, and enraged beyond belief. "So they're together huh? We'll see about that!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Slowly, Ranma once again opened his eyes. It had to be all of nine o'clock in the morning he guessed, judging the brightness of the room with his slightly blurred vision. As his vision cleared, he found that he was not alone in the room anymore, thanks to the face that was hovering only a few feet above his own. He almost shouted out in surprise, thinking that the face was either Kodachi or Shampoo's, but stopped when he noticed that it was none other than his mother Nodoka.

"Good morning Ranma." She smiled down at him, but all he could do in his confused state was blink back at her. "What are you doing here?" She frowned at his response and rose to her full height, crossing her arms as she did so. "Is that any way to greet your own mother?" Feeling guilty, he sat up and scratched the back of his head.

"Gomen mom. What I meant to say was 'Good Morning' and uh… what brings you here?" He smiled, hoping that it would get that frown off of his mother's face. Luckily for him it worked. She smiled back and uncrossed her arms. "Its okay." He sighed in relief. His mother could be pretty scary when it came to dealing with bad manners. "Well, if you're hungry, I could go warm you up some breakfast." He nodded, signaling that he thought it was a good idea, then his stomach growled, signaling that it thought it was a GREAT idea.

Slowly she made her way to the door, the same way Akane had hours earlier. After sliding the door open and stepping out into the hallway, she turned around and looked back at him. "After breakfast would you mind going shopping with me? I have quite a few things to get and a extra person along would make things a lot easier." Ranma nodded deftly. "Good. Hurry up then, I want to get out there before things get too hectic."

Ranma sighed as he as he stood. How did he get suckered into shopping with his mom? Oh wait, that's right, he was busy thinking about food.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Akane was uncomfortable. Not because she was in a room with a bunch of girls wearing some revealing swimsuits and three-inch heels, oh no not that. She was uncomfortable because not only was her swimsuit that they gave her revealing, it felt as if it was two sizes too small, and she felt as if everything would spill out if she so much as bent over. A familiar feeling came over her and she sighed. When would the boy learn?

"He's looking at you again." Lavender pointed in the direction of the band, a slightly amused look on her face. "I know Lavender-chan, he's been doing it all day." Akane reluctantly turned around only to find Jun waving at her. She smiled politely and waved back. Really, she wasn't one to be rude.

Lavender giggled beside her, earning a death glare from Akane. "Sorry Akane-chan but I think it's kinda funny. That boy has really got the hots for you." Akane only sighed as she attempted to adjust her top so she could breathe. "Well… I think it's pretty scary. I mean, I told him that I'm in a relationship but he STILL won't give up!" Lavender was about to say something but was cut off when everything went silent. "Looks like we get to see who our new instructor is." Akane nodded, giving up on trying to adjust her top and settling for hoping she wouldn't pass out from lack of air.

Everything was silent as they waited for the instructor to make their appearance. Suddenly as seemingly small, little girl with long brown hair bounced onto the stage, earning a couple of "no ways" and "you're joking right" followed by a really loud "HINAKO-SENSEI!?!" courtesy of Akane and Lavender. The apparent 'little girl' stopped bouncing up and down with excitement long enough to look out into the crowd with disbelief written all over their faces.

"Hello everyone! My name is Hinako Ninomiya and I will be your instructor for the swimsuit competition piece in the pageant. Isn't that great!?" A few groans were heard, but the instructor was oblivious to them. Something had caught her attention though, seeing how she was fuming suddenly. Everyone turned to see what she was looking at and was only met with the band. "Uh oh…" as if on cue, Akane and Lavender's thoughts came true.

"You boys shouldn't be here in a room full of girls like this!" Before anyone could blink or explain, all of the girls found themselves looking at paper thin versions of was once the band, and a now VERY grown up Hinako-sensei. "Humph… boys are such delinquents…" Everyone, except those from Furinkan High, was thoroughly confused to what had just happened to say the least.

Akane, Lavender, and Ukyo whom was somewhere else in the room, just sighed. "Shoulda seen that one coming."

"Yep."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ranma walked silently beside his mother, his arms full of groceries and various other things. They had been out for about 2 hours now and were now on their way home. He surveyed the various foods in his arms and licked his lips. Whatever his mom was planning on making for dinner, he was sure that it was going to be delicious.

His thoughts of dinner were interrupted however as his mom decided to start a conversation. "I see you and Akane have gotten better." Ranma, still distracted by the food he was carrying, didn't notice the slightly teasing tone in his mother's voice. "What are you talking about mom?" By this time they had reached the Dojo and were already in the kitchen. "I saw you two this morning."

Ranma nearly chocked on his spit. "What?? What are you talking about? You must have been dreaming or something…" "Ranma dear, it's ok. I'm not your father. I'm not going to force you two to get married on the spot." He released a breath that he wasn't aware he was holding and relaxed visibly.

Nodoka started to put the groceries away as she continued to speak. "So I take it that our little conversation we had worked out ne?" He nodded when she turned back around. "Um… did anybody else see us?" She smiled reassuringly at her more than slightly nervous son. "Don't worry. Your father was trying to sneak in to see if anything had happened but lucky for you I caught him. I told him to leave you two alone, you were probably tired from arguing all night."

"Thanks mom."

"No problem."

He looked on with interest and curiosity as she reached into her kimono, fishing around for something. After a couple of seconds she pulled out a small box and placed it down on the table a couple of inches away from him. "What's this?" She turned back around so that he couldn't see her face as she continued to put away the groceries. "I think you'll find some use for it. Now run along, Kasumi and I have to start dinner." Shrugging and not really caring to carry on the conversation lest someone walk in and hear, Ranma grabbed the small box and shoved it in his pocket as he left the room.

So, their fathers had set them up last night huh? Speaking of the two where were they? He could really go for a spar right now.

"Oh Pop…."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ukyo absentmindedly flipped an okinomiyaki special that a customer had just ordered. She couldn't believe it. How could something like this happen? She was sure that those two would never become a couple the way they always fought like cats and dogs. It's gotta be a scam or something. Sighing, she placed the order on a plate and set it in front of the customer. If it were true, she'd have to find a way to show Ranma that she was a much better choice.

"Here ya go sugar." The young man looked up and smiled slightly. "Thanks." Ukyo blinked. She was sure she had seen this guy somewhere before, then it hit her, he was in the band at the pageant. "Hey, you look kinda familiar…" She laughed nervously. Did he recognize her or something? "I don't think so… I've never met you before." He waved his hand in an apologetic fashion. "Sorry, I thought you were one of Akane's friends or something."

Ukyo stopped what she was doing at the mention of Akane's name and everything seemed to fall into place. Of course she knew who he was now! He was the guy that she had got a ride from before. "You know Akane?" She nodded slightly. "Yeah… um I guess you could say we're friends." She studied his face for a minute. "Do you like Akane or something?" He took a bite out of his food as he shook his head, giving her a seductive smile. "I'm not the type of boy who 'likes' girls… I just like the see what each one has to offer if you know what I mean… I like to 'test the waters' so to speak."

Ukyo eyed him for a moment. So he was a playboy eh? "But I can't find anything out… she's got a boyfriend and all. Too bad, I think that she would be a real good one too." Ukyo suddenly got an idea. So he wanted Akane eh? Something could be arranged. "Hey… you know… since I know Akane and everything, I know how you could get her." Jun's ears perked up.

"I'm listening…"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

KTKG says: OOOOOOOOOOOOk, sorry once again for the long delay! I hope you guy can forgive me!!! Schools really busy and everything but I'm trying to write as much as I can! So~ I need a couple of things from you reviewers!!!

If anyone knows any festivals or anything and would like to suggest them, e-mail me! That would be awesome since I don't know any!

And uh… that's it so far…

Oh yeah… I got a complaint that Ukyo is too mean in here. To all you Ukyo fans out there, I'M SORRY!!! Its for the good of the story that she's that way! Really! But if she's not to your liking… just review and tell me what you want her to be like. Ok? Ok.

~KTKG