Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma
"Spoken"
-Thought-
D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th
February 14th, D-Day… also known as Valentine's Day…
Ranma carefully cracked his eye open, today was the big day… the D-Day. He surveyed his surroundings, no purple hair anywhere, thus no Shampoo… check. No leotards, ribbons or insane gymnasts… check. He dared to let out a sigh of relief before hazarding the perils the day would certainly bring with it. He pulled open the door and almost tripped over Akane, who was obviously on her way to the bathroom, the aqua-transsexual martial artists mumbled a hasty good morning and vaulted past Akane and into the bathroom eliciting a loud "Ranma no BAKA… I was going to go there." from the blue haired girl to which the boy responded with a "Nyahaa slowpoke!"
If anyone had been still asleep in the Tendo household… well they weren't anymore. In the kitchen Nabiki cringed at the loud yells of 'Baka Hentai!' and 'Uncute tomboy!', she sighed while inhaling the aroma of extra strong coffee that she used to jolt herself awake every morning, awake as in alert awake… it would be easier to sleep through a full blown carpet bombing than a normal morning in the Tendo Dojo. She shook her head in disappointment and muttered. "Just why can't those two get along… seriously it's too early to fight so loudly." Still shaking her head she headed to the dining room mumbling something under her breath while Nodoka and Kasumi simply exchanged glances and a small smile… things were certainly going to get interesting.
After some sparring, a mandatory dunking in the koi pond and a quick hot bath later Ranma was running after Akane to school… well actually he slowed and began walking once they were out of earshot from the Dojo. He was nervous and was sporting somewhat haunted look on his face as they had just left the relative safety of the dojo and were now on the open so to speak, also he had to impress something to his macho fiancée… Ranma rolled his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his composure. "You know Akane, I think that today is goin' to be… lively. Anyway I need you to remember that you are not just anyone. Got that? You are not anyone."
Akane stared at Ranma, this was getting weirder by the day. First he implied that she should make chocolate, an unprecedented, aside from the garlic cookies, incident. Now he was babbling about her not being anyone and going to some length just to drive that point in. She really didn't know if she should be upset and mallet him for forms sake or just let it slide this time, she decided on the latter as the day would likely be more than 'lively' and malleting would probably be needed anyway. -Right, his instructions were… if Kodachi manages to paralyze him, mallet him to safety. If Shampoo goes neko on him, same thing, also avoid Neko-Ken if possible… He didn't say anything about Ukyo but if she tries to force feed him any chocolate...- She smiled lightly… yes, Mallet-sama would probably make an appearance or two during the day.
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They almost made it to Furinkan high… almost, the gates were in sight when the dreaded 'ring ring' of a ramen delivery bike's bell was heard, only to be followed by a yell of "Xian Pu bring Airen too too good chocolate too."
Luckily for Ranma Shampoo wasn't the only one making her appearance as a shrill "OH-HO-HO-HO fear not Ranma-Sama my paramour… your Valentine, Kodachi, the Black Rose, Kuno is here!" cut the morning air.
That and a loud "Get away from my Ran-chan you hussies!" from a certain Okonomiyaki chef who entered the scene.
Ranma didn't bother to look the gift horse in the mouth and proceeded to use the distraction to his advantage by quickly slipping into the Umi-Sen-Ken and vanishing from sight. He would have laughed at the trio who simply stared at the spot he'd vanished from, had he not been worried about revealing his whereabouts. Quietly moving behind Akane he whispered in a low tone. "Just point to a random direction and say 'I think he went that way…'"
Akane almost jumped out from her skin at that but managed to keep her cool, something that was greatly aided by the troublesome trio, who were in fact engaged in a heated staring match, and complied with the given orders. The effect was better than Ranma could have hoped, the girls took one look at Akane, then at each other and wheeled like a stampeding herd of wild horses to take of into the direction indicated. He waited for a moment for safety's sake and then reappeared right beside Akane.
It was a tactical mistake, seeing how a certain perverted old goat was prowling the neighbourhood. Armed with a bucket of water the old pervert jumped at Ranma, splashed him and then latched into 'her' torso while yelling "Sweeto! Ranma-chan… you do respect your master after all…" Ranma just stood there rubbing 'her' temples, feeling a vein… then another pop on his forehead, he began to shake and then with a loud yell of "YOU OLD FREAK!" launched the shrivelled old grand master of the anything goes school into orbit.
Naturally, as predicted by the not so academically renowned 'Saotome Ranma Theorem', something else was bound to go wrong… "Ah my loves finally thou art free from the vile tyranny of the sorcerous cur Saotome. Ah my fierce and beauteous Akane Tendo and the lovely Pig-tailed goddess… Run to my manly embrace and feel not abashed to proclaim thy feelings for me in the form of those many chocolates that thy own gentle hands have… OOOFFF"
His rant was cut by both Ranma and Akane who simultaneously decided to proclaim their feelings to Kuno, sending him sailing towards the Furinkan high's bell tower. They both shook their head and Ranma muttered. "The creep just keeps coming for his poundings, he's got the tenacity of a cockroach…" Akane snorted in agreement and then yelled "Oh no… hurry or we'll be late."
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The fiancée brigade didn't make their second appearance until lunch break, all looking somewhat ragged. They all glared daggers and hurled accusations along the lines of 'You are trying to bewitch my Ranma-Sama you you… peasant' towards Akane who only smiled innocently and then declared in a loud voice that "I didn't buy any chocolate to that macho jerk." This naturally caused a rather calculated 'reaction' from Ranma who immediately shot back with his trademark 'Uncute Tomboy' routine. The effect of this equation was one airborne martial artists, but all things considered… it was good to have some fresh air after lunch anyway.
He made it back to class just in time before the lessons started, lessons that very rudely interrupted by three frantic girls who wanted to give 'Airen', 'Ranma-Sama' or 'Ran-chan' the product made with their undying love, namely one laced with passion spice, the other with paralysis powder and third with Okonomiyaki sauce of love. Luckily for Ranma he didn't have to sample any of the products as the girls, who effectively got stuck in the doorway, began to fight out who would be worthy to deliver the box of goodies to the pigtailed boy.
For the first time during the day the 'Saotome Ranma Theorem' worked for his favour as Ms. Hinako yelled "Delinquents!" and then "Happou-goen-satsu." while brandishing a five yen coin. Most of the class watched in awe as the chibi teacher grew into a tall adult woman, while the three girls seemed to deflate like balloons.
The 'Saotome Ranma Theorem' really kicked in after this though, when a large bouquet of black roses that Kodachi had lugged around fell from her limp fingers only to release a large billow of greenish smoke. Ranma smirked -Ooh I bet that gas was extra strong seeing as it's a special day today, usually it paralyzes me for few hours but if my guess is right they are going to be there till tomorrow…-
Incidentally as it turned out his guess was wrong… it super strong paralysis gas, and the trio regained full use of their extremities no less than three days later.
Naturally he also got grilled by almost every male member of the Furinkan high student body, they wanted to know if he was going get 'some' from Akane later in the evening. He made a scene of yelling very loud that he didn't want to get any chocolate from ANYONE, especially 'uncute' chicks. Apparently the speech he had given to Akane earlier during their trip to school paid off as he was spared from meeting Mallet-Sama… for now.
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Rest of the day went like any other normal Nerima holiday, the fathers made their appearance with chocolate they had bought and tried to force Akane to 'give' those particular chocolates to Ranma. This naturally ended in a catastrophe and the end result was a bruised panda, bawling Soun, irate Akane and an airborne Ranma-chan.
Eventually things calmed down though and the two teenagers withdrew to Akane's room for their homework assignments. It really didn't work all too well as both of them were growing more nervous by the minute, luckily though, Hinako-sensei had been in a good mood, presumably because she had drained hefty amounts of battle aura, and had been rather lax in giving homework.
Both teens sat on their respective chairs, their homework finished. Neither uttered a word until finally Ranma decided that enough was enough. He stood up and started to gather his books. "Ah Akane, if we're done then I'll just umm head back to my room… unless…" He began to blush. "Ah I mean that if there's nothing else then I'll just go and…"
Akane smirked inwardly as she thought -Seriously, if he wants the damn chocolate that bad he should just ask… it's not a big deal right, only signifies that he l…- She began to blush slightly as well -Get a grip girl… don't read anything into it just yet. Anyway I think I've tortured him enough as it is… the poor guy has been jumpy whole evening, then again… so have I… maybe it is a big deal after all.-
Just as Ranma was about to touch the doorknob a soft "Ranma wait…" stopped him cold. There was some rustling and when he turned around there was Akane nervously offering him a rather largish bag. "I… made these for you… butKasumihelpedandItastedthem." Ranma blinked at the last rushed sentence before smiling lightly and taking the offered bag.
Under Akane's expectant gaze he opened the bag and reached inside to pull out a piece of chocolate, at least he hoped it was a piece of chocolate. It was supposed to be heart shaped he hazarded as a guess, but there certainly was Akane's 'unique' touch in it. Cautiously he sniffed the piece and then popped into his mouth. Akane was now visibly tensing as he chewed at the concoction cautiously, the taste was… different, it wasn't bad really just, he had to find out. "Um Akane… did you possibly by any chance put chili or red pepper in this chocolate?"
He watched as her face fell and hastily added. "It's not bad, just different so I was kinda wondering…" At this Akane perked up and then blushed bright red and began to mumble something under her breath. "What was that…?"
She was torn between getting angry at the stupid insensitive jerk for not letting the issue drop and being elated that the he hadn't hated the chili-chocolates. Deciding to indulge the pervert for once, he had asked anyway, she muttered in a low tone. "I made three types, there's light chocolate and then dark chocolate and then there's the chili chocolate… Kasumi suggested that I make that too because it would be…" Again her voice faded out into nothingness as she blushed badly. Then clearing her throat she stated in a strangled half yell "…because I have a temper and it might be fitting… there you happy now?"
Ranma just stared at the girl, then stared some more and finally put his hand in the bag and popped another piece of chocolate in his mouth. He chewed at it then swallowed, made a thoughtful face and then finally said "Yup!" before bolting out from the room leaving a confused Akane behind.
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And herein ends the D-day… after the smoke cleared, the guns (woot?) silenced the body count was tallied, there were three downed girls, a delusional kendoist and one innocent bystander (A visitor to Nerima, or he had a deathwish because he was wearing Chinese clothing and had a black pigtail… so naturally he looked almost like Ranma from behind…)
A/N…
Nothing here much, most of the notes will be in the last chapter. Including a small cultural reference on to white day/valentine's day in japan…