Hello everyone.
Not much to say, except read and enjoy~
"Akane you hiding something aren't you?"
"Huh?" Ukyo had a stern expression "Don't you try to deny it. Both you and Ran-chan have been acting weird.
She had only stopped at Ukyo's restaurant to have a bite and now she was faced with questions. The summer season was almost over and as usual life went on, Ranma had been acting like he always had. Akane on the other hand was having a tougher time. She had enjoyed the few days that she had spent with her sisters on their trip, but it had been exasperating for her not to hear anything from Ranma when he was in the mountains. She almost thought that he wouldn't come back at all, she had spent days pacing around the house waiting for him. Now that everything was back to being as normal as it would get, Akane had wanted a break from the craziness but it seemed her emotions weren't through picking on her yet. She had resumed her habit of watching her fiancé whenever he was training and now more then ever, she desperately wanted him. She had felt his body and knew what he tasted like. It was a craving that was eating her alive. Akane had no idea how much longer she could last if she didn't do something soon. She had completely forgotten Ukyo was right in front of her until she jumped from the sound of a clap in her face.
"Jeez! Pay attention when others are talking. What's going on between you and Ran-chan?"
Akane awkwardly cleared her throat "Nothing at all. Ranma's a jerk like he's always been". She resumed eating her okonomiyaki trying to keep a cool composure. Ukyo didn't look the least bit convinced. Being in the same class as Akane and Ranma, she had picked up on the weird vibe between them and she was dying to know what it was.
"You must've said something to Ran-chan. Why else would he be so out of character".
Akane hadn't known that it was also affecting Ranma as well. She had assumed that he was doing a better job of acting then she was. But it looked like even he was having troubles as well. This certainly wasn't good. Nobody could know about it.
"It must be your imagination. I haven't said anything to him".
Uyko narrowed her eyes "Oh really? Then explain to me why Ran-chan has been sighing every five minutes while were in class. Or how he won't participate in anything after hours, or he's sneaking glances at you, or how you've been doing the same thing".
Akane was shocked that Ukyo had picked up on all of that. But then again, she was infatuated by Ranma so it made a lot sense. She swallowed hard feeling nervous suddenly. "I've been observing you guys for a while now and I know that something is definitely up". Her eyes narrowed "Did you forget that I'm Ran-chan's fiancée too? If you expect me to sit around and watch this happen before my eyes then you've got another thing coming".
She was normally on good terms with Ukyo, but today she had gotten under her skin. She had no right to butt into her business just because she was also interested in Ranma. Did this woman have no decency? Akane fought very hard not to lash out, instead she forced herself to remain quiet as she finished her meal.
"I told you. There's nothing going on. I would appreciate if you kept your nose out of my business".
Akane felt a sense of satisfaction when Ukyo gaped a bit. She placed what she owed on the table "I'll be leaving now".
She was still peeved that Ukyo had tried to get an answer out of her. There was no way in hell she'd give in so easily. Akane scowled, what happened with Ranma was strictly between them and no one else. There was always someone who just had to force their way in. She was in a fowl mood now and almost as if on cue she saw her fiancé up ahead running away from Shampoo who was trying to catch him asking repeatedly for a date. Akane felt her jealously swell up like a balloon. She had always hated how other girls were constantly after her fiancé. In the past her pride would've gotten the better of her and she would've walked away complaining but, today was different.
Without even a second thought she raced to catch up to the two and she clenched her fists trying to keep her anger in control. She couldn't stand to see Shampoo being so damn persistent, like some annoying parasite. Ranma was still running to get away and Shampoo was practically on his heels.
"Ranma no run away. Shampoo and Ranma go on date".
"Will you just leave me alone?! Who said anything about a date".
With a well-placed jump Shampoo had managed to throw herself at him and was squeezing the life out of him while giggling uncontrollably. "Shampoo catch Ranma. No can get away now".
"Let of go me! I don't want any part of this". Ranma was trying to get Shampoo off him to no avail and Akane felt like she was going to snap. She promptly marched over and yanked Shampoo off of him throwing her a good distance away.
"Tendo Akane, why you interfere!".
She growled "Keep your hands off him! Your so annoying!".
Ranma was taken back by his fiancée. Normally she'd just leave him to deal with Shampoo by himself, but this time she was defending him. It wasn't normal and he knew at once that Akane was probably going to break their cover if he didn't intervene.
"Oi, Akane". She didn't bat an eye; he could see the fire blazing inside her. She looked like she was ready to tear Shampoo apart.
"You want to fight for Ranma? Shampoo accepts your challenge".
"Just try me". Akane took up her battle stance, "Akane cut it out. Shampoo won't hold back". His words weren't reaching her. She was clenching her fists so hard her knuckles were turning white. Ranma needed to think of something else before this escalated further.
"Stupid. What are you thinking?! Do you really think you'll be able to win". He grasped her shoulders "Akane stop this before something really does happen" he hissed. The feel of his hands on her shoulders snapped her out of it. But she was still seething; all her instincts were telling her to fight but she knew that Ranma was right. If she really had challenged Shampoo the odds would be against her. Even still her pride has been shaken and more then anything Akane hated that. She knew that she was being an idiot. She wanted to knock her fiancé into next week for stopping her, but she was also grateful that he had.
"This is stupid. I'm going home".
She shoved her fiancé away and walked off still angry. Shampoo had gotten lucky this time, even if she had the advantage over her.
Akane gritted her teeth violently as she walked down the street. Her anger was reaching a boiling point, while it was true that her jealously didn't let her seen reason most of the time, she felt absolutely livid right now. She had been so ready to give Shampoo a good thrashing. It wasn't just Shampoo it was all the other females that wanted Ranma. Why didn't they understand that he wasn't a play thing. They had no right whatsoever to even be around him. How dare they impose on her fiancé without any regard to her own feelings. How dare Ranma encourage them to walk all over him. How dare he let them manipulate him to do their biddings. Akane gave an unexpected hard punch to the nearest pole and it snapped completely. She still didn't feel better, her anger was only rising more and more.
"Damn all those bitches!" she hurried home and promptly began to maliciously destroy anything that was unfortunate enough to be in her path. Akane would've destroyed the whole neighborhood had her older sister Kasumi not managed to stop her. There was a trail of utter destruction in their yard and the oldest Tendo daughter sighed in exasperation. It was going to take a while to clean all this up, but Akane needed to calm down.
"Onee-chan why did you stop me?!" Kasumi held her ground "Akane please think about your actions for a moment. What good will it do to annihilate our home?".
Akane only narrowed her eyes "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"I should be asking you that. Why all of a sudden are you so angry?"
She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How strange, she could've sworn that she had the words waiting. Akane backtracked for a minute. Now that Kasumi had mentioned it why was she angry to begin with? She didn't have the answer.
"I…I don't know. I started to feel upset with Uyko and then when Shampoo came and- "she gasped in realization. The source of her anger had been filled by her jealousy. Akane couldn't believe that something so petty could make her act in such a way. She suddenly felt ashamed by her actions; for the longest time Akane had always let her jealously take over but not once did she ever stop to consider why she was jealous in the first place.
Kasumi walked closer "It looks like you got something".
Akane didn't know how to put her feelings into words "I didn't know I was acting like this. I never realized that my anger was being directed from- ""Jealousy?" Kasumi had cut her off "So why were you jealous?"
She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer that question. She knew that Kasumi meant no harm, but that was a blow to her pride and she hated that there was now a huge flaw in her armor. Akane hesitated not liking being put on the spot so Kasumi answered for her.
"You're jealous because you feel threatened that other girls will steal Ranma away from you. Essentially you don't want anyone touching your man".
Akane was speechless "Did you forget that I'm your older sister? I know all about you, I can see it in your eyes plain as day".
Once again Kasumi's perceptiveness was mind blowing. Akane honestly didn't know she was that readable.
"Akane, I understand how you feel. Ranma is your fiancé and you are his. But if Ranma really didn't care about you and was interest in someone else, he would have already made a move long ago".
Kasumi knew that she was on thin ice. Her younger sister could be very childish and defensive, but at the same time she felt as though if she didn't say this now Akane would learn the hard way. "I may not know when you fell in love. But at one point, you gave your heart to Ranma even if you didn't realize it and he gave you his".
She was more embarrassed than ever. Kasumi had hit everything right on the mark and Akane absolutely hated it. She wasn't mad at her sister; she was mad at herself. Why the hell had she not realized all of this sooner? Why did Kasumi have to be the one to tell her all of this? Akane felt tears drip down her cheeks. Her face was hot from her embarrassment and the idea of finding a deep, dark hole to crawl into was sounding very appealing. Kasumi embraced her sister and Akane let out all her rage through her tears.
Kasumi knew that Akane was suffering from her vulnerability. Even the strongest still had moments like this, there was nothing wrong with it. Being a very caring person, Kasumi held onto Akane as she cried.
"Onee-chan I'm sorry".
"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault".
Kasumi had never thought much of the other girls that pursued Ranma. Since for one it wasn't her business and also, she trusted Ranma to make the right call. She had seen firsthand that Ranma was always faithful to Akane no matter the situation and had even gone out of his way many times, to help and support her. Kasumi knew dedication when she saw it and she was positive that Ranma only had eyes for Akane. Because of her tomboyish nature, Akane was different from most women. She didn't have the stereotypical girly girl disposition. She was strong minded and could sometimes come off as being full of herself. Yet even Akane had a feminine grace that could be easily missed. Her younger sister had never allowed herself to be more of who she truly was, even when she was a kid. She had built up the wall around her, if she wasn't strong then it would be the end of her. But that's what made her vulnerability that much more painful.
Akane couldn't stop crying. Her emotions were spinning out of control. She was actually grateful that Kasumi was supporting her otherwise she would've tumbled over.
After a long while Akane's tears stopped. She still felt embarrassed but not nearly as much. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face was soaked from her tears. Kasumi gave her a gentle smile "Feeling better now?" she nodded "Oh, Akane you're growing up so fast".
"Onee-chan thank you".
Kasumi playfully poked her forehead "Don't be silly. It's ok to cry whenever you need to". Akane wiped her eyes.
"But I do believe that there's someone who you owe an apology too".
Akane looked confused "Who?" Kasumi merely stared and Akane slapped her head in realization "Of course. I probably should've done it a long time ago".
"Perhaps you also owe Ranma an explanation as well. After all it wouldn't be proper to not explain yourself".
Akane laughed nervously, her pride had taken another major blow. Naturally she knew that Kasumi was right, but her stubbornness was preventing her from doing so. On the other hand, if she didn't that would only cause more misunderstanding and she already had her share of those. Akane knew that if she didn't settle the whole truth with Ranma then she'd probably never accomplish anything for later. The problem was since she had always let her temper get the better of her, she didn't exactly know where to begin. What the hell was she supposed to tell him? Kasumi could see that despite Akane's resistant she was trying to think of the right explanation to use and she wasn't really getting anywhere from what she could see. As much as Kasumi wanted to help her, Akane was on her own for this one. Only she could say what she needed to say to Ranma.
"Onee-chan I don't know what to do".
"I'm sorry but I can't help you with this. This is something that you and Ranma have to talk about".
Akane huffed slightly in irritation. Words weren't her strong suit but she knew what she needed to do.
"However, before you have that talk, I would kindly suggest cleaning up this mess you made". Akane looked around and blushed in embarrassment again. Her temper had left the yard in shambles. "Right, I'll get on that".
Akane was lost in her little world as she tried fixed what she had destroyed. The talk she needed to have with Ranma was long overdue. She admitted that the majority was her fault, because of her stubbornness she hadn't been able to see that most of the time it wasn't actually Ranma's fault to begin with. True he had done some pretty stupid things but she couldn't hold it against him. All those times when he had asked her to listen, she hadn't and that only made things worse. Had she always been like this? Was there ever a time that she had truly heard him out without thinking he was making up an excuse? Akane wasn't sure. Even from the first day she met Ranma they had gotten off to bad start. If she looked back on their first encounter, she hadn't liked him simply because he was a boy and back then she hated boys. But the more she interacted with him, the more she saw that in spite of Ranma's imperfections he wasn't a bad person at all. She had learned that Ranma actually had a kind heart but his personality didn't let him show it that much.
"Don't you get tired of being angry all the time?" she remembered his words, Akane had never told him the truth. She had always thought that Ranma wouldn't believe her but now she was regretting her previous actions. Did she really have so little faith in her fiancé?
She stopped for a moment. The weight of her past actions and words was crashing down onto her. Reality had hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt a pain in her heart. All this time, she had been treating the person she was in love with so poorly. Akane began to cry again but this time for different reasons. Was she truly such a terrible as a person? Yet all those times Ranma never once left her side or thought any less of her. She had gotten herself into many predicaments and Ranma somehow always got her out of them. She had said some cruel things to him, but he always forgave her. Akane was brought to her knees. The weight of her guilt was crushing her. How could she have been so cruel, she didn't deserve Ranma at all.
The tears once again flowed hard and Akane could only drown in her sorrow. After everything that had happened between them, how was it possible that Ranma could still love her? How was it that she could still have the right to say that she loved him?
Her sobs echoed all around and Akane felt like she had been defeated. How was she supposed to talk to Ranma now? She didn't even have the right to look at him. Her tears wouldn't stop and she didn't have the strength to get up. She jumped in surprise when she felt a hand touch her shoulder, she turned around and saw her fiancé looking at her with worried eyes.
"Akane what's wrong?".
Seeing Ranma looking so worried for her, made her tears flow harder and she didn't know what to do. "Hey come on, talk to me. What's gotten into you?"
She couldn't get the words out and instead only cried some more. Her fiancé lifted her off the ground and took her the storge unit above the dojo where they could have some privacy. He offered her a handkerchief "Here use this. Dry your eyes now". Akane was astounded that he was being so caring towards her; had Ranma always been this gentle with her?
She wouldn't take the handkerchief so Ranma instead wiped away her tears. "I can't stand seeing you like this".
His actions were speaking volumes to her. Akane felt the pain in her heart grow, her pride was telling her to push him away but her vulnerability wasn't allowing her to do that. Even if she wanted too, she couldn't do it. Ranma had seen this weakness now and she couldn't hide it from him.
"What's all this about now?".
Akane bit her lower lip as more tears came down. If she was going to tell him it had to be now, but how could she do that in the state she was in.
"Ranma!" she threw herself at him burying her face into his shirt, his arms wrapped around her in a comforting embrace making her cry even more. "I'm so sorry" she mumbled "What?"
"I'm so sorry for everything, for not ever listening for being so stubborn and stupid for- "he cut her off "Hey now. What's that got to do with anything?"
She looked up at him "I'm such a horrible person. I never once considered how you felt or even asked you for your opinion. I couldn't even listen to you because I'm so shameful".
Ranma still look confused, he had no bloody clue what she was talking about. But for Akane's sake he was willing to hear her out. His worries were still evident as he held her closer.
"Akane tell me what's bother you. What did you want to say to me?"
She hiccupped a few times trying to get her tears under control but they wouldn't stop. She didn't like how Ranma had to see her like this, but what could she do about it. "I don't deserve you; I don't even have the right to love you".
"What are you talking about? I don't understand".
Akane's lips quivered. "It's all my fault. I let my stubbornness and pride override my common sense, I'm always getting jealous over the most insignificant things and never once do I take responsibility for my actions. You've always had to suffer because of me and yet I never even considered how you felt in all of it. I always let myself jump to conclusions without thinking and my temper gets the better of me. I don't know why you could love someone like me. But I love you so much".
She still hadn't stopped crying as she made her confession and much to her shock, Ranma had responded to it with a loving kiss. It made a warmth in her chest spread rapidly. She didn't understand why he had done that.
He smiled at her "You idiot. I couldn't hate you even if I wanted to".
I'll pick up where it left off with the next chapter.
I have finals to handle, so it may be a little while before it's up but I'll be sure to have it up when I can.
Please leave reviews, and take care everyone!