"...So, she's falling in love with anyone she makes eye contact because of that duck boy weirdo...?" Ukyo cocked her head to the side, unsure of what to make of the situation. "I guess that makes sense."
Ranma sighed, crossing his arms and giving a defeated look to his old friend. "I know, it only lasts a few weeks though so, Ucchan, I wanted to ask if you could try and help me out here." He said. "I'm asking this as a friend, and not just for me but for Akane too."
Ukyo raised an eyebrow. "I'll help, as odd as this is, but I have a question?" she asked.
"What is it?"
The young chef paused. "Is Akane aware of this? From what you told me she has no idea."
Ranma looked to the floor below briefly before answering. "Not really sure. Like I said the few moments I was able to get her to reply like her usual self she didn't give me any idea that she knew what was goin' on." His eyes lingered to the door. "I'm not sure if we should tell her."
Ukyo's eyes followed his across from where they were standing as she answered. "Why not? It doesn't seem fair for her." She frowned. "Akane should at least know."
"I know I know, but I'm just tryin to sort this all out before I go on and tell her that I screwed over her whole summer break and possibly her dignity." He shuddered. "First thing Akane'll do when she snaps out of it is murder me."
The old friends shared a smile, Ranma out of nervousness and Ukyo out of amusement at the thought. After the brief moment, Ukyo scratched her cheek, still a bit touch and go about the whole situation. "Alright, I get it, it is best to try and spare your life as long as possible after all." She chuckled. "But I'm not really sure what you would want me to help with, you seem to have it under control."
"Of course I do, I just need you to help me out until tomorrow morning when Mousse gets back so we can settle on a game plan. Make sure our folks and Nabiki don't find anythin suspicious." Ranma gave a confident smile, a bit forced Ukyo noticed. "Down for some good ol' Akane babysittin tonight?"
The brunette put her hands on her hips and hummed, playful in her tone. "Sounds a lot more entertainin' than what I had planned." She looked past him towards the door then returned her gaze to her old friend. "So are we gonna go back in there?"
Ranma nodded as he turned around and faced the door, slowly reaching for the handle. The young martial artist stopped right before he turned the knob. Ukyo waited for a moment before she scowled.
"Don't tell me you're scared to go in."
The pigtailed boy returned the expression, a bit flustered in his response. "I'm not scared!"
"Then why are you standin there like an idiot." She pushed him aside. "And you call yourself a man."
Ranma gapped. "This has nothin to do with that!" He stood behind her. "If you want to be victim to her aggressive behaviors, be my guest. It'll be nice for her to be attackin someone else for once."
Ukyo rolled her eyes as she began to turn the knob, slowly pushing the door.She wasn'tthataggressive,Ukyo thought to herself.Yeah, Ranma was just bein a drama queen,She peaked her head in. Slowly, Ukyo looked around while pushing the door open completely, spotting a very casual Akane lying on her bed reading a magazine. Akane didn't bother looking up as she was too invested in her reading, flipping into the next page over. The two old friends dropped their defensive stances, sharing a look on uncertainty. Another page flip, Akane was merely skimming the pages as she ignored them.
"What's up? Finished plotting another stupid idea?" The short girl asked. "I'm not really sure what you two are up to but if it's to bother me please don't."
Ranma frowned. "We weren't plotting against you."
Akane furrowed her brows, skipping ahead to the next page. "Then what are you doing? You've been weird all day." She huffed. "Being nice to me and stuff. You'd think after that whole birthday fiasco you'd have learned that I don't fall for that junk."
"Bein nice...?" He shook his head. "What are you talkin about? You hallucinatin or something?"
His fiancé set the magazine on her bed closing it face up as her face further soured. Her anger was reaching its low boiling point. "'What am I talking about'? I'm talking about all the scheming you've been doing with Mousse earlier today. About how you left me in the kitchen and in my room all alone to talk to him, and just now again when you left me here again to go out and talk with Ukyo. I know you're up to something."
Akane turned her head around in a fury, ready to begin an argument with everyone in the room but stopped as her eyes fell into Ukyo's. A fierce blush replacing her contempt as she slapped her hands to her cheeks, embarrassed.
"Ukyo! I didn't see you there." She smiled bashfully. "I didn't mean to yell with you around." Akane brushed down her skirt before going on. "I don't even remember what I was mad about. Suppose with you here my mood must have gotten better. "
The childhood duo stared dumbfounded at the sight before Ranma facepalmed in frustration, mumbling curses and leaving Ukyo to deal with what she had initially prepared herself for while they were in the hall. She smiled, though a bit awkward in her delivery.
"Oh... Akane, it's alright." The brunette laughed nervously, shooting looks at Ranma for him to do something.
Akane grinned. "Really, I'm so glad that even after all this time you still like being with me despite my temper." She stood up and walked over to the taller girl, practically fawning over her. "Ukyo, why don't we go eat like I suggested earlier before you left? I'm feeling a bit hungry right now."
The looks that Ukyo had been shooting towards Ranma must have finally been noticed as the next thing you knew Akane had been successfully blindfolded by the earlier rag. Not much to anyone's surprise, the shorter girl had begun to thrash around, hitting and headbutting all over. All of which to Ranma's surprise, once more, had more of an oomph than he had expected causing him to exert more force than he had intended.
"Let me go! You Bastard-" Akane yelled as loudly as possible but was quickly muffled by Ranma.
"Calm down! We're gonna go eat like you wanted-" He stopped mid-sentence, mortified as he realized that his hand had been licked."-Eww! Akane!"
Ranma let go of her to wipe his hand franticly, leaving Ukyo to step in as their victim had begun to try and take off the blindfold. The brunette pulled down Akane's arms, wrapping them in her own bearhug alongside Akane's waists, lifting her up from the ground. Ukyo had expected this to at least work long enough to get Ranma to act, but to her own shock had been harshly headbutted, letting go as she held her nose. She felt a bit of blood trickle down her nose as Akane ran past her; she growled.
"Dammit! Akane!" Ukyo called out, quickly wiping her nose. "Get back here!" She shouted.
The now angered chef grabbed her friend, pulling him along as they ran after her, picking up the blindfold Akane had torn off as they ran out the door. The duo pursued their target down the stairs and thankfully found themselves caught up to her. Ranma launched forward, pulling her back and covering her eyes with the blindfold.
"What are you doing!" Akane elbowed him once before Ukyo caught her arms and held them tightly. "Why are you doing this?!"
A moment of silence as they all froze, nothing could be heard but they're heavy breathing. Ukyo looked across to Ranma, a bit annoyed.
"You should come clean." Ukyo said between breaths. "Cause potion or not she's gonna try to kill you whatever you do."
"I think I noticed, Ucchan, thanks..." Ranma looked down at Akane before returning his gaze to Ukyo. "You'll make sure she doesn't murder me, yeah?"
Ukyo shrugged much to his despair as Akane began to struggle in their grasps, finally regaining her stamina. "What are you two idiots talking about?!"
Ranma pushed her head down as he tied the blindfold once more. "Well, Akane, it all started this morning..."
--
On one hand, Akane sat back, not exactly sure how to take it all in. On the other hand, Ranma was slouched in the desk chair, holding onto one of his fiancée's pillows as some sort shield incase of an attack. She's gonna kill me. She's gonna beat me up with her brass knuckles and her new found brute strength then bury me six feet under, Ranma thought. He flinched as he Akane lean forward,hopefully she goes after Mousse next.
After a few seconds, Ranma opened one eye to peak, seeing Akane facing ahead of herself quietly. He lowered the pillow as he peered over to Ukyo, who was equally skeptical of what to make of her expression. Afterall, most of her face was covered, who could tell.
"I see." Akane spoke.
Ukyo scooted closer to the shorter girl, offering a consoling hand on her back. The brunette spoke softly. "It'll all be alright, Akane, we'll make sure that you stay safe and dignified."
The tomboy sat silently for a mere second before standing up, suddenly enraged as she began to stomp around. Ranma braced himself for an attack once more, even Ukyo backed away from Akane's rage. But instead of going for one of the two Akane reached across from her and pulled on anything she could grab onto. Throwing books and knickknacks to the floor in a fury, finally going over to the door and kicking a hole through it.
The whole house shook in her flare, leaving the two onlookers now terrified rather than worried. Slowly Akane turned around, catching her breath. Though her eyes were blocked the two could feel her glare burning through, or at least that's what they thought. Before they could try anything Akane burst into tears, falling to the floor in a fit.
"My summer is ruined! All ruined!" She cried. "And worst of all I might be getting married if I don't let you and Mousse get away with this!"
"No wait!-Um, it's notthat bad, Akane." Ranma rushed over, caught off guard. I didn't expectthis.
Ukyo was quick to follow suit. "Yeah! It'll be alright. All of us will make sure you live as normally as possible, you won't even notice anything, your summer is still intact." she reassured.
"Yeah cause I'll be blindfolded the whole time, barely noticeable." Akane buried her face in her hands.
Both Ranma and Ukyo shared a concerned look, unsure of how to console her. After all, consoling Akane was almost impossible if she was upset enough.
"Look, Akane, you'll be fine. We'll make sure that you do whatever you had planned for the summer. Anything you need we'll help you." Ranma offered. "Let me help make this right, it's somewhat my fault anyway."
"Yeah, Akane, we'll be you're help, your eyes for the summer you could say. Even if I didn't cause this I am your friend first and foremost... usually." Ukyo smiled.
The shorter girl sniffled, beginning to calm down. "You guys will help me with whatever?"
"Absolutely!" Ranma exclaimed. "Name it and you got it."
Akane's tears had come to a halt, quickly she slid her hands under her blindfold and wiped as much of her tears as she could before adjusting it back in place. She took a deep breath, and then a slow exhale.
"Do you really mean that?" She asked.
"Of course!" Ranma patted Akane's back, shooting a look to Ukyo. "Isn't that right, Ukyo? Anything."
The brunette grimaced. "Well... only if it's in my control." She offered. "But Akane, hon, you should feel no shame in askin' anything from the two idiots who did this to you. Remember, this has nothin' to do with me and I'm just helpin' cause I care about you."
Ukyo smiled at Ranma who in turn frowned at her casual inclusion of being righteous. "Of course... But you get it, we keep this between us few and if all goes well we can move on from this with no harm done."
Akane sighed. "No harm done, right." She began to pull herself up from the floor. "We'll see about that when I get back to normal."
Her fiancé felt a prickle of fear set in at Akane's words. Maybe if Ranma tried hard enough during this time, Akane would spare him and move onto Mousse. He felt that would be most fair, after all this wasn't even his fault to begin with. But that's never stopped Akane for makin me pay, Ranma thought to himself.
--
Ukyo didn't think too much of the whole situation to be honest, she thought it was about time that something wacky and strange happened. After all, ever since the Tendo's attempted wedding earlier this year not much had happened, sure the occasional tussle with Shampoo but other than that life was rather dull. One could say that Akane's birthday party could fall under wacky but hardly, it was more like everyday wacky.
The brunette sighed, but of course peace never lasts and after all these months something strange had finally happened. Now she finally had something of interest that was still the most impossible level of boring, as if mocking her in some sick twisted way. Her voice strained as she spoke, trying to think of anyway to spice it up.
"This is it? You just want me to read you your August horoscope and make you lunch." Ukyo took a seat next to Akane in the dojo. "That's it?"
Akane shrugged as Ranma sat in between the girls, a bit condescending in his tone. "Of course, you should know by now that Akane's the biggest homebody in the world."
The two friends snickered a bit as Akane crossed her arms, unamused. "Very funny, Ranma. I'll have you know that I did have plans for this summer but I can't put a finger as to why I'll have to be here at home for next 5 weeks."
Very quickly Ranma's attitude shifted, a bit annoyed but nonetheless quiet as Akane continued.
"And besides, that's what I needUkyoto do, not you. I need you to do something else." She said. "I need you to figure a way to get your dad out of the house for the whole summer."
"The whole summer...? Akane, you do understand that he's basically attached to your dad." Ranma claimed. "A few days maybe, but the whole 5 weeks? You know as well as I that that ain't happenin."
"Well can't you at least try?" Akane argued.
"I can but it won't be successful."
"You never know."
"But I do."
"How?"
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Because, what would I even say? 'Hey, Pops, you mind leaving for 4 to 5 weeks for no reason at all?'." He scoffed. "Even he's not dumb enough to fall for that... most likely."
"I would hope so." Akane sighed. "Well can't you lie or something? Use your mom as an excuse. Say something like 'Mom would really like to spend the summer with you.'."
Ranma gagged. "Akane, don't even suggest that, that's so gross. Plus, I couldn't do that to my mom."
"Well you have to try something! I can't imagine accidently making eye contact with your dad and doing something weird." Akane whined, shaking her fiancé by the shoulders. "Picture it! Ranma! Picture it! Me flirting with your dad!"
"For someone who can't see you sure know where I am when you're upset!" Ranma attempted to get out of her grasps.
Amidst the panic of the two Ukyo pitched in, an idea to spice up their boring summer had finally occurred. "Well, Akane, why don't we just, go on a training trip." She suggested.
Akane stopped, both her and Ranma pausing to pick up what she was putting down, speaking in unison, they asked. "A training trip?"
"Yes." Ukyo smiled, putting finger quotations up as she repeated. "A training trip."
Slowly Akane let go of Ranma's shirt as she patted down where she had been grabbing, smoothing out the wrinkles she had made, turning her head over to Ukyo. "Are you suggesting leaving town for the whole summer."
"Think of it as a fun vacation for us four. We could enjoy our summer with some lighthearted fun." Ukyo hummed.
"But, where would we even go?" Ranma asked. "Not sure if you've noticed but we ain't exactly got money to burn."
Ukyo waved dismissively. "Pfft, I got that covered. I've been meaning to go visit my dad out in the country so we have a place to stay."
Ranma furrowed his eyebrows, unconvinced. "You really think he'd be okay with housin 3 random kids... well 2 since he knows me."
"No, but I do think that he'd be the last person to snitch to your dads what's goin on with Akane." Ukyo offered. "Come on, 2 birds one stone. We get a vacay while makin sure you and Akane stay unmarried."
"I understand, but what about your restaurant? You can't leave it for so long, I know you hate to lose money."
Ukyo shrugged. "Konatsu's got it, he's been gettin better at handlin the restaurant by himself. Besides, I can sell on our trip there, in the end this can get me more money." She smiled. "I wouldn't offer this if I didn't think it through."
Ranma paused and looked over at Akane, who was carefully considering the option. He was waiting for her to make a decision, after all it was for her that they were doing this for.
"Okay." Akane finally agreed. "If I can still train, I think it would be best. We're gonna be out of the city and in nature so the possibility of me getting involved with any dangerous people is low."
Ukyo clapped her hands together. "Great! I'll call my dad later and tell him everything, we can leave tomorrow." She looked over at Ranma. "You should be the one to tell the others, call Mousse and tell him about the change of plans then tell your parents."
Ranma grumbled, getting up from his spot. "Fine, but first I'm gonna go visit my mom. I said I'd be there a while ago and she must be gettin worried."
Ukyo gasped. "Oh, that reminds me. She called earlier and told me to send you over."
The pigtailed boy stopped and stared and his friend, not sure to be upset or not. Finally, he gave up and decided to just sigh. "I'll be back. Take care a Akane, please."
