If there was one thing certain in Ranma Saotome's life, it was the fact that he was never prepared for the consequences of his actions, as he would soon find out for the nth time.

Not a single soul in class was paying attention, as Ranma's engagement announcement weighed heavily in the minds of everyone. So when the teacher dismissed the class, all hell broke loose.

Daisuke and Hiroshi were the first to rush over to Ranma's desk in a frenzy, betrayal evident on their faces. "Saotome, how could you!" Daisuke wailed, slamming his fists onto Ranma's desk. Hiroshi nodded fervently beside him. "You said there was nothing going on between you two!"

"Wait a moment–" Ranma began, raising his hands in defense. He was quickly overwhelmed as more and more students gathered around him, shouting over one another and drowning out his thoughts.

"Who proposed to who ?"

"When did you two get engaged ?!"

"Akane and Ranma?"

Overwhelmed by all the attention, Ranma felt doozy. What was he supposed to do? He racked his brain for an answer, his eyes darting around in panic, but he drew a blank. What did he always do in situations like this?

The old man's words then echoed in his ears.

' Listen boy, if you don't know how to deal with something…

Run.'

Ranma abruptly stood, much to the surprise of his classmates. "Listen!" he said, in a loud voice. The class went silent, as they gawked at him in anticipation. Even Akane had stopped in the midst of her own predicament with her friends to witness what he was going to say.

They were all waiting for his next move.

Then, Ranma booked it.

A burst of outcry followed behind him, but he continued to make a dash for it to escape. Running out to the hallway, Ranma spotted Kuno, as late as ever, sauntering over to their classroom yet again. Upon seeing him, Kuno's face contorted with anger. "Ranma Saotome, you–!"

Ranma used the opportunity to jump into the air, using Kuno's face as a springboard. "Whoops, sorry there Kuno!" he yelled back, as Kuno fell backwards onto the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Before Kuno could come after him, Ranma dashed into the bathroom. Spotting the window, he rushed over to it, and pulled it open. A cool breeze blew from below, and he swung one leg out to make his escape. Before he lept out, he paused, feeling a twinge of guilt.

Akane.

Ranma bit his lip. He felt a bit bad having left her behind to deal with everything. He was sure that most of the students were hounding after her now for answers. Would she be okay by herself?

"Well, it's not like she hasn't gone through this before," he reminded himself, shaking off the remorse. He pulled his other leg up onto the window still. Akane would be fine. He, on the other hand…

"There you are!"

Just as he was about to jump out the window, the bathroom door swung open, making Ranma's heart nearly jump out of his chest. Losing his footing, Ranma yelped as he slipped out the window. He grasped for the ledge, but his fingers swept by, just missing it, and he braced himself for impact.

"Ranma!"

A pair of hands then latched onto his arm. He peeled his eyes open, and gasped in surprise at the sight of his savior.

"Akane?!"

"You…jerk!" she managed. With a burst of near inhumane strength, Akane hoisted him back up with a grunt. Ranma scrambled back into the bathroom, relieved that he was saved from a potential trip to Dr. Tofu's. Meanwhile, Akane shakily took in a deep breath, bending over with her hands on her knees, the bow that was usually tied neatly into her hair now limping to the side.

"H-hey, Akane, you okay?" Ranma asked nervously, sensing that all was not right with the youngest Tendo.

At the sound of his voice, Akane whipped her head back up, clearly fuming. "I can't believe you just took off like that! I had to deal with everyone by myself, you jerk!"

Ranma instinctively raised his hands up in defense. "Well, I guess it went well! Knew I could depend on you, Akane!" He laughed sheepishly, in an attempt to lighten up the mood. Akane gave him a murderous glare in response, which quickly shut him up.

"Yeah, all thanks to everyone getting distracted by Kuno throwing another rampage outside because of you. And then I go after you and find you trying to escape! You coward! I should have just let you fall to the ground!" she growled.

"Yeesh, okay, I'm sorry!"

Sighing, Akane shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Ranma, I thought we…" she trailed off as her eyes drifted over to the numerous urinals on the side. It took a second for her to process, and she yelped when she realized, turning a deep shade of red. "Is this the boy's bathroom?!"

"What?" Ranma watched as Akane backed up, peeking out from the palms of her hands. An amused smile grew on his face at her reaction, and he looked at her smugly. "C'mon, Akane, you really followed me not knowing where you were heading into? Didn't know you were such a perv."

"Shut up!" she retorted, standing up straight. "I'll talk to you later!"

Ranma watched as she made her way over to the door, but felt a chill go down his spine when he heard voices approaching the bathroom. Panicked, he grabbed Akane and pulled her into a stall, locking the door behind them.

"What are you–"

"Shh!" Ranma hissed, clamping a hand over her mouth. "People are going to freak out if they find us alone in the guy's bathroom!"

Still glaring, Akane nodded, lifting a hand to remove Ranma's palm from her face. It struck Ranma that it would be odd for two pairs of feet to be seen from under the stall, so without further thought, he quickly lifted Akane in his arms. She let out a noise of protest, shooting him an incredulous look. "What are you doing? Put me down!" she hissed.

"You want them to see two people in a stall?"

She made a face, but remained quiet when some male students came in. At the sound of their chatter, Akane once again flushed red, and clamped her hands over her ears to block out the sound, and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Can you believe Akane's engaged?" one of the guys said. "All my dreams, crushed."

"Yeah, and to that new kid too? He beat Kuno in a flash. How are we supposed to compete with that?"

There was a collective sigh of defeat, and Ranma couldn't help but feel was exactly what he had hoped for–for the other students to give up on Akane.

Ranma went still when he felt Akane shift around in his arms. He glanced down. Akane had pressed her head close to his shoulder, in a subconscious effort to block out the sounds. Her face was still scrunched up, and her lips were pulled into a thin line. Her cheeks still flushed red, Ranma watched as her long eyelashes fluttered against her skin, and he felt his mind go hazy.

The chatter of the other students faded into the background, as thudding grew louder in his ears. He wondered for a second if she could hear how loud his heartbeat felt. She was so close. When was the last time she was this close to him? Was it at Mt. Phoenix?

He remembered how cold and lifeless her body was. Never had he experienced so much fear and dread before. He clung to her back then, hoping and praying that she would come back. He swallowed, shaking off his thoughts. The Akane in his arms was here–full of life and with no idea of what events would transpire from her engagement to him.

'I'll do my best to not let things get so out of hand this time ,' he silently promised her. Then he paused, realizing he had unknowingly drawn his face in to observe her closer. Time seemed to go to a standstill. Just a bit more and they would be…

Akane stirred, as Ranma's braid tickled her face, and her eyes shot open. "Are they gone?" she whispered. Ranma froze in his tracks, heat rushing to his face, as Akane blinked in surprise at him. "Ranma?" she said, in a hushed tone.

Immediately, he reeled backwards, banging his head on the stall. He winced, grabbing the back of his head in pain, effectively letting Akane go without much thought. She yelped from the sudden drop, flailing around from losing her footing and effectively smacking Ranma in the face with her arms. Her hand grasped at anything for balance, and in doing so, she ended up grabbing Ranma's braid.

"OW, Akane–!" he hissed, wincing from being yanked forward.

Akane gasped, immediately letting go and covering her mouth. "My bad!"

"It's fine," he muttered, cusping the sore side of his face. Knowing that he had to get out of being in an enclosed space with her, he quickly opened the stall door. Thankfully, the other students had left, but the thought of what he had almost done just seconds ago lingered in his mind.

Wordlessly, Ranma went over to the sink, turned on the water, and doused his head with cold water.

Akane raised her eyebrows.. "What are you doing?"

Now in his girl form, Ranma wiped the water from his face. "It's getting kinda warm in here, ain't it?" he said. He knew it was a stupid excuse, but the cold water atleast helped him clear his mind.

His words seemed to have a different effect on Akane, who suddenly looked pale. "Warm in here ?" she repeated, her expression souring with disgust as her eyes quickly darted around. "Gross…" Without another word, she swiveled around to leave.

Ranma stood still for a second, blinking, then quickly followed after her. "W-wait up!"

Thankfully for the two of them, no one had spotted them sneak out of the boy's bathroom together. A couple heads turned as they left school, mostly from other guys gawking at Ranma's female form (which admittedly made his ego swell up–it was always nice to know he was attractive in either form), but they were able to leave relatively unscathed from the day since no one knew who he actually was yet.

Though, Ranma still felt on edge with Akane despite dousing himself with cold water. He was walking on top of the fence as usual, trying to look as nonchalant as he could, but felt overly conscious of her at the moment after what happened in the bathroom. The icing on the top was that he knew that Akane had no idea of the emotional turmoil he had experienced, so this was all completely one-sided. Cautiously, he glanced down at her, only to find a pair of curious brown eyes peering up at him.

"Ranma, what were you trying to do in the bathroom earlier?"

The question made Ranma nearly fall off the fence. "Wh-what?"

"You were staring at me," Akane said, her eyes narrowed as if studying his expression . "Like you were thinking of something."

Ranma gulped, feeling the heat rise to his face. He couldn't tell her the truth–he knew that the tomboy would call him a perv and send him flying if she knew what had been going through his head at the moment. Even he didn't know what he was about to do if Akane hadn't interrupted him. "Well, that's because," he began cautiously, "your…face looked funny."

Akane blinked at his response, then scowled. "Well, it was thanks to you that I had to listen to some boys pee in the bathroom in the first place! And you're sure one to talk! You should have seen the look on your face in class before you ran out of the room!"

"Me?" Ranma scoffed, hopping down to the ground. "I wasn't the only one making a scene back there, Akane. Pretty sure you were the first one to yell in class." He caught Akane starting to turn red at his words, which spurred him to press on in excitement. "What were you and your friends talkin' about that got you so flustered in the first place?"

"Th-that's none of your business!"

"Why not?" Ranma asked, a smirk spreading across his face. "Why? Were they talkin' about me?" She simply shot him a look in response, and he beamed, batting his long eyelashes. "So you guys were talkin' about me then, huh? What about me? Do they all think I'm a hunk?"

"Sit down, dreamboat," Akane replied, unamused, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. They thought something was going on between us, but now, thanks to you , the whole school knows that we're engaged! We're stuck in this situation because of your actions in the first place. I thought we agreed to keep the engagement a secret!"

Ranma took a step back. "I-I know!"

"So why did you decide to tell the whole school?!"

"Because, Akane, all those stupid idiots will quit botherin' you now! "

Akane's eyes widened. "What? Them? I've been dealing with this for so long that I've gotten used to it by now. I basically think of it as training at this point."

"Training? Beating up a bunch of dudes every morning is like training for you?" He snorted in amusement. "Man, you really are a tomboy, aren't ya?"

"Oh shut it! Besides, why does it matter to you what I deal with?"

"Because," he began, scratching the back of his head, "it bothers me."

"Bothers you?" she repeated. "Why would it bother you?" He could see the gears turning in her head as she processed his words, and her face soon lightened up. "Oh. I see. You're worried about me!"

"Worried? Why would I–" Ranma stopped himself, then cleared his throat. He averted his gaze to the side, eyeing her bandaged hand. "I-I mean. Y-yeah."

"Ranma..."

He closed his eyes–memories of Akane's lifeless body from Mt. Phoenix popping up once again. "I just… I just don't wanna see you get hurt, Akane," he said, softly.

Akane placed a hand on his shoulder, and he slowly opened his eyes, meeting her gaze again. "Well," she began, gently. "Don't be so silly, Ranma."

Ranma could only stare blankly at her. "What?"

She nodded, beaming. "Dr. Tofu's always said that I have thick bones, so I rarely ever get injured! It'll take a lot more than Kuno to put more than a scratch on me."

Ranma gave her an incredulous look. Here he was, admitting to her for once out loud that he was worried about her, and she responds like that?! He had just put his whole heart on his sleeve for no reason. 'Ugh, Akane, you dummy! See if I ever try to tell you that I care again!'

"Anyways, look," he cut in, before she could say anything else to ruin his mood. "Do you really want to keep fighting all those guys in the morning?"

"Of course not. It'd be great if they would stop!" she huffed.

"Well, great! Now they won't."

Akane looked skeptical. "Do you really think that they're going to stop now?"

He nodded. "'Course. I guarantee it."

She put her hand on her hip, looking unconvinced. "How are you so sure of that?"

"Obviously because I'm the best-looking and strongest guy in school," he said smugly, placing a hand on his chest. "So who's gonna try to go up against me other than that idiot Kuno?"

Akane gave him the most unimpressed stare she could muster, but there was something amusing about the way Ranma's girl form was the one gloating, so the sides of her lips twitched in betrayal. "Whatever you say," she said, walking past him. "I need to stop by Dr. Tofu's to drop off the book now."

"Alright." Ranma hurried along, walking ahead of her. Akane gave him a look.

"You're coming too?"

"What, you wanted to be left alone with him?"

Akane flushed red. "N-no, of course not!" She pushed past him, and opened her book bag. Then she came to a complete stop.

Ranma observed her. "Let me guess. You never brought the book?"

She gave him a sheepish nod.

"Well," he said, grinning and feeling somewhat relieved. "Let's go home then. I could use a bath."

hey y'all! I forgot to update this on the FF side so will be going through and doing that for anyone reading on here. Quite a bit to catch up with the ao3 side so bear with me :,)