The Lost Boy's Lost Love

AN: I don't really know what kind of windows they have in the Ranma house... I just decided to use glass ones, here. Sorry if I'm wrong, hopefully I don't break any nerd's immersion T_T

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Chapter 5: A Late Return

Midnight. Ranma had decided to give them until midnight. If Akane still wasn't home by then, he could be sure something serious was up - and if anyone called him over-protective, then they'd be the silly one. He spent the hours up in his room, listening for the sound of opening doors and occasionally pacing between his bed and the window. He tried to stay busy and keep a clear head, but this became a more difficult task the longer the night went on.

By 11 o'clock, he was in full-blown brooding mode. A plethora of potential circumstances were cycling through his mind, and once again, Ranma didn't like the possibilities.

This was ridiculous - if someone's going to take a young girl like Akane out on a date, then it's common courtesy to have her home before the street lights turn on. Didn't that loser know that?

Even if he didn't, it came as a surprise to him that Akane would opt to stay out so late on her own. Even if they were... you know, getting way friendlier than they ought to be. It just wasn't like her. That thought roused the growing fear in him.

He decided to head downstairs.

Genma and Soun were in the sitting room. Soun was slumped over the arm of the couch, and his father - the big panda - had passed right out in sitting position, a tendril of drool hanging down from his jowls. Ranma wrinkled his nose at them. How embarrassing - two grown men that could barely hold their liquor. He imagined himself scrambling in there and startling them awake with shouts about how he'd found poor Akane beaten and bloodied in some dark alley while they were both sitting around drinking themselves stupid; an amusing thought, but he decided against it.

He let himself outside and peered around the garden. "Akane?" he called out, figuring it was worth a shot. Maybe she'd gotten home already and just didn't come inside.

There was no response. He walked around the yard and watched the street, absently wondering where Nabiki and Kasumi might be. Probably asleep by now. Some sisters they were.

He idled for some time, ambling around the yard and debating on starting his search early, when suddenly something in the distance caught his eye. Down the street outside the Tendo home, two figures appeared to be walking in his direction. Ranma squinted through the darkness, but all he could make out was a pair of vague silhouettes. Was that them? The heights looked to be about right. Ranma wondered what he should do. He quickly decided that he didn't want to be waiting outside like this when they showed up - that would make him look like he cared. He hurried back into the house, shut the door and perched himself in front of the window.

:::[down the street]:::

"I'm really sorry about this," Ryoga was saying. "I hope your dad doesn't get mad at you."

"Don't worry about it; it'll be fine," said Akane. "I'll just explain what happened. It's not like crazier stuff doesn't happen around here, you know?"

"I guess so," Ryoga agreed. "I just don't wanna cause any trouble."

"You won't. Trust me," said Akane. "In any case - I had a lot of fun with you today."

Ryoga smiled shyly at her. He still couldn't believe that all this was real. He was half-sure he'd wake up any second now. "I had a lot of fun, too," he said.

They came up on the porch and faced each other. Akane let out a sigh as she looked up at he house. "Finally," she said.

Ranma had watched them both approach, spying from his vantage point at the window. The relief of seeing Akane safe was short-lived. His eyes burned into Ryoga, the contempt practically oozing out of him. The sight of the lost boy brought him back to that sunny lake-side park they'd been at earlier that afternoon - and this did nothing at all to quell Ranma's anger. So the guy kisses one girl and then goes out with another in the same day? What a sick, stupid pervert. Ranma moved closer to the window until his nose touched the glass, but to his displeasure, he couldn't hear anything they were saying.

"Yep," Ryoga said, groping for words. "So, I guess I'll... see you tomorrow, then?"

Akane only had to think about it a moment before she nodded. "I'd like that. Maybe you can walk me to school."

Yeah, Akane thought in the back of her mind as she said the words. Ranma ought to love that.

"Okay," Ryoga hastily agreed. "I'll be here tomorrow morning. ...Um..."

He cast his eyes down. This was it, the euphoric end to his very first date with Akane Tendo. Well, his second very first date - but still. He'd imagined this moment a hundred times, and those fantasies typically ended with what he figured all good first dates ended with: the first kiss.

But he wasn't making that mistake again. No sir. He swallowed nervously, unsure what to do. Maybe a hug would be okay...?

Akane could see pretty clearly what he was thinking. She waited, curious as to what he'd do. Ranma was wondering the same thing.

After a few seconds of her staring at him, Ryoga cleared his throat. "See you, then. ...Bye," he said.

A soft smile met Akane's lips, her own nervousness dissipating. "Okay," she said, "See you."

Before Ryoga could turn to leave, Akane took a step forward and inched up to lay a kiss flat against his cheek. It had been an impulse action, a harmless display of affection. She really did have a very good time with him, after all; why shouldn't she show it?

The soft touch of her lips against his face - his human face! - sent Ryoga's head flying into the clouds, and sent Ranma flying off his rocker.

The two lovebirds whirled around in surprise as the front door burst open, the moment shattered.

"Well, well," Ranma said as he stepped out. Akane took to his peripheal, his eyes fixed on Ryoga. "Look who's finally getting in."

Akane's features contorted in irritation. "Great. Hi, Ranma," she said flatly. Ranma ignored her. He marched up to Ryoga and gave the other boy a powerful shoulder-shove that sent him stumbling back just a few steps.

"Ranma!!" Akane gasped his name in surprise.

"What's the big idea, huh!?" Ranma demanded, advancing on Ryoga. Their faces were just inches from each other as he shouted at him, "Do you have any idea what time it is!?"

Ryoga had taken the shove without retaliating. He stared Ranma in the eye and nodded. "Yes," he said, "And I apologize." He was making a point of keeping his cool. He was the mature one here, after all.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Akane shrieked.

"HE'S my problem!" Ranma spat, and one swift hand shot at Ryoga's neck. Ultimately it veered down, grabbed a tight handful of the boy's shirt and yanked it toward him. Ryoga resisted. "You don't take a teenage girl like Akane out on a date and bring her home at MIDNIGHT, you freak!" said Ranma.

"STOP IT! Ranma - I swear! - you let him go right now!" Akane babbled. On the surface, she looked absolutely mortified - yet she felt an increasing, distant awareness that her racing heart was being driven less by anger and more by a growing sense of excitement. Holy shit, she thought somewhere in her mind; he was mad. She figured he'd be mad, but good-martial-arts-Jesus, he was pissed. There wasn't any doubt about it: Ranma Saotome was jealous. Who could blame her for wanting to smile at that? As much as he called her ugly and uncute and tomboy-ish and whatever else, it was nice to know that he didn't really think those things.

"Like I said," Ryoga spoke slow and forcedly calm as the two boys glared at each other. "I'm sorry. This wasn't what I intended -"

"Yeah?" Ranma snarled in a low voice and yanked his shirt again. "So just what the shit were you two doing all this time, huh?"

"We -" Ryoga started and Ranma gave him a shake.

"You what!?"

"...got lost," the other boy finished. Ranma's eyes narrowed. He might've said he didn't believe it, but in all reality, he knew that had a good likelihood of being true.

"What we were doing," Akane corrected him, "Is none of your business, Ranma. Now go back inside before you wake up the whole house!"

It was too late for that. Lights started coming on inside. A haggard-looking Mr. Tendo appeared in the doorway, and a sleepy-eyed Kasumi was making her way downstairs.

Soun cleared his throat. "What is going on here?" He sounded more annoyed than concerned, his tone impatient and his eyes drooping.

Akane looked to her father with pleading eyes. "Dad, make him stop!"

"Ranma," Ryoga warned, "I'm in a really good mood today, so I'm gonna give you up to five seconds take your hands off me."

"You ain't givin' me nothin'," Ranma reproached, giving the boy another push before taking step back. "I'm the one giving you a chance to run, right now, before I change my mind and break your teeth in for this, pigboy."

"I'd like to see you try," Ryoga said with a leer.

"If anyone's going to be knocking anyone's teeth in, it'll have to wait 'til morning," Soun told them. "What are you kids doing up at this hour? It's a school night!"

"Yeah!" Ranma confirmed this excitedly, finally looking back at Mr. Tendo. "We have school tomorrow. And Ryoga kept Akane out half the night!" He pointed accusingly at the other boy, who became petrified there as Soun's eyes met his.

"Hmm," Soun grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. He was too tired to deal with this. He let his arm drop and spoke sternly. "Ryoga, I'm surprised at you," he said. "If this is what I can come to expect from you, I don't want you taking Akane out *any*more."

"That's right!" Ranma agreed.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Tendo," Ryoga stuttered. "It won't happen again -"

"Dad...!" Akane interrupted. "It's not Ryoga's fault. We were just taking a walk, and we got to talking, and - well before I knew it, we were lost in a weird part of town, and we wound up trying to find our way back all night. Otherwise I would have been home hours ago!"

"Oh, well, see now? That's more understandable," said Kasumi from behind Mr. Tendo. "Isn't it father?"

Soun paused a moment and nodded. "Hm, yes; I suppose that is different..."

"Different how!?" Ranma demanded. "What difference does it make? If she hadn't been out with Waldo here in the first place, this never would've happened. Now she's going to be dead tired tomorrow - she'll probably look like hell -"

"Oh, shut up!" Akane smacked his shoulder.

"How should they have been able to foresee such circumstances?" asked Kasumi. Ranma glared at her. It was almost as though she was defending Ryoga. "Let's just quiet down, forget about all this, and get back to bed, okay?"

"That sounds like a perfect solution," said Soun. "Come on, you two, get inside. Ryoga, you have some place you can go?"

"...Yes... don't worry about me," Ryoga said. "I'll get out of your hair. I'm... really sorry about all this..."

"Better be..." Ranma muttered.

"Oh, it's alright. Like Kasumi said," said Soun, "Let's just forget about all of this." He turned his attention to Ranma and Akane and waved a hand to invite them in. "Come on, upstairs. Go on."

"Bye, Ryoga," Akane said with a note of sadness as she and Ranma went into the house. Soun watched as his daughters and Ranma headed up to their rooms.

Akane waited in the hall for Kasumi to shut her door before she turned to Ranma and hissed through the darkness at him, "You're COMPLETELY unbelievable, you know that?"

"You're the one I can't believe," Ranma hissed back. "'Ohh, we got lost'," he mocked. "Likely story."

"We DID get lost, you dumb jerk," said Akane, finding it hard to keep her voice low. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

Ranma was finding similar difficulty in containing his itching temper. Geez, she really was all done up, he thought - a little more make-up and a tomboy like her could be made into a real knock-out.

"I don't know - apparently one that shacks up with dirty bums like Ryoga," he remarked.

Akane's jaw hung slack in offense. "For your information," she started, "Ryoga happens to be more of a gentleman than you'll ever be. But I didn't 'shack up' with anybody; you take that back!"

"Then what was that kiss all about, huh!?"

"You were watching!" Akane pointed out in a shrill, amused voice. The idea brought that distant excitement to the forefront and she laughed, "You're jealous of him, aren't you?"

"No, I am not jealous," Ranma argued, face going red at her laughter. "What's to be jealous about? What I am is pissed that you could have such poor judgement."

"What do you mean 'poor judgement'? And don't even try to tell me you aren't jealous," Akane huffed, "What was with that whole display earlier at Ukyo's diner, then? Seems like a lot of trouble to go through to ruin our day when I mean so little to you."

Ranma deliberately ignored the rest of her statement. "What I mean is," he said, "You put yourself in harm's way by going out with him without even telling anyone where you'd be at - the guy is out to kill me, Akane!"

"Yeah, well, he's not out to kill me, so what's the big deal?" Akane frowned. "Either way, it's none of your concern what I do. I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"Actually, Akane, it is my concern," Ranma said, "Because whether you or I like it or not, you're my fiance, and that makes me responsible for you. That's why I cant allow this to go on - because if anything ends up happening to you, then I just know it's gonna come back and bite me in the ass."

"Hmph! Well that's just too bad for you, because you don't ALLOW me to do anything, Ranma!" said Akane, becoming irate as her voice rose to a near-shout. Why did he always have to act so selfish all the time?

"I'm warning you, Akane," said Ranma. "You keep this up, and I won't let you out of my sight for a second. You won't have a moment of peace, hear me? It's for your own good!"

Akane stared in silence up at Ranma, her frown indignant and sharp. Slowly, it softened, and she began quite plainly cracking up. "Are you serious?" she laughed.

"What're you laughing at!?" Ranma demanded.

"You are SO jealous!" said Akane, giving him a hard-but-playful jab in the chest. "This is really driving you crazy, isn't it?"

"Oh, come off it!" Ranma growled, his cheeks flushed. "Like I said, I'm just watching my ass here. Jealousy's got nothing to do with it."

Akane spoke in a sweetly condescending manner, "Don't worry, Ranma; it's not like me and Ryoga are suddenly an item or anything. Who knows?" she said as she turned to enter her room, "Be a little nicer sometimes and maybe you'll get your chance, too."

She moved to shut her door, but Ranma hastened forward and stuck his palm out to hold it open. They weren't finished here. "Like I'd want it," he said sarcastically, "but does that mean you're gonna stay away from him, then?"

"I'll do what I want, Ranma," Akane told him. "Now go away, I wanna get some sleep. And you should, too."

She gave the door a hard push, and Ranma couldn't thwart its slamming shut. That girl was like a frickin' lumberjack. "Well, you just remember what I said!" he raised his voice and said, "Whether you two are an 'item' or not, it still stands!"

"Go to bed, Ranma."

Still fuming, he did as she said.

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RAEDE