CLOSED DOORS
A Ranma 1/2 Alternate Universe
Story by:
Kristin-a-dette
Characters, trademark and inspiration by: Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2

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Chapter 9: A New Friendship and a New Attraction

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"I need a walk. I need a walk…" Akane muttered as she walked past her family and grabbed her coat.

"That's great, honey. Where are you going?" Soun asked.

"I need to go to the park. Park, yeah… that will refresh me." She mumbled.

"OK, you have my permission." Her father smiled at her, and Akane left without a word.

Soun raised a brow at Kasumi. "What's up with her?"

Kasumi calmly sipped her tea and replied, "She's going through a tough phase. Friends, boys, school. It gets stressful sometimes."

Nabiki laughed as she count their family bank statement with precision care. "Or maybe she just lost it. What with that Ranma guy and all."

"Oh, my. You don't mean Ranma Saotome, do you? What's going on?"

"Honestly, Dad. Where were you when Akane told us what happened?"

Soun gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, yes. I remember now. But why would she be fighting with Dr. Genma's boy, though?"

"It's called 'love', Dad." Nabiki replied sarcastically.

Soun gasped. "REALLY?"

"No! Geez, Dad. Get with the program. It's called anger management. The both of them need to calm down a bit. Geez, of all the idiotic… And honestly, Dad. How could you let Akane go to the park by herself? She might get kidnapped or something."

Soun's face fell. "Akane just seem so… so depressed. I don't want her to be like that."

"In other words, you didn't want her in the house when she gets into one of her moods, right?" Nabiki laughed.

Kasumi sighed as she watched her father defend himself in vain, and mumbled to herself, "My poor little sister…"

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Akane kicked the fallen brown leaves and sat down on the bench. She closed her eyes and sighed tiredly.

How stupid can Ukyou get? Honestly, that girl!

And that stupid Ranma! Does he think that going out with Ukyou is a good thing? Doesn't he care about her? If he did, then he wouldn't be talking trash about her, and then asking her out. That's… mean!

A womanizer. And a cold-blooded guy. Akane fumed, and then she gasped. Don't think you'll get away with this, Ranma Saotome. If this is some sort of cheap trick to get back at me, then you are in a lot of trouble, mister. I won't let you hurt my friend like that. I WON'T LET YOU!

And Ukyou too! My gosh! What kind of a friend is that? Doesn't she know that… she can be really selfish sometimes, honestly. That's because she's gets spoiled from her uber-rich family!

Wait till she finds out what Ranma Saotome really thought about her!

"This is really pissing me off…" Akane muttered. A wind suddenly blew, and she shivered, clutching her coat tightly around her.

She stared at the ground, oblivious to the sounds around her.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching her, and she glanced up, only to stare at her intruder.

"Hi." He smiled at her, revealing tiny fangs on his teeth.

"R-Ryouga Hibiki?"

He grinned. "That's me."

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Uh…" Ryouga scratched his head, and looked around. "Well, I was planning to go to the plaza, but for some reason, I got lost and I turned up here."

Akane frowned at him, and said, "You don't have any sense of direction, do you?"

"Yup! That's me." He grinned once more, and then sat down beside her. They were in an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"Um… uh…"

"Yes?"

"Well, you're Akane, right?"

"You should know who I am. I'm the one who called you a 'pig', remember?"

Ryouga laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah… pig…"

Akane sighed. "Look… I'm really sorry I called you that."

"Oh, it's OK." Ryouga twiddled his thumbs.

"No, it's not. You should be angry at me. I attacked your friends, and I called you names."

Ryouga shook his head. "It doesn't… well… really matter to me. I knew you were just angry that day because of what Ranma said. And what both Mousse and I said, as well."

Akane stared at him, and he started to fidget. "W-what?"

"You're not the same idiotic guy in school as you are now. I would've thought you would start yelling at me right here. Why aren't you? Do you… do you have a hidden agenda? Did Ranma send you here to see what my reaction would be once I found out he's dating Ukyou? Is he a coward, then?" She glared at him.

"W-what? What hidden agenda? No! I just saw you here, and thought that I wanted to talk to you. I didn't really think you were that bad… W-what? Ranma is dating who?"

Akane smirked. "Come on. Who are you fooling? I'm not an idiot, you know. I'm not in a good mood right now, as you can see. So please stop playing around."

Ryouga sighed, and said, "A-Akane… I honestly don't anything about this. I swear on my… on my honor!"

Akane looked at him for a while, and then replied. "Well, I wouldn't know if you're lying or not. I'm not a mind reader. But you look honest enough, I guess. But…" she turned an icy glare at him. "I want you to tell your stupid friend that I know what he's doing, and he's not going to get away with it. He's being an immature jerk."

Ryouga nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'll beat him up as soon as I see him."

She raised an eyebrow. "W-well… thank you." She gave a tiny smile. "Didn't you say you wanted to go to the plaza?"

"Well… yeah."

Akane hesitated. She never really had done this before. Not with a guy, anyways. "Hmm… why don't I take you there? I'm going though the same direction, so I'll just tell you where to go, OK?"

Ryouga smiled. "That's cool. Hey… um… Akane?"

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean we're friends now?"

"I don't know."

"Heh. Me neither."

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Ranma sat by the oak tree in front of the school, and as he was about to doze off, someone grabbed him by the collar.

"H-hey! Ryouga! Knock it off, buddy! It's too early in the morning to fight right now!"

Ryouga growled at him as he tightened his hold. "Ranma Saotome. I don't know what you're thinking, but break up with Ukyou Kounji this instant."

Ranma frowned at him. "How did you hear about that?"

He smirked. "Come on. I hear everything."

Ranma sighed as he deftly twisted and freed himself. He shook his head, and said, "I'm not even going out with her yet."

"Ranma! You are such a jerk!" Ryouga cried. "What are you thinking? First, you insulted her in front of her friend, and now you're dating her?"

"Hey! What's wrong with you? Why are you getting so worked up over this?"

Ryouga hesitated, and then plopped down on the grass. "Akane Tendou said she knows what you're thinking and you're not getting away with it."

"Akane said what?" Ranma stared at him, dumbfounded. "Oh… hey! How did you hear about this?"

"I was talking to her yesterday."

"What the? Since when did you guys start talking to each other?" Ranma demanded.

"Surprisingly enough, it was yesterday too. Come on, Ranma. Stop acting like a spoiled kid. Don't do this because you don't like Akane."

"Ryouga…"

"I'm warning you now: she's not happy."

Ranma turned away, and then replied, "Why isn't she?"

"Because you're dating her friend!"

"Look Ryouga," Ranma turned back to him. "It's no big deal. I only asked her out on a date. I just want to check her out, that's all."

Ryouga shoved him. "You're such a player! Why do you have to go out with every girl that you see? I can't even get a girl interested in me!"

Ranma sighed. "It's all about the charm, buddy. Charm, which you don't really have much."

His friend was hurt. "How would you know?"

"Trust me, I know."

Ryouga scowled at him. "Whatever. Don't change the subject. Don't hurt that girl, Ranma."

"I never hurt girls, Ryouga."

"No?"

"Really."

"Sure, Ranma. Sure."

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First period was a jumble of tension and anger. Akane was studiously ignoring Ukyou while Ukyou trying to catch her eye but failing. Ranma didn't show up for class. Akane was both relieved and angry. How dare he skip class? Is he afraid of me? Is he going to ignore Ukyou?

"Akane." Ukyou whispered.

She pretended to read her textbook.

"Akane, please don't be like this."

Akane turned to face her. She took a deep breath. "Ukyou, please, not now."

A tear slipped from Ukyou's eyes. "Fine, be a b-tch. I thought you would be happy for me."

Akane didn't reply.

How the heck am I supposed to be happy for her? She thought furiously.

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Ranma was still sleeping at the oak tree when Akane found him there. She was looking all over the place for him, hoping to confront him. As she stalked towards him, she stumbled on a root, and fell beside him.

Her eyes widened as she waited for him to wake up. He didn't, and she left out a breath of relief. She glared at his sleeping profile, admiring grudgingly how he looked so peaceful at the moment. His arms were crossed behind his head, and he was breathing steadily. If anything, Akane thought, he looked even more handsome while he sleeps.

She frowned at the sudden change in her thoughts. Handsome? she laughed silently. Since when did he become handsome? He maybe good-looking on the outside, but ugly on the inside.

She got up, but found that she couldn't move. She glanced up to find clear blue eyes staring into her own brown ones.

"Had enough of staring?" Ranma smirked at her. He was holding her legs captive with his own, and now he was holding her right arm.

Akane flushed. "I-I wasn't staring! You! You weren't really sleeping, were you?"

"Of course, I was. Fifteen minutes ago." He chuckled.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

"Nothing."

Akane tried to free herself. "Let go of me!"

"No."

"Why not!"

"Because I don't want to."

"Let me go, jerk!"

"I will, after you tell me why you were staring at me."

"Because I fell, OK!" Akane practically screamed at his face.

Ranma frowned and released her instantly. "OK, OK. Calm down."

She glared at him as she tried to stand up. "You are very irritating."

He scowled at her. "What was that for? I let you go, didn't I?"

"You're the most irritating, heartless, childish jerk I've ever seen in my whole entire life!"

He glared at her. "What the hell was that? What did I do?"

"You! You asked Ukyou out!"

"U-Ukyou? Yes, so I did! Why shouldn't I? Wait..." Ranma paused, then looked at her with a leering expression. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Akane screamed in frustration. "Who the hell would get jealous of you? No, not me! I hate your guts! I know you're just asking Ukyou out to get back at me! Don't you even care how Ukyou feels? She had liked you for the longest time, and you just ask her out like it was nothing! Forget it, you're not a jerk. YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"LISTEN!" Ranma roared at her and then roughly grabbed her shoulders. "Who the hell do you think you are? Ukyou is a big girl! If she didn't want to go out with me, she would've said no! Yes, I know how she feels, OK? AND I'M DEFINITELY NOT A MONSTER! You're too much!"

Akane gave him a hard slap. Ranma stared at her. He advanced slowly towards her, anger radiating throughout his whole body. Akane backed away, suddenly afraid of his expression. He grabbed her shoulders once more and gave her a hard yank. Akane started to raise her arms in defence. He shook her once, and then crushed her lips towards him.

Akane stood in shock. What is he doing! her mind screamed. He's kissing me! She struggled to free herself. Ranma held on tighter.

Ranma dropped his hands from her shoulders, then held her head gently. Gone was the demanding pressure from his lips. This time, he tilted his head ever so slightly and started to kiss her deeply. Akane opened her mouth to protest, and he pressed his lips even further.

Akane tried to shove him again. He finally let go, and he was breathing hard, staring at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Akane cried, wiping her mouth with her sleeves.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" Ranma managed to get his breathing controlled, but his eyes was still glazed with something Akane couldn't define.

"Why did you kiss me?" Tears threatened to spill, but Akane wiped them away.

"I... because... you pissed me off!"

"That's no reason to do it then!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Ranma glared at her, then sudden comprehension came to his mind. "You... you hadn't been kissed before, have you? That-that was your first kiss, wasn't it?"

She scowled at him. "YOU STOLE IT! I wouldn't even consider that as a kiss! You attacked me!" She gave him another slap on his cheek, and ran off, sobbing.

"Damn it." Ranma grounded out.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: O.o... Oh my, Ranma just made out with Akane... what could this mean?

HELLO! I'm back! I'm sorry I haven't been updating for awhile! (8 months is pretty long... um.. err.?) Well, if you had read Closed Doors before and started again from the beginning, you would noticed that I slightly changed it around. I took off the Filipino honorifics, I edited some stuff on Chapter 3, I took off all my childish Author's Notes, and I replaced all my chapters. I wasn't satisfied with my story, but then who is, but I hope that you liked Chapter 9... :) I don't know if I pulled it off well. Was it too predictable? I hope it's not! OK... I'm starting to write again. So please tune back and review!

kristin-a-dette