Author: Furiousmonkey
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma
PS: I live in Ireland, so I use English spelling, not American, so don't beat me for that!
Ranma- Love at last!
Chapter 10- X-rays and statistics
A/N. Hi everyone!
Woo-hoo! Got this one done on time! Thanks again to everyone for such positive feedback! I'm going to reply to each and every person who reviews, even if it's only to thank them. My favorite bit of writing Fanfics is getting reviews. So as always, Keep 'Em Coming!
On with the show!
Furinkan High: Hallways
Throngs of students were filling Furinkan High's hallways on their way to their classes. Usually nothing would be able to stop this sea of students, which often trampled unwary teachers underfoot. But today on the third floor, things were different. Students froze in their spots. They parted like the red sea to Moses.
Moses in this case was a tall, strong, but leanly built young man with long raven hair tied into a pigtail and wearing a red Chinese shirt with matching black slacks. He had a hard, determined look on his face. He was speeding down the hallway, taking no notice of the shocked expressions on his fellow students faces. He sped past Saiyuri and Yuka, who were standing, open-mouthed and only half hanging on to their bags.
The precious cargo that he was carrying was smiling broadly. A small, pretty, but not dainty looking girl with pale-ish skin, blue-black hair that was cut short and who had the largest pair of chocolate brown eyes, was snuggled into his chest. Her arms were hanging loosely around his neck, while his were underneath her legs and back, gently holding her up.
Akane laughed to herself at the look on her friend's faces. Especially after what she had jokingly said to them in the schoolyard. Playing along with this, she gave a thumbs-up behind Ranma's head. She laughed again when she heard two schoolbags hit the ground.
It suddenly hit her though, that, while all this messing around with her friends was fine and harmless, that wasn't the case with the rest of the students. What was happening must look very suspicious. She would never hear the end of this. Nabiki would find out, she would blackmail them and tell the family. Father would try and organise a wedding, Kasumi would give out to her for "Not being proper", she and Ranma would forcefully deny anything and would then start hurling insults.
No. Not this time. She'd make sure it wouldn't end like that.
And so, as Ranma turned the corner and began to descend the steps of the stairs, she called out to the silent sea of students.
" Don't go thinking anything! I only hurt my ankle and he's taking me to the nurse!"
That would do. She smiled to herself and settled back against Ranma. Looking up she grinned and said,
" Sorry Ranma. Only making sure that they don't go thinking that we were doing something."
At the mention of his name Ranma looked down and asked, slightly confused,
" Huh, what? Who thinks what?"
Akane laughed a little before answering,
" The other students! That we were doing something…. improper!"
Ranma looked puzzled as he asked,
" What other students?"
Akane laughed again,
" What do you mean " What other Students"? The students who stood open-mouthed as you rushed down the hall!"
Ranma still looked lost as he asked incredulously,
" There were other students in the hall?….Did they see us?"
Akane shook her head in disbelief and replied in an exasperated tone of voice,
" See us? Ranma, they all froze in their spots and stared at us. Honestly! Did you not notice them?"
Ranma shook his head vigorously. Akane laughed loudly.
" Honestly Ranma! How could you not have seen them?"
Ranma looked up again and said seriously,
" I guess I had more important things in mind."
Akane gave him a knowing look as she quietly asked,
" And what was so important that you didn't notice a hundred people freezing in their spots and staring at you?"
Ranma blushed and mumbled, barely audibly,
" You!"
Akane blushed and leaned her head against his chest again. Which made Ranma blush even more.
A long silence followed, the only sounds were Ranma's feet pounding against the hard concrete of the school's hall. Ranma was in deep thought.
" Can't believe I hurt her. How could I have? I promised to never let anyone hurt her. And then I do it myself…. Why did she forgive me? That time with the combat suit she said that she could never forgive it if I hit her. But she forgives me straight away when I hurt her…. I don't deserve her…. I never have…. And the way I'm going I never will…."
Ranma was close to tears at this point, but was doing well to hide them.
"Ranma."
He swallowed hard at the thought of losing Akane for good,
" Ranma!"
He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm down,
" RANMA!"
Ranma snapped out of his meditation and looked down at an annoyed Akane,
" Huh? Sorry Akane. What is it?"
Akane raised her eyebrow and said playfully,
" Ranma, you've walked past the nurses office twice now! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just like carrying me."
Ranma went bright red and almost dropped Akane, she continued,
" Which is all well and good, but my foot does hurt. So, step too it!"
Ranma nodded and embarrassedly mumbled,
" Sorry Akane!"
Akane smiled and said,
" It's okay! But do hurry up!"
With that, Ranma turned and headed off in the right direction.
Furinkan High: Nurses Office
It had been a good twenty minutes since Ranma had arrived at the nurse's office with Akane in his arms. After bringing her into the examining room and gently laying her on the table he left the room without a word. He then sat down in the waiting room where he sat with his head in his hands, refusing to move even when the passing principal told him to go to class. The principal had gotten a punch in the stomach and wisely didn't try Ranma's patience any further.
" Ahh Mr.Saotome! You're still here?"
Ranma looked up and saw the young, black haired school nurse standing at the door of the examining room. She was holding a clipboard in her hand and a pen in the other.
" I'm just finished with Miss Tendo. I guess you can go in to see her, but please, go back to class when you're done."
Ranma rose and nodded; he waited for the nurse to leave the station before rushing to the examination room's door. He carefully opened the door and peered in. Akane was sitting up on the examining table, struggling to get on her sock and shoe around a thick bandage.
" Akane?"
Ranma said timidly. Akane looked up and smiled,
" Come in Ranma. I'm just finished."
Ranma entered and carefully closed the door behind him. He started walking towards the bed tentatively. Akane looked at him for a moment with a strange look on her face. Ranma froze in terror. Then suddenly Akane said in a very sad tone of voice,
" Ranma, what's wrong? Why are you so edgy? Did I do something?"
Ranma rushed forward quickly and began stuttering,
" No-no-no, you've done nothing wrong!"
Ranma's voice lowered significantly and he hung his head as he said the next piece,
" That's why I'm kinda edgy! Because you've done nothin'. I was expecting you to kill me after I hurt you. I remember the last time, when you had the suit, you said you could never forgive me if I hit you."
Akane looked heartbroken, but quickly replied,
" I might have said that. But I just wanted for you to stop fighting me back then. I'm really sorry for not being clearer Ranma!"
An uncomfortable silence descended upon them, but nervously looking at the floor. Eventually Akane timidly began,
" Ranma, you don't have to worry about what happened earlier. I know it was an accident."
She smiled nervously,
" It's only a sprain anyway, the nurse said it'll be fine in a few days."
With that she smiled and patted her foot. She kept smiling while she winced in pain. Laughing, she said,
" Shouldn't have done that!"
Ranma's serious face cracked, the corner of his mouth turned and he began to laugh as well. It felt like the weight if the world leaving him, seeing her smile and laugh.
Laughing, Akane lifted up a sock and said,
" Can you give me a hand, or even better a foot?"
Ranma smiled, took the sock from her and said,
" Sure!"
He knelt on the hard ground so that he was level with her sprained foot. It was expertly bandaged, only the legendary Doctor Tofu could have done a better job. Akane's exposed toes were wiggling as he herd her say,
" C'mon Ranma! They're getting cold!"
Ranma looked up to see Akane smiling and leaning backwards supported by her hands.
" Sorry Akane! The nurse did a good job didn't she?"
With that Ranma gently held Akane's foot and began to carefully pull the sock over it. As he was doing this Akane continued,
" Yeah she did! She examined it very carefully, almost as good as Tofu! Sorry about it taking so long. But she wanted to do an X-ray scan to make sure the bone wasn't bruised or anything!"
Ranma paused what he was doing and looked up incredulously,
" We have an X-ray machine in this school?"
Akane laughed at the look on Ranma's face and answered,
" Yeah I know! I couldn't believe it at first either! But apparently they got one in a few months back. Something about there being five hundred percent more accidents in this school than anywhere else in Tokyo."
Ranma looked stunned,
" Five hundred percent more accidents? Wow! I wonder why?"
Missing the disbelieving look that Akane gave him he went back to putting on Akane's sock.
Akane herself leaned back a bit more and smiled at her fiancé's clueless ness.
Furinkan High Schoolyard: After school
The rest of the school day ran fairly well. Akane had grudgingly refused Ranma's offer to carry her around for the rest of the day. There was going to be enough commotion from him carrying her down the halls once. She didn't want to know what would happen if he did it all day long. But Ranma had given her piggyback rides up and down the stairwells of the school, because on nurses orders she wasn't allowed climb them.
During lunch Akane hobbled to her favorite spot under the tree, where Yuka and Saiyuri quickly joined her and began questioning her about what had happened. Akane made it very clear to them what really happened. They soon dropped it and chatted about nothing in particular for the rest of the lunch. Ranma's room came up at one point in the conversation, but that was as close as Akane's friends dared to tread around that subject.
Ranma spent most of his lunch sitting with Hiroshi and Daisuke and was sitting a small bit away from Akane. He similarly batted off their repeated questions. He kept a close eye on her for the entire lunch. He even intercepted the passing Kuno, who was undoubtedly going over to Akane as he had a bouquet of red roses in his hand. After a verbal squabble between the two, Kuno swung his bokken in a wide arc. Ranma lazily dodged this by ducking under it. Ranma then counted with an uppercut, which sent Kuno flying into the school's swimming pool.
The rest of the day was, disappointingly, calmer.
Ranma and Akane walked side by side out of the school and into the schoolyard. The other students had long since left, seeing as Akane hobbled a lot slower than everyone else walked.
Akane was talking to Ranma with a worried edge in her voice,
" Say Ranma. What do you think Ukyo wants? Do you think she'll explain why she was so, so, "violent" yesterday?"
Ranma thought about it and said,
" I don't know? I hope she will. I don't like this crazy violent Ukyo; she's not acting like the friend I know. I don't think I would hang around with her anymore if she stayed like that. Beating me up just because she saw me talking to another girl. I mean, who would put up with someone like that?"
Akane sweatdropped and stuttered,
" Well, erm, yeah… but eh… what about me?"
Ranma looked bewildered and asked,
" What about you?"
Akane looked worried as she replied,
" Well you know…. I hit you a lot!"
Realisation dawned on Ranma and he smiled as he said,
" Ooohh! Well…..you're different!"
Akane decided that she'd better leave it at that before she did any damage.
As they reached the gates of the school Ranma asked her,
" Are you sure you don't want me to carry you home? You're limping fairly badly!"
Akane smiled and said,
" No no no! I'll be fine! You go to Ucchans. I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!"
And with that she turned and limped off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo, leaving a very worried Ranma in her wake.