From: Emily Siazon 


"WASURERARENAI" (Unforgettable)
A Ranma fanfic written by Emily Siazon.
All characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
< > are thoughts
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Chapter 3
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     Ranma and Akane both ran to school, neither one looking winded as
they approached Furinkan's imposing gates.

     "How come you were late coming over my house?" Akane asked as she
nervously watched the longer hand of the clock move towards the six.

     "Ah, there was just a little accident while me and pop were
sparring this morning."

     Akane's tone grew concerned. "Did anyone get hurt?"

     "Oh, no. It was nothing like that."

     She was about to say something else but stopped in surprise when
she spotted a horde of boys in various sporting outfits charging
towards them screaming, "Akane Tendo, prepare yourself."

     "What the..." Ranma muttered as they were quickly surrounded.
"What do you think you're doing?!"

     "Butt out, Saotome. This doesn't concern you," one of the boys
yelled.

     "Like hell it doesn't. You try to attack my friend and expect me
to just stand quietly and watch?"

     "Look, why don't you go grace your fans with your presence while
we take care of her."

     "What are you talking about?" he demanded, stopping as a number
of squeals from a corner of the yard grabbed his attention. He turned
around slowly, reading the huge banner above them.

     "Ranma Saotome... Fanclub?!"

     "Popular, aren't you?" Akane whispered watching the group of
ecstatic girls with a frown.

     "You're one to talk."

     "Huh? What do you mean?"

     "Look," he muttered pointing at the opposite end of the yard.

     "Signups for Akane's attackers?! What kind of school is this?!"

     "What didja do to piss them off?"

     "I didn't do anything!"

     "Of course she didn't do anything wrong!" another one of the boys
interjected as indignant tears flowed freely down his face. "How can
you even suggest such a thing?"

     "So why do you wanna beat her up?"

     "Upperclassman Kuno said the only way to date her is to defeat
her in combat."

     "And you listened to this idiot?!"

     "No one calls a member of the great house of Kuno to be less than
perfection itself and lives!" an angry voice from the far side of the
yard yelled out, catching everyone's attention.

     "So you're Kuno?" Ranma asked as he watched the older boy
strutting towards him with a bored expression.

     "Upperclassman to you, knave," Kuno retorted, charging towards
Ranma. He thrusted his bokken towards the younger boy who
unfortunately seemed to be dodging his attack with ease.

     "Hey Akane, get to class and answer the roll call for me while I
finish this."

     "You dare ignore me in the midst of a fight?!" Kuno demanded as
he used his unbeatable strike pattern. Well, unbeatable until now. His
opponent avoided them with as much ease as before.

     The rest of the student body watched, amazed at the amount of
skill being showed by both fighters.

     The dramatic moment was ruined when the first bell rang, the
students groaning in unison as they headed for class.

                             *     *     *

     Akane ignored the student's going inside, not wanting to miss the
end of the fight. She watched as it slowly moved on into the back of
the school, heading towards the pool.

     "Look out!" she yelled, but was too late as the two martial
artist plunged into the water.

     Akane waited for them to come out, but when no heads bobbed the
surface, she cautiously stepped closer to try to catch a glimpse of
them.

     A red blur suddenly leapt out of the water and headed for the
nearby woods, making her fall on the ground in surprise.

     She slowly stood up and brushed herself off.  With that assumption, she quickly ran towards the same
direction.

                             *     *     *

     Ranma-chan stopped wringing her clothes as she heard the sounds
of approaching footsteps. She looked down from the branch she was
sitting on and sighed in relief when she saw that it was only Akane.

     She jumped off the branch and landed right next to Akane,
surprising the taller girl.

     "Hey, I thought you were gonna answer for me during roll call
today."

     "Huh? Who are you?"

     Ranma-chan silently cursed to herself. She couldn't believe she
had forgotten about the curse in her excitement to see Akane. "*sigh*
I was hoping you didn't have to find out about this, but now I guess I
have no choice."

     "What are you talking about?"

     "C'mon, I'll show you," she replied as she took Akane's hand and
started to drag her towards the the sports equipment room.

     "Hey, where do you think you're taking me? Let go!"

     Ranma-chan simply ignored her, causing Akane's face to turn red
in anger.

     "Help! Somebody! This girl is trying to take advantage of me!"

     Ranma looked at her incredulously as she clamped her hand over
the taller girl's mouth before running towards the room.

     She looked around and relaxed, sighing in relief when she noticed
that they were alone.

     Akane took this opportunity to yank off her hand as Ranma-chan
closed the door behind her. "You'd better have a good explanation for
this!"

                             *     *     *

     Akane's mouth was wide open with shock as Ranma-chan poured a
kettle of hot water over herself for the third time.

     "That's incredible," she whispered, finally finding her voice
while she watched her friend shift back to his original form.

     "So, you believe me?"

     "How can I not? I've seen it with my one two eyes. Besides, I've
seen weirder things than this before."

     "Like what?" Ranma asked a bit skeptically. After all, what could
possibly be stranger than a boy switching genders with water?

     "Well," Akane started, but was cut off as the final bell rang.
"Uh, why don't I tell you later."

                             *     *     *

     Ranma and Akane stepped out the hall, the former careful not to
spill any of the water on his bucket.

     "Sorry I made you late," Ranma apologized, smiling down at her
sheepishly.

     "Nah. Don't worry about it. I've always wanted to know what it's
like to be a delinquent, anyways."

     An uncomfortable silence followed, neither one knowing what say
next.

     Akane, finding it unnerving, decided to break it with a question
she had been meaning to ask.

     "Ranma?"

     "Mmm."

     "You're a martial artist, right?"

     "Yeah, so?"

     "Well," Akane continued, licking her lips nervously, "I was just
wondering if you could... well..."

     "If I could what?" he asked, his brows furrowing as he gave her
his full atention.

     "...if you could teach me martial arts."

     "What?! I don't know anything about teaching that."

     She looked down on the ground in disappointment. "So, I guess
that's a no."

     Seeing her dejected figure, he tried to cheer her up. "C'mon,
it's not like you need to learn it. You have me on your side,
remember?"

     "But you can't always be there to protect me."

     He mulled this in his mind for awhile and gave a defeated sigh
when he realized that she was right. "All right."

     Akane's expression quickly changed into a hopeful one as she
looked up at him. "You mean..."

     "Mm-hm. We start tomorrow."

                             *     *     *

     Ranma ignored the appreciative whistles as he dismounted from the
bar. When he headed back to his seat, he was instantly surrounded by
two boys from his class.

     "Not bad, Saotome," the brown haired one commented while they
shifted their attention to the girls who were in the middle of a
softball game.

     They watched closely as the teams switched, the girls laughing
gaily as they walked towards their destination.

     "Say, aren't you friends with Akane?" the one with black hair
asked, causing a frown to appear on Ranma's face. The two were
obviously only talking to him to get more information about her.

     "What if I am?"

     "Well, we wanted to know what kind of stuff she likes."

     He quickly whipped his head around to face them, angrier than any
concerned friend had a right to be. "Why are you asking me? Ask her
yourself if you really want *urk*" He stopped in mid-sentence when a
softball suddenly became imbedded to his cheeks.

     From the field, a horrified Akane watched as the ball she hit
slowly rolled off Ranma's face. "Oops."

                             *     *     *

     "I'm really sorry about your cheek. Does it still hurt?"

     "I'll live."

     "That's good." She glanced at the door and remembered the group
of girls waiting to see him. "Well, I'd better go."

     "Akane, wait," he requested as he got up from the bed. "I'll walk
you home."

     "But what about them?" she asked, her eyes never leaving the
door.

     "It's not a problem."

     "What do you mean..."

     Akane didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, too shocked to
continue when she found herself cradled in his arms. The expression on
his face indicated that he was just as surprised at his sudden
boldness.

     Ranma's heart pounded loudly in his ears as he held her close to
him. The smell of her shampoo reminded him of the wild flowers he had
encountered on his decade-long training trip, making him feel a bit
nostalgic as he slowly brought his face closer to her inviting red
lips.

     He was brought back to reality when he heard an impatient knock
on the door.

     Akane also heared it, causing her to clear her throat nervously.
"H-how does carrying me get us home? I really doubt clicking your
heels together and chanting 'there's no place like home' would work."

     Trying to hide the blush on his face, he confidently leapt off
the two story window while she stifled a scream as the ground quickly
rushed towards them.

     "You think, maybe, you could let go?" he asked, trying to breath
despite her death grip.

     Akane quickly moved her hands away from his neck, blushing
furiously as she realized just how close they were to each other.

     Ranma, finally able to think clearly, also noticed the closeness
and gently put her back on her feet.

     "Um... c'mon. We still have a ton of homework to do."

     "Hai," Ranma answered as he followed her, filled with regret for
having let go so quickly. 

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AUTHORS NOTES:
     Well, this is part 3. Hope you enjoyed reading it. I promise that
the next part will have Shinnosuke in it. Yes, really. Stop rolling
your eyes, it's true! ^_^
     Send all comments and criticism to 

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