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Chapter 5

How could she see the real him when he was a girl, but not a boy? DIdn't she know, couldn't she tell, that holding her like this, cradling her while she cried, was the closest he'd ever been to a woman? How could she think that he. . . he only vaguely even knew what the word rape meant, much less how to go about it. Did he seem like a womanizer, a controller, a violent man?

"And. . . he l-looks just like you," Akane gasped, her breath ragged.

It was only a matter of time before she knew. And when she did, would she hate him? Would she despise all of him, male and female?

"Why does he frighten you so much? Surely he didn't do anything to you?" Ranma asked, softly. Akane straightened, pulling away. Ranma watched her with guarded eyes. He would have to tell her, before she found out on her own. Would she look at him with fear? Would she recoil?

"It's just. . . I rely on my strength, to keep me safe from . . . from boys. . . and now I'm beginning to think it won't be enough. I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm not strong enough to protect myself. First you come along, and you beat me easily, and now him . . . he could trap me into marriage right now, did you know that?" Akane looked up at Ranma with a burning defiance in her eyes. "If anyone saw us leaving the ball together, he could say he'd taken advantage of me and then I'd be trapped in a marriage with a stranger. . . I don't even know why I allowed that. . ."

"I'm sure he wouldn't. . ." Ranma began, horrified at what she thought of him. Akane cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Don't you be so sure! Men always betray you, Ranma, they don't even think of us as human beings. . . we're just property wrapped in corsets. . ."

"That isn't true!" Ranma yelled, purely out of reflex. "I don't think that about you at all! Some of the other princesses, maybe, but they're so bloody plastic and fake that they probably AREN'T human beings!"

"Yeah, but you aren't a guy!" Akane shot back, glaring. Ranma blinked at her for a moment.

"Of course I . . . ah, um . .." she stuttered, trailing off. Akane was in full battle-aura glory now, waves of red-hot angry ki radiating off of her.

"You don't know how they think, Ranma. I've been dealing with this crap for years now, and let me tell you, they're all the same. They've been raised to think that women are worth as much as the fertile ground given in their dowry, women are just vehicles to bear children, just housekeepers. . . I just wish I could never marry at all," she looked away, the battle aura fading a bit as her tone softened. "I could run the kingdom, I know I could. The only problem would be heirs, but then, I'm sure Kasumi and her miracle man have had a few children by now. Maybe, if I can just make it to twenty-five or something, become an old maid, none of them will want me anymore. . ." her voice trailed off, sad. Ranma swallowed hard. That sounded an awful lot like his life plan, to be brutally honest. Of course, he'd figured he'd have to have some kids, but they could probably stay with whoever their mother was. . .

Dear gods, was it true? Did he really think of women like that? A vehicle for making children?

"But he could wreck all of that," Akane whispered, her voice bringing him back to the present. "He's stronger than me, I don't even know how much stronger. He could rape me, then tell the world and I would have to marry him to preserve some semblance of honor." She laughed, a mirthless laugh. "It's not as though it hasn't happened before. Hell, in some of the smaller kingdoms around here, it's standard procedure."

He wanted to tell her that he'd never do that. He wanted to tell her that he'd never force her into that, that he'd protect her if he had to. . . but how could he without giving away his secret? He never wanted anyone to know about that. . .

But that Ukyou girl knew, now. Ryouga knew. Why shouldn't Akane know, as well?

'Because she'll hate me,' the voice in his head whispered. He shoved it back down to the depths of the caverns in his mind. He couldn't be a coward, now. He thought he might die if he couldn't make that haunted look in her eyes go away.

"Akane? I have, um, something to tell you," he whispered, fiddling with his bright red braid. Akane waved his words away with a tired gesture.

"It's all right, Ranma. I already know."

"You WHAT?" he cried, his heart stopping for a moment. She smiled up at him, rising to her feet shakily.

"I've known since we met, Ranma. It was just so obvious, the way that you looked at me when I pulled you under the umbrella. And not letting me change in the same room as you. . ." Akane smiled again, with more mirth this time as she pulled off some of her jewelry. She walked right past him, into her room, and laid the heavy metal down. He couldn't even turn to watch her. He felt as if he'd never move again, he was stone, stone and rooted to her balcony. . . .

"I've actually thought about it, you know? What it would be like, to be like you," she said slowly. Ranma stared out at the lights from the ball, still going on, feeling his blood slow in his veins. "To be able to love a woman, and not feel the constant frustration of knowing that no man will ever be worth it. . . women are easier to deal with, Ranma. I understand completely. I was even wondering. . . if you have feelings for me. . ."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Ranma rasped, feeling her breath come short in her throat. There was silence behind her for a moment.

"You like girls, don't you?" Akane asked at last.

"What in the bloody screaming hell does that have to do with anything?" Ranma asked, turning around to face her at last. Akane stood in her petticoats, shift and corset, holding her heavy brocade dress in her hands. Ranma's blood froze, those bright blue eyes traveling over the soft white lace that floated around her ankles. He'd seen her in less, to be sure. The gi she wore so often exposed nearly all of her. But this. . . these were undergarments, feminine and soft, things he should never see her in. . .

"Well, wasn't that what you were going to tell me? That you. . . you prefer women to men?" Akane asked, blinking. Ranma stared at her, uncomprehending for a moment.

"What are you doing?" he asked, at long last, gesturing towards the dress she held in her hands. That seemed to be the most pertinent point. If only he could figure out why in the hell she insisted on being half-naked around him. . .

"This gown weighs nigh on forty pounds," Akane sniffed, laying it down across her bed. Her bed. She was standing half naked next to her bed.

How many men his age would kill to be where he was at that exact moment?

All in a rush, what she was trying to say got through his thick skull. She thought he was a lesbian? A wave of relief rushed over him. So she didn't know his secret after all! She didn't know he was a man!

The relief was closely followed by panic. She thought he preferred women because of his reactions to her? She thought that he had. . . feelings for her? Was that why she was standing in her underwear? Was she. . . did she want his girl side, and not his boy side?

"You've got this all wrong," he whispered, scrubbing his small, feminine face with the palms of his hands. "Please, please get dressed again."

"You've seen me in less. In fact, you're wearing less right now. I've never met a princess so hung up on clothing," Akane retorted, her hands on her hips.

"You're saying most girls just lounge around and talk in their undergarments?" he fired back, getting angry now. She was just another girl chasing him, wasn't she? Just another princess chasing after the great, the unreachable, Prince of the Saotome kingdom. . .

"You don't think we stand around in our dresses all the time, do you? The things are atrocious," she muttered. She bit her lip, looking briefly heavenward as if asking for patience, then looked back at him.

"Look, I'm taking this thing off so I can breathe. You can stay, or go, if it makes you that uncomfortable. But. . . no matter whether you like boys or girls, you're still one of the few real friends I have, and I wish. . . I wish we could just keep that friendship," Akane muttered, looking away at the last moment. Ranma blinked at her.

Earlier, she had said he was her only friend. And even though she thought he liked her, she still just wanted. . . to be friends. . .? Disappointment and relief washed over him simultaneously, making him feel almost like a leaf caught in a whirlwind.

"I'll stay," he whispered, sinking to the floor. He sat there, knees drawn up to his chest, as he watched her struggle with her corset. Eventually she wiggled out of it, and slipped out of two of her petticoats. She sat on the bed clothed in little more than silence, a thin cotton shift and a white cotton skirt. She was beautiful, her hair falling loose around her shoulders, tangling, her breasts coming to small points where her nipples strained against the white fabric. Ranma looked at his feet, feeling the blood rush to his face.

He'd really never noticed anything like that before, most of the time the only way he could tell a boy from a girl was the skirt. But her. . . maybe it was because he knew her so well now? Maybe it was because she was sitting on her bed, in her underwear, the most desired woman in the world. . .

"So, what made you think that I like girls?" he asked, his voice darker, huskier than he would have liked.

"You. . . you blushed when I took your hand, the first day we met. And ever since then, you've been hovering around me like some sort of protective boyfriend, fighting off boys when they come after me. I thought. . . I thought at first you were just shy, but then the way you'd look at me sometimes, when you think no one can see. . ." she trailed off. Ranma felt a little piece of his world crumble. So she knew, she could see what he'd tried so hard to hide, even from himself.

"It's okay, you know. I don't mind. I just. . . I don't want to lose you as a friend," she continued. Ranma chuckled to himself. Of course. She had no idea. Speaking of ideas, one hit him in the head with all the force of a falling tree. She could feel safe from his boy side without knowing it was him!

"Don't worry, Akane, I'm not going anywhere just yet. That guy you were talking about earlier, the devilishly handsome one with the jet-black hair?"

"I did NOT say he was handsome. . ."

"Do you think I could beat him?"

"Maybe," Akane said thoughtfully, regarding Ranma with narrowed eyes. "Probably. Why do you ask?"

"Ifyou want, I could protect you from him. No one would see anything wrong with that, would they? I mean, I could be sort of like your bodyguard, and no one could say there was anything indecent going on between us," he suggested. Akane beamed down at him, and it was like the sun emerging from behind a mountain.

"That's a wonderful idea, Ranma!" she cried. "Would you really do that for me?"

"Why not? He, ah, sounds like a challenge," Ranma muttered, scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously.

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Saotome. Ukyou just knew she'd heard that name somewhere. It was important, somehow, but she couldn't place it.

An artist? No, not an artist or a minstrel. Someone with power.

A warrior of some kind? A name from a fairy tale of some sort? Perhaps. Just perhaps.

There was a kingdom ruled by the Saotomes, but she couldn't remember any royal families every having a combination son and daughter. It would have struck a chord, she was sure if that were the case her father would have arranged for her to marry the transgender freak, since she herself appeared so confused. . .

THAT WAS IT!

Saotome! Ranma Saotome was the name of that little blue-eyed boy her father had engaged her to all those years ago. It was a matter of military alliance, as she recalled it. No matter now, it wasn't as if she could go home. . .

Bur she could. If she were married, she could go home. She wouldn't have to worry about her father, she could go back to her garden and her kitchen and her friends. . . If she could just find a suitable husband. . . or better yet, convince Saotome to live up to the promise of his parents. Sure, he was a stranger, but she had always expected to marry a stranger. He was handsome enough, he knew martial arts. He appeared to be infatuated with that Akane girl, but then, who wasn't?

She would seduce Saotome, marry him, take him home, and never have another care in the world.

Starting tommorow.

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She knew. She knew before he did, even. He wasn't quite willing to call it love, after all, love is a scary, long-term sort of thing. But he did have feelings for her, didn't he? He did want her to be happy. He wanted her to be happy with him.

He wanted to run his fingers through her hair, he wanted to know the taste of her lips and the feel of her arms around his neck. . . he had never wanted a woman before, never even thought about it. Maybe it was just that he knew her. It was easy to say so, since he'd never really taken the time to speak with many women. But maybe it was her. Maybe there was a real reason all these men chased after her.

In any case, it didn't matter. He was cursed, and could never hope to offer anyone a normal life. Better for everybody if he just dissapeared. But he couldn't, not him, he couldn't run away from anyone, anything. . .

Certainly not her. That little slip of a girl? Surely not.

He had access to the most desired woman in the world. He knew how to win her over, knew what she wanted, knew what she feared. And he wanted her. How could he back down from this challenge? Ranma Saotome NEVER BACKS DOWN!