Debt, love… Fight!

In love and war.

One of the best investments you can make is a good couch, because you never know when you’ll spend a whole night trying to get some sleep on it.

Ryu wanted a cheap one but I insisted on a wide and comfy one, even if it cost more. Who’s laughing now? Not me, because there will be no back pain and I take that as a personal win.

I try to fluff up a cushion, dawn’s already breaking, and I’ve slept three hours tops. I feel…restless.

It’s a simple way to name a more complicated problem. To put it plainly, that personal problem is sleeping in my bed and I can’t get it out of my head.

I go through everything I’ve learned about meditation and try to leave my mind blank and my body at peace. I really really try, but the sensation of sweet euphoria is overflowing and overwhelming.

Fuck. She’s sleeping in my bed. 

I take my hands to my face trying not to scream out loud like a crazy emotionally stunted teenage boy when I remember how she held my hands, how she leaned on me while I felt my heart beat out of my chest. 

It’s unexplainable, almost a miracle, I think she might like me!

That thought makes me feverish, makes me imagine that she’ll come find me on the couch and ask me to kneel besides her because she needs me and…obviously that’s not gonna happen because the last time I tiptoed to the door -about thirty minutes ago- I only heard her soft, slow breathing, peacefully asleep. She did say she was exhausted: She fought, she won, and even went out for a drink.

Too many emotions for one day, and for me too. I had several heart attacks! First one when I saw her fight, when her opponent grabbed her by the hair and I thought she couldn’t get away.

The second one when my fucking brother gave her that dress and then when I helped her unbraid her hair. The image of her bare back, her ass and her bare legs in the dim light will haunt me for as long as I live. 

The third one when she told me that that guy had kissed her. 

I should have taken care of it long before and saved myself a few headaches, but I was trying to be civilized. When the restaurant opens we’ll have more than words, for sure. My jaw is getting tight. 

My fourth heart attack came when she asked me to take her to bed. 

I did, walked her to my room, left her a t-shirt to wear as pajamas and when she was closing the door she gave me a beautiful shining smile. I had to bite my fist and headbutt the hallway walls. 

After I took a long, cold shower, then threw myself into the couch. Getting no sleep at all. 

Maybe she wanted me to come in? No, she would have said something, right? I’m not being stupid, but I have to hold on to that thought so I won’t lose my mind. I toss and turn for another hour before my nerves get the better of me and start making breakfast, that should keep me busy. 

I turn on the rice cooker, and start making a miso soup with seaweed and tofu. I also get some pickled vegetables from the fridge, eggs and some salmon that I start broiling in the oven. 

An hour later, the food’s all ready and the table is perfectly set, something I never have time to make for myself. Glancing at the clock it’s eight already, should I wake her up or let her sleep a little more? The nerves are eating me from the inside. I don’t know anything about these things, if Ryu was here he’d know what to say, I would happily take his shitty advice this time. 

And speak of the devil…I can hear the front door quietly opening and my brother stumble as he takes off his sneakers. He walks quietly through the living room, until he sees me at the kitchen island, shirtless and with a perfect breakfast for two laid out on the table. 

A lascivious smile immediately forms on his face, and he throws himself at me howling before I get a chance to explain myself.

«That’s my little brother!» he exclaims, grabbing my neck under his arm and rubbing his fist against my head in a gesture I guess he finds affectionate. «She couldn’t keep resisting the Saotome’s charm forever!”

“Ryu, stop!”

“How was it? Was it good? Get any sleep? Akane seems like a very passionate person, you must be drained.”

“Stop it!”, I say as I get out of his hold, my cheeks burning up. But my brother won’t stop smiling, and won’t stop teasing the shit out of me. 

“Tell me you got the condoms from my nightstand, I would love to be an uncle, but not quite so soon!”

I growl while taking my hands to my face, huffing. Why did I summon this asshole to give me advice?

“Nothing happened”, I say through gritted teeth. 

Ryu frowns as if I were explaining to him that the earth is cube-shaped. “What?”

“I’m saying nothing happened”, repeating myself slowly, and my brother looks at me. Then at the table. Then points to the door. 

“Her shoes are in the entryway.”

“I know”

“And you’ve made her breakfast.”

“Yes.”

“Ranma Saotome”, he says in a very deep voice, placing his hands on the table. His hair is all messed up and he smells of lady’s perfume; evidently his night went very well. “Are you telling me Akane is in your bed…and you are not?!”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying”, I interrupt him, his jaw drops, “and I don’t want to hear anything else about it”. It’s a threat, but Ryu can’t let things go. 

“I worked so hard so you could have a romantic night you know!”

That pisses me off, I get up in his face, feeling the blood boiling, wanting a fight, or maybe it’s all my pent-up sexual frustration, but I am itching to beat someone up. 

“She was drunk and exhausted, and I’m not even sure she wants something with me”, dropping my voice because I’m worried we might wake her up. Ryu scoffs, disbelieving. 

“I saw you hugging through the windows, the whole izakaya saw you!!”

“That doesn’t mean anything!”

“How can you be so stupid?? Are we really brothers?!”

“Are we?” I shoot back in the heat of the moment, and Ryu steps back, hurt. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that”. 

His shoulders slump down, I stepped too far. A heavy silence grows between us, until Ryu stops it with a small voice. 

“You should have told her.”

“Told her what” I murmur as a feeling of guilt washes over me. 

“That you are in love with her”. 

My stomach flips over, and the feeling of wanting to punch him into silence overcomes me again. I nervously glance at the half-open door down the hallway. 

“Shut up!”  I plead, “it’s not that easy.”

“Why not?”

“Because she has too many problems to deal with,  I don’t want her to have another one”

“I don’t get how that’s a problem”, he says while crossing his arms and raising a brow, skeptical. I can’t believe I have to teach him such basic concepts. 

“It’s a problem if she doesn’t feel the same way! She can say she never wants to see me again, she might want to stop training with me! She could get in danger”, my arms are waving all over the place while making my argument, but my brother just rolls his eyes in boredom. 

“Just say the truth, you don’t have the balls”

“Ryu, be for real right now.”

“You wanna fight?”

“Of course I do.”

We both get into a defense position and stalk each other around the space between the kitchen island and the living room, and that’s when my bedroom door opens and an apparition walks my way. 

Akane’s hair is messy, and all she’s wearing is my t-shirt. Her bare feet and bare legs take my breath away. Ryu also seems to have lost all interest in kicking my face in. 

She yawns and stretches her arms, and the t-shirt rides up, just at the edge of where her underwear starts. 

“Good morning”, she says, yawning again and rubbing her eyes. “Are you guys fighting?”

“Morning training”, my brother quickly states, putting his arm around my neck and smiling, burying the hatchet. Akane nods, sleepily. 

“Could I get a glass of water?”, she asks while clearing her throat. 

“Of course, help yourself”, Ryu answers pointing to a kitchen cabinet. Akane turns, opening the upper cabinet and raising her arm, tiptoeing to be able to reach, making her t-shirt ride up again, all the way to her hips. 

I find myself suddenly tilting my head, trying to achieve a very specific angle of vision, and my brother does the exact same thing, with exactly the same intention.

“What are you looking at?!”, I hiss at him.

“She’s only wearing a t-shirt and I’m not made of stone”.

“Shut your damn eyes right now!”

“Ranma, I want you to know, if anything happens to you, Akane will be taken care off. You can be at peace”

“How is that supposed to bring me peace??”, I reply while slapping the back of his head. 

Akane finally gets a glass, and fills it up. She sighs after drinking, and stares while we are grabbing at each other. Then she looks at the breakfast spread and her stomach growls, she clears her throat with burning cheeks. 

I take a step forward and everything immediately feels weird, full of tension that wasn’t there before. 

“I thought you might be hungry”, inviting her to sit down. She watches me and blushes even harder, biting her lower lip and playing with the hem of the t-shirt. 

It’s taking everything I have not to blurt out that I love how it looks on her, that she can wear my whole closet. That I would die happy if she groggily came out of my bedroom every morning. 

“You always do too much”, she says, but then flashes me a small smile. Ryu huffs from somewhere behind me, and goes to his room, I hear the door lock. I guess he can tell when three’s a crowd.

Akane sits down, but I stay up, watching her eat, feeling victorious.

“I wanted to thank you for last night”, she says, and I feel pressure rising in my chest, in my muscles. “I think I said a lot of stupid stuff.”

“Some”, I agree while grabbing a rice bowl, but never leaving my eyes off of her”, but not too much”. 

She clears her throat again, and watches me from the corner of her eye before eating a piece of salmon, only then do I realize I’m shirtless. She seems to be very aware. 

“I have to get to work, but maybe we can train after?”

And that reminds me, I shake my head and finish my rice bowl in two bites, swallow my soup and stare at her seriously. 

“You need to rest, you should stay the whole day in bed.”

“But I have to-

“I’ll cover your shift”, I say with a reassuring smile. “You rest, take a bath, regain your strength.”

The offer seems to take her by surprise. She refuses but I insist. She doesn’t know it but I have something personal to do at that restaurant, and I would prefer it if she wasn’t there. She keeps refusing, and doesn’t let up even through the other side of the door while I’m getting dressed, still refusing while following me down the hall and to the entryway. 

“Don’t make me carry you again, go back to bed”, I order. And she, with her sexy legs and flushing cheeks, finally agrees. I smile, but every bit of niceness goes away when I lock the door, and crack my knuckles. 

.

..

…

Mrs. O doesn’t look too surprised to see me. When I tell her I’ll be covering Akane’s shift today she only nods and keeps stirring her many soups. I don’t have the faintest idea how they run this place but I’ll do my best anyway. I place the tables and chairs, or at least try to. I open the door, set up the sign, get an apron and a pad, ready to take orders. I wait.

The first customers to come in stare at me, and immediately walk out. I can’t say I’m not slightly relieved. I look at the clock to confirm that the asshole is indeed not on time. The next people to come in do sit down, although they are clearly staring at me, full of doubt. I guess this place and its regulars are so used to Akane that her absence feels like getting doused in freezing cold water. 

I completely get it. 

I start taking orders back to Mrs. O. I serve them without messing up too much, and I try to be efficient. After an hour on the clock, and more than five tables served, he appears. 

We stare at each other, his eyes falling out their sockets, and I just have a grin on my face. 

“Hi there, walking piece of shit”, I whisper when he walks past me. 

Shinnosuke stops, and shoots daggers at me, then goes to the back room to change. He comes out feigning nonchalance, that I know he doesn’t really feel. He gets to work, paying me no attention, taking the dishes and placing them in the sink. I entertain myself for a while with the cash register, trying to charge some customers. When a line starts to form, he pushes me to the dining area. 

“Move, dick”, he says while punching a series of numbers and codes that I memorize immediately. 

The dining area fills up, at the end of the day it is a Saturday, so we work side by side, in a tense calm, filled with murderous glares. 

“Where is she?”, he asks at some point late in the afternoon, right after I took my break.

“She was worn out, so I left her sleeping in my bed”, I state with the biggest grin on my face, his face getting paler with each word.

“Yeah right…”, he murmurs, incredulously, shaking his head and getting back to work.

He might not fully believe me, but he definitely believes me a little bit. What he doesn’t know is that I’m not here to torture him mentally, my thing has always been more…physical. 

Night falls and I’m exhausted, my feelings of admiration for Akane grew tenfold. That she has achieved so much with her limited time and resources is more than admirable, it is amazing. 

Right before closing a fancy guy shows up at the door, and he scans the place, as if deeming it too tacky and dirty for his immaculate presence. His shoes are shiny, the suit is clearly tailor-made, and he is wrinkling his nose like he found the air insulting. He stands by, waiting, and I have no other choice than to go and greet him, although I hope my mere presence keeps him from eating here.

“Table for one?”, I ask while wringing a rag with my hands. 

“I’m here to talk to Akane”, he says, and I get immediate goosebumps on my skin. Something inside me twists in alarm. The way he says her name, spoken in such a careless manner, it’s his dark aura that reeks of expensive cologne and power. It’s the way he doesn’t ask, he demands. 

I understand immediately. This man is her executioner, the one that keeps her trapped with an unpayable loan, a no win situation that she thinks she can pay off with fighting bets and a waitress wage. 

“She’s not working today”, trying to sound annoyed and discouraging any more conversation, “would you like to leave a message?”

He sighs, like he really wanted to talk to her and is now facing a massive annoyance. 

“I shall be back at a later time”, he says while stepping out of the restaurant, not even bothering to close the door behind him. 

I’ll be waiting. 

.

..

…

When all the customers have left, and Mrs. O has stored all her utensils, I’m left alone with the douchebag. 

I’m still wiping down the tables when he turns around to face me. 

“Tell me the truth, what did you do with Akane?”. He sounds upset, and I know he has been thinking nonstop about what I said. I can’t help but smile, quite pleased with myself, even though it wasn’t exactly the truth. 

“She had some marks on her shoulders, and I thought I should make some things clear to you”, my body straightens up, just like it always does before a fight. 

“What marks? Any  bruises she has are from you!”

Now that really pisses me off. I grab him by the collar and pull him towards me, staring him down, seeing the fear grow in him, my pupils almost like daggers. 

“I would cut my own hands before hurting her, and if you ever lay one fucking finger on her you are going to regret it the rest of your life”+

He tries to get off, barely manages to and only because I let him. His collar is ripped, and he’s staring sharply at me, full of rage and anger.

“Did she tell you she threw herself at me like some hussy? She’s not exactly my type, but she is my friend so…”

“I don’t think I’ve made myself clear”, I growl, and this time I grab his neck, I don’t want to listen to his whining or his bullshit, this motherfucker thinks he can manipulate me like he does everybody, but he’s about to learn how fucking wrong he his. 

I let go and apply a simple hold, grabbing one of his hands and twisting it behind his back while I smash his head onto a table, and then I drop my full weight on him. 

“You are going to quit this job, you are going to leave and you are never going to speak to her again, is it clear to you now?” The coldness coming out of my voice is creating a weight inside of me, one of guilt. These are extortion methods I’ve witnessed many times, I just thought I was a better man than my father was. I grunt while he wriggles under me, he’s clearly dumb as a rock, so I’ll have to make him understand. I take one of his fingers from his right hand and twist it at an impossible angle until I hear him scream. “I’m gonna ask you one more time, is it clear now, bitch?”

“I’m going to report you!!”

I twist another finger, and I think he needed that one to pick up a pencil. He screams while I push his head harder against the table. 

“If you do, I’ll find you, and I will break more than just a few fingers.”

For a few seconds, the only noise in the restaurant is his labored breathing, until he finally stops struggling.

“Fine, whatever! Just let go of me already”, he says whimpering by the end. I release him slowly because I don’t want him, or me, to do anything stupid. At least nothing stupider than this.

He takes a hand to his chest and watches me before scurrying out without looking back. I hope he doesn’t go to the cops, I really do. I shake my shoulders and get back to clean up. For some reason I don’t understand, this feels embarrassing. That dumb fuck didn’t try to fight back. 

It’s not like he didn’t deserve it, just thinking of Akane’s milky white skin bruised that way makes me furious again. I should have broken a finger from the other hand, so he couldn’t even wipe his own ass. 

When I’m finishing up, the door swings open again, and in walks through my joy, yet also, my doom. Her skin is glowing, rest does the body good, and she’s still wearing some of the clothes Ryu gave her. She could still be wearing my t-shirt, I wouldn’t mind. 

She’s looking all around, amazed. 

“You cleaned up by yourself? Didn’t Shinnosuke help?

At the sound of that name I grunt and grit my teeth, and I think Akane notices because she flinches. 

“He had an emergency, who knows, maybe he won’t even come back”

“you didn’t do anything to him, right?, she asks with tension in her voice. I don’t want to lie, so I pick up two chairs and keep picking up. Right??”, she asks again in an urgent tone, and it pisses me off that she thinks that i’m gonna put up with his bullshit. I stare back. She gulps, and puts her hand to her face. “Oh Ranma…”, she says my name in a sad way. 

“He deserved it”

“But you are stronger!”

“Thats why, he should have realized there are people he can’t fuck around with. He’s never going to mistreat you again. Honestly, I hope he never comes back. 

She slowly releases the air in her lungs, like she’s deflating. She then shakes her head, while I take my apron off, clean up is done. I don’t actually know where they keep the key to this place. For a business owner, Mrs. O is far too laid back. 

“You are always doing unnecessary things.”

“Unnecessary??” The fight with Shinnosuke left me out of sorts, nerves on edge, so for her to throw that in my face pushes me to the limit of holding it together. 

“You don’t have to worry about me, I can take care of myself. I can eat, train and deal with my problems on my own. I did it before I met you and I can keep doing it without you”

Her words feel like she’s just placed a fence of thorns all over her skin to keep me from touching her; they feel like a knife straight to the heart.

I thought she would be thankful, that she’d be more open to things after a good night’s rest and me taking out the trash, but Akane is staring at me with a furrowed brow, and for some reason I don’t understand, looking like she’s about to cry. 

“Please”, she begs with sunken shoulders, “please don’t get into more trouble because of me.”

I walk slowly to her, and Akane lowers her gaze, like she regrets the words that just left her lips. I want to hold her, I need for her to lean on my chest again, so I can feel her breathing, but she’s standing tense by the door. All I can do is lean down and whisper a truth that has been struggling like hell to get out of me, with all its might. 

“Maybe that will be the one thing I do with my life that will be worthwhile”. She raises her head, her cheeks slightly flushing, and when she looks at me, I feel my pulse in my throat, neediness gnawing at me. 

“There’s a cop already unto you”, she says worried. Her bringing up Hibiki, that dumbass, rattles my nerves.

“That has nothing to do with you”, I grunt in response. 

“But…!”

“And if I want to worry about you, that’s also not your problem, it’s mine”. It feels like there’s lava in my stomach, an overwhelming hunger. Thoughts race through my head, leaving sense behind. She’s cornered against one of the tables, and I’m breathing erratically against her cheek.

Panting, I step aside. She’s panting too, with her eyes half-closed. I can barely stand the look in her eyes, filled with questions. 

“I’m going home” I state. 

“Fine”, she says behind my back, her voice choked up. I grab my hoodie and leave the restaurant, grateful for the fresh air. I immediately regret leaving her there, all alone. I don’t want her to walk back to her place by herself. So I go sit on a nearby rooftop, feeling like a complete idiot, and wait. 

It takes her a lot longer than I thought to get out, and when she does, her steps are small and erratic. Her shoulders are down, and her head is hanging. It hurts to see her like that, when she’s all smiles and energy, a vibrant tornado that riles me up. 

It’s my fault for breaking that dickwad’s hand, and for speaking to her harshly in order to avoid telling her the truth: that I’m fucking obsessed with her. That she’s the best thing in my life, that my world is better because she is in it. That she’s making me want to become a better man. 

I keep an eye on her from a distance, jumping between rooftops, scaling walls and pathetically hiding behind trash cans. 

Until a huge, black, very expensive car pulls up beside her. And from it, the guy from earlier appears. The one that reeked of fancy cologne wearing a custom-made suit. 

Every hair in my body rises in tension, a rush of adrenaline courses through me when Akane stops and stares at him. All the heaviness leaves her body, she’s standing proud, and her bad temper rears its head when she tells him to fuck off. 

That brings a smile to my face. 

I sneak up close to hear their conversation. 

“…understand that I do not wish to keep losing money, the property loses value with each passing year, and I must keep paying taxes on it”, the guy says snobbily, with his whole body leaning above her like he’s a wave that is threatening to swallow her whole. Akane crosses her arms and looks at him like she can’t wait to rip him apart. 

“That’s not what we agreed on Kuno”, she spits out, wrinkling her lips, “you can’t break your promise.”

“I am not breaking anything.”

“I’ll give you an advance. Ten million in cash, tomorrow, what do you say?”

Kuno-whats-his-face sighs and shakes his head. 

“You could end this at any time, and you know it.” He gets even closer, taking a loose strand of her hair and slowly twisting it between his fingers. 

Akane steps back, and he lets her go, yearning but restrained. 

I light up like a flame when I understand exactly what he is asking of her, and in exchange of what. 

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Although you should hurry, we have several interested buyers lined up”, he sighs while shrugging his shoulders. “Also, Kodachi sends her regards.”

He gets into his car and drives off, leaving Akane shaking like a leaf. I try to calm myself, opening and closing my fists trying to relieve the tension that is coursing through my body. 

I only broke two fingers of that son of a bitch back at the restaurant. I’ll have to break this asshole’s legs. Clean off. 

Akane is standing too still, unusually static. 

I’m torn between revealing myself or staying on the lookout, and before I know it, she’s started walking. I follow her until she goes into the guesthouse, where the sad divorced men seem to be having another of their drunken ragers. I stay on the street a while longer, watching her window, until she turns off the light.

.

..

…

I’m waiting for her in the hallway of the guesthouse, slightly embarrassed by my behaviour last night, although I don’t really regret anything. I’m trying not to be too bothered by these thoughts.

It’s Sunday and she should be training, I should be training, to clear away everything running through my head. 

Also, I think we should talk. Maybe if I take her out for a bite to eat she’ll loosen up, like usual. I move my feet impatiently, and pull the phone out of my pocket. 

I’m waiting to hear the notification sound on the other side of the door, but a long time goes by and no noises come out. I unashamedly press my ear against the door; it’s far too quiet in there. I clear my throat and work up the courage to knock a couple of times on the doorframe. 

“Akane?”, I ask aloud, but no answer. 

I look at the time just to be sure, but it’s not even seven in the morning yet. 

I open the door just a tad, holding in the weird feeling that’s eating me up from the inside. I peek inside and find a small, yet tidy, bedroom. Pretty bare, just a few things, and empty. 

I close the door trying to understand why she left so early and without me. I start running through our usual route, hoping to find her and failing again.

My steps take me panting and upset to the door of our secret gym. Which is open. I raise my brow, I could have sworn Ryu wasn’t coming today, especially so early. I enter, a little hesitant, and cautiously walk over to a person I don’t recognize working out inside. 

She’s beating the hell out of the punching bag, her back is to me, and her short hair is dripping sweat whenever it shakes. 

“I’m sorry but…”

She turns around and I’m speechless. 

Akane’s face is framed by short and dark strands of hair. Her face is pure determination, stony and brutal. She’s covered in sweat, and she looks up at me, raising her chin, proud. 

She doesn’t wait for my reply, and goes back to beating the punching bag. 

I swallow hard. I cautiously approach and grab her punching bag. She jumps a couple of times in place, and starts throwing high kicks. I’m trying to get her to look at me, but she’s only interested in hitting the bag relentlessly.

“When?”

“One of my neighbors was a barber.”

“You got your hair cut by a drunk guy in the middle of the night?!”, I’m flabbergasted. “Did you even sleep last night?”

Akane doesn’t answer, but she stops punching and takes a breath, exhausted. 

«It looks good on you,» I whispered conciliatorily. She moves away from the punching bag and heads to the muk yan cho to practice her wing chun routine. She diligently begins the training exercise and is pretty damn fast. She’s good, improving at a devilish rate, and with the right training, she could be the best. Her problem is she has no patience. 

“Whatever, I only care that it doesn’t get in my way”, she answers between laboured breaths, completely ignoring my compliment. 

I understand her anxiety, the determination that drags her towards her impossible goal. I wouldn’t have noticed her if it wasn’t for that raging fire, that wild spirit within her. But even so…

“It’s not like you are going to fight anytime soon, you can take it easy.” She doesn’t stop, relentless in her work out, I’m even worried she’s going to hurt the muk yan cho hitting it as hard as she is. I extend my arm and hold her fist, there’s pure fire in her eyes. 

“I’m going to challenge Shampoo this Friday”, she growls through gritted teeth, and my pulse quickens as my pupils bulge out. 

“No. No, you are not.”

“Try and stop me”, she says, taking a step back and raising her chin at me again. Possessed by an unbreakable will. 

My heart jumps out of its chest, and a terrifying feeling runs through me. This can’t happen, she’s so thickheaded she doesn’t get it, she can’t win.

“You are not going to fight her! This is an order from your sensei!!”

“I need to fight her!!”, she answers while going to the mat, and I follow her, my long stride catching up with her, feeling the unease creeping into my gut. 

“Even if a fucking miracle happened and you managed to beat her, you still wouldn’t get the money!! It’s impossible!!!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Akane, fucking listen to me!” I turn her towards me, and she looks at me for a second before throwing a punch at me, she’s out of her mind, like an animal trapped far too long in her cage. I dodge and she keeps attacking me, fury envelops each of her lightning-fast blows, every gesture she makes. She wants to prove something, but so do I.

It’s that guy’s fault, that loan shark that has her between a rock and a hard place. 

She sweeps me off my feet, I lift a leg, she lunges at me with a scream that comes from the depths of her throat, grazing and twisting it. She’s unaware of how much she’s improved in such a short time, how extraordinary she is, how she could throw it all away if she gives in to that violent impulse. I grab her arm and shove her to the other side of the mat; she rolls over and recovers.

I sigh, I was hoping she would keep still, but that would not be Akane. 

She comes back at me, I block her kicks, I advance slowly until I see another opening in her brutal attack, I duck and hoist her over my shoulder, she screams and punches me in the back, they hurt like hell. I carry her to the locker room, pull back the shower curtain and turn on the cold water full blast, I shove her toward the stall without mercy and she screams and struggles.

She clenches her teeth and bares them at me as if she’s about to tear me apart with them, as if she could gouge my eyes out with her nails.

«Calm the fuck down!!» I yell, trying to restrain her, and she huffs and puffs, trying to push my hands away from her, which are pinning her against the wall, squeezing her shoulders, right where the marks left by that jerkoff were.

“You don’t get it!!!” she screams back, soaking wet, with blazing red cheeks and tears in her eyes. 

“I get it better than anyone!!” I’m soaking wet too, my bangs dripping onto my shirt. “You can’t win, deal with it!!”

“I’m not a coward!”

“Nobody’s saying you are, but you have to calm down”, her chest rises up and down while the cold water soaks through her clothes and makes me notice the stiffness of her nipples, all the tension in my hands dissolves and I move away a little, getting out of the shower. She stays there for a few more moments, with her head down and pressed against the wall.

She turns the water off, runs her hands through her hair, pushing it back, and looks at me, resentful.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, I’m just letting you know”, she says while leaving the shower, her clothes dripping all over the floor. She leaves the locker room, I go after her while she gets a towel from her gym bag that she runs through her hair and arms. Her hair is a mess, soaking wet, and is absolutely stunning.

Her stubbornness is infuriating, her fierceness sets me ablaze. I take a breath and exhale slowly: she’s going to kill me, she’s going to finish me off without even flinching.

“I am begging you”, I moan, getting close to her again, leaving a scant meter between us. Akane watches me like she’s thinking of sparing my life but a second later she refuses and bites her lower lip. 

“I have no choice”, she whispers. 

“Of course you do, you can just let it go.”

She holds back a pitiful groan, and shakes her head, more forcefully this time. 

“No, I can’t. Without the dojô, I’ll have nothing left.”

“Akane…” I wish she could understand me, that she could see herself like I see her, like an extraordinary person, full of possibilities. A woman trapped by her past, drowning by the weight she chooses to drag around. “You’ve done everything you can, let it go”.

She raises her eyes, filled with renewed strength because of my words.

“I’m not giving up without a fight.”

“Why are you being so damn stubborn?!”

“You can help me or not, I don’t care either way.”

She looks at the punching bag again, I grab her by the arm before she keeps destroying her hands without thinking. 

“Well I don’t agree.”

“Then get out!”

«I can’t!» I growled, squeezing her tighter, pulling her towards me with a force born of anger, of devastating frustration. «I can’t let it go either!»

We become entangled again in a sea of ​​frantic kisses before sanity finally comes back to me, because apparently I’m the only one of us who still has a shred of it left. I slow the kiss down to the point of torture and feel a pit in my stomach when I pull away to catch my breath. Akane seems lost in thought, possessed by the caresses, as if human contact was foreign to her and she had just discovered a new universe of pleasurable sensations. I hold her tight because for a moment I fear she might stumble and collapse. I rest her head against my shoulder and sigh with suffocating longing, with deafening bliss.

We stumble to get back on our feet, trying to savor the moment. Trying to hold back. I realize I don’t know what to say; in fact, when the silence becomes too much, I turn red, practically boiling.

Akane pulls back slightly, her thick, black eyelashes fluttering as if she’s recovering from a dream, a rather sultry one. She smiles shyly at me, and I clear my throat.

«I guess… You understand what…» The words get caught in my throat because I’m terrible with anything to do with feelings. Her fixed gaze makes me so nervous that I’d rather be getting the crap beaten out of me than have to explain everything that just happened.

She tilts her head adorably and lets her hands fall, resting on my arms.

«Do you like me?» she asks. I nod like an idiot, and she answers with another megawatt smile that completely disarms me.

“That’s why you can’t fight against Shampoo”, I continue, dead serious, placing my forehead against hers, feeling her fingers tightening up and her whole body tense up. I understand far too late that something is wrong. 

“Did you kiss me to convince me not to fight?” she asks, she’s not letting this go. 

“What kind of question is that?!” I answer incredulously.

“Did you?”

“That’s a stupid thing to ask!”

“And now you are calling me stupid!”, she exclaims, stepping away from me, angry again. “I can’t believe you”, she says while getting her bag and sending me death threats with her eyes. 

I babble like an idiot while Akane walks out the door, and I blink, feeling like I just got punched in the stomach. 

“You stubborn cow! Wait!!”, I yell running after her. Akane turns and crosses her arms. It’s clear I haven’t explained myself well, or she doesn’t want to understand what I’m telling her. “The kissing has nothing to do with this, but no, you are NOT going to fight!”

“You can’t stop me.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can.”

The idea of kidnapping her briefly crosses my mind, but I throw that idea away as fast as it came. I could speak to the old man, try to reason with Taro, but I thing they would both be happy as fuck with the idea of witnessing this fight. She’s not going to destroy herself in front of me, I’m not going to let it happen. 

We stare at each other, serious and angry, with our clothes still a mess, and the feeling of each other on our bodies quite present. I don’t understand why I have to fight with this woman, when the only thing I want is to lay her on my bed and overwhelm her with my touch. 

Akane huffs through her nose, sullen, hostile. 

“I don’t want to train with you again, tell Ryu to come tomorrow.”

“You tell him yourself”, I snap back, crossing my arms. “You say you are not a coward but you seem to be running away from me.”

“I’m not running away! You make me nervous and I can’t think when I’m around you! I need to fight Shampoo to get back my dojô and I don’t want you to convince me otherwise!”

I raise an eyebrow, because this conversation will lead us to nowhere good, only to more and more frustration. Goddamit, I should have just kept on kissing her instead of trying to talk, like the rational people we clearly aren’t. 

“That’s the hook, don’t you see? It’s a rigged game, you have never had the slightest chance of getting it back! That guy doesn’t want your money!! He’s never been interested in that! He wants you broken so he can do with you whatever he fucking pleases, he wants to have you, and then destroy you like a toy.”

“What? How do you know…?”

“Did you think I was gonna let you wander the streets alone, even if I was upset? I followed you home and heard everything.”

Akane swallows, and looks like she’s about to cry. She comes up to me, with furrowed brows and gritted teeth. 

“It’s none of your business”, a single tear rolls down her cheek. I know deep down in her mind, she knows my heartbreaking words are true. She knows she’s lost before she even gets a chance to play.

“I would say it is completely my business”, I answer, a hard note to my voice,  because she’s never going to get me to change my mind. 

I try to wipe the tear, but she steps back, staring at me for a second before walking away, furious. I guess she needs time to think about it, to quit chasing her dream after so many years. I sigh and head back to the gym, to clean up the mess we left behind. 

Today is as bad as any other day to clean up.

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..

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Huge thanks, again and always, to our lifesaver Dani for doing such an amazing job translating this chapter!

Don’t forget to leave us your comments and thoughts, that’s our only reward, and it keeps us motivated to keep creating.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

This chapter is especially exciting for me. I really love Ranma’s narrative voice (I think I’ve said that way too many times already), even more so when we’re talking about romance. I feel like it’s one of those unresolved threads the manga left us – those introspective, romantic thoughts, but of course, Ranma isn’t a shōjo.

This chapter also marks a before and after in their relationship. We already know how our protagonists are: they take one step forward and two steps back.

Thank you to Isabel for not giving up despite spending all day being (self-)overworked. As always, her illustrations are far too beautiful and sexy. I love the way she portrays them, their hands, their expressions…

Thank you as always to my exhausted betas and their advice, and of course to Dany for her beautiful translation.

And thank you for reading. ❤️

Lum

ILLUSTRATOR’S NOTE:

It’s my fault we fell so far behind on publishing, but the projects I’m working on right now are just too demanding. I happened to get a couple of free days, so I took the chance to work on the chapter. Unfortunately, I couldn’t draw as much as I wanted (I wanted to draw Akane wearing Ranma’s shirt with those two dorks staring at her, maybe I’ll do it later), but I hope you like these illustrations. Drawing people kissing is NOT EASY AT ALL.

This chapter is a gem. You can really feel the tension between them, and Ranma’s POVs are always my favorites. I think it’s because we all have that need to read Ranma’s feelings at 100%.

And well, it just so happens that we’re posting right after the Romeo and Juliet kiss. Here’s another kiss for you, but AU and without the ribbon uwu.

This past week we received SO many new readers and reviews. Thank you so much, it makes us incredibly happy that you’re enjoying this story and the illustrations.

And as I always tell you:

We look forward to your comments here on the page. IT COSTS YOU NOTHING TO LEAVE ONE (remember, it’s our only payment). Thank you so much for reading. :)))

Love you all so much, kisses, bye.