A/N: Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Here’s chapter 4! Please review. It's a bit shorter, but I promise more action in the next chapter. It's 4am and I'm sooooooooo sleepy! Thanks so much for all the reviews!!!!!!! :D

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“Separate rooms!” Akane shouted up at me. “End of story, Ranma!”

“What? Why?” I demanded. “We’ve been sleeping together for…”

Akane blushed furiously. “That doesn’t matter!” she cried. “I need my space. And there is no ‘us’ until this whole thing is over.”

Abruptly, the temperature between us dropped and my eyes turned chilly. “That’s the way you want it, huh?” I said quietly. “Sure, fine, have it your way.” If I said another word to her, icicles would fall from my numb lips. My head began to hurt from the ice I had wrapped around my aura. I spun on one foot and walked away, to the entrance of the hotel.

“Good morning, sir,” the doorman wished me. I paused, and a flourishing potted fern next to him began to frost over. Luckily, he didn’t notice.

“Good morning,” I said, and he gasped for breath as the air around him turned inexplicably chilly. “That’s all right,” I said, moving on. “I’ll find my own way in.”

I left Akane behind me. She had to stride fast to catch up with her shorter legs, and the petty revenge was slightly satisfying.

“Ranma Saotome,” I told the pretty clerk at Reception. “Single room.” She smiled at me- gaped up at me, rather. It was pretty uncommon to meet any Japanese man who hit six feet in height, but I’d been training forever, and I had the scarred, battle-ready body to show for it. I tried not to hulk over petite women. Though the receptionist didn’t look…scared.

Akane came up next to me, and scowled at her. The receptionist’s smiled wilted a bit.

“Are you together?” she asked, looking from Akane to me.

“Separate rooms,” I said shortly. Her smile returned. “Certainly, Mr. Saotome.” Her fingers moved quickly over the keyboard, and then she handed me a key. “Room 707,” she said.

“Thank you,” I murmured, prolonging eye contact.

“Akane Tendo,” growled a voice, and Akane elbowed her way past me. “And I’d like a room, too, preferably before the sun goes down!” I smirked.

The receptionist turned her glance to Akane, and then returned her attention to her computer. She handed Akane a key. “Room 910, madam,” she said coldly.

“Don’t you have something else on the seventh floor?” Akane asked, frowning. She turned her head to me. “Just in case I need to get in touch with you quickly.”

“The phone will do just fine,” I replied. “Sayanora.”

I winked at the receptionist and strolled off in the direction of the elevators, leaving Akane behind to sort out method of payment. I only had a carry-on, so I rolled it behind me and got onto the elevator and pressed my floor number. An overweight woman in a pink Chinese silk dress followed me in, and pressed 9. Same floor as Akane.

She gave me a quick, nervous smile and then focused her attention on the light above the steel door that blinked from floor to floor.

I got out on 7, and made my way to my room. The key unlocked it smoothly, and I entered. The room was well appointed, but all I needed was the bed, the shower and the phone. I did a quick visual search of the room and spotted the bathroom. Dropping my carryall on the bed, I stripped, and made my way into the shower. Damn, it felt good. Nothing like stinging hot spray to ease away tension in the shoulders. Next, I filled up the tub and sank into it upto my shoulders, though my knees stuck out of the water. Nothing to do about that, after all, the tub was made for a shorter man.

I lay back, and thought about the current situation. We’d delivered Jain safely to the temple, so that part of Akane’s assignment was over, but her main purpose in coming to Japan had been to find Dr. Tofu.

I didn’t have to help her. SHE was the one who’d run away. You couldn’t get a clearer message than that from a ‘Dear John’ letter. But still I was hanging around her like a besotted lover, unable to let go.

Why, dammit?

Maybe because she reminded me of good times on my life, when I was surrounded by friends, and rivals, and family. I’d spent very little time thinking of Akane since I’d left Nerima. I’d closed off that part of my mind when I thought she’d betrayed me. I’d spent my time becoming better and better in martial arts, and learning something of the ways of the world. I wasn’t quite the naïve sixteen year old I’d been when I’d met Akane. After all, eight years gave you a certain amount of perspective on things.

Surprisingly, I still cared about Akane. She made my blood flame, and those weeks in that cabin in the mountains had been some of the best of my life. Plus, I liked so many things about her.

She was so smart, for one thing. Okay, not about men, really, and she had a lot to learn about trust, but when it came to solving a problem, she always had an idea. She was kind, and sweet, and thoughtful.

BUT the issue of trust was still there. I hmphed out loud, laying my head back against the cold porcelain, and closing my eyes. If she wanted me, she had to trust me. Okay, I decided, the ball’s in her court.

The phone rang, and I opened my eyes. My fingers were turning pruny, so I got out of the bathtub and pulled the plug. I didn’t bother wrapping a towel around myself, just ran for the phone.

“Yeah.”

“Ranma?”

“Akane.”

“Were you busy?”

“I was in the bath.”

“Oh…OH.” She sounded embarrassed on the phone, most probably about all the visuals she was getting of me right now. Serve her right. “Well, I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you want to meet in the lobby for lunch? We should discuss what we’re going to do next.”

“Sure, give me twenty,” I said, pleased that my voice sounded normal. I’d show her I could keep business and pleasure separate.

I dressed quickly, donning a fitted jacket over a soft white cotton shirt, and slacks with dress shoes. I stood out less in this kind of attire, and I certainly didn’t want to draw attention…yet.

Akane was in the lobby, anxiously waiting, her arms folded about herself. She looked cute in her wraparound skirt and tank top. It made her look harmless, too. She spotted me and smiled tightly.

“Nerima sushi all right?” she asked as greeting. I nodded and followed her in to the hotel’s restaurant.

Once we were seated and had ordered, Akane leaned forward on her forearms.

“Ranma, I’m sorry about earlier. I kind of overreacted.”

Whoa. I sat back. “What’s this? Akane Tendo apologizing?” I checked the ground. “Did hell just freeze over?”

Akane coloured. “Look,” she said, “Don’t make a big deal out of it. I still think I was right, by the way.” She looked into my eyes, and didn’t like what she saw there. “No, I mean…” She sighed and, grabbing the glass of water the restaurant had thoughtfully provided, took a big gulp, swallowed. Then she raised her gaze to mine.

“Ranma,” she said. “I’m not pushing you away. Anything BUT. It’s just that, I’ve found you after so long, and I don’t want to wreck this again…” She blushed, and her gaze drifted to a potted palm placed discreetly against a wall.

She waved her hand helplessly. “I just don’t see how I can juggle all this at once.”

Hmm. What she said made an uncomfortable kind of sense. “You really want to find Dr. Tofu, don’t you?” I asked, studying her expression.

Her big brown eyes looked up at me fiercely. “I really do.” Her eyes clouded over. “I keep having these dreams. About him, you see. Or…he’s in them, and he’s talking to me, and trying to provide an explanation for everything.”

She smiled. “Well, they say that dreams are just a way of the ‘wish-fulfillment’ part of your brain trying to fulfill your wishes, but my brain can never come up with a good enough reason for Dr. Tofu to leave Kasumi, so I always wake up before he finishes his explanation.”

“Wow, Akane,” I paused as the waiter came over with our food. “MY assignments were never this interesting.”

Akane looked interested. “What sort of assignments did you have, Ranma?” She delicately nabbed a piece of tempura from the serving plate with her chopsticks.

“Well, there was this one time,” I let my eyes drift to the ceiling, remembering. “We had to rescue a dignitary from kidnappers who were demanding over 10 million US dollars in ransom. It was a quick search and rescue. Our recon team gave us info, we found the place and flushed out a few rats, and the dignitary was safe, no harm, no foul.”

Akane regarded me with shrewd eyes. “Why do I get the feeling you make it sound a lot easier than it really was?”

I shrugged.

“Do you still get martial arts challenges?” she asked.

I snorted. “Do I ever! Dunno how these people track me down when I’m supposed to be in special forces and living unlisted!”

“They certainly never had a problem finding their way to Nerima!” Akane exclaimed.

I chewed on a shrimp. It was tasty. “This one time, I was getting’ out of the shower, when a sword hilt suddenly jutted out of my bathroom wall. It was the heir of the school of red-hand sword fighting, who’d heard I was the best at anything-goes, and came to see if I was as good as they say with a sword.”

Akane stared at me, wide-eyed, her chopsticks forgotten. “But you fight hand-to-hand.”

“Well, as luck would have it, Pops had been training me in sword combat for a while before that, so…it took me a while, but we fought with swords, and I won.”

“Though I had to fight almost naked,” I added. “The heir gave me a towel, but that’s where she drew the line.”

“She?” Akane’s eyes narrowed.

“Yup, she was very good,” I nonchalantly popped another slice of shrimp into my mouth, recalling. “The red-hand technique is one of the harder ones to beat.”

“How did you beat her?” Akane asked, scowling.

“My towel accidentally fell of, and she…got distracted. It was enough.”

Akane rolled her eyes. “Anything to win, huh?”

I grinned. “Pretty much.” I was relaxing somewhat. This new Akane was puzzling, but enjoyable to be around. I wondered how truly different she was, and how that would affect things.

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