Author's Notes: Oh, whoa! I was so overwhelmed with the response that this story got! WhenI finished the first chapter, I was toying with the idea of continuing it, but your fabulous reviews compelled me to. It'll probably go on for another few chapters or so, nothing too long, just enough to wrap everything up neatly.

I was entertained by asuggestion made by dennisud, to have Nodoka appointed guardian of the cabin for R/A, but thought it would be unfair for the rest of the group to be deprived of a holiday ; ). Credit goes to Daouid for the idea of having hotsprings.

Thanks everyone, your feedback was very touching!

Chapter 2: The Consequences Of Being Warm

The group had reached their destination without much further ado, leaving the cave-incident to take centre spotlight as a conversational topic among most of them. Ranma and Akane could do nothing but admit secretly that they'd brought it upon themselves. The cabin turned out to be rather nice – it was tucked into a fold of the mountain, on a cliff face overlooking a scenic view. Inside it was cosy and compact, but neat and organised, with a high ceiling and polished wooden floors. The best part of all, however, was something that even Genma and Soun were surprised to discover (perhaps more than any of them). Ranma had found a passageway at the back of the cabin which receded downwards, lost all it's furnishing and indulged the walker in darkness and a floor literally of dirt, before emerging them in front of a dazzling natural hot spring, secluded from the public. It even had a division in the middle to separate the male and female areas. (although this was hardly absolute: if one wanted to, they could peek over. This made them all sigh with relief that Happosai had been left to his panty-thieving ways back in Nermia). Around the hot spring were large, moss covered rocks (still with layers of snow from the night before) and thick groups of trees which reached to the sky and hid the area from view with their branches.

It was shortly after the shock of finding their own personal hot springs that Soun and Genma were pressed to reveal what the catch was, and more importantly, how they really got the cabin. Eventually, after many hearty laughs and sweat-drops passed between the two, they were persuaded by the patiently firm but authoritative Nodoka into a more detailed explanation of their acquisition of the cabin. As it turned out, they weren't lying about the shogi game, but it was against a man in severe gambling debt. To play against him they had to bet the Tendo's house, Dojo and Saotome's only child (Ranma) – merely for an opportunity to have the cabin for a week. To say the least, Saotome mother and son were not pleased. The latter engaged his father in a hefty beating while the former attempted to lecture him. Kasumi voiced her strong disapproval at Soun, which effected him harsher than any beating ever would.

Nevertheless, the mandatory punishments over, there was one last problem to address before they could all relax and enjoy the warmth of the hot springs. The cabin was small to begin with, but factoring in the large number of people they had made it ultimately short of beds for two people. This time, before straws were even suggested, it was instantly agreed that Soun and Genma would have to find somewhere around the cabin to sleep on futons. They protested only feebly, mumbling about how it was thanks to them that they had the cabin in the first place. One comment from Nodoka was all that was needed, as this was to remind Genma of his un-honourable gambling of Ranma, and to ask him what else he had waged Ranma for in the past. Suffice to say, this silenced both of them effectively.

Two other rooms were left as sleeping areas: one with three single beds against the walls of it's small dimensions, and one other only slightly larger with a double bed.

Ranma and Akane noticed that the consideration of who would take the double bed seemed to cause endless delight to the others, who pretended without much success to be genuinely thinking about it, before firmly deciding it would be them.

In fact, it was Nabiki who provoked them into agreeing, with a sly grin and a carefully considered mocking, "Well, since you two seem to enjoy sleeping together so much," (she was glared daggers at by the both of them at this particular choice of words), "why don't you take it?"

They wiped their glares off and looked at each other briefly. They could not say that remarks of this kind were unexpected, but their eye contact told each other, 'If they want to play that game…'.

Ranma shrugged with all the perfection of calculated apathy, putting his arms behind his head and closing his eyes, "Yeah, why not Nabiki?"

Akane grinned good naturedly and added, "If you insist," walking to the room to drop her bag down. (her right bag this time. Kasumi was not pleased to find they had resorted to burning all the kitchen items, but admitted it was not their fault).

The others were left blinking slightly, again surprised at the conduct between them. It was hard to tell if it was an act put on to make them think they were together; a scheme concocted between them.

What is was, however, was something much simpler, though these explanations are often overlooked. Ranma and Akane were just too used to their families interfering. After over three years, they had grown immune to it, not much caring for whatever comments they passed on their relationship or even sexual innuendo suggestively implied. They knew that between them there were no elaborate schemes or facades and simply accepted to themselves that it was for them to work out, at whatever time they deemed appropriate. (in other words: when they built up enough courage). If their families wanted to push them, why not just go along with it? It was not deceitful or manipulative, it was merely easier than resisting, which only seemed to increase their assertions and matchmaking attempts.

After the incident in the cave, their behaviour and interaction was effected contrastingly on two levels. On one, they were more comfortable with each other's presence. There was less of the usual insecurity that they often held inside themselves, and more of an unspoken understanding of acceptance. Yet on the physical level, they had become ultra-sensitive around the other, almost to the point of agitation. They were cautious and tense because even the smallest touch was enough to jolt memories and bring recollections of how warm and comfortable they had been… against each other. They had never been so physically close before, especially out of their own wills.

The rest of the afternoon and most of the night was spent by all whiling away in relaxed states by the hot springs. They would ponder things like dinner, money matters or each other, or not think at all; slipping into a peaceful state of half-slumber. Nodoka took the opportunity to approach Akane in the hot springs, while she was dozing off in a corner.

"Akane," she addressed her in her usual motherly and kind tone, "Can I talk to you?"

Akane opened her eyes and smiled slightly, "Sure, what is it Aunt Nodoka?"

Something seemed to flicker in the depths of the older woman's eyes. A sort of warm humour.

"Well, that's the thing, Akane," she explained, "I wonder when you'll be calling me 'Mother' instead."

Akane's mouth opened to say something, but Nodoka pressed on, "I don't mean to pressure or irritate you like I know my hopeless husband and Soun do, (they don't have much wits when it comes to romance, I'm afraid) but from my observations I certainly know that feelings exists between you and Ranma," at the look in Akane's eyes she added sincerely, "from both sides. Now, I don't seek to interfere. It seems, judging by the failed wedding, that you both have enough interferences as it is. But I feel the responsibility to give you some well-meaning advice."

She looked at the attentive Akane, who nodded and waited for her to continue.

"I have been thinking about your situation. What recently happened in the cave shows that I was right with what I gathered. I know that you two becoming close there was not simply an act done out of need to keep warm - there's no need to blush, dear, it's perfectly understandable. You're afraid of becoming close to Ranma in the everyday chaos of Nermia because of all the people chasing you both, isn't that right?"

Akane nodded hesitantly. She found her voice and spoke, "It's just… it's hard enough as it is, just living normally. The wedding attempt just proved that our marriage wouldn't change anything for them."

"Well you see Akane, you are forgetting one thing, and it is this aspect which will make all the difference. At the time, your pursuers still believed that your marriage was only an arrangement by your parents – which it was, no matter what feelings lay beneath it. If you believe that expressing your feelings openly to one another and making it known to the others will make things worse, it may be true to a certain extent, but how much worse could it possibly get? If you make it clear… to everyone, that this is what you both want and you're willing to fight for it, then I'm sure you'll find that your problems will recede rather than intensify. If you've managed to build a strong relationship with each other in the midst of all of these obstacles, (which by the looks of it you have), then you don't need to worry about it being broken under the same circumstances."

Embarrassment for being talked to so bluntly by her prospective mother-in-law was still tinging Akane's cheeks a faint red. She looked at Nodoka meekly and asked, "Um… I can't speak for Ranma, but are my feelings really so… transparent?"

Nodoka only smiled and said, "It's just woman's intuition on my part. You say that you can't speak for Ranma, well he's not much for words either. Among other things, it's one of the unfortunate consequences of being raised by his macho father of his. But I know his heart is in the right place."

"Thank you, Nodoka..." said Akane, bowing her head in gratitude. She noted Nodoka's less than warm sentiments about Genma and figured she was still angry at him for gambling with Ranma at stake again.

"Anytime, Akane. Just think about it, okay? I'm going to help Kasumi with dinner now," and with these parting words, she left. Akane didn't need to have been told to think about it; she thought about it long into the evening.

That night, after a wonderful dinner prepared by Kasumi and Nodoka's elaborate cooking methods (without any utensils, since they were burnt in an effort to keep warm the night before), all were tranquil.

Except for Ranma, who was beginning to feel the impact of his earlier decision to bunk in with Akane at night; he was quite nervous, high-strung like a cat. He decided, for the sake of his sanity, that he should attempt to go to bed early to avoid a tense situation of Akane crawling into bed with him. Hopefully, by his reasoning, he would be sound asleep. He had briefly considered pouring cold water onto himself, so that it wouldn't be too awkward, though he thought this would be suspicious: it was mid-winter and there was hot water readily available around him. So with a stretch and a yawn he announced to the others that he was turning in early. As he was closing the door, he distinctly heard Nabiki's voice saying, "Akane, you aren't going with him?", and grinned slightly hearing what followed, "Ow! That hurt."

Alas, poor Ranma's plans never seem to go as smoothly as he hopes. He lay in bed restless, mind thinking of many things at one time, not quite making progress on any one of them. After what seemed to him as a ridiculously short period of time (but glancing at the clock on the wall told him that two hours had already passed. He would never understand the concept of time), Akane quietly entered the room. His eyes closed immediately as he feigned sleep, a little too casually. But she did not notice, getting into bed and with a mighty yawn, and falling asleep.

He glared in astonishment. How could she get to sleep so easily! Ranma almost took it as a personal insult. He wriggled closer to her to make sure that she was really asleep. She was, judging by the unusually serene expression on her face, her deep and slow breathing and her relaxed body posture. Hmm… she really is cute, he mused, anger forgotten as he continued unconsciously to look at her. She was wearing her usual baggy yellow pyjamas and turned to the side opposite him. Realizing how close he was, he hastily lay on his back and whacked himself on the face lightly with one hand, giving himself a pep talk.

'Snap out of it, Saotome. You need to get some sleep! Imagine if she caught you staring at her in the middle of the night, you'd be spending the rest of the week outside in the snow!'

He was following this train of thought when abruptly, Akane turned sides to face him and glomped onto his arm. It shocked him so much that he almost jumped, but he noticed instantly that she was obviously in a dream. Her arms wrapped around his and she snuggled her head into his shoulder, making him blush and sweat uncomfortably. Being glomped by Shampoo he was used to, but with Akane it was a different thing altogether. He couldn't bring his attentions away from the warmth of her small hands, the tickling of her soft hair against his shoulder, and he even thought he could feel the soft beating of her heart against his abdomen. It had to be her heart, because his own was hardly beating so leisurely; it was irregular and rapid.

With a sigh, he sunk further into the mattress. Accepting his insomnia, he did not dare to move should he wake her (and also, though he would not admit this to himself, because it was quite pleasant to have the fiancé he liked hugging him so tenderly).

Akane awoke as the first rays of light streamed in through the window, feeling oddly secure and refreshed. Although she had already forgotten her dreams last night, she was convinced that they were pleasant, and the otherwise unexplained happiness she felt seemed to vouch for this. Ranma was nowhere to be seen. She was slightly perturbed to find herself in the middle of the bed, and hoped she had not scared him off with violent kicking during the night, or other embarrassing bedside habits (little did she know, indeed).

Staying in her pyjamas, she wandered outside to find Soun and Genma asleep in the main room on futons. It was hard to miss them: they were in the middle of the room, both snoring audibly. It seemed as though everyone else was still sleeping also, most of them had stayed up delighting in the hot springs. She made her way through the passageway which would lead her back there.

Once she emerged in the fresh dawn light, she saw Ranma sitting cross-legged on one of the large rocks, facing the steaming water. He had his back to her and appeared to be in deep thought, though this was only a guess as she could not see his face. Akane decided to test just how deep in thought he was, and focused her energies on creeping behind him as quietly as she could (wearing slippers). She reached behind him without him making any signs that he had heard her; she stared at his back in surprise. Reaching her forefinger out, she poked him firmly, at which he gave a sudden lurch and almost fell into the water. He jumped up and turned around, almost falling in once more when he noticed who it was.

"You okay, Ranma?" she asked, taken aback. She noticed the bags under his eyes…

"You weren't sleeping, were you?"

Ranma jumped off the rock, considering it best for now to avoid high places, and replied, "Ha, ha, ha… Akane, why would I be sleeping?"

She smirked. The excess of arrogance in his voice told her that he had indeed been sleeping.

"How should I know?" she asked with honest puzzlement.

"I was just …. thinking, that's all." Ranma considered this fairly close to the truth. He had simply rearranged the order of things: he had been sleeping then, yes, but last night he had been thinking.

Akane stepped closer to him, but not too close. Nodoka's words still hung in her mind. She decided to push him further, and added as innocently as she could, "So what were you thinking about?"

He stared blankly, eyes slightly widening as he noticeably tensed. His face turned to the sky as he observed it, apparently interested in the weather patterns. Ranma was not a good liar, and this added to his absolute lack of sleep made him lamely reply after a brief silence, "Um, about… me..."

But after he turned to look her in the eyes, and saw there the young woman he felt so deeply for, seeing right through him in only the way that she could, he damned the consequences and added in a quiet voice, "And about you…"

"About us?"

"That's not what I said," he replied stubbornly.

All she had to do was stare at him and raise an eyebrow for him to recant, "Okay, fine. About that too."

By this time, his hands were nervously fidgeting in front of his chest, a classic Ranma habit. Akane's eyes kept straying from his own to look at his hands, and she started to feel the need to stop them fidgeting - like the twinging sensation one gets when someone is clicking a pen with reckless abandon. She couldn't help herself: she closed the majority of distance between them and gently clasped his hands with her own, bringing them down from his chest so she could into his eyes without distractions.

"And?" she questioned, looking into the depths of his intense blue eyes, clouded with thought.

For a short while, he broke eye contact and stared at their clasped hands; looking as if he was having a heated conversation with himself inside his mind. Then, he shyly found her eyes again and began speaking, "And…"

To Akane's later chagrin, he was interrupted. They heard what sounded like a mangled cry and a body splash into the water. Their hands dropped and attention immediately diverged, they ran around the rock which blocked whatever it was from view, to see a body face-down passed out in the warm water. Ranma jumped in without hesitation and pulled the body to land. Dirty-faced and clothes slightly ripped from what they assumed was getting lost in the mountains; they turned the body onto its back and saw that it was Ryoga.

Heh heh heh, good ol' Ryoga. Gotta love that poor boy. You know, in Word, spell-checker suggests "RhoGAM" (exact spelling) as a substitute for his name. o.O How very odd!

Anyway I'm leaving for a one-week vacation tomorrow, so I'll be working on my tan rather than my writing 'til I get back ; ) Please review, and keep those suggestions coming!