OMG! Gomenasai! I have no excuse, I just… I do not know why it took me so long to wrote this. Well, Merry Christmas to you all and enjoy! R & R!

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Ai Shite Nai Wake Ja Nai Chapter 9: Nothing but the truth

This was all a dream. It could not be real. There was no way. At that moment, those were the only thoughts that were able to penetrate Akane's mind. Complete silence enveloped the room; no words were said to interrupt the serene feeling hovering inside. Minutes seemed infinite, yet as time passed Akane found Ranma's breathing becoming longer and deeper. Though hating to let go, she lowered his sleeping form onto her bed, realizing that he must have still been exhausted from his long journey home. Tomorrow, they could continue.

She looked down at his face and smiled. It looked tranquil; not the face of a man who had suffered continuously throughout his life, not the face of a man whose existence was controlled by chaos. Unconsciously, Akane brushed a few stray hairs from his forehead and covered him with her blanket.

As she did that, realization hit her. If Ranma was going to spend the night in her bedroom, there would be no place for her to sleep. She did not want to arouse him and carrying Ranma to his room in his boy form would be nearly impossible. Akane's only option was to find a place to sleep somewhere else for herself.

Akane did not know why, but a small voice inside of her head was telling her to stay. Akane mentally slapped herself and hurriedly silenced that voice. The thought itself was completely absurd. Why would she even want to be near that insensitive jerk? After so many years of denial, admitting her feelings was still excruciatingly tough.

Akane hesitated; partly longing to stay with Ranma, yet being afraid to openly show her feelings. If any member of her family just 'happened' to walk into her room in the morning which, as she knew, they had a routine tendency to, Akane was certain that there would be severe consequences, not too mention many uncomfortable questions.

She thought of asking Kasumi or Nabiki if she could sleep in their room, but she did not want to leave Ranma alone in case someone else wanted to visit him, as he was still weakened. Akane sighed and decided to compromise by pulling out an old futon from her closet and unrolling it next to her bed. Tomorrow, Ranma would pay for making her sleep on the floor. Akane turned off the lamp and stretched out on the futon wondering what the next day would bring.

The sun rose slowly, bringing a new day upon Nerima. A ray of bright sunlight poured through the open stutters into Akane's bedroom abruptly awakening Ranma. He opened his eyes, slightly dazed, feeling the remnants of a racking headache. He tried to remember what had happened to him and why he had awakened in a soft bed instead of an old, worn futon, to which he had grown accustomed. As the daze slowly wore off, Ranma looked around the strange space, realizing that he was in Akane's bedroom. But why? Slowly, events of the previous night came back to him. Akane loved him! She loved him! It was unrealistic, and yet it was the truth. Ranma sat up. His muscles were still sore, however, he felt well enough to be able to get up.

Ranma stood up. He smiled at Akane's sleeping form. It seemed like an eternity ago, when he last saw her asleep, the night before he left. As if on cue, Akane swung for the empty space above her, barely missing Ranma. He dodged out of the way and quietly walked to the door, trying his best not to rouse her. As he reached for the doorknob, Ranma halted. Not too far away from the door, he heard their father's voices deep in conversation. Somehow, Ranma was not surprised.

"Well, I still think that their engagement should be resumed!" he heard his father's gruff, yet somehow tired voice in the hallway.

"But Saotome-san, your son ran away like a coward! And what will we do about Ryouga?" Akane's father promptly replied.

"My boy was just trying to complete some unfinished business; besides, Ryouga has already left. By now, he must be halfway to Osaka."

"But…"

"Nonsense! You must have seen the way your daughter took care of Ranma. Something must have happened between them.! They spent a night in one room without killing each other.

That alone was enough to trigger Soun's famous waterworks, "The schools will finally be united!"

The rest of the conversation, unheard by Ranma, was continued as the fathers descended the stairs most likely to open a celebratory bottle of sake. Great. Now he and Akane were supposed to come up with an elaborate excuse for what had happened between them. They could tell their fathers that he had never woken up and slept through the night or something equally stupid which Soun and Genma were likely to believe. However, his train of thought was interrupted as he heard some shuffling and turned around to see Akane sitting up. She was wearing a wry smile, looking unkempt, still wearing the same clothes that she had worn yesterday, however at the moment, none of it mattered to him.

"Good morning," she said, looking up at him with a melancholy, yet elated look. .

"Mornin'," he replied, silently wondering if Akane was going to hurt him for making her sleep on the floor.

Akane wondered whether she should have hurt Ranma for making her sleep on the floor; it was tempting, yet she decided against it.

"So, are you fully healed?" she asked noticing that most of the cuts and bruises were barely visible.

He snorted. "As if a couple of minor injuries like that could keep me down!"

"Well, it didn't seem that way when you were passed out for almost an entire day!" Akane retorted. Ranma was back to normal all right, acting like his egotistical, arrogant self. The glared at each other as an awkward silence filled the room.

"So everything is back to the way it was before, right Akane?" he said quietly exiting the room. She could hear the sadness and regret in his voice. Yet… was it back to normal? Would they forget everything that had happened during the past months and sink back into denial? No. She would not let that happen.

"Ranma, wait! I'm sorry."

She caught up to Ranma just as he was about to descend the stairs. Though a part of her wanted to punt him into the orbit for his idiocy, she refrained herself from doing so and pulled him in to a hug. Once was enough. She was not going to make the same mistake again.

"Ranma, don't…"

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Shampoo stood by the doorway into the storeroom gazing at her great-grandmother in utter fascination. She had never seen Cologne so concentrated and caught up in anything. For the past hour, Cologne had rummaged through virtually every single one of their possessions, however, as it seemed, she had yet to find the object she was looking for.

Then finally, looking as if she was on the brink of giving up, Cologne halted; squinting her eyes on a trivial wooden box the size of fist, which she had discarded a few minutes ago. Cologne smiled. She had found what she wanted.

"Great-grandmother find ancient Amazon treasure?"

Cologne nodded and slowly opened the package inside. In it lay a single transparent, glass vial encrypted with Chinese characters inside of which glittering black powder shone in the light. A small parchment was carefully placed next to it. Cologne held the vial to her face examining the characters and compared them to the writing on the parchment. Once again, she smiled.

"Soon, Shampoo. Soon Ranma will be ours."

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In the Tendo household, life was going on as usual. If usual was considered to be a constant state of insanity.

Within the dojo, Ranma was slowly practicing katas, one after the next, yet his mind strayed from the art. Now that he had returned, would life return to normal? With the continuous pressuring of their fathers, Nabiki's blackmail, and everyone else that had lived the past years purely for the sake of keeping him and Akane apart, would everything just slip back to the way it was before? It was hard to tell.

Feeling frustrated and exasperated, Ranma hastily completed the last steps of the kata he had been finishing and made his way out of the dojo. Casting a sideways glance, he noticed his father and Mr. Tendo playing shogi in the living room. Things were getting back to their normal order, whether he wanted it or not.

A passing Kasumi cast Ranma a reassuring look and offered him tea. Despite his stomach's protests, Ranma declined. There were things on his mind much more important than food. He and Akane needed to talk. About them, about the other suitors, about the future. Maybe love was enough to overcome mistakes of the past. Ranma thought as he reached Akane's room.

Without thinking, he opened the door only to come face to face with a surprised Akane. Her wet hair and towel-wrapped form told him that she had just come out of the bath.

And yet… at times, old habits and routines overpowered feelings like love.

"Is anyone in this family even capable of knocking?" Akane screamed taking out her mallet, "You hentai!"

Some things just never change.

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Ranma groaned. She pulled herself out of the koi pond into which she had landed. Her head felt as if it was cracked into a million pieces. It was partly her fault; but then again, did Akane have to throw her out of the window like that? Ranma walked up to the door of the dojo and halted. She did not want anyone to see her now; too many questions would be asked. Instead, she walked out of the yard for a midnight stroll through the streets of Nerima

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Not far away, hiding quietly in the streets, a small, purple cat had spied its prey. It smiled; a smile that was almost human. It was only a matter of minutes until he would be hers.

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I'm done! Please people, read and review if you like this 'cause I need inspiration for faster updates. Hope you enjoyed this!

Sneak Peek at Chapter 10: Shampoo's plan and its effect