Arc VI: Making Amends

Chapter: Wooing and Advice

Pacing the dojo, Ranma was doing something he wasn't known for: thinking.

After his bout of confidence at school, his nerves began to get the better of him as he realized he didn't know what to do to win his fiancée back. He screwed up big, so he reasoned he had to do something big to make it up to her.

But what?

Really, he had no clue.

The problem was he wasn't used to trying to make girls like him, they just did. Whether he liked it or not.

And really, who could blame them?

Akane, though, had always been different and he liked that about her. So he would have to do something to show how much he cared. That showed her how important she was to him. It really stumped him but when he began to think of it as a battle strategy, he relaxed a little. He knew that when it came to battle, he would always win, and the task felt less daunting. He always found a way to win.

He paced some more as a plan began to form in his mind. It would work, he thought. He cringed a little when he realized it would be horribly embarrassing but it was worth it if he could get Akane to understand how much she meant to him.

Yes, it would work but the plan required...well, planning and time. So until he was ready, he would butter her up a little as he went along and if all went as planned, he would have her back by the end of the week.

Tuesday Morning

0745 hours

Location: Furinkan High School

Positioned in an air vent, Ranma Saotome had a direct view of Akane's locker.

He had left for school an hour before he usually did. He got to school fifteen minutes ago. He had never been to school that early before - he usually barely made it by the time before the bell rang - and found the place a little eerie.

The halls were empty of the students that usually rushed around. They seemed overly large without the crush of bodies that normally occupied the space. It was as quiet as a tomb, as even the teachers hadn't arrived yet. His footsteps seemed to echo as he walked down the eerily quiet halls, instead of the loud sounds of chatter and gossip that usually filled the space.

Everything for the first stage of buttering Akane up was ready. Today was simple, a token of his affection that he knew girls loved.

He tried to shift to make himself more comfortable but couldn't do much as he had barely fit in the air shaft in the first place. He sighed as he realized he had come too early. He just didn't want anyone to see him climb in and give away his location; he wanted to watch her covertly and see her response for himself.

After ten uncomfortable minutes where he watched students start to flow in - did everyone come to school this early? - he finally saw his fiancée come walking towards her locker. As she walked he saw several boys greet her and check her out, some subtly and others blatantly. The least offensive of them only gave her a subtle head to toe look over. One guy had turned his neck around as he walked by her to check out her ass and walked right into an open locker door. While another wolf whistled at her. It chapped his hide.

Were they always looking at her like that? He never noticed before. But they probably wouldn't dare be that obvious when he was around. They all knew he would have pounded them into the ground without a second thought. He clenched his hands into fists a couple of times and took a deep breath.

It doesn't matter. They don't have a chance with her, he thought, calming himself down a little. He still hated it though and the annoyance didn't vanish completely.

As she got closer his annoyance turned to anticipation. He watched as she stopped and reached for her locker, her hand hovering right over the combination lock, just as someone called her name. He rolled his eyes as Yuka came up to say good morning. He would have drummed his fingers in frustration if he were physically able to. He willed the other girl to leave and when she finally stepped away, he sighed in relief. His right leg was beginning to fall asleep and he wanted to get out of there!

He kept his eyes focused on Akane's face as she opened the locker. When she looked inside she looked momentarily shocked before a smile automatically graced her lovely features. Her face turned to confusion and she glanced around her before putting her hand inside and pulling out a dozen roses. She took a sniff at them and he watched in satisfaction as a small smile appeared on her face. She pulled the card out and her expression turned blank when she read the contents.

She put the flowers back inside as she pulled out the books she would need for first period and walked away.

The hallways were almost completely empty as Ranma wriggled himself out of his hidey hole. He was a little disappointed that she didn't take the flowers with her but then he couldn't exactly expect her to bring them to class with her. He was happy that they brought a smile to her face but wondered about the reaction to the card. He simply wrote 'I'm sorry' on it and then his initials. That couldn't have been wrong, could it?

He sighed and then jumped in alarm as the bell rang. Damn! He forgot all about going to class and now he was going to be stuck holding buckets! He hobbled down the hall - his right leg was still numb - completely forgetting his books.

That evening found Ranma in the dojo. He snuck out of the guest room shortly after everyone had retired for the night. He knew that Akane was the only other one in the house to use the dojo regularly and it was unlikely that he would be interrupted by anyone else this time of night.

The first part of his plan had been a success. Okay, not a success. But it had put a smile on Akane's face - however briefly - so he was going to take that as a win.

He was sitting with his back against the wall, his legs were bent in front of him and balanced on his knees was a pad of paper. He needed to express himself like he never had before. Explain to her his regret. Describe his feelings for her. He had his right hand poised over the pad, ready to impart his innermost feelings.

And...

Nothing.

The page was blank.

His previous unsuccessful attempts surrounded him; pieces of wadded up paper littered the floor around him.

He had wanted to start this task sooner but he didn't want to be caught and frankly, he didn't think it would have taken him so long to get this done.

He looked down at the blank sheet of paper and...still nothing.

Why is this so hard?

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying to relax. He bent his head backwards so that it rested on the wall behind him.

What he needed to do was meditate and he was sure inspiration would hit him.

"Breakfast, everyone!"

In the dojo, the pigtail boy stirred at the distant muffled sound but did not wake.

The next sound he heard was the sliding of the shoji doors and light footsteps before a hand shook his shoulder lightly.

"Ranma, wake up."

The shaking became firmer and more insistent.

"Ranma! Wake up!"

Blue eyes blinked slowly open to find his mother bent over him, a worried expression on her face. Nodoka looked down at her son and took a good look at him. He was lying on his stomach, his head resting on his forearm, a piece of paper stuck to his face with what looked like drool. He had ink stains on his hands and part of his cheek that she assumed was from the pen he still had in his right hand. Balls of wadded up paper surrounded him.

"Ranma, did you sleep out here?"

Blinking his eyes to clear his fuzzy brain, he mumbled, "Yeah, musta fallen asleep. Wha time izit?"

"It's time for school."

"School?"

"Yes, school. That place you go to everyday where you learn. Hopefully."

Curious as to all the paper surrounding her, she reached to pick one up. She had it in her hand and began to smooth it out when suddenly it flew out of her fingers with a swishing noise. She looked up to see Ranma had jumped to his feet and grabbed it away from her. She straightened up and watched curiously as he blurred around the room, picking up all the scraps and shoving them down his shirt. She quirked her eyebrows at him in amusement.

"Well, now that you are up, you need to go take a bath."

"Bath?"

"Yes, a bath. You cannot go to school looking like that. You go up and get ready, and I'll try to save you some breakfast and tell Akane to head to school without you."

Ranma frowned for a second before nodding his head. Even though their walks had been silent lately, he looked forward to that time he spent with his blue-haired fiancée. Ever since he first came to Nerima, walking to school together in the morning had been their thing. Even before they could admit they could tolerate each other. He remembered how odd it felt heading to school without her during that short time he had lived in his mother's home.

It was a feeling he didn't like but there was nothing he could do about it. His mother wanted him to make himself presentable and he was not going to argue with her. She had very, umm, firm ideas on what was appropriate and it was never a good idea to challenge those ideas.

He headed straight for the furo and spent more time than he normally would getting ready; it took a while for him to scrub the ink marks off his skin. As it was, he could still see faint blue marks on his hand but thankfully his face had been washed clean.

With a note from his mother in hand, he went to school and was thankfully saved from bucket duty. He sat down at his desk and noticed that Akane had her face turned towards her paper as she worked on a word problem. He sighed and slumped down in his chair.

Would it have hurt her to just look in his direction?! Especially after all the trouble he went through to...

Damn! he thought as he shot up in his seat. With all the rushing around this morning he had only just realized that he hadn't actually finished his project.

He took out his notebook and opened it to a blank page. He stared at it, hoping beyond hope that somehow words - and at this point any words would do - would just appear on the page.

The students around him scooted their desks away from him. Ranma Saotome staying awake for class was one thing but Ranma actually prepared to take notes? Well that was a sure sign of impending doom.

In PE that day, the boys played basketball in the gym, away from the girls who had started a soccer unit. Usually any team featuring Ranma would win easily but his team mates had been disappointed when he seemed distracted. In fact, the pigtail boy just stood there staring off into space. The players actually had to play around him. When a member of his team yelled his name and passed him the ball. Ranma didn't even look up and the ball pegged him in the forehead. He flew back on one foot, his arms thrown into the air before he fell onto his back. He didn't even bother to stand back up. He simply crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the ceiling from his position on the floor. To their annoyance, two of his team members had to drag him off the court before resuming their game.

It was the last period of the day and Ranma felt himself sweat as class wound down. He still had nothing! The pigtailed boy glanced at the clock and for once was not happy that class had only one minute left.

Suddenly inspiration hit and he scribbled quickly. Hopefully she liked it as he thought it sounded pretty good. He ripped out the page from his notebook just as the bell rang. He folded it and quickly put it in his pocket.

He turned around to find Akane but she was already walking away with her friends. He hung back wanting to be alone with his fiancée when he gave her the paper. He followed the trio as they headed out of the school. When the two friends split from her at the gates, Ranma rushed forward but stopped short of his goal as doubt seeped in.

What if she hated it? What if she laughed at him? He didn't know if he could take that. But he needed to give her the note.

If he could manage to give it to her without having to see her reaction, he wouldn't be as nervous. It was cowardly of him but he went with it anyway.

Wednesday Afternoon

1715 hours

Location: Sidewalk

Walking home, Akane Tendo was just about to turn a corner when her danger senses went on alert. She stopped and looked around her just as she heard a whooshing sound and felt something hit her satchel. She looked down and saw an arrow sticking out of her bag.

She frowned as she looked at the arrow but realized the arrow hadn't actually pierced anything, the tip had been replaced with a suction. She reached down and pulled on the arrow and it came off with a "pop." It was then that she noticed a note tied at the top of the shaft, near the fletching. She looked around her and didn't see anyone.

She untied the note and her eyebrows furrowed as she read. Not sure what to make of it, she folded it back up and put it into the front pouch of her backpack and started towards home again.

Late that night Ranma was helping Mousse clean up the Neko Hanten. It had been a busy night but it flew by for the pigtailed boy, now girl. He had been so preoccupied with Akane's reaction that he had almost dropped a couple of dishes during his shift. He had to settle for carrying around only four plates on his arms, when he usually balanced six. He had completely nixed the idea of carrying the additional plate he normally had on the top of his head. He did not want to change into his male form if he had dropped a bowl of noodles on him.

He couldn't help but wonder what Akane's reaction to the note was. He had stayed to watch her read it, but he was too far away from her to be able make out her response.

He sighed. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Mousse watched on from the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. Ranma had already walked Sayuri home before returning to help with the cleanup. He had been cleaning the same table for five minutes and the Amazon male shook his head as he watched the petite redhead sigh.

Mousse knew that Akane had finally found out about Ryoga's secret but he wasn't surprised as it was only a matter of time before it happened. He had felt guilty for his part in keeping the secret after he had found out about her reaction.

He had been instructed by Cologne to keep the information about "P-Chan" from the Tendo girl. He had not understood why the matriarch wanted the secret hidden but he had his suspicions. He thought the elder was saving the information, and Ranma's part in it, to permanently drive a wedge between the two, but he couldn't be positive. Regardless of what he thought, he did as he was told. When an Elder gave an explicit order, all members obeyed or risked punishment.

It had never bothered him before; Akane was just someone he knew and interacted with on occasion. He would have done it just to keep Shampoo happy, regardless of Cologne's orders. Ryoga's secret was so innocuous that he didn't even think about it even after the two women left Nerima. He hadn't given it a thought until he heard about Akane finding out. She had helped him so selflessly, that he now felt guilty.

Worse, he didn't know if he would have told her if he did remember. He knew he wanted to, since she was his friend but he was still under orders to keep the secret and he did not know if he would have gone against a direct order.

It was then that he realized how much the last few weeks - probably years, now that he thought about it - had changed him. He would never have dared even thinking about disobeying an order before. Part of the change was caused by having a friend that was worth risking punishment for. He had never had one before. A friend. Especially a female one.

Being around other men his age, also played a part in his chance. Men free of the restrictions of living in such an oppressive society. Men who were not only encouraged but expected to excel at martial arts.

He wondered then if he could go back to Joketsuzoku. If after being exposed to such a world that he would be able to fit back into such an oppressive society. He shook his head to clear those thoughts.

Right now he needed to deal with Ranma. He already considered the pig-tailed boy an ally of sorts. It was only Shampoo that ever created friction between them, and now with her no longer a bone of contention, he felt much friendlier towards the pig-tailed boy.

Plus he owed it to Akane to help. It was obvious that she loved Ranma. Why, he didn't know. He was really confused as to why any of the girls wanted such a brash, egotistical, loud mouth male. But he knew more than anyone that you loved who you loved.

Mousse stepped forward and pulled out a chair at the table Ranma was cleaning and sat down, making himself comfortable. He pulled a teapot and two cups from his sleeves and placed it before him before filling both cups. Ranma was still wiping the same spot and hadn't even acknowledged his presence.

"Ranma, if you keep cleaning that spot, you're going to make a hole in the table."

"Huh?" Ranma said as he glanced up, blinking his eyes at Mousse. When did Mousse come out?

"Why don't you sit down and have some tea?"

Ranma plopped himself down on his chair and took the tea. Mousse looked on and although he wanted to help, he didn't know how to brooch the subject.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked cautiously.

Ranma just shrugged his deceptively delicate looking shoulders and blew the red bangs away from his face.

He looks pathetic, Mouse thought, feeling a little bad that he was enjoying Ranma's pain. It was rare to see the often overconfident martial artist look so defeated.

They sat in silence for a while, both sipping tea.

"You've done some pretty stupid stuff to get Shampoo. Were you ever embarrassed by it?" Ranma asked bluntly.

"Of course I was. Do you think I enjoyed looking like a fool?" he asked indignantly. "But none of that would have mattered if any of my attempts had worked. Pride does not keep you warm at night," he added wisely.

Ranma thought it over and felt better about his recent behavior. Mousse was right - and wasn't that a shock? - what was a little embarrassment if he got what he wanted in the end? And there was no doubt that he wanted Akane.

Mousse was not someone he would normally talk to about things, but it was a little sobering to know that there was no one else to discuss things with. He wasn't one to trust easily or to share his feelings. At all. In fact, there was only one person he could talk to, that he trusted implicitly, but she wasn't exactly speaking to him at the moment. He then went on to tell Mousse about his current attempts at winning back his fiancée

The male Amazon stared at the pigtailed boy in pity. "So, you're telling me that you wrote Akane a poem."

"Yup."

"Akane Tendo."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "You know another 'Kane?"

Mousse shook his head not believing what Ranma had done. Even he knew that after her dealings with Kuno, the blue-haired girl was probably turned off of poetry for life. But he kept that opinion to himself and remained silent for a moment as he figured out how to help.

"Do something, describe Akane for me."

"Describe her? She's about shoulder height to me, has short hair..."

"No. That's not what I meant." Mousse sighed, he should have known Ranma would have taken him literally. "Tell me who she is." When Ranma looked at him blankly he added, "I'll start. She's female, a daughter, a sister..." The male Amazon trailed off and gestured for Ranma to go on with his hand.

"Umm. She's a student...a friend...and my fiancée," Ranma added. He knew he was being lead to something, but for the life of him, he had no clue what it was.

Mousse leaned back and sighed heavily as he shook his head.

"Is that it? Is there anything you're missing?"

Ranma scratched his head and replied, "I don't think so."

"See? That's the problem right there. But of course you don't see it because you don't even know what you're missing." Mousse thought if over for a second before adding, "Okay, now describe yourself."

"Me? Well, that's easy. I'm a guy," he looked down at the pair of rather perky breasts he currently had and rolled his eyes. "I'm a guy," he added firmly, "I'm a martial artist, a..."

Mousse held up his hand in a stopping motion, silencing his companion. He stared at the other boy hoping rather furtively that the obvious would sink in. When Ranma just continued to stare at him, the male Amazon rolled his eyes. It looked like he would have to spell it out for his obtuse friend.

"You're a martial artist. That is what you see yourself as first, how you identify yourself." He waited while Ranma nodded his agreement. "But you never once thought to describe Akane that way. If I asked her the same question, I am sure that being a martial artist is one of the first things she would use to describe herself. Don't you find it odd that you don't even think of her as one?"

Ranma laughed. "Look, I know she can fight. She's really not bad but she is nowhere in the same league as me."

"No one is in the same league you think you are in, not even you. But that's beside the point. Regardless of how good she is, that is what she sees herself as. You're as good as you are now because your father trained you your entire childhood. Then when you got here Cologne trained you. Even Happosai had a hand in making you a better martial artist. You are better now, with both their help, than you were when you arrived in Nerima, right?"

Ranma nodded his head, "Yeah, sure."

"Now imagine you didn't have Cologne or even your father to train you. How good do you think you would be? Do you think you would be as powerful?"

The pigtail boy shrugged, "No. Not as good but I wouldn't give up. I would always be trying to learn somehow."

Mousse pointed a finger at him. "Exactly. You would try but it would be very hard. You have no idea how hard it would be to learn new things. To self-train." The Amazon thought back to his own training and the frustration of learning new techniques without instruction. "I don't think you have any idea what it would be like to have no one guide you in your training. No one to correct your mistakes or teach you new things.

"Do you know how surprisingly good Akane is for someone who has basically trained herself? From what I can surmise, Mr. Tendo had stopped training her after Mrs. Tendo passed away. Since then Akane had been training all on her own and she got to the level she has. She may not be as good as you, but she has so much untapped potential."

Ranma had never thought of it that way. He had always assumed that she had more training from her father but now that he thought of it, he had rarely ever seen Mr. Tendo in the dojo and had never recalled him actually practicing with Akane.

"Do you know how Shampoo got to the level she is now? She was trained from the moment she could walk. She was taught games that improved her coordination, her instincts, and her stamina. She loved it. She excelled and when she was 10 she began to stand out amongst her peers. She was then given special attention and worked with trainers daily. If Akane were born in our village and given the training Shampoo had, given the attention Shampoo was given, I have no doubt that she would also have been one of the best warriors of our generation."

He would not go as far to say she would have been as good as Shampoo. In his eyes, no one ever could be.

"Do you even have any idea how much she has improved since she started training with Taro, Konatsu, and me?"

Ranma thought back to when she had on the magical battle dogi, and how she had beat him at every turn. He knew that when she wore Do-chan, the suit enhanced her skill level until it was at her highest potential. She had been absolutely unstoppable.

"But what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Respect her. Acknowledge her. Work with her to help her get better just like the rest of us have."

Thinking back to his own painful training he said, "I can't...I'd have to hit her if I trained with her."

"Yes, I know."

"But...I can't hurt her."

"We both know there is more than one way to hurt someone. Bruises fade, cuts heal, bones mend. You are hurting her more by ignoring this part of her and that cuts deeper than any physical pain."

Mousse got up then and cleared the table. He didn't know if what Ranma was doing would hurt or help his chances with Akane but he knew that this was a fundamental problem in their relationship. He hoped that by pointing it out, he would help his friend, both of them, find the happiness that seemed to always elude him.

That night Ranma lay awake in his bed, the sounds of his mother's gentle breathing and his father's loud snores his only companions while Mousse's words echoed through his head.

He had never given any real thought to Akane's training or her skill level. When he arrived in Nerima, he found her enthusiasm for martial arts contagious. With the friendliness that she showed him, and the complete disdain she had for the engagement, he had for a brief moment thought he found a friend, someone who shared his passion for martial arts. When they had first sparred he had found her easy to defeat but he admired her effort and determination.

The next day when she fought off the group of boys, he had been impressed with the way she handled herself. Even though most of them were just big brutes without any skill or training, and the ones with training were laughably bad, she was able to deal with the crowd quickly. Not an easy feat when you were fighting such large numbers, who were very determined to win.

He had been impressed by her. When had that changed?

The answer was simple. He fought against the engagement and her, so he had stopped acknowledging anything positive about her, even to himself. When his feelings began to change, he fought that too. By the time he realized how he really felt, he had so dismissed her skills that he never gave it a second thought.

He knew that she was strong, she used that strength against him plenty, and that she could protect herself, to a point. He was so glad that she could because they ended up in plenty of dangerous situations.

But the thought of training her, of just helping her get better? It never occurred to him. Her training seemed wholly separate from his.

How would he have felt having been basically ignored by everyone? Having had no help to get better? Or worse, how would it have felt like to have the one person who mattered the most to him, whose opinion he held in such high esteem, basically ignore the one thing he was so proud of?

Ranma rolled over to his side as he punched his pillow and sighed deeply.

It was going to be a long night.

The next day Ranma woke up feeling unsettled but determined. He had finally fallen asleep late into the night but only slept in spurts. He knew that he had to make up with Akane before he could do anything to make up for his neglect of her martial arts.

He had one more thing he wanted to try before the big event he had planned two days later. Unlike the other attempts, this will have to wait until later this evening. He hoped that she would like it because he would be exposing himself to ridicule by their families.

Thursday Evening

2100 hours

Location: Tendo Backyard

Ranma grabbed the boombox he borrowed from Hiroshi and brought it to the engawa. He was mercifully alone, their fathers had chosen that night to visit their favorite bar. The ice had thawed a little for the patriarchs around the house but the women were still plenty cool towards the two men and they wanted a small reprieve from the hostility.

He popped open the cassette player and slid in the single he had purchased earlier that day. He pressed play but there was no sound. He rolled his eyes as he realized he forgot to turn the thing on. He pressed the ON button but still nothing happened. He swore under his breath when he realized that the thing was out of batteries. He plugged in the power cord and was happy to hear the beginning notes of "In Your Eyes" come out of the speakers. He pressed the OFF button and grabbed the handle and walked outside, only to stop when he felt the boombox tug him back.

Damn! The cord isn't long enough, he thought.

He put the stereo down on the engawa and went in search of an extension cord. The one he found wasn't very long but he thought it would do the trick. Plugging it in, he walked to the edge of the pond. He turned the dial to MAX and pressed play, picked it up and turned towards the bedroom windows and lifted the boombox over his head.

He waited.

And waited for what felt like forever.

Then he saw a movement in one of the windows and watched as a dark-haired woman with short hair threw open her bedroom window. She stuck her head out and glared at him.

"Turn that damn thing off!" she yelled at him before she threw a large book at him, hitting him in the forehead.

He kept the boombox balanced in his hands as he tipped backwards onto one foot. He tried to tip himself forward but it was useless. He plopped into the pond still holding the boombox. The water electrified, causing the now petite redhead to jerk in the pond before shooting him out of it. Still holding the stereo, the sudden movement yanked the device from the socket.

Ranma landed on the grass next to the pond face down, his red hair singed and sticking up at an odd angle as his body jerked on the ground.

"That's not gonna work, Romeo!" Nabiki taunted from her bedroom window.

Ranma flopped onto his back and looked up to see that Akane hadn't so much as come to her bedroom window. He sighed and decided that he would just lie there for the moment. He was interrupted when a shadowy figure landed next to him. He looked up to see Taro shaking his head at him.

"That was pathetic," Taro said with absolutely no sympathy.

Ranma pulled himself up to a sitting position and tried to ignore the jeering man next to him, hoping it would cause him to leave. However, Taro didn't get the hint and plopped himself down next to the wet redhead.

"Do you think something that lame is going to get her back?" he asked doubtfully.

"What the hell do you care?" Ranma spat back at him.

"I don't." When he only received a glare in response, Taro added, "Not about you, anyways."

They sat in silence for a while before Ranma asked, "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I was waiting until everyone else fell asleep and then I was gonna sneak into Nabiki's room," he answered unrepentantly, a wolfish grin on his face.

"I'm sorry I asked."

"I never thought of you as a prude."

"I'm not."

"Whatever." Thinking about the problem at hand he asked, "So what are you gonna do to get out of the dog house?"

"I got something planned."

"Let me guess, it's gonna be obnoxious and probably embarrassing, right?"

Ranma just glared in return. It wasn't going to be obnoxious. She was going to really like it.

She was.

Oh, please let her like it.

"I've got a great idea, why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

"I dunno what you mean."

"Have you ever told her you were sorry?"

"Oh course I said I was sorry, how stupid do you think I am?" Ranma waited a beat before adding, "That was a rhetorical question, don't answer that."

"Have you told her that you love her?"

"What…wha…I…never said…"

"Stop. You don't have to admit it to me but don't lie. It's obvious to everyone how you feel about her."

When Ranma remained quiet, Taro took that as acknowledgement.

"I'm taking that as a no."

"Well, I tried but she stopped me!"

Taro's eyes narrowed suspiciously before he asked, "When did you try to tell her?"

"After she found out about Ryoga, I was trying to let her know how much she meant to me and she didn't want to hear it."

"And that's it? You haven't tried since?"

"Of course. I gave her flowers the other day and I...I've been doing other stuff to win her back," he said not wanting to embarrass himself even further.

"So basically you tried to tell her that you love her when she was pissed off at you and then just made half-assed attempts to get her to forgive you."

Ranma only glared at him in response. When Taro said it like that, it made him sound stupid.

"Why hadn't you told her how you feel before now?"

"Well, you know, we were always fighting and..."

"No. I mean recently. I've seen the way you guys are around each other when you don't think other people are looking." He didn't mention he had glimpsed them in her room or on the roof as he was sneaking in and out of the house.

Ranma squirmed uncomfortably. "I dunno, it's just not manly to talk about your feelings like that." Taro purposefully drew his eyes over Ranma's body before staring at him blandly. "Shut up, I'm a guy! And guys just don't go talking about their feelings and shit, okay?"

"Who the hell told you that?" When Ranma remained quiet, Taro continued, "Man, you shouldn't go around talking about your emotions and shit to me, or your friends, but you sure as hell should tell your woman how you feel."

The pig-tail boy scoffed. "Right. Like you've told Nabiki you love her."

Love her? No, Taro thought.

An image of the middle Tendo sister popped into his head, complete with the trademark smirk on her face that he adored, and he had to fight the smile that wanted to spread across his face.

Nabiki was unlike any of the girls he had ever met before. While her younger sister lived in a black and white world of good and bad, her world was mostly grey. She was so flexible and fluid with what she considered right and wrong, a trait he shared.

She was beautiful, smart, and funny. She was also unapologetically materialistic, mean, and brutally honest. She knew his faults and liked him anyways. He had told her how he felt about her, that she meant more to him than just sex. That he enjoyed the time they spent together out of bed, too. That he didn't want either of them to be with anyone else.

He didn't believe in mushy crap like true love, or soul mates, but he knew he had never been happier. He didn't think he could ever find someone who made him so happy, or someone that was so right for him if he tried.

No, he wasn't in love. Yet.

"Nabiki knows exactly how I feel about her."

"Yeah, and what is that?"

"None of your damned business. I dunno what it's gonna take to get Akane to forgive you, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be more than your lame attempts to impress her."

Taro moved to a standing position and Ranma followed suit.

"Nabiki and Akane? They can do much better than us. Get her back before she realizes it," Taro said in an uncharacteristic moment of seriousness. He turned as if to walk away before he turned back. "Oh, and Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

Taro suddenly shot out his right arm jabbing Ranma square in the face, causing the redhead to fall back into the pond again.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked indignantly once he surfaced from the water.

"I still owed you one for that damn sucker punch you gave me a while back. Now we're even," Taro explained before walking away.

Ranma got slowly out of the pond as he thought over the unsolicited advice he got from both Mousse and Taro. They were the unlikeliest of confidants but they sure gave him a lot to think about.

A/N: Pata Hikari sent me a PM about some continuity issues that I wanted to address with everyone. I mention a couple of times that Ranma has been in Nerima for two years, that is approximate. In my mind it's from 18-22 months, so it's easier for Ranma and Akane to just think two years.

Thank you alwaysZutarian for all your help!

Original Publication Date: February 17, 2015

Revised: July 9, 2015