As with most situations in his life, Ranma had no idea how he had gotten himself into his most recent predicament. It all started with him fighting Kuno and a bunch of annoying high school guys who were under the mistaken impression that Akane was no longer engaged to him. It wasn't like he really cared what they thought. After all it wasn't his choice to get engaged to her in the first place, and regardless of what the idiot boys thought, Akane was perfectly capable of fighting her own battles. Well, admittedly not all of them, but the one that had presented itself most certainly was a challenge fit for her level of skill, or lack thereof.

But for whatever reason, Akane had decided to play the helpless damsel in distress card for an unusual change of pace, and instead of taking on the 23 some odd guys herself had decided to shriek and hide behind him, hoping he would 'save her' or something. And even more incredible was the fact that he had actually agreed.

Not that it was difficult for him. Taking on Kuno alone provided more of a challenge than all of Akane's regular fan club of Furinkan High School amateurs combined, but it was the principle of the thing. Akane could have easily done it herself, and never in his wildest dreams or nightmares would he have imagined she would ask him to protect her in that way. However, she had been acting odd that week. Very odd, and her current level of apparent meekness was just the most recent chapter in the book of her recent insanity.

But even more unusual than the cowering Akane, the horde of jerks with their impression she was single and his agreement to protect his fiancé and take out her would be suitors in record time was what came next.

The scene itself was not one he was unfamiliar with: A girl glomping onto him despite his protests as his other fiancés watched in growing agitation that quickly degenerated into a boiling rage and an inevitable fight that always ended with at least two or three uncalled for bumps to his noggin that he received while shouting his mantra that the situation wasn't what it looked like. The whole thing at first glance appeared like any other moment in any other day from the life of Ranma Saotome. But this time the cast had changed, making the current situation anything but typical, because instead of Shampoo, Ukyo or Kodachi, it was Akane that clung to him as the other girls stared, with open mouthed astonishment and watched dumbly as she proclaimed her undying gratitude and devotion for saving her from the 'oh so scary' high school boys.

Habit caused him to tense up and think the thoughts of disgust and annoyance he was so familiar with. And those thoughts ran something along the line of how he couldn't understand why every girl he knew always had to be grabbing him. Couldn't they tell that he wasn't interested?

But he couldn't help but notice there was something different about Akane. There always had been. And in the brief seconds that ticked by as she hugged him, he couldn't help but compare the experience to the similar experiences he'd had with the other girls.

He'd never enjoyed it when Shampoo hugged him. Sure she was cute enough. No one could deny that, but they just didn't fit together. For one thing, she was an awkward height compared to him. Face to face her forehead would connect with his nose as it had on numerous glomping occasions, and he had to crane his neck way back at an awkward angle just so her head could fit under his chin. Even then there was the problem of her constant wiggling which always resulted in her banging her cranium into his jaw repeatedly, something that apparently had no affect on her whatsoever. She wiggled around a lot actually, and although he knew she was doing it in order to evoke pleasant thoughts and images in his mind, all he ever found himself thinking about was that holding Shampoo must be similar to holding a cumbersome bag full of rabbits jabbing him in all angels with their frantic kicking feet. That reminded him of another issue. Shampoo was for some reason very boney. Whenever she hugged him there was always an elbow or a knee or a shoulder blade jutting out and jabbing him uncomfortably. All in all, there was just nothing he liked about hugging the purple haired Amazon, and he especially didn't like the fact that despite getting no pleasure out of it whatsoever it always resulted in him either getting splashed with water or beaten up by an enraged Akane or Mousse.

And then there was Ukyo. Although she had never been as forward or demanding as Shampoo, she had managed to sneak in a few hugs of her own, and was an apparent fan of the whole hanging on his arm and snuggling into his shoulder routine. Admittedly he didn't really mind it, and didn't try as thoroughly to push her away as he did Shampoo. Her hugs were more likely to be simple and nonthreatening and didn't immediately invoke thoughts of him wanting to turn tail and run. They were close after all. Close... Friends. But the moment her friendly hug turned into something more… Amorous, he found himself feeling… Nothing… Nothing except for fear, because he knew that at any moment Akane would come around a nearby corner and beat him senseless. Regardless, the point was clear. He felt nothing for Ukyo other than a long lasting friendship and kinship. She was like family, but family of the sisterly kind, not the 'with this ring I thee wed kind.'

Next he started to consider Kodachi… And then quickly decided not to consider Kodachi as the mere thought of her made his skin crawl, much like her insane high pitched laugh did.

That only left Akane. It wasn't like she had never hugged him before, but whenever she had there had always been a reason. Like when she would greet him after he returned from a long trip, or when she was upset and scared after almost being attacked or killed and had been seeking comfort from him, and his personal least favorite, when either she or he were under the influence of some kind of crazy Chinese spell or potion and didn't really have any control or say in the matter. Whatever the reason, he had to admit there was and always had been something different about Akane hugging him.

She had never been pushy and clingy in her approach, and she didn't encroach uncomfortably on his personal space. In fact, he couldn't recall a time that she had been too close for comfort. Despite his adamant denials that he didn't want her hugging him or grabbing him or anything, he had yet to find a proximity that was too close when it came to her. The few embraces they had exchanged in the past had always seemed acceptable and appropriate. They weren't unwanted and they didn't push any boundaries. But they had never been overly passionate either.

But all of those truths had just flown out the window, because in that moment, a very grateful and affectionate Akane was pressed quite firmly against his chest with her arms wrapped nicely around his neck. And finally he was forced to admit that there was something very different about this particular hug and every other hug he had experienced with every other girl in his life. He was forced to admit as well that there was something very different about Akane. She was not boney or jumpy, and surprisingly enough he didn't feel like recoiling in disgust or fear when she was close. Instead he found himself thinking about the fact that she smelled nice, and that she was soft and her body fit so perfectly against him with no awkward angels. And then there was the fact that the top of her head with the soft silky hair that smelled of strawberries curled nicely below his chin and against his chest. She wasn't too short or too tall, she was just the right height. And that was the point when he noticed that his own arms fell at the perfect angle so they would easily slide around the hypnotic sensual curve of her waist…

And as she again whispered to him her gratitude, he found himself wondering why he held himself back.

"Thank you Ranma."

"D-Don't mention it," he stuttered as his arms slowly wrapped around her, hesitantly pulling her closer.

She snuggled against him and he gave up fighting it and simply smiled. Because whatever he was feeling in that moment, despite it being unexpected, and unusual and unfamiliar, there most certainly wasn't anything wrong with it. He and Akane simply fit together. In fact, they fit together so well, that he found himself wondering why they hadn't hugged like that before…

"What Airen doing with pervert girl?"

"RANCHAN! How dare you! I thought I was the cute fiancé?"

"Ohohohoho! Ranma-Darling how dare you consort with that common temptress when you have one such as me!"

"Oh yeah. Now I remember why we didn't do this sooner…" he thought as a bucket of water crashed over his head.

He had a brief second to take note of the fact that as a girl the roles were reversed and he was short enough to fit his head nicely under Akane's chin, but then all chaos ensued.

"Oh how tragic my fair ones! To be so lonesome in my absence that you had to turn to these unnatural ways! Fear not, for I, Tatewaki Kuno will…"

"Shut up Kuno," Ranma yelled as he kicked Kuno in the face and braced himself for the attacks of Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo. In the end, it was shaping up to be just another ordinary day in the life of Ranma Saotome. Different girl, same end result… "I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same," he thought just before he was sent flying halfway across Tokyo courtesy of the combined efforts of a bonbori, a gymnastics ribbon and a giant spatula.

~ Owari ~

Author's Notes: Believe it or not, there is a reason why the boys at Furinkan thought Akane was available, and there was also a reason why she acted afraid of them and asked Ranma to 'save her.' There's also a reason for her uncharacteristic glomping of Ranma, but if you want to understand these things, you're just going to have to read Mission Impossible. :-p Sorry!

I was working on chapter 6 of Mission Impossible, and in the process of searching for pre-written scenes and compiling them together I found this random little introspective that was supposed to be in chapter 5. Figuring it was a little too late to add it, but not wanting to scrap the scene completely since I thought it was really cute, I decided to tweak it and turn it into its own oneshot. I actually think it stands better on its own anyway, although the set up is a little lacking since it was part of a larger story originally.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to read more along the same lines I suggest you read the story this 'tidbit' originated from. It's called Mission Impossible, and I fully expect to have it completed within the week. So stay tuned all my wonderful readers!

Ja ne,

~ C ~