Ok, here's the last chapter to this story. I'm sorry it took so long to update it, but I'm very busy and on top I'm sick right now so I find it hard to sit at the computer and write.

Oh, sorry if I mislead anyone with my last statement in the previous chapter's notes. I meant I was done with that chapter, not with the story. This is the end of it though. Hope you like it!

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AFTER THE FIREWORKS – Chapter 3

Ranma just stared wide-eyed. For a long second he couldn't think anything but a single thought.

She loved him… She loved him… Akane LOVED him… AKANE loved him… Akane loved HIM… Akane… loved… him…

The thought swirled in his head at an incredible speed. He felt his heart thumping wildly in his chest, so loud he was sure she could hear it, too. He could feel her hands on his cheeks. They felt a little cold, which meant he was probably red as a beetroot. He let her pull his head lower and started a little feeling her lips on his own. Just a soft, feather-light touch. Then she backed a little, to look into his eyes, and waited.

Ranma stood there, motionless, numbed by the events. He had come up to her to beg her to forgive him, to tell her how he felt – if he would have had enough guts at the crucial moment, anyway – and now she had told him she loved him. And she had kissed him. His mind was a whirlwind.

Finally he realized she was waiting for him to say something.

"You… do?" he managed to mumble, still too surprised to be coherent.

Akane was becoming anxious. All her courage and determination were abandoning her. She exposed herself so much, she admitted her feelings… and there he was… staring at her… not saying anything or at least not making any sense… not showing the emotions she wanted so much to see…

She released his face, let her hands fall down her sides and looked at her feet. They still were so close that she couldn't avoid seeing his feet too. And his legs. And the tip of his fingers. Shaking.

His hands were shaking… Just like hers.

"Akane…" Ranma whispered, the word barely leaving his mouth, emotions blocking his throat. The initial surprise gave in to the most incredible wave of joy he had ever experienced in his life.

He raised his right hand to her shoulder. She was trembling.

"Yes, I do…" she answered his question, her voice quivering but strong enough to make him believe her.

She almost hadn't finished saying it when she found herself in his arms, melting in his embrace, his head hidden in her short hair, murmuring her name.

He just held her like that, like his life depended on it, and she just stood there, remembering, after a while, to hold him back. She could only hear his heart beating madly under her ear and her own heart responding at an equal pace.

"I love you, too" she heard. He had breathed it in her ear, softly, almost inaudibly. But it was enough for her. It was enough to believe him, to prove her guesses right and to make her the happiest girl in the world.

She held him more tightly when she felt him leaning back, refusing to let go of that precious moment. But he had no intention of letting her go, she happily figured when he lifted her chin and looked in her eyes. There was more love there than she had ever hoped to see. For once the arrogant mask was down and she could truly see the boy she only managed to get quick glances at in the past. The boy she fell in love with. The boy who loved her back.

She noticed his head closing in and she shut her eyes. He kissed her. Softly as she had kissed him before. Once, twice, three times,… she lost count as she got lost in the sensations, forgetting all the world except for him.

Some time later, when the initial shock of their new-found mutual love was over for both of them, they were sitting on Akane's bad, talking. Holding her hand in his, Ranma still could barely believe his luck. He didn't want to let go of her hand, afraid she would disappear somewhere or he would wake up alone in his room or somebody else would come and ruin everything.

"You know", he said, remembering the world outside their room, "I'm surprised no-one has interrupted us yet."

"You're right," Akane frowned. "I guess Nabiki is recording everything with her microphones or a hidden camera as usual…"

Ranma frowned too. Then he just smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Well, I don't care. They want us married anyway and if it weren't for all those crazy people who showed up at our wedding this would be our…" He blushed.

"Our wedding night…" Akane finished, blushing as well.

They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

"What will we do about the other fiancées?" Akane asked, voicing one of her fears. She didn't want to think too much about their wedding night right then. She wasn't sure she was ready for something like that yet.

Ranma was glad she changed the subject, afraid that he wouldn't be manly enough in that situation right now. He felt too unsure to even kiss Akane as much as he wanted to, a wedding night was way too… So he thought about their other problems.

"Uhmmm, I guess we should talk to them. Ukyo will probably understand. She's a friend after all. I don't know about Shampoo though. She is hard headed…"

"And Kodachi?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, there's Kodachi, too… And her idiotic brother…" Ranma sighed. Akane sighed to, thinking.

"I've got an idea!" she snapped her fingers. "Why don't we ask Nabiki to help us out with them? She could use her connections to get them off our backs. She owes us after selling the invitations to all the others."

Akane was angry at her sister and she knew Nabiki new it. They had exchanged a single glance after the wedding and Nabiki had bowed her head, not able to stand Akane's icy gaze.

"You think she'll help us? Because I don't think I have any money to…" Ranma questioned scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, she will, I assure you!" Akane interrupted. "I know secrets about my big sister she wouldn't want her associates to find out… and, as I said, she owes us one."

"I guess you're right," Ranma said, hoping for the best.

"Maybe she could even find some loophole in the Amazon laws, she's good at that too," he added, jokingly.

Akane stared at him, then smiled broadly and said; "Exactly! That way we can get rid of Shampoo and Cologne for good!"

"Hey, I was only joking," Ranma said. "We don't have any books on Amazon law and even if we did, they'd be in Chinese…"

"I know, but she could find some. And we could find someone who'd translate them for us," she explained and then added, "I bet Mousse would help, he'd be delighted to free Shampoo and have her for himself, even though she treats him like trash."

"You know, maybe it could work. I'll ask him. He might be honour-bound not to talk about Amazon laws with foreigners though."

Akane sighed. "Probably. But then we'll just find someone else who can read Chinese."

"This whole mess could finally stop", Ranma said excitedly, holding both Akane's hands in his. "And we could finally …" he blushed again.

"Yes." Akane replied dreamily. She was so beautiful, Ranma thought. How could he ever have thought her uncute?

"Akane," he said softly. She raised her head and looked in his eyes.

"I love you, Akane Tendo," he said quietly, yet this time his voice was steady. It was now or never, he thought. He had to say it all.

"I know we fight a lot and I say all those mean things to you… I don't mean any of them… you know that…"

"Not even the tomboy?" she interrupted with a glint in her eyes.

He smiled. "You are a tomboy, but there's nothing wrong with that. You are also very cute at times…" he saw her frown at that, and smiled inwardly. He would never stop teasing her.

"At times? And most of the time? What am I? Just plain ugly?" she said, a hint of anger in her voice. She knew she could be violent at times but she hoped he liked her anyway.

"Most of the time you're plain…" he hesitated to tease her more. But just before she could really get angry he added: "… plain beautiful".

Her anger melted at the love she saw in his eyes and she snuggled to his chest. He held her and continued.

"What I wanted to say, anyway, was that even though we don't always get a long, and even though I hate to prove our dads right with this, and even though it won't be easy to clear all the mess in our lives, and even though I don't have a ring at the moment… I love you more that anything in the world and I'd be the happiest man on earth if I could spend my life with you."

By the end of his little speech, Akane's eyes were full of tears. She lifted her head and smiled at him through her tears. Tears of joy, he could tell.

"Will, you marry me?" he asked formally.

She just crushed her lips down on his and held him even more tightly. They both started laughing and eventually he pulled back sobered a little and gave her one of his lopsided smiles.

"Is that a yes?"

She smiled back and answered simply.

"Yes."

END

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This time it is really over. I hope you like it. I'll appreciate any comments you might want to share. Thanks for your time and if you happen to know my other stories, don't worry, they're not dead, I plan on updating them both soon. Thanks again and see you soon!