'Akane's my fiancee!'

Realizing what he had proclaimed, heat rushed to Ranma's face. He had just declared Akane as his fiancee. Declared .

There were practically a million questions he had buzzing in his head all at once. Why had the pendant taken him back to this point? Why wasn't he at Jusenkyo? How was he going to get back? But seeing Akane, wide-eyed and gaping at him in mixture of confusion and mortification, erased all his thoughts as a wave of pure embarrassment washed over him.

He had never felt a stronger urge to clear his name and regain any sense of pride back.

"Wa-wait, WAIT!" Ranma shouted, his voice sounding equally panicked as his expression. Unfortunately for him, no one was listening to him anymore.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Soun and Genma whipped out party poppers and popped them open, shooting confetti into the air. Immediately after, they broke out into loud sobs over the seemingly successful engagement.

"Oh Saotome, can you believe the day has come? Our children, finally engaged! Our dojo is saved!" Soun exclaimed, grasping Genma's hands.

Genma nodded, ecstatic. "Indeed Tendo!"

"Hold on!" Ranma yelled." I-I didn't mean–"Gemma then slapped his back, hard , causing him to fall over onto his face.

"Ranma, my boy, you must have been enamored by her!" Genma said, a wide grin stretched across his face. He raised an eyebrow in Soun's direction, his eyes glinting with coyness. "You should have heard him earlier, Tendo. He was making such a fuss earlier about not wanting to get engaged, and look at him now, jumping at the chance to be engaged with Akane!"

Enamored?! Ranma holstered himself back up with his arms. "Now hold on just a second–h-hey!"

Soun rushed over to clasp Ranma's hands, his eyes sparkling with sheer joy that nearly blinded Ranma. "Is that true Ranma?" he asked, excitedly. "Were you that enthralled by my baby girl?"

Overwhelmed by Soun's aura, Ranma shrank back and could only utter a single, "uh", in response.

"Now, wait a moment!" Akane shouted, fed up with the situation. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"C'mon Akane," Nabiki said, leaning back on her arms. "It's not everyday that you'll beat someone up and they'll still want to marry you afterwards."

Akane drew her lips into a thin line, turning pink from embarrassment. "N-Nabiki!"

"That ain't true!" Ranma cut in. "That was a fluke! She didn't actually beat me!"

"Oh I agree, Akane," Kasumi said, as Ranma continued to fall on deaf ears. She sighed, dreamingly. "This is so romantic, don't you think?"

Nabiki nodded, placing a hand on Akane's shoulder, who looked like she was having an out of body experience. "Who knew love at first sight was real, right dear sister?"

Ranma wanted to go hide in a hole.

Akane huffed. "Why can't it be you or Kasumi? Why do I have to be the one that's engaged?"

"But Akane, he chose you," Nabiki said matter-of-factly. "And you beat him up earlier. You need to take responsibility for that."

"I-I didn't mean to!"

Ranma groaned. "I did not get beat–!"

Kasumi held her cheek in her hand, looking disappointed. "Oh Akane. You're not going to reject poor Ranma after he laid his heart out to you, are you?"

"Laid my heart out?" Ranma repeated incredulously.

Akane shook her head. "But I can't be engaged –"

Akane yelped when Soun came stumbling down to his knees in front of her. He held his youngest daughter's hands in his own,a pleading look on his face. "Please Akane!" he begged. "This is for the legacy of our dojo!"

Akane stared at her father and swallowed. "But–"

"And think about it Akane, Ranma already seems to be quite taken by you," Kasumi added.

Nabiki nodded. "That's right. Ranma did just pick you to be his fiancee. Even after you pummeled him."

Akane forced a flustered laugh. "We must have misheard him!"

Nabiki looked at her older sister. "Well, you heard what he said, right sis?"

"Oh yes. Quite clearly too."

Ranma felt light headed from how hot his face felt. Somehow, this was all worse than the first time that they got engaged.

Akane suddenly stood in frustration, her brows knitted together and fists coiled by her side. "But…but I can't be engaged to him!"

Akane's words stung Ranma more than he wanted to admit. Despite their usual arguments usually always taking this route, Ranma felt more irked than normal. This was mostly because in his current situation, it really did seem like he was getting rejected . And rejection was something Ranma's pride did not take well.

"Hmph," he said, crossing his arms and doing his best to not look bothered. "Took the words right out of my mouth. Who'd want to be engaged to a–"

"Oh, but let me repeat myself," Nabiki interrupted, causing Ranma to freeze mid-sentence. "We did just hear Ranma choose our dear sister, right?"

Kasumi nodded. "Oh yes. It was quite loud too."

"That's right Ranma, my boy, you said it loud and clear. AKANE, is your fiancee!" Genma announced, pounding a fist to the air.

Ranma was well beyond his limit at this point.

"CAN it Pops!" he yelled, abruptly standing while his face felt like it was on fire yet again. He stabbed a finger in Akane's direction. "I must have gotten the sense knocked out of me earlier, because who in their right mind would wanna to marry an uncute, violent tomboy like her?!''

The room was silent in response. Ranma slowly clapped his mouth with his hand, in a much too late attempt to stop himself from talking. In the heat of the moment, his go-to defense/insult for Akane had slipped out.

Uh oh.

"Uncute and violent, huh?" Akane huffed, marching over to Ranma. Placing her hands on her hips, she fiercely glared up at him.

Ranma gulped. "W-wait a second, Akane, I-I didn't mean–"

She grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Well, I'm sorry–" With immense strength all too familiar to Ranma, she hoisted him over her shoulder. "–that I don't meet your standards!" she shouted, chucking him into the air.

Ranma promptly landed in the all too familiar pond outside with a splash.

"This is ridiculous," Akane said. "There's no way I'll ever marry someone like him!" With a swivel of her feet, she stomped away.

Nabiki whistled. "That went south fast."

Soun exchanged a look with Genma. "The perfect couple already, eh Saotome?"

"Indeed Tendo…"

The two let out a hearty, yet nervous laugh.

Ranma emerged from the water, sputtering water out. He removed some aquatic plants off of his fiery red hair and watched as the light in Akane's room turned on.

"Great, like that was any better than the first time," he muttered under her breath. Defeatedly, he placed his head on the rocks by the pond with a sigh.

Notes: apologies, a bit short and not much new original content here but hope to establish some more things in the next! Hoping you all have a lovely rest of your day :]

also, let me know if you catch any grammatical errors. i have a bad habit of writing at night when i'm tired so i don't always catch everything first time!