Author's Notes: Life is all about ass – you're either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, or behaving like one.

Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers. Know what, I'm getting tired of this.

Changed Overnight

Chapter Ten: Persistent Doubts and The Power of Three

"You're drunk, Akane," Ranma repeated.

Akane, not having the slightest idea where Ranma wanted this to lead, countered, "I don't drink!"

"Well, you're mentally drunk!" insisted Ranma lamely. Again, he mentally kicked himself for saying something stupid. He hated looking stupid, let alone sounding stupid in front of Akane. "Er… drunk people don't know what they talk about."

Akane thought Ranma had a screw loose. "Mentally drunk?" she repeated sarcastically. "Yeah, and dad's actually King of England. I totally know what I'm talking about, Ranma, and it's true." Finally, she stood up and balanced herself on the roof. "I tried," she said, "but you just blew the chance away."

When she started walking towards where she came in, Ranma got up on his feet. "Wait, I blew the chance away? Me? You were the one who got mad back there in Cat Restaurant!"

"Oh, and now you're–" Akane paused, realizing what Ranma just said. "What?"

"Back there. The Amazons played back a recorder. You were pretty mad at me."

Akane apprehended that this was the perfect time to explain to him what happened! If things went smoothly and everything was okay again, then maybe…

"Yes, that was me, but it wasn't you," she said, thinking about everything Nabiki showed her.

"What?" Ranma apparently didn't understand what she was talking about. Who would?

"Cologne disguised herself, so did Shampoo. I was angry at them, not you! Well, maybe I was mad at you, too, but it was Shampoo who said those things…" She knew she wasn't making sense, without even looking at Ranma's bewildered face. "Look," she started all over again, right after taking a deep breath. "Cologne and Shampoo used some human plaster from China so they looked exactly like the people they wanted to be. Cologne became Shampoo, Shampoo became you. She told me to leave, that you don't want to have anything to do with me because I'm just a… silly little barbarian who can't cook, a kawaiikune baka, and… that you c-can't possibly love me."

Right then and there, Akane's legs wanted to give way after she said those words. They were too painful to remember, even though she already found out that it wasn't Ranma who said them. Shampoo had Ranma's face, body, voice, everything. Saying that was like Ranma saying the same things.

Right then and there, too, Ranma just wanted to surround Akane and prove to her how he loves her, just to take away the forlorn look in her eyes. All the thoughts he had in the hot baths when he considered giving up on Akane were gone instantly. And he did – straight away, he embraced her. "You know I could never say that to you," he said gently.

"Well, you have," Akane insisted weakly. She wanted to melt in his arms – she hadn't felt what it was like for a very long time. It was as if everything never happened – her plan to keep herself away from him, the deals she made with the other fiancées, the hatred she felt… everything. For a moment she thought of banging her head on the hard roof so she'd have partial amnesia and forget about all the bad things that happened between them!

But she didn't, because all her thoughts slipped away slowly from her mind, and all she was thinking of was Ranma, his hands around her, his warm breath upon her neck. And just as she was opening her mouth to apologize for all the terrible things she has done, Ranma opened his first.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Akane sobbed once and pounded Ranma's chest one time with all her might, which at the moment wasn't too powerful as it was since she felt weak with what was happening. "You're so stubborn," she cried. "Why are you apologizing now when you haven't before? You shouldn't. It's me."

Ranma embraced her tighter. "I started apologizing a long time ago. You just didn't hear me out." He took a deep breath with a trace of mild exasperation. "Akane, you're too proud. And though I didn't want to call you selfish, sometimes you could be. I'm human, too! I may have been hurtful to you before… but I've changed. And even before, when you shot things back at me, I've been hurt. You just don't know what–"

"Why?" Akane interrupted. "Why have you changed? You know, things were better off with you being cynical. Back then the routine was the same – you call me names, I call you names. You tease me, I throw things at you. You laugh at me, I get mad. I know I started this whole thing with the whole kissing Kuno thing, but still! You should have done it your way and showed nothing about the incident and continued laughing at me!" She pounded his chest again, though gently, pleadingly. "Then I should have stopped the whole thing in vain," she said in defeat.

"Why have I changed, Akane?" Ranma took a deep breath, still holding her, the orange-strawberry scent from Akane's hair seeping into his lungs once more, and then sighed. "I can't bear seeing you getting hurt, much more when I know the reason is me. I told you I love you, and it ain't gonna change. You can kiss Kuno a million times or sleep with P-chan naked, but I ain't giving up. I'll apologize again and again if I have to. I don't know, maybe it hasn't gotten into your mind much since I tried to tell you… but I hope tonight you could finally process it – I love you. That's why."

And it just took those three words. Something threatened to burst inside Akane's chest, something she totally couldn't suppress that she had to let it out before it killed her! She had to do something… something very STRONG to let the feeling out…

SLAP!

That was what went on inside Akane's mind. Her slaps were violent enough, but she didn't slap Ranma at all.

Instead, she squinted at Ranma, all the while holding both sides of his face with her hands, and drew him closer to her. Within a split second, a jolt of electricity came sending through their bodies as they had their first real kiss.

Ranma's eyes grew wide as they locked with Akane's closed ones… and her serenity was just too infectious to not follow. Slowly his eyelids closed, leaving any sign of energy, as all the vigor from them transferred miraculously to his tongue that started moving inside Akane's mouth. He didn't know where it came from, but it just happened.

Akane gasped, but before she knew it, her tongue responded to Ranma's which was starting to need her attention. Ranma's arms around her tightened and her arms around his neck slid down, feeling his chest.

If you want to be satisfied, Akane thought again after a long, troubled period of time battling with Ranma's, Ryouga's, her, and everybody else's feelings as she let out a short exhale.

Let your conscience be your guide.

A final second and out of breath, their tongues uncoiled from each other. Ranma buried his face in the corner of Akane's neck and her shoulder, and the smell of sweet oranges and strawberries intoxicated him again.

And right now, Akane went in her head, my conscience says… he's the one.

She kissed the spot behind his ear and stroked his hair. "You know what? For a second there, I considered slapping your face, or perhaps summoning my mallet with some spell to mallet you out of the country. And what did you mean by sleep with P-chan naked? You give malice even with me sleeping with my pet! Kami, I really am going to mallet you…"

Ranma thought he'd heard wrong. "What?" Okay. A split second ago they were sharing passionate kisses with each other, and now… "W-what?" he repeated as he quickly slid his hands from her waist to her arms, holding her a foot-length away.

"I said, baka," Akane whispered as she gave him a sudden smooch on the lips. "I love you, too."

And whatever expression Ranma had (which was an overrating of surprise) when he heard the she-almost-considered-breaking-my-heart note hopped up a few levels – his heart was beating faster than the heart attack rate, his face was redder than the ripest tomato, and the feeble fire that burned in his eyes suddenly exploded and burned with more than ten times the recent time. It was his turn to feel that something had to be done to free the suppressed feeling inside of him…

A moment later, almost all of Nerima was awakened by a loud yell of "YES!" made by Ranma Saotome from the rooftop of the Tendo dojo.

"Akane… is that what I think it is?"

Without needing a mirror to see what her friends were fussing about, Akane knew immediately and blushed.

"It's a… a you-know-what! Oh… my… Kami…" was all Yuka could utter.

"It couldn't be Ryouga who gave you that, he was still there doing his lifeguard job when you left. It can't be Kuno because I heard that a doctor told him to get a lot of rest after he was found beat up in front of his mansion, and until now he's at home with some nasty broken bones. It couldn't be Hiroshi because I'm dating him now, and not Daisuke because Yuka's dating him. And besides, they're not your type… so that leaves…" Sayuri's voice faded, with a tone of suggesting that Akane would have to finish the sentence.

Akane smiled and sighed, unmindful of the wind blowing her hair back, thus exposing the mark on her neck. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Oh jeez!" Yuka exclaimed. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Well, things just came one after another, and the next thing I knew I was on the rooftop with him, talking about things… and the rest was, I guess, history," Akane half-whispered, then giggled. "Oh, Sayuri, Yuka!" She took Sayuri's and Yuka's hands and sashayed them on the sports field in school. Most of the soccer players bumped into each other as they were in awe of the cute Akane dancing in delight.

"Kami, Akane…" Sayuri said.

"Yeah, Akane… Kami," Yuka echoed. "You know what? If people didn't know you better, you'd be a big flirt in their eyes, considering your past boys-are-toys attitude since a few weeks ago. Good thing the people here know you."

Akane stopped. "Big flirt?" She looked at the sky and thought about it. Yeah, she'd kissed Kuno, she'd accepted all tokens from her admirers, she'd mingled with the boys, she'd been with Ryouga, and now she's with Ranma… though people didn't know yet that she's broken up officially with Ryouga already. If she wasn't Akane, she'd call her a big flirt, too.

"Akane?" Yuka called. Akane snapped out of her fretful thoughts. "Aren't you gonna do anything about that?"

"What that?" Akane asked, losing track of everything that happened a few moments ago because of the reign of karma in her mind.

"That kiss mark Ranma gave you," answered Yuka. "Remember?" she added sarcastically, unaware of her friend's troubled state of mind.

Akane mouthed an "Oh" and said, "No, it's okay. It's kind of like Ranma's trademark or something. I guess it'll be hard for me and Ranma to tell everybody that we're us now, even though he confessed his undying love for me last night and swore he's never going to be ashamed and all that… I mean, of course he's been my fiancé for like a year now, but it's really different when we both accept that fact. It's like, now we really are fiancées."

"Okay," Sayuri began. "You know, that kiss mark's screaming out, Akane Tendo: Property of Ranma Saotome. What did you say about boys treating girls like property again?"

"Not this…" Akane started, frantically searching for the right words to explain to her two seemingly narrow-minded friends. "Think of it as a… a poster saying Akane and Ranma are a real item now."

"AKANE AND RANMA ARE A REAL ITEM NOW!" screamed a girl not too far from them. When the three of them looked, they saw that that girl was from a group called Butterflies, a sorority with members quite both famous and infamous in school, and it was a well-known fact that Ranma was in their top 5 hottie list.

Akane turned back, and so did Sayuri and Yuka as they continued walking. "Well, Akane," Yuki said, "now you don't have to worry about the school not knowing."

The sun was setting, and Ranma and Akane made their way through the streets of Nerima to their home. Walking side by side but a few meters away from each other, both were quiet… and if one didn't know they were a couple, he'd mistake them as two students who didn't know each other and just happened to walk the same direction.

"Okay, so–"

"You won't be ashamed when the people begin to know, will you?" interrupted Akane.

Ranma was caught unaware, that he didn't fully understand what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You won't be… will you?" Akane gazed at him with a confused look in her eyes, which were doing the job of explicating to him what she just asked.

"Kami-sama," Ranma sighed with a trace of a smile on his lips. He took Akane's hand, led her into a grassy empty lot and pushed her gently so that her back was flat against the tall wooden fence and his body was against hers as the same heavenly fruity scent welcomed his nostrils again. Akane showed the same questioning look, but her eyes widened a bit when Ranma held her chin and leaned close that their lips were only an inch apart. "You're Akane Tendo. Why would I?" he smiled as his gaze shifted from her eyes to her lips, and after a split second he gave her a deep kiss that sent shivers throughout her body. He spotted a raw, pink kiss mark on her neck and chuckled. "That wouldn't happen to be of my doing, would it?"

Her hands crawled slowly to his shoulders as she giggled. "Whoever was I with last night?"

He kissed her once more. "Now do you want more of that?" Ranma asked with an obvious tone of longing in his voice, his hands crawling towards Akane's hips. "I don't mind staying in this grassy empty lot 'til morning if–"

"No… y-yeah. NO. Ranma, it's just that…" Akane started, the smile on her face fading. She didn't know how to continue. Nor did she know what put herself into in the first place, and she felt like a jerk. And her she didn't let her brain think a second before she said the same thing.

"I feel like a jerk."

Ranma's brow produced wrinkles on his forehead. "Mentally drunk again?"

She lightly pressed her crumpled fist against his chest and focused on not creating eye contact with those strong and deep blue eyes. "Ugh, maybe. Let's just go home, that was just nothing." Akane gently pushed Ranma from herself, but she did not walk more than one step before Ranma took her hand and held her close.

"I…" he whispered, kissing her forehead.

"Love…"

He kissed her nose.

"You…"

He kissed her lips.

"And there's nothing anybody can do about it."

Akane stood there, frozen. Is this the karma she was expecting? If it was, then she'd wish that karma would hit her over and over again! She had done many unforgivable things to Ranma before. It was she who was the insensitive jerk, not him. All the names he'd called her were nothing compared to the hurt she's done to him. In fact, she didn't deserve Ranma at all! He's loving, forgiving and assuring… as opposed to her – unconfident, hesitant, and a player.

"Now let's…" Ranma swept his arms under Akane, hiding his wince as a pulse of pain shot through his rib, and carried her, "…go home before the telephone starts ringing and everybody at home would be bewildered with screams from the people at school."

A few minutes later, the two arrived home. Ranma was summoned by Genma for a training match in the dojo, while Akane went straight to her room to quickly finish her homework and provide time for her mind to think about everything that happened so fast. Not a minute has passed, though, when the phone rang downstairs.

"Akane-chan, it's yours," Kasumi said after knocking on Akane's door.

"I'll be right there," Akane called as she slipped into her slippers. She went downstairs to answer the phone, and totally realized what she got herself into last night.

"Oh yeah, Jiro… that was today… I completely forgot! I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely.

"No, it's okay. I haven't waited long, and the setting in the restaurant's actually fine. So can you still come?"

Having a boyfriend while having a date with another guy is a bad thing, Akane told herself. You should just cancel the date and tell Jiro and explain that you're in a relationship with Ranma. Okay?

"Okay, why not?" Akane said breezily, all the while mentally pounding herself for saying the opposite of what she wanted to say. "I'll be there soon."

When they've finally hung up, Akane walked falteringly to her room, wondering why she's been such a weakling for the past few weeks. Engaging in a relationship with the guy she truly loves, she expected herself to finally have perspective and become strong again.

But she didn't. And now her mouth has been acting against her will.

Thus, she wasn't surprised when later she found herself inside a restaurant called Alfredo's Place, sitting across a brown-haired, blue-eyed guy she only knew in dance class (albeit handsome, in fairness)… another proof of her new theory that an alien resides in her body, controlling her every move and every word she utters.

"Before I called you, I thought you weren't really coming in the first place," Jiro said after giving wonderful comments on the short pink dress Akane was wearing.

"No, Jiro… I did agree when you called me up. I'm a woman of my word, I guess, but I forgot. I'm sorry. But really, I made up my mind to go."

A stupid mistake it was, too, Akane said to herself. She wondered what Ranma would do if he knew about this.

In the world of dating, there are basically two kinds of dates: the successful and the… well, unsuccessful. Akane was not actually the date-girl material in her early teenhood, since every guy who asked her out ended up hanging somewhere on a wall or a tree, or his body in pieces down some alley. But yes, she did go out a few times, and most were unsuccessful as many of her dates came to school the following day bawling and speechless.

And the date with Jiro was… mostly satisfying. He was a gallant man, after all, having discovered that he came from a very rich and respectable family. He treated her very well and showed good intentions. After they dined at Alfredo's where both got a little drunk on the wine, they headed to Jiro's Ferrari so he could drive her home.

I just know something's wrong, Ranma mused. He looked at the clock. 11 pm. All he discerned was that Akane went out to get something as Kasumi said, but he knew she should have been home at most eight.

He sat by the dinner table, the television his company for the night. Kasumi had gone off to sleep a few minutes ago, and so did the rest of the family an hour ago. Apparently they thought Akane was a big girl who could fend for herself. Ranma believed that, too - heck, Akane was a macho chick! She beat the guts out of the Furinkan Hentai Horde every morning in the past.

But he just had a bad feeling.

Ranma rushed out of the house in a hurry, leaving the television on.

Akane and Jiro both let out a heartfelt laugh.

"Yeah, that even made her seem more of a lunatic!" Akane exclaimed.

"No, actually, she is a lunatic. When we were ten she performed this weird ballet dance around the voltage regulator at school, then she shouted and cackled like some crazed voodoo master. Next thing we knew, she was rushed to the hospital! It appeared that she didn't know what the regulator was for, and she messed around with it and got electrocuted. She was so stupid!"

"Oh, so she and her brother never went to the same school… ever?"

"She has a brother?" Jiro raised in amazement. Having been schoolmates with Kodachi in St. Hebereke school had been weird enough with her around, and now this girl was telling him she had an equally, if not more, crazy sibling.

"Why, of course! The two crazed lunatics, Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno. And then there's their father, the Hawaiian principal of Furinkan. I doubt their mother was even normal."

They burst in laughter again.

Akane was somewhat pink. Not only her cheeks, but her whole face. The effect of the wine was getting to her, and also to Jiro who drank as well. Akane had advised Jiro to hire a taxi instead, since the drink and drive thing was just not good. But since they were both drunk… well, people are not themselves when they're drunk.

"Watch out for that–"

CRASH!

Two minutes later, Akane spoke, her voice muffled. "If not for the white, puffs-when-the-car-crashes airbags, we're like…"

"Dead." Jiro finished it for her.

And then they both laughed at their own mishap. Yeah, there was the ruined Ferrari, and a horribly bent streetlight. But they were both drunk anyway.

The airbags deflated.

"Oh, lucky us," Jiro noted happily. The streetlight they just crashed into was right by the walls of Jiro's manor.

Akane was too drowsy to speak. Both were equally intoxicated, but Jiro was more used to it. When he turned twelve, he started drinking on account of his other rich friends' peer pressure, so he was more sober than Akane in the present state. He carried her inside his manor and laid her on the zebra-striped sofa as he sat beside her.

"Akane, you'd better be sober soon. Your dad's going to kill me if he finds out you're drunk when you come home," he whispered in Akane's ear.

"My dad doesn't even know you. And I don't want to go home yet. I'm too tiiired…"

"Well, that's why you're coming home – so you could rest, right?" Jiro stifled a yawn to no avail.

"They'll understand. Besides," Akane said, glancing at the grandfather clock just ahead, "it's eleven. Everybody's asleep. Come to think of it, I'm sleepy too…" She yawned.

Yes, she was drunk, but being drunk didn't mean she's lost her full thinking ability. She knew her father was going to be mad the next morning, and Ranma would probably scold her and everything… he'd probably resort to calling her names again just to tell her off. However, she was very weary and felt lazy to go home and deal with the people there about the drinking she did. All she wanted was a good night's sleep, and she knew she could trust that Jiro would take care of her. She barely spent two months with the guy in dance class, but he was really nice and kindhearted and gentlemanly.

"The things I have to do for women…" Jiro muttered. "Fine. I'll have the guest room arranged. That okay with you?"

No answer.

"Akane?"

He looked at Akane. She was asleep. He heaved a sigh.

A few moments later, he received a bottle of brandy from his butler as he ordered for the guest room to be arranged. As he gulped the burning liquid like water from a plastic bottle, his senses were fogged. His vision was blurry for a second. And when he looked at Akane again, a familiar hunger rushed through him.

Deep in his mind, a feeble voice sighed. "And the record of four months and five days without the sexual instinct is broken."

A few minutes later, Akane thought Ranma was waking her up with his kisses. He kissed her lips, her ear, her jaw line, her neck. She didn't remember what happened, but she had a feeling she was asleep on her bed a few moments ago when Ranma entered her room to engage in some nightly activity.

"Ranma…"

The kisses stopped. Akane opened her eyes. "Why did you st–?"

Kami, she thought. His lips came in contact with hers again as she took in the strong smell of brandy, and his tongue was halfway inside her mouth as it invaded, but she pushed him away.

"Jiro, what are you doing?" Akane sat up and a ripple of pain rushed in her head. As she looked around, she realized she was nowhere she knew. There was a warm fire burning in the fireplace a few meters away, providing the only light in the Victorian inspired room. Jiro sat right beside her on a red canopy bed. She closed her eyes for a second as she massaged her temples. Maybe she was just dreaming.

But when she felt Jiro pushing her down, she knew this was no dream.

"What are you doing?" she demanded again.

He maneuvered himself so that he was on top of her. Akane tried to push him but her head felt like splitting into half as she did so. Without a word, he slid down the straps of her pink dress.

At this point Akane tried slapping Jiro like mad, but most of them didn't even reach him on account of her being dizzy, until he pinned her hands on the bed with his. She kicked him away and was almost successful until he pinned down her legs with his. She was trapped.

"Jiro, stop!" She yelled angrily as he groped her chest with his tongue. She tried hitting her knee to his groin but only came a little close.

For a second, Jiro let go of her right hand so he could push Akane's dress up… for the ultimate prize lies underneath. That was a mistake. With all the strength she had left, Akane landed a punch on Jiro's cheek.

"Hentaaaiii!"

It sent him flying to the wall.

"NEVER," Akane gasped as she sat up. "DO THAT TO ME," she put on her stilettos and walked towards a groaning Jiro. "AGAIN," she grumbled dangerously as she put the heel of her stiletto right at the spot where Jiro's private part lay and stepped on it.

"AAAAAGH!" was all Jiro could shout, with his broken back and scrambled eggs.

Akane turned around to face the door.

And then she knew this probably was a dream. A terrible nightmare.

Ranma's stunned figure met her eyes.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto," she sighed as the last bit of strength left in her body ebbed away.

Ranma enjoyed the tickling sensation under his feet as he soaked them in the koi pond. He was lying down on the grass in the Tendo's lawn, facing the sun which was beginning to burn his skin. His eyes were focused on some puff of cloud, but he felt like the heat was starting to blur his eyesight.

"Baka," he started out of nowhere, talking to nobody in particular with a hint of a grudge in his voice. "That baka hentai. Jiro."

His eyes swept the sky and he saw a cloud form that made his heart flutter with two different feelings. Akane's face made out of cotton beamed at him from up above, making him feel all tingly inside… but also annoyed.

How many times did she have to be reminded that she's an outrageously beautiful and desirable woman that ever since her performance during and after her debut night, men of all ages have been desperate just to take a look at her in personal? And how on earth didn't she realize that this publicity cost her her privacy, and that people might be sucking up to her all the time just to get inside her panties?

"Baka!" he grumbled.

"Ranma-kun!" Kasumi's voice rang from upstairs. "Akane's awake now."

As if his life depended on it, Ranma jumped up in a flash, wiped his feet on the kitchen rug, and dashed upstairs where Kasumi was just closing Akane's door, greeting him with nothing more than a friendly smile.

Ranma opened the door slowly and saw Akane lying under the covers of her bed. Her eyes met his with a… somewhat withdrawn, rueful look.

He closed the door behind him. Then without warning, he was suddenly beside Akane on her bed and held her in a tight embrace. "Baka," he whispered before kissing her. "Baka," he said again, giving her a deeper kiss. Akane just gazed intently, a bit incredulously into his blue eyes.

"Why'd you run off with that guy anyway? I know you've known him for a while, but you can't be too careful now. You… you could have–"

"I'm sorry…" Akane said. She held his face with both hands. "I'm sorry for being such a stupid girl." She meant to say a lot of things but she wasn't able to continue. A second before she began, she knew this was the start of a breakdown. She felt guilty about everything she had ever done, and she felt guilty about everything she was doing. Last night just proved how unfaithful she was, and how she could make the most stupid of decisions, drunk or not.

Ranma was confused for a moment, but decided to keep his brain intact. There was no way he would allow seeing her hurt. "You're still drunk, aren't you?" he chuckled. "Let's just eat lunch, shall we? You haven't had breakfast." Without waiting for a reply, he carried her all the way down the end of the stairs. Their parents still didn't know that they were a pair now, and he wanted them to know by Akane and him telling them together.

Maybe tonight, when Akane would be feeling a little better.

"Kasumi onee-chan, have you noticed something different about Ranma lately?" Akane asked in the most casual voice she could produce as she was making devil's chocolate cake with her sister the following afternoon.

The eldest Tendo sister was just finishing the process of mixing the chocolate ingredients in a bowl. "Different? In what way?"

"Well… different in a… different way."

She began putting the batter into the cake mould. "Is different bad?" Kasumi asked.

"No… yes… m-maybe," Akane stuttered.

"Well, you have been different, haven't you?"

"What?" She was different? Okay, she knew she had gone through a few changes in her wardrobe with all the girly dresses and high heels from the recent shopping sprees she had with Sayuri and Yuka, but other than that, she was certain she didn't change one bit. "How?"

"You should know that yourself, Akane-chan," Kasumi smiled, "but since people are barely conscious of the changes going on with their personality, I'll help." She tasted the batter and licked her upper lip contentedly.

"Akane, you've been… subtle lately. Delicate. More feminine."

"Oh, that would have to be my choice of clothes. I know it's been too severe a change, but Sayuri and Yuki have influenced me a lot. Maybe… I have finally left that tomboy in me to wither and die," Akane laughed at her own words.

"No, apart from that…" Kasumi said, putting everything in the oven to bake. She began washing the utensils and bowls they used. "Your manner of speaking, your gait – everything. Since… well, a few days ago. The signs began a few weeks ago, but the drastic change was right before the night we went to the hot pools."

Akane took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"And if I didn't know better, I'd say that what's emerging is the… weak Akane."

"Weak? Oh, no, no! Kasumi onne-chan, you have got to be wrong. Weak? Me? I handled a flexible-muscled rapist last night all by myself!"

"Emotionally weak, that is," Kasumi added, making Akane's recently-spoken words of no use. Thus, Kasumi once again proved that she was a cure and an answer to her little sister's aches and questions. As the answer to Kasumi's statement dawned on Akane, it was as if Kasumi had been dawned as well. Like she could read her sister's mind. And Akane knew her sister could, with the smile at the corner of the eldest Tendo's lips.

"So what about Ranma, then?" Akane stammered, changing the topic. "Noticed any changes?"

"Changes like what?" Kasumi asked as she finished washing and dried her hands. She stood by the counter and looked at Akane who was standing by the table.

"Well, he's been nice lately… and he's more confident. The nice thing I could understand…"

"But the confident thing, you cannot," a deep woman's voice butted in.

Both Akane and Kasumi looked at the person by the door, who happened to be the middle sister. She grabbed a stool and sat right beside Kasumi.

"So what do you know?" Akane asked. Before Nabiki could reply, she added rather contemptuously, "And how much?"

Nabiki chuckled. "Kami-sama, sis. It's like you can't stand just being with your sisters for a talk. Is this so bad?"

Akane rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine. I'm sorry." She got herself a glass of water. "So… Ranma's been weird, huh? I mean, he's always been weird, but… you know. He's weirder."

"Yeah. Well. Maybe it's the fact that he saw you cuddling with Ryouga when you were naked in the hot pools," Nabiki said, holding her hand up as Akane was about to say something in protest, her face scrunched up in utmost complaint. "Or the fact that you cook and sing and dance like you're not Akane at all… or the fact that you're his girlfriend now. Does that help?"

"I–" Akane started, then stopped. "How did you know?"

"Oh, I don't know, sis… maybe because the news is all over school. Kuno-baby was just fuming when he found out and was all crazy. You might not know, but Ranma got into some trouble with that angry bull – yesterday Kuno managed to hit him in the rib with his stick, and he's been shambling in walking. And the guys have been mourning because Akane Tendo has finally chosen the diamond in the rough. You should have seen them – it was like you've walked into a funeral instead of a school. And mind you, right after you left the house last night, the phone was ringing like mad. Your friends have been calling to check if it was true."

"No way!" Akane gasped. Not just because of the whole mourning thing and the whole school knowing, or Kuno hitting Ranma. Everything was just worthy of a no way! exclamation. She had actually wondered how to tell the people about Ranma, but now she didn't know it the fact that they already knew would be a pro or a con. And then her mind drifted back to Ranma in one moment, where Nabiki sensed she should explain to her little sister the ways of the male.

"See," Nabiki went on, "one of the main reasons guys are irresolute and hesitant about themselves, and plainly about just everything, is because of the girls – specifically the girl. In case you haven't noticed since the very first day you met Ranma, he's been skeptical and contemptuous when he's around you, which is his version of being unsure about himself. He knew he was doing it the wrong way because calling you an ugly tomboy all the time was no way to impress you, but he just acts all weird when he's around you. And then…" Nabiki inhaled, having run out of air as she was explaining to her sister.

Kasumi checked inside the oven and nodded contentedly – the cake was almost baked to perfection. "And then what, Nabiki?" she asked as she closed the oven.

"And then he was heartbroken for the thousandth time, until the day you were both all mushy and after a few eons of talk, you finally decided to go together."

"No, Nabiki," Kasumi interrupted, "actually, it was night. The rooftop scene thing, remember?"

"Yeah, I heard you both talking, Akane," Nabiki chuckled. "Your conversation with Ranma was just audible from inside the house… and that's how I knew in the first place."

"Oh, you nasty little eavesdropper…" Akane muttered, but she was still eager to hear more about what her sister was going to tell her about Ranma.

"Let's just fast forward this, I'm running out of saliva. Akane, the reason Ranma's confident now is YOU."

She just had to blink. Her? Wasn't she the reason why he was not confident in the first place? "Okay, wait. How come?"

"All that he's ever wanted was YOU. He was always cynical because of you. Technically, you brought out the annoying Ranma that we all know! And that night when he just let it all out and he finally got what he wanted his whole life in this dojo, everything about him changed – and it was obvious to the people who had the eye and observe. He felt confident with you by his side, which in his version is being all sweet and as un-Ranma-ish as possible. All it took was the person he's longed for the whole time – you – without the whole I-hate-you-and-I'll-mallet-you-everyday-if-I-have-to attitude. So the change thing? It was all for the better." Nabiki flung both her eyebrows up for a second, signaling the end of her speech.

"Yes, Akane-chan… and that just makes me wonder why you're so uncomfortable with it," Kasumi noted.

"I just wasn't used to it," Akane replied quietly. "Yesterday after school, we… made out in an empty lot a few blocks from here, and he was just so… directive and sure about everything he was doing."

"Tsk, tsk. Then you'd better get used to it, because I'll be damned if Ranma would ever let you go. He loves you more than he loves his narcissistic self," Nabiki laughed.

Kasumi smiled. Of course she had noticed since day one what Ranma and Akane had, and it was just sheer attraction that they didn't want to show. And after almost a year of watching – and suffering with their rocky emotions – the love story was to have a happy ending at last.

The oven rang, and Kasumi took the chocolate cake out. "Now, Akane, would you like to do the honor of covering it with chocolate icing? After this we could serve it to everybody… they'd better get used to Tendo Akane's good cooking."

"Sure!" Akane said more enthusiastically than expected. Everything was clear now – all the doubts she had before she walked into the room were gone. Now all she had to do was assure Ranma that everything was okay and she loved him very much. That would make the perfect icing on the cake.