Akane was raking the grass. Her father usually did all the yard work by himself. It was one of his favorite things, but he hadn't been feeling well for the past few days, and she had volunteered to do it this afternoon.
"Ranma you *Jerk*!" She said, banging the rake down on the last word then drawing it to her as she repeated the phrase. "Ranma, you *Jerk*!" another downstroke, pull, and lift, then another, each punctuated by the same three words. It had become a mantra by now. It helped her to work in a rhythm and, more importantly, it helped her keep her anger hot. Where was he anyway? A touch of worry came into her mind unbidden, but it only made her angrier.
"RANMA YOU *JERK*!!" With a loud crack, the abused rake gave up its struggle to hold its shape, and the wooden handle splintered in a hundred directions on her last exclamation. That did it. All of Akane's remaining control evaporated and she screamed with rage. Fists clenched, body trembling she turned towards the house just in time to see the jerk in question coming out from the porch. "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" she screamed, shaking the stub handle of the rake at him as if she would have liked to drive it through his heart.
Freezing, Ranma stared at her, a "who me?" look in his eyes. "What's wrong Akane?" _Is she *this* mad just 'cause I'm late?_
"WHAT'S WRONG?!? YOU WERE *SUPPOSED* TO BE HERE AN HOUR AGO!!!"
_Oh boy._ "Yeah I know. I had some business with Nabiki."
As Akane passed from the blind fury stage into the equally dangerous smoldering anger stage, she began to walk slowly towards him. "Nabiki?" she asked in her most skeptical voice. "Business? Are you sure you weren't just goofing off with Shampoo or Ukyou again?"
_Now that's not fair._ He thought. _When have I *ever* 'goofed off' with Shampoo?_ "Couldn't." he said in a casual voice. "Ukyou's visiting her folks, and Shampoo's workin'." Seeing the fire in her eyes intensify, part of Ranma's mind asked _Why do you say things to make her angry? You know it's just going to get you pounded._ Still, it really annoyed him when she acted this way. He had to get even, didn't he?
"Oh! I see!"
"Yeah. I wanted to stop by Ucchan's on the way home, but then I remembered that she's in Kyoto. It's too bad too. She promised to cook something special for me the next time I came by, and with her bein' such a good cook and all, I thought..." Ranma's eyes widened as she reached him. This was going to hurt.
***
Dripping and cold, Ranma sat on the porch. She tried to sigh through the piece of wooden rake handle wedged vertically in her mouth, but it came out as a gurgle. _Tomboy_. She thought, knowing that saying it out loud would just get the roof of her mouth all scraped up.
***
_That Jerk_.
Lying on her bed, her face pressed into the pillow, Akane wept quietly. He made her so angry. She yelled, letting out some of the frustration.
"I HATE YOU!"
She frowned. _No, that's not right._ She bit her lip. She didn't hate Ranma exactly. It was more frustration than hate. He could be such a jerk sometimes. On the other hand, there were times when he acted like he really cared for her. He was sure handsome when he looked at her with _that_ expression on his face, the one he wore when things had been quiet and no one else was around. He sort of smiled softly, his eyes sparkling. _Hey, you're mad at him. Remember?_
"I WISH YOU'D JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
That one really wasn't right. She shook her head. She tried to think for a moment about a life without Ranma. A sense of emptiness hit her. Hard. No Ranma? She almost started sobbing. She admitted to herself that even though they had some problems (_Okay, we have *a lot* of problems._) she really did like him. He had become very... important to her. But sometimes...
"YOU'RE SUCH A JERK!"
She frowned again. That wasn't right either. Sure he was insensitive at times, but he never did anything *really* mean to her. He just always said things to make her angry. _No. That's not it either._ He said things. How she reacted to them was her decision.
That hit her hard. If that were true then most of their fights had been her fault.
"NO WAY!" She yelled. "OF COURSE IT'S HIS FAULT!" _Jerk jerk jerk._ But the edge was wearing off of her anger. A desperate sadness was taking its place. The tears were coming uncontrollably now.
So many strange feelings. She was too upset to sort them out now. She'd worry about all that stuff later. She shut off her light and tried to sleep.
***
Mousse was angry, and cold, and feathered. He was also hurt. He'd had a run in with a very large tomcat, and even though he'd come out of the fight the victor, he'd taken some damage too. His head was beginning to feel light, probably from loss of blood.
_Wonderful._ he thought bitterly. _I'm going to faint. I'd better get out of the street if I don't want to end up as dinner for someone. Or something._ He shuddered.
_Shampoo, why do you do things like this?_
The thought of the woman he loved did little to make him feel better. This might have been because his last memory of her involved a bucket of cold water, an alley, and a pile of garbage.
He spotted a sturdy looking cardboard box half a block down the street. It was probably the best he could do. As he started waddling towards it, though, he realized that he wasn't going to make it. _This is it then._ he thought. _Goodbye Shampoo._ She'd gotten what she wanted in the end. He would never bother her again.
It was a strange experience, this giving yourself up to death. Suddenly all of his memories and thoughts seemed to put themselves into perspective. He asked himself why he loved Shampoo so much. Just as he lost consciousness, he realized that he really couldn't think of an answer.
He didn't hear a girl gasp behind him. "Mousse?"
***
_This has got to be the most boring thing I've ever seen._ Ranma thought as he sat beside Akane watching television. His attention strayed out the window. He began thinking about school, and training, and girls. Why did his life have to be so complicated? He knew that a lot of guys would willingly trade places with him. There were worse things than having three beautiful fiancees he supposed, but each of them was so incredibly demanding in their own way. Even Ukyou made it clear that she wanted so much from him.
He sighed. The sound made Akane turn to him, a question in her eyes. He smiled weakly, and she turned back to her cartoon.
The telephone rang as Ranma returned to his thoughts. He barely registered Kasumi's announcement that it was for his father. He did notice, however, when his father started babbling and jumping from one foot to the other. "Next Tuesday? Uh, YES, OF COURSE. Hehe, we'd be happy to see you then. "Oh, yes, I'm sure he'll be THRILLED to finally meet her! Hehehe. Alright, goodbye."
Ranma looked at his father. "What was that all about Pop?"
Panic filled Genma's eyes as he looked at his son. "Oh nothing. Just never mind about that."
His eyes narrowing, he asked again. "Who was that on the phone?"
Mr. Saotome was about to deny everything when he noticed the hard look in Ranma's eyes. He sighed. No point in prolonging the agony. "Come with me, my boy. I have to talk to you."
***
"MY WHAT?"
"She's your fiancee. It was eight years ago. Her father and I arranged it."
Ranma fumed. At least the old fool had the good grace to look embarrassed. His voice turned deadly cold. "I oughta..." His whole body shook and his fists clenched. "If you weren't my old man, I'd kill you right now. Whadja sell me for this time? No wait. I don't wanna know. Just tell me, is she the last one?"
Genma's cheeks reddened. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, let's see." He began counting on his fingers. "This makes FIVE marriages that you've arranged for me *that I know about*. How. Many. More?"
Sweating, Genma began doing calculations in his head. "Uh, four more. No five. Um actually..."
He was cut off by Ranma's scream of rage. "WHAT WERE YOU *THINKING*?!? That they'd all just *forget*? That I could just marry *all* of them?" His teeth ground together. He couldn't remember being this angry or hurt. He wanted to hurt back. "You disgust me." He said, his voice like ice. Then he turned and left. He didn't wait to see his father's reaction. He didn't have the heart. He wanted to be alone, to sort things out.
Preoccupied, he bumped into Akane on his way out. "Sorry." he said distantly.
Akane growled. "Honestly Ranma! You shouldn't yell like that. The whole house heard you. What was that all about anyway?"
If Akane wasn't already beginning to fall into the familiar blinding anger, she might have noticed the pain and despair in Ranma's voice. "Not now Akane." He brushed past her gently and headed for the door.
"Hey!" she yelled. "Don't turn your back on me! Ranma!"
He was too upset to even hear her. In seconds he was out the door and running down the street. Akane screamed in frustration. He could be so rude sometimes. She'd get even with him when he got home.
***
"Was that Ranma?" Ukyou asked herself as she rounded the corner on her way to her restaurant. She'd seen a young man run by. He'd looked angry. She might have followed, but she had her own worries at the moment.
She frowned at the closed sign as she unlocked the door. She had planned to open as soon as she got back from her trip, and knew that everything inside was in order, but it looked like business would have to wait until morning. Something else required her attention right now. Looking at the unconscious duck in the curl of her arm, she clicked her tongue in sympathy. "Don't worry Mousse." she whispered. "We'll get you fixed up."
It was a good thing that she'd found out about Mousse's curse a few weeks before when he and Ranma had had that little discussion/ fight/ swim at school. If she hadn't, he'd be in even worse trouble now. Of course, this would be no picnic.
As she walked through the dark dining room she wondered what had happened to put him in such a poor state of affairs. On second thought, she could probably guess. "Another fight with Shampoo I'll bet." she conjectured into the silence.
She reached the kitchen by feel and then turned the lights on. The kettle was never far from the stove. She'd learned to keep it handy. When it was filled and heating, she went upstairs and put her guest down softly on a cot in the spare room. She began to gather the things that he would need; clothes, bandages, iodine, until she heard the kettle whistling downstairs.
"This'll probably sting Sugar." she said kindly "Can't be helped though. I don't know a thing about first aid for ducks."
© 1999 silk@galaxycorp.com
