Author's Notes: I spent approximately 11 hours editing all the past chapters, with my butt stuck to the computer chair the whole time. The first 3 chapters were the hardest, since I wrote them eons ago, when I had no idea how to write fan fiction. And I mean NO IDEA.

Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but hers.

Changed Overnight

Chapter Eleven: A Grand Reunion

"Here comes the bride… swelling with pride… lala-lala-la-lala-lalala!"

The drunken singing voices of Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo rang throughout the neighborhood as Akane finished putting the last of her schoolbooks in her bag. It was 9:00, almost time for sleep – but not after she'd taken a nice, hot bath, which she had prepared in the bathroom a few moments ago. The family had a generous amount of lip-smacking stuffed turkey for the main course at dinner and moist, sweet devil's chocolate cake for dessert, courtesy of Kasumi, herself, and a little help from Nabiki, that she was too tired to study her lessons because of a full stomach. She collapsed on her bed and faced the white ceiling as everyone's happy faces were etched in her mind, playing like an old 1970's movie. It had been a long time since the people in the dojo were that happy… or probably if they've had joyous moments before, nothing rivaled what took place tonight.

Ranma and Uncle Genma Saotome had a father-son fight again as they always did during and after sparring. They were taunting and hitting each other when they entered the dining room. Her father was quietly reading the newspaper as always, unmindful of the noise around him as Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane laid the food on the table.

It was as if Kami-sama entered the room – Ranma and Uncle Genma stopped fighting and Soun Tendo put his newspaper down. Even Happosai, whom they saw outside the dojo screeching "What a haul, what a haul!" with a big bag of panties and brassieres over his shoulder, stopped and proceeded to the dining room. "Mmm!" he sighed as he took in the luscious smell of the food that made him hungrier than he already was. "I feel like I'm in heaven surrounded by beautiful girls!"

"Settle down, everyone, we're about to eat dinner now," Kasumi implored with a smile. Everybody sat down by the table (the men's mouths were watering) with their eyes focused on the huge pile of food in front of them.

"Kasumi-chan, you've outdone yourself yet again!" Soun praised his eldest daughter.

"Oh, no, father… Nabiki and Akane helped, too."

The men glanced at Akane, and then at the food with a somewhat different look. "A-akane… helped?"

"Yes. Actually, she was the one who made the stuffing and roasted the turkey to perfection."

Four tentative gulping sounds were heard in the room.

"Oh, come on," Nabiki butted in exasperatedly, "the food won't smell that good if it tasted bad. Akane's been improving her cooking, and she's done a pretty good job at it."

It was Ranma – oh, how sweet of him! – who first split his chopsticks and put into his mouth some turkey. He had almost forgotten how Akane had made those terrible cookies a few days ago, but being her fiancé, he had to be the first to prove to them Akane's cooking was now better. He prepared his stomach for whatever might happen…

Akane, still touched by her otherwise cold sister's defense to her cooking, mouthed a "Thanks!" to Nabiki. The middle Tendo sister replied impassively with a nod, but Akane swore she saw a smile forming at the corner of her lips. Of course Akane knew the turkey was a success – she followed every instruction in Nigella Lawson's cookbook – but she couldn't help being nervous. She held on to the edge of the table as Ranma chewed the turkey meat in his mouth.

"Any second and the boy's going to have an indigestion…" Genma whispered to his master Happosai, who was gaping at everything in front of him. He was a master of martial arts and certainly knew many, many things, but he couldn't decipher how a gorgeous-smelling dish could taste bad. Ah, Akane Tendo was always a mystery…

Until Ranma, with a grin on his face, exclaimed, "Delicious!"

As he got his bowl and filled it to the top with turkey and rice, Soun muttered, "The boy's lost it…" Yet something told him that Ranma was not joking about anything he'd said. After all, the turkey was mouthwatering – more than enough… so he gathered his courage and tasted a bit of it himself.

"Akane, this is wonderful!" he exulted in joy, his voice rather like the time his first daughter Kasumi learned how to walk.

That seemed to wrap things up, and right after Kasumi announced, "Dig in!" the doubtful faces of Genma Saotome and Grandpa Happosai were submerged in their bowls, chowing down as much food as possible. The three sisters followed suit.

It certainly was a victory for Akane.

And to top it all off, Ranma cleared his throat when three quarters of the meal had been consumed. He looked at Akane, who was a Nabiki and a Kasumi away from where he was seated, and when she flashed him a smile, he knew it was the right time.

"Folks, Akane and I have… uh… something to tell you."

The old men's heads popped from their bowls with surprise, and Kasumi's (even Nabiki's) face showed anticipation. Was this the moment? After a year of spying, setups, and failed plans, was the declaration about to happen?

"What have you got to say, boy?" Genma Saotome asked his son, hiding his delight in vain. Grandpa Happosai was staring wide-eyed at Ranma, his hands tightly clutching his chopsticks and rice bowl… he had a feeling he knew what was coming. Soun didn't even care to hide the grin that reached his ears.

Ranma gulped. "Well…we all know that… uhm, Akane and I are fiancées, right?" He gulped again. That was a nice start, he thought satirically. "And… uhm…"

"And we've always loathed each other before," Akane continued, the look on Ranma's face saying she just saved him, and the look on everybody else's face saying they're grasping her every word. "We… uh, know about the forces of nature… and sometimes, well…"

Okay. She wasn't making any sense.

Soun and Genma were leaning in so close to them that their heads might have fallen into the food.

"We've decided to come together as a couple. Finally." Ranma blurted out.

"Not just out of respect for your decision," she bridged, motioning to their fathers, "but out of our own will."

For a second, no one moved.

And then a loud noise of drums and trumpets filled not only the dining room, not only the Tendo residence, but the whole of Nerima.

Genma and Soun were up on their feet, dancing to the loud racket they've created. Confetti showered from up above, and a banner on the wall popped out of nowhere, showing: "HAPPY WEDDING! RANMA AND AKANE!"

The rest of the family got up, too. Ranma was about to embrace Akane when Happosai got his glass and spilled the water on top of Ranma's head. "What about me, Ranma-chan?" he whined as he landed on top of the redhead's ample breasts. "When you get married, you're going to leave me!"

"Waaaaaaaah!" shrieked Ranma-chan. "HENTAI JIJIIII!" She grabbed the old man by his clothes and kicked him outside the vicinity, until he was just a little sparkle in the dark sky. She was wheezing when Akane dropped a white little towel on her head.

"Here you go, baka," she giggled. Ranma-chan rubbed her hair dry as she and Akane watched their fathers boogie like wrigglers in stagnant water, singing the lyrics from the bridal march one often hears when the bride walks the aisle on her wedding day.

"Oh my," Kasumi could only mumble – she's never seen Genma and Soun so wiggly and happy, even in the past false marriage alarms. Nabiki was taking pictures of her father and her uncle dancing with the festive music – the photos would come in handy for future blackmailing and humiliation threats. Akane could only laugh when her father grabbed Ranma-chan by the hand and danced with her. She was starting to get dizzy from being twirled about by the two fathers in cloud nine.

Akane breathed deep, marking the end of her wonderful reverie as she got up from her bed. "Nothing better than a nice, hot bath after a nice, blissful night," she sighed. She noticed that her window was open, so she decided to close it – and she was about to do so, when a small black blur entered her room through it in a split second. "Wha–?"

The snorts of a pig entered her ears. She just had enough time to close her window before her pet pig jumped through and snuggled right on her chest. "Bweeee!"

"P-chan!" Akane giggled fondly as she embraced her pet. "You've been gone for a while. How are you?"

She was answered with a couple of continuous snorts and a whining "Bwee…" When she held her pet before her, she noticed that he didn't look too good.

"P-chan, you're crying," she whispered as she dried the piglet's damp cheeks. Then her face brightened. "I have the perfect solution to that. Let's relax, shall we? We'll spend a night talking to each other about everything."

She stripped her clothes off (it came with P-chan's nosebleed, as always) and wrapped a towel around her body. "Come, let's go." Without a second thought, P-chan hopped into her arms and relished her fruity scent, not realizing where they were heading. When they entered the bathroom, the wonderful aroma of the bath oils that Akane had put into the water in the tub filled their lungs, making P-chan dizzy. "Poor baby," she murmured, kissing P-chan's snout. P-chan perked up like he was doused in cold water. His eyes watered even more and he looked miserable than ever. He didn't even realize that he was coming nearer and nearer to the hot water…

"Wait!" Ranma-chan's voice interrupted P-chan and Akane's quiet moment. He barged into the room and skidded to a stop just a meter away from them. Because it was so sudden, Akane had no time to react to what Ranma-chan just did. Everybody in the room froze, but thoughts were running in their heads a thousand miles a second.

P-chan now realized where he was, and what could have happened when Ranma didn't stop it. Aw, damn, he thought. DAMN!

Ranma-chan knew that Ryouga owed her his life free from Akane's wrath the moment she found out that he was P-chan, and she certainly felt laudable for barging into a room where Akane was standing almost naked except for the minute towel around her body… beautiful… wide-eyed in surprise… what can she do but stare?

Akane's twitching left eyebrow threatened to go all the way up her scalp. A few veins in her forehead were visibly throbbing…

"A-Akane!" Ranma-chan stammered. She didn't have to have a third eye to know what was going to happen if she didn't stop her. "You've got it all wrong!"

"Ranma," Akane whispered dangerously, approaching Ranma-chan until they were face-to-face. "I'm sure you can wait for the honeymoon."

Ranma-chan slipped behind Akane and backed off until the bathtub was right behind her. Akane drew near the redhead, pointing her index finger at her. Soon, she was too near that Ranma-chan ended up falling into the warm water, transforming her into a boy. He quickly got up and grabbed P-chan from Akane's hand.

"It's not what it seems!" were Ranma's last words as he ran off with P-chan in his hand, closing the door behind him as he fled.

What in the world…? Akane mused confusedly. Something's up with him…

After a quick trip to the kitchen to get a kettle of hot water, Ranma went up the roof and laid P-chan beside him.

"You're welcome, Ryouga," Ranma said as he poured the hot water on the black piglet.

A jiffy later, a wet Ryouga was squatting on the Tendo dojo's roof tiles.

"We're both on the same boat, don't worry," Ranma assured. "We're both wet."

The sky was not too dark, though the moon and stars weren't in sight. Their silhouettes were illuminated with help of a streetlight a few yards away. A passive silence hovered around them.

"Now I know where Akane gets her scent," Ryouga noted after a few minutes.

Ranma noticed it, too. After falling into the bathtub, he's been smelling like…

"Oranges and strawberries," they said in unison. It was followed by a slight chuckle from both of them.

"Thanks, Ranma."

"Already said you're welcome."

Ryouga looked at him. "No, I meant… thank you for everything. I…" He broke off, not knowing how to continue. Ranma sensed that Ryouga was supressing a weeping session, so he decided to add some humor in the conversation.

"Is that a Shishi Hokodan attack I'm sensing?"

The Lost Boy smiled and sniffed. "I'm not that depressed."

"Good to know that," Ranma answered, seizing his red shirt and drawing it near his nose… the smell was just too heavenly and it brought back the memories of what happened on that fateful night when they made up and… and did more than that. "So how's the job?" he asked.

Ryouga snapped out of the reverie he was having on his own. "F-fine." He took off his bandana. "I finally found one thing I could do accurately… lifeguarding isn't actually a breeze, but once you get used to it, it might as well be as easy as bathing a black piglet, as long as you're using cold water."

"Well said," Ranma agreed, grinning.

"And something funny actually happened after the night when… when you all went to the hot pools," Ryouga went on with a weak chuckle. "The female customers… tripled, and I began working full-time in the ladies' section due to, er… popular demand."

Ranma wrinkled his nose and smiled. "You scalawag. So naked women are a part of your lifestyle now?"

"Of all shapes and sizes. But that didn't stop me from having a nosebleed when I saw Akane strip off her clothes."

They both laughed. Then silence.

The last time they talked decently, it had been the other way around. It was already late at night and Ranma couldn't' sleep, so he went to the kitchen and ended up talking with Ryouga instead. Back then, he was in cloud nine as he told Ranma he felt great. He kind of spilled his fears, too – that he was scared that Akane would know about him being P-chan, because it might be the reason she'd hate him and break up with him.

Well, it wasn't.

But Ranma prevented it from happening all the same. He promised he wouldn't tell Akane. And what he did tonight was actually more than what he indicated in the promise, because he regarded Ryouga as a true friend, and he wanted Ryouga to be able to tell the truth to Akane before somebody else did. He persuaded himself that it wouldn't be him.

"So, how's life?"

"Fantastic," Ranma replied. "Great. I… I don't know how to put it in words, but you get the point."

"Akane always renders you speechless, doesn't she?" Ryouga remarked, a tone of faint bitterness engraved in his voice.

Ranma sensed it. "Look, man. I know it's been hard, especially because it all happened when you were gone–"

"In Hawaii, where I learned how to swim."

"Gone in Hawaii, where you learned how to swim…" Ranma echoed. He was about to continue, but he stopped. "So Nabiki wasn't kidding when she said you were in Hawaii?"

"I don't know how she knew, but she was right."

"Er… yeah. Nabiki could be all-knowing clairvoyant."

"She could've been an oppressive empress in her past life."

"But now she's a money-hungry ice queen."

"Yeah…"

"True."

"So… you were saying?"

"Y-yeah," Ranma stuttered, picking up where he left. "I know it's been hard, but things like this happen. I'm not really good with this psychology thing, but… well, I'm sorry. Really. Because I know how you're feeling right now."

"It's okay. I-I know you do."

"Uh-huh." Of course he did. Going after Akane was not just a military camp obstacle course, and losing her was even worse. "You're strong, Ryouga. You'll come through."

"I am coming through, actually," Ryouga said, smiling to the starless sky. "While I was on duty, there was this girl… I saved her when she was swimming in the deep part of the pool and had a leg cramp. She's from the country and visiting the city with her father. Her name's Akari, and she's… she's amazing."

Ranma raised his eyebrow and smiled slyly. "Snagged her already?"

"W-we're going out."

"That's awesome! Good for you, man."

"Thanks," Ryouga rejoined. "I… told Akari about Akane, and she's been helping me get over her. It's hard, but I'm getting to it."

"Finally, huh?"

"Yes, finally. It's really… difficult. When you've invested everything on something, it's hard to let it go. But Akari's really doing a good job in coaching me, so I'm on my way to recovery."

"You do that," Ranma concurred. "That Akari sure is something, isn't she?"

"She's everything," Ryouga replied, smiling. "In fact, sometimes she reminds me of Akane. They're both… clumsy – that's one way to put it – but there are just some things that they do better than anybody can. They both act like they're all grown up, but in reality they're still little innocent kids trapped in beautiful bodies."

"The right words," Ranma agreed, nodding his head.

This guy's good at these things now, Ranma thought to himself. It's like this Akari's totally changed him. Well… I'm happy for Ryouga. Good for him.

Ryouga sighed. "I'm just… just glad that I left Akane in good hands."

Ranma beamed. "No problem."

"Take care of her, or I'll mince you up and put you in a can of cat food," Ryouga went on. Then, seeing Ranma's furrowed brows, he added, "Just kidding." He smiled. "I heard your fathers singing the bridal march a while ago. Congratulations, Ranma."

He held out his hand. Ranma received and shook it.

"Thanks."

They just sat there for a moment, gazing at the dark sky. The sight of it put them in some kind of a spell… a peaceful enchantment. Moments like what was happening did not take place all the time in the real world, and the two friends enjoyed it.

"Now I'm almost over you…" Ryouga began singing, not taking his eyes off the sky. "I almost shook these blues…"

Ranma was perplexed. The guy was singing! And what was worse was he knew the song, so he couldn't help joining in.

"When you come back around

After painting the town, you'll see

I'm almost over you…"

The song ended with a fit of chuckling.

"Man, that was gay," Ranma remarked.

"I know," Ryouga answered, laughing. "Couldn't help it, the song just popped into my head."

"You're good, Ryouga," Ranma said finally, grinning.

"You too." Ryouga replied, his grin just as wide as Ranma's.

All of a sudden, a terrified, high-pitched scream broke the silence that the two were taking pleasure in. And they both knew who made it.

"Akane!"

They hurried back inside the house, but Akane wasn't in the bathroom anymore. They dashed to her room and found that the door was locked, so Ranma kicked it open and the bolts that held it were destroyed. Akane wasn't there either, but the window was wide open. They watched the curtains flutter.

"Who could have kidnapped her?" Ryouga asked frenetically.

"It could be that Jiro guy…" Ranma assumed, and then thought otherwise. "But Akane already kicked the man out of him!"

"What happened to my daughter?" Soun demanded as he barged in the room, followed by Genma. The door next to the room opened, and Nabiki stopped right outside.

"Somebody took her away," Ranma answered, his adrenaline rushing. "We need to find her!"

Thus, the search for Akane began in the middle of night. Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo went together to search the parks. Nabiki woke Kasumi up, and they searched the house, but they didn't find Akane so they went to look elsewhere. Ranma and Ryouga leaped from one rooftop to another, all the while shouting Akane's name.

"You want more of that, Tendo, huh? More?"

Akane received a fifth punch to her belly made by a gymnastics club that almost rendered her unconscious.

She had already put on her nightdress and was almost about to go to bed when her window burst open. Two people bound her hands behind her, and tied a red bandana around her head to cover her mouth after she'd screamed once. Then they got out of the room thought the window, as quick as lightning.

"You not follow deal, hentai-girl."

"Ee whsn' my faut!" Akane tried to say, but her speech was muffled.

"Said something?" the leoatard-clad girl asked, hitting Akane's stomach again with the same club.

The purple-haired culprit removed the bandana from Akane's mouth, figuring that in an isolated place like this abandoned construction site, nobody would even hear them.