Disclaimer: Nope... I don't own Ranma and the others. Why is fate so cruel!?!

A/N – Hey, guys! Thanks for all of your encouraging reviews. I didn't have this fic beta-ed, so if anyone sees mistakes, I would appreciate it if you'd let me know. I'm trying my best to write Ranma and Akane IN character. Is it working?

ALSO... if anyone sees a scene they'd like illustrated, tell me, and I'll do it ASAP! EDIT: Mai, thanks for letting me know of the mistakes!! They're fixed.

Fool Me Twice
By: Lori Finnegan
Chapter 2

Ranma dropped his bag on the ground and glared ahead at his father. "I'm getting really sick of this, Pop," he complained. "For once could you lead us somewhere worthwhile, or is that too much to ask?"

"Oh, trust me, boy,' Genma grinned as he pulled away some bushes to reveal a cozy bed and breakfast. "I thought we'd relax for one night and then get on with the trip. What do you say?"

Ranma stared at him as though his father had had one too many bottles of sake. "You wanna take it easy, Pop?" He paused. "Do you have a fever or something?"

"No," Genma said slowly, looking down at the ground. "I just thought with your school finals coming up you could use a break."

Ranma still stared at him.

"Ranma, why don't you go inside and ask for a room. I think I dropped something a little ways back, so I'm gonna go look for it. Oh, and why don't you take our bags." He stuffed the bags into Ranma's hands and then grinned. "If you're good, I might even let you eat my dessert. It's in the top of my bag there."

'Pop? Giving up his dessert?' Ranma thought as he watched his father amble back down the path. 'He must be sick!' Instead of going after him, he figured that he might as well get inside as soon as possible before his dad changed his mind and asked for the dessert back.

Ranma threw the door open and set his bags on the floor. He was about to walk up to the front desk when he noticed a familiar figure standing in the middle of the hallway. "A-Akane..." he said, blinking as he made sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. "What are you doing here?"

Akane looked angry, and when a crumpled piece of paper hit him in his nose, he knew that his inkling was indeed correct.

"What's your problem?" he wanted to know as he picked up the paper and flatted out its folds. After he got to the sixth line, his eyes darted back up at her. "Oh," he said. "I see what's going on here. We were set up!"

"No, really, moron?" she finally spoke as she shoved her suitcase into his arms. "Come on. We're leaving. I'm not going to play along with their stupid games, and neither are you."

He shoved the suitcase back at her. "Fine. I don't want to stay here anymore than you do, but I'm not carrying your things. I have my own stuff to carry, you know."

"Whatever. But if you don't leave now, you're on your own."

Ranma gaped at her as she pushed the door open and stepped out side. He stomped after her. "Excuse me? Who was it who walked all the way here to begin with? Akane, you took a bus! Ryoga would make it home before you!"

She turned around and slapped him hard across his cheek, causing him to drop his bags so he could put a hand to his face.

"What the hell was that for, Akane!?" he yelled. "I'm only saying things the way they are!"

The door flew open, and an old lady with a permanent scowl on her face stood before them. Both Ranma and Akane sobered as they looked at her.

"Pardon me," she said, glaring at them. "But this is a private resort. Unless you have reservations, I'm going to have to ask you to get off my property."

"Uh, reservations?" Ranma mumbled.

"Actually," Akane said as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away. "We're leaving, so there's no need to kick us out. Right, Ranma?"

The lady blinked at them, "Ranma," she said before Ranma had a chance to reply to Akane. "You wouldn't be Ranma Saotome, would you?"

Akane smacked him in his arm. "Your reputation precedes you, you jerk."

"No, no," the lady assured them, the expression on her face immediately softening. "I have a reservation here for a Ranma Saotome. If you're him, then the two of you are welcome inside. If you're not, then either pay me now, or get lost."

"Some customer service this is," Ranma heard Akane mutter under hear breath.

"I'm Ranma Saotome," he said, "But Akane's right. We're leaving. You see, we didn't place that reservation, our fam—"

But it was too late. The woman grabbed them both by their wrists and pulled them inside. "I'm sorry, Mr. Saotome, but I have strict instructions from a Ms. Nabiki Tendo to keep you two here at all costs. She paid me double the rate for a room just to keep you two here for a week."

"The nerve!" Akane exclaimed.

"She said you'd say you didn't want to stay," the woman went on as she pushed them down the hallway and to the last room on the left. "And that the two of you were compulsive liars and said the opposite of whatever it was you meant."

"Liars!?" Akane screamed as she and Ranma were shoved into the room, but Ranma put his hand over her mouth before she could say another word. He looked back at the woman seriously. "We want to stay," he said, as articulate as he could.

But she only smiled at him. "Ms. Tendo said you'd try that, but it's not going to work on me! I wasn't born yesterday, you know."

Ranma glared at her. "We know."

The door slammed in their faces, and they were left to stare at it. "Well, this is just great!" Ranma exclaimed after a moment of silence. "You had to go and say my name, didn't you!? If she didn't figure out who we were, we would be on our way home right now!"

Akane gaped at him. "Are you blaming this on me, Ranma? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was you who felt compelled to explain our situation to her. If you would have just walked away, none of this would have happened."

They stood opposite each other and fumed for a good minute before Ranma reached for the doorknob. He tried to turn it, but it remained in place. "Would you look at this?" he yelled at Akane. "The old hag locked us in here!"

He looked back at Akane, but her face was so red with anger, that he didn't expect a coherent response at the time.

"I HATE THEM!" she suddenly yelled. "I thought I was getting away on a school trip with my friends, and instead, here I am... stuck with YOU!"

Ranma glared at her. "This isn't a treat for me either. I was supposed to be on a training trip with Pop. And boy, is he ever getting a beating when I get home..."

Akane shoved past him and pounded her fists at door. "Put the lamp on Nabiki Tendo's tab!" she screamed.

"Lamp..." Ranma said as he stared at her back. "What lamp?"

An hour later, the two of them had fallen into silence. They sat on opposite sides of the room, trying not to look at each other. Akane pulled her notebooks out of her backpack, deciding that if she had to spend time with Ranma, she might as well make use of it and study for her exams.

Ranma didn't seem to be handling the silence quite as well. He kept shifting in his spot on the floor, and every now and then, he would give a loud sigh, just to let her know that he wasn't content.

Akane slammed her notebook down onto the wood floor and glared up at him. "Would you quit it? I'm not exactly having the time of my life either, so stop complaining!"

"What?" Ranma shrugged. "I didn't say anything. And it's not like I want to be here. If I have to sit here and stare at you for any longer, I'm gonna go crazy!"

"Let me guess," Akane said, pressing her index finger to her chin. "It's because I'm so horribly uncute, isn't it?"

Ranma narrowed his eyes at her. "Actually, yeah," he told her. "I can't stand looking at your ugly face for another second!"

Akane lifted the lunchbox from the top of her bag and threw it at him at full speed. Ranma caught it out of the air and popped it open.

"Um... you didn't make this, did you?"

She picked up two text books and held them in the air. "If you ask me that again, I'm going to come over there and shove that food up your nose."

Ranma cringed. "Um... no thanks. I think I'll just... um... try them out for myself!" A painful smile spread across his face as he lifted the first piece of food to his mouth. He took a small bite, and then grinned. "I'd know Kasumi's home cooking anywhere!"

The spine of a book landed in the middle of his forehead, and neither of them found it amusing. Akane went back to her studying, and Ranma continued to eat her lunch. "Hey, tomboy," he said after he'd swallowed the last bite. "What if we tried to get out of the windows?"

They stared at each other for a second, and then hopped up and climbed on top of the bed to reach the window above it. Ranma inspected it for locks, and then attempted to pull it up... to no avail.

"It must be an outside lock," he deduced. "Maybe we should break it."

"No." Akane grabbed his fist and pulled it away. "I've already done a number on their lamp. We're not breaking a window. Besides, they can't keep us in here forever."

Ranma's eye twitched, and then he dove back at the window. "Maybe it's stuck," he muttered as he tried to lift it again. "Damn... old... wind—" but before he could get that last word out, his hand slipped form the pane and flew up, connecting to the middle pane with a loud thud. For a moment, his eyes only grew larger.

"YEEEEEOOOOOWW!!" he screamed, holding his hand up by the wrist.

Once he'd finished yelling, Akane grabbed his arm and pulled his hand toward her. "You're such a baby," she told him. "It's only a bruise."

"Yeah," he said. "I can't even move my fingers, and you're calling it a bruise!"

She rested his hand on top of hers, slowly bending each of his fingers with her other hand. "See?" she said when he didn't yell. "You were just in shock. They're fine."

He ripped his hand away from her hold and cradled it at his chest. "What do you know about broken bones?"

Akane glared at him. "Never mind," she muttered. "Look, Ranma, this has been a long day so far, and I'm tired. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a nap."

Ranma shrugged. "What's stopping you?"

She only stared at him.

"Oh," he said, "Excuse me! Of course YOU get the bed. How rude of me to even imply otherwise. Never mind that poor, injured Ranma will be in pain on the floor."

"Injured my ass," she spat at him. "It's a BRUISE."

"Bruise or not, it hurts!"

She cracked her fingers. "I'll make it hurt."

Ranma leapt off the bed and took his seat back on the floor. "Fine," he said, sticking his nose in the air. "You can take your nap on the bed, but if we're still stuck in here by night fall, it's my turn."

Akane fell into the bed and snuggled into the soft pillows. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Ranma, but my turn is permanent. Here." She tossed him a pillow, but it bounced off his head and landed on the floor. "And if I catch you doing anything perverted while I'm sleeping, you're dead!"

"Oh, please," Ranma rolled his eyes at her. "Who would want to do anything perverted with a macho chick like you?"

Akane ripped the alarm clock from the wall and whipped it at him. He caught it in his left hand and slammed it back on the night stand.

"Trust me, tomboy. I would never touch you."