Ranma was beginning to regret his choices. Shoving his hands into his pockets, a scowl formed on his face as he watched from on top the fence.

Oblivious to Ranma's annoyance, Akane was humming contently to herself from the ground, an idiotic grin plastered on her face. In her hands was a polka-dotted bag of cookies that she had (fortunately) remembered to grab out of the oven before they headed out for school that morning. She held them close to her chest like a prized possession.

Ranma snorted to himself. What on earth had come over him that morning to help Akane? If anything, maybe he should have just let Akane self-sabotage herself with the whole cookie ordeal, but no, he just had to go in and help her. Now he had to watch her act like a lovesick idiot because of some cookies she was giving to someone .

She never acted like this for him before.

"Uncute tomboy," he muttered under his breath, feeling strangely bitter.

"Ranma." Akane suddenly looked up, meeting his eyes. He faltered in his steps.

"Wh-what?" he replied, tensing up. Ranma didn't mean for Akane to hear him, but he supposed almost all of their mornings started this way anyways. Honestly, he preferred this over having to watch Akane act like an entirely different person.

"Thanks for the help this morning," she said. To his surprise, rather than hurl an insult back, Akane smiled at him. A small smile was on her face, a stupid, small, content smile that made her look–

Ranma sniffed, his gaze softening.

Cute.

Ranma averted his gaze, feeling slight embarrassment over how fast his irritation seemed to go up in smoke. "O-oh. Yeah. No problem." He cleared his throat. "Anyways. You, uh, seem like you're in a good mood."

"A good mood? Oh, well. I guess I am." She looked down at the ground, a hand playing with the ends of her hair. "I can see why all the girls at school like to give gifts to their crushes now. It… makes you feel all excited inside."

His stomach twisted. "Ha," he scoffed. "Well, be careful, Akane, you wouldn't wanna scare the doc away with that goofy look on your face."

Akane broke out of her bliss to glare at him. "What? Goofy ? You–" she kicked the fence, causing him to jump down "–jerk!"

"There we go! That's the usual violent side of ya that I'm used to." He grinned. Yup, this side of Akane was much better than seeing her acting all girly over someone.

"Wha–Shut up!" she fumed. "I take back my thank you!"

"Hey, ya can't take that back. Without me, ya wouldn't even have anything to give to the doc."

In response, Akane drew her lips into a thin line, knowing that Ranma was right. After a moment, she crossed her arms. "Whatever! Just watch, I'll improve my skills and prove you wrong, Ranma!"

"I'd love to live to see that day," he replied dryly, well aware that Akane's cooking would only improve by the slightest margin in the future.

"Well, you will! Next time, I'll give Dr. Tofu something that I actually made myself!"

"Next time? Well, next time, I won't help ya out!"

"Good! That's fine by me, Ranma. I won't need it."

He frowned at the dismissiveness in her tone. "Fine! Give your toxic sludge to whoever ya want."

"Toxic sludge–?!"

"Doesn't even matter to me who ya give it to anyways," he grumbled. "See if I care."

Akane narrowed her gaze, examining him. "Ranma, you…"

Slightly unnerved, Ranma glanced at her. "What? Why're ya lookin' at me like that?"

Then, she lit up. " Ohh . I get it."

"Wh-what?"

"Y'know, Ranma, if I didn't know any better…" She smirked. "It sounds like you're jealous."

The word got caught in his ear, making his eyes widen. " What ?" he managed, feeling the heat rise to his face. His pride nearly fell apart at the seams. It was one thing for him to be self-aware, but a whole other thing for Akane of all people to accuse him of that . "Are ya crazy? What's there to be jealous about?! "

She snickered. "You wish I was giving you something too, don't you?"

"WHAT? No-no–"

"Ha! I am right, aren't I?"

"No– no , you're not!"

"You totally are!"

"What? I'm not ! Wait, Akane–!"

She laughed at his flustered reaction, and ran ahead, stopping for a moment to turn around to stick her tongue out at him. "Hey! You're–!" he called out after her, before letting out a defeated sigh. "Wrong…"

"I'm telling ya, I'm not, okay?" Ranma protested yet again as the two approached the school gates. Akane took a deep inhale, closing her eyes in exhaustion. "Ya really can give your rat poison to whoever ya want!"

"Would you stop saying that?!" Akane snapped, swinging around to face him, fully ready to roundhouse kick his mouth shut.

"A-A-Akane…"

She froze at the collective sound of sniffling, and the two turned around as a crowd of boys, who for once, were not fueled by their hormonal rage, surrounded them solemnly. They were all standing under a dreary overcast sky, wiping their tears away at the sight of the two.

Confused, Akane loosened up her stance. "What's happening here?"

"Akane Tendo…we have no right to challenge you now," a soccer player remarked, wiping tears from his eyes.

"We must give up on you now."

"After all…we must accept…and give approval to your engagement to Ranma!" a fencing student shouted, his outcry followed by the wails of the other boys around him.

"What–" Akane frantically glanced around, clearly taken aback. She made eye contact with Ranma, who gave her a shrug.

"Told ya they'd stop," he said, a cocky smirk ever so present on his face.

"Look, she even brought cookies for him to eat!"

Akane turned red, tucking the bag behind her back. "N-no! No these are for someone–"

"Yes, my dear Tigress, I humbly accept this gift from you!"

All heads turned to watch Kuno step into the picture.

"Upperclassman Kuno, these are not for you!" Akane yelled.

"Oh ever the shy one, aren't you Akane Tendo? But first," he declared, his smile quickly disappearing. "I refuse to accept this silly engagement of yours to this…" With intense ferocity, he glared at Ranma, who met his gaze with a bored look. "To this…fiend!" He pointed his sword at him. "You may have bested me before, but I assure you, that shall not happen again!"

Ranma snorted in response. "Oh c'mon Kuno–how many times has it been? What's gonna make a difference now anyways?"

"A difference you say?" A maniacal grin spread across his face. "Let me tell you my plan. I will learn of your weakness, you foul ingrate. Then, I'll exploit it!"

Ranma whistled, unconvinced. "Ooh, okay. Well, good luck with that." As long as it wasn't cats he would be fine.

Kuno's eyes twitched. "Saotome!" he yelled, lunging forward. "Don't take my threat so lightly!"

Ranma continued to stand around casually, fully prepared to send Kuno flying at the last second, when he felt something wet fall on his head. Droplets began to fall down, making pitter-patter sounds as they hit the ground. His heart dropped.

Rain.

Ranma gritted his teeth and ducked just in time to send Kuno stumbling past him. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he leapt out of there and disappeared into the rain, a flash of red hair zipping through the rain.

"Ranma!" Akane called out at an empty space left behind by the pig-tailed martial artist, a second too late. Frowning, she took off to find him.

"Damn it!" Ranma cursed. In a rush to hide from people, he had hopped into a nearby tree and sat on a branch. As if on cue, the rain started to lighten up, as if it's only goal was to get him to transform. From close by, he could hear the sound of maniacal laughter.

Kuno.

Ranma shuddered. Great. Now he was stuck in a tree as a girl while Kuno was parading around the school entrance. He could only hope that Kuno hadn't even seen him when he escaped. Sighing, Ranma closed his eyes. He'd wait for Kuno to leave, then rush into school before the bell rang. It'd be fine.

The sound of footsteps from below. A huff. "Ranma? Are you there?" a voice called out.

He perked up and looked down. "Akane?"

Akane peered up, her eyebrows raising when she spotted him. "There you are! Figured you'd be here. Seems like you have a thing for trees."

"Heh, well. Just camping out here."

"I'm surprised you ran like that. You must really not want people to know about your curse."

"Nah, it's not like that–" After all, (mostly, minus the Kuno siblings) everyone did find out about his curse in the end, one way or the other. "More like I'm worried about one person."

"Kuno?" Akane replied, sounding taken aback. "Sure, he's an idiot , but he's not that threatening of a person to be afraid of."

"I ain't afraid! It's more like–I don't wanna deal with the consequences if he sees me like this."

"Why? What would happen?"

"Think about it!" he exclaimed, patting his chest. "If he sees me–a cute, pretty, petite red-haired girl, with a great body to boot–that guy is gonna go nuts!"

Akane gave him a blank stare, clearly unamused. "...That's what you're worried about? Be serious!"

"I am serious!" Did he actually have to convince her over this?

"Ranma, you don't even know if you're his type."

"I know I'm that pervert's type!" he emphasized, a few flashbacks sending shivers down his spine. "C'mon Akane, think about it. If he's obsessing over you, then of course he's going to be infatuated with me in this form!"

She scowled. "Do you hear yourself? Why are we even having this conversation? If you want Kuno so bad, you can have him!"

"What? How did you even come to that conclusion?"

"You're the one saying all this nonsense, dummy!"

"It's not nonsense!" he shouted back, then finally realized that trying to convince Akane wasn't going to go anywhere. "Look, the point is, I can't let Kuno see me like this."

Akane pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated. "So are you just gonna stay up there the whole time?"

"Yeah, I'll manage. Kuno will stop looking for me sooner or later."

"Well, guess I brought this for nothing then." From behind her back, she pulled out a kettle, and looked at it wistfully.

"Hey, hold on!" Ranma hopped down from the branch, a few leaves scattering around him as he did so. "Thanks Akane. Now ya paid me back for the cookies," he said, reaching out to grab the kettle. Ranma's hand paused mid-air when he noticed that a fallen leaf had found its place on top of Akane's head.

"Ranma?" she asked, noticing his hesitation.

His hand changed course, and he had to extend out a bit to pick the leaf off her head since the youngest Tendo was slightly taller than him in his current form. From underneath, Akane seemed to stiffen from his touch.

Pulling away, he noticed that she was staring at him, wide-eyed, with a hand on top of her head. He twirled the stem in his fingers, trying to appear somewhat suave to mask his own embarrassment from his sudden actions. " Ya had something in your hair."

"O-oh," she replied, blinking . "Thanks." Ranma grinned, taking the kettle from her hand. He could admit–Akane was cute whenever she got flustered like this.

"Where are thou, Akane Tendo, my fair maiden! "

At the sound of Kuno's voice, Akane jolted, and immediately shoved Ranma away, knocking him onto the kettle spilled out over Ranma, soaking him in hot water. Now back in his male body, he glared up at the girl. "Hey, what gives?!"

"Shh!" Akane hushed him. "You don't want Kuno seeing you as a girl, right?"

"I'm a guy now!"

"What?" Akane glanced down at him, her eyes widening. "Why are you on the ground?"

"Yeah, I wonder why!" Grumbling, Ranma stood back up, brushing the dirt off his pants.

"Come to me, Akane Tendo! I have learned of Ranma Saotome's weakness and–!" Before Kuno could finish, Akane spun around and smacked him in the face with her arm, just in time to avoid receiving an unwanted hug. "We're gonna be late!" she yelled, taking the chance to take off.

"That dummy," he muttered, glancing down at his now soaked clothes.

Kuno sprung back up and glowered at him. "Saotome, "I've learned of your weakness."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "What?"

He wasn't ready to hear what possible nonsense Kuno could have come up with.

"Your weakness is…" He jabbed his Kendo sword at him, the tip poking into Ranma's chest. "Water!"

Ranma stared at the idiot, incredulous. He then threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. "Water? Why would I be scared of water ?"

"Hmph! Shall we see for ourselves then?" Kuno then took out a water bottle, quickly splashing it towards Ranma. Instinctively, Ranma jumped back, narrowly avoiding getting hit. He paled, looking at Kuno, who then smirked at him. "Oh? Then why do you seem so afraid, Saotome? Always one to flee from water, it appears," he sneered.

Gathering himself, Ranma scoffed. "Nonsense, Kuno. Just don't want to get my clothes wet, okay?"

He walked away from Kuno, but felt an increasing sense of dread as he entered the school. Great. Now Nerima's most relentless idiot was hellbent on splashing him with water. The last person on earth he didn't want seeing his girl form.

i'm catching this up to where it's at ao3..pls bear with me