Those Magic Changes
by hikaranko
Summary: Akane drags Ranma with her on a shopping trip and they both get a wicked whiff of some strange perfume. Turns out, it's not a perfume at all, and it has some pretty potent side effects...
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own the characters of the Ranma 1/2 series. Sometimes I wish I did, but the truth is that I don't. Credit for the idea of this story goes to Paperdoll, the author of the Harry Potter fanfic "Drawn to You". This story is named after a song from the play "Grease", and the chapters are named after various songs. Credits for all of those go to the appropriate people.
Author's Note: Like it says in the disclaimer, I got this idea after hearing about and reading the Harry Potter fanfic "Drawn to You." Go check it out, it's in my favorites. A friend and I agreed that it would be interesting if a similar thing happened to Ranma and Akane (yes, I want them to just be together already), and lo, this story popped up.
Chapter 1
All Choked Up
Well, I feel so strange
Well, upon my word
My brain is reelin' and my eyesight's blurred
Well, I'm tremblin' a lot
I'm nervous, and I'm hot
Uh-huh, I'm all choked up
The old antique store was dimly lit. The interior was dusty, as though none of the products on display had been touched for ages. The items ranged from voodoo dolls and scented candles to potion bottles and talismans. The store manager, a lean old man with thinning gray hair and a pair of glasses perched on his nose, idly wandered from one end of the room to the other, staring at everything as though he were taking inventory. Not that anything had changed lately. His hands were tucked into his trouser pockets as he marched almost dutifully through the store. Eventually, he let out a long, even breath and returned to his place behind the counter, staring blankly at the door in the hopes that he could will someone to enter.
And it seemed like it worked.
Within moments, two teenagers, a girl and a boy, entered the store. The girl had short, dark hair with bangs that fell into her brown eyes. She was wearing a long sleeved white shirt underneath a blue-green skirt that had straps going over her shoulders. The old man recognized the outfit as the uniform of Furinkan High, the local high school. She bowed politely when her eyes met with the store manager's before continuing into the store to examine things.
The boy that trailed behind her had dark hair that was tied back into a long pigtail and sharp blue eyes that were shielded by his shaggy bangs. Though he was apparently accompanying the girl, he was not dressed in the Furinkan High uniform. He was dressed in a red chinese shirt with long sleeves that were rolled halfway up his arms and baggy blue black pants. He was only half as polite as the girl, dropping his arms from where they had been resting on the back of his head and stuffing them into his pockets.
The store manager watched them, fascinated, surprised, and overjoyed that two teenagers would enter the old store. "Can I... help you with something?"
The girl looked over at the old man and flashed a smile. "Oh, I'm just looking for now."
"Why do you wanna look for presents in here, Akane?" the boy asked the girl as he looked around at the items on display.
The girl named Akane glanced back at him and shrugged. "Well, why not? This place caught my eye, and I don't remember ever seeing it before."
The boy shrugged. "I dunno. Seems like a weird place to look for Christmas presents."
Akane turned away in annoyance and picked up an old vase and examined it. She wiped some of the dust away to get a better look at the design underneath. Upon seeing the tasteless pattern, she put the vase back down where she had found it and moved on. After a moment, she glanced over her shoulder at the boy, who was still standing near the entrance with his hands in his pockets.
"Shouldn't you be looking for Christmas presents too, Ranma?"
Ranma turned to look at Akane and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll do it later. I mean, Christmas is still a week away."
Akane narrowed her eyes. "You probably just can't figure out what to get anybody."
"Not true," Ranma replied casually. "I know exactly what to buy for people."
"Well, I'm sure you don't have to worry about Shampoo or Ukyo. They'll probably be dropping some huge hints on what they want from you." The young girl then quickly returned to her browsing.
"For your information," Ranma snapped, "I ain't plannin' on gettin' those two anything."
Akane scoffed. "So you say."
Ranma watched Akane fume. "Geez, she is so uncute," he muttered under his breath.
In a fit of annoyance, Akane grabbed the nearest item available (which happened to be an expensive looking, but not very attractive antique vase) and hurled it in Ranma's direction. The pigtailed boy caught the vase carefully with a loud, surprised yelp.
"Whoa! Careful with these, Akane!"
She replied with an annoyed "harumph" and quickly turned away. Ranma narrowed his eyes at her, annoyed, then began to toss the vase from one hand to the other. He quickly realized that doing so wasn't a very good idea, and hurried over to where Akane had picked the vase up and returned it. Ranma glanced over at Akane, waiting for her to give up and leave.
After a long moment of silence, Ranma realized that she wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon. He then began to look at the weird stuff that covered the walls and shelves, but chose not to touch anything more. He didn't want to end up dropping something and having to pay for it as a consequence. For one thing, he hadn't seen anything he'd like, and for another, he didn't have any money on him.
He slowed his step when he was just a few feet behind Akane and followed her slowly. His eyes glanced over everything her gaze lingered on in an attempt to figure out what she was thinking about getting. And who she was planning on giving the items to.
"So, uh... gettin' anything?"
Akane shot Ranma a mean look, as though he had no right to speak to her. "Still looking."
"Who're you thinkin' of buyin' for?"
She hesitated slightly before shrugging her shoulders. "I was thinking maybe Kasumi, or Dr. Tofu, since they're both a bit eccentric." Akane picked up a wax candle and examined it briefly before replacing it. "They might like this kind of stuff."
"Kasumi or Dr. Tofu, huh?" Ranma repeated, considering the idea.
He turned slightly so that he could look around the store, searching for something that the two aforementioned eccentrics might like. His blue eyes wandered, passing over every item that was visible to him. Akane glanced up at Ranma once, surprised to see that it looked like he was trying to help her. She then smiled secretly to herself and moved on.
The store manager watched them for a little while longer before disappearing into the bathroom. He was thrilled that teenagers had entered the shop, but he was starting to doubt that they were going to seriously consider buying something.
Ranma's ever observant eyes caught on a bottle that was resting on a shelf on the other side of the shop. It looked to him like a simple perfume bottle, filled with a reddish pink liquid. It was the kind that you press down on the cap to spray. He looked at it for a moment, considering whether or not a girl like Kasumi would like perfume. He then tapped Akane lightly on the arm, making her turn to look at him.
"What?"
"Ya think Kasumi likes perfume?"
Akane blinked. "Um... probably."
"How 'bout that one?" He pointed at the bottle he'd spotted on the shelf.
Somewhat confused, Akane slowly turned to look where Ranma had pointed. A smile grew on her face and she quickly crossed the room to reach it. Ranma sighed, shoving his hands back into his pockets, and followed. Akane picked up the perfume bottle gently and wiped it clean of the dust that had collected on its surface. The bottle itself was beautiful; the glass was as clear as crystal (once it was cleaned), and was intricately designed in the shape of a rose in full bloom.
"This is beautiful!" Akane breathed. "Kasumi would love this! I wonder how much it costs..."
Ranma shrugged. "Shouldn't it say? Like, on a price tag or somethin'?"
Akane examined the bottle carefully. "Hmm... I don't see a tag on it anywhere. Looks like we'll have to ask."
They turned to look at the counter, Akane opening her mouth to call out to the store manager, but no one was standing behind it. Ranma blinked.
"What the...? Where'd the old guy go?"
Confused, both Ranma and Akane walked over to the counter, placing the bottle gently on top of it. Akane then leaned over the counter slightly, looking for the old store manager. She found no sign of him.
"That's strange... Hello? Excuse me? Is anyone there?"
No answer. Ranma and Akane exchanged glances before looking again. Ranma cupped one hand over his mouth.
"Hey! Anyone there?" Still no response. Ranma folded his arms over his chest in annoyance. "I don't believe this. Where'd the guy go?"
"Oh, well," Akane sighed. She looked at the bottle sadly. "Maybe it's not for sale."
"It wouldn't be in the store if it weren't for sale," Ranma replied. He then grinned as a thought occured to him. "Maybe it stinks, so they can't sell it."
Akane looked offended. "Don't be stupid! I'm sure it smells just as beautiful as it looks."
Ranma gaped at Akane in surprise, on the verge of bursting out into laughter. "What? What did you just say?"
"As they say, 'a rose called by any other name would still smell as sweet'."
The teenage boy rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. Spare me the cheesy lines."
"I'll prove it!"
With that, Akane picked up the bottle and sprayed a large amount of the perfume into Ranma's face, forcing him to smell it. His eyes shot wide open as his senses involuntarily took in what could have been the most malodorous perfume he had ever smelled. His sense of smell had been maimed, and for a long moment, Ranma couldn't smell anything. He yelled loudly as he tripped backward, trying to get away from it, and fell flat on his back on the store floor.
Akane blinked in mild shock, then looked at the bottle with a sigh.
"But it looks so beautiful," she murmured sadly.
"Never do that again!" Ranma shouted as soon as he'd recovered, jumping back to his feet.
"I'm sorry, Ranma! I thought that...!"
The boy immediately snatched the perfume bottle out of her hand and turned it on her. "Let's see how you like it!"
Akane's eyes went wide as she found herself face to face with the nose of the perfume bottle. She shifted her gaze briefly to look at Ranma, who had his usual arrogant grin on his face.
"You wouldn't."
"Yeah, I would."
Ranma's posture broke for a moment as he sneezed, but he then immediately composed himself. He sniffed slightly, still annoyed that the hideous smell was caught in his nose. He then took a step forward as Akane took a step back.
"Ranma...?"
His grin only broadened maliciously, and the next thing Akane knew was the rancid stench of the perfume, filling her senses. The smell was powerful and overwhelming, and not only did she feel She backed away quickly with a yelp, almost crashing into the display tables behind her. Ranma put the bottle on top of the counter and folded his arms over his chest as he watched Akane fumble around.
"Well? Smell as beautiful as it looks?"
Akane went into a coughing fit as she steadied herself and looked up at Ranma angrily. She rubbed her nose and sniffled as she straightened to her full height.
"So I was wrong. Anyone could make that mistake."
The pigtailed boy rolled his eyes before putting his hands over his nose and mouth and sneezed. Akane took advantage of the moment, grabbing the bottle again and spraying it over Ranma's head. Ranma shouted in horror as the smell descended on him again. He then raised his head, keeping one hand over his nose, and snatched the bottle right out of Akane's grasp. Akane screamed as Ranma had his revenge and sprayed her.
"Ah! Ranma, stop it! You'll get it all over my clothes!"
"You already got it all over mine!"
"Stop it!"
Ranma withdrew his hand slightly. "Had enough?"
"Yes!"
He grinned broadly as he set the perfume bottle down on the counter. He then sneezed again, doubling over. Akane straightened to her full height and raised her shirt sleeve to her nose. She groaned and coughed at the malodor.
"Ugh. We should head home. I've gotta change out of these clothes."
----------------------------------
The store manager let out a long, satisfied breath as he shut the bathroom door behind him, folding up the newspaper and tucking it under one arm. He dropped the papers on the counter as he re-entered the main store and glanced around the shop. Empty again. The two teenagers had left without buying anything, just as he thought. His eyes suddenly went wide as he realized that they might have stolen something.
He checked the store twice over to make sure that nothing was missing. Everything was still there. A few items had been shifted slightly, leaving marks in the thin layer of dust that had covered everything. And one item was now sitting on the counter; an empty perfume bottle in the shape of a rose. Its surface had been cleaned of dust as though someone had been holding it. There wasn't much of the liquid left inside the bottle.
The old man picked up the bottle and examined it carefully. He knew what it was. He then shrugged his shoulders, dismissing it, and returned the bottle to where it had been before. He then slowly looked toward the doorway, half expecting the teenagers to come back. When nothing happened over the next few moments, he returned to his place behind the counter, spreading the newspaper out before him, and began to read the latest news.
It had been about a half hour since Ranma and Akane arrived back at the Tendo dojo. It was obvious to everyone who lived there that the "couple" had gotten into another argument, though no one knew what had happened. Everyone just shrugged it off as another one of their pointless arguments, and they would both recover from it eventually. They had separated from each other as soon as they entered the house; Akane marched straight to her bedroom while Ranma headed outside.
Ranma was sitting on the small stone statue in the garden next to the koi pond. He had removed his shirt and was holding it out before him, allowing the breeze to sail through it as though that would somehow rid it of the stench. He watched it billow in the gentle wind, simply because there was nothing else to look at, before bringing it back up to his nose and checking on the smell. He made a face.
"Yep. Still there."
Frustrated, he tossed the shirt over his shoulder and headed back into the house. He would just have to get it washed and change into a different top. He'd have to find Kasumi and ask her if she could take care of it. It just so happened that he had been wearing one of his favorites that day.
As usual, Kasumi was found preparing dinner in the kitchen. Her light brown hair was tied with a white ribbon, draped over her right shoulder. Kasumi was dressed nicely, as to be expected of someone of her character, in a yellow long sleeved top and a long fuchsia colored skirt. She had tied a faded pink apron around herself, the one that she usually used while cooking, almost completely covering her outfit.
"Kasumi?"
The young lady turned slightly to look over her shoulder. There was Ranma, standing in the kitchen doorway in his white sleeveless undershirt and pants, his favorite Chinese shirt in one hand.
"Yes, Ranma?"
"Can you, uh..."
The pigtailed boy didn't like having to turn to Kasumi everytime something came up with his clothes. Everytime he got into a fight and his clothes got ripped up, he always had to ask Kasumi to fix it. He was starting to feel bad for her. As if she didn't have enough things to do around the house. Kasumi just smiled at Ranma, then looked down at the shirt. She put the carrot she was washing on top of the cutting board, shut off the water from the sink, and wiped her hands on a hand towel as she crossed the room to reach Ranma. She took his shirt gently from him and inspected it.
"It doesn't look like it needs mending..."
"Well, yeah, it's not ripped or anythin', but..."
Ranma caught himself before telling her that he had gotten some nasty smelling perfume on it. That would've raised quite a few questions, such as whose perfume it was and how it had gotten on his clothes. He cursed himself mentally. He wasn't exactly the best when it came to lying. Acting, yes, but lying was something else.
"Uh... I, uh... landed in a dumpster. Head first. And... so now my shirt smells all weird."
Kasumi put one hand over her mouth, drawing in a breath. "Oh my! Did Akane throw you in again?"
For a moment Ranma was confused. "Wha...? Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah."
"Oh dear," Kasumi murmured. "Akane and her temper."
Ranma nodded in agreement, scratching the back of his head nervously. He had almost completely exposed his own lie. "So, uh, can you wash it for me?"
Kasumi hesitantly lifted the shirt to her face and smelt it cautiously. She then pulled back slightly, a confused expression on her face. Ranma laughed nervously as he watched her.
"Smells nasty, huh?"
"But, Ranma," Kasumi said slowly, smelling the shirt once again. "I don't smell anything."
Ranma's eyes widened in shock. "What?"
He took the shirt back into his hands and took in its scent. The smell was gone. Ranma pulled away from the shirt and gaped at it. How did that happen? It had been emitting the most wretched smell ever less than ten minutes before. Now it was completely gone. But as Ranma put the shirt back on, a strange new feeling began to build.
Kasumi gave Ranma a concerned look, tilting her head to one side. She was about to ask him if everything was alright when a loud, familiar round of laughter echoed down the hallways from the entrance hall. Two middle-aged men dressed in martial arts gis marched into the house cheerfully, their arms on each other's shoulders as they walked. The taller of the two men had long dark hair and a moustache, with expressive lines on his face from frequent sessions of crying and laughing. The other man was of a much stockier build, with large round glasses and a light blue bandana wrapped around his balding head.
Their laughter grew louder as they walked toward the dining room. Kasumi smiled as she poked her head out from the kitchen, tucking some of her light brown hair behind one ear.
"Hello father! Hello Mr. Saotome!"
"Good evening, Kasumi!" the men greeted the young lady in unison.
"Dinner will be ready soon, you two."
"Thank you, Kasumi!"
For a second, Ranma thought that he was having a heart attack. His heart began to beat more rapidly in his chest, and he began to feel dizzy, as though the ground would vanish from right beneath his feet at any given moment. Ranma did his best to push it aside and clumsily made his way out of the kitchen. He stumbled out the kitchen door and knocked straight into his father. Genma's face immediately fell into a more solemn expression as he gave his son a concerned look.
"Are you okay, boy?"
Ranma backed away, trying to compose himself as quickly as he could. He turned in the direction of the sitting room, waving his father's concern off.
"I'm fine, Pop."
Genma was about to protest, but Ranma had already managed to get further down the hallway. He watched with some degree of concern as his only son staggered into the sitting room, where he plopped down into a sitting position on the floor by the table. Ranma then leaned on the table, cradling his head in his hands, waiting for the feeling to go away.
After a few minutes of staying perfectly still with his head down on the table, the feeling subsided, and Ranma slowly raised himself up again. As soon as he had, he was greeted by the sight of a girl with dark chocolate colored hair that was only slightly longer than Akane's, watching him with amused brown eyes. She was about a year older than himself, dressed in a casual wide collared turqouise top that revealed the straps of the pink tank top she wore underneath. She was leaning on the table top as she sat on her cushion, sitting diagonally from where Ranma sat, her head resting on one hand. A plate of biscuits was laid out in front of her, and she had just popped one in her mouth. When Ranma saw her watching him, he groaned in annoyance.
"Whaddaya want, Nabiki?"
Nabiki Tendo didn't respond. She merely continued to stare solemnly at him as she finished off her biscuit. Ranma could've sworn he felt his eye twitch. He involuntarily jumped slightly backward. Nabiki was one of those people that he could never figure out. It always seemed like she knew everything, but he would never know for sure because any information that she knew had a price tag on it. And her prices were never cheap.
"What?"
"What happened between you and Akane?"
Ranma groaned at the memory. It was right at that moment that Soun and Genma chose to enter the room and settle in for the evening meal. They were equally curious about Ranma and Akane's relationship, which made sense considering the "future of their art" was riding on the successful marriage of the two sixteen year olds. They seated themselves in their usual spots at the table.
"Another argument, eh, boy?"
Soun shook his head sadly from side to side. "Sometimes I wonder about the safety of the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts."
"Look, it was nothin' major," Ranma snapped, shooting an annoyed glance at his father. He then looked at Nabiki with one eyebrow raised suspiciously. "How do you know that somethin' happened?"
The two fathers looked at one another before bursting out into laughter. Ranma resumed glaring at his idiot, irresponsible father. Nabiki chuckled amusedly, as though she had just heard a great joke.
"Please, Ranma. How long have you been staying here? And how long have you and Akane been engaged? You don't think I know how to read you two by now?"
The mention of their engagement sent Ranma's head into a whirl. The engagement was because of his father and his irresponsible promises, and the fact that Genma Saotome would sell his own son for a meal. Their fathers' promise to one another was why Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were engaged. It was an arranged marriage. That was it. Yet Ranma was suddenly aware of a small part of him that was happy to be engaged to Akane. And that same part was hurt that Akane was upset with him.
'Where did that come from?' he wondered.
"Why don't you two reconcile before dinner, hmm?"
"That's an excellent idea!"
Ranma began to feel dizzy again. He swayed slightly, even though he was sitting on the floor. He put one hand to his head, over his eyes. His vision had begun to blur. He could feel himself trembling and he suddenly felt hot. His heart suddenly began to beat faster in his chest, until it felt like it was going to burst. It then began to ache. Ranma put one hand over his heart as though that would help somehow. But it didn't. He felt as though something had gone missing, and he suddenly felt very much alone. Incomplete. Hollow.
To everyone else, Ranma looked like he had suddenly gotten sick. He looked as though a part of his body was in agony, and all he could do was cry over it. His face was red and feverish looking, and his breath had started to come in strangled gasps.
Concerned for Ranma's health, Nabiki leaned toward Ranma. "Are you okay, Ranma?"
He couldn't answer. His mind was on overload. He didn't know what was happening to him.
"Ah... Ah..."
"Ranma?"
"What's wrong with you, boy?"
Kasumi then entered the room from the kitchen with the rice cooker and utensils. She quickly went to work setting the table for the meal, smiling at all the familiar faces. Her smile widened as she straightened, clasping her hands together.
"I'll serve dinner in just a moment," she informed them cheerily. She then looked at Ranma and became very concerned. "Oh dear. Is Ranma alright?"
No one could answer her. They just shrugged their shoulders. Kasumi raised one hand to her cheek as she looked at him.
"Should we... call a doctor? Like Dr. Tofu?"
"NO!" everyone shouted in unison. Kasumi looked confused.
"I mean... Ranma will be just fine," Genma assured her, his voice shaken with nervous chuckles. "You needn't call Dr. Tofu."
Just then, the door slid open, revealing Akane behind it. She had changed out of her school uniform and was now dressed in a pink short sleeved top and a white skirt. She had an expression on her face that was similar to Ranma's. Akane swayed slightly as she stood, one hand on her forehead and the other on the doorframe. Everyone's attention turned to her as she entered.
"Akane!"
Nabiki looked up at Akane apathetically. "Oh, hi Akane."
At the mention of her name, Ranma spun around to look at Akane. Their eyes met and for a long time they just looked at each other. Everyone else in the room assumed that they were just about to reconcile. But it soon became apparent that an apology from one or both of them was not what was going to happen.
Before he even knew what was going on, Ranma jumped to his feet and ran toward Akane, slipping one arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. He then lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.
Now, Ranma wasn't exactly an experienced kisser. He was only aware of being kissed three times in his entire life (though he refused to count two of them since one was with another boy and the other with a cat). But for whatever reason, kissing Akane came naturally to him. The ache and throbbing pain in Ranma's chest suddenly washed away. He couldn't recall a time when he had ever felt quite so content or peaceful as he was at that moment. The entire world seemed to fade away. Kissing Akane somehow felt right. There was nothing he would rather be doing, nowhere else he would rather be, no one he would rather be with than right there in that second with Akane.
That is, until he realized that four pairs of eyes were watching them.
Some part of his brain began to scream in humiliation. Alarms were suddenly going off in his head. A voice in his head that he had until now pushed aside began to yell even louder, telling him just how wrong that entire moment had been. Ranma immediately pulled away from Akane, his face bright red and his eyes wide. Akane looked exactly the same way. For a long time they were frozen, their arms still wrapped around each other, their faces still only inches apart.
Nabiki dropped the biscuit that she was just about to put into her mouth. It fell to the tabletop, breaking the silence with the soft thump. Genma and Soun instantly jumped to their feet and, locking their arms together, began to dance about the room in loud celebration. Soun then popped up around the young couple, tears of joy streaming down his face, while Genma continued to wave flags and throw confetti into the air.
"You two have finally decided!" he choked out between ecstatic sobs. "It does my heart good to see our youngsters getting along so well."
"Oh, to be young again!" Genma chimed in from across the room.
Soun's smile grew as he clapped their shoulders excitedly, releasing a loud, joyous cheer on each impact. Before they could even respond, Soun rushed to Genma's side, clasping his best friend's hands together. The two men both wept happy tears.
"Oh, Tendo!"
"Saotome! At last!"
"The future of our art is secure!"
Ranma turned to face them, waving his wands frantically in front of him. "N-No! This, this isn't what it looks like!"
"Of course not!" Akane pitched in, equally frantic. "How can it be? I, I mean, we..."
The parents were too happy to even acknowledge the fact that Ranma and Akane even spoke. They just continued their celebratory dance, oblivious to the protesting. Ranma and Akane looked down at the floor, their eyes wide in shock and their cheeks still burning in embarrassment. Kasumi clasped her hands together and smiled happily as she turned to Nabiki.
"Isn't this wonderful, Nabiki?"
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "Well, well. I guess I don't have you completely figured out, Ranma. Looks like you're not quite as timid as I thought."
"W-What're you talkin' about?"
"Who would've thought that you had it in you to do something like that? And in front of the girl's family." Nabiki grabbed another biscuit and bit into it. "Wow."
Ranma and Akane then looked at each other, each with the same nervous, embarrassed look in their eyes. Ever so slowly they separated, though every inch of distance seemed to be physically painful. The young martial artist swallowed hard. It took all of Ranma's willpower to fight off the urge to kiss her again. His mind began to work furiously, searching desperately for a shred of normalcy.
"This isn't what it looks like!" Akane protested, her face still burning red. "I-I don't know what happened, but... but it was like... I just couldn't help myself! Like I was... possessed or something."
Nabiki merely nodded slowly, skeptical. "Uh-huh."
"Really! I'm telling you the truth!"
It was at that moment that Ranma's mind managed to grab hold of something that seemed normal, and immediately yanked it out. He was only vaguely aware of what it was, but he was so desperate for things to return to normal, it barely mattered to him at the moment.
"You think I'd run over and kiss a violent, uncute, no sex appeal tomboy like Akane because I wanted to?" he shouted.
As soon as the sentence finished flying out of his mouth, Ranma froze, his eyes wide. Even though he had called Akane those things countless times before, this time had felt like spewing each word out like vomit. A tense silence followed. Soun and Genma stopped short in their celebrating and were suddenly staring at Ranma in shock. Nabiki and Kasumi both froze as well, Kasumi with her hands clasped over her mouth. After a moment, Nabiki shook her head slowly from side to side.
"Bad move, Ranma."
Her gaze then drifted over to look at Akane. For a while the sixteen year old girl was frozen, her eyes wide in horror. Then ever so slowly, her face began to twist in hurt rage. She bowed her head so that her face was covered in shadow and clenched her hands into fists.
"Ranma...!"
The enraged tone was altogether too familiar. He had heard Akane say his name like that a thousand times. He turned around slowly to face Akane, his stomach twisting into a knot as he knew what was coming next. Ranma immediately regretted opening his mouth the moment he saw the look on her face. Akane's face was twisted in sheer rage, but tears pricked at the edges of her eyes, threatening to stream down her face. She looked hurt and angry all at once, her hands clenched at her sides, her battle aura flaring.
"Ranma, you collosal JERK!" she screamed angrily.
She raised one hand high in the air and smacked it right across Ranma's face. The slap had been so powerful, everyone in the room could've sworn they heard the smacking noise echo over Nerima. Ranma put one hand absentmindedly to his cheek, now red. He was confused by the fact that the pain in his chest outweighed the stinging in his cheek. He could only watch as Akane glared at him for a moment longer before storming out of the room.
Kasumi took a small step forward, raising one hand toward Akane as though to stop her. "Oh, Akane! What about your dinner?"
"I'm not hungry," Akane shouted from down the hallway.
Ranma watched her for a moment as she began to ascend the stairs before stubbornly turning his head and stepping back into the room. Soun and Genma descended on him like a pair of vultures on a dead body. Their eyes were wide and teary as they burned holes into him.
"Ranma! How could you do such a thing?"
"You go up to Akane's room and apologize to her right now!"
That was when a sharp, insistent pain tugged in Ranma's chest. He stumbled backwards slightly as the image of the two fathers suddenly blurred in Ranma's vision. The room began to spin and the sick feeling returned to his gut. He put one hand to his head and tried his best to stand still as he waited for it to go away. Soun and Genma were too busy being angry with Ranma to notice.
"Ranma!"
"Well? Say something!"
He began to sway slightly in place. He was incredibly confused that the sick feeling didn't subside this time. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. A loud buzzing began in his ears, and everything that was said from then on was dulled out, as though the voices came from far away. Nabiki raised her eyebrows in affected surprise when she looked at Ranma.
"He doesn't look so good, Daddy."
Kasumi moved a few steps closer to Ranma, a worried look on her face. "Ranma?"
"What's wrong with you? Snap out of it, boy!"
The pigtailed martial artist reached out and managed to grab hold of Genma's collar. He gripped the fabric tightly between his fingers. He drew Genma closer to him, snarling angrily. He was about to say something when the strength was suddenly drained from him. Ranma's grip on his father loosened and he staggered backward. Everyone suddenly fell silent as they watched Ranma, shocked, as he began to sway from side to side. Within moments, Ranma's legs bucked from beneath him and he collapsed on the floor of the sitting room.
Ranma was sprawled out on the futon that had been spread for him on the floor of Akane's bedroom, staring up at the ceiling, reviewing what had happened over the past few hours. After Akane stormed out of the sitting room and gone back to her room, Ranma had fainted. He had just dropped to the floor for no reason whatsoever. And, as Nabiki had told him a few moments ago, Akane had also fainted. They found her collapsed at the top of the stairs when they were carrying Ranma up. The fathers had taken advantage of the fact that the two of them couldn't protest, and put them both in the same room.
Nabiki had visited the room to check up on them. When she found that Ranma was awake, she began to ask him what was going on and what they had done that day after school that could've possibly triggered these events. Ranma hesitantly told her about the antique store and the weird smelling perfume, and Nabiki had then gone to check it out.
It had been a while since Nabiki left. Ranma himself had tried to go with her, but as soon as he stepped past the bedroom door, he was overcome with the strange wooziness from before. Once he went back into Akane's room, the feeling subsided. He had then been ordered to stay in the bedroom with Akane until Nabiki found out what was going on.
Ranma didn't like taking orders, but he didn't really have a choice, in this case. He groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. He was so bored. He wanted to go take a bath or something, but he couldn't leave the room. Ranma rolled onto his backside again. There wasn't even anything particularly interesting to look at in Akane's room. At least, not from where Ranma was lying.
He used a Chinese get up to stand and began to wander around the room in search of something to look at. When he thought about, it dawned on Ranma that he'd never really taken time to look around Akane's bedroom. The only reasons he'd ever entered Akane's room at all was because he was being chased, or he was chasing "P-chan", or he needed something from her. He wasn't sure why he should even bother, but now seemed as good a time as any to explore.
Ranma of course knew that the clothes drawers were completely off-limits, since they had girly things that he was not allowed to see. His body may switch from boy to girl when he got splashed with water, but Ranma was no pervert (despite the innumerable accusations of being one), and definitely not a lecherous underwear fiend like Happosai.
Since the closets were a forbidden zone, Ranma wandered around the other side of the room. He checked the titles of the books in the book shelf to see what a girl like Akane would read in her free time. He found an obscene amount of cookbooks among them. Ranma grinned wickedly to himself. The way Akane cooked, she needed all the help she could get.
From there his attention wandered to Akane's desk. He checked the books that were on Akane's desk and noted that they were all textbooks for school. There was one textbook and a notebook lying open on the desk, with a pencil lying not too far away. Ranma skimmed what had been written in the notebook and grimaced slightly when he realized that it was part of the homework they'd been given for the weekend. He could hardly believe that Akane had already gotten a start on it. He shook his head slowly in annoyed disappointment. School held nothing of interest to Ranma. The only things he found worth learning at all were martial arts techniques, and Furinkan High's physical education course offered no challenge.
Then Ranma found something interesting. Sitting on the desk by the lamp was a framed photograph of everyone that he recognized had been taken during their summer trip, when they had wound up on Togenkyo Island. All the girls were nicely dressed, since they had all been turned into bridal candidates and therefore had needed to look beautiful for the prince.
Ranma noted with some annoyance that both Ukyo and Shampoo, his other fiancees, had latched onto his arms for the picture. Behind Ukyo were three of the Togenkyo soldiers, and behind Shampoo was Mousse, glaring at Ranma for "stealing" Shampoo from him. Cologne, Shampoo's great grandmother, was standing by Shampoo's feet, and Happosai had apparently been knocked into the air somehow. Ryoga could be seen behind Happosai, looking at Akane with an expression on his face that Ranma couldn't quite decipher.
Akane was standing in front of Ryoga, so she couldn't see him looking at her the way he was. She was merely smiling contentedly with her hands clasped in front of her. Touma, the young prince of Togenkyo, stood just behind Akane, waving to the camera. Further behind him was upperclassman Kuno and the entire Tendo family. Standing at the very back was a giant panda that Ranma knew was his cursed idiot of a father.
Ranma picked up the picture frame and smiled slightly. This had been his Christmas present to Akane last year. He could hardly believe that she had placed it right there on her desk. Ranma hadn't been in Akane's room too much over the last year, so he had never noticed it there before. Then, for the first time since he'd woken up, he looked over at Akane as she slept on her bed.
He put the picture back where he'd found it on the desk and crouched by the bed so that his face was level with hers. His heartbeat quickened as he watched her.
'Wow, she's cute when she's asleep,' Ranma thought to himself with a small smile.
It wasn't long before he found with some degree of shock that he liked watching her sleep. He liked watching her take in deep, even breaths. He liked watching her eyes flutter about behind her eyelids as she dreamed. He even liked the way her hand loosely clung to the edge of her pillow.
Ranma's eyes suddenly grew wide as he caught himself, and, blushing, backed away quickly. He scampered backwards across the floor until his back pressed against the book shelf, several of the books shaking with the impact. Ranma then grabbed the small pillow that was resting on his futon and began to pace the room, punching the pillow softly as he tried to clear his head. After a while of doing this, he plopped back down on top of the futon.
'What the hell is goin' on?'Ranma thought to himself. 'I'm pretty sure that it's somethin' else makin' me think and feel like this... Like I told Nabiki, that weird perfume might've had somethin' to do with it...'
He groaned in annoyance, turning his attention to the door impatiently. "I sure hope Nabiki gets back soon," he muttered, giving the pillow one last, soft punch.
"Hn...? Ranma...?"
He involuntarily threw the pillow out of his hands and it flew straight up into the air at the sound of his name. Ranma slowly turned his head so that he could see Akane as she slowly began to wake up and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She stared at Ranma for a long time, a confused, sleepy look on her face which slowly melted into one of annoyance and shock.
"What are you doing in here?"
By then the pillow had dropped back on top of Ranma's head with a soft thud. He found that the annoyed tone in her voice stung him slightly, much to his own chagrin. Ranma turned around so that he couldn't see Akane's face, setting his gaze on one of the cookbooks in Akane's book shelf.
"Hey, our dads put us in the same room and now I can't leave. It ain't my fault, so don't go blamin' me, got it?"
Akane's expression returned to one of confusion. "You... can't leave? Why not?"
"How should I know?" Ranma grunted. "When I tried, I got all dizzy. Like I hit some kinda weird, invisible wall." He then realized that it was easier to control himself and act normal when he wasn't looking at her. Not by much, but still easier. "Nabiki's out tryin' to figure out what happened to us. I had to tell her about the shop and the weird perfume stuff."
Akane looked down into her lap. "You did?"
"Yeah, well, I kinda had to."
"You think the perfume had something to do with this? I mean, with us..."
Both Ranma and Akane blushed, though they couldn't see each other.
"H-How would I know? I dunno! M-Maybe... I dunno!"
For a long moment they were both silent. Ranma felt his heart race when he realized that he could still feel Akane's eyes on him. He had the most powerful urge to turn around and look at her full in the face. To walk over and kiss her again. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore the sharp, insistent tugging in his chest.
"Do, uh... Do you feel it, too?"
Akane's voice had been very soft and timid, catching Ranma completely by surprise. He turned his head only slightly, just enough so that she would be able to see part of his face.
"Feel what?" he replied, pretending not to understand.
"You know," Akane insisted, finally tearing her gaze away from Ranma and staring down into her lap. "The pulling. In your chest."
"I dunno what you're talkin' about," Ranma lied, trying to sound calm.
Akane screwed up her face, annoyed. "Liar."
Another silence followed between them. Neither one of them dared to move from where they were. They merely sat like a pair of statues, doing their best to ignore the fact that they were in the same room together. It worked to some extent, and the pulling feeling lost some of its potency. After several long, silent moments, there came a knocking at the door, at which Ranma jumped anxiously to his feet.
"Yeah?"
The door opened wide and revealed Nabiki behind it, standing with one hand on her hip and a smug look on her face. She looked first at Ranma and then at Akane, her smirk deepening.
"Oh Akane, you're awake," she said amusedly. "Good. I think you both need to hear this."
Author's Note: Oh, the madness of it all. :P I want Ranma and Akane to just be together already. They're so cute together, but they're both so shy and in such deep denial. They need to be thrown head-first into their relationship. Hence the introduction of a powerful potion.
FYI: Chapter 1 is named after a song from the Grease play. The movie didn't use this song; it used "You're the One That I Want", the lyrics of which do not comply too well with the content of the chapter. I was thinking of naming all the chapters in this story after songs from Grease, but I changed my mind. :P