Chapter 5: Alleged
Two days after babysitting the twins, Akane was still showing signs of a mild fever. It had reduced significantly from the scare she had given Ranma that night, but combined with her dizziness and morning sickness it did not make it any less concerning. Ranma was not taking any more chances of going through a similar situation with her, especially after Doctor Tofu had told him his quick thinking had prevented Akane from spending the rest of her life in a vegetative state. After repeated requests –which eventually turned into demands, from Ranma, Akane had promised him she would go see Doctor Tofu at the end of the day, today.
Needless to say, returning to their old routine of running the dojo and going to school after spending a few days together, had proven more difficult than they had realized it would be. The taste of freedom from responsibilities, and the feeling of enjoying each other's company, had been the last push they both needed to power through finishing school, however. They knew that once they went to college, the dojo would be left in the hands of their parents, and studying and attending school would be their only job for the next four years. Neither of them could wait until they would be able to move away from Nerima, seclude themselves from prying eyes, and have the time to truly work on developing their relationship, once and for all.
With so many things happening all at once for the past few and the next few days, she felt that she was at the last stretch of a very long, very tiring, and very complex marathon. The marathon had started last Saturday when Ranma and she had sat for hours in his room, registering for the ART, and coming up with a credible dojo business plan. The day after that, Sunday, they had spent the day enjoying their first date. The two days after their date –Monday and Tuesday, they had spent continuing their preparations for ART, including confirming their travel arrangements, going over hotel reservations, reading the participant's guide for the tournament, adjusting their plans to fit the rules of the contest, and began typing up their business plan.
By Wednesday, their morning training had been interrupted by Nodoka's random phone call, requesting help to watch over Kasumi's ill twins. Uncertain of their abilities to babysit, they all the same picked up the twins and spent the day watching over them. The day ended with Ranma's desperate attempts at preventing Akane from pushing up daisies that night.
As busy as their week had been, the remainder of the current week and the next were not going to be any better than the days they had left behind. On Thursday, Ranma had opened the dojo again while Akane went to school. He had gone over the tournament with the students, whom had been very excited about having the opportunity to attend. Akane had been surprised when she returned from school to find a stack of signed permission slips from all the minor students at the dojo.
Today, Akane had gone over with the parents of the young students, and the students who were already considered adults, the details of the trip and accommodations when attending the ART. Ranma had attended his last day of regular school, and when he returned, Akane relayed to him that the students had decided to organize fundraising events over the weekend and during the three days they would spend taking their exams, as a means to assist with the costs of the entire ordeal.
Just a while ago, Ranma and Akane had just finished meeting with Soun and Genma, explaining to them what their jobs were going to be from Monday to Wednesday of next week while they took twelve exams in three days. Genma and Soun were to help the students practice for the tryouts they would hold by the end of the week. The tryouts had been planned to resemble the same format the ART would follow. Allowing Soun and Genma to go over this with the students would save them time, and help them concentrate on passing their tests. Even though they went to school on different days, the final exams were all taken at the same time for all the students attending the accelerated school. Ranma was looking forward to facing Satoshi Nakajima during the exams, as he felt they had some unfinished business after Satoshi had interrupted them during his and Akane's date.
The next few days for them had already been absorbed by a wave of deadlines they had to meet. Having to ace their exams next week, Akane and Ranma had planned nothing for the weekend other than cramming all day and night. After taking their tests, they decided that they would have a one-day tryout next Thursday to gather their team of five. On Friday, they would close the dojo early for regular teachings, and meet with the final five students that would attend ART with them so that at the end of the day–a week from today, they would go back to Furinkan High to pick up their test results. They would take Saturday and Sunday off for the New Year celebrations, before returning to dojo duties during that week, in preparation for the ART, which would take place two weekends from today.
Since the tournament would last two days only, they would be back to Nerima in no time to continue their trainings at the dojo, and begin their studies for college entrance exams to take place in May. Even though they were still not certain what majors they would choose, their ability to be accepted to any University depended highly on their final exams' scores, and their entrance exam scores. After that, remaining in college was entirely up to their efforts and grades while attending it.
Akane sighed deeply, her head still spinning at reviewing their busy agenda. She had left the Tendo home a few minutes ago, heading to her sister's home. After arguing with Ranma about her need to visit a doctor, she finally agreed she would visit Doctor Tofu today, but only if he did not go in with her. She knew that Ranma would have wanted to sit next to her, as Ono performed his check-up, but Ranma could not know that something was indeed wrong with her.
While she was not sure herself what her illness was, she had been feeling under the weather for a few weeks now. She had been able to hide most of her symptoms from him, until two nights ago when he had miraculously, and effectively, learned the ice technique to save her life. After the panic of that night, Ranma had been able to pick-up on the other techniques with much greater ease. After she had questioned him why he had all of a sudden become an expert on nature techniques, he had reluctantly confessed to her that her most recent near-death experience had helped him learn the rest of the techniques.
When she asked him to clarify what he had meant, he told her that he had memorized the same feeling of despair, desperation, and urge to save her life that night, and had applied it to learning the rest of the techniques. Forcing himself to believe that her life was in danger again, made it easier to overlook the obstacles of practicing the art, allowing him to invoke what he needed, when he needed it, just as that night.
"Seeing you like that, knowing that your life depended on me, it forced me to get it right," he had told her. "I was terrified, Akane. I thought I would lose you again, and to a shitty fever, at that."
Akane had no longer pushed the matter with him after his forced admission, and he had been grateful for it. His experience with her illness had been one of the reasons why she agreed to seek medical help. His reaction to her fever had proven to her that her assumptions were correct. Ranma would drop everything they had on their plate for the sake of her health. She could not let him do that, not so close to the end. Feeling that they were so close to finally finding some closure to the ordeal of certifying the dojo, it could not be interrupted by whatever cold or flu she had picked up.
In addition, she needed something to patch up her symptoms while she took her exams, and before and during the tournament, as well. Even though she was just to sit there and cheer them on throughout the battles, she knew that if Ranma thought she was not well enough to be at the tournament, he would distract himself from the fight at hand. Ranma, registered as the Master of the Dojo, was guaranteed at least one round in the tournament, so all his attention was needed at winning that fight.
She finally arrived at Dr. Tofu's clinic, and knocked on the door, three times. The door was immediately opened by Ono himself, letting Akane know that Kasumi said hi, but was busy recovering from chicken pox, which she had eventually picked up after graduation, after all.
"At least it held off until it didn't matter, uh?" Akane joked with the doctor.
"And she's very happy about that fact."
"Have you gotten chicken pox, Dr. Tofu?"
"Yes, my mother, rest her soul, made me play with the sick kids of the block. She said it was better for me to get it as a kid rather than an adult. I've never heard Kasumi cuss until last night when the itching became slightly unbearable for her."
"I hope you recorded that!"
"I should have!"
The two friends laughed it off as Tofu led Akane to his office. He performed the classic pulse and temperature reading, and weight and pressure measurement. After pulling her file from his cabinet, he sat on his chair, and invited Akane to sit across from him at his desk.
"So, what brings you here today, Akane?"
"Ranma."
Dr. Tofu looked around, waiting for the man in question to jump out of nowhere but when he did not, he frowned at Akane.
"I didn't let him come with me, but I need your written clearance in order to return home," she said, sarcastically.
Tofu laughed at Ranma's demands, knowing that Akane probably had some sort of bug she had picked up from the twins while babysitting them, and was overly exaggerating her current health.
"Speaking of which, make sure to thank him for watching over Ichiro and Kazue. And you, too, Akane. You saved our lives that night."
"And he saved mine."
"I beg your pardon," Tofu asked, concerned about how the light conversation had quickly turned dark.
"He made me come here because I had a bad fever that night, and he had to give me an ice bath."
"I see," the doctor said, suddenly becoming all business-like again. "Are you still feeling sick?"
Akane fidgeted on her seat. How much should she really tell the doctor? How much was enough to get the medicine for her symptoms, and a note for Ranma to get him off her back?
"Akane?"
"I'm not sure."
"Akane," he said, putting down her file and leaning closer to her. "'You can tell me what's really wrong with you. This is between you and me. Ranma will find out only if you want him to, alright?"
Akane sighed, knowing her silence had already given out too much to back down now.
"I, well…before the fever, I'd been feeling very dizzy, sometimes I even pass out."
The doctor, seeing she was slowly opening up, took out a notepad and began taking notes of her symptoms.
"And, I've been waking up nauseous a lot of the days. I've thrown up a handful of times, even when I haven't eaten anything yet."
Even though Akane had not finished the list of her random symptoms, the doctor was already formulating possible reasons for them in his mind.
"I've been feeling very tired, too. A few days ago, Ranma took me out on a date, and at the end of it, we were sitting at the park. At some point, I fell asleep. I didn't even realize I had until I woke up at home the next morning."
Tofu made some quick notes on his notepad before looking up to her, seeing the obvious distress written all over her face. "Have you had any mood swings? I mean, more than usual?" he offered as a joke to attempt to ease the mood.
"I guess. That night that Ranma gave me that ice bath, I was so mad at him for it. A part of me understood why he was doing it, and was grateful for it. Yet, another part of me wanted to break his neck, and I started punching him and kicking him, calling him names and such. It was so odd."
"Have you had any headaches?"
"Yeah, mostly in the morning, but I guess it's because I don't sleep well. We've got a lot of things in our mind, so they keep us up at night, sometimes."
Tofu pushed himself back to his chair, and rubbed his chin while he thought about his next question.
"Us?"
"What?"
"You said: Keep us up at night. Who is us?"
Akane felt her face burn in embarrassment. It had been bad enough that Nodoka thought she and Ranma were having sex, but now the doctor thought so, too. She twisted the hair around her face in an attempt to calm down.
"Us, as in Ranma and I. We're going through the same thing, so we sometimes stay up, talking about it, you know?"
"Is he having the same symptoms as you?"
"No, or at least he hasn't told me about them."
The doctor stared at her before standing up from his chair and walking towards his cabinet. He took out free samples of medicine for Akane, and handed them to her. "This will help with the nausea and headaches, take them as needed. I could also give you something to sleep but I don't think you want oversleeping the next few days."
Akane held the medicine in her hands for a few seconds, and then shoved them inside her pockets.
"Thanks. Is that all?"
"I can't do much about the dizziness, but you can try to sleep longer, drink plenty of fluids, and stay out of the sun as much as you can. I know that you and Ranma are training for that tournament, but don't push yourself too hard, OK?"
"OK."
He turned around and grabbed a chair, pulling it closer so that he was sitting next to her at eye-level before speaking with her again. "Akane, you know you can trust me, right?"
Akane nodded, but not daring to say a word.
"I'm going to ask you a very important question, and I need you to be honest with me, OK?"
Akane nodded again, knowing exactly what his question would be, as she had asked herself the same question the morning of their date.
"Have you missed your cycle?"
Akane lowered her head, unable to meet his eyes. When she did not respond, he nodded, understanding what her silence meant. He stood up, walked to his desk, opened his drawer and pulled out a few forms. "When?"
"Two weeks ago."
"Would you object to a blood draw? I'd like to run some tests."
"I'd be alright with that, I guess."
"OK. Wait right here while I get it ready. Do you mind reading and signing these forms. They're consent orders for me to be able to take your blood and send it for testing."
Akane nodded and grabbed the forms, reading and filling them out one by one. Meanwhile, Ono walked towards his cabinet and took out the necessary tools to draw a few samples of her blood. By the time he was ready, she had finished signing the forms, leaving them on his desk before walking up to him and sitting on the patient's examination table.
After a few minutes, Tofu held three small test tubes with Akane's blood. He labeled them with her information, deposited them in a clear plastic resealable bag, and stored them inside the sample collection fridge. He skimmed through the forms to make sure they were correct, and Akane held onto her arm, cleaning up any blood that was left on her skin. It would be difficult to hide the obvious wound from Ranma, but she decided it would probably work to her benefit once the results came back to her.
"I have a friend who owns a lab not far from here. He can get me these back to us Sunday afternoon. Do you mind stopping by then?"
"Of course not."
"Very well. I would give you something else for your symptoms, but I want to make sure of some things, first."
"I understand. Thank you, Dr. Tofu."
She bowed to him, not waiting for him to acknowledge her as she headed for the door.
"Akane?" he called her name, stopping her in her tracks.
"Yes?"
"Whatever this turns out to be, you don't have to do it alone, you know?"
Akane shook her head. This was not what she needed right now. She was probably scared over nothing, and she hoped she and the doctor would laugh at the whole situation on Sunday afternoon. "I know."
"Are you going to tell Ranma to come with you?"
"No. No sense on bothering him about it."
"If you think that's for the best."
"I do."
"OK. See you Sunday, Akane."
"See you Sunday, Dr. Tofu."
And with that, she left the clinic in a hurry, leaving a concerned doctor behind. She took her time returning home, knowing that Ranma was going to be there waiting for her to arrive. She could almost hear his incessant questioning about her visit to Tofu, and then his face when he saw the band-aid on her arm. It was moments like this, she wished that, for just a second, Ranma would go back in time and be his old, immature, woman-insecure self. She mentally hit herself on the head when she remembered all the times she had stayed up at night as teenager, begging for Ranma to finally gain some sense and show her that he cared.
"What did I know, huh?"
She continued her aimless walk around the blocks close to her home until she stopped in front of a pharmacy. She already had the pills Tofu had given her for some of the symptoms she had, but after he had drawn her blood, she was curious of the results of the tests she knew he was running for her. She walked inside the pharmacy and greeted the attendant with a smile.
"Good evening," the old female attendant responded with a smile, as well.
Akane walked in between all the aisles, even though she knew what she was here to get. She did not believe she would be able to buy the item she was searching for without gathering some unneeded attention from the clerk. She ran down the aisles a couple of more times until she finally stopped in front of the shelf that held what she was looking for. As she stared at the variety of brands she could choose from, she wondered if she really needed the item in the first place. As she felt lost in the abundance of options for such a simple product, her mind wandered to the specific memory that made her unsure of the results Tofu had requested to run.
Akane was stirred awake by Ranma's constant moving next to her. He had made it a habit to sneak into her room in the middle of the night after she returned from China, but today the roles were reversed. This time, she had surprised him by being the sneaking into his room at his parents' house. After the initial surprise of seeing her there, he had been more than thrilled to see her standing there in her pajamas, asking him if he wanted some company.
Akane had been happy to learn that Ranma did not snore, and he had remained still, for most of the night. That was until he had begun shifting positions ever so often for the past fifteen minutes. She thought he was just readjusting his position, seeing as his bed was a little crammed at the moment, but after she had called his name and he did not respond, she realized he was having a bad dream.
She had been able to go back to sleep almost instantaneously after the last nudge, but when he began talking in his sleep, she turned around and was stopped in her tracks when she heard him speak again.
"Dammit, Akane! Wake up!" he mumbled in his sleep.
Realizing that she was obviously awake, and that he was not, she nudged him again but the only response she was able to elicit from him was resuming his mumbling.
"Look at me, Akane."
Akane, now even more confused, pushed herself closer to him, hoping he would be able to see that she was right there next to him, wide-awake, staring right at him.
"Look at me, I said! I'm touching your bare body. Wake up and tell me I'm a perv! Wake up and mallet me to Nerima!"
It was then Akane realized what was happening. She remembered those words. Even though her body was unmoving, she remembered every single word he had told her back in Jusenkyo.
"Ranma, you're having a bad dream. Wake up."
Ranma began raising his voice, making her nervous that Nodoka or Genma were going to walk in and see her there with him. "The least you can do is come back to me, Akane! I think I deserve it after everything I did for you!"
"I did, Ranma. I came back to you. Open your eyes, please."
However, he did not. He began sobbing in his sleep, making Akane's efforts to awake him stop.
"Come back to me, Akane."
"Ranma, I'm here."
She saw Ranma shiver and make choking sounds, perhaps reliving what he had felt when Kiima had made the last attempt at exerting her revenge. His suffering ended when his eyes opened and he sat up on the bed. He hyperventilated and clenched the covers within his fists. Akane, not certain if he was awake or just sleepwalking, reached over to him to place her hand on his face.
Ranma's reflexes kicked in and he grabbed her arm before it ever reached him. He growled and glared at her, tightening the grip on her hand. She did not dare to say or do anything, afraid from his response. After a few seconds, his eyes softened and he uttered her name.
"Yes, Ranma. It's me. You were dreaming. I'm alright."
Ranma loosened the grip on her arm, but did not release her. Instead, he pulled her closer and kissed her. Akane, thinking he was just making sure she was actually there, responded to his kiss, which only made his desire increase. He grabbed her with both of his arms and flipped her, so that she was under him. He pressed his body onto her, and held her in place without ever letting go of her lips.
When he finally broke the kiss, Akane thought he had calmed down, but he began placing kisses on her neck and she felt his hand move under her pajama shirt, slowly moving up to touch her breast. Akane gasped at his bold move, but did not stop him. They had made out in the past, but it was usually during commercials when watching a show, or after watching a movie at her house, on the couch. It had yet to come to this level, but she did not have the heart to stop him after just seeing him wake up in tears.
Seeing that she was not stopping him, his hands became more liberal as to where they explored, making her realize this was not a normal make-out session. He took turns kissing her lips, her neck, and every inch of her face. When he began unbuttoning her shirt, his intentions became very clear.
"Ranma…"
"Akane, do you want me to stop?"
She swallowed hard and considered his question. Did she want him to stop? How far could they really go? Knowing that she would not know until she tried, she shook her head and gave him the OK to continue. He did not miss a beat and finished removing her shirt before allowing her to remove his. He continued his kisses to her as he lifted his body and sat on the bed, pulling her with him and helped her sit on his lap, with her legs wrapped around his waist.
He held her in place by using his right arm to support her back, and kissed her neck while his left hand pulled down one of the straps of her bra. He continued his assault on her neck and chest until the piece of lingerie fell down on the floor. He had seen Akane in less than this before, but knowing this time not only was it voluntary, but that it was also going somewhere, made him moan in pleasure.
Akane pushed him down onto the bed, cradling on him as she did. He let out of soft moan, which she cut short when her lips locked on his. She was returning the favor to him by taking her time exploring his exposed torso and neck, and using her hands to pull the string of his pants, allowing her to lower them just enough to graze on his manhood without making him go over the edge.
Ranma's senses heightened at his, pulling her closer to him and stopping her one last time before there was no turning back. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Can I help you?"
Akane almost jumped out of her skin at the attendant's question, interrupting her memory of that night. Akane realized that she had probably been staring at the aisle for quite some time, causing even more unnecessary attention towards herself. "I'm sorry. Your selection is so varied; I don't know which one to get."
The old woman walked up to Akane and looked at all the boxes in front of them, finally deciding on one and handing it to Akane. "This is the one my granddaughter used, recently. It won't fail you."
Akane nodded, still slightly embarrassed to be caught off guard like that. She grabbed the box and thanked the attendant.
"Is there anything else I can get for you?"
Akane shook her head. She followed the woman to the register, and after paying for the item, she opened the box and took out the instructions and the item itself before sticking it inside her pants to prevent Ranma from seeing it. She then crumpled up the box and threw it inside the closest trashcan she could find. Seeing she had no other excuse to be walking around at night, she made her way home.
When she finally arrived, she opened the door expecting Ranma to jump from the ceiling and corner her with questions. She flinched, expecting the hit, but when it never came, she frowned and went straight to the living room. She found Ranma sitting on the couch, watching some old TV show, not even showing signs that he had noticed she had arrived. When she got closer to him, he turned to her and smiled, patting the space next to him, and Akane took it immediately after his invitation.
She stared at the TV, not really paying attention to what was happening in the show, as she waited for Ranma to make an attempt to know how her visit had gone. He opened his mouth to speak and she rehearsed her answers in her head, ready for any question he could throw at her regarding the topic.
"So, what time are we studying tomorrow?"
"Uh?"
"Study. Tomorrow. Finals are next week, remember?"
Akane blinked several times, repeating his question in her head. "Uhm…how about 9? I'd like to sleep in."
Ranma nodded. "I figured; it's been a long week."
Akane returned her face to the TV, glancing at Ranma from the corners of her eyes, every now and then. He just sat there, holding a bottle of soda, and drinking from it ever so often. After fifteen minutes of silence, Akane could not take it anymore.
"Aren't you gonna ask me how it went?"
"No."
Akane pulled back at his quick response. She scratched the back of her head before returning to her original position, staring at the TV. Once the show ended, Ranma offered the remote to Akane, who declined it. He shrugged and turned off the TV before standing up and making his way out of the living room. Akane, still confused with his odd behavior, ran behind him and caught him as he was going up the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"I have a surprise for you, come on up."
"Surprise?"
He did not say anything else as she followed him upstairs and into her room. When she walked in, he was already sitting on her bed, with a box in his hands. "I didn't get a chance to wrap it. I hope you don't mind."
Akane walked towards him and grabbed the box from his hands. "I thought we'd agreed we weren't going to get anything for Christmas."
"I didn't. This is more of a tool, to keep my worries in check."
Akane frowned, not truly following what he had meant. She shook the box before opening it up and taking out its contents. She held the small artifact in her hand, and shrugged as she held it close to her face.
"A cell phone?"
Ranma nodded as he took out his own and showed it to her. He shook it in his hand and placed it on her desk. "It's already activated. I thought it would come in handy during the tournament."
Akane stared at the phone as she opened it, turning it on and seeing the wallpaper of its screen was a picture of them at the park.
"I took the liberty of personalizing some stuff on it. I hope you don't mind that either."
She shook her head and closed the lid before placing it in her pockets. She stood there, a dozen questions waiting to be asked, but Ranma already knew that he had some explaining to do.
"That night, I had no one to call. So, I realized if we both had a phone, we could find each other or someone else, easier when we needed it. Don't you think?"
"I guess so."
"For example, you could have used it just now when you left Tofu's office tonight to tell me you were on your way."
Akane flinched.
"What for, Dr. Tofu's office is five minutes from here."
"I know. Where were you for the last hour?"
Akane felt anger slowly creeping up inside her, but she took a deep breath to avoid releasing it just yet. "Are you spying on me or something, now?"
Ranma shook his head. His face and tone were serious, but his stance was a relaxed one. "Just curious. I called Tofu to find out how it went, and he told me you were fine, and just needed some rest. But that was an hour ago. If Tofu's office is only a five-minute walk from here, how come I was able to go home, picked these up," he said as he pointed to the phones, "come back, program them, and you weren't home yet?"
"I didn't know you were keeping track of every minute of my day. Did I need your permission to go for a walk?"
"Akane, you're taking this the wrong way."
"Am I?"
"Yes, you are. Tofu said you needed some rest, so I figured you would come straight back here. I thought you had passed out on the way here, or something worse."
Akane's anger, which was ready to flare, immediately disappeared. "Well, I didn't. I just needed some fresh air."
Ranma nodded, getting up from the bed and hugging her. He placed his left arm around her waist, and his right hand rested on her head.
"I'm not trying to control your life, Akane. I'm really not. I know I have a letting-Akane-be issue, and I'm working on it. I just worry about you, you know."
"I know Ranma, but you have to trust me. I'm fine. Tofu gave me some medicine to control the problem for now. He's even running blood tests so that you can feel better about me checking on my health. Will that help?"
Ranma nodded. "We'll, I better let you rest. Tofu warned me that I shouldn't be getting in the way of your beauty sleep."
Akane chuckled. "Did he?"
"Yup. I promised him I wouldn't worry you or n'ting."
"Did he also say you had to eat my cooking?"
"He seemed to have missed that part."
Akane pushed him away from her with a playful shove. He laughed it off and returned to her, kissing her lightly on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow at 9. OK?"
"OK."
He gave her one last kiss before leaving her room, gathering his shoes from the entrance and waved goodbye as he locked the door behind him. Akane, seeing he was gone for the night, remembered the reason she had been late coming home. She ran down the stairs and made sure Ranma was out of sight before turning off the lights. Soun was staying at Genma's for the night, as Genma had complained that they had to make up for lost time when he was away with Nabiki. Nabiki, in turn, had made plans to spend the night at a friend's house, which she had made while away in college. Akane wondered if this friend happened to be a guy, since she had left the home very well dressed up, but decided it was not her business what her sister did in her own time.
Akane returned upstairs and went into the bathroom. She took out the stick and instructions, and read the indications for it. Once she was sure she followed them, she proceeded to take the first steps of the test. After she was done, she grabbed the stick and the instructions, and made her way back to her room, locking the door behind her.
She placed the instructions and the pregnancy test on her desk as she paced around the room. "Three minutes. Wait three minutes."
She began cleaning up around her room, hoping the time would pass by quickly. She began sorting through her books and notes, knowing they would be using them tomorrow. She looked at her watch and growled when only one minute had passed. She walked up to the stick but no color had appeared on it yet. She walked away from it again, and took her hamper out of her room and into the hall to remind her to wash clothes tomorrow morning. She then walked downstairs, grabbed a bottle of water and returned to her room.
She chugged down half of the bottle in one gulp. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and closed the bottle before throwing it on her bed. "Thirty seconds."
She grabbed the instructions in one hand, and the stick in the other as she counted down the seconds to the final result. She walked to the foot of her bed, facing her open closet and stared at her clothes. "Am I going to have to get a new wardrobe?"
She shook her head, forcing herself not to get ahead of herself as she looked down at the stick as it slowly began showing the first signs of a result. She felt her heart beating faster and she closed her eyes, unable to see the form of the image on the stick. She counted down in her head as the time ran out.
"6, 5, 4, 3, 2…"
The time ran out, but she could not force herself to open her eyes. She swallowed the knot in her throat as she opened her eyes. "Here goes nothing…"
She took a deep breath and began lowering her eyes to the stick, reciting as she did, the possible results and what they meant. "A plus is positive, a line is negative. A plus is positive, a line is negative. A plus is positive, a line is negative."
Her eyes were almost on the perfect spot to read the result, when a loud bang startled her off her path.
"Oi, Akane! I forgot my cell phone!"
Akane head snapped straight as she froze in place. She heard Ranma finish opening the window. All she could think of was the test she had in her hands. She heard him jump into her room and the shuffling as he looked for his phone under the trash of the box where the cellphone had been until he gave his back to her and found his phone on her desk.
"Ah! Here is its!"
Akane knew he would come to her and see what she was doing, unmoving, at the foot of her bed. She could not let him see what she was doing. He would know something was wrong after all the work she had done to keep him in the dark. She could not run out of her room, he could suspect something fishy was going on. She decided to do the only thing she could.
She invoked the fire technique to her hands and burned the test and the instructions to ashes in less than a second. By the time Ranma walked up behind her, she sat on the bed, her open palms facing up, with a pile of ash on each one.
"Akane? What are you doing?"
She cleared her throat and looked down, grateful that her powers had worked and seeing both items were gone. Gone, however, was her chance to find out what the result had been.
"I'm testing the techniques…seeing how fast I can call on them to burn…stuff?"
Ranma scoffed. "Stupid, Akane. You should have done this on the sink or outside. You're gonna get ash all over your floor. Let me go get the trashcan."
Akane nodded and gave him a fake smile as he left the room. She let out a sigh to calm down. When Ranma returned, Akane was visibly more relaxed as he helped her clean up her hands. "Sorry I scared you. I forgot my keys and locked the door when I left."
"It's OK."
Once he was done, he placed the phone in his pocket and kissed her goodbye. Akane saw him leave her room through her window, and she locked it after him, hoping it would prevent another surprise visit from him. She went to bed, cursing her luck. She would have no choice but to wait for the tests results to come back.
xxxXXXxxx
The next day, Ranma appeared at her door at 9 a.m., sharp. She welcomed him and guided him to the living room, where their books waited for them. They spent the first half of the day with their faces in the books. They would take turns quizzing each other regarding concepts, definitions, and competing to see who would solve a problem faster –and correct, than the other would. They continued at that pace until about two in the afternoon, when Nabiki walked in, finally returning from visiting her friend.
"Hey, lovebirds. What are you up to?"
"Studying."
"I see," she said staring at the battleground that was the living room. "Well, if you make some space around there, I'll leave a box of pizza with you."
Ranma perked up at the idea. "Really?"
Nabiki nodded as she walked inside the room. "I brought one for you two, and one for dad. Where is dad, anyway?"
"He's upstairs, hungover."
"I take it he overextended his stay at Uncle Genma's last night?"
"Guess so."
Nabiki left the box of pizza on the table before waving goodbye to them and heading upstairs to watch over her dad. Ranma did not waste any time in opening the box and grabbing a slice. Akane, on the other hand, walked to the kitchen to grab napkins and plates, and returned to her spot at the living room.
"Hey, Akane. When are you gonna go get those results?"
"What results?"
"Blood test?"
"Oh! Tomorrow, afternoon."
"Can I come with?"
Akane panicked. No, he could not come with. How was she supposed to keep it a secret if he heard it directly from Tofu's mouth? She knew that if she said no, he would find a way to invite himself at the last minute. She thought about how to deter him from going with her, and decided the best approach would be to make it an uncomfortable choice.
"I don't see why not. I was thinking of taking you anyway, so Tofu can draw some blood from you, too. I figured that since I was being tested, you should too to make sure everything is normal before the tournament. I'm glad you thought about it, too."
Ranma's bite of pizza fell from his mouth. He did not see that backfiring on him. He hated needles, and tests, but what he hated the most was getting blood drawn from him.
"Uh, do you really think that will be necessary?"
Akane smiled, knowing her plan had worked. "Of course! In fact, let me call him right now to tell him to be ready for you," she said as she took out her brand new cell phone and began dialing a random number.
"No! Wait! I just remembered I'm gonna be busy tomorrow. I actually can't go with you. Sorry."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Oh, shucks! Well, I'll let you know how it went, OK?"
"Sure."
Ranma did not mention anything related to her visit tomorrow to Dr. Tofu again, afraid that she would end up forcing him to go with her. After they finished eating, they returned to studying until around ten at night. At that time, Ranma left the Tendo residence, promising to return at the same time the next day.
Knowing that he would, and did, Akane left the living room in the same disarrayed state they had left it, and went straight to bed. The next day, Akane left Ranma to his own devices at around six in the afternoon, making her way to doctor Tofu's office, as previously arranged. Five minutes after she had left her home, she arrived at his clinic, with the same nervousness she had felt two days ago during her failed attempt at testing herself at home.
"Glad to see you again, Akane. Come on in."
Akane bowed to him before walking inside, heading straight to his office in the back. He went around his desk and sat on his chair. Akane did not wait for the invitation, and sat across from him just like last time. "I just got the results back. Haven't even read them myself."
Akane's face faulted. She had hoped that his good mood was an indication that everything was all right. Sadly, she was mistaken. He grabbed an unopened envelope that lay on his desk, and tore it open. He took out another folder inside and when that folder was torn open, he took out a handful of printed papers. He flattened the papers on his desk before holding them steady in his hands and reading the results. He read the papers a few times, frowning as he did. After he finished reading them, he handed them to Akane, who was short of snatching them from his hands as she began to read.
After she read the first three pages and could not understand what they meant, she looked up and faced Tofu. "What does this mean, I don't understand."
"Read the last page, it's in layman terms on the last box."
Akane found the last page and read the paragraph of results a few times until she digested every single word. Sighing loudly, she threw the papers on the desk and covered her face with her hands.
"Disappointed or surprised?" Tofu finally asked.
"Not sure yet."
The doctor allowed Akane to absorb the situation, and he just stared at her reactions, waiting for her next step.
She stood up and paced around the room, covering her mouth with her hand. "Will this condition prevent me from participating in the Tournament?"
The doctor was afraid that would be her main concern, but had expected nothing less from her at the moment.
"Not at this stage, but you should rest plenty before the tournament and during, if you can. I would still like to run some other tests, after the tournament."
Akane nodded, relieved that she could still go on with her plans for now. After more pacing, she finally sat down again and handed the papers back to the doctor to save in her file. "Well, that's that. Thank you very much, doctor. I better get going now."
The doctor grabbed the papers and walked to his filing cabinet, searching for Akane's medical file as he spoke. "Don't you think Ranma should know?"
Akane sighed, giving a hint of her response.
"No, he'll overreact and not let me participate. I have practiced as much as him, and I can't leave everything in his hands."
"He wouldn't mind…"
"No, doctor. I won't tell him, and he won't find out in any other way, right?"
The doctor nodded. He had made his promise, and he would not tell Ranma what was happening with his fiancée, at least not for now. When Akane felt certain that the doctor would not blab to Ranma, she bowed to him and made her way out of the clinic, running as fast she could, not stopping until she reached her house.
As soon as she walked in, she found Ranma sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She gave him the best smile she could give, and he understood it as a sign that everything was OK. "Want to chill for the rest of the night?" he asked, walking towards her, and offering his hand.
Akane nodded, grabbed his hand, and walked with him to the living room. Once they sat, Ranma turned on the TV and they both got comfortable on the couch. After watching TV for a few minutes, Ranma cleared his throat, getting ready to ask a question that had been bothering him for some time.
"Akane, are you asleep?"
"No."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah," she said, afraid that he was going to further inquire about her alleged illness and her visit with Tofu.
"How did you do it?"
"How did I do what?"
"How did you defeat Saffron?"
She closed her eyes. The moment where he asked her the question had finally come. She figured it was about time – after two years of wondering, he had finally come out and asked. She grabbed the remote and lowered the volume of the TV, but still left it on.
"How much do you want know?"
"Everything."
"Alright."
She shifted her position so that she was now facing him, while still sitting on the couch. He mimicked her position and concentrated on paying attention to every detail of the story she was about to start.
A/N: Hey, all! Next chapter is called Anterior, and it will tell us how, exactly, Akane defeated Saffron. See you then!