Picture, if you will, a training hall. Completely ordinary in every respect. Wood panelling, sturdy beams holding up the roof, spacious room to move and observe proceedings. In the middle of this training hall is the owner's daughter and her unasked for fiance, arranged by their parents, standing a little apart from one another attempting to stare a hole into one another with a thick safety mat in between them.
And off to the side the peanut gallery in the form of a young girl named Yuka, who by sheer coincidence was eating peanuts at this very moment.
"Are you guys going to do this or not?" Yuka asked. "You've been staring at each other for ten minutes already."
In all honesty they could have stayed there for another hour, but Yuka's remark dented their pride. Ranma gulped, and made the first move, spreading his arms wide open, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. For a second. Before opening one very slightly.
Akane, on the other hand, merely saw this as training. Though it might not appear that way to outsiders, her thought process had been one hundred percent devoted to figuring out the best approach to take. Internalising it. Visualising it. But Yuka's remark had made it clear - she should simply go for it.
And so, the dreaded training began. With a hop, a skip, and a smile that made Ranma's heart go "badum" like a dropped drum, she frolicked forward with her arms outstretched and flew into Ranma's waiting grip - only for the two of them to topple together to the floor.
"Darn, that isn't it," Akane groused. Dusting herself off and picking herself back up. "You okay? You look a little frazzled."
"I'm fine," Ranma lied, trying desperately to banish the memory of the fleeting moment where Akane had embraced him. Pressing her cheek to his chest, the smell of her hair. It wasn't cute. It wasn't cute! He had to tell himself that because - because this technique apparently worked because she was cute. "Wanna try again?"
Then, as if summoned by that question, a shadow arose next to the two. Great waterfalls poured from it, and a meaty hand fell upon both their shoulders from this mass. "Yes, my dearest daughter! You simply must try again! Embrace your fiance with all your might! Ranma, you have my blessing to accept this embrace!"
<i>”Darn it Father you were supposed to keep him in the bar longer.”</i> Yuka muttered under her breath. "Alright, Mister Tendo. Why don't you go and ask Kasumi if she's finished with that soup she was making? You know, the one that used your beloved wife's recipe?"
"Waaaah, Kasumi!" Soun Tendo bawled, somehow making two more waterfalls appear to join the initial pair. "She is so much like her mother! Waaah!"
"Honestly daddy, it's just martial arts training..." Akane groused as her father left the training hall.
"Yes, train!" Soun called back, poking his head back in to say this one last thing. "Train with all your might! Bridal training like this is good for a young couple!"
Then he was gone. The two turned to face each other again. Ranma repeated that thought in his mind, trying to dismiss it. This is not bridal training. It's not. It's to help Akane learn this technique. He swallowed again and spread his arms wide open as Akane frolicked into them and this time, she didn't merely tackle him ot the ground. This time, she flipped him in the air -
And somehow, he landed on his feet and found himself gently embracing her from behind with their cheeks pressed together. Which left Ranma wondering, who the hell was so careless that they were letting all those drums fall, and so quickly?
"Darn, that's not it either," Akane groused. "Any ideas Yuka?"
"Yes, my dearest daughter!" her father had returned. "Let us take a picture to commemorate this moment!"
"Knock that off!" Ranma yelled, grabbing the camera from his grip. "Where'd you even find this cam- Property of Nabiki Tendo. On loan for 500 yen per picture...?"
A little behind Soun, his middle daughter was whistling innocently. As if 'innocent' was a word one could use to describe Nabiki Tendo in any kind of honest way. Ah, that sentence still works if you replaced 'innocent' with 'honest'. I wonder how many more words you could use to that effect? Integrity, selfless...
"Daddy, sis! This is serious martial arts training, can you please leave us alone!" Akane yelled, pushing both of them out. "Oooh, the idea of it! You would think a martial artist of his calibre would be more mindful not to disgrace a training session with an attempt to set us up!"
"Yeah, it's ridiculous," Ranma nodded. Then he spread his arms open again. "Wanna give this another go?"
This time around, she didn't actually toss him. Instead she merely, how to put it, dipped herself. With Ranma holding the small of her back, while she had her arms around her waist, and their faces were inches apart.
...
What sick devil was whispering the words 'kiss her' in his ears so insistently? It was kind of getting on his nerves. Almost as much as the bastard that kept on dropping those drums, really getting him frustrated.
"And this is hooooow love shalllll bloooom!" Soun drunkenly warbled from the doorway. In that way that drunk people do when they think of a cool song, but only they know the lyrics. Akane slammed the door in his face.
"Ugh! This is why I started learning such an esoteric style!" Akane yelled, throwing up her hands and stomping in a very uncute way around the training hall. "He wouldn't teach me anything more advanced, I'd hit a glass ceiling and I know I can do better, but he won't take me seriously!" She pulled out the scroll and scowled at it, as if daring it to try keep its secrets hidden from her for a second longer. "Ugh! Why can't I get this?!"
Honestly, Ranma didn't get it either. As far as he could tell Akane wasn't doing anything wrong. Though, for some reason, Yuka looked between the two of them, let out a weary sigh, and then wandered over to Akane to whisper something in her ear. Something that got her to blush and loudly exclaim "Why would I want to -" right before Yuka put her hand over Akane's mouth to shut her up.
Huh? Huh? What had Yuka whispered? Whatever it was, it sure seemed to affect Akane quite a bit. She was looking at the floor, kicking at her heels, twiddling her thumbs. Really cute like.
"Her dad's put ideas in her head," Yuka explained. Oh, was that all? "You probably couldn't see it from where you were standing, but I could. Akane's grip sort of shifted whenever she got hold of you. I think that she was subconsciously worried about, ahem, seducing you."
"Huh, is that all? It's no issue," Ranma said.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. We have a special show for you here today, live and free of charge. Come one, come all, behold the spectacle that amazes, that dazzles, that never fails to surprise - even when it absolutely should not! Feast your eyes, hold your breath, and try your best to contain your applause, as before you tonight you will get to see a man put his entire foot into his mouth.
"It would take a whole lot more than that to seduce me. I mean, you've seen how hot my girl form is, so you'd need to put way more effort in to stand a chance."
A vein popped on Akane's forehead. Though her lips were smiling, her eyes were not. She took a deep breath, opened her arms wide, frolicked over - then upon embracing Ranma went "oops" and threw him up in the air, spin around and slammed him onto the mat.
"Why thank you Ranma, that helped clear my head perfectly," Akane said, still smiling while she helped him to his feet. "Now, I should only need to do that - oh, another fifty times before I have it down pat. W̵͈̆h̸̗̑ã̷̤t̶͉̀ ̴́ͅḓ̷̉o̵̧̽ ̸̲̌ÿ̷̢́ǫ̸̌ū̶͍ ̸̩͝s̵͍̋ạ̸̈́ý̶̼?̴̨̈́"
"Go for it Akannnneeee!" Soun called from outside the training hall. "Inventing this martial arts style as an excuse to hug your fiance! It's adorable! I'd expect little more from my youngest daughter!"
The door creaked open as if by invisible hand. O̶h̷,̸ ̶f̵a̵t̴h̴e̵r̵!̴ ̴W̸h̴y̶ ̶d̸o̷n̵'̴t̴ ̶y̴o̵u̵ ̷c̶o̷m̶e̸ ̵i̸n̸?̷ ̷W̷e̴ ̶h̴a̸v̷e̸ ̵h̸u̸g̸s̴ ̴t̷o̸ ̷s̷p̸a̵r̶e̶!̶"̷ Akane said.
And Soun Tendo, being drunk, had left his sense of self preservation back in the bar. Resulting in him going inside to meet his <s>doom</s> darling daughter, who was in need of advice on how best to seduce her man.
Needless to say but both he and Ranma would be visiting Doctor Tofu in the near future.
<hr>
There! Perfected, refined, nailed to a tee. Oh sure. It had taken a few hours. Oh, sure, both daddy and Ranma were knocked loopy by the end of it and had to be carted off to Doctor Tofu - but she had mastered another step in this dreaded technique!
Akane flopped onto her bed, feeling fulfilled as a martial artist. That glass ceiling was cracking, bit by bit. She could feel herself growing stronger, faster, more skilled. All thanks to this new technique. In no time at all she'd be able to show those stupid boys who was the real top dog around here!
<i>"You sure you're not just trying to hug him?"</i> Yuka whispered in her ear. <I>"I mean, that would get in the way, wouldn't it? If you wanted to actually hug him, then..."</i>
Of course, Yuka was full of nonsense. It was an absurd idea. Silly. Her, wanting to hug Ranma? Get real, she wasn't looking for a relationship. She was in the middle of training! Why would she want to hug a hunky handsome guy who shared a lot of interests with her and got on with her okay (when he wasn't saying stupid things)?
After lying there in bed for a bit, thinking about the training, running through the technique in her mind, trying to determine if there were other ways she could refine it, Akane came to a conclusion.
"When Ranma's let out from Doctor Tofu's later, I should definitely hug him," Akane said, nodding along with the idea. "Not because I like him or anything. Just to... you know, make it up to him. For hurting him during training."
Which only goes to show. You can take Akane away from the tsun, but you can't take the tsun out of Akane... Not completely, at any rate.
- Azusa plots and schemes to defeat Akane!
- Akane fails to realise that she's being spied on during this training session.
- While Ranma recovers from this training, a mysterious bandanna wearing boy shows up at school looking for him.
- Mariko decides to lend a hand to the Golden Pair.
- Something else
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