3. Passion

Ranma woke up first, at the scent of dinner. He stretched and went to go to the table and hesitated. He saw Akane still asleep, her face almost aglow. Kirei he thought and forced himself to go the table. He knew the others were home now and besides, she was asleep, he's not that perverted. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged to the table where he sat and waited, apparently the first one to arrive.

Nabiki sat down a moment after that as Akane dashed in the room apparently wanting to glomp Ranma because he wasn't around when she woke, but collected herself within a second of arriving, seeing others were home. She sat down next to Ranma and tried to keep from blushing. Ranma wasn't sure if Nabiki was good enough to have picked up on Akane's first look, but Ranma did. He was a combination of glad that she wanted to be with him and feeling little bad that he wasn't there when she got up.

A moment later Soun and Genma parted their game and sat for food, Soun at the head of the table by Ranma and Genma across from Ranma. Kasumi sat across Akane after setting down dinner. Nabiki was still eying Ranma and Akane, who were both staring at the table casually, if you can stare at a table casually. As they all began to eat Kasumi smiled sweetly, as usual, and looked over at Akane and Ranma.

"You two must have had quite a work out today if you fell asleep with the television on. At least you didn't put any new holes in the roof." She smiled.

"I don't see any new bruises on Ranma either. Did you too actually get along when everyone was out?" Nabiki glared.

Akane glared back at Nabiki, outdoing Nabiki's glare. Nabiki looked away, shocked. Ranma didn't say anything for awhile, unsure what to say.

"We really got into sparring today. Akane might actually be getting better." He said and stuffed a large spoonful a food in his face, forgetting his manners momentarily, too afraid he'd say something dumb.

"Really?" Akane looked hopeful. "Thanks Ranma. Maybe we should try and make our sparring sessions last that long more often." She smiled.

Ranma nearly fell to the floor at that, but forced himself to keep it together. Unfortunately he barely hid the blush that formed on his face. If Nabiki hadn't been watching Akane and then Genma she would have seen it and been nosey about it.

"Did you hear that Soun? Our children are getting along!" Genma said happily to Soun.

"I did Soatome." Soun replied.

"Our schools will be joined!" they said together and they shed joyous tears.

Ranma and Akane stare at them annoyingly. They fought the urge to whomp them both into the floor.

"Oh, my." Kasumi said standing up and clearing dishes from the table.

Nabiki sighed and went upstairs, deciding to give up on finding out what might be going between the two. Perhaps they were just having a couple good or more calm, normal days and were enjoying them. Besides, she didn't see any money to benefit from whatever it was, at least not yet.

Ranma stood and went upstairs as Genma and Soun continued to celebrate. Akane stayed behind a bit to help Kasumi. Kasumi beamed happily when Akane offered to help. Unfortunately this made Soun even more neurotic. After briefly helping Kasumi, Akane went upstairs. She entered her room and lay on her bed. She began to think about what happened that day. A pleasant smile crossed her lips as she remembered the most important part of the day. Ranma said he loved me. she thought and hugged her pillow.

In the room down the hall, Ranma was doing precisely the same thing and smiled at the memory of Akane saying she loved him too and the feelings that overwhelmed him then. He drifted asleep thinking about the rest of what happened that day, and what Akane had said at dinner. Akane wondered why she said that at dinner and blushed as she fell asleep.

The morning came and Ranma and Akane ran down the stairs and into the dining room. They sat down to eat their breakfast, which Nabiki had already finished and was standing up to leave. Nabiki walked out the door as Akane and Ranma finished their breakfast. They ran to the door and started running until they were a bit away from the house but not caught up to Nabiki. Akane decided not to tell Ranma he forgot his lunch again. They walked in silence, neither of them wanting to go to school. Ranma was walking beside Akane and gingerly took her hand in his. She blushed a bit but smiled, holding his hand.

"A-ka-ne," he said beside her as they walked, snapping her out of her daze.

"Hmm?" she asked looking towards him.

He smiled back at her, blushing, and leaned in to kiss her. She pushed onto her toes and met him halfway. They stood there kissing for a couple minutes. It was a tender, loving kiss. They parted and walked on ahead still holding hands.

"Briing-riing!"

A familiar bell sound was heard and Ranma barely missed being run over. He spun and grabbed Akane in an embrace to avoid Shampoo. Shampoo stared at them in shock, feeling dejected, anger rising to the surface.

"Pervert girl get hands off airen!" she yelled at them, her aura glowing.

She couldn't glomp him the way they were embraced. Ranma hugged Akane a little tighter briefly, whispering "Let's run for it." Into her ear before they separated and ran for dear life.

"Aah! Get back here! Give back Shampoo Airen!" she screamed grabbing her bike and going after them.

They made it to the school and ran through the crowd, the gates closing behind them. Shampoo crashed into the gates and grumbled as the two disappeared into the building. Eventually Shampoo left to go consult her Great Grandmother. Despite the apparent chaos, much of the student body noticed Akane and Ranma running in holding hands. Akane and Ranma knew Nabiki had graduated and gone to a local college, but no doubt she still had lackeys here to inform her of any happenings between them. One good thing at least, was that Kuno graduated too, although he still appeared on the grounds often enough, usually at lunch time to continually annoy Akane and Ranma.

They made a point not to be too close that day in case a faithful lackey remained here that would tell Nabiki. Even though Nabiki had begun swindling the people in her college now and focusing on the increased profits, she still made quite a fortune off Kuno, so she still kept an eye on Akane and Ranma for any chance to get more cash from the very rich Tatewaki Kuno. She planned to con him out of all his money eventually. Her last resort would be marrying him and inheriting all his money and then maybe she'd consider having him have an accident, maybe it'll take his sister along with him, but that would only be a last resort. She was sure she could con it all away from him, after all, she'd been successful so far.

At lunch, Ranma and Akane sat by each other under the tree Ranma normally sat in. Akane shared her lunch with him since he forgot his. Ukkyou was being romanced by that strange boy again. He was asking her for a date and kept producing gifts for her out of thin air seemingly. Akane and Ranma watched the show with mild interest as they finished off Akane's lunch entirely. They were both pretty bummed out all day and found it hard to stay apart for too long. Surprisingly, the student body was not all over each of them about each other. It might've had something to do with the fact that they were rarely apart, despite what they had decided to do.

Sitting alone under the tree, Akane and Ranma began talking. They had finished the bento and lunch wasn't over yet. Neither of them wanted to go back to class very much. They were both thinking about ditching in their heads, but had yet to voice such a suggestion.

"Ranma, do you think you can teach me to cook?" Akane asked halfheartedly.

"I could try," He said and Akane's face turned unpleasant, "Of course I can, you just have to learn a few things to keep from having things turn out bad." He assured laughing a bit.

She sighed, "Thanks Ranma." And looked away, leaning against the tree.

"Hey Akane," Ranma asked, watching how beautiful she looked with the wind lightly blowing her hair and uniform.

"Yes, Ranma?" she asked turning to him.

He blushed a bit, and kept his eyes on hers.

"You want to go to the park or something? We could get an ice cream." He said hopefully, more so at the ice cream part.

"Sure Ranma." She said and stood up and Ranma followed.

Ranma picked her up and bound away, just as the bell rang for the end of lunch. Very few caught their departure and many of those that did didn't mind or care.

Ranma carried Akane until they got to the park. He let her down and she blushed, he blushed back, neither really knowing why. They both sat on a bench and Akane leaned on him, he put his arm around her and held her close. He kissed her head and leaned his head slightly on hers. They sat that way for a couple minutes. Then Ranma lifted his head and let it fall backwards. He was looking at the stores behind him, thinking. Akane turned to look where he was looking and began thinking herself. They both glanced at each other and then back at a particular store. Ranma lifted his head and turned his head to see the place right side up. He put his hand behind his head, a worried expression crossing his face.

Akane was thinking about the previous day. They both said they loved each other and had two wonderful experiences. Still, she wondered about going further. They were engaged after all and they do love each other so maybe, it wouldn't be a bad thing. She looked at Ranma and his troubled expression. She sighed and made a decision and secretly hoped he agreed.

"Ranma, do you love me?" she asked him.

He looked at her, almost questioning her sanity and memory.

"Yeah, I love you, Akane. Didn't I tell you that yesterday?" he said beginning to wonder if he actually did.

"Yes, you did Ranma, I just needed to hear it again. I love you too Ranma." She smiled and his smile echoed hers.

Ranma filled with warmth once again at her saying those words. He could understand her wanting to hear them again. It felt good to hear those words and know that they are meant. He squeezed her hand that he had held a minute or so ago. She stood and pulled him with her as she started walking. At first he wondered where she was taking him until he saw they were heading for the store they had been eying. Akane was blushing, but smiling brightly. Ranma loved seeing her smile that way and smiled a smaller smile, still blushing from the realization that they were heading for that store.

They stopped at the door and Akane looked at him meaningfully, lovingly. Then she opened the door and walked in, holding his hand. It was only a drug store really, but he blushed at what he wanted to buy and was afraid to buy because he wasn't entirely sure that that's what she wanted here, until she walked him right over to where they were, blushing furiously. She looked up at Ranma, and her blush lightened a bit as she saw Ranma's blush match her own. The man behind the counter watched them, a smile creeping into his features as he shook his head gently at their red faces. Ranma tried to remember how much money he had and still couldn't believe this was happening. Akane leaned up to his ear and whispered for him to pick it out and buy it while she looked around. She told him it was all right and squeezed his hand before walking away.

He reached forward and swallowed as he grabbed a box that looked about his size and that he could barely afford and paid for it. He held the bag tightly as the middle aged cashier smiled at him. Akane was still looking around so he walked towards the door and stood there, waiting. Akane was no longer blushing deeply, only a light pink was on her cheeks. She was still smiling and looking at things in the store. She eventually walked over to Ranma seeing nothing she wanted to buy immediately. She grabbed his arm somewhat tightly and they headed out. Ranma glanced over his shoulder at the emptiness of the store. Just as he left however about four people from different directions and of different ages and one girl and three guys entered the little store. A guy who looked a few years older than Ranma went straight to the section he was at and after looking for a moment walked away, his eyes glancing back to that area. I guess a lot of guys find it hard to buy them. he thought, feeling only a little better.

They walked along for awhile and Ranma had hidden the box in his shirt as expertly as Mouse hides all his junk. Akane still clung to his arm, not as tight now though. She was just happy to walk with him, even though her mind kept flashing on the previous day. Where could they go? They both thought simultaneously. It was just a fluke that we were alone yesterday. they thought together once again without realizing it at all. They walked along in quiet, Ranma no longer blushing as much. His blush had dimmed to a faint pink hue, though he was nervous.

She squeezed Ranma's arm a little at the thought of what they were going to do. She closed her eyes briefly, imagining it. The nervousness of the situation was enveloped by the immense feelings of passion and love they felt for one another. Though it was obvious that Ranma was concerned, and glanced over at Akane showing the concern in his features. Akane sighed and leaned up to meet his lips, standing on her toes she parted slightly and whispered into his lips, "I love you, Ranma, with all my heart."

"I love you too, Akane. I'd give my life for you." He blushed, eyes still showing concern, but overwhelming love too.

They smiled warmly at each other and headed towards the park.