Of Two Minds: Chapter Two

Akane was frozen, whatever she was expecting when she told Ranma to prove he wasn't a pervert, it wasn't what she was currently experiencing. Ranma was kissing her. And even that wasn't what she was expecting. She expected her first kiss to be a rough, forceful experience that would take weeks to get over. This was soft and hesitant, shy even, but there was a spark of… something that Akane couldn't place, but it made even the light touch of the hands on her head enjoyable.

This probably explained why Akane was frozen, she was kissing a boy…

…and she liked it.

Ranma was in worse shape, while he enjoyed the kiss, her lack of response was telling him that she didn't want this, that she didn't mean this when she wanted him to prove he wasn't a pervert, that she wanted him do something else, that she would hate him for doing this… and so on. Guilt began wearing away at his conscious, he shouldn't be doing this, it was wrong, dishonorable even. But if that were true, if kissing this girl that could be his fiancée were wrong…

…then why did it feel soooooo good?

Akane could feel Ranma's guilt as the kiss continued. He was pulling back further and further every few seconds, trying to break the kiss but seemingly unable to do so. The enjoyment she was receiving from the kiss slowly evaporating as Ranma slowly stopped applying pressure. She felt the familiar bubble of anger welling up within her as the pleasurable sensations slowed. But she didn't know if she was angry about the fact he kissed her or that he was stopping. Before Akane could do anything, whether encouragement, or complaint, Ranma collapsed.

Ranma couldn't do it, he tried to stop the kiss but it felt to good that he couldn't bring himself to break off. The harder he sent commands to his body the less that happened, building upon the shame and guilt that what he was doing was wrong, making him try harder to move away, resulting in less change in the situation, making him feel more guilty and perpetuating this cycle. Until, eventually, everything went blissfully black.

Nabiki and the rest crowded around the dojo noticed things neither Ranma, nor Akane noticed. They noticed that every muscle in Ranma's body's tensed up about halfway through, that Akane's arms moved to encircle Ranma's waist, and, right before Ranma collapsed, the cursed boy started crying. Akane managed to arrest Ranma's falling weight before he hit the floor, much to her own surprise at where her hands were then anybody else's, but before she could lay him down she heard a small voice as Ranma's lips moved, "He's sorry you know." The surprise of the words caused Akane to drop the male bundle the rest of the way to the floor. The martial artist's eyes opened and looked at her, "You didn't have to drop me you know."

"I'm sorry," Akane said, seeing the large, flat irises and pupils signifying the cat's release, "I just wasn't expecting a lot of that."

"Ohh, happy day," Soun began, doing the parental happy dance, "Akane's chosen Ranma now we can move on to the ceremony."

"Actually Daddy," Nabiki began, "Akane's not being nice to Ranma."

"But he's standing right there…" Soun trailed off as Ranma stood and directed those predator's eyes right at him.

"Ranma felt what he was doing was wrong," The black haired martial artist explained, "the guilt overwhelmed him, and I had to take over."

"But you kissed her," Soun muttered, "you have to marry her now."

"First off: I didn't kiss her, Ranma did. And second: You want us to marry her you then fight for it." The other personality stated, hands on hips in a very feminine manner, looking out of place on the male body.

"Wha…?" Soun didn't understand what this person was talking about. He wanted Ranma to marry his daughter.

"It's simple, you want us to marry one of your daughters before we propose, you have to beat us in no-holds-barred combat for us to go along with it." The possessor of Ranma's body stated matter-of-factly before smiling in an evil manner, "Then you have to try and convince her to do it."

"Huh?" Soun understood he was losing this battle but he didn't understand why, he was the girl's father his word should be law in his own house.

"What Neko-chan's trying to say Daddy," Nabiki began, noticing the bemused look she received from the subject of her summary, "is that in order to force your will upon Ranma and Neko-chan you must convince one of us to agree to whatever plan you have so that when you beat them in combat you can proceed with your plan."

"Saotome say something to your son, he kissed my daughter."

"That he did Tendo," Genma agreed, frowning," but I have to agree with my daughter, when my son chooses his wife, then we'll start planning a wedding, but until then they'll ignore you, if your lucky. She is much like her other half, ruthlessly stubborn about all things. I only worry…" Genma trailed off looking at the floor, shame clearly etched on his face. Then he snapped his head back up and looked at both young people with a grin, "Now you two seemed to have recovered sufficiently, go get something to eat, get bathed and go to bed. Ranma has school tomorrow."

"Ranma's going to hit you hard when he finds out about school in the morning, dad." the young martial artist stated as the male body left with a noticeably feminine gait, followed by Akane.

Akane stopped when she noticed no one following her, "aren't you going to eat with us."

"Oh no," Kasumi stated, "you were sparring for so long that we had finished and were getting ready for bed when we heard yelling, I held dinner for you two, go eat." She started herding the rest of the house back toward their respective bedrooms leaving the two young martial artists alone in a quiet room.

"Well this is awkward, alone together in a quiet house," the black haired martial artist stated before smiling again in a seductive manner, "anything could happen."

Akane couldn't help from blushing at the innuendo, but the all-to-recent memory of her first kiss, conjured by that statement, kept her from getting too angry, "Idiot," she said swatting her companion's arm, "don't joke like that."

The seductive smile vanished, and was replaced by a feminine pout, "I never get to have any fun."

Akane couldn't help but laugh at the mismatch of features displayed by the currently neko martial artist. It was funny for her to see feminine expressions on a masculine body.

The male martial artist cocked one eyebrow, "And what's so funny, Akane?" she asked.

"Look at yourself in a mirror once why don't cha. You are such a girl, even as a guy." Akane explained between giggles.

"My yang side would proudly exclaim 'I'm a guy', in these situations so being the good spiritual opposite I am," the black haired martial artist said as she moved over to the koi pond. Then without warning she jumped in, coming up as a petite redhead, "I'm a woman!" she called out enthusiastically as soon as she surfaced. Clambering out of the pond the redhead moved to the table to help Akane dish out equal servings who was still giggling from the antics of the neo-girl.

They ate silently for the most part before the redhead set her bowl down on the table and looked at Akane, "Akane I have a few of questions and I need you to take them seriously." She looked at Akane for a moment before the girl in question nodded.

"Okay my first question is do you hate Ranma for kissing you?"

Akane stared off into space, the direct question not surprising her in the least, well only a little. Her emotions were still a confused jumble from everything that happened. She could only respond with: "I don't really know, it was nice."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here." The redhead stated impassively.

"But, I don't see that happening again." Not for a while at least, she added mentally.

"Fair enough," the redhead, being a martial artist noticed the flicker of Akane eyes' and slight pursing of the mouth, but being a woman, knew exactly what that meant. Ranma you devil, she thought ruefully, leaving the rest hanging, "my second question," she continued, "is would you like us to train you?" Now Ranma's alternate ego had been expecting a lot of things, having her friend leap across the table and nearly crush her ribs hadn't been on the list.

"Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou, thankyou!" Akane didn't realize the peril of her friend until she squeezed hard to emphasize her gratefulness and heard an odd muffled chocking sound and managed to survey the damage she had caused. The first thing she noticed was that because she was sitting on her knees in the redhead's lap the pressure of her grip had pulled the cursed girl's head into her breasts. Once she pulled away she looked at the purple face her body had hidden.

Once the redhead had been freed from the confines of Akane's… figure. One hand quickly shot to her nose trying to staunch the sudden flow of blood, resulting in a small trickle running down her face, Akane misunderstood and thought she had hurt her friend quickly leaving to get facial tissue. The redhead, alone and still remembering the feel of her friend's assets on her face, couldn't hold back the eruption threatening to kill her through nasal hemorrhaging and passed out, leaving an arc of blood over the table and her clothes as she passed out.

She awoke sometime later to the concerned face of Akane and the feeling of facial tissue up her nose. "Are you alright?" the black haired girl asked, her voice repentant and concerned, the redhead just smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," she assured her, sitting up and pulling the obstruction out of her nose, "though that does explain a few things."

"Like?" Akane prompted.

"The reason you didn't stop smiling throughout our match." The redhead explained.

"It's just, Daddy doesn't teach me any more and I miss it."

"I guess I can understand, Akane, we would feel the same if Dad stopped teaching us."

Akane looked at the redhead oddly before opening her mouth to ask a question before closing it again, "Umm… can I ask a question?" she managed after a few seconds.

"Sure," the redhead shrugged, "I may not answer but you can ask."

"Why do you use 'we' and 'us' so often?" Akane blushed at the way her own words sounded.

"Well I'm not using that con…i…ta, er, perceived association, so don't worry." The redhead was amused at Akane's blush and why it was there but didn't want her any more embarrassed, there was a thin line between embarrassment and hitting things with this girl, and the food probably gave her some strength back. She wasn't in the mood for crossing that line, "I use 'we' and 'us' to refer to Ranma as well as myself," she explained evenly, "because I'm just a part of him I have to think of his needs as well as mine when I'm active and he has to deal with the consequences of my actions." She blushed, "Then I got suckered into a date with a stupid pervert because I didn't watch my words."

"Is that why Ranma wants to help me with the idiots at school?" Akane asked awe struck.

"Something like that yes," the redhead nodded, "though it has more to do with being a friend then any actual knowledge about that date."

Akane yawned, "Is there anything else you want to talk to me about? I need to bathe and get to sleep."

The redhead tensed, she did have one more question to ask, "Yeah I've one more question," she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself and trying to calm her nerves, opening her mouth she started speaking, "is there anything else you need help with?" While her face didn't betray her shocked countenance, in side she was both shocked and dismayed, as well as angry, depressed, and a little afraid.

"Well," Akane began, shifting nervously "I guess I could use some help swimming," her voice trailed of into a whisper, but her redheaded companion still heard the addendum: "and my cooking."

The redheaded girl nodded absently as Akane went off to bathe, when Akane came to tell her friend the bath was clear, the other girl still hadn't moved. Once the room was empty the redhead went through routine, cleaning herself, silently wondering why she hadn't asked what she needed to.

Ranma woke suddenly, everything suddenly dark, his memory a vague blur of feelings that he didn't understand, but he was clean and male. He went to lie back when a flash of white caught his attention. He leaned over and picked up the piece of paper, his face scrunched up, unreadable for a moment before he sighed and leaned back into his bed, hoping to get some sleep. He had school in the morning. Blech.

Author's notes: This was going to be longer but following some advice of a reviewer I'll try to put out more shorter chapters I'll be shootin' for one every week and a half

To my reviewers:

Jerry Unipeg: Um, Thanks…

Daert: I don't think so, but I'm not done so you might want to save your praise.

Ellen Kuhfeld: Thanks, I'll try.

melvin chiklebee: I doubt it's original, just unpopulized.

gen x: Thanks, I guess.

gort420: I'll try to keep Akane in character, and she has anger issues, but I have conveniently killed her reasons for hating Ranma early in the series (getting engaged, and walking in on her in the bath) so she won't be as angry at him.

Dragon Man 180: Thank you, I like the differences between them myself. I'm stealing the Neko-chan bit because it fits. As for Kuno all I'll say about it is: MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

keichan2: Who said this was a Ranma/Akane fic? I know I didn't, this could easily become a Shampoo (or Ukyo, or Nabiki, or Kasumi, etc.)/Ranma fic, I don't know yet.

DanYHKim: I've noticed, unless time travel or other characters are involved it's identical to the first few chapters of the manga. If you can find the fanfic you're talking about, tell me it sounds interesting. Ranma's female and cat half will be both different and similar, but I'll let you find them out for yourself.

Jashida: I'm glad you like it. I hope you like how I resolved this. Though your confidence in me seems a little extreme.

zaltran: Thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep writing this regularly, but I might lose quality if I do.