Thy Outward Part

By: joejoemagee

folder +M to R › Ranma �

Rating: Adult ++

Chapters: 7

Views: 14,353

Reviews: 13

Recommended: 1

Currently Reading: 2

Category: +M to R › Ranma �

Rating: Adult ++

Chapters: 7

Views: 14,353

Reviews: 13

Recommended: 1

Currently Reading: 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Building Bridges

Just a reminder, this story is not mine.

----------------------------------
WebDragon

Foreword by Richard Lawson :

After writing \"Thy Outward Part\" and digesting all of the interesting
discussions that arose as a result, I felt compelled to write a sequel.
In my mind, this sequel would come just at a point where Ranma and
Kentaro are about to add a sense of permancy to their relationship, when
things get shaken up. So I set the time for just before their
graduation, three years after \"Thy Outward Part\".

It was at this time that I got a letter from WebDragon, asking if *he*
could write a sequel. I told him that I already was, but that if he
wanted to write a sequel too, I wouldn\'t mind. We sent each other
copies of our stories, for C&C and to compare.

When he got my copy and saw the setting, he got an idea. His story was
set immediately after mine. His thought was that our stories could be a
kind of sequence: Thy Outward Part leads to Building Bridges, which
leads to The Nature of Love.

This sounded good to me. We each made minor changes to our stories to
accommodate the presence of the other. It flows together pretty well.

There has been a lot of praise sent my way on \"The Nature of Love\".
There\'s been quite a bit of criticism, too, most of it constructive,
most of it focusing on the ending. I would ask that you approach
\"Building Bridges\" with an open mind, and not let condemnation for \"The
Nature of Love\" color your perception of \"Building Bridges\".

Okay, enough. Back to you, WebDragon.
-------------
Thanks, Lawson, for letting me do this.

This sequel was done with the permission of Richard Lawson,
he who wrote the original Thy Outward Part. All credit pertaining
to HIS story, original and sequel, MUST be directed to him, not me.
However, C&C for THIS story is welcome and will be dealt with appropriately.

Ranma 1/2 is the copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and the Shogakukan goons, and
any others who might lay claim to Ranma 1/2. Don\'t sue me - I have no money
to pay. This takes place after \"Thy Outward Part\" and before \"The Nature of
Love\". Some semi-lemon at the end.

Building Bridges, by WebDragon

Ranma said little to Kentaro for weeks after their first kiss. The
only time ever she spoke in a sentence was during their afternoon
training sessions. But then she would only indicate of the number of
laps she wanted him to run, and nothing more beyond that.

She ran beside him this time, instead of balancing on his head
like before - another change in their relationship that Kentaro was
glad of. Of course, the kiss still stood out in his mind as the most
important part but it _was_ nice not to have people staring at him
while he worked out.

Kentaro looked over at Ranma, who was running lightly beside
him, her ponytail bouncing on her back. Her endurance never failed
to amaze him. At the end of twenty laps he would be tired, to say
the least, but she would keep on running. It was that, more than
anything else, that made him want to push the limits of his endurance,
to keep up with Ranma. Ranma saw him looking at her and she
smiled - this time setting a murderous pace, leaving him in her dust.

He wanted to call out to Ranma, to ask her to slow down, but
he stifled the thought almost as soon as it had appeared. He couldn\'t!
But he must, if he wanted to be with her. Gritting his teeth, setting
his mind Ranma\'s moving form and ignoring his body\'s screams of
pain, he infused his being with confidence - confidence that he could
overcome any obstacle, and he sped after Ranma. Ranma didn\'t look
back, still running.

Kentaro\'s breath came in tortured gasps and his legs were
starting to feel like hot lead - but he didn\'t give up. He wouldn\'t
give up. The distance between him and Ranma decreased little by
little. Nothing else mattered but Ranma, who looked for the world as
if she was out on a stroll, so casually did she keep her punishing pace
on the track. It took Kentaro an eternity of seemingly-endless
suffering to catch up beside Ranma.

Ranma looked over at him, and she began to smile but the smile
changed to a shocked expression. She halted in her tracks, but
Kentaro kept on running. He must keep up with her...he must, or
she wouldn\'t think much of him....he... Kentaro suddenly realized
that Ranma wasn\'t beside him. He slowed to a halt and fell to his
knees, gasping for breath, his legs on fire. Ranma ran up to Kentaro
and knelt beside him, concern written all over her face.

\"Kentaro! There was no need to push yourself like that, man!
You didn\'t have to try and keep up with me, you know! Jeez, your
face. It looks red enough to pass for a tomato!\"

\"Ran....ma...*gasp*....couldn\'t fall behind...*hahh*
*hahh*....must keep up...with you....\", wheezed Kentaro, sweat
dripping from his face.
* * *
Ranma sat back on her haunches, eyeing Kentaro speculatively.
That idiot! Dedication to the art is one thing, but going too far is
another. She remembered, vividly, how her father had put her in a
pit of hungry cats - wrapped in fish sausage, and she shuddered
involuntarily. She had learnt a powerful technique but at the cost of a
part of her sanity. For her, it was too much to pay. Kentaro\'s face
returned to a semblance of normality and Ranma heaved a sigh of
relief. If he had pushed himself any further he would have given
himself a stroke, or something. He peered up at her.

\"Hey, you actually spoke today, Ranma.\"

She started at his comment. It was true. She had been avoiding
him for the past three weeks, except for their afternoon runs and
conditioning sessions, and hardly more than three or four words
passed between them each day. Her hand stole to her lips and she
felt them briefly, feeling the sensation of her kissing Kentaro, and
reliving the experience again. She found that she didn\'t really mind
the kiss....until she gave it more thought.

She had let a guy kiss her! It was nothing like what Mikado
Sanzenin had done to her. Mikado _forced_ himself on her. But this
time, _she_ had let Kentaro touch his lips to hers, and had let him
give her a kiss, gentle as the touch of a falling cherry blossom petal.
She took in a breath and let it out, slowly.

\"I needed some time to think, Kentaro. I didn\'t mean to be so
quiet. Sorry.\" If only he knew how much she had gone through
after she had stormed out of his room that night.

She thought back to what he had said to her, that night. His
words had struck her to the heart, and all her discipline as a martial
artist had flown out the window at that moment. She remembered,
vividly, how she had grabbed him by the shirt, and how she had
almost buried her fist in his face.

Then she recalled how Kentaro had closed his eyes in
acceptance of his punishment. It was an image she couldn\'t get out
of her mind for weeks after, haunting her waking and sleeping hours.

She had tried to justify her anger to herself. Kentaro was being
heartless and perverted, she had told herself. was about to give him>, she had said to herself over and over again.
Now she knew that there was no excuse for her losing control like
that. She had been about to strike a friend, to seriously hurt him, for
saying what she herself was beginning to feel was true, but refused to
admit it to herself.

It took her an emotionally painful journey to convince herself to
try what Kentaro had suggested. When she returned to the college,
the first place she went to was the track. At dawn. Wearing a white
sundress. She didn\'t know then, and she didn\'t know now, why in
the world she wore a dress....but....Yes, that\'s it. A whim. Nothing more>, she thought to herself.

\"Oh, that\'s okay, Ranma. Just hearing you speak in a complete
sentence is apology enough.\" He smiled at her.

Again he made his feelings for her as clear as crystal. He did
like her. And she....she didn\'t know about her feelings for him.
Yet.

\"Remember, I said I would make no promises, Kentaro\", she
said with a serious expression on her face, trying to impress the
gravity of her statement upon him.

\"I know, Ranma. But I can hope, can\'t I? I gladly get up in
the morning, at this ungodly hour, to be with you....surely you can
take that into consideration....?\"

Ranma changed her earlier assumption. He wasn\'t dedicated to
the Art. He was dedicated to her. Inwardly she seethed with barely
controlled anger. He was letting his hormones get the better of him!
The Art was nothing more than a means to get her! Kentaro was
taking her training and twisting it to his own ends. He was thinking
with his......

Her rage subsided when she looked again at him. He started a
bit, and smiled sheepishly at his jumpiness. He made no pretence of
his feelings for her, and he was honest. And insightful. It flattered
her, somewhat, to be the centre of attention in someone\'s life....but
the fact that Kentaro was a guy dampened _that_ thought. She
wondered if this is how Ryoga felt when he had snagged her with the
Koi Fishing Rod. was not right.> She knew that she did like him, but what....?

That sense of a difference between her situation and Ryoga\'s
always escaped her, eluding her attempts to nail it down and examine
it. It played about the fringes of her consciousness, but when she
looked for it, it was gone. It surfaced irregularly, and she could
never see it. It frustrated her. That *something* about this
relationship told her that this was not how Ryoga felt at that time.

And speaking of feelings, it looked as if it may be time to teach
Kentaro the rudiments of the Art, to help divert his...energy...away
from herself. She stood up and waited for Kentaro to get up.
* * *
Kentaro rose painfully to his feet and stood beside Ranma. For
a moment she had looked angry, then a brief flash of sadness, then it
had went to a pensive, thoughtful look, and then it had turned into
understanding. He wondered what she was thinking.

Ranma set her legs apart at shoulder length, back straight, fists
clenched at her sides.

\"Kentaro. Remember what I said about teaching you to punch?\"

\"Yeah. You\'re teaching me now?\"

\"HAAIIIYAH!\", she cried, shooting out her right fist,
concentration furrowing her brows. She relaxed her stance and
looked at Kentaro, a serious expression on her face, and said,
\"Remember that stance. Learn how I punched. I\'ll see you in the
gym tomorrow, same time, and we\'ll start to learn the basics of the
Art. See you later, Kentaro.\" With that, she took a running leap and
soared high into the air, at least twenty feet or so, and she
disappeared in short order.

Kentaro stood there, looking after her. Maybe there was
something to her story about magical buckets, schizo-physical curses
and wrinkled old mummies that either pogoed about on sticks, with
no apparent means of support save for balance, or conducted thefts of
female underwear and threw ridiculously huge fuse-bombs. Certainly
the last time he had seen someone leap THAT high was during the
last televised showing of the Olympics - and the guy had used a pole
to help him. Ranma didn\'t use anything except her leg power.

He aped Ranma\'s stance, and punched until his arms and his
back grew tired. She made it seem so easy but it really wasn\'t. He
had to keep his back straight, knees slightly bent, feet shoulder length
apart. Then he had to twist his body, like a corkscrew, and snap his
fist out at the last moment - so as to gain the maximum power for a
punch.

But sheer determination, born of his desire not to fail Ranma,
kept him punching past the point of pain. He transcended pain and
felt a not unpleasant stirring in his soul, and that something guided his
punches and almost made his punching motions second nature.

Kentaro couldn\'t have known it but he had touched the Art, and
he had started to scratch the surface of this untapped source of power.
He lost himself in the steady but strangely meaningful rhythm of the
punches - until a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Startled, he whirled around - to see Komatsu standing there,
books in hand.

\"Hey, Kentaro! I see you\'re still as dedicated as ever to that
Ranma chick. Heh.\"

\"Dedicated? What do you mean?\"

Komatsu ignored Kentaro\'s question, and leaned closer, and
asked in a confiding tone, \"So, \'Taro, how far have you gotten with
her?\" He slapped Kentaro on the back and waited for Kentaro to
respond.

\"Come on. She\'s not like that. She doesn\'t just jump into your
arms like ANY girl, you know. She\'s got more pride and dignity
than that.\"

\"Don\'t tell me you two haven\'t....\" Komatsu put the tips of his
index fingers together.

\"What\'s it to you? Why do you want to know?\" His tone grew
slightly angry, and Komatsu picked up on it.

\"Hey, hey. Take it EASY, man. No need to bite my head off
for that! If you don\'t wanna talk, then just say so.\"

Kentaro sighed. Komatsu wouldn\'t take silence for an answer.
He\'d only come back every day to ask him that same question again
and again. He had to tell him something or he\'d be pestered
perpetually.

\"Komatsu. Pal. If I tell you this, you must promise to keep it
to yourself, alright?\"

\"Sure, man. I swear I won\'t say a word.\" Komatsu made a
zipping motion across his mouth, eyes twinkling with seriousness and
amusement mixed together.

\"Are you sure? Because it is important.\"

\"I SWEAR. I promise. Now, tell me.\"

\"We....we..umm.....\"

\"Go on. Don\'t be shy, you\'ve come this far!\"

\"We\'ve..we\'ve....kissed. Once.\"

\"What?! That is important?! Heck, I kiss and pet my girlfriend
every day, and she does the same. A measly kiss is nothing, man.
What I\'m talking about is the.....\"

\"Komatsu.\"

\"Hey, what? A kiss is piddly-nuts compared to what you
can....\"

\"KOMATSU. She\'s not that kind of girl, okay?\" The tone of
Kentaro\'s voice left no doubts as to how he felt about Ranma, and
Komatsu obligingly shut up.

It was true, it was important, but it was all a matter of
perspective. One kiss with other girls might not mean as much, but a
single kiss with Ranma meant more than all the kisses in the world to
him. To get that kiss out of her had been quite an experience, but it
was worth the wait and effort. There was something about Ranma
that was special. In a strange sort of way. He could see it in the
way she moved and in the way she spoke; she was different,
somehow.

\"Hey, Kentaro. We have a test tomorrow. We\'ll study like
crazed fools tonight, okay? Put your thoughts of Ranma away.
There\'s a test to pass.\"

With that, and a nod from Kentaro signalling assent, Komatsu
left the track to go to classes. Then, after Komatsu had disappeared
from sight, he made his way to the other end of the track, to the door
in the chainlink fence. Every step of the way was torture, but he
forced himself to move. How he wished to be able to jump like
Ranma did!

As he plodded laboriously to the exit, he thought back to how
Ranma looked, and sounded, when she went to check on him. No
mistake. She _was_ concerned for him, and the tone of her voice left
no doubts in his mind that she did care for him. Then she got angry
over...something, but it had quickly turned to thoughtfulness and
understanding. She was like a kettle of hot water - concealing
turbulent emotions beneath a hard exterior, but when those feelings
reached the boiling point....

He was halfway to the entrance now, his legs feeling no better
than before. When she had apologized for not saying much to him,
she looked....sad? But over what? It was more than a fleeting
glimpse of her real self, but less than a complete baring of her soul.
In that moment, when he caught that look of self-pity and anguish, it
was as if a door had opened in his mind, beckoning him to go
through and talk to her, and comfort her. But the door closed just as
quickly and he was shut without, robbed of a chance to know her
problems better. Ranma seemed much sadder than she was before
she had stalked out of his room that night. And now, it seemed to be
eating her from the inside out.

Kentaro resolved to get to the root of her problems the moment
he saw the chance to do so. He opened the door in the chainlink
fence, stepped through, and shut it behind him.
- - - - - -
After classes and meetings with his clubs, he went to his room
and fell on the bed, exhausted. dead>, he thought. The books in his hands fell to the floor with a
clatter and Kentaro stared at the ceiling, seeing Ranma\'s face appear -
with that indescribably sad look on it. He sat up on his bed and
wondered what Ranma was so unhappy about.

Then he made his decision, for better or for worse. Again,
ignoring the protests from his body, he stood up and opened the first
drawer in his desk. He took a piece of paper out and read it,
carefully. Then he wrote a short note to Komatsu, apologizing in
advance for not being present to act as his study partner, and he left
his room, shutting the door on the way out and taping the note to the
door.
- - -
Fifteen minutes later, he stood in front of the door to room 121.
It would have been a nondescript door, devoid of any nametag or
decoration, but for the obscene words written in white chalk on it, the
word \"Lesbian\" written in the biggest letters of all. His hair stood on
end when he read that, but nor from surprise or fear - from rage.
There were some parts where an attempt had been made to rub the
words out, but there were more words than erasures. Evidently the
owner was not well-liked by some people and judging from the large
amounts of vulgar words, the owner had just about given up trying to
keep the door free of graffiti.

He clenched his fists and snarled in anger, the sound echoing
down the empty hallway. How _dare_ they?! He lifted a hand to
knock on the door but he paused. Then he spat on the palm of his
right hand and started to wipe the words off of the door. He had just
finished rubbing out the biggest word, \"Lesbian\", when the door
abruptly flew open and a slim hand snaked out, latched onto his shirt
and pulled him roughly into the room.

He was thrown, like a rag doll, face-first onto the hard floor and
he heard the door slam shut and a girl yelling at him. Kentaro didn\'t
hear a word of it because, right now, all his world consisted of a
merciless concrete floor and pain. Luckily he recovered fast and
turned around to face an angry girl.

\"ou..bastard!! Don\'t you guys know when to give.....up? K-
Kentaro...? What the...?\"

\"Nice way to welcome your guests, Ranma. Next time, remind
me to wear some armor, okay?\" Kentaro slowly and painfully got
himself back to a sitting position. Looks nice on her...>, he thought as he gazed at her, his pain
forgotten as he admired the star-shaped designs on her red-colored
clothes, the ones with a pink swirl in the middle of each of them.
Who would have known the crossections of a ramen fishcake would
look so....tasty, when used as decoration on her pyjamas? Her hair
wasn\'t bound up into a ponytail and it flowed down her back.

\"What were you doing to my door? I heard a sound and I....\"
She trailed off, opened the door and looked at the surface, right hand
resting on her doorknob. \"You were rubbing the words off....\"

\"Yeah. I just couldn\'t stand to see those words. They made me
angry.\"

\"Thanks, but I can take care of it myself. There is no need to
defend me, Kentaro.\"

\"What\'s this...\", he gestured to the door, \"...all about
anyways?\"

Ranma\'s eyes flared with fury and her hand - so tiny and
delicate! - crumpled the metal doorknob like paper. She favored him
with a glare and Kentaro took a step back, despite knowing,
somehow, that she wouldn\'t hit him in anger. Then she tore her gaze
from him and looked at the graffiti on the door, her face still
indescribably angry.

She seemed to be more angry at something or someone else than
at him, from the way she refused to look at him, and from the way
her eyes seemed to glare off into the distance, seeing things that he
couldn\'t. He started to wonder if he had pushed Ranma too far
when that look left her eyes and was replaced by irritation. She
turned back to Kentaro, and he was relieved to see that her anger had
dissipated.

Like a boiling kettle of water, he mused to himself. Ranma
keeps all of her anger inside of her, but when the strain of keeping it
inside is too much to bear she lets some of it out - just enough to ease
the strain, but then it starts all over again, like some vicious cycle. It
would have burned itself out over time but this particular kettle
seemed to replenish itself from some hidden reserve of self-loathing,
fury, and regret.

\"Uhh...I\'ll go get a towel, or something, to clean the door up,
okay?\", he said to her. She shook her head and faced the door, one
hand resting lightly on the wooden surface.

\"No, I\'ll do it myself. After all, it\'s my problem. And sorry
for throwing you like that.\" She started to wipe the door with her
hand, a laborious task at best.

\"Now. If you\'ve calmed down. Why would someone, or a
bunch of people, write stuff on your door?\", he asked in as calm a
voice as possible.

\"None of your business. Besides, it\'s not your problem.\" Her
tone left no doubt as to how she\'d like to leave this thread of
conversation. \"How did you find my room?\"

\"I asked around, Ranma.\"

\"Well...I guess any fool can do that. What I really want to
know is, why?\"

\"Well...um. I don\'t know how to say this. I hope you don\'t
get offended or anything like that....you know. It\'s just...just...I
wanted to ask you this question ever since you came back but....\"

Ranma held up a hand to still any further words from him. She
looked at him for a long moment, as if trying to decide what to do.
She finished off the cleaning and shut the door. Then she walked
over to a calendar, picked up an eraser and wiped a day, Wednesday,
in the week after this week on the calendar, clean of writing. She
grabbed a marker, popped the cap and put the tip of the marker on
the empty spot on the calendar. She stood there for a while, marker
trembling slightly. Then, carefully and meticulously, she wrote the
word \"date\" in that spot. Without bothering to cap the marker, she
tossed it onto her desk and turned to Kentaro.

\"I-In two weeks? Wednesday? You come here, after training,
and...\", she took in a steadying breath, \"...and we go out downtown
on a date. Okay? Just to see how it\'s like...this time around.\" It
seemed like she had needed a supreme effort just to get those words
out because she was shaking slightly. He caught a faint trace of fear
on her face before she took control of herself and stopped her
shivering.

\"D-Date?! But....\" Kentaro started to explain that that was not
what he had come here for but Ranma cut him off with a wave of her
hand. gone on dates before? With whom?> These questions, and more,
swirled around in his head and the bite of jealousy tugged at his
heart, and threatened to rip it asunder, but he kept his silence and
waited for Ranma to speak. She paced the room restlessly with her
hands behind her, taking care not to look at him.

\"I\'m gonna wear something that is not a dress. Anything but a
dress, or a skirt. And remember what I said about promises. And
keep your hands to yourself.\" She had a frowning expression on her
face and she started to open her closet, as if to see what clothing she
could wear, but she seemed to remember something and her hand
shot behind her back again.

\"Uhh, Ranma?\"

\"Yeah?\" She stopped her pacing and looked at him, a slight
tinge of red coloring her cheeks and matching her pyjamas.

\"I..I\'m not here to ask you on a date.\"

\"YOU WHAT?!\", she snarled as she seemed to tower over him,
despite the fact that she is considerably shorter than him. Face
burning a bright crimson in embarrassment, she stomped over to the
calendar and grabbed her eraser.

\"No! Don\'t erase it!!\", pleaded Kentaro. Oh, the chance of a
lifetime, about to be erased with a swipe of the eraser!!

\"Why not?! You\'re not here for a date, am I right?!\" Her hand
was poised to strike the word `date\' off the calendar, trembling
slightly. She glared at him over her shoulder with narrowed eyes,
waiting for him to reply.

\"Actually, I\'m here to....to ask you what was bothering you. I
know you\'re still upset over something, and it has to do with the time
after you left my room. I just thought you\'d like to talk about it,
that\'s all.\"
* * *
Ranma let the eraser fall from her nerveless fingers. Kentaro
never failed to amaze her with his powers of observation. He seemed
to make it a hobby of his to attune himself to her feelings. Now that
she thought about it, it had been gnawing away within her, making
her act like that bastard Ryoga for the past two weeks.

There was a time in her life when depression had hardly ever
sunk its claws so deep into her. But that was a long time ago. Her
previous life, it seemed to have been as long as a moment in time, is
irretrievable. It shamed her to have Kentaro tell her what she had
refused to admit to herself. She didn\'t even want to think about it,
but seeing that Kentaro wouldn\'t leave her room until he has gotten
some answers from her....

She could throw him out by force, but she didn\'t want to.
Kentaro did not deserve the same sort of treatment she reserved for
those she despised.

She turned about, mechanically walked to her bed and fell on it
with a dull thump, lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, and
remembering. Kentaro seated himself on the bed, close to Ranma\'s
head. She heaved a sigh.

\"I guess that if I keep it bottled inside of me, I\'ll never get over
it. Okay. I\'ll tell you. But you must promise not to interrupt me at
all, until I\'ve finished. I know some things may be hard to
believe......\", she said in a serious voice.

\"I\'m starting to doubt myself, Ranma. I mean, you cleared a
twenty foot fence in one jump, today.\"

\"That\'s nothing. You should see the stuff I can really do,
Kentaro, but that\'s beside the point. The thing is.....you listen while
I speak. Got that?\"

Kentaro nodded his head and Ranma sat up on the bed and put
her hands on her knees.

\"Kentaro, remember when...I left your room? Before the
summer break?\"
* * *
\"How could I not?\" Kentaro could still vividly recall that
moment of furious confrontation, and that look in Ranma\'s eyes was
almost too terrible to remember - but he forced himself to remember
as he turned his head away from Ranma.

Those eyes, like those of an angry dragoness, had transfixed
him to the core of his being and promised doom. He didn\'t know
where he had gotten the strength to keep throwing those painful
words at Ranma, perhaps it was stupidity, but his mouth had seemed
to have a mind of its own. Then Ranma had grabbed him by his shirt
front and he had shut his eyes, so that he wouldn\'t have to see the fist
that would send him into the dark world of unconsciousness.

When the blow never landed, he had opened his eyes - to see
Ranma looking at him with a strange expression on her face. She had
let him go and stomped out of his room - and he didn\'t see her for
the entire summer break. go?>

Kentaro looked back at Ranma.
* * *
Ranma could see the questioning look in his face.

\"I went back to Nerima Ward, my old district. More to the
point, I went back to....\"

\"The Tendo Dojo\", he interjected suddenly.

Somehow, Ranma wasn\'t surprised that he had guessed her
destination. It was reassuring to see how much Kentaro remembered
of her background story. He accepted all of her stories with a look
of understanding, and patience. But she could still tell that he didn\'t
really believe what she had told him of her previous life. She took a
deep breath to steady herself. Then she launched into her story, the
latest recounting of her past life - but one of the most painful.

\"Where will I begin....ah, yes. I...
* * *
Ranma hopped off the train\'s top and onto the landing of
Nerima\'s train station, a white duffel bag slung across her shoulders.
She had taken the scenic route, getting off at every stop and staying
there for as long as she could, at least until she got tired of washing
dishes and serving customers so that she could pay her way in the
ryokans.

Anything but think of the Dojo. And Akane. But now, reality
has caught up on her and she is forced to confront the object of her
fears, one of the reasons she had left the college so suddenly, among
other...considerations. Again Kentaro\'s face insinuated itself into her
daydreams and again she grabbed the image and stuffed it back into
the recesses of her mind. , she thought to
herself.

Ranma dodged and weaved through the crowd of people at the
train station and stepped out onto the streets of Nerima. She basked
in the throng of people walking, shopping, playing, eating and talking
in the streets, in restaurants and in shops. *This* felt like home, for
sure.

, she thought as she
immersed herself into the ambiance of Nerima Ward. The same fruit-
vendor still sold his goods at the street corner, and she waved to him.
He waved back and motioned her to come over. She came up to him
and he tossed her a plum.

\"Hey, I haven\'t seen you in a while! How are you doing?
How\'s school?\", he greeted her enthusiastically.

\"Fine. I\'m doing great.\" She took a bite of the plum. The
skin was bitter and stung her mouth, but the interior was as sweet as
liquid sugar. Normally she would have gagged over something as
sweet tasting as this, but the plum\'s skin made it slightly bittersweet.

\"Why are you back? Here to visit?\" He arranged his wares.

\"No. I...needed a, umm, break from school. A long break.\"
Kentaro\'s face flashed through her mind, again, and she shuddered.
To think he had told her to accept her fate. Like hell she would. No
way she is going to become a girl just like that, especially not for
him. Then she thought back to what Akane had said about having a
boyfriend.....and her eyes narrowed. She was going to find out who
that guy was, even if it costs her life to know.

\"Ahh. I wish I could go to school, you know? Learn more
about things other than selling fruit on some street corner. Get an
education. And maybe meet a girl whom I\'d like to be my wife. But
selling fruit is all I know and it doesn\'t pay enough to get me to
college.\" The man shook his head sadly. A lady came up, picked
out three oranges and paid him. He thanked her sincerely and
pocketed the money.

Which reminded Ranma. She dug into her pockets, searching
for a 50 yen piece, but the man held up a hand.

\"It\'s free, girl. On me. Think of this as a welcoming gift.\"

She flinched when he said the word `girl\', but she forgave him,
inwardly. He didn\'t know about the curse.

Then it occurred to her that she didn\'t even know his name.

She was always so used to buying fruit from him, on a regular
basis, that names were not needed for a friendship to grow between
him and her. And it was a friendship that she liked, taking into
account the likely permanency of her current gender. He liked her,
and she liked him, but not in the relationship sense. His eyes would
always seek her face, not her body, and his smiles told of genuine
friendship. His words were honest and straightforward. And he was
insightful. He never failed to comment on her mood, or suggest a
solution to her problems.

He was so unlike the boys in her old class in Furinkan High.
Not a day would go by, at that time, without her getting the feeling
that she was being ogled by some guy. Hiroshi and Daisuke, to their
credit, tried their hardest to treat her as if she had never changed -
but the call of their hormones addled their brains. There was a time
she had caught the both of them sneaking peeks at her body. She
stopped associating too often with the both of them, a move that she
couldn\'t help but regret doing. Hiroshi and Daisuke understood, of
course, but that still didn\'t change her problems.

She opened her mouth to ask him his name but again he held up
a hand. He nodded at Ranma, somehow already knowing what she
was going to ask for. He smiled.

\"We didn\'t need names then. We don\'t need them now. Names
are who we are supposed to be. We assume that identity each day we
wake, and that defines who we are. We have to act as our name
dictates. We have to strive to live up to what our names mean, and
represent. We are constrained to act as our name tells us to act.
Anything connected to your name like promises and burdens only
hold you down.\"

He fiddled with an orange, then he began to peel it. \"I like to
think that to be nameless is to be free of these obligations. If I know
your name and you know mine, our friendship becomes fettered in
some inexplicable way. I have to treat you as your name dictates, not
as my heart and soul tells me to, and you have to do the same to me.
You\'re my friend, and I\'m sure you think the same way too. What
else matters?\"

Ranma smiled back, not quite understanding. The man just
shook his head.

\"Don\'t worry, you will. One day, you will\", he said to her.

With that, the man threw her another plum. She waved
goodbye to the fruit-vendor as she made her way down the street and
he waved back. Then Ranma followed the road until it came to an
end - with a familiar fence running parallel to the river below.
Ranma hopped onto the fence and began her journey home, to the
Tendo Dojo.

She was about halfway home when a figure stepped out from
behind a building. The person started to walk towards Ranma, with
purpose. Ranma stood on the fence and waited, a dozen things
buzzing through her mind.

Ryoga stopped five feet from Ranma. He looked different than
Ranma remembered him. He had no backpack and he only carried
his umbrella. His arms looked bigger and more corded with muscle,
and his bearing was more confident. His hair was longer too, and he
wasn\'t wearing his bandanna. He had a slightly unhappy expression
but his eyes twinkled, as if he had a secret he wished to share with
her, but withholding it for reasons of his own.

\"Ryoga. Haven\'t seen you in a while, man.\"

\"Same here Ranma. Why are you back?\", asked Ryoga with
narrowed eyes, his entire posture suggesting violence.

\"I\'m only here for a visit. To get away from school and to find
out who the hell is......I mean, to see Akane. See how she\'s doin\'
and all that.\" Ranma tried to make her voice as casual as possible but
she failed. The imaginary presence of Akane\'s boyfriend angered
her. How dare he date with her fiancee?!

Ryoga\'s face was now expressionless and he stared silently at
Ranma. The two didn\'t say a word for many long minutes, and
Ryoga\'s eyes bored deep into her. Why is he so aggressive all of the sudden?>, she thought.

\"I suppose things are different now. You\'re a girl now. All the
better for me, then. So come on, let\'s go to the Tendo Dojo.\"

\"WHAT? Why are things different now? What the heck did
you mean by `I\'m a girl now\'? What\'s all the better for you?\"

\"You\'ll see, Ranma.\"

\"No. I want to know NOW. What about what you said?\"

Ryoga turned his back on her.

\"Things are so much more different around here without you,
Ranma. And not only that. Now that you\'re a girl, people have a
different view of you.\"

\"Yeah, and...?\"

\"For instance. Shampoo hasn\'t been around the Tendo Dojo for
a while. I think it\'s due to Cologne telling her that there was no cure
for you but the kasuifuu. Ukyo had visited on a regular basis, twice
a week or so, for the past year and a half to see if you had come
back. Then her business began to boom and since then she had
hardly come to the dojo, saying that if she gave up her business then
there would be no future for you and her - *if* you got cured and
came back, that is.\"

\"U-Ucchan? She...? No...!\" Ranma\'s mood took a downward
plunge. Her childhood friend! Gone! Like the wind between your
fingers...Ranma gathered all her courage and asked, \"And Akane?
What about her?\" is...!>, she thought.

\"Akane. I don\'t know, Ranma. It\'s kinda hard to say anything
about her.\"

\"Ryoga! Tell me!\"

\"Who has she to turn to now that you\'re not there for her,
Ranma? We both know that she really did love you and, well, I
know you also loved her. But how could you just leave Akane like
that? Don\'t you know how terrible it is for me, as P-Chan, to watch
her cry? When she came home after going to that college of yours,
she grabbed me, as P-Chan, ran to her room and cried her eyes out,
saying your name over and over again, hugging me like never
before.\"

Ryoga turned back and Ranma could see tears in his eyes.
\"How could you, Ranma? Why did you?!\"

\"How, and why, did I do what?\", asked Ranma.

Ryoga suddenly stabbed the fence with his umbrella. It
exploded outward in a blast of metal links and steel supports, not
unlike the effects of the Bakusai Tenketsu. Ranma, unprepared for
the sudden and unexpected attack, fell from the fence and crashed
into the water below. She broke the surface and shook the water
from her eyes and hair. Then she glared up at Ryoga, who was
squatting on the edge of the sidewalk and looking down at her.

\"Why the hell did you do that?!\" that?>, she asked herself.

Ryoga ignored that question. \"Ranma, you ran away and left
Akane alone. Let me get straight to the point, because I know that
you\'re dying to know. Who did you think Akane turned to after you
left, Ranma?\"

\"Who?! TELL ME, RYOGA!!\" Ranma had her fists clenched
so hard that her knuckles were white.

Ryoga stood up. And he folded his arms over his chest.
Ranma was bewildered.

Why won\'t Ryoga tell her? Ryoga\'s face now had a slightly
smug expression on it. Then all the little details and hints suddenly
clicked in. The slight differences in Ryoga\'s appearance. The
absence of his backpack and his bandanna. The way he carried
himself. Suddenly, it all made sense. Ryoga\'s words resounded in
her mind over and over again.

Who did you think Akane turned to? Who?

Who else?!

Ranma let out an incoherent yell and leapt out of the river.
Ryoga didn\'t even blink. Ranma grabbed Ryoga\'s shirt and she gave
Ryoga the hardest punch she could throw. His head snapped back
from the force of the impact, and he grunted in pain. Then Ranma
pulled her fist back for another strike but Ryoga grabbed her wrist
and immobilized it.

\"RYOGA!! YOU - BASTARD! I\'M GONNA KILL YOU!!\"

\"You\'re not the Ranma I know!\" Ryoga said in a mocking
tone.

She slowly unclenched her fist and wrenched it from Ryoga\'s
grasp, no easy feat.

She stared up into his eyes and he stared right back, giving no
ground nor quarter.

Then she released him with a careless flick of her fingers, a
tired and confused expression on her face. How could Akane? How
could she? She didn\'t even tell her who it was...she had to find it out
herself, the hard way.

\"The Ranma I knew would not have struck anyone in anger.\"

\"I\'ll have you know that I almost hit Kentaro in anger, but I
held myself back! I haven\'t changed at all, you jerk!!\", she retorted
hotly.

[END OF 1]
[BEGGINING OF 2]

\"Kentaro? Who\'s....Kentaro?\" Ryoga leaned forward in
interest.

\"He\'s the guy that I\'m.....I\'m training. In the Art.\"

Ryoga didn\'t miss the slight stammer in Ranma\'s voice. He
didn\'t miss the sudden flare of scarlet on her cheeks or the way she
started to wring her fingers together.

\"So this Kentaro guy is...your student? Don\'t make me laugh,
Ranma. You\'ve hitched up with a guy, haven\'t you? You know,
Ranma, that\'s sick. And the guy must be just as sick as you. You
run away from Akane and...\"

\"SHUT UP, YOU!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I\'VE
GONE THROUGH?!? AND DON\'T YOU SAY THOSE THINGS ABOUT KENTARO!!
HE\'S......!\" Ranma turned away from Ryoga and stood there, shaking with rage.

\"He\'s your boyfriend?\"

\"NO! He\'s just a friend, that\'s all! Don\'t you dare jump to
conclusions!!\"

\"How can I not, Ranma?! YOU ran away from Akane. YOU\'VE hurt her
badly. YOU and YOUR curse is the source of her pain, Ranma!!\"

Ranma turned around but Ryoga wasn\'t there anymore.

\"One more thing. The Ranma I knew wouldn\'t have run away
from Akane. See you later.....Ranko. Ha ha ha ha.....\"

Ryoga\'s voice seemed to come from somewhere in front of her
but she couldn\'t see where he went, nor figure out where the voice
was coming from. Ethics be damned! She wanted to beat the crap
out of Ryoga RIGHT NOW. But Ryoga wasn\'t there. Only the sigh
of the wind and the rustle of leaves filled the silence.

\"ARRRGHHHH!!!!!\", Ranma screamed and she whirled on a
nearby wall. With heedless punches, she drove her fists through the
stone with an almost staccato rhythm, reducing the wall to rubble in a
matter of seconds.

Then she fell to her knees and pounded her hands through the
concrete sidewalk.

\"DAMN THAT RYOGA!!! DAMN HIM!!\"

She started to cry.

\"And....damn...Akane...too...\", she whispered softly, painfully,
in between her sobs.
- - - - - -
It wasn\'t until evening had come around when Ranma finally
pulled enough of herself together to get up from the remains of the
broken wall. She started to stumble towards the Tendo Dojo, which
was just down the street.

In a while, her heart beating rapidly, she opened the door and
stepped inside.

The house was full of lights and even from the stone steps she
could hear the laughter and merriment coming from inside the house.
She saw many shoes on the porch. something....>

Ranma stepped onto the wooden porch and reached her hand out
to open the door. It felt strange indeed, to try and enter a house that
didn\'t feel like home anymore. It *was* her home, more so than her
real home, but somehow she didn\'t feel like it was anything more
than a house, anymore. Her hand stopped a few inches from the
handle, and trembled slightly.

What would they say? What would they think? She had
stormed out of the house with little more than this same duffel bag
across her back. Kasumi had been thoughtful enough to send money
and other personal belongings to the college but the fact of the matter
still hasn\'t changed. Curse her father! Curse him and his fatherly
pride!

With gritted teeth, her heart in her throat, she slowly slid the
door backwards and stepped inside. Then she remembered to remove
her shoes and place them by the door. Then she followed the noise
until she reached the dining room, where the celebration was being
held.

\"Happy birthday to you....happy birthday, dear Nabiki....!
Happy birthday to YOU!!\"

Ranma stood in the hallway and mused to herself. is twenty-one now. My, how time flies.> Ranma was about to go
in when she heard Akane\'s voice. She stopped dead in her tracks.

\"Happy birthday, Nabiki!!!

\"Thank you, Akane! I\'m so happy that I\'m 21!! Now I\'m
really an adult....and I know just WHAT I\'m going to do with my
new status....!\"

, Ranma thought as she
edged closer to the entrance.

\"Say, Akane. Why didn\'t you call Ranma back from the college
to celebrate with us?\"

Ranma froze, her heart pounding against her chest, breathless
and anticipating. What would Akane say?

\"Akane? Hey.....hey, Akane! Don\'t start moping on me, now.
Today is my birthday, if you remember.\"

\"S-Sorry, Nabiki. It\'s just that....that whenever I...I
remember...\"

\"No, no. Akane, just take a seat, alright? Have some cake.
Come on, just _lighten_ up and have some fun!\"

\"Thanks, Nabiki.\"

\"Okay, everyone! Grab a slice of cake and let\'s go to the
Dojo!!\" Ranma recognized that voice as Mr. Tendo\'s. There was
general bedlam for a few minutes, then everyone started to head off
to the Dojo.

Ranma, thinking quickly, leapt straight up and clung to the
ceiling. She watched all of Nabiki\'s friends, which were quite
considerable, Mr. Tendo, and her parents, tromp by under her.
Except Akane. Then she heard Ryoga\'s voice from the dining room.

\"Akane, let\'s go. There\'s no need to....\"

\"Ryoga, thanks for caring but...but I want to be alone. For
now.\"

\"A-Akane?\"

\"Ryoga...I\'m...I\'m sorry. It\'s just that...when Nabiki said...\"

\"That\'s okay, Akane. I\'ll wait for you however long it takes,
Akane.\" Ranma heard footsteps.

\"Ryoga? I thought you said you\'d wait...?\"

\"I said I\'ll wait for you, Akane. I\'ll always be here for you.
I\'ll never leave you.\" With that, Ryoga stepped from the dining
room and passed under Ranma, on the way to the dojo. He didn\'t
falter in his steps. It was as if the Tendo home had become
something of a second home to Ryoga, so familiarly did he tread the
hallways.

Ranma\'s face contorted in anger. She was tempted to drop upon
Ryoga in the hallway and tear him to pieces but what Ryoga had said
to her rang through her mind. She spared Ryoga - for now. She
watched Ryoga leave and she stayed clinging on the ceiling for a long
while, until she heard crying. Akane was crying, her sobs breaking
the silence that hung around the dining area.

Ranma let herself go from the ceiling and she landed without a
sound. Then she walked around the screen door and stepped into the
dining area. Akane sat on a chair, hands covering her face and
crying. Ranma felt a compulsion to drop her duffel bag, run to
Akane and hold her tight, and tell her that everything was alright.
But she hardened her heart and steeled her legs, willing them not to
move. Every sense in her body cried out for her to comfort Akane
but she steadfastly ignored them.

tomboy, Akane?> It saddened Ranma to see Akane changing into a
different person than she knew. It was all because of that curse. It
all came back to Jusenkyo. When Akane didn\'t notice her presence,
Ranma decided to announce herself.

\"Akane.\"

Akane snapped her head up in surprise. Her eyes were red
from crying.

\"Ranma? Ranma..!\" Akane leapt up ran to Ranma, arms extended, but
Ranma sidestepped her and Akane stumbled.

\"Akane. Why?\"

\"Ranma? What do you mean?\" Akane had a shocked look on
her face.

\"Your....your boyfriend. I know who he is...\", she finished
lamely.

\"Ryoga?! Ranma, you leave him alo...\"

Ranma let her duffel bag fall from her fingers to the floor.
Akane had progressed further than she had expected with Ryoga! For
her to care so much about Ryoga as to rebuke Ranma as she did... -
it threatened to bring tears to Ranma\'s eyes but she held them back
in. She would not show weakness. Not especially to Akane. Ranma
sat down on the floor, legs folded under her.

\"Ranma? Ranma, I....thought you....\"

\"No, Akane. Remember? I don\'t strike people in anger.\"

\"I see. Well, you just missed Nabiki\'s birthday....she\'s twenty-
one now!\" Akane said in a voice that is regretful, cheery and
hopeful, seeming to want to change the subject as quickly as possible.
Ranma gave her no quarter.

\"Why didn\'t you invite me, Akane? You should have called me, at least
to tell me.\"

Ranma could see that Akane knew that Ranma wasn\'t concerned
about Nabiki\'s birthday one bit. It was the issue of Akane neglecting
to invite her back home, back to the Tendo Dojo. Ranma wondered
if the gulf between them had widened so far that she didn\'t want to
see her again.

\"Ranma, why did you come back?\" Wistful now, and sorrowful. A touch
of regret and bittersweet.

\"To see how you were doing, Akane. I guess you are doing
better than I thought.\" Her voice sounded like someone who had
been betrayed, even to her, but she didn\'t care. Let Akane think
what she wanted.

\"NO! DON\'T SAY THAT!! Ranma, I...I loved you! I can\'t love you as
you are now....!\"

\"WHY NOT?!\", Ranma shot back.

\"Because...because you\'re a girl.\", Akane whispered. She fidgeted with
the tablecloth.

Ranma banged her fists into the floor. AGAIN! It always came
back to that stupid curse! Why couldn\'t she love her as she is?!

But Ranma already knew the answer. It was just pointless to
agonize over the obvious. Ranma looked at the hand-shaped
indentations in the floor, and sighed. More repair work for Mr.
Tendo.

\"Ranma. I know how you feel. We\'ve already gone over all
this many, many times. I have already told you, Ranma, that it\'s
time for you to get on with your life. It is time to move on....\"

\"Move on? Just WHAT do you mean, Akane?\" Ranma had a
feeling in the pit of her stomach that she already knew what Akane
meant.

\"I mean....forgive me for saying so, but can\'t you...can\'t you,
umm, love anyone else? I want to love you but I can\'t. I just can\'t,
seeing the way you are now.\" Akane had a serious look on her face.

\"You mean...love another girl? I can do that but....\"

\"I know. That\'s why I didn\'t say for you to love another
girl....\"

Ranma thought for a while as Akane looked away from her.
Then what Akane said finally clicked into her head. And all her
efforts to present a strong image crumbled.

\"You mean, love another guy?? Akane?\"

Akane didn\'t turn around.

\"Akane? What ab-about us? Us! Me and you! Akane...!\"

\"Ranma, I just want the best for you. The best option may not
always be attractive, but it may be better than just being alone for the
rest of your life, Ranma...\"

\"Akane? What gave you that idea? What makes you think I
can ever love a guy? I\'m a guy too...at least I was.\"

\"That..that...guy you were talking to. In the booth.\" Akane
looked away.

\"What? You....you were spying on us?\" Ranma blushed
crimson. Akane turned back to her.

\"I didn\'t just leave, Ranma. I saw how casually you talked to
him. I watched your reaction to his questions. If you....if you play
it right you could...\"

\"No!! I can\'t do it, Akane! I just can\'t!\"

But Ranma didn\'t really believe herself. Her loud and quick
denials sounded hollow to her ears. She found herself thinking of
Kentaro again, and their training sessions together. She had come to
rely on those sessions, but for what reason she didn\'t know. It was
just that she didn\'t like the thought of missing a training session with
Kentaro. Yes. That\'s it.

However, even now, she wished that she hadn\'t reacted as she
did in his room. She wished now that she could take back her actions
and......

\"Ranma. I\'m sorry. I can\'t think of any other solution to your
problem. Maybe you can learn to live as a girl, Ranma. I\'m very
sorry but I don\'t see any other way to cure you.\"

Akane\'s words snapped Ranma out of her reverie.

\"Akane...can\'t we...\"

\"No, Ranma. We\'ve already gone over this. I don\'t want to
hurt you or myself anymore. It is time to get on with our lives,
Ranma. We can still be friends, like what I said at your college....\"

\"Akane. For me, it is one or the other. I cannot be your
friend, Akane, after knowing what love is. It is either I love you, or
I can\'t. There is no compromise.\"

There was shocked silence for a moment, hanging in the air like
the sharp ring of steel on steel.

\"Ranma...!\" Akane\'s voice had a desperate, pleading tone to it.

\"Choose, Akane.\" Ranma\'s tone was now merciless as she
regained the upper hand. She needed to know! She would not leave
without knowing, once and for all, Akane\'s answer. It was almost as
if their last conversation had never ended. This was it. The end, or
the rekindling, of her old life.

It truly pained Ranma to do this to the girl...no, WOMAN she
loves, she corrected herself.

Akane was silent for many long minutes, turning once in a while
to stare out at the pond, where the carp were thrashing agitatedly in
the water. Then, taking a deep and steadying breath, she turned back
to Ranma, hands folded on her lap and her head downcast.

\"Ranma. I love...I mean, I loved you alot. You were the first
person that I cared about in that way, Ranma. I loved you as much
as you loved me.\" Akane looked into Ranma\'s expressionless face.
\"You\'re right. After knowing what love is....oh, I was such an idiot
for asking if we could still be friends...\"

\"Then it\'s true. Well, Akane. I...I hope you and Ryoga live
together happily. He\'d better take good care of you, or else. I wish
I could have done the..the same but...it\'s too late for regrets.
Remember, Akane. Remember me, after I\'m gone. Goodbye.\"
Ranma grabbed her duffel bag and surged to her feet. She turned
around and started to leave the room.

With a cry, Akane got up and ran to Ranma. She grabbed her
by the shoulders and held her back.

\"Ranma!! Don\'t go! We can\'t love each other but don\'t go!!
Don\'t leave me alone again...! Ranma, why can\'t you see what...\"

Ranma, who had been controlling her feelings of anger and
betrayal, whirled on Akane, like an enraged tigress, and struck her
across the face with her hand, the sound of the slap echoing in the
room. Akane fell to the floor with a cry of pain and clutched a hand
to her face.

\"How can you be alone, Akane?! You\'ve got Ryoga! There
was a time when I had loved you but now it is past. How I wished
that I had never even heard of you or your stupid family or your
stupid Dojo! I wish I could forget this whole damned fiancee thing,
especially you, and everyone else in this neighbourhood and
EVERYTHING!!\"

\"You\'re not the Ranma I know....\"

\"What??!\" Ranma\'s face was still livid.

\"The Ranma I know wouldn\'t.....wouldn\'t have hit me. No
matter what.\"

\"Akane....?\" Ranma was confused now.

\"Go. Get out of here. Get out of my life. You\'ve caused me
too much pain, Ran...ma.\"

\"Akane, I\'m sorry. I\'m really sorry for hitting you...\" Ranma
took a step closer to the fallen Akane, meaning to hold her in her
arms and comfort her, to apologize to her for everything she had
done to her. Akane held up a hand and Ranma halted in her tracks.

\"No. Didn\'t you hear me? GET OUT.\"

\"Akane!\"

\"GET OUT!!!! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!! I DON\'T WANT YOU TO GIVE ME GRIEF
ANYMORE!! I DON\'T LOVE YOU!! I DON\'T WANT TO HEAR OF YOU AT ALL!! GET
LOST!! GO!!\"

\"Akane!!!\" Ranma\'s voice was desperate! Akane was telling
her to get out of her life!

\"GET-OUT-OF-HERE!! GO...AND...AND MARRY A REAL MAN!!! MAKE SURE HE IS
A THOUGHTFUL ONE, RAN...KO, AT LEAST HE\'LL BE BETTER THAN YOU WERE!! YOU\'RE
- NOT - RANMA, YOU HEARTLESS...BITCH!!!\"

Ranma turned and ran, tears streaming from her eyes. Akane
had told her to get out. For good, it seemed. She didn\'t stop
running until she was halfway down the road. Then she turned back
and looked at the Dojo, now a sombre reminder of what had been and
what cannot be. She would, in all likelihood, never return here. Not
after what...what...Akane had said.

With a cry of anguish that echoed down the deserted streets of
Nerima Ward, Ranma resumed her headlong flight to the train
station.
* * *
\"Akane? Wasn\'t there someone in here? I thought I heard
voices....\"

\"No. It\'s nothing, Kasumi. Nobody was here.\"

\"Are you sure, Akane? Because I\'m pretty sure that....\"

\"I told you, Kasumi! NOBODY was here. NO ONE.\" that I knew....>

\"Alright, Akane. Akane, why don\'t you join everyone in the
Dojo? I\'m going there now.\"

\"I\'ll be along, Kasumi.\"

When Kasumi was gone, Akane pulled a picture out of her
pocket. It was wrinkled and torn around the edges, as if it had been
carried everywhere she went. She put her hands on either side of it
and began to tear it in two, but she stopped. Her fingers trembled
slightly, but she couldn\'t bring herself to destroy it. No. It was her
only remembrance. She was not likely to come back to the Tendo
Dojo, not after what Akane had said to her.

A fresh bout of crying hit her then and she clutched the picture
of male Ranma to herself. Nothing else disturbed her mourning, not
even the sound of the carp leaping from the pond. The frisky carp,
which usually jumped every once in a while, lay quiescent in the
bottom of the pond, unmoving and stilled.
* * *
\"...and I took the train, revisited all the spots where I had
stayed in, and came back here. Then school started and...you know.
Anyways, that\'s all.\" Ranma fell silent. The only sound in the
room was that of a clock ticking on her desk.

\"That Akane girl....wouldn\'t it be the same girl whom you were
talking to....?\", asked Kentaro tentatively, an understanding of the
whole situation beginning to form in his head.

\"Yes.\"

\"If you don\'t mind me saying so, I think it looks like Akane had
abandoned you...for Ryo...\"

Before he could even blink he was shoved hard on the bed and
held there, with one hand, by an angry Ranma.

\"No matter what it seems like, Akane did *not* abandon me,
you got that? She - did - not - abandon - me. If anything, *I*
abandoned her.\"

\"But she turned to that Ryoga guy after you left and...\"

\"SHUT UP, Kentaro. SHUT - UP. I told you what has been
bugging me. Why do you have to keep rubbing my face in it?!\" Her
voice was deadly quiet, and serious, but Kentaro could still hear the
pain in it.

She was obviously hurt by what Akane did in her absence. He
could understand Ranma\'s position - her fiancee, if one believed her
tale, is dating her one-time rival for Akane\'s love. It was surprising
that Ranma wasn\'t already crying. He knew that HE would if he was
in her position. But Ranma WAS crying - inside, that is. Depression
was threatening to engulf her and she wasn\'t doing a thing about it.

Kentaro tried to get up but Ranma\'s arm was like a steel rod - it
gave no slack and didn\'t even move no matter how hard he tried to
move it. Ranma was looking down at him with that pain-filled gaze,
and it hurt him to see her so unhappy. He stopped struggling and just
lay back.

\"Ranma. You may have told your story but it is still eating you
up from the inside. You won\'t let anyone share your burden because
you see it as your own. It was your curse that caused Akane such
grief, but there it is not your fault. That Ryoga guy was telling you
that, himself. Ranma, you can\'t be blamed for getting the curse in
the first place. Didn\'t you tell me that your father knocked you into
the pool?\"

\"Kentaro. You\'d better shut up RIGHT NOW. It was MY
fault that Akane is like this. It was MY fault for everything bad that
has happened to my family and the Tendos. I\'m the one to blame,
not Akane!\"

\"Ranma, it is not your fault that Akane did what she did. If
anything, it was her fault.\"

Ranma started to snarl something but Kentaro stopped her with a
upheld hand, the look in his eyes demanding that Ranma hear him
out.

\"You\'re in a state of denial, Ranma. Didn\'t you just finish
telling me that you had met Akane\'s *new* boyfriend?\"

She flinched at his words and her eyes narrowed dangerously,
but Kentaro forged ahead. He gave her no quarter.

\"Who was it that told you to `get on with your life\', Ranma?
Tell me, Ranma, who couldn\'t choose between love and friendship?
Where did her reply to your question leave you? Love transcends all
barriers, true love that is. You had chosen to love her, come hell or
high water, but your love was not reflected in her!\"

\"DON\'T YOU DARE SAY THAT OF AKANE!! DON\'T YOU SAY THAT!!\", screamed
Ranma down at Kentaro.

\"She had *screwed* with your feelings by selling you out to
Ryoga and, basically, by saying that she couldn\'t have *any* sort of
relationship with you *but* still holding onto you like you\'re some
sort of possession! I saw only selfishness, from what you told me, in
Akane. She had gratified herself at your expense! She deserved
that.....\"

*WHACK*

Ranma\'s left hand was plastered against Kentaro\'s right cheek,
searing a crimson image onto his skin. Tears came into Kentaro\'s
eyes from the sharp pain of being slapped but he blinked them away
and stared defiantly up at Ranma.

Ranma slowly pulled her hand from Kentaro\'s face and looked
at it in horror.

\"What...have...I...done? I-I hit you...!\", she stammered. Then
she looked at Kentaro, as if expecting him to say something that she
didn\'t want to hear.

Kentaro slowly pulled her arm off his chest and he sat up on the
bed, gingerly feeling his cheek. The clock kept ticking in the
background, a countdown to the end of everything. He looked into
Ranma\'s eyes, which held a measure of fear andshock.

\"You\'re the Ranma I know.\"

Ranma started. It certainly wasn\'t what she was expecting
Kentaro to say to her, and Kentaro knew it.

\"But...I just...\"

\"I do not know any other, nor do I wish to, and I\'m glad for
that. I forgive you for hitting me like that, God knows I deserved it.\"

\"Kentaro...your cheek! It\'s getting swollen!\"

\"Ranma. Listen to me. You had been faithful to Akane before
you even went back to visit. We were only friends back then, right?\"

Ranma looked at him for a long moment, then she nodded
slightly, trepidation now written on her features.

\"Ranma, you owe nothing to Akane now, so don\'t flog yourself
because of the failings of others!\"
* * *
Ranma unclenched her fists and looked silently at Kentaro.
Once again he never failed to strike to the heart of her problems. She
turned away from him and looked in the other direction, trying to sort
out her feelings.

Akane wasn\'t faithful. She was sure that was it. Unlike
herself, Akane had went and got herself a boyfriend, namely Ryoga,
while she had toiled endlessly to try and reconciliate herself to her
new body.

A commotion in the hallway outside caught both their attentions
and they both perked their ears up, to catch what was being said.
* * *
\"Panty raid!! Open up!!\" It was a mixture of male voices, and
one of them was rapping on Ranma\'s door. The shrieks of outraged
girls mixed with the coarse laughter of the guys. Kentaro surged to
his feet, fists bunched. This disgusting American tradition cannot
continue!! How dare they adopt this...this custom from the gaijin!?
He started to stomp to the door but Ranma grabbed the back of his
shirt and pulled him back to the bed.

\"What?! Ranma!! Let me go! These guys need to be taught a
lesson!\"

\"Kentaro, just do as I do, alright? Trust me!\", said Ranma,
who began mussing up her hair.

\"HEY!! We\'re coming in on the count of three!!\", someone
shouted at Ranma\'s door. The two of them could hear the struggle
between the girls and the guys as the purloined pieces of underwear
were being hotly contested over. Ranma had a half-disgusted and
half-wistful smile on her face - a most curious expression, Kentaro
noted.

\"Wait a minute! Wait! This room number looks familiar,
guys.....!\"

\"Yeah, it\'s that lesbian\'s!! We don\'t wanna go in there!\"

Ranma quickly unbuttoned her blouse in the front, exposing one
breast in all its naked glory to Kentaro, who was pleasantly
dumbstruck by her actions.

\"Muss up your hair, Kentaro.\"

Kentaro obediently mussed his hair up. While he was doing
that, Ranma reached over to him and pulled the corners of his shirt
up and out of their tucked-in position. She quickly unbuttoned half
the buttons on his shirt. Then she placed her trembling right hand
under Kentaro\'s left arm and grabbed his back, and she put her left
hand on Kentaro\'s neck. Then she fell back on the bed while pulling
Kentaro - so that he was on top of her. On instinct, he put his hands
on either side of Ranma.

Ranma\'s eyes were shut and she seemed to be composing herself
for an ordeal of some sort. Kentaro was too busy staring at her
nakedness to wonder what she was doing.

\"WHO CARES! Girls\' underwear is girls\' underwear! ONE!!!\"

Ranma\'s eyes flew open and she looked up into Kentaro with a
piercing gaze.

\"Don\'t you dare take this seriously, Kentaro.\"

\"Wh-what?\", he stammered back, not understanding.

\"TWO!!!\", came the countdown again.

\"Just play along..it\'s really important. Do it or I\'ll hurt you.\"
She said it matter-of-factly, but Kentaro didn\'t believe for a second
that she would really carry out her threat. Ranma seemed to be
relying heavily on his actions for whatever she was pulling off;
besides he didn\'t mind this position at all - he rather liked the view
too. Ranma saw him looking at her chest and she flushed all red.

\"THREE!!!!\"

The door was flung open and a whole horde of guys poured into
the dorm room, clutching little shopping bags filled with frilly stuff.

At that same moment, Ranma\'s face took on an adoring look
and her breathing came in short pants. Her eyes, wide and shining in
the dim light, almost stopped Kentaro\'s heart for a second. She was
so *beautiful* when she wanted to be...

\"WHERE ARE THE PANTIES?!?\", yelled one guy at the top
of his lungs. Kentaro moved to give the guy a beating but Ranma
touched a certain spot on his neck and he was immobilized. He was
locked into his position.

\"Hey...hey, guys! Umm, look at *them*!\"

Oohs and ahhs issued from the assembled guys and Ranma, as if
suddenly noticing them, whipped her head to look at them with a
shocked expression on her face, her uncovered chest heaving.
Kentaro wanted to look too but he couldn\'t even move a muscle, not
while her finger was touching that nerve spot.

A crowd of girls barged into Ranma\'s room, holding improvised
weapons, loudly demanding their underwear back, but they stopped
short of hitting the guys when they saw Ranma and Kentaro in that
position. Similar oohs and ahhs issued from them.

\"So she\'s not a...a...\", one guy whispered to his friend.

\"What? You mean what you told me was a load of crap?! How
*dare* you accuse that girl of being a lesbian!!\", screeched one girl
to a nervous looking guy.

\"But she whacked those guys a while back...!\"

\"Any girl who already has a boyfriend would have done the
same, idiot!!\"

\"What do you people think you\'re doing?!\", snarled Ranma at
the assembled students. \"Don\'t you know the meaning of privacy?!\"

\"Errr, umm...!\"

\"But we....!\"

\"GET OUT OF HERE!! NOW!! CAN\'T YOU SEE THAT WE\'RE BUSY!?\"

\"Yes, yes! Sorry! We\'re so sorry!\"

\"You pig! Don\'t you dare go around spreading rumors like that
- unless you want me to leave you!\", scolded that same girl to the
same guy.

\"S-sorry! We didn\'t mean to disturb you..! Please...please
pardon us.\"

\"GET - OUT!!\", Ranma shouted again. They left Ranma\'s
room posthaste, and one of them actually remembered to shut the
door behind. Kentaro would have scratched his head in confusion if
he could, but Ranma\'s finger was still touching that nerve point.

Ranma noticed. She released the finger pressure on his neck.

Kentaro, drained of all energy, fell on top of Ranma - his face
squishing in between her breasts. Ranma yelped and threw Kentaro
off her with a snap of her body, the bed creaking dangerously.
Kentaro sailed in the air and crashed to the ground in a heap,
moaning and groaning in pain.

Ranma\'s breath came in short gasps, and she clutched her hand
to her chest. Her shirt had fallen about her, leaving her naked from
the waist up. Kentaro got up from the floor and Ranma started to
yell at him but Kentaro put a finger to his lips. Confused, Ranma
watched Kentaro rip his shirt off and unbuckle his belt. Then he
walked over to the door and wrenched it open.

A mass of guys and girls, who had their ears pressed against the
door, tumbled inside Ranma\'s room in a heap. With shamed looks on
their faces, they avoided Kentaro\'s look and slunk away muttering to
themselves, disappointed that their fun had been ruined. Kentaro shut
- and locked - the door. Then he turned back to Ranma, who was
looking at him with grudging respect.

\"T-thanks, Kentaro. My plan would\'ve been ruined if you
hadn\'t....\"

\"I know, Ranma. Tell me the story, will you? Don\'t keep
things like those from me. You know I\'ll eventually find out sooner
or later.\" He came back to Ranma and sat on her bed next to her,
facing away.

\"Well...those guys who just came in? They made...the moves
on me a week back. One of them was drunk and grabbed my ass as I
was turning away from them. They didn\'t get up for an hour after I
was finished with them. Honestly! I went gentle on them but they
couldn\'t take it! Feh, such weaklings. Anyways, they started a
vendetta against me, calling me a lesbian and all that. Petty stuff,
but everybody believed them.\"

\"Oh. So *that\'s* what all this is about. Nice plan, Ranma.\"

\"I\'m sure *you* liked it. If you ever go bragging about it...!\"
Ranma held up a fist.

Kentaro wrapped a hand around her fist, his fingers slowly
curling about hers, and brought it down. Ranma didn\'t resist as he
put her hand down on the bed and pinned it there.

\"Ranma, you know I wouldn\'t. You know I\'m not like
*them*.\"

\"Y-Yeah. I....guess you\'re right. I think.\" Ranma pulled her
hand from his and turned away from Kentaro, so he couldn\'t see her
face. She started buttoning her shirt back up.

\"Ranma, you wouldn\'t really hit me, right?\"

Ranma looked back at Kentaro over her shoulder, and she gave
him a cryptic smile. Kentaro grinned back at her and Ranma
chuckled. She seemed to be in a better mood now.

\"Okay, Kentaro. Fun time is over. Get your clothes back on
and I\'ll see you tomorrow in the gym. Don\'t be late.\"

Kentaro hurriedly dressed up and left Ranma\'s room, throwing
her a smile and a wave as he shut her door and went back to his
dorm room.
* * *
Ranma heaved a sigh and fell back on her bed, her hands
crossed behind her head. As she looked up at the ceiling, she seemed
to see Kentaro looking down at her with a thoroughly confused
expression on his face. She shuddered and closed her eyes. Never.
She could never bring herself to do it. Never, never, never. Her
eyes stole briefly, guiltily, to the calendar and they lingered there for
a long moment.

She thought more of what Kentaro meant to her. He was
always there to lend a shoulder, or a helping hand. He was her best
friend at this college, and just now he had actually helped resolve the
inner conflict she waged with her previous life. Insightful,
thoughtful, and brutally honest. He was so honest that she could slap
him sometimes...

Ranma looked at her hand, which was still red from hitting
Kentaro.

Strange that all her pain had seemed to disappear the moment
she had struck Kentaro, as if the act of slapping him had broken
depression\'s hold on her. It was almost as if Kentaro had acted like a
sponge, soaking out all the pain from her.

The thought ran through her head even when she turned out the
lights to sleep and only the oblivion of slumber cast her thoughts of
the present into the realm of dreams. And, for the first time in long
weeks, her dreams were not of Akane.
* * *
Kentaro went inside his dorm room and saw Komatsu sitting at
his desk, poring over a textbook as if his life depended on it.
Komatsu looked up at him, and frowned.

\"Where were you, man? The test is tomorrow!\"

\"Oh, somewhere.\"

Komatsu took stock of his friend. He turned his chair about to
face Kentaro.

\"Were you with Ranma?\"

\"How\'d you know?!\"

\"Your belt isn\'t buckled. And your shirt isn\'t tucked in quite
right. Also, your hair is mussed and you have *that* look on your
face.\"

Kentaro flushed in embarrassment. Sometimes it seemed that
Komatsu picked up too many things from Kentaro, like the
observation of minute details, for one thing. He went to his bed and
fell on it, his hands behind his head.

\"So, how did it go? Did the two of you make out?\"

\"Komatsu, have you no shame?! Must you pry into my private
affairs?\"

\"Hey, man! If you don\'t want to say anything, then just say
so!\"

Kentaro knew that sentence well. He sighed.

\"Look, Komatsu. Pal....\"

\"I know, I know. Just get on with it!\" Komatsu had all his
attention on Kentaro now, hanging on his every word.

\"Not tonight, Komatsu. I promise, tomorrow night. Right
now, as you say, let\'s study.\" Kentaro pulled out his textbook from
his bag and put in on his desk. He flipped it to the required page.

\"But....\"

\"KOMATSU.\"

\"Alright. But tomorrow?\"

\"Yup. I promise.\"

Although most of the night was spent studying, Kentaro just
couldn\'t shake that image of Ranma beneath him, her nightshirt
unbuttoned, her naked chest peeking out at him. And neither could
he forget the way that the pain had left her eyes, or how she had
laughed for the first time in weeks.

It made all his efforts seem worthwhile, and offered him some
hope for the future.

Then the onslaught of numbers pouring forth from the open
textbook finally took a firm hold of his mind, and he was lost in a
swirl of meaningless equations and diagrams.
- - - - -
Two weeks passed and Wednesday seemed to take forever to
arrive, but Kentaro worked off his anticipation by practicing the Art
with Ranma. The day after his visit to Ranma\'s room, he had been
taught the basics of the Art.

[END OF 2]
[BEGGINING OF 3]

\"The Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling is based upon
one revered precept. `Keep your mind open, your body ready, and
no enemy can overcome you\'. Do you understand, Kentaro?\",
Ranma had said when she paced around him.

\"Yes, Sensei....oooof!\"

Sensei had tripped him with a leg sweep so fast that one moment

he was standing, the next he was sitting on his butt.

\"Never let your guard down, Kentaro.\"

\"Yes, Sensei.\"

The remainder of that day was spent on teaching Kentaro the
first punch, the most basic of all attacks. He was taught how to
breathe, how to position his body, and how to gain the maximum
amount of power for the least amount of effort. Sensei had practiced
alongside him, correcting his errors as he had made them. He prided
himself on making a total of three errors that day, then his technique
had been perfect thereafter.

Sensei nodded in approval but had given him no words of
encouragement. At the end of the day, she had pronounced him
`barely adequate\' - but Kentaro had detected a hint of pride and joy in
that statement.

Ranma\'s voice snapped Kentaro\'s thoughts back to the present,
which was Wednesday - the appointed day of their first date.

\"The Art is a powerful thing, yet it is not the power of the
unyielding oak, but that of a willow. The storm may rage and the
winds may blow, but the willow never snaps. It is pliant, and very
tough. The oak, on the other hand, is rigid and firm but it breaks
beneath the power of the storm. Do you know what the oak
represents, Kentaro?\"

\"Yes.\" , he thought
excitedly.

\"Good. Now, the Art must be learnt but then it must become
instinctual. Do you need to think on how to balance yourself when
you get on a bicycle? No, you just do it out of instinct. It is the
same with the Art. Do you understand?\"

\"Yes.\" He wondered how beautiful Ranma would look on their
date. ,
he thought.

\"The Art is not a means to an end. One does not learn the Art
to accomplish a desired goal, Kentaro. One does not USE the Art to
one\'s own ends.\" Ranma gave Kentaro a piercing, knowing glare as
she said those words. Kentaro blushed under her scrutiny and Ranma
relented, turning her gaze away from him.

\"Ok, that\'s all for today. I...I\'ll see you at seven-thirty.
Outside my room.\" With that, Ranma strode away quickly. Kentaro
stretched out his hand, as if to pull her back, but she was already
halfway to the door. He let his hand fall to his side and he went to
shower and change.
- - - - -
An hour later, dressed in his best shirt and best pants, Kentaro
showed up outside Ranma\'s room and knocked lightly on it.

There was no answer in return. Kentaro moved to knock again.

\"Wait.\" came Ranma\'s muffled voice from behind her door, and
Kentaro desisted.

A full twenty minutes passed by before door 121 opened, and
Ranma stepped out.

Kentaro\'s heart almost stopped beating.

She was wearing a daring, burgundy and blue Chinese silk dress
cut low over the bosom, and slit at the sides to show off her legs.
Her hair was not done up in any style, it flowed freely down her
back, but a red flower graced her hair just over her left ear. A pair
of jade earrings enhanced the beauty of her face while a matching set
of high-heeled shoes completed the overall effect. She wore no
lipstick nor used any makeup, but Kentaro didn\'t think she needed to
paint herself to look beautiful.

Ranma looked up at Kentaro, but she looked away just as
quickly in embarrassment, her face already turning red. She didn\'t
look anything like she did in the gym; It was as if she had changed
into a whole different person. A stunningly beautiful *woman* at
that.

\"Ranma. You\'re looking beautiful, tonight. But...\"

\"But what? I-Is something wrong?\", she asked in an uncertain
voice.

\"No....it\'s just that you said, that night, you were going to wear
your normal clothing....? And where did you get that dress....?\"

\"I bought it just three days ago.\" The tone of her voice left him
no further room to discuss the dress.

Ranma stepped ahead of him, her high heels clicking on the
floor, so that he couldn\'t see her face. behind as she does from the front...>, thought Kentaro. The dress
really did hug her curves, like a glove, and Kentaro\'s heart sped up.

\"I want to remind myself that I am a girl, for today. Every
time I begin thinking of how disgusting it is for me to date a guy, I
need only look down and I would regain control of myself.\"

She took a deep breath and let it out.

\"Like I said, I\'m gonna to hold my breath waiting for the
damned kettle to show up. And like A-Akane said, it is time to get
on with my life. This is the first step, Kentaro, so please forgive me
if I falter or if I should stumble on the path.\"

Kentaro held out an arm in reply to her words. Ranma
considered his arm for a long moment, his fist resting on his hip and
his elbow pointing at her - then she slowly put her own arm inside the
crook of his arm and held on to him tentatively. Her grip was
tenuous at best, like she was liable to bolt at any moment and leave
him dateless.

Kentaro instinctively tightened his hold on Ranma\'s arm, and
she visibly relaxed, almost leaning into him for support as they
flowed past jealous-looking males and females on their way
downtown.

Their first stop was the movies, where they bought tickets and
sat down to watch an American film.

It was about fifteen minutes through the film when Kentaro had
worked up enough courage to try and put an arm about her. The
action film had everyone entranced, including Ranma, but the
suspense and special effects were wasted on Kentaro. Ranma lay
back in her seat, her arms folded on her lap, eyes glued to the screen.

Kentaro\'s arm crept up from his side and snaked along the back
of Ranma\'s seat. Ranma didn\'t notice as his arm snuck closer and
closer to her, until, with a deep breath and a prayer, Kentaro slowly
let his arm drape itself over her slim shoulders.
* * *
One moment Ranma was enjoying the movie, the next moment
she froze as Kentaro\'s arm fell about her shoulders.

The touch of his arm felt almost possessive, as if he was
declaring that she was his and no one else\'s. The hair on it tickled
the back of her neck and she gritted her teeth.

, she asked herself.
She wondered if she was supposed to sigh and lean in close to
him.....Ranma quickly looked down at herself and the feeling of
revulsion quickly passed. No. She was Ranma, and she was NOT
going to play on his terms.

She couldn\'t have Kentaro thinking he had gained favor in her
eyes. She....she just wasn\'t ready for that yet.

Conversely, she didn\'t want to attack Kentaro\'s feelings by
removing his arm, forcefully or tactfully - the end result would still
be the same for him.

So Ranma just swallowed and kept staring ahead, trying to
ignore his arm, caught in a position that she had been dreading the
moment she had stepped out of her dorm room.
* * *
It was as if she had turned to stone, so tensed up and stock still
did she become. One moment she was a desirable woman, the next
she was a statue. At least, that was the image Kentaro had gotten
from her body language.

Her hands, which had been absently arranging her dress,
suddenly clenched into fists. In the half-light from the screen,
Kentaro could see that her teeth were gritted and her eyes were
staring straight ahead, as if enduring a willpower test of some sort.

Something in his heart told Kentaro that while she was not
openly objecting to his touching her, he had better move his arm
anyways - for her sake if not his own.

Kentaro let out a long, painful sigh, born from the sensation of
being brought down from upon high, and he started to retract his arm
but Ranma caught it halfway.
* * *
She held his arm and turned her head so that she was looking
into Kentaro\'s eyes. It had taken an instant too long for her brain to
react to his sigh, otherwise she would have caught his arm before it
had even started to move.

Kentaro had a surprised look on his face, clearly not expecting
her to grab his arm.

Ranma steeled herself, calling upon every bit of willpower in
every fibre of her being, and she slowly, deliberately, pulled his arm
back over her like she was pulling on a scarf. Then, while still
holding his arm, she clamped it tightly over herself.

She changed her earlier thoughts. She may not be ready for a
serious relationship but it wouldn\'t become one unless something was
done. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and she settled down
to watch the movie.

A half hour passed.

All of her training and discipline, until now, had kept her from
thinking of his touch, but as she tried to relax, her determination not
to think about his arm started to crack.
* * *
Kentaro had been, and still was, pleasantly surprised when she
had pulled his arm back to her.

He was not surprised when, after a full half hour, she began to
act uneasy and fidget under his touch.

Kentaro realized, in that instant, that she had done it all for his
sake. She certainly wasn\'t feeling as comfortable as he did with this
little foray deeper into the physical aspects of their relationship.

\"Ranma...?\"

\"Yes?\" Her reply was quick, instantaneous. It was as if she
had been waiting for him to speak. Then she narrowed her eyes and
looked away, as if berating herself inwardly.

\"It\'s okay. Here, I can see that you\'re not...umm...ready.\"
Kentaro quickly moved his arm back to his side before Ranma could
react and immobilize it. , he
thought disconsolately to himself. Ranma turned back to him.

\"Kentaro?\" Ranma\'s voice was slightly uncertain, but it was
backed up by an emotion or feeling that he couldn\'t quite pin down at
the moment.

\"Yes?\" Kentaro furiously chided himself for replying so fast to
her. It made him sound like he was hanging upon her every word
and gesture. , he thought. Then
there was no time to think as Ranma replied.

\"Thank you.\" Her reply was full of meaning, and the unnamed
feeling burst out of the dam of her words and enfolded him in its
gentle embrace. It turned out to be...gratitude. Ranma\'s reply
washed away every bit of doubt from his soul, along with all his
misgivings about the date. It was as near to an apology as he could
tell.

\"No problem, Ranma.\" And the rest of the movie was passed
in silence.

After the movie, unlike the couples who were talking excitedly
about the movie, Ranma and Kentaro spoke no words as they walked
arm in arm to a nearby restaurant. They got in and found themselves
a booth far from the madding crowd of chattering people sitting at
tables and noisily celebrating. In short order, with no words spoken
between the two of them, Kentaro and Ranma ordered their dinners.

At last, the silence threatened to crush his heart in a grip of iron
and Kentaro abandoned all pretence of quietness.

\"S-So. Ranma, how do you like it so far?\"
* * *
Ranma\'s head snapped up in surprise. Until he had spoken, she
had been chafing under the pressure of silence while she was absently
arranging her dress and the flower in her hair.

\"It\'s been good so far, Kentaro. Thank you.\" She started
thinking of how he had removed his arm the second time around,
sensing how uncomfortable it had been for her.

\"No need to thank me, Ranma. I know you\'ve still a long ways
to go before...\"

\"Don\'t say it, Kentaro. Remember, no promises. And remember
how I told you to keep your hands to yourself?\"

Ranma saw Kentaro flinch at that and she quickly put a hand on
his in a reassuring gesture.

\"Don\'t worry, I\'m not mad. I just want to say that I forgive
you. You don\'t have to keep your hands to yourself but I don\'t want
you...to go any further than just holding my hand or arm, not until
I\'m ready and I say so. You got that?\"

\"Yes, Ranma. I understand.\"

\"Thank you, Kentaro.\" She turned away and looked at the
painting on the wall to the left of her, inside their booth. \"So cold
the winter gales blow, then the warming of spring melts the snow,
giving rise to a wondrous whirlwind of leaves, held aloft by the
autumn breezes, and starting to fly, up into the blazing glory of an
azure summer sky.\"

\"Huh?\"

\"The painting. Read the words.\"

\"Oh.\" He began to read the poem on the painting.

Then their dinners arrived and Ranma tore into hers with a
frenzy. Five large tempura prawns disappeared in short order even as
she made her rice bowl devoid of all rice.

Then it reminded herself of her old life, when she had wolfed
down a similar dinner in short order. Ranma slowed her pace and
began to eat more normally. Besides, others were watching. Kentaro
seemed to relax and he let out a sigh.

\"Sorry, Kentaro. I used to eat like this a long time back and old
habits die hard.\" She peered up into his eyes. Kentaro began
protesting that he hadn\'t even noticed her eating habits, and all that,
but Ranma knew better. She grinned at him and he stopped his
babbling - and *that* look came onto his face. It was a look of
hopeful anticipation, mixed with a bit of lust and a healthy dose of
love. She narrowed her eyes, in experimentation, and his look
changed to that of chagrin. Then she favored him with a smile and
he immediately perked up.
* * *
It took Kentaro a minute to realize that Ranma was playing with
him and he narrowed his eyes, for the first time today, and Ranma
started laughing.

\"Sorry, Kentaro. I was just teasing you, that\'s all!\" She was
overcome by another fit of laughter, which she held in for as long as
she could. Then, while she was not paying attention, he snuck the
last tempura salmon piece from her dinner box and began to nibble on
it.
* * *
Ranma\'s laughter subsided and she moved to pick up her last
tempura salmon piece but her chopsticks encountered an empty spot.
Immediately suspicious, she looked up to see Kentaro nibbling on
something held near his mouth - with an overly exaggerated
innocuous look on his face. She narrowed her eyes again and
Kentaro started laughing, almost as hard as she was.

Before she knew what she was doing, her chopsticks shot out
and grabbed the half-eaten salmon piece - and she popped it into her
mouth and swallowed it. Then it hit her, like a ton of bricks. She
ate something that he had been eating!
* * *
Kentaro watched in fascination as Ranma swilled all the drinks
on their table, even going as far as to grab his own tea cup and throw
it back with a defiant toss of her hair, which swirled on her back. He
watched her drink.

Then, panting slightly, she set an emptied teapot on the table
and began to wipe her chopsticks off with her napkin.

\"Ranma. Is it so bad? Do I have some sort of disease?\"

\"But I just ate something of yours! Yuck!\"

\"Look down at yourself.\"

Ranma looked down at herself and the look of disgust on her
face lessened significantly.

\"It\'s okay for a dating couple to share food or drinks, Ranma.\"

\"That\'s NOT what it was!\"

But Kentaro knew better. He also knew better than to argue
THAT point with her so he gracefully let the subject drop. They ate
some more of their food in silence. Then Ranma cleared her throat
and looked up at Kentaro.

\"Kentaro?\"

\"What is it?\", replied Kentaro as he looked up from his dinner.

Ranma paused for a while, then she said, \"What is it about me
that you like? I-I mean...why do you like me? Why not other girls?\"

Kentaro put his chopsticks down and folded his hands before
him. This was going to be the crucial moment of the date and both
of them knew it. He took a while to compose his answer and Ranma
waited patiently. Kentaro unfolded his hands.

\"It\'s...it\'s because you are strong willed...and stubborn. You
intrigue me somehow. You\'re...I don\'t know...different than other
girls. You are not afraid to speak your mind. But most important of
all, you\'re spirited. And always lively, never a dull moment to be
had with you. Other girls that I\'ve known....\"

\"Other girls? You mean, before me?\" Her voice had the
faintest tinge of jealousy, so unnoticeable that anybody but Kentaro
would have missed it.

\"Come on, Ranma. I wasn\'t THAT much of a social nobody.
Anyways, to get back to what I was saying, those girls that I had
known were either shrinking violets or study freaks. I know that
there were other girls that I liked but they already had boyfriends.\"

Kentaro took a sip from his glass of cold water.

\"Did you kiss any of those girls?\"

Kentaro choked and spilt some water on his shirt. He dabbed it
up with his napkin and looked at Ranma.

\"N-no. Except for Mikiyo.\"

\"You kissed this Mikiyo girl?\" Her voice was slightly
accusatory. While she looked at Kentaro with a neutral expression,
Kentaro knew better than to take Ranma at face value.

\"Hey, at least I was honest!\"

\"Stupi....I mean, yeah. At least you\'re honest.\" Ranma motioned
for Kentaro to continue.

\"Anyways, I knew Mikiyo in high school. She was sweet, kind,
even-tempered and....I don\'t know...*doting*.\"

\"In other words, the exact opposite of me.\"

\"Ranma....!\" Kentaro\'s voice had a pleading note to it. Ranma
again motioned for him to keep speaking as she kept eating.

\"We dated once. At the end of that date...we kissed.\"

*CHOKK*

Ranma had stabbed deep into a tempura piece with her chopsticks.
She had a fearful and disgusted look on her face. She started to lift her
hand and gesture at Kentaro but Kentaro beat her to it.

\"She was not like you, Ranma. It is because of your very
qualities as a person that I...I like being with you. *Really* like.\"

*CHOKK*

Ranma shuddered slightly and withdrew her chopsticks from
another tempura piece. Kentaro decided to confront her.

\"What\'s wrong, Ranma? Is it so bad for you to hear that
someone really likes being with you?\"

\"No. It\'s not that. I like to hear that someone likes to be with
me. It\'s just that when a guy says it....\" Ranma shuddered again
and her chopsticks descended upon another unfortunate piece of food
but Kentaro grabbed her chopsticks out of her hands and placed them
on the table. Ranma didn\'t seem to notice.

\"So, because I\'m a guy, you don\'t like me.\" Kentaro knew he
was pushing it but he didn\'t want to give in to Ranma.

\"No! I mean....no. I...I like being with you. Really, I do.
But what you\'re implying with your words is still too much for me to
bear, Kentaro.\"

\"What am I implying?\"

\"That you want to...to kiss me some more, and all that. I...I
just can\'t. Not yet, I think.\"

Kentaro took the offensive.

\"What is there about me that you *don\'t* like, Ranma?

\"What?\" Ranma sounded startled.

\"What don\'t you like about me?\"

Ranma fidgeted for a moment. She sat and said nothing for a
long moment. Then she looked down at her hands.

\"You\'re going too fast, Kentaro. I\'m not ready to answer
questions like that.\"

\"Don\'t squirm out of it, Ranma.\"

\"Why must you *always* put me on the spot, Kentaro? Why?\", she
pleaded.

\"Because I love you, Ranma.\"

Kentaro\'s statement hung in the air for a shocked moment.

\"Y-you\'re going way too fast for me....! I-I can\'t! Not yet! I
can\'t! Not with a guy...!\" Ranma was flustered, a rare occurance.

\"That\'s okay, Ranma. I can wait. I will wait for you as long
as it takes.\"

\"Why?\", asked Ranma in a whisper. \"What if I....?\"

\"Because I can love no other person than you, Ranma. I\'ve
known you and...and I can\'t imagine loving any other.\" Kentaro
looked a moment longer into her eyes, to make sure that she fully
understood what he said, then he started to eat again.

The rest of the dinner was passed in silence.

After dinner, they quietly walked back, arm in arm, to Ranma\'s
room in the dormitory.

Ranma unlocked her door, which had no graffiti on it. There
was a little note beneath the room number and Ranma read it.

\"What does it say?\", he asked curiously.

\"It says that my former roommate was sorry and she wanted to
move back in with me. It was all a misunderstanding and all that,
Kentaro.\"

Kentaro felt a warm, uplifting feeling. Ranma\'s social status
was improving. Ranma looked back at Kentaro and she gave him a
quick smile. Then she quickly opened her door and began to step
into her room, as if relieved to escape from him.

Kentaro, who had been working up all the willpower he could
since leaving the restaurant, put a hand on Ranma\'s shoulder and
gently turned her around. She had a frightened look on her face, as
if dreading this moment for a long time. Her chest was heaving and
Kentaro fancied that he could hear her heart pounding. Her forehead
was slightly damp with sweat and her lips were closed tightly, which
she licked every once in a while in nervousness.

\"Ranma...can..can we have..a goodbye kiss?\", stammered
Kentaro, all his self-composure and confidence crumbling as he spoke
those words. , he thought furiously to
himself.
* * *
Ranma had been thinking about this ever since she had left the
restaurant arm in arm with Kentaro. It would be her second kiss with
him since the time she returned.

Not trusting herself to speak, she slowly nodded uncertainly and
tilted her head up at him, her eyes shut tight as her mouth was. She
could feel him coming closer, and closer, his head blocking out the
light and she imagined his lips opening wider, and wider, as if to
engulf her.

She called upon all her self-control to remain still and not to bolt
into her room, like a frightened rabbit, and lock him without. Then
she felt something brush her lips and fear, and loathing, exploded
throughout her body.
* * *
Kentaro kissed Ranma, slowly and gently, but Ranma didn\'t
respond. Her lips were too stiff and she didn\'t *move* with him.
He held the kiss, one-sided at best, for a while - to see if she would
change her mind and return it, but he broke it off when she didn\'t do
so much as twitch an eyelid.

It wasn\'t nearly as bad as when he had kissed her the first time
but he might as well have kissed the wall for all the response he had
gotten out of her.

Kentaro stepped back, and Ranma relaxed. She opened her eyes
and looked up at him.

\"Kentaro, I\'m sorry. Like I said before, I have to have some
time to get used to it. Please forgive me.\" Ranma bowed to him but
Kentaro quickly lifted her shoulders back up.

\"Come now, Ranma. This is not like you at all. Don\'t
apologize because of yourself. Of course I forgive you - because I
can see your point of view and I understand it. Maybe in time...it
could change but I\'m willing to wait.\"

\"I-it could change, Kentaro. Thank you for being so
understanding.\" Ranma backed into her room and began to close the
door, her eyes never leaving his own. \"G-Good night, Kentaro.\"

\"Good night, Ranma. See you tomorrow.\" Then the door shut
and he heard the lock turn. Kentaro turned about and started to
shuffle back to his dorm room. start....>, he thought to himself.

He heard a lock being thrown back and a door opening. Then
he felt Ranma, it had to be her, holding on to him from behind.

\"Good night, Kentaro. I\'m sorry.\"

It was Ranma!

Kentaro slowly turned about and hugged her back. His
depression suddenly vanished. It might take a while for her to accept
a kiss and return it, but a hug would have to do for now. And she
was throwing all of herself into the hug; It was as if all the feelings
she had for him that she couldn\'t return in a kiss was suddenly
concentrated in that hug. They held each other for a long while,
Kentaro savoring the feeling, then Ranma let go and vanished back
into her room.

And this time he didn\'t hear the door lock.
- - - - - -
- - - - - -
- - -
Time passed, as it inevitably should, and the circle of seasons
spun twice and a half around. Winter gave way to spring and autumn
followed after, then summer set its first foothold on the world and
burnt away the chill air.

Ranma had loosened up a lot in the two and a half years since
their first date. She held onto his arm regularly, even pressing close
to him at times. Her social status had improved drastically as well.
She was involved in many extracurricular activities and had become
quite well known about the campus. She had even started giving
lessons in the Art, and Kentaro helped her with the organizational and
assistant tutor aspects of her venture. Her first class had been quite
small, but as her reputation grew, so did the number of students.

Kentaro had also gained quite a bit of status himself, but only a
small part of it was due to his association with Ranma. His marks
were in the top five of his classes, and he too was involved in many
extracurricular activites and he was seen as being second to Ranma in
fighting ability - although Ranma and Kentaro worked to discourage
that idea. Kentaro knew that he was better than the average student
but he didn\'t delude himself as to his actual strength compared to any
black belt martial artist.

Ranma told him that he had a long way to go but she would help
him every step of the way. His training didn\'t end when Ranma\'s
classes ended - they continued for long hours after. Kentaro threw
himself into the training, as he saw it as a way to improve his
physical condition, fighting skills and to be with Ranma - to keep up
with her, as it were. Besides, it was free of charge.

They had grown from being the \"nobodies\" of the campus to the
envy of many males and females, gender respective - that is. Ranma
was one of THE people to know for most of the girls, who try to
weasel tips for social status out of her. As for most of the guys they
would drool at the thought of her but they kept their hands and
thoughts to themselves, giving her the right of way at all times.

For Kentaro it was no different, save for his skill in the Art
when measured against Ranma\'s. His friends, all guys no less, try
their utmost to get Kentaro to tell them how to get dates. Most of the
girls now see him as a potential \"catch of a lifetime\" but the presence
of his girlfriend, namely Ranma, kept them from openly displaying
their affection for him.

They were an almost regular sight as they leave the campus on
their dates, to go downtown. They shared the same food and drinks.
She was now genuinely enjoying their thrice-a-week dates together,
and so was he. And their goodbye hugs had given way to semi-kisses,
with Ranma still holding a goodly portion of herself from Kentaro.

Then exam week came and the both of them sequestered
themselves to study, for their own good.

Kentaro found that he missed Ranma terribly as he turned back to
his textbook and flipped the page.
- - -
It was a time of drinking and it was a time of dancing, of
celebration and over-brimming emotions. Beer mugs ran over many
times in many bars across the nation, for exams were over.

It was the beginning of the summer of Japan\'s contented
students, whom were out in the streets in force. All except two.
- - -
Kentaro and Ranma staggered, arms about each other\'s shoulders,
into Kentaro\'s room and they fell on the floor, laughing drunkenly.
Kentaro nudged the door shut with his foot and he hauled himself to his
feet. Only to wobble, almost falling back down, and he made his way
to his bed and collapsed on it.

Ranma giggled and seeing where Kentaro went, she stood up and
fell on his bed as well, arms outstretched and feeling so much on top of
the world.

Exams were over! Finally!

After a long while, Kentaro didn\'t know how long, he suddenly
realized that his hand was resting on top of Ranma\'s.

Ranma seemed to notice it too and she giggled again, wrapping her
fingers about his own. Neither of them moved for long minutes.

Then Ranma wiggled closer to Kentaro, and drew him closer to
her with her hand. Kentaro looked deep into Ranma\'s eyes, and she
into his. Her lips beckoned to Kentaro and he dipped in closer to her,
his own lips parting.

Suddenly, something changed in their relationship, a turning point
of no return. Kentaro didn\'t know what had come over him but he
suddenly found himself kissing Ranma passionately. She responded in
kind, her tongue seeking his and caressing it.

Then she broke the kiss. Kentaro started to unbutton Ranma\'s shirt,
Ranma lying back on the bed as he stripped the shirt off her shoulders.
She kept looking at him shyly and giggled drunkenly as her shirt
fell off her shoulders and settled on the bed. Then Kentaro was
somehow denuded from the waist up and the two of them began to kiss,
and fondle, each other.

Again, Kentaro didn\'t know when he took Ranma\'s pants and
underwear off, nor did he know when he had taken his own off. All
that mattered to him was Ranma\'s willing body.
* * *
Ranma broke another kiss with Kentaro and poked his body with
her finger. It felt hard, due to the training she had given him. And it
was not the only thing that was hard, as she looked down between his
legs.

That made her halt for a split second and she felt that something
just wasn\'t right, but Kentaro lowered himself on her and all her
misgivings vanished.

The room swirled in a fascinating mixture of colors and lights - the
only thing that stayed constant was the feeling of Kentaro on top of her.

The two of them had been drinking alcohol spiked with some
hallucinogenic drug, and only their martial arts training had kept them
from throwing up or passing out like everyone else who had drunk from
the keg of sake. They had retained enough wits about themselves to
stagger somewhere and now she was on something soft with her love on
top of her. What more could she ask?

Then all thoughts vanished as she laughed and pulled Kentaro
closer to her and began to kiss him - again. It seemed to go on for
hours, the two of them partaking of each other, their hands caressing
each other\'s body.

The hour turned to the next, and Kentaro\'s desk clock signalled it
with an electronic rendition of a bell. Neither Ranma nor Kentaro
noticed, nor cared.

Ranma let Kentaro neck her and she closed her eyes and sighed in
pleasure as she melted into his strong embrace. Nothing else mattered
but the touch of his body on hers, and the kisses he bestowed upon her
willing lips. Her naked body shone with perspiration and rubbed slickly
on Kentaro\'s sweat covered body. His touch felt hot, like fire, and she
yelped with pleasure as he worked his way up her neck to her lips.

He placed his hands on her breasts and began to fondle them.
Ranma gasped in ecstasy and she let him slide his hands off her breasts,
down her belly and to her butt. Then they began to stroke her sides.
She felt herself getting hot in between her legs, something she had never
experienced before. Her nipples hardened and she moaned in pleasure
when Kentaro buried his face in her breasts, kissing and nibbling them
alternately.

Then the effects of the spiked alcohol began to wear off.

Ranma felt herself coming back into control of her body while she
was touching Kentaro\'s with her hands - again, running her fingers over
every inch she could reach.

She had been thoroughly enjoying the experience of tracing little
paths on his back when she felt something hard and hot probe the inside
of her thigh. Kentaro grunted. Curious, she reached down and grabbed
it with one hand. And she felt it all over.

Suddenly, as if a key had been turned in her mind, she realized
*what* exactly she was doing with Kentaro - and what Kentaro was
about to do with her. With a disgusted scream, she released her grip
and quickly wiped her hands on the bedsheet.

She looked up into Kentaro, who was looking down at her breasts
with desire, and she shrieked out loud. Then she pushed Kentaro off
herself and took a good look, the realization striking her like a ton of
bricks.

She...she was naked! And so was he!! Oh God!! How the hell
did it happen!?

Kentaro began to kiss her again but she slapped him away. He
chuckled, the smell of alcohol finally registering to her, and he began
to neck her instead. When she slapped him away again, her mind still
too much in shock to do anything else, Kentaro grabbed both of her
breasts in his hands, squeezing them gently, and he moved his hips
closer to hers, his groin almost touching hers.

Winding up, Ranma gave Kentaro the hardest slap of her life and
Kentaro flew into the wall.

Then she grabbed the blanket and wrapped it about herself, and she
looked angrily and fearfully at Kentaro, who was clutching his head and
moaning.
* * *
Kentaro\'s room began to resolve itself from the whirl of colors and
lights, and he started to return to himself. And he felt the sharp,
stinging pain on his face and he howled when his questing fingers
touched his tender skin. His senses began to return to him and all his
martial arts training took hold of him, returning him to sobrierty.

Kentaro looked over at Ranma, who was clutching a blanket over
herself. His blanket. He saw her red silk shirt and her black pants on
the floor, beside his own blue shirt and black pants. Then he
remembered what he and Ranma had been doing, and what he had been
about to do....

Ranma shrieked again, and again, until Kentaro moved up close
and put a hand on her shoulder. She slapped him again but Kentaro
looked at her with as sober an expression as he could.

\"Ranma, I\'m sorry. Please forgive me.\" He moved back and
bowed his head to the bed and Ranma yelled at him. The moment he
got up he was greeted by a furious Ranma, who threw herself on him
and began to hit him with the ball of her fists. He took the punishment
all in stride, feeling the almost rhythmic pounding of her fists, until he
heard her crying.
* * *

And what made it worse was that, even when she recalled it, she
still found that she had enjoyed it! She had loved to feel his defined abs
and his hard chest. She had loved it, even thrilled to it, when his
fingers had caressed her body. It was only when she had reached down
with her hand and....

It was still too vivid in her mind to bear recalling, suffice to say
that she had suddenly realized that they were about to have sex.

Her tears streamed forth and some of it fell off her face and onto
Kentaro, but she didn\'t care.

She wanted, with all her heart, to hate Kentaro for what HE had
done, but she couldn\'t. She was as much at fault as he was. If she
remembered correctly, she was the one who started the whole thing by
pulling him closer to herself. Kentaro nearly finished it, too.
Besides, she...she did...lo...

Then Kentaro slowly pushed her off him, and he reached down and
grabbed her clothes. He put her clothing before her and turned about.
Even now the fires of desire lit her eyes when she saw his well-defined
shoulder blades and his narrow waist. She swallowed her lust and
reached for her clothing - but her hand stopped halfway there. It didn\'t
move for minutes, the only sounds in the room were their labored
breathing and the sounds of Ranma fidgeting on the bed.

Then something undefinable crossed her mind and before she could
stop herself she opened her mouth and spoke that thought.

\"Kentaro. Umm, I...err...wouldn\'t..really mind if..if we keep on,
you know, err...going the way.....we were. Kentaro. I...I enjoyed it.\"

Kentaro turned about and a half-smile formed on his lips.

\"I wouldn\'t mind too, Ranma, but it was the alcohol that was
controlling us. I would like to...err...*you know*....\"

\"But we\'re sober now\", said Ranma uneasily.

\"We didn\'t start it. The alcohol started it. You didn\'t make the
choice of your own free will. And neither did I. I have strong feelings
for you, and I\'m sure that you have the same for...for me, but the point
is that you didn\'t choose. Are you going to choose now, Ranma? Tell
me.\"

Ranma was silent for long minutes. Then, slowly, she shook her
head. Kentaro\'s shoulders slumped just a little but he swallowed his
disappointment. It was Ranma\'s choice, not his.

\"Ranma, I had made a promise to you on our first date. I said that
I would wait for you, however long it may take. I...I\'m willing to hold
back until you\'re ready.\"

Kentaro took a deep breath.

\"Until you say so, Ranma, let it be so.\" His voice cracked slightly
near the end and he struggled to hold back tears. His deepset fear that
Ranma would suddenly not love him anymore reared its ugly head.

Ranma suddenly threw herself on Kentaro, dropping the blanket.
Their naked bodies touched but Ranma only hugged Kentaro tight. Then
Kentaro cupped her face in his hands and brought it close to his. For
once Ranma\'s look was not one of fright, nor fear, but one of
anticipation. He tilted his head and kissed her passionately.

And she responded in kind. It was as if a barrier had been broken.
It was as if a dam had opened, pouring all of Ranma\'s feelings for him
in a torrent that threatened to wash him away. The passion she had
shown while they were drunk felt false and contrived compared to the
complete baring of her soul to Kentaro.

They broke the kiss. Then Ranma began to pull on her clothing
in front of Kentaro, not worrying that he was watching her dress.
Kentaro did the same and he began to pull his clothing on as well. She
turned to Kentaro as he was tucking in his shirt.

\"I\'m not ready yet, Kentaro, but do you remember the poem I
pointed out to you on our first date?\"

\"I have it memorized. `So cold the winter gales blow, then the
warming of spring melts the snow, giving rise to a wondrous whirlwind
of leaves, held aloft by the autumn breezes, and starting to fly, up into
the blazing glory of an azure summer sky\'. Right?\"

\"I didn\'t point it out to you for nothing, Kentaro. Just remember
this....it is only the beginning of summer for us, Kentaro.\" Ranma
waited for Kentaro to respond.

\"The beginning of summer.....I like that.\"

Ranma hugged him a final time, then she left the room, slowly
closing the door behind her while looking at Kentaro. Then, before the
door closed completely, she waved goodbye to him. He waved back and
the door shut.

Kentaro moved to lock it but something told him not to. On a
hunch, he opened the door. Ranma was still standing out there, looking
at him. She broke into a smile and walked off. Suddenly, Kentaro was
glad that he hadn\'t locked the door.

He stepped over to his bed and collapsed on it, looking up at the
ceiling.

His last thoughts, before he fell asleep, were of Ranma.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author\'s notes : C&C is welcome and will be replied to as deemed
appropriate.

The use of SPIKED alcohol as a cheap (emphasis on that) plot
device may be disgusting and offensive to some BUT how else can I
portray Ranma showing her true feelings for Kentaro, when they\'re both
naked, WHILE setting it up so that Ranma would react violently when
the issue of sex rears its ugly head? If Ranma was sober, she wouldn\'t
even get naked in the first place (any fool knows the implications of
stripping naked with a member of the opposite sex in a bedroom).

So, sorry if I offended some people but that\'s the way it happened
in my story. It is not unusual for people to get drunk, you know, and
what happened thereafter with Ranma and Kentaro is the result of a
\'diet\' of two and a half years of dates and semi-passionate kisses when
we know full well that Ranma and Kentaro really love each other.

- WebDragon

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