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“Ah... the rainy days... the cute maidens without shelter running home in vain... the wet uniforms that give a glimpse of inexperienced young bodies... And then the lust-colored traffic lights that surprise them in the rain. Galley traffic lights for the lovers who avail themselves of the boldness of youth to shelter their beloveds with their umbrellas. The waiting, the wet clothes on the turgid breasts, the sound of the rain... Passion and ardor do the rest.”
Outside the anonymous family café, heavy black clouds were gathering in the sky, and Kuno Tatewaki, facing his cocktail, fingers entwined around his glass, his heated gaze lost in front of him, was picturing with a noble calmness the exciting moment when Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl, stopped at the crosswalk waiting for the light to turn green, would, between shrieks, cling to him under their umbrellas to keep from getting wet from the splashing of cars.
“Are you actually talking about rain and red traffic lights?” a sarcastic voice brought him back to reality.
“What would you, Nabiki Tendo, know about love and romance,” he cast a look of contempt at his interlocutor.
She looked at him in turn with condescension as, attached to the straw, she enjoyed the drink offered to her by Tatewaki.
“Whatever, whatever-just pay me,” she shoved an open hand under his nose.
“As if Tatewaki Kuno were not a man of his word,” he huffed, “What is vile money in the face of love?” he concluded intensely as he disbursed five thousand yen.
And at the same instant that at the Tendo Dojo, not too far from there, Kasumi was calmly asking her father and Mr. Genma, strictly in panda form, intent on playing shogi, “Would you like more tea?”, Nabiki Tendo pocketed her exceedingly ill-gotten money.
The beginning of a day of ordinary madness in Nerima, in short.
***
“Ranma hurry up! Look I'm not waiting for you!” at the sound of the bell Akane dived out of the classroom, hoping not to run into Kuno, Kodachi or any of her boyfriend's random beaus.
After all, what was the harm in wishing for once to go home alone with him?
“Yes, yes, I'm coming...,” huffed Ranma, tossing books and pens in his bag and dragging himself behind her.
They even managed to get out of the building without making any bad encounters. Unbelievable...
“Wait what…?”
Of course, it could not have gone so smoothly.
In front of the gate Akane stopped suddenly, nose in the air.
The late afternoon sky was black and did not bode well.
One drop, two... It was about to come down the drain.
“Damn I don't have an umbrella,” she muttered sullenly.
And then the floodgates opened. Literally.
“Damn it!” she railed louder, overpowering the roar of the water as she got inexorably soaked.
“You will at least wait for me now,” she heard Ranma's voice behind her, an unexpectedly still male Ranma, and unbearably sly one.
She looked at him, surprised.
Ranma flaunted that damned crooked grin as, under the shelter of an umbrella, he walked lazily forward, his free arm behind his head.
“Even if it's raining, what's the big deal?” he chuckled practically to her face after catching up with her.
“And since when would you remember to take your umbrella with you?” she said with her arms crossed, feigning nonchalance, if nonchalance can be feigned while taking an open-air shower.
“Ever since Kasumi slipped it into my bag with all her recommendations,” he sneered.
She looked at him sideways, annoyed. The pride rate was always sky high between them. This time it was Ranma who took a step back though.
“Come on, baka, you don't want to stand there all day in the rain! Come on,” he conceded to her with a hint of sweetness, leaning out just far enough to bring the umbrella closer to her.
For once, pride melted easily in the rain, and Akane didn't let it be repeated twice: she slipped under the umbrella, with a little 'thank you' followed by a tongue-lashing.
Just to make sure she didn't miss anything.
--
And the tongue-lashing, as often happened in the bipolar bickering between the two of them, was followed by a smile, one of those shameless Akane’s smiles, so sudden and so bright, that Ranma could not help but blush slightly and think what - without deciding - he always thought at times like this: *Sure she is so...pretty...*
He followed the path of a droplet sliding down her wet face and then down her white neck.
*Also... ‘beautiful’ sometimes*, he swallowed.
They began to walk in silence for a while.
--
Being under Ranma's umbrella was pleasant after all. Even though she was wet and cold.
They were approaching the crosswalk, one of the few in Nerima with a traffic light, rather useless, actually, but strictly respected by everyone in the neighborhood.
“When we get home, go and take immediately a bath, huh?” Ranma said out of the blue.
“What?”
“No, I mean... a hot bath, to warm you up... I wouldn't want to have you on my conscience and… I mean, you've gotten quite cold.”
“I don't get sick that easily,” Akane replied, swelling the muscle in her arm, ”It's not that cold actually and I'm a strong person!”
“Yeah... ’cause you're a tomboy!”
Red light.
“What...?!” she instinctively raised a fist to punch him, and instinctively he blocked her and lowered her fist back down her body, so that neither of them found themselves outside the umbrella area, in a smooth and easy movement that disarmed her.
“Come on, you served me this one on a silver platter,” he whispered to her, grinning.
If he wanted to apologize to her, well, he was doing with a defintely slapping face.
--
For his part, Ranma noticed only then that her eyes, wide between embarrassment and disappointment, were only inches from his.
How on earth had he gotten so close?
He still held her hand tightly in his, still had his body pressed against hers, which he sensed perfectly through her rain-soaked clothes.
They had been living together for years now, had been through so many things together, incredible, disastrous, dangerous adventures, and were no strangers, so to speak, to a certain physical closeness, yet so many things were still difficult and that sudden intimacy was as awkward as if it were the first time....
In fact, compared to the first time, he felt ten times hotter.
Almost on the verge of exploding.
He realized that it happened more and more lately....
Heck, he had to get out of it! But did he 'want' to get out of it?
“Sis!”
Green light.
“Na-Nabiki...?” panicked Ranma and broke off. After all, he hadn't done anything wrong, right?...
“We're here, Nabiki!” as if nothing had happened, he heard Akane signaling their location to her harpy sister, who, havening her own umbrella, caught up with them.
“You two ran away right after school ended...”
“Why, what did you want?” asked Ranma circumspectly.
“Nothing in particular,” she replied nonchalantly. “In fact, Ranma...can you come in for a moment?”
She took him by the arm, pulling him under her own umbrella, and Ranma instinctively left his in Akane's hand.
“What do you want? Look, I don't have any money,” he grunted.
Nabiki, in response, smiled innocently.
“No big deal, just a little something...,” and without Ranma being able to say or do anything, she shifted her umbrella just a little, just enough for the rain on the boy's head to start the transformation.
Red light.
“What the hell are you doing?!” thundered a rather indemoniate female voice.
“Nabiki, what...?” but Akane's rather annoyed question was interrupted midway by a distant scream.
“Akane Tendoooo!!! Pigtailed girl!”
The two turned around.
And they shuddered.
In great strides, with two open umbrellas, one in one hand one in the other, Kuno Tatewaki jubilantly ran toward them and toward the red light that kept them stuck at the crosswalk.
“I see...,” Ranma covered his face with his hand, in an attempt to restrain himself.
As Kuno's quickly approaching invocations rang in his ears making rocketing his nervousness, he turned to Akane, suddenly and genuinely sympathetic, “How the hell do you deal with that? You're a woman all the time and he keeps annoying you all the time, I at least am only half a woman.”
“Thank you for the consideration,” Akane mumbled, rolling her eyes and giving him a half-smile, “...but I remind you that ’The Blue Thunder' also annoys Ranma Saotome all the time. Male version, of course.”
Ranma thought about it and immediately realized the nonsense he had just said.
“Ah, yeah.”
“Ready?”, Akane brought him back to the reality of the moment.
“You ask me?”
Ranma Saotome was born ready.
“One, two, and...”
“Here's your beloved Kuno coming to lovingly shelter youeeehhh!!!” two perfectly coordinated fists sent him into orbit, at the very instant Kuno had covered them with his two umbrellas and simultaneously belted under their armpits pressing, not quite by accident, against their chests.
Green light.
“Disgusting!” gasped the red-haired girl, while the other had turned to her sister, ”Nabiki you've got to stop...”
But she had already put a new umbrella back in Ranma's hand and was pouring boiling water from a small thermos on his head.
“What are you up to!” he retorted, back to manhood.
“With Kuno it didn't work, but...”
“Now it's my turn!”
The chirpy voice was Ukyo’s, who had popped out no one knows when no one knows from where, hanging onto Ranma's arm.
“I'm done here,” Nabiki took her leave and crossed the crosswalk.
“Hey you! Where do you think you're going!”
Red light.
He heard her giggling, now far away, as Ukyo clung to him more and more.
“Ranma, honey! I forgot my umbrella, would you like to walk me home with yours?”
Her eyes were big and sweet. How to say no without hurting her?
“Um ... well ... I ...”
“If it's because of me, no problem,” cut Akane, who was literally fuming with rage.
Green light.
“Go ahead. I'm going home,” and she crossed the street.
“Hey you, wait!” shouted Ranma after her, resentful.
Weren't they going home together? Together under the same umbrella? Where-where the hell had he gone wrong again!?
Red light.
He began to explain himself, from the distance, between annoyance and justification, as he often did, “Akane, I...”
“Shan Puuu!”
But he was not allowed to.
“Shan Pu, come under the umbrella with me!” out of nowhere Mousse had pounced on Ukyo, mistaking her for his beloved Chinese girl returning from restaurant deliveries.
All it took was a a well-handled spatula: the mole's impetuosity was quelled, Mousse's umbrella fell to the ground, and a squawking duck was sent far away.
This served to dislodge Ukyo from Ranma, and it did not escape Akane's notice, who pretended nothing was happening while taking her time on the opposite side of the road.
Green light.
“Akane, wait for me, look I'm coming...”
“Ni-hao, Lanma!”
In Nerima people apparently have a habit of popping out of nowhere.
Shan Pu had never been an exception.
“Love, what a luck meet you on my way!...”
“Hey you, you shameless woman! Get your hands off him! Ranma was here with me! With me, do you understand! I paid and I'm certainly not leaving him with you! He promised to walk me home--”
“Will you two knock it off!” Ranma tried.
Needless to say, no one listened to him.
As always.
“Go way, spatula-girl! This afternoon is mine, Lanma's and the rain's,” she finished dreamily. And without waiting for even a nod of consent from her future husband, Shan Pu approached him perhaps a little beyond common decorum, brazenly aiming for his lips.
Red light.
Akane's open umbrella stamped violently on his face. Across the street, the girl was in the rain, still in a throwing position, furious.
“Oops, my hand slipped.”
“A-Akane...,” even Ukyo was stunned. Akane could be very dangerous when she wanted to be.
Shan Pu would have wanted to say, “Aya! Violent girl!!!”
And Ranma wanted to shout, “What the hell are you doing?!”
But there was no time.
On impact Ranma's umbrella had been kicked away, and in less than a second a pink kitten was clawed at the red-haired girl's distraught face in horror.
“Ca-ca-cat...,” was all Ranma could stammer out.
“Mihao!” nodded Shan Pu proudly, who wondered why she had to stop herself from doing what she had intended to do just because the stupid violent girl had gotten in the way by making her change into a cat.
As Ranma wiggled, running left and right, at the risk of ending up in the street, she brought her little face a little closer to his lips...and gave a little lick.
Crack!
It was too much for him. He stiffened, feeling lightning strike through him and shatter his identity like stone.
Mihao...
The “cat transformation” took place, and Ranma, now on four legs, began meowing inhumanly and blowing angrily at Ukyo and anyone who passed by him.
--
Akane across the street had not missed a single moment of the scene.
“Oh no... Ranma!”
Ranma heard her calling. He turned toward her and saw her.
Traffic light or no traffic light he jumped into the street, determined to catch up with her.
Akane covered her eyes. The idiot was going to get himself killed!
When she lifted her head and caught her breath, he was on her lap as if it were the most beautiful place to be, the only one he coveted. And he purred, placidly.
Green light.
“Ranma...” she smiled, relieved, ”Sooner or later you will give me a heart attack.”
“Mihao!”, Shan Pu, still attached to Ranma's shirt collar, mewed disappointed.
“Uh oh, future husband!”, Obaba, for a change, had popped out from around a corner.
Ranma arched his back and began to blow at her.
“That's enough,” Akane said slowly, now at her limit.
She grabbed Shan Pu by the scruff of her neck and firmly wrenched her from her grasp, dumping her into the old woman's hand without even looking at her face, “I really think that's enough.”
“Ahahah! I think so too,” Obaba unexpectedly agreed while finding the whole thing very tasty and funny. “I'd say the future husband is pretty useless right now and an Amazon knows when it's time to retire.”
As Obaba vanished, taking a recalcitrant Shan Pu with her, Ranma snuggled better and squinted his eyes in a grimace of pure pleasure, barely fiddling with a flap of Akane's blue skirt.
Her face relaxed as Akane looked at her boyfriend so surrendered and helpless, and she sank a hand into his now thoroughly wet red hair.
The traffic light was also red at that moment.
--
Ukyo had watched the whole scene. There was little she could do now.
She puffed out some bitterness.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, beside her stood a boy with his head lowered on a map, huge backpack on his shoulder and ancient red umbrella in hand.
“Where did I end up?” he groaned to himself.
“Oh, Ryoga. Look who's back!”
He raised his head. A familiar voice!
“Ukyo? What are you doing here?”
Ukyo looked at him with half-lidded eyes. Could a question like that be answered?
Ryoga understood.
“That- that means that I am in the city of sweet Akane!”
Still with half-lidded eyes, somewhat resigned, the girl raised an arm pointing past the crosswalk.
Ryoga looked in that direction and saw Akane, and his smile widened.
Then he saw him.
“Ranma, what on earth are you doing in sweet Akane's ar...”
But no one heard his sentence end. A car passing by splashed him completely, and all that was left of him was a little black pig.
Green light.
--
Akane had not noticed anything. She got up from the ground and said softly, “Let's go home, Ranma.”
Soaked to the skin, Akane did not hurry and rather smiled at that rainy day as she walked away from that crosswalk and traffic light.
Ranma hopped around her between steps, also soaked with water.
“Come on, now!” she called back to him with a series of kisses of the kind you give to cats.
In truth at that precise moment she could not lie all the way even to herself, and she had to admit that with Ranma in that state she could afford a good deal of tenderness.
“Come, let me give you a nice hot bath at home!” she blushed barely, giggling at her own impudence. Ranma would never remember the little boldness she had taken with that sentence anyway.
He trotted beside her, melting into purr.
Many things had happened in the past few months. There had been a trip to China, there had been Mount Hooh, Jusendo, the fear of death. And then there had been an absurdly failed wedding and the return to normalcy-if normalcy could be called in relation to their lives, fights, reconciliations, and so on.
So much had changed, so much was changing.
Red light.
--
And so much remained the same, in Nerima.
P-chan watched them go. His Akane with that idiot Ranma.
Big tears blurried his vision.
“Well, I guess you need a hot bath, too,” Ukyo intervened.
She could understand him very well at that moment. She felt the same as he did. But unlike him she was used to reacting without too many tears.
“Come on, follow me!”
She stopped.
“Actually, don’t,” she added a little embarrassed. Ryoga had no sense of direction whatsoever. She would have lost him right away.
Ukyo picked up Ryoga’s backpack and loaded it onto her shoulder.
“There! That way we'll be quicker.”
She walked over to him and with her free hand gently pulled him up from the ground and put him in her arms.
“Let's go!” she concluded resolutely and optimistically, moving in the direction of her restaurant, and there was no need to cross the street to do so.
P-chan watched her shyly from his position and, without a reason, felt that he was turning all red.
Green light.