Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2

AN: Not much to say about this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it (wriggles eyebrows suggestively).

Chapter 6 – Oh my

Akane and Ranma were walking home together from the pool and he could tell she was sulking. They had had a decent time at the water park even though Nabiki had shown up. Now he had her birthday to think about, there was no way he could afford both a nice present and a nice date. I really don't want to borrow money from Nabiki again. He had no idea how he was going to come up with some money. The cat café was where he used to work from time to time and made decent tips as a waitress. Maybe he could talk to Ukyo and see if she needed help but according to Konatsu she paid terrible. Maybe he could talk to Kasumi and see if she had any ideas. He reached out to take Akane's hand but she pulled away.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You are fine with trying to hold my hand while I am a girl but now you won't."

"Nothing is wrong with me." Akane had been fine until she overheard him tell Yuka that he didn't want to be engaged to her. She didn't want to get married anytime soon but she had assumed they were still engaged and that they would get married eventually. I guess after the fight with Kodachi when Ranma kissed me in front of the whole school and told our fathers that they would have to wait until he asked her meant he doesn't think of me as his fiancé anymore.

"You aren't acting like nothing is wrong."

"I'm fine."

Yeah right. He dropped it for now. Had she expected him to kiss her in the changing room before they left? Maybe something happened after he had walked out. They continued to walk in silence through town, past shops and food stands. He was starting to get hungry but figured that it was better to wait until they got home to see if Kasumi had anything in the fridge.

Akane knew it was silly to be mad but it had simply hurt too much. Even when she denied wanting to be engaged to Ranma in the past, she still had always liked the times when he had claimed her as his. He didn't do that with the others girls and it had made her feel special. Once they had confessed their feelings and became a real couple, she had liked the idea that they could be more open about the engagement. The idea that they could technically get married anytime they wanted to was both scary and empowering. She glanced at the shop windows as they walked in silence.

Ranma slowed and walked a few paces behind Akane, desperately trying to figure out what he might have done wrong. Did she think something inappropriate happened when Yuka and Sayuri talked to me around the corner?

"Um… Akane?"

"What Ranma?"

"You know your friends just wanted to tell me something? Nothing weird happened or anything back there."

"Why would I think that?"

"Cause I can't figure out anything else that you would be mad at me for."

"It's not important."

"If it weren't important then you wouldn't be mad at me for something."

"Wasn't"

"What?"

"If it wasn't important…"

"Now is not the time for a grammar lesson!"

Both lapsed back into silence. Ranma felt more confused. He had been confident that he had figured out what the problem had been. Even if she didn't like to admit it, Akane got jealous easily. It usually made him feel good, like today with the lifeguard.

Akane wandered over to a few store fronts and gazed through the windows. A jewelry store had a display of necklaces with various heart shapes. They were really pretty and came with various colors of stones on them. Someday maybe he will get me a romantic gift like that. Hearts are something you can't get for yourself. She sighed and started to walk away from the display.

Ranma watched her linger over the jewelry window longer than she had at any other window. Jewelry is usually really expensive; I hope she doesn't expect that sort of thing from me. Maybe someday, but no way could I do that now. He heard her sigh out loud and moved closer to see what she was looking at. The front of the display had a variety of wedding sets with large sparkling diamonds.

"IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE EXPECTING FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY, A WEDDING RING?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

People were giving them disapproving looks and many crossed the street to get away from the belligerent couple.

"YOU'RE LOOKING AT THEM; YOUR BIRTHDAY IS NEXT WEEK. WHAT THE HELL? WE SAID WE DIDN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED WHILE WE WERE STILL IN HIGHSCHOOL."

"WHY WOULD IT MATTER TO YOU WHAT I WANT AND WHAT I WAS LOOKING AT. IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WANT TO BE ENGAGED TO ME ANYWAY." She didn't want to cry but she could feel the tears forming. She just wanted to get out of there. She turned her eyes to Ranma, who was looking back at her with a stunned look on his face. "FINE YOU GET YOUR WISH. WE DON'T HAVE TO BE ENGAGED."

He couldn't find a reply. Where in the world had she gotten the idea that he didn't want to be engaged? Sure they both had said they didn't want to be numerous times but they stopped denying it after the duel with Kodachi. She was his fiancé and the only one he wanted. How could she not know that? "A…Akane…"

Tears fell gently down her cheek, taking a deep breath she turned to walk home again. "For your information I wasn't looking at the wedding rings."

He watched her walk away before turning to the window display again. Behind the wedding sets was a row of heart pendants with colored stones. The one in the middle caught his eye; it was silver with 2 hearts that were shaped to look like an infinity symbol. At the crossing point of the hearts there was a small yellow gem. Glancing again at the direction Akane had disappeared, he debated running after her. She is the one being stupid this time. She is the one mad at me for no reason. He entered the shop instead of following her.

Ukyo was sweeping the sidewalk in front of her shop. It had been a good day for business and she was enjoying a short lull after a lunch time rush. She looked around at the people traveling up and down the street and spotted Akane. Raising her hand to wave and call out to the girl, hoping Ranma was nearby too, she noticed her rival had her head down and appeared to be crying. I wonder what happened. Instead of getting Akane's attention she scanned the crowd for Ranma. Ranma wasn't avoiding her anymore but he never visited her shop without Akane in tow. They would be out running errands or come by after school; visit, gossip and eat, then leave together. It was annoying that they only seemed to be getting along better as the weeks went by; this was the first sign of trouble. Maybe Ranma did something stupid like he used to do all the time and made her cry.

In the jewelry shop Ranma waited until an employee noticed him and ask if he was interested in seeing anything in the displays. He pointed to the necklace with the yellow stone in the window, "How much is that one?"

"Oh that is a pretty one, must be for a pretty lady." He set the necklace under a bright display light so that the little stone sparkled as much as it could. "This one is sterling silver plated with white gold and the stone is known as citrine. Because it is not solid gold it is more affordable. Only 8,000 yen."

8000 yen! He had a small amount of money stashed in his room but there was no way he had 8000. He might have as much as 1000 but that was all. Kasumi often sent him on errands for her and told him the left over change was his to keep for taking his time to help her. This usually only amounted to a few hundred yen and he had to hide it from his father. He knew it was a way for him to be able to afford to pay for the small things he and Akane did together, like the water park today. He was grateful to her for those little quiet things she did to help them. How would he get that much in a week?

"Um… thank you. I'm not going to buy it today but I will come back."

"I can hold it for a few days if you would like. That would make sure no one else could buy it before you came back."

"No thanks." He felt bad knowing he probably wouldn't be back.

He left the store and walked slowly home. As he walked he started getting angry with Akane. We promised to talk to each other. We promised to listen. She isn't doing either… Idiot. He wasn't sure how he was going to get her to talk but she was sure as hell going to tell him why she thought he didn't want to be engaged to her anymore.

Ukyo stayed outside for several more minutes tidying up and adjusting her sign. Finally she spotted Ranma walking down the street looking lost in his thoughts.

"Ranchan!"

"Oh hi Uc-chan."

"You look down in the dumps honey. Want to come in for a snack?"

"I should be getting back home soon. Akane is upset with me and I don't know why."

"Sugar, maybe you should let her be for a while, she was crying when she ran past here. Give her some space." And spend some time with me for a change.

"Yeah alright. But I don't want to stay long, for some reason she says we aren't engaged anymore and I want to know why. She wouldn't explain befor she ran off."

He followed Ukyo into the shop and they chatted while she made him his favorite order. He told her about the water park, skipping the parts where Hiroshi and Daisuke tried to embarrass him. She laughed when he talked about the fast slide and cringed when he mentioned that he had encountered hot water.

"She shouldn't have made up go to a water park but I guess you made the best of it didn't you?"

"We had a good time. I've always had to go swimming as a girl, not like it was anything new."

She hated that as he told the stories he kept saying 'we' or 'Akane and I' this and that. "It just seems a little selfish to me and then she has the nerve to get mad at you and not tell you why. Something is up."

"I should get going; I need to figure out why she is upset."

"Are you sure? You are welcome to stay and visit as long as you like, I could make you another."

"Thanks Uc-chan but I really need to get her to talk to me."

She watched him leave the shop and balled her fists at her sides. Ugg, why is he being such a decent guy to her now? I wish they would go back to fighting all the time.

00000

Akane was still crying when she reached the gate to her house. Glad to be finally home she thought that if she could sneak upstairs to her room then maybe her family would leave her alone. If she explained to them that Ranma didn't really want to be engaged then their fathers would be angry with him and she didn't want to deal with that right now. She made it to the stairs and was half way up when Kasumi started down.

"Akane, what's the matter?"

"Nothing"

"I doubt it is nothing. Can't you tell me?" Kasumi took her little sister gently by the arm and guided her to the young girl's bedroom. Once inside she sat with Akane on her bed and placed an arm around her shoulders without saying anything. Their mother had always done that when they were upset. She would wait patiently for them to finally say what was bothering them, even if it meant leaving a chore undone or making supper late.

Akane cried against her sister for almost 10 minutes before she mumbled, "He doesn't want to be engaged."

"Ranma broke off the engagement?"

"No, I overheard him say that he didn't want be engaged to me." Akane pull her towel out of her bag and wiped her tears. Taking a deep breath she tried to explain.

"Akane, you might be wrong about what you heard. You should talk to Ranma. Where is he?"

"He didn't follow me home; I don't know where he is." Akane wasn't used to not knowing where Ranma was. He was always nearby these days or returned quickly if he had to go somewhere without her. "Kasumi, did you tell Ranma that my birthday was next week?"

"No. You asked me not to. You should tell him. It might hurt his feelings if he finds out from someone else."

"Somehow he knows. Nabiki probably told him, she likes to cause trouble." She felt calmer now and was starting to feel guilty. She knew what she had heard but what if there was a good reason for Ranma to say that. Now that Ranma had found out about her birthday she would have to let him know that she didn't expect him to spend any money on him. "I didn't tell him because I want to ask him for a day together and for him to teach me something new. That way it didn't cost him any money."

"I'm sure you can still ask him for that and I bet he will be glad to spend the day with you."

"I kind of yelled at him today, he might not want to spend time with me at all."

Kasumi hugged her sister and smiled, "He will forgive you for yelling, he always has."

Once Ranma was home again he marched up the stairs, passing Kasumi in the hallway, and knocked on Akane's door. "Open up."

Akane had hoped the knock she heard was Kasumi coming back but it was too loud and obnoxious to be her sweet sister. When she heard Ranma's voice she panicked, scrambling to her mirror she could see her face was still red and puffy. He would be able to tell she had been crying. "Leave me alone."

That reply meant she wasn't ready to talk yet and he started to walk away. Abruptly he stopped and returned to her door. "No." He barged into her room and slammed the door behind him. "You are going to tell me why you think I don't want to be engaged to you. I am not leaving here until you at least explain that."

"I told you to leave me alone." When she got no reply she looked up at Ranma. He was glaring at her with his arms crossed tightly. "Fine be stubborn, I heard you say it. You said that you didn't want to be engaged to me."

"No way, I didn't say that."

"I heard you loud and clear."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Don't play dumb, it was your voice I heard. You said 'I didn't want to be engaged either.'" Akane sat on her bed and stared at her hands. She was squeezing them together trying to distract herself so that she wouldn't start crying again.

Ranma leaned against the wall and tried to think about when he might have said what she was accusing him of. "Did I say this today?" When Akane only nodded he thought about their day. They were together most of the water park and she was in a good mood there. In fact, while they were there she was more worried about him having fun; she wasn't worried about being engaged. She had been the one to use the term 'just friends' earlier today. After the water park her friends had cornered him. It was after that she had started acting weird and wouldn't hold his hand.

He crossed the room and sat down in front on her on the floor and placed his hand on top of hers. Looking up at her to catch her eyes, "Did I say that when Yuka and Sayuri were talking to me?"

Again she nodded not trusting her voice.

"You know, I don't remember saying that but if I did, I didn't mean it. I want to be engaged to you."

"You really don't remember?"

"I remember they pulled me away quickly to hide from you so that they could tell me something important." He wasn't supposed to admit he hadn't known about her birthday so he wasn't really sure how to explain their conversation.

"What was so important?"

"Um… I am supposed to keep it a secret."

"You promised not to keep secrets from me."

"And we both promised to talk to each other before getting mad AND to listen to the other before jumping to conclusions. You broke both of those promises." He had spoken with more anger in his voice than he intended.

Akane heard the anger in his voice but also saw hurt in his eyes. "I did, didn't I? I'm really sorry. I came to find you and heard you shout that and it hurt. Then I thought I must have been a fool. Here I was thinking all this time that you and I were still engaged and now maybe you didn't think the same way." Akane lowered her head even more trying to avoid looking at him.

"I am keeping a secret but it isn't a bad one. Trust me." He tried to think of something he could tell her to cheer her up, "Um… well I guess, they told me that I had to make up for ruining your birthday last year." There, I didn't admit that I didn't know when her birthday was.

She frown at him, "You weren't here for my birthday last year. I was at a party the girls threw for me." She had had a great time at the party; they had laughed and watched movies all night. Ranma had shown up with his father the next day and her life was never the same again.

"That's what I said but apparently I ruined your weekend when Pop and I came here."

"I guess the girls would see it that way, I was in a pretty bad mood at school the following Monday. But that really isn't your fault. I was really mad that Dad had never told me about the possible engagement and then suddenly you were here and we were engaged and didn't want to be."

"Exactly! That's what I…" Ranma's mouth dropped open and he stared wide-eyed at Akane, "You idiot."

"What? Why am I an idiot?"

"That's when I said it."

She sent him a questioning look. He was shaking his head at her and then softly banged his head against her leg. "Ranma?"

"They accused me of ruining your weekend and it was pissing me off because I had no control over it. Pop made me come here instead of finding a cure in China." Ranma stood up and sat on the bed next to Akane. "Yuka said that you didn't want to be engaged last year, which I already knew that, so I said to her something about how I didn't want to be engaged either."

He pulled Akane into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "Do you see now? You heard the end of our conversation. I didn't want to be engaged back then, I wanted to go back to China and find a cure."

"I'm really sorry Ranma. I screwed up."

"Ha, better you than me." He pulled on her chin to make her look him in the eye, "Akane, I love you. I really do like being your fiancé."

"I love you too Ranma." She put her hand on his cheek. She kissed him, keeping it brief and sweet. "This was all my fault."

"It was bound to happen eventually. It is usually mostly my fault." He grinned at her, glad to have figured out what was bothering her and how to fix it. She had scared him when she said they didn't have to be engaged. "You owe me another apology by the way."

"I do? What for?"

"You have been acting like your birthday isn't coming up."

"Oh well, it isn't important."

"Of course it's important. You'll finally be as old as me." His grin was wide as he teased her. "What do you want for your birthday anyway?"

"I want to spend the day with you." She hesitated to ask for the new training yet. "Maybe we could head back to that spot up the mountain that you like and just be alone."

"I'm sure we could do that."

"So if you are older than me… when is your birthday?"

"Uh… well… Jan. 1st."

"We missed it! Kasumi would have cooked you whatever you wanted. Why didn't you say anything?" She watched his face. He seemed sad, obviously it had hurt him that no one mentioned his birthday or bothered to acknowledge it.

"It isn't important."

"But we missed celebrating it."

"Can't miss something you never had."

Akane thought that was an odd statement. "What do you usually do?"

"Just let it go Akane." He had travel with his father for most of his life and more often than not they were broke. There had never been a special meal or a gift. Some years they had been near an area that did fireworks for the New Year and he would pretend they were for him.

"I can't let it go. I need to make it up to you somehow."

"Look we weren't really a couple then so you don't need to feel guilty." He had a bad feeling that she was going to push this until he told her everything. He didn't want her to feel bad for him. So what if he never had friends who would throw him a party. He didn't really regret his life with his father, not until the curse. At least he had learned so many different techniques that it seemed worth it.

"You were at least my friend then, even if we weren't a couple… officially… I loved you and would have wanted to make the day special for you."

He hugged her tight against him. "Thank you. Tell you what? You can have your way next year. So stop worrying."

She had misunderstood Ranma so many times in the past, he forgave her over and over again. "I feel so bad for ruining our day."

"Yeah you ruined it pretty good."

Akane was shocked at what he said. Is he trying to make me feel worse? "I said I was sorry."

"You said you wanted to make up for missing my birthday… how about instead you make up for doubting me."

"Oh… and how should I do that?" She huffed and tried to crawl out of his lap but he held her in place.

"Well I wanted to hold your hand on the walk home." He laced his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand.

Her face softened, "I think I can do that."

"But I think there should be more." His eyes grew mischievous.

Her lips twitched before she leaned forward and pecked his lips. "Something like that?"

"Yeah… something…" He let go of her hand, running his own up the length of her arm, still supporting her back with the other hand. "… but more like…" He spread his fingers across the back of her neck and pressed her lips to his. He deepened the kiss immediately, pouring all his desires from the day into it. As he remembered touching her waist on the slide, her bare waist on display in that bikini, he took the hand at her back and pulled the edge of her shirt from her waistband and pushed under it to feel that smooth skin again. He rubbed and squeezed along her back and waist.

He was driving her crazy; his hand was roaming over her skin, warming it everywhere he touched. She moaned against his mouth and tried to pull away, wanting to give him access to her neck. She felt the hand at her neck tense and he prevented her from pulling out of the kiss. Instead he pushed his tongue against hers and explored her mouth. Not wanting to be outdone, she pushed back with hers until he relented and she moved her tongue over his tongue and cheeks.

Finally he pulled back breathing heavily and planting kisses along her cheek bones and jaw line. Her skin still tasted slightly of chlorine from the park and salt from her tears. "Still not enough." He tossed her on her back on the bed and stretched over her allowing most of his weight to rest beside her. The half of his body that was covering hers was keeping her pinned to the bed. Again he captured her mouth, kissing her until he needed air. His hand found its way back under her shirt to caress the skin of her belly. Her bra was in the way so he traced his fingers lightly along the edge and was rewarded when she shivered beneath him. She panted and moaned as he continued to play with the edges of the lacy undergarment and moved his mouth up and down her neck.

00000

Kasumi called up the stairs that dinner was ready. Nabiki had gotten home a short time ago and went straight to the bath. She had smelled like pool water as she walked past Kasumi. Figuring she had gone to the water park to hassle Ranma and Akane, she didn't tell her sister that they were both already home. She didn't like to lie so she didn't but she also didn't have to give her sister any help getting pictures of the couple. Climbing the stairs she lightly knocked on Akane's door. Her little sister didn't reply, nor did she hear Ranma's voice. She listened for a moment at the door and started to look elsewhere for the pair when she heard her sister moan. Oh dear, I hope she isn't sick. She opened the door to check on Akane. Her hand flew to her heart when she saw them intertwined on the bed. "Oh my!"