Ranma stared at the ceiling, or where the ceiling would be if he could see it in the dark. The still air seemed to press down on him, as stifling as guilt. What’s the matter with me tonight? We always argue… how come I feel so lousy? Beside him, the huge furred bulk of his father snored loudly. Why can’t I be like Oyaji and sleep no matter what? Conscience never bothers him… heat never bothers him… noise never bothers him. His eyes burned with the need for sleep, but the gnawing remorse in his gut made it impossible… let alone all the other discomforts: the oppressively unmoving air, the damp heat of his skin against the futon, the unpleasant way his boxers clung to him, that buzz-saw snoring… suddenly he couldn’t stand it any more. He slipped out the window, and in a single smooth leap was on the roof.
It was slightly cooler up here, and there was a faint breeze, coming from the opposite side of the house. He stretched out on the cool tiles, hands behind his head, and gazed up at the stars. They weren’t as clear or as close here as they were other places: up north, or in backcountry China, away from cities, but he still loved their beauty and peace, the still calm that grew in his soul when he looked at them. A meteor streaked across the sky, and then another.
He still felt bad about the argument with Akane. Guess I should apologize.
Man, if I go in there she’ll pound me for a pervert.
Gotta do it anyway. If she pounds me she pounds me. He swung himself over the edge of the roof and in through Akane’s window.
It was just as stifling in her room as it had been in his. She had kicked off her covers and lay curled in a little ball, hugging that stupid stuffed pig. At least P-chan ain’t here. Yarou musta got lost again. It was hard to tell in the moonlight… were there tear-streaks on her face? As he gazed down at her, she whimpered and muttered in her sleep. “No, don’t… I didn’t mean it… please…”
He shook her gently. “Akane? C’mon, Akane, wake up.”
“No… nani? Ranma?” She sat up, tensing for an attack.
He gripped her wrists before she could mallet him. “I didn’t come in here to do nothin’ perverted!” he hissed. “I – I just wanted to tell ya… I shouldn’ta said the stuff I did. I’m sorry.”
The angry tension drained out of her. “I… I guess I shouldn’t have hit you so hard.”
There was an awkward silence. Out the window, he saw another meteor fall. “Somethin’ I wanna show ya. C’mon.”
“Ranma…”
He waved his hands in protest. “I ain’t gonna…” He stopped himself before he insulted her again. Tomboy got nothin’ I wanna see. For some reason that felt wrong tonight, and not just because it would get him another malleting, but… “Come on. You’ll like it. Please?”
“All right, but… if this is something perverted you’ll regret it.”
He scooped her up. “Close your eyes and hang on tight.” In a single bound he was out the window; in another he was on the roof.
“Kyaa!” She buried her face in his shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He had carried her before, of course, but seldom so fast; the speed of his leap seemed to leave her stomach behind. It’s one thing to see how strong he is, but it’s something else to feel… he was setting her down on a slanted surface, hard and ridged…
“Okay, you can look now.” Just as she had thought, they were on the roof. It was cooler up here, with a slight breeze. “Look up.”
It was a perfectly clear night, the stars stretching up endlessly. A streak of light crossed the heavens, then another, and another… the whole sky was a dance of falling stars… “So beautiful,” she breathed.
Ranma lay down on the roof next to her, his hands behind his head, carefully not touching her. “Like it?”
“It’s so beautiful…” She turned toward him, smiling, and stretched out her hand. “Thank you, Ranma.”
He extended his own hand, barely touching hers. Watching her was even better than watching the meteor shower. Delight radiated from her like sunshine, he could feel it even with his eyes closed. Especially with his eyes closed…
Ranma’s never done anything this nice before. Akane gazed up at the falling stars. It was so quiet up here, late at night, only the chirp of a cricket in the garden, the faint sounds of occasional cars on the main road… a cat yowling, somewhere in the direction of the shrine. She glanced quickly at Ranma to see if the sound had bothered him, but he was sound asleep. The stars almost seemed to be singing… if she closed her eyes she could almost hear it…
Something was tickling his nose. He twitched, but it didn’t go away. There was a bright light glaring in his eyes too; he tried opening them, but it was so bright he couldn’t see anything, and shut them again. That bug or whatever was still tickling his nose too. He raised a hand to brush it away… and encountered… hair!? And there was something on top of him besides a quilt, too, something warm and soft and…
There’s a girl draped all over me. Oh man, that hentai bimbo Shampoo musta snuck into my bed again… Akane’s gonna KILL me… He tried opening his eyes again, just a crack; this time he saw enough to notice that the hair tickling his nose wasn’t long and purple at all. It was short and black. A-Akane? That’s right, I brought her up to watch the meteors… I guess we both fell asleep… Oh no, I hafta get her back to her room before our dads or Nabiki find out we’re up here… Slowly he began edging out from under her.
“Ranma,” she murmured in her sleep, and her arms tightened around him.
She really feels kinda nice. Soft. In spite of what he always said, he didn’t really find her sexless. Quite the opposite, in fact. He could feel every soft curve of her body through the thin cotton of her pajamas… gods, she felt so… for all the protection his boxers afforded, he might as well have been naked… Aww man… all I need now is for her to wake up… or Shampoo or Kodachi to come by… I’m dead. I’m worse than dead… kawaiikunee, irokeganee… his body obstinately refused to believe the insults…
Akane wasn’t in her bed… she was on something hard and yielding at once… She opened her eyes; she was looking down a flat expanse of bare skin… yellow silk boxers, trimmed with blue… and… I’m up on the roof? With Ranma? And he’s… he’s… She sat up, sprang to her feet, her aura flaring to life.
His brain, already overloaded by the conflict between what he was feeling and what he knew was going to happen, shut down. He scrambled backwards, away from her, hands raised in a warding gesture, babbling frantically. “Akane… wait… it’s not what you think… don’t… please…”
“Ranma… you… PERVERT!!” Her foot connected solidly, and he went flying off the roof into the garden. He tucked, spun, tried to control his landing, but that never did any good where Akane was concerned, he was going to land right in the…
*splash*
Ranma stood up, water streaming from her pigtail and nose and chin, a strand of green weed decorating her fire-red hair. “You are so UNCUTE!” she yelled at the now-empty roof, and stomped into the house in search of hot water and dry clothes.