The Swell Between the Storms

Ranko carefully placed a steaming black bowl on the tiny square dining table in front of Akane, smiling widely. She wore a pastel blue dress, a recent gift from Mei, and the white lace half-apron Akane had bought her as a joke. Her hair was secured in a ponytail with a large white ribbon. She was desperate to make her lover smile and pulling out all the stops to do it."Dinner is served!"Akane looked up, smiling weakly at her girlfriend. Her voice was distant, as it had been most of the day. "Thanks, Ran-chan. It smells great." She picked up her lacquered chopsticks, searching idly for a carrot in the bowl.Ranko sighed, hanging her head. She couldn't bear the disappointment in her beloved's eyes. She'd promised not to mention it anymore, but she couldn't help herself. The guilt was too much. "Akane, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have just kept my damned mouth shut."The raven-haired woman stood, closing the distance to the kitchen in two steps, and taking both of Ranko's hands firmly in her own. "No. Don't you dare do that, Ranko. I told you already, it's not your fault. It's their fault. They're ignorant jerks, and if they can't get over that, then they don't deserve me anyway."Ranko rested her forehead on Akane's shoulder, letting the taller girl's arms envelop her. Just the smell of her made everything seem safer and calmer, somehow. For all the joy she got out of being the center of attention on stage, sometimes, all she wanted to do was disappear entirely into Akane's embrace. "But you were happy, and I ruined it for you."Akane squeezed her gently. "No, I wasn't. I loved playing volleyball, sure. But I wasn't happy, because we were fighting all the time. You were hurting all the time. I couldn't tell people about the best parts of my day that I get to spend with you. It's not worth that, and it never really was.""How can I make it up to you?" Ranko traced a pattern on Akane's shirt with her finger. She wasn't trying to be sexy, just affectionate, but it stirred something in Akane nonetheless.Akane smiled, the first time all day she'd done so sincerely. "Just tell me you love me, and I'll be the happiest girl that ever lived."Ranko cuddled closer to her. "I do. Gods, Akane, I do."Akane ran her finger up Ranko's neck to her chin, to get her attention, tilting her head upward so she could lean down and kiss her lips. "Good. Because I need your help with something."The redhead shuddered with a quiet purr, her voice softening under Akane's attention. Akane's touch always did that to her. "I'll do anything for you. You know that."Akane grinned. "Well, I clearly know what you want to do, silly girl. But first, we need to talk for a minute." Akane kept trailing her fingers up and down Ranko's neck and bare shoulder, however. She hoped that by splitting her attention a bit, it would calm her nerves. It was certainly calming Akane's. There was no hurt and no worry on earth that Ranko's presence couldn't take the edge off of at least somewhat."We need to plan a dinner party."Ranko blushed; as it was, the dinner she'd prepared for Akane was still getting cold on the table, but Ranko was not about to tell her to stop what she was doing to go eat. They had not been intimate much at all in the past weeks they had been fighting, and Ranko was starving for her attention. "Yeah? Who are we… mm… having over?" She waited for Akane's hand to trace down her shoulder, turning her head and kissing the underside of Akane's wrist gently."My father and sisters."Ranko snapped back from the entrancing caress and her wide eyes rocketed up to meet her girlfriend's. "E… excuse me?""You said you wanted to tell everyone about us. I figured it would be easier to do it on our terms and on our turf. So, we need to figure out how we wanna do this." Akane gave a reassuring smile. "We can do this, we just need a game plan."Ranko sighed, pulling back and leaning against the kitchen counter. "You don't have to do that, Akane. I've cost you enough already. I mean it."Akane reached behind Ranko with both arms, scooping her up by her backside and sitting her on the kitchen countertop. It always made Ranko blush when Akane picked her up. It made her feel like such a girl. Akane had always been slightly stronger than Ranma's feminine form, but Akane had been weight training for volleyball while Ranko had not really had to lift anything heavier than a pizza in months.Akane's eyes shined with contentment as she looked up into Ranko's. "And what if I just want to show you off? You convinced me I could tell people about us, and now I don't want to stop.""But… I can't pull this off. Not in front of them. I'm not good enough." Ranko sighed."What are you talking about? You, my love, are perfect." Akane played with her flame-red hair soothingly. "What are you so afraid of?"Ranko looked down at her hands. "Akane, I just… I'll never be good enough. If I act like a guy, they'll think I'm awkward and weird like they always did, and if I act like a girl, I won't be convincing enough. My cooking won't be as good as Kasumi's, or I'll screw up my makeup, or say something out of turn, or something. And even if it was, I'd still be a girl. It won't be perfect, and perfect is the only thing they'll think is good enough for you. Hell, it's the only thing I think is good enough for you.""Well, first of all…" Akane kissed her on the nose. "You don't have to convince them of anything. Unlike everybody else in your life, they know the truth about your past. So if anything, they'll be impressed as hell with how far you've come. Besides, if cooking skill is a requirement for being a girl, then we have nothing to worry about, because you're definitely dating a boy." She blushed coyly."And as for everything else, It's not your job to convince them to accept things. It's mine. I'm the one that's disappointing them by not giving them what they want. You don't owe them anything anymore. We made sure of it. They already tried once to make me move on from you, with the thing with Kuno. But they are just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I have made my choice, and I chose you, beautiful. All you have to do is be the incredible person you are, however you want that to be, and I'll take care of the rest."She really wasn't blowing smoke, either. That redheaded girl seated on her kitchen counter was everything she could have ever wanted in a partner, and even if Akane had been a boy, she suspected she'd still feel the same way. The person who had once been her fiancee hadn't always been the best of men, but boy, did they make an amazing girl. She was loyal and kind, and giving, and smarter than she gave herself credit for, and talented, and formidable, and beautiful to boot.Ranko rolled her eyes. "Akane, I mean it. That's your family. You can't just blow them off like the volleyball team if it doesn't go like we want it to. I know you're trying to do what I asked, but I'm telling you, you don't have to. I won't be mad. I promise, it's okay. It's too big of a risk for you. I don't want to cost you your family." I'm not worth it, not after what I did to you, Ranko thought. Akane had forgiven her for Sneak, but Ranko strongly doubted she would ever forgive herself.Akane pulled her closer, giving her love a soft kiss on her neck, just below her right ear. She spoke softly, as soothingly as she could manage given that she was pretty stressed about the whole thing, too. "You're my family too, Ranko. And you always will be.""Hey, I'm serious, how do you expect me to think while you…" Ranko whined quietly, rolling her head to the side to give her lover easier access to her neck even as she protested.Akane laid her finger over Ranko's lips. "Shh. We're gonna do this, babe. We'll figure it out. Together, you and me, like always. But you're going to do great."Akane kissed the nape of her neck with open lips, an involuntary squeak arising from the hypnotized redhead. "We're going to find you something nice and pretty to wear."Ranko mewled desperately as Akane brushed her earlobe ever so delicately with her lips. Akane whispered in her ear, drinking deep of the power she held over the whimpering girl seated on her kitchen countertop. "You're going to be a perfect little lady."Ranko's hands gripped the edge of the countertop tightly, her body stiffening further with each passing second. The gentle movement of air from each of Akane's syllables on her cheek and ear was enough to make her shiver from her nose to her toes, and she needed something to reassure herself that she was still on solid ground."Everyone is going to be so impressed with my silly girl. You're going to make me so proud…" At that moment, Ranko would have done anything Akane had asked and more, so long as she didn't stop. No two things made Ranko more gloriously, blushingly off-balance than the thought of having to be convincing in new social situations as a girl, and when Akane touched her like that. Just then, Akane was happy to take advantage of both in order to sweep her girlfriend on her feet and give the dread a positive spin for her to focus on.Akane blew gently on Ranko's ear. The sudden change in temperature alone was enough to make Ranko's breath catch in her throat, and she felt the slight redhead tremble in her arms. She whispered in Ranko's ear without waiting for her girlfriend's pleading bleat to subside, the fingers of her left hand gingerly tracing a path down the side of the smaller girl's neck. "And everyone's going to be so happy for me when we tell them that I love you, and that you're all mine."If there had ever been intelligible words in Ranko's reply, they were lost the moment Akane's right hand disappeared under her skirt.