THE VISITOR

CHAPTER 1

This is a re-upload of an old story that hasn't been edited much since it was written. It was never finished. I was lucky to come across a few chapters but the others I can't find. If there are misspellings in any edits it's because it's been a while since I've read Ranma. Thanks for reading.

Saotome Ranma threw a lighting-fast punch towards a flash of short dark hair that swished away from his advances. He cleverly spun away from the foot of his wife, Tendo Akane, that jutted towards his middle. Then, he quickly found an opening in Akane's midsection and uprooted her footing by taking hold underneath her thigh and flipping her over.

A loud "doom!" rolled through the dojo, along with Akane's frustrated growl.

Ranma kept Akane pinned to the floorboards of the Anything-Goes-Martial-Art's School dojo and kneeled close to her ear.

"Nanishiteruno?" Ranma laughed breathlessly, wondering how on Earth Akane left such an obvious opening for him to manhandle. It was a careless mistake that she hardly ever made.

Akane fumed from underneath his grasp, too winded to even lift herself up. She pressed a sweaty cheek to the floor while he laughed. This is fun to him, she thought.

Ranma looked down at her crumpled figure and saw the way her short black hair spilled messily over her eyes. He released Akane and stood. She was still breathing hard at his feet. Ranma tugged on his black belt and walked to the far end of the dojo, where a bowl of water and a towel were waiting for him.

"The hell was that, Akane?" Ranma lost himself to a round of chuckles, not feeling bad at all. Akane secretly loved the teasing, and he knew it. "I'd thought'cha would give me more of a fight." He gave her a quick glance, and then wiped his forehead in relief once he saw her get to her feet.

"I'm pregnant, baka." Akane stated loudly.

Ranma's towel ran over his closed eyes. He felt the cold water trickle down his face, and for a few long seconds, he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. "I know."

Akane was walking across the long floor to wipe off her own face. When she approached the bowl, she looked at Ranma's slow, deliberate movements in curiosity. "You know?" Akane stated quietly, in the tone of their usual quiet conversation after whooping each others' ass before class.

"Well you made it really obvious." Ranma scoffed after a dramatic silence. "Blowing chunks everywhere...you're getting fat, you sleep all the time, and, well, today just proves it!" Ranma shrugged and threw his damp towel in the bowl of water.

Akane wristed her towel until all the water had squeezed out of it. Some remaining droplets oozed through her fingers. "Ranma..."

By the time Akane looked up, Ranma had already disappeared out of the large doors of the dojo and onto the sunlit grass of the lawn.

"Ranma!" Akane cried. She slammed her wet towel to the floor and quickly followed the figure that had slipped away from her sight. She saw Ranma's swishing black ponytail duck under a line of drying clothes as he neared the main house.

Akane followed her husband into the kitchen, where he was filling two large bowls with the hearty seaweed stew Akane had prepared early that morning to strengthen him before his dojo classes began. A small part of Akane relaxed. If Ranma was really mad, he would have not even touched her food. Ranma settled himself at the dining table, folded his legs comfortably, and then he dug into the breakfast. Akane's bowl and hashi sticks were already before her, but it was at a new spot-right alongside Ranma.

Akane slowly folded her legs beside her husband at the low table and waited, watching the steam from her stew stretch and fade towards the ceiling. He ignored her. Akane grabbed her hashi and slurped quietly on the brothy ramen. They would talk about the whole thing later, then.

To Ranma, Akane's breakfast this morning tasted...delicious. Better than Ranma ever remembered. Yes, something was definitely wrong with her. Now, he was absolutely sure of it. Ranma lowered his bowl to the table and burped loudly.

Akane glared at him sideways and gracefully lifted the stew to her lips.

"Akane."

Akane's heart leaped into a pounding sensation, and her hands suddenly felt jittery. There was only a few times Ranma had said her name like that: when they had made their vows and sometime during their first kiss.

"I've been meaning to say this to you for a while, but...we need to talk."