Synopsis: Akane fought with her unwanted fan club and her memory of those involved were taken as well as her sight. Sakura, a classmate, starts a rather nasty rumor about how Akane actually became blind while Kouga and co summon up something rather interesting for protection. Akane ends up having another bad day trying to continue life as normal and Ranma ends up comforting her….in bed. *woo-hoo!* (BUT NO CITRUS HERE!)

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Akane slowly moved her cheek against the solid warmth beneath her, trying to discern where she was at without fully waking. She’d never woke up to such a strange feeling. A protective warmth surrounded her, it felt perfectly wonderful. And she was quite content on staying where she was but her curiosity drew her towards consciousness.

The rise of her pillow, the sound of a drawing breath near her ear and a hand on her back quickly snapped her awake. Her eyes opened to total darkness. Akane quickly stifled her initial panic as the memories came flooding back in.

She was still blind. Nobody at school would even talk to her. But Ranma...Ranma had been there for her. He was even there for her last night when she needed someone to comfort her. Ranma did stay. He was still here, holding her.

A loud rumble momentarily halted Akane’s happy little internal dialogue.

/And he’s snoring./ she giggled softly to herself. /Typical./

“Just because you’re blind doesn’t mean I’m going to lessen up on winning Ranma…remember Akane, it’s still no holds bar…”

“He deserves a better mate than a handicapped little girl.”

Voices from the recent past broke Akane’s moment of happiness. How long was this warmth to last? Ukyo seemed sure that it was only momentary time before Ranma would walk into the Okonomayaki chef’s arms. Kodachi was, well, Kodachi but what she said had some ring of truth. Was Ranma just being nice to some crippled girl who was scared to be alone in the dark?

Tears welled up in Akane’s eyes and she swallowed them quickly as Ranma’s breathing changed from deep sleep to waking mode.

Akane felt Ranma’s whole body stiffen, before he slowly cracked his eyes open to a pair of hazel, slightly glazed, peering off somewhere over his shoulder. They showed no anger, however, for a moment he thought there was a deep sadness in their golden depths.

Ranma sighed with relief, “Oh, geez, it’s only you. For a second I thought you were Shampoo.”

Akane immediately stiffened in his arms, “WHAT?!?”

Apparently mentioning the other fiancées first thing in the morning was NOT the correct introduction when waking in a fiancé’s bed. Ranma tried to make note of this and correct the situation. Left with no other option, he began to verbally back pedal.

“No, wait. I mean, I’m glad that you but not her, cuz I’d get hurt but she’s not and you’re here. You know?”

Akane blinked, confusion knitted her brows, “Ranma, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What I’m trying to say is um, that I, uh,” Ranma decided to change the subject in hopes the momentary confusion would cover his escape, “that I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to stay, I just sort of fell asleep.”

“No, that’s ok. I…I appreciate it.” Akane smiled shyly, a light blush running across her cheeks. Ranma could only do the same, then his face turned flame red as he realized how close they still were to each other.

Trying not to accidentally anger her (he could never really figure out what set her off sometimes) Ranma slowly released his grip to sit up and swing his legs over the bed. Akane sighed internally to herself as she felt Ranma’s warmth leave, already missing the wonderful warm feeling being in Ranma’s arms.

Ranma glanced over his shoulder at Akane as she repositioned herself next to him. “So, you feelin’ better this morning?”

Akane nodded slowly but kept her unfocused gaze to the floor.

“Well, you don’t look better.”

Ranma could see Akane clench up. Damn it! He did it again. What the heck was wrong with his mouth anyways? After a quick slap to his own face, Ranma tried again. “I mean, you still look kinda…sad.”

There was a long pause as Akane digested Ranma’s comment. She didn’t know if she should tell him what was bothering her. But he did seem concerned. And since he hadn’t bolted as soon as he could, maybe he really did want to help. She could at least open up a little, give him a chance.

“Everybody gave up on me,” Akane said, barely audible in the silence.

Not quite understanding, Ranma could only reply with, “What?”

She cleared her throat of the lump closing off her voice and repeated, “Everyone gave up on me. The teachers, my friends, my family…”

Ranma sensed her hesitancy, “Me?”

His fiancée nodded slowly with her head still bowed. Her answer left Ranma uncomfortable. “I did?”

Akane nodded again.

“When?”

“You said Kodachi was always better than me. Especially now.” She whispered, her hair covering her eyes.

Ranma felt a low deep blow of guilt inside his chest. He hadn’t meant to hurt Akane like that.

“I was just upset that you set yourself up for one of my fia…uh, the other girls to come attack you. I know you can’t defend yourself like you are now.”

Akane’s shoulders slumped and Ranma knew he had screwed up again. But Ranma was learning, so he tried to fix things. “But that’s why I like studying Anything Goes martial arts. Cuz when the situation changes, you can change with it.

“The way I see it, this is like one of the stupid teaching techniques that my pops put me through. As idiotic as the old man can be, it did teach me to adapt. You have to change how you do things, think differently to adapt to your new conditions.

“Like me and pops moving in here and my curse. I had to learn how to do things differently. Granted sometimes it took a while but I don’t run around naked in my girl form.”

“Much.” Akane added.

Ranma smiled as Akane seemed to perk up some. “Yeah, well, mistakes happen. And I know it’s hard to take help. Hell, you know my ego won’t let me half the time. But right now it’s OK to occasionally take a helping hand.”

Akane was shocked at Ranma’s little speech. It was probably the wisest and longest speech she ever heard come out of his mouth. But one thing was still bothering her.

“Why’d you stay with me?” She knew she was setting herself up for the fall but for some reason, she needed to know.

Ranma scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, “Cuz, well, cuz I fell asleep.”

“No, I mean, why did you stay with me after I went to your room?”

“Oh,“ Ranma shrugged lightly, the blush from earlier creeping its way back to his face. “Well, Nabiki said you might need some help. And I am your fiancée and all. Isn’t that what a fiancée is suppose to do?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.” Was all Akane said, and Ranma felt that somehow he gave the wrong answer.

The silence that followed was uncomfortable and Ranma tried to return to their previous conversation. “So, how about we start looking into blind fighting training? Mousse might have some techniques.”

Akane looked doubtful at the prospect of Mousse being any help.

“I know, he’s an idiot at times, but he is half blind and might have a few techniques we could improve upon. Besides he might work as a good Shampoo repellant.”

Akane giggled a little at that, “OK. And this is only temporary, so…”

“That’s right. You’ll get your eyesight back before you know it.” Ranma cheerfully said.

Akane frowned again, “I don’t know if my grades can wait that long.”

“Whadda mean?”

“I can’t do my homework or take notes without being able to see.”

“Couldn’t you get your friends, uh, what’s their names, to help you with homework?”

Akane shook her head, “They won’t even talk to me now because of that stupid rumor.”

Again, Ranma felt that deep seeded anger stemming from guilt of Akane’s injury. What good was he if he couldn’t even protect his fiancée at school? “Well, maybe I can help you out on that. I mean, who knows, I might learn something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. Miracles can happen. Maybe I can improve my grades by actually studying. You know, with your help.”

Akane eyes glittered with happiness. Her shoulders were straight with her fighting spirit back intact. Ranma felt his heart beat fast and loud at the sight of her. Kuno may be a complete moron but he was right about Akane’s spirit. It was quite a sight to behold.

Ranma shoved down his thoughts, “So how does all that sound to ya?”

“It sounds great, Ranma. When do we start?”

Ranma smiled broadly, “Now, that’s my Akane!”

In the spontaneous moment, Ranma kissed Akane on her forehead. Both stopped, heart and all, for two seconds before Ranma jumped from the bed and quickly proceeded to Akane’s door mumbling about not wanting to be caught, weddings, random apologies, and stupid fathers.

As the door softly shut tight, Akane lightly brushed her fingertips over the kissed spot and smiled. Those girls were going to have to put up a good fight to take Ranma.

Akane frowned at her thoughts as she realized the possessiveness felt good.

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Kouga sat in the ATAC! club room floor looking rather pissed off.

This was not an unusual position to find Kouga in. He was never to pleased with the world in general. But this time there was something new to Kouga’s sitting. A well-endowed red-headed female with a content smile and little horns poking through her fire-red hair was draped over his shoulder to snuggle her head against his own. Unlike most of the boys at Furiken High, who would kill to get such a woman to even look their way, Kouga was greatly annoyed.

“Get off of me, woman,” he growled at her.

With a small frown, the ‘woman’ let go of Kouga from behind and sat to his side. She stared at him for several moments as he kept his angry gaze focused to the wall. Deciding the moment was right she clamped on to his arm, rubbing a cheek lovingly up and down his bicep.

A dark cloud of irritation formed over Kouga’s head as he grumbled again for the hundredth time, “I thought she was suppose to be a submissive demon for my command and protection.”

Makoto looked up briefly from his work, “That’s why you weren’t suppose to let the candle go out.”

When in all truth, that’s what Makoto and his cousin Gos had hoped for. The spell was set to summon a demon but not for Kouga’s purposes. Unfortunately, the demon they summoned wasn’t quite what they had expected. And she knew how to counteract the spell’s restrictions. Or, most likely, Gos didn’t set-up the spell correctly.

Makoto watched as “Red”, as the demon called herself, clung to Kouga again. The summoning didn’t have quite the desired outcome but it was possibly better than originally imagined. The tortured look on Kouga’s face left a sweet taste of satisfaction in Makoto’s mind.

Makoto returned to tinker with his new toy as Red continued to cling to Kouga’s arm almost purring in pleasure of basking in the presence of her human. Gos was no where to be found after last nights dealings, probably wailing at his loss. But more likely because Kouga would beat the crap out of him if he found the little twerp.

Last night had been unpleasant to say the least.

A dark humanoid form rising from the floor. Its stance ready to attack. Two little boys cowering against the wall, clasping each other in fright. And one dumb brut who could sense his death in the near future and could only watch as it stalked over to him.

Kouga could not remember a time in his life when he’d been scared. But right now all of his intuitive senses were telling him that this creature was a bigger, stronger and would rip him to shreds if it so desired.

It was so close to him, he could feel its breath over his face. In the darkness of the room, Kouga could only distinguish bright red hair and glowing eyes looming over him. It’s eyes danced with mirth at him holding a single candle as his only line of defense. Leaning over, it blew the candle out.

That’s when Kouga started to scream. A high pitched girly type scream. Of which was echoed by two trembling boys. And strangely enough, the creature, who screamed back in surprised fright before wrapping its arms around him with a crushing strength. Though it stopped Kouga’s shriek, it also stopped his breath.

The total darkness and silence of the room lead Makoto to whisper to a shaking, softly chanting Gosunkugi, “Is he dead, yet?”

The demon let go of Kouga with the interruption. Kouga fell completely to the floor unconscious.

Realizing their death was not forthcoming, Gosunkugi turned on the lights.

And there was a red-headed, red eye, curving woman before the their eyes looking very much confused.

“It worked?” asked Gosunkugi in amazement at his own feat of magic.

The creature stared back at the two boys, her eyebrows knit in confusion. “Is there something wrong?”

Gosunkugi’s jaw dropped, “It…it talked.”

“Oh, yes. I can talk.” The woman replied, beaming with pride.

“And…and it’s female.” Gos took a few steps back, his eyes ever widening. “A cute female.”

“Oh, definitely! I’m just tooooo cute!” She squealed.

“A cute female who talks just…talked…to me?” Gosunkugi asked to no one in particular.

“Aren’t you so sweet calling me cute again?” The red-head smiled up at Gosunkugi.

Which fried the last of Gos’s sanity in a burst of budding passionate flame. He blindly ran around the room, tripping over objects before slamming into Makoto in an amazing college football tackle style.

“Did you hear that Makoto? A cute female talked to me. TO ME. Isn’t that wonderful?” Gos grinned inanely as he shook his cousin back and forth by his collar.

Gos’s sudden strength made Makoto wary so he merely rubbed his throbbing head in reply.

“Maybe, maybe she wants to date? I mean, no woman, NO woman has ever talked to me. It has to mean something. Doesn’t, Makoto?”

Makoto shrugged. He was definitely not the man to ask about women. He was lucky to know there was another gender in the species with all the time he spent on his engineered children.

Gosunkugi took that as a yes, forgot his faithful love to Akane Tendo, and crawled over to the female in question. “Uh, um, hi. I was wondering, you know just out of curiosity, if you, being here and all, have some time, since you were just summoned too, this weekend to, oh, I don’t know, maybe work on a little chant and nail some corn husk dolls with me?”

The demon, however, was busy cradling Kouga’s head in her lap while she cooed to unconscious boy. “Oh, dear, dear Kouga-sama. Red is very sorry for hurting her precious little human. From now on, Red will take care of you.”

Gosunkugi’s heart broke into millions of little pieces. With a wail, he ran out the room to cry over his losses. If he would’ve known the summoning would actually work, he could’ve had his own voluptuous female by now.

And so, Kouga awoke this morning to a cheery eyed demon, a snoring Makoto, and no Gosunkugi in sight, in a still creepy-in-daylight house. Kouga made his way home, showered, ate and walked to school with Red following him around like a little puppy dog and clung to him at every moment possible. His parents refrained from questioning.

He had tried insulting her, brushing her off, yelling at her, threatening her and numerous other things to get her to leave. But she would pout a little at him before smiling big again and latching onto whatever free arm, leg or neck that was readily available.

Which was why Kouga was so pissed off. His wishes were being ignored once again in the form of a possessive female.

“Uh, excuse me, um, Kouga?”

Kouga let his eyes slowly turn and focus on the boy talking to him. “What?” He said shortly, his patience already thin today.

“I…uh, I think that’s a…female that’s um, clinging to you.” The boy pointed to Red who immediately gave an innocent look, glanced behind her then pointed to herself with a bit of confusion in her eyes.

Kouga merely shrugged, “Yeah, what of it.”

With a tone of pride the boy quoted, “No women are allowed in the club room with exception to the goddess Akane Tendo.”

Kouga placed his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall. It was a warning sign to all that he was being bothered, and that was a bad thing to do with Kouga. “I didn’t ask her to come here.”

“Well, she’s with you now, so I must ask you to leave.”

The very air stilled. “You’re telling me to leave?”

“Yes, apparently the female will not leave unless you go with her as she seems to be attached to you.”

Kouga stood to tower over the boy, his fists clenched in anger. “Would you care to repeat that?”

“Well, I, I don’t think that, well, um, it’s really all that necessary. You know, maybe bend the rules a little. I mean, it was the VP’s idea anyways.”

Nervously, the boy took a couple steps back as Kouga growled deeply between clenched teeth, “The VP?”

Red popped up between the two boys and asked, “Is this human bothering you, Kouga-sama?”

“You could say that,” Kouga spared not a glance at her as he was thinking of ways to hurt the VP’s underling.

“OK.” Red said, then lifted her index finger, pointed at the boy. There was a flash of light, almost like a flame, which left the underling a bit crispy but alive. He ran screaming from the room. Red then dragged Kouga back down to his original sitting position so she could snuggle against his arm again.

Kouga blinked for ten seconds, closed his gapping jaw, and blinked for another ten seconds. “Hey, Makoto. Did you see that?”

Makoto, oblivious to all, did not reply.

Kouga then turned to the female attached to his arm, “Did you…did you do that?”

Red looked up and blinked at him. “Do what?”

“Fry that twerp.”

“Oh, that? Yes.” As it was the most obvious thing in the world, she turned her full attention to snuggling again.

“Why?”

“Was he not bothering you?” Red asked a bit confused at the line of questioning.

“Well, yeah, he was.”

“Then that’s why. Red can’t have her precious little human bothered.”

Kouga didn’t necessarily like how possessive Red had gotten over him but with his limited vision even he could see the possible advantages.

“Could you do it again?”

Red shrugged, pointed at a random book on the table in front of them. With a blink of bright light and a puff of smoke, all that remained were ashes. Kouga felt his excitement grow.

“OK, how about this?” He pulled a wrench from Makoto’s bench top and placed it on the floor in front of him. Again, a small movement from Red and the wrench was reduced to nothing.

With his tastes fully wetted on destruction, Makoto grabbed the next nearest object. “How about this?”

Red eyed the toy. It was just some cheap stuffed animal that was once won by Akane Tendo at a carnival. The small brown bunny had long, long ears and a scruff of white hair under its belly. “I can’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“It’s just too cute!” cried the demon as she picked up the toy and crushed it against her chest.

“Oh, just give it here, I’ll do it myself.” Kouga tried to retch the stuffed bunny from Red’s grip when he felt the world drop into hell for two seconds.

Red frowned at Kouga then was all apologies in a little sing-song voice, “Red is so sorry to hurt her little Kouga-sama but she couldn’t let him harm too cute Mr. Bunny.”

Curling herself around his arm again she tossed the bunny over her shoulder and repeated her apology to Kouga, while patting his hand, as if placating a bad dog after punishment. Kouga coughed a few lungs full of smoke, wiped his face as clean as best he could with his other hand and tested his new scorched hair length.

Kouga has a bad feeling he was going to end up dead either by Ranma’s hand or this demon.

Red purred and snuggled in closer. Possibly dead by his own hands if the demon didn’t stop clinging to him.

Though the possessiveness of Red did bring a slight comfort in knowing that she would not let harm come to him. It would at least give Kouga enough time to run for safety. This left the door open for a new plan of attack to capture the goddess. Which meant Makoto had some thinking to do. The last plan was a foolish one. A picture? How measly. Why merely have a picture when the real thing is so much better?

A maniacal laughter rang in the ATAC! room as Makoto continued his work.

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Ranma leaped up to the fence as he ran to the park to meet with Nabiki. Things were thankfully quiet at school. The other students kept their distance and made no comments within earshot. Only an idiot would have said anything with Ranma always by Akane’s side with his predatory look. Even that girl Ranma didn’t trust, Sakura or what’s-her-name, kept her distance. However, Ranma hadn’t been able to protect Akane against class itself. Akane managed to answer questions in English class OK but the pop quiz in math had her half in anger and half in tears, especially when the teacher suggested Akane shouldn’t be in her class anymore. Ranma couldn’t stand to see her so upset.

Well, thankfully tomorrow was Sunday and they had the day off. Perhaps Akane and him could work on the school problem. But for now, he had other business to attend to.

“Ah, there you are Saotome. About time you showed up.” Nabiki flashed him her traditional smirk as she pushed away from the tree she was leaning on.

Ranma jumped down to Nabiki’s level, “Yeah, well, I’m here. Did you find anything new?”

“Only that nobody knows anything. Either that or they’re not talking. Your bulldog attitude today is more likely keeping lips tied shut. Nobody even wants to hint they might know something just in case you decided to pound them.”

Ranma shrugged, “I don’t want her getting any more hurt than she already is, Nabiki.”

Nabiki’s eyebrow lifted at that. Ranma protecting Akane was a typical occurrence but this was somehow different. A little deeper than just stopping a physical blow. A line that could be called emotional.

“And neither do I, Ranma. So I’ll say no more. Come. Our guest has probably arrived. I sent him the very best of the batch.”

Curiosity got the better of Ranma as he followed Nabiki to the garden maze. “What exactly did you send him?”

“Some very interesting pictures of him hugging random objects, sometimes people. My camera seems to be very good at capturing moments of complete humiliation. And if they don’t, technology is a wonderful thing. You went to the right woman, Saotome.”

Ranma shuddered slightly and was thankful that Nabiki did not have her focus on him. The park was relatively clear of people. Only a few couples and an old man were within view, of which Ranma was gratefully for a bit of luck. Mousse would probably not be too happy with his photographic moments, and may possibly be a little violent.

Within moments, Mousse’s traditional white robe came into view. And so did his very infuriated look, ”Saotome? What’s he doing here? This is between you and me, Nabiki Tendo.”

Nabiki merely smiled, “Ranma here is playing body guard and investor today, Mousse. He stays.”

The hair on Mousse’s head rippled, “Investor? You mean this wife stealer also deals in black mail? Saotome, I knew your character was low but have you no shame?!”

“Back off man. I’m not in the mood. Besides, Nabiki is making the deal, not me.” Ranma growled surly at the half-blind boy.

“Yes, Mousse. Keep in mind that it’s my lowly character that you have to deal with so listen up.” Nabiki’s eyes were twinkling with the start of business, “I have a deal that will not only protect your image but may boost it in the eyes of a certain female Amazon.”

Mousse instantly became confused, “Cologne? Why would…”

“No, you idiot! Shampoo!” Ranma shouted.

“What?! So this is your true intent, eh Saotome?”

Not being able to hold himself back, Ranma clocked Mousse over the head, “Shut-up and listen to the woman, ya jerk.”

Nabiki cleared her throat to gain back the attention of her customer, “Now, as I was saying, I have a business deal with you.. In which, you get the original copies of the pictures one by one , of course, and a better chance for Shampoo’s hand for merely one hour of your time per day for four weeks.”

“One hour of my time?” Mousse’s eyebrows raised.

Nabiki nodded with a car dealer smile.

“Doing what exactly?” Mousse asked suspiciously.

Well, thought Nabiki, at least he’s not a complete fool. “You would be helping a mutual friend learn some self-defense.”

“Just self-defense lessons for an hour? And nothing else?”

Nabiki nodded again but with the gleam of victory in her eyes.

“Exactly who is this mutual friend?” asked Mousse.

Ranma, who had been very bored up until this point answered for Nabiki, “Akane.”

“Akane Tendo?” Mousse said incredulously, “ I do not understand. She is perfectly capable of defending herself.”

Ranma forced himself to bite his tongue at the automated response that popped forth. Luckily for him, Nabiki helped out by jabbing him quite hard in the ribs.

“Yes, usually that is the case. But now she is under a different set of rules,” explained Nabiki.

Mousse looked at Nabiki, then Ranma, then back to Nabiki. “A different set of rules?”

Nabiki glanced at Ranma. Ranma shrugged, “He’ll know soon anyways. It’s not like it’s being kept secret.”

Nodding, Nabiki explained to Mousse, “Akane was blinded in an attack. As her sister, I fear she may be harmed by certain other supposed fiancées if she’s not properly trained in blind fighting.”

“And you came to me?” Mousse pointed to himself in amazement that they would even bother to ask for help from him.

Ranma shrugged again, “Well, yeah. You’re pretty close to blind judging from every fight I’ve ever had with you.”

Mousse’s hackles raised for a second at the insult but he can’t help admit that it had some truth to it. He decided mull over the proposition again instead of taking up the slight challenge Ranma practically offered.

“I must admit in my attempts to improve my skills to show my love to Shampoo, I was taught a special technique for blind fighting, hoping to improve my limited sight. The technique did not work well for me. My sight is poor, but not completely gone. Akane may have an advantage in her blindness to properly learn the technique.”

Nabiki popped up, “So will you do it?”

“One more thing,” said Mousse.

Ranma sighed in frustration, “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

With a second elbow in his ribs, Ranma noted that it must be a Tendo trait to find the exact same sore spot.

“It’s good business practice to know the full details of a transaction before completing it,” Nabiki said to Ranma before gesturing for Mousse to continue.

“How does this bring me close to Shampoo?”

“With carefully laid rumors and you spending time with Akane, Shampoo may miss her constant companion.” Nabiki’s smile grew larger, “Maybe even be a little jealous.”

“Jealous?” Mousse’s mind started to melt at the possibilities when something occurred to him. “Wait. I’m afraid that would place Akane in danger. A jealous female Amazon will not be ignored and will attack what she thinks is her opposition.”

Nabiki crossed her arms, “Then you’d better train my sister good before that happens.”

Ranma, finally catching his breath, started to protest, “Hey, wait just a damn minute. That was not part of the plan, Nabiki. You said nothing about Akane possibly being in danger from a Shampoo kiss of death.”

Nabiki shrugged, “She needs a good opponent to test her new technique on, and I’m sure you’ll still be hovering over her in case she’s really in trouble.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you…” started Ranma before Nabiki found his sore spot again.

“Ignore him.” Nabiki nodded towards Ranma, “He’s just the hired help. Do we have a deal?”

Mousse smiled, both at the future possibilities and to see his rival in pain, “Deal.”

“No! That’s no deal!” shouted Ranma to both Nabiki and Mousse. Unfortunately both were ignoring him and going their separate ways. “Hey! Get back here! This isn’t finished!”

Three people within Ranma’s view glanced at his proclamation, none were Nabiki or Mousse.

“Damn it!”

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After getting no response from his “helpers”, Ranma finally made his way home. Nabiki smirked at him as he came to the dining table and flopped down for dinner. He glared back at her but she did do him a favor and therefore, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Besides he wanted to talk to Akane first to let her know the world of trouble they might both be in starting tomorrow. Maybe it had been a bad idea to enlist Mousse’s help.

“You were up pretty early this morning, Akane. Did you sleep alright?” asked Kasumi as she served up a bowl of rice to Akane. Placing both chopsticks and bowl in the younger Tendo sister’s hands.

A blush popped up on Akane’s cheeks as she remembered how she woke up this morning within Ranma’s arms, “Oh, I was fine, Kasumi.”

Kasumi frowned, “Well, if you want, I could sleep in your room.”

“No, no. Really. That’s OK. I…I, uh, slept fine. You don’t have to go through the trouble,” protested Akane.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all,” replied Kasumi.

Akane still couldn’t get rid of her blush, “No, really, Kasumi. It’s OK.”

Not thinking of the company present, Ranma off-handedly said, “Oh, come on Akane. Just admit it. You don’t want Kasumi in the room because you want to sleep with me again.”

The world came to a complete halt in the Tendo residence broken only by Akane whispering, “Baka.”

Soun jumped up from his end of the table and started to vary his shouting from “OH, happy day.” to “Ranma, how dare you touch my little girl!” Genma soon joined in and the two fathers ran around Ranma and Akane, picked them up, and pushed them upstairs singing merrily the whole way. Their children protested quite loudly.

“Dad, would you stop it!”

“Hey, Pops, gimme back my shirt!”

Akane found herself thrown into a half naked Ranma before being roughly shoved into her room, the door quickly slamming shut behind them. There was a long pause before Ranma’s disbelief shifted to anger.

He stalked to the door, whipping it open, “Damn it, Pops, I’m not…”

“Meow,” the kitten called to Ranma. Wide eyed, he quickly slammed the door and made a dash for the window. In mid jump, he noticed several alley cats munching on fish treats conveniently spread on the Tendo lawn. Ranma defied the law of gravity, clawing the air and windowsill to get back into the sanctity of Akane’s room.

Akane could hear him gasp in breaths, picturing his terrified state. Between the cat meows and his panicking noise, she could easily figure out what had happened. With a sigh, Akane threw a pillow in his direction. “There’s a sleeping bag in the back of my closet. You can sleep on the floor.”

Ranma frowned at her, “Hey, how come I can’t have the bed?”

“Because you opened your big mouth, that’s why,” Akane growled as she climbed under the covers.

Ranma wanted to point out that he slept there the other night and there wasn’t a problem. However, he felt Akane wouldn’t be reasonable and decided the floor would be acceptable.

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End of Chapter 4! Wow, I actually finished the chapter!!

Much more to come!