“So what do you think of this color?” Ranma asked as he held up Akane’s foot by the ankle for her inspection. Her first three toenails were painted three distinctly different colors, the first a deep shimmering blue, the second a creamy white with glitter and the third candy apple red.

“Mmmm, yeah that’s the one.” She smiled, then looked back down at the textbook in her lap. “You are going to paint them all the same color, right?”

“Of course.” Ranma smiled over his shoulder holding her extended foot in his lap. Her toes wiggled reflexively when he dragged his finger gently down the sensitive area in the middle.

“Quit it.” She giggled, then poked a toe into his bare back above the waistband of his light blue boxers.

“Hey, you’re gonna mess up my artistic work.” Ranma stated sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes in return, flipping a couple pages in her book. “Ok, define deadweight loss?”

“Um, getting rid of my old man?”

“The total surplus lost relative to an efficient market due to market imperfections, taxes, or other factors. Jeez, Ranma, don’t you ever study?” She asked exasperated.

“I’m studying now, aren’t I?” He shrugged continuing to calmly paint her toenails.

“OK, do you ever study without me?”

“It’s no fun studying by myself, it’s boring.”

“Sometimes I wonder why you even came to college.” She shook her head, flipping a few more pages and scanning through them.

“You were the one always tellin’ me that I should go to college.”

“I also told you not to sleep in class.” She lightly bopped him on the head.

“Just for that I’m goin’ back to the blue.”

“No, no it’ll look like I never wash my feet.” She giggled as he tickled her some more.

“So who’s gonna see, this isn’t exactly sandal weather.”

“You’d never know it from the temperature in here.” Just then a knock came to the door. “I got it.”

Akane pushed herself off the bed, leaving Ranma with the nail polish. Opening the door only a crack, she peeked outside.

“Hello?” She was greeted with Nabiki’s half smile, half smirk. “Oh hi, sis. What’s up?”

Akane opened her door all the way. Nabiki took in the full view of her sister standing in front of her in what appeared to be a pair of Ranma’s boxer shorts and a white t-shirt. She looked past Akane and found Ranma sitting on his bed in just his boxers. He gave her a friendly wave placing the nail polish behind him on the bed. Looking back to her little sister with a smirk, Nabiki crossed her arms in front of her chest, her left eyebrow raised.

“It’s so hot in here because the thermostat’s busted, so Ranma lent me something comfortable to wear.” Akane looked down at her clothes and blushed.

“You two seem to be getting on well.” To Akane, her smile almost seemed genuine, almost.

“Yeah, well, of course, we are friends.” She shrugged examining her painted toes.

“I heard you’ve been seeing someone the past couple of months.” Nabiki asked inquisitively.

“Um, yes, Tetsu and I’ve been good friends since I started here as a freshman. I don’t think you’ve ever met him.”

“I know who he is,” Nabiki responded, her voice sounding all business. Akane met Nabiki’s eyes and they were both silent for a moment.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Akane’s voice turned soft.

“I’ve been trying to schedule a time with you to take some photos for the campus calendar project I’m doing, but you were always out. I’m going to have to really put a rush on it to get it done before Christmas break.”

“I forgot about it. Am I going to be September again this year?” Akane tried not to sound disappointed at the thought of posing for her sister.

Nabiki nodded her head once. “Of course, I have everything ready.”

“I’m free next Saturday afternoon.”

“That sounds good. How about Ranma as well. I’ll sell even more than last year.” Nabiki said, her smile full of mischief.

"Nabiki," Akane seethed. "Our arrangement." She let the statement dangle in the air.

“I wouldn’t think of breaking it, especially since after Saturday we’ll be settled.” Nabiki patted her sisters shoulder reassuringly.

“Settled on what?” Ranma asked, sticking his head between the two sisters, causing Akane to jump.

“Next Saturday, Akane’s posing for my calendar.”

“Another calendar?” Ranma almost groaned, but held it back.

“You saw the last one?” Akane turned to him.

“Yep, I saw it. Fuji has a memorial to it in his room.”

Akane just shook her head and sighed.

“So what are you two up to?” Again there was a gleam in Nabiki’s eyes.

Ranma shrugged. “Just studying.”

“Hmmm, you two sure are getting all buddy, buddy. You should go out on a double date or something.”

“Ah yeah sure, I guess.” Ranma stood behind Akane off to the side.

“Well I’ll see you next week, Akane.” Nabiki smiled waving a hand over her shoulder as she started to leave.

“Sis, do you think you could have someone take a look at the building’s thermostat?” Akane added as she turned away.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she stated never turning back. Akane closed the door to their room and turned to Ranma already sitting on his bed.

“Were you serious? ” Akane asked softly. “Do you want to go on a double date?”

“Um, sure. I guess we could do it tonight, if you wanted.”

“Ok, if you want.”

“Of course. It’ll be fun, we can ask Ryoga and Ucchan, and make it a group thing.” Ranma cringed slightly while pretending to study. That hadn’t sounded exactly the way he intended, though Akane didn’t seem to notice.

“They went away on a hiking trip today, probably won’t be back till late tonight.” Akane dropped onto the bed next to him.

“Jeez, they didn’t even ask us.” Ranma mumbled, turning the page aimlessly.

“I think they wanted to be alone.” Akane cleared her throat uncomfortably and Ranma looked up.

“Oh.”

Akane stood in front of her closet in her dressing robe, her hair freshly washed, curled, and pulled back by several small silver flower barrettes. A hint of makeup added color to her cheeks and definition to her eyes. She fidgeted from one foot to the other, going through her wardrobe with distain.

‘Why am I being so uptight? Anything would be fine, we’re not going out to a fancy restaurant or anything.’ She continued to fidget taking a long white flowered dress out and holding it in front of her before the mirror. ‘No, this is a summer dress.’

“That’s nice.” Ranma commented walking through the door in his usual black pants and undershirt, a towel around his neck.

“I’m not wearing it.” She thrust it back into the closet as he shut the door to their room. She emerged again with a dark green pleated skirt, and a black charcoal sweater, holding them up for inspection in the mirror.

“Well, that’ll be cute, too.” He said, standing behind her, their eyes meeting in the mirror.

She could smell his soap and the distinct scent that was all his own. Thrusting that outfit back where it came from too, she groaned. “I’m not wearing that either.”

“Ok.” Ranma looked over her shoulder finding a sparkly lavender dress pointing to it. “How about this?”

“Be serious. I wore that as a bridesmaid dress at Yuma’s wedding.”

“Sorry.” He shrugged, sprawling out on her bed. “Just trying to help since you’re in such a tizzy.”

“I’m not in a tizzy.” She huffed. “I just don’t have anything to wear.”

Ranma rolled his eyes, but thoughtfully said nothing. Akane continued to push aside outfit after outfit.

“I guess this will do.” She sighed. “I’m changing, so don’t look.”

“I wouldn’t even think to.” Ranma smirked. A moment later Akane emerged in a delicate black dress with large pale yellow flowers. The sleeveless dress was fitted perfectly to her figure and flowed gently around her knees. The neckline scooped downward showing a modest amount of cleavage. Changing places, Ranma stood at the closet pulling out a long sleeved white Chinese shirt only slightly nicer than his normal clothes.

Slipping the silk shirt over his shoulders, he leaned against the dresser taking his time fastening the ties of his shirt. Silently, he watched Akane expertly slide the silk nude stocking past her calf up over her knee, her hands disappearing under the hem of her skirt. A hand grabbed the next stocking rolling it up in her hand, and she looked up at him, noticing his stare.

“What?” She knocked him out of his hypnotized state.
“Uh. I was just wondering if that might be a bit cool for this late in the year.” He stuttered slightly, running his fingers through his hair.

“Oh, well I was going to wear this too.” Finishing with her stockings she stepped over to the closet and pulled out a black suit jacket with silver buttons. Ranma stepped over and helped her on with the jacket.

“Ready?” She asked buttoning her jacket.

“Sure.”

Both walked out, almost walking into Fujimo as he walked by.

“Hey.” He greeted.

“Hey.” Ranma waved a reply.

“You two going out on a date?” Fujimo’s eyebrows shot up looking over their clothes.

“No.” Akane replied.

“Yes.” Ranma said at almost the same time. “I mean we’re going out on a date just not together, right?”

“Right. That is we’ll both be there. It’s a double date we just won’t be there with each other.”

“Ah…I see. I think.”

“Come on, Ranma.” Akane practically dragged him from their dormitory.

“See yah, Fuj.”

The walk to Tetsu’s apartment was quiet. After about ten minutes of silence they reached a light blue apartment building trimmed in white. The evening was still early so it was pretty easy for them to find their way. Walking up two flights of stairs and down to the third door on the left, Akane knocked on the door. Tetsu emerged giving his girlfriend a chaste kiss on the lips before stepping back into his apartment to turn the lights off and lock up.

Ranma’s ire was up almost instantly. The older boy gave her another kiss after descending the stairs, taking her hand in his. From her other side Ranma found himself reaching out for her other hand possessively, without even thinking.

Akane looked down at their linked hands then up at Ranma surprised. He smiled crookedly and swung their arms playfully. Tetsu squeezed her other hand out of irritation and pulled her out of Ranma’s reached and into a hug. Bringing her up to his level, her feet well off the ground, he gave her a less than chaste kiss on the lips that lasted a good thirty seconds and pulled his lips from hers reluctantly.

“What was that for?” She asked her cheeks rosy, licking her slightly bruised lips.

“I just missed you.” He sighed. She smiled and he let her down keeping a hand in hers.

Ranma refrained from reaching out to her again and stayed silent the rest of the walk to the little Italian restaurant they were dining at that evening.

Silence seemed to be contagious as neither of his companions spoke a word, even as they were seated in a booth. Akane slid in the middle while Tetsu and Ranma sat across from each other. She spied a glance at Ranma with mixed feelings as the waitress distributed their menus.

A moment later, Li-Li arrived and the air seemed to lighten somewhat. Ranma slid further into the booth next to Akane letting Li-Li take his seat. He couldn’t say why but he needed to stay near Akane, as if to protect her from her own date. Even though he knew she didn’t need protection, she was with him of her own free will and she spoke only good things about him. Some habits just die hard, he mused.

Nagia Huroshi stood outside the large window of Mario’s Little Italy, watching the two couples finishing their dinner, absently rubbing her hands together for warmth. The nights had been getting a lot colder. Winter was slowly on it’s way and soon holiday vacation would be upon them. After this job for her boss, she’d have enough money to go home and visit her family. Maybe even have enough money for some decent presents, something her modest income as a part-time waitress could not have provided.

Looking down at her companions, she decided now was as good a time as any. Shaking her head at her boss’s strange request, she started unlocking one cage at a time. ‘To each their own’ she shrugged.

Dinner was pleasant. Ranma ate two helpings of the house special spaghetti, Tetsu ordered a bottle of wine, but Akane only drank half her glass.

“You look nice tonight, Akane.” Tetsu commented smiling, squeezing her hand.

“Thanks.” Akane smiled slipping her other hand down to pinch Ranma’s thigh.

“Ow…you look very nice as well, Li-Li.” He smiled at her crookedly, rubbing his leg and shooting Akane a nasty look over his shoulder.

“How sweet of you to say, Ranma.” She beamed, leaning over to give him a kiss, not caring that he had been so obviously goaded into complimenting her. It was just his way, she thought. He wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t truly sincere.

“Oh, ah, it was nothing.” Ranma rubbed the back of his head while Akane smirked.

At the front of the restaurant some sort of commotion started. Dishes were dropped on the floor, a few women screeched and their dates yelled in outrage.

“What the heck is going on?” Ranma asked as the four tried moving in their seats to better position themselves to see what the ruckus was all about. The next sound made all the hairs on Ranma’s body stand on end, every muscle shaking with tension.

HISSSS-MREOW!

The sound of over a dozen perturbed and hungry cats filled the restaurant.

“Oh no.” Akane turned to see Ranma completely petrified his teeth chattering. “We gotta get out of here.”

She rose to her feet, motioning for Tetsu to vacate the booth.

“Huh? What’s up Akane?” He started to slide out at a much slower pace then she would have preferred.

“Ranma, are you ok?” Li-Li asked concerned, watching Ranma shaking beside her.

“We have to go. NOW.” Akane nearly pushed Tetsu from the booth in her haste to get to the terrified martial artist.

Before she could grab Ranma’s hand, she heard a wild yell beside her. Ranma had bolted over the table a cat firmly attached to his chest and another clutching his leg with all four of its own. Perturbed felines were scattered around the room, Ranma sent several cats into the unsuspecting laps of the restaurant’s patronage. One woman had the misfortune of having a shorthaired tabby tangled up in the beehive donning the top of her head.

“Ranma?” Li-Li watched her date run around in circles in the middle of the restaurant knocking tables, chairs, people, onto the floor before crashing through the wall.

“Oh jeez.” Akane ran after him.

“Ranma!” Li-Li followed.

“Akane?!” Tetsu dropped some money on the table and pursued his three companions.

“Ranma where are you?!” Akane shouted, she was sure she’d seen him enter the park on all fours. She hoped she’d just seen him stumble and not under the influence of the catfist.

“Did you find him, Akane?” Li-Li huffed, out of breath and hunched over, resting her hands on her legs hunched over.

“I’m sure I saw him come in here.”

“I don’t see him anywhere, Akane.” Tetsu said apologetically.

“Ranma?! Where are you?!” She yelled feeling extremely worried. If he was in the catfist, she wasn’t sure he’d know how to get back to the dorm. A rustling from the tree above caught their attention. “Ranma?”

“Mreow.” Suddenly, Akane was tackled to the ground by a full-grown cat person.

“Ranma, what the hell are you doing?!” Tetsu took a step forward, outraged.

“No don’t!” Ranma looked up from licking Akane’s cheek to hiss at the intruders.

“Ranma, are you ok?” Li-Li asked worried, he continued to hiss, feeling very on edge with a hostile male in close vicinity.

“He’s not himself right now. Maybe you two should take a seat on that bench, while I try to calm him down.”

A half-hour later, Akane was finished explaining the workings of the Catfist, with a few minor edits here and there to cover their previous relationship. Why add more unnecessary complications, Akane reasoned with herself.

“So I guess since we live together mine is the scent he recognizes the most in this unfamiliar setting.” She laughed as he batted a leaf out of her hand.

“That’s terrible, poor Ranma, so abused as a child.” Li-Li sounded heartbroken for her boyfriend and Tetsu just nodded solemnly. The two sat on the bench quietly watching Akane play with the feline Ranma. He placed a paw on each of her legs and brought his head up to butt heads with her affectionately, then started licking her face again. Embarrassed, Akane tried to push him away, but he seemed to take it as another game.

He finally settled down on her lap, purring contentedly. Akane looked up to find her companions staring at them. Li-Li looked at Ranma sadly, watching him snuggle up to Akane’s lap. When she met Tetsu’s eyes, he responded with a tight-lipped smile. The emotions of his face looked mixed, not of disapproval, but more of disappointment.

Another half-hour Ranma awoke from his stupor, groggy, and asking what happened.

“Ah man, what did I do this time?” Ranma rubbed his head.

“A small amount of property damage and I don’t think they can blame you since someone else played the prank with the cats.” Ranma gave a slight shiver at the mention of the ‘c’ word and Akane looked apologetic.

They moved the discussion to the coffee shop just outside the campus. Li-Li ran off to get some bandages from a drug store she saw close by on her jog to the park.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite customers.” The women behind the counter smiled when she saw Ranma and Akane enter.

“Hi, Kei, can we have four cups of coffee?” Akane asked giving the waitress a strained smiled.

“Sure thing, sweetie.” She disappeared around the corner leaving the two men and woman alone.

“I’m back, are you sure you’re ok Ranma?” Li-Li ran through the double glass doors to the café, her arms full of bandages. She quickly dragged him over to a booth and sat down beside him. “Take your shirt off, you were scratched up pretty good.”

“It’s not so bad, really.” She removed his shirt and undershirt anyway. Li-Li methodically applied antiseptic to each cut. Ranma looked across the room to where Akane and Tetsu sat at the counter talking under the buzz of fluorescent lighting.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok with him?”

“I’m sure, he’s harmless. Don’t worry about it.” Akane assured him.

“I just worry about you. You’ve got such a kind heart.” Tetsu reached up a hand and caressed her face.

“That’s so sweet of you, but really I’ll be just fine.” She smiled taking his hand in hers and bringing it to her lips.

The group walked back to Tetsu’s apartment, deciding to end their evening after their little excursion. Akane and Tetsu said their goodbyes while Ranma and Li-Li waited down below.

“Are you sure we have to call it a night?” Li-Li looked up at Ranma imploringly. He squeezed the arm around her shoulder in response.

“I like to quit while I’m ahead.” Ranma smiled down at her. They heard Akane’s footsteps and turned toward the stairs.

A brisk walk across campus and they arrived at Li-Li’s dorm. Ranma gave Li-Li a kiss at her door and said their goodbyes. At the bottom of the front stairs of the dormitory, Akane stood waiting, looking out at the courtyard. Ranma took his time walking down the stairs to meet her, breathing out a long sigh.

They shared a long meaningful gaze.

“Well this was a night I won’t forget.” Akane nodded solemnly.

“I bet you I can be home, showered and ready for bed before you can.” And with that he burst from the scene.

“Hey no fair! Cheater!” Akane was hot on his trail. She managed to catch up with him at the door of their dorm, but failed to trip him as she had intended. They fumbled through the hallway narrowly avoiding the other students. Ranma leapfrogged over one unsuspecting dorm mate.

“Hey!”

“Sorry about that, man.”

They shoved at each other through the doorway to their room. Here, Akane had a slight advantage, all she needed to do was wash her face, brush her teeth and change into her pajamas. Ranma was only a few steps behind her as she burst down the hallway to the ladies bathroom. Akane never changed so fast in her entire life.

Five minutes later she was running down the hallway feeling triumphant, Ranma was nowhere in sight. She burst through the door of their room, straight into Ranma’s arms.

“No fair, you can’t possibly be clean after all that running around in the park and through the trees,” she shouted.

“Check where ever you want, I’m dirt free.” The two plopped down on Ranma’s bed, Akane giggling, held firmly in his arms.

“God, what a disaster.” He sighed smirking at her.

“Do you think it was a good decision to call the night off?” Akane asked, remembering the pained look on Li-Li’s face.

“It could only get worse from there.” Ranma stated not quite getting the point of her statement. He adjusted his arms around her giving no indication of letting go. “Besides, it was getting late and I’m tired.”

He yawned more for effect than anything, closing his eyes. Akane blinked her eyes, their heads resting comfortably on his pillow.

“You're just going to sleep like this?” she asked, her earlier question forgotten.

“Sure, I’m comfortable.” He grinned, his eyes still closed, somehow managing to sound innocent.

“Hmm, this doesn’t seem like a very friendly thing to be doing, Ranma.” Akane tried to sound scolding, but it came out more of an amused tone.

“Sure it is,” he stated.

“So you do this with many friends?”

“Of course. On cold winter nights on the road, me and Ryoga’d cuddle up like this.” He opened his eyes, a wide grin on his face, awaiting her reaction to his jest. Her face was stone still.

“Don’t ever give me a visual like that ever again.”

He burst out laughing and she conceded to a smile.

“Pervert.” Akane grinned.

Ranma stopped laughing and just smiled at the old jab.

“Tomboy.” He squeezed her for effect.

“Jerk.” She squeezed back.

“Uncute, macho-chick, your thighs are thick, you’re mmph-” Ranma’s mouth was tightly clamped shut by Akane’s hand.

“Alright! Alright!” She giggled and could feel his smile behind her hand. Her mind suddenly cleared and her heart started to pound painfully in her chest. ‘I should have stopped him with a kiss,’ lying as they were in each other’s arms on his bed. ‘Should have…if we were lovers.’

Suddenly Akane’s head was buried in Ranma’s chest, her arms wrapped around him again.

“Let’s get some sleep.” She breathed into his undershirt making the skin underneath feel pleasantly hot.

“Ok, Akane.” Ranma stared down at her hair, confused by the sudden change of atmosphere in the room. They’d been having fun and now the room had that air of desperation that seemed to follow them like a black cloud.

Special Thanks to Nonseqtr, for listening to me rant and for helping me deal with the sudden lack of fanfiction  ^_^
And to CD for just bein' the sweetest

Revised 9/2/01

Author’s note:
Yup, yup, took me forever and I still don't like it.  Well, it's not that I don't like it, what I have is ok, it was just supposed to have some humor to it.  I can't seem to write anything funny at the moment.  This is totally off my outline, but I thought it would add a little more meat to the story.  I'll try not to get so hung up on the rest of the story so it won't take me so long to update.

The next part is done too, I am hoping to finish editing it real soon.  The same comments apply to part 8, it was supposed to be funny, but it just didn't happen.