Childlike Features

Italics are thoughts

I do not own Ranma ½. I write this for entertainment only. But if you copy what I wrote, shame on you!

Chapter the Third: Rude Awakening

So…warm. Ranma burrowed deeper into the softness, inhaling deeply of the scent of lavender and fire and…something else. He was still mostly asleep, and had no idea where he was. But he felt warm…and safe. So he relaxed and allowed himself to wake slowly, something he hadn't done since he was six.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," he murmured, then shot up as he recognized the voice. Only Akane's reflexes kept him from falling off the side of the bed.

"What's wrong?" she gasped, hauling him up and checking him over, searching for injury.

"But…But I'm in yer bed!" Ranma stammered, desperately trying to figure out how he'd ended up in Akane's room and on her bed. It also didn't escape his notice that she was wearing her pajamas, the yellow ones that had always generated an odd feeling in his stomach when he saw her wearing them.

"Ranma!" catching him when he fell back a second time, Akane didn't bother with politeness this time. Flipping him neatly, she dropped him on the bed so that she was between him and the edge.

"Yeah?" he asked, his eyes darting about in search of an escape route.

"You fell asleep," she explained patiently, watching him all the same, "so I explained what had happened to the family. Nabiki is out trying to find a way to turn you back to normal. And our fathers are too worried about your mother to even think about us."

"But…how come I'm in yer room?" Ranma sputtered, struggling to digest the information while watching for signs of an impending attack.

Akane made an impatient noise, "because Shampoo tried to cart you off while you were asleep."

"Oh," Ranma hesitated for a moment, then looked up as something occurred to him, "where's my futon?"

Her eyes narrowed for a minute before pain replaced suspicion and she looked away, "oh," Akane said, in a very small voice, "oh. Okay. Sorry. I just…I don't know…"

Ranma gave her a peculiar look, running through what he'd just said, "Akane?" he asked, getting her to stop but not look at him, standing uncertainly at the bedside.

"Yes, Ranma?"

Getting onto his hands and knees, he crawled to the edge and reached out to touch her. But he lost his balance and fell forward, catching her around the waist and hanging there in stunned silence.

"Oops."

Akane burst out laughing, even as she picked him up and held him at eye level, "baka," she murmured, "why'd you do that?"

Ranma blushed, "cause I was wonderin'…can I sleep with ya?"

Her eyes bulged at that and before she could explode, he realized how that sounded and began desperately waving his hands between then, insisting that he didn't mean it like it sounded. Finally, Akane got over her shock and very gently set him back on the bed.

"Then what did you mean?" she demanded hotly, giving him a look that told him that answering was mandatory.

"I meant…I ain't slept like that since I was six…an' Oyaji started in with wakin' me up fightin'. It was…nice," Ranma admitted, knowing that he was blushing madly by now, "it felt…safe. An'…an'…I ain't a coward! But…I…I woke up feelin' like maybe the world ain't out ta get me. Like…like I wasn't in it on my own," he sagged, released from the weight of keeping all this to himself, "like I wasn't…alone; an' I can't remember the last time I woke up that way."

Akane drew in a shuddering breath and he had an impression of tears before she had him in a firm hug, "you aren't alone. I'm here, aren't I?" she smiled at him through her tears when he looked up in amazement, "I know how you feel," she admitted.

"Huh? How!" Ranma demanded, pain warring with anger, "HOW! HAVE YA SPENT EVERY DAY SINCE YA WERE SIX FIGHTING FER ALMOST EVERYTHING! DO YER PARENTS EXPECT YA TO BE PERFECT? DID YA ALMOST LOSE THE ONE PERSON YA CAN'T LIVE WITH-urk!" he finished, realizing he'd said way too much.

"No," she ground out, "have you spent almost your entire life stuck between what you like to do and what other people think you should and shouldn't do? Were you expected to be one or the other instead of both? Did you get turned into a prize for years, something people wanted, without caring how you felt! No? Well, I did!" Akane snapped, "I love the Art. It's the only thing I have that I was good at. I'm no business woman like Nabiki and I'm not good at house stuff like Kasumi. At least your parents only expect you to be one thing."

Ranma blinked at her, "Akane…"

"YOU don't have to be something you're not. You don't have to sit by while others decide your future, for years. The boys at school, my sisters…our fathers. They've been directing my future like I'm a bicycle or something. I've had no say in how my life is going and how it will go, not since my mother died. Mom was the only person who believed that I should be allowed to become whatever I wanted to be."

"Oh," Ranma frowned, "that why ya can't cook ta save yer life?" the moment the words were past his lips, he braced himself for a pounding.

"No. I suck at cooking because I hate it. I hate cooking, I hate cleaning, I hate doing any of the things Kasumi likes to do."

"Then why do ya do it?" Ranma asked, wondering why he was still alive…or at least conscious.

Her look was his answer, just the briefest of glances but it told him everything. Why she tried, why she got so upset over something she truly despised, why she always got so angry. She wanted to be a martial artist, but everyone else wanted her to become a typical housewife.

"You know…why."

"Oh… 'Kane…" Ranma murmured, staring up at her in misery, "I expect other girls ta do that kinda thing. Not you. I just wanted ya ta be there. I never really wanted that kinda thing in a…" he stopped, then continued at a near-whisper, "in a…bride?"

"What do you mean by that?" she asked warily.

"I wanna marry ya, if you'll have me," Ranma admitted, figuring that it was now or never, "I want…I want ya in my life, cause…" now, he winced, "cause it hurt like you wouldn't believe when ya weren't…an' you were so still…" he was shaking now, sobbing his words instead of speaking them, "an' it was MY FAULT! MY FAULT, AN' I CAN'T STAND THAT YA ALMOST DIED AN' I ALMOST FAILED YOU!"

"Shh…" Akane had, at some point, gathered Ranma into her arms and was holding him carefully as the moon peeked in through the window, "its okay. You didn't fail me. I'm fine, right? See?" and before he could stop her, she pulled his hand, now so much smaller than hers, up to rest over her heart.

Before Ranma could truly protest, he felt a strange surge, like he was stretching everything at once…and suddenly he was looking down at Akane instead of up. Looking down at the shredded remains of the toddler's clothes, he blinked before snatching his hand away from Akane's…

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut, "I didn't…it wasn't…"

"Ranma!"

"Yeah?"

"You're back to normal."

"I am?" Ranma looked down, then grinned, "I am!" he was about to jump up when a thought came to him, "ah…can ya get me some…clothes?" he asked, only to have a neatly folded pile thrust under his nose.

"I thought it might be a good idea to keep them around, seeing as how nothing ever turns out like it should where you're concerned," Akane noted wryly, her eyes tightly shut, "but…" she trailed off as he pulled on his boxers.

"But what?" he asked, the tank top going on under the pajamas. It was kinda cold at night.

Akane bit her lower lip and fidgeted, having no idea how appealing that looked to her iinazuki sitting on her bed, "can you spend the night? I don't mean…like that…" she hastily added when he gawked at her, "I just…want you to be…here…tonight. Okay?"

Ranma gaped at her, unsure as to what to say, "oh."

Her face heated and she turned away, babbling about unattractive tomboys and how could anyone possibly want to be around her.