Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma & Co. - I always return them only a little bit dusty...
The Mountain
Akane flopped onto her back in the middle of the field, staring up at the darkly swollen clouds filling the sky. It's gonna rain soon, she thought idly. It was funny how aware of the rain she'd become since Ranma had taken her world by storm. Her muscles were expressing their extreme displeasure with her treatment of them with a steady deep throbbing. She didn't know how long she lay there before the slight rustling of leaves to her right had her turning her head.
"This is where you disappeared to. I was getting worried," Ranma scolded gently, moving to stand over her, fists braced on his hips.
"You sound like my dad," Akane muttered, closing her eyes.
Ranma snorted and dropped to sit in the lotus position. "They left you know." Akane frowned and peeked at him with one barely slitted eye. "Pops and your dad, they headed back to Nerima 'cause of the storm coming in. They decided that we should stay."
Akane could tell from the obvious disgust in Ranma's voice that he had fought hard with the two men. "What did they do this time?" she asked tiredly, rolling over on her side and propping her head up on her arm.
"Feh, they just booked it out of here, taking all but one tent and claimed they won't let us back in the dojo for a week. Not that we couldn't beat them in a heartbeat, but just ain't worth the trouble." He sighed heavily and stared out at the trees, rubbing his forehead hard.
"At least we get some time alone though, so that's a plus, right?" Akane asked, trying to understand why this situation was causing Ranma so much stress.
"Pfft, I give it a day, maybe two, before everyone else finds their way out here," Ranma scoffed. He reached out a tense hand to rub a streak of dirt off her cheek.
"Yeah, but even a day is more than we've had for a long while," Akane pointed out, reaching up to cover the large hand on her cheek with hers.
"Whatever, it's gonna be raining soon, so what's the point? We'll be lucky if we can even light a fire tomorrow."
She frowned and sat up, still holding Ranma's hand. "What's really bugging you Ranma? You've been acting funny since we got here."
"Nothing," Ranma growled, pulling away and jumping to his feet. "I'm fine Tomboy, leave it alone." He stalked away, back into the forest toward their camp, leaving Akane staring after him.
Ranma had been on edge ever since they'd come out here on this training trip with their fathers. It had been the usual parade of frustrations and annoyances that came from spending any time with the Tendo and Saotome patriarchs. There had been multiple schemes to try and get the two of them into the same tent, abandoning them in the middle of nowhere together, and other ridiculously stupid plans that had all come to nothing, since she and Ranma were easily able to see through their obvious antics.
She got to her feet slowly, muscles protesting her earlier treatment of them, and followed the path through the woods back to camp. She found Ranma sullenly finishing dinner preparations at their small campfire and watched as he spooned out two large helpings of rice. He balanced the bowls and the pot of curry they had prepared earlier, and moved everything into the tent. She frowned as he climbed in after the food, wondering what was going on.
Suddenly Ranma's head poked out of the tent flat and he raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you gonna just stand there or are you gonna get in here?"
"Coming," Akane answered, shaking herself and crawling carefully inside.
She found Ranma fidgeting uncomfortably off to the side, nervously awaiting her reaction to their new sleeping arrangement. Akane surveyed the two bedrolls and their packs placed neatly at the other end of the tent and shrugged, smiling at her fiancé.
"Not bad," she said, settling cross-legged on her bedroll. "We've slept worse. At least they left us the tent."
Ranma snorted, smiling tightly back at her and handing over her share of dinner. They ate in silence while Akane studied him carefully, trying to understand what was going on with her pigtailed martial artist. Ranma placed his bowl on the floor, rubbing his stomach and fanning his mouth slightly.
"I think this curry was even spicier than the last one 'Kane. I like it though, spicy is good," Ranma hurried to reassure her.
Akane scoffed as she moved her bowl to the side and slid across the tent to cup Ranma's face between her palms, ducking to meet his eyes when he tried to avoid her. She was worried by the darkness that shadowed his eyes, and refused to let him wallow in it, particularly since they had this rare opportunity to spend a night alone without any interference.
"What's going on Ranma? You've been hiding something from me again. I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that anymore." She rubbed her thumb across Ranma's cheekbone as he tensed up.
"I-I just...why would you want to be stuck up here on a mountain with a freak of nature like me?" Ranma suddenly exploded, knocking her hands away and grasping his hair tightly in his fists.
"Whoa, what? Maybe we should take a walk or go spar or something, you seem like you need to blow off some steam." Akane's eyes were wide and worried as she reached out to pry Ranma's white knuckled fists from his hair.
"Oh, so you want to spend the rest of the night with a girl? Jeez Akane, you're the one always accusing me of being a pervert, but I think maybe you're the real pervert around here," he growled, shoulders hunching defensively against the expected reprisal from his harsh words.
The blue-haired young woman froze, her mouth hanging open in shock. "Wh...what? Is that what this is all about Ranma? You're worried about your curse? Where did this come from?"
"Oh, stop trying to play this down. You know you hate my curse and there ain't a lota hot water up here, especially during a rain storm," Ranma snapped, glowering at the floor between them. He folded his arms and slumped forward.
"Oh for...is this because of the Ryoga thing?" Akane demanded, snapping her fingers under his nose angrily. "I told you I don't blame you for that and I forgave you."
"But you hate Ryoga now because of his curse," Ranma yelled, grabbing her hand tightly and yanking her toward him.
Akane braced herself against his chest to keep from faceplanting into his shoulder and snarled back, "I'm angry at Ryoga because he used me. He dishonoured me and you, and on top of that, he lied about the whole thing. You're crazier than I thought you were if you believe that I would hate anyone for a curse they have no control over. That hurts Ranma; it really hurts that you have so little faith in me." She pulled against Ranma's grip, but he refused to let her go, pulling her closer instead and staring intently down into her face.
"You're the one who called me a sex-changing freak," the pigtailed martial artist mumbled, still searching her face.
"Give me a break dummy, that was a long time ago and I was angry that you had hidden the curse from me. Not to mention the fact that Nabiki tricked me into walking in on you once she knew you really were really a guy. It had nothing to do with hating you; it's just that I was weirded out by the whole thing." She huffed in annoyance and frowned up at him. "I love you Ranma, you know that. I don't know why you're doubting me like this, but it really hurts."
As Ranma opened his mouth to respond, thunder crashed and rain began to batter the tent, drowning out his words. He scowled up at the dome of the tent before turning back to his fiancée and tightening his arms around her as she began struggling. "So...you don't care about the curse?"
"You want to stick your head outside and change so I can prove it to you?" She shushed him impatiently as he began to sputter. "Don't go getting the wrong idea pervert. I'm not even remotely into girls, but you aren't a girl – you're Ranma. You keep forgetting that this is the only way I've ever known you. I didn't meet you until after you fell into the spring." Ranma blushed and avoided her eyes. "I'm not saying that I'm likely to jump you while you're a girl, but let's face facts Ranma, you can't always avoid cold water and I don't want that to stop you from being affectionate with me. I mean, it happens so rarely as it is."
"Hey now," Ranma protested, "I'm affectionate. It just ain't manly to be obvious about stuff like that."
Akane rolled her eyes as she punched his shoulder. "That is your dad talking...or maybe your mom. Sometimes I can't tell the difference with some of the stupid things you say." Ranma looked mildly offended, pulling away and crossing his arms sulkily over his chest. Akane grabbed his chin and looked him straight in the eyes. "Maybe your outside changes, but inside you're always the same smartass, jerky, foot-in-mouth, arrogant, sweet, incredibly thoughtful, chaotic guy I fell in love with and that never changes. Eep!" she squeaked suddenly as she found herself crushed to Ranma's broad chest, his strong arms tightening to the point of driving the breath from her lungs.
"'Kane, I-I...I love you so much," Ranma ground out, his voice rough. "I don't tell you enough and I'm sorry it's so hard for me to say it."
Akane giggled as she blinked away tears and burrowed deeper into her fiancé's warm arms, tenderly running her finger tips across the firm muscles over his heart. He stroked his fingers idly through her hair as the rain drummed down on the tent and the occasional rumble of thunder broke the monotonous sound.
"Hey, how come you got all the ability to talk to in this relationship?" Ranma asked suddenly. "It seems kinda unfair."
"Yeah well, someone has to make up for your spectacular ability to shove your foot in your mouth," Akane mumbled, feeling him shiver as her lips moved against the thin silk of his shirt.
"Hey now, show some respect. I'm the Great Ranma Saotome and I got mad skills in something that's way better then boring old words."
"And what's that Baka?"
"Action," Ranma growled, tipping her face up to his and covering her lips with his. He eased her back onto the bedroll with gentle hands.
Akane laughed into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling his body tight to hers as he supported most of his weight on his forearms. Things got hot and heavy for a while as hands wandered and thunder crashed. Their panting breaths filled the small space in the tent as Ranma's lips trailed down Akane's throat and her gi top was pushed aside. Ranma's shirt began to slide off his shoulders as Akane's swift fingers loosened the clasps to access firm skin stretched taut over tensed muscles. They teased each other until they knew that they were nearing the edge of no return. Akane finally broke away, reluctantly freeing herself from Ranma's grasp with many lingering kisses and caresses.
"I really cannot wait until we're done school," Ranma muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.
Akane looked at him assessingly, judging just how in control he was. After a long moment she yanked the bedroll out from under him and began zipping their separate rolls into a single large one.
Ranma quirked an eyebrow at her before snorting, "You got a lot of faith in my current level of control Tomboy."
"It's called self-restraint Baka, look it up." Akane growled when Ranma cheekily stroked a hand along the curve of her butt as she leaned over to straighten the bedroll. "Turn around, will you? I need to change." Akane waited until Ranma turned around and covered his eyes with his hands, a long suffering, if lascivious look on his face. She began to squirm quickly out of her clothes and into her pyjamas. "You know that you still have a lot of extra fiancée issues to clear up before we can actually set a date." She turned to face him and found that he'd been watching her over his shoulder the whole time.
He grunted when Akane smacked him, but waggled his eyebrows at her unrepentantly. She crawled into the bedroll and stared pointedly at him. He smirked and began to strip off his pants and shirt until he was left only in his boxers. His smirk grew wider as a blush dusted across Akane's nose and cheeks and heat grew in her eyes again until she looked down at her anxiously twisting fingers. He slid in beside her, resting his head on his pillow and opening his arms to invite her closer. The young woman hesitated, testing her resolve before curling up against the pigtailed martial artist and snugging her head into the hollow of his shoulder. As his arms closed comfortably around her, Akane sighed happily and cuddled even closer.
"You're really not going to help me deal with the other girls?" Ranma huffed abruptly.
"What do you want me to do? You still won't let me near Shampoo on my own and Ukyo and Kodachi have been keeping their distance lately. Obviously we'll figure out what to do the day of the wedding together when we finally set the date, because I can pretty much guarantee that your girls will be coming out of the woodwork that day."
"Oi, you can't put all that stuff on me Tomboy. You've got your fair share of guys chasing you around, despite my best efforts," Ranma snorted blackly.
"Hmm, well, agree to disagree," Akane replied flippantly, tapping a finger on his chest.
"What? That's ridiculous. You can't deny how many guys I've fought off to keep you at my side," Ranma barked angrily, his arms unconsciously tightening around her as the stream of princes and martial artists and idiots trying to steal her away paraded past his mind's eye.
"Kuno doesn't count. Either one of us could take him with one hand tied behind our backs."
"Okay, I'm not having this argument with you since you are clearly being dense and stubborn on purpose." Ranma's expression settled into a pout. Akane glanced up at him through her lashes and chuckled ruefully.
"Sorry Baka, I know that those guys have caused you a lot of problems, but you've got to know that they never meant anything to me, not when I have you."
Ranma stared down at her for a long moment. "How come this conversation keeps getting so mushy?" Ranma demanded, hugging her close despite the edge in his words.
"Maybe because you're so immature and insecure?" Akane snarked, rapping her knuckles against his abs hard enough that he coughed.
"Gah! You are so uncute," Ranma cried, his eyes sparkling as his fingers started to dance across her ticklish spots.
The tickle attack continued for several minutes, with Akane laughing and begging him to stop as she flailed around, trying to get through his defences to retaliate.
"I gotta stop letting you drag me into these serious conversations. People are gonna get the wrong idea about me," Ranma muttered as they settled in to sleep.
"What? That you're actually not as dumb as you look?" Akane teased.
"Feh. That's given me an edge more times than I can count, so I'd like to keep that edge for as long as possible."
Akane snorted and snuggled closer to Ranma's warmth, succumbing to the coziness of the tent and the rare comfort of having Ranma so close as she fell asleep.
AN: I am soooooo sorry! *bows repeatedly* Real Life has been getting in the way of my writing - the nerve, right? I am going to try my hardest to get the next chapter out soon...I'm doing all my own pre-reading, so it takes me a bit longer.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, your words are inspiring! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it - virtual chocolate chip cookies to all of you!
Tomboy