Disclaimer: The characters used in this story do not belong to me at all. Except for one or two. You know what I mean.

Akane sat on the veranda and fanned herself. The nights were getting hotter and hotter nowadays. It was not surprise that the amount of drinks served at the party escalated. She turned her attention to her sisters who were busy chatting and scrutinizing every single person dancing in the room.

Nabiki tried to dig a chocolate chip out of the cookie but gave up when she failed. "Look at that man, his bow is crooked and the colour...brown! Who'd wear a brown bowtie, may I ask?"

Kasumi chided. "Nabiki, you shouldn't critisize everybody you see. But I have to say, that ugly shade of brown is horrendous."

Akane sighed. "What sceptical sisters."

Nabiki cuffed her ear. "What was that you said? Something about us being sceptical?"

"Nothing, really. Nothing."

"So...Akane," Kasumi popped the million dollar question, "how does it feel like?"

"How does what feel like?"

"The sudden career change: thief to wife of a very rich lord. Quite a good catch, I must say," Nabiki grinned. She still denied the fact that her sister had not tricked Ranma into marrying her.

"Well, he is very good to me and-"

"And speak of the devil, here he comes right now," Kasumi murmured daintily and sipped the iced tea.

Nabiki waved her hands frantically. "Don't look! Pretend you don't know!"

Akane obeyed her sister and remained rooted to her seat, face flushed and breathing uneven.

"Gotcha," Nabiki smirked. Akane fumed- they were just playing a joke on her?!

She scolded. "Nabiki onee-"

Somebody tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and saw to her not-so-but-wonderful-surprise that it was indeed Ranma. Nabiki had bluffed her. Again. She could have sworn that she heard Nabiki squeeze out a "Gotcha" into the conversation.

"May I have this dance?" Ranma asked and without letting her reply, took her hand and walked her to the dance floor.

"You look simply ravishing," he praised her. Her gown fit her perfectly. It did not fluff out like a peacock but clung to her every curve and intricate detail of her body. It was a dark and velvety red, with roses adorned on the left side of the hem. There was lace sewn on the edge of the hem and a ribbon was plastered onto the front of the dress. A thin flimsy material surrounded the dress from the waist down. It emphasized on the vulnerability of the whole dress and made the gown seem as delicate as a blooming, bloodlike rose. He rested his hand on her waist and mentally thanked the tailor for making the gown from a thin fabric for he could feel the heat emitting from Akane's body.

He swung her gently and let the rhythm take over his mind as he closed his eyes. then he changed his mind and opened them to take in the splendour before him also known as his wife. He couldn't believe that they had married on such short notice but he was glad with the result. She had rested her head on his shoulders, a public sign of affection.

"Ranma," she whispered, not wanting to distract the other people on the dance floor.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering..." she paused.

"Wondering what?" he hugged her closer to him.

She blinked slowly, an act he had come to treasure. Whenever she blinked, it seemed as if time slowed down so that he could appreciate ever movement.

Boy, was Ranma turning paranoid.

"If we do have a child..."

"We won't have a child. We'll have lots of them."

She frowned with displeasure. "I'm not some rabbit, you know. I can't mutiply that fast." He smiled, "I know, I know."

"Well, we might have lots of children if they turn out to be twins or triplets or something."

"Yes," he nodded. "You're wandering off the topic."

It was a habit of hers to simply go from one subject to another and not even know she had changed the subject.

"Oh, right. What did I say? Oh, I remember. If we do have a child, " she lowered her gaze to the ground, "will you mind if it's a girl?"

"Of course not," he contradicted, easing away her discomfort. "I want a little girl with your eyes, your hair, your features, your-"

"I want the girl to have your eyes. They're so blue...so...azure..."

"But yours are hazel...chocolate brown....we're wandering off the topic again."

"Righto. You really wouldn't mind a girl?" he nodded. "You wouldn't sell her off if I happen to pass on to the next world?" He nodded, "I would love her as much as I love you." "You promise you'd do nothing to my children if I die, which would be a rather dreadful thing. I mean, dying would mean that I wouldn't know if my children (which aren't even brought into the world yet) will lead a happy life or not or-"

"Akane-" Ranma reminded.

"Yes, wandering from the topic again. Sorry, just that I haven't fully adjusted yet."

"Care to take a breather? It's quite stuffy in here, isn't it?"

They strolled out to the garden where the cool winds blew. Akane felt very out of place; she had told Ranma about her gut feeling that something was wrong but he had put aside her troubles, insisting that nothing was wrong.

"Ranma, remember all those times I lied to everybody? About practically everything?" she murmured.

"What about it?" he looked at her eyes, which were open and showed everything, yet, it did not tell him anything.

"I'm sorry. Did I tell you that before?"

"A thousand times," he grinned. He sat her down on the bench which was right in front of the fountain.

Twirling a flower around her finger, Akane leaned on Ranma. "I wonder what happened to Shampoo and Lady Cologne."

"Shampoo? Who cares?" He rolled his eyes at the mention of the amethyst coloured girl. Everything about her was...purple. Her eyes...hair...

"Are all our problems finally over, Ranma? I just have this frightening feeling that something will come remove our happiness. Somebody will try to grab it away. Don't you feel that?" she whispered urgently. Her blood made her feel impulsive. Akane wanted to strike somebody to chase away her fears.

"Even if that happens, we shouldn't run away, ne?" he asked, liftin her to look up at him.

She wiped away her insecurities. "Yes."

Akane recalled the past happenings. She had become married and well, everybody treated her like the queen and she had made so many friends! Yuka and Sayuri treated Akane with respect even though they were good friends. It was only when they were off duty then did they start teasing Akane about her night activities.

She felt that she needed to affirm something small, yet important with Ranma.

She asked, "Ranma...do you love me?"

He kept silent.

"I love you," she exclaimed.

He looked down at her and kissed her tenderly.

Drawing apart, he said the words that made her day.

"I love you, too."

And everybody lived happily ever after.

We'll see.

Author's Notes: Okay, okay. I know people make last chapters special but mine is especially horrible. Tha'ts cause it's one thirty, I've to wake up at six tomorrow, and I just missed out on my daily anime television programmes because my friends and I couldn't catch an early movie because seats were sold out because everybody in the country wanted to watch the crappy movie. And we had to travel all over the country just to look for a cinema which still had seats but we were too late. So I had to catch a five to seven movie and, darn, I reached home at seven thirty.

Long story. But I made it short.

Tata.

Signed off- SakK