A/N: Anything Goes Silliness

Hidden Feelings

Ranma was in the dojo after dinner performing some basic katas when his reluctant fiancée walked in. There was only a slight hitch in his movements to indicate he sensed her entrance, but he didn't look around or even greet her. He finished his basic warm up and looked over, wondering why she was still standing by the door and not saying anything. He frowned further at what she was wearing. Why was she back in her school uniform?

He walked over to take a swig from his water bottle and then grabbed his towel, wrapping it around the back of his neck. He turned around and saw that she had still not moved away from the door and was now fidgeting. She kept changing her position; crossing her arms over her chest, then moving them to her hips, then clasping them in front of her, before crossing her arms again. Now completely perplexed, Ranma sat Indian style in the middle of the dojo and continued to drink his water as he watched her.

"What's da matter, 'Kane?" he finally asked.

She cleared her throat and said softly, "Nothing."

"What? I can't hear ya."

"I said, nothing."

Eyebrows furrowed, he asked, "Why ya standing all the way over there?"

Akane walked towards him hesitantly. Stopping a few feet in front of him, not making eye contact.

"What's up?"

She cleared her throat. "No..thing."

"Seriously, what's wrong, you're acting weird."

"Nothing!" She snapped.

She turned her nose up, once again avoiding his gaze. It was starting to get on his nerves. He racked his brain to figure out why she would be so distant with him. She couldn't be annoyed at him, could she?

"Come on! You ain't mad about what I said at dinner, are ya?"

He watched as she twitched.

"...maybe."

"'Kane, you know I don't mean that crap I say to you."

"You... you don't?" she asked with a frown.

Why did she sound so surprised?

"Of course not!"

Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "Then why did you say...all that stuff...at dinner."

"Geez, 'Kane...we talked about this. You know I gotta say those things."

"You do…but…why?"

"Uh…So no one knows how I really feel about ya," he said softly, his cheeks growing red.

"How...how you ...feel about me…?"

Ranma was getting more frustrated now. Why was she acting like that? Did she really need more reassurances?

"You know...you know exactly how...what I feel for you. Don't make me say it again...you know how bad I am with my words."

He gave her such a warm, tender look that she blushed and moved slightly closer to him. He rolled his eyes at her reaction. Timid was definitely not a word he ever wanted associated with Akane. He grabbed her wrist quickly and yanked her onto his lap, causing her to yelp in surprise, her eyes going round. He wrapped one arm around her back and the other around her hip. He nuzzled her neck before he ran his nose along her face.

Whispering softly into her ear, he explained, "If anyone knew how much we care for each other, and guessed how close," he squeezed her bottom and nipped her ear, "we are now. We'd have hell to pay."

Ranma pulled back and looked into her shocked face, smirking a little. He understood how she felt. He too was still shocked and amazed at their new closeness and sometimes he surprised himself at his boldness. He smiled a bit and lowered his head slowly, finally giving in to his impulses.

He had been wanting to kiss her all day. To feel the softness of her lips against his. The urge was becoming so insistent, growing more urgent throughout the day, that he had almost slipped at dinner when Akane turned and smiled at something his mom had said to her. She had looked so beautiful that he longed to touch her. So he snapped at her in defense, immediately wiping that alluring smile from her face. He had felt guilty, but it had been his only defense at the time. He had not wanted to hurt her feelings.

His lips were almost on hers when there was a sudden explosion. Cursing, Ranma immediately covered her with his body, his senses on high alert. When the dust cleared, he looked up and his eyes widened in shock.

"Shampoo? What the hell are you doing here?"

He wrapped his arms tighter around Akane, thinking of ways to get her out of there without her getting hurt. With the black battle aura Shampoo was emitting, there was no way she had missed the way they were curled up together.

The Amazon pointed her chui at Akane and screamed, "Spatula girl get away from husband!"

"What?" Ranma said, confused.

Just then the dojo doors burst open and there stood Akane, wearing her clothes from dinner. She took on the scene, looking shocked, before her eyes turned murderous. Ranma looked at her and then down at his lap again.

"WHAT?!" he screamed.

Shampoo gleefully signed for the express shipment and dashed up to her room. She opened the envelope stamped with the Jusenkyo Springs Products logo to find a slim envelope. After inspecting it, she grinned widely, her eyes glinting with mischief.

She knew exactly what she wanted to do with it, but could admit she needed help. There were only two possibilities for who could help her and she considered her options.

Thinking of ribbon girl, her rival with the inane laugh, she could only shake her head and write her off. The laugh alone would be problematic.

That only left one choice. Resigned, she shrugged. It wasn't like they hadn't worked together before. They at least had the same goal in mind. She tucked the packet into her bra and skipped off to find spatula girl.

When she reached Ucchan's, she found Ukyo in the upstairs apartment doing homework with Konatsu next to her, having a cup of tea.

"Nihao!" Shampoo greeted, proud of herself that she didn't enter through the wall.

"Damn it, Shampoo! You need to knock on the door, not just break it down!" Ukyo screamed as she jumped to her feet.

Shampoo only shrugged. She couldn't remember every detail.

"Ninja girl go away, we need talk."

Konatsu obediently got up and skipped to his closet...room.

"Okay, sugar. What do you want?" Ukyo asked, her hands on her hips.

"I have plan, need help. Get truth about violent girl and husband."

Ukyo chose to ignore the husband comment. "And how are you gonna do that?"

"We use this," she pulled out the envelope and showed it to her.

Ukyo took the package and examined it. "What is this?" She couldn't read Chinese.

"It Instant Akane-nīchuan from Jusenkyo springs."

Ukyo's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She had learned about the events in Jusendo from Ryoga, who stopped by one day lost and hungry. She gave him some okonomiyaki and heard the entire tale.

The lengths Ranma and Akane had gone through to save each other had her feeling uneasy. She knew Ranma would try to save any of his friends, but from the way Ryoga told it, it was a lot more than that. After the failed wedding, there seemed to be a change in the way they acted towards each other, which lent credence to his words. It seemed Shampoo noticed, too.

"Why do you need me?"

"I no can talk like kitchen destroyer. Ranma know it Shampoo as soon as speak."

Ukyo could only nod in acknowledgment. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"You change into violent girl. Go talk to husband and get him to say what he think. Then we find out truth."

"That's it?"

"If can, you start fight. Make him angry and they break up!" Shampoo nodded with a grin.

"Yeah, I like that, but we need to find the right time. Akane and him are around each other a lot."

"Also need clothes. You dress too much like man and my clothes stand out."

"It's okay, I'll just get the school uniform. He won't know the difference."

They both smiled maliciously as their plan took shape. It was perfect!

Akane looked at her fiancé with herself on his lap and then down at the two tea cups in her hand. She stalked forward and threw them in the couples faces. Instantly 'she' disappeared, revealing Ukyo dressed in the Furinkan School uniform.

"Ouch! That's hot!" Ukyo screamed and jumped from her spot.

"Ukyo!" Akane shouted and glared at the girl getting into a defensive position.

"Ukyo?" Ranma said again in confusion as his brain tried to catch up. He looked at the three girls, his eyes wide.

"Ranma, sugar, you got a lot to explain."

"Spatula girl and pervert girl die now!" Shampoo declared.

"Ranma! How could you do this to my baby girl?!" Soun suddenly cried, only having seen Ukyo cradled in Ranma's arms.

Ranma leaned back to dodge the black and white blur aiming a kick at his face, holding a sign that said, "You must join the schools, boy!"

"Oh my," Kasumi uttered, taking in the scene around her, her hands delicately clasped in front of her.

Next to her, Nadokoa shook her head. "This is not what I meant by manly, son."

Nabiki just stood there grinning with her video camera rolling away.

Ranma dodged again as chains flew by his face.

"Shampoo, my love! I will defend your honor!" Mousse screamed landing on the scene, standing in front of Ukyo and shielding her.

"Son-in-law, what is the meaning of all this?" Cologne cackled in her gravelly voice as she hopped onto the scene on her cane.

"Sweeto! There's a party and no one invited me?" Happosai said, bounding in and launching himself onto Shampoo's breasts and was immediately pounded onto the dojo floor.

"RANMA!" multiple people screamed at the same time.

The boy looked around at all the faces staring at him. Without a second thought, he raced for Akane, sweeping her up into his arms bridal style before running out of the once again ruined dojo.

"I think the jig is up," Ranma said to her. He looked down, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You are the real Akane, aren't you?"

Akane knew it was unfair, but she was annoyed at finding Ranma in that position with Ukyo. She bopped him on the head and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Of course, baka!"

Yup, that was her.

Ranma knew they couldn't run forever, but he needed to get the girl he loved and himself safe from the friends and family chasing after them. He had enjoyed the short period where they kept their feelings and the growth in their relationship a secret, but he knew it was never going to last.

If he were honest with himself, even with all the stupid they were gonna have to deal with after this, he was kinda glad their secret was out. While it was exciting sneaking around with each other, he was tired of having to hide his feelings.

He kicked up his speed a notch when he heard a scream of, "Where am I now?!" in the distance.

A/N: It's a scary situation in the world right now. I hope you are all staying safe and sane. It's particularly bad in the US where I am, so I wanted to write something that would hopefully bring a smile to your faces. This story idea came up during a chat with Marie Allen, so shout out to her for helping kick off the idea and for helping me stay connected.

Huge thanks to alwaysZutarian for her amazing betaing skills. If you like Zuko + Katara fics, you gotta check her out.