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Akane's Cookie Caper
Ranma heard, or rather, felt Akane before she actually saw her. Tired out from dodging Shampoo, Kuno, Kodachi, Ryoga and, after fighting Ryoga, Happosai, Ranma had been resting in her room. Draped sideways over her futon, Ranma tilted her head backwards to look at Akane upside-down.
"Yeah, Whaddya want?"
Akane held up-or down, from Ranma's point of view, a steaming tea kettle. "Your hot water's ready." Ranma sat up.
"Oh, thanks." Akane shrugged, walking over the pour some of the water over Ranma who then shook his head, sending water droplets scattering in every direction. He glanced up at Akane who stood there staring at him rather blankly. In one hand she held the half-empty teapot, and in the other, she had some cookies. Noticing Ranma's gaze, Akane held out that hand.
"Want a cookie?" Ranma looked into her face suspiciously. "Kasumi made them," she said casually, in response to his as yet unasked question. Ranma narrowed his gaze at her. There was something amiss here, but, unable to find what it could be, Ranma shrugged and took a cookie, biting into it distractedly.
It took only a single fraction of an instant for Ranma to realized that he had been had. Only one person in the entire world could make a cookie as awful as the one Ranma had in his mouth at that very moment. He opened his mouth to tell her so, but then, suddenly noticed that she was staring back at him, nibbling her lower lip nervously. That threw him slightly. That, and the fact that she had just lied to him so easily. Why would she lie? Unless she was trying to poison him, of course, but this was simply too obvious for that. But . . . then . . . why?
Struck suddenly by an experimental thought, Ranma slowly closed his mouth again. He forced himself to bite into the rocklike cookie, wincing despite his resolve to remain impassive as a horrible taste flooded thru his mouth. Ranma was now fairly certain that some serious substitution had been going on in the kitchen. It took all his willpower to swallow that bite, but he did it. Then, summoning all his strength and fighting his gag reflex, Ranma forced himself to smile up at Akane in what he hoped appeared to be appreciation.
"Mmm . . . Tell Kasumi they taste really good," Ranma smiled. Then he waited for a reaction.
To his utter surprise, Akane blushed deeply. She dropped her eyes away from his face, a shy smile slowly spreading across her face. "Ok, I will . . . " she murmured, then turned and hurried out of the room. Ranma watched her go in shock.
"I will never . . . ever . . . understand girls." He absentmindedly took a bite of cookie. "Aaaugh! Pfttt!!"
'That was great!"Akane crowed silently. 'Ranma never suspected a thing!! I KNEW I could get him to eat my cooking without teasing me! Wait 'til I tell him the cookies were MINE!'
"--And I told him that YOU made them! Ha, he couldn't even tell the difference, Kasumi!"
Ranma was out in the dojo, so it was safe to talk now. Kasumi was listening to Akane gloat as she chopped the vegetables for dinner. She smiled at her younger sister. "That's wonderful, Akane, but I think you should tell Ranma the truth sooner rather than later."
"Of course I'll tell him soon, I wanna see the look on his face!"
At that moment, Akane heard the door open and a moment later Ranma himself appeared in the kitchen. "Hey, Kasumi, when's dinner?"
"Soon. The meat's almost done," Kasumi smiled.
"Ok. Oh, by the way, great cookies, Kasumi," Ranma remarked, looking at Akane as he spoke. Kasumi blinked.
"Oh, um . . . y-yes . . . thank you." Turning to the stove to hide her smile, Kasumi called over her shoulder. "Akane, dear, why don't you and Ranma go wash up for dinner? I want you both to come to the table clean tonight!"
Akane raised her eyebrows at her sister's somewhat cryptic words, but took the hint and beckoned for Ranma to follow her. Kasumi listened for their retreating footsteps then laughed softly. Pulling a half-eaten cookie out of her pocket where it had been hiding, she shook her head. "Akane, Akane . . . next time, dear, remember to use more sugar than you do salt."
"You know, Akane, I CAN wash my own hands. . . ."
"I know." Akane shrugged. "I just . . . well . . . I had something . . . I . . . wanted to tell you, that's all."
"Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I wanted to ask you something." Ranma turned away from her to dry his hands. "Why did you lie to me before?"
Akane froze. She could feel the heat creeping up her neck. "L.. Lie to you . . . ?"
"Yeah." Ranma walked to the door and leaned against the frame, turning to face her. "About the cookies?"
"C..cookies?"
"Yeah! I know you made them. Why did you lie to me?"
"Well, I . . . Hey, wait a minute! How did YOU know I made them?"
"Then you admit to it?"
"Well, yes, but how-" Akane froze then, understanding flooding over her. "Oh, no. I ruined them, didn't I. Oh, no . . . " An expression of pain came over her face. "I was so sure . . . I didn't even taste them."
"I could tell right away they were yours. Why did you lie to me?"
"I. . . ." Akane sighed then, her shoulders sagging in defeat. "Because I wanted you to taste them," she admitted. "I knew if I told you they were mine, you wouldn't let them near your mouth. I just . . . I was going to tell you. I thought you liked them, so I was going to . . . heyy, wait a minute. . . ." Akane's face became angry once more. "Ranma, why did YOU lie to ME? You knew from the start they were mine!"
"We-ll . . . " Ranma rubbed the back of his head. "I guess . . . I kinda . . . See . . . that's what I thought you were doing, I guess. I...I guess I just . . . wanted to make you happy for once. So I . . . did what you wanted me to. I didn't wanna hurt your feelings. Sorry."
Akane blinked. "Seriously?"
"Well . . . yeah."
"Ranma . . . that was really nice of you," Akane said in amazement. Ranma frowned.
"Well, you don't have to sound so surprised," he replied testily.
"What? Oh. Yeah. I just can't believe you'd go to all that trouble for me."
"No big deal," Ranma shrugged. "I'm still alive. Besides, I've gone to more trouble for you than this lots of times."
"Huh? You . . . " Akane paused then thoughtfully. "Yeah," she mused at last, "I guess you have, haven't you." Looking up at Ranma then, she smiled happily. It was an uncharacteristic gesture that made Ranma's heart rate go up a little, especially because she was smiling that one grin that never failed to somehow make her beautiful. Ranma grinned back, slightly. He should get her to do that more often, he decided. But for now . . .
"Come on, let's go get supper. I'm starved."
The End