Chapter Text
The staredown across both sides of the room was sharp enough to cut through the very house it was occurring within in a single slash. On one side, Ranma Saotome, book closed and left on the corner of the kotatsu, away from the tea and the door overlooking the pond outside. On the other, Akane Tendo, observing in frustration as Ranma gave a glare only reserved for her most annoying opponents to Akane’s pet pig, P-Chan, wrapped in a warm fluffy towel, returning the stare twofold. With an exasperated sigh, Akane chose to try and reestablish the peace that had settled in the dojo just before the sudden guests' arrival. “Why exactly does P-chan always make you this upset, Ranma?”
With a light huff, the cursed girl turned her head away from Akane, her eyes screwed shut, face in a defiant pout. “He knows what tha problem is.”
Even if Akane was maybe, partially coming along with admitting that the redhead in front of her was at least a bit cute whenever she was being a brat like this, now wasn’t the time to focus on feelings like that. She could save it for after she resolved whatever grudge Ranma had with her pet pig.
“P-chan’s just a piglet, it’s not like he could understand whatever it is that makes you so angry at him all the time!”
“Pigs are pretty damn smart, y’know, tomboy!” Ranma continued, pointing a finger at P-chan in anger, “But I guess I could buy this one being dumb enough ta keep showing up here.”
P-chan started whinging and oinking angrily in response, with a fierce determination to try and nip at Ranma’s extended finger. For her part, Akane turned away from the redhead in frustration, and to try and get her pet pig to safety. “Him being able to get home so often just shows how much he likes it here! And I’d imagine the only reason he’s ever run away from here is probably because you keep bullying him!”
“Oh yeah, because it ain’t like tha two-timing brat there has anywhere else to go!”
“And how the hell can a pig two-time someone, anyways, dumbass?”
Akane’s grip on P-chan was loosened ever so slightly as she used an open palm to slam down onto the table in frustration. Just like usual, P-chan, incensed by Ranma’s goading, rushed out away from the safety of Akane and the warm towel to bite Ranma on the hand. As Ranma tried to pry the piglet off, continuing to grumble, Akane was still stuck thinking about whatever Ranma’s words about a ‘two-timing pig’ meant. And getting this good view of her piglet, after the conversation she’d just had with Ranma, and the complete absence of chaos in the house, Akane finally noticed something, and had a shocking revelation.
Slapping herself in the forehead for her own idiocy and lack of observation skills, Ranma and P-chan’s antics halted, both turning to the other resident of the house in confusion. “Ranma, you could’ve just told me P-chan was Ryoga’s pig!”
Ranma’s face was blank, eyes looking like pinpricks in surprise. “Wait what.”
“P-chan has his bandanna,” she continued, pointing at the only notable collar the pig ever wore, “and he gets lost just like Ryoga does. It’s obvious that it’s his pet pig - the little guy must just get lost whenever his owner does!”
Snatching the piglet (that she is increasingly thinking isn’t actually hers) from Ranma’s hands, she cooed to the animal to try and get the little guy to calm down, completely ignoring Ranma’s continued stunned state. “You must be so scared whenever your owner gets lost that you just can’t help but get lost yourself, huh? Ryoga and Akari must be worried sick about you!”
At the mention of Akari, all color seemed to fade from the piglet in front of her, going from his normal black-furred pigment to as white as the snow outside. Then, a sigh from the room across from her. Turning back around, she sees Ranma slowly get up and stretch her arms out above her head, letting out a loud ‘pop’ sound. “Sure, yeah, it’s Pork Breath’s pig, sure, whatever.”
After her short, frustrated grumbling about Akane’s realization, Ranma grabbed the book resting on the table, and slowly walked out of the room, slamming the door shut as she left. Even if she wanted to get a bit deeper about why Ranma didn’t say anything up to this point, Akane chose not to push it, and to just let the pig-tailed girl stew in her frustrations over a pig.
Hearing another frustrated huff, Akane looked back down at P-chan and his big, expressive, kind brown eyes. The piglet was staring up at her, head tilted in a cute, confused way, as if he was trying to puzzle out her own thoughts over Ranma’s tantrum.
‘But really… why wouldn’t she have ever said anything?’
Looking around the room idly for anything to focus on, anything other than her thoughts about the long-term-guest upstairs, her eyes locked on to Ranma’s cup of tea, left untouched through the whole conversation. It was completely cold by now, just like outside, just like this room without the presence of someone else to keep company -
Moving along, staring at the spot where the book was resting since P-chan was brought in. It’s like a switch flipped in her fiancee, as quickly as she flipped forms, like she had to hide whatever she was doing. Like how she had been hiding that P-chan was Ryoga’s… pet… pig…
Eyes jumping between the tea, the spot where Ranma was sitting just moments before, and the pig in her hands, Akane got an idea. A stupid idea, sure, but an idea nonetheless. She’d just have to heat up some more tea, first.