(sigh)  I'm REALLY wondering about that 'May become dark' tag.  When this
is over, I think I'll ask people if I should include it...
Anyway... This is chapter 4.  It has a couple of rough spots, but overall I
enjoyed writing it (which, by the way, is how I determine how much help I
need- how enjoyable it was to write).  C&C BEGGED for, regardless of how
insignificant it might seem.  Previous chapters available by e-mail.  My
other completed fic is available on my web page.  Author's notes and
disclaimer are in chapter 1.  Expect Chapter 5 next Monday, I think (I
might not be home next Monday, in which case I'll send it Tuesday).  Until
then, enjoy...

-------------------------
Chapter 4:  A Happy-Go-Lucky Time in Osaka

Ranma sighed as he hung up the phone.  Akane stepped to where she could see
him in the dark and looked at him curiously.  "Well?"

He sent a half-smile her way.  "How would you feel about camping out
tonight?"

"The prices are THAT bad?"

Ranma took his back from Akane and strapped it onto his back again.  "Well,
I started this trip with the fifty thousand yen your father gave me and a
few hundred extra that I had lying around.  The train tickets here were
five thousand a piece, and after I bought all the maps and paid for all the
phone calls, I wiped out those few hundred I had left.  ONE room in an
apartment for one night would cost us thirty-five thousand yen."

Akane's eyes widened.  She knew renting a room with floor space was
expensive, but not THAT expensive.  "Do we have any options?"

Ranma shrugged.  "Well, we could always rent a couple of those
businessman's cubicles, which is little more than a cot hanging off of a
wall and access to a public restroom."  Akane grimaced.  Ranma chewed on
his lip, thinking.  "Also, we could, like I said, find some public park and
camp out for a night."

Akane shook her head.  "Which would give us only a little more privacy and
we would have to find a public restroom on our own.  No, neither one of
those options appeal to me overmuch."  She looked carefully at Ranma for a
moment, squinting in indecision.  "Um... I suppose... that our best
choice... is to rent a room... andshareittonight."

Ranma blinked.  "Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Well," Akane glared at Ranma seriously.  "Don't get any funny ideas.  The
only reason I'm suggesting this is because of our financial situation."

Ranma nodded.  "Of course!  It isn't like I'd actually try anything with
someone as kawaikune as-"  Ranma was interrupted as Akane brought a Mallet
o' Chi down on his head.

"I didn't say you could insult me!"  Akane huffed.  Ranma winced and rubbed
the tender spot where the mallet made contact.  "Come on, let's go.  Where
is this hotel we're going to be staying at, anyway?"

*	*	*	*	*

Akane and Ranma surveyed the room they had just rented from the doorway.

"Umm... for thirty five thousand yen, I expected something a bit...
bigger," Ranma blinked.  There was a pay phone and an alarm clock on one
wall, a closet-sized bathroom, one double-sized futon, and just enough
floor space to dump their packs.  Light was provided by overhead
fluorescent light bulbs.  'At least we get breakfast with this deal,' he
thought.

"Maybe... we shoulda taken... the cubicles..." Akane looked at Ranma and
blushed.  "Um, how are we both going to sleep here?"

Ranma himself blushed.  He stepped into the bathroom and noticed that it
had a western-style stand-up shower, a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and
nothing else.  "Um... I guess... well...  Tell you what.  You take the
room, and I'll go outside and camp out for a while.  You're the one who
needs the privacy..."

Ranma turned to leave.  Akane hesitated, and then grabbed him by the
shoulder.  "Ranma, wait, this is silly.  We knew there would be only one
bed before we rented this place- you just thought you'd be sleeping on the
floor.  Well, the floor isn't an option but..."  She blushed.  "You're an
honorable man- most of the time.  We could always... share the bed... if
you remember to be honorable..."

Ranma nearly fell over.  "You aren't serious, are you?"

Akane hesitantly nodded.  "As long as you promise not to try anything..."

"Uh... I promise... of course I promise... but... Akane, this isn't like
you."

Akane laughed nervously, and brought a hand up behind her head.  "Well, you
see, I figure if we're going to be traveling for a long time, we'll be put
in all sorts of awkward situations... we'll probably have to do something
like this some time, so... why not now?"

Ranma blinked.  "Um... I guess... uh... I don't mind... if... you don't
mind..."  Akane nodded.  "So... how're we going to do this?"

"Well... first things first.  I'm going to use that bathroom and change
into my pajamas.  When I get out, you can go in and get ready for bed." 
Ranma nodded, and Akane grabbed her pack and entered the bathroom, closing
the door behind her.

Akane got out of her clothes and took a brief shower.  She rifled through
her pack and pulled out her nightgown, putting it on before brushing her
teeth.  After putting her toothbrush away, she started combing her hair. 
Then she blinked.  'I really shouldn't be wearing this nightgown tonight...
I mean, Ranma might get the wrong idea...'  She pulled searched through her
bag some more, but couldn't find her pajamas.  'Oh, that's right... I only
packed this, because it didn't take up as much space... I wasn't really
expecting to have to... oh, no.'  Akane looked at herself in the mirror
again.  'Well, too late to do anything about this...'  She blushed as she
left the room, holding her pack.

Ranma's eyes widened.  "Uh..."  The glare Akane gave him silenced any
further comment.

"I didn't think we would be sleeping together, so I only packed this."

Ranma nodded slowly- or possibly he was only breathing so deeply that his
head was bobbing up and down.  "Right..."  He felt a gentle build-up of
heat in his nose as he looked at Akane in the moderately revealing
negligee.  Fearing what Akane might think of his sudden nosebleed, he
grabbed his pack and darted past her and into the bathroom, slamming the
door behind him.  Akane just shook her head and smiled.  'And he calls me
kawaikune...  If I'm so kawaikune, Ranma, than what's with your nosebleed? 
Besides, you see yourself in the mirror all the time, so why are you so
shocked to see me in this instead of my pajamas?'  Still smiling wryly,
Akane looked at the bed, trying to figure out how they were going to do
this.

Meanwhile, Ranma was taking a shower just as brief as Akane had.  The
difference with his, however, was that he was taking a cold one.  Turning
the water hot to change back just before getting out, Ranma still tried to
get the image of her standing in that bathroom doorway out of his face. 
Absentmindedly, he put on a fresh pair of boxers and a muscle shirt before
brushing his teeth.  Putting the last of the toiletries away, Ranma turned
to enter the bathroom door.

And then turned right back around.  'Wait a minute,' he thought.  'I can't
go in there like this!  What will Akane think?  I mean, okay, I normally
don't sleep in more than this, but things'll have to be different
tonight... but I don't have any pajamas... oh, gods, what do I do?'

He emerged from the bathroom a minute later, wearing an outfit identical to
the one he had gone in there with.  Akane, lying in the bed with two sets
of sheets on top of her, one pulled up and the other open, looked a little
annoyed with him.

"What?  Are you going to leave after all?"  She almost sounded... insulted.

Ranma massaged his temple slowly.  "Akane, in the year and a half I've
lived at your home, you've had to wake me up about every other day.  In all
the times you've woken me up, have I ever been wearing pajamas?"  Akane
thought for a second and shook her head no.  "Good, because if you had, you
would have been waking up an impostor.  I don't have pajamas- I always
sleep in my underwear.  I just didn't think that would be... appropriate...
tonight."

Akane blinked.  "Oh..."

"So, how're we going to do this?" Ranma asked.

Akane gestured to the bed.  "Come on in- but don't lift my sheet!"  Ranma
nodded- he had an idea of what she meant.  He crawled into the bed, and
then covered the both of them up with the top sheet.  "Okay, now, if we
don't move too much, everything will be fine."

A double sized futon wasn't really equipped to handle that kind of
arrangement comfortably, however.  For one thing, each was particularly
aware of the other's extreme closeness- they were almost touching through
the sheets.  For another, they were both rather cramped.

But the futon wasn't the sole cause of their discomfort.  Their thoughts
were torturing themselves as well.

Akane was worried about Ranma.  'That hentai had better not try anything
tonight!  But... do I want him to try anything?  I mean, if he did, it
would definitely show how he felt about me... But he isn't trying anything.
 Why isn't that baka trying anything?  Does he really think I'm kawaikune? 
I always thought that he was teasing me when he was calling me that.  Well,
if he does really think I'm kawaikune, he'd better be careful.  I'd think
of him as even MORE of a hentai than I do now if he tried anything.  OooH! 
That hentai had better not try anything tonight!  But..." 

Ranma, on the other hand, was thinking along the lines of "Oh, god, does
Akane look kawaii tonight!  But I'd better not try anything or else she'd
kill me... but... oh, god, does she look kawaii tonight!"

By about three in the morning, they had both exhausted themselves with
worry and finally fell asleep...

*	*	*	*	*

Ranma was startled awake a short time later.  Glancing at the clock, he saw
that it was 4:37 at night.  Disoriented, he desperately was trying to
figure out what it was that had woken him up.

In his ear, he heard whispered "That's a good P-Chan..."  Ranma's eyes
widened in terror as he realized he was being crushed by the arms of the
woman he was in bed with with a force that would have put anything Shampoo
had ever held him with to shame.  Akane had obviously grabbed ahold of him
the same way she usually did her pet pig P-Chan, and was now squeezing hard
enough to make it impossible for Ranma to breath.  The sheet was still
between them, but it had moved enough to give Akane the leverage she needed
to wrap her arms around him.

Ranma tried to speak.  "...."  He tried again.  "A..."  He was choked off
as Akane squeezed even tighter.  'And Ryouga LIKES sleeping like this?'
Ranma thought incredulously.  He heard a creak, and felt one of his arms
popping out of place.  This was not good.

Ranma, over the next hour, struggled to try and escape the mumbling Akane's
grasp without waking her up- the gods only knew what she would do to him if
she woke up holding him like this.  'I know it's not my fault, but she's
likely to act before she realizes that... what do I do?'  Then he heard
something in her muttered words which caught his attention.

"R... ranma... wh'... 'rn... 'u... 'ldn' m... ba..."  Ranma thought about
that for a second.  'Did she just say Ranma, why aren't you holding me
back?'  He turned his head to look at her face.  It looked mildly
distressed... pleading, in fact... but she was definately still asleep. 
'She's still asleep... but... she IS asking... and she'll hit me when she
wakes up anyway...'  Ranma, unable to actually move his arms in the motion,
shrugged mentally.  With his forearms only, he slowly started returning her
hug as best as he could.  Much to his surprise, he found that such a simple
action felt so good that he was able to fall back asleep.

*	*	*	*	*

Akane woke up at the sound of the alarm's incessant ringing.  Before she
even opened her eyes, she could tell that something was wrong.  'Okay,
mental check... first, P-Chan seems to be a lot larger this morning than
normal... second, something seems to be holding onto me... third, this
futon is really uncomfortable... hmm... maybe I should open my eyes.' 
Doing so, she found herself staring into Ranma's closed eyes.  'Ah, that's
why P-Chan seems to be larger this morning... I'm holding Ranma, not
P-Chan.'  Akane blinked, her eyes refocusing.  'Wait a minute... I'm
holding Ranma... and he's holding me... hmm... this is a dream...'  She
closed her eyes again and moved her head closer to Ranma's.  'You know, for
a dream, that alarm is awfully loud.  In fact... I should be awake right
now.  But that can't be- Ranma and I are in the same bed, and we're holding
each other.'  Akane shifted her arms- and felt the sheets between them. 
Suddenly, she remembered everything from the last night.  'Hey!  He
promised not to take advantage of me, and he has his arms around me!'  She
started to draw an arm back so as to send him flying, but then noticed that
she had her arms around him in such a way it was unlikely he had been the
one to initiate the hug- especially since his arm was dislocated somehow. 
'How did he manage to sleep through that one?'

However, before Akane could answer that question for herself, Ranma's eyes
popped open.  The sudden release of pressure had been enough to wake him
up, and as his eyes and hands registered the fact that he was holding
Akane, his panic drive kicked in.

"AAAAGH!"  He jumped back, crashing into the wall behind him.  He held his
arms in as defensive a posture as he could- though it was pretty hard, as
Akane had cut off the circulation while she was dislocating that one arm. 
Both arms were asleep, and he wasn't really able to get either of them to
move properly.

Akane, meanwhile, noticed the panic in Ranma's eyes.  'Well, he is
expecting it... and I don't want to give him any ideas...'  Sitting up, she
sent a crushing blow over Ranma, knocking him into the wall again,
coincidentally popping the arm back into place.  "Hentai!" she cried.

Ranma jumped back up, shut off the alarm, and turned back to Akane.  "Hold
on, here!  You were the one who was hugging me!  I was only returning it
because you ASKED me to!"

Akane blinked, but decided to keep fighting anyway.  "Baka!  You were
dreaming!"  Or was he?  Akane vaguely recalled saying something similar in
her dreams.

Ranma smirked.  "Akane, it's kind of hard to dream about something like
that when you're being squeezed so hard that your shoulder is being popped
out of place."

"WHAT?!"  Akane cried, offended.  "YOU DIDN'T LIKE IT!"

"NO, I DIDN'T!"  Ranma yelled back.  Then they both stopped, realizing what
they had just said.  "I... I mean..."  Ranma tried.

Akane didn't care.  "Oh..."  Quietly and calmly, she turned and picked up
her backpack, and headed into the bathroom, ignoring Ranma.  She didn't
want him to see her cry.  'He didn't like it... he doesn't like me... I...
I always thought... that... that he really did care about me... but...' 
Her thoughts were a mess.

When she got out, Ranma was standing in the doorway.  Akane refused to look
up, but Ranma could still see the tear stains she had neglected to wash
off.  "Akane..." he started.

"What, Ranma?  You didn't like my hugging you, and I don't blame you.  I
wouldn't in your place, if it hurt me so much."

Ranma sighed.  "Akane, this is what really bugs me about you.  You never
give me a chance to take my foot out of my mouth, and I stick it in there
way too often to make dealing with you easy if you don't."  Akane finally
looked up at him again, uncertain of what he was going to say.  "Akane, I
didn't particularly like the way you were holding me last night.  It was
awfully uncomfortable- you were trying, at first, to squeeze me as tightly
as you squeeze P-Chan.  I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but I'm
a little bigger than your pet pig."  Akane half-smiled at his joke. 
"Akane, do you want to know what it was that eventually let me get back to
sleep?"  Akane nodded.  "You... mumbled... 'Ranma, why aren't you holding
me back?'  When I put my arms around you, I felt so... I don't know, I
guess 'relieved' is the best word... that I was able to relax and fall
asleep, despite the pain."

Akane blinked.  "Wh... why was that?"

"Because, Akane, I..."  He tried to say something, but couldn't get it out.
 "I... Oh, I can't say it... yet.  I think you know, though."

Akane took in a deep breath.  "Ranma, are you trying to say that you l...
that you love me?"  Ranma closed his eyes and slowly nodded.  "Are you SURE
that you love me?"

Ranma's eyes opened, and he looked at Akane wildly.  Something in him
snapped.  "YES, of COURSE I'm sure!  I've been so in love with you, I
couldn't tell you for fear that it would scare you away from me!  Remember
your long hair?  Guess who saved the clipping and still has it, encased in
a crystal box!  Remember when I first got to your house, and said I was
willing to sacrifice my life for the martial arts, but not my manhood? 
Well, remember Togenkyou Island?  Remember how I sacrificed my cure in
order to protect you!?  Haven't you noticed how incredibly jealous I get
when someone like Shinnosuke or Toma tries to come between us?  I haven't
been able to bring myself to say it, but surely it has become obvious to
you by now!"

Akane was staggered.  Ranma, realizing he had been screaming at her, bowed
his head down and blushed, sticking his hand behind his head.  His eyes,
however, glanced up at her hopefully.

"And the other fiancees?"  Akane asked meekly.  Ranma's face immediately
darkened.

"Well, I want Shampoo and Ukyou to stay friends, but beyond that, I have no
feelings for them...  The others, like Kaori, I care nothing for and
sometime feel like killing my pop for arranging.  Fortunately, all of those
in the second category we've taken care of, but my friends..."  He sighed. 
"Let's just say there've been a lot of reasons I've never told you how I
felt."

"Well..."  Akane began.  She realized she had no idea what to say, and
sighed sadly.  "What do we do now?"  Ranma's face lost all expression.

He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.  "We head to
Lukkosai's house, and ask Happosai what we came here to ask him."  He
headed into the bathroom.  Akane, however, prevented him from closing the
door.

"That's not what I meant!"  Akane growled.

Ranma sighed.  "I know.  But... I'm not ready to talk about it yet, okay? 
Let's deal with this situation first, and then..."  Akane frowned, but let
the door go.  In a few minutes, with both of their minds jumbled from the
mornings events, the left the apartment for the hotel's breakfast bar, and
then out to Lukkosai's.

*	*	*	*	*

Before the door, Ranma pulled Akane aside.  "I'm going to try asking him
straight up, first, but you know as well as I do that he's not going to
give us any information without a fight or a sworn promise of a grope.  I'm
not going to let him grope me..."  Anger filled his face.  "And I'm sure as
hell not going to let him grope YOU.  That means we'll have to fight...
probably both him and Lukkosai.  I... can't handle the two of them alone. 
So... I think we'd better plan how we're going to do this."

Akane, for the second time that day, was floored by something Ranma had
said.  "Wait a minute... YOU are admitting that you can't handle a
situation alone?"  Ranma started to smile a little.  She put a hand to his
forehead as if taking his temperature.  "Are you feeling okay, Ranma?"

At her touch, Ranma pulled away as if stung, once again losing all
expression in his face.  "Uh... yeah, I'm fine."  Akane blinked.  'What's
wrong with him?  He admitted he loved me this morning, but now he's acting
like he's mad at me!  I've never seen him act this way before... what's got
him so upset?'

Akane sighed.  "Well, if  you think you need help, I'd better help you. 
What do you need me to do?"

"Like I said before, you fight better when you're facing more than one
person."  He started tonelessly, not even looking at her.  As he went
along, however, his voice warmed up a little.  "So, what you need to do is
to pretend that there are more people in the room than there really are. 
This is how we can do it... I'll go in, and start attacking right away. 
You can start moving behind the two of them while Happosai and Lukkosai are
busy fighting me.  They won't bother doing anything about you- you've never
given Happosai any reason to worry, and Lukkosai's probably heard enough
stories from him to feel the same way.  When you're in position, I will
dart behind you.  The two of them will pursue me- and will try running
around you.  THEN, you strike- they won't be expecting a skillful attack
from you, and so you'll get a good hit in on both of them.  Trust me when I
say that one of your blows should be enough to end the fight right away."

Akane frowned but nodded.  "Okay...  Are you ready?"

Ranma, without turning his head, nodded.  "Let's go."  A few minutes later,
the two of them were standing in front of two three foot tall martial
artists, both of whom were eyeing Akane lecherously.

"How nice of you to visit, my boy, and to bring the lovely Akane with you
too!"  Happosai smirked.

"This ain't a social gathering, you old troll!"  Ranma said coldly, pulling
out Natsume and Kurumi's childhood photo.  "Do you remember these two
girls?"

"Why, yes I do- I helped those two young children decide to develop martial
arts skills over ten years ago.  Why do you ask?"

"Do you have any idea who their parents are?  They have asked me for help."

Happosai hesitated- surprising both Ranma and Akane.  He almost never
hesitated, regardless of what he did or said.  "I... well, I know what
village they came from, if that is any help."  That astounded Akane- he was
trying to be helpful?  Maybe he wasn't truly as evil as she thought.

Ranma was also a little thrown by his answer.  "Oh, really?  Um... where?"

The lecherous smile returned to Happosai.  "Oh, you didn't really think I'd
just help you THAT easily, did you?"  He pulled out a bra and picked up a
nearby fire bucket.  "How about modeling this for me, Ranma?"  Ranma just
growled.  Happosai started to throw the water on him, but Ranma reacted
before he could.

Ranma jumped in with a flying kick, knocking the bucket of water across the
room and spilling its contents on the floor harmlessly.  Ranma spun around
on his front foot and sent the other foot into Happosai's chest, knocking
HIM across the room.  Happosai got up and started moving in along with
Happosai.

Akane, seeing that the battle had started, remembered the plan Ranma had
made, and so slowly started circling behind the two ancient perverts. 
Ranma continued battling, barely able to handle himself but nevertheless
keeping the two busy.

Akane got into position, and so Ranma took his cue.  He flipped over his
opponents and behind Akane.  The two shrunken fighters charged at him,
ignoring Akane just as Ranma thought they would.  "NOW!"  Ranma shouted,
and Akane struck out.  Lukkosai went flying- Akane's blow sent him flying
through his roof and into the clouds, never to be seen by Ranma or Akane
again.  Happosai, however, was able to react quicker to the surprise
attack, and dodged Akane's blow.  Instinctually, he pulled out his pipe and
knocked her away.  Ranma caught her before she hit the ground.  "Are you
okay?"  He asked, setting her down gently.  Akane nodded.  Ranma turned on
Happosai and grimaced.

"What's the matter, boy?  Need your fiancee to fight your battles for you?"

Ranma started flaring up with his chi.  "Are you going to tell me what I
need to know, or am I going to have to hurt you?"

Happosai laughed.  "Hurt ME?  Ha!  I'd li-"

The laugh was definitely a miscalculation on Happosai's part.  "SHI-SHI
HOKODAN!"  Ranma shouted, sending the blast dead center on the old pervert,
smashing him into the wall and nearly knocking him out.  Ranma was
immediately upon him, kneeling on his chest.  "Stay away, Akane!  I don't
want him to use you to recover."  Akane nodded, though Ranma didn't see it
as he wasn't looking at her.

"Ooof... Okay, Ranma, you win.  I'll tell you what you want to know.  I
found the two girls in the small town of Ikkoku, on the west coast of
Japan.  But that was more than ten years ago- I doubt you'll find anyone
there who remembers..."

Ranma nodded.  "That's okay- I'll see for myself.  Thanks, old leche." 
Ranma touched the back of Happosai's next, knocking him out.  "Come on,
Akane.  Let's go to Ikkoku."

Akane blinked and followed Ranma out of Happosai's dojo.  She was dimly
aware of the fact that they had made progress in her search, but she was
much more concerned with something else.  'He used the Shi-shi Hokodan...
but that's an attack based on depression... Ranma hasn't used it since he
developed the Moko Takabishi... I don't understand, what's gotten him so
depressed?  I would have thought that finally admitting he loved me would
be a good relief for him... what is wrong with him?'




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
                      Kuno is Red, Kodachi is Black, 
           You've got 4 Fiancee's, You're under attack!
                                  (poor Ranma)
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                             desaix@sysnet.net
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
                           fanfics available at 
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm