Akane yawned, stretched and looked at the clock.
"6:00am! There's nothing like getting an early start to the day. I'll wake the boys, and..."
She stopped upon hearing the unmistakable sound of combat from outside. Akane got up, trudged downstairs still in her pajamas and opened the door to the back yard, where Ranma and Ryoga were striking at, and dodging the strikes from each other.
Ranma gave her a sidelong glance. "Oh, hey, 'Kane. You finally up?" He ducked below a roundhouse kick from his opponent. "Me 'n P-chan have been up for an hour already."
"You're lying, Ranma!" Ryoga punched at air where Ranma's head had been seconds before. "You've been awake for less than an hour!" He jumped back to avoid a quick combination from Ranma, "I set your alarm to go off at 5:05 so I could be the first to get up!"
Ranma jumped and flipped in the air to land behind Ryoga. "Oh, that explains it." He sent a palm strike towards his opponent, which Ryoga jumped over. "I wondered why it went off at 4:55. So it looks like you even get lost on a clock face."
"Shut up!" Ryoga spun around, kicking at Ranma's chin, which was dodged again.
Akane sighed. "I should have known they'd turn waking up into a weird macho contest."
Ryoga punched the rock they were both standing on, shattering it. Akane shielded her eyes from the tiny fragments of rock that came her direction. "Hey, watch it! You two are gonna wake up Akari!"
"They're gonna wake me up?" mused Akari as she walked into the backyard, wearing her overalls and carrying a bucket.
"You're up, too?"
Akari shrugged. "Chores wait for no woman. Got up at four."
"Honestly." Akane sighed. "I was trying to be like Kasumi. She always got up first and made breakfast for everyone. I just wanted to make breakfast for all of you!"
Ranma was suddenly next to her on the porch. "So, what you're saying is that we dodged a bullet?" He sprang away again.
Akane grit her teeth and pursued him. "Raaaaanma!"
Akari and Ryoga shared a glance. 'At least we only thought that', it seemed to say.