Disclaimer: Ranma and co sadly do not belong to me :( they belong the great Rumiko Takahashi!

Author's Note: Hello! Sorry it's been so long guys. As for Lost Time, I swear to you that I haven't forgotten about it. I was just in a weird writing mood tonight and was almost done with chapter three of this story, so ta da! It's done. I hope everyone likes it!! I've been wanting to write chapter 4 of this story for a long time, and now I'm finally there. :D

Comments to readers are at the bottom of the chapter.

Fool Me Twice - The Situation

Chapter 3

Ranma sat on the floor brooding. He was so bored! Now that Akane was asleep, he didn't have anything at all to do. The truth was he would rather be fighting with her than sit in complete and utter silence. It was killing him! So, when there was a knock at the door, he leapt up just in time to see it swinging open. Akane sat up on the bed, and they both watched as the old lady entered the room with a tray filled with delicious looking food.

The lady gave them a sickening smile. "I hope you're getting along," she said, looking at their stunned expressions. "I brought you your dinner."

"Listen, lady," Ranma interrupted as she set their dinner on the table on the other side of the room. "I don't know what's going on here, but I refuse to be locked in this room forever! If you don't let us—"

"Don't worry, Mr. Saotome. I have a nature walk planned for the two of you tomorrow morning. The manager will be taking you at eight sharp."

"A nature walk?" he echoed. "Could this get anymore lame?"

Either she didn't hear him, or she pretended not to, because the smile on her face was wide. "Enjoy your dinner, and I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!?" Ranma gasped. "It's only six! You're not telling me that I'm stuck in this room with HER," he jerked his thumb at Akane, "until morning?!"

"Have a good night," she repeated.

After the door had closed, Akane sank back down onto the bed. "Why didn't she just kill me?" she asked softly, and Ranma spun to face her.

"Look, Akane. Let's just ignore each other until tomorrow, and then when we go on this stupid nature walk they have planned, we'll get the hell out of here. Deal?"

She stuck out her hand, and he shook it. "Deal," she echoed.

Ten minutes later, Ranma and Akane still knelt at the table eating their meal in silence. Ranma slammed his fists down onto the table. "I can't take it anymore!" he cried. "No matter how hard I try, I just can't stand the silence!"

Akane glared at him. "Do you have a short attention span, Ranma?"

"Whatever," he said as he pinched a roll between his chopsticks and raised it to his mouth. "Let's just fight. That'll pass the time."

Akane watched him as he chewed.

He blinked at her. "Say something, Akane!"

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, staring at him.

"Anything!" he pleaded. "I don't care what you say! I'd rather fight with you than sit in this silence!"

She chewed on her food in thought and then picked up her glass of water. "I think you're the biggest jerk I've ever met," she said before taking a sip. "And I'd rather talk to anyone besides you."

Ranma folded his arms over his chest. "Yeah right... anyone? I doubt that. Hmm, let's see. Would you rather be here with Kuno? Or how about Shampoo? I'm sure either one of them would be much better company than me."

"Well," she said, turning up her nose. "At least I wouldn't be bored out of my mind."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You know what, Akane?"

"What?" she huffed.

"You are the most uncute girl that I've ever met in my entire life! Spending a minute alone with you is a minute too long!"

The next thing he knew he was staring into a handful of noodles. She had leaned across the table and ground them into his face with her fist.

"Why're you always hitting me!?" he sputtered as the noodles plopped onto his plate. When she didn't respond, he wiped his face off with a napkin. "I can't take this anymore!"

"What?" she finally spoke. "I thought you wanted to fight."

"I didn't want my dinner in my face!"

Akane shrugged.

'One night,' Ranma reminded himself with a sigh. 'One night alone with Akane, and then we can leave this place.'

Akane stood up from the table and plopped down on the bed with a book in her hands. "I think I'm going to read for awhile. Can you please be quiet, Ranma?"

Ranma stuffed his mouth with food as he glared at his plate. 'Uncute, uncute, uncute, uncute...'

Ranma placed a black seven on a red eight, and then flipped the next three cards over. Lucky he'd packed a deck of cards, or he'd really be bored. He felt Akane's eyes on him, but didn't bother to look up from his spot on the floor. "What are you looking at?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" she insisted. "I was just wondering how you were entertaining yourself."

The bed squeaked as she shifted back into her position. Ranma moved an ace, and flipped another card over. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "I just remembered that Pop said he left me dessert in his bag!" He jumped to his knees and reached over to Pop's bag, tearing it open. Lying on the top was a single white envelope.

"Don't open that!" he heard Akane say, but didn't listen. Without even considering her request, he buried his nose in the letter.

Ranma,

Sorry I had to lie to you, but it's for your own good. Besides, did you really think I left you my dessert? No father loves his son THAT much! I know that if you try, you and Akane can get along... maybe even better than your mother and I do.

Ranma felt the urge to burst out laughing. Anyone got along better than Mom and Pop.

Please, Ranma, for the sake of the Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts and for the sake of your poor, old, decrepit father... try your best to get along with Akane. Maybe she'll even be nice to you if you're nice to her.

With Love,

Your Father.

Ranma stuffed the letter into his bag. Maybe Pop was right. He was so sick of fighting with Akane that his head hurt.

"Well?" she wanted to know from her perch on the bed. "What's it say?"

"Nothing," he insisted. "It just says that I should stay put until next week."

"Oh." She slumped down. For a moment, they stared at each other. Ranma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He wasn't going to promise to marry her, but at least he could make the time they spent together more bearable.

It was then that he realized that they were still looking at each other. The blood rushed to his face in embarrassment, and he turned away, shoving the letter into his bag and looking down at his cards. "D-don't take this the wrong way," he stammered as he flipped another card over, "but what if we just stayed here? Maybe it would get them off our backs for a little bit, you know?"

"No way!" he heard her say. "We're not going to give them the satisfaction!"

The half of a jack between his thumb and index finger snapped against a queen. "Would you rather continue to live like THIS?" he said, his jaw clenched. "I don't know about you, Akane, but I'm sick of the set ups! I just want to be left alone, dammit!"

"No one's forcing you to talk to me. If you wanted to be left alone, all you had to do was say so."

Ranma turned his head up just in time to see Akane burying her nose back into her book. "That's not what I meant," he muttered.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant..." Ranma stared at his cards until they became blurry. "Look, I don't know what I meant, but it sure as hell wasn't that. You know I can't stand sitting in silence. It drives me crazy."

Night came around slowly, and soon, the room grew dark. Ranma was falling asleep, the side of his face pressed up against the edge of the bed and three playing cards sticking out from his fingertips. Akane looked down at him and chuckled.

But she wasn't tired. Maybe Ranma had to walk all the way here, but she had rested on the bus. She almost felt like going for a run, but knew that wasn't possible because of their situation.

With a sigh, she crept off the bed, careful not to disturb Ranma's slumber, and tiptoed to the table, where three unlit candles sat. Carefully, she lit a match and held it to all three wicks. The lights danced along the walls of the room, and she smiled.

"Whacha doin'?

"AHHH!!!" Akane screamed, spinning around. The back of her hand connected with something sturdy, yet soft.

"Aw, man!" Ranma groaned, holding his hand to his cheek. "What the hell did I do that time!?"

"You scared me!" she yelled back at him. "You shouldn't creep up on someone like that!"

"Oh, come on, Akane. Who else would it be? We're locked in here."

His brows were furrowed and his eyes wouldn't meet hers. She could tell he was irritated. When she glanced up at him again, she saw a little trail of blood running down from his temple. "Ranma! You're bleeding!"

"What?" He spun to look at her, but she grabbed his chin and pulled his head down to her level before he could react.

"Don't move. I think I might have got you with one of my nails." She brushed his hair from his forehead to see just that... a fingernail scratch that had drawn blood. "Luckily I brought my first aid kit. Sit down."

"Aw, c'mon, Akane, it's probably fine. You don't need to—" but when she pushed him down to the floor, he didn't resist.

"Sit there," she said, reaching over to her bag and pulling out a small box full of bandages. His blue eyes flashed at her as she placed a small bandage over his cut. "There," she said, gently pressing it down onto his skin. "Next time I hit you I'll try not to get you with my nails. Sorry about that."

"Gee," he muttered. "Thanks a lot."

The sat opposite each other for a few moments, not sure of what to do next.

"Does it hurt?" Akane wanted to know, breaking the silence, and causing Ranma to blush.

"No, it's fine. I'm tough."

"To answer your question from before, I was lighting candles so we wouldn't be completely in the dark."

Ranma blinked at her. "Oh, I guess that makes sense." He yawned, making a move toward the bed. "But I'm kinda tired. I think I'll just catch a little slee—"

"Not so fast!" Akane grabbed his arm. "Who says you get the bed?"

"It's not my fault they gave us one lousy twin bed to share!" he said, turning his head back to face her. "And you already got your turn!"

She just glared at him as she tightened her grip on his arm.

"All right, FINE!" he said with a long sigh. "But at least let me have it for an hour or so! Read your books for a while, and then you can have the bed back, okay? It's probably not even midnight yet, and you already had a nice long nap."

"Okay!" she yelled back at him. "I'm not even tired yet. You can have the bed until I'm tired."

When she let go of his arm, he narrowed his eyes at her before crawling up onto the bed and throwing himself down onto the pillows. Akane stared at him from her spot by the table, and then reached over for her books.

Ranma stared at her profile as she studied over the table. This was going to be one hell of a long night thanks to that stupid, stubborn tomboy. In the morning, he would be sure to get the hell out of this place as soon as possible! And then he'd beat the hell out of his father for setting him up.

Angrily, he squeezed his eyes shut and willed for sleep to come before Akane insisted that she was now tired, and it was her turn for the bed.

Comments to Readers:

kirayasha aka kira, WiNd,nm3 and avolare – Sorry it took so long! I hope to have more time to write once school starts (lol, that sounds weird, doesn't it?)

Urazz andMinakane – Eep!! Akane and Ranma don't hate each other, and I really wasn't going for that. Maybe I did go overboard a little, but my intention was to convey their frustration with the situation. Hopefully this chapter was better for you?

Selene Serenity – LOL, I used Nabiki for her evilness :D evil author laugh

Mai –Thanks for checking my mistakes! I will change them!!

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