Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers.

Changed Overnight

Chapter Nine: A Night of Many Things

"Akane!"

Ranma heard screams just from the other side of the wall in the public baths.

"Akane's drowning, Yuka!"

Without a second thought, Ranma hurried to the ladies' section. His mind wasn't functioning – the thought of being beaten up by the girls there didn't come to him – the only thing that was in his head after he heard the screams was that he should save Akane from drowning.

Akane!

"Oh, Ranma!" Kasumi exhaled when Ranma came into the scene. Every naked girl who saw him screamed that there was a hentai in the room and began throwing things at him, but they were unaware that someone was drowning. Sayuri, who was in the swimming team, dove in the deep part of the baths as quickly as she could, but Ranma was quicker.

"Akane!" Ranma yelled as he dove in the warm waters. He searched and saw Akane's naked body drifting underwater, eyes closed, a last batch of bubbles escaping her mouth.

With fire burning in his eyes and his heart beating faster than ever, Ranma swam to Akane, wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her up to the surface of the water.

Many ladies gasped as they saw that someone almost drowned and some didn't mind about a guy being there because he, after all, kept her from drowning, but there were still the sexists who opposed about being there who shut their mouth since the saving was in process.

"Akane!" Sayuri, Yuka, Nabiki, and Kasumi gasped altogether. They swam to the shallowest edge of the baths as Ranma laid Akane's unconscious body on the floor at the side of the pool. He raised her head from the ground and listened if she was still breathing.

"Is she going to be okay?" Yuka asked.

"I think so… Ranma's going to make her okay," answered Sayuri.

"I wouldn't be sure," Kasumi uttered.

Ranma just looked at Akane. Her angelic face, her heavenly, wet body.

"Baka, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Nabiki suddenly shouted at Ranma, whose dreamy gaze at Akane's was broken.

"I-I don't know! I've never taken lifeguard lessons before!" Ranma was looking very desperate, but still the fire was burning in his eyes, like it was his task to always protect Akane and keep her from harm no matter what.

"Oh my," Kasumi sighed fearfully.

A faint but authoritative voice was becoming clearer and clearer. "Excuse me ladies, lifeguard coming through! Where is she?" The lifeguard searched the area and stopped at the sight of a naked Akane being held by Ranma (who was just wearing shorts).

Akane… Ranma…

"Ryouga-kun? You're a working as a lifeguard here?" Kasumi asked.

Ryouga could only nod.

"If you're a lifeguard, then do your damn business and save my sister's life!" Nabiki bellowed.

"Wha–… oh!" Ryouga hurried to the spot where Ranma was doing a terrible job of saving Akane's life. He hesitated. "Ranma… excuse me."

Ranma unwillingly moved over and watched as Ryouga tilted Akane's head… and gave her the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He began pressing down her bare chest in pulses as her breasts bounced with the rhythm, and then doing the mouth-to-mouth again until Akane gasped for air and coughed huge amounts of water from her lungs. She rolled opposite Ryouga's side and felt a jolt of pain inside her body.

"Akane, are you okay?" she heard the voice of her friend calling her. She fluttered her eyes and saw her two sisters and two friends looking expectantly at her.

"I'm… I'm okay."

The four sighed with relief, and so did the ladies in the area who were watching the scene anxiously. Akane sat up and felt herself being covered with a towel. She clutched the rest of it to cover her nakedness and looked at her savior. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Ryouga?" The name felt so odd when she said it. She hasn't called his name for a very long time. And then she felt something else – guilt and tension. When Ryouga had been gone a few days ago, he had missed things and probably still thought that everything's the same between him and Akane. How was she going to break it to him gently?

Or what if she just went back to him?

NO! Akane, stop it already! Akane rebuked herself. Now was the hardest part – she didn't know how to act towards her ex-boyfriend who doesn't know he's been marked 'ex' already.

Ryouga, on the other hand, tried to calm himself to no avail. Seeing Akane again (and this time not as a little black piglet), a while ago naked, at the moment barely covered, and sharing kisses with her (maybe not actual kisses because it was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but their lips touched still) made him blush to the roots of his hair. He was certain she didn't know that he knew about her sudden change of feelings, since he found it out at the park as P-chan. After all, the name she uttered when she was crying was not his, but Ranma's name.

Finally, he held out his hand. Akane took it, and he helped her get up. Her feet swayed a little, and out of instinct Ryouga held her waist and assisted her as she regained stability. They locked eyes for a moment, and what Akane saw in Ryouga was very different from the usual bliss he showed. She saw… defeat.

Without thinking, Akane put her arms around Ryouga and let the towel fall to the floor. Ryouga was stunned, but his arms landed around her waist. His body froze, feeling the whole front of Akane's body against his… her breasts, her stomach, everything at the front.

She tiptoed so that her mouth was almost level to his ear. "Ryouga…" Akane whispered so faintly in his that only Ryouga could hear. She kept herself from crying that she had been making soft choking sounds. "I'm sorry. I'm confused… I don't know what to do anymore. I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I want out…" She stopped and buried her face in the corner of his neck and shoulder for a second. Ryouga felt his insides ache with what she said. He knew what it meant.

"Thank you for saving me," she said, now loud enough for everybody to hear. She stepped back, reached for the towel and wrapped herself with it. She was about to get out of the room until she saw Ranma a few meters away. She stopped. And this time her heart did not skip a beat once, not twice. It stopped beating. And this time, too, she saw almost the same look in Ranma's eyes as she saw in Ryouga's – defeat, helplessness… only there was another thing she saw that she couldn't decipher.

I want to tell him now – everything – that I don't hate him, that I love him… but I can't…

Akane sensed everyone's eyes on her, so she thought better than spill all to Ranma in that place. She took a deep, shaky breath. Without turning around, she told the four companions she was with in the baths that she would go home already. She walked slowly, and as she glanced at Ranma her heart started beating again. She passed by him without a word and went into the changing room.

There was a long moment of silence in the spot where she left. The four ladies in the shallow part watched as Ryouga turned to Ranma. "Ranma, thank you for… for getting Akane out of the pool, or else she'd have swallowed more water and that wouldn't have been easy to save." His voice was sincere.

"It's okay," Ranma answered, unsure of what to do next to relieve the tension building up between them. In his head, he wanted things to go back the way they were – that he and Ryouga would always fight whenever they saw each other. But it was funny how love could turn things upside down, so he didn't count on anything to go back to normal.

"Er… this is the ladies' section of the public baths, so will you please…?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Ranma said. He looked around and saw ladies in the bath looking back at him. Some of them were frowning, but others had grateful, admiring smiles for saving Akane. Before he went out of the room, he returned the favor and thanked Ryouga for saving Akane.

And the next thing Ryouga knew he was hearing whispers from the ladies.

"That pigtailed guy was really brave, diving into the deepest part of the bath and all… and he's really cute!"

"Yeah, but that girl's life wouldn't have been saved if that hot lifeguard didn't do mouth-to-mouth. I wish I almost drowned!"

Before he could hear the rest of what they were saying and blush more, Ryouga faced all the women. "Everything's okay now. You just call on me if something goes wrong." And he left the room.

"Uhm… something's wrong, Mr. Lifeguard," a group of girls in one of the shallow sides started whispering and giggling. "We're drowning, too!"

"What happened there, boy?" Genma asked his son Ranma, who just came back from somewhere.

"Akane almost drowned."

"WHAT!" Soun roared. "Why didn't–"

"It's okay," Ranma interrupted his uncle. "Ryouga saved her."

While Genma was calming Soun down, Ranma waded to the other side of the men's bath and started wallowing in his thoughts.

Akane really had it in there. She almost died. Good thing her boyfriend Ryouga saved her, he mused sarcastically. She knew I was there, but look what she did! She was naked when she embraced Ryouga and went all mushy with him. And that black pig got it all. If only Akane knew that I took her out of the water…

I know she's been mad at me before. Of course it happened a million times. She'd call me a baka, a hentai, any bad name she wants to call me. Then she'd use her mallet to send me flying in the air like Batman. But hell I care, no matter what she did, she would always be Akane. The same thoughtful, clumsy, cute Akane I've known. I wasn't kidding about what I said near the ice cream parlor or back there in the house. And she thinks I'm a liar!

But when that Old Ghoul recorded it on tape… it sounded too mad. Like she was sure never to be… not mad at me anymore. I wonder what happened to her, because back there at the house, when she was angry with me, I looked through her and I was sure I could still find a way to make up with her. NO, I AIN'T GONNA GET SICK THIS TIME, I need to be strong for her! That damn illness struck me at the wrong time, and it was the reason why I came to tell her over and over again that I love her.

Ranma submerged his head in the water and quickly went back to the surface.

DAMN! I must have looked like a big sissy to her…

When she passed by me in the baths, she looked at me with no emotion at all. Or maybe she was telling me something. I'm sorry or I hate you, perhaps? Aw, damn all girls and their wiles!

I love Akane. She's been a very big part of my otherwise senseless life. But I can't help thinking, what she's doing with everybody is wrong! She runs to Ryouga, and in Kami-sama's blessing, she runs to me… but in turn she would eventually hate me all over and over and over and over again and I do what I can to tell her that I like her so much, then we're friends, and then she hates me again.

I'm tired of this! A man of martial arts does not bear with women who do not make up their minds. So if anybody asks, I'll just tell that… that Akane and I are no more. Hell, we were not together in the first place, our fathers did the engagement on their own! But really, I'll stop making us happen. And it will be me this time.

I just hope my will doesn't give in to the temptation of being with her…

And the flame that once burned so brightly in Ranma's eyes became faint – too faint until it was almost extinguished.

Akane had crawled under her sheets and screamed. After all, there was nobody in the house. She screamed at the top of her lungs, not even caring to muffle it with the pillow.

"Now, I really, really want everything to stop!" she yelled acrimoniously. She pounded the bed and screamed again and again, got out of the covers, paced her room, looked at the mirror and wrinkled her forehead.

"Will you please stop being a heartless, cruel little… aagh! I don't even know what to call you, Akane Tendo! You've gotten yourself into this without thinking what bad things could happen, and now you suffer! That's what you get for being such a…"

She stopped, her finger pointing at her reflection in the mirror, because the phone just rang. She hurried to the phone downstairs and calmed herself down before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak to Akane please?"

"Speaking… may I know who this is?"

"Hey, Akane. This is Jiro. From dance class?"

"Jiro…" Akane mused, trying to remember. She hasn't been attending dance classes lately. In fact, she's been neglecting a lot of things. But for the meantime she has got to remember who Jiro was. Jiro… brown hair, blue eyes, a friendly St. Hebereke senior.

"Jiro!" she exclaimed, remembering. "Why have you called?"

"Well, we missed you at dance class. Aiko-sensei was wondering where you've been."

"Er… well, I've been busy with… things. Maybe I'll attend the next lesson, if I can find time."

"No, that's not necessary. Tomorrow they'll go back ballet again because there are new students, and you can afford to miss that," Jiro chuckled.

Akane was not quite sure where this led. "Oh. So why did you call then?"

"Well," Jiro began. He took a deep breath. "I was wondering if we could… uhm… hang out after school."

"Oh." Akane was not thinking straight at the moment, because she had just recovered from a state of self-anger, and she probably might resume after the phone call. But she agreed anyway, because again she didn't think about what she put herself into.

It's just a date with a guy.

"Sure," Akane said.

Jiro's voice was happier. "That's cool! We'll see each other after school, then? Say… five o'clock?"

"Sure," she repeated.

"That would be great. So, yeah. Oyasumi nasai. See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

Akane hanged up, went back to her room, and faced the mirror once again. "Yes, Akane, as I was saying, you get yourself into things without thinking what might happen to you! Take now for instance, you just got yourself in a date with Jiro–"

It was then that she realized what she had really gotten herself into.

"This is what I'm talking about…" she moaned sullenly. "Just a date with a guy? Seriously! I've been dating two guys at the same time – well, not exactly dating or whatever – and here comes another one! Akane no baka!"

There was a knock on the door that made her jump.

"Akane?"

It was Kasumi's gentle voice.

"Kasumi onee-chan?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no! I was just… practicing my lines in the… poem recitation thing."

"Oh. Everybody just got back from the public baths and we're preparing to sleep. Ranma's on the rooftop, though. If you need anything before you go to sleep, just call me. I won't be sleeping in a few minutes since I have undone chores to do."

"Yeah, thanks."

Okay, so everybody's going to sleep in a while, but Ranma's up on the roof. Kasumi didn't have to tell me that… like I would even have the face to talk to him after making out with another guy in front of him, being naked and all. I mean, okay, not really making out, but all that whispering might have seemed to be that way. And… ugh! Sayuri's right, I was talking too fast in the mall, and now I'm thinking too fast that I deserve a record in Guinness. I have got to stop this. But… damn!

THAT HENTAI!

Not thinking again, Akane opened her window abruptly and climbed to the rooftop. She was clinging to the edge when she shouted, "Ranma!" with fury. She had been standing on the border of the roof and was about to step forward. "Ranma, you hentai!"

The pigtailed martial artist blinked. He had been spending his time, sitting on the rooftop, thinking about Akane and what to do with the injustice she's been showing, and here she comes, furious at him, without a reason!

"What did I do?"

"You perv– …aaah!" Before Akane could even finish, her foot slipped and she almost fell all the way down from up the roof, if not for Ranma's quick reflex. He grabbed her hand. His hold and her foot were the only things preventing her fall. She was tilted towards the air, well outside the perimeter of the roof.

"What now?" Ranma asked, as if Akane wasn't dangling at his mercy. "Why did you come storming here and screaming hentai?"

"First of all, pull me up, because I might fall!" Akane demanded.

"Well, I would… but no," he said, half laughing. "Tell me first why you've been screaming like a banshee. Or why don't you try pulling yourself up?"

"If I pull myself up, I pull you down, and you fall down with me, baka."

The present situation reminded them so much of the times before all of the unfortunate problems of love came into their lives. Ranma loved playing games with Akane – specifically when he was surely at the top and Akane would agree to his terms because she was powerless, or else she'd end up falling… until he'd catch her. All the same.

"You pervert! You didn't think I'd miss that, did you? Back there in the baths? You saw me naked! I know you did… and you just stared at me! You didn't even cover your eyes or anything! Hentaaaa–"

Ranma covered Akane's mouth with his other free hand. "Will you please keep it quiet? And how the heck could I have covered my eyes if I was busy saving your almost-over life? Another thing – everybody was watching anyway, so it's not as if I wanted to look at you, tomboy!"

Akane shook her head and Ranma's hand away so she could speak. "Wh–…" Then she stopped. First, because he called her a tomboy again, and that started to provoke the fury out of bad memories in her. Second, because Ranma said that he had saved her.

"You saved my life?"

Ranma paused and thought twice. If he told Akane that he did, she'll probably thank him. But that would mean sharing the credit with Ryouga, and Ryouga was in a bad state.

Why the hell am I thinking about credit? Of course it's my duty to save her from harm… I'm her… her fiancé!

"Well, yeah," he replied plainly. "I heard screams from the other room so I rushed, and before I knew it I was under the water pulling you up to the surface so you wouldn't–"

"You pulled me up, and I was naked! Ranma, that just proves that you're such a hentai! There were naked ladies in the area too… so you definitely saw them all. And will you just pull me up, because my hands are slipping!"

With his mouth agape in disbelief because of what Akane had just said (I SAVED HER LIFE, for heaven's sake!), Ranma rolled his eyes and pulled her towards him. She fell on top of his body and they landed on the roof, her face just an inch away from him, both of them shocked.

Ranma smelled a hint of oranges and strawberries in the air, but before he could get the whole of it, Akane rolled over so that both of them were lying on their backs, facing the night sky. After what seemed like forever, Akane muttered, "Hentai."

"Am not," Ranma opposed.

A minute's silence again.

"Thanks for saving my life."

Ranma's heart began to beat twice as fast. It had been such a long time since he heard Akane saying things to him that were actually nice. He didn't say anything, though – there was still tension surrounding the two of them, and he didn't know exactly how to get rid of it. Then his mind drifted.

"Well, Ryouga saw you naked, too!" Ranma kicked himself mentally for saying such a stupid thing. It was true, but he shouldn't have said it!

"He's the lifeguard!"

"Still, he saw you naked. And did you know he was working there?"

"No… that's why I was shocked to see him covering me with the towel. And if I knew he was working there, I never would have gone there to take a bath!" The moment she understood what she just said, she clasped her hand to her mouth.

Ranma put his hands behind his head. "Why so?"

Akane scolded herself for getting in the situation. "I… I don't know."

Instead of saying the same things he said a few days ago when they had their recent quarrel, that Akane doesn't love Ryouga at all, that he might have a chance, Ranma zipped his prone-to-harm mouth and let his good mouth do the talking. "What did you say to him when you… when you embraced him back there?"

Of course. I kept it from everyone, but I can never keep it from Ranma. At least he didn't hear it.

"Nothing. I was just opening and closing my mouth because I was, er… desperate for air. And what are you doing, asking what I said to him? It's none of your business."

"It is my business," Ranma said rather sternly. "You're my fiancé, right?"

It was actually one of the very few times that Ranma called Akane his fiancé and it surprised her that she didn't think about what she was about to say. "Like I said in the park, I'm calling it off."

"What? When did you say it?" Ranma was caught offhand, and he was trying to remember…

"Remember when we came home from school, and we were carrying all those tokens form my admirers?" Akane smiled smugly as she mentioned it. "I told you it's not working out. I told our fathers, but they didn't give their consent, so now I'm asking them again. Because… well, Ranma…" she faced him, leaning on her elbow, "I'm being choked up."

"Huh?" Ranma had finally remembered and turned his head to Akane's direction. "Of course you aren't. I already backed away, didn't I? It's you and Ryouga left now, and you could do anything you want."

"I know… I know you backed away. But…" Akane took a deep breath and exhaled. It took more than her guts to say this all, but telling someone would totally relieve her! "I was really confused. Everybody wanted me to get it over with you; even I wanted to. But there was a part of me that was quite unsure, so…"

Akane inhaled. She remembered the title of Nabiki's documentary: The Truth Shall Set You Free. Well, she hoped it was going to, because that was what she intended to tell Ranma finally.

"After our fathers disagreed about breaking the engagement, I postponed the second request for the break-up thing and waited. After that, my feelings for Ryouga…" Akane looked at Ranma, hoping he'd just say the damn words since he's said them before, because she felt guilty saying it.

Ranma looked at the sky still, his nostrils catching wisps of orange and strawberry-scented air.

"were gone," she finished.

Deep inside, Ranma was felt a balloon swelling up, but he tried to not show Akane that he felt that way. "So?"

"Well, weren't you the one who told me that? That I was just this… love buff who wanted to be loved so badly that I forced myself to fall in love with the first guy who came my way? That I didn't break up with Ryouga because it made me feel guilty? That I really just didn't… love him anymore?"

"Wait, first of all, I never said those words–"

"Well, you did, and if I'd have to jam that to your brain, I will, thank you very much! And I wasn't lying; you're really bullshit – bullshit for making me confused in the first place. You're the reason my life has become a mess."

Not being able to hold the swelling balloon in, Ranma grabbed Akane and deftly pushed her so that she was lying flat on her back, and he was on top of her.

"WHY? Why do you always blame everything on me? I've been doing nothing but saving your neck and hoping for your better living, yet you blame all the woes that come into your life on me. Yes, I've called you names before, but they were just to make you laugh because you were very serious with your life, which, mind you, has been perfect ever since! I don't even know what I'm doing here in Nerima. All I get are tits and ass shoved to me by worthless fiancées, and another fiancé who doesn't have control over her own life so she blames it all on me! Why are you doing this to me, huh?"

"Perfect?" Akane argued.

Oh, this is going to be a long night…

"Of course my life was perfect – until you came! And you're actually asking me why I'm doing this to you? Ranma, I'm not doing anything to you! You're the one messing my life up! For you, all those names you've called me were just a joke, but for me…"

Akane sobbed once, unable to finish what she said. The truth was, no matter how serious or unserious Ranma was when they argued and called each other names, she still felt the same pain, like some bee that stung her again and again.

"I'm just… sensitive," she murmured, unable to think properly and not wanting to continue ranting. She pushed Ranma away. "Get off me."

Ranma did and lay back beside her. "Tsk… you're drunk."

"Excuse me?"

Author's Notes: For one thing, Ryouga works in the hot pools because he will not turn into a black piglet in hot water. For the rest of your questions, send in your reviews or email me. I'll get back to you in the next chapter, which I promise will come out soon.