Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers. And always will be.

Changed Overnight

Chapter Four: It All Came Out

Akane had left her house early to view the sunrise at the park. As she leaned on the steel fence, she realized that for once in her life – since a certain father-son pair had arrived from China – she felt free. As she gazed at the pink sky, welcoming the sun, she thought about what happened.

It all happened so fast, Ranma. I don't know why I'm still in one piece right now.

You've made go through a lot of emotional problems, but I wish you wouldn't know about that. And I wish more that you wouldn't know that I loved you, because it would be too embarrassing for you to know that especially with the fact that you never loved me back.

I have Ryouga now, so I hope I wouldn't need to worry about you. Even though you never worry about me, I can't resist thinking about your welfare. You're so careless, you act before you think, you get yourself into trouble all the time, and… well, I loved you because of that. I could never deny that. It actually made me feel distressed; it drove me crazy.

But now I just hope you're going to be happy. You still have three fiancées. Your life would be a breeze without me in the way.

She yawned and stretched her arms as she waited for the last second before the sun rose.

It was all too beautiful for Akane's spirits not to be lifted. The pink sky turned purple for a moment, then finally the sun came up with its kingly composure, drowning everything in its light. The sky had finally turned blue.

Akane smiled at the sun as it beamed at her. "Ohayou," she greeted. She yawned once more and, because of sleeping very late thinking about Ranma and waking up early, had almost dropped to the ground and fell asleep on the grass in the park. Almost. Because when her head drooped to her right, it touched something, and it woke her up.

"Ohayou, Akane-san."

At first Akane was surprised. With her mind crammed with a little of everything, she couldn't quite lay a finger on who was standing beside her. A hentai from school, maybe? But the voice made her feel warm all over that she realized it was…

"Ryouga-kun!" she greeted gladly.

He was also leaning on the balustrades, but Akane never noticed him coming over a while ago.

Ryouga had realized last night that he and Akane were soon to be what he had dreamed of. That made things easier for him – for example, he got over the whole stuttering-with-Akane-there habit. It actually made him feel more confident.

"How've you been?"

"Not fine," she whined.

Ryouga was startled. What was he going to do to cheer her up? He thought of buying her balloons the moment the merchant comes to the park… or maybe treating her to lunch… or maybe–

"But right now," Akane continued with a smile, "I'm okay. You're here!"

Ryouga sighed in relief.

They spent the rest of the hour talking about what if's.

Akane giggled. "Yeah, and we'll have to buy Happosai all the panties he wants, or maybe just give him a million yen. We'd still have 99 million."

They both laughed. It was followed by a peaceful silence.

"Hey, what if… you know," Ryouga suggested, blushing (and wondering where he got the guts to say it), "we get married and have kids?"

Akane smiled at Ryouga. "Then we get married and have kids," she said shortly.

Ryouga blushed redder than ever.

"But Ryouga, I wish you were at Furinkan. Everything would be easier if you were there. I feel… safe when you're there. Please," she entreated, looking up at Ryouga's face, "go to school with me."

Besides fending off the Hentai Horde for her, which Akane was sure he would do, Ryouga would be there to eat her cooking, mingle with Sayuri and Yuka, walk with her around the school grounds – to sum it all up, he'd be her… companion.

"Akane…" Ryouga had realized how Akane cared for him now. Just days ago he wished so madly for Akane to think about him, and now she's asking him to go to school with her! But he also realized the reason why he came all the way here to Nerima. "I need to train to defeat Ranma! Gomen nasai, but I–"

"Ryouga," Akane had interrupted imploringly, "you've made me fall in love with you. Isn't that enough to say you've defeated Ranma?"

"I… Akane… Okay, I'll take the entrance test. If I pass, then I'll go to school with you. But if I don't–"

Akane interrupted him again. "Really?" Her face lit up that Ryouga had to smile despite being stunned.

"But Ryouga," Akane's face twisted in wonder, "maybe it'll happen again."

"What will happen again?"

"Remember the last time I offered to have an all-nighter in my room last time? Nabiki told me that Happosai kidnapped you and put you in a room, that's why you never came."

"And?"

Akane giggled. "Happosai likes you!"

"What!"

"Just kidding."

Ryouga put on an annoyed look to go with the joke.

"I think Happosai likes you," he said.

"Gross!"

Ryouga chuckled. The ice had been broken and he didn't feel tense anymore.

Akane lightly punched Ryouga's arm. "Don't ever joke about that again. It's nasty."

"It's you who started it," Ryouga reasoned. Then he slowly put his arm over Akane's shoulders. "But you know, I don't think there isn't anyone you know who doesn't like you. I mean, who wouldn't?"

Akane smiled.

Ryouga, that was so sweet of you. You're the best guy a girl could ever have.

She didn't answer him, but her actions spoke louder than her words. She stood on tiptoe, slowly drew Ryouga's face close to her, and closed her eyes for a kiss. Even before their lips met, Ryouga's eyes widened and he blushed. When their lips touched… well, it heaven for both of them.

Ryouga, most of all, knew he was the happiest man alive. And Akane knew she already learned how to love him.

Suddenly she put her hand on Ryouga's face… and pinched his cheek. The kiss was broken.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Oh… it's just because you're so… CUTE!" Akane lunged towards Ryouga and reached for his cheeks again to pinch, only he evaded her.

Ryouga raised his eyebrow. "So that's the way you want to play, huh?" He headed towards Akane with his hands threatening to tickle her sides.

"Oh, no…" Akane giggled. "No, Ryouga, stop… Don't!"

Akane's pleas were ignored and Ryouga tickled her ribs. Akane screamed, and then fell onto the grass with her giggles still going on. Ryouga didn't stop. He was on top of Akane and he was still tickling her. They were both laughing playfully.

"You wanted to play this way, Akane, so admit your defeat!"

Akane, still moving about in one place, pinned on the ground by Ryouga's surprising weight, managed to blurt out, "No!"

"You're not saying it, are you?"

With a last rain of tickles, Akane couldn't take it anymore. She giggled a last time.

"Hentai!"

"Say it, or I'll kiss you…"

"Then kiss me," she dared.

"You asked for it."

Ryouga stopped tickling Akane. Before he could even move his face forward, Akane pulled his shirt and pressed her lips to his.

And it happened – their lips touched – just in time for the pigtailed martial artist to enter the scene.

"Akane!"

If something happened to Akane, I–

Ranma staggered upon what he saw. Ryouga was pinning Akane to the ground and was kissing her, who had just screamed hentai. It could only mean one thing.

"Get off her!" he growled. His fist threatened to break every inch of Ryouga in fury as they both fumbled with each other until Ranma pinned him to the steel fence.

"Ranma!" Ryouga looked past Ranma's shoulder at Akane and his situation and understood. "It's not what you think. Look–"

"I'll kill you," Ranma snarled dangerously.

Akane got up from a few feet away. Ranma saw that she was already okay so he removed his hands from Ryouga's shirt and walked backwards, not taking his eyes off the traitor. A second later he was flabbergasted when Akane helped Ryouga up.

"You okay?" she asked Ryouga nervously.

Ryouga groaned softly as he hanged on to Akane's arm. "I'm fine."

"Don't touch her!" Ranma demanded. "Akane, come here, quick!"

Akane didn't move. "Ranma…"

"Akane, stay away from him! Come on, I'm here to protect you from that pig."

"Ranma, don't call him a pig, please…"

"Baka!" Ranma muttered under his breath. He hurried to Akane and pulled her away from Ryouga. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? He could have done something worse! That pig–"

"Ranma, don't call him a pig!" Akane insisted.

Ranma spent a few seconds recovering form his furious words. "What do you mean?"

Akane hesitated to say it, but she did. "He wasn't doing anything to me that I didn't want. In proper terms… he did everything with my consent."

"But he was on you and you were screaming!" Ranma reasoned desperately. "He was kissing you!"

Akane shook her head, giving Ranma an apologetic look.

Ranma's eyes traveled from Ryouga to Akane. Then he chuckled. It was a hollow, forced laugh and all three of them knew it.

"Ranma," Akane started. "Stop it."

Ranma understood. "I see, Akane. I finally get it." His face muscles were clearly pained but he tried to smile. "I get it. All those times – ever since that day. I never had a clue even though he was right in the house! How could I have been so…" His voice faded.

Akane touched Ranma's shoulder. "Ranma, please…"

"HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?" he bellowed.

"No, Ranma, you're not," Akane beseeched, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Please don't be like this."

"So you just did this to me, huh? On purpose? WHY? First you turn all weird, and the next thing I know–" Ranma broke off into a fit of sobs with his head down, but Akane saw no tears.

"Ranma, get a hold of yourself!" Ryouga stated anxiously.

It was like he couldn't hear anything anymore. He sobbed nonstop. In fact, his sobs started to sound different that it seemed like he was having difficulty breathing.

"Ranma!" Akane shook the troubled man's shoulder. "Ranma, stop it!"

"You… made a fool out of m-me, Akane. You and that pig."

Out of nowhere, Ranma felt Akane's arms embracing him. "Stop it!" he heard her whisper hoarsely. "You're not doing any good!"

Ryouga twitched when he saw what Akane just did. It was as if he was transported back to the time when he was a helpless piglet watching them from afar when they fought like a married couple.

"Akane, you've made a fool out of me," Ranma muttered.

"Stop…" Akane begged. This was all too much for her to take. If Ranma had caused her pain before by being cynical, the pain he was inflicting on her this time was a hundred times worse.

"All along, you have!"

"Stop…"

"And to think I actually–"

"Stop…"

"I ACTUALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU!"

"STOP!" Akane shouted. She'd slapped Ranma before realizing what he just said. She thought he was going to say something like Akane making a fool out of him again, which was totally not true. Besides, she didn't want to hear it anymore. Expecting those words, Akane was so angry that she'd slapped him on the spot.

There was silence for minutes that seemed like forever. Everything was quiet except for the wind that blew through the milieu and hovered upon three frozen figures:

a breathless Akane,

Ranma said he fell in love with me… he did!

a stunned Ranma,

Kami-sama, I slipped… I told her! Now she knows…

and a helpless Ryouga.

He didn't have to say it! Now everything… everything won't be okay…

"Akane? Akane Tendo?"

The tense silence was broken. All three heads turned to the voice's direction, but no one replied to the tall, foreign-looking guy clad in a black overcoat. He made his way to Akane, unmindful of the two silent men eyeing him.

"Akane, we've got rehearsals right now. You haven't been attending the last two dry runs and Aiko-sensei's been fretting about that. Do you still memorize the dance?" He took her hand, not detecting the frowns forming on Ranma's and Ryouga's lips. "Come on, final practice. Tonight's the night, remember?"

No, she didn't. She forgot.

The newcomer looked at Ranma, and then Ryouga. "Oh, I see you're… I'm sorry. But please, gentlemen, let Akane attend the final practice for tonight's show. We've practiced very hard for this."

It was Ryouga who nodded. He didn't know that Akane had been practicing for a show, but the polite guy looked so imperative that he sensed it was very important.

"Well, that settles it. Come on, Akane," he said urgently, "they're all waiting for you at the studio." He pulled her hand and started to walk away.

"Jiro," Akane protested weakly to no avail. She let herself be dragged away from the park. Maybe it was better that way. She felt, more than ever, that everything was terribly erroneous. A day without thinking about her problems would do her soul good.

Ranma and Ryouga were left by themselves. For a while, Ryouga pitied his archenemy – Ranma finally gave way to the tears flowing silently down his cheeks, one of them red because of the slap Akane gave him. He looked like he'd gone through hell.

Then he shot Ryouga a fuming look.

"You pig," he sniped.

"Ranma, it's not what you think," Ryouga clarifed. "Akane definitely didn't make a fool out of you, and she didn't do anything wrong!"

"You're a pig from hell, P-chan," Ranma went on as if he didn't hear Ryouga. "You went behind my back. You're saying it's not that way?" He laughed mockingly. "Right!" He tried to keep calm, but resentment was evident in his voice.

Ryouga couldn't lay a finger on what was going on with Ranma.

I don't believe this guy! He's never acted this way; he never actually cared about Akane before. Then all of a sudden he's mad because Akane's decided to stick to another guy? It's just… unreasonable!

"You tell me, Saotome. You tell me."

"Oh, and now that! What are you talking about?"

Ryouga gave out a wry chuckle.

"You've never valued Akane before. You were always there, not to do her good, but to offend her. Don't you know that you're the reason she cried every night? She always asked me why things never go her way, why you can't ever love her. Why you can't ever love her, Ranma. She said those words, and it almost made me want to give up.

"But in most nights, whenever she entered her bedroom she always had a frown of her face, and it kept me hoping – hoping she would hate you for real, unlike the way she pretended to before. You know, it kept on going like that for a long while. She always cried over you, and it made me want to assure her that everything would be all right, but I couldn't because I'm a pig!"

As Ranma took in every word that Ryouga was saying, his head began to throb. If what Ryouga just said was the truth, then… then he'd completely lived the past year speciously.

"One night," Ryouga went on, his mouth overflowing with words he never would have confessed even to the holiest monk or priest, "she said something about a plan, and that the next in line was me. But she said she didn't want to hurt my feelings because I was a good friend. A friend, Ranma – it hurt me so much. Nevertheless, what hit me most was that Akane was hurt. She was clearly doing things she didn't want to do because of you. I swore I would kill you, Ranma, I did!"

Ranma knew that Ryouga wanted so much to defeat him, but to kill him? What did he make Akane do against her will that angered Ryouga so much, anyway? He didn't remember blackmailing Akane in any way…

"What did I do to her?" Ranma asked unrelentingly. "You keep accusing me of a crime I didn't even know I committed!"

Ryouga gave him a derisive laugh. "You're even more insensitive than Akane claimed you were! Come on Ranma, you know what I mean. Akane might seem to be strong-willed, which of course she is, but she has a sensitive personality. I observed it whenever she cried her heart out to P-chan every night. All those names you've called her, jokingly or not… the way you mocked every aspect of her being… the way you never cared for her…"

"I've always cared for Akane, and you know that," Ranma snapped defensively. Well, he did, truthfully! He was always worried for her because she was so stubborn and he had to get her out of hot water many times. Yes, Akane made it clear that she didn't want to be insulted, but of course nobody wants to be! Only now did he learn that Akane was a sensitive soul… and the way she reacted furiously with the names he'd been calling her was just some sort of façade to mask what she really felt.

"But you were insensitive even so," Ryouga snapped back.

He felt his whole being fall down in pieces. Ryouga said that Akane had asked P-chan why Ranma can't ever love her. Well, if malleting him out of orbit all the time was her way of showing her love, then Akane was way harder to decipher than he'd thought. Because of his failing to analyze her, Ranma was left with… well, nothing. But he still wasn't sure about the fact that Akane loved him. She was a straightforward person – she'd have told him about the way she felt!

Everything Ryouga'd been saying seemed somewhat impossible now.

"Speechless, aren't we?" Ryouga asked contemptuously. "Guilty? If you bowed down at Akane's feet and begged for forgiveness, maybe I'll change my mind about killing you."

"Why not just kill me now, Ryouga, huh?" Ranma challenged, finding new strength at the thought of what Ryouga was saying might not be entirely true. Maybe it was a new technique of his that Cologne taught him, where he found strength in the depression of his opponent. "Simply put, why didn't you just kill me in the past when you had the chance?"

He bought himself some time to evaluate what was going on. Since Akane had left, the things Ryouga told him seemed unbelievable. If he kept Ryouga talking, he can observe his aura and assess how powerful his attack was going to be.

"Because on the day I challenged you at Furinkan, you left. Escaped. Turned your head from battle, you coward."

Forget about the energy assessment, Ranma thought heatedly.

"I'm no coward!" he growled.

"You ran from battle; you can't deny it," Ryouga pressed on. "I don't know what happened between you and Akane when you left to chase her, but it changed the course of my life again. That night, Akane was cheerful when she talked about you. She asked me if I thought you liked her, and she asked me if I thought she was in love. That blew it, Ranma. She was in love with you."

It seemed unbelievable still, but Ryouga's pained expression told him that it was a hundred and one percent true. The Lost Boy could never disguise the emotions painted on his face.

Akane was in love with me! Why just… why just now? If only she were more transparent about her feelings, then I would have told her what I felt about her! This couldn't be happening…

He lost control of his mouth, he lost track of how Akane felt, he lost her, he lost the ability to speak, and he might as well have lost his sanity.

"Yeah, she was in love with you, Ranma," sighed Ryouga. "I thought it was the end of the world and I wanted to die. I wandered into old man Toda's property – the man couldn't have picked a better day to move – and lost control of myself until I felt deathly pain embracing my body. When you found me, I was so disgusted with you! You totally took Akane for granted, and yet she loved you. I was afraid that she would tell you about her feelings and end up even more hurt after you broke her heart. I swore I would change her mind about loving you! I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was in your house."

Because I brought you there, Ranma wanted to say as abhorrence surged though his veins. If I didn't, then you'd have been left in that forsaken place to die

"Akane visited me that night, and…" Ryouga paused, a smirk forming on his lips, "you don't want to know what happened. It was the happiest, most fortunate moment of my life, Ranma! She found the letter she sent as a reply to my ninja dog."

It hit Ranma like a block of cement. He remembered Akane asking him about why he didn't tell her who sent all those letters via the black-and-white ninja dog when they walked to school one morning, but he never got to answer her – or think about what could have happened that made her ask him about it – because she promptly told him about breaking their engagement. So… the night that Ryouga was talking about happened a few hours before Akane informed him about ending the engagement!

Ranma remembered seeing Ryouga's bag inside the room where they nursed him. A split second later, he realized that Akane must have seen her own reply in the bag! Why didn't he just throw it away, anyway?

Then the obvious truth came to him. Ryouga would never throw away anything Akane gave him, even her cooking. His tongue mutates into an Akane's-cooking-resistant muscle monster. And Ranma didn't know why, but out of nowhere a loud notion popped in his head that told him, "Ah, but if the ninja dog had gave you Akane's letter, you wouldn't throw it away either."

Still, the pig was a sneak! Just because Akane pitied him in his feeble, injured state didn't mean that he could take advantage of it and lure her into…

Ranma couldn't bear to think about it.

"You know what she said, Ranma? She said she was sorry – sorry for being blinded by her feelings for you, which you never returned. And Ranma," he took a deep breath, the smirk in his face complete, "we actually shared our first kiss together!"

His ability to speak seemed to have been truly lost as Ranma's jaw dropped. Damn, and he mentally swore just an hour ago when he discovered that he had fallen for Akane that he would never let any guy touch her – even the person whom she claimed she's fallen in love with!

Who was, technically, the man standing in front of him.

"What's important is that we were together, she said. Believe me, Ranma, all the thorns that pricked my heart were all removed at that moment. It made me happy that Akane wasn't going to suffer anymore from your inconsiderateness. Heck, I'd even forgotten that I turn into a little black pig when I come in contact with cold water! I've got Akane, Ranma, and you're not taking her away anymore. You don't deserve her. You deserve someone worse than yourself," he spat.

There was an uptight silence after that.

Ranma's tears had dried just before the tables turned, before Ryouga decanted his anger and Ranma trembled with the truth, but now they threatened more than ever to flood his face and obscure his picture as an indestructible martial artist.

He blinked to prevent teardrops from streaming out of his ducts.

Self control, Ranma told himself. His mind was numb from everything he'd just discovered, but despite that fact he managed to string those two words together. He had been degraded enough that morning, and he wasn't to be ruined even more.

"Nothing to say, Ranma?" Ryouga's voice called disdainfully. He waited for a minute, basking at the sight of his archenemy, who might as well have bowed in defeat, at his weakest. The pigtailed martial artist appeared to have clenched his mouth with glue, and Ryouga realized he was nowhere near saying anything rational.

"Goodbye, then."

He walked past the frozen Ranma, leaving him alone in the morning sunlight that did him no better than a cold winter night.