Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2

AN: Happy Holidays readers :) I hope you have a safe and joyous occasion no matter what you believe, celebrate or don't celebrate. The winter solstice is behind us so that means for those of us in the northern hemisphere the days are officially getting longer again. I won't be updating again until after Christmas. Enjoy and as always R&R.

Chapter 9 – Nabiki's offer

Both Ranma and Akane continued their blind fighting training after school the next couple of days. Ranma still only used their fathers to help him train and locked her out of the dojo while he worked. He knew it irritated her but he couldn't do the training he needed to do while she was in there, especially after their talk with Kasumi. The two men had tried all kinds of things to distract him both while blind folded and not. His father took particular pleasure in coming up with some very perverted taunts. He felt a little better about himself when the sight of her bras and underwear didn't faze him. He had been a little concerned that he would be like Happosai but the undergarments were easy to ignore. The knowledge that if Akane found out they had been stolen from her drawer to use for training she would beat them all senseless was enough to make sure he locked her out of the dojo each day.

"Put her underwear back before we all get in really big trouble. Besides, they don't distract me at all." Ranma was growing irritated with the two older men. The things they were coming up with for training were stupid. "This isn't working right."

A loud banging on the door had them all scrambling to hide the bras and panties. Ranma opened the door a small fraction and peeked out at Akane. "What do you want?"

"Dinner is ready. I considered letting it go cold before I told you but Kasumi wouldn't let me."

Oh boy. "Um… okay… thanks." Ranma grabbed the bag from his father, masked his aura and took off for Akane's room.

Akane was walking back to the house when she thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Concentrating hard on the direction of the movement, she saw a slight shift again but this time below her window. Running back inside, she mounted the stairs two at a time and threw her door open. "Ranma I know you are in here."

When he didn't answer she closed her eyes as her battle aura flared. I see it. The blue hue was trying to climb out the window. Grabbing her mallet she sent him flying into the koi pond. Ha, now why was he sneaking in here? She then noticed one of her drawers slightly open. Sliding it the rest of the way open it revealed her bras and panties and they were not neatly folded how she usually kept them. She felt her aura flare again and she struggled to not lose her temper. She didn't really want to get mad at him so she repeated to herself over and over again that he was training, that she was a distraction and he needed to improve. Did he have to use my bras though? Something had to be done.

She calmly descended the stairs and sat at the table beside Ranma. The red head scooted away from her and gave her a guilty look. Akane tried to smile pleasantly at her but failed miserably. She had gotten increasingly irritable over the last couple of days. Being locked out of the dojo was frustrating but things between her and Ranma had also become awkward since their talk with Kasumi. It was almost like they were back to the way things were before they admitted their feelings. Certain things continued like he held her hand when they were out together and he still kissed her goodnight every night, but the playfulness and the closeness that she had gotten used to were gone.

It wasn't entirely his fault. She found herself starting to take action and then stopping, doubting herself, and wondering if he would take it the wrong way. She knew Kasumi meant well and was worried about them. She could also logically reason that her sister was right to bring up sex and the responsibilities that came with it, but it hurt to have things be strained between them.

Glancing at the girl beside her who refused to meet her eyes, "Ranma, can we train after dinner?"

"Um… yeah… sure." What is going on with her? Things had been weird between them and only seemed to be getting weirder. She constantly wondered what Akane had meant when she said she wasn't ready. Was she uncomfortable with some of the things they had already done? Or was she just talking about sex? Whenever the urge to kiss her, really kiss her, was there she backed off, afraid of doing something she wasn't ready to do.

When Akane finished she returned to her room to change, this time wearing her gi as normal. After jumping out her window she looked back to the dinner table. Ranma and her father were arguing over extra helpings but as she turned to walk away Genma sailed past her and landed in the pond. The thing she found most amazing about her life today was that her panties being stolen for training and a wet panda streaking past her constituted normal. She waited in the dojo with the blind fold in her hand.

Ranma had had it with her father's antics, grabbing her bowl of rice back she set it down on table before reaching for Genma's gi and pitching him over her head into the pond. She saw Akane jump down from her window and head for the dojo. Time to apologize. She finished her food, thanked Kasumi for the meal and walked to the dojo.

Sliding the door open she was surprised to see Akane sitting in the middle of the floor, usually she liked to stretch and warm up if she had to wait. "You okay?"

"Yeah," She stood up and handed the blind fold to Ranma. A question she really wanted to ask stalled on her lips. She wanted to know if they were going to be okay but how did she ask that without sounding like she was blaming it all on her fiancé?

Ranma looked back at her with downturned lips, "Why are you handing me the blind fold?"

"Can I watch you use your chi to track me? Maybe I can do better if I watch you again." Again she tried to smile at him.

"Yeah… okay… sure." She tied it over her eyes tightly, "Um… Akane I am sorry I borrow your …um … things."

She groaned, "Did you really have to take mine? You have a couple sets."

"I am not Happosai," she heard the venom in her voice and tried to calm down, "besides it was Pop's idea not mine."

"Is your training working?"

"Don't really know. I don't lose my focus at the mention or sight of your underwear if that is what you are asking."

"How much longer are you going to steal my things? That is really annoying by the way." Even though Ranma couldn't see her, she snarled anyway.

"I am done with that, it was stupid anyway. I really am sorry."

"Good," She started moving around him and of course the redhead tracked her easily. She wasn't good at masking her aura, but she tried regardless.

Ranma could tell she wanted to try and hide from her, Akane feelings were always right on her face let alone her aura. She would need a lot more practice to develop a decent soul of ice and even more to completely mask her aura. Still tracking the girl's movement she mentally added it to the growing list of techniques to teach her soon.

Akane focused on her fiancé's aura, "Bring it up stronger."

Ranma complied and let the energy of her chi flow over her skin brighter. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm not sure yet." She moved around her in a circle. Every time she moved the aura seemed to shift towards her and Ranma's movement wasn't far behind. The aura almost looked like it was leading the way to the opponent. Akane knew that a great deal of Ranma's chi came from confidence and his enormous ego. "So you follow where your chi tells you to go?"

"What do you mean? I can see your aura and I attack it."

"Um… I'm not sure. I thought I saw something." With a sigh, she calmly walked over and removed the blind fold, "Guess I should focus on trying to see your aura better."

Ranma set their timer while she waited for her to secure the blind fold before moving silently around her. It didn't take long for Akane to be able to track her fairly well and soon was able to return to lightly attacking her. When she nearly clocked her in the face she was forced to block Akane's attack. The two girls continued to dance around each other lightly sparring until the timer buzzed.

"Akane you are doing really well. I'll mask my aura sometime in the next day or two to increase the challenge. Okay?"

"Whatever"

"You're still mad at me." Ranma was getting frustrated with her lack of fire. She was always so animated when they trained.

"I'm not really mad; I know it is important that you train. I just hate being left out. I also hate how things have been off between us lately." She sighed and rested her head against Ranma's shoulder, "I miss us."

Those last words were an echo of what the redhead's heart had been screaming the past few days. She put her arms around Akane's shoulders and felt her fiance's hands reach around to hug at her own waist. They stood like that for several minutes with Ranma occasionally nuzzling her fiancé's soft dark hair with her cheek. The scent from her strawberry shampoo still lingered in her hair but only very lightly.

Akane lifted her head away from Ranma's shoulder. "I'm…" She didn't get to finish as soft lips were suddenly pressed against hers. She only allowed herself a brief moment of shock before sinking into the kiss.

Ranma only deepened the kiss slightly, instead enjoying lightly nipping at her mouth and savoring her unique flavor. This was a small part of what had been missing the last few days. Reluctantly she pulled back from Akane, "I've missed us too."

Akane smiled and hugged her tightly, laying her head back down and pressing her nose against Ranma's neck. "That is the first time you have ever kissed me like this."

Ranma crinkled her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean? I have kissed you lots of times."

"Not when you are a girl. You always let me kiss you but you never start it." She brought her lips to Ranma's neck and lightly kissed the skin above her shirt collar.

She could feel a blush forming. Akane is right. She was so relieved to be holding her and to know that they both hated the distance that had developed between them that she forgot she had been bunted into the pond earlier. That wasn't as weird as I used to think it would be. Leaning her head against Akane's she smiled and played with the ends of her dark hair. "You are the one who sent me to go swimming with your fish."

Akane giggled, "You deserved it; you stole my underwear."

"I supposed you are right." She tugged on Akane's hair to get her to look up and gave her a quick peck on the lips. She still blushed a little but it was worth it.

00000

The lone figure was sitting high in a tree banging their head against the trunk. The trail had led them to the shrine but there was nothing useful there. It had not been full of recovered artifacts but rather there were pictures of the artifacts with no information about where they were being stored. The shrine monk had bored them to tears with the long history of the shrine and the efforts to save it and the ongoing work to recover more pieces from the areas touched by lava. How much soot and ash can one man talk about? He had followed them around the whole time talking and talking and talking. They had to sneak into a public restroom for cold water in order to escape. Looking in the mirror the image staring back enraged the figure. Everything was Ranma and Akane's fault; their life wouldn't be ruined now if it weren't for those two. Getting out of here would be easier now they looked different, but they could still attract unwanted attention.

As the figure was musing how to best to proceed, a couple of people enter the same restroom facility in unusual outfits. They had fake ears on their heads and were wearing wigs. Following them out, where they met up with more friends also dressed in costumes, the lone figure slipped into the group. Along with the group of half-demon cosplayers, who were apparently on some sort of scavenger hunt, they made their getaway.

00000

While Akane was bathing, Ranma sat in his room and pulled out a small pouch from under the small dresser he shared with his father. He had made sure Pop was busy playing shogi as usual with Mr. Tendo before sneaking upstairs. He dumped the small collection of coins and bills into his hand and counted what he had, hoping against all odds that there was more there somehow.

1250 yen. Damn! Kasumi had given him a few ideas; perfume, scented bath oil, flowers or a new book. They were all good ideas and they were all things he could probably afford. Guess I will go shopping after school tomorrow. He shuddered. The idea of shopping without knowing exactly what he was going to buy gave him goose bumps.

Nabiki slid the door open and watched with satisfaction as Ranma jumped and stumbled away, hiding something behind his back. "Decide what to get Akane for her birthday yet?"

"Sort of"

"I have a proposal for you."

"Not interested"

"Even if it would mean more than enough money to get her a nice gift AND take her out someplace fancy?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Here," she handed him a flyer. "Read this over. The prize money would be really helpful to your cause."

The flyer was advertising a tournament, something called mixed martial arts. Nabiki was right; the prize money would be enough to buy the necklace. "What's the catch?"

"You keep the prize money but you listen to me and win each round the way I tell you to."

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Simple, I can make far more than 10,000 yen taking bets on the fights. But if you win the fights too easily nobody will bet against you."

"Of course no one would bet against me. I don't lose."

"Stupid, I am not asking you to lose. Just don't show off, I know that is hard for you not to do, and draw out a few fights. Make it look like you had to work hard to win."

"This is great!"

"Akane will definitely forgive you when you give her something really nice."

"Forgive me?"

She stepped over to him and walked her fingers down the page until they came to rest on the date of the tournament, "This Saturday."

"That's the day I am supposed to spend with Akane." He also noticed below the date was the location of the tournament. It was on the other side of Tokyo from Nerima and he hadn't been far away from Akane since Jusenkyo.

She pulled the flyer out of his hands, "I guess you can't go then."

"I have a little money; I will just find her something with what I have." The thought of the prize money had been exciting but disappointing Akane and being involved with one of Nabiki's schemes didn't sit right with him.

"Have it your way." She turned and walked out of the room. Stopping at the edge of the doorway she waited until she heard Ranma moving around his room again. Peeking around the corner, she smirked and calmly returned to her room.

Ranma hid the pouch back under the dresser and stretched out on his futon, waiting to hear Akane return to her room. As soon as he heard the distinctive pattern of her foot falls he jumped up and met her in front of her door. She was poking at the arm of her pajamas and frowning.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"My pajamas have a hole in them. I will have to ask Kasumi to mend them." Akane walked into her room and Ranma followed behind her and closed the door. When she turned to say something to him, he looked nervous so instead she waited until he spoke first.

"Um Akane… I'm glad we are back to normal." He stood in front of her with his fingers pressed together, "We are back to normal right?"

"Yeah," she took his hands in hers and put them around her waist. Stretching her arms up to link her hands behind his head and pulling him to her, she kissed him soundly. When he smiled at her, she glared back. "I still don't like being left out of your training."

He gave her a half smile and pecked her on the lips, "Deal with it."

00000

Nabiki heard Akane's door close and peeked out of her room. The hallway was empty so she carefully crept to the guest room, stole inside and tugged on the small string sticking out from under the dresser. She had a good idea that was Ranma's hiding spot for treats and money. She pulled on the string until a small part of a pouch was just barely visible, smiling to herself she returned to her room.

00000

The panda returned to his room after several games of shogi with his friend Soun and noticed that for the first time in a few days Ranma wasn't already asleep in the room. Must have made up with Akane. He and Soun had been very worried lately about Ranma and Akane's behavior. It was obvious to the entire house that something was wrong, neither were smiling or laughing, especially with each other. He wasn't sure what his fool son had done wrong to cause this problem but he was glad it seemed to be over. If only the two would get married and join the schools.

It perplexed Genma that Ranma's training wasn't going better. They had tried almost everything; this would obviously require some extreme measures to eliminate the boy's weakness. While he was adjusting his blanket he noticed something sticking out from under the dresser. Hmmm… I wonder what that is. Does the boy think he can hide something from me? A sharp tug on the exposed string revealed a pouch and a quick shake told him exactly what was in it. Where is Ranma getting money? He tucked the pouch into his own drawer and went to sleep, dreaming of the sake he would share with his friend tomorrow evening.

Ranma returned to his futon to find his father thankfully already asleep and snoring. Not that the snoring would make it easy to get to sleep but at least he didn't have to deal with his father's comments about marriage, weaknesses or anything else. He stretched out with his arms behind his head and felt content finally and was happy the awkwardness was finally gone between Akane and him.

They had talked and laughed for about an hour in her room before she announced she was sleepy. She had chased him around the room with her mallet when he mentioned that the pigs on her pajamas looked like P-chan. He had tackled her to the ground and stolen the mallet to get her to stop and wanted to kiss her senseless to distract her but apparently they were a little too loud in their enthusiasm and Nabiki had knocked on the wall, yelling something about getting a room.

They were both properly mortified and settled down to quietly talk for a little longer before Ranma returned to the guest bedroom.

Akane was also thinking in her own room. She had been surprised to discover that Ranma was worried he had pressured her into doing something she didn't want to do. She had spent a year thinking Ranma only thought about himself, he was certainly egotistical but he also worried about the people he cared for. When she really thought hard about it, that was what she had slowly fallen in love with, he had always been there for her when it mattered most. She couldn't wait to spend the day alone with him this Saturday.