From: skeezy5 
Subject: [Ranma][Fanfic] Birthdays - Ranma


*Note* - This actually was posted to the RAAC over a month ago.
        For some strange reason, it never made it into the main
        archive or the TASS mirror, so I'm posting again.  Very
        minor grammatical changes only.
=======================
Michael Won 
=======================

Birthdays - Ranma
        by skeezy5

=======================

Ranma 1 / 2 etc. all belong to Rumiko Takahashi...

=======================

        "You know Ranma, you really look like a girl with your hair untied
like that."  Ranma raised his head up from where it rested on the ledge
of the pool.  He looked over to see Akane glide along the edge of the
hot pool and gracefully sit down in the snow behind him.  With a
thoughtful look, she reoriented herself ninety degrees to the left.
        "I'd say that's the least of my worries in the gender identity
area..."  Ranma muttered.  Making sure his towel was firmly around his
waist, he pulled himself slightly out of the water and turned ninety
degrees to the right, leaning towards her so that his right shoulder
almost touched her arm.  The night air felt like icy tendrils, wrapping
themselves around his upper chest as it exposed itself out of the
protection of the warm water.
        Though her comment stung, it was too much of a relief to finally
be able to untie his pig-tail as a guy for him to mind much.  Even if it
had been a while since the Dragon's Whisker's magic had worn off, he had
rarely enjoyed the feeling.  Still, he couldn't let her totally get away
with a comment like that, could he?  "Besides, I'm not the only person
around here who might be mistaken for a different gender..."
        "Oh really?"  The steel behind her voice was not a hint, but a
finely tempered blade.  Leaning his weight on his right forearm, he
turned his head to look at her.  She was dressed once again in a dark
kimono, much like the one she had worn at the other hot springs...
        *Is it worth it?*  Ranma silently wondered.  A little comment, a
quick smirk, then a small wait before the fuse burned down...  Nah, he
was enjoying the view way too much to ruin it like that.  As much as
instinct, temptation, and pride tugged at him, he shook off the urge.
"Yeah, at least I actually turn into a female.  Now Tsubasa on the other
hand..."
        He could see the muscles that had tensed up in her neck visibly
relax as she  slowly calmed down.  Her profile was dimly lit by the
moonlight, highlighting the line of her chin and accentuating the curve
of her lips.  The shadow cast by her nose almost seemed to caress her
cheek.  No, he was definitely enjoying the view too much to ruin it like
that.  "So how'd you know I was out here?"
        "Hmph.  You weren't in the room after complaining all evening long
about how chilly it was.  Since you weren't all wrapped up in a blanket
next to the heater, I guessed you were out here."  She began to turn her
head to look at him, but then jerked away, realizing that he was already
looking at her.
        Ranma smiled faintly, waiting a few moments before asking the
question that he knew she wanted him to ask.  "So, what brings you out
here?"  Then, with a smirk, he added, "Hoping to catch me flirting with
some other woman?"
        "Gees, if you're going to be that way!  I just thought you might
want something to eat!"  Ranma noticed the tray that Akane had set down
next to her feet for the first time.  She'd brought some snacks and a
bottle of cold water that looked awfully delicious to a man who'd been
sitting in the hot tub for a bit too long.
        "Arigato, Akane.  That was very thoughtful of you..."  Ranma
carefully brought his left hand to rest on her right arm, feeling it
shudder for a moment and then relax.  He traced his index finger along
the hem of her sleeve, slowly coming to a rest on her wrist.
        "Its.. its no big deal."  She slowly, almost regretfully, pulled
her arm away from under his touch, reaching over to grab the tray and
bring it next to him.  The small plate of food she had assembled was
bits of all of his favorites.  As his grin grew even wider, a
terrorizing thought suddenly gripped his stomach.
        "You... you didn't make them yourself, did you?"  He asked
tentatively, trying to sound as smooth as possible.  He winced,
listening to his voice betray his fear.
        "RANMA..."  As Ranma reflexively cringed, Akane suddenly relaxed
and looked at him, smiling sweetly.  The moment of fear gone, Ranma
could only vapidly stare at her, all thoughts taking leave of his mind.
In that rare moment of clarity, he realized that he should probably say
something to appease her.
        "Umm...  I didn't mean nothing by that..."  He bashed himself
inside his head for sounding so lame.
        "Then what did you mean?"
        "Huh?"  He could only notice how a strand of her hair became
untucked from behind her ear as she leaned forward a bit.
        "If you didn't mean nothing, you must've meant something, didn't
you?"  Akane smiled at him coyly.
        "Uhh...  I meant, umm, you shouldn't have troubled yourself! Yeah!
I appreciate it a lot!"  He almost grimaced, knowing that he'd just
signed his death warrant if she'd actually made them...
        "Domo arigato Ranma, that means a lot to me."  She moved her left
hand to his cheek, where it felt like fire against his skin.  He gulped
hard, feeling his heartbeat quicken and his face flush.  He could feel
her breath on his face now, so close had she leaned forward.  *She's
so...*  His thought was broken as she whispered, "You're supposed to
close your eyes right now, dummy."
        As Ranma slowly shut his eyes, Akane traced her finger along his
cheek bone and then down to his mouth.  It parted slightly under the
gentle pressure.  *Is she going to...  Are we going to...*  As her
finger withdrew, he held his breath in silent anticipation.  He could
feel her hot breath on his lips as the moment seemed to spread out to
eternity.  And then he suddenly felt it enter his mouth...

@->-

        "Honto kawaiikune!" Ranma muttered,  toweling the last of the
water out of his hair as he plopped down on his futon.  "I should've
dunked her in the pool for that stunt..."
        The image of Akane sauntering off after putting the cookie in his
mouth irked him again.  To add insult to injury, she had turned around
and stuck her tongue out at him once she was a safe distance away from
being splashed by the still recovering Ranma.  "Stupid tomboy..."
        "Saying something?"  Ranma whirled around as Akane stepped out of
the bedroom  into the main room.  She was still smiling mischievously
from her little prank and would've looked absolutely alluring to anyone
else, dressed only in her thin pajamas.  Ranma, however, was not anyone
else.
        "Be quiet.  I'm not talking to you."  Ranma huffed and turned
away, finding a blank spot on the wall terribly interesting.  Akane's
small giggle only served to irk him more.  He tried to ignore the soft
rustle as she walked up to where he sat.
        "So why haven't you tied your hair back up yet?"  She crouched
down in front of him, prompting him to spin around.
        "I couldn't find the string I was tying it with.  And I am NOT
talking to you."
        "You couldn't find the string?  How weird."  The playfulness in
her voice said that she didn't find it weird at all, but rather amusing.
        "Yeah well, I DON'T CARE!"  Ranma ended on a crescendo, trying to
appear as if he was still mad, but even to himself , he sounded like he
was losing steam.
        "Oh, don't be such a baby.  Here, let me braid your hair.  It
wouldn't do to have my iinazuke looking like a woman."  She brought a
hand down on his shoulder, keeping him from getting away.  Ranma scowled
but stopped struggling, resigned to his fate.  Akane picked up the comb
next to Ranma's towel and slowly began to brush through his hair.
        "Ouch!"  Ranma winced as a tangle in his hair got caught on the
comb.
        "Don't be such a wimp.  I didn't tug that hard."  Akane carefully
worked out the knot and continued to comb his hair out.  Ranma sulked,
wondering how they could get along so well at times, while be at each
others throats the very next moment.  Still, it had been a good week,
away from their families and friends/rivals. There was a sense of
relaxation between him and Akane that really hadn't existed since all
the fiancees had started to show up.  Little arguments that would have
ended with him entering low earth orbit had only resulted in silly
pranks like the one she had just pulled.  All in all, it wasn't bad.
He'd have to remember to thank Nabiki for it when he got back...
        "There, all done."  He shook his head slightly and felt the
comfortable weight of his pig-tail bat his shoulder.  He stopped himself
from thanking her, reminding himself that he was still mad at her.
        "Aren't you going to go look in the mirror to see that I've done
it correctly?"
        "No, even a tomboy like you couldn't mess this up."  He shrugged
slightly, as Akane bopped him lightly on the head, more of a pat then a
hit.
        "Psh.  At least you could say thanks."  Ranma violently fought
with himself as he felt her hands gently rest on his shoulders, trying
very hard to convince himself that he was still mad.  That was rapidly
becoming more and more difficult as he felt her breath on his ear.  *I
am not falling for this again...  I am not falling for this again...*
        "Happy Birthday, Ranma..."
        And with the whisper, she was suddenly gone.  He turned his head,
surprised, and watched her walking away back to her room.  There was a
slight spring in her gait, making her look like a small child happily
skipping along.  Not wanting her to get away like that, Ranma called
out, "Hey, don't I even get a birthday present?"
        She spun around and struck a glamour pose, smiling coyly.  "What
kind of a girl do you take me for, Ranma-sama?"
        He could feel his face burn as it became even more flushed by what
she implied.  Ranma was getting very annoyed, getting one upped by her
at every turn like that.  He opened his mouth, trying to think of
something clever to say, but couldn't come up with anything.  "Hrmph!"
        "Oyasumi-nasai, Ranma-sama,"  Akane called sweetly as she slid the
door shut, "Hope you're not too cold sleeping out here."

@->-

        "Brr... Chilly."  Ranma grumbled, stepping on to the cold tiles
that lined the bathroom floor.  While the smaller bedroom that Akane
slept in was well warmed, the spacious main room was frigid, the small
space heater being inadequate to the job of keeping it warm.  Ever being
the gentleman, he had let Akane take the bedroom, but was intensely
regretting it now as he passed through her room to get to the bathroom.
        After taking care of business, Ranma looked at himself in the
mirror as he washed his hands.  He flicked his head lightly, getting the
pig-tail to swing to a rest on his shoulder.  "Yup, not even a tomboy
like you could mess it up."
        As he began to turn away, he noticed a bit of red at the tip of
his pig-tail, where it was tied, and looked at it closely.  Was some of
his hair not changing back in color when he transformed?  Upon closer
inspection, Ranma realized that Akane had tied his hair in place with a
length of red string.  "Ugh.  Why do you have to be so girlie
sometimes?", he muttered.  "A guy wouldn't be caught dead with his hair
tied with red string..."
        *Red string?  Doesn't that mean...*  Ranma shut the lights off and
stepped back into the bedroom, quietly, so as to not wake Akane.  She
had beat the pulp out of him the first night, when he had woken her up
on the way to the bathroom.  Though he had explained the situation
afterward, Ranma didn't want to take his chances.
        As he began sliding the door to the main room open, Ranma paused
and turned back.  He walked over to the bed, which was a bit large for
just Akane.  Large enough to fit two people, but small enough to keep
them cozy, he remembered the owner saying.  *As if we'd...*
        Ranma froze as Akane rolled on to her side, but her breathing was
slow and steady, telling him that she was still asleep.  Slowly, he sat
down next to her on the bed.  She had come to a stop so that the soft
moonlight that came through the window framed her face perfectly.  Her
mouth was in a small smile from whatever pleasant dream she was having.
Brushing back the same lock of unruly hair that had transfixed him
before, Ranma breathed softly, "Definitely not cute...  Beautiful..."
        Watching her chest rise and fall rhythmically with her breathing,
Ranma untied the red string that Akane had tied into his hair.  Gently,
he wrapped it around her left ring finger, loose enough so it wouldn't
cut her circulation, and tied a small knot to hold it in place.  He held
her small hand in his and whispered, "Oyasumi, Akane-chan."

=======================
[Quick Language Note]

Oyasumi - Sleep well.  (-nasai puts it in a quite formal form)

=======================
[Alternate Gag Ending for those who think its too WAFFy...]

        "Ranma?"  Akane quietly whispered.  The urge to flee filled Ranma,
but Akane's gentle grip held him there.
        "Yes, Akane?"  He held his breath, watching her eyes flutter open.
        "Be a dear and go back and put down the toilet seat, will you?"

=======================
[Author's Notes]

        Oops.  There goes making the "Birthdays" series dark and
depressing...  I was having a few troubles with "Birthdays - Ukyou", so
I took a break and then started writing this.  I tried hard to make it
as un-WAFFy as possible while still writing what I wanted to, but...
[Shudder]   Anyway, since I'm posting these as I finish them (there
really isn't any order to them), here it is.
        Obviously, Ranma and Akane are a good bit OOC.  One can't really
help that when writing WAFFy stuff...  Basically, I was going to write a
story where Ranma and Akane were alone for a few days and settling back
to the more of the friendly rivalry they had before Shampoo showed up
(Keywords - more of.  Its all relative, you know...).   As it ended up,
I slashed the whole week and did just this one night (merged with the
"red string" idea).
        The alternate ending is because I couldn't live with myself
posting something this cheezy...  (As much as I like WAFFy stuff, I have
grim memories of being berated by my 11th grade English teacher for
being too melodramatic...)

    Source: geocities.com/timessquare/realm/4845

               ( geocities.com/timessquare/realm)                   ( geocities.com/timessquare)