A Ranma 1/2 Easter Fic

by

Mana~Chan

@->--

"Can you tell me WHY I'm doing this again?" Ranma grumbled, as Akane
dragged him to the park.

"Ranma," she sighed.  "We promised that we would go to the park and help
the kids hunt for eggs."

"I don't remember making any promise to find eggs!"

Akane giggled.  "Well...our fathers did.  To get the council off of
their backs about Happosai."

"Stupid old lech..." came the growl.

"Oh come on...don't be such a rotten egg!"  Akane giggled at the joke,
while her fiance rolled his eyes.  "It'll be fun."

"Fun.  Finding eggs.  Man, when I thought you couldn't get anymore
dorky..."

Akane slapped him.  "You JERK!  If you're going to be like this, I don't
want you around!"  She stamped her foot once while she was yelling at
him and then ran ahead.

Ranma watched as his fiancee ran to the park, a gnawing feeling
beginning to grow in the pit of his stomach.  "Idiot." He whispered to
himself.  He rubbed his cheek, wondering if he should just go to
Ucchan's instead.

@->--

"Ranma no baka."  Akane grumbled to herself.  *He didn't have to be so
mean.* 

All she wanted was a nice day at the park.  It was sunny and warm, with
a nice breeze blowing.  *He didn't even notice my new dress.*

Akane sighed.  Easter was one of her favorite days.  Even though it was
a gajin celebration, she had always spent the day with her mother.
While Nabiki and Kasumi had no problems finding the goodies that were
hidden, Akane had a little more trouble.  Her mother had always helped
her find the things stashed away at the park.

This would be the tenth year that she'd be celebrating this holiday by
herself.  She and her sisters never returned to the park to join in the
hunting after her mother died.  Now, as she was nearing the park, she
found herself feeling very lonely.

"Akane!" 

She looked up just in time to see two bundles fly at her and attach
themselves to her legs.  She had a little bit of trouble keeping her
balance, smiling down and giggling at the two childern that had 
squealed her name.

"Hi Yui!  Hi Masato!  You guys ready to go find some candy?"

"Yeah!!"

Akane smiled down at the two excited children.  She had baby-sat for
them on a regular basis before she started high school.  Yui had just
turned five, following Masato, who was a year older.

Both of their parents had very time consuming jobs, and had requested
that Akane be the one to take the two specifically.  The egg hunt was a
neighborhood event, and the city requested for some the high school
students come and help out.  

Akane giggled and grabbed the two kids' hands, pulling them lightly into
the park.  "Let's get going then!"

@->--

Akane stopped, catching her breath.  There were children running around
everywhere, dragging their parents, brothers, sisters, and their high
school buddies all around the large park.  They were crawling under the
bushes, over the benches, into the trees.

In her hands, Akane held two baskets, both half full of real and plastic
eggs, chocolate eggs, bunnies, and all sorts of other little trinkets
and candies.

She was having fun.  She had forgotten how enjoyable finding things and
laughing with your friends as you found things could be.  *I wish Ranma
was here...*  She shook her head.  *No I don't.  He wouldn't like this
anyway.*   "Ranma no baka," she muttered, walking to where Yui and
Masato were lounging.

"Hey you two...tired already?"

"We can't find anymore..." Yui pouted.

"Yeah.  I think everything is all gone."

Akane laughed.  "C'mon.  Don't be so pouty!"  She gave each child their
basket.  "Look at all the stuff you guys have in there!"  She tickled
their tummies.  "You two are going to have stomach aches by the time
you finish all that.  And all your teeth will fall out too!"

She looked around and found that most of the other children were just
sitting around too.  Their escorts were now all talking to each other,
not paying much attention to their bored children.

"How about a game of hide-n-go-seek?"

Both kids jumped up.  "Yeah!"  They ran off and started gathering their
friends.

Soon, a large group of kids were surrounding Akane.  "Okay!  I'm 'it'
and I'm counting to 30!"  She turned around and put her head in her
arms, leaning into the tree.  "One!  Two!  Three!"  She giggled to
herself as she heard all the kids scrambling and giggling, trying to
find hiding spots.

Unknown to Akane, Ranma was sitting in a tree, just watching the
festivities.  After eating an okonomyaki at Ucchan's he found himself
thinking of Akane, and how happy she seemed to be going to the park.

Curious as to what was so special about watching a bunch of brats find
eggs in the park, he decided to go see.  When he got there, he found
his fiancee laughing and running around along with the kids, carrying
two baskets.

She looked so cute.  Her sundress was violet, with daisies scattered on
it.  She had a white straw hat with a ribbon that matched her dress.
He smiled tenderly as he watched her kneel down to the young girl she
was taking care of and pointed to where there was a small bunch of
goodies hidden between a group of rocks.

He noticed that the kids were starting to tire down, most, if not all,
the treats found and in baskets that adults were holding.  He wondered
what the two children that Akane were taking care of were doing when
they suddenly got up and started gathering kids around.

Curious, he watched his fiancee cover her face, as the kids scrambled
wildly.  He laughed to himself as they ran and looked around in a
panicky sort of fashion.

Akane yelled out "Thirty!" and turned around, scanning the park.  She
giggled as some bushes rustled, saw eyes peeking from bench planks and
feet poking out from behind trees.  "Ready or not, here I come!"

Quietly, she sneaked over to a large bush, where she heard many giggles
and shushes.  Slowly, she parted the bush, and poked her head in...

"BOO!"

There were shrieks and squeals as a group of children scattered, all
away from Akane.

With that, Akane gave chase to those children, scattering them more.
Along the way, she started surprising the kids still hiding, until all
of them were either running or touching base.

All of them, including Akane were squealing and laughing.  Narrowing on
one of the older children, Akane ran and mack chased them, before
lunging and 'barely' tagged him.

"Hikaru's 'it'!" She called.  "Hikaru's 'it'!"

She waited until the boy started counting before hearding the children
around, helping them hide.  Making sure that they were all hidden, in a
place of their choice, or of her own, Akane ran to a large tree and
jumped up on a lower branch, but was still hidden by leaves.  There she
sat down and waited.

Ranma decided to have a little fun of his own, seeing that Akane was
very occupied with watching Hikaru finding kids.  He silently made his
way to the tree and climbed up to the branch above his fiancee, being
careful not to rustle the leaves or make noise that would attract her
attention.

Hanging from the branch by his knees, he lowered himself, his arms out-
stretched for attack.  Akane didn't notice the two arms snaking around
her waist.

She did, however, notice them when they tightened and pulled her off the
branch.  She squealed in surprise and started twisting, but to no
avail.  She found herself in someone's lap, on the branch above the one
she was sitting on.  Arm raised to hit, she whirled around to face her
attacker.

"Ranma!" she gasped.  She playfully hit him on the shoulder.  "You baka!
You scared me!"

Ranma only chuckled again.  "You left yourself wide open."  She stuck
her tongue out at him.  "Having fun?"

"Yep!  The kids are so much fun."  She observed that someone else was
now counting.  "Hey!  He forgot to look for me!"

"Aw...who'd wanna find a tomboy like you anyway," Ranma teased.  He
winced when he got a slap on the back of his head. 

"Baka."

"Hey...I was jus joking!" he complained.

"Oh."  Akane giggled.  "Sorry."

"Like that helps."

Akane sighed.  "Baby.  Quit your pouting."  She giggled again when Ranma
made his face pout even more.  "Awww..."  She reached behind her and
pulled a chocolate bunny out of no where.  "Here..."

Ranma took it from her and examined it.  It was a chocolate bunny with
icing eyes and a pink nose.  It had a yellow icing flower in it's ear
and was holding a white heart. "Where'd this come from?"

"I found it for you..."

Ranma looked up from the chocolate rabbit to find himself staring in
Akane's chocolate eyes.  He noticed that she was still sitting on his
lap, his arm around her waist.  A soft smile was curving her lips, her
cheeks rosy from playing with the children.  The cherry blossoms were
floating in the background.

Akane raised her hand to rest it against Ranma's cheek.  "You should
have came earlier," she said softly.

Ranma blushed and leaned forward a little.  "I'm sorry I didn't..."

Akane leaned forward, her eyes half closing.  She felt Ranma's breath
softly caressing her face, his eyes falling shut.  She closed her own
eyes, moving closer.  "That's okay," she whispered, her lips barely
brushing his.  "There's always next year."

Ranma merely 'mmmed' in agreement as he pressed his lips against
Akane's.  He felt her arms wrap around his neck, and in return, he
wrapped his own around her and pulled her closer.

@->--

Ranma and Akane walked down the street.  Masato was skipping along next
to Akane, holding her hand.  Yui was on Ranma's back.

"Did you two have fun today?" Akane asked, looking down at the boy and
then up at the girl.

Yui nodded her head furiously.  "Yeah!  I wanna do it again!"

Akane giggled.  "Well...next year.  But if you want, the next time I
watch you two, we can go to the park again."

They cheered.  "Ya!  Can Ranma-san come too?" Masato asked, tugging on
Akane's hand.

Akane laughed and looked at Ranma, who smiled back at her.  "Of course
he can, sweetheart."

Akane opened the gate, seeing that the lights were on in the house.  She
scooped up Masato in her and yelled, "Race you!"  

The four people laughed as they raced up the walkway, coming to a
jarring halt on the porch.  The children were unfazed, only giggling
and clutching at their rides.

@->--

Waving once more to Yui, Masato, and their parents, Ranma and Akane
turned towards their home.  Akane sneaked a glance at her fiance.
"Ranma, are you alright?  You're so quiet..."

He smiled softly at her.  "Yeah.  I'm fine."  He reached out and slowly
took her hand.  "I jus didn't wanna ruin the rest of the day, ya know?"

Akane giggled, squeezing his hand softly.  "It's been perfect."  She
leaned a little into his side.  "Just perfect..."

@->--

Author's Notes:

Oooooh!  WAFFY!!!!  LoL.  Man, I just couldn't help myself.  They're
really OOC, I know.  But hey, what waff fic really has them truly in
character??