Walking home from school was awkward. Well technically Akane wasn't going home she was going to a cooking lesson. Neither of them had spoken since lunch. Akane's cooking teacher lived down the street from the Tendo's house, normally Ranma would go home and Akane would continue down to her cooking lesson, but today Ranam continued down the street with Akane.
"Why are you following me?" Akane asked as they came to her teacher's house
"What can't I walk you places anymore?" Ranma answered
"Well…yeah but…" she started
"What time it is over?" he questioned suddenly
"5:30 why?"
"Oh no reason" he said as he walked back to the Tendo's
'That was weird' Akane thought to herself as she walked inside her teachers house,
Anna I'm here" Akane called out
"In the kitchen Akane"
Akane walked to the kitchen where Anna was taking out some ingredients for today's lesson. Anna is 16, and she's originally from the U.S.
"Today we will be making a western style stew"
"Everything is western with you" Akane said jokingly
"…"
"Okay, okay, what's first?"
About an hour later they were taking a tea break while the stew was cooking.
"Oh look! It's snowing!!" Akane exclaimed
"We still have an hour and a half left, you'd better invite your fiancé in before he freezes." Anna said in a bored tone
"…What?"
"Your fiancé" she stated clearly "he's been sitting in the tree outside my house since the beginning of the lesson. I think he's watching the house."
Akane looked out the window and sure enough there was Ranma. Aknae was dumbfounded; Ranma had never showed open concern for her before. And it was only down the street from her house. She didn't understand.
"Akane are you going to go get him or not?"
"Uh… yeah, I'll be right back."
Akane grabbed her coat and walked outside. When she was under the tree Ranma was in, she stopped.
"Ranma"
He was so surprised he fell out of the tree. He had been trying to warm himself up when she had come outside.
"Ranma, Anna said that it's to cold for you to be out side. She invited you in"
Ranma, who had been avoiding her eyes, suddenly snapped his attention back to her.
"Your not mad?" he blurted out
"….No, it makes me happy that you care enough to make sure I'm safe." She answered slowly
Ranma slowly turned his head back toward her. She was smiling at him, he smiled back before shivering from a gust of wind.
"Lets go in, I have a stew on the stove'
"Okay"
They walked back together. Inside Anna smiled as she sipped her tea.
As they walked in Ranma shivered again, Akane reached out and touched his arm, and then proptly took her hand back.
"Your freezing!!!"
"Well duh, its -9 degrees Celsius out there." Anna said as she walked up
"Akane take him in the kitchen and give him some tea, it should warm him up a bit. I'll go get a blanket"
Akane nodded and grabbed the shivering Ranma and dragged him to the kitchen. The kitchen was warmer because the stove was on. Akane sat him down and poured him some tea. Ranma was still shivering when he accepted the tea. He took a sip. His expression changed to surprise.
"This is unusual, what kind is it?" he asked while taking another sip
"It's my own special blend, do you like it?"
He downed the rest of it
"Yeah it's great"
"Glad you like it"
There was a little bit of an awkward silence after that. Akane noticed that Ranma was still shivering. She wanted to warm him up but could only way she could think of was to hug him. She took a deep breath and walked around him. Ranma had been spacing out when he felt Akane wrap her arms around him. He froze, saying he was nervous was a serious understatement. His face was flushed bright red.
"W-what are you doing?" he managed to stutter out
"Y-you were cold, a-aren't you warmer now?" she stuttered back
Ranma stopped, he was warm. His first instinct was to get closer to the source, but he didn't want to risk getting malleted.
'Why is she doing this, she should be mad that I followed her here…
shouldn't she? …wait… she was the one who made the first move…BOTH
times! SHE bit the cookie!
SHE hugged me! Well then it should be ok for me to do something… right?'
Akane's heart was beating really fast. She was nervous because Ranma hadn't moved or said anything in a few minutes. She was about to let go when Ranma spun around in her arms and hugged her closer.
"Thanks Akane, I'm warm now"
Akane's mind was spinning, she did manage out a "your welcome" in a small voice. They stayed like that for a little while when a quiet cough from the doorway broke the silence. They turned to see Anna staring at them from the doorway. They blushed and let go of each other quickly.
"Oh don't be embarrassed you're a cute couple"
Their blush's deepened and they avoided looking at each other.
"The only reason I interrupted you was because the stew is about to boil over"
"OH NO!!!" Akane exclaimed as she rushed over to the stove