Disclaimer: If you don't know what goes here...then sadly, you must read more fanfiction!!! ^_^

Author Note: Please PLEASE don't kill me!!! This is my first Ranma 1/2 fic, and I've noticed a lot of them lately on FF so I thought I just *had* to add my attempt. So please be kind!! I beg of thee!!! Constructive criticism is welcomed, as long as you remember that I am a Ranma newbie and haven't read all the stories or watched all the videos! ^_^

/That jerk! / Akane fumed mentally, her brown eyes narrowing at the smooth pavement passing under her feet. Ranma was on her mind. Anyone that knew her knew *he* was being tortured in her thoughts by the angered look, and clenched fists.

No matter what they did together, Saotome always managed to ruin it by his fiancées or enemies deciding to tag along. Not that Akane would ever want to be alone with that-that PERVERT!

Tendo's left eyebrow twitched in irritation, remembering the sputtering excuse attempts Ranma made before she struck him senseless with her mallet. Then, oh and then! The jerk didn't even try to chase her as she hastily retreated to the back street leading to her home.

/Probably too busy enjoying Shampoo. / Akane thought darkly, /I'm going to give Ranma a piece of my mind when I get home! /

She didn't have wait long, in under ten minutes the youngest Tendo opened the front gate of the home, and began searching for her forced fiancee.

"Oh, Hello Akane." Kasumi greeted sweetly after Akane had entered the kitchen. One look at the deep grimace the dark blue haired girl wore, Kasumi shook her head and inwardly sighed.

"Is Ranma home yet?"

Kasumi's smile flattened a little, "Yes, I think he went to his room."

After the first word, the youngest woman turned and stomped out of the kitchen.

The brunette turned back to her carrots she had been chopping and wondered briefly where Akane got her fiery temper.

She paused at the door leading to the guest room and wondered briefly what she was going to say, or better yet what she was going to shout. Akane knew how to handle the boys that did like her; she'd beat them up and threaten them with more bodily injuries. But when it came to someone who swore he didn't like her, said she was an uncute tomboy, bettered her all the time in spars-she was at a loss of knowledge. Especially when the one that didn't like her, was the one she did like.

/WHAT?! / Akane fussed at herself for thinking she could ever like that PERVERT. With a new anger to grab on to, she gently slid the door open.

Just as Kasumi had said, Ranma was in his room. But what she hadn't told Akane, probably because she didn't know, was the young man was stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and fast asleep on his futon.

Tendo paused, her foot already half way through the door. Should she go in? It would be a total invasion of privacy on her part, and if Ranma woke up, how embarrassing it would be! And what if someone walked in? Like Nabiki or either of their fathers? A camera would be involved in one case, and a lot of crying and smiles in the other.

As if cued, Ranma let out a loud snore indicating he wasn't going to be waking up for quiet some time. Slipping the rest of the way through, Akane shut the door with a soft click.

/Why am I doing this? / She questioned herself. But she didn't offer any reply. Instead Akane quietly padded to his bedside, and dropped silently to her knees, a stern look on her face.

Ranma was on his stomach, lacking covers and held a fierce expression. What ever the boy was dreaming about had made him highly upset in his dream world. Akane amused herself by studying his features change, his muscles tighten every so often, and an occasional grunt or word.

Sighing, Akane shook her head and reached for the discarded sheet, no doubt kicked off during his dream fight. As careful as she could be, she began to cover him up but was stopped as she came closer to his upper left arm.

Placing the thin sheet on his back, Akane looked closer at the scar. It was thin and seemed to go around his arm, barely visible from a distance. There were several more, she noticed, on the lower part of his arm, as well as on the other arm. Curious to see more, the Tendo daughter examined his sleeping, frowning face to discover a few hairline wounds that had healed above his cheek.

Praying against all odds, Akane removed the bed sheet she had covered him with only to find more and more tiny scars along his legs. With every new scar, whether large or tiny, a memory was sparked. Fights with Kirin, the Golden Pair, Ryouga, the list went on and on. Most of the wounds she recognized, but there were a few she couldn't place from her witnessing it or stories later told to her.

Gingerly, she traced the one that had first caught her attention. It wasn't as old as some of them, and was far from new. Akane was told by Shampoo what a lady name Meimei or something did to Ranma, and how close she was to snapping his neck and head apart. The Amazon happily gloated over the fact that if it weren't for her, her husband would be dead.

But, Akane thought as she gazed at the small scars across her fiancee's body, if it wasn't for her, Ranma would have never been put in half the situations which caused the marring of his skin. Drawing her hand away from his arm, she raked a hand through her blue hair and again sighed.

Ranma had no right to confuse her the way he did. One moment she could almost feel there was something between them and the next her fuse was lit and he was flying up in the air, via mallet airmail. Then why on earth, if she was so uncute, boy like, and as far as feminine as they came (in Ranma's opinion) did he always save her?

So what if somehow, in some way he managed to insult her or her cooking during the rescue. Ranma always came, and would be defensive when anyone wanted her and claim her as *his* fiancé. Anything he uttered during a heated fight or battle with one of the before mentioned people would be denied, only making it more confusing for Akane to know what Ranma truly thought about her.

/Why should you care you jerk! You don't want me! / Akane's mind whipped out. But this time it replied to her exclaimed mental question.

/Why do you always believe he will save you?/

Before she could retort, the black hair body stirred, slowly twisted to his back, his steal gray eyes nearly jumping out of their sockets when they laid eyes on Akane.

"Oh crap..." she whispered.

"A-akane? What are you doin' in here?!" Ranma's sleepiness didn't take long to dissolve as he shot straight up, staring the girl in the face as he did so.

"I-uh-I-" she bite her lower lip and cast her eyes downward. A deep crimson blush painted it from the top of her hairline to the base over her neck and spread over her shoulders. "I came in here to---uh-"

Akane thanked her God as she heard her sister's sweet heavenly voice call up the stairs, "Dinner!"

"I came in here to get you for dinner." Akane quickly blurted out as she stood to her feet, turned and made her way to the door. "Come on dummy, you don't want your dad to eat it all do you?"

"huh?" Ranma blinked in surprise, "Right..."