Disclaimer: Sadly Ranma and Co. do not belong to me... :(

The Roof

Akane Tendo sighed and wrapped her arms tighter around the knees she'd drawn up to her chest. "You might as well come over here and sit down instead of lurking over there Ranma," she called, turning to watch as her fiancé's sheepish face came into view, crowned by a mop of unruly black hair partially tamed by his pigtail.

"How'd you know I was there?" Ranma Saotome cocked his head at the girl, settling himself beside her on the ridged roof tiles.

Akane just shrugged as she watched him from the corner of her eye, unwilling to admit to him just how aware of his presence she was every hour of every day. She sighed heavily, trying to regain the peace she'd found before the close proximity of the annoyingly handsome young man had thrown her for a loop again. Her eyes drifted closed as she felt the heat radiating off Ranma like a blanket.

"Today was pretty bad, wasn't it," Ranma asked, and Akane was pulled back to reality with a jolt as her eyes snapped open to glare at him.

"Baka. That's got to be the understatement of the century." She rolled her eyes as Ranma bit his lip and twiddled his thumbs, knowing that he was trying to come up with the words to express what he was feeling – even though he would probably end up failing miserably...again. Why, oh why did she have to fall for a guy who was such a supreme master at shoving his foot so far into his mouth, it was a wonder he didn't choke on his knee.

"I-It's just...it seems like it hasn't been this bad since the w-w-wed...s-since right after we got back from China," Ranma stuttered, blushing horribly.

Akane sighed, frustrated at the fact that he still wouldn't talk to her about the disastrous wedding attempt, and he avoided all her efforts to explain why she had really agreed to go along with their dads' insane plan.

"Yeah, well, when you think about it, we should have expected it. After all, their probation ended last week and they finally finished paying Nabiki back for the damages. They had a lot of pent-up destruction and obnoxiousness to spread around."

Ranma snorted, a rueful half-smile twitching on his lips. "Still...it's been a long time since I came that close to hitting a girl – never mind all three of 'em. Prob'ly would've caused more problems for us in the end if I had..." he groaned.

"Do you ever wonder if it's all worth it Ranma?" Akane suddenly asked after several long minutes of silence.

"Huh? If what's all worth it?"

"You. Me. The engagement...engagements, really. Like, maybe it would be better if we just went our separate ways and stopped all the insanity. It's not like our parents could really force us, and I made sure Nabs subtracted the cost of the yattai your dad stole from Ukyo's bill, so technically you could be free of your debt to her if you want. Mind you, you're on your own when it comes to Shampoo and Kodachi, I've got no idea what to do about them."

"Wh-what...?"

"I just mean...you should be happy Ranma, and clearly none of this makes you happy, so why not let me help you out a bit? It's the least I can do after all the times you've saved me." Akane was surprised that she'd managed to get all that out. Every time she'd tried over the last three months, something had interrupted her, be it parents or fiancées.

Ranma's mouth opened and closed soundlessly a few times before the blank shock on his face was overwritten by the kind of burning anger that Akane would have recognized had anyone been brave enough to shove a mirror in her face just before she went after Ranma with her mallet.

"Leaving me?" he demanded, his voice cracking with intensity. "That's your answer to all this? 'Oh, it's so hard,'" he cried, affecting an obnoxiously high pitched falsetto. "'I might as well give up' Well it ain't gonna work," he raged, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to look at him. "So just fuck that." He ignored Akane's gasp at his language. "You ain't getting away that easily. You're my fiancée Akane, I beat every guy who's ever challenged me for you, and there ain't no way I'm gonna lose now, not even to you."

"That's what I'm talking about Ranma," she growled, trying to jerk her shoulders from his iron grip. "I'm just the prize to you, bait for your never-ending battle for supremacy, and I'm tired of it. I don't want to be that person anymore," she whispered, biting her lip.

A muscle jumped wildly in Ranma's jaw as he stared down at her with a lost expression in his eyes. "Then what do you want?" he demanded quietly, his fingers loosening on her shoulders.

"I don't know anymore, but I do know that things can't stay the same." She turned to stare out over the rooftops, pulling her knees closer to her chest and wrapping her arms around them before resting her chin on her knees as she watched the lights beginning to twinkle in the growing dimness.

"Why can't they 'Kane? It's not like everything else doesn't change every day. Why can't we just stay the same?" Ranma pleaded plaintively.

"I'm different though Ranma. China and the wedding disasters..." She waited for his inevitable twitch before continuing. "They changed me enough that my concept of what I want from life has gotten a bit clearer, but it kind of seems like you don't really what me to explore any of that. So it makes me wonder what the hell we're doing here."

The two sat in silence for a while, Akane wishing she could find the anger to hammer Ranma with her mallet so this uncomfortable conversation could be over, although she knew it would be pointless. They really had to deal with this eventually.

"Th-that ain't true you know." Ranma's sudden statement startled Akane out of her reverie. "I...I do want you to be happy...I just...I wish...I wish it c-could be with me," he whispered, as if he was afraid of being overheard, even by the girl sitting next to him.

Akane swung around to look at him so fast she almost have herself whiplash. "What? You...you wish...what?" She understood the basic meaning of the words, but having them arranged in that order and coming out of Ranma's mouth, had her doubting her ability to comprehend his meaning.

Ranma gulped audibly and Akane found her gaze drawn to his fists, clenched so hard his knuckles were white. Suddenly – so suddenly she nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact – Ranma's hand uncurled and grabbed for hers, grasping it tightly.

"We...we're too young to get married 'Kane, but...well, when it does happen...I-I w-wouldn't mind much if it was y-you who was st-standing b-beside me in front of our friends and f-family..." he trailed off and bit his lip, so studiously not looking at her that he might as well have been staring at her.

Akane let out a shuddering sigh as she absorbed Ranma's stuttered words and his clear sincerity, despite the tentative way he couched his statement. She had come up to the roof earlier in order to think of a way to gracefully release Ranma from an engagement he didn't seem to want much without losing his friendship. A friendship she had come to value incredibly over the last year and a half since Ranma had entered her life. Then he had to come join her and turn her entire worldview on its head – not that she should be surprised, he seemed to do that on a regular basis.

"Um...so h-how 'bout you?" Ranma prodded nervously. "W-what are you thinking?"

Akane felt a smile growing slowly on her lips as she shifted to rest her head on Ranma's shoulder, giggling softly when he jumped at the contact. "I think that I agree with you. We are too young to get married now. There's something you should probably know though Ranma. The Naniichuan water wasn't the real reason I agreed to the wedding." She watched out of the corner of her eye as Ranma's confused expression was slowly transformed by a gleeful smirk.

They sat together on the roof until Akane began to shiver slightly in the cold night air.

"C'mon Tomboy, let's go back inside. Tomorrow's another busy day, can't have you getting sick." Ranma crowed, squeezing her hand.

"Baka," she growled playfully, pulling her had away to raise it up to Ranma's face. Rather than slapping him – as he clearly expected – she grasped his chin and angled his face down so she could press her chilled lips to his warm cheek. She leapt to her feet, heading for the edge of the roof, looking back to find Ranma frozen where she'd left him, his hand pressed to his cheek. "Aren't you coming?"

He shook himself, blinking a few times before vaulting to his feet and gripping her under his arm to hop off the roof. Akane bit off a shriek as they landed lightly on the grass near the koi pond.

"Jerk!" she screeched, punching his arm as he released her. "Warn me next time." She began stomping back to the house, but looked over her shoulder to throw him a coy wink before slamming open the shoji doors to reveal their fathers and Nabiki. They tumbled to her feet after losing the support of the door they had been attempting to eavesdrop through. "Honestly," she huffed, storming past them toward the stairs. "Don't you people have anything better to do?"

"Hey, get back here," Ranma called after her. "We ain't finished you macho tomboy!"

"Oh, I think we are, you overgrown muscle," Akane shrieked back, stomping up the stairs hard enough that the pictures rattled on the wall.

The insults continued up the stairs until the sound of a door slamming cut off the argument.

Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome drooped visibly, commiserating over the fact that the schools may never be joined as they returned to their game of Go under the watchful eye of Nodoka Saotome, who was fiddling with the hilt of her katana and frowning thoughtfully at the irregular thumps coming from upstairs. Nabiki returned to her television program, shaking her head ruefully over another lost money-making opportunity. In the kitchen, Kasumi Tendo returned to the medical text she had borrowed from Dr. Tofu the day before, heartened by the amount of time her youngest sister and future brother-in-law had spent quietly together on the roof. Not to mention her relief at how their almost light hearted argument had been resolved without fists or mallets. She giggled at a particularly thud coming from her sister's room and wondered what Auntie Saotome was making of the noises. Hopefully, it was merely reinforcing her image of Ranma as a man amongst men.

Up in Akane's room, behind the closed door, the two teens were on Akane's bed, sniggering and egging the other on as they threw a rubber ball against the wall. Their smiles were larger than warranted by the simple game, and they sat close enough together that their thighs and shoulders were pressed together, impeding the game more often than not, as they avoided moving unless they had to hunt down a bad throw.

Later, as they grew bored of the game, they talked – not about anything as serious as their relationship or their future, but general topics – the same kind of things they usually talked about when they weren't arguing. They listened as, one by one, the rest of the family retired for the night – their fathers sobbing loudly in the hall until Nodoka shushed them and herded them off to bed.

The hours had slipped back into single digits when Ranma finally sighed. "I guess I better hit the sack soon. We got school tomorrow...not that I care, but I don't want you to get in trouble 'cause I kept you up." He fiddled nervously with the hand resting on his knee, blushing when he realized that it was Akane's hand.

Akane smiled and pressed another kiss to his cheek, causing Ranma to leap to his feet and head for the door. He pulled open the door too fast and bounced the edge off his forehead. "Ow!" he cried, stumbling backward as the door swung shut again.

"Oh! Are you okay?" Akane hurried to his side, to gently rub the rising bump on his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he gritted, enjoying the feel of her cool fingers on his heated skin.

"Jeez, and you call me a klutz Ranma."

"Well you are," he grumbled. Akane's eyes tightened and her teeth clenched, causing Ranma to backpedal quickly. "I mean...aw, 'Kane, you know I ain't any good at stuff like this." His relief was palpable as Akane smiled weakly at him. "Maybe...wanna grab some ice cream or something after school tomorrow?" He spoke so quickly, the words seemed to be tripping over themselves as he twiddled his thumbs awkwardly.

"That sounds nice Ranma...So, then, I guess I'll see you in the morning Baka."

"Night Tomboy," Ranma smiled, running a tentative finger down her cheek before kissing her forehead gently and slipping down the hall to his room.

Akane closed the door and dance across the room before collapsing on her bed to hug her pillow to her chest. Maybe it hadn't been such a bad day after all.

AN: Whoops! Almost forgot to disclaim...that'll teach me to post when I'm half asleep! So here it is, my first posted story...hopefully you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think - after all, reviews could very well be the stuff of immortality...you never know until you try!

Thanks for reading!