No, there's still more to come. But I decided to keep this chapter short. Next will be longer, promise.

- Azalia

A sigh after another, she couldn't cope with what she was doing only a few moments ago.

The steps above them ruined the moment Ranma and Ryoga were having, and the worst part is that she was yearning for it to continue. It was so unlike her.

Ranma didn't felt like rushing back into her room, although she was already on her way at a pace that could be the equal of a turtle.

Ryoga on the other hand, remained on the bathroom a bit longer, looking up to the roof. He too, couldn't cope with what just happened. The feeling of her body not only should have driven him crazy, Ranma should have pushed him away and send him off from this planet by now. But she didn't, and his body didn't felt like it was about to loose more blood from his nose either.

Before he could think about it further, steps were heard again from above, that slowly walked towards the stairs. Ryoga came out of the bathroom and directed himself towards Ranma's room.

He didn't get lost.

In fact, he arrived much sooner than what he had anticipated as he was still deep in thoughts, so deep he didn't realized Akane was not only in front of him, but also shaking him like if he was petrified.

"Oi, Ryoga! I said, Good evening!" - Akane yelled at him with full lungs, for some reason though, the entire family was already used to it. Except for Ranma who was only on the other side of the door, giving a small peek to what the two of them were doing.

"E-Eh? Oh, Akane. Sorry"

"What are you doing here so late?" - Said without paying attention to the fact he was still shirtless and was wearing Ranma's pants.

"I... only, I mean... I was on Nerima and so I decided to..."

Akane knew her question was completely stupid, but she never thought she would loose patience with his answer so quickly, so she decided to cut him off before he kept on talking for hours. Or worse, that he didn't talked at all. - "Don't worry, Ryoga. You're always welcomed to stay here for as long as you like... By the way, have you seen P-Chan? He ran away when I tried to clean the blood on his nose. Ranma's fault"

"P-Chan? Blood?... Ranma" - Ryoga just thought of a simple question. How and when the hell did he arrived to the Tendo's house. It didn't took him long though to solve the entire puzzle. - "True, I fainted because of Ranma. Well, not exactly for her but for a photo..."

"Well, did you saw Ranma hitting P-Chan?" - It didn't felt right to blame Ranma for something as trifle, and Ryoga didn't felt bad about what happened next.

"Eh?" - Akane was fully surprised, she expected him to support her like he always did. Instead, she looked down and grabbed her pajamas like if trying to not be nervous. - "W-Well, no. I did not"

Ryoga was surprised of how thick-headed and short-minded Akane really was. Or how he was defending Ranma, but it was too late to back down. He wouldn't let her to blame Ranma for everything, not anymore. - "What if a vase is broken and you're the only one around. Does that makes you the one to blame?"

Ranma smiled on the other side of the door, holding her heart on her hands. For the first time in a very long time, someone was trying to defend her. Not that she needed it, but being blamed for everything wasn't morally correct. - "Thank you, Ryoga..." - Thought Ranma as she walked away from the door and into her futon.

The more sense Ryoga was implanting into Akane, the worst she felt for blaming Ranma, or for other times when she did the same thing. - "N-No, it could have been a stray cat or a kid playing with a ball"

"Then that means that Ranma couldn't have been the one to blame, but someone—" - Before he could complete his sentence though, a harsh slap silenced him. It was no other but Akane's. - "A-Akane...?"

"H-How will you know?!" - Akane panicked not only of the anger she was feeling of being wrong but of what she did to Ryoga just now.

He remained silent, looking at her as she ran upstairs. He could only feel the pulse of his now-red cheek, and the beat of his heart. He didn't felt troubled, neither did he felt bad about it. He felt victorious for some reason. - "I just defended Ranma and paid the price for it"

Ryoga paused for a moment before smiling to himself as he entered Ranma's room.