Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and all characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi. I just use them to dream and be happy :)

Jiggly33

That little place in your mind

"Ranma! This is the day!" The familiar voice approached rapidly from someplace inside Nerima's central park. Ranma and Akane turned back their heads from the bench where they'd been sitting. Great, he thought; Just when we were having a little quiet time. His thoughts were interrupted by the big red umbrella crashing in front of them. Akane eeped and stood up, preparing herself for any other attacks that might come. Ranma stood up as well and placed himself in front of her, almost sensing where Ryoga would be appearing from. And he was right; Ryoga came directly to him, ready to punch. Ranma met him halfway with a high kick. Ryoga blocked it and was pushed away. The both landed with a fighting stand.

"Now why did you do that for pig boy? What the hell is wrong with you now?" Ranma shouted.

"The day of your defeat has come Ranma, you will pay for everything you've done to me! Now prepare to receive this!" Ryoga put his hands together, eyes closed, an energy circle forming around his feet, and chi forming between his hands. "Take it! Multiple Shishi Hoko Dan!"

"What?!" Ranma was prepared for the old technique but what the hell was this multiple thing about? He was going to find out soon enough. The huge energy blast divided itself into ten or twenty smaller ones. Probably weaker ones too, Ranma thought. Just then, one of the chi balls blasted away a whole tree, while the other ones were destroying everything on their way. Ranma ran away and grabbed the first thing he could: a trashcan. He placed it in front of him and hoped that it would at least weaken the strike. It didn't, but at least it hadn't been fatal. He was sent flying back to the bench and saw, to his horror, how the other chi balls where heading towards him… and her.

His back touched the ground for just half a second and he was up again. He moved as if nothing had hit him and got close to Akane. She was avoiding the chi balls but was distracted when Ranma got hurt and ran towards him. Ranma grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. He placed her in front of him and pressed her against a tree trunk, shielding her with his body. He felt the rest of the chi balls strike his back and felt the pain through his body. His eyes were shut, trying to stay standing. But he slowly opened them when he heard his name.

"Ra…Ranma…" Akane was looking at him with a shocked expression, her voice filled with fear. Ranma moved away from her and whispered "I'm fine… it's ok… please, go away."

"What?! Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you like this!" Akane told him trying to hold him by the arm, but Ranma backed away.

"Just go! This is dangerous!"

"No! I won't! There's no way I'm –"

"Fine! I'll be the one to leave then!" He yelled glaring at her, he turned around and ran towards Ryoga, who had a terrified expression on his face, seeing what he could have done. Ranma grabbed him by the collar and lifted him.

"See what you almost did there? Get some sense bacon breath and let's take this some place safer!" And with that, he dragged Ryoga along, jumped to a tree and hopped on top of the roofs of the buildings near by and disappeared from sight. The only thing he could hear was Akane screaming his name, her voice fading away.

Ranma limped the whole way back to the Tendo Dojo. Ryoga had been tougher to beat than ever. He had come so close to defeat tonight, and Ranma was very shocked about it. True that Ryoga was a good boy, and his friend most of the times, so he knew his life was in no real danger but… his pride, his honor as a martial artist, and a certain person he wasn't going to be too specific about, were in danger, and he wouldn't lose to Ryoga. Not now, not ever.

He stopped to rest for a little while. He kneeled down and lowered his head. Sweat dripping from his forehead to the tip of his nose. He needed to think about how to stop him. Training was always and option, and the most obvious one. But then again, he would get better, Ryoga would be defeated, and then he would go back to training and challenge him once more. It was a vicious cycle, and he was sick of it. One of these days, this insanity of his will lead to the death of one of them. He appreciated Ryoga, in spite of his P-chan act, and he didn't want to hurt him. This was getting bad, really bad.

It was time for the final encounter, the one that would settle things between them once and for all. The loser will have to accept defeat and step back, give up on… well, he could say it: give up on Akane. But he couldn't face him right now. For such an important match, he needed to be sure he would win. He needed not to train, but to learn a new and ultimate technique that would make him have all that it takes to defeat his stronger rival.

Now the problem was to find out what technique could that be. He couldn't turn to his father for this; he was not willing to hear his useless "Special Saotome" techniques. And Happosai would probably want some kind of underwear reward for it, so he would have to figure it on his own… unless… Ranma threw away the stick he was supporting on and, filled with new energy, ran as fast as he could the opposite way, heading straight to the Neko Hanten.

Shampoo was cleaning the tables at her grandmother's restaurant. She was polishing them carefully, admiring her reflection on them. She smiled, daydreaming as she always did. She closed her eyes and hummed to herself, enjoying the vision in her mind. Ranma came bursting in, calling her name and hugging her, finally admitting that she was the love of his life. It was her favorite dream.

"Shampoo!"

Her heart stopped and she opened her eyes. Could this be really happening? She turned around and saw Ranma at the door, his eyes fixed on hers.

"Aiya! Airen has come see Shampoo!" She ran to him, ready to glomp him as always, but was stopped by some strong hands on her shoulders.

"Wait! Stop your glomping thing will ya? Is there anything new? 'Ranma date Shampoo!' 'No I won't.' 'Shampoo love Airen!' 'Yeah I know, and I don't'." Ranma said with his best imitation of Shampoo's voice. "Are we good now?"

Shampoo just looked at him, hurt in her eyes. She spun around and gave her back to him. "What Ranma want?"

"I need to talk to your grandmother. I need her to teach me a new and undefeatable technique."

Shampoo looked around slowly, glaring at him.

"What for?"

"That's not really important now, but I need to—"

"I know! Ranma want to use technique on Shampoo and make her give up on Airen!" She said getting closer to him, her eyes filled with fire.

"What? No! That's that's…" That wouldn't be such a bad idea… Ranma thought, but shook his head. "That's not it! I need it for something else."

Shampoo examined his eyes for a minute. Then turned around again, slapping Ranma with her beautiful purple hair.

"Ranma very bad with Shampoo. And greatgrandmother is no home. I no want to tell you about secret techniques. Ranma have to look for it himself."

"Oh Shampoo, don't be like that, come on!" Ranma said approaching to her.

She turned around and pressed her body against Ranma's. His face flushed instantly and stepped away as much as he could. He didn't love Shampoo, but he was a man after all, and having her press her amazing body at him… well, had effects on him.

"Want to convince Shampoo to tell you?" Shampoo said on her sexiest voice, brushing her finger on his lips.

"I- I- No! Leave it, it's not that important!" Ranma ran out the Neko Hanten without waiting. He turned on the corner and leaned on the wall. He breathed heavily. This was going to be harder than he thought, but he needed that technique and he would find one. A little midnight research would do the trick.

Ranma entered the Tendo Dojo quietly. It was already late, and if anyone saw him, hurt and dirty, he was going to have to give a lot of explanations that he didn't want to give right now. He just wanted to take a bath, eat something and he would be out of the house. Yes, the perfect plan, no one will know.

"Ranma!"

He stopped dead on his tracks and turned around to see Akane, who had obviously been asleep on the table, waiting for him. She ran to him with a worried expression on her face, her arms open.

Yes oh yes, a good hug from her will make my day. He closed his eyes waiting for her touch… but he felt it rather cold… and wet.

Ranma opened HER eyes to see Akane and an empty bucket in her hands.

"I was worriedly sick you jerk! Where have you been?"

"And turning me into a girl is going to make it better? What's the big idea?" Ranma said cleaning her face with her shirt.

"That's for making me worry! And for being late!" Akane said and walked to the stairs.

Ranma cursed under her breath and started to walk to the bathroom.

"And… Ranma?" Akane said from the stairs. "Thanks for saving me today." She said in a soft voice, and ran to her room.

Ranma looked at the empty place where Akane had been. She turned around and smiled. Yes, some things just were worth the effort.

The window creaked as it was slid open. A hand made its way through it and pushed it all the way. A figure came inside the room, slowly, landing like a cat. It made its way through the room and, noticing that it was safe, turned on the lantern on its hand. Ranma's face was lit up, a smile on his lips. He wasn't going to give up that easy, and he knew that the old ghoul had thousands of scrolls and ancient books where he could learn what he needed. Besides, it would be better this way, because he knew Cologne wouldn't train him for free, and it would involve Shampoo and marriage. So, this was a much safer way to do it.

He walked through the house, sliding doors open; he found the room Shampoo shared with her grandmother. The purple hair girl was sleeping heavily. Ranma hoped the scrolls were somewhere else because it would be very dangerous to wake up Shampoo right now. He wouldn't live to tell. Or worst, he would live and then Akane would kill him. He slid the door closed again and stepped back. He walked through all the rooms and nothing.

Damn, he thought, they're on Shampoo's room. The only thing left was downstairs, and that was just the kitchen and the restaurant. Well… some nice Chinese bread wouldn't be too bad. It might as well be his last meal. He climbed down the stairs and went to the kitchen. He began his search for food, and distractedly, dropped his lantern.

"Great, now I can see a th—ouch!" He bent down and fixed his eyes on the object that had hurt his foot: a strange chest, camouflaged with vegetable boxes. He picked up his lantern and pointed at it. It sure looked Chinese, could this be? He pulled the chest closer to him and saw a big padlock on it. He took it in his hand and squeezed with all his strength. The padlock broke as a fortune cookie in his hand. He opened the chest and smiled. There they were at last, hundreds of ancient books and scrolls, filled with Amazon secrets, he was sure of it.

Without hesitating, he placed his lantern on top of the shelf directing the light at the contents of the chest, and began going through the books. He would have to hurry up, but it would be very difficult to take all of the books and scrolls to a safe place and then return them. Better hurry than complicate things.

Hours passed by and Ranma was beginning to feel frustrated. There were many techniques indeed, but he had seen them all, and worst of all, almost used them all. I mean, most of them were magic tricks and dirty stuff he was not going to use. Who would want to use a mushroom and make someone do as you wish? Or worst yet, erase someone's memory by using some kind of magical shampoo that… Ranma's eyes keep moving, reading what he never thought he would. A deep blush appeared on his face and his hands began to shake. Just then, he heard footsteps on the stairs. Ranma dropped the books and scrolls and tossed them inside the chest. Closed it, put it back on its place and stormed out of the Neko Hanten through the open window, all done in three seconds.

Shampoo walked inside the kitchen, sleepily rubbing her eyes. She filled a glass with water, drank it and turned to leave, never knowing that her so called Airen had been in her house. Right next to the chest, was an open book that Ranma had forgot to put back. There, lit by the moonlight, was the description of a certain technique called Sei Fang Hen Hu:

The Sei Fang Hen Hu technique it's proved to be very powerful and effective. The ingredients on the magical shampoos will work on certain areas of the brain, and then the pressure points would block the memories on the stimulated zone. There are different shampoos for each area of the brain, and are marked by numbers. The most popular are:

Shampoo 102: physical ability

Shampoo 120: verbal ability

Shampoo 110: love

Shampoo 119: reverse effect

Then, if shampoo 102 is applied, the person will lose his or her abilities to fight, dance, run, and other special and physical abilities they stand out for. As for shampoo 120, the person will lose the capacity of talking, reading and writing at the same time. If shampoo 110 is applied, that person will forget who they are in love with and block all memories, even his or her name out of the brain. Shampoo 119 reverse all effects, pressuring the exact points on different areas of the brain.

The wind came blowing in through the window, slowly turning the page over.

Ranma walked silently back to the Tendo dojo, thinking about the information he had read. He was shocked and confused. He kicked a pebble and kept looking at the floor. The Sei Fang Hen Hu technique was used in Akane to make her forget him. Could this mean that, at least back then, Akane cared for him? After all, he remembered that Shampoo had used shampoo 110 on her, and according to that book, it was meant to erase love from the brain. He had never thought about it, he just thought the shampoos were numbered for other reasons, not because they were for a particular subject to be forgotten. And he had figured Shampoo erased Akane's temporary memory or something, right before he came along.

He stopped and looked at the starry sky. Akane had cared for him back then… better yet, she had LOVED him. But what about now? Did she still feel the same way towards him? He had sensed that there was something between them, but he also thought that it could all be in his mind, because HE felt something for HER, and his feelings could be playing tricks on him. Ranma closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air was cool and fresh; it would be morning soon. He had been walking more than he had expected to, but he couldn't get back home now and face her. Not until he had figured out this new information. He had to find out about her feelings for him now. He did feel butterflies in his stomach just by the thought that someday Akane had loved him, and thinking she could still be in love with him, well, turned those butterflies into birds. Singing birds, flying in the warm sun, filled with colors and… he blushed deeply. Oh my god, what had this girl done to him? Ranma shook his head, but the blush stayed, and his smile couldn't disappear either.

Ok, he thought, when he found himself standing outside the front gate. Just go there and talk to her, ask her directly. He tried to walk but his knees were trembling. He figured he couldn't talk to her like that, he wasn't able to. He would have done it a long time ago if things were different. He pressed his hand on the gate, lightly so he wouldn't open it. Could there be another way to find out? Maybe if he… act instead of talk. Yes, he was better with actions. This would need a lot of courage though, but it was worth it. She's so worth it, he thought.

Ranma finally went into the house and sat on the roof. He knew Akane would be up soon, and start her morning work out. He laid for a while, resting his head on his folded arms and closed his eyes, waiting for the sun to bring him his fiancée.

Ranma was asleep when finally he heard someone in the garden. Ranma sat up and looked at the koi pond. Akane was there, stretching, no doubt preparing herself for her morning jog. Ranma smiled and then climbed down the roof, landing softly next to her. Akane was a little surprised but she briefly looked at him and kept stretching.

"Hello Ranma," she said, "you're up early."

"Yeah I… had something on my mind and couldn't keep sleeping." He said putting his hands inside his pockets. He watched her for a while with the corner of his eye. Akane was about to finish stretching; she should be leaving any time now. She lifted her arms above her head and sighed, when she was about to leave, she felt Ranma's hands on her shoulder. He touched her gently and turned her to face him. Akane looked at him, wondering, but then her eyes grew with shock when he approached to her, his hand still on her shoulder. He looked for a minute right into her eyes, and then brushed her bangs with his other hand, and caressed her cheek.

"Akane…you… got a little something there." He said while repeating his touch. Akane instantly blushed, her heart began to pound and she knew her eyes were filled with sparkles. He smiled briefly at her and released her whispering "There". Then he walked away, getting inside the house. When he was out of her sight, he leaned a little and spied on her. Akane was still in the same place, one hand on her chest and the other where Ranma's hand had been. She was still blushing and she was staring at her own reflection on the koi pond. She appeared to snap out of it, because she shook her head a little and then left the house. Ranma smiled from his hiding place, whispering "Well, well… interesting."

He decided to go and take a shower and wait for breakfast to come. When he finally came to the diner, the whole family was there, including Akane. Ranma sat next to her and felt her tense a little, but then again, that had ALWAYS happened, what could he get about that? Ranma greeted everyone and started eating. Akane had already finished eating and she was sipping on her cup of tea. Ranma was carefully studying her for his next move. He found it, when Akane placed her hand on the floor to stand up. Ranma moved instantly, and placed his own hand on hers. Akane froze in place, and met Ranma's eyes. She blushed even harder than before and looked at him. Ranma smiled "innocently", stood up and offered her his other hand.

"Sorry, you were going to stand too." He brought her up and released her hands. Akane seemed not to notice this, because she was still looking at him and got all tongue-tied.

"Yes, well, no but, right." She said. Ranma had to bite his lip to stop from laughing, but he kept eye contact with her. The whole family was staring at them, and Akane finally got back to Earth and excused herself, almost rushing out of the room. Ranma smiled a little and then realized he was being observed as well, so he slowly turned to look at them. They all had their chopsticks on their hands; food in them, and some even had their mouths opened.

"What?" Ranma said in a defensive tone, but decided he was not willing to hear their answer, so he left as quickly as possible too. When he left the room, he could hear the sounds of some cheerful fathers, but he tried not to think about them, and he submerged himself in this feeling he was having. This was looking good, Ranma smiled. He hurried up when he remembered they had school to go to.

In a few minutes, both Ranma and Akane were walking to school. Ranma was beside her instead of walking on the fence, a very convenient thing he had done since their failed wedding, and now was the time to take advantage of it. Akane seemed to be lost in thought. Ranma smiled playfully again, before walking closer to Akane and interlinked his fingers with hers.

"What you thinking there Akane?" he said. Akane tensed again, and for the third time that day turned red like a tomato. Ranma kept smiling until he heard her voice.

"What – um – what are you doing?" Akane asked shyly.

Ranma got scared at her question but decided not to show it, he couldn't back now. "I'm sorry, are you not ok with this? I thought that you wouldn't… that you wanted to…" Ranma said, an obvious hurt in his voice.

"No, it's not…" Akane began, now squeezing his hand a little, "It's not what I meant but… today you… you are acting weird I mean. Good weird. But no, there's something going on, it's not like you to do this kind of stuff…" Akane stopped walking and released her hand from his.

Ranma got REALLY scared then and turned around to see her. She was looking at the floor, her hand firmly gripped around her schoolbag. Had he misunderstood her? Maybe she was just feeling confused but that didn't mean that she was in love with him.

"Is this… some kind of trick?" Akane whispered.

"What?" Ranma said trying to make her look at him.

"Are you playing some kind of trick to make Shampoo or Ukyo jealous like that time of the reversal jewel?" Akane said still not looking at him.

"Ok Akane, that is just nonsense. I don't give a damn if they feel jealous or not, ok? And man, how can you think that I would do that to you?" He said getting closer to her. Akane looked at him, her sad eyes now growing with hope.

"Listen to me Akane, after the events of this morning and now looking at you all sad about the other girls, I feel confident enough to tell you the truth." Ranma said. Akane lifted an eyebrow but decided to say nothing.

Ranma leaned on the fence and dropped his schoolbag. Right now, school could go to hell, they were not going to make it anyway.

"Last night I read something on one of the old ghoul's Amazon book. I was looking for a new technique to master and fight Ryoga so he would finally give up on y- - er, on fighting me." He said scratching the back of his head. "But I found that old technique Shampoo used on you some time ago, when she erased your memory, and made you forget me, remember?" Ranma said. Akane nodded in response, she crossed her arms not quiet sure where he was going.

"Well," Ranma started to say, his face beginning to blush, "It seems that each shampoo is used to block different areas of the brain and… shampoo 110, the one that she used on you, serves to block away love." Ranma said and looked at her, hoping to catch the rest of his answer in her reaction. The Furinkan clock marked the beginning of classes, and neither of them made a sign to move.

Akane looked at him and her eyes grew wide, she uncrossed her arms and blushed again, looking at the floor. "So… so you think that I… that I'm…" she began to say, poking her fingers together.

"I don't know what to think because, well, that was back then. Things can change, you know? So I don't know. You tell me, what should I think?" He said, with more fear than his voice was showing. He waited for her answer, but Akane was still looking at the floor, quite scared and very embarrassed.

Ranma felt guilty for putting her in an awkward situation like this. If she didn't have feelings for him anymore, he was making her very uncomfortable. And if she did… well, he was forcing her to declare her love for him right there. He walked to her, and she tensed again; she was now curling her hair on her finger nervously. Ranma took her hands and pressed his forehead to hers. He closed his eyes, because she still wasn't looking at him.

"Akane please, just go ahead and tell me. Tell me the words I want to hear and make me the happiest man alive." He whispered. He opened his eyes and met hers; they were shining beautifully. "Because you know what? If you do… well, I do too." Ranma said smiling shyly. Akane melted with this and smiled to him. She nodded her head and her eyes seemed brighter than ever. "Yes, I do." Ranma smiled and hugged her, burying his head on the top of her head.

He reluctantly released her and he gave her a soft kiss on the lips. She smiled at him while blushing, making her happy face look radiant. Ranma smiled back and held her hand once more.

"Come on, let's walk to the park. We didn't make it to class and no one knows so we have a long morning just for us." She nodded again and let him lead the way.

"Oh my god, what would you have done if I say I didn't love you?" Akane asked looking up to him while they walked.

Ranma thought if for a second and then he said, "I probably would have said this was all a big joke, and that you fell for it." He looked at her and winked. Akane smiled and gave him a playful punch on the arm.

"Wimp," she said, "couldn't you just say you love me?"

"I never said that Akane, I just said I do too." Ranma said biting his lip trying not to smile. Akane gave his hand a squeeze and poked him on the ribs.

"Oh you cheater! How can you be like that? Say it!" Akane said.

"I do too."

"That's not fair Ranma, say it!"

"Hey you never say the actual words either you know, so what's the big deal?"

The couple kept on teasing each other until they were almost out of the view of a small black piglet that had been spying them from a corner. P-chan had heard the whole conversation, and though his heart felt shattered, he knew this was coming. Well, he thought, I admit defeat Saotome. You are in no need of that new technique. Although I think you mastered something more important that that today. The piglet turned around and started walking, wondering the look on Akari's pretty face when she saw him. On the distance, he could hear a man's voice scream at the top of his voice:

"Ok, Ok! I love you!"

Author's Note: So there it goes my most recent work, I hope you like it and give me some reviews which I appreciate and love to read. By the way, sorry that I had to enable anonymous reviews but some people out there get too annoying. Sorry if I didn't get the name of Shampoo's technique right, I wrote it just as it sounded to me :P As always, love sharing this with you! Bye bye!