Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Across the Stars ❯ Enter Sora the Lecherous Lord ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer:  Not mine, gee where do you people get your ideas. ^_^

Summary: Akane Tendou has always wanted to be stronger than her rivals, she does not know the potential she actually has to be even better.  Another marriage arrangement comes back to bite Soun in the behind. He's got some explaining to do.

Across the Stars

Episode 5-

Enter Sora the Lecherous Lord

It had been a few weeks since Cologne had seen Shampoo, so she and Mousse went to see Ranma at the Tendous to see if he knew anything.  Cologne had almost enough of Mousse's whining about Shampoo, she was about to clobber him over the head with her staff but Kasumi brought out some crackers and tea for the guests interrupting them.

"So what brings you here?" Kasumi asked with a smile as she poured tea for the three of them.

"Shampoo, my sweet Shampoo where have you gone?" Mousse whined.

Cologne rolled her eyes. "I am looking for Shampoo, I was thinking perhaps Ranma knew where she would be."

"Oh I'm sorry to say but Ranma is not here." Kasumi said, then lifted the tea cup to her lips and taking a small sip. "Shampoo is with him though."

Mousse jumped up from his seat. "What!? He stole away my darling Shampoo? Saotome will pay for this." Mousse threatened clinching his fist tight in the air.  "Tell me, where have they gone?"

"Hmm," Kasumi looked like she was thinking. "Outer Space."

Mousse fell over, and then got up on his knees and crawled over to Cologne, grasping her hands in his.  "Please Kasumi, tell me the truth."

"Just who do you think you're talking to?" Cologne said to Mousse then hit him over the head with her staff.

"Ow!" Mousse yelled and held the top of his head.  "What'd ya hit me for?"

"Oh my," Kasumi said, then she smiled a little.  "I am telling you the truth, some men came from this planet called Jurai, saying that Akane was one of them, stating that she had an arranged marriage and they took her away.   Ranma then decided to follow after her to try and bring her back.  Shampoo, Ukyou, Ryouga and Kuno made up their minds to tag along with Ranma."

Mousse hung his head. "Is this the absolute truth?"

Kasumi sighed. "I am afraid so."

"When do you think they will be back?" Mousse looked up at Kasumi with hope shinning in his glass-covered eyes.

"I do not know, there is no way in telling that." Kasumi did not let any of her emotions show, she had to be strong for her family.  "You shouldn't worry, Shampoo will be fine."

Cologne cleared her throat. "So Ranma is chasing after Akane you say?"  The old woman took a drink of her tea and thought to herself.  'Shampoo, I'm sorry to say but you have not been chosen.'

"No, no, not my Shampoo." Mousse continued to chant and Kasumi actually giggled.  Mousse found this all hard to believe, but he never knew Kasumi to lie.  Perhaps she was telling the truth, about space, about Jurai or whatever the planet was called.  He would wait till Shampoo got back; he would wait forever for Shampoo if he had too.

****

"How much longer?" Kuno asked, as he stared blankly at the ceiling.

Ryoko rolled her eyes, but Ayeka answered.  "Not too much longer, just a few hours."

Ryo-Ohki was sleeping soundly atop Sasami's head, who quietly approached Ranma and tapped him on the shoulder.  He turned around and she smiled at him.

"I want you to meet someone, this is Ryo-Ohki." She pointed to the furry bunny like creature that was sleeping.  "This is what you heard that day, it was Ryo-Ohki."

Ranma blinked, looking at the sleeping thing.  "What is that thing anyway?  Why would a bunny make a noise like a c…cat?" He gulped.

"Because it is part cat and part rabbit.  Ryo-Ohki's species is called cabbit."  She then put her hand to her lips and giggled. "Ryo-Ohki even has a boyfriend named Ken-Ohki, and they are so cute."

"Well I guess since that creature isn't all cat, it probably won't scare me that much." Ranma let out a little breath and then noticed Sasami's eyes were narrowed in thought as she was looking at Ryouga across the ship.

"What is the deal with your friend?"

Ranma cleared his throat. "Friend?  Well he is not really my friend.  He hates me and tries to beat me at martial arts every chance he gets.  But I always win." Ranma said a little smugly.

"Why does he hate you?" Sasami asked.

"It's a long story, so I won't bore you with it."  Ranma then put his finger to his chin, "You should go talk to him to get the whole story."

Sasami humpfed and closed her eyes looking a little irritated, "I would, but he has been a bit rude to me since we've been in space, I try to be friendly towards the guy but he's just…ugh I don't even want to talk about it."

"I guess it's kind of hard for the guy to make friends, but you should never give up."

"Maybe if he decided to be nice to me, I would." Sasami threw her head back, tossing her hair in the air she spun around and started walking away from Ranma.  They would arrive on Jurai in a few hours so she decided to take a quick bath to freshen up.  She placed Ryo-Ohki on a cat bed and patted the top of her head before heading towards the bathroom.

Ryouga was exploring the ship once more, actually he was looking for the bathroom, had he seen that tree before?  Groaning he shook his head, even here he got lost.  How pathetic was that?  As he was passing the kitchen for the fourth time he heard Ryoko and Ayeka fighting in there.  He rolled his eyes wondering if those two ever stopped.  He turned and looked in and was hit in the face by a stream of cold water.  Both Ayeka who was now holding an empty glass and Ryoko had ducked down low so she wouldn't have gotten hit by the water Ayeka tried to throw in her face, blinked as clothing fluttered to the floor and they heard little squeals coming from the pile.  The clothing was wiggling and a little black piglet came from within the bundle.  He was wearing a yellow and black bandana around his neck and he was squealing.

Both Ayeka and Ryoko immediately broke into hysterical laughter, pointing at the little pig.  Ryouga just sat there on the floor and snorted at them.  Then feeling very depressed at being laughed at by two girls, he ran from the room, crying little piggy tears.  He just kept running and running he didn't realize that he ran through an open door until he smashed into something.  He shook his head and heard a giggling above him.  Oh no…he knew who that giggle belonged to.  That annoying girl, Sasami.  He looked up and found the young woman wrapped in a purple fluffy towel.  All of her long blue hair was up in some kind of green scarf thing.  He noticed that he had run into the back of her legs, which he noted were soft and almost silk like.  He shook his head, he should not be thinking about this ridiculous girl's legs.

"And where did you come from?" Sasami asked with a smile as she squatted down.

Ryouga gulped, he was quite sure she wasn't wearing anything underneath that towel of hers…it was proven when he was able to see under the towel, between her… he felt the urges of a nosebleed coming on so he closed his eyes tightly so he wouldn't see anything…inappropriate.

"You are the cutest little thing," She patted him on the head.  "What are you doing in here little cutie, and who do you belong to?"  Sasami picked the pig up. "Hmm I wonder if you're a male or a female."  She heard the pig squeal and try to get out of her hands, but her grip like before was like iron as she flipped the pig over and checked.  "You're male that's for sure."

Ryouga's cheeks flamed; this was one of the many humiliating days of his life.  One of them was the first time when Akane and Ranma-Chan checked to see if he was a male or a female.

"I was just about to take a bath." She cradled the little pig in her arms, pressing him up against the fluffy towel tied together at her bust, she used her foot to close the door of the large bathroom with a glorious tub, one you might see in Rome, large with marble statues decorated around it.  "Ryo-Ohki bathes with me all the time and she's sleeping right now, but you probably don't know who that is." She giggled.  "So now we can be bathing buddies."

The little pig started struggling all over again, much stronger than ever before.  And this time Sasami was confused so she lifted the little pig up and looked him in the eyes.  She smiled sweetly at him. "What's the matter little one, you don't like baths?"

Ryouga shook his head violently.

"Well don't worry, after this bath you'll love them completely." Sasami was grinning as she held the pig by his…scarf?  She recalled having seen that thing around the pig's neck before, but where?  As she was contemplating this, with her free hand she pulled on the knot of her towel and it came loose, the towel fluttering to the tile floor.  Ryouga's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he couldn't tear his gaze from her naked form.  Her full breasts her slim waist, narrow hips and long shapely legs.  He did not hear a word she had said as she continued to talk to him, it was when she pressed him against her breasts with a smile that he lost it and his nose gushed, and he practically passed out.

Seeing the blood Sasami panicked. "Oh no! Are you all right?" She lifted the pig up looking at him. "Little piggy?  Ooh I better get you into the water quick, the cold air has probably made you sick."  Sasami wasted no time and jumped right in the hot water of the bath holding the pig.  Her eyes were closed tight so she wouldn't get any of the hot water in them, she felt something odd, the little piggy was not a little piggy anymore.  As she was coming up for air quickly, she noticed that it wasn't a pig who was in the bath with her, it was a human, and it was…  She screamed as loud as possible.

Ryouga shook his hands in the air wildly at the sound of her ear-piercing scream.  He jolted forward, covering her mouth with his hand to stop her scream.  "No, no, no-"  He sounded panicky, but wanted to apologize and explain that this was all just a huge misunderstanding.  He would have continued on doing so but the bathroom door flew open and Ayeka and Ryoko came barreling in.

"Sasami? What's wrong?" Ayeka said and both she and Ryoko stopped short, seeing Ryouga and Sasami in the water, naked and her looking frightened with Ryouga's hand covering her mouth.  Ayeka and Ryoko were going to kill him, they made a very undignified noise and started for him.

Looking down at what the situation looked like, Ryouga gulped.  This definitely did not look good, not at all. "heh, heh, it's not what it looks like, really."  He immediately pulled his hand away from Sasami's mouth trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Just what do you think you're doing?!" Ryoko tried to grab him, but he ducked under the water and moved to the steps.  "Get back here!"

Resurfacing, Ryouga sputtered as some of the water got in his mouth.  "Let me explain!"

"Explain? What's there to explain you pervert!" Ayeka shouted.  "What were you doing in here with my sister?!"

"Ayeka, Ryoko, it's all right.  It's all a big misunderstanding."  Sasami said from the water, she was neck deep in it so that earth boy couldn't see anything he shouldn't.  Her cheeks were bright red as she tried not to think that he already did see everything she had to offer.  "I thought that it was just a cute little piggy.  I…I was surprised, that's all."  Ryoko and Ayeka eyed Ryouga suspiciously.

"It's true!" Ryouga said.  "It's my curse, one Ranma is responsible for since he knocked me into the cursed spring of a drowned pig."

"If I find out you're lying…" Ryoko threatened.

"I'm not!" The lost boy shouted.

Ryoko was glaring at him. "Get out of here and don't come back in here unless you want me to do something terrible to you."  She held her palm upwards and energy sparked in her hand.

Ryouga might get lost often, but he wasn't that stupid to try and fight this alien girl who could probably kill him by throwing some of her energy disks at him.  He stood up, completely forgetting that he too was still in the buff.  He heard three gasps and Ayeka covered her eyes, Ryoko's brows were arched.  He turned around and saw that Sasami's face was downcast but he could see just how red her cheeks were.  He felt a sudden draft and looked down, then shrieked and covered his privates with his hands ducking back down into the water, so that he like Sasami his head was only exposed to the air.  "M…my clothes, they are still in the kitchen."

"I'll get them." Ayeka murmured and hurried towards the door.

"And I'll stay here to make sure nothing happens." Ryoko narrowed her eyes in Ryouga's direction.

He felt the urge to kick something. "Hey, it was an accident, I swear it!"  Ryouga turned around looking at Sasami. "You believe me don't you? I don't peep on girls, I just don't do that kind of stuff."

"Uh yeah, sure…" Sasami looked away from him. "I believe you."  She just could not look him in the eye.  "Really I do."

It wasn't long before Ayeka returned with Ryouga's clothes, she threw them to him.  He heard swishing in the water behind him, he turned his head to find that Sasami had turned around.  He sighed and shook his head and exited the water.  Ayeka had her hand covering her eyes, but Ryoko just stood there with this foul expression on her face, like she was still ready to kill him.  Ryouga quickly got dressed and hurried from the room as fast as he could.  It was then that he saw Ranma hurrying towards him.

"I thought I heard a scream, what happened?" Ranma asked and he saw Ryouga's cheeks redden.

"None of your business Ranma!" Ryouga shouted at his arch-rival.

"Geeze you don't have to be so testy, come on Ryouga people don't scream for no reason."

Ryouga growled, "It doesn't matter all right, just drop it." And he pushed passed Ranma and continued on his way his cheeks increasing in that bright red color.  Ranma shrugged and decided to find out himself what happened.

"What fair damsel needs rescuing I heard a terrible scream.  I, Tatewake Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkin High will dispose of the foul cretin."

"He can no save own butt if try," Shampoo said to Ukyou.

"I heard that Shampoo of the Chinese Amazon tribe" Kuno said. "And I'll have you know I defeated Ranma once."

"That lie, Kuno no defeat Ranma alone, you had magic phoenix bird.  So that do no count." Shampoo was smug.

Kuno was tired of traveling with all these idiots, he saw Washu sitting there typing on something, but what was it?  So Kuno made his way over to the mad scientist. "Perhaps you will give me the information I require, do you know how much longer till we arrive?"

Washu looked up at Kuno. "Just be patient, all right. We'll get there when we get there." The pink haired woman went back to her invisible laptop.

****

Akane was reading the rules of Jurai royalty quietly in study hall when Tenchi ran past, he jogged backwards seeing her still sitting at the table.

"Akane? Come on take a break."

She looked up from the book, a small smile on her face.  "I guess I could use one."  Akane stood up and stretched getting the kinks out of her back.  "Why aren't you studying?"

Tenchi shook his head. "I'm as studious as the next guy, but even I know when to take a break.  Come on now."  He held his hand out to her and Akane moved towards him and took hold of his hand and he pulled her out of the room.  They hurried down the stairs to the first floor, and they saw people running around, men and women were rushing outside.

"I wonder what's going on?" Akane asked no one in particular.

Shrugging, Tenchi said: "I don't know, let's go find out."  He rushed with Akane out into the main gardens.  There was a group of seven women and seven men all talking in a huddle.  Tenchi and Akane walked over to them.

"Hey everyone." Tenchi said, and the group parted down the middle, and a man who looked no more than twenty years old stood there with an adoring smile upon his face.  He was tall and you could tell that underneath his clothing he was well muscled, his hair was short and a deep navy blue color, his eyes were the color of the ocean.  He had a smile that would melt women's hearts.  All in all he was a devastatingly good looking young man.

The young man stepped towards Tenchi and Akane, he smiled at Akane who merely narrowed her eyes slightly wondering what this guy was doing.

"You're new around here are you not?" He asked.

Akane nodded. "Well I've been here for about a month and a half, but I suppose I'm kind of new."

He grasped her left hand in his right, holding it palm up against his heart. "It is very nice to see a new pretty face around here."  He let a suave smile appear upon his face, "Allow my to introduce myself, I am Sora Kashii.  And you're name is?"

"Akane Tendou," She answered suspicious of this man even more.

"What a lovely name," Sora flattered.  "For a lovely young lady."  He heard the men around groan and the women sigh.

"He is so kind and thoughtful…" A random woman sighed.

"Oh I know what you mean, I wish my husband spoke to me like that." Another woman sighed.

"Lord Tenchi, I would watch out for this guy. Protect Lady Akane" A male voice said to Tenchi.

"What, why?" Tenchi asked looking at Sora with confusion. "Who is he?"

Sora stepped closer to Akane, looking her in the eye, he noticed that she took a step back and tried to pull her hand from within his, but he simply smiled not letting on he knew she was trying to pull away from him.  "I have an idea Akane, why don't we get to know each other, let's say over morning tea?" He winked.

Akane growled and her whole body started trembling with pent up frustration and anger and really without thinking, Akane pulled her fist back and then it thrust forward hitting Sora and he flew through the air.  "You pervert!" She yelled.

"I guess that's a noooo…" Was all that was heard from Sora as he landed somewhere in the north gardens.

She stomped on the ground.  "How dare that man say something like that to me! How dare he!!" Akane continued to rant about stupid jerky perverts.

Tenchi was trying to hold in his laughter as he turned to the man he was talking to. "Oh I don't think she needs protecting, I'm pretty sure she can handle herself."

The man blinked as he just witnessed Lady Akane with such a powerful hit, he had heard that she was having a hard time with the sword, but this fighting by hand seemed to be one of her strong points at least that's what it looked like from his point of view.

Still angry Akane turned and stomped back inside the palace, she went right to Study Hall and picked up a book about Juraian history, she held it tightly in her hand as she walked towards the east exit, stepping out into yet another one of the palace's beautiful gardens, lush green trees and bushes surrounded her, the brightly colored flowers scented the air.  There was a fountain ahead of her, the water flowing up out of the rosebud shaped marble down into three sections which were in the shape of large leaves.  She sat down on the rim and took a deep breath to settle her nerves, opening the book to the chapter she left off on Akane began to read.

She always loved being outside, the warm sunshine, the sounds of the water of the fountain was truly soothing and she fell into heavy concentration on her book.

Ayeka was leading the group into the royal palace of Jurai, both Ukyou and Shampoo whistled at the same time with how everything looked, the marble columns, the very tall arched ceilings, the soothing colors of blue and green, the tile floors.  They were truly impressed, nothing could compare to this.

Shampoo thought that with any luck Akane liked it here and would not want to come back to Earth.  She didn't realize that Ukyou was having the same thoughts.  Shampoo rushed up to Ranma who too was in awe over the massive palace.  "Ranma, what if Akane no want leave? What will you do?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know yet, I don't even know if I could get her to come back.  But I am going to try."

She kept in her sour face and pretended to be all happy and cheerful, but inside she was trying to come up with a plan to make sure Akane would never come back to Earth.  If she stayed here and married another man, then Ranma would be free for Shampoo.  That thought alone made Shampoo happy and she would do whatever it takes to make sure he was hers.

As fortune would have it as Ayeka was leading everyone through the main floor, Lord Jin was passing by.  He stopped and turned seeing Princesses Ayeka and Sasami.  He approached them and bowed.  Coldness and intimidation seemed to radiate off him in waves,  "Princess Ayeka, you have returned and with a few more guests than we were expecting."  He was looking at all of the Earthlings, waiting for Ayeka to explain.

Ayeka nodded. "Lord Jin, may I present Lady Akane's friends from Earth."

Jin's eye twitched, oh great! He did not need these people disrupting his plans.  Not for his daughter and Lord Tenchi.  Not at all.  "Princess Ayeka, we here were not informed of your decision to bring Earthlings here to Jurai, please explain yourself."

The elder princess stood straight, she was not going to let Lord Jin intimidate her.  "I did not think it was necessary, since these are Lady Akane's friends, they wanted to see her wedding.  Surely you can understand that."

He smiled, but it was a false one.  "Of course, just see to it that they do not cause any trouble."  Jin bowed and then turned, his white cape swooshing in the air and he continued on the way.

"Is it just me or did the room get colder all of a sudden?" Ryouga shivered.

Ayeka let out the breath she was holding. "That is Lord Jin, Akane's father."

Ranma was watching Jin's retreating back and he too felt a tingle of something unpleasant run down his spine. "That is Akane's father?"

"It appears so Ranma Saotome." Kuno said. "But no matter, I will not let him intimidate one such as I."

"Come on, let's get you settled in." Sasami said.

"What I want to know…" Ryoko said. "…is where Tenchi is?"  She looked around scanning the palace; she started hovering and floated upwards.  "I think I'll find him."

Ayeka rolled her eyes. "Ryoko get down here, we can not bring attention to ourselves, if anyone were to find out what we are up to, it could be devastating."

Ryoko groaned and settled back down on the floor. "Well Tenchi, it looks like our love will have to wait."  She said over dramatically.

"Oooh, your love?! I think not." Ayeka barked at Ryoko.

Sasami took a deep breath. "Come on you two, we need to get everyone rooms to stay in, who knows how long they are going to be here."

Ayeka closed her eyes and tossed her head. "Sasami is right, I will inform the council of my return and then we'll see where you all will be staying.  For now just stay put, and don't wander off you could get lost."

"Story of my life," Ryouga mumbled as he watched Ayeka leave.  He took a quick glance at Sasami, and saw her cheeks flame as she had caught him looking at her.

"I…think I better go with my sister."  Sasami spun around and hurried off in the direction Ayeka fled.

Ranma did not miss that quiet, small exchange. "And what was that about?"

This time Ryouga's cheeks flamed. "Nothing Ranma, I don't want to talk about it."

"Aww come on, tell your ole buddy." Ranma teased and nudged Ryouga in the side with his elbow.

Looking at him out of the corner of his eye, Ryouga said. "You are not my buddy, and stop nudging me."

Ryoko suddenly looked forward as Tenchi came through the two double doors talking with a young man.

"It's probably not wise to hit on her." Tenchi said to Sora who was rubbing the back of his head which was now sore.

"I had no idea that she would have reacted like that."

Tenchi rolled his eyes. "And how did you think she would react?"

Sora shrugged. "Not sure, accepted?"  He saw Tenchi's eyes narrow and Sora cleared his throat. "Perhaps not."

"Tenchi!!" It was Ryoko's voice and he spun around just in time as he was glomped by the cyan haired woman.  His arms immediately went around her waist.

"Ryoko?" Tenchi was shocked, he knew they were coming to Jurai, but for her to actually be here, that meant the others were here as well.

She was holding him tightly. "Tenchi," She purred. "I missed you."

"Now Ryoko, stop it." He tried to push her off him, but she seemed to hold on even tighter, there was no way he was going to let her behave this way in public.  "Ryoko control yourself!"

Sora chuckled next to Tenchi. "Now that's a nice way to say hello."  His attention was then drawn to the beautiful women in that group, he sauntered over to them.  "Good afternoon ladies."  Shampoo and Ukyou looked at each other and then back at Sora. Where as Kiyone, Mihoshi and Washu looked relatively bored.  Before Sora could attempt his usual flirting, someone was talking to him.

"Who were you two talking about just now?" Ryouga asked, having a suspicion of who they were referring to.

With a shrug, Sora replied:  "Some woman who is a bit new around here.  I used my normal flattery and she belted me high in the air.  All I wanted was a little compassion, a friendly ear…

"No, what you wanted Sora was to get into her pants." Tenchi said interrupting him, he could not really see who had accompanied Ryoko since his vision was blocked by Ryoko's hair.

"What can I say, women are drawn to me." Sora sighed. "It's true, I have a gift.  Just give me a few days I'll wear her down."  He did not really know the impact of what he was saying.  As he had no idea that the pigtailed boy standing next to Ryouga had his fists clinched tightly at his sides, feeling his anger spark at hearing how this guy had hit on Akane.

"Yeah sure, that's why she hit you.  Oh she is so drawn to you." Tenchi was sarcastic and felt like rolling his eyes.  Ryoko finally let go of him and she stepped back, its then that Tenchi saw just who was with Ryoko.

Ranma trying to control his temper as much as possible, slowly headed for Tenchi.  He stood right in front of him. "Where's Akane?" He asked his teeth clinched.  He saw Tenchi smile a little, which only infuriated Ranma more.  "Well?!"

"Shh, calm down." Tenchi shook his head, "Akane is just fine."

"I want to see her, where is she?"

Tenchi signaled for Ranma to follow him. "There is no need to get angry."

"Are you kidding, after I hear that idiot over there attempting those…things with Akane, how can I not be angry?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Tenchi sighed. "She handled it just fine, gave him a one way ticket on Akane air as I like to call it."  He saw the boy settle a little.  "She is quiet impressive if you ask me."

"Eh, I guess so." Ranma continued to follow Tenchi as he brought him to the same double doors he saw him come out of.

Pulling the doors open, Tenchi led Ranma out onto a very large balcony.  Ranma looked around, but she wasn't here.  He didn't say a word as Tenchi brought him over to the thick railing, which had leaves engraved in the marble and pointed downward into the garden. 

"There she is." Tenchi said then looking back at Ranma.

Ranma's breath caught, it was Akane.   He lost the will to think for a moment, even from the balcony he could see Akane sitting quietly reading.  There was something gold that was clasped around the back of her head, resting against her dark blue black hair and it sparkled in the sunlight.   She was dressed in a purple and gold tunic type garment over what looked like a long sleeve silk garment.  He couldn't see much since she had her back to him; she looked very engrossed in whatever it was that she was reading.  He decided right then that he would see her more closely, "I'm going to talk to her."

"Okay, to get down there…" Tenchi turned to point the way to get down but Ranma jumped up onto the railing and then jumped down to the garden floor.  "Well never mind then." Tenchi said to thin air, before turning around and heading back inside the palace. 

Taking a deep breath Ranma quietly started walking towards Akane, Ryouga's voice suddenly slammed into his thoughts. 'what if she doesn't want to see you?'  He cursed Ryouga silently, how dare these doubts surface now.  But it was true, what if she didn't want to see him?  He stopped and stared, she was a little bit ahead of him.  Just a few more steps and he would be close enough to speak to her without drawing attention to himself.  But what would he say? How would he say what he came to say?  Ranma closed his eyes and fought down the doubts, then as he opened them, he quietly said: "Akane?"

Suddenly jerked out of her concentration, Akane could have sworn she heard Ranma's voice.  She rolled her eyes; her mind was playing tricks on her again.  She was not going to fall for it this time, perhaps she had gotten too much sun. Deciding she was going to go inside Akane stood and straightened out her tunic which seemed to only reach above her knee and slightly covered over the white cotton pants she was also wearing underneath.  "Get out of my head." She said quietly out loud to herself.

"A…Akane?"  He said a bit louder this time thinking that she was going to ignore him.

Her eyes went wide, there it was again coming from behind her.  Ranma's voice.  Akane felt that she was going insane, she just knew it couldn't be him.  So in order to prove her insane mind wrong, she slowly turned…

=======

Well that's it for episode 5. heehee what a horrible place to leave you guys off on huh?  I hope you all enjoyed this episode and stay tuned for the next installment.

Ryoko Blue