It's in His Kiss - Part Six

"Stupid Ranma, anyway," Akane Tendo muttered to herself as she ran through a series of katas, each punch and kick punctuated with sharp annoyance. Alone in the dojo, the gi-clad girl vented her simmering frustrations on unfortunate invisible opponents. In her mind’s eye, however, each of her sparring partners wore their thick black hair in pig tails and managed to cop quite an attitude with her before she walloped the snot out of them.

Ooooh! Why did he have to be such an insensitive bastard? Sure, her cooking was never perfect, but at least she was trying. If only he would cooperate a little more, be willing to try what she made now and then without the complaints and insults, then maybe she wouldn’t feel so discouraged all of the time. He was so irritating! With a vicious snarl, she sent her fabricated Ranma-esque opponent flying out an imaginary window with a satisfying illusionary crash.

Akane let a slight smile cross her face as her next imaginary opponent showed up wearing a yellow and black bandana. She was much easier on him, not because she didn’t think he could take it, but because she liked him. With a sigh, she thought of how, once again, Ryoga had come to her defense against Ranma’s slander that afternoon. He was always so nice to her . . . if she -had- to be stuck with an iinazuke, why couldn’t she had gotten a guy like Ryoga, instead of the uncouth barnyard animal she ended up with? Sure, sometimes Ryoga got a little . . . how could she put it? Overexcited? But Akane thought that his tendency to destroy walls was something she could learn to get used to, given enough time.

Plus, he was damn good-looking to boot! Oh sure, admittedly Ranma was handsome, in a devil-may-care, roguish sort of way. But Ryoga was quite simply gorgeous. After all, what kind of woman -isn’t- attracted to the rugged outdoor type? And he always smelled so good! Like fresh air and the deep woods with a hint of subdued musk, though it seemed there was a different underlying quality to it every time she met him. Akane secretly loved to stand or sit close enough to him to breathe in his scent and wonder where he had been recently. Sometimes she would ask him, but most of the time she refrained. She didn’t want anyone to know that she was interested in him, since she was always going on about how much she hated boys. She’d never hear the end of it if anyone, especially a certain pig tailed jerk, ever found out.

It just wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t her dad have been life-long friends with the Hibikis instead of with the stupid Saotomes? If he had engaged her to Ryoga, Akane would have had to really strain to work up an objection. Heck, she would have gladly married him by this time! Akane imagined that he’d be the perfect husband, loving, strong and caring, and away enough that she wouldn’t feel smothered by him. And he’d probably be a fantastic lover . . .

Akane’s entire body flushed hotly. Oh, those were wicked, wicked thoughts! But, she’d had them before and would undoubtedly have them again. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she wondered what would happen if she poured a little hot water on the P-Chan she held in her arms. Yes, of course she knew that Ryoga was her pet piglet, she wasn’t as blind or stupid as some people (not naming any names, Saotome!) thought she was. In fact, Akane thought that Ryoga’s efforts to keep the truth from her were endearing and amusing. But it wasn’t necessary. The thought that she was holding Ryoga, even in his cursed form, had caused her many sleepless and restless nights.

"Uhm . . . excuse me, Akane?"

Blinking, and realizing that she had stopped practicing and was now standing dreamily in the center of the dojo, Akane was startled to find the object of her fantasizing suddenly standing right in front of her. He was eying her oddly.

"Eeep!" She jumped in start, landing awkwardly in a defensive stance with her hands up and ready to fight. This startled Ryoga as well, and he copied her move, though his landing was a little more graceful than hers.

"Ryoga!" she yipped once she had caught her breath again. "Oh! Oh, you startled me!"

"I’m sorry," he apologized, moving fluidly out of his defensive crouch and into a slight bow.

"That’s okay, don’t worry about it!" Akane assured quickly, then blushed outrageously as she recalled her thoughts concerning this young man. She chuckled nervously, shuffling her feet a bit. "What’s - - what’s up, Ryoga?"

Ryoga wondered why she looked so overheated all of the sudden, then decided it must have been because she was working out. "Ranma’s looking for you," he informed her.

Akane blinked rapidly. Ranma? Ranma? Who the heck cared? As far as she was concerned, Ranma could go to hell, and she told Ryoga this, tugging tightly on the ends of her gi belt for emphasis.

Ryoga looked down, fiddling with his fingers in a nervous manner. "Well, I think he wants to apologize to you for what he said at lunch, Akane," he informed her. He really didn’t look very happy about delivering this news, which wasn’t surprising. Akane knew that Ryoga was more likely to wish her relationship with Ranma ill than otherwise, but he was such an honorable and good-hearted person that he was willing to do whatever he had to for her happiness. And apparently he thought it would make her happy to hear that Ranma wanted to apologize.

Well, not this time. She’d been burned by Ranma far too often to get her hopes up again.

"So what?" she said firmly. "If he really wants to apologize, then he can come in here and find me. I’m not going to him."

"Okay, works for me!" Ranma beamed as he came strolling in. "Hey Akane," he greeted with a cocky wave.

She simmered at him, her mouth drawing down into a pout. Crossing her arms, she turned away, edging a little closer to Ryoga. "Go away," she said haughtily. "I’m not interested in talking to you, not after the way you treated me at lunchtime."

"Aw geeze, Akane," Ranma groused, rubbing the back of his head. "Are you still mad about that? Look, I’m sorry, okay?" He stepped further in, causing her to retreat even closer to Ryoga, who looked ready to bolt at any moment.

"That didn’t sound very sincere, did it Ryoga?" Akane scowled, glancing over her shoulder at Ranma.

Ryoga whined silently and wondered how he had suddenly gotten caught up in this, and why she kept moving closer to him. Though he had managed to get a handle on his infatuation with Akane enough that he could now talk to her somewhat coherently most of the time, her near presence was setting off the old shyness alarms. "Ah . . . " he hedged, glancing at Ranma with the look of a cornered bunny rabbit. "Uhm . . . well, no . . . not really."

Ranma shot him a look that playfully said, ‘Traitor,’ then turned his attention back to Akane. "Well, let’s see . . . " he mused, putting his fingers to his chin. "How could I prove my sincerity? Sincere . . . sincere . . . sincere . . . what do you think Ryoga?"

Ryoga was thinking it was time for him to get the hell out of there. Before he could answer, however, a blood vessel somewhere in his head that was undoubtedly very important almost burst when Akane grabbed onto his arm protectively, pressing herself close to him and glaring at Ranma.

"You leave Ryoga out of this, Ranma!" she ordered, obviously forgetting that she had also just asked for the Lost Boy’s opinion on the state of things.

Ranma frowned. What the heck was she being all mother-hen-ish over Ryoga for? "Oh, I ain’t bothering Ryoga," he grumbled. "C’mon, Akane, I came in here to apologize. And I really do mean it this time, okay?"

Her grip on Ryoga’s arm loosened a bit, much to the boy’s relief, for he was able to commence breathing once more. Akane looked at Ranma for a long moment, her eyes softening as she tried to decide whether or not to believe him.

Ranma softened too, a small fond smile sneaking onto his lips. He moved in closer and took her hand. "I think I know how I can prove it," he told her gently, in a tone that was quiet and caring. He drew her away from Ryoga, pulling her towards himself.

"Wh - what are you doing?" Akane tried to frown, but couldn’t quite manage it. She was startled by how tender he suddenly seemed. Almost as if mesmerized, she let him pull her close, take her other hand as well, and gaze down at her. For a brief moment, Ryoga was the farthest thing from her mind.

"Akane," Ranma began. The dojo around them drifted away, and a strange haziness filled the space it left behind. Behind the couple, soft pink flowers sprang into being, each petal sparkling with a small perfect drop of dew. Rainbow colored twinkles drifted through the air. Ranma ignored this rather unsettling event and simply looked deeply into Akane eyes, as she was looking into his. They really were nice eyes, he decided privately. So deep and brown and soft. Kinda like . . . erm . . . sort of like . . . hey, Ryoga’s eyes were brown too, weren’t they?

Yeah so?

"Ranma?" Akane replied quizzically when he didn’t finish his statement. She blinked slowly, a shimmering aura of soft white light gently whispering around her body, a side effect of their suddenly soft and spring flower fresh surroundings. "What . . . ?"

Ranma let a smirk out to play on his lips. He leaned down closer to her. "I’m proving my sincerity, Akane. Brace yourself," he breathed huskily. "I’m going to kiss you."

Somewhere outside the little pastel world around Ranma and Akane, Ryoga was stuck in a gloomy frigid wasteland, complete with glaciers and ice fog. A stark spotlight clicked on above him, highlighting the fact that he was staring at the couple with something very close to pain in his deep soft, yes - brown eyes. Interestingly enough, however, his gaze was not resting on Akane.

But she drew his attention soon enough, by violently breaking the two spells that had been woven. Her face darkened at Ranma’s words, eyes narrowing, and her hands tightened in his, causing him to wince sharply.

"You’re going to WHAT?!" she demanded shrilly. "Oh no! There’s no way I’m letting you put your arrogant egotistical self-centered lips on me, Ranma! You think that kissing me is gonna prove your sincerity?! You have got to be out of your mind!" With that, she yanked away from him, a little angry vortex in her wake. "Brace myself? You conceited bastard! "

Ranma was looking mighty blank and more than a little confused. "Wait a minute . . . you mean you -don’t- want me to kiss you?" The very thought seemed rather inconceivable to him.

"Why would I want that?!" Akane hissed, hands in tight fists at her side. "Ooo! You are such a . . . a . . . " she groped for a word that would do him proper justice.

"Egomaniac," Ryoga supplied helpfully, a bit startled by this interesting turn of events himself.

"Yes! Thank you, Ryoga," Akane nodded. She yanked her Mallet-sama out of hammer-space and lifted it menacingly.

The pig tailed boy took a few hasty steps backwards, then pointed at himself incredulously. "ME?! An egomaniac?! And -you- keep out of this, P-Chan." Ranma shot a glower at Ryoga.

Ryoga turned white, whether from fear of exposure or anger it wasn’t possible to say. A storm of conflicting emotions clouded his face and his traditional response sprang immediately out of his mouth. "Who you calling - - "

"RANMA NO BAKA!!" Akane interrupted forcefully, swinging the mallet that Ranma should have been avoiding. It connected with a hard sounding *TWAK!* and launched the pig tailed boy with all the effectiveness of liquid hydrogen fuel. Debris from the shattered roof rained down all around both the furious Akane and dumbfounded Ryoga.

"Jerk," the dark haired girl decided, straightening and calmly returning her NASA-registered propulsion device to hammer-space. Whirling, she grabbed Ryoga by the hand and proceeded to drag him out of the dojo. "C’mon, Ryoga! Dinner should be ready. Let’s go eat."

Even as he was yanked along, Ryoga turned and gazed at the hole in the roof, the tip of one fang showing thoughtfully. As they left the dojo, he scowled to himself, brows lowering over the sad light in his eyes.

**************************************

It was well into the night when Ranma finally made it back to the Tendo residence, and by the time he arrived, his anger had pretty much subsided and he’d had the time to give this entire situation the thought it probably deserved. The house was dark, as it looked like everyone had long since retired for the night, and only a few lanterns lit the yard with a warm inviting glow.

He hopped over the wall into the back yard, and wasn’t terribly surprised to find Ryoga resting beside the koi pond, laying on his back with his head propped up against his pack. His eyes were tightly closed, thick black lashes laying against his cheeks in a manner that made him seem very innocent and vulernable. Ranma reflected that it had been a pretty rough day for the Lost Boy, what with being dragged around everywhere, running from Mousse, getting drugged by Kodachi . . .

Ranma resisted the nearly overwhelming urge to splash the boy with water from the pond.

Instead, he poked Ryoga with a toe. "Hey," he said lightly. "You know, there are beds in the house."

Ryoga blinked himself awake and sat up slowly, using a fist to grind grit out of his eye. "Huh?" he muttered intelligently.

"What are you doing out here? I’m sure Kasumi invited you to stay the night," Ranma commented, dropping down to sit cross-legged beside him.

"Oh, uh, yeah. She did," Ryoga yawned, fangs flashing in the low light. "But I wanted to head for home, you know? So I left."

Ranma waited for a heat beat, then prompted. "And?"

"And," Ryoga looked away to hide his embarrassment. "I got lost and ended up back here. By that time everyone was asleep and I didn’t want to disturb anyone, so I figured I’d just catch a few hours sleep out here."

The pig tailed boy smiled fondly. "You are something else, P-Chan. C’mon, you can sleep in my room, we’ll just push the panda aside." He got to his feet and stretched, working the kinks out of his joints. "Damn, its been a long day."

"I hear that," Ryoga agreed, also standing. He looked extremely bleary and his hair was in even more disarray than usual. He hefted his pack and trudged after Ranma, who wasn’t moving all too fast himself.

"So?" Ryoga asked, suppressing another yawn.

"So what?" Ranma fumbled in his pant’s pocket for a moment for the key to the back door, hoping he hadn’t lost it during his flight.

"So, who’s it gonna be?" Ryoga frowned and fished in one of the pouches on his pack for his own key. He handed it to Ranma, who eyed him speculatively for a moment, before remembering that he’d given the key to Ryoga himself quite some time ago in case the Lost Boy ever needed to get in and assume his role as P-Chan. Or whatever. Nodding his thanks, he unlocked the door and slid it open quietly.

They stepped in and locked up again. Glancing towards the kitchen, Ranma stopped Ryoga. "Hungry?" he whispered.

Ryoga shook his head. He’d eaten plenty at dinner. Both Kasumi and Akane had made sure.

Ranma had not enjoyed such privilege. He pulled Ryoga into the kitchen, flicked on the light and dove into the refrigerator, looking for leftovers. Finding lots of bits and pieces, and pointedly avoiding a green container that seemed to be breathing (presumably left from lunch), he loaded his arms with whatever he could carry and stumbled over to the counter to spread it all out and see what he could put together.

"Akane," he said.

Ryoga, leaning against the counter, was slipping back into a state of half-sleep. He started at the sudden sound of Ranma’s voice and squinted at him. "What?"

"I said, Akane. She’s the one I’m picking." Ranma busied himself with unwrapping food and stuffing said food into his mouth without benefit of plate or utensils.

Ryoga wondered if he hadn’t heard right. "Akane? But - - but, you didn’t kiss her. She malleted you into orbit."

"Exactly!" Ranma agreed, gesturing with a rather stiff dried squid. "She’s a challenge! And she’s the only one who ain’t willing to kiss me, well except for Mousse and Mikado, which makes her that much more fascinating."

"I’m afraid I don’t understand your line of reasoning," Ryoga shook his head. "You mean, you want her because she doesn’t want you?"

Ranma thought about it for a moment, then nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

Whether it was lingering traces of Kodachi’s stew, the fact that he wasn’t really awake, or just exasperation over the events of the day, Ryoga suddenly felt rather ill. He sighed lowly and raised his eyes to gaze at the boy who was stuffing his face. Something in his chest began to hurt. The Lost Boy was used to the feeling of being left out, as he’d become intimately familiar with it over the sixteen long lonely years of his life, and the pain he felt deep within was reminiscent of that feeling. He had to wonder, though, why he was feeling it now? Why did it hurt as surely as if he were being disregarded and over-looked?

The whole idea was perfectly ridiculous.

"Well," Ranma said around a mouthful of rice balls. "That should hold me til morning." He shoved his mess to one side, knowing that Kasumi would clean it up in the morning, and turned to Ryoga. "Let’s go hit the hay."

The Lost Boy swallowed hard. "Akane?" he asked softly, a small quaver in his voice.

"Yeah, that’s what I said. " Ranma eyed him strangely for a moment, then lost himself in the thoughts he’d been pondering all night while walking home. "When I really think about it, Akane’s pretty okay. I mean, she’s not bad to look at. She’s got nice brown eyes, have you noticed? She acts all tough and hard on the outside, but her eyes are soft and kinda shy, you know? Shampoo’s one hot kisser, but there’s just something about Akane . . . I dunno. Fierce and vulnerable all at the same time. It’s a neat combination."

Ranma paused thoughtfully, fixing his gaze on Ryoga. "Its kinda weird, but sometimes she reminds me of you, P-Chan. Funny, huh?"

Ryoga tightened his fists and set his face firmly in an effort not to react. "Yeah," he muttered. "That’s just hilarious."

Ranma patted him roughly on the back. "Let’s get some sleep, buddy."

The bandanna’d boy pulled away, hefting his pack up onto his shoulder. His very aura radiated tired disappointment that Ranma picked up on, but didn’t understand.

"No," Ryoga shook his head, heading through the diningroom to the back door, Ranma trailing after him. "Th - that’s okay. I’m just gonna head for home."

"Don’t be an idiot," Ranma argued, stopping him with a firm hand to the arm. "You couldn’t find your home if it were next door, and you sure as hell ain’t gonna find it at this time of night. You’re tired and it’s pitch black out. Just spend the night here, and I’ll walk you home in the morning, okay?"

"No," Ryoga insisted, not daring to look at him, afraid that Ranma would see the tears building in his eyes and question him about it. How could he explain when he didn’t even understand it himself? He simply flinched away and slid the door open. Before Ranma could protest further, Ryoga dashed away, springing easily over the wall and disappearing into the night.

Ranma watched him go, feeling a bit unsettled and disturbed, without knowing why. Was Ryoga acting stranger than usual? It sort of seemed that way, but then the directionally challenged martial artist had always been difficult to figure out. Just like Akane.

He chuckled to himself as he slid the door shut for the final time. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Akane and Ryoga -were- a lot alike. All of those properties that Ranma found the most attractive; strength, vulnerability, fighting ability, shyness, power and uncertainty, could be found in them both. Interesting that he had never really noticed that before.

Oh well. He’d better get to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a very big day. As he crept up the stairs so that he wouldn’t wake anyone, Ranma rehearsed in his head exactly how he was going to tell Akane that he had made his choice.

She was the one.

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