Akane
by Kirinin
Seven
Hiroshi smiled and waved as Akane came dashing from the house with her bento in one hand and her schoolbag in the other. "Hey, 'Kane!" he cried. "Check it out," Akane said, handing Hiroshi the photographs of Ranma. Hiro practically snatched them from her hands. "Whoa, Akane. Where'd you get these?" "Nabiki gave them to me." He let out a low whistle of surprise. "Amazing. I thought I'd never be able to say the name 'Ranma' again." That strange chill ran through Akane once more as he said that name. Still, her tone was wry when she answered. "I think its safe now." Hiroshi stopped walking as he flipped through the pictures. "Come on, Hiro, we're going to be late," she demanded impatiently. "It's just that... well, I wanted to say something to you Akane." He paused, as though searching for the right words. "Some of the things that are true about Ranma are really strange. I want you to tell me everything you think you remember, no matter how odd it is. Okay?" Akane frowned at him. "Well... okay, I guess. C'mon - now we've really got to hurry!" They took off at a dead run towards school. Something about the situation, Akane reflected, seemed awfully familiar. Her eyes kept straying to the fence to their right. Of course! I'll bet Ranma and I were late all the time. And she must've run across the - "Hey!" she called to Hiroshi. "Watch this!" With an enormous leap, she landed atop the fence by the bay. "What the—?!" the boy on the road exclaimed. "Get down from there! You'll get hurt!" Akane wobbled briefly before steadying herself. "Meeehhhh!" she exclaimed, sticking out her tongue. "We'll see about that!" Squaring her shoulders and readying herself, she took off at full tilt, that top rod of the fence hitting her foot exactly in the middle with each stride. And left-right, left-right, tilt to the left, and left-right, left-right, tilt to the right. And jump for the stupid woman with the wash water. And... "Huh?" Akane wobbled and fell away and to right of the fence. She surfaced, sputtering. That voice. That wasn't my voice. Whose voice was that? Was that... was that Ranma? Did she tell me how to do this trick? Hiroshi had climbed the fence and was staring at her, white as a sheet. "You've just taken five years off my life," he said. Even though he was trying for humor, Akane could hear the strain in his voice. "I... I'm really sorry, Hiro-kun," Akane apologized, leaping for the fence and climbing back over to the other side. "I don't know what came over me. I guess... I don't know. I really want to remember Ranma. It's starting to color everything I do." "It's really alright," he replied, calmer now. "Just please don't do that again. At least not where I can watch." Akane grinned at him and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Fine, fine... I promise not to freak you out again. Now honestly, let's go." She looked at her watch, which was rather waterlogged, and flicked it with her fingers. "It's stopped," she complained. Hiroshi shrugged, bringing his own wrist up to read the time. “We're already late. We might as well take our time, now." The two strolled along until they reached the school, and were confronted by Kuno. Akane gave him his obligatory kick in the face before heading off to class, and subsequently, off to bucket-duty. The rest of the morning passed much like any other, except for the fact that Akane noticed Sayuri staring at her and them looking away. She wondered if the other girl was finally feeling guilty for snubbing her. At lunch, she and Hiro chatted about inconsequential things like the contents of their bentos, the weather, the latest movie, the boring nature of their history class. The subject of a certain red-head was avoided entirely, except when Hiroshi silently handed her the photos she had forgotten to reclaim earlier. Akane noticed Sayuri nervously making her way over to the two of them. "Can I help you?" she asked coldly. She was sorry to be so mean, and even a little angry with herself; but she couldn't help but need to get some of her own back after having been ignored for so long. Sayuri's expression remained neutral. "Hiroshi-kun has been telling me that you don't really remember the first week after you came back. Is that true?" Akane frowned at her, and looked at Hiro questioningly. "Sayuri," he began, sounding slightly irritated. "You'll have to be more clear. 'Came back' - she doesn't remember she was away." The girl in question blushed. "The... the..." She paused in consternation. "When you went all... funny." Akane sighed, irritated. "No, I'm afraid I don't remember much of that." Sayuri and Hiroshi locked gazes. Akane didn't understand; it looked as though Hiroshi was giving the other girl a long-suffering look that said 'I told you so'. Tears began to gather in Sayuri's eyes. "Then— then you don't even know why I've been staying away from you?" "I assume it has something to do with the fact that everybody thinks I'm a freak, now," Akane replied testily. "Would you get to the point?" Sayuri blinked, causing tears to run down her cheeks. "I..." She suddenly bowed as far as she possibly could. "I'm very sorry, then. You might never forgive me... but... I..." She paused to gulp. "I was the one who first mentioned R-R—" "Ranma?" Akane whispered. "Yes. And your doctors forbade me from coming in again to see you." Sayuri blinked her tears away, looking miserable. "After that, when you got out of hospital, I was afraid I might upset you. Ranma had a lot to do with our lives, and I thought I might slip and mention him." Hiroshi caught her gaze and shook his head minutely. Akane caught it, but couldn't imagine what it referred to. Sayuri frowned and blinked - apparently, she didn't either. "Anyway- Hiroshi and I started talking, and he told me what you thought had happened- and I felt so miserable that I had to come over and tell you I was sorry. I'm your friend, Akane; we've been friends since grade school. I'm so sorry you thought what you did. But you're not a freak, Akane." Akane felt tears gather in her own eyes as Sayuri finally straightened from her bow. "You didn't mean to cause me to flip out̬ I did that on my own. If you hadn't mentioned Ranma, somebody else probably would have. And I'm sorry I assumed the worst. I should have realized there must have been some other reason you were staying away." "All right, all right, will you two just hug and make up already?" Hiroshi demanded. But he was grinning. The two girls blushed but then embraced for a very long time, patting each other on the back as though to make certain the other was real. "Sayuri-chan, why don't you join us?" Akane asked, real hope in her voice. Sayuri's eyes twinkled. "Sure, let me just go and get my bento. Y'know, with only this boy over here filling you in, you must've missed a lot of the best gossip. We're going to have to fix that." Akane nodded, practically speechless, as Sayuri jogged off to get her lunch. Hiroshi was quietly grinning. "You engineered all of this, didn't you? All that talking to Sayuri was just because you were trying to do this?" Hiroshi shrugged and smiled. "I couldn't have you moping around and staring at she and Yuka like you had an 'A' pinned to your chest," he informed her firmly. Akane threw herself into his embrace. "Oh, Hiro, I just love you!" Hiroshi awkwardly patted her on the back. "Uh— yeah." Sayuri arrived again, sitting herself down on the grass. "Hmm, am I interrupting something?" Akane jumped backwards, her cheeks ablaze. "Don't be silly. This baka here? And me? No way!" Hiro and Sayuri exchanged a glance and chuckled. "Sounds familiar." Akane had the feeling she was missing something, but the feeling was becoming uncomfortably familiar. She let it slide. "So, have you heard about Yuka's new boyfriend?" "Yuka's got a boyfriend?!" Akane laughed and smiled. Suddenly, she had the distinct impression her life was getting back to normal. And it felt good. That day, both Sayuri and Hiroshi walked her to her door. "So we're going to that movie later on, right?" Hiroshi asked. "Yeah, we're on," Akane replied. "Sayuri, can you come?" Sayuri frowned. "I'm sorry, Akane, but I swore I'd help my mother around the house today. I've been promising for ages, and she's really upset. Why don't the three of us go out for ice cream tomorrow after school, though, okay?" Akane was a little disappointed; she'd been looking forward to hanging out with a girl again. Still, she'd waited so long that one more day couldn't possibly hurt. "All right then. See you later!" She and Hiro waved at Sayuri as she jogged away. Akane smiled; Sayuri was one of those people who jogged or ran everyplace. It was something she'd forgotten about the other girl, and she was only too happy to be reminded. "So - see you at eight?" Hiroshi queried. "Yeah, eight," Akane replied. "See you then." Akane closed the gate behind her and walked up to the door of the house. "Tadiama!" she cried. A chorus of replies sounded throughout the house. Nabiki was sitting in the family room examining a large document, and Kasumi was moving around the room with a feather duster. Every now and then, she would dust Nabiki. "Quit it, oneechan!" Kasumi giggled. "Quit what?" Happy to see her sisters in such high spirits, Akane decided she would hang around downstairs for a little while before heading up to do homework. "What's everybody up to?" she queried, a smile on her lips. "Still working on that one case," Nabiki replied, looking up. "I followed your advice and narrowed my focus. It's just this and one or two other little things. My ops have been practically closed." Kasumi dusted the top of Akane's head. "What cobwebs," she commented, tsking under her breath. "You're not kidding," Akane replied wryly, but she felt like laughing. It seemed as though a great weight had been lifted from the occupants of the house; she wondered if everybody was having as good a day as she was. For Nabiki, it might have been the extra sleep; she was actually looking normal for once. "I'm dusting," Kasumi replied. "Spring cleaning." She dusted the top of Nabiki's knee. "You know, I've been meaning to do that." Presumably referring to the knee. "Quit it," Nabiki said with more force. She still didn't seem to mean it. Kasumi dusted Nabiki's chin. Now Nabiki couldn't help it. She giggled. "I mean it-stop..." Kasumi began to tickle in earnest, using an innovative and random attack pattern-behind the ears, under the chin, at the stomach, back to the chin, to the bottom of the feet. Akane joined in, tickling her older sister. Soon the battle became every girl for herself, and the three of them became a giggling mass. Finally, they came to the end of the battle, and they separated, panting and laughing. "I needed that," Kasumi said. She resumed dusting, humming happily. Nabiki nodded, grinning to herself, and picked up her work. For what seemed like the umpteenth time, Akane wondered what it was about and whether it involved Ranma somehow. "I'm going out tonight, okay Kasumi?" Akane queried. "Hmm? Oh, you'd better ask Father. I don't think he'll mind, though," Kasumi replied. "Is it with that Hiroshi boy?" "Yeah," Akane replied. "We're gonna see a flick later." "Language, Akane," Kasumi warned. Akane blinked. "Oh. Yeah. We're going to see a movie. I don't understand why it's so important to speak like that, though. I mean, plenty of people get by speaking improperly." Kasumi stared at her. "Like Ranma. But Ranma was never taken seriously as anything except a martial artist. If you're going to go to college and get a job, you need to know how to speak properly." She paused in thought for a moment before winking at her little sister. "I don't mean to go on..." "It's okay, Kasumi-oneechan. I know. I should speak more respectfully anyway." Akane shrugged and smiled. Her hands jammed in her pockets in an unconscious parody of her third Ranma picture, she strode upstairs. Both sisters' eyes followed her up. "Oh, my," Kasumi breathed. "You said it." Nabiki began to read the paper in front of her with increased vigor.
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