~~You fully let us down, Son!~~

~~Sometimes I wonder if you really have our blood, Ranma!~~~~

~~ I need you in my bed, Saotome! I don't care if you want it or not!~~~~

~~ STOP complaining, Just do what she says..!!~~~~

~~ We don't need his opinion! He will do what we tell him to do..~~~

~~ Show me you are manly enough, Ranma..!-~~~

"DAMN YA ALL!!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!! AARRAHHH!!"*

Ranma cried out in excessive outrage as he kept punching on his heavy-standing punching bag with an inhuman speed. His black tank top was drapped with cold sweat; his eyes wild and wide, his fists red and swollen because of the unsympathetic torture he was giving to himself. Like, he was punishing himself for being a Saotome. He was taking all his frustration out on that punching bag, and his hit was getting wilder and harder as he kept thinking about the last few days he had spent with his family..

~~ You are so lame Ranma!~~

~~ Please give my son a chance, he will prove his manliness to you ••~~~

"I DON'T WANT TO PROVE ANYTHING TO ANYONE!! FOR GOD'S SAKE LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

~~Hold me tightly Ranma baby; or I will tell your parents how you are treating me..~~~

Shmapoo's sultry smile roamed through his mind, making him shiver in agony. He growled angrily and yelled out,

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!!"

~~ (Shampoo's laughter)-- Now be a good boy and kiss me or…~~~

"AARRHHHHH!!!!"

His agony-filled scream with the mix of the loud sound of a destroyed punching bag, made his whole room feel like it had just blown up. For a second he paused, his breathing heavy with wild panting as he remembered the moment he spent with his mother this morning.

~~"Mom, can I leave today? I want to go back to Nerima."

Nodoka didn't look up at him from her paperwork as she said with a hard tone,

"Very well then.. I don't see why you would stay here anymore!"

"So… You don't care if I leave early then?" He asked, still trying to get some attention from her.

She sighed and gave him a stern look and said,

"I have more important things to care for now!" She sighed and looked at her paper again, "If you want you can leave. I will call you if I need anything. If not, try to at least pass your exams so that I won't have to ask your uncle to pass you with fake marks."

That made him angry as he argued back to her,

"I have sent you the results of my latest exams. Did ya even check it,mother?"

She didn't answer him as she focused on her work.

"Mother, I am asking you something.."

"Mrs Saotome, the car is ready.."

Nodoka grabbed all the papers and stood up, ignoring Ranma all the way. After a few steps, she paused and turned to look at Ranma and said,

"If Shampoo contacts you and wants to meet you, she will call you. Don't do anything from your side for the time being. Her father asked me to tell you this. But if somehow she calls, make sure you behave yourself and be on time to meet her.. I won't like it if you mess up things again, son. Be careful next time."

Saying that with a bitter tone, she shook her head at him and left the place in haste.~~~

Ranma stood there, his body shaking, as he took support from the wall. He breathed out laughing as he shook his head in dismay. His ears were making a beeping sound, his breathing still uneven. He slowly stood up and his eyes fell on the large long mirror which was on the corner of his room. He went closer to the mirror and looked at his image. He smirked miserably at himself as he whispered hoarsely,

"Saotome!!... No wait…!! The GREAT Saotome.!!. Ranma Saotome..!! The only son of The GREAT Saotome family!! Lucky me, ain't I? *AIN'T I!!!*"

He grabbed a hard object in his hand and without thinking about what he was doing, he threw the object on the mirror; breaking the mirror into small pieces.

Akane quickly walked towards Ranma's house. She was already very late! She went to the library before coming here and that's the big mistake she made. Because when she told the librarian about the situation, she started giving her lectures about taking responsibility of what they are carrying. After a long lecture session and a rather confusing grocery shopping she had to do for her sister, she finally managed to skip and now, she was late! It's already past evening time and still she have one big task to do, which is to visit Ranma's house to bring her books back. She was feeling a little uncomfortable because she never went to his house without him. She just wanted to make a short trip to his house; go grab her stuff and go back to her house.

She quickly reached his apartment as she rang the doorbell and patiently waited for Mr Hiro to open it. She blinked her eyes in confusion when she heard some loud noises coming from inside. She carefully put her ear on the door and tried to listen.

'That's ought! What are these sounds? Who is scremin.."

She couldn't think much as Mr Hiro hastily opened the door for her. He seemed so fearful and worried; but when he saw her, he smiled with great relief as he said,

"Oh Miss Akane, I am so glad you came here!"

Akane first looked at Ranma's door and then at him and asked,

"Mr Hiro, who is in Ranma's room?"

"Master just.. I mean, Ranma came back this afternoon!"

"What! He came back?!! But he was supposed to.."

She had to pause her questions when she heard his agony -filled screams! The sound was getting wilder and bigger, making her heart thump with anxiousness. She gulped and asked him,

"What happened to him, Mr Hiro?"

Mr Hiro replied with a shaky tone,

"I don't know! When he came back he seemed so upset. He shut himself inside his room and for last half an hour he has been thrashing eveything inside his room!"

"Did you try to call him?"

"I tried to, but he didn't listen!"

As he was describing this to her, suddenly, both of them got silenced by the huge bursting sound alongside with Ranma's furious scream which came from inside his room.

"Oh no!!" Akane whispered fearfully as she ran past Mr Hiro and started banging on his door.

"Ranma!! Open the door!! Ranma!!"

When she didnt see any response coming from him; she strated fumbling with the door lock and used all her force to break open the door.

"Ranma!! RANMA! PLEASE…!! OPEN THE DOOR!!"

"Miss Akane, here is the second key for this room.."

Akane hastily took the key with her shaky hand and in her nervousness,she struggled to put the key on the lock. As she was trying to open the lock , her whole body got rigid with fear when she heard his scream again,

"*AIN'T I*?!!!"

*SMASHHH*

And then there was a huge sound of a crash!!

Using all her force at once , she didn't waste a single sencond and immediately opened the door.

"RANMA!!!!"

Akane was breathing heavily as she looked at him with complete surprise! He was looking completely insane! She never saw anyone acting like this insanely before . By his posture, it didn't take her long to figured out that he still hadn't realized that she had entered his room. She hastily ran towards him and started pulling him away from the shattered glasses which fell on the ground.

"Ranma! You have to get away from here!"

"LET GO OF MY ARM!!! DAMN IT!!!"

Ranma resisted badly, he blindly snatched his arm away from her and pushed her away.

That didn't stop her from trying to reach him again. She growled angrily, and went to him. She grabbed his hand and arm with fierce force and started dragging him again.

"MOVE !! OR YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF, BAKA!!"

Ranma's outrage reached topnotch, he turned to her with his bloodshot eyes and insanely looked at her as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WHY DON'T YA GUYS JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!"

"STOP IT RANMA!!"

"WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU IF I GET HURT, DAMN IT! WHY WOULD ANYONE CARE!!"

"I DO CARE! NOW STOP RESISTING!"

"STOP LYING!! GET OUT OF HERE!! NOW!!"

A sharp smack on his face stopped him. The smack was hard enough to bring him back to his senses..

"Stop it.. Please; please.."

Akane said with a trembling tone as her eyes filled with unshed tears. She didn't want to slap him like that, but she didn't have any other choice in her hand.

Ranma was still looking sideways, his hand over his tingling face, his breathing uneven. Suddenly everything became fully quiet and steady. He rapidly blinked his eyes and finally, he came back to his senses and realized what he had just done.

"Ranma?" Akane asked with a soft whispered tone, "Are you okay?"

Ranma looked down, ashamed. He steadied himself, and let her pull him towards a safe distance from the shades of glasses.

Akane worriedly started checking his body to see if he had hurt himself. She hissed when she saw his swallowed fists, she looked at him with worry and said,

"Ranma,you baka! What have you done to your hands..!!"

Ranma couldn't utter a word to her. He was already feeling ashamed for pushing her like that and yelling at her. He didn't want to cause her any more trouble. He took his hands away from her and said with a cracked tone,

"I .. I will be fine! Ya don't have to worry. Sorry for everything.. You should go back to your home, Kane. Leave me be.. Just give me some time to compose myself. I .. I want to be alone."

Akane's heart started beating with trediption. She tried to look at him deeply and noticed the same resistance in his eyes he had been showing her before. She sighed and gently, let go of his hand. She backed out from him and started walking out of his room.

Ranma looked at her retreating form with a broken heart. He gulped the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. He rapidly blinked his eyes and started walking backwards, feeling completely defeated. He flopped down on the floor as he rested his back on the bed rail. He missed her so much, but because of his insane behaviour he had made her go away from him.

In all his misery, if he had managed to keep himself sane, it's all because of her. When he used to feel insecure and uncomfortable; he used to remember her words, her soft touch; and their sweet moments together. It used to calm him immediately and gave him the strength to move on. But what happened the previous day had completely broken him. Now, after how he acted with her, and not only that, the way she saw him behaving; he doubted she would ever want to meet him anymore..

"Here; …….. drink some water first, Ranma."

His eyes went wide with surprise. He hastily looked up and saw Akane. She was standing in front of him with a glass of water in her hand.

"Take it, Ranma.. You need to drink it."

He gave a shaky breath as he helplessly looked up at her eyes. His heart melted immediately by her action, She never ceased to amaze him with her kind gesture. He took the glass from her hand with his shaky hand and took a small sip from it.

Akane sighed and went to switch off the room's light. Then she casually went beside him and sat by his side and told him in a soft whisper tone.

"Sometimes it's better to sit in the darkness, you know."

He looked at the water in his hand as he weakly whispered back to her,

"I thought.. I thought you ….. left.."

The room was fully dark. However, from his large window, the light from the full moon illuminated his room beautifully and gave a soothing effect to their surroundings. She smiled at him and answered him with a soft whispered tone,

"What? You think, you screaming at me for no reason and your unusual act would drive me away from you?" She smirked and shook her head, " If you thought that way then you don't know me at all, Ranma. I rarely make any friends... But if I do;..." She gave him a serious stern look and said, "I make sure to stay by my friend's side in all situations. You are not getting rid of me that easily, Ranma. Now, ... be a good boy and show me your hands please."

Ranma didn't argue with her anymore. With her by his side, he could feel that his body was slowly losing all his energy. He put the glass on the floor and hesitantly, showed his hands to her. She flinched and hissed when she saw his swallowed hands. She bit her lower lip and carefully took his hands and laid them on her lap as slowly, she started putting some cold ointment on his hand.

"You are such a dummy, you know that? This time after I get my salary, I will buy gloves for you and one more punching bag as well.. And next time…. don't forget to use your hand gloves if you are planning to destroy another punching bag.."

He heard her giggling softly which made him feel more guilty about his act. He looked down in shame and asked her softly,

"You should be mad at me for pushing you.. Why are you not angry at me?"

Akane didn't answer him immediately. She finished her job first and carefully held both his hands. She laid her head back a little and made herself comfortable beside him.

"I am not mad , Ranma; just a bit shocked that's all.."

"But why? I misbehaved with you. You should be angry at me.."

She sighed and turned her face to look at him and whispered,

"Let's just take some time to cool down okay? We need to think clearly first.."

Ranma released a shaky breath and nodded his head. He also followed her lead and rested his head back on the bed rail as both of them sat silently holding their hands.

The darkness and silence were doing wonders for their mindset. They didn't have any idea how long they had been sitting like this, and honestly, they didn't care about the time at all! The only thing that mattered to them at that time was to stay focused and to steady themselves.

Akane sat very close to him, she bumped her shoulder with him and he had closely leaned to her. Her aroma, her closeness, the way she was tracing circles over his hands with her thumbs, were making him feel at ease. For a long moment he forgot about all his misery as he gave into her warmth.

But soon, the uneasiness Ranma felt before began to come back to him again. The more he witnessed her kindness; the more he recalls the way his parents and Shampoo had behaved with him these last few days. He never felt this helpless before. As he kept thinking about those events, his feelings changed immediately and soon his thinking became raw and toxic again! He wished he could disappear somewhere where no one would find him..He wanted to dig a hole and hide inside of it.. He just wanted to get lost somewhere in darkness! He doesn't want to live anymore; he just wants to di..

He couldn't think more as suddenly he felt a soft weight on the side of his head. He slightly moved his head and realized that she had softly rested her head with his head and held his hand more tightly, but carefully enough not to hurt him.

Akane was actually giving him time to compose himself. And to her relief, she felt that he was slowly calming down. But still, she didn't dare to move and didn't attempt to start any conversation with him, fearing he was not ready to talk to her yet. Her assumption got right, when she again felt him getting stiff. Suddenly his whole body started trembling and she could feel his body getting hot again. She worriedly peeked at him and saw his expression changing again. In one moment he looked so steady and composed; and when she thought he was slowly cooling off, his behaviour again started to change to an angush one. And it worried her to the extreme. With no clue how to handle him, she sighed and rested her head with his head, hoping to get his attention back to her.

That seemed to work, as he immediately loosened up his body and leaned to her touch. Her heart started beating with warmness as she realized how vulnerable he was acting with her. It was somewhat making her delighted that he trusted her enough to act nonchalantly with her.

After a few moments, she took a deep breath as she started to say in a soft whisper tone,

"You asked me why I am not mad at you right? It's because, ...… I might guess what you are going through now. I have seen someone close to me suffer just like you not so long ago. Maybe it was not as vivid as you, but for some reason, I can relate to both of you."

"Who?" He asked with a soft whisper.

She sighed and replied,

"Akio.."

She heard his shaky breath on her shoulder and could guess his confusion. She cleared her voice and continued saying,

"It happened when his parents were having a divorce. The situation was so bad for him and he was determined that he won't go with any of them and stay with us. Although he got what he had wished for, but he still became fully depressed! I was really worried about his change of behavior. He always used to be angry, and annoyed with everyone; he was not him at all! Kasumi Oneechan understood why he was acting so unusually angry. Because of what happened to his life, he was suppressing his emotions for too long which made him act that way. But luckily he had us sisters and we managed to break through his wall and bring him back to us. At that time, he was so Baka, you know what he once said to me, he said 'A boy should never cry'! Can you believe that?! Who thinks that way!!"

"But … he was telling the truth, right? A man should never cry.." He replied with his cracked voice.

'Knew it!'

Akane thought to herself. She assumed this about him and that's why she had decided to share Akio's story with him. Since the day he announced that he had to go meet his parents; the way he kept hiding his feelings from her, his body language, and his change of attitude made her wonder if he was going through the same suffering. She directly couldn't put her finger on it. But now she got all her answers and she definitely knows what to do next. She released a big frustrated sigh and said in a heated tone,

"You all man are the same! It's so annoying, my God! I dont know how crying would make a man less of a man! This is strange! You all are same!! Bunch of bakas!! I don't know what happened to you,Ranma! If you want to share anything with me I am here for you and if you do not want to tell me anything, I will still be with you. Just listen to me carefully; once you said to me that you are not allowed to eat as you please , and you are not allowed to show your emotions, but why? Moreover, why are you listening to them?! You are on your own, Ranma! There shouldn't be anyone telling you what you should do and what you should not do, damn it!"

Her speech made her frustrated. She paused for a second and took a deep breath. Then said with a more gentle tone, her voice trembling,

"You know my side of the story, Ranma. For us, our future is still uncertain and we don't even know what we would do. My sisters, me , and Akio; if we have managed to keep going strong, it's only because we shared our emotions with each other. If we were happy we laughed, if we felt angry we let out our frustrations out in front of each other and if we felt sad,... we never hesitated to cry or show our emotions to each other. Maybe that's how we are managing still now…"

She sighed and said,

"All I want to say is, it's okay to show your emotions, Ranma. And it's definitely normal to cry. There shouldn't be any restrictions for anyone! It's completely nonsense if you think that to be a man you have to hide your emotions like how you are doing now.."

She looked at him and brought his hand close to her heart and whispered softly,

"Oh Ranma, I wish I could help you more. But if you don't feel comfortable then I won't push you. But please think about it, okay? You are free to express any feeling you feel. No matter what, you will always be the same Ranma to me and for those people who really care about you. You shouldn't be worried about driving anyone away because you have suddenly decided to show them your emotions. Its always okay to listen to your heart, Ranma. Please understand that... And… if you want, I could leave you alone now. If you are alone then maybe you will feel much comfortable. But please.. do consider what I said, if you really need to let your emotions out, don't hesitate please."

She squeezed his hand once and began to stand up to leave, to give him some space that she thought he needed.

But he hastily grabbed her hand again and stopped her from moving. She tried to look back at him, but she didn't get the chance because he didn't give her the time. Without any hesitation, he pulled her back as he rested his head on her chest and wrapped his arms around her body.

Akane was shocked at first. But when she felt his body shaking and his silent tears damping her top, she loosened her posture and laid her hand over his back.

They didn't know if it was because of the darkness of the room or the surroundings, they both became naturally close together. Akane didn't hesitate to hold him close to her, Ranma also stopped caring as he wrapped her tightly with his arms and let loose of all his suppressed emotions .

No sounds were coming out from him. Only his trembling body and Akane's wet top were the evidence of his misery. She held him as tightly as he held her. She didn't stop him or shove him away; she neither showed any pity for him as well. Because she understood this was something he needed to let out for a very long time; maybe she didn't know the reason behind it but that didn't mean she would leave him! She decided to help him break his wall and now she was happy that she had managed to help him get out of the darkness. She sighed tiredly as she laid her one hand over his back and with her other hand, she laid it on his damp hair as she slowly started to trace his hair softly..

A/N: They are just too cute together. I always feel so delighted to write romantic scenes for them :D! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Don't forget to let me know about it!! Take care!!