Jami – geeze! It's been soooooooooooooo long since I updated last! I wonder if anyone who had reviewed before is actually gonna continue reading it this time around! I've been so busy with school and with my other fics that I never got a chance to begin writing on this again! Well, this is the third chapter to Seven Days, and it won't be the last!

Sorry this story was on "hiatus" for so long!

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Chapter Three: The Obvious

Day Two – Sunday

The next day, the Tendo and Saotome family arrived back at their home at the dojo and made sure Akane was able to get some rest by literally dragging her into her room and forcing her to sleep. Once they had completed their task, everyone but Akane retreated downstairs into the family room.

They all sat down in a circle around the table while Kasumi left to go and boil some water for tea. All was quiet, until Soun began weeping.

"Soun…" Genma trailed off, patting his friend's back to try and comfort him.

"Dad…" Nabiki whispered and crawled from her place on the floor over to where her father was. "Daddy!" She cried and tightly wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and began crying maniacally into his chest. Soun hugged her back and rubbed the small of his middle daughter's back.

Ranma just sat there, stunned at the scene before him. He had never seen Nabiki cry before, let alone hug anybody. It made him want to cry again, but he didn't want to make everyone even more upset.

"Soun, I made my son promise me something yesterday." Genma began, trying to change the mood of the group. "I made him promise something to himself… and Akane."

The exhausted Tendo father gazed up wonderingly at his best friend. "And what is that Saotome." He asked, tears rolling down his face.

"Ranma, tell the man." Genma said, turning to his son with a pleading look. Ranma gulped and locked eyes with Soun.

"Ahh… I… when the time is right, I'm going to… ahh…" Ranma could feel the blush reddening on his cheeks and he was growing more nervous by the minute. He peered down at the table, studying it's every wooden carving and wrinkle. "Umm… tell Akane that I…" He gulped again. "That I love her." He finished. He gazed back up at Tendo with an unsure look to find that his mouth was wide open and his eyes were bugged out. Nabiki, well, she didn't look surprised at all.

"I knew it! Finally, you actually admit it." Nabiki stated, wiping the tears from her face, half smiling.

"Admit what, Nabiki?" Kasumi appeared, dressed in her normal outfit and apron, carrying a tray with cups of tea.

"Ranma loves Akane." Nabiki told the obvious with a knowing look. Kasumi smiled happily and set the tray down onto the table.

"Oh, how romantic!" Kasumi sighed dreamily. "I wish that one day I could meet someone who was able to love me." She said and clasped her hands together in front of her chest dramatically, staring off into la la land.

"Maybe you should just call up Dr. Tofu…" Nabiki mumbled incoherently.

Sound cleared his throat. "Well, when will you announce this wonderful, and utmost important information to my youngest daughter, Ranma?" He asked hopefully to his future son in law.

"When the time is right…" Ranma trailed off. With that, he stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"Wait, son, where are you going?" Tendo asked him worriedly.

Ranma turned his head a bit to face them all. "I just gotta go work out for awhile." And with that, he left the room, on his way to the dojo.

Kasumi sighed heavily.

"What's the matter Kasumi?" Nabiki asked.

"I made an extra cup of tea for him for nothing!" Kasumi complained, totally unlike herself.

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As he was walking, Ranma thought about Akane. He thought about all he could have done to prevent that accident from happening. If he just could of gotten Shampoo off of him early enough, then Akane wouldn't be dying right now, and Ranma could have been more ready to tell her that he loved her. He grunted and opened the door to the dojo – only to find Akane clad in her martial arts robe and practicing. He gasped and ran over to her.

"Akane! What are you doing!?" He asked worriedly. Akane didn't even look at him, but kept throwing punches to the invisible enemy in front of her.

"Honestly, can't a girl go and practice without being interrupted all the time!?" She complained to herself.

"Akane! You're supposed to be resting!"

"Who says!?"

"Me!" Ranma ran in front of her and caught one of her punches so quickly that all you could see was a blur of color fly across the room.

"Ranma!" She cried. She began trying to punch and kick him out of the way. And of course, Ranma easily dodged her hits.

"Akane, stop!" He demanded, but Akane kept throwing punches and trying to knock him out with her kicks. "You're going to hurt yourself, stupid!"

"Why should I listen to you!?" Akane asked. Out of nowhere, she began feeling dizzy and her eyes grew heavy and she closed them. She stopped in mid punch and felt herself falling.

She waited for the hard contact with the wooden floor, but it never came. Instead, when she peered up, she met Ranma's eyes and she blushed when she felt that his arms were wrapped tightly around her limp body.

"Idiot…" He whispered. Akane's eyes began watering and she cried into his chest. Ranma decided it was better not to ask why she was crying. Maybe it was because she was exhausted. "Akane, go and get some rest." He told her, smiling at her as she peered up into his eyes.

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Jami – if you like this story so far, and you're an Inuyasha fan as well, I can assure you you'll like some of my other stories too! All of them are Inuyasha except for this one, but don't fret Ranma ½ fans! I shall write more Ranma fics! I even have like, a gabazillion ideas stuck inside my head already! I just gotta get them on paper first! After all, Ranma ½ is my second favorite anime… gee, can ya guess what my first favorite is?

Love ya much,
jami(piperjanepie)