Mid-air, Ranma quickly shed off his outer clothes, not wanting them to get drenched. His clothes fluttered off in the wind, and he braced himself as he made impact with the water, his body slicing through like a straight arrow. The irony of his situation crept up on him. The last thing he'd ever want was to end up in a pool with Kuno again, but here he was willingly doing exactly that.
All for a stupid baggie of cookies.
As his body changed into a girl, Ranma kicked harder to dive deeper, opening his eyes to look around for Kuno. Spotting a body slowly sinking down, Ranma swam over. The stupid pompous Kendo captain had fallen unconscious, but somehow was still managing to hold onto the bag of cookies. Ranma contemplated leaving him to drown for a quick second, but decided that even Kuno of all people would weigh on his moral conscience. He grabbed him by the arm, and propelled them upwards.
Ranma took a gasp for air as he broke the surface. He hauled Kuno's body over to the pool's edge, and dragged him over as he pulled himself up. Cautiously, he touched Kuno's body with his foot, and the eldest Tatewaki twitched slightly in response. Good–the idiot was still alive. "I'll be taking that, you jerk," Ranma said, snatching the bag out of Kuno's grasp.
From behind him, he heard Kuno sputter and cough up water. "Wa-wait," he choked out, his voice hoarse. "Who–who are you?"
That was Ranma's cue to leave. "Someone you'll hopefully never see again," he muttered, before leaping off into the air.
Ranma hopped down from the gates of the pool. He shivered from the breeze, wondering where his clothes had flown off too. He heard footsteps run towards him, and he looked up to see Akane hurrying over.
"Oh, Akane," he said, just as the long-haired girl marched right over. He held up the cookies."I got–"
She interrupted him by roughly throwing the towel over his head. "I can't believe you! What if someone saw you?!" she grumbled.
Ranma was taken aback by her response, not understanding why she was upset. "Well, no one did! Is this how–" he was cut off when Akane grabbed his wrist with her hand. As soon as her hand touched Ranma's skin, he felt a jolt of electricity shoot up his arm. He could feel his cheeks flush warm, and his heart rate quickened.
'Her hand is soft,'he thought.
Akane led him to the school shack near the pool and released him. "Honestly," she muttered. "What's with you?" She poured the water over his head, and placed the kettle on the floor. When Ranma didn't respond, she then stared at him, studying his expression with her brows raised. "Ranma?"
Ranma snapped out of his daze, ripping his gaze away from his wrist. "Ye-yeah?"
She frowned, concern evident on her face. "Why are you so red?"
"Wh-what?" Ranma sputtered out and quickly whipped his head to the side, trying to avoid her scrutiny. "It's-it's cuz the water you poured was hot!"
Akane gave him a look, then rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Don't be such a baby." She glanced at him, dressed only in his inner garments. Looking away, she then handed him his clothes. "Here, I found them nearby."
"Thanks Akane," he said, taking them from her. He was eager to be moving on from…whatever just happened to him. The tomboy touched himonceand his brain decided to malfunction. What was wrong with him?
She turned around as he hurriedly put his clothes back on. "Anyways, Akane," he said, getting her attention back on him. He tossed her the bag of cookies. "I got them back. Good thing you sealed it up pretty well. Don't think any water got in it."
Akane looked down at the baggie in her hands, her gaze softening. "Ranma…" she quietly.
Now she was finally going to show him some gratitude. He smirked. "No need to thank me, Akane–"
"You IDIOT!"
His grin faltered. "Wh-what?"
"I can't believe you!" she shouted. "Why on earth would you do all that forcookies? That was so dangerous!"
He blinked. "Were you worried about me?"
Akane reddened at his words. She crossed her arms, huffing. "W-well, duh, you jumped off arooftopdummy! Why wouldn't I be?" He chuckled, finding her concerns cute. She glared at him. "Why are you laughing?"
"Uh, I'm not!" He cleared his throat. "Anyways–it's fine! I'm the guy who swam all the way to China, remember? It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me."
Akane put her hands on her hips. "Still, you're unbelievable! Just this morning, you were making a big deal about upperclassman Kuno seeing you as a girl. Then you go diving after him into a pool!"
"Well he didn't see me!" Ranma replied, frowning. 'At least, I think he didn't.' "Besides, you were gonna be all mopey if you lost the cookies."
Akane stiffened a bit, drawing her lips into a thin line.
"Just thank me, Akane. It's not like you could even go in there yourself to get them. Then I'd have to rescueyouinstead."
Akane opened her mouth to retort, but slowly closed it to give Ranma an odd look. "Ranma…you…"
He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You know I can't swim?" Akane asked, her eyes widening. "How do you…"
Ranma froze, realizing that he had said too much. "I–uh–I…you can't?"
Akane stared at him, in disbelief. "Isn't that what you were implying–"
Suddenly the bell rang, and both of them jumped.
"Oh no, we're going to be late! C'mon Ranma, hurry!" Akane yelled. Feeling a sense of relief by Akane being distracted, Ranma followed her out.
Fortunately the rest of the day went by without a hitch, as Kuno was absent from attempting to splash water on him again. But Ranma's unrest was far from over, as now he was at Dr. Tofu's.
Ranma narrowed his eyes at the panda in front of Dr. Tofu's office, sweeping the outside with a broom. "Almost forgot you worked here for a sec," he muttered. "This is the only time I've seen you ever work in your life, Pops." Genma gave a short, disgruntled snort in response.
"Ranma," Akane called, popping her head out the door.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there." He shot a final, disapproving look at his father, before following the long-haired girl inside.
"Dr. Tofu!" Akane exclaimed brightly. Ranma shifted uneasily beside her, shoving his hands in his pockets. Here she went again.
Dr. Tofu glanced up from his paperwork, and smiled at the two of them. "Oh, hello! Akane, and…you must be Ranma, right?"
"Hi," he greeted, giving a short nod to the doctor. Dr. Tofu observed him, up and down, clearly intrigued.
"So you're the girl from the other day!" he said. "I heard about the curse from your father earlier." He grabbed Ranma by the chin, examining his face from all angles. "Now that I see you upclose, it's clear to me that you are indeed the same person. Fascinating!"
Ranma patted his arm. "Do you mind lettin' go?"
Dr. Tofu released him, chuckling. "Apologies, Ranma. I've also heard how the two of you are engaged now!"
Akane froze a bit at his words, her eyes darting to the ground. "Our parents decided on it for us."
Dr. Tofu clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I can't believe arranged marriages are still happening in this day and age. And you two are just kids too."
Keeping her head low, Akane gave a weak laugh. "Yes, you're right Dr. Tofu," she replied, her voice tinged with disappointment. "We're just… kids."
Ranma felt a pang of sympathy for Akane, watching as her hopes were dashed in real time. As much as he preferred to not see her act all shy and girly around the doctor, he preferred that over seeing her act nudged her on the shoulder. Startled, Akane blinked at him, and he motioned towards her bag.
"Ah, right! Dr. Tofu, I wanted to give this to you," she said, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out the baggie of cookies, and handed it over to the doctor.
Dr. Tofu took them, a smile on his face. "Cookies! Did you make them yourself, Akane?"
Akane shook her head. "Don't worry, Ranma helped me with them."
The doctor chuckled. "Now why would I be worried, Akane? I'm sure cooking skills run in your family."
Ranma let out a snort that he tried to hold back, and Akane elbowed him in the side.
"Ow," he hissed. "What'd ya do that for?"
Ignoring him, Akane glanced down at her book bag again, and paused, having a moment of hesitation. Ranma heard her take a deep breath. "Oh, and," Akane said, pulling out the book her older sister had given her that morning. "Here's…here's the book that you let Kasumi borrow."
"K-Kasumi?" Dr. Tofu repeated. He laughed nervously, his face instantly turning a dark shade of red. "D-did, did she like it?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Akane nodded. "Yes, she did," she replied quietly.
"S-she did?!" he exclaimed. "Oh, she liked it! Wh-what a relief…"
As Dr. Tofu continued to blabber on over Kasumi, Ranma noticed how Akane was trying to put on a brave front, but the disappointment and sadness in her eyes was undeniable. Before he could say anything to her, Akane turned around, bowing her head down. "Well, I'll be off then, Dr. Tofu."
Dr. Tofu stopped prancing around to smile at them. "O-oh, okay Akane! Thanks for dropping these off. Both of you have a good night!"
"Good night, Dr. Tofu," Akane said disheartenedly, before she walked away.
"Man, Dr. Tofu. He's got it bad," Ranma muttered, giving the doc a final look as he continued to unabashedly celebrate his small win. The doc had no idea how Akane even felt. Sighing, Ranma followed after Akane.
He watched her retreating figure, his heart strangely aching.
'Shouldn't you be happy that the doc's not interested? Then she'll like–'
Ranma shoved the thought out of his head. Whoever Akane liked, it didn't matter to him now. He just couldn't stand seeing her be hurt. He wasn't good with words, especially when it came to matters of the heart, but he was determined to at least try cheering her up.
Ranma hopped up on the fence to walk beside her. "Thought you'd be happier about finally giving the doc the cookies," he said.
Akane glanced up at him. "I amhappy," she replied firmly. Her tone said anything but.
"Really? Well, you're not actin' like it."
She frowned. "How am I supposed to act then?"
"I dunno. Thought you would have been like, 'oh doctor'!" he said, mocking the last part in a high-pitched squeal. He shrugged. "Or somethin', y'know?"
She scowled at him. "I don't sound like that!"
Ranma sighed. "Akane, you've been acting weird today, y'know? Being all moody after giving the doc your cookies, and avoiding me at school. It's obvious."
Akane blinked, clearly taken aback. "Avoiding you? When did I–"
"Aw, c'mon don't play dumb. You totally were."
Akane blushed, biting back her response. Resigning, she let out a heavy sigh. "It's just–I don't know. I guess things feel hopeless."
"Hopeless? You weren't… mad about the water?"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why would I be mad about that? It's not like you splashed me."
Fair. "Then why–"
"Well, you saw how he acted earlier," she said, bitterly. "The doctor's in love with my sister–and he's only ever seen me as a child. And now we have this engagement thrown on us." Her fists tightened, and she continued, her voice quieter. "It's been a lot trying to process everything, okay? It felt weird having everyone label me as something all of sudden. I guess it's harder for me to just accept everything like you've been able to."
Ranma was quiet for a moment–it wasn't like he also didn't have his own difficulties with accepting the engagement in the beginning. But things were different now for him, after having spent so much time as her fiancé. On the other hand, the Akane in front of him was just starting to come to terms with things. "Akane you just need to…" he finally said. "Get over it."
"Get over it," she repeated, her lips curled downwards. Clearly, she wasn't pleased to hear his response." You want me to…get over it."
"Well, I mean–" he quickly added, realizing he hadn't worded things as elegant as he wanted to. "Who cares what other people expect! People have thrown their expectations on you, but that doesn't mean you ain't free to do what you want still."
Akane blinked, her expression softening. "Ranma…"
"The Akane I know wouldn't go down without a fight," he said. That's right–Akane was a stubborn, undeniably violent, brash, tomboy, but she never backed down from a challenge. She faced every obstacle head-on, undeterred by failure (even if it was detrimental, like her cooking or swimming abilities), but that was part of the reason why he…
He cleared his throat.
Akane stared down at the ground and then back at him, seemingly having an epiphany. "Ranma…you're right."
"I am, ain't I?" He smirked, crossing his hands behind his head. He was pretty good at this pep talk stuff now, wasn't he? He didn't exactly know what he meant by his words, but as long as Akane was feeling better, then he felt like he had done his job.
"I think I know what I need to do."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"I'll need to get things off my chest, for better or worse."
"Yeah."
"I…I need to tell him the truth, Ranma."
Ranma scratched the back of his head, feeling unease creep up on him. "The truth? What truth?"
She turned to look at him, a fiery look of determination burning in her eyes. "I'll tell Dr. Tofu how I feel."
Her words him like a ton of bricks. He stumbled in his step, his foot slipping as he fell off the fence. With a splash, he landed in the water and emerged out, his hair now fiery-red and voice a high-pitch shrill as he yelled,"You–WHAT?!"
Akane flinched at his sudden outburst. "Ranma! What's gotten into you? You keep falling into water today!"
He scrambled up the fence and out of the river, jumping over it to land next to her. "Me? What about you?! Are you–are you serious?"
She nodded, looking at him blankly. "Yeah, I mean…isn't that what you're encouraging me to do?"
He was too stunned to reply.
Akane observed him and shook her head as she gave him a light push forward. "Oh, whatever Ranma. Let's head back for dinner!" Ranma's mind raced with a mix of emotions, and he was at a loss of words. As Akane continued to hurry him along to get back home, he was reminded of another aspect of the tomboy that he found both admirable, but more so frustrating and scary.
When Akane set her mind to do something…she was going to do it.
Posting this here to say I have 22 Chapters up of this on ao3! In case anyone is waiting an update on this site haha /works/37721908/chapters/94174681