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Chapter Text

Freezing, almost scalding, even. Pitch black, he could see his breath take shape as an array of sharp exhales left him, feeling like his skin was peeling off the longer he was there. 

Where was there? 

He looked around, making out vague shapes of people and nothing more. He felt scared, to say the least, willing to admit it for the first time in a long time. There was no one else here anyway.

---

He jolted; eyes wide open as he took a deep breath. Slowly, he reached to his forehead, wincing in pain. "Ow..." Ranma mumbled, barely awake. 

His head was throbbing in pain, which hadn't been unusual in this situation, it didn't help that his throat was dry and he was soaking in sweat. He smacked his mouth trying to conjure some sort of saliva before opting for a drink of water instead, even if that meant getting up. Not like it mattered, his bedding was sweaty and stuffy anyway.

He yawned; how many times this week has this happened? Always waking up to the same nightmare not even able to remember it, just knowing. Ranma shook his head before sitting up, he was getting sick of this, how much more could a boy take before going crazy? How long would this go on? Almost every night for the last few weeks had been like this: a wave of fear coming and washing over him in a second with a splitting headache preventing him from falling asleep again.

Quietly he crept down the stairs, holding one hand to his head trying to cool the headache down but it was no use, he was all warm from the sweating. On his way to the kitchen, he spotted the clock, briefly, reading four a.m. It was always four a.m. when this happened, wasn't it? Never five or six, around the time that most normal people woke up, but always four. He rolled his eyes as he walked past. 

He groaned, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge quickly spotting the pitcher of water Kasumi always kept stocked. As he took it out to serve himself, he thanked Kasumi in his mind, smiling a bit in his appreciation for his older sister. He took a desperate drink of water, finishing the cup in two gulps before letting out a sigh of relief, there was one problem solved.  He pressed the cup to his head, feeling the cool condensation meet his forehead and offering some temporary relief to his pain. Ranma, slowly relaxed his shoulders as he let the coolness of the empty cup relieve him of his discomfort, replacing the cup with the pitcher itself once the cup had given away all it had to offer. He could almost fall asleep like this. 

"Ow." Ranma winced, it was too cold now, way too cold. He put a hand to his head and tried to rub the pain away, but that never worked. In defeat, Ranma put the pitcher away and set his glass in the sink, slinking his way back upstairs to lay in his futon with his eyes closed until Kasumi woke up. 

---

"Ranma!" Akane knocked on the door, sliding it open quietly before peeking her head in, seeing a large panda and his wife fast asleep but no Ranma. She raised an eyebrow. "What's he up to this morning?" She shut the door, not as quietly as she had opened it. 

Akane had been worried lately. Usually, she woke Ranma up before school if he hadn't already woken her up, that's how it had always been after all. But lately, he's been up before her, training, eating, or occasionally doing schoolwork he wouldn't usually do. Once or twice, she had found him doing some sort of household chore, on occasion he would even go out to the backyard to feed the fish but that had made her worry even more, it was getting cold out, and knowing how easily cold water attracts to him she couldn't help but worry more than she initially had been. Still, she went to his room every morning to see if she caught him in time, today was no different. 

The short-haired girl jotted down the stairs as quickly as possible, checking the kitchen first, followed by the living room which both appeared to be without her fiancé. She frowned, fiancé, sure. A failed wedding, a near-death experience, and yet they were still engaged. She didn't necessarily have a problem with it, she just found it weird that their fathers still hadn't been able to call it off after all that. Sure, she liked Ranma, and sure, Ranma probably liked her too, but the whole engagement was just too much. If anything, it was just driving them away from each other at this point. She shook her head, this was not the time to think about that, a topic for another day. 

Akane walked towards the training hall; if he wasn't there, he wasn't anywhere. She opened the door curiously, peeking her head in before her eyes immediately spotted her target lying on the ground with his eyes closed, looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. She put her hands to her hips, raising an eyebrow as she observed him, eventually shrugging, just happy that he was at least dressed. The young girl walked over, looming over him, waiting to be noticed. 

"Morning," Akane said. "The training hall isn't for napping, Ranma, don't you know?"

The pig-tailed boy peeked through one eye before closing it again, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know, that's why I ain't nappin'." 

"Oh, then what are you doing?" Akane rolled her eyes. "Resting your eyes?" She said, a sarcastic smile plastered across her face.

Ranma frowned. "As a matter of fact, yes, I woke up too early this mornin' so I'm tired."

"Oh, is that so? Why didn't you just go back to bed then?" 

"Eh, it wasn't comfortable." 

Akane paused. "It wasn't comfortable? Ranma, I've seen you sleep on rooftops and dirt, how was your futon uncomfortable?" 

"It just wasn't." Ranma sighed. "Look, let's not question the logic here, just trust me I couldn't get comfortable."

"Mmm, alright then." Akane gave in, a little dissatisfied with the answer. "We gotta get going, you still haven't eaten breakfast and we gotta head to school. I don't want to be late and I'm sure Kuno will be waiting for us at the gate this morning."

Bothered but willing at the sound of Kuno's threat, Ranma opened his eyes, squinting as he adjusted to the light before throwing up his arms, mumbling a quiet 'alright'. Akane looked between his arms and him, confused as she tried to make out the situation. He made small grasping motions with his hands before getting frustrated. 

"Help me up, idiot, do I gotta spell it out for you?" Ranma snapped. "I know your built like a rock but do you gotta have the wits of one too?" 

Akane, now irate, grabbed one arm and pulled him up with as much force as she could, paying no mind to his yowl of pain or the small cracks she heard while walking away. 

"Oh, don't be dramatic, you're awake now, aren't you?" 

---

An awful morning, an awful week, and an awful month. If that headache of his had yet to cease by the end of first period, maybe he'd just up and die from the pain and sleep deprivation to put him out of his misery. He scoffed, there was no time to die right now, he thought to himself, doing quick stretches as the two walked to school, he still had that weirdo to fight after all. Ranma frowned at the thought of him.

Oh, Kuno Tatewaki, the bane of Ranma's high school existence. Annoying, egocentric, and a martial artist with a determination that would not let him quit. Not that it helped but dumb as a rock too, he wondered how his bloodline had survived as long as it had if it could produce people like the Kunos'. 

Ranma stifled a yawn, cracking his neck as the two approached the school and quickly picked up their pace. The two gave each other a knowing look, confident that they would get by with no trouble as per usual. 

"Catch!" Ranma threw up his bag. "I'll get him in time for us to eat a snack before class." 

Akane hid a smile, catching the bag and running a bit ahead. "I'll wait for you at the front door then." She looked over, seeing him smile at her with confidence and wasted no time to return the look. She liked it when he looked at her like that. 

"Ranma!" cried Kuno. "Prepare to face me like the man you claim to be!" 

The pair rolled their eyes. 

"My dear Akane, allow me to save you from this wretched animal!" Kuno lunged forward, roses in hand as he reached toward Akane. 

Without much hesitation she slid past him, allowing him to hit the floor with the roses as his cushion. "You two have fun!" She said, sticking out her tongue. 

Kuno groaned, quickly regaining his composure and redirecting his focus to his original target. He grit his teeth as he pointed a wooden sword in the other boy's face. "You have turned this fair maiden away from me; she no longer embraces my affections, you monster! Come, let us fight!" 

Ranma smiled, cocky as per usual, everyone was aware of how this would end. "Alright, as long as I'm not late for first period." 

As soon as the words had left his mouth Kuno had swung at Ranma, quickly picking up pace. No hesitation in Kuno and no worry in Ranma. 

Left, right, left, then left again. Ranma was aware of his fighting style, predictable and comfortable. He smiled, even sleep-deprived he was still on a whole other level from Kuno. He wouldn't ever lose here, this was a game with no competition and no losses at stake. Without a second thought, he let his eyes close, a moment of relief washing over him until...

WHAM! 

Right on the head. A strike on the head from a wooden sword swung full force. Ranma's eyes shot open as he felt the pain in his skull spread, his head throbbing harder than before, feeling like his head was about to split. 

"Ow!" Ranma backed away, stumbling.

With no chance for a quick recovery, Kuno swung once more, again, and again, each time closer and closer to hitting his mark. 

This was unusual, very unusual, thought Ranma. This is the first time the lack of sleep has affected his ability to fight Kuno, his schoolwork and ability to interact with others sure, but never this. He frowned, focusing on regaining his balance before catching the sword mid-hit with both hands, at a standstill between him and Kuno. The two boys glared daggers at each other as they attempted to regain the upper hand, it felt somewhat serious rather than it being the usual inconvenience. 

It didn't last long, their standstill, as without either noticing a certain tomboy came running to take advantage of Kuno's open stance, using his anguish as a chance to remove Ranma from the situation. The two ran into the building with the other students around them, ignoring their comments the two began their bickering.

"That was unnecessary." Ranma pulled his arm away from Akane's grasp. "I had that perfectly under control... as funny as what you did was." 

Akane huffed, removing her shoes as she walked ahead. "Yeah, well it didn't look like you had it under control, I was just helping you out." She threw his bookbag at him, watching him catch it swiftly. 

"I was fine." Ranma continued, scowling back as he joined her at their shoe lockers. He lowered his voice, making sure no one else was listening to them. "I was just too confident, a one-time thing, really." 

Akane paused, looking at him with doubt and annoyance. "I dunno, Ranma, you looked really hurt back there for a second." She pressed the back of her hand to his head, brushing past his bangs. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Ranma took a deep breath, wanting to let himself relax and let her check him for injuries, but not here, not with all these people around. He pulled her hand away, smoothly before scratching the back of his head. He let out a calm exhale. "I'm fine, like I said, just too confident."

Slowly pulling her hand away, Akane pushed the immediate sense of worry away and turned around. If was it important he would tell her, she assured herself. "Alright, whatever you say. But if you feel any pain tell me, it sounded like one nasty hit after all." She said, walking ahead of him. "Let's go now, before Kuno regains his strength, I wanna eat a bit before class starts." She smiled. 

The pig-tailed boy felt a grin grow on his face, ignoring the pain in his head he caught up to her, pulling two pieces of melon bread out of his bag much to their delight. 

Akane began to converse with him normally, but in her mind lingered the idea of him hiding something from her. It was all too weird, she knew something was wrong, the early mornings, the odd behavior, now losing the upper hand so easily to Kuno, he even admitted to being overly confident, when had he ever done that before? Something was going on that he wasn't telling her, and she would make sure to find out.

---

It was midday, currently gym hour for their class. It was full of the usual warm-ups and games that everyone was used to for the typical autumn day, playing indoor volleyball in the gym, since, after all, it was getting cold out. Such was your typical late November day. One could say that everyone was having fun, but looking onto the sidelines, sat a very bored, half-awake, pigtailed boy, or at least that's how he appeared. 

Ranma could feel a burn growing on the back of his head. It wasn't just any burning, no, it was one he was very familiar with: his tomboy's fiancée's eyes were burning a hole in the back of his head. He pondered and pondered on what could be causing this, thinking back throughout the last few days, weeks even, to try and see if anything could be the reason for her glare. Long minutes came up with nothing, surely there was a reason, even if it was stupid and not his fault, she didn't get angry with him without reason. He swallowed his spit, afraid to meet her eyes. This whole nightmare thing was really getting to him, making his memory worse than it already was if he really couldn't think of a reason. He closed his eyes.

"Are you sleeping?" 

Startled, Ranma felt his heart jump to his throat before regaining his composure, looking up and spotting a very familiar brunette looking down at him, he relaxed into his palms. "No, please don't sneak up on me like that." He yawned.

Ukyo looked a bit confused, finding his response a little odd. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare ya like that." She crouched down. "You seem tired and lonely waiting for your turn to play, usually your more... I dunno lively. Where are all your little buddies?"

Ranma pointed to his right, showing a very uncoordinated Daisuke and an equally miscalculated Hiroshi playing against a different group of boys. "We've been separated. What about you? Where're your lil' gal pals, anyway?... Also, you're not supposed to be over here with the guys, Ucchan, last time I checked." 

The brunette scoffed, dismissing his question entirely as if the answer was obvious. "The teacher doesn't care, besides, the girls playing right now equally stink, if it were Akane and I on opposin' sides that game would never end." 

"Ha, right, that girl's pretty good at volleyball, she'd give even you a run for your money." The pig-tailed boy snorted. "But still, you shouldn't be over here."

Ukyo rested her chin on her palm, her typical smile ran across her face. "I know, but you looked like you were gonna pass out. You'd get into worse trouble if I let you fall asleep." 

Ranma turned his head towards her, his smile fading as he raised an eyebrow. "I looked like that?" 

"Yeah, you've looked a little dead all week if you hadn't noticed, bet that blow from Kuno didn't help." The brunette ruffled his hair, standing up, beggining to walk off. "Anyway, you should get some sleep during history, sure you'll be able to that pull that off with ease." She laughed. 

Ranma only waved her off in return, patting his hair flat quickly since she was no longer looking. 

Was Ukyo worried for him? If she was beginning to notice maybe it was getting more serious than he was willing to admit. He leaned against the wall, letting his head hit the mats behind him, wondering what he could do about his sleeping problems.

---

"Ranma's been a bit weird lately don't you think?" Akane posed to her sister. 

Kasumi lifted her head up from her magazine briefly, seeing her youngest sister laid cross from her watching TV, questioning whether or not she had actually spoken at all. 

"Well, when I think about it," Kasumi hummed. "He has been acting a little weird lately."

Akane fell to her side. "You got any idea why, maybe?" 

Kasumi racked her brain for a moment, rerunning the past few weeks in her head before answering. "I don't know, maybe he's trying to make changes to his life lately? He's been getting up pretty early, earlier than me." 

The youngest Tendo tried her best to hide her shock, swallowing her saliva before continuing the conversation. "Really?" 

"Well, every night we do the dishes, but for the last month or so every morning I wake up to a dirty glass in the sink, and then, not even an hour later, Ranma comes downstairs to do menial tasks. After the first few days of this, he eventually told me it was him leaving the glass, so there's no doubt he gets up in the middle of the night for some water before I wake up." Kasumi frowned. "The only reason I'd find that concerning, though, is that he goes to sleep far too late to be on this sort of schedule."

Akane let the information sink in before standing up and thanking her sister as she dismissed herself to bed. Exchanging their goodnights, Akane nearly ran up the stairs to the Saotome's room and slammed open the door, spotting both Mr. and Mrs. Saotome getting ready for bed to her dismay. A bit embarrassed to have been so bold, quickly she apologized and shut the door, cursing herself for her sudden impulsivity. They had been living there over a year and still she acted as if it were his room alone. 

"What are you doing?" 

Akane whipped her head around, trying her best to contain her heart from jumping out at the sound of the question. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that it was the very person she had been looking for. Akane examined him quickly before answering, noticing the towel around his neck and his moist hair. He never let his hair dry properly with that braid in all the time.

"Nothing, actually, just looking for you." She smiled nervously. "I, um, wanted to check in on you. See if you were feeling better after today." 

Ranma pouted a bit. "Fine, just fine, could you drop that already." He rolled his eyes

"No, I can't, I'm worried, it was a really hard hit. Kuno hits hard, I know, and he got you square on the head." Akane reached forward, pulling away almost immediately after. 

"So? He's hit me before, you weren't so worried then, why the sudden concern?" 

Akane paused a short while before answering. "... Also, Sis says that you haven't been sleeping lately, or at least not as much as you should be. Says that you've been getting up before her."

She waits for him to respond, wincing a little as he begins to look upset. Still, she doesn't say anything, careful to mind her tongue, if it's important she can't risk pushing him away. 

"Maybe... Maybe a little." He admits. "I think it bruised me, just a little. But that's all, I'm perfectly fine otherwise, so tell her that I sleep more than enough." 

"You sure?" She examines his face, he does look a little tired, with bags under his eyes. How come she'd just now noticed this? "You should go to bed early, no more staying up doing who-knows-what," Akane advised, pushing past him and letting their shoulders meet, lingering in their sudden contact. 

Ranma makes sure to smile back. "Yeah, yeah, you too, sleep tight and all that." He waves her off, watching her walk away into her own room.

He sighs, dreading the long night ahead of him.

---

Akane can't seem to sleep, she's even more worried now than before, to say the least. Her conversation with Ranma didn't help ease her worries at all, in fact, it only made them worse. He was way too friendly with her for starters, he wouldn't usually return her attempts to be friendly with him as he had today. Usually, he'd ruin it somehow by being mean like earlier today. She rolled to her side, seeing how it was almost four which was just great for her, school would be such a blast today. 

The youngest Tendo had done everything she could to fall asleep, everything. She had studied, read a book, written in her diary, and exercised to see if it would tire her out all to no success. Oh, she was tired, that she was, but still restless. Akane shut her eyes, trying to relax her body so that she would stop thinking too deeply about Ranma. He was fine, he was always fine in no matter what happened to him.

He had been fine whenever he'd fall down trees, to when he'd been hit with Shampoo's bike to when some sort of out-of-this-world thing had attacked him. He was always able to bounce back, no matter what.

Even after Mount Pheonix.

She felt her shoulders relax but was quickly snapped out of it, hearing a soft 'ow' outside her door, alerting her immediately. 

Quietly she crept to her door and pressed her ear close, listening intently to any suspicious sound there could be. It didn't take long before a door slid open, footsteps following. She waited for the footsteps to further themselves before opening her own door, carefully shutting it behind her as she crept down the stairs on high alert. 

There was movement in the kitchen and undecipherable words being spoken as she approached; she stopped near the corridor and simply listened to the movements and the little sounds the person made, quickly figuring out it was Ranma. Akane pressed herself closer to the wall, what could he be doing? Slowly she tried to peak over into the kitchen, careful to be as discrete as possible. But as soon as she turned her head there he was, cold in his expression before giving her a disapproving glare. To say it scared her would be an understatement, she felt her heart freeze before calming down and giving him a guilty smile.

"What are you doin' up?" Ranma whispered, a cup pressed against his forehead. 

Akane bit her tongue, what was he doing? In his fluffy PJ's, a cup pressed to his head he was questioning her. Now that she wasn't shocked, he looked a bit crazy when she thought about it. "Nothing, just following you I guess." 

"You guess?" 

"Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what on earth is up with you lately but standing here I'm guessing... your head still hurts?" She reached over, touching his head with her fingertips to feel for a bump. "I can make you an ice pack if you'd like." 

Ranma didn't fight back, mumbling something to himself before answering her. "I'll take one since you're offering."

Akane walked past him, urging him to sit down. She retrieved the ice from the freezer and slid it into a small bag, tying it with a knot before placing it directly atop his head. Immediately he relaxed while he leaned his head back, pushing the pack closer to his forehead rather than his injury. He looked peaceful. 

What now? Should she ask him what was wrong? He's gotten hit worse in the past but never has he looked like this. Restless, tired, a bit pale now that she thought about it. She frowned, why couldn't he just spit it out and tell her what was wrong? She was worried.

"Have you been having trouble sleeping?" Akane asked a bit firmer than she had intended. "You've been a bit strange lately. Your bed's uncomfortable, you've been waking up super early, and you look a bit... never mind, you've been off your game at school and now even in fights with Kuno, what's up?" 

Ranma sighed, not opening his eyes. "It's nothing, Akane, I swear-" 

"It's not nothing, please just tell me what's wrong with you. No more beating around the bush, you're starting to look sick." She paused. "You're starting to worry me."

Ranma, his eyes wide at her sudden admission. He wanted to roll his eyes but she was being so serious, and he was so tired. Maybe telling her would alleviate the stress in some way. "I dunno, honestly. It's been a month, and this keeps happening, where I can't seem to sleep." He lifted his head straight, shooting her a coy smile. "You're really worried about me?"

Akane crossed her arms. "Well, of course, this isn't funny Ranma, something is wrong with you and I want to help." 

Her fiancé's smile slipped as he looked away, almost embarrassed of what he had said. He wouldn't be able to tease himself way out of this, would he? 

"Well, tough luck, this isn't something you can fix, Akane. So why don't you run up to your little room and sleep until school starts. If you run you could get a good 3 hours." He leaned back into his chair. "Thanks for the ice pack, 'kane, sleep tight." 

Akane scowled, tempted to smack some sense into him before holding back, violence couldn't be the solution here as much as she'd like it to be right now. She massaged her brows, taking a deep breath. "I'll decide that, so tell me. Tell me what's wrong and if I can't figure out a solution I'll be on my merry way." The young Tendo marched to the seat next to her fiancé, sitting down and facing him, waiting for him to say something. 

Ranma frowned, she wasn't going to leave him alone, was she? No, she wasn't, he knew that but... the very idea of explaining his misery made him nauseous, especially with her, the one person on the planet he would rather die than admit weakness to. He peaked under his ice pack to look at her, her face trying so hard to appear serious, it was cute, something that he would also rather die than admit to. He closed his eyes again. 

"You're gonna think it's weird." 

"Weirder than I already think this is?" 

"You're not gonna understand it."

"I'll have a better understanding than I do now."

"... You're not gonna back out of this, are you?"

"Not a chance." Akane declared, scooting closer to him. "Let me help you." 

Ranma lifted his head up, letting his ice pack rest on his head as the two locked eyes, ever unmoving. He felt the water from the bag run down his hair onto his face, the ice was melting. He didn't like that feeling, it made him feel like he was sweating excessively. He looked away, towards the window, and out to the yard, seeing it was still dark out. 

"I think I'm having nightmares, or I'm sure I'm having nightmares, I can't even remember enough to explain well. They're real weird and hard to talk about." He said. "In the dream, it's pitch black and cold, and it's not your typical type of cold it's like the kind that burns your skin, that kind of cold... But I'm there and I feel-well-um." He pauses, a lump forming in his throat before murmuring softly, almost mouthing. "-Scared... then I wake up around the time I did today." 

Akane put a hand to her lips, unsure of what to say, thankfully for her, he kept talking. 

"It doesn't happen every night, but almost every night. So today, when Kuno got hit, it was completely the fault of sleep deprivation. Under no other circumstances would I let his ugly mug strike me like that-" The boy stopped, shaking his head. "-whatever, you already know that no need for me to go on."

Akane looked down at her hands, a pang of sympathy for the boy across her. "I know, I know, you never lose and all that. How could I not, I am alive after all." 

Ranma looked over at her, seeing nothing but love in her gaze. To lie and say that it didn't make him melt would be nothing more than a farce; he couldn't brush her off as much as he would've liked. He sighed, averting her eyes once more before continuing their conversation. 

"If you can keep it on the down low, I'll let you help me." He crossed his arms, snotty in his delivery. 

For a moment he was sure she would try and pummel him to the ground for his attitude but was merely met with a kind smile. She grabbed his hand, excited to finally be able to help him and not be in the dark. She could help him, and she would not let him down. 

Chapter Text

The day flew by after that, though, with more precaution on Akane's part now that she knew what was going on with her fiancé. Through their routine she stayed close to him, making sure to not sleep in class or let her anger get the best of her and ruin the little confidence Ranma had placed in her earlier that morning. Still, there were close calls, there was no such thing as a peaceful day in their lives after all, but at the end of the dinner, Akane whispered something into her fiancé's ear who offered a nod in return, both sure to have kept that interaction on the down low. 

The two took their baths, completing their nighttime routines and saying their goodnights, finally laying in their beds. Waiting and waiting for the right time to move. 

Ranma peeked one eye open, leering over to his right and spotting his parents sleeping peacefully just as they always had. It made sense, his dad was always a heavy sleeper and before Ranma's whole nightmare problem began, he too was also a rather heavy sleeper, he had to have inherited it from somewhere after all. Slowly he lifted his head, quietly peering over his father's large panda belly to spot his mother, she looked to be sleeping. His mother was a different story from his dad, she woke up at the slightest sound and was therefore a foil in the current operation. If she woke up and asked him what he was doing, he knew he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of it and would then proceed to have her suspicious eye for the next few days. Slowly, he removed the covers from his body, slithering out of his bedding and creeping towards the sliding door, sure to open it just enough to escape. 

It wasn't a battle to make it over to Akane's room, he spent enough time in this house to know where the floorboards creaked, where to step, and which to avoid were second nature to him at this point. Quickly, he made it to her door, carefully opened it just enough to sneak in, and shut it behind him. Of course, all of his hard work was almost lost once he got a good look at what he had walked into. For a moment he thought the sleep deprivation had finally gotten him and had him hallucinating. 

"You're late, I said to be here like five minutes ago." Akane spun around on her chair. "You've thrown off my whole schedule." 

Ranma blinked. "Huh?" 

Annoyed, but as if not surprised, Akane presented her room, like it was obvious what was happening to everyone except Ranma. "I've made a sleeping haven." 

Looking around there on the desk were candles lit along with incense creating a pleasing smell, wafting along the room, on the floor was a futon with a multitude of pillows, a bowl of hot towels, and a rolling pin next to it. Ranma still wasn't quite sure where this was heading, it felt like a trap if he had to be honest. He rubbed his eyes.   

Slowly, Ranma put his hand on the doorknob, twisting it as he spoke. "Okay, um, I think this isn't gonna work out after all, thanks for-ah! let go!" Ranma protested. 

As per usual, Akane ignored him, shushing him as she pulled her fiancé down, pushing him to sit down on the futon. "Shut it, just trust me." She grabbed him by the shoulders, staring into his eyes as she told him. "I've been thinking all day about this, and you will not walk away from me, okay? This problem could be from an assortment of reasons, one of which could be poor sleeping arrangements and habits." 

"Poor sleeping what-a-what?" 

"Poor, sleeping arrangements and habits." Akane cleared her throat, sitting next to him on the outside of the futon. "You sleep like a slob-no, worse, you sleep like an animal which could be one of the root causes of your nightmares. So today, I'm having you sleep like a king-no, better, like a baby." 

"...Like a baby?" Ranma said slowly, pausing between every word before he scoffed. "I'm not a baby, besides, the problem is waking up, not falling asleep."

"I know but think about it." Akane leaned closer to him as she began on a tangent. "Nightmares could be caused by stressful situations, and being in a completely relaxed state could help you at least get restful sleep." She furrowed her eyebrows, crossing her arms. "And I only had today to put this all together, surely I can come up with something better by tomorrow if this doesn't help at all... Just trust me." She pleaded.

After a distrustful look was thrown Ranma shrugged, surely nothing could make his situation worse. "Fine."

Akane smiled, one of those smiles that she only gave him when she was really happy, something that had been a bit of a rare occurrence as of late now that Ranma had thought about it. Ever since they had gotten back from mount phoenix, she'd turned a little more serious, a little less her.

"Okay, great, lie on your stomach quick," Akane demanded. "I'm gonna roll out your muscles." 

Ah, fear. "You know, Akane, that isn't really-"

"Nope, this is for the most ultimate state of relaxation, you need your body to be knotless." Akane pat his shoulder, almost as if offering comfort. "Besides, I do it on myself and Nabiki all the time, I'm great at it you have nothing to worry about." 

"Yeah except for your gorilla-like strength." Ranma leaned away. 

A moment of silence passed as something very familiar for the two of them hung in the air. The two knew where this was going, to say the least. 

"Lie on your stomach." Akane grabbed the rolling pin from the ground, eyeing both him and the pin as she spoke. "You have no choice, I'm in complete power here." 

It was true, if he ran away it would only attract attention, and this setting would not work in his favor, to say the least. The candles, the lightning- just everything would not be a good look. Finally, in defeat, he laid down. 

"In my will, I want it stated you get nothing when you inevitably kill me." Ranma huffed. 

"Nothing is all you have to offer anyway." Akane struck his head with the pin, careful to not hurt him. "Whatever, I'm just doing your legs anyway." She set the pin vertically on his calf, caring little for his pleas to count down from 3 before beginning. 

It didn't last long, Ranma couldn't help but squirm under the pressure, he had never really liked rolling out his muscles since there was too much to work through. Akane had tried going quickly, and slowly, both with a distraction at separate times but to no success, Ranma's muscles were a mess, too difficult to work through even for her brute strength. She had to be honest, there hadn't been anyone else this difficult to unknot, most could be worked through. 

Akane took a deep breath, looking over at the clock and reading 10:30; it was getting late, and she had to move on. Slowly, she looked over at his shoulders and ignoring any of his complaints about the process she crawled over and felt his shoulders: stiff and even worse than his legs somehow. Tuning him out without a second thought she pressed them, trying not the think about the fact that she was giving Ranma of all people a massage. 

"Those are not my legs, Akane," Ranma commented trying to release himself from her grip. But it was all pointless, with little care he was shoved back down as Akane meticulously worked into his shoulders. He tried to fight her off, it hurt like nothing else and with her graceless display of strength it seemed every motion was a sharp jab. But the more she worked into him, the less he fought back as if her once aimless force had finally found a steady pace of pressure, and with more time, it didn't even seem painful.

Mindlessly he closed his eyes, focusing on nothing as his mind went blank. Just drifting into the rhythm the two had seemed to establish. For a moment he felt like he was drifting off to sleep, but it didn't last long as the pressure came to halt and with it his sleepiness. 

"How do you feel?" Akane asked. 

"... Actually? Pretty good." Ranma flipped onto his back, staring at her ceiling as he adjusted to the sudden wave of calm he had. "I didn't think that'd actually work." 

"Really- I mean, of course you do." The Tomboy laughed, leaning on one arm, relaxing her posture. "You just had to trust me, and you have to keep trusting me." 

Ranma glanced over at her, a little less hesitant to continue than before. "What do you have in mind?"

His fiancee smiled, urging him to lie down, propping up pillows as he lay. Quickly she covered him with his blanket as she wiped a hot towel across his face, having him close his eyes. Quietly, he waited for her to say something, she had given him no instruction yet and the fact that she was being so gentle with him was beginning to undo all the destressing they had just done on his muscles. It wasn't usual, or in any way familiar, to have her take care of him in such a way, he almost felt the need to stand up and run away from the shock, but still, there he lay, waiting for it all to make sense. 

Akane sat near his head, stifling a yawn of her own she reached to his pigtail, tugging at the plastic band tying his tightly knit braid. 

"What are you doing?" Ranma grabbed her hand, moments before his hair came undone, his eyes wide open. 

"Taking out your pigtail, duh, dummy." She rolled her eyes. "You can't relax if your hair is all done up, besides, it's not like it'll grow out of control this time around." 

Ranma pursed his lips, loosening the grip on her wrist. "Still, I'm more comfortable with it like this rather than down and crazy." 

"It won't be crazy." She scoffed. 

"You don't know my hair, there's a reason my mom has her hair up all the time," Ranma warned. 

"Yeah, but that's cause she's a mom, they never have their hair down." 

"But she's different, this beautiful hair comes at a price, Akane, I am tellin' you." 

Akane frowned, putting her hands in the air and subsequently letting her fiancé's hair plop onto the pillow. She shrugged; it was best not to push her limits. "Alright, for today we leave it as it is. Now close your eyes again, you're getting less sleepy." She brushed her hand down his eyelids, reaching back up to wisp hair away from his eyes. 

Ranma huffed, but obliged, figuring that she had a point, he was getting all riled up again. Slowly he took a deep breath, focusing solely on the silence around him and the faint smell of pine around the room, calming himself once more. Though that didn't last long, as a very horrific detail came to mind. 

Akane is still watching.

She was sitting right by his head, watching him count sheep like a baby. What could she be thinking? Did she think he looked dumb sleeping? Oh my god, was she just gonna sit there until he was asleep? Then what, would he wake up and she'd watch the look of fear hit him at 4 a.m.? As he continued to think his body tensed, beginning to sweat and without him noticing his heart picked up pace as well. 

On the other hand, Akane was beginning to drift off to sleep. She hadn't slept since yesterday morning and as much as she intended to stay up and observe Ranma sleep, her bed was just calling her name-no, screaming it. Akane leaned forward, catching herself by mere seconds, she rubbed her eyes awake. She couldn't, she couldn't disappoint him, no, she owed it to him. Just this once, she had to help him with desperate problems, he deserved at least that. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, looking over at him, only to watch him quickly shut his eyes back. 

Frowning, she poked his head. "You aren't sleeping."

Ranma opened his eyes, returning the expression. "How can I with you watching me the whole time?"

"Well, how else am I supposed to do this, I'm trying got observe anything weird with you while you're sleeping. You know like, talking or odd movements, what else do you suggest I do?" 

"Maybe just sleep? I mean, trust me when I wake up you'll know." Ranma scoffed. "Besides, I can't sleep if I know you aren't." 

Akane sat, a bit surprised at his response. Belligerent, she crawled over to her desk, putting out the candles before making it to her bed, pulling down a pillow and her blanket, and setting it parallel to Ranma's before laying on top of it. She crossed her arms. "Happy?" 

Ranma sat up, eyeing her up and down. "You don't suggest we sleep right next to each other?"

"Well, what else should I do? Since I want to be able to help you when you inevitably wake up and freak out." She closed her eyes, furrowing her brows. "Also, lay back down, you're undoing all the hard work I put into relaxing you." 

The pig-tailed boy rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath something that Akane couldn't quite make out but figured it was nothing pleasant. Carefully, he laid back down, covering himself up and trying his best to ignore the girl next to him. Again, his mind was plagued with worry, wondering what she could possibly be thinking. Though that didn't last long this time around, noticing the change in breathing from her. He lifted one eye open, slowly, before he noticed her fast asleep. 

Oh, of course, he thought, of course she was able to fall asleep with no problem. He huffed, turning his head towards her, watching her sleep. Right in front of him, so peacefully. Of the few times he had seen her sleeping, he always noticed how calm she looked. It made sense but odd nonetheless, usually she was something upset. Angry, frustrated, spent, tired, irritated, everything negative, especially with him and even more so when it came to the other girls, who had still to see the big deal with what they had done with the dojo during their almost wedding. 

Almost wedding. An even weirder thought. 

He hadn't tried to think about that time all too often, only dwelling on it when others would mention it which thankfully for him hadn't been many times. But when he would, on the occasion, he couldn't believe that they were almost married, which made him nauseous for a variety of reasons. Still, when he got over the initial disbelief he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they had gone through with it. Not a lot he, assumed, but the things that would change would be drastic, like their relationship for starters which in his head was still a bit iffy at the moment, and then other things like their school life and their home life. Like right now, if they had gotten married maybe laying right next to her while they slept would be normal, and not so nerve-wracking. 

Ranma yawned as his eyes drooped, slowly, and without him realizing it, he fell asleep. And all the previous dread from the other nights was pushed away for the time being. 

---

Ranma could hardly feel his fingers. Like always it was cold, but it was different. Looking around he saw people he could make out to be the people of his everyday life. Mom and Pops, Nabiki and Kasumi, Soun and Tofu, Hiroshi and Daisuke, Ukyo and Ryoga, Shampoo and Mousse. They all looked normal like they did every day with their usual clothes, and acted like their typical selves. All except him, shivering and huddled in a corner. 

He took a step back lowering his gaze, unable to ignore his quickening breath and pacing heart he wondered what was causing him to panic. His throat burned with every inhale. He was here surrounded by all his friends and family yet still in a panic, he couldn't understand. He looked up.

Shivers ran up his spine as goosebumps prickled along his arms. All of them looked down at him and asked him, calmly. 

Where's Akane?

---

Ranma gasped, clutching his shirt and staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. 

He remembered. 

"Ow..." Ranma winced, putting a hand to his forehead as that recurring headache made its return. 

He couldn't believe it, any of it. He couldn't believe that he remembered it just as much as he couldn't believe the absurdity of the dream. It didn't make any sense, what made this time so different from all the other nights? Was Akane actually right and maybe he needed to do all that destressing crap beforehand to remember better? He shuddered; she would have a field day with the 'I told you so's. Well maybe she deserved it this one time, she was helpful tonight. He smiled, finding the idea a little funny before a question came to mind. 

What did that dream mean? 

When Ranma thought about it, it wasn't that scary, just odd. There were no monsters, no Kuno's, no nothing that should cause fear, and yet, it had. No matter what he would never be able to shake off that feeling of fear that dream had given him. All of them asked him about Akane, and he was just frozen in fear. Fear, fear, fear, how he hated being afraid. He hadn't been afraid like that since Mount Pheonix and that was months ago, he no longer had anything to be afraid of and nobody had any business being worried about where she is. Where she is, is always with him. She's with him before school, after school, at home, in the dojo, she's even right here for crying out loud. She's always safe, far from real danger.

He looked over at his sleeping fianceé who had eye bags from the previous night. So peaceful, he was trying to figure out what to make of the nightmare. What would she even say? It was weird, so maybe he just wouldn't tell her about it.

Slowly he rolled to his side, taking a deep breath as he lifted himself. He groaned in pain before trying to move further.

"Ranma...?" Akane reached out, barely opening her eyes. "Are you okay?" she opened her eyes as soon as she made contact with his arm. 

"I'm fine, you can go back to sleep." 

"No," She rubbed her eye. "I said I wanted to see you after you wake up. Does your head hurt?" 

Ranma gapped, trying to tell her he didn't need her help but was caught off guard with her hand on his head. She was barely awake as she felt the rest of his face, which made only made sense since she wouldn't have touched him so freely if she was awake. 

"You're face feels warm." She yawned. "And sweaty."

Her fiancé frowned. "Of course I'm sweaty, I was scared, nightmares and all, that's what happens." he grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from his face. "And don't touch me so much, you're really warm." 

Akane laughed lightly. "Okay, I won't, let's get you an ice pack." She rolled to her side, letting her hair fall onto her face as she lifted herself, paying no mind to its disastrous state. 

Ranma frowned, begrudgingly following her lead and trying to resist the need to fix her hair. He hadn't ever seen it like that, she always kept it so neat. He fixed his bangs as they made it out of the room to fight the urge. 

Sneaking out was easy enough by himself, but with Akane, he wondered how no one else woke up last night considering how heavy her footsteps were, she seriously had no ability for sneaking around. He shrugged, if he mentioned it the chances of getting caught would only increase and he was in no state to deal with the entirety of the household in their business. 

When they finally made it to the kitchen and Ranma's blood pressure was finally able to settle, he went to get his usual glass of cold water as Akane prepared the ice pack. Quickly the two finished their tasks and took a seat next to each other at the table, slumping over in exhaustion.

"So, how did you sleep?" Akane asked. 

Ranma fixed the ice pack on his head. "Better." He paused, reluctant as he admitted. "I think all those things you made me do actually helped me out a bit." 

"Really?" Akane smiled. "I knew it, see, what did I tell you?" 

Rolling his eyes he couldn't help but smile back. "I knew you'd say that, still tired though." 

"Of course, one night's sleep can't fix all that but still, I was right and once I wake up I'll make sure to rub it in a bit more," She laughed. "But for now, I'm just glad I could help you for once." 

Ranma looked over at her as she yawned, looking away from him and trying to cover her mouth as she did. He stared at her and cocked his head to the side, wondering what she meant. As much as he hated to admit it, she had helped him before, even if it was against her will or better judgment or with the most rotten mood, she had helped him. She's helped him be braver, less frightened in the face of danger so what could she possibly be referring to?

In the long run, she'd helped him grow, hadn't she?

"Why are you staring at me?" Akane asked. 

"What?" Ranma blinked adjusting his eyes, snapping back into reality. 

"You were staring at me, why?" She asked once more.

"No, I wasn't." Ranma scoffed, his face reddening with embarrassment. "I wasn't staring at you, I was staring at the rat's nest on your head."

Akane frowned, kicking him under the table as her hands flew to her hair, patting it down as frantically as possible. Ranma began to kick back, lightly as he tried to hold back laughter. 

"I understand why you take so long in the morning now."

"Oh, shut up, Ranma." Akane felt her face heat up, having stopped kicking and using her hands to swat at him. "I don't spend half as much time as you do." 

"I don't take that long, I just have to make sure people look twice when I walk their way." Ranma giggled. "I have a reputation to keep up." 

Akane couldn't help but smile, finding him ridiculous. "Oh, sure, definitely, that's the reason." She stopped her hitting, covering her mouth to hold back a burst of laughter that would surely wake the whole house. "Not your ego that has you hogging the bathroom mirror for 30 minutes every day." 

Ranma grabbed her arm that had been swinging at him, he smiled as he pointed with his other hand toward himself, proudly stating. "I've got to give the people something to look at when we go out." 

"You give them that regardless of how you look." Akane leaned on the table, with a palm on her mouth hiding her smile. "You're naturally eye-catching, I'm afraid." She said in an almost familiar tone, one she'd usually reserve for when they would get a bit bolder. But it was odd, it had been a while.

He hadn't let go of her hand, instead, he was a bit stunned as he watched her fight the laughter. It was times like this when he wishes that the bravery she had enticed in him so many times in his fights would work for instances like this. To say something, anything, that would make her feel the same way he had at that moment. Instead, Ranma moved his free arm up, pushing her bangs to the side where they rightfully belonged. He smiled at his quick fix. 

Akane looked at him straight on, though he wondered what was happening as she did, reaching up to his hand, softly taking it. She smiled, her eyes half-lidded as she leaned forward, immediately launching Ranma into panic mode. What was she doing? Was she really doing this now? Shouldn't it be more special? He shut his eyes, waiting.

As all the panicking had come it had gone just the same, as she was slouched forward, her eyes shut and mumbling to wake her up later. It was as if he could feel his heart jump to his throat and call him a fool. He wanted to dig a hole for being so delusional, of course she wasn't going to kiss him. The sleep deprivation was really getting to him. 

He lifted her, urging her to stand as they moved out of the kitchen. Her bangs had gone back to their unruly place covering her whole forehead. 

---

Akane opened her eyes wide, promptly sitting up and ignoring the hair in her mouth, wondering what had happened. She rubbed her eyes as she noticed the clock, reading seven a.m., around the usual time she would wake up on the days she would skip her morning run. She frowned, she was supposed to have a morning run today, though she did expect that to be postponed all things considered. Slowly, her eyes shifted to the floor, a bit confused as the bedding was all gone like nothing had happened last night, which speaking of...

Where was Ranma?

"Akane, dear, it's time to wake up," Kasumi spoke behind the door, startling the young Tendo.

The short-haired girl was quick to remove her covers, as she replied a quick 'Okay' to her older sister. Without much thought, she ran to begin the first part of her usual routine as fast as possible: running a brush through her hair and slipping on her uniform before speeding out of the room, skipping steps and she descended the staircase. 

She skipped looking through the house, moving past the kitchen, the living room, and all the other places her day usually started with. Instead, she headed straight to the training hall, opening the door without a second thought and ignoring her lack of breath. Akane scanned the room for a mere moment before she spotted him, sprawled across the floor in a similar fashion she had found him the other day. She closed the door behind her. 

Akane loomed over him, watching him curiously as he lay with his eyes closed. 

"You cleaned up the futon." She started, "You could've just left it for me to deal with." 

"I had the time to do it, not like I was gonna sleep so might as well tidy up. It was no problem, honest." He yawned.

The Tomboy frowned. "Sorry." 

Ranma opened his eyes. "What?" 

His fiancée gapped for a moment, averting her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Sorry, I fell asleep even though I said I'd be with you." She paused, looking back at him. "I'm sorry." 

Ranma softened his gaze, offering her a sympathetic look. "Oh, Akane," he exhaled. "I don't think I'll ever hear you apologize without getting the chills, seriously, it's uncanny." 

Akane froze, staring blankly at the boy sprawled across the floor. She looked up, staring at the wall unsure of how to respond, thinking that maybe, tonight while he was sleeping, she would smother him with a pillow. 

Chapter Text

The same old routine followed them as the day dragged on, and just as yesterday the two had gone on their way until just after dinner as they had been assigned dish duty for the night. The two divided their work between each other as the rest of the family dispersed to do what they usually would, making sure to avoid alluding to their plans for the night until they were sure to be out of earshot. 

Ranma looked both ways as Akane handed him a plate, quietly. "What genius thing do you have planned for tonight?" He asked. "Or are we just doin' the same thing as yesterday?" 

Akane smiled, rinsing the plate in her hands before handing it over to her fiance. "I already told you that I'd have something new didn't I?" 

"You did but I was hopin' you were lying, whenever you get creative it never ends well." 

The tomboy's smile dropped before she elbowed him sharply. "Keep in mind who's helping who." 

Ranma rubbed his arm, muttering something he hoped she couldn't make out. "Whatever, just tell me the plan for tonight so I can prepare mentally... and physically." He side-eyed her.  

Akane rolled her eyes. "Don't worry I learned my lesson, tonight won't have any of that." 

"Good... what will it have then?" 

The shorter girl shrugged as if she were indifferent to the matter. "We'll have some of the stuff we had last night: candles, incense, comfortable bedding and lighting..." She paused. "You get it, mostly similar." 

"... What does that mean?" 

"Nothing, but maybe you should try taking a cold shower before we meet up, if you get what I'm saying." 

Ranma raised an eyebrow, afraid to ask further questions as he tried to understand why the change was necessary. In the end he simply nodded, if she was suggesting that then he figured it was for the best he did as she suggested. 

---

Ranma did exactly as she asked after his bath, making sure to dunk his head under cold water and changing into his girl form. After he got dressed he looked into the mirror for a longer amount of time than usual, it had been a while since she'd seen herself in the mirror. Ever since Mount Pheonix it seemed as if cold water didn't pull towards him as much anymore. She caught herself in many angles, looking at herself curiously; she hadn't been as bothered by her girl form after Mount Pheonix either when she thought about it. Ranma hummed, shrugging as she made her way toward her room with her parents, who had already fallen asleep. 

Saved her time, she thought, shutting the door quietly, backing away on her tip-toes. 

It was a quick break for Akane's room, taking a deep breath as she entered the room as swiftly as possible. She exhaled, raising a puzzled expression to her fiancee sitting at her desk. It looked no different from last night, what was she planning on doing that required her to change?

"You're here early aren't you." Akane commented, snapping the redhead out of her confusion. "Come on, sit down, we gotta take advantage of our time here." 

Ranma nodded, moving over and down onto the futon where she sat, keeping her legs close to her body as Akane sat parellel to her, carrying a small plastic basket with her. The redhead peaked over into the somewhat familiar looking basket, spotting many different items that seemed similiar as well. 

"What's that?" She finally asked. 

"A lot of things, so lay down." Akane instructed. "And try not to talk a lot or make any expressions, please." 

"Straight to the point I see." Ranma commented, cautious as she laid down, resting her head onto her pillow. "Can you tell me what you're gonna do to me now?" 

Akane smiled. "Skin care stuff." 

Ranma squinted. "Excuse me." 

Akane laughed, covering her mouth to muffle the sound. If she wasn't so scared, Ranma would have appreciated the look on her fiancee's face more. She seemed to be smiling more now when she thought about it, since these last few nights together. Ranma let a smile escape, maybe the exhaustion was getting to fiancee just like her.  

"A good way to relax is to feel clean, and while you get all clean in the bath having some sort of skin care afterwords can further the feeling. So here I have some of the sheet masks that Nabiki gave me for my birthday-"

"-Oh, that kind that makes you look like a ghost?"

"... yes, that kind."

"Cool." Ranma smiled. "I've always kinda wanted to wear one but-"

"-they're too girly, I know, that's why you're a girl tonight." Akane grinned. "Anyway, I also have some fruit for us to eat, since a small snack is also good before bed, and since we're just getting you started here and I don't really feel like scaring you off we'll just do some face balm and moisturizer... does that sound good?"

Ranma thought about it, this was somewhat girlier than she thought Akane would suggest but it didn't sound half bad, and since it was Akane who suggested it... "Whatever you say." 

Akane smiled, handing her a hot towel to clean her face as she prepared the sheet mask to apply.

Ranma's first thoughts were that it was a lot colder than Ranma had expected, and a lot less form fitting, and second, she had expected it be built smaller since it was for girls after all. Gently, Akane pressed the mask in all the right places, having it fit on her face just as she had first expected it to. Ranma touched it lightly, hovering her fingers over it, careful to not undo the work Akane had done. 

"It smells nice." She commented. 

"Most girl things do." Akane shrugged. 

Ranma smiled, looking over at her fiancee. "Aren't you going to wear one?" 

The other girl's face flushed as she looked away. "Oh, no, I always rip it unless someone applies it for me." She chuckled nervously. "I'm honestly surprised I was able to get it on you successfully." 

"Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense, you aren't usually so gentle." Ranma joked, receiving a harsh glare as she continued. "Maybe I could try applying it for you, I feel like I look dumb bein' the only one wearin' one." 

"Well, you do look pretty dumb." Akane crossed her arms. "But, I'll be fine."

"Come on, 'kane." Ranma batted her eyes and she leaned closer to her fiancee, sure to play up her charm in a way she knew her fiancee would have difficulty refusing. "For me..?" She always found it amusing how well this act would work on Akane.

Akane instinctively pushed Ranma's face away, hiding her own flustered expression into her palms. "You're too close, Ranma," She looked downwards, sighing in defeat. "but fine, if it'll make you more comfortable." 

Ranma smiled, reaching for the packaging containing the sheet mask. She reached inside, thinking it was more smily and gross feeling that she originally thought it was. She shrugged, carefully unfolding the mask and held it near the other girls face as she carefully examined where it would best be placed. She didn't want it to be asymmetrical, no, it had to be done right, or Akane would surely be upset... on the other hand it would look rather funny. Ranma tried her best not to laugh at the thought. 

"Can you hurry up, we don't have all night you know." Akane huffed. 

"I know, I know, just gimme a sec..." Ranma held her breath as she finally placed the mask on, making adjustment just as Akane did for her. "-And there, perfect." 

Akane opened her eyes, touching her face lightly to smooth over any creases. She smiled, looking over to the girl across from her. 

"Thanks, it feels right in place, who knew you'd be so good at it." 

The redhead grinned. "Well, it's not that I'm good at it I think I just got the grace for it, which, honestly isn't a hard, maybe work on that and you won't need one of us to help you." 

"I have the grace, it's just-" Akane scoffed. "I get frustrated easily, you know that." 

"Know that? Akane it's dented into my skull." Ranma laughed. "The fact you rip these little masks is the most 'you' thing ever."

Akane gapped for a moment before shaking her head, smiling as she shushed the redhead to be quiet. "It's not that funny."

"It's pretty funny." 

"Your face is funny." 

The two looked at each other, sharing grins before laughing in unison, grabbing oneanother, trying to cover the others mouth to silence one another as they snorted in amusement. It took a few minutes for the two to calm down, leaning against the bed eating the fruit Akane had prepared beforehand, content in their own enjoyment over such a dumb interaction.

Ranma looked through the corner of her eye as Akane clipped up her bangs, adjusting her mask to not slip off; she looked closer, that smile still present as she fixed her hair. As odd as she felt she couldn't help but stare, it was nice to see, Akane was rarely ever so relaxed like this, or at least, relaxed like this and awake. Akane caught her stare. 

"Did you want me to clip up your bangs too?" Akane offered. 

The red head held up her hand in refusal. "No, I'll be okay, I was just lookin' at you 'cause... you rarely ever got your forehead showin', is all." 

Akane touched her forehead. "I guess so, a little weird to see, huh." 

Ranma forced a smile, looking straight ahead as she felt an awkwardness set it. She fidgeted, moving her mouth with no sound as she reached for her next words, which was normal when she felt like this around Akane, but usually, she stayed quiet, leaving what was never said unsaid. 

"Also, you look really calm, which is also weird." 

That is, until she hadn't. 

"Not like in a your-always-angry kinda way more like in a your-always-stressed-out kinda way y'know, instead of-Like, um-" She turned her head to Akane, struggling to find the proper words to explain herself, waving her arms around erratically. "-You look not much yourself, these days, is all, so, it's kinda nice to see you smiling and laughing... looking at peace." 

Ranma desperately wanted to go back 20 seconds, after all, she couldn't have said anything dumber than she just had. She turned her head away. 

The young Tendo brought her knees close to her chin, sighing, careful to not touch her mask as pieces of her hair fell out of their clips. "You really think so?" 

The read head turned her head slowly to her fiancee, her eyes softening as she looked at her carefully. The bags under her eyes, the defeated look on her face, her once present smile now gone. Ranma felt her own contentment dwindling as Akane looked more like her daytime self rather than the one that had been with her for the last couple days. It wasn't always that Akane was like that, though enough. 

Akane sat still, as if lost in thought along with Ranma for a moment before returning her attention to her fiacee, calm in her demeanor as she spoke. 

"You've also been like that these days, not yourself." 

Ranma tensed, sitting upright. "I've been sleep deprived, people change when they're not sleeping enough." 

"I know, it's just-" Akane gapped, gathering what to say next. "We've been different, together, at the same time, don't you think that it means that maybe..."

"Maybe...?"

"Maybe..." Akane averted her eyes. "There's some, correlation?" 

Ranma squinted. "What d'you mean?" 

Akane bit her tongue, glancing over at the clock. "We gotta take these off." 

The redhead nodded, carrying on as usual as Akane prepared them the next step, moving on from their conversation and talking to each other as they had been before.

---

Why do these dreams have to be cold? 

Ranma looked around, seeing nothing at all. There were no people, or shadows that would otherwise represent them. Instead it was just nothing, nobody but Ranma. Looking at herself she realized she was in her girl form in her typical day clothes. Looking back up, seeing nothing and no one, shivering as a realization hit her. 

She was all alone here.

Where was Akane?

---

Ranma gasped, her heart racing, beating so hard as she struggled for air, clutching at her soaked top. She rolled over onto her side, pressing her hand to her head as she winced in pain of the splitting headache that always followed. The young redhead closed her eyes as she tried to regain stability but her heartbeat wouldn't slow as she continued to struggle in control her breathing. She winced, letting her head hit the floor. 

After what felt like forever she was finally able to turn around after catching her breathe, spotting Akane on her side as well, stirring awake. Ranma braced herself as she opened her eyes, preparing to say something witty, but when their eyes met she couldn't seem to muster up anything, her mouth was dry. 

"What happened?" Akane mumbled, waking up from her grogginess as she observed the other girl's state. "What's wrong." 

Ranma pulled herself up, laying her head in her palms. "Nothin', I think the dream was different tonight." She paused. "And my head hurts like crazy."

"Clearly." The young girl said, sitting up to observe the other girl more closely. "Do you remember anything at all." 

"I don't," Ranma groaned. "I'd rather not try and think about it, either." 

Akane slumped, saying nothing as she offered a consoling hand over her fiancee. "Okay." 

The two sat in silence as Ranma calmed down, Akane sitting parallel to her, sure to give her space. 

"It must have been worse than the other nights, you look more messed up than yesterday." 

"I do?" 

"Yeah, you look like your gonna start crying." Akane said. "It must've been bad." 

The smaller girl looked downwards at her hands, taking slow breathes as she thought out her response, though nothing at the moment was honestly coming to mind. She made a sudden motion of removing her covers, rubbing her eyes and trying to ignore the growing pain in her head as Akane made her own way upwards, offering her fiancee a hand up. 

"Let's go get you some water." Akane offered a smile. 

"And an ice pack?" Ranma winced as she was pulled upwards, as if her head was being pulled down harder than the rest of her body. 

"And an ice pack." The taller girl assured the other. 

Slowly the pair made their way downstairs, Ranma using all of her available strength to keep the two of them from getting caught before making it to the kitchen; upon entering the room, the exhausted red-head plopped onto the closest chair, resting her elbows on the table to support her head. 

This was a particularly bad headache, more so than the previous weeks had been. The last time Ranma could remember having such an awful headache must have been around the time the nightmares had started. Ranma tensed at the memory, it had been so awful at first, from the sudden lack of rest to the nauseating headaches and confusion from the nightmares, it had all been awful. Of course, recently Ranma had begun to find it manageable-as much as one could-until this instance, maybe knowing what the dreams were was beginning to cause problems. 

"Here you go, drink up." Akane slid a cup of water to Ranma, who caught it with eagerness, chugging it down almost as soon as she had received it. 

Akane felt the corners of her lips upturn ever so slightly, finding the immediate sensation of relief Ranma had experienced to bring some sort of relief of her own. She walked over to her, setting the knotted baggie of ice on her head before she could lift her cup to it instead, quickly taking it away and setting it on the table. 

"Feel better?" Akane asked, taking a quick seat in the chair next to her. 

Ranma closed her eyes, focusing on the coolness of her head and trying her best to ignore the throbbing pain she was still under. "A bit." 

Akane exhaled slowly, sitting quietly as she observed her fiancee, taking in the details of her expression. The tension in her shoulders, the furrow of her brows, and her clenched fists, all with the very clear expression of pain on her face. Akane turned away, looking towards the window and focusing on the bare trees as she herself began to show strain. She was more worried now than before, she had never seen her so pained before, or at least not pained like this. Akane racked her brain for solutions, anything, just something for her to be able to ease the discomfort her friend was in. 

"I don't think I've had any sort of dream since I was a little kid, at least not any that I can remember," Akane spoke softly, her eyes fixated on the tree. "What was the last dream you had? Not a nightmare, just a dream." 

Ranma pressed the ice closer to her head, trying her best to come up with an answer. "Mmm, not sure, it's been a while for me too, I think I can only ever have nightmares." She shuddered. "The last one I had was when pops and I just moved in, it was about Kuno." 

Akane smiled slightly. "A nightmare about Kuno? Gross." 

"Yeah, it was more weird than anythin' now that I think about it, which honestly I'd rather not." Ranma stuck out her tongue. "... It must be nice, not rememberin' dreams and all that junk, keeps things simple."

Akane shrugged. "It's alright, a little boring if you ask me," She shifted in her chair, unable to stop her eyes from wandering over the girl to her side. "Are you sure that you don't remember anything, anything at all?" 

Ranma held her tongue, shifting her eyes to where her free hand rested. "Not really, just the feelings," She spoke. 

Unsure of the response but too tired to fight it, Akane slowly lifted her hand to her fiancee's face, looking at her softly as she rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She took a sharp breath. "If you do, please tell me, I want to help you." Her eyes set on her fiancee as she spoke, looking far more intensely than before. "I hate seeing you this way." 

Ranma held her breath for a moment, before exhaling slowly, removing her hand from her face and offering a simple smile. "You should go back to bed, we gotta do this again tomorrow after all." 

The two stood up, an uncertainty dangled in front of Akane as the two moved back to their invidual rooms, after all Ranma didn't plan on staying in her room all night. After all, what would their family think, or better yet, what would they do. Akane shut her door, slowly, hearing a soft click as her body relaxed, releasing a long exhale, thinking about tonight.

Sure she felt a bit dumb for being so forward, sounding so desperate for Ranma's wellbeing but she hadn't regretted it, she meant it after all. What Akane was uncertain about was Ranma's willingness to be helped, if she had any recollection of her nightmares would she even share them with Akane. It seemed likely, considering how difficult it was to get her to open up about the issue in the first place, and seeing how she woke up tonight it wouldn't surprise her if she had had any memory of her dream. She looked too panicked to not know what was happening.

Akane shook her head, making her way towards her bed. 

She just had to trust Ranma would eventually open up more about the situation.

Chapter Text

Akane struggled a lot lately. With what you may ask? 

To put briefly, a lot of things. Be it school, socializing, extracurricular activities, and recently staying awake...

And Ranma.

But that was pretty usual so maybe it wasn't even worth mentioning now. 

That morning Akane woke up 3 hours after Ranma had left, but with how tired she looked you would think she was awake the whole night. She laid in bed facing the ceiling wondering how Ranma could function at all if this is how he had been feeling for the last few weeks. Her eyes slowly began to close as she drifted off again

"Akane, it's time for school!" 

Her eyes shot open along with her whole body, sitting upright as her sister invited herself in. The two made eye contact, an expression that was almost concern crossed Nabiki's face. 

"Hey... Kasumi sent me to wake you up." 

"She did?" Akane rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" 

Nabiki shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, either way your late." She smiled, closing the door behind her. "Y'know, I would've thought that your little late-night rendezvous with Ranma would start to affect your sleeping schedule eventually, but I'm surprised it happened so soon." She shrugged. "Whatever, none of my business."

Akane sat silently as the door clicked behind her sister, taking a moment to settle the new information her sister had dropped, or better said, found out about. It didn't take long for her to snap into action, swinging the door open to chase her sister down the hallway. This is was bad, not just because she knew, but because she wasn't sure if this would be the time Akane would inally strangle her sister.

"Wait! Nabiki! What do you mean?" Akane caught her sister by the shoulder, a little more forceful than she intended it to be. But she didn't care to much about any roughness considering the situation. "How do you know about that?" 

Nabiki calmly removed her sister's hand from her shoulder, brushing off the imaginary dirt left by it on the puff of her school jacket with a certain attitude that only Nabiki could display. "I have my sources..." She paused, a tug on her lips as she went on. "I also stay up pretty late these days, y'know, with all the studying I have to do. Meaning that while the whole house is sleeping, supposedly, lil' ol' me is wide awake, bored out of my mind, just listening for anything of interest."

The younger Tendo clenched her jaw, not sure what to say in her defense. Of course, after the initial shock, Akane didn't have many options. 

Akane glanced quickly around her and in a low voice leaned close to her sister, and in a hushed tone asked. "What do you want?"

Her older sister's eyes widened, feigning horror she gasped as if appalled by the question she was so used to hearing in these situations. "Oh my, Akane, you make it seem like I'm trying to blackmail you."

"Well, aren't you?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't distract from the fact that my own sister would jump to such a conclusion." She smiled, sly in her delivery. 

Akane rolled her eyes. "What do you want from me... or us, I guess." 

Nabiki hummed, as if deep in thought as she mulled over the question for what Akane felt was forever. She sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly, shrugging. "I don't know,  I feel like I've exploited you a lot lately, with your whole wedding and whatever."

Akane felt a spike of anger at the mention of the event, and surely Nabiki sensed it as she quickly retracted fromm her previous statement. 

"Look, I'm just saying, maybe instead of exploiting your relationship to Ranma, I could do the opposite of that which is... what's the word? Akane, surely you know it." 

"... Help... help our relationship?" Akane raised an eyebrow at the statement, confused at the very idea of it. Nabiki help? She barely remembered the word itself, how could she possibly help them? 

"Yes, that's the word, help." Nabiki snapped her fingers. "Look at you, looking like the walking dead and yet still so sharp." 

Akane frowned. "What are you playing at here, exactly?" she snapped suddenly.

Nabiki retracted her body at her sister's sudden fierceness. She forced a smile, clearing her throat and straightening her back to respond. 

"Look, I could easily get something from you here. Money, food, favors, etc., whatever, but I feel that maybe it's time that I try something new." 

"Something new?" 

"Yes, the other day, after a long day of eating textbook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I decided to get a snack from the kitchen. As I was sitting there I was thinking about how boring life had been getting recently, exploiting from idiots, while always entertaining it just isn't as fun these days. It's gotten too easy, I feel like there's not point if there's no feeling in it so I thought to myself: Nabiki, what could be a change of pace and a challenge? Well the answer was to try something more long-term." 

Akane felt lost in this conversation, but continued to listen. 

"I thought, why not instead of blackmail, I try something more psychological? If I got dirt on someone, helped them get away with or whatever, make them feel like I helped them, later on I could use it as a different kind of blackmail. A sort of I owe you that only builds with time and pressure." 

"Guilting people, Nabiki, you're literally guilting people into being indebted to you now." Akane rubbed the bridge of her nose, wincing at her sister's idea of amusement. "Whatever, the point is you're not telling anyone about this, right?"

Nabiki smiled, the kind of smile Akane was all too familiar with. "Oh, Akane, I'm gonna do more than just 'not telling anyone'. I want you to not only get away with this, but to feel like without me you wouldn't get away with this, therefore truly indebting you." 

Akane slumped her shoulders. "You're especially evil sometimes, you know that?" 

---

After that disgusting encounter that only served to remind Akane of her sister's maliciousness, she slumped herself back to get ready for the day, shoving her papers and notebooks into her bag indifferent to their crumbled-up state as surely her teachers would manage. She sighed, wondering if to tell Ranma about the encounter. Maybe it would just stress him out even more? Or worse, what if it made him rescinde any progress she's made him and would completely cut her off from knowing what was wrong with him. Maybe he would think it was her fault and he shouldn't have involved her in the first place. Akane pursed her lips tightly, maybe it would be fine to keep this between her sister and herself just this once, since it would just make the problem in her and Ranma's life worse. 

Akane left, shutting the door behind her with only a soft click to be heard, resting her hand atop the doorknob for a moment allowing a second of silence before her day started.

"What are you doing?" 

The young tomboy jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, turning to face him with a hand to her chest. A small bit of anger rising up as her heart slowed down from the initial scare. 

"Don't scare me like that, idiot." She swung her bag at him halfheartedly. "You almost scared me to death!" 

Ranma laughed at her discontent. "That's on you for bein' zoned out like that; what were you thinkin' about that had you starin' at the door like it had grown eyes."

Akane smiled out of reflex, appreciating the calm look of now better than the one earlier this morning. "Nothing, I was thinking about some homework for English class... I think I messed up on some of the questions." 

"Really? If you think you got it wrong than I must have too, we should check when we get to school." 

Akane sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "We should, I have a feeling this sleep deprivation is affecting my schoolwork." 

"It's affectin' mine, that's for sure." Ranma yawned. "Even if I can't fall asleep durin' classes, that doesn't mean I'm payin' attention."

"Figured, then again, for you I guess the change in your grades isn't as bad as mine will be if I keep this up."

Ranma frowned, crossing his arms. "Very funny, I'll have you know that my English grade is only a little bit lower than yours."

"Okay, yeah, but what about the rest of them?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, fighting a tug at his lips and turning his eyes away to look at anything else. "Whatever, as long as I graduate." He glanced back at her. "Speaking of which, we won't be if we have so many tardies." 

Akane looked at him blankly. "Oh right, what time is it?" 

"About a quarter to eight." 

"Oh..." Akane paused, letting the news sink in before a sense of dread and panic overtook her. "What!? Why didn't you say anything!? We're going to be late!" 

"Why didn't you look at the clock!? It's not my fault you woke up late!"

Akane felt a string in her temper break. "Ranma... It literally is!" 

---

Ranma had a hard time understanding his fiancée at times. Why would she be so upset at him and say it was his fault she slept late? He didn't ask her to stay up and wake up with him, she just did that because she wanted to help him, or so she says, despite any comfort that might've been added to the near nightly ordeal he was still dealing with the problems with hardly any progress in getting the nightmares to stop; maybe she was helping in her own way, but the issue still remained.

He rolled his eyes, letting them wander over to the window. He wasn't paying attention to the lesson any, it was all going one ear out the other. 

History class was the most boring subject of all. More boring than any others, beyond math, worse than English, lousier than art, even more than science or dreaded Japanese literature. He didn't see much point in the class, all these things had already come and gone and just what exactly did that have to do with him. Once, he had told Akane the same complaint and she spewed her usual nonsense of its importance. 

"It teaches us to learn from the mistakes of the past, so that we can make sure they never happen again." 

How dumb that was, it still didn't explain what it had to do with him. If he were a wanna-be politician or diplomat, or even if the history that was being taught had something to do with martial arts-things that would make it important to him- than he would understand the need for the class. But no, he wasn't a diplomat or politician, and the history that was being taught had nothing to do with martial arts: it had nothing to do with him. 

He huffed, resting his head on his hand, staring at a cloud shaped like nothing in particular as far as he could tell, his eyes drooping ever so slowly. 

___

Ranma sat at the koi pond in silence. It was odd, he felt like himself in this dream. 

Wait, dream? 

Did he fall asleep in class?

He sighed, at least he could gain something from this, being aware in a dream could let him learn more about what they mean.

Ranma looked around, beyond the limits of the Dojo it was all white, no houses, no trees, just the Dojo in the white void. He figured that there must've been no need for his brain to add detail to the setting. Standing up he walked over to the main house entrance, noticing nothing out of place as soon as he stepped through. Everything was there, but there were no people. He walked around a bit more and found nothing.

He was all alone. 

A wave of dread hit him. 

He went to every corner of the house, flipping over beds, opening closets, even looking under the house. 

No one in sight. 

After who knows how long, he sat down at the dinner table, unsure of what to do.

So much for figuring out what the dreams mean. 

He grumbled under his breathe, wondering how long it would take for him to wake up.

He closed his eyes, maybe there were clues somewhere in house? But where would he even look? Ranma subconsciously felt his eyes wander over to stairs, his mind running to Akane's room. 

Something had to be there.

---

Ranma's eyes shot open, sweat pouring down his face and body as he looked around frantically, a splitting headache coming to him instantly. He winced, noticing a mostly empty classroom, his eyes landing on a friend of his whose eyes happened to meet his. 

"Ranma, take a good nap?" Daisuke laughed.

"Yeah, must've been good, the teacher couldn't even manage to wake you up!" Hiroshi laughed. "Well, either way you woke up at a good time, it's break time." 

Daisuke smiled. "I would hurry up to the cafeteria, I think they're running out of your favorite bread in there."

Ranma stared blankly at his two friends, not thinking too much about their laidback attitude. "Yeah, I think... I'll see what they have left." He stood up, trying his best to focus on not staggering. "Y'all know where Akane ran off to?" 

Both boys shrugged, unsure. Ranma thanked them anyway, he wasn't surprised by their ignorance, they weren't exactly the brightest of people. 

On his way down the hallway, he stopped multiple people on the way to ask about his fiancée, all off which surprisingly, were unaware of her whereabouts. That is, until he ran into Ukyo. 

"Akane? I think I saw her in the cafeteria." She frowned. "Why so desperate to find her? Somethin' going on?" 

"No reason, just curious. I feel asleep durin' class, and she wasn't here when I woke up." 

Ukyo scoffed. "Duh, you were out cold, like half the class tried to wake you up before givin' up. After Akane gave up she went to the cafeteria to get some water for you." She crossed her arms, examining her nails as she continued. "Nicest thing I've seen her do for you in a long time, I was surprised; Y'all are rarely seen being nice to eachother these days I had almost gained some hope or myself." 

Ranma frowned, unable to will his expression to be anything else than annoyed. Though, she wasn't wrong, outside of home they've kept their distance these days. 

"Thanks, Ucchan." He forced a smile as he walked past her, much to her annoyance. 

"No problem, hun." Ukyo turned around, watching him as he walked away. As upsetting as it was that Ranma was looking for Akane, she knew better than to involve herself in whatever was going on with them this week. She rolled her eyes, walking forward, refusing to turn her head to him.

---

The young Tendo on the other hand was struggling with the vending machine in the cafeteria, wondering how she would get this troublesome machine to drop her water. She contemplated hitting it a few times but the last she did that Soun was less than pleased with the bill from the school and vending machine company. She grumbled some before giving up, surely dad could afford what was about to happen to this less than innocent vending machine. 

"Akane!" 

Whipping her head back she felt her whole heart jump out of her chest as her, for lack of a nicer word, disturbed fiancé appeared behind her, she took a hard fall back against the machine, which to her happiness finally dropped her water. She relaxed her body, leaning against the machine as she tried to calm her heart rate. 

"Ranma, God, you scared me for the second time today!" She sputtered out, slowly examining his face. "Are you okay? You look... not great." 

Ranma looked at her with wide eyes, looking like nothing short of a lunatic, his dramatic pause didn't help his case in her opinion. "No, I am not great, we actually have to go home right now." he grabbed her hand and began to pull her away.

"What? Ranma-" She pulled back, harshly, looking around at the watching eyes from their peers in the cafeteria. She laughed awkwardly, stating loudly. "What, I can't believe Ryoga did that, let's go see right now, ha ha." Akane grabbed her hard-earned bottle of water before urging Ranma to follow her out of the cafeteria. 

When they finally reached a quiet part of the school- an unlocked janitor closet near the bathrooms- Akane pushed the two inside, shutting the door behind them softly as to not arose any sort of suspicion. With everything that had happened today so far, she could only imagine how much worse a rumor of the two of them sneaking off like this would be. She led them further into the closet, placing her bottle on a shelf nearby.

"Okay, now speak." She whispered. "And let's not be so loud this time." 

"Loud? I'm not loud! You're just actin' all paranoid which is makin' us look weird." 

Akane pressed her hand to Ranma's mouth, fighting the most natural urge to have made her hand a fist before contact. She took a deep breath. "Enough, just... tell me, calmly, please, what is the matter." She removed her hand, suppressing her frustration in this moment. 

Ranma huffed, frustrated in his own right of how this was going. "We need to go home. In my dream I was in the Dojo and-" 

"-Wait, you remembered your dream?" 

"Yes-anyway, in my dream I was in the Dojo and-"

"-No, wait, this is big! You remembered your dream!" Akane smiled, perhaps intentionally grabbing his hands to hold them in hers. "This is progress!" 

Ranma gapped, annoyed yet unable to deny the happiness on her face. She was the cutest at his worst temper wasn't she. He let out a long exhale, relaxing his body. 

"Yes, it is, can I tell you about this progress of a dream, or are we just gonna focus on that part?"

Akane shook her head, the upturn of her lips still present as she leaned in eagerly to his story. 

Ranma nodded, ignoring their hands as much as he could. "Anyway, I was there in the Dojo, which was in this white void, and the Dojo, it was empty too. I had looked around the house trying to find any kind of meaning or any other people and when I couldn't find anything, my brain told me to go to your room." He leaned in closer. "That's it, and since I don't know what that means, I think we need to go home and turn your room inside out." 

The tomboy stood still, unsure of what to say. "I see... Ranma, I don't think that's what the dream is telling you to do." Actually, she was sure of what to say: shut down whatever solution Ranma had come up with in his insane state of mind. "Listen, maybe the dream was, I don't know, symbolic? Metaphorical, maybe?"

Ranma frowned. "Akane, this is serious, my brain would never put that much effort in terrorizing my dreams." 

Akane rolled her eyes. "Brains are weird, Ranma, I don't think that you're terrorizing dreams would put that much effort in trying to make you destroy my room. And say you do just that, afterwards, what then? I don't think my solution is what's in my room, rather what my room means to you." she tightened her grip, looking into his eyes and with intensity proposed a new meaning to his dream. "What does my room mean? Think, Ranma."

Ranma looked at her intently in thought, closing his eyes and furrowing his brows thinking deeply of what she was trying to ask him. He was never very good at figuring out symbolism, in lit. class he had never thought too hard about what his teacher was trying to explain to him. Afterall, blue curtains are pretty common. 

He thought some more. Akane's room. He's spent time in there before, even slept there before this whole ordeal but of course at the time of those instances they had been a bigger deal than this, although this was still something of a big deal, after all, she had invited him to stay over. Akane's room when he thought about it was where he would find himself when he was bored pre-wedding attempt, it was where he would find a homebody like her when she wasn't at school or training. Sometimes her friends would come over and he would have to avoid the room though, and when he thought about it those nights were pretty boring. Akane's room was nice to hang out in too, nice and clean, so it wasn't like he just liked being there just for the heck of it. The room was also better than the room he shared with his parents, which before his mom came back was a lot dirtier than he cared to admit. The room was a lot of things but still he couldn't understand how any of them could lead to an answer. 

He opened his eyes. 

"My head hurts, I don't know what it could mean, your room..." He frowned.

Akane let out a heavy exhale, letting go of his hands and letting them fall to her sides. "Okay then. After school, we can check my room which you will not flip inside out. For now, I'm heading back to class, you go to the infirmary, get a pain killer or something for your headache." She reached for the bottle of water, which was now room temperature as it hadn't been very cold before now. She handed it to him, offering a reassuring smile as well. "Drink this with what she gives you, and try to relax, we'll figure this out."

Ranma eyed the water before slowly reaching for it, taking it from her hands, neither of them paying any mind to the touch exchanged in their fingertips as he grabbed it. Taking it into his hands, he looked back to her. As much as he didn't like her solution for the time being, rather he was a bit upset with her lack of urgency if he was being completely honest, but what else could he do? His parents would be upset if they missed any more school, or at least Kasumi would be upset with them, and really maybe it was for the best, maybe he could think some more on what the dream's setting could mean to him. 

"Alright, after school then." 

---

"You know, I still don't understand how this can help, Ranma, it seems a little... unnecessary." Akane stood by her door, stifling a yawn as she watched Ranma tear up her room, searching aimlessly. Whatever, as long as he could figure out what he needed and get one step closer to figuring out the problem.

"It's not unnecessary, maybe being here can help me out, maybe something here can get my brain thinking of this symbolism of yours."

Akane frowned. "Yeah well this symbolism of mine is probably a step in the right direction, so if my room can help you figure that out knock yourself out." She crossed her arms as he paid her no mind. "I'm gonna take a bath, you have until I'm done to finish up here until later tonight." She sighed, closing the door behind her trying to ignore her growing irritation. 

Ranma waved her goodbye, but it was more of a swat than anything else, he didn't need her in here to do what he he was trying to do. He stood in the middle of the room, looking around to try and pick out anything that caught his eyes. Scanning the desk, her books, closet, and bed, nothing stood out in particular. He took a seat at her desk, taking a quick break before doing anymore damage as Akane would say. That is, until the desk drawer slightly peaking out caught his eye. He looked around, cautious. 

"Well, she did give me the okay, technically." 

Slowly he reached towards it, pulling the drawer out and seeing what was inside. The drawer was full of a lot of things, even Akane had to have a junk drawer he thought. There were pens, notepads, nail polishes, some makeup products, and more things like papers and other stationary. He rummaged around, trying his best to ignore the old diary that was sitting towards the bottom, pushing it away as he thought it best to not push his limits with him being in her room alone. Eventually towards the very bottom, where you could see the wood of the drawer, he saw a picture with a paper clip attached. Without thinking, he had pulled it out, quickly recognizing what it was. 

It was Akane in her wedding dress. 

She was standing with Kasumi who was trying to tidy her hair while smiling at the camera, and Akane herself was what he imagined to be laughing. He figured that maybe the camera person was saying something funny, which all things considered-with the casual atmosphere of the photo really- he could only pin as Nabiki taking the shot. Ranma eyed it some more, she didn't look very anxious in the picture, just happy. He smiled; it was before it went out the window. 

He laughed to himself, he didn't like thinking about the wedding too much, but he would never forget the way she looked at him that day before the 'guests' had arrived. 

Ranma flipped the picture over, seeing a few more similar pictures attached to it and at the bottom of the collection, a thin piece of paper as well. Ranma pulled it out of the clip, taking a quick look around before seeing what it said. 

Sorry for the wedding, but really Ranma should be sorry since he's the real one to blame for everything. Well, either way, at least the pictures look happy, and I won't even charge you for them! - your dearest sister, Nabiki. 

He felt an immediate dislike for the paper, reattaching it to the paper clip along with the pictures and throwing it to the bottom where it belonged. No wonder she had it at the bottom of the drawer, as nice as they were they didn't stand for anything good. A reminder of how easily that day had been ruined, and just how little Nabiki had cared for instigating it. Not to mention the blame game, as if they were children or something. 

But maybe she did have a point, he didn't particularly help by any means. And the fiancées were mostly his, and hers aren't technically fiancé's when he thought about it. He shook his head, rearranging the drawing as he remembered it before slamming it shut as to forget about what he had found. 

He stood up, it wasn't his fault, no, not at all. 

---

"Are you okay? You seem... not very relaxed." Akane cocked her head. 

"What? I'm very relaxed." Ranma rolled his eyes. "Maybe you're not relaxed." 

Akane decided in the moment that the fight she wanted to pick was futile, he was just tired, and she was just tired. Best to not take things personally. 

After a bit of pestering earlier, Akane had managed to convince Ranma to let her play with his hair, saying that it was relaxing and that girls loved having their hair played with to which he replied that he wasn't a real girl. She ignored that, saying that he knew what it was like and wasn't he curious at all? Long story short, he eventually caved and here they were, with his head on her lap and her fingers in his loose hair. Suffice to say she was more than happy with her achievement of the night. 

"I'm relaxed." Akane ran a brush through his hair, pulling it gently and letting it fall down bit by bit. "You just need to let go a bit, let yourself enjoy this."

Ranma frowned, closing his eyes as he focused on the sound of the wind beating against the window, the weather channel said it would snow tonight. 

"So, Ranma, did wrecking my room help you any?" Akane spoke softly, twirling a piece of hair in her index finger from the root on his head to the ends of the strands. 

The young boy tensed, trying not to think about the pictures, much less the paper. Yet it was all he could focus on since he had found it, maybe he should just ask her? No that's dumb, no way she would be okay with him looking through her stuff.

"No, maybe tonight my dream will clear some things up." 

Akane hummed, she had thought so. "Hopefully." 

A moment of silence ran through the room, heavy in thought about the pictures Ranma laid thinking. 

Should he just allude to them? How? It was hard to bring up in any casual way and even harder to get on the topic. He pursed his lips together, waiting for the question to ask to occur to him. 

"So, the wedding-Ow!" He yelped, sitting up. "You pulled my hair." He winced. 

Akane winced back, surprised by her own actions. She laughed awkwardly, trying her best to now show her discomfort. 

"Sorry, I just thought that you had said... wedding." She cleared her throat, nervous as she continued to talk. "Which wedding? Our wedding? The one we never talk about, that wedding?"

"Ours, duh. Who's else?" He rubbed the part she had pulled. "You're never touching my hair again if you pull it like that, I thought you had ripped it out." 

Akane forced a smile. "I didn't mean to; I was surprised that you wanted to talk about it. I mean, like I said, we haven't ever talked about... that." 

Ranma pulled his hair together in a low ponytail, trying his best to avoid eye contact. "I know, it's just-um, I dunno, maybe we... should." He leaned back, looking through the window, avoiding any chance to meet her gaze. "There's some things we should talk about... I think." he paused, thinking about the dream earlier, the meaning of the room they were in. "Maybe, it can help me with the dreams." And again, his mind ending up back to the pictures.

Akane sat still, dumbfounded by the suggestion. Ranma had never been one to initiate a conversation like this, in fact, he had always avoided any sort of talk of their relationship, especially after the wedding. She looked to the ground; she didn't want to. This time around she didn't want to, it was too heavy, too much of a conversation to be had right now. But it was necessary, this was a conversation she wanted to have for such a long time, but not like this. Not sleep-deprived, not on the floor of her room, not here, not like this. 

She took a deep breath. 

"We can talk in the morning, I'm tired." 

Akane crawled under the covers, closing her eyes as she heard her fiancé move around to turn off the lights, not saying a word as he crawled under his covers. 

They would talk tomorrow.

---

Ranma stood up without much thought, making his way towards the stairs and walking slowly upwards. Reaching the top his eyes laid on Akane's doorknob, practically running towards it as soon as he saw it. Eagerly he put his hand to the doorknob, twisting it and ready to open in wide, but he stopped, hearing a soft voice beyond the door. His shoulder's relaxed, opening the door slowly instead of abruptly as initially intended. 

Beyond the door, on the floor near her bed sat a familiar girl, resting her red head on the edge of Akane's bed. 

To say that being in the same room as himself was weird would be an understatement, even if it had technically happened before.

Ranma jumped as his counterpart looked up at him, her pained expression jarring to say the least. 

"Oh, it's just you." 

Ranma frowned, a bit upset.

"It's just me." He replied. "Who... or, what are you? Are you..."

"You?" Girl Ranma frowned back. "Yes, we're the same person, tragically."

"Tragically?"

"Yeah."

"Oh..." He wasn't really sure what to say to that. How does one respond to the dream version of you being unimpressed by you. "Does that have something to do with my dreams? The tragic." 

"Do you think it does?"

"I don't know that's why I'm asking you." Ranma sighed. "Look, if you're me than can I just ask you somethings? Then I'll be outta here I swear."

Girl Ranma rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever, I don't care, ask away, boy me." 

He found a hard time believing someone like her could be him. He scowled. 

"Do you know what my dreams mean? These nightmares we've been having, what do they mean? The 'symbolism' of the dreams, as Akane would ask."

The small redhead let a loud exhale escape her. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling I might know." 

"Okay, could you tell me that then?" 

"Why should I? I'm you, therefore you already know what I know."

"If I knew what you knew then I wouldn't be asking now would I?" Ranma crossed his arms, growing frustrated with her attitude. "What's going on with me? Why am I having these nightmares? And why can't I sleep? Why all of these things?"

Girl Ranma lifted her head, looking around the room and resting her hands on the sheets of the bed, smoothing out any nearby wrinkles with her hands. 

"I think... the problem is you."

Ranma winced, surprised by the answer. He said nothing, hoping she would elaborate. 

"You... We... have some problems with everything that's happened." She paused. "Ranma, how do you feel? With the fiancées? Your mother? The engagement? Everything that's happened to you up to this point in the last year or so since you fell into that spring and since you came here to the Tendo Dojo."

Ranma felt his mouth dry.

"And what about Akane?" 

His eyes glistened. 

"She's never here in the dreams." 

His chest tightened. 

"You swore to never let anything happen to her." 

That feeling, that gross feeling of dread dug deeper inside. 

"Yet it still happened."

A shamed look from her met his gaze.

"Yet she still decided to try and be with you."

Ranma tried to speak something, anything but nothing would come up. 

"And again, all that you do is push her away when you don't even deserve her."

The redhead stood up, walking over to her counterpart and grabbing him by the shoulders. 

"You know! You know what the problem is!"

Shaking him and yelling he didn't do anything. 

"You've made her life worse, involving her in your messes, getting her hurt, even killed!"

She shoved him to the ground, screaming. 

"Wake up! Leave her alone!"

___

Ranma shot up, his head clear and his adrenaline rushing through his whole body. He had to go, somewhere, anywhere, wherever just not here. 

Chapter Text

Akane groaned in discomfort as the sun hit her face through the crack in the curtain, which not even her unruly bangs could protect her from. It was incredibly bright outside considering it was almost winter.

Wait, sunlight?

The young Tendo sat up immediately, looking over her clock reading 7:20 a.m., meaning she had slept through the night. Did Ranma not wake her up this time? It would make sense considering how they had left things last night; it was a good thing that she was a quick sleeper. Either way, she was curious to see where he went, must have been in a hurry if he hadn't even put away his futon. 

"Akane, wake up!" Kasumi knocked on the door. "Please don't fall back asleep this time, you and Ranma were tardy yesterday and I don't think your teachers appreciated that." 

Akane rubbed her eyelids, groaning as she stretched her body. "I'm awake!" She stifled a yawn. "Is Ranma awake yet?" she asked. 

"I haven't seen him!" Kasumi answered as she walked away. "Wake him up when you finish getting ready, please." 

Akane scratched her head. "That's weird." She sighed, thinking little of what Kasumi had said. He could be in the Dojo and she just hadn't run into him yet. 

The young Tendo willed herself to stand up, brushing her hair before putting on her uniform and taking one quick look in the mirror before heading downstairs, bag in hand. There she walked past Nodoka and her sister finishing up the dishes from breakfast, paying no mind towards her as she continued to the Dojo. It was commonplace she would find him at the dojo in the morning, she would usually find him somewhere around the house trying not to nod off. 

"Sometimes I wonder how I hadn't figured out his lack of sleep earlier... Ranma!" Akane called out as she opened the dojo door, scanning the area as she stood at the entrance. But to her surprise, she found no one but herself in the hall. She took a step back, a quizzical look on her face as she went back to the house. 

"Akane, are you going to eat this morning?" Kasumi had called out upon hearing her younger sister's reentry to the main house.  

Walking past Kasumi, she simply shook her head no, her eyes set on the staircase as she went up to the second floor. She had passed his usual places already, so he had to be sleeping in his and his parent's room, or in there at the very least. Reaching the room she knocked before slowly opening the door, hoping to find her fiance there. But after quickly scanning the room she had found nothing. 

No one was there. 

An uneasy feeling set in as she closed the door. Where was he? He wouldn't have gone to school without her, or at least without telling her. No one had mentioned anything about something strange taking him away or like a fiancée or a Kuno attacking him, Kasumi had even told her she hadn't seen him around. 

She racked her brain for an answer, any answer she could come up with regarding his whereabouts. Akane supposed she could ask her family but if Kasumi didn't know, then who could? She grimaced as only one person came to mind. 

"Ugh." The things she does for him. 

Walking back downstairs she quickly went past her family and the others, not that she was noticed much by them at the moment. She made haste until she reached the entrance of the house where she found the only person who could think of where to find Ranma.

"Akane, how's it going? You find your boyfriend yet?" Nabiki asked, barely lifting her eyes to her younger sister, more focused on putting on her jacket than anything that had to do with their conversation. 

The young Tendo frowned, trying not to let her temper get the better of her. "Not my boyfriend, sis, but no, I didn't find him. I wanted to ask you about that."

Now her attention was caught. Nabiki looked at her sister, the same collected and content look on her face as always. "Oh really? Akane, I've already told you what the price of my help is this time around." She hummed, wrapping her scarf around the neck loosely, more focused on its aesthetic service rather than its functional purpose. "You need something and I'll be sure to go all out." She singsonged. 

Akane crossed her arms. "I know, I got the memo and I'm more than ready for whatever comes." 

Nabiki raised her hands defensively. "Okay, okay, got it, no harm done to me." She picked up her bag quickly as she stood to face her sister. "Ask away, lil' sis."

Akane cleared her throat and in a whisper asked. "Where is he?"

The older girl was caught off guard by the question, much to Akane's surprise. 

"Do you not know, sis?"

"... I don't think so. I thought he was still here in the house; I only heard him walk downstairs but I fell asleep before I heard him do anything else." 

"He got up this morning. When?" Akane stepped closer, a stronger sense of dread coming in. "I didn't hear anything; he wasn't anywhere this morning." 

Nabiki paused, taking a moment to think before answering her younger sister. 

"Maybe he got kidnapped?" 

Akane shook her head. "We would know by now, Ranma's practically impossible to kidnap without someone noticing."

"Right, he sure does put up a fight... hmm," Nabiki racked her brain, trying to think of the most logical of the illogical reasons as to Ranma's whereabouts. "Maybe... he ran off...?" 

"Ran... off?" 

Nabiki nodded. "Well, Akane, you know how he is when he gets overwhelmed: he leaves." She shrugged. "I can't think of anything else that it could be. Any other reason and everyone and their dogs would be aware of it by now." 

Akane stood still for a moment. Out of everything that could be a possibility, that one made a lot of sense. Still, there was no proof, he wouldn't just leave her, he couldn't do that. There must have been a reason for it. She took a deep breath.

"Where do you think he would go?"

Nabiki shrugged. "I'm not sure, but if he left aimlessly, I'll assume the surrounding woods of the neighborhood. That's the nearest place to get lost, last I checked." She sighed, putting her hands in her pockets. "Listen, I can't be late for class, so, Akane, what do you plan on doing now?" 

A bit shocked by her sister's interest in their conversation, Akane looked away from her sister's eyes, focusing on her slippers rather than Nabiki. 

"Well, if he truly ran away than I think I should go after him. This is a weird situation, but he would probably go after me-"

"-honey, he has gone after you before, are you so forgetful?" Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Listen, Akane, go find him. I'll help cover for you do don't even worry and just focus on where you're going to start." She sighed, proudly looking at her sister as she offered a kind hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh, sis... I'm gonna ignore the upcoming revenge for now and just say thank you." Akane grabbed her sister's wrist, kindly removing it in turn. "But how do you plan on doing that?" 

Nabiki chuckled, adjusting her school bag to her dominant hand as she looked at her younger sister with a loving look in her eyes. "Just go along with me okay?" 

Akane nodded, unsure of how to feel about putting any sort of trust in her sister. 

---

And she was right to mistrust her. Akane had decided not to overthink her sister's kindness, which resulted in her being hit in the stomach by her older sister's school bag. Which usually wouldn't hurt as much but Nabiki does workout and the bag of a senior about to take college entrance exams was no joke. As embarrassing as it was to admit, Nabiki had her sister kneeled over in pain for their family to see, telling them that she was in terrible stomach pain and she would take her to Doctor Tofu's on her way to school. Akane didn't say anything, merely playing along and trying her best to put on her winter clothing as quickly as possible.

On her way out she was fighting every atom in her being from finally beating her sister up for the mistreatment suffered at her hands. 

"See, now you have a bit of time before the family gets suspicious. You should get going before the family calls Tofu about you." 

Akane glared at her sister with less intensity than before as she began to recover from her attack. "Okay, I will, but after they do, what then? Dad will get freaked out when he figures out I'm gone." 

Nabiki scoffed. "Yeah, but don't worry, Akane. Like I said, I'll take care of it so just go." 

Akane looked at her sister, distrustful but it wasn't like she had many options at the moment. "Alright, I'm gonna go get some supplies first; I won't take too long." 

"Sounds good, you'll be in the clear for at least a few hours. After all, I told them that you caught a stomach bug, so I don't think they want you home too soon."

Akane nodded as the two sisters split paths, trying to not let the good deeds of Nabiki get to her, it was all just a farce she had to remember. She sighed, though she had to admit that it was better than her former attitude of things, at least for the time being. 

It was going to be a long day, possibly more, so she had to prepare for anything. Approaching the nearest shop that could have what she needed, Akane began to think about the day ahead of her. Where was she gonna start? The forest wasn't small by any means, and even if she found Ranma, what was she gonna say? What if he had just left because? Maybe he just wanted to clear his mind. Akane shook her head, even if that was the reason she found it hard to believe that at a time like this, he would do that. 

The two of them were closer because of this. These last few months had been distant between the two, and this last week had been a step forward in their relationship, a real step forward. This felt more genuine than their pre-wedding relationship, or would it be better to say, more soft? It wasn't as spiteful or petty as it was. Maybe she was being a bit delusional but she was almost confident that she was right. 

She took a deep breath, entering the store, her brain going on automatic as she began to run past the timeline of their relationship. From the beginning to now all that they had gone through, skimming through the good and the bad memories all alike. Her eyes ran down the aisle of things she may need as her mind settled on a memory from the last few months, not long after the wedding and not long before now. 

---

It had been a summer day earlier this year, they had just entered summer break and it had started with a calm atmosphere all things considered for the Nerima neighborhood. It was noon, so the sun had been at its worst in the July heat, and yet Akane was out in the Dojo, practicing forms and trying to keep her mind clear of anything frustrating in her life. She knew that her temper was something that hindered her abilities, not letting her attack properly and causing her to lose focus. So, she had been trying to work on that rather than on any actual martial arts. 

Except it was hard. 

Akane had been angry every day for the last few months, or at the very least irritated beyond normal. She couldn't stand it, but ever since the wedding it had been like this, stuck in her emotional slump unable to climb out. It was getting unbearable. 

That's why this was her last solution to the problem, maybe throwing herself into something she loved and improving on it could help her feel better. Or, at the very least, Akane figured it was worth a try. 

"Sure are workin' a sweat over there, Akane, don't hurt yourself."

Akane glanced over, feeling that spike in anger again. She willed herself to calm down and not lose focus on the boy leaning against the door frame. 

"I'm not going to, Ranma, I'm a martial artist, too." She spoke calmly, going into her next kata. 

"You sure are, but I'm confused as to what you're doin'. I mean, what are you practicin'?"  He asked, slowly making his way towards her. Meandering, she thought to herself.

"Nothing that's any of your business, Ranma. What if I'm just practicing to practice?" 

"Why though? Shouldn't you be doin' something newer?"

Akane paused, taking in a deep breath as she ended her kata, looking over at him with as much patience as she could muster. 

"It's always good to go back to the basics, so, I'm trying that out." Akane exhaled slowly. "Does that make sense?" 

Ranma paused to think as his fiancée returned to her kata, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It does, the smartest thing I've heard you say; I hadn't thought of doing that in a while." He smiled, taking on a stance next to her. "I'll join ya. Anything beats cookin' in the sun. Besides, it's nice to have company, no?" 

Akane tensed her body, wondering why he was standing so closely. Her face burned up and she nodded silently, beginning the next kata with the whirlwind of conflict forming in her. 

It was steady at first, with the both of them focused on the stance at hand, but there was an issue for Akane as they continued: This was the closest they had willingly been to each other in months, ever since-

No, she wasn't thinking about that. Focus. 

She took in a sharp breath, moving slowly alongside her partner. Her heart began to fasten, and her body was shaky as they moved through the Dojo. But no matter how much she tried to stay focused, the problem at hand had its way to permeate any focus she had. 

It was so unfair. How could he be so normal after what had happened? She was still a mess from it all; it had been so mortifying. Akane didn't like thinking about it but the longer she was with him the more upset she became. It upset her thinking about the wedding and how stupid she had been to rush into it. It had been her fault for thinking that after their experience in Mount Phoenix that Ranma truly loved her like that. She took in a trembling breath, a nightmare of memories flushing into her mind the more time went on. 

"Are you okay? Tired after that little warm-up? I find it hard to believe." Ranma laughed, a twinge of concern when she didn't answer. "Akane?" 

Akane stood still in her final stance of their kata, forcing a strong exhale to leave her, trying to clear the lump in her throat. She was still a bit raw from the whole fiasco, as much as she hated to admit it. She moved to a normal position to face him. 

"I'm fine, I was just thinking that I wanted to be alone right now." She spoke. "Could you leave? I need to focus if I want to get any better."

His smile dropped slowly, ending at the slightest forced upturn of his lips. "Oh, yeah. I get it, of course, yeah." He cleared his throat, only now sensing the tension in the air. "I can leave, get a snack maybe and I can even bring you something back from the kitchen if you'd like."

"That's okay, I'm not hungry. I just really... really want to focus on this right now, by myself." she looked down to the ground, averting her eyes.

Ranma put his arms behind his back, sensing a growing discomfort within him as he backed away to the door. "That's alright. I was just offerin', since you know, it's good to eat after exercising, since you're using a lot of energy and all. Maybe when you're done, we can eat something bigger? I've been cravin' one of those parfait things since we haven't gone out to do that in a while and I was just thinkin' that-"

"Could you just go, please!" Akane snapped, startling the boy as she raised her voice. "I don't want to eat, Ranma! I want to be left alone, more specifically, I want you to leave me alone!" 

Akane stared at him as she let her anger settle just as fast as his began to show.

"Whatever, I was just tryin' to be nice to you! Forget I said anythin' and have fun bein' all alone, just like usual!" Ranma stormed off. 

The young tomboy rolled her eyes. "I will! Just as long as I'm away from you!" She shouted. 

There went that temper control she had been working so hard on.

She whipped her head away from the door, feeling anger rise in her again like the tides on the sand. It was misdirected but she was unsure of where to release it and the best solution was finding the nearest cinderblock to crush. She hated this feeling, so much rage, this uncontrolled feeling of anger that she couldn't place the origin of not because she was incapable of figuring it out but because she couldn't bring herself to. Akane had always been such an angry child.

Under her hardened fist, with improper form, she split the cement like it had been made of foam. For all she cared it very well could've been, either way, it wasn't satisfying enough. Yet she didn't move to get another one, instead, she stared at the pieces left on the scuffed dojo floors beneath her feet. 

She was just as angry as before, nothing had been accomplished in destroying that cinderblock. 

She didn't want to be angry anymore. 

Akane knelt next to the pieces of the former block, unsure of how to express herself at the moment.

---

Leaving the store with a few snacks, a bag, and supplies that would last her a day or two, she moved forward to the closest forest entrance, hoping that she would find her fiancé. 

The memory had been a difficult one to remember. 

She had no right to behave the way she did that day, and she knew it, she was just being mean to him. Ranma had tried to be nice, in his own way as much as she could tell, and she had been upset with his very presence. Even if Akane had still been affected by the wedding and Mount Phoenix Ranma probably was too and had been trying to rebuild something of their original relationship with a softer touch to it. Her lips tugged, and even though she was so distant he had tried in his own way to move on. 

Akane was still distraught by those events to this day, but her anger had shifted to a mere annoyance coupled with the hurt of Ranma after the previously mentioned instance. Currently, in light of recent events, it had developed into an odd conclusion of care and softness. She supposed those feelings had always been there, but it wasn't until Ranma had shown her a vulnerable side to himself that she had begun to act this way openly and commonly. 

That's why she had to find him and figure out what was going on. 

All the work she had done with him these last 11 days was more than she had in the last few months since the whole wedding fiasco. It was absolutely necessary for Akane to keep this momentum going now that she knew that their relationship could be this way. 

Walking towards the nearest entrance she paused. Taking a deep breath, feeling the sharp air enter her lungs and preparing for the journey to find him. After a short moment, she went forward, trudging along as the snow got deeper and the leafless trees enveloped her further. Akane wasn't scared about getting lost, but it would be an understatement to say she wasn't a bit nervous to be here past dark. 

Now that she was here doing what she had set out to do, she realized how poorly she had planned ahead. Akane was still in her school uniform, and despite having layers under her skirt and boots above her ankles, it was still inconvenient for what she was doing. Then there was also the large problem staring right at her regarding where she was heading at all. Was she just wandering around aimlessly until she found him? Akane looked around, maybe trying to find clues would advance her progress rather than just walking around with no destination. 

She shivered, taking a look around her for anything that stuck out as signs of human interference or more specifically, anything that would give away signs of Ranma interference. After a bit more wandering around, she stumbled across a short and rocky drop with a certain footprint right before it. It was flat, like the print of Ranma's slippers. She stared at it before looking back at her steps, seeing no other traces of the print. 

Akane looked around, a bit uncertain about following it since it was just the one and it led off the path. Still, it was all she had to go off of, and Akane was certain she would be able to find her way back. She took a deep breath, carefully lowering herself to see where her clue led. 

---

Ranma wasn't quite sure what was going on in his life. 

It seemed that it was falling apart, in all honesty. 

"Well, aren't I dramatic?" He spoke to himself, sitting upwards from where he was lying. 

He wasn't sure what time it was and wasn't quite sure as to where he was but that was fine by him, after all, he had no intention of heading back any time soon. 

This morning after his nightmare he had run off aimlessly, barely dressing in his winter coat before heading out of the house and into the woods, getting lost as he ran with no thought to where he was heading, all that before eventually ending up here. It was a small ridge that had a dry hiding spot within the bottom of the hill on its side, which was good since he was sure it was going to snow, and he needed somewhere to be before figuring out his next move. 

Ranma yawned, scooting over to a wall and shivering a bit before pulling his legs in, deeply regretting not taking some boots and a small bag of supplies before running off. 

Although, it couldn't be helped. Ranma had been in such a panic he had no rational thought until he had landed here, he supposed it made sense that he was in this cold predicament. 

But as time went on, in the back of his mind he was thinking.

He wanted to be warm in bed with Akane. 

It made him feel guilty, admitting it, after the dream he had just had earlier that morning but it was true. 

The dream had made him realize a myriad of things, uncomfortable things. The most blaring of them was that he liked her, a lot, and he also felt bad, very bad, about everything leading up to this realization. 

He hadn't liked her at the very moment he met her, sure, but he found her cute. If he had to put a time stamp on it, though, he would say that it must've been around the time before she had gotten over the doctor. When she had told him that she was over him, he remembered the relief that washed over him. It had been unlike any other feeling he had ever felt. 

Of course, he had been too dense to realize it at the time.

And now he was here, thinking of all the hurt he'd caused her. 

Ranma had been mulling over these feelings and memories all day, wondering how to proceed. 

He was sure that Akane had already run off to school by now and was wondering where he was, maybe she thought that he had gone to deal with some of their usual problems. He hoped that she had chalked up his disappearance to a Shampoo kidnapping or maybe a carried-out battle with Ryoga. He sighed, grabbing his coat collar and pulling it further up, trying to cover his chilled face as much as possible. He hadn't wanted to leave without telling her, he wanted her to comfort him this dream more than any other time. But it was just how it went, he was too distraught to realize this until much later in running off. 

Oh, how desperately he wished he were warm in bed next to her. 

---

"I hate the snow, I hate winter, I hate this forest... I hate this snow, I hate this winter, and I hate this forest! Ugh!" 

Akane had been walking downhill for at least 2 hours now, and she could barely feel her fingers at this point, much less her legs. It wasn't all that cold out, but with the wind picking up and the sun being covered, she was only getting colder by the second. As strong as she was, no human could survive in these conditions comfortably, at least not without gearing up properly and taking breaks to warm up. She exhaled, wincing as she let the cold air reenter her lungs; she shivered. 

It was cold, and she had to figure something out before she froze to death. So as much as she wanted to stay, Akane knew that it would be best to find some shelter in one of the hills' ridges, to try and light something and warm up. 

It wasn't hard to do, she had some matches from the store and was lucky enough to find some small kindling as well as some old school papers she could afford to burn. She shivered as her hands and feet began to warm up, her cheeks shifting to a shade of rosy that only came from that satisfying feeling of warmth creeping in. 

This had reminded her of a time with Ranma last Christmas, almost a year ago now, amidst their daily antics of their lives and the added burden of the holidays they had had a moment that Akane could only describe as sweet, hopeful, even. She closed her eyes, pulling her knees up to her chest as she reminisced. 

---

It had been a heavy snowstorm on the way to Tokyo, predicted to snow people in and preventing kids from going to school the next day. Akane had lived through a few snowstorms like this before, as a child she was excited to sleep in the next day and to lie in bed with her sisters, but as she grew older that seemed to be less and less the case. That was fine by her, she was too old for it anyway.

Akane, since there would be no school for them tomorrow according to the local radio, she had decided that she would spend her night watching TV dramas in the living room under the family's kotatsu. It was okayed by her family, no one really cared since this would be an exception from the usual and most of the people in the house were adults who were more than eager to go to bed without worrying about the kids and the hectic routine of getting them ready the next morning.

She was ready for her night, in her freshly washed pajamas, and with some snacks she had found in the kitchen Akane was ready to relax. She smiled, sitting down in the dark room with a late-night drama running in front of her she hadn't been able to keep up with lately in her daily life. This would be a good night.

"Are you really about to spend all night watching TV?" 

Akane whipped her head back, grimacing at the sight of her fiancé leaning on the doorframe. Rolling her eyes, she tried her best to return her attention to what was in front of her. After the exhausting day she had had with him, Akane wasn't pleased to see him at the moment. 

"What do you need?" Akane answered dryly. 

"Nothing. Geez, you act like it's such a horror to see me." Ranma scoffed. "I was just here to see if you were really gonna do this."

Akane peered over at him, used to his condescending nature, and thoughtlessly reacted the way she usually would. "Well now you've seen it with your own eyes, Ranma, I am gonna waste my time. Happy now?" Her eyes set on his, glaring.

Ranma crossed his arms, staring back at her with the same anger before backing down, his scowl directed to the ground rather than the girl in front of him. 

"Just what's your problem with me? None of today was even my fault if that's what you're so angry about." 

Akane's glare faltered, stunned at his bluntness at the question. Her eyes fell to the floor, her anger turning into something more akin to shame than anything. 

"I-I'm not angry with you..." She spoke, furrowing her brows as her voice began to regain stability. "Just upset... with today, y'know? I just wanted some downtime." Her eyes returned to the screen in front of her.

A moment of silence followed with only the TV filling in the empty noise between the two. Akane's eyes slowly removed themselves from the screen in that time, trailing towards her fiancé who looked up from the ground to do the same as her. She averted her gaze as her words spilled out carelessly. 

"Care to join?" She asked. 

Ranma looked right at her as she moved over a bit to her left, offering the spot next to her even though the other sides of the kotatsu were empty, though that didn't matter to Ranma, he wanted to sit there anyway.

Quietly, Ranma slipped into his offered spot and took his place under the table, feeling a tightness in his chest being so close to her. He hated that feeling, foreign and uncomfortable to him he wished that it would go away and never come back. That feeling, this feeling, made things hard in his relationship with Akane. 

"What is this show even about?" He asked, clearing his throat and pushing away any nervousness present in his voice. 

Akane hummed, more focused on the drama than what Ranma had been saying. As fast as her heart was beating, she only had so many opportunities to watch this drama and she wouldn't let anything get in the way of it. 

"It's about some girl, y'know, and this guy. They're at different universities right now, but they went to high school together and had had crushes on each other, though they were friends until recently when they decided to start dating after reconnecting. It's a new show but I like how it's going." Akane briefly explained. 

Ranma relaxed his shoulders as he sat on the premise for a bit. "Why did they wait until they were in different universities? If they had crushes on each other back, then why wait?" 

"It's complicated," Akane answered, reaching for a pretzel sitting on the table. "Look, it's a drama, it's supposed to not make a lot of sense." 

Ranma hummed, not very satisfied with the answer but willing to see it through. So, silently, he watched, eating a few of Akane's snacks in the meantime. 

A few hours passed by, and then some more without much exchange between the both of them. Slowly Akane had begun to drift off, and she would have if not for the sudden buzz from the TV, signaling the end of the broadcast until the morning. Both she and Ranma awoke from their dazes and struggled to find the remote before Ranma got a hold of it, quickly turning off the grating noise. They both let out a sigh of relief. 

"I forgot that the TV did that, I'll be honest." Akane relaxed her shoulders, slowly dropping her head to the table, resting it atop her hands pressed against the wood. 

"I'd never even heard the TV do that." Ranma slouched forward. "I've never watched TV this late before."

"Really?" Akane's eyes widened. "I guess you didn't have one growing up... so that makes sense, I guess." She looked up at him. 

"Mmm, yeah, and it's not like I've ever had an opportunity of doing that here, not that I really want to." Ranma looked back. 

"Do you not really like TV that much? I guess you hardly watch anything..." Akane wandered in thought, trying to think of times when Ranma would watch on his own beyond a few occasions.

"Nope, not really my thing." Ranma shrugged, pausing momentarily. "... I guess that show was alright. A bit convoluted, sappy too, but I see why you watch it." 

"Really? I'm surprised, you usually hate this stuff." Akane lightly chuckled. 

"Hate what stuff?"

"You know. That stuff. Romantic stuff." 

Ranma blushed at her casual demeanor, his heart pacing faster as he watched her smile at him, waiting for his response so she could laugh. He huffed, he'd show her. 

"That's just cause... that wasn't really romance, fiction is fiction, Akane. With this stuff, there's no need to hate it because it isn't real." He trailed off nervously, much to her amusement. 

"Whatever you say, I know you. You don't really like all that sappy stuff." She smiled, her eyes half open as she fought sleep, too entertained by their conversation to drift off just yet. "I'm surprised you didn't leave when they kissed." 

Ranma crossed his arms. "Why would I? Why would something as small as a kiss make me leave?" He was going into his defensive tendencies. 

Akane sat up straight, willing for once in their relationship to defuse the situation she felt growing into something bigger. "Okay, okay, I get it. No need to make it a big deal..." She paused. "Well, whatever, I'm glad you didn't hate it."

The young boy softened his body language, looking away from her as his frustration reverted to nervousness. They were so close. "Yeah well, it was okay, and I'm glad that we could just sit here too and not... argue, or whatnot." 

The shorter girl smiled tenderly, placing a hand over his, hidden under the blanket, and giving her bold action no attention the both of them said nothing about it. He didn't mind it, not at the moment.

"Me too, it's nice." 

---

Ranma had been there all day by now, and for the last hour or so, been watching as the snow fell more and more around him. 

God, he was cold.

And hungry.

Well, at this point, mostly hungry more than anything. He hadn't eaten since last night at dinner and it was becoming more of a problem than the wind chill or the dwindling daylight; how Ranma cursed the irritatingly short daylight hours during winter, it only made things so much more depressing than usual.

Maybe he could leave, go to town, maybe get something to eat... No, he couldn't. No matter how hungry he was he wanted to clear his head before going back into the city, that's what he had decided in the end. But the big problem with that is that he had done no thinking whatsoever about how to handle the situation he had dug himself in. Surely by now his family-more specifically, Akane-- had come to the realization that he was gone. It was beginning to even seem, embarrassing just how long he's been out here, all because of some nightmare. 

His parents would be upset that their son had been so startled by a mere dream. He was no man in their eyes if they knew what produced this stunt of his.

But it wasn't some mere dream, it was a daunting nightmare about one of the most important people in his life. How could he not be alarmed? He hadn't been spooked by a monster, kissing Kuno, or being faced by his various enemies-no, Ranma was hit by something much more disturbing: the girl he had realized to be in love with had been tormented by him and his actions since meeting him, even dying to try and help him. It also hadn't helped that this realization had been delivered by what appeared to be the female version of him. Not an evil mirror version of himself, but himself, that felt like himself. 

He hadn't given that part of him that much thought lately. Even though he would never admit it to his family, he had grown less and less determined to change back into his full-time male self. Sure, as far as Ranma's parents knew, he would do it eventually, but in all honesty, it grew to be less of a priority for a myriad of reasons that he would not be discussing at the moment. That was for a different time. 

Ranma lay on the stone below him, sighing as he closed his eyes. He was pretty tired, maybe some sleep would do some good. 

---

"Akane... are you in there?" Ranma stood by the dojo door, knocking on its frame as he asked. "Akane?" He spoke clearly, though it was difficult to hide the concern in his voice. 

His tie was so tightly wrapped earlier, perhaps the sensation was the cause of the lump in his throat. 

"I'm in here, Ranma, you can come in," Akane answered, her tone void of any particular feeling. In his mind, that could not be a good sign. 

Ranma slowly slid the dojo door open, spotting Akane lying in the middle of the dojo in her white dress, lying back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. His eyes caught themselves on her sleeves, some makeup staining them. He felt a pang of what he could only assume to be a shame, maybe, that is. The young would-have-been groom slid off his shoes before entering the dojo, walking over to Akane as he dragged his feet behind, the weight of the day tying his legs down to the floor. Though he was strong, soon he was looming over his would-have-been bride, fully seeing her pathetic attempt to wipe off her makeup. Although, he wouldn't say that to her, and in all honesty, he was mostly glad it wasn't from tears. 

He was surprised she hadn't cried today. 

"How... do you feel?" He finally breathed out, his fingers subconsciously meeting, fidgeting. 

You would've thought she hadn't heard him by how blank her expression stayed. 

"Fine, I guess." She exhaled. "You?"

Ranma looked away from her face, focusing on the floorboard next to her face. "Tired." 

"That makes sense, it was a long day." Finally, her gaze broke away, her head turning to face him and meet his eyes. "You can join me if you'd like."

Ranma nodded, lowering himself to her side and resting his arms atop his stomach, mimicking her pose. His shoulders relaxed a bit, as did his legs, it felt nice. 

"So, what now?" Akane asked. 

"..huh?"

"What now, Ranma?" She turned her head again, their faces all too close for anyone's comfort. "Do we just continue like usual after this?" 

Ranma stared into her eyes, unsure of what to say. It was with caution as he scanned her face for an answer, to tell her what she needed to hear.

It had been a difficult day, and right now it was a difficult conversation teetering between happening or not and it was his answer that determined that.  

But he was so tired. 

He looked away, staring back up to the ceiling as he answered.

"I don't... I don't see why we shouldn't, Akane." He paused, a slight strain in his voice before continuing. "We don't need things to change between us." 

It was silent in the dojo for a moment, as if nothing had been said between them. And as Akane stood up, you realized nothing had been said. 

---

Why that memory had come to mind was unusual, Akane hadn't given that particular interaction too much thought since it happened. No, it was far too difficult to dwell on it for her, perhaps it was because there wasn't much to dwell on. It was cut and dry, for his standards at least, to tell her that their relationship would forever be whatever it was-something between partners, friends, and in a way, enemies--that the two of them didn't need change despite that day. 

But she did need it. 

She needed change, as much as it was difficult to admit.

That's why she had walked away from him, because more than anything she wanted to ignore his wishes and pretend they had never been spoken into the world. 

Akane walked down a hill, sliding downwards, careful to not hit any bumps on her way. The wind had been picking up as the day began to end, and snow fell around her. 

What if he wasn't even here? 

The young martial artist slowed down, her feet careful to not let her fall forward as she stopped a top a small ledge. She stared blankly into the white forest around her. 

The thought hadn't even occurred to her. 

Akane groaned, slapping her palm onto her already red cheek, her shoulders slumping forward. Had she really just spent a whole day in the forest when for all she knew Ranma was already back home, or most likely, searching for her at the very moment because surely everyone was coming to the realization that she was gone too. 

She knelt down, exhaling hot air as she rested her arms on her knees, letting her eyes drop down. Akane, more than anything, wished she was warm at home in her pajamas, with her pillows and blankets laid on the floor, with a certain pigtailed individual next to her. 

Then she heard a snore. 

Her eyes snapped open: a very familiar sounding snore, if she was sure of anything. 

Slowly, Akane drew closer to the source until she was peering over the ledge looking down. Carefully, she leaned forward, angling herself to view the inside of the ledge. And sure enough, there he was. 

As relief washed over her, her immediate distaste for the young man below her was something that one could only describe as natural. 

---

Akane stared at the boy snoring at her feet, peacefully with no idea as to how angry she was looking at him. 

All day she had spent looking for him, dragging herself along the forest with her heavy backpack and an empty stomach; Oh, Akane was furious at this sight. 

Almost as much as she was relieved. 

With a deep breath, Akane calmed herself, she was getting used to controlling her overwhelming feelings, especially the ones like anger. So, she leaned down and got close to him, removing the glove from her right hand before she moved towards his face, shocked by how it was so much colder than her hands. Her heart began to race with worry as she pondered on how to proceed. 

He was so cold. Obviously, Akane had thought to herself, but it couldn't be good, and although he looked so peaceful she couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was a sign that he was frozen beyond help. 

Akane took a step back, looking away briefly before resorting to what she knew best. She took a deep breath.

"Ranma Saotome! Wake up!" She shouted, her voice bouncing off the walls around her and shaking the snow from the top of the entrance down below. 

So, despite being a heavy sleeper, he did just that, his eyes fluttering awake as they fell onto his fiancée, a weak smile as his vision cleared. 

Until he saw that rather annoyed look on her face he was all too familiar with. 

"Akane! What're you doing here!?" color began to return to his face as he realized what was happening. "How did you find me!?" 

The young girl looming over him scoffed, sitting down near his head as her face couldn't help but soften. He hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and was colder than the snow itself, but still, he was the same boy she was used to. 

"I always know where to find you, Ranma." She said, intending to sound harsher than how it actually came out to be. "Especially when you piss me off."

"...What?"

Akane leaned closer, her brows furrowing and her voice straining as she spoke low. 

"I said, 'Especially when you piss me off', Ranma." 

It was a blur for him what happened next, as before he knew it he was being dragged out of his space by his pigtail, only being able to wiggle around in agony as she began to lecture him. 

"Honestly, how stupid are you, Ranma!? You run off for a whole day, making me resort to relying on Nabiki of all people to help me just so I can find you here, sleeping like a baby!" Akane shouted, shaking the trees of the snow collecting on them. "Oh, and don't get me started on how you left, Ranma! Leaving in the middle of the night when you know that I was right there next to you!" 

Ranma squirmed some more before he was finally able to start walking while she pulled him along. Akane stopped walking as he caught up, his hair in her hand as she said with the same sternness. 

"You, Saotome, are going to explain yourself as soon as we get out of this forest."

---

The inside of the convenience store felt like what Ranma could best describe as heaven, paradise even as Akane prepared them both some cheap noodles and two bottles of water. As she set them down in front of him, sitting next to her, he could almost forget the seriousness of the situation. 

"The noodles take 3 minutes to cook, so we have to wait." she sighed, leaning back against the hard chair, her eyes drooping slightly before picking up to look at the boy ahead of her. "In the meantime, care to start? And, Ranma, please, I'm so tired, so just... tell me the truth. Tell me everything, please." 

Ranma averted his eyes, straightening his back as he thought of what to say. How could he even start? 

"Well, if you want the truth, we're gonna have to talk about some things that I know neither of us like talking about." He paused. "Like our wedding." 

Akane stiffened at the words, especially coming out of his mouth. 

"Okay, I half expected that anyway, you mentioned it last night." She tried to find where his eyes were focused on, maybe it would help them communicate if they both looked at the same thing. "Why did you bring that up?" 

"... You won't get mad, will you? If I tell you?" 

"I'm too tired to get mad."

"I don't think that's possible for you." 

A slight kick under the table, a soft ''ow'', and two ''sorry''s. 

"Okay," Ranma rubbed his ankle. "I was snooping in your drawers a little, and I saw some pictures from that day of you and your sisters, alongside a note from Nabiki where she passed the blame onto me." 

She had honestly forgotten about those pictures. 

"Oh." 

"Yeah." 

"What... what did you think? When you saw them?"

Ranma shrugged. "I guess, even though she was the one who had invited all of our enemies and what-not's, I understood how it's my fault." He paused briefly. "The whole fiancée thing is my mess and you got caught in the crossfire, and it ruined our wedding that we had both agreed to do." 

"Oh," Akane whispered. "I see. I won't lie, I was pretty upset with you after the wedding, but in all honesty, it wasn't just about the others, mine or yours we both had some fault in that area." 

Ranma pressed his lips together, tension rising in his body as he waited for her to finish what she was saying. 

"I was really, for the most part, mad about how things went afterward." She looked over at him, her gaze unwavering as she asked. "Do you remember that? That night after everyone had finally left us alone?" 

"... When I said that we shouldn't change anything about us... or something like that?" Ranma answered. 

Akane nodded, looking away as the boy next to her gapped, floundering in his excuses. 

"I didn't-No! Akane, I-Well, um, I just-I-" He stopped, catching her eyes that led him to stop. "...Akane, I'm sorry. I thought that maybe, that that was what you wanted to hear."

"Now, why would I want that?" Akane exclaimed. "Tell me, Ranma, when have you ever told me anything I actually want to hear?" 

Ranma flinched, startled by her words. 

Akane sighed at seeing his reaction, her shoulders relaxing as she crossed her arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." She reached under the table, grabbing his arm slightly. She took a deep breath. "If you didn't mean that, what did you mean?" 

Ranma shrugged. "I wanted to let you that... well," His face began to get hot. "If you don't want to, we don't have to change. We can be what you want, it's up to you." 

"Oh, Ranma..." Akane's gaze softened slightly, though it quickly shifted to a swift smack on the head. "Well, why didn't you say that!?"

"Ow!" He winced. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable! Put yourself in my shoes, if you were me would you have tried something like that? We just had the second worst day of our lives and maybe I was thinking that after all that you wouldn't want to be around me anymore." 

Akane's body shifted, and all her steam evaporated as his words came out. She knew this, he was just as scared as her. 

"If I didn't want to be around you, I'd let you know." She said. "When you came in I invited you to lay down with me, didn't I? I didn't shoo you away or anything. Ranma, why do you think I agreed to the wedding in the first place?"

Ranma thought about it for a moment, unsure what the answer was. 

"Because I saved you...?" He replied slowly, watching her reaction. "Oh, was it because our families finally wore you down?" He asked, his face churning to confusion as he waited for her response. "Well?" 

Akane, for the first ever knew exactly what to say. It had never dawned on her what the right time or the right way to say this to Ranma was but in every fiber of her being she knew. After all, he could play chicken forever when it came to this, so she might as well. 

"Because I like you. And you like me too." She smiled, looking down at her noodles she felt her shoulders lighten up. "I think they're done, we should eat before we continue." 

---

Ranma had never eaten that fast in his life, surprising both of them as he set his bowl down, pushing down a burp from escaping. 

"You like me? Since... well, since when?" His face got closer to hers. "I need answers, Akane." 

Akane, maybe about a fifth done with her food, stared at her erratic fiancé sitting next to her. It's uncomfortable enough to confess your feelings but having the person you confessed to less than 30 centimeters from your face tops it in a landslide. Setting her cheap and disposable chopsticks to the side, she cleared her throat, averting her gaze. 

"I can't say, but I can say that it was something that accumulated over time." She answered. "There was never really a moment in which I said to myself 'I like Ranma Saotome', rather, I had just come to recognize those feelings forming. I never thought much on it, or at least, I tried not to." 

She watched as Ranma's face backed away from hers before looking away again, half expecting him to say something rude. 

"I see." He said, softly, his demeanor a bit feminine at how he scrunched his shoulders in. In the corner of her eye, she could see his red face, almost tempted to turn around for such a cute sight. 

"Well, I just had the realization." His fingers intertwined amongst themselves, fidgeting nervously. "That I like you, I mean, like, really like you."

"Just how recently?" She asked, guessing to herself before he answered. She wondered if it was after the wedding.

"Like... Today?" He spoke. "I guess before today, I just didn't think about it, my feelings for you that is." 

Akane hummed, well, that made sense, in a way. It would explain his willingness to mess with any of her romantic prospects if you could call them that, while simultaneously trying to avoid any sort of admittance to how he felt about her. But as much as it helped her understand his prior actions, it made her upset with him for his prior actions. Whatever, that wasn't the point of this conversation, maybe another day. 

"That explains a lot," She frowned, turning her attention towards him. 

"Yeah, sorry about everything." He added, some of his previous nervousness leaving his voice. "Hopefully, we can continue as... something different, now? We don't have to but, if you'd like, I guess, it wouldn't be bad." 

Akane nodded. "I'll think about it, first, we have to talk about a few more things." 

"Like what?" 

"Like, why did you leave this morning, Ranma? What happened today?" 

The young boy shifted in his seat, a bit unsure of where to start. 

"It's sort of weird, are you sure?" 

"Ranma, I don't really care, I've surely seen weirder than whatever you're about to tell me." Akane rolled her eyes. 

Ranma grimaced, slightly. "Well, okay then, remember that dream I had? Earlier in the day yesterday?" 

"Sort of, why?" 

"Because, it was a continuation of my dream, the one that led us here." He explained. "It was weird, I made it into your room and it wasn't you in there, it was me... but like, the girl me." 

Akane quirked her head to the side, trying to set the picture in her head. 

"Anyway, it wasn't weird in that she existed, it was more like weird because a subconscious me was in front of me. No, like, I was two separate entities at the same time? Well-I'm not sure how to explain it. Like talking to myself that wasn't me, is what I'm trying to get at here." He rubbed his head, grunting as he tried to put his thoughts into words. "Anyway, I asked her why we were having these dreams." 

"And? What did she say?" Akane questioned. 

Ranma paused before answering. "She said the problem was me." He spoke, his voice lowering as he continued. "That how the last year all of the complicated messes of our lives were caused by me, and how I keep ruining your life with it all." He looked away before trying to nervously smile. "She scared the crap outta me, she wasn't very nice about it either." 

Akane frowned, extending her hand to Ranma's face. "You didn't ruin my life, Ranma, you've made it fuller." She reached to turn his head towards her. "Please, don't cry." 

"I'm sorry, Akane."

"It's okay, it's alright, Ranma, we-we've both hurt each other, I think. I'm sorry too." 

She was aggressive by nature, but as she tugged him into her arms, he not only appreciated it but realized just how much he wanted it. To be held tightly by her right now, felt so right, and he couldn't help but pull her closer to him in return. 

It was funny, in the corner of a quiet convenience store, two teenagers sat together crying softly about the last year and a half of their lives together, apologizing and forgiving for the hurt they had caused one another. 

---

Weeks passed since then as the brunt of winter fully set in, and you could say that not much changed in that time. Nabiki had somehow managed to cover for both Ranma and Akane, something about a kidnapping involving the both of them by the time they had come home, and all things considered, no adults thought to question it. Of course, since then they've practically been at the beck and call of the middle Tendo sister's bidding. 

"You want us to do what? Nabiki, we can't exactly assault someone for you that's against the law." Akane exclaimed. "What did this guy even do to you?" 

Nabiki spun in her chair, nonchalant as she answered. "He ditched me with the bill on our date last week and then stopped answering my calls. So, I spent the last week tracking him down and learning his schedule so I can send the two of you after him." 

"What?-just how much was the dinner?" Ranma asked. "We can cover it if it means-"

"-About 78,000 Yen." Nabiki looked up at him, extending her hand. "I didn't know you had that on you, Ranma, if you got it then I don't mind-"

"-Never mind." Ranma stopped her, sighing as he looked over to the girl next to him. She seemed pretty resigned as well. 

Nabiki smiled, clapping her hands together before hurriedly shooing them off, shoving a piece of paper with the guy's schedule alongside a photo of him into the hands of her sister.

"Okay, perfect! Hurry up kiddos, I got a date to get ready for, and don't worry, this guy's rich!" She shouted, closing the door behind them. 

The pair of teenagers standing in the hallway looked at each other, aware of how the next few seconds would go. 

"You just had to ask Nabiki for help when she turned over a new more evil leaf didn't you, huh, 'kane?" 

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have had to ask her for help if someone, I dunno, relied on me more but no! You just had to run away, Ranma."

The two glared at each other before Ranma finally conceded. 

"Let's just do this, the sooner the better."

"Agreed." 

The two looked at the information given to them, seemingly irritated as they both noticed a perfect opportunity. 

"Gets out of the gym in an hour, does he?" Ranma hummed. 

"Well, it would give us time to get ready..."

"I mean, only if we have to actually beat him up, we should just explain to him about the money." 

"Right, but we should wear masks, it could go bad if we don't." 

"Right..." Ranma scratched his head. "I guess, we should get started." 

---

It didn't take much planning to get the guy into a corner. In reality, after all the trouble and moral dilemmas, the man was somewhat easy to shake after some light threatening. Ranma, while not happy to have technically mugged someone, was happy that the ordeal was much easier than expected. 

"You wanna walk around a bit before we head back, I'm sure Nabiki won't be home any time soon if she's on a date." 

Ranma looked over at the girl, surprised but not opposed to the suggestion. 

"Sure, lead the way." 

Akane smiled, giving him her hand as they swung their arms together, stifling their laughs but not their smiles. Taking their time, the two walked slowly, making new prints in the snow below their feet. Each crunch with their step had them smiling, their faces red from the cold and only the cold if you would ask them. 

"When do think Nabiki'll get tired of this?" Ranma asked. 

"Probably never, the only way to get out of it is to come clean about that day." 

"I guess, and we can't?"

"Of course not, do you want to explain to your parents what happened?"

"Well no, but, what if we just didn't?"

"What?" 

Ranma stopped and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Akane, I think we should not care what our parents say." He paused. "Also, Nabiki doesn't know about everything, what's the worst she can tell them?" 

"You're crazy."

"But am I not right?" 

"You aren't... but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try?" 

Ranma smiled, swinging their arms as they continued to walk. 

"No matter what, it'll be okay. Everything passes." 

"I guess, yeah, but let's just wait until she asks for something else, until then there's no reason to stir up any sort of ruckus." 

"I agree." 

A brief moment of silence between the two. 

"So after, what'll we do?" Akane asked.

"Huh?" 

"I mean, if Nabiki tells everyone about that day and our sleepovers, what then? Do we confess to them what's changed between us?" 

"Well..." Ranma hummed. "We could just say nothing's changed; we are engaged after all." 

"But-"

"-Nothing, Akane, but nothing," Ranma says. "It'll be okay." 

Akane sighed, defeated by his casual attitude. 

"Okay fine," She whispered. "Can't believe my idiot boyfriend can convince me so easily." 

Ranma got tense at hearing the word, coming from her mouth it still made him nervous. Even if she did add the word 'idiot' before it. 

"Whatever, I can't believe how easy it is to convince my stubborn girlfriend."

The two glared at each other, but it wavered in less than a second. The two giggled at each other before continuing their walk home, hand in hand. 

They would sleep well tonight, no matter what happens tomorrow.