Schell Enterprises
                                 presents

                               The Rhapsody

     Sweat trickled down the back of Ranma's neck as the hot breeze blew
past, rustling the leaves overhead. He could hear children on the nearby
playground squealing with pleasure, the occasional cry coming louder than
the others. He carefully placed both hands behind his head, cupping his
damp nape in support. The leaves overhead were blowing, and he got caught
up in the beautiful patterns they were making, his eyes drooping sleepily
in the heat. He sighed softly, shrugging into a more comfortable position
on the grass, listening to the nearby chatter of his father and the
Tendos.

     {Kasumi was right this morning,} he thought, {it *IS* a beautiful day
to be outside.}

     Ranma's attention shifted slightly as he felt, more than saw, Akane
sit down next to him, her legs crossed Indian style. In his befuddled,
heated dream state, the shape of her fingers curved around the dewed glass
of juice caught his attention, dazzled with the sheer beauty of them. He
could see the callouses from her martial arts excersises, from holding a
pencil. Her nails were beautifully shaped, not short or chewed off but not
so long that they interfered with whatever she was doing. He thought idly
that it was strange, the things that could catch your attention on a day
like today, before drifting back into his semi-sleep.

     Akane looked down at Ranma, laying there in the sun. It was nice to
have picnics like this. He always seemed so calm when they were together
like this. A wry smile crossed her face... of course, it never stayed calm
and quiet like this for very long in Nerima... But...it was nice to see
Ranma just relax, to see the tension drain away from his shoulders. A
mischevious thought flickered through her mind as she saw the
vulnerability of his satin covered chest. It wouldn't take much if she
just reached out... like so...

     Ranma *jumped* as he felt someone lightly tickle his ribs. No one
would have guessed that he was so very ticklish with all of the fighting
that he seemed to end up doing, but with that one little touch on his
ribs, he would become hypersensitive to further tickle torture. He jerked
up, sapphire eyes wide as he realized that it was Akane. He could hear the
quiet giggle in her throat as she smiled a beautiful beam of sunshine
right at him.  His mind sort of fogged as he lifted one hand and put it
behind his head, smiling back fatuously, one hand supporting him as he had
turned onto his hip.

     Akane reached out again and brushed her fingers across his taut
stomach, delighting in hearing him laugh out loud like that: entrancing,
beautiful, full of happiness instead of the deprecating, caustic laughter
that seemed to come from him most of the time. So nice to see him with his
guard down. Unconsciously, one hand reached up to lightly touch his face,
fingers lightly tilting his chin up so that his face was level with her
own.

     Ranma looked up into Akane's hypnotic dark eyes, his own going wide
from the hundreds of thousands of thoughts flickering rapidly through his
mind. He could somehow see himself kissing her now, tasting the strawberry
of the juice on her mouth. It was irresistible as he leaned forward, eyes
half closing as he sought out her mouth.

     Akane's own thoughts were turbulent, running along the same lines,
her eyes capturing the shape of his mouth as he leaned towards her, the
exact shade of carmine, the soft lines. Her entire body seemed to tremble
in anticipation, the air seeming to shiver in her eyesight before she
closed them, leaning towards Ranma as he came closer.

     It was like electricity running down her spine, like the sweet taste
of amaretto and the explosion of fire afterwards, like the sound of a
thousand bells pealing out with joy. She could feel Ranma trembling
against her, his fingers shivering lightly against her own as the
nervousness and slight clumsiness faded, leaving only the golden warmth of
his mouth pressed tenderly to her lips, the remaining feeling of destiny
finally finding its fulfillment.

     They both drew back slowly, eyes still closed and opening only
reluctantly. Akane's breath seemed to catch in her throat as a strangled
whisper of appreciation found its way from inside of her. Ranma looked
bedazzled, as if something that he couldn't fully comprehend had just
rearranged his life with that one touch. Both cast surreptitious glances
around to see that no one had noticed the moment of tenderness that had
passed between them.

     Ranma, too dumbfounded to do otherwise, lay back down in the softness
of the green, green grass, his hands cupped behind his head now. He felt,
more than saw, Akane raise the glass to her lips again before settling it
down near him. He felt the weight of her head against the muscles of his
abdomen as she laid her head down against him. The stupefying heat of the
afternoon filled the air as they drifted down into the languor of
seductive half-sleep, two where before there was only one.

     ***************************************************************

     Hmm, just a thought. Ja ne!

rls (tzi@hotmail.com)