Sendai
By M. Zephyr
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.
Ranma x Akane. See the bottom of Chapter 1 for an author's note dealing with the entirety of this story.
Chapter 12. Discovery
The morning after their arrival in Nerima found Akane hugging Ranma just inside the front door of her old home, as he prepared to go out. They had discussed this at length, but she could tell that he was very worried, not at all looking forward to what was coming. Truth to tell, part of her still didn't want him to do this alone, despite their mutual decision that it was for the best. He seemed to sense her reluctance within her hug, although he misinterpreted it as a wish for him to stay.
"I've got to do this, Akane," he told her soberly. "It wouldn't be right not to."
"I know," she whispered in his ear. "Just be careful, please? She's probably going to be pretty upset with you, and I'd prefer that you not get injured. Also, I know you'll avoid being seen on the way there, but try to remember to do the same on the way back, no matter what happens. It would be nice to get back out of Nerima without anyone else the wiser."
Ranma gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be careful, I promise."
"Okay, then. Good-bye." She leaned up and kissed him, then watched with worried eyes as he walked out the door, and seemed to vanish as he passed through the gate.
Ranma made his way carefully down the streets, keeping all of his senses on maximum alert. With his luck, especially in Nerima, it seemed impossible to hope that he could make it to his destination and back undetected. Eventually he found himself at a locked restaurant door, where he paused before knocking. He had last seen Ukyo on the final day of the previous school year, when he had reassured her that Kasumi was coming on the training trip with Akane and himself, so there was no chance that anything 'improper' was going to happen. His thoughts drifted further back a couple of weeks before that date, to the disaster of a wedding, which Ukyo had bombed in an attempt to stop the proceedings, endangering Akane and several others. Perhaps he and his father, most especially his father, did owe her something for messing up her life and stealing her dowry when she was six. Perhaps she had every right to be upset with the both of them. But putting others in danger hadn't been at all right and he couldn't overlook that. On the other hand, he could remember a time when they had been playmates and he had thought of her as a friend. He wished he could think of her that way again.
Ranma shook himself, realizing these thoughts weren't getting him anywhere. He raised his fist to knock, but then drew it back as a horrible thought hit him. What if, instead of attacking him, she were to cry? He wouldn't be able to stand it if she cried. He almost turned around then and there, but then stopped. In a severe whisper he berated himself, "If she cries, she cries. Deal with it!" Before he could think up any more objections, he raised his fist and finally knocked on the door, watching through the glass as this attracted the attention of Ukyo's femininely dressed waitress, Konatsu. The latter stared bug-eyed for a moment as he recognized who was knocking, then hurried over and opened the door.
"Ranma?" The genius kunoichi was obviously still having trouble believing his eyes.
"Hey Konatsu, and yeah, it's really me," Ranma answered the unspoken question with half a smile. "Is Ukyo in?"
Konatsu got hold of himself, recovering his poise, and replied more firmly, not to mention dubiously, "Yes, she is, although I am unsure of the wisdom of your coming here."
Ranma gave the other boy a crooked grin of rueful agreement. "Yeah, you and me both. She still upstairs this morning?"
"Yes."
"Okay, wish me luck." Konatsu nodded and Ranma went through the back, then up the stairs to the apartment above the restaurant, where he knocked on the door. When the door opened, the face which peered out was barely recognizable. The chef looked as if she had recently suffered a long illness.
"R-Ranchan? Is it really you?"
"Yeah, Ukyo, it's me. We're visiting home for a couple of days, then heading back. We're trying to keep it pretty quiet that we're here, though. We don't want ... well, you know. Are you okay?"
"What are you doing coming by to see me, then?" With a show of spirit, she continued angrily. "And what makes you think that I want to see you?"
Ranma sighed. "Can I come in, Ukyo? I don't expect this will take long."
She reluctantly opened the door wider, then stood aside to let him enter. They sat down facing each other. For several minutes, neither spoke, the tension growing between them. Finally, Ukyo broke the silence.
"So," she spat out, "what makes you think you can just waltz back in here after what you did to me?"
Ranma looked bitter. "What about what you did to me?" He stopped himself, shaking his head, and when he began again his voice was quieter, calmer. "But I'm not here to get into a pointless argument. We were friends once. I don't want you to be hurt any more than you have to be. I came today because I wanted to tell you something before you hear about it from anyone else."
Ukyo sighed, closing her eyes in pain. "You're marrying Akane, then."
Ranma nodded once. "Yeah. I proposed a couple of weeks ago and she accepted. We're planning to get married during winter break."
Ukyo found that she was having trouble breathing. She had been having nightmares about this moment for months, so it didn't seem fair that it could hurt as much as it did. She felt a tear sliding down her cheek, then another, and that didn't seem fair either. Surely she had cried herself out about this shortly after he disappeared?
When she made no response, Ranma continued. "Actually, it's going to be a double wedding. Kasumi and Doctor Tofu Ono are going to get married at the same time as us. Um, if you want a wedding invitation, we'll be glad to give you one, as long as you promise to leave the weapons at home. Of course," he hesitated, wishing once more for the friend he had lost, "we also understand if you don't want to come."
Ukyo held herself in rigid stillness, arms clasped tightly around her body. ‹I won't cry. I will not cry.›
Ranma was growing worried. He had expected to be attacked, or at the very least yelled at. Less likely, though a possibility, would be dealing with her if she broke down and cried. He hadn't planned on what to do if she just sat there, silently, as if changed to stone.
"Ukyo ...?"
Her voice came out like grinding gravel. "Please leave, Saotome. You're not welcome here."
"Ukyo, can I ..."
"Get out! Just get the fuck out! You don't have the right. You don't have any right to see me cry!" There was a sob in her voice at the end.
Ranma jumped out of his chair. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Ukyo. I'm sorry that our lives got so tangled up in this screwed up way, and I'm sorry that you had to end up getting hurt. I never wanted to hurt you, I just wasn't given any real choice about it. Good-bye."
He walked out the door and closed it behind him, hearing the sobs start to break out just as it closed. Konatsu met him as he was headed back out.
"Is Mistress Ukyo all right?" the young ninja asked worriedly.
Ranma looked dejected, and spoke in a voice of considerable weariness. "No, Konatsu, she's not all right. I had to tell her something she didn't want to hear, and it hurt her, badly. I didn't want to hurt her, but she had to know."
"You will not marry her, then?"
"No, I won't. That's why I came by, to tell her that Akane and I are getting married."
Konatsu's face lightened marginally and he gave Ranma a deep bow. "Ah. My congratulations to you, then. I believe that I will go upstairs and see if I may comfort her."
Ranma paused at the door, wondering if anyone could help his one-time friend recover from the heartache he had caused her. A little hopelessly, he responded, "Yeah, you do that Konatsu."
Ranma left the restaurant, almost forgetting the need for stealth, but he remembered at the last moment as Akane's words came back to him. He headed back through the streets, keeping a watchful eye out. At last, he slipped inside the gate at the Tendo home, breathing a little more easily; it did not appear as if anyone had spotted him.
Akane met him just before he entered the house, casting a critical eye up and down his body. "You don't appear to be cut or limping anywhere. Wouldn't she see you?"
Ranma grimaced. "No. It wasn't like that, we didn't fight. I wish we had, it would have been a lot less painful."
"Oh. Like that, then." Akane let him see the sympathy in her eyes, and gave him a quick hug for comfort. "I'm sorry, Ranma, I know how much you hate to hurt people. Why don't you go take a bath and soak in the furo for a while?"
"Yeah, I guess I will. That does sound like a good idea. What do you say I change into a girl afterward, and we polish off a tub of ice cream together?"
"I'd say it sounds like a plan. Go on inside, now."
The atmosphere inside the Tendo home remained strained that weekend. In order to repair relations with his daughters, Soun Tendo spent long hours meditating before his wife's shrine. He finally made a halting and tear-filled, but reasonably sincere, apology to Akane while Kasumi and Nabiki listened in the background. Akane did not immediately express forgiveness, but realized afterward that it no longer felt as if there was an abyss separating her from her father. Other than that, everyone mostly got along, aside from some inconsequential arguments arising from the continued desire to maintain secrecy, and one bitter argument between Ranma and his mother which no one else witnessed. With each such argument, people were able to apologize shortly afterward and peace was restored.
On Sunday the two engaged couples carried their luggage back out to the car and prepared to leave. Just as the last suitcase was placed in the trunk and the hood closed, the two fathers gave Nodoka a meaningful look. She sighed and placed her hand on Ranma's shoulder, causing him to turn and look at her.
"Ranma, my son," she began, entreatingly, "I am your mother. Do I not have a right to know the whereabouts of my son? I was so worried during those months when I did not know where you were or under what conditions you were living. Must I continue to live under such a cloud?"
The young man looked downcast, hating the idea of worrying his mother or having her upset with him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Akane looking at him sympathetically, her face conveying the message that she would understand if he gave in to this plea. He drew strength from the very fact that she did support him, whatever decision he made. Akane was the woman he loved, the most important person in his life, far more important to him even than his mother's goodwill. His features firmed.
"I'm sorry, mom. I don't want you to worry about me, but we've been over this, and we're not going to tell you where we're living. Maybe after this winter, when we're safely married, but not now. I'm sorry."
His mother nodded, a single tear leaking out, and hugged him. This started a veritable orgy of people hugging one another. At long last, the four climbed into the car, and drove off. Suspecting that lookouts might have been posted along the roads to watch which way they went, they started out driving to the southeast for a good distance before finally turning northward.
That afternoon, Nabiki made an appearance at the Nekohanten. Shampoo gave her a look which was both glowering and hopeful at the same time, and immediately led her into the back, where Cologne was once more stationed over her stove. The old woman gave her a sharp look.
"Greetings, Tendo-san. What may I do for you?"
Nabiki was in her most businesslike mode. "Hello, elder. I have some information about Akane and Ranma, though it's less than you'd like to have, I'm sure. Let's say 5000 yen?"
Cologne wordlessly handed over the money. Shampoo hovered in the room rather than going back out to tend to the customers.
"Ranma, Akane and Kasumi came to visit us this weekend, and left again just a couple of hours ago ..."
Cologne interrupted. "Such information would have been more useful yesterday, or even four hours ago."
Nabiki shrugged. "My duties to my family exceed my desire for profit, hard though that is for some people to believe. As I was about to say, Doctor Tofu Ono was with them, it seems that the three of them have been living somewhere with Dr. Ono for the past few months. However, they have still refused to tell us anything about where they are living, and they came and left in Ono-sensei's car. I have information that they left Nerima driving in a southeasterly direction."
Cologne made a dismissive gesture and Nabiki inclined her head marginally and responded as if the old Chinese Amazon had actually spoken. "Of course, no doubt they deliberately set out in the wrong direction and doubled back, as it seems unlikely that they are living in the center of Tokyo. In any event, the news that they brought is that Doctor Tofu has proposed to Kasumi, and Ranma has proposed to Akane, and that they are planning to have a double wedding this coming New Year's Day. They were careful to drop no other clues to help determine where they are living, although Ono-sensei's presence is certainly a significant clue in and of itself."
Cologne's eyes had narrowed thoughtfully at the mention of Tofu Ono's name, and she nodded at this last statement from the Tendo girl.
‹A more significant clue than you realize,› the old woman thought to herself. ‹Tofu himself probably doesn't realize that our mutual friend at the hospital here in Nerima told me a long time ago where he settled down when he left. It's a pity the idea of their linking up with Tofu never occurred to me before, and it should have, since it would have been a considerable incentive for Kasumi to have gone with them. Now the question is, how much do I reveal to Xian Pu?›
"Thank you for your information child," she said noncommittally. "Shampoo, please get back out front now and see to the customers."
Nabiki left the restaurant, and walked over to the Kuno estate, where she asked to speak with Tatewaki. Not unexpectedly, his sister Kodachi also joined them.
"What do you wish here, Nabiki Tendo," Kodachi hissed. "Have you come to gloat that your sister is still in hiding somewhere with my Ranma darling?"
"Temper, temper, Kodachi, at least if you want the information that I have to sell. 15000 yen please."
It had been her intention to charge 10000, but she had upped the amount after the gymnast's outburst. Tatewaki shot his sister a quelling look, and handed over the money. Nabiki then repeated the same information which she had already sold to Cologne. Kodachi howled upon learning that Ranma had actually been in town, and she had missed him.
"Thank you for this information, Nabiki Tendo," the boy stated. "Although I share my sister's sentiments. I would have paid a great deal more to have had this information earlier."
"Sorry, Kuno-baby. My sisters didn't want you to know until after they left, and I didn't want to betray their wishes."
Tatewaki Kuno merely stared down his nose at her, and Nabiki turned and left. After the door closed behind her, he sighed and turned to their servant. "Sasuke, it is clear that we have delayed too long while waiting for you to track down my loves and that foul sorcerer. Please contact a competent private investigator, and have him call on me here for instructions."
"You should have taken such a step long ago, brother."
"I do not recall you suggesting it either, dear sister. Hopefully it will be possible to find them through the doctor who is now their companion."
He returned to his private gymnasium to practice with his swords, while dreaming of going to the rescue of the women he loved.
The next morning, Cologne called Shampoo and Mousse to her. "I'm going to leave the two of you in charge of the restaurant today. The news we received yesterday has given me an idea, one that I wish to follow where it may lead, but it means I will be gone all day."
Shampoo was immediately interested, her beautiful eyes widening with hope. "You know where airen is?" she asked, barely breathing the words. "Shampoo will come with you!"
"No!" The single word came out like the crack of a whip. "I do not know what will come of this. You will stay here. Mousse will need you to help him." Shampoo gave her hapless swain a dismissive glance and sighed, sadly nodding obedience of the old Amazon's express order.
"Yes, great-grandmother. Shampoo hope it works, and you find them."
"I'll certainly let you know child. I need to go now, I have a train to catch."
That evening in Sendai, when the four roommates walked into the garage after work to head home, they found the withered old woman sitting on the roof of Tofu's car, staff in hand. "Hello, children," she declared brightly. "Fancy meeting you here."
Ranma groaned. "So it looks like we were right about the risk of letting people know we were living with Doc Tofu."
"That's right, sonny." She cackled nastily. "I already knew where he was; it just never occurred to me that you might be with him."
"I ain't never gonna marry Shampoo or go back to your village with you. I'm marrying Akane, and nothing you say or do is going to change that!"
Cologne sighed, her cheerfulness disappearing. "Can we go somewhere and talk? This garage does not really seem to be an appropriate setting."
The four exchanged looks with one another, then Tofu addressed the other three. "I really do not want to freely hand over the location of our apartment. Why don't we walk over to one of the nearby restaurants for an early dinner?"
Akane and Ranma shrugged agreement, Kasumi and Cologne nodded, and all five walked out of the garage. In short order they were seated at a table looking over menus. The dinner rush had not really started yet, and nobody was sitting very close to them. Nonetheless, conversation was postponed until after they had placed their orders, received their drinks, and the waiter had left for the kitchen.
"So, old ghoul, say your piece." Ranma was practically snarling.
"Manners, sonny," she snapped back, then immediately sighed. "The truth is, Ranma, that I am no longer certain of the wisdom of bringing you home to my village."
This statement left Kasumi and Tofu with wide eyes and hanging jaws, while Akane and Ranma both nodded with satisfaction. Cologne had just confirmed something which they had already considered, and discussed in private.
"The Kiss of Marriage is not a thing to be easily set aside. By our traditions, it is a solemn vow of union, and as an elder of my people I am expected to uphold our traditions. At the same time, I have the responsibility to consider what is best for my people in the long run. Ranma's presence may in the end do more harm than good, aside from the damage he might inflict in the attempt to get him there against his will in the first place. Or, for that matter, to keep him there. I am not, after all, unmindful of what happened at Jusendo."
Ranma winced, closing his eyes. "I don't ever wanna be put in the position of having to do something like that again." His eyes reopened. "On the other hand, I'll do anything to protect Akane."
For once, Akane kept her mouth shut in the face of Ranma's declarations that he was responsible for her safety.
Cologne continued speaking in a serious tone. "It would be very difficult for me to revoke the Kiss of Marriage against Shampoo's will, and she will not easily be turned aside from the course which she has set herself. Further, my vengeance would be terrible if she were to be killed or suffer permanent injury."
Ranma and Cologne were staring into one another's eyes, as if they were exchanging thoughts. The others felt like spectators at some sort of sparring match.
"Won't she be in trouble with your people if she doesn't fulfill that Kiss of Marriage thing?" Ranma asked thoughtfully.
"That is so, but I can soften it considerably. The other elders have also been growing concerned about the prospect of your living among us."
"I won't have our home or jobs disturbed. School starts in a few weeks; you can tell her that you have learned we are attending Masamune High School here in Sendai. I don't want her endangering any of the other students either. If she does ..."
He left the threat unfinished. Cologne held up one hand, indicating agreement. Satisfied, Ranma nodded and continued. "If there were to be a confrontation before or after school, then the school grounds are large enough that we should be able to avoid any risk to other people." He paused contemplatively, a finger tapping his chin. "You'll need to find a way to keep Mousse occupied; his presence might complicate matters."
"I've been thinking of sending him to China with some messages, and to pick up some things for me. The start of the school term might be a good time for that."
The two of them bowed slightly toward one another, as if some sort of agreement had been reached. The food arrived shortly thereafter, and the remaining dinner conversation was purposefully kept away from the relationship between Shampoo and Ranma, focusing instead on minor events in Nerima and the life the four had been living in Sendai. After the meal they drove Cologne to the train station, before going home.
During the drive to the apartment, Ranma spoke thoughtfully. "Akane, we're going to drastically increase your training, effective immediately. Shampoo might find you before she finds me, and I want to make sure that you're more than a match for her, if she does."
Of course, Shampoo wasn't the only adversary they had to worry about. Trouble showed up a couple of weeks later, just as Akane was on her way out of the hospital after work. Stepping out of the elevator with her was a young intern on his way home who, to his misfortune, tied his black hair back in a pigtail, and had chosen to wear a red shirt and black slacks that day. He did not really resemble Akane's fiancé very much, but there was a superficial resemblance at a brief glance, particularly for someone who had not laid eyes on Ranma in several months.
As the pair exited the elevator there was a sudden stir in the lobby, as a young man strode in carrying a sheathed katana. His eyes blazed as he spotted the figure in front of him and, dropping the sheath from his blade, he ran forward.
"Foul sorcerer! At long last I shall free my fierce tigress from your spell!"
Akane wasted valuable seconds looking behind her, where she assumed Ranma must be standing, then turned back and watched in horror as the blade stabbed forward. At the last second she reached out and grabbed the young man beside her, who seemed to be frozen in shock, and yanked him to the side.
Too late, as the blade bit deep into his left shoulder, but also just in time, as it did not pierce the heart toward which it had been aimed. Blood sprayed forth, and several voices around the lobby erupted in screams.
"No, Kuno, wait! He's not Ranma!" Akane shouted desperately, hoping to break through to whatever core of sanity Kuno might possess.
The would-be samurai halted in shock, as he realized that his sword had pierced a stranger, a stranger whose life's blood was pouring down his left side. Two security personnel ran up, drawing their sidearms, and pointing them at the fool with the sword. Akane had leaped to the intern's wounded side, and clamped a strong hand over the bleeding wound, and a couple of other people were running up from behind her to help.
"Drop the sword, mister! Drop it now!"
Tatewaki Kuno gave the men a bewildered look. Why were these peasants shouting at him? "Do not fear, I will not harm him further. You see, it is not the sorcerer."
"Either you drop that blade now, and kiss the floor, or I start shooting!"
It is hard to say what young Tatewaki thought he was doing. He turned to face toward the security personnel, pointing his sword at the man who had spoken as he prepared to address him. A bullet crashed into Kuno's upper arm, causing him to drop the katana and fall back into some chairs that were behind him.
He managed to whisper, "That hurt, you know," before he passed out from shock.
The police arrived a few minutes later, to find both the victim and his assailant in surgery. They took statements from everyone present, shaking their heads over someone talking about sorcerers and stabbing a person with a katana.
Akane gave them the longest statement, including some of the history that she and Ranma had with the Kuno's. She was not remiss to point out the possibility that Tatewaki's equally deranged sister might be around somewhere, since if one had found them, the other likely knew where they were as well. More police were sent to check the area around the hospital and medical center, furnished with a description of Kodachi Kuno. They also contacted the police in Nerima in order to try to confirm whether she might still be at her home there. Akane finally got a chance to call Tofu's clinic to ask him to find Ranma and warn him.
The police quickly confirmed that Kodachi was in fact somewhere in the area, since they found the Kuno's limousine parked out in front of the hospital, and the chauffeur saw no reason not to provide them with this information. Akane became worried when it was reported that nobody was able to locate Ranma, and she was sitting in Tofu's clinic nervously waiting for information, with Kasumi's arm around her.
The search finally found both Kodachi and Ranma together, in a supply closet in the medical center, both of them unmoving and apparently under the influence of some drug. They were quickly taken down the street to the hospital, where Tofu followed them, identified the use of Kodachi's paralysis powder, and suggested treatment. An hour later Ranma was finally able to talk again, and addressed himself to his fiancée, Doctor Tofu, Kasumi, and a police officer.
"That psycho bitch cornered me in a supply closet just before I got off of work. She was raving on, calling me 'Ranma darling' and how she was going to save me from Akane and carry me to her limousine which would whisk us back to Nerima. She just laughed at me and pulled out these flowers. Well, I've seen the effects of her flowers more than once, so I tried to block her and knock them away before she could stick 'em in my face, but I only succeeded in getting us both sprayed with the crap. I was sitting there praying that I'd be the one to come out of it first and not her, 'cause she would have tried to carry me off otherwise, and I was worried that she might have at least a partial immunity to the stuff."
With more than a touch of exasperation, Akane told him, "Ranma, I wish you would make an exception about hitting girls in some circumstances."
"Sorry, 'kane, but she hadn't even attacked me yet. I was hoping I could talk her into just leaving."
"Well, thank you for your statement, Saotome-san," the police officer said. "She and her brother are facing quite a list of charges, and the word I've been hearing from higher up is that they'll probably also be forced to have psychiatric evaluations."
As their cases wound through the courts, the Kuno siblings discovered that while their wealth did indeed command a certain degree of respect, they had nowhere near as much influence in Sendai as they had back in Nerima. In fact, the Kuno clan found that it was unable to secure their release, and was reduced to making concessions in order to keep the scandal under wraps as much as possible. Brother and sister ended up institutionalized in the interest of public safety, and gradually faded from the memories of the people who had once known them.
A couple of evenings after the two Kuno's were arrested, Akane and Ranma were sharing a quiet moment in Akane's room. Ranma was female and sitting with his back to Akane, who was pulling a brush through her fiancé's silky red hair in long, slow strokes. The two of them had been making out earlier, but their excitement had reached a level where they had mutually agreed that they should stop for the night. However, they found that Ranma could not retire to his own bedroom because Kasumi and Tofu were still together in there with the door shut. At that point Akane, with a twinkle in her eye, and never suspecting that he would agree, had suggested that they brush each other's hair. Ranma hadn't really been all that enthusiastic for the idea, but changed to his cursed form and went along with the suggestion for lack of anything better to do. He had found to his surprise that he enjoyed the tactile sensation of brushing Akane's hair, and was enjoying even more the feel of having his own hair brushed by the one he loved.
For her part, Akane was discovering that as a tactic for allowing time for her passion to subside, this exercise was not working as well as expected. The heat which Ranma's kisses and touches had roused in her earlier was fading only slowly, and the action of brushing his hair, even in his female form, was proving more erotic than she had foreseen. Even more troublesome was the fact that her imagination kept turning to the other bedroom, and what she believed her sister and Tofu to be up to at that moment. Although she was happy with the current state of her relationship with Ranma, and not yet ready to take it further, she couldn't help wondering what it would be like and feeling a little envious of Kasumi.
As Akane was retying Ranma's pigtail, they heard a door open and close again, and a discreet knock came on their bedroom door. Akane called out, "Come in," and the door opened to admit her sister Kasumi, who greeted them cheerfully. Akane focused on finishing with the pigtail, whereupon she and Ranma left the bedroom in order for him to change back to male and to share a goodnight kiss.
On returning to her bedroom, Akane was a little surprised by the look she saw on Kasumi's face. Her sister was happy, even glowing, as was to be expected. But there was also something about her which was a little sad, or maybe wistful. She wondered if there was something the matter, and whether she ought to try to talk to her about it.
Kasumi had finished changing into her nightgown by the time Akane had made up her mind to broach the subject. Kneeling on her futon, hands resting lightly on her knees, Akane asked, "Is something the matter, oneechan?"
The older girl looked a little startled. "Why, no, Akane, everything is fine. Why do you ask?"
Akane crossed her arms and gave her older sister a stern look. "You can drop the act. You've gotten a little out of the habit of hiding your emotions since we moved here. Now if it's none of my business, just say so, but I'd like to help, or at least listen, if you want to talk about it."
Kasumi sighed deeply as she settled into a sitting position on her own futon, and an array of emotions passed across her face, settling finally on resignation. "It's really nothing that need worry you, Akane. It's just that ... the time I spend with Tofu is so ... so wonderful." Kasumi's cheeks flushed pinker. "It hurts when I must leave him so that Ranma may go to bed." Her eyes turned inward and a small smile appeared on the edges of her lips. "What I really want is to stay there with him afterward, to hold him close through the night. I suppose you must have seen a trace of that in my expression."
Akane understood immediately what Kasumi was saying. Her imagination was easily able to offer a similar image, involving herself and Ranma instead. She also felt sad watching Ranma leave her to retire to his bedroom for the night. "Well, I can understand that. There are times when I wish Ranma didn't have to go to the other room, even if I don't want him sleeping in my bed yet."
They sat there together in silence for several minutes, neither of them moving to go to bed, both contemplating these feelings. Finally Akane, eyes turned down to her knees and speaking very hesitantly, asked, "You'd really be happier if you were sharing Tofu's bedroom, wouldn't you?"
Kasumi drew in a little gasp of a breath. "Please, Akane, don't tease. There are only two bedrooms in this apartment, and you and Ranma are too young to share a bedroom."
Akane looked up, with a small flash of anger in her eyes. "What gives you the right to say what Ranma and I are or aren't ready for? He and I are both eighteen, we're engaged, we're going to be married in a few months, and we are perfectly capable of making our own decisions. We didn't escape from our parents telling us what to do just to ..." She stopped and drew a deep breath, getting herself back under control from her minor outburst, a bit ashamed of having spoken to her well-meaning sister in such a tone. "I'm sorry about that, Kasumi, I guess you touched a nerve."
Kasumi looked contrite. "No, I'm sorry, little sister. You're right. You're grown up now, and you have the right to make your own decisions. Are you serious about switching rooms ...?"
Akane shrugged, her mouth quirking up. "Well, I haven't made that offer yet. I want to think it over more first. For one thing, before suggesting it I want to be sure I'm confident that sharing a bedroom with Ranma wouldn't make me feel pressured to sleep with him as well. And even if I decide that I'm okay with the idea, we would still have to see what the guys have to say about it. Ranma can be awfully shy sometimes, and he might feel that he isn't ready for such a step." She slid under her sheets. "I do plan to give serious thought to it. I really do think that Ranma and I are at a point where we could handle such a change, or at least nearly so. Or at least I hope we are. After all, as I already pointed out, it's only a few months before we're going to be married."
"As long as you don't feel pressured into doing it just for my sake," Kasumi responded, with concern, uncertainty and hope warring in her voice.
"I promise," Akane answered sleepily.
The next morning at practice, Akane noticed that Ranma wasn't being as loquacious as usual. She decided that he must have picked up on her mood, that there was something she was thinking hard about, and was leaving her to it. Over the course of the day, as she contemplated the idea of sharing a bedroom with Ranma, she slowly came to the realization that she was not only willing but that she wanted this. While there would be some difficulties, especially some initial awkwardness, she found that she liked the idea of having this young man she had come to love sleeping close enough for a quiet word to reach. She resolved to speak with him about it at their evening workout.
By the time Ranma called a halt to their practice in the dojo that night, Akane was ready to drop from exhaustion. That had been the case almost every night since Cologne had found them. He wasn't quite as rigorous in the morning exercises since she had to get through the rest of the day, but the only nights he let up even a little were those on which they were going out afterward on a date. She had quickly come to realize just how serious he was about making sure that she was ready to handle Shampoo if it should prove necessary. Before he headed off to shower, she reached out and grabbed his sleeve, wearily motioning for him to sit on the floor beside her.
"What is it, 'kane?" he asked, curious.
"I assume you've noticed how close Kasumi and Tofu have become?" she asked him rhetorically. Not that that stopped him from answering, with a broad grin spreading across his face.
"Kind of hard not to notice. When she leaves Doc Tofu and passes me in the hallway, I have to look twice before I believe that her feet really are touching the ground at all. And the Doc has this really goofy smile permanently plastered on his face."
Akane wanted to smile at his sally, but found that she was too nervous. All day, she'd been trying to figure out the words to explain what she wanted, without much luck. Now that she was down to the wire, she decided to try being blunt. "Well, it's just that I think that maybe Kasumi and Tofu would both be happier if they could share the same bedroom. And I was thinking that I really wouldn't mind sharing a bedroom with you as long as we stick to separate futons."
Ranma fell over soundlessly, and lay on the floor staring up into space. Okay, maybe the blunt approach hadn't been the best choice after all. After a few minutes contemplation of the ceiling, he began speaking in a quiet, hesitant voice, without looking at her. "You mean you, and me, sleeping in the same bedroom? Just a meter or two apart? Sharing the same room, the room where we get dressed in the morning and undressed at night?"
"Yes, that's what I mean," she answered shyly. "I admit that changing clothes in the same room will be awkward, and probably pretty embarrassing, at least at first, but, I don't know, maybe we could put up a screen or something to change behind. Besides, we are planning to get married, you know, so it's something we're going to need to get used to eventually."
Ranma gave a weak grin, and finally turned his head to look at her. "Well, yeah, but that's a few months off. While you're talking about doing this ... well, sometime soon, it sounds like. I've gotta admit that you've thrown me a bit. I don't think the idea would have occurred to me, and if it had, I don't think I'd have dared suggest it to you."
"So does that mean you don't want to?" Akane asked, trying to figure out his reaction and whether she should feel insulted or relieved. Or both.
Ranma waved his hands in the air a little helplessly. "I didn't say that. Give me a chance to adjust to the concept that you've even suggested this." He paused, and seemed to lose himself in thought for a while, apparently thinking over the whole idea. At one point he sat up very suddenly, and Akane looked away, having glimpsed the physical reaction he was trying to hide. She realized that if they did go through with this, then embarrassing incidents of this sort were likely to be a lot more frequent.
After some more time passed, Ranma released a large breath, and then spoke in a way that sounded as if he couldn't believe he was saying what he was saying. "I guess ... I'm willing to try if you are. It would be a nice thing to do for the other two, and I'm pretty sure I'll manage to live through the embarrassing moments. Heck, once I'm used to it, I assume I'll appreciate it - if I didn't, then I would have made a mistake asking you to marry me, and I know that wasn't a mistake. The biggest problem I see is that it's going to really increase the temptations we're dealing with. Resisting those while you're so close at night could get ... painful."
Akane had turned her eyes down to her lap as he spoke, her cheeks becoming rosy, but as soon as he was done, she looked up at him and said frankly, "I know what you mean. I feel those temptations too, you know. But I trust you, Ranma." She swallowed hard, and once again looked down, her voice dropping as she admitted, "I trust you more than I do myself, and I know that you're worthy of that trust."
The boy groaned. "Ohhhh ... That is pretty ... ruthless, appealing to my sense of honor like that. You know that I'm going to have to do my best to live up to that now."
"I know," she replied apologetically. "The way your honor doesn't break no matter how heavy the load is one of the things that I love about you."
Ranma sighed dramatically. "So when do we do this, anyway?"
Akane looked thoughtful. "Well, I'll need to tell Kasumi. She and I talked about this a little last night. Then she'll need to discuss the idea with Tofu, which is likely to leave him catatonic for a while. After that, he'll probably want to talk to us to reassure himself that we really are willing, and he may want a chance to think it over. But I don't expect it will take long."
A couple of nights later, as Ranma lay down on his futon, he said in a voice pitched to carry only a short distance, "Good night, tomboy."
"Good night, baka."