"Repetition"
She woke in the koi pond, and gently removed the fish flopping her hair into tangles.
Absent-mindedly defeating her father, Ranma bathed back into a man, and endured a chilly breakfast, where Akane didn't speak to him.
He did not break the silence, knowing he would anger her.
They walked together to school; while most students had free time during such a day, Ranma and Akane needed to catch-up, having missed much from Jusendo.
Only Hinako was present, and she blithely taught while Akane took notes and Ranma stared into space until he allowed her to drain him.
The day passed slowly, and upon exiting the school, Ranma couldn't remember what Hinako taught. Nothing of importance, muttered his analytical mind, still puzzling who he loved.
Silently fuming at his behavior, Akane muttered "Honestly!" and left him standing at the school gates, watching the wind rustle the leaves in the trees. A leaf drifted gently to the ground, an indirect causality of too much force in the wrong place.
Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi were giving him space, having destroyed his wedding two days ago. He didn't know what he would do, should he meet them.
Spotting Sasuke in a nearby bush, he waved and walked off in no particular direction. Soon through no fault of her own, she changed. Lawn sprinklers.
After a nice free ice cream, she sat. Staring at beyond the sky, lost in thought, and in the moment. A cloud that looked like a flattened P-Chan drifted past. She smiled, and imagined contests with Akane to see who could flatten Ryouga the best, the quickest, and in the most artistic way. The pleasant daydreams calmed her nerves.
She went home, practiced meditation and advanced ki techniques, had a remarkably silent supper with Akane, and went to bed without any overtures. This night Ranma felt more at peace.
-----
She woke in the koi pond, and gently removed a fish from her head. This time she smiled.
Drawing out the defeat of her father, Ranma bathed back into a man, and endured another chilly breakfast, where Akane, again, said nothing. He had stared at her, and she had become red in the face before deliberately looking away; that had been their only exchange.
They walked together to school. It was empty. Ranma, certain this day meant a return of the general populace of Furinken, asked about the discrepancy.
Akane politely told him he was an idiot, and school resumed tomorrow. Ranma accepted this.
Hinako once again tutored, and Akane took diligent notes. Ranma paid attention for thirty minutes, until the lesson no longer made sense, then stared into space until he allowed Hinako to drain him.
The day passed slowly, and upon exiting the school, Ranma barely remembered the lessons. His mind still occupied itself with Akane Tendo and what marriage meant.
Annoyed at his spaced out behavior, Akane muttered "Honestly!" and left him in the yard of the school, watching a dog chasing it's own tail.
Ranma was grateful Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi still remained unseen and unheard.
Spotting Sasuke in the same bush as yesterday, he waved and walked off in no particular direction. Soon through no fault of her own, she changed. Old woman tossing water out a window.
After sitting by the river in her special spot, she noticed the sun setting.
She went home, practiced speed technique adaptation, and ate another quiet supper with Akane. Ranma went to bed early without comment, but made certain to become a man. Soon he would speak to her.
-----
She woke in the koi pond, and brushed a fish from her head while bowing. It fell into the water and swam off.
Leaving her father with a bruise that would bother him the rest of the day, Ranma bathed back into a man, and sat down for breakfast with Akane. Kasumi gently placed a bowl of miso in front of him, and he glanced at Akane.
She seemed indifferent.
"Um.... Akane..."
He broke the silence, and noticed everyone but Akane was staring at him expectantly. She continued to eat.
"Before school I'd. . . . um. . . like to. . . . . um . . . . talk."
"Ok." The rest of breakfast passed more awkwardly and less tense than before.
They walked together to school; and Ranma found his words had deserted him.
When they arrived to an empty schoolyard, she asked him, in a hopeful heart-on-her-sleeve way, what he wanted to say.
Noticing no one else was there, he blurted out "Where is everyone else?"
She forcefully (employing her bookbag) called him a moron, while reminding him school restarted tomorrow. Ranma noticed she restrained herself from commenting about his other fiancées.
Hinako once again tutored, but Akane looked too mad to take good notes. Ranma paid attention for about an hour, losing himself in the lesson so as not to think about his relationships. Eventually he let himself be drained.
Upon exiting the school, Ranma had retained much of the modern political history Hinako-sensei covered. His mind shied away from Akane, and he resolved to try again tomorrow.
Still angry from earlier, Akane walked away, leaving him standing at the gates of the school, watching the door slowly swing closed behind him.
Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyo still remained absent from his life, and he wondered exactly what life alone with Akane would be like, and how his life would change without them.
Ignoring Sasuke, he walked to Dr. Tofu's old clinic. Soon through no fault of her own, she had changed. Kids playing with a water hydrant.
The doctor wasn't there any longer, and Ranma remembered him in a solemn moment of silence.
She snuck into the Tendo compound, and claimed the dojo for herself. She practiced advanced kata while under the Umi-sen-ken, and bathed before eating. He noticed an undercurrent of anger during his supper with Akane, but broke the silence by asking Kasumi what she made yesterday.
"Why yesterday I made sweet and sour chicken Ranma, is it your particular favorite?"
"Not really Kasumi, just wondering." Absently shoving beef into his mouth, Ranma could swear he had eaten beef bowl yesterday. With no further prompting, conversation at the table did not return.
After dinner, he hesitantly approached.
For about ten seconds he stuttered "Um Akane, er, I really want to know, er I mean. . . ."
"What my ungrateful son means," interjected Genma "is when do we try the wedding again?"
Their moment ruined, they punched Genma outside in tandem and spoke no more that night.
Ranma actually did his homework, and retired fairly late.
-----
She woke up soaking wet, and shook her head. A fish fell off into the waters.
Not even looking at him, she knocked her father out with one expert blow. Then she decided Genma was getting predictable.
When Kasumi placed Miso soup in front of him for breakfast, Ranma noticed the way the ingredients looked inside before rapidly consuming it.
"Akane!" He said in a serious heartfelt manner.
She looked up expectantly, and the tension rose at the table as everyone paused in their meals.
"Is today the day we return to a normal school schedule, or is that tomorrow?"
With a sigh, she told him he was an idiot, and pointed out tomorrow everything went back to normal. That a panda and his wife echoed the sigh went completely unnoticed.
Hinako was amazed. Not only did Ranma know what she intended to teach for the first hour, he'd already done the reading she planned on assigning! Akane gave him a dirty look at this discovery.
When Hinako quizzed Ranma on what was taught previously, he drew up embarrassingly blank, and chuckled rubbing the back of his head. Akane knew the material, and sullenly made sure, as Hinako bored her by rehashing it for Ranma's sake.
Later, when Hinako drained him for inattention, Akane fumed silently at how Ranma had wasted her opportunity at preparing for the inevitable exams. She ate her lunch apart from him, not realizing he expected that.
After school, angry about suffering through wasted opportunity, Akane quickly left.
Watching Akane stomp off, Ranma noticed Sasuke hiding. He reached up, and caught a leaf exactly as the wind freed it. Noticing a cloud shaped like a flattened P-chan in the sky, he finally decided the coincidences were too much. He clapped his hands violently, startling a brown dog chasing its own tail into running off.
He began walking, jumping over a stream of water from an opened fire hydrant.
Reaching the Tendo compound, he found Kasumi starting beef bowl for supper in the kitchen, and asked a question, startling her while she handled water.
"Why yesterday I made sweet and sour chicken Ranma, is it your particular favorite?"
"No reason, thanks Kasumi." Ranma smiled as water dripped from her face.
Before supper, Ranma trained in the Amaguriken non-stop until she knew without a doubt she was one punch faster. A twinge in her arm meant a muscle had stretched slightly beyond its normal range of motion.
After eating, Ranma tried talking to Akane, but found no words to match the inside of his heart.
-----
She woke up splashingly, putting the fish back into the water. One punch took out her father. The Miso soup's ingredients matched those of yesterday. Akane berated him for not knowing the day.
Stuck in a repetition of time, Saotome Ranma wondered exactly what to do.
--end "Repetition"