A Ranma ½ fan fiction…

Author – Chibi / Warlordess

Disclaimer – I don't own Ranma ½; it is a product by the great Rumiko Takahashi. I'm also not creative enough to make up a better disclaimer than that. How sad…

Notes – I have no idea how this idea came to me. I went from having no inspiration or confidence for R/A fan fiction to harboring this suddenly evolved plot that just popped out of nowhere. It was just, I could see this as something in the series, I guess. Those who've read the manga might not agree with me first off thanks to the summary I gave you, but it is a bit misleading, so you'll just have to find out why. Also, let it be known… I HATE THAT TITLE! DIE, TITLE!

Dedication – To my online sister, Silverflare07, who sent me the first through third seasons of the anime and who encouraged the creation and progress of this fic. She's the one who deserves it most of all.

OoO

Title – Herbal Remedies

Chapter Two – "Falling Out"

Summary – It started with Akane's losing her mind and telling Ranma that she loved him, and then it was his unwillingness to tell her he didn't feel the same way. . . But how did all of this madness start, and when? R x A romance.

OoO

Ranma was out for a good twenty minutes. He woke up in the Furinkan High School infirmary with Akane there beside him, wiping his brow with a comfortingly cool rag. No one else seemed to be there, which was just fine with him because, between Ukyou's current anger, Kuno's apparent hatred, and Ryouga's bad timing, he'd be sent right back out again. Or killed. Yea; it was more likely that he'd be killed.

"Oh, poor Ranma. . . You know that I love you, but you should really stop getting into so many fist-fights. . . They seem to be taking a toll on your health," she murmured affectionately and he suppressed the urge to grunt at the fact that she didn't realize that she was the one who had knocked him out in the first place. Akane, who hadn't noticed that he was awake as of yet, continued speaking, "When I'm made your wife, we'll find a way to contain that troublesome fighting spirit of yours."

". . . NANI!" Ranma shouted, unable to contain himself. He jumped out of bed and to the side opposite of the crazy girl who called herself his fiancé.

"Ranma. . . ?" She looked thoroughly delighted to see him awake, never mind that he'd been eavesdropping on her self-discussion or that he was currently looking at her as though she were clearly insane, "Daijobou ka? I suppose you are. . . I'm so glad." She smiled warmly at his presence.

Ranma didn't have the ability to feel even just a slight amount of gratitude. At the moment, the immense lump seemed to be preventing him of uttering a single word, kind or otherwise, including his current opinion of her; she was crazy. It was utterly insane that someone as violent as Akane would approach his martial arts skills and deter his performance! Not only that, but he was heir to the Saotome school of martial arts! The reason they were to be wed had to do with their taking over the Tendo dojo and uniting it with the Saotome School!

And what was this proclamation she was making about becoming his wife? Yeah, sure, they had acknowledged their engagement to each other and all but. . . But they weren't supposed to get married willingly! They were supposed to fight tooth and nail against their parents wishes!

"I. . . Ano. . ." Why couldn't he tell her off? Why couldn't he let her know that there was no chance of his quitting martial arts or wedding her? Why couldn't he just have the old Akane back. . . ?

Then it hit him again. That was right; he remembered now. The reason for Akane's behavior was so easy to see.

Yesterday, after he'd run from her chocolate experiment from Home Economics, he'd offered to make it up to her by taking her to a restaurant for a treat. . . And he'd chosen the Nekohatan. After he'd run off again, how could he have not been suspicious of leaving his fiance and Shampoo in the same part of the city, let alone in the same room. . . ?

His eyes darting towards the clock, Ranma contemplated what he should do. It was almost one in the afternoon. The Nekohatan would be busy because of their business day lunch hours. And he and Akane still had two of their afternoon classes left. . . It would probably be better to wait until he could corner Shampoo and force her to hand over the antidote for. . . Whatever she'd done to the Tendo girl.

Then he saw a furious Kuno and Ryouga, Ukyou and Kodachi, in his minds eye. The combination would undoubtedly kill him if they all came to attack at once, especially if he had to protect Akane at the same time. . .

There was no way this could wait. He had to get that antidote now.

"C'mon, Akane, we gotta go somewhere!" He said firmly, pulling her up onto his back and leap from the second story window, outside onto the lawn. As he was climbing the fence leading beyond the school grounds, he became uncomfortably aware of Akane placing her arms securely around his neck, leaning against his back. He coughed slightly to try and shake her off but when that didn't work, he refused to let it bother him anymore.

He had far worse things to worry about now.

"Ranma, where are we going?" She shouted into his ear over the striking sound of the wind whistling past them, "School's still in session; we should head back!" She pulled on his clothes as though to turn him around and steer him in the opposite direction.

"No way! And let go of me!" He replied angrily, finally finding his voice, "Don't you realize that you've been acting really strange since this morning? Or did Shampoo erase all of your memories of being a kawaiikune tomboy macho-chick along with your rabid personality!" He finished ferociously.

Akane didn't answer him with fists or words and, for a couple of minutes of their leaping along fences and rooftops, all was silent. Ranma contemplated apologizing to her, but she didn't really give him the chance. He barely noticed her crying, that was, until it began to leave the back of his shirt rather damp.

"Akane. . ." He sighed.

"Ranma, you're. . . You're such a baka!" She shouted, and then clamped a hand to her mouth, eyes going wide. Ranma couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he landed in front of the Nekohatan and set her down; the old Akane must have been back. Finally, he took a moment to tell her he was sorry for his comment.

"Gomen nisei," he said gleefully, turning to enter Shampoo's restaurant, but his voice wasn't the only one to be heard, ". . . Nani. . . ?"

"Gomen, gomen, gomen!" Akane repeated as she bowed in forgiveness, looking horrified at what she'd said, "Onegai, forgive me for my words. They were uncalled for!"

"You. . . You're joking. . . ?" He asked, pointing at her. She shook her head, "Argh! I don't know how much more of this I can stand! Why aren't you hitting me? Or kicking me across town?" He shouted, his fists clenching as they ran frustrated through his hair, "What's it going to take, Akane, to get you back to normal!"

She was quiet for a moment, and stared confusedly at him as though she had either not understood his question or as though she didn't consider anything to be wrong. As though he hadn't said a word, she struck up a conversation of her own.

"Ranma, how do you. . . feel about me?" She seemed to be straining herself not to ask the question too excitedly, as though she already knew in the first place and, while he couldn't help wondering why, Ranma found himself back in the same place he had been in to begin with.

"Nani. . . ? Matte, why are you asking?" He asked, hoping to avoid having to tell her what had been on his mind all day long.

He didn't love her, he couldn't because she was acting so weird and unlike her. He didn't because she didn't really love him either. He didn't because he was a martial artist and therefore had no time for girls, because being in love with Akane would mean being married before he was out of high school, and that would mean that he'd be tied down to Japan, to Nerima, and he'd be unable to find Jusenkyou's Nan'nii-chuan. But those were some rather poor reasons to savagely break a girls heart, weren't they. . . ?

"Onegai, just tell me. . ." Again Akane seemed to be talking to him in a tone that he didn't quite understand.

"I. . . Ano, that is to say. . ." He started self-consciously, but was interrupted by a new arrival.

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo stated loudly and affectionately as she came flying at him from inside, her arms wrapping around his neck, "You come see Shampoo? I so happy!" She giggled.

Ranma, for once, let her hang there, glancing confidently in Akane's direction. If there was one thing he knew she couldn't stand, it was his allowing himself in the company of other girls. There was no way she'd let him get away with this.

But, contrary to his beliefs, she merely crossed her hands above her skirt and said with a sweet smile, "You two are such great friends! I'm so happy that you get along this well!"

His eyes widened. No way. It seemed that the uber-lovely Akane was not going to be beat. Thinking this despondently, he went to remove Shampoo's grip from his neck, but she'd already done so, and was now standing in front of Akane, prodding her and inspecting the resolutely kind grin that was on her face.

"Aiya! Ranma no tell violent girl yet? She still infatuated with you? What you thinking?" She yelled, coming back towards him with an angry expression on her face.

Rather than trying to back away and explain himself, Ranma grabbed hold of the Amazon's wrists, "Ah hah! I knew it! I knew you did something to Akane! What was it? A love potion?"

"You kidding? Love potion faulty, or permanent. I no want obstacle like kitchen destroyer in love with Shampoo's Airen forever. Is too complicated." Her words made sense for the most part. But if Shampoo wanted Ranma all to herself, why force Akane to express her love for him in the first place. . . ? The way Ranma saw things, the situation was already complicated.

"Well then, what did you do. . . ?" He asked exasperatedly. Shampoo almost brightened at the question and led both students inside of the Nekohatan, which seemed to be completely empty, "Nani? Where is everyone?"

"We take day off. Know you be coming." Shampoo replied with a sly grin, leading them to the bar stools next to the counter, "You want know what happened. . . ? Is thanks to ancient three-thousand year old Amazon herb!" She withdrew a small packet from nowhere and showed it to him, "It ensnares senses of most hid emotion; extracts it from the consumers soul and forces it on person it being held from."

"You mean. . ." Ranma looked over at Akane, who seemed to be smiling blissfully at the air around her, not paying attention to a word of their conversation. Did that mean that. . . She really was in love with him? It wasn't just some magic trick? ". . . But why?"

"Shampoo no baka. I know violent girl love Airen, but Akane always work so hard to make you think otherwise. That why Shampoo force love out. That way Airen can dump violent girl for real and you and Shampoo can be together; yes?" She said confidently, throwing herself at him, "All you have do is tell Akane you no love her and herb make her feeling disappear. Then you date Shampoo!"

Ranma picked her up off of him and set her down again, thinking. All he had to do was tell Akane that he didn't love her back and she'd forget all about loving him in the first place? That meant that he wouldn't have to worry about her crying or being heart-broken. . . ! It would just go away and he wouldn't have to feel like an idiot for hurting her. . . !

It was simple, so simple. . . But then, why wasn't he leaping at the chance to go ahead and do it? Why wasn't he so excited at the thought of Akane not caring about him. . . ? Why did he feel that Shampoo might've just happened to cross a big line by forcing Akane's most unbidden emotion to the surface?

"Ano, Shampoo. . . Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if I told her that I. . . Did love her. . . ?" He asked, hardly daring to believe that he was considering doing just that.

Shampoo looked slightly curious at the thought too and peered closely at the directions on the back of the packet.

"It say spell break, but consumer remember everything that happen, including words spoken to break spell. That mean she remember what you say, but only if you tell her you love her." Shampoo laughed, "Good thing is only hypothetical, yes?"

Ranma joined in, "You got that right!"

They continued laughing for a few seconds before Ranma suddenly stopped and made a quick grab for the packet. He managed to grasp it and began to pull it from Shampoo's grip but one of the corners seemed to have a line of invisible string tied to it. It was lifting up into the rafters and, looking up, Ranma noticed a bucket of cold water teetering from a very thin plank of wood right before it fell, landing on top of his head. Shampoo jumped away from the booby trap and the small pack of herbs poofed, turning into a bouquet of trick flowers.

"Aiya, what you try to do?" Shampoo asked. However, she was interrupted by Akane.

"Ah, my Ranma! Daijobou ka?" She wailed, jumping forward as the newly revealed female Ranma-chan spewed some of the water from her mouth and removed the bucket from her head.

"Fine, just fine. . ." Ranma-chan said, cursing to herself. She had been so close, too; but, then, Shampoo rarely held onto the true item she'd gained from her country to use against them. Ranma-chan didn't have time for this, though. She'd just have to try some other tactic, "Oi, Shampoo?"

"Hai, Airen?" The Amazon asked fondly, coming back to the pigtailed girls side.

"You love me, right?" She asked with theatrically damp eyes.

"Hai!" Shampoo replied confidently.

"Well, you know. . ." At this point, Ranma-chan lowered her voice so that Akane was sure not to hear, ". . . that I don't like to tell girls things they don't wanna hear, but we both know that I don't like Akane that way. All I need to do is put those herbs in my food and wait for 'em to take effect; then I can tell her without doing anything wrong, right?"

". . . Hai!" Shampoo said again, now understanding the plan, "I give you secret Amazon herb and you tell violent girl you no love her. Then you and Shampoo date!"

"Ano. . ." Ranma-chan started, but she didn't continue trying to revise the statement since Shampoo was already removing the real envelope from her pocket, ". . . And can I get some hot water, onegai. . . ?" She pointed out.

Shampoo nodded and began to head into the kitchen but Akane seemed to have been waiting for this request. She pulled a thermos from her schoolbag and handed it to Ranma-chan, who unscrewed the lid and poured it over her head. Ranma shook off the droplets and remnants of steam right after.

"Now that's much better. Shampoo?" Ranma said, holding out his hand. The Amazon placed the herb into his palm but, just as he was ready to leap out the front door, she took it back, "Ah. . . ?"

"You no get away that easy. Shampoo know better. I prepare meal and Airen eat herb here. And be careful," she started as Ranma tried to nab it back, "This last one. If lost, is no more." She finished, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

The thing was, he wasn't sure how he felt about Akane. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling that filled his gut whenever she smiled at him, and when she told him that she loved him, it didn't make him want to run to the opposite end of the Earth just to escape her. It was more just the attitude she used when she acted so affectionately.

After all, what was wrong with squeezing his lungs from his chest as she embraced him, or if she threw a right hook at him as she handed him breakfast, or if she roused him from bed with a bucket of freezing water every morning. . .? He was used to a lot of that already, so it wouldn't take much, would it?

Of course, if he told Shampoo this, she would never just hand over the herb, and without that, he'd never be able to tell Akane anything. . . He'd have to live with her acting all happy-go-lucky for the rest of his life. . . !

"Hai. . ." He replied finally, taking a seat next to his fiancé. Shampoo hopped over the counter and threw on a frilly apron, removing some soba noodles from the under-the-counter storage area and setting them in the fryer.

After she finished thawing the noodles, she placed them in a bowl and slit the top of the packet of herbs, sprinkling them in the broth.

"Order is up!" She said as she handed the bowl to Ranma.

"Ikanakida!" Ranma said to no one in particular as he broke apart his chopsticks and dove into the food, slurping it up in a matter of minutes (only because they were still rather hot for his tastes).

He looked around at Akane, just in case that was how the spell was activated, but nothing seemed different about the world. If he felt something for, well, anything in this room, Akane, Shampoo, or even the stool he was sitting on, he'd have thought something would've happened.

Shampoo, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines, picked up the discarded packet and again turned to the directions, warning, and nutrition labels on the back. Akane, oblivious to the plans held between and separate of her fiancé and the Amazon, merely sat in her seat, drawing little hearts on her napkin with 'Ranma' and 'Ranma + Akane 4-ever' in the center.

"Aiya! It say some consumer possibly find product take longer to effect them, or it can even be completely ineffective!" She wailed, truly disappointed by the news.

"Well. . . Let's just wait a while longer before we consider this whole thing useless. . ." Ranma sighed, chancing half a glance in Akane's direction. However, even after fifteen minutes, he still couldn't feel himself stressing over any new strength of emotion, "Ah, well; gomen, Shampoo, but Akane and I gotta go. Things to do, people to see, scheming hentai and parents to avoid. . ." Ranma saluted her in farewell, getting to his feet, and he and Akane simply walked out the door, "Now. . . What am I gonna do about you. . . ?" The Amazon heard him ask as the two betrothed teenagers left her shop.

"Yes; what to do now. . . ?" She muttered almost ruefully to her empty room, disappearing behind the counter.

Outside, Akane was asking Ranma if he was feeling well after he'd eaten so fast. He shrugged at her and they continued walking home as school was no over for the day. After awhile, she seemed to notice how he was consumed with his thoughts (although she didn't know that those thoughts were to do with her) and she skipped ahead of him, humming some anonymous tune.

Suddenly, as Ranma caught sight of her ahead, some large fire began to burn painfully within him; it was something he'd felt before, he was sure, but it was unfamiliar, and much stronger than he could remember. . . It made him want to move, to do something because. . .

"Ite! Ite, ite, ite!" He shouted repeatedly, hoping to quell the sensation burning through the back of his shirt and afflicting his skin. Happosai leap past, laughing, and quickly and skillfully lifted Akane's skirt as he made his way into the Tendo dojo about one hundred feet away. He was twirling his lit pipe in his hand as he went, and there was a sack of undergarments on his back, "Jiji. . ." Ranma growled threateningly.

"How. . . How dare he!" Akane screeched fiercely as she securely patted down her skirt. Ranma, for one moment, thought that the real Akane had decided to come back and injure Happosai in more ways than one, "I only give one man the right to touch me that way!" She finished, and Ranma face-faulted, trying to avoid the nosebleed he would undoubtedly get from that statement.

That was so not Akane.

The two of them ran the rest of the way to the dojo in hopes of catching up to the hentai martial arts master. As they were hurriedly discarding their shoes at the front door, however, things for Ranma suddenly went. . . well. . . poofy.

It was like he was in some dream, that which erased every reality and belief he'd ever known. The world was suddenly gone, everything accept for Akane, who was still unaware of his new estranged state of mind. He couldn't knock the feeling that her shadow emitted a rosy hue in his direction through this new point of view.

She was able to move from the foyer and about as far as the main room before he came up behind her and spun her around, landing her softly in his arms. The two stared into each others eyes, unwavering, and then. . .

"Akane. . . Aishiteru. . ." He told her and her eyes went misty with pleasure. She put her arms around his neck and they held each other close, "I knew I did. . . But how could I say it when your beauty rendered me speechless whenever you walked into the room. . . ?"

"I know, Ranma; I feel it, too. Ai. . . Aishi. . ." Akane faltered and shook her head because, all of a sudden, her displaced and disfigured reality had begun to slide back into place. And, just as she began to wonder what the hell had been going on, all of the things she'd been doing since yesterday had impacted upon her full-force.

She looked up again, hoping to understand why Ranma was openly holding her in his arms, just in time for him to swoop in and land a big wet one right on her lips.

OoOoO

Notes - Hell, yea! It took me forever and a day to finish that chapter! Thank you to all of those who reviewed and / or put this fic into their favorites section! You have no idea how happy it made me to find out that I'd actually gotten some commentation, all positive, and some from new readers of my work! Also, much thanks to gladdecease, who's chosen to read my first attempt at a Ranma fiction even though she doesn't know a lot about the series! It makes me feel pretty damned good to know that my writing can be attract even to those who are new to the fandom.

On a different note, I've been placed into foster care. Yes, that was just slightly north of the boarder to the land of Random. But I have, which has proved to be a not-so-bad thing. They have a computer that's relatively new and, since I fixed it for them, they're planning on getting the internet sometime soon. Until then, I'll just write up the chapters of my fics here and save them on a floppy disc, then upload them later at the library. The system works, babes.

Anyway, please review and look forward to the next chapter of my fic! Thanks in advance and see you next time!