Author's Note: Super thanks to my amazing beta reader, Angela Jewell. Check out her stories, they rock! Special shout out to fellow fanfic author polyna, who gave me the confidence to keep writing and embrace the joys of fandom.

Akane was generally an early riser. It was in her blood. Kasumi was naturally cheerful and chipper before the light of dawn, and her father was usually awake and reading the morning paper shortly after. Only Nabiki seemed immune to the effect, a dangerous threat to anyone (other than Kasumi) who dared to wake her in the morning.

Akane tiptoed gently past her mercenary sister's door, and out into the still dark skies and chilled air of a November morning. It wasn't until Akane had reached past the halfway point of her jogging route that the sun began to rise. The glow of orange and yellow peeking out from the line of densely packed houses and suburban sprawl never failed to entrance her. Today, there was added tones of delicate pink diffused into the sky after the orange.

Akane leaned against the canal rail to watch and wait. There was something about taking in the sunrise that centered her. It was a rare moment to reflect and breathe, a mild meditation. She felt renewed appreciation for autumn. The change in daylight hours gave her the luxury of viewing the entire sunrise during her jog.

Back when she was a middle school student, catching an occasional sunrise was simply a joyful way to start her day. Then it evolved to something essential to her mental and emotional stores. The year she turned sixteen had more chaos and stress than any typical teenager could imagine. The sunrise gave Akane an unwavering beauty to take in and savor before rushing to charge a horde of perverted, molesting jocks at school, or rival fiancees, or zany matchmaker schemes and attempted kidnappings.

Now at seventeen, the importance of the sunrise had shifted again. She had died. Or at least, almost died. Even she wasn't exactly sure what to call her experience on Mount Phoenix, but she had recurring nightmares of that moment; trapped in a hot, dark place, hardly able to blink at will, then suddenly cold, and alone, paralyzed and growing numb, feeling her breath still to nothing… she shivered, and it was not from the autumn chill.

Her morning ritual had deeper meaning now. She was alive to see it. Alive to feel and experience the colors and warmth of a newly breaking dawn She didn't want to lose that bone-deep awe that infused her the first week she returned from China...but it was happening. The sunrise was still beautiful, and filled her with a nameless joy, but the sharpness of the feeling was fading away. It was a little more comfortable to feel the appreciation less intensely, if also a little sad. Was she turning jaded at seventeen, or was this simply the natural process of moving on, of getting sucked into the daily grind of mundane tasks and taking for granted that the sun would always rise?

The skyline returned to a dull, lifeless gray with rain clouds approaching, the vivid play of persimmon, orange and yellow dissipated; gone all too soon.

She was about to turn away from her resting position on the canal fence, when she felt a familiar presence approaching to her left:

Ranma.

She turned, surprised but not startled, as she had felt his approach like a gentle, warm breeze against her soul. It was odd, how she felt so intensely aware of him these days… a side effect of all the magics at work in Jusendo, perhaps? She had pre-cursed Jusenkyo-spring water and hot and cold restoration waters from Mount Phoenix, and who knew what else, coursing through her when Ranma had cried out from the depth of his soul and brought her back.

Yes, she knew it was him that brought her back...from wherever she had gone. Whether it was a cry from his throat or his heart didn't matter, she had felt that tug, that raw flood of emotion, and it had wrapped around her and led her back to a body that slowly was able to feel life again.

Did he have any idea that he had done that, snatched her out of the closing jaws of death as easily as he had snatched her away from the Orochi dragon? They didn't discuss it. Ranma stubbornly refused to broach the topic, and for once she relented after seeing the dark, haunted quiver in the depth of his blue eyes. Ranma could be so full of bravado, that she had to stop and remind herself that despite his amazing martial arts prowess, he was still only human and no older than her seventeen years.

"Yo…" He called out gently.

A smile tugged on Akane's lips as she turned to face him. Her heartbeat sped up involuntarily. A swirl of questions crowded her thoughts. Did he try to find me? Did he miss me? What was he doing here? "You're already up?" was the one that she allowed out.

His outspread fingers bounced off each other in his nervous tell. "Uh, yeah...just out for a jog before training."

Akane cocked her head. She knew he wasn't being entirely forthright. As much as Ranma lived to train in the Art they loved, there was no getting him up this early voluntarily. Suddenly, it came to her. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd acted a bit paranoid since their return from China. "Ranma, are you here to check up on me?" her voice was somewhere between incredulous, teasing, and pleased.

Ranma's hands immediately stopped their nervous motion and he stiffened defensively. "Why would I check up on a macho, jock chick like you?" he dodged unsteadily.

With humor dryer than a desert, Akane responded. "Of course you wouldn't. You just happened to wake up early. On a day without school. To jog." Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she gave him an annoyingly knowing smirk. While she always relished her morning runs, Ranma did not incorporate them into his regular fitness routine.

"You know, cynicism is really uncute."

Akane felt the beginnings of victory in their playful banter. "Who said I wanted to be cute?" she challenged back.

Ranma could feel him losing their verbal spar, and changed tactics. "For a chick so prone to getting kidnapped, you should be grateful for someone checking up on you. Not that I was." He quickly added, practically tripping over himself to defend his feigned nonchalance.

Akane blew out her breath in a puff. "Honestly! You've been kidnapped yourself. Twice. Unless you're forgetting that time with Sentaro, or Ryoga and the Fishing Rod?"

Ranma was getting exasperated, and his concern leaked out. "Hey, you've been kidnapped four times. At least! That's twice as much as me!"

"So you were worried!" Akane practically crowed in victory.

Ranma cursed silently to himself, feeling the heat rush to his face. Damnit, but Akane had him. Denial was just not gonna cut it anymore. It didn't mean he had to directly admit she was right, though, and either way, he had an important point to make. "Maybe I wouldn't have to if you changed up your route. Not exactly the smartest move when you got local crazy enemies, Akane."

Akane watched in bewilderment as Ranma's earlier bravado faded away. They weren't (quite) as immature as they used to be. Life was forcing them to grow up.

Her high from the verbal victory was replaced with a warm, full feeling in her chest. She placed her hand on top of Ranma's. "Thanks for caring. It's not a bad idea. I'll change it up a bit."

Ranma gave a curt nod, but still seemed tense. "You'll tell me where, though, right? I mean, not that I'm worried, but, uh, what if, uh, Kasumi needs to contact you. It'd be a pain to run all over the ward before finding you."

Akane had to smirk at the lamest excuse she ever heard, and coming from Ranma, that was no small feat.

"Sure. I wouldn't want Kasumi to worry."

Time stretched out, not exactly awkward, but a waiting silence. As if they both wanted to say something more, to take the next step, but were frozen in place, their inner hesitation palpable. They could feel how close they were to changing the whatever-you-could-call-their-relationship. What was between them was real yet undefined and too complicated to explain.

Belatedly, Akane realized her hand was still on top of Ranma's, but neither seemed inclined to pull away. Perhaps she could dare take a step further. Heavens knew she was brave enough to put on the wedding dress a few weeks back… this should be simple in comparison, right?

Akane took a moment to gather her courage, and follow her heart. "Would you like to join me, tomorrow? Since you want to know my new route, we could go together."

A slow, genuine smile spread across Ranma's face as he tried to play it cool. The pink tinge to his cheeks betrayed the calm in his voice. "Yeah. Sure."

"But on one condition!"

Ranma's eyebrows shot up, wary. "What?" he asked cautiously.

Akane smiled, and it set his heart pounding harder, a special rhythm that was meant just for her. In that moment, Ranma knew he would agree to anything she said; fly to the moon, wrestle a bear, eat a week's worth of her cooking, it was a winning bargain to feel the warmth of that smile.

Oblivious to the effect she had on him, Akane continued. "We make time to watch the sunrise. It's worth waking up for."

Akane's face beamed with hopeful expectation, and Ranma felt his breath hitch in his throat. The word "cute" flooded his mind, but even to him that seemed a pale description for her. The soft expression in her eyes rendered his knees weak, and the gentle touch of her hand on his tingled and warmed him to his core. His eyes were locked on hers, entranced by the honey amber sweetness of her countenance. Finally, he found his voice to respond, honest and firm and not at all thinking about sunrises. "It is."

Akane could feel the subtle undercurrent in their relationship moving forward, and for now, it was enough.

Her smile turned teasing before she pulled away. "Race you home!"

She was looking forward to tomorrow's sunrise.

They both were.

Author's Notes: A bit cheating, as I wrote this before seeing an inspiration illustration, but this one seemed to fit pretty well:

pinterest dot com slash pin slash 3870349663376895

Original Publication Date: Sept. 13, 2020 MY BIRTHDAY!