It Wasn't a Dream?!
Chapter 1
By Lord Archive,
Edited by Arthur Hansen
Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, etc..., and are used
without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I can't
afford the overdue charge Nabiki insists on.
--------------------------------
Akane shook her head trying to figure out what was going on today. 'This all
has to be some weird dream. First Daddy tells us that some boy is going to
show up and one of us is engaged to him and then some girl and her panda
show up. This is just TOO weird to be real.' The whole day was becoming
unreal and Akane was having trouble relating to it.
Akane sighed upon entering the changing room. She absentmindedly noticed the
Chinese clothes in the dirty clothes bin. She quickly took off her clothes
and entered the bathing room.
'Dream. I am definitely dreaming,' Akane thought seeing the naked guy with a
pig-tail exiting the bath. She gazed for a long moment at his body. A rush
of pent up hormones struck her psyche squarely. Frustrated desires fought
against her higher mind, something that those higher functions just were not
up to coping with right then. 'A wet dream at that. Oh, gods, he's so
handsome.' She had never felt such attraction before.
Ranma stared in shock at Akane, seeing her naked body except what the
all-too-little wash cloth covered up. He had no idea what to say or do. This
was NOT how he wanted anyone to find out about his curse. He was frozen in
indecision.
Ranma was almost about to regain enough capacity of thought to say something
when Akane dropped the wash cloth, revealing her pubic area to open
scrutiny. His mind quickly took a vacation, especially after Akane walked
sensually over with a hungry, vibrant expression and started to kiss him,
her arms wrapped tightly around his chest.
'Stop this! Push her away! You don't want to do this with her! You just met
her! She was the only nice one here!' part of Ranma's mind screamed.
'Why should I care?! She started it! She wants it! And, oh man, she's SO hot
looking. And it feels so good,' another part retorted loudly.
The argument ceased to be important while Akane continued to arouse him and
faded into background noise....
--------------------------------
Akane's state of euphoria was short lived. Something did NOT seem right. If
this was a wet dream, she should be awake now considering how intense it
was. Also, her partner should have been better at what he was doing. A
sickening realization started to occur to her.
That it might not have been a dream.
Akane's eyes snapped open and went wide as she stared at him. She couldn't
get her mouth to work. She backed away from him and into the changing room.
She quickly put her clothes on. 'This couldn't have happened. This can't be
happening. I... with a guy I.... Oh, gods!'
Akane moved into the hallway, slamming the door behind her. She then
screamed loud enough to be heard in China as she tried not to
hyperventilate.
The sound of a woman screaming startled Ranma awake. The fact he was naked
and in the bathing room of some unknown house prevented his gut reaction of
rushing to find out who was screaming. Sorting through his thoughts, he
tried to guess who screamed and why. He'd better go check out what's going
on.
Ranma went into the changing room and quickly put his clothes on. He then
nervously entered the hallway.
"There's a pervert in the bathing room!" Akane shouted angrily, holding a
large stone statue. 'If I kill him, no one has to know.'
"Why don't you kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki asked.
"Because... because I was afraid!"
"That's odd. Ranma went to take a bath before you did," Kasumi said. She
then noticed some young man approaching them. "Who... who...."
"Who are you?" Nabiki asked.
Ranma blushed deeply. "I'm... Saotome Ranma." He looked at Akane for just a
second and then looked away in embarrassment. "I'm _really_ sorry about
this."
Akane dropped the stone statue on to the back porch, cracking it and barely
missing her feet. 'I'm still dreaming. That's got to be it. This is all a
nightmare.' Her aching groin and flushed body told her far differently.
--------------------------------
Akane listen as Ranma and Genma explained their curses and really wished
this was all a dream. 'I'm in the Twilight Zone. This has all got to be some
grotesque dream that I can't wake from.'
"Your problem isn't so bad after all!" Soun said, his mustache almost
wagging in joy.
'Oh, no! He can't....' Akane thought.
"My daughter Kasumi, age nineteen; Nabiki, age seventeen; and Akane, age
sixteen. Pick the one you want and she's your fiancee."
"Oh, he wants Akane!" Kasumi suggested strongly.
"Oh, definitely!" Nabiki seconded.
Ranma and Akane looked at each other and then down at the floor. "Fine,"
they said in unison in a voice that indicated everything wasn't fine.
"They're already talking as one!" Soun cheered.
"A perfect couple!" Genma added.
'A perfect couple of idiots,' Akane wanted to correct him.
--------------------------------
'Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb and even dumber!' Akane's mind repeated
to herself. 'How could I have been so... so stupid! And that pervert! How
dare he do that with me?!' She angrily cleaned herself, splashing cold water
herself. She made sure that the tiles were also cleaned, leaving no mess
behind.
Ranma's mind was so jumbled, she didn't know what to think. She walked into
the changing, hoping a warm bath could help sort out her thoughts. She went
to open the door and stared at Akane as she stepped out of the bath.
"Ah...."
Akane stared angrily at her rather female fiance. She walked over and drew
her hand back ready to slap Ranma.
"Why?" the red-head asked intensely.
"Why what?" Akane snapped, her hand still in the air.
"Why'd ya seduce me?"
Akane seethed. She wanted to blame it all on Ranma, but _she_ had started
it. "As far as I'm concerned, that NEVER happened! And it won't happen again
for a long time, if ever! I thought I was dreaming. Hell, I hope I'm still
dreaming and I'll wake from this nightmare."
"I've been wishing that for over two weeks now." Ranma lowered her head and
closing her eyes.
The sadness in Ranma's voice broke through some of Akane's anger. "Well,
maybe we'll be able to figure some way of salvaging our lives. But if you
ever tell anyone about what happened, I'll make you wish you were never
born."
Ranma nodded in agreement. She then slipped past Akane and went into the
bathing room, shutting the door behind herself.
--------------------------------
Ranma followed Akane to school. 'I don't understand why I have to go to
school. It's not like anything they'd teach would help me as a martial
artist.' He looked down at Akane from the fence. 'Is she my fiancee, lover,
just a friend, or nothing at all? Well, she said what happened yesterday was
a mistake, so I guess that rules out lover,' Ranma thought wistfully.
Akane glanced back at Ranma. 'I don't want to be engaged to him. I don't
love him. I hate boys, and he's a total pervert!' She closed her eyes
tightly. 'But... but I don't see how I can't marry him. Dad did engage us
and we had sex already.' She sighed deeply, lost in her thoughts. 'Why did
my life have to be put in the blender on puree setting?'
"Don't tell anyone about our engagement. I'd rather not deal with the idiots
who won't just mind their own business," Akane angrily commanded.
"Maybe if we ignore it long enough, our parents will forget about it," Ranma
replied, a little jokingly, sounding hollow even to himself.
Akane gave a sarcastic laugh. "Doubt it. My Dad can be pretty stubborn."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. My Pop can be a real stubborn pain in the ass."
'WHAM' Ranma stumbled forward on the top of the fence from the blow that
Genma had just given him.
"Is that anyway to talk about your father, boy?" Genma demanded.
"It is when your father is worthless idiot!" Ranma retorted. He dropped into
a fighting stance, unminding of the fact that they were on top of a chain
link fence.
"Ranma, you need to learn-" Genma's lecture was cut short by a foot sweep.
The elder Saotome fell into the river, and emerged a moment later as a
panda. He engaged Ranma in battle until his son became his daughter, also
courtesy of the small river.
Akane watched the fight and decided to see how much it'd cost her to get
Nabiki to find a way out of her betrothal. She wouldn't be able to handle a
week of this, much less a LIFETIME!
"I'm going to go take a bath," Ranma said, disgustedly as her father left
them alone finally.
Akane held up her hand and replied, "You'll be late for school if you do.
We'll stop and get you some hot water on the way. I know just the place."
--------------------------------
"Ranma, here's your hot...." Akane started to say, turning the corner to see
Ranma standing in front of Dr. Tofu, who had his skeleton with him. "Oh,
d-doctor... ah, good morning," she said with a bow. Tears welled up into her
eyes. She had been hoping to avoid him. Especially after yesterday.
Ranma moved around the corner to use the hot water, out of eyesight.
"You haven't been by in a while. No new injuries?" Dr. Tofu asked brightly.
"No sir. I mean... I haven't exactly done..." Akane managed to stammer out.
Ranma heard Akane's strange reaction. 'Hmm... she might be in love with this
doctor. If I pair them up maybe I won't have to marry her.' That struck a
strange blow to his heart when he thought that.
"Well, we got to go. See you later, Dr. Tofu," Akane said hurriedly. She
grabbed Ranma and dashed toward school before she would make a fool of
herself.
Dr. Tofu noticed two things as they left. One, there was a boy running with
Akane now who was wearing the same thing as the girl he had scared. Two,
Akane had injured herself in the groin area. Probably because she tried to
walk on the fence like the boy with her was.
She was so competitive, like that.
He hoped.
"So, what's with you and the doctor?" the now male Ranma asked, racing
towards the school. For the concession of speed he had dropped back down to
the ground.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. He's just been my doctor since I was little,"
Akane replied, her voice sounding both angry and sad.
"Do you love him?" Ranma asked intensely.
"It doesn't matter. I'll never be able to marry him now... and he loves
someone else. Not anymore."
They continued towards the school, and with each step, Akane's sadness was
replaced by her growing anger. When the school was in sight, Akane yelled,
"Hate boys! I hate boys!!" She was attacked by dozens of young men, each
wearing different sports clothes, mostly, and carrying varied blunt weapons.
Ranma almost joined in to help her, until he noticed that she didn't need
any help. He stayed up on the yard's stone wall, keeping his good vantage
point.
'Not too bad,' Ranma thought. 'Good form and lots of practice, I'd say.' He
winced as she took out a martial artist and a boy carrying a large radio.
Akane moved through the horde like a chainsaw, cutting them down and not
taking a single hits.
"Grr... every morning. When will they learn?" Akane snarled.
"Truly such a boorish lot. Evidently each of them intends to ask you out,
Akane, on the dawn that he finally defeats you," a man in the archaic garb
of kimono and hakima said as he approached her.
"Oh, sempai, good morning," Akane greeted dryly. 'Gods, not today.'
"And now, Tendo Akane, might you fight with me?"
"Man! You're really popular, aren't you?" Ranma said, jumping down next to
Akane.
"Stay out of the way. You'll get hurt," Akane snapped.
"What's going on?" Ranma asked.
"You'll see."
"You there." Kuno pointed his bokken imperiously at Ranma. "You are being
quite familiar with Akane!"
Ranma thought about that a second. "Tell him, Akane?" Ranma asked finally,
Akane could tell what he wanted people to know.
Akane was about to ask what he was referring to, but then thought it'd
probably be a good idea. "Kuno-sempai, I'd like you to meet Saotome Ranma...
my fiance." She couldn't hide all of her disgust and anguish when she said
it.
"F-f-fi-fian-FIANCE!?!?!?!"
A swarm of students ran over Kuno, starting to ask all sorts of questions of
the hapless couple. Twin expressions of panic alighted on their faces. She
had forgotten for a second that she had an audience.
--------------------------------
"I thought you wanted to keep it a secret," Ranma said. He was standing with
Akane outside the classroom. They were both late because of everyone that
asked them questions. "Heck, I thought you were just going to tell him I was
a house guest or something."
"Yeah, but maybe it'll end the morning battles," Akane replied, looking away
from him. 'My life stinks and I have to be the dumbest person in existence.'
"But that's a good way to spar," Ranma said brightly, trying to cheer her
up.
"Oh, sure. Once in a while, but it gets rather annoying when it happens
EVERY morning," Akane retorted bitterly.
They were interrupted by a shout of, "Never! Never shall I let this travesty
of an engagement stand!" as Tatewaki Kuno came charging around the corner,
his bokken held in the ready position for instant attack.
Ranma muttered just loud enough that Akane could here, "Hah. A little late
to rescue Miss 'Easy' considering what she did yesterday."
Akane's face paled, her pails falling to the ground, splashing water onto
her legs. "What did you say?" she screeched loudly. She was interrupted from
giving Ranma the pounding of his life by Kuno's unwitting intervention.
"Have at thee, villain!" Kuno shouted, swinging at Ranma but only hitting
his buckets and spraying water everywhere.
"Hey! This is no place for a fight," Ranma said, flipping to land away from
Kuno and the splashing water. He almost glided backwards down the hall until
he landed in an open window, his back to the outside. "Follow me!" he cried,
leaping backwards confidently. It wasn't that high, after all.
"I follow!" Kuno shouted charging and leaping out the same window.
"Wait! You idiots! We're on the third floor!" Akane yelled, dashing to the
window, just as the door opened behind her, letting the students spill out
into the hall, chattering excitedly.
She skidded to a halt in front of the windows, her expression softening for
just a second. "Guess they were just lucky that there's a pool down there."
Ranma's thoughts were not quite so kind to the water. "Why is it ALWAYS
water?!" he screamed out, just before twisting to knife deeply into the
water.
Kuno just yelled, eyes wide as he belly flopped, still holding his sword.
The resounding splash knocked him senseless.
Akane swore under her breath, something about idiotic boys.
'Wait. Ranma might say something like that 'Miss Easy' comment to Kuno. That
could get back to Nabiki! Ahhh!' She dashed towards the closest stairs,
leaving the rest of the students behind, wondering what was going on.
Ranma grumbled to herself, trying to look around from the bottom of the
pool. She could see Kuno floating face down in the water, with his eyes
closed. Oddly enough, he still had his bokken.
'Can't let the creep drown,' Ranma thought to herself. She swam over to him
quickly, grabbing his right arm to sling him across her back as she planned
to swim to the edge of the pool.
Kuno suddenly started awake and burbled something about fighting, even Ranma
could understand that, and wrapped his left arm around her, trying grasp a
hold of Ranma to continue fighting.
Time seemed to freeze as Kuno cruelly twisted and squeezed the soft orb of
flesh in his hand, with only soft silk being between their skin.
Ranma couldn't believe the outrage she felt. 'That hurt!' Her face became
furious as she pulled him down and then flung them both out of the pool,
catapulting them from the bottom of the pool in one quick jump. She twisted
in the air and slammed Kuno into the concrete right next to the pool with
stunning force. She then sprinted to the trees in front of her.
Kuno stared at the sky. That had not been a man's form that he had grabbed.
That could only mean... "Ranma Saotome! How dare you flee my just wrath!"
--------------------------------
Ranma grumbled to herself as she sat in a tree, perched easily fifteen feet
off the ground. It was just a little too cold to running around in wet
clothes, so she had pulled off her pants. With deft motions, she wrung them
out, getting them mostly dry almost instantly.
"Ranma! Ranma!" Akane called out, as she walked among the trees.
"Huh? Up here, Akane?" Ranma called out, waving to the girl on the ground.
"What do you think you were doing?" Akane called out angrily. "And how dare
you call me easy?"
"What? You're not? Could have fooled me! What do you call yesterday then?"
Ranma said disparagingly.
"T-that was a one time only. I was temporarily insane or something! I'm NOT
like that!" A calculating look appeared on her face. "If you apologize, I'll
give you this!" Akane held up a steaming kettle.
"Yeah! Right! I ain't said nothing wrong. It's just the truth," Ranma
retorted cutely, flicking her red bangs out of her eyes.
"Why you...."
"Come out, Ranma Saotome! You are no man, if you run from our fight!" Kuno
yelled out from a short distance away.
Akane growled. She had to keep Ranma away from Kuno until she explained some
things to him. "Here!" she called out, flinging the kettle at Ranma. "Change
back!" She turned and ran in the direction of Kuno without even looking
back.
The kettle clanged off of Ranma's head, starting to fall to ground. Ranma's
hand snapped out frantically, following the kettle down and out. She finally
caught it, just as she almost overbalanced. She had the branch in a death
grip with her feet to keep from falling and spilling the precious water.
"Kuno! I challenge you!" Akane called out, holding both of her fists up
defend herself, legs spread slightly to give her maximum leverage and
maneuverability.
"Akane Tendo! Very well! If I lose, I shall go out with you!" Kuno flicked
his hair out of his eyes. "Know this, that I shall lose with all my skill!"
He stepped toward her and swung a simple overhand blow at her.
Her hands clapped together, trapping the blade between them and above her
head. She fell backwards to the ground and kicked Kuno in the chest, sending
him flying over her. She blinked in surprise when she heard a clang resound
from behind her.
Kuno found himself eye to eye with a pigtailed beauty who was wearing only a
red Chinese shirt holding a kettle. The same kettle that he had just landed
upside down on.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" Kuno asked congenially. "Have you seen the
villain, Ranma Saotome, Pig-tailed Girl? He is no man, I tell you!"
Ranma had almost totally regained her balance until Kuno's arrival. From
below her, she heard Akane ask angrily, "Why haven't you changed yet, you
dummy!"
Ranma let go the kettle, releasing Kuno to land on the ground, crushing the
kettle. She bounced to the ground angrily. "I'm ten times the man you are,
Kuno! Do you want to fight?"
Kuno rolled to his feet. "Ah! You are a fiery one and wish to challenge me
for the honor of a date? Very well then, I accept!" He swung the same simple
cut at Ranma that he had used on Akane.
Ranma stepped into it, lashing out with a flurry of punches, knocking the
bokken from his grasp as he slid to the ground, unconscious. "And 'Ranma' is
even better than me!" she said, twirling the bokken like a baton.
Akane clocked Ranma on the back of her head with a punch. "Now why did you
go and do that? Don't you realize he's in Nabiki's class? You're going to
get us married before you know it, you dummy!"
"What do you mean?" Ranma retorted angrily.
"Saying that sort of thing in front of other people, you jerk! How could you
call me 'easy'? I am NOT a slut!"
"If the name fits!" Ranma started to continue, but was interrupted by the
powerful punch to her face. Akane kneed her in the guts and then spun a kick
that Ranma barely rolled with.
"How dare you?" Akane said, near tears by the accusation. "How can you be
so, so...."
"Owie. You didn't have to hit so hard," Ranma complained. She touched the
lump on her head for just a second. Her other hand covered the top of her
breast unconsciously.
"And look at you? Touching yourself like that!" Akane said hotly.
"What? Oh! Uh, it's not like that! Kuno groped me. Geez, I didn't know that
would hurt so bad. Ah, to hell with it, I'm going home to bath," Ranma
muttered sullenly, blushing at the memory of what touching she'd done to
Akane yesterday. She did see Akane's face show it's surprise when she heard
what Kuno had done.
"Hey! We've still got school! And I'm not done talking to you!" Akane said
hotly.
"Well, you can go back to school if you want, but I'm going home!"
Akane looked back at the school for a second. "Hey, wait up!"
Ranma kept walking but looked over her shoulder, grabbing her pants from the
tree as she walked by. "Why should I?" Ranma said angrily.
"I need to make sure you understand, you absolutely can't make any comments
like that again! It's really important, Ranma!"
"Hah! You're just upset 'cause it's the truth!"
"Ranma! Damn it! You know it's not! If you say that sort of thing around
Nabiki or our dads, where going to be in front of an alter before you can
say 'marriage'. Think about it!"
Ranma scrunched her face up in thought. "I guess. Doesn't change anything,
tho'."
"Look jerk, that was a one time thing. I don't know what came over me. It'll
never happen again! Got that?"
"Sure, sure. Whatever." Ranma finally relented, hearing the desperation in
her voice. She couldn't be telling the truth, could she?
--------------------------------
Things went pretty much normally. Less insults and fighting between the
couple, but the same challengers. Currently, they were sitting around the
table at the Tendo's, just after Mikado kissed Ranma.
"Of course, if that had been your first kiss, that would be a tragedy,"
Nabiki joked. Ranma was just _so_ easy to tease.
"But certainly that wasn't the case, was it, Ranma?" Kasumi giggled.
"Thank God, no," Ranma said. It had been a while since he'd thought about
his first kiss. He fought desperately to keep from blushing. Mikado's kiss
had been nothing compared to Akane's.
"Oh? Who was your first kiss with, then?" Nabiki inquired. She hadn't
thought Ranma would have the guts to even admit to kissing a girl.
"Yes, Ranma, tell us who it was?" Ryoga snarled slightly. That double-timing
no good womanizer. How dare he talk about another girl!
"Um, er, ah," Ranma stammered, eyes flickering nervously at Akane.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of to tell us about your first kiss," Kasumi
pleasantly insisted.
"Come on, tell us, Ranma!" Ryoga demanded. He had missed the quick glance.
He decided that that was more than enough. He swung a fist at Ranma.
Nabiki looked towards Akane, wondering why she hadn't said anything. Nabiki
saw Akane blushing DEEP red. The middle Tendo sister grinned at this and
tapped Kasumi's shoulder.
Kasumi turned and looked and saw that Nabiki was pointing to their blushing
sister. "Oh!" She smiled at her youngest sister, making Akane's blush deepen
even further. 'That answers that question.'
Ryoga never did get the answer as he and Ranma fought.
The Tendo sisters thought it would be wise not to let their father or Genma
know. A fair portion of Furinkan High purchased that information, much to
Kuno's ire and Ranma's and Akane's displeasure.
--------------------------------
-Six and a half weeks since Ranma arrived at the Tendo home.-
Ranma was completely stunned when the recently defeated Shampoo started to
French kiss him and not the kiss on the cheek he was expecting.
Akane cut it short with a bonbori to Ranma's head. She then stared down the
purple-haired Amazon in absolute fury. "So, who's your _girlfriend_,
Ranma?!"
"She never seen me as a boy before!" Ranma insisted. He rubbed the top oh
his head.
"Oh, of course your lover gives you that sort of kiss for a first meeting!"
Akane said bitterly. How dare he? He knew they were going to get married,
someday. 'Of course, that's what he did with me,' she thought ruefully.
"Akane! Now you know...." Ranma pleaded vainly.
"What?!" Akane angrily interrupted, glaring at him.
"I told you everything about my love life before I arrived here! Heck, she's
been trying to kill me, remember?" Ranma said heatedly.
"Somehow I doubt that," Akane said dryly, looking at Shampoo who was
cuddling up to Ranma. She turned around and stomped away.
--------------------------------
"Now listen, Shampoo. Get out of the stone-age. Those kill the woman who
beats you and marry the man who defeats you is completely outdated," Ranma
said. "You get it, Shampoo?"
Shampoo jumped up to Ranma. "Airen."
"You don't get it." He backed away from her. "Now listen! I ain't going to
marry you."
Shampoo continued to advance on him. "Wo ai ni!"
Ranma jumped away from her. "I already got a fiancee!"
Either Shampoo didn't understand what he said or didn't care, she leapt
towards her 'husband'.
Ranma did the only thing he could think of, he ran. 'It don't matter if she
is cute. I gotta marry Akane. After what we've done, it's the only thing we
can do.'
"Akane, you're just going to let her chase him?" Nabiki asked archly.
"As long as he doesn't let her catch him, I don't care," Akane replied. She
tried to keep an indiscriminate eye on Ranma as he ran.
--------------------------------
Kasumi looked up while she placed breakfast on the table and saw Akane about
to enter. "Akane, are you all right? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine," Akane gave a quick reply. 'If you discount throwing up earlier.
I feel better now,' she thought to herself.
"Probably just this Shampoo thing getting to her," Nabiki commented.
Kasumi nodded. "Could you wake Ranma?" she asked Akane.
"Fine," Akane grumbled.
A hideous growl escaped from Akane when she opened the door to Ranma's room,
and found Shampoo sleeping with Ranma in his bed. The fact they were wearing
clothes prevented their deaths for the moment. Her mind raced for possible
ways to handle this, a convenient bucket of water was her answer. Ranma
started to run for her life away from Shampoo as she screamed about killing
'Girl-type Ranma.'
Later that same day, Ranma tried to explain things to her. "Let's get this
straight. Shampoo crawled into my bed, and I didn't know that until you
splashed me," Ranma explained to Akane, his frustration showing quite
clearly.
"Did I ask for you to explain it? You and Shampoo are making me sick to my
stomach." 'Literally,' she thought. 'I hope I don't lose my lunch over
this.'
"Did you hear what I said!? I didn't do nothing wrong!"
"I'm not buying that you didn't know! How could you not?!"
"You know how sound a sleeper I am. Anyone could easily slip into my room
and I wouldn't know it!"
Akane just growled, and proceeded to ignore him. Her nerves were starting to
make her sick. Her stomach turned again.
--------------------------------
Getting rid of Shampoo proved to be an arduous undertaking. Shampoo used a
special technique to cause Akane to forget who Ranma was for a while. It
ended with Ranma lying to Shampoo about his true gender.
The day after Shampoo left, Akane still wasn't feeling well and went to Dr.
Tofu's. He gave her a concerned look after she explained the symptoms. He
ran some tests and the one he was most afraid of being positive, was. 'Akane
was a good, responsible girl, how could this have happened?' Dr. Tofu
pondered.
Dr. Tofu sighed when he returned to the examination room. Akane was a bit
scared seeing the serious look of concern in Dr. Tofu's face. She, she
couldn't be sick like her mother had been, could she?
"I, ah, have the results of the tests...." Dr. Tofu took a deep breath.
"You're not exactly sick... you're... pregnant."
"You're joking!" Akane gasped. The world seemed to swirl around her.
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "I know you wish it was just a joke, but the
pregnancy test came up positive, twice. You are going to be a mother."
Akane stared vacantly at the doctor. This couldn't be happening. Wanting,
needing a sign he was joking. She couldn't find any. She grabbed Dr. Tofu in
a desperate hug and started crying. "I can't be pregnant! I can't! Can't,
can't be."
After over an hour, when Akane had stopped crying, the doctor finally asked,
"Who's the father?"
Akane couldn't believe this was happening. She looked at her hands that were
twitching uncontrollably in her lap. "R-Ranma," she finally answered in a
rather meek voice.
"How did it happen?" Dr. Tofu asked in his best 'comforting' voice.
"I, ah, well, it was an accident. We didn't mean to do it. We only did it
that one time," Akane answered, sounding like a mouse. "It was so stupid."
She just wished the ground would swallow her whole.
Dr. Tofu looked at his patient, noting she was shivering, her face devoid of
blood and her eyes were unfocused. She was in no condition to explain
anything to her right now. "Akane, I suggest you come back in a couple days
to discuss your pregnancy." He handed her a few pamphlets that explained
services and needs of pregnant women.
Akane shuddered and then nodded, taking the papers.
After couple suggestions of how to deal with morning sickness, Akane walked
out of Dr. Tofu's clinic. She walked home looking very much like a zombie.
"I'm home," Akane said unemotionally. She folded the papers under her arm.
"Welcome back. How was the doctor's visit?" Kasumi greeted her at the door.
"Ah, fine."
"So, what was wrong and why were you there for so long?" Kasumi asked
brightly. Dr. Tofu was sure to make everything right.
"Oh, ah, he ran some tests to make sure about a couple things. There's
nothing really wrong." 'Just my entire life is gone now.' "I'm going to take
a nap." Akane started up the steps, and then stopped. "Um, do you have any
ginger?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"Dr. Tofu suggested I put some into water and drink it a couple times a
day."
Kasumi blinked a couple times. 'But that's usually used for... She couldn't
be...' She shook her head. 'Well, it could be used for other things too. I'm
not a doctor, after all. It's probably stress and a weak stomach, that's
all.' "I'll go pick some up when I go to the store."
"Thanks, Sis." Akane hurried up the stairs. She was more than thankful to
find P-Chan resting on her bed.
Akane hugged her pet tightly. "What am I going to do now? My life is over. I
suppose I could just end it, but I'm not sure if I could... or even want to.
I just don't know. This is all too soon. I'm too young. This shouldn't
happen to me!" Tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to over pour.
P-Chan didn't know what Akane was babbling about, but was sure whatever her
problem was, it was Ranma's fault. Could her comment about 'ending it' mean
she was considering suicide?
Akane gazed into the mirror and sighed. "Tendo Akane is dead, long live
Saotome Akane... or will it be Tendo Ranma? I never did ask. I knew it was
going to happen... but I wanted more time."
P-Chan was frozen in shock. He started to gain rational thought when Akane's
tears started to fall on his head.
"How could we've been so stupid? Why'd we do it? Why?" Akane sobbed. "I'm
sixteen, pregnant and as good as married." She punched the wall. "My life is
over, all because of one _REALLY_ stupid moment."
Akane lift the bewildered pig to her face. "Do you have any ideas that could
help me?"
P-Chan just looked at her blankly, his mind awhirl.
"Of course not. You're just a stupid pig." Akane shook her head. "Not that
I'm much smarter it seems." She collapsed into bed, staring at the ceiling
her mind in so much turmoil that she couldn't fall asleep.
P-Chan mind was similarly in a state of confusion. 'Akane is...
p-p-p-pr-pr-pre-pregnant?! Ranma had s-s-s-sex with Akane?! That honorless
bastard took away her purity... her innocence! I'm going to kill him!!' The
little pig pulled away from Akane and ran out of the room.
"P-Chan? What has gotten into you?" Akane wondered, but then fell back into
the bed. She couldn't muster the desire to chase after him.
--------------------------------
Ranma returned home and made a bee-line for the kitchen. He grabbed a snack
Kasumi had already prepared for him. "So, how's Akane?" he asked Kasumi
between bites.
"She said nothing was wrong." Kasumi sighed. "But I don't think she told me
everything. Could you take a snack up to her and check on her?"
Ranma shrugged. "Sure." He grabbed the plate of muffins and two cups filled
with tea. He then went to her room and knocked on the door.
"It's open," Akane replied softly.
Ranma opened the door and entered. "Yo, Akane. How are you feeling?"
Akane looked at him, shaking her head slightly. "You tell me." She sat up on
her bed.
"How would I know?" Ranma asked, tilting his head to the side, looking
askance at her.
Akane sat up in bed and motioned for Ranma to sit next to her. "After you
hear what I have to say, you'll have a clue." She took an offered muffin and
tea from Ranma.
"Are you trying to give me whatever you got?" Ranma sat the rest of the
muffins, minus two, on the desk.
"_I_ can't give you this."
Ranma shrugged and sat on the bed. Well, she was talking.
Akane sighed, picking at her muffin. "I went to Dr. Tofu to see why I was
sick this morning. It appears that I'm not exactly sick, it was morning
sickness."
Ranma blinked. "If you're not sick then why is what you got called morning
sickness?" He stuffed a muffin into his mouth.
Akane couldn't believe he didn't know what she meant by that. Well, maybe
she could. He hadn't even remembered Ryoga for a while, after all. "Ranma,
morning sickness is caused by being pregnant."
It took a second for Ranma to register what she said and then started
gagging the muffin. Akane tried to help by slapping him on the back, HARD.
He deserved it, after all. He got her into this.
"Wh-what?!" Ranma stammered.
"We're going to be parents." There was not the least bit of joy in Akane's
voice and quite a bit of despair.
"Who's the father?" Ranma asked in utter shock.
Akane punched him into the wall. "You are." She glared at him.
Ranma slid to the ground, the pain not fazing him in the slightest. "A-are
you sure?"
"I've only had sex once and that was with you, so who else could it be?"
Akane snarled in a low voice. She did not feel like walking over to where he
was to hit him again.
"Are you sure you're... p-pr-pregnant?" 'How do you check for pregnancy,
anyways?'
"I'm sure. It took an hour crying on Dr. Tofu's shoulder for me to accept
it. I'm still having a hard time believing it."
"But-but-but we're only sixteen?! How are we going to deal with this?
Raising a kid is expensive. There's diapers, food, college and where will he
sleep? Your dad is gonna kill me! Oh, manohmanohman." He babbled on for
several minutes while pacing quickly around the room.
Akane giggled at the reaction, surprised at how Ranma's angst filled ranting
soothed her. It was nice to see that he cared about this.
Ranma stopped pacing and looked at her. "Are you REALLY sure?"
Akane nodded. "I wish I wasn't sure. I wish I wasn't pregnant, but I am. I
didn't think about it, but I haven't had my... period since then, too."
'That should have been my first tip off,' Akane thought. 'I am such an
idiot.'
Ranma sighed. "I wanted to wait until we're eighteen, but..." He closed his
eyes. "I guess we gotta get married now. We'll figure some way of raising
our kid."
Those simple words raised her spirits immensely. "I guess we will." Akane
sighed. "Ranma, how do you feel about me?"
"Huh?" Ranma asked stupidly.
"Since we're getting married, I'd like to know what you feel for me." Akane
watched him intently. She was feeling quite a bit better since they had
started talking.
Ranma looked at Akane like a frightened deer. "Oh, um, well... ah, I, ah,
l-l-like you a lot. I'm not sure if I, ah, l-l-l-lo... ah, you know. I
really care about you. I was more concerned about you being sick this
morning than I ever was when Pop was sick." 'Is that what love was?' Ranma
thought. It had never occurred to him to actually think what it was like to
be in love. He just assumed that he would know.
Akane smiled at Ranma. "I don't think I love you yet, but I can see that
happening in time. I do care about you." She sighed. "And I really like you,
you know. Getting jealous over that Amazon bimbo showed me that at least."
'I don't think I'm in love,' Akane thought to herself. 'Well, maybe. I hope
I will be, anyways.'
Ranma smiled weakly. "I, ah, I'm going out for a while to think. We can tell
everyone over dinner." He gave her a quick hug and a nervous smile.
Akane nodded. She watched him jump out her window and continued to pick at
her muffin. 'He took that better than I expected. If I find out he's running
away from this, I'm going to kill him.'
She turned to her pamphlets, reading up on her condition and what she needed
to do.
--------------------------------
Akane fidgeted nervously. Dinner was ready and there was no sign of Ranma.
She was deathly afraid Ranma had run away and didn't know what to do. He had
said he was going to be back, but could she trust him? She wanted to.
'Please, gods, please let him come home.'
She reluctantly started to eat dinner waiting for some sign that Ranma was
just running late. She did not want to face this alone. It would be
devastating to the family.
Kasumi was worried, Akane was showing signs of something that should be
impossible. The fact that Akane was scared and Ranma was missing only made
the eldest Tendo girl even more concerned.
Genma and Soun only thought it was strange for Ranma to miss a meal.
Nabiki knew something was up, but hadn't figured out what it was. She could
just feel it in the air.
They were startled by a crash just outside the back wall-fence.
"Ranma, DIE!!" Ryoga was heard screaming.
Ranma jumped higher than the wall and was momentarily visible to those
eating dinner. He had yet to get more than a couple coherent words from the
lost boy on why he was attacking, but had a good idea what it was. He had
been wandering around, lost in thought. He'd been thinking about what his
father would do, but just couldn't see running away. That just wasn't right.
Akane was visibly relieved. 'Ranma was just in a fight. That's why he was
late. Thank heavens!'
Ranma was quickly losing ground to the raging martial artist and decided
that the pig needed to cool off. He stood in one spot for a second and
dodged Ryoga's punch at the last second, causing the lost boy to hit a fire
hydrant. It sprayed water everywhere, transforming both of them.
Ranma grabbed the pig and punted him far, far away. She'd have to figure out
some way to keep Ryoga away from Akane while he was in his pig form. No way
was Ranma going to let her sleep with that stupid pig. Even if she couldn't
get a clue if it hit her on the head.
Ranma jumped over the wall-fence and walked over to the dining room. "Sorry
I'm late."
"At least you're here now." Akane didn't bother to ask what started the
fight, and, quite frankly, didn't care. All she cared about right now was
what she was facing. Her stomach started to do flip-flops. And this time it
was more than just morning sickness.
Ranma grabbed some of the hot water from a teakettle and turned back into a
young man. Kasumi then gave him some food she had hidden from Genma and he
quickly ate it, hands zipping the food into a safe place.
When dinner was finished, Kasumi didn't immediately move to clean up, since
she believed Ranma and Akane had something to say. She hoped they didn't and
it was just her imagination. She sighed as she realized that she knew it
wasn't her imagination as she watched her sister.
"Ranma and I have something to announce," Akane began nervously.
Kasumi frowned, what little hope she had washing away.
"You two want to get married now?" Genma half joked, half questioned. He
slapped Soun's back, laughing merrily.
Akane sighed and Ranma fidgeted, looked at each other and then they both
nodded.
"What?!" Genma, Soun and Nabiki gasped. Kasumi just nodded sadly.
"Akane and I decided we want to get married, and we don't see a reason to
wait," Ranma said a bit nervously, the lie being blatantly obvious.
Akane winced as she heard him speak.
Genma and Soun started to dance for joy, only knocking over one table in
their excitement.
"Any reason why you decided this?" Nabiki questioned. Something smelled like
week old dead fish.
"D-do we really need a reason?" Ranma replied lamely.
"Akane, i-is there something else that we should know?" Kasumi asked, her
voice catching. 'Please, God, let it be something else.'
"You know already, don't you?" Akane asked meekly.
"I don't know. I suspect it might be..." Kasumi couldn't bring herself to
say it. "Ah, but I don't see how it could be _that_."
Nabiki was mentally pulling her hair out because of them beating around the
bush. "All right, Akane, what is it?"
Akane closed her eyes tight, almost pushing some tears out of her eyes.. "We
decided to get married because... I-I-I-I'm p-pre-pregnant."
A drip from the kitchen sink was heard. And then a thud from the two fathers
landing on the ground.
"You're WHAT?! _PREGNANT_!?" Nabiki yelled.
Soun fainted from where he lay on the ground.
"Ranma is the father, right?" Genma asked, his glasses glinting dangerously
as he stood up.
"Akane, pardon me for saying this, but how could you do something so
stupid!?" Kasumi yelled, losing her famed composure.
"It was an accident. It just sort of happened. I don't know why we did it,
we just did. It was just a strange, strange day," Akane said defensively.
"How did it happen?" Nabiki asked, already planning great amounts of pain
for Ranma's future. 'How hard would it be to get Kuno, Ryoga, Mikado and
Kodachi all in the same place?' Nabiki thought to herself.
Akane sighed and fidgeted. "It was the day Ranma showed up here..."
Nabiki and Kasumi blinked. 'No way,' they thought.
Genma just grinned. That's his boy.
"...everything was so confusing. That I might be engaged to a guy I never
met before. That the boy was a girl. Not to mention the panda walking around
acting like it was human. It all seemed like a weird dream. Hell, I've had
saner dreams than that." Akane let out a long breath. "Then I walked into
the bath expecting to see the girl and saw him. My mind couldn't take it
anymore and I thought it was all just a dream and so decided to go along
with it and have some fun. So... I seduced him, not that it took much to
do." Akane glared at Ranma for a second, then let her expression soften
slightly.
"Let me get this straight, you seduced him?" Nabiki asked disbelievingly.
Akane, avowed man-hater and suspected closet lesbian! Her plans went poof in
her mind.
Akane nodded meekly, her head bowed.
"And you had sex on the day you met him?" Nabiki said louder.
She nodded again. 'This sucks,' Akane thought.
"Ranma. And why did you go along with it?" Nabiki asked bitterly. She
leveled a very hard glare at him.
Ranma had been trying to blend into the wall, but now he gulped audibly.
"Well, it was hard to ignore what she was doing... and I hadn't felt so
great after getting cursed and thought going along with what she was doing
would help, ah, feel more manly. It's hard to explain." He stopped when he
saw Nabiki's gaze shift back to Akane.
Genma grimaced at what Ranma had said, particularly about him feeling manly.
He wasn't too terribly pleased to find out that Akane had seduced him, not
the other way around.
Kasumi sighed. "I guess we have to prepare for a wedding." She looked back
down to where she was putting a cold compress to her fathers forehead.
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