From: Belphera <ranma@faradic.net>

Friends?

Part 1

By Belphera



Akane rolls over in her sleep with a blissful smile on her face. The
waves crashing against the Galveston beach
causing a smooth and relaxing rhythm gently lulling the young woman in
her sleep. Truly a peacefully and calm
picture. Of course until

"Akane! What are you doing sleeping in bed?! It's only 11 o'clock!" Into
the peaceful slumber, Ranma, Akane's
duplex neighbor, bursts in. Cracking open one eye, Akane looks at the
cause of the disturbance. Groaning, she
buries her head into her pillow. Plopping down at the foot of her bed,
Ranma playfully pokes at her legs.

* Smack *

Akane's leg accidentally lashes out and hits Ranma 's arm. Sitting up,
Akane rubs her eyes and gives Ranma an
annoyed glare.

"Why do you insist on bothering me this late at night?! I need to get
some sleep, I promised that I'd open up the
dojo tomorrow for the kids, so I need all the sleep I can get!"

"Aren't you going to even ask me why I'm not with Shampoo?" Ranma said
with a hurt look.

"Don't tell me…. You two broke up. Wow, big surprise." Akane said while
rolling her eyes. " Honestly Ranma, I
don't know why you even bother going out with those.. those.. tramps.
They're so shallow and self-centered."

"I guess it's just a weakness in me. I've got bad judgement in women."
Ranma replied woefully, while lying back
down on the bed. Placing a can of diet soda on his abdomen, he looks up
at the ceiling. Wondering what her
co-workers would say to a man of Ranma 'scaliber and attractiveness
lying on her bed. Ranma was a Japanese
handsome man with eyes that changed colors based on his mood, most of
the time they were blue and twinkled
with mirth. He was tanned and well built with just the right amount of
muscles. And to top it off he had jet black
hair that used to be in a ponytail but was now in a pigtail.

"It was a tie." Ranma said solemnly, they he broke out into a deep laugh
that teetered the can that was
precariously balanced on his stomach. " I refused to wear a tie to meet
her great-grandmother. After an argument,
her great-grandmother actually challenged me to a fight. I should've
known she was an Amazon. I mean just look
at the name." Ranma was always in trouble with the Chinese Amazons ever
since he repelled a group of Amazons
that tried to attack a small village near to where he was camped with
his father and sister. Now they wanted to
initiate him and his sister into the Amazon tribe, but he and his sister
had already become the heirs to their family
business and martial art.

"Anyway, Cologne as always tries everything in the book, but naturally I
beat her at her own game, and sent her
packing with the Dragon Annihilation."

"Ranma , Ranma , I just don't understand it, you're so good at the art,
why don't you let your sister take over the
business and you continue with your training. Ryouga was by today again,
he dropped off some statistics for
some company. I put it on your table. You know, you two are the best
martial artists I've ever seen, and you both
refuse to give up your careers and just continue to train. I mean you
two have so much power."

"I told you We've been over this. Ryouga and me are best friends, and
will always stick together. We both
wanted to settle down, so we did, is that so hard to believe? Sis is
just not good at the family business, so that
leaves only me. Besides I love the business as much as the art. Me an
Ryouga still train, and we still get better. It
works out perfectly." Ranma says in a bored tone.

" Well, anyway, now that you've gotten your depression out of your
system, why don't you get out so I can get
some sleep?" Akane says.

"Nah I like your bed, it's nice and comfy." Ranma says, stretching
first, then taking the can off his stomach.

"Well unlike someone I know, I saved up money to by a good bed. And hey!
That's six cans of soda you owe
me!" Akane retorts.

" Ah well, I'll pick some up at the store tomorrow. And I hate buying
things like a bed. It's annoying how those
people are always so chipper and happy and nosing themselves in my
business. "

"This from a man, who makes multi-million dollar deals and takeovers in
a day." Akane says with a smirk. Ranma
looks at Akane with an upraised eyebrow. She was currently wearing a
Hello Kitty Tee-shirt that went down to
her calves. Grinning he starts to chuckle. Akane begins to eye Ranma
suspiciously.

" What are you laughing at?"

"Poor girl's ears are bent out of shape. I feel for her. Why do you
insist on wearing that shirt? You're really
torturing her."

Pulling in her legs Akane let's them fly at Ranma . Laughing Ranma jumps
away and hops off the bed.

"I'm going to bed, you're getting too violent." Before going out, Ranma
goes over to Akane's side and gives her
a kiss on the forehead. " Good night darling." Quickly he leaves the
room. Lying back down on the bed Akane
hears Ranma open the door to his room in the house. Sighing, Akane looks
out her window and gets up. Leaning
on the banister of her balcony, she looks out to the sea.

Ranma was such a good friend. Ever since the first day when he moved
into this huge house. This house
belonged to a good friend of her father, and he let her live here. It
has been six years since she's moved into this
big beach house. It had been like the house of her dreams, except it
felt empty. A year later Ranma moved into the
house as well, and they divided everything into two, so that they
wouldn't not get into each other's ways. Right
from the start, Ranma and Akane became fast friends. The first day the
Ranma moved in, he had bought a plant
that was in a ceramic frog and gave it to Akane while announcing that he
was her new neighbor.

But on the outside Ranma and Akane were so different. Whereas Ranma was
outgoing and very much a playboy,
Akane was quiet and conservative. Ranma had lived a hard life of a
martial artist as a young boy up until he was
eighteen, when his mother announced that he had to take over the family
business. Quickly he began to run the
business and surprisingly well for someone with no background. At his
side was his best friend and training
partner Ryouga Hibiki. The two of them were very close and were very
similar in many ways except in one;
Ryouga was married and Ranma was not. However, Ranma strings along an
endless string of women.

Akane always disapproved of Ranma 'shabit, because she was always afraid
that Ranma would get hurt. True
Ranma was probably the strongest person she knew, physically, but she
knew better. Inside he was really very
fragile, and one false move could destroy him. Looking up at the stars,
she saw a shooting star. Closing her eyes
she made a wish.

"May Ranma finally settle down with someone and please let me help him."
Akane sent the wish up to the
hevens.



Akane came home the next day after helping some of the kids in her kempo
class. Sighing in relief, she put the
groceries she had away. On some days she was glad she was running one of
her father's dojos and also teaching
at school, but on other days it was a hassle. It took away much of her
time since she opened her dojo on
weekends and on a few weekdays and still taught elementary school five
days a week. Ranma would ridicule her
many times about her form and her techniques, but it didn't bother her
anymore.

Sighing, she finishes her unpacking and makes herself some lemonade.
Changing into a pair of shorts and a bikini
top, she gets a book and goes outside to read. Just as she sits down to
read, the phone rings. Cursing under her
breath, she retrieves the phone.

"Hello?"

"Akane! Is that you?" A voice on the other end of the line asks. It was
her older sister Nabiki.

" Of course it is! Who else would it be?" Akane asked in an annoyed
tone. Her and Nabiki never really got along
too much. Basically, Nabiki was prettier, did more womanly things in
school than she did, and was Kasumi's
favorite sister. Kasumi was her other older sister, who lived back home
in Japan with their father.

"Great! So how're things going on down there?" Nabiki asked.

"It's been okay, school's going to be ending in a couple of days, and
I'm going to be pretty much free." Akane
answered.

"Oh, do you have any plans for the summer?"

"Oh I don't know, I might just stay here and do some training and relax.
And I might go back home and visit
Kasumi and Father for a bit."

"Finally!" Nabiki exclaimed with enthusiasm. Akane immediately became
suspicious,

"Alright Nabiki spit it out, what's going on?"

"Okay well Kasumi has been bugging me a lot recently about having kids
and all. She really wants me to settle
down. I don't know why, but she keeps saying that she wants to have
little nieces and nephews." Nabiki
complained.

"So? What do you want me to do?" Akane asked.

"Well you could tell Kasumi that you've been going out and stuff. Maybe
she'll get off my back and focus on
you."

"No way!"

" Come on, I'll even fix you up with someone. Please? I know you haven't
been doing well in the men's
department recently, but that's okay, just as long as Kasumi thinks
you're going out."

"No!" Akane said forcefully.

" Please do it for…Damn! I've got a call on the other line, I hope it's
not Kasumi."

"Nabiki! Damn!" Angrily Akane hangs up and curses her sister. Why did
her sister have to be so right? It was
true she didn't go on many dates, but why did she have to rub it in? the
last date she was on was with the
annoying superintendent Kuno Tatewaki. Lying back down outside, she
ponders it for a moment what it would
feel like being married. Pushing it aside, she turned over onto her
belly and decided to get a suntan. Undoing her
top, she falls asleep.



Whistling Ranma walked into his room and changed into a pair of trunks.
After doing so he started up the grill on
the deck behind the house. Putting a couple of steaks and potatoes on
it, he notices Akane. Walking over to her,
he smiles as he sees that she is lying belly down with her top undone.
Spotting the glass with lemonade next to
her, he smirks and takes an ice cube from the pitcher and slides it up
and down her back and then leaves it there.
Akane gasps and immediately almost bolts up but then remembering her top
was undone. She glares at Ranma .

"Damn it Ranma , you pervert! Get that off of me!" Chuckling Ranma
gently moves the ice cube up her back and
to her shoulder blades before taking the cube off.

"I'm sorry darling, I thought you looked so hot I thought you needed to
be cooled down." Then he proceeded to
redo Akane's top. As his hand brushes against Akane's back, Akane feels
shocks of electricity flow through her.
Reminding herself that Ranma is a friend, she lets him finish. Then she
gets up and precedes to punch Ranma .
Holding his hands up in submission Ranma laughs,

"Sorry! Sorry! Here as an apology, I'm making dinner. Okay?" Sniffing at
the air, Akane smells food on the grill.

"Making dinner for me Ranma ? How nice of you, considering the last five
times I've cooked for you.?" Smiling,
Ranma gives Akane a pat on the rear and says,

" Now go get ready, I'll be done in a sec."



After the food was ready, the two sat down to eat on the deck. There was
still light outside, so it resulted in a
beautiful setting.

"So how's your steak?" Ranma asked.

"It's fine." Akane replied in a spaced out tone.

"Well, you don't have to be so patronizing." Ranma huffed.

"I'm sorry, did I sound like that? I was just thinking about what my
sister said on the phone today." Akane
apologized.

" Oh, Something wrong at home?" Ranma asked.

"No, nothing like that, it's just that my older sister has been bugging
my other sister about settling down and
raising a family."

"Oh? How come she hasn't asked you.?"

"She probably thinks that I'm a lost cause."

"You should be more like me, always going out with someone."

"Oh yes Ranma , I wanted to talk to you about that. I think that your
choices in women is very poor. I mean the
women that you go out with are the shallowest bunch that I've ever
seen."

"Well I guess I'm just weak for attractive women."

"Ranma , I'm serious, I'm your friend and I want the best for you. I'm
concerned that if you fall in love with one of
these women and they break up with you, you could be scarred for life."

"Well, I don't see you racking up the points in this department." Ranma
said, but then immediately regretted
saying it, because of Akane's hurt expression.

"That's not true! I went out with Kuno, six weeks ago."

"Kuno?! I could knock hum over with a breath."

" hardly went out with him because of how strong he was."

" I don't see why you went out with him in the first place."

" It's true I'm not as good as you in that point, but you don't have to
rub it in. All I was saying was that you
should have a nice girl and a relationship with meaning."

" And what do you call Shampoo and the others?"

"Sexual statistics."

"Well, that's true. Besides sex is nice, you should try it sometime."

"Ranma !

"Okay, okay. How about this, you set me up with someone, and I'll set
you up with someone."

"You'll probably set me up with some wolf that will be harassing me
through the entire night."

"And you'll probably set me up with someone whose idea of fun is to sit
by candlelight and read Yeats to each
other."

"Well is Yeats so bad?"

"Is having fun with a guy so wrong?"

"Just tell me a week before hand, so that I can work on my weights.
He'll never know what hit him."

Laughing, Ranma goes around to Akane and hugs her.

"Oh Akane, you're a gem, you know that?"

The two friends finish the rest of their dinner in peace and watch the
sun set go down.



The next week Akane returns home after another hard day at school. The
children have become more and more
rowdier, probably due to summer vacation. But she couldn't blame them,
after all, she too was looking forward to
summer vacation. Going over to the refrigerator, she begins to take out
a pair of chicken breasts, one for her, and
one for Ranma . Suddenly, the phone rings.

"It's probably Ukyou." Akane thinks.

"Hello."

"Akane!"

"Oneechan! How are you and daddy doing?"

" Oh we're fine, Tofu is going to be going to a seminar in France, and I
thought that maybe you and me could
perhaps spend some quality time together."

"Uh sure, um school's going to end in a few days. I'll come over then."

"How about I fly to you, you know it's been a while since I've visited
America."

"Uh, Oneechan? Are you sure everything is alright?"

"I should be asking you that question."

"I don't understand."

"Come now, Nabiki has already let the cat out of the bag."

Akane's eyes narrow "What about?"

"Why your engagement! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"What? Nabiki said what?"

"Now Nabiki said, she knew you wanted it to be a surprise." Kasumi began
to break up a little. There were tears in
her voice. "And I'm just so happy for you. I'm so proud my little sister
is growing up so fast and into a woman."
Those words froze Akane's objections.

"Uh, ah."

"So what's he like?"

"Smart, tall, I want him to be a surprise, so you'll meet him when you
get here."

"Okay. See you in a few day!"

"Bye Oneechan." As Akane hangs up the phone, she lets loose a string of
curses. Damn Nabiki for pushing all
this on her. It was so typical, if she was in a jam, just shove it to
Akane. Now Kasumi was expecting her to have a
fiancee. Quietly she walks to the front of the doorway and sits on the
steps to wait for Ranma to come home.
Maybe he could help her on this, burying her head in her knees, she
thinks hard and prays that Ranma has an
answer.

______________________________________________________________________________________

As Ranma is driving back from Houston, he glances at the two six-packs
of diet root beer next to him. He
wondered what Akane would say when she saw him bringing back the soda
that he owed her. Looking outside,
he realizes that today was a nice day outside. Perhaps he would take
Akane out to eat. It has been a week since
their bets on trying to find a date for each other. He had been dropping
hints that he had a pretty neighbor and so
far no one in his office has shown any interest. They figured that if
Ranma Saotome thought a girl was pretty, he
must have gotten to her already. As he pulled into the driveway, he saw
Akane sitting on the front steps. She
sensed Ranma 'scar pulling in and got up and ran to him. Looking from
his car, Ranma noted the healthiness of
Akane's body, she wasn't extremely thin, but she was by no means fat.
Her breasts were full and complemented
her petite body well. Smiling to himself, he thinks, oh well, it's their
loss.

Akane rushes up to Ranma 'scar as he gets out. Breathlessly she calls to
him,

"Ranma ! Ranma ! I need some help!" Looking up Ranma begins to undo his
tie.

"Slow down Akane, let me first get inside and changed before you rush
off into your problem. Come on, let's go
inside."


Standing in Ranma's room, Akane paced frantically, occasionally picking
things off the ground and setting them on the shelf or table. In the
background, the hiss of the shower was heard as Ranma was singing.

"Ranma? Are you almost done?" Akane asked impatiently.

"Unless you want me to come out butt-naked, give me a few seconds to get
dressed." Ranma replied.

"Hurry up, I can only take so many shocks in a day." Akane's face
flushed cherry red. Sitting on his bed, she buried her face in her
hands. From behind, Ranma walked in from the bathroom wearing a pair of
black Kung-fu pants, and drying his hair.

"Man, I should have my hair cut, this pigtail is getting annoying to
wash." Ranma complained as he walked over to Akane. Leaping up Akane
started to talk, but stopped when she caught sight of Ranma's bare
chest.

"Ranma! Put something on!" Akane said turning her head away. Chuckling,
Ranma pulled on a t-shirt.

"So what's the problem?" Ranma lead Akane out of his room as they went
into the training room.

"I need a fiancé!" Akane blurted out as Ranma was going through a kata.

"Haha very funny Akane, now why would you need a fiancé unless……" Ranma
stopped his kata and his eyes widened. "My god Akane, I thought you were
a virgin! I mean who was it, was it Kuno, that bastard! I going to…"

*whack*

Ranma's rant was stopped as Akane calmly removed her fist from his face.

"Idiot! The last thing I would be is pregnant!"

"Then why do you need a fiancé?" Ranma asked nursing his bruised cheek.
Akane kneeled down beside him and was almost in tears.

"My older sister, Kasumi, called today. And she thinks I'm engaged!"

"Why on Earth would she think that?!"

"Because to get Kasumi off her back, Nabiki told her that I was engaged.
Now Kasumi thinks I'm engaged! And I'm not even close."

"Why didn't you just say that that you weren't engaged?"

"Because I- I- I couldn't you should have heard her on the phone! She
sounded so happy! Oh Ranma, what am I going to do?"

"You are going to call your sister up on the phone and tell her there is
no engagement." Ranma said calmly as he brought the cordless phone to
Akane and set it down in front of her.

"No! You don't understand! Kasumi's happy! I can't do this to her! I
won't ever since our mother died she's been like the mother of the
family. Looking after Nabiki and me, she gave up so much! Anything we
could do to make her happy, Nabiki and I did it. I can't just ruin her
happiness now just because my other sister is being unfair!"

Ranma looked at his housemate. He hated to see her like this, she was
usually so lively, active, and happy. Angrily he brushed all thoughts
aside and determined to help her.

"Okay Akane, I'll help you out on this one. But let's go somewhere to
eat okay? Can't think on an empty stomach!" Looking up Akane heard
Ranma's words and she was already comforted. Cracking a smile, she got
up and gave Ranma a hug.

"I knew you could help me! You're such a good friend!" Ranma's eyes
widened and noticed certain parts of Akane pressing into him. Akane was
really built.

"She's just a friend. She's just a friend." Ranma thought to himself.
Akane quickly let go of him and ran to get her purse. Leaving Ranma
still trying to convince himself that Akane was just a friend.

Together they went to a quiet restaurant on the beach. It was called the
Cove. They went to this particular restaurant quite often. It was a
small place, it was built like a hut, and in the air was the smell of
the sea. At their table was a candle that danced with the rhythm of the
wind. Sitting together, the pair were sharing a plate of chilled raw
oysters.

"So what's the plan?" Ranma asked Akane. Looking off to the sea, Akane
nibbled at her food.

"Well I was thinking that I might have someone pose as my fiancé for the
month that Kasumi was here."

"Like who?"

"Well, I could ask Kuno, he's be willing to pose as my fiancé"

"No way! Kuno's an idiot, he's not right for you."

"Well he'd only be posing, it wouldn't be real. Besides I didn't say I
was going to ask him. I said that he's an option."

"Well, let's just rule that one out." Ranma said in an even voice.

"How about hiring an actor?"

"That could work, but there's a flaw in that plan. He may not know much
about you. And your sister is coming down at the end of the week right?
You'll never have enough time to make sure he knows all about you."

"I guess." They started on their main dishes and silently mulled over
the problem.

"I just don't understand shy you can't just tell your sister the truth."
Ranma stated.

"Because when we were young, Kasumi was always training us to be proper
women and so on. Nabiki was the one with all the feminine charm and
beauty.  She got all the guys, while I was the little sister that
studied a lot."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that she love you any less does it?"

"No, Kasumi loved us both. But she thought I was just too much of a
tomboy. When daddy started taking me on his training trips, Kasumi drew
the line and said that that type activity, roughing it in the wild was
not appropriate for proper young women. However Nabiki was always in
clubs like the drama club, the dance clubs, she was voted prom queen,
most likely to succeed, and most popular. Kasumi loved Nabiki for it."

"And how about you did you do any of that stuff?"

"No, I was on the kendo team, the martial arts club, and history club.
While Kasumi didn't agree with my activities, daddy encouraged my
activities, because he wanted me to take over the dojo. But now Kasumi
finally is taking note that I'm a woman and I just can't let her down!"

"Akane, do you think Kasumi thought you were less of a woman because of
your activities? You're wrong. She's your sister, she loves you even if
she thought you were a tomboy."

"It doesn't matter, I just don't want to disappointment, I mean she used
to try to teach to cook and I always messed things up. Then there was
sewing, and preparing tea, there were just so many things she tried to
teach me, but it I was always so clumsy."

"Well, I hope your sister appreciates what you're going through to
satisfy her. So anymore ideas?"

"Well, I don't suppose there are any of your friends who would agree to
go along with the plan would you?"

"Nah, most are married." Akane's shoulder slumped in defeat. Her face
scrunched up in concentration.

"Dammit! Ranma I need a man!" She nearly shouted. Looking around, Ranma
hissed to Akane.

"What are you trying to do? The men here are going to think you're horny
or something!"

"I've got it! I can place an ad in the newspaper and just hope that
someone replies."

"No! I absolutely forbid it! You aren't that kind of a girl Akane!"
Ranma shouted. Now there were people looking at the couple. Akane
flushed red.

"Damn you Ranma it's not like I'd be advertising for sexual favors."

"But the men who read it will think that." Ranma's said coolly. Picking
up his drink, he took a long drink from it.

"Ranma, you're supposed to be helping me, not shooting everything I say
down! Who do you think you are?" Slowly Ranma put his drink down, and
looked straight into Akane's brown eyes.

"Your new fiancé." Akane's jaw dropped with a audible thud.

"My what?"

"Your new fiancé. Here we've been racking our heads trying to come up
with a solution and it's right in front of us. I know all about you. I'm
available all the time, and best of all I'm male."

"But- it'll never work!"

"Why not?"

"Well because, I mean you the kind of a man who should be by the side of
a woman who's like a supermodel. And I'm just a plain person. It doesn't
look natural!"

"You know if keep this attitude up, I'm going to take you to get your
eyes checked. Don't have such a low opinion of yourself."

"I don't know…" At that moment the waitress came up to them with their
check. Smiling Ranma looked up to the waitress.

"We've just been engaged, care to congratulate us?"

"May you the two of you have a wonderful life together."

"Thanks." Akane gaped at Ranma as he paid for the check.

"Ranma! What are you doing?" Akane hissed "We come to this restaurant a
lot, what are we going to do when they find out that we're not engaged?"

"Well everytime we come it's together, so no problem. Come on let's go
we can walk home." Getting up, Akane briefly wondered what she was
getting herself into.

Akane was walking sedately home with Ranma. Occasionally picking up a
rock or shell that looked nice. She had been doing this for quite a
while. In her room she kept a box of numerous shells and rocks she found
on the shore. But tonight, her thoughts were in a jumble. Ranma was
going to be her fiancé, at least for a while that is. Kasumi was never
going to believe that Ranma was in love with her. He was just too
handsome to be attracted to someone like herself. But what was this warm
feeling that she got when she thought about him?

"You know we're going to have to practice our loving look." Ranma said.

"Our what?"

"Well, we're supposed to be totally in love with each other, your
sister's going to know it's a fraud if she doesn't see the love in our
eyes."

"Well what's it look like?"

"Hmmm……" Concentrating, Ranma tried to imagine it, but with his face
scrunched up in concentration, he hardly looked like he was in love.

"That's a loving look?"

"Well, I'm trying to remember what it looks like."

"Well if you have to think that hard, it's not going to look natural."

"Oh and I suppose you could do better?" With that Akane gave it a shot.
Thinking about all the times she saw those romantic movies, and how
their faces looked in the movies. Her head lolled back as she got a
dreamy look on her face. Ranma looked at her in surprise.

"Akane, wow you look-`

"like I'm in love? Good. Come on let's go home, I need some rest."
Standing up straight, she proceeded to walk towards home, with Ranma
next to her.

"You know I'm going to enjoy this." Ranma said stretching himself. "I'm
going to like the fact that I belong."

"You make it sound like a game."

"What you never liked to play the damsel in distress?"

"No, I usually beat any man who I didn't like."

"Well, I usually liked to play the hero who save the damsel and got the
girl."

"Heh I bet. Well that's going to have to stop, you can't date any
girls."

"Yeah I gues- my god is this true, I can't date any girls? Oh man!"
Jerking to a stop, Ranma's face was aghast. Akane stomped her feet on
the ground.

"Oooooooo…. I knew it! You are such a pervert! Can't you abstain just
for a few weeks?! This is never going to work! The engagement is off!"
Stomping off, Akane huffed something about men. Ranma watched Akane as
she walked off. No way, this was not his style. The engagement would not
end here.he was Ranma Saotome a man amongst men.

"Akane! Wait! Come'on I was just joking!"

"Yeah right! I knew you couldn't give up your womanizing ways! Just
forget it!" Grabbing her wrist, Ranma halted her.

"Akane I won't go out with anyone! I swear!"

"And why should I believe you?"

"Have I ever gone back on my word?" Slowly Ranma moved closer to Akane,
his hands by her face gently caressing her cheek.

"Well…. You still owe me for the sodas." Wondering what Ranma was doing.

"I got them in my car." He said with  look in his eye.

"I don't believe you." Akane whispered as she wondered what that look in
Ranma's eye was.

"Well, I'll give them to you when we get back home. Picked them up from
work. I was going to pick some jewelry up. But I know your tastes don't
lie that way, Akane Tendo, my fiancée."

"Ranma? What are you doing?" But before she could say another word,
Ranma had already covered her mouth with his. As the kiss continued, she
felt the world spin around in a daze as her knees felt weak. It felt so
wonderful, his tongue swirled around in her mouth, entwining with her
own tongue. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she felt him wrap his
arms around her waist. Finally when he pulled back, she collapsed into
his arms, unconscious.

"Akane?" Ranma looked worriedly at her. She had fainted. Touching his
hands to his lips, he sighed. He had only intended to give her a light
kiss, but she smelled so nice, and the feeling of her in his arms felt
so good, he just couldn't stop. He'd better be careful. If he didn't
watch out he could end up with a broken heart. Scooping the sleeping
girl up, he started to walk back to their home.



From: Belphera <ranma@faradic.net>

Friends?

Part2

by Belphera

As Akane opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that she was
no longer on the beach. Instead she was lying in her bed. What had
happened? One moment they were walking on the beach, and the next
moment, Ranma had given her the most intense kiss of her life. She had
only been kissed a few times by men. The first few times were when she
was in high school and college. But up until recently the only person
who had kissed her was Kuno her superintendent. However his kisses were
mostly chaste kisses, never like the kiss Ranma had given her.

Getting up she walked out of her room and to the kitchen. She was glad
that tomorrow was Friday, this way she could have the weekend to prepare
for her sister. Kasumi was always worried that she wasn't taking care of
herself when she had moved to America. This weekend she would have to
make the house look more homier.

"I have to ask Ranma to take me shopping this weekend." Akane said
making a note to herself.

Meanwhile, Ranma was in his room looking over some numbers that Ryouga
had given him today dealing with one of the larger companies which he
wanted to buy. Ranma like to live a rather simple life even though he
was quite wealthy. His mother always tried to encourage him to go to
those stuffy parties where everyone was trying to compare who was
richer. To please he mother, he complied and went to a few. But it just
wasn't him. when he moved from Japan to America, it was to get away from
all that stuff. He wanted to live. He had been a wanderer for most of
his young life, and it just wasn't natural for him to be confined.

Akane, she was probably the reason he stayed in this one place. She
seemed to be full of life and the fire in her eyes captivated him. She
had been there for him through the tough times and the good times. The
time when his grandmother had died was a terrible ordeal for him. For
weeks he was depressed, but Akane talked with him and helped him get
over his depression. She offered an ear to listen to and a shoulder to
cry on.

However there was one thing he simply couldn't understand. Akane was a
beautiful girl, but for some reason she put herself down and tried to
push men away. For many nights he had had the image of Akane sitting at
the home of that ass Kuno, being a chaste wife. Instead of wanton sex on
the kitchen floor and candle light dinners, she was bringing slippers to
that samurai wannabe. He called her stuffy and boring many times, but
inside he could see that she had an active side to her. If only she
would allow someone to open that side of her. And the last person who
could bring it out was Kuno. Shuddering at that thought he tried to
think about something else. Getting up he went down towards the kitchen,
he needed some caffeine in his system.

"The root beer!"


Sitting down at the table of the large kitchen, Akane quietly mulled
over her best friend Ranma. After this engagement she would have to find
a good woman for Ranma. He was her dearest friend and she knew all his
likes and dislikes. But one thing she couldn't stand was the fact that
his choice in women was horrendous. The only thing cared about the women
when he picked them up was how they looked, not if they had a brain or
not. Maybe she could introduce him to Ukyou.

Looking up, she saw Ranma walk down the spiral stairs. He was so
beautiful, every muscle in his body seemed to have been handcrafted by
god himself. As he walked, he didn't make a single sound as he swept
into the kitchen.

"Hey Akane, finally awake huh?"

"Yeah."

"So I was thinking, maybe we should tell everyone about our engagement."

"What?! Why?"

"Well because we have to make this look s real as possible. I mean if
you really got engaged wouldn't you tell your friends and co-workers? I
know I would."

"I suppose I would too."

"So your sister would think it's very strange that none of your friends
are calling to congratulate you or helping you out with the wedding."

"I'll tell everyone tomorrow, I just hope this doesn't snowball into
something we can't handle. Oh by the way what are we going to do about a
ring?"

"Ring?"

"Yeah, Kasumi's going to ask to see the ring when she first gets here."

"Well, I'll pick one up from downtown tomorrow, what do you like silver?
Gold? Diamonds? Sapphire?"

"Surprise me, but don't spend too much, two hundred at the most okay? I
want to reimburse you for the ring."

"Uh… sure." Realizing something Ranma went to the kitchen cabinet and
pulled out two wine glasses and set it down in front of Akane. Taking a
can of root beer from the counter, he poured some into each glass.

"Hey are you stealing more of my root beer?" Akane said in an annoyed
tone.

"I'm hurt, as your new fiancé I just restocked your fridge, and now
you're accusing me of stealing your root beer. There is just no trust in
this relationship." Ranma pouted outrageously.

"No way! You mean you finally restocked my root beer supply after I
reminded you for the past few weeks? I'm touched."

"Yeah well I said I would didn't I?"

"What's this for?" Akane asked pointing at the glasses

"Well people usually toast to their engagement."

"People don't toast lies."

"Oh come'on Akane humor me."

"Oh alright." Picking up her glass, Akane lifted it up to Ranma's glass.

"To our engagement." Ranma said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"To our engagement." Akane said smiling.


It was raining in downtown Houston as Ranma sprinted across the street
to the jewelry store. Upon entering the store, Ranma shook off some of
the water off of his jacket. Looking around, he asked himself what he
was doing here.

"You're here to buy Akane a ring, a real one. It's the least she
deserves." Ranma quietly growled to himself. Walking over to one of the
displays he looked at some of the rings. A saleswoman in the store
quietly walked over to Ranma with a sultry smile on her lips.

"May I help you?" she asked in a husky voice. Looking up Ranma looked at
this woman. She was probably mid twenties, single, and had a body that
could kill. If his mind were not set on buying Akane an engagement ring,
he might have already tried to bed her down. But Akane was more
important than this woman. Looking into this woman's eyes he blatantly
said

"Yes I'm here to buy an engagement ring." The woman's eyes quickly
shifted from seductive to professional.

"Well sir we have a wide variety of rings you could choose from. Did you
have anything specific in mind?'

"No perhaps you could suggest something?"

"Did you have a price range to choose from?"

"No, I have no price range."

"I see, then perhaps I can suggest this piece?" The woman said bringing
out a ring that had an extremely large diamond set in an a nice golden
band.

"No it's too flashy."

"Well, maybe if you tell me what your fiancée is like I can provide a
better opinion."

"She's about 5'5 , quiet yet passionate, she's a school teacher."

"Sounds like a solitaire woman to me."

"Yeah I guess she is." Looking across to another case he spies a ring, a
silver band intricately designed. In the center was a large deep blue
sapphire, small diamonds are set around the great stone in the center.
"How about that ring over there?" Ranma said pointing to the ring in the
other case. Surprised, the woman takes the ring out of the case.

"Very good choice sir, however this is perhaps one of the most expensive
rings this side of the hemisphere."

"Good, please prepare it for me by 3 o'clock this afternoon, a colleague
of mine will be down to pick it up."

"Uh…. Yes sir." The woman was a bit overwhelmed that a man would spend
so much money. With that she asked for Ranma's name and office number.
As Ranma left, the woman was still staring at the paper in her hand.

"Ranma Saotome?!"

Word had spread quickly about Ranma's engagement. By noon time numerous
people were offering their congratulations. Multitudes of women were
heartbroken and asked him if it was true. Smiling in his office, Ranma
just leaned back and enjoyed what was going on around him. What he said
was true. He was enjoying this immensely. He liked to have this feeling
of belonging. Suddenly his intercom rang.

"Ranma? Mr. Hibiki is here to see you."

"Good send him right in." Getting up he went over and poured himself a
cup of tea. He never really liked coffee because it gave people bad
breath. As the door opened and shut with a bang, Ranma grinned to
himself.

"Ranma there had better be a good reason for this."

"Ryouga buddy! Sit down!"

"Ranma, just yesterday you were not even close to even being in love,
and now you're planning on marrying some girl? What's this all about?"

"Ryouga I was just following some advice you gave me. You said I should
settle down, and I am."

"Who is she?"

"Akane."

"Akane?! But you two are just friends right?"

"Ryouga it's really not what it seems to be." Leaning in he whispered to
Ryouga. "We're just pretending so you've got nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean pretending? Marriage is pretty serious." Ryouga
whispered back to Ranma.

"Well it's like this Akane's older sister told Akane's eldest sister
that Akane was engaged. So now Akane's eldest sister is coming down here
to meet Akane's fiancé. So that's where I come in."

"Why didn't Akane just tell her sister the truth?"

"Ryouga, there's something about Akane that you don't know about. She
values her eldest sister very highly. She's been like a second mother to
Akane, and Akane just couldn't bring herself to burst her sister's
bubble."

"How long is this going to be for?"

"Probably a month or two. Don't worry about it after the charade is over
we'll just break it off and say that we didn't feel we could be anymore
than friends. End of story."

"I don't know about this. I've got a bad feeling about this. I just hope
you know what you're doing.'

"I do don't worry about it!" Then realizing something Ranma said
urgently. "And don't tell sis about this!"

"Too late for that, Ranko already knows."

"How?!"

"Well she heard the rumors, and she asked me if they were true. And
unlike you, I don't keep secrets from her."

"Awww man! Every time. It never fails to happen. She asks you for
something and you turn into putty!"

"I do not!"

"You are such a wimp, falling into pieces."

"Take that back!"

"What's wrong Ryo-chan? Can't admit the truth?"

"Argh That's it! Prepare to die Ranma!" With that the battle ensued.

At Ranma's secretary's desk, Kaori sat and was reading book. Ignoring
the sound of things breaking in the office behind. Amidst the chaos the
phone rings.

"Hello Mr. Saotome's office. He is busy at the moment may I please have
your name and number please?"

"Kaori? Put Ranma on the line."

"Oh Ranko, him and Ryouga are busy at the moment."

"Are they fighting again? Patch me through"

"Okay."

Inside the office Ranma was winding up for a flying side kick when the
phone then rings. Walking over to the phone, he wonders who Kaori would
have patch through.

"Hello?"

"Ranma! Stop picking on my husband this instant!"

"But sis- "

"Don't but sis me! Now what is this all about an engagement?!" Sitting
down, Ranma prays that Ranko wasn't going to give him a hard time.

"Well, what about it?"

"What do you mean what about it? Mom already knows, we're going to be
coming down next Monday. So who is she? What's she like?"

"Uh… she's um, you know nice."

"Ranma! Is there something you're not telling me?"

"no of course not! Um, does Pop know?"

"Nah he went on some training trip with an old buddy of his, they won't
be back for a while."

"Good."

"So are you going to tell me, about her?"

"You'll find out when you get here."

"She isn't one of those stupid bimbos who usually hang around you
right?"

"No!"

"Well me and mom got a lot of stuff to do before we leave. Seeya"

"Bye." Hanging up the phone, Ranma sat back and let out a breath of
dread. Looking over to Ryouga he remembered something.

:"Ryouga did you get the package?"

"Yeah is it a ring?"

"Yeah."

"She must be pretty damn special if you spent this much money for her
ring."

"It's Akane, I owe her a lot, she's practically my best friend. She
deserves it."

"I hope so."

 Walking up the driveway to the house, Akane was very tired. She had
announce that she was engaged to her friends and today had been an
entire day of hassling. She was going to make some curry tonight. She
knew Ranma liked her curry, and she wanted thank him. Opening the door
and going into the kitchen, she started to gather the necessary
ingredients for the curry. How was she going to pretend to be in love
with Ranma. It just felt too weird, Ranma was her best friend, she could
pretend to be in love with him could she?

She had seen Kuno today, the face he had made when she said she was
engaged was a look of horror. He then spouted off some poetry about the
injustice of society. Ukyou had asked if she could help with the
wedding, and a number of parents congratulated her. The worst part of
this will be the time when she came back in the fall unmarried and
another disappointment. But to see Kasumi proud of her for something, it
was worth it. And she was lucky to have a friend, who was willing to
play the part. Yes she was lucky to have Ranma.

Driving home from Houston, Ranma looked over at the package next to him.
He had been extravagant, he had been insane. He had bought a ring that
was immensely expensive, it wasn't that he didn't have much money to pay
for it,. Far from it, he made more than the price in a day. But the fact
that he spent that much money on a ring and with a price that sent even
him staggering a bit. But it was for Akane, it was for all the times she
took care of him, fed him, sat down and had a heart to heart talk with
him. The ring wasn't for this fake engagement, it was for her, it was
nothing compared to her invaluable friendship. Satisfied with his
justification, he drove home with more spirit. After dinner, he would
give it to her after dinner.


Placing the last dish of curry on the table, Akane went to her room to
change into a sundress. She wanted to look nice tonight for Ranma. This
was probably the closest she would ever come to having dinner with a
fiancé, even if he was her best friend. While changing, Akane heard
Ranma come through the door.

After living with Ranma for nearly five years she had begun to sense
when he was nearing the house. On those sleepless nights when she would
sometimes wait for Ranma to come home from his dates, she would rejoice
to hear those footsteps coming up the stairs.

"I'm Home!" sniffing in the air Ranma poked his head into the dinning
room. "Do I smell your famous curry?"

"You do! Hurry up!" Akane hollered from her room. Ranma went to his room
and changed into a button down shirt and a pair of khakis pants. While
changing he heard the sound of boiling water from the teapot.

"Akane! Don't bother making any tea, I brought some wine home!"

"Wine?"

"Yeah I thought we'd get drunk and get our names tattooed on each
other." Ranma said walking into the kitchen.

"I'm sure you've already picked out where to get them."

"Yeah you wanna hear where yours is going to be?"

"Ranma Saotome don't you say another word."

"Heh Heh. Got a cork screw?"

"Yeah, it's right here." When Akane turned back around Ranma was
dangerously close to her, she could feel his breath against her face as
she looked into his gray eyes. Leaning down, Ranma sniffed her neck.

"Mmmmm…. You smell nice tonight. Is that the same perfume you wore for
that Kuno?" All romantic thoughts rushed out of her head as she was once
reminded that this was Ranma, her best friend.

"For your information, I met Kuno in the halls today."

"Oh? And did you tell him you were engaged?"

"Yes, and he had a hurt look on him."

"Ah well."

"Ranma! He's my boss! And he's a nice guy!"

"Yeah whatever."

"Oooooo…..you can be so insensitive sometimes!" Akane said frustrated
raising her fist.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You know you look really nice tonight." Taking
the corkscrew from her hands he opened the bottle and waked into the
dining room. Akane placed her hand to her face and found them flushed.

Walking into the dining room, Akane noticed the lights were off and
Ranma had place two candle sticks on the table. The sky was already dusk
and with the added effect of the candles, it was a romantic mood.

"Why the candles?"

"Ahhh….. I figured it wasn't light enough to turn on the lights, but
dark enough that we need light."

"Oh, okay I guess." Moving to her seat, she found Ranma already behind
her and pulling out the chair for her.

"My lady please be seated."

"Thank you kind sir." Smiling Ranma took his seat. Looking across at
Akane, he smile, he figured he couldn't really give her wanton sex on
the kitchen floor, but he would give her a candle light dinner.

"Ranma?"

"Huh?" Akane's voice shook him from his thoughts.

"You haven't touched your food yet."

"Oh, sorry." As they began to eat the conversed about miscellaneous
subjects. Ranging from his deal with the new computer company to the
kids Akane taught.

"Oh did you tell everyone at school about our engagement today?" Ranma
asked with a curious look in his eyes.

"Yeah , they'll all be shocked to see me unengaged next fall."

"Heh, I've already had one of my senior executives ask me to name our
first son after him. "

"Really? What's his name?"

"Wilfred." Akane smiled and burst out laughing. Covering her mouth with
her hand, she giggled a bit.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh just the idea of us with a son, isn't that idea laughable?" Ranma
took note that she had stopped laughing.

"I don't know I think I would be honor to know I could sire a son."

"I suppose I would too. But anyway, tomorrow is the last day of school,
do you think you could stop by? I need some help bring some of my stuff
home."

"Sure, you could show me off to all your friends right?"

"Yeah and all my friends would be so jealous of me, but what they really
don't know is that I didn't really catch a man like you."

"There you go again, cheer up!"

"I guess, I just hope no one gets hurt from this charade."

"Yeah, oh by the way. My mother found out about this."

"Your mother? How? Ryouga told Ranko and Ranko told mom, they'll be down
next Wednsday."

"Great. Do you think we can pull it off around your mother?"

"No problem, all we have to do is give each other loving looks and we'll
get through this."

"I hope your right." Brightening up Akane began to stand up. "So you
want desert?"

"Desert? You're spoiling me Akane."

"Too late for that." Akane said as she picked up her plate and moved to
the kitchen.

"That's right I have a present for you."

"A present?"

"Yeah let me just go get it." Racing up the stairs Ranma got the box.
Opening it up a little nervously, he looked at the ring inside. Calming
his shaking hands, he walked back into the dining room. The sun was now
setting in the background and dyed the room in a violet red color. The
room was enhanced by Akane in a white sun dress and the sticks of
candle.

Upon entering the room Akane spied the box in Ranma's hands. She had
totally forgotten that he was going to pick up the ring today. Looking
at him, either it was the candles flickering or he was shaking a bit.

"Ranma you didn't have to get a special box for it."

"Ah…. Well it came with the ring." Damn he was nervous. Opening it up he
held it up to her for her to see. Akane's eyes widened and stared at the
ring."

"Oh my god, if I didn't know better I would have believe this was real."

"You like it?" Ranma asked nervously.

"Of course I do, It's very lovely." Taking the ring out of the box, she
looked at it. It was beautiful, but that was only because Ranma had
given it to her.

"Here let me put it on for you." Ranma took the ring from Akane's hands
and slid it up Akane's ring finger.

"You know Ranma, what would all your girlfriends say if they saw you
now?"

"Honestly, I don't see myself doing this to any woman but you." Looking
at Ranma sharply, Akane wondered if he had just said what she thought he
said. Catching his slip of a tongue, Ranma stuttered.

"I mean, you know, I'm probably not going to be doing something like
this and I just was so you know. I meant…" Akane looked closely at
Ranma. If the room wasn't so dark, she could have sworn he was blushing.

"Right." Sitting down at the table Ranma ate a bit of his cheesecake.
Looking across at Akane constantly, he saw the way colors of the flames
of the candles danced around her face. Her blue-black hair cut at her
shoulders, framing her round face well. Her beautiful chocolate eyes
held her fire within, though she did not burn outwardly. Abruptly she
looked up and saw Ranma staring at her.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Chuckling Ranma noticed a bit of
cheesecake at the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah right here." Ranma said as he brushed the smudge away. But then he
looked into her eyes, leaning in closer he cupped her face and brought
her face to him. Moving in he kissed her deeply savoring her taste. She
had a wonderful aroma to her.

Akane felt the world spinning as Ranma leaned in with a strange look on
his face and kissed her. Suddenly she screeched to a halt, kissing
Ranma. This was not right. Ranma was like a double fudge brownie to a
dieter; he was a no-no. Pulling back abruptly, Ranma nearly fell face
first into his cheesecake.

"What did you do that for?" Akane asked curiously.

"I- well –er, I mean Akane , you just looked so pretty in the lighting.
I mean uh." Ranma tried to explain to Akane. But he didn't even know why
he did it himself.

"Ranma you know I'm not used to kissing you!"

"Right but when your sister gets here, she'll probably expect to see us
like this. Besides we're both adults, come'on we can share a simple kiss
can't we?" Ranma immediately kicked himself when he saw Akane's hurt
expression from his comment.

"I guess you're right." Picking up her plate, Akane headed towards the
kitchen. Getting up Ranma followed her.

At the sink, Ranma and Akane each went through their normal ritual, she
would wash and he would dry. Noticing Akane's thoughtful expression,
Ranma cleared his throat.

"Uh, Akane about that kiss-"

"- was just practice for when I get a real fiancé. Don't worry about it
Ranma. We'll probably be doing more of it when Kasumi gets here."

"Uh…"

"Come on let's go watch the sun set, we can sit on the patio."

"Sure."

"I'm going to put some tea on, you want?" Akane asked as she moved
towards the stove.

"No that's okay," Grabbing the wine bottle. "I think I'll just have some
more wine." Heading towards the patio he muttered "Like the rest of the
bottle."



From: Belphera <ranma@faradic.net>

Friends?

Part 3

by Belphera

The next two days rushed by too quickly for Akane. She had spent both
days out shopping for new clothes and things for the house. If Ranma was
going to be her fiancé then she would have to make sure she looked and
dressed the part. Ranma sent a woman, who was a designer for a designer
clothes company that Ranma owned. Her job was to take Akane to the shops
and help Akane out, and offer her opinion.

Although Ranma would have wanted to go shopping with Akane, he had to
finish a deal with a small computer company, so he had a company limo
chauffeur bring Akane wherever she needed to go. Even though Akane
didn't want to spend too much money, Ranma insisted that she use his
credit card. By the end of the week, she had an entire new wardrobe, the
house looked livelier and Akane was extremely nervous.

The night before Kasumi was to arrive Akane paced around her room. She
simply couldn't sleep. There were just too many things to think of. She
wished she could back out of the deal now, but everyone knew. She meant
everyone. The press found out that the world's number one bachelor was
getting married, and printed numerous articles about it. And even though
they would not try to interfere with Ranma or herself directly they were
still taking pictures here and there. But that was not the only problem,
Ranma's mother and sister were coming down. Akane had met Ranko a few
times and she loved the girl like a sister. She simply hated to lie to
her, and now she was going to have to. And Ranma's mother, how would she
feel about her? Meeting Ranma's mother was absolutely frightening for
her. She heard many stories from Ranma about how traditional she is at
times and how she was really picky about the women he dated. But what
was her opinion going to be of her?

Shaking her head, Akane walked out of her room and decided to go talk
with Ranma. Walking down the hall to his room, she opened the door and
peeked in. Ranma was on his bed already sleeping. Tiptoeing into the
room, she was about to turn on the lights when she heard Ranma turn over
and moan.

"Mmmmmm Akane……" Freezing, Akane looked at Ranma to see if he was really
sleeping. Lying on his bed, Ranma looked so innocent. With the moonlight
shining on his tone body, he seemed almost magical.

"Mmmm Akane…..want…..so bad….." Blushing deep red, Akane thought about
what he might be dreaming about. Thousands of thoughts ran through her
head. Was Ranma attracted her? No, he couldn't be…. Could he? Leaning
over she gave Ranma a kiss on the head.

"Sweet dreams Ranma."

Sitting in Ranma's Jaguar XK8, Akane looked restlessly outside the
window. Glancing over at her, Ranma chuckled nothing short of a cyclone
would get her attention. She was wearing a beautiful silk skirt with a
white t-shirt. Arriving at the airport, he drove up to the private
parking slot reserved for him. As he shut the engine off, he looked over
at Akane, who was still staring out the window.

"Akane?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Where here."

"Okay." Nervously Akane got out of the car.

"Akane, come on, it's going to be okay alright?"

"I guess so."

"It's not like we're meeting the first lady or anything."

"Well to me it is. " As the two of the got into the elevator, Akane
turned to Ranma with pleading eyes.

"Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me that you won't back out on this."

"Of course not, Akane, how could you even think such a thing?"

"Well it's just that Kasumi can be a bit overwhelming sometimes."

"Well, in-laws are like that." Ranma said with a smile. Together they
got off the elevator and walked towards the terminal.

"Ranma I'm serious! All joking aside, Kasumi has certain views on
certain subjects that it might be overwhelming."

"Akane, listen if I can put up with Kodachi for two months, then I can
put up with anyone."

"Kodachi?"

"Yeah, Kaori's replacement when she went on maternity leave."

"Oh that's right. If I remember correctly you came back home everyday
with a headache because instead of tall and willowy, she was overweight,
right?"

"That is completely untrue Akane, Kodachi was definitely tall and
willowy. I know that very well."

"Ranma…"

"But she was not overweight, she was overbearing. And she had this laugh
that drove me up the wall."

"Hmmm…. I hope I don't meet her any time soon."

"Yeah."

"Oh there's Kasumi!" Akane said pointing towards the terminal.

"Uh Akane, I hate to tell you this, but there are dozens of women there
who fit the description of your sister."

"The one with the white dress on."

"You mean the one who is waving goodbye to the pilot?"

"Yeah. Kasumi! Kasumi over here!" The woman perked up and saw Akane,
walking over to the two of them, she held her arms out wide and gave
Akane a big hug.

"Oh! Akane, I've missed you! How's my baby sister?"

"Okay big sister."

"You look so nice today, love must have done wonders for you."

"Er… right."

"Well, enough of that now, where's your fiancé?"

"Um he's over by the phones." Motioning Ranma to come over, Ranma
grinned and walked over to the pair of women.

"Hello. I'm Ranma Saotome." Kasumi looked at Ranma wide eyed. Feeling a
bit uncomfortable, Ranma put his arms around Akane's waist and held her
close.

"You must be Akane's sister, Akane has told me so much about you."
Kasumi just continue to look at Ranma then over to Akane then back at
Ranma.

"Y-you're Akane's fiancé?"

"Why yes, I hope you approve." Flustered a bit, Kasumi looked down a
bit.

"Oh, of course I approve, it's just that well… Akane! Why didn't you
tell me he was so handsome?"

"Errr….. didn't I mention that?" Akane asked also a bit red from her
sister's reactions.

"Well, yes, you didn't say he was this handsome." Kasumi said in an
excited tone.

"Heh, your sister does tend to leave things out sometimes." Ranma said
in an amused tone.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Ranma."

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs. Ono."

"Oh my, please call me Kasumi, besides we're practically family!"

"Of course Kasumi."

"Akane, he is wonderful, I'm sure we'll all get along fabulously!"

"If you're anything like Akane, I'm sure I'll love you too."

"Oh my!

"Well Kasumi now do you have any luggage to claim?"

"Why yes I do."

"Good once we get your luggage, we'll head back to the house."

"Excellent."

Akane was a bit relieved, So far, Ranma hac been able to charm his way
into Kasumi's heart. So far everything was going perfectly. As they
headed back home, Kasumi chatted constantly with Ranma, trying to get to
know him better. And with every question, Ranma answered Kasumi with
skill. And with each answer Kasumi swelled with more and more pride. For
some reason that just made Akane feel more and more guilty.

"So Ranma do you live in your own house?"

"Yes, it's right by the shore. In fact I live with Akane."

"Really? So are you a relative of Nodoka Saotome?"

"She's my mother. Why do you know her?"

"Oh my! Your mother and father are our father's oldest friends."

"Really? Hmmm……Pop and mom never really mention Tendo before."

"Yes, they will be so happy that their two children are getting
married."

"I suppose so. Say Akane haven't you shown Kasumi your ring."

"That's right I total forgot about that, Akane let me see it." Dangling
her hand towards the back seat, she felt it immediately snatched up by
Kasumi.

"Oh My! This- this is beautiful!" Don't you know it's a fake Kasumi,
Akane thought. Of course she's not, she admonished herself.

"Did you pick this out by yourself Akane?"

"Umm.. no, Ranma surprised me with it." Akane answered.

"My Ranma, you must know Akane very well."

"Yes Kasumi, maybe even more than most people." Ranma answered in a
mysterious tone.

"Well, Ranma do you and Akane plan to have any children?" Raising an
eyebrow, Akane began to think that Nabiki wasn't really kidding about
Kasumi. There weren't even to the house and she was already on the
topic.

"Kasumi!" Akane said in a flustered voice "It's too early to think about
that."

"It's never too early to think about having children. Why Tofu and I
wanted children during our engagement period." Kasumi said in a
matter-of-fact way.

"Well, in any case, Akane and I plan to have children, at least two."
Ranma said, heading off whatever Akane was going to say.

"That's fantastic! I can't wait to have a little niece or nephew. But
you will be moving away from the shore right?"

"No, Akane and I love the shore, it is very relaxing."

"But if you have children one could quite easily wander into the sea at
the blink of an eye."

"True, but Akane is wonderful with children. In fact I think that's one
of the first things that drew me to her." Kasumi beamed at Ranma and
Akane just looked at Ranma trying to see if that was the truth or not.

"Akane. I would like to go shopping tomorrow. I want you try out a new
hair style. I think it would be lovely on you. And don't worry, this is
coming out of the dojo's account."

"I don't know Kasumi……"

"Oh we could go pick up some more make up, and maybe get some more
clothes."

"Well……" Feeling a bit downcast since Kasumi thought she needed more a
more feminie look.

"I don't know Kasumi, I think Akane looks just fine how she is. I mean
some guys like women who make up their faces or try to change their
appearance with certain things, but Akane is just pure. And if it's one
thing I love about Akane it's the fact that she doesn't feel the need to
alter her appearance from what it already is. It gives her a natural
beauty that can't be replaced."

"Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful." Kasumi said with delight "Akane
wherever did you find a man like Ranma?"

Flushing red Akane just said meekly "I just guess I was lucky." Looking
up she gave Ranma a grateful look.

As Akane stood on the patio, she looked out at the ocean. Right now she
felt like the lowest scum of the earth. True Kasumi felt like she was
the woman on top of the world right now, but Akane couldn't help but
feel sorry guilty for the fact that all that Kasumi was proud of her for
was just a lie. A lie that could break her heart. Hearing the sounds of
footsteps, she saw Ranma walking over to her.

"Hey Akane, where's your sister?"

"She's in her room changing out of her travel clothes."

"Oh," Grinning widely Ranma moved over to Akane, "You know you've made
your sister one of the happiest women I've seen, darling"

"Yeah I know……. But you don't have to call me darling when Kasumi's not
around."

"Akane, I call you darling even when Kasumi isn't here, so why are you
biting my head off?" Realizing her folly, Akane apologized to Ranma.

"Oh I'm sorry Ranma, it's just this whole thing with deceiving Kasumi.
It's just getting to me." Akane said with sadness. Seeing Akane's eyes,
Ranma saw that she had unshed tears in them. Akane never shed crocodile
tears. The only time she ever did was when she found out one of her
students were being abused by their parents, and Akane blamed herself
for not seeing it. Feeling the need to comfort her, he gave her a hug.

"Now now, don't you cry on me now. You hear, all you're doing is making
your sister happy and there's nothing wrong with that. If there's anyone
to blame it would be your sister Nabiki."

"I know, but I feel so low about all this fakeness."

"Don't worry about that, now chin up and stand tall."

"Your right Ranma," Straightening up and lifting her chin up, Akane
smiled "You mean like this?"

"Perfect," Ranma said with a loving looked in his eyes. "So perfect I
think I'll kiss you."

"Ranma.." Akane whimpered, just before Ranma tilted her chin up and
kissed her.

Smiling as Kasumi stepped onto the patio, she walked towards the
passionate kissing couple.

"Oh my." Breaking the kiss, Ranma looked over to Kasumi who was covering
her mouth with her hand.

"Well you know, Akane get carried away sometimes." Akane blushed at
this, resisting the urge to touch her hot lips, she licked them to
moisten them.

"My Akane you've changed." Kasumi remarked.

"Well…..you know, I figure, Ranma's my fiancé now, it's alright now."
Akane tried to explain.

"True." Kasumi said.

"Well. Let me go and get the refreshments. Honey please entertain
Kasumi."

"Of course."

Once in the kitchen, Akane began to mix for a pina coloda. So far so
good, she thought. Now she just had to get used to Ranma being so loving
to her without falling in love with him.

Next morning, Akane was sitting in the kitchen, yesterday she mixed in
too much rum and as a result, she had a slight headache from it. Kasumi
was making breakfast and talking with Akane as she did. Akane just sat
and drank her tea hoping the headache would go away.

"I must get in contact with Nabiki, she must come down here soon, she
can take a break from her computer business. This place is truly
wonderful. I can see why you like it so much here Akane."

"Huh?" Setting the rice in the rice cooker, Kasumi sat down across from
Akane, and looked at her with a serious motherly look.

"Akane, I have one question to ask you."

"What's that?" Akane asked already afraid that Kasumi had already found
them out.

"Do you truly love him? Or are you in love with love?" Love? Akane's
throat became dry as she thought about Ranma. All the moments they
shared together, the tough times they had been through. The times when
Ranma comforted her in her time of need, and her revealing her soul to
Ranma. All those moments.

"Yes, I love Ranma very much." But in what way?

"Yes I knew it, just by the way I saw how you looked at each other. I
could feel the love in every look."

"Really?" Had she gotten her loving look down that well?

"Morning!" Ranma announced as he stepped into the kitchen. Looking at
Akane, he noticed she was a bit more pale than usual. "Is there
something wrong sweetheart?"

"No, Kasumi and I were just chatting."

"Oh nothing bad from home I hope." Ranma said sincerely.

"Oh no," Kasumi replied "I just told Akane that the way you two look at
each other simply radiates the fact that you two love each other."

"Of course, after all we are very much in love." Of course he loved
Akane, as a friend right?

"Great, now why don't both of you sit down, I've made breakfast."

"Sounds lovely Kasumi." Ranma said.


Stepping out of her shower, Akane quickly dried herself and looked at
herself in the mirror. Her figure was quite well-developed. Maybe not as
well developed as some of the women that Ranma dated, but definitely
attractive. Drying her hair, she thought of Ranma. He was simply the
only person who knew the most about her. She had bared her soul to him
numerous times, as he did as well. He was and extremely handsome man,
and treated Akane better than anyone had ever treated her. She never
felt threatened by him, probably just for that fact, and because of that
she trusted him completely. Slipping on a silk robe, Akane dried her
hair.

Next door she could hear Kasumi using the phone in her room. She was
still trying to call Nabiki, Realizing the consequences of Nabiki coming
down here as well, she rushed out of the bathroom and into Kasumi's
room.

"Hello Nabiki? It's Kasumi, I'm at Akane's." Akane saw that she was too
late and she just sat on the bed with Kasumi.

"You sound sluggish, were you out last night drinking? I've told you
what alcohol does to your skin. But that's beside the point. I met Ranma
yesterday, and he's great!" Looking horrified, Akane desperately tried
to think of some way to maybe break the conversation.

"Who's Ranma? Why Akane's fiancé of course. I swear Nabiki you are so
forgetful this morning. Are they in love? Of course they are, you just
feel their love when they look at each other." Turning to Akane, she
smiled happily to her. Akane returned with a sickly smile.

"What was that? Oh yes Akane's ring is beautiful. The gemstone? No, you
don't need a microscope to see it, in fact you could probably see across
the room. I want you to come down here, I'm going to throw an engagement
party for Akane, and I would like you to be here. Yes I know that's
expensive, but I want to give Akane the best for this special time in
her life. What? Put Akane on? Okay." Handing the phone to Akane.

"Nabiki wants to talk to you." Akane took the phone and composed
herself. If Kasumi wasn't in the room, then Akane would have let Nabiki
have it. But since Kasumi showed no sign of leaving,  she would have to
remain calm.

"Hello?" There was a pregnant pause before Nabiki hissed back.

"What is going on down there?!"

"Oh, the usual."

"Akane don't play Ms. Innocent on me, I know something is up. Now tell
me!"

"No, everything is fine Nabiki."

"Listen Akane, I'm sure you're a bit peeved at the little white lie that
I told Kasumi but…"

"That wouldn't even begin to describe how I feel."

"Akane, I just talked to you last week and you and I both know that you
were as close to being engaged as I was."

"Oh but Nabiki, Ranma and I weren't going to announce our engagement
until later this week."

"And Who's this Ranma?"

"Ranma? Well, he's a dream, but only I would say that."

"Ooooo…..Forget it, put Kasumi on, I can see I'm getting no where with
you." Handing the phone back to Kasumi, Akane let out a breath of
relief.

"What? You're coming Nabiki? Great! When? Wednsday? Great! I'll see you
then." Hanging up the phone, she turned to talk with Akane, but she was
already gone.

Running downstairs, Akane looked around for Ranma. Looking outside she
saw him feeding the birds some left over food. Rushing outside, she felt
the wind blow strongly blowing her robe around and everything below her
waist was visible.

Ranma looked out to the ocean, he was going to pick up his mother and
sister today. He love them very much, but didn't know if it was a real
good idea to lie to them. Sighing, he figured he could just play this
one out, maybe they'll never know. Then he heard his name being called
in the wind. Looking towards the house, he grinned at the sight of Akane
struggling to keep her robe shut. Throwing the remaining of the food on
the ground, he walked over to her.

"What's going on?"

"Ranma! Kasumi is planning to throw an engagement party for us!"

"Eh? Don't worry about it, I'll just tell her that I'm too busy to take
off time to go to Japan for an engagement party."

"I think she want to have it here!" But Ranma wasn't really paying too
much attention to what she was saying. Instead, since Akane let go of
her robe, he could see up her legs. He wondered how it would feel to run
a hand up one of her thighs. She was really gorgeous and she had a
beautiful body. He just wondered why he never noticed it before.

"Ranma?! Ranma?!" Jolted out of his thoughts, he admonished himself for
thinking about Akane that way. She was just a friend.

"Huh? Oh yeah, well, we'll just go along with it I guess. I guess mom's
probably going to do it as well. Why not just please both of them at
once, so we'll only have to go through it once."

"Are you sure? I mean all our friends will be there. Do you think we can
fool everyone?"

"Darling, I think we can convince anyone." Ranma said giving her a
loving look. Swooping down, he caught her up in one of his kisses. Akane
just melted into is arms.

Later on that day, Ranma dropped Akane and Kasumi in downtown Houston so
that Akane could take her sister sight seeing, while Ranma ran to the
office finished some things and then went to go pick up his mother and
Ranko. Ryouga said he was going to come as well.

Sitting in his office, Ranma looked over his note on  the company that
he wanted to over take. He was supposed to meet with the CEO of the
company later this week, but he'd probably have to cancel it. Just then
Kaori paged him.

"Mr. Hibiki is here to see you sir."

"Send him in."

"Very well sir." Gathering up his papers, Ranma heard the door open.

"Hey Ranma ready to go?"

"Yeah, we taking two cars?"

"We have to, you taking the Jag?"

"Yeah, forget it, let me just call Sasuke, We'll take the limo."

"Alright." Paging Kaori, he picked up his briefcase.

"Kaori? Please cancel the meeting with the meeting with N. R.
Technologies. Tell him we'll reschedule next month. And also call Sasuke
we'll be expecting him within half and hour."

"Yes sir."

Ranma and Ryouga were standing at the private airstrip, waiting for
Ranma's mother and Ranko to land. Sighing restlessly, Ranma looked up
towards the sky.

"What's wrong?"

"Ahhh… it's nothing. It's just that Mom and Ranko are going to make a
big deal about this engagement thing and well….Akane's sister is also
throwing an engagement party thing, and I think that I'm going to have a
headache for the next few weeks."

"Well. It's your own fault, I mean, I still think that you're better off
just spitting it out."

"Yeah well I can't do that. I'm doing this for Akane."

"Are you sure you're not in love with her?"

"Will you stop asking me that?"

"Why? I mean you two are really close. I mean I've just been waiting for
it to happen."

"We're just friends, is that a crime? I mean a guy and a girl could be
the closest of friends and still not be romantically involved."

"Yeah but you and Akane are different! I just don't get why you don't
see it man!"

"Yeah whatever piggie boy."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Yeah yeah, what's the matter P-chan, miss being a piggie?"

"DIE!" The two were fighting again, Ranma bouncing all over the place as
Ryouga blew holes in the ground. Using chi blasts, they tore up the
ground around the airstrip. What they did not notice was the plane
landing. Panting heavily Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other and
laughed.

"Man you are still weaker than I am!" Ryouga gloated.

"Yeah well you're still slower than I am." Ranma shot back. The two
tensed to prepare to leap in against each other again, but suddenly a
red blur came out of no where and knocked them both aside. Standing
victoriously, a woman with a very impressive figure and in a revealing
red dress smile at them.

"And I'm still smarter than the two of you put together." Looking up
Ranma and Ryouga smiled and then looked at each other. Grinning
viciously, they leapt at the woman tackling to the ground and tickling
her.

"Stop! Stop it both of you! Com'on! It was just a joke!" the woman cried
relentlessly.

"Ha Ranko, this is payback!" Ranma said laughing. Getting up, he helped
his sister up. As soon as she immediately got back up, she gave him a
bone crushing hug.

"Ranma! You've got to visit more!" Ranko said happily.

"I know, I know, but you know I had stuff to do."

"Yeah and now I know what stuff you had to do. So when are me and mom
going to meet her?"

"Eh…. We're going to pick her up in an hour."

"Great. Mom and the kids are waiting at the limo."

"Hey! Don't I get anything?" Ryouga said off to the side.

"Of course, but you've got to wait until tonight lover." Ranko said in a
very seductive voice.

"Heh heh…" Ryouga said with his eyes glazing over a bit. But his
daydream was cut short when Ranma smack him.

"Hey! Stupid stop flirting with my sister in front of me!" But Ranma was
kicked in the head as Ranko yelled at him.

"He's my husband bro!" Grumbling, Ranma and Ryouga both followed Ranko
back to the air strip.

As they got to the limo, Ranma smiled as he saw his mother. Nodoka
Saotome was a woman of early forties and didn-t look a day over 30. She
was dressed in a beautiful Yellow dress and she carried the family
ancestral sword.

"Mom!" Ranma cried and went over and hugged his mother tightly.

"Ranma, it's so good to see you again." Nodoka said as she hugged him as

well. After a few minutes, they let go and Nodoka straightened out her
dress and smiled towards Ryouga.

"Hello Ryouga, my grandson and granddaughter miss their father a great
deal." Running out of the limo two children hugged Ryouga.

"Daddy!" they cried. Ranko smiled and joined her children in welcoming
back her husband. Ranma walked over to the happy family and picked a
little girl up.

"Hey Lisa, how about giving your Uncle Ranma a kiss?"

"Oka' Unca' Ranma!" Lisa gave Ranma a big sloppy kiss on the lips and
held onto her uncle. Turning towards the rest of them.

"Okay guys but I told my fiancee and her sister that We'd meet her at
the Galleria by the skating rink in another half an hour."

Sitting down by the Ice rink, Akane stared out at the young couples
skating across the smooth surface. So many of them were so in love. If
only she could find such a man for herself, she would be in heaven. The
way he would hold her as they skated gracefully across ice. Looking up
at the man, he leaned down for a kiss-.

"Akane! I'm finished, let's go out." Kasumi's voice broke through her
daydreams. Sighing she stepped onto the ice with Kasumi. However
something lingered in her mind. The man looked somewhat like Ranma.
Shaking the thought from her head, she pushed off to join Kasumi.


Ranma, Ryouga, and their families arrived at the Galleria and looked
around for Akane. Nodoka was anxious to meet the woman who had finally
captured her son's wild heart. Walking towards the center of the huge
mall, Ranma fidgeted a bit. He wondered what his mother would say when
she met Akane? Would she believe them? Nearing the center of the mall,
he saw a slight crowd gathering. Peering down, he suddenly had a loss of
breath. In the center of the rink was Akane flowing along the ice as an
angel would on ice.

"Wow! I didn't know Akane could skate like that!" Ryouga exclaimed.
Turning to face Ranma, Ryouga and the others briefly noticed that he was
no longer there. The ice had slowly become more and more empty as people
left to watch Akane skate.

"Where'd he go?" Ryouga asked. Ranko and Nodoka both smiled at each
other, fully aware of where Ranma had gone. Looking back over to the
rink, the rink was now empty. Akane was the lone figure spinning in the
center of the rink as she slowed, a figure skated up to her.


Akane never felt this free, as she skated to the music that flowed
through her body. Suddenly she felt herself being held by the waist.
Looking up, she saw Ranma.

"Giving your private show eh?"

"What?"

"Haven't you noticed all the people looking down at you?"

"No, I just love skating, I haven't felt this free in such a long time."

"Come on, let's skate. We'll give mom a good show."

"Your mother is here?"

"Yeah, come on, let's give everyone a show they'll never forget."

"Heh, we need some music."

"All ready thought of that." Ranma grinned as he turned towards the side
of the rink. Whistling, a slow melody started up as Akane recognized
this song as one of Ranma's favorite songs. Smiling at Ranma, she nodded
as they danced.

Gliding across the ice, she allowed the music to control her as she
skated with Ranma. She felt so warm in her heart as they skated around
the rink. Bursting with joy, she spun through the air with Ranma. She
didn't even have to think about what to do as she flowed. Together they
moved as one, using their martial arts training, they skated as
professionals might.

Ranma was in heaven, he hadn't felt so happy in such a long time. The
feeling of Akane against him and skating with such passion was absolute
joy. Somehow he managed to compliment Akane's movements perfectly, he
just let the music and her body guide him into this dance. It had been
such a long time since he had done this. As the song reached it's
climax, he burst off the ice with Akane in a spin. Landing, he picked
Akane up by the waist and threw her up into the air and catching her as
she fell. As the song ended, he looked down into her eyes and saw her
full trust. With passion coursing through his body, he bent his head
down and kissed her. All around them, the crowd burst into applause.

 Collapsing on her bed, Akane was exhausted. After they got off the ice,
Ranma's Mother, Ranko, and Kasumi dragged her off to search for a
wedding gown. But what she wondered about more was why Ranma kissed her
in front of all those people.  She enjoyed it, because it had been the
first time in a while she could skate with her full body attuned to the
music and the ice. But there was something else there. Ranma kissed
her, she returned his kiss, as if she truly wished it to be.

But that was absurd, She could not have an feelings other than very
strong friendship towards Ranma. The only reason she kissed him back was
because of the moment. That was it. Not because of Ranma. Slipping into
the covers, she stared at the ceiling. Suddenly there was a knock at the
door.

"Come in." The door opened to reveal Ranko, Ranma's sister. Bouncing in,
Ranko was obvious excited. But then again, Ranko was always such an
active girl with limtless bounds of energy.

"Akane! I just wanted to tell you I'm so happy for you!"

"You've already told me Ranko."

"I know, but I always suspected something like this!"

"This?"

"Oh, you know, you and Ranma. Everytime I came over here, Ranma always
did little things that showed how much he loved you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh he would always try to keep close to you. He also gets this twinkle
in his eyes when he looks at you."

"Oh right, of course. Me and Ranma."

"This is so great though, we'll be sisters!"

"I know, but I've always considered you a younger sister for a while."

"Oh Akane, I just can't stop being happy, Mom's also really happy. She
seems to like the fact that you're a Tendo."

"Yeah, Kasumi told me that your father knew my father."

"You sound strange Akane, what's wrong?" Turning to Ranko, Akane
faltered a bit at her inquisitive look. Why did Ranko have to do this to
her? She hated being put on the spot, and she really hated to lie more
to Ranko. Swallowing nervously, Akane smiled.

"Nothing is wrong, I'm just nervous."

"Oh okay, so how did Ranma do it?"

"Do what?"

"Propose silly!"

"Well, he-um- we were on the beach- and-"

"He proposed on the beach? There's my brother for you, such a romantic."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Ranma poked his head in.

"Hey sis! Lisa and Ryu want you to tuck them in." Getting off the bed
Ranko walked towards her brother.

"Okay bro, and don't try anything funny with Akane. Save it for the
honeymoon." Ranko said sassily. Narrowing his eyes, Ranma lunged forward
and his hands went to his sister's stomach as he tickled her.

"And as if you waited!" Ranma said as he continued his relentless
attack. From behind, a punch knocked Ranma into Akane's room.

"Serves you right for molesting my wife!" Ryouga said with a toothily
grin. Getting up, Ranma heard Akane and Ranko snicker at his punishment.

Smiling evilly, Ranma jumped onto Akane and tickled her.

"Heh, laugh at me huh?" Ranma said.

"Stop it!" Akane said as she laughed, Ranma always did this to her
whenever she was nervous or depressed. Somehow it always either soothed
her or brightened her up. Managing to grab one of his arms, she tried to
toss him off. But Ranma was quick and tried to get out of the throw. So
as a result, they both fell off the bed with Ranma on top of Akane.
Looking down at Akane's carefree face, Ranma bent his head down and
brought his lips upon hers. Akane was a too shocked to do anything, so
she did the only natural thing. Wrapping his arms around Akane's back,
Ranma caressed her back and brought her in closer. When they broke the
kiss, Akane looked at Ranma for a few seconds before her went limp.

"Akane?" Ranma said a bit worried. Getting off of her, Ranma gently
shook her.

"Well bro, it looks like she fell victim to your kiss." Ranko observed
from the door. Looking up Ranma blushed a bit.

"Yeah well, we should leave her so she can sleep." Ranma said as he
picked Akane up and laid her in the bed and tucked her in. looking on
her peaceful face, he bent down and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Good night, Akane." Ranma said as he stood up again and closed the door
behind him.


Wednesday came all too quickly for Akane. After an entire day of wedding
gown shopping, Akane was bushed. But now, Akane had her nosy sister to
deal with. Sitting inside the airport terminal and waiting for Nabiki,
she began to wish someone had come with her to pick her sister up, at
least then Nabiki won't be as brutal. But Ranma had to tie up some loose
ends before he took a few weeks off. Ryouga had taken Ranko, Lisa, and
Ryu to town and the beach. Kasumi and Nodoka went into town as well to
do some shopping.

Unnoticed to Akane, two pairs of eyes watched her from afar. One pair
belonged to a wizened woman who seemed to be quite old. The other
belonged to a beautiful woman with a body men fight wars for and women
everywhere killed for.

"Is that the one?" The elder one asked.

"Yes Great-grandmother. She's the one who is engaged to my husband." The
young woman said angrily.

"She seems harmless enough."

"Then I kill her."

"No, this is not China, we cannot just kill her."

"Then how we get husband back?"

"We'll find a way. I have many tricks up my sleeve, so fear not."

"Okay Great-grandmother, I trust you."

"Good Xian Fu."


Akane looked around for her sister, as the people filed past her. That's
when she saw her. Immediately Akane felt upstaged by Nabiki. Her sister
was wearing a business suit, but with a very short skirt, and a very
tight blouse. As she walked, men walked into walls and women shot
hateful glares at Nabiki's direction. When Nabiki finally reached Akane,
Akane could see the smirk on Nabiki's face.

"So where's your 'fiance'?" Nabiki asked haughtily.

"He had to work." Akane responded.

"Sure. So how have you been?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm fine." Akane asked with a confused expression. Noticing the look
that Akane gave her, Nabiki looked hurt.

"Hey! Just because I think you're lying about your fiance doesn't mean
that I don't care about my baby sister, does it?"

"I guess." Sighing inwardly, Akane thanked god that Nabiki hadn't been
more harsh. "Come on, let's get out of here. And you can finally see
where I live." Turning around, Akane lead Nabiki out of the airport.


Sliding down into the tub, Akane let all her grief out. After She met up
with Nabiki, they went to meet Nodoka and Kasumi. As soon as she got off
the car, Kasumi and Nodoka immediately whisked her off to go shopping
again. They both seemed to have limitless energy as Nodoka and Kasumi
went from store to store. The worst thing was that for every dress that
they made her try on she had to make up some kind of excuse as to why
she didn't like it. And during all this time, Nabiki was off to the side
laughing her head off.

She just wished Ranma was with her to endure all this. Because whenever
she was with Ranma he was always so confident and strong, it just made
her feel like she could face anything. Also Ranma always knew someway to
cheer her up. That's why Ranma was such a good friend. Suddenly there
was a knock on the door.

"Akane? There's a phone call for you." Kasumi's voice filtered through.
Groaning, Akane swore that if another person congratulated her on her
engagement, she was going to scream.

"I think you might want to hurry, it's Ranma." Throwing on a robe, Akane
rushed out the door. Flying down the hallway, she passed Nabiki.

"My, my, my, you must be really in love with this guy or just trying to
break your neck." Nabiki drolled. When she finally reached the kitchen,
she picked up the phone, she calmed her breath first.

"Ranma?"

"Akane? You sound breathless, anything wrong?"

"No, I just sprinted from the hot tub."

"So has everything been okay today?"

"Yeah, your mother and Kasumi dragged me around town all day looking for
wedding gowns." Leaning back a bit, Akane was not surprised to see that
Nabiki had taken up a comfortable seat on the couch in the living room
intent on listening in on her conversation with Ranma. Grinning, Akane
returned to the phone.

"I didn't see anything you'd like except for the frilly red garter
belts." Then she laughed in a low husky tone. In Ranma's office, Ranma
immediately shot up.

"Akane? You haven't been making pina colodas again have you?"

"No, but I think blue would look better on me don't you think. I also
so this really nice blue teddy that I *know* you would like."

"You know Akane, keep talking, I am finding this very interesting."
Ranma said as he pictured Akane in a very sexy blue teddy.

"I think I'll go with blue, because red is so scandalous, don't you
think? Maybe I'll get the teddy for the honeymoon." Akane said with a
purr. In the living room, Nabiki made a sickening moise.

"I take it your sister is there?"

"Oh Ranma how do you ever know these things?"

"I'm just a genius."

"So, what did you want to tell me?"

"Well, I want to take both our families to a nice restaurant for
dinner."

"Are you sure you're up to that? Where are we going to eat?"

"It's a surprise, just be ready by six."

"I'll see you then." Hanging up the phone, Akane smiled at the phone.
Ranma was doing so much for her. As soon as is was over, she'd have to
think of a way to thank him properly.

At Ranma's office, Ranma hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair
and stretched. Relaxing he smiled at the thought of Akane wearing blue.
She had worn a very beautiful blue dress on the one occasion that she
went to see a play. However, he had teased her and so she never wore
blue again. Behind him Kaori came in with his letters opened. Placing
the mail on his table she smiled at Ranma.

"Your fiancee is doing you good."

"How can you tell?"

"Well they say the bride usually glows when they speak to their fiance,
but quite frankly I've never seen anyone glow as much as you were when
you talked to Ms. Tendo." Looking surprised, he felt his face. Glowing?
No way. Why would he be glowing?


Akane rummaged through her wardrobe trying to find a decent dress to
wear to dinner. After half an hour of looking through her dresser, she
sighed in frustration. Nothing! Everything she wore was either too
casual, too much for school, or simply not for a party. Then she spotted
it. It was wedged between her raincoat and winter jacket. Pulling it
out, she looked at the dress, wondering whether or not she should wear
it. She had bought it on a dare when she was shopping with Ukyou. The
dress would fit her nicely and besides it was one of the dresses that
Ranma's designer friend recommended for her. But she wasn't comfortable
with the idea of exposing this much cleavage and skin to anyone. But
then again Ranma wasn't just anyone. Putting the dress on, she viewed
herself in the mirror. Smiling to herself, she enthused. She did look
good in blue! The dress had met her every expectation. It showed off
every curve of her body. The dress was a bit daring because it had no
shoulders. The skirt went al the way down to her ankles and had a slit
up to her knees.

Posing in front of the mirror, Akane did not notice Nabiki come in at
watch her.

"I never knew you to expose that much cleavage." Nabiki pointed out.

"Well, today I'm going to dinner with my fiance, so there's a
difference." At that, Nabiki's eyes narrowed.

"Come off it sis, who is this guy? Some teacher you hired to pose at
your fiance. Just so you could get closer to Kasumi?" Akane gritted her
teeth in anger. How dare Nabiki do this to her. She was hurting enough
without these jabs at the fact that she could never get a real fiance.

"Why no sister dear, in fact he is a powerful business man, head of a
large corporation."

"Yeah right. Whatever, next thing you'll be telling me is that he want
to have kids with you right?" Akane held her tears back from the
onslaught of Nabiki's speech.

"You know Akane, I never thought you would go this low as to fake Kasumi
out with this nonsense." Akane's temper finally snapped at that
statement.

"You are being so unfair! True, I may not be as smart as you, or as
pretty as you. But Ranma loves me for who I am, not for any artificial
reasons like a prettier face or a better body. He loves me! And if you
can't handle that fact, then why don't just leave me the hell alone!"
Nabiki cringed back a bit from Akane's outburst and tried to calm her
younger sister down.

"Fine, fine, just calm down, I was just a bit rash. I'm sorry." Nabiki
soothed. Biting back her outburst, Akane sighed , this lie she was
keeping up was simply tearing her up on the inside.

"It's okay, it's just that with all the pressure of the engagement and
then your comments I went a little berserk."

"Don't worry about it. I'll make the comments after I meet him. Ranma
right? Sounds familiar, does he own a large interior decorating
business?"

"I don't remember."

"Well, anyway, let's see if we can do something about that hair, it
looks too plain."


Half an hour later, Akane tiptoed into the bathroom, and looked into the
mirror. Her hair looked like it just met a UFO.  There was so much
hairspray in her hair she almost felt it seeping into her scalp. Filling
the basin up with water, she wondered if Nabiki was trying to ruin her
night with Ranma. She wondered where Ranma would take them to. The times
when Ranma and her wen out, they went to some casual places for dinner
or lunch. But this time, Ranma said "nice" and whatever Ranma considers
a "nice" restaurant is usually a fancy one.

Twenty minutes later, she comes out of the bathroom with her hair down.
Going to her room, she prepared to put on the rest of her make up. When
she get to her room, Kasumi and Nabiki are already there.

"Akane! What did you do? All that hard work I put in!" Nabiki exclaimed
when saw Akane.

"I'm sorry Nabiki, it just wasn't me." Akane countered.

"I think you look very pretty, Akane." Kasumi assured.

"Thanks sis." Akane said as she sat down in front of the mirror.

"You didn't say that I looked pretty!" Nabiki complained.

"You always look pretty, do we always have to say it?" Akane said
testily, as she applied some make up.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Now, Now Nabiki, Akane's right, you always look fine."

"Hmph!" Nabiki looked at Kasumi and just sat on Akane's bed. She was
wearing a black dress that showed off most of her backside. Suddenly
there was a knock at the door. Akane finished putting on her make up and
sprinkled a bit of perfume on herself as she got up to answer the door.

"Akane?" Ranma's voice came through the door.

"Coming." Akane answered as she made sure everything was in place.
Opening the door, she saw Ranma in a very formal tuxedo complete with a
sash around his waist. By his waist he seemed to have strapped a sort of
sword. He was also wearing a pair of fancy sunglasses.

"Akane! You wore blue after all!" Ranma beamed at Akane. Looking up at
Ranma, Akane couldn't help but feel weak in her knees.

"I just wanted to please you." As she said that, Akane realized just how
true it was. She wanted Ranma to be happy, and she would do almost
anything to make sure of it.

"And you did, Akane. You look beautiful." Ranma said as he leaned
forward to kiss Akane. Akane knew that Kasumi and Nabiki were both still
behind her, but she didn't care. When the kiss ended, she turned around.
She almost laughed out loud when she saw Nabiki's expression.

"Nabiki, this is Ranma." Akane said as she introduced Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome? As in the multi-billionaire?" Nabiki said with her eyes
still wide and her mouth gaping a bit.

"That would be me." Ranma replied with a boyish grin on his face.

"You're Akane's fiance?"

"Yep. Akane's a wonderful woman to me."

"How could I have missed this!"

"What?"

"All those news reports on you and your new fiancee! They never found
out exactly who she was! And it was Akane this entire time!"

"Well, I have a certain ways of dealing with the press and paparazzi.
Let's just say they don't want to mess with someone who could almost
level a mountain, break all their bones and still have the lawyers to
get away with it."

"I see. I think I need to sit down." Nabiki said absentmindedly.

"Really, that's too bad, I was hoping to bring you guys to the gala."

"What gala?"

"The gala to welcome the new leader of China. He's a personal friend of
mine. He invited me because he wanted to meet Akane." Ranma said
charmingly as he smiled at Akane.

"That's the exact gala that I've been trying to get into! The who's who
of the world will be there! Governmental, musical, actors, actresses,
and the rich!" Nabiki said a bit smugly.

"Yep it's in Los Angeles. My pilot has already prepped the Leer Jet. My
mother will meet us there in half an hour. The helicopter has already
arrived to take us to the landing strip."

"Leer Jet?"

"Yeah, normally I would use the company Lear, but this is a special
occasion. So I said ' I'll use my private jet'."

"Oh my."


Sitting in the place, Akane fiddled with her purse. This was so
outrageous, so daring, so exciting. Only Ranma would be able to do
something like this. Looking over at Ranma, she admired the way the
setting sun was shining against his ruggedly handsome face. Mentally she
traced the outline of his jaw and smiled at the excitement reflected in
his eyes. As if they were connected by some strange bond, he chose that
moment to look across at her and lean over towards her.

"Surprised?"

"I'll say. What made you do something like this?"

"Well, I wanted to show your family and my family just how much I love
you." Akane blushed deeply and wondered just if he really meant that.
Berating herself, Akane convinced herself that Ranma could never love
her in that way. No, Ranma loved women who were beautiful, graceful, and
the typical supermodel type.

Realizing what he just said, Ranma quickly looked down and stammered.

"Well, I mean, how much they think I love you." Mentally smacking
himself, Ranma fidgeted a bit. How could he have just say that? He did
love Akane. But only as a friend, right? But still, was that sadness in
her eyes that he just saw?

Sighing inwardly, Akane felt a bit depressed that Ranma just confirmed
that he couldn't really love her. No. Ranma could never love someone who
was as plain and conservative as herself..

"Don't worry about it Ranma. Besides I think this is exciting." Sitting
back, Ranma was angry at himself. He had hurt Akane. And for that, he
was furious with himself. He would make it up to her somehow.


Akane just stared at the setup around her. It was simply amazing! Never
in her life would she have thought that she would be eating in a place
where there were so many famous people eating. After the plane had
landed, Ranma had had two helicopters waiting to take them to the
mansion. It was simply one excitement after another. However once inside
the mansion, that's when Akane truly saw just how influential and famous
Ranma was.

It seemed as if everyone knew Ranma. As soon as Ranma entered the
mansion, numerous people crowded around him. Each greeted Ranma with
dignity and warmth. There was also much attention focused on herself. It
seemed that being the fiancee of Ranma raised her status among people
immensely. Suddenly she felt a bit overwhelmed by the rich, the
influential, and the famous. It seemed as if the new head of government
in China was quite fond of movie stars and musicians. The who's who of
the world seemed to be at the party, just as Nabiki had said.

The entire setup of the gala was absolutely a sight to behold. It was
decorated mostly in gold and in a Chinese fashion. Statues of dragons,
phoenixes, tigers, and other animals stood everywhere. Akane had not a
doubt that all the material was all real and not imitations. In the
center of all the tables was a sort of dance floor, and off to a side a
live orchestra was playing.

"Akane?"

"Yes Ranma?" Cutting through the waves of women who were asking her
about how Ranma and her met, Ranma took hold of Akane's hand and pulled
her through.

"I want you to meet someone." Directing Akane to a table, Akane sat face
to face with a bright-eyed blond woman. She had a very wide smile and a
perky attitude. She was definitely some kind of model or actress. She
looked familiar somehow.

"Hi! You must be Akane!"

"Yeah?" Akane said a bit unsure of whom this was. She definitely wasn't
some jealous old girlfriend, and she seemed friendly enough.

"You don't remember me?"

"No I'm sorry, I can't seem to place where I've seen you from." Akane
said as she took a close look at the woman in front of her. Those bright
blue eyes.

"It's me! Cameron! Remember?! I used to date Ranma when he first moved
into his house."

"Cameron? Oh My god! It is you! You've changed! Well not much, but I
don't know, you just look different!" Akane exclaimed and hugged the
woman in front of her. Cameron had been one of the few women that she
like that was dating Ranma.

"Well, I'm an actress now! I haven't kept in touch with Ranma for at
least a year though. But hey let's talk about you! You're getting
married to Ranma?"

"Uh...yeah." Akane was silently torturing herself. Another person she had to deceive now, and Cameron was such a nice person too.

"This is so unexpected! But you know- somehow I thought you two would
get together!"

"How so?"

"Well, I mean, you two just seemed to always be more than just friend
you know? There were always those little subtle hints here and there."

"Really?" Was this true? No, it couldn't be. She was just saying this
because she thought that Ranma was marrying her.

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing! You've also seemed to bloom! I
just love this look on you!"

"Oh well, Ranma had a designer woman take me shopping. She recommended
this dress."

"Really? Which designer?"

"I forget. But yeah, it was all Ranma."

"Now, now, you can't say that. You've always been beautiful, Ranma just
coaxed the flower to bloom. And now here you are!" Cameron smiled. Just
then, Ranma cut in.

"Sorry Cameron, but I'm going to have to take Akane away from you."

"Okay, has the main guest arrived?"

"Yeah, we should sit." Taking Ranma's arm, Akane walked over to their
table. Her eyes bugged out a bit to see who was sitting there. First
there was the President of the US and the First Lady, and the man who
seemed to be the new leader of China.

"Everyone?" Ranma said as he turned to the table.

"This is my future wife- Akane Tendo." Presenting Akane, each member at
the table greeted her politely.

"So this is the woman who stole the heart of the world's most notorious
playboy eh?" Herb, the new leader of China said with a smile.

"Er-" that was all Akane could get out. Sitting down, Akane looked at
each member of the table and suddenly saw that these people were no
different that she was in the flesh. They were all flesh and skin just
as she was. Relaxing a bit, Akane smiled. Next to her sat Nodoka, Kasumi
and Nabiki. Ryouga and Ranko sat at the table with Cameron.

The dinner started after Herb and the president made a speech.
Chattering flowed through the air. As the gala went one, Akane relaxed
more and more. She answered each question with as much wit as she could
manage.

"So Akane, what is it that you do?" The first lady asked.

"Well- I teach."

"Ah, for which university?"

"Um, not a university. I teach grade school and martial arts in my
family dojo."

"Ah...the nurturer of today's youth. So do you enjoy what you do?"

"Of course, I love children. I mean I love the way that they need
someone to care for them."

"Well said." Nearby Ranma was talking with Herb as the two looked on.

"She's really something." Herb complemented.

"I know, that's why she's so important to me."

"You know you are very lucky, I thought that you'd be the last one to
get married."

"Well I was just lucky that Akane came along." Ranma said as he looked
at Akane wistfully. It was true, Akane was such an important factor in
his life. Since the very beginning, Akane had been there for him, both
emotionally and physically. Whenever he had a bad day, she was there to
comfort him. If ever he hurt, she was there to soothe the pain. No
matter how bad it was, Akane was always there for him, as he would
always be there for her.

"Hey Ranma I think that woman is hailing you." Looking behind him, he
searched and found a tall, well-built, Asian woman with plum-tinted
black hair. She was wearing a tight dress that reflected the typical
Chinese dress. Swaying her hips in a seductive manner, she walked over
to their table. Many of the guys in the room were staring at her. Even
Herb was staring so hard that his eyes almost fell out. Ranma was the
only on who groaned and had a pained look on his face.

"Ni Hao Ranma." The woman said with a beautiful smile. Immediately
everyone at the table looked up at the woman. Most of the women were
envious of the woman, as the men were staring appreciatively.

"Hello Xian Nu. It's a surprise seeing you here tonight."

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and all my friends were here, so I
figured why not." Suddenly Herb's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Pardon me miss. But aren't you the new supermodel from China?"

"Why yes I am. How good of you to notice."

"Well Xian what do you want?"

"Nothing Ranma, I just wanted to see you and your future wife." With
that Xian turned to Akane and looked at her with raised eyebrows. Akane
glared at Xian, knowing just who she was. Standing up the two women just
looked at each other. Suddenly, Xian made a sudden move- and hugged
Akane very tightly.

"You will take care of Ranma right?" Xian whispered into Akane's ear.
Surprised, Akane could just nod. Breaking the hug, Xian smiled at Akane
and presented her with a bracelet.

"Akane Tendo, I present to you a trinket from the village of the Chinese
Amazons. As future bride to Ranma, honorary tribe member, you will also
be considered an honorary member of the tribe as well." Akane just
looked at Xian dumbly and accepted the gift. Placing the bracelet on her
wrist, she bowed and thanked Xian.

"Thank you Xian Nu."

"I will go now, I have friends who are waiting." With that, Xian turned
and left. Ranma just glared at Xian as she left. He had a bad feeling
about this. Xian was a woman, and an Amazon woman, it was simply too
strange that she would give up on him so quickly and without a fight.


As time passed, the gala became more and more of a relaxed environment.
Akane looked down at her glass and wondered if it was the champagne or
just her, but she felt extremely high spirited. Her emotions had bubbled
to the surface as she continued to talk with the people around the
table.

"So Akane, have you and Ranma set a date yet?" Kasumi asked.
Immediately, this topic sparked the interest of all the women at the
table.

"Yes, Akane are you going to hold a traditional Shinto wedding or a
modern American style wedding?" Nodoka asked curiously.

"Well- er, Ranma and I really aren't sure yet. I mean we've just gotten
engaged, and we'd just like to take things one step at a time." Akane
said trying to avoid the questions.

"Oh but Akane, wouldn't you like to have some opinions from us? You
know, so that when you do start to plan, then you'll have a number of
ideas to choose from." The First Lady suggested. The five elder women at
the table moved in closer to each other as they began to throw out
ideas.

"Well, I'm not sure yet. I'm sure Ranma would want to be part of this
discussion." Akane reasoned. It was enough that she felt extremely
guilty about this whole charade.  As the women assured Akane that Ranma
was talking 'men' topics with the others, Akane just looked down into
her glass of champagne holding back her tears. She simply could not
believe that she was playing this out. Kasumi sounded so happy and
lively and it was all because of her false marriage. Several time as the
women discussed wedding settings, Akane looked to Kasumi and wanted to
tell her the truth. But seeing her sister, one who she loved as her
mother, chatting with the others, Kasumi's eyes seemed to sparkle.
Immediately Akane would stop. If she was to tell Kasumi the truth, that
sparkle would die. She simply could not do that. She could not kill that
sparkle in Kasumi's eyes.


"Hello ladies, and what seems to be the hot topic amongst this table?" A
reporter asked as she pulled up a chair to sit by the other women.

"Well, we were just give ideas for young Akane's future wedding to
Ranma." The First Lady responded.

"Ah- weddings. They are such a joy. You would mind if I shared my
experiences would you?" the reporter asked Akane.

"Um, of course not." Akane said a bit nervously.  A few moments later,
Cameron and Ranko came up to the table and also shared their input. Then
very soon they had to move to a different section of the room as more
and more women from the gala came over to them and threw in their
opinion for the wedding. And at the center of the group was Akane who
was quite embarrassed by the attention. After an hour or so, they came
up with the idea of an Americanized version of the Shinto wedding.
Ranma's designer friend Ms. Versache had offered to design a wedding
dress that would be the cross of an American wedding dress and a
Japanese kimono.


At the table, Ranma was still talking with Herb and the American
President, as well as Kirin, the newest General of the Chinese Army,
Ryouga, the heads of the American security, FBI, CIA, Emperor of Japan,
Leader of Russia, and the Leader of several more countries. It was
beginning to turn out to be like a diplomatic meeting. Looking up from
their conversations, Ranma looked at Akane and saw that she was a bit
uncomfortable. Smiling and admiring the way that Akane was handling
being the center of attention, Ranma leaned over to Herb.

"Hey Herb, you mind if I did a little dancing?"

"Go right ahead my friend." Herb said with a knowing smile. Getting up
Ranma looked at all the men gathered.

"Well, gentlemen, I'm afraid that there is something horribly wrong with
this gala."

"And what would that be?" The President asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems that we have a very large and open space in the center of the
room, and if I am not mistaken, there is an orchestra playing." Ranma
said with as much seriousness as possible. Several of the men around him
murmured to themselves. The President's face also mirrored seriousness,
covering his humor underneath.

"And so I feel that I must take the first step to remedy this
situation." Crossing the room, and walking up to the conductor.

"Maestro, I would like to request a few waltzes for the people to dance
to. I would like for this gala to become a bit more active. What do you
say?" Ranma said politely. Nodding, the conductor ended the song quickly
and lead the orchestra in a waltz. Grinning, Ranma walked over to the
group of dozens of women. The women parted the way for Ranma, as he made
his way over to Akane. Once in front of Akane, most of the women were
whispering amongst themselves and wondering what Ranma was doing. Akane
looked up at Ranma and immediately saw the spark in his eyes and his
boyish grin. With a sweeping gesture, Ranma settled onto one knee and
one hand held out towards her.

"My Lady, would you honor me in this dance?" Ranma said in the most
formal tone he could. Akane looked at him and just smiled.

"Of course, I would be honored to dance with you, My Lord." Akane
recognized this scene immediately. Ranma always called her stuffy and
too conservative. So one day, Ranma took Akane out to a restaurant. And
when they were just were finished with desert, Ranma stood up and bowed
to Akane and asked her to dance. Ranma had taught Akane how to ballroom
dance, and the two took to the floor. And ever since then, they've done
this constantly.

Leading Akane to the center of the room, they took up their dancing
positions. Moving gracefully across the dance floor, the pair moved as
one.

"Oh Ranma, this is just so perfect."

"Isn't it Akane?"

"Only you Ranma."

"Only me what?"

"Only you could make a day like this possible."

"Well, I am a man of many talents."

"I know, and it just kills me that when we finally do break the news to
everyone, so many people will have to be disappointed."

"Now, now Akane, don't think like that."

"I know, I know, I just have to be strong and hope it all works out."

"It will Akane, but for tonight, you are my beautiful date, who is
dancing with me in front of all of the most powerful people in the
world."

"Oh gee, you make me feel so much better." Akane says sarcastically.
Looking over Akane's shoulder, Ranma sees his mother and Kasumi.

"Both my mother and your sister are positively beaming you know?"

"I suppose all this is worth seeing them both so happy, isn't it?"

"Yes I suppose it is."

"You know, all these women are just simply so jealous over you."

"Oh is that right mister modest?"

"It's true, they are so jealous that I'm so in love with a woman, and
it's not them."

"You know Ranma, I really am going to find a good woman for you."

"Oh no, not this conversation again."

"Now Ranma, I want you to be with someone who you deserve. Someone who
would never hurt you."

"Now you speak of the impossible."

"But you deserve a woman like that Ranma."

"It doesn't matter. I wouldn't be happy with any woman who I wouldn't
love."

"I know. I just want to see you happy, Ranma. You are my best friend."

"As you to I." As the waltz winded down, Ranma ended by swooping down
and kissing Akane passionately. Applause erupted around them.


As the gala began to come to a close guests were preparing to leave. The
night had been absolutely perfect for Ranma. Not only did he get to see
his good friend Herb again, but Akane had a good time, his mother was
happy, as was his sister. As he rose to say that he was leaving, Herb
stopped him.

"Just wait a few moments. I'm going to say something, but I want you to
hear." Getting up, Herb caught everyone's attention. Waiting a few
moments for everyone to settle and look up at him, Herb began to speak.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming to welcome me this evening.
However before everyone leaves, I would like to conduct a short order of
business and I would like everyone to be a witness to something I will
be doing. As all of you know, Ranma Saotome is one of my closest
friends. Since we were young and trained together in China, we have been
companions. Just recently he has had something stolen from him, which I
thought never would happen." Several people gasped at this.

"And what was this that was stolen from him? His heart. And the woman
who holds it is Akane Tendo, his future bride." Gesturing to Akane, who
is blushing tremendously.

"As an engagement present to my good friend, Ranma Saotome, I would like
to present the ownership to a dozen islands. These islands used to
belong to China, and they reside in the Pacific. All islands hold
fertile land and are all rich in resources. It is in my hopes that with
this present, Ranma and Akane will be able to build their lives
together. As of now, these island belong to Ranma, and no one can
challenge ownership, the island can never be changed ownership by
anyone, including anyone from the Saotome lineage or China. That is all,
and I hope the best for my friend Ranma and Akane." And with this, Herb
places a pendant around Ranma and a pendant around Akane. Silence
surrounds the room, but the General for the Chinese army begins to clap,
as applause roars and both Ranma and Akane look embarrassed.

As the applause dies down, guests gather to leave. Ranma walks over to
Herb.

"Herb, I can't accept this!"

"Why Ranma Saotome are you refusing the gift given to you by a king?"

"Herb, what would I do with an island?"

"12 islands actually, and they are actually ancestral grounds for me.
Since I have stepped up to power in China, I want you to have it."

"This is too much Herb. I don't deserve this." Ranma protested.

"No, Ranma, you deserve much more. If not for you I would have continued
on as a young brash king, who didn't know about the common people. I
would have thought myself absolutely invincible." Herb looked seriously
at Ranma.

"Ranma for four generations, my family has disgraced itself. When we
receive the blessing of the dragon, my ancestor became very greedy. He
became hated by many, but many could not stop him. Soon the kindness and
the gentleness my family was known for was no more. And for four
generations it continued, until me, the fifth generation. You came along
and humbled me. You took me to see the common people. You forced me to
live as one for a while. You opened my eyes to the world around me. You
saved my family from anymore shame. Now the people love me and the
protect me and obey me not out of fear, but out of respect and love. And
that night upon Phoenix mountain, when you put everything on line for
me, you are a true friend. These islands are nothing compared to what
you have given me and my family. I hope I can do more in the future. As
I said that night, my line will be forever in debt to the line of
Saotome. And I mean it." Ranma looked upon his friend, after several
moments of silence, Ranma held his hand out.

"Thank you Herb, I will honor your gift. You hold me too high, I did
what I had to do because it was right. Farewell my friend. Don't be a
stranger." Herb nodded, and took Ranma's hand and shook.


When the party ended the weary party returned home. As the limos pulled
up to the driveway, Ranma shook Akane and her sisters awake. So much had
happened this night that Ranma could not sleep. As he ushered everyone
inside, he said good night. Entering his house, he paced around. Walking
over to the solarium, he sat down. Gazing into the night, he pondered.
Tonight had been wonderful. He had gotten to see his good friend Herb,
his mother enjoyed herself, Ranko and Ryouga were together, he enjoyed
the night, but most importantly Akane enjoyed herself. But perhaps they
were getting too close. They were the best of friends and Ranma always
felt comfortable being around her, doing as he pleases. However, now he
felt as if after this whole charade was over, they would never be able
to go back to being good friends.

Something happened tonight, that he couldn't take back. And because of
it he was confused. Tonight he had kissed Akane, danced with her, and
looked at her, not with the feelings a friend should, but differently.
It simply made no sense. He couldn't describe it, it felt warm and
fuzzy. Smiling as he reminisces about the night, he gets up and moves to
the piano. Slowly he fingers out a slow and sweet tune. It flows with
laughter and happiness. As it continues it flows into a description of
state of confusion masked by happiness. Ranma's fingers glided across
the keys as he portrayed his happiness during his friendship with Akane.

The times they spent picnicing on the beach. All the times that he would
do something outrageous and embarrass Akane. The times when they would
lay next to each other and pour out their hearts. When they revealed
their secrets, pains, and hearts. The time when his grandmother died.
The funeral and his realization of his grandfather and grandmother's
marriage. The sham. The hate. The vow. With that the music stopped.

Looking to the stars, Ranma sighed.

"I fear that I may have destroyed one of the few good things in my
life."


The sound of a beautiful music enticed Akane from her slumber. Glancing
out her window, a wide smile appeared upon her face. With the sun high
and bright, pillowy clouds in the sky and the beautiful sparkles of the
sea. Opening the door to her small balcony, the wind whipped her
nightgown around her body. Taking in a deep breath, Akane felt happy to
be alive. Looking down towards the sea, she spotted Ranma standing thigh
deep in water.

The waves around him crashed into him, however Ranma remained as a
statue would. He moved his hands through a graceful kata of sorts. Akane
stared at the beauty of his motions they were so fluid, measured and
precise. More and more, she felt herself drawn to his movements and his
hands caressed the wind. Finally with both hands, Ranma seemed to pull
the water around him and draw back. Suddenly a huge wave appeared behind
him. Akane gasped in shock as she shouted a warning out towards him.
With his concentration broken by Akane's voice, the wave behind Ranma
dissipated and all the water crashed down on him. Worried, Akane rushed
down the stairs and out the door. Running out to the beach, she could
see Ranma staggering up and out of the water.

Spluttering, Ranma stood in knee high water wondering what had happened.
Looking up he heard his name called as he saw Akane running towards him.
Time seemed to stop as Ranma watched Akane's tone form run towards him.
He seemed mesmorized by her wonderfully tone thigh, the wind tossing her
hair about, and the sun shinning down on her lovely face. Quickly he
shook himself and reminded himself that last night he had vowed to not
fall in love with Akane. After the charade was over, he would have to
work very hard to ignore the incident. Then smiling wickedly he thought
of a way to get back at Akane for disrupting him.

"Ranma!" Akane called as he sloshed onto shore, once on land, he dropped
to the ground not moving. Sprinting to his location, she looked down at
his prone form.

'Oh my god! He's not breathing!' Akand thought, kneeling beside him, she
bent over to give him mouth to mouth. Placing her ear to his mouth, she
tilted his head back and listened for breathing.

"Gotcha." That was the only warning that Akane received, before she was
swept up and unceremoniously dumped into knee-high water. Spluttering,
she stood up to see a laughing Ranma pointing at her.

"Ooooooo. Ranma I was worried about you! You stupid Jerk!"

"Hahaha! You should've seen your face when you heard me speak!"

"I don't know why I bother!" Furiously she stomped towards Ranma. With a
flying tackle she took Ranma down and into the water. The two tossed and
turned in the water as they both laughed. Finally they both stopped and
dragged themselves onto the sand. Plopping down, they both laughed
breathlessly at each other.

"Oh man- I got you good!" Ranma gloated and got a spray of sand in his
face for it.

"You can be such a jerk sometimes! Now look at me! My nightgown is
ruined!"

"I'll buy you a new one, don't worry about it! Besides it isn't that
bad, I think it still looks nice on you." Ranma said with a grin "But
you know you could loose a bit more around the waist. You're getting
kinda chunky there." He finished with a few pokes at her side.

"Oh no! My dear fiance thinks I'm fat! What's a girl supposed to do?
Trapped to marry a man who thinks so little his future wife! Boohoo!"
Putting her wrist to her brow, Akane settled into a dramatic pose as the
two of them burst into laughter.

"My my, shouldn't we put some more clothes on before going out?" A voice
drawled behind them. Looking up Ranma and Akane saw the figure of Nabiki
towering over them.

"Why hello there Nabiki, would you like to join us? Akane and myself do
this all the time. It's quite relaxing and Akane can get quite naughty
at times. Not that I'm complaining, I love it when she grabs my n- oof!"

Ranma grunted as Akane elbowed him to keep quiet. He was totally lying
and embarrassing her.

"No thanks," Nabiki said as she felt a bit flush from looking down at
Ranma's beautifully built body and what he just said. "Your mother wants
to take Akane shopping for a wedding gown."

"Okay, tell her that I'll be right in." Akane replied. Nodding Nabiki
headed inside. Looking to her right, she saw Ranma was already getting
up. Holding out her hand, she motioned for Ranma to help her up.

Once standing, Ranma drew her in close. Leaning down to her ear, he
whispered softly.

"Akane, Kasumi and my mother are watching from the window."

"So?"

"I'm just saying that give me a quick kiss and head inside, remember
we've got to make this look real." Nodding, Akane tilted her head
towards Ranma's lips as their lips met. Ranma tried not to enjoy it, but
Akane just tasted so good. Breaking off the kiss he turned her around
and gave her a pat on the bottom.

"Go, mom doesn't like to wait forever."



Author notes:

hey guys, I have found much time to work on my fic lately, but I'm
getting back into it and soon two more parts of friends should be out as
well as the second part of Legends and a few more parts of Memories.
More stuff'll be coming within the next five week. And please send me
all the comments you can about Friends.

-Belphera

From ????@???? Fri, 5 Feb 1999 10:39:11