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Blind Date	By : PurseMonger Category: +M to R > Ranma ½ Views: 8567 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or the characters from it. I make no money on from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
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- 13
“Raaan-maa! Are you home? Open the door, cutie!”

Fuck, said man thought as he looked at the door. He was momentarily confused before dread filled him. He was sure he knew who was at the door and what she wanted. He only hoped Akane wouldn’t take it too badly.

Ranma and Akane’s gaze turned from the door to each other at the same time. Her face was full of confusion, flashed briefly with hurt, before it became cool and unreadable. She moved off him, straightened out her dress, and ran a hand through her hair.

“You should get that,” she said coolly as they heard another knock at the door.

The temperature in the room felt like it dropped 15 degrees. Well, there went any hopes of her taking it well.

Ranma moved off the couch and straightened his shirt as he walked to the door. He opened it and suddenly found himself wrapped in a pair of small, feminine arms. Stiffening, he threw his arms up in ninety degree angles. He wanted to push her away but was very aware of Akane’s eyes on him and didn’t want to place his hands anywhere inappropriate. But knowing how this could look to his date and realizing Azusa’s shoulders were the only safe place for his hands to be, Ranma grabbed them and tried to push her away from him but she only burrowed closer.

Akane watched as a girl she didn’t know threw herself on her date and proceeded to wrap herself around him like an octopus around its prey. The unknown girl went so far as to burrow her face into his chest. All she could see was the trench coat and pink heels the girl with long curly brown hair was wearing.

The blue-haired woman narrowed her eyes, her hands automatically fisting in anger. Couldn’t that girl tell that Ranma was clearly trying to get out of her clutches?

“Ranma!” the brunette cried, her voice muffled as she tried to burrow even closer to him.

“Azusa, wh—”

“I missed you sooo much!” she exclaimed as she was pulled back.

She hopped onto her tippytoes to give him an enthusiastic kiss and was surprised when he moved his head to the side, her lips landing on his cheek instead. Going with the change, she kissed him firmly making a ‘muah’ sound at the end. The brunette giggled insipidly as she trailed her hand down his chest and pouted at him, she was used to much more enthusiastic greetings from Ranma.

Akane grit her teeth at the sight. It was obvious that Ranma and who ever this was, knew each other and she assumed intimately with the way the girl threw herself into his arms and tried to stick her tongue down his throat. She had never thought she was the type of person to blame ‘the other woman’ but she had the sudden and intense urge to punch the girl.

“What’s wrong, you’re not happy to see me?” Azusa asked in a cutesy voice, pouting her lips together.

“Actually, no, I’m not,” Ranma said bluntly. Azusa was making it difficult to talk much less get rid of her.

“Aww. After I got all dressed up for you too!”

The brunette stepped back and opened up her trench coat, revealing a sheer frilly pink baby doll with white lacy thigh-high stockings. Ranma quickly grabbed the coat and pulled it closed.

“This really isn’t a good time,” he said quickly.

“Actually, it’s perfect timing, I was just leaving.”

Ranma whipped his head around at Akane’s declaration. She had already picked up her wristlet and was just putting on her jacket. His eyes widened in panic and he started towards her.

“No! Don’t go, please,” he pleaded. “This isn’t what…”

“Oh, is there someone else here?”

Azusa peered around Ranma, her head cocked to the side as she eyed the stranger before her. She put a bright smile on her face as she came out from behind the pigtailed man and bypassed him as she skipped to the stranger. She stopped right in front of Akane, giving her a big smile, and clapped her hands together.

“Oh, she’s so cute!” Azusa exclaimed as she spun to give Ranma a wink. She spun back and grabbed Akane’s hands. “You’re so cute!” she repeated before she threw her arms around the youngest Tendo and nuzzled her neck.

The blue-haired woman could only stare down in shock before she tried to wriggle herself from the surprisingly strong grip of the waifish girl. She looked up and glared at Ranma. She still couldn’t believe she was put into this situation and could only blame him for it.

“The fuck? Azusa stop!” he yelled. This cannot be happening, he thought to himself.

The brunette pouted as she slackened her grip on the blue-haired girl.

“You need to leave,” he saidloudly.

He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her off Akane but Azusa only pulled her arm back with a petulant look on her face as she looked from Ranma and Akane.

“But why?” she asked with a whine.

The blue-haired girl could tell by the hazy look in her eyes that she was tipsy, which could explain the erratic behavior. For a reason she couldn’t explain, she thought the brunette looked sad. But that did little to dampen her exasperation.

Azusa giggled before wrapping her arms around Akane again. “I like sharing and play really well with others,” she said with another giggle. She made her meaning clear as she moved one hand down and over the blue-haired girl’s bottom.

Is this chick for real? Akane thought incredulously, the small amount of sympathy she had about the girl’s emotional and physical state vanishing.

“Asuza!” Ranma shouted, getting the attention of both girls. He couldn’t believe she propositioned Akane into having a threesome. While it was every guy’s fantasy – hell he had dreamed about it himself – it wasn’t something he would entertain concerning Akane, much less have it proposed to her by a drunk girl he had slept with as she interrupted their date.

He walked over to them and pulled the brunette forcefully away from his date. Once he got them separated, he held the inebriated girl next to him by the forearm. He turned to his date with an apologetic look, but before he could say something she brushed past him.

“You shouldn’t have asked me to come over if you were expecting other company!” Akane said through gritted teeth.

“I had no idea she was coming over tonight!” Ranma said in his defense.

He let go of Azusa and went after Akane, stopping only when she whirled on him suddenly and saw the blazing look in her eyes. Never before had he seen her look so angry. He gulped. His mind racing to find a way, anyway to get her to stay. If he could only explain the situation to her, get her to listen, then maybe he could salvage the night. Or at least make sure she didn’t hate him.

“Then you need to do a better job scheduling visits with your girlfriends…unless this was part of your plan all along,” she said accusingly, her eyes narrowed.

“What? No! I never…” but he was unable to finish his thought as she yanked the door open and left quickly, slamming the door behind her.

“Fuck!” he yelled as gripped his hair in frustration. He turned around to see Azusa looking at him in confusion. “What are you doing here?” he bit out.

“I came to see you,” she said. The answer to that seemed obvious.

“Well, you shouldn’t have!”

“Why? You’ve never complained before,” she said with another pout.

Ranma opened his mouth to yell at her but the confused look on her face had his comment dying quickly. He sighed as he tried to rein in his emotions. She was right, he had always liked her little visits before and she often came unannounced, so she couldn’t know what a bad time this was.

This entire fucked up situation was his fault.

“I think you should go.”

Azusa’s face went through several emotions as Ranma’s words finally registered to her. Being tipsy, it took her a moment to process what happened and realized that he must have been serious about the cute girl who was here earlier. Guilt over what she had done only rivaled the sadness that filled her. She could always count on Ranma being there to make her feel better, even if it was only on a physical level. He had always made her feel wanted for the short time they were together. Now she felt rejected all over again. She nodded and closed her trench coat as she walked to the door.

“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to call you a cab?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Azuza,” Ranma called out.

Turning around, she looked at him questioningly. Seeing the serious expression on his face, she knew what he was going to say and braced herself.

“I don’t think you should come over for these visits anymore.”

“I understand. I’m sorry, Ranma,” Azusa said softly before slipping out.

Akane’s phone had begun buzzing as soon as she hit the subway. She checked it quickly to see Ranma’s name fill up her screen. She pressed the decline button and stuffed the phone back into her wristlet. She ignored the incessant buzzing for the entire ride home.

She stormed up to her room and slammed the door shut before dropping her wristlet on her desk and herself on her bed. She took some deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She knew she was letting her feelings get the best of her but then again she had always been a slave to her emotions. But she held onto the anger gladly; the pressure at the back of her eyes telling her that she would succumb to her tears soon.

She was too agitated to just lie around. What she needed was a hard workout. Something to get rid of the sharp edge of emotions so she could think clearly about what had happened. Getting up, she grabbed her worn gi from her closet and changed quickly before heading to the dojo.

Ranma paced his living room, as he had been since Akane walked out the door. He wondered for the umpteenth time that night how things turned out so badly. They were having such a good time, getting to know each other better and just enjoying each other’s company. He had been so pleasantly surprised when she had made the first move on him. He hadn’t planned on anything happening between them that night but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stop once things got started. No man would when a beautiful woman like Akane straddled them like that.

To go from that, to this.

Just the memory of the look she gave him when she left made his chest ache. She looked at him with such disdain, like he was nothing more than a bug. He had worked so hard to get her to see that he was more than just a jerk. He realized that in the short time they had known each other, her good opinion of him mattered more than anyone’s except for his mother and sister, which was saying a lot. For once in his life, he found someone whose good opinion meant the world to him. But it seemed that once again he was on her shit list. He just hoped what happened hadn’t completely destroyed her trust in him.

He stopped and looked at the stuffed animal sitting on his coffee table. He tried not to take it as a bad sign that she had left it behind but every time he looked at it, those black eyes seem to taunt at him.

Stupid pig.

Ranma looked down at his phone, trying to not let it get to him that she hadn’t texted him back. He had sent her an embarrassing amount of messages and was sorely tempted to send her another one but stopped himself. She obviously needed more time before she was ready to talk. But he couldn’t just sit there doing nothing. He had never been good at that.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was to punch something, anything to get rid of this frustration. So that’s just what he’d do. He went to his room and changed quickly before heading to the gym.

Akane came back to her room tired, both physically and emotionally. She had taken a quick soak after her work out and should have felt refreshed but didn’t. She felt worn out, and no longer feeling the rush of emotions, she was finally able to think and process what had happened earlier.

She collapsed onto her bed before burrowing herself in her blankets, feeling thoroughly depressed. Now that the initial anger was gone, she was caught in a mix of hurt and embarrassment.

She truly liked Ranma. He was funny, kind, smart, and a bit of a jerk, but for some reason that last quality made him sexier and not obnoxious. She had been so attracted to him for so long, pretty much from the moment she first saw him on that disastrous first date. She pushed her attraction aside when she only thought of him as a jerk but once she got to know him better, it became harder and harder for her to fight that attraction. She had been so happy when he asked her out for a date, because she thought that it meant that he had wanted her too, and not just physically but that he wanted a real relationship with her.

Their date had been amazing, probably the best she ever had. They seemed to get along so well. She had never felt more connected to someone. For once, her mind, body, and emotions were all on the same page, screaming at her that this was someone special. So she saw no reason to wait to be with him. So when they were alone, she had made the first move. She had never been one to play games.

This was their first date yes, but not in the traditional sense. She would have never done something like that on a first date with a stranger to her. But Ranma was no stranger. They were friends. He cared about her. He wanted more with her.

Or so she thought.

Now she felt like a fool. She had known a bit about his past with women and knew he was something of a player, it was not something she could ignore with the jabs Ryoga often threw at Ranma. She dismissed it though, because she thought she was special to him. But it seemed like she had been wrong. Was she just another conquest to him? Did he only see her as someone to sleep with? Another girl in his revolving door of fuck buddies?

She scoffed.

Of course he would. What else was he to think but she was just another easy lay when she had thrown herself at him. She was mortified that she hadn’t even given a thought to protection. Hadn’t even considered he might not have had any.

She felt so stupid.

When it came down to it, she couldn’t even be mad at him for what happened. Oh, she was plenty mad at the events and having one of his ‘girls’ thrown in her face but when she thought back on the incident it was obvious he had no idea Azusa was going to show up when she did and he tried his best to get rid of her.

So the only thing she had to be angry at was that he was seeing Azusa at the same time as her. But did she have the right to be mad at him for that? She could be hurt by it, was hurt by it, but it had been their first date; they had made no commitments to each other. No conversation about monogamy. Just because she wasn’t seeing anyone else didn’t mean he couldn’t.

Now where did that leave them?

Would she be okay just being one of who knows how many women he slept with?

No, she wouldn’t be. She had never been one for casual sex and even if she were, she wouldn’t be with Ranma. She simply cared too much for him. She’d watched her friends settle for physical relationships with men they cared about, knowing that those guys only wanted sex from them. But each one held out hope that it would turn into something more. That those guys would somehow grow attached to them, would begin to care about them. But it never happened. She had watched friend after friend being strung along for way too long before they realized how pointless their relationships were. Each one had been devastated by it.

She just couldn’t do that to herself. It was better to be hurt now, when it wasn’t as painful to break things off. She was just sad that something that had barely started could be over so quickly.

Ranma looked at his phone, willing it to ring, but it stayed stubbornly quiet. His thumbs hovered over the electronic keypad before he eventually put it down. He had no idea what to say that he hadn’t already. Even if he did, she obviously didn’t want to talk to him and he didn’t want to be one of those guys who couldn’t take a hint.

No matter how much it bothered him.

He decided to just go to bed. He would have to try to explain things to her and hope that she would be willing to listen but ended up waking early after a restless night. The first thing he did was check his phone, sighing in disappointment when he still hadn’t heard from Akane, although he wasn’t surprised as it was 8 am on a Saturday. He dropped his phone back on his nightstand and laid there staring at the ceiling.

Since he knew it was unlikely that he would fall back asleep with everything going through his mind, he decided to get ready. An hour later and he was sitting on his couch eating a bowl of cereal, mindlessly staring at the TV, when his phone beeped. He grabbed it quickly and sighed in relief when he saw it was a text from Akane.

Are you up?

Yeah, he typed back quickly.

Ranma was starting another text, wanting to find out if she was okay when he got her second text.

Can I come over? We need to talk.

The pigtailed man groaned at the second sentence. Never before had those words been said – or typed – to a man and meant anything good. But he knew it was unavoidable. He sighed before texting back.

Sure. When are you going to come by?

He sat there looking at his phone, waiting for another text when he heard a knock on his front door. He went to the door, wondering who it could be so early in the morning. He opened it and was surprised to see Akane there holding two go cups.

It had been a long night for the blue-haired girl too. She had fallen asleep late and woken up early as her mind refused to turn off. She had gotten up and ready, wanting to deal with the situation sooner rather than later. It was only after she knocked on his front door, that it dawned on her that he might not have been alone.

“Hi,” Ranma greeted in surprise.

“Good morning. I’m not…interrupting anything am I?” she asked.

She didn’t think that she could take it if it had turned out Azusa had spent the night. While she had already made her decision, him sleeping with the other girl last night would have been a sure sign that he had felt very little for her. Plus she didn’t think she could handle another meeting with Azusa without getting violent.

“No. Azusa left shortly after you did. She did not spend the night. Nothing happened.” He wanted to make that point crystal clear. “Why don’t you come in?”

He followed her to his couch and sat down next to her, leaving an inordinate amount of space between them considering the size of his couch. They sat there awkwardly for a moment before Akane decided to break the silence.

“I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“What? Why?”

He had been afraid of the very thing happening but when she showed up at his door a small ray of hope blossomed in him. He had thought that maybe if he were lucky she would only rant and rave at him. But it seemed his luck had run out. The tight feeling that had been in his chest since last night seemed to intensify.

“Well, I don’t date guys who already have girlfriends.”

“She’s not my girlfriend! She already has a guy!”

“Oh, is that supposed to make things better?” Akane asked scathingly as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes! No. I…” he stammered before he paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “Can you give me a second to explain please before you make any decisions?”

Akane frowned. It was on her the tip of her tongue to say no just so she could leave and end it quickly. But part of her needed answers.

“Fine. Explain.”

“Azusa has a boyfriend, they’ve been dating for years. But Mikado has wandering eyes and hands. I don’t know how many times he’s cheated on her through the years. It’s always the same. He cheats on her, she breaks up with him, he promises never to do it again, and she takes him back. But before that, when she finds out about his cheating, she breaks up with him and comes over…” he trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

“She comes over to have revenge sex with you,” Akane said bluntly.

Ranma nodded slowly. It was not something he wanted to admit to her. He had never been ashamed of the arrangement he had with Azusa, they were consenting adults. He cared about her too, as a friend. It was hard not to since she was always so upbeat, even when she was feeling blue. But having to explain the situation to Akane made him feel like what they had been doing was somehow wrong.

“It doesn’t mean anything to either of us. She loves Mikado and always takes him back, we both know that. I haven’t seen her or thought about her in months.”

Akane remained silent as she thought over the information. It confirmed her suspicions that Ranma had no clue that Azusa was going to show up last night and it made her feel slightly better that he hadn’t seen her in months. It meant that he hadn’t had sex with her while they were getting to know each other. The story also explained why the girl looked so sad last night, especially considering what she had come over for. Part of her felt bad for the Azusa.

Azusa...

Why did the name sound familiar? Now that she thought about it, the girl looked familiar too.

Azusa…

Mikado…

“Azusa Shiatori and Mikado Sanzenin?” she wondered out loud.

“Yeah, that’s them,” Ranma answered, thinking her question was directed at him.

“The Golden Pair? That Azusa and Mikado? Hopefuls for the next Olympics?”

“Yeah,” he said wearily. He had no idea she followed figure skating.

Ranma ran a hand over his face before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He watched the blue-haired girl carefully. She seemed to be less angry but she was far from calm.

Akane let that bit of information sink in. She found it surreal that she had been felt up by one of the most famous figure skaters in all of Japan. She shook her head to try to clear it. That wasn’t what she should be focused on at the moment. She took a moment to refocus her thoughts. The situation, while looking better had not really changed.

“Thank you for telling me everything but I still don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“Why? I don’t understand. I told you that I had no idea that Azusa was going to be here and I got rid of her as soon as I could.”

“I know but I’m not the type of person who is going to be okay with you slipping from my bed into someone else’s. I’m not okay with casual sex or being just another girl for you to sleep with.”

“Is that what you think? That I’m just looking to get into your pants?” he demanded hotly.

“Can you blame me?”

“Yeah, I can. I thought you knew me better than that.”

“So you’re telling me you’ve never had friends with benefits situation with anyone? Because that sounds exactly like what you had with Azusa. Or that you’ve never slept with two different women at the same time, and I don’t mean a threesome.”

“So what are you saying? Are you asking me for…some kind of commitment?”

“No! We’ve only had one date. But I do not play well with others and I don’t share. Which is why I think it’s better that we just end things now.”

Ranma was about to retort but he knew he really couldn’t say much. She was right of course. Most of his relationships were friends with benefits situations. There were times that he had more than one woman at a time he had on tap for booty calls, since the girls never meant much to him.

For the second time that night he grew uncomfortable with how he had been living his life. He had not seen any harm in the way he had acted as he had - for the most part - been honest with his intentions with women. There were a few sticky situations he had gotten himself into when he was younger, when he hadn’t been as forthright with the girls as he was now, but he was young and he learned from those mistakes. So why was he feeling so guilty now?

It didn’t take too long for him to realize that it was because of Akane. He didn’t want her thinking badly of him. He didn’t want her to judge him because of his past but it seemed too late for that. Here she was, ready to break things off with him because she couldn’t trust his intentions.

He took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. Being defensive or getting into an argument wasn’t going to help the situation, it was bad enough already. He needed to be honest with her and explain the situation but he also need to do it in a way that assured her that he cared for her. If he didn’t then it really could be over and he didn’t know if he could live with that.

“Yes, you’re right. I have had those types of relationships in the past. But this,” he gestured to her and back to him, “is different.”

“Why?”

“Because of you. I’ve never really felt…this for anyone before.”

Which was both exciting and scary for the pig-tailed man.

“You need to know that I haven’t been with anyone since I met you, before that really.”

Shampoo had been the last woman he had been with and she had turned out to be a complete psycho that he had been worried about getting involved with anyone else in fear that they too would turn out to be just as obsessed as her. The night he had met Akane, he had been so excited to go clubbing with his friends because he was hoping to meet someone. Enough time had passed so what happened with Shampoo wasn’t so fresh on his mind and frankly he really needed to get laid. He had in fact gotten the number of a really hot chick he had every intention of calling but then he kept being thrown into situations with Akane. The more he got to know her, the more he thought about her. Then they had that amazing kiss and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. So he totally forgot about the chick from the club. He hadn’t given any other girl more than a passing glance because his mind was full of Akane.

He couldn’t tell her that though as it was too soon for that sort of admission. Plus it was just too embarrassing to admit.

He looked at her expectantly, wondering why she still looked so upset before it clicked.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked disappointedly.

Akane was so conflicted. He had said all the right things. Destroyed every argument she had against them continuing to date. Confirmed that he too felt something special between them. This was the Ranma that she had gotten to know, the one who was honest and sincere, the one she cared about.

But she couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was true. The incident from last night was still fresh in her mind, her emotions still so raw.

“I want to believe you. I do. It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “It’s weird isn’t it, that we’ve had this much trouble already? From that first really bad date to the second date that somehow ended up even worse? It kind of feels like a sign or something that we shouldn’t be together,” she finished softly.

“I guess you could look at it like that but I don’t. Nothing worth having is easy and I think this could be worth it.” He let that sink in a moment before he added, “I know that you’re not sure because you think I only want to fuck you, so let’s just take sex off the table.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“We’ll slow things down. Date and get to know each other. We won’t have sex until it’s right; not until you’re sure that I want more from this relationship than just sex.”

“You’re going to be okay with that?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah because you are worth it,” he replied sincerely, even though it embarrassed him to admit such a sentiment out loud.

“But what about other girls?”

“What about them?”

“I mean just because you haven’t been with anyone since we met doesn’t mean…”

“I meant what I said. I haven’t been with anyone else and I don’t want to be. I’m not going risk this just to get my rocks off.”

“And will I have to expect any more unannounced visitors when I’m over?”

“No. I made it clear to Azusa last night that she shouldn’t come over anymore.”

“But is Azusa…?”

“Akane,” he said sharply. “Believe me when I say you won’t have to deal with anything like that again.”

It was the truth. While he had several girls who texted him randomly for booty calls, Azusa was the only one who would come over without letting him know and that was because she was drunk. Should one of the other girl’s text him, he would tell them no and that would be that.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah. I just need some time to think about things,” she said as she got up to leave.

While she was no longer angry, she was far from feeling good about the situation. But Ranma had made her feel better about the entire situation and his confession and willingness to take things slow made her think he was being honest. But after the tumultuous night she had, she just couldn’t make a decision so lightly.

“Sure,” he said as he walked her to the door, which he opened for her.

“Bye, Ranma.”

“See ya.”

Ranma’s wanted to ask her to stay so they could figure things out once and for all but he knew better. She said she needed time so he would give it to her, if he pushed the issue now, he could push her in the other direction. For now, he could only cling to the fact that she hadn’t shut him down completely. There was a spark of hope that they still had a chance.

“Raaan-maa! Are you home? Open the door, cutie!”

Fuck, said man thought as he looked at the door. He was momentarily confused before dread filled him. He was sure he knew who was at the door and what she wanted. He only hoped Akane wouldn’t take it too badly.

Ranma and Akane’s gaze turned from the door to each other at the same time. Her face was full of confusion, flashed briefly with hurt, before it became cool and unreadable. She moved off him, straightened out her dress, and ran a hand through her hair.

“You should get that,” she said coolly as they heard another knock at the door.

The temperature in the room felt like it dropped 15 degrees. Well, there went any hopes of her taking it well.

Ranma moved off the couch and straightened his shirt as he walked to the door. He opened it and suddenly found himself wrapped in a pair of small, feminine arms. Stiffening, he threw his arms up in ninety degree angles. He wanted to push her away but was very aware of Akane’s eyes on him and didn’t want to place his hands anywhere inappropriate. But knowing how this could look to his date and realizing Azusa’s shoulders were the only safe place for his hands to be, Ranma grabbed them and tried to push her away from him but she only burrowed closer.

Akane watched as a girl she didn’t know threw herself on her date and proceeded to wrap herself around him like an octopus around its prey. The unknown girl went so far as to burrow her face into his chest. All she could see was the trench coat and pink heels the girl with long curly brown hair was wearing.

The blue-haired woman narrowed her eyes, her hands automatically fisting in anger. Couldn’t that girl tell that Ranma was clearly trying to get out of her clutches?

“Ranma!” the brunette cried, her voice muffled as she tried to burrow even closer to him.

“Azusa, wh—”

“I missed you sooo much!” she exclaimed as she was pulled back.

She hopped onto her tippytoes to give him an enthusiastic kiss and was surprised when he moved his head to the side, her lips landing on his cheek instead. Going with the change, she kissed him firmly making a ‘muah’ sound at the end. The brunette giggled insipidly as she trailed her hand down his chest and pouted at him, she was used to much more enthusiastic greetings from Ranma.

Akane grit her teeth at the sight. It was obvious that Ranma and who ever this was, knew each other and she assumed intimately with the way the girl threw herself into his arms and tried to stick her tongue down his throat. She had never thought she was the type of person to blame ‘the other woman’ but she had the sudden and intense urge to punch the girl.

“What’s wrong, you’re not happy to see me?” Azusa asked in a cutesy voice, pouting her lips together.

“Actually, no, I’m not,” Ranma said bluntly. Azusa was making it difficult to talk much less get rid of her.

“Aww. After I got all dressed up for you too!”

The brunette stepped back and opened up her trench coat, revealing a sheer frilly pink baby doll with white lacy thigh-high stockings. Ranma quickly grabbed the coat and pulled it closed.

“This really isn’t a good time,” he said quickly.

“Actually, it’s perfect timing, I was just leaving.”

Ranma whipped his head around at Akane’s declaration. She had already picked up her wristlet and was just putting on her jacket. His eyes widened in panic and he started towards her.

“No! Don’t go, please,” he pleaded. “This isn’t what…”

“Oh, is there someone else here?”

Azusa peered around Ranma, her head cocked to the side as she eyed the stranger before her. She put a bright smile on her face as she came out from behind the pigtailed man and bypassed him as she skipped to the stranger. She stopped right in front of Akane, giving her a big smile, and clapped her hands together.

“Oh, she’s so cute!” Azusa exclaimed as she spun to give Ranma a wink. She spun back and grabbed Akane’s hands. “You’re so cute!” she repeated before she threw her arms around the youngest Tendo and nuzzled her neck.

The blue-haired woman could only stare down in shock before she tried to wriggle herself from the surprisingly strong grip of the waifish girl. She looked up and glared at Ranma. She still couldn’t believe she was put into this situation and could only blame him for it.

“The fuck? Azusa stop!” he yelled. This cannot be happening, he thought to himself.

The brunette pouted as she slackened her grip on the blue-haired girl.

“You need to leave,” he saidloudly.

He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her off Akane but Azusa only pulled her arm back with a petulant look on her face as she looked from Ranma and Akane.

“But why?” she asked with a whine.

The blue-haired girl could tell by the hazy look in her eyes that she was tipsy, which could explain the erratic behavior. For a reason she couldn’t explain, she thought the brunette looked sad. But that did little to dampen her exasperation.

Azusa giggled before wrapping her arms around Akane again. “I like sharing and play really well with others,” she said with another giggle. She made her meaning clear as she moved one hand down and over the blue-haired girl’s bottom.

Is this chick for real? Akane thought incredulously, the small amount of sympathy she had about the girl’s emotional and physical state vanishing.

“Asuza!” Ranma shouted, getting the attention of both girls. He couldn’t believe she propositioned Akane into having a threesome. While it was every guy’s fantasy – hell he had dreamed about it himself – it wasn’t something he would entertain concerning Akane, much less have it proposed to her by a drunk girl he had slept with as she interrupted their date.

He walked over to them and pulled the brunette forcefully away from his date. Once he got them separated, he held the inebriated girl next to him by the forearm. He turned to his date with an apologetic look, but before he could say something she brushed past him.

“You shouldn’t have asked me to come over if you were expecting other company!” Akane said through gritted teeth.

“I had no idea she was coming over tonight!” Ranma said in his defense.

He let go of Azusa and went after Akane, stopping only when she whirled on him suddenly and saw the blazing look in her eyes. Never before had he seen her look so angry. He gulped. His mind racing to find a way, anyway to get her to stay. If he could only explain the situation to her, get her to listen, then maybe he could salvage the night. Or at least make sure she didn’t hate him.

“Then you need to do a better job scheduling visits with your girlfriends…unless this was part of your plan all along,” she said accusingly, her eyes narrowed.

“What? No! I never…” but he was unable to finish his thought as she yanked the door open and left quickly, slamming the door behind her.

“Fuck!” he yelled as gripped his hair in frustration. He turned around to see Azusa looking at him in confusion. “What are you doing here?” he bit out.

“I came to see you,” she said. The answer to that seemed obvious.

“Well, you shouldn’t have!”

“Why? You’ve never complained before,” she said with another pout.

Ranma opened his mouth to yell at her but the confused look on her face had his comment dying quickly. He sighed as he tried to rein in his emotions. She was right, he had always liked her little visits before and she often came unannounced, so she couldn’t know what a bad time this was.

This entire fucked up situation was his fault.

“I think you should go.”

Azusa’s face went through several emotions as Ranma’s words finally registered to her. Being tipsy, it took her a moment to process what happened and realized that he must have been serious about the cute girl who was here earlier. Guilt over what she had done only rivaled the sadness that filled her. She could always count on Ranma being there to make her feel better, even if it was only on a physical level. He had always made her feel wanted for the short time they were together. Now she felt rejected all over again. She nodded and closed her trench coat as she walked to the door.

“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to call you a cab?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Azuza,” Ranma called out.

Turning around, she looked at him questioningly. Seeing the serious expression on his face, she knew what he was going to say and braced herself.

“I don’t think you should come over for these visits anymore.”

“I understand. I’m sorry, Ranma,” Azusa said softly before slipping out.

&&&

Akane’s phone had begun buzzing as soon as she hit the subway. She checked it quickly to see Ranma’s name fill up her screen. She pressed the decline button and stuffed the phone back into her wristlet. She ignored the incessant buzzing for the entire ride home.

She stormed up to her room and slammed the door shut before dropping her wristlet on her desk and herself on her bed. She took some deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She knew she was letting her feelings get the best of her but then again she had always been a slave to her emotions. But she held onto the anger gladly; the pressure at the back of her eyes telling her that she would succumb to her tears soon.

She was too agitated to just lie around. What she needed was a hard workout. Something to get rid of the sharp edge of emotions so she could think clearly about what had happened. Getting up, she grabbed her worn gi from her closet and changed quickly before heading to the dojo.

&&&

Ranma paced his living room, as he had been since Akane walked out the door. He wondered for the umpteenth time that night how things turned out so badly. They were having such a good time, getting to know each other better and just enjoying each other’s company. He had been so pleasantly surprised when she had made the first move on him. He hadn’t planned on anything happening between them that night but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stop once things got started. No man would when a beautiful woman like Akane straddled them like that.

To go from that, to this.

Just the memory of the look she gave him when she left made his chest ache. She looked at him with such disdain, like he was nothing more than a bug. He had worked so hard to get her to see that he was more than just a jerk. He realized that in the short time they had known each other, her good opinion of him mattered more than anyone’s except for his mother and sister, which was saying a lot. For once in his life, he found someone whose good opinion meant the world to him. But it seemed that once again he was on her shit list. He just hoped what happened hadn’t completely destroyed her trust in him.

He stopped and looked at the stuffed animal sitting on his coffee table. He tried not to take it as a bad sign that she had left it behind but every time he looked at it, those black eyes seem to taunt at him.

Stupid pig.

Ranma looked down at his phone, trying to not let it get to him that she hadn’t texted him back. He had sent her an embarrassing amount of messages and was sorely tempted to send her another one but stopped himself. She obviously needed more time before she was ready to talk. But he couldn’t just sit there doing nothing. He had never been good at that.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was to punch something, anything to get rid of this frustration. So that’s just what he’d do. He went to his room and changed quickly before heading to the gym.

&&&

Akane came back to her room tired, both physically and emotionally. She had taken a quick soak after her work out and should have felt refreshed but didn’t. She felt worn out, and no longer feeling the rush of emotions, she was finally able to think and process what had happened earlier.

She collapsed onto her bed before burrowing herself in her blankets, feeling thoroughly depressed. Now that the initial anger was gone, she was caught in a mix of hurt and embarrassment.

She truly liked Ranma. He was funny, kind, smart, and a bit of a jerk, but for some reason that last quality made him sexier and not obnoxious. She had been so attracted to him for so long, pretty much from the moment she first saw him on that disastrous first date. She pushed her attraction aside when she only thought of him as a jerk but once she got to know him better, it became harder and harder for her to fight that attraction. She had been so happy when he asked her out for a date, because she thought that it meant that he had wanted her too, and not just physically but that he wanted a real relationship with her.

Their date had been amazing, probably the best she ever had. They seemed to get along so well. She had never felt more connected to someone. For once, her mind, body, and emotions were all on the same page, screaming at her that this was someone special. So she saw no reason to wait to be with him. So when they were alone, she had made the first move. She had never been one to play games.

This was their first date yes, but not in the traditional sense. She would have never done something like that on a first date with a stranger to her. But Ranma was no stranger. They were friends. He cared about her. He wanted more with her.

Or so she thought.

Now she felt like a fool. She had known a bit about his past with women and knew he was something of a player, it was not something she could ignore with the jabs Ryoga often threw at Ranma. She dismissed it though, because she thought she was special to him. But it seemed like she had been wrong. Was she just another conquest to him? Did he only see her as someone to sleep with? Another girl in his revolving door of fuck buddies?

She scoffed.

Of course he would. What else was he to think but she was just another easy lay when she had thrown herself at him. She was mortified that she hadn’t even given a thought to protection. Hadn’t even considered he might not have had any.

She felt so stupid.

When it came down to it, she couldn’t even be mad at him for what happened. Oh, she was plenty mad at the events and having one of his ‘girls’ thrown in her face but when she thought back on the incident it was obvious he had no idea Azusa was going to show up when she did and he tried his best to get rid of her.

So the only thing she had to be angry at was that he was seeing Azusa at the same time as her. But did she have the right to be mad at him for that? She could be hurt by it, was hurt by it, but it had been their first date; they had made no commitments to each other. No conversation about monogamy. Just because she wasn’t seeing anyone else didn’t mean he couldn’t.

Now where did that leave them?

Would she be okay just being one of who knows how many women he slept with?

No, she wouldn’t be. She had never been one for casual sex and even if she were, she wouldn’t be with Ranma. She simply cared too much for him. She’d watched her friends settle for physical relationships with men they cared about, knowing that those guys only wanted sex from them. But each one held out hope that it would turn into something more. That those guys would somehow grow attached to them, would begin to care about them. But it never happened. She had watched friend after friend being strung along for way too long before they realized how pointless their relationships were. Each one had been devastated by it.

She just couldn’t do that to herself. It was better to be hurt now, when it wasn’t as painful to break things off. She was just sad that something that had barely started could be over so quickly.

&&&

Ranma looked at his phone, willing it to ring, but it stayed stubbornly quiet. His thumbs hovered over the electronic keypad before he eventually put it down. He had no idea what to say that he hadn’t already. Even if he did, she obviously didn’t want to talk to him and he didn’t want to be one of those guys who couldn’t take a hint.

No matter how much it bothered him.

He decided to just go to bed. He would have to try to explain things to her and hope that she would be willing to listen but ended up waking early after a restless night. The first thing he did was check his phone, sighing in disappointment when he still hadn’t heard from Akane, although he wasn’t surprised as it was 8 am on a Saturday. He dropped his phone back on his nightstand and laid there staring at the ceiling.

Since he knew it was unlikely that he would fall back asleep with everything going through his mind, he decided to get ready. An hour later and he was sitting on his couch eating a bowl of cereal, mindlessly staring at the TV, when his phone beeped. He grabbed it quickly and sighed in relief when he saw it was a text from Akane.

Are you up?

Yeah, he typed back quickly.

Ranma was starting another text, wanting to find out if she was okay when he got her second text.

Can I come over? We need to talk.

The pigtailed man groaned at the second sentence. Never before had those words been said – or typed – to a man and meant anything good. But he knew it was unavoidable. He sighed before texting back.

Sure. When are you going to come by?

He sat there looking at his phone, waiting for another text when he heard a knock on his front door. He went to the door, wondering who it could be so early in the morning. He opened it and was surprised to see Akane there holding two go cups.

It had been a long night for the blue-haired girl too. She had fallen asleep late and woken up early as her mind refused to turn off. She had gotten up and ready, wanting to deal with the situation sooner rather than later. It was only after she knocked on his front door, that it dawned on her that he might not have been alone.

“Hi,” Ranma greeted in surprise.

“Good morning. I’m not…interrupting anything am I?” she asked.

She didn’t think that she could take it if it had turned out Azusa had spent the night. While she had already made her decision, him sleeping with the other girl last night would have been a sure sign that he had felt very little for her. Plus she didn’t think she could handle another meeting with Azusa without getting violent.

“No. Azusa left shortly after you did. She did not spend the night. Nothing happened.” He wanted to make that point crystal clear. “Why don’t you come in?”

He followed her to his couch and sat down next to her, leaving an inordinate amount of space between them considering the size of his couch. They sat there awkwardly for a moment before Akane decided to break the silence.

“I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“What? Why?”

He had been afraid of the very thing happening but when she showed up at his door a small ray of hope blossomed in him. He had thought that maybe if he were lucky she would only rant and rave at him. But it seemed his luck had run out. The tight feeling that had been in his chest since last night seemed to intensify.

“Well, I don’t date guys who already have girlfriends.”

“She’s not my girlfriend! She already has a guy!”

“Oh, is that supposed to make things better?” Akane asked scathingly as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes! No. I…” he stammered before he paused, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “Can you give me a second to explain please before you make any decisions?”

Akane frowned. It was on the tip of her tongue to say no just so she could leave and end it quickly. But part of her needed answers.

“Fine. Explain.”

“Azusa has a boyfriend, they’ve been dating for years. But Mikado has wondering eyes and hands. I don’t know how many times he’s cheated on her through the years. It’s always the same. He cheats on her, she breaks up with him, he promises never to do it again, and she takes him back. But before that, when she finds out about his cheating, she breaks up with him and comes over…” he trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

“She comes over to have revenge sex with you,” Akane said bluntly.

Ranma nodded slowly. It was not something he wanted to admit to her. He had never been ashamed of the arrangement he had with Azusa, they were consenting adults. He cared about her too, as a friend. It was hard not to since she was always so upbeat, even when she was feeling blue. But having to explain the situation to Akane made him feel like what they had been doing was somehow wrong.

“It doesn’t mean anything to either of us. She loves Mikado and always takes him back, we both know that. I haven’t seen her or thought about her in months.”

Akane remained silent as she thought over the information. It confirmed her suspicions that Ranma had no clue that Azusa was going to show up last night and it made her feel slightly better that he hadn’t seen her in months. It meant that he hadn’t had sex with her while they were getting to know each other. The story also explained why the girl looked so sad last night, especially considering what she had come over for. Part of her felt bad for the Azusa.

Azusa...

Why did the name sound familiar? Now that she thought about it, the girl looked familiar too.

Azusa…

Mikado…

“Azusa Shiatori and Mikado Sanzenin?” she wondered out loud.

“Yeah, that’s them,” Ranma answered, thinking her question was directed at him.

“The Golden Pair? That Azusa and Mikado? Hopefuls for the next Olympics?”

“Yeah,” he said wearily. He had no idea she followed figure skating.

Ranma ran a hand over his face before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He watched the blue-haired girl carefully. She seemed to be less angry but she was far from calm.

Akane let that bit of information sink in. She found it surreal that she had been felt up by one of the most famous figure skaters in all of Japan. She shook her head to try to clear it. That wasn’t what she should be focused on at the moment. She took a moment to refocus her thoughts. The situation, while looking better had not really changed.

“Thank you for telling me everything but I still don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“Why? I don’t understand. I told you that I had no idea that Azusa was going to be here and I got rid of her as soon as I could.”

“I know but I’m not the type of person who is going to be okay with you slipping from my bed into someone else’s. I’m not okay with casual sex or being just another girl for you to sleep with.”

“Is that what you think? That I’m just looking to get into your pants?” he demanded hotly.

“Can you blame me?”

“Yeah, I can. I thought you knew me better than that.”

“So you’re telling me you’ve never had friends with benefits situation with anyone? Because that sounds exactly like what you had with Azusa. Or that you’ve never slept with two different women at the same time, and I don’t mean a threesome.”

“So what are you saying? Are you asking me for…some kind of commitment?”

“No! We’ve only had one date. But I do not play well with others and I don’t share. Which is why I think it’s better that we just end things now.”

Ranma was about to retort but he knew he really couldn’t say much. She was right of course. Most of his relationships were friends with benefits situations. There were times that he had more than one woman at a time he had on tap for booty calls, since the girls never meant much to him.

For the second time that night he grew uncomfortable with how he had been living his life. He had not seen any harm in the way he had acted as he had - for the most part - been honest with his intentions with women. There were a few sticky situations he had gotten himself into when he was younger, when he hadn’t been as forthright with the girls as he was now, but he was young and he learned from those mistakes. So why was he feeling so guilty now?

It didn’t take too long for him to realize that it was because of Akane. He didn’t want her thinking badly of him. He didn’t want her to judge him because of his past but it seemed too late for that. Here she was, ready to break things off with him because she couldn’t trust his intentions.

He took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. Being defensive or getting into an argument wasn’t going to help the situation, it was bad enough already. He needed to be honest with her and explain the situation but he also need to do it in a way that assured her that he cared for her. If he didn’t then it really could be over and he didn’t know if he could live with that.

“Yes, you’re right. I have had those types of relationships in the past. But this,” he gestured to her and back to him, “is different.”

“Why?”

“Because of you. I’ve never really felt…this for anyone before.”

Which was both exciting and scary for the pig-tailed man.

“You need to know that I haven’t been with anyone since I met you, before that really.”

Shampoo had been the last woman he had been with and she had turned out to be a complete psycho that he had been worried about getting involved with anyone else in fear that they too would turn out to be just as obsessed as her. The night he had met Akane, he had been so excited to go clubbing with his friends because he was hoping to meet someone. Enough time had passed so what happened with Shampoo wasn’t so fresh on his mind and frankly he really needed to get laid. He had in fact gotten the number of a really hot chick he had every intention of calling but then he kept being thrown into situations with Akane. The more he got to know her, the more he thought about her. Then they had that amazing kiss and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. So he totally forgot about the chick from the club. He hadn’t given any other girl more than a passing glance because his mind was full of Akane.

He couldn’t tell her that though as it was too soon for that sort of admission. Plus it was just too embarrassing to admit.

He looked at her expectantly, wondering why she still looked so upset before it clicked.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked disappointedly.

Akane was so conflicted. He had said all the right things. Destroyed every argument she had against them continuing to date. Confirmed that he too felt something special between them. This was the Ranma that she had gotten to know, the one who was honest and sincere, the one she cared about.

But she couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was true. The incident from last night was still fresh in her mind, her emotions still so raw.

“I want to believe you. I do. It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “It’s weird isn’t it, that we’ve had this much trouble already? From that first really bad date to the second date that somehow ended up even worse? It kind of feels like a sign or something that we shouldn’t be together,” she finished softly.

“I guess you could look at it like that but I don’t. Nothing worth having is easy and I think this could be worth it.” He let that sink in a moment before he added, “I know that you’re not sure because you think I only want to fuck you, so let’s just take sex off the table.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“We’ll slow things down. Date and get to know each other. We won’t have sex until it’s right; not until you’re sure that I want more from this relationship than just sex.”

“You’re going to be okay with that?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah because you are worth it,” he replied sincerely, even though it embarrassed him to admit such a sentiment out loud.

“But what about other girls?”

“What about them?”

“I mean just because you haven’t been with anyone since we met doesn’t mean…”

“I meant what I said. I haven’t been with anyone else and I don’t want to be. I’m not going risk this just to get my rocks off.”

“And will I have to expect any more unannounced visitors when I’m over?”

“No. I made it clear to Azusa last night that she shouldn’t come over anymore.”

“But is Azusa…?”

“Akane,” he said sharply. “Believe me when I say you won’t have to deal with anything like that again.”

It was the truth. While he had several girls who texted him randomly for booty calls, Azusa was the only one who would come over without letting him know and that was because she was drunk. Should one of the other girl’s text him, he would tell them no and that would be that.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah. I just need some time to think about things,” she said as she got up to leave.

While she was no longer angry, she was far from feeling good about the situation. But Ranma had made her feel better about the entire situation and his confession and willingness to take things slow made her think he was being honest. But after the tumultuous night she had, she just couldn’t make a decision so lightly.

“Sure,” he said as he walked her to the door, which he opened for her.

“Bye, Ranma.”

“See ya.”

Ranma’s wanted to ask her to stay so they could figure things out once and for all but he knew better. She said she needed time so he would give it to her, if he pushed the issue now, he could push her in the other direction. For now, he could only cling to the fact that she hadn’t shut him down completely. There was a spark of hope that they still had a chance.

A/N: To the guest reviewer who said my characters don't really resemble R&A anymore, thank you for the honest criticism. I can see why you feel that way. I will say that it's hard to keep them IC given that the characters not only have different backgrounds but they are older as well. I wanted to write a sexier story and don't like the idea of doing that with teenagers. I have tried to keep some of the core personality traits of all the characters while making them modern and more relateable. All except for Ranko, who is part original character and a blend of how Ranma acted in his female form. I'm glad you are still enjoying the story despite the OOCness.

I've always thought that Azusa was secretly in love with Mikado and only collected 'cute' things as a way to get his attention as he's so busy trying to kiss other girls. In any universe though, Mikado is a hopeless player. Shout out to Angela Jewell and sjofn for guessing it was Azusa at the door. For those of you who read the chapter when it was first posted, I changed the word 'baby' to 'cutie' after publishing. It was a minor hint but a hint nonetheless.

The last chapter set up a couple of conversations Ranma and Akane really needed to have about monogamy and how serious they are about each other.

Thanks alwaysZutarian for your help and support! This chapter wouldn't be nearly as good without her help.

Sorry this took so long to get out but I had to rewrite a couple of scenes as I wasn't happy with it and I got busy with life. With the holidays coming updates may take a little while longer.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone living in the U.S.!

Longest author's note ever! Sorry, I really do try to keep them short.
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