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Title: Shizuku
Author: Bridget Wilde (wildeman@gci-net.com)
URL: http://www.gci-net.com/users/w/wildeman/bridget.htm
Summary: A brief summer interlude... 
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Ranma flopped down in the shade of the tree in the garden,
feeling the blades of midsummer grass pricking into his bare
back, poking into the thin material of his shorts.  The sun
glittered through the swaying canopy of leaves; even with his
eyes closed he could feel the points of light caressing his face
and redly glowing through his eyelids.  A drop of sweat trickled
down from his forehead into his hair, tickling his scalp as it
kept on towards the ground.  He felt the tiny feet of an ant
purposefully crawling onto his shin and around his ankle, but
didn't bother to brush it away; the heat weighed him down, as if
he were under a heavy comforter, and he didn't feel like moving.
     
Feet rustled through the grass and he opened one eye to
watch Akane settling in the grass beside him.  She carefully
arranged her yellow-flowered skirt and set a tray on the ground
between them, smiling tentatively.
     
"Kasumi fixed us all lemonade, so I thought I'd bring you
out some..."  Her hair was damp, her bangs spiking gently across
her forehead as if pointing to her eyes.  Ranma muttered his
thanks and reached for the nearest glass, raising his head only
enough to drink.  The condensation on the side of the glass
cooled his fingers, making them tingle faintly; the lemonade
nipped at the back of his tongue as it slid down his throat. 
One, two, three swallows -- a moment's relief -- then the
lemonade was gone, leaving behind a faint tinge to his mouth.  He
lay his head back again, stretching his arms over his head and
letting the heat press his eyes closed again.
     
The sound of splashing water startled him, and he looked up
at Akane.  She had finished her lemonade and was leaning back
against the tree trunk, dipping a yellow handkerchief in a bowl
of ice water and running it over her face and neck.  Her eyes
were half-open, gazing over the wall at the neighboring rooftops,
but after a moment she glanced over at Ranma, smiling wearily.
     
"Want some?"  Ranma put his hands behind his head and
watched a sparrow fly out of the tree overhead.
     
"No, thanks.  I don't feel like being a girl right now. 
Besides, your dad'll freak if I'm out here without a shirt as a
girl."  He looked sidelong at Akane again.
     
"Oh, finally getting modest?"  Ranma twinged a bit, but it
was too hot to fight.
     
"Nah, just getting used to your dad.  He's a bit... well...
he overreacts a lot."
     
"Really?  I hadn't noticed."  Akane grinned, dipping the
handkerchief in the water again.  This time she leaned her head
back and wrung out the dripping cloth onto her face.  Rivulets
streamed down her cheeks, across her stubborn, square jaw, and
down her neck, pausing at her collarbone before plunging down to
dampen her sundress.  It looked unbelievably cool.  She opened
her eyes, shaking her head slightly, and looked at Ranma through
her damp eyelashes.  A teasing gleam lit her eyes, and she leaned
forward, trailing her fingers in the bowl of water.
     
"You know," she said slowly.  "I bet just one drop won't
hurt."  Before Ranma's lethargic body could react, she reached
out and let a single drop of water fall from her index finger. 
It landed on the very tip of Ranma's nose, trailing icily down
the edge of his nostril to his cheek, warming slightly as it
crept towards his ear.
     
He sat up.  "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"  Akane
smiled impishly.
     
"See?  You're not a girl."  Ranma relaxed slightly, still
glaring at her suspiciously.  Akane dipped her fingers in the
bowl again, lifting them and watching the water run down them to
gather at her fingertips.  A sullen wind jostled the leaves of
the tree, allowing a few shafts of sunlight to pick out shiny
damp streaks in her hair and glitter off her wet hands.  Her
smile deepened.
     
"I wonder how much water it really does take..." She
suddenly flicked another drop at Ranma; it landed on his shoulder
and began to work its way towards his elbow.  Still his, not
hers.  That single drop of water felt almost as soothing as the
lemonade had.  And if he could cool down without changing... He
relaxed and lay back down, leveling a challenging grin at Akane.
     
"I'm game.  But if you turn me back into a girl before I'm
cooled down, you have to go get more lemonade.  Deal?"
     
"Deal."
     
Ranma closed his eyes halfway, watching the way Akane's
fingertips seemed to be cut off by the water, the steady drip of
water from her blunt-trimmed fingernails.  A tiny line appeared
between her eyebrows as she studied him in concentration.
     
"The forehead first, I think."
     
Two drops of water landed near his eyebrows.  One ran in an
icy streak towards his hairline; the other meandered towards his
eyebrow, pausing just above his nose.  He could just barely see
the edge of it by rolling his eyes up -- then, as if it had made
a grand decision, the drop dove down towards his eye.  He rubbed
at it with a knuckle, closing his eyes.
     
"No change.  Try another."
    
The red glow behind his eyelids dimmed -- Akane's shadow as
she leaned over him.  He felt another drop, this one on his chin. 
As it traced the outline of his jaw, he heard the grass rustle
slightly, then felt Akane's knee just barely touching his
shoulder.  The droplet trickled under his ear, reached his braid
and was lost.
     
Again a dimming -- this time, the water landed on his Adam's
apple, winding across the tendons of his throat to the nape of
his neck.  Next his cheek, floating towards his hairline; his
nose again, this time trickling onto his upper lip  and staying
there, the icy coldness fading into his body's warmth.  His
earlobe -- that bit of coldness, after the drop landed, was her
finger, brushing his ear in passing.  He shivered.
     
"Cold?"
     
"Not yet."
     
Eyelid.  Jaw.  Chin.  One landed on his lower lip and slid
into his dry mouth.  He licked his lips and heard Akane giggle;
more water dribbled into his mouth, sliding soothingly along his
tongue.  Cheek again.  Two more drops on his upper lips, like
frigid beads of sweat.
     
Then there were no drops for a long moment.  He waited. 
Akane didn't seem to move.  He opened one eye.
     
"Sorry," Akane said.  "My fingers are a bit cold from the
water, I need to warm them up."  She paused, then grinned.  "An
opening!"  She brought her fingers down suddenly on Ranma's
stomach.  He jerked at the sudden chill.  Her soft laugh melted
into her ears.
     
"Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself.  You were wide
open."  But her hand stayed there, her fingers four cool stripes
across his belly, sucking warmth from him.  They lifted a moment
later, fintertips tracing tiny paths before they vanished from
his skin, leaving faint damp trails behind.
     
Ranma threw one arm over his eyes to shade them, watching
under the curve of his forearm as Akane's hand dipped again into
the water.  Her fingers were faintly pink from the cold, the
slight calluses on her fingers and the side of her hand a shade
darker than the rest of her skin.  
     
Her small hand, so much smaller than his own, hovered over
the bowl for a moment before allowing a drop to fall in the
hollow of Ranma's throat.  He swallowed.  Two more drops in the
same place, forming a small puddle between his collarbones. He
shifted slightly and felt the water run down to one side, tracing
his neck.  Next, the very center of his chest; this one ran down
towards his stomach, curving around his ribs.  His collarbone,
right where it joined his shoulder.  Two drops on one pectoral,
crawling sinuously into his armpit.  Another on his bicep.
     
"Cool yet?"
     
"No... not yet."
     
A few drops aimed at his navel; some landed in the hollow,
one a few inches away.
     
"You missed, clumsy!"  Ranma teased.
     
"Ha!  I can fix that."  Akane leaned over so Ranma could see
the top of her head and blew on the drop of water, hard.  It
scooted across Ranma's skin, the air cooling its wake.  She blew
again, and it joined the puddle.  A few strands of her hair
brushed Ranma's lowest rib as she sat up.  "So there!"
     
She brushed her wet hand over her own face, leaving streaks
of dampness across her cheeks as she studied Ranma speculatively. 
Ranma's gaze was drawn to her hand again.  It dipped into the
water, then floated over to his knee, dripping twice.  His eyes
drifted closed again.  A drop on his shin, following the trail of
the ant around to his ankle.  His other knee, dripping around to
fall on the grass.  Three drops on his thigh, trickling down the
inside of his leg.  Again he shivered.
     
"Still not cold?"
     
"...no."
     
"Hmmm..."
     
Suddenly Ranma was doused smack in the face, a few ice cubes
landing on his chest.  She sat up, spluttering.
     
"Whatcha do that for?"  Akane sprang to her feet, scampering
a short distance away.
     
"You were *so* wide open.  I couldn't resist!"
     
"Oh yeah?"
     
"I guess I'll just have to admit defeat."  Akane flung an
arm over her eyes dramatically.  "Oh the shame of it!  ... I'll
just go get the lemonade..." Akane darted around the edge of the
house.
     
Ranma leapt after her, laughing.  "You cannot escape!
Vengeance is mine!"
     
"Ranma, what are you doing?  Put me down! ....No, no, not
the pond!  Anything but that nice, cool, wet..."
     
*splash!*

owari

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This one bugged me all of yesterday, so much so that I stayed up
late to write it.  The title means "drop" -- I picked it out of
the Ranma 1/2 theme song "Hinageshi":  "potari to shizuku/ namida
mitai ni"  (a drop drips like a tear)  C + C welcome.

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