Story: Fudge Bunnies

<b><u>Present</u></b>

All things being equal, Akane really and truly appreciated the days where random weirdness didn't intrude upon her life. Where she could be an ordinary girl who just so happened to be a martial artist. Of course, some people oversold it a little, acting as if this sort of day only happened once in a blue moon. But no! It was fairly common. Which made the days where the weird things kicked off all the more harrowing because there usually wouldn't be any warning, any pattern, any rhyme or reason. One day all was well. The next, there was a giant winged otter making a nest on the roof. Note that this hadn't actually happened, she was being facetious.

Then again, it wouldn't be hard for her to believe Pantyhose Taro showing up and camping out on their roof while waiting for Happosai.

"Slumber party!" Yuka punched the air like she just didn't care. "Woo! Been a while since our last one, right?"

"About a week before Ranma showed up, as I recall!" Sayuri waggled her eyebrows. As if suggesting that Akane had better things to do with her nights than spend time with her friends.

"Shut up!" Akane playfully pushed a pillow into her face, causing her friend to giggle. "Anyway, Ranma's coming along tonight as well. In girl form. And don't get any ideas about hot water and sneak peeks!"

Out of the corner of her eye Akane could see Yuka gently slide a kettle under the table with her foot. Which earned her a scowl. Perverted antics like that wouldn't fly on her watch. Not from Ranma, nor towards him either!

"Well anyway!" Sayuri shrugged. "This is the event of the season. After all, we have the cheerleading team's two hottest - " suddenly she whirled around and grabbed a pair of pillows, then pranced around like an idiot amateur while chanting "S-T-A-R-S, Akane Tendo and Mariko Konji, the killer cuties of Furinkan High!"

"... Pillows make lousy pompoms," Akane groaned. Ugh, that nickname. Ranma made fun of her for it every chance he got. 'Killer Cuties,' he'd say. 'Because one of them is cute, and the other kills you with her cooking.'

Which would lead Mariko to say 'my cooking isn't that bad!' while winking at Akane. Then she'd push the two of them together and things would get really awkward. They'd blush, not know what to say and jump away from each other while carefully avoiding eye contact. It was a whole routine they had down pat by now.

Actually, come to think? Her relationship with Mariko was downright weird. A cute and affectionate girl who was close friends with Ranma, but had absolutely no romantic interest in him at all. In fact, if Akane didn't know any better she'd swear that girl wanted to set Ranma and her up! But that didn't make any sense at all. The only thing she'd ever said about the two of them having a relationship was that she wanted to make a boat with them or something.

At least, that was the only possible meaning Akane could take from 'I ship you and Ranma so hard'.

"Is Ukyo coming as well?" Yuka asked. "And what about Shampoo?"

"Shampoo, not a chance!" Akane crossed her arms. "She'd absolutely spend the evening trying to use that dumb bunnysuit power she's got to hit on Ranma. Ukyo at least knows not to bother, and besides which she's bringing her fiance with her."

"Eh?! She's bringing a boy?!" Yuka yelped, prompting Sayuri to slap her hand over the girl's mouth in case her parents heard something so outrageous.

"Yes, but... seriously, you'd never know it. He's more feminine than the three of us put together. His name is Konatsu -"

"Ah!" Sayuri yelped this time, and so she put her other hand over her own mouth. Through that she mumbled "Isn't that the cute waitress who works at Uchan's?"

"That's a boy?" Yuka mumbled. "No wonder I can't take my eyes off that booty! I thought I was turning gay!"

... Why was she friends with these two again? Right. She wanted to be friends with normal girls. So, we return to the question with renewed confusion. More to the point: Konatsu and Ukyo. Boy wasn't that a trip! You could blame it all on Mariko. Apparently the three of them had gone boating or something one weekend, and just like that Ukyo completely gave up on Ranma. It was like a magic spell had been cast over her. Akane kept on catching her looking over at Konatsu with this starry eyed expression. It was really cute, but given how hard she was going after Ranma she couldn't help but wonder how on earth Mariko had set that up.

"It's funny," Yuka said. "I kind of thought she'd wind up with that stud Ryoga. They had a thing going, didn't they?"

Ukyo... and Ryoga? "Hehehe..." Akane chuckled. Well, it started as a chuckle. It quickly became a full throated guffaw which had her actually and literally rolling around on the floor. "Ukyo and Ryoga?! Hahahaha! Oh wow! That's hilarious! Stop it, you're killing me!"

What was especially getting to her was the confused look on both of their faces. They didn't even get it! They didn't understand why the idea of Ryoga hooking up with Ukyo was so damned funny! Well, that only makes sense. They hadn't really got to know Ryoga until about the time she showed up while Akane... She had a much better handle on him. Starting from the time he'd snapped out of that bitch Tomiko's hypnotic control...

<hr>

<b><u>Past</u></b>

Hmph. Akane didn't get it but it looked like they had won. That bunnysuit thing was a little weird though. Hypnotic powers coming from it? Weird. Really weird. Either way she pulled the net off that boy that Tomiko had been controlling.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Ryoga here was as much a victim as anyone in this situation. The boy blinked and looked up at her. Then blushed. Oh. Fantastic. This was exactly what she needed. "Um... I should probably warn you right now, I'm engaged."

Mariko made an excited noise for some reason that was almost certainly not connected to the conversation Akane was having.

"Um... How did I get under this net?" Ryoga asked.

"Well, you were fighting Ranma -" Akane began, and then Ryoga locked eyes on Ranma's back. Oh dear. Why must boys be so... boyish?

"Ranma!" Ryoga yelled. "Because of you I have seen - "

"Super duper Mariko high kick dismissal! Chan!"

By the time Akane had turned around, the only thing she could see was Mariko with her leg extended into the air and Ryoga sailing overhead his arms splayed out and his forefingers and pinkies extended.

"Hey, Mariko! I wanted to fight that guy for real!" Ranma moaned.

"Tough tits," Mariko sniffed, bouncing on her heels and making her own boobs bounce as well. "You beat him already so there's no point in him being a sore loser about it."

Akane coughed. "Actually from the way he was talking it sounded like he didn't remember being beaten."

"... Huh!" Mariko pounded her fist into her hand. "I just realised something! Because he was brainwashed by Tomiko, he totally had no I-D-E-A that he'd just lost a fight with Ranma!"

Akane and Ranma facefaulted. Then Mariko said "Only joking! That's a good point Akane!" and the pair found a way to facefault out of a previous facefault. "Ah, don't worry Ranma. You'll get another chance to F-I-G-H-T him! In the meantime, we need to make sure we T-R-A-I-N up Akane's skills as a cheerleader. Teehee!"

<hr>

<b><u>Present</u></b>

To some this may have seemed silly. To some, it may seem immature. But Akane took this matter with the utmost seriousness. It was a chance to let her friends understand exactly how far she'd come. It was a chance to utilise her talent, her skill and put out there all the hours of training into the very best of use.

"Go Sayuri, don't be shy! You can bake a super pie!"

Which amounted to Akane cheering within a kitchen. Hands on her hips, doing alternating bounce high kicks in her bunny print pyjamas while her friend baked an apple pie. Nothing complicated. Nothing to it.

"Uh... Are you feeling okay Sayuri?" Yuka asked tentatively.

<b>"I'm fine!"</b> Sayuri answered, one could almost feel the heat rising from her. She picked up a an apple in each hand and crushed them without seeming to notice <b>"I am completely motived! Pie! Make pie! Make Super Pie!"</b>

There were times where Akane thought of the people who didn't tend to accidentally put too much effort in when they were trying to do something. What it must be like to be able to hold back. She envied those people.

<b>"Piiiiieeeeee!"</b>

Oh, how she envied those people.

At least she had not used that tsundere style Mariko initially taught her in. Sayuri might have burned the house down.

1. Back in the past, Akane's training begins.
2. Still in the past, Tomiko plots and schemes for revenge.
3. In the present, Ranma arrives with the bunnies.
4. Hold on! Ukyo and Konatsu are engaged?! Details!
5. Shampoo crashes the slumber party.
6. Something else