Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers.
Changed Overnight
Chapter Five: Nights of Glitter, Talk, and Despondency
The Nerima Auditorium was full. It was the first and final show of The Night of Corporal Symphony, an event that the administration of Nerima had organized. It was not a competition, as many had expected it to be, but a joint presentation incorporating a chosen set of high school students, each representing a particular school.
There were many people outside – the ones who didn't fit inside (or the unfortunate and/or imprudent students who lost their tickets), so they were forced to watch what was happening on the big screen that was situated on the auditorium's vast wall.
Ranma Saotome, however, didn't go inside. He sat on a rock under an oak tree far from the crowd, but near enough for him to be able to see the performers in the big screen. An hour ago he was having difficulty making his mind up about attending the event – he paced back and forth under the same tree, until he knew he had no choice when he tore his ticket up in agitation.
"And now," the commentator's deep voice thundered, "put your hands together for the delegates of Furinkan High and St. Hebereke High!"
Avid applause was heard even from the outside. The two delegates' friends, supporters and schoolmates cheered their lungs out – they had been zealous (and intrigued, having realized that the two rival schools had united in this event) about the performance the moment they learned about it.
The red curtains opened for the fourth time. The grand piano from the orchestra below the stage produced the poignant, mysterious low drone of Ludwig Van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata that resounded throughout the whole Nerima, courtesy of the high tech speakers the size of elephants located outside.
The spotlight scanned the walls inside the auditorium, stopping on the empty spot in the middle of the stage as if waiting for lightning to strike it. Just then, everyone was at the edge of their seats as the faint glow of the scene illuminated two figures gliding from opposite sides of the stage towards the spotlight.
As the second measure of Moonlight Sonata resonated into the audience's ears, Akane and Jiro came in full focus, ready to portray the romantic tragedy of The Princess and The Pauper from the 18th century. Akane wore a pink gown that brushed her thighs, and a tiara. Her legs were bare and her feet were in a pair of pink ballet flats. Her skin appeared porcelain white except for the blush on her cheeks, and her lips were as red as the rose – she was breathtaking. Jiro was wore a black, long-sleeved top made of spandex and black tights underneath the black overcoat he'd wore that morning when he came to pick Akane up in the park. He too was as pale as a ghost, except for his tinted lips and blue eyes that made him look angelic.
That's Akane! Ryouga, sitting with the Tendos in the audience, told himself breathlessly. Ryouga, that's your girl!
At first, Jiro and Akane encircled each other, and then Jiro danced around her with a face full of regret and melancholy as the second measure of the piano piece ended.
Under the oak tree outside the auditorium sat a pigtailed guy who might as well have had the same expression as Jiro's. Ranma couldn't control his tears as he watched the big screen – Akane's face was full of despair that definitely fitted the grave music, but he knew that behind that sad face was real sadness, and that he was the reason for it. He broke her heart, and thus she took refuge under Ryouga's love, but it wasn't soon until Ranma demanded an explanation for her inexplicable attitude. The answer Akane gave as an exchange for his confession – that he had loved her all along but never told her.
And, incidentally, it was too late. He lost her already. Kind of like the tragedy of The Princess and The Pauper, really.
"Isn't Akane Tendo a martial artist, too?" he heard a man's voice say. "She's so talented. Ballet and martial arts are two opposite things and she does them even without trying. She's the best, man!"
"Yeah, I know," a second guy answered, gazing at the screen. "But I'm sure neither of us would have a chance on her. In her school alone, every guy's crazy about her. And I heard she's already got a fiancé."
The first guy gasped. "What? She's only sixteen! But no wonder… she's what every man could ask for. Who's the lucky guy?"
Ranma took a deep breath. Well, here we go.
"I heard the name's…" the second man paused, trying to recall what he'd heard from the cheerleaders of his school. "Ranma Saotome – or something like that. He's a good-looking guy as I've heard from the girls in our school."
"Is he the one dancing with her up on the stage – the foreigner? He looks like a Ranma Saotome. I mean, a pretty girl's gotta have a pretty boyfriend."
"No idea, never seen him. But yeah, you've got a point."
Ranma grimaced. First of all, Jiro is absolutely no Ranma Saotome. Second of all… well, he wasn't her fiancé anymore – their parents agreed to the breaking of the engagement.
Of course, he had already left that early morning when the rest of the people in the household talked about it. Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome did not permit it. But Ranma didn't know that, so he was already convinced that he couldn't be more miserable.
"Wow. The perfect couple, huh? Their lives can't get any better than that."
More than ever, Ranma wanted this to be just some stupid nightmare in dream world. He'd wake up, get dressed for school, proceed to the dining room, and be welcomed by Akane's yapping. Then both of their fathers would remark on how cute they were as a couple.
No, that's the dream world, Ranma realized. Akane's through with me.
He continued to watch the big screen. Jiro had removed his black overcoat now, and he was trying to get through a circle of gray-clad men (back-up dancers whose roles were to play the army) who surrounded a struggling Akane, spinning rapidly on her place inside the wall of soldiers. Seeing that Jiro, the man they accused of plotting against the princess, had fled, the army retreated into the shadows, leaving the princess on the stage.
At the sound of the sonata's next measure, Akane Tendo, under the limelight that followed her every move, began her solo dance – the one that captured a thousand hearts that night. She proved herself more flexible than her schoolmates thought as she hopped from one place on the stage to another and stood on tiptoe after spinning. Of course, the fact that the audience understood that she was looking for her lost lover proved that she was not only a good dancer, but also an excellent interpreter. She waved her hands around slowly as she made one long jump, landing gracefully on the center of the stage.
Akane inhaled deeply as her eyes scanned the audience.
He's not here…
She stood on her left leg and slowly curled into a ball. Just then, it seemed that the whole audience had gasped as one – Akane fell on the floor! Some thought that she lost her balance, but the critics (and most of the audience, at that) knew that it was a sign of the princess' death.
Jiro came into the picture when the last measure of the sonata began. He did what looked like a desperate dance around the stage, as if he was in search of the princess. Finally, when he saw the princess' body, he took a big leap to the center of the stage and knelt down beside her, tearing his clothes in woe. As the Moonlight Sonata came into an end, a half-naked Jiro threw himself over Akane's body… and the spotlight faded at the final touch of the piano keys.
The whole auditorium shook with thunderous applause. Akane and Jiro proved to be worthy of not only one, but two standing ovations as the praise seemed to go on forever. Graceful. Elegant. Heavenly. Superb. No word could ever describe their performance that night.
After three more dances from the other schools and the grand finale where all the delegates participated, The Night of Corporal Symphony was finally over – but not for everybody.
The Tendo family, and of course Genma Saotome (it was the time of night when Happy raided the clotheslines for sweets, especially tonight when almost everybody in Nerima had attended the show, so he wasn't there), celebrated in a big bar not far from the auditorium. Somewhere along the way, they saw Ranma whom they managed to drag into the party.
But of course they weren't the only ones who celebrated. Everyone in the bar was happy, and Ranma tried his best to be happy as well – for Akane and her accomplishment, but it cannot be denied that he felt miserable the whole night. He sat quietly, eyeing Ryouga and Akane who looked like they were having the time of their lives huddled close together, listening to the band's music and taking little bites out of the delicious food Nabiki had offered to pay for.
There were quite a number of people in the bar – about two hundred. They were mostly people from the audience who came to celebrate with their friends who were in the show.
Silence fell when the music died down and a man wearing a tuxedo came, holding a microphone.
"People, we all know what happened in the Nerima auditorium tonight. There were amazing performances by our talented dancers – yes, all of the very good!"
The audience cheered in agreement.
"But there was this… particular performance that captured our hearts, am I right? I've watched the show myself, and might I say that The Princess and The Pauper was splendid!"
More cheers.
"And yes… when the princess died, I was absolutely saddened. Not only because of the tragic end, but because I knew that she had stopped dancing in the performance! The beautiful princess completely amazed me… and, I believe, all of you. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – the girl. Word says that she could also sing well, so may we please request her to come here and sing to the piano's melody? Let us welcome… Miss Akane Tendo!"
The whole room erupted with applause. Akane, though, didn't know about this and froze on her seat. Sayuri and Yuka waved to her from the crowd. Kuno was also waving from a table with his kendo team, exclaiming, "Tendo Akane, thou shall always have my love!"
"Oh, Kami," she gasped nervously.
Ryouga was sitting right beside her so he heard. He took her cold hand and squeezed it. "You'll be brilliant," he whispered. He stood and helped Akane up.
From that point, having received more than enough encouragement, Akane waved back to everybody else. She shyly made her way to the platform in the white, fit dress she changed into after the show. It emphasized her curves and made her the apple of everyone's eyes that night.
"Okay, what song do you guys want me to sing?" she asked lively, taking hold the microphone and leaning on the grand piano.
There were a couple of people who shouted out song titles. Akane listened for a title of a song she knew, and then whispered to the pianist who nodded his approval. The music began to flow out the grand piano that hushed everyone. They knew that in a few seconds, they were going to hear an angel sing.
Akane gulped one last time as the instrumental introduction ended and the first stanza had to be sung.
"Like the sound of silence calling
I hear your voice and suddenly I'm falling
Lost in a dream…"
"And what do you want me to say?" Akane heard Ranma speak as the memories flashed in her head. She remembered his strong grip pulling her closer to him. His sight never left hers, as if he could see into her soul. "Tell me. I'll say it, just for you to stop this foolishness."
"Like the echoes of our souls are meeting
I hear your voice, my heart stops beating
I wonder what it means…
What could it be that comes over me?
At times I can't move, at times I can hardly breathe…"
"Where did that girl go?" She remembered Ranma asking her, almost in a whisper. Right after that, she couldn't hold her feelings in anymore – she needed to have someone to cry to, and Ranma was right there to be her pillar of strength.
"When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment, there's no one else alive…"
"Akane, you've made a fool out of me," she heard him say.
She begged him to stop, but he didn't.
"All along, you have!"
Again, she pleaded to no avail.
"And to think I actually–"
Why couldn't he understand that he was hurting her that way?
"I ACTUALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU!"
"STOP!" she had yelled, right before slapping his cheek, before the deadly silence began.
"You're the one I've always thought of
I don't know why, but I feel sheltered in you love
You're where I belong…
And when you're with me, if I close my eyes
There are times I swear I feel like I can fly
For a moment in time…
Somewhere between the heavens and earth
I'm frozen in time, oh when you say those words…"
She blinked her tears away and kept herself singing.
"When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment, there's no one else alive…"
She smiled as the people clapped when she hit perfectly a particularly high note.
"And this journey that we're on
How far we've come and I celebrate every moment
When you say you love me
That's all you have to say, I'll always feel this way…
When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
In that moment, I know why I'm alive
When you say you love me…
When you say you love me
Do you know…"
The short second before the song's final line stretched for a minute in Akane's mind.
Ranma was fuming when he found out about Ryouga. Did that mean that he knew?
Did you know the whole time, Ranma? Do you really know…
"How I love you…"
The pianist hit the last note.
Deafening applause filled the big bar. Akane was beaming already, and it made her look even more beautiful. Everybody definitely loved her voice that could have sent any famous singer running.
Ranma, who sat alone at a separate table, still looked grave… but hearing her voice sing made him forget his troubles for three minutes. During the song, Ranma felt like he was floating on air as memories of the funny and intimate experiences he had with Akane played in his head like a movie. For the first time since a long while, an indication of a smile was traced on his lips.
And when it was over, he once again awakened to the bitter truth.
"Thank you all!"
Akane headed back to her table where she saw that her father, her uncle, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ryouga were clearly very proud of her.
"Just as I thought, you were brilliant," Ryouga whispered to Akane's ear as she sat down.
"Thanks, Ra–" she stopped. "Ryouga," she finished hastily, putting on a quick, tense smile on her face as Ryouga, who didn't seem to hear, planted a kiss on her cheek.
The hours that followed passed in a jiffy. After they ate their hearts out – it wasn't everyday that Nabiki was generous – they went home gleeful, content, and dead-tired.
Ranma couldn't sleep. Of course he couldn't, especially with his pop snoring like an erupting volcano. But as morning crept closer, he could no longer hear his pop's snores. All he could hear was Akane's voice singing that night. And although he was staring at the ceiling, what he saw were flashes of his own life before him.
Well, he knew it wasn't his death yet, but he realized that losing Akane was just as good as being dead. Memories of the first time they met came across him – the time his father dragged him into the Tendo dojo when turned into a girl in the rain and he was appointed to marry the girl who looked the strictest and toughest among the Tendo sisters. They never got along when Akane discovered he was a guy, especially when she walked into him in the bathroom and called him a pervert since then.
He remembered the time the frog man came to town and had almost splashed water from Jusenkyo on him that would turn him into a frog when hit with cold water. But Akane risked her life and got hit with the water instead. Ranma remembered crying his heart out and telling Akane she shouldn't have done it. He realized then, not for the first time, that she really cared for him. But the water was just normal, after all, and Akane had a trail on his feelings for her when she teased him about his tears.
Darn it!
He knew he had to stop thinking about her; she belonged to Ryouga now. He knew it was his fault in the first place for being so cynical and stubborn, yet a thought kept tugging at the back of his mind – he could do something about it if he wanted to. He waved his hand away to dismiss the persisting thought because he didn't want trouble anymore, but little did he know he was already squeezing everything out of his pillow, and feathers were all over the room. Most of all, he didn't know he was crying so the feathers stuck to his face.
He went out of his room when he found the urge to look at Akane.
Another one of those many nights…
He tried in the past to deny that he enjoyed seeing Akane sleep, whether he'd peeked through her window in the middle of the night or she'd drift into sleep while they were having study sessions. Now, he figured the truth couldn't make him feel worse, so he quit denying it.
He opened the door slowly and took a peek at the sleeping angel illuminated by the moonlight. Her slumber was so deep and she lay down innocently, so gently, that Ranma felt like it was as if she wasn't at all affected with what just happened in her life.
Ranma figured that if it was true (and it most probably was), one of the main reasons is that he gave her such a hard time when they were still together, that breaking up with him had lifted all her burdens. As he closed the door silently, defeat dominating his spirit, he headed downstairs to the kitchen.
When he saw the refrigerator open, he thought that it was just some careless oaf who forgot to close it, as what always happened before. But when he saw a dark figure emerging from behind the counter, it made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
"Show yourself!" he demanded after regaining his composure. He stood on fighting stance as he waited for the shadow to reveal its identity.
"Oi," Ryouga muttered plainly as he closed the fridge and sat on one of the chairs by the counter.
"R-Ryouga?"
Ranma exhaled in relief. He hesitated, but he sat down on one of the chairs by the counter anyway.
"What are you doing here?"
"I should ask you that," Ryouga replied, facing Ranma. "I could sleep like an infant anytime. You… well, you're going through things."
There was tense silence between the two of them for a few moments.
"So…" Ryouga began, trying to start a decent conversation. "How's it been the past few hours?"
Of course he meant how it had been for Ranma since he found out the truth yesterday morning. He was expecting him to say that he was fine – Ranma always kept his strong image – and indeed, Ranma did.
"Fine. Normal. You?"
"Great. Heaven. You sure nothing's wrong? The way I see it, you're taking it hard to the heart. I heard you moaning and crying in your sleep a while ago."
Ranma winced, and an even longer silence followed.
"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday," Ryouga apologized, ending the silence. "That was something harsh I did, shouting at you when you… well, you know."
"S'okay."
"It's just that…" Ryouga stopped, hesitating to continue. He took a deep breath. "I felt… threatened. You and Akane were always very close. And I knew that despite all the times you called her names, you cared for her."
"Since when?"
"Since I met her the first time when I challenged you in Furinkan. Yeah, you evidently had feelings for her. I don't know why she never noticed, or why you won't just tell her about it. That's why I let out my anger on you because you had everything that you needed and things always agreed with your fate, but you never told her. I wanted her to love me, let alone say my feelings so badly, but I couldn't. I kept wondering why you never revealed that you loved her."
Without thinking, Ranma snapped, "No, not loved, Ryouga. I still do."
Ryouga raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I-I'm sorry."
Ranma looked down on the floor.
"It's nothing. I know you still do."
Ryouga removed the bandana from his head.
"But right now, Ranma," he continued, "the most important thing is that she's happy with the person she's with. And at the moment, if it's one of us, it's me. You had your time, Ranma. It's almost been a year and you never made your move… My turn now and I think I'm doing it right."
Yeah, doing it right. Ranma wished he did it back then.
"Only one problem," Ryouga grumbled, banging his fist on the counter. "When she finds out I'm P-chan, there's no knowing what she could do. I just hope she accepts it, but I have the feeling she'll… break up with me."
Fear came upon Ryouga's face when he said it. Ranma couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy – his definition of Armageddon was the day that Akane found out about him being P-chan.
"I hope I could say it to her before she finds out from something… or someone," he added, glancing at Ranma.
Ranma knew what Ryouga meant when his eyes met the Lost Boy's. "Whoah. Don't worry, I won't spill the beans. I mean, I always tried before, but she never knew anyway." He grinned at Ryouga's worried figure.
"Better don't."
"Well, I won't."
They heard a dog howl from outside the lot as the third moment of silence passed.
"You know," Ryouga started, "it doesn't matter if it's you or me or anybody. All I want is for Akane to be happy – as long as she's in the right hands, the hands that would take care and protect her, I'm okay with it. Sure I'd be depressed, we all know that," he scoffed, "but her happiness is all I want. And right now, it's me… so I couldn't be more contented."
Yeah, Ryouga, Ranma thought, feeling his energy ebbing as every second ticked away. It's you.
"I'll go to sleep now," he mumbled, getting up from the chair.
"Well, I'm sure you can't, but you could stare at the ceiling until morning."
As Ranma turned his back, Ryouga added, "By the way, have you been messing around with Mousse?"
"Why?"
"You've got feathers all over your head."
Ranma hurried to the nearest mirror and discovered that the feathers from his pillow were sticking to his face the whole time, and Ryouga never told him. Nevertheless, he continued ambling towards his room hopelessly where he was welcomed by his father's destructive noise once again.
"Ranma, wake up, you're going to be late for school!" he heard his angel's voice waking him up the following morning. He slowly opened his eyes. "Come on, slowpoke," she said, turning to leave his room.
He remembered calling Akane back with harsh names whenever she bugged him in his sleep, but somehow he found himself saying a different thing.
"Akane, don't leave me."
Akane looked back. "What? Oh, okay, I'll help you up. They told me you never caught a wink last night, but you have to go to school still." She completely misunderstood what Ranma had said, but she helped him get up from bed anyway.
"Akane, don't leave me…" Ranma continued mumbling.
"Baka. I'm walking to school with you, how can I leave you?"
She took hold one of Ranma's hands and tried to pull him up, but he was too heavy. In fact, he wasn't moving at all. It was as if he didn't have a drop of energy left in his body – his eyes were half-closed, he was pale… and his whole room was a mess as if he'd been chasing ducks all night.
"Ranma, you're…" When she kneeled down and touched his forehead, she knew she'd made the decision to not go to school that day, or maybe the following days to come. "You're burning ill!"
"Don't… leave me…" he whispered feebly.
"I'll go get Kasumi, don't worry," Akane wheezed as she headed downstairs quickly.
A teardrop helplessly rolled down on Ranma's face as his sight dissolved in darkness.
There's something out there. I can feel something steadily pulsing… it's intelligible yet it feels so far…
Where am I? Why can't I see anything? What happened?
Akane… Damn, she left me for Ryouga, and it was my fault. I've been so harsh in the past – even when I've hurt her feelings, and even though I had the idea she had feelings for me. When I decided to tell her how I really felt, it was too late.
I'm tired of telling myself off and regretting everything. I wish everything would stay this way – dark – with no one around to listen to me and my stupid insensitivity except myself. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up. If I'm dying, I want to die completely.
But why's the pulse becoming clearer and clearer?
He heard the constant drip-drop of liquid just above him. Was it the rain leaking through the roof? Ranma tried to open his eyes, but it was as if he was lifting weights more than ten times heavier than himself. However, he managed to flutter his eyes. He was in a different place from the last he remembered.
Ranma tried and was successful in turning his head to find out where he really was. He realized he was in one of Dr. Tofu's room for the patients, and dextrose was applied to him. That was the dripping liquid from the pack, moving through the tube, to the needle inserted to his flesh, and into his veins. His sense of hearing was still as good as before.
But the dextrose wasn't the source of the pulses. He looked again and saw that it was a hand holding his.
The hand belonged to Akane Tendo.
She was sitting on a chair beside the bed, and her head was just beside his on the pillow that smelled strongly of alcohol. He saw in her expression that she was very tired, yet she was still holding his hand as if to assure him that everything was going to be okay and she'll always be there for him.
"A-Akane…" he whispered hoarsely.
She stirred.
"Akane…" he repeated, his voice no better than before. He tried to squeeze her hand, but all that came out was a little twitch of his thumb.
It was enough for Akane, though. She hastily opened her eyes and sighed worriedly. "Ranma!"
"Akane, y-you're here…"
"Of course I'm here," Akane breathed, teary-eyed. "Don't you dare do that to me again! You've been unconscious for a week! We had to feed you through that to keep you alive," she glanced at the pack of dextrose. "Your three fiancées were here and they all tried to help, but you were still out cold… even Dr. Tofu said just had to wait… you just don't know… oh, Ranma!" She sobbed and buried her head in the corner of Ranma's head and shoulder, not removing her hand interlocked with his.
"Please don't… cry…" Ranma was having difficulty speaking. He was very weak, like he came from some battle in the old English period, the type where the warriors fought in sword combat.
Akane sat on the space beside Ranma on the bed and looked at him. "How could I not? They all thought…" her voice broke off. "But I didn't – I knew you'd be okay. You just had to have the thing you needed to be all right."
"Baka…" Ranma blurted out faintly. Instead of grimacing, Akane smiled, seeing that Ranma was somehow back to himself. Ranma lifted his hand with difficulty and gently stroked her face. "I only needed… you."
Akane didn't say anything.
Ranma, we… we already said goodbye, right?
Please don't make it hard for me… whenever you do these things, I completely forget everything and melt upon hearing your words. Then it would just turn out to be a joke to tease me, so my heart breaks!
I don't want to go over it again. You and I are just friends. And I have Ryouga now – I've sworn to myself to love him, because he loves me so much and I know he'd never hurt me, unlike what you did. I need someone who could love me, Ranma, not someone who does otherwise.
What makes it bad is that no matter how you break it, my heart still calls out your name! It screams for you to love me back, because it has loved you for so long. Even though I know I should be in love with Ryouga, I couldn't help thinking that you've told me how you felt. However, I realize it's too late. I don't want to go back anymore.
But you're making me.
Please don't do this…
"No, it's not me you need," Akane replied hastily. "It's Shampoo. Or Ukyou. Or Kodachi. Not me. You want me to call them? I'm sure they want to know that you've regained consciousness. You know, they didn't like the idea of me watching over you because we had a d– Oh, I mean, they wanted to be the ones to look after you. But I assured them we were just friends now, so they agreed."
Ranma withdrew his hand from Akane's face, but he still looked straight into her eyes. "Why won't you just say it? I-I don't care about them, they're nothing compared to what I want to hear… from you."
"I…"
"Ohayou," greeted the voices of two males. Dr. Tofu and Ryouga were entering the room when they saw that Ranma had regained consciousness.
"Ranma, you're awake now!" Ryouga exclaimed as he closed the door behind him. "You don't know how much you've worried everyone." He went beside the bed near Akane and held her shoulders. "Everything fine, Akane?"
"Y-yes."
"Hmm… that's nice recovery, Ranma. You're getting your color back. Don't worry, you'll be out of here soon."
"Thanks, Dr. Tofu," Ranma managed to say a little cheerfully.
Just then, the window burst open and black rose petals flew around the room.
"Ahahahahah!"
It was spine chilling. Akane abruptly got up from the bed and stepped back beside Ryouga.
"Ranma-sama, you've awakened! Are you completely fine now? I'll send first-class–"
"No, I'm okay," Ranma interrupted her. When Kodachi took his hand, he couldn't move it back. Kodachi leaned in for a kiss when Ranma whispered a name that made her eyebrows twitch.
"Akane…"
The leotard-clad gymnast shot Akane a stern look. "Our deal," she mouthed, her eyes glinting dangerously.
Akane nodded.
"Nihao, Ranma!" The door crashed open and in came Shampoo carrying a delivery box. "Shampoo bring ramen for airen!"
"No thanks, Shampoo… I-I'm full."
"But you not eat in one week now!" the Amazon reasoned. "And what that lunatic doing, holding your hand?" she asked angrily, referring to Kodachi.
"Not h-hungry."
Suddenly, another girl's voice entered the room. "Ran-chan!"
Kami, Akane called out to the above, humor me. Is this another one of those awful fiancé reunions? Tell me! Because if it's not, I'll do an African tribal dance of joy in front of all these people.
Ukyou brought with her the delicious smell of okonomiyaki. She brought out her spatula and hit Shampoo on the head and dragged Kodachi away with it. "Ucchan at your service!"
"I'm n-not hungry!" Ranma tried to explain to the three women, but they were all forcing in on him.
Akane decided to leave and Ryouga followed her. She was almost out of the room when Ranma, with every ounce of his remaining energy, called out her name.
"Akane!"
It wasn't much of a shout – it was feeble – but everyone heard it. The three fiancées all shot her warning looks.
"Surely you haven't forgotten our deal, Akane?" asked Ukyou, her spatula shining hazardously in the light.
"No, I haven't," Akane said simply. She closed the door behind her.
Ranma wondered what that deal was as he asked Dr. Tofu to make his visitors leave him so he could get some peace. Dr. Tofu wasn't successful because the girls wouldn't listen to him, so Ranma ended up eating Shampoo's and Ukyou's cooking, and a whole turkey courtesy of Sasuke's instant delivery.
Ryouga, however, knew a little something about the deal. He remembered Akane saying something about it when he was P-chan – it was part of a plan… the plan.
"Akane-san," he began as they made the walk home.
"Hm?" Akane asked, not looking at him, but down the pavement instead.
"What was that deal about?"
"Huh?"
It definitely caught Akane's attention. She had no intention of telling him. And besides, she's abandoned her plan when she realized that it was doing more damage than good. She even forgot about the deals she made with the three fiancées.
"The deal? That was nothing. We were just… oh, it's not important," Akane scoffed, her tone indicating that she's not doing any more talking.
Boy, I'm in hotter water now.
Author's Notes: The song Akane sang in the bar is Josh Groban's When You Say You Love Me. I thought I'd add a little interpretation of the song from Akane's viewpoint, and it turned out quite nicely, I guess. (",)