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“Ranma, why haven’t we gotten married yet?”
Akane watched her fiancé begin to stumble on the bridge railing. Like always, he had taken to “balance training” on their walk together. Like always, he got flustered over their relationship.
“Jeez, Tomboy, warn a girl before you say somethin’ like that!” Ranma, in his cursed form, hopped off the railing and landed directly in front of Akane.
“What’s got you all twisted up?” Ranma cocked his hip to the side and placed his hands on them. “Finally realize what a catch I am?” He winked and blew raspberries at her.
“Ranma, please. Can we talk about this for real? Don’t give me the dumb jerk routine. Not today.” Akane felt tears starting to well. She wiped them on her sleeve and took a deep breath.
“Today? Somethin’ happen today? Ranma’s face contorted, and Akane swore she could hear the gears in his head grinding together. “Happi finally kick it? Don’t tell me you’re in a huff over that freak?”
“No you idiot!” Anger washed over her face, and it took everything she had not to mallet him on the spot.
She grabbed onto Ranma’s silk shirt with both hands. “It’s been two years to the day since we tried. We were so close .”
Two years since their failed wedding. Over two years since Jusendo.
“‘Kane… ‘Snot like I don’t care about ya.” he grumbled and looked up at her. He was still shorter than her like this. “Don’t need a stupid ceremony to prove that.”
I know that. You dumb silly boygirl.
“We’re not kids anymore, Ranma.” She squeezed her fiancé’s shirt a little tighter. “I’ll be leaving for school soon…”
I need to know where we stand.
“I know you love me, but I can’t keep my life on hold forever while you figure things out.” Her grip faltered, and she let out a shaky breath. “Help me understand, please. ”
He looked away from her. His expression was soft, and Akane could feel his breathing hitch.
“Not here… ‘Sa private thing.” His voice was barely audible. So quiet that Akane wasn’t sure if he had actually said it or if she imagined it. “Tonight. On the roof.”
I’ll hold you to that. No weaseling out this time.
“I love you, Pervert.” Her grip on his shirt was so tight it was starting to hurt her hands.
“Love ya too, Tomboy” His voice was a touch louder, but still gentle. Fragile.
Akane felt Ranma’s arms wrap around her, and she all but collapsed on him. She buried her head into his chest and felt the tears start to well again.
“Promise?” Her words were muffled from his shirt.
“Promise. I gotcha, ‘Kane.”
He always had before, and Akane wanted to believe he always would.
Akane furrowed her brow as she pushed her dinnerware away. She could feel a nagging sensation in the back of her mind. Like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
Something about her conversation with Ranma was bothering her.
She sighed and leaned her head on her still girl-shaped fiancé. The dining room had mostly cleared out. Only Ranma was still eating. Kasumi was the lone straggler, gathering dishes around the young couple.
It’s strange… Why do I feel there’s still a missing piece? He didn’t shut down this time.
Akane had practically gotten everything she wanted from their short talk by the river: Actual vulnerability from Ranma and the promise of getting a real answer out of him.
But still, she couldn’t shake the feeling there was something about the interaction she had missed.
She sighed again and burrowed herself deeper into Ranma’s body. Content to push the feelings away, for now.
“Do you want me to put on a kettle, Ranma?” Kasumi’s voice dragged Akane out of her post dinner haze.
“Ah. Nah, thanks though, ‘Sumi! I’ll be takin’ a bath later anyway.” Ranma brushed his future sister-in-law off and continued picking at the remnants of his rice.
Akane gave it three-to-one odds Ranma would leave the bathroom in girl mode, but she chose not to mention that to her older sister.
She bit back a groan. She could feel that nagging feeling creeping up on her again.
Of course, it’s something to do with Ranma. It’s always him.
Ranma had been spending a lot of time in girl mode recently. Long enough that only Kasumi and Nodoka bothered trying to get him to change back anymore.
Even Genma had given up, despite the years of blatant sexism he’d spent spewing at his son. Akane supposed that without the contract and threat of seppuku hanging over his head, he was content to let his son do as he pleased.
As long as we unite the schools, maybe.
Akane closed her eyes and found herself once again daydreaming of their wedding.
For two years, she had been practically haunted by waking dreams of beautiful dresses and cakes taller than they were wide. Two years of being plagued with dreams that could never be.
The one constant in every one of her visions had been her betrothed.
Ranma Saotome, in his girl form, wearing the perfect dress, her red hair in a fancy updo, her face concealed by a veil, and holding a simple bouquet of roses.
Akane pictured Ranma waiting for her at the altar, nervously swaying as she waited for Akane to show.
A blissful sigh escaped Akane’s lips.
“Am I that comfy, ‘Kane?”
Akane opened her eyes to see Ranma staring down at her with a half cocked smirk plastered on his face.
His cute, soft, smooth, perfect face.
She had been so lost in her daydreams that she hadn’t noticed that she had slid down and claimed Ranma’s lap as her pillow.
“Yep. Especially like this. Your hot-water side isn’t as cushioned.” Akane smiled and stuck her tongue out at Ranma.
There was a subtle change in his expression that Akane couldn’t discern. It only flashed across his features for a moment, but Akane noticed. She always noticed.
Ranma could never keep anything from her for very long.
It was freezing cold and Ranma was late.
Sure, he hadn’t given Akane a specific time, but there had always been an unspoken agreement that it would be midnight.
She had been climbing up here on the roof of the dojo to talk with her stupid and perfect fiancé for years. Quiet nights under a blanket of stars and comets where they didn’t have to pretend. Nights free from their family’s expectations and obligations.
Always at midnight.
She had been sitting up here for nearly a half hour at this point. A half hour of getting blasted by cold gusts of wind and staring at the night sky.
A half hour, and Ranma Saotome was nowhere to be found.
He wouldn’t dare stand me up. Not tonight. Not like this.
This was their special place, a secret haven where they could be alone. Just the two of them.
“When it's just us, when it’s the real you.” Akane silently mouthed the words and brought her knees up to her chest.
He’s really not coming. Ranma, you idiot.
Akane had worked really hard that morning to not shed tears. She didn’t bother fighting them this time. She was too angry to try.
No. Not angry. Furious.
He promised.
She could feel tears stream down her face as she balled her fists tight. So tight that she could feel her nails threatening to break the skin of her palms.
Ranma had always been coy with his feelings, but she needed more from him than that. She told him that to his face, and then got more of the same. She had let him do it, because he had invoked rooftop privilege:
The one true promise neither of them had ever dared to renege on.
Until now.
Akane could feel a primal scream boiling in her throat, but when she opened her mouth all she could do was choke on her sobs.
She slumped against the rooftop tiles and stared at the night sky. Tears stained her vision, blocking out the remaining stars visible through Tokyo’s light pollution.
“After everything we’ve faced together, he can’t even show his face.”
I got your message, Ranma. Loud and clear.
Akane stood and dried her eyes. There was no point in waiting any longer. They were done. She would go to a university far away from Nerima. Far away from Ranma Saotome.
She took one last look at the night’s sky, only for Ranma to block the moonlight with a leap onto the rooftop.
“Oh, thank the Kami. You’re still here.”
A loud crack reverberated through the air, followed by a silence so heavy that Akane could feel her shoulders slump under the weight. The palm of her hand stung like hell.
Ranma hung his head, a visible hand print across his face. “Yeah, I deserve that.”
“Where have you been!? You idiot! I thought you weren’t coming.” Akane wrapped her arms around her red-headed fiancé.
“I’m so sorry, ‘Kane. Nabs swiped my, uh…” Ranma dropped his voice to a hush, “ tampons .” He cleared his throat and continued, “Wanted to charge me a thousand yen fer one of ‘em.”
Akane could feel her anger fading, replaced with a growing migraine.
“… And then after I left the convenience store, Ryoga decided it would be the perfect moment for another ‘Ranma Saotome, prepare to die.’ and dragged me into a fight across half the ward.”
He’s going to be the death of me. Maybe I’m already dead and this is my punishment.
“… And by the time I got back here, I was already so late that-”
Akane cut him off by pressing her lips against his.
Ranma melted into the kiss and nearly lost his footing on the slanted tiles.
Akane broke the quick kiss and brought her forehead down to meet her girl-shaped fiancé’s. “Ranma, shut up.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
That’s more like it.
“Ranma…” Akane paused and gave him a small smirk. She slid her arms down to Ranma’s waist and wrapped her arms even tighter. She allowed herself to fall on her back, dragging Ranma with her and planting both of them firmly on the incline.
Akane could feel her feet dangling off the edge of the roof.
“I need you to tell me the truth. Why. Aren’t. We. Married. Yet?”
He squirmed in her arms in an attempt to free himself from her grip.
Akane wouldn’t budge.
“Ranma. No more games. No more bullshit.”
He gulped and quit struggling against her.
The greatest martial artist of our generation, and he wouldn’t dare use his real strength to get away. Not from me.
He took a deep a breath and closed his eyes.
“‘Kane. I’m a girl.”
“Yes, I can see that, Ranma.” Akane rolled her eyes and gave his waist a tiny squeeze.
“No Tomboy, like, all the time.” Ranma’s face contorted in frustration, and he rested his head on Akane’s chest.
“I don’t care if you want to spend your time as a girl, Ranma. It’s your body.” She grabbed his signature pigtail and began to undo it, while her other hand slid up from his waist to his lower back.
“No, ya’ don’t get it.” With a sigh, Ranma sat up. His legs were straddling Akane, his butt planted on Akane’s stomach. “I’m not a man among men, ‘Kane. Not now, not ever. I can’t be your husband.”
He paused.
His hands were shaking. He grabbed the bottom of his silk shirt and began to fidget with the frayed ends. “Two women can’t get married in Japan. They won’t let me be your wife. Heck, you prolly don’t wanna wife anyhow.”
A look of recognition flashed across Akane’s face.
Like Konatsu. Oh Ranma, You dumb silly girl.
“Ranma.” Akane let go of him—no, her- to pinch the bridge of her nose. “How long?”
“How long what?” Ranma’s voiced trembled.
“How long have you known?”
“… It started with Herb. He… didn’t exactly feel the same ‘bout his curse as me.” Her voice was quiet, just like this morning when first trying to avoid the question. “Thought I just liked being both, told ya’ as much at… After Saffron. But it just got harder and harder to keep the act of ‘man among men’ going.”
Ranma swung her leg off of Akane and sat next to her, looking out at the night’s sky. “At some point, I gave up on even tryin’. Thought it wouldn’t matter none. You didn’t seem to mind that I was spending all my time as a girl.”
“But I can’t get married as a guy, and they won’t let me marry ya’ as a girl. So I just, hoped we could wait ‘em out and do our own thing. But if you wanna get married…” Ranma trailed off and wiped away forming tears.
Kami help me.
“Ranma, you idiot.” Akane flipped over and pinned her fiancée to the rooftop tiles. “I don’t care what the government or our parents think. I’m going to make you my wife. Understand?”
Ranma sheepishly nodded, a blush spreading across her face.
Her cute, soft, smooth, perfect face.
“Good girl.”
Akane leaned in and gave her future wife a peck on the cheek.
She flipped back over and pulled Ranma in close, nestling the smaller girl into the crook of her arm. There would be plenty of time to kiss every inch of her body later.
For now, she just wanted to watch the stars with the girl she loved.