Ranma watches quietly as Akane sets out to do some inane errand that Nabiki has forced upon her. He can see that despite her exasperation at the actions of her sister, there is a slight endearing smile upon her face. Ranma feels a jolt of happiness at the sight of such a sincere expression, while at the same time a pang of pain. He knows that he refuses to be the cause of such an expression, and there is a rather simple yet complex reason for this:
Ranma cannot love Akane.
That doesn't mean that he doesn't like her. He does, truly. It doesn't mean that he doesn't want to love her; he wishes that he could. But he can't.
He realized this after that very first fight where her hair got cut. He saw then, clearly, that he could never let himself love her. He couldn't love someone so vulnerable, so weak. He couldn't afford that weakness in himself. The one he loves has to be strong; strong enough that he won't worry about them. That he can fight without always looking back to them. Ryoga knows this. Ryoga understands.
Ranma sees the same hidden longing and pain on Ryoga's face that he is sure must be in his own expression whenever watching Akane. They are warriors, stronger than most people could ever imagine. Yet they are as fragile as glass when it comes to their hearts. If anything were ever to happen to her, even if they were not responsible, they would shatter completely. That's why they cannot allow themselves to love her, because they would never survive losing her. It seems pathetic, when Ranma thinks about it, that here they are, so strong and brave yet so abysmally weak and fearful.
Thus why they have these stolen trysts. They know that the other is strong enough, that the other doesn't need their protection. So they convince themselves that they love one another, that what they have is real, while they both know the truth.
They both want to love Akane but they can't.
So instead they find solace with each other, pretending that their relationship is not one that exists solely to combat the emptiness and loneliness that plagues them both.
Birds of a feather flock together, or so they say. If that's true, Ranma thinks that he and Ryoga are two hawks whilst Akane is like a dove. They are so vastly different that it is impossible for them to be with each other. So the hawks keep company with one another and keep a silent vigil over their dove. For it's all they have the courage to do.
-----A/N----
I got a lot of criticism for the first draft of this, and I feel that most of it was justified, to an extent. I know that it wasn't complete and more like a thought originally (hopefully this is better) but let it be known that I intended it that way. I like writing stories and drabbles that follow the thoughts of characters. I understand that I also upset a lot of fans by pairing Ranma with Ryoga. First off, to HeeHaw and MingShun I did mention that there was yaoi in the summery so if you don't like that then you shouldn't have bothered to read it. Secondly if you actually pay attention to what I wrote you would see that the true pairing is Ranma/Akane with a side of Ryoga/Akane. The Ranma/Ryoga only comes out of their inability to deal with their feelings for Akane and thus hide from them by turning to each other. I personally feel that both Ranma and Ryoga are two very emotionally frail people (thus their obsession to become physically strong so as to advert attention from their emotional frailty) and are to afraid of getting hurt to risk opening up to the only person who has any hold over them emotionally. That's why they develop a relationship with one another (cause I personally think that they are both strait, just emotionally repressed) so that they don't have to worry about actually getting hurt. Not only are they both physically strong enough to take whatever is thrown at them, but they don't have enough emotion invested in their "relationship" that if something happened to the other that they would shatter completely (like if anything happened to Akane). I actually know people who have been in similar situations so it's not like I'm making this scenario up as I go. I'm sorry if I offended anyone but please remember this, is a place where people share their interpretations of different series and such with one another and we must each have respect for each individuals interpretations. The reactions of some of the people who read this saddened me because rather than merely critique my writing, which I don't have any problem with; they attacked my interpretation of certain characters. I don't tell you how to interpret the series and you should respect my right to write about my own interpretation.